photo credit: Mariano Kamp
Stumptuous asks: Are triathletes healthy?
…endurance exercise. How much is too much? There is accumulating evidence that while some is good — say, a nice half-hour’s run outside on a sunny day — running marathons may not be the brightest idea for the average person.
The frequency of cardiac incidents (i.e. keeling over as the ticker goes on strike) decreases with some exercise, but increases with a lot of endurance exercise, as many unfortunate (and late) middle-aged marathoners who are myocardially infarcting all over the finish line can attest.
From my experience, a marathon is too much- for healthy reasons. Still, I’m glad I ran one. My comment at Stumptous:
I ran a marathon when I was 30. I trained well, didn’t overdo it, had a good run, was proud of my time. Afterwards, I became depressed for no discernible reason. I had heard people say that you can get depressed after a marathon because its a big let down after going for a goal- they say its psychological.
I didn’t think it was psychological.
I read a book called The Mood Cure, it recommends supplements including a lot of amino acids for depression. I followed the suggestions and felt better right away. SO, I really think that I became depressed because my body just broke down and used up too much of my own resources, so I didn’t have enough of the feel good chemicals that amino acids help create.
I really loved running as long as I did- especially when we ran 16 miles along the southern california coast during training. I felt strong, and good. But I do think, for me at least, marathon training was a luxury that cost my body rather than helping my body.
I could see myself doing a half marathon again, but a full marathon took too big a toll on my system.
On the other hand, my mom has run several ultra-marathons (50 miles) with seemingly no dire consequences except for black toe-nails.
Running a marathon was great for my can-do feeling. A couple things – it is important for me to run my own race and set my competitiveness aside – let people pass me and pass others as it feels right to my body. I think the marathoning did take its toll on my body – my feet seem to be flatter than they used to be, my knees are slightly painful when I walk down stairs, I’ve lost several toenails & all but one grew back normally – that one I re-lost while it was trying to grow back and it’s permanently thick. There are some yoga exercise that help with getting my feet back. Some old runners go into yoga because it can be a more balanced workout for the whole body. I ran with the dogs this a.m. – I still like running – I’m glad I can run – my knees don’t hurt when I’m running;-) I know some people are addicted to it – if they go too long they get sad and need the running to keep their mood boosted. I was down in the dumps when I started running – it really helped my mood – things that used to bug me didn’t bug me anymore.
I think I got a little post-bachelor degree depression – the goal was over. . . so, now what? I’ve heard astronauts get it – what could beat circling the Earth from Outer Space?
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A teenager who used to go to our church before moving to Georgia a couple years ago died from a heart attack while running. Article:
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/latest/lat_702145.shtml?v=1346
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/health/27well.html?_r=1
This article in the New York times suggests that humans are especially evolved for long-distance running.
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