The Strassburg Sock

Northcoast Footcare directed me to remove the post on their product. Rather shortsighted, gentleman. As you wish, good day to you!

Red Cheeks

I went to the dermatologist today. I've had a couple of little skin things kind of bugging me, nothing major or scary. A bump on my chin that i cut a couple of times this month, and a mole or mark on the front of my right thigh that seems to get irritated by my cycling shorts.

What made me finally take action and call for an appointment? The Super Bowl halftime show, and specifically Bruce Springsteen and his public service announcement for The Danny Fund. Read more about it here. Danny Federici was the E Street band organist and recently died of skin cancer.

The bullet points you should take note of:

• Be aware of the dangers of the sun
• Take precaution, like sunblock and staying out of the sun
• Have yourself checked out regularly by a dermatologist from head to toe.

The full body check took no more than 15 minutes. I had a female doc and nurse present, but I suppose if you aren't comfortable you could ask for same gender. I kept my underwear on. I had a silly paper gown on, but really this exam was not a big deal. We all should have it done annually.

The doctor suggested i have rosacea, a reddening of the skin on my face caused by broken capillaries. I don't know, i think I might have been blushing just a little. And it is 20 degrees outside. She gave me a script for a cream to use. I will try it. She also told me to use sun block. Yep, I want to do that too. Every day, even when its cold out!

Thallium Stress Test Results

I had my Nuclear, or Thallium, stress test on Monday. The whole test took about 4 hours and the staff at Winthrop Cardiology Associates couldn't have been nicer or more professional.

For the exercise part of the test they had me hooked up to an electrocardiogram and wearing a blood pressure cuff. The goal was to get me around 80-90% of my estimated maximum heart rate, which they calculated using the old fashioned and somewhat dubious 220 minus your age formula. I am 50, so that puts my estimated max around 170, and my target for the test around 136-153. I am not sure, not having done a max heart rate test recently, that my actual max is higher. My training is based on percentage of functional threshold power on the bike and pace on the track.

My resting heart rate is around 58, and measured 60 at the start of the test. I beleive my blood pressure was 130/50, not exactly sure of that. The physician assistant raised the incline and started the treadmill and i walked. The plan was to increase incline and speed every three minutes until i cried uncle. At that point they woudl inject the isotope through my IV, then have me stop and rest a bit before more photos.

I got up to about 4.2 miles per hour at a 16% grade before they stopped me. I could have continued, but my blood pressure had risen to 214/90. They seemed concerned by this. My heart rate was 150, or about 90%, so technically the test was completed.

Results came back to my primary care doc, who had his nurse call me to say everything was fine. I asked her about the blood pressure issue. She had no idea what I was talking about, so I asked to have the doc call me back. Later in the day we connected and he took a little more time to read the report. While my blood pressure is usually perfect when i am sitting still, apparently I am about ready to pop 6 days a week when i am doing my interval training.

For now I am doubling my Diovan HCT dosage and have an appointment to discuss in a couple of weeks. Still good to train as far as I can tell.

Oh one intersting thing, when i was in the scanner machine, its kind of like a MRI machine that lowers over you and slowly turns as it takes pictures, makes some noises but not as loud as an MRI. I actually was able to take a nap in that thing both times, 15 minutes each. I think thats the perfect amount of time for a power nap. Need to work that in somewhere.

Name This Photo

9.5 mile run at Rockefeller this morning, with Coach Adam. Any idea what I am doing here?

UPDATE

I like all the answers. It did feel good on my quads for sure. And I almost could feel the curvature of the earth as I imagined myself hugging the world. Good thing I didnt try to taste the ice, or i might still be there!

There is no answer, really. I do not know what I was doing. Perhaps "dancing naked in the rain", as Roshi Richard Hart recommends, best describes it. Except it was too cold to be naked and the rain had frozen into a sheet of ice on the trail.

Adam said he wanted a picture and I just got down on the ground. We both laughed :)