Jimmy Higgins

Dear God:

I was running a 10 mile race a few years ago. I was running very strongly and was setting PR's at every mark. I felt so good. My legs felt great, my lungs were nice, the weather was hot. Then all of a sudden, I hit a brick wall. No lord, not literally, but all of a sudden, my legs were pained, my breathing more difficult. I had all of a sudden hit my VO2 max. What's the beauty in this Intelligent Design? Why is it so sudden? Why can't it occur after 12 miles and not about 8? Why does every human have this flaw? How would this help our survival, putting in this limit? I'd appreciate a response. Talk to you later G.

The Aardvark

Peregrine

well here is my take.

Running endurance did/does not offer any selective advantage. Our preditors were faster, so we couldn't out run them. Running 12 miles faster than our preditor didn't matter if they were able to catch us in the first 40 yards.

And maybe that "8 mile wall" represents the greatest distance from "home" that our ancestors would track game. But I could see a selective advantage over an individual who can catch its prey in 2 miles as opposed to those that took 8 mile or more.

And mybe it is what Gould called a spandrel. Something that is a natural result of how we are built, nothing to do directly with natural selection.

lpetrich

Seems to me like some physical limit. One may compare the performance of racehorses over the last century or so, where their performance has been well-documented. There has not been much improvement over that time, which suggests to me that those horses are reaching some physical limit of performance.