“Thar she blows!!!”

tidal tid·al (tīd'l)
adj.
Resembling the tides; alternately rising and falling.

glacial gla·cial (glā-shəl)
adj
Suggestive of the very slow movement of glaciers

D’Wife decided that it was time for me to get a top-down physical, because it had been so very long since my last one. We’re both of “a certain age” now and neither of us is getting any younger. I think we’re holding up pretty well; better than well, in fact. With all modesty not many folks our age are nearly as “studly” as we are; training up to 60 miles a week on the bike in ALL weather, plus the running I’ve always done on top of that.

We’re fit old fuckers, D’Wife and me.

On St. Jude’s Day [October 28th] I visited our Primary to get the overview.

Height: 5’6”
Weight: 155

Crap!!!

It wasn’t so long ago that I’d finally reached my “absolute minimum” weight per D’Wife’s instructions. Now, it seems, I have put it all back on. Granted fifteen pounds over two years isn’t a lot nor did it come on quickly [in fact, almost imperceptibly], but I’d thought I’d be able to maintain some sort of stability there. To my defense, we have been without a scale since Early Summer, so my ability to monitor this aspect has been hampered. It still sucks to know that after all this time – since beginning “400 Beers” – I am, again, back where I started. Truthfully, I’m up a little from that even; but at least I didn’t rebound up to my high-water point, two years previous to hitting that goal weight and four years past from today [a check-up which brought some irony of its own, as that was my HIGHEST weight, but LOWEST B/P]

Which is where we went next …

Blood pressure: 150/80

FUCK!!!

That’s NOT at ALL what I’d expected!!!

But then, things have been kinda stressful lately, PLUS being hurt and unable to run most of the Summer, may have affected my release mechanisms which would pump it up, so to speak. Historically, there have been some fluctuations over the years, as my Red Cross Blood Donor Card testifies; basically, I ramp up from normal [120/80-ish] to high [140+] and back down again over a cycle of 18 months or so.

My weight looks like it’s on a two-year rhythm.

As it so happened, they collided right about NOW, with devastating results.

Even with changes in diet [no more red meat, and even more green veggies], cycling to offset the lack of running for the cardio and more yoga added to the mix, I just couldn’t get out of the way this rogue wave of “uh-oh”

Blood work followed up with nothing out of the ordinary – sugar’s fine; liver and kidney functions are fine.

Like a friend of mine asked: “How can Mr. Cool, the Zen-Core Dork, possibly have high blood pressure???”

Maybe it was lurking just off the horizon all along, but we just happened to be fortunate enough spot it at this place and time.

“Thar she blows!!!”

In the meantime, I’ll continue on like I have in the past to bring the B/P back down: running on the Pre-Dawn Patrol, getting out on the bike when possible, prayer and meditation to de-stress, finding guilt-free time to do nothing if I feel like it and NOT taking everything so personally.

Basically, circumnavigate back around to 2007 and re-achieve those successes … we can totally do that.