Hermens tell us he sat down with Bekele yesterday and was honest with him about what he thinks are the keys to Bekele being successful at the 26.2 distance.
Hermens tell us he sat down with Bekele yesterday and was honest with him about what he thinks are the keys to Bekele being successful at the 26.2 distance.
LetsRun.com wrote:
Hermens tell us he sat down with Bekele yesterday and was honest with him about what he thinks are the keys to Bekele being successful at the 26.2 distance.
http://www.letsrun.com/news/2017/09/jos-hermens-kenenisa-bekele-must-become-professional-realize-marathon-potential/
Good article. Hope he does focus on running a bit here as it's obvious his inconsistency in the marathon that he isn't always prepared.
I do think he does want that WR in the marathon so gives me hope we may see a rejuvenated Bekele in 2018
Best thing for Kenny B to do would be to step into a time machine, return to 2008, and not get injured.
Basically, Bekele is not making his agent any money. And since his contracts with races are incentive based now, he is really isn't making any money. He probably only sees half or a quarter of the money if he does not finish a marathon, and he probably has to finish in the top 5 for him to get all of his money. NO agent is going to support an athlete for those kinds of contracts.
I personally believe that Bekele is so talented that he didn't have to train 100 percent when he was on the track. But the marathon is a different beast, and I just don't think he has the mental ability to become a great marathoner. He has the physical assets, but not the mental ones, and that is the difference.
notaqualityposter wrote:
Best thing for Kenny B to do would be to step into a time machine, return to 2008, and not get injured.
Wasn't it after 2009 worlds when he got seriously injured and missed all 2010 and most of 2011 up to the world 10,000m? That was the torn calf I believe
scorpion_runner wrote:
Basically, Bekele is not making his agent any money. And since his contracts with races are incentive based now, he is really isn't making any money. He probably only sees half or a quarter of the money if he does not finish a marathon, and he probably has to finish in the top 5 for him to get all of his money. NO agent is going to support an athlete for those kinds of contracts.
I personally believe that Bekele is so talented that he didn't have to train 100 percent when he was on the track. But the marathon is a different beast, and I just don't think he has the mental ability to become a great marathoner. He has the physical assets, but not the mental ones, and that is the difference.
yeah, I've read a few times that Bekele has found the time put into marathon training difficult/boring for him.
maybe he should just go back to the track...haha
Harsh, but fair.
We gave Geb a certain amount of grief for chasing world records and running against diluted fields rather than taking on the best in the world, but you can't deny that he put in the work he needed to get the results he wanted.
DontFeedTheTroll wrote:
We gave Geb a certain amount of grief for chasing world records and running against diluted fields rather than taking on the best in the world, but you can't deny that he put in the work he needed to get the results he wanted.
Geb had a huge business empire himself.
I heard from an Ethiopian journalist way back in like 2011 that Bekele wasn't fully committed. Was distracted. WI get it as he needs a life after running.
But the thing I don't get is it seems to me that the reason to focus on your business is cause you are worried about cash for the rest of your life. But wouldn't you make more money by running fast as hell right now?
He's got the rest of his life to focus on business. Maybe only 3 years for running. I'd love to know how his nike contract is structured.
It's a shame there is no world xc in 2018. We could have him do that.
Rojo wrote:
DontFeedTheTroll wrote:We gave Geb a certain amount of grief for chasing world records and running against diluted fields rather than taking on the best in the world, but you can't deny that he put in the work he needed to get the results he wanted.
Geb had a huge business empire himself.
I heard from an Ethiopian journalist way back in like 2011 that Bekele wasn't fully committed. Was distracted. WI get it as he needs a life after running.
But the thing I don't get is it seems to me that the reason to focus on your business is cause you are worried about cash for the rest of your life. But wouldn't you make more money by running fast as hell right now?
He's got the rest of his life to focus on business. Maybe only 3 years for running. I'd love to know how his nike contract is structured.
It's a shame there is no world xc in 2018. We could have him do that.
i think it's easy for us to say that but as a business owner, i'm sure he wants that side to do well so he has something post-running career
Bekele has talked big on future goals (WR, beiong able to do a 1:01:30 before retiring) but will be interesting to see if he still has that drive to do it.
I though the one line of the article tells us we will see Bekele running again rather than retire
"but, mesmerized by a shot at the world record that he so craves, he gave it a shot anyway."
LetsRun.com wrote:
Hermens tell us he sat down with Bekele yesterday and was honest with him about what he thinks are the keys to Bekele being successful at the 26.2 distance.
http://www.letsrun.com/news/2017/09/jos-hermens-kenenisa-bekele-must-become-professional-realize-marathon-potential/
Does anyone know what sort of exercises were recommended to Bekele for his calf disparity?
I also noticed in a random Youtube training video leading up to Berlin that Bekele was training in a shoe I had never seen with a hole cut in the center of the heel like the newer Nike spikes. I will try to find a picture.
not everyone has the work ethics of Eluid MF Kipchoge. when he said the marathon is about the mind, he was including training.
* Eliud
Rojo wrote:
DontFeedTheTroll wrote:We gave Geb a certain amount of grief for chasing world records and running against diluted fields rather than taking on the best in the world, but you can't deny that he put in the work he needed to get the results he wanted.
Geb had a huge business empire himself.
I heard from an Ethiopian journalist way back in like 2011 that Bekele wasn't fully committed. Was distracted. WI get it as he needs a life after running.
But the thing I don't get is it seems to me that the reason to focus on your business is cause you are worried about cash for the rest of your life. But wouldn't you make more money by running fast as hell right now?
He's got the rest of his life to focus on business. Maybe only 3 years for running. I'd love to know how his nike contract is structured.
It's a shame there is no world xc in 2018. We could have him do that.
I think Bekele wants to be viewed as "the greatest", and he's always lived under Geb's shadow. One of the reasons Gebrselassie is highly respected in Ethiopia is because of his business empire and the good intentions that come along with it, to give back to his people and make Ethiopia stronger. I think Bekele sees this and wants to compete with Geb on the business front as well.
He must have trained hard to run 2:03.
More likely injuries & being over the hill
Tron wrote:
scorpion_runner wrote:Basically, Bekele is not making his agent any money. And since his contracts with races are incentive based now, he is really isn't making any money. He probably only sees half or a quarter of the money if he does not finish a marathon, and he probably has to finish in the top 5 for him to get all of his money. NO agent is going to support an athlete for those kinds of contracts.
I personally believe that Bekele is so talented that he didn't have to train 100 percent when he was on the track. But the marathon is a different beast, and I just don't think he has the mental ability to become a great marathoner. He has the physical assets, but not the mental ones, and that is the difference.
yeah, I've read a few times that Bekele has found the time put into marathon training difficult/boring for him.
maybe he should just go back to the track...haha
or do the half
Samuel DeChamplain wrote:
Tron wrote:yeah, I've read a few times that Bekele has found the time put into marathon training difficult/boring for him.
maybe he should just go back to the track...haha
or do the half
Yeah! i find its odd he hasn't done more halfs. Has he only done the one great north run in 2013?
Bekele's mistake is trying to train 'like a marathoner' ...excessive volume and diminished quality. He listened to bad advice.
If he can run < 59' for a half, he can do the WR marathon on 90 mpw
Those incentive clauses also increase the drop out rate.
Bad races don't pay aside from appearance fees
above_average_joe wrote:
not everyone has the work ethics of Eluid MF Kipchoge. when he said the marathon is about the mind, he was including training.
You mean the work ethic of a Kenyan. IN kenya, marathon is life and life is marathon. Colm stated that majority of the runners in Kenya don't want to do anything less than half marathon or 10,000m. A lot of them have to be coerced into doing shorter races.
Rudisha originally wanted to be a marathon runner, but was pushed into doing middle distance. Same thing goes for Kiprop, which is one of the reasons why he is moving up to 10,000m and half marathon from what I read. A 1500m runner does not just wake up and say I'm going to go up to 10000m and marathon running.
Ethiopians love the track and the olympics, so life to them is not the marathon. Geb had a lot of DNFs and so does Bekele....Tirunesh is the oddity, because she has always had her eyes set on being a great marathoner one day, and she loves to distance train. She was totally influenced by her cousin.
He's 35 so he better do it soon.
You have to consider that back when KB injured his calf he probably thought he was done. That's likely when he started to focus on the business side of things. That 2:03 marathon was a great comeback. Now he's stuck with a solid running career again and a business to run. Oops.