Anyone else notice Kipchoge looked shaken in post race interview? Blames ear blockage, Kipchoge shook!

Even Kipchoge played down the role of the conditions and said it was more due to his ear+hip and they are all running in the same course in the same conditions so it's a mute point.

DwideSchrude wrote:

He's referring to ear wax buildup. I have never heard of someone refer to an ear infection as "blockage". This is a very poor excuse. I know a lot of people here that are fans are in denial. If you step away, and assess this objectively, he just had an awful day. He did not perform well, and he was not anywhere near his usual level physically. Having ear wax buildup does not prevent your body from running faster.

Kipchoge is obviously extremely tough, and I guarantee that the faintest of "pain" caused by blockage in the ear would not inhibit his ability to run faster. Hear as well? Yes. Physically move at a different speed? No.

Remove subjective analysis.

Yep and the poor excuse is a sign that he was indeed mentally shook by what happened today.

my2c wrote:

I'm a Kipchoge fan. But this makes me way more excited for his next marathon. Let's see how the champ can bounce back from defeat!

His mind will be his greatest competitor: "Am I over the hill? Was last time really just a fluke?"

I want to see him trounce those doubts.

I agree, this was quite a meaningless time to lose. A strange event on a looped course amidst a pandemic with no crowd.

It doesn't matter to Kipchoge's career at all, but it will make the next race more exciting as he faces those competitors again, hopefully under more ordinary circumstances.

For once I'd like to see a pro runner say"I had a bad race. No excuses. I tried my best. Congratulations to the winner and I hope for a better race next time".

Also, everyone ran in the same conditions. It's London in October...what weather did they expect? Prepare for it!

KT1 wrote:I once ran a 5k in those conditions, steady rain and low 40s, and I could not feel anything for an hour after the race and shook uncontrollably.

sounds hard

DwideSchrude wrote:

He's referring to ear wax buildup. I have never heard of someone refer to an ear infection as "blockage". This is a very poor excuse. I know a lot of people here that are fans are in denial. If you step away, and assess this objectively, he just had an awful day. He did not perform well, and he was not anywhere near his usual level physically. Having ear wax buildup does not prevent your body from running faster.

Kipchoge is obviously extremely tough, and I guarantee that the faintest of "pain" caused by blockage in the ear would not inhibit his ability to run faster. Hear as well? Yes. Physically move at a different speed? No.

Remove subjective analysis.

I've had to get my ears drained multiple times because they routinely get plugged to the point where if both get clogged I am deaf.

I've gone running with a single ear before and it should have pretty much no effect on your running. If anything it should make you run faster. Since you can't hear outside, all you get to listen to is your breathing and feet hitting the ground. This can make it easier to focus on your form since you don't have audible distractions.

ultrawalker wrote:

Since when was 12*c ever considered too cold for running that's perfect temperature, any runner would take today's weather over a sunny 20*c day for a race/time trial.. whoever says this is the worst day of the season so far for running clearly isn't much of a runner.

Sorry but that's a bunch of BS. Yes, adaption to weather conditions are possible, but even more severe is the genetic factor. Some people do great in rain, some in cold weather, and some in very hot weather, comparatively to others. No one will PR in 10F or 100F, but a hot weather specialist could destroy someone with a much better PR in a 100F race. Most people dropped out of Doha (too hot) and Boston (too cold/windy) under severe conditions, because they didn't adjust their pace enough.

The 5000m WR, 12:35 was set in 79F (=26C) by a hot weather specialist. Most runners will not be able to run a PR 5k in that heat. Some runners PR'ed today in London, so it was a fast course with good conditions.

About Kipchoge? I don't think these were bad conditions for him in particular, as in - the others do better than him in that weather comparatively. He did well in Vienna sub 2, which had similar temperature. The times were all slow because it was a slow race, it could have been a 2:04 or even 2:03 race as well. If you really think that he was not prepared for the weather as well as all the other African runners, then you need to blame his coaches for only training in extreme heat or whatever you think they did, but it's a hard argument to make for coaches who helped him win 34342243 marathons in a row.

Run with ear defenders and see if you go faster.

Thank your favorite deity that Jornet or Seth James Demoor did not race because then the Ultra community would have had a win over the GOAT.

Obviously being able to hear out of both ears is vitally important if Kipchoge goes 6 minutes slower otherwise.

What a shame it is some people can't deal with their sticky ear wax. That's why they say the new dry ear wax gene will out compete and replace it eventually.

He's done. Too much absurdly fast marathons took the toll. Still he will be the marathon goat for a long time.

The bottle guy from Berlin on the bike was classic. I think on LetsRun someplace there’s an interview with him.

End of the ride wrote:

He's done. Too much absurdly fast marathons took the toll. Still he will be the marathon goat for a long time.

This

He hasn’t raced since the spring of 2019. A lot can happen to someone’s abilities in that time at his age. Yeah he did that 1:59 thing but what’s to say there’s not 5 other guys who could do it under those conditions.

Another point is his lack of training group. He seemed to really thrive in that group training environment. Maybe that’s part of what lost his edge.

It’s likely we won’t see a crack at the world record until cheptegei moves up to the thin.

fisky wrote:

It sounds like a perfect storm of problems.

Cold and rainy, leading to hypothermia. These conditions affect some people a lot more than others.

Nutrition - Missed taking his bottles.

Ear blockage - Probably a cold. I've noticed that a minor cold that doesn't affect me in other ways can significantly hinder my running performance.

Add it all up and it leads to less than optimal performance. I'm not making excuses for him... it's just an objective analysis. I couldn't care less who won.

This.

& the end result? Something that hasn't happened in years. The guy didn't come in first. He was still just a minute back. He ran 2:06 instead of 2:05. He's just been so consistent it feels surreal to see him off his game. He was shaking because of the cold. Have you folks saying that ever run a marathon? Your body is all outta wack afterwards & these conditions weren't great. 50 with rain and wind will have a certain body type feeling pretty cold. There's a reason pace groups went out the window today. This was nowhere near Boston 2018 but I'm guessing Kipchoge would not have enjoyed those conditions either.

Rainy Day wrote:

I’ve run in very similar conditions. When you are wet and exhausted at that temperature, it’s easy to get very cold. During the race was fine, but once I finished I was shaking like crazy.

I think people forget that running a marathon at your limit is inflicting a pretty severe trauma on your body. When it's raining and windy it reduces your body temperature further. I think he was genuinely just cold and his body was going into recovery mode after the race. I don't think he's done, like the article says, he's finally just had a bad day in an event where bad days are the norm

this is it. and it's really the norm to have a bad day, even for a superb athlete like kipchoge.

not to forget that very slowly the age of almost 36 years comes into play. it doesn't mean that he is done now but it's getting more and more difficult to train injury-free, more and more unpredictable how a race will end and very hard to keep up the necessary speed reserve.

I don't find it any coincidence that the winner was the best prepared clothing wise for the conditions. When you are at this level with such small margins, it can make the difference.

10 celsius with rain and wind would not make Boston-like conditions quite, but not surprising to totally shake up the race. Kenyans often do poorly in these sorts of conditions, and that opened the door for Hall in her race.

But we are not his personal doctor, no one can diagnose what is wrong with his ear without seeing it. Some ear infections start as the ear feeling full or blocked. To me he looked extremely cold and I wonder if he was dehydrated. It is not a pleasant day. It is not so much the temperature or the rain but actually the wind.