Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier

Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by philwelch on Saturday October 12, 2019 @06:31AM (#21231984)

Besides, he already has the official world record anyway. This was an experiment to see if it was possible to shave a couple dozen seconds off the marathon time of the greatest marathon runner of all time. Doing it again in race conditions—whether it’s by Kipchoge or another runner—will be a historic milestone but there is greater confidence that it will happen now.

Besides, I know you can’t control for adrenaline and elation, but the fact that he picked up 10 seconds of pace at the end—when he was running only 10 seconds shy of 2 hours for the whole marathon—and then spent a good half hour running around and celebrating after he crossed the finish line might be a hint that we haven’t even found the real limits yet.

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Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by Accacin on Saturday October 12, 2019 @10:11AM (#21233237)

I'm not alone in thinking this, but it's not just his pace that makes him truly remarkable, it's his consistency. I can't remember accurate numbers, but I think it's like in ten consecutive marathons, he came first nine times.

Runners are prone to injury, and if you're not feeling 100% on the race you're likely to not win or run at your best.

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Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by jdietrich on Saturday October 12, 2019 @11:26AM (#21233865)

He has won all ten of his last ten marathons. He was beaten by Wilson Kipsang in the 2013 Berlin marathon, but Kipsang ran a world record time. Kipchoge is incredibly consistent in arguably the most competitive field in history. He is an extraordinary athlete in both performance and spirit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliud_Kipchoge#Competition_rec...

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Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by rawland on Saturday October 12, 2019 @04:00PM (#21235802)

If I remember correctly, he is unbeaten since that moment in 2013.

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Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by kungito on Monday October 14, 2019 @04:36AM (#21246202)

How is marathon running more competitive field than football or American football or basketball?

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Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by AlchemistCamp on Monday October 14, 2019 @09:15AM (#21247866)

Any able-bodied person who owns shoes can run. Even people too poor to own shoes can often become excellent runners. Coaches help, but many people have reached near elite levels before having access to a coach.

It's the one sport that's open to just about everyone.

Perversely, this makes its highest levels open to only the most extreme of genetic freaks.

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Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by andromeduck on Monday October 14, 2019 @04:19PM (#21252404)

You need a lot more than shoes to run a marathon. The time and environment required to get there is much less accessible than something like soccer, football, or basketball.

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Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by AlchemistCamp on Monday October 14, 2019 @09:17PM (#21254675)

You don't even need the shoes in all cases:

> "Many theories are offered up as the secret to Kenya's success in long distance running, but one of the most commonly cited, especially by Kenyans themselves, is the hard, active life the children here lead. Most run long distances to school each morning, and when they get home they are sent out to tend to the goats or sheep. There are few televisions, let alone PlayStations or Xboxes."

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2014/11/04/3614032...

It's definitely true that the marathon is somewhat less accessible than short or mid-distance running, but it doesn't take years of marathon running to be a top marathoner. Much of the fitness transfers from mid-distances. Many competitive 10k runners post elite times in their very first marathon race. This means that in practice, the marathon is very nearly as competitive as that for a middle distance race.

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Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by Aperocky on Saturday October 12, 2019 @07:24PM (#21237058)

I think the team did not fully grasp how huge of a difference laser guided pacemaker and fully covered wind guard makes. The difference could have been greater -- maybe we're even going to see a peloton effect in future marathons utilized to the fullest.

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Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by simonebrunozzi on Sunday October 13, 2019 @02:02AM (#21238634)

Forgive my ignorance: what's the Peloton effect (I know the company; not sure what the "effect" is), and what's the laser guided pacemaker you're referring to?

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Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by schlumpf on Sunday October 13, 2019 @02:38AM (#21238768)

Lead cyclists take turns riding at the front of the pack (the peloton, from which the company took its name), blocking the apparent wind and allowing teammates to ride in their slipstream. The protected riders use less energy to maintain the same pace.

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Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by ivanhoe on Sunday October 13, 2019 @05:34AM (#21239447)

Peloton is the same idea as tailgating (driving behind a truck on highway in order to save fuel), front cyclists/runners use extra energy to "break" the air so that those behind them can save some strength.

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Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by jjeaff on Sunday October 13, 2019 @10:34PM (#21244836)

Tailgating is just what jerks do because they are inconsiderate and unsafe.

I believe the word you were looking for is "drafting".

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Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by danny_taco on Monday October 14, 2019 @01:39PM (#21250771)

If you look on youtube for this event, you'll see there was a vehicle driving in front of the pack that was aiming a laser at the feet of the runners. It appears to make it easier to follow a pace very accurately by making sure your feet are following the laser.

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Re:Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier by philmander on Sunday October 13, 2019 @08:43AM (#21240071)

They did exactly this two years ago and failed

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