Recovery and Pushing Myself

[stevo]

Dear Members,

It has been a while since I have posted. I am 18 months out from Mitral Valve repair and although my fitness has improved ( I was a keen runner prior to surgery) since surgery I am finding that I do not have the long term stamina I once had. Any tips on recovery after training runs.

The second thing I find is that when I am realing pushing it ( my cardio) has Ok'd this I find that I do not have the mental strength to take myself to the limits. One minute I am crusing along then I seem to check myself and remind myself that I am a heart patient. Very Frustrating. My Cardio has said that I can do everything that I used to but I still seem to be floundering on some runs.

Anything familiar here - any tips.

Stevo

 

[Dina]

I can really identify with the psychologic aspect;I find when I bike ride if I
get a little winded or my heart rate goes up, I will end up talking myself
into a full-blown anxiety attack,and this,of course, just compounds the
problem. Getting over the fear is not an easy task,but I'm sure your
doctor would not clear you for such activity if it wasn't safe. I find that
a second opinion makes me feel more confident.
Dina

 

[NewValveNY]

Like yourself and Dina, I too have a mental thing with reaching and maintaining maximum levels too. I am a few months shy of my second year anniversary of Aortic Valve Replacement. This past summer I rode a few 50 mile rides and one 70 mile bike ride this summmer. I also said to myself that I am a heart patient, and that what was I doing on a 70 mile bike ride, 40 miles of which was against the wind!!?? What if I fell and hurt myself while on coumadin??!! I wear a Polar Heart Monitor when I exercise and I was maxing out.

I think you have to know your own body. There is a recovery curve that is different for each individual. I also asked my cardio if I should worry about my valve wearing out, if I have limits, etc. He said to think of myself as a healthy person with no restrictions, except for lifting heavy weights as in a bench press.

It is hard to regain confidence after surgery. One way to reach maximum and test your limits could be through interval training. This way, you may spend a finite amount of time at a maximum level, drop down to lower rates, then pick it up again. As you enter maximum, feel your body work...are you straining too hard, are you having problems with breathing, etc. If you are, slow down, if not.. then go with the flow of it all and enjoy! Celebrate your accomplishments while you are maximum!

Remember, stamina will increase over time. Even if you are starting from a lower starting point in endurance ( like most of us after surgery), progression will occur over time and the benefits of exercise on one's physical and psychological well being may be enjoyed.

Listen to your body... enjoy your runs! When your mind tells you to limit yourself, check to see what your body is saying....

Allan

 

[Guest]

Dear Members,

Any tips on recovery after training runs.

The second thing I find is that when I am realing pushing it ( my cardio) has Ok'd this I find that I do not have the mental strength to take myself to the limits. One minute I am crusing along then I seem to check myself and remind myself that I am a heart patient. Very Frustrating. My Cardio has said that I can do everything that I used to but I still seem to be floundering on some runs.

Anything familiar here - any tips.

Stevo

Stevo, how often are you running? Do you need a break? If you run every day, switch to every other day for a while and see if you recover faster. You can run longer every other day if you need to keep your mileage up. Slow recovery usually meant I was doing too much and forced me to take additional rest. Are you taking in enough carbs to support long workouts? How are your potassium levels? Post op I had a lot of problems keeping my potassium up, I have supplements but only take them when I feel palps or PVCs. Before long workouts, I eat a banana at least an hour before, sometimes add 1/2 glass OJ to keep my blood sugar levels even. I'm not diabetic but have had occasional low blood sugar.

As long as you feel good during your workouts, without chest pain or shortness of breath, go for it. Long runs get boring at times so change up your route. We're not supposed to, I do not, but do you listen to music when you run?

We're heart patients first, runners second. Our heart issues were there before our surgery, did we let it limit us then? For me, the surgery was a smack up side the head. I find I pay more attention to symptoms now, but I try not to let the fact that I had open heart surgery distract me from running.

 

[stevo]

Thanks Guys - good to hear some people in the same boat. I greatly appreciate your responses. I guess I need it to be more patient.

 

[tprice54]

AS always, Louise sums it up best! Also, many, many medications have an effect on our performance, especially endurance. I have just gotten off all drugs except a baby aspirin, and what a difference. If you are taking any BB or ACE inhibitors, you ned to adjust your expectations....

 

[JeffM]

AS always, Louise sums it up best! Also, many, many medications have an effect on our performance, especially endurance. I have just gotten off all drugs except a baby aspirin, and what a difference. If you are taking any BB or ACE inhibitors, you ned to adjust your expectations....

Man, isn't that the truth. I have been riding my bike for an hour at a time inside on the rollers (with a stabilzer bar) and have been keeping my HR at 120 or less. I'm on a beta blocker and an ACE inhibitor and 120 feels like 150. I know that's in part due to being de-conditioned, but I'm eager to see what happens when I get off these meds (hopefully) in about 6 weeks.

 

[MikeHeim]

Steve-
Are you on any of the beta blockers? I had a big time stamina problem, but it got a lot better when my Atenolol dose was lowered. My legs also felt really heavy when I was working out.

 

[Blacksilver]

in my experience beta blockers have a big influence on stamina

 

[stevo]

Thanks for the discussion guys. To answer Mike's question re Betal Blockers - I have never been on them and the most meds I took was baby aspirin for 3 months post surgery. My problem is mental I think. I usually keep my heart rate around 155 BPM but it is hard given the fact on live in the Mountains. Ironically I seem to be seeing glimpses of my previous fitness in the last couple of weeks. Another question - one of my cardilogists ( I have seen two) warned me about doing too much cycling for paddling due to the combination of power and endurance - has anybody heard of this.

Stevo

 

[psalmist]

What is with the music thing? Please explain because I have never heard anything about that before.

 

[Guest]

What is with the music thing? Please explain because I have never heard anything about that before.

I have read that you should not listen to music while running because it's not safe. The music can block noise from oncoming cars, cyclists, other runners, and dogs. Your pace may be off, as you'll likely speed up and slow down based on the tempo of the music.

I run against traffic so that I can see what is approaching. For females, running by ourselves, we need to be able to hear someone we don't know approaching us.

You can listen to music if you want to, no hard and fast rule against it, I choose not to.

 

[67walkon]

Stevo, the surgeon suggested to me that my heart's baselines might change after all they did to it. I ride a bike and no one has suggested that pushing my HR is an issue. Lifting heavy weights is bad, but apparently pushing your HR limits is okay. That valve just opens and closes on it's own, so it probably doesn't matter.

However, there is a psychological factor at play here. My HR has always been weird. Pre-surgery, my resting HR was around 40 or 41 and sometimes would get into the 30's, but it all worked ok. Now, almost 1.5 years after surgery, my resting rate is the low to mid 50's, which is probably better. When I push hard on the bike, which means trying to hang with a big group of young, aggressive riders who regularly hit 25 mph, my HR will get up into the 150's, but that's about. Typically, it will stay in the 115 to 120 range on most rides.

You probably know this, but you need to build a big base before you start really training hard. If you stay in a reasonable heart rate zone, ie, slow down, and gradually increase your distance, it will come back quickly. As a former runner, I can tell you the biking community philosophy is different than the running community. All the experts recommend a 3 week build up of distance or whatever, and then droping back in the 4th week to maybe what you were at in week 2 and then building up again from there. It's essentially 3 weeks of building up mileage, then an easy week, then 3 weeks of build up, etc. Of course, I tend to ignor that, but it is quite a bit different than what Runner's World used to preach when I was running a lot.

Keep doing it and it will get better!

John