Running after laparoscopic abdominal surgery

I like posting on the blog to help out someone now or in the future who might have the need for some past experience I've had, if not my wisdom.

The following is a journal of my return to activity from walking to running following my laproscopic right hemicolectomy.

I hope this post is of interest/use to someone coming back from similar surgery. Please check with your doctor about these things and remember the internet can't be sued for malpractice. And don't do anything if you feel any pain or discomfort - err on the side of caution. And this is no worse than listening to letsrun.com message boards.


I had surgery on Thursday February 2nd. You can see that day was the last time I cleared 1000 steps in a day for the next four days.

My surgeon gave me permission to start walking immediately, with no restrictions on the amount except for the amount of fatigue I felt. He asked I refrain from using aerobic equipment at the gym for two weeks post-surgery, and running for six weeks post surgery. Weightlifting is also not recommended. The worry is that excess straining from too much abdominal impact could create post-surgical hernias at the wound sites.

Honestly, not running for an extended period was the least of my worries when I went in for surgery. I was lucky to have an uncomplicated surgery and no need for post-surgical treatment, so after surgery, I did start counting the days till I could return to exercise activities. 

After four days of near total rest, I started to move around the house (and take walks outside. On day 5 - Tuesday February 7 - I hit 1342 steps. By day 9 - Saturday February 11th - I passed 5000 steps in a day.

By day 14, I was getting eager to do more and more. At day 16 after surgery - I felt strong enough to hit 10000+ steps -- my pre-surgery normal step goal.

The following week, on day 21 after my surgery and after my 3 week post-op visit, I returned to the gym. I started on the treadmill at a moderate pace (3.5 mph) and a 10% incline to get my HR up to aerobic training levels. I felt a little soreness during one session on day 22, slowed it down, but felt fine the next day (day 23). That day, I did a fast walk with a couple of little light jogs over 1.5 miles on day 24 and felt fine the following morning, returning to the gym for the following six days.  

I made it over a month without running! On March 4th, the 30th day, I returned to light outdoor running at a pace of around 10 min/mi, with no discomfort. I returned to running about 12 days sooner than recommended, but the amount of force I exerted on my abdominal muscles using the elliptical machine felt greater than the impact from gentle running. Perhaps not smart, certainly extremely impatient, but judging from this other post which says jogging is generally ok after four weeks, another says two to three weeks of no activity that causes straining, pulling, pushing or jumping after laproscopic abdominal surgery, so not completely out of line.

I plan on keeping my effort light through week six just to make sure, but am confident that my insides are holding up fine.

Intensity Minutes - Can you get them from an elliptical (and how does a treadmill run work)?

Yes, and here's how.

I started using the arc trainer elliptical machine at a 15 level resistance, working my way higher in order to keep my HR over 100.  I continually increased the resistance level up to a 25 in order to keep my HR above 110, below 120.  Since I was creating an activity, I wasn't monitoring the Intensity Minutes meter (IMM) during the session.  

Total elliptical time: 30 minutes
Total IMs: 31 minutes 

I was getting near 100% "Moderate" exercise minutes from an "easy" exertion elliptical session, keeping HR 100-120 (max 134) for the entire workout.  

The Strava heart rate chart from the elliptical.  

While on the treadmill earlier in the day, running at an average pace of 10:19 and as fast as an 8:20 minute/mile, keeping my HR above 130 (max 157), I was getting mostly "Vigorous" exercise minutes (22 minutes of vigorous, 13 of moderate exercise).

Total treadmill time: 35 minutes (incl. 3 cool down)

Total IMs: 57 minutes.

The Strava heart rate chart from a treadmill run.  

Please check out my final post on Intensity Minutes and the VHR in general: http://www.midpackgear.com/2016/01/vivosmart-hr-final-wrapup-and-some.html

Vivosmart HR review of Intensity Minutes (So intense, so fail)

At first, I thought the Intensity Minutes (IM) feature was more Garmin Fitness bloat.  How many metrics do we really need? Aren't steps and miles enough?

Then, I started to warm to the idea, especially after understanding there are two types of IMs -- moderate intensity, and vigorous intensity.  Vigorous minutes count for 2 moderate intensity minutes.  This way, you can set a week's goal and hit it with some intense minutes, running, elliptical or hopefully stationary bike (not walking/running/ellipticaling exercise) in my case, or with some moderate minutes - like walking which I do a lot of - particularly in a two dog household 

and with a downstairs treadmill + flat screen TV setup.

So I did a little math (emphasis on little):

4 days minimum of 30 minutes running = 240 intensity minutes
1 day minimum of 90 minutes running = 180 intensity minutes
420 intensity minutes from running alone

That's what I set my weekly goal as, with the expectation on a good week I will hit 720 minutes from running alone -- a three hour run equaling 360 minutes all by itself - and four additional runs averaging 45 minutes = 360, plus another five days of 20 minutes walking per day or some biking could easily get me up to 720.  What good are Garmin goals if you can't smash them on a regular basis?

Activity minutes seem to be activated, according to Garmin Connect, from ten continuous minutes of step activity.  I confirmed this today from a 10+ minute walk around the block with dog #1.  When I started walking, the IM screen on the Vivosmart HR started flashing.  And after ten minutes, the minutes started increasing.  This is what I'm talking about:

This is what Garmin Connect (web) looked like before my walk:

And after:

The math:

1180 fairly easy dog walking steps = 10 intensity minutes (and a heart rate spike to 98bpm). (Note - the distance on the band showed .38 miles on a 1 mile course, even though I've custom selected my step length properly.  Not sure what's going on, but I think the Vivosmart HR might be a little funky on the distance measurement - the Vivosmart classic was definitely better.  But I digress...


Now, for my next trick, a trip to the gym to see how a stationary bike ride (stepless motion but with an activity created on the watch) will work.

I hit the stationary bike for 15 minutes, creating an activity on the Vivosmart HR at the start, ending at the end, syncing when done.  I got a good HR reading, and pedaled away.  A few minutes into it my band slid down (I didn't take my own advice and tighten it a notch before exercise, serves me right) and had a little dropout until I readjusted it.  But it gave what seemed like an accurate hr reading which was expected.

Unfortunately, the minutes didn't show on my watch as Intensity Minutes.  Zero, zilch.  Let's examine what Garmin says about Intensity Minutes: "You must do at least 10 minutes of moderate or higher intensity activity at a time to get your health benefits and for your Garmin activity tracker to count it."  Meaning: waving your arms for 10 minutes, either running, walking, or ellipticaling but not biking, unless you pedal and flap your wings at the same time.

I repeated the exercise on an elliptical which bore this out.   20 minutes on the elliptical gave me 20 intensity (therefore they were moderate minutes) on the treadmill.  I kept my avg HR under 110 - not sure what the trigger is for vigorous intensity, but this workout didn't do it.

Garmin needs to allow the HRM to trigger activity minutes to make it useful.  Or bikers, yoga-ers, etc., will cry themselves to sleep at night onto their Vivosmart HR, possibly shorting out the Elevate HR modules on the fitband.

Otherwise, let's just stick to Total Activity Time (below, seen on Garmin Connect web), and Garmin should create a window for it on the Vivosmart HR and on Connect Mobile rather than the rather silly (in current incarnation) Intensity Minutes.

See newer post: Intensity Minutes part ii