The news in the triathlon world this season has been peppered with stories of unexpected fatalities occurring at several races across the country. Understandably, coaches may be hearing questions from alarmed athletes concerned about whether or not they, too, are at risk of being a victim of such a tragedy.
It’s important for a coach to acknowledge athletes’ fears but also to place these fears in context. By staying attuned to an athlete’s overall health, a coach can often have a role in preventing any unfortunate outcomes during training or racing.
Sudden deaths during athletic events are shocking for many reasons. Victims are young, often in peak physical condition, and in many cases, their deaths are the first and only sign of any underlying illness. In reality, though, when researchers have looked closely at these cases, almost all had signs or symptoms of cardiac disease before the fateful day.
So rather than being a complete bolt from the blue, these athletes’ deaths were often presaged by less severe symptoms that happened in training but were not attributed to a potentially fatal underlying issue.
It has long been understood that when compared to sedentary individuals, those who participate in a regular exercise program, even one with as little as only a few hours of activity a week, have lower rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and stroke (among many other benefits).
Death Risk, Explained
High-intensity exercise, while being overall beneficial, does carry some degree of risk—especially for certain people. While this may seem paradoxical, it can be easily explained.
Put simply, those who train and race at high intensity build their cardiovascular systems to be extremely strong and durable by virtue of placing that system under increasing amounts of stress. However, it is that very stress that can tip things over and lead to a cardiac event in susceptible individuals, occasionally resulting in unexpected death.
To illustrate this paradox, we can look at the statistics of sudden cardiac death to see how being active confers protection in the long run but may heighten danger for some on the specific day of events
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