Wait what? I'm supposed to believe Eliud Kipchoge ran 2:08 marathon pace for 40k at altitude in training?

rojo wrote:

first ever LetsRun.com fact check

That explains a lot

No. That's an exaggeration. He does MP runs at about 75 to 80 percent of his marathon distance. So he probably did a 30-35k run @ MP

I would probably say the most unbelievable thing I saw in the past week was Mary Keitany running the half of her race at 4:47 pace( no pacers), which at one point was at the same pace that the men were running, at the same time! And she appeared to have the ability to run even faster, but kept it in the bag for NYC

YEAH BUDDY wrote:

rojo wrote:

first ever LetsRun.com fact check

That explains a lot

Except it's not a fact check. It's informed and interesting but speculative number crunching. Fact checking would be asking Kipchoge or his coach to confirm what the filmmaker said.

Kipsang once did 40k in 2:03:xx hours before his Berlin WR, so it could be true. But... as I have been to Kenya and have some experience... IMHO you will never see someone who hasn't been living there for a a couple years come this close to sea level performances. It's WAY harder if you're barely used to it. But Canova said to me he guesses the Kenyans basically can run within a couple seconds per mile at that altitude compared to their sea level times. So take those "oh yeah, you run 20 seconds per mile faster at sea level" with a grain of salt. That might be true for sea level based athletes with suboptimal aerobic shape.

Let's not ignore the fact that he ran 2:00:25 for a marathon, albeit under perfect conditions.

Think about it. wrote:

Let's not ignore the fact that he ran 2:00:25 for a marathon, albeit under perfect conditions.

This is what im thinking too. While 2:00:25 can be thrown out the window, we can all agree hes in BETTER than wr shape. Lets say 2:02:00 is realistic, what is the fastest/farthest hed do for a mp run? He is also going to be faster at altitude than someone that lives closer to sea level and spends a few weeks training at altitude

YEAH BUDDY wrote:

rojo wrote:

first ever LetsRun.com fact check

That explains a lot

Agreed. And yet in this particular case, he followed a reasonably logical thought process. Too bad they don't do this more often.

Ssfssfsdffzdfsfsdff wrote:

YEAH BUDDY wrote:

That explains a lot

Agreed. And yet in this particular case, he followed a reasonably logical thought process. Too bad they don't do this more often.

???

If Kipsang does a 2:03 40K time trial at 7,800 ft. then it makes sense that Eliud Kipchoge can run 2:02...+ 6:30 = 2:08:30.

You might want to make a math adjustment for the possibility that the 40K run was done at 7,800 ft. altitude and Kam's 27:11 10K might of been done at a much lower altitude...in Nairobi.

GSC manages the career of Kiprotich and also has the Ethiopian distance runner, Haile Gebrselassie, as one of its clients. It has bases in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Eritrea for tapping long-distance running talent in Africa.

Identifying pacesetters is part of Hermens’ job. The former 10000m runner from the Netherlands, who took part in the Munich (1972) and Montreal (1976) Olympics before switching to management of athletes, spoke to Sportstar about his job and GROOMING young African runners.

Question: Does GSC have bases in traditional African hotspots famous for marathon runners? How do you go about talent spotting and recruit world famous names like Gebrselassie?

Answer: We have training camps in the most important African countries — three in Kenya, one each in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Uganda. Athletes train there with our very experienced coaches.

Finding Haile 20 years ago was more difficult, as we did not have the same INFRASTRUCTURE. I saw him for the first time at a junior national championship in Addis Ababa. He did not win, but his style struck me as very promising.

We started to work together... since 1991.

It is just a coincidence.

The guy did run a 2 hours and 25 seconds marathon (albeit with illegal help).

What altitude?

It's 5 mins slower than the world record what's hard to believe even at altitude Canova has said the Kenyans fo long fast runs to 40km and mentioned something similar timewise before.

He ran close to 2:00 so it really isn't surprising.

The impressive part is that it was undoubtedly on loose gravel.

Ventolin would make that a 1:55.

Uncle Beemer wrote:

The guy did run a 2 hours and 25 seconds marathon (albeit with illegal help).

What altitude?

I was going to say the same thing. From what I have heard over the years Ethiopians and Kenyans drive to lower altitudes for time trials and races.

Subway Surfers Addiction wrote:

Uncle Beemer wrote:

The guy did run a 2 hours and 25 seconds marathon (albeit with illegal help).

What altitude?

I was going to say the same thing. From what I have heard over the years Ethiopians and Kenyans drive to lower altitudes for time trials and races.

Or maybe they just run down the hill.

venolation speculation wrote:

Subway Surfers Addiction wrote:

I was going to say the same thing. From what I have heard over the years Ethiopians and Kenyans drive to lower altitudes for time trials and races.

Or maybe they just run down the hill.

True, running behind a vehicle with constant pacers also helps.

I dunno, would you be skeptical if you read an account that said Galen Rupp ran 40k at 5:11 pace? That is about the same (in relationship to his PR) as Kipchoge running 4:55 pace for the same distance.

Les wrote:

I dunno, would you be skeptical if you read an account that said Galen Rupp ran 40k at 5:11 pace? That is about the same (in relationship to his PR) as Kipchoge running 4:55 pace for the same distance.

To add more context, AlSal said that Rupp ran 20 miles @ 4:50 pace without his heart rate going over 150 bpm...

Where is calculo when we need him

This why we are Americans are stuck at running the slower times that what the Africans train for. They train at a level and mind set beyond what we think is possible. That is hard running but over time this type of training becomes the norm with this group vs a one off great session. You train to run 2:02 it just doesn't happen on good day. You train win in an elite race not be just the top american or break into the top ten.

US marathon coaching lags behind the rest of the world when it comes to fast times.

Well Rojo,

What does a 2:00:26 marathon training program look like?