Reasons The Kenyans Dominate Long Distance Running

By Lawrence Lantz

Lantz's thesis is simple: Kenyan distance preeminence has nothing to do with genetics, but is a product of their environment and lifestyle. Before becoming a missionary in Uganda, Lantz graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1992 with an E. E. degree and worked for Lockheed-Martin for 10 years as a systems programmer. The article contains his findings from three years of observation in East Africa and from his own running experience there.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I have lived in Soroti, Uganda for the last three years with my wife and six children. I am 37 years old and am a Baptist missionary. My town is approximately 125 miles from the Kenyan highlands. I currently run 40+ miles barefoot here in East Africa each week. It took me about six months to toughen my feet up to where I can do this. I have done several 12 milers barefoot and have experienced no foot/ankle problems. My daily runs take place on a dirt road. I began on grass but became tired of stepping on corncobs (they throw those things everywhere). I am not super fast (19:05 5K at age 34). I am not some barefoot running weirdo, but I simply want to increase my weekly mileage and I was getting countless knee and ankle problems from my shoes.
Living here has taught me many things about the runners that East Africa produces. There are many reasons why they perform better, and not one of them, I believe, is due to genetics.

WHY THE KENYANS DOMINATE

1. School. East African children walk and at times do even paced running to/from school each day. Not one child is ever driven to school. Less than 1% of the population has cars. A child must come from a rich family to have a bicycle before age 15. Kenyan children begin laying down a solid aerobic base beginning at age seven. (Note: Many don't graduate high school until age 21).

Here is a weekly schedule:
• Mon-Fri (in elementary years): 2-3 miles in AM + 2-3 miles for PM run.
• Mon-Fri (in Jr./Sr. high years): 3-6 miles in AM + 3-6 miles for PM run. (There are fewer Jr. high + Sr. high schools. They have to run farther to reach them.)
• Saturdays: soccer workout.
• Sundays: rest, maybe a little soccer.
Many children add a third cardiovascular workout each day by digging in the gardens for an hour before they go to school. When school is out for holidays: children enjoy more soccer and running and walking to visit neighbors in nearby homestead or villages. These kids will have an 8-year aerobic base developed by the time that most U.S. teenagers complete their first year of track and field!

2. Soccer. There is only one sport for most of Africa soccer. Soccer gives each runner his weekly speed workout. Soccer allows these chil¬dren to keep in touch with their fast-twitch muscle fibers as they build their aerobic base. The directional changes during soccer games and practices really strengthen the leg tendons and ligaments needed for hard running workouts in the future.

3. Barefoot training. 99.5% of East African children run barefoot for the first 14 years of their life. Benefits:
     a. Barefoot running allows them to develop proper running technique.
    b. No knee and ankle injuries due to bad shoes. They don't have problems with uneven shoe wear, as their shoes never wear out. There are virtually no overtraining issues.
    c. No training injuries due to obstacles. When a barefoot runner steps on a rock or in a hole, the torque is much less for a barefoot person than for a person wearing a shoe with a one-inch heel. (Note: I have stepped on a few racquetball-sized rocks while running barefoot and have been able to run the next day. If I was wearing shoes, I would have definitely turned my ankle and needed to sit out for a day or two.) Perhaps the best thing barefoot running does is keep injuries to a minimum.

4. Lower foot strength. Barefoot running strengthens foot and lower leg muscles to an incredible degree. You simply would not believe how much stronger your ankles and feet become. All other things being equal, I believe 15 years of barefoot running give the average Kenyan an extra 5% edge with better running economy and closing speed. I am continually amazed at how much explosive power I see in these young children as I see them sprint around barefoot. Looking back in my life, I think only 10% of the kids I grew up with in South Dakota had that kind of speed/power by that age.

5. Recovery is faster. Barefoot running does not stress the major muscle groups as much. Since I have begun barefoot running, I have noticed how my quads have shrunk. Barefoot running does not engage the big muscle groups like shod running does. I can do a hard two-hour barefoot run and not have tired quads or hamstrings. When your quality runs become longer than one hour, your hamstrings tire simply from pulling your shoes through during each stride.
The quads also tire as they try to balance out workload by adding a little more forward propulsion. Since the weight of a running shoe is all at the extreme end of the lower leg, it requires a good deal of force to propel it along. (This is because of the added torque---e. g. try to lift a sledgehammer to a horizontal position by gripping the handle on the extreme end. It's very hard, because all of the weight is at the extreme end of the moment arm.) In barefoot running, however, the big muscle groups do not become as tired. The calves and feet do the brunt of the work. The entire stress of the workout is placed on the cardio system. Thus, recovery is faster for the Kenyans.

6. Higher intensity workouts. Barefoot running allows more trapped heat to be thrown off during a workout. Energy normally expended trying to dissipate heat can instead go to the creation of new capillaries in the legs and the strengthening of the heart. Most of the time the ground is much cooler than you would think (through morning dew, or nighttime rains). Grass is cool even when the sun is out. When running on grass, the feet are continually cooled throughout the workout. I can constantly achieve much higher heart rates during workouts with less discomfort when running barefoot. In my experience, my level of effort to achieve an 84% MHR barefoot seems to equal my effort to achieve a 78% MHR shod.

7. Cooler workouts. The work¬outs of Kenyan runners take place in the mountains. The morning temp in East African mountains is probably 60 degrees year round. We are on the equator so there are no seasons of winter, spring, summer and fall. (Every day of the year, the sun comes up at 7:00AM and goes down at 7:00PM.) They have perfect training temperature. Because of cooler temperatures, the body has to do minimal work to throw off the accumulated heat during a workout. I believe the more energy that can be put into running (and the less energy and blood that is recruited to cool off the skin) the better the workout will be. I would think an athlete would want the heart working hard to create new capillaries in the legs, instead of being taxed to push the blood to the surface of the skin to cool the body off. Also Kenyan workouts do not have to be adjusted due to ice or snow in winter or due to hot, humid weather in July and August. Thus Kenyan mountain weather is unmatched as far as training climates go.

8. Athlete selection. Kenya's fastest and most gifted young athletes do not drift into sports (like baseball, football, tennis, gymnastics) that stifle the ongoing development of their aerobic base. All of Kenya's best young athletes engage in one sport-soccer. And they run, run, run.

9. No extracurricular activities. There are no jobs for teenagers, and no other sports or after school pro¬grams to conflict with their training. You would never have an athlete say "I only have an hour to get in my afternoon run." American teenagers spend a great deal of time in extra¬curricular activities. Kenyans do not. I know this will sound lame, but in East Africa, even girlfriends are not in competition for the athletes' time. In East African culture, a man does not date girls until he is at least 21. In my tribe the age is closer to 22/23 years. This is because the duration of courtship for marriage (in most cases) is less then one month, and even then the young man needs to hold down a suitable job if he is to marry a young woman. You may think this is an irrelevant point, but the environment in Kenya makes it much easier for athletes to engage in 7-10 year training programs. The result is athletes who end up competing on the international level, not guys who just want to make it to the state finals in high school. There are simply not a lot of things competing for their time.

10. No high school track programs. Kenyan teenagers do not have the two or even three track seasons each year like U.S. high school runners. (They may have an occasional race or two, however, against another school.) Thus they have nothing which would interfere with their base building phase. Their base building phases are not shortened as with U.S. track and field athletes.

11. Their diet. In short, they don't drink soda or eat junk food. Because of the high cost of soda, the only time they drink it is at Christmas and at weddings (trust me on this). They eat no ice cream, sugary cereal, pop-tarts, twinkies, ho-ho's, cool-aid, popsicles or candy bars. Their diet consists of rice, beans, bananas, millet, and carrots. The only time they eat meat is at Christmas, Easter and at weddings. Their diet keeps them very lean. I think 90% of all adult men in my tribe have a waist size under 32 inches. Being so lean keeps them from running injuries. When you are 130 Ibs instead of 150 Ibs, the impact on your body from long distance running will be less. Thus you can train harder and are less likely to succumb to training injuries.

12. They have more patience. This is a cultural thing. In Africa, time has little value. (Again, trust me on this.) For instance, one hour late for an appointment is OK and no apology is normally needed. The East African runner is way more patient than his American counterpart. Kenyan teens don't need or demand the immediate results that U.S. kids want. They don't stop running because they are not hitting their goals. They don't switch to hard track workouts to catch up for missed years of laying down a proper aerobic base. They are not looking for a quick fix. They don't burn out.

13. Absence of interval-minded coaches. Kenyan children train in the absence of track coaches. They don't have a crazy coach who thinks his athlete needs to run more and more intervals. As a result, they do not suffer the ill-fated injuries of so many high school runners in the U.S. Instead, the Kenyan runner continues to build an impressive aerobic base of 7-10 years and remains injury free.