Apparently, this may kill me sooner than later

I was watching a Youtube Tedx video entitled "Run for your life! At a comfortable pace, and not too far: James O'Keefe". The gist of the talk is that running more than 20 miles (36km) per week is not too good for you and could in fact undo all the benefits of runners. While this talk has brought out some critics such as this article from Runners World,  there are some take home applications which both Alex Hutchinson and James O'Keefe do agree on. And Ill finish with my thoughts on the matter.

Firstly, yes, running too much is detrimental to your health. Nobody disputes that. The question of course is how much is too much. Where that line is nobody really knows and while James O'Keefe, a research cardiologist, has some opinions at this stage the evidence is unclear and unconfirmed. What Dr. James does suggest is that we all should get out there and do something; exercise a bit each day and you will be significantly healthier and live longer than if you do nothing. So the first take home application is that we should exercise, at least a little bit.

If Dr. O'Keefe is right, then long endurance based exercise over 25 years will shorten your life by about 6 years, the same amount if you did no exercise. My second point would be this - who cares? I don't know anyone who is out there doing long endurance based exercises because they must. Anybody who is exercising because they have to don't get into endurance based events and maintain that for 25 years. If you do something you love for 25 years and die 6 years earlier then that seems like a good trade. I'm a twin. Do you know how many twins live past 100? I know of one set of twins. Genetically, I'm wired to die early. I intend to live well with the years I have and if you love exercising for long periods then enjoy it. And remember, nobody really knows for sure if Dr. O'Keefe is right yet so he may be wrong.


Lastly, it turns out that diet is really important - who knew? You can be fit and thin and really unhealthy. You may be fit and still get a heart attack. What we eat impacts us on the inside even if the muscles are big and the girth is narrow.  What we eat affects our arteries and if we put junk in then no amount of exercise, either strength training or endurance training, can help us. Of course, if you are sedentary then junk food will impact you more and cause more problems but just because you look great and can run a marathon doesn't mean that you can eat whatever you want. Your choice of food matters.

So what's my take home perspective on all of this? I'm not over training by anybody's standard either O'Keefe's or Hutchinson's so I'm fine. I'm going to die early anyway so the best I can do is be healthy until the end. And lastly, my diet is fine. I'm going to do my strength training and stay strong and I'm going to do my fair share of endurance exercise to keep the heart healthy.

Actually, one more point. If you don't exercise or if your diet is horrible, please, do something about it. Extreme exercise may be a problem but even if it does kill you earlier, it's compared to those who do nothing. Do you hear that? If you aren't doing something you will die 6 years earlier and it's not a healthy six years. It's six years of pills and pain.

So tell me, what are you going to do this week to get off the couch and bring health to yourself?

4 weeks to go.