Are marathons heart-healthy? A surprise sign of coronary risk

any fitness program needs balance. running every day without taking time for recovery is foolish - an exercise in vanity for the most part. i happen to think running 26.2 miles is just too long to go at it. the marathon invites injury, and people croak doing marathons all the time. i run for fitness and to keep the mid section flat. i do a lot of muscle building weight training routines too. the point is to look good, not to kill yourself.

Vanity? There are societies where running every day is part of the culture. A necessity even. "muscle building weight training" is also an "exercise in vanity". Running 3 miles a day, every day, is not goint to "kill" you.

I agree there's no need to run a marathon to be healthy, but there's nothing wrong with accepting a challenge, either.

Tybalt wrote:

the point is to look good, not to kill yourself.

I thought the point was for health reasons. Looking good is only a side affect.

This article highlights the extreme runner who is doing more than one marathon a year. The fitness runner who goes out for a 3 to 5 mile a run 3 to 4 times a week to stay in shape and stay trim, is not putting the same extreme stress on their body like the marathon runner.
They should do a comparison test of people who train for a 5K vs. people who run multiple marathons.

I was a daily long-distance runner before long-distance running was cool. And I've got the bad knees to prove it.

Running is needed in this country and three miles a day is hardly pressing your body hard, run to your heart's content, it doesn't harm you!

Seinstein235 wrote:

Running is needed in this country and three miles a day is hardly pressing your body hard, run to your heart's content, it doesn't harm you!

The daily pounding on the concrete will eventually destroy your knees. Stay on the grass. Take it from someone who knows.

They should look at their diets. The old adage you cannot out-train an poor diet still holds true.

As with everything in life...enjoy in moderation.

Como Dude wrote:

They should look at their diets. The old adage you cannot out-train an poor diet still holds true.

I know a young woman who ends her daily three-mile run with a cigarette.

They are just asking this question of health now? If you know the history / story of how the length of the marathon was set you'd question if it was good for you too.

The marathon race commemorates the run of the soldier
Pheidippides from a battlefield near Marathon, Greece, to Athens
in 490 B.C., bringing news of a Greek victory over the Persians.
Pheidippides collapsed and died at the end of his historic run,
thereby setting a precedent for dramatic conclusions to the
marathon.

Thats pretty much all the scientific evidence needed for this guy....Enough said don't run 26.2 miles stick to 4 or 5 :)

PS: Climbing Mount Everest is dangerous too... many people pay Sherpas to carry their crap while they try to make it to the top.......There isn't anything up there, Not even oxygen. I'm sure the view is great for the 5 minutes you get to stay.....I'll look out my window of plane while enroute to my vacation destination.

Humans are a strange creature!

I think I'm more fit now then when I was cycling every day and logging 200 miles a week and training with road racers. If your going to compete in one dicipline you just about have to eliminate everything else. Now I shoot baskets, play tennis cycle 30-40 miles every few days, golf 4 times a week (walking of course). I love my Bianchi, but I'm no longer obsessed with feeling the burn every day.

A marathon is too long, and sometimes the best athlete in the race isn't the winner. It's kind of like who wants to suffer longer and not who's the fittest. I think 15 miles is long enough to prov a point.

How 'bout a running triathlon which would include a 10k, a 400 meter dash, and a mile run?

Smartass wrote:

Now I am not a doctor, but I read what Ben Franklin wrote. He said that passing gas was better for the body than trying to run like a deer. As far as the loud mouth tybait's post above ..I bet tybait is ugly, fat like 400 pounds of blubber, never lifted barbell ( just a taco bell ) and the only activity tybait gets is moving his eyeballs wishing he could for the first time in his life time touch a woman.

Your an angry person. Get over yourself, no cares what you think.

Gopher fan wrote:

Vanity? There are societies where running every day is part of the culture. A necessity even. "muscle building weight training" is also an "exercise in vanity". Running 3 miles a day, every day, is not goint to "kill" you.
I agree there's no need to run a marathon to be healthy, but there's nothing wrong with accepting a challenge, either.

They aren't studying people who run 3 miles a day, they're studying people who run lots of MARATHONS.

That is to say people who run a heck of a lot more than 3 miles and do it many, many times.

If running more than one marathon a year is putting undue stress on your heart wouldn't you want to know?

Bob the Bilderberg wrote:

I was a daily long-distance runner before long-distance running was cool. And I've got the bad knees to prove it.

you must be very old because running has been "cool " for a long time

This study should also take in the factors of diet, age, body make up, and family health history. I have seen many people that have healthy lifesyles that still have heart disease due to genetics.

oxboro wrote:

<quoted text>
you must be very old because running has been "cool " for a long time

When I was a kid reports of marathons if even published in the newspaper were buried deep in the back pages.

Now they often make the front pages.

No long distance running wasn't considered "cool" when I was a kid it was considered the province of nutcase fanatics (no offense, Bob).

NOW it's considered cool.

oxboro wrote:

<quoted text>
you must be very old because running has been "cool " for a long time

When I was 16 and running Summit ave from end to end, I was the only runner on the street.

Bob the Bilderberg wrote:

I was a daily long-distance runner before long-distance running was cool. And I've got the bad knees to prove it.

Wow, did you have to hunt and kill your own running shoes back then? One problem back then was thinking that thinking that beaver shoes were better than wolf. Wolf shoes provided better support for long distance runners back in the day before it was cool!

Run for fun wrote:

<quoted text>
Wow, did you have to hunt and kill your own running shoes back then? One problem back then was thinking that thinking that beaver shoes were better than wolf. Wolf shoes provided better support for long distance runners back in the day before it was cool!

Actually, I wore Pumas.