So Inclined
Dread going up? Reap the benefits of hill work by changing your routine and your attitude.
By John Hanc
From the July 2010 issue of Runner's World
THE EARTH WAS once flat as glass, according to Native American lore. But then the Thunderbirds, or "Divine Ones," marked the land with their mighty footsteps and hammered it with their clubs, resulting in hills. As any runner who's climbed Heartbreak Hill can attest, hills may have divine benefits, but they make you feel like you've been pummeled by the Thunderbirds.
Why does hill running hurt so much? In part, because it takes more work. "You have to recruit more muscle fibers to get yourself up the hill, which causes those muscles to fatigue faster," says Carwyn Sharp, Ph.D., assistant professor of exercise science at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Plus, when you're running on an incline, there's a shorter distance for your foot to fall before it hits the ground. That translates into less of an energy boost from the tendons, which you normally get when running on a flat surface, says Paul DeVita, Ph.D., a biomechanist at East Carolina University.
On the up side, hitting hills is hugely beneficial to runners. "Do it week after week, and your body begins to adapt to the stresses," says Sharp. "In other words, it gets stronger." Still, doing hill work is like eating Brussels sprouts. We know we should, but we don't really want to—is there anything worse than a set of Everest-like repeats on a sticky summer afternoon? While there's no way around the effort involved, a few adjustments to your workouts and your mental game can make hill running more tolerable—and maybe even more fun.
ROUTINE
FIXESGROUP HILLS
Do this workout with a bunch of runners of mixed ability, says Larry Indiviglia, a San Diego-based coach. Warm up, then assemble at the base of a hill. The slowest runner(s) start first. After 30 seconds, the second group charges up. Thirty seconds later, the third and fastest group takes off. The result? Everyone pushes it and works harder. "The slower people don't want to be passed," says Indiviglia. "The middle group feels the fast guys nipping at their heels. And the fast group doesn't want to be put in the unusual position of finishing last." Jog back down. Repeat four times.
INSIDE INCLINE
Warm up on the treadmill at a zero incline. Then increase the incline by two levels every two minutes until you hit level 12. Run one to two minutes slower than your normal training pace. Descend in the same manner. "You learn how to handle the intensity of hills in a way that simulates the nature of terrain outdoors," says Liz Neporent, co-author of Fitness for Dummies.
UP AND DOWN
Use this workout as an efficient strength-builder, says Sharp. Start at the base of a hill about 200 to 400 yards long, depending on your fitness. Run up it for 45 seconds (your intensity should be about a 7 on a 1-to-10 scale). Jog back down for 30 seconds. Repeat three times. As you get stronger, increase the number of intervals up to eight and the length of intervals up to 75 seconds (maintain recovery time).
ALTITUDE ADJUSTMENTS
STOP REPEATING YOURSELF!
"Running hills doesn't have to mean repeats," says Lt. Colonel Liam Collins, assistant track and cross-country coach at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. "The trick is to make it enjoyable." Plot out a new route that has a couple of hills (if you live in terrain untouched by the Thunderbirds, incorporate artificial hills, such as overpasses or even parking garage ramps). You'll reap the same benefits, says Collins, plus, "It's closer to what you'll find in a race."
SUFFER WITH FRIENDS
As a graduate student, Collins was part of a group that did a weekly workout on a route called "Over the Top" that included one monstrous hill. They attacked it together and turned it into a race-within-a-run, thus making the effort a shared experience. They kept track of who made it to the top first, and at the end of the season (taking a page from cycling's Tour de France), everyone chipped in to buy the winner a polka dot jersey, signifying "the King of the Mountain."
NAME YOUR NEMESIS
Storied inclines like Peachtree's Cardiac Hill and Dipsea's Dynamite may be no tougher than your neighborhood hill, but because they've been imbued with a name, they've acquired a mystique. "Anytime you have a hill with a name, it gives it a life of its own," Collins says. Conquering your local version of Heartbreak will have more meaning if you've given it a moniker.This Way Up
Hit the hills with perfect form
1 DRIVE HARD WITH YOUR ARMS.Increase your armswing as if you're pulling yourself quickly up a rope, says Indiviglia.
2 PRESS FORWARD WITH YOUR HIPS.As you run up, think about pressing your hips into the hill to avoid bending at the waist.
3 RUN WITH HIGH KNEES.This will help increase your stride rate and further help you maintain good posture.
4 SPRING UP FROM YOUR TOES.Push off your toes to create an upward lift that will help propel you forward.
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263--13520-F,00.html?cm_mmc=Facebook-_-RunnersWorld-_-Content-Training-_-Hills
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Confessions of a running addict
As scientists report that excessive exercise could be as addictive as heroin, a running addict speaks out.
Scientists have found that excessive running shares similarities with drug-taking behaviour
It appears I'm in denial. There I was, smug at how much running I do, gloating that Government diktats on healthy living don't apply to me. But apparently I'm no better than a heroin addict. Scientists reported last week that "excessive running shares similarities with drug-taking behaviour".
One expects this kind of thing about extreme sports, whose devotees relish the association of being called "adrenalin junkies". But the researchers were talking about running, the same activity encouraged by virtually everyone in the health industry.
They found that too much of it sparks a reaction in the brain that is similar to heroin – and it is just as addictive. It gets worse. Sudden withdrawal can lead to trembling, writhing and teeth chattering.
Writing in the medical journal Behavioural Neuroscience, the researchers found that a desire to get off the sofa and shed a few pounds can quickly become as compulsive as Class A narcotics. So mild exercise like jogging can develop into a serious triathlon or marathon habit. "Although exercise is good for your health, extreme exercise may be physically addictive," they warned.
Tell me about it. My story began with a simple desire to get fit. I signed up to the London Marathon. Like many people, I found the mix of camaraderie, excitement and finish-line euphoria a heady cocktail – and I was hooked.
Once the blisters had healed and the memory of painful muscles had subsided, I had one abiding thought. What next? Before I knew it I was on a one-way slippery slope to harder stuff – ultra marathons, five-day, non-stop races and extreme triathlons.
In what has become a familiar rite of passage for thousands of Britons, I signed up to the Marathon des Sables, a 150-mile run across the Sahara desert. This is where City boys, the SAS and the likes of Ben Fogle come to test themselves.
A behavioural psychologist would have had a field day among the 600 entrants; many have addictive personalities. In my tent was a former alcoholic ex-para who'd swopped booze for extreme physical tests. He told us proudly how he'd once done 10,000 sit-ups – in a day.
Rory Coleman is typical of many reformed characters who've done the race. Fifteen years ago, he was an overweight alcoholic with a 40-a-day smoking habit. Told by a doctor that he'd be lucky to make 40, he traded the pub for a pair of trainers.
Three months later, he ran a half marathon, then a year after that the London Marathon. Since then, the 47-year-old has clocked 619 marathons. A normal week sees him running 100 miles. "I'm somebody that needs exercise," he says. "I don't ever intend to stop. But I'm not addicted to running," he claims. "I've just made it a part of my life. And it's a positive thing – have you ever met a heroin addict who says they enjoy it?"
Mimi Anderson, 47, says her friends often comment that she's just swopped one addiction for another. For fifteen years she suffered from anorexia. Now an "ultra-runner", she regularly competes in marathons in excess of 100 miles. Last year she broke the female John O'Groats to Land's End running record, covering the 840 miles in 12 days and 15 hours (averaging 65 miles a day).
Like the rats that were denied exercise in the study, she says she gets twitchy after a week of no training. "Normally I run seven days a week, but my husband has told me I can only do six. He gets really cross with me. I've just got back from one race and I'm about to do another. It is an addiction," the grandmother concedes. "But it's a healthy one."
It's also highly intoxicating. In the endurance athlete bible, Survival of the Fittest, Dr Mike Stroud explains how opiate drugs like heroin create artificially what the body produces naturally. In other words, if you want to get high, forget heroin, take up running.
The cocktail of drugs the body produces include the pain-relievers endorphins and dopamine (also produced during orgasm), the anti-depressant serotonin and the "fight or flight" hormone adrenalin, which increases strength and concentration. It's quite a cocktail.
When the finish line of the Marathon des Sables came into view after running 150 miles, it was as though someone rammed a needle of adrenalin in my chest. One minute I was hobbled over like an early hominid, stumbling on bruised, battered and blistered feet. The next I was like Usain Bolt, sprinting to the finish line, arms aloft.
Extreme running can also induce the same effects of amphetamines. Last year, 48 hours into a non-stop (no-sleep) race across Ireland, I started hallucinating. A team-mate had to drag me away from jabbing a rock with my walking pole. I was convinced it was a deposit box full of money.
This brings a novel argument in the debate against drugs. No one has stood up and pointed out an uncomfortable truth, that they're a poor substitute. A cocaine high apparently lasts a mere 15 minutes. Big deal. After a race, I can be high for days, surfing on a wave of euphoria.
But as the researchers found, withdrawal leads to a comedown: depression, apathy, listlessness. Like the rats in the study, I'm suffering from it at the moment. It's been a while since my last big event, a 100km run around Mt Blanc, and I'm starting to crawl up the wall.
There's a 280km run across the Alps next month that takes my fancy. Or maybe the Ben Nevis Triathlon, a 1.9km swim, 90km bike ride, and a quick run up and down Ben Nevis. That should sort me out. Yes, there may be an addictive element to all this. But recently I was told by a doctor that I have the lungs of someone ten years younger. As addictions go, I can think of worse.
From web site : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/dietandfitness/6066279/Confessions-of-a-running-addict.html#.Tww_eToEemc.facebook
Scientists have found that excessive running shares similarities with drug-taking behaviour
It appears I'm in denial. There I was, smug at how much running I do, gloating that Government diktats on healthy living don't apply to me. But apparently I'm no better than a heroin addict. Scientists reported last week that "excessive running shares similarities with drug-taking behaviour".
One expects this kind of thing about extreme sports, whose devotees relish the association of being called "adrenalin junkies". But the researchers were talking about running, the same activity encouraged by virtually everyone in the health industry.
They found that too much of it sparks a reaction in the brain that is similar to heroin – and it is just as addictive. It gets worse. Sudden withdrawal can lead to trembling, writhing and teeth chattering.
Writing in the medical journal Behavioural Neuroscience, the researchers found that a desire to get off the sofa and shed a few pounds can quickly become as compulsive as Class A narcotics. So mild exercise like jogging can develop into a serious triathlon or marathon habit. "Although exercise is good for your health, extreme exercise may be physically addictive," they warned.
Tell me about it. My story began with a simple desire to get fit. I signed up to the London Marathon. Like many people, I found the mix of camaraderie, excitement and finish-line euphoria a heady cocktail – and I was hooked.
Once the blisters had healed and the memory of painful muscles had subsided, I had one abiding thought. What next? Before I knew it I was on a one-way slippery slope to harder stuff – ultra marathons, five-day, non-stop races and extreme triathlons.
In what has become a familiar rite of passage for thousands of Britons, I signed up to the Marathon des Sables, a 150-mile run across the Sahara desert. This is where City boys, the SAS and the likes of Ben Fogle come to test themselves.
A behavioural psychologist would have had a field day among the 600 entrants; many have addictive personalities. In my tent was a former alcoholic ex-para who'd swopped booze for extreme physical tests. He told us proudly how he'd once done 10,000 sit-ups – in a day.
Rory Coleman is typical of many reformed characters who've done the race. Fifteen years ago, he was an overweight alcoholic with a 40-a-day smoking habit. Told by a doctor that he'd be lucky to make 40, he traded the pub for a pair of trainers.
Three months later, he ran a half marathon, then a year after that the London Marathon. Since then, the 47-year-old has clocked 619 marathons. A normal week sees him running 100 miles. "I'm somebody that needs exercise," he says. "I don't ever intend to stop. But I'm not addicted to running," he claims. "I've just made it a part of my life. And it's a positive thing – have you ever met a heroin addict who says they enjoy it?"
Mimi Anderson, 47, says her friends often comment that she's just swopped one addiction for another. For fifteen years she suffered from anorexia. Now an "ultra-runner", she regularly competes in marathons in excess of 100 miles. Last year she broke the female John O'Groats to Land's End running record, covering the 840 miles in 12 days and 15 hours (averaging 65 miles a day).
Like the rats that were denied exercise in the study, she says she gets twitchy after a week of no training. "Normally I run seven days a week, but my husband has told me I can only do six. He gets really cross with me. I've just got back from one race and I'm about to do another. It is an addiction," the grandmother concedes. "But it's a healthy one."
It's also highly intoxicating. In the endurance athlete bible, Survival of the Fittest, Dr Mike Stroud explains how opiate drugs like heroin create artificially what the body produces naturally. In other words, if you want to get high, forget heroin, take up running.
The cocktail of drugs the body produces include the pain-relievers endorphins and dopamine (also produced during orgasm), the anti-depressant serotonin and the "fight or flight" hormone adrenalin, which increases strength and concentration. It's quite a cocktail.
When the finish line of the Marathon des Sables came into view after running 150 miles, it was as though someone rammed a needle of adrenalin in my chest. One minute I was hobbled over like an early hominid, stumbling on bruised, battered and blistered feet. The next I was like Usain Bolt, sprinting to the finish line, arms aloft.
Extreme running can also induce the same effects of amphetamines. Last year, 48 hours into a non-stop (no-sleep) race across Ireland, I started hallucinating. A team-mate had to drag me away from jabbing a rock with my walking pole. I was convinced it was a deposit box full of money.
This brings a novel argument in the debate against drugs. No one has stood up and pointed out an uncomfortable truth, that they're a poor substitute. A cocaine high apparently lasts a mere 15 minutes. Big deal. After a race, I can be high for days, surfing on a wave of euphoria.
But as the researchers found, withdrawal leads to a comedown: depression, apathy, listlessness. Like the rats in the study, I'm suffering from it at the moment. It's been a while since my last big event, a 100km run around Mt Blanc, and I'm starting to crawl up the wall.
There's a 280km run across the Alps next month that takes my fancy. Or maybe the Ben Nevis Triathlon, a 1.9km swim, 90km bike ride, and a quick run up and down Ben Nevis. That should sort me out. Yes, there may be an addictive element to all this. But recently I was told by a doctor that I have the lungs of someone ten years younger. As addictions go, I can think of worse.
From web site : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/dietandfitness/6066279/Confessions-of-a-running-addict.html#.Tww_eToEemc.facebook
New Study: Heart Risk ‘Low’ in Distance Races
January 11, 2012 9:01 pm
The New England Journal of Medicine has just published the biggest and most informative medical research yet on cardiac arrests and deaths in marathons (and half-marathons). It's titled "Cardiac Arrests during Long-Distance Running Races," and it appears in the Jan. 12, 2012, edition of the historic medical journal. The article, from the RACER study (Race Associated Cardiac Arrest Registry), concludes: “Long distance running races are associated with low overall risk of cardiac arrest and sudden death.”
Indeed, the authors present evidence that cardiac-arrest rates in distance races are lower than those in college sports (18-to-22-year-olds!) and triathlons, and comparable to rates among healthy joggers and avid recreational exercisers. Thus: “The risk associated with long distance running events is equivalent to or lower than the risk experienced in other vigorous physical activity.” (See Tables below for key statistical data from RACER.)
Of course, hundreds of other medical studies have shown that individuals who regularly perform aerobic exercise have lower heart-attack and death risks than those who do not exercise. That's why many scientific groups, including the American Heart Association, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the Institute of Medicine, recommend that Americans engage in roughly 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise per week. (AHA guidelines here.) The NEJM article was not intended to investigate public-health issues related to regular running. It looked only at cardiac arrest and deaths during actual marathon and half marathon races.
The principal author of the study, cardiologist Aaron Baggish, M.D., directs the Cardiovascular Performance Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, advising many runners about their heart health. Baggish is himself a running devotee who has completed more than 30 marathons with a PR of 2:49. His NEJM study tracked 10,900,000 runners who participated in marathons and half marathons from January 2000 to May 2010. In this group, Baggish and colleagues uncovered 59 "cardiac arrests," defined as a fallen, unconscious runner with no discernible pulse. Seventeen of these runners were subsequently resuscitated and survived, while 42 died. [For a separate Runner's World interview with Baggish, click here.]
This is the first major study of runner-cardiac-arrests to include half-marathon races along with marathon races. The rate of cardiac arrests in marathons was found to be roughly four times that in half marathons. There were 40 cardiac arrests among slightly fewer than 4 million marathon runners, and 19 among slightly fewer than 7 million half marathoners. The researchers believe that the marathon distance probably fatigues the heart more. "Longer races involve more physiological stress and thus a higher likelihood of precipitating an adverse event," they wrote.
The risk of having a heart attack in a marathon is 1.01 per 100,000 participants, and the death risk is .63/100,000. This means big marathons might expect to see one heart attack for every 99,000 runners, and one death for every 158,000 runners. The highest-risk group, men in marathons, has a cardiac-arrest incidence of 1.41/100,000, or one per 70,900 runners. Men have about a five-times higher risk than women for both heart attacks and death.
RACER also notes that hyponatremia and heat stroke are “uncommon causes” of heart attack and death, that aspirin probably doesn’t reduce heart attacks in runners, and that the vast majority of cardiac arrests occur in the last 6 miles of the marathon and last 3 miles of the half-marathon.
The 71% death rate among the cardiac-arrest runners is considerably lower than the 92% death rate for similar out-of-hospital events. This has led some marathon medical experts to quip that a marathon is the second-best place to have a heart attack (given medical teams along the course and at the finish) after a hospital itself.
RACER breaks new ground in becoming the first study to investigate "clinical information" about many of the stricken runners. Previous studies only looked at the number of cardiac arrests and deaths. But the RACER researchers were able to secure deep medical information, including autopsy results, for 31 (23 fatalities, 8 survivors) of the 59 stricken runners. A look at this clinical information yielded a surprise. Until now, almost all exercise-heart experts have believed that middle-aged men suffered exercise heart attacks when a chunk of cholesterol plaque broke free from an artery and lodged elsewhere. However, RACER found “no evidence of acute plaque rupture” in autopsies of those who had cardiac arrests.
Instead, it found signs for “demand ischemia” resulting from an "imbalance of oxygen supply and demand." This could explain the high percent of cardiac-arrest cases that occur near the finish of marathons, if runners with fatigued hearts suddenly break into a sprint that requires more oxygen supply. Some medical experts have begun recommending that marathoners relax and take it easy in the last mile.
The demand ischemia finding led Baggish and colleagues to suggest that "preparticipation exercise testing, by virtue of its ability to accurately detect physiologically significant coronary-artery stenosis, may be useful for identifying some persons at high-risk, including middle-aged and older men." However, they acknowledge that this advice remains "speculation," and it continues to be an area of hot debate among other exercise cardiologists. (See our Baggish interview for more on this topic.)
From autopsy results, RACER found that the biggest cause of cardiac arrests and deaths was “definite/probable hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.” This is the largely genetic condition believed to provoke many heart deaths among young athletes (under age 35) in all sports. Because of the age-factor involved with HCM, the age of deceased runners in the clinical-information group was 34 years, while survivors averaged 53 years. In other words, if you are younger (<35) and suffer a heart attack while running, you are more likely to have a tough-to-resuscitate cardiomyopathy than the slightly less serious ischemic heart disease.
Importantly, CPR provided by spectators, other runners or medical personnel can be a key factor in survival of heart-attack runners. Eight out of 8 survivors (100 percent) in the clinical-information subgroup received CPR on the course. Among nonsurvivors, only 43 percent received CPR.
RACER also uncovered an increasing risk of male heart attacks in the last five years (2005-2010) vs 2000-2004. Baggish and colleagues termed this "troubling," and suggested it could result because "long-distance racing has recently been attracting more high-risk men with occult cardiac disease who seek the health benefits of routine physical exercise."
From web site : http://peakperformance.runnersworld.com/2012/01/new-study-on-heart-deaths-in-distance-runners-from-new-england-journal-of-medicine/
The New England Journal of Medicine has just published the biggest and most informative medical research yet on cardiac arrests and deaths in marathons (and half-marathons). It's titled "Cardiac Arrests during Long-Distance Running Races," and it appears in the Jan. 12, 2012, edition of the historic medical journal. The article, from the RACER study (Race Associated Cardiac Arrest Registry), concludes: “Long distance running races are associated with low overall risk of cardiac arrest and sudden death.”
Indeed, the authors present evidence that cardiac-arrest rates in distance races are lower than those in college sports (18-to-22-year-olds!) and triathlons, and comparable to rates among healthy joggers and avid recreational exercisers. Thus: “The risk associated with long distance running events is equivalent to or lower than the risk experienced in other vigorous physical activity.” (See Tables below for key statistical data from RACER.)
Of course, hundreds of other medical studies have shown that individuals who regularly perform aerobic exercise have lower heart-attack and death risks than those who do not exercise. That's why many scientific groups, including the American Heart Association, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the Institute of Medicine, recommend that Americans engage in roughly 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise per week. (AHA guidelines here.) The NEJM article was not intended to investigate public-health issues related to regular running. It looked only at cardiac arrest and deaths during actual marathon and half marathon races.
The principal author of the study, cardiologist Aaron Baggish, M.D., directs the Cardiovascular Performance Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, advising many runners about their heart health. Baggish is himself a running devotee who has completed more than 30 marathons with a PR of 2:49. His NEJM study tracked 10,900,000 runners who participated in marathons and half marathons from January 2000 to May 2010. In this group, Baggish and colleagues uncovered 59 "cardiac arrests," defined as a fallen, unconscious runner with no discernible pulse. Seventeen of these runners were subsequently resuscitated and survived, while 42 died. [For a separate Runner's World interview with Baggish, click here.]
This is the first major study of runner-cardiac-arrests to include half-marathon races along with marathon races. The rate of cardiac arrests in marathons was found to be roughly four times that in half marathons. There were 40 cardiac arrests among slightly fewer than 4 million marathon runners, and 19 among slightly fewer than 7 million half marathoners. The researchers believe that the marathon distance probably fatigues the heart more. "Longer races involve more physiological stress and thus a higher likelihood of precipitating an adverse event," they wrote.
The risk of having a heart attack in a marathon is 1.01 per 100,000 participants, and the death risk is .63/100,000. This means big marathons might expect to see one heart attack for every 99,000 runners, and one death for every 158,000 runners. The highest-risk group, men in marathons, has a cardiac-arrest incidence of 1.41/100,000, or one per 70,900 runners. Men have about a five-times higher risk than women for both heart attacks and death.
RACER also notes that hyponatremia and heat stroke are “uncommon causes” of heart attack and death, that aspirin probably doesn’t reduce heart attacks in runners, and that the vast majority of cardiac arrests occur in the last 6 miles of the marathon and last 3 miles of the half-marathon.
The 71% death rate among the cardiac-arrest runners is considerably lower than the 92% death rate for similar out-of-hospital events. This has led some marathon medical experts to quip that a marathon is the second-best place to have a heart attack (given medical teams along the course and at the finish) after a hospital itself.
RACER breaks new ground in becoming the first study to investigate "clinical information" about many of the stricken runners. Previous studies only looked at the number of cardiac arrests and deaths. But the RACER researchers were able to secure deep medical information, including autopsy results, for 31 (23 fatalities, 8 survivors) of the 59 stricken runners. A look at this clinical information yielded a surprise. Until now, almost all exercise-heart experts have believed that middle-aged men suffered exercise heart attacks when a chunk of cholesterol plaque broke free from an artery and lodged elsewhere. However, RACER found “no evidence of acute plaque rupture” in autopsies of those who had cardiac arrests.
Instead, it found signs for “demand ischemia” resulting from an "imbalance of oxygen supply and demand." This could explain the high percent of cardiac-arrest cases that occur near the finish of marathons, if runners with fatigued hearts suddenly break into a sprint that requires more oxygen supply. Some medical experts have begun recommending that marathoners relax and take it easy in the last mile.
The demand ischemia finding led Baggish and colleagues to suggest that "preparticipation exercise testing, by virtue of its ability to accurately detect physiologically significant coronary-artery stenosis, may be useful for identifying some persons at high-risk, including middle-aged and older men." However, they acknowledge that this advice remains "speculation," and it continues to be an area of hot debate among other exercise cardiologists. (See our Baggish interview for more on this topic.)
From autopsy results, RACER found that the biggest cause of cardiac arrests and deaths was “definite/probable hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.” This is the largely genetic condition believed to provoke many heart deaths among young athletes (under age 35) in all sports. Because of the age-factor involved with HCM, the age of deceased runners in the clinical-information group was 34 years, while survivors averaged 53 years. In other words, if you are younger (<35) and suffer a heart attack while running, you are more likely to have a tough-to-resuscitate cardiomyopathy than the slightly less serious ischemic heart disease.
Importantly, CPR provided by spectators, other runners or medical personnel can be a key factor in survival of heart-attack runners. Eight out of 8 survivors (100 percent) in the clinical-information subgroup received CPR on the course. Among nonsurvivors, only 43 percent received CPR.
RACER also uncovered an increasing risk of male heart attacks in the last five years (2005-2010) vs 2000-2004. Baggish and colleagues termed this "troubling," and suggested it could result because "long-distance racing has recently been attracting more high-risk men with occult cardiac disease who seek the health benefits of routine physical exercise."
From web site : http://peakperformance.runnersworld.com/2012/01/new-study-on-heart-deaths-in-distance-runners-from-new-england-journal-of-medicine/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)