Vets racing bad for your heart?

[New Landy new life]

I have always been on the high side of the Heart Rate scale since measuring over the last 4 years or so.

According to age (44) my max should be 176 but I often spend 5 or 6 minutes per race over the 184 mark.

 

My average HR on any MTB race is between 163 and 168 depending how good I feel, yet I always finish in the middle of the field.

 

I have also had my heart checked fully after I though I had a pain once and they even did a dye test in the scanner and said I can carry on going balls to the wall - so I don't stress and just go out and do it.

 

Just a pity I cant seem to move up higher in the rankings, although somehow I got put up to PPA group MC this year after a few years in D batch - go figure.

[Underachiever]

I'm not so sure. Every year I go for a full checkup including glove test stress test and walk away happy. 

 

Checked my zones for Satellite and I spent a total of 9:35 in Z4 and nothing in Z5. Lost the front of the race up Hekpoort but still managed top 10. 

 

MTB races = different story. 

There u go JC...

[Pulse]

This was discussed as one of the tracks at the South African Sports Medicine (SASMA) conference last week.  Some interesting discussions by Sport Cardiologists from the US.

 

In brief:

• The risk of a cardiac event during exercise is significantly higher than at rest, and increases with age
• There seems to be an increase in calcium deposits in the coronary arteries of the "lifelong endurance athletes".  Usually this correlates with risk of coronary disease, but they are unclear of what it means in this group, as it may simply indicate a physiological adaptation and may reduce the risk
• There is some evidence of non-physiological scarring (inflammation) of the ventricular septum (wall between the main heart chambers) at the edge of the left ventricle where it merges with the right ventricle.  This seems to be linked to high volume training at high intensities.  They have only noticed this in a very small percentage of these "lifelong endurance athletes", and only in those that did not have sufficient rest between high intensity sessions)
• There is a group of older endurance athletes that seems to be at an increased risk, but due to a history of unhealthy lifestyles/obesity/smoking/hypertension
• Overall risk of death is still lower in the "older" athlete that exercise than those that don't

This is just what I could remember of hand, will try and load more info later

 

Edit: Spelling

[HeadDown]

I hope it doesn't cause damage. I'm 55 and spent 01:11:23 above 180bpm at the Shova.

 

I have been for check ups and seem to be OK.

I'm roughly the same age, there would be an explosion before I got to 180bpm! But max hr is something genetically determined. Riding at whatever hr rate during a race is only relevant, from a health perspective, if way more than hr seen during training.

[V12man]

So as I head into the 2nd half of my life expectancy, do I wind down the endurance sports and stop racing? Will my natural need for regular competition allow that? Can't see myself not exercising and racing until my old age.

Just take up DH racing.... at least you will have fun before you die... :ph34r:

[Skubarra]

 

Will the ratio go up though? Surely those who are fat and eat incorrectly have a greater chance of heart disease?

 

So more people running and being healthy should correlate to a lower proportion of the population having heart attacks?

 

Well strictly speaking the overall ratio should go down if more people are active, but you might find the number of fit people getting heart attacks are increasing.

 

 

Make sure you understand the difference between correlation and causation before you panic. Maybe some people are just more prone to heart issues, whether they are couch potatoes or marathon athletes. 

 

The article below, not the one I was really looking for but it more or less explains what I'm getting at.

 

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/when-exercise-is-too-much-of-a-good-thing/?_r=0

 

openmind - I'm not panicking, and I don't want to make any wild unsubstantiated claims. But given my little mishap -  I (and I  think most of us) would want to know when are we pushing so hard that we are actually damaging our health and what are the danger signs we should look out for.

[urbanroyal]

If there ever was an argument for sucking wheel then this it... gotta keep that HR down...????????????

[JannievanZyl]

A few relevant points:

 

1. Extended duration and especially high intensity puts a severe load on your heart.1

2. Doing this for many years could likely lead to issues with your heart such as myocardial fibrosis. 2

3. Extended duration, high intensity exercise leads to increased inflammation. (ever wondered why you pick up 3Kg's after a 3-day event?)

4. We know that chronic inflammation leads to various issues, including the Metabolic Syndrome diseases.

 

Basically, we should not be doing "cardio".

As a cyclist, I've got a good, scientific response: ^&*% that!!

Reality is that there are many advantages to endurance exercise.

 

[tombeej]

This why you want to drop back to "I" Batch for the 94.7?? 

 

 . Actually I can see myself doing just as much - if not more - work on the day with you guys as your pack donkey

[jcza]

There u go JC...

 

Its a blood test these days 

[jcza]

If there ever was an argument for sucking wheel then this it... gotta keep that HR down...

 

We're not only older but also smarter

[HappyMartin]

What is bad for your heart in vets racing is when someone has squealy brakes on carbon rims.

[Pulse]

A few relevant points:

 

1. Extended duration and especially high intensity puts a severe load on your heart.1

2. Doing this for many years could likely lead to issues with your heart such as myocardial fibrosis. 2

3. Extended duration, high intensity exercise leads to increased inflammation. (ever wondered why you pick up 3Kg's after a 3-day event?)

4. We know that chronic inflammation leads to various issues, including the Metabolic Syndrome diseases.

 

Basically, we should not be doing "cardio".

 

As a cyclist, I've got a good, scientific response: ^&*% that!!

 

Reality is that there are many advantages to endurance exercise.

 

 

 

Don't think you should be linking (possible) acute inflammatory changes (#3), with chronic low level inflammatory conditions (#4) such as metabolic syndrome etc.

[JannievanZyl]

Don't think you should be linking (possible) acute inflammatory changes (#3), with chronic low level inflammatory conditions (#4) such as metabolic syndrome etc.

Why not?

 

If you are in a state of constant elevated inflammation due to your training and racing schedule, why would that not contribute to chronic inflammation symptoms such as MS?

[NelAndre]

Ok interesting topic......seems like determining a max HR is a science on it's own. Define racing?

[Pulse]

Why not?

 

If you are in a state of constant elevated inflammation due to your training and racing schedule, why would that not contribute to chronic inflammation symptoms such as MS?

 

The mediators (cytokines, chemokines, CAMs, etc) are significantly different, leading to different humoral and cellular mediated responses.  The outcomes of these will affect the body very differently.  (Relatively) frequent bouts of exercise or other stressor is not a continuous condition, and probably leads to increased protection (repeated bout effect) through various mechanisms.