Running to death
Yesterday,
four men
died during the Great North Run (half-marathon). I'd like to
take the occasion to reply to a popular idea about running to
death.
Lots of people believe that the longer you run, the more you're
heating and therefore the more likely you are to die by
over-heating. As a matter of fact ultra-races are really dangerous.
That's absolutely wrong! You have pretty less chance to die running
a 100km than a 10km. Because the pace is far slower while running
100km, the body produces less heat. Over-heating occures during
more intense (and therefore shorter) exercise. If the weather is
not too hot, over-heating is not a serious problem during an ultra
race.
Obviously if you run the
Bad
Water Ultramarathon (217km in the Death Valley, temperatures up
to 55°C) or the
Marathon des Sables it's
a bit different...
Oh, I just noticed I forgot to tell you that on the UTMB food
points there were lots of organic, spelt (épeautre) and seed
germs bread ... Some will understand, others not.
