This isn’t necessarily news but some posting on Letsrun (below) is interesting:
Kenyan Wins Marathon at World Athletics Championships By David Byrd
Osaka, Japan
25 August 2007
Kenya has captured the first gold medal of the World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan. As VOA’s David Byrd reports, Luke Kibet of Kenya ended his country’s long world championship drought on a steamy day in Osaka.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-08-25-voa8.cfm
But, the Letsrun forum thought it was strange that this guy won because he was unknown, so they started to throw around doping, etc…
So, a coach from Kibet’s running community posted this on Letsrun in response to the accusations. I thought it was a good read. He talks about specific prep and what they’ve done and what others aren’t doing.
Poster: Renato Canova I just arrived in Rhiga Royal Hotel after the race, had my shower, drank one liter of water, and came to internet for looking the comments about Marathon WCh. Of course, my hope to find clever posters only, was destroyed when I wrote the stupid comment of trollism, that speaks without knowing anything from some part of (I suppose) US.
The fact that I know Luke Kibet is because he lives in Iten, where I have the Camp of Shaheen and I coach Shami, Bushendich, Daniel Rono, Philip Singoei, Moses Mosop and other Kenyans. In Iten there are, may be, 500 runners, from several managers and with different coaches, and sometime, expecially with Marathon Runners, we organise workouts together.
This ridisolous mentality that for winning, if you are strong, you need doping, was the most important limit in the development of US runners during the last part of the past century. Now, finally, many coaches understand that it is possible to obtain results working hard with a good methodology, and stupid persons like trollism become exceptions.
I am not really happy of the result of Shami, because, when you have somebody that you know is the strongest of the race, and you do not win (in this computer I am not able to find some graphic particular, so I have to write everfy word in full extension), you cannot be happy. Why he did not win ? Because, during the last two weeks, he had problems in his back, provoking other problems in his right leg, from the buttock till under his foot (probably sciatic, in Italian Sciatica, I do not know in English, but everybody understands). So, Shami never can look for his race, but only for controlling his pain, that he had from the first meter, and became stronger after 27 km, running downhill after Osaka Castle.
The difference between the athletes arrived in top 3 (plus the Japanese Team) and the other, is in one particular only : THEIR PREPARATION FOR ADAPTATION TO THESE CONDITIONS.
I can explain, for example, what we did with Shami.
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Long run and specific marathon endurance training, starting at 11 in the morning, at low altitude (1200m) near Nakuru, 200km far from Iten, with a temperature higher than 30 C degrees
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Use of Maltodestrines in these training, with different percentages in order to find the best for every single athlete, reducing the quantity step by step during the same run, because at the end, when the dehydration is bigger, the concentration is higher, and, if we use the same quantity of maltodestrine in the bottle, INSIDE the body of the athlete we do not produce the same percentage of specific fuel, but we can provoke an HYPOGLICEMIC CRISIS
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Use of mineral salts (Polase) for reintegration of what the athletes lose, in order to maintain the same HYDROSALIN BALANCE
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Recovery run in fresh weather and at early morning, for not stressing too much the body after (or before) very tough specific workouts in hot and humid conditions.
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Training to use water under their cap, for maintaining fresh the head
Because I know that, for example Ethiopians, continue to use their traditional type of training without changing an ything, I cancelled the athletes of these Countries from the list of possible winners. The rest is here: http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?board=1&id=2089096&thread=2087923#2089203