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Shaun Fox
Water Boy
Joined: 15 Jul 2001
Posts: 78
Location: Peterborough, England
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 Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2002 7:40 am Post subject: |
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I was thinking (dangerous i know  ) is there a point where an athlete can not get any better? is there a limit on how good each individual can be? |
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Dan
Chief Pontificator
Joined: 22 Mar 1999
Posts: 9334
Location: Salem, OR
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| Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2002 8:48 am Post subject: |
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There may be such a limit, but it would be impossible to determine, and as such, quite pointless to think about, let alone to base one's training on. Improvements come in peaks, valleys, and plateaus. Who's to say a big jump up isn't right behind the current plateau?
Dan |
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Shaun Fox
Water Boy
Joined: 15 Jul 2001
Posts: 78
Location: Peterborough, England
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| Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2002 9:18 am Post subject: |
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| yes but what if you could cut out the peaks plateus and valleys and always be improving. could that be possible? |
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Dan
Chief Pontificator
Joined: 22 Mar 1999
Posts: 9334
Location: Salem, OR
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| Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2002 9:32 am Post subject: |
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Doubtful. Things just don't work that way. Even if you could, that still wouldn't address the original question. If you kept improving, then you would obviously know nothing about your limit. If you stopped improving temporarily, well, maybe you became a real person again and hit a plateau.
Dan |
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Conway
Olympic Medalist
Joined: 25 Aug 2001
Posts: 3570
Location: Northen California
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| Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2002 10:25 am Post subject: |
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I know of no tests that can determine what an individuals limits are .. And that woauld be nearly impossible to do since there are so many different factors .. Outside of one's own physical make up there are things like temperatures for some races .. Wind for others .. Altitude .. Competitive desire .. Will to win .. And on and on .. Mo Greene for instance has run 9.79 but has had races that while not as fast indicate he "could" run faster .. Will he ?? Only time will tell .. And you may never know what your "potential" is as you may never realize it !!!
Anyway ... Why worry ... Potential is really in the mind of the athlete ... One's potential is what is willing to work towards ... |
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Distance_Guru
World Class
Joined: 09 Mar 2002
Posts: 1280
Location: Nebraska
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| Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2002 6:40 am Post subject: |
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Limits are funny things, they do exist but no great athlete acknowledges them. Even after setting world records runners always say things like "I think I can still run a perfect race and that wasn't a perfect race". I personally have had a very knowlegable person tell me what they thought my limit was, only to have me go out and six months later run a full 12 secs per mile faster than that. So I think it best if you throw whatever ideas of limits you have in your mind out and train your tail off and I think you'll find that your limits are less limiting than you might have first thought.
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Time is the fire in which we burn |
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