History Main / PlotPoweredStamina

* In the [[Literature/XWingSeries X-Wing novel]] ''Starfighters of Adumar'', [[BadassNormal Wedge Antilles]] is the senior {{Ambadassador}} -slash-celebrity-AcePilot of the New Republic to the eponymous world. His normal duties involve mock dueling with Adumari pilots for several hours, followed by postmortem discussions about their tactics, skills, and [[ProudWarriorRace concept of honor]], followed by politicking over dinner. One day, he goes through this schedule until, at a dinner meeting with the ''perator'' (emperor) of Cartaan, he insults the emperor and his plan to TakeOverTheWorld, which earns him exile "by gauntlet". He proceeds, along with three of his pilots, to run, sneak, and shoot through half the city to reach a friendly airbase. He goes up in the air and encounters enemy pilots -- thirty, against the four New Republic fliers, who are using inferior and unfamiliar equipment -- and ''vapes them all''. After that, his fighter too heavily damaged to escape, he sneaks ''back'' into the city, links up with a friend of his who happens to be a New Republic spy, is smuggled out of the country, meets with the ''perator'' of his new host nation, agrees to help them in their new war against Cartaan, and is fully prepared to plan an invasion in twelve hours and then roar off in his fighter ''again''. [[OnlySaneMan Tycho]] [[RealityEnsues promptly tells him to go to bed]].

** It happens again to Rean in [[spoiler:Cold Steel IV during the Intermission. Granted he was in a perpetual ogre power state at the time, but it should be noted that Rean had been chained up for little over a month, spent that time mostly awake, and likely has not eaten much during said period either. Yet despite all this, he's capable enough to rampage throughout the Black Workshop aided by Celine, Crow, and Duvalie, gets into a fight against McBurn and the Stahlritter, gets into a fight against New Class VII, and after snapping out of his rage, he then gets into a fight against Osborne and Arianrhod. At the end of this Rean looks barely out of breath.]]

* This is humanity's "superpower" compared to most of the animal kingdom. While many prey and predator species are great at sprinting, and can reach speeds a human couldn't possibly hope to match without a vehicle, they can only do that for a short time. Humans, meanwhile, have the endurance to just ''keep going''. There are tribes in Africa that hunt by doing this, essentially "chasing" the prey at a brisk walking pace and relying on advanced intelligence to track and predict the path as well as complex communication to share the work load until the target has exhausted itself. In fact, no animal on Earth can outrun a human in long distance running. None.

** At least in Africa, where a human's more efficient breathing and cooling systems prevent us from overheating while running.

* Kagami's Zone on ''Manga/KurokoNoBasuke''

* Averted in the ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' episode "33" where the strain of the Cylons showing up every 33 minutes (and the subsequent scramble to escape) wears heavily on all the character.

Rather than being able to [[MadeOfIron take insane amounts of punishment]], someone is able to to carry on in a more mundane manner as long as the RuleOfCool, RuleOfDrama, or RuleOfFunny dictates. For example, police officers in most police procedurals who seem to be able to stay awake for several nights and still chase the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villain of the Week]]. In games it is an [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Acceptable Break From Reality]] to keep the game from getting bogged down.

* ''{{VideoGame/Bully}}: You can run nonstop without tiring and go the whole game without eating or going to the bathroom. You do pass out at 2 AM though.

* The mission of Apollo 13 resulted in very little sleep for the crew, between the crises that needed to be handled and the extreme cold in the spacecraft. They tried to sleep, but still ended up going far longer than they really should have. Touched on in the film.

* The excellent running skills of ''Film/ForrestGump'' nets him a spot on [[HistoricalInJoke Bear Bryant]]'s team and earns him a Medal of Honor in Vietnam when he rescues his entire unit (except for his BlackBestFriend Bubba); after Jenny ditches him, he decides to go [[WalkingTheEarth jogging]] and inadvertently starts a national trend, not stopping until quite some time later. (In his narrative, he claims to have stopped for food, water, rest, and bathroom breaks, but in the film edits it together so it looks like he just keeps going...and going...and going...)

* In ''Film/TheTwoTowers'', Aragorn and Legolas seem to be sprinting non-stop across miles and miles of land to chase down the kidnapped Hobbits, with Gimli barely keeping up and heavily winded. In the book, at least, it is mentioned that this is in fact abnormal and not just something they can all do all the time. It is apparently named "The Deed Of The Three Friends" and ballads are sung about it. The book also lets them rest a bit more than the movie, where Gimli states that it's been three days pursuit with no food, water or rest. In the book they at least pause so that Gimli and Aragorn can sleep while Legolas keeps guard, since his Elvish superpowers include the lack of a need to sleep.

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' regularly does this. Although the majority of episodes leave periods where one could presume they do more mundane things like eat and sleep, some episodes (such as "Retaliation") has the team working through the night with nary a break and they're none worse the wear for it. The only time the show subverts it is in "The Fisher King, Part 1", and even then, it's only one teammate[[spoiler:- Elle Greenaway, just so she could go home and get shot by the [=UnSub=] when she tried to sleep.]]

* Horses not only have a unique physiology that allow them to run longer, domesticated, trained horses lack the survival instinct to not run themselves to death if pushed to do so.

* Cliff Young, an Australian potato farmer, ran and won a 544 mile foot race at the age of 61, beating competitors more than half his age while wearing overalls and rain boots. His strategy? While the other runners ran for seventeen hours a day and slept for seven, Young ran at a relaxed pace for five days straight without stopping for sleep or food. He broke the previous record by nearly ''two days''.

Rather than being able to [[MadeOfIron take insane amounts of punishment]], someone is able to to carry on in a more mundane manner as long as the RuleOfCool, RuleOfDrama, or RuleOfFunny dictates. For example, police officers in most police procedural who seem to be able to stay awake for several nights and still chase the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villain of the Week]]. In games it is an [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Acceptable Break From Reality]] to keep the game from getting bogged down.

* Played with on ''Series/{{CSI NY}}'', where Mac's been called out several times about his seemingly rare periods of sleep. Jo once had Flack drag him home for some rest. This show seems to ask for it more than the regular CSI, because there doesn't appear to be another shift at the lab, just Mac's team.

* Kagami's Zone on ''Manga/{{KurokoNoBasuke}}''

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' is patrolling almost every night, still has an active day life and tiring himself during a fight is a case of WorfHadTheFlu instead of what would naturally happen if you jump in a fighttwenty to one after jumping from rooftops. Bane used most of the rogue gallery to tire Batman when he had a bad flu before beating him

* In ''Literature/RangersApprentice'', there's a note at least once a book that Ranger ponies (and dogs, in one particular case) can keep up the pace all day and not get tired. This is actually justified, given that the horses are bred for stamina as much as, if not more than, strength and speed.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''': Harry Dresden seems to fall into this trope under a certain interpretation of it. Most of the books involve him being slowly damaged far past the point normal people would be falling to pieces, and still fighting. By the end of most books he's a wreck, but with the bad guys defeated. He generally recovers but some wounds don't go away. In one book, a physician points out how Dresden's body seems to not retain the wear and tear of his activities the way a normal person's would. Dresden concludes that a wizard's power gives them a very limited HealingFactor, which is probably responsible for their centuries-long lifespan. He can be injured, and doesn't heal any faster than normal, but his injuries can heal ''completely'' given enough time; his scar tissue heals at the same rate as normal injury, rather than staying static. The neat bit is that this is biologically plausible; there is a lab-mouse genetic line (known as MRL) that does the same thing.

* In the [[Literature/XWingSeries W-Wing novel]] ''Starfighters of Adumar'', [[BadassNormal Wedge Antilles]] is the senior [[AssInAmbassador ambassador]]-slash-celebrity-AcePilot of the New Republic to the eponymous world. His normal duties involve mock dueling with Adumari pilots for several hours, followed by postmortem discussions about their tactics, skills, and [[ProudWarriorRace concept of honor]], followed by politicking over dinner. One day, he goes through this schedule until, at a dinner meeting with the ''perator'' (emperor) of Cartaan, he insults the emperor and his plan to TakeOverTheWorld, which earns him exile "by gauntlet". He proceeds, along with three of his pilots, to run, sneak, and shoot through half the city to reach a friendly airbase. He goes up in the air and encounters enemy pilots -- thirty, against the four New Republic fliers, who are using inferior and unfamiliar equipment -- and ''vapes them all''. After that, his fighter too heavily damaged to escape, he sneaks ''back'' into the city, links up with a friend of his who happens to be a New Republic spy, is smuggled out of the country, meets with the ''perator'' of his new host nation, agrees to help them in their new war against Cartaan, and is fully prepared to plan an invasion in twelve hours and then roar off in his fighter ''again''. [[OnlySaneMan Tycho]] [[RealityEnsues promptly tells him to go to bed]].

* This is humanity's "superpower" compared to most of the animal kingdom. While many prey and predator species are great at sprinting, and can reach speeds a human couldn't possibly hope to match without a vehicle, they can only do that for a short time. Humans, meanwhile, have the endurance to just ''keep going''. There are tribes in Africa that hunt by doing this, essentially "chasing" the prey at a brisk walking pace until the target has exhausted itself. In fact, no animal on Earth can outrun a human in long distance running. None.

** Explicitly averted in some episodes where the Main/TitleCards will show the date various scenes are taking place and they show that the episode spans weeks or months (which is much more consistent with the reality of police work) so a few long days/late nights over that stretch wouldn't be anything especially noteworthy (and also consistent with the reality of police work).

** ''[[VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves Among Thieves]]'' has Nate climbing up a train hanging off a mountain after getting shot in the gut, even though he's barely able to stand upright. As soon as it's time for a gunfight, he's perfectly fine. There's no mention of hypothermia, either, even though he's not wearing anything to significantly protect him from the cold.

* In ''Literature/RangersApprentice'', there's a note at least once a book that ranger ponies (and ranger dogs) can keep up their special ranger pace all day and not get tired.