![]() In fact, she barely even clocks her runs. Kavita Verma is an ultra-marathoner from Uttarakhand. Interestingly enough, the rate of progress is significantly higher among women than men. Of course, the progress is not always distributed evenly across track and field disciplines because one does not have the luxury of time to drop seconds, or milliseconds, in short-distance races. The same can’t be said for long-distance races or even javelin and shot-put events. It was an inevitable science because of the rate at which athletes were improving. He laughs.Īttempts have been on, more so since industrialisation, to establish limits for human performance. ![]() It’s not unheard of, but it sure is remarkable nevertheless.”Īt this point, Ramji is asked if there is a point at which athletic excellence stops. That level of neuroplasticity is remarkable. “But for me, what’s fascinating is how quickly his brain reconfigured the yardstick. He is old, but most long-distance runners peak late, and he isn’t going to stop short of going sub-2,” Ramji predicts. “Once he saw that clock stop at 1:59, he knew he could do it. While the run was not recognised by World Athletics, the fact that he was able to break the mental barrier was enough. ![]() With rotating pacemakers, delivery of hydration by bicycle, and lack of competition, Kipchoge was able to run the famed distance in an hour and 59.40 seconds. “I have a feeling the run he did with Nike changed his mindset,” says Ramji, referring to the controlled marathon that Nike staged in 2019. At 37, he isn’t getting any younger, but he sure is getting better. This also means he is 69 seconds shy of becoming the first man to run a 'sub-2 hour' marathon. Last month in Berlin, the Kenyan ran the marathon in a time of two hours, one minute and 9 seconds, a full 30 seconds faster than his previous record. Ramji has worked with some of the finest athletes in the world and in witnessing their abilities, he has deduced that genetics and physiology play a part in athletes crossing perceived thresholds, but pushing the boundaries of athletic endeavour is more so in the mind. He uses the example of Eliud Kipchoge to drive home the point. It’s about us realising that we are capable of much, much more.” It’s not only about athletes at this point. “What’s interesting about these moments is that it inspires the whole of humanity. “Moments like that (Bannister's run) are epochal,” says Ramji Srinivasan, a biomechanics expert. The mark now stands at 3:43.13 by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1999. In fact, there are high schoolers who have achieved the feat. Since then, over 2000 runners have run the mile in under four minutes, and every single one of them survived to tell the tale. That was until he stood up and eventually smiled. That was until a 25-year-old full-time medical student from St Mary’s Hospital Medical school, who had trained no more than 45 minutes a day owing to a busy schedule, decided to transform the narrative.īannister crossed the line in three minutes, 59.4 seconds and collapsed. Even at this point, the experts were sure he was done for and that they were right. Athletes believed they couldn’t, wouldn’t and shouldn’t. But into those seconds, a limitation was forged. It was believed among experts that humans were not capable of running a mile in under four minutes, some went so far as saying that the human heart was not capable of such exertion and our lungs incapable of consuming as much oxygen as quickly.Ī particularly peculiar assessment given that many had come close to the mark but fallen shy by seconds. He looks like he is on the edge of survival: eyes closed, nostrils flaring, mouth ajar, lactic acid build-up in the thighs unmistakable. If you look at the image of Roger Bannister cutting the tape - more like gracing a string - at Iffley Road on May 6, 1954, you would be pressed to believe that the experts were right.
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