From:    Wally Day <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Triathletes and jogging for cancer?
>
> > Isn't there some evidence that cancer rates are very
> > high among chronic joggers?
>
> That's a new one. Any truth to that? I would assume it
> would also be true then of other endurance athletes -
> soccer, basketball, etc.?
>
> However, I can't agree with the assumption that
> triathletes are "overworking" their bodies. I can
> recall seeing a documentary about some African HG's
> who literally ran everywhere they went. Out on the
> hunt they may have run for 3 or 4 hours straight -
> every day! It was amazing to me since I have NEVER
> been able to run in a "cross country" fashion - I'm
> more of a sprinter type (not fast enough to win many
> races, though :)

I'm not sure whose post was the original-- Richard or Wally.  But, the
idea is NOT a new one.  That is, the notion that excessive aerobic
exercise is associated with cancer has been around for a long time in the
popular running literature.  The two most famous examples are running guru
George Sheehan (who died of cancer at 72) and the Kent State professor
(whose name eludes me at the moment-- he was of Asian descendancy) who
held the record for most marathons run, who died of cancer at 61.  Because
the running boom has only been around for 20 or so years, I would assume
that how the medical establishment is going to call this (whether there is
or isn't a causal link) is still out.  But intuitively, it would make
sense that excessive aerobics/running/working-out would be linked to an
increased likelihood of acquiring a disease.  The immune system is
strengthened by moderate stress/exercise, but can be overwhelmed by
excessive stress/exercise.  And according to gerontologists such as Roy
Walford, exercise increases the production of cell-damaging "free
radicals" . . . and anything over the equivalent of 15 miles per week of
running is probably beyond the body's ability to keep up.  Intuitively, too,
 it would seem that most of our ancestors' exercise would have consisted
of goodly amounts of walking and light/modertate lifting, with occasional
amounts of jogging, sprinting, and heavy lifting.  I hunt and fish and
camp... and this is my exercise profile while in the field, and I'm sure
it's typical.

Cheers!

Gregg
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