I recently noticed mine has been much lower this past year (42-48bpm). I went in to doc and was told everything checks out and Im perfectly healthy. Not sure why mine has decreased, as it has usually been around 55-62bpm.
Ryan shay had a heart rate as low as 17bpm. He was a really good college middle distance runner known for really long and hard workouts. He died of a heart attack during a marathon. Mine has been as low as 28 during my college running career. I was kind of trying to get that low so its was not my average rhr. 32 was my average but drinking coffee and not running anymore it is higher. Its mostly genetic but I think training/lifestyle can put you 10 bpms lower or higher.
He (the cardiologist I interviewed) did a really great job explaining why these things happen. It seems prolonged extremes on either side of the spectrum can (heavy emphasis on the word “can”) increase risk of negative outcomes. Though rare, it’s possible.
Agree generally, and I loved the podcast, but you also have to be careful of drawing general conclusions for outliers. Looking at Ryan Shay and concluding that marathons aren’t healthy is a bit like looking at Arnold Schwarzenegger and concluding that lifting weights makes you too bulky. A casual marathoner probably runs 25-40ish miles a week at mostly easy paces. A professional marathoner probably runs 90-120 miles a week, with dozens of miles at what would be blazing speed for a casual runner, like multiple miles under 5 minute miles and long runs of 18+ miles in the 6 minute range.
