Here's me from a few years ago, to give an idea of the clothing required https://icecube.wisc.edu/news/life-at-the-pole/2021/01/week-...

Even at the South Pole, we have a 5k "Race Around the World" at Christmas, and a marathon shortly after New Year. In 2022, someone did an ultra. It's compacted snow/ice. Not easy terrain, but doable in your average pair of running shoes (with wooly socks). For the race events we normally ask someone to drive round the route a few times to compact it a bit more. On the coast at McMurdo there are routes that are more like traditional trail running - dirt/gravel, hills. I assume other stations are similar.

The more intrepid folks gave up when it got to around -50C and then it's treadmills until sunrise and it warms up again.

There's also a more pay-to-play marathon: https://www.icemarathon.com/ ($22k)

I used to think anything slower than 10:00/mile is jogging and doesn't qualify as running. This harmed motivation since when I was just starting I couldn't actually get faster than that every single run.

Our expectations change. We learn to expect a faster heart rate.

Much easier than a plane, though.

Or NZ at the least. Hawaii isn't on the content. You've got only one continent to go before you can check that box.

I have 100% confidence you'll do it!

I ran every day for a year, and kinda wished I had kept going (though I only managed 3 continents in that year).

I am a runner. I train at what is probably the 80th percentile for longer distances, so I am by no means an expert. But I do understand that if you are running 7 miles a week, most of the time, your body isn’t going to be that beat up, especially if you are taking it slow.

finally when they had to (successfully) defib him during a race, that shook him into assessing his health not running for the sake of running

There's a mindset with distance runners that I have seen over and over, just sometimes way too much of a generally good thing

Don't let rest feel like weakness. It’s where the real progress happens.

I can see how you might worry that if you take off one day when you are sick that somehow you'll start taking more and more "sick days" out of perhaps laziness. But I also feel like someone with such a level of dedication would not be in much danger of doing that.

Why do you run with the flu of you feel bad about it? What is the point of fulfilling the "rules" of run streaking?

For me the by far biggest positive effect of run streaking was that I knew every morning when I woke up that I would something i enjoy that day. The training is too low intensity and volume to really matter and doing it for the rules would have felt pointless.

Maybe this amount of running was excessive, but how did you even run such distances with T so low? (Ie how did you recover?)

I’m asking, because in German, many people call a regular cold a flu here.

But the chance to catch real influenza is like once every 20 years or so.

What about COVID-19?

I often wondered why people did these self-evidently unfun things, purportedly "for fun".

Rule 1 of training as an athlete was: you do not train for N extra days after N days of fever

You do not want a heart infection.

Keeping track of you morning resting heart rate will tell you exactly what is going on.

To put that into perspective for other readers: I've been running for about 10 years also, but typically 2x a week (10k mid-week, 15~20k weekend), I have no real data on my heart rate from when I started, but at rest I'm now typically at 60bpm.

I measure almost daily due to medication and having a minor heart defect, and I have noticed that if I skip a week of running, it'll slowly go up, averaging at ~62bpm, but when I train for a (half) marathon I typically increase my distance a bit and try to train every other day (~3x/week) then my heart rate a rest goes down a bit to be consistently below 60bpm (58bpm avg).

40bpm is very low, for non-athletes this would be considered dangerously low, but I guess daily running at OPs distance would classify OP as an athlete. Also keep in mind that heart rate differs per person, some people just naturally have a low heartbeat.

It is effectively a higher load with a lower duty cycle. versus walking with a lower load at about 50% duty cycle.

Joint 'damage' is a misnomer. Joint surfaces are under load/impact and friction while running, that is just biomechanics.

Other mechanical parts like bearings have a load capacity and lifetime. It is not a stretch to model the same for articular surfaces on your hips, knees, ankles.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/is-running-bad-for-your-k...

> Running does not cause arthritis, and when you rest, your body — and your knees — recover from the effects of running

> The type of surface you run on does matter because it changes the impact on your body

Okay, so if running does not cause arthritis, how can the type of surface matter wrt to causing arthritis?

Then they suggest a new myth, that running prevents arthritis.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/does-running-cause-arthr...

> Runners can get arthritis, but is running the cause?

This section ends with "While the answers are still not entirely clear, we're moving closer."

Then they have a large section on why it's hard to determine.

https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/fitness/is-runnin...

> Knee and joint pain may be common complaints among runners

> More common sources of pain or injury in runners’ knees are iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) and patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS), says Dr. Mayer.

So it doesn't sound like a myth, unless you restrict your definition of knee health to "osteoarthritis".

Each of these cited a number of studies. I know there's a lot of "these are professional researchers, of course they controlled for bias" and the studies said "we controlled for bias" but it wasn't clear how they controlled for bias or how it was effective.

For example, the one about marathon runners didn't analyze long term affects of marathon running, just whether the people who ran marathons at the time had arthritis (no: if you had arthritis you would probably quit running marathons). Another general meta study seemed similar (recreational runners have lower arthritis, but would you be a recreational runner if you had arthritis?) in addition to noting higher arthritis in long term (15 year) runners vs general population.

Not overthinking the exercise is a big part of not falling off the wagon. If you wrap yourself around that post it can really discourage you. Perfect is the enemy of really, really good things.

I never realized 1.609 miles/km is close to the golden ratio (1.618)

“Frigid” would perhaps be less confusing “Freezing.”

If you go for a run at 0F in a T-shirt, you won't be running for very long. That's like -18C.

I also find that adding distance makes it easier to improve time. If I can only run 1 mile, it's pretty hard to run that same mile but faster. BUT if I can run 3 miles, it's a bit easier to run 1/3 of my normal distance but focusing on pushing the pace.

Keep it up though. All of a sudden it all sort of comes together. I just ran 9 miles straight last week! I was shocked and so excited.

I did the same thing but kept pushing harder because my muscles could keep up and I wanted to build up cardio endurance, but I didn't take into account my bones.

Shin splints are no joke and will sideline you for months without warning. It takes several months for your leg bones to build up the compressive strength to deal with continuous high impact running.

Even if your endurance can take it, take your time. Slow and steady wins the race.

- weird monkey from Bojack Horseman, paraphrased through my memory

   - load chess problems (look at a diagram before getting out the door) and try to solve it while running. Sometimes, I solve it the first 5min, sometimes I get frustrated because it turns out to be too difficult.

   - practice polyrhythms. you have a dominant cadence while running, now impose  others on top of it.

Be careful to avoid injury, however. I wouldn't recommend this until you've already got a solid running base of miles to build upon.

For audiobooks, something I've been wanting to try is to see if I can listen to an audiobook of a textbook for a topic that I'm interested in. But I'm not sure if it would work well, since often textbooks have diagrams and such.

To get back into running I listened to some page turners, but I’d only listen to them when running. Sometimes I’d do an extra lap just to hear more. And I’d look forward to the next run.

Once the habit takes, I don’t need as much stimulation.

Another idea is political commentary slop or news. Don’t consume any during the day like you normally do (Reddit, twitter, news sites).

Instead consume it only through Youtube on your run. It’s usually stimulating enough to compel the run.

Sounds like you are only listening to non-fiction? You don't need to research topics to enjoy (say) a genre thriller, so listen to fiction.

Like running, keeping notes in your head is something that gets easier if you do it a lot. It's also a really useful skill to have when talking to people in person.

Running never did it for me, I just couldn't stick to it, was always miserable and bored, etc. My main focus is strength training, but for my cardio cycling is what brings me joy. I would dread going for a run, but I excitedly look forward to my next bike ride.

Cycling, swimming, hiking, rowing, even dance will all get you the same benefits so if you're bored doing one, try something else - the important thing is to get moving, the specifics of the activity doesn't matter.

If you really want to get into running, and you have some green spaces or trails near you, give trail running a try. It's the one form of running I sort of enjoy - I get so bored on a treadmill or just in my neighborhood, but I love being out in the woods.

Maybe accept that running, or perhaps exercise in general, is not your thing? You clearly have more pressing interests and there are other ways to maintain good health. My grandfather lived well into his eighties with nigh a scrap of fat on him and, near as I can tell, did no formal exercise after his army days ended. My mother is on the same track despite health issue severely limiting her mobility.

I say this as a guy who rides an indoor cycling trainer 3-4 times a week during the winter and turns in to a raging jerk if he doesn't get his workouts done. If you're not a "gym guy", "runner guy", "biking guy" or whatever, why waste your extremely limited free time trying to become one?

This is how we ran before smartphones, anyway.

Playing a computer game for hours on end feels productive when you burn 1,000 calories doing it.

From my own experience, after 2020 threw me into a bit of a depression I gained a bunch of weight for the first time in my life. I decided I was going to "workout every day" but gave myself a ton of grace about what the definition of "workout" meant. If it was bed time and I hadn't done anything yet I'd just do a couple sets of pushups to "check the box" and go to sleep. I tried to do as much as I could every day, but still gave myself a pat on the back as long as I did ANYTHING that I could call a "workout" ... I lost the weight shockingly quickly and felt a lot better even though most days I was only working out for 10-20 minutes.

Presumably more than a mile a day now