food4thought. wrote:
It is incredibly naive to believe that NO Kenyan (or other African) is doping. The circumstantial evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of it. Did humans suddenly gain some physical advantage in the last 10+ years? Heck No.
Yet the WR went from holding steady at 2:06:50 for over 10 years from 1988 to 1999, when the first guy broke 2:06, to now a sub 2:06 is required to win ANY decent size marathon almost regardless of conditions. Now that guy who was a phenomenon for breaking 2:06 is around 50th all time. Starting in 2007/8 marathon times made a drastic drop.
The money has been there for decades in big marathons, so that is not it.
Did training techniques change drastically? No, Lydiard pretty much had the system down in the 60s.
What changes so quickly in the human world? Scientific advances. It is the obvious answer and it is the ONLY answer.
Scientific advances, certainly. But are you qualified to narrow down such advances to doping, solely? I ask the question openly, because I think your premise is entirely correct: huge improvements in the world record cannot be put down to "mental toughness" or "work ethic" as people have (naively, in my opinion) suggested.
Are there not other improvements in the training regimen in the last decade? How about nutrition, sleeping patterns, incremental training advances?