"But now think about trying to sustain that same pace for another nine hours. To most of us, the idea veers somewhere between the fantastical and the insane. Yet that is what Caitriona Jennings, a 45-year-old ultrarunner from Donegal, did this month when breaking the women's world record for 100 miles. Her time for the Tunnel Hill 100 Mile in Illinois was 12hr 37min 4sec an average pace of 7min 34sec a mile."
"Her time for the Tunnel Hill 100 Mile in Illinois was 12hr 37min 4sec an average pace of 7min 34sec a mile. Incredibly, until then Jennings had never run more than 60 miles in one go. Having smashed the record, she then jumped on a red-eye economy flight from Chicago that landed in Dublin at 5am. Then she cycled straight to the office, where she works for a company that trades and leases planes to global airlines."
"So she trained before work and during her lunch breaks, as well as running 48-64 miles every weekend, to ready herself for what lay ahead. The hardest part in the race came after 60 miles because I hadn't even got to the point where I could say: Right, just one marathon to go now,' she says. But my body held up pretty well. It was just the mental side."
Caitriona Jennings, a 45-year-old ultrarunner from Donegal, completed the Tunnel Hill 100 Mile in Illinois in 12hr 37min 4sec, averaging 7min 34sec per mile, breaking the women's world record. Until that event she had never run more than 60 miles in one go. She trained before work, during lunch breaks, and ran 48–64 miles each weekend to prepare. After the race she flew overnight to Dublin and cycled to her office job in aircraft trading and leasing. The race became hardest after 60 miles due to mental fatigue. Her coach credits her engine and pain tolerance; she emphasizes that sustaining pain is part of the sport.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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