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From Cardiac Ablation to the Great North Run (July update)
I now have a guaranteed place in next year’s race. In order to continue to increase my fitness I need a target to aim for. I have therefore decided that I will run 13.1 miles on 13 September 2020, the day that the Great North Run was to have been run.
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I started running in 1982. I was aged 26 and decided to run a marathon. I was quite fit through competing in other sports and it took me three months to get fit enough to complete the Mersey Marathon. Over the next four years I completed 10 marathons and 23 half marathons. After completing the London Marathon in 1986 I decided to stop running, training was taking up too much time and I had a growing family.In 2002 I decided to start training for another marathon but now, much older, it took four years to get fit enough. At 4hr. 3min., my time for the 2006 London Marathon was 18 minutes slower than it had been 20 years earlier. During the next seven years, I completed the London Marathon another twice, the Liverpool Marathon twice, and the Athens Marathon. I also completed the Great North Run in 2010 and 2011.
The Liverpool Marathon in 2014 turned out to be my last. After about 12 miles I started to feel a pull in my groin. I continued. The pain wasn’t too bad. When you are training, listen to your body. In a race tell you body to shut up. This was my 15th marathon and I had always finished. I wasn’t going to give up this time.
And so started five years of injuries. After the Marathon I did my usual rest for a week followed by short slow runs but the pain in my groin came back. I had a rest for two weeks and started back training. The pain was back so I had a longer rest and then an even longer rest. I finally went to a sports physiotherapist. She diagnosed my problem was my running style. I was over-striding. When I was younger my body could accommodate the over-striding. Now that I was getting older I would have to change my running style.
The new running style used different muscles. It took some time to adapt to running this way. My hamstring and glutes certainly felt the difference. It took a few months to be able to run just a few miles. Then came a pulled calf muscle so it was back to resting. The next few years I seemed to be alternating between groin problems and calf problems.
I eventually got to the point where I could run a few miles without any problems. Then in February 2019 I was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat. Almost a year later, on the 29th of January 2020, I was admitted to hospital to have an ablation procedure to correct the irregular heartbeat. An ablation procedure is where they kill some of the cells inside the heart.
Two weeks after I had the procedure I was informed that I had a place in the Great North Run. I had applied to get a place every year since 2011 but was unsuccessful on each occasion.
On 19 February I was informed by my doctor that I could are start training but it had to be slow and easy at first.
4 July. So much for the British summer. Rain most days. I had to carefully choose the time that I went out. I managed to run the 1 hour 10 minutes on three occasions. My average pace was about 11 minutes per mile which means that I am now averaging 6.4 miles. If I run for 1 hour 15 minutes it should take me consistently over half of the Great North Run distance. From this week I will start to increase my running times by 5 minutes per week and see how it goes. My resting heart rate has been 65 beats per minute most days.
11 July. This week started off so well but ended badly. I ran for 1hr. 15 minutes on two occasions covering about 7.25 miles in each occasion. On the third day I had to stop because I got a pain in my left foot. It is in the same place that I had the pain at the end of May. After a day’s rest I decided to try cycling. I have been out cycling on two days but I do not enjoy it as much as running. At least I can get some exercise. My resting heart rate seems to have decided that it is going to be 65 beats per minute. This is 5 beats per minute more than before the cardiac ablation procedure.
18 July. Started the week continuing to rest my foot before running for one hour on a couple of occasions. Finally ran for 1 hour 15 minutes today. I only managed to cover 6.43 miles. I will have to increase this to over 7.5 miles this week.
25 July. On two occasions this week I have been able run for 1hr 20 minutes. At an average pace of 10’ 35” I have managed to run for 7.5 miles. The last couple of miles was a lot slower than the first few but, for the first time, I felt like I could have continued.
Have you had the cardiac ablation procedure and then gone back to running? I would like to know if my experience is normal and what to expect in the future. Please let me know on the form below.
Related Posts
- From Cardiac Ablation to the Great North Run
- From Cardiac Ablation to the Great North Run (June update)
- From Cardiac Ablation to the Great North Run (August update)
- From Cardiac Ablation to the Great North Run (September update)
- My first marathon - 1982 Mersey Marathon
- The Long and Winding Road - what I have learnt from over 40 years of running
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