Are we taking steps backwards?

It was on my run this morning that I was thinking about how we in road running around the world seem to be taking some weird steps backwards despite having better technology in the form of heart rate monitors and Garmins etc and better sports nutrition powders and shakes as well as fancy gels and sports drinks and the like.

I think that these products definitely have their place on the road running circuit, but they in themselves won’t make us run better or faster unless we put in the hard yakka and run faster.

There is no disputing the fact that marathon times on average have started to get slower over the last couple of decades in spite of the increase in scientific knowledge and supposed invention of new and better shoes and gimmicks. Less people are running sub 3 hours despite the growth of fields into the tens of thousands for some races.

How then did people like Arthur Newton and the early pedestrians perform their remarkable feats of endurance? Indeed how to did Captain Barclay manage his 1000miles in 1000 hours in the 1700s with only his honour as a gentleman and a bet with a fellow gent at stake?

I don’t have answers to this other than to say that Newton knew what worked in the 1920s, he just did not have the science to back it up. Captain Barclay and co had less of a handle of what worked. They just ran off massive heart and the old fashioned pride and refusal to throw in the towel. That and the odd barrel of wine to put some fire in the belly as well as a servant who would wake him with a stick every time he fell asleep.

Personally I would like to see the old 1000 in 1000 resurrected for kicks and giggles in our age and see how many could finish it.

A ramble, but then again that is the mood that Sam is in today.

Running together – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller