Has anything changed in the last 3 years?
Has anything changed in the last 3 years?
Good question. Seems times have dropped just this past year.
Sub 2:07 performances
1999-9
2000-2
2001-1
2002-12
2003-11
2004-7
2005-1
2006-9
2007-6
2008-16
2009-6 from paris, 4 from rotterdam
They run twice a day with at least one of the runs hard. They do a long run of at least 40km. They do some fast track intervals like a 10k runner and a lot of long hard runs. They live and train at altitude and come from an African background. They sleep a lot. They run up many hills in daily training.
they train the same way as the 2:20:00 guys, but the just try harder.
2 large rock star drinks wrote:
Sub 2:07 performances
1999-9
2000-2
2001-1
2002-12
2003-11
2004-7
2005-1
2006-9
2007-6
2008-16
2009-6 from paris, 4 from rotterdam
Good list, I made a similar one for sub 2:06.
Sub 2:06 performances
Pre 1999-0
1999-1
2000-0
2001-0
2002-3
2003-3
2004-0
2005-0
2006-1
2007-1
2008-7
2009-4 so far
I think we are approaching a point were going sub 2:06-2:07 will become like going sub 1:00 in a half (ten years ago only around 5 guys had gone sub 1:00 all-time, now you can run sub 1:00 and finish out of the money). That is what it is going to take to win a world class race on a flat course.
so the last 16 months has doubled the number of sub 2:06 performances.
sub 1:00 1/2 marathon performances by year:
pre1999-5
1999-1
2000-6
2001-1
2002-6
2003-none
2004-6
2005-8
2006-9
2007-24
2008-21
2009-9 already
so well over half of the sub 1hr 1/2 marathons have come in the past 2 1/2 years.
I think one of the reasons that the marathon is getting rediculously fast is that the faster track runners are attempting it. They don't judge their mile splits by how much faster they are then 5:00, they judge their mile splits by how much slower they are the 4:30. 3:00 per kilometer has also become a standard measuring gauge for marathoning speed.
The main reason that the marathon is getting insanely fast though is the introduction of more talent, especially young talent. Europeans and Americans are not getting much faster, but the Africans sure are. They are also not afraid to surge hard in the race or go out hard from the start, even in less then stelar conditions. BALLS are the main reason for new faster times.
I agree, balls are a huge part of it. They go out at WR pace and see who can hang on the longest.
lets not forget, they have great doctors too.
Blood refills, EPO (not epoietin alpha, but beta, zeta, etc...all forms that have no tests created for them), HGH in doses of at least 1 iu/day, low dose test to aid in recovery and so they never have to deal with the lowered test levels that distance runners typically suffer from, insulin (igf-1 long) hcg, and many many other peptides.
Haha, yeah, all those poor, random Kenyans have these state of the art drugs that are beyond the reach of the Americans and Europeans.
fat old fatty wrote:
they train the same way as the 2:20:00 guys, but the just try harder.
I love it!
PVK,
You have the reasoning skills of a dung-beetle.
i think most 2:03/2:04 guys do about 40 mpw, maybe with a fartlek or some intervals, but nothing to hard
How did DaCosta prepare to run 2:06:05? 30k - 30:30/30:00/29:30
Long run @ pace...then rest. DaCosta would then take the day off after this workout.
Now I would imagine the paces are 30:00/29:30/29:00 or faster.
Who knows....how long is a piece of string? Everybody respond differently to different intensity levels, duration, and recovery between intense workouts.
One thing is certain: they spend a lot of time running at or close to MP. The volume and frequency of each session depends on the athlete.
My guess is that the main reason is the young age that top class runners are attempting the marathon, which is going to change the coaching paradigm at the top levels of the sport.
If everything else is kept constant (use or non-use of PED's, altitude training, the ethnic background of the runners - still East African, just like 10 years ago) the major change, if I'm not mistaken, is the age of the runners. Geb, following the earlier paradigm, went from 5 and 10k track races to the marathon later in his career. Now, people are proving that you don't need to develop track speed first and THEN move to the marathon.
I think that the 'new generation' of runners made the switch for pragmatic reasons - there is simply more money to be had on the roads. That is, a good road road runner can make more money than a good track runner (although maybe not more than a great, WR-setting track runner). Now they realize that they can forgo the track completely.
as someone already mentioned, the only difference is that more of the a-class east-africans are racing the marathon in their prime now.
2:04 is nothing extraordinary for someone who can run a half marathon in 59low.Sub 2:03 is definietly not impossible for a guy like Mackau, it's just a matter of standing at the start line in top half-marathon/10k shape, with maximum glycogen stores and following a conservative racing plan.
I have to agree with pvk. Just look at all of the stunning performances yesterday by a lot of Kenyans no one has the slightest clue who the hell they are. Face it, Kenya is just that much better than us. Hall would be a B squad runner over there and it aint because they take drugs. It's because they are just better.
When is women's marathoning going to catch up to this level of competition (ie 10-15 women under 2:18 a year type stuff)?
zuzuz wrote:
as someone already mentioned, the only difference is that more of the a-class east-africans are racing the marathon in their prime now.
2:04 is nothing extraordinary for someone who can run a half marathon in 59low.Sub 2:03 is definietly not impossible for a guy like Mackau, it's just a matter of standing at the start line in top half-marathon/10k shape, with maximum glycogen stores and following a conservative racing plan.
Are you familiat with marathon training at all? Being in top 10k shape is not being in top marathon shape. Read anything from any of the top coaches or runners out there, and you will see this. One of the Brojos even wrote about Marilson Dos Santos running great half, only to not do so well in marathon shortly afterward. Whereas, when he didn't run all that great in a half, he then went on to win NYC and run some oter very good times/races.
We're talking about 800 meters, right? Because I have been working on getting my time down. I ran a 2:14 last week. I can't figure out how these guys run a sub 2:05 and I can't break 2:10.