Heart of an athlete

[Melalvai]

Do you think of yourself as an athlete? What does an athlete have that you don't?

My husband & I had our establish-care check ups a few days ago. My husband went first so by the time the doc got to me I'd been sitting quietly for nearly an hour. He listened to my heart, looked at my records, and took my pulse again. My resting pulse is 60. "You have the heart of an athlete," he said.

I may have the heart of an athlete but someone else has the rest of it! I have never been athletic. I'm active now (I wasn't always), but I am neither strong nor fast nor graceful. I can't catch a ball, win a race, or lift a thing. I suspect that if I had time and inclination for serious training that I'd be working against a stacked deck.

I'm finally coming to accept that I am doing a fantastic job with what I was given to work with! Well, maybe not 'fantastic' as I keep injuring myself.

[zoom-zoom]

I run and bike a lot (though less than a few friends of mine...I don't know how they find the time or how their bodies tolerate the load they do. I seem to hit my physical limit far earlier, regardless of how carefully I increase the workload), but on the outside I don't look particularly fit. I'm 20ish #s over my ideal weight for my height and build. On the inside, though...my PCP is forever amazed by my bloodwork and BP. He's said that my #s are about the best of any of his patients. This is the stuff that matters.

So, yeah, I guess I have the heart of an athlete, too.

[redrhodie]

I do consider myself an athlete. I have developed skills beyond someone who just rides a bike. I ride consistently, and I'm passionate about cycling. Most of all, I do it because I love it. So, that fits my definition. I don't think you need to compete, or be particularly gifted, to to be an athlete. I think we're all athletes.

[Crankin]

Yea, I'm kind of the same. While I have various not life threatening things that are chronic, my (new) PCP asked me at my physical last month, "how I did it?" when referring to my cholesterol ratio. She also said she should use me as a case study for other patients. Personally, I thought it was a dumb question, as she already knew how much exercise I did... maybe she didn't believe me? I told her there's no magic. It's exercise 5-6 days a week and a very healthy diet. I could tell she had no frame of reference for my lifestyle, as she's in her forties and didn't look very fit. Maybe she is (don't want to be judgmental here), but I don't take her advice the same way I do from my ob-gyn, who lost 150 lbs. and became a tri-athlete.
I can't catch a ball, either. Or play tennis, golf, or downhill ski. I hated team sports as a kid. But, I've always loved endurance stuff. I might not be the fastest or go the furthest, but I can go. And I've been doing this stuff for about 30 years.

[Roadtrip]

I really should find a replacement for my primary Dr. as I'm procrastinated this long as I dreaded going.... I knew he was going to yell at me about my weight.

Last time I had my BP/RHR checked it was bad news.. bp was elevated (I was at work-- DUH) and before I started cycling. It in fact was one of the things that made me realize I needed to do more for my health as my family has a history of high bp and various other heart related issues.

Grandma had a stroke in her 60's and they thought she wouldn't make it as she had major blocked arteries. She survived for about eight years, and then passed away after another stroke, but never really regaining her independence so I question the quality of live those last eight years.

Mom has been on bp meds for QUITE some time and she's dropped some weight in the last few years and had surgery on her foot (total ankle replacement) that had always been very painful after even moderate activity.

She's more active and able to work in the garden and do some of the stuff she wants to do now. She even mentioned riding a bike again when I started riding, but she also has a slight balance problem, so we'll have to see about the bike. She does have a 200cc scooter, tho I don't think they've ridden in a little while, but if she can ride the scooter I'm sure she can ride a bike. She fell while outside and hit her head, giving herself a good lump and a minor concussion... only to find out that she had a slow growing tumor that was affecting her balance. Benign, but still.

She'll be 59 this July, so I am concerned as last year was a horrible year for her health wise (concussion, ankle, week in the hosp. from a cat bite and infection), but she's taken a more proactive role in her health care and doing the right things now. She mentioned a year or so ago that she feared her approaching the age in which her mom had her first stroke, so I think that's been on her mind too.

I think I've digressed pretty far from the OP topic, but I think it takes all kinds to have a "huge" heart... Mom defiantly qualifies!!

Shannon

[Jo-n-NY]

Do you think of yourself as an athlete? What does an athlete have that you don't?

My husband & I had our establish-care check ups a few days ago. My husband went first so by the time the doc got to me I'd been sitting quietly for nearly an hour. He listened to my heart, looked at my records, and took my pulse again. My resting pulse is 60. "You have the heart of an athlete," he said.

I may have the heart of an athlete but someone else has the rest of it! I have never been athletic. I'm active now (I wasn't always), but I am neither strong nor fast nor graceful. I can't catch a ball, win a race, or lift a thing. I suspect that if I had time and inclination for serious training that I'd be working against a stacked deck.

I'm finally coming to accept that I am doing a fantastic job with what I was given to work with! Well, maybe not 'fantastic' as I keep injuring myself.

I was told the same from my dr. and felt so proud. At that point I didn't even have a metric or century under my belt. I never had any athletic ability. I was always the one in gym class hiding behind the bleachers when teams needed to be picked as I didn't want to be the one that made whatever team I was on lose. Can't catch/hit a ball or run (but trying) either. Now when asked about my athletic abilities and can say with my head up high, I am an avid cyclist.

~ JoAnn

[Karma007]

I think of myself as an athlete. Maybe I don't look it so much, but physically I'm in great shape (if one were to overlook a few pounds!). I'm always thinking about training, my diet....thinking of myself in this light keeps me focused. I have very clear goals about what I what like to accomplish as a cyclist.

Sure, I'll never be competitive, but I challenge myself every day to work a little harder than I did the day before.

[Grits]

I was at my 30 year high school reunion when my cousin, a facebook friend I don't see or talk to often, told me I was an athlete. I didn't know what he was talking about because I was also one of the PE haters who avoided team sports like the plague, but he had seen my posts and pictures about century charity rides and other riding I was doing and recognized what I hadn't yet.

Doing the amount and distance of recreational riding I do puts me in a category of fitness and endurance that the vast majority of Americans are not even close to. Once I broadened my definition of "athlete" beyond team sports, ball/club/bat, I realized that I am an athlete!

[Crankin]

Roadtrip, I have to say that I was shocked when you mentioned your mom's age. She's only about 1.5 years older than me. That really puts things in perspective. I hope you keep encouraging her! I only wish my mom had lived long enough to see me cycling... she died about 4 years before I started. But, she loved physical activity and she was what I consider to be an athlete, even though she was born a generation too early to really have embraced it. She could out pace me on a walk even when I was super fit, teaching 7 aerobics classes a week.
Yeah, I consider myself an athlete.

[Bike Chick]

How interesting to read everyone's responses and realize I'm right there with you. I am working on those extra lbs I need to lose and wish I looked like an athlete. But last week, dh and I rode 10 miles to do a couple's 5k race, ran the race, rode back home, loaded the bikes and met friends for a fun, hilly 30-miler. It was great and after my last ekg, my dr said I have the heart of a 16 year old. Not too bad for a 52 year old.

I looked up the definition of an athlete and it states that it's a person possessing the natural or acquired traits that are necessary for physical exercise or sports. I may not look like an athlete, I was always too uncoordinated to do well at team sports and am convinced this belly is here to stay but by that definition, it looks like we are all athletes.

[Melalvai]

Great discussion! Ok, I'm persuaded, I am an athlete too. My husband has teased me for being a "jock" ever since I started cycling but I never took him seriously.

[ladyicon]

Roadtrip,,,,,,,, I loved your story, put a little tear in my eye. Reminds me of my mom who has passed last year, she was 86. She had a heart of gold.

[emily_in_nc]

Very interesting. I was also one of the un-athletic, terrible at team sports or anthing involving a ball, last-kid-picked types. I had asthma pretty bad as a child so avoided most athletic endeavors, feeling that I couldn't do them. Back then, the general thought was that asthmatics had to be sheltered.

I wonder if more that other sports, people who find and become passionate about cycling, are those who weren't so successful in typical team sports back in their school days? I'm sure there are many exceptions, but it's interesting that so many of us were distinctly unathletic as kids or young adults.

Crankin, my doc says the same thing about my amazing cholesterol ratio. She says I'm the poster child for good cholesterol. My resting HR at the doc's is always a bit higher than normal (white coat syndrome), but at home it's low, as is my BP. I don't race, and I'm fairly slow when compared to many cyclists I know. I can't do the distances I could do before my accident either.

But yes, I unequivocally consider myself an athlete! I know the other gals at work think I'm amazingly athletic, so that's good enough for me.

[marni]

both of my parents died before I lost my weight and started bicycling which makes me very sad but I feel their spirits glowing at me in pride, especially when I push myself a bit extra. When I first started riding, it nearly wiped me out to ride a mile. Now I routinely do 30-60 mile training rides at least twice a week, and train with a trainer as well as work out in the gym with weights and resistance for the rest of the week.

I will confess to a intense feeling of pride and perhaps a bit of superiority when someone asks me how far I ride and their jaw drops when I reply with a goodly distance.

My GP bless her heart is a sensible older Irish lady who continually comments on my bp (122/55) and my resting pulse rate which is usually about 45-50. I have been asked by her nurse if I am actually alive every time she takes my pulse.My cholesterol is slightly above normal but that's because my good cholesterol is high!

I thank the spirits that led me to a healthy diet, realizing that I needed help, getting that help and discovering cross country bicycling and road biking.

[PscyclePath]

Like it says in the People for Bikes ad, "If I ride... I will grow a heart so strong that hospitals will have to start taking Tuesdays off."

Sounds good to me, anyways...