1 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:33,280 Hi and welcome to the first ever episode of Run Till You're Done. 2 00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:39,600 We're here at the end of the Feta Wrestle Trail marathon and 3 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:45,000 today's female winner Meryl Cooper has kindly joined me for 4 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,160 an interview. Meryl, can you give me a brief 5 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:51,800 description of your running history? 6 00:00:53,000 --> 00:01:01,760 So yeah, I kind of started running in 2015, sixteen. 7 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:06,400 I'd only done like a little bit of kind of some tankies and 8 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:11,360 maybe like 1/2 marathon around then, but really played like a 9 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:14,760 lot of football and lots of different sports. 10 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:22,120 So I kind of like was fit from doing that, but not very running 11 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,280 fit and certainly hadn't done any hills or anything. 12 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:31,600 So yeah, got into then and then I kind of just gradually started 13 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:33,640 to increase the distance. I did a little bit of trail 14 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,720 running when I was out living in the UAE at the time in Dubai, 15 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:41,120 Loved it. I think it reminded me of just 16 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:45,240 being back home and like used to really like mountain biking when 17 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:47,560 I lived down in Edinburgh and things like that. 18 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:53,000 So yeah, just started to get back out into the nature and the 19 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:57,640 outdoors and a bit of biking, sorry, trail running instead of 20 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:01,320 biking and just yeah just quite quickly fell in love with it and 21 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:06,400 built at the distance 2017. I did a bit of A to the 50K 22 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:10,919 which was quite flat I suppose compared to some of the stuff I 23 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:13,440 do now. Had about 1500 meters of 24 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:17,640 elevation and that was a no man. And then later that year I went 25 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:23,120 and did Eiger Ultra Trail 51K with 3 1/2 thousand meters. 26 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,920 And that was my kind of introduction to proper ultra 27 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:30,160 trail stuff. And yeah, just went from there. 28 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:33,040 And I've just kind of, yeah, built things up a little bit. 29 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:38,080 Decided I wanted to actually kind of compete in this sport 30 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:40,880 probably the following year, 2018, and I've been yet 31 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:44,800 competing in it since. So today was, today was great 32 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:46,040 fun. Though I have to say I really 33 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:50,240 enjoyed doing something a bit shorter and yeah, maybe Leslie, 34 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,160 where you can actually run all the the hills, not walking in. 35 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:55,960 So yeah, true. Compared to what you're used to 36 00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:58,960 today was quite flat I think. Yeah. 37 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,080 No, it was, it was, I don't know, just I quite enjoyed it. 38 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:05,480 Quite like the kind of, I suppose, like the moderate 39 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:09,880 effort that you can kind of do over that and just, yeah, just 40 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:15,360 like I hadn't wrecked it. I hadn't even had really no idea 41 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:18,600 how long it would take. So I just ran to feel and just 42 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:22,200 it's quite nice, just constantly checking is like, do you think I 43 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:24,000 can keep this going for a marathon? 44 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:27,160 Yeah, probably can. And just focusing on all the 45 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:32,040 other stuff like fueling and hydrating and trying to keep my 46 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:36,080 form quite good and yeah. What were you fueling with 47 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:39,200 today? So I was feeling with gels. 48 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:44,160 So torque gels kind of. I wasn't as on it as normal 49 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,320 because I was also a little bit nervous because it maybe was a 50 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:51,960 little bit higher effort than I am used to trading with my gels. 51 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:57,240 So probably was having about a gel every 25 minutes and there's 52 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:02,080 30 grams of carb and so it would have probably been around 80 53 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:07,840 grams of carb an hour. I also was quite strict with my 54 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:14,040 hydration and made sure that I had I think I had two liters 55 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:19,680 over the time, so just under 3 hours 20 and 2 liters of water 56 00:04:19,959 --> 00:04:23,560 with electrolytes and there was a bit of carb in that drink so 57 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,440 it was constantly like that little bit of electrolytes and 58 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:28,720 carb. And I also had to salt tablet 59 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,360 every hour. I did have three so 3 salt 60 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,440 tablets in the in the race. I think that was that was about 61 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:37,600 it all fuel. You're putting me to shame. 62 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:42,720 I think I had about 80 grams of carbs for the whole race and 63 00:04:42,840 --> 00:04:44,800 probably about 200 mils of water. 64 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:46,640 Yeah. You know what I was I was 65 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:50,920 surprised there was a lot of people I saw having not filling 66 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:55,480 up at the at all and everyone's different but there is a lot of 67 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:59,840 research out there of hydration with you know performance and 68 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:04,560 and I I know I'm not as fast as you know probably even yourself 69 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:09,520 and a lot of other runners out there but it you know it stops 70 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:11,040 you from slowing down doesn't it. 71 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,560 It's like it's not the I always believe and I've got told this 72 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:19,280 probably back in 2019 it's like it's not the fastest person who 73 00:05:19,280 --> 00:05:22,080 wins on ultra. It's a person who slows down the 74 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,560 least and just yeah I just always kind of remember that and 75 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:29,360 it so it's all about managing yourself isn't it over these 76 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:30,760 long distances. So yeah. 77 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:36,480 What What kind of distance would you say that you were? 78 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:39,400 Like? What's your ideal distance? 79 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:50,680 I do think it's maybe around like 50 mile, but probably with 80 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:56,560 like a bit of elevation, but not as much elevation as what I seem 81 00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:00,560 to end up racing all the time. So like the world champs I was 82 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,560 at in November and it was 80 K with four and a half thousand 83 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:07,440 meters of elevation or 50 miles and 4 1/2 thousand. 84 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:09,400 Not sure what that is in feet I'm afraid. 85 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:14,320 Do be something like 1314. Thousand. 86 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:21,640 Yeah. You're probably younger, a lot 87 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:26,840 younger than I am. So you're feet and feet, meters 88 00:06:26,840 --> 00:06:29,400 and kilometers, Is that right? Yeah, I am. 89 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:33,920 I'm yeah, I think that came from like you know starting running 90 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:37,520 in Dubai as well because that was instead of starting running 91 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:41,120 in the UK. But yeah, I think one of my some 92 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:44,880 of my better races have been hilly but not that hilly. 93 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:47,440 I think. I do think that's what I prefer. 94 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:52,840 It's about 50 miles and probably over the 50 miles, maybe high 95 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:55,840 2000 meters, maybe 3000 meters of elevation. 96 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:57,600 Yeah, I think that would be my sweet spot. 97 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:03,480 Yeah, I'm a mixture of meters for elevation and miles for 98 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:04,640 distance. I tried. 99 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:06,640 To convert. People do that, yeah. 100 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:08,880 Yeah, try to convert to kilometers, my watch. 101 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:12,400 But because I'm so used to miles, I ended up just not 102 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:14,280 looking at my watch. So it's kind of what's the 103 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:18,360 point. Yeah, yeah, I have all the races 104 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:21,720 that you've done what or not even races. 105 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:23,800 What's your biggest running achievement? 106 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:27,040 How do you think? Like, you know, obviously 107 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,920 getting to run for Great Britain's been pretty a pretty 108 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:35,200 big achievement to get selected and you know, when there's been 109 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:38,760 some pretty tough selection policies as well. 110 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:41,320 So yeah, I think that probably is. 111 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:44,560 I still don't think that, you know, my performances I've had 112 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:46,360 when I've been representing Great Britain, I don't think 113 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:50,200 reflects what I'm capable of. Yes, you know, I've don't think 114 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:52,520 I've done that. So I think if I get to do that 115 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:55,400 that would probably would be my greatest achievement is running 116 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:59,080 from my country and giving it you know my best and feeling 117 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:02,080 I've my performance reflected what I can do. 118 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:07,040 But yes I think I think that probably probably is but another 119 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:08,880 highlight was definitely the like winning the British 120 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:13,040 Championship 21 it was the Lakeland Trails 100K race. 121 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:15,800 I think that probably it's definitely. 122 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:17,160 Up there, Have you been selected again? 123 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:19,040 Have you got a A qualifying coming up? 124 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:23,720 Yeah, so I've basically about to go out to Trans Gran Canaria 125 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:29,200 race, 84K race there with four and a half 1000 meters at the 126 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:31,920 end of this month. So that will be a bit of a 127 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:35,559 qualifier. But yeah, there's no guarantee. 128 00:08:35,799 --> 00:08:39,240 The selection policy is pretty tough and stuff, so just got to 129 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:41,600 see go do my best and see what happens. 130 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:43,720 We both just finished a marathon. 131 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:48,800 Yeah. What would you be your advice to 132 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:57,560 stop chafing? Yeah, I just like being really. 133 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:00,760 I don't think I got any today actually, which is quite a 134 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:05,040 miracle but definitely weird over a longer distance. 135 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:08,440 But I do put on anti chief normally, totally forgot to do 136 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:11,760 it today. But on any bits that I've ever 137 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:15,320 chafed in training, I think you've got to just presume 138 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:18,120 they're going to chaf in the race and absolutely cover them 139 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:20,880 with anti chief did you get? Any chief, I did not. 140 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:24,280 Know that's good too. There's nothing worse in 141 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:30,040 Thailand with like all the heat, sweat, the humidity. 142 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:35,120 I had the worst chief I've ever had, and it was in places I 143 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:39,280 didn't even know you could. And when you're getting poured 144 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,240 ice and cold water getting poured over your head and down 145 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,120 your back, and then it's just stinging all the bits that were, 146 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,080 oh, it was, it was not great, but yeah. 147 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:51,120 Key key question chafing or chafing? 148 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,360 Chafing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 149 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:58,680 Is is that a northeast of Scotland thing or is that I 150 00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:01,600 don't? Know maybe. 151 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:02,320 We. We're in the. 152 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:06,120 Chafing club some. Some votes on the the comments 153 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:06,960 for that. One I. 154 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,800 Think so. OK, we're probably about an an 155 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:12,640 hour after you finished the race. 156 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:19,600 What was your post race sort of ritual on how to recover? 157 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:23,880 How to What do you do post race? Well you just, it just made me 158 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:26,120 think it's like, oh, I didn't actually do a cool dine. 159 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:30,440 Normally I would definitely go into a bit of a cool dine but 160 00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:33,880 for whatever reason today didn't just enjoying chatting to 161 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:35,880 people. It's been ages since I've been 162 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:38,680 at a local race. It's been so nice to just catch 163 00:10:38,680 --> 00:10:42,880 up with friends and just chill out I suppose I got my torque 164 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:45,360 recovery shake pretty quick got that in. 165 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:48,200 I think it's really important. I was feeling much better if I 166 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:52,280 can get food in quick, so had a bit of soup with vegetables that 167 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:56,680 was provided, torque recovery shake that's got kind of, I 168 00:10:56,680 --> 00:11:02,760 think it's like 3 to one ratio carb to protein and I'll go and 169 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:06,600 have a banana, 9 hydrate all the way home and a bit of cake as 170 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:08,120 well. So just basically get as much 171 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:11,400 food in and yeah, just like I said today, my priority was just 172 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:15,560 enjoying the finish line and just enjoying child people and 173 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:20,120 stuff, so yeah. Between races, what's your 174 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:22,840 normal diet? Do you count your macros? 175 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:24,440 Do you? How does it? 176 00:11:24,680 --> 00:11:27,760 I kind of quite intuitively eat I'd say. 177 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:33,840 So I like listen to if you know am I craving carbs and sugar and 178 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:41,040 if I am and probably needs more sugar, carb and no I don't count 179 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:42,480 things. I kind of work a bit more of a 180 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:45,920 try and have like half a plate of vegetables with my meals. 181 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:49,840 I try and have a good palm size protein portion. 182 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:55,520 I have like a lot of carbs of you know, whole grains, pasta or 183 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:59,200 pasta or things like that. Potatoes try and have like some 184 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:04,000 healthy fats in my meal as well. So the meals are all balanced 185 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:08,440 and three really good meals and then I don't shy away from 186 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:12,040 snacking between and they'll generally be but carbon protein 187 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:15,800 and snacks. So yeah, I don't count but and I 188 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:22,240 know I probably need like 2 protein shakes a day as well on 189 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:25,560 top of that. Otherwise I feel I can't get 190 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:30,120 enough protein in. So I'll tend to have in the 191 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:33,760 morning, I'll tend to have a protein shake and to have one 192 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:37,000 another fine day of snack or maybe like about an hour before 193 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:39,200 going to bed. So that's kind of the daily 194 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:42,760 thing but it is I can't like stress enough to anyone Do you 195 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:47,360 know to running that we've we've got to get loads of food in. 196 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:53,800 It's like eat plenty always. And you know, if I also try and 197 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:58,560 listen and if I'm if I'm a bit tired, bit tired and I shouldn't 198 00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:00,880 really be tired, then I'll like back off. 199 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:05,120 Things like caffeine, like, you know, stimulants, which I think 200 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:10,000 we need to just like rest our body from them when we're tired. 201 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,360 It might seem the opposite and what we quite often do is reach 202 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:14,320 for more and more caffeine because we're really tired. 203 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:16,920 But I I stripped that back so I haven't had actually any 204 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:18,880 caffeine all week because I was quite tired at the start of the 205 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:21,520 week. And yeah, very good today, so. 206 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:27,520 During a race, do you have any mantras that you tell yourself? 207 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:32,800 I think just like today I was, they kind of changed a little 208 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:34,520 bit depending on the course and stuff. 209 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:39,000 I would say I do the later stages of a lot of ultras is 210 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:40,320 like 1 foot in front of the other. 211 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:45,320 But today I remember like just I was actually giving myself quite 212 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:48,000 a lot of positive self talk because what's going well and I 213 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:53,240 was chuffed and also about kind of just focusing on relaxing 214 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:56,760 like I been noticing and training a bit lately like my 215 00:13:56,760 --> 00:13:59,000 face. I think maybe that the wind 216 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:01,920 getting battered by the wind as my face and like all the time 217 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,320 like really tight. So it's like focusing on 218 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,720 relaxing everything and not like striving too hard when I'm 219 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:09,960 running and just keeping a really relaxed technique and 220 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:11,680 form and I think I run better that way. 221 00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:15,360 So, so yeah, just a lot of like, right, Just relax, just like get 222 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:19,480 into like a nice comfy flow and. Leading up to a race, whether 223 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:23,760 it's the hours before, days before, do you have any pre race 224 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:27,320 rituals? Not massively, but there is a 225 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:30,920 lot of organization required for a lot of our ultras. 226 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:35,360 So I try to get everything organized quite early. 227 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:40,600 Like even for this race today I was I'd packed everything up on 228 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:44,560 Friday and the race is obviously on the Sunday so and that just 229 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:49,560 helps me to to kind of be in a good a good headspace and so 230 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:54,120 that's a bit of a ritual but nothing like to kind of there's 231 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:56,600 nothing like you know I don't know I know some people probably 232 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:59,560 have like quite cool ones but that's just a bit of like 233 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:03,680 basically I just try and get organized and get get my shit 234 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:08,920 together and tends to lead to a more relaxed day before the race 235 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:14,000 rather than rushing around and after 10:00 and like before 236 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:18,040 packing gels and. Stuff, Yeah, You said earlier 237 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:21,840 that you used to play football. Do you still play football? 238 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:26,680 And how do you think that lateral movement sports plays 239 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:30,040 with running? Yeah, I think the lateral 240 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:37,080 movement stuff built up a really good kind of fundamental skills 241 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:39,080 base for me. I think it really helps for 242 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:41,040 trail running and the technical trail. 243 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:44,880 I'd love to still play and I was tempted. 244 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:47,560 There was an opportunity on a Friday night in Banquet. 245 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:50,440 There's a women's football group, so it's really keen to 246 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:54,960 get get back into it, but it's tough bouncing up. 247 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:56,760 There's a bit more risk of getting injured. 248 00:15:56,960 --> 00:15:59,520 I did chat with James Crookshank, physio, and I said 249 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:02,640 what do you think about it? And he actually was quite 250 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,480 supportive of it. And again, he believes it's 251 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:09,120 really beneficial. So yeah, might happen yet. 252 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:11,800 You might haven't yet. But I didn't feel it was the 253 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:13,240 right right now. But. 254 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:14,120 We'll see. Yeah. 255 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:17,360 Well, I think I've taken too much of your time already, so. 256 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:20,320 It's alright, we'll just go get back and get the dog, get the 257 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:23,560 dog out for a walk because it's he's been left for a few hours. 258 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:26,120 He's the most important person. In the house? 259 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:30,040 Exactly. Well, thank you, Meryl, and 260 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:33,080 hopefully see everybody else next time. 261 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:34,360 Yeah. Thank you.