Ultrarunner fighting Atrial Fibrilation (AF)

This blog has pretty much always been about running ultras, mostly Hardrock. It still is but now it is also about running after AFib. I was forced to miss Hardrock in 2011 due to the onset of AF but my long term goal was to get back to running milers. And hopefully help any other runners with AF who stumble upon this site. I never made it into Hardrock in 2012, or 2013, or 2014. I didn't have a qualifier for 2015. I ran Fatdog in Canada instead. That was tough. I finished my 4th Hardrock in 2016 and now I'm back to try for the magical number 5.

If you want the history of my AF the heart problems all started back on May 25 2011: http://howmanysleeps.blogspot.com/2011/05/out-of-hardrock.html

Friday, February 09, 2007

Favourite trail and tevas

Made the trip down to the Ironbark Basin for some trail miles in the
heat of the day. I had already put in 1/2 an hour with the dogs down at
the river and wanted to get in around 30kms. I was running very easy
and wearing the heart rate monitor, trying to keep it aerobic, so ended
up walking lots of the hills. I really must get down there more often.
Had it all to myself with the odd echidna and rosella. Pausing on the
cliff top climb out of the basin I looked back over the heavy green
scrub to where I had just been on the ridge. It really is a fantastic
place to run, unpretentious, undiscovered, uncrowded and truly magical.
I was trying out my new Tevas. They handled it really well. I got a bit
of toe rub with the toe-box being a bit narrow but they are really
light and responsive. My legs were a little tired initially after
running late last night but tomorrow will be a rest (weights) day
before another long run on Sunday. But by the end I felt really
comfortable which is a promising sign. Pulled up after 3 1/2 hours. You
gotta love a good run in the bush.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Hardrock

It is hard to describe the feeling I experienced when I opened the list
of qualified entrants for Hardrock 2007. Wendy said she has never seen
me so excited. But there was a healthy dose of fear mixed in there. As
I have said, Hardrock both excites and scares me. It is such a huge
event. To be accepted and actually drawn at the lottery is
unbelievable. It is such a fantastic opportunity. WS will still be my
main focus but I can't help but feel it is dwarfed by the enormity of
HR. My plan is to train for WS as I would have done. But now I have to
be way more focused. And I will need to add some solid walking with a
pack. I have started my base building and have already got my weekly
mileage up to 70-80 km per week which is high for me. The trick is to
maintain this and build in quality slowly without getting injured. I
really want to do well at WS. I am confident that if I stay healthy I
can run a good race. Once WS is over, and presuming I don't come away
injured I will head over to Colorado and hike and camp on the course to
acclimatise. I won't need to run at all but recover and acclimate to
the altitude. Man this is going to be big. No, this is going to be huge.