If you are keen and have queries, please contact Coach Rameshon at 9100 4369 or you can email him at m.rameshon@gmail.com or swift.rameshon@gmail.com. Please refer to website http://flexifitness.com.sg (for more information on him and his programmes)
By Rameshon
Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)
Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)
During my stay in Kenya, on one of the day, I went for a run at Kaptagat Forest once. The forest was very nice to run. The width of the route was around 3 metres. The slope was gradual and it can go for 1km up and 1km down. The gradient is about 1-3 percent. It was very hard to see any very steep hill/s. On the other hand, in MacRitchie Reservoir (Singapore), we do have hills. However, these hills are considered steep to my standard. From my experience, it is not advisable to do long runs in a terrain which has many steep hills. One gets tired easily and get knee injury if run repetitively daily. It is possible to get achilles tendon injury.
The long runs should be done on a flat terrain which has a soft surface. This allows a person to have more distance during the run. I realised that the Kenyan terrain allows one not to get injury easily. The track is made up of sandy track. Near Kip Keino Training Camp, there was no synthetic track was found. In fact, Mike Kosgei, the former coach who led the National Team for 15 years, believes that athletes should avoid training on the tarmac and on a synthetic track because it brings a lot of injuries. He also feels that a lot of injuries are come from running on synthetic tracks.
Poverty
Poverty in Kenya has driven some to succeed in running to be successful in life. For a Kenyan, it is an avenue to travel and seize an opportunity. Poverty makes the runners work very hard to do well in running. It is not just the altitude training that matters. The attitude of the runner also matters much to do well in Kenya. I have seen the attitude of the runners doing the workout in Kenya. The Kenyans do the workout 10 times more with a good attitude than what we do in Singapore. It is good to witness this and if one wants to see this attitude, which is shown outwardly, one should be present during the workout. It just strengthens one's mind. Also, with less luxury, the Kenyans are very tough inside. I feel that luxurious life of rich people will only make one attached to materials more for better comforts, which is usually not that helpful to a person who wants to do well. More comforts mean less tolerance for pain.
Picture 3 - Poverty makes one run or walk to school enabling one to exercise their body from formative years.Food
Most of the hotels have chapati, a kind of Indian food which is made of wheat. Chapati (looks like an omelette but is prepared only flour and water). The Kenyans sometimes include rice to their food. So that explains why they get slow energy throughout the day (glycogen) and fast energy (glucose). Another important food that the Kenyans consume and is a basic Kenyan food is Ugali (a thick mash made out of boiled white corn/maize meal and water, at least once a day). The ugali is known as super stable food.
Picture 4 - Kenyan food ugali (Staple food of the Kenyans providing good vitamins and minerals and trace elements in the diet)
The weather was cooling to run at any time of the day. I used to think, in the past. that the weather in Kenya is hot like those found in the Sahara Desert. However, this was proven wrong when I was there. I found the weather to be cooling most of the time. The humidity level is much lower than those found in hot countries. The weather is great to do workouts during most of the months, except for November and December, where you will experience the winter time. It is in a way harder to run at this time of the year as the weather will be very cold.
Picture 5 - Kenyan weather is usually cooling or cold but not hot and the humidity level is low and generally dry.
Nearly all Kenyas, the rich and poor, are generally very friendly towards people. Nearly everyone tends to smile, even those who were found to be poor. When I was there, I found that it was very easy to mix with them. If you take up some of the language, Swahili, and converse with the Kenyans, they will tend to think of you as a very good friend or a brother. Even just calling a person 'jumbo' is enough to make one a friend of the Kenyan people. The Kenyan runners, even though they run competitively, tend to look relaxed throughout the day by smiling most of the time. Rarely they frown.
Picture 6 - People are usually smiling, by nature, most of the time even during stress. 'Nevermind' and 'that's ok' are some of their key words to allay a stressful situation. It takes at least 55 muscles in the face to frown and at around half of the 55 muscles to smile. Less energy expended this way. Even during poverty, they smile. This is my true experience.
Massage
It was very hard to get the massage person to help all athletes. Top athletes are given opportunities to have a massage as a daily thing. Massage is another reason for the Kenyans to do well in sports. I was able to have my massage in Kenya, after some time. I believe the massage will be able to make a person to recover faster. Massage will enable the muscles to loosen up. I felt that, at the elite level, massaging is important to recover and perform well in running
Picture 7 -Massage is something that is very hard to come by. It is a privilege for those who do very well and are the elite runners.
The runners during the workout are usually men but they also have women in the group. The reason for putting women runners in the men's workout group is to make the girls work very hard and improve in running. At a high standard, the athletes were working very hard and do the workout. The girls were fortunate in doing the workout with the men.
Picture 8 - The Kenyan women athletes doing workouts are fearless of doing workouts with men and have the attitude to chase men who are elite as well.
All year-round, the Kenyan athletes train and rest only for 5 weeks in a year. This is a magical formula which allows an athlete not to get burn out or get oneself very lethargic. They also know that 5 weeks in a year is enough to make the body to recover and recoil back in training. During the 5 weeks of rest, the Kenyans athletes, in fact, usually feel the hunger rising to train harder in training and they will look forward to doing this. During the 5 weeks, they will not focus on anything to do with running and they usually attend to things that they have missed in life, such as, being with the family, after being in the training camps, where they have to stay in most of the time. They have off-season, pre-season, mid-season and finally the competition season to work on throughout the year.
Picture 9 - Periodisation allows proper planning to ensure success in the long-run in long-distance running.
Goal Setting
Once the Kenyan coaches set a target for the Kenyan runners to attain, they train very hard to attain the sub-goals. Even during the off-season, they do workouts which keeps them ready to prepare well for the very intensive season, even though the goals during the off-season is not too high. I realised that there are conditioning workout goals that are quite hard to attain, but the Kenyans runners work very hard to attain it. Many athletes I talk to generally talk about coming in first in future in international races and become a world-class runner. They have big dreams.
Picture 10 - Talks were given on goal-setting, the answer to achieving any impossible tasks at hand. There are sub-goals and long-term goals set.
By Narayanan
Rameshon has taught in Hwa Chong Institution, plus several schools, and Republic Polytechnic as well. He has won many accolades and he was awarded Merit Award for 1991 marathon performance in breaking the national record of Singapore, at that time. He has made 22 male athletes to do marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners to do sub-4 hours for marathon, as well. He was inducted to the ‘Roll of Honour’ by the then College of Physical Education, organised by Singapore Olympic Academy, in 1998, for breaking the National record repeatedly 4 times, till he did 2hr 24min 22sec).
He also has a Coaching group and he trains them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7pm at Botanic Gardens. Those interested can call him at 91004369 for coaching assistance, to improve performance. There is also personal training that he does for many in a week. You can e-mail him at swift.rameshon@gmail.com.
