The Science Of Speed

Put into practice the latest running science to train smarter and smash your PBs

- Jon Brewer

On the face of it, running is a simple action. It involves placing one foot in front of the other to generate forward momentum; unlike walking, there is a point during each step phase when both feet are off the ground. But the human body is an advanced mechanism, and the science that underpins running is both extensive and complex.

Since the era of the ancient Greeks, running has been evolving from an essential means of movement into a competitive sport and a recreational pastime. In more recent times, it has also provided scientists with a means of better understanding how the human body reacts and adapts to stress, whether as a consequence of exercise or of environmental conditions. For many years, there was very little interaction between runners on the roads, tracks and trails, and scientists in their laboratories studying the effects of running.

As the scientific understanding of running increased, so too did the demand to apply this knowledge to the enhancement of human performance. Scientists started to work alongside athletes and coaches to improve the way in which athletes trained and performed. Initially, this focused on elite runners and, in particular, endurance runners, where predictive correlations were found to exist between laboratory measures such as maximum oxygen uptake capacity and performance times.

THE RISE OF RUNNING