CardiOMG

I just finished a pretty solid cardio program for PHED 206. This was my second attempt since my first one was way too intense. Luckily, our professor had us try it for a day to see if it was something we could maintain 3-5 days a week. I did about 1/25 of the prescribed duration at the specific intensity intended. However, I decided not to engage in the workings of the ego and went back to the drawing board. New plan, totally doable. How do I know? I did it! Even with (or because of) the genetically modified cattle antibodies floating around in me, I managed to exceed the METS. What’s a MET? No, it’s not Tim Tebow. Although I’m sure he knows what a MET is. Have you seen that dude’s neck!?!? Anyway, it’s a unit to measure the amount of metabolic cost of physical activity. The dollars of fitness, I guess. Anyway, I crushed the workout; I crushed the assignment. I danced with my son to “Hailin’ From the Edge” by Apparat  to celebrate. We invented a T-Rex dance. Gif to follow someday.

So about the study – everything went well. I had a small breakfast, so I got a little light headed when they took four tubes of blood as soon as I got there Tuesday morning. Then, I had two IV’s inserted, and there I sat watching Chef’s Table. Alex Atala’s episode was FANTASTIC and Narcos (of course). The infusion itself lasted about 90 minutes during which I stared intently at my phone screen. That’s it. No profound reflection, no epiphany. Nothing. After the infusion, I felt like I could lift a house! I did 3 variations of a calf raise – 60 each – and stretched. I read “The Organized Mind” by David Levitin. I ate three great room service meals and worked on some biology homework. Then, I went home, picked my wife up and left the kids with my mom. We went to see The Orwells, a cool rock band that sounded a little like a more refined version of Nirvana live. Small show, big energy.

Since then, I’ve done three (three!) follow up appointments where I’ve had one, five, and six tubes of blood drawn. At this rate, on day 90, they will just remove my skin and let everything fall into a bucket. That will be the final sample. Geez, I really hope I’m wrong about that. I’ll be wrapping up my lineman protocol by then! I’ll also probably be finding out a little more about NIH’s CCSEP, hopefully getting the news that I’ll be spending some time on their campus over the summer. This time last year, I was just hoping to get a tan over the summer. It’s crazy how MC has changed my outlook. I’ll never forget these long days and nights. As I sat in the Atrium at the Silver Spring campus today, I thought about how much these past few months have culminated into this unstoppable wind pushing me towards goals I never knew I had. Whewww too deep! I’m going to listen to Apparat some more 😉