Noakes Timothy David
Department of Human Biology, Sports Science Institute of South Africa, Boundary Road, Newlands, 7925, South Africa.
Basic Res Cardiol. 2006 Sep;101(5):408-17. doi: 10.1007/s00395-006-0607-2. Epub 2006 Aug 18.
A skeletal design which favours running and walking, including the greatest ratio of leg length to body weight of any mammal; the ability to sweat and so to exercise vigorously in the heat; and greater endurance than all land mammals other than the Alaskan Husky, indicates that humans evolved as endurance animals. The development of tools to accurately measure time and distance in the nineteenth century inspired some humans to define the limits of this special capacity. Beginning with Six-Day Professional Pedestrian Races in London and New York in the 1880s, followed a decade later by Six-Day Professional Cycling Races - the immediate precursor of the first six-day Tour de France Cycliste race in 1903, which itself inspired the 1928 and 1929 4,960 km "Bunion Derbies" between Los Angeles and New York across the breadth of the United States of America - established those unique sporting events that continue to challenge the modern limits of human endurance. But an analysis of the total energy expenditure achieved by athletes competing in those events establishes that none approaches those reached by another group - the explorers of the heroic age of polar exploration in the early twentieth century. Thus the greatest recorded human endurance performances occurred during the Antarctic sledding expeditions led by Robert Scott in 1911/12 and Ernest Shackleton in 1914/16. By man-hauling sleds for 10 hours daily for approximately 159 and 160 consecutive days respectively, members of those expeditions would have expended close to a total of 1,000,000 kcal. By comparison completing a Six-Day Pedestrian event (55,000 kcal) or the Tour de France (168,000 kcal), or cycling (180,000 kcal) or running (340,000 kcal) across America, requires a considerably smaller total energy expenditure. Thus the limits of human endurance were set at the start of the twentieth century and have not recently been approached. Given good health and an adequate food supply to prevent starvation and scurvy, these limits are set by the mind, not by the body. For it is the mind that determines who chooses to start and who best stays the distance.
一种有利于奔跑和行走的骨骼结构，其腿长与体重之比在所有哺乳动物中是最大的；具备出汗能力，从而能够在炎热环境中剧烈运动；且耐力比除阿拉斯加哈士奇之外的所有陆地哺乳动物都更强，这些表明人类是作为耐力型动物进化而来的。19世纪精确测量时间和距离的工具的发展，促使一些人去界定这种特殊能力的极限。从19世纪80年代在伦敦和纽约举行的六日职业竞走比赛开始，十年后又出现了六日职业自行车赛——1903年首届环法自行车赛六日赛的直接前身，而环法自行车赛本身又激发了1928年和1929年从美国洛杉矶到纽约横跨美国全境长达4960公里的“拇囊炎德比”赛，这些赛事确立了那些独特的体育赛事，它们至今仍在挑战人类耐力的现代极限。但是，对参加这些赛事的运动员所消耗的总能量进行分析后发现，没有一项赛事能接近另一群体——20世纪初极地探险英雄时代的探险家们所达到的能量消耗。因此，有记录以来人类耐力的最佳表现出现在1911/12年由罗伯特·斯科特率领以及1914/16年由欧内斯特·沙克尔顿率领的南极雪橇探险中。这些探险队的队员们每天用人力拉雪橇10个小时，分别连续拉了大约159天和160天，总共消耗的能量接近100万千卡。相比之下，完成一场六日竞走赛事（55000千卡）、环法自行车赛（168000千卡）、横穿美国的自行车赛（180000千卡）或跑步赛（340000千卡），所需的总能量消耗要小得多。因此，人类耐力的极限在20世纪初就已确定，近期尚未被突破。在身体健康且有充足食物供应以防止饥饿和坏血病的情况下，这些极限是由精神决定的，而非身体。因为正是精神决定了谁选择出发以及谁最能坚持到底。
