Ultrarunners have more allergies, asthma, knee pain & stress fractures

"One of the first large-scale studies of ultrarunners -- those superhumans who race distances longer than the standard 26.2-mile marathon -- shows that these runners are more likely to suffer from more allergies and asthma."

"They also report more knee pain and stress fractures, but when you're running 50 miles at a time, that seems about right."

Source: Ultrarunners aren't always ultrahealthy

Related Post: Run 2,800 miles in 64 days - loose muscle, fat, and brain!

Extreme exercise and the heart

When you’re sitting around, you heart is pumping about five quarts of blood a minute, and if you run up the stairs or hard or push yourself physically, it can go up 35 or 40 quarts a minute. If you go and run for 26 miles, or do a full-distance triathalon, it completely overtaxes the heart. The heart is pumping 25 quarts a minute for hours and hours, and that starts to cause muscle fibers to tear, which leads to a bump in troponin and other enzymes associated with inflammation, and it causes the death of some muscle cells in the heart.

Dr. James O’Keefe
Time Healthland

Low-carb ultramarathoner wins at record-breaking pace

Earlier this summer, Steve Phinney and Jeff Volek, authors of The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance, headed to theWestern States 100-mile Endurance Run, to study how runners in this grueling race fared, literally, for they were checking how the athletes performed, AND how they ate.  Steve Phinney says that more and more endurance athletes are choosing low-carb, high-fat. They’re choosing this diet both to get over digestive problems that hit in such a demanding event, and to win the race, and win it BIG!  That’s what Tim Olson did this year.  A self-proclaimed low-carb eater, Tim won the race — with a record-breaking pace.  

Shelley
Me & My Diabetes