Hi all! I had my AVR about 7 months ago and a stroke 3 months ago. Overall I feel fine when working out, but my speed and endurance is GONE! I have trouble running without some walk breaks and my pace is about 2-3 min/mile slower than before surgery (I have never been a fast runner though). It is getting SLOWLY better but the progress is slow and it's hard to increase my pace even for short amounts of time. Generally I feel pretty good while running just almost feel like there's a glass ceiling with speed (or if I go faster it feels like I'm flat out sprinting). Anyone else experience anything like this after surgery?
Running after AVR
- Thread starter Jamieann
- Start date
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Well, that sucks. I have issues with low stamina. I get tired easily and cannot go as long or as often as before. I'm a cyclist.
I had similar problems to you after my second surgery. For me it was the Beta Blockers. I have tried a couple, but even at low doses, they had adverse effects on me.
I had similar problems to you after my second surgery. For me it was the Beta Blockers. I have tried a couple, but even at low doses, they had adverse effects on me.
I've only had one valve surgery but my experience parallels Scott's. I've been taking a beta blocker ever since my surgery 5 1/2 years ago, and even though we have greatly reduced my daily dosage, it still limits my exercise ability. While I used to get my heart rate up to the mid-160's while running, the beta blocker now keeps me to the very low 140's. It is like dragging a sled full of rocks on your run. I'm fine. . . until I try to crank up the speed. Then it is like I hit a huge headwind.
I just push as hard as I can and have gotten used to accepting lesser performance. . . as a great trade against none at all.
I just push as hard as I can and have gotten used to accepting lesser performance. . . as a great trade against none at all.
SumoRunner
Well-known member
Right, the purpose of a beta blocker is to limit the high heart rate. I ran a 22 minute 5K the year before AVR and 33 minutes in the same race the year after. I never got back to the low 20s, but did 27 after 2-3 years. Then I started getting old, that's another story.
MrBig
Member
I never ran until after I had AVR surgery at 49 years old. How ironic is that! (insert Rod Serling music here). Now I run/ walk 3 x a week. 3 miles at a time on a treadmill. I have always lifted weights and still do. I even won some powerlifting competitions before AVR surgery. I haven't competed in 15 years but lately I have been contemplating getting back into it. Like you runners I cannot lift the amount of weight I used to but I could contribute it to just getting older. Thank God for age brackets!
I am about a minute a mile slower after AVR and running up hills is much harder - hills were my strong point pre AVR. If I had not run before I would not have problem as there is no reference to live up to. Once I realised I was going to be slower rather than quicker after surgery. I started again with all my records e.g my record for 5K is now 21.17 where as my previous pre AVR record was 17:20 (when I was also much younger). This means there is something to aim for rather than trying to reach the impossible.
MartinF
Well-known member
After MVR my times are close to 2 min/mile slower than pre-surgery in a 5K race. Ran 21:55 about 16 months before surgery, best since is 27:14. Training runs are shorter and slower. Hills are harder and I used to enjoy running hills (ran mountain ultra-marathons). Stamina isn't what it used to be either. I think everyone has different post-surgery issues that affect their performance. Your times are still very good. Don't get discouraged. Martin
My experience is similar. In my 20's I ran 5K's in the 15-16 minute range and I trained 60-70 miles per week. Over the next 30 years my 5K times decreased to around 20 minutes by my early 50's. The biggest difference being my increasing age and the corresponding decrease in maximum heart rate but I had also reduced my training to around 30 miles a week. At 53 I had MVR and the following year I began running again. Since then I have run over 100 5K races but I cannot get under 23 minutes. Some of that is the ever decreasing maximum heart rate with age and the fact that I now only train about 20 miles per week with very little speed work. However, since my surgery I have noticed a distinct limit to my abilities, particularly on hills, which some of the other posters have mentioned and which I attribute to the unnatural blood flow dynamics through the mechanical valve. At any rate, I enjoy running now more than I ever did when I was fast. I go to the races more for the social aspect with no pressure to win and I am extremely grateful to the Lord (sorry Pellicle) that at 58 and 5 years after MVR I am able to run at all.
On the one hand, great to hear about the increase in joy over time. For what it's worth, it took me at least 18 months before I felt right running. I did races and so on in that stretch, but things felt off. Thanks for starting the discussion. Lots of interesting stories in here.
Thanks for sharing everyone, I enjoy jogging right now, thought getting a new valve job would increase your times. I guess in a way it does because if your dead your not running at all.
jasond1979;n871049 said:
Yeah - and for all those years, I thought that (death) would be the only way I would ever stop running. Somehow, my knees made the decision for me. . .
SumoRunner
Well-known member
Like epstns, I thought I could keep running forever, but arthritis eventually got the better of me. I only made it to age 68 running regularly, which was 25 years and perhaps 25,000 miles after AVR. Now I walk. I can still walk the same distance I used to run, just cannot impact. And I swim 3-4 days a week, up to a mile at a time. And I can still do 150-200 pushups a day. Yeah, I'm much slower now, but somehow I don't mind.
I had AVR in 2010 at 37 years old. Leading up to that, I was a pretty serious runner with a 2:57 marathon PR and was easily averaging 80 miles a week. Since my surgery, I have not been close to hitting that marathon time again. Some of that is due to AVR, but I believe more of it is due to 1) Age (I am not getting any younger) 2) I am not training near the level I was back then (not limited by heart; life has gotten in the way and I simply don't have the desire to return to that level of training again) 3) I am a bit heavier now (strict eating habits went with #2).
