Ironman With Heart Stent
Set Records At World’s In Kona
Athlete with heart stent, Bob Scott. Dropped FitOldDog at Eagleman Half Ironman, in Maryland, several times. Bob was in his 80s, going smoothly by me on the run! Great guy!
“Scott had chest pain during a bike ride a decade ago, and did what any triathlete would do. He rode his bike to his doctor’s office. After an examination, his suspicions of cardiac disease confirmed, the doctor wanted Scott to head to the hospital for a cardiac cath. Scott agreed and started to put his helmet back on to ride his bike to the hospital. The doctor would have none of it and Scott was transported in the usual fashion. After a stent placement and recovery, he went on to set the Kona age group records for the next age group (75-79) as well” John Post
Three old guys? No! Two remarkable Ironman triathletes, Kurt Kahl (fighting cancer) and Bob Scott (heart stent), who inspire FitOldDog (abdominal aortic aneurysm). Thanks guys!
I had no idea that Bob Scott had a heart stent. How about that? I only found out today, while tracking down information in relation to a request from the Old Dogs in Training, LLC, Newsletter. Bob has dropped me in several races. I was fortunate enough to meet him in the swim line up, at one Ironman race (I forget which), and thank him for his inspiration. It even helps an Ironman to have role models.
In order to learn more about my subscribers, and potential customers, I decided to create a simple survey. The survey form asked about their interests, such as safe exercise, aortic disease, healthy aging and plantar fasciitis. I set an option for free text input, or ‘other.’ Amongst many responses, was this one, from survey subscriber #40. It went like this:
“I recently had a stent placed and interested in safe exercise. I’m a previous 3x Ironman athlete and still wondering if I would span endurance event like that again.”
I have to assume it was a coronary or heart stent! So I carried out my usual research.
To my utter surprise, Bob Scott turned out to have a heart stent. This remarkable man beat me 3x in the Eagleman Half Ironman, in Maryland. At the time, I was in my late 60s to early 70s, Bob in his 80s!
My response to Subscriber #40:
Thanks for subscribing, as it makes my work worthwhile, and inspires me to keep on training.
Find inspiration in people like Bob and Kurt.
Consider thinking it through with the FitOldDog sport benefit-risk calculator.
Carefully research your situation, with respect to genetics, nutrition, exercise and the physiology of coronary stents (remember, the heart receives blood during diastole, the heart muscle relaxation phase). Understanding and education are two keys to safe exercise, with or without a heart stent! I had to work through this on my own, back in 2010 – no one told me not to use a rowing machine, for instance! Very risky with my kind of stent!
Move your training away from intensity, towards volume, as intensity may have contributed to your cardiac issues, if that was the issue.
Don’t give up, just follow your passion, modifying your training accordingly.
Find inspiring people, and follow their example.
Relevant links:
George Bush Gets A Heart Stent – Larry’s blog is excellent. Nice man!
SlowTwitch Forums, Athletes Post Stent Treatment
Cyclist: Returning to Training After Heart Attack – Stent Fitment
Angioplasty.Org: Exercise, Sport And Physical Activity After Stent
Kevin, 3 stents later, ran the 2014 NYC marathon & a bunch more halves, etc., etc. I’m running the 2016 & 2017 NYC marathons too……..2017 puts me in the 70 & up class!!!!!!!!!
Hi Bob, we almost have enough for a stent race. Impressive. It seems to me that exercise can only be good for stent stability, as long as one doesn’t shock the stent in some physical way. Want to tell your story here? Unless you have it somewhere out there. People get the wrong advice, or no advice, from most doctors and surgeons, I think. Thoughts on that? Thanks for the comment and for following my newsletter. Never sure if I help people or not, so input is great. Cheers, kev