Thursday, November 29, 2007

Sorry I've been so scarce

For the few of you that do read this blog, perhaps you've been wondering what happened to me, or where I have been. Well I just seem to have had lots of work to do lately, and perhaps things haven't felt like they are going as well as I'd hoped they would. In short, I've been feeling kind of lousy about my running the past few weeks. It hasn't stopped me though.

Two or three weeks ago I was feeling so lethargic (all day long) that I went to my GP and asked him if he could think of anything. He listened to my breathing and my heart, ummm'd and ahh'd and couldn't tell me jack. He said maybe my electrolytes were out of balance so he sent me for a stack of blood tests, but these all came back fine, including a bilharzia test I prompted him to do as well (Roodeplaat dam is known to have it).

My bout of whatever seems to have passed but I'm still not feeling as energetic as I was a few months ago. I think there could be numerous reasons. Working late at night, eating badly, stressing about stuff. Perhaps I pushed too hard, or perhaps it's the hotter, more humid weather. I have no idea, whatever it is it's got me a bit down about my 21km goal. Got me doubting whether this thing is really possible. Everyone tells you that if you put your mind to something you will always get there. But in this case... well how do you fix a broken ticker? No amount of willpower and determination is gonna do that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to stop running, or trying. But I think I might take it a bit easier than I have, or try cross training with some cycling. Cycling to me seems to allow you to control your power output much better. If you're struggling up a hill, change to a lower gear, or go slower. You can't do that while running, at least I can't. I'm either running, or walking, there're not gears in between.

Besides the next big thing for me is going to be the Great Mpumalanga Bike ride. I'm going to have to get cycling fit for it, should be a blast. 8 days of slow riding through some awesome scenery. Anyway that's the end of my update, if you really want to you can go ahead and read all the new logs, I'll try keep up to date once more, but with the holidays looming, I doubt it :P

Week 46

This week I ran 14.61km in 1hr56

Monday 19 November 2007
Distance: 4.76km
Total time: 37:05
Intervals: 60/90
Pace: 7:48 min/km
Average HR:  142
Route: Nicholson 

Wednesday 21 November 2007
Distance: 5.25km
Total time: 43:26
Intervals: 60/90
Pace: 8:16 min/km
Average HR: 136
Route: Premier

Friday 23 November 2007
Distance: 4.6km
Total time: 35:41
Intervals: 60/90
Pace: 7:45 min/km
Average HR:  140
Route: Mackenzie

Week 45

This week I ran 13.96km in 1hr57

Monday 5 November 2007
Distance: 4.98km
Total time: 39:22
Intervals: 60/90
Pace: 7:55 min/km
Average HR:  137
Route: Can't remember 

Wednesday 7 November 2007
Distance: 3.77km
Total time: 29:59
Intervals: 60/90
Pace: 7:57 min/km
Average HR: 128
Route: Can't remember

Friday 9 November 2007
Distance: 5.2km
Total time: 47:44
Intervals: None
Pace: 9:11 min/km
Average HR:  123
Route: Boys High (walked) 

This was the week where I wasn't feeling particularly well, hence the slow time on Friday.

Week 44

This week I ran 10.27km in 1hr20

Monday 29 October 2007
Distance: 5.07km
Total time: 38:22
Intervals: 60/90
Pace: 7:34 min/km
Average HR:  133
Route: Stellenbosch 

Friday 2 November 2007
Distance: 5.21km
Total time: 42:16
Intervals: 60/90
Pace: 8:07 min/km
Average HR: 139
Route: Can't remember

Week 43

This week I ran 10.13km in 1hr20

Monday 22 October 2007
Distance: 4.87km
Total time: 39:14
Intervals: 75/90
Pace: 8:03 min/km
Average HR:  148
Route: Clarke 

Wednesday 24 October 2007
Distance: 5.26km
Total time: 41:05
Intervals: 75/90
Pace: 7:49 min/km
Average HR: 144
Route: Spiral

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Dammit

Just noticed week 41 is missing, promise I'll put it up, I somehow disappeared it :(

Sunday, October 21, 2007

What the cardiologist said

I had an appointment with a new cardiologist last Friday (the 12th). Why a new one? Because the old one is in Cape Town, and plane tickets aren't covered by my medical aid. It was a bit strange, the procedure was completely different to what I'm used to. I was first asked to get undressed and put on some boxers that were supplied.

Then I sat in a second waiting room, for the semi dressed people. When the ECG lady was ready for me she asked me to stand on a scale, 75kg. Then she asked me to stand in front of her while she stuck conductive electrodes all over my chest. Once she had wired me up to the ECG machine she asked me to sit, instead of lie on the bed, which is what usually happens. It showed my heart rate as 57bpm, which is lower than I expected.

Having removed mercifully little chest hair, I was sent back to the waiting room to wait for the doctor. He then asked me the usual questions: Do you smoke? Drink? Family history of heart conditions? When were you first diagnosed... blah blah blah. I'm not sure I gave him the full picture as I'm so over all that, and he didn't seem to ask all the correct leading questions, hopefully he requests my file from my previous doc.

Once he had got enough history he asked me to lie on a bed while he recorded what he remembered me saying with a dictaphone, presumably for later typing by a secretary. He then listened to my heart, took my BP, checked my ankles for swelling and then listened to my lungs. We then went to the echo machine and he did an echocardiogram. Checking the size of my left ventricle and my ejection fraction.

The good news is that there are marginal improvements in both these measures of cardiac function. That could be due to measurement error, or an actual improvement in my cardiac function. I have some recollection that the last time I went to my Cape Town cardiologist, he said the same thing, that there was a marginal improvement but it is difficult to say whether it is a real improvement because it is such a small change. It's unfortunate that my appointments are so far apart and that I have no personal records. But if my recollection is correct then 2 small improvements make 1 bigger improvement, so maybe I am seeing some real improvements in my condition. My ejection fraction is currently 36%.

The doctor also asked for me to have some blood tests to check some chemical markers that are indicators of heart failure. What they are exactly I'm not sure. I also got myself sorted again for monitoring my INR, that's the thickness of my blood. I have had a pretty constant dosage and have been really lazy about having blood tests lately. Not because I don't like having them, but because, firstly there are no fixed dates for the tests, and secondly because the nurses at the clinic where I last had a blood test seemed really disagreeable.

The problem, which I am very aware of, but have been shoving to the back of my mind, is two fold. If my blood is too thick then a clot could possibly form, getting stuck anywhere in my body, including my brain, which could cause a stroke. So it's a good thing that I'm having it monitored correctly once more. It does mean that there are numerous regular blood tests that I need to have in the near future.

I asked what the doctor thought of me running regularly. He said as long as I wasn't racing it should all be good. As soon as you start competing with people you stop listening to your body and can do some serious damage.

He also said that I may need to consider having an ICD installed. ICD - Internal Cardioverter Defibrillator. I will write an article about what that is soon. He says that they are indicated (that means suggested or necessary) for patients with ejection fractions under 35% so I am very much on the cusp. Because it is invasive and visible, and because I am young, he said we will avoid it for as long as possible. Personally I don't think I need one, but perhaps as time goes on I will.

All said the news and prognosis is good and I should live healthily at least until my next appointment in 6 months time.

Week 42 Exercise Log

This week I ran 9km in 1hr10

Monday 15 October 2007
Distance: 5.2km
Total time: 41:17
Intervals: 75/90
Pace: 8:01 min/km
Average HR:  143
Energy used: 386 Cal
Route: Premier = Hell 

Wednesday 17 October 2007
Distance: 3.8km
Total time: 28:30
Intervals: 75/90
Pace: 7:23 min/km
Average HR: 135
Energy used: 254 Cal
Route: Time trial route

Weight: 75kg 

Feeling a bit lethargic lately, hoping it's just the change of season. Skipped Friday because of the rain. Really stoked that we won the World Cup! GO BOKKE!!!

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Running in the rain

While most people were running scared to the shelter of their homes yesterday, I was running around Pretoria getting rained on and nearly struck by lightening. It was awesome!! But I am finding this weather rather annoying, it's interfering with my running dammit. I missed Friday's run and now most of yesterday's run. I only did one 2km loop before we decided that it was looking really ominous, 30 seconds later it started hailing, so we were right.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful, because we need the rain, but could it just rain at more convenient times please!

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Time trial improvements

I've been training pretty solidly for the past 5 months. I started off pretty slowly, doing about 30km a month and running really short intervals. I started off at about 20s running and 50s walking, which just happened to be the amount of time it took me to run the short edge of a field and walk the long edge. Once I was up to about 4km I was put out to pasture :P. No, I was allowed onto the road. Which was great because it is more entertaining than running in circles.

Once out on the road I was expected to take part in time trials, which entails running around a 2km loop. At the moment I am still only doing 4km time trials. Once I'm more comfy with running longer distances I'll start doing 6km time trials as well. I have only completed 3 time trials so far, I missed one because I was in Cape Town.

So my first time trial took me about 32mins which is 8min/km, my second took 29mins, which is a pace of 7:14min/km, the time trial I did this past Wednesday took me 27:24, which is a pace of 6:51. I would like to be able to run at a pace of 6min/km. I'm pretty sure that my running pace is about that fast, it's just that I walk too much, so as I increase my running times relative to my walking time I should get closer to that 6min/km goal.

An interim goal, before attempting a half marathon will be a sub 1hr 10km, I've wanted to be able to do that for a long time. So that will be the next thing I will work towards.

Week 40 Exercise Log

This week I ran 9.2km in 1hr07

Monday 1 October 2007
Distance: 5.2km
Total time: 40:02
Intervals: 75/90
Pace: 7:41 min/km
Average HR: 138 bpm
Energy used: 2098 kJ
Route: Boys High + Hills

Wednesday 3 October 2007
Distance: 4km
Total time: 27:24
Intervals: 75/75
Pace: 6:51 min/km
Average HR: 135 bpm
Energy used: 1340 kJ
Route: Time Trial 

Weight: 75kg 

As I said in my previous blog, Monday was the first time I decided to include myself in hill training, and even though I think I was still a bit tired from the Saturday race, it still felt really good. Wednesday was a time trial, I seemed to be struggling with shins this week, not sure if it was because of Saturday's race or because I was trying to walk too fast.

I didn't run on Friday because of the weather, I went to the school that I run from and waited till 5:30 hoping the rain would abate. It's all good when it starts raining while you are running, but starting to run while it's raining sucks, so I gave it up for a bad job.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Hill training and cardiologists!

I was less than delighted yesterday when the coach/manager suggested that we do hill training. The Boys High route has a nice hill half way through the route, with 0,100 and 200m market out. So we were expected to do this hill 4 times. I had some serious shin splints on the way out and was not a happy camper. We just continued as we would, running when my watch beeped, walking when it beeped again, not caring if it was uphill or down.

Inevitably there was one running interval that started at the bottom of the hill... I ran the whole 200m hill! I was so surprised, I just went, there was no ragged breathing, no faintness, no burning legs. The ladies started walking one after the other, but I just ran, it was the most awesome feeling!! The simple things in life.

There's no doubt that I'm getting a lot fitter. I remember struggling to walk up 2 flights of stairs! Well I hope to keep that a thing of the past. I'm going to see a cardiologist next week, not because there is anything wrong. It's just time, I think it's been almost a year since my last visit, and the paranoid dude inside me says that this can't be right, something must be going wrong. So hopefully he puts me on a treadmill, wires me up and then tells me I'm nuts, but my heart is fine (well within limits). Actually chances are that he will just do an ECG and an echocardiogram.

I'm actually a little nervous, I've done this a hundred times before, been poked and prodded by cold hands. Had what little chest hair I have ripped off by those super sticky electrical pads, oh and a lot more of my less sparse leg hair! I've even had shock therapy :P ... no not for the madness... read the article about the various procedures I've had in particular cardioversions.

So why am I nervous? What if he tells me to take it easy, or to stop running? I'm enjoying this so much! That would seriously suck! Wish me luck. 

The gang is growing!

I started off running alone and that was all good, especially in the beginning, because I could go at my own pace and feel comfortable doing how I wanted to. But about 2 months ago someone joined me! She decided she liked the interval training and would run with me, then about a month ago another lady joined me.

This was the trio that ran a 10km last Saturday. But for the past few runs there has been another lady that has been trying to join me as well. It seems like yesterday she joined us properly, so now we are a gang of 4. I've had numerous requests from the runners to join them, but at the moment I'm quite happy doing what I'm doing and it seems that this is making other people happy as well.

The bonus is that I have control of the reigns, I tell them how my watch is set, but that doesn't mean I have to stick to it. On Saturday in the race I'd set it up for 1min running and 2min walking. But towards the end I started running earlier, so that the running interval was longer and the rest interval shorter. I think it allowed us to catch up some time, and no-one complained. hehehe

Monday, October 1, 2007

Exercise log for September 2007

This month I completed 66km in 12 sessions and just under 8hrs40mins of exercise.

Week 36 2007: 1 Sessions - 5km 0:39
Week 37 2007: 4 Sessions - 20km 2:43
Week 38 2007: 4 Sessions - 15km 1:51
Week 39 2007: 2 Sessions - 26km 3:27

I'm so bleak! I was hoping to get 70km again this month, and I had written that today was the last day of the month. I was planning to do a 4/5km run today. But alas! Today is October!!

Other than that I am really satisfied with this months progress, I am up to running 6km training runs and I completed a 10km race on Saturday with ease. The real dent in this months performance was my Cape Town trip, where I missed 2 runs. I'll blame it on lack of self discipline and laziness.  

Saturday, September 29, 2007

McCarthy Volkswagen 10km road race

I can't say this was my first 10km road race, I did the 2005 Gun Run 10km, but this was really cool. I made the intervals easier, for the longer distance, mostly we ran for 1min and walked for 2. I say we, because I have 2 keen training partners, in fact I probably would have waited a bit longer to do a 10km if it wasn't for their encouragement.

So how was it? Well my cellphone alarm failed to wake me at 5:50, in fact I set it wrong, so I was woken up by a call from one of the ladies, wanting to pick me up! So 2 minutes later I was dressed with a sip of milk and my Jungle oats bar in my hand. Out to the car, there we go! I didn't forget anything!!

Got to the sports ground, got my race numbers etc, stretched a bit, we were a little warm from the walk from where we had parked. Then we were off. I'd say the first 3km were the worst, there was a gentle uphill and I was cold. But the rest was quite a breeze, at one point we skipped a running interval, it was a long gentle uphill. But we made it up elsewhere.

The only problem was that I think people were getting a little annoyed, because we kept overtaking the same fast walkers, so we decided to push a little harder to get away from them on the next gentle downhill, which we did, and then it was all good.

Towards the end I didn't tell them but I was adding time to the running intervals and removing from our resting time. We made it back in 1:16:31, although it could have been a little less than that because I forgot to stop my watch as we crossed the line.

All in all it was a great run, we had fun and I didn't feel like I couldn't go on at any point in the race. Obviously as we got to the end of the running intervals I would start to feel it, but after the rest/walk I was all good again. I'm starting to feel really good again!

Week 39 2007 Exercise Log

This week I ran 26km in 3hr27

Monday 24 September 2007
Distance: 6km
Total time: 45:55
Intervals: 65/90
Pace: 7:39 min/km
Average HR: 134 bpm
Energy used: 2299 kJ
Route: Albert

Wednesday 26 September 2007
Distance: 6km
Total time: 43:38
Intervals: 65/90
Pace: 7:16 min/km
Average HR: 132 bpm
Energy used: 2152 kJ
Route: Time Trial Route 

Friday 28 September 2007
Distance: 4km
Total time: 41:49
Intervals: 65/90
Pace: 10:27 min/km
Average HR: 120 bpm
Energy used: 1691 kJ
Route: Mackenzie

Took this one really easy, we walked the whole way, as prep for Saturday

Saturday 29 September 2007
Distance: 10km
Total time: 1:16:31
Intervals: 60/120
Pace: 7:39 min/km
Average HR: 135 bpm
Energy used: 3848 kJ
Route: McCarthy Volkswagen Classic Marathon Challenge, 10km Road race

Weight: 75kg 

Well I did more than a half marathon this week :P ... in total. And it looks like I might have come in for the 21.1 in under the 3 hour mark! So I really feel like I'm progressing and am on my way to my goal!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

10 km Race on Saturday

I plan on running my first 10km, since 2005, on Saturday. The plan is to run a 6 or 7 tomorrow (Wednesday) and then a 4 on Friday. I will adjust the intervals slightly for the 10km giving myself more of a rest between running intervals. I don't expect to do much better than 1hr20, but the idea is more to get the distance done, not to get a time. Hoping it will go well and be fun.

Week 38 2007 Exercise Log

This week I ran 15km in 1hr51

Monday 17 September 2007
Distance: 6km
Total time: 44:17
Intervals: 65/90
Pace: 7:22 min/km
Average HR: 134 bpm
Energy used: 2223 kJ
Route: Spiral

Wednesday 12 September 2007
Distance: 4km
Total time: 29:39
Intervals: 65/90
Pace: 7:24 min/km
Average HR: 133 bpm
Energy used: 1478 kJ
Route: Nicholson

Friday 14 September 2007
Distance: 5km
Total time: 37:15
Intervals: 65/90
Pace: 7:27 min/km
Average HR: 134 bpm
Energy used: 1871 kJ
Route: Boys High

Weight: 75kg 

Friday was great! I ran the fastest time for this particular route and it really felt great. This week I am going to be pushing it a little harder, I've already done a 6km yesterday, which felt great even though the weekend was quite tiring, wedding etc.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Spar Ladies Race

I think I mentioned that I did the spar ladies race while I was in Cape Town. I wasn't feeling particularly strong, in fact it had been quite a physical weekend. My family and I moved a whole lot of stuff out of my rental property's garage, so I was pretty sore by the time Sunday came. Also, being away from home I of course didn't really eat right, and I hadn't run since Monday. Anyway I had a very chilled "race". In fact I walked most of the way.

But who said this wasn't supposed to be any fun? Being a ladies race I felt compelled to... well... check it out...

That's me and my mate Dave, before and after. He's agreed to run a half marathon with me when I get fit enough to do it... no getting out of it now Dave!! :P

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Heart Transplant? Pacemaker?

A while ago I asked my cardiologist alternatives to all the medication and the lack of exercise tolerance. We talked briefly about a heart transplant, but this was almost immediately discounted. Firstly to be eligible for a heart transplant I would need to be in advanced heart failure, clearly this is not the case at the moment. If it was (hypothetically) done anyway there could be an improvement in some parts of my quality of life, but I would be trading some known, and well managed, problems for others. As I understand it, transplant patients need to be on anti organ rejection drugs (immunosuppressants), pretty much for the rest of their lives. These can make feel pretty grotty, and susceptible to other infections. So if I were to go into heart failure again, this might be a consideration, but I will try my best to stay healthy and avoid this.

We also discussed the possibility of a pacemaker, my heart rhythm is not normal. This most easily noticed by feeling my pulse, it will be regular for some time and then suddenly speed up for a few beats and then slow down again. If I remember correctly that's not really the problem though. Before I get into the pacemaker story, I'll try explain, again I think, how the heart works, but this time with a little more emphasis on nerve impulses (I'm not a doctor, so I could be getting this all wrong).

The heart has four chambers, two atria and two ventricles. Blood is pulled into the (smaller) atria at the top of the heart and then pumped into the (bigger) ventricles at the bottom of the heart. The ventricles then contract to pump blood all the way around the body. The timing of all these contractions is controlled by a set of nerve pathways around the heart. The heartbeat is generated by a special group of cells, the sinoatrial (SA) node, in the right atrium, this group sends an electrical signal out that contracts the heart muscles, starting with the atria. The signal is passed through nerve pathways down the atrium to the atrioventricular (AV) node, this node passes the signal on to the ventricles. Here comes the clever bit, for the best operation, the atria should be empty before the ventricles contract, so this AV node has a special property. It delays the signal for about 0.1 seconds, this ensures that the atria have contracted and primed the ventricles before they, in turn, beat. 

So what about my heart? Well my atria are beating way too fast, so I guess something went pear-shaped and my SA node is now going ballistic. I have atypical atrial flutter, so according to what I have read my atria could beat at above 340bpm. It is caused by a self sustaining circular neural pathway passing a signal around the heart. My atria are "tired" they don't actually contract anymore (well that is unless they have somehow fixed themselves since my last ECG). Of course a  whole heart beating at that speed would be pretty scary and probably not good for you and would also get "tired", unless you are a humming bird. The AV node fixes this, it only allows a certain number of these beats through every minute. This maximum is where you get your maximum heart rate from (roughly 220 minus your age).  Still my heart beating at 190 bpm all day would still be really uncomfortable, I don't think it ever did actually get to that pace even when I was sick, but I might be wrong. Anyway I have medication (beta blockers) which brings this max down even further, it seems my max heart rate is about 150 bpm. I have no idea why my resting heart rate is about 65.

Anyway, this arrhythmia bothered my cardiologist and we discussed options to fix it. I think I have mentioned my numerous cardioversions and the attempted cardioablation, so I won't say more about those here, except that both treatments failed. So if this rhythm problem becomes dangerous to my health, the only other option is to (if I remember correctly) destroy my AV node (burn it away) and implant a pacemaker which would only stimulate my ventricles. I'm not sure what that will mean for exercise etc, but I assume there is someway for the pacemaker to realise that you need greater cardiac output and speed up the heart rate. So far it's been decided that my heart is still good enough, with my current medication, not to do anything that drastic, so I don't need to worry about running out of battery power just yet, hehehe 

Week 37 2007 exercise log

This week I ran 20.0km in 2hr43

Sunday 9 September 2007
Distance: 5km
Total time: 47:47
Intervals: N/A
Pace: 9:33 min/km
Average HR: 105 bpm
Energy used: 1302 kJ
Route: Spar Ladies Race

Monday 10 September 2007
Distance: 5km
Total time: 99:10
Intervals: 60/90
Pace: 7:50 min/km
Average HR: 137 bpm
Energy used: 2056 kJ
Route: Mackenzie

Tuesday 11 September - CANOEING
Distance: 4km
Total time: 37:36
Intervals: N/A
Pace: 9:24 min/km
Average HR: 126 bpm
Energy used: 1700 kJ
Route: Dam wall and back

Wednesday 12 September 2007
Distance: 5km
Total time: 38:46
Intervals: 60/90
Pace: 7:45 min/km
Average HR: 132 bpm
Energy used: 1876 kJ
Route: Boys High

Friday 14 September 2007
Distance: 5km
Total time: 37:45
Intervals: 60/90
Pace: 7:33 min/km
Average HR: 133 bpm
Energy used: 1880 kJ
Route: Clarke

Weight: 75kg 

I had hoped to have photo's to post of me at the race on Sunday, but I haven't been able to get them from a friend as yet, they will be posted asap.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Week 36 2007 exercise log

This week I ran 5km in 39mins!

Monday 3 September 2007
Distance: 5km
Total time: 39:31
Intervals: 60/90
Pace: 7:54 min/km
Average HR: 135 bpm
Energy used: 2022 kJ
Route: Lynwood

 Weight: 74kg

Ok so this week was really really bad! I went to Cape Town on Wednesday and did no running till Sunday, which forms part of week 37 according to my calendar, so technically I only did 5km this week, however there is an explanation. I haven't been back to Cape Town since Easter time and there were many people to see.

I thought I may have run on Friday morning but after my 10yr old boys reunion on Thursday night, which ended up being pretty late, as expected, I was pretty buggered. I did however do a lot of heavy lifting, which is probably not a great idea for me, but I don't really have a choice, I had to move a stack of stuff out of my property in Cape Town. My body is sore!! Anyway, right back to it tomorrow, after a relaxed 5km walk today, I will hopefully get back to my routine this week.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Canoeing?

Before winter I joined a local canoeing club, but canoeing is a lot harder than you might expect. Staying in the boat is quite a challenge for a beginner, especially in a K1 (single man canoe). A K2 is much easier to balance in but my paddling partner was studying for exams like the ENTIRE winter and I'm not very partial to cold water, so I gave it up for winter.

Yesterday, however was a wicked day to start again, weather wise, and the exams were over. So we went out for a little paddle and found that our arms had turned back into useless rubber bands, we went for about 40 minutes and did about 3km. Today I feel like some evil torture master tied me to rack and stretched my arms REAL good.

So should I be canoeing as well? I think if I can maintain both running and canoeing I should have a well rounded exercise program, and I think starting it again after 4 months of running it will be good, at the moment it is less of a cardio workout than a muscle conditioning exercise. It should help strengthen my core muscles, which in turn should help my running. To be able to canoe for cardio is going to take some time, when I stopped in April, I was quite comfy paddling about 4km, hopefully I'll stick to it through summer and be good enough to continue through next winter too. It's always been something I've wanted to be able to do. I'll be canoeing on Tuesdays and Saturdays probably, so I will add those to my exercise stats, probably from next week

Exercise log for August 2007

This month I completed 70.5km in 15 sessions and just under 9hrs of exercise.

Week 31 2007: 2 Sessions - 9.2km 1:11
Week 32 2007: 3 Sessions - 15km 1:53
Week 33 2007: 4 Sessions - 18,2km 2:16
Week 34 2007: 2 Sessions - 10.2km 1:19
Week 35 2007: 4 Session  - 18km 2:19

This is up by over 10km from last month, which is pretty cool, especially considering a relatively unproductive weekend away. I suspect September will be similair, I will try to do some extra, shorter, runs on the in between days.

Week 35 2007 exercise log

This week I ran 18.0km in 2hr19

Sunday 26 August 2007
Distance: 4.3km
Total time: 34:15
Intervals: 60/90
Pace: 7:57 min/km
Average HR: 132 bpm
Energy used: 1687 kJ
Route: Around Manguzi

Tuesday 28 August 2007
Distance: 2.7km
Total time: 21:33
Intervals: 65/95
Pace: 7:29 min/km
Average HR: 135 bpm
Energy used: 2294 kJ
Route: Time Trial route

Wednesday 29 August 2007

Distance: 6km
Total time: 45:00
Intervals: 65/95
Pace: 7:30 min/km
Average HR: 134 bpm
Energy used: 2257 kJ
Route: Spiral

Friday 31 August 2007

Distance: 5km
Total time: 38:13
Intervals: 70/100
Pace: 7:38 min/km
Average HR: 135 bpm
Energy used: 1951 kJ
Route: Nicholson

 

Weight: Briefly up to 76, but back to 74 by the end of the week

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Manguzi

You know you've had a really good weekend when you put on 2 kgs! I had no self discipline! Well not really, I did go for a run on Sunday, but here's how it went down.

It was a 7hr drive to get to Manguzi, which is really the town on the Kosi bay lakes, in northern Kwazulu Natal. So I thought I could go for a run that afternoon, but when we got there, the time was spent shopping and catching up. Then it was an hours drive to the campsite in the middle of nowhere, which was great, except that the roads are all sand pits (4x4 essential) and I'm certainly not a life guard.

By that stage I was starving and when the chips came out, well...my resistance crumbled! Then everyone's drinking beer and wine... need I say more, I was really quite good until a friend poured me, what I hoped was to be a single whiskey (I'm only human) but must have been a triple!

From there on everything just went out of the window, I tried in vain sometimes, but mostly I was weak! Chips, biltong, lots of soft drinks, water etc. Don't get me wrong I had a great time, it will just take me a few days to recover properly!

The really disappointing thing is that when I did go for a run I felt terrible, more because I was bloated and carrying a stack of water than anything else I think. I did 4.3km in 34:15 on Sunday. If I could have gone for a run that first day it could have been quite interesting... well I still have a race in Cape Town in 2 weeks time. 

So the question is this, when you go on holiday, with old varsity friends, how do you refuse alcohol and other things you shouldn't eat (which you don't really want to refuse anyway) without looking like a complete party pooper? How do you only drink a litre of water a day, when you are going from place to place? It's really hard!! 

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Week 34 Exercise Log... so far

I won't be able to blog this weekend as I will be in Maguzi, a town just south of the Mozambique border. I will be visiting a friend there, him and his girlfriend are doctors at the local hospital. What a drag... 15km from Mozambique, on the coast. I will have to post some pics :)

I am planning on taking a run tomorrow and on Sunday, it should be interesting, mainly because it will be my first run at sea level since I moved up to Gauteng, and it will be a test of my self discipline. I did go for a hike on the Easter weekend in Cape town and was REALLY surprised at how easy it was... so the next blog sometime next week should be very interesting

So far this week I ran 10km in 1hr19

Monday 20 August 2007
Distance: 5.2km
Total time: 41:14
Intervals: 65/95
Pace: 7:55 min/km
Average HR: 135 bpm
Energy used: 2106 kJ
Route: Premier

Wednesday 22 August 2007

Distance: 5km
Total time: 38:18
Intervals: 65/95
Pace: 7:39 min/km
Average HR: 133 bpm
Energy used: 1905 kJ
Route: Mackenzie

Weight: 74kg

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Damn that salt!

I've been thinking of more things I can write about to keep this blog interesting and this one doesn't seem to be that interesting, but I'm going to put it up anyway, just so that there isn't an exercise log at the top of my blog.

So what kind of things do I have to consider? I was talking to someone about this a few days ago, he had a heart attack a while back, and I was quite surprised when he said he can't eat ice cream!! I was a little puzzled, but when I thought a little harder it occurred to me that it was probably cholesterol that was ultimately the cause of his heart attack and to prevent further incidents he had been advised to stay away from fatty foods.

That's good advice, no matter how healthy you are. In my case however fatty foods aren't my major concern. I do watch my diet and the amount, and type of fat I eat. I'm less worried about eating a handful of peanuts, or some olive oil on my salad, than I am about the cream in a delicious pasta or the fat on that a juicy lamb chop.

So what do I need to consider when it comes to my particular condition? I've made passing comments about salt and water already, but here is the full story. I remember clearly the day when my doctor suggested the type of things I should steer clear of... and it hurt. I've never been much of a sweet tooth, so if he had said ice cream, or Bar Ones I would have been happy. But he told me to stay away from salt and the biggest sources of salt in ones diet are those delectable snacks that we all consume with such vigor at get-togethers of any sort... CHIPS and BILTONG!! I could have cried. To say that I don't eat them would be an outright lie... I love them and I'm human. So every now and then I indulge myself with a packet of Salt and Vinegar, or sample the latest addition to the Simba range. Biltong, when offered, is never refused, I just keep on walking whenever I go passed a biltong shop in a mall. It's always the little things....

So I've talked about salt but perhaps I should explain the reason. As I understand it, when your heart doesn't perform at full strength it has trouble processing fluids, so slowly as you drink water, fluid will build up in your body. This tends to pool in your lungs, I'm not sure why. Salt helps your body retain water, that's why all these energy drinks talk about replacing electrolytes. When you sweat you loose salts with that, and an energy drink replaces those salts, helping you re-hydrate better. In my case however if I have too much salt I put on weight...quickly... and start coughing, as the fluid irritates my lungs.This also puts more strain on my heart to get rid of the fluid. Whether I've explained it properly or not is beside the point, all that is really important is that I must avoid salt. 

Limiting salt consumption goes hand in hand with limiting the amount of fluids I drink. Even without too much salt, too much fluid in my body is still a strain for my heart. So I am advised to only drink about a litre of water a day. In the week, while at work this is no problem, I have a cup of coffee in the morning, and two or three more cups of whatever I feel like for the rest of the day, and maybe something more when I get back from my run or after supper. In the week there is no problem. Come social events, it gets much more difficult, that's where nursing a glass of appletiser or coke becomes an invaluable skill which I haven't yet mastered!

What's next? Probably a blog about all the other stuff I can't eat. I'm away next weekend, so the chances are that I won't be able to put up anything next weekend. The challenge is really going to be to go for 2 runs while on a weekend away. I won't be around from my Friday or Monday sessions... Self discipline will have to prevail... oh and the wrath and/or disappointment of the friends who read this blog regularly :) 

Week 33 2007 Exercise Log

This week I ran 18.2km in 2hr16

Sunday 12 August 2007
Distance: 2.2km
Total time: 15:56
Intervals: 55/90
Pace: 7:14 min/km
Average HR: 132 bpm
Energy used: 775 kJ
Route: Time Trial Route, 1 lap

Monday 13 August 2007
Distance: 6km
Total time: 44:54
Intervals: 55/90
Pace: 7:29 min/km
Average HR: 135 bpm
Energy used: 2294 kJ
Route: Spiral

Wednesday 15 August 2007

Distance: 5km
Total time: 37:22
Intervals: 55/90
Pace: 7:28 min/km
Average HR: 135 bpm
Energy used: 1880 kJ
Route: Nicholson

Friday 17 August 2007

Distance: 5km
Total time: 37:50
Intervals: 60/90
Pace: 7:34 min/km
Average HR: 133 bpm
Energy used: 1876 kJ
Route: Lynwood

Weight: 74kg

Below is a graph of an exercise session. The red squiggly line is of my heart rate over the whole, in this case, 6km run. The triangles at the bottom show the intervals. If you look closely you can see that in this case my running interval was 55 seconds and my walking interval was 90 seconds. But my heart rate varies very little, it stays at about 135 bpm, and the max recorded rate here is 142 bpm. I would like to get a comparison with someone who is relatively fit to show the difference, but I would assume that someone of my age would normally have a much more varied heart rate. It should probably vary from the high hundreds to the low hundreds running these intervals. I think because of the medication I am on the response is much slower, and my maximum heart rate is also much lower.


Exercise graph: please click for better resolution

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Resting heart rate

I was wondering what my resting heart rate really was the other day, I know it is best to test it in the morning, but I rarely remember to actually check. So what I did was to wear my heart rate monitor all night long. It turns out that my average resting heart rate for the 8 hours that I slept was 63bpm, which is pretty much where I want it to be.

As far as I know this would be a lot higher were I not on medication, and it's also really unfortunate that I didn't check it before I started running regularly. From now on I will do a night's sleep with my monitor on, once a month. That way I can keep track of changes.

Am I being stupid or irresponsible... is this wishful thinking?

I've been asked whether what I am aiming for is safe, or a good idea. I think it is a good idea, but it depends on how I go about getting there. I will take it very gradually. I listen to my body, when I need to rest I rest. I have no desire to push myself to the limit, I just want to finish a half marathon, no fancy time, I just want to cross the line, and in so doing keep fit and healthy. If I push myself too hard to the detriment of my health then it will all be in vain!

I haven't spoken to my cardiologist about this goal specifically, but perhaps I can relate it to some cycling I have done. When I told him a few years back that I had just completed a 79km cycle race and wanted to enter the Argus Cycle tour, he asked me how I had felt in the race. My response was, "not too good", towards the end of the race I had felt terrible, the wind was in my face and I was very tired, I had had to stop every 2km to rest for the last 10km! He looked at me unperturbed and having done a longer version of the same race himself, he said that I was probably hypoglycemic (my body had run out of fuel). In that particular race there was no juice given to participants, only water, and I had only brought 750ml of Energade, by the end of the race I was literally out of fuel. I probably shouldn't have driven home, I remember very little of the drive!

Anyway, he said I should go ahead with the Argus but that I must just make sure I take in enough fuel, a bite of an energy bar every 15 minutes, from the start of the race, not halfway through. It worked very well, I had to stop, as I knew I would, on all the big hills, but I never felt exhausted. I would stop for 1 or 2 minutes half way up the hills, when I felt I should rest. I recovered quickly and once I felt good again, it was no trouble for me to climb the rest of the hill.

The main points have always been: listen to your body, increase things gradually. So I think I will do my running in exactly the same way, no pushing myself too hard, I will do what I am comfortable with, make sure I am enjoying myself and if my body says stop, I will stop.

Week 32 2007 Exercise Log

This week I ran 15km in 1hr53 

Monday 6 August 2007
Distance: 5km
Total time: 37:55
Intervals: 50/80
Pace:  7:35 min/km
Average HR:  133 bpm
Energy used:  1901 kJ
Route:

Wednesday 8 August 2007

Distance: 5km
Total time: 38:17 
Intervals: 55/85
Pace:  7:39 min/km
Average HR: 134 bpm
Energy used: 1922 kJ
Route: Boys High

Friday 10 August 2007

Distance: 5km
Total time: 37:45 
Intervals: 55/85
Pace:  7:33 min/km
Average HR: 131 bpm
Energy used: 1825 kJ
Route: Clarke

Weight: 74kg

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Strange that....

I went for my run yesterday, I was on time, there were no items lost in transit. A few minutes in to the run I noticed that I wasn't feeling too strong, my heart rate got up quicker than usual, and then was elevated more than usual (136 vs 132bpm). It should have clicked but I rather tried to justify this with many things.

Firstly I had had a pie for lunch, shock shock horror! I'm a bachelor, I cook for myself, usually low fat, low salt, low GI type food. The trick is to make it go as far as possible so I don't have to cook often. I quite like cooking, but I hate cleaning up afterwards. So I usually make as much as possible and freeze leftovers in meal size portions, taking these to work for lunch or I eat them when I feel too lazy to cook in the evenings. The point is that I usually don't eat pies, they are full of fat and salt and they give me heart burn... but once in a while they are SO GOOOD! I thought perhaps the pie was cramping my style... something to do with blood sugar levels.

Next I thought I could have some trouble with the amount of fluids in my body, as I have mentioned this needs to be tightly controlled. Too much and I start coughing as it starts draining into my lungs. Too little and I get headaches. I was leaning towards the too much fluid side of things, the amount of fluid I retain is directly related to the amount of salt I eat and it just felt like perhaps my salt consumption had been too much this passed week. But this was also not a very convincing argument.

Then I thought that perhaps I was increasing my running interval too much. I had increased it from 45s on Friday to 50s on Monday to 55s on Wednesday, of course there was a matching increase in my rest interval, but still it is almost a 20% increase in running time in the space of 6 days. So I thought perhaps this was ambitious.

Anyway I didn't feel like I couldn't carry on, I just felt like there was something slightly amiss. I continued to do the 5km run, and as I found out later it was slightly better than my previous time for the same route. My routine when I get back from a run is to take my meds for the evening and then go for a shower. I take quite a few tabs so I dish them out into one of those weekly container things, so I only have to do it once a week... sounds like I should have a walking stick, I know! Anyway I picked up the container and noticed that I hadn't taken any meds yesterday morning! So there was my explanation, I take 4 types of meds, the first is an anticoagulant, preventing blood clots forming in my heart and getting stuck anywhere else in my body. The second is a very mild diuretic, which helps with fluid retention. The third is a vasodilator which increases the diameter of my blood vessels, lowering my blood pressure and making it easier for my heart to pump blood around my body. The final drug is a beta blocker which basically slows my heart down. 

So I guess the reason I wasn't feeling too strong was that my heart was beating harder and faster, to push thicker blood through smaller blood vessels. But it's not the end of the world, it's not like I do this every day...

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

The temptation... the disappointment

I started my run really late yesterday, I got home from work, later than usual. I fumbled with the lock, holding my laptop in my other hand, then I double pressed one of the alarm buttons so the damned thing wouldn't disarm! Once I had sorted out that mini crisis, I got changed into my running kit on the double. Once I had my shorts and T-shirt on, I sat down on the couch to change my shoes and socks... then I put on my HR monitor and was ready to go, not to be late for the stretches before the run. I grabbed my car keys and my wallet... but where were my house keys? I spent a full 10 minutes looking on my bed, in the kitchen, under the cushions on the couch that I usually toss my keys on... I even looked in the bathroom and in the cupboards in my bedroom. My place is actually not that much of a mess and things don't usually get lost that easily. Anyway I found them on the couch I had sat on to change my shoes, they had slid down the side. 

I got to RW4L as everyone else was heading out. This means I need to do my stretches myself and then head out on my own after them. The first I see of them is on their way back from either the 4km turn around or the 5km turn around. I continue on to the 5km turn, I'm feeling good, strong, I'm keeping to my intervals, I'm not short of breath, my legs aren't burning... much. I turn around no problems. I've done about 3.5km and I'm jogging back down the long gradual hill that I climbed on the way out. One of the stronger runners comes up behind me in one of my walking intervals, on a normal day he would still be on his way out... he says "come it's not that far back", an interval starts... I run, we chat... it's great! I love running with people! He asks me how far I'm doing today... 5km...that's great he says... we run...I ask him how far he's gone... 8km... are you training for anything? I ask... no, just keeping fit through winter... oh... I will do the two oceans next year though... cool!! The full marathon?...Ja... my running interval ends, we carry on running, it's downhill and I'm still feeling strong, the temptation is to carry on running, it's feels so good, our footfalls keep pace, I'm breathing easily, I feel great, I glance at my watch, HR normal, my rest interval ends! We carry on running, I feel fine...

THIS is the temptation. To carry on when I really shouldn't, but I really don't want to tell him why I won't carry on either... the next running interval ends... we carry on running, I'm loving it, but I decide to stop... I say I'm going to walk a bit, he hesitates, I can see his disappointment, I really want to explain, but I also don't, so I just let him believe whatever it is he thinks... he carries on running.

I finish my run, I walk up to the guy and say thanks for the chat, he says "You must go for longer next time", I nod and smile.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Where did it all probably start?

I bet it seems like this story will never stop and this guy MUST be talking crap, but this is really what else went down...

I was born in Cape Town at Somerset Hospital sometime on September 18th 1979. From there on it went a bit pear shaped. I got ill, really ill, I was two weeks old when my mother took me to a nurse friend of hers and was she was advised to get me to hospital ASAP! So I ended up at Red Cross Children's Hospital. I had contracted a viral infection and it had caused myocarditis, my heart was inflamed and I was in heart failure. Apparently there was a problem with the sanitation of the maternity ward that I was born in because 4 other babies died who were born around the same time as me, from the same virus!

I was lucky, I still have the scar on my chest where they drained fluid off my lungs, apparently in young babies diuretics aren't safe. I was hospitalized for many months, I believe, but by the time I was 2 I was off medication and given a full bill of health. However I was 5 or 6 when my mother decided I was ill again and she was right, I was once again in heart failure. More medication and many ECG's and echo's. I got better, but I was not allowed to play any competitive sports in junior school, no rugby or athletics or swimming races etc... and people wonder why I'm a bit uncoordinated at times :P

When I was 13 I was told everything was hunky dory again and when I asked if I could take part in sports I was told to go ahead! Although I was given a full bill of health it was suggested that I be seen a year later at Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH), because at 13 you are no longer allowed to receive treatment at Red Cross, however that follow up appointment was never made. So for high school I chose some of the more strenuous sports, namely waterpolo (which I sucked at) and rowing (which I was slightly better at). I also played some hockey and did some cross country running. In the 6 years between the age of 13 and 19 I didn't see a cardiologist, didn't take medication, basically lived like any other normal teenager.

I can distinctly remember in matric feeling palpitations, I remember sitting in the TV room at the hostel and asking a friend if his heart ever did this kind of thing. It was probably that I was starting to go out late at night, drink alcohol, get exposed to lots of cigarette smoke that had brought it on... I think. Listen to your body! If there's something strange going on check it out, a stitch in time saves nine.

So I asked my cardiologist if the fact that I was ill was due to my cardiac history. He told me it was likely, but that it was impossible to tell for certain. There are numerous causes for dilated cardiomyopathy with atrial flutter. It is a chicken or the egg situation, a rhythm problem can cause cardiomyopathy and vice versa. So it really is impossible to say for definite why I have this condition, however if I had been seen once a year in those 6 years... well... things could be different, but this is how it is, so I'll deal with it.

Week 31 Exercise log

This week I ran/walked 14,2km in 1hr47.

Monday 30 July 2007
Distance: 5km
Total time: 36:57
Intervals: 45/50
Pace: 7:23 min/km
Average HR: 133 bpm
Energy used: 1863 kJ
Route: Lynwood

Wednesday 1 August 2007

Distance: 4km
Total time: 28:59
Intervals: 45/60
Pace: 7:14 min/km
Average HR: 131 bpm
Energy used: 1436kJ
Route: Time Trial CCW

Friday 20 July 2007

Distance: 5.2km
Total time: 41:19
Intervals: 45/70
Pace: 7:56 min/km
Average HR: 132 bpm
Energy used: 2056
Route: Premier

Weight: 74kg

Note: The first Wednesday of every month is a time trial, a 2km lap is used as the route. I am still doing a 4km time trial. I have improved my time by 2 minutes since last months time trial for which I took just over 31 minutes.

Premier, the route I ran on Friday, is hell on tar. It has a hill in it that curves up exponentially, it seems for about a kilometer. I had to stop and breath about 100m from the top of the hill, but the route back was awesome.

Interesting links:
Weight Lifting For Health And Heart
Pump Up Your Cardiovascular Health with Weight Lifting!
Why Aerobic Exercise Helps the Heart

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Exercise Log for July 2007

This month I completed 57.2km in 13 sessions and just over 7hrs of exercise.

Week 27 2007: 3 Sessions - 12km 1hr35
Week 28 2007: 3 Sessions - 12km 1hr31
Week 29 2007: 3 Sessions - 14,2km 1hr52
Week 30 2007: 3 Sessions - 14km 1hr47
Week 31 2007: 1 Session  - 5km 37mins

Pretty chuffed with this, but like I said in my previous posts, I'm going to go up to 5km a session and not increase my distance  until after September.

I might add some shorter sessions in between, in the mornings, but only when it gets warmer :P

Saturday, July 28, 2007

The plan for August and September

I noticed yesterday that when I, by accident, decreased my running interval to 40 seconds instead of 45, I found the run much easier. Whether this is actually due to the difference in interval time or not I'm not sure, it's possible that the route was just easier or shorter. But it gave me an idea.

If I increase my rest intervals, it should make my run easier because I have more time to recover from intervals running. But this doesn't necessarily mean I will complete the distance in a shorter time. If I can run faster in the running intervals that will most likely make up for time spent walking. So what I plan to do is play catch up with my intervals. 

For the mean time, I will always keep my rest periods longer than my running intervals. But if I up my rest interval by 30 seconds I will spend the next week or two catching up to it with my running interval. So for instance on Monday I will set my rest interval to 80 seconds. My current running interval is between 40 and 45 seconds, I will increase this 5 seconds at a time, until I don't feel comfortable anymore and then I will increase my rest interval again.

At some stage I must get to a point where I can decrease this rest period, but for now it's here to stay.

But there is another part to this "plan" at the moment I am doing 14km per week, because I prefer to keep my Wednesday session a 4km session. My last 4km session will be next Wednesday... except for our monthly 4km time trials... then I will only run 5kms for the whole of August and September. Building pace and playing around with the intervals as described above.

In September I will take part in two 5km fun runs, one on Sat 1, at Waterkloof airforce base and I will be in Cape Town for the Spar Ladies race on 9 September... so if anyone wants to join me, feel free :) I already know of 1 person for whom it is compulsory to do the Ladies race.

Anyone have a wig and skirt for me? :P Note to self remember my cycling shorts!!

Since May

Thanks to my Polar S610i and Polar's Precision Performance Software, I have lots of recorded data about my training sessions, that's how I can post stuff like energy usage and average heart rate. But considering we are coming to the end of July and I want to add a summarized monthly report, I need to post what I have done so far.

I started running again at the beginning of May, well actually the last Monday of April but we will leave that one out. Why did I start again? I had been cycling to work three times a week from late Jan/early Feb, but it got too cold to cycle in the mornings and I needed to do some exercise. Add to that, the crazed drivers on the roads who just don't see you or respect that you are made of flesh and bone and their cars made of sheet metal and impact bars! One more consideration is that if I fall off my bike I'm not only likely to sustain injury like anyone else, but with the anti-clotting medication I am on, I could bleed really badly, externally OR internally... so although it is more difficult for me, I think running is a safer option.

So here are the weekly stats since 1 May:
Week 18 2007: 2 Sessions - 3.6km 29mins
Week 19 2007: 3 Sessions - 7.0km 55mins
Week 20 2007: 3 Sessions - 7.9km 61mins
Week 21 2007: 2 Sessions - 6.0km 45mins
Week 22 2007: 3 Sessions - 8.6km 65mins
Week 23 2007: 3 Sessions - 9.9km 1hr15
Week 24 2007: 3 Sessions - 12km 1hr25
Week 25 2007: 2 Sessions - 5.6km 40mins
Week 26 2007: Nothing, I was on holiday in Madagascar... got some flak for not doing anything from the people at RW4L.

May and June add up to about 60km run in... well quite a few hours.

The rest is in July and I will blog about that after Monday's session.

Week 30 2007 Exercise Log

This week I ran/walked 14km in 1hr47.

Monday 23 July 2007
Distance: 5km
Total time: 39:31
Intervals: 45/50
Pace: 7:54 min/km
Average HR: 135 bpm
Energy used: 2039 kJ
Route:

Wednesday 25 July 2007

Distance: 4km
Total time: 31:09
Intervals: 45/50
Pace: 7:47 min/km
Average HR: 133 bpm
Energy used: 1570kJ
Route:

Friday 27 July 2007

Distance: 5km
Total time: 37:02
Intervals: 40/50
Pace: 7:24 min/km
Average HR: 132 bpm
Energy used: 1855
Route:

Weight: 74kg

If you have been receiving multiple emails about posts, my appologies. I have added 2 new stats since my week 29 exercise log, intervals and weight. Weight is pretty self explanatory. The interval stat is in the form X/Y where X is the time I run and Y is the time I walk, I continue doing this for the entire run.

Friday, July 27, 2007

More about how I got here... and thanks

Doing this whole blog thing was quite a thing for me, and I've been thinking about it all week long. In my first post How I got here I mentioned most of what has happened to me with regards my heart and how it affects how I exercise. But there were some things I forgot to mention.

I'd like to thank all my friends and family for all the help and support they gave me during my convalescence. I had a wonderful core of friends, from university and before (you know who you are), who were always willing to help me out or come visit me when I needed to go for a procedure. I had friends who were at UCT Medschool at the time and would come visit me while I awaited a procedure at GSH. Thanks for understanding that I couldn't do all the things I used to do. Thanks for all the notes I copied from people more diligent than me :P

My sister was living in Cape Town some of the time and I remember waking up to her a few times... not to mention being told we were having a conversation for the second time as the anaesthetic wore off. My Uncle was also always keen to help me out when I needed it.

So what kind of things did they do to me? Besides regular INR blood tests, ECG's, Echocardiograms (heart ultrasounds) and chest Xrays? I went for two or three cardioversions, which were almost exactly like what you see on ER when they use the paddles on someone in cardiac arrest. The put a conductive gel on your chest and you get two nice circles of light burns all the way around where the paddles were, most of the energy is passed directly through the skin but some of it still manages to burn. Apparently I was awake through all of this, they gave me an amnesiac, I'm not sure if this is the right term for a drug that induces temporary amnesia. I've had some interesting discussions about whether this is humane or not...but I say if I can't remember it then it's all good. As long as the post-op pain was in the correct places.

All these cardioversions were an attempt to put my heart back in sinus rhythm. I was also put on a nasty drug temporarily which helps with getting someone with an arrhythmia get back into sinus rhythm. The possible side effects were quite nasty, ranging from your skin becoming very sensitive to scarring of the lung tissue, for those of you who are medics I'm referring to Amioderone. Although after all these procedures I did temporarily go back into sinus rhythm it was never for any length of time. and I am still not in sinus rhythm.

Another attempt at fixing this problem was an operation that I can't remember the name of, I think it was an angiogram. They made an incision in the crease between my thigh and groin and inserted a catheter into my femoral artery. This was pushed all the way up until the end was in my heart. Through all this I was wide awake! It was when the doctor started doing "pacing exercises" (I think they stimulate your heart artificially with electrical pulses from inside) that I stopped him and said I was REALLY uncomfortable... drugs :D . He then continued and cauterized some of the nerve pathways in my heart, in an attempt to fix the rhythm problem. I'm not too sure about the technicalities but this is how I understood it. But once again the procedure was unsuccessful.

So that's where I am, my cardiologist decided that my quality of life was good enough to stop the attempts and to just manage it properly from here. He told me a heart transplant was a bad idea because you trade one set of problems for another and that my heart as it is is too good to be replaced... so here I am :)

For the next post, sometime next week I will go into why I say "rediagnosed" in my header, or profile, can't remember which... more history :)

Saturday, July 21, 2007

The undefined plan

So I don't really have a plan yet about how I'm going to do this half marathon, or how I will train to do it, or which of the many half marathons on the calendar I will make my first. I will probably try to make the first one at sea level, as this should make it easier for me. The plan at the moment is just to get as fit as possible and increase the distance I am able to run, slowly, as I get fit enough to complete longer distances. I would also like to start taking part in races again on weekends, soon I hope to start doing some of the 5km fun runs around Gauteng. But I'm sure the plan will get more definite soon.

Week 29 2007 Exercise Log

This week I ran/walked 14.2km in 1hr52.

Stats according to my Polar as follows:
Monday 16 July 2007
Distance: 5.2km
Total time: 42.31
Pace: 8:10 min/km
Average HR: 133 bpm
Energy used: 510kcal
Route: Prestige

Wednesday 18 July 2007
Distance: 4km
Total time: 31:22
Pace: 7:50min/km
Average: 132bpm
Energy used: 376kcal
Route: Mackenzie

Friday 20 July 2007
Distance: 5km
Total time: 38:44
Pace: 7:44min/km
Average: 133bpm
Energy used: 467kcal
Route: Boys high

The routes are really for my reference, they are the routes with marked distances used by Run Walk For Life people to train on.

Running when you are me

So because I have reduced cardiac capacity it is really difficult for me to run for a long time. I can't push myself too hard because I get faint and start feeling ill. A few years back I bought myself a Polar heart rate monitor. I use it not only to keep track of my heart rate, but also to help me interval train. At the moment, I can comfortably run for 5km if my intervals are set to 40 seconds running 50 seconds walking. Every week I increase this running time depending on how I am feeling. The confusion comes in about when to increase the distance I am running? Is it better to work on distance, or work on a pace goal first and once I have achieved this then increase the distance? I still have to work out a strategy about how to do that...I've read "regular" beginners training guides and they want you to run for 2min and then walk for 2min... I can't do that, everything has to change. Heartrate related training programs also don't work because my heartrate doesn't vary much, because of my medication. When I'm exercising it usually varies between 130 and 140, when it does increase above that it usually jumps to about 240 which I believe is my monitor picking up atrial beats... and usually means I'm pushing way too hard

But I think the interval training works well and at the moment I am running/walking 5km in just under 40mins, which I don't think is too shabby. I think I will stick to 5km for some time as I feel a 35-40min exercise session is good for me at the moment, any less and I feel a bit like I didn't do enough, any more and I'm exhausted. I was running a bit faster when I was in Bergvliet but I'm sure I can get there again.

How I got here

I was at the end of my second year at UCT studying a four year mechatronics engineering degree, I had spent the passed two years working hard and playing hard. Enough time was spent at the normal student activities of getting as drunk as possible, as often as possible and doing stupid things. I was living on the third floor of yellow block at Kopano Residence (awesome place). Anyway, I was experiencing what doctors would probably call "exercise intolerance". As a 19/20 year old I would struggle to walk the 1 or so kilometers up hill to campus. Two years of doing it everyday hadn't helped my fitness, I didn't even notice, I just assumed I was unfit and that was that.

Then I got bronchitus... well I thought it was bronchitus and so did my GP... at first. I was really ill, coughing and sputtering all the time, it felt like there was continually fluid in my lungs to cough up... and there was. I would need to stop and rest after 1,5 of the the 3 flights of stairs to my res room. After taking 2 courses of antibiotics and returning to the doctor, he was convinced there was something wrong with my lungs, pneumonia or something. He sent me for a chest xray. What he said to me was "Well Mark, theres nothing wrong with your lungs! But see this thing that looks about the size of a white soccer ball? Thats your heart." I was in cardiac failure, my lungs were filling up with fluid because my heart could not pump blood fast enough, it was massively enlarged and not working well at all. I got an appointment with a cardiologist the very next day and was immediately put on some serious diuretics, which I called "Niagra pills" I have never pee'd like a race horse before or after that. I also went on a cocktail of cardiac drugs, I can't remember what they were now, but they made me feel much better, and stronger very quickly. I went to stay with my aunt, Jeannette, so that I didn't have to climb to the third floor and it was much easier to eat a low sodium diet. Many thanks again Jeannette if you ever read this.

There were some changes I had to make to how I lived life, I was terrified of exercise for one. Almost any exertion would make me light headed. I had to change my diet, I was told to eat as little salt as possible, and to drink a limited amount of fluids every day. Due to the expense of seeing a private cardiologist, my parents soon decided that I would have to get public healthcare... we didn't have medical aid. My initial cardiologist refered me to a Dr A. Okreglicki (now Prof), known just as Dr A.O. or A.O. at the Groote Schuur cardiac clinic. The care I got from him was wonderful, even if I had to sit in the waiting room for hours on end, I would always be seen and he was always had the patience to listen to my never ending question... damn engineers :P . He said that I had a Dialated Cardiomyopathy (CMO) and explained to me that my heart was very enlarged and that my atria had stopped working properly. As I understand it, the heart has four chamber, two atria, and two ventricles. In a normal heart the atria beat first and pump blood into the ventricles, the ventricles then pump the blood to the rest of the body. The atria and the ventricles pump in a one to one ratio, beat to beat. Whether my atria started beating out of time before my heart was enlarged or the other way around is uncertain and irrelevant. Mine don't beat in time, my atria beat much faster than my ventricles and hence they are "tired" they aren't making a useful contribution to how my heart works. They are actually just quivering, this means that there is a possibility that blood could stagnate in them and clot. This is obviously a very dangerous situation as a clot could form and be pumped to anywhere, causing an embolism and possibly a stroke.

I was put on warfarin, an anticoagulant to reduce the risk of this happening, but being on warfarin is no fun. It means regular bloodtests to check that your INR is within the correct "therapeutic" limits. I was now terrified of cutting myself and bleeding to death. Not soon after starting on warfarin I had a terrific nosebleed... I phoned everyone I could think of to come take me to hospital, but nobody answered their phone... So I put my head back and let the blood run down the back of my throat and drove myself to the GSH emergency room. The casualty people were very unsympathetic... hehehe... they sat me in a corner and told me to wait, gunshot wounds and stabbing take preference to nose bleeds, why I can't imagine...by the time someone had a chance to see to me, the nose bleed had stopped! They insisted I wait for the results of an INR test. So I needed cautery, if I remember correctly they cauterised both my nostrils, with silver nitrate... the effect of which was that I walked around varsity with very itchy black nostrils for the next week. I remember taking all this a sense of humour that I think sometimes took my friends by surprise, everynow and then I still crack a joke about heart attacks etc. Perhaps they'll post some replies to this effect.

Due to the warfarin and the strain alcohol can put on the heart I was also told not to drink... I think this was the hardest thing... not because I was dependent or because drunken jokes aren't as funny when you are sober. I think normal teetotallers have it easier than me, they can drink as much coke, water or whatever they like all night long. I have a limit on the amount of fluids I can drink so endless non-alcoholic drinks are out of the question... so the inevitable "where's your drink?" is always awkward as I'd prefer not to tell people I have just met "Oh I have a dialated CMO" and then field questions about my health all night long! But "No thank you" also doesn't work too well either, so it's always difficult. More recently I do drink moderately and try to be disciplined enough to nurse a drink for as long as possible.

While I was still at varsity I went to speak to the people at the Sports Science Institute just to ask them what they suggested I do, as it turns out they have a program for people like me... but usually much older than me... the Chronic Disease Risk Reduction and Reversal Programme... as a student, and a unique student, Prof Noakes allowed me to attend for some time, free of charge. I'm not sure how it happened but one of the bean counters got to know about it and I was asked to pay a reduced rate which was still prohinitive and so I stopped. After that I avoided exercise for some time... what happens when you faint from low blood pressure while exercising alone? I did subscribe to Virgin Active for some time, but did not find the environment appealing or motivating, seeing people who were so much more able than you doing things with such obvious ease is very frustrating. Then I read about Run Walk For Life, their program has been designed for people who have been sedentary for some years they start you off very slowly and increase your effort as your body gets used to it. It took me some time to gather up the courage to actually go join... and then they asked me to take a stress ECG, which was very expensive and the medical aid wouldn't pay, but I did it anyway and joined. I was at Bergvliet Run Walk For Life for about 18 months on and off. I had goals, I wanted to run the 2005 Gun Run 10km in under 1 hr... alas that didn't happen, I think I did it in 1hr11mins. But I finished.

After that circumstances changed and I decided I wanted to do the 2006 Argus Cycle Tour. So I concentrated more on cycling which I find much less intense than running. I trained with Romy a good friend, I finished in just over 5hrs, I was really pleased! After that circumstances prevented or discouraged me from concentrating on my exercise goals. I recently moved to Gauteng, to start a dream job. I joined the Brooklyn branch of Run Walk For Life, and am now writing this blog to make a commitment to my exercise goals.