[NOTE: This blog refers to people over age 40 - 50 only. Sometime in the future I may look into those below 40-50 -- this is to avoid complicating my thoughts]
So far, I have not seen any study, not yet anyway, specifying an exercise as moderate versus excessive:
1. Is moderation based on heart rate?
2. On speed?
3. On frequency?
4. On distance?
5. On breathing?
6. On soreness?
7. On fatigue while exercising?
6. On all of the above?
The other question I have is -- about these runners’ heart studies -- did the victims develop heart problems because of running or was it pre-existing that missed detection earlier?
What I am hearing are these recommendations:
If you’re above 50, 15-20 miles per week can give you the maximum benefit from running. Anything above that doesn’t provide the maximum benefit and can become more a health-liability.
I am over 50 so my interest really, (selfish as I am), is to learn more about appropriateness of exercises as applied to my body. Galloway in one of his running books stated that runners all have the same amount of damages in their bodies (micro-tears of fibers for example) but those below 30 usually take only 24 hours to fully repair and recover while those above 40 may requires 48 hours. So it is probably ok for younger runners to have daily running while the rest need at least a day off to rest before running again.
This also brings me to my next hypothesis. If you have sore muscles in legs after a run, and since the heart is another muscle mass, does it get sore too? It looks like in one Canadian study, the hearts of long distance runners manifested some kind of inflammation a day after the runs.
And inflammation of the heart is dangerous. Unlike the non-voluntary muscles such as leg muscles that can ‘rest’, the heart muscle keeps pumping even when we are sleeping and resting. So - given that I limit my runs 20 miles a week, can I be allowed to explore other moderate activities such as biking or swimming or weight lifting? Would these other activities lessen the inflammatory damages? Or would these worsen them more?
Maybe we need more clarification studies on these so-called ‘moderate exercises’. And on my end, I should at least check out these questions based on my own body. So based on the 15-20 miles per week recommendation, I will distribute my runs 4 X 5miles per week or 3 x 6.5 miles per week.