Grrrrrrrrrrrr....its coming back to haunt me. I had a POTS episode Thursday night and Friday night while running. While I've had a history with it, I cannot tell you the last time I've had any issues come up. I guess it was in the spring? If even then? I had almost all but forgotten about it. Monday night I had a great run, Tuesday I had a great swim, and Wednesday I had a great bike workout. When I say great about all of these, I mean good and hard, but I felt strong at the end, not positively exhausted. However, come Thursday evening, on a measly little 2 mile run, it came back. Seriously? Really? Now? Why? The lack of predictability of this stupid thing has been the most frustrating part - not necessarily knowing what causes it or what makes the symptoms go away. Thursday I went on to do our weightlifting class and felt okay, but decided to skip on on my swim workout and get some rest.
Friday night I did my long run. I was set to run 3 miles on my own then meet back up with friends for another 8-9 miles. Less than a mile into my first 3 I felt it come on again. Grrrr. Again? I stopped around 1.5 miles in and downed some salt tabs and calories. I drank 20oz of water during the first 3 miles. I felt woozy and lightheaded kind of like I hadn't eaten enough that day, but certainly had eaten plenty. I walked on and off during my third mile and got back to my car and stuffed my face with some peanut butter pretzels and refilled my water bottle. I met my friends and Natalie immediately asked what had I been eating that was blue because my lips were blue. My heart sank. I hadn't eaten anything blue at all - I just had no blood in my head. Grrr. I went ahead and went back out to run with the girls knowing I can stop and walk at any point and the symptoms go away. I think the salt/water/food did the trick as I felt fine the rest of the run. So I guess I'm glad to know (and remember) that sometimes my long runs can be salvaged if I get enough in me (which of the above actually helped, I don't know, but I'll just assume all of the above for now). Also random, and I guess good to note is my heart rate has not been crazy awful during any of this as it has sometimes in the past. There certainly has not been any 190+ heart rate for slow miles. It does seem like my stupid POTS takes on a bit of a different life each time it rears its ugly head. The blue lips thing is new. Granted I have had blue lips before during or after rides or runs, but from the cold. It was 85 degrees Friday night and I was anything but cold.
I rode yesterday and today and seemed fine for both. Well, minus the awful awful wind both days and the four hour flat tire yesterday (didn't really take 4 hours to change, but the calamity of errors made it seem that way). I am hoping maybe the POTS stuff came on from lack of sleep over the last week? I didn't workout at all last weekend but had a full schedule of family and Longhorn 70.3 stuff that included a 4am wake up call Sunday and no nap. So I honestly do not think it has to do with overtraining, and I have been diligent about recovery after halfmax and was feeling great at the beginning of the week. I had a big weekend training this weekend and guess I'm back to tapering now! :-)
The only thing I know to do is keep close tabs on myself (that sounds kind of funny!) and up my salt consumption both during the day and before/during workouts. I took lots before my rides both days this weekend, so maybe that helped too.
Something else interesting that I read a few months back about POTS is they are starting some research on "intense exercise programs" as part of reducing POTS symptoms. Their definition of intense is still far less than what I do on a regular basis, but patients have had huge improvements with the exercise program. I have always known and been thankful for the fact that my case of POTS is incredibly mild compared to most, and have said I probably wouldn't have even known I had it had I not been an endurance athlete. But after researching a bit more, I think its possible my symptoms could be far worse if I did not workout on a regular basis. When I first knew I was sick but had no idea what it was, I took off a month or so. During that time my resting heart rate just steadily rose and my symptoms never really went away. My symptoms did seem to slowly go away as my ironman training ramped up. Hmm....ironman isn't my solution for sure, but I just have some interesting points to ponder and it is probably beyond important to me to properly balance rest and recovery with activity.
Friday night I did my long run. I was set to run 3 miles on my own then meet back up with friends for another 8-9 miles. Less than a mile into my first 3 I felt it come on again. Grrrr. Again? I stopped around 1.5 miles in and downed some salt tabs and calories. I drank 20oz of water during the first 3 miles. I felt woozy and lightheaded kind of like I hadn't eaten enough that day, but certainly had eaten plenty. I walked on and off during my third mile and got back to my car and stuffed my face with some peanut butter pretzels and refilled my water bottle. I met my friends and Natalie immediately asked what had I been eating that was blue because my lips were blue. My heart sank. I hadn't eaten anything blue at all - I just had no blood in my head. Grrr. I went ahead and went back out to run with the girls knowing I can stop and walk at any point and the symptoms go away. I think the salt/water/food did the trick as I felt fine the rest of the run. So I guess I'm glad to know (and remember) that sometimes my long runs can be salvaged if I get enough in me (which of the above actually helped, I don't know, but I'll just assume all of the above for now). Also random, and I guess good to note is my heart rate has not been crazy awful during any of this as it has sometimes in the past. There certainly has not been any 190+ heart rate for slow miles. It does seem like my stupid POTS takes on a bit of a different life each time it rears its ugly head. The blue lips thing is new. Granted I have had blue lips before during or after rides or runs, but from the cold. It was 85 degrees Friday night and I was anything but cold.
I rode yesterday and today and seemed fine for both. Well, minus the awful awful wind both days and the four hour flat tire yesterday (didn't really take 4 hours to change, but the calamity of errors made it seem that way). I am hoping maybe the POTS stuff came on from lack of sleep over the last week? I didn't workout at all last weekend but had a full schedule of family and Longhorn 70.3 stuff that included a 4am wake up call Sunday and no nap. So I honestly do not think it has to do with overtraining, and I have been diligent about recovery after halfmax and was feeling great at the beginning of the week. I had a big weekend training this weekend and guess I'm back to tapering now! :-)
The only thing I know to do is keep close tabs on myself (that sounds kind of funny!) and up my salt consumption both during the day and before/during workouts. I took lots before my rides both days this weekend, so maybe that helped too.
Something else interesting that I read a few months back about POTS is they are starting some research on "intense exercise programs" as part of reducing POTS symptoms. Their definition of intense is still far less than what I do on a regular basis, but patients have had huge improvements with the exercise program. I have always known and been thankful for the fact that my case of POTS is incredibly mild compared to most, and have said I probably wouldn't have even known I had it had I not been an endurance athlete. But after researching a bit more, I think its possible my symptoms could be far worse if I did not workout on a regular basis. When I first knew I was sick but had no idea what it was, I took off a month or so. During that time my resting heart rate just steadily rose and my symptoms never really went away. My symptoms did seem to slowly go away as my ironman training ramped up. Hmm....ironman isn't my solution for sure, but I just have some interesting points to ponder and it is probably beyond important to me to properly balance rest and recovery with activity.
Comments
It was so good to see you before and after the race out at Longhorn. I had a scary case of blue/purple hands after the race when I was sitting and eating my BBQ sandwich but it abated when I got up and walked over to the Med Tent. I hope you get plenty of rest and get this under control.
My name is Darlene and I found your blog via a post you made on SlowTwitch about your POTS diagnosis. I am also a triathlete -- I would say that I am also a 20-something year old, but I just turned 30 yesterday! I'm not an ironman yet, but did my first 70.3 last November and my second in May. I was training for my first marathon this summer when I was hit by my symptoms. I ended up going to several different doctors who all told me my symptoms were just anxiety until finally one doctor did a tilt-table test which I promptly failed. This was all over the past few months... I am just starting to get back on the wagon with training, although still feeling the occasional bouts of symptoms. Would love to chat with you via email... so many of the things I see online about people with severe POTS scare the crap out of me and your posts/blog made me feel like maybe my life could get back to mostly normal. :) Anyway... my email is darlene.nyce@gmail.com. Hope to hear from you!
--Darlene