My mother, now in her fifties, has run marathons for the last twelve years or more: sometimes, two a year.

However, as a family, we started to question the whole ‘marathon running = peak fitness = long life’ idea when she discovered last year that she has now developed a heart problem seemingly exacerbated by her endurance exercise (a valve in her heart has hardened). After years of careful eating and exercise, this development seems somewhat unjust really.

Not only that, but a long time friend of the family died from a MI earlier this year in his mid 40s while out cycling: he too had been an endurance buff for twenty years and a marathon obsessive.

Another interesting thing is that my mother’s problems with depression and anxiety began around the time she started running marathons — I do wonder whether there would be some merit in someone pursuing this line and researching whether some types of endurance exercise take too much out of non-professional athletes, causing physical and mental imbalances.

I love running and cycling, although I’m a bit of a failure at swimming — I wonder how much the focus on “Must Do X Comp” sucks the joy out these activities?

There is one thing I want to point out, though — MI rates have increased during marathons and triathlons in recent years, as the popularity of these sports has increased. I don’t know if anyone has done the analysis to see if the MI rates have gone up in direct proportion to the number of entrants, but I have a hunch that the rates have risen DISproportionately. I’m on a bunch of triathlon and running-related sites, and there are a lot of people with a fairly low level of fitness who want to go from the couch to the marathon or Ironman. A lot of them happen to be middle-aged guys. Whether these are the same middle-aged guys who are dying all over the finish line at races (or in the swim at a tri) is not known by me, but it seems possible that going from a sedentary lifestyle straight into marathon training is even harder on the body than training for a marathon when you already have a good endurance base built up.

I ran a marathon when I was 30. I trained well, didn’t overdo it, had a good run, was proud of my time. Afterwards, I became depressed for no discernible reason. I had heard people say that you can get depressed after a marathon because its a big let down after going for a goal- they say its psychological.

I didn’t think it was psychological.

I read a book called The Mood Cure, it recommends supplements including a lot of amino acids for depression. I followed the suggestions and felt better right away. SO, I really think that I became depressed because my body just broke down and used up too much of my own resources, so I didn’t have enough of the feel good chemicals that amino acids help create.

I really loved running as long as I did- especially when we ran 16 miles along the southern california coast during training. I felt strong, and good. But I do think, for me at least, marathon training was a luxury that cost my body rather than helping my body.

I could see myself doing a half marathon again, but a full marathon took too big a toll on my system.

On the other hand, my mom has run several ultra-marathons (50 miles) with seemingly no dire consequences except for black toe-nails.

If your objective is fat-loss, increased cardiovascular health or diminished risk factors, then endurance sports are not your best choice.

Once that’s been established, we can discuss what’s fun — an entirely different subject.