Another ah hah moment!

As you may recall, I started drug therapy at the beginning of July for atrial flutter (flecainide and nadolol). The nadolol (beta blocker) was unbearable and I called the doc to see if I go on flecainide alone...YES! I did have some effects (mainly lightheadedness and low blood pressure) when I dropped the nadolol cold turkey (only 10 mg per day - the doc did not provide any instruction and I did not think to ask for any - this time). I have been off the nadolol for almost 2 weeks.

I was hoping my running would return to normal. The first week I did not have much time to exercise plus I was recovering from dropping off the nadolol. However, I have been running most of this week and really struggling (heavy legs). As I was doing an hour run this morning at Oak Mtn State Park, it finally dawned on me (as a slogged up another hill about 45 min into the run) that the flecainide was preventing me from reaching an upper heart rate beyond 144ish BPM. My running max is mid-170's. So no wonder I felt like crap late in the run because my heart was not pumping properly and my legs were starved for O2 and lactic acid was not being processed quickly enough. Duh!

Now I am trying to find answers to some questions. Can I reduce my dosage (with dr consent) that will help me elevate my HR and still be effective against the flutter? And/or, should I run in the morning PRIOR to taking my morning dose?

It was not pleasant running today because I normally hit mid-150's when I run up some of the hills at OMSP. That is when I had my ah hah moment. I kept looking at my watch hoping my HR would ease on up to the normal BPM and nothing happened. I am really thinking hard about the cardiac ablation or just quit running altogether and be happy....see me smiling :-(

Randy Pausch died yesterday. Visit his website and if you have not watched "The Last Lecture", you really need to spend an hour and watch it.