Absolutely Monumentous!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers who perform monumentous tasks every day. For those of you who still have your mom in your life, make it a habit to treat your mom like every day is Mother’s Day. It’s similar to working on your health. It’s not what you do once in a while that matters; it’s what you do every day.

London Marathon

Back to the monumentous marathon. The world record and two-hour mark was broken five years ago in an unofficial marathon run on a track under ideal conditions. But running under track conditions, much like breaking the four-minute mile, is different while being paced by other elite runners compared to running a race on the road.

While reading about the prep for the race, much was made of the weight and construction of the Adidas running shoe and justifiably so. The Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 weighed in at 97 grams—similar to a pack of cards or 20 sheets of paper—with a variety of other features to make the shoe strong and durable.

I checked the weight of my new running shoes. They are a dream to walk in, and I can’t wait to finally start running again. My running shoes weigh in at a whopping 339 grams—almost 3.5 times more! That works out to about four ounces per shoe lighter, every step, for 26.2 miles. If I were still running marathons, I’d probably not buy a $500 pair of shoes, but I’d be tempted.

The Training

While the shoe is important, and I won’t diminish the impact in any way, it is the training that makes the runners elite. While I have no knowledge of his specific training programs, I would wager it consisted of three specific factors:

• Long, slow distance, mostly at altitude
  The purpose is to get used to running long distances. Running at altitude adapts the body to less oxygen in the blood so when he comes back to sea level where there’s more oxygen in the air, he can gain an advantage. Just realize that for him and other elite runners, that pace might be 5:15 to 5:30 per mile and 6 miles per hour for her.

• Interval training to raise the lactate threshold
  Running intervals just to the point where lactic acid starts to build up allows the body to increase stamina. Short version: effort over time increases.

• Exact nutrition
  I would imagine every calorie is accounted for as to composition, time in relation to training, and specific tapering so he and she were both primed to run fast.

One thing to realize is that runners at this level eat, train, and sleep—that’s it. But that’s also what they get paid to do. There are some estimates that Sawe earned over $350,000 for his victory.

The Bottom Line

I bet neither you nor I are going to become elite marathon runners any time soon, but the consistency of their efforts is what we need in our lives. We need to make the time to do the things we can do day in, day out, to increase our healthspan. Maybe getting better walking/running shoes instead of the $20 tennies we’ve had for five years might be a good investment. A lifetime of abuse adds up and can make walking difficult as we reach old age. Respect your feet, starting when you’re young, and you’ll be able to keep going for longer.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Photos courtesy of Adidas Media