Returning to running post heart attack

[Heartattackvictim]

Recently diagnosed heart conditi. 60 yr old male; ran HM in 1:58 in October, no prior issues related to blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI. Now regular 5-7k jogs; longest run since Oct is 10k in 70mins. Anyone similar experience and can offer any tips? Thank you.

[Hidden]

I think your times are ace and although I can offer no advice to you, (my HM best was 2.01) I wish you the very best moving forward.

[Heartattackvictim in reply to Hidden]

Thanks!

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon]

Well done for keeping up the running. I'm afraid I can't offer any advice or experience - do you have a consultant or follow up team who you can ask? SkiMonday has recently built back up after a heart attack so maybe take a look at his posts? Good luck.

[Heartattackvictim in reply to linda9389]

Thanks!

[SkiMonday Ultramarathon]

The best advice I've had is to do it "by feel". The idea being that if you start to get aches and pains whilst running or afterwards, then you've overdone it and need to ease back. Being excessively tired the following day is also a sign that you've been overdoing it.

I'm prone to getting mild chest aches which usually last a couple of minutes. They sometimes occur when I'm running but can also come on when I'm just day in a chair. I had an exercise stress test to try and determine the cause but it found nothing. I've come to the conclusion that it's a matter of judgement and experience as to what needs to be checked. NB I'm not a medic, advice from medical professionals should be taken in preference to anything I can say on the subject.

Something else that might be useful is some advice I received from a cardiologist (after I was checked out due to sudden onset of jaw pain): he said that, if you do have another heart attack, the symptoms are likely to be similar to those of your first event.

Sorry about my slow response, I haven't been very active in here for a while. Anyhow, I wish you well.

[Heartattackvictim in reply to SkiMonday]

Thank you very much for taking the time to set this out in so much detail. Really appreciate that. What you write from your experience and your cardiologist makes a lot of sense.

I've now ditched the "today I will run X km in no slower than Y time" mentality. I have a series of routes where I can cut short my run if I don't feel great. Also, like you say, I'm realising (the hard way!) how I feel the day after is a good guide as to whether I've worked too hard. I'm concentrating on how I feel and keeping my heart rate in the 126-136 range as advised by the cardiac rehab team.

This week I 'ran' 17k in 2 hours 13 minutes; a long way from my half marathon in 1:58 BUT taking joy in doing that.

Thanks once again and keep well

[SkiMonday Ultramarathon]

I'm glad that was useful. From my experience, coming back from a cardiac event is a long and frustrating journey: Prior to my primary pump malfunction, I was working on distance, my best HM was around 2 hours 20 and my longest run 20 miles. My event was on 20th August 2018 (that date is burnt into my memory). My first "run" after that was a few months later. It was a gentle jog of around 200m but it felt like a huge achievement and I was over the moon at being able to run again.

From there, I gradually built up and did a 6k at the end of December. However, the following day I was exhausted so I cut back to 4k runs (see what I mean about it being frustrating?)

From there, I've slowly built up, being guided by feel and keeping to the 10% rule. Some times it's gone well, others, I've had to ease back.

I've been focusing on 5ks at a comfortable pace with one long run a week. I've found that I can usually maintain that comfortable pace on the long runs. So 16 months after my event, I can now comfortably run an HM in around 2 hours 3 and I've just got back to 20 miles (12 minutes quicker than previously).

I'm aiming to get my HM under 2 hours but by working on my comfortable pace rather than by pushing myself.

So, from my experience, there is light at the end of the tunnel but it can take a long time to get there.

Please feel free to ask me or discuss running after a cardiac event, just don't expect a quick reply from me!