Running worse after surgery

[Tom Walski]

Sumo, assuming that your surgery happened between the ages of 41 and 51, then there is that 45-60 sec per mile drop due to surgery. Is that a correct assumption?

Where did you find that age graded calculator?

 

[SumoRunner]

http://www.heartbreakhill.org/age_graded.htm

http://academic.udayton.edu/PaulVanderburgh/weight_age_grading_calculator.htm

I had AVR at age 43 in 1991, but I never really tried training hard again until this year. I ran just as many miles and races but did not train with intensity. I would run the mile races for several weeks each summer but had no lead-in interval training to prep me for it, just slow distance. The best I got was that 6:44 equivalence.

I had also slowly gained a lot of weight, getting up to 245 lbs which slowed everything down even more. Then I dropped 42 lbs last year and began interval training this past spring. This is now the first time since 1990 that I have a full season of moderate to high intensity training behind me going into the T&F season. I"m starting at the 6:47 equivalent and we'll see how far I can get, but I doubt very much that I can get down to 5:53 equiv. condition by August. I still have a lot of excess baggage around the middle. (The 6:15 I ran in 1990 was on an injury. I had run 800m in 2:50, so I should have been able to run about 6:00 flat.)

 

[Sherry]

Hi, Tom. I realize you started this thread some time ago, and I'm just now reading it, but wanted to give you my two cents. I had my mitral valve replacement at 33 (11 years ago). Had wicked pericardial and pleural effusions after the surgery requiring a surgical drain and a round of steroids. Anyway, as relates to your question, I was very aerobically active prior to the surgery, step Reebok four or so times per week - seems contradictory because my mv was practically shredded at the time but nonetheless, my body was acclimated to the lack of oxygen, and I just kept plugging along. After recovering from both surgeries and then trying to get back into the Reebok classes, I found that I just couldn't get back to the level of fitness that I was at prior. Even now, I've tried to jog slowly in hopes of building up the prior level of fitness, but it hasn't happened. It's frustrating, and even though I mention it every year at my cardio checkup, I just get this "you're doing remarkably well considering" type of attitude. I'm very thin and fit, and I do walk a few miles several times per week, but the hills still wind me to some degree. I always blame it on the effusions, thinking there's some residual scarring left from all that fluid, but that's just my personal diagnosis. I hope you get some answers here and will follow this thread to see what you find out.

 

[Tom Walski]

I sometimes wonder if the plerual effustion did any damage. Does anyone out there know about long term effects of pleural effusion, if any?

Thanks Sumo for the age grading link. For 5 miles, my age graded times were around the low 29s prior to surgery and afterwards they've been aroudn 33+. So that's a good way to look at the effects of surgery. I lost a little less than a minute per mile which is comparable to your results.

 

[SumoRunner]

I think we're on to something. We almost have enough data now to publish in a medical journal. Let's think of a title first.

"Why Johnny Can't Lead."
"You Coulda Been A Contender, But Not No More."
"You're Damn Lucky To Be Alive, So What's Your 5K Time?"

 

[Tom Walski]

Or

"The Good, The Bad and The Slow"
"Dances with Sloths"
"1/2 marathon Man"
"Injure Bill"