At first I thought that the article was going to be about the importance of resting in your training or running schedules. Ummm... not so much.
The article (a really REALLY good read BTW) discusses the death of runners during races. Not so matter of factly, but more about two circumstances in particular. The first is a man in his 60's who briefly went to the other side after crossing the finish line at the Peachtree Road Race (10K) in Atlanta this 4th of July.
He was a life-long runner and after being revived, proclaimed in an interview on the radio that he is going to keep on running. My favorite comment the author made in this article was:
"Incidentally, he told the interviewers that he intended to keep running. That a boy! My kind of runner! Cheat death and then give it the finger in the exit interview!"
Right on! The other death experience the author has had during a race is when a mid-30's runner collapsed at the finish line right in front of him. Unfortunately, that runner did not revive.
The reason I am posting about this is that the author, Chris Russell, brings up a great point - one worth noting. He asks:
"What is it about runners that they think a hard work out erases all effects of other lifestyle egresses? Why do we think a hard interval workout completely ameliorates the effects of a dozen hot wings with curly fries? Or that a 3 hour long run perfectly balances the ill-acquired 12 pack on Friday night?"
Good question Chris. I wonder this myself, as I used to be of that exact mindset. I would run 10 miles, and then gorge on pasta and coneys. Hmmmm... that may have been why I never quite got into shape, eh? Somehow the running made up for all of my ill-behaviors. Well, in my mind atleast.
I felt that running hard was earning me "sin" points. Not so much! I know I am at risk for heart disease, as potentially anyone, any woman is. I have a family history of diseases which any one of which could wipe me out.
This is one example that furthers my point about building a life foundation, something to act as a base for all other activites and life experiences. For me, that will be strength training, because after I have run my last half-marathon, finished my last class in school, been married 15 years, and lived life and accomplished more goals - the foundation built now will help me move on to the next phase in my life.
So do not fall victim to earning sin points, because no matter how many you think you have earned, you will never have enough to cover the bill!
I know that I for one have changed my thought process on this, maybe we all need to look into why we do things.
Keep on keeping on!
Runnergirl
1 comment:
Wow...scary stuff eh?? But I truly believe that going overboard with any type of physical activity is not a good thing. In the case of runners who REALLY overtrain, they usually look years OLDER than they are, Ive seen it first hand. Breaks down DNA a lot faster, when someone is continually overtraining, and in an anerobic as opposed to aerobic state. Are you familiar with Stu Mittleman? He is one of my heroes and is a proponent of slow running, sensible eating and his results speak for themselves. I will include a link to a post I did about his book and a comment from Stu after I posted, with this comment. BFN, G
Slow Burn article:
http://veggiesyarnsandtails.wordpress.com/2006/04/17/book-review-slow-burn/
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