ENGINE CHECK
MY CARDIAC JOURNEY & WHAT COMES NEXT
THE WAKE-UP CALL
Racing has a way of revealing what’s beneath the surface — sometimes strength, sometimes imbalance.
At HYROX Toronto, what began as a promising race shifted quickly. Midway through, I felt a type of weakness I couldn’t run through. Not fatigue — something deeper. An unmistakable heaviness in my chest and a sudden lack of oxygen. By the lunges, my body gave a clear and undeniable message: stop.
The first-aid team was incredible. Calm. Precise. Professional. They stabilized me, called for transport, and later even stopped by the hospital to check in. In the middle of chaos, their presence was a reminder that compassion is its own form of strength.
INSIDE THE HOSPITAL
At Toronto Western, I underwent a full cardiac work-up to determine the source of the episode.
Key findings included:
Serial high-sensitivity Troponin I levels rising from 32 to 57 ng/L, confirming myocardial stress or injury (non-infarction pattern)
ECGs showing persistent sinus bradycardia (40–45 bpm) with a first-degree AV block and non-specific ST–T changes
A CT angiogram that ruled out aortic dissection and major vascular pathology
No evidence of obstructive coronary artery disease on imaging
Taken together, the pattern suggested non-ischemic myocardial stress rather than an acute heart attack.
After more than eight hours of monitoring, I stabilized enough to be discharged under strict instructions to follow up urgently with my doctor and cardiologist.
Initially, I felt improved — rest has that effect. But during the transition back to the hotel, through the airport, and on the flight home, the symptoms re-emerged. Even at rest, there was awareness — pressure, fatigue, a subtle warning that this was not resolved.
Stable didn’t mean solved.
It simply meant it was safe enough to leave the hospital.
And that’s where the real investigation began.
THE DEEP DIVE
Once home, I laid out every piece of this puzzle — scans, labs, ECGs, hospital notes — and reviewed the full history of my cardiac episodes.
When I walked into my doctor’s office with a full folder, I joked that he’d better buckle up. And to his credit, he did.
Together, we built a complete timeline, stretching all the way back to my first cardiac incident at Track Nationals in 2015.
2015 — The Index Episode
During Canadian Track Nationals, I experienced sudden chest pain, shortness of breath, and weakness. I was evaluated in hospital and diagnosed with pericardial inflammation (likely viral or inflammatory in nature). The pain resolved with rest and anti-inflammatory therapy.
At the time, it felt like an isolated event.
Looking back, it wasn’t.
2016–2024 — RECURRENT EPISODES
Over the following years, I experienced multiple exertional events during hard racing or intense efforts — chest tightness, breathlessness, and a transient sense of cardiac weakness.
These episodes typically resolved with rest, and I often wrote them off as overexertion, dehydration, or accumulated fatigue. No formal workup followed at the time. In hindsight, these may have represented smaller flares of the same underlying process.
2022–2025 — OBJECTIVE FINDINGS EMERGE
More recent investigations began to paint a clearer clinical picture:
Persistent sinus bradycardia
Development of a first-degree AV block and conduction slowing
Repeated low-grade troponin elevations following exertion
Mild global left ventricular hypokinesis
A trending ejection fraction between 39–48%
A myocardial flow reserve (MFR) of 1.28 on PET (normal >2.0), suggesting microvascular dysfunction
Importantly, both a 2024 angiogram and the 2025 CT angiogram confirmed no obstructive coronary artery disease.
These findings collectively point away from classic blockages and instead toward a chronic, non-ischemic process, most consistent with an inflammatory or microvascular cardiomyopathy / myocarditis-spectrum condition.
In simple terms: the heart muscle and its smallest vessels appear to be under long-term stress — not from blockage, but likely from inflammation or microvascular impairment.
With the Toronto episode, the threads finally lined up.
THE PATTERN
Across more than a decade, a consistent profile has formed:
Resting heart rates commonly 36–45 bpm
Progressive conduction delay (1st-degree AV block)
Recurrent troponin rises during exertion
Reduced myocardial flow reserve
Mild left ventricular dysfunction
No large-vessel coronary disease
This suggests a chronic, low-grade myocardial injury process, rather than an acute cardiovascular event.
The body hasn’t failed me.
It’s been trying to get my attention for years.
Now I’m finally listening.
THE NEXT STEP — CARDIAC MRI
I’m scheduled for a hospital-based cardiac MRI on July 7, 2026 — a scan that can finally identify tissue-level damage, inflammation, fibrosis, or scarring that other imaging can’t show.
With the recent event and compiled findings, my family physician has filed an expedited referral and placed me on the cancellation list in hopes that the test can be moved forward.
Until then, the plan is clear:
No racing
Zone 1 activity only (HR below ~110–115 bpm)
Gentle mobility + basic strength
Ongoing symptom tracking
Continued cardiology oversight
Periodic labs and ECGs as needed
It isn’t easy pressing pause — but real strength isn’t in pushing through.
It’s in listening early enough to still have a future to rebuild.
The work has shifted:
From performance → To precision
From output → To understanding
GRATITUDE
To the first responders at HYROX Toronto — thank you for your calm, professionalism, and compassion.
To my doctor — thank you for taking every data point seriously and helping build the full clinical picture.
And to everyone following along — if something feels off, don’t brush it aside.
Rest. Record. Report.
Precision saves lives. On the course and in life.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FOR ATHLETES
If this experience has reinforced anything, it’s this:
Symptoms are data, not weakness
Chest tightness, dizziness, breathlessness — these are signals, not challenges to “push through.”Documentation matters
Timelines, HR data, symptoms, recovery patterns — they give doctors clarity.Rest is also information
If symptoms resolve with recovery, that matters. It points to internal system stress, not just effort.Advocate for yourself
Bring organized summaries. Ask questions. Request second opinions if needed.
In heart health — just like racing — clarity determines outcome.
THE MISSION
This isn’t the end.
It’s a checkpoint.
The work ahead isn’t athletic — it’s diagnostic.
Every scan, every data point, every note brings me closer to understanding how to rebuild — not just as an athlete, but as a human.
The engine will run again.
Just not until it’s truly ready.
Mileage Game
Built for the long way around.