Walk on Water

Last Saturday saw me running on water!
During my long slow distance run (and still recovering from last weeks half marathon) I was running with smartphone. A bit of music on my earphones and Runkeeper to track the route. This route shows I can run on water, of the coast, on the Northsea;-)

Well, last time I checked I did not have these powers so what happened here? Of the beach in front of the little town of Ter Heijde a artificial Island is constructed. A so called sand engine. The idea is that the sea will distribute al this sasn along the coast in the years to come so the Netherlands can stand a bit more of global heating. Google maps, used by Runkeeper, only shows the very early stages of the construction. The image below shows you what this sand engine looks like at the moment;

Bron: http://www.kleinockenburgh.nl

Endurance: Haile Gebrselassie

A film on Hailes live from before his marathon achievements: Endurance in 8 parts from youtube:
Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Part 6:

Part 7:

Part 8:

Haile Gebrselassie Revealed

On the day Haile reveals he will not participate in the olympic marathon next summer here the CCN documentry 'Haile Revealed' in 3 parts.

Part 1: Haile and his role in the ethiopian society
Part 2: Haile his background

Part 3: Haile and the 2007 marathon of Berlin

How long is the City Pier City Half Marathon?

In my previous post I wrote on the Jones Counter, used to measure the distance of marathons. The article mentioned in this post states that every road races is a bit longer than the official distance.

Today I entered the route of the CPC run of last sunday in Runkeeper using google maps.

An acurate analysis of this map will show that I placed the start a couple of metres to much towards the sea. And for the finish line? I think it was a bit more further down the bicycle path along the 'Malieveld'.
Even with these alterations that shorten the route Runkeeper stops at 21 kilometres and 400 metres.

Of course do not take these figures for granted but it would be nice te learn from the organization what the actual distance is that is covered by the CPC-run according to their official measurement.

Wanna know more on the CPC run? Read my review!

Runkeeper has also two routes logged using GPS last year on a slightly different route. They are 21.04 and 21.11km. This can be explaned by the fact that GPS draws straight lines between everymeasurement. This will shorten routes run on a track with lots of bends and curves. Try for example a twisting and turning track in the woods were you might loose some of the waypoints due to bad reception of the GPS signal.

How to measure 42.195 metres for a marathon

On the eve of the 2008 marathon of Rotterdam one of the Dutch new papers published an article on the technique used to measure the route of the marathon  (article in article in PDF).

What we learn from this article is:

1. A marathon is usually longer than 42.195 kilometre. 
2. It is measured with old fashioned low tech

Why is a marathon longer? In case the winner runs a world record the track is measured a second time. To avoid that the track is not long enough one meter is added on every kilometre!

On top of this; most runners will not run the ideal line. The elite runners as well run probably a couple of 100 metres extra.

The low tech devise used to measure the distance is a very simple but effective devise called the Jones-counter. This is connected to the wheel of a bicycle.

Silver Cup first Olympic Marathon up for sale?

For those marathon runners with olympic ambitions but not enough talent there is an other option available to obtain a 'gold medal'.

When the first marathon was run in 1896 it was won by the Greek Spyros Louis. The prize for him winning this approximately 40k run from Attica to Athens was a silver cup. This is put up for auction and to raise an estimate of between $188,500 to $251,300 taccording to Reuters.

The grandson motivates the sale that cup cannot be devided among his two children. Another reward Spyros Louis got for winning the first olympic marathon is that his name is given to the new olympic stadium when Greece hosted the 2004 games.

Very fast edition of the CPC half marathon

Kibet op de finish (Bron: ANP via de Gelderlander) 

The top comes close to worldrecord
About a week ago I posted the claims of both Jonathan Maiyo and Geoffrey Kipsang to go for the world record on the half marathon in The Hague today.
The winner was Stephen Kibet in a time of 58.54 only 21 seconds short of the track record of Samuel Wanjiru in 2007 (at that time the world record). The current world record is  58.23 (Zersenay Tadese).

Fantastics day
Despite the fact we did not witness a world record the race was superb. The weather was almost spring like. For more details on the CPC read my review.

Afterwards: everything is gone!

before: still quiet at the start line

My own run

Only a few second short of my won PB run three years ago I am very satisfied. Not the least because I improved my PB at 5 and 10 with 16 and 12 seconds. Only 3 second decline in 3 years at the finish line is good with me.
The highlight? My wife and daughter a few 100 meters before the finish line and the high five with my daughter. Just the kick you need for the final few hunderd meters. 

Below a report from dutch television:

Preparing for a ultra run?

Wanna know what you need to prepare for a ultra run? For example to prepare for the Western States 100? At least it takes a lot of training hours. More than I can manage next to my regular work.

Check out the gear you need for a run. I prefer the hammock;p
Met .

The reason to train in a group: you'll perform better

Besides that it is fun to train together; is there any other excuse you need? Science is giving you a very good one: you will perform better!

I usually train alone. It is less planning. Just put on your gear and go. I find that when I do run together with someone: it feels easier, less far, faster. I thought it had to do with the distraction the other person offers when you talk a little.
Another reason might be that you are competitive and do not want to give in towards the other person.
non of the above; It is a simple biochemical process at work!

During excercising you body produces endorphin. A hormone well known for the runners high it can induce. Like morphine it helps to deal with pain and that is why mother nature gave us this endorphin.

Research from the University of Oxford shows that athletes who completed a training on their own can stand less pain than athletes who trained in a group. This is an indication that those who trained in a group had higher levels of endorphin in their blood (Source: BBC News 2009 & site Oxford University).

Besides the positive effect on sport performance they think is might also explain why people feel euphoric when celebrating a mass or making music together.

-x-

Could it be that this evolved when we were hunting together? Read my posting on "Born to Run". The author explains how we might have evolved the way we have because we were successful in chasing animals to their deaths thanks to our body which is build (or should I say evolved) for endurance running.
This will work when you collaborate as a group. and when do you want to work together? When it is fun and when it delivers a result. The fun part comes from the endorphin. The result from the food, the meat from the animal you chased to death with your companions.

OK, you no longer run together to get the antelope but something you body developed over a long period will still function as is did when we as a species were still out their running our food to their death. Maybe Christopher McDougal should rename his book: "Born to Run Together".

Short video documentry on Tarahumara

My previous posting introduced Caballo Blanco to you. He invited american ultra runners to take on the runners of the Tarahumara. A Indian tribe in the Sierra Madre in Mexico. The video below is a 10 min. documentry on this trbie, Caballo Blanco and his aim to preserve the heritage of the Tarahumara and their running tradition. Enjoy!

Born to Run; a great read

Looking for something to read? Preferably something to do with running? I can recommend Born to Run by Christopher McDougal.

The starts with the question; "Why does I hurt when I run?" In order to find the answer to this question the author tackels various subjects like:

• barefoot / natural / chi running
• ultra running
• the evolution of mankind
• the Tarahumara tribe

The storyline

In pursuit of the answer to his question the author meet various people with various views on running but in general the outline of the message is the same. Forget al the modern equipment (shoes) en try to run as natural as possible an above all: enjoy!

Chris find its way into Mexico to look for Caballo Blanco, an american ultra running athlete who lives among the Tarahumara. A tribe of indians in the Sierra Madre of Mexico. Renown for their ultra running capabilities. Through him he learns about their diet and how they enjoy running, already from a early age.

This Caballe Blanco has a wild idea: Bring together the best of the Tarahumara and  American Ultra Runners in a race. The Copper Canyon Marathon. Among the american runners is Scott Jurek and Barefoot Ted.

The pictur to the right shows Scott Jurek in action with the best of the Tarahumara:Arnulfo Quimare. Pay attention to the sandals the Tarahumara use for running.

I wont tell who wins the race.

The style
The book is written like any popular crime novel. It is a pleasant and addictive read. The story leading up to the race is intertwined with side steps. Introducing the runners and the science of running. Including our own evolution.

The evolution of mankind as runners

In this book the theory is posed that the reason man started to walk upright on two legs was to hunt down animals. Not by shear power or speed;but ENDURANCE. Thanks to the way we are build. Thanks to evolutionary features like sweat, breathing in a rhythm separately from our running pace etc. It is also an explanation why on the longer distance the gap between men and women in the running game becomes less and less.

Wanna know more? Click on the TEDx video below for an 18 minute talk by the author Christopher McDougal himself.


Order the book on Amazon:

Or order the Kindle edition

Worldrecord ambitions for Half Marathon

Last week I wrote a review of the fast half marathon of The Hague. The ambtions are clear. With a line up of four sub one hour runners the organization is looking for a fast race. The four toprunners are: Jonathan Maivo (23), Geoffrey Kipsang (19), Kenneth Kipkemoi (27) and Leonard Langat (21).

In both videos below you can see that the runners themself have no other ambitions.
First the fastest Jonathan Maiyo:
 
Jonathan Maiyo from Like2Run on Vimeo.

In this second video play attention to the bold statement of Geoffrey Kipsang: "I can rond 2:03 on the marathon" and the ambition for Rotterdam in a few weeks time: "I will be a pacer for the world record".
Geoffrey Kipsang from Like2Run on Vimeo.