Omigod, now just think if they didn't land on their heels, they would be SO much faster...

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"Yeah, no one likes a smartass, but we all like stars" - Thom Yorke


smartasscoach.tri-oeiras.com

I am more concerned about their arms seemingly crossing the midline. I am sure that is less efficient than going straight back and forward.

Yeah. But can they swim?

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You are kidding me, right. These are THE best distance runners in the world. They can run however they want. The point is, that even at this pace and under this type of pressure, they are completely relaxed.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

If you can run 10K in 26 low you don't need to be able to swim.

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"A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy."
John Sawhill

Kenenisa Bekele won both the short course and long course races, which is absolutely amazing. And he did it after some major personal strife. See below for an except from the Independent.

As he crossed the finish line in the St Galmier Hippodrome yesterday, and made his way into the shade of the grandstand, Kenenisa Bekele could no longer hold back the tears. They did not spring simply from the joy of having won a seventh successive world cross-country title. "She is in my heart," the little Ethiopian said, pressing his right hand to his breast. "She is in my heart."

The memory of Alem Techale had been with Bekele in Boston in January, and in Birmingham in February, when he was a pale, forlorn shadow of the runner whom even the world record book was unable to contain in 2004.

The spirit of his late fiancée was also with him yesterday when he rediscovered his winning touch midway through the senior men's 4.1km short-course race on the opening day of the World Cross Country Championships.

It was on 4 January that Techale collapsed while on a morning training run with Bekele through woods near Addis Ababa. She died, apparently of a heart attack, before he could get her to hospital. Just 18 and the reigning world youth 1500m champion, she had been due to marry her boyfriend and sometime training partner on 8 May.

Bekele's own heart has been broken. He has spent more time in the past two months travelling to Techale's grave, 150 miles from his home in Addis, than he has in training. His triumph in the scorching French sunshine yesterday has to rank as the greatest of a distance-running career in which the peerless 22-year-old has captured world and Olympic 10,000m titles and run the fastest 5,000m and 10,000m races in history.

fleck,

had already seen the photo and your point is well taken. relaxing is KEY to running quickly.

as for beklele, his quadruple-double (four consecutive short AND long course xc championships) is remarkable. up there with allen's streak at im hawaii. and dare i say it, the world xc is more competitive.

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"Failure is an event, not a person."

One of my race-day mantras for Around the Bay was "just relax". Of course, I don't run quite as fast as these guys do ...

mp

Can anyone please turn on the lights...

damn it's so dark around the front..

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http://twitter.com/krepster || http://www.pedro-gomes.com || follow all the action on facebook

I always think the same thing when I see footage of Cameron Brown running. He just doesn't look like he's working very hard but just kind of jogging along.

If I was running that fast, which would last for about 1 minute, I would look more like Eric Liddell of Chariots of Fire fame.

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I'll be what I am
A solitary man

Nice, that was hilariously weak.

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"In the blocks you're a prisoner, the gun releases you."

I hope that you are not saying what I think you are saying.

What is amazing is that most of these men all come from a small geographical area and small geneological groups. That's the way it is. Nothing wrong with that.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

[reply]Yeah. But can they swim?[/reply]

They don't need to.
Wetsuit + doggy paddle.

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http://www.optruth.org/

"I am more concerned about their arms seemingly crossing the midline."

best if hands don't cross the midline. and that doesn't happen, even in africans, in middle distance races, when it's not 4min/mile but 3:45. and, it doesn't happen with gebrsellassie and the BEST of the africans.

otherwise, yeah, the africans are known for being a bit libertarian with their arm movements. but that's not a reason to salute their "freedom." better to watch meb run and hammer that form into your brain.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

OK, I'll say it...

You are a freakin' asshole. Go back to your trailer, suck down a few beers and go to sleep. That's where you'll be most useful to the rest of the world.

Yes, I was a bit. (See heel strike comment preceding)

I don't see a single heel striker there....its kinda hard to do and pretty pointless when you're wearing spikes.



Heel strike???? I don't think so.

You can't tell if a runner is a forefoot or heel striker from a still photo....its even pretty difficult to tell on video. I had a video gait analysis done recently and my first impression was that I was heel striking...until the tape was slowed down and I watched it frame by frame.

I now know what I always knew...I'm a forefoot striker.

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"A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy."
John Sawhill

Wow...I did not know that about Bekele. Bekele and Gebrselassie are two guys whose character I worship in sports and I only wish the best for them. Such gentlemen. Very sad news about his fiance.

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Adrian in Vancouver

In this picture it looks like #386, #475, and one of the guys in the back is going to make contact with the ground first with their heels. But, yes, this is a still photo.

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salmon - not because I'm a fish

Denial... look it up...

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"Yeah, no one likes a smartass, but we all like stars" - Thom Yorke


smartasscoach.tri-oeiras.com

Dan -- c'mon. Bekele is the best of the Africans. The best there ever was. It's only a matter of time before folks with nostalgic memories of Geb realize that Bekele has not only surpassed him on the field of play, but in the history of the sport, too.

Four times the double XC champ. World XC is the toughest, most competitive running event in the world, more so than track worlds or the Olympics. WRs in 5k and 10k. The most wicked finish in the history of the 10k. Bekele is the greatest runner the world has yet seen (his tactical blunder in the Oly 5k aside...).

I just hate reality. I will continue to insist that fast runners land on their toes. Romanov said it, so it must be true. After all, he coached what's-his-name to multiple world titles. I forget the guy's name, but it was somebody really, really fast that ran on his toes.

Why, Romanov himself set all those records in distance running. What were they again? Well, I forget...but I'm sure it was in some big-time track meets.

I agree with you, but I still think Geb set the standard. Afterall, Geb paved the path for Bekele and mentored him.

Here is another pic of total relaxation and in control that I love (Bekele):

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Adrian in Vancouver