Sweet Enlow

Over Xmas, a friend and I discussed their latest plans to run a marathon.  It was not a pleasant conversation for her.  Yesterday, that friend called me to talk of her marathon.  It again was not a pleasant conversation.

To be honest, I think marathons are one the worst events that occur within the fitness community.  It would be the worst, but some people have gone above and beyond and starting running “ultra-marathons”" – 50 or even 100 mile runs.  These are simply absurd.

Marathons are difficult and I applaud anyone who has the discipline and will-power to take on tough tasks like a marthon.  However, under no circumstances will I ever value someone’s attempt to run a marathon as a “great thing” because, while most are entirely unaware, marathons are extremely detrimental to one’s health – even just one.  Hell, the race itself can put one in considerable danger.

My real issue with Marathons, though, is that they are entirely a product of the combination of conventional fitness wisdom and pop culture.  Conventional Wisdom states one should conduct chronic cardio.  Ultimately, the greatest test of the chronic cardio runner is the marathon which is then, of course, inflated by pop culture.  My friend lives in California where long-distance, endurance-type racing – marathons, triathlons, etc… – permeate all aspects of the fitness community… unfortunately (However, Mark Sisson is hopefully starting a revolution in SoCal).  I can’t think of a worse community that embraces such a damaging activity more than California – well, maybe one.

My hating of marathons is not anecdotal or bias - not by a long shot.  Art Devany, arguably the smartest man out there concerning living primally, puts it best:

“With my apologies to David Letterman, here are the top ten reasons not to run marathons.

10. Marathon running damages the liver and gall bladder and alters biochemical markers adversely. HDL is lowered, LDL is increased, Red blood cell counts and white blood cell counts fall. The liver is damaged and gall bladder function is decreased. Testosterone decreases.

9. Marathon running causes acute and severe muscle damage. Repetitive injury causes infiltration of collagen (connective tissue) into muscle fibers.

8. Marathon running induces kidney dysfunction (renal abnormalities).

7. Marathon running causes acute microthrombosis in the vascular system.

6. Marathon running elevates markers of cancer. S100beta is one of these markers. Tumor necrosis factor, TNF-alpha, is another.

5. Marathon running damages your brain. The damage resembles acute brain trauma. Marathon runners have elevated S100beta, a marker of brain damage and blood brain barrier dysfunction. There is S100beta again, a marker of cancer and of brain damage.

4. Marathons damage your heart. From Whyte, et al Med Sci Sports Ecerc, 2001 May, 33 (5) 850-1, “Echocardiographic studies report cardiac dysfunction following ultra-endurance exercise in trained individuals. Ironman and half-Ironman competition resulted in reversible abnormalities in resting left ventricular diastolic and systolic function. Results suggest that myocardial damage may be, in part, responsible for cardiac dysfunction, although the mechanisms responsible for this cardiac damage remain to be fully elucidated.”

3. Endurance athletes have more spine degeneration.

2. At least four participants of the Boston Marathon have died of brain cancer in the past 10 years. Purely anecdotal, but consistent with the elevated S100beta counts and TKN-alpha measures. Perhaps also connected to the microthrombi of the endothelium found in marathoners.

1. The first marathon runner, Phidippides, collapsed and died at the finish of his race.

In addition to Devany’s top ten, I wanted to point out a few more things that happened to my friend.  She told me yesterday that she had been sick for around 3 weeks and could not simply get over it; random throat infections, painful headaches, and extreme fatigue were plaguing her.  She goes to the Doctor to also find that she was extremely anemic and low in hemoglobin.  The Doctor tells her that these are all direct products of her training up for her marathon.  Running distances of 10-20 miles regularly can do that..

This, of course, all makes sense to someone who understands how we have evolved.  Running like that directly suppresses one’s immune system which explains why she was sick for 3 weeks “unexplainably.” 

Ultimately, my friend called to tell me she had torn her meniscus, another direct result of consistent long-distance running.

She was very upset because she is now not able to complete something she trained so hard for and for that I am very sorry.  But I told her yesterday that hopefully this will be a sign as to change her lifestyle, at least considering her health.  She is pretty stubborn though…

I will never run marathon and, if I have a say, neither will the people I care about.

This entry was posted on March 3, 2010 at 2:20 am and is filed under Health . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.