CJ Albertson with another 2:11, his 2nd 2:11 in 8 days!!!

Thanks for clearing this up for me.

Yeah. He still needed a sub-2:11:30 on a legal course, and he got that today. I wonder if he was holding back at CIM just to get the W?

CJ will run 2:08 flat at the Trials. These were just tune up races for him.

It's interesting that in this article she blamed testing positive on Mexican beef. That excuse sounds familiar.

Oops, sorry, I quoted the wrong post. I was referring to the one about Mary Akor.

I think it's a bit of a double-edged sword. He can power through these 2:11 marathons like clockwork because he does so many big hard efforts in training and frequent marathon racing that it's somewhat normal to him. But at the same time, doing those types of workouts and racing marathons so frequently takes the pop out of your legs, which prevents him to run really fast. I imagine if he ran a 5k or 10k it wouldn't be overly impressive. If he stepped back for six months and did workouts focused on the 10k to half marathon distance before going into a couple months big volume buildup he might be able to pop off a 2:09 or even 2:08.

A single sub 2:10 is more impressive than consecutive 2:11s

There was a Swede, back in the 1980's, maybe his last name was Stahl(?), he used to do this- fast marathons sometimes more than once a month.

I can see CJ pulling off a surprise at the trials.

Kjell Erik Stahl must now be in third place for most sub 2:20 marathons in his career. He was once in first place until Doug Curtis ran more than Stahl did and I believe Kawauchi is now in first. I think Ron Hill might have the fourth most. Stahl's best time was 2:10 and change which got him fourth place at the 1983 World Championships. Pretty sure that's still the Swedish record. He worked full time for a telecommunications company, I think that's what it was during his career.

2:11 is the new 2:15. With the super shoes and fast course, it just doesn't mean much anymore. I do give credit to CJ for being clean.

Quit saying it's all super shoes. The world record was high 2:02 over a decade ago. So 2 minutes has been taken off the world record in over a decade, I would expect to see about that much time taken off in normal circumstances, meaning the shoes didn't do much. I expect it to be sub 2 in the next decade, taking yet another minute off. No shoe improvement is needed. So the quantity of 2:11 runners today is more to do with the increased depth of fast runners. There are tons of low 28 or sub 28 10,000 meter track runners going to the marathon now. Go back 20 years ago and 28 flat track guys lingered on the track until they ran a marathon past their prime. Frank Lara, Futsum, Fauble, Biya Simbassa, Rupp, Young, Chelenga, list goes on and on of guys who ran sub 28 in the 10k before 'super spikes' ever came out. This is all faster than Bill Rodgers and other top marathoners from a long time ago who ran sub 2:10, so these guys are not running sub 2:10 because of 'super shoes'. People bought way too into the 4% marketing sham.

Tell me you're an idiot without telling me you're an idiot.

Nice counter arguments. You're just old and slow and can't accept that people are getting faster. A 2 minute improvement on the marathon world record in the past decade does not mean super shoes make you multiple minutes faster in a marathon. And a 10 second improvement on the 10,000 world record in the past 15 years. Times have always been improving, they're still improving at the same rates. The shoes came out in 2016, it's been 8 years, times are still improving even since the first year they came out.

Galen Rupp will pop a 2:05 any day now.

I profiled Stahl for Athletics Weekly in April 1986, when I interviewed him at the Tower Hotel, London. I still remember the interview like it was yesterday, -all Stahl's water bottles and gear were organized on the floor of his hotel room.

The new Swedish record holder is Samuel Tsegay Tesfamariam, former Eritrean who became a Swede in June 2022. As an Eritrean, in 2021, he had run 2:06:53 in Siena. As a "Swede" he recently ran 2:08:41 (15 October 2023) just two months ago in Amsterdam. So the new Swedish record is now 2:08:41, unless mistaken.

Btw, Tsegay has monster PB's pre super shoes, like 59:21 half in Copenhagen, 2014 (!) as well as (more modest but good) 13:16/28:20, 2009, all pre Supershoes. Long career.

Tsegay is a prolific racer, as he also ran 2:09:47 in Paris in April 2023.

Sweden is the best country, it seems, for high level migrant distance runners. Iranian, Abootarabi, recently Swedish passport holder, is running well, around 28:20.

Thanks for the update on the Swedish record. A few years ago I came across an article or interview done with Stahl in which he said he was going to have a go at the world marathon record for age 65. It doesn't seem to have gotten very far. I was kind of hoping he'd have done it.

alchetron.com

Kjell Erik Ståhl - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

KjellErik Bertil Sthl (born February 17, 1946 in Killeberg, Skne) is a retired longdistance runner from Sweden. He represented his native country twice at the Summer Olympics (1980 and 1984) in the men's marathon, finishing i...

Open link

Kjell Erik Stahl, Telecom Engineer. Retired.

I think he's retired to all intents and purposes.

By the way when I interviewed him in 1986, see 'Athletics Weekly,' April (London Marathon) I remember that he told me he only ran once a day every evening after work but twice a day on weekends if he wasn't racing and he did that for several decades. His long run every evening incorporated quite a bit of quality and tempo and sometimes fartlek if I remember correctly.

I was just going to put the link to this here but the article is in Swedish and I don't know if everyone could get it translated.

Kjell-Erik Ståhl was his own coach throughout his career. During his orienteering and track career he ran one session a day but increased to two a day when he started marathons. For most of the 80s he normally ran 17-18 miles a week with peaks of 22 miles. However, the weekly average traveled in one year was 14 miles due to all the travel days in connection with competitions. The training ground was almost exclusively forest paths and dirt roads.
The morning session often consisted of 10–11 km at a four-minute pace. Then he was at work in Kristianstad at nine o'clock and worked until six. Half an hour later he was out in the woods in Åhus. The evening session was usually between 11 and 24 km and went at 3.45 speed.
- I always ran the quality sessions on tarmac, never on track. I did 1-2 interval sessions a week depending on the time of year and how the competitions were. It could be 1000m intervals, 700m or 400m. Often I warmed up with a 6 km distance and then rode 10x430 m between lampposts on a cycle track. The average was around 72 seconds with a start every 90 seconds so the rest was barely 20 seconds.
Apart from the so-called Brösarps pass of 30 km in tough terrain, which he ran five times with ten days apart before important races, they were rarely long runs. However, it could be, for example, 14 + 21 km in one day spread over two sessions. After all, all marors also had the function of long pass.
He ran the Brösarps pass on a hilly course that was mainly on dirt roads and soft paths in deciduous forest terrain. It's the only pass that he had fluid on.
- I drove it really hard. After 27 km came the "hand grenade hill", which is a sand hill. If I could make it all the way up the hill without taking a step, I knew I was in shape. A few weeks before the Stockholm Marathon in 1986, I had 1.48 on the Brösarps Pass. However, the best time is from 1991 when I ran one minute faster in better weather. With training and work, the day became intense, but he was careful to always try to sleep eight hours a night.
Kjell-Erik trained a lot throughout his career. Over the years, however, there have been few training camps. The main reason was simply that the training became too tough.
- In February 1974 I spent three weeks in Spanish Los Pacos north of Malaga with Göran Bengtsson, Anders Gärderud and Göran Högberg. Then the weekly doses were in turn 24.5, 25.5 and 26.5 miles at a good pace. It is my heaviest amount period.
In the preparations for the 1980 Olympics, he spent five days in Vålådalen with Tommy Persson and Göran Högberg and managed 20 miles even.
Optimal running stride
After his victory in Beijing in 1981, Kjell-Erik received an international contract with the shoe giant Nike, for which he has run ever since. In addition to free equipment, he received a sum of money each year, performance-based compensation and competition assistance from Jos Hermens. Kjell-Erik pretty much always ran in really light shoes, both in competition and training.
- The feeling is important to me and I lose it if the shoes are too heavy. In the Helsinki WC I had a pair of super light Nike American Eagle that weighed 150 grams in my size 45. The shock absorption was almost non-existent but they suited my running style and had, among other things, enough toe space which not all models have. These are the best shoes I've ever run in.
The blue and white shoes with a red Nike wing were followed by the Nike Fighter Gold and Nike Air Edge. It was with light shoes that his steps came into their own. Then he got full stretch in the knee joint and the loads came at the right angles, which resulted in less wear and tear on the legs.
- With ordinary jogging shoes, the push-off is worse, the angles are wrong and this results in knee problems. It is at speeds under four minutes per kilometer that my running technique comes into its own best. If it goes slower, the strain on the knees and joints increases.
Few runners have run as many hours in tight groups as Kjell-Erik Ståhl. Marathon running is a tactical game where it's all about preparing well and then being alert to what's happening in the pack.
- I was usually there two days before the race. Then I escaped jet lag and had plenty of time to inquire about the course and read up on the opponents.
Kjell-Erik liked to be first in the races. In this way he could control the cluster to some extent.
- When you are in the front position, you have a pretty good overview of the others. You hear changes in step frequency and breathing and see looks and shadows. In this way, you can often feel when a jerk is in progress. Whether to join or not is decided based on who pulls, when the pull is done and of course also how you feel yourself.
A constant point of concern in the races is the fluid controls. Especially at the beginning when the cluster is often large. The controls are usually deployed every five kilometers and it is important to take position as early as possible.
- Being 1.90 tall is an advantage because you then have the opportunity to see your bottle in good time. Sometimes there are 100 bottles on an area of two square meters or they can be spread over 200 m. It is usually at the controls that the collisions occur when runners suddenly brake and turn sharply when they see their bottle. In the Helsinki European Championships in 1994, I cross-braked for a Bosnian who swerved 90 degrees during a fluid check. It went so bad that I stretched one thigh and had to break it.
Kjell-Erik drank sports drink during the races and in 1983 received ISO Star as a sponsor. The ketchup company Felix produced a specially made 250ml bottle for him which he took with him to the races.
- I have eight with me but normally only use seven. If it's extremely hot, I set one even at 40 km. I usually take 150-175ml and then often wash the sports drink taste off with water.