Of
course, I watched that Nike Breaking2 project’s attempt about a month ago, which
took place at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, a historic Formula One racetrack northeast
of Milan, Italy. Much have been written about it, both leading up to the race
and afterwards. Runner’s World has a whole series of articles on Breaking2 (google
“breaking2 runner’s world”). Alex Hutchinson has a nice, comprehensive, pre-race
background article. There were many post-race analyses, including ones by Hutchinson and Ross Tucker.
A lot of the discussions were on the meaning of what Eliud Kipchoge had accomplished (2:00:25). One focal discussion point was the drafting effect of
the six pacers in front of the three racers, as well as the effect of the Tesla
car with that big clock, in front of and leading the pacers. A related
discussion was on the “pacing and drafting paradox.” Subsequent modeling studies showed that most of the
drafting effect was from the pacers and not from the car and clock.
So, was
the Breaking2 project an effort to “science the shit out of” 26.2 miles or shit
the meaning out of running?
Breaking2
isn’t the only such project. Along with Breaking2, there are two other
parallel, rival projects, the Adidas Sub2 programme and Yannis Pitsiladis’ SUB2 project. At least in the case of Nike and Adidas, the commercial aspect is obvious.
Breaking2’s attempt at Monza was also a 2+ hour Nike infomercial for its Zoom Vaporfly.
The same with Adidas and its Adizero Sub2.
But,
still, Breaking2 was pretty exciting to watch. It was after 2 am by the time I got to bed. My morning run a few hours later felt inspired. Each of the three
racers at Monza had a personal handwritten message digitally printed on his
race shoes. For Kipchoge, it was “Beyond the Limits.” For him, that means Sub2.
For me? Sub3! J
Perhaps
even more incredible—and beyond the limits--were Ed Whitlock’s achievements.
Whitlock, who passed away this past March, owned pretty much all the older age-group records (over 20
single-age records), including a sub3 at the age of 74 (!). He was and remains my inspiration.
With
all that in mind and with a couple of recent new data points, I've updated my
“projected” dates for achieving several goal marathon times that I’d previously charted.
3:50
Wineglass Oct 2017
3:45
2018
3:30
2020
Sub3
2023! J
