Where Your Dreams Become Reality
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Where Your Dreams Become Reality |
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Hendrick Ramaala Talks About Worlds, NYC 2007, The Olympics And His Persistent Fear of the Marathon LetsRun.com's Weldon Johnson (Wejo) went to day 1 of the NYC Half Marathon presented by Nike press luncheon (when you have Haile Gebrselassie in the field you have 2 days of press conferences). The beauty with free internet video (www.blip.tv check it out, it is what we use, flocast and chasingkimbia) is that it is much easier to record a full video interview and put it up on the web than to actually do an interview and write a story. But many of you don't have 24 minutes to waste, so we'll give you some of the highlights plus the full video interview below. While the self coached Ramaala is focused this year on running both the World Champs Marathon and the ING NYC Marathon, his long term focus already is on next year's Olympics in Beijing. "For me I think this is my last chance to make it (at the Olympics), to get it exact. After Beijing, I'll be 36 next year. (In) 2012 (at the Olympics marathon), oh I don't know, I don't see myself doing anything there if I go... Next year... I'm going there with one thing in my mind. I'm going to go for it (the win). It's my last chance," Ramaala said of the Olympics in Beijing. Ramaala will be heading to Beijing at the end of next week as part of his preparations for the heat and humidity at Worlds in Osaka. He'll preview the Beijing course, and try and get used to the warmer weather (currently he is in the S. African winter) prior to Osaka. Ramaala is a bit unusual in that he attempts to run 3 major marathons the years of the Olympics and World Champs. When asked if trying to run all three marathons inhibited his performances, he pointed out that his best years were the years when he did the triple. In 2003, he finished top 10 at all three, London 8th (2:08:58), Worlds 9th (2:10:37), Chicago 8th (2:10:55). In 2004, he won the Mumbai Marathon, dropped out of the Olympics and then won New York. In 2005, he was 3rd in London (2:08:32), then dropped out of Worlds, but came back to get second to Paul Tergat losing by 3 tenths of a second in the most incredible duel in the history of the NYC Marathon. Ramaala said training for 2 marathons in the summer/fall makes him get a bigger base that helps him in the marathon. His intention is to try and get the win in Osaka, even though he says he has neglected some of the really hard speed training. He believes the hot weather and slower pace in Osaka makes speed less important.. "I'm 35; I need to win a (major) championship and (another) big city marathon. New York is my best chance in the marathon. I have a winning strategy (in NY) if my body cooperates, " Ramaala said. Ramaala has shown great consistency in the marathon of late, but still has the occasional bad marathon (in addition to dropping out of Worlds and the Olympics, he only ran 2:13:04 in NY last year). He said the marathon is very unpredictable and the training has to be perfect. "There is a difference between training for the 10k, half marathon and marathon. For the marathon you have to get it right. Everything counts for the marathon," he said. Prior to his success in the marathon, Ramaala was known as a half marathon specialist as he'd finished twice as the runner-up at the World Half Marathon Champs. When asked if he initially struggled with the marathon because he did not train properly or because he feared the distance, Ramaala was quite honest and said that he still feared the marathon. "I'm still afraid of it (the marathon). I think all the guys deep down, they are scared of the marathon. I'm scared of the marathon. If anything goes wrong after 30k, you know what is going to happen. You're going to have to drag yourself to the finish line... I'll always respect the marathon because it can humble you." We are sure many a marathoner can relate to Ramaala's words. One of the keys for Ramaala as he gets older is to listen to his body in training. "The body will tell. After so many years of running, I know what my body and my mind (are saying). If you go lie down (in the grass after a run), it will tell you a story, 'I'm well (or I'm not)'... When you are younger you can always get away with it (not listening to your body). When you are younger, you recover quickly," Ramaala said. When Ramaala's body responds well to the training, he said he knows it and can feel it in his body. He runs 200k a week for marathon (" If I do 200k I'm fine."). When he is training well, it sounds like there are very few limits on what he can do, "You go out there and do 40k, and the following day you go out to the track and you do repeats of 1000... and the following day you go for a time trial (7k)...and every morning you do 20k" 23 minutes of video is below. We pick it up after the introductions with Ramaala talking about the Athens Olympics. You also see Liz Robbins of the NY Times and Peter Gambaccini asking a few questions. If you don't want to listen to 23 minutes, you can listen to 1 minute by clicking here. Wejo was a bit surprised as when he introduced himself to Ramaala, he said, "Hi Weldon Johnson." and Ramaala said something along the lines of, "I know you, you're the guy, the letsrun.com guy". More LetsRun.com 2007 NYC Half Coverage:
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