Kipchoge has been doing 40k mostly uphill training runs @ 8200 ft: yeah, he’s ready for Boston

Who is discounting Eliud? Please point out examples of someone discounting Eliud in this thread.

This sounds like discounting to me, although in some ways you're talking out of both sides of your mouth. I think 2:04 in Boston under non-anomalous meteorological conditions would indicate best in the world. It's not exactly an every day thing. But anyways, Eliud is *currently* the best in the world, and any assessment less than qualifies as discounting to me.

Yes you think one is discounting Eliud by pointing out that he may be the 2nd best marathoner in the world. Well Father Time is going to make him much worse than that. So odd that you and your peers cannot grasp this.

u do realize he set the world record 6 months ago right?

Yes. This would be fairly common knowledge for those who follow the sport. But you see one can set a world record and then what happens? Maybe you should explain what we should expect.

We should expect that an athlete that has been very consistent over the last 20 years, barring injury, will preform similarly in 6 months. With consistent training it is unusual to fall off a cliff. Yes his performances should decline over time, but expecting a train wreck without an injury is unfounded.

The only other reason would be someone that was heavily doping and stopped. Based on the last 20 years I don’t think that is a valid expectation at this point either.

Oh so if his performances should decline over time, this begins at some point. As I said it begins now. But because he is so good, some may barely notice until it is obvious to even simpletons.

I know you have a bunch of upvotes backing you but I could not help but notice that this was not advice which nullifies your snarky sarcastic comment.

Sounds like DGR training

My humble opinion is that is this is true then Boston should be record eligible.

When they first changed the WR rules there was talk of having exceptions such as Boston and NYC.

Does this dude never get injured?

It is my knowledge that lactate threshold is a percentage of vo2max, and marathoners have the best lactate threshold in the world, therefore they must have insane vo2max's. Obviously they have efficient form, but the reason they are able to run their crazy times is because of their high LT, which itself is a result of building up their LT as close to possible as their insanely high vo2max.

He is probably still the best but he is beatable on a given day.

LOL!!!! Yeah, he's probably ranked 22nd now! He'll win and with average weather, he'll run fast, really fast!

Ideally CJ guns out at 4:35 pace, Kipchoge runs it like he would race in 2017-18 (blowing WR pacers out in the first 5K) and drafts right behind CJ. They both put time in the bank in the first 20K, but CJ falls off after 25-30k, and Kipchoge keeps the pace honest to run 2:02. Kipchoge did explicitly mention in a video that he is chasing not just wins at all the majors, but also a CR each time. So this should be another exciting spectacle.

My conspiracy theory is that career-long EPO usage (since the early 2000s) will lead Kipchoge to compete as the best marathoner in the world into his early 40s (see research that suggests EPO may slow aging). Because if he continues to run at WR level, after a 20+ year career in the sport, I do begin to get a little suspicious. We don't really have any case studies of someone that has been in the spotlight for this long in endurance since the intro of EPO to distance running. It is most rampant in Kenya (and possibly other African countries), where it is less regulated, and more accessible.

Either way, I want to see him blow the doors off everyone, it's incredible to watch, and he is the most inspiring distance runner we have ever seen. If he dominates the marathon in Boston and through the Paris Olympics, I would say he is hands down the best runner of all time.

Jack won the Masters in '86 at age 46, so that's an interesting comparison. He was a stud in the '60s when he was in his 20s. The '86 comeback was out of nowhere.

Another good analogy is Jim Plunkett with the Raiders--he was an older QB who did not work out with the Oilers (?) but resurrected his career with OAK and his team won the '80 and '83 SBs.

Gee. I wonder why I feel certain this Bad Wigins guy is not a runner. No runner could be that ignorant. But I am as sure he will claim he is as I am sure he knows nothing about the marathon.

Good point! Cross-country courses are a different beast than roads and the track of course, being obvious, but from what I know of them more prep than usual is required.

I was way too optimistic about Eliud. I said he was no longer the best in the world and they downvoted the hell out of me. This is what this board is like.