I run a physics lab and travel thousands of miles a year.

Jenny Hoffman made a last-minute decision to embark on a new journey across the United States in pursuit of a world record. She’s a physicist at Harvard University who studies the properties of insulators and conductive materials, and she turned to her old-fashioned method of recruiting willing students to collaborate. In just two weeks, she assembled a dedicated team that accompanied her along the route and provided her with food, water, and emotional support.

Hoffman took a sabbatical, left his lab in the care of a senior scientist, and departed San Francisco on September 16, 2023. Her 4,888 kilometer route took her through California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. , Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. Along the way, she sleeps in a campervan that has followed her, and she averages 100 kilometers a day, bumping into narrow highway shoulders, thunderstorms, dogs, and even large farm equipment, nearly knocking her off the road. Moved more than one.

After just 47 days, 12 hours and 35 minutes, Hoffman arrived at New York City Hall. Her last few kilometers she was accompanied by dozens of her friends, family and fans. Her time broke the previous women’s record by more than a week. She returned triumphant to the physics department at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Then less than a month later, she flew to Taiwan to compete in her 24-hour world championships in international 24-hour running, where she placed 23rd in the world.

Accept the challenge: Combine marathon training with graduate study

Now, Hoffman is back in the lab, writing grant proposals in an office decorated with balloons by his colleagues, and trying to recalibrate his metabolism after burning 8,000 calories a day during the race. She’s also trying to decide on her next big goal, which might not be athletic. “You can make an impact scientifically, but you can also make an impact by being a mentor and giving someone the confidence they need to do something difficult,” she says. Masu. “The impact on people may be more familiar to me now.”

double duty

Many scientists will worry that the intensive training required to achieve extreme athletic goals will affect research results. But Hoffman is no slouch. Her lab has published dozens of papers. science Last March, we talked about quantum oscillations in certain insulating materials.¹. She supervises students in her own lab and others, and has attended numerous conferences. “I don’t think she compromises in any aspect of her life,” she says.She studies the evolution of human athletic performance and runs with Hoffman every Tuesday morning. says Daniel Lieberman, an anthropologist at Harvard University. “I don’t think she’s asleep.”

Hoffman, who claims to get about seven hours of sleep a night, says running is a necessary function for her. “It’s just part of the self-care that I do every day,” she says. “Even if a grant is due tomorrow, you’re still going to brush your teeth, right?” Tracking time and looking for ways to make things more efficient can be helpful, but other than her husband and her three children She admits that she doesn’t have time for a social life.

She frequently worries that she is neglecting her career or sports pursuits. “There’s a myth that you can have it all or do it all, but that’s not possible,” she says. “I’m not as good a physicist as I would be if I wasn’t running, and I’m not as good a runner as I would be if I was running full time. But you only live once, and I don’t want to give up either activity.”

Running has been a part of Hoffman’s life for more than 30 years, but she didn’t start running seriously until 2014, after the birth of her third child. She didn’t expect to be successful. But soon she was able to win ultramarathons (races with distances of 50 km, 100 km and even more), and her goals became increasingly difficult. Her 2023 trip across America will be her third attempt, following a particularly heartbreaking attempt in 2019 when she injured her knee with 800 kilometers to go.

Teamwork makes dreams come true

Hoffman said this feat would not have been possible without a lot of teamwork. In her most intensive two-week training, the time she spends in her lab has been cut in half, but she trusts the group of about 30 people to continue doing science. Ta. “I’m really lucky to have a great group of students who work together so well as a team and are able to ask each other questions and ask advice,” she says. She says her team is used to working without her physically present due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and her senior scientists have been working with her. He was able to deal with the issue on his behalf.

The training and operation itself required a team, including Ms. Hoffman’s husband, a massage therapist, a professional logistics coordinator, and a support team of students and old friends. Among them was Yanting Teng, a physics student at Harvard who was contracted to drive Hoffman’s support van in Iowa and Illinois. Ms. Teng was particularly impressed by Mr. Hoffman’s drive to reach the next destination each day and his willingness to go further if he was not satisfied with the day’s progress. “If she wants to do something and she feels it’s good, she’ll work on it,” says Teng. She said: “She’s never seen anyone so determined.”

Determination may be the key to being a great ultrarunner and a great scientist, Hoffman says. “To be successful in the lab, you need to be comfortable with repetition. Sometimes you have to repeat a task multiple times to get it right,” she says. “I think the same idea applies to long-distance running.”

Science itself supports that assessment. Little research has been done on ultrarunners, but Lieberman says that in addition to good form and endurance, mental stamina and pain tolerance are the most needed traits. While humans evolved to run long distances rather than sprints, land mammals did not evolve to run Hoffman’s average 101 kilometers a day, he said. “No horse can do it like Jenny,” he says. “You would kill the horse.”

For Hoffman, running long distances is not only a personal challenge, but also a necessary escape. Many people with demanding careers find that they think most clearly while running or working out, describing it as an opportunity to clear their minds and think about problems in new ways. But Hoffman says he never thinks about physics while running. Instead, she listens to audiobooks.

In fact, Hoffman says the objective nature of the sport puts her day job into perspective. “Human judgment plays a big role in science, and even more so in running. So I’m really grateful to be able to do something where other people’s opinions don’t matter.” she says. “There are no anonymous reviewers. Just running time.”