Missing In Action

Wow, it's been such a long time since I blogged last. So much has been going on -- a trip to California, family medical stuff, and more. Suffice to say I've been a bit preoccupied with more than running. And let me just say Alzheimer's is one mean disease.

Back to running news...so I've been putting off this entry for a while, waiting to see a cardiologist. The problem is that for years my heart rate wants to spike as soon as I started jogging like from 115 bpm to 150 in 30 to 60 seconds -- and we're talking a slooow jog here. So I had a series of tests in the summer and when they were all clear and the issue didn't go away, I decided to see a cardiologist. I should mention this high heart rate has been going on for years but it didn't make much difference because I wasn't running up until 2 years ago. I kept expecting the heart rate to drop the more I ran and the fitter I became, but no luck.


A couple of other notes: It only happens running, not when I bike or swim. My resting heart rate is between 55 and 60. My heart rate never comes down and slowly increases to 173 or so even with a 10:30 mile. I never feel like I'm having heart palpitations. My max heart rate is about 176 we think, which is a little higher than the 220-age etc.

So the cardiologist says the problem is...he has no idea. He can't figure out why that would happen. Bottom line though is that running long periods anaerobically can cause the heart wall to thicken (not a good thing). So what about a marathon? Not recommended.


So my plan is this: I'm going to back way off my mileage and do 2 runs a week of 2 to 4 miles at a nice slow pace and not worry about my heart rate. The other two runs, I'm setting my Garmin to notify me if I exceed 155 bpm and then I'll walk until it comes back down. I figure I'll try this for a month or two and see if I can change this pattern.


This does not make me happy. But the good news is nothing is wrong with my heart. Anyone ever heart of such a thing? Any ideas?