Learning to Listen

About 2 months ago when I got into this training program I figured that the toughest part of this training program would be all the running we would be doing. Tonight I learned that that earlier assumption was wrong. Our workout scheduled for today was 1.5 mile repeats with a 60 second break in between and I knew that that might be tough on me considering I had strained my groin on my long run Sunday but it had been 2 days and it was feeling better. I took off on my 10 minute warm up run to loosen up and get ready for the speed work on the track. Upon returning I lined up on the track with my team and took off on the first off the repeats. The first 2 laps were not fun as my warm up had not really caused me to push it but I worked through it and was able to finish rather strong. After my minute rest period I took off on the second of the repeats and on the second lap I was pulled from the track as the muscle strain was really starting to act up. Guess during the rest period it started to tighten up and I just couldn't get it loose again like I did the first time. Coach Bob had me walk opposite laps around the track rather than to continue and possibly do more harm to myself.

 

It was during those laps around the track while encouraging my teammates and trying to keep things loose that I learned that the toughest part of this training program (at least for me) is not being able to run when you want to. In the past I would probably have kept going as I didn't know better. I used to think that not doing or finishing something was unacceptable even if it took me longer than it should have. Tonight though I listened to Bob and while it was tearing me up inside to not finish my workout I knew deep down inside it was the right thing. Besides teaching me to be a better runner and reach places I didn't think were possible, Bob and Ruthie have also taught me that you really need to listen to your body. Listening to my body has taught me to hear that beat inside of me that Ruthie swore was there but until recently I was unable to hear. It has also taught me to recognize when I needed to push the pace and realize I had it in me to do so. I guess now it has also taught me that sometimes you just need to dial it back and live to fight another day.

 

Because of my good fortune to be working with Bob and Ruthie I have learned to not just hear what I need to do but to listen to my body (and my coaches) and recognize what it is telling me as well. 

A Long and Interesting Week

Of all the things I am doing as part of the CVE\lululemon race team I am finding that one of the hardest things for me is keeping up with the social media part of things. I mean I share some stuff via Facebook but I really don't take advantage of the other tools I created to help document my experience. When all this started I created a Twitter account as well as this blog but when I look back at them I find I haven't used them as I hoped. I guess I could say that it is all new to me but that is just an excuse. I mean this training program is all new to me but outside of a week recently where I was forced to miss I have yet to miss a training and actually find myself eagerly awaiting the updates to my Training Peaks schedule. Yet it appears I can't find a moment or two once a week to share a little information about this wonderful journey I am so lucky to be a part of. That needs to change and I am hoping it changes with this blog as I need to really let everyone see what this experience has meant to me.

As I mentioned above I was recently sidelined for a week. I had been having some difficulties catching my wind following a cold a few weeks back and thought I might still have some lingering effects and decided to go see the doctor. Long story short she did some tests, took some blood and x-rays, as well as an EKG. That EKG is where things got interesting, apparently I had one 2 years ago when I had walking pneumonia and the one from this visit looked remarkably different. She told me my resting heart rate pretty low which could be accounted for by all the running/training I had been doing but it appears my T-Waves were inverted and as such such she wanted me to stop my training and see a cardiologist. Needless to say I wasn't happy about this for a variety of reasons, I mean no one wants to hear they have to go see a cardiologist but I think I was more upset about missing my training and working with my teammates. So I scheduled my visit and after talking with the doc and her looking at all the tests she decided that I needed to have a nuclear stress test and an echocardiogram which I scheduled over the next couple of days.

The nuclear stress test was actually pretty neat other than having to get stuck and getting an IV setup. After the IV was setup and I was injected with the dye or whatever I had to wait awhile before being placed on a table where I had to remain still as this machine took pictures of my heart and such for 15 minutes (ended up a little longer as the tech bumped the machine and we had to start over). After that it was off to the treadmill where the goal was to get me to 85% of my max heart rate (220-your age) by having me walk/run on it and then every 3 minutes the incline and speed would increase. For a while the tech and the doc wondered aloud if I would actually reach my max before the program reset (it is a 21 minute program) which made me feel somewhat good about things but about the 17 minute mark I reached the goal and was injected with my second dose of the dye. After a brief rest period during which I was told my T Waves were doing odd things once again it was back to the table for another 15 minutes of pictures. The next day I was back bright and early for my echocardiogram. Basically this is just an ultrasound of the heart which was pretty cool to see but I had no idea if what I was seeing was good or bad and this tech wasn't giving any indication one way or the other. Needless to say I left there happy that I had all the tests behind me but anxious to hear the results. I had been telling everyone everything would be fine but I knew me saying it wasn't what my wife wanted to hear. She wanted the tests and the doctor to say it.

Finally after waiting what felt like forever I got the call from the doc saying that while my EKG's continued to be irregular both the stress test and the echocardiogram showed my heart to be functioning normally. Basically the only thing they saw was some pulmonary regurgitation in an area but she said that I had probably been living with that all my life that said she figured that for at least awhile I should have a yearly follow up. I asked her if that meant I could go back to training for my race and she informed me I was good to go which while I always thought I was going to be it also felt good to have it confirmed.

While all this was going on I told very few people as I didn't want to alarm anyone but I did tell my coaches and teammates as for the last couple of months they have been there for me rooting and cheering me and this time was no different. I think the first thing I did after getting the news from the doctor and relaying said info to my wife was to message the coaches and post on the team page to let all know I was cleared and would be training with them once again. This is a special group of people who I have been fortunate enough to meet, many of whom have made impressions on me that will last well after this training session has ended.

Now that all that is behind me it is time to get back at it o as Ruthie said "Game on!"