American Heart Month

It’s Valentine’s Day and American Heart Month, so I’ve just got to write something about hearts today.

To all endurance athletes reading this blog, repeat after me… “I am not invincible. I know that I must still take care of my heart.”

About Eating…
If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a hundred times – Some geek endurance athlete says that all of their hard training gives them license to eat whatever they want. So wrong, my friend, so wrong!

Yes, you need more calories than the average person but, if anything, this makes eating even a little more complicated. You still need to make healthy choices, so you have to keep more healthy food around the house. Refueling with high saturated fats is a really bad idea for anyone – endurance athletes included. “You are what you eat” isn’t an old wives’ tale. It’s true. Seemingly perfectly healthy runners have heart attacks & strokes, too. I know of at least three.

Electrical Issues…
My problems are electrical in nature. There’s debate whether problems like mine are actually caused by high volume / high intensity training, or whether the training simply uncovers a genetic predisposition. My electro-physiologist believes it’s the former. In her opinion I have a case of “athlete’s heart,” in which my heart walls have thickened from training, causing electrical disturbances. I have to say that I disagree with my EP’s opinion. I think it’s the latter with me, that I am predisposed to atrial fibrillation.

Whichever is the case, there’s no denying that arrhythmias can be very dangerous. The American Heart Association says arrhythmias are the number one cause of sudden cardiac death. Many a runner is haunted by the thought of Ryan Shay’s sudden cardiac death at the 2008 Marathon Olympic trials in New York City.

Arrhythmias are also a leading cause of stroke. I am five times more likely to have a stroke than someone without my condition.

Freaked out yet? Good. Go get yourself checked out. Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. (That’s not an old wives’ tale either…)