Why are all the records being broken?

I have to be honest.  I don’t follow professional running as a sport very deeply.  I’d much rather watch a hockey game than a track meet.  I wasn’t ever at a level of performance high enough to merit having any stake in professional or even collegiate running.

Closest I ever got was running in the cross-country league championships in high school.  And that was as one of hundreds of runners. I have never stepped on a track in competition.

I have no deep-rooted ownership of running as a competitive or pro sport.  It’s more just part of my lifestyle.

Even though I live under this rock, even I can’t hide from ,the, it seems daily, announcement of some track and field record falling.

What’s going on?

I won’t list them all but at the pro level national and international records are falling at all different distances.  At the high school and college level the same thing is happening.

These aren’t just times that shave a fraction of a second off the existing record.  These are records that are falling by seconds and minutes.  These are big improvements to records that may have stood for many years.

Something changed in 2020 – 2021.  What was it?

Point one: The shoes are better.

Let’s start with the technology.  With the advent of the Nike Vapor Fly family of shoes a couple years ago we have found a technology in shoes that works, especially for pro runners.

What this is, is a bouncier crash-pad on the forefoot tied to a carbon plate in the midsole that returns the runner’s energy much more efficiently.  Until the world figures out whether or not they want to continue to allow these shoes in competition, those that wear them will be incrementally faster.

We saw a similar technical improvement with swimsuits a couple Olympics ago where a bunch of records fell.

These shoes add a couple of percentage points to a serious runner’s performance.

We mid-packers can use these shoes too, but they’re not really designed for us.  They are not a magic panacea for all your slow racing problems. You still have to train at a high level and do everything else right, like have good clean form.  These shoes are icing on the cake.  If you’re already at that level, they can give you a couple percentage points.

For Joe Six Pack they are not going to make a difference.  But for a professional runner a couple of percentage points translates to a lot of records falling. 

Point two – the pandemic helped professional runners focus, train, and compete.

Believe it or not the pandemic set professional runners up for success.

Think about it.

What does it take for a professional runner to do well in a target race?  They need a long, focused training block without too many distractions.

Enter the pandemic.

No races to run, no appointments to make, no travel, all they had to do is get up every day and focus on their training.  Now here we are, post-pandemic and we are freeing these runners like wild animals from their cages!

They are well trained and mentally dying to get out there and use the training they have accumulated. It’s the perfect storm of training. These professional runners are showing up in the best physical and mental shape of their lives.

And records are dropping as a result.

Point three – High level sponsored training programs.

What else do professional runners need to be great?  They need to be part of a team environment that pushes them as part of a cohort of like runners.

While there have always been groups dedicated to helping the professional runner train, when you combine this with the pandemic isolation it becomes even more powerful.

What’s better than having an athlete isolated and focused on only their training?  Having a small group of athletes isolated and focused on their training together.

It may just be timing, it may be influenced by the pandemic, but we are seeing college, high school and professional programs pushing out some amazing athletes who are setting amazing records.

Some of this is the fruition of years of organizational effort but it again found the perfect storm when the pandemic arose and these teams had the focus and time to get it right.

Point four – Doping.

Well, there’s always a fly in the ointment isn’t there?  Some people will say that the records are falling because athletes have found a way to cheat more effectively.

The sad truth is, some of these great performances probably will get reversed when drug tests turn up positive. But there is a very good anti-doping program at most levels in the sport.  Detection technology has never been better.

Has the pandemic given cheaters an opportunity to do some dirty work under the radar?

I don’t know.

I’m going to choose to believe that the cheaters are a small minority and hope they get caught.

But the records keep falling.  And you and I are going to have to start paying attention as we move into a summer of track and field.

More records are going to fall.  This is a special time, and we should look up from our desks to be part of that celebration.