When I first ordered this book, I had seen it in a lot of peoples reading stacks, everyone from ultra endurance athletes to casual weekend runners. I didn’t know quite what to expect, but made an impulse Amazon order (how the majority of my book purchases are made these days). I was also oddly drawn by the fact that Malcolm Gladwell had penned the foreword and that it may be along the same lines as Outliers. As a sucker for statistics and focused research, this seemed to be right up my alley.
The author, Alex Hutchinson, jumps in on site with Nike’s sub-2 attempt at the first marathon under 2 hours. His discussion and perspective is neatly enthusiastic with a professional insight backed by site sourcing from other tests of the human endurance capacity. This sets the stage for some unique juxtapositions of perspective and publishing on the topic of how our minds, bodies and even our emotional state may play into our true potential or capacity to reach the ultimate limits of endurance.
After this initial chapter, Hutchinson breaks the book into three parts exploring Mind and Muscle, Limits and Limit Breakers respectively. To start discussing the measures of our minds and physical muscles, he takes to a nature of again siting studies from all over the world and last two centuries to explaining VO2 max, muscle exhaustion and mental stamina. Also applying a candor and objective approach when comparing contradicting studies. To digest that the understanding of endurance is not a new endeavor chased by a bunch of data crazed, Garmin clad, Type A athletes, but actually has been a quest for centuries to feed the human curiousity of limits is exhilirating.
While the first part of the book is mostly focused on running and different tests and feats of record setting efforts, the second part dives into very diverse explanations testing breathe, heat, pain, nutrition and many other variables. Using examples ranging from free divers who have pushed their brains and bodies to the limits of oxygen (or deoxygenated endurance space) sometimes at the cost of physical senses, to Antartic explores throughout decades of attempts in extreme cold. Both of these border on the line of sanity and self-preservation for the payoff of ultimate endurance. It sparks inherently the feeling that we all too often do in fact limit ourselves far before any natural governor function of our physiology would. This is not to say in any way that this book advocates reckless or unnecessary risk when chasing a lofty goal. It does offer the insight that through aligning the mind and body more closely will allow us to explore further our own potential that likely otherwise would remain untapped.
Hutchinson also does a wonderful job of weaving in his own personal experiences training for competitive running events in the trials of different limits and the elements. These may be more relatable to the casual reader or for those of us never likely to find ourselves poised to get a shot at an Olympic trial. The marathon again come back into the picture with his anecdotal evidence of training in heat, elevation and the feeling of endurance one may find, but must also frame their mind to accept and endure. As an individual who enjoys pushing my own personal limits to find that true potential the muscle, nutrition and heat pieces strike a chord. Understanding that only a portion of these variables can be controlled, it is imperative in his message to not aim for perfecting these as this isn’t the solution even on the most elite level. The goal with any variable inherently is to have a solid plan, but be willing, ready and able to adapt and persevere.
In part 3 Hutchinson returns to the idea presented earlier that there are two schools of thought when it comes to endurance: “The human machine” (which compare the body to that of a car in essence of fuel and enduring) vs. “It’s all in your head”(which simply put speaks to the ability to use your mind to overcome phsyical limits, although often at a huge detriment). There is an idea that poses an unofficial third approach that avoids any serious death risk and that is that we are anticipatory in our mindset to accept a great deal of pain in challenge, but anticipate the threshold at which we cannot return to full health in recovery. This of course leads to more questions and room for interpretation of how one can hack this relationship to reach right up next to that line without tipping. The only way to find this threshold within one’s self is to put in the work. To find endurance you must build it from the ground up. You can certainly use the tools and studies presented as a base for understanding how to reach your full potential and endure.
This is a rough and very brief overview of a great book with 25 pages of notes and sources to further pique your interest. For anyone with a casual interest in the exploration of human potential in the context of physical limits, mental capacity and the dynamic relationship the two hold, this is a must read. It will allow you to gain a better insight and understanding of your own self, and if you are tapering or training for a race give you some solid peace of mind to take into your next test of your own elastic limits of human performance. If you feel so inclined go grab a copy and enjoy!
Ad Astra Per Aspera
https://www.amazon.com/Endure-Curiously-Elastic-Limits-Performance/dp/0062499866