OFFICIAL JULIEN WANDERS 59:13 EUROPEAN RECORD THREAD!!

Interesting future wrote:

We are witnessing history here. Wanders may very well end up in the top 10 of all time in the half and who knows what is in store in the full marathon.

Even now with this run I think there are only around 30 or so guys ever that have run the half faster.

Daniels puts 59:13 equivalent to 2:04 flat marathon, sub 27 10k, and sub 13 5k. Excited for his marathon debut. He has a physique very similar to that of the East Africans.

Seriously mate? wrote:

He has a physique very similar to that of the East Africans.

His body looks atypical for a white male. Whites tend to have longer torsos and mesomorph frames, but not Wanders with those long thin limbs and small torso. Other than his skin color, he totally blends in with the other elite African runners. Even his running style is very African-like. Whites don't look nearly as relaxed as East Africans when running hard, but Wanders moves with ease just like a Kenyan.

Like two years ago for Sondre Moen, now we have again some idiot who don't understand the reasons because some athlete who wants to become one of the best in the World can chose to train (and live) in Kenya, instead in US or Switzerland or any other place in the World.

"Why going in Kenya for altitude training, when we have Flagstaff / Albuquerque / Colorado Springs / Boulder / St. Moritz / Font Romeau and other places with altitude and better conditions for living ?".

This is a frequent question, showing how the most part of posters don't know anything about athletics, and don't understand what can make an athlete stronger.

Julien has around him a small group of Kenyan athletes (also friends with him) able to run 10 km between 27:40 and 28:20. This group can help him a lot, is not only the problem of altitude.

Training alone, in a perfect place in altitude, doesn't change the mental and physiological attitude of an athlete. You can change mentality, becoming more aggressive in training and cancelling the mental limits that are a baggage of European and American, only training with athletes with this kind of training aggression. You learn how to raise your threshold of pain and sufference, you increase your aerobic level, you improve in your elasticity and reactivity because the courses, you entirely focus in training. This is the reason because also European (or athletes from New Zealand like the Robertsons) can reach top levels, without every time looking at doping or some strange medical advantage.

European and Americans became too soft with themselves in the last 20 years for producing top champions in disciplines where the level of sufference is very high, and needs continuous and progressive adaptation. The current life in our Countries looks at very different goals : quality of life means to find the way for CANCELLING the fatigus from our life, and this is the opposite of what we need, if want to become Champions in events of fatigue and sufference, like long running events.

The fact is that this is a normal conditions for African, no more a normal condition for European and American. So, if somebody wants to improve his "quality of life" according to the modern and current behavior, is the African who has to move to Europe or US, but if somebody wants to improve his "quality of running" according to the principle of training, is the European or American who has to move to Kenya or Ethiopia (of course, with some exception...).

Wanders physique wrote:

Seriously mate? wrote:

He has a physique very similar to that of the East Africans.

His body looks atypical for a white male. Whites tend to have longer torsos and mesomorph frames, but not Wanders with those long thin limbs and small torso. Other than his skin color, he totally blends in with the other elite African runners. Even his running style is very African-like. Whites don't look nearly as relaxed as East Africans when running hard, but Wanders moves with ease just like a Kenyan.

That's what they said about Ryan Hall...

Wanders physique wrote:

Seriously mate? wrote:

He has a physique very similar to that of the East Africans.

His body looks atypical for a white male. Whites tend to have longer torsos and mesomorph frames, but not Wanders with those long thin limbs and small torso. Other than his skin color, he totally blends in with the other elite African runners. Even his running style is very African-like. Whites don't look nearly as relaxed as East Africans when running hard, but Wanders moves with ease just like a Kenyan.

It's an illusion. He's just wearing his pants high up the waist

Can we have some "I think this is the reason" rather than just stating your beliefs as facts?

wadaskeptic wrote:

Is Alberto sending him hollowed out books with goodies inside? Seems like he must be an under the radar NOPer.

Hey moran, he lives and trains in Kenya where you can buy EPO over the counter.

Very well said Coach Canova. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on why it is so important to train with the right crowd.

Mckdm wrote:

Can we have some "I think this is the reason" rather than just stating your beliefs as facts?

It's common sense that peer pressure can make people far better, or far worse. Evidence? Visit any school.

Totally agree with mr. Canova. Iten has it all. The altitude, the climate, the roads, the runners, the culture, the lifestyle, the hunger for success, the food, the "easy living" etc...

The fact is that this is a normal conditions for African, no more a normal condition for European and American. So, if somebody wants to improve his "quality of life" according to the modern and current behavior, is the African who has to move to Europe or US, but if somebody wants to improve his "quality of running" according to the principle of training, is the European or American who has to move to Kenya or Ethiopia (of course, with some exception...).

This above illuminating words from Renato Canova are so true! And to me is not even a fact that 30 years ago in Europe

or the rest of the world distance runners were able to work harder than what runners do today. To me is a fact that today in Kenia and Ethiopia they have a special combination of altitude, hilly red sand courses, hundreds of runners focus just to give their best in training everyday

and a life without distraction and totally focus on training and what surround it.

All these factors blended togheter at the same time they never existed before in other countries .

And I think that really living there all year round like Wanders or the Robertson brothers can give you the best results.

Most of runners go there (Kenia or Ethiopia) for a short period of time but then to me is not the same thing than living there all year round.

Samona wrote:

He has the perfect training environment in Switzerland (lots of altitude, St Moritz etc) and goes to Kenya? WHY?

Having been all over Switzerland last summer, I just don't think this is true. A humongous amount of verticality, paved roads everywhere, relatively lower altitude across the whole country, with only a few places being higher up, and they're 2-3 thousand feet lower than Kenya. Not only this, but there aren't people to train with, and on top of that, its WINTER.

Like Really Bro wrote:

Samona wrote:

He has the perfect training environment in Switzerland (lots of altitude, St Moritz etc) and goes to Kenya? WHY?

Having been all over Switzerland last summer, I just don't think this is true. A humongous amount of verticality, paved roads everywhere, relatively lower altitude across the whole country, with only a few places being higher up, and they're 2-3 thousand feet lower than Kenya. Not only this, but there aren't people to train with, and on top of that, its WINTER.

You're wasting your time trying to justify/explain what would/should be logical for anyone with any travel experience (most Americans have not traveled outside even their own region, let alone country). As is typical here, uneducated and/or I'll informed posters make analogously uneducated and ill informed comments. Even more frustrating, they state it as fact. You're wasting your time trying to explain the above. Let it go, and you'll be a much happier person.