(FEED THE FLAME)
I'm here in the small village of Iten, Kenya,
home to the Kalenjin tribe and some of the world's
most dominant long-distance runners.
The Kalenjin tribe makes up
0.6% of the world's population.
They are always in the top 80-90%
of long-distance runners in the world at any given time.
I've been told their diet is the driving force
to their success.
Over the next week, I'll train, diet, and
fully immerse myself into the Kalenjin lifestyle.
I want to find out about their training regimen,
motivation to compete, and what exactly it is about their diet
that fuels their bodies for long distance running.
(SUNRISE - ITEN, KENYA)
Gladys Chesir is one of the women to watch this year.
She has been running for almost a decade
and is a highly decorated runner.
She has almost won every race that she has ever competed in
and has even recently claimed the title
Fastest 10,000m In The World
at last year's Diamond League.
She is training for her first Olympic trials this year
and is expected to make the Kenyan team and place.
Maybe with one-minute recovery, we do only once in a few weeks,
depending on the season.
Hugo Van Den Broek is coach to Gladys Chesir
and a famed and well-respected member of the Iten community.
I met Gladys in 2014.
From the first time I saw her run,
I realised that she's a very big talent.
She has such a big foundation.
She's really focused and very professional.
I think she has everything it takes to become
one of the best athletes in the world.
I know Gladys always use a little bit faster than I ask
and I shouldn't ask for too fast.
Most of the time
most Kalinjens have run.
They have retired like Lornah Kiplagat.
I want to be like Lornah.
Now if you meet a kid, they say,
"I want to run faster than Gladys!"
So that motivation comes when you're young.
The circumstances here definitely contribute.
Training here at high altitude,
it looks like training has more impact.
Plus the fact that we're in the tropics, it's hot.
The roads are really a good training for your lower legs.
What at least you're doing 90% of the time
is just running in nature.
Maybe also the diet helps.
The food is always healthy, it's always natural.
It has impact on the recovery.
They eat lots of vegetables. Once in a while, they eat meat
but meat is a kind of a luxury.
They eat beans, rice, ugali, which is just boiled corn meal,
you would say.
Most of the big marathons now prepare ugali,
because the Kenyans like that.
In the first place they have this diet
because they have no other option,
because they have not enough money.
Ugali is like...
You need only a small portion of it to get enough calories.
Hello! I'm Rosie.
Thanks for meeting me.
Are you Kalenjin?
Yes, I'm Kalenjin.
- Specifically Keiyo. - OK.
This is my home district, my home country.
So what's the ideal breakfast, lunch and dinner
for a long-distance athlete here?
You know there are no specifics.
You can't say, "Take this, take this, take this."
It is what is available on the table for them.
So long as it has the main - the carbohydrates,
the protein, the vitamins,
to meet their requirements.
I've been learning a lot about ugali
and a lot of people have been telling me that
it's a much healthier carb than other carbs.
Ugali is a very simple meal.
It's a source of carbohydrates.
It's complex.
It is milled with the outer husk
so it has roughage and it has fibre.
It is locally made here.
So no additives, no preservatives added.
So simple.
And then the maize germ in it provides iron.
And then it is also cheaper
compared to other carbohydrates.
So there's not even a training diet specific for the athletes?
The food that they eat is actually
the food that their families eat.
- Hello! - Hello!
Yes, you are welcome.
We plant the maize in April.
By September or October,
it will be ready.
So that is the time when we can harvest the maize,
so that we can make ugali.
You only need the seeds,
don't need fertiliser.
Yeah, it's not expensive.
Most of the people here, they grow maize.
So most families grow their own?
Yeah. We like ugali because it makes your body very strong.
So now you're going to show me how to make ugali?
Yeah, I'm going to show you.
Step one - find the perfect maize and collect.
Step two - remove kernels.
Step three - collect the perfect kernels
and keep only the good ones.
Step four - finely grind the maize.
Step five - boil water.
Step six - add little by little the finely ground maize
and stir with a wooden spoon.
It's good! You can soak up a lot of flavour.
You could eat it with a lot of things.
- Huh? - Yeah.
The idea is to add something.
Like stew. Maybe a soup.
It soaks it, no?
Yeah, but eating it bare,
it's very difficult. It's very hard.
Viola Lagat comes from a decorated family of runners,
one being her legendary brother, Bernard Lagat,
a two-time world champion and Olympic silver medallist.
Viola has yet to compete in the Olympics and she faces
a lot of pressure to make the team this year.
Viola went to college and trained in the US
for the past few years.
And despite being considered a clear underdog,
she is determined to make the team and make both her family
and country proud.
So huge difference from the US, right?
- Huge! - Yeah.
You might feel sore after because of the altitude.
I feel that every time I come back here.
- Oh, really? - Yeah.
Hi!
Iten is almost like a running community.
So if I go on a run and I feel like
someone could help me, I could just jump in their group
and just run with them.
- OK - Whoo!
- You're sweating already. - Yeah! You're not?! Shit!
That was fun.
Viola Kibiwot is a two-time 1,500m
Olympic runner and has been running for most of her life
here in Kenya.
As a highly accomplished veteran runner,
Kibiwot has taken Viola Lagat under her wings,
and has been mentoring the young hopeful to help
her make the team.
They train together, eat together
and even live together.
How about we make a deal for 2017?
You're welcome to 5k.
Well, after... No, I'll come to five when you retire from five
because you're going to kick my butt.
But you still have a long way to go.
I know.
Supper now.
Today's good. It doesn't have a lot of fat.
You know what, I actually don't enjoy eating meat in the US.
I like it in Kenya.
I think it's because I know that it's organic here.
How long have you been running?
More than 15 years.
Wow! So she can definitely give you a lot of tips.
It started when I was in primary school.
Every time you are late,
you have to run from home to school
and then from home, you go for lunch time.
The bell goes, and you have to run.
I am from a family of ten and I'm the youngest.
So all my older siblings used to run.
I've never been to the Olympics.
For me, it would be a dream come true.
It would mean so much to run, especially
in front of my family because
they'll be coming over to watch.
And it would also change my career. Being an Olympian would
open doors for me and...
I have a lot of kids looking up to me in my village,
and when I was growing up I have a brother-in-law
who passed away when I was in high school and
he always encouraged me to do the best in everything
that I do, so...
running reminds me of what he wanted me to achieve.
And also the kids in my village,
whenever I'm running out there,
they just cheer for me and they tell me that they're following
on my footsteps.
I told her she has to run very fast.
Not 4.05 because I ran 3.59 when I was running 5,000
so I want her to run maybe 4.01, 4.02.
OK, can you guys tell me what we're going to have?
This is managu.
That's beef stew, with ugali.
So in Kenya we have 42 tribes
and every tribe has their own food.
Kalenjin's main is ugali.
Without ugali, it's like you haven't taken a meal.
Do you ever miss being in Kenya and eating...?
Yeah, I miss having that family time.
In the US, mostly people just live on their own
and you have to eat by yourself.
So when I'm home, our neighbours come over
and you'll eat together sometimes.
And like Viola today,
she didn't even eat lunch until I got back
from my training. She cooked and waited for me to get home.
- Do you also drink mursik? - Yes.
Do you drink that regularly? Mursik?
Mm, we drink fresh more.
Mostly fresh.
But if you go to the village, most of the people like mursik.
Viola and Viola told me I had to try
this drink called mursik.
I'm going to meet a couple that provides the town with
locally made mursik and see what it's all about.
Mursik is a fermented milk.
This is the calabash.
This is now the first process of preparing
the calabash before they put the milk inside.
The inside of the calabash is all smeared with the ashes
from that tree.
The special type of tree they're using
will bring a good flavour to the milk.
And put milk into the calabash
and leave it for like two to three days.
It is already fermented.
So if I drink this I should be able to do a marathon?
Yeah, you can just do something good but not once,
you have to drink it several times.
Smells like a really strong cheese.
Ah, more or less. It's more of less like cheese.
The fermentation process breaks the proteins in the milk
down to simple proteins to be easily absorbed
into the blood stream,
providing energy and the proteins that we need.
Mursik also has live culture,
so it maintains the good bacteria in the stomach.
Cheers!
OK, it's not bad.
I just feel off.
I think it's one of those things that,
unless you're Kenyan, maybe it's not your thing.
We're almost a litre down...
I'm feeling like it's time to go to sleep.
She looks good today. The way she's running...
I can see already.
You make sure, at the first line you are at maximum speed.
I'm going to cook with Albert and you're going to relax.
This is your day off.
OK!
I'm at the market right now with Gladys's husband, Albert,
and we're going to look for the perfect chicken
for dinner tonight.
Oh, my goodness!
This is the cock.
Really? We're going to eat a cock?
Yeah.
He's a nice cock?
Oh, my God.
- Do I need gloves? - No gloves.
- Don't say mercy. No mercy. - OK, no mercy.
The whole neighbourhood is eating this chicken.
- Yeah, no mercy. - OK, let's do it.
Look at that neck. This is guillotine style, OK.
Faster, Rosie... Faster! Faster!
So, I saw you today on the track and you were outrunning
even the men.
How did you feel about your training today?
I'm happy because I've improved.
I was sick one month ago.
Now I can continue with my training.
I have to believe in myself.
You know, if you are no stress,
nobody disturbing you...
you can run good.
Do you think that after you win the Olympics
and other marathons, and set more records...
you'll still stay here?
Yeah. Because here I started my training,
so everything is here.
Life in Kenya is easy.
Not like in some other countries.
Like, for us, we can have food from our farm.
Everything is grown from a farm.
If you don't have, your neighbour asks.
Like me, I can assist my neighbour if he doesn't have.
Do good and do your own way.
It's clear that there are many theories and reasons
as to why the Kalenjin produce
the most amazing distance runners.
It's a perfect combination of elevation,
climate, diet,
lifestyle and genes.
Everyone here in Iten seems to be so connected.
To their food,
their environment,
their land and their families.
When I was starting running,
no shoes, no training shoes.
But my parents were assisting me a lot.
I said, "Ah! Let me try my best."
(GLADYS CHESIR DID NOT QUALIFY FOR THE OLYMPICS IN 2016)
(SHE PLANS TO MAKE THE TEAM IN 2020)
I would like to have a small farm
because when I get home I enjoy working on the farm
with my mom,
growing vegetables.
I feel like life goes by so fast in America.
Here in Kenya, it's just about running and relaxing,
and waiting to run the next day.
(VIOLA PLACED IN THE 1,500M TRIALS AND WAS AMONG
(THE RUNNERS TO REPRESENT KENYA IN THE 2016 OLYMPICS)
I've witnessed athletes of all levels.
From beginning runners to world-class Olympians,
training on the same dirt roads at 6am sharp
every day of the week.
Food is absolutely the common thread here in Iten.
But also the Kalenjin's undisputed discipline,
combined with their ability to maintain
a balanced lifestyle,
leads to their constant accolades.
It works for them
and they will continue to do so
for generations to come.