Diagnosis, and running with a Mouthful of Diamonds

So I got back my final diagnosis from my cardiologist and a second opinion. Apparently I have an uncommon form of sick sinus syndrome which is basically a defect in my bodies natural pace maker and apparently is induced by endurance training. The good news is now that I know what I am up against I should be able to be careful and avoid future problems. Ultimately if it continues to be an issue I could get a pace maker but I think that is lame so I am just going to watch myself and if I ever get light headed I will stop and lay down until the old ticker gets back in line. Basically my heart's pacemaker works great when I am running, and it works superbly when at rest, but when switching from a fast pace to a resting pace the transition seems to boggle the electrical currents and my heart rapidly slows way down for a minute before finding the correct resting pace. Apparently if I just ease the transition from fast to slow I should be fine. My cardiologist wants me running with a partner at all times but my partner is moving across the pond in the morning so unless I can coax someone into endurance training I will be on my own as usual. I guess I should wear some form of I.D. in case I am found in a ditch or what have you.

I started training again today after a 10 day hiatus due to lack of motivation and darkness but I have found my motivation and I am ready to go crazy again. I just cranked out a small 30 minute jaunt on the chip trail. I figure I will take it easy even though it appears I am at the highest risk when I am the fittest. I will be careful.

I have decided to start a new thing in which I post about a song that was in my head and impacted me while running. I have about 7000 songs on my i-pod currently and so I have many opportunities to share and won't run out any time soon.

Today's song is "Mouthful of Diamonds" by Phantogram. I found this group through a fellow runner's blog and fell in love with this song. Phantogram is a duo from Saratoga Springs New York and according to their myspace page their music is a mix of organic and electronic sounds, with swirling guitar, spaced-out synths, and chopped up samples and rhythms. I absolutely love it and I really like the juxtaposition of electronic and guitar influenced by 80's synthpop and 90's alternative with a modern twist. For some reason this song speaks to me the most. While running today it was on repeat in my head and made for a little extra spring in my step even though my fitness is no where near where it was before this heart issue. The gloomy cool weather was a nice contrast to this song and made the boring stretches of the chip trail sail by. Tell me what you think and I am not offended if any of my music is not your thing. Much of these songs will be electronic and some are absolute masterpieces and others are merely background noise while cranking out the distance. So it can be expected that some of these songs I post will be new and exciting and others might just be a looped melody over a drum beat. I hope to introduce and share my love of music while posting these songs though and even discuss what was on my mind while running and listening or thinking about the song (the album version is amazing as well so Give it a listen).