Since it's still "recovery month"--at least for another 5 days--not a whole lot is new in The Long Track Life. I did finally get to have a nice long phone conversation with my Mayo cardiologist (the guy must have no life beyond work...I left a message for him at 8 am yesterday, when his secretary said he was already seeing patients. He called me back at 8:30 pm.) Anyway, he was very reassuring about the PVC's he saw in the stress EKG and the Holter monitor; said they're nothing to be concerned about unless they make me lightheaded (which they never have). Nice to hear...but I pretty much already knew that (although it was nice to hear that the sudden change to "exercise induced" wasn't a big deal). I had to remind him that the PVC's that I felt in the stress test and when I was wearing the Holter were not the reason I'd gone to the cardiologist...it was the whatever-I-felt during races and workouts, that was different from the PVC's I feel, that had sent me to the doctor. I've referred to the sensation (in this blog and in real life) as "PVC's", but only because I don't know what else to call it and I wondered if it's maybe a different pattern of PVC's--more of them in a row, or closer together, or whatever--but it feels totally different from what regular PVC's feel like. And I didn't experience it when doing the stress EKG or when wearing the Holter. So, Doc said he needs to see an EKG of it to comment on whether it's anything to be concerned about. Which I also knew, and which I was hoping the stress EKG or Holter would catch, but oh well. I'm hoping that, when I start skating again on the oval in May, the symptom just never reappears (why yes, yes, I do have my fingers in my ears and I'm humming and chanting "la la la I can't hear you." Why do you ask?). If I do get the symptom again, though, Doc wants me to get another event monitor and keep wearing it for workouts until I'm sure I've captured the symptom, and then we'll go from there. So no answers, but I do have a direction to go and I'm currently firmly in a state of denial and am just assuming that it will never happen again.
In other news, I have my April workouts planned, and they've gotten the Coach TieGuy seal of approval so apparently I didn't mess up too badly when trying to plan my own workouts for the first time in about 10 years (of course, I pretty much took TieGuy's workout plan from last year and just tweaked it a little, so I'm not sure I can really claim to be writing my own program). I start dryland on Sunday; hopefully I've planned a low-volume enough first day that I'll still be able to walk on Monday. Also, I've finally found a way to lose the weight that I gained last spring when my thyroid levels went low again--it's basically a diet-every-other-day plan. On Down Days (lower calorie, that is), I eat pretty much what my sports nutritionist recommended last summer, only less of it. On Up Days...well, let's just say that an occasional PopTart or Little Debbie has made an appearance on Up Days. The diet is very successful, though--I've lost almost 7 pounds in 3 weeks--and it accommodates my inability to control my eating for more than 24 hours at a time. So that's good. Maybe next winter I can even fit into my SwiftSuit again!
The inline team that I've been (loosely) skating with for the past 10 years or so, Media Machine, has decided to merge with a newer team, Max Muscle. I'm excited about this because no other Media Machiners have skated much at the oval in the past few years, but the Max Muscle team has several that skate the inline race series on the oval. I'm hoping that, between my long track masters friends and my new Max Muscle teammates, I'll have people to skate with on the oval sometimes. Although I like to skate most of my laps with no draft, it's fun to have other people around--and it's easier to intimidate the Skate Park
Punks Patrons into following the rules and keeping their boards and bikes off the track if there a lot of us speedskaters out there.
Next up for recovery month is a quick trip to Arkansas, where my parents have wintered for the past 10 years. They're selling their place down there, though, and moving to their cabin in Grand Marais year round next month, so we're going to help them move some stuff back. Keira will go with us, of course, and she's been busy resting up for the onslaught of 2 MinPins and a Jack Russell mix. I'll leave you with a photo of her charging her batteries for the upcoming stressful trip:
Is it almost like a fluttering in your chest? Where it's not even like your heart is beating erratically but like flutters that aren't actually a beat? (does that even make sense?)
ReplyDeleteHow many times a week do you do dryland?
Did I ask enough questions?
Um, I think you need one more question to make the quota!
ReplyDeleteAs for the heart...I can't really describe it. Kind of flutters, kind of racing...usually I can't feel my heartbeat when I'm skating, but when this happens I feel...something. Something wrong, but not the "thump" of PVC's, nor the feeling I used to get with my AVNRT (the arrhythmia I had ablated in 2005). It's a weird feeling, and I also get short of breath and really tired (slow)...and then it eventually stops and I feel normal again. You mentioned arrhythmias, too...is the "fluttering" what yours is like?
Dryland is typically 2 days a week, but I'll be doing 3 the first week to keep the volume down in each session (to try to avoid the muscle-soreness-agony). My workouts, when I get done "easing into" them and am doing the full amount, are usually 35-50 minutes of "down time" (time in actual knees-bent "low" position, not including the minutes of rest between exercises). Two of those a week is plenty! I'll also do one or two lower-effort skates a week, too. Then when the oval opens I gradually switch over to 3 hard skating workouts a week and no dryland...
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask as many questions as you want!
Actually, I think you need one more question to make the quota! :-)
ReplyDeleteAs for the arrhythmia, it's hard to describe. Kind of a fluttering, kind of racing. Definitely not the "thump" of PVC's nor the way the AVNRT felt (the arrhythmia I had ablated in 2005). I'll be skating along and suddenly I'll feel this...whatever...and then I'll get short of breath and tired (slow). And then it will eventually stop, and I'll feel normal again. You mentioned arrhythmias before--is the "fluttering" what yours feels like?
As for the dryland, the first week I'm doing 3 days, so I can reduce the volume of each day and hopefully avoid the muscle-soreness-agony I put myself through last year. After that, it will be 2 days of dryland a week--my workouts are usually between 40-50 minutes of "down time" (time actually spent in knees-bent "low" position, not including any rest time between exercises). Two of those a week is enough! I'll also do one-two lower-effort skates on the trails every week. Once the oval opens I'll do a combo of dryland and skating, gradually switching over to all skating by sometime in June. Then it's 3 hard skating workouts a week plus "recovery workouts" on the weekends.
Hope that helps...feel free to ask more questions any time!
Oh, great...the first answer I typed (which disappeared when I tried to publish it) is back! Oh, well...ya get two answers for the price of one!
ReplyDeletemy turn with barrage o' questions! do you still plan on skating mornings when school is out? when/where do the masters longtrackers inline? could i get any of them to skate mornings? do you have a sister up north who sometimes drives people from Duluth to the Superior hiking trail because the bus doesn't go that far? finally: do you have any questions about my last crazy question?? >;)
ReplyDeleteMel,
ReplyDeleteI definitely plan to skate mornings after school is out--I hope to skate weekend mornings before that (if the oval opens before noon). So far the masters longtrackers have expressed interest in inlining, but nothing is set up. We'll have to start Facebooking them and see if we can get them to commit to something! And no, no sister up north--she's in the Twin Cities. What's with the last question? :-)
Someone I was talking with mentioned getting a ride with said character, who was described as an interesting, chatty middle-aged lady who was into bodybuilding and inline skating. It sounded vaguely familiar...
ReplyDeleteInteresting...don't tell me there's someone else like my sister out there?!
ReplyDelete