Osaduik and the AC Treatment

January 9, 2008

Vancouver Island, a paradigm of rolling waves of coniferous, temperate rain forest, envelopes hundreds of miles of trails, sheltering runners beneath a canopy of thick moss and evergreen, perfect for running year round.

Catching up with Vancouver Island's own Steve Osaduik, locally known as 'Oz' and more importantly as Canada's second fastest marathon runner, regarding this Sunday's (January 13th) race, the Pioneer 8km in rural Victoria BC.

The Pioneer 8k is the first race in the Vancouver Island Race Series, directed by the local Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club www.pih.bc.ca. Oz has run as fast as 23:39 on the course, two years ago.

He says he is aware of local expectations and looks forward to hitting a marathon qualification standard this spring.

Oz is engaging, quiet, but engaging nevertheless. Here is a gentleman who will win a marathon, then the next day drive for 90 minutes to rabbit a kid's cross country race. He is giving, perhaps too giving? Less than 15 months ago he won the Royal Victoria Marathon, finishing in 2:16:49, which set a new course record, breaking the 25 year old standard by two minutes. In fact it was the fastest time in Canada for 2006, which also happens to be inside the IAAF and the IOC 'B' standard for qualifying for the Olympics. His time is within Athletics Canada (AC) B standard, set by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) but not top twelve of the world.

According to Martin Goulet with Athletics Canada:

"The A+ standards were established following an analysis of recent World Championships and Olympic Games results as well as a statistical analysis from the past five years in order to reflect what represents - performance wise - a top 12 ranked athlete in the world".

Marathons contested at the Worlds, Commonwealth Games and Olympics typically do not provide the stellar performance times found in marathon races such as London, Berlin, Chicago, Fukuoka, Rotterdam and others and anything can and often does happen.

For the 2007 Worlds in Osaka a heat-wave baked the streets of Japan's second largest city. Marathoners raced in temperatures well over 30 degrees with a relative humidity of 70%. As a result 28 of 87 competitors did not finish the marathon and 2 did not start. 30 could not crack 2:30, 47 could not break 2:20, and the top 9 ran between 2:15 and 2:19. Kenyan, Luke Kibet only managed to run 1 second under 2:16. So these results beg the question, if Steve Osaduik's international B standard time of 2:16:49 on a rolling RVM course, with its many turns, was accepted for 2007 Worlds in Osaka and if Steve prepared himself well, would he have finished top 12?

Let's look at bronze medalist, Viktor Rothlin for example. Viktor trained in the heat, knowing in advance of the possibility of having to compete in it. Rothlin said he got used to the conditions by running a hot weather half-marathon in New York three weeks before, then training in Kobe (close to Osaka) leading up to the World's.

Heat acclimatization starts with the very first exposure and continues for 7 to 14 days. Tim Noakes, cardiologist, ultra marathoner and author of The Lore of Running indicates (Armstrong and Maresh 1991) the optimum way to heat acclimatization is to run at intensities of greater than 50% of VO2 max for increasing periods of time from 30 to 100 minutes. Continued improvement may happen for up to 30 days.

Zurich, where Rothlin is from, experiences temperature ranges similar to Vancouver Island's. Silver medalist Mubarak Hassan Shami with a personal best of 2:07:19 beat Viktor by just 7 seconds. Tsuyoshi Ogata of Japan 2:08 pb, Osaki of Japan 2:08 pb, Kiplagat of Kenya 2:06 pb, Ramaala South Africa 2:06 pb were all beaten by Rothlin. Were these athletes prepared?

Consider the average finish time in Athens Marathon in 2004 was 2:22, 7 minutes slower than Osaduik's personal best. Paul Tergat who, at that time held the world standard for the marathon, with a time of 2:04:55 finished 10th in 2:14, behind Victoria's Jon Brown who finished 4th in 2:12, incidentally, Jon's time would not necessarily qualify him for international competition according to Athletics Canada, yet the world record holder (Tergat) ran a time that was not only outside of AC's A+ standard, but would also not qualify him for the competition in the first place. The 12th competitor, America's Alan Culpepper ran a time of 2:15:26.

2006 Manchester Commonwealth Games silver medalist Joshua Chelanga ran 2:12.45, outside of the A+ standard. Stuart Hall of England came in that magical 12th spot with a time of 2:19:53.

I am not saying that if Steve ran in the World's in Osaka, he would have medaled, although given the circumstances; a 'top 12' is possible. Perhaps like Switzerland's Viktor Rothlin, he should be afforded every opportunity to compete internationally. With some warm weather training, anything could have happened for Steve and Canada at the 2007 World Track and Field Championships in Osaka.

Steve was just close enough in the Royal Victoria Marathon with his 2:16 to make him want it that much more. Watch for Steve as he prepares himself for the ING Ottawa Marathon in Ottawa, Ontario in late May.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Chris is a member of the Lydiard Foundation

Contact: chriskelsall@flocasts.org

Post a Comment

#22	Christopher Kelsall January 14, 2008 at 4:54pm Sorry - ha ha - I for whatever reason went to the Pioneer race photos and looked at quite a few to find one with a guy wearing any kind of blue...duh...! I'm suffering from post race dementia. Above is a 5km race I put on just outside of Victoria, the guy directly behind him is a master athlete and coach Darren Skuja, the other guy is a good master cyclist and obviously a runner, Rui Batista. This was the very start of the race, so Steve quickly shot them out the back to a 14:44 finish on a bit of a roller course. Pioneer had prize money, but I think and am not speaking on his behalf, but I think he was just going hard, but not fully racing, as he is coming off of some treadmill training...The original picture is quite a bit bigger... reply
#21	H7N January 14, 2008 at 4:41pm I meant the photo above; ie the one in this article. That's not Craig, lulz. I sure hope Steve isn't doing "contractual obligations". (ie 5 races that he "committed to".) Of course, there was prize $ at Pioneer, wasn't there? ;) reply
#20	Christopher Kelsall January 14, 2008 at 1:00pm Craig used to run for University of Victoria, now heads a local running club called Pacific Athletics, which takes/took many of the UVic Vikes when they were done with school in the past or some Vikes run or ran for both PA or Vikes at the same time. reply
#19	Christopher Kelsall January 14, 2008 at 12:58pm I think Steve is doing well. I talked with him at Pioneer and should get in a a run or two with him this week and talk more, then I will have a real 'Catching up with Steve' article...he has some soreness near the flare spot on the knee from IT, but it is not an IT issue and is going away. He has been running...oh! I will save the rest for my next editorial...:o) I think you are talking about the guy in blue with white singlet??? If so, he is Craig Odermatte one of the most consistant guys I have ever seen if you click on this link http://pih.bc.ca/results/Series.php?search=Craig Odermatt&race=148&resultstype=search&scope=all you san see all his Vancouver Island Race Series races, check the points column on the far right. reply
#18	H7N January 14, 2008 at 12:14pm How is Steve anyway? Was he tired on that pioneer 8k? And who is that guy just behind Steve in the dark blue? reply
#17	Chris Wade January 14, 2008 at 12:09am Not really in to running. Read it to see what Chris was up to. reply
#16	Christopher Kelsall January 13, 2008 at 6:46pm Yup you are correct, but I wasn't trying to compare Viktor today with Steve today. I was trying to compare prepared athletes vs not prepared, under the guise of what if Steve was as prepared as Viktor? As you can see, some of the marathoners from the hot weather countries were beaten by a better prepared marathon runner, in Viktor...2:08 aside. I beleive it was Lydiard who said something to the effect, 'it is not the best athlete who wins, it's the best prepared...' something like that. ALSO if Steve is put out into the type of competetitive race more often, I think he may run better yet....there is a whole volume of research where exposure to greater competition and pressure have beneficial effects. reply
#15	Missing Some Vitals January 13, 2008 at 5:03pm This is all nice and dandy, but youve seemed to leave out the fact that Viktor Rothlin has a marathon PR of 2:08.20, some 8 minutes and 29 seconds faster than Osaduik. Not saying Steve doesnt have potential, just saying Rothlin might not be the best to compare. reply
#14	Krystine Kelsall January 13, 2008 at 4:45pm uncle chirs you all was been a good runner keep it up Krystine Kelsall reply
#13	Elizabeth Curry. January 12, 2008 at 2:46am For the layman, this article represented a clear and present (DANGER) , overview of the running community. reply
#12	Christopher Kelsall January 10, 2008 at 9:54pm JC, Yes there are a couple things I should have done differently from a skill perspective. I did catch up with Steve about the 8k coming up this weekend and only threw in a reiteration of his awareness of expectations on him for the marathon and his positive outlook and training towards ING Ottawa. I will be at the 8k and intend to very much catch up with him there, sort of speak. Best, Chris reply
#11	JC January 10, 2008 at 9:06pm Thanks for writing this. I enjoyed reading it. Lots of good info. I found the title slightly misleading though. I thought that you would be interviewing (i.e. catching up with) Steve. reply
#10	Christopher Kelsall January 10, 2008 at 5:41pm My off spring... ...silly child...but thanks. reply
#9	1234 January 10, 2008 at 5:39pm i wish i had your writing talent reply
#8	Runstar January 10, 2008 at 5:07pm Who?? Where?? Time to get off your rock! reply
#7	Reef January 10, 2008 at 4:11pm lame reply
#6	Christopher_x January 10, 2008 at 11:04am Yes, but, Thank you for your comment. I think the key is, whether Steve dwells on the 2:16 or not and I can tell you that he doesn't, he is indeed looking forward and is excited about his training this winter and spring. Keep in mind he ran RVM again the following year and knowing he wasn't on pace for much better than 2:16 coasted in considering it a 'long run' with a 2:20. It's all good. reply
#5	Hmmm January 10, 2008 at 10:14am Interesting, but then you could argue that everyone in the world who has run at least 2:16 could have come top 12. Anyways, go Steve! reply
#4	James86ed January 10, 2008 at 3:32am Great running-world journalism! reply
#3	Cheryl Lowe January 10, 2008 at 1:15am Oh yay...way to rep FILA! :-) reply
#2	Yes, But... January 10, 2008 at 1:12am stop dwelling on the 2:16 else i may go bonkers. reply
#1	Cheryl Lowe January 10, 2008 at 12:22am Great article. Very thorough and informative. Keep up the good work Christopher, and I'm glad you joined us at Flotrack! reply