
That Which Does Not Kill Me Makes Me Stranger  - prakash
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmagazine/05robicpm.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
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wallflower
See also: Marathon Monks of Tendai

"The final two years of the 1000-day challenge are even more daunting. In the
sixth year they run 60km each day for 100 consecutive days and in the seventh
year they run 84km each day for 100 consecutive days. This is the equivalent
of running two Olympic marathons back-to-back every day for 100 days...

Only 46 men have completed the 1,000-day challenge since 1885"

<http://baldrunner.com/2009/06/13/tendai-marathon-monks/>

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listic
As a hacker looking into fitness and taking up cycling recently to stave off
health issues that become to interfere with my life and work, I can fully
relate to this. The extent to which the pro cyclists and this guy in
particular can push their bodies is fascinating. As far as I can understand,
it is generally beneficial to health unless you push it to the over the edge,
where the position of this edge is unknown to science.

Often times I come from work very exhausted, unable to do anything, including
having a dinner, which my body needs, I think. If I reluctantly stuff some
food into me and cycle for an hour or to, I become so invigorated that I seem
to be able to keep going on and on: cycling, or coding - I can do it. The
prudent thing here is have a proper dinner and sleep, I guess.

I was told that "marathoners go by the pulse meter" (i.e. not
odometer/speedometer), I wonder how true is this for marathoners and for
endurance cyclists. Maybe at the point in your training where you have
personal trainer and follow car, you don't need pulse meter that much? I am
never going to be there and I have high hopes for training with pulse meter.

Here's an obligatory video introduction to racing cycling culture:

MC SpandX "Perfomance"

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4>

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jac_no_k
I started riding the bicycle to and from work a year ago, mostly to avoid the
commuter crush here in Tokyo. The first few weeks was difficult but it got
significantly easier as I got more fit. I've hit my goal of getting to and
from work in less time then the train.

My motivation lately has been to keep up and pass the numerous mopeds and
scooters. What really gets me going is trying to keep up with cyclists on road
racing bicycles. I really don't have much of a chance on the my hybrid (cross
between a commuter and mountain bicycle + electric assist to 24km/h) but it's
always a happy day when I pass the slower road racers. It must motivate them
too because they will try to keep pace but eventually fade away after a few
kilometers.

The other motivation is thrill of speed on the downhill sections. Another area
I seem to have an advantage as the road racers seem to top out at 40km/h. Or
maybe I'm just crazy as I'm leaned all the way over to negotiate the curves.

Now that it looks like the burn I feel in my legs is most likely a lie, I'll
keep pushing!

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scotth
I regularly take my road bike to 70 kmph+ on downhill sections. Some people
aren't comfortable with that speed, so it is them, not the bike, that is
holding them back.

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smoody
Version properly formatted with photos:

[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmagazine/05robi...](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmagazine/05robicpm.html?_r=1)

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terpua
"In addition to races, Robic trains 335 days each year, logging some 28,000
miles, or roughly one trip around the planet."

Jeez, I suspect the majority here drive _way_ less than that.

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pmichaud
Many of his symptoms sound just like severe hypoglycemia. My wife has similar,
but much less dramatic things happen to her when her blood sugar crashes.
Really interesting.

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listic
How is it diagnosed? What are the usual measures one should take if he/she has
one?

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pmichaud
To determine if you have reactive hypoglycemia you go through something called
a 5 hour GTT (Glucose Tolerance Test), which is hell if you really do have the
disorder. Essentially you fast after drinking a sugary drinks, and they test
your blood at intervals to see what it does. A Reactive Hypoglycemic will
spike, then crash, unlike a normal person who will have a smaller rise then
pretty much stay there. See, she normally has to eat ridiculously healthy food
every 2 hours to stay even, otherwise she crashes.

It starts with cold sweats, then degenerates into nausea, confusion and a
rotten mood. It never gets that bad with her anymore, we have a good system
going now. When she is upset about something the first thing I ask is: when's
the last time you ate?

If you want to know more about it, check out her site:
<http://www.reactivehypoglycemia.info/articles/>

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DaniFong
That which does not make you stranger will kill you.

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jeremymims
I used to regularly push over into a sort of manic trance when I did long runs
in high school and college. I certainly never got as far as Robic (maybe the
closest was when I did the New York marathon in 2005). I could obsessively
focus for long periods of time on the smallest thing (like watching my hand
jump in front of my eye) or a word or phrase. But I don't think I ever
hallucinated anything or even got to the point where that could happen. I'm
kind of inspired to try.

Word of caution:

I think if you'd like to try, you should make sure your body can support the
level of activity needed to get to that barrier. That means you shouldn't just
try to run 40 miles right away. You're more likely to injure yourself. You
need to build a high quality base of fitness before you attempt something
drastic otherwise you might be out of the game for weeks or months.

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listic
I first encountered the title phrase in comic strip Ozy and Millie, though I
can't find the exact strip now.

~~~
klipt
<http://www.ozyandmillie.org/d/20021105.html>

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arithmetic
I love the title of the story - very intriguing and fitting.

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ojbyrne
I found the use of the euphemism "derriere" in a story of such visceral
details to be quite jarring. Hilarious even.

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DuncanKinney
Read this yesterday. A great profile piece by the NYT on an obscure but
awesome story.

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learnalist
Thank you for sharing that. An awesome read..

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alparsla
In Soviet Russia, that stronger man kills YOU!

