WOULD-BE competitive distance runners might consider measuring their heel. The shorter it is, the more successful they are likely to be.
So say of the Free University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and colleagues. They used a mathematical model of the leg to study the effects of heel length on prowess at long-distance running.
A lower rate of energy consumption at a given speed normally means someone can run farther. Scholz’s team wondered if this efficiency was related to the amount of elastic energy that gets stored in the Achilles tendon. When a runner’s foot lands, the tendon…
