santuz

7th Airport Run Berlin: second place and PB

/ Ale Santuz / 4 Comments
Last Saturday, April 27th, I and other 3681 people had the chance to run (perhaps for the last time?) on the new landing strip of the “Berlin und Brandenburg” airport. The 7th Airport Run Berlin, this year started at 7:00 p.m., letting us to enjoy a beautiful sunset even if the clouds brought a little rain since the 5th km. The half-marathon participants went through two laps, while the 10 km course was made of a single lap. You can find the GPS track of my 10 km on the new cloud platform by SportTracks following this link.
A strong tailwind really speeded us up in the first 5 km, where I tried also to save some energies for the second part (what a headwind from 5th to 8th km!). After the good final time at the 24th Lauf in Britzer Garten, another PB has come almost unexpectedly, lowering my 10 km best time to 00:34:38.

Ready to go!


A few seconds after the start (© H. Winter).

The start (© Günter Wicker).


Pushing on the new landing strip (© H. Winter).

A wonderful view right after the start (© Günter Wicker).

It was an honour to join the podium of such a great race. The organisation (BERLIN LÄUFT) was, as usual,  perfect and the staff very kind assisting runners immediately after the finish line.

Medal and trophy for the second place overall over the 10 km race.
Below there’s an extract from the official results of the 10 km race.
1
Krannich, Christian
GER
00:33:26
2
Santuz, Alessandro
ITA
00:34:38
3
Foth, Carsten
GER
00:34:45
4
Eisenreich, Christian
GER
00:34:46
5
Dr. Teifke, Nils
GER
00:36:50
6
Wünsch, Gregor
GER
00:36:53
7
Spohn, Oliver
GER
00:37:00
8
Eidhof, Chris
NED
00:37:03
9
Plaumann, Mike
GER
00:37:08
10
Lepers, Thomas
FRA
00:37:44
The official results of the 7th Airport Run Berlin (10 km course).

32nd Pankower Frühlingslauf

/ Ale Santuz / Leave a comment
The 32nd Pankower Frühlingslauf (official website)was my eighth race this year. A beautiful cross-country course, 2.5 km to be repeated five times (12.5 km the total length), with a small uphill to increase the selection.
I classified second, with a time of 0:45:45, behind the (very!) fast Niels Bubel. Another good result after the 24th Lauf im Britzer Garten. The track season is ready to start and I can’t wait to join the first steeplechase race.
Below a picture of the podium and the final classification. Here the GPS-track on the new Sport Tracks cloud service.

The final podium of the 32th Pankower Frühlingslauf (Photo Niels Bubel).
1
Bubel, Niels
1987
DE
Die Laufpartner
0:41:07
2
Santuz, Alessandro
1983
ITA
LG Nord Berlin
0:45:45
3
Leidig, Holger
1969
DE
LEIDIG24 Tri.
0:46:17
4
Wiessner, Enrico
1985
DE
Pro Sport 24
0:47:22
5
Wollny, Hans Peter
1961
DE
Berlin
0:47:30
6
Kaschewsky, Sascha
1970
DE
Sisu Berlin
0:47:55
7
Schneider, Matti
1984
DE
FH Runners Berlin
0:48:20
8
Samzun, Gildas
1979
DE
Berlin
0:48:21
9
Spohn, Oliver
1969
DE
SCC Berlin
0:49:33
10
Neugebauer, Stefan
1982
DE
LG Pegasos
0:49:36

The official results of the 31st Pankower Frühlingslauf.


A nice gift from Brooks Running Italy

/ Ale Santuz / 4 Comments
Brooks Running Italy recently wrote a beautiful article about me. In the next lines a translation from the original piece. Thanks Brooks!

March 12th, 2013 
THE GREAT BROOKS PASSION!
The large Brooks family is not only full of well-known athletes. A lot of young and passionate guys revitalise the “Run Happy” philosophy…
This is the case for Alessandro Santuz, born in Conegliano (TV – Italy), a great running enthusiast that have been training since he was 11.
After a short break to finish his studies in Aerospace Engineering at University of Padua, in 2011 he started again to run in the 3000 m steeplechase event. A discipline requiring a lot of willpower and hard workouts.
He currently lives in Germany and trains with a group of athletes led by the two-time Olympian in the 1500 m event Carsten Schlangen.
Alessandro grinds lots of kilometres, around 400 each month, and told us that Brooks shoes and apparel are his  ideal companions: “Now I have cumulated about 1300 km with different models of shoes and clothing, and I was surprised by the excellent quality of materials and exceptional attention to detail…that said, I won’t ever leave Brooks!”. Those were his exact words.
Alessandro writes a very interesting blog about his activities and sports experiences!
VISIT HIS BLOG AND…RUN HAPPY! 

 

Can the Kinematics of arm movements be trained to improve Running Economy?

/ Ale Santuz / Leave a comment
Can the Kinematics of arm movements be trained to improve Running Economy?

A recent study (Kumar & Verma, 2011) published in “The Anthropologist – International Journal of Contemporary and Applied Studies of Man” has shown a strict correlation between the performance time of a 3000 m run and the effects of a 90 days conditioning programme on the shoulder swing time. 50 adult males, aged between 18 and 24 years, physical active and free from any medical issue, have been selected to follow a conditioning programme of 90 days, divided into two mesocycles of 45 days each. The first mesocycle consisted of exercises targeted to improve static flexibility and cardio-respiratory endurance. The second mesocycle included those exercises which could improve dynamic flexibility, muscular strength and endurance. It has been concluded that “the three months conditioning programme has revealed statistically significant impact on right and left shoulder swing time, ratio of right and left shoulder swing time and performance time of a 3000 m run. These improvements reasonably suggest that the conditioning programme has caused a process of self-optimization of biomechanical aspects of running style to develop such a movement pattern which act as a fine tuning device to both energy expenditure and performance and thus improved performance time of 3000m running”.
Pretty interesting, isn’t it? If you’ve ever thought that Running Economy can’t be improved, you probably were wrong.

The full article can be downloaded here.
Keep on training, people!

REFERENCES

<!–[if supportFields]>ADDIN Mendeley Bibliography CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY <![endif]–>Kumar, A., & Verma, S. K. (2011). Kinematic Analysis of Arm Movements in 3000m Running: Before and After a Conditioning Programme. Anthropologist, 13(3), 211–216.

Here you can find a list of my running-related posts. Now shut down the notebook and have a run! 

Science and Training:
Races:


<!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–>

MAMMUT® presents: the biggest peak project in history – "The Zuitas™" wait for better conditions.

/ Ale Santuz / Leave a comment
These are bad days for Italy. The weather has something insane: the South is totally at the mercy of the weather, tons of snow are falling since the beginning of February and thousands of people are in serious troubles. Up North, though, the conditions are embarrassingly dry and the low quantities of snow are not a suitable aid for a winter ascent of Monte Civetta (for the forgetful or the new followers, here you can find the description of the tour). Our Mammut official guide explained that “the weather forecast for the next two weeks and the current conditions (windy snow and ice) do not permit the climb in a safe way”.
Total amount of snowfalls @ 1900 m – Monte Civetta.
The snow amount is really poor, but the risk of spontaneous avalanches remains considerable in the exposed areas over 2000 m (never forget to take a look at the avalanche survival curve in any case).
Air temperature @ 1900 m – Monte Civetta.
It seems that we can’t do anything else but waiting for better conditions (and hoping for some additional snow to help us in the ascent). The team will continue his training in any case (have you ever tried to run at 4000 m?) and all the updates will be published here.
In the picture below you can find today’s weather forecast for the next 15 days: the red line shows the mean temperatures in the last 30 years at around 1500 m, while the other lines show the various predictions of  the different mathematical models (left “y” scale, [° C]); the very low curves are the predictions of the precipitations (right “y” scale, [mm] of rain or [cm] of snow).
Weather forecast for the next two weeks (GFS model).
Don’t forget to take a look at the official team’s page for further details.
The Zuitas™
—

Trail running in the dark: 4^ Notturna di Sant’Antonio – Miane (TV), Italy.

/ Ale Santuz / Leave a comment
Shhh…silence, please. I’m in the woods. On a trail. It’s completely dark except from the light emanated from my headlamp. Shhh…silence, please.
Can you feel it?
This race is organized from a small group of running enthusiasts, there’s no promotion, no advertising. It just happens every year, since 2008, and if you know it, you do it. Simple. As simple as the route: 500 m of positive slope, 500 m of downhill, 8.3 km the total distance; a gift for no more than 50 lucky runners, choosing a different way to spend their Saturday night.
The trail to discover during the race, meter after meter, is a typical “troi” (“trail” in local dialect), with a mixture of hard and soft slopes and a stunning panorama on the “Valsana” (“Healthy Valley”): it’s difficult to find such dark places and hence seeing so many stars. Something that makes you feel lucky and erases all the pain. But the idyll is roughly stopped by a silence-breaking voice, right in the middle of the second climb. A man that convinced his wife to come and run this charming race, suddenly says with a sort of dyspnea: “after this climb my wife will ask for divorce; I must enjoy these moments as much as I can”. It’s a good training to improve your VO2max: running uphill and laughing as a child! Give it a try!
As usual, for the record, I post the results, the GPS track of the race and some pictures of last year’s start. Keep on training, people!

1
Ivan GERONAZZO
38’30”
–
2
Daniele CASTELLI
39’07”
+37″
3
Paolo GRAVA
39’11”
+41″
4
Guido BUSETTI
39’14”
+44″
5
Maurizio FURLAN
40’06”
+1’36”
6
Alessandro SANTUZ
40’33”
+2’03”
7
Alberto FURLAN
41’30”
+3’00”
8
Denis MENEGHEL
41’50”
+3’20”
9
Marco BORTOLOTTO
42’40”
+4’10”
10
Carlo BOSCOLO
45’19”
+6’49”

MAMMUT® presents: the biggest peak project in history – "The Zuitas™" are planning their tour.

/ Ale Santuz / 3 Comments
It’s official: our tour has been selected between more than 2000 other projects and we are now part of the 150 teams that will take part in the biggest peak project history! From 10th to 12th February 2012 our team, composed by 5 of us plus a mountain guide, will attempt the summit of Monte Civetta (3220 m) from two different routes:
  1. the first team, composed by Alessandro “Ale” Santuz, Nicolas “Nikla” Bellomo, Alberto “Ray” Vianello and the mountain guide, will ascend through the “Alleghesi” route, that in summer is a via ferrata of medium difficulty (it’s classified III-/AD-), but in winter could become far tougher (if the conditions won’t be enough dry, the Normal Route can become a safest alternative);
  2. the second team, composed by Enrico “Gere” Geremia and another expert climber, will attempt the summit through the magnificent NW wall, through a route of outstanding beauty, named “Viva Mexico Cabrones”, opened from Venturino de Bona in 2001, counting just a summer repetition from Alessandro Baù and Enrico Marini and no winter repetitions.
The meeting of the two teams on the top will greatly celebrate the adventure, hopefully in the days planned (weather forecasts will make the final decision).
Mammut (http://www.mammut.ch) has provided us with a great clothing-set: GORE-TEX® Paclite Shell® 2-Layer Jacket (the Rainier Jacket), a pair of trekking pants (the Fiamma Pants) and a 30l backpack (the Taranaki 30), everything from the Summer 2012 collection.


We’ll also have the chance to record the ascent with this wonderful HD-GPS camera (the Gobandit GPS HD Action Cam), again provided by Mammut:

Stay tuned and visit our official Mammut page to know all the details!
ARE:
Alessandro “Ale” Santuz 
Enrico “Gere” Geremia
Nicolas “Conne” Bellomo
Alberto “Ray” Vianello

MAMMUT® presents: the biggest peak project in history – PHASE 2 "The Zuitas™" team is now complete!

/ Ale Santuz / Leave a comment
Thanks to your essential support, the team is now complete! From this moment we just need to wait and try to convince the Mammut’s panel of experts until the selection will be over. The tours will be selected one after the other up until September 2011. There is therefore no set deadline. As soon as the jury decides in favour of a tour, the status of the team changes to “Selected”.
Thank you all for the support and now…finger crossed for the final PHASE 3! You can take a look at our team page by clicking HERE: you will find a detailed tour description and the profiles of the team members.


ARE:

Alessandro “Ale” Santuz
Katrina “Mina” Meyer
Alberto “Ray” Vianello
Enrico “Gere” Geremia
Nicolas “Nikla” Bellomo