Bret

AM -  2 mile walk with Finn before church.

AM -  2 mile walk with Finn before work.

AM - 1 mile walk before work followed by a yoga session online.

Did my nuclear stress test this morning and was hoping everything would check out as normal; but it did not.  Something in the stress portion of the test results has led my cardiologist to order a cardiac CT.  There was not a clear finding of a blockage, but instead an "artifact" showed an area of concern - thus prompting the need for more testing.  I was also told not to run until more testing rules out heart issues.  I was disappointed with the result, but at the same time, I actually felt really kinda bad yesterday and need to know what's going on and if it can be fixed. 

AM - 2 miles walking on the treadmill followed by a yoga session.  Travel to India this evening. 

Lost a day in travel from US to India. 

AM - 3.5 miles of walking, in which I might have been seen to be jogging at an easy pace on the treadmill in my hotel in Mumbai after a lengthy journey.  Honestly feeling much better and could not help myself but to do a little running.  35 mins of Yoga afterwards.   

AM - 3.75 miles on the treadmill in Mumbai- walked the first 10 -12 mins.  Lots of travel ahead. Off to Bangalore then back home after midnight.   

Travel day

So I had my Cardiac CT scan today.  Found a blockage.  Have to be scheduled for a heart catheterization - possibly this week.  

30 mins of Yoga in the evening. 

AM - 2 miles of walk/jogging on the treadmill followed by a Yoga session.  

No activity today - very early start for work and then commitments in the evening. 

AM - 2.5 miles of walking outside with Finn and then a Yoga session.  Heart catheterization is scheduled for later today.  Hopefully things will go well and I can begin resumption of running in a little while.

  So I had my heart catheterisation this afternoon.   They found a 90% occlusion in my left anterior descending artery and inserted a stent.   According to my doctor,  I was very lucky to have gotten this diagnosed in time to have avoided a bad outcome.   Go figure — no family history, good cholesterol; non-smoking and an active lifestyle with a good diet.    Anyway the good news is the doctor says there is no reason why I can’t resume my running and continue to do marathons.  

Had to stay overnight at the hospital and was not discharged until late in the day.  Have some restrictions for the first several days.  

AM - 2.6 mile walk with Tracy and Finn and then a yoga session.  Feeling well.  

PM  2 mile walk on the treadmill followed by a yoga session.  Feeling really well and antsy to get released by my cardiologist to introduce some light jogging/running soon.  

AM - 2 miles of outdoor walking on hills with Finn and then a yoga session.  

AM - 2.5 miles of walking outdoors with Finn and then a yoga session.  Feeling really solid now.  I check in with the cardiologist on Thursday to get a possible release to resume with some running.  

AM - 3 miles of brisk walking with Finn followed by a yoga session (also with Finn who tends to disrupt). 

Saw the doctor later in the morning and was given the "thumbs-up" that I can resume with some running.  My limit is 3 miles per day for 8 weeks and then I can bump it up to 5 miles per day until the 90 day mark when I have a follow up visit to see how I am doing.  

AM - 3 miles of actual running on the treadmill!  1 week post-heart catheterization and stent.   It felt great to be running again.  No issues at all that I had been experiencing prior to the procedure were present.  Feeling very blessed. 

Yoga session following the run.  Been doing this 30 days of yoga from a youtube video that my daughter suggested whilst I was not permitted to run.  Gonna stick it out to complete the course.  I kinda like it. :)

AM - 3 miles outside in the rain with Finn before we drive to West Virginia.  

AM - 3 miles with Riley in West Virginia along the Ohio River Trail.  Really cold.  Yoga afterwards. 

AM - 3 miles in town of Moundsville WV with Riley before church.  Yoga afterwards.  

AM - 3 miles this morning on the town streets in Moundsville WV.  Counted 3 “leg lamps” in house windows (from the Christmas Story movie).   I tried to test things a little bit.  Ran the second mile in 8:15 and the third in 7:15.  Felt really nice to open up.  Will need to work gradually for a while to reestablish my aerobic base.  

PM - 3 miles with Riley on Christmas Day - easy effort - nice conversation.   Merry Christmas!

AM - 3 miles with Riley in Moundsville WV along the Ohio River running trail. 

PM - 3 miles on the treadmill after a long drive home from WV.   Yoga afterwards.

AM - 3 miles on the treadmill as it was storming outside this morning.  Ran the last mile at tempo pace/HR effort.  Yoga afterwards. 

AM - 3 miles with Finn on a rainy morning. 

PM - 3 miles on the treadmill followed by some yoga. 

PM - 3 miles on the muddy Milton Trail in a light mist/drizzle with Riley and Finn - who was completely filthy after we were finished.  Yoga after giving Finn a good scrubbing.

So - my quick year in review for 2018:

I had a decent year of running and training and racing starting off with a fun USATF Cross Country race in Tallahassee FL with Rob.   I had a couple of good 5k efforts and a nice 10k effort in Dunedin over St. Patrick's Day weekend.  

I ran 3 marathons - Grandma's, Chicago and New York.  I was only really trained up for Chicago and ran reasonably well after Richie dropped from the race - and ran a time that would have theoretically met the Boston Qualifying standard for my age at 3:27 but Boston was already full by then, and I am not certain that would have even gotten me in this spring anyway.  I will need to go a couple minutes faster with the new qualifying times next year.  My goal for next year is to get a qualifier for 2020.

I covered just over 2000 miles of training this year which is slightly down from last year, but I did have a significant health issue in November/December that contributed to that decrease with a 90% blockage in my LAD artery requiring a heart stent.  Thankfully I became aware of the problem with symptoms (jaw pain and general malaise in as little as 8 mins of effort) whilst running - and was persistent with my doctors who were thorough in their efforts - rather than being dismissive.  Really felt as though I dodged a bullet - especially when I happened to pick up Jim Fixx's Complete Book of Running one evening (at our family Christmas dinner - in a restaurant waiting area with a library) and recalled through a Google search that he died at age 52 of a heart attack - with the post-mortem noting blockages in three arteries including one of 95%.  He had a family history - father died at 43 after a heart attack at age 35 - but he never followed his doctor's recommendations to have a cardiac stress test even within a few months of his untimely death.   

I don't have a family history, never smoked and none of my annual physicals or labs gave any indication of a potential problem.  Given my over 40 years of running - I never even considered (and neither did my doctors) that I would be a candidate for coronary artery disease or a potential heart attack.  I guess you just never know...

But now nearly 2 weeks since my procedure - I feel great.  I have improved on my diet - which was not terrible to begin with - and I have been released to return to running (no more than) 3 miles per day for the next 8 weeks.   Barring anything unexpected - upon fully release from my cardiologists, I hope to resume my routine of training for at least 1 or 2 marathons later in 2019.  

Happy New Year!