Downtime

I have continued to feel better today giving me some confidence that the issues I was having with my heart last week may not be ongoing.

As I mentioned yesterday I didn't ride with the BYL Juniors this morning, which is a decision that I am happy with. I have been doing some exercise today but I my gut feel is that the longer sessions (such as long rides) are something I need to be careful around and probably best avoided at the moment. I can't help but wonder how much of the heart issues I had last week relate back to the mega 150km ride I did with the juniors last weekend. Long duration exercise like that, even at low intensity, is something to keep an eye on I think.

The exercise that I did today was another couple of sessions on the paddle board. Exercise that I can tightly control, isn't going to push my heart rate too high and isn't too long. Looking back at my Garmin files for the paddles I can't see any spikes of VT which is good. I did have a few uncomfortable moments on the board, but the heart rate seemed to mostly stay under control. No spikes up to 190bpm or anything, which is a relief. If I can continue to keep getting good nights sleep and also train without seeing VT then I am going to start to relax a little bit again. Baby steps though.

This last week has really been a bit of a wake up call for me. Going back to February I was getting some scary symptoms with my heart that really focused my attention. However, since my ablation the heart has been going so well that I have been getting a little blase about it. Doing more and pushing harder. However, this last week has reminded me that I do need to be careful and listen to my body and that I can't just continue on as if nothing has happened, no matter how much I would like too.

I am hoping things will start to settle down again now, however, even if they do this has been a reminder that I need to remain mindful.

Other than a bit of good exercise today has been just about relaxing and basically doing what I want. The past week I have felt very thinly stretched and pulled it lots of different directions. I am sure that hasn't helped my heart and it certainly hasn't helped my frame of mind. Today was a refreshing breath of fresh air from that stress. Not that the day has been spent sitting on the couch knocking back cold ones, it has still been a busy day, but just not flat out and not busy in a stressful way, more busy doing fun things.

That sentiment is going to continue tomorrow with a hockey tournament for my daughter before catching up with some Triathlon friends in the afternoon.

This may all seem pretty trivial, which I guess is the point. This week has been a reminder to me about watching how hard I push physically, but it has also been a reminder to watch how hard I push mentally too. I have always been a very laid back person and stress hasn't really been a factor in my life. This week has shown me that stress is not to be underestimated when it comes to well being. Just like we include down time in our exercise to let our bodies recover, it is also important to include mental downtime to let our state of mind recover.  No matter what we do in our day to day, no matter what our exercise regime is like or what we do for a living I think that is an important message to remember. Certainly something I am going to be trying to remember more from now on.