Re: Watershed Times

In article <1183149532.902328.160120@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
rick@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

When Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile in what the 50's it was
thought a physiological limit. Now how many runners can go under four
minutes for the mile? I think it's hundreds per year.

So what's doable but damned hard for other cycling benchmarks --

Could it be said that today the 5:00 pursuit is the physiological
equivalent of the 4:00 mile?
Is there an equivalent watershed for 40km ITT? 52 minutes?
flying 200 in under 10.5 seconds?

However the one minute barrier for the standing one kilometer has been
broken by what, just two guys?

-Rick

"Benchmarks" like your examples just demonstrate that people like round
numbers. Why not the 3:47 mile (way to go, Steve Cram! The world will
forever remember you!)

Notably, the current mile record was set in 1999, which suggests a real
plateau. Who will be first to break the 3:43 mile? Note that this record
has now stood longer than Gunder Hagg's 4:01.3, which stood nearly 9
years before Bannister went sub-4. This long record, right at that
tempting round number, is surely part of the fundamental mystique of the
4-minute mile, especially as it came after a 3-year period where Hagg
and Arne Andersson shared six new mile records. The record fell nearly 5
seconds in that burst.

Apparently the nasty euros are more interested in the 1500m these days,
which is too bad since the mile has such a nice history and a long
sequence of records. The tyranny of round numbers cuts both for and
against the miler.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_record_progression_for_the_mile_run

--
Ryan Cousineau rcousine@xxxxxx http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos
.

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