Muscle fiber type
There are two types of muscle fibers, fast contraction and slow contraction. Everyone uses a mixture of these two types of muscles. Fast-shrinking fibers are used for short, powerful bursts. They shrink quickly, but they also get tired quickly; slow-shrinking fibers have more mitochondria-the energy source for cells to use oxygen to generate energy-so they are not so easy Fatigue is ideal for long-term activities.
As you might expect, sprinters have more fast-contracting fibers, while endurance athletes have more slow-contracting fibers. Although partly inherited, there is evidence that we can change the ratio of muscle fibers through training. For example, running at a slow speed may increase a person’s percentage of slow muscle fibers.
Endurance adaptation
According to the famous theory published by Dennis Brambble and Daniel Lieberman in Nature in 2004, humans are born to run—and to run far.
Lieberman, a human evolutionary biologist at Harvard University, said: “There are many (adaptive adjustments) that have nothing to do with walking. They are just the result of adaptive adjustments.” The theory suggests that early humans evolved these adaptive abilities for tracking and chasing. Antelope, until the animal falls down due to exhaustion and heatstroke. Winning the race walking means having a rich dinner.
Stay cool: In addition to being hairless, we have more sweat glands than most other mammals, which gives us an advantage over fluffy animals that have to stop to pant and cool down.
A big butt is more stable: The gluteus maximus-a big butt-is a unique human feature. We have the least dependence on it when we walk, but it is essential to stabilize our body when running.
Elastic tendons: Our legs have long tendons, such as the Achilles tendon. It acts like a spring and helps to generate strength and reduce energy consumption during running. And they don’t seem to provide much benefit for walking, which is another proof that our body makes for running.
Anatomy of the runner
Quick factors: the sprint
time everyone in between each step it takes is the same, every time is the same raised his leg and put back the time, but the faster sprinters will have to promote themselves during this time farther. Peter Waynd, a physiologist and biomechanist at Southern Methodist University in Texas, said: “The difference in speed really depends on what’s happening on the ground. Fast people have more force when they touch the ground.”
He explained that good sprinters use their legs to “essentially hit the ground.” They get extra strength from their unique knee lift: the higher the knee lift, the more room the leg has to gain speed before it hits the ground, so it hits the ground with more force.
In order to sprint faster, Waynd proposed two things. First, try to get your back foot off the ground faster. When the front foot is on the ground, the back knee should be flush with the ground knee; if it is still behind the ground knee, the front knee lift will be affected, thereby weakening the impact. Second, try to keep your body still when you land. Good sprinters don’t let any part shake—no left-right ankles, bent knees, or even head movement—so they won’t lose any strength when they bounce off the ground again.
Quick factors: long-distance
run fast, run long, energy supply is the key. If you run faster than the energy your body can provide, you will get slower and slower. Waynd said: “Therefore, long-distance runners must master the competition well and not waste physical energy. The faster you can run with the less energy consumed, the better your condition.”
There are two ways to keep fast. Improve energy supply while running: either produce more energy or reduce consumption. To produce more means to increase something called maximum oxygen uptake, which is the maximum amount of oxygen that you can absorb and convert into energy during exercise. The desire to have a high VO2max depends partly on genetic factors, but there are also training methods, especially for new runners. To improve this skill, run interval training: After warming up, try to run for 3 to 5 minutes, and then jog for 2 to 3 minutes to recover. Repeat about 5 times before jogging.
In order to reduce energy consumption, you need to increase efficiency or save energy. Compared with the method of increasing the maximum oxygen uptake, the method of reducing the amount of exercise seems less realistic, but Waynd said that the typical method of reducing the amount of exercise before a large event—reducing mileage and speeding up exercise—may help. But Alex Hutchinson, author of “Patience: The Resilient Limits of Mental, Physical, and Human Performance,” says the best way is to run more. However, he admitted that most amateur runners are short on time and are prone to injuries. In this case, the lessons learned from the two-hour marathon attempt may help: Optimizing nutrition, competition strategy, and even fancy shoes can help us do as much better as possible.
Overcome difficulties and break records
In December 2016, with a world marathon record of 2:02:57, Nike announced a bold goal: to break the two-hour record.
The experts initially hesitated about the task. But in May 2017, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist marathoner Eliud Kipchogee from Kenya ran 2:00:25, which was only one second per mile slower than expected.
The governing body of the sport believes that Kip Georgi did not set a world record because it did not meet the official record requirements. But physiologists are using this grade to design methods that will allow students to cross the threshold in a course that meets the record.
Hutchinson believes that several factors helped Kipchoge. Nike’s new shoe technology designed for this project may be shortened by one minute. He may reduce the resistance by another minute by drawing-by running behind others to reduce wind resistance.
In the Berlin Marathon in the fall of 2017, runners have adopted training strategies. Nike’s new shoe Zoom Vaporfly Elite has caused controversy. The company co-funded the only published research on them. But Hutchinson believes that the evidence is sufficient to show that they are “not just advertising.”
Wei Yangde is also a member of the similar project Sub-2, and he said that their job is not just producing shoes and drawing. Scientists are also working to optimize the energy limit that runners can extract from fuel. To break this barrier, we need to improve the combination of multiple factors.
Under the combined effect of competition, rewards and technology, humans will run faster and faster. “Athletics is a highly competitive professional event.” Wei Yangde explained, “There are a large number of athletes, and the financial rewards are particularly rich. These motivating factors can help improve performance. Not to mention those that also allow us to run more and more. The latest technology is coming soon.”
