TRAINING WITH THE BEST

To race as fast as the world's top runners, practise as slowly as they do.

- PROF. ROSS TUCKER

Eliud Kipchoge is the greatest marathon runner ever to lace up a pair of carbon-fibre shoes (or ordinary shoes, for that matter).

Multiple big-city marathon wins, two Olympic Games gold medals, first man under two hours for the distance (albeit in a staged, non-eligible event), and the current 42.2km world record-holder. This is a marathon runner who knows how to train.

So when research came out recently that documented Kipchoge's training, many readers were fascinated, searching painstakingly for the magic formula that makes him the greatest. Because, what secrets might be found out and applied to our training to make us faster?

BACK TO BASICS

Those readers may have been disappointed. First, there are no secrets. No magic formulas. Second, you'd be ill-advised to mimic the specific content of Kipchoge's training, given that he's running 200 to 220km a week - a volume few other humans could get away with. However, we can look behind Kipchoge's numbers, and identify a couple of key principles that when applied to our training, may make us better runners.

For me, the first thing that jumped out is how relatively 'boring' Kipchoge's training is. There is a monotony; an abundance of what we might describe as 'staple' runs - no bells or whistles, no fancy stuff; he just runs, and accumulates hours and hours of low-intensity training.

And consistency is key. We need to avoid the temptation of tinkering, and rather earn our physiological adaptations through disciplined repetition.