Training Log Archive: Craig

Training course at Malmalling. Started pretty slowly so was behind Henry and Paul at 1. Passed Paul at 2 and Henry at 3 just by hitting them a little more cleanly. Got away from Henry with a better route to 5 and was on my own for the rest. Just kept a steady pace and hit everything cleanly. Felt I could have been more efficient by being a bit more decisive at times, pushing the pace a bit more may actually help with that. Picked it up a bit to more of a tempo effort over the last few longer legs and felt like I was moving ok. Heart all good so looking forward to next week a little more now.

The Craig Special - Splits

Had an echocardiogram and was told my heart was "perfect".

NavDash Joondalup. Thought I'd better have another go at running a sprint since I've entered the NOL race next week. Intended to wait for Rachel to finish and user her gps to make sure I kept my heart rate below 180 but when I saw her setting out on a second course I couldn't wait anymore.
Lucky I didn't wait because if I did have the heart rate monitor I think I would have had to go a lot slower and Rachel would have beaten me. Heart was ok for the first 3 or 4 controls but I didn't do much warm up so I was pretty slow for these anyway. No big mistakes but wasn't very efficient. Wandered off line a few times and had to slow down to double check things quite often.

Long - Splits

Felt like doing a steady flat run today so headed down to the river. Didn't really intend for it to be an MAF test but I took a split at the usual start point and got the hr up to 140 more easily than usual so I did try to keep it there but not checking as much as I usually do. Got about 2k into it at around 4:20/km before the AF kicked in. Kept going a little while to see if it would stop as I still felt quite comfortable but it wasn't going to happen and when I did stop and walk the hr jumped up to 220 briefly.
Walked a few minutes then started jogging again. AF stopped soon after I started jogging so I gradually picked up the pace again on the way home.

Saw the cardiologist again today (first time in about 18 months).
Confirmed that it is atrial fibrillation that I am getting at times on most days.
Medication is not an option unless combined with a pacemaker. Not recommended at my age and level of activity.
Continuing to ignore it may be an option but I'm going to have another echocardiogram on Saturday to make sure.
Pulmonary vein isolation ablation is an option but I need to decide if it is worth the risk. About 1% chance of death vs 50-75% chance of success and 30-50% chance of needing more than one procedure. No cost but several month wait in public hospital. I'm tempted to put my name on the list while I think about it.

Heart rate monitor not working for the first half. Heart not working for the second half. Right calf and left heel fine today but a little soreness behind inside of left ankle.

Couldn't get to sleep last night, lay awake considering going for a run at midnight but I must have fallen asleep just before midnight. Woke up at 4:30 so I went for a run then instead.
Pretty dark in the trees early on so I started out up the broadwalk. Soon became aware I was being followed and turned around to see a dark shape about the size of a large cat 5m behind me. Too dark to see clearly but it seemed to have a bushy tail so I think it was a fox. Every time I turned around it would back off and move to the side a bit but as soon as I looked away it would close in right behind me again. It followed me for a few hundred metres crossing the road in the middle but was gone when I got to the DNA tower.
Rest of the run was pretty routine. Did a big lap around the outside staying near the streetlights until it got light and then moving into the sand tracks and weaving around the middle of the park to make it up to 20km. Not sure why I picked 20km, just needed something to aim for and I thought that would get me finished at a reasonable time for Rachel to start.
Felt pretty good today. Heart was good most of the time, may have been a bit elevated while the fox was chasing me. Legs felt good apart from a little soreness in the left heel and right soleus which both stayed fairly constant throughout the run. Getting a little tired by the end.

C • Maybe a Cougar 5