What do these blood tests results mean for trail running?

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:02]Good afternoon. Good afternoon. It's a hot one today. That's why I'm not running. 34° C, about 90° F.

[00:00:11]I did do 6K this morning, but that's not what this video is about. This video is about the blood tests that I had a couple of weeks ago.

[00:00:18]Um and I'm going to tell you what the tests were, what the results were, and what that means, and where we go from there.

[00:00:26]So, the tests were urea, creatinine and electrolytes, a full lipid profile, an HbA1c, and a full blood count.

[00:00:40]Let's get on with it, shall we?

[00:00:43]>> [music] [music] >> Ooh, that's better. Just ducked in for a bit of shade. I'm going to show you the test values, the results that I got.

[00:00:58]What's important is that the actual number isn't always the only thing you need to look at. You sometimes need to look at the way things change over time.

[00:01:07]So, whilst the absolute number is is there, and obviously if it's very high or very low, that will tell the doctor something. To see how it's actually changing over time can teach them something else.

[00:01:17]Now, what you'll see here is I've got four readings that I'm going to show you.

[00:01:21]The first one was October last year, which is when I had that wobble on the half marathon uh on the Suffolk coast.

[00:01:31]I've just had a real tightness in my chest.

[00:01:35]I then had another blood test when I was um in the hospital uh when I first got there, and then they put me on medications. I had another one 2 weeks after the stent, and then I had this one, which was um probably 3 months after that. So, those are the four readings that we're going to get. Let's get on and have a look at the first test, shall we? So, the first test was urea, creatinine and electrolytes.

[00:01:58]U's and E's, they sometimes call it.

[00:02:00]Fundamentally, this is to assess your kidney function. One, just to check you haven't got any problems. And specifically for me, to make sure the medications that I'm on are not harming my kidneys. So, the the ACE inhibitor that I take for blood pressure, which is the ramipril, that one um can be a bit unfriendly to kidneys. So, this is a way just to make sure that my kidneys are coping fine with the extra load of having this medication.

[00:02:27]So, the urea specifically looks at protein breakdown waste. So, that's how hard are the kidneys having to work.

[00:02:33]The sodium and the potassium are all about fluid balance, which affects nerve function and heart rhythm and all those kind of things.

[00:02:41]And the creatinine is much more about muscle metabolism waste, rather than the protein waste. So, those So, those four together will tell you the health of your kidneys. And as you can see, mine are all fine. They're within the guideline limits. And they haven't significantly changed. So, all good. The next one we're going to look at is the full lipid profile or lipid profile. And lipids are the the posh, technically, clinically correct word name for fats.

[00:03:08]And this is where we're going to find out about cholesterol. So, you've got the total cholesterol, which is the amount of everything.

[00:03:14]You've then got the LDL, which is the low-density lipoprotein, and that's known as the bad cholesterol. That's what we're trying to have less of.

[00:03:23]There's the high-density, which is quote good cholesterol, and it's okay to have some of that. So, total cholesterol, that's the total amount of cholesterol in my blood. And then they break that down into the low-density stuff, the LDL, which is the bad cholesterol. And the HDL stuff, which is known as good cholesterol.

[00:03:42]>> [snorts] >> And then the figure that is non-HDL cholesterol is just the total cholesterol minus the HDL. So, that represents all the potentially harmful kinds of cholesterol. And as you can see, all my figures are good. The triglyceride reading is a type of fat that's used for energy, and that's within the right um range, so that's good. And the ratio is just calculated to give an a predictive cardiovascular risk, and as you can see, mine is well within the acceptable zone.

[00:04:11]We then get on to the next one, which is the HbA1c, and this is blood glucose.

[00:04:17]Is it the same as the finger prick test that diabetics use? No, it's not. It's very different. Why is that? Well, the finger prick test just gives you the state of your blood glucose right now, and that depends completely on what you've been eating uh and how your insulin is working against the glucose in the body, and it is very useful for determining if you need additional insulin or additional sugar or what have you.

[00:04:43]As what we're trying to look at is the long-term uh sugars in the blood. Now, HbA1c is a measure of the sugar that bonds itself to the hemoglobin, that's the Hb.

[00:04:57]And that sugar uh is a much broader picture of how the body is coping with the sugars in the system, and it's a very good indicator of whether you are heading towards or suffering from diabetes.

[00:05:11]Because your blood cells last for uh I don't know, 8-12 weeks before they're replaced, it gives you an average figure effectively of your blood glucose levels over the last couple of months. And as you can see, mine is perfectly within the figures. Yes, it's gone up a little bit. It's gone from 33 to 36. It's not a problem. In fact, the uh vascular risk nurse described it as lovely. So, she's very happy with that.

[00:05:40]It shows that my body is managing its sugars uh very well.

[00:05:48]And the next one we get to is the full blood count. There's a lot going on here, some of which is particularly pertinent to us and some of which is less so, but I will quickly take you through what we've got here. I will put the information up on the screen and then you'll know.

[00:06:03]So, the white blood cell count, this level will be high if I'm fighting an infection. It's not, it's all normal.

[00:06:11]The red blood cell count, again, it's normal. Low might have suggested anemia, high might have suggested that my body is struggling to get enough oxygen, so continuing heart or lung problems, but again, all normal.

[00:06:24]Hemoglobin, well, that's the body's capacity to hold onto oxygen. That's normal. And hematocrit measures the percentage of your blood volume that's made up of red cells. An abnormal result would indicate things like dehydration or anemia or more lung heart problems.

[00:06:39]So, again, I'm okay with that.

[00:06:43]The mean cell volume is the size of blood cells, again, all normal, but extremes might suggest anemia again or long-term inflammation or thyroid or liver problems.

[00:06:55]And then that mean cell hemoglobin is the amount of hemoglobin per per cell and there's plenty of that, so I'm able to get plenty of oxygen in.

[00:07:03]So, what I'm gaining from that is I don't have loads of red blood cells, I have an adequate number and the ones that I do have have plenty of hemoglobin, so they can get lots of oxygen, which makes me very happy.

[00:07:16]Then we move on to platelets. Now, these are important because this is all about clotting. And obviously, we need to be safe, so we need the blood to clot so we don't bleed to death, but equally, we don't want loads and loads of platelets, which then means that uh we run the risk of getting blood clots that we don't need and therefore causing us potential heart attacks or strokes or embolisms.

[00:07:38]And as you can see from my reading, my platelet figure is absolutely fine.

[00:07:43]Uh it's lower than it was, but it's well within the normal range. So, that's spot on. I am on a very low level of medication, so that makes complete sense. And the final bit of this full blood count are the fills, as I call them, the eosinophil and neutrophil and all of those. Let me put up the picture for you.

[00:08:02]The fills are the different types of white blood cells. So, white blood cells predominantly work against infections for us.

[00:08:09]And by looking at the different types, any high level of any one individually would suggest various different infections or disorders. So, the high neutrophils, for example, would be bacterial infections or inflammations or stresses. So, I'm pleased that my neutrophils are low side of normal. I'm not going to go through the others cuz it doesn't really affect me.

[00:08:29]So, what does all this mean for me?

[00:08:31]Well, I had a meeting with the vascular risk clinic to discuss it. And I have to say, shamefully, that I was completely wrong with what I said about the vascular risk clinic last week. Now, I tend to feel that they're the voice of doom a little bit, and if you don't do this, you're going to die early.

[00:08:44]Whereas the physios are, "Come on, you can do this." They're much more encouraging. The person that I spoke to was absolutely lovely, and she was Sylvia, who is one of our regular support team at the rehab sessions I've been going to for the last 8 weeks. So, I knew her, and she knew me, and it was a really useful session. We went through some of these results.

[00:09:02]Um and basically, she was very happy. They are now discharging me back to the care of the GP. They do not need to look after me anymore. Although she was saying that they are all there if I need to go and contact them, which is absolutely lovely. She did recommend that I have a cholesterol test every year just to make sure that everything's going all right. She also suggested that I keep tabs on my blood pressure cuz it's still a little bit on the high side.

[00:09:28]It's within acceptable levels when I'm resting, but she said I might just want to measure it every couple of weeks or maybe every week if it helps me to get a a weekly routine going just to maintain it. I am on one of the lowest doses of blood pressure pills and if it's not quite cutting it, I should probably mention it to the GP and they can make a decision whether they just up me slightly on that. So, I asked her was it okay if I was going to go running and what I should do if anything to improve my chances of being able to get back to full running and she said simply keep on doing what you're doing and you should be fine to proceed with your current plans. So, that is excellent.

[00:10:09]But, I said to her right before you go then, I'm planning on doing a 17-mile run in August and heading on to an ultra.

[00:10:16]Is running for a long time or walking all day for example, is that bad for me?

[00:10:23]And again, let me read you what she said.

[00:10:26]She said, "We encourage you to be as active as possible within the limits that we will set for you."

[00:10:32]And what that means is as long as I manage my heart rate based on what levels they're going to give me in their letters and I haven't received those yet, then I should be fine.

[00:10:44]And she went on to say, "Walking all day or doing your running as long as you stay within those limits should not increase your coronary artery disease risk."

[00:10:56]So, for me, I don't think that could have gone any better. Yeah, I'm not a well man as such. Yeah, I I have coronary heart disease.

[00:11:06]And I need to be on medication to deal with it.

[00:11:09]That aside, everything else is normal.

[00:11:13]My plans are acceptable.

[00:11:16]I'm about to be given some guidelines and I will work to which of course is great news.

[00:11:23]So, as far as I'm concerned, full steam ahead.

[00:11:26]We're planning on doing all the runs that I have already discussed and possibly more as well.

[00:11:33]So, until I get those letters and get those figures, I can't tell you any more. So, at this point I will say thank you so much for joining me. I hope you've enjoyed it and got some value out of it. Give it a thumbs up if you want to.

[00:11:43]I really look forward to seeing you out on the trails, which will be happening very soon now.

[00:11:47]Take care, enjoy your running, and I'll see you. Ta-da.

[00:11:51]>> [music]