Winter is marathon season in India. Today, India has are over 1 million estimated registered runners, participating in over 1,400 timed marathons in India, Mumbai Marathon concluded in last month(January’23) is the largest marathon in India, with participants over 55,000.
Spirit of Mumbai, the maximum city
“Footfalls” , from creamy layer of urban India, have turned marathons in India into a $400-million industry“. The cooler winter climate motivates city’s white collar dwellers to take up physical activities, like walking or running With advent of social media, it’s become fashionable to post pictures, of travel, or while running marathon, along with time clocked, boast about ones’ ranking Yet, even the fittest persons in India, would find it difficult to “run” a full marathon of over 42 KMs This has to do with multiple factors like diet-nutrition, , physical parameters like skeletal muscle mass as % of total weight, genetic factors, training etc Half marathon may better suit most Indians .
Run off the mill participants : Few manage to complete running even half marathon , within reasonable time, as per international standards The diligent and sincere ones , push themselves hard to complete the marathon, sauntering till finish line, fueled purely on willpower than physical abilities Everyone gets a participation certificate , hope to improve ranking for next years race, that is a consolation for enduring agony.
Pushing the body beyond its limits of stamina. Does it improve stamina? No Pushing body beyond its limits, can result in undesirable outcomes ranging from aching muscles, battered joints , sun-burnt skin, small injuries, muscle pulls, stiff back, body pains lasting for few days. Running distance of over 42 KMs in spirit of competition, can lead to even more grievous injuries unintended outcomes such as inheriting lifelong afflictions like palpitation (heart beat suddenly going up without any activity ) , high BP, and heart related ailments Every year few sporadic, “reported deaths” take place due heart failure , as runners’ pulse may have gone faster beyond safe limits Such exceptional outcomes, like handful deaths, also happen each year, due many adventure sports like Horse-riding, Skiing, or altitude sickness among mountaineers , when trekking at altitudes more than 10000 ft These exceptional outcomes are no deterrents to new comers.
Hitting the wall Soon after running, many runners experience , a syndrome, termed as “hitting the wall”; when legs refuse to respond, just like a mobile that has run out of battery . Will-power is then powerless. It’s like pressing the accelerator pedal in a car that has run out of fuel Or, strictly speaking, of the right sort of fuel.
Fat and carbohydrates: Two basic types of fuels of body Proteins serve primarily to maintain and repair muscle tissue, not to provide power to muscles. Jain Sadhus’s survive a fast, called as Paryushan, that lasts for over many months , subsisting only on water Human body has enough energy stored in their (nugatory) fat reserves to last more than one year, if activity is reduced Such fat can be used simply to “keep lights on” , or just to “survive” Fat is an inefficient energy source, for any thing more demanding, even mental calculations Fat reserves in blood, needs more oxygen to burn than carbohydrates. Stored fat in blood, is suitable only for low-intensity activity where oxygen has plenty of time to course round the body, stoking fat-burning processes. For high intensity exercise, like running, body uses the carbohydrates As exercise intensity rises, stored carbs, in liver as glycogen, get used up at a faster clip. And once the body has depleted its carbohydrate reserves in liver, body no choice but to turn its full attention to other sources like fat. Since fat can’t produce energy quickly enough to sustain an intense effort, the body is forced to abort running.
How to ensure the carbohydrates last till the finish line.? Carbs are stored in liver as well as in the muscle tissue Their storage capacity depends on two things: the total amount of carbohydrates a person can store and the rate at which they are consumed(VO2 max (carbohydrate burning rate) VO2 Max is the maximum rate at which the body can pump oxygen to muscles. Estimating VO2 max is a relatively straightforward affair requiring just a treadmill stress test. At certain intensity of aerobic activity, one reaches a steady state of pulse.
Carbohydrates provide main storage capacity for body’s fuel . Most of the body’s carbohydrates come in the form of glycogen stored in the liver and muscles. The amount of carbs, liver can store depends on density of its cells, ie the how tightly glycogen can be packed in the organ, This differs between individuals. Then there are the muscles, which account for about three-quarters of all carb reserves.
Unlike the liver, which provides glycogen or instant energy to any muscle that happens to need it, muscle glycogen can only be used on the spot. Thus leg muscles can give their stored energy only to legs Hence in a marathon setting, the muscle storage that matters is in the legs. As opposed to livers, the mass of leg muscles in proportion to the rest of the body varies widely, falling anywhere between 14% and 27.5% for men and 18% to 22.5% for women. In general, the bigger leg muscles are, the more carbs they can garner. Just like liver cells, packing density of muscles, a genetic issue, plays an important part.
To put it simply, assuming stamina(VO2 Max) being equal, those who have thighs looking like drumsticks, will not have much reserves of carbs, to last while those with “thunder thighs” , will be able to run till finish line ! Now a corollary to building thunder thighs is to include good portions of meat, animal protein in daily diet , not mere drum sticks (as a source of protein) and dal(Sambhar), rice in diet!
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