The Perfect Stride

Here is a wonderful article on Alberto Salazar working to change the running form of Dathan Ritzenhein. Alberto sure is a tinkerer. The article goes through the running history of Salazar as well as his awful mechanics (including his Falmouth Road Race near-death collapse in 1978 and the famous Boston Marathon "Duel in the Sun" back in 1982) and then tells about what things Alberto has been doing to perfect Dathan's running form. The article comes from the New Yorker and is called The Perfect Stride. It was written by Jennifer Kahn.

Here is the video that accompanies the article to explain a bit more of the contrasting forms of Dathan Ritzenhein and Kenenisa Bekele. You will even learn a new form technique that Alberto calls "nipple to nipple" running.



Dathan was on fire last year after a few months of work by Salazar (setting a then American Record in the 5000 meters and then claiming a bronze medal at the World Half-marathon Championships) but has been limited by injuries this year. Sunday's New York City Marathon will be the testing ground to see how well Salazar's tinkering has worked for Dathan.

Here is the awesome video of his then 5000 meters record.