Running with Medical Issues

Three Lessons From a Heart Attack and Vertigo for Older Runners

Herb, host of the Forever Runner podcast, shares three lessons from having a heart attack as an ultra runner that are helping him cope with a new medical issue: vestibular neuronitis, which caused sudden vertigo about eight months ago and still affects his balance, limiting him to short runs with walk breaks and prompting him to enter a local five-miler instead of the marathon. 

Lesson one, “you’re not done yet,” came after his first heart attack at 50 when running a marathon and joining a Hood to Coast relay team of 12 open-heart surgery survivors led him into ultra racing and keeps him from writing himself off while grounded by vertigo. 

Lesson two is to stay in the moment and work the problem daily. 

Lesson three is that it doesn’t always get worse, illustrated by recovering mid-race after stomach trouble at a 100-miler.

00:00 Older Runner Reality Check
00:50 Vertigo Hits Outta Nowhere
01:39 Race Day Reset at the 5-Miler
02:21 Lesson One Not Done Yet
03:40 Lesson Two Work the Problem
04:55 Lesson Three It Can Turn Around
06:20 Putting It All Together
07:01 Final Thoughts and Next Steps

P.S. If you are passionate about running, and you don't want to lose that passion, then getting your copy of my new Forever Runner Method book is the right move. Click this link to get yours: https://foreverrunner.com/

Runners over 50: Pain free running without injury with slow running!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey runners, how's it going? Let's talk about something most older runners don't want to talk about. We're real good at complaining about hard workouts and injuries, but we're less good about talking about the other stuff. The medical issues that show up out of nowhere and have nothing to do with how many miles we ran last week. Today I want to share three lessons that came out of having a heart attack in my years as an ultrarunner. Lessons that didn't show up in time for either of those, but are getting me through what's hit me this year. Hi, I'm Herb the Forever Runner. I'm the host of the Forever Runner podcast. Let's have you run smarter so you live longer. So about eight months ago, I was standing in our kitchen and then suddenly the room just started spinning out of nowhere. One minute I was fine, the next I couldn't even stand up without holding on to the wall. The diagnosis was vestibular neuronitis, a swollen nerve in my inner ear that scrambles your sense of balance. And it can take months to settle down. Fortunately, I can do most things like drive a car, go shopping, and even run for a bit. But I kind of run like a drunk, just kind of barely off balance, and I have to take occasional walk breaks to kind of regroup. Well, this last weekend was our local marathon, one I've run countless times. This year I entered the five-miler, not the marathon, not the half, the five. You know, with the modest goal of just being able to run the whole thing without taking walk breaks. But I ended up walking a few times, even on the downhill last mile to the finish. That's what eight months of vestibular recovery looks like on race day. Here are three lessons keeping me in the game. Lesson number one, you're not done yet. Sort of after my first heart attack at 50, I ran a marathon to kind of get back on my feet. That run also got me invited onto a Hood to Coast relay team called Scar Trek. The cool thing about this team is the whole team was made up of open heart surgery survivors. 12 guys, all open heart surgery survivors, all running competitively. I looked around the van between the exchange points and thought, if these guys can do this exactly, what am I telling myself I can't do? That van was where not done yet was born for me. I left that race and I got into ultra racing, which at the time was a borderline crazy thing to do as an open heart surgery survivor, but I knew it was something I could do, and the limits I'd been handed were not the real limits. Now sitting out my running with Vertigo, the same mindset that keeps me from writing myself off. I'm not done yet. I'm grounded for now. There's a difference. Lesson two. Stay in the moment, work the problem. Ultra running teaches you one thing fast. No matter how well you plan and prepare, something's gonna go sideways out there. Your shoes fill with grit, your stomach quits, the aid station's out of the one thing you needed. You can't ruminate over past failures, you can't dread what this may mean about your finish time. You stay in the moment and you solve the problem in front of you. That's what gets you through these multi-hour events. Not your plan, but your ability to be there and deal with what's in front of you. And that's the same lesson I'm leaning on with this new medical issue. I could spend my days boohooing that I got this thing in the first place. I could spend them worrying about whether I'll ever be able to string together a real run again. But instead, I'm just working the problem every day. What can I do today to make things a little better? Some days the answer is balance work, some days it's a slow walk, some days it's nothing. But the question is the same every morning, and that's what keeps me moving forward. So, lesson number three: it doesn't always get worse. I learned this one the hard way at a hundred-mile race. I hadn't eaten a bologna sandwich in like 20 years, but at mile 35 with a stomach full of gels and a long night ahead, it looked like the best meal I'd ever seen. So I ate a half a sandwich. For the next 10 miles, I thought I was gonna die. My stomach was sideways, my pace was falling apart, I was certain I was done. But I I kept moving. And by mile 80, I felt great. I was passing people on the steep climbs and and just just really feeling it. And that lesson stuck. When it feels like the wheels are coming off, sometimes you just have to keep moving. Things don't always get worse. Sometimes they turn around in ways you could never predict it in the middle of the bad patch. And that's the lesson I remind myself on these days. My balance feels worse than the day before. It doesn't always get worse. Sometimes you're just in a bad patch. Keep working. So let's put this together. These these three lessons came out of a heart attack and a couple of decades of ultrarunning. They they didn't necessarily show up in time for those, but they showed up for this. Vertigo grounded me, but it didn't end me. If a medical surprise has sidelined you, something you didn't see coming that has nothing to do with how well you've trained, remember these lessons. You're not done yet. Stay in the moment and work the problem. And remember, it doesn't always get worse. Let me know if you had a medical surprise and how you navigated it in the comments. And if you want to learn more about my Forever Runner method, check the link in the comments and pick up my book, The Forever Runner Method. See you next week.