Jason Moore, professor of genetics within the department of community and family health at Dartmouth Medical School, who is not affiliated with the Sub2Hrs effort, pointed out that while the science of gene analysis has progressed in leaps, scientists are still struggling with how to make sense of the resulting data flood. The genetics of distance performance are also mysterious. “What movement patterns are best for performance? Are they the same patterns that prevent injuries? There is a sea of unanswered questions.” “There are a number of basic questions about why people run the way they do,” Weyand explained. It's unknown at this point, for example, if there will be some compound where athletes will train and live together under the supervision of clipboard-carrying scientists. Weyand said the plan is to screen runners who have dominated distance running (likely East Africans), for genetic variants that might predispose them to success, then apply the skills of other experts toward improving those elite athletes’ running efficiency, diet, avoiding injuries, and so on, so that one of them may break that two hour barrier within the next five years. The exact details of the Sub2-Hrs project aren't yet available.
The object of the exercise, according to team member Peter Weyand, a professor of applied physiology at Southern Methodist University, is to assemble a team of experts in various segments of human performance including genetics, physiology, training, nutrition, medicine, biomechanics and see what happens. Exercise physiologist Ross Tucker even called the effort “ disingenuous” on his sports science blog.Īny number of theories have been floated as to why the Sub2-Hrs effort will fail, but all of them may be missing the point. Last year, when University of Brighton professor Yannis Pitsiladis announced Sub2-Hrs, an organized effort to break the two-hour marathon barrier within five years- a milestone akin to the four-minute mile or the ten-second 100 meters-a chorus of naysayers sprang to their feet in protest.
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