Royal wedding
William and Kate confirmed last month in Kenya they were engaged; the press said the country needed a wedding. I suppose it will be a lovely event to prove we all still live in an age of romance. Prince William has chosen someone to marry and he was lucky enough to meet his wife-to-be at university.
Hopefully they will have a happy future together, Prince Charles will be next in line for a celebration when he becomes king, we might have a coronation soon. For our hunter-gatherer ancestors older members of groups imparted knowledge they may have become slower as they aged but they would continue to lead an active lifestyle. They could have been simply left behind by the group but this was found to be counter productive to the group’s advancement.
The elder members would know things like where water holes were to be found in a once-in-a-thirty-year drought or where herds might have gone if they were not following their usual migration route. They were useful babysitters while younger members were gathering food. Group survival depended to some extent on grandparents and on selection of genes conveying longevity.
Different energy systems using ATP to produce energy are employed during every sporting activity we undertake. Each system works according to exercise intensity, existing ATP is used for explosive power action for example sprint starts. The act of sprinting 100-200m uses two systems; energy is generated by ATP and phosphocreatine which is stored in muscle cells for maximal power bursts combined with the breaking down of muscle glycogen through anaerobic glycolysis.
Power endurance races like 400-800m require energy to be produced both anaerobically and aerobically. In 5-10km events aerobic power is created by muscle glycogen breakdown which produces ATP via aerobic glycolysis. Aerobic events which last 2 hours or more such as half-marathons and marathons use muscle glycogen, liver glycogen, intra-muscular fat and fat from adipose tissue as main fuels.
With winter approaching marathon running might be limited so it’s time for skiing or sledging and ice-skating?
