Full story:
Running May Be Harmful to Your Heart
Running May Be Harmful to Your Heart
By Lisa Collier Cool
Nov 30, 2012
Running, long considered a healthy hobby, may actually be dangerous for some. At least that’s the prevailing opinion of a number of the country’s top cardiologists and a new study due out next month from British journal Heart...
According to James H. O’Keefe, M.D. of the Mid-America Heart Institute of Kansas City, who co-authored an extensive 2012 study that examined the cardiac risks faced by athletes: “Physical exercise, though not a drug, possesses many traits of a powerful pharmacologic agent. A safe upper dose limit potentially exists, beyond which the adverse effects of physical exercise, such as musculoskeletal trauma and cardiovascular stress, may outweigh its benefits.”
In short, exercise is great in small doses, but too much physical exertion too quickly or for too long a period can actually put a person’s heart at risk, especially if he or she is over age 35...
A quote from the study (linked in the box above):
"Emerging data suggest that chronic training for and competing in extreme endurance events such as marathons, ultramarathons, ironman distance triathlons, and very long distance bicycle races, can cause transient acute volume overload of the atria and right ventricle, with transient reductions in right ventricular ejection fraction and elevations of cardiac biomarkers, all of which return to normal within 1 week. Over months to years of repetitive injury, this process, in some individuals, may lead to patchy myocardial fibrosis, particularly in the atria, interventricular septum, and right ventricle, creating a substrate for atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. Additionally, long-term excessive sustained exercise may be associated with coronary artery calcification, diastolic dysfunction, and large-artery wall stiffening. However, this concept is still hypothetical and there is some inconsistency in the reported findings."
I read those links on Fort's blog too... I noticed they didn't mention anything about diet. I used to feel like I could eat anything and get away with it because my weight was held in check by 40-50 miles a week of running. In fact, you have to eat a ton just to avoid bonking every day... but it matters what you put in your body. Are high-mileage endurance athletes negating some of the effects of their cardiovascular fitness by overindulging, thus bringing them in line with their not-so-fit peers? Who knows... nothing about comparing diets in any of those studies.
Also, there's a big difference between training for a marathon or ultra and actually running competitively in one... running competitively in ultra events takes an enormous toll on the body. I wonder how different the results would look if they separated out groups by the frequency with which they competed (as opposed to the frequency with which they train). I always felt pretty good the day after a long training run, but might feel like crap for a week following a race.
I do wonder sometimes and actually have asked it on here. I wondered if you do extremely hard workouts(especially sprint work outs), if there is the danger of overdoing it because it sometimes feels like I just overdid it and might drop dead in the shower:D
Having said that, the fittest I ever was was my time as a bike messenger, cycling around 80-100 miles per day on a daily base. The first few weeks were tough until my body adapted and then I felt great. Even after 10 hours of cycling, I would take a coffee break and then hop back on my bike full of energy because I recovered much faster. That's when I realized that your body is capable of more than I imagined.
I can't say if cycling 10 hours per day or training really hard left some sort of scars or damaged my heart tho and if that was unhealthy. It does make me feel anxious when I think about the possibility but I tend to be a hypochondriac anyway:(
