... to the heart of the matter

Heart problems and long distance running are somewhat uncomfortable and yet seemingly increasingly frequent bedfellows. I have decided to broach this topic on my blog now as, for several reasons, it is one that has recently become quite pertinent for both myself and for many other members of the South West running community.

An extremely talented ultra runner, based in my home town of St. Austell, Cornwall, tragically and unexpectedly passed away two weeks ago. I would like to stress that the cause of his death has NOT as yet been confirmed, but there has been much speculation amongst his friends and fellow runners that it could have been heart related. It is not difficult to see why people might come to that conclusion, following recently published findings about the relationship between high mileage training and heart problems, as this man regularly put in 100+ mile training weeks, often running 70 miles every weekend, and had done so for many years. The effects of running high mileage on weakening the heart muscle over time are now well documented; the scary thing is that, invariably, it is a sudden and silent killer that gives no pre-warning as to when it will strike and the first and only warning is that the heart spectacularly gives up. Sometimes pre-existing heart conditions are at the root of sudden heart failure, but not always. Sometimes the heart can become damaged as a result of what we ask of it.

Another runner I knew, who was a member of my one-time second claim club, the Teignbridge Trotters, passed away last summer due to a sudden, massive heart attack whilst out on a regular 10 mile club run. He was a fit man, who took care of himself, participating in triathlons, duathlons and marathons, and so did not present himself as your classic coronary candidate.  

Thirdly, and I have already mentioned this, way back in a previous blog post in December 2013, there is the case of another talented runner from Wells City Harriers. This guy had represented GB at races and, in his latter years in the sport, had dared to venture into the murky waters of ultra running. Fortunately for him, his problem was diagnosed before it led to a life-threatening event; unfortunately for him, he was told he can never run again as the risk is just too great.

These are three runners who were all fairly local and who I know personally, having trained or raced with them. They all looked after their bodies and did not lead over-indulgent life styles that were prone to excess.... the only excess in their lives was running. In the case of the third athlete, from Wells, I remember heeding his situation as a warming at the time as he had explained in an interview that his condition had likely been brought on by continuing to train through coughs and colds: something of which I am extremely guilty. I knowingly ran the 2011 Snowdonia Marathon whilst on antibiotics for a urinary tract infection. Result? I came third.... and a week later, for my efforts, I found myself in a high dependency cubicle in Yeovil Hospital, hooked up to an antibiotic drip, fighting off a severe kidney infection. It took me the best part of a month to recover from this, having to take 3 weeks off work and it was a long time before I had sufficient energy to run again. In March 2012 I had been training hard to target a sub 3 hour marathon and I aimed to try and improve my half marathon time along the way and defend my title at the Yeovil Half Marathon. The day before the race I got struck by the dreaded norro virus. This was horrendous and I would not wish it on my worst enemy. I spent the entire night being violently sick at 10 minute intervals, got no sleep, couldn’t even keep a sip of water down.... and yet, the next morning, I dragged myself out of bed, head whirring and pounding, seriously contemplating still doing the race. It was only when I nearly passed out through exhaustion whilst simply trying to assemble my running kit that I realised I was being a tad unrealistic. Go figure! However, I still ran the Taunton Marathon just 7 days later, and 7lbs lighter, still not having regained a full appetite and having spent the week trying to force Build Up drinks and soups down my throat. I did get my sub 3hr, just, but it was a massive risk.

Since then, I have tried to be good to my body, to “listen to it”, and to back off when I am feeling the effects of a cough, cold or virus. That said, I’m not the most patient of people and I invariably resume  training after a maximum of two days rest, regardless of whether the illness has left my system or not. However, I got a rather stern wake-up call recently and, now that I know everything is okay and I have had the all clear, I feel able to talk about it, in the hope that it may prevent others from being as idiotic as I have been. You’d think that being hospitalised for a severe kidney infection brought on by my own refusal to respond to the crystal clear warning signs my body was giving me when it was screaming at me to back the hell off and let it rest would have been warning enough, right? Apparently not for me. I seem to operate according to my own peculiar, erroneous set of rules; rules which show a total disregard for commonsense and which, at times, tend towards the masochistic and self-annihilating.

In my last blog entry I mentioned an “incident” (as it was tactfully referred to in the SWRR committee meeting minutes!) that befell me whilst out on a club run with my new club, South West Road Runners, in November. I did not know it at the time, but I was actually coming down with glandular fever. What I did know at the time was that I did not feel well and had not felt well for several days, but I had continued to train through it regardless, accusing myself of being lazy for not feeling like going out and of being pathetic for feeling the cold and shivering so much. The result was that I keeled over approximately 4 miles into an 8 mile club run, causing much worry and hassle for my fellow club runners, not to mention for my fiancé, Matt, and much embarrassment for myself. What I did not make public is that, as a result of a little visit to hospital following that “incident”, it was discovered that I have a heart murmur. You can either be born with a heart murmur, and these generally tend to be quite harmless, or you can develop one in later life, which can be more worrying. Reasons for developing a heart murmur can include – but are not limited to – prolonged periods of starvation and/or continuing to exercise through illness; both of which I am guilty. A rather worrisome time passed before I got an appointment to have the murmur checked out, during which I agonised over whether mine would be of the ‘harmless’ variety or of the ‘go to jail, proceed directly to jail; do not pass go, do not collect £200’ variety, whereby you are told that you are a heart-attack waiting to happen and that you have to stop all forms of strenuous exercise immediately. You can well imagine the thought processes that raged through my mind at the contemplation of this latter. I can now thankfully say that I have had my open access echo done and that all is well. I have a harmless murmur that has settled down considerably now that I have recovered from the glandular fever. The doctor explained that often, with people who are extremely fit, the heart pumps at a much higher pressure and, if it comes under extra stress – for example, when you are fighting an illness – this pressure increases all the more and manifests itself in harmless flow noises. For once in my life, I was damn grateful to be told that my case was devoid of excitement and that, as a medical specimen, I was quite quite dull!

Nevertheless, the episode was yet another reminder of how fragile the body can be and so, if I choose to ignore this one, I would quite frankly be an idiot. Ignoring it would also add an element of futility to the situations of the three people I have referred to above, who have not been as lucky as me, so I owe it to them to take heed of the warning. Being so content and settled with Matt has shown me that running is not the be all and end all and it is certainly NOT worth risking your health and happiness over. Yes, it can and does make you healthy, and certainly for me it has helped me to arrive at the healthiest place in both mind and body that I have yet experienced during adulthood, but it’s like everything in life: you can definitely have too much of a good thing. I am finally starting to learn that moderation is the key and that moderation does not equate to mediocrity: that dispiriting state of being that I have strived so hard to avoid all my life!  

2015 has started well. I am healthy, happy and, dare I say it, injury free. I am finally starting to put some good training together and, just this afternoon, I have sat down with my coach and started to make plans for the rest of the year and into 2016. This scares me somewhat as, in the past, every time I have made plans I have subsequently got injured. However, I think that I now have 4 years of running knowledge, in addition to knowledge of my own body, to draw upon. I now have a better understanding of what works for me and what I really need to avoid. I just have to be sensible and stick to my plans, not getting led astray by the suggestions of others. It can be hard sometimes to say no to things, as you feel like you are letting people down: my club mates who might like me to form part of a team for a race that does not fit in with my schedule, my Dad who would rather I only target races in picturesque, quaint Devonshire villages where good bacon butties and cheap cups of tea are on offer! You can never please everyone. I need to learn that the person I need to please with my running is myself and keep focussing on that!

And now to close on a high with a few pictures from recent races:

Wellington Monument 10k, 21st December (hilly!): 2nd lady in 40:59.

Stoke Stampede 10k, 28th December: 2nd lady in 38:42.

First Chance 10k, 18th January (windy!): 3rd lady in 38:42.

Fulford 5 mile, 1st February: 2nd lady, just losing out to Serane Stone of Tiverton Harriers in a sprint finish, but we got given the same time of 30:35. Good race!