#7 JULIA KULPA | Ultra Dosser!

I was excited for this one! I'm joined by Julia Kulpa, a very good friend of mine and a big fan of the pod! Julia spoke about her initial introduction to fitness, from playing handball to lifting weights, before transitioning into running and completing ultra marathons. We discussed her training and the challenges involved, as well as the 'feel good' factor of the ultra running community. I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed recording it!

Give @juliagoesultra a follow on Instagram and look her up on Strava to follow her progress.

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Transcript

0:03

Okay, so yeah, we're still moving. Right, how are you doing? Alright. Yeah, good thanks. I'm really nervous. Love that, you'll be fine. So uh yeah, we're being joined, as you can see, by Julia. So we're gonna try not to chat too much, Alex, but we'll bail on it. Exactly. Um right, we'll kind of get uh straight into it. So um let's start with the beginning in terms of like your fitness journey. Um yeah, it's all yours. Cool. Just take us to the start. Um, I've always been a bit of a fitness freak, if you like. I was always a kid who couldn't sit still, I always had to do something. Yeah, um, so kind of from the beginning, I started playing handball when I was eight years old. Okay. Um, and I got very much into it. It's not a very popular sport in the UK. Um but coming from Poland, it's something that I watched quite regularly, you know, at home. Um, and I really got into it. Um I got lucky enough that my school had a handball coach and I joined the North Yorkshire team. Um, and I played handball for 10 years, so I stopped playing when I was 18. Right, okay. Um, which was really, really fun. Uh, we did loads of tournaments all around England and the UK. Um, and when that stopped, I knew I needed something new to do. Um, because once again, I can't sit, I need to do something. Um, and that's when I kind of found a bit of a look for the gym, um, and especially weightlifting, if you like. Um, so I did that for a few years, you know. I was a bit of a cardio hater, the only cardio I would do is walk, and I would probably sit on the bike for about five minutes after my gym session, which really isn't much at all. Yeah. Um, especially after doing, you know, kind of handball was very cardio heavy, really. Um, I kind of just wanted to step out of it. I was quite slim at the time, don't want to say skinny because I hate that word, but I was very, very slim. I had a bit of an issue with um a pituitary gland in my in my head, which wouldn't grow, and that meant I couldn't grow. Um got past that. Um, I started putting a little bit of weight on, a little bit of mass on, and I, you know, it did wonders for me, not physically, but you know, both both physically and mentally. You know, I loved it. I I love training in the gym, I love lifting heavyweights. Um, and I and I still I still enjoy the gym. I don't lift nowhere near as heavy now. I probably couldn't, it would probably crush me. Um, but I still do enjoy the gym just for different reasons now. Um, so I started the gym, like I said, when I was about 18. Um, I also got my level level two fitness instructor qualification at the time. I got my level three, and so I started learning more about that, more about nutrition. Um, so yeah, I did I did that. Uh kind of then thought, oh, I need something new to do now. Um, and I thought, you know what? I'm gonna start going for little runs. Um never thought I'd be a runner, ever. Ever, ever, ever. Hated running, you know. Whenever someone said to me I'm going for a run, I thought, why would you do that? What are you running from? Um a lot of things, yes, exactly. And I remember going out a few times, you know, maybe for like 20 minutes, um, did a 5k, and I thought, no, not for me. But I was persistent with it, and I thought, no, I'm gonna stick at it and I'm gonna see what I can do. I ran my 10km, my first ever 10 kilometre, it absolutely destroyed me. I couldn't move for days, I was in such agony that I thought, well, if I can run 10 kilometre, I can run 50k, surely, surely I can do that. Um so as you do. So I ran the 10 kilometres, got home, went on my phone, and I just looked at ultramarathon races um in the following year. Um so I gave myself about I think it was about eight nine months to train for this ultra marathon. Training block was horrible, I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't really have a plan, I just kind of I did it. Yeah, you know, back then running a half marathon for me was not even doable. And I remember I ran my first half marathon with my best friend Holly, um, and oh my god, it was so painful, and I thought, oh gosh, like 21k is really far. How am I meant to do double that and more in a few months' time? And I think that half marathon was in September, and my ultra of 2024, and my ultra marathon was meant to be in it was in January 2025, and I thought I can't do it, I definitely can't do it. Um stuck to a plan, whatever plan it was, it wasn't very good, like I said, and I remember one of the training runs was a 36 kilometre, and it was in December. The conditions were absolutely horrid, it was storming, it was raining, it was freezing, and I went out there and I ran in seven kilometre loops until I got to 36k. My god, and I finished that, and I just had a massive mental breakdown. I thought I can't do this, like, this is really hard. Um came to Brace Day, which was January the 12th, I believe, 2025. The day came, I was carved up to high heavens. Best part of running. That's why we're doing exactly um so I can I was carved up, I was ready to go. Um, it was up in Durham. Um the original race that I was meant to be running got cancelled. Harry actually found the race in Durham for me. Um, it was originally meant to be once again, a seven kilometer loop. Um, and then because of the weather conditions, it was it was cold, it was icy, it was about minus seven degrees, and there was loads of ice on on the trail that was running around. They've shortened it down to a five-kilometre loop, so I had to run around this five-kilometer loop ten times. Nice, and I remember I got to half marathon point and I recorded myself, and I still have this recording on my phone, and it says I'm at 21k, I think I'm gonna die. I was in so much pain. I had my brother and my mum with me on the day, and I was in so much pain that when my shoelace came undone, I couldn't even bend to to tie my shoelace. I had to get my mum to tie my shoelaces for me, which was very humbling. Um, met loads of great, great people on the way, um, that I now follow on Strava. Um, and I finished the race, I was in so much pain. I sat in the back of the car with my legs in the back, yeah, the back of the car, my legs straight, and I just couldn't move anyway. And it it got time to get out of the car. My brother had to literally carry me from the car to into the house, and I thought, never again. Love that, but it didn't stop there. I love that. So, yeah, going back to like when you like train for it, yeah. When I trained for my first orfit, I didn't really know what I was doing either. And I was kind of, is this right? Am I doing this properly? And then I'm guessing like for the ones you've done since then, you kind of like knew what to do and knew what not to do. A bit more, yeah. I think yeah, I think so. I'm still nowhere near as you know where I want to be in terms of ultra running, um, but I am definitely learning my body, you know. Um, you know, training's one thing, and then you've got your nutrition, which is just as important, if sometimes not more. Yeah, you know, you could be physically absolutely brilliant, and if your stomach goes during a race, yeah, you'd that's it, you're done. You're done, there's nothing you can do. Um, so yeah, I've definitely kind of you know, I'm still learning how to, you know, um, you know, program runs and you know, um, you know, I for this training block that I am currently in, I've started using the run-up. Do I use it 100% of the time? Absolutely not. I switch things around, you know. So yeah, like it, you know, sometimes I think, right, I can do more this week, so I'm gonna do more, and then other weeks I think I can't do this much. I'm gonna have to have a bit of a D-load week, but you know, along with other things that you know I might be training for and stuff like that. So yeah, but it's a learning curve, isn't it? You're always learning. I feel like runner is because I use runner too. Yeah, I think it's good in terms of like providing structure, but you do definitely sort of deviate from it a little bit because I think runner thinks you're a robot and not a human to a certain extent, and it can be quite intense, exactly. Like I've kind of like um say if I meant to do a long run every week, I'll do one, especially in like the second half of a block, I'll do like one every other week. Yeah, it catches up with you, yeah, definitely. Definitely. Um, we'll talk about high rocks in like a different episode, yeah. But how do you like sort of train for both at the same time? Because that's one thing I really part of it. It's very intense. Um I've definitely not um I'm not gonna go into too much detail about Hyrocks, but I have definitely not trained for it enough this time round. I've done you know a few characters in the past, but um with one coming up a week today, um it's my first solo race. I am absolutely underprepared, but my aim for that race is just to give it my all, try my best, and enjoy it most of all. You know, within these things. I mean, I know myself I do these things because I enjoy them. You know, I wouldn't do something if I absolutely hated it. Yeah, and yeah, you know, I might go on some runs and I think, God, I really don't want to go today. Like, can't be ass, I've got no motivation, I'm tired. But I've never finished a run, even if it was a run that you know maybe didn't go 100% to plan. I never think, I wish I never went. Yeah, absolutely. I don't think I've ever had that. Yeah, it's normal, isn't it? So feel on some on some mornings or some days, you're kind of like, yeah, I really don't want to do this. But then, like you say, when you kind of finish it, you're like always glad that you did it, and even if it's not all of it, because sometimes, like you say, you've got a sort of sometimes less is more because you don't want to like overdo it, bring yourself out, inju yourself or anything. Definitely like that. Well, kind of go back towards the while you were training for your first ultra. So, Ryan actually asked what was your biggest challenge in transitioning from like weight training to um marathon training. Oh gosh, I feel like there was a lot. It it I was just completely in you know the dark of of what it consisted of. And I started watching like YouTube videos and you know, looking at pro-ultra marathon runners, and I think my biggest issue is I was comparing myself to these pro athletes who have been doing it for years and years, yeah, and I would absolutely bash myself, you know. I saw the paces and it was you know mental. Some of them were running, you know, 100 kilometers in seven, eight hours, and I thought, how is this like and if I didn't you know run as fast as they did, or if I failed training run, I would completely bash myself for not being able to do it. So I think comparing myself to other people who I knew, you know, in my head, I knew they were such a high level, and I knew they were doing it for years and years and years, and I was only you know a few months into it. Um definitely, yeah, definitely comparison to people, um, but definitely also kind of finding that consistency, and and you know, you waking up on a Saturday morning. Um, I mean, my biggest um mistake was doing my training block in autumn winter. Okay, you know, waking up on a Saturday morning knowing I've got a 37 kilometre run on the cards, and it was just getting out of the house to do it. Once you're out the house, I'm sure you know yourself, yeah, you're absolutely fine. It was getting out the house. Yeah, um, but also I do not look like a typical runner at all. You know, when you think of a typical runner, you know, you when you run um watch like one marathon, any sort of marathon, everyone's very, very lean, very slim, you know, um, not too much muscle mass. And I thought, I'm not a runner, I can't be a runner. I'm you know, I'm too muscular, I'm too big, my thighs are too big, you know. I'm too hedge, too big, I've got too much muscle. Not at all, but you know, you kind of compare yourself, don't you? You know, um, not only you know, with women, but men, and and you know, I there was times where I thought I'm I'm just not good enough, and you know, you have this thought in your head, and I still sometimes do, you know, I'm not meant to do this, I'm not meant to be doing this, but you know, if you go out and run a hundred metres, you're a runner. If you go out and run 5k, you're a runner. Anyone can be a runner, um, but transitioning from weight training to that, because obviously I've you know, that's all I've done for for so many years, it was absolutely horrendous in terms of you know, body image. Body image was absolutely the most difficult thing, okay, you know. And I'd see people on runs, and you know, they'd be very slim, and you know, they'd look like what I thought a runner would look like, yeah. Um, and I was like, I don't look like that, I don't look like that. So, did that's quite interesting because I've never sort of thought of that at all whenever I've run. But I guess like we're all different, aren't we? But so so did you kind of think like you had to look like yeah, I think so. But it was until I ran my first watch marathon, the 50 kilometre, and I realized there's so many people of so many different shapes, so many different sizes. You know, there were people who looked like your standard runner, but that was maybe about 10% of the people that were there. Yeah, you know, there was people bigger than me, smaller than me, taller than me, shorter than me, um, older. I mean, you know, once again, I thought, oh, I'll go there, there's gonna be people majority, you know, that that are my age. Yeah, not at all. A lot of people in the Ultra community are quite a bit older, you know. I've noticed that. You know, maybe in 25, I was one of the youngest ones there, if not the youngest. Um, you know, a lot of people were in their late 30s, early 40s, there was people in the 50s, and you know, with other races that I've done, the age range and you know, body sizes, body shapes, so different, and it's so lovely to see. And it kind of you know means that you're not comparing yourself because at the end of the day, what does a runner look like? Exactly. Well, yeah, exactly. Like you like I say earlier, we're all like we're not robots, no, and like there's like a saying comparison is the thief of joy. If you're constantly comparing yourself to other people in any walk of life or scenario, then that's just not good for you, is it? So, like um obviously you touched on body image in terms of like a challenge of transitioning, but would like because obviously, like, say strength training, it's quite like a lot of power and high intense, but for a very short amount of time. But I'm guessing, well, not really guessing kind of no, that like um you know, uh ultra marathon training or just any training for any kind of long distance running, it's kind of like the opposite way around. Um I know you you have like your tempo runs and intervals and stuff like that, but then there are a lot of kind of like longer runs where like it's a lower intensity at a slow run, but for a you know, much longer uh period of time. How do you find well, how did you find that sort of to begin with? Because it's very different to what you've been used to doing, like in the gym. Yeah, definitely. It is very different, you know. When you're doing a tempo run or a threshold run or intervals, your brain's constantly you know being challenged, and you have to think when you're on a long run, I think you have to sometimes just learn to switch it off. Um, I tend to play games in my head. Um, you know, I'll create scenarios in my head for whatever reason. You know, music always helps me. Um, you know, I'm singing along to Hannah Montana and high school musical and stuff like that. Well, it's not just on your long just every day to me. That is very true. Um, and don't get me wrong, I'll still go on like longer runs, and I think this is boring, you know, but I know it will be beneficial um in the long run. Um, but yeah, it is definitely hard. I think those longer runs, it's not about you know your lung capacity. Yeah, obviously, you you do need to have a decent, you know, level of cardiovascular health, um, but it is absolutely mental, it is in your head, like you know, you have to keep yourself occupied for you know three, four, five god knows how many hours, you know, however long it takes you to run that. And I think the worst thing is sometimes you probably have it yourself, you think, right, I've got let's say 30 kilometers, I'm gonna run as fast as I can so I can get it over as fast as I can, but then it's not that's not the point, you know. You need to learn how to you know work in your zone too, and you know how to keep your heart rate down and stuff like that. Um, but I just try to switch my brain off and try to get out of the habit of constantly looking at my garmin and you know seeing what distance I'm on because it it can be quite you know heartbreaking sometimes, you know. You think you've been out for ages and you've actually been running for about 40 minutes, you know, 7k in, and you think, oh my gosh. Um, but I like to split into like sections as well, so I'll be like, right, I'm only doing you know 5k four times. That's not bad. Yeah, I'll say like oh I've got like two or three mark runs to go. Yeah, absolutely. Um running with people, you know, me and Harry run together sometimes um helps, you know, you chat, and before you know it, like we ran a half marathon um a few weekends ago. Yes, and it went really fast because you've got company, haven't you? Yeah, exactly. Um you know, sometimes I like to just run by myself, to be in my own thoughts, and it's it's so good for you, you know. Um, you could have the worst day in the world, and just going out and getting a run in, you know, really, really does help. Um, but yeah, I think you just have to keep your brain either switched off completely during a long run or keep it occupied. Yeah, if it gets really bad, I will put David Goggins on. Some boy. Um, and he'll call me a little bee, and I'm like, right, I'm not that. Not wrong. I'm gonna carry, I'm gonna carry on. I just think you know, it's temporary pain or temporary boredom essentially. Would I regret stopping now in three hours' time? Yes, I would. Yeah. Yeah, because you'll get yeah, if you stop earlier and then later on the day you're kind of like, oh, I could have done that. Absolutely. I listen to like I have a few, well, I've got a like long playlist that's like a mixture of different music genres. It might go from like Richard Ashcroft one minute to Kanye West the next. Yeah, and it keeps you um it keeps you on your feet, really, doesn't it? Yeah, exactly. Sometimes I'll listen to one or two podcasts, there's one I listen to called Friday Club, and it's just funny, and I'll be like pissing myself laughing, and like other people like walking along the dog. I know why is he laughing at the time? Yeah, exactly. Oh no, absolutely. I think just something that you know, where you can just switch off and not think about even the fact sometimes I like to not think that I'm running like at all, you know, my legs are moving and I'm going, but in my head, because if I am you know so focused on you know my breathing and my heart rate, I find that I run a lot worse. Yeah, you whereas if I just switch off, I actually sometimes perform a lot better. Yeah, and you're sort of like in autopilot, definitely, yeah. I find like um I only really look at the watch um for like uh you know, like after every comment or it'll tell you like what your pace was. Yeah. Uh because obviously, like, say if you're doing like a longer, like easy run, yeah, it's kind of like I don't want to run too fast. No. Um, or if I'm upset into the scale, I'm going for a time, it just like sort of keeps me focused. But I guess like as well, like when you do ultras, you're not really thinking about your time, you just want to like finish it. It's like it's different to like say like a normal marathon or a half or a 10. Definitely, yeah. You're not you're not bothered about pace. I think that's one thing that I really like about ultra marathons, you know, it's not about the pace, you know. Um, I've definitely had to learn not to care about the pace, you know. Like last year, um this time last year, about this time last year, you know, came out of surgery, and um, you know, a few weeks later I went on my first 5k run post-surger, and I think my average pace was like 530 a kilometre. Okay. And at that time I thought, God, that's slow. A year later, now I'm like, who cares? Well, yeah, it's who cares if it takes you 40 minutes to run a 5k or if it takes you 20 minutes to run a 5k? It's not quite 5k is 5k. Obviously, if you are competing and you are going. you know speed with ultra running i'm not bothered as long as i get to that finish line and i've had fun i'm alright i'm alright yeah it's class that because that that one in um that grim reaper one was that your second ultra that you didn't wheel thing which was what 60 uh kilometres I think um was it 66 kilometers well i think like the official distance was 40 miles don't know why that was in commerce but i think it was a bit more than that according to strava anyway and it's never gonna be absolutely 10 accurate but yeah that was like that was grim wasn't it yeah it was grim really grim recon yeah gosh yeah but you know I mean you know how we both were you know we we did our I think it was third lap or something like that and I was like I can't do this anymore yeah it was it was quite um it's quite character built to want it first lap absolutely sound second lap I think kind of like you really struggled lost the will to live third lap I it was kind of like the other way around I think yeah like I was the one like thinking oh my life and then you were the one sort of like picking me up yeah and then the fourth lap like I think the fourth lap was like mentally a lot easier actually in the third laptop you knew it was your last lap yeah definitely I think for me because it was um you know I had my surgery in in April and I think this was end of May um and I think I remember getting to that top of that hill on that second lap and I would just start absolutely bawling my eyes out because I was in so much pain you know my stitches on my lower abdomen weren't even fully she could it was probably not the right time to run an ultramarathon. Show your surgeon is stroll I think it'd be um kicking my head in to be honest definitely um but ultramarathons yeah absolutely you do need to have a good level of fitness don't get me wrong but it is such a war in your head you know it's you against you there's no one else who can get you through that race except from you because if you shut down that's it yeah definitely you know definitely and you can't you know you've seen me you've I I shut down and then I you know it's good to be stubborn sometimes in things like that because you think no not a bitch I'm gonna get I'm gonna get this done I'm gonna get this done yeah definitely and you know we both finished it and it was mint wasn't it you know exactly yeah my feet were absolutely monkey and gross I had the wrong um trail shoes on it was my first pair of trail shoes and they did not do anything for me the skin off my feet was just peeling it would it were absolutely disgusting um felt really bad for the medic because he had to oh shit I forgot about that was like that was like halfway around the lap wasn't there and I remember I I remember telling I was like I can't run anymore shh like it's really hurting got to medic tent put my leg up and I the medic looked and I and I remember I don't know why I said this but I said to him I hope you don't have a foot fetish while she's looking at my gammy foot oh my gosh and then I was like oh I'm really sorry they probably stink really bad and I thought just shut up but you know you look at those things and it's so funny and it's like you think oh what a great day and I think that you know the good always outdoes the bad you know oh of course it does you know and now I look at me crying at God knows whatever plummet it was and I think Christ I think that was like maybe 25k in or something yeah so it wasn't even halfway in yeah and I thought I can't I can't do this today but I think that at that point I was still a little bit like oh pace pace pace like you know I'm not doing this fast enough and then you know I was like who cares if I do it in five hours or if I do it in ten hours you know it's different ultra you know when when people when people like when I tell people oh like I ran an ultramarathon I don't think I once got asked oh how how long did it take you to usually say are you alright in the head you know well done for completing an ultramarathon rather than what what pace was you at what was your average pace you know um it's not about that and I think you know the ultra community it's so nice. Yeah everyone's like so nice like no like egos or vanity it's all just like absolutely you know you're obviously gonna have your your very good runners who are there to win who are there to you know beat their records and you know go for it but you know you'll see you know six year old Steve who's just plodding along and you think ace like that's amazing and you know people have different stories and people do it for different reasons people do it for charities and people doing it you know uh for themselves you know people may have had I don't know um maybe going through a divorce or something like John I mean I've heard so many different reasons for it absolutely and it's so nice because you know um it's not just about oh I'm trying to be a really good runner and I want to be as fast as I can people are doing it for their mental health and so many different lovely lovely lovely reasons it's amazing. It's really nice is really nice really good and I feel like you'll like on an ultra like you you kind of like like you say you'll meet like say random people from all different walks of life and then you end up running with them for a bit kind of like unintentionally and you kind of just like each other on. Yeah exactly and it's as if you've known them for like 20 years or whatever. You know I think um every person that I've run with during Ultras has just told me their life story and I'm like I feel like I've known you for about 10 years. I've known everything about you because I've been running with you for like four hours. Yeah exactly just a really good way of like getting to know people it's really really good. But I think that that second one we did the Grim Reaper one was really good for you in terms of because you had the Peak District 100k was it a month later or something like that? It was June end of June it was so yeah about yeah four or five weeks later and I think that second one was really good for you because you kind of like yeah you kind of like struggled with it at times but you still did it so it's kind of like a good thing to do. It was a confidence boost you know I thought right I've done 66 kilometers I can do another whatever it is 44 kilometers obviously you know just a marathon and a bit exactly what's that um yeah so I had 100 kilometres a month after that which is still my longest run hopefully not for too long signed up to another race today but yeah 100k came round very very very very quickly um and best race ever I loved it I mean you even saw you know it was it was mint wasn't it yeah really well organised really well organised um so it was 100 kilometres in the peak district um and once again I was like you know very I'm I'm still very new to it you know I'm still figuring stuff out but you know things like um your fueling um and you know just can't can my head cope with running for so long um but um I actually ran with a with a guy who I met at the 50 kilometre Durham Ultra um and we literally stuck together the whole way through and it was really nice because you know I met other people on route as well but it was nice because um you had someone when you were down they might have been on a on a high and when they were on a low you were on a high and it was just pushing each other you know absolutely and I had Harry there and I had my dog there and it was it was such a nice day and you know I remember hitting five kilometers and I was like shit 95k to go my lord but it was kind of like I was like you know what one foot in front of the other keep chipping away keep chipping away I had so so so much fun so much fun my stomach was alright um you know I didn't really have you know there was times where I was running downhill and I was like ooh something's going on um don't know what but something's going on and the biggest issue during that day was the heat it was a hot day it was a very hot day and there was not an amount of water fluids electrolytes I could have taken on to kind of outdo how much water I lost and I am someone who sweats a god awful amount so I was just I was losing so much water you know this is gonna this is gonna be disgusting I just wasn't weing at all and now I remember at 75 kilometers it was at aid station yes um and just before that I hit a massive wall and my thighs were so they expanded so much from the heat they started chafing and it was the worst thing ever I remember I went to medic 10 and I just said to a woman please do something about my fucking thighs because I can't run I can't do anything and she you know she was like put Vaseline on it and I was like look I keep sweating the Vaseline off it's not working I had like I don't want to call it lube it was essentially lube that you put you put on your on your skin to stop chafing but I was sweating so much it just would come off and she said look the only thing we can do is tape your thighs I looked ridiculous but she taped my thighs and at that point I didn't have I didn't think I'm gonna have to take that tape off at some point with my chafing thighs she put it on and I was like right 25k to go light work um it wasn't light work yeah whatsoever um it was awful no it wasn't awful it was fun but um I remember hitting 90 kilometers that was the last aid station and some woman got taken an ambulance because she was hallucinating so much and I thought yeah yeah she got taken and I thought how awful imagine running 90 kilometers you've got 10k to go you get taken by a bloody ambulance but it was so hot people were genuinely just really suffering and about five kilometers to go I just said to myself the last five kilometers I don't know who made that route but whoever it is I hope the pillow was warm for the rest of their life it was uphill just constant uphill last five kilometres you know your legs are short you're dehydrated you you're done it was dark it was what 10 pm I believe something like that 9 10 pm later than that whatever it was I think it was like 25 to 1 when you crossed the finish line was it I think yeah I think it no I think that's when we got back to the Airbnb I think it was a bit later I don't know anyway I remember 95 kilometers I just said to myself I'm just gonna sit down for five minutes I'm just gonna sit down on this bench I've got to sit on this bench there's no game bench I sat on the ground yeah in my head it was there but I think the hallucinations started kicking in and I scared myself a bit I thought god it's dark got 5k to go and I've just sat on a bench that isn't there Christ and that 5k took me so long because like I said it was just uphill um I had a really crapped head torch which it was it wasn't very good I couldn't see very well um and I was still with with that guy that I was running and I remember we got to about I think it was like 98 kilometre and I was like no come on like we've got two kilometres yeah you know for all the we could we could we could we can finish it like two kilometers and we started running and I remember just like crossing the finish line and I was like this is bliss. Like what the hell I've just ran ran plodded 100 kilometers. Oh real you know yeah a year before that I couldn't even run yeah I didn't even you know I I I could maybe run like 15 kilometers at that point. So that's what you can do in the absolutely and I remember that day just being the best day ever I bloody loved it um unfortunately because of the heat I had severe heat strokes yeah so I remember getting into the shower that night and I had to take that bloody tape off and I thought I was going to screen the house down it were awful um I was trying I think you were asleep at this point. I was trying not to wake Harry up I daren't say I was tired. I was so I was in so much pain I remember you know and I it got to the next day and I got home and I was just throwing up body temperature 40 degrees and I thought I'm gonna die like this is not good. I remember mum saying to me like why would you do that to yourself and I was like do you know what it was worth it I lost three kilos in two days though you know that was all water you know I lost so much water and I couldn't eat the next day you know I've just you know burned probably about 12000 calories that day and I couldn't get anything in um I was throwing up it was coming out both ends body temperature through the roof um but you know I look back on it I think that was such a good race such a good race but at no point during that race did I think what's my pace oh yeah one even yeah and I think my average pace was like nine minutes something per kilometers who cares yeah it doesn't mean I loved it but I think if I was so anal about you know my pace I would have hated it you wouldn't have enjoyed it wouldn't have enjoyed it all yeah that's it I remember like um when I drove to the first like checkpoint and it was like 25 it was at the 25k point it was like half eight in the morning and it was like already like you were roasting already roasting I and bear in mind I was just stood around wasn't even like doing it so I thought fucking hell like you are gonna be roasting. It was really warm. Yeah and it's like it even if it was like like a cold day it would have been like difficult enough but then the it just adds an extra we were not we're not used to it in this country are we? It was one of the hottest days of the year for God's sake. So yeah it was fun and I I will always remember that race is definitely one of the best ones I've done. Mega that was fun and then since then you've done I feel like I'm gonna miss one out. No go on did the da da da da da I did one in the Dales that's which I won yes one in the Dales the one in Durham again and then the I did 90 kilometres around 90k around Brighton Bath then then the one in Durham with me and then and then I've done the last one standing. Lost yep last one standing we'll talk about the Dales one because I won that one that's a big flush which was um yeah so I ran this um Dales one and I ran it with a really awful ankle as well my ankle was absolutely sharp but I remember I did I went into that race thinking nothing of it at all um and I was just running and I think I was on about just before the I was on about this was a I think it turned out to be a 64 it was a 40 miler but once again it turned out to be like 64 kilometers. Was it self-navigating it was self-navigating which I didn't know about and it's a good thing that I downloaded the map onto my Garmin because otherwise I would have been absolutely cooked. 1200k oh my gosh yeah I probably would have and I remember and I'm not very good at navigating and I I just yeah and and I remember yeah it was just before 40 kilometers and I remember my mum messaging me saying you're in league your first woman and I was like bullshit no I'm not absolutely not and then first thing I thought I'm gonna call Harry like Harry can you please check that I am and he confirmed that I was and I was like right get your ass into gear you're gonna you're gonna come first remember like what's she ringing me for it's like early I know I know and I um got to the marathon um distance and it was just like this massive like stairs like like staircase thing and I was like oh god like this is awful um and then I checked on my phone like I'm not usually that competitive and I thought you can't catch up with me now and I think she was about two miles behind me and I was like I can't be and lead the whole race and lose it right at the end. Yeah so I sped up and I was in so much pain and I was died I was like god this is so hard and I was running to the finish line I was like screwed I was like first woman first woman and I got there and I was like as if that's just happened but until you know that you know kind of like 40k at no point did I even look at my pace. Yeah my aim was to finish that race um can't say the um prize was anything astonishing it was a plank of wood but saying first female and I thought brilliant oh well absolutely it's on my wall now and say what you meant to do a point but it once again I just really enjoyed it but I think when you don't look at the pacing you're not so you know bothered about you of course you do. Um so that was the Dales I don't even remember that it was um yeah Brayton Bath yes that was in December weekend in December wasn't it yeah so that was meant to be the weekend of a hundred mile race I was meant to do which went a bit tits up because the organisers were shocking and that was meant to be in the Azores in Portugal ended up not going and I was like right I don't want to spend another you know 200 pounds on another race um because god that's a lot of money isn't it and you know they refunded me for the race but obviously I've lost you know money on my plane tickets and stuff and I thought I'm gonna run 100 miles around Brayton Bath Brayton Bath is a little what woodland little like yeah 2k two weight isn't it and I think my ambitions were a little bit too high um I didn't run a hundred miles I ran 90 kilometres um but I had such great support you know I had all my friends there and you know it was such a nice day because I was I was you know by myself for not that long at all really and I was I was I was having such a nice time you know like two kilometers even feel like two kilometres at certain points um and then I remember it got to the evening and it started absolutely launching it down with rain um I was really cold and I was I just started losing it and I was running with Nick um you know right before I tapped out yeah and I remember him talking to me and I was just like I don't even know what's going on mate I don't know what is going on. Well that's Nick to be fair yeah well that's it no it wasn't his fault to be fair bless him he was you know it was it was quite late on um and then he left and I was like right I'm gonna run through the night now and I was running and I hit a tree and knocked myself out and I kind of just got up and I was like this is not safe you know it's not a um supervised race it's not an official race I don't have anyone here with me and you know it was quite late and I thought I can't run through the night when I'm here by myself you know it's quite dangerous really you know I'm not saying someone would kill me or anything but you know something happened. That's it isn't it it'll be a few hours before anyone even finds me and I remember knocking myself out and I messaged I I had really cold hands my hands weren't working and I tried to like message my brother just come pick me up and I tried and it would my hands just wouldn't work and I was like right I'm gonna run from Brayton Bath to Tesco Garage and which is what just over a kilometre. Yes and I was just crying it was raining and I was calling I was like oh get me out of this now and he came to pick me up and I remember coming home and I was once again I bashed myself I was like you idiot you should have just carried on you know running like why didn't you carry on running um but once again I have to remember you know god you hit 90 kilometres around a two kilometre loop you idiot like exactly it's fine you know not everything is gonna go to plan always you know still like unbelievable achievement yeah you know you know you're crazy you ran 90 kilometers round a two kilometre it's fine of course it is um and then I did my first ultra this year which was a last man standing most humbling thing ever. Well before that you did well I did I did to 42 kilometers and was it a week only 40 kilometers Harry ran 50 kilometres it was a week after the was it week it was the week after week after I ran 90k which was probably a bit too ambitious. Oh you still I can do it I ran 42k my body was like still around the marathon though didn't you I did yeah it was alright it was alright um and then February I did last man standing so if someone doesn't know what last man standing is it's essentially a 4.2 kilometre loop no not 4.2 miles 4.2 miles it's six just over six k yeah called a yard isn't yeah yeah is that exactly so it's you run that distance every hour on the hour until the last person is standing and I thought well I'm a very Person, which is surely I'm gonna be very good at this. Yeah. Little did I know, my hamstrings would seize up and basically just revolt and not work. So it started off really, really fun. You know, it was just the same loop, and it was it was up it was well, up down in Wales. Really nice route. It was a lovely day, glorious day, and I think you know, every day up to that race it was raining. Um, and um, you know, first few laps, I was like, this is ace, I'm alright, this is good. Mentally, I was all there, I was you know, I felt really good. And I don't know which lap it was, I think it was lap number seven. I got to the finish line, I said to Harry, I can't do anymore. I can't do anymore. Like this is really hard, my you know, because I think I was running them too fast if I'm being honest. You know, I should have run them in about 50 minutes, and I was coming in about 37-40 minutes, which meant I had 20 minutes of just being sat there doing nothing, yeah, and my hamstrings would just tighten up, and I was like, God, this is awful. Um and Harry was like, No, you can do another one, so I ran the eighth one, and I was like, right, that's enough. I'm done, I'm done. Um, I wasn't done. I ran 10 laps, which was just over 66 kilometres, 66.7 kilometres, I believe. Um, not what I wanted, and I was, you know, a bit disappointed with myself, but I've never done a race like that, you know. I've never done that sort of you know, stop, start, stop, start, you know, not for 20 minutes where you had to sit and you know, it was quite cool. It was a nice day, but it was cool. Yeah, um, you know, and I think I just I the mistake I did was I ran it too fast. I need to probably, you know, and I I am doing another one. You know, I said to you, right, after I was I never never do another one, like it's not for me, not doing another one. What card's not for me, this and then following morning, oh booked another one. Booked another one, same one, and it's September, and you know, because I've done it once now, I'm definitely gonna, you know, change my strategy up a bit and slow down. Yeah, but once again, it was so funny. I've met so many great people that you know. Um, I met a a woman, she was um she looked young as anything. I think she said she was about 40 something, and she was like, you know, my aim is just to get to 50. She was actually waiting for a knee replacement, she had no um, you know, no cartilage in her knee, and I was like, Christ! This is impressive. Absolutely, you know, but once again, it's that kind of body image thing. There were so many people with different shapes, different sizes, and I was like, oh hey, it's like you know, the people who you never look at and think, oh, they're a runner, but they're they're running an ultramarathon. I noticed that a lot because obviously everyone comes back to the same base every 40-50 minutes. Yeah, it was so lovely, and you know, with ultra marathons, you know, you I don't think I mentioned this, you but you eat the most random stuff in the world, you know. At one point I just found myself eating boiled potatoes, yeah. And then, you know, downing that down with some sweets, and I thought, Christ, not the epitome of health here, but you know, it's it's it's tabs and you have to get it in. But you know, I hit that tenth lap, and this was the first race where my body gave out before my mind did. Because in my head, I was like, I'm so annoyed because I can my head can run so much more, my body's done. My body's absolutely done, it could not run anymore. On that an ultimate lap, I saw you sort of like holding your hamstring a little bit as you were like yeah, crossing the line, and I thought, oh, hamstring's not good. Hamstring's not good, they were they were just seized up, and I was like so you did really well to like do another lap, and it was definitely the right decision. It was definitely I think if you know, I think if I went for another one, once again it was pitch black at this point, and and um I think I would have just done myself damage, and I thought, is it worth an injury? Probably not, you know, especially with you know another hundred kilometres coming up in just over two months. It's like in the middle of June, it's middle, it's the same time as um I did the 100k last year. So yeah, I know it's it's the end of June, I think it's the 30th or something like that. Okay, um, so it's the same organisers that um I ran the peak districts with last year, but this one's in the North York Mars. I'm hoping because it's coastal, there's gonna be a bit of a breeze, um, and it's not as hilly. Um the elevation is still over like a thousand metres, but the one last year was over two thousand metres. Right, got it. Which was obviously like double essentially. You are in the in the in in the hills, aren't you? Um so yeah, that's coming up just yeah, just just over two months, but then today I entered a new race, so um what was that one? Um it's down south, um, and because I am really, really wanting to get that 100 miler in this year. Okay, there's not a hundred miles, but there's 110 miles, so I thought that's alright, isn't it? So it's 178 kilometres in Exmoor, which is very hilly, and I never really look at the um ins and out of race af until after I book it. Yes. I booked it 6,000 meter elevation. And own doctor. Um so that's coming up, which is uh is gonna be hard. But once again, I think because I'm now past the thought of you know, am I fast enough? Am I you know do I look good enough? I don't really think like that anymore. I'm there to enjoy it, you know. The moment I stop enjoying these races, that's when I stop doing it. Of course, yeah. For sure. Love that. Yeah, um, but you know, I mean ultra running in in terms of you know it being like a you know popular in in women within women, it's still very, very, you know, new really. I mean, if you think about it, women couldn't run marathons until I think the official marathon that you know women could um run in was 1972, which really isn't all that long ago. Because I think it was like Boston where a woman pretended to be a bloke. Yeah, she was um she was you know known as the bandit essentially. Um that's what they called her anyway. But you know, it's not been that long since women could run marathons, and you know, there's that social norm of you know, well women aren't as strong and as good as men physically, so why how could they run ultra marathons? And you know, I mean still, I mean, in the last I think it said 20 last time I checked 23 years, you know, it we've gone from about you know 13% of women in the ultra game to about you know between 2025, which is a big increase. So, you know, there's between 2020 20 and 25 percent of women in the ultra marathon world now, which is amazing, like it keeps going up, you know, it's becoming you know, women are capable of doing these big things, you know. So it's other women as well. But you know, actually, the bar whatever barriers there are, actually. Oh gosh, yeah, you know, there's you know, there's mums doing it, there's you know, there was um I can't remember the name of this ultra runner. I mean, she's one of the pros, and she was like six months pregnant, and I think she ran like a 300 kilometre ultra race, and I thought my gosh. She will only like yeah, I think I might follow her on Instagram. Amazing. Did she like win an ultra in Wales since she was the only person to complete it? I think so, yeah. You know, like wow, amazing. Um, but you know, I mean, training for you know, now by no means am I saying it's easier for men, but in a way, it really is, you know. Women don't have to think about you know your menstrual cycle and stuff like that. You know, I mean, this is gonna sound one this is probably me overexposing myself, but you have a race and you think, am I gonna be, you know, on my period? Really? Then you know, you have to take it into consideration. Um, you know, different times of the of the month really have an impact on how you feel, you know, a month a week before you come on your period, you're not gonna be like you can absolutely shit. Yeah, of course, and it's like um not just kind of ultrasound, but even like in the Olympics, for example, it'll make a massive difference. You know, people don't really like think about it until you're in that position, and you think, Christ, I'm gonna have to carry tampons in in my running vest, and where where am I gonna change? And yeah, and you feel disgusting and dirty, and you know, I mean, ultramarathons are absolutely not an elegant spot. Yeah, you just can't at all. Yeah, no one gives a shit. You know, you uh you know the the last man standing one I did. It was and it was the I think it was the first loop. I was just running, and this guy was just pissing in the middle of the track, and he was like, Oh, I'm so sorry. And I was like, what else are you meant to do? Exactly. Piss your pants. If you've gotta go, you've gotta go. Exactly. And you know, you're taking on so much fuel and things like gels, and it it goes through, yeah. You know, you get you get a bad stomach, and you know, there's times where you need to have a wild pool. It is what it is, but yeah, like you know all being there. We've all been there, but yeah, like you know, when I first started, you know, I never thought I'd have to take into consideration things like a period and and you know, like what time of the month it is and stuff like that, and how much of an impact it will have on you. Um it's crazy, it's honestly crazy, but it's uh it's so much fun, and I think just the community really, really does make it. It's such a lovely and warming community, you know. Of course, you don't feel out of place, and you know, um doing that last man standing, the guy who won it. I mean, he did I can't remember, I think he did like 20 something, 27 hours? Yeah, at least it were ridiculous. And he was still running. He was still running. And I remember like I ran my last lap with him, last 10th lap with him, and he was like um, he was really supportive, and you know, I knew he was a lot, he was fresh as anything. I was on the brinks of hell, yeah, and he was fresh, but not you know, not at one point did he say, you know, anything to make me feel crap about myself. No, it was very, you know, um, it was nice, and you know, it's it's men, it's women, and it, you know, so many different ages, like I said before, like you've got people in your 20s, people in 30s. Um, I don't know if you do remember there was that one man, it was older, like a an a much older uh fella, and his aim was just to run 50 kilometers. I say just yeah, probably about 70. Yeah, it's class, isn't it? And you know, he finished he crossed that finish line to get the ultra medal, and everyone's clapping, and it was such a nice yeah, proper drivers. It's not like intimidating in the slightest, even to anyone who's on an R and think, Oh, this may not be for me. Just give it a go. Exactly, because like like you say, everyone's like really friendly, supportive, push each other on, absolutely, and then it makes the experience like even better, definitely, on top of like the achievement in itself. Yeah, I'd recommend it to everyone. Just do an ultra, do an ultra, no, but I think just kind of you know, I never thought I'd I'd run, never mind running ultra marathons, yeah. But even if it's like a 5k race, yeah, exactly. You know what? Like when people say to me, Oh, like I'm not as good as you, I just run at 5k, and I'm like, Don't matter, it don't matter, yeah. Why does it matter? You know, it's it it it's relative, isn't it? Like, I once couldn't run 5k. Yeah, I was out of breath after about two minutes. Exactly, you know, it just it it's a lot of discipline, it's a lot of hard work, it's a lot of early mornings, you know. This, you know, this training block is nice because it it's kind of through like spring and stuff, but I remember mornings where it was like my alarm would go off at four in the morning before work, it was launching it down, it was windy, it was freezing, and you just it was just getting it done. And once again, there was mornings where I woke up and I thought, why am I doing this? But it's not it's absolutely all worth it in the end. Oh, totally, yeah, really, really good. I feel like in some ways training's like a lot tougher than the actual like training. Do you know what I like to look at? Yeah, is like training is like the hard part, and then the race is just your reward essentially of all the hard work that you put in. It's a celebration of all you know, all those hours, all that training, you know, the sacrifices that you have to make and stuff like that. Um for that, you know, one day. But you know, another thing, you you finish a race and you think, now what? Yeah, that's it. You're on that sort of like initial sort of come down, aren't you? But that's why we sort of joke about it, but that's why you like keep booking it, yeah. More stuff. You know, you've just spent 16 weeks in a training block one day and it's over. Exactly. And you're like, now I feel crap about myself. Yeah, what I need something else, and you know, I am that person who's like, and I need I need something to like work towards because if I don't, I don't know what to do with myself. That's how I felt after my first marathon. I haven't booked anything for ages, and I was kind of like now what? Yeah, exactly. So it's definitely like important to just like every so often have something to aim for. Definitely keeps you motivated, keeps you in that sort of routine with your training block. Absolutely. But um, yeah, I think like we'll do a separate Hyrux one another time because you're doing one in Warsaw next week. Week today. Week today, uh solo and then three weeks time. Well, we both do well. I'm doing Cardiff solo on the Friday, you're doing double pro doubles on the Sunday, is it? I am, yeah. So yeah, we'll do like a we'll do right, yeah, we'll do like a Hyrux related to one there. Patch up your like what I'll episode be like, what the what do we do this far? You think never doing this again, and then you book another one and you're like, oh, it can't have been that bad. Exact exactly. So uh yeah, we'll uh we'll definitely uh do another one. But yeah, thank you very much for coming on. Thank you for your time. My pleasure, like really good. I think everyone will really enjoy listening. I'm glad. Because I think like a lot of people are kind of like aware that you do all this stuff, but not don't necessarily know kind of like behind the scenes. So I think it's good to kind of like that you were able to kind of explain your story about that and kind of the challenges you face in there. That was like, yeah, really, really good. Good. Thank you so much. Thank you. We'll we'll have a coffee now. Yeah. We will well we'll catch up on this in a few weeks' time. Brilliant. Um, yeah, thank you very much.