My new article on @chesscom is about:
The surprisingly large random movement of your rating
The significant likelihood of even a 250-point swing over thousands of games
Drunk stick figures!
Link in comments.
I only learned the importance of fueling late into my running career. Even then I underestimated it and under-fueled. I think a lot of us started running competitively in high school - racing the mile and 2 mile, XC 5k at most. Fueling is not so important at those distances.
For other marathoning nerds – Maurten shared Jacob Kiplimo's fueling strategy for his 2:00:28 at the London Marathon (No. 3 all-time and also under the previous world record) with me and I think it's a little different.
Jacob Kiplimo's fueling protocol
6:00 a.m. — Bread (small breakfast)
7:00 a.m. — Bicarb System 15
Pre-race — Drink Mix 320
In-race plan
5K — 240ml Drink Mix 320
10K — 230ml Drink Mix 320
15K — 220ml Drink Mix 320
20K — 200ml Drink Mix 320
25K — Water + Gel Caf 100
30K — 180ml Drink Mix 320
35K — 170ml Drink Mix 320
40K — 150ml Drink Mix 320
If I'm reading these right...
Sawe front-loads with a fixed 160ml of Drink Mix 320 at every station from 5K through 40K. (Plus a Gel 100 Caf 100 added at 20K on top of his regular drink)
vs.
Kiplimo starts higher (240ml at 5K) and carefully tapers his volume down across the race: 240, 230, 220, 200, then a full break from carbs at 25K where he takes water and a caffeine gel only, before resuming with 180, 170, and 150ml to close. His total volume per station is actually higher early on, but he's taking in less and less as the race gets harder.
The other notable difference is the bicarb. Sawe takes Bicarb System 12. Kiplimo takes Bicarb System 15.
What's fascinating is how dialed this is for an athlete who's also racing, covering moves and responding to surges while running so fast. As Zouhair Talbi (who ran 2:03 at Boston last week) told me, many of these Kenyan runners don't tend to nurse fluids that deliberately. So the next step would be to watch back the tape and see how much he's actually guzzling early and if this is just the target, or if he's hitting these numbers exactly. Wish someone were able to collect all the bottles and then also see/share how much was actually consumed.
Worth noting that four of the top five in today's London Marathon -- including the first two men in history under two hours -- were wearing adidas' new Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3.
It weighs under 100g -- about 30% lighter than adidas' previous supershoe.
https://t.co/eLvoAyobAh
You have to feel for Yomif Kejelcha.
One of the sport's great "nearly" men on the track.
Two World Championship silvers in the 10,000 meters.
Always pushing the pace in Diamond Leagues, chasing fast times.
He debuts in 1:59:41, well under the marathon WR.
And finishes 2nd.
The grown men of the right spend their time grovelling to internet dads and populist leaders, then tuning into group-therapy podcasts where middle-aged men on HRT whinge about persecution while hawking supplements, cryptocurrencies, and alpha-male courses.
This is MAGA America drinking full fat milk while wearing jeans in a pool with kid rock for an epic meme video.
Meanwhile the administration defunds science, attacks vaccines, and promotes fad diets & pseudoscientific treatments.