# 100 \> 26.2 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 12, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-26-2/546356 "2010-07-12T03:19:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-26-2/546356/41 "2010-07-14T17:29:00Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Another thing to consider is that many/most average runners can walk/run a marathon without too much problem. Mix in walking at times and don’t worry about time and a lot of people can go 26 miles, just like if you take lots of rests and eat/hydrate properly most people can finish a century. The marathon may take 10 hours, but that’s just an average of 2.6 MPH, but that’s probably similar to riding a century in 10-12 hours. Would 10 hours not be past the cutoff time of most marathons? The Ironman cuts off at, what, 17 hours? I believe there are even points in an Ironman where you’re yanked off the course if you aren’t on pace. Not sure about marathons but it seems like at some point they want to let traffic return to normal and let the event workers go home. I have no doubt at all I could _walk_ a marathon. I’ve hiked a hilly, 16-mile trail with a backpack on without stopping, and with absolutely zero effort. Running a marathon is an entirely different thing. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-26-2/546356/42 "2010-07-14T17:39:29Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I have no doubt at all I could _walk_ a marathon. I’ve hiked a hilly, 16-mile trail with a backpack on without stopping, and with absolutely zero effort. Running a marathon is an entirely different thing. Exactly my point The OP was just riding 100 miles in a personal ride; there was no time limit or pace expectation. If he had ridden slower, eaten more, and stayed hydrated he wouldn’t have bonked and would have completed the ride without problems. We’re comparing “running a marathon” which people rarely do unless it’s an organized event to riding 100 miles which people do all the time on their own. The last one I did was a casual ride with friends, it just went longer than most of our rides. ---
**Author:** ![Greenhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/0ea827/32.png) [@Greenhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greenhorn)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-26-2/546356/43 "2010-07-14T18:05:04Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Would 10 hours not be past the cutoff time of most marathons? You would think so, but if you look at this chart of [2009 USA marathon finishing times](http://www.marathonguide.com/Features/Articles/2009RecapOverview.cfm#FinishingTimes) the last row is 9:00 - 14:44:04 which means that the slowest marathon finisher with an official time was 14:44:04. I have no idea how that is possible, unless they took a nap or two during the race. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-26-2/546356/44 "2010-07-14T18:21:40Z")
I’ve never done either, so I might be missing something obvious, but I’m in good enough shape to hike for six hours straight, and I find riding a bike on a level surface much easier (even on a per-time basis) than walking. Is there any reason I wouldn’t be able to ride a bike for six hours straight? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-26-2/546356/45 "2010-07-14T18:23:18Z")
> [@Greenhorn](#): > > You would think so, but if you look at this chart of [2009 USA marathon finishing times](http://www.marathonguide.com/Features/Articles/2009RecapOverview.cfm#FinishingTimes) the last row is 9:00 - 14:44:04 which means that the slowest marathon finisher with an official time was 14:44:04. I have no idea how that is possible, unless they took a nap or two during the race. Jeez, that’s significantly under 2 miles per hour. That person really must have stopped for something. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-26-2/546356/46 "2010-07-14T18:29:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve never done either, so I might be missing something obvious, but I’m in good enough shape to hike for six hours straight, and I find riding a bike on a level surface much easier (even on a per-time basis) than walking. Is there any reason I wouldn’t be able to ride a bike for six hours straight? Sore taint, sore shoulders (believe it or not), and it almost surely won’t be a level surface the whole time unless you’re on the great plains. Other than that, you’re fine, as long as you can average almost 17 mph. Not terribly difficult on a nice bike\*, but probably slightly above the lactate threshold of most people who don’t regularly do slow-twitch exercise. \*The bike, contrary to what your dad told you when you were 7, makes a HUGE difference. I can ride 18mph forever on my decent road bike; on my old lead sled it’s more like 14 or 15mph. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-26-2/546356/47 "2010-07-14T18:56:18Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > I did several metric centuries \ Sheesh. Even _ **I** _ can ride 100 meters… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-26-2/546356/48 "2010-07-14T20:10:57Z")
I doubt that I could even walk/run a marathon since I haven’t ran more than 3 miles since forever it seems like, but even sticking to walking I doubt I could get _over_ 10 hours unless it was fairly hilly for a marathon and it was hot and I didn’t get good sleep. Just to see if I could, I out of the blue walked 22 miles a month ago in 7 1/2 hrs, in the 90+ heat and without having anything to eat that day or during the walk (!) If I had kept up my nutrition I’m sure I would have been able to do a marathon in 9. (But yeah, the 3 marathons I have done years ago, the Disney marathon all 3 times, would pick you up from the field if you fell behind a 7 1/2 or 6 /12 hour pace, I forget which. No, the shootings afterward weren’t televised ;)) ---
**Author:** ![cmosdes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cmosdes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmosdes)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-26-2/546356/49 "2010-07-14T21:08:36Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve never done either, so I might be missing something obvious, but I’m in good enough shape to hike for six hours straight, and I find riding a bike on a level surface much easier (even on a per-time basis) than walking. Is there any reason I wouldn’t be able to ride a bike for six hours straight? That is exactly what I thought going into it. I thought it would take me 6 to 7 hours since the course was relatively flat (1500’ of ascent for the entire ride) and I’m in pretty decent shape. As other have said, it could have been the lack of water or food that did me in, but regardless something about that ride kicked my ass. [QUOTE=Greenhorn] I forgot to address this. You can’t compare race times to riding on your own. In a race, the intersections are closed and people hand you bottles of gatorade and water while you are riding by at almost full speed. Even though it is against the rules, many people cheat and draft other riders, which improves speed considerably (although there are ways to get the benefit of drafts while staying within the rules). For me, the difference between a training ride of 56 miles and a half iron race could be 3 or 4 miles an hour. [/QUOTE] I know race day is very different than training on my own, but at least as intersections go I don’t have that problem. One stretch of road I was on this last weekend was 30 miles of open, flat nothingness. Most of my ride is often on back roads and places where I won’t need to wait for intersections and such. I wasn’t sure how much drafting goes on in these races, although I had heard it is outlawed in most races. And thanks for the link to the tri-website. I’ll be spending some time on there, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-26-2/546356/50 "2010-07-14T22:34:52Z")
> [@cmosdes](#): > > As other have said, it could have been the lack of water or food that did me in, but regardless something about that ride kicked my ass. Oh, it’s pretty clear that your problem was nutritional, not mechanical. You bonked, your description matches it very well. Once you hit the wall you don’t recover quickly, but it could have happened with any physical activity of that duration without proper food and water. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-26-2/546356/51 "2010-07-14T23:58:08Z")
> [@cmosdes](#): > > I’ve run a marathon and near marathon distances several times, even qualifying for Boston twice. I’ve never ridden a century, but last week I did 50+ miles with little difficulty. I’ve done 80 in the past and was tired, but okay at the end. I decided to give it a shot yesterday. I made 95 miles and had to quit. > > I was 9 miles from home and I just couldn’t go another mile. I _barely_ was able to make it to a food mart where I bought the largest drink I could, called my wife, and pretty much passed out while waiting for her to come get me. I have never, ever been that tired in my life. Next time, don’t ride uphill! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-26-2/546356/52 "2010-07-15T03:24:45Z")
I don’t think there is any comparison to biking a hundred miles and running a marathon, with the latter being much more difficult. I rode in an MS150 bike ride back in college (actually 168 miles). The ride was 100 miles the first day on mostly flat terrain, and 68 miles of hills on the second day. I was in decent shape, but have never been capable of running a marathon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-26-2/546356.md?page=2)