The Running Craze: Are You Running Too Much?

It seems like everybody is doing it. Your friends, your neighbors, your mom. Every morning or afternoon, 5K's, marathons, run clubs. It's everywhere. It's a "run away" hit! Har har, but seriously, what the hell is with everyone running? Is it healthy?

A quick glimpse at Facebook is all it takes for most people to find at least one person who is into running among their friends but chances are there are more. All across the country, themed runs have popped up like Starbucks. Runs where they throw colored dust all over you, zombie runs, obstacle course runs complete with flames and barbed wire, underwear runs, nude runs, even a run where you stop along the way to sample wine!











Yeah, that's right. People running AND drinking. What could go wrong?

Joking aside, I've never really seen the attraction to running long distances. As someone who played soccer for a good part of my life and also had a Tae Kwon Do instructor that thought young children should run miles as part of their training, I've pretty much had my fill.

I consider myself to be in pretty good shape. I do a mixture of in-home fitness programs like P90X (1-3), Insanity, and a few other things that I throw in randomly throughout the day. I may be walking from part of the house to the other and decide to do a few pull ups. I may be standing in the kitchen mixing together a meal and decide to do some calf raises.

                                                                       I never run.

The goal of most runners I know is to stay or get "in shape". From my own anecdotal evidence I'm not convinced that the extent that many people run is the best way to do that. I'll give you a few examples.

I once played some flag football with some college buddies of which a few were and still are into running a few miles almost daily. While they certainly proved to be in better shape than the average American, there were several times when they requested breaks to catch their breath, would be gassed out with their hands on their knees after a play etc. Meanwhile I'm running back to the line of scrimmage, ready for the next play.

Another was some sort of "K" run I randomly fell into with some friends that are in a run club in Miami.

Again, I never run.

These two girls run all the time. I stayed with them the entire time because I wasn't running in it to prove anything and enjoy their company, but I could have left them behind. Their pace was pretty solid but towards the middle of the pack in that particular run. I don't think I could have finished first, but If I had wanted to I definitely could have been further up when it came to the finish line.

So you may be saying "Yeah yeah yeah. We get it. But this is all circumstantial. Of course running is good for you!".

Well let's talk about science.

All scientists look like this, right?

My own cardio training is based on intervals, not maintained levels of exertion. Studies have shown that interval training is far superior in benefits compared to sustained cardio exertion levels when exercising.

In addition, new studies are revealing that sustained running can actually have a negative impact on longevity. That's right, if you run too much you may be shortening your life, which is the exact opposite of most people's motivation for running in the first place.

How can this be?! Well I'm sure you've heard about or read of instances where pretty much every year a runner drops stone cold dead in the middle of or shortly after a race. Many have no history of heart disease or other risk indicators. What then is to blame?

The culprit, it turns out, is stress.

Any time you exert your body you are placing stress on your muscles, ligaments, and organs. In essence, you damage them. The good thing about this is that when done properly and moderately your body heals itself stronger than before you damaged it. That's how muscle is built and hearts are strengthened. However, like most other things in life, there is a point of diminishing returns.

The latest studies indicate that 2-3 hours of running per week is optimal. After that, the stress placed on the body seems to outweigh the benefits reaped from the increased time and miles placed on the body.

Think about it this way: If you run every day or even every other day what time does your body have to heal from the damage you are doing to it from running? You are literally damaging your body every single day and never giving it time to mend itself properly. This is a concept that many weightlifters have known for years. The body takes approximately 36 hours to heal muscle fibers that have been torn during exercise. Work out the same muscle group before that time has elapsed and you run the risk of "over-training". Your results plateau and you are basically wasting your time.

I know I know. I'm raining on the parade.

So I know this isn't the best news for you long distance, sold out, slap some pancake batter on me and call it a "Breakfast Run" athletes but it seems to be the reality. This doesn't mean you should stop running entirely, or even to stop participating in the fun, crazy ass "Moose Antler" run that you love so much.

It just means that maybe we should all take a step back from this run craze, change up and vary our exercise regime, and find some other fitness oriented activities that we love. After all, even the gazelle and the lion, animals I've seen running advocated offer up as examples of animals that run all the time, really don't run that often, and when they do, it's in short, terror filled spurts.

So keep running, but let your runs be brief and filled with terror.