maratone al top in meno di 4 mesi (Kenenisa Bekele)

Dopo l’opaca prova di Chicago ha provato a imitare il suo maestro Haile Gebrselassie che per tre anni ha accoppiato in sequenza vincente Berlino e Dubai (2007/09 2:04:26 – 2008/01 2:04:53; 2008/09 2:03:59 – 2009/01 2:05:29; 2009/09 2:06:08 – 2010/01 2:06:09) tentando ogni volta il record del mondo e riuscendoci un paio di volte a Berlino, in grassetto.

E Kenenisa Bekele aveva intenzioni bellicose a metà dicembre “I have been following the race for some time now and I know Dubai has a very flat course that produces fast times. Of course, it is not east to step up to the marathon distance and set records but I am looking forward to the challenge of lining up in Dubai next month. Hopefully, I can produce a very quick time“, ribadite ancora a metà settimana in conferenza stampa “I feel confident, I am happy and I know that I am better prepared than before“.

Solo Jos Hermens metteva le mani avanti: “When he was running on the track he could train for two months and then break a world record, but this approach does not work in the marathon. After Chicago, Kenenisa knew that he had to change something. For ten years he had the same training rhythm. He needed something new and different impulses. This is why I brought him together with Renato Canova. And it is going well. If he runs a low 2:04, improving by around one minute, that would be fine“.

Dubai Marathon, una corsa che mi aveva sempre incuriosito così ho puntato la sveglia alle 5:30 per vedere in streaming gli ultimi 10km, ma Kenenisa non c’era e Renato lo giustifica e lo rincuora. “Kenenisa suffered hamstring problems in both legs, but I think the real problem is in his right Achilles tendon. At the end of November, he had to reduce training because of this but then it got better and, actually, his final training sessions looked encouraging. A world record was never a realistic target, but a 2:04 time seemed realistic. However, when I saw him running today he did not look relaxed, he looked tight. I think this is the reason why he developed hamstring problems. Something must have happened in the final few days before the race. We now have to solve this tendon problem but for his future marathon career I remain very confident. I think he will do really well“. Ovviamente Canova non può stare tutto in un comunicato stampa (su di lui 4 anni fa due ampie digressioni e 3 anni fa alcuni video), così Alberto Stretti ha accolto due fitte cartelle.

How I told yesterday in some interviews, his preparation after Chicago faced several problems, the main being an Achille’s tendon pain which obliged Kenenisa to reduce training for about two weeks in November, and was cured using TECAR machine for one week of full immersion between 17 and 24 December, with the best operator of the Company. In spite of these problems, the shape of Kenenisa grew continuously, and the last workout, exactly one week ago, was really good.

Also if, in my opinion, what he did is no more than 60% of the total training for a marathon, I was confident in a time under 2:05, and I never had some doubt he couldn’t win the race. But today he didn’t feel good from the start. Several times I saw him running, and his action didn’t have the relaxation and the total body control which are one of the best qualities for Kenenisa.

After 28 km, Jos Hermens (on a motorbike of the organization) came to me (I was on the car of the chief of the Jury) telling me “the pace is slow, Kenenisa seems very fresh, what he has to do ?”, and I told him “tell him to push after 30 km, looking at the Race Record of Ayele Abshero”. Never words were less prophetic : after one km, Kenenisa started to struggle, limping a little, and losing contact with the leading group, which continued running at a pace not really fast.

Problems at both his hamstrings, he told me after the race, probably provoked by the big tension he had from the start, when understood the pain in his tendon could not disappear after few minutes (such as during the last training sessions), but instead was growing of intensity. This tension, it’s my thought, caused cramps and soreness to both the hamstrings, and he couldn’t continue the race.

The fact he dropped out doesn’t change my opinion he can be the next top marathon runner in the world. I was with him in training for the last two month, many times following him personally around Addis Ababa, and could build in my mind an idea of his possibilities. His engine is still the most powerful in the world, and, when the body is ok, his ability to relax himself and to control his body is absolutely superior to the same ability of every other runner I know. He doesn’t have problems of fuelling, and of course no problems of personality in the race.

But it’s a fact that at the moment he doesn’t have his full efficiency. How I told him after the race, “an injured or sick athlete doesn’t exist: he’s one injured or sick man, and the first step is to concentrate all the energies for becoming a fit and healthy man. Only after this first step, he can look for becoming an athlete again”. We are now exactly in this position. The next step of Kenenisa is to look seriously at the way for solving his tendon problem, which was not present in Paris and in Chicago, but started at the beginning of November.

So, at the moment can be useless to speak about future plans, because there is one plan only, and is to find the right way for recovering the full efficiency. After this, I have no doubt Kenenisa can become the number one in the longest Olympic event, too.