Why I Just Got An EKG

Death in endurance sports is very rare, but it gets a lot of attention. Last year it seemed like each weekend I would read about a death that occurred during a triathlon - and 99% of them happened during the swim. Why?

Well, I'm not a doctor but I play one on the internet. Seriously, though, there are probably a million reasons and I imagine that each case is drastically different. Dan Empfield at Slowtwitch addresses the issue in a series of articles.

And that leads me to today and the first "physical" I've had since I was a teenager. This is something that I've put off for too long, which isn't anything "macho" but more like stupidity. I checked out just fine but requested an EKG. My doctor understood where I was coming from but still took the time to explain to me what would it would mean (time and $$$) if something suspicious looking was actually found. Mainly he was concerned that I would have to go through a battery of tests that took a lot of time and the end result would be that I was still okay. I elected to do it anyway, just for peace of mind. By the way, he guessed the actual cost of an EKG is about $120 so even if my insurance is a POS and doesn't pick up the tab, I can handle it.

My EKG - it's all good.

Just because my EKG and physical came out find doesn't mean I won't be cautious. I'll still do a solid warm-up both prior to my regular workouts and races. I'll still eat a balance diet (although it might be heavy at times on beer and bourbon).

With that done I'd like to go train except it looks like the North Pole outside. Seriously, it's April 4! Since I took the picture below about 5 minutes ago my track in the sidewalk are already covered.

WTF? It's April!