This is why the kenyans are better than us

Then please explain how Ed Whitlock runs a 3 hour marathon off of 9 minute training runs at 75?

Age group success at times approching 3 hours may be impressive considering the age, but have no relevance to elite performance. The question is, how can you run 2:06 or better. So far, only the Kenyans seem to have an answer.

The KIMbia group is just one of many Kenyan groups achieving this success. Is Dieter right? With the results of his group it would be tough to say he's wrong.

I personally think you're inferring an awful lot from '2 weeks hard, 1 week easy.' I'm sure this means every run they ever do is 5:00 pace or better. All the time.

Training is very hard for 2 weeks but every day is not at 5:00 minute pace. Afternoons are easy jogging and there are recovery days in that 2 weeks. recovery days are still quite a bit of mileage but the runs are easy. The recovery week is very welcome when it comes. Dieters training program is very intense but it also helps you see your fitness develop very quickly

A good mix of everything pace wise but tons of miles which these guys have built up to over a lifetime.

you want to know why the kenyans are better than us?

scroll down for the secret.

because there kenyan.

Some athletes in the US and some in kenya train LSD, some train hard. its obvious that there is an inherent genetic and/or cultural advantage to kenyans as opossed to us. Genetic as in they are born to be long distance runners just like african americans and many from the caribean are born to sprint, or cultural, as in the way they are brought up which is different from this capitilist society. Its not how they train, everyone at that level trains hard. and most train smart. its the talent and the past. there is a reason why people who put in consistant training (building upon years of bases) perform better.

Yep. These guys would be running damn fast off of any training. The guys who are winning big marathons could beat most of us without ever running a workout.

AI wrote:

Yep. These guys would be running damn fast off of any training. The guys who are winning big marathons could beat most of us without ever running a workout.

Go Al Salazar go....go Bill Rogers, Frank Shorter go...Derek Clayton trained in (Whammerrooland) Australia.

No discouragement from those blokes was ever evident!

Read the rest of the site. They flat out run hard workouts but it also mentions that their easy runs are sometimes barely even a jog and they walk parts of the warmups.

lohalloran wrote:

Read the rest of the site. They flat out run hard workouts but it also mentions that their easy runs are sometimes barely even a jog and they walk parts of the warmups.

Nooooo! It's because Americans are lazy and Kenyans are so hard-working so they don't ever run above 5 flat pace ever! Except college kids who race in practice and burn out because they're racing in practice and never recovering...but besides that it's because Americans are lazy! Because of playstations and the internet! That's why!

aspiring marathoner wrote:

The letsrun motto of long, slow distance running ...

Who says that's the motto around here? They might preach going slow when you start out as a beginner or slowing down when you make a big jump in mileage, but the motto here is generally strong aerobic running.

Simple reasons why yu cant compare kenyans with Americans.

1.Lifestyle(kenyans dont take bus to school, so for almost 10-16 yrs,your bones and musscle are developing)

2.Food. beleive me or NOT, if you are eating alot of pizza,or and cheeze in every food its like adding and subtracting.( I am not saying pizza is bad for you, but what you eat from the time you were born till hold age plays a big in your born developement) Kenyans eat fresh from the farm.

3.Determination. just having the hearth to train. Not becouse you want to compare yourself to anybody else but becoz you want to do something special to your self. (look at Bod Kenneddy, beleive or not alot of Americans kids want to be like him. This guy came to kenya, trained with among of the best runners in the best training camp ren by former Moses kiptanui former steeple star.Guese what, Bob learned alot of thinks that very few american kids will ever learn.

4.patients pays alot. look, you just had a promisisng guy like Riztz who could shatter even the Bob kennedy,5k & 10 km record. What happens? be4 even running 2 halfs, he is on full marathon.he is just one, and people are stating to say that this will be change in American distance running.How is that? coparig Rizts with kenyans who are winning 90% of all the road running in the world. come on guys lets be realistic here.

For a WR, 60 mpw is adequate half marathon training.

aspiring marathoner wrote:

The letsrun motto of long, slow distance running is wrong. The best marathoners in the world just flat out run hard.

http://www.chasingkimbia.com/?p=118

Scroll to question #2.

WRONG.

#8

Hello, I love the site! Anyway, I was just wondering, how fast do these guys run during their easy days? It seems like they are always doing something hard on your daily run updates, but what about in between?

- T Rock, Brooklyn, New York

T Rock, I wondered the same thing the first day in Boulder when they asked if I wanted to run with them in the evening. I was scared, but said yes. I made sure I didn’t eat 4 hours before the run, I stretched, I listened to some Eye of the Tiger to get fired up, and then blasted out the front door to meet them for the run. I was so ready…then we walked about 500 meters through the neighborhood, across a stream, and into a park. Ok, now they’re ready… I thought to myself. We hit the trailhead and…nothing happened. We shuffled along. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. I actually had to hold myself back. As the run went on, the pace picked up only slightly. Maybe 8:00 pace. Maybe slower. However, the last mile seemed to be much quicker, probably around 6:00 pace.

With that said, I still passed your question along to Dieter. Here is what he said:

We have 3-4 hard days per week and 3-4 easy days. Sometimes it’s hard-easy-hard-easy and sometimes 2 days hard 2 days easy. There is a difference between a morning run on an easy day and an easy jog in the afternoon after a hard session in the morning. While an easy morning run might start with a couple of 7 minute miles the pace mostly picks up and goes down to about 6 minute pace. A jog in the afternoon is unpredictable, maybe 8-9 minutes in the beginning and 7 minutes per mile at the end. It just depends on how they feel.

The Word wrote:

For a WR, 60 mpw is adequate half marathon training.

If "WR" means "Wimpy Runner," that may be right.

Personally I think it's the law of attrition. In Kenya, running is huge. Oddly, I kind of equate it to basketball in America's inner cities, many people see it as a way out. Quite frankly, when you get ever blessed athlete in your country running monstrous milage from the time they're three at high altitude, it doesn't matter how the top guys train. The ones that survive will be better than our ice-cream eating, video-game playing, didn't run five miles at a time until 14, American kids.

I agree that a lot of it is pure numbers. Of every say 1000 guys training hard you will get a handful of very talented guys who don't get injured and get very fast. There is anecdotal evidence that many Kenyans start slowing down after they get over here so they go back during the winter to train. That would cover society factors. Over the past 30 years there have been enough guys running fast in North America; i.e Salazar in heat in 1982 running 2:08 to Steve Scott to Meb running at the world class level while training here that makes me think there is no inherent reason Kenyans are faster other than they train harder. THe basketball analogy is pretty good. SOme of these guys are training hard to better their situation. THey are hungry. But there are hungry north american runners; maybe not as many.

I see them on my drive to work almost every morning. I've seen them running really fast ~5:30 pace once, then the rest of the time they are usually running slow or an exceptionally slow jog.

I would venture to propose that it is mainly evolution at this point. If we spent generations upon generations at altitude, on foot, not over-eating, not eating processed crap for food, having to win races to get paid, then we would be there. If the Kenyans had our lifestyle and geographics all these years, they might not be as good. They are simply physically more evolved than we are. With all the overweight American kids eating high fructose corn syrup and playing Playstation all day, I don't think we're headed in the right direction, frankly.