Training chats
November 21st, 2007 by Nikola Tosic
While training, especially now during base period, I chat to other athletes and reanalyze some miniature details from sports. It keeps us entertained. Here are some of the latest little details and tips we discussed:
Paula Radcliffe’s running technique is very destructive. Her contact with the ground (foot going down) is very aggressive but if she had any extra weight it would prove to be very damaging for her body. Her form is also not stable so she changes her form through the marathon race. She is a very strong emotional runner which she demonstrated in New York City Marathon - sheer determination gave her that victory.
Gete Wami on the other hand is much stronger than Paula so she did not loose much of the form during NYC Marathon. She did run Berlin marathon but I doubt that this had any effect on her performance in New York. However she did a strange thing: every time she was taking her drink she went out in front of Paula. We argued a lot weather she did it on purpose to distract Paula - my guess is not. I think Paula’s drink was always in front of hers and she did not want to slow down twice: once for Paula’s and second time for her drink. However I am sure that she also did not find it useless to create some distraction for Paula but this could be normal at races at this level. I do think this was not on purpose, just the way it turned out.
Lance Armstrong does not convince me one bit as a fundraiser. I am guessing that next year he will lose another 5+ minutes, or maybe even more, of his marathon time. He is reaching a position where he will need to loose more weight to run at these speeds (sub 2:40). My guess is this is where his heart is, he is not a fund-raiser, he is an athlete and a fighter. Regardless of everything I still admire his drive and aggression, but he is definitely lost. Lance if you are reading this: do an Ironman!
Many athletes ran sub 3 hours in Ironman Hawaii this year. Considering that the running course is slightly undulating and that temperature is a complete killer first I thought this is amazing. Than I realized that they do not run so fast in other faster races and I realized that Kona is probably one of the few races which PRO athletes consider seriously and give 100%. I am sure most of them do not care much about races outside Kona, only if sponsorship requires it or if it is for qualification.
Challenge Roth has the same effect - many people think it is a fast race. I think it is not so fast but that it is just more competitive. The atmosphere and the history of the race makes everybody take it more seriously - age groupers and PROs. Also the field is of much higher quality as Challenge Roth is the culmination of the Challenge series, just as Ironman Hawaii is the culmination of Ironman series.
There are just few of hundreds of little subjects that I discuss with my training partners.
If you have any subjects or ideas to add please put them in comments…
