Unfathomable, I have marathon friends who run a marathon every month. I thought that was crazy.<p>Before this guy, I thought these monks were the ultimate in mind-and-spirit-and-body physical endurance:<p>> 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.<p>...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.<p><a href="http://www.howtobefit.com/tendai-marathon-monks.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.howtobefit.com/tendai-marathon-monks.htm</a>
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.
"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.<p>I hope this guy doesn't regret doing this down the line, because right now it is very inspiring.
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.<p>Most people could run a marathon if they trained for it. The human body is made for running.
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.
Picture of him here: <a href="http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/41438476/ns/sports-other_sports/" rel="nofollow">http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/41438476/ns/sports-other_sport...</a>
Amazing video that talks about the concept of running and how it relates to evolution:
<a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_mcdougall_are_we_born_to_run.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_mcdougall_are_we_born_t...</a>
Oddly, there is nothing in Belgian media about this.<p>EDIT: correction!
<a href="http://standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF20110205_041" rel="nofollow">http://standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF2011020...</a>
"<i>He said the key was a slow pace over the 26.2-miles.</i>"<p>"<i>He ran every race, he never walked. He ran at a rate of 10 kilometers per hour</i>"<p>The man ran 6:13 miles[1]...in a marathon...each day, for 365 days in a row.<p>And he calls that a <i>slow pace</i>!<p>[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].
More power to him. When I was young and skinny, I started noticing effects at a sustained 60 miles/week.<p>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!
I can recommend watching <i>Eddie Izzard: Marathon Man</i> in which he ran 43 marathons in 51 days for the charity Sport Relief.<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m3z1f" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m3z1f</a>
On a related note, Ian Sharman apparently just won (today) the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler in an amazing 12:44:35. That's 7:38 per mile for 100 miles.<p>Even as an ultrarunner, I find this mind-blowing.<p>The physical limits of humans still keep on progressing.