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Ultra-Obligatory

4/3/2018

7 Comments

 
Think of the thing that you enjoy doing most in the world that you perceive is positive for your health. If you were told, with certainty that continued involvement in that pursuit would be ruinous to your health would you choose to continue?

Obviously, there are several caveats to this question, such as over what time period? What does ruinous mean? Is it complete disintegration of your physical being or a potential to become more careworn and vulnerable to injury? What time frame are we talking about? Does it mean within months or years of engaging in the event or are we looking 20-30 years into the future? All of these things would need to be considered for us to make a decision. I would hazard also that this decision would be different for the individual, based on many factors such as age, gender, life experience and the theme of which that individual wishes to lead their life.
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The reason I pose this question is that I came across an abstract the other week whereby a survey of 1349 ultra marathon runners were asked that very question, that is “If you were to learn, with absolute certainty, that ultra1marathon running is bad for your health, would you stop your ultramarathon training and participation?". 74.1 % of those surveyed, 999.6 people, said “no”.

This result, whilst not a complete surprise, was notable for the percentage of people who indicated that they would continue to compete at ultra marathons if they knew that this was bad for their health. If using ultramarathons is garnering too much of an emotional response from you, substitute any supposedly healthy activity, say, Tennis. I am in no way taking a swipe at ultra marathons, however I would suggest that the people need to consider the rationale and reasons behind why they pursue an activity. That 1000 people chose to answer that they would continue to engage in ultramarathons, despite the knowledge that it was bad for them is significant and bears exploration.

Those that answered “no” were more likely to be younger, have less children, and interestingly, a lower health priority than those who answered “yes”. Whilst it was still high, the people that answered “no” had higher ratings for personal goal achievement, psychological coping and life meaning.

The crux of the study was that despite people learning that the activity was bad for their health they would continue to engage in it as it served their task orientation and psychological personal achievement motivators that they believed that the risk was worth holding at the risk of their own health.

Whilst I understand motivation and task reward, and also that the relatively “safe” struggle and pain we experience in ultra marathons crafts a fulfilling personal narrative, I still struggle to understand why someone would continue to do something that is perceived as adding to wellbeing, when they were aware that it would ruin their health.

Surely, the goal of an active life is to live well for the longest time possible, maintaining activity and vitality well into our senior years. Also, would you not consider that if your perception of a positive expression of health lead to your health declining, would it not be time to re establish some new goals, limits or expectations?

Whilst I’m not sure at this point I can answer any of these questions, I would be very interested to hear what the community has to say on the matter.

Reference:
Martin D. Hoffman & Rhonna Krouse (2018) Ultra-obligatory running among ultramarathon runners, Research in Sports Medicine, DOI: 10.1080/15438627.2018.1431533
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7 Comments
Rob Henderson
4/3/2018 09:30:08 pm

The discussion above sounds theoretical ... I am not aware of any study that shows ultra marathons are bad for my health ... on the contrary running ultras have actually improved my health fitness and general well being. I am motivated to enjoy running and training by the prospect of seeing great scenery , interesting people , and having a challenge. If I am still alive in 30 years time it will be due to my running ultras.

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James Kuegler link
7/3/2018 09:16:39 am

Rob, you're right, the article is entirely theoretical.

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Claire Fox
4/3/2018 10:04:58 pm

As someone who has adopted the goal of healthy activity, wanting to run well into my retirement, it would be very confronting to find that an active event I love and value could cause harm. Not to mention a hit to the ego.

The details behind running ultras (like most activities) can vary significantly between individuals, 1 per year with careful training and body care is a very different proposition to many in a year or 2-3 in a short period of time. What I find more interesting is the question, how does each of us as an individual assess the positive and negative impacts on our bodies of any given activity. Short term may be obvious, long term, not so much.

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Anthony Eyles
5/3/2018 09:54:32 am

There must be an optimum duration or exertion that is considered healthy. Ultra runners willingly go past this not looking for improved health but the challenge and achievement. Mountain climbers knowingly risk their life for their passion. Ultra running must be on this spectrum somewhere. I use this quote as a guide to not holding back in life;

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

― Hunter S. Thompson, The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967

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matt rayment
8/3/2018 06:46:24 am

Ironically, for a man that made such a grandiose statement, Thompson shot himself in his kitchen whilst on the phone to his wife who was coming home from the gym. Wracking with physical issues and probable mood disorder from
Years of heavy substance use. I think a balance is important in life, and I can think of decisions I’ve made that I wouldn’t trade for another five years of life. As James said, it is a theoretical argument, but it certainly lead to some interesting reflection on my part.

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Jane
5/3/2018 12:04:31 pm

As someone who has significantly been affected health wise by long distance and ultra running, I hope that I would've been one of the no sayers. I did totally stop running after a specialist told me continuing on was likely to leave me bedridden for weeks.
I don't think that ultra running is bad for you per se, but you also need to take into account everything else that is going on to make a sensible decision that's right for you

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Sean McWilliams
5/3/2018 03:26:03 pm

It's hardly suprising; people continually indulge in behaviours that are indisputably shown to be unhealthy / detrimental to longterm health (especially when couple with genetic predisposition) such as drinking alcohol, recreational drug use, unhealthy diets, lack of physical activity, arguing with their wife.... If it was shown that ultra running / long distance running in general was going to knock 30 years off of my life, I might reconsider. If it's a case of having knackered joints when I'm old,then so be it. None of us are promised tomorrow. Most of us hit old age with a few dings anyway, I'd rather mine were from something I enjoyed than just work, etc.

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