Very few. And no women have.

It's just not a relevant metric.

As an aside, a couple of my friends finished running/fast-packing Iceland from north to south this week. No support crew, lots of off-trail, straight down the center. Took them 7 or 8 days.

No publicity, no charity. Just two tough chicks and good friends doing something amazingly challenging just for the fun of it.

No way she can do this. She has look-good fitness from lifting and eating high protein diet. That kind of fitness does not translate well to aerobic fitness. My wager is on eye opening (for her) brutal few days and then dropping out due to stress injury.

Things to consider-

- accumulation of sleep deprivation- she would need at least 9-10 hours a day of quality sleep to support this. Her plan is for less than 6 in a moving RV
- Nutrition- it will be impossible to absorb enough calories during the proposed IM’s, and there is no time planned to properly take in the deficit on a day to day basis
- hematocrit- her hematocrit level will start a massive nose dive after 5 or 6 days (if she even makes it that far. And then there are the cascading problems of other physiological breakdowns that will be ocuuring
- logistics- just driving to all 48 states in 48 days would be a tough go! I have not mapped it out, but 1 would guess north of 20,000 miles of driving, so considering traffic, gasoline stops, probable maintenance needs.... at least an average of 10 hours a day for transport, which now leaves less than 14 hours on average for each IM
- So even with world class fitness, this appears to be an impossible effort. The physical toll would be more exponential than linear, as there is simply not enough time for proper nutrition and recovery, even for the Cam Wurf example.
- this is essentially like someone saying they have mentally prepared to run a legitimate sub 2 hour marathon....GOOD LUCK!

I don't think for a moment she had the experience, knowledge or training to do this, but I do think 50 IM in 50 days is eminently achievable for a suitably trained and experienced athlete.

The reason why a sub 2 hour marathon hasn't been achieved is that it's as yet outside the bounds of human potential and technology. Though as we saw last year, it's closer than many of us thought.

The only reason 50 IM in 50 days hasn't been done, is that there's insufficient financial or athletic lure for a decent number of athletes to have a crack at it. If there was an annual race with a viable prize money, we would see a proportion of athletes finishing it every year.

As for sleep deprivation, we see runners completing the Sri Chinmoy 1300 Miler each year on less than 6 hours per day.

Nutrition is relatively easy compared to running. It is far easier to consume calories on the bike than while running.

Haematocrit levels will take a beating, but that's the nature of multi-day endurance and it's hardly a show-stopper. It is "only" 26 miles of running a day. Running knocks about haematocrit levels through heel-strike haemolysis in a way that cycling and swimming do not.

I agree logistics are another matter. Anyone doing this needs an superbly efficient support crew behind them. The athlete shouldn't be the one to run the show. They need to think about one thing only and let the crew take care of all else.

- I think your 1300 Mile Run effort, while impressive, is not remotely in the same ball park. I cannot think of any examples of any athlete successfully completing 50 consecutive days of 12 hours plus of high aerobic level work, which include 4 hours ish of running. Doing 50 consecutive days is not twice as hard as doing 25, it is more likely 4x as hard, and compared to a deca, it is probably at least 10x

Sorry, that was a typo. It was meant to read 3100 Miler.

Though it's hardly my 3100 Mile effort, I certainly have never entered, let alone completed, a race like that.

You may be right that it isn't in the same ballpark. I'd rate the Sri Chinmoy 3100 Miler as a tougher proposition. My reference to runners completing it "on less than 6 hours per day" was in relation to the amount of sleep they get, not the time they spend running. They are on track up to 18 hours a day. The race record is 41 days and 8 hours. 75 miles a day.

There's your example of prolonged, consecutive, long days of aerobic work that says 50 IM in 50 days can be done.

50 consecutive IM is a lot of time spent swimming, cycling and running each day, but it's spread across three disciplines and only one is weight-bearing. It is "only" 26 miles of running a day.

That sounds both brutal and amazing. I have done some geologic work in Iceland which required driving deep into the centre of the country and its tough even in 4x4. Its a part of the world where you get incredible remote without realising it and the weather can be extremely unforgiving. I can remember picking up cyclists on more than one occasion who were trying to do the coastal road but literally could not stay on the roads due to the winds.

C'mon you only need to clip out once per day

What's silly about this whole thing is on the days she's doing the elliptical and pool swim what's the stop her from splitting the event up doing the swim first thing in the morning and taking a big fat break and starting the next 1/2 hours later

Am interested in your thoughts on this point to consider.....
From what I can gather you get more red cell lysis from running, but conversely will end up producing more new red cells which have a better oxygen carrying capacity, although obviously an overall negative impact.
But-why the focus on haematocrit? Is haemoglobin a better measure overall in this situation as haematocrit can be influenced by many other factors such as dehydration?

Sandra Barwick did some fast long runs

wikipedia :

• Track: 6 day 883.631 km, Campbelltown, Australia, December 1990
• Road: 1000 km 7 days 16 hour 11 minutes
• 2000 km 17 days 3 hours 1 minute
• 1000 miles 12 days 14 hours 38 minutes 40 sec
• 1300 miles 17 days 22 hours 46 minutes 07 sec

She found that after 2 weeks of running it was even difficult to sleep for 4 hours in a row


In her book "Unstoppable" (now out-of-print) New Zealander Sandra Barwick, who set world records for 700, 1000, 1,300 miles and six days here in New York, recalls very vividly the days after her record runs. She writes:

"For a week after the 1,300-miler I could hardly sleep, and when I did I suffered wild dreams and nightmares -- that I was still running, that I had not finished the race. My feet kept running in bed. I would reach the morning completely exhausted. The nightmares were awful after every run but these were particularly bad.1 When I did manage to sleep I was racked by weird and frightening dreams.2 I was so afraid of becoming tired to the point of getting sick that I took a sleeping pill one night and actually slept for four hours solid. It was wonderful."3

____________
1 Unstoppable, The Sandy Barwick Story by Sandy Barwick with Garth Gilmour, (C)1993 Sandy Barwick and Garth Gilmour, first published by Harper Collins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited, at page 6.
2 supra, at p. 120
3 supra, at p. 6


Ultra runners that did 21 hour races without sleep say they can still feel thier legs running, stepping, dodging, adjusting for days after

I remember going to theme parks for the day - and when relaxing afterwards - it felt like I was still in the rollercoaster feeling my body shaking and preparing turns in the rollercoasters - 50 days x 16 hours of motion must be brutal - not just about taking your squeezies and vitamins on time

Sandra Barwick's 6 Day World Record still stands. She was an amazing athlete and is still heavily involved in NZ ultra running.

I'm looking forward to hearing the full story but yes, Iceland sounded much like you describe. As for remote, apparently they went for several days without seeing a living creature.

yeah pretty legendary - I thought she said that she didnt like to sleep longer than 15 to 30 minutes every 4 hours during an event to keep the body from seizing up - but I couldnt find it just now

She would drive her training course the night before and hide bottles and plastic wrapped snacks in peoples letterboxes so that they would be there for her pre sunrise run

Totally agree. She actually had press from ESPN on the Haiti run. I asked a question via social media about tracking, and got blocked. Again it’s awesome she’s raising money for the orphanages. These are just publicity stunts to keep getting shoes from Reebok though.

Allegedly she’s on strava though. Can’t find her on the app, and am not near a computer.

You mean like trying to set the Appalachian trail record in less than fifty days? The terrain is not exactly flat asphalt either.

I have no idea what that means, as I am not familiar with the Appalachian trail record. How many hours a day is that averaging? Is it running, or hiking?
I am aware of Dean Karnasis running 50 marathons in 50 days, so while that is running, it is “only” about 4 hours a day, which leaves plenty of time for recovery, nutrition and sleep. No where near the 16-18 hours a day proposed.
I personally have done the Ultraman in Hawaii once. That is 3 days. I averaged just over 8 hours a day, and I barely had enough time for minimal recovery, nutrition and sleep, and I did not have to travel anywhere between the days. I could not have done many more, and my crew was even completely exhausted my the end of the 3fd day double marathon. They were so bad that I had to drive them home immediately after I completed the run! I can assure you, know one was thinking “Let’s keep going for 47 more days”, and this was some of the very best ultra endurance athletes in the world. 3 days was enough to experience the wheels absolutely beginning to fall off, and this was “only” 8 hours a day. If someone has actually run 16 plus hours a day, without any rest days, or shorter “recovery” days, than I stand corrected, and maybe this person is an exception, but since there are no specific per day requirements, I would assume the 50 day requirement would include multiple “recovery” days. Even Grand tour riders get 2 recovery days over the 3 weeks, and they are “only” averaging 5 hours per day (much of which sheltered in a draft pack, aka peloton, and they have professional assistance with their day to day recovery. BTW- with no running involved, pre EPO and blood doping, the riders hematocrit levels would fall 10-15% over the duration of the tour ;-)

I love these stunts, they cost tens of thousands of dollars to produce, and use hundreds of human hours. All of which would be better served actually supporting their chosen cause.

EXACTLY! LOL

You are correct that there are many other points to consider, this was just an easy example of the physiological breakdown that will occur. As noted by others in this thread, there are other huge obstacles, and these are noted for events significantly under 50 days

No doubt an amazing accomplishment, but as I noted, there is a world of difference between 8 hours of work each day for 41 straight days, and 16 plus hours of work each day for 50 days, as each extra hour of work is 1 less hour for recovery, and 1 more hour of calorie deficit.
Let’s see how far she gets doing it honestly, my guess is 4-5 max

Now I’m convinced she’s fine. Iron cowboy offering assistance. Can’t freaking upload a photo from my phone but they’re having an ego boosting convo on IG

Can anyone remember how exactly Ironman Cowboy handled all the travel time? Thinking about this more, an "easy" cop out would be to do the bike or runs on a trainer/treadmill inside a moving RV.

Or who was that runner that slept in the RV while his team drove at running speed with his running watch on the dashboard?