Training Log Archive: markg

Run to the UoC gym and back. Made sure to maintain a low intensity. No heart problems :)

Lunges, leg press, knee raises, hamstring curls and calf raises.

Might go for an easy run today and/or visit the gym.

Got some DVDs did no exercise.

Thought I would start taking my HR when I wake up. I'll do it for a while and see what I learn. Was surprised it was this high when I had just woken up - lowest recorded is 51 - but then I've always had a high resting HR; I think I get it from my mother. Also discovered I'd had a bit of a nose bleed during the night so perhaps I was also a little dehydrated.

So I rode the exercise bike for 15min at lunch to warm up and have a quick stretch before getting a massage … when I jump off the bike, I get a pain in the left-side of my chest, about where I expect my heart is, for about a second which repeats every 30s-5min. Have my 1/2 hr massage, still getting the pain, so I visit the local medical clinic. Get an EKG, blood test and a chest x-ray. Blood and x-ray look okay, but they think the EKG might indicate idiopathic pericardia - an inflammation of the sac around the heart with no obvious cause. They send me home on orders to take ibuprofen for the inflammation and get a follow-up EKG next week. In the meantime I have to avoid strenuous exercise or exercising for over an hour. All in all, that's not so bad … better than most of the things that spring to mind when you get chest pain!

Collecting flags from my TNT last week. Wasn't much technical challenge as I've been to all the control sites twice already. Lots of snow on the ground though which made it hard work and I struggled to keep up a threshold HR. Lost time looking for one of the flags and later trying to shake off an over-enthusiastic dog which was running around me in circles looking menacing; lost about 2 min. Running distance 5.9km (6:06/km).

10 min warm up; 4 min warm down.

I like Mona's Fartlek. I think it's because the interval length decreases regularly, which gives you something closer to aim for, and you feel like you're progressing through the session. Quads still a bit sore today but wasn't a problem cycling. Resistance 11 for the 1:30 ints, 12 for the 1:00 and 0:30 ints, and 13 for the 0:15 ints. My Polar was playing silly buggers so I don't have HR data.