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Over 40? Rethink your next triathlon (Read 335 times)


325th place or bust!

    I thought this was an interesting article from the Sydney Morning Herald:  http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/fitness/over-40-rethink-your-next-triathlon-20130624-2orpw.html

    PR: 5K 22:41, 10K 51:05, HM 1:59, Sprint Tri: done!


    jules2

      Do one Triathlon in September and die the next June, these two events are clearly linked!

       

      There is a total  lack of any reliable statistics to support the article for example are the odds of dying greater if you don't keep fit than if you do?

       

      This is the same kind of cranky science that  has resulted in  England being covered by useless wind turbines

      Old age is when you move from illegal to prescribed drugs.

      joescott


        Besides the usual O'Keefe stupidity in this article there's this advice:

         

        "Runners should maintain their pace or slow down in the last kilometre and not sprint unless they have trained for it. That's according to the International Marathon Medical Director's Association, from a 2010 list of recommendations in response to race-related sudden deaths.

        Running appears to lower the risk for mortality when an athlete doesn't exceed more than 30 kilometres a week, log more than eight to 11 kilometres per hour, or run more than two to five times a week..."

         

        Yeah.  Ain't none of that happening for this over-40 runner.  I'm certainly not going to limit my mileage to 18 mpw or just let you young guys beat me to the finish in the last half mile.

         

        MTA:  Gotta go out and run 14-15 miles with my 50 year old training partner considerably faster than the recommended 8:50/mile now.  Shocked

        - Joe

        We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.

        Just B.S.


          Crap! Guess that means I shouldn't have done a tri on June 9 and June 16 . Being 51 and all.Smile    Probably should have skipped that marathon on Mothers Day too.

            I read this article last week.  Within the Tri community, these types of articles have been popping up over the past few months.

            A few months ago, USA Triathlon wanted to figure out what was going on with triathlon deaths, and did a big study to see (1) what the athletes could do differently to better prepare for the race, (2) what the race organizers could do to make the race safer, and (3) what Ironman (the organization) could do to better educate the athletes.

             

            If you care to see their results summarized, see this link to another thread.    I just did a quick chuckle when I realized that I turned 40 on the day that I began the thread relating to swim deaths in triathlon  Smile

             

            Last month, when I was doing Ironman Texas, I arrived at the hotel on Thursday, and the front page of the USA Today (sports section, I guess), had a full article describing the swim deaths in Ironman.  Great reminder prior to going all out a couple days later.

            Interestingly, with Triathlon, the deaths occur within the first part of the race, while within marathons, the deaths occur during the last part of the race.

            But the authors within this thread's link don't appear to know much about the sports (marathon or triathlon) for reasons others have already mentioned.

             

            Cheers,

            Life Goals:

            #1: Do what I can do

            #2: Enjoy life

             

             

            joescott


              Update:  Back from my 13-mile morning run now, way faster than I was supposed to go, and I'm still alive.

              - Joe

              We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.

              Runner100


                I'm going for a 14 miler shortly. I'm 45 and I've already run 6 days this week. It's okay, I have  road ID and excellent life insurance.

                  I believe that the timing of this article (6/24) was due to Ironman Couer D'Alene (Idaho) from June 23rd.  (Yes, I realize that this is the Sydney Morning Herald).  That was the 1st Ironman that adopted the "Swim Smart" program this year.

                   

                  Prior to this program, the Ironman races all had mass starts (3,000 people all starting together and going around the corners en mass).  For Ironman CDA this year, they had people run into the water in pre-seeded paces (similar to marathon pacers) so that those that anticipate 1 hour swim aren't starting behind those anticipating 90 minute swims (or 2 hour swims).

                   

                  Ironman mass starts cause swim anxiety.

                  For my Ironman races (Texas in both 2012 and 2013), they were mass starts, and this year I believe they widened the swim area, so the 3000 were maybe 200 yards wide rather than last years 150 yards wide.  This year wasn't as hectic as last year and felt more like 3:30pm traffic than 5:15pm rush hour traffic.

                   

                  And, FWIW, I believe the 30kmpw mentioned within the article is related to those doing Ironman, not those running marathons.  I don't understand why he uses that number, but when you combine the running miles with the biking hours and the swimming hours, you can have a busy week of training.

                  Life Goals:

                  #1: Do what I can do

                  #2: Enjoy life

                   

                   

                  Daydreamer1


                    “If anyone is going to have a cardiac event they're far more likely to have one during exercise,” says Davison. A person is seven times more likely to have a heart incident while exercising than at rest, he says, citing a 1984 New England Journal of Medicine study.


                    I just happened to stumble on this conversation and really don't have the time to fully read all the posts and the article. However, when speed reading the article the above quote jumped out at me.

                     

                    The first thing that is wrong with this is that the study cited was done in 1984, or 29 years ago. In the world of science this can hardly be considered current information. This is a classic example of cherry picking information to try to prove a point.  Current data that I have recently read ( within last 3-4 years) indicates that even extreme exercisers have a much less chance of sudden death then couch potatoes or the occasional exerciser. Sorry I don't have the time to look up some of those articles.

                     

                    I also have to disagree with the above statement based on personal experience. As a Paramedic for the past 18 years the majority of the cardiac arrests that I attempt to treat occur while at rest or only doing light exercise such as normal daily movement. While there are not many triathlons or marathons in the area that I work in there are rarely any serious medical events, much less deaths, at the ones that are put on.

                     

                    Most sudden deaths that I have treated that were linked to exercise were when a couch potato started doing something like shoveling snow or tilling the garden by hand when they were in such poor shape they could barely walk up a flight of steps. Hardly comparable to a trained triathlete or marathoner.

                     

                    My conclusion. The writers either just wanted to write something to be published or feel intimidated by those of us who train ourselves to accomplish lofty goals.

                    LedLincoln


                    not bad for mile 25

                      I love lines in articles that begin, "researchers now suspect that...".  How many researchers?  Two?  Is one of them LedLincoln, who did a half dozen clicks on the Interwebs?

                       

                      Anyway, my research shows that being a couch potato is much more dangerous for men over 40 than for teenagers.  Just sayin'.

                        FTFY.

                        This sounds like tried and true medical science to me.

                        Or should I dare say "common sense".

                         

                        “If anyone is going to have a cardiac event (athlete or couch potato) they're far more likely to have one during exercise,” says Davison. A person is seven times more likely to have a heart incident while exercising (athlete or couch potato) than at rest, he says, citing a 1984 New England Journal of Medicine study.

                        Ricky

                        —our ability to perform up to our physiological potential in a race is determined by whether or not we truly psychologically believe that what we are attempting is realistic. Anton Krupicka

                        LedLincoln


                        not bad for mile 25

                          I think a better point to take away from the article is that doing a tri is more stressful than running alone.  Yeah.

                          catwhoorg


                          Labrat

                            What tri distances is this focusing on ?

                             

                             

                            Which is more stressful a marathon or a sprint tri ?

                            5K  20:23  (Vdot 48.7)   9/9/17

                            10K  44:06  (Vdot 46.3)  3/11/17

                            HM 1:33:48 (Vdot 48.6) 11/11/17

                            FM 4:13:43 (Vdot 35.4) 3/4/18

                             

                              I think a better point to take away from the article is that doing a tri is more stressful than running alone.  Yeah.

                               

                              Maybe because they don't train enough for the running part. I don't say this in jest either. Most of the tri guys I know put more emphasis on the running and swimming than the running.

                              jerseyrunner


                              Half Fanatic 12680

                                I read this article last week.  Within the Tri community, these types of articles have been popping up over the past few months.

                                A few months ago, USA Triathlon wanted to figure out what was going on with triathlon deaths, and did a big study to see (1) what the athletes could do differently to better prepare for the race, (2) what the race organizers could do to make the race safer, and (3) what Ironman (the organization) could do to better educate the athletes.

                                 

                                If you care to see their results summarized, see this link to another thread.    

                                 

                                The news report cited by the original OP is very superficial. One of the articles referred to in this thread has more credible analysis of the reasons for deaths during tris. The gist is that it is probably not due to being unprepared for high intensity exercise, but the confluence of factors affecting the swim leg of the tri:

                                 

                                 

                                "They die in triathlons because of a confluence of things that befalls an athlete all at once. If you combine a strident shot of adrenalin — maybe due to the panic of having another swimmer overtop of you, or through the panic of not being able to see the bottom, or whatever causes you to panic — with a body already under stress and in oxygen debt, along with a heart that is vulnerable or susceptible to cardiac arrest, either through a preexisting anomaly or through a state or occurrence that made that heart temporarily susceptible, then we have a crisis in the making."

                                 

                                Having completed many triathlons myself, I can say that there is a particular type of panic reaction that even experienced athletes can have at the start of the swim which is due to several factors, some of which are based on experience and some that are just the body's natural reaction to being suddenly immersed in water. I once swam a .33 mile leg of a sprint tri in semi-panic mode because I was not used to swimming in open water in a wetsuit -- this was the first tri of the season in June and I hadn't worn my wetsuit since September. I have since learned to acclimate myself to the wetsuit by swimming in it frequently, I am comfortable with people swimming into and over me, and I always arrive early enough to get in a warm-up swim prior to the start. Even so, I still need to work to subdue the panic reaction despite the fact that I have completed more than a dozen tris and I generally feel very comfortable in the water.

                                 

                                I have also run marathons and have experienced the stress of those final miles when you are giving everything you have just to finish. The effort of finishing a marathon feels very different from the panic reaction that can hit you in a swimming race, even thought they may be physiologically comparable.  I always feel relieved when the swim portion is completed. The rest may be difficult, but I don't have to worry about drowning.

                                 

                                 

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