Visit to the Doc

Alright, so I'm terrible at this.  I haven't posted since my last race, and here I am, posting my new race report.  I promise, I will try to get better at this.  I will make 2 posts tonight, and 1 more tomorrow.  It's a start, trying to make up for a month.


Alright, so here is a bit of a back story.  2 weeks ago, the week before my race, I did a mile swim at the Morrison Lake Regatta.  It was a good warm up for my race.  It went well.  I didn't really have a plan, a desired time, etc.  I didn't even know how long the swim actually was.  I decided just to go and swim, finish, and whatever happens happens.  Looking at a map afterwards, I estimate that it was about 1250m.  The swim went well, and I was the 3rd person out of the water, behind a real life swimmer, and someone who, this past weekend, completed a half Ironman.  My time was around 23'45", if I recall correctly.  Pretty uneventful swim.  What happened afterwards, however, caused some concern.


Like the week before my first race, coming out of the water, I got really light headed.  I managed to stay conscious, however I was very lightheaded and dizzy for a while.  I had some juice and a cookie after the swim, to see if it was a lack of energy, which it was not.  It just seemed to be that I got dizzy.


Fast forward to last Friday, the day before my race.  I was in Toronto, and my mom dragged me kicking and screaming to the doctor to ask about what it could possibly be.  At the walk in clinic, the doctor told me that she didn't know what it was, because there were many possibilities, but the only way to diagnose what it was was by elimination.  She suggested getting tests done.  A lot of tests.  EKG, ECG, Holter monitor, blood work for electrolytes, iron deficiency, vitamins, etc, ultrasounds of my heart, carotid artery and neck.  While she wasn't going to say what it was for sure, all of my other vitals were OK, and she said it was PROBABLY vasovagal, which is probably the least serious thing that it could be (not as good as "nothing is wrong with you", but not the end of the world).  Still, she suggested against doing anything that could prompt the response, or to do anything too strenuous until the tests are done.


I was absolutely devastated.  I had invested so much into it (physically, mentally, emotionally AND financially, even though it has only been a few months) that I couldn't imagine being told to not do it.  After a long, emotional discussion with my family, I decided that I was going to go against doctor's orders, and still race.  Find out how I did in the next post.