Marathon: You Can Do It

After 21 years old Samuel Kamau Wanjiru won the Beijing Olympic marathon gold, I got this feeling this guy could be the next big thing in long distance running.

When you hit big success so early in life, you can either end up being a legend or implode. After looking at the life’s of other sportmens whose career turned tragic, I think the following obstacles stand between Samuel and greatness.

1) Gold Diggers

After Samuel won Gold, the Kenyan media were quick to do a story on his family. Now everyone is talking about his $300,000 mansion. Samuel is married with one kid but that won’t stop an over zealous woman. And Gold diggers are not just women, I remember Mike Tyson used to move around with hangers on and bodyguards and they did their best to help him blow up the estimated $300 million he earned in his short career

2) Business

This could be the biggest obstacle. Samuel comes from the Kikuyu tribe, a tribe whose primary passion is making money. Investing your money is a wise thing but dabbling in a start up business can be a big distraction.

Catherine Ndereba at one time said how she opened a business on the side and she found her self  spending more time supervising the business and less time training. In the end she closed shop.

3) Fatigue and Burnout

Everyone who follows marathon running knows a 21 year old top marathon runner is something rare in our sport.  Am seeing more Kenyan runners barely out of their teens aiming for the marathon, part of the attraction is the big dollars in road racing. It’s simple economics; Big money attracts big talent!

Road running is very demanding on the body, it is the only sport activity where at the end of an event you have burned your calories to zero. Your heart rate reaches abnormal rates and your knees and ankles are subjected to bone breaking stress.

The irony of marathon running is that to be ready for a big event you have to train hard but it is the hard training that causes injuries. Look at Radcliffe, she got her injury while training for Beijing Olympics. Another casualty of hard training was Kenyan, Robert Cheruiyot, he was my favourite to win gold going to Beijing Olympics but he withdrew on the eve of the marathon citing injury

It was JFK who said “We should not pray for easier life but pray to be strong men!”

The obstacles are not going away, I can only wish the golden boy to be strong!

Tags: Marathon, Running, Training

I have  just finished reading an Interview of Samuel Wanjiru on Daily Nation Newspaper, on how he won Beijing Olympic Marathon. If you thought lack of sleep, anxiety, fear and self doubt is the stuff of amateur runners, you will be interested to know Samuel Wanjiru didn’t sleep on the eve of the marathon.

Samuel Wanjiru Couldn’t sleep on the eve of the marathon.

The 21 year Olympic medal winner admitted he spent the whole night thinking about the marathon. He only relaxed in the morning when he met fellow runners, Martin Lel and Luke Kibet who also admitted they had also not slept at all.

Lack of sleep on the eve of a marathon afflict all runners, the best advice I read was on the runners guide book of my first Stanchart Nairobi marathon: If you cant sleep you can try to relax. If that is hard you can check my previous post, Foods you can eat to help you sleep on the eve of a marathon

Samuel had doubts about his chances

He was confident of a Kenyan win but he knew team mate Martin Lel would win  the race because he has a stronger finishing kick.

Who said progression running is the best race strategy?

In soccer they say the best defence is attack. Samuel hit the tarmac on a fast pace because according to the assumptions of his Japanese coach, “It was hot and humid in Beijing and thats why it was important for Wanjiru to run fast in the lead group so that by the time the temperatures rose, it was difficult for the chasing pack to catch him. I think that is what happened. A perfect strategy by the coach!

The Pounding heart

I remember as he zoomed into the bird nest, I  saw a smiling face but according to Samuel, his heart was pounding heavily. Sometimes looks can be deceiving!

Samuel Wanjiru Beijing 5K split times

1st 5 Kms - 14 mins 52 secs

2nd 5  Kms (10Km) - 14 mins 34 secs

3rd 5 Km (15Km) - 15 Min 11 Secs

4th 5 Km (20Km) - 14 Min 33 Secs

5th 5 Km (25Km) - 14 Min 48 Secs

6th 5 km (30Km) - 15 Min 16 Secs

7th 5 Km (35 Km) - 15 Min 23 secs

8th 5 Km ( 40 Km) - 15 Min 17 Secs

At 21 years, you can expect to hear more from this young man.

Tags: Beijing Olympics, Kenyan Runners, Running

I was asked by bull runner who do I think will win the Mens and Women Beijing Olympic Marathon? Being a Kenyan I will be naturaly biased and go for the Kenyan dream team of Robert Cheruiyot and Martin Lel.

To know who between Robert Cheruiyot and Martin Lel will win, I decided to have a look at Beijing marathon course. Different courses favour different athletes.

According to the Official Beijing Olympic Site, The marathon will begin at Tian’anmen Square and end at the National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest.

The head of design at Asics sports went to China in April for the Beijing Marathon. He found the course to be flat but composed of various surfaces, including stone (that could cause slipping); newly paved asphalt (which will increase the heat); and concrete that appeared harder than Japanese concrete (perhaps because Beijing’s main roads are meant to accommodate tanks and other military vehicles).

A flat course would favour Martin Lel who is known for his sprint finish but going by the observation of Asic’s man, the difficult road conditions might just favour Robert (Mwafrika) Cheruiyot.

Robert is the twice winner of Boston marathon, it’s hills make it one of the toughest marathons in the world. Incidentally, the stamina he has gained from Boston hill runs might just have prepared him for Olympic glory.

On August 24th  2008 I expect to see the very tall dark Robert to be the first man to enter the Bird’s nest.

As for the women, I don’t see how Catherine Ndereba will beat the Japanese ladies. While Ndereba trains in the clean highland air in Kenya, the Japanese female runners will have the advantage of training in the bad Beijing air.

Tags: , Beijing, Boston Marathon, Marathon, Olympics, Resistance, Running, Training

The most popular question I get from readers about Kenyan runners is “What do Kenyan runners eat?” I have written a post on how the average Kenyan runner grows up in a low calory diet. The answer to what they eat when training is found in a study published by Active website. The study followed a group of 10 elite Kenyan runners over a seven day training period.

According to the study, about 86 percent of daily calories comes from vegetable sources, with 14 percent from animal foods.

As a Kenyan I have to say this heavy reliance on vegie is not a matter of choice but necessity. Because of their short maturity period, vegetables are planted all over Kenya, in farms and gardens. Vegetables are one of the cheapest foods available in Kenya. Foods such as potatoes and meat are expensive and most families cannot afford to buy them on daily basis.

Incidentaly, vegie eating is the secret diet for the best endurance athletes in the world.

The study adds, the Kenyan-runners’ diets were extremely rich in carbohydrate, with 76.5 percent of daily calories coming from carbs. The Kenyans ate about 10.4 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body mass each day, or approximately 4.7 grams per pound of body weight.

Sports-nutrition experts frequently recommend that athletes involved in strenuous training should consume about nine or more grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body mass per day.

During the study, in a day the average Kenyan runner ate an average of 600 grams of carbohydrate and 75 grams of protein (Mainly from plant foods like beans)

The peculiar find of the study was that we Kenyans drink very little water (about 1.113 liters per day), and a Kenyan runner actually tended to drink more tea than water on a daily basis (tea consumption was about 1.243 daily liters)

I remember when I was in high school, one of my classmate never drunk tea because his church prohibited drinking of tea. According to the church, TEA IS A DRUG!

Tags: diet, Kenyan Runners, Marathon Running, Running, Training

The final list of Kenya’s Beijing Olympic squad was finally presented to IAAF on monday and two names on the list were unexpected. 400m Sprinters, Elizabeth Muthuka and Vincent Mumo surprised me when they were able to achieve the Olympic qualifying mark.

Their success reminded me that there was a time when Kenya athletes were a force in short distances. I checked results of past Olympic games and discovered that in the past, Kenya ranked very well in the 4×400m relay. We won a silver at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, and then a Gold in the 1972 Munich Olympics. Julius Sang also won a bronze in open 400m in the same Munich games.

Elizabeth Muthuka has a Maria Mutola look, She has a muscular build; chiseled shoulders and biceps that would make men her age envious. Until last month, Elizabeth Muthuka was just another struggling athlete but in the last one week, she has broken the Kenyan 400m record which stood for 24 year twice. She is now set for Beijing.

Athletics Kenya has talked about promoting participation in short distance but it has all been talk, the federation has never put money in promoting the sport. Aspiring sprinters like Elizabeth have to struggle by themselves.

Struggling on your own teaches you determination. I hope the determination propels Elizabeth and Vincent to victory in Beijing.

Tags: Beijing Olympics, Kenyan Runners, Olympics, Running, sprints