VIT wrote:
the shoes obsession is limiting. i was around when cinder tracks still existed. it's not just shoes, it's how you dress, it's the tracks becoming all rubber, it's the generational iterative improvements on that.
it's the various means of monitoring vitals and feedback that go well beyond a stopwatch, finger to a neck, and VO2 machinery now. i know i would push back in my own ways on being overworked, but it was all kind of vague and intuitive, feeling tired. this is numbers and data. in real time. your in-progress HR=?. lactic. etc.
i also feel like this broad profusion of data about everyone involved allows even the laziest of coaches the opportunity to see trends and issues with even the most peripheral of their team members. you can get nitty gritty with your best. you can work details with the supporting cast.
i also think you simply have better HS programs. to me we have poured a lot of money into HS facilities the past 20 or so years. even the weaker schools.
Remember when synthetic tracks came out and all the World and collegiate records got obliterated the next year? Yeah, me neither. Took 5 years after the end of cinder for the mile WR to get broke by .1 seconds. Same for the 5000 and same for the 10000. Ryun and Clarke both ran their WRs on cinder despite racing on both. There is no comparison between advantages of synthetic to cinder and what we see today with shoes. You would need a rotating track to equal the advantages of cheat shoes.
