Topic: A marathon a day for a month?

[extratooth2]

i was reading this book about how modern day humans suck. Even are strongest people are weak compared to people from even the Roman ages. A Neanderthal woman would most likely beat Ahhnaaald, in his prime, in an arm wrestling. Romans would run on average a marathon and a half per day. That got me thinking, what if I started running everyday, starting at 3mi/day and every month add either 1.5 or 2 miles/day, the goal being to eventually reach up to a marathon a day and maybe 1.5 marathons if i feel up to it.

What is your opinion on this? Should I change the millage more/left often? In greater/less intervals? Should i not even try? Has anyone tried this before?

I'm a cross country runner just getting over a stress fracture so I want to start low. Any constructive insight is appreciated.

[Dan Elric]

i was reading this book about how modern day humans suck. Even are strongest people are weak compared to people from even the Roman ages. A Neanderthal woman would most likely beat Ahhnaaald, in his prime, in an arm wrestling. Romans would run on average a marathon and a half per day. That got me thinking, what if I started running everyday, starting at 3mi/day and every month add either 1.5 or 2 miles/day, the goal being to eventually reach up to a marathon a day and maybe 1.5 marathons if i feel up to it.

What is your opinion on this? Should I change the millage more/left often? In greater/less intervals? Should i not even try? Has anyone tried this before?

I'm a cross country runner just getting over a stress fracture so I want to start low. Any constructive insight is appreciated.

I am extremely skeptical of the legitimacy of what you read.  I know the Greeks were phenomenal distance runners, but a marathon a day?  A marathon gives incredible punishment on the body.  The body would deteriorate and overuse injuries would occur - regardless of how strong you are.  Also, never run 7 days a week, you should always take one day a week to rest.

[extratooth2]

Yeah i was looking at 5-6 days a week, not all seven. Should have mentioned that.

Also note that I won't be going at race pace. It will be at a strong pace, but this isn't about times, just endurance.

[David M.]

Unless this is going to be all you do in a day, you won't have time. It would take at least probably 3 hours if you were an elite marathon runner. Possibly 6+ hours. You wouldn't have time to do anything else. Also, like was said before, this would put a ton of stress on your body. I doubt that anyone in Greek or Roman times ran a marathon a day. Originally a marathon was 24 miles which is still crazy for anyone to run every day.

[Dan Frank]

Shenanigans on all of the above.

[David M.]

Shenanigans on all of the above.

??

[Andy Keller]

Shenanigans on all of the above.

??

He's saying that the facts aren't correct.

[David M.]

Wanjiru won the marathon with the fastest time on American soil, finishing in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 41 seconds.

The modern Athens Marathon commemorates the run of the soldier Pheidippides from a battlefield at the site of the town of Marathon, Greece, to Athens in 490 B.C.

When the modern Olympic games were inaugurated in 1896 in Greece, the legend of Pheidippides was revived by a 24.85 mile (40,000 meters) run.

[Spencer B]

You know, if I remember correctly, the first guy to run the 'Marathon' ran himself to utter exhaustion and died, even if he did 'complete' it.

At least what I was taught.

[Alec Furtado]

You know, if I remember correctly, the first guy to run the 'Marathon' ran himself to utter exhaustion and died, even if he did 'complete' it.

At least what I was taught.

Yea... and something about "NIKE!"?


I think modern humans do pretty much suck (physically!), but I'm not sure if the extent at which your book characterizes it is even close to correct. Gets the point across though. You can try an exercise system to completely bring your fitness up a level or two but as mentioned before, the issue can be time. The guys here will be more than willing to help you out, 'course you best start with laying out your goals.

[Spencer B]

The average untrained human is significantly weaker than they should be, I'll accept that.

But a trained human is as strong as any who came before, perhaps stronger since with everything we know how to make ourselves stronger strategically.

[Chris Salvato]

OP: Your sources are horribly, grossly and ridiculously inaccurate.

This post is filled with nonsense - and if I say any more than that it will turn into a 5 page essay that will cover:
1) The ridiculous nature of the book you read.
2) Why marathons, even once in a while, are horrible on the body.
3) How distance running at a long, slow pace will not improve your endurance as well as less miles per week at a faster pace for time.
4) How athletes of today are far more physically capable than our ancestors because of more knowledge in the fields of exercise physiology, performance enhancement and nutrition.
5) How Arnold was never supposed to be strong, just supposed to be big.

I don't have time to hit all of these topics in the way I would like to, so I will cut my post short here.  This concept and thread are equally ridiculous.

[Spencer B]

Wo-ho-ly crap Chris! That was... I know what you mean, but that was... Harsh!

I know you didn't mean to come off like that, but wow... That was so cold.

[Steven Low]

Chris you gotta get out that intelligent evaluation of sources article pronto. -_-

[Steven Low]

Also, have fun reading this thread on CF about this topic:
http://www.board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=52287

[David M.]

Also, have fun reading this thread on CF about this topic:
http://www.board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=52287

Holy crap. And people thought Chris was mean here...

[Chris Salvato]

I don't see how what I said can be construed as "mean" at all.  Its a riduclous claim...thats like calling me ridiculous when I call the sky purple instead of blue.

[David M.]

I wasn't saying you were.

Wo-ho-ly crap Chris! That was... I know what you mean, but that was... Harsh!

I know you didn't mean to come off like that, but wow... That was so cold.

[extratooth2]

This is a different article about the same book: http://lnk.nu/reuters.com/11v1

Alright I get it, the idea is dumb. But I have to ask, what do those people who train for super marathons(100mi) run? I can't imagine them only running 14 miles a day and then just to 100 for the race. Those people must be running at least 30 miles per day, but I'd guess that that is low. Mind you I truly have no idea. The longest I've ran was a half marathon and that was just a very good running day. I haven't trained for any run longer than a 5k

[Spencer B]

I don't see how what I said can be construed as "mean" at all.  Its a riduclous claim...thats like calling me ridiculous when I call the sky purple instead of blue.

I didn't say you were 'mean' either. I said I knew what you meant, but that it came off cold and a little harsh. That's all. Maybe I just interpreted it a little heavily, who knows.