I got off my ass last October, read Eric Harr, then John Mora, then Hobson et al and finally Friel. Set some goals, made a schedule, and started training seriously. I know, I should be posting @ TNO, but I want some pretty loud (even if combustible) feedback.
So, been training since October, and all this time I thought I was horribly unfit and getting just about nowhere according to my HRM. Mind you, I’ve noticed REAL gains in the pool and on the treadmill (Michigan winter), and even the bike. However, had been feeling pretty hopeless given that I am 31 with a resting heart rate around 100, and have been able to knock it up to 180+ without much real effort - and 198+ with just a short quad-burning sprint on the bike.
Well, “unfit” yes - but not quite what I thought. Turns out I have a hyperthyroid condition (root cause still under investigation) causing a plenty other symptoms I’ve been chalking up to various other causes (you know, lack of fitness, poor diet, high stress lifestyle, “aging”, etc).
So in the meantime, to control my rapid heart rate, and bring down my blood pressure (135/85), my doc has prescribed Atenolol, a fairly common beta-blocker prescribed to high-blood pressure patients around the world.
Before we discovered the thyroid condition (which is to say, before I took the first battery of tests), he had told me to take it easy on the training - no running, but walking, easy cycling, and relaxed swimming are fine.
After three days on this Atenolol, I did a bike workout on the trainer yesterday, and the pace and resistance should have had my heart rate up around 170-180 for 60 minutes, that is, according to my workout logs. Nope, never went over 130. That’s a HUGE and scary difference.
I did not get light headed in the least, experienced NO numbness or tingling in toes, fingers or crotch. These are all problems I experienced last fall when I first got back on the bike after so many years as a potato, and these had all faded within three weeks of riding. From watching my HRM, and using some bizarre logic, I was expecting them to come back with a vengeance, certainly after 60 minutes of 175bpm effort at 125-130bpm actual measurement.
I’ve always read statements like “If I could meditate my heart rate slower while still going 28mph, I would” and thought to myself, “no, then you’d faint for lack of blood to your brain”. But here my own (drugged) experience seems to show otherwise. Or at least that by dumb luck my head/heart never exploded previously…
Am I nuts? Am I going to kill myself if I do a little easy running? I called my doc, and he said “You have no special restrictions on your exercise now, just stop right away if you feel light-headed at all.”
Lastly - would it be unethical, against the rules, or suicidal to race while on this drug? Hopefully I’ll be off by June, my first race.
-Zo