"Conditions were pretty much optimum for the Olympic men's marathon"

Dave C wrote: Why the hell are you even arguing about whether it was hot or not?

Why can't you read? Of course it was hot.

I'm not sure where this thread is going, but something made runner's look uncomfortable out there. The rest of the field, from third place on, ran a race that one could reasonably predict given the weather. But what happened for the gold and silver positions was absolutely stunning.

Well let’s hear what Wansiru himself had to say about the conditions:

"The conditions were very good, a little humid. I had to push the pace to tire the others, I had to push the pace because my body gets tired in the heat when I slow down."

JonDCH wrote:

I'm not sure where this thread is going, but something made runner's look uncomfortable out there. The rest of the field, from third place on, ran a race that one could reasonably predict given the weather. But what happened for the gold and silver positions was absolutely stunning.

It seems like some runners are physically/psychologically better heat runners, regardless of preparation (~Gharib at Chicago last year and now at the Olympics). The Americans faired pretty well too, likely because they prepared better than others. Deena and Meb (in Athens) and Kara last summer are also examples of proper preparation.

Japanese studies have indicated that 11C(54F) with a slight rain shower at 22 miles point is optimum conditions for marathon race.It was quite a bit hotter than that and humid.What a great performance,and not just by the winner.

malmo wrote:

Avocados Number wrote:

I don't believe that the marathon course consisted of loops through the Beijing airport, which is apparently where your temperature readings came from.

Recorded temperatures are taken in the shade, not by some yahoo with a thermometer in his hand in the sunlight (which of course will be higher).

You're struggling. 81 out in the Sun is much warmer than 81 at night, I get that, even the Letsrun crowd gets it.

I don't follow:

So recorded temperatures are taken in the shade. Wasn't most of the runners out in the sun, making the actual temperature higher than the recorded temperature? I've been to Beijing when it's 81 and 55% humidity and I would not attempt to run a marathon PR in it given the choice. Sounds like "less than ideal" to me.

Dr. Dave Martin once told me the same thing... 54F is the air temp at which your body doesn't expend energy heating or cooling itself. Apparently, every seven degrees fahrenheit warmer than 54F is suppose to cost you 1:00 off your overall marathon time. Obviously that will vary slightly between runners...

Weather Underground has the following figures for Beijing between 7:30 AM and 9:30 AM, local time, on marathon morning:

7:30 AM 69.8 °F / 21.0 °C 64.4 °F / 18.0 °C 83% 29.77 in / 1008 hPa - Variable 2.2 mph / 3.6 km/h / 1.0 m/s - N/A Clear

8:00 AM 78 °F / 26 °C 59 °F / 15 °C 41% 29.76 in / 1008 hPa 19 miles / 30 kilometers WNW 4.5 mph / 7.2 km/h / - - Clear

8:00 AM 75.2 °F / 24.0 °C 64.4 °F / 18.0 °C 69% 29.77 in / 1008 hPa - South 6.7 mph / 10.8 km/h / 3.0 m/s - N/A Clear

8:30 AM 77.0 °F / 25.0 °C 60.8 °F / 16.0 °C 57% 29.77 in / 1008 hPa - WNW 4.5 mph / 7.2 km/h / 2.0 m/s - N/A Clear

9:00 AM 80.6 °F / 27.0 °C 60.8 °F / 16.0 °C 51% 29.77 in / 1008 hPa - NW 6.7 mph / 10.8 km/h / 3.0 m/s - N/A Clear

9:30 AM 80.6 °F / 27.0 °C 62.6 °F / 17.0 °C 54% 29.77 in / 1008 hPa - North 6.7 mph / 10.8 km/h / 3.0 m/s - N/A Clear

I'm sure jtupper is right about the sun playing a role: heating things up where it counts, at skin-level.

L to R, that's time, temp (F & C), dew point, humidity...

Notice that 8:00 has two rows. The second row makes more sense than the first, which might be an anomaly.

I'm not even sure why this thread is continuing.

"Conditions were pretty much optimum for the Olympic men's marathon yesterday..."

That is, word for word, how the author wrote it.

He said nothing about "optimum for Beijing in August", nor was the statement qualified in any other way.

In this case, it's the author's grasp, or lack thereof, of the English language that's the confunding factor.

It's an errant statement, and completely untrue. No, the conditions were NOT pretty much optimum for the Olympic men's marathon.

The statement is false. It's not up for debate. I don't know what "optimum" is - 50 degrees and cloudly, or something - but 70 or 80 degrees is not even close to "pretty much optimum".

What's so difficult to understand about this?

Kudzurunner's stats were the closest to my readings and overall feel at the start of the marathon. I was about 90m from the starting line and it wasn't hot at all. The temps got higher, but it wasn't unbearable at all. As I moved along the course to give splits and encouragement to my teammates, I thought that I would wish such weather to any runner running any championship race in the summer. Temps in the range of 21C and 27C are really great for Beijing, although not optimal for running marathon elsewhere and in different season (fall or spring).

I love Letsrun.

An article is quoted. Someone makes a statement related to the article but not exactly supporting the article's statement. Now we have two arguments:

1. What is optimal racing conditions for a marathon.

2. What is optimal racing conditions for a marathon in Beijing in the summer.

Solution: Just find whoever wrote the article and kill her.

I'm going to assume the writer is not a complete idiot. That would be making a huge assumption. If you ask the general population if 70-80 degrees with moderate humidity (sorry Malmo, 60 DP is not low humidity) is "decent weather" about 99% would say it is. This writer, like 99% of the population, has never run a step in her life much less a marathon. So I'm giving the writer a pass because I'm sure she didn't jump up and down screaming "pick me, pick me! when the writing duties were given out for this piece".

Alan

Have you ever run in Asia in August? I spent 3-years in southern Japan and dew point readings are meaningless. At 71 degrees, the humidity would be cloying. At 80+ it's almost unbearable.

I agree that these are normal conditions for Beijing this time of year which makes me wonder why many of the runners seemed so unprepared for the humidity.

Runningart2004 wrote:

I'm sure she didn't jump up and down screaming "pick me, pick me! when the writing duties were given out for this piece".

It wouldn't have made sense for her to scream, "when the writing duties were given out for this piece," after screaming, "pick me, pick me!"

malmo wrote:

Why can't you read? Of course it was hot.

And hot is not optimal. Cool is optimal.

Case closed. Thank you for playing. Be sure to tip your waitresses.

LOL

As the person who started this thread, I figured that the statement in the article was the kind of obviously incorrect statement that many of us have heard over the years from people who know little or nothing about distance running. I didn't want to start a thread that would become a big debate, but I figured that this was a pretty safe topic. I mean, who here would seriously assert that the conditions were "pretty much optimum" for a marathon?

How naive of me.

I'm tempted to go back to determine whether the weather conditions at the world cross country championships in Mombasa last year, although oppressive and perhaps even dangerous, were nevertheless "pretty much optimum" in the sense that it's usually even hotter and more humid in Mombasa in late March.

As for the weather conditions in the Olympic men's marathon this year, the Associated Press said the following: "The temperature was 24C (75F) with 52 percent humidity when the race began at 7:30 a.m. and it heated up steadily through the morning, reaching 30C (86F) by the finish." I don't think that's at all inconsistent with reports that the temperatures were a little cooler at an airport that is some distance away from the center of this massive industrial city.

Did anone bother to take the temperature about 5 feet above a strip of black asphalt, most of which had been sitting in the hot sun for hours?

turku wrote:

Did anone bother to take the temperature about 5 feet above a strip of black asphalt, most of which had been sitting in the hot sun for hours?

I think Lewis Johnson may have.

What should also be noted is the lack of wind. Not necessarily a bad thing since, even with the wind at their backs, it was never more than 5 MPH, meaning that- the leaders moving at least at 12 MPH, were at least getting a 7MPH cooling wind. If they were heading into it even better- 19 MPH.