Doing ok, odds are all goes well and back at it in a few weeks. But, sure could use the mojo boost of hearing about you or someone you know that had a strong return to 'competitive' training after some cardiac stents get placed.
I'm about to turn 50. History of high cholesterol that I did a poor job of accepting statins would help and never got on a regular regime. Once I heard that this was familial, I pretty much decided I was safe and my numbers would always be high. Have always been so active and 'healthy' that I would go years between primary care doc visits.
I've been training for 20+ years now. More training than racing. Adopted the lifestyle. Diet has gone from bad in my 20s and early 30s and evolved into almost great in my 40s. I say 'almost great' b/c I have superb control over my food choices throughout the day but I tend to let my guard down in the evening and eat like my 20 year old self. BMI is 22. And, I really focus on all of those other recovery things, too (ie...sleep is good).
I just found out this week that 2 of the majors in my heart (RCA and LAD) are extremely clogged up and I'll need stents.
I'm the luckiest man alive right now. (N of 1). My training is very, very consistent. 8-12 hrs/wk. A balanced mix of low HR biking with the right proportion of sweet spot and threshold work....so, there's enough High HR stuff in there that I've been working the pump out, rest it, repeat it. Same for the run. More biking than running. Swimming is just a recovery tool that I use for technique work and is very low stress, 2-3x /wk.
I had noticed around Nov/Dec that some of my outdoor rides were getting more difficult on the attacks on the climbs and the fartlek style ramp ups the groups would do. My work of breathing def got harder and def took longer to recover from after the effort but I would grind thru it. I was working harder but still hanging on to the faster guys. Just noticed it was harder than it had been in the summer. But, chalked that up to getting close to 50 yrs old.
I had noticed shoulder and scapula pain but I chalked that up to some back workouts.
I had even noticed that going up stairs was slower and I was having to focus on my breathing...Pacing up a couple of flights of stairs? WTF?!?!
Then, I started noticed chest tightness. Hard to describe, not the 'Elephant on my chest' tightness, but tight enough that I kept trying to take huge breaths to open it up and it never seemed to help. Thought this might be a respiratory thing due to the season or all of the N95s I have to wear at work breaking down or clogging up or whatever.
So, as I am about to turn 50, my wife convinced me to start going to the doc and being a more responsible dad/husband/patient. We did the CT Calcium Score test and that's how this chapter got started.
Luckily, we're acting on this due to the diagnostics and not the big MI or widow maker that starts with me lying on the side of the road in TimBukTo.
Big Picture is getting through this and taking care of my wife and fam for years to come.
For the athlete in me....as long as nothing goes bad in the procedure, I'd like to think that I'd be able to return to training at some point and that I might even get a little physiologic boost from opening up these two main pipes!
I think it's huge that I have been working with an awesome coach for almost 2 years now. I connected with him because I work a ton and had limited time to train. Even though I don't race much (nobody does these days), I wanted to get the most out the little time I had, needed to stay competitive even when it's just hanging with the buddies and groups. He has a ton of experience with masters athletes. He has seen this before. There's no doubt that my best play is to get cleared for training from the docs and then I just have to turn over my training plans to my coach. I promise you that if I were still self coached in this sitiuation, I know I would get in my own way and totally sabotage my potential for a successful return to training.
So, that's my current place.
PLEASE share some success stories so I can continue to look forward to my future with sport still a major part of it!
"Outwork your talent." Kevin McHale
I'm about to turn 50. History of high cholesterol that I did a poor job of accepting statins would help and never got on a regular regime. Once I heard that this was familial, I pretty much decided I was safe and my numbers would always be high. Have always been so active and 'healthy' that I would go years between primary care doc visits.
I've been training for 20+ years now. More training than racing. Adopted the lifestyle. Diet has gone from bad in my 20s and early 30s and evolved into almost great in my 40s. I say 'almost great' b/c I have superb control over my food choices throughout the day but I tend to let my guard down in the evening and eat like my 20 year old self. BMI is 22. And, I really focus on all of those other recovery things, too (ie...sleep is good).
I just found out this week that 2 of the majors in my heart (RCA and LAD) are extremely clogged up and I'll need stents.
I'm the luckiest man alive right now. (N of 1). My training is very, very consistent. 8-12 hrs/wk. A balanced mix of low HR biking with the right proportion of sweet spot and threshold work....so, there's enough High HR stuff in there that I've been working the pump out, rest it, repeat it. Same for the run. More biking than running. Swimming is just a recovery tool that I use for technique work and is very low stress, 2-3x /wk.
I had noticed around Nov/Dec that some of my outdoor rides were getting more difficult on the attacks on the climbs and the fartlek style ramp ups the groups would do. My work of breathing def got harder and def took longer to recover from after the effort but I would grind thru it. I was working harder but still hanging on to the faster guys. Just noticed it was harder than it had been in the summer. But, chalked that up to getting close to 50 yrs old.
I had noticed shoulder and scapula pain but I chalked that up to some back workouts.
I had even noticed that going up stairs was slower and I was having to focus on my breathing...Pacing up a couple of flights of stairs? WTF?!?!
Then, I started noticed chest tightness. Hard to describe, not the 'Elephant on my chest' tightness, but tight enough that I kept trying to take huge breaths to open it up and it never seemed to help. Thought this might be a respiratory thing due to the season or all of the N95s I have to wear at work breaking down or clogging up or whatever.
So, as I am about to turn 50, my wife convinced me to start going to the doc and being a more responsible dad/husband/patient. We did the CT Calcium Score test and that's how this chapter got started.
Luckily, we're acting on this due to the diagnostics and not the big MI or widow maker that starts with me lying on the side of the road in TimBukTo.
Big Picture is getting through this and taking care of my wife and fam for years to come.
For the athlete in me....as long as nothing goes bad in the procedure, I'd like to think that I'd be able to return to training at some point and that I might even get a little physiologic boost from opening up these two main pipes!
I think it's huge that I have been working with an awesome coach for almost 2 years now. I connected with him because I work a ton and had limited time to train. Even though I don't race much (nobody does these days), I wanted to get the most out the little time I had, needed to stay competitive even when it's just hanging with the buddies and groups. He has a ton of experience with masters athletes. He has seen this before. There's no doubt that my best play is to get cleared for training from the docs and then I just have to turn over my training plans to my coach. I promise you that if I were still self coached in this sitiuation, I know I would get in my own way and totally sabotage my potential for a successful return to training.
So, that's my current place.
PLEASE share some success stories so I can continue to look forward to my future with sport still a major part of it!
"Outwork your talent." Kevin McHale