Jonathan Gault tries to make sense of Ruth Chepngetich's 2:09:56 and reveals she recently switched from Vaporfly to Alphafly

Maybe 2:13xx but remember that if you look at her results for other distance races you would say 2:14xx was “perfect.”

This article/thread does come across as an attempt to appease the Kenyans.

It's been pointed out quite a few times that she likely hadn't been tested for months before Chicago, including in the two threads about the reaction to your question that show up in news results for Ruth Chepngetich (though I'm unsurprised you missed those posts, as your mods have allowed Rekrunner to completely rekrunner both those threads).

You forgot the power of the mind. She said she dreamed of this and thought about the record a lot, and she also spoke of Kiptum and dedicated her record to him

Changing shoes results in an almost 5 min improvement. Give me a break. Maybe the American female marathoners should wear these magical shoes and they can at least break 2:20!

Since she's been trying to do this for a few years, I think the only plausible explanation - if she's doping, as I'm inclined to believe - is that she's been doping for at least a few years and only now got it right. True, that means doping can't explain why she got it right this time and not either of the last couple years instead. But drugs don't run the race for you. They enable you to train harder and benefit more from training. So the effect of doping is cumulative, as is the effect of all training. At bottom, I think she's doping because I don't think a woman can run a 2:09 marathon without doping. If other women replicate or improve upon her time, then I will believe those other women are doping too, as in fact I already do believe at least the previous several world record holders are/were doping.

Jonathan: Great article, particularly the 4 crystal clear options at the end. I suspect and fear we'll end up at options 1 or 2. Unless the recent Faith Chepkoech history repeats itself. The various proposed explanations--Maurten, new shoes, training--seem unlikely. We didn't see her slow down while chugging gels at any point. Sure, it's possible that new shoes and extreme "responder" status could make a difference, but seems a big stretch as she was already wearing Nike super shoes previously. Better training? Not a chance. If we are to believe what we have been told about Kiptum, then everyone should be doing 180 miles per week, just like all track runners should be doing "double thresholds." Why is she training by herself in N'gong without a coach? That's strange.

Good point. Why single out the supposed benefit of the Alphafly over the Vaporfly, at least for her, instead of the supposed wonders of sodium bicarbonate as the non-doping change that somehow made all the difference this time?

But here's another answer to Tojo's question: both of those alleged changes give Chepngetich and her agent smokescreens to hide behind if the real change that made the difference is related to doping, or doping differently. Why now? Because those smokescreens are available now, and because she wants to be the world record holder and first woman under 2:10.

Are those posts still there? Rojo deleted tons of posts he didn't like.

Poor Kenyan parliament couldn't delete rojo's question though.

So you don't understand running economy?

So how come you don't understand Running Economy? Please don't try to tell me that you do, berecause clearly you don't.

All of this endless dope talk is just the worst type of attention seeking, where all you do is promote the very thing that you claim to despise.

And all the time, never having even the most basic understanding of what you are talking about. You don't even understand what metabolism is and you have no desire to learn.

Don't you understand that you have a duty of care to young athletes? And that includes not filling their heads with dangerous misinformation?

The above is very illuminating to the question of how a 30 yr old marathoner improved so much. The question it brings to my mind is not "how did she run 2:09?", but "what happened after 2021 that changed her from just another low 2:20s marathoner to an 8 minutes faster 2:14 marathoner?".

these Kenyan female marathoners are exceptional athletes probably capable of running the marathon around 2 hours and 20 minutes completely clean Without doping. . Then thanks to Epo, hormones, testosterone some who respond particularly well to doping therapies manage to produce results of this kind. The same goes for exceptional male athletes who clean would do 2:06 / 2:07. 2:08. With doping they get 2:00 2:01. . The improvement given by the shoes if it exists is a handful of seconds. Otherwise Kimetto 2:02:57 with the Alphafly how much would he have done 10 years ago??? 2:00??? 🤣🤣🤣 No way!!!!

I don’t think the training by herself part is a red flag as much as you do. She has a team of male pacemakers, so she is not running/training alone. Peres Jepchirchir, Emily Sisson, Elise Cranny and Jessica Hull among the many that do it this way. Self-coached is the part that surprises, yes.

For Kiptum, I think you can make a compelling argument that male marathoners are playing it a bit safe on mileage with the arbitrary cap on mileage somewhere around 200k/week for many. Cam Levins ran huge mileage seemingly multiple years past his physical prime and though it didn’t last forever he hit 2:05:36. So is pushing it to 140-160mpw worth it with the injury risk? Probably not for many.

Not sure why the running world refuses to believe that ketone esters don’t work. I mentioned this to Gault over a year ago and it was dismissed. There is no doubt the top marathoners are using it. Heck, Murphy and Mantz have talked about how they use it. if a legal fueling aid can spare glycogen, it has a huge effect on how long you can hold a pace deep into a marathon. We are in an age of super fueling and most don’t realize it. Reminds me of 2017 when everyone thought the OG vaporfly was nike bs marketing, etc.

So why do you think that intramuscular triglycerides are inadequate fuel supplies?

because running sub 2.10 as a female is going to make you hundreds AND hundred of thousands a year.

greed will always be humans downfall

How does switching a piece of fabric on your foot provide you with a 5min advantage at the highest levels of the sport? Isn't the alpha fly just as good as the evo that Assefa wore? What nonsense!