Hello All,
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-48527798
Excerpt:
The ultimate limit of human endurance has been worked out by scientists analysing a 3,000 mile run, the Tour de France and other elite events.
They showed the cap was 2.5 times the body's resting metabolic rate, or 4,000 calories a day for an average person.
Anything higher than that was not sustainable in the long term.
The research, by Duke University, also showed pregnant women were endurance specialists, living at nearly the limit of what the human body can cope with.
The study started with the Race Across the USA in which athletes ran 3,080 miles from California to Washington DC in 140 days.
Competitors were running six marathons a week for months, and scientists were investigating the effect on their bodies.
The researchers argue the 2.5 figure may be down to the human digestive system, rather than anything to do with the heart, lungs or muscles.
They found the body cannot digest, absorb and process enough calories and nutrients to sustain a higher level of energy use.
The body can use up its own resources burning through fat or muscle mass - which can be recovered afterwards - in shorter events.
But in extreme events - at the limits of human exhaustion - the body has to balance its energy use, the researchers argue.
Dr Pontzer said the findings could eventually help athletes.
"In the Tour de France, knowing where your ceiling is allows you to pace yourself smartly.
"Secondly, we're talking about endurance over days and weeks and months, so it is most applicable to training regimens and thinking whether they fit with the long-term metabolic limits of the body."
Cheers, Neal
+1 mph Faster
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-48527798
Excerpt:
The ultimate limit of human endurance has been worked out by scientists analysing a 3,000 mile run, the Tour de France and other elite events.
They showed the cap was 2.5 times the body's resting metabolic rate, or 4,000 calories a day for an average person.
Anything higher than that was not sustainable in the long term.
The research, by Duke University, also showed pregnant women were endurance specialists, living at nearly the limit of what the human body can cope with.
The study started with the Race Across the USA in which athletes ran 3,080 miles from California to Washington DC in 140 days.
Competitors were running six marathons a week for months, and scientists were investigating the effect on their bodies.
The researchers argue the 2.5 figure may be down to the human digestive system, rather than anything to do with the heart, lungs or muscles.
They found the body cannot digest, absorb and process enough calories and nutrients to sustain a higher level of energy use.
The body can use up its own resources burning through fat or muscle mass - which can be recovered afterwards - in shorter events.
But in extreme events - at the limits of human exhaustion - the body has to balance its energy use, the researchers argue.
Dr Pontzer said the findings could eventually help athletes.
"In the Tour de France, knowing where your ceiling is allows you to pace yourself smartly.
"Secondly, we're talking about endurance over days and weeks and months, so it is most applicable to training regimens and thinking whether they fit with the long-term metabolic limits of the body."
Cheers, Neal
+1 mph Faster