Friday, December 29, 2006

Am I this out of shape?

The classic statement of a triathlete who's taken a 3-4 month break from training after realizing his heart is beating really fast. Well at least that's what I thought the problem was.

Been swimming twice a week lately alternating 2500 and 1500 yard swims. Felt preatty strong.

Started this new run method lately. The shuffle. Works preatty freakin good. Trimama has been encouraging me to do it for about a year now. "You run to heavy, your stride is to long and pounding on your knees." She was right. It also helped when I saw the Florida Ironman video. The women's champion, Bella Comeford, is strongest on the run. As long as she can hold somewhat close in the bike, she usually passes the leaders on the run and wins. Of course knowing Trimama was wrong, I watched Bella run...WITH A SHUFFLE! What the &*^%$%^. Once again humbled, but thankful.

I am very grateful for my wife, kids, parents and friends. I got home from the hospital tonight, sat down and played legos with soap and chopper. We made a mean lookin fire station for chopper and urps new Christmas fire trucks. Play time seemed alot richer tonight.

My fast heartbeat turns out to be less about conditioning and more about atrial fibrillation. Was it a good sign that my first thought and second statement to the doctor was "Can I still do Ironman Wisconsin?" She's not sure. I'm on blood thinning medication right now and see the cardiologist on Tuesday. What the fudge. I feel like I'm 29, 38 still seems young and I got heart problems. Oh well. He has His purpose in this too.

Appreciate your prayers. This scared Trimama a little tonight. I did need to reassure her that I'm not dead yet, so she can put the resume away :)

Tac out (but not dead, just out)

10 comments:

walchka said...

I'm sure you'll give you a clean bill of health. Keep us posted!

Unknown said...

Unnerving as it must be for you all, better to know now you have the condition so you and your medical professionals can formulate a plan to deal it. Disaster avoidance. Always a good thing! (Even if it doesn't seem so at the time.)

Fingers crossed!

jbmmommy said...

I'm sure it must have been a scare, especially since you're quite young compared with much of the population that develops atrial fibrillation, I think. I hope that you can work with the doctors to figure out what's best for you. Take care.

Brent Buckner said...

Best wishes for managing this.

William Lobdell said...

buddy,

you're in my prayers.

IK

Iron Pol said...

You made the first all important step and actually went to the doctor. We'll keep you in our prayers.

I learned how it feels heading home with "wait and see" news when my doctors found shadows in my lungs and started throwing around words like non-Hodkins lymphoma. After several weeks and biopsy surgery, it wound up being much less dramatic.

We'll pray for you to live in boring times.

Abbey von Gohren said...

Hey Bri,

You've got lots of prayers goin' up from a little apartment in France. Did they say anything about thyroid imbalance, 'cause a resident doctor I talked to from our church here said that's a common cause in younger people, like you.

I'm also learning the running "shuffle" - did something wanky to my left knee a couple of months ago (something about running on uneven cobblestone streets from the 13th century?)and paid dearly by having to take a 6-8 week running break. I'm back to shuffling as of this week, though, and I hope you can say the same after your appointment!

greyhound said...

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!

"I'm not dead yet."

"Really, I'm feeling better."

greyhound said...

Monty Python, in case you were wondering why I'm so morbid.

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