Pete Magill goes over to the Dark Side: plans his first marathon
Pete Magill of South Pasadena at Anaheim 5K in June.
About Ken Stone
Ken has followed track as an athlete, writer and web-master since the late 1960s, and saw most sessions of track and field at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He also attended the 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Trials, the last three as a blogger and Patch correspondent. [More...]
Ken Stone
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20 Responses
Yes alot of people who basically walk marathons have an elitist attitude about people who do not do marathons. I don’t see what the big deal is, it is just another distance. In high school we did regular 17 mile runs on Sundays, and alot of guys did 20 milers. Back then there was only the Palos Verdes marathon and a few others and my teammates did it for training. They stopped at a water stop and stretched and relaxed and still broke 3hrs. Back then we were told it was very bad to drink while you were running so they only drank twice and stretched out at both stops.
Oh btw Good luck Pete, it is not too hard and much ado about nothing. I have yet to run a marathon but have quite a few 30 plus runs to my credit.
100 miles is a real distance. Do you even have to train for marathons?
(I’m kidding.)
Be careful Pete!
The June issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings included a review of how excessive endurance exercise is thought to cause damage to the heart.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120604093108.htm
31 May 2012 – A study in the June issue of Mayo Clinic
Regular exercise is highly effective for the prevention and treatment of many common chronic diseases, and improves cardiovascular health and longevity. However, recent research suggests that chronic training for, and competing in, extreme endurance exercise such as marathons, iron man distance triathlons, and very long distance bicycle races may cause structural changes to the heart and large arteries, leading to myocardial injury. A study in the June issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings reviews the literature and outlines in detail for the first time the mechanisms, pathophysiology, and clinical manifestations of cardiovascular injury from excessive endurance exercise.
“Physical exercise, though not a drug, possesses many traits of a powerful pharmacologic agent. A routine of daily physical activity can be highly effective for prevention and treatment of many diseases, including coronary heart disease, hypertension, heart failure, and obesity,” says lead author James H. O’Keefe, MD, of Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, MO. “However, as with any pharmacologic agent, a safe upper dose limit potentially exists, beyond which the adverse effects of physical exercise, such as musculoskeletal trauma and cardiovascular stress, may outweigh its benefits.”
Dr. O’Keefe and his colleagues present emerging data suggesting that extreme endurance training can cause transient structural cardiovascular changes and elevations of cardiac biomarkers, all of which return to normal within one week. For some individuals, over months and years of repetitive injury, this process can lead to the development of patchy myocardial fibrosis, particularly in the atria, interventricular septum, and right ventricle, and an increased susceptibility to atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. In one study, approximately 12% of apparently healthy marathon runners showed evidence for patchy myocardial scarring, and the coronary heart disease event rate during a two-year follow up was significantly higher in marathon runners than in controls.
Although it has been recognized that elite-level athletes commonly develop abnormal electrocardiograms and atrial and ventricular entropy, these adaptations traditionally have not been thought to predispose to serious arrhythmias or sudden cardiac death. However, it now appears that the cardiac remodeling induced by excessive exercise can lead to rhythm abnormalities. Endurance sports such as ultramarathon running or professional cycling have been associated with as much as a 5-fold increase in the prevalence of atrial fibrillation.
Chronic excessive sustained exercise may also be associated with coronary artery calcification, diastolic dysfunction, and large-artery wall stiffening.
Not to worry, Herb. I’m more concerned about Pete losing brain cells from the pounding. His legs and heart have already been through the wringer.
Welcome to the club! Its all downhill from here, particularly as Ken says its effect on the brain. Everyone will give the good advice to run cautiously for at least the first half of the race, its hard to do though. With the best intentions to be careful about the initial pace I have erred on more than one occasion and paid the price.
200 meters is my marathon. Good luck Pete!
Pete has our respect without the marathon. I’d have a lot more respect for a “SUB 15 5K” sticker on the back of the ole SUV than the ubiquitous “26.2” that about 2 million people have.
I think it was Pete who said that his first words of advice to someone who asked about training for a marathon was usually “don’t,” as in don’t run one. Or was that Hood to Coast?
Ah the siren call of the marathon- have heard that and responded 6 times before coming to my senses.
Good luck Pete, be one and done. But I have heard that in South Africa one is not a “real” runner unless you have run the Comrades marathon which is an ultramarathon of 56miles (89k). Zola Budd Pieterse ran it this past June. I think she has some claim to be quite a runner herself.
Every Patriots Day I sit in front of the TV and watch the Boston Marathon, I ran it twice – the last time in 1979, and for years I would have thoughts about – oh I should do that again. No more, I think I am finally cured of “marathon desire”.
Take it easy, you really do not need to run 26 miles in training in order to run a 26 mile marathon. Not unless you think you are going to hang in with the elites. Run it – do not race it.
Good Luck Pete,
I completed 10 marathons in my 30’s and 40’s. I found it kept me quite skinny, but that I was obviously a sprinter trying to run marathons. I also have found that my training for sprinting has left me with virtually no illness, where, by contrast, I was constantly run down and ill before a marathon. Maybe related to my Type A personality?
Not raining on your intent, just saying it is wise to avoid excess for the sake of excess. And, yes many people walk, jog, walk and continue doing so until they make the 26.2 mark in six plus hours. I don’t comprehend all of the bragging after that, but I’m betting you arrive not very long after you leave. Best wishes.
Pete,
I will run the first 800 meters with you…
Still sprinting in Arizona
Sully
Just have fun and enjoy the race.
The most sensibly run marathon I know of was by a friend who ran the Paris Marathon. He jogged slowly until he reached his hotel near the finish line, went to his room, showered, changed into a cool running outfit, combed his hair and proudly went out to be the last finisher so he could be escorted in with gendarmes on motorcycles, lights flashing and the occasional siren.
Good luck, Pete.
Nadine, who has been there, done that, and knows it’s nothing to brag about
In the post of 4. Herb Philips in the cited paragraph the following section is omitted:
“Micah True, legendary ultra-marathoner, died suddenly while on a routine 12-mile training run March 27, 2012. The mythic Caballo Blanco in the best-selling book, Born to Run, True would run as far as 100 miles in a day. On autopsy his heart was enlarged and scarred; he died of a lethal arrhythmia (irregularity of the heart rhythm). Although speculative, the pathologic changes in the heart of this 58 year-old veteran extreme endurance athlete may have been manifestations of “Phidippides cardiomyopathy,” a condition caused by chronic excessive endurance exercise”.
To remind: several months (or a year?) ago the legendary Norwegian marathon runner Grete Weitz died at the age of 57.
You can read the following article from Dr. Lawrence Wilson:
http://drlwilson.com/ARTICLES/MARATHONS.htm
The book “Born to run” is interesting and inspiring, but not realistic for most of us. We are not Tarahumara. It’s not only way of life (“couch potatoes”, for example), but genetics as well.
One writer said: “Reading about travels prolongs one’s life. But travels themselves shorten it.”
You can replace “travel” with “marathon”.
All exercise scientists, and even spiritual Masters (with the exception of Sri Chinmoy), recommend (for health reasons) walking/ jogging between 3 – 10 km (2 – 6 miles) daily. Everything above this is excess, and has nothing to do with health, ESPECIALLY for masters athletes (age 45-50 and more). And some price is paid at some time.
“Don’t spend prematurely the energies of your body” said a spiritual Master. As well as: “There is no over-strain, even fatigue, in Nature”.
Why is it so difficult to follow common sense?
Health is more important than any records, victories, etc.
Of course, everyone decides what to do with his (her) life. If life seems senseless or boring without marathon running, then …
It’s just a 37k jog with a 5k race at the end…or was it a 5k race with a 37k jog at the end? I like Ed’s comments.
And when you “finally” run a marathon people will exclaim “Wow, did you run the whole way???”.
Where’s that 200M car sticker?
Pete good luck..whatever you run I will consider your 5k time to be more amazing…well, unless you run like a 2:12 or something and beat Meb Keflezgi
Always amazed how i can get up and eat several times while watching a marathon on the television and they are still going at it!?
Good luck with the race and the recovery – should make you a beast for XC Nationals!
Pete,
I have been running roughly 25 miles (lets call it 26.2) a week all Summer, but got hurt twice on that alone. First my hamstring-a past injury renewed; and then my arch/toe-a mystery injury. I know you train smart and have the authority to scold those that dont, but seems to me like Marathon training is in itself over training and an injury waiting to happen. But thats comimg from fragile me. I think many would love to hear your approach to training for this.
Best of luck.
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