Day 8 cont.: Blood results-Treadmill test

I just finished my hour bike ride. I got in 13.5 miles. I have been exhausted though...long day running around everywhere. Well, I sat down with my doc this morning and she went over my blood test results in detail. I am at the pre-diabetic stage as far as my blood sugar levels. I have high cholesterol. My HDL is 42. Normal range is 40-63. But my LDL is 183. I should be below 130. So I have some work to do.

Some good news is they had me weigh in again, and I weighed 360.6! Since last week I've lost 5 pounds. So, I consider that a move in the right direction. My camera guy caught all the details on video.

Then we packed up and went over to the heart clinic for my treadmill test. I basically had to take my top off and bare all my glory for the camera so they could put heart leads on my chest. I wasn't embarrassed for the 3 guys in the room...I'm sure they've seen a lot of blubber before, but when I got home and reviewed the footage, it was embarrassing to see how big I am! Oh well. I've got to decide whether that stuff makes it in the final cut of the film or not. I think if it's compared to what I will look like at 210 lbs, then there is some redeeming value to it.

Anyway, I had this uncomfortable feeling during the treadmill test...I felt like something was up with my heart and that this test was going to reveal it. I feared that they would discover something wrong with my heart, etc. Anyway, they put me on the treadmill and I started at a 10% incline walking slow for 3 minutes. Then 3 more minutes at a higher incline and faster speed, and then they turned it up even higher! They got me up to 97% target heart rate for the test which meant my heart was beating at 175bpm. Wow, I don't think my heart has pounded like that in a while...a long while.

The two techs that helped me were cool and there were some humorous things we got on video. Anyway, the test lasted 7 minutes, just long enough to record my heart pumping at different stages of stress.

Then we went down and I had the cardiologist read my results to me. He said for a guy my age I need a better exercise regime, but the fact that I am doing what I am doing was a good sign that we're doing something about it. He said that there was nothing on my test that indicated that I had any arteries that looked blocked, and that there was no indication that I can't do this challenge!

So, there we are...I have no excuses.

Afterwards, my cameraman came over to my house and he taped me pulling my road bike out of a pile of junk on our back patio. Both tires are flat and one had rubber hanging out of the inside of the tire...I got to show my dusty, and nearly dead bike off. So now I get to go get it repaired and brought back to life so I can start riding it outside.

I just finished my hour our of pedaling and I am so dang tired. I'm sitting here typing this with sweat all over me, so time to hit the shower and go to bed. I'll be up at 6am to ride another hour!!