Yesterday was my annual heart transplant clinic visit. I am 14 years out and excited to be bettering my health and reaching new challenges every day. Everything seemed to go well. Dr Trehan did say that I would be having my angiogram on Friday. An angiogram is where they insert a catheter into the artery near the groin. This runs up into the heart where dye is released and blood flow can be monitored for any potential blockages. Afterwards I am on my back a couple of hours and then hopefully on my way to better things. Although I don't suggest this procedure for a good time, it is a great benchmark for me in knowing the condition of my heart. Having said this, I was told that I would not be able to run for a week afterwards ( something about rupturing the incision and having an arterial bleed would not be a good thing!).

Because of this news, we adjusted my running schedule for this week which included me hitting the track on Tuesday night. Our strategy would allow me to get 2 runs in before my procedure on Friday.

For some reason, my boney left foot has had some discomfort in the metatarsal or central ball of the foot area. Since the doc mentioned this was due to my feet having little cushion, I am trying to find ways to alieviate this pain. Still working on it. I'm afraid alot of the pain may be caused by my older dress shoes that do not properly support the foot.

I began my workout with 4 warm up laps, being very aware of my form and attempting to have "quiet feet". Then I proceeded to run-a-lap, walk-a-lap 5 times around, followed by 6 laps of cool down. Surprisingly, my foot actually felt less pain after the workout than before. I was a little frustrated w/ the weakness of my legs and not always controlling the "quietness" of my running. I am confident that this will only improve in time w/ more running. I also was happy to see my cool down taking place quicker than before. Sloan mentioned that my breathing control was previously pretty heavy for a few laps after running. This time I felt as though I was in control after only 2 laps. Since Sloan wanted me walking fast inbetween my runs, I found that keeping the arms in the running position and pumping did assist me in keeping a better pace.

Overall, I was happy w/ my progress in just a couple of days. Tomorrow we will be back at it again.