Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

justlooking128 t1_ivbfdvh wrote

I can’t even imagine running a full marathon in under three hours…much less after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 miles at over 20mph. How’s that even human?

275

jakekara4 t1_ivbxknv wrote

If my grandpa is to be believed, that was his daily walk to school while growing up.

223

justlooking128 t1_ivcfd03 wrote

Up hill both ways and without shoes. Is your grandpa my grandpa, too?

41

Mike2220 t1_ive4zfi wrote

With barbed wire wrapped around the ankles for warmth?

2

WrongWay2Go t1_ive44j9 wrote

Oh, I didn't know he and my father went to the same school.

1

Freudenschade t1_ivcbjtv wrote

My wife just ran her first 70.3 a couple of weeks ago. She did really well, given the circumstances. However, the guy who won the whole thing had an average mile pace of 5:30... after swimming 1.2 miles and then biking 56 miles in a torrential downpour. His finishing time was 3hr45min. Absolutely fucking mental.

33

TokoBlaster t1_ivcg19i wrote

For the lols: it's not human. It's iron... human (OK that was bad)

For the actual answer: humans are amazing endurance creatures. We evolved away our hair and added more sweat glans to be way better at endurance. It seems impossible, but biologically we are actually designed to do something like that. There's some debate as to why, but humans are one of the top endurance creates on the plant.

28

PM_ME_YOUR__INIT__ t1_ivctl1h wrote

Instead of chasing down our prey, we just follow them to death

15

Amygdalump t1_ivfbs7d wrote

Poke them with a stick so that they bleed, and follow them to death.

This is accurate.

2

timbasile t1_ivcd7ei wrote

Sodaro won by running 2:50. The crazy part is that she gave birth only 18 months ago. Crazy as this was, she didn't break the women's marathon record (she was close).

By contrast, the men's winner, Gustav Iden of Norway, ran a 2:36 marathon, beating the previous men's record by 3 mins.

16

the_knob_man t1_ivcdn43 wrote

The amount of fortitude required to just get through the training is unreal.

A few years ago, I volunteered to ride my bike behind the race leader of the Florida Ironman during the run portion (26.2 miles). The first leader I followed came off his bike averaging >25mph. He was running about 7.5 min/mile. On each lap of the course he would find his friend waiting for him, stop running, double over and cry. They would say a few things about his shoes, legs, or some section of the course, etc. Then he would take off again. When he passed his family on each lap he was completely focused and strong. He bonked with a few miles to go and it sucked not being able to follow him up to the finish.

11

ger_my_name t1_ivcoh3p wrote

I know several people that are obsessive about the training regimen. The hard work pays off for them.

3

TotallynottheCCP t1_ivdcmvv wrote

I can't even imagine running a half marathon...in any amount of time. I attempted a 10k and it took about an hour and I almost collapsed.

If a human can push themselves that hard physically, they deserve the 10 million dollars or whatever a damn NBA player gets for a single game.

I will admit however that the bike is the easiest part. I once rode 43 miles in a single afternoon. It wasn't easy, but it was easier than the 10k run.

0

skippyjifluvr t1_ivgag4s wrote

I did an Ironman several years ago. I finished in 15:30. Those extra 7 hours make it much easier. People are quite surprised when I tell them I finished, but when they hear that it took 15 hours they understand.

2