#83 What is human endurance theory?

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Your faithful writer,
Dr. Daniel Smith

Did you know that humans are the only primates that can run long distances?

We’ve been running for all of human history. Think of a marathon, for example.

The idea of a marathon is based on legend of the Athenian courier Pheidippides, who lived ~2,500 years ago.

After an army of Athenian citizen-soldiers beat an invading Persian army at the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., Pheidippides supposedly ran the 26.2 miles back to Athens to say, “Nike,” which means "Victory."

In the next moment, he collapsed and died. 

Greek historians say that Pheidippides was a hemerodromos - a member of the Greek military whose running skills made him a day courier.

Today, modern training techniques have enabled humans to run longer and longer distances.

Some people even choose to run in extremely hot and unpleasant temperatures because it poses a challenge.

These masochistic yet admirable people are known as ultramarathoners because they run races called ultramarathons.

Ultra-marathons are running races that extend beyond the typical marathon standard of 26.2 miles. Some ultras are 50 or even 100 miles long.

The book ‘Born to Run’ is one of the best-known histories of ultramarathon running.

Author Christopher McDougall trained with ultra-marathon runners from across the U.S. and wrote about the culture and science of ultra-marathon running.

In addition to providing a well-written characterization of ultramarathoners and the races they run, McDougall makes two major arguments:

(1) Humans are meant to run barefoot and modern running shoes cause muscular imbalances in the foot and leg that lead to injuries.

(2) Homo sapiens evolved to run (barefoot) over long distances to help us hunt animals.

The second argument is what’s known as the ‘endurance running hypothesis.’

This is the idea that human beings evolved to have the capacity to run long distances as a way of helping us hunt animals through what’s called “persistence hunting.”

Persistence hunting involves chasing an animal until it collapses from exhaustion. This would often happen during the hottest time of the day, when the animal is most susceptible to overheating.

Early homo sapiens weren’t particularly fast (compared to four-legged animals) or strong (compared to other primates).

But we did have a large brain that helped us to coordinate as a group, and we ultimately developed characteristics that made us well-suited for long-distance runs.

Scientists acknowledge that specialization in endurance running wouldn't have protected us from predators. A human won't outrun a lion. But long-distance running did give us an advantage over prey species that were only suited for fast short-distance running.

Biomechanics expert R.M. Alexander said of the human body:

Here’s an example: A group of humans armed with primitive spears and bows chase a herd of antelopes.

The antelopes could easily sprint away a few hundred meters before the humans got close, but over time they would get tired as the relentless chase continued over hours and hours.

The antelopes are not suited for running repeatedly over long distance and would eventually begin to overheat.

Thanks to our ability to produce sweat and cool ourselves, the human body is more effective at thermoregulating than many animals.

Eventually, the weaker antelopes would be unable to continue running away and would collapse, allowing them to be caught by the hunters.

I like to keep this in mind on the rare occasion I go for long jogs.

Just imagine a herd of antelopes that is always running ahead of you and your ancestors running along side you.

ART OF THE DAY

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Yours,
Dan