How much does smoking weed really affect your running?

What are these guys smokin' on? They "know" MJ smoke is carcinogenic, yet do not find any evidence supporting their claim? Seems like they're a bit biased- not a good thing for a researcher.

From the other article: "The authors explain that the impact of cannabis is strongly associated with the way in which it is smoked. It is usually smoked without a filter, and at a higher temperature."

I agree that the best way to smoke it is out of a bong (with ice in the ice-chamber), or vaporize it at a lower temperature. By the way, most vaporizers are are not 100% harm free to your lungs.

So why do some of you say I'm a troll? What does this mean? I'm a regular here on lets run and I am a runner.

What I pointed out alot of others have tried to verify what I have said. I'm an ex user....I smoked it for 19 years and drank more than I smoked but haven't done either in 13 years so I know the consequences. I went to a boot camp type of rehab and they got through to me.

just like I said in my last post some of you will defend it like I did untill the end.

Lawyers, thanks for making the point about vaporizers. I see so many posts about them here. Vaporizers may reduce the harm to lungs and other organs but they do not eliminate the damage by any means.

Regarding the research in general on Cannabis use, the reliable information is limited because of the obvious difficulty in pulling together a valid study of the use of an illegal substance with reliable study participants (i.e. credible reporters). The push for legalization of its use in some states has skewed many of the few studies that have been conducted. Current research in this field can be misleading.

OP, any chemical that alters brain functioning will restructure the way your brain works and make your thought processes less functional. This includes pot, alcohol, antidepressants, Ritalin, whatever. The more you use it, the more damage you will do. This will impact your life and your running.The longer you use it, the less reversible the effects will be. Your choice. I like my brain just the way it is.

Watch "Reefer Madness" for real-life reenactments of the bad effects of weed.

It's so realistic the way they portray how it can whip you into a murderous frenzy!

It has to be true - Hollywood doesn't lie!

I’ve been smoking for 30 years now, and it has not affected me a bit. In fact, I was just talking to my tokin buddy about it, no he’s not a token buddy but a real buddy and a toker so that’s why he’s my tokin buddy and he’s also a talker so he’s my talkin toker buddy. It’s kind of cool, he’s got a dog named Buddy but Buddy doesn’t talk like those dogs on the movies and if he talked in real life I’d be kinda freaked out. Anyway, my buddy and Buddy were talking, but Buddy doesn’t talk but my buddy does. Isn’t that weird? It confuses me sometimes. But I never worry about it, just take another hit to keep it mellow. Buddy and I, I mean my Buddy and I have been working at McDonald’s for about 25 years and we were told that if we show up on time and don’t miss a day’s work for 2 straight weeks, they’d consider us for Assistant Manager Trainee. That offer has stood for 18 years now, so I think they look at us like we’re top-notch employees. See what I mean?

What were we talking about?

i believe himm i got similar times a little better tho and i also drink about a beer a day

dank tank wrote:

what are you smoking out of? i personally dont feel like its ever affected my running, but to be on the safe side i vape it out of a lightbulb.

Dude, go buy a pocket vaper for like $15. Lightbulbs have mercury in them. WTF is wrong with you?

wemadude wrote:

I am in highschool and smoke weed about 3 times a week. I used to smoke everday for about 2 months. I have been doing this for about a year now.

But it hasn't affected my running or breathing at all.

My pr's are 4:19 for the mile and 9:25 for the 2 mile last yr. And this year in cross country i have been placing very high in all of my meets.

I dont know if this is helping me or making me worse?.. But i have seen no downfall in training or racing from it.

What is your opinion on this matter?

If you're content being ok, what does it matter? There are countless negative side effects to consuming THC. Smoking is just one of the worse ways to do it for a runner. With PR's like that, you could probably improve quite a bit if you stopped smoking. One day you will have to decide, "how good do I really want to be and what am I willing to do to accomplish that?" When that day comes, pot shouldn't even be in the list of things to consider keeping. Until you want to get serious, why does it matter whether it slows you down or not? I would just hate to look back one day and thing, "How good could I have been?" With those PR's you could potentially make it to the top tier of running in high school with some changes; stopping smoking pot being one of them.

Does smoking weed hurt you?

Are you kidding me? Haven't you ever seen the movie "Reefer Madness". If you haven't murdered someone yet, just wait, you will.

If you have somewhere to make them brownies are the way to go

Nah. Just eat it. Brownies degrade a lot of the mineral quality in the cooking process, especially if they go too long.

wemadude wrote:

What is your opinion on this matter?

And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there's always weed to give you a holiday from the facts. And there's always weed to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering. In the past you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now, you smoke two or three joints, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in weed.

Be a man and deal with your problems instead of hiding behind a hallucinogen.

I don't think it will hurt you that much now. The thing which is bad though is that it is an irritant to your lungs. Things which irritate the body organs produce inflammation, and inflammation produces cytokines. Cytokines irritate tissues even more, and also lead to the production of growth factors (TGF-B, PDGF, etc) which if produced for a long enough time will potentially lead to cancer. This is why it seems like everything causes cancer, because it is quite easy to trip this inflammasome cascade. It is worth mentioning that this just increases your risk, so however many of a sample (of pot smokers, say) will get lung cancer and risk relationships will be drawn. To my knowledge, this analysis hasn't been done, especially for distance running performance.

In terms of running performance: I think that irritants will lead to decreased pulmonary function. How fast this happens and to what extent, I don't know. I do know that irritation is bad for any tissue function, no question, and that well functioning lungs are needed for distance running, also no question. Simply put: It can't help, and the jury is most definitely out right now on the exact consequences of smoking. For the record I love smoking and hit the bong on the reg.

There is a kid from Ohio named Samuel Borchers who I knew personally and he smoked on a daily basis. Has HS state records with times being 4:03 1600m and a 1:51 800m. He ran for yellow springs, look the kid up if you want.

Been smoking pot since I was a young kid and placed very well at NCAA's a few years back. Moderation is key. Think of smoking pot vs a cigarette. While smoking pot you take a couple good hits and you're typically too stoned to keep going or just don't want to. The volume of smoke you inhale while smoking a cig is far greater and more likely to have adverse affects. Do an experiment on yourself. Take a few weeks and don't smoke then do a workout. Go back to smoking for a few weeks and do the very same workout. Then compare the results. You can continue the experiment by changing the quantity smoked each week in order establish where your equilibrium between smoking and running should be.

I don't think smoking pot will have a huge impact on your running at your age.

The problem with pot is it's a motivation killer. Eventually you'll have to quit or become mired in mediocrity. At some point you'll have to decide whether to become a responsible adult or spend your life in a drug-induced fog, working just hard enough to score that next bag of weed.

Two guys I went to high school with never moved out of the house and one is literally living in Mom's basement. Both were big stoners in school. A third pothead has been in and out of the nuthouse. Of course there are a few exceptions to this rule, one guy I knew in school is very successful in the business world but I attribute this more to his cunning and guile rather than a great work ethic. The bottom line is pot makes you lazy.

Charles Marlow wrote:

At some point you'll have to decide whether to become a responsible adult or spend your life in a drug-induced fog, working just hard enough to score that next bag of weed.

LOL

It's 2014. Who smokes anymore? The only people I know who enjoy their weed via combustion are ex-cigarette smokers who like that feeling of smoke in their lungs. Vaping is better in every way.

Yep. 10/10 for sure.