Japanese fed. is despondent no one ran faster than 2:09:06 at Fukuoka - Has Sports Gene been translated into Japanese?

Also most morathoners plan to have 2 peaks a year around April and October, so it increases the unpredictably of the marathon when they have to adjust that cycle to July or August

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MAYEROFF wrote:

Why doesn't Kawauchi just up and quit his government job and move out to Kenya and train with the very best? Maybe he wouldn't get to have green tea and natto every morning but hey, he'd probably get down to 2:06 in a big hurry.

People talk about Kawauchi largely because of his reputation due to his working full time, frequent competitions, and his struggle to run the best he can in those circumstances. If he went to Kenya to train full time and improved he would be automatically accused of doping (in the light of all the recent news concerning Kenyan athletes) and his reputation would be in tatters. I don't think that is risk that he would want to take.

There is a significant difference between being accused of doping and actually doping. Assuming that he stayed healthy and didn't overtrain, his blood numbers would likely rise to about 16hb/48hct, which is not a "suspicious value" for an endurance athlete training at high altitude.

After I trained up in Zhongdian (now called Xiangelila), my blood numbers went up to 49/16.3, and I felt like I had a new pair of legs when I got back to sea-level.

Kawauchi is a really good runner, great story, and I admire him 100%. If he wants to win medals and break the Japanese record, however, I believe that it will require a slightly different approach, and definitely not the traditional approach of Japanese corporate teams.

If were Kawauchi's agent, I would round up the funding for him to take a leave of absence from his job, recruit a couple of really good training partners from Kenya or elsewhere, and head up to Zhongdian (Xiangelila) for a couple of months.

fred wrote:

Didn't you train with Shibui at 10,000 feet and didn't she run 2:19?

Shibui was training in Kunming and I paced her on the track one time. Yes, Shibui ran 2:19:39 in the 2004 Berlin Marathon after extensive training in Yunnan Province. I don't think that she ever made it up to Xiangelila (Zhongdian).

After I ran 2:18, I had at least one "well known athlete" approach me to ask where I was getting my dope, and if I could hook him up.

I told him to basically f*** off and that I didn't want to be part of that scene at all.

I could not even jog a mile in PE class in middle school, and so I took it upon myself, step by step by step by step to improve as an athlete. It's amazing what you can achieve when you put your whole heart into something.

douglas burke wrote:

2:06.30 for the Standard is stupid.

Someone should tell the Japanese Federation the reigning Olympic AND World Champion marathoner Stephen Kiprotich has a best of 2:07.20

The Olympic/Worlds are run in the summer often in hot less than ideal conditions with no pacers (unless 1 of a countries 3 runners sacrifice them self for a teammate who excels in fast paced races, but that almost never happens as everyone is for themselves in the global marathons).

Getting more runners under 2:06.30 is a good goal, but Japan should send 3 marathoners regardless as things can happen especially in hot weather.

I fully agree. I deeply admire the Japanese runners and their approach, however they need to rethink things significantly if they wish to ever win another Olympic medal in the marathon.

Just setting extremely high standards is the wrong way to go about things. They need to train smarter, not harder. Galen Rupp and Mo Farah won the medals because they are extremely talented runners who trained smart, and yes I am certain that they are "clean."

It is a hard transition for the Japanese runner to accept different methods. Especially when almost every training method is based on past experience.

From my own experience with the Japanese training for the marathon they do not like to try different approach even with proof that other training regimen can produce results.

MAYEROFF wrote:

There is a significant difference between being accused of doping and actually doping. Assuming that he stayed healthy and didn't overtrain, his blood numbers would likely rise to about 16hb/48hct, which is not a "suspicious value" for an endurance athlete training at high altitude.

After I trained up in Zhongdian (now called Xiangelila), my blood numbers went up to 49/16.3, and I felt like I had a new pair of legs when I got back to sea-level.

Jason, that's called plasma shift. Your blood count isn't increasing, you plasma is decreasing. If you went from there to Bangkok, the humidity and temperature would push your plasma right back up and your numbers would be 40/13.3 after a few days.

OAR wrote:

It is a hard transition for the Japanese runner to accept different methods. Especially when almost every training method is based on past experience.

From my own experience with the Japanese training for the marathon they do not like to try different approach even with proof that other training regimen can produce results.

I disagree. Japanese athletes will do exactly what the coach tells them to do.

The problem is the thinking of the Japanese coaches. They either think "train harder" or "I just want to keep my corporate job with full benefits and retirement pension."

If I were Kawauchi or one of the Japanese coaches, I would be trying to figure out what guys like Kimetto are doing in their training, and then start to adapt those methods to my athletes.

actually... wrote:

Jason, that's called plasma shift. Your blood count isn't increasing, you plasma is decreasing. If you went from there to Bangkok, the humidity and temperature would push your plasma right back up and your numbers would be 40/13.3 after a few days.

OK that's just great news. You went back in time to 2002, climbed into my veins and can tell me exactly what happened in my blood. Cool story bro....