The news of 2 cardiac arrests in Sundays Cardiff Half marathon has got into my head.
I ran a 1:41 on Sunday and am mid 30's. The 2 guys who sadly aren't with us any longer were of a similar-ish age (one a bit younger and one a bit older) and not vastly different times (1:50ish and 2h ish).
I wasn't expecting those who came to an untimely end to be young and fit, rather that they'd have been unhealthy/old/fat/smokers etc. so discovering that they weren't that different from many other runners has made we wonder how much risk we put ourselves at by pushing ourselves to our perceived limits in a race?
Before commenting that millions of people race each year and that these are the first deaths in the Cardiff Half Marathon etc., please consider that the question is not supposed to be sensationalist but questions, are we putting ourselves at risk? How do we minimise that risk? Is there any research to understand the pro's of sport/running v. risks of racing and perhaps whether we should not exceed threshold HR etc. I feel I need educating to help put my mind at rest...
RIP Ben McDonald and Dean Fletcher .
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Best you can do is stay healthy and train well, don't run when you're ill or even recovering from illness/virus. If you have any symptoms such as chest pain, even mild get yourself checked out.
If you're worried, get yourself checked out. I've had a several cardiac echos (benefit of working in the department training sonographers where they needed test patients) and so know I don't have to worry about that specific problem.
If someone has been during endurance sports for a while are they more or less likely to have issues? Are folks that have been racing for many years ok as they have had no issues do far
What sort of symptoms should folks be looking out for.
Rather than just report the tragedy, it would be good if information was also put out to help those still taking part in future events. Is it ok to simply say dont run if you feel unwell? As folks might not be aware of any potential issues.
2308 - even with medical help right next to you the chances of surviving a cardiac arrest are not good. If you have immediate CPR that can double or triple your chance of survival to something like 20% or 30% so the odds are still against you
What sort of symptoms were these folks you know ignoring?
Best we can do is be sensible and not ignore symptoms that if they were happening to a friend or family member we would insist they get checked out.
I know a few marathon addicts that have had heart problems/surgery but never discussed with them if they'd had symptoms prior to any incident/attack. Of course as we age parts of us are going to wear out, as they would if we were non runners.
Not just chest pain, although that's a very obvious flag. Other things might be:
Any sustained racing of the heart, either at rest or out of proportion to effort (this was the one I ignored and put down to not warming up properly - no need for a HRM, I could feel it racing away way beyond normal for the pace I was doing).
Difficult breathing out of proportion to effort (not just because you're running hard up hill)
Palpitations, if they're more frequent than just the occasional one.
Excess fatigue as well, although that's more usually down to overtraining or just lack of sleep.
I could stay at home and develop diabetes/heart disease/etc from lack of exercise.
Events do the best they can to advise runners not to take part if they're unwell and if they have any health concerns to consult their doctor first.
Crossing the road is dangerous, so should we never cross another road again?
TR - I ignored what in hindsight should have been warning signs and then one day just passed out during a run. I ended up in hospital for a week while they checked me for all sorts of potential heart defects. Aside from things like thicker heart walls (pretty standard in endurance athletes) the one thing they found unusual was that my ECG trace develops abnormalities after a period of training, which disappear if I don't train for a few weeks. This is apparently fairly common in male African endurance runners but unusual in middle aged white men.
I haven't had any more blackouts but I have had the symptoms a few times since, and I take that as a signal to take a break for a while, certainly from anything intensive. I still get checked by the cardiologists at least annually.