KIMbia Athletics

In one week the marathoning world will descend on the windy city for the 2007 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. As part of their race coverage, RunningTimes.com has posted race previews for both the men and women (written by KIMbia’s Matt Taylor). For an in-depth look at the lifestyle and training of three of the elite athletes, head over to chasingKIMBIA for a glimpse of Evans Rutto, James Koskei, and Christopher Cheboiboch. Those three athletes will be joined in Chicago by Kathy Butler, who just returned from a training camp in Mammoth Lakes, CA, and Ben Maiyo, who has been training in Iten, Kenya.

Men’s Preview

Women’s Preview

• Chicago guys are resting. New York guys are coming down from Mags. #
• Wishing Elva a belated happy birthday! #

• isKButler: Back in Nederland after a training stint in Mammoth Lakes. Less than two weeks to Chicago. #

Video of the Providence Downtown CVS 5K is now available. It’s the same feed that was shown on TV locally.

Welcome to our latest column: So, Solinsky…

You’ve got questions, Chris Solinsky has answers. Send your queries for Chris to soso @ kimbia dot net. And don’t forget that one of those other fast fellows there in Madison, Wisconsin, a certain Matt Tegenkamp, is also fielding questions. He can be reached at askteg @ kimbia dot net.

I have two questions for you. What type of strength training do you do? Do you think playing soccer as a kid helped you to become a better runner?—Chad Powell

The only type of strength training that I do is core strengthening. The only kind of lifting I do is lifting of my body, meaning doing pull-ups, dips, and pushups, with the focus of it being body control. By body control, I mean everything is slow and controlled, keeping the body core tight and flexed. The core strengthening sessions are usually 30-60 minutes, done 2-3 times a week depending on the time of year. These focus on all kinds of planks and holding my body weight.

I would say that soccer definitely did not hurt my running. I played the stopper position, which required a lot of running because I was both defense and offense. I had to push up and support the offense, but if someone got behind us I was the one who was responsible to get back and chase down that person, so I did a lot of running. I heard a stat once that during a 90-minute game a midfielder would run an average of 7-9 miles, so it had to help.

I’ve followed your career with interest ever since your sophomore year of high school. As a former Stevens Point resident, I couldn’t go one week without hearing your name Read the full article

• areBabaAndFasil: Enjoying an easy week before two hard weeks of training. New York is just six weeks away #

Week One of chasingKIMBIA is coming to a close. Yesterday, Dieter went on camera to answer questions from the readers. In his first Dieter Spricht video column he discusses post-workout nutrition.

Adam Jacobs of The Final Sprint is a prolific podcast producer. In Episode #80 he sits down with Matt Tegenkamp to discuss his very successful rookie experience at the World Champs, the frustration of coming within 0.03 seconds of the bronze medal, and what he learned about the difference between American and international racing.

Welcome to the new KIMbia Athletics website. We’ve made a few changes to make the site more interactive, more entertaining, and more engaging. We’re still filling in some gaps, especially the athlete profiles, but we hope to have those completed in the next few days. If you’re looking for something from the old site, you can still find it; just go here. In the meantime, take a look around; let us know what you think.

Season Three of chasingKIMBIA is underway. Blogs, photos, and videos (almost) every day detailing the lifestyle and training of our marathon group as they prepare for the Chicago, New York City, and US Olympic Trials Marathon. Follow the journey at chasingKIMBIA.

Show Notes:
- The first song is New Redemption by Kevin Reeves and Ian Baird. The second song is by former Marathon World Champion Douglas Wakiihuri.

On the eve of chasingKIMBIA Season Three, the road racing crew got things started with great results. At the CVS Downtown 5K in Providence, Rhode Island, Simon Ndirangu outkicked teammate and defending champion Richard Kiplagat for the win. “It was quite an exciting race,” said Tom Ratcliffe. “There were still a half-dozen athletes in the race approaching the final hill. That’s when Simon and Richard made their move.” It’s the same spot where Richard made his move last year to defeat Anthony Famiglietti and Fasil Bizuneh. Unofficially, Simon ran 13:40.

Further south at the Philly Distance Run Half Marathon, Tom Nyariki and John Yuda were in the hunt until the last stretch. Julius Kibet (who is James Koskei’s brother) had the faster closing kick on this day, pulling away from Nyariki and Yuda to win in 62:01. Nyariki ran 62:04 and Yuda 62:05. Charles Munyeki had a solid race, finishing 6th in 62:28. On the women’s side, Edna Kiplagat finished 3rd in 1:10:11. Pamela Chepchumba was the winner in 68:45.

Be sure to tune into Season Three of chasingKIMBIA starting tomorrow.