Running Urban Legends, by Hal Higdon

Legend: Pheidippides died in the first marathon ever run. Given that bad start, why would anyone want to run 26 miles 385 yards when it is so dangerous?

Fact: No historical evidence exists to suggest that Pheidippides was other than a Greek legend, like Apollo or Aphrodite. Research on traffic accidents suggests that you are more at risk driving 26 miles 385 yards than running the distance, yet we still climb into our cars each day.

Legend: Running can prevent heart disease.

Fact: Running probably can decrease your risk of heart disease, particularly if you are overweight and/or out of shape, but running cannot prevent a heart attack. Because so many other factors, including genetics and diet, combine to put people at cardiologic risk, no guarantee of immunity exists.

Legend: You’re only “issued” so many heartbeats at birth. Running causes the heart to beat more, thus wastes heartbeats. You’ll shorten your life by running.

Fact: Not true. One of the early astronauts used this as an excuse for his not running. The fact of the matter is that running and other forms of exercise lowers your resting pulse rate. Mine was as low as 29 when I was in peak shape. By becoming a runner, your heart will beat less often over a period of time, but this does not mean that you are going to live longer.

Legend: All the pounding on your knees will eventually cause you to have sore knees as well as arthritis.

Fact: No studies link running with arthritis, either to cause it or to prevent it. In fact, improved circulation may lessen the pain of that disease. Yes, runners eventually may get sore knees, but probably no more than non-runners, whose muscles supporting the knees are weak from lack of exercise.

Legend: Training for a marathon is the best way to lose weight.

Fact: Not really, because much to the chagrin of those who choose such a path to better-fitting bathing suits, marathon training sometimes causes people to gain weight rather than lose it. That’s because their appetites often increase relative to the number of miles they run. They become slimmer because they convert loose fat into denser muscles, but the pounds remain the same. The best way to lose weight is before you start training for a marathon. Diet combined with exercise is the best weight-loss routine.

Legend: Carbo-loading the night before a marathon will allow you to avoid hitting the wall.

Fact: Following a dietary regimen rich in carbohydrates certainly can increase the amount of glycogen in your muscles, glycogen being the most efficient fuel for energy. So eating carbs the night before makes sense, but the total of all you eat while training before a marathon is more a factor. Also, if you go out too fast, no amount of spaghetti is going to keep you from crashing into that wall.

Legend: If you don’t walk at some point in your marathon, you are bound to get injured.

Fact: Whether you walk or not in a marathon has nothing to do with your risk of injury. Most often, runners get injured because of what they do in training for a marathon, or other races, not because of what happens in the race itself. Walking in a marathon offers no protection against injury.

Legend: You haven’t “run” a marathon if you take walking breaks. Today’s runners are too slow compared to runners a generation ago.

Fact: Statistics do prove that today’s runners, on average, are “slower” than runners a generation ago. That is because the sport has expanded to embrace runner of all abilities, a healthy sign in my mind. Nothing in the rules suggest you need run every step of the way. Bill Rodgers ran 2:10 and won Boston while taking four walking breaks.

Legend: Runners slow down in the last half dozen miles because lactic acid accumulates in their muscles, crippling them. It’s also why their muscles are sore for days and weeks after a marathon.

Fact: Lactic acid accumulation probably does cause 400-meter runners to slow on the final straightaways of their races, but marathoners slow for other reasons. The most frequent reason is that they did not train well enough to justify an early fast pace. Soreness is more often caused by miniscule muscle tears that take time to heal. Any lactic acid accumulation by long distance runners usually clears within a half hour.

Legend: Women have more endurance than men, but got a slow start in the sport because of discrimination. Women have won several ultramarathons and eventually will narrow the gap between the world marathon record, women and men.

Fact: Comparing women’s performances with men’s performances is like comparing apples and oranges. We’re different, refreshingly so. The percentage performance difference between women and men has been similar in most events from the 100 meters to the marathon for years and is unlikely to change greatly. Women who won ultramarathon races did so because they were comparatively better athletes than the men running against them in that specific event.

Legend: I can run for an hour a day and my wife won’t get upset.

Fact: Well, she still might—unless she is out running herself. She probably would be less upset than if you spent four hours on a weekend playing golf, particularly considering the price of golf vs. running. Regardless, any successful relationship is a balancing act. Run your hour a day, but be supportive of her when she needs time to relax and participate in some activity you consider foolish.

Comments

[norm eburne]

enjoyable, as the years have passed your writing has become more "science based" and also practical and applicable. offering the :"this works but this also works" treats the reader as an intellignet being rather than a drone to be programed by a "mystical" coaching guru who has all the answers before even hearing the question.