Friday Fun!

It’s Friday!  Today was a day off from running, but to continue with the Pi Week theme, I did some upper body strength and then ended by holding a plank for 3 minutes and 14 seconds.

Strangely, this didn’t actually fall into the category of “fun.”  I’ve been doing the Gauntlet Plank workout. for a while now, which consists of eleven different plank variations.  I hold each one for a minute, and take breaks (I don’t do eleven minutes of planking in a row) but sometimes I’ll link several of them together.  How hard could it be to just hold a simple plank for a little over three minutes?

Well, it was WEIRDLY HARD.  By the third minute I was trembling (even my thumbs were shaking.) When I was finally done I looked up the world record for holding plank and you’ll never guess what it is…

On February 15, 2020, George Hood set a world record by holding a plank for EIGHT HOURS, FIFTEEN MINUTES AND FIFTEEN SECONDS.

I mean… I can’t even… what I really can’t wrap my mind around is the mental aspect of it.  This article talks about the mindset coaching he had, and what he visualized during the event.  It also described his physical training- for eighteen months leading up to the event, he did four-five hours of planks a day (broken up into three different sets,) 2000 crunches, 700 pushups, 500 toe squats and 500 bicep curls.  Oh, and he rounded that out with 30 minutes on the treadmill- HA!  Look at that strength-cardio ratio- it’s my worst nightmare.

Dana Glowacka holds the world record for females, with a time of four hours, nineteen minutes and fifty-five seconds.  This record was set in May 2019 at the International Plank Training Conference (wait- why is there such a thing?) and she’s referred to as an “ultra planker.”

And people think runners are crazy.

Speaking of ultras…

Des Linden has announced that she will attempt to break the 50k world record in April.  According to this article, she’ll be aiming for 5:55 mile pace- the current women’s record for 50k is 3:07:20.  Since Des averaged 5:26 per mile in her marathon PR, this seems like a feasible goal for her in spite of the fact that it will be her first ultra.  But wait!

The plot thickens…

Des Linden is also the alternate for the Women’s Marathon Team for the 2020 (21?) Olympics.  If any of the three women who made the team- Aliphine Tuliamuk, Molly Seidel, or Sally Kipyego- can’t go for any reason, Des will be heading to the Olympic Marathon in August.  And Aliphine Tuliamuk just had a baby. 

Her baby girl, Zoe, was born on January 13 and Aliphine took eight weeks off of running, on the advice of her pelvic floor therapist.  Can she come back to run in the Olympic marathon in August?  She says “I dream about going to Tokyo and doing things that no one can imagine that I’m going to be able to do, even myself.”

Will Aliphine be able to get back in shape to race the biggest race of her life?  I’m rooting hard for her!  And if not… will Des be recovered from her ultra and ready for the Olympics?  So much drama!

Do you follow elite runners?  I know some people don’t because they don’t feel that it’s relevant to their own lives and training.  I like to know what’s going on in the marathon world but I don’t always follow the shorter events.