First, Herbert- that was a great interview… Informative, certainly interesting and very compassionate.
I run a neurology practice so Of course I’m trying to figure out what’s going on. The first comment, from a doc, was Atrial fib. Could be but heat stress does so many different things to our bodies.
As a very competitive athlete I’ve found myself in lots of physical, stressful situations-“having the lights dim in my brain” has not been one of them.
Really good on her to admit that this is the life of many pro athelets.
A link to the article you are referring to might help getting some more response: https://www.slowtwitch.com/Interview/So_close_and_yet_so_far_away_7351.html
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Really good on her to admit that this is the life of many pro athelets.
Sarah has been very transparent and that is a really a good thing and kiddos to her. I hope she continues this approach as it should help other athletes make better decisions.
I have been asking around Hawaii for years about long-term health effects of various pro athletes - mainly because I was a rep for Boston Sci/Guidant/Biotronik in implantable pacemakers/defibs/crt and I am interested in the subject. None of the conversations have yielded any real significant setbacks although most athletes are far too young still. There are inherent risks about being a professional athlete but I don’t think long-term irreversible damage is something to be taken lightly and not enough education happens on the subject. Having dated a few collegiate runners it is always amazes the injuries they ran thru. Like where was the doctor and the sort of “concussion protocol” to protect the athletes. I really respect some of the younger athletes who are doing a good job of taking care of their body. Granted the body of education is much larger now but it is nice to see regardless.
A link to the article you are referring to might help getting some more response: https://www.slowtwitch.com/...o_far_away_7351.html
I love how a guy in the comments decided to make a diagnosis, apparently ignoring Sarah’s second response…
Sarah: Oh good, thank you. I am a little overwhelmed. But there are kind of two sides to it. It was heartwarming to me how much concern there was for my well-being. But I also realize, without contexts of someone’s medical history, without understanding what the nutrition plan was, what the data suggests, there is this tendency to want to come to conclusions without full information. And I think I would like to encourage people to step back and realize, it is easy to make a judgment about a performance without fully understanding the facts.
I saw a FB post of Matt Russell posing with a former pro triathlete who was in need of a heart transplant. I can’t remember who it was, but I think he and Matt used to train together. I wonder if the years of training took a toll on him and was the cause. That’s the kind of stuff that has made me start thinking real hard about all of the racing I used to do. I love this sport, but man I don’t want to be 65 and worse off than I would have been had I just stayed on the couch and continued to eat bon bons. 
I think she is still in denial. Not only in how bad off she was, but if she could still make it to the finish. 700m…essentially 7 football fields. No way she was going to make it that distance in the state she was in.
Having “lights dim” truly sounds scary to me. Very scary
She’s in denial and blaming others - Obviously hasn’t watched the video yet - that guy didn’t stop her. He touched her arm to get her attention to see if she was OK. I would think an agent or sponsor would work with her as this is not a good pr situation if she continues down this path. Even if she believes he stopped her, as a business (which pro athlete is), it would be better to publicly thank the guy for caring and move forward.
Not to make light of the situation (see what I did there!), but having the “lights dim” is the exact way I would describe your run of the mill bonk. Maybe its just me…
Having “lights dim” truly sounds scary to me. Very scary
I had that before when I got hypothermia.
Physical pain was unbearable, I wished the switch just goes off and turn off the light.
I was saved right before that happened though.
I think she is still in denial. Not only in how bad off she was, but if she could still make it to the finish. 700m…essentially 7 football fields. No way she was going to make it that distance in the state she was in.
well you saw how quickly she recovered … so the question is not if she would have made it it would have been the question when and personally i guess it would likely not been top 2 . but again we dont know .
i totally understand her point of view.
at the same time one also has to understand the view of the medical team.
I think she is still in denial. Not only in how bad off she was, but if she could still make it to the finish. 700m…essentially 7 football fields. No way she was going to make it that distance in the state she was in.
well you saw how quickly she recovered … so the question is not if she would have made it it would have been the question when and personally i guess it would likely not been top 2 . but again we dont know .
i totally understand her point of view.
at the same time one also has to understand the view of the medical team.
Paula Newby Fraser pretty much collapsed at the end of Alii Drive in 1995, spent 20 minutes recovering and still placed 4th. We don’t know how that would have turned out if the medical team had tried to pull her…
https://www.velopress.com/paula-newby-fraser-1995-ironman-world-championships/
I think she is still in denial. Not only in how bad off she was, but if she could still make it to the finish. 700m…essentially 7 football fields. No way she was going to make it that distance in the state she was in.
100%. This interview, well actually her answers are kind of scary. And I don’t know if this is known or not but I bet she hasn’t seen footage of herself.
I think she is still in denial. Not only in how bad off she was, but if she could still make it to the finish. 700m…essentially 7 football fields. No way she was going to make it that distance in the state she was in.
well you saw how quickly she recovered … so the question is not if she would have made it it would have been the question when and personally i guess it would likely not been top 2 . but again we dont know .
i totally understand her point of view.
at the same time one also has to understand the view of the medical team.
Paula Newby Fraser pretty much collapsed at the end of Alii Drive in 1995, spent 20 minutes recovering and still placed 4th. We don’t know how that would have turned out if the medical team had tried to pull her…
https://www.velopress.com/paula-newby-fraser-1995-ironman-world-championships/
I agree. At the same time like it or not health and safety concerns have changed in 20 years.
That’s why I say i cant fault the medical team.
It looks like to me he grabbed her and stopped her. I still don’t think she would have made it 700m in that condition but it seems it did stop her
Would have been interesting if she was asked why didn’t her coach, who I believe she said was there, suggest she slow down 3 miles walker with such a substantial lead
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The video looks really terrible – if this was boxing, you’d have to stop the fight. Here’s the very end, but she was like this for a while:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcvb9hM2iRo
It sucks that she was pulled so late in the race. Maybe she could have made 700m, maybe not. The amateur didn’t seem to cause her to fall, and it’s not fair to suggest he was the issue. If anything, the amateur was holding her up and it was the worker in orange pants grabbing her from behind that ended things for her.
It’s hard to second guess anyone when you watch the video. Her data and medical history may not indicate anything was happening, but you’d never know that from watching her – that looks like heat stroke, or even a regular stroke. By stopping her, they might have prevented a head injury from a fall, because she was weaving all over the course. A friend of mine got heat stroke and a thankfully mild heart attack because she was not pulled from the course in a similar situation.
Then again, I know a guy in his 50’s who was moving like that at the end of the swim in a 70.3. We all thought he was having a stroke or heart attack, but it turned out that it was cold water in his ears that screwed up his equilibrium so he couldn’t stand. After sitting for a minute and letting the ears settle, he was better and finished the race. You wouldn’t have blamed the medical team for pulling him out, but he was able to communicate that it was just vertigo.
I guarantee this thread gets locked.
The part I really want to emphasize is that while it looked very scary, I wasn’t threatening my health. That is the part that is so hard to comprehend, because it looked so bad. The blood work and the testing we did afterwards did not indicate that I did any damage to myself.
This comment seems dangerous. Motor control loss in a heat wave should always be taken extremely seriously. It’s possible to progress extremely rapidly from a condition that can be quickly recovered from, to dead. Just because a test doesn’t show long-term damage doesn’t mean that your health wasn’t being threatened.
I’ve had a crush on Sarah from day one. I’m also really happy that she’s got her position sorted too, with tilted arm cups and high hands 
That said, and even though I think she’s saying what she truly believes, it would probably be better strategically to just call it heat stress, take responsibility, and let that poor amateur who tried to help her go in peace.