I ran across this article and accompanying TED Talk video online tonight. I’m not sure what to make of it all exactly since I have been racing endurance sports for 12+ years now and I am obviously a little biased. I thought I would throw it out to the ST community for discussion.
Basically, this cardiologist (Dr. James O"Keefe) claims that any running greater than 30-40 minutes in duration and faster than about 10 min/mile pace, 2-5 days a week, is harmful to the heart.
Not a massive surprise but my take is that I don’t do extreme endurance races for health/longevity reasons, I do them because I enjoy the challenge and the parts of the world they take me too… I’m more than happy to cash in a few years at the end of the road for the experiences i’m having now racing and training.
Very interesting, and I believe probably quite accurate. It will take time to gain credibility, but there are several cardiac MRI studies showing scars in endurance athletes’ hearts. There’s an industry built around not believing this info.
However, there’s a huge individual/genetic variation in response to inflammation, cardiac or otherwise. Studies in mice may have little or no validity for humans. And as posted, some enjoy the training/travel/community and so what if you lose a bit at the other end?
In my practice, the folks over 90 who are doing well have excellent genetics, are slim with normal BP, and have all done moderate exercise for years- gardening, walking, etc. And they virtually all have a strong social circle , a sense of humour, and a sense of gratitude.
There have already been long term studies overseas (like 20 year ones) that show an increased incidence of A-Fib in lifetime endurance athletes. Something along the lines of 5 - 10% of the studied people developed A-Fib versus less than 1% for the general population during that same period.
They were talking about people who on average ran 5+ miles 4 or 5 times a week for years.
As someone who was officially diagnosed at 39 with an acute case of A-Fib I have a lot of cards in the game and happen to agree. I started endurance sports in high school and other than a few years of taking a break had been doing a tone of distance every year for close to 20 years. I’ve had two ablations for it and still have some small episodes here and there. Which means I generally do not even get to exercise more than walking with my wife or going for a run or two every few weeks. Usually after I do a few days of exercise it acts up more and I have to take a break for a few weeks to get it to subside or take medication. Lovely …
After 18 years of Tris, and now at the age of 58, the heart issue has always been in the back of my mind. I often wonder if I am just gonna drop dead while running some day, or drown while cruisin across a lake { I always swim alone}…then there are the alternatives…I’ll look at those when I can"t run anymore due to injury.
I did decide years ago that Iron man distance was not my interest. I did the half in North Carolina at the the Duke Liver event years ago, did quite well, but I know i didn’t like the way I felt when I was done, my body was saying f this. …I was a 1/4 miler in Highschool. Speed is my thing.
Color me skeptical. While I’m sure it is possible to overdo things, remember there is a BIG audience out there for people that want to hear that exercise is in some way unhealthy . . even if that is exercise taken to the extreme such as long endurance event training. I put this in the same boat as all the people that rush to my desk and ask if I heard about “the guy that died in the marathon this weekend”. I usually respond by asking how many people died this weekend while watching sports and stuffing their face with beer & wings? How come nobody is rushing to give those things up because somebody died?
Frankly, I’m okay if I keel over dead while crossing the finish line at Boston or Kona.
Good Message. It’s common sense.
This is why chasing the BQ or KQ can be dangerous, especially after 40 years of age.
Nicely put, Mr. October. I think I am very much along those same lines of thought. Besides, if I am going to die prematurely I would much rather have it happen doing something I love than sitting around wasting my life away.
I’ve been seen as a patient by Dr. O’Keefe about 15 years ago. I remember him applauding my Ironman efforts because at the time, he was an avid triathlete himself.
In my own little corner of the world watching hearts and lungs perform in my job, I see irregular heart rates with some regularity in older athletes, and it scares me. I know that what I see on the computer screen is not normal. Most of the time, the athletes are not aware of their erratic heart rhythms until I inform them that they should seek further guidance from a physician.
That article and all that spin the same theme arise periodically like vampires. Doctors tend to suck the blood out of behavior that is unlike their own. When I went to med school (years ago) it was disgusting how little the instructors knew or cared about exercise and nutrition… not to mention research methodology. In a lecture on exercise and heath years later, I recommended training to participate in recreational 5km runs in order to capture the spirit of challenging oneself. After that I was known in cardiology circles as the fanatic who pushed fitness too hard, when walking was enough exercise. Then there were some who “associated” fast walking with atrial fib.
Your message complements Dr. O’Keefe. As an older athlete, I think it’s important to sweat, but still feel good after my workout. I also try to move more in between my workouts.
There are days I wish I could run a 6:30 pace like I did in my mid-30s, but I think I’m okay with my 9 to 10 minute mile pace. 
“Doctors tend to suck the blood out of behavior that is unlike their own.” (Pedalhead)
But Dr. O’Keefe is a runner and a triathlete. His message doesn’t say not to exercise, but not to push it too hard. I’ve trained until I “puked”, but now I realize that may just not be healthy. I think it’s important to sweat, but not feel sick after a workout. We need to stop celebrating the HTFU attitude.
To be honest, I couldn’t really care. If I’m going down, I’m going down actively. I can’t imagine it otherwise.
Drs. O’Keefe and Thompson are outliers (abnormals) in the medical field.
I get your point about not celebrating the HTFU attitude. Certainly, some athletes are bent on tearing their body down in order to reach the finish line sooner. Even Nike has forsaken its old adage: “There is no finish line.” Their mantra is now: “Winning takes care of everything.”
**Drs. O’Keefe and Thompson are outliers **(abnormals) in the medical field.
I get your point about not celebrating the HTFU attitude. Certainly, some athletes are bent on tearing their body down in order to reach the finish line sooner. Even Nike has forsaken its old adage: “There is no finish line.” Their mantra is now: “Winning takes care of everything.”
Exactly! I think the important thing is to have a discussion with your own physician about your training. There is no blanket statement that covers everyone. There are thousands and thousands of older marathoners, Ironmen, etc. who have had no ill-effects from their training.
Super quick Google search and already found this:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2638655/
There are some links, that is fact. They just don’t have a definitive “Why?” on it. Especially since understanding A-Fib and A-Flutter is still in its infancy. My thought? If you have a general proclivity to having a heart issue, endurance sports agrivates it and brings it to the forefront.
I absolutely buy that there is a certain point of endurance training (probably quite low, as Dr. O’Keefe would suggest) that your life expectancy will start to decrease from “optimal”. The more important question to me is this:
Lets say theoretical John had a life expectancy of 90 years old if he did everything perfectly with nutrition, social life, stresses in life, exercise, and everything else. Now lets say John did everything right except trained 20 hours/week for triathlon. Is his life expectancy now 89 years old? or is it now 70 years old?
That is what I’m curious about. If its 89 years old, then he’s still in better shape than just about everyone else (because how many people really do everything perfectly for living long?) AND is living what to him and many is an awesome life! If its 70 years old, then one might worry that the lifestyle is equally detrimental with smoking/obesity/etc… Now THAT would be something to be concerned about.
Drinking too much water can kill you also. I’ve done enough bad things to my body where training 10-15 hours a week is not going to kill me any faster than the other stuff.
Agreed. Everything is bad in some way. Why not just do what you want and what fulfills you. Cliche, yes, but why live life worried about what ‘may’ happen? Seems quite pointless to me as we all end up dead anyways…
Anytime someone bring age or duration topics, I mention Ed Whitlock, at 80 ran a 3:15 marathon…has been training all his life. Its all about lifestyle outside of training