African Runners Advantage / More efficient cooling and less heat creation

This is all a bunch of nonsense junk science! Up until 1960 medical doctors, biologists and physiologists stated blacks were not good at running past 400 metres. Black Africans except for Ethiopians did not have their independence before 1964. Many blacks in US have been uncomfortable with logging mileage in the countryside for obvious historic reasons. Yes, there is a Kenyan tribe in Rift Valley which has produced Billy, Pat, & Gregory Konchellah and Daniel & David Rudisha, men and women there may have slightly longer humerus and femurus bones. There are many short Africans who do not have elongated humerus and femurus bones whom are great runners. We know the names of excellent African runners sub-5'6" In Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, running IS the national sport. Many US runners played other sports initially. American football is a talent drain from running. In US, 100 pound 12 year old boys do what they can to get massive for Am. football. If 12 years old, 100 pounds and one runs and one is less than 6', one most likely will be sub-165lbs. Get NCAA to limit athletic grants for D1 Am. football from 85 to 40 and you'll see running improve in US

There are definitely lots of animals that can outperform us on the endurance front. Bernd Heinrichs "Why We Run" is a great exploration of this. What we are very good at is covering long distances in the hot sun, if water is available for cooling. So either memory of water sources or ability to carry water is integral in endurance hunting success.

As far as East Africans are concerned, it is thought that for the Kenyans of the Kalenjin tribe in particular, they evolved high-surface area (very light, elongated frame) in hotter lowlands, then relatively recently migrated to higher and cooler altitudes which gave them benefits of oxygen-delivery capability. So a double-whammy so-to-speak.

The heat adaptation component comes through in major championships contested in warm conditions, as they typically are in the summer. Every once in a while World Cross will be contested in cold, wet conditions, and the non-Africans do relatively better (e.g. RItz got 2nd at World Jr in Belgium IIRC, and Teg was 5th). When WXC was held in Nairobi, it was all Africans in the top 20 or 30.

Africans really dislike cold and rain, it can shut them down completely in some cases (Abdi quit at least one championship race from being too cold). London 2012 was also relatively cool, and Rupp benefitted accordingly.

My theory is white people are too lazy. They need to train harder. Why would they though? They can work for a hedge fund and make millions or make a smartphone ap and retire before 40. African runners are more dedicated and disciplined.

To RuffnTuff: Again, junk science. Refute what I stated previously. The Kenyans whom have the build with elongated humerus & femurus bones tend to be 800 metres runners whom are 6' to 6'3" Since 1960 the best 5000m & 10000m runners in the world are Ethiopians. Ethiopians DO NOT have long arms nor do they have long legs. Ethiopians tend to be the second best Marathoners in the world. The long humerus & fermurus bones that some Kenyans have may merely be a coincidental indicator. Instead of US Citizens throwing in the towel 800 metres to Marathon, encourage more to run from age 12. Discourage Am. football.

The Ethiopians are second best by a definite margin, especially compared to the 5/10. Better surface/volume and cooling is one component that might confer advantage in the marathon over shorter distances. It's my "junk science" v. your speculation until someone does a large-scale, double-blind study of the matter. In any case, no one who has stood next to elite Kenyans can deny the difference in their physiognomy:http://hopeforafricaonline.com/2014/09/27/pacey-kimetto-seeks-fast-time-in-berlin/The Japanese are the best argument against your "American football" argument. They go all-in for road racing and their best is 2:07. If we did the same we would still fall short of 2:02. Genetics is an undeniable aspect of success in our sport, neo-Lamarckian theories notwithstanding.

ironside wrote:

To RuffnTuff: Again, junk science. Refute what I stated previously. The Kenyans whom have the build with elongated humerus & femurus bones tend to be 800 metres runners whom are 6' to 6'3" Since 1960 the best 5000m & 10000m runners in the world are Ethiopians. Ethiopians DO NOT have long arms nor do they have long legs. Ethiopians tend to be the second best Marathoners in the world. The long humerus & fermurus bones that some Kenyans have may merely be a coincidental indicator. Instead of US Citizens throwing in the towel 800 metres to Marathon, encourage more to run from age 12. Discourage Am. football.

My theory: federation permits doping.

The list of disgraced athletes that had 'extraordinary anatomy' is longer than my right arm.

Yeah, that is part of the "soup". One of the tragedies of doping is that it obscures the more subtle details of what training/environment/gentic factors influence performance. Look at the Lost Generations of U.S./GB runners who tried to train like Coe, not realizing what was untold.

Pop_pop!_v2.1.1 wrote:

My theory: federation permits doping.

The list of disgraced athletes that had 'extraordinary anatomy' is longer than my right arm.

JohnnyYoYo wrote:

My theory is that a large component of the African advantage is that they produce less heat and they cool easier.

Your theory?

There have been whole books exploring this, including Taboo in 2001 and The Sports Gene in 2013, and hundreds of journal articles. It's pretty well accepted that it's part of the difference between people groups.

My favorite Sports Gene quote:

"There are 17 American men in history who have run under 2:10 in the marathon," Epstein says. "There were 32 Kalenjin who did it in October of 2011."

It's football taking all those great American marathoners.

the average of the top 100 marathoners is 5'6" 120 lbs. In the US, all those guys are playing linebacker for the Packers.

Has anyone ever noticed, or can anyone acknowledge the obvious physical differences in physical form? I'm not talking about skinny vs fat. You take a skinny Kenyan vs a skinny Euro, and there are differences.

Greyhound vs Lab

RuffNTuff wrote:)

London 2012 was also relatively cool, and Rupp benefitted accordingly.

Rupp placed well that day because the Ethiopians were injured and out of shape. It had nothing to do with the Ethiopians not liking the cold or rain. If I'm recalling correctly, Bekele has run either or both a 7:2x and 26:2x in the rain.

Body heat issues aren't that relevant in most distances. Your body does a thing called sweating and there is plenty of it in your body (for most distances).

elephino wrote:

My favorite Sports Gene quote:

"There are 17 American men in history who have run under 2:10 in the marathon," Epstein says. "There were 32 Kalenjin who did it in October of 2011."

That's a nice quote but it isn't science nor proof. It's a statistic than can be explained by many things not having to do with genes.

I'm not that arrogant. Insert whatever work makes you happy (conjecture, thought, etc). That's why I started the thread... I could not find studies and was openly asking for the information.

As for whomever mentioned mentioned whacky science (or whatever words were used) it seems to me you only have to accept two statements: 1) Different body masses have different rates of heat absorption, ability to eliminate heat, etc and 2) that homogeneous groups have different body types.

People whom end up 5'6" 120lbs. don't know they're going to end up at said height & weight. I played youth football in the 70s. At age 12 there were 100 pound players and players up to 200 pounds (guys whom end up 350 often are around 200 at age 12). Many kids whom are roughly 100 pounds at age 12 play football for a few years, not big enough, not fast enough or just sick of football quit then don't play other sports. I would have loved to coach Allen Iverson and Randy Moss in the 800 metres from ages 12-27. Individuals getting caught up in racial differences in builds are going down the wrong path. This "African Build" is unique to Kenyan people of a certain tribe. Lasse Viren, FIN had a great elongated build as did Roger Bannister, GBR and Ron Delany, IRL. Re: long limbs & cooling argument. Explain the many sub 5'7" great 5k to Marathon runners w/ short legs, short arms.

The correct term is African-American runners you buffoon. Get a clue!!!

XY wrote:

Has anyone ever noticed, or can anyone acknowledge the obvious physical differences in physical form? I'm not talking about skinny vs fat. You take a skinny Kenyan vs a skinny Euro, and there are differences.

Greyhound vs Lab

Closer to say Greyhound/Wolfhound but the Greyhound is still faster.

Weedl wrote:

elephino wrote:

My favorite Sports Gene quote:

"There are 17 American men in history who have run under 2:10 in the marathon," Epstein says. "There were 32 Kalenjin who did it in October of 2011."

That's a nice quote but it isn't science nor proof. It's a statistic than can be explained by many things not having to do with genes.

No it can't.

Perhaps.

It is very unlikely that thermoregulation to be the cause of African performance.

How many African migrated in other parts of the world, but their "advantage" didn't followed them?

In my opinion is a combination of factors.

They are not hasty as people living in busy cities. They have more patience.

They are more obedient with their coaches.

Their training plan is more flat. Think that Haile was running same distance every day: 10km to school and 10km back. He really did a lot of aerobic training.

Then, is probably the most important factor: the training concept.

Many coaches think that a training plan has to be intensive, at the limit of overtraining.

But coaches like Salazar or brother Colm are trying to make the workouts easier and let the body to adapt to effort.