How healthy is running?
According to Van Middelkoop, running is good for your general health. “It builds fitness and can help you lose body weight. If you run frequently, it reduces the risk of premature death, cancer and cardiovascular disease. However, this also applies to other forms of sports. It is especially important that you live an active and healthy life. People who exercise, in general, also have a healthier lifestyle. It is therefore difficult to measure whether the reduced risk of the aforementioned causes of death is only due to the fact that someone moves a lot.”
When do you make health gains?
Van Middelkoop: “Running for 50 minutes a week already has an enormous health benefit. This reduces the risk of premature death and cancer or cardiovascular disease. Do you run more than 50 minutes a week? However, that will not provide any additional benefits to your health. Of course you can further increase your fitness with this, but for the health benefits, 50 minutes of running a week is enough. It also doesn’t matter at what pace you do this. In principle, eight kilometers per hour is sufficient.”
Is running a full marathon still healthy?
A marathon is a running race over a distance of 42.195 kilometers. The world top takes just over two hours. But what does it do to your body when you cover more than 42 kilometers at a brisk running pace?
Van Middelkoop: “With just fifty minutes of running a week you already have a health benefit. It is therefore not necessary to cover the full 42 kilometers. On the contrary, it is actually not healthy. Yet people like to participate in a marathon because it is a bucket list thing for many.”
“There are many negative aspects to running marathons. You can suffer from injuries, such as muscle, tendon or joint complaints. In general, it can’t hurt to run a marathon once, but elite athletes have been shown to have a higher risk of knee and hip osteoarthritis. This is less common among recreational runners.”
“I recommend to anyone who wants to run a marathon: build it up slowly. Try to run a half marathon first and make sure you train for a longer period of time. That significantly reduces the chance of getting injured.”
Does running also have drawbacks?
If you are a recreational runner, running mainly has health benefits. But does running also have negative aspects? Van Middelkoop: “Unfortunately, yes. Running is the sport with the highest injury risk. Injuries are also the number one reason novice runners give up again. That is why it is so important that you let your body get used to the continuous load. It is a real shame if you have to give up running due to an injury.”
How do you make sure you keep running?
Van Middelkoop: „It is very important that you do not try to stick to a certain training schedule too much. Do you have a pain? Or can you not fit it into your weekly schedule? Then that’s not bad at all. Every now and then you can take a step back. It is important that you listen carefully to your body. Many people immediately throw in the towel after an off week, but you can sometimes skip some training sessions.”
“It is also important that you build up your running slowly. If you have no experience yet, it is best to start with brisk walking. After four to six weeks you can then start running. Do you find it difficult to put together a training schedule yourself? Then take a look at sportzorg.nl. It is the information website of the Association for Sports Medicine where free training plans are offered for runners of all different distances.”
Want to know more about running?
Earlier we wrote about the differences between running and walking. We also told you why as a starting athlete it is better to wait before running. In addition, journalist Kimberley tried power walking.