Armstronglivs wrote:
letsdrum wrote:
So you are using the same method I did. Nice to see you agree with me. You did a few mistakes, but we easily can fix them:
Your so called "differential" of "about 3 mins" is 3:19 minutes.
And to use the same "differential" for women as for men for sure is not very wise, when the womens times are around 9.3% slower. So if we add this to the 3:19 "differential" we get 3:38 minutes.
And it seems you use 1:02 for Gidey's world record when it is 1:02:51.
With the correct numbers your method gives 2:12:58. That's what I have given also.
So the real equivalent to Gidey's 1:02:51 probably is somewhere in between 2:12:30 to 2:13:30, so an absolutely phenomenal time (the first sub 2 hours womens marathon was only 20 years ago).
Gidey's record is extraordinary and it's worth to be examined more closely (shoes, weather, wind, course). And for sure she could have been doped, and you have any right to speculate about this (but I think this thread is not the correct place for this when the OP started this thread to give this performance more credit) - but not to put it as a fact.
Why do you use Abebe Bikila as your male benchmark? Hannes Kolehmainen was a great runner. He set the marathon world record of 2:32:35 in 1920, also at the Olympics, like Bikila (worth maybe 2:31, because the distance was 42.75km). And now? Is it allowed for women to run faster?
Bikila dominated marathon running in an era when endurance training was becoming an integral part of competition from the middle distances to marathon running. That was not so in the Finn's era. Bikila was also a fantastic athlete. I do not believe that training has changed so much that female competitors in those events should now be equal to male distance runners of his calibre. In the same era, male competitors (Snell, Elliott) were running the 800 and 1500 in 1.44 and 3.35. So why aren't women also running those times? That women are now hard on the heels of distance runners like Bikila is evidence to me of the benefits of drugs like EPO, that greatly boost aerobic capacity (but not strength, which is also important in the middle distances, which women are not able to match to the same degree - even with steroids). I believe EPO also lies behind the recent significant improvements in the men's distance events. I say this because we know that EPO can considerably boost endurance, that its use has been prevalent since the late '80's, and that most athletes who are using it will not be caught. As we learn of its widespread use we also see world marks have improved dramatically.
It is ironic, that in the discussion about transgender athletes competing in women's sport, in which we hear about the advantages of being born male, that women distance runners today are matching the very best men of the past. So it seems women can sometimes run as fast as men. How has training evolved to such a degree that it can explain that? There is a better, simpler, explanation than changes to training methods - but one that is unwelcome to those who wish to simply ascribe these improvements to "progress".
Another tautology for the Tautology King.
Athletes take drugs, how do you know, because they are running fast, and why is that?….. wait for it ….. because they take drugs.
And then the real mind blowing comment.
“So it seems women can sometimes run as fast as men”
You heard it first from the Tautology King on your very own Letsrun.
At least no excrement insults from Mr A , but perhaps such may be better that the insults to the readers intelligence from the man who is proud to say that he posts as a six year old.Insult to six year olds?