Unpopular opinion: it's not worth the health risks to train seriously for 20+ years

Fine. I’ve seen studies that point to such risks, and I’ve seen other studies that either dispute that point mildly or at least suggest that the findings are not strong enough and warrant further study.

Have you made a very wide ranging survey of the literature on this topic?

Are you:

1. Methodically working from a rationale for accepting the results of some studies but rejecting those of others? if so, what is your line of thinking on this?

2. Merely erring on the side of caution? Ie., you may not be able to say why the less optimistic studies about endurance exercise are right, but you just find it beneficial to give them greater weight.

3. Thinking about this in some other way I haven’t considered?

Mainly #2. I'm no cardiologist or PhD, but I know 6 people of similar ages and lifestyles with cardiovascular problems. 3 of them are people with a long history of endurance exercise, while the other 3 are mainly sedentary, aside from an occasional short weekend hike or swim.

Problem is, most of the people I know are sedentary folks and not long-term endurance athletes, which means that long-term endurance athletes are more likely to have heart problems. Since that didn't make sense and since my sample size was small, I did some research.

It turns out that if you plot the amount of weekly exercise on the x-axis and the likelihood of heart problems on the y-axis, you get something like a reverse J-curve for heart disease mortality and a U-curve for non-lethal heart problems. The completely sedentary guys have the greatest risk, but the occasional weekend warriors are better off than those who've done strenuous training for multiple decades.

Good PhD project for someone.

Most lifelong runners I know have enjoyed long term health benefits.

My guess would be that the negatives affect only a small percentage of runners.

Worrying about it is like not going to the beach because of sharks.

Does jogging 9 minute miles help?

I jog 30 miles real slow every week, do a workout and 17:30 is 5k.

1) Older people develop health problems regardless of whether or not they trained seriously for any period of time.

2) "Leathery, wrinkled faces and hands" would seem to suggest sun damage. Not directly related to training but rather to lack of proper skin protection while training.

3) It seems unlikely that 2+ decades of intense training wears down muscles, joints and tendons when those same 2+ decades of intense training are specifically designed to build up muscles, joints and tendons.

You're probably right to some degree. There's a bunch of studies on this, and it's tough to say really that anything is unanimous.

I think there's a lot of omitted variables in here that also explain a few of these things:

worse skin -> outside more than not, not using adequate skin care

master runners being newer runners -> elite runners in their prime do not want to compete when they are physically deteriorating

heart conditions -> proven, but there's a lot of studies showing that running long distance is good for your heart.

I think the real answer lies somewhere in between. Personally I would prefer to be in really good shape at 20 and 30 than at 60, but whatever.

Did you literally skip the first sentence of their post?

What is the definition of “training seriously?” I’ve trained “consistently” for the past 50 years and feel great. Mid 60’s and still putting in 30 miles per week with one medium/hard effort. 87,000+ lifetime miles.

Generally an average of 1 hour of moderate training or half an hour of intense training a day.

If you run 4-5 miles a day at 8-9 min/mile pace from Monday-Friday and race a 5K on Saturday, you'll be fine. But if you train like a typical college runner with 70+ miles and 2-3 hard workouts each week, you'll almost certainly regret it if you keep doing that for 20+ years.

Nonsense. Everything you're saying is nonsense.

There have been studies. Exercise is good for you at any age. That "J-curve" and "U-curve" you're claiming don't exist. There are a number of quacks and charlatans who have promoted that idea, but they don't have numbers to back it up. Overtraining isn't good and it's up to people to figure out where the border is, but serious training is good for you.

outsideonline.com

There’s Finally Heart Health Data on Extreme Exercise

mmirhashem

A new analysis tracks people doing 35 hours of exercise per week for a decade, and finds no evidence of heart risks

Open link

This is basically a twist on the aged old running is bad for your knees saying. Yeah, there have been runners with knee problems but there have been plenty of other folks that never have run a step in their lives that develop knee problems. Basically, genetics.

Dummy! He said this was his observations, not a scientific study. Don’t take it personally.

I wonder if some of the health problems can be attributed to heavy ingestion of processed carbohydrates and sugar, with less in the way of healthy fat and protein.

First and foremost, hobby distance runners are losers. It’s at least understandable if the running is providing a half decent income, but most runners on this site are just losers running day in and out for no purpose at all, all while risking acute injuries and longterm overtraining impact.

Death is a certainty for all. Pursuing passion for running has rewards beyond being comfortable in your waning years. Do not go gentle into that good night!

I am going to run the living $hit out of my body until it won't go any longer. The pain in hips, knees and back let me know I'm alive and not a fat pu$$y eating chips at the TV or playing slots. And guess what? When I can't run any longer, I'll find another way to push my physical limits.

#2 is silly; I’d consider the sun exposure as a direct effect of training.

#3 is silly because most everything in the body works on the Goldilocks principle: too much of a good thing is bad.

I see that you are not disagreeing with anything I actually said.

I disagree with your worldview and belittling the integrity of jobby hoggers, sub 3:07 ‘Thon wannabes, Pure Hate channelers, and holy grail seekers of the perfect race.

Shame on you for trying to turn the noble pursuit of personal athletic excellence into something to be laughed at. You sir, are a joyless unhappy clam stuck in the sand jealous of the dolphins who swim freely above you in the glittering sea. So Sad!