The uncomfortable masters truth: more training can mean more plaque

Part of the reason you train because it keeps you healthy, right? It is the simplest trade in sport.

Then this Master@Heart paper drops, and it messes with that story.

The researchers didn’t ask athletes to guess their training. They pulled 12 months of wearable-linked training load and matched it to heart artery CT scans.

What they saw was blunt.

Men in the highest training load group were far more likely to have plaque in their coronary arteries than men in the lowest load group: 74.5% vs 36.4%.

Coronary calcium showed the same pattern. CAC > 0: 69.1% vs 32.7%.

And CAC > 100: 38.2% vs 14.5%.

They also looked at simple weekly hours. The high-volume bracket here was 9.2 to 26.5 h/week (low volume was 0.5 to 3.3). High volume had more plaque and more high calcium scores.

Here’s the twist most cyclists won’t expect: when they separated intensity from volume, intensity on its own was not the main driver for “any plaque”.

So this is less “intervals are dangerous” and more “total dose matters”.

What to do with this (without panic)

• If you’re a higher-volume masters rider, don’t assume fitness equals clean arteries.
• Treat heart risk like injury risk. Do the basics well first: blood pressure and lipids, plus family history.
• If you’re 45+ and training big hours, it’s reasonable to ask your doctor if CAC scoring is useful for you, especially if you have risk factors.

The point isn’t to train less out of fear. The point is to train hard while managing risk like an adult.

Reference

Pauwels R, et al. Wearable-Derived Training Load and Coronary Atherosclerosis in Middle-Aged and Older Athletes and Physically Active Controls: A New Perspective From the Master@Heart Study. Circulation. 2026.

On my mind

Have you ever heard of ma?

I hadn’t heard of it before this week. It’s a Japanese idea about the space between things—the pause, the gap, that uncomfortable bit we usually rush to fill because sitting still feels like slacking off.

Honestly, I fill every gap like it’s my full-time job.

If I’m not training, I’m planning. If I’m not planning, I’m fiddling with something else. Give me ten spare minutes and I’ll cram in a quick task just to feel like I’m keeping up. It looks productive, but most of the time it’s just noise. I’m busy just to look busy.

So I tried a little experiment. After a tough session, instead of jumping straight to the next thing, I left a gap. Ten minutes. No phone. No checking emails. Just a walk, letting my brain cool off.

It helped more than I thought.

Not in some huge, dramatic way. More like—I felt the itch to do something, but I didn’t. And once that itch faded, everything got better. It was like my brain finally caught up.

I also realised I’ve been treating rest like something you have to earn, instead of something you build into the routine so it actually works.

The main thing I’m taking away is this: If you never leave any space, everything feels urgent. If you carve out a little room on purpose, you can actually handle more without snapping.

I’m not pretending I’ve cracked it. I’ll probably forget and slip back into old habits. But I liked how it felt, so I’m going to keep at it. One intentional gap a day, whenever I remember. Not for show. Just a small way to stay steady, instead of running on “go” all the time.

Damian