WHY RUNNING?
I first realised I liked running because I just happened to be rather fast. I was 11 years of age and turned up for athletics trials on a whim (just as I did for every sport going). I was faster than the other boys, and within the next 2 years was county champion of the 100-metre race and 4 x 100-metre relay, getting my 100m time down to 12.06 seconds at 13 years of age. Some other boys however were a bit louder than me (not bitter at all) so I got moved to 800 metres and started running cross-country and more ‘long distance’ races. I used to love the ‘road run’ we did at school, a 1-mile race around the streets, the rush I would get beating others and even my prior times with each attempt. I actually started to prefer this rush to the adrenaline and extreme nerves I felt racing the shorter races. And this is how it all began.
After school, without structure, I drifted away from running and instead, participated in other sports. But despite trying several others like football, American football, squash, and golf, I started going out jogging with a group early Sunday morning and fell in love with it all over again. I was average, but it got me outdoors and made me feel good (though not during the run itself!). We started entering 10km races and I was happy to get round in 50-something minutes – this went on for a while, until I noticed that gradually, my times were going down and I broke the 50-minute ‘barrier’ and started to believe that I could be better than ‘average’ if I wanted to be. My confidence was soaring.
MARATHONS AND ‘TAKING IT SERIOUSLY’
Typically - on another whim, during a flight to Finland one year where I was spending my university summer holidays, I decided I would enter the Helsinki City Marathon, which was only 1 month away. I trained every day and liked it enough to do it a further two times over the next few years. But I was still average. This example just shows you that despite your own abilities, having the drive and motivation to achieve something is always possible. But it’s important to note that despite how you view yourself and how confident you are in your sport, there will ALWAYS be someone better than you, there will ALWAYS be someone worse than you.
Over the next few years, I worked hard at getting my 10km times down to the mid-40s and in 2015, I decided (yep, whimsically again-do you see a pattern here?), to enter the London Marathon through a charity place. Although I got my time down to 3:24 (from 4:20 in Helsinki), I did so knowing nothing about nutrition. I got caught up in the fallacy that carbs are bad and largely cut them out of my diet, focusing on JUST protein (including lots of whey as I’m a vegetarian but now recently turned pescatarian) and although – together with running several miles every week – the weight fell off, I was exhausted! Believe it or not, it was only until I was with Natasha where I became more educated on nutrition and what certain foods do and why it is VITAL to eat carbs, especially for running long distances. Looking back now, I cringe at what I thought was a good diet and would love another crack at London with the knowledge that I have now, being able to complete a 10km race in 37 minutes. To this day, I’m surprised I didn’t pass out on the day! I only wish I developed this knowledge earlier on, even just to see that I would have probably performed even better.
A NEW GOAL AND A REMEDY
In late-2017, I went through one of the toughest times in my life, both personally and professionally, and decided that I needed a new goal, almost as a distraction from life itself. Running had always been therapeutic to me, so I decided after much research and almost certainly not on a whim, to enter an Ultramarathon that would start in Richmond, London and end 100km later in Brighton, East Sussex. It would take place in late May 2019, so I had 6 months to train. However, in January, I got to the point professionally that I couldn’t carry on in my job as my mental health was in bits. One morning, I couldn’t get out of a chair to go to work and with the support of my family, friends and teaching union, I never went back. It was the first time in my life where I had a break from my career, yet it was the only way for me to avoid having a breakdown. Running again stepped in to help (pardon the pun) and I threw myself into training, following a strict training plan, including cold baths and stretching, strength training and generally looking after myself both physically and mentally. No one should underestimate what self-care can do for you in terms of healing. Training for the Ultra turned out to be exactly what I needed. It really did save me during the most formidable time.
THE EXPERIENCE AND MY ADVICE TO YOU
I include the training in this as it would be ridiculous to just focus on the day of the Ultra itself, which ultimately, was just one day. Here are some key observations in a nutshell and for anyone who with a running goal:
Running deliberately slow(er) is weird and harder than you might think, but absolutely necessary for the distance!
Have a good playlist, but also get into podcasts – maybe even just enjoy the sounds of nature
Cold baths suck, but really help
Get a good physio and do exactly what they tell you
It’s fine to walk the hills
You can eat loads after running for 4/5 hours
You need to learn and practise how to hydrate and eat on the go and know how your body will react (never trust a fart!)
Make sure you do weight training – for all running – it really does make a difference. It is necessary to avoid injuries
During the Ultra itself, a meal of extra-cheesy pizza and a Freddo, washed down with full-fat coke is exactly what the doctor ordered after 80km.
There is a lot of beauty out there waiting to be discovered so plan lots of beautiful routes for your training
On the day, after setting off at 6:45AM, via several checkpoints/rest stops, I eventually crossed the finish line at 10PM(ish). It was emotional, with Natasha and Anton there (thanks guys) to greet me, – it was easily one of the best things I’ve ever done. Yes, it was also one of the hardest, if not the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but completing this Ultra will always be an achievement that I’ll always be proud of.
So much of the challenge is mental and what helped immensely was setting smaller goals; I remember telling myself around mid-afternoon that I “only have a marathon to go”. There are several programmes out there, that depend on your starting point, target distance and other factors, but I maintain that anyone can do an Ultra-Marathon, with the correct training, nutrition and mindset. Trust me, it’s not impossible.
I’m currently looking at dates to attempt my second Ultra, this time not because I need ‘therapy’ or have something to prove to myself, but because I want to. I must be mad.
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