Why Kenyan runners are the fastest. How Kenyans train. What food do Kenyans eat?

History of Kenyan running

The slogan used by the organizers of the local, 35th World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa (Kenya), on March 27, 2007, was: “The pride of Kenya is invested in this weekend.” Finally, a nation whose men's team won the team cup in this discipline for 18 years in a row, from 1986 to 2003, having the most consecutive wins in the entire international sports history, gets a chance to host the world championship in Mombasa. For Kenya, this means that Cross Country has “come home.”

And the Kenyans will once again defend their title, trying to show their superiority over everyone, in the men's total 12 km, after the championship in Fukuoka (Japan) last year, there follows a two-year dual reign between the Kenyans and their constant great rivals, the Ethiopians, who now hold the palm. . The renewal of that rivalry will certainly be one of the most anticipated moments of this Saturday's run.

But what no one will ever be able to answer is how Kenyans will be able to dominate such a global event in Mombasa, which attracts runners from 66 countries. In fact, the big mystery is how one small group of the entire Kenyan people managed to keep so many world record holders, world champions and champions on their team. Olympic Games, if the first athletes from East Africa began to be sent to international competitions just under 50 years ago.

We will not be mistaken if we say that Kenya has never been a rich country. On average, a Kenyan earns $1,000 a year, but compared to other African countries, Kenyans have a number of advantages. The most important of them is the ability to run.

Many Kenyans live in a rich and fertile corner of the country in the southwest, where some of the best farmland in Africa is found.

British colonies

Kenya was a rich country, the Kenyans were able to convince the British colonialists to build railway along the Kenya-Uganda route from Mombasa to the Indian Ocean along the shores of Lake Victoria just a century ago. The Kenyans called upon European settlers to pay for the construction, who planted coffee and tea plantations, which later became known as “ White country" Of course, everything was built thanks to “cheap” African labor.

But in addition to the fact that the settlers planted coffee and tea plantations, they gave the Kenyans sports such as golf, tennis, cricket (Kenyans take part in the cricket world cups that take place on the Caribbean coast), horse racing and polo for the upper social classes . They also encouraged Africans to play football. It is still believed that the most popular types sports in Kenya - boxing and Athletics(run).

Chepkwonyi and Moyoro - International Pioneers

In the beginning, sports in Kenya were limited to the army, police and running missionary schools, but at independence in 1963, Kenya sent a small team, mostly runners and boxers, to two Olympics and three Empire Games.

Lazarus Chepkwonyi is recorded as the first Kenyan runner to compete in Europe, in the “white” city of London, over a distance of 6 miles. This was in July 1954, when he was part of the Kenyan team and qualified for the Empire Games in Vancouver.

Running barefoot, Chepkwonom managed to complete that race, but the next day, at 3 miles, his teammate Nyandiko Majoro was swept in a race in which Freddie Green and Chris Cutaway both set the world record. Majoro, in the 1950s, broke the European prejudice that Africans could only be sprinters, finishing third and setting a national record with a time of 13:54:8.

Majoro from Kenya, in the most beautiful style I could ever see, with the right program training suitable for competition is one of the main rivals of many of the world's runners, wrote PW "Jimmy" Green in the next edition of Athletics Weekly.

Norris McReiter, one of the timekeepers, wrote presciently that a very talented runner from Kenya had emerged, his name was Nyandiko Majoro. Kenyan athletes have arrived on the world stage.

Majoro has been Kenya's leading cross-country champion for several years. He finished seventh in the 5K at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, beating Cataway by almost 10 seconds. Two years later he ran in London again and finished second at the AAA Championships with a time of 13:34:8, setting a Kenyan record. Also in 1958, Arere Anentia won a bronze medal in the 6-mile event in Cardiff, while Bartonjo Rotich was third in the 440-yard hurdles, the first medals won by a Kenyan at an international competition.

Over the past few years, we have seen a surge in results in running long distances, most of these results are shown Kenyan runners. One has only to open the statistics of results throughout history, and we will see that in the men’s marathon, only the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele wedged itself into the top 10 among Kenyans with a result of 2:03:03, shown in Berlin in 2016. How world record holders in running train in Kenya, says Evgenia Zhgir, MSMC in marathon, curator of the RunCzech Racing project, author of a series of articles.

Who trains

You will be surprised, but few Kenyans train under the guidance of a coach; most of them train in a group of athletes where training plan compiled by the athletes themselves or by the leading athlete-leader. Where, you ask, do athletes have such competence? The fact is that Kenyans are very open people, and more experienced athletes They are happy to share their experiences with younger people. In general, every runner in Kenya, even a beginner, will tell you that if it’s Tuesday, then it’s fartlek, if it’s Saturday, then it’s a long one. A very special running culture has developed here over the years.

As for groups that work under the guidance of a coach, the program depends on the coach. Available in Kenya successful trainers of local origin, and there are also Europeans. The most successful and famous among European trainers is the Italian Renato Canova, who has been working in Kenya for many years. Renato worked for some time in Ethiopia and even in China, but still returned to Kenya, explaining that it was easier and more pleasant to work there.

Among the local trainers, Patrick Sang, perhaps, stands out, his most famous student - Olympic champion in the marathon, owner and winner of many prestigious marathons, including in Berlin and London. If Renato Canova adheres to the “intensity” approach in his work, then Patrick Sang follows the “volume” approach. Both approaches have their place, and both bring results. However, the “intensity” approach is more traumatic, and if you look at Canova’s group, many of his athletes are plagued by injuries, some recover and return, others do not. The “volume” approach is softer, and most athletes use precisely this principle, gradually increasing intensity.

Groups that train independently are no less successful. For example, former world record holder in the marathon Wilson Kipsang organizes his training process himself; world record holder in the marathon Dennis Kimetto also trains in a group without a coach.The key point in the training process of Kenyan runners is working in a group, where everyone supports and “pull” each other.

Training schedule

The most common training schedule looks like this:

• Monday – developmental cross-country;
• Tuesday – fartlek;
• Wednesday – recovery cross-country;
• Thursday – speed work at the stadium;
• Friday – recovery cross-country;
• Saturday – long tempo;
• Sunday is rest.

As a rule, most runners do 2 workouts a day: the morning one – according to the scheme described above, and the evening one – jogging, general developmental exercises and stretching. Sometimes athletes change Tuesday with Thursday, because... the stadium is simply not able to accommodate several hundred athletes at the same time. Therefore, the groups agree among themselves who comes to the stadium when.

Runners most often leave for morning training no later than 6:00 am and do not even have breakfast before training - first work, then food.

Where do they train?

The important point is that the vast majority of Kenyan runners train exclusively on dirt roads and dirt stadiums. Not because there is no asphalt or stadiums with professional surfaces, but because dirt roads are softer and less dangerous. Only a few athletes combine dirt and asphalt, mostly during the rainy season, when dirt roads are washed away, but you still need to train somehow.

Types of training

Athletes begin preparing for the season with cross-country and long low-intensity runs, then include fartlek, and then speed work, gradually increasing intensity. Fartleks vary in different time periods, the rest between working periods most often does not exceed 1 minute. The number of repetitions depends on how many kilometers are planned for the fartlek, usually 8-10 km. Kenyans, as a rule, do speed work with a fairly short rest, for example, 10x1000 m after 1.5-2 minutes of rest.

Long-term paces are also quite intense: those who are preparing for 10 km and half marathons do paces from 15 to 30 km, marathon runners from 25 to 40 km. For example, while training for the Tokyo Marathon in 2017, Wilson Kipsang held the final 35km pace in 1 hour 59 minutes, an average of 3:24/km, at an altitude of 2,300 m above sea level. Kipsang won the Tokyo marathon that year with a result of 2:03:58.

How to recover

How do Kenyans recover from such stress? By the way, they don’t go to the sauna. Massage, yes, at least once a week, if finances allow. And, of course, sleep and quality nutrition. Sleep, as they say, is the best recovery. Large sports management companies organize year-round support for their athletes: massage therapist, physiotherapy. Has proven itself very well in athletics the Normatec device, almost all elite athletes use it for recovery.

What about women?

Women's long-distance running received a huge breakthrough in 2017, with 7 world records set by Kenyan runners from April to October. The most sensational was the half marathon in Prague, where Joycilyn Jepkosgei, during the half marathon distance, renewed four world achievements at once (10 km, 15 km, 20 km and half marathon), while she became the first woman to run this distance faster than 65 minutes, her result is 1: 04:52. At the end of April, Mary Keitany successfully broke the marathon world record (split start) - 2:17:01. In the fall of the same year, Joycilyn updated the 10 km record, again in Prague, becoming the first woman to run ten out of 30 minutes (29:43), and a month later she improved her half-marathon time by 1 second.

In general, the training process for women is structured in the same way as for men, with only one difference: women do not train in groups. As a rule, female athletes have one or more pacemakers who accompany them during each training session and set the pace. Many Kenyan runners train under the guidance of their husband-coach. Including Joycelyn Jepkosgei and Mary Keitany: both are trained by their husbands, and Mary’s husband is not only her coach, but also a pacemaker.

And finally, I would like to say about one more driving moment training process Kenyans, namely motivation. Running is a viable way for Kenyans to earn a living and escape poverty. Unfortunately, many athletes lose motivation as soon as they earn their first decent money and leave the sport, but there are also those for whom running becomes not just income, but a way of self-realization, and then we see such outstanding athletes as Eliud Kipchoge, Wilson Kipsang , Mary Keitany, Joycelyn Jepkosgei and many others.

Statistics, as you know, knows everything. Sports statistics are no exception. For example, lovers of exact numbers have calculated that in 2010, 156 international marathon races were held on our planet. And athletes from Kenya won 126 of them. But that's not all - most of these winners were representatives of the Kalenjin tribe. The total number of this people is about 3.5 million people, and their main occupation is cattle breeding. What is the secret of this fastest people in the world? Scientists are persistently trying to unravel this mystery.

Some believe that it's all about their body structure. Kalenjin thin calves and ankles, giving runners a serious advantage. Others are sure that main role Lifestyle plays a role in the incredible endurance of Kenyans. Cattle breeding requires you to move a lot. Sometimes shepherds have to cover dozens of kilometers in a day.

According to another theory, the body of Kenyan runners is more saturated with oxygen than that of the average inhabitant of our planet. The Kalenjin tribe lives in a mountainous region where the average altitude is more than 2,000 meters above sea level. This oxygen saturation is what gives representatives of the East African Valley an advantage over runners from lowland countries. However, skeptics dispute this statement - Kenya is far from the highest mountainous country in the world.

At the end of the twentieth century, Kenyan runners were seriously examined in Copenhagen at the Muscle Research Center. Athletes from Scandinavia were also among the best marathon runners in the world, but could not compare with the Kenyans. An ordinary Kalenjin teenager, after several months regular training, won professional European long-distance races.

Scientists have concluded that Kenyans have an advantage in running already at the genetic level. In particular, the structure of the legs makes running less energy-consuming and more efficient. Some researchers have even claimed that Kalenjin runners have an unfair advantage. But Kenyan runner Kip Keino, who won the 1968 and 1972 Olympics, reasonably stated that running, first of all, is “a mental thing.”

Thus, there is no single point of view on the reason for the success of the Kenyans. But this does not prevent them from winning the lion's share of all long-distance races.

For many years, Kenyans have been considered unsurpassed and the fastest runners in the world. This motivates professional athletes to new running techniques and preparation for competitions - but for some reason it does not bring any special results. What is the secret of Kenyan runners, why are they so resilient and fast, how do they prepare for long and short distances- maybe some of the secrets can be useful to us too. If you don’t run a marathon or win gold medals at world competitions, then at least learn to run faster than usual.

Running history

Man has always run - while hunting or for his own pleasure. The history of professional running officially began in Ancient Greece. Then one of the warriors, Pheidippides, was sent to report the victory of the Athenians over the Persians - and he had to cover a distance of 42 kilometers 195 m to the city of Athens from Marathon. This is what marathon runners now run. In different years, athletes from different countries, but for more than half a century the entire podium has gone to runners from Kenya.

Running today

Recently it has become very fashionable to run a marathon - people do it like professional athletes, as well as ordinary people who like to run. Marathons are held in major cities around the world - and they attract thousands of participants. All recent world records belong to runners from Kenya. The latest achievement belongs to a representative of this small African country. Kenyan Eliud Kichpoge ran in Berlin in September 2018 marathon distance in two hours one minute and 39 seconds.

Preparation for long distances usually includes many factors - the success of the race depends on the physical condition of the athlete, general conditions life, approach to training and nutritional habits. A genetic predisposition to running is also very important - but runners from other countries, of course, are powerless to change anything.

Physiology of Kenyan runners

The largest number of good runners come from the Kalenji tribe: their people make up about 15% of the Kenyan population. A long time ago, the ancestors of the tribe lived at the foot of the mountains, but then moved higher into the mountains. This happened gradually, the organisms of this people were constantly rebuilt to adapt to the changing external conditions of life - and the structure of the body over time acquired recognizable and specific features.

Kalenjians are usually short in stature, with long and thin arms and legs. The reduced body surface area dissipates excess heat more quickly - a clear advantage when running long distances. Another physiological feature of the Kalenji runners is that they use oxygen very efficiently and economically when moving. This unique feature arose as a result of people living at an altitude above two thousand meters above sea level - the air there, of course, is much less saturated with oxygen than below.

Need to run far from birth

Residents of Kenya have always had to run long distances to feed themselves and their loved ones - which means simply to survive. Hunting in an African country sometimes comes down to the physical exhaustion of the victim - they simply chase him until he is completely exhausted.

Cattle breeders have to travel tens of kilometers a day to transport their herds, and children walk approximately the same distance to school and back.

Features of Kenyan training

The approach to running is very simple. All you have to do is just run, taking steps one after another. Runners from other countries use heart rate monitors, various applications on smartphones, check charts, tracking progress - and at this time they forget about the main thing, that is, actually, about running.

According to Kenyans, you need to be very careful about your body - and be able to listen to it very carefully. The body usually signals quite clearly its needs and reactions to physical activity- including heavy ones.

In Kenya, it is also customary to practice group training— beginners run on par with Olympic champions and ordinary tourists. This allows you to share your experience in practice and discover new sports talents.

Features of the diet of Kenyans

The secret of the Kenyan diet is very simple: nothing superfluous. They mainly eat corn, rice, legumes and green vegetables. This diet plan provides a person with a sufficient amount of fiber and complex carbohydrates with low fat content.

Athletes from Kenya never use special energy drinks or protein supplements. The only drink available to them is tea with milk, which they drink in large quantities. This drink promotes the removal of sweat, reducing the body temperature that rises during running. Muscle relaxation is caused by masala tea - it reduces pain the next day after training.

Kenyan long-distance runners brought back 9 medals from Olympic London, including two golds (both men's). Their Russian colleagues showed twice worst result, and the men did not conquer anything at all.

To understand the secret to the speed and endurance of Kenyan athletes, writer and amateur runner Adharanand Finn traveled for six months to Iten, a town in the Rift Valley whose entire population appears to be preparing for an international running career.

At midday, Iten looks just like I imagined a typical Kenyan outback. Cows and sheep roam the streets, chewing sparse grass and stirring up heaps of garbage with their muzzles; sneezing and honking, shabby buses rumble along bumpy roads; Conductors hang from their steps, looking out for passengers.

If I tell you that a few hours ago, in the pre-dawn darkness, hundreds of runners in multi-colored shorts and T-shirts were rushing through these streets, you might think that the day before I had too much local beer, which is easy to drink and just as easy to knock you off your feet.

The dominance of Kenyan athletes over many others in long-distance running is one of the most remarkable and mysterious sporting achievements in the world. Seven of the top ten marathon results in history are Kenyans. Despite the fact that running is the most universal and accessible sport, in 2011 only seven Russian athletes were able to run the marathon distance (42 km 195 m) in less than 2 hours 15 minutes, which corresponds to the Olympic qualifying standard. At the same time, 150 Kenyans easily overcame this barrier. But even more impressive is the fact that most of them were from Iten.

I watched the marathon victories of the natives of Kenya on TV as a child. Later, I was impressed by the story of the Finnish runner Annemarie Sandell, who in 1995 went to Kenya and spent six weeks there in constant training. One cold, rainy day she returned to England to win the European title. What did she find in Kenya?

I decided to look into this issue once and for all. However, I myself have never been an outstanding runner. My best half marathon time was 1 hour 26 minutes. Rift Valley native Samuel Wanjiru ran the same distance in 58 minutes. But maybe I can improve my results if I immerse myself in the world of the Kenyans: live in their houses, eat the same food and follow their training schedule?

I packed my running shoes and headed to Iten for a whole 6 months. Many top runners from all over the world come here with their coaches and specially designed training programs. My weapons consisted only of a bunch of questions to which I needed to get answers.

GROUP THERAPY

Despite the huge number of runners in Iten, there is no single training center in the city. All you have to do to start training is to go out to the side of the road early in the morning, wait for the crowd to run by, and join them.

For a week I trained on my own, adapting to the altitude - Iten is 2400 meters above sea level. And one day, while it was still dark, I arrived at the intersection from which, as the locals told me, a large group of runners starts every day. There was no one there, so I decided to warm up a little. About 10 minutes later, athletes began to materialize from the darkness. Most are men in tights that fit their long, thin legs and woolen caps on their heads. When their number began to approach a hundred, I panicked a little. But it was too late to back down.

And then, without any warning, we ran along the dusty road. The initial pace was fast enough, but not intimidating, so I made my way to the center of the group and tried to remain calm, concentrating on the rhythmic sounds of my soles hitting the ground. The road ahead was illuminated by the full moon, and a streak of dawn glowed behind.

Some of the runners around me were talking quietly to each other, but most were running silently. We had long since left the city limits and were moving further and further away from the places I knew.

The pace began to increase, and the road began to climb. I immediately moved to the end of the column - among those lagging behind. I asked someone how far we would run. "It's ten o'clock"- he answered.

At that moment our speed reached 1 km / 3 min. 45 seconds, and the pace continued to increase. I had to rush as if this was the main competition in my life - just so as not to get lost.

Luckily, the two women also started to get tired, and I spent the rest of the run in their company. They cheered me up in a friendly manner. While climbing a particularly steep hill, when I began to stumble with the obvious intention of falling, one of them turned around and shouted: "Try!"

I somehow made it to the finish line. The group stopped at the top of a hill from which there was a magnificent view of Iten. The runners laughed noisily and joked, rubbing their tired muscles, and some were already walking towards the house. I was so exhausted that I could barely stand on my feet.

FACTS AND FACTORS

Irish priest Colm O'Connell gets angry when I ask him the secret to Kenyan runners' success. "Everyone comes here with this stupid question,- he exclaims irritably. - The secret is that you think it exists. There’s no secret here, really.”

In fact, he is that very secret. When Brother Colm came to Iten to teach at St Patrick's School in 1976, there were no runners in the town. O'Connell, who had previously had no connection with sports, collected school team- just so that the kids don’t hang around idle. Then this team won several victories in national championships; then she brought back nine medals (including 4 gold) from the World Junior Championships. “That’s when I realized something special was happening,”- says the priest. In 1989 he opened the first training camp in Iten. It only worked during school holidays and at first only for girls.

Today, there are more than 120 training camps in and around Iten - it was not only O’Connell who realized that there was “something special”. But Brother Colm’s establishment is still operating. It's just a small house on the grounds of St. Patrick's School - a few bedrooms and a dining room, just a place where athletes relax between practices. The only thing distracting from sports in the camp is an old TV. At the same time, in the garden, among the runners basking in the sun, I met the holder of the world record at a distance of 800 m and Olympic champion David Rudishu.

O'Connell may say there is no secret, but something is happening. It's all about the word "focus". Kenyan training camps offer all the conditions for extreme concentration on running. Across the Rift Valley, thousands of runners do nothing other than eat, rest, sleep and train. All the athletes I've met who have trained at Iten, including 5000m world champion Mo Farah and marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe, say the same thing: the thing about Iten is that there's absolutely nothing to do there except... run.

The second factor lies in the attitude of Kenyans to the training process. In their opinion, to run well, you just need to run, concentrating on your flashing soles. It’s more difficult for runners from the “civilized world” - after all, they need to time each run, keep training diaries, add up the distances covered at the end of each week and analyze their progress. Special applications for iPhone will draw you charts and graphs about this in real time right during the run that you do with a heart rate monitor, pedometer and GPS tracker. All this distracts from the actual running process. And the main Kenyan secret, according to O’Connell, can be expressed in the phrase: "Listen to your body."

One of the local trainers told me that due to the inaccessibility of qualified medical care, athletes are careful not to strain themselves or get injured: “We give our all, but when it becomes clear that the limit of human capabilities is close, we retreat for a while.”. If a runner is tired or just wants to exercise a little, he can skip the workout or run half-heartedly.

A Western runner, having skipped training, will eat himself, finding out whether laziness is the reason for his fatigue? After all, it seems to him that if this continues, then soon he will, of course, give up the sport altogether. Therefore, our athletes carefully adhere to their schedule and, as a result, often get injured or become so exhausted that they cannot continue training.

But it seems to me that the secret of the Kenyans’ victories is that they have nowhere to retreat. University of Glasgow biologist Yiannis Pitsiladis has spent the last 10 years trying to figure out what makes African runners so fast. The conclusion he voices is “a forced passion for victory.” "Here look,- explains Pitsiladis. - My daughter is an excellent gymnast, but she most likely will not go to big sport. She will go to university and become a doctor, or pursue a career as a lawyer or advocate. Or he’ll just go on welfare if he gets tired of everything. But for a Kenyan child who drinks river water and works in a garden, there are few other options to rise out of poverty and become famous than to become famous athlete. When they rush to the finish line, it is not a passion for victory, it is a banal survival instinct. And this instinct is very strong.”

BE ON HIGH

Well, in addition, runners from Iten take advantage of the fact that their terrain is located much higher than sea level. It is common knowledge that training in these regions helps endurance athletes achieve greater results by training the body's ability to absorb as much oxygen as possible.

Food also plays a role. In the Rift Valley, young men and women grow up on a simple diet of beans, rice, ugali (a thick cornmeal-based porridge) and green vegetables. This diet is rich in carbohydrates and fiber and virtually no saturated fat - an excellent basis for proper nutrition athletes. They rarely eat meat, and make up for the lack of protein with tea with milk, which they drink constantly. Donuts, ice cream, sandwiches, pizza and other delights of an enlightened person are almost impossible to find in Iten.

REST AND CONTROL

What else Kenyans can do very well, and what we have some problems with, is doing nothing. When not training, runners spend the part of the day chatting, sitting in front of the TV, or playing cards. And the world record holder in the half marathon, Lorna Kiplagat, is also famous for spending 16 hours a day in bed during periods of preparation for competitions.

If you ask a Kenyan athlete why he sleeps so much, he will not quote from the latest study by British scientists - they say that basketball players improve their shooting performance by 9% if they sleep 43 minutes longer. No, he will answer that he gets terribly tired during training, and therefore he needs to get a good night's sleep. So if you want to train the Kenyan way, instead of studying the often contradictory scientific research, get some extra sleep.

CHASING RESULTS

I know that after reading everything above, you are tormented by main question: So did these six months of my leaving civilization work? After six months of jumping up early in the morning, running gruelingly, trying to keep up with the great Kenyan athletes, feeling my lungs burst, have I improved my performance? I arrived in Kenya with a weight of 77 kg and a record of 1 hour 26 minutes in the half marathon. Both of these indicators are considered shameful in Kenya. I had to lie a little when Kenyans asked me about it, but lying didn’t always help.

- Next time I hope to run a half marathon in less than 80 minutes,- I answered evasively.

- That is, in 70 minutes?- they asked mockingly. - So it's girl time, dude.

My weight amazed the Kenyans. The heaviest local athlete I met weighed 59 kg and was terribly worried about this topic. In six months I lost weight to 69 kg and for the first time in my life I could boast of sculpted muscles. calf muscles. Before heading home, I took part in one of the toughest marathons in the world, running past lion and elephant habitats across the high plains of the Lewa Downs Nature Reserve, accompanied by helicopters to keep wildlife from getting too close to the runners. It was my first full marathon and I ran it in 3 hours 20 minutes - fast enough to finish first among non-Kenyans, beating a team of British soldiers and a group of partying tourists.

Back in Big world, I ran the New York City Half Marathon in 1 hour 23 minutes, bettering my record by more than three minutes, and doing it quite easily. The result in the marathon was a little worse - 2 hours 55 minutes. Out of 47 thousand runners, I was seven hundredth. Although this is not a revolution, it is not bad, very good. Did the business trip to Kenya help or just the fact that I ran every day this half of the year?

As Brother Colm once said to me as we watched his team run up the hill towards St. Patrick's School: “Stop looking for the Kenyan secret! Just join them."

HEIGHT GIVES POWER

At the start of last year's season, Australian midfielder football club Collingwood Dane Swan (pictured) struggled to move around the field. After 11 failed matches, the club sent him to Arizona to train in high altitude conditions. By the middle of the season, Swan returned as a completely different player. Running at the top of his lungs earned him a Brownlow medal - as best player Australian Football League.

Why?

“Training at high altitudes leads to a number of physiological changes that increase red blood cell production, explains Collingwood Club Science Director David Buttifent. “And this helps improve oxygen saturation in the blood - you get the maximum amount of oxygen with every breath.”

Where?

“The optimal altitude for training at high altitudes is 2000–2400 m above sea level,- says Buttifent. “But certain benefits can be obtained already at 1500 m.” Altitudes above 2500 m can already have negative effects, including tearing muscles and tissues.

How long?

“The effect can be seen after 14 days,- says Buttifent. - Two weeks of training at high altitudes will give you what can be achieved at sea level in at least a month.” An expensive alternative to a trip to the mountains is training in a fitness center with a pressure chamber.

TRAIN YOUR HEAD

Most Kenyans cherish the hope of escaping poverty in a marathon - you must agree, this is a compelling motivation. Hopefully life doesn't put you in similar situations, but you can use Kenyan runners' strategies to combat your training slumps.

If you think:“There’s no way I can run up this hill.”

Do this:"Don't think about the whole slide,- advises running coach Mario Fraioli. “Divide it into three parts using landmarks such as trees or road turns.” Push on the first stage, save your strength on the second and go full force on the third.

If you think:“I’ll cancel training - there’s a lot of work today.”

Do this: Remind yourself that exercise will make you more productive. You process information faster and focus on tasks more easily after just a 20-minute run. On training days, a person’s productivity increases by 15%. That is, if you visited the gym, work that usually takes you 9 hours and 25 minutes will be done in 8 hours. This means there is enough time for training and then taking a shower.

If you think:“I hate running... I hate running!!!”

Do this: Force yourself to think about something else. “Many outstanding athletes are able to direct their train of thought during training to completely unrelated things, says behaviorist Jack Raglin. “It helps you not to focus on running.” So you better think about where to go on your upcoming vacation, or fantasize about sex with your boss, who is pretending to be a fury.