Calculate Energy Running: M x V^2

[horazio]

Hello
I was trying to calculate the energy in calories used by a man of weight M running at speed V. What would be the fastest way to calculate this?
E = 1/2 (Vf^2) x M - 1/2 (Vi^2) x M

(with Vf = final velocity and Vi = initial velocity )

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[dextercioby]

It doesn't make any sense.A man may be running at constant speed (no KE variation),but he'd be burning calories like crazy...

Daniel.

 

[minger]

Running is very tricky to calculate energy for because it's not perfectly linear. By linear I mean that you don't just travel straight while running. If you think of each running step as a jump at some angle from the horizontal, you can see that there will be a component in the vertical direction. This component would almost certainly depend on the runner and how fast that particular runner was going.

 

[FredGarvin]

If you are going to do it properly, the pros have a way to correlate energy expense as a function of oxygen intake. Since you're not going to do that, you should probably look into work/power instead of energy approach. You probably won't be anywhere in thae ballpark, but it will make more sense than the energy approach.

 

[jdavel]

running (or walking) uses about 50-200 calories per mile depending on your weight, and (to a lesser extent) your speed.

 

[HallsofIvy]

And, in any case, almost all of the calories burned will go "waste" energy because your body is a remarkably inefficient machine.