OFFICIAL 2014 LONDON MARATHON UPDATE THREAD

Men's top 10:

Kipsang, Wilson (KEN) 02:04:29

Biwott, Stanley (KEN) +00:26 02:04:55

Kebede, Tsegaye (ETH) +02:01 02:06:30

Abshero, Ayele (ETH) +02:02 02:06:31

Mekonnen, Tsegaye (ETH) +03:37 02:08:06

Mutai, Geoffrey (KEN) +03:49 02:08:18

Mutai, Emmanuel (KEN) +03:50 02:08:19

Farah, Mo (GBR) +03:52 02:08:21

Lilesa, Feyisa (ETH) +03:57 02:08:26

Vail, Ryan (USA) +06:28 02:10:57

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baby boy wrote:

Stephen Kiprotich is EXTREMELY overrated and he is the next Abel Mutai

Seems to be a championship runner like Slow Mo. Sooner or later Kenyans and Ethiopians will figure out they can't win sit & kicks and make those championship races honest.

Currently there are no Kenyans or Ethiopians who can go sub 26:40 i.e. faster than Mo on any given day.

El Keniano wrote:

baby boy wrote:

Stephen Kiprotich is EXTREMELY overrated and he is the next Abel Mutai

Seems to be a championship runner like Slow Mo. Sooner or later Kenyans and Ethiopians will figure out they can't win sit & kicks and make those championship races honest.

I couldn't agree more!

There is no reason as to why the Ethiopians and Kenyans couldn't win the men's gold in London. We blew it but I think we've learnt our lesson.

KIprotich always gets dropped in hot races. He has not been able to master how to handle a fast pace.

At least Mo Farah didn't go full Zersenay on the London Marathon. Pretty decent debut all things considered. I kind of think that he will max out around 2:05.mid after the race. Everything went his way minus the experience factor. But 2:05 ability is more than enough to win Rio with his speed if that's what he decides he wants to focus on.

Concupiscurd wrote:

Wow. That's some run and certainly not flat. His average heart rate was 128 which is incredible to me.

lurkinFinn wrote:

How's this for a workout?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/470346550

Holy smokes! Are we sure that wasn't on a bike?!?

Oh... and what I find really funny is the Garmin training effect rating: 3.7/5!! In other words, just a moderately hard workout....

My son has a 620. Based on his workouts it's been predictin a 20:30 for 5k for him. Yesterday he ran 2:10 in the 8 and 4:40 in the 1600. I think Garmin needs to tweak their models a little bit.

another stream wrote:

When Kipsang wins we can make it a bash on Nike... Mo needs to stop bouncing up and down... yet the commentators tell us the bounce is a good thing... shakes head :-/

They said, "Not good for a marathoner", and talked about how Haille tried to adjust his stride when he took on the marathon. It is one of the problems that occur when you take on the marathon.

You could see Diababa doing the same thing.

Announcier wrote:

Honestly I dont think Mo will bring much heat to the track this yr.. it'll be the same old boring sit and kick if anything.. not surprised he's milking his image right now

There are a lot of stupid people who post on Let's Run.

Who have you been excited by on the track? The guy in 4th or 5th behind Mo?

yyy wrote:

Currently there are no Kenyans or Ethiopians who can go sub 26:40 i.e. faster than Mo on any given day.

I hope you're kidding. Kipsang can easily run 26:25 if he trains for it.

How good Kipsang really is can easily be understood when looking at his Marathons over the years:

2010: 2:04

2011: 2:03

2012: 2:04

2013: 2:03

2014: 2:04*

he doesn't have the forefoot stride of a sub 26:30 guy.

He stamina is unprecedented, but I doubt he would go sub 26:50. Today he was in 27:15 shape.

How does Kiprotich win Olympic and WC gold and run 2:11, still with a PR of 2:07:20? So weird.

NativeSon wrote:

..... Stephen Kiprotich.

He is the most overrated runner of this era.

The guy is always lucky. He runs sparingly during championship years, conserves his energy and goes on to win .....

Nobody gets "lucky" and wins the OG and the WC. There's actually quite a lot of ability and hard work required.

LOL. Farah wasn't even remotely a factor. They didn't "make him work to catch up" since he only fell further behind!

I guess we can say Geoffery Mutai is no good also, since he was right in front of Farah.

There are few consistent marathoners and few who run a good one on the first try.

I've learned:

1. Bekele may break the world record some day in the marathon. Bekele was fast on the track, but had to make sure the pace was fast enough so he could use his kick. He was outkicked by Lagat and El G over 5000m when it was a slow pace. I think he is well suited for the marathon as he's a little more slow twitch than Farah.

2. Farah has the best range of any distance runner ever (3:28 and 2:08.21). This amazes me, because it is very difficult to be both fast and have endurance. 3:28 for 1500 shows that Farah is fast-twitch - more so than Bekele. Running 2:08.21 is not slow and is very good for a first time marathoner with a lot of speed.

3. Kipsang has the best running form of any marathoner I've ever seen.

Nutella1 wrote:

yyy wrote:

Currently there are no Kenyans or Ethiopians who can go sub 26:40 i.e. faster than Mo on any given day.

I hope you're kidding. Kipsang can easily run 26:25 if he trains for it.

You need to learn a little bit about track and field. It is a big difference being able to go sub 26:30. Only Geb and Bekele have done it. They both had a ton of speed.

People need to realize that a 10,000m and a marathon are two very different events that need to be approached differently.

What I find most surprising, is neither Mutai's were in the top 5.

Actually "They" did on the BBC elite stream. Cut to Mo and commented that he was ok, got bounce back in his stride. To be fair it was likely just an unfortunate turn of phrase.

v6 wrote:

How does Kiprotich win Olympic and WC gold and run 2:11, still with a PR of 2:07:20? So weird.

Kiprotich is a warm weather specialist like Shorter.

Marathon Man 23 wrote:

2. Farah has the best range of any distance runner ever (3:28 and 2:08.21). This amazes me, because it is very difficult to be both fast and have endurance. 3:28 for 1500 shows that Farah is fast-twitch - more so than Bekele. Running 2:08.21 is not slow and is very good for a first time marathoner with a lot os speed

I dunno about that. I mean Geb ran a 3:33i and a 2:03:59. So that's a close call. Geb is five seconds slower in the 1500m(which was indoor) and he's 4:30 faster in the marathon. I think Geb's range is probably better.