i don't get how espn can list kobeyashi in the same sentence as lance armstrong when describing winning streaks...

i'm not saying eating 50+ hot dogs w/o puking is easy... certainly not when you do it and win 5x in a row...

but the tour de france really sucks the life out of you.

ever tried biking up a hill before? it's a killer. fastest way imo for you to feel the pain is get on your ten speed, set your gears to the hardest setting, and then climb an incline. it'll make a believer outta you. the tour de france is basically riding up a HUGE incline.

simply put, lance armstrong is a beast. his lactate levels in his blood during exercise are so much lower than other bikers, and his muscle fibers have just toned themselves to perfection over the years. basically, imagine never getting your muscles sore during intense exercise, never ever feeling like you're running outta air. that's lance. ever watch clips of the tour de france? it's like lance is going for a solo bike ride through the park; he's that much better than the rest of the comp.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/aps-lat061305.php

http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/107/108551.htm

http://www.utexas.edu/opa/news/2005/06/education15.html

(snippet from the last site i listed)
"As Coyle points out, the best way to absorb the magnitude of Armstrong’s physical power and endurance is to compare him to others. In one hour of bike riding, Armstrong can cover 32 miles as opposed to the 21 miles a top runner could cover on a bike and the 16 miles an average cyclist could cover.

Armstrong possesses a large, strong heart that can beat over 200 times a minute operating at maximum capacity and pump an exceptionally large volume of blood and oxygen to his legs—only around 100 other men on earth, who have been tested, have comparable abilities and only two other competitive cyclists that Coyle has tested in the past 20 years have even come close to Armstrong’s 200 heartbeats per minute.

If a normal male college student were to train at a grueling pace for two or more years, the student’s maximum oxygen uptake would not increase above 60 ml/kg/min—Coyle estimates that even if Armstrong became a couch potato, his would not dip below 60 ml/kg/min."

simply put, he had the genetic makeup to already be such a formidable athelete. but he took it one step further and simply did NOT stop training each and everyday. genetic makeup + natural body adaptation to strenunous constant workout = BEAST.

you want something similar to what lance has? no secret: exercise hard and long each and everyday; do something that completely sucks the life outta you for more than 1 hour and then come right back for more. well, you won't get a 200 bpm heart, but i wouldn't be surprised if you develop a really strong heart.

...

but i could JUST be all wrong about this, and maybe kobeyashi is up there with lance...

i just think the numerous competitions that are shown on sportscenter now are just getting ridiculous. you might as well put evolution on sportscenter after it happens... i mean... hey... now they're doing it in las vegas now, instead of in some lecture hall at a california college.