Profile of Henryk Szost (31 years) (1.85cm/68kg)
He is 31 years old and runs 180 - 200km per week in training. He stands 1.85cm and weighs 68 -70kg which he claims is too fat to compete with the africans! He says to be competitive with the best he should weigh not more than 62kg. When he placed second in the Lake Biwa marathon (Japan), 2011, in 2:07:39, that really opened the doors to be invited to Big City International marathons.
Henryk does not have a complex when facing the dominant African runners, but finds it a pity, nevertheless, that many Big City Marathons in which the first 30 runners are all Africans. This can be de motivating for runners from Europe and elsewhere, because the message is that we cannot compete with the Africans. Japan, however, is different, because the Japanese organizers of marathons always try to mix the fields with different ethnic groups. This is why Eastern European runners and others love to run in Japan. Look at the success of Baranovsky (Ukraine) and Henryk. Thanks to Japan they have attained success in the marathon world.
In Lake Biwa Henryk won $20,000 which was a big boost in earnings (the winner nabbed $50,000). Henryk works for the Sports Complex in the Polish Air Force, but thanks to these recent successes will be able to concentrate more on running in the future. He represents the Grunwald Poznan club. The military is everything to Henryk because it has given him the chance to train and run, without having to worry about accommodation or food, which are provided.
Henryk started his long distance running career quite late around the age of 18, after dabbling in cross country skiing. In cross country skiing, he had also started too late to acquire the technique to reach the highest levels. He also did mountain races, before switching to marathons. He has almost no track credentials to speak of. He is a pure road racer.
Henryk has had many coaches including former Polish record holder Gajdus (2:09) but he is now trained by Russian Leonid Szwiecowem of Saratov. But his relationship with his coach is almost entirely all by email, where everything Henryk does is sent and commented on by the Russian.
He also trains in Albuquerque, New Mexico, under the tutelage of Antony Niemczak, the former Polish great. But most of his training year round is accomplished in the Polish country town of Muszyna, which has great training routes, forests and a natural setting. Almost all his runs are done alone. He averages 180-200km a week. Muszyna is fine in winter too, because it is where the Polish cross country skiers live and train. And Henryk can cross train by cross country skiing in the winter instead of running. The aerobic base from cross country skiing is second to none.
Henryk's main hobby is hunting, and in the low season he does a lot of hunting in the natural setting of Muszyna. But he also feeds the animals, so this has a good side as well. When he hunts, he kills deer, wild boar and foxes. Szost is an outdoors man, and that is where he spends most of his time, even when not running.
Ghost