Unfathomable, I have marathon friends who run a marathon every month. I thought that was crazy.
Before this guy, I thought these monks were the ultimate in mind-and-spirit-and-body physical endurance:
> Only 46 men have completed the 1,000-day challenge since 1885. It takes seven years to complete, as the monks must undergo other Buddhist training in meditation and calligraphy, and perform general duties within the temple.
...The final two years of the 1000-day challenge are even more daunting. In the sixth year they run 60km each day for 100 consecutive days and in the seventh year they run 84km each day for 100 consecutive days. This is the equivalent of running two Olympic marathons back-to-back every day for 100 days.
For a while, I was doing marathons or above every month. It kind of worked out perfectly with the healing/ready-for-the-next-one balance. I never did long runs (>22mi) for training unless I felt like it.
This is literally unfathomable to me. This guy has to be some sort of serious genetic freak. I workout regularly, but I think I just got chin splints just from reading that article. When you consider how even the most elite athletes fall victim to overtraining, I can't even imagine how his body was able to hold up to this. Truly amazing.
There's a theory from the latest TED talk that says our survival prior to inventing weapons (like spears) depended on running other animals to exhaustion.
"This guy has to be some sort of serious genetic freak."
Doing it every day would be very difficult, but doing it six days a week wouldn't be that hard. The term 'overtraining syndrome' is actually a misnomer, because you don't get it from training too much, but rather from chronic glycogen deficiency. As long as you eat a banana or an energy bar every 45 minutes and drink diluted gatorade you'd be fine with that workload.
The biggest concern would definitely be joint problems and not muscular issues. The reality is that this guy probably did do a lot of damage to his body, but was able to mask it using an anti-inflammatory/analgesic drug like ibuprofen or marijuana.
"Engels had asthma as a youngster and doctors told him he should not participate in sports. But he decided to overcome his ailment and ran his first marathon at 25. He said his latest feat is the result of 35 years of exercise."
He was 49 years old. Wouldn't this cause problems for his hips and knees? I'm all for pushing physical limits, but not to the point where it could backfire. Even 20 year-old professional footballers (soccer) are told to take 2 weeks complete rest at the end of a season, and during the season they only train maybe 3-4 days a week.
I hope this guy doesn't regret doing this down the line, because right now it is very inspiring.
After the first 30 marathons, his body has probably settled into a pretty efficient, gentle way to run, out of necessity. There are, in fact, ways to run that put less wear and tear on your body.
It's probably possible to go out in a single day with poor form and do more damage to your body than this guy did in an entire year.
Yeah, ultra runners like this guy are pretty awesome. There are others doing amazing things too. Scott Jurek broke the 24-hour run record last year by running 165.7 miles in 24-hours. Anton Krupicka averages 200 miles a week in training. These guys race 100 mile races through the mountains. How long does that take? Geoff Roes won the Western States last year in 15:07:04. That's averaging 9:04 miles over rough terrain.
Most people could run a marathon if they trained for it. The human body is made for running.
Not too long ago I read Haruki Murakami’s What I Think About When I Think About Running and Christopher McDougall's Born to Run : The Hidden Tribe, the Ultra-Runners , and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.
Both are quite good, worth reading.
Running these durations and distances is just plain amazing. I liked Murakami for the inner thoughts of a runner, and he talks about marathon runs as well.
McDougall's book almost seems unreal, and the coverage of appropriate running style and footwear is very interesting.
The europeans are on a complete different level. The Tour du Mont Blanc is insane, a lot of mountain/ultra runners go there and can't finish it. I've done it in 5 days and was exhausted (had a bad fever one day, heel problems, you name it.) But the elite guys do it under 22hs!
The Boston Marathon is the most prestigious marathon. There are only a small amount of spots for charity runners, the rest are qualifiers.
At that phenomenal pace of 2 hrs 56 min, 49-year old Engels is beating the qualification straitjackets for elite (non-professional) runners in ALL age groups.
I'm actually kind of impressed by the scheduling and logistics of this over and above the physical aspect. How do you find 365 consecutive days with marathons, and figure out the schedule to do it, overcome travel delays, etc? Not to mention sleeping. It seems impossible.
"He said the key was a slow pace over the 26.2-miles."
"He ran every race, he never walked. He ran at a rate of 10 kilometers per hour"
The man ran 6:13 miles[1]...in a marathon...each day, for 365 days in a row.
And he calls that a slow pace!
[1] Update: It's actually 6.2 miles per hour (the equivalent of a 9:40 mile), - still not too slow. I apologize for confusing miles per hour with mile times].
10 km/h is approximately 9:40 per mile. Not a fast pace.
[BTW, what he did is insane and probably very dangerous for most people to attempt. The odds of getting injured/sick/suffering long term health consequences are high.]
More power to him. When I was young and skinny, I started noticing effects at a sustained 60 miles/week.
I really don't think he's setting a dangerous example, because most people trying to emulate him would find that something gives--joint, muscle, whatever--before it got to the point of danger.
It's even more impressive than this. He actually started on Januari 1st 2010, but got injured and kept doing marathons with a handbike. If you don't discount his injury period (during which he still was doing marathons, but not running), he did 401 marathons in a row!
[+] [-] wallflower|15 years ago|reply
Before this guy, I thought these monks were the ultimate in mind-and-spirit-and-body physical endurance:
> Only 46 men have completed the 1,000-day challenge since 1885. It takes seven years to complete, as the monks must undergo other Buddhist training in meditation and calligraphy, and perform general duties within the temple.
...The final two years of the 1000-day challenge are even more daunting. In the sixth year they run 60km each day for 100 consecutive days and in the seventh year they run 84km each day for 100 consecutive days. This is the equivalent of running two Olympic marathons back-to-back every day for 100 days.
http://www.howtobefit.com/tendai-marathon-monks.htm
[+] [-] runjake|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rewind|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ehsanul|15 years ago|reply
http://www.youtube.com/user/tedtalksdirector#p/u/0/b-iGZPtWX...
[+] [-] uytrhyujkujhy|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Alex3917|15 years ago|reply
Doing it every day would be very difficult, but doing it six days a week wouldn't be that hard. The term 'overtraining syndrome' is actually a misnomer, because you don't get it from training too much, but rather from chronic glycogen deficiency. As long as you eat a banana or an energy bar every 45 minutes and drink diluted gatorade you'd be fine with that workload.
The biggest concern would definitely be joint problems and not muscular issues. The reality is that this guy probably did do a lot of damage to his body, but was able to mask it using an anti-inflammatory/analgesic drug like ibuprofen or marijuana.
[+] [-] sudhirc|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mark_h|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mingdingo|15 years ago|reply
I hope this guy doesn't regret doing this down the line, because right now it is very inspiring.
[+] [-] erikpukinskis|15 years ago|reply
It's probably possible to go out in a single day with poor form and do more damage to your body than this guy did in an entire year.
[+] [-] goalieca|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kmfrk|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lancefisher|15 years ago|reply
Most people could run a marathon if they trained for it. The human body is made for running.
[+] [-] jamesbritt|15 years ago|reply
Both are quite good, worth reading.
Running these durations and distances is just plain amazing. I liked Murakami for the inner thoughts of a runner, and he talks about marathon runs as well.
McDougall's book almost seems unreal, and the coverage of appropriate running style and footwear is very interesting.
[+] [-] alecco|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jedbrown|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] prs|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wallflower|15 years ago|reply
At that phenomenal pace of 2 hrs 56 min, 49-year old Engels is beating the qualification straitjackets for elite (non-professional) runners in ALL age groups.
http://www.baa.org/Races/Boston-Marathon/Participant-Informa...
[+] [-] ojbyrne|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ojbyrne|15 years ago|reply
"He will do his 42km (26-mile) daily jogs at Battersea Park every day until Monday..."
[+] [-] ck2|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ojbyrne|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jim_h|15 years ago|reply
That race has to be a rarity since he's supposed to average 4hrs.
[+] [-] mbesto|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wlievens|15 years ago|reply
EDIT: correction! http://standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF2011020...
[+] [-] solipsist|15 years ago|reply
"He ran every race, he never walked. He ran at a rate of 10 kilometers per hour"
The man ran 6:13 miles[1]...in a marathon...each day, for 365 days in a row.
And he calls that a slow pace!
[1] Update: It's actually 6.2 miles per hour (the equivalent of a 9:40 mile), - still not too slow. I apologize for confusing miles per hour with mile times].
[+] [-] diego|15 years ago|reply
[BTW, what he did is insane and probably very dangerous for most people to attempt. The odds of getting injured/sick/suffering long term health consequences are high.]
[+] [-] albemuth|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] julius_geezer|15 years ago|reply
I really don't think he's setting a dangerous example, because most people trying to emulate him would find that something gives--joint, muscle, whatever--before it got to the point of danger.
[+] [-] Luc|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Hagelin|15 years ago|reply
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m3z1f
[+] [-] runjake|15 years ago|reply
Even as an ultrarunner, I find this mind-blowing.
The physical limits of humans still keep on progressing.
[+] [-] zelandpanther|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gte910h|15 years ago|reply