Monday, August 31, 2009

Getting back: 10k

I went running alone jana. I was pretty slow and did an unimpressive 10K (48mins). I will assume for now that my time was slow because I had a short (read inadequate) recovery period from the 27K run.
I will go for a slow run today maybe another 10K. I need to increase my mileage.
Today I present you my sweetheart. She is feeding me so much my weight is soaring!

My sweetheart at the beach.
Cheers.
A

Did 27K

We did 27K on Sato. Five guys: me, Kamau, Nderitu, Sikuku and Bonnie. We took about 2:30. Bonnie's weight and failure to practice regularly has caught up with him. Kamau needed to go after 500m.
I will go for an easy run today. Cheers.
PS: I am swamped at work. Totally swamped. Cant even update my blog.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Berlin Marathon vs Chicago Marathon

My knee feels better today. Thanks for asking. By the way the 14Km run on Wednesday was really good. We had some gentle hills, trails and roads and dust and some sun. It was very much like a marathon. We had a coach and I did interval runs for my speed.
Tomorrow I will be doing a 27K run in the morning. My knee will have to face the tarmac - no bandages this time. If it becomes inflamed, it will have to talk to the ice.
Now, I understand that Gebrselassie told sponsors of Berlin Marathon he doesn't want to race against Wanjiru because he prefers to race against the clock and not worry about who he is running against.

So Wanjiru settled for Chicago marathon whose course I understand, is also relatively flat and good for attempting world record times.
Kenyans felt pissed because we wanted someone to kick Geb's ass. But all is not lost because Geb will be racing against Duncan Kibet.

Duncan Kibet of Kenya won this year’s Rotterdam Marathon with a time of 2:04:27 hours. The only one to have run faster twice is world record holder Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia: with 2:04:26 at his world record race in Berlin in 2007 and 2:03:59 in Berlin in 2008. On September 20th at the real,- BERLIN MARATHON, the two current fastest marathon runners in the world will both try to run under the mark Gebrselassie set last year.

So whichever way, Chicago and Berlin Marathons are worth watching this year.


Here are the world Marathon Champion gods. They ran an incredible race. Anyone who can run Deriba Merga out is worth worshiping. Brazilian Dos Santos is just behind Kebede (who came third) - he (Marilson dos Santos) finished 16th. This was hell. And this is not Tergat. This is war. Imagine Kara Goucher (the sexiest marathon woman) finished 10th.
Why do I have the feeling that Robert Cheruiyot was using this race to test how fast he can run before he starts fading? Recall that he is gearing himself to break the world record and he is the one that set the punishing, unrelenting, blistering, destructive pace up to the 38th Km when Merga got finished.



Here is Duncan Kibet winning the Rotterdam Marathon this year. James Kwambai is on him.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

14K on trails and road

Yep. Went well. My left knee is aching. Ouch.
A

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

More Running

I did about 10K on Monday with a hill. I will do something similar today with the hill loop twice. I am catching up on work and the World Athletics Championships on youtube. Kenya did exceptionally well except for the 1500m.

Here is Abel Kirui, winner of the men's marathon. Cheers.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Back in Running

I ran on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week, about 8Km distances but with a hill that made it interesting. I had to travel on Friday to marry my sweetheart and do the dowry thing. Now I am back and can focus on other things.
I am so glad Kenya cam third in the 2009 12th IAAF World Athletic Championships. I missed the men's marathon where Kenya almost took the entire podium but I am downloading it from youtube.
Kenyans won a brilliant race in a strategy that was started by Wanjiru in the Beijing Olympics in 2008: start out hard and finish out hard. If you die, the competition dies too, but at least you die while ahead. Plus, it destroys the competition psychologically because they don't know whether you are committing suicide or whether you are just that strong and nobody can afford to have a huge gap and expect to close it later in the race. We even burnt out Deriba Merga - can you imagine that shit? Deriba Merga. He took Boston in 2009 and was 4th in the Beijing Olympics.
We used the strategy and it worked in the womens 10,000m, and 5000m and it worked partly in the mens 10,000m though Tadese came in and spoilt for us but we destroyed the entire Ethiopian team except Bekele. Imagine burning out Gebremariam Ezighebagher (sp?) You know how powerful that guy's killer kick is? Watch the London (was it?) World cross country champions.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Group Run

We did a group run yesterday. Had one good hill on the route. It was fun. We will do something similar today.
Kenya lost the 1500m due to the poor strategy employed by our hope, Asbel Kiprop. We however got a silver from 800m women thro Janeth Jepkosgei.
We hope to win medals in 800m men, 1500m women, 5000m women and 5000m men. We are now third in medal rankings worldwide.
Meanwhile, SA's Caster Semenya (below), who won the 800m race, is dogged by a gender controversy. She is currently the fastest middle distant runner among women. It appears gender tests were carried out to determine whether she has ovaries and a womb. Poor girl.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

8K

I did 8K on the track yesterday. It went very very well. I did a slow 12 laps then completed with a fast 8 laps.
I didn't mention that last week, I did 12K on Thursday on the track and 12K on Friday on the track. My knees subsequently went to hell and I learnt my lesson: come back slowly and warm the fuck up before trying anything demanding.
I enjoyed watching UFC 101 and was stunned by how masterfully Anderson Silva dispatched Forrest Griffin. Just bloody amazing, super-fast, first-class stuff. So good was Silva that bloggers and internet idiots are claiming match-fixing. Silva is light years away from the rest of UFC fighters. SOme now proclaim that Silva is God!


Silva knocks out Griffin

I am back

I haven't run for close to three weeks. I will start today with an easy 10K or 8K. I will be going for a half marathon in about three weeks. Hopefully, I will be back in shape by then.
Cheers and tanks y'all for your support.