2020 Marathon Training and relevant COVID 19 discussion echo chamber (Read 700 times)

Great article, and I found this to be the most convincing part of the whole thing regarding why the current rules make sense and why this idea that the VF was the sole reason for records being broken is wrong:

 

Here’s the catch, though. When swimming’s new rules came into effect, there was a widespread sense that the age of world records was over for a long, long time. After all, the suits used to set every one of those records were now banned. But if you look at the 40 major men’s and women’s swimming records now, all but 12 of them have been set since 2010. Somehow, swimmers—or perhaps suits and pools—keep getting faster.

That's an interesting takeaway from that article. I certainly read it as a clear acknowledgment that vaporfly's were a huge part of what shot the times down in the marathon in recent years. And even with that, it's okay to allow them to remain. I always thought the argument that "don't ban the shoes because it's not the shoes, it's the runner" is ignoring the huge amount of evidence (even if not perfectly scientific) to the contrary. My guess it's many years (like 10+) before we would see an athlete get to the current WR marathon time in something like NB1400's.

Regarding who the rules should apply to, for me personally, I'm not really bothered by it. I'm certainly not going to buy a pair of shoes that can't be used in high level competition, even if the rule doesn't apply to me. And if some one beats me with a pair of shoes that's illegal, it wouldn't bother me in the slightest. I guess if I was more competitive, I might have a different take or want a clearer set of rules. But there are so many non-elites that could beat me barefoot, that I'm not going to care if someone buys some special shoes to do it.

Dropping $250-300 on shoes that are not "race legal"? If they sold alphaflies at $120 maybe but not at the super high price point

Dropping $250-300 on shoes that are not "race legal"? 

I think there are plenty of runners out there with $$$ and no qualms.

 I think there needed to be regulation, just for clarity, and so I'm really glad we now have it.  I think one gap that remains open, and needs to be addressed: whom do these rules apply to?  Is it just the Keitanys and Kipchoges?  Just the Jared Wards and Kellyn Taylors?  What about those going for an OTQ?  What about those who get comped entry as masters elite, and occasionally win prize money?  What about age group award contenders?  What about people who just want to BQ?

 

We have a recurring issue that our sport has rules about drugs, outside assistance, headphones, and now shoes.  Our sport is one where everyone is theoretically competing in the same race, from Galen Rupp at the very front to the person hobbling in over 8 hours later.  And yet, there's this understanding that all of these rules apply to the very front, and not at all to the very back, and there's kittle or no clarity on where the cut-off between the two falls.  That's a big gaping hole that needs to be addressed.

Ban the shoes 100%. BQ, OTQ, World Record. Literally complete ban. No exceptions. The Vaporfly Rule is complete bullshit. I say this as someone who has never run in them and wanted to buy a pair because I thought they'd make me faster and accomplish my goal. If they're going to ban the shoe then every single OTQ run in the shoes shouldn't be allowed to run the trials. Just like a Revel isn't able to be used for an OTQ. Sorry to the runners who only accomplished their OTQ marathon time because they wore the Vaporflys. Go run a real marathon in real shoes not those moonshoes. Avoid the big gaping hole and send out a strongly worded letter saying "thanks for your application. We've decided you're ineldigable due to your use of performance enhancing substances and/or illegal shoes in your OTQ race."

From the article...

 Any shoe that suddenly made an elite marathoner three minutes—or two minutes, or even one minute—faster must be cheating. How could it be otherwise?

So there you go. It was already considered cheating before the rule was ever made. All someone had to do was what others though was impossible. The Sub 2 time trial was the nail in the coffin.

I don't really care about what the restrictions are...I think the no prototype being enforced is key and the 4 month available to the whole market is key.  I think that keeps the field level. If you look at the 2016 OTQ marathon, having those prototypes vs not having them with two struggling runner made a difference...or likely made a difference. If everyone has access to the same pool of shoes, fair play. My Dad trained and raced in Adidas gazelles after college. I wear them as my daily shoe, but those compared to even a basic running shoe now is night and day. Shoes are going to progress. Even if there were no plates allowed, the advances in foam, rubber, synthetic fabric, and plastic are going to make shoes much better.

 

All those who ran PRs in VFs can breathe a sigh of relief 

 

Phew, my 38 second marathon PR is safe!

Having run 39 marathons over the last 12 years...the Vaporflys were something else - the WOW factor and very noticeably faster...plus I wasn’t hobbling after the race.

I really couldn’t care less what the rules should be for elites/competitive jerks/AG warriors or hobby joggers.

JMac - I'm tempted to show up for Mardi Gras. What's your plan? To win it , race it, fun it???

Or just have fun and a few beers?