Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Dreaded Dehydration Debacle
5/2/05
Well I am finally back home 56 hours after I went out for just another 10km race.
Thanks to everybody for your concerns and wishes but I will be OK. I won't ever push myself so close to the edge again but I will continue to enjoy my running.
After getting dehydrated at the Dee Why STaR the Sunday before, I was very aware that I needed to drink more each day to keep my hydration levels up. But all I only managed to do was to keep them at the lower end of the scale. Having seemingly recovered OK and enjoying a good strong week of training leading into the race, I turned up feeling great and hoping to run close to 41 minutes. The race started well enough and I settled into around 4:05 pace and was running strongly. Reached 5km mark in 20:30 so was on track to run 41. Ran the next 2km in 8:05 and was amazed at how strong I was feeling as I am usually starting to tire and slow down around this point. The first sign of slowing down occurred on the slight uphill between 7 and 8km when Ray Doran and a couple of others went past me. But as I am usually a long way behind Ray, I wasn't too concerned. Then when we reached the road up to Scribblys, I saw a runner start running up Scribblys again and I tried to shout out to him that he was going the wrong way. The last thing of the race that I remember was looking at my split at the 8km mark, realised that I had slowed down, but thought even if I ran 4:15 per km for the last few kms that I would still run under 41:30. Then the lights went out and I have no other recollection of the race. The next thing I remember was sitting under a tree with Blue Dog, Luke Skyrunner and O Runner and a few others after the race and a lot of people seeming very concerned and talking of a doctor. It actually took a while to realise that it was me that they concerned about. It was like waking from a dream.
Dr Deane, Redback's dad took charge and just told me to keep drinking. The funny thing was I knew by this stage that I was in a lot of trouble and knew I had to drink but could only take in small sips at a time. But Dr Deane kept encouraging me to keep sipping and to try and increase the rate I was drinking to get some life back into me. After about 4 cups of gatorade I started to get a little bit clearer but knew I had to keep drinking. So they brought me another 4 cups and I drunk them just before the ambulance arrived.Then the ambulance put an oxygen mask on me, that made life a bit easier and started to unfog my head. They took my blood sugar levels and attached an ECG machine to me on the way to hospital but things had started to improve.
They moved me into the hospital, pumped 3 litres of IV fluid into me. I started to feel better and tried to eat some lunch. Big mistake as my stomach couldn't cope. Blood tests showed that I had traces of triponin in my blood which suggests that I may have had a minor heart attack so they wanted to keep me in overnight so I was moved to the Coronary Care Unit. That was as an interesting experience for me as it was for most of the staff there because I must have been told by every staff member on the ward that my heart rate was very low and they were concerned. I had to explain over and over again that it rests between 35 and 40 regularly. Then the ECG machine I was hooked up to had the alarm set at 40 and was going off every 5 seconds so I couldn't sleep. They then agreed to reset the alarm at 35 but when I fell asleep, it fell below that and woke me up. They then agreed to turn that alarm off. Finally, I could get some sleep. The next day they did some tests on the heart, printed out graphs from the ECG. I had a Cardio Echo done, which is an ultrasound of the heart and this showed everything was working fine. And finally today, I had to do a stress test which is where they hook you up to all these electrodes and put you on a treadmill and keep upping the pace every 3 minutes until your heart rate goes into the 160s to see if your heart still works properly under pressure. 17 minutes later and a HR of 166 without any hiccups meant that there was no damage to the heart and I could finally go home.The cause of my collapse was DEHYDRATION, pure and simple. I never realised you could get so dehydrated doing a 10km race but I have since learnt my lesson.
I would like to thank everybody who so quickly offered their help on Saturday when it was evident that I was in trouble. Luke Skyrunner and Blue Dog for coming back on the course to make sure I stayed on my feet. Dr Deane for his assistance afterwards and O Runner who finally convinced somebody to call the ambulance.
For those of you congratulating me on a gutsy effort. I can't take any credit because I didn't know what I was doing. It was just survival instinct. And for those who are feeling a bit guilty about not stopping and helping, I know what it is like to be racing and be in your own headspace, you wouldn't have realised what a bad state I was in.
As for my running, I will make a full recovery and continue to enjoy my running at a slower pace. There will be no speed related goals for a while. I look forward to running more with Belinda who ran 57:15 for her first Striders 10km. We hope to be at the Bay on Wednesday arvo where I hope to catch up with some of you. And I will be at The Equaliser on Sunday and look forward to seeing everybody else there.
Once again, thankyou for your kind words of support and encouragement.
You've gotta love this community!
Well I am finally back home 56 hours after I went out for just another 10km race.
Thanks to everybody for your concerns and wishes but I will be OK. I won't ever push myself so close to the edge again but I will continue to enjoy my running.
After getting dehydrated at the Dee Why STaR the Sunday before, I was very aware that I needed to drink more each day to keep my hydration levels up. But all I only managed to do was to keep them at the lower end of the scale. Having seemingly recovered OK and enjoying a good strong week of training leading into the race, I turned up feeling great and hoping to run close to 41 minutes. The race started well enough and I settled into around 4:05 pace and was running strongly. Reached 5km mark in 20:30 so was on track to run 41. Ran the next 2km in 8:05 and was amazed at how strong I was feeling as I am usually starting to tire and slow down around this point. The first sign of slowing down occurred on the slight uphill between 7 and 8km when Ray Doran and a couple of others went past me. But as I am usually a long way behind Ray, I wasn't too concerned. Then when we reached the road up to Scribblys, I saw a runner start running up Scribblys again and I tried to shout out to him that he was going the wrong way. The last thing of the race that I remember was looking at my split at the 8km mark, realised that I had slowed down, but thought even if I ran 4:15 per km for the last few kms that I would still run under 41:30. Then the lights went out and I have no other recollection of the race. The next thing I remember was sitting under a tree with Blue Dog, Luke Skyrunner and O Runner and a few others after the race and a lot of people seeming very concerned and talking of a doctor. It actually took a while to realise that it was me that they concerned about. It was like waking from a dream.
Dr Deane, Redback's dad took charge and just told me to keep drinking. The funny thing was I knew by this stage that I was in a lot of trouble and knew I had to drink but could only take in small sips at a time. But Dr Deane kept encouraging me to keep sipping and to try and increase the rate I was drinking to get some life back into me. After about 4 cups of gatorade I started to get a little bit clearer but knew I had to keep drinking. So they brought me another 4 cups and I drunk them just before the ambulance arrived.Then the ambulance put an oxygen mask on me, that made life a bit easier and started to unfog my head. They took my blood sugar levels and attached an ECG machine to me on the way to hospital but things had started to improve.
They moved me into the hospital, pumped 3 litres of IV fluid into me. I started to feel better and tried to eat some lunch. Big mistake as my stomach couldn't cope. Blood tests showed that I had traces of triponin in my blood which suggests that I may have had a minor heart attack so they wanted to keep me in overnight so I was moved to the Coronary Care Unit. That was as an interesting experience for me as it was for most of the staff there because I must have been told by every staff member on the ward that my heart rate was very low and they were concerned. I had to explain over and over again that it rests between 35 and 40 regularly. Then the ECG machine I was hooked up to had the alarm set at 40 and was going off every 5 seconds so I couldn't sleep. They then agreed to reset the alarm at 35 but when I fell asleep, it fell below that and woke me up. They then agreed to turn that alarm off. Finally, I could get some sleep. The next day they did some tests on the heart, printed out graphs from the ECG. I had a Cardio Echo done, which is an ultrasound of the heart and this showed everything was working fine. And finally today, I had to do a stress test which is where they hook you up to all these electrodes and put you on a treadmill and keep upping the pace every 3 minutes until your heart rate goes into the 160s to see if your heart still works properly under pressure. 17 minutes later and a HR of 166 without any hiccups meant that there was no damage to the heart and I could finally go home.The cause of my collapse was DEHYDRATION, pure and simple. I never realised you could get so dehydrated doing a 10km race but I have since learnt my lesson.
I would like to thank everybody who so quickly offered their help on Saturday when it was evident that I was in trouble. Luke Skyrunner and Blue Dog for coming back on the course to make sure I stayed on my feet. Dr Deane for his assistance afterwards and O Runner who finally convinced somebody to call the ambulance.
For those of you congratulating me on a gutsy effort. I can't take any credit because I didn't know what I was doing. It was just survival instinct. And for those who are feeling a bit guilty about not stopping and helping, I know what it is like to be racing and be in your own headspace, you wouldn't have realised what a bad state I was in.
As for my running, I will make a full recovery and continue to enjoy my running at a slower pace. There will be no speed related goals for a while. I look forward to running more with Belinda who ran 57:15 for her first Striders 10km. We hope to be at the Bay on Wednesday arvo where I hope to catch up with some of you. And I will be at The Equaliser on Sunday and look forward to seeing everybody else there.
Once again, thankyou for your kind words of support and encouragement.
You've gotta love this community!
Comments:
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Glad to hear you're ok Horrie. I was really worried when ORunner said what had happened.
Drink, drink, drink!!
Drink, drink, drink!!
A real eye opener. So glad you're ok. I've certainly taken heed of your learnings. Fuel Belt will be a new friend for me too. Plus that morning rehydrate. Good luck with yr training.. Brendan
Horrie,
Good to hear you are ok and out of hospital.
I may invest in the dreaded(for me) fuel belt after seeing you on saturday. Hope you don't push yourself hard at the Equalizer. Cheers mate.
Good to hear you are ok and out of hospital.
I may invest in the dreaded(for me) fuel belt after seeing you on saturday. Hope you don't push yourself hard at the Equalizer. Cheers mate.
Just another thought... I assume the doc's mentioned that triponin is a sign of muscle damage?
It's generally heart damage in unfit people, becau7se they're not exercising enough, which can often be part of the reason why they're having heart problems. They test for it as it's often a sure sign of heart damage.
In fit people, traces of triponin can just be a sign of muscle tear (such as a calf muscle etc). When I went to the hospital for my heart attack scare, they said that if I'd been doing hard training and damaged a muscle, it would show up in the blood tests, and would mean that would not be an accurate test.
Obviously they had to go "worst case scenario", but did they take that into account?
It's generally heart damage in unfit people, becau7se they're not exercising enough, which can often be part of the reason why they're having heart problems. They test for it as it's often a sure sign of heart damage.
In fit people, traces of triponin can just be a sign of muscle tear (such as a calf muscle etc). When I went to the hospital for my heart attack scare, they said that if I'd been doing hard training and damaged a muscle, it would show up in the blood tests, and would mean that would not be an accurate test.
Obviously they had to go "worst case scenario", but did they take that into account?
Horrie! What a shock!
I just want to wish you all the best for your recovery and I hope you come back faster, stronger and more importantly, more hydrated then ever.
Anyway, gotta go, I think I'll have a glass of water after reading that race report.
Cheers,
Ben
I just want to wish you all the best for your recovery and I hope you come back faster, stronger and more importantly, more hydrated then ever.
Anyway, gotta go, I think I'll have a glass of water after reading that race report.
Cheers,
Ben
I'm glad all is OK Horrie. What some people will do for a bit of attention. Don't go taking it too easy now after all the hard work you have put in.
Horrie, you must be OK if you're using alliteration in your post title!
Take time, then think things through before risking all in a running race.
Take time, then think things through before risking all in a running race.
Good to see that your back on track mate. Slow and steady, eh ? Won't see you at the Equaliser (Sunday mornings are nippers for my son) but will see you at Striders Rce 2.
All the best.
Gronk
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All the best.
Gronk
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