seated biking, resistance, tests

Been doing daily resistance work and my weight has been good, in the 142s last few days.  In an effort to allow my knee to recover, I've eliminated hard standing bike sprints and hill climbs.  But, I've been doing the same biking but seated and not as much.  I do think this is compromising my V02 max but at least I'm pretty strong, yesterday another PR pullup set - 26 although the last one was a bit of a kip cheater.  The remarkable thing is that I have gained a bit of lean muscle mass without eating much protein.  

The last two 2.5 mile bike sprints in which I've stayed seated have been more than a minute off my PR of 9:21 for all out standing sprints.  The first one wasn't a strong effort.

Aug 1 (seated) bike sprint:

Time - 10:48

Avg speed - 12.5 mph

Max HR - 156

Avg HR - 143

Aug 4 (seated) bike sprint:

Time - 10:32

Avg speed - 13 mph

Max HR - 172 (178 spike 50 sec afterward)

Avg HR - 161

I had that weird spike after finishing this run, (178).  I think it's actually a sign of losing fitness.  

I only plan on doing such rides 2 or max 3x / week.  Really focusing on the rest and healing of my knee.  I am getting an off-loader brace and may experiment with using it on the bike, rower, hiking, stairmaster, etc...

I was at a conference today and a music colleague asked me if I was retired from track I said probably but haven't made the decision 100% yet.   As I become more involved with preparing myself to play concerts again, I find the decision to walk away from track a bit easier.  It always tugs on me when I see colleagues racing but I am enjoying getting up in the morning with no knee pain, walking, and climbing stairs also with no pain.  If I do test the waters and try to run a little, it won't be for at least 5 to 8 weeks (late Sept/ Oct.).  I went to the track today and just stretched, no drills.  Avoided the temptation to run, although I felt I could have. 

As I am officially elderly now, I am most concerned with staying alive, well, and disease free.   Speaking of that, I had a major round of tests and with the help of Claude AI, I was able to refine some of my issues.  

Testing / wellness

I think the tests I had were a bit skewed by 2 consecutive meals of this high fiber protein fortified pasta I had not eaten previously - most affecting kidney and TriG readings.    Regarding the tests, I had the usual moderately high small molecule lipids: LDL (147), Triglycerides (162), ApoB (130), and too little HDL (40).   oxLDL was high (83), and kidney function low - GFR (58) due to high creatinine (1.36).  Also homocysteine was high (16.2).   AI suggests testing for folate and B12 insufficiency, which I plan to do next week.  That would explain these readings and be an easy fix.  I'm also going to repeat cystatin-C.  

On the plus side, my inflammation markers, and glucose / insulin handling is very good.   Both my inflammation markers hsCRP and IL-6 were optimal - below the minimum reference level - too low to measure.  Fasting glucose good (92), fasting insulin optimal (4.2), and HbA1c 5.5 - normal. 

Also, the innate lipid particle Lp(a) is optimal for me, below minimum reference level. 

So in general, a mixed bag.  I also found from my genome through Nebula Genomics, that I have a maximum (100%) polygenic tendency to develop high Apolipoprotein B.   This makes sense and is confirmed by numerous relatives with heart disease.   All of my testing, in particular my lipid fractionation tests, point to a very high risk assessment of cardio vascular disease, but fortunately not compounded by other factors such as inflammation, Lp(a), and high HbA1c.... not to mention no alcohol, no smoking, normal BP, low fat low carb diet etc...  It is very clear that animal fat is not the only issue in developing heart disease, it also is caused by sugar and carbs.  (Roya's younger brother is a vegan and had to have his heart stented due to heart disease).   

It is very likely that my 400m training over the past decade+ has kept me relatively disease free, not to mention the low carb diet.  Compared to the avg American, my diet is ridiculously clean.  About the worst things I eat are high fiber Wasa crackers with fig preserves which I mix with psyllium husk fiber, and Royo high carb bread (30 cal a slice).  Also occasional bowls of blueberries. I have a pretty big list of things I almost never eat... including common foods like pizza, chips, potatoes, butter, eggs, margarine, high fat dairy, fried food, boxed cereals, regular bread, regular rice, cookies, pies, baked goods, no beef or pork in 35 yrs.   I replaced skim milk with unsweetened almond milk.   The only fats I eat are small amounts of olive oil, walnuts, and sunflower seeds.  I use the allulose/monkfruit sweetener.  I even started filtering my espresso through paper to eliminate LDL increasing compounds like cafestol.  Low protein and occasional fish / chicken.  Sometimes go a week + vegan.  Somtetimes I will eat canned skinless boneless sardines in water.  

I will likely consider preventative medication, especially if I can get a CCTA scan to test for soft plaque and it is positive.  That is the goal of my next appt.  To make the case for a CCTA scan.  I have been resistant to drugs up until now, but now may be the time to consider it - considering my small molecule particle burden as shown by my Apolipoprotein B1/A ratio.

I'm really digging the incredible self pay pricing on Goodlabs.com test broker.   

To good health!