Only one marathon in a lifetime

See article below.  Should I pack in now I have done one marathon?  I was hoping to make this a bi-annual event but not sure I want to "speed one's progress towards the ???nish line of life"

 

Running too many marathons in a lifetime could be dangerous for the heart and lead to an early death, U.S. medical researchers said.

The heart is only designed for "short bursts" of intense activity, a study by Dr. James O'Keefe and Carl Lavie of St. Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo., and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., found.

Marathon running forces the heart to pump massive amounts of blood for hours at a time, leading to overstretching of the heart's chambers, thickening of its walls and changes to electrical signaling, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.

"In addition, long-term excessive exercise may accelerate aging in the heart, as evidenced by increased coronary artery calci???cation, diastolic ventricular dysfunctio, and large-artery wall stiffening," the researchers wrote in their report published in the journal Heart. "... Running too fast, too far and for too many years may speed one's progress towards the ???nish line of life."

The damage caused by a marathon will rapidly heal, though repeated endurance exercise can lead to scarring, The Independent reported.

"If one really wants to do a marathon or full-distance triathlon ... it may be best to do just one or a few and then proceed to safer and healthier exercise patterns," the researchers said.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2012/11/30/Study-Too-many-marathons-can-kill/UPI-28821354279401/#ixzz2EMwQdZMw

Comments

  • I haven't done any research at all - but I can't help thinking this is a pile fo cr*p - Pat Dobbs of Thurrock harriers comes to mind, Pat is 74 and is an member of the ever decreasing number of runners who have taken part in the London Marathon,  Chris Finil who has run all of them under 3 hours -

  • i would say those that just do one are at the most dangerous group...........because if you have an unknown condition then it is likely to be stressed that first attempt..........

    there are so mmany people who are in the 100 club........people have done over 500 and looking mighty good for their age.......

  • I don't have any evidence to back this up, but I'm sure that life is bad for you. Did you know that apart from a few billion people currenly on Earth, every other human being has died? So it seems that the longer ago you were born, the more likely life is to kill you. It's the same with running. The only way to ensure you don't get a running injury is to never runimage Or maybe we just live life and run because we enjoy it.

  • Gul Darr wrote (see)

    I don't have any evidence to back this up, but I'm sure that life is bad for you. Did you know that apart from a few billion people currenly on Earth, every other human being has died? So it seems that the longer ago you were born, the more likely life is to kill you. It's the same with running. The only way to ensure you don't get a running injury is to never runimage Or maybe we just live life and run because we enjoy it.

    I love your comment! image

  • Where does Fauja Singh fit into this doctor's theory?

  • Ajax, the same thought occurred to me too!

  • Maybe we should just wrap ourselves up in cotton wool, stay inside incase we get hit by a bus and not eat nutsimage

    Or we could just do what we enjoy the most and live life to the full! image

  • In answer to the original question, take it with a pinch of salt as all forms of exercise carries risks but so does (and even more so) a sedentary lifestyle. I've been road running for well over a quarter of a century & read plenty of running & medical literature & news; to date I'm not aware of a significantly higher than any other way of life mortality rate amongst marathon runners. The body has an amazing ability to respond to stress - that's why we get fitter the more we run; muscles develop in size if we weight train; bones get denser with impact exercise etc. My own theory is that marathon running is more likely to prolong life. I may be wrong but hey ho! So might this doctor

  • This a quote from Dr. James O'Keefe in exactly the same study:  "Lifelong vigorous exercisers generally have low mortality and disability rates and excellent functional capacity.... Further investigation is needed to identify who is at risk for adverse cardiovascular remodeling, and to formulate physical fitness regimens for conferring optimal cardiovascular health and longevity".   Of course newspapers wouldn't bother printing the above because it gets in the way of there sensationist headlines!

    Generally, all epidemlogical health study stats show a inverse bell-curve of mortality rates when looking at exercise duration/frequency.  ie. Too little or too much is bad for you, somewhere in the middle is best.  Kind of obvious really!

    What the 'middle' is will vary for person to person so you have to listen to your body. But if you train wisely, one or two marathons a year should'nt be a problem, one or two a day might eventually kill you!

  • I can't see anywhere where a Kansas doctor says that more than one marathon is bad for you.

  • Thanks for the responses.  Runners therapist in particular - I guess I should not be surprised by the selective media - I see you are in Bucks - maybe see you at the Pednor 10 later this month.

    I am going to keeprunning -  Brighton Marathon in the Spring!

     

  • FWIW, I've been asked to back off by the cardiologist, no more full distance attempts, no more flat out. Enlarged atrium as evidenced on the echo is a likely byproduct of training, long distance training. In itself, that may not be so bad but enlarged atria are more prone to AF, which then moves into possible stroke territory and my July "flame out". I have to "detrain", (which is sending me up the wall BTW). If the AF doesn't go away, then a catheter ablation is next on the list and frying time in the heart chambers. On the plus side, 10K and halves are fine, as is a sprint tri and probably the odd Oly (might try and sneak a cheeky half IM in there too.)

    And just for info, the cardio is a half decent marathon runner. Think I'll listen to him. I'm early 50's and completely sedentary and all the bad stuff till 7 years ago.

    But different people are different!

  • Dustboy, by detrain do you mean temporarily stop altogether? That's what I use the word to mean. Hope you don't have to have an ablation. I was told not to race again any distance but made it clear that I was likely to carry on and my consultant is getting used to it now. Of course, I would not encourage anyone else to emulate me image

  • No, not stop, reduce JV. 5K parkrun is fine, as is a Sunday morning 10K romp, plus a 25 mile bike etc but no hammer down stuff and no 20 mile runs/75 mile bikes etc. Basically, try and shrink the heart back a bit so it's not so prone to AF.

    Oddly enough, done zero for two weeks, had a 24/7 hacking cough but it does seem to be easing slightly now. Put on half a stone.

    I don't think I could stick to stop completely. 

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