• 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)

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Running and Your Heart

Heart Health
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Every year, typically during marathon season, we hear stories—some inspiring, others tragic—of people suffering sudden cardiac arrest in a race. (In fact, CA Notice at Collection.)

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, Races - Places 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, Running Shoes - Gear Runner’s World; New Podcasts for Weekend Runs, Health & Injuries Athletes’ Heart Program at Hartford Hospital Health & Injuries; Running in the Cold, 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 Health & Injuries. 

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.

Further reading: The Runner’s Heart

Episode Credits:

The Runner’s World Show is hosted by Christine Fennessy.

director of cardiology of the.

The podcast is produced by Sylvia Ryerson and Christine Fennessy.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media Panoply Network.

Interviews on the podcast have been edited for length and clarity. Got a story idea for the show? Send it to [email protected].