Down, not out

So today was the day, time to head back to Dr Gary and get an update on my heart condition, what it is, what it means and what the way forward is. The appointment was a good one despite me being horrendously late, lots of questions answers and a lot more certainty about what is going on. Not necessarily any resolution yet, but at least I know where it is going and what I have to do next. 

One thing I like about Dr Gary is that because he is hugely experienced with athletes and because he is one himself, he knows exactly what an athlete needs to know and how to tell it to them. That means you come out of appointment with him knowing exactly what you can do and what you can't. Out of the various bits of information I got today, those limitations were probably the most important. 

So here, in no particular order is a summary of what Dr Gary told me. 

• Dr Gary agreed with the diagnosis from the hospital on the weekend, that the condition is Ventricular Bigeminy. This is sort of good news since the condition isn't as serious as Atrial Fibrillation which is what he thought it was originally.
• This is the same issue that I had back in 2015, however, it is now worse, with the ectopic beats occurring more often and also at rest.
• The condition can be acerbated by factors such as stress, fatigue, dehydration, lack of sleep, illness etc, which may be why it was so bad on Friday/Saturday when I was quite fatigued. While these factors are not the cause, they will make it worse.
• The cause is still unknown, however, as said above, it is not a new condition, so it may just be the way my heart is. However, Dr Gary also has a theory that as my heart has grown stronger with Ironman training, it may have made the condition worse. A combination of more heart muscle and stronger contractions making the Bigeminy rhythm more pronounced. Just a theory at this point.
• The upshot is that Ventricular Bigeminy won't kill me, there is no risk of stroke or heart attack, I will faint due to insufficient blood flow before my heart is in any danger. That potential loss of consciousness was Dr Gary's main concern due to potential secondary harm, ie I fall into a traffic, or lose consciousness in water etc.t
• As an upshot Dr Gary has asked me to avoid high intensity exercise, avoiding hill repeats, high intensity intervals etc until I can get to see the cardiologist. He has also asked me to train with other people as much as possible, just in case I faint. Finally he has asked me not to do any open water swimming unless I have somebody by my side. Pool swimming with the squad is okay since there are always people there.
• Dr Gary has also asked me not to race until the issue can be resolved with the Cardiologist. As a result I have withdraw from the Busselton Jetty Swim and the Busselton Half Marathon this weekend. 

So that is about where things sit, I am effectively in a holding pattern until I get see the Cardiologist and plan out the next move. Now it is just a case of how quickly I can get into see him.

I will admit the news from Gary was not the greatest. I was relieved to have it confirmed that the heart condition isn't anything worse, but obviously disappointed to find out that I need to put everything on hold. Deep down though I perhaps wasn't surprised by this. I have suspected for some weeks now that something wasn't right with my heart. I didn't know what, but it was something. I also didn't know what it needed, but it was becoming clear to me that it wasn't fixing itself, so the fact that it needs help is perhaps not surprising. 

So what from here. Am I stepping back the training for a little bit. Well yes, I sort of have to, at least from an intensity perspective. 

Will I be giving up and stop training all together? Hell no. I won't be following an official training program for the first time in a while and I will be taking things a bit easier, but I am still allowed to train and so I certainly will be. Perhaps I can use the break to learn how to enjoy simply going out and exercising again. 

Now for the big one, does this mean no more racing? Does this mean throwing it all in and going crying back to mum because it hasn't gone the way it was supposed to? Not by a long shot. I don't know what the next few weeks/months will contain, but I am not ready to throw in the towel quite yet. There is a strong chance that I can get this fixed and if I can then there is nothing to say I can't come back stronger than before. 2017 may not be starting the way I wanted, but neither did 2016 and I think that one finished pretty okay.

I am down, but I am not out yet.