Wheaties box says Janet Evans averaged 100 miles a day for 35 years

Her PR in the 1500 is 15:52, which means that at her PR pace she could only swim about 85 miles per day if she swam at her PR pace continuously for the entire time.

Easy Laps wrote:

The 10k per days is very reasonable. I know several people who average 5k per day going back many, many years. None are champion swimmers. They do it for the exercise.

10k a day is pretty accurate for a top swimmer as an average if you factor in off season and tapering.

Gainesville/Miami guy wrote:

. If a decimal place got moved it would still be 127,575 miles. How many elite marathoners run that many miles in a lifetime. Very few I suspect.

All the Kenyans.

All the 45 year old Russian female marathoners living in Gainesville.

HRE wrote:

Many runners have gone well over 127,000 miles in their lives. A handful have even gotten to 200,000. Ten miles a day for 30 or more years isn't that big a deal if you maintain interest and desire if you're a runner. But ten miles of swimming takes a lot more time than running does so I agree that even 10 miles day for that length of time seems unlikely for a swimmer.

Your last sentence is the key: Ten miles of swimming takes a lot more time than 10 miles of running.

You may be right that a good many runners have done 127,000 miles in their careers but it still seems high to me. I ran from age 14-57. Very low mileage in high school and college (1950s: ignorant coaches and no internet or other info sources) and off and on in early 20s. But very consistently the last thirty years. I doubt I reached 80,000. Gotta check the musty training diaries.

Loved Lurker's response. The first person who replied to my OP asked me to prove she didn't. Lurker proved she didn't run 100/day. He said:

Her PR in the 1500 is 15:52, which means that at her PR pace she could only swim about 85 miles per day if she swam at her PR pace continuously for the entire time.

HRE wrote:

Many runners have gone well over 127,000 miles in their lives. A handful have even gotten to 200,000. Ten miles a day for 30 or more years isn't that big a deal if you maintain interest and desire if you're a runner. But ten miles of swimming takes a lot more time than running does so I agree that even 10 miles day for that length of time seems unlikely for a swimmer.

I don't buy this. A very select few have. Hardly anybody, elite or not, can maintain that mileage for so many years. Injuries come into play. Injuries reduce mileage by a ton. I only believe mileage totals when a runner keeps a log. Otherwise, too many people just make a mental average of their ideal training while forgetting all the periods of injury that populate a 30-year career.

As for Janet Evans, I agree she has neither swam 100 nor even 10 miles a day for 35 years. Gimme a break. Swimming 10 miles a day, while physically easier, would be the same as running 40+ miles a day. No way.

Amby Burfoot has a website devoted to people who have run 100,000 or more lifetime miles. There are dozens of names on it. At the top is Darryl Beardall who is close to 300,000. Yes, it's probably a select few but it's more a fading of desire that does the selecting. Most people who run lots of miles do it to race as well as they can and cut way back when they start to slow. But there are people who simply enjoy the running and routine and keep on at decent miles. At my best in the 70s I was doing 100-150 mile weeks. When that stopped getting me PRs I cut back a good bit but still was in the 70-90 range until a few years ago. I found running much less than that was unsatisfying.

HRE wrote:

Amby Burfoot has a website devoted to people who have run 100,000 or more lifetime miles. There are dozens of names on it. At the top is Darryl Beardall who is close to 300,000. Yes, it's probably a select few but it's more a fading of desire that does the selecting. Most people who run lots of miles do it to race as well as they can and cut way back when they start to slow. But there are people who simply enjoy the running and routine and keep on at decent miles. At my best in the 70s I was doing 100-150 mile weeks. When that stopped getting me PRs I cut back a good bit but still was in the 70-90 range until a few years ago. I found running much less than that was unsatisfying.

Just found the link for Burfoot's site. Interesting. Here it is.

Gainesville/Miami guy wrote:

If a decimal place got moved it would still be 127,575 miles. How many elite marathoners run that many miles in a lifetime. Very few I suspect.

I am not an elite marathoner (2:27) but have come close to 127,575 miles with a total over 122K despite not starting to keep a log until I was age 26. The Wheaties error reminds me of a story which appeared on the front page of the Wall Street Journal many years ago. An ultramarathoner about age 45 at the time was credited with having run 750,000 miles. This meant that he averaged 45 miles per day from the day he was born.

Me. HRE List these runners.

I've seen the Wheaties box and it says nothing about how many miles she swam.

Ha, 20 people have reached 100k miles and then they relist their latest mileage achievement.

All seem to haven born before 1955.

Except Dave Dunham, who works for the IRS and is a total tool.

HRE keep on rocking in your own mind.

Joe Caruso 124,000. He was on a Michigan racing team in the 80's. Said he could go through 15 miles with Doug Kurtis. He was probably more FT/intermediate fibers and the mileage gave him strength.

Joe Caruso 25K = 1:19

http://www.runscore.com/coursemeasurement/NRDCNews/81-10-30.pdf

Despite The wrote:

She have had to swim about 24 hours a day, including in her sleep, to achieve that

Not even then. I was a decent swimmer before I switched to running, and during an hour-long practice I only ended up covering maybe 3 miles. Maybe.

dude, really? wrote:

I've seen the Wheaties box and it says nothing about how many miles she swam.

HRE wrote:

Many runners have gone well over 127,000 miles in their lives. A handful have even gotten to 200,000. Ten miles a day for 30 or more years isn't that big a deal if you maintain interest and desire if you're a runner. But ten miles of swimming takes a lot more time than running does so I agree that even 10 miles day for that length of time seems unlikely for a swimmer.

NO!! Not many folks run ten miles per day for 30 years. That means for every 5 mile day you have to have a 15 mile day--and for every day off you need a 20 miler to compensate!!! If you have a 50 mile week you have to do 90 the next week. If you have a 210 mile month you need to run 410 miles the next month.

I probably have 65,000 miles in 40 years and get a lot of this.... but to think "Many runners have gone well over 127,000 miles" is not realistic at all. I think a few have done it-- but many, many less then you think.

Dennis Kurtis

Dennis Kurtis (01 Nov 1953, USA)

19 Apr 2010 2:59:29a Boston MA/USA Boston

13 Feb 2005 2:47:26a Austin TX/USA Austin

08 Dec 1991 2:28:59a Sacramento CA/USA California International

11 Jun 1983 2:20:50a Duluth MN/USA Grandmas

21 Oct 1978 2:38:04a Detroit MI/USA Free Press

At 61, Dennis was running 60 to 90 miles a week.

Same racing team as Joe in the 80's.

He's talking about the guys he knew who were doing the big miles.

The ultra guy was doing 150 to 200 a week before he averaged 72 a day across the U.S.

Did you peak in the 90's low mileage era?

moanswers wrote:

Easy Laps wrote:

The 10k per days is very reasonable. I know several people who average 5k per day going back many, many years. None are champion swimmers. They do it for the exercise.

10k a day is pretty accurate for a top swimmer as an average if you factor in off season and tapering.

I've got to agree. Janet herself says she swam 12 miles a day, which is probably before those are factored in.