Introducing Yuki Kawauchi

It has become unquestioned today that superior and consistent performance in sports is the result of the application of scientific methods of training, nutrition and use of cutting-edge equipment. Thus in most of the sporting activities today, the level of professionalism required for consistent performance is necessarily costly and that explains the partnership between performers and corporations or sponsors who pay for the training and equipment. bearing this in mind, i am particularly fascinated by this story in Slate Magazine about a Japanese marathoner whose methods and techniques for performance provide a resounding exception to this rule. 

Yuki Kawauchi is a leading marathon runner in japan who is different because he runs a personal training regime, enters races more regularly than is considered ideal, has no corporate sponsor while also maintaining a 40-hour per week job with the government. As the article states, his training regimen consists of daily running and entering for long distance races with very regular frequency. the surprise is that despite his peculiar approach to a very difficult discipline, he not only thrives but records better performance than his colleagues who are sponsored and trained by the national athletics institution.

The lack of professional coaching is evident in his running style that inevitably leads to wrong posture and poor stride but his performance in none the worse. As stated, a maverick of this kind inevitably attracts hostility from sports bosses who would like to see a performer under their direct control. 

As a person who runs a annual marathon race in the tropics with virtually no prior training, I agree that it is possible to exert oneself and perform reasonably well without adherence to the conventional professional advise. What I find truly impressive about Yuki Kawauchi is the consistency in performance and the ability to enter a large number of races. Perhaps his good performance is proof of the 10,000 hour rule described by Malcolm Gladwell in this book. In spite of this, my belief is that his athlete is overtraining and while he has kept risk of injury low, is likely to take longer to recover. the ultimate price hough is that Yuki is shortening his career substantially by the overwork of his body and would probably peak soon and decline much faster thereafter. It is still possible that he may prove the exception and have a truly long career because so far, nothing about this athlete is conventional. His career and times are worthy of keeping for close study.