Boy Meets Tri

Preoccupied

Well, its certainly been a hectic couple of weeks since I've checked in. Sorry for the silence. Lots of health related issues floating around my household. I'll start with the bouts of strep that made their way through my boys; which is never fun. My oldest contracted an ear infection last week. They always cause my wife and I tremendous concern because he was born with a congenital malformation in his lymphatic system just under his jaw on the right side. He has had two surgeries to remove cysts in that area. They form when his lymphatic system can't drain properly following an infection; ears for example. Each cyst has been preceded by one of these, and just like clockwork, one has developed. We have an MRI next week.

I've fully recovered from a head cold/sinus infection a few weeks ago. It was a learning experience for me. You may ask what can be learned from a common virus? Well, I had my annual physical around the same time, which included the standard blood tests. My doctor was concerned because my platelet count came back low, so she ordered a repeat test. The second test came back lower, which caused more concern (not just the doctor). I got on the web and diagnosed myself with everything from a rare auto-immune disorder to leukemia. The third and fourth tests came back higher and within normal ranges, so everyone relaxed. The culprit was the virus that kicked off the cold earlier. Apparently, they can lower platelet counts. The blood test from the physical and head cold were just bad timing.

I promised a comparison of power bars and although preoccupied, I've been sampling different varieties. The Power Bar seems to have the most vitamins, especially the anti-oxidants A, C & E, which we, as endurance athletes, need more than most. The Cliff Bar has more fiber and is completely organic. The Zone bar has good vitamins, and even includes molybdenum. Anyone want to take a stab at that?

In conclusion, training with the Y club has been great this month. We've been keeping the training in lower heart rate zones, but next month, the coaches will increase the intensity of the workouts. A highlight for me was to 500 yd swim time trial. I dropped a full two and a half minutes from the same distance at a race this summer. Did I mention that I'm a rock? Maybe Steve deserves a new nickname...

I'm looking forward to a few days of relaxation. Merry Christmas everyone.

posted by Battman @ 9:02 AM