Tag Archive for: Kenya

What We Can Learn from Kipchoge

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There are a couple of lessons that we can get from Eliud Kipchoge and his approach to setting the world record in the marathon. Let’s take a look at what he did to prepare to be called the best marathoner of all time.

He Knew It Was Possible

When I say he knew it was possible, I don’t mean a theoretical thing. He knew it because he had already run a marathon in 2:00:25, over a minute faster than his current world record. He ran it over a minute faster under controlled conditions on a track. It was not recognized as the world record because he used rotating pacers. That means that every so often, a fresh runner would join him to help him maintain pace. He did have pacers in his world record attempt, but they began the race with him and dropped back when they ran out of gas. He ran the last 11 miles alone and at a faster pace than his pacers helped him keep.

Have you ever lost weight before or lowered your blood sugar? If you have, you know that it’s possible. Maybe your approach wasn’t sustainable or maintainable but if you did it once, you know you can do it. But it takes more than that.

He Got A Little Help

There were coaches, nutritionists, physical therapists, and a whole host of other people involved in getting him prepared. That’s essential. Your physician and other healthcare professionals can help fill that gap for you so you know how to do lose weight or lower your blood pressure responsibly. But the pacers were critical as they were with him on the course. They helped him get through at least half the race until his effort exceeded what they were capable of doing.

There are two ways this helps you in achieving a health goal. First, if you can find someone who is willing to help you on your journey by doing it with you, that can help you tremendously—and it helps them as well. We don’t care about world records; we care about achieving our health goals. You support others as they help you. Sometimes your support group doesn’t stick it out all the way.

That’s when you need to talk or listen to people who’ve already done it. It doesn’t have to be the same goal. It doesn’t even have to be in the same area. But we can all use encouragement in the form of hearing about how others achieved their goals.

The Bottom Line

Kipchoge is the greatest marathoner in the world. We can use what he did as inspiration but more importantly, we can take the lessons in how he did it to achieve our own health goals. Break it down to its simplest component. Rely on our past experience in achieving goals. Get a little help from our friends. Take those lessons and use them and you can change your health.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Only Three Seconds Faster

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Eliud Kipchoge shattered the world record for the marathon by one minute, eighteen seconds. But breaking it down, that was about three seconds per mile faster. Sustaining that faster pace for the entire duration was an amazing physical feat but in its essence, it was three seconds per mile.

Let’s carry the logic to weight loss. If you want to lose 52 pounds in a year, that works out to one pound per week. One pound per week is 2.3 ounces per day. While the typical 3,500 calories in a pound of fat isn’t as precise as we’d like it to be, it’s close enough. That works out to be 503 calories per day. We either have to eat 500 fewer calories, burn 500 more calories, or some combination of both. That’s doable.

The key would be to be sustain that for 365 days in a year. Based on the best available research, we seem to do well until about week 10 of any type of diet you might try. That’s when we begin to return to former eating patterns—very slowly, but that’s when the plateaus and weight regain begin.

We could pick any health goal from lowering HbA1c to getting more flexible to reducing blood pressure and use the same approach. We need to know the variable that should be adjusted, from exercise and diet to taking supplements or medications regularly. We can break them all down to this: what do we need to do today?

What can help us sustain the effort once we know what we need to do? More lessons from the world record holder on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

New World Record 2:01:39

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The marathon is 26.2 miles. If you’ve ever done one, you know what kind of effort it takes to just finish a marathon. For people who are better runners, qualifying for the Boston Marathon is a significant goal. It takes intense training to achieve that goal. This past weekend, a Kenyan named Eliud Kipchoge set a new world record for the marathon.

Set a world record? No. He shattered the world record by running it 1:18 faster in a time of 2:01:39. That’s an average pace of 4:38.4 per mile. For 26.2 miles! I run a half-mile loop in my neighborhood in about five minutes. To give you some perspective, he would complete over two laps in the time it takes for me to complete one.

While it’s an amazing physical achievement, what does it have to do with you and me and our health? In my opinion, a whole lot and that’s what I’m going to talk about the rest of the week. But for today, Kipchoge deserves our respect as the greatest marathoner in the world.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet