Study: Triathlons can pose deadly heart risks

I did a 10k today that has a "killer" hill at the end. I was chatting with someone out on the course about how last year an older guy collapsed at the top of the hill.

This year, a younger guy collapsed at the top.

I have no way of knowing whether these guys had been training, understood about pacing and RPE, or had just decided to do the race last week after years of sitting on the couch.

If I go kaput in a race, at least I'll go doing something that I (usually) really enjoy.

Key word here.

I hate to be a downer here, but the majority of pre-existing conditions wouldn't be caught by any sort of routine medical screening.  It's not about being a "good" or "bad" doctor.  You just don't go around screening people with fairly invasive and/or expensive tests for routine activity.

Let's just put it this way -

ANY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY BEYOND A CERTAIN HR LEVEL IS A POSSIBLE RISK!!  PERIOD.

ESPECIALLY TO THOSE WITH HEART RISKS ALREADY, AND, TO THOSE THAT HAVEN'T HAD A PHYSICAL TO CATCH POSSIBLE, EXISTING HEART PROBLEMS!

FUCHING DUHHHHH!!!!

So, go ahead and blame it on the sport.  Dumbazzes.

As long as the number of "people who die doing triathlons" is less than the number of "people who die while not doing triathlons" I'll keep on doing them.

18 deaths out of about 922,810 race entries. So your chances of dying during a triathlon in the U.S. are in the neighborhood of 0.0000195^%.

OMG!!! EVERYBODY PANIC!! SELL YOUR BIKE!! DIG A HOLE IN THE BACKYARD AND BURN YOUR WETSUIT IN IT!! THROW AWAY YOUR WATER BOTTLES!! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

Then again your chances of fatally slipping in the shower or bath are 0.00448% so obviously you should have your feet checked by a podiatrist before bathing to make sure that your feet aren't unusually smooth...or something.

Dear Writer and Editor of this article: the High School you is ashamed of what your career has turned into. 

pfft.... you can make statistics say anything....  

I didn't say you advocated anything.  I'm telling you that you'd have to go through that extensive a screening process to be able to pick up the type of heart issues we're talking about. There's little that a routine exam would pick up.  Peace of mind is great, but it's not gonna solve the issue.

Better yet give me your stuff and I'll dispose of it for you

IMHO, you gotta be in one of the three camps.

1) You're afraid, worried about the genetic or life consequences of tri, to the point you'll take preventitive measures. Good. Go to the Cleveland Clinic, get your DNA worked up, do your thing. The more you wanting to take care of you, that you can afford (mainstream insurance won't cover this kinda workup), the better. You go.

2) You don't care. Let 'er rip. Seems not like you.

3) You care, but at a price. You want the benefit of socially/athletically completing a tri, perhaps a really tough one that will stress you and give you big kudos among your peers and relatives, but you're a little worried. Get your level of confidence worked up by a dr. visit, maybe ekg done, but won't know completely. But you're willing to risk it.

Bottom line. No different than any other endeavor in life - climbing everest, backcountry skiing, walking across a sidewalk in manhattan, driving your car to work everyday....90%+ of folks will be ok with any medically accepted workup (blood pressure, risk factors, etc).  10%- will push it and may be at risk. That's where judgment comes in, mensas. C'mon.

Brother!!!

Well, for most people without a history of chest pain, irregular heart beats, or fainting, who are under 40 or so, a routine physical will not include an EKG.  And for most people who do get an EKG, they will not have more extensive radiological studies of the blood vessels of the heart.  So if you can have "peace of mind" from the doctor just listening to your heart and the vessels of the neck (for sounds of turbulence, a sign of possible blockage in those vessels) without having had symptoms, sure, go for it. 

On the other hand, if you have been a couch potato your whole life, have a bad family history, or have had chest pain or fainting, you should definitely see your physician. 

OK, let's review...  All my favorite foods will kill me.  Coffee will kill me.  Beer will kill me.  Then the news was that marathons would kill me.  Now, it's tris that will kill me.

Spectacular!!

Now, are tris going to end up on the list of sports that my insurer won't allow me to do????

The last I checked... the death rate was STILL constant for everybody... 100%...  

Doesn't that Jesus thing make it something like 99.999999999999999999999.....%?

nope... he died too...

It's Elijah and Enoch that mess up the percentages... but those might just be statistical anomalies...  

I agree with this MY HUSBAND would do this to me if he hear's it or see it.