More of us out there...

[Mejulie69]

Standing at the back of the pack waiting to start this morning’s parkrun, I bumped into an old friend and she asked why I wasn’t up the front. I told her about my AF at which point the man in front of me turned round and said he had had 2 ablations and that “half” of his running club had too.

Doing some rough maths, if 1-2% of the population will get AF, and sports people are 5 times more likely to get it, that means 5-10% of any running / cycling club will get it, which makes it one of the most common “sports injuries”. This may explain why I keep bumping into strangers who have also suffered.

Makes it seem somewhat boring and routine!

[BobD Volunteer]

And self inflicted?

[Mejulie69 in reply to BobD]

So is sunburn but we still sunbathe

[BobD Volunteer in reply to Mejulie69]

touché.

[kiki1952]

There's a parkrun where I live Windynook nature park, Felling, Gateshead. I have also met two people who have AF while I was walking the dog.

Keith.

[Mejulie69 in reply to kiki1952]

Hi Keith, I live nearby. I was in Saltwell Park today

[kiki1952 in reply to Mejulie69]

I have just looked on YouTube it is on there, just type in windynook parkrun.

[kiki1952]

There's a run every Saturday now on Windy nook nature park. I know Saltwell Park well. You can see a video of the run on Face book if you type in windynook nature park, or friends of windynook nature park.

[Hidden]

I suspect that a quite a few runners, cyclists (especially "gutter bunnies"), and Spin session adicts have undiagnosed AF as it's easy to mistake high heart rate with effort. Unless you have a short sample time on a sports HRM with a downloadable trace, you'll never see the characteristic spiky trace caused by AF. Even then I ignored it. When it had AF everytime I ran, I gave up running, and then Spin classes but only because a lot of Spin instructors have no idea and play rubbish tracks too loadly . Then I used the bike on a turbo trainer at home until the bike was stolen. After the stroke I use a Concept 2 rowing machine at home with the blessing of the Consultant Neurologist and, my GP says to limit my maximum heart rate to 180.

For those of us who enjoy cardio we will keep on doing it and some will realise that they have AF from time to time, Over the years AF will become more frequent but we keep the faith and run, cycle and Spin but modify it. Run on my friends and celebrate this life even though it and we are less than perfect! Happy Christmas, seasonal felicitations, Namaste and, may we have love in our lives. A deep bow to you all.

John

[Peter1955]

All good comments, particularly John-Boy’s. If your are tuned in to a sporty and active life, you can’t just ditch it. In my case, I had to Reduce it while in persistent AF, but my one ablation has mostly sorted it out, though I can get a recurrance if I over-do things. The trick is to work out how much one can do without triggering a problem. When on PAF, i found that while hillwalking I was lagging behind 70-year old friends, no power. But as you say, it can be hard to detect, I use a Polar RC3 GPS with a chest strap from which I can download a full graph of pulse rate (plus map) and the graph graphically shows the very spikey pulse rate.

Don’t give in to it, but adapt.

[Hidden in reply to Peter1955]

Hi Peter, I've had the power output discussion with EPs and Cardiologists. Medical text books say that AF reduces output by 30%. On a personal level my body adapted to AF - or was it years of Zone 5 ? - and my output was reduced by 8% to 10% measured on a CycleOps Pro turbo trainer. My long time HRM is a Polar RS 400 and, I use a chest strap that is also read by the PM4 on my Concept 2. My Polar M200 without a chest strap is OK for walking and Pilates but not for indoor rowing.

[Mejulie69]

Totally agree John and Peter. After yesterday’s run which I did a little bit too fast, I went into AF. This afternoon I went out for my self condiovert bike ride up a couple of hills, and bingo, back in rhythm. Will be amazing if my forthcoming ablation stops the AF, but I have found a way to live around it for now.

[Hidden in reply to Mejulie69]

Cycling uphill can be quite demanding even in sinus rhythm, let alone in fast AF. Don't you feel a bit lightheaded and wobbly sometimes?

A static bike might be safer for your self cardiovert, you and joe public too. [Bloomin' cyclists, always wary after one gave me a faceful of sugar solution from a syringe as I was driving along a quiet country lane. Mind you I had cut him up earlier, albeit unintentionally.

I speak as an ex cyclist who used to manage a 1 in 3 incline, but that was a long time ago.

[Peter1955 in reply to Mejulie69]

This is interesting. I find that running is more prone to erratic pulse, particularly on first 20 minutes albeit maybe not full AF. It is also the last activity to work itself out after I have had a week or two of AF. Conversely, cycling very rarely produces an erratic pulse these days, and even had climbs don’t normally trigger it. Similar to you, Mejulie69? Can’t see a static bike matching the teal thing!

[Mejulie69 in reply to Peter1955]

Peter, generally speaking, running is more intense and requires a higher and more sustained heart rate, perhaps causing a significant release of adrenaline. I believe it’s the adrenaline that triggers my AF, hence a big scare or a stressful day can also trigger me. Static bike - urgh, I’d rather not thanks! I feel perfectly normal cycling in AF apart from only being capable of 50% of my usual power output for the same effort.

[Hidden]

There is a hugh Park Run in North Manchester in Heaton Park every weekend which my daughter is an avid participant of. If they all read this post and thread then perhaps would have second thoughts on keep on trying to improve their PBs (personal bests)!!!😁😋😋