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Special Episode | Tom Talks To Chatabix
440 Plays1 year ago
Chatabix is a daily breakfast podcast from comedians, writers, actors and directors Joe Wilkinson and David Earl, where they talk to each other and to guests about all sorts of stuff. Tom was invited on to speak to them about running, obviously, from how to get motivated to Joe's love of parkrun.
NOTE: IF YOU ALREADY LISTEN TO CHATABIX YOU'VE PROBABLY ALREADY HEARD THIS EPISODE. SORRY.
If you don't and you like what you hear, there are absolutely loads of episodes available to listen to for free. Click below to dive in:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/chatabix/id1560965008
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ONnCq58dVGXvfhhwJkMs8
Perfect for that Sunday long run.
Big thanks to Fear of Tigers for the killer intro music. You can listen to more of his stuff over at https://www.patreon.com/fearoftigers
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Transcript
Introduction to Chatterbix and Guest Appearance
00:00:05
Speaker
a Tommy from The Run Testers. Now this episode of the podcast is not actually The Run Testers podcast, it's a completely different podcast called Chatterbix. Now if you're already a listener to Chatterbix, you probably don't want to listen to this because you would have heard the podcast already, but if you don't know about it, it's a comedy podcast that features Joe Wilkinson and David Earl to writers, comedians, actors, directors that interview loads of different guests and basically just chat.
00:00:31
Speaker
quite frequently on the podcast. So they come out most days of the week. So if you're a runner and you're looking for something to listen to on your runs, it's a really good one to go to.
Running and Motivation Tips
00:00:39
Speaker
I actually got into Chatterbix when I was training for Chicago last year and I was desperately trying to find something to listen to as I was doing laps around the park and I really enjoyed it. So I was invited to go on to chat to Joe and David about the world of running, speak about their own running and give them some advice on how to get motivated to run more. So hopefully you like it.
00:01:00
Speaker
And if you do enjoy it, there's a link in the podcast notes below so you can go and listen to all the other podcasts available from the Chatterbix guides and you can get those for free on Apple, Spotify and all the other podcast providers that you might listen to. So hope you enjoy it.
00:02:18
Speaker
They're a specialist guest Telling us things we don't know about Telling us things we have never done Things we have never seen Then we'll never do They're a specialist guest Telling us things we don't know about Telling us things we have never done Things we have never seen Then we'll never do They're a specialist guest Telling us things we don't know about
00:02:49
Speaker
I see things we have never done, things we have never seen and will never do. Your life's been real, I've never done that and I never will do. Your life's been strange, I wanna hear it from the horse's mouth. Your life's been queer, I wanna do those things but I never will do them.
00:03:16
Speaker
Your life's bizarre Talk to me, talk to me now They're a specialist gas Telling us things we don't know about Telling us things we have never done Things we have never seen and will never do They're a specialist gas Telling us things we don't know about Telling us things we have never done Things we have never seen
00:04:06
Speaker
Let me talk in your ear and tell you all the things I've achieved.
00:04:24
Speaker
Hello. Hi Tom.
Half Marathon Experiences
00:04:28
Speaker
Hi, can you hear me? Yeah, sorry. David, Tom, Tom, David. Hi David. Hi there, how are you doing? I'm good, how are you doing? Yeah, alright, thank you. Yeah, not bad. Have a nice time at the BAFTAs.
00:04:41
Speaker
Erm, I did. Yeah, it was different. It was fine. Tom did the half marathon on Sunday as well. I did, yeah. He looks fit. I'll do it at the moment. I'm not always fit. Why are you a running specialist?
00:05:04
Speaker
What makes you a running specialist? Not like that. Don't say it in a nice way. It depends on my running specialist. I'm a long way off being like an athlete. I just do a lot of running, but I'm a journalist who covers running kit, running races, that sort of thing. I try a lot of running shoes, do a lot of races. I saw your videos. You try out... People send you gear and you review it, right?
00:05:34
Speaker
yeah yeah yeah yeah sorry great job that's a good job in it it's a yes guys ups and downs everyone always thinks that if you get sent lots of shoes it's you know wonderful tree but. Most of them are not that good, so you end up having to run a lot more runs I do.
00:05:53
Speaker
or in a pair of shoes that aren't very comfortable or not really enjoying it. But yeah, it is. It is nice. It is nice. Yeah, you can. Yeah. But it's just fortunate to go running though, because I've got parlour shoes to test that. I have to go and test that. I can't just look at it.
00:06:12
Speaker
Joe, can I make this episode all about me? Yeah, 110. I was thinking that because I thought... Honestly, this feels like such an opportunity. Right, David's read down on his ability to stick at running, I think. Is that fair? Right. Yeah. Is that fair? Can I do one bit of context? Yeah, of course.
00:06:34
Speaker
I did the half marathon on Sunday, and I was really pleased with my time. And we'd met before, I hadn't met Tom on the park run on the front. Big shout out to the Hove Park run. And then we bumped into it. We were both celebrating having a roast in the West Hill pub. Shout out to the West Hill pub. That annoys me. Because you run a marathon, you can have a roast. Half marathon, but yes. Big shout out to West Hill. Best roast in Brighton.
00:07:01
Speaker
That's how I've been there. I think it's the best race in Brighton. And I was very very happy with my time. Are you surprised if it beats the rattery?
00:07:13
Speaker
I would, I would, I would say the West Hill beats the nursery. Okay. Um, for, especially for atmosphere. Um, and, uh, I was really happy. I PB'd with one hour, 51 39. So I was very, very happy with that. Now, Tom, tell David what you did. 122 20. I didn't realize you'd PB'd.
00:07:38
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. You didn't seem that excited when I asked you about that. You told me your time and took all the wind out of myself. You did nearly... Yeah. You did over half an hour quicker than me, David. And I was happy with my time. Yeah, that's amazing.
Motivation and Achievements in Running
00:07:53
Speaker
Yeah, bonkers. How old are you? 40. Are you? Yeah. Look, about 33. I'll take that. Yeah. Why now? How do we look younger?
00:08:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's all relative, isn't it? I used to get like 150 when I started running and I've just gone down over time, but I've got friends who get like 115 and stuff really fast. What was the winner on Sunday? About 106, the winner.
00:08:25
Speaker
That is just sprinting for an hour. It's fast, yeah. Because you're running that way, David, and because there's parts where you sort of people going the other way and see you're going. And then it's like loads of people hurtling the other way and you go,
00:08:43
Speaker
Yeah, there's a point where you're halfway and they've nearly finished. They're coming in. People like Tom are hurtling towards the line. You've got to go all the way down to the Coon. The Brighton races, there's a lot of fast people. There's a lot of fast runners in Brighton. It's a really big running city. So you do tend to see a lot of fast people in a lot of the events. And the park run that we do,
00:09:06
Speaker
the one on the Hov Promenade one. That's one of the fastest park runs in the country. That gets people coming from all over the place. Oh, yeah, it's so flat. And on a good day, it's really fast. I mean, not a bad day. It's probably one of the slowest in the country. What's your park run, Poopy? I got it the other day, actually. 1814, I think. 1814. My best is unofficial because I did it in the lockdown.
00:09:33
Speaker
was 21.18. That's pretty good. That's not bad, right? Yeah. What do you mean it's unofficial? Do you do it on a park? Because it got down. So we did the park run course in lockdown when it was at like 8 in the morning. Yeah. But my actual one is 22. Are you still trying to get PVs? I'm a long way from it now. Why don't you start each race going, I'm going to beat it? Because the point.
00:10:04
Speaker
Change your attitude. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Hold on. Let's not. Change your attitude, please. I think, Tom, sometimes you're just not feeling it. Agreed. On a Saturday morning, you think, I'm just going to poodle around. Well, I was going to ask you about this, actually, because you've done a lot of park runs, haven't you? You've done hundreds. 222, I think.
00:10:29
Speaker
Yeah, because I've done like 25 of them. Oh, really? So I'm beating you. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's the thing. Have you got a T-shirt with the number? No, I didn't. I didn't. I didn't sign up for that. I had a big chunk where I was injured as well for two years. So of friends around me have done like nearly 300. That sort of annoys me a bit.
00:10:48
Speaker
Yeah, well, when you're doing that, I've got, I know those people who do like 200 of them. I don't know how they managed to do it. Because that's basically, you're basically saying you get up every Saturday, you don't have a lie in, you haven't got any other plans, and you're there on Saturday morning. But half the time, I only do it two days. Do you say it's an unhealthy lifestyle? Would you say it's weird?
00:11:13
Speaker
You haven't a dig at me, Tom. That's good. I just, I can't work out how I'd have fitted it in. Well, I used to live in London. They don't have... Park runs is big in London, but... Yeah, it's not easy to get to in London, is it? If they're not near you. Yeah. And it's, yeah, it's so convenient and bright and you could go... We'd do different ones each week. It's six, isn't it? Or five, is there five? Can I say my first issue with park runs?
00:11:43
Speaker
OK, OK. Because I've thought about it because there was one in Haywood's Heath and they all meet at the park and I was like, right, maybe I should do what Joe does. My first thing was, what do I wear?
00:11:55
Speaker
Are people going to go, oh, who's he? Yeah, they will do both of those things, definitely, because it's incredibly, it's incredibly unsupportive. Hang on a minute. It's really unsupportive, isn't it, Tom? You get a lot of people staring at you because you've got the wrong shorts on. Oh, look at that guy. Yeah. But it is. What do I wear? Are people going to go, I feel like I'm going to have to go, oh, my name's David. Sorry, who are you?
00:12:17
Speaker
Oh, I've just come for... Oh, God, have you got a pen, Deirdre? I can't be dealing with all that crap. Have you met Deirdre as well? She's an asshole. I am a safe Deirdre. You don't have to speak to anyone. Did you hear that or did you just strut in going, I want to do a run?
00:12:33
Speaker
Yeah, you know me. I was absolutely strutted in and said, hi, I do. Like, socially. You don't have to try anyone, do you, Tom? Because you register before you run and then you can go, you go through the little thing, you hand your thing back. What's that mean, the little thing?
00:12:52
Speaker
It's like a finish line. There's a registration thing you have to take with you, but some people don't bother taking it because they don't care about the time. I don't understand that. I like to tick off my time. What are you doing? Do you say hi? Honestly, I do now.
00:13:07
Speaker
I've been doing it for years, I know people down there, but if you don't know anyone, you turn up, you run it, you run through the funnel at the end, you get a little ticket thing, you scan it, and then it tells you your time later. You don't have to fill out a form and meet Deidre, you never fall out of there. Why do you do it then? Because it's good for you. But why don't you just do it on your own? Because it sort of motivates you to do it every Saturday morning and try and beat your time. You're only racing yourself, correct Tom?
00:13:37
Speaker
Yeah, my girlfriend, Joe met her at the pub a couple of times now. She's a good example because she's always hated running, not absolutely hated it. I remember in lockdown, we started
00:13:50
Speaker
She said, oh, can you take me running? And I was training for something at the time. So we went running, but she hated it. And every 500 meters, she'd stop and she'd just stop walking. And I couldn't run with her because she was doing it every 500 meters. I was saying, oh, you know, this is going to take so long to get out and get back. Did it get a bit tense?
00:14:13
Speaker
We stopped running together. But when we moved to Brighton, because I've only lived there about a year and three months now, when we moved here, she said to me, I wouldn't mind getting into running again. So I took her down to Parkrun and she loved it. She absolutely loved it. She didn't like doing it because it was quite hard. But she was with you? No, I didn't mum with her. She was on her own. Did you walk through the entrance together?
00:14:40
Speaker
There's no entrance. There's no entrance. It's just a park. It's not like a key in a lock and you have to... But did you walk to the running line together? Yes, together. I'm sure they did. I could do that. They didn't take success at cars. What do you want to know about? I should know me. I'd strut in. It's going on my own. Yeah. Right, OK. But... Maybe I need a different sort of specialist to help. No, I think you need a different sort of...
00:15:06
Speaker
attitude. I think the good thing about partnering is that you can go down just just put her down one morning and then you don't have to finish it just walk off if you can't be bothered just go I didn't like that. Just check it out David and there'll be I guarantee you there'll be lots of people in high vis who will say hello. They say high heels. That's the bit you have to leave out that's why you have to run it in high heels and fish net.
00:15:35
Speaker
but yeah it's like it's not at all like hello it's not like an aa meeting you have to introduce yourself or anything it's like right i thought it sort of was no i thought it'd go and what's your name david and where'd you live uh and how old are you and what's your weight what's your weight now we're getting onto the crutches will they weigh me at the start of the way
00:15:59
Speaker
David, 17 stone four. Off you go. David had put on £6, as I repeat, £6. I'd quite like to go to one of these. Like really brutal. Have you got one near you, David? I was just about to Google, actually. So what if I just do parkrun and then it will come up to the... I'll do parkrun map.
00:16:26
Speaker
This is park run heavy, isn't it? Where is park run? Find an event near you. Fucking hell, there's loads. There's loads in France. That's all over the world. Let's have a look. Do you know what? Do you know what? There isn't. You were like, there isn't.
00:16:50
Speaker
Yeah. Well, there's one sort of Plymouth. There's one on the coat. That's like a 45 minute job. I'm not doing that. I'm doing that. You knew Brixton. Can I, can I ask a question? Because I thought I've started the couch to 5k about Christ knows how many times and I've got to the end two or three times. So I've got to 5k and the most I did was seven about two or three years ago.
Challenges with Couch to 5K Program
00:17:22
Speaker
But I always get to about the sixth or seventh week when it goes, and now run non-stop for 20 minutes. Yeah. I go, no. That's a big problem with it. There's actually a lot of people have a problem with catch the 5K because of that jump. Then a lot of people drop out at that point. What was the jump from what to what? It's probably you might do 12 minutes, break 12 minutes, and then the next one is, OK, now we're going to do 25 minutes.
00:17:50
Speaker
A lot of people lock and stop. And I go, oh, I like that little stop off sitting on the log. Sitting on a log. I like the bit where you have to sit on a log. Can you help me? How do I stop? Brilliant. What do I do? I just help me. How have you been trying to do it for? Have you been?
00:18:11
Speaker
Give it a go for a long time yeah i started again like last week so i've done the first week again which is just ridiculous like run for three seconds and stop for about yeah yeah yeah my advice is always it don't worry about
00:18:29
Speaker
distance or anything just really about the time and then what I used to do when I started is go out for 20 minutes walk and run for 20 minutes and then just keep doing that and eventually you get a bit further and further because you walk less and run a bit more. Oh that's good.
00:18:46
Speaker
Because then you can see the improvement as well. I'll say that again. I'll go out tonight. What do I do? So you say, well, I'm going out for 20 minutes. That's don't worry about the distance. Never worry about the distance when you start, because the distance scares people because that's too far. I can't do that. You can walk for what hours if you wanted to. So if you just get and say, I'm going to go and do 20 minutes.
00:19:09
Speaker
And I'll see how long it takes me. I'll walk some of it. I'll run some of it. I don't matter how I do it. I'm just going to do that. And then if you keep doing that, you will get fitter by doing that. And you might just run a little bit more and a little bit more until the point where you're still only doing 20 minutes. So it's not, it's not, this is lovely. This is lovely.
00:19:27
Speaker
This really is good. The problem I've always found with when I started, it was going out for like 30 minutes, 45 minutes. It felt like a long time. And I was like, I don't really want to do it. And it's going to be painful. If you just set the set the time out, like I'm only gonna do half an hour, that's maximum ever gonna do.
00:19:45
Speaker
just do that and then you just get your mind around the idea that you're only losing 30 minutes of your time every couple of days or something like that and you'll just get better at it because you might walk the first one and then you might run a bit of the next one and then you run a bit more and you'll just slowly get a bit up and you don't. So you're sort of saying on the second or third go you might go well I normally stop here but I might just run a bit longer. Yeah I always tell people about
00:20:09
Speaker
I think some people are naturally better mentally at dealing with running. There's a certain aspect of it and I've got mates who aren't fit and they've never done a lot of running but mentally they've got the way to do it and you just put them on a race or something and they'll just do it. They'll just power through and I think how have they done that because they're not that fit.
00:20:31
Speaker
And they'll go and do it. The mind goes before the body, correct? Yeah. Well, you, you talked about the wall and stuff at the marathon, but I had, I've got a mate who, I used to go running with him in the morning. We used to live together and he used to go into a 5k in the morning at three and a half K he stopped every day, every day he stopped the three and a half K and I'm tired now.
00:20:54
Speaker
and never got past that 3.5k. Never did it. And I always said to him, just go to the end of that road. You've never got to the end of that road. And that's the bit you've got to get your mind past. Because once you can sort of get your head past the fact that you're limited to
00:21:10
Speaker
that distance. Not a problem. That's why a park runs good, because a lot of people do it, probably never get to 5k on their own. And once they get to 5k, they go, oh, I can do 5k now. Oh, I did. That's fine. Yeah, I think sometimes you forget that 5k is actually quite long. If you run for a while, you go, actually, when you weren't running, 5k is a mental man.
00:21:30
Speaker
What is it, three and a half miles? Three and a bit miles, yeah. And then sometimes I go, oh, yeah, of course, that is actually... Do you think also like some of it is like when people start, they try and do too much and then hate it? So if you do little bits and go, OK, that's not... That didn't piss me off too much. Oh, yeah, the distance is a difficult bit because a lot of people start running, sign up to like a 10K racer and they start
00:21:59
Speaker
So in their head, they're like, I can't do that. That's tank. I'm never going to be able to do that. And every run they go out on, they think about the tank at the end of it. But you think about that from.
00:22:10
Speaker
Worst example is the marathon. You've got a lot of people who probably haven't run before, they enter the ballot, they get in and then they've got to do a marathon now. And they're going from not doing anything to get into a marathon, which is madness. My phone gets very cross with people. You know, when we watch the marathon, there's people that are like seven hours in and they're like halfway and they're cleaning up around them.
00:22:34
Speaker
my friend gets really cross every year because he goes, what's the point? I could do anything. I could walk at that point. Yeah. It's a big area of debate because the London marathon is you get hundreds of thousands of people entering every year and people are running clubs all over the place that are wanting to train and then you get loads of people to get a new
00:22:56
Speaker
you know, just randomly get in and go on. I wasn't expecting a bit of an order got him actually, I'm going to have to walk that man. Yeah, and the cones have been picked up as they're on like mile 15. Yeah. Do you know about the fridge guy this year? Yeah, yes, I saw him, yeah. I didn't see him. Did you hear about this David?
00:23:17
Speaker
The fridge. A guy carried a fridge during the half marathon. And to get the world record of running... The Brighton one. Yeah, the one we've just done. He carried a fridge on his back.
00:23:30
Speaker
And he needed to do two hours 45 to break the world record. What world record? The world record for carrying a fridge round a half marathon. Funny enough. Don't set your sights on that, David. That's probably a necessary job.
00:23:50
Speaker
He did it two hours and four minutes. He overtook my friends. Two hours and what? Four minutes. Carrying a fridge on his back. He overtook friends of mine at the finish line.
00:24:03
Speaker
man with a fridge on his back. I remember my uncle saying when he did a 5k pantomime horse beating him at the end of the race. Gallop, hi. Sometimes the people who are, you have to be pretty fit to be dressed up in one of those outfits, so they do quite well, a lot of them, really, because they train for it. You see the ones, I think it's the rhinos.
00:24:25
Speaker
They do London Marathon, but you see them at a lot of other races because they're training in other half marathons before to get used to. Wait, in the suit? Yeah. I saw a guy do the park run. The one of the funniest things I saw was a guy doing park run in the suit and shoes.
00:24:40
Speaker
It just made me really laugh because he doesn't see anyone running in the suit. Well, like he just popped out of the office. Yeah, like he was, like he was, it nipped out and so he's in a faucet. But he was in his shoes as well. It was really funny. It was sort of funnier than a rhino because it just looked like you just don't see adults running in suits. Yeah, yeah. Can I go back to the 20 minute?
00:25:01
Speaker
thing again. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go. Let's get you running comfortably. So tonight I go, I go out at half seven and I go, I'm coming back. I'm going to be in the house at 10 to eight. Yeah. And it's, I, it's up to me what I choose to do. Yeah. So off, but would you sit on a log? So just start running from my front door, do a little walk and start running or
00:25:26
Speaker
Whatever you're comfortable with, but I would say every time you go, try and do a little bit better than time before. What does that mean? Better. So if you got any more in the 20 minutes, yeah, you essentially should be, you know, you're trying to run basically. So if you go out and you run 500 meters and you say, I can't run any more than 500 meters.
00:25:47
Speaker
then fine, don't run any more fine emitters. But if you're doing that a week later and stopping at that same point, you go, actually, I should really be a bit better than that. I'm wasting everyone's time. And then just build it up over time. Because I think for most people, there's a whole thing about habits, right? The difficulty for most fitness things is the habit. Once you get the habit down,
00:26:07
Speaker
Not a problem, that's one of the reasons why bike runs go, because people get so used to doing it every Saturday, they just go, all right, this is what I do every Saturday. It's not like they're forcing themselves to get up. But if you're trying to get into a fitness habit like running, you really need to build a habit for at least a month or so. So you just get used to the fact that, oh, I know that 20 minutes, half an hour, I've got to give up for this every couple of nights.
Establishing a Running Habit
00:26:32
Speaker
And you reckon every other night do it?
00:26:34
Speaker
I'd say, I'd probably say like three times a week is a good time to put away for a bit of fitness. The problem is if you do like once a week, you don't really see much improvement. No, no. Yeah, that's what I was doing. I was only doing part run for years. Yeah, there's probably one of that as you always see, nothing's really happening. I was wondering why I was stuck at 28 minutes.
00:26:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Didn't realise you're too fat. The thing is with me, I'm overweight, so I am sort of carrying a fridge on my back, made of sort of fat. But I do find it like, oh, God, I've got to carry this around my bloody belly.
00:27:14
Speaker
with you. So I might be fitter than you when you think about it. I might actually be fitter than you two.
00:27:39
Speaker
Would you ever do a marathon, David? If you got to the point where you were like, I could do this now. Honestly, you saying that is like, would you ever walk across a Grand Canyon on a wire? It feels like such an unachievable... Well, of course I'm not going to do that. The fact that you two have done a half marathon, I can't get my head around it. It feels like another world. I can't even run up the local road before.
00:28:04
Speaker
Also, can I say one of the things where I think, maybe I'm talking out my arse here, Tom, but you know when you first run, do you think sometimes people think they're on the fist of their arse because you have to get your heart rate up? Yeah. So when you first run, I think I thought this for years looking back.
00:28:24
Speaker
I'd start running and be like, oh my God, I'm already puffed out. But then your heart rate goes up and then you can carry on running. How long does that take then? Like a couple of minutes.
00:28:36
Speaker
Maybe. Yeah. Probably the more unfit you are, probably a bit longer, I think. And I think doing part one made me go, oh, no, God, I'm really. And then I was like, I was sort of saying to people, but the time I get out there, I feel all right. And people go, and that's because you got your heart rate up. And I was like, oh, I didn't know that was something. So I think for years I thought I was unfitter than I was. Yeah. Because I thought so when you said that was like.
00:28:59
Speaker
Maybe that's what you're feeling a bit of. You're like, I haven't really got into, got my heart. Right. Yeah. Was that talking at my last time? I don't know. No, you're right. You're right. Yeah. If you look at, I don't, do you use any, I track your runs on some sort of, you know, your watch or anything like that and look at your stats afterwards. Do you do that to me? No. Well, either of you, I'm guessing Joe might. I'm utterly obsessed with it. Oh, right. Okay. Well, that was Strava or something.
00:29:27
Speaker
No, but sometimes I'll show Petra and she'll say, I don't know what you want me to say. And I'll go, that's fair. Look, I ran up round there and that's near Carl's house and back round. That's impressive. Not to other people, I think. But sometimes I just like to look at it. I like to look at it and go, oh, yeah, I did all the way to there.
00:29:51
Speaker
I'll tell you what is mad is when you look, when you're 26 miles from your house in the car on the satnav and you go, this is like running the marathon now. Well, I sometimes get that when I'm driving around here and I might go to the shops or whatever and I come back and the guy I saw jogging, he's like, he's around here now. He hasn't stopped. He's done another six miles. I can't get my head round it. Yeah, you can get a better old way. The marathon is my house. I said it's from my house to Gatwick.
00:30:20
Speaker
Which seems stupid now. But I won't do a marathon again. That's very bad for you. I was going to ask you that actually. Why not? You just hated it. Yeah, I did. Yeah, I did, I think. It's hard because it's been a while now since I did it. But I think it left me in so much pain.
00:30:43
Speaker
and that last seven miles or whatever it was, where I just could hardly walk or run or anything. You got video footage of this? Yeah, I videoed the whole thing. I had a camera crew with me for the whole thing. No, but did anyone film you? I'd love to see the last five miles. I would say... And put it up? I would say I was probably running only slightly quicker than I can walk.
00:31:07
Speaker
because only because I was like, but I had the posture of it like a 98 year old man. Cause I was in so much pain and my hips, my hips hurt so much. It was just, it was agony. I've said, I think when you do a marathon, you come away unhealthier than when you started with a half marathon, you go, Oh, that was, that was good for me. Yeah. It was a marathon. I think that was very bad for me. Yeah. Especially as I'm 48 now.
00:31:37
Speaker
They are quite painful. But you've only done one now, haven't you? Yeah. That happens for most people on the first one. How many have you done? Sixteen now. Fuck off. What? I have to do them for work. So I could talk about marathon shoes and things like that. Let's just sometimes go, fuck, I need my job.
00:32:00
Speaker
I'll go for another bloody run. I'll get your point now to be honest with you, Tom. We've got a YouTube channel and there's a team of us that do it and they're all a bit different types of runner. One of the guys is really fast. He's like a two, 20 something, a marathon runner. His training plan is so strict. It's like every day he's got some ridiculous run. I'm on the other side.
00:32:29
Speaker
I'm actually quite lazy. I struggle to get off a park room because I can't be bothered. So for me, my training fluctuates quite a bit throughout the year, depending on what I'm doing. If I'm doing a marathon, I'll put a lot more effort in. But I need that marathon to keep me doing training because otherwise I will just stop, slow down, slow down. Because if you haven't got something in the list to do and you haven't got focus, you just go, what's the point?
00:32:54
Speaker
I think on the same, because when I was doing the routing, I was like, we got a lift to Little Hampton around back.
Mental Shift for Marathon Training
00:33:01
Speaker
It was like 32 kms. Oh, yeah. And like now, I was saying to my friend, I said, I couldn't do that now because I've got the mindset. You know what I mean? I'm like, fucking doing that. Little Hampton. Little Hampton, back to Brighton. Yeah, it got dropped off. How long is that? 26 miles. About 32 kilometers, which is about 20 miles or something.
00:33:23
Speaker
And so the drive took like 35 minutes. And I sat in the car, because we drove that way the other day, and I was like, if you drop me off now, I'd go, fucking, don't do that. Not running back. But you're in a different mindset because you know you're doing a marathon in two weeks. You have to, don't you? Yeah. Turns out it made a subtle difference to me, though, because I still absolutely buckled.
00:33:49
Speaker
Yeah, but you've only done more marathon. The first one... You've got to stop saying only. You've only done one more than me. You've hardly done any marathons. But the marathon distance is... it's all about experience. It's not about... it's about fitness as well. But I've got better marathons over time, not because I've got fitter.
00:34:14
Speaker
Bit of muscle memory, but more like mental ability to deal with it. So not that. So not that. Something else. Bit of both. Yeah, yeah. But the first few matters I did, I had that exact same problem. I hit the wall at the end, struggled, walked a lot of it at the end. And it's taken me years to... Do you not hit the wall now?
00:34:36
Speaker
No, not really. Someone told me it's about time on your feet rather than distance. It's like after sort of like three and a half hours, your body runs out of... I don't know what it runs out of, but... Welcome to run-a-bix. Ah, yeah, that's nice. 30 minutes we got that. Run-a-bix. Can I ask a question?
00:34:58
Speaker
When I start, say if I go out tonight, when I start, should I just keep it really slow? Just get that body. Do you want to be told to do as little as possible? No, I want to know what's the best way of just easing myself before, because I just don't want to give up.
00:35:14
Speaker
Well, it's completely down to you. Different people, your focus at the moment isn't getting the time or, you know, getting past that log. Getting past the sit down log.
00:35:31
Speaker
If you just try out what works, if you go out and go, right, I'm going to walk for five minutes and then I'm going to run. And the next day you run and then walk five minutes ago. I actually preferred the first one because the first one I felt better. Do the first one. Right. Okay. Because your only aim is just getting, just being, just getting out running at the moment. It's not. Yeah. I suggest something and Tom, tell me if it's, if it's shit. I think.
00:35:53
Speaker
You sort of said it earlier, but it's like if you get into a habit, because my missus goes through chunks of time and she doesn't do any sort of running and then she wants to get back into it. And what we talk about is just getting into the habit of it. So if she just does like 10 minutes for a couple of weeks, however many times a week she wants to do it. So she gets into the habit of going, oh, it's Monday, so I have to find time for a run.
00:36:22
Speaker
then I feel like just the habit thing is the hardest bit because sometimes you go...
00:36:28
Speaker
I just can't be arsed, but if you go, well, that's like cleaning, washing, cleaning your teeth or something, then it's sort of, that's the, is that, is that fair or was that? Yeah. Yeah. If you get a habit of making running normal, I think it's more to do with time as well. Like running, running, if you, if you start getting to like 10 Ks and half mountains, really takes a lot of time.
00:36:54
Speaker
because you're looking at least an hour out the house every time you go and do anything. And it's probably not good because... We've got little kids. It's like they're in bed by half seven, quarter to eight. Oh, Jesus Christ. Yeah. Yeah. I think the time's the problem. And especially if you're doing, say you're turning half marathon, you end up losing five hours a week of doing it. The marathon training stuff, that is probably half of it as well. Because the long ones are like getting up to three and a half hours.
00:37:22
Speaker
and you're like, well, that's Sunday gone, isn't it, really? Because you've run and then you buggered. So that was half of the sod doing that again. Because it just takes over like four months, isn't it? Especially if you haven't done it, so you're anxious about it as well, because you're going, I need to be up to this amount by this time now. Oh, God, if I'm not talking, what will happen?
00:37:47
Speaker
Yeah, well, I've got, I'm off to do Barcelona in March, and I've got a load of mates who are doing it from, most of them from like schoolmates, and half of them have never done a marathon before, they're not really runners. And they're, this is their first one, and they
00:38:04
Speaker
They don't know what they're doing. They're sort of going out for a long run and they're not doing anything for a few weeks and sending me messages about what they should be eating and I don't know. But it's interesting because they're sort of going through all the stuff I originally went through. And you start to realize that some of the stuff you don't need to worry about, but yeah, you do need to do the runs. That's the thing. And then you've got to get the runs in. If you're not getting them in, that's the problem.
00:38:30
Speaker
It was weird, like I thought getting to, because everyone, the biggest load of bollocks I was told was get to about 32k and then the excitement of the day will get you through the last 10k. Well that's a load of shit.
00:38:45
Speaker
Yeah, that's not true. That is not true. Especially in places like Brighton, because the last bit is really hard in Brighton. Well, they've changed the route. What is the last bit? Down by the power station is where you hit the wall. The furthest point you can be. What, just along the seafront from there? Yeah, but it's not the front. Well, it is the front, but it's like the industrial bit and now it's down there. Oh, not very inspiring. No. They've changed the route though, haven't they?
00:39:12
Speaker
Yeah, and what's what the new route is? I think there's more round boundary road fit and all that. Are you running along the road? Yeah, but that is the good thing. I quite like the idea, if I ever do one again, which I'm not, doing New York or Barcelona or somewhere like you don't know and seeing it. It must be brilliant. Do New York for Chattermix?
00:39:37
Speaker
What? Do New York for Cheddar Mix. OK. I've done New York, New York. OK. You go over all the bridges, don't you? You go into all the different boundaries? Yeah, you do. All the boroughs. But I didn't really like New York that much. There's some really good bits because you start on an island and you go over the main bridge, which is amazing. You see the whole of Manhattan and you see Statue of Liberty. You run past the helicopters fly over here.
00:40:06
Speaker
That's good. But when you get into New York, probably New York is that everything's so big. So for a lot of it, you're just running between two very big buildings and you can't see anything else. You could be any city. And there's one bit where you've got the most of Manhattan in the distance. It's about three miles. And all you can see is just these
00:40:27
Speaker
like you build one side for three miles and it's probably about one of the hardest points you just look at like oh it's dark because there's the sun's not over there yeah it's different. What's your favorite one?
Preferred Marathon Locations
00:40:39
Speaker
The best marathons I've done are Spanish marathons. Spain has got the best marathons.
00:40:46
Speaker
They've got really wide roads in Spain, and it's always nice weather, and it's really fun to... Because if you go abroad to America, you basically want to find somewhere that's nice to be afterwards, where you can go out for drinks and food and stuff like that. Valencia, I'd say, is probably one of the best I've tried.
00:41:05
Speaker
So Bill's quite nice. Yeah, that led Thea. Sorry to pick you up on that. We'll edit in David saying the led Thea where you said it, if that's all right. It just gets my goat. Does it crop up a lot on the podcast? Yes, it does. Once a week, Bill and Thea.
00:41:34
Speaker
If you go abroad to America, you basically want to find somewhere that's nice to be after you. Where you can go out for drinks and food and stuff like that. Balenthia. Say it's probably one of the best I've tried. Balenthia. Say it's one of the best I've tried. Balenthia. Say it's one of the best I've tried. Balenthia. Say it's one of the best I've tried. Balenthia. One of the best I've tried. Balenthia. Yeah, that's it. Balenthia. Sorry to pick you up on that. And Seville's quite nice. Balenthia.
00:42:28
Speaker
Yeah, Spanish ones. Spanish ones. If you're going to do a Spanish one, if you're going to do an American, Spanish ones are good. American ones are so expensive, about 250 quid. Isn't New York, like, it's ridiculous, isn't it? Yeah, it's like 250 quid to get in. Wow. And if you're doing, if you're over there, it's just expensive for the weekends. It's a lot of money. Chicago, I've done, and that's about the same. So American ones are really pricey. The worst thing about New York is you have to get up at about four in the morning and get to the start line and wait there for two hours.
00:42:58
Speaker
Because it's a bugger to get to, isn't it? You have to get a ferry over or something. You have to get a ferry. There are buses as well, but you have to be there an hour and a half, two hours before the race starts. And the races in America start really early. They start at like seven to eight o'clock because they have to close all the roads and they can't do it later on. So yeah, there are the ones to do. Probably do London before you do them. And what are you doing in the spring this year? Barcelona. I've got Barcelona.
00:43:27
Speaker
I want to do Berlin in September and go for PB. Here's the question. So the marathon winners each year, what am I saying? The fastest marathon runners. If I started a marathon with them, are they going so quick at the start that I couldn't even keep up with them?
00:43:51
Speaker
Yeah, you'll be asked to keep up with them. So they're quicker than me sprinting? Yeah, 100%. They're really that quick, yeah. Yeah, they're ridiculous. One year they had three Kenyan guys do the Brighton one. You probably weren't living it. The really fast guys don't usually do Brighton marathon. They do London, because there's no prize money in Brighton, is there to?
00:44:14
Speaker
So these three Kenyan guys ran past and it was like a joke. I remember saying how if you started on the blocks, how long you could stay with them. How long? I don't think my fastest sprint wouldn't be as fast as there.
00:44:34
Speaker
No. And they're doing that for two hours. Yeah. They were running, we worked out they were running kilometers at three minutes, but something like
Marathon Runners' Speed vs. Sprinters
00:44:46
Speaker
pace. Yeah. But three, so like a part run is a good part run is like the winner that they were, they were running faster than the winner of the average part run who does it in like sort of 17, 18 minutes.
00:44:59
Speaker
Yes, there was this Irish race it was a couple of weeks ago, but some bloke had
00:45:06
Speaker
It started just behind the elites and he ran as fast as he could to take all of the elites and he was about 50 metres ahead of him. I think he only held it for about 400 metres or something. Well, a lovely moment though. I've led the marathon. That is amazing. I imagine trying to do that and not getting anywhere near it. You know what I mean? Just going. There was a girl I used to do part run like that.
00:45:32
Speaker
She really used to make me laugh, she used to sprint. So she'd be like third or fourth for about 50 metres, then she'd be utterly puffed out. And we'd all jog past that. Then she'd get her breath back and leg it for like 100 metres and then go...
00:45:47
Speaker
A lot of people do that part run. So weird. Yeah, that is weird. People get a bit excited with part runs. Zoe Lyons said, it's a really funny thing to me. When I first did the half marathon thing, she did it with me for behalf of it. And she said, my favorite thing is watching everyone go off too fast. Right. Because everyone's a thing. And the crowd's all good. Yeah, I bet. Like that. And she'll go, we'll get to about two miles and you'll see loads of people walking. It's true.
00:46:18
Speaker
Have you done the Preston part one?
Parkrun Mishaps and Experiences
00:46:20
Speaker
The park run, yeah. Yeah, because that one's got that hill at the start and everyone sprints down that hill and then they just sort of slow down a bit after that, get a bit excited. The first time I did park run at Preston Park, I dislocated my thumb. How do you do that? Someone's dog came off the... A lady's dog got away from her and started running towards the main road and she was screaming and it just happened to run past me in this bloke.
00:46:49
Speaker
And so we had to chase the dog. And I did a stupid thing, got dived to get the lead. Got it. But completely bugged my thumb. So I've sort of always been slightly... Loved to have seen that at Heartwood. Yeah, it was... I've sort of made it sound more dramatic. It was just... I was just going, no, you're right. And then had to pull out... First person to pull out of Heartrun because they hurt their thumb. Yeah, that was just...
00:47:17
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah, no, I wasn't. I did. I did check. Do you ever, do you ever check the photos on, you know, when you look back and see the photos from, they take photos on the, I've never been to one where they're taking photos. They do it on the prom.
00:47:39
Speaker
Oh, have a look. Yeah, sometimes, it's always, well, probably not for you, it's always heartbreaking when you see yourself at how you actually run compared to how you imagine you're running. I'm looking at you now, Joe.
Choosing the Right Running Attire
00:47:50
Speaker
Are you? I've just googled Joe Wilkins and Park Run. Has that come up as anything? It's got cycling shorts on. If you just Google, I'm doing it now, this is horrible.
00:48:02
Speaker
Cycling shorts with some nice... I wear stuff over the top of them. I'm not one of those people where you can see what they've had for lunch. Why do you wear cycling shorts? Because of the chafing. Is that what they... Really? Is that what helps? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, really? Got to have a pair of liner shorts on. Yeah, then a pair of shorts over the top, so... Oh, God, there's me. Someone's put a...
00:48:31
Speaker
Oh no. Don't worry about the shorts, get your cocker ups on. Quite unflattering because they push everything down. I find it.
00:48:44
Speaker
Well, you've got another meeting, haven't you? Well, this is another meeting. What about five minutes? Do you know what, Joe? Loads of interviewees say, oh, I've got a meeting now, I've got to go. Yeah. A little safety net, like on a date where you get your mate to phone up and go, there's been an emergency. Susie, yes, I've got a meeting. She said, yeah, a lot. Like a lot.
00:49:07
Speaker
Then she obviously relaxed into it, but then lost a bit of confidence in this again. That meeting's popped up again, has it? Has it? Just when the meeting was going set and when the call was going set. Like on the third or fourth lull. When there's a lull in conversation. When we kept asking how big her brain was or something, we'd be like, you know what, I'm going to go and have a meeting.
00:49:36
Speaker
Right, I'm going to go for it. I'm going to go for it. Is there any way we can go on this journey with you, David?
David's Running Journey and Parkrun Plans
00:49:46
Speaker
Yeah. Tom, can we get you back? Yeah, I'd love to see David get into it. Yeah, have a success story. So how long do you think we should leave it for?
00:50:00
Speaker
before we measure how he's getting on. I reckon you need to do a month and stick to it for a month and then see how you feel after a month, because it'll be interesting to see what your mindset is after a month. If you go, actually, it's quite normal now, and I don't, because I always say, just don't worry about speed, because people get caught up on speed and they get sad about the fact that I'm not getting faster and stuff. That doesn't matter. I just like the idea of David being obsessed with his speed.
00:50:29
Speaker
But you might get annoyed if you're doing it for three weeks and then you go, oh, I'm still... There's a lot of plateauing, isn't there? A lot of plateauing when you go, I'm not getting any fitter and then... What? Tanya, she was probably for about a year, six months to a year, she was just getting the same times all the time and she couldn't get any faster. So she's in her mind, she's thinking, I was not watching, there's no point, I'm rubbish at ruining it, I'm never going to get it, I'll just do something else.
00:50:58
Speaker
But over the last few months, she started to drop quite quickly because she's got the habit built. And now every part run, she gets a faster time. She's not even trying, really. She's just getting there. Yeah, I love that. I like the idea that potentially inside me is a New York marathon winner. I thought that when I first started. Yeah, you've set a few. Winner. The 10 to be in the 20s. Well, right. Over 40s winner. Senior winner.
00:51:25
Speaker
Yeah, because when I started playing Candy Crush, I was like, what if I'm amazing at this? What if I... Were you? No. I was saying that about rodeo. I wonder if I'm a really good rodeo cowboy. Right, I'm going to do it. Tom, would you mind coming back in a month and discussing David's progress? Yeah, sounds good. Right. OK, right.
00:51:50
Speaker
I'll tell you what you should do within that month. If you get a chance, do a part run. Just to start being interesting to talk about, because I'd love to... If there is someone there called Deirdre, who has a go at you for something, it'd be nice to know. David, I might register a part run for you in a minute.
00:52:12
Speaker
Okay. Is it Saturday mornings? Yeah, nine o'clock. My Saturday mornings are super busy, but okay. Good luck with that. I'm doing part runs now. Just one. Just one. Add something else into the mix. Register for part run. Okay, yeah, I'm going to do this. Okay. Yeah, sign you up. Okay, exciting.
00:52:38
Speaker
Yeah, because the good thing about the first one, it's usually the worst you'll ever be, isn't it? The first one, because you've not done it before. And then you get to start beating your times and get a little buzz from it. Ooh. Yeah, but I'm not thinking about times or speed.
00:52:55
Speaker
Oh yeah. No, you just, but if you depart and you're just thinking about finishing it, but it's a nice little benchmark drive because you've got that, you know, I did it in 34 minutes and then as soon as you start seeing it change a bit and you go, oh, 31, hold on. Yeah, it's addictive. It's addictive. You just reminded me when I was getting into, when I was doing 5k, that would have been about three or four years ago, it was about 35, 34, 33. Yeah. Felt really slow. It will be. It will be.
00:53:20
Speaker
But yeah, you just can't worry about that because otherwise you get caught up in it. I've got mates who started running because they weren't getting the time close to what I was getting. They're like, oh, I'm not doing this, not doing this. It takes ages to get fast. It takes years. Yeah. Well, there's also- Well, Joe's proof of that. Excuse me. Excuse me. I'll tell you what, sir. Well, I know my limits. I'm not a natural.
00:53:48
Speaker
I'm not a natural runner. Some people, like my friend Danny, he's got smoke and drank for the last 30 years and just does 27 minutes. And he's got like, you can see the runners, they sort of bounce. I feel like I'm a foot dragger. You know, there's two types. There's the toms who are little gazelles and we're like foot draggers. I'm not a gazelle, are you? You did one hour 22, you're a gazelle.
00:54:14
Speaker
Yeah, but if you see a video of me, I'm really... I'm not a small guy. I'm quite heavy, so I'm really... Yeah, I'm looking at a lot of body around me, I'm running and if you look at me, I was a video that my girlfriend recorded and it looks like I'm jogging slowly, but I'm actually getting quite fast because...
00:54:35
Speaker
Yeah, I had a picture and I think James Branch commented, someone put it on Facebook and said it's not technically running if both of your feet are on the ground. I looked and both my feet were on the ground. Was that from the marathon? No, just a general part run.
00:54:56
Speaker
But it was years ago, I was still carrying a lot of timber. You haven't got a goal at the moment, have you? No. You know what, Jalis, my friend Jalis Regan, you know, Sonja O'Sullivan?
00:55:13
Speaker
the runner. She's like a famous Irish runner. I think she won lots of things. She trained him and he was the sort of 25 minute and she said, I'll get you down to under 20 minutes.
00:55:28
Speaker
And she did it. She got him down. Well, even Jolyth's a good runner. Jolyth can do 5k in under 20 minutes. In under two minutes? In a car. But yeah, with her training technique, she got him down to... That is unbelievable. So you don't know Jolyth, so that means nothing to you. No.
00:55:53
Speaker
But if you knew John, if you'd go, that's unbelievable. Yeah. As you don't, it means nothing. Yeah. Oh, that's wonderful. Yeah. Thank you very much. Inspiring, Tom. Oh, thanks for having me on it. I'm always happy to talk about running. It's fun, wouldn't it? I've made a deal most of the time. And yes, we'll organise coming back and having a full body review of David.
00:56:20
Speaker
I can't wait for this. Yeah. Cause I can't, I can't then go, Oh, I'm really gone out. It'll be annoying. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you don't have to get big improvements. Just have to come back and say, yeah, I've been running every, you know, I managed to do it twice a week, but big improvements would be amazing.
Setting Parkrun Goals
00:56:36
Speaker
Well, if you, if you get us under 25 K part run, then yeah, it'd be a nice long chat. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Make the chat easier.
00:56:48
Speaker
The more work you do, the easier this is for us. OK. All right. Well, thanks, Tom. Thank you very much. Cheers, guys. Cheers. I'll see you at part run. I'm sure I'll see you around, yeah. All right. Catch you later, guys. See you later. Cheers. Bye. Bye.