Going Big: Part II
Unless there is some egregious error in a post, I almost never revisit something I’ve written here.
Last week, I wrote Going Big, which was a lamentation of sorts on the state of the marathon.
The article was triggered by my reading a newspaper story about Chris Spangenberg’s attempt to set a world record for being the heaviest person to ever complete a marathon. This story sparked considerable, energetic reactions in a number of people.
What was most fascinating to me was how my post served as a sort of Rorschach ink blot for the readers. Many readers resonated with my concerns about the sport, while others saw it as an attack on a specific individual (i.e., Mr. Spangenberg) or slower runners.
In truth, the irritation and frustration that I was trying to express was with two specific issues: the press for not covering running in any meaningful way, and the “marathon training industry” that has sold the idea that everyone can and should run a marathon.
My problem with the media can be illustrated with this: my own home-town newspaper generally offers up four, full pages a day on our terrible NBA team, but can’t find the ink to report on most of the large races in town–unless there is some human interest story aspect to it, or a terrible tragedy.
Today, for example, the Bee included five, full pages of football coverage (We don’t even have a local team!) and a mere six column inches on Geoffrey Mutai’s remarkable, course record run at the New York Marathon.
The other point I was trying to make was that with the over emphasis of the marathon (particularly with organized training programs), the first experience many people have with running is training for a marathon. If these beginners are fortunate enough to get through the training without injury, they often find the experience so misery-inducing that it becomes a one-time thing and we never see them again.
The marathon is not the only legitimate running distance. There are any number of racing distances other than a marathon, and there are serious runners doing all of them.
As I said in the initial article, if I am counselling a friend, I would encourage them to start by training for a 5K. If they find they enjoy running longer distances, then by all means they should run longer distances. But I would rather they enjoy a life-time of running than “experience” a one-time marathon finish.
And finally, as much as I love to run, and the sport of running, when someone tells me that they don’t run because they don’t like it or because it hurts them I tell them to find something else they enjoy and do that. You just have to do something.
Don’t just sit there, unless that’s all you can do.
Many top marathoner runners train like 5k-10k runners for large portions of the year. The energy distributions are very similar to a marathon, but shorter/faster running lets you max out and increase the capacity of the aerobic system. The runners then just use a short specific period to get used to longer runs for the 26.2 mile distance.
This faster, high-intensity training (in conjunction with easy-mod endurance running – important for 5ks too) has been shown to improve health and life expectancy. If you can finish a marathon on zero or little, almost exclusively slow-paced training, then why not train for a 5k – get the best health benefits possible – and still be able to complete an occasional marathon?
Intense activity best bang for your buck:
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/09/05/ije.dyr112.abstract?keytype=ref&ijkey=LGfzgAuqzWIxzBN “Conclusion Higher levels of total and domain-specific physical activity were associated with reduced all-cause mortality. Risk reduction per unit of time increase was largest for vigorous exercise. Moderate-intensity activities of daily living were to a lesser extent beneficial in reducing mortality.”
Improve your mile time:
1http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/on-your-marks-get-set-measure-heart-health/ ““The principal finding of these studies is that your fitness level when you’re young is highly predictive of heart disease risk 30 to 40 years later,” he said. “If we’re trying to boil this down into practical implications, it’s the speed at which you can run. Heart disease risk increases markedly for every minute longer it takes you to run a mile.””
John, thanks for clearing that up. So much more palatable this time around! My response time is down to 60 seconds. XOXO B
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