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We've previously discussed the possibility of running a two hour marathon (with much of the usual wit in this thread). For a comparison against running one mile in four minutes, running at the pace of a five minute mile would be too slow. Like running a mile in four minutes, people said running a marathon in two hours was impossible. However, it is looking very possible with advanced footwear and suchlike. Specifically, Kenyan marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge was within 0.4% of this goal. Variously reported as being 25 seconds or 26 second too slow, his effort is an unofficial world record.
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Two Hour Marathon Run *Almost* Achieved
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(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @07:15PM (1 child)
Shoes definitely help for sprinting. Especially if they are optimized for the track surface. With barefeet you'd slip more during a sprint.
Not so sure for marathon running, assuming the bare feet are toughened and don't need protection. For lesser runners the added mass of the shoe might "outweigh" the advantages the shoe gives over the longer distances and times.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Sunday May 07 2017, @07:47PM
For lesser runners the added mass of the shoe might "outweigh" the advantages the shoe gives over the longer distances and times.
I came up with an engineering model where it boils down to density and human flesh should be a bit denser than water and we should be able to make foamy floating shoes.
From my sailing days I remember extremely mixed results as to which shoes sink an which shoes float.
I suspect thick tough foot callouses are much denser than water rather than just slightly.
In theory we should be able to make shoes that float on water, which would result in legs 1% longer with a net lower density (so a human 1% taller would have higher moment of inertia and higher simple mass). It would be easy to make highly inefficient dress shoes that result in net lower performance AND it would be easy to make super durable tough shoes that are heavier than necessary.
The ideal shoe would be so lightly constructed it doesn't make it past 27 miles before falling apart. A non-ideal shoe would be make of steel toes and leather and last 500 miles of hiking, but ...
This is assuming cold sweaty bare feet aren't thermodynamically relevant in some weird way. Its not entirely ridiculous if we're talking about being 1% taller then carrying 1% mass in sweaty socks or sweaty shoes might be relevant. I'm sure athletes could spray their feet and socks and shoes with scotchguard...