The PSA results are in...

Monday, November 22, 2010

My foot felt good, but I knew I needed to give it a day off. It was warm enough to ride, but the roads were wet and that meant ‘no biking’ to me. I’d thrown my daypack in the car with 30 pounds of salt for just such a day. Yeah…I suspect I’d caused a stress fracture from working out with a backpack and 60 pounds over the summer, hence I’d cut the weight I was carrying in half.

The weather was perfect for a hike. I was in a short-sleeved t-shirt and shorts as I began doing my step-ups on the rock at the trailhead. I did 20 with each leg, then headed off on the trail. Since it had been raining most of the day and the trails were covered in leaves and slippery, I stuck to the bridle paths for the most part. It was near dusk and I could see through the leafless trees for great distances, so I was surprised as I approached the end of the hike 70 minutes and 160 step-ups later without spotting any deer. Neither my foot nor my hip was hurting as I dropped the pack in the trunk and climbed in the car for the drive home, but tomorrow I planned to try running again and that would be a better test.

I checked my email later that night and found that I had received my PSA results from Nilesh. It read as follows:

“Your PSA level was 0.4 (normal range is 0 to 4.0). Your number is fine. The key is the trend in PSA over the years though. So, if you are at 0.4 today and next year you go to 2.0 and the year after 4.0 – even though your number would still be in the normal range, it becomes something that should be addressed or at least looked at a little closer.”

So…damn near perfect and not something to worry about right now...and all it took was a vial of blood, which I had enough to spare. Now of course, I need to follow up in a year with another test, but I think I can handle it. When I look at my brother Jeff and what he’s gone through…and where he could be if he hadn’t had the test…well, I’ll just make sure to do it.

I’m struggling with what I’m going to do over the next few days to offset the amount of calories I can consume on your average Thanksgiving Day. For me…it’s in the range of 10,000 calories, which is how many I burn in a week of aggressive exercise. Maybe I should strap on my pack and take a hike to see my buddy, John, in Twinsburg. It’s only about 25 miles away…

Hike duration: 70 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 90 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 500.