by neonkiwi on 10/10/14, 6:48 PM with 159 comments
by outside1234 on 10/10/14, 7:48 PM
by espinchi on 10/10/14, 7:18 PM
I've found reading the analysis after this story makes it an even better read:
The road is so flat and straight, you can see them coming from a mile away. Six runners flow in arrowhead formation around the Canadian city of Saskatoon. The early November air is still and dry, the sky overcast, and the temperature hovers a bit above freezing, just as predicted.
All in their early 20s, they’ve been training together for this moment for years; only in the last month did their coach select which three will go for the record. The remaining three form the front of the arrowhead, blocking the wind and enduring the mental effort of controlling the pace. Should one of them cross the finish line in two hours—or faster—all six will share equally in the $50 million jackpot promised by the heirs to the Hoka One One fortune. The pot of money is up for grabs, for any runner, anywhere in the world. The chase is on.
So, will they make it? And what year is this? We’ve cut the distance to the sub-two marathon in half since 1998, but it will get progressively harder to trim the remaining seconds. Still, the physiologists tell us that it’s not impossible, meaning it is possible. I’m saying the year is...2075—and they make it
by neonkiwi on 10/10/14, 6:55 PM
Cue complaints about scrolling behavior of this site, but the content itself is worth reading.
by KobaQ on 10/11/14, 4:34 AM
Two athletes with the same VO2max and efficiency can have vastly different performances in a marathon. The body's VO2max potential can be used by solely burning carbs, which supply is limited (about 2000 kcal) whereas fat supply is practically unlimited (1 kg has about 7000 kcal. As a marathon requires more energy than is available as stored carbs, the ability to burn fat is a major factor in marathon performance.
by Someone1234 on 10/10/14, 7:50 PM
by tokenadult on 10/10/14, 8:01 PM
I used to turn off a lot of Javascript on webpages, but I'm actually managing to read this article reasonably well despite the appalling usability it has with Javascript turned on. The article is definitely worth a read, despite the annoying default screen presentation.
by rrrrob on 10/11/14, 7:36 AM
A line of thought that's particularly interesting there is that a 2h marathon has implications for 10000m and half marathon speeds, which make it seem quite a bit further off.
by rcavezza on 10/10/14, 7:58 PM
It's intriguing that she suffered brain trauma and there's a part of her brain that doesn't function as expected. I expect there will be a marathon runner with a very specific brain trauma. The trauma will give him an unfair advantage to run a sub two hour marathon.
by ck2 on 10/11/14, 8:29 AM
I doubt most cities have people who could run a half marathon at that pace. The best half-marathons are still around 59 minutes, now you want to double that with no performance penalty.
It is going to take an incredibly genetically gifted person with a lifetime of training to do it. Basically the Usain Bolt of marathons.
What I like is that in the half-marathon, women are only 5 minutes behind men. I am more interested when the first woman will run a one hour half-marathon.
by arcticfox on 10/10/14, 11:58 PM
by trhway on 10/10/14, 8:56 PM
by progress on 10/11/14, 8:23 AM
by raverbashing on 10/10/14, 8:01 PM
It takes a toll on the body. It catabolizes it. Compare a marathon runner with a 100m runner.
Also, as expected, temperature plays a big factor in it, which makes me wonder why so many people "love when it's a nice day" (read: sunny and hot) to exercise.
by diimdeep on 10/11/14, 1:38 PM
... data graphics were mainly devices for showing the obvious to the ignorant,
which led to two fruitless paths.
The graphics had to be alive, communicatively dynamic, overdecorated and
exaggerated (otherwise, the dullards would fall asleep)
The main task of graphical analysis was to detect and denounce deception
(because the dullards could not protect themselves)
Well, they hit the first one.by enchufadoo on 10/10/14, 10:24 PM
by dorfsmay on 10/11/14, 1:54 AM
Note that even though we used to be told that we could all increase our VO2 max through trainning, it turns out that only people with a specific set of genes can do so.
by chrismcb on 10/11/14, 5:54 AM
by yarone on 10/10/14, 9:35 PM
by andy_ppp on 10/11/14, 12:44 AM
by thomasfl on 10/12/14, 6:50 AM
by polskibus on 10/11/14, 8:14 AM
by leighmcculloch on 10/11/14, 5:56 PM
by plorkyeran on 10/10/14, 7:16 PM
by anon4 on 10/10/14, 8:11 PM
It's 2014, can't you people just detect I'm not american and put up normal Centigrade, km, kg, etc?
by pgpcolby on 10/10/14, 8:10 PM
by JustSomeNobody on 10/10/14, 8:35 PM
by Htsthbjig on 10/10/14, 9:23 PM
In 4 of those cities they have no idea what a degree Fahrenheit is.
It is a good idea to be able to choose between different units. Most of the world does not use imperial units is something that lots of people forget.
by bayesianhorse on 10/11/14, 8:40 AM
Seriously. Some people are not made to run 2 hour marathons, or acquired some insuries or problems which makes reaching this goal either futile or even counterproductive, depending on why you are setting this goal.
by qwerta on 10/10/14, 7:46 PM
by roneesh on 10/10/14, 9:04 PM
by neves on 10/11/14, 1:20 AM
by Uhhrrr on 10/10/14, 9:28 PM
EDIT: OK, now that I actually read the article, it turns out the Boston Marathon is ineligible for records for just this reason - it's overall downhill. With that attitude, why not just require galoshes while you're at it?