The chase to break quite possibly the biggest barrier in long distance running has begun. Nike has taken on the challenge of preparing athletes to run a sub two hour marathon (26.2 miles). The picture on the left shows the three athletes recruited by Nike to run sub two hours. This is an incredible feat that many believe the human body is incapable of. It is difficult to truly wrap your head around how fast a marathon in under two hours really is. To begin, an adult running one mile in under 6 minutes is seen as being physically fit and aerobically very healthy. A mile in under 5 minutes is extremely impressive for an adult and seen as a goal for most varsity long distance runners in high school. A full marathon, 26.2 miles, in under two hours would require an average pace per mile at a staggering 4:35. A 4:35 mile is an extraordinary time to run one mile in, let alone to hold that pace 26 times over. The current world record for the marathon is 2:02:57 set by Dennis Kimetto of Kenya on September 28, 2014, at the Berlin Marathon. Even the most elite runners question the possibility of running the distance in less than two hours. So that begs the question, what would it take? Based off of the current record time, it would require around a 2.5% increase in race performance in order to break the barrier. Although this seems relatively low, for a professional athlete this is an enormous gap between what current ability and the goal time. This seemingly impossible target will require someone born with just the right genetic makeup. Furthermore, race conditions would need to be perfect as would course conditions. All the stars would have to align perfectly to allow for conditions to be just right. A short 50 years ago, the barrier in competitive racing was running a sub 4:00 mile. Many believed it was impossible and went as far as to say that the human heart would “burst” under the pressure of the race. In 1954, Roger Bannister tackled this obstacle, running a 3:59.4. For a task that seemed insurmountable, it is surprising to see that there are currently 510 Americans that have all run sub 4:00. Clearly, this was a mental barrier that required one person to break down the wall for the rest to come charging through. I like to believe that this feat of running a sub two hour marathon will be accomplished in my lifetime because it will undoubtedly be the single greatest achievement in the history of long distance running. As for right now, we just have to wait and see who will be the one to run 26.2 miles faster than any human has ever run the distance before. Below is a shoe created and engineered by Nike specifically to be worn while racing a marathon. Every aspect of the show was designed in such a way as to be advantageous to someone looking to run a marathon.
1 Comment
|
AuthorArchives
March 2018
Categories |