Re: Running in marathons impairs immunity

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, John 'the Man' wrote:
 
> Or more precisely, exercising the WRONG way can impair immunity rather
> build it.

Since no-one uses a marathon race as part of their regular exercise routine,
studiess that suggest that racing a marathon depletes the immune system are
irrelevant to the average person's (or even the average elite runner's) 
training program.

> by the way.   This happens quite a lot in marathon running.  :)

No it doesn't. You have no idea what you're talking about. 

It's true that excessive fluid consumption is among the leading causes of
marathon fatalities (though most are due to undiagnosed heart trouble). It is
not true that it "happens often".

> I am suggesting that there always are limits.  That perhaps 90 minutes
> is a reasonable limit.  

It's a reasonable limit for a strenuous workout. In fact high intensity 
workouts practised by runners are almost always substantially shorter than
90 minutes. Anything more than an hour duration for a speed training session is
considered long.  (any run performed at race pace counts as "speed") 

>>Once again, I don't see how you can logically reach that conclusion 
>>about the heart. Care to explain?
> 
> A lot of recent research suggests that exercise intensity counts,
> rather than duration.  

It's not an either-or. You need both, especially in longer events. 

Cheers,
-- 
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/