Eliud Kipchoge is a Kenyan long-distance runner and regarded as one of the greatest marathon runners of all time. He is the 2016 and 2020 Olympic marathon champion and the world record holder in the marathon with a time of 2:01:09 set at the 2022 Berlin Marathon. Kipchoge has run four of the six fastest marathons in history.
On 12 October 2019, Kipchoge ran the marathon distance for the Ineos 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, achieving a time of 1:59:40.2. That’s roughly 4 mins 34 sec per mile—for 26.2 miles straight! The run did not count as a new marathon record, as standard competition rules for pacing and fluids were not followed, and it was not an open event. He was also named the 2019 BBC World Sport Star of the Year.
During a podcast chat with Dr Rangan Chatterjee, Kipchoge recommends two books for peak performance:
Book 1: The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds–Not Crushes–Your Soul by Brad Stulberg. In the words of Kipchoge, “It molds you as a human being.” The key lessons from the book include:
- Outcomes matter but you’ve got to enjoy the process if you are to have longevity.
- Consistency is way more valuable than intensity
- How you perform on your average days is more important than how you perform on your great ones.
- After big wins or devastating defeats, the medicine is the same—getting back to doing the work itself.
- Become a master of showing up.
- You don’t have to like failure, but you’ve got to be okay with it.
- Take the work extremely seriously, but yourself not so much.
- Community is everything. Nobody reaches the top alone. The people around you shape you. Surround yourself wisely.
- Stress + rest = growth. Figuring out the appropriate dose of each is key, and a moving target.
Book 2: Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear. The book helps you build systems to apply them. Key lessons include:
- Small behavioral changes compound into big results.
- 1% better daily = 37x improvement yearly.
The 4 Laws to build a habit: 1) Make it obvious 2) Make it attractive 3) Make it easy 4) Make it satisfying.
The duo also discussed why Eliud always does his runs as part of a community, why he smiles in the latter parts of a marathon, how he manages to stay injury free and what he thinks about retirement.
The most insightful parts of this conversation is hearing Eliud talk about self-discipline and why he feels that this is one of the most important skills to develop. Eliud is possibly best known for the phrase ‘No human is limited’ and hearing him explain what this means to him, really brings to life the idea that its self-discipline that will help you reach your own potential.