A talk with Renato Canova

View from the Kerio View, Canova's Hangout

Geoffrey Mutai and Moses Mosop put on quite a show at the Boston Marathon, running the fastest 2 times for the marathon by over 50 seconds!  Although their runs won’t be counted as a world record because Boston is a point to point course (and therefore susceptible to tailwinds, as happened Monday) and has an elevation drop.  Runners will argue whether this was the best marathon ever run.  In any case, it was spectacular.

A few weeks ago I met Renato Canova, an Italian coach who is somewhat of a guru of the marathon.  He coaches Moses and said at one point this spring that Mutai was “the strongest runner in the world.”  With such a spectacular Boston fresh on many people’s minds, I figured it was a good time to write about the conversation.

Canova coaches a handful of super athletes: Moses Mosop, Florence Kiplagat, Saif Said Shaheen, Asbel Kiprop, Silvia Kibet, and Imane Marga.  I think all of these are world champions!  He has lived in Kenya for a long time and is a coaching legend.

Canova is a fixture at the Kerio View Hotel and Restaurant. The Kerio View is by far the fanciest place to eat in Iten.  It is perched right on the edge of the Rift Valley and has a two story dining room with all glass looking over the valley.  You have to pay 200 shillings (about $2.50) to get in, which pretty much makes the place out of reach for most Kenyans.  You get the 200 shillings credited to your meal, which costs about the same as a Denny’s meal (a small fortune in Kenya.)

We went to the Kerio view with the Finn family.  Adharanand Finn is writing a book called Running with the Kenyans.  Canova was sitting by the door, and when we walked in he began talking with us.  Canova is a talkative fellow!  He went on for about 30 minutes until our families called us over to the table.  Adharanand interviewed him later and asked one question.  Canova talked for 3 hours.

Canova said that Kenyans’ lifestyle growing up is so much tougher than Europeans.  They have responsibilities to their family and their villages.  He said that Kenyan runners often get to 90% of their potential on their own, while few European athletes reach 90% of their potential despite an army of coaches.  He said that the coach’s role is to prolong the athlete’s career by making sure they don’t overdo.

For example, Moses Mosop did a hilly 45km training run much faster than prescribed.  That’s fine, according to Canova.  “When the body feels like going fast, go fast,” he said.  But Canova adjusted his subsequent training to allow adequate recovery.  Mosop felt ready for his next hard workout, but Canova wanted to scale it back.  When Mosop attempted the workout, he found he wasn’t fully recovered.  Canova summarized: “All good training is hard training, but hard training is not necessarily good training.”

He compared Kenyans to Europeans.  “Europeans are like accountants.”  If they are supposed to run a certain number of miles, they will do it, even if it means running those miles at a low intensity.  Kenyans keep the intensity high and don’t necessarily add their miles (although they do run a lot- often 3 times per day.)

Finally, he pointed out how the different standard of living affects attitudes towards things like death.  Death is everywhere.  Most Kenyans have lost a sibling, cousin or parent.  He told the story of an athlete who called Canova to ask him to help get some prize money he was owed.  The athlete apologized for pestering him, but he needed the money for his daughter’s funeral.  She had fallen 4 meters from a bridge and hit her head on a rock.  This devastating event was handled very differently by the Kenyan athlete than a European athlete.  The Kenyan was back training after 3 days.  Death is so common that Kenyans can't let it stop their lives.

I think Canova’s observations about Europeans could also apply to Americans.