Honey let me be your salty dog

Sep 18, 2009 | Pressure!

Ah well.

After training for the best part of a year I shall not now be running the Loch Ness Marathon in October. The reason being that high blood pressure I’ve been talking about.

My blood test came back fine: sodium and potassium are normal, I don’t have diabetes, my cholesterol is OK and the high BP is almost certainly genetic rather than a symptom of anything unpleasant. My apparently ‘normal’ BP after the half marathon probably represented a significant drop in pressure and was actually misleading.

So I now have some medication to manage the BP down (5mg Amlodipine daily for a month) and have clear and unambiguous advice, well more of a thinly disguised warning I think, not to attempt a marathon in the near future. The doctor’s advice was something along the lines of “better to be disappointed and alive than happy but dead”.

I can – and will – still run but for the next wee while it will be jogging – or at least nothing to put my heart rate over around 120 bpm. To make sure of this I’ll need to get hold of a heart rate monitor. I’ll probably buy a bicycle as well.

The great news, of course, is that I am lucky – it has been spotted before anything really unpleasant happens and can be managed down to the point where I can pick up more intense exercise again in the Spring and I am considering the merits of targetting the Edinburgh Half-Marathon on 23 May 2010 as an achievable goal.

Whilst we’re on the subject, anyone interested might want to have a read at this – and do themselves a favour and have their BP checked out if they haven’t already. Go on – do it for me.

In addition to the medication I am moving to reduce the salt content in my diet. I almost never add salt to food anyway but I am now targeting hidden salt to make sure I don’t have that adding to BP issues. The photo at the top if this post is tonight’s salt free tea – home made bread, grilled trout, fresh salad and new potatoes with, as a special treat, a craft beer.

Kirstin and I spent this lunchtime in a supermarket checking out the nutritional labelling on products – specifically looking for low salt options – and after I began to get quite annoyed with what I found I have a suspicion that this is something on which I’m going to develop quite strong – perhaps even militant – views.