or... wait for it wrote:
ed. wrote:Um, ever heard of Evan Jager?
Ever heard of Lasse Viren? Geoffrey Kamworor?
Or John Ngugi?
You should try falling over more often.
or... wait for it wrote:
ed. wrote:Um, ever heard of Evan Jager?
Ever heard of Lasse Viren? Geoffrey Kamworor?
Or John Ngugi?
You should try falling over more often.
Women don't push the pace as hard, so more of the pack can hang on and they all bunch up.
While men are often guilty of running dishonest paces, women are even more guilty of it.
or... wait for it wrote:
ed. wrote:Um, ever heard of Evan Jager?
Ever heard of Lasse Viren? Geoffrey Kamworor?
Chuck Norris does not fall; he simply allows the Earth to attack him knowing he will kick its butt.
Anyone remember David Kimani falling and winning the SEC mile and 1500. He sure had a knack for falling.
Why do pro runners in general fall so much? I've run lots of very crowded 1500s, indoor 3ks, 5ks, etc, and not once have I fallen due to contact, and I'm a pretty clumsy person.
My theory for 800 and 1500: When things get going in the last lap, on average women flail a little more than men. I don't mean this negatively. I mean arms held higher and elbows jutting out, and sometimes lower legs sweeping out more. Brenda Martinez has some of this, for example, and Suzy Hamilton did big time. This phenomenon increases the chances of getting tangled.
Also, it's more likely that a really good woman runner grew up markedly better than her closest competitors, and had less opportunity to learn how to run incident-free in a big pack.
Mr. Inevitable wrote:
My theory for 800 and 1500: When things get going in the last lap, on average women flail a little more than men. I don't mean this negatively. I mean arms held higher and elbows jutting out, and sometimes lower legs sweeping out more. Brenda Martinez has some of this, for example, and Suzy Hamilton did big time. This phenomenon increases the chances of getting tangled.
Also, it's more likely that a really good woman runner grew up markedly better than her closest competitors, and had less opportunity to learn how to run incident-free in a big pack.
I was actually just thinking about this. Mechanically, because of boobs, wider hips, etc, women tend to (by my observation) take up more space when they run. Instead of arms tucked in close, they tend to have their arms out like an airplane. Maybe it is something with the wider hips that causes for a wider gait and that causes legs to kick to the side more. Again, just an observation.
would guess it's more likely looser hip flexors, more hip extension.
bigtool05 wrote:
Why do pro runners in general fall so much? I've run lots of very crowded 1500s, indoor 3ks, 5ks, etc, and not once have I fallen due to contact, and I'm a pretty clumsy person.
This post got me thinking, I can't recall ever seeing someone go down in a non hurdle related fall in the all the meets I've ever been to in my life. I've only seen people go down on TV.
Child bearing hips and the resulting inabliity to run straight
Stay on feet wrote:
bigtool05 wrote:Why do pro runners in general fall so much? I've run lots of very crowded 1500s, indoor 3ks, 5ks, etc, and not once have I fallen due to contact, and I'm a pretty clumsy person.
This post got me thinking, I can't recall ever seeing someone go down in a non hurdle related fall in the all the meets I've ever been to in my life. I've only seen people go down on TV.
Isn't part of it that the pros have much greater stride lengths? Picture Farah doing repeats on the track. Now picture 12 guys going the same pace trying to stay as tightly bunched as possible. Contrast that with an average runner's extension.
Also, the faster you're going, the more likely that a bump or misstep will have consequences (imagine being on a trail and catching your foot on a root while walking, jogging and sprinting).
Mr. Inevitable wrote:
Isn't part of it that the pros have much greater stride lengths?
I don't believe this is true. The longest strides I ever see are from hobby joggers. Long strides and slow turnover.
This has been discused on other threads and I find this explanation the best answer.
Mr. Inevitable wrote:
My theory for 800 and 1500: When things get going in the last lap, on average women flail a little more than men. I don't mean this negatively. I mean arms held higher and elbows jutting out, and sometimes lower legs sweeping out more. Brenda Martinez has some of this, for example, and Suzy Hamilton did big time. This phenomenon increases the chances of getting tangled.
Also, it's more likely that a really good woman runner grew up markedly better than her closest competitors, and had less opportunity to learn how to run incident-free in a big pack.
While I don't know if there are stats behind it, it seems like there is more of a talent gap with women, where you have runners like Bmart, Rogers, and Montano typically dominating their races especially in the last 200 and not being used to running in crowds where everyone is fighting for position while they start to die.
Women have worse spatial awareness than men, i.e. visualizing how objects move or rotate in space. They aren't able to anticipate how their movements will affect the other bodies around them. There is quite a bit of research on this.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12434835
The larger Q-angle of women affects stride and arm carriage negatively for in-pack stability.
As for why pros are more likely to fall, the pressure to perform greatly affects things. The OT is the peak of the pressure cooker: every four years a pro's entire career is on the line.
girlfalls wrote:
After watching the 800 and the antics that ensued, it got thinking. Do pro women fall more than pro men? Who was the Mammoth Track club girl who fell twice in HUGE meets?
Some of the more recent falls that come mind are women, but having observed running for many years, I can't say that women fall more than men. There are some pretty epic falls that are men.
Mr. Inevitable wrote:
Stay on feet wrote:This post got me thinking, I can't recall ever seeing someone go down in a non hurdle related fall in the all the meets I've ever been to in my life. I've only seen people go down on TV.
Isn't part of it that the pros have much greater stride lengths? Picture Farah doing repeats on the track. Now picture 12 guys going the same pace trying to stay as tightly bunched as possible. Contrast that with an average runner's extension.
Also, the faster you're going, the more likely that a bump or misstep will have consequences (imagine being on a trail and catching your foot on a root while walking, jogging and sprinting).
I'm much taller and faster than the vast majority of professional women though, so the stride length and speed arguments don't really hold.
girlfalls wrote:Do pro women fall more than pro men?
Googling, I can't find any objective proof one way or the other. I haven't seen any proof in this thread either. Only lots of confirmation bias.