The article is written by a recreational runner who has done several marathons. He's now being advised by a coach on ways to run "out of your comfort zone". The comments on this article were quite spirited.
In particular this comment:
"The short term effects of this exercise is going to be positive because you’ve been so lazy for so long. The long term effects from excessive running is negative. No one runs 35 miles a week for cardiovascular benefits. They are doing it for the ego. The problem we have in the U.S. is that 95% of us never exercise. Then a certain percentage of the 5% goes gung ho for a few months or few years then quits and become lazy again. Moderate exercise four times a week is what everyone should be doing. Marathon running or marathon training is not healthy."
and this one:
"There is PLENTY of encouragement among runners who will push you achieve these numeric goals regardless of injuries and the wear and tear on your body. They’re not right or wrong…. just obsessed with running. My Dad was a serious runner for many years. Now he’s in his early 60s, and after two knee surgeries and back surgery it’s hard for him to climb one flight of stairs. He’s prematurely crippled because of his running obsession."
Before carrying on, I'll simply acknowledge how unbelievably judgemental both of these posts are. And of course there are simply of lot of incorrect observations in there as well. Some people could quite possibly run 35 miles per week because *gasp* they like to run. As a reference, for a fairly good recreational runner, it takes about 5 to 6 hours per week to reach this 35 miles. But I didn't want to simply debunk some silly people who comment on someone else's blog (btw, I include myself in the label silly).
What does strike a chord with me in this discussion is a set of lingering questions about endurance sports. These questions relate to - 1) Motivation, 2) Lifestyle, 3) Health. I suppose these questions are the true reason I started writing in this space. While I mostly post about recent activities or cool ideas I come across, what I am most interested in are answers to these questions.
Motivation
What is the real motivation behind endurance sports? Are we all just a bunch of ego maniacs? Do we invest all this energy in early morning runs on long weekend bike rides simply for some twisted ego boost that we get from standing around the water cooler with coworkers on Monday morning boasting about the 5 hour bike ride or the 20 mile run we did that weekend? What is the difference between pride in an accomplishment like completing the longest run you've ever done versus embraking on some ego trip? Is there something inherently wrong with that ego trip if it is indeed the case? I suppose I should now go back and reread Catcher in the Rye - should I abandon an activity because it is filled with suspect motives and phonies?
Lifestyle
As most folks who have done a marathon or triathlon know, preparing for and completing an event involves a pretty solid time commitment - actually this is likely true of most 5K, 10K and half marathon runners and many others as well. Often times, this time commitment also requires you to make trade-offs or sacrifices in other areas of your life. If you are part of a running group that has a long run early on Saturday morning, your are less likely to be out boozing until 2 AM on Friday night - with a few notable and remarkable exceptions.
Then, for those who stick with their sport beyond a single event, these decisions about how to spend your time begin to evolve into a lifestyle. For example, instead of catching the latest Daily Show late at night as I used to, I now find myself conking out by 10 PM on most nights even if there is no planned workout the next morning (God bless TiVo). Then, when we do go out with the gang, I find myself making different choices about what I eat and drink, where we go and what we do. All the decisions are simply based on my own changing preferences which seem to have become tied up with this changing lifestyle.
Does this changing lifestyle make me an obsessed freak? What am I obsessed with? Is it some unobtainable body image that I allowed society to convince me I need to chase? Do I have a destructive urge to shave just a few more seconds off some best time in some arbitrary race? Am I simply becoming boring and one-dimensional? And if any of these are true, so what? Is obsession necessarily a bad thing?
Health
Everyone knows about the supposed health benefits of a little excerise. Good for the heart, good for the brain, good to release stress, and on and on. And I think it is intuitive that there is a point of diminishing returns to this exercise. So there should logically be some optimal point where the benefits to your health and life are balanced against the time and energy invested in this activity. But where is that point really? And how do we know? One commenter my link above mentions moderate exercise four times a week. How do we really know this and how do we measure all the benefits? Isn't there a social aspect to this that is not being captured? Isn't social interaction actually an important part of overall health?
Returning to the time aspect, is there a point at which more exercise becomes harmful to your health? I will submit the answer to this question is a resounding yes. Could that point be different for individuals? Again, I will submit the answer is yes. But is there also a point where no matter who you are and how genetically gifted, how well trained, how perfect your technique and how careful you are, you are simply driving yourself over a cliff of injuries? Are you envitably headed for the nightmare of blown out knees, arthritic backs, and all the rest? That cliff might be years away in the future and completely out of sight, but it might be there nevertheless. Are we all being driven toward this cliff by our fellow athletes, coaches, trainers, doctors, equipment and nutrition vendors and everyone else encouraging us and helping us along in what seem like worthwhile activities. We all recieve much needed support, advice and encouragement, not to mention cool gadets and other equipment from all these folks. And this is all given with the very best of intentions and recieved with deep gratidue. But what are the real consequnces here? Have we all undertaken in an activity that will inevitably lead to long term debilitating injuries and years of painful old age?
Are we all just lemmings lining up one by one rushing headlong toward some as yet unseen precipice?
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