1 00:00:22,140 --> 00:00:25,980 This week's guest came first came to our attention on 2 00:00:25,980 --> 00:00:30,100 Socials, not only because he's just a great runner, but also 3 00:00:30,100 --> 00:00:34,100 for his love of Disney and Tattoos Incorporated. 4 00:00:34,580 --> 00:00:37,500 He is definitely the most inked runner that I know. 5 00:00:37,500 --> 00:00:39,580 Welcome to the podcast, Ian Garnett. 6 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:43,480 Thank you very much. That's quite an intro. 7 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:44,600 I appreciate that. Thank you. 8 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:47,280 Yeah. I'm disappointed that Nikki 9 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:50,480 didn't use my line, the cats and tats. 10 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:56,160 We may be seeing the cats. There's one under me actually 11 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,960 just now. But yeah, he just, he as soon as 12 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:02,400 he hears people speaking on calls, he has to barge in and 13 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:05,360 protect us. So that's what he's doing now. 14 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:10,200 He's protecting me. That's cats for you, right? 15 00:01:11,320 --> 00:01:14,800 Getting to it? How did you get into running? 16 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:20,680 Yeah, so it kind of came about while, while I was living up 17 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:26,000 here, I moved in with my fiance Vika, and I was really 18 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:28,720 unhealthy. Like I just ate a lot, played 19 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:31,920 Xbox Live all the time. That was the only thing I did as 20 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:34,960 a hobby was play Xbox Live, Halo and things. 21 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,920 So I was quite overweight. So yeah, I joined the gym and I 22 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:42,440 was doing the cross trainer five days a week for 45 minutes a 23 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:46,320 day. This is in 2012, I think 2013. 24 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:50,840 And it was my fiance at the time, but her, her mother, my 25 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,480 mother-in-law now she, she worked at a gym and she said 26 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,800 there's a, there's a social community run, run group sort of 27 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:00,640 thing. And why don't you join that? 28 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:03,040 And I was like, I've never run at all. 29 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:05,520 So I need to try this. So I tried it on the treadmill 30 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:10,360 that one one day at the gym for 30 minutes and it it nearly, it 31 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:12,720 genuinely nearly killed me. Like I thought I was going to 32 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:15,920 die after that I that was insane. 33 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:18,400 Where was it you? You said you moved up. 34 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:20,840 Where? Where were you and where are you 35 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:22,600 now? Oh, sorry, Yeah. 36 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,400 So originally I, I was born and raised in Burnley, if you guys 37 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:27,760 have heard of that in Lancashire. 38 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:30,040 Yeah, I. Heard of it. 39 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:33,320 I don't know where it is because my geography is atrocious. 40 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:36,400 If I haven't rushed through there then I don't know where it 41 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:37,960 is. You may well pass. 42 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:41,640 In spite of the accent, Ian, I'm actually born and raised in 43 00:02:41,640 --> 00:02:46,400 Manchester for 22 years. Geez, I want to guess that. 44 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:51,280 To be fair, I but yeah, I moved up here. 45 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:55,680 But yeah, I was working down in Burnley and then I thankfully 46 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:58,840 got voluntary redundancy. So I moved up here in 2011 to 47 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:02,880 live with my girlfriend at the time or, and then fiance and 48 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,320 wife thinks so. Yeah, I just moved up and just, 49 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:08,920 yeah, that was where. So this is where I call home 50 00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:10,560 now. I've been up here for 14 years 51 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:15,160 and I live in Mulgai just now, so just at the start of the West 52 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:17,600 Highland where. But when I first moved up, I 53 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:20,440 lived in Annie's Land, which is just outside Glasgow, and that's 54 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,840 where the club is. So it's a David Lloyd's club. 55 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:26,160 We weren't members of that by the way, but it was the 56 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:28,240 community. The sweatshop running community 57 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,080 was used to wear. We used to wear yellow T-shirts. 58 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:33,920 It was a thing back then, if you guys might remember that. 59 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,160 But yeah, it was that that I joined as my first foray into 60 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:44,040 running and. When you got off the treadmill 61 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:48,440 and out into the big wide world of social running, did you what 62 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,120 prompted you to start doing races? 63 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,040 Did you do? Did you start small or did you 64 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:56,760 just dive right in there? I started really small. 65 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:58,200 Well, I said yeah, I started really small. 66 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:00,280 I started with a 10K. That was my first race. 67 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:04,840 I'd say other people in there in the group were probably bad 68 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,640 influences on that because there was, there was at least one 69 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:11,320 ultra runner who was who'd done the fling a few times. 70 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:16,240 And yeah, he was kind of an influence in saying about what's 71 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:17,839 out there. Then you should do a half 72 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:18,920 marathon. You should do a marathon. 73 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:21,079 You know, it always gets a bit out of hand and silly, doesn't 74 00:04:21,079 --> 00:04:24,560 it? But the first 10 Ki did was in 75 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:28,920 2013 and it was in Burnley, my hometown. 76 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:31,760 So I went back down to do a 10K and it was very difficult. 77 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:33,800 It was in June and I wore tights. 78 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:43,200 So how things change. Yeah, so rather hot you you've 79 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:48,120 done probably your bad influences have taken you to 80 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:52,680 lots of races abroad. How how did you get into them? 81 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,080 Was it a bad influence? Was it somebody talking to you 82 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:57,920 in the pub? I think it, yeah. 83 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,200 So it kind of the whole ultra, ultra thing came about when I 84 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:03,520 was training for my first marathon and I was listening to 85 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:08,040 Born to Run and that was kind of, I was listening to that. 86 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:10,320 And then one of the guys in the club said why don't we put in 87 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:13,560 for the fling relay because he used to do a relay for runners 88 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:17,400 and that was in 2013. I think I did that and I chose 89 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,160 the second leg. So I did from Baumohar to 90 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:22,840 Rawdon, and so I could go over Conic that I've never done. 91 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:26,960 And then, yeah, things kind of took a turn when I discovered 92 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:32,640 UTMB and YouTube and then the whole, it used to be called the 93 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:35,040 Ultra Trail World Tour. It used to be like this, this 94 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:37,360 series of races. It doesn't exist anymore, but it 95 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:40,640 was, it was great races. Transgran Canaria is one of them 96 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:44,080 in there, and UTMB, Madeira, there was loads of them. 97 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:46,880 So it was just ticking off these, ticking out, doing as 98 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:47,760 many as I can. Yeah. 99 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:52,000 But it was slow progress. I didn't just jump straight in. 100 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:54,680 Admittedly, I did do my marathon. 101 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:57,080 I'm I'm my ultra the same year, which I probably shouldn't have 102 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,920 done, but you get guider when when you. 103 00:06:01,840 --> 00:06:04,920 Yeah, your story really resonates. 104 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:07,480 Like I'm nowhere near as experienced as yourself. 105 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:09,680 You've been doing it a lot longer than what I have. 106 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,880 But from hearing how you started and you listen to something, I 107 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:18,360 was very similar in the sense of I listen to another podcast and 108 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:22,360 training for Edinburgh Marathon and that's what inspired me for 109 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,960 the ultra run. And so when you were listening 110 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:28,680 to Bouncer Run, I've got a couple of questions off of the 111 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,280 back of this one. Did you do the marathon 1st and 112 00:06:32,280 --> 00:06:37,520 then decides you just wanted to go into ultras and trails? 113 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:43,080 And was it that that just after the first ultra was that you're 114 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,120 bitten by the buck then? Absolutely. 115 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:50,160 I foolishly signed up for Glenn Ogle before I'd even done 116 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:54,280 Edinburgh Marathon. It was, it was, it was, it was 117 00:06:54,280 --> 00:06:56,680 like you said, Nick, you're listening to on your long 118 00:06:56,680 --> 00:06:58,400 training runs, training for Edinburgh. 119 00:06:58,840 --> 00:07:00,960 You know, I they were, they were talking about it was Scott 120 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:03,360 Durrick and everyone, wasn't it Anton Kapitchka and things and 121 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:05,160 the Tara Marra. And do you know what? 122 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:07,520 I need to read that book again. That's my plan to read it this 123 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:09,440 year. Yeah. 124 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:11,160 So that is it. Yeah. 125 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:12,800 It was really good. It's a great book. 126 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:15,480 And I, I enjoyed the first marathon. 127 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:19,480 It was Edinburgh's not the best marathon, Rd. marathon to do. 128 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:22,640 It's kind of not really Edinburgh really, is it? 129 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:27,920 You're starting Edinburgh. But how was your weather that 130 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:32,280 year as well? I can't remember. 131 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:34,920 It was, it was, it was overcast. It wasn't the hot, the really 132 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:38,600 hot year, it was overcast and it's still my PB. 133 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,520 Is that Edinburgh Marathon, even though I walked a little bit in 134 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:46,360 it and I was a bit annoyed in myself, but I've only ever done 135 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:49,800 1 fast Rd. marathon since then and I didn't beat it. 136 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,160 Well, it was actually that same year it was Loch Ness and then 137 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:59,360 it was All Trails and yeah. I've only done 2 Rd. marathons. 138 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:04,680 I've done Loch Ness three times and Edinburgh once, so you're in 139 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:07,800 good company. Loch Ness was the second one. 140 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,360 I did that, yeah. It was good. 141 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:13,200 Yeah. Loch Ness is the the better one, 142 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:14,880 isn't it? I guess. 143 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:17,720 But I don't know, I don't think I'd do Edinburgh again. 144 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:20,800 No, I don't. I don't think I would either. 145 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:25,360 I did it in a year where they run out of water and then they 146 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:28,640 blame somebody for stealing it. Whether that happened or not is 147 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:32,679 not my place to see. That was the year before me that 148 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:34,240 that was. I remember that. 149 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:38,000 As well. It's just it's getting so 150 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:43,840 expensive now as well, isn't it? So, but you, as Mike says, 151 00:08:44,159 --> 00:08:47,080 talking about expensive races, you go abroad. 152 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:51,920 So there must be so many logistics with that going 153 00:08:52,560 --> 00:08:54,400 abroad. Can you talk about that a little 154 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:58,680 bit? Yeah, sorry, it, it is bloody 155 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:04,000 expensive, but the, the way we see it and the way my wife's the 156 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:06,480 same like she'll like when we choose these races, it's good if 157 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:09,720 they've got different distances. So I, I'll, I'll like Trans 158 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:12,760 Grand Canaria, for example, my wife did do the marathon. 159 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:14,760 I'd try and do one of the other ultra ones. 160 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:19,000 So we, we just kind of, it seems that ever since doing running 161 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,720 and ultras, every one of our holidays has been revolving 162 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:26,640 around an ultra, which is good. But yeah, it is pretty 163 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:28,560 expensive. Some of them, as you know, with 164 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,480 the UTMB ones, it's getting a bit out of control, the prices. 165 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:35,120 So it is pretty, pretty difficult. 166 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:39,080 Logistically, it's not too bad. If it's if it's easy to get to 167 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:42,160 the place, you're fine. But we had trouble one year in 168 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:43,920 Madeira because the plane couldn't land. 169 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:47,920 And that kind of threw me into a bit of a yeah, I was quite 170 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,400 stressed out about that. There's a few of us on that 171 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:53,120 plane as well. Kim Collision was on it that 172 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:55,280 year. He was going out to do it and we 173 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,000 just couldn't land. Previous guest Kim Carlson. 174 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:09,080 I was just looking up and I've also done the fling really like 175 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:12,520 you did, but I did like 1. Did you, Was it like one? 176 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:14,760 Yeah, that's the flat fast leg, isn't it? 177 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:21,360 Yeah, yeah. I, we were actually shorter 178 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:25,360 person and somebody stepped in at the last minute and he got to 179 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:29,920 choose which like he did. So I was, they didn't get much 180 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:31,920 choice and just did what I was told. 181 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:34,640 So, but I was at the time happy with it. 182 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:38,360 I I was the first person into the checkpoint so I can't 183 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:41,000 complain. That's pretty quick. 184 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,440 It was really good the relay. So I I get why they don't do it 185 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,000 anymore because obviously it's become so big, hasn't it? 186 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,960 But I think for someone who hasn't done an ultra before is a 187 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:55,000 good introduction to kind of the the atmosphere and the vibe, 188 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:56,800 isn't it as to what ultras are all about. 189 00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:59,600 So I that kind of helped me. Yeah, that definitely did. 190 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:01,520 I was trying to chat with people. 191 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:05,640 They did a relay for the full W Allen way as well, but it was 192 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:10,120 just too much, too many people on the course at once. 193 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:13,560 They were trying to get people like the winner of the race. 194 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:16,680 There's nobody there to celebrate with them, so they're 195 00:11:16,680 --> 00:11:19,280 trying to get the relay to do the celebrations with them. 196 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:23,000 But it just wasn't practical to have that many people on the 197 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:25,520 course. I remember that I did that as 198 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:27,360 well actually. I can't remember what year it 199 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:28,720 was. Did it only happen once though? 200 00:11:29,560 --> 00:11:31,600 I'm not not sure. I can't remember. 201 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:33,440 It was good. I did Glenn. 202 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:35,600 I did over the devil staircase again because I wanted to go 203 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:39,440 over the the big hilly, but it was Glencoe to came out leaving. 204 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:42,760 It was only three legs that one, I think, right? 205 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:47,560 Well, before Nikki steps in with her questions back to Born to 206 00:11:47,560 --> 00:11:51,600 Run, have you done any barefoot running? 207 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:55,440 Not really, no. I tried. 208 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:59,960 I tried in my very early career of ultra running, you know, as 209 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,480 soon as Yeah, because it, it made me want to try it. 210 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:06,800 And then I quickly realized that it absolutely is not for me. 211 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:19,280 No, I for years I've run in minimal shoes and I think, I 212 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:23,800 don't think it's for me, but I do think it taught me how to 213 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:26,600 run. So it teaches you to run more 214 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:28,840 forefoot. I wouldn't say I would want to 215 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:32,640 do it the whole like all the time, but it it's definitely a 216 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:38,160 useful tool. And the other thing was chia 217 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:45,240 seeds, and I can't remember the other food that they have in the 218 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:48,960 book. Chia seeds was a big one, wasn't 219 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:49,240 it? Yeah. 220 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:53,040 Yeah. So do you have anything with 221 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:55,560 cheer seats in it? I used to have the cheer charge 222 00:12:55,560 --> 00:12:57,760 bars. I was trying the cheer charge 223 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:00,000 bars, but they're so dense, so I don't, I don't have them 224 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:01,320 anymore. But that was the only cheer I 225 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:08,840 was having was yeah. So TGC Trans Grand Canaria you 226 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:11,880 were talking about, you've been out there a few times and right 227 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:15,080 at the moment, as we're recording, it's going on just 228 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:19,480 now, the events have all started and the big ones are starting 229 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:23,040 over the weekend, I believe. Which ones have you done? 230 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:27,760 So I'm living vicariously through everyone that's doing it 231 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:29,640 this weekend because it is, it is amazing. 232 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:33,160 It's really, really good. So I've done the I said I've 233 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:37,040 done, I've attempted the full 1 twice, finished it once. 234 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:42,040 And then I've done the shorter ultra once as well, the advanced 235 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:45,360 it's called. So yeah, the first time it was 236 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:47,680 125 kilometres and I finished it. 237 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,320 And then the second time I went out there, they changed the 238 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:54,480 route to a different start and I didn't finish it that year. 239 00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:58,360 And then we went out again and I did the 80K and finished that. 240 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:00,800 And I don't know why it keeps drawing me back. 241 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:04,320 Even though the final 8 kilometres of that is 242 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,360 horrendous, it's still a good race. 243 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:09,800 Why would you say they're horrendous? 244 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:15,200 I mean, it's so it's like a it's just a riverbed for a couple of, 245 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:18,280 it's a beautiful descent down and then you're running in this 246 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:22,080 dried riverbed and it's just boulders of stones, all 247 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,320 different sizes. And when I get there, it's pitch 248 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:25,840 black. So, you know, I'm running in the 249 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:29,080 dark, I'm tired, the feet are sore and you're kicking these 250 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:31,560 boulders and trying to. Yeah, it's difficult to get a 251 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:33,560 good pace, but it's a nightmare that it. 252 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:42,000 Sounds horribly attractive. It's one part of the list, Mike. 253 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:45,520 And what's it like here in running at this time of year in 254 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:49,000 a country like that? Is it absolutely sweltering or 255 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:51,080 is it not as bad as what you would think? 256 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:55,560 How would you go about training for that and winter conditions 257 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:58,560 here? It's very difficult actually. 258 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:00,120 Yeah. So when I was training to do the 259 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:05,960 125 Ki was doing, my longest run was 33 reps of Ben Lormand in 260 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:10,520 with bad full snow conditions. It was a bad year that year as 261 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:12,200 well. I was doing a lot of training 262 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:14,400 with my mate Stuart because he was going over to do it. 263 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:17,080 And I remember once we even had ice axes going up. 264 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:20,880 So it was total opposite. We didn't use them, but it was a 265 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:23,240 total opposite of what you're actually going out to do, you 266 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:25,320 know. But yeah, it was reps of Ben 267 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:28,760 Lomond in in the winter and snow, and then you're going into 268 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:32,640 like 25° sweltering. Oh yeah. 269 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:38,600 People say you should train specificity of like basically 270 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:43,040 training what the conditions. How did you find training in the 271 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,040 opposite? Did it hinder you? 272 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:47,400 Did it? Did the Hill reps help? 273 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,360 Absolutely, yeah. The hill reps definitely helped 274 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:53,960 that that was that was the whole, yeah, because I knew I 275 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:55,960 wasn't going to be able to get the heat unless I got into a 276 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:59,160 sauna and, and the gym I was with at the time didn't have a 277 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:01,800 sauna. So yeah, the hill reps 278 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:03,800 definitely help the legs, especially on the descents 279 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:07,360 because trans Gran Canaria, the the final marathon, it's a big 280 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:11,440 neck downhill. So yeah, it's your quads are 281 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:13,360 just absolutely shot by the end of that one. 282 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:15,800 So yeah, but I like running in the heat. 283 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:16,840 Running in the heat is quite good. 284 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:20,280 I don't know why, but yeah, it's it's fun. 285 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:25,120 I tried it last year in Spain because that was my first year 286 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,360 where I was really into the running and I really wanted to 287 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:30,960 run and I still couldn't get on board with it. 288 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:34,800 It was so, so hot. Like, I don't, I was just dying 289 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:39,160 to get back home just for the milder, colder conditions. 290 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,600 I didn't ever think I'd say that, but for me it was just too 291 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:46,160 hot because I had a friend that had just signed up to TGC for 292 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:49,760 this year and I just kept thinking about how going, Oh my 293 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:53,960 God, I couldn't do this. Think you could. 294 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:55,320 It's. Well, sometimes they have bad 295 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:58,280 weather years, so you never know, you might get looker, I 296 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:00,920 guess. It's cold and wet, just like 297 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:03,280 here. But most of the time, yeah, it's 298 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:07,520 pretty warm, yeah. Yeah, you're not choosing to go 299 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:12,480 out there to get rain. You're choosing to go out there 300 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:17,560 to sit in the sun and relax and run up a mountain. 301 00:17:19,079 --> 00:17:21,359 Pretty much, isn't it? Yeah, we call inclusive holiday 302 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:24,400 with Jet 2 and then you've got got the race at the end of it. 303 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:28,200 That's that's how we've done it. I think that's the best way from 304 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:30,800 the sounds of it. Go out and do your running, 305 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:33,760 enjoy it, and then there you go. There's your holiday right there 306 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:35,120 as well. Go and chill. 307 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:37,960 That's a good recovery week. Pretty much, yeah. 308 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:40,200 We've done that a few times with races and it seems to work 309 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:42,560 really well for us. Yeah, a few different races 310 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:46,200 abroad and yeah, that's worked really well. 311 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:51,280 One of the ones that I'm selfishly dying to ask you about 312 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:55,720 that came up on your social media, The Dopey Challenge. 313 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:00,880 Can you talk about that? Yeah, the Dopey. 314 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:05,200 So the Dopey Challenge is in Walt Disney World, Florida, and 315 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:09,160 it is four races over four days. So it's it's part of the Walt 316 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:13,520 Disney World Marathon weekend. So they've got the 5K the next 317 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:15,360 day. It's 10K, half marathon, full 318 00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:17,280 marathon. And if you sign up to all four, 319 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:20,200 it's called the Dopey Challenge because who would be dopey 320 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:24,120 enough to do all four? And you get 6 medals by the way 321 00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:26,800 for it and six long sleeve technical T-shirts. 322 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:36,040 So we've done that twice and it was absolutely fantastic. 323 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:39,720 Like it was possibly the best marathon I've ever done. 324 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:44,160 I set a personal best in how many characters I met along the 325 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:49,800 way, which was a highlight. So like every half mile or every 326 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:53,280 kilometre, maybe they've got a certain Disney character or two 327 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:56,440 Disney characters to meet and you don't have to meet them. 328 00:18:56,440 --> 00:19:01,200 It just kind of keeps it fun. So yeah, we one year we just 329 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:04,440 went crazy and met pretty much everyone along the route. 330 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:08,400 But it is amazing. And it starts so early in the 331 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:11,040 morning, so it's not even hot. It starts at, I think the 332 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:15,840 marathon starts at 4:30 AM. So they do it, they do it really 333 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:18,200 early. So they get the majority of the 334 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:21,600 people through the parks before the parks open to the public, 335 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:25,000 which makes sense. But yeah, see you running down 336 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,480 Main Street the first time, honestly, we were bowling pretty 337 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:28,360 much. It was. 338 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:32,040 It's quite a special moment. It sounds really sad, but it was 339 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:38,240 special. My useless fact about Disney and 340 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:45,160 let me get this straight it's if a Disney character has clothes 341 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:53,840 on he is he or she or they are allowed to be an owner of a pet. 342 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:58,040 If they don't wear clothes they're they are the pet. 343 00:20:00,120 --> 00:20:02,960 That makes sense it. Doesn't make sense but I'm 344 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:06,080 trying to think now. And the only time it doesn't 345 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,400 apply is if Disney bought the character. 346 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:12,040 They didn't invent them. So, like, Winnie the Pooh isn't 347 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:16,000 our original Disney character. Oh man, I'm looking around the 348 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:18,360 room. That's probably the show, I'm 349 00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:21,720 sure. All right, as is a useless fact, 350 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:28,160 right? Getting back to you, if 351 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:30,760 anybody's watching the video, they can see the tattoos 352 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:32,640 creeping over your T-shirt. What? 353 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:34,200 What's the story with the tattoos? 354 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:39,240 I'm not sure actually, that's a good question. 355 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:41,040 But why do I get them? I don't know. 356 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:45,040 I hate the pain, but certain that's not the certainly not the 357 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:47,840 reason. But I don't know actually. 358 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:51,480 I just like the artwork. And initially, initially I got 359 00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:54,440 one to fit in with the whole cool alternate sort of scene 360 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,320 heavy metal. And I got a band logo on my arm 361 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:01,760 that's since long since been lasered off and covered up. 362 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:06,600 But I just like the idea of getting different things from 363 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:10,000 different people in different places that tell different 364 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:15,280 stories of, I guess, my life. Like I've got Disney ones. 365 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:17,840 I don't know. For the video. 366 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:21,120 Yeah, that was the most painful one, by the way. 367 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,440 That was that. Was that I'm watching the 368 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:29,960 podcast Ian's just showed us a hand tattoo of Mickey Mouse logo 369 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:33,600 on the palm of his hand. That's quite and it's you should 370 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:38,200 get that on your Instagram. That was unbelievable. 371 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,480 The guy was literally holding my hand down and he was stabbing it 372 00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:43,280 and that was the worst pain I've ever been in. 373 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:46,840 Getting a tattoo that in my chest have been the worst by 374 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,160 far. But I'm a bit of a coward now 375 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:50,800 when it comes to tattoos. I've got to be honest. 376 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,880 I do use numbing cream over the last two years, I think it was 377 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:57,720 since it came out on the scene. And it doesn't mean it's 378 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:00,520 painless, by the way, it's just it takes the edge off. 379 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:04,640 Have you got any running ones? Two. 380 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:12,720 Well, actually, yeah, I guess 2. So I've got a 100 that is the 381 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:18,320 logo for my first 100 mile. And then what I've decided to do 382 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:20,800 for some reason is get a tally under that every time I finish 383 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:24,000 100 mile. So that's on 6. 384 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:29,880 And then the other running 1 is from a hallucination. 385 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:33,160 I had ones which is the only ever hallucination I had. 386 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:35,520 So I got that tattoo because it I thought it was really funny 387 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:39,200 and. What was the hallucination? 388 00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:46,480 It was a Beaver on a like working a stone wheel and he has 389 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,400 like the the wood. So like it's a Beaver. 390 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:51,120 So he's making a dam and he's grinding this. 391 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:55,280 So he's, he's, he's spinning the stone wheel with his fork and 392 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,720 he's sharpening this, this wood spike thing to make his dam. 393 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,400 So I got that and it, it's a very good representation of what 394 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:05,160 it was like. But for some reason that seemed 395 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:08,160 so real at the time and I've never had that before. 396 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:16,000 One in the Pyrenees, Ultra Pyrenees, it was, it wasn't, it 397 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,960 was 110 kilometres, but it took me ages to do it. 398 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:22,120 And it was towards the end. The field was so spread out, 399 00:23:22,120 --> 00:23:24,240 there was hardly anyone around and who were going through like 400 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,880 this forest at night. And I don't know, my mind was 401 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:31,920 playing tricks on me I guess. Never happened since though, 402 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:37,920 unfortunately. So questions about how many 403 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:40,520 tattoos have you got? Do you know? 404 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:44,200 Have you counted? And too many. 405 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:48,080 I can get back to you on that. I'd say one, one whole cohesive 406 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,320 interconnected piece. Yeah. 407 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,440 More buffs than you and I have together mate with me. 408 00:23:58,440 --> 00:23:59,800 Maybe. Yeah, maybe. 409 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,760 I still want more though. You said the one on your palm of 410 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:07,680 your hands, probably the sorest. What's the sorest race that 411 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:12,280 you've done? Oh man, definitely either Ultra 412 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:16,520 perineum or Madeira. Probably Madeira maybe. 413 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:22,480 Yeah, that was so hard. And follow up question, was the 414 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:28,200 tattoo sorer than the race? Yes, but it's all the quicker. 415 00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:30,040 The tattoos are all the quicker the race. 416 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:33,000 Well for me the race is all the longer, especially when I'm 417 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,240 going slower. So that's a long drawn out pain 418 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:39,240 rather than a fast short pain. I actually thought I thought 419 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:41,560 tattoos would help me deal with the pain in an ultra, but it 420 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:43,920 doesn't doesn't translate as easy as that. 421 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:46,760 It doesn't get. You used to it. 422 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,200 It certainly doesn't. You mentioned that you had 423 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:54,520 numbing cream for your tattoos. Have you tried that for running? 424 00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:00,280 I have not, no. You could, I suppose you could 425 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:01,360 put it on your feet, couldn't you? 426 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:03,480 I don't know what your feet would be like, but. 427 00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:06,880 Depends what sore. That's true. 428 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:09,200 That's a good shout. No, I haven't. 429 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:13,200 I don't think I'm going to try, but it's it could be a market 430 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:14,840 for it out there. Yeah, it. 431 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:16,600 Depends. Depends what's in them and 432 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:20,800 cream. If it's well, non steroidal anti 433 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:23,520 inflammatories, I'm guessing it's something like that because 434 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:27,600 it's taking the swelling down in the tattoos apparently. 435 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:34,560 And I'm no medical professional. Cream is OK to use for NSAIDs 436 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,560 but tablets are not. So yeah, there could be a 437 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:42,200 market. I'm to a winner there, Mike, I'm 438 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:46,160 doing. You've had so many running 439 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:50,080 adventures round the world from the sounds of it, and in the UK. 440 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:53,640 Do you have any favourites that stick out? 441 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:56,320 Probably a bit too hard to choose. 442 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,400 No, no, no, no. Favorite, favorite races? 443 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:02,880 I think, yeah, the Dolby Challenge is definitely one of 444 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:05,160 them because that's like that for me and my wife. 445 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:06,600 That was a proper bucket list thing. 446 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:13,560 I think in the UK, I'd say Lakeland for me is a proper 447 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:16,160 standout race. That that was my first 100 448 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:19,640 Miller. I chose to do that was I 449 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:22,480 absolutely love that race. But then right now as well, 450 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:24,320 because I've done the West Highland where I've done the 451 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:27,680 race once, but I've done it three times and I do obviously 452 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:29,560 love that. I mean, we we bought a house in 453 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:32,320 Milgar because we enjoyed running on the West Island where 454 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:38,640 so I do like that. But another one actually last 455 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:43,560 year we went to Trump's on in in winter and ran a marathon. 456 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:46,480 I'd recommend that. It was a road marathon, but the 457 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:49,720 roads sheet high. So it's, I guess it's an ice 458 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:53,160 marathon. And that was a really good one. 459 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:58,920 Really good. And doing the research 460 00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:04,080 beforehand, your website, which I'll let you say it is. 461 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:08,920 Incometrails.com. Is about coaching. 462 00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:11,840 Tell us how you got into coaching. 463 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:16,600 How I got into coaching. So it was kind of on my radar 464 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:19,400 for a while. I'd always wanted to do and I'd 465 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,720 always help a few friends who just got into running by giving 466 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:27,200 them an Excel sort of thing. And I never thought I was fast 467 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,560 enough to do it. That was just my perception that 468 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:32,800 you is you have to be fast to be a coach, which is obviously not 469 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,960 true. And it all came about through 470 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:36,720 work. Actually. 471 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:42,640 I was struggling at work with my mental health and I went to a 472 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:45,760 therapist and I had a quite a lot of sessions with a therapist 473 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:49,240 and we're discussing like my core values. 474 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,400 It's a bit, it's a bit like inside out that that Pixar 475 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:55,080 movie, but you're finding your core values. 476 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:58,080 And I found out that mine was slightly different to what I do 477 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:01,160 as a job. So my therapist was kind of 478 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:05,200 influencing me to do something with that to put my focus on 479 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:08,600 something else than my values of trying to help others. 480 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:11,040 Came the whole coaching thing. Why that's, you know, that's the 481 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:14,080 kick up the bum. I actually needed to do 482 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:16,800 something about it. So I, yeah, it kind of came 483 00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:19,480 through that really she, she really helped me with the math 484 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:23,720 therapist and yeah, she gave me a kick up the bum and I did math 485 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:27,040 studying while I, while I was commuting on the train. 486 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:31,520 And so it was time well spent. And yeah, just kicked it off 487 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,960 recently. I was absolutely terrified to go 488 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,520 live with it and kick it off because it's, you're putting 489 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:39,240 yourself out there sort of thing, isn't it? 490 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:42,840 You know, it's, it's scary. And I think we all feel a bit of 491 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:45,160 that like impostor syndrome as well, sort of thing. 492 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:48,720 Like, should I be doing this? You know, it's, it's difficult. 493 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:56,320 Apparently, and I don't know how true this is, most people that 494 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:59,200 are good at something have gotten posture syndrome because 495 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:01,400 they don't believe that they're good enough. 496 00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:07,720 So, but I'm not the psychoanalyst person. 497 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:10,880 So is it running coaching that you do? 498 00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:14,240 Yeah, Yeah, it is, yeah. So it's specifically ultra 499 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,880 running coaching, but I'm not invest taking people on if they 500 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:18,320 want to train for shorter distances. 501 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:22,880 Yeah, it was the the US ultra running certification that I 502 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:26,920 know a few guys in Scotland have have done and that's how they 503 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:28,960 did the training. But it was good. 504 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:31,720 It was really good. Yeah, it was, it was a good 505 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:34,720 solid foundation that to to build from. 506 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:37,640 I guess like obviously it's better with experience, isn't 507 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,160 it? And actually coaching people. 508 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:43,600 But it was really good to get the insight and and learn the 509 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:46,720 different modules and things like that and techniques. 510 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:50,960 Do do you have space at the moment and how would somebody 511 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:54,520 get in touch? Yes, I do have space, not much 512 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:56,560 space, but people want to get in touch. 513 00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,120 They could go on the website, go on the YouTube, go on the 514 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:01,480 Instagram and just just give us a shout. 515 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:05,360 Aye, I'm quite easygoing and and open, to be honest. 516 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:09,480 I'm yeah, we're all about fun and adventure, I think. 517 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:15,520 And you see with your therapist going into the core values and 518 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:20,280 having discussions with you, was it it was that that gave you the 519 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,040 shove. But did you have friends as well 520 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:24,040 before that said, oh, you're really good at that, You should 521 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:26,280 do it. And you just had that impostor 522 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:32,160 syndrome and just said, oh, no. And how how did that come about? 523 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:38,120 What what I'm trying to say is was that everybody that was just 524 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:40,960 saying go for it as well. Yeah, my friends have been 525 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:46,080 really good and it is in my own head and my wife Vicky's been 526 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:47,680 really supportive. My friends have been really 527 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:49,680 supportive. Yeah, everyone has been, which 528 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:52,520 has been brilliant. But it's just getting out of my 529 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:55,440 own head and therapy has helped a lot with that. 530 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:57,920 I know, I know some people do say running is their therapy, 531 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:00,760 but I probably used to think that at the time until I 532 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:05,400 actually went and realised how good it actually is just to 533 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,360 bounce ideas. Well, just to chat to someone 534 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:12,160 neutral and just lay it all out there for them. 535 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:14,680 Yeah, it was definitely helped and. 536 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:17,880 Do you feel that's helped you're running as well? 537 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:23,040 Yeah, yeah, I think it has. We'll find out later in the year 538 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:25,120 when I did start doing some ultras and longer things. 539 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,360 But she's kind of helped with my mindset. 540 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:32,440 But I know there's other therapists out there that can 541 00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:35,440 can help with that who do outdoor therapy that can help 542 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:36,600 with mindset and things like that. 543 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:43,560 So yeah. And with the coach, how do you? 544 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:47,320 You must get a lot of questions about fuelling and, as we all 545 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:52,040 know, as very individual. How do you feel for your 546 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:55,040 different adventures and distances and events? 547 00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:57,880 Oh man, I've totally changed what I do. 548 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,800 You know, like I, I started using gels when I first got into 549 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:03,480 running because that was the thing you're training for a 550 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:07,000 marathon you're having, you're trying all the different gels. 551 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,400 I remember I had a spreadsheet when I was trying to analyse 552 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:12,640 them all and give them all ratings, what I thought of them. 553 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:17,800 But and then when I started getting into ultras, I remember 554 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:21,200 it was a West Highland where training weekend in Tindrum, I 555 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:25,240 can't remember what year, maybe 2015, sixteen and I met a guy 556 00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:27,880 there who I've never met him before. 557 00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:32,080 We since became good friends and he fuelled almost exclusively on 558 00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:37,520 Mars bars and Coca-Cola. And I mean it, it worked for 559 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:39,600 him. So I was like, I'm going to try 560 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:41,200 that. So I had that for years and 561 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:43,400 years and years, like that's all I'd have. 562 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:46,720 But as you know, when, when you've run with a Mars bar in 563 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:49,880 the hot weather, it's, it's just like molten, isn't it? 564 00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:54,680 So I came a cropper a few times having Mars bars in hot races, 565 00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,520 and that's probably what didn't help, leading to a few DNFS. 566 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:01,400 But I've changed now and I'm trying to have, yeah, yeah, the 567 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:11,320 real food, but also trying to have gels and really 90 grams 568 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:13,200 carbs an hour. A lot of the elites are trying 569 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:15,280 that. So I'm trying to get up to that 570 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:17,920 grain, the gut to get up to that. 571 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:20,120 So I'm having gels at the minute, yeah. 572 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:25,080 And what gels are you trying? I've actually tried a few 573 00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:27,120 recently. So I had Morton. 574 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,360 I've got to say they are by far the most expensive, but they're 575 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:32,040 they're fine. I mean, Morton's fine. 576 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:36,480 It was the drinks actually, as I was trying and I had a lot of 577 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:40,400 active route since 2020, I started taking active route. 578 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:42,600 I've gone off that now because you know when you have it too 579 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:44,800 much and you just sit get sick of it, don't you? 580 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:49,040 And just that's all I was having for a while was active route. 581 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:52,720 And then I've tried mountain Fuel and right now, yes, I'm on 582 00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:54,960 precision fuel and hydration. That's kind of like the main 583 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:57,000 one. I think to be honest, it is 584 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:01,600 because it's easier because you get the three in one pouch, so 585 00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:04,720 it's less waste as well. So I've been having that and in 586 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:07,040 my bottles I am having that as well. 587 00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:10,400 I was having mountain fuel, but I kind of mix it up between 588 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:14,280 mountain fuel and precision and to try and get to that sweet 589 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:19,600 spot of nine to 90 grams seems better than Mars bars. 590 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,360 Do do you think the 90 grams works for you? 591 00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:30,800 As a lot of people say for slower runners you shouldn't 592 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:34,159 have as much. For faster runners is up to 120 593 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:38,360 but some people just can't take in more than 40. 594 00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:43,920 So does it work for you? So I guess since I started this 595 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:46,880 year doing like fast training, it's working like it's working 596 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:50,080 fine. I've got it up to like 878587 an 597 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:54,280 hour, but that's flat fast running on the canal sort of 598 00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:55,880 thing. You know, I don't, I don't know 599 00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:59,040 how that's going to transition to like running over the going 600 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:01,200 over the devil staircase because that's for me, that's a lot of 601 00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:03,920 hiking. You know, it's not, I'm not 602 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:04,960 going to be running up that toilet. 603 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:06,640 It's hiking up that and yeah, running down. 604 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:11,080 So I don't know how that I think it will be difficult, but I'm 605 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:13,000 excited to try. I need, I definitely need to 606 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:14,520 start. I'm going to be trying it soon 607 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:19,840 once I get off these these roads, but that's another month 608 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:23,560 away. But it's working for my stomach 609 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:25,080 now. Yeah, thank thankfully. 610 00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:28,920 Touch wood. We have no issues with the 611 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:30,880 stomach. It doesn't go South. 612 00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:34,320 I think it must be brilliant when you find something that 613 00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:38,120 does actually work for you. I'm still, I'm still finding out 614 00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:42,320 and I would imagine I'm always still going to be learning about 615 00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:43,920 fueling. It's just something I can't seem 616 00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:46,600 to nail at the moment. You said that in one of the 617 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:48,880 other podcasts, I said you. You said that you've taken 618 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:51,360 everyone's recommendations for fuel and trying them all. 619 00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:57,000 Yeah. Maybe that's what the problem 620 00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,720 is. Maybe you're changing too soon, 621 00:35:59,720 --> 00:36:00,920 You're not getting used to something. 622 00:36:01,720 --> 00:36:03,440 Exactly, I just can't make my mind up. 623 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:13,680 You said, yeah, you said earlier about your favorite races, but 624 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:20,920 what about achievements, whether it's it might be a race, maybe 625 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:25,960 finishing a race or just what, what is your biggest running 626 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:33,200 achievement? I think, yeah, within races it's 627 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:36,160 probably got to be for me when I finished 100 mile or the first 628 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:41,040 time, Lateland 2017, that was my first first one. 629 00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:43,320 That was probably the biggest race running achievement I've 630 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:47,120 got, but that was crazy. I didn't, obviously, I didn't 631 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:50,600 think I was going to do it. I could have chose a different 632 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:54,640 one from my first one, but I chose Lakeland because of the 633 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:58,320 YouTube video and it's such a good video I watch every now and 634 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:01,600 again. But it's from the Lakeland 2016 635 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:05,400 and it just looked amazing. And I'd only ever been to the 636 00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:07,880 Lakes the year before that. That was my first ever time in 637 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:12,720 the Lakes was for an ultra called Ultimate Trails 110K. 638 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:16,800 And then yeah, I was like I need to go back. 639 00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:18,160 I need to do a racing the lyrics. 640 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:21,800 So I enjoyed the whole navigation aspect as well. 641 00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:23,720 And you'll be pleased here. I didn't get lost. 642 00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:26,600 So that was positive. I followed the road book. 643 00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:32,200 I think that's my biggest race achievement is probably yeah, 644 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:35,440 finishing my first 100 mile. But I think for running 645 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:37,520 achievements, I don't know actually, just generally I love 646 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:40,280 doing the the Munroes as well. I've done quite a few of them 647 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:44,520 and last year I did all the Sky Monroes and I think that was for 648 00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:46,800 me that was an achievement because I don't really like 649 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:51,680 exposure, so that doesn't help. But that was absolutely 650 00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:53,280 incredible. I'd highly recommend them. 651 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:54,680 They would. That was so good. 652 00:37:55,640 --> 00:38:00,320 I saw on your YouTube that you hiked, so not just running, but 653 00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:04,000 you were hiking with Big Derek Fish doing his final Monroe. 654 00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:05,440 Yeah. That's right. 655 00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:08,560 We've got history of me and Derek. 656 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:10,840 He's a good lad. He's he's coming out with me. 657 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,120 We've been abroad a few times together. 658 00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:17,600 I think we've been to UT MB a few times and call my A for Tour 659 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:20,960 de Johns and he's coming out with me this year to Western 660 00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:22,920 States. So he's a good lad. 661 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:24,160 He's Derek. We've done quite a lot of 662 00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:26,160 Monroes together. And yeah, I did his final one 663 00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:27,800 with him and his dad was there as well. 664 00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:29,800 So that was, that was a good moment. 665 00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:33,280 I really was. He he joined me. 666 00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:37,680 I was in Jelly Baby Hill and he joined me there for an hour or 667 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:42,520 so last year. I think it was so good for the 668 00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:44,160 company. Definitely. 669 00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:50,960 And you mentioned, you mentioned the tour there going, going out 670 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:54,480 there with Derek. Any plans to go back? 671 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,720 Nope at all. I quickly realized that Tour de 672 00:38:59,720 --> 00:39:01,920 Jaan's in 200 miles is not for me. 673 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:05,760 I I like that. I got to try it and I gave it a 674 00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:08,160 shot. I didn't get on well with it, 675 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:10,280 didn't like it. It's not for me. 676 00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:11,880 Well, I never. Said never. 677 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:15,640 That was a question from previous guest Joe Wilson. 678 00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:21,160 And she says that she tried to talk you into keeping on going 679 00:39:21,240 --> 00:39:24,760 at a checkpoint, and she was disappointed that that didn't 680 00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:28,160 work. Well, Joe was amazing, by the 681 00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:30,200 way, trying to. Yeah. 682 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:33,000 So I didn't even expect to see Joe that first life there. 683 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:34,520 So I thought she'd be long gone because. 684 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:37,480 Because Derek started. I think it's two hours before 685 00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:38,520 me. There's two waves. 686 00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:39,840 Or is it an hour? I can't remember. 687 00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:44,120 So I didn't expect to see her there, but when I saw her I'd 688 00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:46,400 already made-up my mind that I wasn't going to carry on. 689 00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:49,360 I was like, Oh no, I'm going to have to say no to her and she's 690 00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,240 not going to take it. But she was great. 691 00:39:52,240 --> 00:39:55,280 She was brilliant. She she was on the ball like I 692 00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:57,000 need to get some food, I need to get some sleep. 693 00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:58,000 Get I'll get you up at this time. 694 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,640 We'll get everything sorted. She was really good and then she 695 00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:04,720 accepted my decision to pull out, which was good. 696 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:09,080 She was lovely. Would you ever crew anyone if 697 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:10,720 they will do it if they wanted to do the tour? 698 00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:13,720 Yeah, I think so, yeah. I think crew. 699 00:40:13,720 --> 00:40:16,840 Crew is difficult, by the way. I've done it, done it for like 3 700 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:18,680 W Highland wares and things. It's hard. 701 00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:21,040 It's it's tiring. So. 702 00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:23,160 But I think it's probably more fun. 703 00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:26,160 I don't. Say that, Ian, that's my first 704 00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:28,320 crewing. I'm crewing one of my friends 705 00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:33,200 from the West Highland Way for the first time and this year and 706 00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:35,040 I'm really, really excited about it. 707 00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:38,840 But I've heard lots of people say, by the way, you'll be tired 708 00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:40,960 but. Not wrong. 709 00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:47,040 You'll be fine. It's a great day out for you 710 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:50,320 guys, It really is. I do enjoy, I enjoy Korean. 711 00:40:53,440 --> 00:41:01,880 So what? What do you think about when 712 00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:03,920 you're out in the hills on your own? 713 00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:09,160 My mind just going 1000 miles an hour. 714 00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:10,800 There's a lot of noise in my head. 715 00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:14,480 I don't know they are they used to be prior to therapy. 716 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:20,480 But for training I listen to music like 100% of the runs. 717 00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:24,000 Probably 90% runs. I listen to music in training, 718 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:26,400 but in races I never listen to music. 719 00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:28,800 If it's an if it's an ultra, I won't listen to music. 720 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:32,000 If it's if it's the road ones I've been doing this year, I do, 721 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:34,320 yeah. But for training, man, I always 722 00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:36,040 listen to music. Yeah. 723 00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:39,480 Is that? Particular music that you listen 724 00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:43,360 to. I'd say no, but I know, I know 725 00:41:43,720 --> 00:41:47,520 you're getting out of the metal, but recently I've been listening 726 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:49,840 to Peeling Flesh, which is like death metal. 727 00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:54,680 They're really good, but I guess generally it's a mix of euro 728 00:41:54,680 --> 00:42:02,120 pop, so like Eurovision sort of stuff, Avicii, heavy metal and 729 00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:04,520 maybe some Disney music if I'm feeling gooder. 730 00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:06,800 Yes, I hope you are going to say that I. 731 00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:10,080 Thought that the end count. Do you know what? 732 00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:12,000 Actually, I've been listening to the Wicked soundtrack. 733 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:16,920 I watched Wicked for the first time like last month and I'm 734 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:20,040 obsessed with it. The soundtrack's brilliant, so 735 00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:21,000 I've been really listening to that. 736 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:25,240 Defying Gravity is the Best Song, but it's just odd when you 737 00:42:25,240 --> 00:42:28,480 go from Defying Gravity to a peeling flash song. 738 00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:31,800 It just doesn't. It's good for, it's good for 739 00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:33,280 like interval workouts, isn't it? 740 00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:36,280 Because you're kind of going slow and then you just want to 741 00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:38,960 run fast. But I listen, I've listened to 742 00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:42,440 audio books and podcasts as well, and yeah, music's my sweet 743 00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:45,240 spot. But never for Ultras, always 744 00:42:45,240 --> 00:42:47,760 just like to try and chat to people. 745 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:57,560 Whoever wants to chat lately? I've used music during races and 746 00:42:57,560 --> 00:43:02,360 I've got a playlist made-up and Oracle on the playlist. 747 00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:06,920 The only thing is it can't be depressing because you don't 748 00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:10,760 want that in a race. It can be any sort of genre 749 00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:12,520 music as long as it's not depressing. 750 00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:15,360 Yeah. So no Coldplay then, is that 751 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:16,680 right? Yeah, pretty much. 752 00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:20,240 On everybody, hearts at their own moment. 753 00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:22,640 No, you don't want that. You don't want that. 754 00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:24,800 You need to be strategic on your playlist, I think. 755 00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:26,920 Yeah. As you know Nick, I've been very 756 00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:29,280 strategic on my recent half marathon playlist. 757 00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:33,880 Absolutely, that's absolutely that's going on on my next drum. 758 00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:39,360 By the way, Ian sent me his half marathon playlist and it sounds 759 00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:44,080 quite eclectic going from as a corner shop and then to angry an 760 00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:47,520 angry band. Yeah, so the corner Shop, that's 761 00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:50,240 I just remembered about that band Bring Full of Ashes. 762 00:43:50,240 --> 00:43:52,000 You you. Yeah, It's a good song, isn't 763 00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:53,920 it? I haven't heard it for 40 years, 764 00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:56,840 but I thought about that's a good pump up tune. 765 00:43:56,840 --> 00:43:59,920 I don't know why, but yeah, I made the playlist. 766 00:43:59,920 --> 00:44:04,800 I wanted to make it under 140 or under 1:30, so it forced me to 767 00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:07,160 get APB. So I knew by the end, the final 768 00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:10,200 track, if I got to the finish, I'd got APB or not. 769 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:13,560 But I bottled it and made it one hour 40 I think. 770 00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:15,720 But then I ended up getting a PB anyway so it was fine. 771 00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:17,560 It was a good playlist it it worked. 772 00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:21,040 And what was the final track you wanted to cross the finish line 773 00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:26,120 with? It was, I think it was a German 774 00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:33,160 techno song, but it's so fast-paced, you just can't help 775 00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:35,360 yourself. Etched, it's called. 776 00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:36,480 Yeah. It's a good song. 777 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:42,560 You'll you'll soon get to it. You've done so many adventures 778 00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:46,240 already and you mentioned the Dolby Challenge being on your 779 00:44:46,240 --> 00:44:48,560 bucket list and haven't done it twice. 780 00:44:49,240 --> 00:44:52,680 What else, apart from Western states, that we know, you've 781 00:44:52,680 --> 00:44:54,640 mentioned you're going out to do that. 782 00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:59,720 Aside from Western states, Is that anything else that is an an 783 00:44:59,720 --> 00:45:04,280 ultimate dream? The Bob Graham's probably a big 784 00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:08,160 dream again, that was another thing when I kind of got into 785 00:45:08,160 --> 00:45:10,840 running, reading books on audio books, there was a few about the 786 00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:13,000 Bob Graham and just visiting the Lake District. 787 00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:17,040 So that's, that's a big goal of mine. 788 00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:20,240 But the bucket list still has races on that I've never done 789 00:45:20,240 --> 00:45:24,040 like Laverado in Italy, the Eiger Ultra Trail in 790 00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:27,240 Switzerland, Leadville in America. 791 00:45:27,240 --> 00:45:30,800 There's I like to try out. Yeah, but not just ultras. 792 00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:34,200 Like for some reason I'd like to do Dura fell race. 793 00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:36,560 I don't know why. It's just a it sounds really 794 00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:38,080 appealing. I've never been to Juror. 795 00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:39,680 I like the idea about the distillery. 796 00:45:39,680 --> 00:45:42,040 The whiskey's nice. Running over the paps. 797 00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:45,640 Yeah. And, and even some marathons as 798 00:45:45,640 --> 00:45:48,000 well, Big city marathons. Venice is meant to be a good 799 00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:48,880 one. I'd love to do that. 800 00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:52,240 And there's an ultra in South Korea I'd like to do, but I 801 00:45:52,240 --> 00:45:53,360 don't know if I'll end up doing that. 802 00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:55,840 That's. I think we've realised that 803 00:45:55,840 --> 00:45:59,040 going to Asia is best to do it for a holiday rather than a race 804 00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:03,240 because otherwise, yeah, that's what happened recently. 805 00:46:03,240 --> 00:46:14,600 But yeah. The next question was, is there 806 00:46:14,600 --> 00:46:19,360 anybody that you can think of that you would want to go for a 807 00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:21,240 run with? It might be one of your friends 808 00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:25,760 and and meaning it could be a Disney character, actually a 809 00:46:27,360 --> 00:46:32,640 live, not real, not who? Who would you most like to run 810 00:46:32,640 --> 00:46:36,000 with? Probably want to run with Scott 811 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:41,080 Jurich and Andreessen so they can just give me the lowdown on 812 00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:43,960 Western States and their techniques. 813 00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:47,240 Not that I'm going to be running it in their times, but I think 814 00:46:47,240 --> 00:46:49,800 it'd be good shot. And maybe it wouldn't, maybe 815 00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:53,680 there'd be a bit of tension between them, but I feel that 816 00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:57,040 I'd be the bridge between that to, to bring them together. 817 00:46:57,800 --> 00:47:01,520 So they they'd come and maybe we'd get Walt Disney with with 818 00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:06,120 resurrect him and bring him. He might keep it light hearted. 819 00:47:06,280 --> 00:47:08,600 We could learn about the multiplaying camera and things. 820 00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:13,000 I don't know. Yeah, I think it'd be a strange 821 00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:15,160 bunch. But I'm sure Scott and Ann had 822 00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:16,520 probably get on with Walt as well. 823 00:47:16,520 --> 00:47:23,000 Maybe, but not won't know now. But yeah, maybe with Ann and 824 00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:25,000 Scott I can run with Wanda. Yeah. 825 00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:29,400 And talking about Western states, is there anything that 826 00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:33,320 you're doing to prepare for Western states? 827 00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:40,640 Yeah, man, this whole year, it's kind of changed all my year, to 828 00:47:40,640 --> 00:47:44,160 be honest. So I kind of started the doing, 829 00:47:44,720 --> 00:47:47,760 trying to build my own fitness and speed up. 830 00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:50,400 So I've been, that's why I've been just talking about running 831 00:47:50,400 --> 00:47:51,760 on the roads. That's all I've been doing just 832 00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:56,160 now is trying to do that to get faster and it's working so far, 833 00:47:56,160 --> 00:47:59,520 which is really good news. It's finishing next month with a 834 00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:01,080 marathon. Hopefully I get APB at that. 835 00:48:01,080 --> 00:48:04,920 And then that I've got no races between then and Western states. 836 00:48:04,920 --> 00:48:08,680 So yeah, after then it's, it's going to be primarily running 837 00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:12,880 on, on the West Highland where I've, I wanted to get into, I 838 00:48:12,880 --> 00:48:15,160 wanted to do the devil actually. But I've decided I'm going to do 839 00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:20,080 like a training weekend myself, training camp sort of thing, you 840 00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:23,600 know, over three days, do it and replicate like how the race 841 00:48:23,600 --> 00:48:26,200 would be. And in May I'm going to start 842 00:48:26,200 --> 00:48:28,960 using the sauna. I'm going to do a 10 day stint 843 00:48:28,960 --> 00:48:31,080 in the sauna because I read that. 844 00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:34,960 So it worked really well last year going in the sauna before 845 00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:37,000 we went to Hong Kong. So I'm going to do that for 846 00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:39,880 Western states. But it's looking good, like it's 847 00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:41,640 really good. The accommodations all booked, 848 00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:43,960 I've got the crew all ready to come out with me. 849 00:48:43,960 --> 00:48:47,720 We've all booked flights, which is insane that people have 850 00:48:47,840 --> 00:48:53,360 agreed to come out to America for two weeks for my own selfish 851 00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:55,240 thing. But it'll be a great holiday 852 00:48:55,240 --> 00:48:59,080 with the guys. Looking forward to that, yeah. 853 00:48:59,080 --> 00:49:02,480 I just want to ask as well, Ian, It came into my head as you were 854 00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:05,720 chatting there. What was that like when your 855 00:49:05,720 --> 00:49:09,280 name got drawn? I was jumping up and down. 856 00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:12,720 We're watching it live. And it was the fifth name as 857 00:49:12,720 --> 00:49:15,040 well. Like we'd ordered Pizza Hut 858 00:49:15,400 --> 00:49:19,120 ready for a 2 1/2 hour live stream and my name came fifth 859 00:49:19,120 --> 00:49:21,360 and I was jumping up and down. I did my back and my back was 860 00:49:21,360 --> 00:49:23,080 sore. And then Derek Fish is on the 861 00:49:23,080 --> 00:49:25,440 phone straight away chatting about it. 862 00:49:25,440 --> 00:49:27,560 And I want obviously I watched it to the end because I wanted 863 00:49:27,560 --> 00:49:30,520 to see who else got in. But yeah, it was just so 864 00:49:30,520 --> 00:49:33,200 exciting and absolutely buzzing about it. 865 00:49:33,200 --> 00:49:36,600 Like it's been 9 years I've wanted to get in. 866 00:49:36,600 --> 00:49:38,840 I won the COVID year. Obviously I had to skip and I 867 00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:42,320 had to skip ADNF year. But so 7, seven years, I've 868 00:49:42,440 --> 00:49:46,880 already qualified for this thing and applied and finally got in. 869 00:49:47,960 --> 00:49:50,480 So yeah, I just, I think the crew are buzzing as well to just 870 00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:52,560 be out there and experience it as well. 871 00:49:52,560 --> 00:49:55,440 I think for them it hopefully they'll have an amazing time. 872 00:49:57,440 --> 00:49:58,200 Yeah. So you. 873 00:49:58,680 --> 00:50:01,800 Had applied in the past and you weren't one of these people that 874 00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:04,040 just entered once and just got in. 875 00:50:04,560 --> 00:50:10,480 No, I'm not like John Connolly. Yeah, but it was good that he 876 00:50:10,480 --> 00:50:13,040 brought the belt buckle. He let me see the belt buckle at 877 00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:16,400 one of the pylon training training weekends, wasn't it? 878 00:50:16,400 --> 00:50:17,680 So that was, that was really good. 879 00:50:18,160 --> 00:50:21,800 But yeah, a lot, a lot of years, a lot of dedication, I guess. 880 00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:24,560 But I don't know. So it's going to be over soon, 881 00:50:24,560 --> 00:50:26,080 isn't it? And then not going to have to 882 00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:29,000 apply it again or maybe carry on applying because I loved it so 883 00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:30,000 much. I want to do it again. 884 00:50:30,720 --> 00:50:34,040 If you get into western states, does that qualify you for Hard 885 00:50:34,040 --> 00:50:37,240 Rock? No, but it qualifies you for 886 00:50:37,240 --> 00:50:42,920 Western states right again, even though you I'll be back at 1 887 00:50:42,920 --> 00:50:47,160 ticket and it also gives you UTMB stones, but that's a whole 888 00:50:47,160 --> 00:50:48,880 of the ball game that is now isn't it? 889 00:50:49,680 --> 00:50:52,440 And do you have a coach or are you self coaching? 890 00:50:52,960 --> 00:50:55,320 Yeah, yeah, I've got a coach, Ali Bevan. 891 00:50:55,840 --> 00:50:59,760 So he, he wrote that book Broken, Yeah, about all the FKTS 892 00:50:59,760 --> 00:51:01,800 in 2020. I've worked with Ali since Tour 893 00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:06,600 de genre, so four years. I think now he's great. 894 00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:08,280 We're getting really well together. 895 00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:11,200 He knows me inside out and he knows my motivations and what 896 00:51:11,200 --> 00:51:13,480 works for me. So yeah, Ali's absolutely 897 00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:15,720 buzzing. He's he's really excited about 898 00:51:15,720 --> 00:51:17,440 the whole Western states thing. He's not coming out right 899 00:51:17,440 --> 00:51:22,240 enough, but he's he's helping me get the fittest I can be for it. 900 00:51:23,760 --> 00:51:27,160 Yeah, that'll. Be a fantastic trap. 901 00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:29,640 I think so, yeah. We're really excited. 902 00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:32,360 There's it's me, Victoria, Gav Buser. 903 00:51:32,520 --> 00:51:35,520 You guys will know Derek Fish and his partner Zara. 904 00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:41,120 So the fight, yeah, 12345 of us, five of us going out. 905 00:51:41,120 --> 00:51:42,320 What? A crew. 906 00:51:42,880 --> 00:51:48,320 Anna, it's a good crew. How many crew are you allowed in 907 00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:49,400 the race? Is there a limit? 908 00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:53,240 No, I mean, you see some of the videos on YouTube and they've 909 00:51:53,240 --> 00:51:55,480 got everyone in the kitchen sinks there. 910 00:51:55,520 --> 00:51:57,480 You know, there's hundreds of them. 911 00:51:58,040 --> 00:52:00,120 No, you're not allowed. But I think, I think in terms of 912 00:52:00,120 --> 00:52:04,040 runners, you are allowed people to run with you from mile 62. 913 00:52:04,720 --> 00:52:06,760 Don't quote me on the names because I haven't, I haven't 914 00:52:06,760 --> 00:52:08,560 learned them yet. But I think it's maybe Forest 915 00:52:08,560 --> 00:52:09,920 Hill or Michigan Bluff or something. 916 00:52:10,920 --> 00:52:14,520 But they can swap in and out. So yeah, my plan is to have Gav 917 00:52:14,560 --> 00:52:19,240 and Derek do two big stints with me, like almost 20 miles each 918 00:52:19,240 --> 00:52:21,440 almost. And then get Vicky for the very 919 00:52:21,440 --> 00:52:24,080 final bit. And because that'll be like 920 00:52:24,080 --> 00:52:26,160 more, hopefully I won't be running fast. 921 00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:29,440 Then it'll be more like a euphoric sort of feeling. 922 00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:33,000 Who knows what it'll be like. It might be a death March. 923 00:52:33,520 --> 00:52:36,600 And that'll be some that will be something really special for the 924 00:52:36,600 --> 00:52:41,080 two of you, you know, to share at the end of that what you 925 00:52:41,080 --> 00:52:44,640 know, what an end to an amazing trip that would be. 926 00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:47,240 Absolutely, yeah. I think Vicky will appreciate 927 00:52:47,240 --> 00:52:51,720 the fact that I'm tired and she isn't, and she's kicking my ass 928 00:52:51,720 --> 00:52:55,840 to run faster. So I think she'll be, yeah, 929 00:52:55,840 --> 00:52:58,000 she'll be living a best life doing that. 930 00:52:58,720 --> 00:53:01,200 And you'll be appreciative of the support that should be 931 00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:03,360 dishing out to you. Absolutely. 932 00:53:06,760 --> 00:53:10,360 So I think that I think you've already answered our last 933 00:53:10,360 --> 00:53:15,080 question, which is what's next. And we know what's next. 934 00:53:15,080 --> 00:53:18,160 It's what you just said. Western States and everything 935 00:53:18,160 --> 00:53:20,640 leading up to it. Yeah, yeah. 936 00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:22,440 So that pretty much. So hopefully the marathon will 937 00:53:22,440 --> 00:53:25,440 be a PB and then yeah, western States and then after western 938 00:53:25,440 --> 00:53:28,560 states, I have no plans, which is amazing. 939 00:53:28,560 --> 00:53:32,240 So hopefully just going to do some super low key fell races, 940 00:53:32,240 --> 00:53:36,520 hill races, the total opposite of the Western states bubble. 941 00:53:36,960 --> 00:53:38,880 Just and what Madison are you doing, Ian? 942 00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:42,000 It's, it's called the Great Welsh Marathon. 943 00:53:42,440 --> 00:53:46,400 It's near Cardiff and I chose it because it fits in well with 944 00:53:46,400 --> 00:53:48,840 training and it's meant to be flat and fast. 945 00:53:50,720 --> 00:53:52,960 So I'll, I'll let you know if it is flat and fast, it could, 946 00:53:53,280 --> 00:53:55,520 there's a potential that it could be just a headwind because 947 00:53:55,520 --> 00:53:59,000 it's on the coast. So I'd hope not, but you never 948 00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:02,000 know, do you? I can't wait to see the year 949 00:54:02,040 --> 00:54:05,440 ahead for you, not just with the running but with the coaching as 950 00:54:05,440 --> 00:54:08,280 well and everything that lies ahead for you. 951 00:54:09,280 --> 00:54:10,400 Thank you. I really appreciate that. 952 00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:13,040 Yeah, I'm excited as well. Absolutely love the idea of the 953 00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:16,080 coaching and that logo is. I love the logo as well. 954 00:54:16,120 --> 00:54:18,080 I'm going to get some merch as well. 955 00:54:18,080 --> 00:54:19,960 Yeah. Going to ask, are you going to 956 00:54:19,960 --> 00:54:24,720 do a bus? Yes, because I well, I know that 957 00:54:24,720 --> 00:54:27,560 you've both had a competition on who's got the most books of it. 958 00:54:28,160 --> 00:54:30,880 Yeah, I'm, I'm going to do both. So I'll, I'll send you guys one. 959 00:54:32,400 --> 00:54:37,760 So the question is exactly. I have AI was thinking this when 960 00:54:37,760 --> 00:54:40,840 I was listening to it. I have a one Carlax square full. 961 00:54:41,120 --> 00:54:43,520 I haven't counted them. I was thinking should I count 962 00:54:43,520 --> 00:54:47,600 them but I didn't so I'm just going to say I have over 50 then 963 00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:54,200 so I'm beating Mike I. I I didn't know how many I had 964 00:54:54,200 --> 00:54:59,880 when I counted them, so the only reason I counted them is because 965 00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:03,960 Nikki and Kaylee thought that they were going to be the 966 00:55:03,960 --> 00:55:05,760 champion and I had to outdo them they. 967 00:55:06,680 --> 00:55:09,040 Did, didn't they? I know I got that impression as 968 00:55:09,040 --> 00:55:13,920 well, yeah. Right. 969 00:55:14,240 --> 00:55:20,680 That I think draws an end to this episode. 970 00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:24,320 And I just like to say thanks for Nikki, for being Nikki and 971 00:55:24,320 --> 00:55:28,200 thanks Ian for coming on and talking to us. 972 00:55:29,960 --> 00:55:33,080 And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye from me. 973 00:55:33,600 --> 00:55:34,840 Thank you guys. Cheers. 974 00:55:35,960 --> 00:55:36,160 Bye.