But now, dear triathletes, the medical research is on your side, and not just in boring statistics and numbers, but in full-blown photos and MRIs.

A study published in the 2011 medical journal Physician and Sports Medicine looks at the potential benefits of chronic exercise on older patients. What the researchers from the University of Pittsburgh found was that chronic exercise preserved lean muscle mass in older athletes.

In case you want a picture to prove this concept to you, the University of Pittsburgh researchers were kind enough to offer the following:

You can read the original article here

What he’s isn’t saying is that there isn’t health benefits with exercise.

But there is a limit on return as far the benefits of exercise after a certain amount of running miles per week (25 miles/week) as well as running speed (

Its similar to alcohol as far as published health benefits. People that drink one to two alcohol drinks a day have less health issues that people that don’t drink alcohol at all, or those that drink alcohol to excess.

He also published a review article detailing potential risks of excessive chronic exercise in the medical journal of Mayo Clinic Proceedings

O’Keefe and his group  looked a previously published medical studies of people who participated in a variety of endurance sports; from triathlon, marathons, or longer cycling races and events.

And yes, there is a benefit to moderate exercise, especially when compared to the coach-potato lifestyle and people that are fairly physically inactive – about a 7 year longer life span. But, when O’Keefe and his fellow researchers looked at the “extreme” or excessive exercisers in the studies, they found that there was actually a negative effect on the heart because of the heart damage from excessive chronic exercise.

The damage that occurs tends to be very small from an single workout, but the repetitive and chronic nature of the exercise may prevent the heart from fully healing and recovering from prior exercise bouts and cardiac muscle damage.

Prior studies in younger marathon runners have documented that there is a mild, transient increase in cardiac enzyme markers after running a marathon, and this study in 25 older mostly male marathon runners found similar, transient elevation of troponin levels. Imaging studies of these runners’ hearts also documented a temporary decrease in cardiac function of the right ventricle of the heart as well.

All the runners in the study had completed at least 3 marathons in the past 2 years, so these changes would not be expected to be due to poor training or poor adaptation of the heart to the first time stress of a marathon in a novice marathoner.

One aspect that this study also looked at was whether or not older marathon runners also had a higher incidence of cardiac disease; either my cardiac fibrosis or coronary artery blockage. Only two of the 25 marathon runners were found to have detectable myocardial fibrosis on the pre-race imaging, and no measurable change was noted on the post-marathon images.

Why is this finding important?

An increase in post-marathon myocardial fibrosis may have indicated that marathon running in older athletes could potential cause irreversible heart damage, which has been suggested by an earlier research study which demonstrated two different patterns of myocardial scarring in a similar age group of runners.

Under cloudy skies on Sunday afternoon, the elite women raced at the Hamburg ITU World Championship Series triathlon, with a clean sweep of the podium by the “Emmas”, as Emma Moffatt, Jackson, and Snowsill managed to break free from a large lead pack on the run.

Series leader Paula Findley skipped this stop on the WCS series after racing at home in Edmonton, Canada last weekend, and as a result, Barbara Riveros-Dias from Chile was able to move into the top spot as the series leader with another strong top five finish at the race.

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Sarah Groff was the top American woman with a 13th place finish as she continues to have a very strong season and solidifies her position as one of the top contenders for a spot on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team. Gwen Jorgensen, in only her second WCS race redeemed her DNF in her first race last month in Madrid with a 27th place finish and a very strong run. Jillian Petersen rounded out a strong U.S. female team, but was unable to make the first group on the bike after the swim, and looks to rebound next month in London.

Chris McCormack powers through on the run at Hamburg ITU triathlon

Germany’s own Jan Frodeno had bad luck on the bike, but came back from mechanical issues on the bike to the roar of the home crowd on each lap of his run.

Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack had a much better showing in his second WCS start, pushing the pace on the bike and holding a strong 10k pace to finish 26th overall.

Americans Jarrod Shoemaker and Mark Fretta both had tough days. Both U.S triathletes suffered injuries on the swim, and the final results demonstrated the toll the injuries took, with Shoemaker finishing well off his normal strong run split and Mark Fretta dropping at the 5k mark to receive medical attention. Fortunately both athletes are feeling better today (Happy Birthday Jarrod!) as they travel back to the States before the next WCS triathlon race in London next month.

Mark Fretta showing that triathlon is a contact sport

Each triathlete has their own pre-race swim workouts, which I always find interesting. Ultimately, we are all creatures of habit, and I think the closer to a big race, the more comfort we all find in having a set pre-race ritual, even among the elite athletes.

The rest of the pre-race day is usually fairly light. Most of the triathletes get a final massage with our team massage therapist or a last-minute adjustment or body work done by the chiropractor. But for the most part, it’s really a down day with not a lot going on.

The men’s race tomorrow should be fairly competitive. The Brownlee brothers, who have been dominating the World Championship Series races so far, will not be racing in Hamburg. Instead, they’re focusing on a final tune-up for the London WCS race in two weeks that will be a preview of the 2012 Olympic course. The men’s field is still strong, with defending World Champion Javier Gomez from Spain, and Germany’s own 2008 Olympic gold medalist Jan Frodeno scheduled to start. Ironman Triathlon World Campion Chris McCormick is also here in Hamburg as he takes a break from the longer distance triathlons in his attempt to make the Australian Olympic triathlon team.

It seems that weather continues to be a factor in the race series. A traditionally hot Madrid race in May was unseasonably cool for the men, while Kitzbuhel, Austria saw even colder temperatures with freezing rain, hail and wind all hampering most of the athletes with the exception of the Brownlee brothers Alister and Jonathon and women series leader Paula Findley.

Sarah Groff is here looking to continue her outstanding early season results, including a 3rd place podium finish at the Kitzbuhel WCS race two weeks ago and a seventh place finish in May at the Madrid WCS race. Sarah had

Jillian Peterson looks fit, fast and relaxed and is due for a breakthrough performance this weekend. Look for her to be a factor in the race if there is a big split on the bike.

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Gwen Jorgensen is ready for her second ITU start after making her WCS debut in Madrdid. She looks forward on building upon the valuable experience and should be a threat to have one of the fastest female run splits on Sunday

Jarrod Shoemaker and Mark Fretta will be representing the U.S for the men’s race on Saturday. Shoemaker has to be considered a favorite to place well in Hamburg based on his previous strong results including winning the race outright in 2009 and a seventh place finish here last year.

We have a smaller number of US triathletes racing this weekend; just 3 men (Greg Bennett, Jarrod Shoemaker and Manny Huerta) and 4 women; Laura Bennett, Sarah Groff, Jillian Peterson and first-time WCS triathlete, Gwen Jorgensen, and a smaller support team. Looking forward to the men’s race on Saturday and the women’s race on Sunday.

We spent today getting the clinic room ready and have already started treating some of the triathletes.

The race course is actually about thirty miles northwest of Tucson proper, up in Oro Valley and right near Sun City, Arizona. While it was a little bit of a drive from the airport to the host hotel, once I arrived, I knew by the number of people wearing compression stockings around the pool, that I was in the right location.

The race tomorrow is a little shorter than normal, with two 5 km runs sandwiched around a 35 km bike segment. Overall, the course doesn’t look too challenging for the faster athletes since the majority of the course appears to be small rollers without any significant steep sustained climbs like we had at the Duathlon World Championships last fall in Edinburgh, Scotland.

My main concern for race day is heat. We’ve been monitoring the predicted temperatures for race day all week in an effort to determine if we needed to move up the 8am wave starts. Fortunately, right now, its predicted to be in the high 70′s for the race with a day time high temp in the low 80′s.