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Right, I have had 3 heart attacks (2019-2020) and have a damaged heart & a chest full of stents. After each it seemed that they couldn't wait to discharge me so I have no cardiologist & my GP surgery don't seem particularly interested in talking about it beyond "keep taking the pills and carry on". At some point along the way I was told that I should be able to do pretty much everything I had done before.
I've been cycling regularly since (although only around 50 miles a week) and pushing myself reasonably hard on climbs; I've felt much better as a result.
However, at times I've started feeling pretty exhausted afterwards, especially if I've done my rides on consecutive days. I'm not sure if this is heart related but have a nagging feeling that it might be (heart attack survivors are prone to over focussing on the chest area). I'm not getting any chest pain. My GP doesn't seem at all concerned.
BHF seems to suggest that exercise shouldn't take you beyond the point of being able to talk. When I'm winding my heavy bike up a steep hill I'm breathing pretty hard and would probably struggle to hold a conversation.
I might be being overly sensitive and it might simply be that I need to avoid riding on consecutive days, perhaps I need more recovery time as I age (58) but I want to maximise my life expectancy not shorten it. Any thoughts?
Just to be clear, I have no chest pain/tightness, haven't used my GTN spray in 5 years and there's no shortness of breath under normal circumstances or fluid retention. I am on buckets full of medication with a whole host of potential side effects. My beta blockers seem to limit my heart rate to 150-155 bpm tops (very occasionally I might just tip over this).
I am expecting [hoping] to feel much more energises now that Spring & Summer are looming, the long, wet winter has been a bit of a slog.
I've a riding buddy who has had a significant heart attack and has 4 stents as a result. I'm continuously worried about him pushing too hard when we are out (he is very much of the no pain, no gain school), and it got me thinking. Would this not be the perfect application for an ebike linked to a heart rate sensor? The idea being that the ebike assistance would ramp up to keep you in the 140ish heart rate zone rather than bumping up against the beta blocker limit.
Not saying this is the solution for you but it might be something to consider even though the sensor link thing doesn't exist as yet.
I think this book is mostly about arrhythmias but might be worth investigating if it has chapters on heart attacks
If link or borked it's the haywire heart by lennard zinn
In our small group we have three people with heart problems including one who has had a triple bypass. They all manage very well but don’t push it too hard. They are all still better riders than me
Beta blockers themselves could be enough to prevent you from ‘backing up.’ I was on them in my late teens into 20s and playing first team football at uni. I’d be shattered at the end of a game and cramping and could never play again the next day.
Scratch that. Amflow have just released a smart heart link that does exactly what I was suggesting above. At last!
2 things that jump to mind, the first is that you should have had a cardiac rehab course which covers things like this. If not then it's probably not too late to get referred onto it by your GP.
The second, is that as other's have said, beta blockers are probably slowing your recovery.
There is a sweet spot to pushing yourself, go too far and even if you don't have heart problems, you're probably doing more harm than good - see ultra-endurance athletes...
I think I ended up doing 4 cardiac Rehab. courses although I don't recall being told to completely avoid high intensity bursts. I seem to recall aiming for around 130bpm, or there abouts, for the duration.
With my cycling I'm far from flat out the whole time, but there are usually some harder pushes on climbs that leave me feeling a bit knackered.
As people have said, it could be the beta blockers. I've been on them since the first heart attack so don't really know what might be caused by the heart damage or by the tablets themselves (I gather from folk who where far better athletes than I was prior to starting on them, that they can really impair performance/recovery).
I shall try avoid cycling on concurrent days (I usually only go out a couple of times a week so should be able to avoid this happening too much).