achieve speed vital for the starting of a marathon race and also for opening and closing a gap during the race. Before running the world’s fastest time of 2:03:02 at the Boston Marathon early this year, Geoffrey Mutai was one of the Kenyan athletes who represented the country at the World Cross Country Championships. For track athletes, cross country helps them achieve the endurance needed to complete a race. Track athletes Asbel Kiprop and Vivian Cherui- yot benefitted from their cross country running during their off season to win Gold medals in 1500m men and 5000m women events respectively at the Daegu World Championships.
A typical Kenyan long distance runner has got three options for training in
an off season, namely: Running in the cross country competitions, continu- ing their normal training program, or resting completely. The chairman of Athletics Kenya, Isaiah Kiplagat, encourages Kenyan long distance ath- letes every year to spend the season participating in cross country compe- titions. Another veteran track coach says that he has no such terminology as “off-season” in his training regime. To him, training is a continuous “whole year round” process with a few adjustments to be made to the pro- gram only as the athlete approaches a race. A renowned marathon runner, Sammy Korir, prefers taking a full month’s rest every year off his training routine, arguing that forgetting all about running for a while and concentrat- ing on some chores on his farm helps him come back to the field feeling fresh and stronger. This leaves me wondering whether different techniques work differently for different athletes! Perhaps it is all a matter of knowing what works best for oneself.
For athletes who believe that resting is also part of training, and who
would prefer to put aside their training regimen for one full month, the proc- ess of getting back to a regular training program should be gradual to pre- vent injuries. The athlete should start his/her training with relatively easy runs; the next step is to go for semi-long runs before eventually being able to do long runs. Speed work outs should come later when the body begins to respond well to the stress of training. The other athletes, who would pre- fer a continuous whole year round training, should be warned of over train- ing their bodies as this may result not only in injuries but also in susceptibil- ity to illness as the body’s immune system will be adversely affected.
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