Could 17th century man run a marathon?

[Treppenwitz]

@Colibri

The technical distinction between walking and running is that in walking you always have at least one foot on the ground

(Extreme) Nitpick: not exactly.

the athlete’s back toe cannot leave the ground until the heel of the front foot has touched. Violation of this rule is known as loss of contact. The second rule requires that the supporting leg must straighten from the point of contact with the ground and remain straightened until the body passes directly over it. These rules are judged by the unaided human eye. Athletes regularly lose contact for a few milliseconds per stride, which can be caught on film, but such a short flight phase is said to be undetectable to the human eye.

My bold. The wiki article continues with Citation needed - but if I were a wiki editor, I’d just link to IAAF Rule 230/definition of racewalking.

But my real purpose here is to point out that 17th Century Man William Kempe danced from London to Norwich in Feb-March 1600 in 9 (non-consecutive) days - 110 miles total. OK, he may very well have never exceeded 26.2 miles in a day, but Hell, he danced it. On those roads. Fitness not an issue.

j

[CookingWithGas]

People from thousands of years ago were essentially like us. The main difference is in nutrition and training. If you took a baby from 8 BC and raised him today with modern nutrition, education, and training, he could run a marathon as well as anybody. Or fly a plane, or design a computer.

[TriPolar]

@Treppenwitz

(Extreme) Nitpick: not exactly.

You defined walking, as in race-walking, but not running. I’ve never heard of a restriction on runners of a similar nature. (which doesn’t mean there isn’t one at all).

[running_coach]

@TriPolar

You defined walking, as in race-walking, but not running. I’ve never heard of a restriction on runners of a similar nature. (which doesn’t mean there isn’t one at all).

In terms of general form, none. Obviously, in track races, there are restrictions in races that are run in lanes.

[enipla]

I’ve said it before (but I have to brag again) but my Wife has finished 5 full IronMans, and a number of shorter ones -

An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.22-mile (42.20 km) run, raced in that order. It is widely considered one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world.[1][2][3]

It’s sent her to the hospital twice. Once during training (a biker swerved into her) and once at the very end of a race where she fell and broke a finger. Oh, and I had to call 911 once after a race because she couldn’t stop hyperventilating. Didn’t go to the hospital that time, the ambulance crew got her stable. That was very, very weird, and very scary. Totally messes with your blood chemistry.

She’s done with those now.

[running_coach]

@enipla

She’s done with those now.

Why!? She was just getting to the fun part.

[robardin]

@ThisIsTheEnd

Hmmmm.

Maybe the guy got the story wrong and what really happened was it was a story about a deer and an Indian giving each other shit at a bar as deer and Indians will do, and the Indian said, I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just have to out run YOU. And then a bear comes blasting out of the men’s room and says we’re about to fuckin’ find out.

And then the bear wiped his ass with the rabbit.

Oh wait, is this the wrong joke? But it’s one of my favorite punch lines!

[robardin]

Going back to discussing the specific context of the OP - the phrasing of the friend’s statement is important.

First, the term “ancient man” I would take to mean a person from thousands or tens of thousands of years ago, before recorded history (not just the 17th Century)…

And if that were the context, I would think the percent of people alive in “ancient times” who could run a marathon successfully - to cover a distance of 26.2 miles at a faster than walking pace, and without stopping - would greatly exceed the percent of people alive today who could do such a thing, because urbanization, modernization, and industrialization have led large segments, probably the majority of people alive today, to lead far more sedentary lives than ever before in human history.

Could they (we) train up to do a marathon? Probably. But pulled out right now to go out and do it, versus similar impromptu demands on a prehistoric adult population? I don’t think so.

However, if we’re talking about WINNING a marathon or finishing in the top echelon, that is a different story. Modern humans do things like distance running as an elective sport, so those who are best at it tend to do it the most, plus they have much more time to devote to it as a goal (to improving their running time) than someone who actually needs to run just to hunt to survive. Or even to find the time to do nothing but run for 4 hours or more a day for no concrete purpose other than to get better at running.