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

Post by sayamqazi » Mon, Apr 27, 2026, 6:03 AM UTC

croemer wrote: post #79

jmb99 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Very few mere mortals could run that fast for even 100m. That works out to roughly a 16.7-second 100m. While certainly not crawling, that would be a fairly average pace for a fairly fit middle- to early-high-schooler with a bit of practice. Yes that’s insane to maintain for a marathon, but it’s not even remotely out of reach for 100m for most relatively-fit people at some point in their lives.

I think it's even slow for high schoolers. I didn't practice that much and ran 100m in 12.5s from rest at my peak. 4s slower is snail pace. I think most in my class could run that fast (or slow).

Post by helsinkiandrew » Mon, Apr 27, 2026, 6:12 AM UTC

somenameforme wrote: post #237

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> unless you are competing on a world stage, these aren’t meant for you. There’s a lot of people trying to get a 3 hour marathon or some other goal where chasing the marginal gains is worth the cost to them.

What sort of gain would that be for a non-world class runner? I'm unfamiliar with high level running, but I'm curious as in most sports these sort of things provide a small benefit at the top level (seems to be about a ~3% reduction in times over the past decade since the shoe wars began), and that quickly becomes statistical noise outside of the top due to diminishing returns.

Post by estomagordo » Mon, Apr 27, 2026, 6:36 AM UTC

whycome wrote: post #37

groggo wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One gram of carbs is 4 calories., so more like 400 calories per hour. It was confusing when the running industry switched from calories to grams of carbs, but that's all anyone talks about now.

It’s also confusing that most nutritional labels say “calories” (Cal) when they really mean kilocalories (kcal). And those are different from regular (‘small’) calories (a measure of energy needed to heat 1g water 1c). 1 food calorie as listed on a food label is enough to heat 1kg of water by 1c

Post by estomagordo » Mon, Apr 27, 2026, 6:37 AM UTC

sayamqazi wrote: post #232

cflewis wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The majority of people in the world cannot complete a half marathon, let alone under two hours. I was pleased to train enough that I managed under three. You're doing great!

half marathon is ~20 KM its pretty sad that a large percentage of people cant do that. One can simply walk that much distance wihtout any prior training.

Post by foxglacier » Mon, Apr 27, 2026, 6:58 AM UTC

nerder92 wrote: post #184

bbcc90 wrote: post #173

I'm a runner, and it's a bit sad that distance running is not longer purely about the runner. Based on the quote below, next thing we will see is a "constructors championship" similar to F1 for winning shoe constructor in the 'major' marathons :-(. " This dominance continued in 2024, with adidas athletes wearing Adizero models winning six out of 12 World Major Marathons – more than any other brand." and yes, of cours…

It was never about the runner, it has always been about technology and innovation. Shoes tech is just one of them. Better nutrition, novel training techniques, better air quality etc. Of course innovation in shoes will have a bigger marginal impact (because physics).