Is high mileage HEALTHY though?

Truth I say unto Thee wrote:

No body gets a fair lot in life. Some people smoke cigarettes every day of their life beginning at age 14 and live to be 80 and above. Some people who do the same end up dead at 30.

Some people eat very healthy and lead active lifestyles, yet die by 40. Some of those same kind of people live to be 80.

The truth is that is out of our control. There are pesticides in even our healthy foods. environmental toxins and pollutants, genetics, stress etc. Just live how you want to live. If it is running that much then do it.

Said no epidemiologist ever.

stats be hard!!! wrote:

Truth I say unto Thee wrote:

No body gets a fair lot in life. Some people smoke cigarettes every day of their life beginning at age 14 and live to be 80 and above. Some people who do the same end up dead at 30.

Some people eat very healthy and lead active lifestyles, yet die by 40. Some of those same kind of people live to be 80.

The truth is that is out of our control. There are pesticides in even our healthy foods. environmental toxins and pollutants, genetics, stress etc. Just live how you want to live. If it is running that much then do it.

Said no epidemiologist ever.

Epidemiology is a junk science.

netflix and run wrote:

Frequent runner of 100 + miles per week. Yes, when athletes run at such extremes, the purpose is not for health but for fitness and competition. I get that. That is the reason I pound through 15 miles daily. If I wanted health benefits from running only there would be no reason to go over 30 miles a week. But is 100 and above miles a week HEALTHY?

It is good to be active, but there has to come a point where running twice a day, doing hard workouts on top of the mileage, etc. cannot be good for the heart?

I was waylaid for 8 months with HIT 2 years back and had to do cardio other than running. The withdrawal was so bad that I’m now 100% positive that my high mpw is only 1 part competitiveness and 3 parts compulsion. So even if there was a medical community consensus that an x number of mpw will kill you, I doubt I’d stop.

How do I know wrote:

Hardloper wrote:

Aren't those guys like 80 years old now?

What irony, perhaps God will curse me and cause me to live to be a hundred. While all the health conscious folks die in their 50s.

Take a look at some of the Olympic finals from half a century ago and you'll see that nearly all of them are still alive in their 80's or 90s. For example, from the 5000m final in Rome 1960, apart from one Eastern Bloc athlete who died 'prematurely' at age 66, all but two are still alive - including all the medalists, the two who died did so at age 79 and 81. These guys were the same age or older as the sixties music stars, and consider what percentage of them are still alive. Heavy mileage still beats rock and roll for life expectancy I guess.

I wouldn't worry about it. Just be healthy otherwise with your diet, hydration, sleep, stress, recovery, vitamins and supplements. Don't hit the piss too hard.

It’s well known that elite athletes live longer

Moo Goo wrote:

At either end, it is likely to be unhealthy. There is nothing ever proven to be good for you in extreme.

It is unhealthy what else.... People just kick the can down the road but at some point (likely early 40's) this abuse is suddenly going to catch up with them, by either forcing them to call it quit and get on like a mr average guy, with beer belly and all, if not cripple them alltogether.

The smart guys are those who dial back a little bit, both on purpose or as a result of what life throws at them (work, familly...) and are able to keep the wear and tear low and stay competitive throughout. You dont need to run 100mpw to do that... half of that is more than enough.

In the big scheme of things you are still anything but "elite"....

Precious Roy wrote:

Probably the biggest health risk from high mileage is skin cancer. Bill Rodgers had melanoma. So did Deena Kastor.

AlSal notoriously drove himself to destruction. He is a bad example. Beardsley was in a serious farm accident, three car accidents and fell down a ravine while hiking. He blames his knee problems on the farm accident. His health problems were due to painkiller addictions. He got back to running 50 mpw after his double knee replacement and looks great.

Johnny Kelley ran 108 marathons with his last full at 84. He lived to 97.

The science on exercising "dosing" is very weak. If you have bad genes for your heart or joints, 100 mpw is not for you. Otherwise, who knows.

I agree. Think about 2 hours of moderate activity a day, that is 8% of the day only. If you fuel well around this and get off the roads for a large portion, there is no reason not to be very healthy.

I imagine boomers will be the first generation where the health effects of high mileage training can really be documented.

So, by the time you've had your fill of 100+ weeks, maybe there will be more insight.

Have there been any studies on the effects of high mileage on boomers up to this point, i.e., did high mileage in college adversely impact health later in life --now, etc. (off hand, I'm not aware of any info suggesting high mileage has seriously negatively impacted long term quality of life).

Alan

If I ran 20 mpw, which is less than 30 minutes of running a day at my easy pace then I would definitely feel as though I’m not getting enough exercise.

Read the above document or look up the ACSMs position statement on exercise recommendations.

It’s something like 150min a week of moderate cardiovascular exercise plus moderate resistance training 2-3x a week.

Alan

In the way of Nenow wrote:

Precious Roy wrote:

Probably the biggest health risk from high mileage is skin cancer. Bill Rodgers had melanoma. So did Deena Kastor.

.

That is why you should run at night, like Mark Nenow.

SPF 50 even in the winter, no summer midday runs, long sleeves even when it’s hot. It’s possible to run AND do other outdoor sports and still look like a basement dweller.

Diminishing returns are STILL returns. If you’re having fun doing it and competing well then keep doing it. But If the time it takes to run 100mpw week in and week out is getting in the way of your ability to have some social life with your family and friends and financial health (ability to maintain a career to afford good health insurance), get enough sleep etc then that’s IMO when it could be getting in the way

The heart risks are way overblown. Read the articles by alex Hutchinson (very smart dude who knows what he is talking about). The O’Keefe guy in the BS Wall st Journal article released in 2012 has an agenda and his study is flawed. Lots of confounderS.

Sure -if you just want to maintain decent health/cardio health perhaps 20-30mpw or perhaps 30min a day is all you need. But running and staying active and being competitive is fun and there’s no need to be concerned as long as you’re taking good care of yourself and living a good life and killing life on all cylinders.

Yes, and the book "The Haywire Heart" documents the various research studies. It seems that certain high mileage individuals develop heart problems leading to AF, however there is nothing that points to a specific type of individual (no history of heart problems, no family history, all were healthy, etc.). The authors take the side that high mileage carries increased risk, so why do so much (even though they are runners). I didn't get an idea of the percentage of total high mileage runners and those of that group that developed heart problems. My take (opinion/guess) is that high mileage over a significant period of time does cause heart damage in certain individuals, but it may only affect about 5% of that high mileage population. Symptoms of heart issues were noted by those affected, i.e. palpitations, racing heart, skipped beats, dizziness, etc., that seemed to present early warning indications (but being healthy, high mileage runners, of course many chose to ignore them).

will run for beer wrote:

In the way of Nenow wrote:

That is why you should run at night, like Mark Nenow.

SPF 50 even in the winter, no summer midday runs, long sleeves even when it’s hot. It’s possible to run AND do other outdoor sports and still look like a basement dweller.

I find it helpful to wear a pair of lightweight arm sleeves all summer long while running. You can wet them down before you start to keep them even cooler, but they are not uncomfortable regardless. I also wear one on my left arm while driving in the sunny months to minimize sun exposure. On other areas, sun block as you say. I end to make sure to use at a minimum, a 35 SPF or higher.

seattle prattle wrote:

will run for beer wrote:

SPF 50 even in the winter, no summer midday runs, long sleeves even when it’s hot. It’s possible to run AND do other outdoor sports and still look like a basement dweller.

I find it helpful to wear a pair of lightweight arm sleeves all summer long while running. You can wet them down before you start to keep them even cooler, but they are not uncomfortable regardless. I also wear one on my left arm while driving in the sunny months to minimize sun exposure. On other areas, sun block as you say. I end to make sure to use at a minimum, a 35 SPF or higher.

I like the breathable mesh shirts with thumb hooks. Bought a slew of them years ago and haven’t looked back.

Yeah, I crank up the a/c in my car and keep a jacket handy in the summer. I live in a very sunny place at high altitude and even with dark tinted windows the sun burns the skin.

Runningart2004 wrote:

Read the above document or look up the ACSMs position statement on exercise recommendations.

It’s something like 150min a week of moderate cardiovascular exercise plus moderate resistance training 2-3x a week.

Alan

Poor post from you Alan. ACSM are tying to provide minimal guidelines and are emboldened to western standards for activity. No relevance to the topic at hand.

Alex Hutchinson is the man

Common sense truth right here

https://www.runnersworld.com/health-injuries/a20846304/the-too-much-running-myth-rises-again/