Marathon runners learn to control their hearts as well as minds
The final event of the Olympics leaves me wondering… just how do these men run a 26 mile race? The mental and physical strength that it must take to complete such a task is mind blowing. I searched around to figure out how the body and human heart can stay strong and continue to beat under such exhaustion. Here is what I found…
The researchers found that throughout the course of the races, the runners’ heart rate increased in a very controlled way, which appeared to be scaled to the distance of the race. When the heart rate response was scaled to the proportional distance completed, the results across races of different lengths were virtually identical. These findings support the notion that athletes actively manage the increasing strain on their body, in anticipation of reaching the finish line, constantly reassessing their levels of fatigue.
So they train their main muscle- heart- and all other peripheral muscles to climb slowly and then keep on truckin’ towards the finish line without hitting-the-wall.
Tags: exercise, heart rate, marathon running, muscle, olympics, running and heart rateRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Hearty Exercise
2 opinions for Marathon runners learn to control their hearts as well as minds
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Ricardo Carvalho
Sep 4, 2008 at 9:52 am
Never done a marathon, but I run on an almost daily basis and I can assure you that running performance is all about managing your effort in a predictive way.
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