FORMER world triathlon champion Emma Carney has been warned not to push herself in competition after she suffering a heart scare
Three years ago Carney was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia — a condition that causes the heart to accelerate to abnormally high levels — and had a defibrillator implanted.
Despite being advised she would never exercise again, Carney, 36, could not accept a life without sporting challenges and was keen to complete the 299km Melbourne-to-Warrnambool.
On Saturday she was 20km into the race when she had to slow down to negotiate some cyclists who had crashed.
Momentarily forgetting her heart condition, Carney went into race mode and attempted to chase down the leading pack.
“I got held up and my reaction was to chase the lead pack,” Carney said. “I didn’t think about my heart condition.”
Just as Carney caught the front group her defibrillator went off, restoring a normal heartbeat via electric shock. “I thought, ‘S—, I better pull over’,” she said.
“My defibrillator went off again and I’m sitting on the side of the road in Werribee thinking, ‘I wish I was normal, why am I doing this? God, I’m an idiot’. Then the next day I’m back training again.”
Her cardiologist, Prof Richard Harper, said she pushed herself too hard and her heart responded by getting out of rhythm.
“She has damaged her heart from repeated over-training,” he said. “She was doing 10 to 16 triathlons a year, and she had an extremely rigorous training program.
“It’s possible to do too much training, and as a result of this, her heart can get out of rhythm.”
He advised Carney to enter fun bike events, or take up coaching.
“The problem with that, she says, is that the athletes don’t train hard enough,” he said.
Warned not to push herself too hard competing, Carney said: “The problem is that when they put a number on my back, I become a different person.”
Carney is training about three hours a day and hopes to contest a couple of Gatorade triathlon events this summer, despite Saturday’s scare.
Prof Harper has not met a more determined person: “She is in uncharted waters . . . considering the damage she’s done, I’m amazed she can do what she does.”
Throughout her ordeal Carney has sought to honour the memory of her sister Jane, who died of melanoma almost two years ago.
“I’ve seen how quickly life can be taken away with Jane. It’s such a fluke that I’m here and I’m alive,” she said.
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Hi,
I am a former elite level cyclist dealing with the same condition as Emma Carney. I have been successfully ablated (after 3 surgeries) and am riding again without VT. I also have a defibrillator just in case. My blog about my condition is http://v-tach.blogspot.com/
As someone who has successfully navigated through this condition I am happy to discuss my experiences with Emma or anyone else who is dealing with this.
Craig Cook
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