Mystery Science Theater 2015

I am in science experiment mode again. After experiencing what I initially perceived to be a minor infection (as in "maybe I'm getting a cold") and sensing I could swim faster if I could just get more O2 to my muscles, 2 weeks ago I contacted my doctor to get a refill on an albuterol inhaler. I'd had one laying around from a prior cold/flu incident that wasn't used up, and had been self-administering just a little as I felt necessary since beginning of October. I wasn't full dosing it, as I thought I only needed a little bit.

As winter arrived, and finally really cold weather, I noticed this slight shortness of breath wasn't going away, and I was running out of inhaler. It was also time for me to schedule my annual (that I will attempt to begin doing quarterly) blood work roundup consisting of CBC, liver enzymes, thyroid, cholesterol, fasting glucose, etc. I scheduled the blood work, asked for the inhaler, and my doctor said I needed to come in for whatever I thought I needed the inhaler for. Smart move on her part!

So last week, I went in, to get both the blood draw and the evaluation. First thing I got was, "Who ordered your blood work?" Um...me? Then they said it needed to be authorized, and I was like, OK so I'm seeing doctor make her do it. That was taken care of.

Now, in addition to the breathing thing, I had really felt like I'd put on just a few pounds that shouldn't be happening as I've increased training and am pretty good about matching my calorie intake to my outgo.

During the appointment, this was first time I was tested on a spirometer. My readings were "normal," and I told the nurse practitioner (PAC whatever that means) that I should be off the chart given my aerobic capacity. She listened to my lungs, and of course, said they sounded normal. I said they aren't. I listed a whole pile of observations I'd made as to what's been going on as I've noticed this issue with my lungs:

• Increased my training load
• Moved most of my training indoors
• Cold weather
• Tightness in chest

Now, there are other things at play here that wouldn't make sense to anyone except another athlete:

• Changed my swim stroke. So there is some left pec soreness/tightness still lingering. I know this because I tested myself. When I shovel snow right-handed (which is my natural), it hurts a bit, but not when I move to left-handed shoveling. Therefore, my left pec is still getting used to the new swim stroke.
• This is first fall/winter in my house since I've had it air sealed. It's great, because the house is no longer losing all the warm air, but bad, because it's trapping in a million things that I'm allergic to.

I failed to mention the air sealing and allergy thing at the appointment. I spaced out! When I was in college, I became quite sick once and was put into the infirmary. My lungs were messed up. I had a history of recurring bronchitis as a child, so once I was well enough to be discharged, they sent me for allergy testing. Turns out I'm at least mildly allergic to almost everything except foods--so pollen, mold, dust, pet dander, air... It's just enough that if I catch a virus, I can be severely impacted. So I went on allergy meds that at the time were like speed! They were great--you put speed on top of my normal high energy level, and I was basically bouncing off the walls constantly. Until they took that drug off the market, LOL! A few years after college, I was switched onto Claritin (which was prescription at the time) or Allegra, and I also took desensitization shots, as I had a cat, and the cat was a major allergen. Not as bad as some people who can't even be around them, but just enough to be a bit wheezy.

I kept taking allergy meds until I no longer had cats, in 2005. I love cats, but my last pair went psycho and had sprayed all around my house, and I just have not wanted to get more, plus the care and feeding. But I adore cats. Someday...

Anyway, once I no longer had cats, I tried going without the allergy meds, and seemed to do OK. Until this year. It didn't dawn on me until after my doctor appointment.

Back to the appointment: the PAC gave me a 5-day prescription for prednisone (sadly, the last day was yesterday), and sent me to get a chest X-ray. I started on the prednisone right away, and went and got the X-ray. The radiologist said my lungs look fine (no spots or anything odd), but that my diaphragms are "flat." This can be indicative of COPD. So that's what the PAC told me. I was, of course, like, FUCK! But I'm lucky to have a close friend who is a nurse and said just wait it out. The PAC said I should go see pulmonologist.

So after this little wakeup, I remember about my allergies and that I've not been being treated for them, and when I think about it, this is exactly how I felt when I failed to take them. I also think I may have exercise-induced asthma. COPD? It's possible due to my history of bronchitis, but I am hoping that is off the table.

The interesting thing is that through these last 3 months, I've become faster at Swim/Bike/Run and stronger in the weight room. So yay for me overcoming whatever the fuck is wrong!

So...well let's just say I love prednisone. Me on steroids is pretty entertaining. I felt no pain, although I don't think I actually over-extended myself. I just knew I should be way more tired at the end of each day than I was. But I wasn't. No wonder people become addicted to the things! I will surely crash today, though. I had these nice rosy cheeks, smiling all the time, and was very chatty. Also a little more "don't fuck with me," but I was able to keep that at bay.

I have the pulmonologist appointment set up. I asked my doctor for Advair, as the albuterol isn't cutting it now, and even if I do have COPD or allergies or asthma, they'd probably put me on that, so yay for me asking for it, and I have it without another doctor appointment.

Now onto the blood work. My cholesterol is awesome (HDL 72 / LDL 110 / triglycerides 59). CBC looks good, although I will need to compare to my last results. What is fucked up? TSH. I learned from 2013 that when I am feeling great and nearly hyper (even without steroids!), that it can mean my thyroid is underperforming, or more accurately, I don't have enough to meet the metabolic demand I am putting on myself. And I was right!

Now, my suspicion is that my body can only produce so much thyroid hormone, so when I start ramping up training, I tend to go more hypothyroid, as my body plus existing meds can't keep up with what my body needs in order to do the training. This I will share with my doctor. I had thought she said they wouldn't give me more Synthroid, but she is giving me more, and then I will need to be tested again in 6 weeks to see where I stand. Ugh...this is the part I hate.  The waiting to see if the dose works, etc. It is so ridiculous that a test hasn't been invented yet for measuring thyroid function that you can do at home with a prick of your finger, like you can to check your blood glucose. I would do it daily.

So...in conclusion, I have some lung shit to get sorted, and I'm back on the thyroid testing/dosage adjustment train again. Which means I still haven't been through a full Ironman training cycle with my thyroid properly regulated. EVER. Not in a single one I've done, since I know that I've been hypothyroid way before I ever started all this--it's just that the acceptable ranges have changed, and if you're even a little off doing what I'm doing, it's a huge impact. I have a feeling that what I will need to do is modify my dosing based on my training cycle, so I will talk to my doctor about how we can best manage this. I think at a minimum, I need to be tested every 3 months to see where it's at. But in a way, I'm happy this is all happening to me, and glad I'm doing this now. Because I think I have time to get myself better adjusted and functioning properly again!

How exciting will it be for me to have my 100% lung power plus having all the thyroid hormone I need? I am optimistic that my athletic performance will finally rise to the level of training that I do. It's not been poor, by any means, but I know I can do better. I will also once again offer my doctor the opportunity to write me up as a case study. She should welcome the offer, but you never know. If she wanted to run blood work on me monthly, I'd do it.

So yay for me for demanding the blood work now, even though technically some of these things didn't need to be tested until April. But it was time, I had the feeling my TSH might be off, and that is something I have to attend to. The difference in how I feel at various levels can be subtle, but now it makes perfect sense to me and I'm learning to interpret how my body feels at different levels. Last time I'd been tested was in April, 2014, and TSH was fine, but I was hardly training at the time. So this correlates to my theory of how much hormone I can manufacture, and that when I'm not training much, it's enough, but dump on more training, and it's not.

My pharmacy fucked up my Synthroid prescription, though. They gave me generic. Luckily I caught this last night and called them. It was their mistake, not my doctor's. I can't take generic--I went through that fucking shit in 2013 of being on a rollercoaster because my body is sensitive to the drug purity. So glad I didn't take that. I will pick up the correct Synthroid this morning, and off we go! Recall that for Ironman Cozumel, I was still on generic levothyroxine, and I wasn't being given enough of it, and so I had a craptastic performance in the race. I am very excited to see how I will feel when we synch up the brand drug Synthroid at proper dose with my training!

Based on all this, I highly recommend to anyone doing Ironman training to get their blood work done at least twice a year, quarterly if feasible. The training puts such a high demand on your body that it's imperative to ensure it's in perfect working order, and as happened to me, the high training load can reveal issues you have that you might not otherwise find out about until years later. And things will change throughout the training cycle, so just because you were fine 3 months prior doesn't mean you should just live with the status quo.

Happy training and science experiments!

Mystery Science Theater 3000 and the 2014 Annual Training Plan (ATP)

First, let me say I love robots.

Second, the whole sodium thing was just me OD'ing on sodium when I didn't need it.  My weight is down to 113, which while I would prefer it to be about 2 lbs. less, is still going to be just fine for racing.  After 2 days on the mild diuretic and then just watching my other sodium intake, order has been restored!  I'm really not a fatty!  Even my massage therapist, Mike, said he could tell the difference between this week and last week.  I don't feel completely bloated anymore, and my skinsuit felt GOOD when I wore it for another 5K swim yesterday.

Third, I decided early this week that I was getting tired and frustrated with the management of my thyroid, and so I called to schedule an appointment with my doctor.  Only she's out for 2 weeks, so I decided (with help from a friend) that it couldn't hurt to speak with a different doctor at the same practice.  Of course, in preparation, I summarized a bunch of data and wrote up all the questions and concerns I had.

I had seen this doctor before, but he didn't remember much about me, so I led off with, "I am pushing the metabolic boundaries of my body."  He looked at me all puzzled, and I explained that I do marathons, Ironmans, the occasional Ultraman and sometimes ultramarathons.  I could tell by the look on his face that he understood what I was saying.  You don't say all those things in one sentence and not be taken for a serious athlete (or complete lunatic).

We reviewed my up and down thyroid tests, I explained that I was frustrated that we'd been at this for nearly a year and I am still not stabilized, and that I still didn't feel "right."  Now, don't get me wrong--in some ways, I feel fucking fantastic--but I can also tell things just aren't right.  I am hypersensitive to my heart performance, body composition, sleep, bowel movements, all that.  This doctor listened to me, and then he grilled me as to whether I was taking the meds properly (YES) and whether I was messing with the dosing on my own (FUCK NO I WOULD NOT MESS WITH THAT, although I did not actually say FUCK NO, although I thought it).

He paused for a moment and then said that we need to get me off the generic.  THE GENERIC???  I didn't know I was ON a generic and that there was NOT A GENERIC.  He said some people just don't do well on the generic, and the fact that I was forced to be cutting pills meant I wasn't getting a precision dose.  So here's what we are going to do: I started on the non-generic today at 75mcg, and we will see at my next test whether we are achieving the desired result.  He also gave me a referral to an endocrinologist, which I will utilize if I don't start to feel "right" in the next 3 weeks or so, i.e., right before IMCOZ.  Now, I recognize it will be hard for me to tell, because as you know, I have so much HTFU and I get so excited about all this shit and I will be tapering so how could I not feel great?  But I think I will know when all my bodily systems are synchronizing properly again.

The best part of my office visit was at the end, when the doctor looked me in the eye and said, "You look AMAZING for someone your age, and the fact that the only meds you are on is Synthroid speaks volumes about you."  He also said that anyone going through my metabolic ups and downs would be driven mad, let alone someone like me training for an Ironman!  You cannot imagine how great that made me feel.  Because I thought I was pretty damn healthy and that I was (despite the extreme endurance exercise) taking pretty good care of myself.  And that this science experiment has been a clusterfuck.

Oh and the other great part of the visit was that my blood pressure, despite the fact that I felt all jacked up when I walked in, was a beautiful 117/72.

So I am optimistic that perhaps we may have cracked the Crackhead thyroid nut, and if not, well then off to the endo I will go. 

Switching gears, I've been working on my ATP and came up with Version 1 earlier this week.  I know from having done this exercise several times that I always come up with something that's psycho initially.  I've learned more about myself including respecting the fact that I'm older and how much I can tolerate.  I've also learned just how incredibly fit I am despite thinking I did almost nothing earlier this year and most of last year.  I may not be fast, but hey, I can go all day and then some!

So I sat on the first psycho version of my 2014 ATP for a couple of days, then revisited it, because you really have to look at the numbers multiple ways in order to know you've got it right.  So I updated workouts and such yesterday, and this morning I checked my work and found out I'd made a few mistakes (this all comes from my actuarial side--it's called "reasonableness checking") and a few other things still weren't quite right.  Now I'm happy with what I've got, and it it still subject to change as I go along in the plan.  I'm tapering more on the front and back end of races, and there is still some wiggle room in there that I am sure I will need to take advantage of here and there.  But it's still a fucking awesome plan, and it's below.

My A race for 2014 is 24 Hours of Triathlon, or as Brad and I call it, 24 Hours of Crack!  Brad is in charge of creating the strategy for us to break the record based on our individual strengths.  Right now, Brad is the ace cyclist.  I might have him on overall swim and run endurance, though, but in terms of pacing, early on Brad will have me beat.  But he knows that the longer the event, the less I slow down compared to other people, so this should be interesting.

Red Rock Canyon marathon should be fun.  I should even have a chance at qualifying for Boston there, but if I don't, I won't cry.  I won't be doing straight-up marathon training for it, and will continue to bike and swim moderately throughout that cycle.  But if I rest appropriately after IMCOZ and can nail all the quality runs in training, I should do well.  I did go 4:20 at Goofy Challenge in 2010, and that was the day after a 1/2 marathon, so a 4:05 is a definite possibility, which is all I need to BQ.

Triple T in May will be a "train through" race, but I need to be in Ironman shape for it.  I love that race, and can't wait to see who else I know that I can con into going and sharing the Crackhouse (cabin) with me.  So far, it's just Lori, but I know there will be others.  It's nice to have a cabin full of people you know and love there!

Leadman 250 will be like my 3rd Ironman distance race of the year.  It's 5K/223K/22K, but one needs to build better than Ironman bike fitness (which I have and love maintaining), a bit better than Ironman swim fitness (which I have but it's currently dormant), and you might think you don't need to do Ironman-level run training, but yes you do!  Unless your Ironman marathon is under 3 hours ;)  So doing Triple T and 24CRACK in the leadup will be perfect preparation, and then just a bit more than my normal amount of bike training for part of the time.  Actually, I should close out 2013 with about 334 hours of biking, and the 2014 ATP plus estimate of the remainder through year end will put me at about the same amount.  So actually, in aggregate, I won't be biking more next year than this year--it will just be concentrated into less time, since I will go really light initially.

Oh yeah, there's that Chicago ITU Oly in there in June, but that's a "just for fun" race.  I will do however I do.

All in all, 2014 looks to be a great year if I can execute it.  So now I can just finish up the last few weeks of heavy training for IMCOZ knowing that I have other great things on the horizon no matter how that race goes.  I am grateful for being able to nurture such incredible fitness despite:

• Being on a thyroid rollercoaster for well over a year, including a scary hyperthyroid incident
• Landing in the ER for we still don't know what
• Overcoming a virus that took me completely down for 3 days and that lingered for 4 weeks
• Crashing while running and being beat up a little from that for about 2 weeks
• Self-diagnosing and overcoming a sodium overdose
• Experiencing on and off issues (and experiments) with my right foot and lower back in general

All in all, I will have only formally trained for IMCOZ for 15 weeks.  All of the above happened in that space of time.  Fuck!  That's a lot of shit for 15 weeks, isn't it?  But all of us go through bunches of shit--I am so grateful for the family and friends that stick by me through all of this.  Really, most days I have to pinch myself for all the goodness that is in my life, including right now.

Enjoy the Crackitude below!

57th Birthday Celebration and Ongoing Science Experiment

You know I've been waiting to be able to use a picture of that, right?  Well not exactly waiting, but knowing I would use it one day.

Shelley arrived at my house Saturday morning when I was about 3.5 hours into a 5:30 trainer ride.  Yes, TRAINER.  It was dark and really cold when I started, and I wanted to be around for when Shelley arrived, so trainer it was.  My legs didn't feel exactly peppy, most likely due to all the running I did the week before.  But I didn't feel rotten, either.  About 2 hours in, predictably, I wanted to quit.  I started thinking about how long I was going to be on there, that I would have company, and there were a bunch of other things I'd rather be doing.  But that thought passed quickly, and I pressed on.  I watched Dr. No and From Russia with Love before Shelley arrived.

When she got here, we had huge hugs to start.  We hadn't seen one another since 2009 at IMLP, and had become disconnected later that year.  So it was great to see one another, and as much as I just wanted to continue talking and hugging, I had business to do, so I took her bike into my house, and we unloaded stuff from her car.

Shelley claimed to not be as much of a James Bond fan as I am, but she'd seen Skyfall, and so I recommended we watch Casino Royale, as it's the first one with Daniel Craig, so we put that on.  This must have been the 5th or 6th time I've watched it, and it's good every time.  Non-stop action, beautiful cinematography (as most of the Bond movies have), lush scenery, and in this case, decent character development.  Having this on made me HTFU and work harder on the bike, although Shelley had to leave to go see her son, Ian, who was in town to go to a Blackhawks game.  Shelley is Canadian but now resides in Indianapolis with her husband, Steve, and Ian still lives in Canada, but is a huge Hawks fan.

I was fine putting Casino Royale on hold until later, and I switched to music for my last hour of riding.  I ended up at 122 miles in 5:30.  Now, lest you think I had no resistance on the trainer, I did, and I checked the power curve for it:

Power (watts) = slope x speed (km/h) + intercept

Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Slope	3.73	5.33	6.87	8.27	10.07	11.4	13.13	14.4	15.93	17.73
Intercept	-28.67	-36.67	-43.33	-47.33	-66.33	-67.00	-83.67	-82.00	-89.67	-114.67

I was at resistance level 4, so according to this I averaged over 200 watts.  Well, um, no, but still I was kicking out watts, and my legs were appropriately wasted when I finished.

I thought I might run some errands when I was done, but I was too tired to do much more than eat lunch and lay down in bed for an hour or so.  I stretched, and then got ready for dinner, Shelley arrived back from her foray into downtown Chicago, and we went to meet Lori for sushi.

We went to Kyoto in Downers Grove.  I'd been there once before and knew it was good.  Lori and Shelley had wine and I had a giant Sapporo.  We had nigiri and some really great rolls, and I saw someone get this:

so we had to have it.  It was awesome, and the light in the glass changed color, so we had a little show!  I ordered way too many rolls for us to finish, so after dessert of mochi balls, we all made our to go boxes.  Even after all that, the bill wasn't too outrageous, as I'd had a $25 gift certificate that we were able to use.  Shelley and I said goodbye to Lori and went back to my house.

Shelley and I watched the rest of Casino Royale wearing our jammies. Here I am working on my birthday puzzle.  I bought it for myself because I like unicorns ;)

Shelley named my downstairs room the "Iron Kingdom."  I like that name!  It is all about bikes, running and beer down there.  Not sure beer goes with Iron Kingdom, but what the hell, right?

I think once my head hit the pillow that I fell asleep in 2 seconds.  But since I'd stayed up past my bedtime (I've been falling asleep around 7:30 exhausted), I hoped to sleep in a little, but that just doesn't happen lately, and I woke up at my customary 3AM and only got 6 hours of sleep.  I tried to be quiet, and I was until I started bouncing this light up ball on my living room floor, and I guess Shelley heard it as she later reported to me accompanied by a big FUCK OFF.  Oh well.

By the time Shelley got out of bed, I'd already eaten breakfast and drank Ultrafuel and was rarin' to go on my 3:30 ride/:40 run.  She was not.  However, I'd made her coffee and we had some time to chat before I got started, and she got to see how pretty my bar is in the dark

We got ready to get on the trainers again.  I didn't feel too bad considering the day before, and Shelley saw that I had Full Metal Jacked, so we watched that. It made me HTFU and work hard on the bike.  Here I am being a complete dork with my aero helmet on:

Shelley's hip was bothering her, so she got off the trainer after about an hour, and she wanted to go see Ian again anyway, so she got ready and left while I kept going with music on.

This time I did 88 miles in 3:30, so I was able to work harder than on Saturday, which is good, since I was riding for less time.  I did all my interval shit, and I was pretty happy with my effort.  It was nice outside for running, so I stripped off my bike clothes and suited up for outside.

Oh my did I feel tired and also bonky!  I figured there was no way I'd replaced all the calories I'd burned the day before, so I was already way behind starting the run, and even having fueled properly on the bike, I would need to seriously HTFU to get the run done.  It was nice and sunny out, though, so I couldn't help but smile as I was having such a wonderful weekend, and despite feeling bonky, I felt just GREAT!

I was pretty proud of myself when I finished, and so was #OutsideFish:

Of course, after this I had the BEST SHOWER EVER, then I inhaled some food and cracked a beer and stretched, and as much as I wanted to lay down, I needed to get cracking on dinner, since I was cooking for Shelley and Lori.  First I washed dishes (well mostly fucking bottles), then I got the asparagus dish ready to go, got the chicken ready to roast, and waited for Shelley to arrive back.

When she got back, I had one thing on my mind: CHAMPAGNE!  We were going to have it with dinner, but we didn't want to crack open the bottle until Lori arrived.  Within about a minute of her arriving at my house, with all the food almost ready to eat, we had a nice toast and then we were eating, talking, and eating and talking!  We had such a great time, culminating with what I thought was one of the best desserts I've ever had: my homemade Elvis Presley pound cake with one scoop of Hazelnut gelato and another of Coconut gelato.  Lori laughed at how I practically put my face into the bowl, but I was so hungry and it was so tasty!  After I finished mine, I apologized that I needed to eat more, so I had more gelato.

I made Lori take some leftover pasta sauce home with her, and then Shelley and I changed into our jammies and watched Quantum of Solace.  It's not as good as Casino Royale, and also not as long.  I passed out several times, but I'd warned Shelley that I would.  I got up for the end, and then we went to sleep, and I promised Shelley that I wouldn't wake her up in the morning.  Since I was effectively up past my bedtime again, I ended up only getting 6 hours of sleep, but I think Shelley got at least 8.

Monday morning, Shelley and I went to my Y for an easy swim.  We were laughing our asses off a lot, with the highlight being I'm swimming and she is swimming underneath me and I'm like WTF, and she surfaces and says she is Underwater Fish.  That made me keep laughing until I was finished.  I had Shelley check my stroke, and it turns out that I am still crossing over with my left arm if I am breathing on my right, but if I breathe on my left, I'm perfect.  So I will breathe on my left even more than I was until my stupid brain/body gets it!

When we finished, we showered and were about to hit the sauna, when this woman who I gave some swim lessons to and rewarded me with a Bible (yes, ME) began talking to me about how she'd gone vegan and quit eating added sugar and how much better she felt.  I was happy for her, until she started telling me how evil sugar is and that I should stop eating it.  I tried to be nice and explain that being an athlete and all that I NEED sugar while training, but of course, she wouldn't understand.  Still, she went on a bit longer than I thought I could tolerate, and I'm pretty sure Shelley was standing there thinking, "I wonder when Sheila is going to blow her stack at this person?"  Well I didn't even though I wanted to, and I wondered yet again why people have this thing about trying to "fix" me.  Thank you, I'm really not that broken.  However, not too long after that, I made up a prayer that goes like this: FUCK OFF.  AMEN.  If that woman gets on my case again, I will share it with her.

I was hungry WHILE we were swimming, and we decided we'd go to McDonald's for breakfast (my second; Shelley's first).  I had a Steak McMuffin, which was pretty good, but in retrospect, I should have skipped the hash browns.  Those things are disgustingly greasy, but they do taste good.  We both later wished we hadn't gone there at all, but oh well, it was tasty!

We had a few hours to kill, and they'd put up this speed check thing practically right outside my house, and I'd been dying to take a silly picture in front of it.  I decided I'd make a 140.6 sign to put over the flashing speed limit, and so we did it:

The 140.6 is still on there as I write this!  Nobody took it off the sign, and even my neighbors who know I do Ironman probably wouldn't know what it means and suspect me in the shenanigans!

FYI, our splits for the 1-hour Ironman were:

• Swim 5 minutes.  But I think Shelley came in at :04.15.  So that's 7 seconds/100 yds.  Not bad!
• Bike 30 minutes, for 225mph.  Also not bad.
• Run 25 minutes, for a pace of 57 seconds/mile.

After this, I went with Shelley to an ortho appointment about her hip labrum tear.  The surgeon didn't sugar coat anything, and I will not go into details, as that's Shelley's business.

After all that, Shelley had to leave to return home, and I was sad to see her go.  It was like old times, and we'd laughed and caught up and shared our good and bad.  It was a perfect weekend!

Since then, I've been in touch with my doctor again about what's going on with me.  I think the extra 3-4 lbs. on me is possibly water retention, which can be a side effect of either hypothyroidism, levothyroxine, or both.  At any rate, there is no way I could have put on this weight with all the training I've been doing in the last 8 weeks.  So I had a discussion, and the nurse tells me maybe I put on muscle.  WHAT?  Yeah right, EVERYONE puts on muscle in the last 12 weeks of Ironman training.  I asked her if they'd run a bodyfat measurement on me to check and she was puzzled.  At any rate, we decided (with consultation of my doctor) to up my levothyroxine a little more, as it seems that *I* am the one who keeps the best track of monitoring how much and when and what the result was.  And then I can't get my next blood test done until after IMCOZ, and that should be entertaining.  At least I will get to see what that does to my body, eh?  I think the treatment objective for me is to get me as close to hyperthyroid as possible without going over the edge, like I appeared to do in early August.

What was funny is that the nurse said my weight was "stable," and I politely corrected her and said I kept track of it at the same time of the day, and that what they saw in the office every few months was not representative.  I think they are getting the idea that I keep a pretty good eye on myself, you think?

So I will suffer with yet another slight bump in meds and see how it works.  I will know in about a week, even though the nurse claims it takes much longer.  I tried to explain to her that I am trying to separate how I feel due to the training from the effect of the meds, and that it's hard for me to know which end is up.  But if we continue to test me every 6 weeks, I think we will get some idea of how my body behaves on its own, which is what I want to know, because I have a feeling I will need to moderate my levothyroxine dose on my own to match my training objectives.  OH JOY!  But it's just another "thing" to add to my to do list.

On that note, have a great day, I am feeling wonderful!

Crashing and Crackhead Physiology 101

That's me smiling at you!  This picture was on the CD I requested from the CT scan I had done the day I was in the ER.  The reason my teeth are all lit up is that the front 8 (top 4 and bottom 4 central) all have posts/crowns from a rollerskating crash when I was 26, and many of my other teeth have regular crowns on them.  So lots of gold and other metals in there.

I still remember that crash--I was on the Chicago lakefront path at Diversey, and I was wearing red short shorts and a red/white striped tube top (yes I was quite the fashion victim back then), and I was heading north and just missed jumping this 2.5" sidewalk rise.  Both skates crashed into the tiny wall, and I did a face plant onto the concrete, blacked out, and woke up in an ambulance.  Luckily, that day there was a lawyer and paramedic hanging out on the lakefront, and they called the ambulance for me.  I was shaken, but didn't feel too bad other than knowing I'd scraped up my arms and legs.

I passed out again on the way to the hospital (I guess I did go into shock), and when we got there they put me in a room and at that point I was OK to sit up.  Of course someone had removed my rollerskates from my feet and put my tube top back into place.  I guess it had kind of come off my boobs when I crashed.

A doctor came into the room and began examining me and cleaning me up.  I don't remember being X-rayed, as he checked my arms and legs and everything was moving just fine, but then he gave me Betadine and some cotton balls and told me to go work on my face myself since it was going to hurt.  While I was in some pain and knew I'd hit my face, I had no clue what it looked like.

Well I went into the bathroom and saw myself in the mirror and almost fainted!  I became nauseous and had to sit on the floor a few moments, then I got back up and worked on myself.  There was a cut from my lip to my nose (that did not require stitches), and the left side of my face was a giant road rash, including bits of rock and such.  My upper lip was pretty swollen, too.  I kept yelling OUCH while carefully removing bits of debris from my face.  That's when I got a good look at the rest of me, too.  I'd scraped my left shoulder pretty bad, about 8" of my left shin and somehow both elbows.  I looked like I'd been in a car accident!

So after I cleaned up, I went back into the room, they pronounced me ugly but OK to go home, and I was only maybe 1/2 mile from my apartment, so I decided to walk home in the hospital slippers, with my skates slung over my non-scraped right shoulder.  I got a lot of funny looks because of my outfit, the skates, the slippers, and then of course, my face.  My younger sister, Lisa, was staying with me that weekend, and I'd called her from the hospital to get my insurance card info, and she freaked out, but I told her I was OK.

When I got back to my apartment and Lisa opened the door, she started crying when she saw me.  While I was in a little pain, it wasn't that bad, but it was funny to me that she started crying.  I told her I was fine, and then I began to wonder how I was going to wear regular clothes to work with all the scrapes.  I knew nylons (popular back then) were out of the question, and I didn't think I could wear a bra (not that I needed one) over my left shoulder.

The next day I did get on the bus (#151 Sheridan) to go to work.  I found out what it feels like to be looked at when you are disfigured.  My face was a huge mess, now turning into a giant scab on the left side, and of course the swollen lip and cut to my nose.  Some people looked at me in horror, some scowled like I didn't belong on the bus.  I do remember the bus driver joking with me saying, "I bet the other guy looks a lot worse!"  I did have a good laugh about it.

When I got to work, my then boss nearly lost it when she saw me.  She asked why I'd come into work, and I said I felt fine, I just looked bad.  That was when I decided that sometimes it's OK to call into work UGLY!  Nobody in the office could believe I was brave enough to go out in public looking the way I did.  But what was I supposed to do?   Sit at home and be ugly?  I couldn't do that.

Anyway, I just had fun remembering all this.  My face healed up just fine and I don't have any scars from it, but my front 8 teeth had to have root canals and crowns, although I didn't know this for a few years.  At any rate, somehow I didn't break any bones during that crash, but it was pretty spectacular, all things considered!

Now back to my physiology.  I got the test results back from wearing the heart monitor harness. It revealed that what I thought were palpitations were nothing, so there were no adverse findings.  But it recorded my heart rate all the time I was wearing it.  Turns out my resting heart rate is 44!   If I recall, that's about what it was back in 2001 after I had arthroscopy on my left knee.  Turns out 44 is off the charts good for a woman of my advanced age. Actually I am off the chart for an 18 year old girl!  Some of that is my genetic bradycardia, but of course, a resting heart rate that low is also indicative of my fitness, and I would say that I am NOT overtrained based on this.  Maybe I am nearly dead, though!

There are other interesting aspects of my physiology.  My VO2Max is 58, which is sky-high for a woman my age according to this chart. Again, my VO2Max is off the chart for an 18-year old girl.  This is why I am such an endurance freak.

My most recent cholesterol numbers are HDL 80, triglycerides 47 and LDL 122.  So pretty damn good.

The EKG I had in the ER didn't show anything untoward, and apparently there are no robots or monkeys in my brain.  So all I'm left to contend with at this time is the (barely) osteoporosis and hypothyroidism.

The hypothyroidism is my bane, and right now we don't know what my body is doing or why.  My doctor thinks we caught my thryoid when it's just crapping out, but I'm not convinced.  I think I am just extremely sensitive to stress (including training stress) and that it fluctuates.  So I will continue on with my plan of running the thyroid panel every 6 weeks to see what it does at various points in my training cycle.  Even though I tested hypothyroid, the worst I've been measured at, I don't really feel all that bad.  But I did notice I put on a few pounds, and that just shouldn't be happening with all the training I am doing.  But, we are once again increasing my levothyroxine, probably to the point where I am nearly hyperthyroid and that should strip these excess pounds right off me without any effort.  That is how sensitive my physiology is!

The nice thing, though, is that I found an article that explains that I did not MAKE my thyroid do what it's doing.  Remember that I have actually been hypothyroid far longer than I have been doing endurance sports.  At least that's what the tests say.  It could be that when I was tested 15 years ago while depressed that the depression caused the reading.  Or vice versa.  We just don't know.  But there is precedence.

So overall, I would appear to be in good health and there are just some puzzling aspects to my physiology that bear further investigation.  My brother Mike said his doctor is asking him about his siblings, so I can report all my data to him, because a lot of the above is genetic.  However, I am the only child of my siblings who has put my physiology to the test with the lifestyle I lead.  I am happy that I am able to see hard data about myself.  I intend to have at least CBC and metabolic panel run every 6 months now, and next year I will have another bone scan to see if my bones are maintaining (I have a feeling they are even though I've stopped meds for the time being).  I hope my doctor is finding it fascinating to work with someone like me.  I think next time I see her in the office, I am going to tell her how Ironman/Ultraman training really works.  While she knows what an Ironman is, I doubt she (or most people, for that matter) really knows how much training is involved.  I love the fact that she has never once told me to stop doing it, and so far, there is nothing telling me that I need to.  Heart is fine, BP is fine, blood is fine, cholesterol is fine, weight is fine, bones could be better, but even that is genetic (my maternal Grandma had osteoporosis and I think to an extent so did Mom although they never measured it since she never broke a hip), mind is fine for the time being.

Oh yeah the other day some asshole at my pool told me I have no life!  Really.  REALLY?  I told him he had no fucking right (and yes I said FUCKING) to make that statement.  He thinks because all he knows about is that I train a lot that that's all I do.  Well obviously, this blog is mainly about THAT, so to a reader, what else would you think?  But I don't judge others' lifestyles--I figure if a person is happy, that's all that matters, right?  Even if their hobby is collecting potato chips that look like people.  Every single day I feel like I am living the SHIT out of life between my job, my training and racing, my friends and family, gardening, cooking, sewing, reading and whatever else I find time for.  I guess if that's not having a life, then I should probably off myself right now!

Despite the continuing science experiment that is me, I am really super happy, even as I am training like a beast right now.  I can't always do the intensity I want to, and I think that is what is most affected by my thyroid, but I can sure put in the volume, and this week will hit close to 21 hours, which is pretty hefty.  I continue to overcome whatever my thyroid is doing, and for that I am extremely grateful.  I still fucking love fucking training hard, it still feels really awesome to me even when my legs are sore and I'm fatigued most of the time, and it makes me mentally sharp.  So until further notice:

The "Device" and Fashion Update

Yesterday I went back to the hospital to get what they term a "holter" (I once dated a Steven Holter is that the same?), which is like a continuous EKG thing.  You wear the electrodes and the little pack that collects the data for whatever period of time your doctor wants.  Last week, my doctor asked me if I wanted to do this because I'd periodically experienced what feel like palpitations.  Since I have now given myself over to all the science experiments on me, and this is just a mechanical test, NOT drug-induced, I said sure, why not?

I did not know what the thing looked lie or how big it was.  I guess I was thinking standard heart rate monitor stuff, so a strap around my ribcage.  I wasn't looking forward to that, since when I fell last week, I strained and/or bruised my left pec major (also the external oblique, but that's just fine now and I'm left with pec strain but it's coming along nicely), and my ribcage is a bit bony as it is, and I dislike heart rate monitor straps.

I went into the room with 2 techs--primary and a guy who is learning.  I figured I'd have to strip off my shirt so they could put the thing on, so I told them I had no self-consciousness about nudity, but the woman just began attaching electrodes to me, and then she showed me the measuring device, which is smaller than many phones, and all the electrodes hook into it.  She asked if I wanted a belt for it, and I said yeah, I will be biking and running with it on.  No hospital nudity was required--she just lifted up my shirt and felt me up a little!

I had a nice chat with the techs about my bizarre physiology (a bit manic yet hypothyroid; bradycardic yet a Crackhead), and I think they enjoyed hearing about someone other than a couch potato.  I also told them how I could feel my left pulmonary artery pulsing where I'd injured my pec, so the pec inflammation must be irritating it.  I tell you, I know more about the human body than many medical people!  But it's my business to know about my body in order to do what I'm doing and attempting to stay healthy.

So the deal is to write down when I feel weirdness in my heart and at what time.  I am keeping a small spreadsheet of the main things I did yesterday and this morning, just so when the graph of the EKG comes back I can see what my heart does when I am doing certain things.  I am particularly interested in what happens about 1.5 hours after I take the levothyroxine, because I can usually feel my heart start to get all excited.  I am sure they will tell me this doesn't really happen, but LET'S GO TO THE EKG DATA, WOLF (I'm thinking of Wolf Blitzer here LOL).

Anyway, here I am all electroded up:

There are 5 electrodes on me, and you can see the battery-powered measuring device on my left hip.  It doesn't weigh very much (maybe 4 oz.), and since once upon a time in a land far, far away, I used to wear a Walkman on a belt when running, it didn't really bother me. In fact, I had to remind myself to write stuff down for a few hours there.  To date, I experienced what felt like palpitations to me twice, but I'm expecting them in another hour, as I took the levothyroxine about 40 minutes ago.  2 weeks ago when I felt them, it was more central under my sternum, but now they are by my left pulmonary artery.  I suppose it's possible that because I fell on that pec that I have just inflamed that area.  Whatever, we will see what we see.

I had to do a 2-hour ride yesterday, and it was raining and crappy, and I needed to monitor something at work anyway, so it was hop on the trainer.  My training schedule calls for 11.5 hours of biking this week, and I'm pretty sure it will ALL be on the trainer.  That will be a first to do that much all on the trainer!  But I couldn't give a fuck, it has to be done, I have plenty of HTFU and tunes and movies and Infinit!

Here I am ready to start my ride.  I busted out a vintage Zoot outfit that I hadn't worn in a few years.  I think I look really fat, but the shorts seem to fit just fine.  I got that cool silver skull at Walgreen's yesterday on the way home from the hospital!  I check Walgreen's every October, because I usually find some sort of cool Halloween thing, and I was happy to find this because it reminds me of Terminator:

I really didn't notice the monitor while I was on the bike since I had all the electrode cords channeled so I wouldn't get all tangled up on the bike!  I think it was a good idea I was riding on the trainer, because if I'd gone outside with the device, I might have got it wrapped around the bars and crashed!

I had a great ride of 2 hours.  I lengthened it from 1:30 so that I can ride 1/2 hour less on Sunday, when I'm cooking dinner for 2 girlfriends, Lori and Shelley.  I ran :25 on my treadmill, Hal, at a super easy pace.  Turns out I wasn't supposed to run off the bike, oh well, I guess my coach will punish me for that!  I couldn't take a full shower afterwards, so I got in the tub and hung the device on the shower door handle, washed from the waist down, then did my arms and neck.  At 5:30 I went to get a haircut and asked my girl Clorinda to shave my head.  It's really short again, because with all this riding, I can't stand extra hair, although I let her leave slight bangs.  My final haircut before IMCOZ I will get totally shaved down, cuz that's how I roll.  It was nice to finally get my hair washed after walking around being a disgusting pig after working out.

On Saturday I'm riding 5:30, and me and my girls are going out for sushi (I will try not to pass out on them), and then on Sunday I'm riding 3:30 and running :40 off the bike, will lay down for a bit after that and pass out or not, and then I will complete the prep for our Sunday dinner.  Below are the Elvis Presley pound cakes that I baked on Sunday, and following that is the full dinner menu:

• Cheese and crackers while I'm cooking
• Asparagus bundles with fontina and prosciutto.  These are easy to fix, and will take me no more than 1/2 hour to cook the asparagus, make the bundles, and then ready them for the final baking in the oven.
• Fettucine with bacon/Gorgonzola sauce.  I made the sauce last night except for the addition of the cheese, so that will take all of 5 minutes.
• Roast chicken with garlic, lemon and rosemary.  This will take maybe 15 minutes of prep time and then into the oven for just over 1.5 hours.
• Dessert will be the Elvis Presley pound cake with gelato (I have hazelnut and coconut) drizzed with optional Grand Marnier

Sounds like a good meal, huh? We will drink good French champagne with dinner, as there is much to celebrate!  There will, of course, be leftovers, and I expect to send some home with both my girls.  I do love to cook, especially when I can do a whole meal like this for others.  I don't really have a whole lot of time to cook right now, but with planning, I was able to put this together with my schedule.  This will be a great reward for my big training week, too!

I only have about :45 left to wear the monitor, then I will strip off the electrodes, take off the strap, and go for a swim. After that, I will drive to hospital to drop off the device.  It will take them about 2 weeks to look through the recorded data.  Should be interesting.  I do know that I have a mitral valve prolapse that is nothing to worry about (I had an echocardiogram some years back to confirm), but it will be interesting to me to see what my heart is doing while I exercise now, since it's been so long since I've worn a heart monitor.

Meanwhile, we've upped my levothyroxine so I take 75mcg twice a week (I'm doing it on Monday and Friday), and then we will retest me during my taper.  Man, I really would like to be dialed in for race day, but who the fuck knows what is happening with my body yet?  The fucking science experiment continues...

But despite all this hassle, I continue to be grateful that I am able to keep training and living life to the fullest possible for the moment. Aspects of my life are a royal pain in the ass right about now, but things could be much, much worse.  At some point, we will get my thryoid function dialed in, and then I will get to see how/who I really am!  Can you imagine what my body might be able to do with all my mitochondria working at 100%?  The prospect of that is what keeps me from freaking out about all this.  I mean look what I've been able to do with sub-optimal thyroid function for years.  I think it will feel something like this when I am finally fixed up:

Fashion Update

I've been monitoring how I feel for months now, to understand if whether how I feel is tied to the synthetic thyroid hormone (I will just abbreviate it as STH from here on out), the high amount of training I'm doing or what have you.  I noticed when I began sleeping less, but I have years of data on how much I sleep alongside how much training I'm doing, and I decided that my doctor prescribed too much STH.

2 days ago, I left a message at my Dr. that I think they stepped me up too high, and could we change the amount because I have been feeling a bit edgy, sleeping less, and occasionally my heart gets jumpy (but not during exercise).  I had requested that my TSH level be medicated to 1-2, but it came back at .676 last test, which is technically not hyperthyroid, but I can tell that for me, I'm just a little bit too wired.  Anyone who follows me on Facebook no doubt has seen the dramatic change of me going from background or completely absent to highly active.  My friend Susan has been the victim of me talking close to the speed of light, and while I get close to that warp speed while in heavy training normally, this has become a bit much.

I didn't hear from my Dr. yesterday so I called and left another message.  This time, I was a little agitated when I left it, stating that while this is not a medical emergency and I do not need to go to the emergency room, nonetheless I need this to be fixed right away.  The pills I was taking are 75mcg, and my prior dosage was 50mcg, so trying to cut the 75mcg's to make something halfway between just wasn't going to cut it.  LOL I made a pun there, did you catch it?

So I did get a callback yesterday mid-morning, and I asked why Dr. had stepped me up such a big increase from 50mcg to 75mcg?  Previously, I'd started at 25mcg, then 37.5 mcg, then 50mcg, and then 75mcg.  So you see the other jumps were gradual.  Do you know what the fucking nurse said?  "We moved you to 75mcg because there are no pills made between 50 and 75."  DA FUCK.  Lucky for her, I was not inclined to jump down her throat (I actually commended myself for this).  I had to initially make a case for getting my TSH down to 1-2, and then they pull this shit on me and turn me nearly dangerously hyperthyroid? Cool.  Well it was fun while it lasted!  Before any of you become outraged at my attitude toward the nurse, know that I know she didn't do it, and I truly didn't react to her.  I thanked her profusely for calling me and answering a bunch of questions I had, and I am guessing the entire time she was like FUCK THIS WOMAN NEEDS TO CHILL GOOD THING SHE ASKED FOR LESS STH!

I now have a bottle of 25mcg pills, and I am to take 2.5 (which is 62.5mcg) per day.  They told me to buy a pill cutter, but assholes, these are tiny pills and besides they are scored, so I can just break them in half for the .5 piece.  I bought the pill cutter anyway, in case I need it down the road for something else, since I'm an old lady and who knows what the hell else will be wrong with me?

You may be able to tell from my writing that this little science experiment had gone a tad too far!  Also I noticed that all I want to listen to is NIN, but that usually occurs about this time in an Ironman training cycle, so it's tough to say whether that's from the training or the drugs.

At any rate, I need to be able to sleep more than 5 hours at a time.  I truly don't believe the STH has had any impact on my workouts...it has just accelerated my leaning out, MAYBE.  I say this because I noticed some fat coming off in early July which coincided with me going over 18 hours of training per week, and at that level, well, it just is impossible for me to NOT lose fat.

That is what makes this science experiment difficult to analyze objectively--the fact that some changes that normally occur with me at certain training levels are coinciding with the increased STH dosage.  Certainly my Dr. would have no way of knowing all the variables that are in play here in as much detail as I do.  So once again, I am glad that I keep track of not only my training hours, but how much I am sleeping, because without that, I wouldn't have been able to look back historically to see whether what I've been experiencing is normal or not.

Jesus fucking Christ am I typing fast!  I'm a pretty fast typist anyway (north of 100wpm), but it's like I can't get the words out of my head and into the machine fast enough.

It shouldn't take much more than a week for my body to settle with the new dosage of STH, and thank God because I know I need more sleep. 

On the plus side, I am just about at my fighting weight/body comp.  Thing is, I am not dropping weight, which means my fat/muscle ratio is shifting.  I can see it in my face, my abs and my legs.  Cool thing is that I am about 2 lbs. heavier than what I used to consider my fighting weight, and I don't think it's from more fat, hey!  So I guess I really DID manage to pack on some more muscle last year while I was allegedly noodling around doing nothing.  But I do plan on getting tested, that plus my BMR so I can see just how my body is performing, but I will wait for at least 3 weeks until the new STH level has taken effect.  I have a master "to do" list, and one of the items is QUIT BEING FAT.  I struck it out just now!

Here's a recent picture of me

I've been looking at older pics to see how I compare to other times when I've been pretty lean, and I think I'm there.  My legs are a bit fuller now, but that's OK.  Everything else it right in line with where it should be.  Another way I can tell is that when I'm running, men are nearly crashing their cars to get a look at the Crackhead.  I feel confident in rolling my run shorts down now, there's nothing disgusting there to see on my abs anymore.

Speaking of running, yesterday I did a tempo run and was about 1.1 miles from home when I saw this man on a bike (upright touring style) that I see frequently on my usual running route. We waved at one another (I started waving at him this spring, and actually I've been waving at any runner or cyclist pretty much all the time, which is fun because it makes me smile, and I hope that my smile is infectious), then he did a U-turn and I knew he wanted to meet me.  Turns out he's 57 and was a serious runner in college.  The first thing he said to me is that he'd always wanted to tell me how great my running form is!  I told him that was the best thing I'd heard in awhile.  Lots of people who see me running think that all I do is run, so his first question was how much do I run per day?  And well, then I had to tell him about the other stuff I do and I could see his brain working overtime to process what I was telling him. I rattled off what I did last week (35 miles running, 180 miles biking and about 10,000 yards swimming) and he was a bit incredulous, which is fine by me!  I told him that I'd only been doing endurance since the age of 42, he asked me my current age was a bit taken aback.  He also commented on my abs, and yes, I know this is why people stare--there aren't many women PERIOD who have definition.  Mostly I was just happy to finally meet this guy (his name is JR, which I will remember from the old TV series Dallas--now I guess this is another strange coincidence wow life is really throwing them at me lately), and so now when we pass one another we can shout our names out!  The poor guy probably thought I was a bit wigged out, because like I've said, my speed of talking has gone supersonic lately, and I really hope it chills out in another week.

So, to summarize, the way I know I'm at race weight/body comp is:

1. Men nearly crash their cars trying to gape at me when I'm running.
2. I want to listen to NIN and nothing but NIN.
3. I feel confident rolling my running shorts down (zero muffin top!).
4. I feel light as a feather running up hills.  Yes, this is happening now, too!
5. I have no problem taking and posting nearly naked pics of myself (the above is the fault of one Jeff H. who posted a pic of a little girl doing pushups next to her row of Barbie dolls, and of course I had to replicate it).  But I will avoid this mostly--everyone has seen enough pics of me nearly naked!

I am still pinching myself (despite the over medication) at how wonderful I feel.  Knowing that I really HAD trained a fair amount last year and seeing that I am able to pick up speed NOW is such a great feeling, and looking forward to being up at Ironman Wisconsin to cheer and then it will be only 3 months until Ironman Cozumel!

Life is good, but should be even better in another week or so!