Dumb question re Geb's 1 hour record

yep

But they didn't.

I have to imagine it would be faster to run a half marathon on the road than on a track. All those turns would start to take their toll eventually.

bump. I'd like to hear some more perspectives.

very confused or petty wrote:

bump. I'd like to hear some more perspectives.

I really think it has a lot to do with running it on a track. Not necessarily the turns (although they probably play a role) but being out there basically by yourself on a track for an hour. Roads go by a lot easier than the track does. Ever done a 10K on a track? It feels like FOREVER, compare it to CC.

And a track is also perfectly accurate no tangents, etc roads are not.

But wouldn't you get more feedback on a track that would help ensure you stay on pace? On the track you can check your pace about every 200 - 400 meters whereas with a road race you might get feedback every kilometer, at best.

I've run up to 8 miles continuously on the track and found it terribly boring but I maintained a very even pace. I wouldn't want to do it to often because I imagine it would start to bother my left knee from all the turns.

I'm pretty sure the "1 hour record" must be run on a track, so road races wouldn't qualify.

Obviously any of the guys who have run a road half marathon in under an hour would have a reasonable shot at breaking this record, but they haven't done so.

correct, think of it as a comparison between the 3000 meter and 2 mile world record. If you can run 7:20, then the extra 218 meters should take less than 38 seconds in theory.

Easy answer: if Bekele ran 26:17 for 10,000m, why is the WR for 10km listed as 27:02 for Geb?

And a track is also perfectly accurate no tangents, etc roads are not.

I think this is worth a little nit-picking discussion. I may not be exactly right on the particular distance from the line, but the distance around a track is measured 8" out from the line. Over the period of an hour, then, you could "cheat" the distance a little over or a little under depending on how well you run inside the theoretical line where the distance around for each lap is measured.

Another point worth discussing here is that (asphalt or concrete) roads should be a little faster than some synthetic tracks, though that may be debatable where Mondo tracks are concerned. Am I correct in think Geb did this on a Mondo track?

i think that the difficuly in the 1 hour record is staying focused through the monotony of running on the track. i'm sure that Geb could run farther on the roads.

PS the One Hour Run is a real, official, honest-to-god-no-shit-a-real-world-record, as recognized by the IAAF. It is, to be sure, and old event, somewhat arcane. I remember that last year, Geb said he wanted the record as a tribute to his coach Jos Hermans, who had the record before Arturo Barrios broke it.

RM wrote:

correct, think of it as a comparison between the 3000 meter and 2 mile world record. If you can run 7:20, then the extra 218 meters should take less than 38 seconds in theory.

I think that is a different issue: both the 3000m and 2 mile records were run on the track. Comparing them is like comparing the 1500m and 1 mile records. And I think it is generally accepted that Komen's 3000m record is a better performance than his 2-mile record.

This kind of event makes for good trivia: What track race has a finish but no finish line?

The question reminds me of another: What is the fastest that any human has run 100M on the track? I am guessing it would have to be Michael Johnson during his WR 200M. Yet the title of "world's fastest human" was not his.

Carl Lewis split under 9 seconds a few times on a 4 by 1.

running start changes everything