Enke glad that you converted, definately have that checked to find out the source...A fib better than V fib.......When my milage gets up there I start to throw Preventricular Contractions (PVC's) which although can be quite alarming are totally benign and in my case a byproduct of being in good shape. I hope that it is the same with you a benign case of cardiac wireing that can be easily managed. I wish you well, but I would lay off running till your Physician gives you the thumbs up. My running day is just begining even though the rack spit me out at 5 am for no reason. Normally I sleep till the alarm says get up. Today I did push ups and abdominal exercises to pass the time. I will run 8 or 9 in a little bit on the treadmill. Even though it's not brutally cold here in Virginia, I still am going to take the treadmill. Take care all Karl

No running either since last week as I am officially on the DL and have been too blue to say much about that.

Oh Karin - so sorry to hear that, but hopefully it is something that will heal quickly. You are so right that we must remember the long view. If you are still not running when you come out to Dayton, no problem - we'll just get together for coffee, and/or breakfast. {{{quick healing hugs}}}

Enke—I feel your pain, panic, and everything else to go along with the joy of atrial fibrillation. And the first major attack scares the $hit out of you. My first major one happened to be while I was in Abu Dhabi doing a startup about 6 years ago. Under a lot of stress, which was greatly increased by being all by your self in a foreign country and wondering why your heart is trying to jump out of your chest. Fortunately I was very close to a very good hospital (oil money can be good for some things) and was able to see US trained cardiologist who got my fib shut down without having to get cardioverted (shocked) I’ve never had that, thank God. Since then, it’s been in pretty decent control with a couple of different meds. Most of the time I did the “pill in the pocket” method by having an anti-rhythmic to take when the a-fib started. It would generally clear within in a couple of hours. My episodes were getting to be more frequent (a natural progression, I guess) and over the past 5 months, I’ve been taking the same pills daily which had cut back the episodes dramatically. Two Sundays ago I started what I thought was another, so took the extra pills to make it go away and it didn’t. It's been around since then and I’ve had a couple of EKGs and a visit with my cardio since and I now have an additional atrial “flutter” to add to the fun. I’m now in line to get an atrial ablation on both sides to deal with both the flutter and the fib. I’m certainly no expert, but have lived with this for years and if you’d like any further opinions, info, or to commiserate on feeling like crap, I’d be happy to talk via e-mail if you don’t want to bore folks on the board. kameele at chi engineering (all one word) dot com. The (relative) good news is that this hasn’t affected my running in the past and my docs have encouraged me to continue. I’m hoping this works out for you too. It's a sucky feeling, but at least short term episodes are not terribly dangerous. Kevin

... Frank Shorter and many other top runners swore by doing tons of 400's so who am I to argue. The trick to that workout however is to not do them at such a fast pace, and keep the recovery short. This is why I asked busiman last night to talk more about his workout, and I'll post some comments about that workout and yours later today. ... Spareribs

As always I'd be interested in any sage feedback on intervals. I typically do intervals with the team. We do a warm up, 4 miles of intervals, then cool down. The intervals are usually 800-1200 and run at 5k pace or 'slightly' under. When running 800s I'll be in the 2:45-2:50 range, where 5K pace would be 2:58. I work mostly on staying relaxed and keeping the best form I can. If I think form is getting sloppy I slow down. The rest period is a percentage of the time of the interval 800s are 90 seconds. For speed work of 1400 - 3200 we do similar things but at 10k pace.

. . . but about these firemen . . .

That was kind of the silver lining, being surrounded by 4 healthy, handsome and charming men. And they seemed to know more about what was going on than the doctors. Stumpy, I will email you once I get some results. Sorry to hear that your a fib has been worse. I read the newbie thread before I posted today to hear your story. I am sure you will feel so much better after the surgery. Hang in there. I'm feeling better than last night. I was late getting the kids to the bus and we all had to run there, which was the last thing I thought I should do...but everything was fine. I wonder if I'll be allowed to do intervals again....too bad, I really enjoyed the speed. Tim - I had panic attacks for about a year, long time ago, and "mind over matter" got over them. Glad they could never find anything wrong with your pounding heart. Thanks everyone.

There's too many people needing healing wishes and support on this thread today. Enke - that must have been a frightening experience. I'm glad you're okay and please take it easy until you get the green light from your docs. Cranium - any news about your dad? Good luck. Karin - I hope your time on the DL is brief. It's so great to see you post every now and then. Dg - regarding core exercises: Runner's World Magazine has a great piece on it in their February issue. You might want to check it out.

Wow, Enke....I'm glad you got to the dr. right away and are now OK.!....get it all check out and once you get the OK from the cardiologist, we've a runnning date pending!!! We've got a good friend who is a cardiologist at Overlake, email me if you want his name. 5 slow miles for me today......grey PNW day... Frncesca

Wednesday - 4.02 easy miles - 34:03 - (8:29) - 14 degrees, breezy and partly cloudy 8:27 - 8:29 - 8:29 - 8:27 - :11