ever since 490 BC when Thea deputies ran
the 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to
declare victory over the Persians and
promptly died humans have been asking
themselves how fast can we run this
distance
[Music]
it’s a question that has motivated us
for thousands of years and never more
than in modern times no sport is growing
faster than running and marathons in
particular have gained 47% more
participants in the last decade alone
one milestone has intrigued hyper elite
runners and trainers as we’ve come
closer and closer to it
is it possible to cover 26.2 miles in
under two hours it sounds crazy but it
might be possible
scientists have identified three
physiological elements that allow elite
runners to leave others in their dust
oxygen consumption lactate threshold and
running efficiency the first oxygen
consumption or utilization is the reason
why many runners train at high altitudes
or those born in the mountains seem to
have an advantage when it comes to long
distances by training where the air is
thin these runners are boosting their
red blood cell production which allows
the blood to carry more oxygen so they
can run farther without losing their
breath lactate threshold is a fancy way
of describing the point at which muscles
begin to fatigue and fail resistance and
interval training which build stronger
muscles can readily improve a runner’s
threshold
but the third element running efficiency
it’s a bit more difficult to define and
harder yet to improve with training
think of it like gas mileage in a car a
runner’s efficiency or economy is how
much energy she expands relative to how
fast she goes improving efficiency comes
with finding the right technique which
we’ve been tweaking for over two million
years her body’s evolved long legs short
toes and muscular rear ends as an
adaptation for running long distances
mostly to wear down prey over time in
the words of the boss you could say baby
we were born to run but not all
techniques are created equal for example
researchers compared injury rates
between runners who land on the ball of
the foot versus those who hit the ground
heel first because of the vastly
different ways that these strike forces
are absorbed and distributed rear foot
strikers were 2.3 times more likely to
become injured than the forefoot
strikers and it’s not like we’re still
chasing down antelope with Spears modern
human life involves lots of sitting down
as well as a sort of false sense of
support when we run in big cushy shoes
if we’re ever going to break two hours
we need to rethink the precise skills
and techniques that will allow our
bodies to reach their maximum potential
both physiologically and psychologically
in fact it’s this piece of a puzzle a
head game it might finally get us past
this Thresh
so much time and energy has been
expended sorting out how to minimize
fatigue to the body what about the
endurance required to conquer mental
fatigue how can we train ourselves to
push further to believe you can do
something impossible it’s a question
most of us can leave to the elite
competitors and scientists committed to
the cause of breaking World Records in
the mean time
just get out and enjoy what your body is
evolved so well to do going for a run
[Music]
[Music]
the 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to
declare victory over the Persians and
promptly died humans have been asking
themselves how fast can we run this
distance
[Music]
it’s a question that has motivated us
for thousands of years and never more
than in modern times no sport is growing
faster than running and marathons in
particular have gained 47% more
participants in the last decade alone
one milestone has intrigued hyper elite
runners and trainers as we’ve come
closer and closer to it
is it possible to cover 26.2 miles in
under two hours it sounds crazy but it
might be possible
scientists have identified three
physiological elements that allow elite
runners to leave others in their dust
oxygen consumption lactate threshold and
running efficiency the first oxygen
consumption or utilization is the reason
why many runners train at high altitudes
or those born in the mountains seem to
have an advantage when it comes to long
distances by training where the air is
thin these runners are boosting their
red blood cell production which allows
the blood to carry more oxygen so they
can run farther without losing their
breath lactate threshold is a fancy way
of describing the point at which muscles
begin to fatigue and fail resistance and
interval training which build stronger
muscles can readily improve a runner’s
threshold
but the third element running efficiency
it’s a bit more difficult to define and
harder yet to improve with training
think of it like gas mileage in a car a
runner’s efficiency or economy is how
much energy she expands relative to how
fast she goes improving efficiency comes
with finding the right technique which
we’ve been tweaking for over two million
years her body’s evolved long legs short
toes and muscular rear ends as an
adaptation for running long distances
mostly to wear down prey over time in
the words of the boss you could say baby
we were born to run but not all
techniques are created equal for example
researchers compared injury rates
between runners who land on the ball of
the foot versus those who hit the ground
heel first because of the vastly
different ways that these strike forces
are absorbed and distributed rear foot
strikers were 2.3 times more likely to
become injured than the forefoot
strikers and it’s not like we’re still
chasing down antelope with Spears modern
human life involves lots of sitting down
as well as a sort of false sense of
support when we run in big cushy shoes
if we’re ever going to break two hours
we need to rethink the precise skills
and techniques that will allow our
bodies to reach their maximum potential
both physiologically and psychologically
in fact it’s this piece of a puzzle a
head game it might finally get us past
this Thresh
so much time and energy has been
expended sorting out how to minimize
fatigue to the body what about the
endurance required to conquer mental
fatigue how can we train ourselves to
push further to believe you can do
something impossible it’s a question
most of us can leave to the elite
competitors and scientists committed to
the cause of breaking World Records in
the mean time
just get out and enjoy what your body is
evolved so well to do going for a run
[Music]
[Music]
Please follow and like us: