Hello fellow valvers,
I'm an avid cyclist in my mid-forties who was diagnosed last April with a 7.5 cm Aortic root aneurysm, with moderate aortic valve leakage and left ventricular enlargement. Yes, I'm lucky to be here :biggrin2:. Prior to that time I had only had a few random episodes of what I assumed was atrial fibrillation. At my yearly physical last year, my PCP suggested that I take a statin, which I resisted, stubborn as I am. He recommended I get a CT scan to take a look at my coronary arteries to see if I needed a statin or not. We were surprised (and lucky) to have found the aneurysm which no doubt would have dissected by now without repair.
I had successful surgery in May 2012, receiving an extra large 29mm Medtronics Freestyle porcine valve and Dacron aortic graft above the root. I participated in cardiac rehab for 6 weeks starting 3 weeks after surgery. For me, being able to see how my heart would perform as we ramped up intensity and to higher heart rate limits was key. I continued exercising last year mostly on the bike and my cardiologist and surgeon let me do so without hard limits, as long as I used good judgement and didn't overdo it. That said, I still try to keep my HR below 160, even though my max is around 186 or thereabouts.
Fast forward to this year. I've continued to ride moderately compared to before (no more HIT training or high HR intervals), instead focusing on muscular endurance and tempo rides mixed in with a lot of endurance pace stuff. This past weekend I completed my first post-op century ride with an average speed of 17.5 mph (about 103.5 mi in 5:55:00). This is of course a bit slower than before, but that was by design since I just wasn't sure how I would do so I took it fairly easy compared to the past. I was thrilled to be able to complete the ride and this one may mean more to me than the others. One of the best parts about my focus on muscular endurance in training is that my cruising HR is really low - I can clip along about 20 mph on level ground at around 140 BPM. I'm happy to be able to take some of the pressure off my heart. I still worry sometimes about ruining my valve, but Saturdays ride was a great milestone for me. I hope and plan to do more in the future.
Thanks to so many of you on this site for sharing. This site gave me hope as I faced surgery last year that things would be alright and that I could still be a cyclist in the future. I'm overdue to give a little hope back.
I'm an avid cyclist in my mid-forties who was diagnosed last April with a 7.5 cm Aortic root aneurysm, with moderate aortic valve leakage and left ventricular enlargement. Yes, I'm lucky to be here :biggrin2:. Prior to that time I had only had a few random episodes of what I assumed was atrial fibrillation. At my yearly physical last year, my PCP suggested that I take a statin, which I resisted, stubborn as I am. He recommended I get a CT scan to take a look at my coronary arteries to see if I needed a statin or not. We were surprised (and lucky) to have found the aneurysm which no doubt would have dissected by now without repair.
I had successful surgery in May 2012, receiving an extra large 29mm Medtronics Freestyle porcine valve and Dacron aortic graft above the root. I participated in cardiac rehab for 6 weeks starting 3 weeks after surgery. For me, being able to see how my heart would perform as we ramped up intensity and to higher heart rate limits was key. I continued exercising last year mostly on the bike and my cardiologist and surgeon let me do so without hard limits, as long as I used good judgement and didn't overdo it. That said, I still try to keep my HR below 160, even though my max is around 186 or thereabouts.
Fast forward to this year. I've continued to ride moderately compared to before (no more HIT training or high HR intervals), instead focusing on muscular endurance and tempo rides mixed in with a lot of endurance pace stuff. This past weekend I completed my first post-op century ride with an average speed of 17.5 mph (about 103.5 mi in 5:55:00). This is of course a bit slower than before, but that was by design since I just wasn't sure how I would do so I took it fairly easy compared to the past. I was thrilled to be able to complete the ride and this one may mean more to me than the others. One of the best parts about my focus on muscular endurance in training is that my cruising HR is really low - I can clip along about 20 mph on level ground at around 140 BPM. I'm happy to be able to take some of the pressure off my heart. I still worry sometimes about ruining my valve, but Saturdays ride was a great milestone for me. I hope and plan to do more in the future.
Thanks to so many of you on this site for sharing. This site gave me hope as I faced surgery last year that things would be alright and that I could still be a cyclist in the future. I'm overdue to give a little hope back.
