Training Log Archive: RobB

Steady run with Bruce and Dion. Threw in some hills for Dion's benefit in prep for his race next week.

Sprint O at Westgate park. Ran the "Mo Farah" course (the long one). Scrappy, very scrappy. So much so that Clare beat me on 4 splits.

And the beat goes on...

It was fantastic to run all 4 days of the Bright Alpine climb last weekend. A month ago I did not think that this would be possible. All my running / exercise had indicated that my heart would "go" (into afib/palpitations) after one or two days of hard effort. However - and I say this cautiously and quietly - things have improved considerably over the last couple of weeks.

I went to have a stress test at the hospital a week ago and they were able to trigger a palpitation on the first of four planned uphill sprint efforts on the treadmill. The cardiologist who was supervising was great; positive, engaged and interested. It probably helped that he was from Manchester, an outdoor enthusiast (he clocked and commented on my Inov8s straight away) and, by coincidence, was during some research on heart problems in endurance athletes. The idea of the test was to try to isolate the errant pathway / nerve that leads to the irregular heart beat when running. The cardiologist was confident that they could identify the trigger point from the scan and that - even better - based on its location, the issue should be pretty treatable (albeit through another ablation).

It was a massive relief to hear this and over the next few days I started to feel much more positive, confident and happy in my day-to-day life. I could frankly start to dream about the possibility of running (semi) competitively again and I don't think I fully realised how much this was weighing on my mind. Whilst I had not given up hope I had been significantly tempering my expectations.

In addition to an improvement in my mood and disposition, I also noticed some changes in my resting HR data (resting HR went down and HRV improved). It is difficult/impossible to work out the causality of all this but it is probably a combination of 1) a long period of taking it easy, 2) a moderate increase in exercise and training in the last month, 3) settling down at work and home, and 4) receiving positive results from the treadmill test.

So whilst I am still going to have to wait for an ablation (and the waiting list is about 6 - 8 months) I am confident about building up my exercise again. The treadmill test (and my running experiences from the weekend) confirmed that there is always going to be a risk of an "episode" when running, but hopefully I am learning enough now to be able to limit my chances of triggering them whilst steadily increasing my exercise/training load (which for the last couple of months has been daily cycling to work, pilates and 3 - 4 easy sub 45 minute runs). I will try and do this as responsibly as possible and I made a pact with Shane last night that we would both write and stick to a recovery plan for the next few months.

I will cautiously start to log some training on AP over the next few weeks This weekend's experiment is an easy longish 90 minute run.

C • Great news! 9

C • upbeat (excuse the pun) 1

C • Sounds like some good coinc... 1

Faffing in the gym.

Run to work. Early.

Run home from work.

Fab time in Bright - great to get up some hills, drink some beer, catch up with friends and play some Uno.

From Bright

From Bright

From Bright

C • Looks amazing 7

Day 4. Run up Mount Buffallo. Mini mass started with Kez, Robbie and Gareth. Took it easy for the first 1/3rd but then tried to push on.

The most runnable and fun of all the days, with varied gradients and terrain. Almost started to believe that I was racing. Craney knocked me out of my daydream when he skipped past me. Just managed to grab on to his coat tails for the last 5 minutes.

Fantastic 4 days - 2 weeks ago I wouldn't have believed I could have run them.

Day 3. Run up Mount Bogong (the highest mountain in Victoria). Kez and Gareth started fast trying to keep up with Hanny. I was happy to hold back. Caught Kez about a third of the way up but Gareth was long gone.

Was seriously sucking diesel and chugging by the middle section but started to feel better once we breached the tree line. The race stopped just shy of the summit to save the marshals a battering from the wind and it would have been interesting to see if we would have caught Gareth if we had stopped at the summit - it would have been close.

Managed to earn a pie (still owed) from Craney for running every step of the way.

Slow and steady descent after a quick peak at the (jaw dropping) views from the top. Craney kept his ego in check and managed not to push any of the runners out of the way who were still on the way up.

C • Haha 2