I want to talk about two tracks. This one is the American qualifying track for the Olympics,
and it's basically what you'll see at Tokyo 2021. And this is the track the last time Tokyo had
the Olympics in 1964. And actually, I want to talk about three tracks.
And when i say tracks, i mean literal tracks. I'm so tired.
I'm almost entirely uninterested in the people running on them,
at least right now, because in 1964 at that last Tokyo Olympics, we saw the
last hurrah of a tradition, and really a sport. Because after that Olympics, the track changed.
Yeah those are uh those are my actual running shoes. So, proud of that.
By the way, this track feels really good. Now i'm going to try doing a lap with the
adrenaline rush of worrying that somebody's going to steal my camera, so we'll see how it goes
Stop watch set.
This track is a world-class track in 1964. This is the 5k event —it is legendary,
but i want you to look at the spots on the track.
I mean, just look at this track. It is uneven and wet — it shouldn't be run on,
it should be mopped up. But these vast irregularities,
they were normal at the time.
The Tokyo 64 track was the last cinder track to be used at an olympics. Cinder tracks are
basically rubble, then a coarse cinder, followed by a finer cinder, and ashes.
You can get an idea by looking at cinder track materials that are sold today.
This is what it sounds like.
I like to imagine a really fine gravel. It's not a perfect analogy,
but you kind of get the idea. And for the first half of the 20th century,
the cinder track was all over the lore of track and field.
Except there was a problem. A big one. Cinder wasn't perfect.
Remember all the imperfections in that Olympics footage? Cinder tracks needed tons of maintenance
because they really did get chewed up and flooded. I found one thesis that was all about different
types of tracks, and they talk about doctors removing cinders from runners after a race,
and some of those racers got permanent cinder tattoos when they fell on the cinders.
And all of that adds up to the reason that the track changed.
This track's really nice, but I wanted to visit a certified world-class track,
and there's only a handful in the United States. After the 1964 olympics, we switched to synthetic
tracks. They were easier to run on, they were more consistent ,and it could actually
be kind of standardized. Today, there's a big list of certified tracks that you can run on
worldwide. That qualifier event i showed in the beginning is at Hayward in Eugene, Oregon.
As their press video shows, this place is insanely awesome. They've got that Nike money.
If it weren't for my complete lack of athleticism, I'd be on that track team. But even with all the
amazing bells and whistles at this facility, it is the world-class synthetic track
that's a big part of its appeal. The company that made it rightly brags
about it on their featured projects page, along with other world-class tracks. You can get an idea
of the basic process from a competitor's video about a world-class track they built at this
completely amazing high school in Quebec. Multiple synthetic all-weather layers
are meticulously applied. Here's a standard cross-section — there's a
surface, a finishing layer, a dense grade layer, a base, a sub-base, and a fill. And all these
differences mean that the sport being run in 1964 is kind of a different one from the race in 2021.
So we know that synthetic tracks are pretty good, but it's actually kind of complicated
to figure out the difference between cinder and synthetic tracks. On the forum for Let's Run,
people say they like the feel of cinders and the sound, and they say that well-maintained
tracks could be as fast as a synthetic track, though most give synthetic tracks
at least a half second a lap edge. That means that world records set today
are almost totally different from one set in the cinder track era. In history, people thought that
synthetic tracks were a big leap forward too. In surveys in the 60s, when synthetics were new,
people gushed that there were much better time made than on cinders. Maintenance was better.
And there were no cinder cuts on falls. The point isn't so much that cinder was really
bad, just that it was highly highly variable compared to an all-weather synthetic track, and
that leads to the larger point about what it means for the history of this sport of track and field
We talk about world records, but it's kind of an insane intellectual exercise. There is
a sport being run this year on the same track with the same rules between competitors — that's
completely valid and the quality of those individual runners it matters a lot.
I'm back!
1:36:82.
Fully on track for a 30 minute mile.
But comparing multiple years is a little silly if you know about advances in shoes,
and clothing, and definitely the tracks. This meta sport is the race that we are all running
collectively to run a race faster through all the different advances off and on the track.
Okay, that's it for this one. Thanks for watching me sweat. Normally, I do personal history type
videos on here. It really helps the channel if you can comment or subscribe, and hopefully i'll get
to see on the next one. Until then, stay safe and make sure to double knot your shoes. Alright, bye.