Running in Ethiopia – Easy Friday (Day 2)
Rays of sun pierced the fog as it shone through the eucalyptus trees lining the highway. We set off, our breath clouding up, frost still on the grass. Friday morning: easy run with strides. Every week. Nutty is only sixteen yet he runs every day bar Sunday, often twice a day.
We took a similar route to that which Hadgu had used yesterday, meandering along the rough gravel road between houses and intermittent sections of eucalyptus forest. Pace gradually built through the 40 minutes, culminating in a couple kilometres at around 4:20/km. Still a little zesty for me, acclimation to the altitude here in Sululta – 2750m – is a process that takes quite a while.
We ran the last part of the forty easy minutes around the large field that Hadgu had taken me to the day before. The size of several football fields, the grass is rough and rutted, with random gravel roads running across it, one section with a large brick wall, and a large set of satellite dishes in the middle. This is where lots of athletes come to do their speed work.
As today was Nutty’s easy day we didn’t do anything too strenuous, just a few strides. Five sets of one minute on (striding out around 3:20/km pace), one minute off. This was followed by a ten-minute warm down and a brief stretching routine that he says he does every day. As we stretched Nutty divulged his formula for progress: hard running + easy running + stretching + good food (he eats almost only fruit and vegetables) + sleep + gymnastics (calisthenics) = success. Simple right? We then ran roughly 3.5km back to the hotel, dodging traffic and donkeys on the main road. 15km total.
I was surprised to find out that he does nearly all of his easy runs alone. Contrary to our experience in Kenya where nearly all runs were in large groups, Ethiopian runners seem to be much more solitary. Workouts are generally done in small groups and the easy runs are done predominantly alone or in very small groups. Despite living in a compound with a group of other athletes Nutty still went out solo on most easy runs, this really baffled me and he didn’t have a good explanation as to why they like to do it this way.
The hotter period through the middle of the day was spent stretching, relaxing, reading, and suffering in the masterful hands of Hadgu, loosening up the accumulated tension from the last months of training and travel.
Nutty and I went for another easy run in the afternoon, climbing the hill behind the hotel, weaving through the eucalypt groves on undulating single track. This area was free of rubbish and very nice to run in. We passed a couple other athletes along the way, as Nutty and I discussed his life here in Ethiopia. As we finished the forty-minute run (7km) we had another stretching session in the garden at the hotel and he invited me to join his session tomorrow: 10 x 1000m on Bekele’s track.
Today provided a very interesting insight into the life of a young Ethiopian athlete, and it was a pleasure getting to know such a nice guy. Big things ahead in this kid’s future.
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