The truth is out there

I need to get to the bottom of this irregular ticker business. Being a skeptic, I was not satisfied with the results and explanations I got from my regular family doctor. We had figured out what was going on and we had a treatment plan. But what was the cause of my irregular heart beats and why do I still have them? So I squeezed in an appointment with a cardiologist today and an EKG was taken. He looked at it, asked me a few questions and said: "You have a right bundle branch block." Any time you hear "block" in the same context as heart that can't be good. It definitely sounds worse than PVC. He assured me that RBBB is mostly benign, but it could also be a sign of some serious problems. So back to the lab. CT scan, stress test, an in depth EKG, and more. And yes it was recommended I start the beta blockers. Luckily I am in a recovery week for my training, but this mental stress can't be any good for my heart. Let's hope for some good news on the heart this week. At least the legs are still holding up.

Gold Nuggets

Looking over some of my posts, I am pretty light on my training details. So here are my workouts from this weekend.

Saturday:

Indoor bike (who needs Spinervals!!!)

• warmup, about 15 minutes
• Spin ups
• 120-135-120 rpms with a 5 rpm increase every minute
• 120-145 rpms with a 5 rpm increase every minute
• Isolated leg drills
• 2x2 minutes each leg
• Overgear
• 16 minutes with six accelerations between 60 and 110 seconds
• Lactate ladder
• 55 seconds @ 100rpms and acceleration of 5 seconds to 120 rpms
• increase the accerlerations 5 seconds every minute until 10 secs@100 rpms - 50 secs@120 rpms
• Climb
• 24 minute total climb
  
• 14 minute climb with 90 second accelerations every 2 minutes
• then a 4 minute acceleration
• then 6 minutes out of the saddle with accelerations
• Sprints
• 2 sets of 5x10 seconds all out with 1 minute recovery
• Cool down
  

Weights

• Squats, dead lifts, lunges, calf raises, hanging leg lifts, back extensions, situps

Sunday

Run (So what if it's freezing outside, it still beats the treadmill)

• 65 minutes outside with a 12 minute climb/up tempo push.
• Includes a short run up and down a "helix" to prepare for IM Wisconsin.
  

Swim (workout cut short due to other commitments)

• 300 WU
• 400 pull
• 300 kick
• 5X100
• 300 CD

So my body is handling the workouts right now. No aches and pains, no really sore muscles; feels okay so far (except for those annoying times when my heart skips a beat). But my mind needs to recharge. I keep looking ahead and feel a sense of impending doom. Those really long workouts that I will need to do in a few months loom. I hope I can stay focused.

Finally, I want to thank my friend from way back who called me up out of the blue today. She happened to be in town and tracked me down. We met for lunch and good conversation. Things like that are like finding gold nuggets, little pieces of treasure that lift your spirits.

You know I really do not have anything exciting to say today. I avoided all the high school kids at the pool by swimming over the noon hour and followed it up with a run through Lakeview Cemetery - which will have its own post some day in the future. Got a stupid parking ticket because I thought the meter was jammed. Had a decent session in the weight room in the evening. But now, I am tired; not just because I spent three hours working out today, but for whatever reason my brain is just slow today. Thankfully I have a day off training tomorrow and a recovery week is just a few days away.

So I guess now would be a good opportunity to say thank you to those who have stopped by, made some comments, and have kept me going. I hope you enjoy my ramblings and I hope I can provide some motivation for you. And for all those who seem to have run into some storms recently, I will do what I can to help you navigate your way.

Fresh Tracks

This is as close to downhill skiing as I will get this year. I think it is fun to trek through some fresh powder, especially if you are the first one to leave your tracks in the snow. What is even better is coming back on the same path and seeing only your original set of prints.

Sacrifices

I really enjoy football. As a little kid I had aspirations of playing in a Super Bowl. My friends and I would all dream about making an acrobatic game winning touchdown catch in the end zone or bursting up the middle for a 75-yard TD run. I played one season of organized football in eighth grade. I remember having to wear shoulder pads at my weigh-in to meet the minimum requirements. I never saw much game action, but I had a great time.

I will use a fast-forward and save the story of my high school football career for another day.

A handful of friends, ex-college classmates, et cetera gather every couple of weeks to play tackle football, without the pads. Even though I weigh more than 100 pounds now, I am one of the smaller players out there. But I can outrun them all. Every Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest game of the year for this motley crew. So this past Sunday it was a pretty nice winter day, and an even better day for football. The ground was pretty soft from the mild winter, but a fresh coating of snow would cushion the several unavoidable big hits I would have to take. The temps were probably in the 30s, with a little bit of wind. After running around a bit I would be warm and I could streak down the field in just thick Under Armour. So as game time approached I, alas, was nowhere near the field.

Last September I made a commitment. I understood the ramifications. I would need to be disciplined. I would need to manage my time better. I would need to be patient. I would need to make sacrifices.

We all make sacrifices. I will wake up a half hour earlier tomorrow to get to the pool. I will not eat Combos or drink beer this weekend. I will skip out on playing football with my friends.

Why? We have lofty expectations and big dreams. We are focused and determined. We have love and passion.

So on Sunday I went for a 45 minute run with my "IM training sisters." I barely missed playing football. I want to be an Ironman.

Me and my PVC

I do not work with polymers such as polyvinylchloride. I do not have a thing for rubber clothing. What I do have are premature ventricular contractions - PVCs.

My doctor's appointment from Friday yielded some answers and some questions. The echocardiogram of my heart did not show any abnormal structure or function. As a matter of fact the report estimated that my heart pumps about 125% the amount of blood of an "average" heart. The report from my 24 hour holter monitor came back "essentially unremarkable." They noted that even at 180-185 beats per minute, no signs of anything abnormal showed up. It did pick up on a number of PVCs. PVCs happen when your heart beats a little early. The next contraction is usually a little stronger so it feels like your heart "skips" a beat. They could be caused by a host of factors including alcohol, caffeine, and stress, but I am still not really sure what caused these PVCs to start showing up. They say PVCs are totally benign, everyone gets them, but boy are they annoying.

To treat them, you can do a few things. The more popular treatments are to: 1 - do nothing 2 - take a beta-blocker to slow the heart rate. I am still debating whether I should go on the meds or do nothing. Bottom line is I can continue to train, with no restrictions except to use good judgement. But as I stated in an earlier post, it will take my mind some time put these out of the way and push the limits.

Today's run, by the numbers

Numbers* from today's trail run.

55 - time of the run in minutes
unknown - number of miles traversed
0 - times that I cared how many miles I ran
1 - other runners I passed on the trail
3 - deer running across my path
2 - stream crossings
3 - fallen trees on the path
1 - times the mud sucked my shoe off my foot.
1 - times when I did not know where the trail went
3 - scratches on my leg from the shrubs
1 - pair of unwashable socks - I have no trail shoes yet =(
1 - college buddy I had not seen in years pulling into the parking lot
2 - times I thought about my Friday appointment
3 - times I thought about Wil's post from today
C = constant, as in amount of time I should be thinking how fortunate I am...

* - I am a numbers geek so pardon me if I use this format often for my posts.

Karaoke night at the pool

I returned to the pool tonight for the first time in over two weeks. I am fortunate enough to be able to swim in a really nice 50m pool, but in the wintertime, it turns into a 25yd pool overrun by kids from several high schools. I still got my own lane, but I am next to a few girls who, everytime they stop at the wall, decide to sing to along with the tunes pumping out of their boombox. So I warmup a little....."Because of you, I never stray too far from the sidewalk...." start into some of my drills ...."I've found a reason for me to change who I used to be a reason to start over new...." slip on my zoomers ...."My hump, my hump, my hump, my lovely little lumps. Check it out." So not only do they sing like dying chickens, they can swim faster than I can! These 15 year old girls are motoring along with their kickboards creating huge splashes and here I am puttering along with flippers with a ripple behind me. Ugh.

But hey think positive right?
I am in the pool again. Yeah!
I think I was actually rotating from the hips a little. Yeah!
My last 100 of my 8x100 was a controlled 1:25. I could barely do 1:50 two years ago. Yeah!
My heart is beating normally. Yeah!

As for that last yeah, I am sooo anxious to get back to my doc to get my test results. I know something is slightly off, but will I be able to get through and Ironman safely? Friday can't come soon enough.