Sudden Cardiac death

A 30 yo man died after a half marathon in my city earlier this year too, which was pretty awful.

I was very sad to hear that this happenned, but I don't feel that I'm at high risk - I'm the kind of person who is more likely to slow down or walk rather than PUSH through the pain to finish in a certain time.

However, my husband is freaking out about me training for a half marathon, so to put his mind at rest I'm going to the doctor to get a general health check and to see if there is anything I need to be aware of.

Its very sad but unfortunately these things can and do happen. When I was growing up my next door neighbor was an avid marathoner and while training for a race he passed away one night after a hard training run. Turns out he had eaten some sushi with a dangerous bacteria in it and his hard run had weakened his immune system. I don't intend to stop eating sushi because of that though.

Some of the causes of these things don't even come up in physicals. Ultimately, the risk is incredibly low.

I agree, I think most of us are at low risk.
And I think the health risks of sitting on the couch and getting overweight and diabetic far outweight the risk of dying while running.
But, I'll ask my doctor anyway, I'm not 21 anymore!

Hi,

I have run 3 marathons and countless half marathons. In all honesty the media do not give you the full story - were these people predisposed to cardiac arrest, were there any underlying or contributing factors that have not been reported? People of all ages and fitness levels have cardiac arrests every day, even just going about there daily business. See your doctor to make sure there are no underlying risks, understand the risks of any stimulants/recreational drugs you may use and do your training and you have done everything to mitigate the risk. You are very unlikely to have a cardiac arrest if everything is OK, but if you do you may have had one anyway. You will never know.

Good luck and make sure you enjoy your run.

Donna

Here's the issue. Many people who exercise think that just because they do, that they don't have and physical issues internally since externally they are fine. So many don't go and see a doctor annually. Especially men. Why spend time in a doctors office when they feel they are in much better shape than most of the male population? Moral of the story is don't let your ego stop you from an annual checkup.


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Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

My husbands 40 something year old co-worker dropped dead of a heart attack in the parking lot of his gym after a work out.
Makes ya wonder.

Your comments are freaking me out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The other day I did a vigorous work out for the first time and i had a few heart palpitations and thought i was going to have a heart attack. im only 26 so it was scary. Im keeping it moderate for now on. my heart wasnt ready for that type of work out. SCARY SOMEONE MAKE ME FEEL BETTER!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH

just remember that most of these deaths were probably caused by other undiagnosed problems possibly enlarged heart or asthma or COPD possible CHF maybe other problems that they werent aware of. remember that other professional athleted died such as walter payton, florence griffith joiner, hank gatjhers, pete maravich so if really concerns you then get a full check up including blood work and EKG from physician

I don't think it's new. If you have heart problems, especially undiagnosed, then putting a strain like a marathon on it is going to be a risk. The reason it's increasing is just that more people are doing it.

I'd be interested to see if anyone had worked out the statistics, i.e. is the death rate among the hundred of thousands of people who run marathons every year any higher than in the general populace, many of whom will be putting a different strain on their hearts by being overweight and inactive.