Eliud Kipchoge and Keira D'Amato are looking to set records at the Berlin Marathon. Plus, tips for getting to your start line.
Welcome to the Fall Marathon Season. |
 | | Eliud Kipchoge set a world record at the 2018 Berlin Marathon, finishing with a time of 2:01:39.Hayoung Jeon/EPA, via Shutterstock |
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The fall marathon season kicks off in earnest with the Berlin Marathon on Sunday. The course is famously flat and fast, and the predicted conditions look ideal — albeit a touch warm — for finishes that could break records. |
Two records are already on shaky ground. |
Eliud Kipchoge, the marathon world-record holder, is racing in Berlin for the fifth time. He has no equal in the distance, and he will toe the start line having won 14 of the 16 official marathons he has entered. |
He set the standing world record — 2 hours 1 minute 39 seconds — four years ago on this course. In 2019 in Vienna, he became the first person to run a marathon in under two hours, though his time of 1:59:40 was not recognized as a record because he ran on a controlled course with professional pacesetters. He also added another Olympic gold medal to his collection last year with a commanding win at the Tokyo Olympics, becoming only the third man to win back-to-back gold medals in the event. |
The question may not be whether Kipchoge can win Berlin again, but whether he can break his own world record. |
"I'd like to run faster than that" in Berlin, she said at a news conference on Thursday. "There's a number of American women that are also gunning for that record, so I think if I don't lower it myself, it's not going to be mine for very much longer." |
D'Amato, 37, has had quite a career comeback. She left the sport in 2009 and returned in 2017 to run a marathon for fun with her husband. She has since beaten her college 5-kilometer time by a minute, set a 10-mile American record and signed a sponsorship with Nike. |
In July, D'Amato, a mother of two, was asked if she could run the marathon at the world championships. Molly Seidel had withdrawn because of an injury, and the U.S. team wanted D'Amato to hop in. She had three weeks to prepare, and she finished with a time of 2:23:34, good enough for eighth place. |
With her seeding, and more than three weeks to train, there's a solid chance D'Amato could win Sunday's race. If she does, she would be the first American woman to win the Berlin Marathon. |
Ready, Set, Don't Get Injured |
 | | The Berlin Marathon kicks off an unusually packed marathon season.Hayoung Jeon/EPA, via Shutterstock |
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Marathon season, a stretch lasting from mid-August to December, leads to many personal triumphs, but also to many injuries. |
How can you stay on track for a fall race — be it a 5K fun run or an ultramarathon — and keep yourself uninjured? |
Here's some advice for novice runners and elites alike: |
- Look at your past few months. Make sure you are not violating what Dr. Jordan Metzl, a sports medicine physician and marathoner, calls the "Rules of Too" — too much, too quickly. Drastically increasing your mileage or workout intensity can be a surefire recipe for an overuse injury. Most plans should ease you into longer runs and faster workouts.
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- Invest your time in strength training. "Every time you run, it's a battle of man or woman against the ground," Metzl said. "And the ground wins every time." Two of the ways you can show up more prepared for that battle are strength training and cross training, which Metzl has long proselytized to his patients. And you don't need a gym membership to find a good strength program for runners. Try this nine-minute, equipment-free workout to start.
- Be a good "body listener." If you use a training plan, you may be wary of switching anything up for any reason. That can come at the expense of your health. So if you're feeling off, listen to your body and change course. Knowing when to push and when to back off is perhaps one of the hardest things for a runner to do consistently. Fight the urge to do more if your body is telling you to do less. And don't be afraid to adapt your plan — which should be thought of as a guide — based on what your body is saying you need.
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- Know how to identify types of pain. It can be difficult to determine when running pain is acceptable, even expected, versus when it will lead you down a treacherous road toward injury. It's something that novices and elites alike struggle to identify. Metzl, who admits he has faced almost every injury his clients have, recommends thinking of your stride to start. A side cramp is one thing. A pain that causes you to shift your mechanics is something else. If you are no longer able to run properly, it's time to see your doctor.
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Read the full article here. |
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