@Nike How To #Breaking2 next time
??Jepson Taylor
CEO/founder VEOX Inc | Fasted Ultra Runner | Contributing Faculty AIMasterClass NYU | Keynote Speaker | former child
I hate running. Out of all of the possible activities out there to get in shape, it is my least favorite. Hearing about Eliud Kipchoge missing the 2hr barrier by 26 seconds was incredible for two reasons. First, it was amazing that any human would be capable of sustaining a sprint pace for 26 miles. Second, it was amazing to miss the goal by less than 26s considering the goal was 7,200s.
I am a data science in industry but remember being a chemical engineer once, having taken graduate level fluid-dynamics. For all the time and money that Nike invested into this project, I was surprised to see Eliud with hair during the final race. Did you know that the drag between a bald swimmer and one with short hair can differ by 1 Newton? Estimating differences between air and water densities and speeds of a runner vs a swimmer you might come up with a number of 0.05 Newtons of force the entire race. Granted that isn't a lot of force, but hey neither is 26 seconds. Those types of forces are also why running suits like the one below exist, attempting to escape these speed demons.
If you want to keep chasing the drag issues you could even consider body scraping, a popular service found in Korean spas. You may want to do excessive scraping and measure skin drag coefficients during the healing process. Maybe we would find that the skin drag coefficient is ideal 2 days after excessive body scraping. With improved skin drag coefficients runner clothing items can be reduced in their coverage.
Uncontrolled variables:
There are so many variables with the race. Wind, humidity, and temperature can have real impacts on a runners numbers and ability. With the runner themselves, quality of sleep, variations in their food and mindset can also impact the race numbers. A tailwind could make the difference between beating the 2hr barrier and failing.
Conclusion:
One obvious conclusion is that beating the barrier was so close it should just be reattempted again, and again, and again. Eventually, due to these variables and natural variation in this process, an observation will fall below the two-hour barrier. Oh, and take your wedding ring off (optimization: counting grams lol).
What other ideas would you suggest to save 26 seconds off of a 2hr race besides pulling teeth? Comment below.
Head of Data Science & Analytics@ Agility
7 年Maybe they should try an all-downhill course next time. :D
Sr Project Manager at Novacoast
7 年I wonder the difference between running on a paved surface vs dirt road is? Another huge variable as the altitude of the race. If they were above sea level say in the mountains here in Utah and did that. Then just going to sea level would make a huge difference. When I was in the service, I ran a physical fitness test in salt lake. 3 miles in 19 minutes, 2 weeks later I ran one down in San Diego I was able to cut off 2 full minutes of time.