Marathon: You Can Do It

I would have loved to continue with my long run but with less than 30 days to 2008 Nairobi marathon, my long run yesterday was the last. Am now tapering.

I enjoy long runs because I do them at a slow pace,and I don’t have to worry about my time, unlike the speed works where you have to push faster and faster and at times running round a track can be boring.

Don’t run too much: Avoid fatigue

The distance of my long run yesterday was a 42K. That is my longest distance I have run this year. I would have loved to do atleast three more but with less than a month of training, running such a long distance could leave one fatigued. Instead of being a better runner you would suffer reduced endurance.

Sign of Dehydration

The run was made worse by the hot sun. We are in the hot season here in Kenya and this is the hardest time to train for a marathon. I had hoped to run the whole distance non stop but at 30K mark I was too thirsty to continue and I wasn’t sweating enough, which is a sign of dehydration. I stopped at a highway motel where I borrowed some water.

Running With Sore Calf Muscle.

At the 36K mark I got a familiar feeling in my calves. They felt sore! I thought of stopping but I decided to keep running. In my last two marathons when my calves felt too sore , I started to walk. This time I decided to see whether its possible to continue running with sore calf muscle. I held onto my pace and got to the finish.

The lesson from this last long run is that it’s possible to run with sore calf muscles. You just need to learn how to ignore the pain.

Tags: long run, Running, Training, water

After breaking the world marathon record for the second time Haile Gebreselassie must surely be singing Britney Spears song “I did it again…”

The ever smiling 35-year-old Ethiopian became the first man to run under two hours, four minutes as he clocked 2:03:59 at 2008 Berlin Marathon.

After the win I quickly checked the records and I noticed it is the sixth time the marathon world record has been broken over the flat Berlin courseIs it possible?

The last time he broke the record he was asked whether it was possible to run the marathon in 2 hours flat, the following was his answer

“Sure, it will happen,” he told reporters on Monday. “But when? Will it be in 20 years? Or 40 years? Nobody knows. The more technology develops, the more athletes will run faster. I believe one day it will happen.”

Lets us see how the time has been brought down from the past to the present.

In 1895, Spiridon Louis of Greece ran in 2hrs 58 minute.It wasnt until 1925 that American Albert Michelsen became the first man to run under 2hrs 30mins, by running in 2hrs 29mins. It took another 40 years for the time to go below 2hrs 10mins when Derek Clayton of Australia ran in 2hrs 9mins in 1967. 40 Yrs later Haile Gebresellasie is the second man to have ran below 2hrs 5mins.

Making an educated guese I think it will takes us another 40 plus years before we see a marathon runner running on 2hrs flat.

Tags: Haile Gebreselassie, Marathon, Marathon Running, Running

Running alone is hard enough, Imagine running a 42K marathon while pushing someone on a wheelchair.

This is the incredible story of Mick and Phil, Mick is the parent of Phil who is extremely disabled and in a wheelchair. Phil suffers from Cerebral Palsy. His father Mick is a very accomplished runner and he and Phil have run many half marathons/marathons over the years. Mick pushing Phil’s wheelchair.

Their personal best is 4 hours 12 minutes.

On Mick ‘n’ Phil website, Mic narrates how they started running. “My wife gave me an ultimatum in early 2002, “either take Phillip in his wheelchair running with you, or pack it all in as, as I cannot cope any longer”. Well, I can tell you now, I thought it was the end of things, so I had a long hard think. Would the wheelchair stand up to it? Would Phillip like it? and most importantly, could I do this whilst pushing him? Running is hard enough at times no matter what standard you are. This was make or break, all or nothing. We started with a 2 mile fun run, taking 17m 45s, moved up to a 10k clocking 46m then tackled a 10 miler in a time of 1hr 48m. The final test was the full marathon where we achieved a time of 4hr 12m. This was fantastic, we were both loving it and quite simply, having the time of our lives. The rest they say, is history.”

Tags: half marathon, Inspiring, Marathon, Running

On my blog travels I found this funny running story by Baldrunner . The story is how a thief stole his daughters race number and went ahead to race.

The theft took place at 2006 city of Angels Half Marathon.  According to the post  , They arrived at the Expo only to find that her daughters running pack was missing, the attendants informed them that someone had collected it.  King of Pot then says,

“We later found out from the results of the race that an unknown male runner used my daughter’s race number and started and finished way behind us. He finished the race in 2 hrs 33 minutes & 03 seconds with split time at 10K in 1 hr 06 minutes & 14 seconds. He had 10:40 minutes pace in the 10K and 11:41 minutes pace for the half-marathon. The guy did not register for the race but just simply ran the race using my daughter’s original designated race number.”

He goes further and claims, “I had a suspicion that the guy who got her race number was a Chinese!!!!”

Tags: Marathon, race, Running

Elizabeth Muthuka, a Kenyan sprinter has been banned for two years for testing positive to banned substance nandrolone.

This news did not surprise me.

Back in July, Elizabeth made news headlines when she qualified for Olympics. Kenya is a country that produces long distance runners and when a sprinter emerges there is hullabaloo.  In a spun of a week the 33 year old broke two national records.

What caught my attention was not her record breaking times but her muscular body.

See for yourself

Elizabeth Muthuka during Olympic trials

I know a man who has spent years in the gym trying to get such muscles, after 4 years of lifting weights the man hasn’t made much progress.

According to Wikipedia  effects of  Nandrolone include muscle growth, appetite stimulation and increased red blood cell production and bone density.

In the hearing, Elizabeth admitted using the drug after she was advised to do so by her doctors.

Muthuka becomes the fourth female runner from Kenya to test positive. Others are Udine half marathon champion Pamela Chepchumba, former world cross country junior champion Lydia Cheromei and marathoner Susan Chepkemei.

Tags: doping, drugs, Kenyan Runners, Marathon Running, Running, Training