Marathon You Can Do It

After Dara Torres won silver at beijing summer games, she credited her success to two secrets, amino acid supplements and a mode of stretching known as Resistance stretching in which she stretches or elongates her muscles against resistance.

Benefits of resistance stretching

The benefits of resistance stretching are flexibility and strength

Meridian stretching

This video by Al Rocker guided by Bob cooley, author of best selling book Genius of flexibility demonstrates resistance stretching.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Amino Acid Supplements, Beijing, Best Selling Book, Bob Cooley, Dara Torres, Demo, Exercise Video, Flexibility Stretching, Genius Of Flexibility, Meridian, muscles, Resistance Exercise, Stretching Exercise, Stretching Flexibility, summer games, Video Rocker

Long time among ago I loved Nike running shoe but I fell out of love with Nike the day I bought my first Saucony Running shoes.

I still think Nike shoes are good for racing but when it comes to marathon training I prefer Saucony.

Latest Nike LunarGlide+ Shoe.

NIKE, Inc. have introduced the Nike LunarGlide+ Race Collection to celebrate the brave achievements of marathon runners worldwide.

The Nike LunarGlide+ Race Collection features nine shoes that combine city-inspired design touches.

The collection includes shoes for Beijing, Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, London, New York City, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo along with a shoe for the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco.

Nike is celebrating the unique individual flavour of the world’s top marathons with color and iconic imagery that represent each city.

They have  a Nike Lunarglide shoe for men and a Nike Lunarglide shoe for women.

If your city is not on that list, DONT BUY THE SHOE……off cause am kidding!!!!!!

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Beijing, Boston Chicago, Flavour, Honolulu, Imagery, Long Time, marathon runners, Marathon Running, Marathon Training, Marathons, New York City, Nike, Nike Inc, Nike Running Shoe, Nike Shoe, nike shoes, Nike Women, Rio De Janeiro, Saucony Running Shoes, Saucony Shoes

How bad will the pollution in Beijing affect athletes?

I was out this morning doing my morning run when a big truck overtook me, the truck moved slowly and at the back the exhaust pipe released a dark smoke. The dirty smoke filled the air and breathing became difficult. The little dirty air that got inside my system made me feel like vomiting!

From my Beijing like moment my answer to the pollution question is “unbelievably bad!”

The worst gas pollutant in Beijing will be Carbon monoxide, which has been filled in the air by the over 3 million cars in Beijing city. Carbon monoxide (car exhaust) attaches to hemoglobin far better than oxygen and so it reduces hemoglobin which reduces oxygen transport. The slower oxygen transportation the slower the athlete. Beijing is dealing with the Carbon monoxide pollution by banning some cars to the capital.

According to a post I read on Coach dean blog, The US olympic team is being prepared for Beijing Summer Olympics by  going to a training center set up in Korea. It will have low pollution.

ESPN “outside the line” have a video documentary of how the pollution in Beijing will affect athletes performance. Click to Watch the Video

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Beijing, breathing, pollution, Running, summer olympics

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.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Beijing, Boston Marathon, Marathon, Olympics, Resistance, Running, Training

With a passport reading 53 years, Haile Satayin will be the oldest runner at the start of Beijing Olympic Marathon this August.

I got his story from listening to Satayin audio interview on NPR. The Israel runner will be one of the oldest runners at this years Beijing Olympics. If you think Haile Satayin is too old to run at this level, keep in mind that 4 years ago at Athens Olympics marathon the man was finisher No. 20. His personal best time for a marathon is 2 hours, 14 minutes, and 21 seconds at a competition in Venice in 2003.

Does the name Haile sound familiar? Satayin emigrated to Israel from Ethiopia in 1991. Moving from the famine of Ethiopia to fast food lifestyle of Israel can have a dramatic effect to a man’s weight. He says that living in Israel made him gain weight, and he needed a way to slim down. He soon started running competitively.

Haile Satayin Training Programme

Most days, Satayin gets up around 4:30 a.m. and runs at least a half-marathon before it gets too hot. Am only 27 and I can only manage a half-marathon once a week,  I NEED TO PULL UP MY SOCKS.

Satayin is currently training in the hills of his native Ethiopia, where it’s cooler. Just like other Olympic hopefuls, he is dreaming big.

“It would be great to win a medal, but in any case I’ll compete and do my best. I’m the oldest runner there, and I thank God that he’s given me strength to run. As long as I can, I’ll keep running,” he says.

Although I will be rooting for Kenyan runners at Olympics, I will be happy if Haile Satayin wins at least a bronze medal.  I wish him best of Luck.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Beijing, Ethiopia Runners, israel olympic team, Israel runners, Marathon, Marathon Running, Olympics, Running, Training