Saturday, March 14, 2009
Phew!!! My Heart Is Fine... And I'm An Athlete!!
I braved the GP surgery- again- to have my ECG redone, then had to wait for ages as the doctor was running half an hour behind, and apparently had trouble getting his computer to print the data. But when I walked in he said it's fine- he said that my heart rate is low (60 Bpm) but this is perfectly normal given the training I've been doing. So he has signed, dated and stamped the ECG, and completed the certificate- although when I got back to work I noticed he didn't tick the little box on the form to confirm I 'have no objections' to undertaking a multi- stage race in arid conditions... d'oh!! Now, if he'd just used a normal black pen, I could have just added it myself, but no- he used a fountain pen with a shade of blue ink I could never hope to replicate.
Working on the presumption that as he wished me good luck for it when I left, he has no medical objections, I took it back and left it with the receptionist to get him to tick it. The amount of stress these bloody ECG's and medicals cause is beyond belief!!
My ECG states that I have 'Sinus Bradycardia'- I googled this, and it basically means 'abnormally' slow heart rate. It is common in athletes, apparently, so it is official- I have a bit of the athlete's heart syndrome! I'm quite proud of that, and am pleased that this training is showing somewhere!!
So- where am I at in terms of training? I have been taking it easier these past two weeks. I have been keeping up the gym work, and did shorter walks last weekend- last Saturday I fitted in 6 hilly miles in Bradgate Park between visiting mum and my mate in Loughborough. Sunday I originally planned a 7 miler along local routes but extended it to 12 miles by continuing along the River Trent to Colwick Park. The first half of the walk was absolutely sh*te; raining, hailing and freezing!
This week has been a combination of gym and walking; walked to Sainsburies about 4 miles away Thursday night but felt a bit of pain in my foot/ ankle yesterday so rested.
I have to pick up a parcel from the sorting office this morning, which I am hoping will be my velcroed shoes and gaiters, so will walk there- it's amazing, the amount of people who can't believe I would willingly walk 3- 4 miles to the shops; I reckon years ago folks would be quite used to walking those distances to the next village etc, and were a lot fitter as a result- the average person should be able to walk that distance without thinking anything of it... if people walked more and left their cars at home a wee bit more, we'd all be much fitter and less polluted!
Working on the presumption that as he wished me good luck for it when I left, he has no medical objections, I took it back and left it with the receptionist to get him to tick it. The amount of stress these bloody ECG's and medicals cause is beyond belief!!
My ECG states that I have 'Sinus Bradycardia'- I googled this, and it basically means 'abnormally' slow heart rate. It is common in athletes, apparently, so it is official- I have a bit of the athlete's heart syndrome! I'm quite proud of that, and am pleased that this training is showing somewhere!!
So- where am I at in terms of training? I have been taking it easier these past two weeks. I have been keeping up the gym work, and did shorter walks last weekend- last Saturday I fitted in 6 hilly miles in Bradgate Park between visiting mum and my mate in Loughborough. Sunday I originally planned a 7 miler along local routes but extended it to 12 miles by continuing along the River Trent to Colwick Park. The first half of the walk was absolutely sh*te; raining, hailing and freezing!
This week has been a combination of gym and walking; walked to Sainsburies about 4 miles away Thursday night but felt a bit of pain in my foot/ ankle yesterday so rested.
I have to pick up a parcel from the sorting office this morning, which I am hoping will be my velcroed shoes and gaiters, so will walk there- it's amazing, the amount of people who can't believe I would willingly walk 3- 4 miles to the shops; I reckon years ago folks would be quite used to walking those distances to the next village etc, and were a lot fitter as a result- the average person should be able to walk that distance without thinking anything of it... if people walked more and left their cars at home a wee bit more, we'd all be much fitter and less polluted!
Labels: gaiters, gym, running shoes, walking
