71–80 of 281 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, it was a genuine race (the 'pacemakers' were also competing, were not lapped, and had to finish the race).
They completed the race (not hard to do when it is only a mile) but please do not try to suggest that Chataway or Brasher were in that race as anything other than designated pacesetters and windbreaks for Bannister.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
2:21 is not even in the same ballpark as <2:00. 2:21 is a very respectable time, but not even international/national standard. It's a chasm.
When you're talking about treadmill speed and the mechanics of that (which we are), it's definitely in the same ballpark. In terms of running, no.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So use an AR headset to put a virtual person in front of you keeping a constant pace?
No need for AR in this case. There was a laser grid projected onto the road in front of the runners by a pacing car. https://image.businessinsider.com/5da1887a4af90974904877c2 https://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2... But that can't provide the drafting and morale benefit of running behind your teammates
That is, while impressive, pretty meaningless. The thing is, that sports are defined by their rules and to the best of my understanding the long distance running rules are written to prevent teamwork. (Unlike cycling, which is explicitly a team sport.) Basically, the two hour mark is important in the specific circumstances of Olympic marathon, and was broken in a different sport. To broaden the discussion a bit, it s…
Generally male pacers will be able to keep up for only part of the race with the very leader but in the case of some women's records very fast male pacers are able to run the entire race. Eliud Kipchoge runs so fast that he used a number of fresh pacers for this particular effort.
Marathon's are run outdoors and not on engineered tracks so there are many external factors affecting the race times. Sun, wind, temperature, crowd enthusiasm, road condition, elevation changes, course layout, crowding at support tables, the provided water, water cups, electrolyte drinks, and food (gummy bears, high carb gels, etc.) all have an effect. Even the width of the road, the number of runners and their staging at the start have an impact. The fact that Eliud Kipchoge broke 2 hours is an important achievement and to me indicative of what we can expect in the future. Some official race will have just the right set of circumstances (good weather, perfect course, no stay pebble in his shoe, etc.) and 2 hours will be achieved. It's just a artificial benchmark (even the distance is completely arbitrary [2]), but it's one people have wondered about for a long time.
[1] https://www.outsideonline.com/2278831/pacers-are-ruining-mar...
[2] https://www.history.com/news/why-is-a-marathon-26-2-miles
That's running 42km at 21km/h… Anybody who already tried to run a sub20 5km (5km at 15km/h) knows how crazy this is.
Given that "[i]t will not be recognised as the official marathon world record because it was not in open competition and he used a team of rotating pacemakers," Mr. Kipchoge's attitude represents the best of sport: "Now I've done it, I am expecting more people to do it after me... This shows the positivity of sport. I want to make it a clean and interesting sport. Together when we run, we can make it a beautiful worl…
So Kipchoge had rotating teams of pacemakers running _before_ him, throughout the race. Each team was able to outrun Kipchoge for a short amount of time, but of course Kipchoge himself had to keep the same pace throughout the race. This reminded me of an episode from Terry Pratchett's Small Gods . This is mostly from memory, but he describes an invasion of the country Ephebe where the invasion force comes from the si…
So Kipchoge had rotating teams of pacemakers running _before_ him, throughout the race. Each team was able to outrun Kipchoge for a short amount of time, but of course Kipchoge himself had to keep the same pace throughout the race. This reminded me of an episode from Terry Pratchett's Small Gods . This is mostly from memory, but he describes an invasion of the country Ephebe where the invasion force comes from the si…
I would also think it's related to the rocket equation - with each iteration of "grab bananas, turn around" you have fewer bananas to carry with you, but it forms a parabolic curve as you need many bananas at the start of the desert, fewer as you go onwards and don't need to make trips to retrieve the bananas you've already eaten.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8439408
Unfortunately the linked article seems to have disappeared.
I wonder if today's record was run with those special Nike shoes with the blades inside... The ones that supposedly give you a 1 percent boost or something similar... If you have shoes that give you such a boost, is it doping?
Edit: thank you web Archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20141010142108/http://rw.runnersw...