My early guess would be a previously unknown arrythmia. Seems to be the main cause of death during workout for young seemingly healthy adults.
I must be horrible. I immediately wondered what her time was or what her PR's were.
Can't find any results for her on marathonguide.com so it must have been her first. Terrible. Only 22 years old.
bartholomew_maxwell wrote:
My early guess would be a previously unknown arrythmia. Seems to be the main cause of death during workout for young seemingly healthy adults.
Sudden cardiac arrest due to previously unknown condition is indeed the most common cause. I don't know what happen to this particular person, but what is still concerning is that the second common cause is "water poisoning" (hyponatremia), which is entirely avoidable if not for the persistent myth of "drink before you feel thirsty". Beginners often drink a lot for comfort, thinking they are almost dehydrating while in fact the inconvenient feel in their mouth or the feeling of exhaustion are often due to running too fast for their fitness level and blowing up.
I hope more is reported as far as the cause. Locally here (in CLE), the outlets are just chalking it up to being hot. One station made a comment that said "figure your body temperature will be 20 degrees higher than the outside temperature when running a marathon" which makes no sense.
Very sad.
I live, teach, and coach in Medina, OH where she was from. She did not attend our school as she went to Akron St. Vincent St. Mary in Akron (where LeBron attended) but it still hits close to home.
Prayers for her friends and family.
Three very real possibilities whenever something like this happens:
1) Undiagnosed condition at play.
2) Heat and/or hydration related complications during the race.
3) Too much caffeine intake.
The top two are more commonly talked about, but the most common thread found among marathoner deaths has been shown to be excessive caffeine intake. You should not go over 300mg or you risk serious heart trouble. Much better to keep it well below 150mg and much better to get it through a couple of regular strength Gu packets spread over a race than to do coffee before the race or any concentrated pill form ever.
Shoebacca wrote:
3) Too much caffeine intake.
The top two are more commonly talked about, but the most common thread found among marathoner deaths has been shown to be excessive caffeine intake. You should not go over 300mg or you risk serious heart trouble. Much better to keep it well below 150mg and much better to get it through a couple of regular strength Gu packets spread over a race than to do coffee before the race or any concentrated pill form ever.
Is it too much caffeine on race day or too much caffeine on a regular day to day basis? My marathon days are behind me, but I was usually in the 6-8 cups per day range back in the day when I ran them
Yeah right.
Because you know of so many marathon runners who have died from water poisoning? The LD50 of water is about 6 liters consumed in an hour. Most deaths from water are from drowning or car accidents from hazardous road conditions.
Hyponatremia is low blood sodium concentration that could have many causes not just drinking too much water.
Sounds like it was fairly warm yesterday in Cleveland. Some reports have her dropping around mile 25. The Cleveland Marathon site scrubbed her splits. I doubt we ever hear the autopsy results.
A co-worker's son's 23yr old roommate dropped dead near the end of his first 1/2 marathon. The autopsy revealed an aberrant coronary circulation.
R.I.P.
I saw this taking place, it was absolutely horrifying. There were multiple people performing chest compression/breathing as I stood there and watched for a few minutes hoping she would wake up. I decided to keep moving towards the finish line (to not be in way as there were so many people there) and I was looking to see if there was an ambulance or someone with a defibrillator coming, but she looked to have stopped breathing for over 5 minutes before the paramedics even got there. She was right by the 13 mile marker or .1 miles from the first aid tent.
There were people collapsing left and right, I think they said 70 people in total needed medical attention that day. The first aid crew was overwhelmed yesterday.
So she was running the half?
Maybe undiagnosed cardiomyopathy.
Yes
Events like these ram home how important it is that all people get a full cardiac screening by their teenage years at latest.
Yes. This. Or dont run those distances.
Yes. This. Or dont run those distances.
Cardiomyopathy wrote:
Yes. This. Or dont run those distances.
We got your dumb point the first time.
Scanning the whole young population is almost impossible. And some conditions develop later and require expensive genetic testing. No matter what, there will always be cases like this I am afraid.