An Unusual Week

Well, this week started off with my driving daughter Kesley to White Pass on Sunday for a cross-country camp. I dropped her and her friend Kendra off at the ski area and learned that they would be running up the ski slopes in 2 hours. I was more than a little jealous. My stomach was bothering me some and I ended up not eating until late that evening; going from breakfast to dinner with nothing in between. This is always a bad thing for me. Monday arrived with my stomach continuing to bother me and was the start of our annual company sales meeting. Four days of continuous meetings with no opportunity to run at lunch. Tuesday, my stomach was still not good and I couldn't even enjoy the free meal at the dinner Tuesday evening for the sales staff.

Wednesday, I decided to go into the Walk-In clinic and see what was up. I get to the clinic and after an hour wait, the nurse gets my blood pressure and pulse rate. The blood pressure is border line high and because my stomach ache is located high in the abdomen, she orders an EKG to check my heart. Having just done a 102 mile bike ride on Saturday, I figure my heart is in pretty good shape, but know she is just going down the check list and don't object. As luck would have it, there is an abnormality in my EKG. They get a bit excited, give me baby aspirin to chew on and move me into another room where they can monitor me better. All the while I'm trying to tell them that my heart is fine; you people don't have a clue what I do for fun. They draw blood and send it to the lab for analysis to determine if I have indeed had a heart attack. Well, my wife actually works in this lab, so I call her to let her know where I am and to assure her that I am fine. The blood work comes back - no heart attack. What a surprise I think. The Walk-In Clinic doc consults with a cardiologist regarding the abnormal EKG and determines that the abnormal spikes could occur with a very thin invidual who had an extremely fit heart. Duh, that would be a picture of me on the poster for that description.

So having ruled out the heart attack, the doctor decides that I likely got dehydrated on my bike ride the previous Saturday and aggravated a slight gastric ulcer. I received a prescription for Prevacid and was sent on my way. Started the medication on Wednesday afternoon and by Thursday, was feeling much better. Friday was better still and on Saturday, I was good to go for the Seattle to Portland bike ride.

My friend Desmond and I left the UW stadium at 5:15 AM and arrived at the finish in Portland at 6:03 PM. According to my bike computer, it was just shy of 204 miles and I had 11:09 of actual ride time. Ended up averaging 18.2 mph for the trip. I was rarely ever in a pace line, usually riding at the front of one. I did get to ride for a while with John Pearch which was a pleasant surprise. Overall, I felt strong for the entire ride. I do need to change shoes/pedals however. My left foot felt like someone was driving a spike up through the bottom toward the end of the ride. MUCH easier than running for 12 hours, however.

Guess it's time to train for White River now. KRK

Weekly summary July 2-8

It was a varied week for me. After a 45 mile bike ride on Saturday, Sunday I got out for my first long run since mid-May. 32 miles on the CCC course. It went better than expected - having Tim bonk probably saved me. If I had pushed more, I am certain I would have felt worse on Monday.

Tuesday I got up early and helped to set up the 5k and 10k courses for the YMCA Yankee Doodle runs. Then ran the 5k with daughter Kelsey. Our times were slow, but it was great to finally get to run with her again and she had a strong kick to finish. Spent the afternoon and evening at a the home of one of my wife's co-workers who is a MAJOR pyromaniac. He spent several hundred dollars on fireworks and we were happy to watch him set them all off. I took my camera along and actually managed to get a few photographs to turn out.

Thursday was Walleyball and Friday was 45 minutes on the treadmill - 10:00 min/mile at 10% grade. I was thoroughly soaked by the time I got off. Finally, on Saturday I put in my last long training ride prior to STP. I put together a hilly 102 mile loop in Snohomish county that took me from Lake Stevens to Snohomish to Monroe. Then it was on to Granite Falls, followed by Stanwood, then Arlington. From Arlington, it was onto the Centennial Trail past Lake Stevens to Machias and then back home. I am certain that STP will have far fewer hills. KRK