Interested in what folks recommend. I'm 54, mostly long course and would like good baseline.

This is some top-notch backdoor bragging right here. The youngsters can learn a thing or two from you. Well done sir.

Not following how this is bragging?

"I just finished Kona and..."

It's called a back-door brag ;)

Tough shit! Back door bragging perhaps my be

“I am so tired still from my Kona Podium finish and need some insight into....”. You guys are so sensitive here on ST.... ok I will edit my OP so it doesn’t make the none KQ crowd offended... ok?

Make sure you get magnesium. I believe sodium and potassium are part of the general, so don't have to ask for those. Get all the T's, free and total. You can get EPO, DHEA, and growth hormone factor if you ask too. Get a TSH for thyroid, and of course may as well get the PSA. There are a few others too, I will let the sports docs fill in any blanks..

You are right in that it is great to have a baseline, I get most of these every year, sometimes twice, and have been for the past 25 years, so I have a great baseline.. But I have to tell you, they just go down, at least the good ones..)-;

And I did not take at all that you were doing a back door brag, lots of people do Kona, it's no big deal, hell, I did it 15 years in a row.......

Fwiw, I have been publishing my own blood tests as they come from Athlete Blood Test - this is something I pay for myself, although as long as I meet my deductible it has been reimbursed via my health insurance. I publish the actual report that ABT gives me, which not only takes the normal (human) expected values into account, but what they have found (with working with 1,000 of professional athletes over the years) to be the optimal levels for high-level endurance athletes. Hopefully you find something useful in it and maybe formulate some different questions about not only your own test results but how to correct them. In general doesn't hurt to test your T, Vitamin D, Magnesium, Iron, etc. My Q1 2018 test is here, but I link back to the ones from 2017. I have some more recent ones I publish at some point too.

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Thanks for reply and 15 Konas is Awesome!

Did you ever test Troponin and if so was it to look at relative heart muscle stress based on race effort? Perhaps a gauge to determine when the heart maybe ready to go back to full training?

Thanks Thomas... will have a look....

I think you need to look in a mirror to see the one who is sensitive and easily offended. Calm down dude.

I am a family doctor. Before you set off getting all sorts of tests it likely is a good idea to ask what are you going to do with the results. Which is kind of what you are doing with your post I guess. Bear in mind that normal is what 95 percent of the population is so if you have 20 tests the odds are that one will be abnormal. This can possibly set off a cascade of investigations some of which could be harmful and/or invasive. Lets say you test your testosterone and it is borderline low. What are you going to do with the result? If you tested your troponin and it was elevated what would you do? In the US you likely will get sent for a stress test and maybe even angiograms if it were elevated. Given you are weeks out from an IM there is no use to doing troponin so don't do that. If you qualified for Kona I think finding anything useful beyond the normal bloodwork being done is low. IMHO

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Agree and intend to correct any Abnormal results and more importantly adjust diet, rest, training or race schedule as needed.

The Atheletes Blood panel suggests the below list as first blood panel and is what Thomas has reports for.... but there are additional test that can be added but I am not clear on their benefit.... care to comment on additional tests?

https://www.athletebloodtest.com/product/gold-panel/

Complete Blood Count with Differential
Comprehensive Metabolic Panel
Reticulocytes
Iron
Ferritin
B12
Folate
Vitamin D, 25-OH
Magnesium
Potassium
Sodium
Cortisol
Thyroid Stimulating Hormone
Sex Hormone Binding Globulin
Free Testosterone
Total Testosterone
DHEA-S

fasting lipid panel

(at 55, it's probably more important than anything else on that list, except possibly:
glucose/creatinine/K-as part of a 'basic metabolic panel') as heart disease is #1 reason for dying after age 35, male or female, athlete or not

* and especially more important if there is a family history of premature CAD

Yo dude. Settle down. My post was actually a compliment. As a 2x Kona finisher I can appreciate a good backdoor brag when I see one.

Hello scca_ita and All,

You might want to add a thyroid panel since you are an athlete and establishing a baseline.

Genetic DNA report .... What health and performance considerations are specific to your genetic makeup?

Lots of test kits available at reasonable prices ...... I am not recommending any particular testing service.

https://www.helix.com/pages/dna-discovery-kit

There may be some hype to the one above but there is quite a bit of information available currently .... you may be learn something about your capabilities and limitations ......

Do you get a performance boost from caffine when racing?

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ost=6588181#p6588181

Excerpt:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29509641

Excerpt:

"CONCLUSION:

Our findings show that both 2 and 4 mg/kg caffeine improve 10-km cycling time, but only in those with the AA genotype. Caffeine had no effect in those with the AC genotype and diminished performance at 4 mg/kg in those with the CC genotype.

CYP1A2 genotype should be considered when deciding whether an athlete should use caffeine for enhancing endurance performance." [emphasis added]

See test below for $99.00 USD


https://www.genomicexpress.com/.../caffeine-metabolism

https://blog.23andme.com/...fee-tea-and-23andme/

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster