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Is Ultra Running Healthy, or Harmful? General Discussion (Read 988 times)

    Has a consensus been reached on if Ultra running is healthy, or has its'harmful risks?

     

    Just a broad and general discussion I am opening up here, but for every person I meet that tells me I look 'younger and healthier' than I did prior to running, there is someone who tells me "you are going to damage your kidneys!"  "You are going to wear yourself out" "Youuu are gonna giive yerself Arth-a-riiii-tiss!"  (lol).  Granted, most of these "anti-running' opinions came from folks who had never run and spend more time in the bark-o-lounger than they do in their bed....

     

    ---For every "Dateline" type story saying that Running consistently can add an average of 6 years to a person's life, there is a local news story about a person who was running his long run down the local roads and dropped dead from a heart attack.

     

    ---For every person that has a major health issue while running, there are half of the people that say "running clearly did him in", and the other half that say "He would have had a heart attack at age 45 instead of 55 if he had been sedentary!

     

    Now cutting through all that, on a personal level, I've got to believe that running (and ultra + longer distance running) are good for you.  I personally feel a ton better than I did pre-running.  I also feel that the running lifestyle will have me living to a ripe, old age.  (Or riper and older than I otherwise would have),  So I am going to keep on keepin' on with running  :-)

     

    Any opinions on all this "alot of running is good for you / alot of running is not good for you" debate? (Main focus here not on the short distance joggers, but the folks who commit to doing many marathons a year and the ultrarunner distance when you are running for hours...)

    The Plan '15 →   ///    "Run Hard, Live Easy."   ∞

      Has a consensus been reached on if Ultra running is healthy, or has its'harmful risks?

       

      Just a broad and general discussion I am opening up here, but for every person I meet that tells me I look 'younger and healthier' than I did prior to running, there is someone who tells me "you are going to damage your kidneys!"  "You are going to wear yourself out" "Youuu are gonna giive yerself Arth-a-riiii-tiss!"  (lol).  Granted, most of these "anti-running' opinions came from folks who had never run and spend more time in the bark-o-lounger than they do in their bed....

       

      ---For every "Dateline" type story saying that Running consistently can add an average of 6 years to a person's life, there is a local news story about a person who was running his long run down the local roads and dropped dead from a heart attack.

       

      ---For every person that has a major health issue while running, there are half of the people that say "running clearly did him in", and the other half that say "He would have had a heart attack at age 45 instead of 55 if he had been sedentary!

       

      Now cutting through all that, on a personal level, I've got to believe that running (and ultra + longer distance running) are good for you.  I personally feel a ton better than I did pre-running.  I also feel that the running lifestyle will have me living to a ripe, old age.  (Or riper and older than I otherwise would have),  So I am going to keep on keepin' on with running  :-)

       

      Any opinions on all this "alot of running is good for you / alot of running is not good for you" debate? (Main focus here not on the short distance joggers, but the folks who commit to doing many marathons a year and the ultrarunner distance when you are running for hours...)

      May I ask why you want "consensus" on this topic?  Do you like running?  Do you enjoy running?  Do you actually run much at all? (seems that you do...)  Do you run strictly for health?  Or do you run to "perform well"?  Do you take a very close look at good or bad of "bacon" when you, if you do, eat a bacon cheeseburger and see if everybody agree if it adds or loses a year or two of your life?  Do you worry about the chance of getting a car accident when you hop in a car and drive down 3 miles to a grocery store to pick up milk?  Have you looked into % of people who die from driving down to a near-by grocery store?  And, if it's high, do you stop doing it?

       

      I ran 45 minutes this morning with a girl I used to coach.  It was a damp and foggy morning and running along Minihaha Creek reminded me so much of Eugene, OR.  It was such a nice run...  Then when I got home, my wife harassed me to run with her and we ran a little over an hour before dinner.  Despite my sciatica, I had a good run with her as well.  Never ONCE it crossed my mind that this might shorten my life by 5 days or whatever.  It felt good.  I enjoyed it.  And I really don't give a damn what New York Times might say based on 3 or 4 people died while running a marathon during the entire year.  I'd be even less concerned about what other people might think about that article.

       

      But then again, some people just simply enjoy stirring things up on-line...  Different folks for different stoke, I guess...


      Wandering Wally

        Everyone needs a hobby.  There are worse choices than ultra running.

        Run!  Just Run!

         

        Trail Runner Nation Podcast

        xor


          Hi Kris.

           

          Please pay attention to Nobby.

           

          mahalo

           

          tom1961


          Old , Ugly and slow

            Nobby I think running with some girl  would shorten my life if my wife found out.

            first race sept 1977 last race sept 2007

             

            2019  goals   1000  miles  , 190 pounds , deadlift 400 touch my toes


            Kalsarikännit

              One thing I try to be cognizant of are the free radicals produced from long distance running. No one has really looked into how this impacts ultrarunners, but it is supposedly a problem that can come with running marathons. I can only assume it would be a bigger problem with very long races and training runs that get to be 30-35 miles. I take a daily dose of green tea extract and get plenty of food high in antioxidants. Does it help? Hell if I know. It doesn't hurt.

              I want to do it because I want to do it.  -Amelia Earhart

               

              wcrunner2


              Are we there, yet?

                Has a consensus been reached on if Ultra running is healthy, or has its'harmful risks?

                 

                 

                As you note in your comments, no consensus has yet been reached. Why would you think one could be? There are less controversial topics where consensus hasn't been reached.

                 2024 Races:

                      03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles

                      05/11 - D3 50K
                      05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour

                      06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.

                 

                 

                     

                xor


                  While I won't try to argue a consensus, I also didn't know that ultrarunning was on the list of more-controversial topics.  It's just running.

                   

                  DoppleBock


                    Most the guys I know that played college football or basketball damaged their bodies to a high enough degree that it impacted them negatively the rest of their lives.

                     

                    Most people that I know that played racketball for many years - eventually end up with something shot - Hips, shoulders, elbows.

                     

                    My uncle rode bike competetively for may years and he has really bad arthritis from being in the grips

                     

                    Most tennis players I know have issues with knees (If they play for many years)

                     

                    Is running healthy?

                     

                    Is marathoning healthy?

                     

                    Is ultra-running healthy?

                     

                    I think each one can be answered - It depends.

                     

                    I can say my mind is much more healthy because of running.  I can say my body is much more healthy because of running.  I can say this becasue I know myself and I know what the alternatives would be.

                     

                    Ultra-running ... I could do a liesurely 50 mile trail race that would be less impactful and stressful on my body than an all out 1/2 marathon.  I can do an all out 50 mile trail race and it will be less impactful or stressful on my body that an all out pavement marathon.

                     

                    The actual act of running a all out marathon I do not consider healthy or not healthy.  I would guess that it has a negative health impact.  But training for one and the mental satisfaction from running one really hard is possitive.

                    Long dead ... But my stench lingers !

                     

                     

                    DoppleBock


                      But we are just a bunch of slacking gallow walkers 

                       

                      One thing I try to be cognizant of are the free radicals produced from long distance running. No one has really looked into how this impacts ultrarunners, but it is supposedly a problem that can come with running marathons. I can only assume it would be a bigger problem with very long races and training runs that get to be 30-35 miles. I take a daily dose of green tea extract and get plenty of food high in antioxidants. Does it help? Hell if I know. It doesn't hurt.

                      Long dead ... But my stench lingers !

                       

                       


                      Strict WTF adherent

                        Not an ultrarunner

                        But I get it

                         

                        This doesn't attract people who are good at moderation.

                        Is ultrarunning healthy?

                        Dunno.

                        Is being a crane person healthy?

                        Definitely not.

                        Because it's not like the alternative of ultrarunning is logging three miles and doing an p90x video. It's more like playing eight hours of xbox and eating a whole  bag of tostitos.

                        RunJasonRun


                          Ultrarunning makes my mind healthier, and mental health contributes to physical health in the grand scheme of things.

                           

                          Running a 40 miles race today, less than one month after my first 100-mile race, and limping the last 10 miles with severe IT Band pain simply because I did not want a DNF for my last race of the year... 
                          The jury is still out on whether or not this was healthy or harmful.  I'll probably call it a draw.

                          Nobody leaves this place without singing the blues.

                          fb-guy


                            I believe all that stuff about us evolving to run down deer so that we could eat meat long before we developed hunting implements. Being a simpleton has its advantages.

                             

                            Something that we were originally built to do just can't be bad for us. It's the new stuff you gotta look out for -- like the sofa and the french fry.

                             

                            Don't remember. How many miles does it take to run down a deer? Anything more than that might be a little too much.

                             

                            Aso, we didn't race the deer, we wore him out. So my thinking is that a trail ultra is better for you than road marathon -- but they're both damb good for you.

                            m: 2:55:04 | 10k: 37:14 | 50mile: 9:35

                            NYCNorma


                              I run because it's fun.  Hard sometimes, but fun.  And the further I run the more fun I get to have.  


                              Kalsarikännit

                                But we are just a bunch of slacking gallow walkers 

                                 

                                No we aren't. We are glorified power hikers.

                                I want to do it because I want to do it.  -Amelia Earhart

                                 

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