Vaporfly's do it again!! 59 yr old Tommy Hughes runs 2:27:52 marathon as he and son set father/son world record in Frankfurt

This is getting ridiculous wrote:

Stupid post - you sound like some of these college kids who have no experience running as a grandmasters/senior competitor. If you're not then - I'll debate you on Grandmasters training thread here where things like this can be discussed more logically with older runners. ?

Please explain? Im not arguing the in and out of grandmasters training. I’m arguing that comparing the general population to a former Olympian is as illogical for an a 60 year old as it is for a 25 year old. If you can’t see and understand that point I can’t help you. You have just stated a straw man argument to call my post stupid. Your making comments that have nothing to do with the topic. Again, I’m not talking about training for the general population of grandmasters. Never said a word about that. Why are you bringing up?

His performance has apparently been age-graded at 2.02. His best time in his youth was 2.14. He was an Olympian who trained hard at his sport. There is no way a 2.14 guy in his prime would have had the potential to run at Kipchoge or Bekele level. But - for his age - he is now.

How do the age grading work? Are they updated after things change with world records?

How they work? wrote:

How do the age grading work? Are they updated after things change with world records?

It would logically require the performance to be related to the best open performances at the time the record was achieved. The trend appears to be the masters times are coming down at a faster rate. With the measurably increased use of TRT in recent years this improvement may not be for entirely natural reasons.

I think it was a classy move by Letsrun to recognize the Kolbecks' story in the Week that Was and put their picture on the front page and while still highlighting Tommy and Eoin's official record.

Armstronglivs wrote:

How they work? wrote:

How do the age grading work? Are they updated after things change with world records?

It would logically require the performance to be related to the best open performances at the time the record was achieved. The trend appears to be the masters times are coming down at a faster rate. With the measurably increased use of TRT in recent years this improvement may not be for entirely natural reasons.

If a pile of money and publicity was thrown at master's categories in distance running - in the same way as is done for the women's catergories for example - the masters records would improve by a ton. Look at how women's distance running records improved since the 1970s when their category was taken more seriously by the sport.

money and motivation wrote:

Armstronglivs wrote:

It would logically require the performance to be related to the best open performances at the time the record was achieved. The trend appears to be the masters times are coming down at a faster rate. With the measurably increased use of TRT in recent years this improvement may not be for entirely natural reasons.

If a pile of money and publicity was thrown at master's categories in distance running - in the same way as is done for the women's catergories for example - the masters records would improve by a ton. Look at how women's distance running records improved since the 1970s when their category was taken more seriously by the sport.

Improve the performance incentives and you will also see a greater incidence of doping. I would bet that there isn't a wr in women's running that isn't doped.

kolbeck Gérard wrote:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2477990232293563&set=pcb.401806904106720&type=3&theater&ifg=1

.

Gerard, can you remind me of the link for the French running website, starting, I think with Spe13, or something like that. I have lost the link.

Thank you. Merci mon ami, et bonne continuation.

C'est un site web vraiment genial, je pense qui est lie avec le magazine VO2, mais ce n'est pas le meme lien. Merci. J'ai perdu le lien, le site web.

Tommystats wrote:

Zlatan wrote:

His marathon times are so strong compared to his 5k and 10k. I guess that's the strength from decades of base miles. Gives me hope of running a fast marathon in the future.

Like another poster said, he is using all those races as training. He will be working hard in those races but not tapering.

If he really wanted to run a fast 5k, 10k half marathon whatever, he would be much faster than those times.

Yeah, he trains through a lot of races. He'll run 10mi before a lot of races to simulate running on tired legs at the end of a marathon. Tommy is a legend locally in Northern Ireland, and turns out for any type of race. I'm heading back to Belfast for a race in late November and I'm hoping I can get fit enough to stay away from him (and I'm 23, running 80mi/week!) He talks about his training and progression on this podcast:

Go to November 1st, Bonus Episode: Tommy Hughes

There is also this (one *week* later).

https://twitter.com/FastRunning/status/1190963584412598272

I'm in awe.