by Tommy Dickman

On September 25, Eliud Kipchoge made history by running a 2:01:09 marathon in Berlin, breaking his last world record by a whopping 30 seconds. Tigist Assefa ran a 2:15:37 marathon, shaving a whole 18 minutes from her previous time. Kipchoge had already completed the impossible three years earlier by running a sub-two-hour marathon in Vienna. This was not counted though due to the laboratory-like conditions and his shoes, the Nike Zoomx Vaporfly which “depending on the model and athlete,…can typically improve a person’s running economy by 4-5% – which translates to at least a minute- to 90-second advantage for an elite male runner over 26.2 miles and even more in an average club athlete,” according to The Guardian. In Berlin, he ran in the Nike Zoomx Alpha Fly Next%, another shoe featuring special foam padding and carbon plating.

Kipchoge began his life on a farm in Kenya. His father died when Kipchoge was a young boy. After that, he began running long distances, first jogging to school. After his sixteenth birthday he met his future coach Patrick Sang, a former pro runner. In 2003 Kipchoge had his first big victory in the 5K against Hicham El Guerrouj at the world championships. After mild success in the Olympics for the 5K, winning a bronze medal in Athens and a silver medal in Beijing, he failed to qualify in 2012. Then he turned to the marathon event. His first ever marathon in Hamburg he won with a time of 2:05:30. He claimed his first gold in the marathon at Rio and his second in Tokyo.

Kipchoge runs on average of over 120 miles each week. He also goes through hour-long mobility exercises with resistance bands and yoga mats. His day in training follows a simple schedule. He wakes up early and goes for a run, then the team helps do chores around the camp, lunch, afternoon run, then tea and free time for the rest of the day.