Run to Win

This week last year was a busy one, and ran a pretty wide range of topics.

• I began the week by continuing the discussion of technology and fitness by describing 7 ways to time workouts. This article ran the technological ladder from using the sun to using an RFID chip on your shoe.
• In a very unique race, 56 people ran blind in the Vision 5k. Half of them were actually blind and the other half were sighted runners taking the blindfold challenge. This would be a fun race for me and one that I believe that I could do well at, except that I can’t afford the time to get down to Boston multiple times for mandatory “training” sessions.
• Almost 4 months before Ryan Shay died in the Olympic Trials, I discussed whether running a road race will kill you. I still believe that running is inherently healthy and that the infinitesimal chance of having a heart attack is not something that I am personally going to worry myself about.
• On a lighter note, I followed up that morbid discussion by defining some common running terms that you may encounter. Specifically, I defined what it means to get “girled” or “geezered” in a race. Sadly, I did not hear any of the women at the Maine Coast Half Marathon complain about getting “guyed”.
• On a non-running related note, I shared my thoughts on attending minor league games, specifically baseball games.
• This week two years ago was pretty busy.
  • Nick had a great suggestion that I wish that I had done. He suggested that you take before and after pictures for new exercise programs. When you are starting a new program, there may be some aches and pains, so remember to ice early and ice often.
  • When in a training program, be sure to include some downhill running. Last year I provided a half dozen benefits to doing so. You should also remember that the best runs come when you least expect them, such as the morning after your bachelor party.
  • I reviewed the Vitruvian Running Shoes. In other shoe news, the Nike+ system launched.
• This week 3 years ago, I reviewed Thorlos socks and I got punched by an Olympic Gold Medalist. My wife also did a workout that I would never even attempt, and it was only the first workout of the day. Even 3 years later, I wouldn’t attempt that kind of a workout. I’m still amazed by it.

Ryan Shay’s autopsy has been completed, and while it does not include an public toxicology report, his father was told that there was no evidence of any drug use. There was evidence of scarring in his heart that could not be attributed to anything specific and could have been caused by anything from childhood pneumonia to previous heart attacks. The official cause of death was has been linked to an irregular heart beat due to an enlarged heart.

Runner’s world has taken a look at various studies of cardiac deaths, comparing the instances of sudden cardiac death in young people to coronary artery death in people in their 40s or older. In the instances of young people, the most common causes of sudden cardiac death are due to genetic abnormalities that are present since birth and severe blows to the chest. Despite young athletes with some sort of heart abnormality being in more danger of dying during exercise, their overall risk of mortality is less if they engage in regular exercise.

As marathoning cardiology expert Paul Thompson, MD, once wryly put it: “If your only goal is to survive the next sixty minutes of your life, then your best strategy is to go to bed… alone. However, if you want to lower your lifetime risk of heart disease, then your best strategy is to fill the next hour with sixty minutes of moderate exercise.”

Ryan died during the men’s Olympic Marathon Trials this past November.

(More information: Runner’s World)

After hearing about Ryan Shay dying during the Olypmic Marathon Trials, or Chad Schieber dying during the Chicago Marathon, or any other runner that dies during a race or training, you may think that running is too dangerous an activity to be worth taking up. Ignoring the fact that training for and running a marathon makes you much healthier than you otherwise would be, if you can put such a strain on your heart that you die it can’t be worth it, right?

Wrong. Canadian researchers have determined that the act of having a marathon actually halves the number of deaths that would occur, because for every marathon death there is at least 2 motor vehicle deaths that are (statistically) averted. Nor are those deaths occurring on alternate routes.

The study examined 3,292,268 runners on 750 race days and 14 million hours of running and compared the number of deaths to the national data on traffic fatalities, estimating how many were expected to occur in the area on race day and checking the number that did occur.

Fewer than 1 in 100,000 people died while running a marathon, Dr. [Donald A.] Redelmeier and his colleagues reported. The chance that a middle-aged man — the typical marathon fatality — would die while running a marathon was about the same as the chance a middle-aged man would suddenly die anyway.

Dr. Thompson, the Hartford cardiologist, said there was another way of making the comparison. He noted that middle-aged men who run marathons are not typical of men their age. He said their risk of dying while running a marathon, while low, was nonetheless about seven times their risk of dying at other times.

This is an interesting study, because it provides a good reason for having marathons without talking about the individual benefits to the runners themselves. Running marathons actually provides a safety measure for the drivers that would normally be on the course.

So the next time that somebody tells you how dangerous it is for you to be running a marathon, you can tell them that you are running it to keep them safe for the day.

(Source: New York Times)

Last weekend, Ryan Shay died during the men’s Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City. He was a hard working young man that everybody liked. He came from a close knit community that has been trying to figure out how they are going to deal with his passing.

Over the past few days, there have been memorial track runs at his old high school as the town tries to cope with his loss. All across the country, runners are participating in their own 5.5 mile memorial run for him.

And why did he have to die? Joan Nesbit Mabe things that drugs killed Ryan Shay. (Click here to continue reading…)

Ryan Hall broke the men’s marathon olympic trials record by over a minute in his dominating win over the rest of the field this morning. He ran 2:09:02, beating Dathan Ritzenhein by 2 minutes and 5 seconds. Brian Sell was another half minute back, securing a position on the Olympic team with a 2:11:07. That is over 3 minutes faster than his previous best.

The pack ran together for 17 miles, when Ryan Hall broke out with a 4:32 18^th mile. Nobody in the race even came close to him after that. Dan Brown was running in 3^rd place for a long time, but some cramping in his calves caused him to drop back. Khalid Khannouchi finished in 4^th place to secure the alternate spot on the team.

I was a little disappointed with the streaming video of the race. It took me until after 9:00 before I could convince the website that I was trying to watch the race from the United States, so I only got to watch the last 8 miles or so. I am looking forward to the race highlights on NBC at 2:00 this afternoon so that I can see what happened in the early miles.

Update: My condolences to the family of Ryan Shay, a former Notre Dame runner who collapsed half an hour into the race and was dead on arrival at Lenox Hill Hospital. (Read more at NBC Olympics)

New England Runners:

• 07. Nate Jenkins, Lowell, MA, 2:14:56
• 19. Matt Pelletier, Warwick RI, 2:17:17
• 28. Patrick Moulton, Rochester MI (formerly of Pelham NH), 2:18:35
• 54. Steve Meinelt, Winchester MA, 2:22:40
• 61. Terrance Shea, Cambridge MA, 2:23:44
• 83. Casey Moulton, Pelham NH, 2:28:29

The full results are now available online at: USATF Olympic Marathon Trials Results