Don't mistake it, to run the 100m dash at 10 seconds flat, the work done is actually no less than a marathon.

You need to sweat it out, day in day out, to reach to the level where you can be called a sprinter.

The journey indeed is a marathon, not a sprint.

Skills don't get developed in a day. You need to earn them by putting each ounce of your energy into nurturing them.

Carl Lewis, Maurice Greene, Justin Gatlin, Asafa Powell, Usain Bolt are some of the iconic stars of their generations.

Sneak peek into a day of their training, the reality would hit you hard.

Imagine what's at stake

1. You have 10 secs and below to perform

2. A minute mistake (which we very often term as silly) can cost them their years of practice/training (millions/billions in dollars)

3. A single false start and you are disqualified to take part in the race

4. Your years of training, the sweat and blood which you had put onto it, everything goes in vain, if you can't make it.

5. That's an actual test of perfection. You can't get away with anything less than perfect. Your bad day at the most needed right day can very easily be your last day.

6. Olympics is the mega event (highest sporting event worldwide) which every sprinter waits for, trains for. Once in 4 years is what it comes. You need to be fit, injury free, train hard, possibly be in the best shape of your life, just to run races where 10 seconds decide your fate.

7. Easy to say, "its a mistake, will fix it in 10 seconds". But here those "10 seconds" come after 4 years.

8. A sprinter's life is short. You can't be in the best sprinting shape after the age of 30 (mostly), also you can't attain your best shape physically as well as mentally without enough sprinting experience before the age of 20 (mostly), that means you do not have a big span of sprinting life to flourish on.

9. Usain Bolt (the fastest ever to run 100m and 200m) won Gold at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016. He performed for around 10 years. Within those 10 years he needed to be injury free (no major injury even after hard training sessions), participate in most tournaments to pick up form and to peak at the marquee tournaments and train as hard as possible.

Sprint is indeed defined by the marathon which the sprinters go through on a daily basis to prepare themselves to excel at the right moment.

Similarly you need to go through years of preparation which includes the elements of perseverance, consistency, hard work and self belief, to be ready, to make it count when it matters the most. Your readiness is what defines your fate in any exam of life.

There is no shortcut to success and neither will ever be.

Remember 100m race is not a sprint, neither is Life.

Life's not a Sprint neither is a 100m race?

100m race gets over in 10 seconds, does it really?