tri_yoda wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
The guy who died at the Philly marathon was my friend Chris Gleason. He had just gone 10:11 at IMLP at few months before Philly and was on sub 3 hrs pace at the marathon 25.5 mile mark. It was 10 years ago in 2011. Chris' 50th birthday was last week and he was 40 at the time..Chris went with the handle ChrisG on ST. Triyoda broke the news on here and it was not about an out of shape person doing a marathon on a lark and dying due to lack of prep.
Anyway to the OP glad you are around. It is awesome to get another few laps around the sun. Not that you were taking what you had for granted but I think staring at death this way gives us a better appreciation for what we want to do the the limited time left here.
One thing I will add about Chris (RIP) is we have to remember to take it easy sometimes, no matter how fit we are.
We've already heard from a very knowledgeable doctor on this thread, and maybe what happened to the original poster was inevitable based on genetics (being in good physical condition obviously didn't stop it). Likewise, for Chris, they never had an explanation, from the coroner, the official cause of death was basically "unexplained" spontaneous cardiac failure. My theory (and I am not a doctor) is it was (some level of residual training fatigue)*(very hard effort, running on PR pace)*(high levels of caffeine)*(allergy meds) creating the perfect storm.
The original poster said they typically trained 10-14 hrs per week. Objectively that is a lot, and definitely more exercise than is recommended for optimum health (6-7 hrs per week). Now we all do some things that are not perfectly healthy, so I am not suggesting no one should ever do some higher volume (like I would also never say one should never drink, never eat sugars, etc.), we have to enjoy life and that involves some vices and taking some risks. I typically average around 6-8 hrs per week, but sometimes I do more. But I will also add I developed a heart arrythmia after training 12-15 hours per week to my first (and only) IM in 2006 and after the arrythmia decided not to train consistently near those volumes again. You can still do pretty good on more moderate volume, although admittedly not for IM and even HIM you will not be able to get to your best performances, but still good enough to have fun.
But to Chris in particular, after a great performance in IMLP he was obsessed with running a fast marathon in November. For months, I suggested it was not a great idea, you crushed IMLP take some rest for the rest of the year, or if you must do the marathon don't try for a PR, just cruise it. I honestly think he believed I was concerned he was going to get bragging rights on me by beating my marathon PR and that's why I suggested a number of times that he not run the marathon (he was very fit). But it was all due to my belief in periodization and moderation and taking lots of recovery between big efforts, because you never know. Also tempered by my IMLP experience, I still believe the onset of that arrythmia at a young age was brought about by prolongued large training volume.
I am not in any suggesting that higher training volumes or prolongued intense training cycles were the direct cause of either of these situations, I am sure both were quite medically complicated with many factors. However, I still think moderation in training is important and something to think about if you have any heart risk factors. Or at least I have (relatively minor) heart condition and this is something I consider.
Hope the original poster makes a full recovery. Because it is completely bewildering when relatively young and very fit people have severe medical conditions.
I apologize for the OP's thread hijack with the topic of Chris Gleason but as Triyoda and I were good friends we were able to follow the events in between IMLP and Philly Marathon. He absolutely killed IMLP. But going PB fast in an open marathon is a completely different animal both in training and racing. Training for a sub 3 marathon means lots and lots of 6 minute miles and even more 7 min miles such that 7 min miles is roughly your average pace.
Between LP end of July, recovery in August, that left Sept and Oct for a PB marathon build. We will never know if he had enough recovery post IMLP and the impact an Ironman has on one's heart to deal with the high heart rate training that you need to do to run a fast open marathon. We don't know what Chris' heart looked like post IMLP but I remember talking to Simon Lessing after Ironman LP 2004 (which he won I believe) where he said a general physical afterwards showed all the horrible markers of someone who literally had heart disease.
I personally have done a lot of fast marathons BEFORE an IM and I have done a lot of fast Olympic and half IMs in the ffew months after an Ironman. But fast open marathon after an IM is a different animal. I only ran two fast open marathons after an IM (ie not planning jogging but racing end to end).
The first one was actually really fast. It was after IMC 1991. I took three weeks doing nothing, Did one 100km week did a 1 week taper and cranked out a 1:19 ((it was a bit net downhill so looks fast) +1:31 ( bit net uphill) = 2:51. I overcooked the first half a bit, but really the second half reflected an Ironman in the heart and legs. I couldn't even get my heart rate high enough. It was not a sugar bonk and my legs did not feel dead. It just felt like a heart rate blood supply limitation. Second one, after IMLP 1999, 3 months later after a proper 8 week build I ran a hilly Toronto marathon in 1:26+1:30 = 2:56. For that one I literally spent 2 months jogging and doing hillwork 1x per week and a hilly long run 1x per week. It was all low heart rate stuff otherwise and I did my speedwork on gradual long downhills at high speed and low heart rate and jogged uphill slowly (the Mark Allen plan).
I definitely would not recommend a fast open marathon after an IM. There are too many things that can unravel quickly. I am not sure if this lead to anything for ChrisG, but we can't say that it was not a factor.