Staying on top of things

Based on my family history, I try to stay on top of my state of health.  Fortunately for me, it's also a requirement of my Boy Scout leadership that I get an annual physical, and I have a health plan that covers it.

And that came in handy this year.  I've written recently about how my running has been slower than normal, including my personal worst half marathon.  Sure, there were reasons for that, but I was wondering if there might be some physical root cause.  Turns out, there was.

I had a bit of a problem last year with a low-iron count in my physical, which had me taking iron supplements for a while last year to recover.  This year, instead of being better, it was actually worse.  At least that got a conversation started, that potentially traced back my low iron to the combination of my running, but more importantly, recently blood donations.  It seems that because of my running, my iron count may not be recovering from donations in the way it should be, and that seems to be the cause of my fatigue.  At least now I have an answer, and something I can do to fix it.

Which is a good thing, because I've got plans!  I'm running a triathlon next week, a Ragnar relay in September, a marathon at some point this year, and my long-term plans include either a Half-Ironman triathlon or a 50-Mile race (or maybe even both!)  I can't be fatigued and train at any level of quality.

And I *am* in training.  I've already started trying to ramp up both my running and my cross-training, including a 40-mile bike ride just this morning.  I'm planning a 15-mile run in the morning, and after next week's sprint Tri, I'm going full speed on running, and selecting and training for a marathon (and maybe a 50K).

This wouldn't have been conceivable, though, if I was suffering through my training decline without knowing why my speed was slowing and my energy was depleted. Getting a physical annually helped to detect this problem and create a solution.  While I'm more concerned about heart disease and diabetes (issues which appear to be under control), taking the time to get checked out turned up a problem and solution that will help me enjoy my life more.

I frequently read that men are reluctant to get their health checked; certainly, that's not me, and hopefully not you either.  It's better to know what may be wrong and help address it, than to live in ignorance of problems that can grow beyond control until it's too late.