THE EXPERIMENT

This past August a runner went to Death Valley to attempt to run 150 miles from Badwater (the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere and the hottest spot on Earth) to the peak of Mt. Whitney (the highest point in the lower 48 states). One of the first runners to complete the course successfully advised him to do heat-training sessions in a dry sauna to teach his body to process fluids. He didn’t follow this advice. Instead the runner started his attempt in the evening, hoping to get through the valley before it heated up too much. The next day at noon, he was still in the valley. At 3:00 P.M. the temperature rose to 128 in the shade. After 30 hours on the road, the runner was still not out of Death Valley and (wisely) gave up.

At the Calgary Stampede Marathon a runner who had done no training run farther than 14 miles decided to use the strategy of “putting time in the bank” by going out fast since the day promised to become warm—this in spite of half a dozen experienced marathoners advising her that it was a suicidal move. She dropped out at 11 miles.

After calling the race director on almost a weekly basis to get training advice, another runner, this one training for Western States, decided he didn’t need altitude training, and he didn’t need any long runs farther than 30 miles. He figured if he kept himself just in front of the cutoff times at each aid station, he’d do just fine. It didn’t work. He was pulled from the course at 16 miles.

Running guru Dr. George Sheehan used to say that each of us is an “experiment of one.” It is difficult to argue with that observation. But even if we are experiments of one, is it really necessary to experiment on ourselves continually, especially in the face of compelling evidence that what we are about to do doesn’t work?

If we are looking to do well at running, to conduct a successful experiment of one, we’re a spoiled bunch, for hundreds of thousands of other runners have gone before us to record experiences of what works and what doesn’t. The results of those experiences are grist for the sports medicine scientists who have dedicated their lives to studying—on our behalf—what works and what doesn’t.

Running is fortunate in having a knowledgeable, dedicated army of scientists who have studied our sport—and who have, in many cases, run the same races we have or hope to.

In planning this issue dedicated to sports medicine, we had two primary objectives:

1. To schedule the issue for the winter months so marathoners and ultrarunners backing off a bit between seasons would have good, solid material to take with them into their next year.
2. To match our experts with topics that are of special interest to them and that are as current in the research as is humanly possible.

The contributors to our sports medicine issue are all members of the M&B Science Advisory Board. There isn’t one of them who wouldn’t admit to having made mistakes in the past in their training and racing. But every one of them has learned from those mistakes, hopefully never to make the same mistake again. And perhaps to save you from taking an ill-advised turn down a blind alley. —Rich Benyo

TRANSITIONS

The end of one year and the beginning of another is a traditional time for reflecting on the year past and adopting resolutions for the year to come. The Volume numbers of this magazine are keyed to January 1st; thus M&B’s third year, or Volume III, begins after this November/December 1998 issue brings Volume II to a close.

As of Volume III, No. 1 (our January/February 1999 issue), there will be a change behind the scenes at Marathon & Beyond that the casual reader might not notice. Marathon & Beyond will be published by 42K(+) Press, Inc., also based in Champaign, Illinois. The new company has been launched by M&B’s editor Rich Benyo and its managing editor Jan Seeley so they can give their full attention to M&B. Our Web site address—www.marathonandbeyond.com—will be the same, but our physical/real world address is changing to 411 Park Lane Drive, Champaign, IL 61820. The new Marathon & Beyond phone number is 217/359–9345, and the fax is 217/359–4731. Use these numbers to contact us about any aspect of your subscription.

From an editorial standpoint, you won’t notice much change. M&B will continue to evolve as it has over the past two years, and it will maintain the same 6″ x 9″ format and high-quality content. I’ll still be working as editor, but Jan Seeley’s duties are expanding to the title of Publisher, which means the always-enthusiastic, always-energetic Jan will have the opportunity to direct her talents into even more corners of the magazine.

We’d like to thank all our friends at Human Kinetics Publishers for their faith in Marathon & Beyond, their enthusiasm in launching the project, and their sustained support of the magazine for its first two years. We hope all of our faithful readers will enjoy the ride as we embark on Stage Two of M&B.