ORN: 5.49 miles in 1:00:03. I ran much slower because I was deliberately trying to keep my heart rate between 73%-85%, as close to 80% as I could manage. It was tricky. Right before my walk breaks, it would edge up to 83% and threaten to keep rising. Then during my minute-long walk breaks, it would try to slink down below the line. I'd have to power walk with my arms swinging like a level-20 hyper-nerd too stay in range. Why do I do this to myself?
I made an appointment with my cardiologist today. Don't panic. I'm not dying. But I do have this flashy, new heart rate monitor, and I'm thinking about how I can use it in my training. The thing is that I have this arrhythmia. Depending on the doctor I'm talking to, I either have Paroxysmal Supra Ventricular Tachycardia or AV Nodal Reentrant Tachycardia. Or both. Or those might be the same things. Or in the same family of things. The point is that I have a wiring problem in my heart that used to cause it to race to up around 200 BPM without provocation or warning. Sometimes it would morph into atrial fibrillation, which would win me a trip to the ER. But, relax, I have been medicated for 10 years without an episode.Now, it's the job of my medication to affect my heart rate, and my condition by definition prevents me from having a "normal" heart rate. Even when I'm not having an episode, my heart rate can be erratic. My question to my cardiologist: since the models are all designed for normal people, how do I determine good targets for heart rate training with my issues factored in? What I'm looking for is some specific guidance, like ratchet your calculated maximum heart rate up [or down] 5%. I doubt I could get such clarity from a doctor, but a boy can dream.
Man, it would be cool if I could get one of those fancy stress tests where they strap you to a treadmill and calculate everything about your fitness and metabolism in one fell high-tech swoop. Doubt my insurance would pay for it, though. Hmm.
Here's how my problem works in practice. Yesterday, I ran my usual five to six miles. I didn't run it especially fast or slow. I was just trying to get through it. I would call them junk miles, except they were tough for me, given that I essentially took last week off. After I was warmed up, my heart rate was consistently around 80-82% of my maximum, which is in the bottom of the anaerobic zone. That's where someone ought to train if s/he was doing tempo runs or even mild intervals [intervals are usually up above 85% I think]. So either a) my heart rate red-lines too early because of my condition and meds, b) my maximum heart rate is inaccurate because of my condition and meds, or c) I don't know what the relationship is between perceived effort and heart rate. I suspect that a) and b) are likely, but c) is almost certainly true. Or it might be d), I'm a tad out of shape from my week off.
Until I learn differently, I guess I will strive to keep myself at or below 80% for my base mile runs.
Agreed. I heard an interview yesterday morning with someone who had obviously had much too much media training.
ReplyDeleteWhat colour the sky?
China is a good place to live with unicorns and giggles.
I loved the "rainbows and unicorn giggles" line! Great post, but looks like you removed it. Anyway, good arguments on both sides there, but bottom line - I whole-heartedly agree with you on the torch bearers getting the shaft. They're in no way to blame for China's less-than-sparkling record on a variety of issues, and it's too bad that they are a convenient target.
ReplyDeleteI took it down after deciding that I didn't want to turn this space into a forum for my loony political beliefs. I've tried hard to keep this blog on topic, and yesterday's anti-China rant was rather more afield than I would have preferred. I'll explain more in today's post.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments.