Sacramento Running News

If you are an older runner (50+), recent studies suggest that running more than 20 miles per week, or faster than 7:30 minutes per mile, is going to wreck your health.

The Wall Street Journal published a story yesterday–with the not at all hyperbolic headline of One Running Shoe in the Grave–about the research, which indicates that runners who log more than 20 miles a week lose the health benefits of running.

Most critically, some research points to extreme training damaging the heart tissue. You should not be surprised to learn that not everyone is convinced.

Critics of the newer research say that the idea that running can harm the heart is based on research showing only an association—meaning that exercise may not be the cause of the problem. They note that in any large group of runners, high-mileage and high-speed athletes may be too few in number to be statistically significant.

(more…)

This rat may be damaging her heart.

Since it seems you can never really have too much to worry about, here is a nice article about how a life-time of intense training may cause damage to your heart–especially if you are a rat.

Read about it in the New York Times Well Blog.

The obvious point is that 99.99% of Americans exercise too little (or not at all) so this really applies to a vanishingly small segment of the population.

Regardless, don’t tell your mother!