- German ultrarunner Florian Neuschwander broke the 50K treadmill world record on February 27.
- The Red Bull athlete broke the existing record by one minute, 38 seconds, set by American Mario Mendoza in January.
The record for the fastest 50K on a treadmill has been broken for the second time this year.
German ultrarunner Florian Neuschwander hopped on the treadmill at the Red Bull Athletes Performance Center in Thalgau, Austria, on February 27 with the intent of gunning for the record of 2:59:03, set on January 14 by American Mario Mendoza. And when the ’mill stopped just shy of three hours later—2:57:25, to be exact—Neuschwander was the proud owner of a world record, besting Mendoza by one minute and 38 seconds.
“I don’t know why I like running on the treadmill,” Neuschwander told Runner’s World. “Mentally, running is hard for me. The German championships this year is on a 5K loop, so it’ll take 20 laps to finish. That is boring, I think, so I thought this would be good mental strength training.”
It’s a goal that’s been on his radar since 2013, before Michael Wardian became the first person to break three hours in a treadmill 50k in 2:59:49. Seven years later, as part of his tuneup for the German 100K Championships later this month, Neuschwander decided now was the right time to go for the record.
He did his normal marathon preparations of a 12-week training block with intervals, with his hardest run coming in the form of 18 miles at race pace.
And while Neuschwander was training to run faster than Mendoza‘s record time, watching the American break the record by 46 seconds certainly added extra pressure to Neuschwander’s attempt.
When race day finally arrived, the 38-year-old put his On Cloudrush shoes down on the treadmill in Austria in a room with open windows to keep him cool. Despite developing a lower back issue the week prior, he decided to go for it just as he drew it up.
“I started the first 10K at 16.5 kilometers per hour [roughly 10.3 mph],” he said. “This was slower than record pace. Around 30 kilometers, I was around 1:40 behind record pace. The last 20 kilometers, I sped it up. On the last 10 kilometers, I did between 17.5 and 18 kilometers per hour [10.8 to 11.1 mph]. I think I got faster every 5K for the final 20K.”
Throughout the attempt, he worried about his lower back and cramping in his quads, but he powered through to set the new world record.
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Once the treadmill stopped, Neuschwander celebrated briefly with his girlfriend and daughter, and he gave himself three days to recover before it was back to training.
“It’s nice to have the record, but I know there are a lot of guys out there that if they did it, they would break it,” Neuschwander said. “It’s a nice achievement, but my bigger races are to come. I’m not stopping. I just did a three-hour long run, and it felt good. We’ll see what happens next.”
Up next for the German ultrarunner? The 100K German Championships on that 5K looped course. To prep for that, he is planning to do a 37-mile long run next week on a 5K course near his home. He said that this will make him mentally strong like the treadmill did for a lot of repetition.
“I really want to qualify for the 100K road world championships in September [in Winschoten, Netherlands],” Neuschwander said. “I placed ninth there in 2017, and I want to improve that. Do a personal best.”
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Drew covers a variety of subjects for Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand. His work has previously been published in Men’s Health.
