Rotterdam Marathon 2010 - Elite Runners

Men

Vincent Kipruto 2.05.13 KEN
Feyisa Lelisa2.05.23 ETH
Eliud Kiptanui 2.05.39 KEN
Getu Feleke 2.05.44 ETH
Wilson Chebet 2.06.12 KEN
Gilbert Kirwa 2.06.14 KEN
Chala Dechase 2.06.33 ETH
Michael Kipyego debuut KEN
James Kibocha Theuri 2.10.39 FRA
Koen Raymaekers 2.11.09 NED
Jean Carlos Da Silva 2.15.24 BRA
Jauma Leiva 2.15.28 SPA
Clinton Perrett 2.18.15 AUS
Joe Driscoll 2.18.22 VS
Marius Ionescu debuut ROE
Iván Galán 2.22.08 SPA

Women

Rita Jeptoo 2.23.38 KEN
Hilda Kibet 2.26.23 NED
Phyles Ongori debuut ETH
Olga Glok 2.28.27 RUS
Irene Limika 2.28.31 KEN
Alessandra Aguilar 2.29.01 SPA
Beatriz Ros 2.29.32 SPA
Shitaye Bedaso 2.29.48 ETH
Eugenia Danilova 2.31.44 RUS
Maria Jose Pueyo 2.32.22 SPA
Lishan Dula 2.33.56 BRN
Christina Bus Holth 2.37.13 NOO
Xenia Luxem 2.39.01 BEL
Esther Erb 2.39.02 VS
Inge de Jong 2.39.02 NED
Lindsay van Marrewijk 2.42.08 NED

Kipyego marathon debut in Rotterdam

The Kenyan Michael Kipyego Rotterdam has chosen for his debut at the marathon. The 27-year-old athlete won the world title in 2002 with the juniors at the 3000 meters steeplechase.

Also on the cross to the feet he'd seen from his fourth place at the 2003 World Cup and sixth at the 2007 World Cup. Kipyego makes this year switched to the road.

The African was originally planned for April debut at the half marathon, but decided by the proper training on April 10 in Rotterdam, but once the whole marathon. Kipyego is in the training group with Emmanuel Mutai, second last year in the London Marathon in 2009 / 2 at the World Championships in Berlin, and Bernard Kipyego who two years ago won a silver medal at the World Championships Half Marathon.

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Comrades draws almost 20 000

Almost 20 000 people will take part in the Comrades Marathon in May, including a host of elite athletes, the organisers announced on Thursday.

The 86th edition of the race, an 'up' run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, will be held on May 29, and the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) said 19 617 people had entered the gruelling race.

"After the excitement of the FIFA World Cup last year, the Comrades Marathon also celebrated a great year," said CMA chairperson Peter Pollock.

"However, coming off the back of that, it is exciting to see that the 2011 race attracted 19 617 entrants."

Entries poured in from around the world, the CMA said. The United Kingdom produced the most foreign entrants from one country with 253 runners, the United States boasted 179 entries, Australia would be represented by 152 runners and Brazil had 115 people taking part.

The organisers also said the race had attracted 4 882 novices.

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'It can't ever be about proving people wrong or sticking two fingers up'

Paula Radcliffe reached for the DVD handset and pushed the play button.

Onto her screen came a recording of the Olympic Marathon in Athens from the summer of 2004. Her darkest hour.

"You learn bigger lessons and you become a stronger person from negatives," explained Britain's long-distance running queen.

She had not wanted to remind herself of what happened the day she started the race as favourite and failed to finish, ending up with head in hands, a picture of despair.

But Radcliffe needed answers because, as she put it: "A lot of people said I quit, that I just gave up."

She knew she had not, that she is no choker. But the criticism got to her so she went through it all again.

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How to beat Kenya and Ethiopia the Alberto Salazar way

Barring some unforeseen misfortune, such as injury, we are going to read and hear a lot about Mo Farah in the run-up to the London Olympics, in which case we should also expect to read and hear a lot of about Alberto Salazar.

Farah, the Somali refugee who is now running in British colours, is in the form of his life and his gold medal prospects in the Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m grow more realistic with every race - the most recent being this month's New York half-marathon. It was his first trip over the distance and he won - an unexpected triumph for which at least some of the credit must fall to Salazar, whom he has been training in Oregon since the start of the year even though their partnership was not formally announced until last month.

Over the next year Farah will be immersed in the methods and ways of the Oregon Project, a Nike-financed, Salazar-led group of elite runners based at the sports equipment company's campus near Portland.

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THUMBS UP - Gansett Marathon & Salt Lake City half marathon

Charity runners aside, the Boston Marathon is the most exclusive citizen’s running race in the U.S., maybe the world. That’s because, unlike other marathons, obviously, you’ve got to run relatively fast for your age and qualify to get in.

It’s probably not surprising that other non-championship races haven’t followed that formula and set exclusionary time standards. Most road races are trying to get as many runners as their capacity limits will allow, and limiting a race to just fast runners generally doesn't make sense.

However, a Utah race director is going against that trend and following the lead of the April 16 Gansett Marathon by launching a new half marathon that follows the Boston paradigm of requiring all runners to meet strict qualifying standards to gain entry. In fact, the Sept. 5 Prestige Half Marathon in Salt Lake City — like the Gansett Marathon — has qualifying standards that are quite a bit faster than Boston’s for every age group.

For example, the under-30 age group requires men to have run a 1:25 half marathon or 3:00 marathon on a USATF-certified course, while women in the same age group need to run a 1:35 half marathon or a 3:30 full marathon to get in. (See the complete list of standards on this page.) There are relaxed standards for disabled runners (a 3-hour half marathon is required) and the race is also reserving 200 entries for charity runners who raise at least $1,000 for the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.

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Blog Roll - Dylan Wykes

I eased back into training this week, getting in some decent mileage, but not putting in any hard workouts until Friday. We had a good little crew going on the track for that one and had a nice night. I was happy with how my body was feeling. Early on in the week I was pretty sore, especially my calves.
I came up with a new rating system for races this week. On Friday afternoon I was having a pre-workout snack of toast with almond butter and banana and thought to myself ‘the NYC Half is definitely an Almond Butter event’, meaning it’s the best of the best (if you haven’t had yourself a healthy smattering of almond butter go out and get some, don’t let the price tag deter you, trust me it’s worth it). After Almond Butter on my rating scale there is natural peanut butter (good quality, tasty stuff), and then the lowest rung is Skippy (that stuff is gross. I shouldn’t knock it too much I grew up on it, heck my mom still has 5 jars in the cupboard she bought on sale for $1 each 3 years ago, and you know what, you can still eat it, no expiry on that stuff!).

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Blog Roll - Andrew Lemoncello

Recovery was the theme of this week's training. I felt ok on Monday but my calves were still pretty tight from the race so instead of the initial thought of getting up early at 5.30 and running around Central Park, I got some much needed sleep and got up at 7am and left for the airport soon after. It was bucketing with rain outside so I'm glad I didn't head out for a jog as I would have had to carry all my wet gear in my hand luggage. I passed out as soon as I got on the plane, which felt so good as I normally can't sleep on planes.

I arrived in Phoenix with the plan of going for a run at Julie's parents house but again it was pouring with rain, getting close to rush hour and snowing on the mountain so I decided to drive straight up before it got any worse and the road got closed. I was lucky as the road had just reopened a couple of hours earlier so I managed to make good time. I waited for Julie to get back from work and we headed to he gym to do a run together on the treadmills. To make sure I recovered enough, I set the belt to 7.30 miles and plodded along for 30 minutes.

Tuesday was a couple of easy runs (90 mins and 60 mins) and these were again, run very slowly. All the runs this week were going to be slow in between the workouts so it was a case of get the Ipod on, select some chill out music, and put one foot in front of the other. My calves had loosened up quite a bit by the evening so it was reassuring that I wouldn't have to worry about them again until I got my massage a few days later. That evening we were trying to organise the training as Brett and I had the same workout and Greg was leaving town on Wednesday. I wanted to do the session on Thursday to get some extra recovery but couldn't get an answer from Brett. Greg texted me later saying that he had gone to Phoenix and I would be on my own on Thursday so why don't I just do the workout on Wednesday and he could be there with me. This was going to be a tough turn around and change the purpose of the workout. I would be running 8*1 mile and normally I would run these pretty fast on the track but this time is was going to turn into more of a strength workout as I would be doing it on Lake Mary Rd on tired legs against the wind and on my own.

I woke up with my legs feeling pretty good and ready for the grind that I was about to go through. The first few reps were fine but the third one was where it became tough. We started heading straight into the wind and my legs tightened up. With a new mindset, it wasn't matter of whether I would finish or not, it was whether my legs would hold together. I wasn't running fast, I was just trying to get the work in. Greg warned me that the wind would get stronger as we rounded the corner and I stupidly said "Bring it!". BAM, it was like running into a brick wall! Once I finished my legs were really suffering and I found it tough to stand up straight and jog properly. Straight to the ice bath for me!

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Kenneally warms up for VIENNA tilt

Mark Kenneally of Clonliffe Harriers yesterday led home a record entry of over 1,000 in the irishrail.ie Dunboyne 4 Mile Road Race -- the 42nd running of this highly rated event.

Kenneally raced into an early lead and was never challenged as he coasted to victory in 18 minutes 26 seconds -- an ideal tune up performance for his marathon debut in Madrid in three weeks time.

He also led his team to top honours ahead of Raheny Shamrock AC and City of Derry. Richard Corcoran of Raheny Shamrock AC finished second in 18:48 and Thomas Fitzpatrick (Tallaght AC) was third in 18:55.

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Weidlinger reaches half century of Austrian titles

The prolific Günther Weidlinger won his 50th Austrian athletics title across all surfaces - road, cross country and on the track - when he won at the national half marathon championships in Wels on Sunday.

Weidlinger, who is preparing for the Düsseldorf Marathon on 8 May, finished in 63:55, although wasn’t the first man across the line as two Kenyans guests came home ahead of him with Geoffrey Ndungu winning in 63:33.

The first three were all faster than the previous course record of 63:57. For the record, Tanja Eberhart took the women’s title in 78:07.

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Martin Lel is BACK!

Thanks for THAT

Get your kicks - NIKE LUNARGLIDE+ 3

The LunarGlide can rightly be called a suc­cess in Nike’s run­ning shoe line. The light­weight shoe with a Lunarlon mid­sole for cush­ion­ing and com­fort comes with a breath­able mesh on the upper and a translu­cent mesh panel on the side as we have already seen on the Nike Free Run+ 2.
The Nike LunarGlide+ 3 will be released in mul­ti­ple color ver­sions of which a pre­view in this post.

Prisons lock up rivals at meeting

Kenya Prisons athletes dominated the 1st National Bank of Kenya/Athletics Kenya Track and Field meeting which ended on Saturday at Moi Stadium, Kisumu.

Prison’s Stephen Baraza won the 300 metres race in 34 minutes 1 second, followed by his team mate Vincent Kosgei (34:02) and Solomon (34:03) from Kenya Navy, Mombasa.

Ibrahim Moya (Prisons) won the 60m in 6:08, ahead of his team mate Collins Mulaa (6:09) and Duke Okoth (7:00), an Individual runner.
Samwel Korir, also from Prisons, won the 110m hurdles in 15:04, ahead of Calleb Tanui of Administration Police, Embakasi, was second in 15:06 and James Kutut (15:09) from GSU Nairobi.

The warders also won the 4x200m relay in 1.29:09, beating KWS (1:35.0) and KAM (1:37.02).

Won the relay

Francis Kolanzi (3:30.04) from GSU Nairobi won in the 200m-200m-400m-800m medleys in 8.28:03, followed by Chepsorir Kennedy of Prisons.

Bilala Athletics won the 4x400m relay in 7.30:01, ahead of Prisons (7.35:08) and GSU (7:40.05).

In women’s 6o metres race, Milicent Ndolo from Kenya Police won in 8:01, ahead of Prisons duo of Marseline Nyarore (8:02) from Prisons and Ednah Kwamboka (8:02).

The 300m was won by a Ugandan, Agnes Aneno from Tororo, in 40:09, beating Grace Kidori (41:08) from Posta and Jacinter Shikokoti (42:03) from Police.

Maureen Chelegat from Prisons won the 110m hurdles in 16:09, ahead of team mate Ednah Kwamboka (17:06) and Franciscah Kori (17:09) from Police.

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Kisorio wins 40th edition of Stramilano Half Marathon in 60:03

Kenyan Matthew Kisorio took the win improving his PB by seven seconds with 60:03 at today’s Stramilano Half Marathon which celebrated its 40th edition on a cloudy morning but otherwise with ideal weather conditions.



Kisorio, fourth at last week’s IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Punta Umbria, beat his 18-year-old compatriot Eric Ndiema who finished second in 60:20 ahead of Dereje Deme Hailegiorgis, third in 60:25.

In the women’s race 20-year-old Ethiopian Ababel Eyeshaneh Brihane took the honours in 69:54 ahead of Italian Anna Incerti, runner-up in 70:41.

MEN

The men’s race set off at a very fast pace on the flat Milan course inside a 59:25-59:30 pace. Peter Kurui led a six man group who went through 5km in 14:06. The leading pack also featured Ethiopians Shumi Leche Dechasa, Atalay Yrsaw Tegene, Dereje Deme Hailegiorgis and Kenyans Matthew Kisorio and Eric Ndiema.

They continued to push hard in the first 10km (8km in 22:36 and 10km in 28:16). Kisorio broke away at 13km with a decisive attack and at 15km he had carved out a gap of 6 seconds over Eric Ndiema, who entered the Stramilano with a 59:57 PB set last year in The Hague and finished third at last month’s Paris Half Marathon, and Dereje Deme.

Kisorio passed the 15 km in 42:24 to Ndiema’s 42:30. The pace slowed in the second half and any hopes of scoring the eighth sub-60 minutes in the history of the Stramilano vanished in the final kilometres.

Kisorio set his previous PB of 60:10 last October in Porto. He also boasts a 5000 metres track PB of 12:57:83 (2010) and won the 2008 IAAF World Junior silver medal over this distance. He is the fourth of seven children of the late Some Moge, first Kenya’s medallist at the World Cross Country Championships with bronze at Gateshead in 1983.

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"Athletics, like tea and tourism, is becoming a major income earner in the country!"

Kenyan athletes earned Sh960 million last year from various events worldwide, the National Olympic Committee has said.

Committee chairman and veteran athlete Kipchoge Keino said of the 156 marathon events held last year in various parts of the world, Kenyans won 126 of them.

He said the huge amount of money they brought home proved the importance of athletics in the economy and urged the government and private sector to fund athletes, especially the youngsters.

"Athletics, like tea and tourism, is becoming a major income earner in the country," Mr Keino said.

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London Callinng - Wanjiru OUT. Lel IN

Olympic champion Samuel Wanjiru has sensationally withdrawn from next month’s London Marathon citing a troublesome knee injury.

The withdrawal of Wanjiru who dropped out of the same race last year was confirmed by his manager, Federico Rosa, who also disclosed the 2008 winner and stable mate, Martin Lel, would take his place in the April 18 World Marathon Majors race.

“We expect organisers to release a statement soon about the unfortunate withdrawal. Wanjiru’s troublesome knee that affected him last year has flared up again,” Rosa said.

The news that broke on Monday is the latest blow to strike the 2008 Beijing Olympics marathon winner in a troublesome year that has seen him brought before court to answer charges of threatening to kill and possession of an illegal firearm.

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Kenneally Tunes Up For VIENNA Marathon

Mark Kenneally of Clonliffe Harrriers yesterday led home a record entry of over one thousand in the irishrail.ie Dunboyne 4 Mile Road Race- the 42nd running of this highly rated event.

Kenneally raced into an early lead and was never challenged as he coasted to victory in 18 minutes 26 seconds-an ideal tune up performance for his marathon debut in Madrid in three weeks time.

The strongly built Clonliffe Harriers runner also led his team to top honours ahead of Raheny Shemrock A.C and City of Derry. Richard Corcoran of Raheny Shamrock A.C finsished second in 18:48 and Thomas Fitzpatrick of Tallaght A.C was third in 18:55.

“This was an important tune up race for me in my preparaton for the Madrid marathon,“Mark Kenneally said. “I came off a heavy week of training to run here and I am happy with the result.”

Kenneally will be chasing an Olympic qualifying standard in Madrid where he is confident that a performance in the region of 2 hours 13 minutes. “I won a 15 kilometer race in Florida a few weeks ago in 43:33 and I placed 4th in a 20km event in Holland in 59:30,“he said. “These performances , as well as today’s run, have given me the extra confidence that I need for my marathon debut.”

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In Pictures: Dunboyne 4 Mile Road Race, Ireland

All pictures by Tomas Greally / SPORTSFILE

Blog Roll - Tom Payn

With only the long run to go I think I will survive this weeks training, then it's time to freshen up with the London Marathon only three weeks away. Pretty much all the hard work has been done now and by pushing too hard in training there is the chance of injury or doing too much and not being fresh enough when it's race day.

This time next week I will be on the plane back to the UK, I can't believe my time in Kenya is nearly up, it has been a better experience than I ever imagined and already I am looking forward to coming back later in the year.

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Blog Roll - Steve Osaduik

At least someone had fun at the St Patty’s day 5km because I sure didn’t. This race came at the end of a 3 week build up and I felt flat the entire race. I was never up with the leaders and I was chasing the entire time with dead legs. I was at that point only in my altitude tent for a week so that may have also not helped but it is early in the season and training is what is important right now.

I took a really easy week leading up to the Spring run off 8km in Vancouver. I had two workouts the week of and both went well. I was on the track for some 800’s on Tuesday that went well pace wise but I didn’t feel right during the workout. Then I had a workout on my own on Thursday on the fort to fort trail, 15 minute tempo, 4 minute jog, 6x1minute on/off and jog home, 12 miles total. I felt good during this workout and I like running workouts like this, out on the trail with no real defined loop or distance goal, just running off effort.

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104 Year Old Masters World Record Holder Killed in Tsunami

The Iwate Prefectural Masters Track and Field Association announced Mar. 22 that Kamaishi, Iwate resident Takashi Shimokawara, 104, holder of three track and field world records in the 100+ masters' category, was killed by the tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan following the major earthquake on Mar. 11. According to Iwate Prefectural Masters Track and Field Association director Teruo Yaegashi, 71, a neighbor said that he had seen Shimokawara evacuating with his son and daughter-in-law, but his whereabouts afterwards were unknown. His body was later identified among those at a site where rescuers were gathering the bodies of area tsunami victims.

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Michael Wardian wins National Marathon for fifth time in six years

Everything about Michael Wardian and his performance in Saturday’s sixth National Marathon was normal. The 36-year-old Arlington resident was in his usual post-race spot outside RFK Stadium: in the winners’ circle, with a giant check in hand. As he described what it was like to win this event for the fifth time in six years, his 4-year-old son Pierce circled at his feet and his 2-year-old son Grant dangled from his neck.

Wardian is a local product (Oakton High) and former college athlete (lacrosse at Michigan State) and works as an international shipping broker at a Georgetown company.

When it comes to running, however, Wardian is far from normal. He’s a pavement-pounding fiend with plans to run 17 marathons this year — “about the same as last year,” he said — and eight or nine ultramarathons. And with a first-place time of 2:23:01, Wardian proved again that he is the king of Saturday’s event.

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LetsRun.com Highlight: Renato Canova, Who exactly is Imane Merga and how did you develop him to get his win at World XC?

Lone Guy
I know i'm way behind on the times, but was absolutely shocked to see how Imane Merga just blew away the competition with his incredible sprint and realized Renato Canova was his coach. How did you manage to develop his kick and his endurance to win the race? And i've really never heard of Imane Merga, who is he exactly?

Renato Canova
Imane Merga is a very nice person, still very young not only as age, but also as athletic activity.

He was already 4th in World Championsips in Berlin in 10000m.

At that time I was not his coach. He asked me to follow him last year, at the beginning of April, in Dongio (Switzerland) where I wenr for a competition together with Moses Mosop and Richard Mateelong.

I found the guy very clever, motivated and with good education. He is one of the few Ethiopian speaking a basic good English, and also is able to read English very well.

Imane Merga is under the management of Gianni Demadonna, the Italian manager that for the first time introduced me in Kenya in 1998, when I was the Technical Scientific Director of the Italian federation.

When we spoke together, we decided to have a particular eye for the new Diamond League. Because for being competitive in that League the athletes need to compete in the same event 7 times, and in 2010 there were no Championships, we cancelled every other competition from his calendar, apart African Championships in Nairobi at the end of July, that in any case never could produce top results, because Imane never was able to run very well in high altitude.

The new workouts in his training were :

a) More use of sprints uphill
b) More mileage
c) More modulation
d) Introduction of long intervals on track, and of mixed intervals for increasing the final sprint in a situation of high accumulation of lactate

The second point was that we worked for having a top shape in 3 different period (coincident with his victories in some meeting of Diamond League), and for trying to be at 90% of his shape during the other meetings.

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Mo Farah's half-marathon mark questioned

I'm only a part-time track-and-field/running writer.

I'm on loan from college football from January to August, so I come to this with an outsider's perspective.

But I think the rigid control the statisticians and numbers geeks have on the sport is one of the reasons track/competitive running doesn't resonate with the general public.

The latest example is the IAAF's refusal to recognize Mo Farah's winning time of 61 minutes 23 seconds in the New York City Half Marathon as a British record. (Fourth item in this notebook.) Why? The IAAF determined that the New York City course is slightly downhill.

Really? Really?

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Dutch Battle

Parcoursverkenning Utrecht from Losse Veter on Vimeo.

Jerusalem Marathon ends in confusion; leaders run off course

The first-ever Jerusalem Marathon ended in some confusion on Friday as the three leading runners apparently took a wrong turn and arrived at the wrong finish line.

The first runner to arrive at the actual finish line was Kenyan Robert Cheruiyot with a time of 2:27:48, but later on Raymond Kipkoechh, 34, of Kenya was announced as the official winner with a time of 2:26:44 after apparently going off the course and arriving at the finish line of the half-marathon in a different location.

Second place was taken by Mutai Kopkorir, 24 of Kenya with a time of 2:26:55 and in third was Kiman Njorage, 33 also of Kenya with a time of 2:27:19.

The winning female runner was Oda Worknesh, 26 from Ethiopia with a time of 2:50:05. Second was Rosaline David, 35 from Kenya with a time of 2:50:06 and in third, Wioletta Kryza, 42 from Poland at 2:51:21.

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Athlete Jailed in Uganda

A Kenyan athlete has been in jail in Uganda for the last two months after he won a marathon race in the neighbouring country. Athletics Kenya yesterday confirmed that Daniel Kiplagat Sambu from Keiyo District has been in jail after he was convicted for being in Uganda illegally.

He won the MTI Marathon race in Kampala but he was immediately arrested following confusion over his nationality. It was said he had claimed to be a Ugandan yet he was a Kenyan.

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Haile Gebrselassie is confident for Vienna

The marathon world record holder has recently started running again after a knee injury forced him to cancel Tokyo Marathon.


After a knee injury Haile Gebrselassie is confident to run a half marathon on 17th April in Vienna. This was confirmed by the management of the Ethiopian superstar. The event in Austria will be staged parallel to the Vienna City Marathon. Organisers expect a total of more than 30,000 runners to take part in the various events on 17th April. Online entry is still available at: www.vienna-marathon.com

Alternative training helped to stay in good shape
After a fall in training during which he injured his knee Haile Gebrselassie had to cancel his start at the Tokyo Marathon in February. Originally it was feared that he would not be able to run for six weeks, which might have led to him being unable to participate in Vienna as well. But as his Dutch manager Jos Hermens now confirmed the 37 year-old marathon world record holder (2:03:59) has started running again. “Recently Haile was able to start running again and he is confident that he can participate in the Vienna Half Marathon as planned,” said Jos Hermens and explained that Haile had done some alternative training after the fall and thus was able to conserve his good shape from the beginning of the year.

’Catch me if you can’ race for Haile in Vienna
To mark the occasion of having signed one of the best athletes of all times organisers of the Vienna City Marathon have created a special race for Haile Gebrselassie. It will have the motto: ,Catch me, if you can’. The multiple world record holder and two-time Olympic Champion (10,000 m) will not only run the half marathon but he will also chase the elite marathon runners. They will run on the same course and will get a head start. The time difference between the two starts will be determined nearer to the event.

Cragg ready to make his mark in Boston after New York run

Mo Farah, Great Britain’s double European champion on the track, may have won New York City Half Marathon last Sunday but the run of Alistair Cragg, who finished sixth in an Irish record 1:00:49, also got plenty of plaudits.

Cragg finished 26 seconds behind the 2010 European Athletics Championships 5000m and 10000m gold medallist but his run in the Big Apple augers well for his marathon debut in Boston on 18 April.

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Blog Roll - Stephen Muzhingi

Overview of my Annual Training

During the “off season” I do a little bit of running but just enough to stay relatively fit. Generally there will be no hard running sessions, just regular runs, so that when the real training starts I am not starting from square one. At the same time my muscles are still used to running but have not placed them under any particular stresses.

Running is hard and if I start from nothing with hard sessions I am likely to pick up injuries, and have many setbacks, when I can’t afford to. Yes, my running season goes from Comrades to Comrades, as I am sure many out there do the same. So a typical year for me is pretty much like this:

June & July: Are definitely rest months from running Comrades in May. This rest I have at home in Zimbabwe where I do absolutely no running at all. This in order for my muscles and joints to recover from the mileage needed to run comrades.
August: I start with easy slow runs, and do nothing more than 15km at any session. I then progress to once a week on one of the runs doing a varied pace, in order to get the heart rate up. This is always hard as you have no real pace in your legs, but your mind is telling you that you can run faster, as I suppose its become the norm. I always think at this time that, hey so much work to do, how will I ever get back to the shape I was in.
September: I do various medium distance runs, and start with strength sessions, yeah – Up and down hills, happy days! I sometimes look at doing a race (marathon) around this time, just to keep me focused for the hard sessions ahead and to also check how my body is responding to the training to date. This is always a difficult race.

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Prague Half announces elite fields

2011 Elite Race Favourites

MEN
00:59:39 Azmeraw Bekele (ETH)
00:59:43: Jairus Chanchima (KEN)
00:59:51: Titus Kwemoi Masai (KEN)
1:00:07: Nicholas Kiprutto Koech (KEN) - 2009 winner and track record holder
1:01:41: Gunther Weidlinger (AUT)

WOMEN
1:08:14: Lydia Cheromei (KEN)
1:08:34: Christelle Daunay (FRA)
1:09:03: Rose Jerotich Kosgei (KEN) – 2009 and 2010 winner and track record holder

Best Czech favorites:
1:00:29: Róbert Štefko (CZE)
1:12:17: Petra Kamínková (CZE)

Course Records:

Men: Nicholas Kiprutto Koech, KEN, 1:00:07, 2009
Women: Rose Jerotich Kosgei, KEN, 1:09:03, 2009

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Majestic Mo shows he's a future marathon man

Mo Farah's burgeoning credentials as a serious contender in the marathon when he has done with his track ambitions at next year's Olympic Games were enhanced again yesterday when he won on his debut half-marathon in New York.

Not only did Farah beat a world-class field that featured eight runners who had bettered 61 minutes but his time of 60min 23sec smashed a British record by 36 seconds that had stood to the nation's finest marathon man, Steve Jones, for 25 years. Only two Europeans have ever run faster and the fastest of those by only five seconds.

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Boston announce new 10-kilometer race for June 26

The organizers of the Boston Marathon plan to hold a 10-kilometer road race this summer through city neighborhoods.

The new event schedule for June 26 will be limited to 5,000 runners who can begin filing entry forms on May 4, the Boston Athletic Association announced on Thursday.

The BAA also stages a 5-kilometer race on April 17, the marathon on April 18 and a half-marathon on Oct. 9.

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Tergat rues cross-country outfit’s inability to retain senior men 12K title

Paul Tergat has congratulated the national cross country team for winning six out of eight titles at the global event last Sunday in Spain, but hastened to add that they could have done better.

Tergat said without the 12km men’s title, the performance is not complete.

"The boys did well, but they should have done better. Without Joseph Ebuya and Leonard Komon, the team was lacking the much-needed experience," said Tergat, who won the title from 1995 to 1999.

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Blog Roll - Andrew Lemoncello

I think I wrote a few weeks ago about I knew that if I just got through the training, whether it was good or bad, that things would turn around for me. The last 6 weeks has been tough for me as I haven't been able to run as fast as I know I can and that can lead to doubts about fitness levels, general capabilities and how things will turn around. Greg correctly predicted that I just had to do the training and come time to race, things will be fine as I already have two marathon training blocks in my legs over his past year. Fitness and strength doesn't just disappear. I am happy that I can finally look at a week of training and only have yellow and green days (The training diary is colour coded with how my body felt that day: Red = Bad, Yellow = Regular, Green = Good). Most of the last 6 weeks have been yellows with sprinkling of reds here and there.

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Blog Roll - Dylan Wykes

Sorry if there was anyone anxiously awaiting an update following the race. I got a bit lazy and slept through all of Sunday afternoon, and then yesterday was a bit of a nightmare getting back to Vancouver with cancelled flights and lost luggage!
Sunday’s race at the NYC half in NYC was about as good as I could have asked for: 1:02:14 for 11th place. I think that is #3 on Canadian all-time list (although I am not sure it counts, I seem to have a knack for choosing races on courses that are net downhill ). Funny, it shows you how deep this sport is, and what great work the crew at New York Road Runners (NYRR) does in putting together a race, I was 11th in a single race, yet ran one of the fastest times by a Canadian ever. My best prior to this was 1:03:54, so a 1:40 PB.

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Blog Roll - Reid Coolsaet

I was hoping to surprise myself this weekend and I did by running 62:42 in the New York City Half Marathon. Luckily the weather was perfect and we had a nice tailwind for the last 3 miles! It should also be noted that this AWESOME course is net downhill by about 30 meters. The first 10km loop in Central Park is rolling and by no means fast, it’s actually quite tough but once you’ve run the first complete loop you have 2.5km of mostly downhill running to finish off the park. After that you run down 7th Avenue through Times Square, which is absolutely amazing as the runners have the whole street to themselves. Then you take W 42nd St to the West Side Highway and run South towards Ground Zero.

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Blog Roll - Lee Merrien

I’ve been in Kenya for two weeks now and in terms of training I feel like things are slotting into place well. I have been carrying a few niggling injuries over the past few weeks but being hear has allowed me to manage them better, with regular treatment and additional rest between training. The running itself has been a bit more unusual compared with my first trip in January, in that we have had quite a bit of rain last week, fortunately it didn’t disrupted training, although I did find myself a little low on clean training kit at times. There were also a lot less Kenyan’s out training first thing in the morning too… they don’t like the cold or the rain, so they often wait for it to clear up for going out running.

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London Marathon 2011: organisers allow nine runners to complete Japanese national trials following earthquake

he runners were due to compete in a marathon in Nagoya two weeks ago, the final selection race for the Japanese women's marathon team for the IAAF World Championships in Daegu.

When the Nagoya marathon was cancelled due to the disaster which struck two days earlier, the London Marathon offered its support to the Japan Association of Athletic Federations (JAAF), who subsequently chose London as a replacement World Championships trial.

Yuri Kano, Mizuho Nasukawa, Yurika Nakamura, Madoka Ogi, Yoshiko Fujinaga, Yukari Sahaku, Azusa Nojiri, Noriko Matsuoka and Risa Shigetomo will all compete in London on April 17.

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JAAF taps 3 races as qualifiers

For 15 Japanese hopefuls, the road to the world athletics championships will take a detour through either London, Boston or Daegu, South Korea.

Marathons in those three cities have been designated as the final qualifiers for the Japanese women's team for this summer's world championships in Daegu, with most top runners opting for the London race on April 17, the Japan Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF) announced Wednesday in Tokyo.

JAAF had to scramble for an alternative after the third and final domestic qualifier, to be held in Nagoya on March 13, was canceled in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the Tohoku region.

The JAAF had wanted to use the Nagano Marathon slated for April 17, but that option was eliminated with the cancelation of that race Tuesday.

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Rita Jeptoo is the fastest woman on the starting list of the 31st ABN AMRO Marathon Rotterdam

Rita Jeptoo is the fastest woman on the starting list of the 31st ABN AMRO Marathon Rotterdam on Sunday April 10. The 30-year old Kenyan has a personal best of 2.23.38 to her name. That was the time she won with in Boston in 2006.

Jeptoo started running when her parents were no longer able to pay for her schooling. She was inspired by famous compatriot Tegla Loroupe, who still holds the 'Rotterdam' course record: 2.20.47, run in 1998. That achievement by Jeptoo's role model was a world record.

Jeptoo's list of five fastest marathons is as follows (time, city, placing, year):

2.23.38 Boston 1st 2006

2.24.22 Helsinki 7th 2005

2.26.34 Boston 3th 2008

2.26.59 New York 4th 2006

2.27.49 New York 4th 2008

In January Jeptoo finished second in the Alicante half marathon (1.12.02). Her fastest time at this distance is 1.07.08 (Lisbon, 2007).

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Finish line too far for Linet, again

Linet Masai failed to break the duck in her third attempt at gold as a senior athlete at the World Cross Country championship in Punta Umbria, Spain.

But, at 21, she has a whole career in front of her – unlike the winner in senior women’s race on Sunday, Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot.

The two will be separated in the track season, Masai going to defend her 10,000 metres title and Cheruiyot the 5,000m one at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, in September.

Prior to Cheruiyot, Masai had suffered defeats to compatriots Florence Kiplagat in Amman, Jordan, in 2009 and Emily Chebet in Bydgoszcz, Poland, last year.

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NYC Half opens new horizons for Galen Rupp

Watching Galen Rupp run through Central Park and on the thoroughfares of lower Manhattan it was easy to get a sense for where his future lies.

Yes, Rupp has more goals to accomplish on the track. He’d like to be faster at 5,000 and 10,000 meters. He’d like to be in contention for a medal on the final lap of a race in the stadium at an Olympics. And at 24, he still has time to make a stronger mark on the sport.

The way he moved on the roads, however, is more than a little eye-opening. Rupp wiped out, sprawled to the pavement, and still got up and beat Meb Keflezighi by more than two minutes, Ryan Hall by more than three.

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Kiwi Kim Smith defends on 'home' turf

Kim Smith has found a home away from home in the Whaling City.

A year ago, she entered the New Bedford Half Marathon as a tune-up for the London Marathon and ended up winning the women's title.

This year, she was back again in preparation for another race — next month's Boston Marathon — and she successfully defended her New Bedford championship with a time of 1:09.50 that left her 14th overall in a record field of 2,750 registered runners that eclipsed last year's total of 2,603.

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Paula Radcliffe's amazing race for the summit

When the pain is at its most intense on the long training runs in the high desert of New Mexico, Paula Radcliffe has taken to using a visualisation technique to drive herself on.

She imagines she is in London, a city in which she has never lost a marathon, and that she is racing towards the finish line of the 2012 Games, the roar of home fans ringing in her ears, to claim what would be one of the most emotionally charged victories in Olympic history after her meltdown in Athens in 2004 and injury-hit Beijing campaign in 2008.

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Alberto Salazar: Stay one step ahead in space race

For Mo Farah, the New York City Half Marathon this morning is little more than a minor skirmish. The major battle for the British athlete who has conquered all before him on the European front in the past two years lies beyond his first nibble at the 13.1-mile half-marathon distance on the streets of the Big Apple, intriguing though that promises to be. Make that the two major battles.

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Now, at long last, Mo Farah can use the front entrance at Nike

Now that all "i"s have been dotted, "t"s crossed, and British distance star Mo Farah officially has Nike sponsorship, Oregon Project coach Alberto Salazar can relax.

"Mo is wearing our gear," Salazar said. "I don't have to sneak him in the back door at Nike anymore."

Farah still was sponsored by Adidas when he began training with Salazar and the Nike-sponsored Oregon Project in January.

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Merga ends Kenyan dominance

Ethiopia's Imana Merga won the men's race at the World Cross-Country Championships in Spain to prevent almost total Kenyan domination.

Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot won the women's race ahead of compatriot Linet Masai and their counterparts filled five of the top seven places in the men's event, but Merga lifted the title after a sprint finish in Punta Umbria.

Merga burst clear in the closing 200 metres of the 12-kilometre race to clock a time of 33 minutes and 50 seconds, just ahead of Kenyan duo Paul Tanui and Vincent Chepkok.

"Before I used to think of myself as a track runner but this winter I have got to like cross-country races more," a delighted Merga said.

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Kenyans win half the medal haul

Six gold medals – three individual and three team titles – are on the plane home after Kenya on Sunday dominated the proceedings in the 39th edition of the World Cross Country Championship here.

Kenya also won the overall team title with 15 points ahead of Ethiopia (29) and United States of America (57).

Vivian Cheruiyot, Geoffrey Kipsang and Faith Chepngetich won in the senior women’s, junior men’s and junior women’s races as Imana Marga won the gold for Ethiopia in the senior men’s 12km race in 33 minutes 50 seconds, ahead of Kenya’s Paul Kipngetich Tanui (33:52).

Having won all the gold medals in Poland last year, Kenya saw the senior men’s individual title and junior women’s team title slip through their fingers – but not without putting up a gallant fight.

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IN PICTURES: Kenya reigns in Spain

FULL GALLERY HERE