Month: December 2024

HeartSaver CT

I’m having a HeartSaver CT scan on Friday morning to check for heart disease, specifically for calcium deposits in my heart’s arteries. Sparing the details of a 2014 study where the conclusion was: “long-term male marathon runners may have paradoxically increased coronary artery plaque volume.”

That means if I have significant calcium build-up in my heart’s arteries, I could drop dead at any moment from doing the thing that I love to do. Live by the sword, die by the sword, I guess.

My dad died way too young from heart disease. I want to hang on for as long as I can. And I haven’t run my best marathon yet.

Thanks be to Mario Fraioli and Brendan Leonard for inspiring me to take a step in checking up on my heart health and hopefully I can keep this engine humming for some years to come.

A state of the art facility

I have an interest in the science of sport and physiology. But I’m no scientist of physiologist. I get the basic concepts. One of which is heat training. I’ve read a bit about heat training but I’ve experienced it a hell of a lot more than I’ve studied it.

And I have a lot of personal experience with the effect of heat training. I enjoy running, so I run year-round. And that includes the blazing hot and long summers in Central Texas. And when race seasons comes around in the fall and winter, it becomes easier to run fast. My basic, non-scientific explanation to myself and athletes that I work with is that the body isn’t have to work as hard to keep the core body temperature regulated, so that “extra” blood volume can be used to fuel the running muscles.

Reading this recent article on Jacob Sommer Simonsen destroying the Danish marathon record was kind of a “duh” moment for me. I have to remember that many parts of the world don’t have our Texas oppressive heat. Full disclosure: I didn’t read that linked article in its entirety (yet). But I get the gist. Is the same gist as my basic, non-scientific explanation in the paragraph above. You train in the heat and you can get faster and/or more efficient.

I did get to the part in the article where hemoglobin is discussed. I knew hemoglobin was part of our blood, but I didn’t recall what we actually needed it for. I’m sure I did at one point (like in 8th grade science). Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that carry oxygen from the lungs to our muscles and organs. Hemoglobin density is increased by consuming foods high iron. Foods like red meat, spinach, and beans are high in iron.

A state-of-the-art and stunningly-designed running facility with accommodations such as an 8-lane outdoor track, training facility, weight rooms, showers, Buc-ee’s-like bathrooms, locker rooms, meeting and conference rooms, studio, lounge, coffee and juice bars, a bar bar, and the best barbecue in Central Texas, tucked in a beautifully-landscaped plot of land in the hill country. Phase II would introduce an indoor track and kolaches.

Our Danish, Kenyan, Norwegian, and everyone from around the globe would be crawling over each other to come and experience, train, and stay here.

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