Nike sub 2 Hour Marathon attempt in 2017 & Nike ruins dream Bekele vs. Kipchoge London matchup

My Question is why did they choose those three Athletes? Lets talk about their

PR? running bio-mechanics and energy efficiency?

I think we know all of them have run some fast times on the 10km and 21km.

But three of them have different style of running. So what does Nike see on these three athletes that make them believe they can break the 2 hour barrier?

or Is this even about the Athletes or about Nike believing in their scientific data?

Glad to see 3 great runners pick up a big paycheck of course. but this is dumb idea.

I'd much rather see any of these guys in a real race.

But I guess it's only a few well paid months out of their careers.

I have not read this whole thread yet, but GOD, this is BS. And it really bugs me that Kipchoge, who has been virtually flawless in his Marathon career so far, has signed up for this. Sure, he is obviously getting $$$$$, but this is the turning point for him, surely? Gimmicks win. The real fans lose. Eff you, Nike.

I'm glad to see some others think mountain runners going down a 7pct grade for 26 miles might have a problem.

How about a sub 4 women's mile? Anyone think that would be easier to accomplish somewhere?

This whole thing is Jos Hermans' idea! Hermans is manager of both Bekele and Kipchoge but roots for Bekele more and wants him to win London. The only athlete who could stop Bekele winning London and who could challenge the World Record better than Bekele is Kipchoge and Hermans had to find a way of eliminating him with some fake project. I wish Kipchoge would see this and decline the offer. It is very unlikely that after this project great athletes like Kipchoge will return to the same form they had before going into the project.

rojo wrote:

sleeeper wrote:

I'm upset about what this means for London as well, but nothing to do about that now other than continuing my Nike boycott.

I'm interested in discussion about the athletes selected. Kipchoge is clearly the gem, but Tadesse and Lilesa are interesting. Many have wondered why Tadesse never made it as a marathoner. Are they bringing him on a glorified pacer? As for Lilesa, do they really think he's been that untapped that he can be the first.

While annoying, I do find this whole process interesting.

I was so upset I didn't really realize others were in it. My employee called me and said "Kipchoge isn't in London."

So Tadese is part of it? He has never broke 2:10.

Desisa hasn't broken 2:10 since April of 2015. Clearly, he's ready to break 2:00:00 after his DNF in New York.

/ This more precise! I don't know how much money Nike had to pay Seb Coe and the London marathon organizers to water down the marathon field for the first time ever to favor just an individual? And Galen will not only be the first American born to win London but also the first white man to win London in more than two decades(maybe three decades)?

How can profesional runners accept this?

Running 3 minutes faster the the WR?

It's like asking someone to shave off 42 seconds of Bekele's 26:17 WR. A runner like Kipchoge that runs 2:03 can't just shave 3 minutes off his time.

Ido wrote:

How can profesional runners accept this?

Running 3 minutes faster the the WR?

It's like asking someone to shave off 42 seconds of Bekele's 26:17 WR. A runner like Kipchoge that runs 2:03 can't just shave 3 minutes off his time.

According to Phil Maffetone, it's "simple". They just have to switch to a low-carb high-fat diet and run barefoot:

Ido: You ask how a runner can accept this? Do you mean accept the offer from Nike? I have no idea what they were paid, but I'd be willing to bet that it is at least 2x what they would have earned in 2017 if they won 2 majors + appearance fees. Probably nice big guaranteed payment, plus a gradient bonus structure for faster result (bonus for breaking 2:02 < bonus for breaking 2:01 < bonus for running 1:59:59 or less). My guess is that their agents and family are probably very happy that they accepted the deal!

Also - I don't understand why people are upset that IF they break 2:00:00 it will somehow diminish other runners accomplishments at the major marathons. That is crazy. Does the fact that cars set speed records in the salt flats under ideal conditions diminish the accomplishment of winning the Indy 500? Of course not.

I think the whole idea is pretty interesting and will be fun to watch. Nike will probably get more advertising return on this than they do sponsoring many other running events. Makes me hope other sponsors will think of other fun and interesting ways to promote the sport (besides more beer miles).

zzzz wrote:

Got Curves wrote:

Way too many curves on Haleakala.

You don't have to slow down for the curves at running speed. Here's a video:

https://youtu.be/yJbry4TgoRw

I've run down it. There are a lot of turns where you slow when running.

If Nike goes ahead with this and the athletes fail and run slower than 2:05.. or the athletes underperform by maybe getting sick or whatever. This 2 hour experiment is going to backfire on the company bigtime and I have a big gut feeling it will and Nikr is going to take a big hit because of this and they are going to go downhill. Everyone is going to br talking about what a big failure the "BREAKING2" was and people will laugh. Nike will not be looked at the same way again. They will loose sales on all their products.

This will be a complete failure!

But it won't affect me. I can see the future very well.

BREAKING2 FAILURE wrote:

If Nike goes ahead with this and the athletes fail and run slower than 2:05.. or the athletes underperform by maybe getting sick or whatever. This 2 hour experiment is going to backfire on the company bigtime and I have a big gut feeling it will and Nikr is going to take a big hit because of this and they are going to go downhill. Everyone is going to br talking about what a big failure the "BREAKING2" was and people will laugh. Nike will not be looked at the same way again. They will loose sales on all their products.

This will be a complete failure!

But it won't affect me. I can see the future very well.

Ya so people will say, "remember Nike's Breaking2 project. Those guys at Nike are losers. Hahahah. Anybody want to buy a Nike shoe that will BREAKin2?"

I know you're reading this Nike.

Nikes' better going after the half marathon 58 minute barrier. It would be easier and with those 3 runners it's more like to go down.

Call it "Breaking58" and then when they do break it come out with a shoe called the "Nike 57 Special"

More likely to break the 58 minute barrier and do it legitimately at the same time. If 58 doesn't get broken then a WR most likely could be set legitimately without a downhill point to point course or whatever.

Just my thoughts

wejo wrote:

I'm glad to see some others think mountain runners going down a 7pct grade for 26 miles might have a problem.

How about a sub 4 women's mile? Anyone think that would be easier to accomplish somewhere?

The first 6 miles would average 9,000 ft elevation. Maybe JK could tell you the slow down compared to the benefit of the 6.5% grade.

Sage ran 13 miles down a mountain. Maybe he could chime in if he thinks a marathoner could run 435 pace down a mountain.

No.

Nike is not reading this. Phil is not worried about your idea that they will "loose sales" on all their products.

There is an even greater danger than Phil and Alberto.

This person is a danger to Kenenisa Bekele. He must be stopped.

His name is Yannis Pitsiladis:

As a doctoral student, Pitsiladis experimented with giving runners a pint of heavy cream as a prerace meal. (WTF???!!)

Many elite marathoners, for instance, run about 120 miles a week in training. But there was little science to support that regimen, Pitsiladis said. Perhaps 75 miles a week would work just as well for many runners — or maybe any reasonable training program would. (WTF???

again)

Pitsiladis said he wanted to develop intelligent clothing for running that would provide information in real time: sweat composition, heart rate, breathing rate, body temperature. This data could be flashed on television screens as if the runners were Formula One racecars. Perhaps nanotechnology embedded in the clothing could also cool or warm the body as necessary. (???????)

“We know nothing about the science of training,” Pitsiladis said. “I really mean nothing. When I say that, people get really upset.” (Really???)

Corporate sponsors had so far been reluctant to commit anything near the $30 million that Pitsiladis figured the Sub2 Project would cost. (That is a surprise.)

“And perhaps, he said, they needed to drink little or nothing in the second half of a two-hour marathon." (WTF again ???!)

“I tell him all the time, ‘Slow down; one day you are going to fall over,’” said Jos Hermens, a Dutch Olympian in 1976 and a manager for a number of the world’s top marathon runners, who is helping to fund the Sub2 Project. (Jos Hermens again?????????????. Oh boy.)

At one point, his genetics research was sponsored by an Indian restaurant in Glasgow. (Really? That is not a surprise.)

The wind persisted on this February day, and tiny ridges of salt on the berms made finding one’s footing a bit tricky. But the ridges could be covered up, Pitsiladis said. Perhaps screens could shield the wind. (Come on Yannis! Wind shields for 13.1 miles???)

He recently obtained 30 small thermometers that runners could swallow to record their temperatures throughout a race. (Please stop it Yannis.)

“I want to be able to link the land temperature to the body temperature,” Pitsiladis said. “What effect does it have?” (Really??? Please stop.)

Information could be relayed to a runner, he said, perhaps by someone following on a motorcycle who could advise, “Around the corner, it’s cool, so push it more,” or, “It’s hotter; slow down.” (WTF??? again)

“Yannis is very good at questioning the common wisdom,” said Barry Fudge, a former doctoral student of his who is the head of endurance for the British track and field federation. “At this juncture, most people would be like, ‘No, no, no, you’ve got to be crazy.’ Well, Yannis is crazy enough to do it.” (No. Yannis is crazy and must be stopped.)

In conclusion:

1) Yanni is banned from having any more contact with Kenenisa Bekele. Yanni must be STOPPED.

2) Yanni will also be performing a New Years Eve Concert at the Acropolis in Greece with singer-songwriter-film director-film producer-film star-writer-Olympian athlete-GreekGoddess-Alexi Pappasâ„¢.

(I already have my tickets. It should be a good concert.)

hybrid athlete wrote:

Ido wrote:

How can profesional runners accept this?

Running 3 minutes faster the the WR?

It's like asking someone to shave off 42 seconds of Bekele's 26:17 WR. A runner like Kipchoge that runs 2:03 can't just shave 3 minutes off his time.

According to Phil Maffetone, it's "simple". They just have to switch to a low-carb high-fat diet and run barefoot:

https://philmaffetone.com/159-and-waiting/

Update UK Director of Endurance (and student of Yanni Pitsiladis) Barry FUDGE:

Barry can be seen in a photo in this article with 'unofficial facilitator' and stopwatch holding guy Jama Aden. Jama is also with Nike.

Barry looks like he may have insulin resistance. He looks really out of shape. Mr. Fudge needs to lose some weight and exercise more.

I have also joined the Nike boycott (mostly) in the past year as the New Balance store (and the Adidas store) have lots of really good discounts (and less knee pain). It feels refreshing to be free. But Uncle Phil won't care.

I suspected something like this to. Burning Kipchoge out or getting him to the point where he has accomplished everything he wants to and retires. Who does this benefit? Galen Rupp (and perhaps Mo Farah). Nike HQ desperately needs Rupp to be winning consistently the major marathons.

BREAKING2 FAILURE wrote:

Nikes' better going after the half marathon 58 minute barrier. It would be easier and with those 3 runners it's more like to go down.

Call it "Breaking58" and then when they do break it come out with a shoe called the "Nike 57 Special"

More likely to break the 58 minute barrier and do it legitimately at the same time. If 58 doesn't get broken then a WR most likely could be set legitimately without a downhill point to point course or whatever.

Just my thoughts

Completely agree with this. They should try to break 58 for the half instead