My Stress Echo And My Workout Schedule for this Week

Good morning! Today was my rest day, except for the short workout I got when I went to have my stress echocardiogram done this morning. For those of you who have never had a stress echocardiogram, it's a test where ultrasound pictures are taken of your heart before and after you've done some kind of cardiovascular exercise, like riding a stationary bike or walking on a treadmill - in my case it was walking on a treadmill. When you first come in, they hook electrodes up to your chest so they can measure your heart rate during the stress test, and then they put this kind of slimy stuff on you so they can take the ultrasound pictures - anyone reading this who has ever had a baby knows what that's like. When they technician was taking ultrasound pictures of my heart before I walked on the treadmill, they showed me the different valves and arteries from different angles - I got to see my mitral valve and my aorta, as well as some of the different heart chambers, and I got to see how the blood flows through my heart. After he took the first set of ultrasound pictures of my heart, I walked on the treadmill for a few minutes - I started out at a slow walk, then they sped up the treadmill a little bit and raised the incline and I was at a faster walk, then they sped up the treadmill a little bit more again and raised the incline a little bit more, and I was at a run. That's about as far as I got - I'm not sure how many beats per minute I got my heart up to, but if my memory is correct, when I had this test done about 7 years ago, I don't remember getting up to a run, so I think I did pretty good this time. Of course back then, I wasn't in as good of shape as I am now - this was before I did P90x or any of the Beachbody workouts.

After I ran on the treadmill for a few minutes, I got back on the table and the technician took a few more ultrasound pictures of my heart - I could tell it was beating a lot faster after being on the treadmill.  Overall, the technician said that he thought everything looked good, but I'll meet with the cardiologist in two weeks to find out for sure. I'll be sure to post an update after that appointment.

Almost forgot to post my workout schedule for this week! This week is going to be a recovery week, so my workout schedule will be as follows:

Tuesday - Core Synergistics
Wednesday - Interval X Plus
Thursday - Yoga X (will probably substitute X Stretch, or look for a shorter yoga workout)
Friday - Abs/Core Plus
Saturday - Cardio X (may substitute Kenpo Caridio Plus)
Sunday - Core Synergistics