Should You also run a Marathon?

What is the toughest fitness benchmark currently in the fitness world? What is the fitness goal that is famous among most people? Yes, it's a MARATHON. During the past 10 years, no.of people taking a marathon have increased many folds. But, is this level of fitness actually needed by us? In today's world, most of us are Knowledge Workers i.e. working with brains & amount of physical activity is minimal. Is this level of fitness really needed by a knowledge worker? I want you to consider following things if you've a plan to run a marathon. 

Time: Running a marathon would require you a daily practice of 2 hours. Is it feasible to spend 2 hours of our waking time daily on fitness alone? Spending daily 2 hours on fitness is a waste of time. It's similar to "We need daily 8 hours of sleep for healthy life. But it's possible for a person to sleep for 11-12 hours which is certainly a waste of time." If you've read "7 habits of highly effective people", you'd know, spending just 30 min daily on fitness is a perfect time. Here we're looking for things which can make us fit in minimum possible time. Also it's far more likely that you'll break the daily 2 hour marathon training as compared to daily only jogging for 30 min. 

Marathon Strategies: Humans aren't designed to run continuously for such a long time. Our ancestors used to walk a lot with an occasional sprinting. So we naturally do not know strategies required for running marathon. Special strategies are needed to make us possible to run continuously for 2 or more hours. 

Natural Strength: If your natural strength has been running with speed & if you try running a marathon which is essentially a endurance running thing, it will be going against your natural talent. If you can run with speed for 5 min doesn't mean you can run for 2 hours. Even if your natural strength is distance, do 30 min high intensity running first because it has a lot of benefits. After training for 30 min running, you can consider a marathon. If you're a brainiac then it would be very difficult for you to put your body in extreme physical activity simply because of "lack of interest". Doing jogging for 30 min is much more practical. 

Weight Loss / Endurance: If you've taken up marathon for losing weight or to strengthen your cardiovascular system & are willing to spend 2 hours on it, I'd say it isn't a good idea. It's possible to lose weight or to build endurance in only 30 min. You can save 1.30 hours for doing anything. 

Effect on Heart: Running marathon puts extreme pressure on our heart. During sitting heart pumps 5 quarts of blood per minute; while running it increases to 25 - 30 quarts of blood per / minute. If this rate is sustained for a long time that to day after day which is the case with marathoners, it exerts excessive pressure on heart walls. Doing activities which put stress on heart makes it stronger but beyond a cutoff it has a negative impact. You'd be shocked to know that people who do excessive exercise or are long time marathoners, their MRI shows scars, increased heart enzymes & these same symptoms also show up in MRI of a person after a heart attack. The problem will increase if no proper recovery time provided. Heart responds well to excessive training because like brain cells, heart tissues are less sensitive to pain. So at the beginning there are no signs of heart problems but after sometime bad effects start showing up. Researches:

	Research	Agency
1.	Regular running reduces heart disease by 2-3% but excessive running increases chances of heart disease by 7%	Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010 in Montreal
2.	Heart checkups of people 1 week after marathon showed: Diminished function of right ventricle Increased heart enzymes (markers of heart injury) 12% heart scar tissue	European Heart Journal, 2012 heart study
3.	Rats were put to strenuous activity just like during marathons. Initially rats had good heart condition. By the end of research their hearts had diffuse scarring and some structural changes in heart	2011 rat study published in the journal Circulation

Effect on Muscles: Marathons put great tension on your muscles as well. While running a marathon, body muscles are used at an excited state for long intervals of time. Following things happen when muscles are used in excited state for a long time:

1. Catabolism in muscles takes place in which muscle tissues are broken down to form simple compounds
2. Cortisol (stress hormone) released which leads to catabolism & other chronic diseases
3. Microscopic tears are formed in muscle fibers which if not healed by recovery periods causes injuries

Muscles are of 3 types: slow, fast & super fast. Of these slow muscles are red muscles while fast & super fast muscles are white muscles. Slow less intensity task like marathon exercises red muscle. Fast intense activity like sprinting exercises both red & white muscles. We can take full advantage of an exercise if it is done fast & with intensity.

Evening Practice: If you train for marathon in the evening after your work, you may not feel to train harder even though your body can do the training. A research was done on 2 groups of people to see if doing a complex brainy task affects our ability to exercise. One group was asked to solve a complex word game while the other group was asked to watch a movie. Then both the groups exercised. The movie watching group performed 20% better in exercises. So knowledge workers should do their training in the morning. 

Boring: Running continuously for 2 hours is a boring task & will cause you to get overwhelmed if you're like me. I prefer to do things that give results with minimal practice. 

Newbie Runner: Running for a marathon requires consistent practice of 2-3 months. If you haven't been involved in any physical activity since your school days, it will take even longer to be able to run a marathon. Keep it in mind. 

Extra Luggage: If you run or do exercise for more than 1 hour, you'll need to accompany yourself with water to hydrate your body & some food. But if you do running only for 30 min even with high intensity, you do not require carrying water bottles or food. 

Gender: Thinking that you're a man & you're less prone to excessive running bad effects than women will be a bad thought because researches show that men are more susceptible to heart attack during exercises. For fitness less, high intensity training is better. If it feels too odd to run, no need to run for 2 hours. Just run for 30 min with high intensity & go back to your safe heaven :) After reading this post if you still feel to run a marathon or you feel your life will be incomplete without running at least 1 marathon then Do It :). But listen to your body for how it responds to your training. 

Regards, 
Ricky