Long-distance running

Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least. Physiologically, it is essentially aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength.
Within endurance running come two different types of respiration. Usually runners tend to experience aerobic respiration. This occurs when oxygen is present, and the body can utilize oxygen to help generate energy and muscle activity. Conversely, anaerobic respiration occurs when the body is deprived of oxygen. This is common towards the final stretch of races when there is a drive to speed up to a greater intensity. Overall, both types of respiration are used by endurance runners, however the two are very different from each other.
Among mammals, humans are well adapted for running significant distances, particularly so among primates. The capacity for endurance running is also found in migratory ungulates and a limited number of terrestrial carnivores, such as bears, dogs, wolves, and hyenas.
In modern human society, long-distance running has multiple purposes: people may engage in it for physical exercise, for recreation, as a means of travel, as a competitive sport, for economic reasons, or cultural reasons. Long-distance running can also be used as a means to improve cardiovascular health. In fact, endurance running is often a component of physical military training. Long-distance running as a form of tradition or ceremony is known among the Hopi and Tarahumara people, among others.
In the sport of athletics, long-distance events are defined as races covering and above. The three most common types are track running, road running, and cross country running, all of which are defined by their terrain – all-weather tracks, roads, and natural terrain, respectively.
Accessibility of long-distance running has helped it become a lasting trend of the 2020s. The sport being easily accessible and one you can complete alone allowed for it to gain popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. This rise in popularity during a time of isolation gave people individual goals to focus on. After the pandemic, running became interconnected with a larger community, with the emergence of run clubs becoming more common. Today, marathon signups are up the highest they have been in decades, with more and more people taking up the sport to gain a sense of community and achieve physical health goals.

History

Hunting

odern hunter-gatherer communities have provided accounts for long-distance running as a historic method for hunting among the San of the Kalahari, American Indians, and Aboriginal Australians through anthropological observations. In this method, the hunter would run at a slow and steady pace for between one hour and a few days, in an area where the animal has no place to hide. As the animal runs in spurts, it will have to stop to pant and cool itself down. Although, as the chase goes on, it would not have enough time to rest, and would soon collapse again from heat and exhaustion. The skeletal structure of a 12-year-old Nariokatome boy has been suggested as proof that early humans from 1.5 million years ago ate more meat, consumed fewer plants, and hunted by running down animals.

Messengers

Long-distance running took on more and more purposes other than hunting, such as religious ceremonies, delivering messages for military and political purposes, and sport, thanks to new developments in agriculture and culture.
Running messengers were supposedly from early Sumer. They were given the name lasimu, or military man, in addition to the king's officials who disseminated documents throughout the kingdom by running. Ancient Greece was famous for its running messengers, whom were named hemerodromoi, meaning "day runners". Pheidippides, one of the most famous running messengers according to the legend, ran from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory of the Greek over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. However, he collapsed and died as he delivered the message "we won". While there are debates around the accuracy of this historical legend, like whether Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens, between other cities, how far this was, or if he was the one to deliver the victory message, the marathon running event of 26.2 miles / 42.195 km is based on this tale.

Competition

Typically long-distance track races range from 3000 metres to 10,000 metres, cross country races usually cover 5 to 12 km, while road races can be significantly longer, reaching and beyond. In collegiate cross-country races in the United States, men race 8,000 or 10,000 meters, depending on their division, whereas women race 6,000 meters. The Summer Olympics features four long-distance running events: the 3000 metres steeplechase, the 5000 metres, 10,000 metres and marathon.

Physiology

Humans have been considered among the best distance runners among all running animals: game animals are faster over short distances, but they have less endurance than humans. Unlike other primates whose bodies are suited to walk on four legs or climb trees, the human body has evolved into upright walking and running around 2–3 million years ago. The human body can endure long-distance running through the following attributes:

Bone and muscle structure: unlike quadruped mammals, which have their center of mass in front of the hind legs or limbs, in biped mammals, including humans, the center of mass lies right above the legs. This leads to different bone and muscular demands, especially in the legs and pelvis.
Dissipation of metabolic heat: humans' ability to cool the body by sweating through the body surface provides many advantages over panting through the mouth or nose. These include a larger surface of evaporation and independence of the respiratory cycle.
Increased tendon length: when compared to extant quadrupedal relatives, humans maintain longer, more spring-like tendons. This allows for more efficient locomotion over flat ground using the increased energy-storing capabilities of these tendon tissues.

One distinction between upright walking and running is energy consumption during locomotion. While walking, humans use about half the energy needed to run.

Factors

Aerobic capacity

One's aerobic capacity, or VO₂Max, is the ability to take up and consume oxygen during exhaustive exercise maximally. Long-distance runners typically perform at around 75–85% of peak aerobic capacity, while short-distance runners perform at closer to 100% of peak.
Aerobic capacity depends on the transportation of large amounts of blood to and from the lungs to reach all tissues. This, in turn, is dependent on having a high cardiac output, sufficient levels of hemoglobin in blood, and an optimal vascular system to distribute blood. A 20-fold increase of local blood flow within the skeletal muscle is necessary for endurance athletes, like marathon runners, to meet their muscles' oxygen demands at maximal exercise that are up to 50 times greater than at rest.
Elite long-distance runners often have larger hearts and decreased resting heart rates that enable them to achieve greater aerobic capacities. Increased dimensions of the heart enable an individual to achieve a greater stroke volume. A concomitant decrease in stroke volume occurs with the initial increase in heart rate at the onset of exercise. Despite an increase in cardiac dimensions, a marathoner's aerobic capacity is confined to this capped and ever-decreasing heart rate.
The amount of oxygen that blood can carry depends on blood volume, which increases during a race, and the amount of hemoglobin in the blood.
Other physiological factors affecting a marathon runner's aerobic capacity include pulmonary diffusion, mitochondrial enzyme activity, and capillary density.
A long-distance runner's running economy is their steady state requirement for oxygen at specific speeds and helps explain differences in performance for runners with very similar aerobic capacities. This is often measured by the volume of oxygen consumed, either in liters or milliliters, per kilogram of body weight per minute. the physiological basis for this was uncertain, but it seemed to depend on the cumulative years of running and reaches a cap that longer individual training sessions cannot overcome.

Lactate threshold

A long-distance runner's velocity at the lactate threshold is strongly correlated to their performance. The lactate threshold is the crossover point between predominantly aerobic energy usage and anaerobic energy usage. It is considered a good indicator of the body's ability to efficiently process and transfer chemical energy into mechanical energy. For most runners, the aerobic zone does not begin until around 120 heartbeats per minute. Lactate threshold training involves tempo workouts that are meant to build strength and speed, rather than improve the cardiovascular system's efficiency in absorbing and transporting oxygen. By running at your lactate threshold, your body will become more efficient at clearing lactate and reusing it to fuel your muscles. Uncertainty exists regarding how lactate threshold affects endurance performance.

Fuel

To sustain high-intensity running, a marathon runner must obtain sufficient glycogen stores. Glycogen can be found in the skeletal muscles and liver. With low levels of glycogen stores at the onset of the marathon, premature depletion of these stores can reduce performance or even prevent the completion of the race. ATP production via aerobic pathways can further be limited by glycogen depletion. Free Fatty Acids serve as a sparing mechanism for glycogen stores. The artificial elevation of these fatty acids, along with endurance training, demonstrates a marathon runner's ability to sustain higher intensities for longer periods of time. The prolonged sustenance of running intensity is attributed to a high turnover rate of fatty acids that allows the runner to preserve glycogen stores later into the race.
Long-distance runners generally practice carbohydrate loading in their training and race preparation.