He Runs 4:38 Per Mile. For An Entire Marathon — What We Can Learn
HE IS THE GREATEST marathon runner in human history. They call him “The Philosopher” because of his intelligence. Eliud Kipchoge. I will never run a marathon. Despite this lack of ambition, I want to examine what this extraordinary athlete can teach us. A fascinating piece in Runner’s World gave me some insights into how he achieves success.
“People sometimes sneer at those who run every day, claiming they’ll go to any length to live longer. But don’t think that’s the reason most people run. Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest.” –Haruki Murakami, author of What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Born in 1984, our Kenyan hero grew up on a farm. He frequently cycled from his home to Kapsabet, hauling gallons of the family’s milk to sell at the local market. While he graduated from secondary school in 1999, he did not run seriously, running just two miles to school each day.
Fast forward to September 2018, when Eliud outdoes himself by claiming the official world record. In ideal conditions on the streets of Berlin, he shattered Kimetto’s previous mark to record a mind-blowing 2:01:39.
Great stories don’t typically suddenly end. And so, you will not be surprised that Eliud accomplishes the unimaginable by becoming the first athlete to run a marathon in under two hours. Kipchoge finished the historical event in 1:59:40. I need to explain a bit of that last run, as it occurred under some unusual conditions
Running Magazine offers that “The Ineos 1:59 Challenge was a beautiful event. The weather was nearly perfect, [with] a little rain (but mostly overcast). Kipchoge was wearing Nike shoes specially created for the event, and his team of pacers executed the race perfectly. Each pacing group consisted of seven runners who surrounded Kipchoge (five in front and two in back) to reduce wind resistance and provide a morale boost and ensure the pace never got stale.”
Training program
Race commentator Shalane Flanagan, an American star runner, broadcast that Kipchoge’s preparation was different for this race than his previous events. She reports that he started a strength program and raised his mileage to about 120 to 140 miles per week. Let’s see what we can learn from his training routine.
Shortly before 5 in the morning, in a small village in western Kenya, Kipchoge rolls out of bed and begins running fast. He is in full stride by 5:50 am, with the sun beginning to rise. More than twelve other runners join him — after all, he is a folk hero — this self-made millionaire. But here’s the rub: He lives like a simple and poor man most of the time.
He regards having a ravenous hunger as a fundamental requirement to his running success, offering this:
“Athletics is not so much about the legs,” Kipchoge said. “It’s about the heart and mind.”
Kipchoge works intensely, putting in 13 hard three-minute repetitions with one minute steady between the sets. He runs a cumulative 130 miles each week. On other occasions, he runs twenty miles at a bit more than five minutes per mile. The runs are on uneven terrain and in thin air — he is running at 8,000 feet.
I am not sure I could jog a mile or two at that altitude. You might wonder if he is using illicit drugs to achieve his Superman status. Again, his commentary in Runner’s World:
“Doping is something I get upset about,” he said. “We need to get rid of that attitude of looking for money and plant the seeds with hard work instead. This sport is noble. It should be people competing cleanly.”
Kipchoge takes a low-tech approach to his sport. Nutrition? He drinks milk from cows that roam the fields near his camp. He constructs meals around rice or the Kenyan basics of ugali, with an occasional helping of beef. Simple, spartan.
The Runner’s World piece also taught me that he brings his straightforward approach to his living situation, at least when preparing for a competition. He shares a tiny room in Kaptagat with one of his training partners, rather than living at his spacious house in Eldoret, where his wife and three children live. Bare and simple.
I marvel at Kipchoge. Is he the most outstanding athlete who ever lived? And what can we learn from the approaches he uses to training, one that seems remarkably simple and spartan? What say you? Here’s what InsideHook observes: “We don’t have access to Kipchoge’s lab metrics due to medical ethics, but it’s safe to say that if you were to design the perfect runner in a lab, he’d look a lot like Kipchoge. InsideHook adds that:
We can follow his weekly schedule, sample his diet and wear his shoes. But at the same time, we should accept that he’s an elusive unicorn — a runner we may never fully understood but will appreciate forever nonetheless.”
I want to use his mindset.
