The joys of running til you puke

[insidious]

It seems to me that long distance running is one of the most unnatural forms of "exercise" a human can do. Just look at the typical Olympic marathoner...not quite the picture of robust health as far as I'm concerned.

Are you running yourself to death?

 

[piranha45]

its only stressful because our brains have outgrown our bodies over the past few thousand years, so modern "civilization" is comprised of people who are hopelessly out of shape.

the human body was physiologically designed via natural selection for long-distance running

even 150 years ago, a 100-mile run was routine travel for some native american groups.

but of course, we started with agriculture and horses, and the technology tree kept climbing up... humans in some respects have no need to exercise anymore, and so we're all a bunch of physically-inept slobs.


if you're unfamiliar with running's integral role in human evolution, just do a google search.
here's a result
http://discovermagazine.com/2006/may/tramps-like-us

 

[insidious]

Good link, piranha.
At the end of the article there were allusions to the "other" school of thought that postulated the opposite (human are not born runners).

When it comes to the world of evolutionary biology and psychology, there is tons of conjecture but no true factual knowledge.

No suprise that some of the scientists were long distance runners themselves. I'm from the school of thought that humans descended from a long line of "sprinter" hunters. As we developed superior intelligence, the need to run for 5 hours at a slow pace to tire out our dinner became useless. Since we developed the ability to outsmart prey, it became a matter of hiding and waiting and pouncing. In other words, explosive speed and strength.

They illustrate the example of horses...who have never been hunters. Their primary evolutionary adaption has been to haul ass out of whatever predicament they are in, and FAST. The scientists in this article neglected that critical fact...much of our evolution is not just about hunting but about fleeing as well

 

[piranha45]

Touché.