Echoes of Glory

We witnessed a fantastic 1500 meter race last Friday, August 16 in Monaco. With two world-class athletes competing for the top spot it was a dramatic showdown, to say the least, and after my post describing both of the pre-race favorites, Ingebrigtsen and Cheruiyot, I wanted to follow-up. Timothy Cheruiyot, world champion of 2019, undoubtedly has world-class fitness, but with the recent domination of Jakob Ingebrigtsen, many were wondering whether he could pull off a victory. Unfortunately, Cheruiyot pulled ahead from the beginning and was able to barely seize the victory. However, both of these athletes had incredibly quick times, achieving 3:28.45 and 3:28.68, respectively. Ingebrigsten’s previous personal best had been 3:30.16, and with this 1.5-second growth, he became the 8th fastest athlete in the history of the 1500, and is now the European record holder, breaking Mo Farah’s record of 3:28.81. Cheruiyot likewise skyrocketed to become the 7th fastest athlete in this event.

With only 3 days till the next diamond league meeting, the question must be asked: what is possible for these men if they have perfect races? During the meeting in Monaco, both athletes had flawed pacing, each for different reasons, but still managed blistering times. Through the first 400 meters, the pacers split a time of 52.59 seconds, which is almost 2 seconds faster than current world record pace. This unusual first lap undoubtedly slowed Cheruiyot’s overall time. On the other hand, Ingebrigsten achieved relatively even splits but was leading the chase pack for almost the entirety of the race, which took away his ability to draft off of other runners. Additionally, with Cheruiyot far ahead for most of the race, he was running the equivalent of a solo time trial, following his own pacing and pulling the rest of the field.

While both of these runners raced in less than ideal circumstances, they still ran very fast, setting the stage for some historically fast times at their next meeting in Stockholm. To break the current world record of 3:26.00, these athletes would have to have perfect races. The meet in Monaco was their first in almost 10 months, so both were still regaining their ability to run a perfect race which includes pacing, pre-race day routine, nutrition on the day of and mental preparedness. With this race under their belt, and new revisions to their racing strategies, their capabilities might lead to some amazing times.

New 5k World Record!

In this same meet, Joshua Cheptegei ran a historic 5000 meter race. This staggering performance broke the 16-year old world record of 12:37.35. Set by legend Kenenisa Bekele, no one had come within 5 seconds of this record since it was set. There is a new king of distance running, and his name is Joshua Cheptegei. Cheptegei’s pacing strategy was almost identical to that of Bekele. Through the opening, he was way ahead of the field and on perfect pace splitting 60.5 seconds. Still on pace after 1 kilometer at 2:32, he maintained this insane pace for another kilometer splitting 5:03 after 5 laps. From this point until the end he ate 60-second laps, making them look like a walk in the park. With a mile left to go, he needed to split 4 minutes and 2 seconds, which was realistic given his previous splits. However, he obliterated each lap, splitting 60.18 and 60.33. His 3rd lap was an incredible 59.97 seconds. It became clear at this point that it was time for the record to be defeated. With one lap to go, Cheptegei let out a small smile, and proceeded to stride into history, smooth and powerful.

-Jack Hadeed

Kipchoge vs. Bekele

After the postponement of the London Marathon, many were left with an agonizing feeling of uncertainty, waiting without information to know when the long-anticipated showdown between Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele would take place. Largely publicized as “The race of the century,” it isn’t hard to understand why this matchup has been met with so much anticipation. These two elite athletes have the two quickest times in the history of the marathon, with Kipchoge achieving the world record time of 2:01:39, or 4 minutes, 38 seconds per mile in 2018, and Bekele shocking the world just 1 year later with a blistering 2:01:41. Combined, these two men have a total of 41 world and Olympic medals in track, cross-country, and road-racing, more than most countries win in ten years. Over the years, Kipchoke and Bekele have clashed many times, with Bekele winning most. However, this was before Kipchoge switched to marathon running. Since then, the two have raced 4 times, with Bekele taking 0 victories, and Kipchoge winning every single one.

Unlike other track and field events, the marathon is particularly prone to yielding sub-par results, due to race-day temperatures, uneven terrain, inconsistent pacing, or even just the possibility that it is a bad day to run 42 kilometers. However, Kipchoge has never had a bad marathon, achieving second place at his worst. He has shown time and again that even while most runners cannot keep up with his ferocious pace, he is not afraid to battle it out at the end, winning 12 of his 13 marathons even against elite opponents. Bekele has established himself as one of the world’s best endurance athletes, holding the 5000-meter record of 12 minutes and 37 seconds, showcasing his speed and acute mental toughness, before switching to marathon running in 2014.

Many are wondering what Kipchoge is capable of after his recent unofficial 1:59.40, with Kipchoge himself believing it within reason that he will smash the unbroken 2-hour barrier on an official course. He has been training by himself for the last few months, despite his deep belief in the mutual benefits of team training in order to protect those around him. In order to focus on building base, he has eliminated track and tempo sessions, which will allow himself to hit the ground fast when he resumes regular effort sessions. His runs are 8-20 miles, often soaring well below a pace of 6 minutes per mile, and his weekly distance reaches and surpasses 100 miles. Before this, his marathon specific workouts included lengthy 35-45 kilometer tempos on particularly difficult courses, vast amounts of track reps of distances 200 (27-28 sec), 400 (62-63 sec), 1000 (2:47), and 2000 (5:40) meters, and race pace interval sessions. Despite his average distance of 17 miles a day, Kipchoge still has time to read books about optimism and spend time with the animals and people on his family’s farm, maintaining healthy confidence and setting the groundwork for a stellar performance. While his usual locations in Kaptagat, Kenya are unavailable for training, Kipchoge has been running right from his home in Eldoret, Kenya, at an elevation of just above 2000 meters above sea level. He has adopted the mentality that nothing is impossible, saying that he “still has fire inside,” and that even when he is tired, “[he] runs and the energy comes 10 minutes later.” Though the pressure will be high, his motivation comes from within and his passion is absolute and immutable. For the time being though, Kipchoge is maintaining his speed while building distance, staying positive, driven, and fit.

On the other side, Bekele, known as “The Ethiopian King,” has a plan to overcome the power of Kipchoge and become history. After his battles with injury, Bekele’s return to form has been sensational, saying in a recent interview that he is excited to battle it out yet again with legend Eliud Kipchoge. His goal is to break the record, and with his unparalleled confidence and drive, he might have a chance. After his switch to the marathon event in 2014, Bekele’s mileage decreased and is now about even with Kipchoge, focusing on the quality of his training rather than the quantity. His weekly training plan is as follows

Mon. AM: 2-hour long run

PM: 1 hour run

Tue. AM: 1 hour at 3:45 per kilometer

PM: 1 hour run

Wed. AM: 5*4k roads

PM: Off

Thu. AM: 25*400 meter (63-64)

PM: 1 hour easy

Fri. AM: Hills (15-20 reps)

PM: 1 hour easy

Sat. AM: 8*2k (1:30 recovery)

PM: Off

Sun. AM: Easy Run

PM: Easy run or off

These extended distance interval runs, typically around 15 miles, are what have allowed Bekele to smoothly transition from a shorter distance and gain fitness for the marathon event. He trains in Sululta, Ethiopia, at an altitude of around 2500 meters. Perhaps the key to his recent success though, has been his collaboration with nutritionists to lose weight and gain sufficient recovery. He is making it a priority to listen to his body and adjust workouts to prevent another struggle with injury.

With the hand of history on the shoulders of both of these men, no one knows who will win. Will it be Eliud Kipchoge, the undefeated marathon G.O.A.T or Kenenisa Bekele, the Ethiopian King, fiercely driven and ready to be crowned victor one more time.

Cheruiyot vs. Ingebrigtsen

On August 14 we will see one of the biggest track and field showdowns at the diamond league meet in Monaco. In this race, world champion Timothy Cheruiyot is set to race 19-year-old prodigy Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Cheruiyot and Ingebrigtsen have the two leading times in the 1500, both achieving solid personal bests of 3:28.77 and 3:30.16, respectively. In the world championships last October, Cheruiyot obliterated the field, with Ingebrigtsen placing fourth despite his signature fast finish.

Since them, Cheruiyot has raced only twice. Unlike his competitor, though, Ingebrigtsen has been tearing through records since then. Just 13 days after those championships, he broke the Norwegian national 10k record, running a quick time of 27 minutes 54 seconds. On May 20, 2020, he ran another national record, achieving 13:28 for the 5k on the roads. This was a great race for another reason as well: his negative split. He ran 7 minutes for the first half of his race but proceeded to split a blistering 6:28 for the second half. Following this he broke the European record for the 2000, running a final lap of 54.19 seconds, and a total time of 4 minutes 50 seconds. This broke not only the European record, but the top 10 2k performances of all time. Showcasing his speed yet again, he ran a 1:46.44 800 meter race, despite his strengths being in the 1500 and 5k.

Cheruiyot has been training very hard recently, revealing little about his training but giving a glimpse of a very successful high altitude tempo run. Ingebrigtsen’s 1500 time is still a full 1 and a half seconds away from that of Cheruiyot, who at his best is the seventh fastest athlete of all time and currently ranked #2 in the world. However, Jakob hasn’t raced the 1500 this year, and we don’t know what he is capable of after his rampage this year. This is certainly setting up to be a battle of the greats. I am secretly rooting for Ingebrigtsen, whose passion is evident and his victory at only 19 years of age would scream of triumph and glory, undoubtedly inspiring future runners and sending the message that you can truly surpass the expectations arbitrarily placed on your age, race, circumstances or personal setbacks.

- Jack Hadeed

Hello, and welcome to Echoes of Glory: the Caleb and Marcus Uncensored blog! Every Friday, one of the members of the Caleb and Marcus Uncensored staff will be posting a blog on our website! Today co-host Caleb will be writing this week’s blog, but in the future, we hope to have other authors write blogs for our website. The blog posts will be similar to our podcasts… completely random and about whatever that week’s author wants to write about. In the first blog post, I am going to explain why we choose the Echoes of Glory as our blog name. As most podcast listeners probably know, I (Caleb) am a huge fan of English Soccer and, in particular, London based soccer team Tottenham Hotspurs. And so for my Quote of the Week for Episode 5, A Russian Breakfast, I choose a quote from legendary Tottenham Hotspurs manager Bill Nicholson. The quote is as follows.

"It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have

set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory."

And Marcus and I decided that, in a way, this was our podcasting motto or mission statement. We started this podcast because we were bored and wanted something to do during quarantine. But we also wanted to entertain people while we did it and so we decided not just to start a podcast but to actually see if we could make a successful one. That’s why, even though we don’t have many listeners, we started a website, and we are going to build and maintain a YouTube channel, Twitter account, and blog. We have set our sights on becoming not just a podcast listened to by close friends and family but worldwide by thousands of people every day.

There is a good chance that we will fail and that in a few years we will look back on this as something that we put way too much time into and something that we took to seriously. But like the quote says, even if this fails, there will still be glory. If we, just two school kids, can make and maintain a podcast and a website, we will prove to ourselves and other people that we can do whatever we put our minds to. To us, an echo of glory is a rallying call; it’s a sign, a symbol of what we can do and what we can accomplish if we apply ourselves to a task. So we hope you, as readers and listeners of the Caleb and Marcus Uncensored podcast, will join us in our search for an echo of glory.