‘I have a goal with pain’: Kipchoge reveals secret to superhuman feats

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 2 years ago

‘I have a goal with pain’: Kipchoge reveals secret to superhuman feats

By Iain Payten

It seems a reasonable fact to check with Eliud Kipchoge.

Particularly given the weight of contrary evidence the greatest marathoner of all time has provided. Like the fact Kipchoge has only been beaten twice in his marathon career, and last month cruised to his second Olympic gold by 80 seconds in sweltering Sapporo.

Or the fact Kipchoge holds the recognised world record for the marathon and, almost two years ago in a special time trial, also became the first man to run under two hours for the fabled 42.195 kilometres. Which, when you break it down, requires you to run every 400 metres - all 105 of them - in 68 seconds or fewer.

But what makes this fact reasonable to check with the Kenyan is that during all of it - every step of every mile - Kipchoge has never looked tired. Not once.

Throughout all that leg-melting achievement, Kipchoge’s face has mirrored the rest of his unchanged physical appearance: calm, serene and relaxed. Endurance Zen.

So you have to check: do you even feel pain, Eliud, like the rest of us mortals?

Eliud Kipchoge pushes ahead of the pack on his way to winning a second Olympic gold medal in Tokyo.

Eliud Kipchoge pushes ahead of the pack on his way to winning a second Olympic gold medal in Tokyo.Credit: AP

“Absolutely. I am human, like everyone in this world,” Kipchoge says.

“But I have a goal with pain. I try to control my brain and tell myself, listen: where the pain increases, that is where the success is.

Advertisement

“That’s where my mind is and that is what it is telling my body. The more I hurt, that’s where success is. That’s how I treat that pain.”

If pain and success are symbiotic, Kipchoge must have done some suffering. The tea farmer from Kenya’s North Rift is the most successful and most dominant marathoner of all time.

Plenty of dubious candidates get the ‘GOAT’ tag these days, but Kipchoge is one of the few with the record to actually claim it.

After switching from an accomplished, but not brilliant, track career which saw him win bronze and silver Olympic medals in the 5000m in 2004 and 2008, Kipchoge moved to the longer runs on the road.

He won his debut marathon in Hamburg in 2013 in 2:05.30, was runner-up in his second (behind a world record run) and then won every race he entered for the next seven years - including the gold in Rio in 2016. Along the way he annihilated the world record in Berlin in 2018.

Kipchoge lowered the mark to a staggering 2:01.39, although rapid advancements in shoe technology undoubtedly played a part in the stunning time.

But it wasn’t all about the shoe.

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge celebrates winning back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the men’s marathon.

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge celebrates winning back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the men’s marathon. Credit: Getty Images

Even with all competitors now wearing similarly chunky footwear (which allow for greater ‘energy return’ with each stride), Kipchoge crushed his rivals in sapping heat to win a second Olympic gold medal last month. He became only the third marathoner to go back-to-back in the Olympics and, after surging at the 30km mark, crossed the line without a rival in sight behind him.

And, as usual, all without a single grimace.

So given we have confirmed pain is present, is Kipchoge’s look of Zen a tactic? To leave rivals as freaked out as much as audiences are in awe?

“It is not really a sign of showing people, but what I have been doing for the last four to five months is that work, to make my face look smooth,” Kipchoge told the Herald and The Age.

“The more you train your body to run for a very long time, then you don’t have a time where your face will show the pain. You have put that hurt in your body many, many, many times on all those many days and many weeks and many months, so your body is ready to go. Your body is ready to resist that pain.

“So when I am in those last 12 kilometres, I start to remind myself, I have been doing a good job for the last four or five months, and those last 12 kilometres cannot injure me. I do not have to stop or to slow.”

For the non-sports follower, you may know Kipchoge from a time, as opposed to his name or smooth face. Specifically, the time of 1:59.40.

After a failed attempt in 2017, Kipchoge made history in October 2019 when he became the first man to break the two-hour barrier for a marathon.

Eliud Kipchoge celebrates his “record” marathon time in Vienna in 2019.

Eliud Kipchoge celebrates his “record” marathon time in Vienna in 2019.Credit: EPA

It wasn’t registered as a world record given it was a sponsor-built ‘moonshot’ event and used an array of rule-breaking advantages just to see if Kipchoge could run the time.

With a rotating set of pacers (supporting runners), a car to block the headwind, an ultra-flat course and refuelling assistance, Kipchoge achieved in Vienna what many thought was impossible and stopped the clock short of two hours.

The run - which has been made into a documentary by Ridley Scott’s company - was likened to Roger Bannister finally cracking the four-minute mile in 1954, although putting Kipchoge’s run in its insane context, the Kenyan ran 4.30 per mile for 26.2 miles, or 2.50 per kilometre. Ever cranked a treadmill up to 21km/h and attempted to last 10 seconds? Now try two hours.

“When I tried in 2017 in Monza, I always say it was like a boxer going into the ring, not knowing what will happen or if he will get knocked down or win by points. My mind was really blank,” Kipchoge said.

“But the project was really successful. I missed the time by 25 seconds but I got a lot of confidence there, that this thing, breaking the two-hour barrier is possible. And then after two years, we could translate the huge experience of 2017 into it and we had the belief this thing is possible.”

Four of Kipchoge’s 41 pacers in 2019 were Australian middle-distance runners - Stewart McSweyn, Jack Rayner, Brett Robinson and Pat Tiernan - and one of the lasting images from the day was the pacers cheering from behind as Kipchoge crossed the line.

Kipchoge has a high opinion of McSweyn, who finished seventh in the 1500m in Tokyo.

“I am following him all the time and all his races,” Kipchoge said.

Stewart McSweyn trails Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the eventual winner, in the men’s 1500m final at the Tokyo Olympics.

Stewart McSweyn trails Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the eventual winner, in the men’s 1500m final at the Tokyo Olympics. Credit: Getty

“I am always following him, I always say McSweyn is not limiting himself and that’s why he is going very hard. In the 1500 and in the mile, McSweyn is the future. He is the future of the 800, he is the future of the 1500 and the 3000m. He is the future of the 5000m and even 10,000m.

“But in the next 10 years after that, McSweyn can make a big transition to the road - to the 15km, to the half-marathon and even to the marathon. He is the future.”

It’s impossible to talk Kipchoge and his ‘moonshot’ - or even running in general these days - without factoring in the contentious shoe technology that has helped cut vast chunks out of most records in the last five years. Nike, which created the Vaporfly shoe worn by Kipchoge, were at the forefront of new designs that saw curved carbon fibre inserts added to a shoe’s sole, allowing the foam padding to be much thicker, and lighter.

All that, in turn, allows runners to expend fractionally less energy with each step. Studies gauged a benefit of 4 per cent in performance and when you’re talking marathon times, that’s minutes.

The majority of ‘fastest times ever run’ lists are now getting filled up by ‘super-shoe’-era athletes, leading some to liken the shoes to the swimming supersuits that broke all records before being banned.

World Athletics has not acted — and likely won’t — other than to set limits at their existing status and to say shoes must be available for everyone to buy.

Kipchoge is circumspect. He believes no amount of foam can substitute the hard work required to be a champion, and sees shoe technology in the same light as laptops, Zoom and Wi-Fi. It is progress.

“If we should embrace innovation in the world then we should embrace technology,” he says. “We need to reason with the whole world. Technology, as far as running is concerned, it helps the muscles to relax. Technology that allows us to see how hard you are working and allows us to see how we can stretch our bodies. Technology can help us. Let us embrace it.”

Eliud Kipchoge wore an iteration of the Vaporfly shoes when he ran the first sub-two hour marathon in Vienna in 2019.

Eliud Kipchoge wore an iteration of the Vaporfly shoes when he ran the first sub-two hour marathon in Vienna in 2019.

Kipchoge admits he is ‘concerned’ about the prospect of runners from poorer nations not being able to afford expensive shoes but believes companies like his sponsor Nike are committing to making low-cost versions, including with the use recycled materials.

His methodology and mindset is a mix of the old and the new. Kipchoge runs 10,000km a year out of a no-frills boarding house in Kenya but also uses a blood glucose monitoring device called Abbott’s Libre Sense bio-sensor to inform his fuelling strategies.

After a holiday of three weeks post-Rio, Kipchoge has recently returned to training and is mapping out what the next few years holds. At 36, he still has good years left in his legs but hasn’t made a call on whether he’ll go to Paris in 2024, and try to become the first man to win three Olympic marathon golds.

Loading

“The future will tell,” he says.“I aim to keep myself as fit and forceful as possible for the next few years, for me to enjoy still running, before I hand on the racing shoes and do the next things in this world.”

It seems too tempting to not give it a crack but if he knows, Kipchoge is not saying. What is certain is that the run in Vienna cracked open a new seam of self-belief. And while it may not be him, Kipchoge believes the run should - nay, will - lead to someone lowering the official world record, in a race, to below two hours.

“Absolutely yes. I trust that in the future, in a normal marathon, the two-hour mark will be beaten,” he said.

“You know, actually, it is about saying ‘yes, I can’. And I am sure people can do it. To come and try it, and to think ‘I can do it’. Many people have not even started to think they can. But it is on the way.“So let us think fast, and then try.”

Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.

Most Viewed in Sport

Loading