SURVEY: Why have SO many records been broke the last couple years?

Pacing lights and shoes.

The pacing lights are a HUGE deal.

I bet runners had these same discussions when proper footwear became commonplace and dirt/cinder tracks were no longer a thing.

Alan

shoes,lights,EPO and other drugs.a combo of all of them.

My vote goes to C) training methodology, because today's stars have been trained well since they were young, creating more opportunities for more athletes to jump to the next level. There also is the sharing of knowledge, so anyone can follow a high level training program and online results let you know exactly where your rivals are at every point of the season.

I think shoes and light-pacing play a role, but any races with light-pacing should have an asterisk by them.

D) pharmacology is a factor that also morphs over into legal supplements and better diets. Even the totally clean athletes have better "pharmacology" than 15 years ago.

Is one of the options "all of the above" or do I have to pick?

Honestly, I see it here on the youth scene.

In Oregon, with the exception of Galen Rupp, Steve Prefontaine, and one other runner (Eric Logsdon); ALL the other elite HS 3000m times have been run in 2019-2022. I don't think these kids are doping but they are doing EVERYTHING else:

• starting younger,
• training better and more,
• wearing Dragonfly in races,
• training in Vaporflys to protect the legs,
• getting really good coaching from age 9-10,
• racing each other in elite, time-trial style invites instead of doubling/tripling at dual meets (the way we did),
• AND they all think 8:10-15 is totally possible for a HS kid.

That kind of running used to be an untouchable time for all but the legends of HS running. Now multiple kids do it in every season. It is the perfect storm.

p.s. Here are the Oregon all-time bests, just for reference:

1. Galen Rupp - 2004 - 8:03.67
2. Steve Prefontaine – 1969 - 8:07.9
3. Eric Logsdon - 2000 -8:10.66
4. Caleb Lakeman - 2022 - 8:10.91
5. Tyrone Gorze - 2022 - 8:11.60
6. James Crabtree - 2022 - 8.11.83
7. Evan Holland - 2019 - 8:13.10
8. Michael Malorano - 2022 - 8:13.58
9. Charlie North - 2022 - 8:14.24
10. Aiden Smith - 2022 - 8:14.56

dude it's the shoes

It’s shoes. Period. End of story. Doping, tracks, training, Covid, and whatever else people want to contribute it to other than shoes have been around a long time. BU track has been around since 2001. The only thing that has drastically changed in the last couple years is shoes. Don’t kid yourselves.

everyones still benefiting from the long base period with no racing in 2020 :D

Wrong. Not only did the shoes change since 2001. There has never been a time period as great as what was given to us from COVID that allowed athletes to get as big of a base period as they did. Not saying it’s the only reason why everything is faster, but it certainly takes 2nd to the shoes, and not by a large margin.

It's not just the shoes, but the mental confidence boost brought on by the shoes. Anyone who wears them now thinks they are automatically a little faster, and they are right.

Yes, I mentioned them. Twice. The shoes are amazing. But having all the best kids race in Arcadia and the Jesuit Invite and skip or train through the dual meets doesn't hurt either. I think there is a move away from "winning league meets" to entirely skipping meets and blasting a huge PR at an invite. At least that is the trend here in Oregon. The top kids race the top kids. Nobody is just beating up a 10:08 3km boy from across town.

Pacing lights have not been around forever....

Alan

Shoes.

This.

Lol!!!

One guy trains a certain way who happens to be a prodigy, trained professionally since age 7, with two world class Brothers to train with (same gene pool same environment) and... voila! we cracked the code on "How EVERYONE Can Train Properly to Maximize One's Abilities!"

[ the only dumber answer would be: when covid shut down all competitions everyone rested up and padded their base miles. 🙄]

Okay I see that someone actually gave my second answer but I think they were joking. I hope they were joking.

BS. “Blah, blah, base” this and “base” that. As if base hasn’t been around for eons. What about this year? No one got a Covid base (whatever that is) this year and everyone still running the same bs times. Ban the cheat shoes and you will see junk times disappear overnight. I’d bet my next 20 paychecks on it.

Misleading list. Salazar and Chapa both ran times in high school which would be comparable to times on this list but they ran 2 miles (in their day the 3200 wasn't an event in high school). Others who ended up at Oregon may have run comparable time but for 3200 and not 3000.

Obviously shoes play a part but I think the biggest reason so Covid. Racing stopped for a year everyone put their head down and grinded. When we returned to racing all of a sudden everyone is chasing fast times, no more tactical races. Every single meet and race is faster than it was 5 years ago and standards are now higher. Simply put the bar is just higher now and those capable are following

I think he was listing all time Oregon high school times not people who went to Oregon