Back in 2006, I wrote a transformative post on my Marks Daily Apple blog titled, “A Case Against Cardio.” I described in detail how steady-state cardiovascular exercise can be extremely destructive to your health in many ways. I bared my soul describing my background as an elite marathon runner and ironman triathlete, and the negative toll my competitive aspirations took on my body and my mind. As you may know, my days as a marathon freak ended decades ago, but those in the endurance scene are still suffering from the broken promises and unintended consequences of the running boom of the past 50+ years.
It’s important to acknowledge amidst that despite their popularity, marathons, other ultra-endurance activities are torture to your body, and your mind. Training for events that are extreme and grueling by nature is inherently unhealthy on many levels. The running boom presents their subjects as supremely healthy, but the cardiovascular benefits you obtain from endurance exercise can be maximized in a fraction of the time, without all the pain, suffering, and sacrifice, nor the huge risks of burnout and injury.
Yes, there is some potential for great personal satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment and self-worth for completing a daunting challenge like a marathon, but if this is so…maybe we should ask why? Earning a finisher medal is surely better on many levels than earning a couch potato award, but the extreme goals that we worship today in the endurance scene might be considered distorted or even perverse. You don’t have to complete a 26.2-mile event in 5 hours, or 4 hours, or 3 hours to feel good about yourself. You can complete a 10k (6.2 mi, less than a quarter of the marathon distance), not feel physically destroyed and mentally drained at the finish line, and have your athletic pursuits support general health and longevity rather than compromise them.
If the running community agreed tomorrow to call 13.1 miles a “marathon,” we would all be better off. Sure, elite racers can train for and compete at the marathon distance much faster and with less destruction than the average enthusiasts, but why are we toeing the same starting line as superhuman athletes like Sifan Hassan or Eliud Kipchoge?
These riffs form the thesis of my new book, titled Born to Walk, which provides a detailed account about how endurance running is too stressful and injurious for most people, and how walking extensively every day is a central element of human health. Take it from me as a lifelong endurance athlete: Once I escaped from the matrix of the endurance scene, where my extreme competitive intensity was directed at pushing my body to go hard and go long, an awakening occurred on many levels.
First, straight ahead endurance running is not much fun in comparison to virtually any other sport requiring more disparate, complex and interesting skills. I am happy to do what amounts to an endurance run while playing Ultimate Frisbee, but running from point A to point B (or completing a loop) is not inherently interesting, nor challenging to the brain. It doesn’t really do much for the body either. Endurance running makes you competent at endurance running, and for most participants it should really be called shuffling–not true running like we watch in the Olympics.
As I’ve said many times to audiences of devoted runners, my entire career as an elite endurance athlete (2:18 marathon, 5th in USA nationals, and 4th at Hawaii Ironman world championship) was an exercise in pain management It’s wasn't about developing the esteemed ability to stay focused and confident in the 4th quarter, nor trusting your swing on the 18th hole to go for the flag, nor appreciating nature and challenging your body appropriately by hiking to the tallest peak in your area.
These athletic endeavors generate lasting fulfillment and personal growth. In contrast, the endurance training template of repeatedly pushing oneself to exhaustion, preserving through chronic and sustained discomfort, and glorifying this approach in the name of “staying hard” can easily drift away from the super cool/badass category to something less pleasant and more sordid. The struggle and suffer approach often becomes self-destructive, self-loathing, and a convenient way to literally run away from real life issues you are reluctant to face.
Granted, modern life for most of us is convenient, comfortable, predictable, safe, and mundane in many ways, and extreme endurance training offers a counterbalance to that. But only to a point. What if you did a challenging long-distance run at an ambitious pace once or twice a month, instead of as a routine component of your daily life? Would your race performance suffer? Maybe, but I’d bet not in most cases. This is especially true for triathletes who habitually overtrain and live overly stressful lives.
Born to Walk is not about putting a damper on your athletic passions and ambitious pursuit of peak performance limits, it’s about slowing down to reflect on the big picture, and approaching daunting endurance goals in a sensible manner. Please visit BornToWalkBook.com to learn extensive details about the book (excerpts, Q&A, resources), and numerous PDF downloads covering distinct topics like how to lose belly fat.