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Those fabulous Kenyans...
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...just finished watching Boston. Didn't get the full results officially but it looked like the first eight or nine places were Kenyan. The women's race was a Russian first and second followed by Kenyans in third and fourth.

There has been some talk of Kenyans running du's and tri's. I bet they could do very well in a duathlon, but the swim would sink them (forgive the pun) in triathlon.
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Looks like 8 of the top 10, one Russian and [ In reply to ]
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rounded out with Eddy H, 2.17 for a 42 year old aint bad :)

On the other hand the fields were not the strongest and a 2.25 womans was slow, 10 minutes slower than the WR.

Boston though has a problem, it wont get the runners because of London, Chicago and to a lesser extent Berlin and NY especially as you can get over a million for racing the first 2 if you're the WR holder / defending champion and I dont think Boston is that attractive to these runners regardless of what the BAA might think.

The mens race was pretty good until the pack split, then it looked like they were holding on for dear life.
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Re: Looks like 8 of the top 10, one Russian and [Andrewmc] [ In reply to ]
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i read a book a few years back called 'train hard, win easy' i forget who wrote it but it goes into great detail on how the kenyans train. god the kenyans can take some suffering. i would love to see them in tris.

customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.
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Re: Looks like 8 of the top 10, one Russian and [ultra-poser] [ In reply to ]
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Two Kenyans Titis Mutinda & Silvester Dandi did the great Buckeye Challenge 1/2 IM last year. Although these two might not be quite WR material they both ran the 1/2 in the 1:14/1:15 range - still much slower than what tthe tri world's elites can do. Swim and bikes ended up putting them about MOP for their AG's - both >5h.
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Re: Those fabulous Kenyans... [cerveloguy] [ In reply to ]
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There was talk and some actual experimentation, that the Kenyans would take the world of Nordic skiing by storm a few years ago. Made sense: Put men with the greatest aerobic motors known to man in the sport witrh the most aerobic demands and you will get success. Right? Wrong! For two years two very top Kenyan runners toiled away under excellent tutalage in Finland and they were still finishing embarrasingly far behind the fields in World Cup races.

There was a great scene at the last Olympcs that the great Bjorn Dahlie skiied in welcoming a Kenyan xc skier across the line a long time AFTER Dahlie had warmed down and recieved his gold medal!


Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
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Re: Those fabulous Kenyans... [Fleck] [ In reply to ]
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I actually watched that race on TV. Personally I didn't expect much from the Kenyans because although they had the lungs, much of x-country skiing is to do with technique.
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Re: Those fabulous Kenyans... [Fleck] [ In reply to ]
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Quote:
Made sense: Put men with the greatest aerobic motors known to man in the sport witrh the most aerobic demands and you will get success. Right? Wrong! For two years two very top Kenyan runners toiled away under excellent tutalage in Finland and they were still finishing embarrasingly far behind the fields in World Cup races.
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Re: Those fabulous Kenyans... [Fleck] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
There was talk and some actual experimentation, that the Kenyans would take the world of Nordic skiing by storm a few years ago. Made sense: Put men with the greatest aerobic motors known to man in the sport witrh the most aerobic demands and you will get success. Right? Wrong! For two years two very top Kenyan runners toiled away under excellent tutalage in Finland and they were still finishing embarrasingly far behind the fields in World Cup races.

There was a great scene at the last Olympcs that the great Bjorn Dahlie skiied in welcoming a Kenyan xc skier across the line a long time AFTER Dahlie had warmed down and recieved his gold medal!


The problem has been traced to the fact that aerobic sport endurance is sport-specific. For example, it would be a mistake to think that Steve Larsen ran sub-3 hours at LP in 2001 because he had a big "engine" from cycling. He ran sub-3 there because he's a helluva good runner. He was running in his youth before taking up cycling.

Years and years training for one aerobic sport doesn't give you much of a head start when switching sports. Those who adapt quickly to multisport simply have an aptitude for the three sports.

That said, I'd bet big money that a sub-2:20 marathoner could -- with the right coaching -- develop into a helluva duathlete. From what I read of the Kenyan "experiment" in triathlon, those guys weren't doing truly dedicated efforts on the bike. It takes at least a year of 200-300 miles a week to get "real" bike legs. Not that I've ever done it; that's why I'm MOP on the bike.

I hold the belief that front-of-pack biking ability is out there to be had by nearly any of us if we put in enough time. Running and swimming are entirely different matters, and require a good bit of "gift" to get to the front.

A long-time riding buddy of mine (who was always just a little bit slower than me) "decided" two winters ago that he was going to go 40k in less than an hour (causing me no end of chuckling). His PR at that time was 2:11. He simply amped up the mileage that winter, riding 8-10 hours a week. Nothing really hard-core, just lots and lots of riding. He rode 59:20 that spring in a TT. He has now dropped back down to his old pace -- a little slower than me.
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Re: Those fabulous Kenyans... [Julian] [ In reply to ]
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Excellent points.

It's all about sport and activity specificity. Going back to the Kenyan's again - that's why they are so good. The simple reason that they are great is that they spend more time running at race pace in training than anyone else. This is something. "you are not supposed to do", but it is what the exercise physiologists have been saying for a very long time. Do you want to run a marathon at 6:00 min/mile? Then spend as much time in training as you can, running at 6:00 min/mile!

Triathlon by an large still a huge experiment from a training and physiological perspective. You are right Julian, that for swimming and running, you need to "get it" and "have it" to be very good in these sports. Cycling, for some reason( I presume because it is non-weight bearing and there are mechanical levers involved) is somewhat neutral - you can take someone, immerse them in the sport and with the right training, a good chunk of time and some good coaching, you can produce decent cycling results and often, relativly speaking that's all you need to be competitive in triathlon.


Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
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