I liked the running style, at least she was unique. I heard from someone on the IAAF board that other Chinese runners ran that way in the past, but I can't recall seeing any.
"I liked the running style, at least she was unique."
I'm speechless... "Unique" isn't necessarily a good thing. It would be "unique" to run with your arms straight up in the air at all times, or to continuously rotate them windmill style...or to "run" by falling down and rolling over every 12 steps or...well, the possibilities are simply endless...and horrifying...
Jon: Yes, I'd like to think I have made a great contribution to fandom! There are evils and there are EVILS, after all...
kuha wrote:I'm speechless... "Unique" isn't necessarily a good thing. It would be "unique" to run with your arms straight up in the air at all times, or to continuously rotate them windmill style...or to "run" by falling down and rolling over every 12 steps or...well, the possibilities are simply endless...and horrifying...
Well, if anyone could do any of the things you mentioned and win medals in global championships in the process, I'd be their no. 1 fan.
paula's running form is far from pretty but she is the greatest female marathoner the world has ever seen, and secound isnt even close. if you look at her from the neck down she's fairly economical. in a dave beford bashing it out kinda of way. she certainly never made me laugh out loud with her form.
Hey! I'll defend Radcliffe's style--it's agonizing, but NOT anywhere near as horrific as the straight-arm thing. Am I contradicting myself? Like old Walt Whitman, maybe...
One interesting aspect of the positive test is that she "passed" the same test a couple of days before after winning the marathon. This is at least a little curious. I do not recall what the "positive" is for, and it only covers the "A" sample at this point.
Paula's head-bob? Painful to watch, just like straight-armed Chinese woman. I don't want to see either one. Maybe they can race each other and we can all not watch.
Tried emulating Gabe Jennings shuffle style today... even threw in a Michael Johnson between strides. Hurt like heck to drag my feet like that. I suppose the opposite of the straight-arm style would be Mark Everett and his right-arm-goes-wild-after-cast-removed style. I also agree, the straight-arm style was hard on the eyes.
slowcoach wrote:I tried emulating Paula's style while out running one day, and ended up running into a wall!
Our coach made us run with our hands in our pockets (or at least down by our sides), just to show us how important our arms were for running.
coachy, from physics, i'm sure the arm-down cadence must be energy saving - if we can find the wt. of the average arm, assume it's centre of mass goes up by ? 10cm with the classic style & this occurs every 2s ( 1s for each arm )
if sun coud run 30'00 with an assumed classic style, her total energy output of just running woud be ~ 0.5*m*(10,000/1800)^2*1800 = 27,777*m J
now, if she cuts out the arm action, you coud save yourself some valuable energy, which you coud use to run faster:
maybe an arm is worth (1/40)*m ( ? ) - have to look this up
if this (1/40)*m is raised by 0.1m every 2s for 30'00, then the energy expended is 1/40*m*0.1*(1800/2)*9.8 for each arm, which we can double for 2 arms, giving us 44.1*m J
add this to 27,777*m J & we get
27,821.1*m J, giving us a revised time with "no arms" of...
Imagine putting the bobbing head and the no arm action together !
Actually just go to any popular running trail in your area and you'll see people who have decided that combining the styles of two great female runners makes sense.
eldrick wrote:coachy, from physics, i'm sure the arm-down cadence must be energy saving - if we can find the wt. of the average arm, assume it's centre of mass goes up by ? 10cm with the classic style & this occurs every 2s ( 1s for each arm )
if sun coud run 30'00 with an assumed classic style, her total energy output of just running woud be ~ 0.5*m*(10,000/1800)^2*1800 = 27,777*m J
now, if she cuts out the arm action, you coud save yourself some valuable energy, which you coud use to run faster:
maybe an arm is worth (1/40)*m ( ? ) - have to look this up
if this (1/40)*m is raised by 0.1m every 2s for 30'00, then the energy expended is 1/40*m*0.1*(1800/2)*9.8 for each arm, which we can double for 2 arms, giving us 44.1*m J
add this to 27,777*m J & we get
27,821.1*m J, giving us a revised time with "no arms" of...
~ 29'58.6
err... probably not much better
Most of this went right under my head. 8)
Joke: A Statistician is someone who is good with numbers but doesn't have the personality to become an accountant.
Isn't all this arm shit trivialising an important issue? Assuming she's guilty, this will have big ramifications on Chinese athletics. They know that the eyes of the world are on them all the way until 08, the timing couldn't have been worse.
Vern wrote:Isn't all this arm shit trivialising an important issue? Assuming she's guilty, this will have big ramifications on Chinese athletics. They know that the eyes of the world are on them all the way until 08, the timing couldn't have been worse.
What else can we do????
I feel sick and enraged every time I hear about another doping case in my beloved sport.
I coach teenagers who are becoming pretty damn cynical about ever making it to the top. A litle ridicule isn't a bad thing.
I know most people here do not trivalize the issue.
Mojo,
I know what you mean, and I agree with you wholeheartedly. But if she didn't have her unique style, how many of us would bother posting on this topic?
China can ill afford another doping scandal - one must just hope this is an isolated case, and that they can move on. But when the largest nation on this planet has a credibility issue 3 years before the Olympics.....
I think we would be commenting even without her unique running style. Running a world class marathon and then a 10K garners attention!
I actually feel a little sorry for her. Apparently she is from a very poor family. Her life sounds dreadful to me- so much running can not be enjoyable or healthy and then taking drugs. Her body will pay a price and now she has the humiliation to live with.
Don't get me wrong I am glad she was caught(if the second sample comes back positive) and I hope this is an isolated event.
I want China to feel the eyes of the world are them and they are suspicious eyes- maybe that will keep things on the up and up.
)
