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Sawe becomes first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a competitive race

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Re: Sawe becomes first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a competitive race

#191
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was the barefoot movement ever about running faster? I always thought they sold injury prevention by strengthening tissues that running shoes tend to over support.

Yes, that was the claim but it was never really backed by evidence. Vibram settled a lawsuit over false claims that their minimalist shoes reduced the risk of injuries. (I still like those shoes myself and use them on some slow recovery runs.) https://www.bbc.com/news/business-27335251

This topic deserves so much more nuance, but it's always reduced to "barefoot running doesn't work" in internet forums. In every articles about the harm caused by barefoot running I've read, those reported injuries all end up being overuse injuries. The article you linked is specifically about bone marrow edema, which is basically bone bruise. Other possible injuries include muscle and tendon soreness.

If this were a bodybuilding discussion, you would get advice on how to manage DOMS symptoms and how to plan your loading schedule, nobody would say that weightlifting "doesn't work" because a beginner got sore after lifting a 80kg barbell for the first time. But people has been conditioned to think that running is a purely cardio activity, so we don't talk about how the muscles and tendons in the foot need to be loaded up gradually just like your bicep.

Barefoot running is a weightlifting activity. Your calf muscle has to lift your entire bodyweight for the forefoot stride. "No pain no gain" applies. Proper posture and techniques are important. Proper workout schedule and loading plan with rest days are important. Sufficient protein intake are important.

Re: Sawe becomes first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a competitive race

#192
post #145

Is there also something beneficial about the shirt he wore? It has a unique embossed pattern on the chest. Is it just a nice design or does it also provide aerodynamic or heat wicking advantage? https://news.adidas.com/sabastian-sawe---london-marathon/a/0...

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Re: Sawe becomes first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a competitive race

#193

A purist might want the athletes to wear the same gear as Pheidippides

Why stop there. Why not deny them modern medicine or nutrition?

Let's save that for the second act. Need to draw these feats of strength out to sufficiently monetize the experience.

Re: Sawe becomes first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a competitive race

#194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Purism is extremism about a thing. Pick a thing, be purely about that thing. I used to love F1 for the tech that would filter down to my car in ten years time, but that is not a thing anymore. I for one love the advances in technology in something as supposedly simple as a shoe. And maybe I'll get to use it on a hike in a few years.

> I for one love the advances in technology in something as supposedly simple as a shoe. And maybe I'll get to use it on a hike in a few years. These shoes are practically disposable. They trade longevity for noticeable gains in performance. Even the tier below don’t last very long. This is not tech that is going to filter down to your hiking boots.

Fair enough, I obviously haven't looked into it.

But the initial tech on an F1 car was not made for 200k miles either.

Even if the full tech stack to make it all work - material science, physical layout and construction - doesn't transfer, maybe some bit of it will.

My point being though, unlike some purists, I like the technology race. It is much better than having a brand war simply on the basis of brand loyalty.

Re: Sawe becomes first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a competitive race

#195

Feel a bit bad for Yomif Kejelcha who also broke the 2-hour mark, with this being his first competition marathon , but managed to neither break a record nor win.

3rd place runner also set a new world record, but just didn't break the 2-hour barrier.

Re: Sawe becomes first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a competitive race

#196
post #12

Stunning results at the top of the field. Some interesting takeaways on both fuelling and shoes. Maurten spent months working with Sawe and other runners getting their gut capacity trained so they could absorb and burn 100 carbs per hour[0][1] > The Maurten research team was embedded with Sawe’s team in Kenya for 32 days across six trips between last and this April. They were training his gut to absorb that load by m…

> could absorb and burn 100 calories per hour burning a hundred calories an hour is trivial. Most people will burn 100 calories per mile when walking or running, and more if moving as fast as these athletes, and many, many humans can do this for far, far longer than 2 hours. It's the absorbtion that's the challenge. Maurten is not somehow alone in the particular stuff they've developed - ultra runners are generally s…

I've read that even if you absorb it all, there's some question about whether it's useful. This Alex Hutchinson article suggests, among other things, that it may spare your fat stores rather than your muscle glycogen:

> Even if you can absorb 120 grams per hour, it might not make you faster. In Podlogar’s study, cyclists burned more exogenous carbs when they consumed 120 rather than 90 grams per hour, but that didn’t reduce their rate of endogenous carb-burning—that is, they were still depleting the glycogen stores in their muscles just as quickly.

https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/en...

https://archive.ph/Vpk0h

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9560939/

Re: Sawe becomes first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a competitive race

#197
post #182
post #12

Stunning results at the top of the field. Some interesting takeaways on both fuelling and shoes. Maurten spent months working with Sawe and other runners getting their gut capacity trained so they could absorb and burn 100 carbs per hour[0][1] > The Maurten research team was embedded with Sawe’s team in Kenya for 32 days across six trips between last and this April. They were training his gut to absorb that load by m…

I normally consume 90g of carbs per hour when long distance biking, so do a few other riders I know. No GI issues. I use Skratch some other guys like Precision.

Yeah, I just literally use table sugar, which is 1:1 glucose:fructose. Maurten et al using 1:0.8, close enough! And I don't believe the hydrogel thing is any magic, just marketing.

But yeah, this is a thing. There is some gut distress for sure at higher levels of intake. See guy finishing second -- still under 2 hrs! immediately puking, which is fairly common at the high intakes. I've heard of Blumenfeld (the triathlete) taking like 200g/hr or more. Insane. Though he's had some epic GI disasters too, lol.

Re: Sawe becomes first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a competitive race

#198

Posted to my in-laws, who asked how: Super shoes. Most shoes have carbon plates in them now, they act as a spring, storing energy and propelling athletes forwards. Better understanding of fuelling. Most athletes are taking between 100-120g carbs (sugar) per hour. Bicarbonate of soda has also been effective. Better planning tools. Athletes look at elevation, headwind, tailwind and will plan a strategy around going har…

> Super shoes. Most shoes have carbon plates in them now, they act as a spring, storing energy and propelling athletes forwards. I wonder where that leaves the barefoot movement. Hype dust?

No competitive distance runner since like Zola Budd ran barefoot or minimal shoes.

The carbon plate revolution is the main driver for drop in times over the last 5+ years

Re: Sawe becomes first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a competitive race

#200
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most shoes have carbon plates in them now, they act as a spring, storing energy and propelling athletes forwards. This seems unlikely to be true, although it is repeated in every article I read about carbon plated shoes. The people that study them in a lab environment seem to disagree. See some of the papers here: https://www.wouterhoogkamer.com/science2 However, I agree wholeheartedly with the overall points in yo…

Ooooh, interesting- I’ll take a read, thanks! I’m guessing like most things of this nature, you’re likely to have super-responders, responders and non-responders?

Maybe even placebo effect?
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