Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Haile Gebrselassie Update

Geb’s next race is a half-marathon in New York in March, but he says he has no plans for his next marathon, apart from saying it will probably be in Europe. “I’ve no idea right now. Sometime after September. The Berlin course I like very much. But the big aim is to save my power ‘til London 2012. Until then, two marathons a year, or less. And keep my speed with 10k’s and half-marathons…. As long as I keep my shape”. -Pat Butcher's blog on marathon world record holder Hallie GGebrselassie,who is now 37 years old.

Is Ryan Hall, who never runs anything other than a marathon every 6 months and one or two half marathons, paying attention? In order to excel at the marathon distance, there is no doubt that sharpening speed at shorter distances is helpful, especially following a couple of sub-par races. I am curious why Ryan continues to ignore what other top marathoners such as Hallie do to remain on top. Hall's PR's are 13:16 for 5K and 28:07 for 10K, slow compared to his marathon PR of 2:06:17. (According to The McMillan Running Calculator, Hall's 2:06:17 translates to 26:55 for 10K and 12:57 5K.)

Ryan is a great runner, but until he or his coach figures out that you need to race and PR at shorter distances, it's very doubtful he'll compete with the best. I hope he proves me wrong.

I'd love to see Hall, Ritz, Tegenkamp, Solinsky, and the rest at the U.S. Cross Country National Championships.

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