ATTENTION: A Middle Aged Heart??

A friend of mine, a 47 year old chap and lifelong cyclist, has recently been having runs of heart palpatations. He went for a check up at the GP's and was told that his blood pressure was also wayyy to high at 140/110. He was put on a commonly prescribed medication to lower his blood pressure.

A few days later, while sitting in his car, his heart started racing again, in intervals and he began to feel dizzy and sick. The ambulance took him to the local hospital where a battery of tests was done. Pre Ventricular Contractions. When these rogue beats run close together you can basically go down like a sack of tatties as there is no blood volume output to the organs for a brief moment.

Anyway, if you're like us and hovering around the 50 year old mark (ie a True Retrobiker!) and have hammered your two wheeled friends your whole life, then this makes for a interesting/ concerning read >> >

http://velonews.competitor.com/cycling-extremes

:shock:

and if you want it from the Clydesdale's mouth, then Mr Yates' book is for you - not only a fantastic read all about his cycling career, but also about his somewhat battered old ticker and how it's affected him in his middle years ..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sean-Yates-It ... SwBahVdv7n

Leaning against an open door here.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=284892

Just passed the one year anniversary of a mate of mine before christmas.
Died in his sleep at 41 due to an undiagnosed heart condition.

Was only 3 months older than me. Still super fit, masters MTB racer, Marathon runner, Cross country skier.

His son was one in January.

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Had my own first serious health scare last Christmas. Very very dark times indeed. Having to undergo a complete change of lifestyle. Not completely out of the woods but treading along a very narrow tightrope, hopefully to better health and life expectancy :facepalm:

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Well done for highlighting this, read Sean's book last year too, but was aware of the possible problem as a "retired" (yeah right :facepalm: like running a marathon in Jamaica in 40deg heat last month and placed 10th is taking it easy at 59 :shock: ) past County, near National standard runner.
It's the "drug" of endurance exercise that is the issue, we're all told to keep fit, eat healthily etc But too much exercise can actually be bad and resting periods are essential, as a very strict diet is critical too.
I find recovery takes longer after a bike ride, than a long hard run, seems easier during the ride than running, but riding seems to tax the body more so, as recovery takes much longer. Health issues with died in the wool amateur and Pro riders seem to be quite common, maybe more so than other Athletes?

look at the ages

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ca ... e-35681986

We have so much publicity about excercise and diet, but it does make you wonder how many of us live with undiagnosed heart conditions. Blood pressure may reveal something, but it seems the only time we have any real tests is after something has gone wrong. Even Eddy Merckx rode with an undiagnosed heart condition and yet you would assume he had the heart of an ox, a resting heartbeat of 40!

I guess the other side of being 50+ is that we are at an age where all of us have friends or relations that have suffered heart problems. I got called in for the 50 year old MOT a few years ago, I'm not sure any of the tests they did would flag a heart condition, except for the overweight, smoking sterotype.

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A lot of the problem is people just don't respect the distance or stress on the body and don't come from an endurance background, or do the volume of training.
I started running as a young lad of about 5 and built up over many years(Back in my youth, there was virtually no telly, never mind gaming!) and now when I am targeting an event, will build up slowly and run the distance several times prior to the event, with a proper taper down in the week before.
I also don't drink Alcohol and eat a strict but varied diet.
I've helped many people to train for various events over the years and most believe, rather delusionally , that you can skip the training, eat crap food (like red meat and processed food) and still perform on the day, a very dangerous train of thought as I have emphasised many times.
I used to compete off 100 to 140 miles training per week and had sub 5% body fat, with a sub 30 minute 10K time, this wasn't achieved without many, many hours of really hard and a steadily increasing training burden. Incidentally my resting heart beat was 27/28 back than, it is about 40 now, weight wise I'm about 130 pounds now (five foot six) used to weigh in at 120 pounds when body fat was sub 5%
The basic fitness of the average brit' is now worryingly poor to just 20 years ago. Despite the legacy of the London Olympics, there are less people actively and regularly involved with sport, than just 4 years ago-so sad.
When I used to compete at a fairly high level, the average time of all the finishers in a UK Marathon event was around 3 hours. Nowadays the average finish time is 5 and a half hours, this means a lot of unfit people are attempting the distance, which is pretty unwise.
Age has naturally slowed me down, something I have to accept and my times tend to horrify me, but my placings are as good, if not better than ever, as other younger people are just so much slower.
I see the same in Sportives and other distance rides.
I feel over indulgence of Alcohol is a bigger problem than is widely recognised!

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Wold Ranger":1dsf9w8v said:

I find recovery takes longer after a bike ride, than a long hard run, seems easier during the ride than running, but riding seems to tax the body more so, as recovery takes much longer.

Click to expand...

I agree. For me, especially in winter, recovery is far more important than training. Even if I had all week to ride, I couldn't regularly ride more than 200-300 miles/week without feeling drained.

Health issues with died in the wool amateur and Pro riders seem to be quite common, maybe more so than other Athletes?

Click to expand...

was it Lemond who said 'every tour ridden is a year or two off your life'?
Then, controversially, the pro peloton riders of past generations were riding on a bit more than bread and water, all of which will have side effects which manifest themselves in later years when the body is no longer as strong as it once was.

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pigman":1lkigyq0 said:

Wold Ranger":1lkigyq0 said:

I find recovery takes longer after a bike ride, than a long hard run, seems easier during the ride than running, but riding seems to tax the body more so, as recovery takes much longer.

Click to expand...

I agree. For me, especially in winter, recovery is far more important than training. Even if I had all week to ride, I couldn't regularly ride more than 200-300 miles/week without feeling drained.

Health issues with died in the wool amateur and Pro riders seem to be quite common, maybe more so than other Athletes?

Click to expand...

was it Lemond who said 'every tour ridden is a year or two off your life'?
Then, controversially, the pro peloton riders of past generations were riding on a bit more than bread and water, all of which will have side effects which manifest themselves in later years when the body is no longer as strong as it once was.

Click to expand...

Yep Greg sure quoted that, (Ironically I often wonder how many more seasons he would have done, had he not been shot by his BIL) but I think the weird diets of past pro's were indeed a whole lot more than just bread and water!
Cow's blood was a favourite, as was Champagne (which is known to open up the blood capilleries and improve oxygen flow-fact) not to mention all the Amphetamines, Steroids and all the other chemical assistances, that there was no testing for.