I had a search in the previous topics, I can see the posts are mostly a few years old now. I just saw this video from semi pro cycling and now I am wondering if the TR workouts allow enough recovery in the sessions to avoid the calcification. The problem is I don’t understand well enough what “recovery” looks like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNlbAV0szns “Open link in external tab”)NlbAV0szns
It is more complex than too much exercise = bad. It may even be a protective mechanism. Too many confounding variables to say for sure exactly what is causing what.
Your video link doesn’t work either.
Lots of papers to read where the scientists give their ideas on the mechanisms and what it means. I’d read from the source before worrying about a short Youtube video.
Agree with this!
In most people (ie, non-athletes), coronary artery calcification indicates “bad”. In endurance athletes, it can also indicate bad, but not always. If you read through the literature, cardiologist still say the rules for calcification can not be standardized for endurance athletes, and they are continuing to study it. Also, just because you have a coronary calcium score of zero does not mean you are automatically safe from coronary disease. it’s always important to review/discuss with your heart doc.
I had a coronary calcium score done, and mine was over 400. That put me in the bad 90th percentile for my age. Of course, I was concerned (as was my heart doc) so a multitude of tests were advised. Ended up having an echocardiogram done, and a treadmill stress test advised……had to cancel this test because of a calf strain. Ended up getting a CT angiography of my coronary arteries and they were 100% clear (no blockages).
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FWIW: My doc was trying to convince me to start a statin. My lipids were great and I was pretty reluctant so she had me do a coronary calcium scan. The report came back positive but stated I was better than 90% of the people in my cohort. I thought that was good but the doc said non-zero meant it had started and would only progress, so I started the statin. My lipids went from good to redonculous and I’ve noticed none of the notorious side effects.
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I was having some tightness in the chest on and off over the last 6+ months and some blood pressure spikes, so I finally went in to see a cardio doc about a month ago. Exercise didn’t induce it, so Dr. wasn’t too concerned, but I went ahead with ecocardiogram, calcium CT, and treadmill stress test. I do a ton of volume for my age, so was concerned about what damage I might be causing. Besides having enlarged chambers and abnormally high stroke volumes (classic athlete’s heart syndrome), everything else came back really good. There is some debate whether athlete’s heart syndrome is good/bad/indifferent, but the Dr. said keep doing whatever I’m doing. Even with zero calcium and pics off all the stuff around the heart, there is no guarantee there isn’t some blockage somewhere, but it’s supposedly very low risk based on the CT and the stress test was really good also. I just wish I had gone in earlier, but was never that bad and figured it was just like all the aches and pains as I age.
As for the chest tightness and blood pressure spikes, it’s looking like I may be dealing with Gastroesophageal reflux disease (Gerd). I’ve seen a gastro doc and they are going to do a scope down my throat to check things out, but it sounds like just something I need to manage. The CT I had done for my heart showed a small hiatal hernia (stomach pushing up into chest cavity), which is a contributor to GERD. The internet says that over 50% of people over 50 have hiatal hernias, so very common (if you believe the internet). It can be operated on if severe, but most people just manage the symptoms. And the internet also says that GERD is extremely common for endurance athletes, so I guess I’m not alone. I never really thought about the chest tightness being heart burn, it’s not something I’ve ever dealt with. I do notice that it’s triggered by all the sweet stuff I eat when training, so I’ve got to figure that out or just deal with the performance drop off. I’ve gone totally neurotic on my diet and timing of meals and that’s made it much better already. If that doesn’t work long term, I may have to go onto something like Prilosec, but hoping I can avoid medication.
Anyways, sorry for the long GERD tangent, but I thought it might help others since all these things seem like common issues for athletes.
And I think the discussion about how training might damage the cardiovascular system is really important. I’ve read quite a bit about it and my personal opinion is that doing anything more than 5-10 hours of endurance training a week is probably doing more harm than good when you pile more and more hours on. But even if you train 15+ hours per week and put unhealthy amounts of stress on your body, that is still much healthier than living a sedentary life, drinking, and eating like crap. Like anything, too much of a good thing can start moving things in the wrong direction. Afib is another concern that has strong links with heavy training. One challenge I had was finding a cardio dr. who has any knowledge of endurance training. I found a decent guy who is a runner, but he certainly doesn’t specialize in athletes or the issues that often come with that population.
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