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CABGs & climbing - a random info thread ... 23-Nov-2017 At 4:09:51 PM IdratherbeclimbingM9

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Thanks gfdonc, TimP and Johny. The sentiment is appreciated.

Dalai, yes escaped on Friday but after being opened up and repaired, I've decided they forgot to put the endurance I had back in before they closed me up again, as my daily routine since has been a little exercise and a lot of sleeping!

Hmm.
>super fit

This raises an interesting facet of CHD (coronary heart disease)...

After all the initial tests (MRI x 2, ultrasound x 2, treadmill stress test + others I forget now!), I was diagnosed with calcification blockages in three places of the heart arteries, ie the ones that return from the main body-supply artery to feed the heart.

Calcification is different to cholesterol, but similar in effect. A blockage is a blockage and when it becomes fully effective then a heart attack is the result.
Calcification is often associated with hardening of the arteries (simply age and stage wearing out of the heart), and usually presents in the 6th decade, however my GP, Cardiologist and Surgeon all told me that recent studies have proven the link between early age onset of calcification of arteries in those who subject their hearts to high work-rate loads; particularly athletes such as Olympians, Tri-athletes, Marathon runners, etc!

In my case, yes I like to remain fit, and so have been mountain biking regularly (truth be known, much more often than climbing!), in the past 18 months.
My strava times were improving with distances getting longer and times coming down, and I was feeling good about that with no noticeable negative side effects. I rode on average two to three times a week for two or three hours each time, mostly on single-track (imo about 3 times harder than road riding comparable distance), in hill country. A typical ride for me was 25+ km with approx 700 m height gain / loss within same.
Some hills were my 'yardstick hills' and I regularly pushed myself on them.
One hill in particular that initially took me 25 minutes to ride up, I got down to 8 minutes of sustained effort on, and regularly was achieving sub 10 minute times for it in the last 6 months...

To that end I bought a new mountain bike, but have since decided they tricked me and sold me a hovercraft instead!
... As every time I rode it I was hovering between this life and the next!!

My surgeon told me that the condition I had was what his mob call a widow-maker and it was only a matter of time before I had a heart attack, and that I wouldn't have survived it.
Every time I went mountain biking (or climbing), there was a real risk I wasn't going to return, and I didn't realise it; but was thinking by default that by pushing my limits (literally the detonate button) harder, that I was improving my fitness / perhaps climbing grade / health generally!

Scary eh?

One of my wag cycling mates when he found out I needed a bypass, asked me "How long would that be good for?"
I replied "They told me 25+ years."
He then said, "Why settle for 25? Ask for a double bypass and go for the 50 year warranty instead!"

tbc...