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Marathons......

Ok, I know all the chronic cardio arguments....

There were three pieces that I saw today that sparked my interest particularly given how they relate to each other:

First of all the widely reported study that marathon runners have damaged hearts.   Also on Medpage here.

At the same time I saw two pieces that explained how to approach a marathon from a more sensible persepctive:

Mark Sisson on how to eat and train for a marathon - from a more primal  / paleo perspective.  Granted Mark warns you off the habit of marathons but accepts some people will still want to.

Then Tim Ferris had this post about marathon and endurance training on minimal mileage.  The Painless Path to Endurance  He highlighs someone using a low mileage approach to training:

Low mileage. I only ran 30 miles per week in preparation for the 100 miler. The most important training event for ultramarathons is the weekly long run. I kept my heart rate low and breathed through my nose during training runs, and I think that this helped to minimize muscle damage. I can run 20 miles on a Sunday, and still perform strength exercises on Monday. The key is having the LOW INTENSITY. I use a heart rate monitor, and I stay at 60-65% of my MHR. This means that I am often walking on the hills. If I ran 20 miles at 70-75% MHR, my recovery time would be much longer. I would do high intensity track or hill intervals on one day during the week, but the interval workout never lasted longer than 30 minutes. I keep the intervals pretty intense, though.

A lot like Crossfit Endurance.
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Comments

Rage said…
Magnesium Oxide is good for more stemina.
December 8, 2011 at 2:26 AM
Anonymous said…
I had to quit running due to my joints, so now I walk an hour a day. I actually just wrote about this in my blog!
December 8, 2011 at 9:22 AM
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