To minimize the chances that your mind will play tricks on you, train in conditions that are “close to what you will experience in the race,” he says. Less dangerous but more common are fantasies and hallucinations, which Laye believes result from general fatigue.

Laye advises promoting cooling in hot conditions by packing ice around your neck and in your hat. The brain is the “most sensitive organ to heat damage,” says Matthew Laye, a physiologist who studies endurance athletes at the College of Idaho’s department of Health and Human Performance. (Laye is also an elite ultrarunner won last year’s Rocky Raccoon 100, his debut at that distance, in 13:17:42.) While heatstroke is quite rare-the brain generally prevents it by forcing the body to slow down-it can still be dangerous. Here, we explain exactly what’s going on in your body during a 100-mile run and, when possible, how to avoid the bad stuff. Even for the winningest runners, things tend to get pretty weird on the trail. estimates that 6,000 people raced 100 miles in 2013, leading Running Times to ask on the cover of a recent issue, “Is 100 miles the new marathon?”īut just because the distance is growing in popularity doesn’t mean it’s any less stressful on the human body. Yet an increasing number of endurance athletes are taking on these longer ultramarathons.

One hundred miles is a long drive, an even longer bike ride, and for many, an unthinkable distance to run.

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