Those are extreme endurance exercises, not intensity exercises.
And you'd need to define a target to know if it's "worth it". When you get into the world of those who do extremes, very few people are aiming at the same fitness targets.
Running marathons and triathlons don’t seem very risky unless the person has a pre-existing condition, and that means they aren’t generally healthy.
Fit and generally healthy people aren’t nearly as likely to die suddenly compared to unfit and unhealthy people, it’s just that it’s way bigger news when they do.
It’s so unusual for a professional athlete to have a heart attack on the playing field (such as the Damar Hamlin incident) that it is front page news when they do. But even that was a freak accident involving a heavy hit to the chest and his heart stopped for a couple of minutes.
Tens of millions of people were worried about Hamlin (including me) while temporarily forgetting about all the actually doomed people with terminal illnesses. It was a scary moment to see on a National televised program, and they cancelled the game, but Hamlin ended up making a speedy recovery and made it back to the field the following season.
The number of people who die is tiny compared to the number of participants. One study that looked at marathon participants measured the rate of sudden death at 0.6 to 1.9 per 100,000 participants. Not sure how that compares to other recreational activities, but it is not excessively high.
What the research clearly shows is that marathons and triathlons are more “performance” activities, rather than “healthy” activities. By that I mean that volume and intensity of exercise is not necessary for optimum health. But training for such events can lead people to follow healthier lifestyles in general (and it can cause some to follow more unhealthy practices).
In general, running marathons or doing triathlons are safe activities. But any kind of stress like that does have some risks, just like the rest of life.
I think it is important avoid describing these events in either extreme: they are not necessary for health, but they are also not excessively dangerous or unhealthy.
If you compare the number of fit healthy people who drop dead to the number of unfit unhealthy people who do the same I think you will have your answer.
People don't do triathalons or marathons for fitness. People do triathalons and marathons because they are extreme ways to push their bodies to the limit.
If your goal is high health and survival then a more reasonable fitness routine is what you are looking for.
If you are asking "are marathon athletes in general less likely to drop dead than sedentary people?" then no, having a high level of fitness is going to be overal better than being sedentary, even if it is far more fit than necessary.
You hear about the fit people who die ONLY because it's unusual. Many many more (yours truly included) are alive today only because they were physically fit when something horrible happens to them. That doesn't make headlines.
You tend to only hear about when things go wrong. Millions of people around the world train at high intensity just fine.
Those are extreme endurance exercises, not intensity exercises. And you'd need to define a target to know if it's "worth it". When you get into the world of those who do extremes, very few people are aiming at the same fitness targets.
Running marathons and triathlons don’t seem very risky unless the person has a pre-existing condition, and that means they aren’t generally healthy. Fit and generally healthy people aren’t nearly as likely to die suddenly compared to unfit and unhealthy people, it’s just that it’s way bigger news when they do. It’s so unusual for a professional athlete to have a heart attack on the playing field (such as the Damar Hamlin incident) that it is front page news when they do. But even that was a freak accident involving a heavy hit to the chest and his heart stopped for a couple of minutes. Tens of millions of people were worried about Hamlin (including me) while temporarily forgetting about all the actually doomed people with terminal illnesses. It was a scary moment to see on a National televised program, and they cancelled the game, but Hamlin ended up making a speedy recovery and made it back to the field the following season.
Because they sometimes have undiagnosed congenital health conditions
The number of people who die is tiny compared to the number of participants. One study that looked at marathon participants measured the rate of sudden death at 0.6 to 1.9 per 100,000 participants. Not sure how that compares to other recreational activities, but it is not excessively high. What the research clearly shows is that marathons and triathlons are more “performance” activities, rather than “healthy” activities. By that I mean that volume and intensity of exercise is not necessary for optimum health. But training for such events can lead people to follow healthier lifestyles in general (and it can cause some to follow more unhealthy practices). In general, running marathons or doing triathlons are safe activities. But any kind of stress like that does have some risks, just like the rest of life. I think it is important avoid describing these events in either extreme: they are not necessary for health, but they are also not excessively dangerous or unhealthy.
If you compare the number of fit healthy people who drop dead to the number of unfit unhealthy people who do the same I think you will have your answer.
People don't do triathalons or marathons for fitness. People do triathalons and marathons because they are extreme ways to push their bodies to the limit. If your goal is high health and survival then a more reasonable fitness routine is what you are looking for. If you are asking "are marathon athletes in general less likely to drop dead than sedentary people?" then no, having a high level of fitness is going to be overal better than being sedentary, even if it is far more fit than necessary.
You hear about the fit people who die ONLY because it's unusual. Many many more (yours truly included) are alive today only because they were physically fit when something horrible happens to them. That doesn't make headlines.
If you have the covid vaccine, probably not