Heart disease

[Justinerose]

I am a 66 year old woman and had a heart valve repair done two years ago. Prior to that I had run several 10 k's. I have reached week five of the couch go 5k however I still feel very slow. I don't know if I am doing the right thing for my health and worry I may be putts ng too much strain on my heart. I also drink more than the recommended alcohol per week.

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

Running slow will build stamina better than running fast, so that’s perfect. It will also put less strain on your heart, which is good, but maybe medical opinion is needed with your history if you haven’t already been medically cleared to do this.

I go over the units too... I used to get through as many units as the bloke on the till at IKEA, but I’ve cut down a lot.

[Bazza1234 Graduate in reply to UnfitNoMore]

I am 72 and have calcification/hardening of my heart arteries. I completed C25K almost 5 years ago and have since gone on to run 10k and HM "races' - am now training for a full marathon next year. My medical problem is actually symptom-less but I do "feel my age" My grossly overweight and incapable of walking to the shops friends ( who all have bad knees) constantly warn me that running will do in my knees and I might have a heart attack when running out on the road. I tell them that this is my plan. Statistically speaking, at my age the three most like scenarios for my eventual demise are heart attack, some form of horrible cancer or a car accident. Car accidents are very gruesome and painful, and I have seen people die from cancer ( not nice at all) so a good big heart attack sounds better to me Re the slightly excessive vino allocation every day - it is a good idea to replace a bad habit with a good habit, so whenever the urge comes on at around wine o'clock - put on your running shoes instead and get out the front door!!!

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate in reply to Bazza1234]

I am the same age as you Bazza1234, my family and particularly my daughter have been very supportive of me over the last three years since I started all the exercises I have done including C25K, including giving me a new yoga mat, however she would draw the line so to speak IF I told her that I was going to train for a half or full marathon. I told her 'don't worry about that, at the most I might try a 10k", even that I'm not sure about. I will just keep to short cycle and running runs and long walks outside and indoor exercises I have been doing for a while now.

[Bazza1234 Graduate in reply to AlMorr]

All we really need to do is 30 minutes every day !! I find that a slightly half-hearted and not-too-serious following of something like a 10K training plan is a good way to keep me motivated. My current plan is actually a 52 week long "Couch to Marathon" plan which I started 14 weeks ago and will plod on with until I reach the marathon start line next year - or not!!

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate in reply to Bazza1234]

Well done to you Bazza1234, I wish you the best of luck. 😊

[Justinerose in reply to Bazza1234]

I agree totally.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Welcome to the forum and well done on getting started.

This guide to the plan is essential reading healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

If you have doubts about your running and your heart then I would recommend that you consult a medical professional familiar with your case.

[MatildasPb Graduate]

First off, I totally agree with IannodaTruffe - get professional medical advice.

Having said that; below is part of my post from yesterday on the Bridge to 10k forum. It is only my story. Please don't take it as me encouraging you to take risks with your health. Your post chimed with me because I'm 62 (not so far off 66) and had a replacement aortic valve just under two years ago. Oh and its not about how fast you are its about getting miles under your feet.

October 2016 new heart valve to fix an inherited issue - I couldn’t walk uphill with out blacking out.

All good but then three days later a stroke that robbed me a bit of peripheral vision and hence the ability to drive.

(I wasn’t sure if I was going to add that paragraph but I decided to leave it in case anyone else is in a similar position and doubts if they can complete C25k and B210k. If I can, you can...)

May 2018 felt strong enough to start C25k and boy what a shock! Who would have thought running for a minute could be so tough?!

September 2018 graduated and first Parkrun.

October 2018 10k!

Big thank you to all you lovely people here who have inspired and supported me along this journey.

Now, I’m off to find a 10k to half marathon plan... 😉