20 mandamentos dos quenianos.

1. Avoid distractions. Compared to American youngsters,

Kenyan children have fewer toys, watch less television,
and fiddle with fewer computer games, so there is a much-
smaller chance that a Kenyan young person will become
sedentary. While 31 percent of American youngsters spend
at least five hours per day watching television (!), zero
percent of Kenyan kids put that much time into ogling the
tube (We're Number One, Andrew L. Shapiro, Vintage
Books, p. 71, 1992). Because Kenyan youngsters are so
active, they build up a tremendous base of aerobic
development, strength, coordination, and speed between
the ages of five and 16 and are more than ready for
intense endurance competition while still in high school.
After their high-school days are over, young Kenyan
runners are not lured away from physical activity by the
business world, because corporate job prospects in Kenya
are not especially bright. Also, runners, along with soccer
players and politicians, are the most-successful, best-
known people in Kenya. As a result, young runners tend to
stay fit and interested in running, and there is a higher
chance of discovering individuals who can be successful on
the international endurance-running stage.
2. Don't run on concrete or asphalt. Kenyans prefer to carry
out their workouts on trails or dirt roads, which
simultaneously increase their leg-muscle strength and
save their legs from too much hard pounding. The trouble
with concrete is that it is a perfect energy-return material:
It allows you to bounce from foot to foot quite readily as
you run but also transmits mega shock waves up your
legs. In contrast, dirt provides more cushioning but usually
forces you to work harder to run at a specific speed. Since
dirt offers less "energy return" than concrete, you must
actively pull your feet out of small depressions in the
ground after each impact. The bottom line is that trail and
dirt road running produce greater leg-muscle power, with
less total damage to muscles, tendons, and ligaments,
compared with hard-road rambling.
3. Do more race-speed training. A favorite workout of top
Kenyan runners involves a two- to three-mile warm-up
and then about 10K of running over very rolling terrain.
 During the 10K, Kenyans alternate back and forth between
about two minutes of fast running (at 10-K pace or faster)
and around one minute of easy, relaxed ambling. Even
during their long (15- to 22-K) training runs, the Kenyans
usually finish the workouts by sizzling through a mile or
two at close to race pace. Race-speed training is specific
training, which prepares you for competition most
effectively.
4. Make sure that outstanding running performances are
rewarded with substantial financial bonuses. In Nairobi,
bus fares are six cents, five-course gourmet meals cost no
more than a few dollars, and cab drivers apologize
because the fare from the airport into the city is a lofty $5.
In Kenya, $5000 is considered a king's ransom, yet a
decent Kenyan runner can easily win that amount in a
single road race in Europe or the United States. In fact,
some fortunate Kenyans can retire for life after just one
successful season of road racing. Needless to say, this kind
of financial-reward system intensifies young Kenyans'
interest in running.
5. Have great role models. In Kenya, there is of course Kip
Keino, but there is also a whole host of world-record
holders, world champions, and Olympic medalists for
young runners to admire. Almost every Kenyan young
person knows about these top stars and takes pride in
their achievements. Plus, Kenya's running heroes are not
cloistered away from the average citizen. Instead of
communicating with the public through rare interviews
with the press, they are out on the street - where
everyone can talk with them. With so many great runners
providing encouragement to up-and-coming competitors,
young Kenyan runners begin to believe that it is normal -
and almost routine - for Kenyans to win major
international competitions. When they journey to
international events, Kenyans are not intimidated by the
top runners from other countries, nor do they think that it
is enough just to be present at the competitions. They
know that the world's top runners are just flesh-and-blood
folks who have been beaten in the past by Kenyans, and
the Kenyans confidently know that they have a great
chance to win.
6. Eat cheap, simple, healthy foods. The Kenyans' high-
carbohydrate, low-fat diet revolves around ugali (corn-
meal porridge), delicious vegetable stews, beans and bean
 soup, greens, plantains, passion fruit, cabbage, and rice.
All of these foods are filling and satisfying and contain rich
lodes of vitamins and minerals. Contrary to popular belief,
Kenyan-runners' diets are quite adequate in protein,
provided by complementary combinations of grain and
vegetables as well as sprinklings of lean chicken, goat,
milk, and an occasional egg. Overall, dietary fat, especially
saturated fat, is as sparse as slow race performances.
7. Be part of an excellent running team. The Kenyan cross-
country teams are true teams - not just collections of
people thrown together for a competition. They train
together for several weeks prior to the world
championships, and everyone completes the same
workouts. Older Kenyan runners give younger harriers lots
of advice, support, and encouragement. During races,
some Kenyan team members block competitive runners
from other countries as their Kenyan teammates sprint far
ahead into the lead. In addition, most Kenyan runners
develop in a team environment, as the various branches of
the Kenyan military and the Kenyan post office and prison
system all put together fine, well-coached teams.
8. Train with a very accomplished runner. When I was at the
Kenyan camp, young Kenyans worked out with battle-
scarred (and gold-medal-winning) veterans of international
competition such as John Ngugi, William Mutwol, Ondoro
Osoro, Sammy Lelei, Paul Tergat, Esther Kiplagat, and
Pauline Konga. Fledgling runners learned exactly what it
took to win and found out that they could handle the
workouts carried out by their illustrious peers. Young
runners - at first unsure about their abilities - gradually
developed an attitude of "I've got what it takes to win,
too." After all, if you have held you're own while training
with a world champion or an Olympic medal winner,
international competitions no longer seem so frightening.
9. Take regular, prolonged breaks from training. European
and American athletes tend to think, "If I don't train
strenuously all the time, someone may get ahead of me,"
but the Kenyan maxim is, "I work so hard that my body
periodically needs a great rest." Five-time world-cross-
country champion John Ngugi trained very, very lightly at
various times during the training year, and Moses Kiptanui,
former world-record holder in the 3000-meter
steeplechase, 5K, and two-mile run, was known to take
four- to eight-week breaks during which he carried out no
 running at all. Such recovery periods allow the muscle-
rebuilding process - an essential part of any training
program - to be optimized and completed fully and leave
runners highly motivated and mentally fresh for
subsequent, intense training.
10. Carry out some of your training at altitude. This is a
contentious issue, but here's the bottom line: You can
actually train more intensely at sea level than you can at
altitude, so lowland training is better for your
physiologically, despite altitude's blood-thickening effects.
However, altitude can be great for you mentally. Altitude
makes every workout feel tougher, so you can develop a
higher mental tolerance for pain. As veteran Kenyan
runner Ondoro Osoro said, "When I come down from
altitude, competition at sea level feels no more difficult
than sitting in a rocking chair." The altitude training must
be completely wisely, however. At altitude, the Kenyans
like to practice running at the precise pace which will be
needed to win an upcoming race at sea level. When the
sea-level race takes place, the required pace seems fairly
facile, because it has been practiced under much-more
stressful conditions - at altitude. Don't forget, too, that a
three-week residency at altitude can boost the blood's
oxygen-carrying capacity.
11. Take chances. Kenyans occasionally go to extremes,
including running unbelievably tough schedules (with a
high frequency of fast intervals, hill repeats, and scalding
fartlek sessions) for about three weeks at a time. These
"crash cycles" of training seem to push fitness to
extraordinary levels. Naturally, it is important to monitor
oneself during these periods to make sure that the risks of
overtraining and injury are kept low.
12. Warm up thoroughly at the beginnings of workouts,
and spend lots of time stretching after workouts are over.
Even the very best Kenyan runners begin most workouts
by completing a couple of miles at a leisurely, eight- to
nine-minute per mile pace. Kenyans settle into fast
training speeds only when their muscles are warm and
blood vessels leading into their hearts and leg muscles are
full-bore open. Kenyans do not do much stretching before
they run, so the initially easy ambles also unkink tight
muscles. A diverse array of stretches and calisthenics are
carried out for 15 to 30 minutes after almost every
workout and help prevent muscles from "locking up" in
 between training sessions. The post-workout stretching
also "opens up" leg muscles to incoming carbohydrate, so
that more glycogen can be stored between workouts.
13. Get your local schools involved in fitness. In Kenyan
high schools, 10 to 12 weeks are sometimes devoted
exclusively to physical education, while in the United
States physical education has all but disappeared from the
curriculum. Phys-ed programs teach young people
appropriate exercise techniques and help to create and
maintain a large, highly fit "pool" of young individuals,
from which nationally and internationally successful
athletes can emerge.
14. Don't keep a log book or follow an absolutely rigid
training schedule. Instead, monitor yourself closely and
keep your training "in synch" with how you are feeling. If
you keep a log of your running, it's easy to add up your
mileage for the week, and there is a great temptation to
run at least that many miles during the following week -
even if you are feeling pretty worn-out. There is also a
temptation to complete a scheduled workout even though
you feel like hell - because it is written down in the log.
Attempting to lock step to the dictates of a written training
program and working hard on days when you are really
tired are guaranteed ways to maximize the risk of
overtraining. The Kenyans don't count miles and prefer to
carry out solid amounts of training on days when they feel
good and minimal quantities on days when they are
fatigued. This can actually involve more discipline than
simply following the commands written down in a training
schedule, and it is a more effective way to build a training
schedule which optimally balances hard work and
recovery.
15. Develop a good financial-support system, so that you
can concentrate fully on your running. In Kenya, talented
young runners usually join the police or armed forces,
where they can train with other topnotch harriers and
don't have to worry about putting bread (or in the Kenyan
case - ugali) on the table. In most other countries, support
systems for runners are less organized and more chaotic.
In the United States, good young runners may win a
college scholarship, but only the really top runners obtain
sponsorships after their school days end. The rest of the
lot - including many potentially outstanding runners - are
 sucked out of running careers into demanding 9-to-5 jobs
which drain time and energy from athletic pursuits.
16. Don't worry too much. When troubles arise, the
Kenyan runners often invoke the motto, "Hakuna noma,"
which simply means, "There's no problem." Bad things
happen to runners all the time, including missed workouts,
slower-than-expected races, illnesses, and injuries, just to
name a few. The Kenyans simply acknowledge these
disappointments and then look forward to better workouts
and races in the future. The focus is on gradual progress
toward a better future - not on beating oneself up over
disappointing events.
17. Train on hills nearly constantly. Top Kenyan runners
carry out almost all of their workouts on very hilly terrain,
and a favorite training session involves running up the
western edge of the famed Rift Valley near Eldoret, Kenya
(near Kip Keino's current home), an effort which covers
about 21K and involves an elevation change from
approximately 4000 to 8000 feet, yet is completed in only
85 minutes. Hill running transforms your leg muscles from
thin strips of sinew into powerful dynamos which can use
oxygen at incredibly high rates, when needed, and which
can provide incredible, stabilizing support for the body
during movement. At the same time, hill training improves
running economy, so that you do not need as much
oxygen as usual - even when you are cruising along at
tough intensities. This sounds like a paradox, and in a way
it is: It's akin to producing an automobile with a very
powerful engine which at the same time does not need
much gas to move along at very high speeds, or like
letting a supremely wealthy person buy everything he/she
needs at steeply discounted prices. As a result of their hill
training, the Kenyans have huge aerobic capacities but
require only puny percentages of those dynamic oxygen
reservoirs to keep up with the runners with whom they
compete.

The Final Three Commandments You Can't Follow Now...

It's Too Late

18. Choose ancestors who were pastoral people with a

fondness for the "bride-price" system of marriage.
Although there are at least 35 different tribal groups within
Kenya, the majority of Kenya's internationally successful
 runners have come from a single tribe called the Kalenjins.
That's a bit strange, since Kalenjins make up only about 4
percent or so of the entire population. Historically,
Kalenjins lived a nomadic life tending roaming herds of
cattle, and a young Kalenjin male was considered suitable
for marriage only if he possessed an adequate number of
beeves (this was the "bride price"). Since livestock didn't
exactly grow on trees, enterprising young men would raid
wandering herds at night (often those belonging to a
different tribe) in an attempt to purloin enough hooves to
impress the family of the potential bride. This involved
running the cattle away from the main herd as quickly and
for as great a distance as possible - before the theft was
discovered. Thus, a direct link was established between
outstanding endurance-running performances and
fatherhood, an effect magnified by the tendency of Kenyan
males to marry several times. It's all speculation (the
Kalenjins have never been checked for performance-
enhancing genes; indeed, we have a poor general
understanding of which genes would be looked for in such
a check), but it seems possible that the traditional bride
price, cattle-rustling lifestyle might have selected
segments of DNA which code for improved long-distance
running.
19. Exercise a lot when you are a child. Little kids in
Kenya really do carry out a lot of aerobic training, but they
call it "running to school." As I jogged on the trails and
roads near Mt. Kenya, little folks padded past me, cruising
easily at six-minute per mile tempo in bare feet on uneven
ground, with heavy school bags draped over their
shoulders. The average Kenyan youngster covers eight to
20 kilometers per day just ambulating back and forth
between home and school (more Ks are often covered
while doing chores around a rural home), and this sole-to-
ground mode of transport increases the strength and
flexibility of leg, ankle, and foot muscles. Later, when a
young Kenyan begins to train seriously for competition,
the support system - the feet and legs - can handle the
stresses of training with relative ease. American-kids' feet
are better suited for handling the stresses of pushing down
on their automobiles' accelerator pedals.

Grow up at an altitude of 5500 to 7000 feet. Maturing at such elevations gives you slightly
thicker blood, a stronger heart, more blood vessels per muscle cell, and slightly smaller muscle
fibers which can be more easily and quickly penetrated by incoming oxygen molecules. Growing
up at even higher altitudes (than 7000 feet) is not as good for endurance performance;
otherwise we would be talking about the 20 Sherpa Commandments right now.

Can runners from the rest of the world catch up with the
Kenyans? Sure - if they simply follow all 20 Kenyan
commandments. Just adhering to one of the dictates - like going
to altitude for a few weeks (or months or years) - is not
enough: It is necessary to swallow the whole package. If that's
not possible …………… well, it's still lots of fun to watch the
Kenyans run so amazingly quickly! ©