dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I felt like I had been hit by a truck yesterday morning, so I didn't run, and today I only ran 2 miles.  Being sick is no fun.  I also found out that the blood work I had done came back normal, so evidently I was testing the wrong thing, because something has been wrong with me for the past while.  Being sick just exacerbates the problem.  I also wonder if being a runner has masked my problems as what may be abnormal for me (be it iron levels, hormone levels, red blood cell count, etc) might still be within the levels considered normal for the general population.  I scheduled an appointment to see a sports medicine specialist next Tuesday, and they told me that she is a runner, so hopefully there will be a little more insight on her part than what the standard sports medicine Dr. can provide.

I ran a mile from our apartment to the home of the people that Kimia works for as a nanny.  Anita was with me and I didn't have a stroller, so I ran with Anita on my shoulders.  My back was sore afterwards, but otherwise it wasn't so bad.

I ran a little in the new Puma running shoes that I got free from the letsrun.com/Puma Faas challenge.  The run was more intermittent than continuous, as I ran a mile to Kimia's work, and then I drove to school and ran from the car to the lab and a few other places as I ran some errands.

I had another Dr. appointment today, and the doctor I talked to gave me a referral for a cardiologist here in town.  So, I will be performing a stress test here soon. 

I ran to school this morning.  Total time of 1:01:57.  It is frustrating that something is wrong right now, because something just does not feel right, and as of the present time I have been unable to figure out what it is.

I ran to school again.  My legs feel great because I have not been doing anything lately, and I want to push the pace when I run, so I really have to maintain caution so that I do not push myself too much right now.  The funny thing is that my legs feel great when I run, but when I wake up in the morning I feel like I have been hit by a truck.  I used to always associate this feeling with the heavy mileage I was running, but now I am not so sure.

Despite my attempts to not run fast I did get excited for a bit when a guy on a bike turned in front of me and I realized that I could catch him if I just sped up a little... so I did.  My legs felt so good to speed up, but it was frustrating that my HR was over 180 and I doubt that I was going any faster than 6:00 pace (I timed a mile in 6:38, with less than half of it catching the bike, and the rest at about 7:00 pace).

I ran a little extra in the evening.  Probably a little over a half mile, but I will call it 0.4 

I got chest X-rays done today.  My next step will be to get the Stress test and Echo scheduled.

I only ran 2 miles today.  I ran the first mile with Anita on my shoulders.

I ran 9 miles in 1:07:08 with an average HR of 155.  My HR was climbing steadily throughout the run, and got as high as 174 near the end (I had to speed up for about 15 seconds to get across the street before the light changed).  My average HR over the last 3 miles was 160.

I had an appointment with the cardiologist today.  We ended up setting up an appointment to perform a stress echo on Monday.  She also told me that she could hear a slight murmur when she listened to my heart.

Just 1 mile today with Anita in the stroller.

I performed the stress test and echo today.  The test went well.  I will count it as 2 miles because I was going for about 19 minutes, but I honestly don't know the distance (and I am sure it was actually shorter but the effort seems about right).

I found out that I have acute pericarditis.  So basically, I have some fluid buildup around my heart which appears to have been caused by the illness I had earlier this year (end of May).  Apparently it was an added stressor on my system for the last few months, and eventually my body could no longer handle the stress.  I need to take large doses of ibuprofen to try and get rid of the fluid, and if that doesn't work there are other things to try.

The good thing is that I don't have any heart problems.  Heart function is fine.  There was some minor tricuspid prolapse (backflow of blood into the atria), but evidently 80% of people have that to a very minor degree and I don't need to worry about that. 

I gave myself a couple days after the stress test to see if my body relaxing and taking lots of ibuprofen would help give me a jump start on recovery.  I ran 4 miles today, and the results were encouraging.  My HR was still elevated, but it was not as high as it has been recently.  HR was around 140 on average.  It has been a while since I have been able to run more than a few hundred meters without my HR jumping into the high 140's and 150's, so it was nice to see 130's flashing on the screen at times during the run.

I ran out the same way I went yesterday, but I added on a little extra and ended up with about 4.5 miles.  Average HR was 137 for the run.  I picked up the pace just a little bit for about 50-70m at the end to let my legs feel what it is like to get going faster.  Total time for the run was 34:08.

I did a bit of cross training today.  Hiked up to flatiron in the superstitions near my parents home in Arizona.  Total of 7 miles round trip, with about 4,000 ft elevation gain to get to the top.

Another day of cross training of sorts.  Went out walking for 4+ hours, while wearing Shayon the entire time adding an extra 20 pounds or so.

I ran out on the canal trail near my parents home.  Took a detour near the end of the run to avoid some dogs.  Estimated at about 4.75 miles

I tried to run a little farther today, and I did not feel good at all during the run.  My HR was higher than it has been, and I felt sluggish.  Total of 6 miles.

I felt like crud today, so I only ran 2 miles just to get my legs moving.