Didn't realize the attempt was this weekend, thanks for posting. If only ironman could (or rather would) put together coverage like this for St George 70.3...

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Matt

I just got off the phone with an old friend and we were talking about this attempt. He said they are going to have pacers, but not in the typical sense. Guys are going to jump in and out and break wind I guess? And our latest masters WR holder is going to be one of the pacers I guess? So they have to run 14;14 or so 5k's, imagine most of the pacers will be 5k or less, rest then come back in.

I was just wondering why not just run behind the car? I heard it is electric so no fumes, is it any different than having guys jump in and out to pace? Not in my mind, and so many things are not really considered legit factors, so just draft the car I say. Dudes still have to run and touch the ground, nothing like riding a bike behind a car for sure.

Anyway it will be fun, I figure from the 1/2 they just did that they should make at least 20 miles on pace. Every mile after that just make it more exciting, and the redo if they don't make it(likely) that more exciting, as they will have an intermediate goal to break now too.

There's a psychological advantage to running with people vs just sitting behind the car.

Your 20 mile prediction is right on with what John Kellog is predicting

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wovebike.com | Wove on instagram

I want to say I read somewhere that said you can't be paced by a car. I am pretty sure I read that somewhere...maybe? Makes sense since they could just put it in cruise control where there will always be small changes with people. It will be interesting to watch.

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Twitter - Instagram

They can do whatever the hell they like. This is not an IAAF sanctioned event, isn't being run to IAAF regulations and won't be an IAAF recognised record. This is essentially 20 guys going for a Sunday morning run around a car park and then talking about it on Twitter. They could do the whole thing on an elliptical if they wanted.

Having said that, I don't think the conditions that Nike have set out are too outrageous; sure it'd be nice for them to conduct it to recognised standards but I'll still be watching for sure.

Probably they want to make the attempt "as real" as possible, that is as if it is a "normal" marathon. In a normal marathon there are also runners as pacemakers, and there will also be cars, but certainly not directly in front of the runners.

It was 5 or so years ago at the old Silverman Iron race that they went for the relay record. Stud swimmer, Tyler Hamilton on bike, some Kenyan (I believe Kenyan) runner.

That runner blew up. One of things he mentioned was waiting all day to run and other was running championship quality pace alone. Like it's never done that way, a race always has people to run with, paces/surges/water bottle stops wth others, etc. he said running an entire marathon alone sucked. When your running with others and being paced you have that emotional connection that atleast your all suffering together. I read that and completely understood, running alone for entire race when your marathons are never like that is a creature of habit change you don't want to do. Likely similiar to pacing behind big wooden wall or car. Just unnatural.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Cool. I kind of wish it was another night so I would be home on the west coast happy to watch the whole thing. As it is I'm in St.G and will be trying (probably unsuccessfully) to sleep.

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.

I'm assuming kevin hart is there for comedic relief when all 3 fall off pace and nothing more to tune in?

"And through mile 20 they are at 2:02 pace"

-viewers-: "Ok screw this"....hears a kevin hart joke...."ok if he keeps that up I'm watching, if not I'm out".

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

so far i have seen nothing what was/is the drug testing protocol for those 3 guys ?

Really? Is that the first thing that comes into your head?
Worry about that if they are successful.

AND he also got stood down mid-run to serve Tyler's dismount penalty.

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Eliot
blog thing - strava thing

Nah, I'm going to agree that it's a pretty relevant question to ask.

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Eliot
blog thing - strava thing

I wonder how could this not be my first thought.
It's not like we are dealing with the most transparent company here...

How are pacers breaking wind going to help? The guys doing the attempt will clearly not be getting sufficient oxygen due to the omnipresent methane cloud in front of them!

If they did every thing else except having pacers run in and out, I'd have been fine with that. At least Bannister's pacers stayed there from the start and the lap 3 guy did not get to come in fresh at lap 3.

Early and often if they're going to pull this off.

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--Chris

Agree Dev. Imagine the drama if the goal is reached and all the pacers had to start the marathon.

They can't claim a sub 2 even if non IAAF if the pacers don't start all at the same time. That's just fundamentally changing the nature of the sport. Would be like playing NFL with a 25 yard end zone.

dev, you're making the fundamental mistake of assuming this is a race. (or even a time trial, if you like.) it is not.

it is a commercial.

therefore, the only rule that matters is getting eyeballs and selling product, and that should be the metric by which it is assessed.

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

+1. Been years since I cared about competitive running but I thought the only reason why pacers were ever allowed was because they technically are "in the race" even if they don't plan on finishing. Completely different having people coming in fresh to help, that's what we would call "outside assistance" under any other circumstances.

If you miss it, you can catch the ESPN 30/30 in a couple of years on the siping scandal behind it ;)

Good point. I'm not going to stay up to 2 a.m. to watch this live, but I will watch on demand for free if it's available this weekend. I wear Nike running shoes and have for a long time, but I'm not going to buy additional Nike product after watching this. If it was a more legit record attempt I would possibly consider giving Nike more love via my credit card, although there is still the whole Oregon Project thing...

I don't care, that this is a marketing event. At the end of the day, Nike is going to go out and claim a sub 2 marathon was done, if it happens. I actually hope it does not happen and actually I don't want the world best marathon time to be broken. I hope that guys cramp up and choke on this gimmick. This is kind of like claiming the tallest skyscraper and having an extra long telecom antenna to push you over the top....fundamentally, it's a different event that you are creating, BUT, you are using the same measure (time) as what is used for established competition and then afterwards you're going to act publicly like its all the same (it's all running right, so I guess it is a sub 2 marathon).

If Nike wants to do a gimmick, then go ahead, but while they are at it, maybe add a conveyor belt moving at 1kph so that the runners only need to run at 20 kph and still go under 2 hours. Its essentially not doing the sport by standard/generally accepted mechanisms. Lots of artificial assist here, more so than in "real racing". If you want to simulate a real race like Bannister did to go sub 4, then OK and even then I feel that Bannister's true sub 4 was when him and Landy both went sub 4 at the Empire Games a few months later, but either way, at least he was the first.