59+ world record holder Yoshihisa Hosaka (Natural Foods AC) made his own comeback after missing the age 62 record last year, knocking 20 seconds off Manuel Rosales' longstanding age 63 world record of 2:46:50 with a new mark of 2:46:30. Five years to go until he starts going up against Ed Whitlock's records.
This boy is amazing. What planet is he from?
Kawauchi needs to change his racing style a little bit because he is basically a slightly better version of Michael Wardian. Always racing and able to put up consistently good times, but never posting any great times. He can race nonstop all year and run 2:08 or 2:10 but that's not going to get him a spot on the Olympic or World Championship team and he won't reach his potential that way. He needs to quit it with the racing all the time and train to peak for a certain race so he can nail a 2:07 or 2:06. We also saw him bomb at the World Half Marathon Championships (when he said he'd run a 62 but ended up running a 64) so something needs to change.
Again, it's very cool he can run this fast so close but it's also sad because he's not doing all he can to run as fast as he can. You should not be able to run a marathon 2 weeks later just as fast as you ran the first time if you were at your peak. He's just a Japanese version of Michael Wardian. Much faster, but still not being smart enough to rise to his potential.
I don't care if he was able to run 2:10 every weekend of the year. It would be much better if he trained smarter and was able to get a 2:07 and a top 5 finish at a World Marathon Major instead.
True, but he has already made one World Championships team.
Slightly better than Wardian or Eddy Hellibuck?
Slighty better than Wardian? Are you kidding me dude? Wardian's best is 2:17. Kawauchi is a totally different level.
Perhaps this type of runner doesn't know how to prepare to run faster.
He's been doing faith based training for too long.
TLW wrote:
Slighty better than Wardian? Are you kidding me dude? Wardian's best is 2:17. Kawauchi is a totally different level.
I wrote in my post that "He's just a Japanese version of Michael Wardian. Much faster, but still not being smart enough to rise to his potential."
So I get it that 2:08 is faster than 2:17. The point is that they are both racing nonstop and not living up to their potential.
Whatever his personal motivation or ultimate goal is, the guy is absolutely amazing.
PhoenixRunner wrote:
This boy is amazing. What planet is he from?
Saitama. His schedule for the first 62 days of 2013 includes three marathons and a 30 km road race.
random Japanese dude
What a total and utter bad ass. And the fact that he works full time makes him even more so. His training must be just fast/steady runs and then races at the weekends ...
I really hope that he does not get injured because I do not think that we will see another runner like this guy for a long time ...
Beyond impressed wrote:
What a total and utter bad ass. And the fact that he works full time makes him even more so. His training must be just fast/steady runs and then races at the weekends ...
I really hope that he does not get injured because I do not think that we will see another runner like this guy for a long time ...
Because it's a stupid way to run and very ineffective for being your best.
Why should we see another runner like this? I hope we don't. I'd much rather see someone actually train and race to their potential.
Just because Kawauchi's approach is unconventional to you does not mean that it is stupid. How do you know what his potential is? Kawauchi showed some promise as a younger runner but was definitely not considered as a future star and as a result he did not go the traditional route of becoming a professional runner in Japan. Not many in Japan would have ever thought that he would reach the level he has, so he must be doing something right.
If you feel that his approach is not enabling him to reach his potential, you need to ask yourself how many full-time working stiffs have run a 2-08xx marathon? He could try the more conventional approach and end up running run the same sort of time, or even slower - there is no guarantee that he would be runing faster. On top of that, he would not have as much fun doing all the races that he obviously enjoys and no one would be posting so many threads about him ...
It's stupid.
Very stupid.
Running two marathons in a month is stupid. Running half a dozen plus in a year is stupid.
You can say whatever you want to appease whatever delusions you want to entertain, but there is a REASON why NO ONE else is doing that.
And that reason is.... it's STUPID!
If Kawauchi's methods are so poor, what does that say about all the Americans with faster track PRs who can't run 2:08?
.i. wrote:
It's stupid.
Very stupid.
Running two marathons in a month is stupid. Running half a dozen plus in a year is stupid.
You can say whatever you want to appease whatever delusions you want to entertain, but there is a REASON why NO ONE else is doing that.
And that reason is.... it's STUPID!
When Kjell-Erik Ståhl came 4th in the 1983 world champ marathon he had already run 5 marathons that year, all sub-2,15.
Bill Rodgers also ran 5 or more in a year in several years. If Kawauchi is happy and enjoys what he is doing, why should he have to alter what he is doing (and likely lose his enjoyment of what he is doing) to meet some goal that opinionated LR posters set for him?