Friday, December 24, 2010

Think about what you have

Yesterday I was more than a little frustrated with the fact that I'm really on the bench for the first time since getting into triathlons 2 years ago. Several readers were kind enough to give me encouragement through comments and via private communication, and to remind me this is probably just a little bump in the road, and they're right. With all the positive things going on around me, I got down a little too easy, and I want to thank the best people in the world (the readers of this blog, natch) for reminding me of that.

In fact, I decided since I can't train for the next few days I'm going to have a little extra fun. I won't be able to have any beer for most of the next 9 months, but for the next few days, a beer a day sounds like fun. Just 1 mind you, and I'll be exploring the Trappist beers of Belgium, and sharing them with Rach. Usually, I roll with the punches pretty well, but these past couple months I've been blowing small things out of proportion. So, I'm gonna do my best to get my cheery disposition back in place, especially now that the "blahs" caused by the change in seasons should be over.

Plus, I got some good news from the doctor as well. As an additional step, they ran the standard set of cholesterol and diabetes tests on me when I went and visited her to prep for my MRI next week. Everything came back either good or very good:

HDL (Good cholesterol): 39. 40-60 is the normal range, so I'm just a bit low; but for HDL the higher the better. Last year I got a 43, so this has gone down a bit. I have fish oil pills but haven't been taking them. I will now, as this continues to be a bit lower than I'd like.

LDL: (Bad cholesterol): 78. 0-138 is the normal range, so I am in awesome shape for this test. In fact, my bad cholesterol dropped from 102 last year, so this has improved 3 years in a row.

Triglycerides: 153. This is the tiniest bit high, but because I wasn't fasting when the test was taken and my numbers are in general good, she said not to worry about it. My number last year was 109 when fasting, so that's probably closer to the mark.

Hemoglobin A1C: 5.5 Any number under 6.0 is a good number. It means I don't have diabetes, and that is something I do have some concerns about as my father is Type II diabetic. His is under control with medication and diet, so it's not like we have a big family history.

There were a couple other tests to check my thyroid as a potential cause of the memory issues, and to test my kidney function, along with the standard metabolic tests, and everything came back normal. So while I might not be in very good shape yet, my blood already is.

And of course what better way than Christmas with my family, even if it is through Skype, to get infused with a big dose of holiday cheer. When I was growing up, we spent Christmas Eve night at my maternal grandmothers with my moms big family exchanging gifts and eating a big meal. Then we'd do gifts with just my parents, my sister, and I on Christmas morning. After my nieces were born, that changed, and now we do Christmas presents on Christmas eve morning as the girls spend Christmas with their dads.

Presents started at 6:30 and between a run to the bagel place for Rach and I's breakfast, and 2 hours of watching my family open presents, it's been a full day and it isn't even 9 AM as I type this. In fact, Rach is already back napping. Between my parents, my sister, the 2 girls, and one of the girls boyfriends, it's a full house there, so doing it remotely wasn't terrible, though they're going to enjoy one heck of a lunchtime meal today. And there's nothing like being home for the holidays, even if I have been looking forward to spending this Christmas with just Rach.

Of course, we didn't just watch my family open gifts, we opened what they sent us, and both of the gifts my parents got me are ideal for my mission over these next 9 months. First, I got an electronic kitchen scale so I no longer have to guess at the weight of my portions so I can properly measure the calories included. The big gift though, was a Garmin Forerunner 305!!! It was the #1 present on my list, and I love it already. While I won't be able to run or ride hard with it for a while, I already have it charging and will take a very light and easy ride out in front of the house today just to see it in action. I'll walk a very flat, slow, and easy couple of miles just see how it performs. I'm super excited to have this awesome training device. I'm going to find a way to track a majority of my workouts with it, and hopefully be able sync them up to the blog.

So maybe I can't really work out right now, and I'm having trouble remembering a few words here and there as I rest up from whatever it is that's causing these memory issues, but I can enjoy the holidays, and whether or not I get anymore gifts (the giant pile of presents under the tree indicates I will), I already have a great many things that don't come in wrapping paper that make my life great.

Notes:

- I'm taking the weekend off as usual, so Merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and if not... Happy Saturday! If you're celebrating anything this holiday season, or just celebrating life, enjoy this time time.

- Just because I'm going to have a few beers doesn't mean I'm giving up on winning the Chubsmas Challenge. I'm going to be walking a lot the next 7 days, and if I'm feeling better, my is hopefully to still race on 1/1.

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