Eliud Kipchoge and Perez-Jepcher Won the Men's and Women's Marathon Champions!

The men's and women's marathons for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics was took place at Odori Park in Sapporo on August 7 and August 8, Tokyo time.

As a laurel-level event, the Olympic men's marathon is generally held on the last day of the Olympic Games, which is also a unique honor for this competition.

In the competition, Kipchoge showed strong self-confidence and ability. He started to take the lead after 32 kilometers and eventually cruised to a repeat Olympic title. Eliud Kipchoge took 2:08:38 to complete the game, which was faster than his Rio Olympics of 2 hours, 8 minutes and 44 seconds, but unfortunately failed to break the Olympic record of 2:06:32 set by Sammy Vanjeru in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Dutch player Nageete Abdi won the runner-up in 2 hours 09 minutes 58 seconds, and the Belgian Abdi Bashir won the third place in 2 hours 10 minutes 00 seconds.

Due to the hot weather, the women’s marathon race was held one hour earlier than planned and was held at 6 a.m. local time in Japan. Even so, the temperature at the time of firing reached 25.7 degrees and the humidity was as high as 78%.

Kenyan runner Perez-Jepcher won the women’s marathon. She set a pure women’s half marathon world record of 1:05:34 at the World Half Marathon Championship held in the coastal city of Gdynia, Poland in October 2020. The previous world record for a pure women's half-marathon was also held by her.

World record holder Brigid Kosgei finished second. Kosgay broke the 16-year-old mixed women's marathon world record held by British star Radcliffe in 2 hours, 14 minutes and 04 seconds at the 2019 Chicago Marathon.

The performance of the American player Molly Seidel was also very surprising. She took the rhythm of the first echelon at more than 30 kilometers. Although she failed to keep up with the two Kenyan players in the final stage, her third-place finish was enough to be applauded.

The origin of the marathon

As a long-distance running competition, the marathon is a very popular long-distance running event in the world, covering a distance of 26 miles and 385 yards. It originated from a battle between the Persians and the Athenians in 490 BC. In order to commemorate Phidippides, the messenger in this war, Coubertin adopted the historian Michel Breal's suggestion to set up a competition event based on this historical event and named it "Marathon" when the first Olympic Games were held in 1896. The marathon after the first Olympic Games in 1896 was widely held all over the world. The United States has held the Boston Marathon in 1897 and has held 104 marathons in 2000, making it the world's oldest marathon.

Benefits of participating in a marathon

Marathon helps metabolism

Marathons are endurance aerobic exercises that require healthy cardiovascular coordination of organs and systems during the run. The human heart usually outputs 4 to 6 liters of blood per minute, and when running a marathon, the heart beats 3-4 times more than usual. Therefore, the cardiovascular function will be strengthened every time you run, and the body's metabolism and muscle and bone supporting exercise will also be strengthened over time, thereby promoting the blood circulation of the body, which is conducive to detoxification and fat loss.

Marathon can improve visual health

During long-term running, the meridians and arteries in the athlete's retinal system will widen, which can produce vascular adaptability and improve cognitive function and the central nervous system as a whole. Marathon running can prevent retinal vascular occlusion and reduce vision problems due to aging.

Marathon can relieve anxiety

In the process of running, the rhythmic contraction of skeletal muscles is beneficial to relieve emotions and release stress. Running in a comfortable natural environment will shift your attention to exercise and focus on listening to the rhythm of your heartbeat. The body and mind will be more focused and relaxed, and people's mental pressure and psychological state will be released.

Marathon exercise training helps reduce high blood pressure

Stanford University published a study on runners and non-runners in 2008. At the beginning of the project, the runners ran about four hours a week on average. After 21 years, their running time dropped to 76 minutes per week on average, but their physical fitness and mental state were healthier than non-runners. Nineteen years after the study was conducted, 34% of non-sportsmen died, while 15% of runners died.

Despite this, there are still many hypertensive patients who believe that exercise will increase blood pressure and bring undesirable consequences. This is because at the beginning of exercise, the heart rate increases rapidly and the cardiac output increases significantly, so blood pressure will naturally rise compared to usual. Such an increase is normal and temporary and will return once the exercise stops.

The 2020 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) issued the "2020 ESC Sports Cardiology and Physical Exercise Guidelines for Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases" on August 29, 2020. This is also the world's first exercise and physical activity guidelines for people with cardiovascular disease (CVD) The guidelines recommend exercises for patients with hypertension. Patients with hypertension should participate in at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity dynamic aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, cycling or swimming) 5-7 days a week. This exercise intervention can reduce systolic blood pressure by 7mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 5mmHg.

As a national sport, marathon does not require much sports equipment to get started. However, the duration of exercise is longer and the requirements for the heart and lungs are higher. Therefore, patients with hypertension should not choose a full marathon as a way to lower blood pressure. As a marathon exercise training, low-to-medium-intensity running will not accelerate the blood flow rate, and will not induce a rise in blood pressure. Running at a reasonable intensity has become an important method to prevent and treat high blood pressure.

Anish N. Bhuva of the Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of London, and others conducted a study on the relationship between marathon training and aortic sclerosis, published the results in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. A total of 138 first-time marathon finishers (aged between 21 and 69 years old, 49% men) were evaluated, and the training plan was to run 6 to 13 miles per week. Studies have found that even marathon training at relatively low exercise intensity can reduce central blood pressure and aortic stiffness, which is equivalent to reducing the age of blood vessels by about 4 years. The blood pressure-lowering effect was more pronounced in older, slower-running individuals.

relationship between marathon training and aortic sclerosis

Why can running lower blood pressure?

The benefits of aerobic exercise such as jogging are mainly reflected in hypotension after exercise. It refers to the significant decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure of hypertensive patients after a single endurance exercise (when returning to rest), and the decrease in systolic blood pressure can last for 1 to 3 hours after completing 45 minutes of exercise up to 50% or 70% of maximum oxygen consumption. This reaction is mainly due to the dilation of peripheral blood vessels in the recovery phase after exercise and the decrease of cardiac output. The changes of these two determine the decrease of blood pressure. The reduction of effective blood volume in the body after exercise also has a certain effect.

Relevant studies have shown (Kenney & Seals, 1993) that after 20-60 minutes of long walking, running and other exercises, blood pressure will remain low within 2-4 hours, with an average reduction in systolic blood pressure of 18-20 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure of 7-9 mmHg. For hypertensive patients, the ability to reduce the length of the day when they are hypertensive is very rewarding.

How do people with high blood pressure run?

1. It is necessary to measure blood pressure before and after running. Pre-exercise measurement can avoid exercise when blood pressure is too high. If the blood pressure is higher than 160/100mmHg, you should stop exercising immediately. Only when the blood pressure is lowered to below 160/100nnHg and there are no symptoms such as headache and dizziness can you start exercising. Measure your blood pressure after 1h of exercise, when it has returned to a stable state and the data is more reliable. Insist on using Armfit+ electronic sphygmomanometer for home self-test before and after exercise, and use ViHealth app to upload blood pressure data, which will provide the most reliable data basis for doctors' visits and medication adjustments. Armfit+ also supports ECG measurement. Real-time ECG can be obtained in 30s, providing double protection for hypertensive patients.

Viatom Wireless Upper Arm Blood Pressure Monitor+ECG

2. Drug treatment cannot be abandoned. People with hypertension should use appropriate, reasonable and scientific running to help lower blood pressure, improve their health, and improve their quality of life on the basis of drug treatment.

3. Choose the right time to exercise.Avoid exercising at 6-9 in the morning and 5-7 in the afternoon. Raised blood pressure in the morning can cause serious damage to the heart, brain, kidneys and blood vessels. When the morning peak of blood pressure ≥ 37 mmHg, coronary events increased by 45%, and all cardiovascular events increased by 30%. Therefore, patients with hypertension should not exercise in the early morning.

4. People with hypertension must be checked before increasing the amount and intensity of exercise to eliminate secondary hypertension and exercise contraindications. In the absence of a family doctor, it is advisable to measure the ECG and hemodynamic response during exercise by wearing a wearable heart patch.

5. Appropriate control of exercise intensity. Maintain each exercise intensity for a few days or 1-2 weeks and then gradually increase. For hypertensive patients who have no exercise experience, it is recommended to start with brisk walking and run 3 to 4 times a week for 20 to 30 minutes. Long-term, long-distance running is not recommended for hypertensive patients. Generally, one month of running can achieve a significant blood pressure reduction effect. But at the same time, you also need to persist in running. Once you stop exercising, your blood pressure will rise again.

6. Low-to-medium-intensity running exercise can achieve the effect of lowering blood pressure, and it is safer. How to judge whether it is a low-to-medium intensity running?①Objective indicator: The heart rate during exercise can be controlled at about 50% of the reserve heart rate. The calculation method is: (maximum heart rate-resting heart rate) × 50% + resting heart rate, or the simpler 170-age can be used for approximate calculation.②Subjective feelings: the exercise center jumps and breathes faster, the body sweats slightly, and the body feels slightly tired but bearable. You can talk to people when running;③In about 10 minutes after the rest, the heart rate can basically return to normal.

Viatom

In 1896, Athens hosted the first Olympic Games, and until the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, 32 sessions have been held. This quadrennial event has been a source of so much passion and glory. As the Olympic Games held during the Covid-19 epidemic, Tokyo has created many 'firsts', bearing the distinctive brand of this era and technology, and is remembered by history. Each and every athlete advancing courageously in the new Olympic motto of "Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together".

At this moment, Viaton joins you cheering for the Olympic athletes, thanking every athlete for their efforts for themselves, for the team, and for the country. We applaud the winners and pay tribute to all the athletes who have worked hard, no atter Success or failure is the pride of the people!