Did Jet Lag Help Do In Bekele? Scientists Please Chime In

He ran 2:05 and change. That's not bad.

Not a scientist, but I read about this after racing terribly in Israel the day after getting there, and the consensus seems to be about a day per hour of time difference.

I am a scientist, but I don't study humans and their sleep patterns, so I can't help you.

BUT, Bekele has been racing internationally for a long time now. His manager has a ton of experience with traveling and racing. So jet lag hurt probably did hurt his performance, but it seems like his own fault for not getting there early enough.

Jet lag normally does not matter going east to west. The race would have started at 1:30 pm on his clock, which is PERFECT.

Maybe having a cold affected him but NOT jet lag.

So many people sleep on the plane when traveling east to west on long flights. Big mistake! You should always force yourself to stay awake as long as possible and only take short cat naps. That way when you arrive at your destination (typically late in the day) you are tired. You need to IMMEDIATELY live in the new time and go to bed at the same local clock time as you would at home. A nice warm shower and or beer can help a lot of people. The quicker you live and sleep in the new time the quicker you adjust. Coffee can also help in the mornings! Traveled to Asia countless times and these strategies always worked. Associates who slept most of the flight, drank alcohol instead of lots of water during the flight, and did not force themselves to immediately live in the new time zone, were a wreak for 3 days.

I think Bekele's 2:05 in his first marathon was the max he could have run at the time. Due to the cramps, I expected him to run about the same in Chicago, and that's what he did.

Bekele’s agent, Jos Hermens, is in the camp that the Bekele needs to do longer easy runs noting that his longest run was 40km, and he only did that once.

This quote is not encouraging. 40km is long enough, but races are not easy, and it's important to prepare for the race. I think he should run long and fast (not past 40km), and use the easy runs for recovery.

norphxc wrote:

I am a scientist, but I don't study humans and their sleep patterns, so I can't help you.

BUT, Bekele has been racing internationally for a long time now. His manager has a ton of experience with traveling and racing. So jet lag hurt probably did hurt his performance, but it seems like his own fault for not getting there early enough.

+1

Travelled from Europe (West of Russia) to Chicago twice and it took me 4-6 days to feel good while running.

Takes about a day for every hour time change when traveling westward.

Takes about 1.5 days for every hour change going eastward.

Circadian cortisol patterns adjust more quickly than core body temp changes.

This is not a bad reference, coming from a sleep med perspective:

http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/understand-travel-fatigue-and-jet-lag

I have also heard 1 day per hour, but suspect this is conservative. Your brain is extremely sensitive to sunlight and my experience has always been that after 3 nights I am adjusted.

However, the night before, the night before is the most important.

So Bekeles sleep Friday night certainly would have been affected by his travel

I am a man of religion and I believe Bekele has had his fair share of victories. That is why he did not win.

norphxc wrote:

I am a scientist, but I don't study humans and their sleep patterns, so I can't help you.

BUT, Bekele has been racing internationally for a long time now. His manager has a ton of experience with traveling and racing. So jet lag hurt probably did hurt his performance, but it seems like his own fault for not getting there early enough.

Bekele doesn't often change so many time zones. Most of his racing is in Europe, where the time difference from Ethiopia isn't so large. How many times has Bekele raced in the Americas?

wejo wrote:

We've got Bekele's post race comments here and one possible reason for his performance was he didn't sleep very well at all.

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2014/10/kenenisa-bekele-4th-place-finish-2014-bank-america-chicago-marathon/

Bekele only got here on Thursday evening. Kipchoge got here a day early so they both were battling jet lag, but my question is for scientists, when would you recommend an athlete from Africa arrive?

I even got here before Bekele so I'm saying Thursday evening is too late.

Big fan of Bekele, and maybe jet lag had something do to with it, but if we are honest with ourselves, Bekeke hasn't been the same in a long time. The old (young) Bekele could probably have run 2:02 and owned eveyone, but he moved up after he had lost his WR form. Maybe he can regain that, but it shouldn't be expected until he does something to suggest it should be.

It wouldn't matter according to the Hansons.

https://twitter.com/hansonsrun/status/500229833260281856

dagasfdfadf wrote:

Bekele doesn't often change so many time zones. Most of his racing is in Europe, where the time difference from Ethiopia isn't so large. How many times has Bekele raced in the Americas?

He ran 26:25 in Oregon a few years ago.

I fly from Europe to the East Coast US frequently. Going West is never a problem for me. As the other guy pointed out, don't sleep on the plain and go to bed when you feel tired (typically around 8pm for me). Then sleep until you wake up - typically 4am for me. That's 8 hours of sleep. You have to get up early for the Marathon anyway, so that would work well...

Not sure from where Bekele flew in but I doubt it was a direct flight, so his travel could have easily been 20+ hours, which obviously changes things despite the same time zone difference.

Interesting perspective.

asdsa wrote:

I am a man of religion and I believe Bekele has had his fair share of victories. That is why he did not win.

Critical Thinking wrote:

dagasfdfadf wrote:

Bekele doesn't often change so many time zones. Most of his racing is in Europe, where the time difference from Ethiopia isn't so large. How many times has Bekele raced in the Americas?

He ran 26:25 in Oregon a few years ago.

"few" that was in 2008 which was 6 years ago

Of course jet lag can hamper a performance. Is this really in dispute? Hasn't everyone here, at some point, had a bad race or run after a bad sleep?

It may not always contribute to a bad performance, but it'd be silly to rule it out as a causal factor.