Do sprinters make good marathoners?

Life is a marathon, not a sprint, they say. But what happens when a superstar sprinter attempts even a half marathon?

This was Jakob Ingebrigstein’s experiment last week.

To be technical about it, the Norwegian athletics rockstar is considered a middle distance runner mostly doing 1,500-meter to 5000m events. He is now the world record holder in the 3,000m with a time of seven minutes and 17.55 seconds.

Sprinters, on the other hand, are those who run 100m to 400m dashes.

In the world of athletics, the 5000m run — or 5 kilometers — is already considered a long-distance event.

Dashes are run at top speed the entire length of the race, whereas middle distance races require athletes to maintain a plateau pace that allows for a final spurt of speed.

The shorter the distance, the more fast twitch muscles (type 2 muscle fibers) and explosive power are needed. The longer distances require more slow twitch muscles (type 1 muscle fibers) and endurance.

A sprinter is typically lightning fast through a few hundreds of meters, decent at the mile and pretty worthless beyond the mile, a running coach once said.

The training of sprinters and long-distance runners are in fact polar opposites. Marathoners require more volume while sprinters require more intensity. The training determines whether one will develop more type 1 or type 2 muscle fibers.

This also explains why a lot of sprinters are more muscular while marathoners tend to be leaner. Think Usain Bolt versus Mo Farah.

Sprinters do a lot of weightlifting, plyometrics and, of course, sprints. Marathoners do a lot more cardio based workouts and plenty of long runs.

Which is why transitioning from shorter distances to the marathon or even half marathon is quite a long jump, pun intended. Legendary marathoners like Kenenisa Bekele and Eliud Kipchoge took years to successfully transition from the short distances to the marathon.

But Ingebrigtsen is more daring. The foremost exponent of the Norwegian training method in running had just won in the men’s 1500m at the Diamond League Finals 46 hours prior to the Copenhagen Half Marathon last week. But he still decided to take on the challenge.

“I ran until I was about to die, and stopped, ran until I was about to die again and stopped,” Ingebrigtsen said after the race.

He stopped completely after 10 kilometers, then started walking a bit, before trying to catch up with the lead pack again.

He ended up in 34th place, which was unfamiliar territory for the bemedalled wunderkind. He was flat on his back after crossing the finish line.

“This was the worst run that I have ever had… It’s an insane mental and physical strain,” he added.

He might have felt like an utter failure, but to us mere mortals, his finish time of 1:03:13 is still mind-boggling. Considering he did this on tired legs, inadequate preparation and the fact that it is his very first half marathon, the feat is still nothing short of superhuman.

Perhaps he took inspiration from fellow Olympian Sifan Hassan, who won the gold and set the new world record for women in the hilly course of the recent Paris Olympics marathon. This insane feat came after she won the bronze in the 5,000m and 10,000m races.

These “freaks” of nature, and this I mean in the most positive way, have the perfect blend of speed and endurance.