Isn't Dubai a little soon for Bekele?

Here is a comparison to the great Sammy Wanjiru. Now admittedly, Wanjiru was 21 at the time (Bekele is 32).

But he ran 3 marathons in the span of 9 months, winning two of them including the Olympics.

2007

2:06:39 1 Fukuoka 2 Dec

2008

2:05:24 2 Flora London 13 Apr (4.5 months later)

2:06:32 1 OG Beijing 24 Aug (4.5 months later)

Bekele raced Chicago on October 12. So he's got with 3.5 months max. It's definitely a shorter turnaround. Then he'll have london 3 months after that.

Haile G often did stuff like that. He did Berlin-Dubai but Berlin is before Chicago.

2007

2:04:26 WR 1 Real Berlin 30 Sep

2008

2:04:53 1 Stand Chart Dubai 18 Jan

He smartly though didn't do a spring marathon and then ran his WR of 2:03:59 in the fall of 2008.

The one time Geb tried to do what Bekele is doing this year, spring marathon, fall marathon, dubai, then spring marathon. It ended up being a DNF in London.

2006

2:09:05 9 Flora London 23 Apr

2:05:56 NR 1 Real Berlin 24 Sep

2:06:52 1 Fukuoka 3 Dec

2007

DNF Flora London 22 Apr

Makes me wonder if he needs the money.

The second one is usually faster than the first. Then it gets harder.

When Kjell-Erik Ståhl came 4th in the 1983 WC (2,10) he had already run 5 marathons that year - all sub-2,15 while having a full time job.

Rest, train hard, race, repeat. It's not that unusual, or complicated, for elite athletes race marathons 3 months apart. Never has been.

Only recently did they invent the rule that Thou Shalt Only Run 2 Marathons a Year.

Yuki Kawauchi's 2014 season:

Jan. 12: Tanigawa Mari Half Marathon, Tokyo: 1:04:17, 2nd

Jan. 19: Okukuma Road Race half marathon, Kumamoto: 1:03:40, 2nd

Jan. 26: Okumusashi Ekiden Fifth Stage (5.294 km), Saitama: 14:42, 1st

Feb. 2: Saitama Ekiden Third Stage (11.9 km), Saitama: 36:13 - CR, 1st

Feb. 9: Karatsu Road Race 10-miler, Saga: 47:28 - PB, 4th

Feb. 16: Kumamoto-jo Marathon, Kumamoto: 2:10:14 - CR, 1st

Mar. 2: Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Shiga: 2:10:38, 4th

Mar. 9: Nagoya City Half Marathon, Nagoya: 1:04:17, 2nd

Mar. 16: Saitama City Half Marathon, Saitama: 1:04:49, 1st

Mar. 23: Ogori Road Race half marathon, Fukuoka: 1:05:21 - CR, 1st

Mar. 30: Incheon International Half Marathon, South Korea: 1:06:04, 5th

Apr. 6: Sakura Marathon, Saga: 2:13:02 - CR, 1st

Apr. 13: Yaizu Minato Half Marathon, Shizuoka: 1:04:19, 9th

Apr. 20: Tokushima Marathon, Tokushima: 2:15:25 - CR, 1st

Apr. 26: Nittai University Time Trials 1500 m Heat 11, Kanagawa: 3:54.87, 12th

May 4: Hamburg Marathon, Germany: 2:09:36, 9th

May 11: Sendai International Half Marathon, Sendai: 1:03:23, 4th

May 18: Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, Gifu: 1:03:48, 11th

May 25: Kahoku Shinpo Kinshuko 30 km Road Race, Iwate: 1:34:01 - CR, 1st

June 1: Chitose JAL International Marathon, Hokkaido: 2:15:57 - CR, 1st

June 8: Muse no Mori Challenge Road Race 10 km, Saitama: 32:29, 1st (paced three 1.5 km children's races prior to 10 km)

June 15: Okinoshima 50 km Ultramarathon, Shimane: 2:47:27 - NR, 1st

June 29: Saitama Track and Field Championships 1500 m, Saitama

Semi-final: 3:55.18 - 1st

Final: 3:56.48 - 1st

July 6: Gold Coast Airport Marathon, Australia: 2:11:27 - 3rd

July 27: Kushiro Shitsugen 30 km, Hokkaido: 1:33:49 - 1st

Aug. 3: Nihonkai Melon Half Marathon, Akita: 1:06:28 - 1st

Aug. 17: Hoppo Ryodo Nosappu Misaki Half Marathon, Hokkaido: 1:06:12 - 1st

Aug. 31: Perth City to Surf Marathon, Australia: 2:12:55 - CR, 1st

Sept. 9: Marathon National Team 40 km Time Trial, Hokkaido: 2:14:52 - 2nd

Sept. 21: Tazawako 20 km Road Race, Akita: 1:01:43 - CR, 1st

Oct. 3: Incheon Asian Games Marathon, South Korea: 2:12:42 - 3rd

Oct. 12: Kitami Half Marathon, Hokkaido: 1:04:33 - CR, 1st

Oct. 19: Chiba Aqualine Half Marathon, Chiba: 1:04:22 - CR, 1st

Nov. 2: TCS New York City Marathon, U.S.A.: 2:16:41 - 11th

Nov. 16: Ageo City Half Marathon, Saitama: 1:02:55, 10th

Nov. 23: Fukuchiyama Marathon, Kyoto: 2:12:59 - CR, 1st

Nov. 29: Hasuda Road Race 3 km, Saitama: 8:47 - 1st

Nov. 30: Koedo Kawagoe Half Marathon, Saitama: 1:03:39 - 2nd

Dec. 7: Naha Marathon, Okinawa: 2:13:43 - CR, 1st

Dec. 21: Hofu Yomiuri Marathon, Yamaguchi: 2:09:46 - 1st

Dec. 31: Cursa dels Nassos 10 km, Spain: 30:30 - 12th

Bekele can certainly get the same level of "help" Kawauchi gets.

Kawauchi Fan wrote:

Yuki Kawauchi's 2014 season:

Kawauchi finishes about a mile behind the winners in WMM's.

That's very interesting facts, I wonder if he will be the one to break that barrier. You never know with Bekele, he is a tough little guy!

Bekele will probably hammer this one and then suffer some injury issues for a while. It catches up to you. He should take a month or two off entirely after this race and then get into it for World's later this year. He has time but getting back into training right away after a marathon is not a good idea if you want to keep doing it for a long time at high quality. Even Kawauchi, who should be running 2:06-7, finds himself doing many of his races well below his maximum capacities. The U.S. would still be pretty happy to have a runner running sub 2:10 twice in one year, let alone performing nearly as well in so many other races.

earlier spring marathon sets him up better for a break and then a late summer peak (WCs - 10K or M?) rather than a late fall 'thon.

Ryan Hall ran his 2:04 AR three months after his stellar NYCM performance. So yes, it is possible.

Frank Shorter had like 2 months or so from the trials to the Olympics and he won. But Bekele isn't Frank Shorter. We'll see how he handles this. Time will tell if its a good decision or not.

I personally think Bekele is too focused on the money. He is trying to compete often because he wants money. He is lacking patience to do the proper build up. He'd probably make more money in total if he were patient and trained properly and did the ideal 6 months between marathons as he would likely win (if he figures out how to train adequately for the marathon which he hasn't shown to have done yet).

agc5k wrote:

Frank Shorter had like 2 months or so from the trials to the Olympics and he won. But Bekele isn't Frank Shorter. We'll see how he handles this. Time will tell if its a good decision or not.

I personally think Bekele is too focused on the money. He is trying to compete often because he wants money. He is lacking patience to do the proper build up. He'd probably make more money in total if he were patient and trained properly and did the ideal 6 months between marathons as he would likely win (if he figures out how to train adequately for the marathon which he hasn't shown to have done yet).

Shorter had to run 2:15 and then 2:12.

You're right. Bekele is not Shorter.