The Walker With Heart

Overall a good day... My blood glucose is running a bit high, so time to increase the dose of metformin for 6 months, while I still hammer my body in marathon training (and hence need to funnel in more sugars!)... a bit of a catch 22. However, with luck and a few months without the need for sugary drinks I should be able to reduce the dose again. My cardiology appointment was great, usual banter about life the universe and everything, and ECG and an ECHO - and a promise of a 24h tape as its been a while (20+ years) and I mentioned I'd had a bout of ectopics that annoyed me... My heart is excellent and his considered opinion on my exercise levels were that they were insane:-) I took that as a compliment! The ECG was clear, but it keeps him happy and I'll probably throw some exercise at it... Then I got to the climbing wall and they'd reset some of the bouldering problems - NEW ROUTE MADNESS!!!:-D TTFN Paul So I'm 80% happy with what my body is doing

Ugh... It's started... The inability to focus... The irrititableness ... The lack of sense of humour... The gnawing worry... The fear of the unknown... It's the night before my annual check up, if you checked my blood pressure it would be higher than normal... As much as I know, and have been told, that I'm fitter than I've ever been... Running PB's and climbing harder (both in terms of grade and endurance) should mean that I'm going in confident and proud of what I'm able to do... But I'm not! Why? I think I've worked it out, or at least part of it... I have little control over the dicky ticker, I can do the same things as everyone else to keep it healthy, but one day it might decide to get more dicky ... Lack of control is one of the main stressors in study after study.., and boy do I know it! So the plan for tomorrow, go and see my diabetic nurse for the results of my latest blood test (I have more control there, so even if the news isn't b...

That was fun:-) The day didn't start well, the cab driver was anti-runs, anti-runners, anti-non scousers and pretty much anti-everything... Ho Hum, hop he has a better day! The run plan was to do 1500m run and 500m of walking, giving my system enough time to cool off and recover but over all give me a pace of around 12 min miles. And for 10 fantastic miles I hit it or close enough that it didn't matter - 5 miles in a shade under an hour (as in beating in my 2 nd fastest standalone 5miles), 10 miles in 2 (as in doing it again:-))... Then the last 3 miles... Anything under 41 min was going to give me a PB... The last 3 miles are straight along the Mersey towards the Irish Sea, which is flat and should be fast... Apart from today's headwind... That slowed me up, took my breath away and made the last 5 km a real battle... Running between gusts of winds is never an option I'd thought I end up doing... But it worked:-) All the training of pumping out 40min 5 km worked, a...

Well , I'm being whisked back up north by Virgin ... We ' re only 20 minutes late ! A good day , its always good when I get to meet up with other activists , other people driven with a passion to improve how heart children and their families are supported from diagnosis all the way through guch - dom and independent living . So plans are being hatched , ideas tossed around in the strategy wok and the continuation of a lot of hard work looked at and celebrated . As well as recharging my activist batteries the day managed to distract me from tomorrow , allowing me to relax about I'm doing ... The trainers are tagged with the chip , the CHF vest has my number attached (1567), my body glide is standing ready , and my post race bag is ready to be left on the baggage coach . Only things left to do are book a cab to the start and remember to put my cloc...

Well, memo to self - don't forget the anti-chaff stuff! An ugly run for me is one where I can't keep to a pace or walk run sequence, where I feel grumbly ... And boy did I feel grumbly today, every hill was very hard work, not helped by the temp going up. The nice days of winter when I can avoid carrying a bottle of water have gone... http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28007579 Ah well, the rest is now on... 2 days without any exercise, no walking to town, no "I just feel like 5km"... I'll be at the Children's Heart Federation AGM and Federation day tomorrow and Saturday, good to see the gang from CHF and the other charities again and to chat over the various areas of work we're taking forward. The pasta is stockpiled, the go-go juice is in the fridge and the number pinned to my vest... So if you're in Liverpool Sunday Morning - give me a cheer, I'll be near the back but trying to enjoy it and trying to beat 2:41. TTFN Paul

The long range weather report is near perfect... Then 5km run was good (34:30), felt easy... The mild cold is retreating... The protein has been eaten... Moving on to the carbs .... Now do I go hell for leather and try and set a PB on Sunday? Next Tuesday is my annual cardiac check up; chat, ECG, echo and I should be out in an hour or so... Apart from its never that easy, every year I start getting worried, start wondering what if somethings gone wrong, do I need a valve doing, have I overdone the exercise, have I underdone the exercise, has the stretching and pulling in climbing done something... Rational fears or irrational worries - I don't know. But its a distraction, that slight buzz of an irritating mosquito somewhere in the room that you can't find. All I can do is concentrate on the rest of my life and work out my strategy for Sunday... Ho Hum, bust be the Cardiology Blues... TTFN Paul

So that's a 1000km. The gang I was walking with, and mate who came past on her bike, knew what was due... and we celebrated with an ice cream... The Champagne is on ice for the end of the challenge. So looking back, what have I learnt... What I've done has be written about in the previous 85 blogs (how did I get up to 85???) learnt is something different? Be warned there's a few places my temper peeps through... I've dug deeper than I ever thought I could, the last miles on those long runs, the dragging my backside up Snowdon in a month where I'd run a half marathon and a 10k, the countless times I've gone out to walk or run when anyone with half an ounce of sanity would have rolled over and stayed in bed. The digging carries on, the next 10 weeks are massive for me... My local half marathon, the Shine Walking Marathon in April and then the real big one the Edinburgh Marathon. Oh, and then there's the little matter of my investiture as a Member the Order ...