The Kenyan runners

Abstract

Today the Kenyan dominance in middle‐ and long‐distance running is so profound that it has no equivalence to any other sport in the world. Critical physiological factors for performance in running include maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max), fractional VO2max utilization and running economy (energetic cost of running). Kenyan and non‐Kenyan elite runners seem to be able to reach very high, but similar maximal oxygen uptake levels just as there is some indication that untrained Kenyans and non‐Kenyans have a similar VO2max. In addition, the fractional utilization of VO2max seems to be very high but similar in Kenyan and European runners. Similarly, no differences in the proportion of slow muscle fibers have been observed when comparing Kenyan elite runners with their Caucasian counterparts. In contrast, the oxygen cost of running at a given running velocity has been found to be lower in Kenyan elite runners relative to other elite runners and there is some indication that this is due to differences in body dimensions. Pulmonary system limitations have been observed in Kenyan runners in the form of exercise‐induced arterial hypoxemia, expiratory flow limitation, and high levels of respiratory muscle work. It appears that Kenyan runners do not possess a pulmonary system that confers a physiological advantage. Additional studies on truly elite Kenyan runners are necessary to understand the underlying physiology which permits extraordinary running performances.

Contemporary Nutrition Strategies to Optimize Performance in Distance Runners and Race Walkers

“…East African athletes have dominated distance running for decades, with their superior performance drawing speculation about a range of potential contributing factors (Larsen & Sheel, 2015), including their striking dietary practices and specific anthropometric features (Burke et al, 2018b;Mooses & Hackney, 2017). Although dietary surveys of Kenyan and Ethiopian runners have been limited to their home environments and training camps (Beis et al, 2011;Christensen et al, 2002;Fudge et al, 2006Fudge et al, , 2008Onywera et al, 2004), it appears that they maintain their eating practices on the competition circuit or in their Northern Hemisphere training bases because of the low cost and cultural familiarity, as well as self-belief that it might contribute to their success (M. Mooses, personal observations, Dec 10, 2018).…”

Maximizing Cellular Adaptation to Endurance Exercise in Skeletal Muscle

“…Australian Ron Clarke (the world record holder for the 5,000 and 10,000 m events going into the Mexico Games), who was born and trained at sea level, collapsed after finishing the race in 6 th and had to be administered O 2 to recover. Since those Olympics, athletes from Kenya and Ethiopia have dominated middle-and long-distance running events (Larsen, 2003;Larsen and Sheel, 2015), and currently altitude training is used extensively by champion athletes (Solli et al, 2017) in the belief that it will enhance adaptation and subsequent sea-level performance. Indeed, of all the practices currently used to enhance endurance adaptation, altitude training is probably the most widespread, which is in stark contrast to the paucity of scientific evidence supporting its benefit.…”

Physiological limits to endurance exercise performance: influence of sex

“…Running economy does appear (at least somewhat) trainable and at least one elite female athlete showed remarkable improvement during late adolescence and early adulthood and her values were excellent compared to men (Jones, ; Moore, ). East African runners have also been noted to have exceptional running economy and newer data suggest that very short ground contact times contribute to their exceptional economy (Larsen & Sheel, ; Santos‐Concejero et al . ).…”