Latest / The People Run Podcast / #68 He's Only 19 and Runs a 32-Minute 10K | João Souza

Transcript

#68 He's Only 19 and Runs a 32-Minute 10K | João Souza · The People Run Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: I wanna paint this out for everyone listening.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_03: At one point you were sixteen years old.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_03: Living in Brazil.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: You get an opportunity to move all the way to the UK, start life over, you get into running.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_03: You're 19 now and you're about to start university.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_03: You already have a 10K of 3217.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_03: You're going for Copenhagen half marathon here with the goal, if I correct me if I'm wrong, 70.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_03: Been running three years.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's very fast already.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_03: What happened?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so uh as I'm I'm Brazilian, uh I was a footballer uh at the past.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh like everyone is a bit passionate for football over here, and I was a goalkeeper actually, but I kept getting injury, uh injured.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I broke my arm twice, and then I said to myself, okay, I have to get some gym in to get a little bit stronger.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and then at the gym was my first like uh first time I experienced running uh just as a warm-up before the strength and conditioning.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: But then I found out that I was getting like better and better.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'll just do always like 20 minutes as fast as possible, uh, three times a week.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: That was that was my training schedule when I first started three years ago.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then I saw that I was getting quicker, quicker.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: I remember uh first time I did then a 5k in 23 minutes.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that was my dad's 5k time, and when you're young, you always think your dad is the most athletic person uh that you know.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I was very happy with that, and I decided to enter a race.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh my first race was a 5k.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: That I actually ran 6k because I got lost.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then yeah, it was technically technically uh DNF, but I ran 6k in like four flat flats per kilometer.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh then I was happy with that, but sad as well because uh I couldn't even get a medal.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but then I met a coach, uh then things got a little bit more serious.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I started training with uh a team uh here in Brazil, uh which well it was very hard uh at the beginning uh because then there were proper runners, like in the 16-minute 5k uh range, uh mart owner as well that ran I think 234, so proper fast people, and then I I was always suffering like so much uh the first like three months, yeah uh kept getting like some pains and all all this kind of stuff, but not any serious injuries, so I just kept going, kept going.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh then finally like uh I managed to to make some improvements and then I was already keeping up with my training partners.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh then at some point I was getting faster, then then and in like a year at least in the 5k distance and above, uh, I was like the fastest in in the group.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh not in the middle distance, like because there are some 8500 meter guys that then they would just uh like kill me on the on the faster stuff, but on the longer stuff I was doing well.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Then yeah, uh around a year uh after I started running, I ran like just broke 17 for 5k.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and then there was around when I I went to the UK uh with my my dad uh because he had lived there from 2017 to 2020.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Then he came back to Brazil in the pandemics.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so he kind of knew uh some people there, and we have also uh Italian citizenship, so this made it possible for me to enter a school in the UK.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh then that that was early 2024, and then I found out that I had just three months to prepare for the GCSE exams.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh then I just had to study a lot and managed to pass it because uh my English wasn't very good at the time, so like maths, science, it was fine for me, uh, because I already had it uh in Brazil in school, but the English part was was pretty tough.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: But then I managed to pass it, uh, went to college in in the UK.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh on that time I was still coached by my coach in Brazil.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I I kept getting getting like faster and progressing than at the end of 2024.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: I broke 16 minutes for 5k at the first time.
• 5:19
  unknown: Wow.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh then just after that, I got my first like proper injury.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: That was a stress fracture, but managed to recover from from it.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, kept studying in college there.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: And around a year ago, I already knew that I was going to uh St.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Mary's University in London.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: That would be the the one uh I'll start in in two weeks' time.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then at this time I changed coaches.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: I started being coached by George Morris, that is he's a lecturer and uh sports scientist uh uh at St.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Mary's, and then we started working from there, and now has been almost a year, like 10 months, and yeah, I kept improving with him.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: My my training philosophy changed a lot.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: We can talk about that uh later.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but yeah, now I'm pretty happy with how how things are are going and really looking forward to how it's gonna be like both training uh at St.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Mary's because there have been like loads of fast runners that uh studied there, like Mofara, for example, Joe Wakefield, uh Stephen Scullion, like loads of fast guys.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I hope I hope I can be close to as fast as them at some point.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_03: Well man, you're on a crazy trajectory.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_03: First off, you said in a year you went from 23 to 17 and now 16 and getting faster.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: That's amazing, man.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thanks.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 23 is like I I wasn't really training, so we we cannot say that like it was a really big jump, because then when I started really training, like for three months, then I I ran like 18 something, and then things start to progress a little bit uh slower, but that's that's how it is now.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's much harder to like shave 10 seconds, twenty twenty seconds.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: It it keeps getting getting harder, but I'm happy that um I'm being able to make some jumps from like time time to time.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: You said like you you found your first coach initially, like did they just see the potential, the coach in Brazil, and just say, hey, come join this team, or how did that come about?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: So my c I actually asked to be coached by uh this coach because she uh her name is Gioni.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh she's pretty pretty good uh here in the the city that I live in Brazil.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: She's one of the best coaches.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: She she has been an elite athlete uh back in the day.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh she ran uh 236 Martin and in the I think early 2000s.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so at that time it was actually very close to the Olympic standards.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: She missed it by like a minute, something like that.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and then uh well actually before starting with her, I trained a little bit, like two months maybe with a triathlon uh team.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but then the coach of the this triathlon team uh told me about uh uh her, the the other coach, uh, and told me that she had uh some people like my age as well uh that were training, so she kind of recommended, and then I asked her to to coach me.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: She said, okay, let's do it.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh at the start, like she she didn't saw a lot of talent in me, uh, because her level was uh much uh higher than she already coached other other people that had achieved uh much better results.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: So she said, okay, if you want to join, that's fine, let's see how it goes.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: But especially like my form at at the start was like awful.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: It was really, really bad.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like and then but yeah, like it kind of worked out, and like she saw that uh I wasn't quitting, uh, because like there are some workouts that was so hard at the start, like that I finished it and I was crying that of how painful it is.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: But what she I think saw in me that I I'll never quit a workout, like even if it was like I was suffering a lot, but I'll never quit.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then she's she started to see that yeah, I had at least this side of potential that um I I could work very hard.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_03: No, that great quality to have, man.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's awesome.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_03: Running became really quickly, it sounds like a big part of your life.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like, why do you think it stuck?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_03: You know, obviously maybe the speed, but why why did it stick in those three years here that you've been running now?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to be like a football goalkeeper, you have to be at least 185.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and that's the bare minimal.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I was doing it just for fun.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but there was never something that I saw in my life that I was very good at uh compared to like everyone else, like and m like my self-esteem wasn't very high at that moment, like didn't have a lot of friends in in school, um, because it was just after the pandemics, and then like I I think this happened to loads of people that got a little bit more introverted during the pandemics, and then I I just found out running and that it was something I saw that I had some talent and that like gave me a little bit more self-esteem.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I met lots of good friends uh from running, and I think it's just like a mix of both of these these things.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_03: You're in the UK, well gonna be in the UK and studying there.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what was when you did the first move, what was the biggest shock for you coming from Brazil?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh the biggest shock I think was because I had to to spend some time there by myself.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh okay.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like because my my parents, like they have jobs in Brazil, so I had I was 16 and I had to live by myself uh in a house, like yeah, doing everything and training and going to school.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Actually I couldn't even tell the the school that I was living by myself because like legally you can live by yourself when you're 16 in uh in the UK, but the school rules didn't allow that.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, that that was like kind of shocking.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because you have like loads of duties, uh like new things, but I I think it was also uh a very good learning experience, uh like because then then you're like really living life, how it is, and then doing that alongside school and like training that uh I was training already twice a day.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, it was tough but a good good experience in my opinion.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_03: You think it made you grow up a little faster, you know, being on your own?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure you have groceries.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_03: That's cool.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: Trading twice a day.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_03: So um, you know, you hinted at it a little earlier.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_03: Tell me about your uh training philosophy now.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: Now that you're heading into St.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: Mary's, you're working with a new coach.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like I see you show a lot of data.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so uh now it's uh I'm doing like because my coach is a sports science scientist, uh lots of my training is like uh science-based.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm not doing as much volume as I have done in the past.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um just because he thinks my I should like develop over time and because at the past I I already done like some 140k weeks, and he thinks it's a little bit too much at my age, uh, especially like because I haven't been running for a long time.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I'm not normally doing uh one workout a day uh at the moment uh but of running, but sometimes I do doubles with cross-training um and um and gym as well, two times a a week.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh then the quality sessions, they are normally uh one threshold session a week, then one very specific uh session uh like for now at the moment for half marathon, but it's normally for the the goal race that I'm doing.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and now I'm doing a long run as well that sometimes has efforts, sometimes it's just easy, uh, but not as easy as the easy runs, it's normally a little bit quicker.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll do my easy runs anything for like from 420 a K to 500.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh in the long run, I'm normally going like four minutes a k.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then when I'm training for shorter distances, uh I'll normally have uh three uh quality sessions a week instead of the long run, then normally two threshold sessions and one very specific session.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and that yeah, that's how how it's going right now.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you wanna, I can say, for example, how this week was.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, so this week on Monday I had uh just cross-training uh an hour, and then on Tuesday it was a VO2 max session that I'm keeping them like once every two or three weeks despite training for the half marathon.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it was eight times eight hundred meters.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: The average was 224, so three minutes okay, with two minutes and a half recovery.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Then on Wednesday it was 45 minutes easy in the morning, 45 minutes of cross-training in the afternoon.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh then Thursday it was a 15-minute run plus strides.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Friday was a half Martin specific session, so that was yesterday.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: It was uh two times 3k, 2k, 1k.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I averaged I think 317 for the 3Ks, 317 as well for the 2K and the the 1K at the end 313.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: The recovery was always active, so between 2 minutes and 90 seconds, depending on the left run uh rep length.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Then today I did a 40-minute cross-training, and tomorrow I'll do uh one hour and a half long run.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm doing gym always on Wednesdays and Sundays.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's it.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_03: How do you balance all that with school and just life, man?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: So at the moment it's easy because I'm I'm on holidays.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: But then yeah, when I I have school like or college, i it's fine.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: For me, like training doesn't take a lot of time, like it's normally mostly two hours.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: So if I gotta wake up a little bit earlier, that's fine.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, m just when I started running actually here in Brazil, school starts at 7 30.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I was always doing my first run at 4 o'clock uh in in the morning, and then yeah, if I just needed to get some more sleep, then I go to bed earlier.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but yeah, then like I think when you really want something you you you find ways to to fit it in.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_03: Talk to me about a you went back to Brazil at one point, you ran a 10,000 meter.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_03: I saw you post.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_03: It was a tough one.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was really hard.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was my first and only uh 10,000 uh track race.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it was yeah, it was three months ago.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh was the nationals under 23 that it was much more a race for a position instead of a time, uh, because it was like very hot and humid.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so I ran it was 3350 something.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure exactly what time, so almost a minute and a half is lower than my PB.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but I placed 9 with what I was very happy with because I'm actually still under 20, and it was under 23, so top 10 was was my goal and just made it, so was very happy with that.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'll have I'll be able to do this race three more years or four years maybe.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, then at some point I definitely wanna aim for a medal.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_03: What what goes through your head when you're in this race and it's super hot, HR is through the roof?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know the day is not gonna be a fast time.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_03: Like what goes through your head?
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the first 3K I actually felt pretty good.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I had like the taper and everything, so it felt really smooth.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually going at PB pace.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I had uh a group to run with that was very helpful, but then uh yeah, from 3K onwards it got very very tough because the group uh spread out and then last 7k was just by myself, and I was like progressively slowing down, but not not too much.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like but I knew that yeah, things were really getting tough, and I I didn't look at at the time, but after the race I saw that 3k my heart rate was already at 200.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and yeah, then I I slowed down, but not that much.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like the last 3k were I ran like a 325, 326k, and I was just like hanging on, like um my especially my cuffs were very sore, uh, because you have to do it on spikes.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: And like last 2k I wanted to throw up, to be honest, but I knew that uh I I I had no clue exactly what position I was, but uh I thought I was uh in top 15.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: So what was like motivating motivating me to keep going was not the time but the the position and yeah was just hanging on and and yeah when I finished it it was definitely like the hardest race uh I I ever run.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like I think m like much harder than the 32-17 that I ran like two weeks ago.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, even harder than 32, okay.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was like way harder.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like the the 32 one was actually like I think the easiest PB I ever ran because of this half-marten training, like I'm aerobically like very fit, I think.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I think I even could have pushed a little bit harder, but it was a solo run pretty much.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was at the front uh of the race at like 1k already, and yeah, then I was by myself the whole time and then I was like I wanted to win the race, so uh I kind of called back a little bit like just to make sure that I wasn't hitting a wall and but still like PB for like 30 seconds and yeah, was very happy with with it.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_03: That that's very smart, man, at like at such a young age, if you don't mind me saying like For example, I saw you wrote when you did this half this hard race, the harder one.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_03: Like, hey, you have 24 hours to think about this race and then you move on.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: That's very smart thinking at 19.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_03: And then also on this 10K.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, I'm doing good, but I need to pace myself.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_03: Like, where does that come from?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this 10K was like it was a fun experience because uh it was like a a road race.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: That we have lows here in Brazil.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh the city that I am, it's uh relatively big, so it's has like three million people.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we have like every weekend at least four or five road races.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh then I signed up for this one because I knew uh it was a flat course.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and it's a race I've done in the past, and it's pretty well organized.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but then you have no clue who is gonna show up.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then I had in the back of my mind that uh I wanted to win even more than than a PB, actually, because in the UK it's like so hard to get wins.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um but then at the start line I saw that there was a a guy that I would uh I always trained uh with when uh um I was in Brazil and like he's proper fast, like he I think he ran like almost a 15 flat 5k, I think 1502, something like that.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so he's quicker than than I am.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and his 1500 pb is always it's always uh also much faster than mine.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like mine is like 430 still, the the official, and his is 350.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so yeah, then at the start I knew that that if I wanted to beat him, uh I would need to go like hard from the gun.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, that was what I did.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: So uh at the first 3k I managed to open a gap, and then yeah, I knew that I would have to slow down because I was going like at around 310k, and that wasn't sustainable until the end.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: But then after I opened the gap, I like kind of went back to a 10k pace and managed to hang on until the end.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I felt surprisingly good, especially like aerobically.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the legs felt it a little bit because I I didn't taper for the race, so I had like a little bit of heavy legs, but uh I I felt like overall uh pretty good.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like my my heart rate was actually what uh threshold heart rate is.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: So then this gave me like a lot of confidence for the the half marathon as well.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: What do you attribute that to?
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_03: You're training for a half marathon, but in the middle of this half marathon, you're able to go and run a 10k basically PR and win a race 32-17.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: Like what in the training is helping you do that?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think especially uh here in in Brazil, because I'm on holidays, I can live like a uh full-time athlete, so I can train a little bit more, uh, recover better from from the sessions.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I think I think it's a mix of these both things, and and also because I haven't been a runner for a long time, uh I'm still in a in a phase that you keep in improving, uh like at a relative uh fast rate.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's all all these things and also like when I I changed coaches I found out that that I started improving like more, especially in the longer distances, um like from ten 10k five 5k.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's yeah, all these things.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_03: What's changed the most is you know being coached by George now?
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so uh before starting with him, I would never do threshold sessions.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh every time uh I was gonna do a session, I would absolutely give it like everything like if it was a race.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this works for a short period of time, uh, but I realized that uh I was doing like a training uh cycle uh block, and then at the first two months uh I would just improve like a lot, but then I'll start to get tired and actually like my my times were getting then slower than at the start of the block.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: So both in 2024 and 2025, I think I had a pretty good shot of a medal on the under-20 Brazilian championships.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like I managed to run actually the time in training that uh I needed, like I did a uh uh time trial and I I ran the time, but then I I actually got a little bit overtrained and because my my training wasn't like the smartest as possible, and then when like it actually mattered I couldn't deliver.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and now with George, most of the training is controlled.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I do like a bigger volume of intensity, so with the threshold uh model you you are able to do more uh with um with a little bit of less cost uh physiologically and your body actually can adapt to the training and move forward.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: Do you enjoy a lot of the like blood lactate and threshold training?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's pretty cool, especially because I'm gonna actually study sports science.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: So uh for me it's it's really cool to like see the data and I really enjoy uh doing it.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and and it's like kind of uh affirmation that the training is working when you see like at the start of the block your lactate is something for a given base, and then at the end of the block is lower.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it like for example, at the start of the block, I I did a workout that I was running at like 335 okay, and my lactate was like 44.3 and uh a week ago I did like the same workout, but then the lactate was 2.5.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: So you see that you actually improved.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and I think it's like very useful to give this information to to my coach for him to program the like the rest of the training block.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: And if he needs to do changes, um he can, and and I think it's pretty helpful if like if you have access to it, because I know it's it's pretty expensive, so I'm not gonna like go and tell everyone that now you must get a lactate uh meter.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's loads of pros, like Conor Man, for example.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: He he doesn't test his lactate, he doesn't even wear a heart rate monitor, and he ran a 204 margin.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so we don't absolutely need it.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it's cool when it kind of aligns with what I'm gonna study.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_03: You you like the data and you're gonna study science, uh sports science.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_03: Like in races, you know, you just mentioned Connor Mance not testing any of this, but like do you ever try to okay I have the data, but let me not look at the data, like try to optimize everything.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: In races, uh I just look at at the pace.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh, I don't look that at the heart rate because it can normally in the races it's a little bit higher than in training because you have all the adrenaline, so uh I have my watch to split every 1k, and uh then I I just go by by pace and fuel uh during races.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: I love that man.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_03: You've been running really fast now, you're improving.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_03: You got 10k 3217, right?
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_03: How fast do you think this goes?
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm not sure.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh I I think I I have potential uh to improve uh for like I don't know how how I'm gonna be like in 10 years' time.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, yeah.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: But it depends a little bit of my my genetics as well.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I I really don't know.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: I I really wanna take it as far as possible.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but my coach, I was talking to him these days, he thinks in like five years' time I can name for a uh senior vest uh in Brazil, for example.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: That'd be really cool.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_03: What do you think about that?
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's definitely a dream uh to do it, but I know there's like a long road uh until there, but I am really someone that I actually enjoy training more than than races, so I actually look forward for for the training in in the process.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_03: Talk to me about Copenhagen.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_03: You're heading into Copenhagen a few weeks out now.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um I know initially I I saw you post that hey, I'm going for maybe uh 110, 111.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_03: How how you feeling for the race?
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited for for the race.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh it's I actually I signed up for it one year and a half ago.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it was something like it was a goal that was always far, always far, and now it's here, it's uh two weeks out.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and yeah, I still gonna aim for uh around 110 or 111, uh probably going out at 320, 322 okay, and see see how that feels.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um based on my like 5k, 10k times, it should be possible, but I know that it's it's my first half marten, uh so lots of things uh can happen.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'll still have uh a big workout to do on next Friday that will be three three times 4k.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then yeah, if I I think the pace I I manage to hit for these workouts or workout will be around what I'll be capable to deliver on on race day.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I really I'm really excited to to do my first half martyrdom because I think that's what I'm gonna do in the future, like half martons, martons.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, I'm really looking forward to the experience.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: I hope to run like uh 110, but I know that like it's a long race and lots of things can happen.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I'll be happy just to get to the finish line like feeling well and that I I gave it my all.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_03: What does Coach think of uh first half marathon in 70 71 minutes?
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: We haven't spoken exactly about uh the goal time uh at the moment.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh when I spoke to him last time, he he said to me that he thinks it's possible, uh especially like 111, it's a very uh realistic goal.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh then at the start of the block I told him, yeah, maybe I wanna try to go uh sub-70, but then he thought it's a little bit too much to ask at the moment, especially uh being my first one, it's a little bit too risky.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um but but he like something that I'm happy with is that he he supports me to do it because I know that lots of coaches think like at my age you should just focus like on very short races like 1500 3k, uh, which I think are very important, like uh especially for developing my speed.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely gonna do these races as well.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't think there is a harm to like do like a half marten, uh especially because it's just one, and I think the the aerobic pays that uh I'm getting for uh from this block is gonna help me when uh uh I do a track season season.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: That that's why like uh people do like the base phase and then uh speed uh at some point.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like you can do speed uh all year round and cause up um on holidays.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh it's something fun to do and to in a good way to test myself.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: Did you sign up for this a year and a half ago to give yourself ample time to train, or it just came out that way, like hey, this is it just came out because I signed up for the ballot uh and then I I got picked.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: It was just because of that.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: And at the past, I've I already entered myself to the London Martin, but then I didn't got picked.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but then I'll probably if I got I'll have to give it to to my father, uh, because then my coach wouldn't let me do a marton at his age, because then it's like 10k and 5k training, it's kind of similar than what you do for the half marathon.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: You just go a little bit further, but then marton training is uh totally different beast.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_03: So your dad runs too, huh?
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he he has done uh a marton uh once in in Valencia.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he doesn't like do it competitively, but he he runs like for health, and then at at some point he he said he wanted to do a marton, uh then he did it.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and yeah, it was pretty fun.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I went to watch the race.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: I managed to watch uh it was actually Sebastian Sauis' uh first Martin that that one that's really he won.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and then he he went to bro broke two hours in in London, so I saw his first win.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_03: That's really cool, man.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure it made an impression for sure.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_03: What's the what's the race plan coming into Copenhagen here not too so not too far from now?
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I'll still uh gonna have a chat with my coach about it, but I think I'm probably just gonna try to don't go out too fast and try to run even splits.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's what I I try to do most most races, especially when I'm doing a time trial instead of racing for position.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, probably gonna go out aiming for I think probably between uh 1650 to 70 minutes each 5k split.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, probably I definitely can do it for 15k and then less 6k we we see how we feel, and yeah, if I can pick up great, but if I have to hang on, uh I'll do my best.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_03: You've mentioned a few of these like greats here, you know, when we when we started and through the episode, like Connor Mans, Sauway, um Steven Scully and Mofair.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_03: Are these some of the people you look up to or running now?
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_03: Who who are some of the people you're inspired by?
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely, definitely the like all these people that you mentioned and plenty of more, like uh I could name like loads of people uh that I look up to.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's it's very fun that uh loads of pros at the moment they they are sharing more than in the past, like uh like they have like YouTube channels, uh loads of them have uh their their Strava is public, uh, and then it's like definitely very uh inspiring what the these people do.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: And definitely like of course it's very far, but uh I want to at least try to get to this level at some point uh in my life.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: I know that I have a lot of jumps to do, like these people are running like three times uh the mileage that I am, so I know that with patience, if I can build up to the amount of training they they are doing, I think I might have a shot of running close to as fast as they are.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_03: That's amazing, man.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_03: Talking about that and and fast people, you're about to head to university here real soon.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um St.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_03: Mary's a lot of fast people went there.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_03: What's it feel like going into a running environment at university?
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna be surrounded by by Yeah, yeah.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's like very exciting, uh, especially because there are loads of pros that uh train at St.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: Mary's still.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely gonna get smoked in lots of sessions.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh, but um like for example, my coach is uh friend of Joe Wickfield that is uh current 10K British record holder.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: He ran 27 something for the 10K.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then yeah, if I can hop on on what would be a tempo run for me, for him, and uh how out uh work out for me, that would definitely be great.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that like when you are with more people, you're able to push yourself uh harder, especially when you're running with someone you look up to.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's definitely like uh motivating.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh like for example, once I did a session with uh Nick Bester.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I don't know if you know him.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I did a session with him that I managed to do, I think it was even eight or ten reps of 1k at 305.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: That and at that point it was my 3K base.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I I actually picked up an injury after the the session and I couldn't run for for a week.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, definitely can can push it harder when you're running with someone else.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: And but I I know I had this chat with my coach before that we have to be careful uh like when to do this kind of stuff.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um because you you can't like go and worry yourself like three times a week.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um just like not sustainable.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_03: Anything you're looking forward to outside of like running in university now that you're gonna be in the big city in London?
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, definitely.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like living in London uh it's something that's definitely exciting.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh like it's maybe one of the most famous cities in in the world.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm looking forward as well to to my course, uh sports science, and also to meeting people, making friends uh at university.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm really looking forward to it.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_03: Uh thinking back when you were what three years ago starting to run and and looking now where you're going and going in St.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_03: Mary's man, what what do you think you would think three years ago, the 16-year-old you I I wouldn't believe it, like that I uh uh I came like this far just with running.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I started it was like much more of a of a hobby, like uh like uh I I didn't even like had no idea like what was a good time, what wasn't uh like I thought for example when I met uh a training partner at the the start he ran a 234 Martin.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: I thought he was a professional runner and yeah but he he isn't like he's definitely a very fast amateur, but n not professional, and I thought that was like yeah, this guy's probably the best runner of like in the country.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um so like it learned a lot of things about training uh like at the start uh every time like it was like okay, I have 20 minutes to use this treadmill, so I'm gonna do 20 minutes as fast as possible.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then yeah, you kind of learn lots of things, but yeah, I definitely at that point uh I wouldn't have imagined that uh I could take it this far.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like I would say, yeah, maybe I can win a couple of road road races like locally, and but yeah, but I I definitely didn't thought it would like absolutely change the the course of my life.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_03: Let's fast forward a bit.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_03: You go two, three years from now.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_03: What's gonna make you look back in this conversation and go, wow, I had no idea this was coming?
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so three years from now I should be graduating uh at university, and then uh in these three years, I think anything is possible.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like you see people like starting university training with like these fast people, and then they make like big jumps, like people going from like 15 minutes for 5k to like high 13s.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I'm very open-minded.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh everything is possible, and I definitely hope to uh these three years at least get a uh like a shot at uh a medal in the under 23 uh championships in in Brazil.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but I definitely think like achieving more than that is possible.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: It uh something that I learned from running is that you can never like limit yourself.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you should always uh aim high.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, worse, worst case scenario you don't reach it, but you definitely can like take lots of value from from the process and and what you you did to try to get there.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_03: I love that, man.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_03: Joe, thank you for coming on the podcast.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so looking forward to uh seeing your Copenhagen race first off in the near future.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_03: That was great.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was really, really fun to to come here, have a a nice chat, and really enjoyed it.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, man.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate it, man.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_03: Have fun at Copenhagen.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_03: This has been the People Run podcast.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_03: Until next time.