Why is Bekele running in Dubai AND London?

Main point is Bekele had made it back to 59' half shape .... experience and specifity is all that he needs for 2:03 whatever his mileage

TAA wrote:

Because he's a f*cking baller. That's why

It's what champions do.

Star wrote:

Didn't Bill Rodgers regularly run 3 marathons a year?

Or 5...

Skuj wrote:

May - Paris

Oct - Chicago

Jan - Dubai

Apr - London

So his first 4 will be within a year. Hmmm...I'm starting to worry. Perhaps he knows he will be "done" in 2016.

When has Paris ever been in May?

Jeff Wigand wrote:

Skuj wrote:

May - Paris

Oct - Chicago

Jan - Dubai

Apr - London

So his first 4 will be within a year. Hmmm...I'm starting to worry. Perhaps he knows he will be "done" in 2016.

When has Paris ever been in May?

Ooops, did I get that wrong? Apologies if so.

Yes, Paris was April 6th. Sorry about that. So now it is 4 Marathons in just over 1 year.

I'm still concerned.

He probably always planned to do London, but I think the quick turnaround to run Dubai is because he was disappointed with how he did in Chicago. If he wan Chicago or PB'd I highly doubt that he would've done Dubai.

Also the $$$$ doesn't hurt either

Linsanity wrote:

jay walter weatherman wrote:

$$$$

Pretty much.

agree

fred wrote:

If Bekele is having a bad day, or he's not going to run a PR, he can cut the intensity in the last 6 miles and treat it as a training run.

I wonder if Renato will be inclined to post the training.

What does renato have to do with this? He left Africa because they are starting to crack down on his alleged drug supporting. He's in China now allegedly helping the Chinese cheat.

Concerned for bekele wrote:

Why is Bekele running in Dubai in January and London in April (apart from the money), when assumed wisdom is to run two marathons a year, spring / autumn?

Presumably he won't be competitive at both? Will he be competitive at either?

Whose wisdom, yours?

I don't think it is only money, because I have heard that there is no appearance fee in Dubai. So either he wants to use Dubai to test his fitness for London (thereby risking a defeat there, if he is not going all out), or he is in such a good shape that he thinks he can win both. I hope it is the latter :-)

Nothing unheard of. Look at Yuki (Kawauchi) in 2013.

Ran six marathons, half of them under 2:10 (and one in 2:10:01).

Dean Karnazes ran 50 in 50 days, and Bekele is a superior athlete, so he'll be fine.

Skuj wrote:

Yes, Paris was April 6th. Sorry about that. So now it is 4 Marathons in just over 1 year.

I'm still concerned.

No. It's 3 marathons in one year.

If he ran a marathon in Jan, Apr and Oct every year it would be 3 marathons each year.

If you want to start your cycle in April then April starts your year and it's still 3 marathons per year.

If someone ran a marathon last April and then ran one this April would you say that's 2 marathons in just over one year or would you say it's one marathon a year?

humorless proctologist wrote:

Dean Karnazes ran 50 in 50 days, and Bekele is a superior athlete, so he'll be fine.

That, and Kawauchi is laughing his arse off at the OP.

Star wrote:

Didn't Bill Rodgers regularly run 3 marathons a year?

I've seen Kenyans run 3 sub 2:10s in a year.

It's not a crazy thing.

And 4 in 12 months only looks crazy if he does another in May (the next 12 month cycle).

If he ran in April last year instead of May, it would just look like a 3 a year cycle.

Dubai may just be a 26 mile tempo run, anyway.

Boston Billy:

3 marathon years: 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1987

4 marathon years: 1983, 1988

5 marathon years: 1976, 1981, 1982

6 marathon years: 1977

Last year, how many marathons did the current world record holder run? How many did he finish?

I don't think the answer is four or more.

If Kawauchi can run 10 marathons a year and break 2:10 in most of them then I think Bekele can handle 2 marathons 3 months apart and still run well in both.

1) There is no guarantee he is running both. He's entered them, but it's quite conceivable he would drop out of London if he isn't ready.

2) He needs more marathons under his belt and to make a breakthrough in plenty of time before Rio 2016 selection. It makes sense for him to keep the option open of London if Dubai doesn't go to plan.

3) Given how long he has been at the very top level of distance running, his training history, lifetime mileage etc improves his chances of being able to handle this frequency compared with many (not all) of his rival elite marathoners.

4) His natural speed and his peerless track background probably mean his marathon training is much more geared towards lower intensity, endurance-based stuff compared with rivals who are not naturally so quick and have to spend comparatively more of their cycle on higher intensity sharpening stuff that requires more recovery.

5) If he is to really break through this year in the marathon, he's going to start running in the very low 2.04's or even high 2.03s within the next few months. If he is capable of that (and he might not be, though I think he is), he may be able to win and even run a course record in Dubai without an utterly ball-breaking last few miles.

6) The money. And why not? I'd run a marathon every week if I was paid what he is for something I'm not going to be able to do for much more than a few years.