As I have reported here before, my wife has been concerned about my heart and lungs when it comes to me running the Flying Pig. So, I have been cleared by my pulmonologist, with a few reservations. Those are fairly minor, hydration and sodium levels. Both of which are fairly easy to control, and I’ve already been practicing them.
My pulmonologist referred me to a local cardiologist at the University of Cincinnati Hospital. At first glance he did not see any issues with me running the Pig. However, just to make sure, he ordered an exercise stress test with an echo-cardiogram. This test was performed today, and allowed them to not only see how I reacted to the stress of exercise, but also actually visualize my heart while it was stressed.
It was a bicycle exercise stress test, which was a little weird. First, you lay down and pedal the bike. They also can rotate you left or right up to 45 degrees. I was rotated at 15 degrees. This makes pedaling difficult, because you not only need to pedal but also hold yourself up a little. The resistance is measured in watts, in 25 watt increments. There are three lights on the top of the pedals, you must stay in the green. There is a yellow on the left for too slow, and on the right for too fast. Let me tell you, they are very sensitive and get more so as the test progresses.
Anyway, I made it to 150 watts over 18 minutes. They say that is a long time for the test, and judging by the ultrasound tech’s arm pain, I would agree. My oxygen saturation’s didn’t drop below 94%, and my heart rate hit 163. The only real issue I had was the fatigue in my quads.
The head of echo-cardiology said that he didn’t see anything that would tell me not to exercise. But he still has to review all 107 pictures he took before he can tell me there are no issues. But, he said that he feels the risk is low. So, I feel pretty good, but again my quads are really tired. In fact, I didn’t run tonight because of it.
I will end up running tomorrow morning, probably 5 miles. We start official training for the Flying Pig on Saturday morning. I really can’t wait.
