Great article here on the chasing KIMbia site some may have seen: http://www.chasingkimbia.com/?p=259#more-259
An excerpt, from Dieter Hogen, excellent distance coach of such athletes as Uta Pippig:
“Their body is not a Ford Escort. A Ford Escort you bring to the service station every 3,000-5,000 miles and it lasts forever. No problems. But these guys aren’t Ford Escorts. They’re Formula One cars. To see what those guys do to their cars - to see how many people are involved to make sure it runs smoothly - is incredible. They have people who change the tires, check to make sure the gasoline is being delivered to the engine as efficiently as possible, make sure everything is oiled - they do all of these thing to ensure that the car holds up even under extreme stress, say 300mph. This requires more than the Ford Escort. These Formula One cars - these are our guys. They have to better understand this. The Formula One car has to go to the service station on a regular basis, instead of waiting for disaster. Look, if something goes wrong with the Ford Escort at 30mph - no problem. But if something happens at 300mph - it’s a big disaster. Like our guys - they require more time to heal an injury because the damage is more severe. Because the system - the body - is highly developed, it’s very fragile under these conditions.”