Breaking World Records - It's all in the Preparation

Earlier today, a 34-year-old Kenyan; Eliud Kipchoge, etched his name in the record books by becoming the first man to run a marathon under two hours; he covered the 40kilometre (approximately 25miles) distance in 1 hour 59 minutes and 40 seconds! To put that into context, Eliud had to maintain an average speed of 21.18kmh or 13.16mph in order to achieve his feat. This implies that he might have had to run at 22kmh or 13.6mph in some instances to compensate for the times he slowed down! So how did he achieve this seemingly impossible task?

1. Vision
In setting out to achieve this feat, Eliud wanted to prove, in his own words, that "No human is limited." For a long time, the 2-hour barrier had stood looming as an insurmountable mountain across the marathon track that no athlete could cross, well until today. Today wasn't Eliud's first attempt. He holds the current Marathon World Record of 2 hours 1 minute and 39 seconds.
On May 6, 2017, Eliud had another go at the elusive 2-hour mark in Italy and fell short by 25 seconds, completing the race in 2 hours 0 minutes and 25 seconds. He never gave up. With each attempt, his belief that "No human is limited" seemed to bring the elusive barrier closer.

2. Team work
The people that we surround ourselves with can either aid or break our resolve to achieve the impossible. We each need that group of people that we can bounce our crazy ideas off and though they might see the madness therein, will be willing to support us to the end. To help achieve today's feat; Eliud had 41 such 'friends'. These were not his closest buddies; those are good but this feat called for seasoned athletes, each a winner in his own right and eager to play their part in setting a record-breaking win.

3. History
Eliud comes from Kenya; a nation that has dominated marathons for the few decades; only occasionally losing to athletes from their neighbors in Uganda and Ethiopia or Europe. To illustrate this, in 2018 during the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, Kenyan men had a clean sweep of the top 17 places! The Kenyan women also took the top three places of the female category.
Furthermore, Eliud belongs to the Kalenjin; a tribe described as "Kenya's Running Tribe" by sports historian John Manners, for the marathon winners it produces. These are known to do their training at high altitude where oxygen levels are often lower. Their bodies compensate by producing more red blood cells. This is an advantageous adaptation at lower altitudes where oxygen levels are higher and so these athletes function more 'efficiently' as more oxygen circulates around their systems.

4. Family
Most famous athletes have armies of cheerleaders around the world, which is great. However, knowing that one of those screaming voices in the stands or audience belongs to a member of your family can do wonders for your morale. Eliud's wife and three kids witnessed him make history today and in his own words, his wife is his "Number one cheerleader!"

5. The Stage
The perfect stage plays a major role in boosting any athlete's performance. Today's setting was in Vienna Austria, where the sponsor Ineos assembled a 'record-making' team for a record-breaking performance. The weather too was perfect and the crowd was up to the task.
With my brief recount of today's performance, let's go break some records!