Marathon You Can Do It

Lindsey Vonn injured her shin muscle a few days before the start of 2010 Winter Olympics games and the ski girl tried every treatment Idea on the book.

According to this washington post article her shin muscle treatment consisted of

1. Rest

2. Stretching

3. Pain killers

4. Anti inflamation cream

5. And finally she tried the unorthodox idea : tried a home remedy as she wrapped her leg in Austrian topfen curd cheese – a product similar to cream cheese that’s mainly used for eating but reported to also bring down swelling.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 2010 Winter Olympics, 2010 Winter Olympics Games, Cream Cheese, Curd Cheese, Few Days, Home Remedy, Muscle Treatment, Olympics, Pain Killers, Shin Muscle, Ski Girl, Vonn, Washington Post, Winter Olympics, Winter Olympics Games

I just found this marathon nutrition tips by Marathoner Deena Kastor.

It’s a good idea to know which foods provide the biggest carbohydrate bang per serving, but you don’t necessarily have to approach each meal with a fork and a calculator. Marathoner Deena Kastor, who won bronze at the 2004 Olympics, believes that once you understand how your body processes different carbohydrates — that is, which foods provide lasting energy for you — you can approach your meals with an intuitive sense of what you need.

“I focus on adding another heaping spoonful of pasta or a few more potatoes,” she says. “Before the Athens marathon, I also ate a lot of dense fruits with high sugar content: pears, bananas, grapes. They replaced a lot of electrolytes and minerals I knew I was sweating out.”

Read original article calculating carbs for endurance athletes

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 2004 Olympics, Athens Marathon, Bananas, Carbohydrate, Carbohydrates, Carbs, Deena Kastor, Electrolytes, Endurance Athletes, Grapes, Intuitive Sense, Lasting Energy, Minerals, Nutrition Tips, Olympics, Original Article, Pasta, Pears, Potatoes, Sugar Content

I was surfing around the internet when I found this interesting piece on cbs news

During a 2004 Summer Olympics awash in controversies over steroids and supplements, one sportswriter wryly noticed that top American swimmer Michael Phelps was playing it safe — he preferred to drink Carnation Instant Breakfast between races.

I wondered whether Carnation Instant Breakfast supplement had any special ingredient that made Phelp’s swimmer faster than competition.

One fact about Carnation Instant breakfast is that it contains key nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin D, in quantities that sports drinks like gatorade can’t match.

The carnation instant breakfast also contains alot of calories, it adds 130 calories to a single glass of milk.

All this benefits of carnation instant breakfast helps to hasten recovery.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 2004 Summer Olympics, American Swimmer, Calcium, Calories, Carnation Instant Breakfast, Cbs News, Controversies, Energy Drink, Glass Of Milk, Michael Phelps, Nutrients, Olympics, Phelp, Quantities, Sports Drinks, Sports Energy, Sportswriter, Steroids, summer olympics, Vitamin D

George Patton was a great American Soldier but most people don’t know he was also an Olympian. During the WWII he was criticised for his win at all cost/outer aggressive nature (He slapped a soldier on a sick bed, he later admitted he thought the soldier was just faking sickness) but we can learn from his positive philosophy. One of my favourite quote by Patton has to be the following quote.

“Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired.”

- George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Marathon Running, Marathon Training, Olympian, Olympics, Running Quotes

At 22 years, Samuel Wanjiru is doing what other young men have been unable to do, Win Marathon races! In December 2007, while he was 20 yrs old, Sammy made his marathon debut in Fukuoka. He won the race in a new course record 2:06:39. He then followed that up with a 2nd place finish in London, running 2:05:24, a personal best and the 7th fastest time ever. Then in August 2008 he won the Olympic Gold medal in a new olympic record of 2 hr 6 minutes. Now everyone believes he is the chosen one to beat Haile Gebrselassie marathon world record.

Samuel Wanjiru Marathon Training

In an interview with Japanese Asahi newspaper and re-posted in Japanese running news, the guy shared his marathon training plan as he trained for the 2008 Beijing Olympic marathon.

(1) July 9: 38 km cross-country at a slow pace around 4:30 per km
July 10: easy day
July 11: speedwork (400 m x 10)

(2) July 20: 30 km pace run on flat ground in around 1 hour 34 min.
July 21: easy day
July 22: easy day
July 23: speedwork (3000 m x 3)

(3) July 30: 38 km cross-country at a slow pace around 4:30 per km
July 31: easy day
August 1: speedwork (400 m x 10)

(4) August 10: 30 km pace run on flat ground in around 1 hour 34 min.
August 11: easy day
August 12: easy day
August 13: speedwork (3000 m x 3)

Daily Workouts

Other than that he also runs about 15 km at 7:00 am or 8:00 am in the morning before he eats breakfast. He start’s around 4 minutes per km, drops it down to 3:30 in the middle, then ends up down at about 3 minutes 5 seconds.

Doe he do any Strength Training?

” I never do any strength training. You can get enough strength from running on cross-country-type courses.”

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Kenyan Runners, Marathon, Marathon Running, Marathon Training, Olympics

I have always thought barefoot running is the most dangerous thing a runner can try (Just look at the bleeding feet of Abebe Bikila who won Gold at while running barefoot at 1960 Olympics).

My thought on barefoot running was changed a little bit when I read the following advice on runners world magazine.

Go Barefoot Once A Week
Strong feet and lower legs, plus flexible ankles, equal fewer injuries. One of the best ways to gain this strength and flexibility is by barefoot running, according to McMillan, because you have to work harder at each toe-off and landing. “Try to do a few barefoot strides or some light jogging equal to between one and three laps of a track once or twice each week,” he says. Level grass works the best.

Source: Runners world UK dot com

I will try running barefoot and see how it goes.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Bikila, Ethiopian Runners, Inspiring, Marathon, Olympics, Running

Paul Tergat will be running at 2008 New York marathon. He just finished second at last week Lisbon half marathon.That will give him confidence going to New York Marathon.

I doubt whether the old warrior has the endurance to compete at high level. At 39 years of age he seems to have been edged out by new young distance runners from Kenya. Just look at the ages of Kenya marathon team at Beijing Olympics.

1. Martin Lel – 30 Yrs

2. Robert Cheruiyot – 30 Yrs.

3. Samuel Wanjiru (Olympic Gold Medal winner)- 21 Yrs

Back in May he finished 19th at Bangalore 10K, the Indian National daily termed his performance “a forgettable 19th”

But 2008 has been the year old athletes got back their groove. Romanian Constantina Tomescu 38 won Gold in the womens Olympic marathon and in the pool American swimmer Dara Torres won silver at ripe age of 41 years. Old is gold!!

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Inspiring, Kenyan Runners, New york marathon, Olympics, Running

I was going through Matt Mullenweg blog when I stumbled on an interesting comment on why Olympic heroes need pity not adulation.

If you don’t know Matt, he is the genius from San Francisco who gave us wordpress software, the best blogging software on the planet. My website is powered by wordpress.

This was the comment by a reader calling himself Nas,

“People willing to punish themselves hard enough to qualify for the Olympics require counseling, not admiration… Not to mention the fact that some athletes go through a training regimen that starts early enough and is hard enough to qualify as child abuse… Olympians are by and large victims, not “winners”. “

As a runner, my best moment is at the end of 42K marathon, nothing can beat the joy and pride from the satisfaction of doing something very difficult.

What do you say, are you a  victim or hero?

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

It was a beautiful month, it’s so sad the Olympics happen once in 4 years. Let me share my best moments from Beijing:-

Michael Phelps winning the 100 meter freestyle

After seeing the Serbian swimmer lead from start to near the finish I thought Phelps would miss his 8th gold medal. But Phelps made a stunning jump at the final metre to win Gold.

Usain Bolt  jog to win 100 metre gold

I didn’t watch this race on TV but listened to it on BBC sports radio. The fact Usain Bolt  jogged the final 10 metres to win the 100M gold means sooner or later a sprinter somewhere will dash 100m in 9.6 flat.

Constatina Tomescu break

I love marathon running and as I watched Romanian Tomescu break from the other runners, I just wished one day I will be able to run at such a high pace and not implode at the 32K mark. The point most novice runners hit the wall!

Kenenisa Bekele Final Kick

As a Kenyan it is disheartening to see Kenenisa Bekele make that final kick and there is no Kenyan runner to match him.

Samwel Kamau Wanjiru  Winner Mens Olympic marathon

I loved the salute he made as he entered the Birds nest stadium on his way to break the Olympic marathon record. At 21 I never rated the guy to win the mens marathon but he was the strongest on the day it mattered most.

If you are already feeling the hangover of Beijing Olympics don’t go to sleep yet,  the Paraolympics are just getting started!

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Athletes, Beijing Olympics, Olympics

The beijing olympics has been a success, no scandals have been reported. I did a google search on Olympic scandals and I only got scandals from the past. The most interesting bits were about the following women athletes who were suspected to be men.

Polish Runner Ewar Kobukkowska

She was the first woman to be caught in a gender test in 1967. In 1964 summer olympics in Tokyo, She won gold medal in women 4 x 100 meter relay and the bronze in womens 100 meters sprint.

She was found to have a rare genetic condition which gave her no advantage over other athletes, but was nonetheless banned from competing in the Olympics and professional sports.

Indian Runner Santhi Soundarajan.

She won the silver medal in the 800 meters track event at the 2006 Asian games in Doha, Qatar. She failed a the sex determination test and was stripped of her medal. Her case is yet to be concluded however.

Soundarajan  is reported to have lived her entire life as woman.

Brazilian Judo, Edinanci Silva,

At Sydney, she beat Australian Judoka Natalie Jenkins. At a press conference Jenkins raised the issue of Silva’s gender by constantly referring to her as “he” Eventually Silva was confirmed as female but not without some considerable embarrassment.

German athlete, Dora Ratjen 

In 1936 a German athlete named Dora Ratjen finished fourth in the women’s high jump. Twenty years later, Ratjen disclosed the he was in fact Hermann Ratjen and that the Nazis had forced him to compete as a woman.

Brazil Women Vollyeball team

After 2000 Sydney Olympics I remember reading about How volleyball teams had complained about the Brazilian volley team. The team officials admitted some of their players were formerly hermaphrodite but they had undertook an operation to be women. Even after the IOC confirmed the players to be men, most girls from the other teams continue insist they had played against men.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Beijing Olympics, Olympics, Running, Scandals