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Riding Hard is Hazardous to Your health
If you don't believe me, read the account of my heart attack The Accident. Then look at the first arti arcticle supplied by Brian below.
Turns out long distance riding or running or swimming will not save you from a heart attack. Truth is, it might cause one.
Dave Sperry, nutritionist and instructor in nutrition, shared some general tips for healthy eating in his blog, Bites for Bicyclists. Brian Rothfusz, pharmacist from St. Joe's, added links to a couple of articles. I put the urls in the comment field for David's entry and then decided this information was so timely it all needed to be in one place. Here's is what Brian supplied.
I know this is on many of your minds. And of course, there is much
more to say, but I think these two articles will give you some valuable
information.
Brian R., R. Ph.
This is a longish article with documentation but is well written and very readable. One bit of information struck home to me:
There are other signs of trouble which are less well-known, including
unusual fatigue. If you are uncharacteristically tired and are confident
that this is not due to an increased training load or a recent
infection, don't ignore it; mention the problem to your doctor and see
if you can arrange for a routine physical examination.
That is exactly how I felt. Sadly I didn't get a chance to discuss it with my doctor. Read this one if you like to ride hard.
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/heart-attack-risks-are-greater-for-athletes-who-compete-in-endurance-sports-263
The second article deals with inflammation, balancing dietary fats, and the use of anti-steroidalanti inflammatories. It's shorter, less readable, but makes a clear point of not doing what I was doing--taking ibuprofen daily. In fact this article says if taking aspirin or other anti-steroidal antil inflammatories actually relieves your pain, you are experiencing an imbalance of fats.
http://philmaffetone.com/athletesheart.cfm
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Dave gives great nutrition advice which the second article supports and both the articles clearly indicate that working hard has its risks.
The good news, however, is that this is for the extreme exertion of competitive athletes. So what was I doing? Yeah, probably riding too hard. Feel free to ride all you like, just do it more moderately.
I think I'll go take a nap.
Corrie
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