Training tips from Kenya

Kuala Lumpur – We are here at the family-oriented Sunway Lagoon Resort hotel some 45 minutes from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and about 30 minutes from the center of the city of KL, as we continue our mini-series on Kenya’s establishing a niche for itself in Olympic and international track and field distance running and marathon.

According to writer Linus Gitahi, an important factor in Kenyan training is to run the hills, which (increases) aerobic activity, leg strength and explosive power. People wanting to train like the Kenyans should not worry that their area might not have (Iten-style) hills. Iten is a small farming town of 3,000 in the western highlands where the Kalenjin tribe lives. Most of Kenya’s world-class runners are Kalenjins from Iten prompting the remark that Kenyan running is actually “Kalenjin running.”

Henry Rono, who accounts for several world record performances, four of them in 1978 in less than three months, thus continuing the distance dynasty established by the legendary Kipchoge Keino, was once asked on what type of hills he did repeats. They wanted to know how steep, how long, how constant a grade the hill he is training on is. “The hill,” Rono replied, “Any hill.”

Keino, the 69-year-old chairman of the Kenyan Olympic Committee and ex-policeman, won two Olympic gold medals in the 1968 Mexico and 1972 Munich Olympics. He is the first in what seems to be a never-ending line of middle and long distance Kenyan runners.

What made Kenyan success possible? Gitahi says that in terms of physique, nothing remarkable really stands out except for the fact that Kenyans really do run fast. However, some running enthusiasts have come up with theories on why Kenyans run so fast – and this is leaning.

A close examination on the running form of Kenyan runners is that they lean forward and use gravity to their advantage. Some have concluded that this stance was achieved from all the running Kenyans do up and down the steep mountains of Kenya. For whatever reasons on how they achieved this, Kenyans utilize this leaning technique fully and use it to their advantage in competitions.

Gitahi stresses that the lean is not in the waist but is achieved by relaxing the ankles. Gravity will do its work and cause the body to fall forward. This technique is then mixed with another Kenyan running trait, which is the hop-like foot strikes that cause the body to surge forward at a very fast rate. This leaning technique is a great example of running economy, meaning less effort and energy (are) required to run. Gravity helps the body pull along, thus making the body move faster. No wonder, Kenyans run faster and are more durable in distance running.

The website www.iaaf.org/newsfiles says one of the latest controversies in the otherwise placid Kenyan athletic scene involves the so-called defections by a number of Kenyan athletes to represent other countries, mainly Bahrain and Qatar. Despite the efforts of the Ministry of Sports of Kenya to stop this exodus, monetary reasons or ease of qualifying for the national teams of other countries have left Kenyan runners with almost no choice but to suit up for other nations. The latest among these is Bernard Lagat who represented the United States in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Back in Malaysia, the front page of the Thursday, April 9, 2009 issue of the widely-circulated New Straits Times quoted the deputy director of the Education Ministry’s division of sports, Jalaludin Othman, as having said that “to develop great sportsmen, the country (has) to start them at a tender age between three and six years old starting with (sports like) gymnastics, volleyball and basketball.”

I wish Mr. Othman studies that so-called plan more carefully and is told that he’s misusing and putting much more meaning to the expression “starting them early” than originally intended. Exposing young boys and girls of three to six years to competitive sports using adult rules without modifying them to fit the unique needs of children could lead to overtraining bordering on child abuse. Children’s games should be governed by children’s rules that do not take away the fun from playing. It’s amazing how people can plan for children without bothering to study children’s needs more closely.