AUDIO: THE RUNNER'S HEART

THE RUNNER'S WORLD SHOW

Episode 63: A roundtable discussion about the issues of cardiac safety and running.

This week, we have a very special show: a roundtable on the topic of heart health and running. With help from our experts, we try to address how good/bad running is for your heart and make sense of the headlines that say, “Too much running will kill you!” (:40)

Running and Your Heart

Every year, typically during marathon season, we hear stories—some inspiring, others tragic—of people suffering sudden cardiac arrest in a race. (In fact, a recent episode of Human Race looks at this very issue.)

And in the past few years, there has been a steady drip of news articles with hyperbolic statements like “Too much running will kill you!” It’s a lot of information to digest, and it can all get very confusing very fast.

So when Dr. Jordan Metzl proposed assembling an all-star roundtable of experts on the runner’s heart, we thought that this was the perfect way to make sense of the headlines.

In addition to being a marathoner and Ironman competitor, Dr. Metzl is a sports medicine physician, author, creator of the IronStrength workout, and a member of our advisory board here at Runner’s World.

He was also the moderator of this discussion, which took place in Boston this past April the day before the Boston Marathon. He was joined by Amby Burfoot, the 1968 Boston Marathon winner and contributing editor for Runner’s World; Dr. Paul Thompson, director of cardiology of the Athletes’ Heart Program at Hartford Hospital and a lifelong runner; Dr. Aaron Baggish, associate director of the Cardiovascular Performance Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital Heart Center and the co-medical director of the Boston Marathon; and Dave McGillivray, the race director of the Boston Marathon and a lifelong runner. 

The group has a frank discussion on what runners need to know about their hearts, and in the cases of Burfoot and McGillivray, what it’s like running with known heart issues and how they dealt with them.