Anyone getting ready to partake in any sporting events anytime soon?

[Odie]

My AVR is on Wednesday. I had been planning for a solo, 1day, rim to rim Grand Canyon hike in October. My cardio says "not this year".... I haven't given up on the goal.

 

[haggis basher]

Hi Odie
Good luck on your operation. In your about me page , you don't say much about your athletic abilities. What is your favourite
sports activity? After the op, you will have many years to experience all the 'wonders of the universe'!
See Ya Pal
Brian

PS: Met a nice lady from Dallas,Texas, last Saturday, whilst having a coffee at a beach near home. She was visiting
Australia with her parents from America, and her sister from Germany.

 

[Heart2.0]

Oh this is also very inspirational. I am not a badass at all I will just be so happy to go back
To all my gym classes and hop skip and jump like a nut to music and fall over in yoga in a crazy balance pose
And swim as many laps as possible while peaking at the sky. If I should be so lucky to have a happy hip repair
I want to race walk outside again ( sunny S. California!) and maybe try windsurfing or a ladies surf camp near me.
I have a pal whe says we must try snow shoe ing and I have always meant to go to a sort of local cross country
Country ski place. And travel. I have to visit my friends in other countries and not be afraid!
I refinished my house inside and landscaped it outside so that type of thing is forever in an old house.
I just want to have fun! and lose the fear. Thanks for all these nice posts. I am quite cheered!
I am a nerdy person and go to costume conventions and sewing things too. That is my next big
Event away from my comfort zone with new heart bits- "Costume College" where one learns to make
All sorts of things and the history of costume etc. very nerdy yes. I hope I have the stamina
For 9-4 classes back to back for three days but I will try to be accepting of fatigue if I wear out. I went last year
With out knowing I had a little time bomb in my chest and was fairly tired. I know this isn't athletic
But it is my goal and has been keeping me cheered since my surgery 12/13/13. Two silly costumes
And all the accessories. I am crafty. cheers to all our goals !

 

[coffeelover]

Hello everyone,
Just read the post which was started a couple weeks ago.
Great posts--so inspirational. Lots of great goals and activites planned by valvers who follow this site.
I am training for my third half marathon that I will be running post valve replacement (2012).I ran my first half marathon post AVR one year after OHS.

Training is going well--no cardiac issues at all. Just overuse injuries that are flared up due to training.
I enjoy going to races and being part of the events. Due to the chronic running injuries I run/walk races,so I am finishing in the back half of the pack but that is okay!
Happy trails to all...

 

[MarkU]

Just a quick update, I did the Longboat Key Sprint Triathlon on 5/18: 1/4 mi. swim, 10 mi. bike, and 2.5 mi. run.
Finished in 1h:30:51s. Slow swim, steady bike and run. I really didn't target this race in my training, mostly used it as a way to get baseline on my fitness before focusing on some other races later in the year. It was a beautiful day and a fun event. The most memorable thing was the delay of the start when a pod of about eight dolphins was swimming and jumping across the swim course.

 

[Terry45]

Great job Mark and a great action photo as well!

 

[TheGymGuy]

Lots of good posts here. MarkU, what an awesome action shot!!! I am about 2 weeks out from my powerlifting competition, and this being summer I want to hear who else has things planned for next several months?

 

[ottomurray]

I'm happy to report I turned actually made it to 50 in May and have been back to riding my bike pretty intensely at just about 5 months post-op. I've been able to increase back to 60 mile + rides on a weekly basis and even jumped in a local road race to see what top end I had... (Didn't have so much top end speed but was glad to hang on). As part of my birthday weekend, I jaunted off to Boone, NC and rode a difficult 88 miles with 8000 feet of climbing all around the Blue Ridge Parkway and surrounding mountains. I list this achievement not to boast but to hopefully inspire other valve survivors that YOU CAN DO IT! You can do more than you believe......I push to allow my brain to only think -- BELIEVE! .... I plan to do another hard ride in August called the Devil's Backbone 65 mile cross country race - Free craft brews and the DBB Brewery. Keep on rockin' everyone!

 

[Rachel]

Hi Everyone,

I really like your post Ottomurray! and in the spirit of inspiration I'll list what I've done so far this year almost 3 years post-op - I'd like to point out that it took me a FULL YEAR to really get over the mental and emotional barriers before I finally realized that I was okay....like so many others here - my diagnosis took me by complete surprise! I also felt it important to TAKE IT EASY right after surgery to allow for full healing. Now more than anything I am just SO GRATEFUL to still be alive! In case anyone is interested - my doctors know exactly what exercise I do as well as the duration and intensity in which I do it and I've been cleared for all of that. I've also decided several months ago to LIVE my life while I still can - that's the biggest lesson I've learned from being a heart patient! Thanks Gym Guy for asking the question.

So far this year

January
“Hair of the Dog” 5K fun run (in sub zero temps….I got a cool glass and a free beer – couldn’t pass it up)

March
“Heart Mini” 15K - This one was with some amazing heart patients I know – SO MUCH FUN!!!

April
“Gazelle Girl” Half Marathon (2:03:29)

May
“Riverbank” 15K (I actually did the 5K/10K combo event)


I’ve got another half marathon in three weeks this June and my last half of the year will be in September plus I’ll probably do a relay event with some VERY COOL heart patient friends in November.

In the meantime I’ve been coaching new runners…..they know I'm a heart patient so they have very little excuse not to run - it’s been super fun to be able to help motivate others in this way!!!

 

[Elmo]

I'm doing the BHF Night Ride on 12th July. 60 miles from Tower Bridge, London to Brighton. I've done the day ride twice since having my AVR in November 2010 & now want to see if my valve works OK at night!!!
We're not doing sponsorship this year, but in the 2 previous years we've raised a total of £4,500.

Tony

 

[IronmaninTraining]

MarkU....that is an awesome achievement.

I am a longtime runner. Lately I've been hooked on half and full marathons. A good while back I stumbled upon the Ironman Championship in Kona and I was hooked as well, but never really acted on it until now. Unfortunately when I went to get cleared they noticed my ventricle enlarged so now I'm on the road to surgery.

Anyways I'm curious how quickly the members in this forum got back into running, swimming, and biking. I'm sure its like anything that there's a threshold you need to get over and finally get into it.

I'm looking at a half marathon 11 months after surgery and full 15 months with possibly a half ironman somewhere in that time frame.

Realistically can you run a 5K within 12 weeks from surgery.

As a side note Gym Guy your hospital stay post really helped me and I plan to make one as well to help others understand the entire process.

 

[SumoRunner]

I keep careful records of my races and to date have done 448, over 300 of them since AVR. Tonight begins the local summer track & field meets in Albany, so I'll do at least 1, maybe 2 races, plus shot put. The mile is first, so race #450 is likely to be 400 or 200 meters.

 

[ski girl]

"Realistically can you run a 5K within 12 weeks from surgery."

IMHO - no. And it's nothing to do with your heart, which may (or may not) come to the party, it's your sternum. The jarring caused by running is very painful - I tried to jog at about six weeks and made it about 50m. Ouch.

BTW I had my first OHS in 2010 and pushed WAAAAY too hard to get back to everything after that, and 10.5 months later when I had to have a second OHS my sternum was still causing me grief on almost a daily basis (by 'grief' I mean it would suddenly get so painful that I had to stop whatever I was doing and wait ~5min for the pain to subside). After my second OHS I was stuck in the hospital for a month and not able to do much, and the sternum has been completely fine.

I just don't think it's worth risking damage to a broken sternum by trying to get back into things too quickly. Stationary bike is fine after about three weeks, real bike eight weeks, running I think I was told 12 weeks, and swimming definitely 12 weeks. I know it's bloody frustrating, but once you're fixed you have the rest of your life of events/races to aim for!

 

[clay_from_nj]

Realistically can you run a 5K within 12 weeks from surgery.

For me, I have to agree with this sentiment, and add that it depends on the individual. I was not running a 5k within 12 weeks of my surgery, only because I had never really been in good enough shape to do so. I was, before that even, walking a lot, keeping in mind that my walking speed is about the same as most people's jogging speed. The jarring didn't bother me at all. In fact, my surgeon cleared me for any reasonable* activity at 6 weeks post-op.

*As in "Listen to your body." As the only thing that caused me any serious discomfort (and still does) is sitting still for any length of time, that I avoid.

 

[chaconne]

Realistically can you run a 5K within 12 weeks from surgery.

I was running and biking after 3 months. A 5K might have been possible for me at 3 months, but I think I was only running 1-2 at that point.

 

[jhc1]

After a rough year-AVR in June of 2013 and bi-lateral cataract surgery in March and April, I'm training for a 2 day 180 mile bike ride around Galveston Bay, here in Texas. Went scuba diving in Bonaire in March (before cataract surgery), and do ~100 miles a week on the bike! You guys really gave me inspiration!

 

[Rachel]

Realistically can you run a 5K within 12 weeks from surgery.

HAHA

Well.....I've been a mid-distance runner (half marathons) for over 20 years now and although I was cleared to run (and did in fact "run") at 12 weeks........ ain't no way I was gonna do a 5K in that amount of time!!!!!!!

Not only did I need to get over some PTSD so to speak - but I was also only on BB's for like 4 days.......I had to really watch that my HR didn't stay up too high for too long......I didn't really feel right for a year.

I think it's real important here to remember that we're all different with different situations - from my point of view it's all good...... in the end we're all pretty amazing no matter how long it takes - just as long as we don't give up!!!!!

 

[SumoRunner]

Well.....I've been a mid-distance runner (half marathons) for over 20 years now

That ain't middle distance, it's as long as most people ever get. Running is divided into 4 categories based on the type of training and race tactics required, sprints, middle distance, long distance and marathon. Sprints go from 100 meters to 800m, middle is from 800m up to about 5 Km, anything longer than 5 Km is long distance running. Half-marathon to 30K is a gray area. I would lump it in with marathon running, others would keep it back in the long distance category.

Now, I might be able to call myself that since the majority of my races are 5K and shorter, but you go way beyond anything I'm capable of.

 

[mcsf]

I will ride the Levi Granfondo (http://www.levisgranfondo.com/course) in October. I just started biking in the last week (june 08). Because of complications with my surgery in February I am not quite where I hoped to be fitness wise but it will come. I am planning a lot of Alpine Ski Touring this winter in the Sierra Nevada range. Can't wait to get back on AT skis. I'd like to start open water swimming too.

 

[Dan Zulu]

Heart 2.0, snowshoeing in the Sierra is quite amazing. This past winter there wasn't enough snow, even at 6500 feet at Lodgepole, but I always have my snowshoes ready! In Feb 2012 I enjoyed an overnight snowshoeing trip above the Yosemite Valley. I'm having another hip surgery on Tuesday, OHS in September, and hope to have my snowshoeing capacity back by January.