50 meters without stopping

 Life  No Responses »
Apr 182007
 

That doesn’t sound like much.  After all, it’s barely over half a football field, but when you’re swimming, it’s like an eternity.

But this morning, I did exactly that. I did have to make a turn (it’s only a 25 meter pool), but I didn’t stop, like I did last Sunday. I did manage to swallow some pool water, towards the end though.  It wasn’t that good.

Next week, I’ll increase the distance to at least 75 meters, and hopefully 100 meters. Increasing 25 meters a week won’t get me to my goal of 800 meters for the triathlon in time.

My only concerned is I may become spoiled by the heated pool, where I’m practicing. This morning, the pool was a balmy 83.5oF. That’s a far cry from the 70oF maximum, expected for Long Beach bay during the triathlon.

Thank goodness wet suits are permitted during the race.

 Posted by at 6:58 pm

Ooooh! I am so sore this morning

 Cycling, General Health, Life  2 Responses »
Apr 162007
 

After running 3 miles, swimming 200 meters, doing a chest and shoulder workout at the gym, and then playing 18 holes of golf at the Men’s Club monthly golf tournament yesterday, I am just plain sore.

Mostly it’s my calves that are sore, from running, and my back is stiff from probably everything else. Just getting out of bed this morning was a real struggle.

One thing I learned yesterday, I think of great importance, is running on the road is a lot different than running on the treadmill. The treadmill is much easier.

Hopefully I can recover quickly. Afterall, the best measure of fitness, is not how far or fast you can ride a bike, run or swim, (although they are important measures), it’s how quickly you can recover from doing all that stuff.

I better go stretch now!

 Posted by at 6:27 am

I’m a glutton for punishment!

 Cycling, General Health, Life  No Responses »
Apr 152007
 

This morning I went for my first swim in…. well I can’t remember the last time I went swimming. Most likely it was in college or high school. Fortunately it’s one of those things, like riding a bike, you don’t forget.

I managed to complete 200 meters (8 laps of a 25 meter pool), but it was not easy. I did 5 freestyle laps in just under 30 seconds each, but I had to rest after each lap, and switch off with 2 breast stroke, and one back stroke lap, just to recover in between. I know 30 seconds, for 25 meters, isn’t that great, but you have to start somewhere.

Plus the swim followed a 3 mile run just before.

So if you haven’t guess by now, I’ll tell you. I’m in training for the Long Beach Triathlon, September 23rd, of this year.

Fortunately it’s a sprint triathlon, which means it isn’t very long. I know I can do the 11 mile bike ride, without even having to think about it, and the 3 mile run should be a piece of cake also, but the 800 meter swim…….. well, that’s a whole different story.

I’m going to have to do a whole lot training to get in good enough shape to be able to swim 800 meters, in the long beach harbor to boot (cold water with a wet suit), if I expect to make a decent showing, and beat one of my counterparts at our sister company, and another person from one of our vendors, who talked me into this.

It must be that competitive nature in me, that is forcing me to do this, or so I am assuming. You know what they say,

What doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger.

Let’s just hope it doesn’t kill me. :)

So if anyone out there is already planning to compete in the Long Beach Triathlon, or would like to train along with me, let me know. I could use the encouragement.

Oh yeah, and any training tips, especially swim training tips, would be greatly appreciated.

 Posted by at 8:57 am

Friday the 13th, a lucky or unlucky day?

 Off Topic  1 Response »
Apr 132007
 

Being today is Friday the 13th, I thought it would be fitting to give a brief history of this rare but not uncommon day. (July of this year also has a Friday the 13th, as does June of 2008)

By some accounts, well at least one, Friday is considered a lucky day. Friday is Freya’s day, the Norse goddess of love and fertility, and it was common to be married that day. It was also a day of worship among many cultures as it is also the day of Venus.

Freya, however, was considered a witch among Christian cultures, and thus the good association was deemed evil.

The fear of the number 13 comes about from the Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven, when in walked an uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness [and sunlight], with a mistletoe-tipped arrow.

Balder died and the whole Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned. It was bad.1

But the combination of the two is believed to have started on Friday, October 13, 1307, when [all] the Knights Templar were simultaneously arrested in France, by agents of King Philip IV, [and tortured for heresy].2

So there you have it! What do you think? Lucky or unlucky?

I choose to think of it as a lucky day, in honor of the Norse Goddess Freya!

Besides, Tuesday the 26th has a lot more significance to me, as a bad luck day.

 Posted by at 9:18 am

Is everyone sick in this country?

 General Health, Health Care, Life, My MCL  1 Response »
Apr 112007
 

First it was Ed Bradley, recently dying of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, and now listening to the evening news, I learned that Fred Thompson, potential presidential candidate, who also played a DA on the TV show Law and Order, was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL) 3 years ago.

This, on top of the fact that an old cycling buddy, plus the boy friend of another cycling buddy, were both diagnosed with NHL within the same time frame, a 37 year old woman, working at our sister company, was recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclecrosis, and the Chief Inspector at the company I work for, just underwent treatment for lung cancer.

Then I can’t forget about my wife (Edie), diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, and two other other cycling buddies, one who was diagnosed with bone cancer about 3 years ago, and still undergoing treatment, and the other who was diagnosed with breast cancer, and brain cancer, about 6 years ago, who so far is still in remission.

Oh yeah, and then there is one of our wine drinking friends, who has recently been undergoing tests for the diagnosis of something, which she has not been very forthcoming in telling us about.

What is going on here? Is this this just life, i.e. something that happens as we age? Is it our life style, that is resulting in more people getting sick? Or do I just know too many people?

Whatever it is, I don’t like it!

It is just starting to get real old. With of course the exception of Ed Bradley and Fred Thompson, I know all these people. I deal with these people on a regular basis, and I just can’t put it out of my mind.

 Posted by at 6:52 pm

Treatment time nearing???

 Diagnosis, My MCL  2 Responses »
Apr 082007
 

It’s now just over 5 years since that fateful blood test (3/26/2002) that eventually lead to my diagnosis of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). I was only 53 years old at the time, and never in my wildest dreams did I expect anything like that. But who really does?

At 53, I never even thought of myself as old, so why would I expect to get an old persons disease? Even at 58 (shortly to be 59), I still don’t think of myself as old, at least not mentally.

Physically though, it’s another story. The problem being the mind doesn’t really get old. Sure it would be easy to rationalize the reason I can’t perform like I could several years ago, to the fact I am getting older, but somehow I just can’t help thinking there is more to it than that.

Everyday it’s harder for me to get out of bed, and it takes longer for me to get going. This morning was a perfect example.

I did not want to get up, and if it wasn’t for me promising Scott (and old friend who also just so happens to have lymphoma), I would go for a bike ride with him this morning, I wouldn’t have gotten up. But I did, and for most of the first hour of the ride, all I could think about was why was I even riding this morning.

But after that first hour, I did manage to warm up enough to start to feel somewhat comfortable.

Now I could even rationalize some more that having ridden 57 miles on Friday, and 45 miles on Saturday, both times at a pretty high intensity, could have something to do with why I felt so tired, but still I can’t convince myself that is the only reason.

So lately I have been seriously considering starting treatment very soon, but I am in a quandary as to what treatment to choose. Actually that isn’t that tough a decision, my choice being Rituxan alone, as a single agent treatment, but it may take some work to convince my oncologist to agree.

Then there is the secondary choice of what dosage to go with. The standard dose is 375 mg/M2, but no one seems to know how that number was decided upon, and several fellow MCL’rs have been on lower doses, but doing it more often. (In one case 20 mg/M2, 3 times a week.)

Decisions, decisions, I just hate decisions. I’ve learned that if you wait till the last moment, the problem will either go away by itself, or the decision will become very apparent, and since I don’t have another appointment with my oncologist until the second week in May, I plan on waiting at least that long before making a decision.

One thing I do know for sure is, I’m glad I don’t have to go into work tomorrow, as I really need some rest!

 Posted by at 3:07 pm
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