Overtrained

I will never forget the day, Tuesday the 16^th of February 2016. 

I had done 8 Mile at Midmar the weekend before. My Dad, boyfriend and I had just raised close to R30 000 for charity, we had just swum the equivalent of 12,8kms and we were all on a post race high.

I however, was not feeling myself. I had a deep stabbing pain in my chest and my breathing was very shallow, something I had never experienced. Monday I sat at work worried, 7 weeks to Ironman. Perhaps I should see a doctor?

Tuesday afternoon I walked into the Doctor’s rooms, thinking maybe I had a bit of asthma or was getting sick. Lung function test normal, pulse normal, heart sounds normal. What could be wrong?

I then had a light bulb moment. A couple of weeks prior I had complained to my boyfriend that my Garmin was broken. My heart rate kept shooting really high and there was no explanation for it. I was fit, healthy and my heart rate was reaching up to 185bpm whilst I was on an easy run.

I explained this to my Doctor who immediately sent me for an ECG. Why on earth did I need an ECG? I lay there thinking nothing of it. I have had ECG’s previously and they had all been normal. I then walked back to her rooms and saw the horror on her face. I went numb.

“Have you been training whilst you’ve been sick Kirsten?”… ummmm NO! I am a health professional and know better than that. Come on.

Turns out there was something very wrong. She then proceeded to say those dreaded words, the words athletes despise, ”No training”…nooooooooo! “No training until you have seen a cardiologist”. WHAT? No man, I’m fine! It can’t be serious. I had a training camp for Ironman coming up that weekend, I had to go! I walked straight to the reception and they tried to make an appointment for me, I had to see a cardiologist before the weekend. This camp was far too important to miss. “May or June”, oh heavens is this really happening to me. MAY OR JUNE!!! After Ironman? This is not happening.

I frantically paid, ran to my car, got my breath back and then found myself crying like a baby. Sobbing. I phoned my Dad straight away, then my boyfriend. How could this be happening to me? I had been working so hard. How had I let this happen?

I missed the training camp. Fine, at least Ironman was 6 weeks away…I could do this.

I had to see a cardiologist ASAP. What a mission.  Then one day after having tea and a huge piece of cake with a friend of mine(yes, because then I realized to hell with this. I had been so healthy and watched my diet..,now I’m eating cake), she called me the next morning saying she had managed to get an appointment for me the following Tuesday and I must just call to confirm. Impossible. (Still so grateful Lauren Searson, your willingness to help others is just incredible). Having your handy networks helps!!

A week of no exercise, I was getting so desperate.

So there I found myself, sitting in the Cardio’s room at Entabeni hospital. I was surrounded by people in wheel chairs, old people, over-weight people, people with pipes and drips attached to them. And then there was me. The black sheep, this didn’t feel right.

When it was my turn (this guy was actually on time, amazing), I walked through, sat down and the tears rolled again. He looked at my ECG, listened to my sob story and just sat there and laughed…”I’ve seen many athletes like you”. How heartless (excuse the pun), I have been training since I was 21!!! SO hard, so much time and money and now you are laughing. “You have viral myocarditis”…say what? I had studied the heart, actually one of my favourite sections in pathology, I knew what this was…how on earth did I manage to pick this up? From what I knew, it was quite serious. “You can potentially have a heart attack if you carry on training, have you been sick?” NO, NO NO NO! I am cleverer than that! I have heard of all these athletes that had just dropped dead with no warning, how could I possibly fall into this category?

A brief chat, a few more tests and an ultrasound confirmed that there was no permanent damage to my heart but I had to take 8 weeks off. He was still unsure about what had caused it but reassured me that I would come right. I could do yoga, go for walks and do gym (all under 110 bpm on my heart rate monitor). I just had to be extremely careful.

No Ironman. My dream, my goal, my everything at the time. Crushed.

I left that room, speed walked to my car and again sobbed like a baby. It felt as though the world was against me. Why? Why? Why me? From training about 15-18hours a week, to this. How was I going to cope?

It took a couple of days(maybe weeks) to get over myself. I was curable. I did not have cancer. I was not terminal. I could go back to exercise. I still had my legs and arms intact. I could still work. I was curable. You don’t understand how many times I had to give myself this pep talk.

First week after being diagnosed I did gym, yoga and went for walks. My condition just deteriorated. What was going on? The next week I tried again, I fell asleep at work and had to go home. The following week I decided to cut all forms of exercise and started to take shorter days at work.

There were a few days I couldn’t get out of bed, I felt depressed and didn’t want to go outside or speak to anyone. I went through some dark holes that I had never been in, ever. I did not feel myself at all. It felt as though the fire burning inside me, my zest for life and passion for what I did had been washed away. Was I going crazy?

However, the more I chatted to people and heard of similar conditions to mine, the more I saw the light. I saw patients who had lost brothers/sisters/ parents to heart attacks (whilst training), I chatted to doctors who had known of patients who had had heart transplants from this. I had even heard of athletes who had not listened to their doctors and continued training. They had damaged their hearts so badly that they could no longer train, ever. I counted myself as the lucky one.

Fast forward 10 weeks later,  I found myself back at the cardio. By this time I had not been on my bike for 3 months (I hadn’t ridden since my friend passed away). I was so eager to get back. The Cardiologist was very hesitant to do another ECG as he said he doubted there would be much difference. He told me to take it easy and go back to training when I felt like it. Me being the cheeky person I am, told him, “Ok, I’ll go back tomorrow then!”. 2 minutes later the ECG was done. He practically ate his words, I had made an almost full recovery (happy dance). He had never seen a recovery like mine and praised me for resting completely (Woohooo!!!).  He then ordered the results for my blood work again just to check if he could find anything that could have led to all of this. Front page read: COXSACKIE B VIRUS. All six strains. How had he missed this vital point?

Speechless.

People had warned me of this virus. I had seen patients with it and heard of many athletes with it. How did I contract it? I didn’t even know that I was infected. Here is the link for more info. http://www.emedicinehealth.com/coxsackievirus/article_em.htm.

This explained the fatigue, decrease performance in training and problems with breathing.

Since then, I have done a lot of research and have been to alternative health practitioners. Turns out I had been over training. More words I dreaded. I always thought I had spaced my recovery wisely and rested when I needed but as I started to write this blog, it became clear that I really did put my body through FAR too much, especially in 2015.

21, the age at which I decided to do my first triathlon, I became hooked! 23, when I decided to do my first half Ironman and again did it at 24. Since then I’ve been gradually building towards the big full distance Ironman. The idea was to build a big enough base to work from so that it could sustain my training (long term), injury and illness free (I had heard all the horror stories). 2014 I started training for Dusi (I will come back to this) and 2 Oceans Ultra. 2015 started off with 8 Mile at Midmar, then Dusi a week later, my first marathon a month later, then 2 Oceans Ultra a month after that, followed by another marathon a month after that too. Then started the training for Half Ironman Durban in August, followed by Run the Berg, followed by my fatest Amashova in October, followed by Midlands Ultra in November, followed by training for Ironman. Too much!!

So I have put together some of the things that I have learnt from this experience that I hope can help many of you and maybe possibly even save you from a heart attack.

1. If I hadn’t had worn a heart rate monitor, this never would have been picked up. WEAR A HEART RATE MONITOR! How else can you see how hard you are pushing your body. Going “on feel” is useless.
2. Question doctors. Do your research. Don’t just rely on everything they say.
3. Turns out I picked this virus up from the Umgeni River in 2014 when I started paddling. Paddlers be warned. That river is way beyond its legal limit for recreational activities. Recently spoke to an environmentalist; turns out 93% of South Africa’s rivers are heavily polluted with sewage, scary isn’t it!
4. If you experience any symptoms that you have never had before, take yourself to a Doctor ASAP. Learn to read your body, it can save your life.
5. Do not train or race when you are sick. I repeat DO NOT TRAIN OR RACE WHEN YOU ARE SICK!!!!For heaven’s sake people, is a Comrades or Ironman worth your heart or life? Makes me furious when I hear of people doing this. My case was very difficult as I had no idea, which brings me to my next point.
6. Any athlete that does endurance training or racing should definitely have blood work and an ECG done at least once a year or before a major race. The Cape Epic is brilliant in enforcing this. It’s a pre-race requisite.
7. During the last three months I have averaged about 9 hours sleep a night. I cannot tell you the difference it has made. I know it is hard but sleep is extremely important. How else can your body function optimally.
8. Don’t ignore fatigue. If you notice that you are not performing or you are feeling unusually fatigued in your training sessions, get checked out. One of the tell-tale signs for me is that I could no longer swim a length under water during swimming training. I ignored it.
9. Race smart. You can’t do everything. In 2015 I thought I was bullet proof. I was feeling the fittest I had ever felt, I was on top of the world. I entered as many races as I could. However this caused my body to fatigue, which caused the virus to attack my body and heart. Apparently it takes a minimum of 2-3 weeks to recover from a marathon. Some experts suggest resting one day for every mile you run in the marathon, thus 26 days of no hard running or racing! Do not take your health for granted.
10. Don’t be so serious. Flip did I battle in those first few weeks when I could’t train. I was an absolute bitch (to put it crudely, sorry Cav). Training is not the be all or end all in life. My boyfriend always hits me (figuratively) with the reality stick. Looking at it from the outside I soon realized that I had put way too much time and energy into this lifestyle and hardly had energy for anything or anyone else. Yes I know we all have goals and dreams etc etc but remember your support system and remember the people who have helped to get you where you are. Make time for those people. I had let a lot slip. Coffees with friends, weekends with family, cooking, good conversation, even my work. It had taken a backseat. Ridiculous. Most of us do this as a hobby, we are not professionals, we don’t get paid. So why do we put ourselves through so much stress? If you get injured/ sick, there will always be another training session, a
    nother race, another year. I had been working up to Ironman for 5 years. Tough luck for me. Things happen for a reason, always remember that. Life has its plans and sometimes you’ll never understand why things happen. In my case, it took we a while to understand but I really did need to stop. I needed a break. My body needed time to rest, recover and heal. Switch off Strava, switch off Garmin connect..break yourself free from that world and actually learn to enjoy what you do without worrying about everyone else. Enjoy the wind in your face, the sounds around you and the feeling of your healthy body in action. At the end of the day, you only have one body. Be kind to it.