RE: Long-Distance Running Versus Injury: How I Ran 100+ Miles In June
Not good Winston! You're are endangering your health! I understand you do it for mental reasons too, but weights can offer the same benefit: done properly, you'll be trying to catch your breath between sets, and fail. You could also do burpees in a fraction of the time that you do running, and drop from exhaustion after only a few minutes. Again, I understand that running on a trail in nature with fresh air etc. can't compare with my recommendations, but you must figure this out otherwise I fear that your fear that you describe above will come true! Read my comments to this article here: https://steemit.com/science/@ben.zimmerman/why-is-exercise-good-for-the-brain-an-evolutionary-neuroscience-perspective I'll link to your article there as well, since it verifies what I was saying.
Edit: Maybe bicycling? I don't know that it won't lead to the same problems tho.
Edit 2: Swimming? Can you do swimming where you live? I mean open water.
Do you think 5-6 miles a day for 5 days a week is too much? I know lots of runners do more than this, and certainly marathon training is even more demanding.
I'm pretty happy with the one hour, 6 mile run, so I probably won't be extending it much further.
I have experimented with weights, swimming, kayaking, etc. For some reason I've just never been able to turn any of them into a habit. Part of the appeal of running is that I live in a beautiful area and love seeing the trails every day.
Thanks for the good discussion and for linking my article.
Not too much maybe, but I do think running for an hour a day will cause some harm down the road, though it might take years, even decades, for the effects to become apparent. And since you expressed concern yourself, I thought it was even more critical in your case. These are just opinions, of course, not so much based on studies, but mostly on cases of people I know who've been running, and also extrapolated from what I know about how our species evolved in the past. Humans did quite a lot of walking, yes. But no running. They did as little running as they could. This is true for extant native cultures too. Humans are generally lazy! But menial work was always part of the picture.