A study by the American College of Cardiology came out suggesting the amount I run will increase my chance of death but it’s at the same rate of people who sit on the couch.
The National guideline suggests 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise. For me, this isn’t a big deal. Teaching two of my classes is 90 minutes and we all know I work out more than that. I haven’t even made a dent into the 150 minutes with running. But even if I wasn’t running, would more than 150 mins of exercising be harmful to my health? I sure someone can pull up a study that tells me it is harmful.
Noting that the most famous – and perhaps apocryphal – case of physically overdoing it involved the Athenian messenger Pheidippides, who dropped dead after running 26 miles from the battlefield of Marathon to shout the word “Nike!” or “victory,” the researchers hypothesize that strenuous running can damage the heart over time.
I have to put this in perspective. If the amount of running can damage my heart overtime, what about all the things I was or wasn’t doing before? I used to throw down with the best of them. I ordered obscene amounts of food for one meal from McDonalds. I snacked at Sonic happy hour on the daily. I could easily put away a pizza without even worry about it. And I would do this all while sitting on the couch watching hours and hours of Veronica Mars or Gilmore Girl episodes. Wasn’t that harmful to my health too?
My point: I spent many years doing the wrong things. I developed really bad habits that contributed to my obesity. At this point in my life, I think exercising in any form is the LEAST offensive things I am doing to my body.
There is so much information being pit out at us everyday. It’s up to use to define that truth with the information we are supplied. My truth is: I run a lot. I would run all day everyday if I could, but I can’t. Running is something that I love and I know to keep running, I need to properly take care of my body. I have to eat right, train and take recovery very seriously. I also know that I’m living a healthier life right now than I was 5 years ago by doing something that I truly love. I enjoy working out and running. I now I was worse off then than I am now. If anything is going to increase my chance of death, it might have to do with the years and years of damage I did by not taking care of my body…and just not caring.
We only have one body, so take care of it the best way you know.
