Man I thought I was in great shape

[Steakeater]

With huge training volume and a low rhr, I thought I could do decently in the NYC marathon until I came across this
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/sports/03juice.html

You hang in there for a mile, then 5 miles, 10, 20, all the way to 26.2. Now let’s push the incline arrow up now and then to represent the bridges and hills on the New York City Marathon course. And suppose we point a powerful fan at you to simulate the 14-mile-per-hour winds that blew on Sunday.

How would you have fared?

Quite well, in fact, with a time of 2 hours 11 minutes 6 seconds, good enough for fifth place.


that is just amazing. 1 mile in 5 minutes, for over 2 hours. Just goes to tell you that you are always far from reaching your physical capabilities

[EndoGlo]

I don't even know what to say to that...

[Fresh Biscuits]

It's very impressive, no doubt, but is that really what you strive to be able to do? The only conditioning he did was run and run and run. Unless you're a messenger boy from the 1200's, there's not much that this type of conditioning is good for. I'd prefer to be well-rounded, which I'm not.. yet.

[DrBdan]

Originally Posted by Fresh Biscuits

It's very impressive, no doubt, but is that really what you strive to be able to do? The only conditioning he did was run and run and run. Unless you're a messenger boy from the 1200's, there's not much that this type of conditioning is good for. I'd prefer to be well-rounded, which I'm not.. yet.

The answer is pretty obvious. For the person that runs marathons, yes that is their goal.

[Valentine Wolff]

Originally Posted by DrBdan

The answer is pretty obvious. For the person that runs marathons, yes that is their goal.

Lol exactly. Some people are more passive than others. The whole world isnt obsessed by the sport we call MMA.

[XTrainer]

Originally Posted by Fresh Biscuits

It's very impressive, no doubt, but is that really what you strive to be able to do? The only conditioning he did was run and run and run. Unless you're a messenger boy from the 1200's, there's not much that this type of conditioning is good for. I'd prefer to be well-rounded, which I'm not.. yet.

I see where you're coming from. Not that I don't respect all of the various "ultra-endurance" athletes, but that type of sport/training has been idealized in our culture for a long time, almost to the exclusion of everything else. The downplay of other physical attributes, including strength, power, shorter term/higher intensity conditioning is irksome to me. Even when training methods such as strength training are addressed, they are usually considered in terms of aesthetics, not health or capability. There is a pervasive idea in our culture that "health and fitness" is indicated by how far you run.

Again, nothing against pure endurance athletes. I certainly respect them, I just think the "endurance athlete model of fitness" (my made up term ) is seriously over hyped.

[paolo27th]

You can say how marathons are LSD events all you want but you have to relise that that kind of pace would be an all out sprint for most people ot there - myself included.
They run, they do their thing, but if you faced an mma fighter with that kind of aerobic development you`d be in a world of trouble.

[XTrainer]

Originally Posted by paolo27th

They run, they do their thing, but if you faced an mma fighter with that kind of aerobic development you`d be in a world of trouble.

No...because in order to reach that level of "aerobic development," if you want to put it that way, you MUST sacrifice the development of other physical attributes.

[McClure]

That's an understatement to say the least...If I was stranded on a desert island with 10,000 ultra-marathoners I would rule their weak, skinny bodies with an iron fist.

[Steakeater]

Originally Posted by McClure

That's an understatement to say the least...If I was stranded on a desert island with 10,000 ultra-marathoners I would rule their weak, skinny bodies with an iron fist.

If you catch one