Good News!

The past two weeks have flown by with more visits to doctors and tests than I have ever had—surgeon, oncologist, gynecologist, genetic counselor and radiation oncologist……
I received good news on Friday from the genetic counselor—I am negative for the breast cancer gene! The was a huge layer of stress that was peeled away and now I can move forward with a lumpectomy and then 6 weeks of radiation. Hopefully I can get my surgery scheduled in the next week or so, as I will have to wait 3 weeks after that to begin the radiation treatments. I cannot run for a couple of weeks after the surgery, but can do low impact exercise—cycling and swimming—deep water running (once the area has healed). During the radiation I can continue to do my regular workouts as tolerated—fatigue will be the biggest side affect from the treatments….. I want to at least maintain my base as St. Croix is my first “A” race in early May.
Over the last two weeks I have hit my goal of cycling at least 2 times per week (either spin, trainer or outdoors), but have missed a run each week and missed one swim last week. This week is the last week of prep and my two goals are to go to yoga once this week and hit the pool three times. The weather will be nice and I should be able to get out on the bike a couple of days and will do my usual 3-4 runs and 1-2 strength sessions. This may all be a bust if I can get my surgery scheduled this week…..
With each blog entry I am going to include my favorite workout of the week. Last week I needed to be by my phone so I did my hill repeats on the treadmill.

Hour Treadmill Hill Workout:
30 minutes easy at .5% to 1.5% incline—slowly increase speed until you are in high zone 2. Then:

2 minutes @ 2%, 1 minute @ 1%--2 minutes @ 3%, 1 minute @ 1%--2 minutes @ 4%, 1 minute @ 1%--2 minutes @ 5%, 5 minutes @ 1%. Then:

Increase your speed .25 to .5 MPH every couple of minutes so that you negative split the final 10-15 minutes of the workout. After the hour slow the speed and walk for 5 to 10 minutes for your cool down.

Make it a great day!
Karen