Running
If you’ve ever found yourself short of motivation in the gym, then this story about Germany’s latest world record holder is for you.
The snapshot:
Earlier this year, on February 27, Florian Neuschwander ran 50km on a treadmill in Thalgau, Austria.
That alone is quite a distance. And it was made even more remarkable by its record duration. 2h 57m 25s. Over 1m 30s faster than the existing indoor endurance running record.
That day, the German ultra-runner officially set a new world record.
The performance:
Neuschwander took just 2h 57m 25s to cover the distance at Thalgau’s Red Bull Athletes Performance Center and beat the existing record, held by the American Mario Mendoza, by 1m 38 seconds.
That’s an incredible average pace of 3:33min per km – and the 38-year-old barely seemed out of breath as he completed the distance.
"Treadmill workouts are always good for me,” he said. “You can run at a steady pace, and it’s good mental training.”
The training:
“To prepare for this,” explained Neuschwander, “I did ten 30km runs and two marathons on the treadmill. All nearly at the world record pace.
“Plus a 55km and a 60km run outdoors, and long 100km ride indoors on the bike. It was tough but I now have a bigger endurance and mental strength because of that.”
The headspace:
Perhaps even more strangely (to us, anyway), he managed the entire run without his headphones in… We’d have needed a whole series of podcasts to get us through that test of mental strength.
“Try new things,” he recommended. “Have fun. Don‘t stress yourself too much. It‘s ‘just’ a sport!”
Also breaking records – Jasmin Paris, who was the first woman to win the Spine Race. Listen to her story here:
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