That was the diagnosis. At least I get to have a normal injury again. I've been out since September 19th. I imagine my bp was getting higher, and I know that my pulse was higher than it had been. Of course, higher than before means that I now have a low-normal pulse, somewhere in the low 60s. I'm looking to get it down into the low 50s soon. Last night, my pulse stayed mostly in the 130s while I was running. Right after I started running again after my injury (about two weeks ago), I went up into the 150s several times over the course of a three-miler.
My cardiologist has instructed me to keep my heart rate below 150, so when my heart rate gets up that high, the first thing I do is slow down. If that doesn't get my pulse down, I slow down some more. If that doesn't work, I walk. That always works.
I ran in a race in August, just before I hurt my ankle. I did very well -- it was a 5K, and my finishing time was 20:27. I was first in the 50-55 age group, and also the first person over 40 to finish. My cardiologist had told me "It's OK to race, but don't try to win." I was wearing a heart monitor, and I never heard the signal that told me that my heart rate was over 150. At about 2 1/2 miles, I looked at my watch, and my heart rate showed as 102. the battery was low and the monitor was reading incorrectly. I have no idea what my heart rate actually was.
Now I'm back running a few times a week. I'm taking it a little easy so that my tendon has a chance to heal. This summer, I hope to be in racing form. One of my college teammates is trying to organize an "Alumni Mile" and I think I can do pretty well against all the other old men, and if it's age-graded, I think I can show those youngsters something, too.
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