Rita Jeptoo -- Real Deal or One-Shot Wonder?

Renato can tell us his thoughts on Jeptoo. He coaches her.

Vanilla Ice

runmad wrote:

For some reason I think she won't have another race like she did at Boston.

In Catherine's own words (Ndereba i.e.) she is very promising having teamed up with her at Helsinki.

Rita also won Stockholm and Milan in 2004. She seems to 'have it' but time will tell.

Cheers for Boston heroes

By Chris Mbaisi

An avalanche of praise poured into our newsroom yesterday as Kenyans reacted with joy after two home athletes won the 110th Boston Marathon on Monday and confirmed the country?s superiority in the 42km race.

Robert ?Mwafrika? Cheruiyot and Rita Jeptoo kept the country?s flag high when they bravely fought back opposition from a pack of thousands to capture both the men?s and women?s titles in this year?s event.

In the men?s race, Cheruiyot led a 1-2 Kenyan finish and also set a course record of 2:07.14, erasing the previous mark set in 1994 by compatriot Cosmas Nduati by one second. Ben Maiyo came second in 2:08.21.

The world marathon record holder, Paul Tergat, who called from Italy, said he was never in doubt of Cheruiyot?s abilities. "I have trained with him (Cheruiyot) in Ngong back at home and I knew he would definitely do it," said Tergat.

Tergat, who will be running in London this weekend, said he was happy for Cheruiyot. Four-time Boston Marathon champion, Catherine Ndereba, described Jeptoo as a very promising athlete.

"I was with her at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, where she posted her personal best of 2:24 and that was when I realised that she?s got great potential," she said.

Ndereba said Jeptoo?s success was an indication that Kenya is immensely rich in athletics talent.

"This has proved that we have so many runners with the potential to win great events. If somebody thought that my absence would stop Kenyans from winning the marathon, then he was definitely dreaming," she said.

Ndereba said Jeptoo?s victory came in handy considering that Kenyans had been ruled out from this year?s race, especially in the women?s category. She described the Boston course as a very difficult one, saying that anyone who comes out successful in Boston can make it anywhere.

"I am currently considering making a return to Boston next year, depending on my schedule," Ndereba said. Sports minister Maina Kamanda said: "I want to congratulate Cheruiyot and Jeptoo for flying the nation?s flag high. They have done us proud," he said.

The minister attributed the high morale in the athletics fraternity to the support the government has been giving them lately. Three-time Boston marathon champion Kipkemboi Hussein said he was very impressed with Cheruiyot?s running style.

Hussein said Cheruiyot never seem to panic at all and that the new champion maintained his cool throughout the race.

"The man was in shape and ran a smart race. He calculated his moves in advance and knew exactly when to attack. He is generally a sharp and brilliant runner," he said.

Hussein also commended Cheruiyot for setting a new course record, adding that most runners in Boston usually only concentrate on chasing victory, but Cheruiyot went a step higher.

"He was sure he would win, but at the same time was determined to set a new record," he said. The Commonwealth 800m champion, Alex Kipchichir, also congratulated the two Kenyans.

Winner of Milan,Stockholm and Now Boston Marathons.

Here on Let's run she would not be regarded as a "One-shot wonder" but, more than likely, as a "Has-been."

That's after they have accused Her of being Doped.

There's no dobut Kenya has the depth in men's and women's racing... just check the results of any U.S. road race. I just have a gut feeling she won't win another major marathon (i.e., Olympic, World, or this new World Major series). I hope I'm wrong.

runmad,

I hope she doesn't wither.

That said, even if she were to stop running and concentrate on business, she has her life together with the money she has earned in the last 2 years.

Perhaps that is what messes up the Kenyans; two good promising years and a tonne of money and its all over.

She is still young at 25 and has at least 5 more years of active running.

Good point... on both counts.

I realize winning three marathons doesn't quite fit the "one-shot" moniker; while Milan and Stockholm may be good marathons, I don't think they rank up there with Chicago or London.

I probably should have phrased the topic better...

Hey, if that's what she wants to do, that's cool... I can't tell her how to run (no pun intended) her life. I have no idea what her family circumstances are, how badly she needs money, etc. But here in Japan a popular expression is "mottainai," which loosely translated means "what a waste" -- she obviously has talent, and to stop at 25 or 26 when she still has the potential would be, in my opinion, a waste of talent.

She is young as Marathoner's go.

Anyone who has run Boston will know how tough it is and how the course has to be totally respected.

To run to your potential at Boston is a "win".

Very few appear to get it right at the first attempt.

Snatch

Right again on all counts... I've had the privilege to run Boston once, back in the day, and it is indeed a course that needs to be respected. To win Boston even once, especially on your first try, is something special.

I was very disappointed because I was stopped in Milan Airport last Saturday, while was leaving to Boston together Rita after travelling from Istanbul where I had the workshop with European Coaches the previews day. I did a mistake like a beginner : from the beginning of December, for going to US without Visa, an Italian must have a new Passport with Digital pictures and, I think, the print of his fingers, but I didn't know this rule, having a new Passport made in Doha by the Italian Embassy on 19th December (so I supposed everything was OK).

So Rita, not only lived last week with a lot of tensions because her Passport disappeared, but, after the miracle, had to travel alone without any support !

I was absolutely sure about her possibility. We decided for Boston already last October, and she was in training with this focus from beginning of November. In Rotterdam, I spoke about this with Jason Mayeroff, that I met for the first time. Rita has a strong ability in distributing her energies in very even way. In Helsinki, during last WCH, she had the goal of 2:26, coming from 2:28:11 of PB in Milan. After 10k, she was with the leading group in 33:20. I informed her that was too fast, so she preferred to leave the group, running alone for all the competition, with very clever splits, finishing in the second half only some second slower than Paula Radcliffe, and running the 3rd best time, only 2.0 slower than Derartu Tulu. Also in her first Marathon (Stockholm 2004) and in Milan 2004, she used a negative split.

If you read her time from 40k to the finish, you can see that she was able to finish faster than the top 3 men : 7:07 for the last 2,195m (it means about 6:28 for the last 2000m), and before 16:17 between 35 and 40km (Cheruiyot, Maiyo and Keflezighi ran slower, also if their race was very tough from the start).

It means that she was very well prepared, but also that she has a good natural long endurance, and that can run very faster than 2:23.

Like example of training, I can write the Special Block that she carried out in Italy, Thursday 6th of April :

Morning :

10k in 40:20 + 10k (road, well measured) in 32:58

Afternoon :

10k in 39:44 + 6 x 2000m (track in Chivasso, near Torino) with 1:45 recovery, in 6:41.2 - 6:29.0 - 6:37.0 -6:32.0 - 6:26.0 - 6:15.4 (average 6:30)

Also during her long run (she went 6 times in Kenya between 35 and 38km, and one time in Italy) she always was able to finish faster, while at the same time she is able to work on short hills increasing her speed.

She trained all the time in Kenya, in Iten, together with Selina Kosgei, that next Sunday will run London. Rita and Selina came in Iten from 15 of January, already able running at good level. For a real preparation for a Marathon we need 4 months, but many times Kenyans think that less than 2 months are enough, starting from a very low level. This can explain because many times athletes already able running 2:07 go running 2:17 : normally is a big lack of training.

Coming back to Rita, I think that she can last some years, like Catherine Ndereba. She is married from 17th of December with Noah Busienei, that was a runner of 800m (1:47.35) some year ago, and her life is based on athletics for 3-4 years of sure. She is very serious in training, and knows that has to forget the money that she has at the moment, because the professionalism of an athlete is to be an athlete, not a businesswoman.

My idea at the moment is to look for New York in November, but the final plans will be done in May, after having controlled her recovery post-Boston.

Thank you Dr. Canova and welcome. It is nice to have you back.

Congratulations on the performance of your athlete. She was really up to it.

What do you think about London marathon? What are your predictions for both races and especially after Tergat's exit?

Thank you, Renato.

I suppose that Haile can try to beat the WR. He asked pacers at a pace of 2:57 not only to HM, but till 30k if possible (he's looking for a split of 1:28:50). Now he's very much sure about himself, after bettering the WR of HM and 25k in trial-tests. The ability in running alone of Gebre is unique, and I suppose that he is really stronger than every other competitor. I see very well Felix Limo, always very well prepared, back him. Stefano Baldini is in good shape, but may be that doesn't have the full preparation for the Marathon, due to the period of stop that he had at the beginning of January (he lost one month of training for problems in one tendon). His real goal is to beat his National Record of 2:07:29, but I think that, running under 2:07, nobody is sure to go on the podium.

Instead, I think that Gharib is overtrained. He did incredibles workouts in February and March, and was completely tired in Lisbon HM. One workout of Gharib, on track, in Ifrane (1700m of altitude) was 4 x 5000m rec. 1000m average 3:22, between 13:53 and 13:57 ! So, he's going to kill himself!. Personally, I don't believe too much in Khannouchi, but I'll be glad if I'm wrong, because I consider Khalid one of the greatest all-time.

For ladies, I read that Deena Drossin is looking for a passage of 69:00 at HM with the goal to run under 2:20.

If she's able to do it, is the winner, because I don't see any other athlete able running under 2:20. I think that Selina Kosgei can run in 2:22, but her position depends from the ability of the other runners too.

Mille gracie!

Renato, thanks for the insightful comments!

If Kastor splits 69:00 she will kill herself like in Chicago. She can run under 2:20 but she would be better going throught the half in 70:00-70:30 and going for a negative split.

Thank you for posting, Senor Canova. If you ever have time to type out Rita Jeptoo's entire marathon build-up, we would appreciate it!

You continue to work your scientific magic with all nationalities. Thank you.

Oh, and I am interested in women's training (I am a male) mainly because there are a lot of solid American men in the marathon that are as fast as the world's best women, so we can learn from the athlete and would like to see how much of workload, volume, and speed a woman can handle day in and day out.