Health

You know that I’ve been honest and forthcoming with health related articles about running as of late. I don’t hide from some of the risks of running long distances. Just as I don’t hide from the risks, I am not going to ignore potential benefits.

People often tell me that I’m going to ruin my knees with my running. Ashley at A Crooked Trail or Two has alerted me to a study that shows that might not be true:

the Journal of Preventive Medicine, conducted at the Stanford University School of Medicine has demonstrated that “Long-distance running among healthy older individuals was not associated with accelerated osteoarthritis,” and in fact, some data in the survey suggests that runners might actually have a lower risk of developing arthritis in their knees and hips, though the specific study sample was too small to prove in a statistically significant way that running had a protective effect.

Now I have had some knee issues that came about as of late. Through extensive research I isolated it to either a IT Band syndrome issue or issues with the shoes that I was wearing. Getting it to those two causes made it easy to correct. I have employed different stretching and no longer wear my New Balance 790s for longer runs. I’m not sure which — possibly both — of the measures corrected it but my knees are great.

I hope this research continues to show the various benefits of running.

After the post yesterday, a friend sent me an article published this year in Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(15):1638-1646. It is authored by people affiliated with the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine.

In other words, these aren’t slouches.

They published the latest results of a 21 year longitudal study that looks at the health benefits of a group of runners compared to non-runners. I read the entire study and looked at their statistics and agree that their conclusion is proved. The conclusion is that Running at middle and older ages is associated with reduced disability in later life and a notable survival advantage.

Some thinks that are worth pointing out:

• The study subjects were runners 50 years or older. Just like the article that I linked to yesterday this is an older subject group. Meaning that for conclusive proof — in my mind — there will need to be some studies that follow runners in the 20-30 year old age range. However, it’s clear there is an association that carries over.
• Annual attrition rates after 21 years for subjects were approximately 3% for runners and 6% for controls (meaning non runners who never ran for a continuous period of six months or longer).
• In 1984 the runners were running an average of 237 minutes per week. That was reduced to 76 minutes per week (although they were exercising in other ways a total of 287 minutes per week) 21 years later in 2005. This shows that the runners we are talking about are not marathon distance or further. So this study really shows the benefits of running for non-marathoners.
• Members of the running group had significantly lower mean disability levels at all time points in the study.
• Lest you believe the control group just rested on their laurels in front of the tv this wasn’t true. In 1984 they had 15 minutes per week of running as a mean time and 87 minutes per week of vigorous exercise mean. This changed to 1 min/week of running and 138 min/week of vigorous by 2005. This shows an average mean increase of exercise yet both disability and attrition rates did not slow for the control group.
• The difference between runners and controls was most striking for women.
• The time required to reach specified levels of disability was significantly longer for runners than for controls.
• Looking at the causes of death it was clear that cardiovascular problems were the cause for 29 of the runners and 43 of the control group. Congestive heart failure however was 2 for each group. Cancer was 30 for runners and 41 for control. Infections caused the death of one runner and 15 control. Also neurological reasons killed 6 runners and 14 control. This is consistent with reports associating regular exercise with reduced incidence of dementia and several cancer types.

I’ve never been a believer that pushing yourself longer distances is any healthier than just running a few miles 4-5 times a week. On the contrary, it appears that marathon runners create problems for their hearts. Read over the article and come to your own conclusions about it. I think that more research needs to be done but don’t blindly assume that further distances means better health.

It’s about time. I am finally getting to where it’s not painful to run on the trails. Today I ran seven miles without much of any pain around my knees. After five miles without blips in the radar I pushed the last two miles at an 8:15 minute mile pace. I ended up running the seven in just under 1:10.

It felt good being out there without pain. I attribute a lot of that to the advice of my friend and fellow running club member, JC. He showed me some yoga type stretches that dramatically improved the ease of his running.

I have recently started to feel a little bit of pangs in my knee. It doesn’t seem like a big deal right now but it’s got to stop before it turns ugly. I could buy a brace but I don’t really want to right now. Instead I will do a little stretching and follow some of the stuff found in here. Which apparently they found from Fitsugar. Which apparently they found from a place called healthday. They give it the proper attribution of The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.

This weekend was the ultracentric 24 hour run in Grapevine, Texas. Last year I had a difficult time with the 6 hour run. It was the lengthiest amount of time I had ever attempted, and I had a healing stress fracture in my right foot.

This year I felt a lot better about the run. I’ve run three 50Ks this year and I’m continually getting faster while they are getting easier. I also have a sort of lofty opinion of my ability to handle myself on courses.

No mistake about it: I failed.

I went out there with sufficient training to run this thing, but I didn’t prepare for the aspects that really matter. In shorter races it doesn’t matter as much if you start a little fast, if you don’t pace right, if you don’t think about food, and if you ignore the weather.

I typically run with the attitude that I will keep drinking some fluids, get some food in my body, and read some advice that works for others. It almost always works.

This weekend I learned that if I’m going to run some races like 50 milers, 100Ks, and 100 mile races, I really have to respect my own body a little more. Every runner is different and has to think about what works for them and tinker with things. I tried what worked for others and it blew up in my face.

I think that the mistakes came in hydration, food, and pacing. I read someone who said that if you just drink Nuun you will be ok. I think it might have worked but I got tempted by other drinks at the aid stations. I ended up mixing a lot of water, Heed, Cytomax, and Coke at various times. Bad idea.

It was also hot out there. There was little tree cover and the sun was beating down at about 80-82 degrees during the heat of the day. I was smart enough to weigh myself before the race. I weighted myself about ever hour. By hour seven, I had lost almost 7 pounds. Seven. I knew that I had to pull myself from the race.

I also messed up with food. I read that I should just eat whole wheat bread with honey on it. I had it in my tent and tried to do that but it hurt too much to bend down and get the stuff made. I was there alone with nobody crewing me, so I had to do it all myself if I wanted it. I started to eat all kinds of crap at the aid stations: bits of hamburgers, mac and cheese, pretzels, and m&ms are at the top of my mind. There was no method behind those choices. I don’t know what compelled me to try to mix all that food in an already alarmed stomach.

Finally, I messed up with pacing. I know how my body runs. I do best when I run strong at the beginning and then walk/run as my body calls for it. I listened to people who said you should always run 5 and walk one. I tried that and it wore me out more than if I had just run it.

Anyhow, with the body weight loss, I decided that I had to stop for my own health. I wish that I could have stayed out there and walked it or walked with a little running, but I had to finally respect my body after all the disrespect I gave it. I stopped participating at hour 8.

It was a great race put together by a really good group. I’m not sure if I’ll be back because I’m not sure my body is alright with running on pavement on a two mile course for 24 hours. If it were on a trail, I would be a lot happier with the idea.

At least I can say that some good lessons were learned.

Don’t worry about the shock headlines. The key to running is to always be smart. Is this advice that I always follow? No. But you shouldn’t be scared by events like what occurred at the Chicago Marathon.

Some days it might be too hot for you to run outside. If it is, don’t run outside. There isn’t any obligation to run. Your heart is impacted more with increased temperatures. Listen to what your body says and stop when you are over exerting yourself.

Most terrible injuries, or deaths, seem to occur when someone isn’t listening to what their body is telling them. If you aren’t a professional, you have no obligation to push yourself past your limit. Running is a fun, safe form of exercise if done properly.

hundreds of people were sent to the hospital, at least one person died, and the marathon was called off. it’s way too hot out there.

Don’t you hate it when your non-runner friends ask you if you’re worried about the damage you’re doing to your bones? It sort of begs the question of whether or not running actually damages bones. Next time you are asked this you can feel confident letting them know that aerobic exercise, including running, actually strengthens bones.

That study also stressed that diet without exercise actually causes a decrease in bone density. So if you really want to damage your bones — diet without exercise. But any endurance athlete should know that you need to exercise your whole body and have a balanced diet with plenty of calcium in order to keep upper body bone density where it should be.

Get out there and run!

Active.com has an article about how pollution affects people who exercise outdoors and it’s not good. The positive is for mountain bikers and trail runners: “Still, virtually every expert interviewed said that people should not stop exercising outdoors. Rather, they suggested that exercisers should keep their distance from exhaust-spewing cars and check air- quality forecasts before venturing out.”

I went on a run this evening with my friend and his dog. Typically this jack russell has no problem running our distance. I think that he’s gone as far as 14 miles with us before.

This evening, due to the 90-something degree heat, we decided to only run 3.5 miles. It was barely 2 miles into the run when his dog suddenly laid down on the trail. He just plopped down and wouldn’t get up!

I guess that the heat was the breaking point. We let him catch his breathe and then finished the run at a slower pace. At the end of the run he was able to drink plenty of water.

It’s true that staying in shape can help you save a lot of money. I didn’t realize just how much money it can save until I read some of the statistics at Get Rich Slowly.

If you are overweight you will probably spend more money on food, life insurance policies, higher medical expenses, and you will earn less money. One of the interesting statistics is that for a mere .67 cents, you can supersize a meal. Each time you do this you can expect to spend about 6 to 7 dollars on future medical expenses.

Hopefully, people will see the benefits of running and make sure that they do some sort of cardio exercise (I think running is the best) at least three times a week.

According to That’s Fit, we need to be sneezing or coughing into clothing (instead of our hands) in order to really prevent the unnecessary spread of disease. I don’t know that I agree because when I sneeze or cough into my hand, I will use the antibacterial gel.