Shaheen parts company with Renato conova

Renato conova fan wrote:

Its been reported that Shaheen has decided to boot his long time coach.I think he has dug himself a grave;Renato is not only a very good individual focussed coach but also he provided alot of moral support for shaheen.I think shaheen will find it hard to convince another top coach to take him on coz he stirs trouble .Lets wait and see but i think it is the beggining of the end for shaheen.

Renato is not the only dealer on the circuit. As long as he keeps his hematocrit up, he'll be fine.

"coz he stirs trouble"?

Please, do tell us what you mean!

By trouble, do you mean world records and appearance fees?

We decided to finish our collaboration because Shaheen wanted (and he thought that needed) a coach following him only. As in the last two years I was with Shaheen practically every moment, not following well other athletes (as Shami, for example)because we were in two different places ; and since in the past, when Shaheen was able to stay 6 years without being defeated, I worked not with him only, but with a group, I believed in something else. For me Shaheen had to stay with the group of other strong athletes, also for understanding his real dimension in every period of the season.

Personally, I was sure Shaheen could win Olympic Games, without Paul Koech. His efficiency in April was already very good. But we didn't agree about his training. For me, the most important thing was to use April-May-June for rebuilding endurance, for him was to use for speed. At the end of every thing, he told me several times "I know my body", but his situation at the beginning of July was worst than in April.

I'm almost 64, and I cannot accept, also from the World Record Holder, a type of program that I don't agree.

So, we continue to remain good friends, and of course if he needs some assistance in the future I'm ready to advice him, because is not possible to cancel 7 years together. He was like a son for me. But there is time that sons want, and need, to go alone. For Shaheen, this is that time.

I wish him all the best, but I want to come back to a "normal" coaching activity, with a group, normal but strong athletes, and a different distribution of the season.

I want to enjoy athletics, and this was not possible in the last two years, with every kind of pressure.

Shaheen now has the best efficiency of his life, but the worst training. The base for a good come back there is, results depends on his motivation and good training choices. I remain his first fan.

A+

renato, can you explain what it means that he has his best effieciency now? Does that mean his running economy is better than it has ever been? How do you test this? Why if his training is bad is his economy so good now?

Maybe he means power?-so he didn't need the short hill sprints and sprints on the track but he did them anyway, when he should have been focusing on base work. Athletes, athletes, ever the eager, athletes.

Base work means hill sprints if you read anything Renato posted in the past.

I confuse these two terms often, so I like to look them up every once in a while.Efficiency is defined as how much of the energy that your body creates turns into mechanical work. Mechanical work is typically measured with an ergometer. Energy production is typically measured indirectly by measuring oxygen consumption.Economy is defined as how much velocity is produced for a given amount of energy production. Velocity is typically measured indirectly, by measuring the time of an effort with a stopwatch, over a known (measured) distance, such as on a track. Energy production is typically measured indirectly by measuring oxygen consumption.It is possible to have high efficiency, and high economy, yet still require training to maximize performance, simply because you are not producing energy fast enough. Electric cars are highly efficient and economical, yet will not beat a Ferrarri in any race.

maybe? wrote:

renato, can you explain what it means that he has his best effieciency now? Does that mean his running economy is better than it has ever been? How do you test this? Why if his training is bad is his economy so good now?

Renato Canova wrote:

But we didn't agree about his training. For me, the most important thing was to use April-May-June for rebuilding endurance, for him was to use for speed. At the end of every thing, he told me several times "I know my body", but his situation at the beginning of July was worst than in April.

I'm almost 64, and I cannot accept, also from the World Record Holder, a type of program that I don't agree.

I found this to be the most interesting. Even world record holders DO NOT know their own bodies. Any athlete that believes they know more than their coach is doomed for failure.

When I speak about "efficiency", I don't want to use a word having physiological or biomechanical means, but only to say that the situation of the body was completely ok.

When you come from a long injury and from a surgery, and, after several months of "physical" training, using a lot of exercises for rebuilding your balance in the body, your ability in coordination, your strength, your reactivity, we can say that you were able to recover a full "efficiency". A high jumper able to jump 2.30, of course in in full efficiency (biomechanic), but is not trained for running 5000m (bioenergetic). It's true that without "efficiency" you cannot be a good athlete in long distances too, but without training of endurance you cannot use the efficiency of your body in that direction.

Don't forget that an athlete can easy appreciate

"directly" his mechanical situation (efficiency),that is an expression "outside" his body, but is very much more difficult to understand his enzymatic and bioenergetic shape, that is hidden "inside" his body.

Particularly for African runners, the idea of "shape" is connected with the mechanical situation, that I call

"efficiency", not depending on the distance they go to run. So, if a marathon runner is able to run very well 20 x 200m with 200m recovery, he supposes to be in shape.

There is not a "shape", but a "specific shape", and of sure, if you are in shape for your best in 800m, you cannot be in shape for your best in Marathon.

Remember always the most important principle of training : for going in shape, you need NOT to replace some type of training with something else, but to ADD something that before you didn't do, maintaining the level you reached in all the other training. So, if you have the same endurance, but more strength and/or reactivity, you run faster. But, if you have a lot of speed, good strength and reactivity, but your endurance is 50% of your best, forget you can be in shape for middle distances.

An example : before winning WCh 2005, one week after winning Golden Gala in Rome in July in 7'56", Shaheen ran 37 km in Iten in 2 hr 02'. In July 2008, he was not able running 10 km at the same speed. So, the problem was not speed, but endurance.

How can you call yourself a Renato Canova fan when you can't even spell his name properly?

Renato, I have a friend that was a national class racer on the roads, running many times 29-min 10km and sub-50 min 10 miles, etc. However, years of injury and no time off have destroyed his mechanical efficienty. He now runs poorly, although his engine is tremendous.

What would you recommend for such an athlete? He is close to Master level now (38-39 yrs old) and still has the engine to run sub-15 min 5km on road, but his efficiency is horrible, in my opinion. Would you have him rest and get treatment until his mechanics are fluid again?

Thank you, and great work with Shaheen.

very good explnation, Renato I wish the US had coaches of your calibur and expertise.

I dont think americans will be able to catch the kenyans because of our inactiveness as society as a whole and it only continues to worsen as we get older.

But how would we Americans make it? Is it more a matter of emphasising aerobic development at a young age, or are their things we cant control, the most obvious argument from american runners is that kenyans or east africans for that matter are endowed with great genetics that make them predisposed to be great runners.

How do you feel about the potential of Latin American runners in the future? Certainly Brasilia has brought big stars such as Ronaldo do Costa, Vanderlei de Lima, and Marilson Gomes dos Santos. Mexico too has brought many great runners, many that won the New York City Marathon in the earl/mid 1990's.

I think that athletics in latino america needs to be promoted, we clearly overemphasize on futebol, boxing, and baseball.

Leaving coaches seems to be a trend these days. First it was Mottram, now Shaheen. (not to forget Ritz and Wetmore). Only time will tell if this was a wise decision.

Shaheen has a tangible reason to tame canova . since shaheen started his winning streak in manchester UK at commonwealth renato was not there shaheen was still being coached by late kim macdonald so i don't see how canova coach him. only we can say he used to coach christopher kosgei the elder bro of shaheen who won world champs in 1999 and a couple of marathoners.

Just perhaps wrote:

Any athlete that believes they know more than their coach is doomed for failure.

Spoken like someone with limited experience of the real world.

Do you have any idea how many bad coaches there are out there?

Stop with the self-loathing crap - Shaheen probably got his vitamin supply shut down.

WOW! That is a really impressive 37km run... works out to about 5:15/mile. Renato, what do you accomplish by having a runner do his long run's this fast? Was it a time trial, a fast finish run, or a steady state run?

Renato Canova wrote:

Remember always the most important principle of training : for going in shape, you need NOT to replace some type of training with something else, but to ADD something that before you didn't do, maintaining the level you reached in all the other training. So, if you have the same endurance, but more strength and/or reactivity, you run faster. But, if you have a lot of speed, good strength and reactivity, but your endurance is 50% of your best, forget you can be in shape for middle distances.

An example : before winning WCh 2005, one week after winning Golden Gala in Rome in July in 7'56", Shaheen ran 37 km in Iten in 2 hr 02'. In July 2008, he was not able running 10 km at the same speed. So, the problem was not speed, but endurance.

I find it interesting that Shaheen said he needed more speed. That sounds a lot like Jeremy Wariner's argument and we all see where that got him. I guess I don't understand why he would drop a coach who he performed so well under.