Les Croupiers Running Club Forum

NIKE’S QUEST FOR THE TWO-HOUR MARATHON!

To get this in perspective it would require an average pace of 4.34 per mile and in order to do that you would need to be running about 3.45 for a straight mile and around 57.33 for a Half Marathon!

https://www.google.com/a...e-two-hour-marathon/amp/

The easiest way to express the difference between potential and performance in the marathon is through two numbers.

The first is 1:57:58, which Michael Joyner, a polymathic anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, calculated in 1991 to be the physiological limit for a man in the marathon, the best time possible for a perfect athlete in perfect conditions.

The second number is Kimetto’s world record, 2:02:57. In the five-minute gap between those two numbers lie all the things that slow runners down.

Is it a case of if or when? Can it be broken by the Spring of 2017 as Nike plan or is this simply a pipe dream and marketing tool?

The thing with records is we never expect to see them get broken, until they are.
I've been around a long time. The record was 2:08:33 in 1969 by Australian Derek Clayton on a dubiously measured course in Antwerp. It lasted 12 years until November 1981 when Alberto Salazar bettered it with 2:08:13 in New York- a mark which was also rejected when the course was remeasured- it took three years for this to happen. The upshot of that is that Rob de Castella, who ran 2:08:18 in Fukuoka in December 1981 should have been credited with the world record for almost 3 years, but never was (no doubt losing him a lot of appearance money). Steve Jones's 2:08:05 in Chicago October 1984, thus became the first record for a while which went totally unchallenged. Measuring big city marathons became increasingly important (for credibility) so subsequent records are all legitimate.
Of course, most of these have been set in Berlin (except Khalid Khannouchi 2:05:38 in London 2002 - one of the great races, and well worth watching), which most observers would agree as being the world's quickest marathon. But I would have been prepared to bet big money back in 1984 that the world record would not have been advanced as much as Denis Kimetto's 2:02:57. And how safe is that?
Well of course, Eliud Kipchoge looked majestic running 2:03:05 in this year's London (prior to an emphatic Olympic win in Rio). But then in September Keninesa Bikele ran 2:03:03 in Berlin, with former record holder, Wilson Kipsang being only 10 seconds back. This grouping of marks would suggest that the current record could go during 2017, and Berlin is the most likely course for it to fall.
But sub 2 hours? I don't expect to see that in my lifetime. But then again - you never know. I don't see Radcliffe's 2:15:25 being challenged any time soon. It will probably take one of the very fast 10000 metre runners from Rio to move up, and even then, 10000 metre success is no guarantee of being good at the marathon (as I once told Steve Jones, and I got that wrong too!).

Great video!

I was actually discussing grit on the Cardiff City forum the other day! I was saying thats what seperates Warnock from a lot of other Managers.

Besides his obvious talent he has the ability to go through difficult times and has resilience and perseverance. He stays motivated despite failure or adversity because he has commitment and sees the long term objective.

As he says in the video to reach the pinacle of anything you need grit and talent. To break 2 hours you need heaps of both even without many of the things that slow you down!

Im inclined to go with what hes saying in the video as it makes total sense. Its a long way off yet on a certified course and if its done on a treadmill in perfect conditions, or on a giant cool running track with huge curves, pacers, and no wind, then it is done at what cost?

I think it is done at the expense of why we choose to compete in the first place and has little or no meaning at all.

Edited by user 18 December 2016 01:25:29(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified