Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I too am interested in this subject being an older rider (55).  I have done a few LDs about 3-4 years ago and did OK though.  I know whenever I get on a treadmill at the gym that I easily walk 3 MPH and can get my HR well over the target HR without much effort at all.  In fact I have to walk more slowly than I'd like to keep my HR under the target HR level.  I do break into a jog on the treadmill a few times for short intervals and can somewhat manage to maintain a target HR level and it takes anywhere from 3-5 minutes for me to pulse down.   Additionally any time I lift anything heavy (bale of hay, bag of feed) that really sends my HR up in a flash.  So far (knock on wood and Thank God!) this what-I-consider high HRs hasn't effected my health.

 

I've been to a cardiologist and had a treadmill test done and was never out of breath when they asked me to quit.  Also had a heart cath done.  I have 4 main heart arteries on the front and 2 on the back which the doc said he's seen before but I guess not all that often.  Then there's one artery going to the heart that tends to squeeze itself closed and opens back up with each heart beat...more so with exertion.  I guess this is what gets me to that target HR so quickly.  All he told me to do was walk 30-60 mins a day but otherwise no real treatment.

 

So with this history is it feasible for me to consider doing a 50 miler or should I limit myself to doing only LDs?  I am also very interested in doing multi-day rides (LD or 50s) some time in the future when my horse and I are ready.  

 

Any suggestions on further improving my conditioning to more easily manage my higher HR with exertion? 

 

Thanks and I think this subject is very applicable to us older riders and those of us with "conditions" that we must somehow manage, or learn to manage.

 

Val

 

 

On 12/21/07, Beverley H. Kane, MD <sensei@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Well, Nik is a cardiologist and I am a lowly ex-sports medicine doc, but with my having done 1,000s of exercise tests, I offer:

 #1— You will not find someone with "the same problem" as your lung condition is fairly unusual for this list and each person is exquisitely unique anyway.

#2—Given #1, more important than your heart rate is whether you are still aerobic (probably—you don't say how old you are) and how your heart is doing electrocardiographically in that range. Is there any sign of strain, ischemia, arrhythmia, or conduction defects? If you have not already done so, I recommend you get a gold standard treadmill with O2/C02 measurement (nose clips and breathing tube, and even pulse oximetry) which will show you your electrocardiogram and what % V02 max you are during riding.

#3—As you increase your fitness in your heart, skeletal muscles, and remaining half of your lung, your heart rate will go down for the same amount of activity.

#4—When you say "riding", do you mean posting on jackhammer horse, constantly pulling back on a maniacal horse, walking on a school horse, or galloping on the track? I imagine that you can spend more time in the saddle if you regulate your level of exertion and the type of horse you ride.

#5--(Mostly an aside to Nik When I was an intern (and the #1 song was Stayin' Alive, so now you know what my MHR is!), we had a young guy in the CCU whose heart rate was 220 for the better part of 5 days w/ no sign of heart failure. He was some kind of WPW variant, as I recall. Our attending, Melvin Scheinman, at San Francisco General was able to get amiodurone sent in from NIH as an experimental drug, and that broke him (the pt).

Amber, PM me if you want to discuss. Or just, as Nik says, look on the bright side of things as they are now.

Beverley
Horsensei Equine-Assisted Learning & THerapy (HEALTH)
http://www.horsensei.com


On 12/20/07 9:24 PM, "Nik Isahak Abdullah" <drnikisahak@xxxxxxxxxxx > wrote:

Amber ,
 I would concur with your doctor .Our average resting HR is usually between 60 to 80 , 90 if you are not fit maybe .Normal guys riding may hit at the most 100 or low 90's .135 to 150 ,depending on your age , already represent around 90 % of your maximum target heart rate working on the basis that maximum target heart for any exercise should be below 90 %{ between 70 to 90 % } of[ 220 - your age] .
look at the brighter side of things : even with half a lung capacity you can still enjoy some riding .You are blessed .
Dr Nik

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