Cardio Coach, anyone?

[RunnerAl]

10/9/12 AVR, with 12 weeks of Cardio therapy and doing very nicely... 3-4 miles several times/week.

I was in very good shape before, so I went in strong, and have come through pretty strong as well... BUT, 12 weeks are up, I'm back at the Y, but would love a coach... not a "personal trainer," per se, but one who knows the situation we've all been through and can take into consideration the issues (at least I) face...

Elevated heart-rate - When i came home for hospital, my RHR was about 100 bpm... shocking for a guy with a 54 the day before I went in! It's down a bit but still high - c/ 75.

Lung Capacity - seems to have suffered a bit from being on the machine... kinda like going back to square one on a long injury recovery.

Pace - had been running 8mm before, now 11:30-11:15 on a good day.

Put in runners language, that means at 140 bpm I'm doing a 12mm/150 an 11mm, whereas before those HR levels would have me at 8mm race pace. So, I'd like someone who knows how to "coach" my performance back to old levels... getting the HR down, fitness up and race times closer to before. I'm concerned that any old "trainer" won't now how to work around/with the HR issues, especially, or deal with a "performance improvement process" required after a serious heart event.

Anybody had/in a similar situation? Are there such people and where would I find them?

Thanks,

Al

 

[SumoRunner]

Anybody had/in a similar situation? Are there such people and where would I find them?

Yeah, we've all had a similar situation. Hundreds of such people, you may not believe it at first, are hanging out at: http://www.cardiacathletes.com/

My valve is almost 22 years old now, have run tens of thousands of miles and maybe 250-300 races since. Ran a half-marathon Jan 1st, swam a mile last summer, doing upwards of 200 pushups a day at the moment. And I'm one of the slouches.

 

[Rachel]

Jack's suggestion is an excellent one!

I had similar experiences to yours in that my resting HR was about 90 which completely freaked me out, never mind watching it go up to 169-170 while doing a 13 min mile!

I wished for the same type of training you are looking for, I didn't find it, but I did find a whole bunch of great people on both this site and the CA site who assured me that what I was going through was normal. I also consulted with my doctor several times during my recovery and had a stress test at 6 months out, confirming that I had little to worry about -- for me, it was more about waiting out the recovery process.

Everyone is different, I took it super slow and didn't let my HR beat at 170 for over 6 min at a time, (so I would stop and walk, or just slow down). It took me about nine months before my HR leveled off and my resting went back to 46-51.

So, yeah at about where you are now - 4-5 months out, I was also getting nervous that things wouldn't go back to normal...but they did.

Hope that helps a little, BTW - I would strongly suggest you stay in contact with your doctors while you're on the road to recovery.

Rachel

 

[epstns]

I had similar experiences, too. I joined CA, but truthfully I feel a bit intimidated there. I have other limitations (painful knees) that will keep me from ever running a 7:30 mile again. In fact, on my best days I only hit about 10:30 mm. I might be a bit older than you (now 65) but I guess the training problems are the same. I never did find a trainer. It occurs to me that I should have spoken with one of the techs at my cardio rehab unit. Maybe they know someone, or maybe one of them would have taken on a "private patient."

Also, even though my resting heart rate was in the high 40's pre-surgery, due to complications and a pacemaker, they won't set my minimum any lower than 60 now. I do run it up to the 160's, but it has taken me most of the 2 years since surgery to feel that I'm back to the lung and endurance capacity I had pre-op.

 

[tprice54]

Welcome as a cardiac athlete, whether you go over there or not. First, your are really starting from scratch, not just a long injury time off. You might as well be a new runner, after what your body went thru. It takes about a year to totally recover your running. Also, it is important to know that your recovery will not be linear...you will go for weeks with little improvement, then one day, boom, a nice jump in performance....then a little set back.....over and over again.

 

[Bean Counter]

I have to imagine that trying to find a "coach" or a "trainer" might be a little difficult just because I imagine that they get a bit nervous when they hear something about surgery and heart in same sentence.

My advice would be give it some time and fully utilize your HR monitor. Before my surgery, I could hold 7:30 minute miles all day keeping my HR in low 140s. I went for my first "run" 2 months after surgery....2 X 1/2 mile on the treadmill and was looking to keep Hr between 140 and 145. To my surprise this yielded a 20 minute mile! I was shocked, but decided to just forget about pace and just make sure I was running smartly (I became a slave to my HR monitor). Looking back at my old training log and 5 months out I was holding pace around low 10s (and running about 40 miles per week). Over time my pace got down to low 8s (and I ran four 1/2 marathons) before I injured my foot training for my first post-surgery marathon and took a long break from running. I spent a good 6 months back in the weight room and then resumed running (with a frame that is about 15 lbs heavier). I also found (and others have noted this as well) is our HRs are more sensitive to heat and humidity. I have declared that summers will be my off-season. I will still run often, but am not going to target any summer or early fall races.

With all that said...my suggestion is be your own coach. Nobody knows your body/ condition like you do. Be smart about it and the results will come. Good luck.

 

[RunnerAl]

Bean, et al... thanks very much! I will visit the website, but your overall words of relaxation are what I needed most.

Bean's case is just mine... and it's shocking to find that 160 gets me only 11:30m/m! And, yes, it does feel like starting all over... dang.

But, pretty happy with where I am - 5 miles this Sat, kept bpm in 145-155 range - and will "charge" ahead cautiously.

Moot point now, because I returned from Granddaughter's birthday party with bronchitis, the little b***ds (I mean angels!), so I'll be off for a few days.

Gotta run!

Al

 

[RunMartin]

I was in a similar position after my AVR. I had been a runner/swimmer for over 30 years with regular competitions. My thoughts going into surgery were that within 3 months I would be much better than before since I had a bicuspid aortic valve with stenosis and regurgitation. It did actually take a lot longer than that. At the time I needed someone to tell me what to do in terms of training but all the doctors and nurses did not have any experience with athletic patients and their recovery. I ended up doing it by trial and error. It was a case of two steps forward and one back. I found myself overdoing things because I felt OK for a while and pushed a bit harder but then had to cut back for a while. I eventually went back to basics and joined in with a beginners group which was the best thing I could have done. It was in fact like learning again from scratch and improving a little at a time. Recovering from an AVR is not the same as recovering from a sports injury - the rules seem to be totally different. My lungs seemed to be the last thing to get back to normal. If I were to have the operation again I would take it much easier in the first six months and try to have little targets to aim at instead of wanting to be back to normal as soon as possible.
I am the same speed with swimming now as I was pre AVR although my running is a little slower.

 

[epstns]

Al - It is good to see that you're not taking this laying down. Once you get past the bronchitis, we should do lunch again.

 

[SumoRunner]

A typical coach, athletic trainer or physical therapist would not know how to cope with post-cardiac training. I was a USA T&F coach 20 yrs ago and while I coached many beginners, I never took on someone with a serious medical history other than obesity. My son is a Dr. of Physical Therapy at a major New England Hosp. and he would hesitate unless he got very specific recommendations from a Cardiologist or Cardiac Surgeon.

Even though we see many online here and elsewhere, post-cardiac runners are still rare as hens teeth. A local TV reporter in Albany, NY wanted to do a feature on it recently and only managed to find 3 of us in an area with about 1M people. So the probability that a fitness coach would have encountered anyone like us outside of cardiac rehab is almost nil. Truth is, you'll get the best advice here and in the CardiacAthletes.com forums.

 

[epstns]

I can tell you that I've never seen another guy with either a sternotomy scar or a pacemaker when I've been at the gym. . .