Looking at Haile's footstrike on the half marathon it appeared to me that he was somewhat landing with the heel and with a straight leg as opposed to a bent leg and forefoot strike. Is it just me or has road racing altered his style. I remember watching other images/video and Geb is notorious for being a forefoot striker and unlocked leg. What gives?
midfoot, not heel
Who cares...he's fast as f***!
geb fan wrote:
What gives?
If you don't like the post, dont respond!
He has some heel issues, where the Achilles attaches to the heel bone. Might be bursitis, heel spurs or Haglund's.
yeah i think his form is definitly less relaxed and efficient than it used to be, just look at his face
Midfoot as per these Amsterdam pics.
He is not a heel striker in the same way that most marathoners are.
http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/gallery/albums/2005AmsterdamMarathon/Amsterdam_05_373.jpg
http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/gallery/albums/2005AmsterdamMarathon/Amsterdam_05_420.jpg
maybe it is more efficient. not as pretty as it used to be certainly but probably more, not less efficient.
Believe me, it has to do with his heel problems.
why should we believe you? what do you know about it that anyone else does not?
You shouldn't ... but I have secret insider info. ;-)
That was the other thing I was wondering about. Wether his form is less efficient. Hard to believe this change would be more efficient than it used to be.
i want to be good enough to have my name on my bib instead of a number. that would be pretty sweet.
i think the people tend to associate a pretty stride with an efficient one but that this is not necessarily the case. guys like geb and bekele have turned distances like 5k and 10k into dam near a sprint. the shorter the race, the less important efficiency becomes. i am not saying geb wasn't hugely efficient when he ran his world records, just that he can get away with minor innefficiencies at those shorter distances far more than he can at longer distances like the half marathon and above.
a change in footstrike is probably a result of geb's body's natural adaptation to racing longer distances, doing longer intervals etc. the body tends to naturally work out even minor inefficiencies that someone like geb has. i think that adaptation plays a part in the reduction of footspeed that we normally associate just with age.
all speculation of course but i find it hard to believe that he just knocked 20 seconds off of an already smoking fast world record running alone more than half the way after having become LESS efficient
....the shorter the race, the less important efficiency becomes. i am not saying geb wasn't hugely efficient when he ran his world records, just that he can get away with minor innefficiencies at those shorter distances far more than he can at longer distances like the half marathon and above.
a change in footstrike is probably a result of geb's body's natural adaptation to racing longer distances, doing longer intervals etc. the body tends to naturally work out even minor inefficiencies that someone like geb has. i think that adaptation plays a part in the reduction of footspeed that we normally associate just with age.
all speculation of course but i find it hard to believe that he just knocked 20 seconds off of an already smoking fast world record running alone more than half the way after having become LESS efficient
Actually, efficiency is a product of VO2 max. Elites with the lower VO2's learn to become more efficient to compensate, runners with the high VO2s don't need to. The 2 extremes are Clyaton with his "shuffle", and Craig Virgin who was known for his ineffecient form. I suspect Geb's is pretty damn high.
Also, I am having trouble believing this record. For a 32 yo. guy this is... well, unbelievable.
Hmmm
I agree that his new form is less efficient, but it is still better than his opponents. I think CO-runner is right about the reason. I read somewhere he was to a "german adidas doctor", - heel-problems about a year ago. Couldn`t someone send him a pair of Nike Mariah from the 80`s?
Anybody have video clip from this performance. I would like to see his form. I remember and wonder if he is still as bouncy in his stride as he used to be.
on an interview haile gave a couple weeks before amsterdam to an ethiopian newspaper he claimed to have found a new way of running to smash the world marathon record. i had doubts about his claims after amsterdam but after seeing his half marathon record - maybe he did have found the new way to lower the records in the marathon!
MarathonMind wrote:
Actually, efficiency is a product of VO2 max.
Correlation does not mean causation
