Running with Heart

So, you may remember that I have had concerns about heart palpitations during certain races or runs. If you don't remember, you can read about some of them here and here.

You may also remember that this is the second anniversary of my father's death after a heart transplant.

If you put the two together, you might conclude that I should be seeing a doctor to determine if I have heart problems of the same magnitude as my father. This is definitely what my mom thought (Hi, Mom! Love you!), and so I made a series of appointments for tests and consultations with various specialists. Every test turned out normal. During my echocardiogram, the technician kept saying, "Boy, I wish every patient had pictures like yours!" I take a strange pride in the fact that I have pretty pictures of my heart.

This is EXACTLY how my heart looks in the echocardiogram pictures.  Except it isn't a tree.

The fact that all my tests were normal and I hadn't had any episodes since last Thanksgiving led me to believe that the palpitations (tachycardia) were probably stress-induced. My cardiologist (a young kid, by the way), however, wants to monitor my heart activity for a month to see if he can catch an episode. I have to wear the monitor at all times and do everything I can to provoke the tachycardia so that he can get a recording of it.

Me: Wait, so I can run, do speed work, race, all that stuff?

Doctor: Yes, exactly. I want you to provoke an attack so I can study it.

Me: Won't this be harmful? Couldn't I, like, die?

Doctor looks at me for a full minute, then says: Do you honestly think I would tell you to provoke an attack if I thought it was harmful to you?

Me: I don't know. Maybe you don't like me.

Anyway, now I'm sure he doesn't like me because wearing this event monitor SUCKS BIG TIME.  It's huge, so it looks like I'm carrying around a beeper from the 80s.  It has suction cups, which I have to move to a different place each day, so it looks like I have hickeys on my chest.  I have wires protruding from all parts of my body. I have to sleep with it, so I roll on it and it pokes me or vibrates to let me know that I'm killing it.

This morning I went for a long run (12 miles), and I wore the monitor.  This is how it looks:

One electrode here

The second one here just under my bra

They connect to this big, freaking box.

I can't see any data from it.  There are only buttons to push and one light that blinks when I have to upload the data.  How do I do that? I have to call a number, hold the box up to the phone, and let it play a whiny fax-machine-sounding thing for at least five minutes. I'm not exaggerating.

The good news is that I feel much better knowing that this isn't really harmful; the word the cardiologist used was "nuisance," which I know pretty well. I can live with this nuisance, but I'll wear the damned monitor while I have to (love ya, Mom!).

I'll leave you with something positive--my view at the Beaver Marsh on the Towpath this morning:

Those green plants are lily pads!

And this is how I felt when I finished my 12 miles:

I'm hot, I'm sweaty, and I'm fabulous!

Also, my fellow-Cleveland Marathon Ambassador Andrew (@Andrewrunsalot) found a picture of me on the Akron Marathon page!

I'm in the bright yellow. Look at that ass!

However you run this week, I hope you run with your heart--see what I did there? Until then, run happy, Peeps!

Like what you read? Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!

Pro Football Hall of Fame Half Marathon Recap, Part I

The thing about me is EVERYTHING is about me, right? So, Part I of my race recap will be what I learned about myself today.

It's ALL about ME.  Always.

First, my finish time for the half marathon was 2:14:29.  This isn't fabulous, but it isn't totally disgraceful either. A part of me had hoped that I would PR this race, even run it in fewer than two hours, but I knew from the first step that this wouldn't happen.  Why?

1. It was SUPER-HOT today, and it was very muggy, too. I knew that I should readjust my pace when I started sweating profusely in the first two miles. Scary moment: at mile 11 I passed a woman who had collapsed and stopped breathing. Someone was administering CPR. It was awful.

2. I had stomach cramps starting at mile 5. This was because I didn't have adequate bathroom time before the race. You know what I mean. Anyway, I spent a good 3-4 minutes in the portapotty at mile 7.

Guess I shouldn't have eaten this the night before the race.

3.  I am 47 years old. This is a fact. I have not been in super-great shape my whole life; in fact, I started running after I turned 40. I may have hit my PR in the half when I did Akron in 2:00:52.

This is EXACTLY what 47 looks like.

4. I am carrying at least 10 pounds that I shouldn't be carrying, and that isn't even going by race weight. In that scenario, I am carrying at least 15 extra pounds. I feel those 10 pounds every day, so I know they affect my pace. I hope to lose them while training for the Akron Marathon, but we will see.

This is EXACTLY how I look when I need to lose 10-15 pounds.

5. I am currently experiencing a lot of anxiety and stress, and today I started the race completely stressed out. This definitely affects my performance.

This is EXACTLY how I look when I'm stressed out.

6. I'm just not hungry to race anymore. I don't know if it's marathon training or trail running or age or what, but I don't care to run balls-to-the-wall anymore.

I did learn something positive about myself today. As you may have read, I have been worried about having heart palpitations at unexpected moments of running, twice during races. This has made me reluctant to race; that is why the Pro Football Hall of Fame is my first race of the year. Today I strapped on my heart rate monitor because I wanted to have data in case I experienced any problems.

There were a few times that I felt like I was going to have heart palpitations, so I checked my heart rate during those times. . . and I was completely normal. When that happened, I felt reassured that I wasn't going to have to walk and wheeze for the rest of the race. I told myself that it was in my head, and the feeling passed. Does this mean that it's all in my head? Maybe. I suspect that it is, especially since I've had an electrocardiogram and a blood test with perfectly normal results, but I'm still going to see a cardiologist to make sure. Anyway, it made me feel so much more secure in pushing myself a little bit. . .not that my finish time reflects that.

Also, this is my first race after the implantation of my urethral sling. I can't tell you how my life has changed for the better because of this surgery. Let's leave it with this: no screaming in the shower because of chafing caused by incontinence pads. You know what I mean.

Anyway, I haven't touched on the actual race, so I will save that for a another post. For now, I'm prepared to accept my results and think about how to improve them for future races, specifically for the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, which will be my A-race this year.  Wanna join me? Click here to register or volunteer.

Will the Pro Football Hall of Fame Marathon be one of those future races? Check back soon to find out.  Until then, run happy, Peeps!

Like what you read? Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!

My Heart Goes on. . .

My husband went all-out for Christmas and bought me a Garmin Forerunner 610 with a heart monitor!

Isn't it adorable?

For about a year now, my brain has been toying with the idea of training with a heart rate monitor. I know that one of my biggest problems is that I run too fast when I'm not really doing speedwork.  The heart rate monitor might be a good way for me to properly run so that I can tack on more miles for marathon training.

The directions tell me to wet down the little electrode thingies (sorry for the technical jargon) before I  strap the device to my chest, and that was a little bit intimidating, but I did it.  So far I have used the monitor while walking and running outside and on the treadmill, doing Tae Bo PT24/7, and kettle bell  workouts.  Everything seems ok except for the outdoor runs.  The data from my first run, in which I just ran normally--no speedwork or purpose than to run four miles, told me that I was running way too hard; I was in Zone 5 most of the time. The training level was not sustainable, according to Garmin.  Ok, I get it.  It was telling me to slow down; I can do that.

My first long run with the monitor had me going at a 12 minute mile.  From my research (which I probably screwed up), I learned that my long run should be mostly in Zone 3, an aerobic level.  Let me say that it was very difficult to run a 12 minute mile; I felt like I was barely moving. Regardless, the monitor kept beeping me and telling me I was going TOO FAST.  There was no way I was going to slow down, so I dealt with it.

Today I ran ten miles with Sheila, Shelby, and Jen.  I told them I wanted to keep it between an 11 and 12 minute mile, and that is what we did.  I turned off the alarms and just ran.  Eager to see the heart rate data and evaluation of my training levels, I synced the device and checked Garmin to find. . . nothing.  It had erased all the data from my run.  GRRRRR.

I'm on the fence about this one, Peeps.

This is EXACTLY how I look when I am on the fence.  Bet you didn't know that I was a rooster, huh?

I know that I have to run more slowly on my long, slow distance runs.  I can do that.  The problem is that if the monitor is telling me that my 12-minute run is too fast, how am I going to improve?  What will it say when I do speed work?  Maybe I should not wear it for tempo runs?  Also, I know that I am basically out of touch with my body, but if the monitor is telling me that my current runs are tempo runs, and I feel that they are easy, are they really tempo runs?

I've tried asking people for information about this, and I've read every journal/magazine/blog post I could find, but I'm very puzzled.

What do you think, Peeps?  Anyone out there train with a heart rate monitor?

Like what you read?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!