Published in Sports Medicine, the study evaluated 42 runners who ran both sober and after smoking a joint. Participants could choose whether their strain was high in CBD or THC (with the latter being responsible for the more familiar “high”). The runners had three 30-minute treadmill sessions: one sober to set a baseline, one sober again, and then one after toking up. They were asked about their motivation, pain, and enjoyment during the workout. The results? A whopping 90.5% said they enjoyed exercising more after consuming cannabis, and 69% said it reduced their pain. Maybe that runner’s high is more literal than we thought.
Angela Bryan, a psychology and neuroscience professor at CU, wasn’t too shocked by the findings, as she recruited runners who already incorporated cannabis into their workout routines. But she hopes the results might inspire others to lace up their sneakers, too. “We have an epidemic of sedentary lifestyle in this country, and we need new tools to try to get people to move their bodies in ways that are enjoyable,” she said. “If cannabis is one of those tools, we need to explore it—because hey, if it gets you off the couch, why not?”
However, don’t expect to see cannabis improving your mile time. Only 28.6% of runners said it enhanced their performance, and most reported the workout felt harder under the influence. Bryan herself admitted that THC isn’t exactly performance-enhancing: “We know with 100% certainty that THC is not performance-enhancing. If anything, it hurts performance.” So, while cannabis may help make the run more enjoyable, you might not be setting any personal bests (unless it’s in snack consumption afterward).
Cannabis use among athletes isn’t exactly new—it’s been an open secret for years. Journalist Josiah Hesse, author of Runner’s High, interviewed over 60 athletes who said they regularly used cannabis during training. “Ultramarathoners, Olympians, professional basketball players—they all told me 60-70-80% of their fellow athletes are using cannabis,” Hesse said. That’s probably why leagues like Major League Baseball and the NBA have relaxed their rules on marijuana, though there’s still a lingering stigma. Just ask Sha’Carri Richardson, who missed the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 after testing positive for weed.
Bryan says that stigma is rooted in systemic racism, and it still impacts cannabis research and participation. While she wasn’t always a fan of combining cannabis with exercise, she’s changed her tune. “Now I view it as a potential tool in the toolbox,” she said, though she’s cautious about the risks of high-THC products.
As the study pushes for a more open-minded look at cannabis, both Bryan and Hesse hope it can help bust those old misconceptions. “There are still large swaths of this country living in Nancy Reagan’s America,” Hesse said. “Science like this goes a long way to eradicating those misconceptions.” So, maybe it’s time we stop associating marijuana with laziness and see it for what it can be: another tool to make those long runs a little less painful—and a lot more fun.
Photo by Crystal Sing from corelens
