Some free coaching advice for Alberto Salazar

If the lanes are 1 meter wide and the straights are 40 meters long, that's a mere 1 centimeter extra he would have run by drifting to lane two - or .0014 seconds. When you factor in the energy he saved by not trying to counteract centrifugal force it was probably a wash. Also totally insignificant compared to the time saved by drafting and hugging the curb on the corners.

How can you be sure that Salazar has in fact never advised this? Did every athlete you coached at Cornell do everything you suggested to the letter?

That second 200 absolutely killed him. If that was paced even remotely properly he would've broken the record by more than a second.

Small angles wrote:

If the lanes are 1 meter wide and the straights are 40 meters long, that's a mere 1 centimeter extra he would have run by drifting to lane two - or .0014 seconds. When you factor in the energy he saved by not trying to counteract centrifugal force it was probably a wash. Also totally insignificant compared to the time saved by drafting and hugging the curb on the corners.

Can we see your formula? That doesn't seem right to me.

Isn't it like 3 meters per lap versus lane 1 or lane 2. How could it be only 1 cm?

The shortest distance travelled isn’t always the fastest especially on tight, indoor turns. It also depends on his exit speed coming out of the turn.

If he ran the last turn in lane 2, that's 1.5 meters extra.

Math is hard wrote:

If he ran the last turn in lane 2, that's 1.5 meters extra.

Lets see YOUR math?

770 math SAT wrote:

Small angles wrote:

If the lanes are 1 meter wide and the straights are 40 meters long, that's a mere 1 centimeter extra he would have run by drifting to lane two - or .0014 seconds. When you factor in the energy he saved by not trying to counteract centrifugal force it was probably a wash. Also totally insignificant compared to the time saved by drafting and hugging the curb on the corners.

Can we see your formula? That doesn't seem right to me.

Isn't it like 3 meters per lap versus lane 1 or lane 2. How could it be only 1 cm?

Starting in lane 1 and drifting out to lane 2 over 40 meters, Pythons. What ever the lane width on that track, minus the actual point in lane run he ran, plug into a^2 + b^2 = c^2. Solve for c.

770 math SAT wrote:

Small angles wrote:

If the lanes are 1 meter wide and the straights are 40 meters long, that's a mere 1 centimeter extra he would have run by drifting to lane two - or .0014 seconds. When you factor in the energy he saved by not trying to counteract centrifugal force it was probably a wash. Also totally insignificant compared to the time saved by drafting and hugging the curb on the corners.

Can we see your formula? That doesn't seem right to me.

Isn't it like 3 meters per lap versus lane 1 or lane 2. How could it be only 1 cm?

sqrt(40m^2 + 1m^2) - 40m = ~0.0125m

40m = roughly the straightaway length, 1m = roughly the lane width

The guy has a pretty wild style, he moved around even before that. I'd say that was all him.

OKAY lets see it? wrote:

Math is hard wrote:

If he ran the last turn in lane 2, that's 1.5 meters extra.

Lets see YOUR math?

Simply go to your indoor 200 meter track and measure the distance between the staggers for the 200. Half that would be the distance lost on one turn.

Or you could do the math yourself.

and distance runners can lean at the tape too.

And if it's just you and the rabbit, you don't need to follow him in lane 2 or even 1.5. Yomif seemed to have ants in his pants from the gun. . . perhaps excited to be super fit and feeling great in a big moment.

here's a better piece of advice - don't hire a crappy rabbit for a world record attempt

that ruined it

I agwee. We don't need no cwappy wabbits running around the twack!!!

Free Advice wrote:

OKAY lets see it? wrote:

Lets see YOUR math?

Simply go to your indoor 200 meter track and measure the distance between the staggers for the 200. Half that would be the distance lost on one turn.

Or you could do the math yourself.

I'm sorry--that is foolish advice. Much better would be to go down to your local high school track and . . .

Any time a runner happens to run into the second lane, one of the Brojos chimes in to offer this free "coaching advice," as if it's not 1) the most basic advice a high school coach could offer and 2) something athletes haven't already heard before.

It happens sometimes. But when it does, it's not simply because the coach in question hasn't shared the most basic of bromides with his athletes: you're caught up in the moment, you're focusing just on finishing, it takes more energy to hug the turn, as some posters have already said.

If you want to make the point--easy and predictable as it is--that an athlete who loses out on the world record by .01 should stick more to lane 1, fine. But just say that. And recognize that the realities of racing can sometimes supersede the one stale morsel of "advice" you have to share.

And if you want to pass yourself off as an expert, get some fresher material.

Let's blame the wabbit. Let's blame the finish line tape. Let's blame the coach. Let's not blame the runner, because he has no free will.

You guys are overthinking this. Kejelcha is not used to running on an indoor track and when he was tired and driving for the line, he drifted out.

I agree with RunningOtaku, the shortest distance is not necessarily the fastest. If you do run a little wide to a lot wide on most banked tracks, remember you'll actually be going slightly down hill coming out of the corner. that could result in a slingshot effect.