Great run. Inspirinf for even hobby joggers like me.
Great run. Inspirinf for even hobby joggers like me.
sometimes you see someone do something 100% and you know - this will be the best day of his life
A couple of weeks of long, easy recovery runs, and he better get his ass out on the track for a 10000m PR. Strike while the iron is hot!
I definitely want to hear more about his training. It sounds nice to think this guy just ran 200 miles a week for five years and ran a 2:08, but I'm betting he had some talent before all the hard work started.
Still, absolutely epic story.
more on Kawauchi here:
http://japanrunningnews.blogspot.com/2011/02/rocky-of-marathon-world-saitama.html
"This was my sixth marathon, and the fifth time I've ended up in the medical area," he smiles. "Every time I run it's with the mindset that if I die at this race it's OK."
common wrote:
A couple of weeks of long, easy recovery runs, and he better get his ass out on the track for a 10000m PR. Strike while the iron is hot!
I definitely want to hear more about his training. It sounds nice to think this guy just ran 200 miles a week for five years and ran a 2:08, but I'm betting he had some talent before all the hard work started.
Still, absolutely epic story.
the article said he runs 600KM a MONTH, so that would be 90-95 a week, which sounds about right for someone who works 9 hours a day, if he trained much more he would have a hard time staying awake at work.
another good thing at age 23 he should be one to watch for a decade or more.
prepureguts wrote:
Yet a 12:56 5k/ 60 min flat 1/2 marathon runner from the US has repeatedly failed to break 2:10 for the marathon despite the huge Nike warchest pumped into him.
Perhaps it really boils down to pure guts?
You don't think 12:56/1:00 requires "pure guts?" Perhaps Ritz simply isn't focusing on the right distance.
The white man venerates simplistic racial generalization above all else.
I was watching the race on TV in Japan and 90 minutes in thought to myself "looks like another boring Africa-a-thon. I hope that guy with the floppy hair makes a move." So I went out and ran 8 miles in nice weather. Dammit.
BTW what gives with marathon coverage in the US? The announcers in Japan actually like know stuff, they were even discussing the origin of the dude's singlet.
He wins a BMW for being the top placed Japanese runner. Odd, no?
douglas burke wrote:
the article said he runs 600KM a MONTH, so that would be 90-95 a week, which sounds about right for someone who works 9 hours a day, if he trained much more he would have a hard time staying awake at work.
another good thing at age 23 he should be one to watch for a decade or more.
I have to admit, I was secretly wishing he would have spent the last five years running 200mpw at 8:00 per mile, but, it was not to be.
This is a great story, but let's get real: this guy is very talented to be able to run 13:59/29:02/1:02:x/2:08:x on 95mpw. It's clear that everyone wants this to be a blue collar runner done good kind of story, but it's just not the case.
There is no magic. You have to have talent, and you have to work hard.
The story on him makes it clear that he excels despite running much LESS than his corporation-backed competitors in Japan:
"He runs 600 km a month, roughly half the workload of a corporate team runner."
Let me get this straight... he runs 600 km per month, but he also routinely does 42k long runs and occasional 5-6 hour cross country runs? Something's not adding up if all these anecdotes are true.
Make that "five 43km runs as well as a couple of 5~6 hours cross country runs," so perhaps he supercycles just prior to his events?
What's the deal with him doing a fake collapse after the finish line? His face looked pained, but otherwise he was holding everything together just fine. His stride and form looked great.
Faker.
prepureguts wrote:
Yet a 12:56 5k/ 60 min flat 1/2 marathon runner from the US has repeatedly failed to break 2:10 for the marathon despite the huge Nike warchest pumped into him.
Perhaps it really boils down to pure guts?
Absolutely! but if a 2:08 marathoner can't break 62 or 13:15, it's for some completely different reason not having at all to do with his character or "guts."
In short: a marathon takes courage, merit of inner-constitution, quiet brashness, self-confidence, and all the trappings of a great human being. Distances shorter than that merely require good training.
Yeah, but this guy doesn't have an American wife standing at the front door looking at her watch with the "where the hell have you been?" look on her face.
He should get a Prius, right? Once they start running, they never stop.
he looked really good, really strong. Until he fell at the end!
Nutella1 wrote:
wejo wrote:who has a full-time office job
...for the government. :-)
Anyway, this is awesome. Article says he is going to the Worlds this year. Pretty sure his employer is going to release him from work for the next couple of years or so. Or no? How is that working over there? Aren't those corporate teams trying to hire him now?
They've been trying to get him but he keeps turning them down. He likes the way he is doing it and wants to keep working. He says he's going to use his regular vacation days so he can go run Worlds.
prepureguts wrote:
Yet a 12:56 5k/ 60 min flat 1/2 marathon runner from the US has repeatedly failed to break 2:10 for the marathon despite the huge Nike warchest pumped into him.
Perhaps it really boils down to pure guts?
Really, I don't know. Could you possibly be that dumb? Or just trolling?
Anyone who has watched Ritz over the years knows he's got guts to spare.
Congratulations to this Japanese Amateur. For anyone wanting to use this as a way to bash American runners - either get a clue or grow up. Maybe even both.