Japanese fed. is despondent no one ran faster than 2:09:06 at Fukuoka - Has Sports Gene been translated into Japanese?

It is hard to argue that Salazar didn't run 2:09:06 if you give it to Beardsley.

For a long time, it was their lack of speed in other events that led the Japanese to believe they could do well in the marathon.

30q49u5lk wrote:

It is hard to argue that Salazar didn't run 2:09:06 if you give it to Beardsley.

For a long time, it was their lack of speed in other events that led the Japanese to believe they could do well in the marathon.

Salazar was born in Cuba. His family moved to the U.S. after Castro took over.

rojo wrote:

Kenya isn't amazingly good at distance running and incredibly bad at sprinting/football due to a national mindset

.

you're right, its because of drugs. Little testing goes on in Kenya and top Kenyans have been taught to avoid testers in ways that Americans never could.

What about all those guys that just ran sub 14. And the 16 year old. They will be moving up to the money.

How much money would Yuki have made if he quit his regular job and got paid

to just run?

say it wrote:

rojo wrote:

Kenya isn't amazingly good at distance running and incredibly bad at sprinting/football due to a national mindset

.

you're right, its because of drugs. Little testing goes on in Kenya and top Kenyans have been taught to avoid testers in ways that Americans never could.

That has nothing to do with this. Why do their sprinters suck if they have such amazing ways to avoid testers?

Ho Hum wrote:

say it wrote:

you're right, its because of drugs. Little testing goes on in Kenya and top Kenyans have been taught to avoid testers in ways that Americans never could.

That has nothing to do with this. Why do their sprinters suck if they have such amazing ways to avoid testers?

Culture. Being a sprinter in Kenya is like being a curler in the US.

The problem is that the Japanese runners are now aiming to be the "best in Japan," not the best in the world. They are aiming to make the Olympic Team, not win the Olympics.

They are training in the same training venues, doing the same training and training with the same training partners year after year after year.

Case in point.....one of my contacts in the running world told me that one of the major Japanese corporate teams was training in Boulder, and then just got up and flew back to Japan when the weather went bad, (cold and snowy) in Boulder. WTF?!?!?! Is Boulder the only good place to train in the USA? hahaha We've got so many great places to train in the USA. It's good to get of your comfort zone and drop in to somewhere you've never been to and just GO FOR IT.

The only reason that I was able to run 2:18 was that I got out of my "comfort zone" by training at 10,000 feet altitude up in the foothills of the Himalayas. The Japanese would probably have some consistent 2;05-2:06 guys and 2:18-2:19 girls if they trained up there.

Why doesn't Kawauchi just up and quit his government job and move out to Kenya and train with the very best? Maybe he wouldn't get to have green tea and natto every morning but hey, he'd probably get down to 2:06 in a big hurry.

as comforting as it is to blame your times on bad genes, the Japanese don't run sub-2:06 because they lack the speed to do so. They maximize their potential given their slow 5000m and 10000m times with hard, hard work, but they don't do the speedwork and drop the track times sufficient to run a great, great marathon. So, lots of them run sub 2:10 but none run sub 2:06. That's both a benefit and a curse of their training system.

baka, nani o itte iru

Two things. First, Japan is making real progress in the sprints as their men's junior teams took two relay silvers last summer in EUG. Second, a nice surprise to see Jason M. post in here - have not heard from him in a long time.

rojo wrote:

2:09:06 isn't horrible. IT's a time only 5 American-born men in history have eclipsed.

But more than 40 Japanese runners have run faster (I'm not sure about the exact number). Some as early as in 1980s. So why have they stagnated for 30 years? And this is not just marathon. Their NR in 10000m (from 2001) is only a fraction faster than the previous record from 1987.

They used to have 2:06 runners back in late 1990s and early 2000s. Now no one comes close to that level.

Didn't you train with Shibui at 10,000 feet and didn't she run 2:19?

Nihonjin don't care about what others outside thinking about or doing. Nippon is an island. Kodomo can walk alone at night in biggest city for safely. Young girl walk byself night PM, early AM. Chinese classmates never have rudeness yet ever once since in Japan. My parents scared for me and I email dozens Nippon very nice, relaxation, pleasant want.

My city is Harbin wrote:

Nihonjin don't care about what others outside thinking about or doing. Nippon is an island. Kodomo can walk alone at night in biggest city for safely. Young girl walk byself night PM, early AM. Chinese classmates never have rudeness yet ever once since in Japan. My parents scared for me and I email dozens Nippon very nice, relaxation, pleasant want.

Exactly. Komodo dragons can walk around where ever they please with impunity. They are safe. Japan is the sleeping dragon and its waking up for Rio.

This anonymous post on the story sounds like rojo.

"Kawauchi impresses me as a man who has some "conjones." I dare him to quit his government job and go to Eldoret for 3-4 months, train alongside the top Kenyans, then come back to Japan and run a marathon. Could he run 2;05-2:06? Maybe."

Rojo really likes the word cojones, I remember him giving David Torrence the "Grande Cojones award" after the world relay championships.

OXYRUNR wrote:

Two things. First, Japan is making real progress in the sprints as their men's junior teams took two relay silvers last summer in EUG. Second, a nice surprise to see Jason M. post in here - have not heard from him in a long time.

+1 on both counts

I don't see how speed is the problem in Japan. How many Kenyans have run 10.0x? They certainly perform poorly in the "speed endurance" events but this always seemed more a result of cultural bias towards the extremes (but who knows).

And considering that 2:08s have been relatively routin, and 2:07s not unheard of in recent years in Japan I can see why they'd be upset they didn't have a better showing

Considering they basically throw all their endurance eggs into the marathon basket, I can imagine the fed is a little pissed.