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.

[TxDoc]

This is an interesting discussion. Brings up the concept of athleticism and the many factors that determine athleticism.

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

No, I never thought of myself as an athlete - although, oddly enough, I lived (and live) most of my life as one, just without the sponsorships...

I grew up in a culture where if you are a professional athlete (i.e. sports are your career) then you call yourself an athlete; if sports are not your profession, then you are an amateur. So no, I never thought of myself as a real athlete - mostly an amateur/hobbyist, despite the fact that I even coached for many years.
Neither I think of myself as a real 'cyclist', so to speak - same old-school cultural tradition: the 'cyclists' were those competing in the Giro; all of us other youngsters racing bikes but also going to school/work/etc - we just rode our bikes
Funny, I guess - but that is sort of how we saw the world of sports growing up. Nadia Comaneci was an athlete, us winning the regional championship - well, we were just some kids good at gymnastics...

Emily, yes, I think you are right. There's too many of us here that were "last picked" as kids for it to be chance.

This is also interesting - how appearence was in some places the first element determining whether a kid was judged as athletic or not, while in others the coaches really did not care about anything other than attitude and results.

Strange enough - I was one of the first picked kids in school sports. At first sight, I did not look 'athletic' at all. I was short (at 40 years old I'm still only 5'4''), wore glasses, had allergies... and yet - I was often the first one called, before the tall and muscular and fit kids. And it happened for every sport, gymnastics, volleyball, cycling... Go figure it out.
On top of the appearence, my cardiovascular fitness/health has always been pathetic to say the least. I was often hypoglycemic and hypotensive despite eating 5000+ Cal per day, had a resting hr 20-30 bpm higher than everyone else my age (still do), and of course I was always the one sent for additional ekg's.
The pre-Season sports physical was always a drama. Every time there would be extra tests, discussions, even arguments to get clearance for competition. So many times the school coaches would come with us to the exam appointments and argue with the sports med specialists to get me cleared.

With all this, you'd think they would let go and pick some 6 feet tall kid with no health issues instead. Never happened.
They saw then what I learned many years later when I started coaching: athleticism is made of many factors, health and fitness being only one. They knew that to be successful as coaches they did not need to select the kids that looked good on paper - they needed to pick the ones that were going to win, it's that simple.

And then if we look at the professional world, really there is so much to being 'athletic'.
While the average person would probably picture the professional athlete as someone perfectly healthy and fit - many pro athletes have underlying medical conditions. With training and medical support, they learned how to compensate for their problems and still perform at a high level.
Cycling is no exception, think of Armstrong recovering from cancer, Contador who survived a ruptured aneurysm, and many more in the peloton with asthma and diabetes.
The truth is that we are given one body and in most cases it's not a perfect machine - and despite any problems we may have, we are to make the best of it anyway.

Thanks Melalvai for a very interesting thread, and to everyone for sharing their experiences. Happy riding

[sfa]

I've never considered myself athletic, but I've always been active--rowing in college, then I took up cycling and running after college. Never competitvely; always just to stay active and in shape. Except for a few post-baby years my weight has always been in a healthy range. I eat well, have never smoked, drink only occasionally and moderately, and maintain a healthy diet.

Yet I have the heart of a middle-aged overweight smoker! Last week I went to a doctor for the first time in pretty much forever--it has been about six years since my last physical. While my heartrate is fine, my blood pressure last week was 139/90. The doctor wondered about white coat syndrome, so she asked me to check it a couple of times a week for the next couple of months. I just came back from the Wellness Center on campus and today the reading was 144/99 (again, heart rate just fine--even after the walk to the center it was still in the 60's).

Not only does this worry me, but it pisses me off (both of which, I'm sure, aren't helping the blood pressure)! My older sister is morbidly obese, finally just gave up smoking after years of addiction, eats crap all the time, never exercises, and her blood pressure is fine.

So what can I do? My only risk factor is stress, and there doesn't seem to be much I can do about the sources of stress in my life (anyone who is keeping track: next month will make two years of unemployment for my DH, and that's just the tip of the stress iceberg). Exercise IS my stress relief, but clearly it isn't helping my blood pressure (or perhaps it is and I'd be dead without it). The doctor says genetics can play a role, but neither of my parents had problems with blood pressure at my age. This has caught me completely off guard--I was always one of those people when I was younger who had such low blood pressure that I had problems with dizziness all the time.

[emily_in_nc]

Are you on the pill? That can definitely cause raised BP with no other risk factors and despite exercise. If so, maybe consider another method of b.c.

[sfa]

Are you on the pill? That can definitely cause raised BP with no other risk factors and despite exercise. If so, maybe consider another method of b.c.

That's good information to know, but no, I'm not on the pill.

I feel like I went from a young, vital woman (o.k., not young, I'm 42) to an old woman over the course of a 45 minute appointment. The doctor also says my hand pain is probably arthritis and I should get a full body check from a dermatologist.