In a previous post Jerry makes the point that running half way around a track with the wind and then running the other half against the wind will offset in regards to a horse's performance. While this might be good physics I'm not sure it's good sport's physiology or psychology.
I know from having been a runner for twenty years that wind can play a lot of tricks on a person. Not least of all it can throw off a person's internal clock, which is what I'm thinking it might have done to more than a few entrants (human and equine) at the start of this year's Kentucky Derby.
I was once reading an article where Bill Rodger's, the noted marathoner, was quoted as saying he hated to run down hills. A statement so counterintuive that it gave me great pause until he explained his position. Which was basically that he found it more difficult to maintain the metronomic pace he was wanting to keep while he was coming down hill. It was too easy for him to think he was stronger than he was; it was too easy for him to speed up.
Well, running with the wind at your back will do that to you. It will make you feel like you can run forever; a delusion that provides a serious gut check event when you turn the corner into the wind that was carrying your good opinion of yourself. And I'm talking instant overwhelming fatigue here, if like the hare you've foolishly depleted your energies.
I read an article after the Derby that pointed out that not only did the speedballs run early but that many of the horses you would expect to be in the second or third tier weren't relaxing, were running unusualy close to the pace. Now this could be attributed to the presence of a rabbit, the excitement of the day. Which I'm sure were contributing factors. But I'm thinking now that it was also the seductive, susurrus rush of the wind at their back, full of promise and glory, which was the Siren that lured many an unwary entry into the shoals of premature exhaustion and ignominious defeat.
Actually, the last sentence is bullshit. The most dangerous thing about the wind is that you don't even know it's at your back until your turn into it. That's why it can play such tricks on athletic performance.



Post Edited (05-11-05 11:08)