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From Cardiac Ablation to the Great North Run (September update)
On 15/7/20 the organisers of the Great North Run announced that this year’s run has been cancelled because of the COVID19 pandemic.
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, the distance of the Great North Run, on 13 September 2020, the day that the Great North Run was to have been run.
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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.
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.
5 September. Because of family commitments, I have only been able to run 11 miles on one occasion and 6 miles on three occasions. With one week to go, although I would have preferred to have run more, I believe that I have done enough over the months to complete the 13.1 miles in eight days time. This next week will be a tapering down week although in reality it will not be much different than this last week with the exception of probably running two miles next Saturday.
13 September. The big day has finally arrived. The day that should have seen the 40th Great North Run. 32 weeks last Wednesday I had a cardiac ablation procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat. 30 weeks ago I was informed that I had a place in the Great North Run. 29 weeks ago my doctor informed me that I could start running but to take it easy at first. Then came the disappointment of the race being cancelled because of Covid19 and my decision to continue training so that I could complete the 13.1 miles on the day the Race should have been run. Two weeks ago I said that I believed that I could complete the 13.1 miles in about 2hrs 20 minutes. So how did I do?
I did not run the actual course of the Great North Run, instead I ran the same distance closer to home. As I ran around the north east of Liverpool I imagined running around the north east of England. The last time that I ran the Great North Run was nine years ago. I completed it then in 1hr. 54 minutes.
Today’s virtual Great North Run took 2hrs. 16 minutes and 29 seconds.
Two weeks ago, I said that I should feel pleased with the progress that I have made but actually felt a bit disappointed at my expected slow time. Even though it took 22 minutes longer today than last time I ran the actual Great North Run, I feel pleased. What has changed? It is the acceptance that I am now in my 60s and can no longer run at the speeds that I once could. The good news is that I will continue to run. The irregular heartbeat and the cardiac ablation will not stop that.
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