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00:00:01
Adam Phillips
216 Plays3 months ago
In this episode Michelle chats with Adam who switched from Triathlon to Aquabike (swim/bike/done) and has gone on to represent GBR this year winning a bronze medal in the European Championships.
Listen to hear Michelle &Adam chat about:
Adam’s lead bike role at the Shrewsbury Half & Metric Half Marathon.
His love of Triathlon, and how injury led him to the new sport of Aquabike.
A European Championships bronze medal.
Lots of tips for budding triathletes too, or if you are a runner looking to include cycling and swimming in your training.
Adam is Sales Director at ParetoFM, the lead sponsor of The Shrewsbury Half & Metric Half Marathon.
You can follow Adam on Instagram here
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Transcript
Introduction and Role at Marathon
00:00:00
Speaker
In this episode of the UK Run Chat podcast, I chat to Adam Phillips, who's Sales Director at Pareto Facilities Management. Pareto FM is the headline partner of the Shrewsbury half, a metric half marathon, which is taking place on Sunday, the 29th of September. Adam had a lead bike role in 2023 at the Shrewsbury half. So we chat to him a little bit about that experience.
00:00:23
Speaker
And also about triathlon.
Journey to Triathlons and Ironman
00:00:25
Speaker
Adam also represented Great Britain in the European Championships at Aquabike. And there was some great insights into training in this episode, as well as advice for those runners looking to include swimming and cycling in their training as well. Enjoy. Hi, Adam. Thanks for joining us on the UK Run Chat podcast today. Would you please give us just a brief introduction to yourself for our listeners, please, first of all.
00:00:49
Speaker
um Yeah, hi, Michelle. I'm Adam Phillips. I'm Sales Director and part of the Management Board at Pareto Facilities Management. And we're fortunate enough to be the the sponsor of the Shrewsbury-Harve marathon. Yeah, very, very grateful to have you on board for the Shrewsbury-Harve. Thank you. and So let's just start a little bit with your kind of and sports background. So you you are a triathlete. So what initially drew you to triathlons?
00:01:17
Speaker
um It's a good question. yes so i I did the classic thing of saying, I'm going to run a marathon before I turn 30. I did the London Marathon um in 2010, when I was 29 years old, and then I was like, well, what's the next thing? um and The next thing, it was doing Ironman. At that stage, couldn't swim, didn't own a bike.
00:01:40
Speaker
So I said, well, we'll have a five-year journey. ill I'll go and learn stuff. And um yeah, I did the the Outlaw Iron Distance Triathlon in 2014, actually, yeah. Yeah, okay. so So you said the next step there is in Ironman. I've run a few marathons. I've never at any point thought I want to do an Ironman. Were you already kind of doing other sports as well? So the cycling and the swimming? um um No, I didn't didn't own a bike at that time and I hadn't swam a tool since school, really. So yeah, I sort of went off and learned to swim, which actually, I think probably put me in a slightly better position, because I didn't have years of poor technique to unlearn. Effectively, I could, you know, I went to a swimming coach and said, well, got to learn how to swim four kilometers.
Motivation and Challenges in Endurance Sports
00:02:30
Speaker
Where did we start? And fortunately, it wasn't the case of doing bad work. It was the case of starting from the very start and building up to that side.
00:02:38
Speaker
um yeah And also, yeah, obviously not owning a bike meant I had to learn how to cycle properly, um yeah which was fun. Yeah. So what kind of what drew you then into triathlon? What what was the kind of motivation there to get to that iron distance? Always like to challenge. And and i'm I'm always very motivated by the sort of what looks like it's impossible. um And, you know, sort of when I when I first thought about running a marathon,
00:03:06
Speaker
um I was able to run 5k, 10k maybe, but but nothing very competitive. and and The challenge of the marathon sat there, particularly at at that stage. I lived in London, so the London Marathon was such a big thing for the city. um I think I found the same thing with with doing an Ironman. I started to see it as a sport, and it looked a bit bizarre. and At this stage, Chrissie Wellington, um British athlete, was dominate in the world and the more I got to learn about her and her journey into it, um yeah, the more I was like, well, anyone can do this. Yeah, you've just got to carve the time out and work at it. So you obviously enjoy the endurance sports then. What is it about kind of being out exercising for the best part of the day that you enjoy most? um well Well, I think you hit up the nail on the head straight away there. Being out, are I very much like being outside. um I've spent
00:04:02
Speaker
the majority of my work in life outdoors. And, you know, i ah yeah I find this just, it's just a lot nicer than sitting in, even in the rain and the wind and everything, right? You just put the right clothes on, it's it's much nicer being outside than inside. So talk just talk us through then, the what what do you think is the most difficult part of the triathlon to get right then, if someone's looking at getting into it?
00:04:27
Speaker
um As with any endurance sport pacing, I think i think it's it's for anybody pretty much, it's relatively easy to do something for a long period of time, but to do something as fast as you possibly can without blowing up or or bonking, you knowtting hitting the wall or whatever. um yeah Yeah, being able to sort of learn how to control your effort over a sustained period of time is very important, I think, and yeah, enjoy that. Yeah, definitely, yeah.
00:04:59
Speaker
um so do you So you mentioned Outlaw there, did you carry on doing triathlon for a while then? and yeah yeah yeah yeah so um Yeah, that was 10 years ago now. So I joined the local club um and then did some sort more local races and um then was fortunate enough to go overseas to race for some sort of larger bits and pieces that were that were quite a lot of fun.
00:05:23
Speaker
A couple of years ago, I was over in Marbella doing a 70.3 race. that that was That was pretty exciting. and Oh, wow. Yeah, some ah some other cool places. And similarly with with marathons, you know, I'm sure as as you've experienced, like the ability to go to a city, to go and do a race, it's a great great way to see the place. Yeah, but a sightseeing whilst doing that's brilliant. So what's been your favourite triathlon event then, would you say?
00:05:50
Speaker
um probably actually yeah to be fair Marbella so yeah you in um what was it to it was in may uh the year i did it so you're there just before it's really hot yeah pre-tourist season so so it's relatively calm and quiet uh and you actually don't go into downtown Marbella very much you go into the beautiful mountains and loads of venues and places like that so it's yeah much much uh nicer yes okay yeah that's good yeah i do i must say i've never been to marbella but it does appeal
00:06:21
Speaker
Maybe not for an Ironman though. Well, it's really cool because you swim obviously in the sea and then you you ride up into the mountains and it's incredibly different to what I thought of Marbella when I first considered doing it. And you do end up running along the sea from between two towns there. But you say you you sort of keep out of the the town area and but yeah we stayed in a small village up in the mountains and everything. And it's an absolutely beautiful part of the world.
00:06:51
Speaker
Yeah, it sounds lovely. So as as always, life
Adapting to Arthritis and Sports Transition
00:06:55
Speaker
can can throw curve balls at us. So I know that you didn't kind of stay with traditional triathlon, do you? Because you and ended up with arthritis in your knee. So tell us a little bit about that and how that impacted you. Yeah, um so i I used to play rugby when I was a lot younger. um And I took a ah took ah ah tackle into my trailing leg, sort of sideways.
00:07:21
Speaker
25 years ago now when I was 19. And I got told at the time I had a strained um anterior cruciate ligament. Turns out it wasn't, turns out it was torn but you know medicine and scans and everything didn't really exist like they do now. um So I then spent 25 years of being in the military, being active and and and then laterally running with my knee effectively having no stability. So I just used a wobble like this and that wore away the medial line cartilage um in in the left knee. So I waited for surgery five years ago now. um Yeah and afterwards the surgeon explained in
00:08:00
Speaker
blunt surgeon terms, how large the tear was, you know, thanks for that. Describe my ACL as floppy and pretty much non existent. And then said, Oh, by the way, you got this narrowing behind the kneecap. So yeah, it was a, it was one of those things that we worked very hard to build strength up around the knee, you know, strong quads, hamstrings, calf, etc. to try and give some level of stability. So I was able to make a bit of a return to running after that.
00:08:29
Speaker
But I found that getting the consistency, you know, being able to run three or four times a week wasn't really possible. And then the more I tried, the the more swelling got quite bad and the the worse it was and then the pain sort of happening. So it was a case of I was only really able to run once or twice a week. And then that was having to drop down to once a week. And then it was seven days after a run, you still see the knee being visibly swollen. You're like, well,
00:08:55
Speaker
I quite enjoy playing with my my little boy. I've not been able to kneel down to do stuff with him. I quite enjoy walking so I can actually you know go to work and be productive. and yeah You can't really allow and sort of the sport to get in the way of that. so so Sadly, my last run um was ah last summer.
00:09:15
Speaker
Yeah, so that's it. you've You've kind of made that call to say no more running. It's not it's not worth. but Yeah, for for for the moment, for the moment if um if I go back to it, it will be like with a real dedicated path back back into it. But I just don't see how how I can get the strength without having a complete knee re rebuild, which isn't something I particularly want to do. I think the the risks that are associated with something like that, particularly having yeah um having young children. um I quite enjoy like like being able to play with them, being able to kneel down and yeah Yeah, sacrificing that isn't really worth it, I don't think. No, that that's a really tough call to make, and I know there've been runners out there um kind of dealing with with injuries themselves. I mean, how how do you find the shift then from kind of running quite a lot to not doing any? What are you what are you doing instead? um Well, the shift's not great. I think, i think you know, this this being a running podcast, there'll be a lot of people who listen to this who who understand how great running is.
00:10:13
Speaker
um I live about a mile and a half from the Thames path. So in the spring in particular, you know, there's, there's, there's very few places that are so flat and so beautiful for running. Henley to ball and things like that. These absolutely beautiful, beautiful run routes to not be able to do that is say you can't replace that. That's, that's, that's something I think like part of the journey is being at peace with that.
00:10:39
Speaker
um However, you know, um cycling in particular is it's a wonderful way to get out for a long time, cover a lot of ground and really build that proper but zone to endurance base engine. So, you know, similarly to running, choosing different routes and and going off exploring and everything is is is really good there.
00:11:05
Speaker
And then the other thing I've done replacing the the but two or three runs a week with strength work. So actually getting into into the gym. um yeah ive i've I was never much of a gym fan. and I'm certainly probably like half of your listeners, not a treadmill fan. and I've always associated the two together, to be fair. But yeah, no, i thought I found now a new, doing a little bit of resistance work and strengthening and conditioning.
00:11:29
Speaker
sort of quite a new area to channel that that that need for sport, really. Yeah. So are you enjoying that now? Because because you're right. I think strength kind of comes secondary to runners and often appears as a goal after somebody's been injured, doesn't it? It's never something we tend to prioritise while we can run easily without any injuries. How do you kind of motivate yourself through strength work? What does progress look like?
00:11:58
Speaker
um So setting goals, I think is, you know, I'm um very much a goal orientated person. So yeah, sort of building a path to say, okay, well, at this stage, you can leg press this much, bench press bench press this much, e etc. Right? Okay, well, in a month's time, you need to get to there. How do you get to there? You break that down, incremental gains week by week effectively. um And the similar thing to to, you know, still being a cyclist, being a multi sport athlete,
00:12:27
Speaker
you don't want to get too big, but you want to get strong. So so it's it's working on the the balance of um um sort of repetition for endurance, as opposed for for massive muscle growth, really. Yeah, OK. Yeah, that's it's an interesting shift to make, isn't it? So hopefully you've inspired a few people out there to include some strength work. What and what differences have you noticed then kind of in your and your sport, which we'll we'll get onto to now, because you you have shifted sports haven't you and gone on to achieve m you know great things really, haven't you? So how was how has the strength impacted that? um So I think the the first big thing is is probably non-sport related. It's it's the day-to-day effects so almost. I've found that my cognitive um functionality, if you like, is is a lot better.
00:13:25
Speaker
my um brain brain fogs and all sorts of things that happen to everybody when you get into your mid-40s, through a bit of resistance work has has actually changed. And the more I look into it, and the more I explore with it, the more I'm kind of comes the belief that actually a little bit of strength and conditioning work every week is possibly the elixir for longer life. Wow. Certainly having a more productive life. And, you know, I look at my in-laws versus my parents,
00:13:53
Speaker
one couple's active, one couple isn't active. um the the The difference now in the is they're in their 70s and 80s. Between those who who exercise and lift the odd weight and those who don't, it's stark. so So yeah, you start to put that together. And I think that's probably the biggest difference. um Within sports, um it's much more I'm noticing the difference is a lot of injury prevention. And, um you know,
00:14:19
Speaker
All sport is is repetite is repetitive actions. You've got to have a strong base to be able to work with that. And then there is nerdy stuff like in the cycling, you know, my functional threshold power has gone absolutely through the roof and um yeah sort of boring things like that that they mean I'm able to ride the bike a bit quicker over a longer distance. Yeah, that's fantastic. That's really interesting what you said about your cognitive ability. That was something I'd ever considered actually.
00:14:45
Speaker
I would heartily recommend that some yeah people start to to, as you get into your 40s and beyond, start to lift, not massive weights, but just something just to spark the brain going. There's actually a very interesting ritual podcast. There's quite a few ritual podcasts that are interesting, but they focus on on the very similar aspect of it actually.
00:15:09
Speaker
Right, that's yeah that's brilliant. and how How often then would you recommend people spend on strength training kind of per session? You mentioned you do it kind of three times a week. um Yeah, so I'll do two or three times a week, um probably no more than 45 minutes for for the session itself, um with a lot of, you know, ah sort of 60 to 90 second gap between three so eight sets of whatever it is, and I'll do that three times Um, so it's very much individuals, isn't it? You know, as, as of anything, doing it once is better than not doing it, doing it twice. If that works with everything else is possibly better than, um, the, the, the doing it once. Um, for me, because of, because my work, I'm, I'm away quite a lot. So I sort of make sure there's always a gym wherever I'm staying away. So I'm able to go in, you know, five, six in the morning and, and get things done then, and then crack on with the day. Um, that's a really nice way of setting it up as well.
00:16:05
Speaker
So tell us Adam about Aquabike then, because what you've gone on you've you've won a bronze medal um in the European Championships, haven't you this year in Aquabike? I have, yeah, yeah. Congratulations. I know nothing about Aquabike, so please give us ah an overview of what the sport is and you know how how you've kind of transitioned into it. Yeah, so Aquabike is swim, then bike.
00:16:32
Speaker
So triathlon without the run effectively. And it's it was designed because I'm not a unique case by it. There is an awful lot of people who as you get a certain age, lower limb injuries, get a bit worse. Arthritis is a massive thing and running takes people out of multi-sport.
00:16:51
Speaker
So Acrobike has been created as a sport from a sort of more inclusion point of view. So whatever we effectively stopping us all going off and playing golf. yeah We're all over to staying within the multi-sport sphere. um And it's sort of recognized by the International Triathlon Union and fully governed in the in under the same structure. um And yeah, you have um races that range from a sprint through to the standard Olympic distance and then middle and longer distance racing as well.
Achievements in Aquabike and Training Insights
00:17:23
Speaker
Yeah, so how how sorry how did you get into that then? So you you were obviously having issues with your your knee, yeah but kind of coming out of running a little bit. Was that kind of a natural progression for you then? Yeah, it was, yeah. So um i was I was having ah just a couple of niggles say with with the knee. um So I did a few acrobatic races just to keep racing.
00:17:44
Speaker
And something I would sort of say is you don't have to have an injury to do Aquabike. If you're into triathlon, it's actually a really good way to work out without having the the impact of the run. So you can train very hard and then train again the next day. You're not sort of having to put your legs up in the air. um So I did a couple of races just because I i was unable to run. It turned out I quite enjoyed the fact that you don't have to hold back on the bike. It becomes much more of a time trial sort of experience where It's about managing effort to exhaustion rather than about managing effort to 85% of exhaustion. So you can still go and run for an hour and a half afterwards. um It sort of changes the the the dynamic of the race as well. And then what I learned very early on is it's actually the but very good swimmers are the people who are going to finish at the front of the field because you want to, you come out of the water a couple of minutes away from your your competition. It's a very, very big gap for them to close afterwards.
00:18:43
Speaker
Yes I mean there is the mantra isn't there on kind of triathlon anyway that bike is king so if you can get you get that right you've got a good kind of head start then for the run but I guess you've you've nothing to to work on after the bike on aqua bike have you? How far are the distances generally do they equate to triathlon? Yeah they do equate to triathlon so you'll have a long distance that would be between 3 and 3.8 kilometre swim and then between 130 and 180 kilometre bike um The middle distance, 1,900 metre swim, 90k bike, standard is 1,500 metre swim, 40k bike, so there's quite a big emphasis on the swim, in the difference there. And then sprints are typically 750 to 20. Yeah.
00:19:29
Speaker
and i mean there like zone five you know what's that pretty 45 minutes or so they're very very uncomfortable proper type two sort of fun yes i can imagine so which event is your event then which is your bronze medal in so middle distance middle middle distance yeah i've got it here actually i can show you I'll send us a photograph of it so we can share it. Yeah, yeah yeah I'll ping you a photo over later of it. Fantastic. At what point do you think I'm i'm kind of i'm pretty good here? ah Talk us through the selection process. How does it work? How do you qualify for the team? um so The selection is twofold. ah so For the standard distance, they have a series of qualification races and then top three in each age group qualify
00:20:15
Speaker
to go forward to to to the championships. For standard and long distance, um it you can qualify from any race as long as the field is over, I think it might be 100 athletes, and then take as a percentage of the age group winner's time. So so yeah um so for next year's race,
00:20:38
Speaker
um next year's long distance championships I finished in in in a race I think like three percent behind that's 103 percent of the time of the age group winner um and you need to have your time within 115 percent for a world championships one hundred and 120 percent for a um for a European for a continental championship. Okay and so are you are you looking ahead are those goals of yours now then? Yeah yeah so also you also get provisional qualifications if you finish as the top three Brits and top 10 overall
00:21:10
Speaker
As with any sport, they made it really complicated. Wouldn't wouldn't wouldn't be the same without that complicated level of governance there. But yeah, um no we're looking forward next year to world long distance and worlds um world long distance in European middle distance are both in Spain next year as well. So so looking at those. Yeah, fantastic. The standard distance maybe in Australia, but that's a separate conversation I need to have somewhere. Yes. Oh, okay. Yes.
00:21:39
Speaker
So what was your training regime like then leading up to the championships? What what changed and what what did your kind of week look like in training? um so um So I've been working with the same coach for coming three years now um and we I was struggling with some illness last year so we were aiming for this year to be a bit of a comeback year effectively back to normal performance for myself.
00:22:05
Speaker
um A typical week in that respect would look at three bikes, three swims, um, and a bit of strength work around that. So effectively taking the run out and putting the the strength work in. Um, and one of the days being a double day. So where, where you'll do two training sessions, one in the morning, one in the evening. Um, and I like to put a rest day in as well, because not a young man. yeah yeah miles right it's it's um Rest is where the magic happens. You know you don't get fitter when you're training, you you get fitter when that adaptation is going on. so yeah
00:22:46
Speaker
um and then so Specifically for this year, um we were I bought a new bike at the back end of last year. so We were looking at very, very specific power output on the bike and as to what is possible for what period of time.
00:23:03
Speaker
um and then We weren't particularly targeting any racers this year for, you know, sort of podium performances. Um, but I did, I did the bike leg of a triathlon relay in, um, I've actually had nothing about the, the outlaw in, um, early May. And I went a bit quicker than we thought I was going to. And then all of a sudden it's like, wow. Okay. But this is on now, you know, what?
00:23:32
Speaker
what you're capable of is clearly it's it's clearly now not next year. So I booked a race over in a weekend of racing over in France, came first and second and ah in a couple of races. I set a course record on a ah race in the Cotswolds and then went so to Coimbra in Portugal and we were sort of thinking more All things being even, you're going to be in around somewhere between 2 hours 47 and 2 hours 53. Historically, but to even the 2 hours 53 is going to going to have you trouble in the podium. So yeah, yeah and I was very fortunate. It was ah it was just under 2.53 I think then.
00:24:15
Speaker
I look back at it and there were 33 seconds between myself and the gold medal place. And you're sort of like, well, this this is, you know, the aim was always, the goal was always there to get on the podium. It's what we've been working for for for for a long period of time now. But I think there's a little bit of a lesson in there about setting goals can be brilliant, but can also be a limiter. Yeah. You know, I race more conservatively than than I ever have done.
00:24:41
Speaker
um I was sort of, when I was swimming, I was trying to keep out of trouble rather than really getting stuck into big, big packs and things like that. And I will give them a time again on that. I could find 33 seconds quite easily. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. so But you know, it just means I've got to got to go faster next year. Yeah. So will you change your race strategy then next time?
Competition Strategies and Future Goals
00:25:00
Speaker
Yeah. with the Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Um, the the confidence that I've now got that it wasn't a fluke. Um, you know, I've had this, this, this run of race wins and all that this year it's, it's clearly,
00:25:12
Speaker
you know, I can now believe in myself. So it means I can perhaps be a bit more um ruthless, possibly the right term, just a little bit more of an aggressive race strategy. Yeah, yeah, you know, I've sort of proven that I'm capable of being at this position now I might as well show less respect to my competitors, but still be a sportsman and and compete with them fairly. But you know, perhaps actually, yeah, yeah not not hold yourself back. Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:41
Speaker
Yeah, that's, I mean, how, ive I often find that the more relaxed you are going into competition, the the nicer an experience you're having, you do often perform better, don't you? how How do you stop that pressure kind of coming to the forefront in big events like that that are meaningful to you? It's very interesting you say relaxed, because yeah, no, it's very much, as we have a sort of saying that a relaxed Adam is a fast Adam. Yes, it is true though, isn't it?
00:26:10
Speaker
Hugely, hugely. um So I have small routines to to get myself excited but relaxed. The same five songs on my um on my headphones before the race that are all quite sweary, all quite loud, all quite aggressive. um Fortunately, when you're setting your bike up, you've got a nice visor ah across your your helmet so you can you know you can pop your helmet on and and just close your eyes and melt away from all the noise and everything that's going on. And there's some some visual visualization techniques that that I've been taught in the past that I use. So your happy space, which funnily enough for me is actually running alongside of the tense path. But you know you can you can just go and recreate that in yeah and in your own mind. And that I find very, very relaxing. Couple that with some breathing exercises as well. It just gets you into that routine. And and and for me, yeah know it's yeah yeah fortunate enough to to relax
00:27:07
Speaker
There's also, in honesty, a lot of experience has come into that. I wouldn't have been able to, you know, three, four years ago, get into that relaxed space because it was all so new and so exciting. Now um I'm relatively used to to go into bigger races and having all the the hubbub going on beside you and just sort of switching off from it. And, you know, there's things in there I learned. When you travel with the GB team, they encourage you to go and stay in the GB team hotel.
00:27:38
Speaker
But all you've got then is everywhere you turn, you've got people in athletes out of GB kits and all the rest of it. And and and you're just like, well sometimes you just want to go and have breakfast when you're at a race. You just, you know, just want to go and chill out or go for a quiet walk around the town you're visiting. um Yeah. So it's, yeah, it's certainly experienced quite important in that. Yeah. What's your preferred way to deal with that then Adam? Would you rather just kind of do your own thing pre-race?
00:28:07
Speaker
very much booking dot.com booking dot.com is your friend um so as soon as they announce the race dates book something i'll i'll go give away the absolute key here i i'm going to cause surge pricing but but book something with free cancellation even if you're not going to do the race you can cancel it go do your own thing book your own place sort your own logistics out don't have to worry about other people and other people's problems you can just go and be selfish and and and focus on your own your own sort of goals in your own race Yeah, I think that's very sensible advice. So what are your personal goals then? We've talked a little bit about them, but in Aquabike, what are you aiming for over the next, say, five years now? um The goals are longer term, if I'm really honest, to to so still be, whether it's competing or or not, but still be active and doing sport in the 60s and 70s is probably the goal ah real goal. There's some competition stuff over the next couple of years, obviously,
00:29:02
Speaker
I've got a bronze medal. I want to upgrade the colour on that. Whether that happens next year, whether that's the year after, a lot of that will depend on the course profile of racing. I've got 80 kilos as an athlete at sort of 182 centimetres tall. So I'm a bigger guy. Mountainous courses aren't necessarily going to be too rewarding for me. So a bit of course selection in there. But yeah, the real goals are to be doing this in my 60s and my 70s.
00:29:31
Speaker
um to be riding bikes with my with my little boy. um's He's eight, he's just joined a cycle club. He's he's really enjoying it. So to be able to to to spend a life riding with him, it's probably a bigger goal than any any metal I wear. That is so important, isn't it, that we do sometimes forget the bigger picture about just important to stay active. And as you said, you know, aim for longevity and just being mobile as we get older, so important. Yeah, thanks, Adam, that's really inspiring.
00:30:05
Speaker
and So what, for runners out there then who are possibly injured or or not, who are considering adding swimming and biking to the training, then what advice would you give them? How can they start to introduce these disciplines and what should they be working on? So firstly, definitely do it. Definitely do it. Cycling as a a way of building up the,
00:30:26
Speaker
that cardio endurance space, that big z zone two engine, you can do it without the impact of running. I know some runners are really fortunate they can run twice a day and and all all the rest of it most probably can't. um So to be able to to build that that base up, that that that time in zone two, so important for for any sports person. um Doing that without the impact of running is really, really good. So you can potentially look to add in couple of bike rides. um Commuting is a is an absolutely excellent way of doing that. Certainly at Pareto we use the cycle to work scheme um and being able to ride the bike into the office or you know for me I've got a Bronson and whizz around London. It's just a really good way of of building that base up without the stress of proper structure training and without the you know the impact from running. um Swimming's an interesting one because if you can't
00:31:24
Speaker
Swim it can become very very it can become really hard work if you have a sort of swimming background It's a wonderful way to recover from injuries or sort of hydrotherapy sort of principles and all that um But yeah, you know, you you're never going to get a massive workout You you might get 30 minutes 45 minutes in the pool um Of which some time will be spent resting anyway, so so you your actual work effort in 45 minutes might be about 28 30 minutes and um so youd So you probably won't build that big base, but you will get all the muscles working together and connected. yeah What's the term? um Kinesthetic connections and things like that happening, which again benefits running. So having the core moving as your hips rotate, that gives you stability when you're running. It stops you rocking around and all that.
00:32:13
Speaker
Um, but yeah, definitely. I think it's one thing I'd recommend that if people were looking at it, they'd they'd go and work with a coach. Um, because like, what I've just explained is the layman's view, but actually yeah there is like a science behind it that, that qualified people could really sort of give people the the benefits of. Yeah. but zi say and second Sorry, but before that, if you're worried about it, just go to the gym and to do a, do one strength set a week or learn some sort of routines you can do at home. Um, sort of body weight stuff, possibly more important than swimming or biking.
00:32:43
Speaker
Okay, that's interesting. So say you were replacing one or two of your runs a week with bike, what would you recommend in terms of, you know, how long would you be doing on the bike to say substitute for a 30 minute run, for example? Is there a general rule of thumb there?
00:33:01
Speaker
Well, so if you're taking up the easy run out of a five run weekly program, then in honestly 45 minutes, if you've got, you know, I'm less than living the countryside, I can get out of the front door, 45 minutes is probably sort of 25 ish kilometers around some local villages. If you live in a city, 45 minutes might get you to the end of your suburb, you know, so it's not quite so easy to have that ball of Um, but yeah, if you can, if you can find 45 minutes where there aren't any traffic lights where you haven't got to stop, you haven't got to put your foot down, you can keep pedaling easily for that whole time. Then the, that's, that's effectively similar to, um, as own to 30 minute run in in reality. Um, and there's again, people should, should Google this, but the the heart rates are slightly different on the bike to on the run because of the lack of impact and yeah blood not having to move so vigorously and stuff like that.
00:33:58
Speaker
Yeah, I guess you're not having to cool yourself down so much on a bike ride, are you? so Yeah, you've got um yeah the the wind does a great job. Yeah. Yeah. I guess if you're on an indoor bike, that's slightly different as well. but yeah like some maybe A lot of people who um go off and race in Kona in Hawaii and all these other places for triathlons will, you know, they'll they train indoors in a jumper, no fans, just to try and replicate the the the conditions there. yeah that's Yeah, that's tough. How do you kind of train for hotter weather like Marbella, for example, must have been very warm? um So I experimented this year with sauna protocols. So effectively building up over a sustained period of time up to 45 minutes in the sauna.
00:34:47
Speaker
which is horrendously unpleasant and I don't think it made much of a difference.
00:34:54
Speaker
but so i Always worth trying something though. I gave it a go. um but it's still yeah you know It was 29 degrees from here in Portugal and um yeah it was it was still difficult, power output was down, heart rate was higher than than you'd expect and all that stuff. um but made sure that I was very on top of my electrolyte intake and making sure that you know so and when I was taking carbs on board, which which I do quite frequently, I was using water to wash it down. So to even when you're digesting food, you're still yeah hydrated at the same time. it's yeah it's It was quite taxing on the brain, I think, this sort to to remember all that while she was going around. but
00:35:43
Speaker
Yes, I can imagine. Well, you've obviously done something right to to get your medal so well done. So can we can we talk lastly before we finish about you served as the lead bike, didn't you, for the Shrewsbury Metric half? Yes. So thank you for that. And you're back this year. So it's it's all happening very soon. ah So are you looking forward to that? Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, it was it was really cool, actually. it's um I mean, first of all, at Shrewsbury is a absolutely beautiful place to have a race. But then doing the the yeah lead bikes there around the race, you've got to watch the race unfold over your shoulder. You've got to go through sort of the pace of the lead runners and everything. Yeah, and it it was awesome.
00:36:28
Speaker
Have you done anything like that before or was that your first? I've not. And it was possibly the most stressful thing I've ever done. You're relying on, I mean, so I've been in the lead pack of a swim where the kayaker went the wrong way. And all I had was I was looking at my map on my flight computer and they're looking out for the marshal and trying to remember each turn and all that. All I had going through my brain was the look of the kayaker when he realized he had gone the wrong way. And I was like, don't let this be you. Don't do this.
00:37:00
Speaker
So do you have to kind of go and do the course beforehand or how does that work? That would be far too much preparation. No, no i had the um I had the paper copy of the race map, I had the route downloaded onto my my Wahoo bike computer um and was looking out for marshals on the route of which all the marshals at Shrewsby were fantastic and there were loads of them and they were cheering and they seemed to know the difference between the metric half and the standard half.
00:37:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's fantastic. we Yeah, we we love good marshals. They work very hard for us. um So yeah, so any memorable moments from leading the pack that first year? um Yeah, so the, um so I think there's just sort of, I don't know if you know the course, but as you kind of go down by the by the river, and and it sort of it narrows down quite a bit, and it was incredibly busy. It was, um yeah, it was really exciting down there.
00:37:56
Speaker
Yeah, I've never actually run that course yet. I do hope to go and do it maybe next year. Do you think it's obviously warmed up for for next month? Yes, I yeah i think quite fancy the half marathon next year. I have helped out beforehand at the showground end, but never in the actual race itself, but it looks a good cause. Yeah, yeah yeah that's lovely. and And like gently rolling as well. So there's a little bit of descent to ease your legs off and things. Yeah. Oh, well at least you're, are you doing the metric half again this year?
00:38:26
Speaker
I think so yeah I think so yeah so you're back so that's all happening on the 29th of September um so do check that out if you're in the metric half then Adam will be leading the way on the bike so thanks so much oh well thanks Adam it's been really interesting talking to you today yeah some real real gems in there and so you've shown that you can adapt and you know, take on a different sport even in the face of injury. So thank you, that's really inspiring. Any final words of advice that you'd give to somebody or any? I think I'll go back to the point about goals. Goals are ah wonderful. um But a goal can become a limiter very quickly. if you if you If you look at how many people want to go under four hours for a marathon and actually do a 3.59 but could have done a 3.50.
00:39:18
Speaker
you know, it' so so so certainly have a goal, but don't be so fixated on that goal that that goal becomes the the limiter for you. um And I think the other ones are just like, just enjoy it. Being out and being active is it's it's one of the the biggest privileges we have in life being out in nature. and we We see this in the workplace, right? You you bring nature into the workplace, you you see an increase in productivity. Being out in nature is just this this wonderful experience that we all have. So yeah, enjoy it.
00:39:47
Speaker
ah Well, thank you so much, Adam. It's been lovely talking to you today and I hope that everybody out there listening has enjoyed this episode and we'll be back soon on the UK Windchap podcast.