Passing out

Racing season must be officially here because I've been getting dizzy spells from standing up too quickly. The usual run of the mill dizzy spell occurs when I'm kicking it on the couch watching TV and stand up to go to the kitchen. I usually get a couple of steps before I realize I'm blacking out. My knees start wobbling and nocking and my whole body sort of shakes as I'm about to pass out. Kind of scary, but it actually feels sort of good. Kind of how you feel when you sneeze. I've never passed out... until this week.

Couple nights ago, I got off the couch with my 5-year old Spencer hanging on my back. He wanted to go wrestle on the bed as per usual. I got to the doorway of the kitchen and realized I was going wobbly. "Uh oh, this is not a good time with the boy on my back" I thought.

Brain to heart (use your Star Trek voices): "Scotty, I need more blood up here"
Heart: "I'm givin er all I can Cap'n. Yer didn tell me yer was gettin up naw did ya."

I grabed hold of the doorway hoping the heart would deliver before I buckled. Next, I heard myself say "Spencer, please get off my back. You're hurting my back." with my eyes shut and a little confused. I thought I was still standing but when my vision returned I was looking at the kitchen tile floor only inches from my face. Spencer was crying and actually 10 feet away already looking for a hug from Mama.

These usually aren't the kind of things I tell my Mom about 'cause... well you know how Mom's are. I told her today just to test her reactions. It was typical: "You need to go to the doctor immediately". "It might be low blood pressure". "You might be diabetic". "Go get it checked out".

"No" I tell her. I won't go to a doctor. It's from riding so much. I just stood up too fast. A little googling confirms it's normal for a trained athlete (I even saw a note that cyclists, rowers, and cross-country skiers typically have the largest hearts from their training - two of the sports I've done consitently for 20 years). The info I saw says anything below 60 bpm is abnormal except for trained athletes. I'm at 54 right now, caffeine and all in the middle of the day. I'm not anal enough to check my resting heart rate daily, as some coaches have insisted, but I figure it's around 37. So what are you all at? OV, you're resting HR is probably 12... although I've generally observed the smaller the person the faster the HR, kind of like humming birds. So maybe you won't win this race.

Anyway, me and Spencer, we're both ok.