2021 Sub 3:00 Marathon Thread (Read 453 times)

 You skipped over all the DNFs and DNSs from Bekele! In the last TEN years, Bekele has won exactly 2 major races. Kipchoge has won 10(!) major races, plus his sub 2:00 time trial. That is longevity. Not that you won a bunch of races 20 years ago and then exactly 2 over the last ten years.

I totally agree, Kipchoge is dominant at the marathon, the best there ever was - no question about it! I'm just saying, Kenny was the best ever at XC and arguably the best on the track, and was as dominant in those disciplines as Kipchoge is at the marathon. I think it's important to keep that in mind, and just give respect where it's due.

Can we at least enthusiastically agree that Mo is not the GOAT? 

I'll fess up - I prefer "greatest of their era" to "greatest of all time" (even though the former isn't a cool acronym).  I just don't think it's possible to compare between eras.  Not just because of carbon plated shoes but because of nutrition, knowledge of running, and the simple fact that it's easier to run a time when you know others have already done it.

For me the best moment in the men’s marathon was the race for silver and bronze with Abdi Nageeye constantly looking back and urging his training partner Bashir Abdi on for bronze which was very heart warming as I don’t think he’d have made it without that encouragement! They’re both coached by Gary Lough (Paula Radcliffe’s husband) along with Mo who? 😜

 

DW - I watched the modern pentathlon for the first time which was entertaining and intriguing, especially the show jumping event with riders only being given 20min to bond with an unfamiliar horse!  Seeing the German girl have a meltdown when her horse refused to jump was hard to watch and I’m guessing it was her fault as the stress/tension in her body would’ve been felt by the horse!  Anyway, good to see that GB won the gold. 😁

Agreed that the Abdix2 finish was amazing.

Re: Modern Pentathlon - I really wish they'd remove the horse riding from it.  Honestly, riding an unfamiliar horse over a course of moderately sized jumps is not that hard - swapping horses is one of the traditional equitation tests, and in the intercollegiate system riders draw strange horses and get NO chance to get familiar.  You get on, check the length of your stirrups, and go.

(yes, when you get up to the highest levels of riding, it's really hard to ride on an unfamiliar horse.  But that's not the level of course these guys were jumping).

The pentathletes, on a whole, are simply awful, incompetent riders.  This isn't like triathlon, where a world class triathlete is not quite as good as a world class stand alone runner/swimmer/cyclist.  These guys are the equivalent of a mid-packer at your local park-run.  They are really that bad (with a few exceptions).

It's understandable, because riding is a sport that takes years of riding multiple horses a day to develop the ability fully.  And they simply don't have time to train adequately for riding and for four other sports.  But if you're a bad swimmer in a race that's out of your league, you're not hurting anyone else.  If you're a bad rider jumping a course that is out of your league, you're hurting a horse.

I agree that the German woman's meltdown was mostly the cause of her issues.  The horse had previously had a bad rider, and so was not enthusiastic about things at the start.   But there are literally over 500 kids in the US that could have gotten that horse around that course.

 

Also - I've already got a black toenail (first time ever on my big toenail, usually it's another toe). This one is also really painful walking around. Seems like you could go to a podiatrist to get it drained and relieve the pain, but usually this goes away in a day or two, so let's hope that's the case otherwise running is going to be very tough! I'll take any tips folks have who have dealt with this before to minimize pain.

JMac: I got so caught up in our Bekele debate I missed commenting on your weekly! Good to have you posting and getting back into marathon training. I can give you my experience on the black toenail, since I have been in a cycle of these on mostly my left big toe for what seems like several years. Often they don't hurt when they first appear and turn black, but the most recent one I had did hurt a fair amount, and I was able to poke it with a needle just under the front of the nail. It was easy to get to the blister part since it was pushing the nail up (probably that was why it hurt). I have also heated a needle in a flame and then melted a hole through the top of the nail to puncture the blister that way (I read that in the Beginning Runners Handbook). Sounds brutal but it was actually relatively pain-free and the hot needle goes right through your toenail. I'm curious if your toenail will have the same fate as almost all of mine do after turning black; they eventually fall off and a new one grows in. I'm currently sans big toenail on my left foot. When it comes off it's a good opportunity to really gross out your wife by presenting it to her. 

OMR: Looks like you got some good workouts in and hopefully had some relaxation over the weekend.

JMac glad you're letting the professionals handle the needle work.

Dwave interesting information about the horse riding. I guess I expected the Olympic events to require lots and lots of training. Not "500 kids in the US could have done what she couldn't" and I understand it's hard to be great at everything. Jack of all trades. Master of None.

Mikkey I thought it was awesome to see them encourage each other. I've done similar encouragement for workouts with friends so at the Olympics with 200m to go for a runner fully giving it to then say "okay man, I can't let YOU down. I'll try harder" is awesome.

aqi still garbage. I'm not going to invest in a treadmill (again) as I just don't like them. I know plenty of people out running today and I actually considered it. The whole "It's only about an hour which is what they say to limit yourself to" was just not in my book today. It's currently 136 according to the EPA. After Monday's run I'm not even willing to try it. This is the same EPA forecasting 82 (yellow) earlier today at my work. I was there. It wasn't what I'd think of when I think it's okay unless "unusally sensitive" as I've run in yellow before. Purple air says 153. 150+ is red.

• Red is 150-200
  1. Reduce your exposure by choosing less strenuous activities or shortening the amount of time you are active outdoors."
• Orange is one step down from Red (100-150)
  1. Choose less strenuous activities (like walking instead of running) so you don’t breathe as hard.
  2. Shorten the amount of time you are active outdoors.
  3. Be active outdoors when air quality is better.

If Orange is "be active later" and Red is "shorten the amount of time" I'm just going to skip the run and try for a TRX workout later. I wouldn't put TRX on the same workout effort as 12x400m @ 5k pace.

JMac needs to man up. 

Just got off a stint on Dixie.  I think we were over 300 some days.  Chester didn't actually burn, though.  So that's something good that happened.  Was in Greenville and Canyondam, tho.

We cover our fellow districts in need.  Almanor was 2019 for me.  Check the PCT hike.  CalfFire was going to doze it up...