Boston Marathon post card finally arrived!!!
Training towards the Boston Marathon is progressing well, despite the set back of the unsuccessfull heart surgery just before Christmas. I was obviously disappointed that they couldn’t pinpoint the source of my extra beats and get it fixed, and as a result I will have to continue up to - and beyond - Boston, with a non-optimum heart beat. The cardiologist gave me assuring info that I could continue to train as before, and just be careful to not overexerting myself (a 3:10 marathon shouldn’t be too hard, right?). The main risk with the arrhythmia I have is that the reduced blood circulation during an “attack” can lead to clots if you’re prone to this, and once the heart resumes normal pumping capacity, the clot can cause a stroke. However I am not in the risk category for blood clots, so I don’t have to worry about that. It will impact my maximum and optimum running capacity – if I have prolonged arrhythmias I get more tired, especially during maximum efforts. As the marathon is more about endurance rather than maximum capacity, the impact is hopefully less, but I will have to train and execute Boston with this in mind. I will go back to the doctor in June, and then we will see if we make another attempt at fixing it, but that will then likely take place during fall, after the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in September. So it seems I will have this issue the whole season. Kind of made me bummed out, but now I have decided to just push through. It is what it is, and I will have to adjust and adapt to my situation.
