The Double Edged Sword of Endurance Training

I hate that my body has been tweaking this last month since I severely overtrained a couple weeks before my last race. I love the challenge of this puzzle as it grows larger and more blurred each day. I despise that the fear of cardiovascular systems threatening to shut down took me out of a race. I dig that fear slaps us in the face in the ultimate tests we face as athletes. Humbles us. Tests us constantly. I abhor that my body continues to throw me lessons of which I am ignorant. I am thankful that these lessons remind me that there is only continued growth in being an endurance athlete. Those lessons may not be the same as they were 10 years ago but they are lessons just the same and I must learn them or - game over.

Since my episode with overtraining pre-Auburn Triathlon and the resultant heart/physiology issues I’ve experienced, I have been in ‘pondering’ mode - as my brother so aptly says. They say men go into their cave when they mull over life’s challenges or are in a funk – I apparently have that male trait when I get tossed some tough stuff. So – thanks to all of you for your compassionate emails and calls. I was not ignoring you or disappreciative of your concern. I was deep in my cave pondering my next move. That act was not a reflection on your efforts to console (something women should remember when your spouse does the same).

Other than my sports medicine doc reinforcing what I found out about 15 years ago – that I have Athlete Heart Syndrome – thus far ‘they’ have found nothing wrong with me. Exams, Echo Cardiograms, ECG monitors, glucose and blood tests have confirmed that I have a ‘young’, ‘borderline-abnormally-strong’, heart and off the charts injection fraction, cholesterol and HDL levels. I like to think that the ladder helps rule out artery blockage, and that I have a yummy healthy diet including a lot of red wine :). We are still looking at a few more things but leaning toward my overtraining causing my Athlete Heart Syndrome to freak out for a period of time.

Athlete Heart Syndrome is an enlargement of the heart due to prolonged training, resulting in an abnormally strong heart with a low resting heart rate. A friend of mine commented recently that she could see my heart beating through my shirt – that’s Athlete Heart Syndrome strutting its stuff. In athletes this can be ‘normal’ but it can also cause electrical problems because the heart can become confused with such a low resting heart rate (30-40’s).

If the initiator of the heart beat doesn’t fire in a timely manner the other aspects of the heart get nervous, “Hey what’s up! SA node isn’t doing its job – somebody has to do something! Start the heart – lets get things moving here!!” As a result, beats can be skipped, missed, or the impulse will fire from another place in the heart leaving the appearance of malfunction on an EKG.

When I have this kind of an ‘episode’, I get a feeling like my heart will stop beating, or that it is doing flips in my chest. It can also show as a flutter or a couple of quick beats followed by an abnormal slowing. I usually take a deep breath to get things moving down there but it is most likely disconcerting. Normal disconcertation of this type is random and occasional and I’ve dealt with it for 15 years. When I overtrained a few weeks ago it was daily and frequent and caused my pulmonary capacity to diminish as a result. This type of electrical issue can cause immense fatigue as well since the heart isn’t pumping consistent and adequate O2 to the body. I have been waking up in the morning feeling heavy in my chest with extreme fatigue and lack any desire to roust myself from bed. Coming from a woman who normally can rise, dress and be out the door running in 15 minutes - that’s quite unnatural.

Bottom line (at this point): Recovery is ‘different’ at 46 than it is at 35 – so I have to change up my training to accommodate so I don’t throw my heart into a tizzy. I was training the way I used to 15 years ago and have learned in a severe way that that doesn’t work any more. I can train as hard as I used to but not as often and need more recovery between hard bouts. What 10 years ago would have been a 2 day recovery, took me a month to bounce back from and a malfunction of several body systems.

I loved to believe I had lived it all and figured out most of what needed to be figured as an endurance athlete. I despise and am so completely stoked to know that I was so wrong indeed. That we don’t ever ‘arrive’ in what we can learn from our bodies. There are always more lessons to gather in life this time around. I’ll keep you posted on mine as I work to increase my training – ever so carefully…
Terri