fortheloveofsoftball,
As a professor of biomechanics, I have always been interested about human performance and some of the limits. In regards to your comments about the 4 min miles I would like to direct you to a very good analysis at the following URL:
The Science of Sport: Search results for four minute mile
I think the urban myth of someone saying that running under 4 minutes was not possible needs to be debunked a little.
Now in regards to running 60 feet and a time of 2.3 seconds. I think we can use as a guide the performance of someone like Usain Bolt. When Bolt ran his 100m World Record he had the following split times:
Reaction Time: 0.165 second
0-10m: 1.85 second
10-20m: 1.02 second
Using this data, we can use it to extrapolate the world record for a performance that would use the following methodology which as been used by the USA Olympic coaches for monitoring purposes:
1. Start in the right batter's box
2. Start running on your own
3. The timing of the performance begins at the first foot contact following the initiation of the performance (reduction of the distance by 3 feet)
4. The end of the performance is timed at foot contact on 1st base
5. The performance is timed manually. The reported manual timing errors can be up to 0.2 seconds because of reaction time of the timer at the onset of the performance (0.130) and error in anticipating the foot contact on the base (less than 0.1)
Under these conditions the extrapolation of Usain Bolt's performance would be:
1. 2.87 seconds for 20m can be converted to 2.583 for a 20 yard run (10% less distance)
2. Since you are reducing the distance with the 1st step by 3 feet you could record a time of 2.454
3. Taking into account the measurement error of 0.2 second I would suggest that Usain Bolt could run a 2.2 Home to 1st performance.
Hence based on this data I would like to suggest that it would be really difficult to have a Home to 1st performance of 2.3 or less unless you are capable of running a 100m under 10 second.
It can be seen that some of the performance reported by athletes, coaches and parents might only occur if an error occurred during the measurement of said performance.
That being said, I wish you great luck in your athletic quest!
Michel Ladouceur, PhD
Dalhousie University
As a professor of biomechanics, I have always been interested about human performance and some of the limits. In regards to your comments about the 4 min miles I would like to direct you to a very good analysis at the following URL:
The Science of Sport: Search results for four minute mile
I think the urban myth of someone saying that running under 4 minutes was not possible needs to be debunked a little.
Now in regards to running 60 feet and a time of 2.3 seconds. I think we can use as a guide the performance of someone like Usain Bolt. When Bolt ran his 100m World Record he had the following split times:
Reaction Time: 0.165 second
0-10m: 1.85 second
10-20m: 1.02 second
Using this data, we can use it to extrapolate the world record for a performance that would use the following methodology which as been used by the USA Olympic coaches for monitoring purposes:
1. Start in the right batter's box
2. Start running on your own
3. The timing of the performance begins at the first foot contact following the initiation of the performance (reduction of the distance by 3 feet)
4. The end of the performance is timed at foot contact on 1st base
5. The performance is timed manually. The reported manual timing errors can be up to 0.2 seconds because of reaction time of the timer at the onset of the performance (0.130) and error in anticipating the foot contact on the base (less than 0.1)
Under these conditions the extrapolation of Usain Bolt's performance would be:
1. 2.87 seconds for 20m can be converted to 2.583 for a 20 yard run (10% less distance)
2. Since you are reducing the distance with the 1st step by 3 feet you could record a time of 2.454
3. Taking into account the measurement error of 0.2 second I would suggest that Usain Bolt could run a 2.2 Home to 1st performance.
Hence based on this data I would like to suggest that it would be really difficult to have a Home to 1st performance of 2.3 or less unless you are capable of running a 100m under 10 second.
It can be seen that some of the performance reported by athletes, coaches and parents might only occur if an error occurred during the measurement of said performance.
That being said, I wish you great luck in your athletic quest!
Michel Ladouceur, PhD
Dalhousie University
Thanks for data, seriously.
