Two months later I started doing one-way, 10 mile bike commutes to or from work (driving the other direction). It took about a month until I had regained the stamina to ride both ways every day. By that time I was rebuilding fitness, not trying to maintain declining fitness. My cardiologist, a cyclist himself, has been supportive all along.


By last summer, 16 months post MI, I was able to ride 420 miles during the week of Cycle Greater Yellowstone.


I'm a bit frustrated that I haven't been able to complete a century, or a 200k, for more than 2 years now. Part of that is that I don't handle heat well, whether that's caused by getting older or becoming a cardiac patient I can't say. This may be my new normal, or perhaps I need to build more speed so I can get around the course in cooler weather with shorter days.


So, my non-medical-professional advice:


1. Get yourself a doctor who'll work with you.


2. Have patience with yourself. You didn't have a punctured (collapsed?) lung before your last 10k run.


3. You know all those articles that say, extend your long run or ride about 10% every week? Apply that to your 2.5 mile longest run. (Spreadsheets are wonderful, you can "run" 10% further every week until you're running all the way across the country if you don't run out of rows.


4. Consider getting an indoor trainer like the Cyclops to get back on your bike with virtually zero risk. (Sprint during TV commercials.)


And like the zero'th law of thermodynamics, baseline yourself from where you are today, or where you started exercising again. You're not as strong, or have the endurance, you can't throw a baseball, and you're not as handsome as you were -- 40 years ago. But you can get better. (Although the handsome might take plastic surgery...)