https://greghilton.co.uk/ photos, skiing, cycling, triathlon and tech en-gb https://greghilton.co.uk/understanding-beta-blocker-withdrawal-effects-adaptation/ https://greghilton.co.uk/understanding-beta-blocker-withdrawal-effects-adaptation/ Mon, 03 Aug 2026 11:37:10 +0000 I had a "touch up" ablation on 13th July 2026 and stopped bisoprolol on the 10th July. I was quite interested in how my body would adapt, I asked Gemini AI and was quite surprised and interested by the results, shared below. I did ensure it listed the articles it used at the bottom of this. Note that all the… https://greghilton.co.uk/one-year-mini-maze-anniversary-flutter/ https://greghilton.co.uk/one-year-mini-maze-anniversary-flutter/ Tue, 14 Jul 2026 16:02:56 +0000 All has been going very well, my AF burden has reduced from around 30-35% to less than 2%. I've been slowly building up my exercise, I did manage to return to hockey which was most enjoyable. I also got out on the bike in the recent dry spells, with some 40km routes, and since Dec I've been walking or running… https://greghilton.co.uk/4-month-update-post-mini-maze-heart-surgery-for-atrial-fibrillation/ https://greghilton.co.uk/4-month-update-post-mini-maze-heart-surgery-for-atrial-fibrillation/ Sat, 11 Oct 2025 11:03:42 +0000 So I'm just about 4 months post surgery so posting an update. Everything was going well, I came off most of the drugs and just stayed on bisoprolol 2.5mg twice a day. I started walking on the 23rd June, two weeks post surgery., with a gentle 700m stroll to the local shop and back. I did reduce the bisoprolol dosage… https://greghilton.co.uk/exercising-with-a-beta-blocker/ https://greghilton.co.uk/exercising-with-a-beta-blocker/ Fri, 29 Aug 2025 16:19:28 +0000 So after stopping flecaininde as detailed in part 3 I continued to enjoy sport. I ran, did some parkruns, used TrainerRoad and Zwift for cycling as well as the "fine weather" cycling outdoors. I continued to play hockey and was fortunate enough to be selected for the Yorkshire and North East O50 and O55 regional masters squads which was very… https://greghilton.co.uk/now-the-drugs-dont-work-they-just-make-you-worse/ https://greghilton.co.uk/now-the-drugs-dont-work-they-just-make-you-worse/ Fri, 29 Aug 2025 16:18:56 +0000 Since my ablation in 2019 I stopped competing and training for triathlon and knocked everything back loads. Please note that what I say in this article is not medical advice on reducing or stopping any drugs you have been prescribed. I am simply recounting what happened with me. Around Oct 21 I noticed arrhythmias, looking back on my notes it… https://greghilton.co.uk/atrial-fibrillation-the-good-years/ https://greghilton.co.uk/atrial-fibrillation-the-good-years/ Fri, 29 Aug 2025 16:02:43 +0000 Post my 2nd ablation in September 2019 I weaned off the drugs by the end of Oct 2019 and slowly built-up exercising. My first activity 3 weeks post ablation was a 30 minute Zwift gentle spin, my HR max was 106bpm. I built up through October and started playing hockey again in November and continued to build up exercise. Looking… https://greghilton.co.uk/overcoming-atrial-fibrillation-mini-maze-procedure-and-recovery/ https://greghilton.co.uk/overcoming-atrial-fibrillation-mini-maze-procedure-and-recovery/ Mon, 18 Aug 2025 12:09:49 +0000 This is a major update since my first post here, I'll backfill the years in between and update the links. At the end of 2024 and into 2025 I was getting more and more episodes of Atrial Fibrillation (afib). Some episodes were were lasting longer and longer. I discussed many drugs options with the arrhythmia nurses in Leeds, but they… https://greghilton.co.uk/atrial-fibrillation-and-endurance-athletes/ https://greghilton.co.uk/atrial-fibrillation-and-endurance-athletes/ Wed, 30 Jul 2025 17:12:05 +0000 I've been on the Atrial fibrillation journey since 2018, and have learnt a lot so thought I'd best start writing some things down to try and help anyone else. It's often quite a frightening thing to discover when first diagnosed. I've always exercised throughout my entire life, I was doing day trips out cycling from the age of 17 onwards… https://greghilton.co.uk/skiing-snowboarding-in-england/ https://greghilton.co.uk/skiing-snowboarding-in-england/ Mon, 19 Oct 2020 11:44:32 +0000 There are a fair few areas within the UK that have lifts and run when they have snow and volunteers! The ones I know about are below, with the info taken from their webpages. Yad Moss THE SNOW Being England, the snow at Yad Moss is unpredictable and the amount of skiing we get varies every year. We have to… https://greghilton.co.uk/connect-macbook-pro-to-costa-o2-wifi/ https://greghilton.co.uk/connect-macbook-pro-to-costa-o2-wifi/ Wed, 26 Aug 2020 08:42:23 +0000 I recently had issues connecting my Macbook to the free wifi in Costa. I tried wifi diags, rebooting and nothing worked. It connected but never bought up the validation page. I had custom DNS servers set up and by clearing all those it then worked and allowed me to authenticate and connect. https://greghilton.co.uk/apple-watch-marathon-and-long-distance-walking-battery-life/ https://greghilton.co.uk/apple-watch-marathon-and-long-distance-walking-battery-life/ Mon, 17 Aug 2020 14:53:10 +0000 I recently walked the Yorkshire 3 peaks, running the Workoutdoors app to provide the route. I was very pleasantly surprised to end the walk with 37% battery left after being out in the Dales for 10hrs and 20 minutes! I had my phone with my the whole time, so the watch was offloading GPS to that and had it also… https://greghilton.co.uk/apple-watch-5-heart-rate-in-cold-weather/ https://greghilton.co.uk/apple-watch-5-heart-rate-in-cold-weather/ Sun, 26 Jan 2020 22:32:02 +0000 I’ve been using the Apple Watch series 5 now for a few months and heart accuracy has definitely dipped during colder runs. Sadly I no longer trust it during the winter. The picture below shows the first 7km of a run with the Apple Watch recoding HR (as my wife’s device grabbed my external Polar OH1) and then a huge… https://greghilton.co.uk/skiing-with-the-apple-watch-5/ https://greghilton.co.uk/skiing-with-the-apple-watch-5/ Mon, 23 Dec 2019 16:55:11 +0000 Another tick in the box for the Apple Watch 5 after moving away from a Garmin 945 as it performed very well whilst skiing over the past 2 days. Battery usage for 6 hours skiing was only 40%, using the Ski Tracks app. Everything worked fine, it updated Apple Health (and the all important activity rings) and using Healthfit I… https://greghilton.co.uk/apple-watch-5-heart-rate-whilst-running/ https://greghilton.co.uk/apple-watch-5-heart-rate-whilst-running/ Thu, 19 Dec 2019 19:08:12 +0000 So all in all my switch from a host of Garmin watches to an Apple Watch has mostly been a good experience. Apart from heart rate whilst running. It seems very susceptible to dropping the heart rate or not picking it up correctly at all as the below two screenshots show. I’m hoping the recent update to WatchOS 6.1.1 has… https://greghilton.co.uk/workoutdoors-tips/ https://greghilton.co.uk/workoutdoors-tips/ Sat, 09 Nov 2019 12:03:58 +0000 Since moving from a Garmin 945 to an Apple Watch 5, I've been using WorkOutdoors as my goto GPS app. The more I use and learn about it the more impressed I am! I noted a few tips within this macrumors forum thread, so wanted to note them down for my own reference! Hopefully others may find the tips useful.… https://greghilton.co.uk/apple-watch-5-gps-accuracy/ https://greghilton.co.uk/apple-watch-5-gps-accuracy/ Thu, 07 Nov 2019 20:39:12 +0000 I’ve been using WorkOutDoors as my goto GPS app and used it walking the dogs tonight. Zooming in and I’m really impressed, it shows the exact moment I crossed the road, and then where my dogs went to a grass verge to sniff around and do their business! I then went back to the opposite side of the road which… https://greghilton.co.uk/full-rainbow/ https://greghilton.co.uk/full-rainbow/ Tue, 08 Oct 2019 12:06:01 +0000 https://greghilton.co.uk/the-end-of-the-rainbow/ https://greghilton.co.uk/the-end-of-the-rainbow/ Tue, 08 Oct 2019 11:41:18 +0000 https://greghilton.co.uk/apple-watch-ecg-vs-alivecor-kardiamobile/ https://greghilton.co.uk/apple-watch-ecg-vs-alivecor-kardiamobile/ Sat, 28 Sep 2019 10:00:02 +0000 In a view to simplifying what I carry around I am wanting to see if the Apple Watch ECG is good enough to check if my heart is in sinus rhythm after a catheter ablation to try and cure my atrial fibrillation. The first few ECGs I've take look pretty promising. I'm not looking for detailed ECG analysis, just wanting… https://greghilton.co.uk/moving-from-garmin-to-apple-watch/ https://greghilton.co.uk/moving-from-garmin-to-apple-watch/ Fri, 27 Sep 2019 12:34:31 +0000 I've been using Garmin watches for triathlon and training for a number of years. I started with the Forerunner 735 which was great and had no issues at all. My issues started when I upgrade to a Forerunner 935, I had to return that unit 4 times, twice due to a faulty barometer, twice due to a cracked heart rate…