Kenya Diary: Iten Training Camp Part 2

Iten observations 2

There’s no secret to Kenyan running success. It’s hard work. Many others have listed what might be considered foundational variables that could give Kenyans a jump start on their running: being born and living at altitude, which boosts red cell counts and blood oxygen; abundant walking as kids, either to school, to fetch water or firewood, or with family cattle, and often without shoes, developing foot and leg strength; an ancestral history among certain tribes of cattle raiding involving miles and miles of foot travel out of the area; a high pain threshold attributed to circumcision rites; a diet high in both carbohydrates and protein, comprised of fresh, non-processed food; etc.

While this edges close to the precarious subject of a genetic advantage, I’m certain that these, and other reasons, all contribute—in a non-causal way—to running success. But you still have to train—and train with a single-minded fervor rare in today’s American society, where being simply passable at many things is supposed to demonstrate much-desired diversity. Many Iten- and Eldoret-area Kenyans run with a sole-minded, self-defining passion. And many Kenyans from tribes outside of this area are moving here to train, as well.

The Kalenjin people are one of three primary subgroups of the Nilotic tribes, an ethno-linguistic group in Kenya’s Western Highlands and Rift Valley area. They have produced, by far, the bulk of the country’s distance running success—both in road racing, and on the track, and for both men and women. Composed of people from tribes such as the Keiyo, Kipsigi, Marakwet, Nandi, Pokot, Sabaot, Terik and Tugen, the Kalenjin comprise about one-tenth of Kenya’s total population of 31 million people.

Kenyan running expert John Manners calculated in 1997 that the Kalenjin had earned about 75% of Kenya’s distance running awards in cross country, road racing and track and field. Here are Manners’ numbers (from www.Kenyarunners.com) on Kalenjin success through 1996: 43.6% of the top-10 positions from 1992-1996 in the five men’s distance events from 800m – 10,000m, 38% of the top-10 all-time list positions in those events, 34% of all Olympic and World Championships medals in those events from 1988-1996, 50% of all men’s medals in the World Cross Country Championships from 1988-1996. In sum, Manners estimates that out of all honors up for grabs worldwide in men’s distance running, Kalenjin men have won 40% of them.

In their book “Kenyan Running,” authors John Bale and Joe Sang make the point that the nation-state of Kenya is simply a politically-imposed boundary. The Kenyan national uniform that Kalenjin runners wear in international competition accentuates differences between nations (i.e. Kenya’s medal count at the Olympics), while at the same time it minimizes differences between various tribes by promoting national unity through success (i.e., again, Kenya’s medal count at the Olympics).

So what makes Kenyans, and Kalenjin in particular, run so well? A quick analogy using the well-known food pyramid comes to mind. We all know the structure: a bottom underpinning of bread, cereal, rice, pasta, then a middle level of veggies and fruits, then a higher level of dairy, meat, poultry, fish, beans, and eggs, all topped by a small portion of oils, fats and sweets that one is supposed to “use sparingly.” Each area of the pyramid has a suggested number of servings per day for healthy living.

Now picture a running pyramid to maximize your running success. Your best running will come from sampling significantly from all the areas in the pyramid. On the bottom of the running pyramid you have the foundational variables listed above—the breads and cereals, if you will—of altitude, walking, ancestral history, pain threshold, etc. In the middle you might put self-care: sleeping a lot, and eating healthy, non-processed foods. And the top of the pyramid—the dessert of running—is hard work, but instead of “use sparingly,” it is recommended that a runner “use abundantly” from this top level.

Kenyans can, and do, sample heartily from all levels.

One could argue that the general Kalenjin population possesses the bottom- and middle-level traits. Stretching the argument further, you could say that most any Kalenjin could become a decent runner by adding the top layer of hard work. Indeed, Berkeley anthropologist Vincent Sarich has statistically estimated that the average Kalenjin could outrun 90% of the rest of the human race.

You could also argue that the general U.S. population possesses very little from any of the levels of the running pyramid. Stretching the argument further, you could say that most national-class U.S. runners possess traits from the top levels—many runners work hard and take care of their bodies through rest and nutrition—but are missing the foundation. The food pyramid analogy eventually breaks down because a runner simply can’t opt to take something from the bottom level; that is, a U.S. runner can’t go back and be reborn at 8000’ altitude, or choose an ancestral history of cattle raiding.

I’m not saying it is a lost cause for any U.S. runner to catch up with the Kenyans, but it would seem to take an inordinate amount of the running pyramid’s middle and top layers to even the playing field. U.S. instances do exist to prove it is possible (see Deena Drossin, Bob Kennedy).