super shoes conversions

Nobody cares, this topic has been beaten to death. They don't give 3 seconds to elite milers unless you believe Johnny Gregorek could have run a 3:46 mile indoors, or that Yomif would have run 3:44, or that Jakob is now slower than he was at 17.

That was then and this is now.

How tedious of a task would it be to go back and convert all of the times from past eras of track? Should we go a step further and convert times that were run on cinder tracks? I’m sure that the poles used for vaulting are better now than they used to be. Should we adjust the heights?

In the future there is going to be new technologies that will be better than what is used today. Should we adjust today’s marks in the future?

The world is full of what ifs. Just accept it and move on. It does no good to be mired in the past.

Let's start adjusting all times from here on out and all times that were run in the past. Make the adjustments for:

Shoes

Altitude

Type of track

Time of day

Age of athlete

Drag coefficient of uniform worn

Weather

Don't forget rampant EPO use in the 90's / early '00s before it was detectable.

Don't forget the hard core doping of the 80s! Including roids and blood transfusions (which were even allowed until 85, and undetectable before and after that).

Even Jager, a 3:30 ish 1500 guy just ran a 3:57 in these 'super spikes'. Lawi has run multiple years post 'super shoe' and not touched the times her an in the old spikes and shoes. There is not much of a conversion at all. Give credit to today's athletes.

There's some evidence that prehistoric humans would have buried today's best runners in their dust. I guess the adrenaline from being too slow (you either starve or are eaten by something else) makes up for not having super shoes or state of the art tracks, lighting systems, or even smooth pavement. How does that factor that into any modern "shoe conversions"?

Claiming that an elite runner with already great form would gain 3 seconds over the mile from a pair of dragonfly’s is such an idiotic take.

And not a single 1,500 runner went under 3:29 last year, even with the addition of pacing lights to every DL race. And im supposed to believe thats only worth 3:32 in old spikes? Lol.

People have conflated a massive improvement in American distance running and an explosion of indoor time trial mega meets with the shoe tech. They make a marginal difference at best. The 100th fastest time in the world outdoors at 1,500 has barely moved from the pre super-spike era to post. Its getting tiresome to see people (Especially this sites owners) constantly degrade performances of athletes today

Seriously this is it. Rojo and co. need to look outside of the NCAA and realize the spikes don’t drop 3s, it’s the training environment

UW is running great bc they got a bunch of guys who are 24 and instead of working and hanging up the spikes, were allowed to keep running in college (and tbh UW is basically a pro environment with a bunch of sub 3:55 collegiates, pros like Gregorek and Prakel present, plus an amazing coach, time trials whenever they want on a fast track …). You improve as you get older, so makes sense that they’re running great.

If there was no extra COVID eligibility, most of these guys would have graduated at 22 with 3:57-58 PBs, where it’s just not worth it financially to chase the dream. Instead, they can dedicate another two years to going all in on running and realizing their true potential. And BTW, the spikes they all use (adidas) aren’t even that super. They’re probably the most similar to the old generation with minimal foam, no carbon plate .. basically an old victory with a bit of foam in the forefoot. These guys are just training hard in a high level group and benefiting from being older and not having the stress of work hurting their running

Convert THIS *unzips*

Fact Check: If it weren't for technological advancements in athletic equipment, the men's high jump world record would be nowhere near 2.45m, because all the best high jumpers would be crippled from falling seven+ feet onto sawdust.

The shoe argument is silly.

The only thing I see is that shoes provide as much advantage as EPO.

I think the super spikes help more in longer track races (5 & 10) in percentage terms. They're already running pretty much close to all out in 1500 so the running form is already maxed out.

Bad example. The equipment allowed for different technique. The equipment didn't provide mechanical assistance.

Better comparison is the pole vault. Newer poles actually assist the vaulters in going higher than the could with the older poles.

Doesn't matter. The shoes will only redefine "fast times." In time, everyone will adjust to the new standards and nobody will care about the shoes.

Convert means change

Do have data to back up your statement? No, you don’t, because it’s not true.

The only instance that you could claim this to be would be for sprinting because EPO does nothing for sprinting.

Sorry, my post answers the statement above ⬆️

Do have data to back up your statement? No, you don’t, because it’s not true.

The only instance that you could claim this to be would be for sprinting because EPO does nothing for sprinting.

That’s right. They give you no significant advantage despite the fact that 100% of elites wear them and would never give them up. All mile - marathon elites believe that running w/o them already puts them at a significant disadvantage. But, yeah, keep believing that this isn’t 100% the reason why times have been ridiculously inflated the last two years. Turning track into a clown show. Do they give a 3:49 miler a 3-second advantage? Who knows. Do they give a 4:00 miler a 3-second advantage? Yes.