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Articles tagged #Tigist Mengistu
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Here’s how Liza Corso made the podium at the Paralympic Games by making her bike and swim workouts as intense as her running regimen.
Leading up to the 2024 Paralympic Games, Liza Corso was pedaling furiously on a stationary bike parked on the patio of her condo in Nashville, Tennessee. In the brutal summer heat, the two-time Paralympian closed her eyes while visualizing the women’s 1500-meter final.
She imagined the purple track at Stade de France and the uniforms of competitors she’s faced before in the T13 classification (athletes with vision impairment). With pop music blaring in her headphones, Corso pedaled faster in anticipation of the biggest race of her career.
On August 31, Corso’s visualizations finally came to fruition. After spending six weeks cross-training while healing a stress fracture in her left femur, the Lipscomb University senior earned bronze in 4:23.45, just over a second behind two-time Paralympic champion Tigist Mengistu of Ethiopia and silver medalist Ezzahra El Idrissi of Morocco. After the race, the athlete from Newmarket, New Hampshire, shared on Instagram she only ran eight miles over the course of six weeks in the lead-up to the event in a brutal buildup that tested her mentally and physically.
So, how did the 21-year-old pull off winning a Paralympic medal while healing from an injury and not being able to run? In an interview with Runner's World, Corso shared the many highs and lows of the cross-training regimen that helped her safely prepare for a standout performance on the world stage.
July 1-July 26: Processing the Injury
About three weeks before the U.S. Paralympic Trials on July 18-20, Corso started feeling pain in her left quad. She went to see the doctor and got an MRI in the area where her quad meets her hip, which showed she had tendonitis. After recovering from a stress fracture in her tibia during the indoor track season earlier this year, the diagnosis was a relief for Corso. “I didn’t want tendonitis, but I was scared of something [in the] bone so I was like, this is the best case scenario. I can keep running through it,” she said.
Though the pain continued to get worse leading up to the national championship in Miramar, Florida, Corso still managed to compete in the women’s 1500 meters and earn a spot on Team USA. But with the pain intensifying, Corso
Though Corso struggled to feel like she was building the same level of fitness, seeing her heart rate reach 160 beats per minute for 90-minute sessions and hover between 175 to 180 for hard workouts ended up being a source of encouragement. “My coach said, ‘Your heart doesn’t know the difference between if you’re running or if you’re biking,’” Corso said.
Late July to August 31: Monitoring the Pain
In the first two weeks after the Paralympic Trials and following her diagnosis, Corso’s main priority was to walk pain free. Working with her physical therapist, she focused on limiting any weight-bearing activity, using crutches when she wasn’t cross-training for the first three days post-diagnosis. While gradually using the crutches less and less, Corso was able to walk pain free without them about two weeks after the diagnosis.
Corso also incorporated blood flow restriction (BFR) into her training. The method involves the application of a cuff (tourniquet) proximally to the muscle that is being trained. The cuff is inflated to a specific pressure with the aim of blocking the blood vessels. The idea is to help strengthen muscles and promote healing, Corso said. She usually put the
“To be able to prove to myself that I didn’t let those [negative thoughts] win, and I chose the harder path—to keep a positive mindset and work through some pretty lonely and draining cross-training sessions—it all ended up being worth it,” she said.
Looking back on her experience this summer, Corso hopes other runners can find their own hard-fought victory amid the healing process, knowing how powerful team support and mental tools can be in difficult situations.
(09/29/2024) Views: 171 ⚡AMPKenya’s Brigid Kosgei has put her rivals on notice ahead of next month’s London Marathon after warming up for the race with a dominant performance at the Lisbon Half Marathon.
Brigid Kosgei is gearing up for a triumphant return to the London Marathon on April 21, following an impressive victory at the Lisbon Half Marathon on Sunday.
Kosgei, a former world marathon record holder, used the Lisbon race as a tune-up for the upcoming London Marathon and demonstrated her exceptional form by clinching victory in commanding fashion.
Despite narrowly missing the course record, Kosgei showcased her dominance by clocking a remarkable time of 1:05:51, securing the win with a lead of over three minutes ahead of her closest competitor.
The 30-year-old athlete surged into the lead past the halfway mark and maintained an unrelenting pace, leaving her rivals struggling to keep up.
While Kosgei had hoped to lower her personal best in the half marathon, she nonetheless proved too formidable for the rest of the field. Ethiopian Bosena Mulatie finished in second place with a time of 1:09:00, followed by Kosgei's compatriot Tigist Mengistu in third place with a time of 1:09:14.
Having previously triumphed in the London Marathon in 2019 and 2020, Kosgei is determined to rectify her fourth-place finish in 2021. Her dominant performance in Lisbon serves as a promising indication of her readiness for the upcoming challenge in London.
"This was a preparation for London Marathon next month,” said Kosgei. “I'm really happy, I appreciate what I have run today [Sunday]. Thanks to organisers, I appreciate what you have done"
The victory in Lisbon held special significance for Kosgei, who celebrated her win with her two children at the finish line.
"I'm feeling very happy, because I csme with my kids. They celebrated with me when I won the race. They were really, really happy for what I did," she added
As she sets her sights on the London Marathon, Kosgei's stellar form and determination sets the stage for an exciting and competitive race in April, where she will undoubtedly be one of the top contenders vying for victory.
(03/22/2024) Views: 405 ⚡AMPThe London Marathon was first run on March 29, 1981 and has been held in the spring of every year since 2010. It is sponsored by Virgin Money and was founded by the former Olympic champion and journalist Chris Brasher and Welsh athlete John Disley. It is organized by Hugh Brasher (son of Chris) as Race Director and Nick Bitel...
more...Tigist Mengistu of Ethiopia, who is in the Paralympic T13 category for visual impairment, ran 66 minutes for the half.
For years, Paralympic athletes have continued to challenge the performance barriers between impaired and able-bodied athletes. On Feb. 5, at the Granollers Half Marathon in Granollers, Spain, Tokyo Paralympic T13 1,500m champion Tigist Mengistu of Ethiopia, came even closer to bridging the gap, winning the half-marathon in a blazing 66:41.
Mengistu’s time is the second-fastest half-marathon of 2023 and ranks inside the top 100 all-time. She also broke the previous course record of 1:10:24 by nearly four minutes.
In 2021, Mengistu, 22, was the first athlete from Ethiopia to win a Paralympic gold when she won the T13 1,500m in Tokyo. (T13 is the least severe of the three visual impairment categories for para-athletes.)
According to World Para Athletics Classification, an athlete in the T13 classification vision is constricted to a radius of fewer than twenty degrees and can recognize a tennis-ball-sized object at a maximum of five metres away.
To compete in the T13 category, Mengistu has to be accompanied by a guide, a task carried out by Spanish athlete and 65-minute half-marathoner Artur Bossy of Granollers.
Although she ran the fastest known T13 half-marathon time in history, the distance isn’t officially recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), therefore, it will only be considered a world best.
According to the IPC, athletes seeking Paralympic classification must go through several medical, visual and physical evaluations.
(02/07/2023) Views: 864 ⚡AMPThe race is organized by the Col·lectiu d'Atletes de Fons group and was first held in 1987. The course starts and finishes in Granollers and passes through Les Franqueses del Vallès and La Garriga. It is among the more popular half marathon events in Spain with around 10,000 runners taking part in the day's events. In addition to the main...
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