How Biomechanical Improvements in Running Economy Could Break the 2-hour Marathon Barrier
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REVIEW ARTICLE
How Biomechanical Improvements in Running Economy Could Break the 2-hour Marathon Barrier Wouter Hoogkamer1
•
Rodger Kram1 • Christopher J. Arellano2
Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017
Abstract A sub-2-hour marathon requires an average velocity (5.86 m/s) that is 2.5% faster than the current world record of 02:02:57 (5.72 m/s) and could be accomplished with a 2.7% reduction in the metabolic cost of running. Although supporting body weight comprises the majority of the metabolic cost of running, targeting the costs of forward propulsion and leg swing are the most promising strategies for reducing the metabolic cost of running and thus improving marathon running performance. Here, we calculate how much time could be saved by taking advantage of unconventional drafting strategies, a consistent tailwind, a downhill course, and specific running shoe design features while staying within the current International Association of Athletic Federations regulations for record purposes. Specifically, running in shoes that are 100 g lighter along with second-half scenarios of four runners alternately leading and drafting, or a tailwind of 6.0 m/s, combined with a 42-m elevation drop could result in a time well below the 2-hour marathon barrier.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40279-017-0708-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Wouter Hoogkamer [email protected] 1
Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado, Boulder, 354 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0354, USA
2
Department of Health and Human Performance, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Key Points This paper formally outlines an approach that integrates exercise physiology and biomechanics to reduce the metabolic cost of running. A quantitative argument is advanced to show that with a cooperative drafting strategy, an ideal course, favorable meteorological conditions, and lighter shoes, a sub-2-hour marathon is possible and could happen right now.
1 Introduction: Allure of the Sub-2-hour Marathon In this paper, we lay out the case that a sub-2-hour marathon is possible and that with a cooperative drafting strategy, an ideal course, favorable meteorological conditions, and lighter shoes, it could happen right now. In 1921, the peculiar 42.195-km marathon distance was standardized and, since then, record times have progressively improved [1, 2]. While these record improvements extrapolate to a sub-2-hour performance in the future, some scientists and athletes consider a sub-2-hour marathon as physiologically impossible [2–5]. Nonetheless, when Dennis Kimetto ran the current record of 2:02:57 in 2014, it stimulated the intellectual curiosity and imagination of the scientific and running communities about the possibility of a sub-2-hour marathon (e.g. Weiss et al. [2], Caesar [6], Tucker and Santos-Concejero [7], and several websites [8–11]).
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Numerous statisticians and scientists have attempte
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