Other correlations:
More serial killers in the 70’s and 80’s. So people had to run faster.
More gay saunas. So people wanted to look trim and twinky.
More big hair with less hairdryers. So running fast was an effective way of drying your hair.
Maybe, just maybe, there were actually less runners overall, and the average runner was a bit more committed than today’s average runner?
Other things wrote:
Other correlations:
More serial killers in the 70’s and 80’s. So people had to run faster.
More gay saunas. So people wanted to look trim and twinky.
More big hair with less hairdryers. So running fast was an effective way of drying your hair.
Maybe, just maybe, there were actually less runners overall, and the average runner was a bit more committed than today’s average runner?
All wrong. All of you.
The lower times today are all because of charity running. If I look at the results of a local marathon and remove all of the charity runners I’d have similar numbers to the OP.
In fact, I’ll go one step further and I’ll check the stats myself and will re-post. I’ll only count club runners and see what numbers I get.
Another giver of +1 wrote:
TheBoom wrote:
I don't feel like wading through every response so here's my take: the runners of the Running Boom got swept into a SPORT that'd been a matter of training & performance orientation.
+1
There was no such thing as running a marathon just to finish and ticking it off a to-do list. You didn't even consider running a marathon unless you could run under 3:30 as there were only a handful of runners slower than that.
3:30 was the MEDIAN finishing time among men back in 1980s. So are you saying that 50% of finishers = only a handful? I guess there were only a handful runners faster than 3:30 as well. (Not to mention that women did not exist back then.)
90sFast wrote:
I do not understand considering that the training wasn't too different; all the amateurs races seemed to be much faster and your hobby jogger would also be much faster.
I noticed it first when Bryan Cranston talked about doing his first marathon; he just ran for 6 months-a year and did 3h15 for his first marathon in NYC.
Second, I checked the race results of a local marathon of 1993.
1500 runners
Winner in 2h15
First woman in 2h53
25 people under 2h30
150 people under 3h00
750 people (so half) under 3h34
Only 355 people above 4h00
6 people above 5h00
What were they eating back then?
probably:
less training
more average weight
a combination of the two
Other things wrote:
Other correlations:
More serial killers in the 70’s and 80’s. So people had to run faster.
More gay saunas. So people wanted to look trim and twinky.
More big hair with less hairdryers. So running fast was an effective way of drying your hair.
Maybe, just maybe, there were actually less runners overall, and the average runner was a bit more committed than today’s average runner?
Also, Jimmy Carter dropped the national speed limit to 55 mph in the late seventies so running a 7 minute mile pace for a long run actually felt fast and exciting, like snorting a whippet.
I feel the need for speed wrote:
Other things wrote:
Other correlations:
More serial killers in the 70’s and 80’s. So people had to run faster.
More gay saunas. So people wanted to look trim and twinky.
More big hair with less hairdryers. So running fast was an effective way of drying your hair.
Maybe, just maybe, there were actually less runners overall, and the average runner was a bit more committed than today’s average runner?
Also, Jimmy Carter dropped the national speed limit to 55 mph in the late seventies so running a 7 minute mile pace for a long run actually felt fast and exciting, like snorting a whippet.
Carter gets blamed for a lot of things (gas lines, malaise, Iran hostage crisis, bad hair days, disco, and dominance of the Dallas Cowboys) but the speed limit was not started on his watch. It was actually in the Nixon era and solidified in Ford's tenure. Gas crisis first hit in 1973 with OPEC supply price fixing, and as a measure to save fuel they implemented 55 mph speed limits in 1973 and 1974.
think about it again wrote:
I feel the need for speed wrote:
Also, Jimmy Carter dropped the national speed limit to 55 mph in the late seventies so running a 7 minute mile pace for a long run actually felt fast and exciting, like snorting a whippet.
Carter gets blamed for a lot of things (gas lines, malaise, Iran hostage crisis, bad hair days, disco, and dominance of the Dallas Cowboys) but the speed limit was not started on his watch. It was actually in the Nixon era and solidified in Ford's tenure. Gas crisis first hit in 1973 with OPEC supply price fixing, and as a measure to save fuel they implemented 55 mph speed limits in 1973 and 1974.
but all that said, great post. In fact POTD.
I think the typical marathoner ran more. Back in the 70's the rule of thumb was you could do a race up to 3 times your daily average or do 10 times the race distance in a month. Both rules get you over 55 miles a week. I know several (most) people who do not reach 45 miles in their peak weeks.
The second reason is that the slower runners didn't do marathons. Why does anyone need to run for 5 hours? Back then it wouldn't impress your running friends if they were all under 3:30.
You can be a runner if your max distance is a 5K. People today think they need to cover 26 miles to be considered a real runner. I just ask them if U. Bolt is a runner?
... but in THOSE DAYS it took a sub 2:50 to qualify for Boston as an "open male runner." ….
This. This sums up the way this earth is moving. Slower. More applause for slow people. Participation trophies. Another 5 hour marathoner get's to run Boston because they raised $$$.
modern era; Softer, slower. That's it in a nutshell.
Troll Detector wrote:
Another giver of +1 wrote:
+1
There was no such thing as running a marathon just to finish and ticking it off a to-do list. You didn't even consider running a marathon unless you could run under 3:30 as there were only a handful of runners slower than that.
3:30 was the MEDIAN finishing time among men back in 1980s. So are you saying that 50% of finishers = only a handful? I guess there were only a handful runners faster than 3:30 as well. (Not to mention that women did not exist back then.)
I should have said the middle 1970s, which is 40 years ago. Earlier than that it was rare to see a marathon time over 3 hours.
why do we even care why marathoners were quicker back then? Just do your thing.
This kind of thread is like a Letsrun semi-annual tradition at this point.
Because they worked harder, running was cooler, and there were less distractions.
....was that sub elite running is pretty much a bust as far as tangible benefits. During the sub-elite boom of about '72 to 85 lots of guys ran 100mpw, lived to run and got like 29-31min in 10k's. After a few years those coming up realized that this was a waste of time/effort/social life. Most who would have made 30 min settled for less training and 32-33 min. Same fun less pain nothing lost.
What we learned wrote:
....was that sub elite running is pretty much a bust as far as tangible benefits. During the sub-elite boom of about '72 to 85 lots of guys ran 100mpw, lived to run and got like 29-31min in 10k's. After a few years those coming up realized that this was a waste of time/effort/social life. Most who would have made 30 min settled for less training and 32-33 min. Same fun less pain nothing lost.
I was one of those. Being a running bum looked fun enough, until you looked a few years into the future. I decided that finishing a STEM Ph.D. was a better idea.