Shrugging at the superb, marveling at the mundane

In September 1996, in a meet in Rieti, Italy, a 20-year-old (or so) Kenyan man named Daniel Komen broke Nourredine Morceli's two-year old world record in the 3,000 meters by an apocalyptic 4.43 seconds, running 7:20.67. He was pulled through about 1,950 meters by pacesetter and compatriot John Kosgei -- who was supposed to lead for at least 2,000 meters, but Komen simply went around him on the straightaway leading to that mark -- and after clocking 4:53.18 at five laps became a lone and spectral figure over the final kilometer.

None of his 400m splits was slower than 59.91 seconds, and he averaged 58.76 seconds per lap for the race. No one has come within 2.42 seconds of his record since (Hicham El Guerrouj ran 7:23.09 in 1998). No one has come within 8.5 seconds of it in the past five years. Every once-in-a-generation talent who has taken a shot at the record -- El G, Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele -- has come up dismally short.

All speculation about Komen's possible pharmaceutical assistance, what he did is simply an explosive display of footracing. He averaged 1:57.51 per 800 meters. While I haven't run one of those since ninth grade -- I did run 2:37 for 1,000 meters in college on a concrete indoor 160-meter track, which might be flirting with a 2:00 performance outdoors -- I would bet that a good portion of the runners whose marathon PR is in the range of my own (2:24:17) have not run that fast for 800 meters all-out. I know of a number of sub-2:20:00 guys who haven't done it and never dreamed of it.

Still, it's not like 7:20.67 "doesn't compute." Yes, it's fucking fast, but it's also a world record and most of those tend to distinguish themselves in that way. The fact that I and a number of half-decent road hacks could never have kept up with Komen that day for more than about 20 to 25 percent of his race doesn't mean anything. I saw his legs turn over, I know he was supernaturally efficient and gifted and probably doped halfway to the Asteroid Belt (although I will never regret naming the best dog that ever lived after him). The fact that I personally was never in the same category of runner as Komen is irrelevant.

I can of course offer similar comparisons in other events. How long could I have kept up with Bekele the day he ran 26:17 for 10,000 meters? Maybe three laps. How about Zersenay Tadese's 58:23 half-marathon? Maybe 2K. Dennis Kimetto's 2:02:57 marathon, longer than 3K but certainly not 5K. I'm seeing a rarely used and not-especially-gratifying application of the "10 percent rule" (or non-rule) here.

Which brings me to my point after a brief expository trip out to the Kuiper Belt: I did 8 x 220 yards today, my first real interval workout since the Zeus administration, and all things considered it went well. I averaged 34.0 seconds per rep. It was on a very gently rolling road in significant winds (my times were, rounded to the nearest second, 33, 33, 34, 36, 33, 33, 36, 33; I think the road rolls more than I thought) and I took lots of rest -- a glacially slow 220 between each rep. I am guessing that this enterprise was "worth" about 33.25 to 33.5 for 8 x 200m on a nice track on a calm day. I'll take it.

But I remain flummoxed that at one time, over a dozen years ago, I could run for over 8 1/2 minutes at close to this pace -- within a second or so per 200m -- with no rest. And I could run for almost 15 minutes at 35 point high per half-lap with, you guessed it, no rest.

While I can readily admit I'm not as fit as I was in those days and never will be -- and I did come into today having run 56 miles in the previous for days and 32 in the previous two -- I find these things a lot harder to believe (i.e., that I myself could ever run this or that time) than I do that superior humans ever ran any performance. Just the sheer flailing effort of turning my legs over required to run 33 seconds for an eight of a mile makes it hard to accept that this same chassis could ever glide through the opening half-minute of a 3K or 5K race at approximately that pace without even registering speed.

I guess I had better get used to it.