So here's what happened. Today I went for a nice 230km ride, not the first one and almost certainly not the last. The thing was, at Brunswick Heads on about 130km I paused at the local bakery for some refreshments, a couple of bread rolls and a drink, the same as I always do. Shortly after this, while riding out of Brunswick Heads on a totally flat road with a tailwind I suddenly felt my heart-rate go really high, I mean to dangerous levels. I didn't look at a HRM (I don't have one) and I didn't need to, I could literally feel it in my chest.

At that moment I came to a complete stop and pulled off the road immediately, having absolutely no idea what was going on. A few seconds later, I had calmed down and was able to continue on and complete the ride as normal (albeit a little cautiously).

At this stage I have no idea what happened or how. I do know of the effects that heat can have on one's heart rate, but the massive southerly wind kept today's temperatures well down for this time of year, and it couldn't have been more than about 28 C. At the time it happened I certainly wasn't working overly hard (and nowhere near as hard as I had worked going against the wind earlier).

Could it be something as simple as what I ate, or might there be more to it than this?

I'm not sure, but I guess it should be fine. It's like sometimes when I'm doing something, suddenly I can feel my heart like beating out of my chest or something. Shortly afterwards, it returns. If there's something wrong about it, someone please reply to this question. I always took it lightly, tell me now whether I have to worry.

Chris If you think it was serious enough check with a doctor who you can explain all the details to and get an expert opinion.In addition you may want to read that article on carbs I previously linked because it went into a lot of the micro details of carbs and their effects on blood vessels ,the heart etc. which to tell you the truth I can't recall. Not trying to scare you but I do recall it saying heart attacks frequently occured after high carb meals and it went on to describe the effects of carbs that would explain this so you may want to read that part in particular .My other recommendation as that is quite a long ride you may want to add more fats and at least some protein in with the carbs and consider a few smaller such snacks rather than one larger meal if you are not already doing this.This will help you burn your more extensive fat stores for energy in addition to relying to much on limited carb stores which should improve endurance and should help moderate any negative effects eating just carbs could be having on your blood vessels,heart etc.For instance nuts are often a good endurance energy source to include with dried fruit (sugar) on long bike rides.Or you may want to add some butter(not margerine) on your rolls and avoid sugary or caffienated (as I have heard of stimulants like caffiene causing elevated,irregular heartbeat which is what this may be as well)drinks in favor of water.

Thanks RWTD. The water issue was a factor on today's ride. There are certain places that I normally re-fill the water bottles and usually drink some extra water, but I couldn't today because they've all run dry (see any one of my posts on the drought). I did buy some bottled water to keep something in the water bottles, but I also bought a few other drinks while I was there. I'm also now suspecting that I might be coming down with an illness of some kind - maybe this was what caused it? I don't know. Maybe I'll take some dried fruit with me next time.

Oxologic - I've had elevated heart-rate before, especially on really hot days, but this was unlike anything I've had before. It felt almost painful, and I was worried that if I didn't stop right then I could have done myself some serious damage. Today was a relatively cool day by our standards, and this was possibly the least intense part of the whole ride!

I would think if it was dehydration or illness/fever you would have had more long lasting symptoms.The rapid elevated heart rate and then back to normal leads me to believe it may be either stimulants and/or sugar but I am no expert.What were the drinks besides water your refering to .

I bought a bottle of sports drink with the bread rolls at Brunswick Heads. I also got some mineral water later when I bought the bottled water to refill. That, however, was not followed by any problems.

Check the label of the sports drink for stimulants such as caffiene(guarana),ephedrine(ma haung) or the like as combined with high exertion this would be a likely cause of a "racing" heart sensation.If no stimulants were involved like I suggested before try smaller more balanced snacks.Did you have any other signs of dehydration such as dry mouth, undiluted urine or fatigue .

To me it sounds like PSVT or Paroxysmal Supra Ventricular Tachycardia. It's an extremely rapid heart rate caused by the normal heart pacemaker or other areas of the upper chambers of the heart pacing the heart as well. The Paroxysmal part means that it suddenly starts and stops. This can be normal for some people who live with it every day, but control it with medications. It does not imply any type of heart problems. You should talk to your doctor about it. I believe calcium channel blockers are the normal treatment if any is required. With it being an isolated event, I don't think any medications would begiven, but I can't guarantee that. I'm sure an EKG and some blood tests will be in order. Hope this helps.

There's something more to this yet. Today I was slightly short of breath for the second half of my commute home (with a tailwind no less!). I'm still feeling tired now. My throat has also been sore. I've booked an appointment with the doc and plan on taking a day off work tomorrow. My mother informs me that there is some glandular fever going around at the moment. It's not something I intend taking any risks with.

Chris L,
that is a wise decision you can have, go see a doctor, you don't play around with your health. hope everything will be alright,
oscar

Chris,

I would bet dollars to doughnuts that the cause is
the sore throat and the oncoming virus.
Funny how you can be sick for days before you have
any recognizable symptoms. I'm thinking that the
exertion of your 230km ride took its toll, your body
was fighting this virus (unbeknownst to you) and something
had to give.
I think that seeing the doctor won't hurt, at the
least it will give you some peace of mind.

Marty

Chris,

With all due resect to forum members, please do not rely on BF for medical advice. We all try to help, but if our advice postpones a needed doctor visit, you could be in deep trouble.

When it comes to matters of the heart (the physical ones) go to the doctor and report your experience on the BF.

Woody

That's OK. I booked the appointment when the symptoms didn't clear up within a day. I'll be seeing the doc this afternoon. Unfortunately it also means a day without riding.

Chris,

It may be something similar to what I had. I was diagnosed with AV Node Reentrant Tachycardia (AVNRT). My symptoms were a high heart rate (over 200bpm) that came on at random. The symptoms progressively got worse and eventually I was able to identify triggers that would start it. Simple things like bending over would do it. There are a couple of things that you can do to stop it. Rubbing the arteries in the neck or bearing down like a bowel movement will usually stop it. I eventually had catheter ablation therapy that cured the problem.

The bright side: it usually isn't life threatening. Just a bother. There are a couple other versions of the problem that can be life thretening. There is a version called WPW (Wolfe Parkenson White) that can be fatal. There are new medical proceedures that can eliminate the problem. They use a catheter and go through the veins and arteries in you legs. It is an outpatient suregery. I was home by end of day. The recovery is only a few days.

There is plenty of info on the net.

If you don't have this medical condition the above mentoned procedure can actually trigger a heart attack! Don't do this just to see what happens!

At this stage the doc says to keep an eye on it and see if any symptoms develop further. The sore throat I had earlier seems to have cleared up for the moment at least. I'm now beginning to think it was more likely to have been something I ate/drank. Guess I'll be sticking to the mineral water in future.

Chris The fatigue and fever you describe could have been brought on by "overtraining" which tends to weaken your immune system leaving it vulnerable to the above.Long rides like that are nothing to take lightly and proper rest and nutrition to recover are important.When I experience overtraining I encounter lack of appetite ,insomnia and fatigue and try to back off before the first hint of a flu/virus at which point I will definately back off on my training routine if I haven't already .As I include weights as well I have to be particularly careful of this.However I have never heard of the elevated heartrate you mentioned being associated with this so it was smart to have that checked out and monitored by a professional.FWIW that article I mentioned previously also said that sugar was known to weaken the immune system so that might be another reason to balance out your meals and not ingest large amount of sugar at one sitting on long rides like this where overtraining could be an issue.

Unfortunately insomnia would have been difficult to spot. I never get that much sleep during a Queensland summer at the best of times. However, your point on overtraining is taken. I didn't ride at all today, so if that was the problem it should be better tomorrow (I hope).