One Year Later...

Time really does fly! Hard to believe my last post was back in January. Other commitments and a mild case of  writer's block got in my way. A lot of good things have transpired since then. For family, friends, and supporters, here's a quick update!

Health Update

First, an update on my health situation. As I wrote about in my last post, I wrapped up ADT hormone therapy back in January 2022. Thank God for that! From that point forward, my monthly trips to Dana-Farber in Boston would turn into 90-day check-ins. The first one was back in April and involved a standard PSA blood test and a one-time, post-treatment PSMA pet scan. Both were clear! My second 90-day check was on July 13th, and it again yielded a non-detectable PSA!

I know that I have a long road ahead on this journey. As my oncologist reminds me, this is a marathon, not a sprint. But with my first two 90-day follow-ups being clear and a strict adherence to a plant-based diet and focus on a healthy lifestyle, I'm very optimistic that I can keep this thing at bay. 🤞

Not Alone in this Fight

A few weeks back, a co-worker that I worked with back in the 1990s reached out to me to let me know he was going through a similar battle. In his case, the beast (prostate cancer) returned after surgery and many years of remission. A treatment of ADT combined with other drugs was prescribed. We commiserated over the nasty side-effects of ADT and I tried to offer strategies that seemed to help me get through it - namely an intense aerobic and strength fitness regimen. I wish him the best. For me, 12 months was enough, and I pray I never have to through that again.

5K's and a Tri!

In spite of a few running-related injuries, I managed to get in a couple of 5k road races over the last few months. Two different 5k courses along the scenic waterfront of Plymouth MA. One was on St. Patrick's Day, the other on July 4th. My times were pretty consistent in both efforts, around 25 minutes, or 8 min mile pace. Still off from where I was a few years earlier, but not a bad place to be!

Falmouth MA Sprint Triathlon

On July 10th I participated in my first triathlon in over 3 years! It was a short-course event but covered some very scenic areas along the coast in Falmouth MA. My conditioning wasn't quite where I would have liked it to be, but it felt completely energizing just getting out there. I managed to finish 6th in my age group of 23 participants and not that far off the top 3. I'm looking forward to working on my swimming a little more this summer and attempting another triathlon later in the summer. No Ironman's this year, but next year, who knows!

Qualifying for the Boston Marathon Will Have to Wait

After I got the all-clear health report in April, I immediately got delusions of grandeur and decided I would put myself on a rigorous training program to try to qualify for the Boston Marathon asap. Anyone who knows me knows how much of a stickler I am for the 10% training rule - namely, when you're endeavoring to increase your running miles, you should strive to not increase your weekly mileage by more than about 10% +/- every week. So, in a case of 'do what I say and not what I do', I went straight from 15-20 miles of easy running every week to 40 miles of interval and threshold training via the Jack Daniels VDOT training program. Like clockwork, I developed severe achilles tendonitis in my right ankle, a sore knee and ended up being completely sidelined from running for a couple of weeks. That was dumb. 

Go Slow to Go Fast?

When I eventually ventured from the elliptical machine back outside, I thought it was time to try a different approach. Actually, a completely opposite approach: Easy zone 2 aerobic running, exclusively. Here's a good overview. I've only been at this a little over a month, but the premise is that you can get faster by running slower and changing your fuel source from glycogen to fat, which is a near endless supply. And in my case, my fat tank is quite full these days. Whether you can get faster this way is TBD in my case. But there are overall health benefits that are genuine - and that may be the real benefit. I'll report back in a future post on how this experiment progresses.

I also continue to alternate running and biking days and I'm applying the same zone 2 approach to my biking, necessitating liberal use of the small chain ring and easy gears when climbing hills. I've had to keep my ego in check. Like my run times, my Strava bike stats have taken a real hit. But we'll see how this plays out over time.

New Puppy

Finally, there's a new puppy in our lives. Meet Jake:

Jake is a 3-month old Cavapoo and is both sweet and savage at the same time. You have to be constantly on guard - one minute he'll be licking your neck like a cute little puppy and the next minute you'll notice you have a piranha stuck to your earlobe. 

Other Thoughts

I continue to practice all of the same things I wrote about in the early days of this blog, namely:

• A whole-food, plant-based, SOS-free diet
• Daily exercise (running, biking, swimming and, weights) with a renewed effort to slow down!
• Meditation
• Optimized Sleep

I've continued to read countless books and articles and watched hour after hour of new documentaries on beating cancer and healthy living in general. I hope to unpack what I've learned in future posts for anyone interested this stuff.

Cheers!

Spike