14-flat wrote:
Serious question: how would he "get some precise measurements" on "fatigue-induced biomechanical changes and also metabolic changes in what sorts of fuel they burn and how efficiently" on a treadmill?
And if you could actually measure these things while running, why couldn't you measure them while running outside?
Serious answer: you'd get the biomechanical measurements with a motion-capture system (i.e. high-speed video connected to an analysis program like Dartfish). And you could get metabolic measurements in a variety ways, with trade-offs in invasiveness vs. measurement detail. The most info would come from breathing into a tube connected to a metabolic cart, like you do in a VO2max test, but that would be pretty horrible for a 24-mile run. Another option would be periodic blood draws (or even being connected to an IV).
None of these options would be convenient outside (though not impossible). Like I said above, I have no idea whatsoever what Hall is doing (or even if he's really doing a 24-mile treadmill run!). But it wouldn't be totally crazy to do something like that once to get an accurate read on what happens to you late in the race. (There have been a number of studies in the last few years looking at biomechanical changes as runners fatigue during a run, and the effects can be quite significant.)