One thing that popped into my mind on the podcast that I can't square my head around is for those of you think she was doping intentionally, why would you do that and not use super shoes?
Super spikes are a much easier way to get a couple of seconds in a 1500.
One thing that popped into my mind on the podcast that I can't square my head around is for those of you think she was doping intentionally, why would you do that and not use super shoes?
Super spikes are a much easier way to get a couple of seconds in a 1500.
A couple of seconds is debatable. I don’t believe that Webb could have run 3:51 with the super shoes, or El Geurrouj, 3:24. Could Shelby have run 3:53?
If we're just going to throw out mindless and baseless theories:
Shelby decided she NEEDED to dope because super spikes are not beneficial for her (due to any number of specifically personal reasons) so she needed to compensate with PEDs to compete with others wearing super spikes.
Because doping matters much more, which is why so many Soviet and Ma's army era times are still on the books. Not complicated.
Right. And doping helps with training and recovery, not just racing.
Also, if you're doping you are expecting breakthrough times, so running in regular shoes keeps your new PRs closer to the level of believably. Then when you add the shoes and get another little improvement, it still seems more like a natural progression.
Because doping matters much more, which is why so many Soviet and Ma's army era times are still on the books. Not complicated.
Wejo I felt myself yelling at the podcast (ok that’s being dramatic). The superspikes at the time weren’t as well-entrenched and not everyone was that sold. It wasn’t like the road shoes, and definitely not in a 1500. Shelby also was pretty transparent in saying she liked her old spikes and didn’t seem to like the feel of the new ones. When she did race in them in an early meet I think before her ban, she ran nothing special. The Shelby line about questioning her times cuz of the equipment was weird because there was little stink about them. I think it’s pretty simple to say maybe she didn’t like them and think they worked that well for her because she also said that. Nobody else in the sport has made an ethical stand against superspikes but Shelby, and more noticeably she seems to be the only prominent athlete who just straight up didn’t seem to like them as part of that rationale. A little different with roads shoes with 75% more stack height than superspikes.
Shelby can be irrational it seems. Why would she admit she didn’t finish her alleged pork offal burrito when she tested for a high level of nandrolone? That made no sense rationally and did her defense no favors. Yet she disclosed that unnecessarily to back up her thinking the burrito was greasy and off.
At the time Shelby was banned the transition to everyone using super spikes was still relatively recent. She simply liked her old spikes and didn’t want to switch to something she wasn’t yet convinced would make that much of a difference. If she had kept competing and seen what has happened to women’s 1500 times since then I’m sure she would have eventually started using the new spikes. I actually think Shelby didn’t intentionally dope, but I don’t think this argument makes any sense. She wasn’t too noble to use the new spikes, she just didn’t like them and back then there was less evidence showing what a difference they make.
Because they were new and she didn't know how beneficial they were yet. If she hadn't been banned, I have no doubt she would start wearing them in 2021 when their benefits became more obvious.
According to her Strava, she's been running in the Dragonfly 2.
One thing that popped into my mind on the podcast that I can't square my head around is for those of you think she was doping intentionally, why would you do that and not use super shoes?
Super spikes are a much easier way to get a couple of seconds in a 1500.
Because doping matters much more, which is why so many Soviet and Ma's army era times are still on the books. Not complicated.
Wejo I felt myself yelling at the podcast (ok that’s being dramatic). The superspikes at the time weren’t as well-entrenched and not everyone was that sold. It wasn’t like the road shoes, and definitely not in a 1500. Shelby also was pretty transparent in saying she liked her old spikes and didn’t seem to like the feel of the new ones. When she did race in them in an early meet I think before her ban, she ran nothing special. The Shelby line about questioning her times cuz of the equipment was weird because there was little stink about them. I think it’s pretty simple to say maybe she didn’t like them and think they worked that well for her because she also said that.
The above I concur with and also one has to consider your question to be logically dubious. What if I were to say that I think Asbel Kiprop was probably not doping because he seemed to not use optimal strategy in races? You would presumably think I was the village idiot. What if I were to observe that a busted doper did not draft off other runners optimally, and use that to cast doubt upon their culpability regarding doping? Again you would wonder if I indeed was a moron.
4 1/2 years ago super shoes existed and gave serious advantage to marathon and distance runners but "super spikes" really didn't exist as they do now. Milers were using 400 meter sprinting shoes because they were stiff and fast. I'm sure Burrito Girl will be lacing up super spikes on her return to racing. ...probably no nandrolone this time though.