Today was the eighth day in a row of continuous atrial fibrillation all day and all night. Last night I was awake all night. I did a lot of praying and thinking about God. It was just before sunrise when I finally got to sleep and then I slept until after noon.
For today’s workout: After a week of keeping the daily 10K rowing pace at 2:35.3, yesterday I decided to tweak it a little bit faster, to 2:35.2/500 meters. Atrial fibrillation continued.
Today, though atrial fibrillation was continuing, I decided to try tweaking the 10K rowing pace by another 1/10th second, to 2:35.1/500 meters. Heart rate seemed to get a bit more stable as the 10,000 meter session continued and by the time the 10K was completed, heart rate definitely seemed better though still not normal. An ECG reading was taken and it reported “INCONCLUSIVE” which means heart rate wasn’t normal but it wasn’t atrial fibrillation either.
After the 10K, I did a couple of supplementary 2,000 meter sessions. After the first of those two 2K sessions, heart rate returned to feeling normal and the ECG reading reported “SINUS RHYTHM” for the first time in 8 days.
Answered prayers? I’m thankful to God.
Happy rowing to you!
Hi John,
nice to read that your atrial fibrillation has gotten better. I think that this could have something to do with your changed training.
I personally almost always train in my heart rate zones that are optimal for my age, my state of health, my state of training, my scope of training (I hope so) 😉
These heart rate zones were determined by a renowned sports scientist in Germany using a formula. I have allowed myself to enter your data as well as possible and the following has resulted:
Level 1: Rowing to develop basic endurance 1 (GA 1) = 95 – 104 Beats / min.
Level 2: Rowing to develop endurance (GA 2) at the aerobic threshold
Development of endurance at a higher level = 104 – 114 Beats / min.
Level 3: Intensive rowing to develop strength endurance (GA 3 / KA3) on the
anaerobic threshold. Competition-specific endurance (WSA) up to 95% of HRmax. = 140
Beats / min.
Please note: your HRmax. = 147 beats / min !!!
As mentioned, I almost always exercise in these heart rate zones. My feeling tells me that I could also go beyond my limit (more than 158 bpm) but I don’t think I’m going to overdo it because I don’t want to become an Olympic champion anymore, just simply age successfully!
Dear John, now you can think about it and get the best out of it for you! I think health is the most important thing, but of course our sport is part of it, as always in life, all in moderation.
Greetings from Germany
Reinhold
Hi Reinhold and thanks for the input about heart rate. It looks like the formula you refer to for maximum heart rate is 220 – age in years = maximum heart rate. There’s another one that I read about which I think may have been suggested by the same person, which is 220 – 0.7 times age = maximum heart rate. That one gives a little bit higher result. Those formulas are certainly safe limits and I’m trying to keep heart rate below those right now. If you search for information and articles about formulas for maximum heart rate, you can find many opinions on the subject. Happy rowing!