Marathon: Harder to run or wheelchair?

[Uglyowl]

I have never been in a wheel chair... so assuming you are going to train for a marathon,.... which is harder... to train to run or wheelchair 26.2 miles?

[kerssens]

How could it be hard to wheel for 26.2 miles? Unless you are under time contraints.

[istewart]

Let's just prepare for everyone to tell us their sob stories of helping cripples.

[jakethebake]

Clearly this depends on how much of it is up- or downhill.

[pshreck]

[ QUOTE ]
Clearly this depends on how much of it is up- or downhill.

[/ QUOTE ]

I laughed really hardly at this.

[jesusarenque]

Wow. I had this exact debate with friends today at lunch.

[Dynasty]

Dick Hoyt not only runs the Boston Marathon every year. He pushes his wheelchair bound son the whole way.

http://graphics.boston.com/marathon/images/2000/hoyts041100.jpg

[Voltron87]

[ QUOTE ]
Clearly this depends on how much of it is up- or downhill.

[/ QUOTE ]

POTD

[tdarko]

[ QUOTE ]
How could it be hard to wheel for 26.2 miles? Unless you are under time contraints.

[/ QUOTE ]
yeah cause pushing your body weight for 5 hours is really easy. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[Uglyowl]

[ QUOTE ]
Dick Hoyt not only runs the Boston Marathon every year. He pushes his wheelchair bound son the whole way.

http://graphics.boston.com/marathon/images/2000/hoyts041100.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

Well in this case I would say it is harder for Dick

[Voltron87]

I think most people are going to greatly underestimate how hard it is to wheel for 26 miles. Running is still harder, but it is a lot closer than everyone thinks.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
I have never been in a wheel chair... so assuming you are going to train for a marathon,.... which is harder... to train to run or wheelchair 26.2 miles?

[/ QUOTE ]

Assuming a flat surface, wheeling has to be easier.

If it weren't, the wheel would have been a crappy invention.

~D

[kerssens]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
How could it be hard to wheel for 26.2 miles? Unless you are under time contraints.

[/ QUOTE ]
yeah cause pushing your body weight for 5 hours is really easy. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

When you get tired you can coast...eh, probably harder than I think but I think I could do it.

[tripdad]

[ QUOTE ]
Clearly this depends on how much of it is up- or downhill.

[/ QUOTE ]

it also depends on whether or not you are crippled. for a gimp, wheeling is much easier, and it isn't even close. for someone without arms, i would have to think running would be the way to go.

cheers!

[jedi]

[ QUOTE ]
Dick Hoyt not only runs the Boston Marathon every year. He pushes his wheelchair bound son the whole way.

http://graphics.boston.com/marathon/images/2000/hoyts041100.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

By the way, he's also done Ironman Triathlons with his son the whole way. He tows his son in a raft during the 2.4 mile swim. Great story.

[Filip]

Elite runners do a marathon in 2h 20min plus some.
Elite wheelers(?) do it in 1h 30min plus some.

Does this make it easier to train for a marathon with a wheelchair? I have no idea, think both would be incredibly tough.

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
Dick Hoyt not only runs the Boston Marathon every year. He pushes his wheelchair bound son the whole way.

http://graphics.boston.com/marathon/images/2000/hoyts041100.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

that guy is a bonafide total badass. He does the freaking ironman with his son.


As to the original question, it would obviously be easier to do it in a wheel chair. However, I still highly doubt most people could do it in any reasonable amount of time.

[GrekeHaus]

[ QUOTE ]
How could it be hard to wheel for 26.2 miles? Unless you are under time contraints.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you weren't under time constraints then you could just walk it and it would be much easier than wheeling. Your lower body is much stronger than your upper body, so for the vast majority of people, going by foot would be much eaiser and it's not even close.

[CallMeIshmael]

If I had to choose right now, I'd rather run it than wheel it.

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
How could it be hard to wheel for 26.2 miles? Unless you are under time contraints.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you weren't under time constraints then you could just walk it and it would be much easier than wheeling. Your lower body is much stronger than your upper body, so for the vast majority of people, going by foot would be much eaiser and it's not even close.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is clearly wrong.

By your logic then, it would be easier to walk a marathon that it would to do it on a skateboard, because on a skate board you are only using the power from one leg, and clearly 2 legs are stronger than one, so it wouldnt even be close.

There is a reason the wheel is the greatest invention ever

[Blarg]

From my considerable experience, I would like to volunteer that I have no idea.

[GrekeHaus]

This is true, but there's no way that the wheels will compensate for the huge difference in strength. This is especially true considering most people have very little experience in doing endurance activities with their upper body. I've pushed myself in a wheelchair a couple times and can honestly say there's no way I'd make it.

[CallMeIshmael]

[ QUOTE ]
This is especially true considering most people have very little experience in doing endurance activities with their upper body. I've pushed myself in a wheelchair a couple times and can honestly say there's no way I'd make it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this.

I said I'd rather run it. Simply because I am at least close to being able to run that now. The thought of wheeling that far scares me.

[MicroBob]

I would probably have ZERO chance of making it in a wheelchair because my upper-body strength sucks.

I might have a shot of making it with my feet though.


But this might be besides the point.
The point made earlier that the top wheel-chair marathoners finish 30-40 minutes before the runners needs to be considered.


The pic of the guy pushing the other dude in the wheel-chair reminds me of a 5k I ran a few years ago.
I'm not much of a runner and was just trying to make it in 25-27 mins or so (5k = 3.1 miles so this is an 8:30 to 9-min mile throughout...not very fast).
I committed to running this thing for a radio promotion...I was trying to help out. Kind of a "if I can make it for 5k then you can too."

So...I'm about mid-way through and am already tired...and some Mom comes running past me pushing her infant along in a stroller (this was an all-grass cross-country course...pretty bumpy).

The happy baby just bouncing all over the place all the way (shaken-baby syndrome maybe?? this couldn't have been healthy).

No...I wasn't going to finish last or anything like that...but I picked up the pace and decided I would just flat-out do whatever I needed to in order to not finish behind a Mom pushing her freaking baby in a stroller.

She faded in the final mile or so and I had my victory.

[Bigdaddydvo]

I ran Boston from '96 to '02 and I typically wouldn't pass the Hoyts until the hills of Newton between Mile 16-20. This is incredible because I was running between 6:30-6:50 pace. The man is a warrior. The response he gets from the crowd and other runners is nothing short of phenomenal. His running is driven from such a deep and firey love for his son...they are truly the ultimate distance team.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
I think most people are going to greatly underestimate how hard it is to wheel for 26 miles. Running is still harder, but it is a lot closer than everyone thinks.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I realize that it's very very difficult to wheel for any distance at all. The wheel makes it easier to maintain pace. That's why wheels kick ass.

~D

[Uglyowl]

The best part of the marathon isn't the front runners, but the people struggling to make the finish line long after the cameras and alot of the people are gone.

The fight and the pain of the people is just an amazing thing to watch. People crawling, rolling, doing whatever to cross that line is just amazing! I think a more interesting TV show would be that portion and not the Kenyan's winning in 2 1/2 hours.

[Forbin]

If you look at the results from last years Ironman Championship in Hawaii, the fastest "run" times were put up by the guys in the wheelchairs.
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
-------FINAL------ ----------------------- 2.4 mi 112 mi 26.2 mi
----SWIM---------- ----- ------BIKE--------- ----- -----RUN----------
Pos Time Name Ovr Time /100m Tr1 Ovr Time Mile/hr Tr2 Ovr Time /Mile
-------- -------- ----------------------- ------------------ ----- ------------------- ----- ------------------
1 08:33:29 STADLER, NORMANN 54 54:27 1:26 0:56 1 4:37:58 24.2 2:18 9 2:57:53 6:48
2 08:43:40 REID, PETER 40 53:12 1:24 0:27 12 5:01:38 22.3 2:14 3 2:46:10 6:21
3 08:45:14 AL-SULTAN, FARIS 5 50:39 1:20 1:51 6 4:55:44 22.7 2:11 6 2:54:51 6:41
4 08:48:35 TAUBERT, ALEX 49 53:24 1:25 1:56 4 4:49:45 23.2 2:55 15 3:00:37 6:54
5 08:54:26 BEKE, RUTGER 56 54:35 1:27 1:33 10 4:59:57 22.4 2:28 7 2:55:55 6:43
13 09:12:33 SABATSCHUS, OLAF 113 56:35 1:30 1:58 27 5:12:17 21.5 5:03 8 2:56:41 6:45
* 618 11:18:07 MOLEDA, CARLOS 1047 1:13:59 1:57 4:27 1486 7:30:05 14.9 8:21 1 2:21:17 5:24
*1158 12:53:15 DOAK, PATRICK 1327 1:22:02 2:10 5:03 1645 8:28:46 13.2 12:25 2 2:45:01 6:18
*1312 13:48:23 HERREMANS, MARC 667 1:07:02 1:46 5:17 1660 9:18:08 12.0 6:33 58 3:11:24 7:19
</pre><hr />
(Unfortunately even with the code and /code tags the table still looks a bit messed up, but it's readable. It looks best with a fixed-width font. Data pulled from here (http://liveupdate.ironmanlive.com/frameset.php3?url=http://vnews.ironmanlive.com/assets/2004results/kona2004.htm) if you are curious)

Those last 3 are the guys in wheelchairs who used hand-cycles instead of bicycles (for obvious reasons). The fastest of them managed to do 5:24 miles for an entire marathon even after having used his upper body to push himself through 112 miles of "bicycling." Compare that to the fastest normal guy, who only ran 6:21/mile.

You also need to consider that the wheelchair guy spent 2.5 to 3 additional hours pushing his body during bike portion before starting the run portion. The normal guys were done with the entire race before the wheelchair guys even got to start the run.

The wheel rocks.

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
The best part of the marathon isn't the front runners, but the people struggling to make the finish line long after the cameras and alot of the people are gone.

The fight and the pain of the people is just an amazing thing to watch. People crawling, rolling, doing whatever to cross that line is just amazing! I think a more interesting TV show would be that portion and not the Kenyan's winning in 2 1/2 hours.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know what you are saying and it is admirable to watch, but it does absolutely nothing for me on an inspirational level baring some physical handicap.

Its only 26 miles, its not that grueling for someone who is moderatly in shape and isnt a giant fat ass or like 90 years old. In actuality its a little pathetic that 15 hours after the start time someone is so "determined" to finish that they are crawling to the finish line. If they were really so strong of character and have all this huge determination, why didnt they spend like a month training for the thing so they could cross the finish like a halfway normal person.

[Mars357]

Depends on if it's up hill or down...if it's down, wheelchair is clearly easier....

Do you see why?

[Mars357]

[ QUOTE ]
Clearly this depends on how much of it is up- or downhill.

[/ QUOTE ]

Should have read the thread before posting....

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
for someone without arms, i would have to think running would be the way to go.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ya think?

[Dominic]

well I assume that if you're in a wheelchair, it will be infinitely harder for you to run a marathon than wheel one.

/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[LALDAAS]

[ QUOTE ]
Clearly this depends on how much of it is up- or downhill.

[/ QUOTE ]

[jstnrgrs]

Doesn't he start with the wheelchairs (~10 minutes ahead of the runners)?

[ChrisCo]

It is way harder harder to push a wheelchair than it is to run or jog. I was in a wheelchair for about 2 months when I broke my foot and what a pain in the ass it is to get around. There is no doubt in my mind that it would be easier to run it than to wheelchair it at the fastest pace possible. Your pushing too much weight with your upperbody to keep a good pace for any amount of time.

[Catch of the Day]

[ QUOTE ]
Dick Hoyt not only runs the Boston Marathon every year. He pushes his wheelchair bound son the whole way.

http://graphics.boston.com/marathon/images/2000/hoyts041100.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]


I might be a pussy, but I actually misted when I read this...

Catch-

[Blarg]

I'm 100% positive that all these people talking about how easy it is to run a marathon are 100% full of crap.

[GuyOnTilt]

What are the rules of a marathon? Like, if he put pegs on those wheels or something so he could coast for a bit or something, would he be DQ'd? Or if the balance of the chair was such that he could support his weight on the handles he's using to push it and do the same? If not, how far could you bend this? Just curious.

GoT

[Goodie54]

Have you also trained to RUN a marathon. The only one that can make this judgement is someone who has done both. I've run two marathons and it was pretty frickin hard. My guess is that running is harder just because the downhills in a wheelchair are nothing, no work whatsoever. There is no such break when running.

Peace

Goodie

[Goodie54]

How many marathons have you run. Are you kidding me? I know tons of people that are moderatly in shape and can't even come close to running a marathon. It is not easy in any way, shape or form. It takes a lot of training and heart and determination. I've run two marathons and neither of them were easy and I wasn't in moderately good shape. I was in great shape.

Your post is idiotic.

Peace

Goodie

[jedi]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Dick Hoyt not only runs the Boston Marathon every year. He pushes his wheelchair bound son the whole way.

[/ QUOTE ]

I might be a pussy, but I actually misted when I read this...

Catch-

[/ QUOTE ]

Not a pussy. Just sentimental. It's rare that I don't mist up myself when seeing these guys. I've done 1 Ironman and 5 marathons and each one was difficult, even when I was in shape. The way the Hoyts pound through it is amazing. Actually, it's not necessarily completing the race that's amazing, but the amount of training leading up to the race that's amazing to me.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
Your post is idiotic.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes. Almost as idiotic as the retart that just brought it back to life.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Has anyone tried to take a wheelchair down a steep incline? I have, and it's damn near impossible to keep the things straight, though that doesn't really matter, because once you hit a certain speed the little front wheels start vibrating really hard and you quickly get out of control. So if you are talking about using a normal wheelchair, I would definitely rather run a marathon.

[jedi]

[ QUOTE ]
Has anyone tried to take a wheelchair down a steep incline? I have, and it's damn near impossible to keep the things straight, though that doesn't really matter, because once you hit a certain speed the little front wheels start vibrating really hard and you quickly get out of control. So if you are talking about using a normal wheelchair, I would definitely rather run a marathon.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wheelchair racers usually have special wheelchairs for "running" and special handcycles for "biking". It's not the normal everyday wheelchairs.

[OtisTheMarsupial]

Las Vegas is having it's first marathon.
They're using the strip for it.
http://www.lvmarathon.com/

[DavidC]

Well, something like 110 replies and it's nose-to-nose for the easiest/hardest to run.

My only suggestion is that the "run" voters throw a stick in the spokes of the "wheel" voters, and achieve certain victory.

[drexah]

It depends, wheeling downhill is easy, uphill sucks.