I posted in this forum back in August that I had suffered a heart attack(100% blockage of the LAD) after finishing a triathlon. As I was waiting in the emergency room to be life flighted to another hospital, I figured my triathlon life would be over, back to flyfishing. After the Docs fixed me up with a few stents, I was told I could start working out again , just take it easy. There’s some damage, but let’s see how you will do? After 2 1/2 weeks I was back on the bike riding easy. Very scary at first, but things started to improve as I conquered some of my fears.
Had my first stress test a few weeks later, the Doc said I could resume training since my heart reacted very well to exercise. Tried a tempo run in November and found about the same results as pre heart attack. 2 miles in 13:30 with a heart rate of 145.
As fall turned into winter, things got alot tougher. I was taking a variety of the standard statins and beta blockers, and the drugs were having their effect. I struggled with the cold weather as my face seemed to freeze on every bike and run here in eastern Pa. My times just got slower and slower as the winter progressed. I attempted to do another tempo run in Feb, and the results were not pretty. 1 mile in 7:30 heart rate 138. It became extremely difficult to get the heart rate over 125, so I just kept plugging along,
Then at my 6 month check up in March, I was instructed to start a step down dose of coreg, and be off it in 2 weeks. The whole world changed! My energy levels went way up, and training started to be fun again. So, it was time to try a tempo run again. It went well, back in the 13:30 range and heart rate in the high 140s. OK, lets try mile mile intervals. 3 by 1mile on the track, the true test of a runner. It went well, 6:20 miles with the HR peaking out at 162. I know my previous max was 175 so it seems like the ticker is working pretty good, time to enter a triathlon and remove the ghost…
Today was my return to racing, Finished the Black Bear sprint tri here in eastern Pa, Won my age group and finished 13th overall… All systems go.
It feels great to be back at it. My cardiologist also did the race, I asked him if I’m ready to try a half again, His reply?? “See you on the Podium”
Rock on…