I have given a lot of thought to the health benefits of exercise over the years, but also worried that like many other things in life, there has to be a limit, at which point exercise stops being beneficial and could otherwise harm your health (one of the biggest concern for high mileage runners is burning out, otherwise known as Overtraining Syndrome. See my blog post on Overtraining Syndrome for more background).
There has been a lot of speculation as to the potential downside to high mileage running, but until now, no good research. The below article covers a fairly recent study, which is a good start, although is likely somewhat flawed. By way of example, there is no mention of diet or other lifestyle choices which could have led to the higher rate of cardiac damage.
The Potential Cardiac Dangers of Extreme Exercise
As an aside, another long range study of ultramarathon runners is being carrier out as part of the Western States Endurance Run - Research. This organization sends out surveys to runners who have complete ultramarathons from time to time. They will likely turn out some good information on endurance sports and hearth health down the road.
Enjoy!
Chuck
Update: The NY Times just published the Ask Well Blog, Ask Well: How Many Miles a Week Should I Run? This comes to a somewhat similar conclusion about how much running is beneficial.
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