I just completed my first month of training for the coming bicycle racing season. I start my training in early December each year. The training has been real hard this time. Last year, in early June, I had a heart attack. It required two stents to fix the blockage. Even though I have been riding regularly since the middle of July the intensity has not been very high. Since recovering from the attack I have ridden around 2500 miles. A lot of miles but mostly just easy riding. I did a 75 mile ride with about 8000 ft of climbing in September. But that was the extent of any high effort riding until training started in December.

It has been very hard to accept having heart trouble when you ride a bike as much as I do. I usually had a blood test each year to keep an eye on my cholesterol. A month before the attack it was only 118. Not exactly high!

Anyway it feels great to be back working hard again. I find that high intensity training is really good for my self confidence. Everytime I finish, it is nice to know I was able to do it successfully. I have a nuclear stress test scheduled this month to verify that everything is ok. If I pass the test I will be ready to go as hard as I can. I am really looking forward to racing again.

The moral to this story is have regular checkups.  Just because you are active and have low cholesterol doesn’t mean you can’t have a heart attack!

Paul