On Sunday October 8, 2023, a world record was broken. Kelvin Kiptum ran 26.2 miles in two hours and thirty five seconds. He broke Eliud Kipchoge’s record by 34 seconds and brought the seemingly impossible two hour mark into view. Not only did Kiptum break the overall time record, but he recorded incredibly fast miles late in the race. In 1896, during the first modern marathon, a Greek runner recorded a time of just under three hours.
The story goes that the marathon was coined as a race when Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens, bringing the news of a victory over the Persian army. He then died on the spot. This race became part of the Olympics in 1896 and the following year the first Boston Marathon was held. It is now a prestigious race that all long distance runners aspire to be a part of. With the jogging boom of the 1960’s, marathons began to pop up all over the world and the endurance test became a part of the running community.
Marathon times have dropped extraordinarily fast in the past 10 years with leaping advancements in nutrition and racing technology. Athletes are running times that were unimaginable even two years ago. Running has become a science, and the ability to monitor athletes has reached a whole new level. Elite long distance runners have a very high VO2 max, meaning an incredible ability to absorb and use oxygen while running. This translates to a very efficient running economy and the training to not hit a wall and falter late in the race.
Kelvin Kiptum’s performance shocked the world and lit a spark for the two hour mark to be broken. At only twenty-three years old, this was Kiptum’s third marathon ever and he is leading the way with new training styles. The conventional approach for many years has been to follow the 80/20 rule. This means that 80 percent of your runs are at an easy pace while only 20 percent are hard. Kiptum is setting a new standard by running over a hundred and sixty miles each week with no days off. He runs a full marathon at a fast pace once a week alongside track workouts. By not having rest and recovery, many believe Kiptum’s training will lead to burnout and injury. His coach, Gervais Hakizimana, shares these concerns: “[I often ask him to] lower the pace but he doesn’t want to, he talks to me about the world record people all the time. I told him that in five years he would be done, that he must calm down to last in athletics.”
This choice is a bargain Kiptum is making. Be excellent now and have a greater risk of injury early on, or be able to withstand the physical demands of being a marathon runner and have a long successful career. It is important to note that Kiptum’s is the official world record, but Eliud Kipchoge ran a marathon with a time of 1:59:40 in the Ineos 1:59 challenge. This is not an official record, as some claim this was an “engineered race.” Kipchoge received pacing in a V shaped pattern in front of him to reduce wind resistance and was handed measured amounts of carbohydrates throughout the race to keep his performance at peak levels. Kipchoge also was assisted by an electric car that projected a laser on the ground with the pace he had to sustain. This also was a large wind block and created an easier running environment.
The two hour mark is bound to be broken soon. Running has taken off and more and more research is being done on the human body and its peak physical capabilities.