“The pollution in China is a threat to my health" - Haile Gebrselassie

ADDIS ABABA — Marathon world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie said yesterday he would not compete in the Olympic marathon because of fears that Beijing’s air pollution would damage his health.

The Ethiopian runner, who suffers from asthma, said he would still compete in the shorter 10000m event in the August Games.
“The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it would be difficult for me to run 42km in my current condition,” he said in an interview yesterday.
“But I am not pulling out of the Olympic event in Beijing all together. I plan to participate in the 10000m event,” he said.

Pollution is a major issue facing Beijing in the run-up to the Olympic Games.

Rest of Reuters story here.

3/15 Up and Down

Woke up feeling very good this morning, and the cool, sunny day made me want to be out exercising. I even felt tempted to extend my stay in Korea. But my first class reminded me that there are other factors at play, and by halfway I was feeling feverish and very tired. One thing I've had enough of this weekend is sleep, so something is up if after so much sleep I still feel drained.

Went running anyway, in the park, with Corneli. Was very nice, as we jumped 'onto the bus' with a few groups chugging past, some at a nice pace. When I slotted in behind one group I elevated my heart rate to 170, and we were just trotting. That is a sign that I have some bug that is effecting my heart. So took it easy after that:

Run: 8.5km (rough esitmate, we ran a sort of figure of eight loop, so not exactly certain about the distance)
Time: 58:30
Hr: 149 avg/ 170 max
Kcal: 1070
Temperature: 26 C (That can't be right, was more like 17 C)

Pilates: 5 minutes

Core felt very tired, probably from a combination of recent rollerbalding and the 10 pullups on Sunday where I took so much strain. Also did some stretching.
Pullups today felt a lot easier. The pullups on Sunday may have felt harder because I did them with rollerblade pads on, and I'd had a fairly big dinner with a lot of water earlier in the evening.

I've registered for a marathon in November, so want to do a few runs before then.
Feeling pretty drained now.