We caught up with Zane Robertson this morning in Kenya after his sensational 59:48 half-marathon debut last weekend. We're posting it first on the messageboard as we want to reward you, the heart and soul of LetsRun.com.
The interview is full of lots of great stuff including huge ambition for the 10,000 at Worlds this year and how he knew total unknown Hayle Lemi would win Dubai.
What does he want to compete in in Rio?
I thought it was a good interview. Nice read
I don't get it. A whitey who lives and trains with the Kenyans becomes as fast as them. He must have some exceptional genes for a white guy.
it must all be in the genes wrote:
I don't get it. A whitey who lives and trains with the Kenyans becomes as fast as them. He must have some exceptional genes for a white guy.
It's talent and training.
probably a total coincidence. You just wonder why more don't seriously test it out.
He should learn the difference between competing and time-trailing first...
That is an awesome interview!
Zane R wrote:
Definitely mental toughness to survive hardships. Especially in the beginning we suffered a lot. Everything’s so centered toward running. But there’s household chores, collecting water. Washing is done by hand. Everything is a bit harder here.
There you have it, folks. Hand washing your laundry is the key to developing mental toughness and all the EA success in middle-long distance running.
"There you have it, folks. Hand washing your laundry is the key to developing mental toughness and all the EA success in middle-long distance running."
Yes, the real key is NOPing: altitude tents, TUEs, gray-zoning, DNSing, cuboid bone massages, and similar "techniques."
Alberto Stretti has an interview with Zane as well:
"I found myself feeling great and the kms just were ticking by until the 8th km where Bernard Koech dropped a 2.40 flat I was shocked to see on my watch the split for the km and realise that it didn't affect me. Coming through halfway I started to grow in confidence as I was still not tiring. I pushed at the front next to Koech and said in Swahili let's go man sub 60 is possible. After 13km real surges of speed had started to be thrown in and Benjamin Ngandu was the first to slip off at 16km shortly followed by Koech. 3km I was dropped by a surge and really pushed hard to get back to Paul kuira with 2k to go. We ran side by side the remainder until entering the stadium where I saw the clock and realising that the CR was possible, adrenaline hit me all at once, but I started to tie up 40m to go and Kuira took the opportunity to slip past me in my final 2 strides."
Yeah right wrote:
More likely his shady wog crew got him some exceptional chemical help.
If you're so willing to claim doping on everyone, why do you even follow the sport? I mean seriously, there's no evidence that Zane doped. All you have is that he's too fast. That's weak. I'm thinking you're jealous that you don't have his talent and desire to do what's necessary to get faster and stronger.
Incredible story, especially with how he knew that 1) he was ready for sub 60 despite not having raced the distance and 2) Lemi would win. I'd love to know more details about his/their training.
Only one page of comments so far? The silver lining is at least the board has more of a mild xenophobia than something worse.
What is his racing style like? Would he be relying on a sit and kick or would he push the pace? If he pushes the pace, he will probably be able to drop Farah but not Galen. Vice versa with the other strategy.
it must all be in the genes wrote:
I don't get it. A whitey who lives and trains with the Kenyans becomes as fast as them. He must have some exceptional genes for a white guy.
It's not like the Robertsons weren't fast before they moved to Kenya. Do some research.
This was competing and more importantly, he already took a Commonwealth bronze medal just last summer. He is a competitor. However, the 3:34 notwithstanding, he cannot come close to competing with Mo Farah and the other top 10k guys on the last lap of the 10000m, because he does not have the speed. At the end of the half, he did not show the sprint speed or stride that it takes (I'd say the same about Ritz, who ran nearly as fast in a tactical half, but who obviously didn't have the 1500m chops that Robertson has). But he sure has plenty of endurance (strength) and this was obviously indicative of a sub 27 and a very fast marathon.
Confidence is huge. Good for Zane. He won't win, but I think top 5 is realistic.
I'm super impressed by that run. Nice job, Zane!
His stride at the end looked pretty awkward though.
jjjjjj wrote:
This was competing and more importantly, he already took a Commonwealth bronze medal just last summer. He is a competitor. However, the 3:34 notwithstanding, he cannot come close to competing with Mo Farah and the other top 10k guys on the last lap of the 10000m, because he does not have the speed. At the end of the half, he did not show the sprint speed or stride that it takes (I'd say the same about Ritz, who ran nearly as fast in a tactical half, but who obviously didn't have the 1500m chops that Robertson has). But he sure has plenty of endurance (strength) and this was obviously indicative of a sub 27 and a very fast marathon.
This isn't true. Contrary to the past 2 world championships, not every 10k has to be a sit and kick race. If he pushes the pace hard enough, he won't have to worry about anyone else's final lap ability.