Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Want to run faster? Improve your algorithm
How fast a human can run 42.195km? Today’s men’s
world record is 2:01:39 and women’s is 2:14:04 respectively. There are 23 other
men who ran the same distance within three minutes longer than the record. You
now know how competitive the marathon is.
Top athletes are not only aiming to win symbolic
races like the Olympic, Berlin, London, or Chicago marathon but also hoping to break
the two-hour barrier. You may think it attainable as it’s only 99 seconds to
two hours. But even the very top runner needs to run 1.3% faster to break the record.
It takes not only rigorous training and iron spirit but also modern science. Indeed,
a runner needs to get everything right to break the sub-two-hour barrier,
including out-of-control environments like weather and track and also physical conditions
such as heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, respiration rate, and oxygen
saturation. In order to accurately monitor such physical conditions in real-time,
it is essential to measure the gait continuously during the two-hour run. Today’s
high-tech sensors can capture rear and forefoot strike angles and the amount of
time each foot is on the ground. By finetuning the way to run based on such
inputs, a runner can improve his or her performance by a sub-percentage point for
the two-hour race.
Enjoy reading the article and guess when and
where a new world record is set and if the two-hour barrier is broken in the marathon.
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