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Post by eight-hundred on Jan 20, 2010 16:27:03 GMT -5
While everyone is on the topic of Marathon, there was no mention of Geb's world record attempt Friay in Dubai. www.iaaf.org/news/kind=100/newsid=55343.html"Gebrselassie is just days from again taking on the clock at the 2010 Standard Charted Dubai Marathon in the United Arab Emirates on Friday where he will attempt to lower his own world marathon record for the third successive year in the small, but rich Middle Eastern business hub. " Good article on his training and perspective on records (half marathon, 25 km etc), and gives a great perspective on balancing your day job and training: www.universalsports.com/news/article/newsid=396748.html |
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pmac
Junior Member
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Post by pmac on Jan 20, 2010 20:38:42 GMT -5
...gives a great perspective on balancing your day job and training The only perspective I got was that Gebreselassie works a grand total of four hours a day while training for up to six. He's got it made (not that he hasn't earned it!). |
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Post by im on Jan 22, 2010 6:31:06 GMT -5
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Post by SI on Jan 22, 2010 8:34:01 GMT -5
His back even looks tight in that pic.
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Post by athlib on Jan 22, 2010 9:16:23 GMT -5
The picture in that article was from another marathon, not Dubai today.
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Post by SI on Jan 22, 2010 11:15:42 GMT -5
Still looks tight. Maybe he actually has a chronic problem.
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Post by oldster on Jan 22, 2010 11:18:31 GMT -5
Still looks tight. Maybe he actually has a chronic problem. If he's got any kind of chronic problem, I'd like to have it! |
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Post by lukesteer93 on Jan 22, 2010 13:04:00 GMT -5
apparently he slept in the wrong position? you'd think that would be a bit of a rookie mistake, and that he'd have a pretty regular, systematic routine for pre-race. www.letsrun.com/2010/geb0122.php |
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pmac
Junior Member
Posts: 122
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Post by pmac on Jan 22, 2010 14:17:54 GMT -5
apparently he slept in the wrong position? you'd think that would be a bit of a rookie mistake, and that he'd have a pretty regular, systematic routine for pre-race. Rookie mistake? I don’t know any rookies who have ever used that cop-out. No disrespect to Gebreselassie and his numerous accolades, but this has got to be the pansiest excuse I have ever heard. Seriously, those Master’s runners on TNF, enlighten me, how often do you find you cannot sleep normally after doing something as strenuous as lounging around? The Little Emperor is still a beast for throwing down that 2:36 last kilometre though. |
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Post by SI on Jan 22, 2010 14:56:42 GMT -5
I don't believe him. I am guessing he has a chronic bad back and it just went for one of the usual bizarre reasons they go(which could very well include sleeping in a funny position). Anyone with back issues can attest to that-oldster, don't you have them? Seriously, it really shows in that pic. He wouldn't want that kind of thing spread around though.
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Post by schester on Jan 22, 2010 16:34:52 GMT -5
Interesting implications, too, in this statement: "If the pacemakers had ran faster I would have had no choice - I would have had to run with them."
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Post by Steller on Jan 23, 2010 7:27:40 GMT -5
tight back-- that's what happens when you get over 40 yrs old...and have been running ~200km/week for several decades....
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Post by oldster on Jan 23, 2010 15:21:46 GMT -5
I'm with SI on this. If he had a tight back, I doubt it was a one-off thing. In my experience as an aging (aged!) athlete, and as a coach of masters runners, the hips/back are the first areas to show signs of change as we go along. Older runners, and guys in particular, will report tightness and pain in the hip/low back and hamstrings before they have any other sense of slowing down. In my case, it seemed to come on really suddenly following my marathon at age 37 (Geb's current alleged age). A few years later, it all became pretty obvious what had been going on. By the time you reach 45-46, your loss of power and range of motion through the hips becomes pretty obvious, even to an outside observer, if he/she knows you well. You can forestall some of this by continuing to work your full, or fullest, range of motion in training (i.e. by doing strides and faster sessions), and through judicious core work; but, the writing is on the wall. You're going to get slower, even if you have maintained your cardiovascular fitness. If I hadn't run continuously through this whole process, I might have thought it had something to do with having taken a break from training in my late 30s; but, I now know it would have happened at some point anyway. And what I see in my athletes only confirms this.
As for Geb, it will happen to him soon too. He's a remarkable specimen, but time and marathoning are going to do him in shortly. In fact, I would guess that this little back problem is going to be the beginning of the end for him. He'll still keep running 2:06-08 for a while, but I seriously doubt we'll see any more 2:04s out of him. This recent one was a straight-up 2:06 from the first km; he didn't go out at record pace and fade, he just couldn't get comfortably on pace, period.
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