Sunday, June 14, 2009

week of 8 June

Posting a week late. Been sitting in draft the whole time.

MPW 39
37.2

Monday, June 8
Rest

Had a physical. Something unusual on the EKG. I pegged the meter on one of the waves. Doc said probably "athlete's heart" but I have to get an echocardiogram. Never happened before (he gives me an EKG yearly). Maybe it's the increased intensity? Or more likely, he needs to calibrate his machine.

Tuesday, June 9
4-5 mile easy run
Thunder outside. I did a test run of sorts on the treadmill. 1 at 6mph (10:00), 1 at 6.3 mph (9:31), and 3 at 6.6 (9:05). We keep our house very cold. The thermostat read 67, but it's much colder downstairs. I bought a temp/humidity gauge for this purpose but couldn't find it. (It had been stuck to the treadmill, but my son broke the magnetic clip.)

PCC
Did right after the run, so I'd only have to take one shower today.

Wednesday, June 10
6-8 mile easy run including 3 strides then 4 x 10 sec high knees up a hill and 4 x 10 sec speed bounds up a hill. Full recovery then sprint training:
Use the first few sprints as a warm up and always run in control with good form:
4-6x 10 sec's w/75 sec rests. Full recovery then 7-10 x 60 sec hills @ 3k effort w/60 sec jog rests. Finish run w/3 strides

Very nice out this morning. I did 3+, 4x knees and bounds, 3 strides (out of order), 6x10'' sprints, and 7 x 60'' hill, jogging back down. Forgot the last three strides. Hard to memorize this thing!
Total was 7.8. Wicked t-storms rolled through and the skies cleared and the temps went down. 62 degrees. Felt pretty good except I was sore around my left hip from the beginning. Forecast hasn't changed for Sat 8am -- 70 degrees, 59 dew pt. I'm hoping the storm blowing through hasn't been factored in the forecast yet and things will improve. Doubtful though I guess. As nice as it was at 6am it warmed to 67/65(!) by 8am.
Got the echocardiogram. Video of your heart is kinda creepy. Preliminary results next mon or tuesday.

Thursday, June 11
4-5 mile jog

5.0. Unreal humidity. I was basically running in a cloud. I actually heard it raining (rain drops hitting leaves), but didn't feel them hitting my skin. Probably just the wind, but this was strange.
The forecast for Sat got considerably worse! 72 with a dew pt of 65. This is in the "why even bother showing up" territory for me.

Friday, June 12
3 mile easy run including 6 strides @ 5k effort

dew pt of 69. I needed gills. Considerably worse than yesterday even. I certainly didn't feel like running a 10k afterward! Tomorrow is going to be fun.

Got a call from the cardiology tech. Normal. Shocking.

Saturday, June 13
10-12 mile total run including 2 min @ LT effort, 6-8 strides @ 5k effort then 10k race

2 mile wup incl. 2' @ LT and 6 strides. 10k in 43:36. 1.9 @ 10:34 cdn. 10.1 miles total. Blech. 74 deg and 70% humidity. I wilt with anything over 60.

Sunday, June 14
4-6 mile jog

6.2 miles @ 9:35. Did core 100 and foam roller.

4 comments:

Mindi said...

What the heck is "athlete's heart"? Good for you for getting checked out - even better you are ok. Why do you have an EKG every year?

Nice week, BTW. It was hot and sticky and icky here too. I just logged 11 in 85 degree soup. Yuck.

Greg said...

I only really know what I googled -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athlete%27s_heart. Basically an enlarged left ventricle. My LV? (one of the peaks in the EKG) pegged the meter. He also noted I had a low HR. Duh?

The reason I get an EKG every year is because I have the world's most careful doctor. He gives everybody with high cholesterol a yearly EKG. The funny thing is that I totally forget to take my cholesterol meds for a couple of month until 4 days before I went for my blood test and my cholesterol was lower than last time.

Unfortunately, part of the blood test looks for elevated "CK" levels that are associated with muscle damage (that can be a side effect of the medicine). Of course mine comes up high because of my workout the day before. Now I have to get retested for the side effect of a drug I wasn't even taking, but my cholesterol (which I'm supposed to take it for) isn't high.

Mindi said...

I have a really hard time believing you have high cholesterol. Sounds like time to get off those meds if possible!

Greg said...

I've had high cholesterol since I was 18 when I got a physical for college. (I don't even think they tested for it before then.) ~190 then at about 155 lbs and topped out in the 290s before I started the meds and later running. My dad had it (>300) too. It's just genetic. The funny thing is there's no heart disease at all in my family. I can't think of any blood relatives who had heart attacks. We all die of cancer.

I think with a little better diet and the running I could get under 200. Somehow I think that's better than taking some pill for decades and being at 150 or whatever.