23% Grade - Heart Rate Approaching DEATH - Help???

[Andrea]

ok, I really wasn't going to ask this because I know, I should be asking my dr instead, BUT she really hasn't got a clue about cycling or other strenuous exercise, nor does the heart specialist I've gone to see, so bear with me please...

any of you medical types have an opinion on whether I should be avoiding stressing my heart eg. up to max HR, when I have no sign of heart disease at all, but my family all do? My dad has had a 5-double bypass, my mom has had a small heart attack, my brother died at 41 of a heart attack. All of them with very few symptoms in advance, if any.

I don't really worry about it much, but I wonder a bit if I should be more careful than most about riding alone without a cell phone, for example. All opinions welcome, qualified or un-

You are right to assume that your docs don't know too much about exercise, because they barely teach exercise physiology in medical school! As for yourself, since you have a family history of heart disease, it's very important that you have regular heart checkups for any abnormalities. If you perform a stress test at the doctor's office, request that he let you exercise until you get very close to your max heart rate (most docs will stop the test at approx. 85% of max). By doing this, you can be assured that everything is working smoothly across your entire heart rate range.
As long as your checkups are clear, then you should have no issues with strenuous exercise. If you start showing early signs of heart disease (plaque buildup/blocking of the coronary arteries), then you'll have to modify your exercise intensity to avoid depriving any areas of the working heart of oxygen. As long as there are no blocked arteries, though, you should have no problem with pushing yourself to the extremes of your abilities.

[lph]

Thanks, Andrea, I really appreciate it I'll be taking stress tests once a year, and next one is coming up soon, and I'll know now to ask him to keep me puffing for a while...