Welcome to Thunderdome

Yeah. I spoke to my dad, whose job is to know cholesterol, heart disease, etc. He said given my particle size results, I should be concerned. Lots of small LDL particles, which are more likely to stick and cause issues.

So I've made some diet changes, and we'll see what happens.

thibodeaux wrote: I think a contributing factor is that "what's good for you" keeps changing. IOW, there's a problem upstream from medical practice. A lot of what we think we know is wrong.

Well, yes. We just don't know. That being said, it seems pretty easy to say veggies and low-sugar berries are good for almost everyone. It's how to get your calories beyond that which are disputed.

RHR today 61; BP 110/70

Yesterday rode a pretty painful 2 hours without carbs (I've been supplementing, 1-4 calories/minute depending on intensity on prior rides). I managed to negative split a mountain though (50 mins first lap, 41 mins 2nd lap). But felt like utter shit.

Today I did a chill 22 miles with 1/3rd the elevation I had yesterday. Kept my wattage up a bit (173, only 24 less than I did Friday in a race), but still no carbs.

Rode about 4 miles through the park yesterday, with ice cream at mile 3.

GORDON wrote: Rode about 4 miles through the park yesterday, with ice cream at mile 3.

Sounds more fun.

My back has been aching for the past 1.5 years, so finally went to a doctor.



I've got the thing on the right, where there's a fracture, and a vertebra has slipped out of position. Yyyaaaaayyyyyy

Picturing you walking around springing up and down like a slinky for the past several years.

People who can do 40+ push-ups get less CVD than people who cannot.

The largest difference (duh) was between people who could do 40+ and those who could only do 0-10.

Simplified results: 10-year survival probability

40+ 98.5%
31-40 97.5%
21-30 96.0%
11-20 94.0%
0-10 85.5%

Although, age was also correlated with the # of push-ups

It you can do 40 pushups, you're exercising.

Chin-ups/pull-ups are hard.

TheCatt wrote: My doctor wants to discuss statins. I do not.

My triglycerides are fabulous cuz I don't eat many carbs. My LDL is high, but I keep hearing very skeptical science on it. I may eat more nuts or something. And veggies.

So I've been getting LDL-P (particle count) via an NMR test, instead of the computed tests. And my #s are horrible. Worse than the basic tests. LDL-P is the best cholesterol statistic that we can get. I'm going to see about other tests (calcium scan, etc)

If you go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-density_lipoprotein and check out "Optimal ranges," I'm in the worst range, and was the last two times as well, regardless of my diet changes (less saturated fat, more veggies, losing weight, replacing diet dr pepper with Green tea, more nuts, etc).

Looks like I'm going to get some kind of meds shortly.

I skipped swimming today.... been hitting the gym hard to look good for all the women, but my joints are starting to feel it.

My MIL had an hemorrhagic stroke last night. Her blood pressure has never been high, but is now... But not terribly so. 145 / 75

My FIL had a heart attack a couple of days ago. Fit guy, 68, ate healthily, all that jazz. Zero CVD risk factors, other than getting older and being a dude. No prior symptoms, etc.

He's still in the hospital, but so far the news is promising. We don't know if his heart is injured, but the artery that clogged wasn't one of the 3 major ones (it's like 4th on the list).

Genetics can suck, apparently.

Rough year for your wife. You too, of course. Glad she has you for support.

Vince wrote: Glad she has you for support.

She's in trouble, then

Good news is that he avoid major damage, bad news is that he does have some damage. But with cardiac rehab, treatment, etc, he should be mostly fine.

But yeah, it's been a rough year. Her mom had cancer last year, the shingles this year (which turned out about as bad as shingles can), now this. Her brother is scared of losing his job (lives in Utah), and won't come help at all, so it's all on her. Fortunately, my job has been much more supportive.

Life has challenges. Oh, and today my cracked vertebra slipped when I was loading a bowl into the dishwasher. Oh well, could be worse.

You need to be careful exerting yourself with all that dish lifting.

Vince wrote: You need to be careful exerting yourself with all that dish lifting.

Right?

I remember hearing someone complaining that they pulled something getting out of bed. They were talking about all the physical activities they did in their 20's and now they pull a muscle getting out of bed.