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12 Months to Marathon - Episode 5 - You ARE a Runner · 12 Months to Marathon

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hi there and welcome to the 12 months to marathon podcast with me, John Hill, the running podcast for the over 35s with Marathon Dreams.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember whether that's the same every time, but yeah, we're not using a script here, folks.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: We are keeping it real.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to tell you a little bit about what's going on with me at the moment because some people are interested in that sort of stuff.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I am currently training for Hyrox in October in Birmingham, which is my latest endeavour.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't know what Hyrux is, H-Y-R-O-X, please give it a Google.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's an endurance event where there's quite a bit of running, so it's actually a runner's game.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now you'll probably see some stuff online about it where there's people pushing sleds and doing rope pulls and ski ug and rows and farmers' carries and lunges and burpees, but actually it's a runner's game, and I know some very, very good coaches of HyRocks, including Jade Skillen, and you should follow Jade online, surname S-K-I-L-L-E-N.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Give Jade a follow for some awesome workouts.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you'll find her on Instagram, and yeah, it but Jade always says to me it's a runners game.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I being a competitive person and being me got interested in it, so I'm currently training for that.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: So my little project at the moment I've been trying over the last few weeks and months is to try and get my 5k PB.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: I want to get my 10k PB as part of this training cycle as well.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: So my current 5k PB is 18 minutes and 49 seconds.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: So my first attempt was 1915.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: It was quite warm that day as well, which I was impressed with.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: My second attempt was last weekend as I record this, and that was 1854, which is a very good effort indeed.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Very, very hard.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm not in peak condition, so there's more work to be done there.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, that's my little project at the moment, and I do think sometimes it's it's good to test yourself out, and it's good just to push yourself a little bit.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so on that note, what I want to talk about today is this thing about which I'm hearing a lot of people will say to me, I'm a slow runner, okay, or I'm not really a runner.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now that's something that I used to say when I was a sort of young fitness professional, uh, when I first saw friends of mine running, I used to say, I'm not a runner, because I didn't think with my body shape and my exp my history that I could run because when we watch runners, particularly if you watch big events like the London Marathon, the elite athletes at the front tend to be a little bit taller, a little bit thinner, and you think, Well, I'm not that.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I and that's what I thought.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I used to get those thoughts when I started to get quicker over marathon distance.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: I used to get a lot of those thoughts when I was at the front of a race.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'd be like, Oh, I'm the fattest one here, or I'm the biggest one here.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've always lifted weights and I've always been strong.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: A little bit of me's always thought, well, I can't run that fast, quote unquote, because I'm too big.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, running fast is my thing, or running faster is my thing.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: But what you've got to remember, even somebody like myself who has had the fortune of being able to do a sub-three marathon, I use the expression, I'm a child compared to the elite athletes.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, these guys are on a different level, and I'll always remember when I did my first sub-three, I finished in the top 4% of the marathon, which is an amazing achievement from where I started from being overweight, being a smoker, being really unhealthy.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: But that tells me that there are a good few thousand people who are quicker than me over marathon distance.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't compare myself to other people per se anymore because I've realized what I can do is pretty cool based on where I started from, and you can do pretty cool things as well.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: But you have to set your expectations right.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And the first thing I want you to know is that if you run, you are a runner.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you run, you are a runner.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: You are in a very small group of people.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm not sure of the exact percentages, but I once heard, and don't quote me on this, that only 10% of the UK population can run five miles without stopping.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know whether that's still the case because obviously the overweight and obesity rates are massively increasing.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I don't know if that's the case.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but a lot of people don't run, particularly outdoors, because it's very intimidating, you're very exposed.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: I've said this before, and it can be quite embarrassing uh if you're red-faced and whatever, and it looks like you're struggling.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: And most runners, particularly when they start the journey, look like they're struggling.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I can sometimes mask it when I see a camera on a race and I smile at you, pretending that I'm not dying, but that's another issue.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, the first thing I want to say after you've got the groundwork done of the principles that I mentioned on the previous podcast, because I really wanted to set a foundation for understanding change first, because most people that come to me are trying to change, they're either trying to start a running journey or they're trying to fulfil their potential, and to do that, you've got to understand the change process, in my opinion.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: What we've also got to be careful of though is this language and the way we speak to ourselves, and this is an ongoing journey and it's an ongoing process, um, because you can fall out of love with physical activity and you don't want to do that, and you don't want anything to make you feel inferior, because no secure human being would ever criticise you for your performance.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: So if somebody is a quote unquote faster runner based on the pace they can run than you, no secure fast runner would ever criticise you for your performance.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Ever.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I know I know people that are really good athletes, really top athletes, and some of them are the nicest people you'll ever meet because they're doing their own thing, they don't care about anybody else.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, athletes haven't got the time to worry about what other people are doing, what the the beginner runners are doing.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, when I I've seen people in the gym, when I've been training there, or when I've seen people running, I always think fair play to you, you know, fair play to you.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I I mean this in a kind way, but when I see and I I know this from being there myself, when I see bigger people who are carrying quite a bit of weight running, they have all my respect because that has got to be tough, you know.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's got to be really tough because physically that's very, very challenging.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So if that is you, then give yourself a massive pat on the back because you're doing something positive for yourself, and you should never feel inferior for doing something positive.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because I promise you, getting out the front door is the hardest thing you will ever do, and turning up is the hardest thing you will ever do.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you keep doing that, you will eventually get better.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if you choose to go down a certain path, that's entirely up to you how you go with it.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: I chose a path, I decided that oh, this is nice and measurable, I can get I can run further, I can run faster.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: That was my path.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: I know people who run consistently, you know, your classic couple of times in the week, Mabby Parker on the Saturday, maybe the odd 10k half marathon.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: I know people who never get faster, they just keep the same pace.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the achiever side of me sort of a little voice in my head goes, Well, that's odd, but I'm looking at them from my world.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: When I think about it from their world, I'm thinking, well, fair play to you, you're consistent.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: We can't ask much more from people than that.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are consistent, you need to keep doing that.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's too easy sometimes to look at shoulds and go, should I be doing this?
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Should I be doing that?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Should I be running this way?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Should I be wearing these trainers?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Should I be wearing that?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we get so we tie ourselves up in knots and we and we go back to this point of I'm not a runner or I'm a slow runner.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you are out doing something, you are ahead of everybody else.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And my favourite expression, you are lapping everybody on the couch.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I heard one the other day, somebody commented on Instagram, they said, I prefer I'm lapping me from six months ago.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: What a wonderful expression.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I heard this in in Jordan Peterson's first book, you know, compare yourself to the person you were yesterday, not somebody else today.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So if you did one run this week and you did none last week, that's progress.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you set foot out of your front door and you didn't last week, that's progress.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to be clear on what progress is.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I will do a separate podcast on progress and how to measure it because it's really, really important.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes when I sit there and I think about how far I've come, it's incredible.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: I want to tell you a story.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I don't know if I mentioned did I mention this on a previous one?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: I may have done, but I'm telling it again because it's relevant.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: So when I was overweight, I used to work in an office, and I remember the um they did like a fitness challenge at lunchtime.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think I did tell this before, and the the the guy on the cycle doing they were doing a cycling challenge for an hour.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't heard it, I'll tell it again.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: They were doing a cycling challenge for an hour, like all the different teams of staff and who could ride the furthest in an hour.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And we didn't do it, my team, because I was so unfit and I was 27 years old at the time.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was so unfit and I was hungover as well.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't want to do it.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't even sit on a cycle for a little bit and do that.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, how bad's that, you know.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I sit there and think about that now 20 years ago and think, wow, how far I've come.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to do that as well, particularly if you're starting a journey, because that's one of the people who I really want to speak to here.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the people who are looking to fulfil their potential, that's different.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's about pushing yourself, following a plan, being a bit more disciplined, being a bit more organised.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: At the start, it's about courage and it's about the courage to accept that if you run, you are a runner.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'll say that again.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you run, you are a runner, and give yourself all the praise in the world for doing that.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: And trust yourself a little bit and don't be your own saboteur.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Don't let anything stop you because you don't know where this could end up.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: If I'd have told 28-year-old me, obese smoker, recreational drug user, drinking too much, blah blah blah, that version of me, the version of me in my 20s, who you know had a lot of fun quote unquote at the time and lived and doesn't regret anything because if I didn't have that, I wouldn't have where I am now.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: If I'd have told him you'll run a sub three-hour marathon at the age of 45, I'd have gone, you're joking, I couldn't even run a bath, you know, or struggle to get around a five-of-side football pitch.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to keep that message nice and clear for you today.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you run, you are a runner.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Watch the language that you say and don't apologize.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you follow me on Instagram and you should 12 months to marathon, you will get all the support you need from me.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And even as a coach, I can be a little bit more direct as a coach, of course, because we want to get you to achieve your results and we want to be honest and we want to make sure that we focus on what it is, but it's never per nothing's ever personal, it's about your performance.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're not the problem.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to get better at something, it's your performance.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Again, that's another podcast from the day, but it's you that's you're fine.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Your performance perhaps needs work or whatever it might be, but that's not you as a person, you're not a slow runner, you're just a runner that runs at the pace you're comfortable with now.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll tell you something now, it's better to be a consistent slow runner than an inconsistent fast runner.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen that.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen people do nothing, do nothing, do nothing, do nothing, go out for some re trying to lose weight in the new year, injure themselves, and they're not able to do anything ever again.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so language is very, very important here, and you are a runner if you run, yeah.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're not a jogger, because I don't know what that is, but you but you are a runner if you run, okay?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: And give yourself all the credit in the world.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I keep saying it, I'll keep I'll keep banging that drum.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: You'll have all the support here because you know I do what I do for me and nobody else, and that's what I want to do at the stage I'm at.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I get tired sometimes, and it comes honestly, and this is this I don't mean this to sound patronising, but the problem with running faster, there's two problems with running faster.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: The first problem is it's the quickest way to fall out of love with running because distance for a lot of people isn't too bad, but pace it's it will really make you fall out of love with running.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: And the second thing is one of the problems that if you run a bit faster provides is that you then feel that every run's got to be fast because people are looking at you on Strava.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: If I go down my Strava, the average pace of my Strava is probably about 10 minute miles, which roughly is about the average pace for a runner in the UK, and that's average.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: So even if you're not there, that's the average, so that's the middle.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: So if you think about you know you've got people doing you know two, ten marathons or whatever it might be, that's the average pace, which is perfectly acceptable.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so don't beat yourself up, watch the language, watch what you say to yourself, don't apologize.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you run, you're a runner, just be consistent and follow your path, follow your own path and see where it takes you.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: But don't give up just because of language, or don't give up because you think you don't measure up because you do, because if you're going out the front door and running outdoors, or running on a treadmill, or running wherever, or keeping yourself fit, you're doing something good for you, and it will make you good for everybody else as well.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's not selfish, it's not selfish to look after yourself, you are doing it to look after other people, and it's not vanity, it's sanity, trust me.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if you run, you're a runner.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: End of conversation.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's this week's edition.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: I do really, really appreciate it very much.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'd appreciate it you following the podcast if you don't already, and give it a like and a share.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's much appreciated.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said earlier, if you want to pop over to Instagram and follow me at 12 months to marathon, you'll see me over there.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Loads of free content, some motivational stuff, some funny stuff, but all good and all to help you with your running.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate your support, and I'll see you very soon indeed.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you and goodbye.