electiveHQ

Our bodies have an evolutionary story: as the descendants of flat-footed apes, we are not the quickest of creatures, but we have developed a series of adaptations that make us excellent long-distance runners. Bipedalism, ambulation on two legs, is a defining characteristic of what it is to be human. The premise of this module is that evolutionary, biological, and biomechanical perspectives can help us to better understand how we are “born to run”. First, we will examine the anatomical changes that enabled us to become specialists at long-distance running. We will also consider the biomechanics of human locomotion and the physiological determinants of long-distance running performance. These fundamental concepts will help to frame a discussion on how a training stimulus might be designed to optimise performance in long-distance events, with a focus on the marathon, and the influence of technology (e.g., shoes and wearable sensors) on human locomotion.