Cardiac Swimmers

Recently rejoined USMS and this is my first blog posting. Hope I'm in the right area, Cardiac Swimmers? Age 69 and I've been swimming off and on for years. I quit for 25 years because of allergy to chlorine. Found a solution for that a few years ago, and slowly switched back from running to swimming. I was making great headway, reclaiming time and distance until March 21, 2016. I finished 2500 yards and had a heart attack in the last 25 yds. After some fumbling around, trying to figure out what was happening, finally ended up at a local Ohio State University Urgent Care and then to the emergency room within 25 minutes. Triple bypass surgery the next day. After a 12 week 2016 summer of cardiac rehab 3 times per week, I started getting back into swimming, very, very slowly, and tentatively since that is where it happened. Today, I am swimming 4000 to 9000 yards per week. Problem: I am much slower than before my Heart Incident. I am facing aging, of course. But, my heart is now clear from major blockages. I am just mystified and irritated that on 2000 yards, for example, my time is 5 to 7 minutes slower than before my heart incident. I'm just wondering if I can ever get back to where I was before my Heart Incident. I wonder if others have had a similar experience, or are aware of people with major heart incidents who have experienced such issues, or perhaps have even improved after major by-pass surgery. My surgeon did joke that I ought to be a faster swimmer since he has cleared my heart. I refer to it as a joke since it has not happened yet! Any thoughts or comments will be appreciated. Regardless of everything, I'll just keep swimming, working on distance, and also making some effort at pushing myself on short distances -- 50, 100, 200 etc. All of this has made some small difference in times. But, for now, I am kind of stuck at a much slower pace than before my Heart Incident. Thanks Skip Cornett Columbus, OH

Recently rejoined USMS and this is my first blog posting. Hope I'm in the right area, Cardiac Swimmers? Age 69 and I've been swimming off and on for years. I quit for 25 years because of allergy to chlorine. Found a solution for that a few years ago, and slowly switched back from running to swimming. I was making great headway, reclaiming time and distance until March 21, 2016. I finished 2500 yards and had a heart attack in the last 25 yds. After some fumbling around, trying to figure out what was happening, finally ended up at a local Ohio State University Urgent Care and then to the emergency room within 25 minutes. Triple bypass surgery the next day. After a 12 week 2016 summer of cardiac rehab 3 times per week, I started getting back into swimming, very, very slowly, and tentatively since that is where it happened. Today, I am swimming 4000 to 9000 yards per week. Problem: I am much slower than before my Heart Incident. I am facing aging, of course. But, my heart is now clear from major blockages. I am just mystified and irritated that on 2000 yards, for example, my time is 5 to 7 minutes slower than before my heart incident. I'm just wondering if I can ever get back to where I was before my Heart Incident. I wonder if others have had a similar experience, or are aware of people with major heart incidents who have experienced such issues, or perhaps have even improved after major by-pass surgery. My surgeon did joke that I ought to be a faster swimmer since he has cleared my heart. I refer to it as a joke since it has not happened yet! Any thoughts or comments will be appreciated. Regardless of everything, I'll just keep swimming, working on distance, and also making some effort at pushing myself on short distances -- 50, 100, 200 etc. All of this has made some small difference in times. But, for now, I am kind of stuck at a much slower pace than before my Heart Incident. Thanks Skip Cornett Columbus, OH