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Running Technique - Learning How to Run Part 3 a conversation with Paul Harvey
18 Plays4 months ago
Most people don’t start running in their fifties, but then Paul Harvey is not most people.
In the latest episode of the special series of Fit For My Age programmes: Learning how to RUN. Paul, who is the host of the Life, Passion, and Business podcast explains to host Michael Millward how he improved his running technique.
Paul went from sore knees on the running machine to running a marathon.
In an information packed episode Paul describes his running journey. How he noticed changes in his body. Buying the correct running shoes, which is very important for the older runner. Adopting the 80/20 running technique and learning how he measures his aerobic fitness using VO2 max.
Fit For My Age is made on Zencastr.
Zencastr is the all-in-one podcasting platform, on which you can create your podcast in one place and then distribute it to the major platforms like Spotify, Apple, and Google. It really does make creating content so easy.
If you would like to try podcasting using Zencastr visit zencastr.com/pricing and use our offer code ABECEDER.
Travel to Inverness, Scotland
Paul Harvey lives in Inverness, the capital of the Scottish Highlands. If you would like to visit the Highlands or elsewhere in Scotland, the best way to make your travel arrangements is with The Ultimate Travel Club, because The Ultimate Travel Club is where you will get trade prices on travel including flights, and hotels.
Visit the Ultimate Travel Club and use our offer code to receive a discount on your membership fee. ABEC79
Find out more about both Michael Millward and Paul Harvey at Abeceder.co.uk .
Matchmaker.fm
Thank you to the team at Matchmaker.fm the introduction to Paul.
If you are a podcaster looking for interesting guests or if like Paul, you have something very interesting to say Matchmaker.fm is where matches of great hosts and great guests are made. Use our offer code for a discount on membership. MILW10
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Being a Guest
If you would like to be a guest on Fit For My Age, please contact using the link at Abeceder.co.uk.
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Transcript
00:00:05
Speaker
Made on Zencaster.
Introduction to 'Fit for My Age' Podcast
00:00:07
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to Fit for My Age, the health and wellbeing podcast from Abecedah. This episode is part of our series about learning how to run. I am your host, Michael Millward, the managing director of Abecedah. And as the jingle at the start of this podcast says, fit for my age is made on Zencaster.
00:00:30
Speaker
Zencaster is the all-in-one podcasting platform on which you can make your podcast in one place and then distribute it to the major platforms like Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Music and Amazon. It really does make making podcasts so easy. If you would like to try podcasting using Zencaster, visit zencaster.com forward slash pricing and use my offer code ABACEDA. All the details are in the description.
00:01:00
Speaker
Now that I have told you how wonderful Zencast is for making podcasts, we should make one. One that will be well worth listening to, liking, downloading and subscribing to. Very importantly, on Fit for My Age, we don't tell you what to think, but we do hope to make you think.
Introducing Guest Paul Harvey
00:01:19
Speaker
Today, my guest who I met on matchmaker.fm is Paul Harvey.
00:01:26
Speaker
Hello Paul. Hello there. Thanks for having on the show. I'm very grateful that you said yes to the invitation. Thank you very much. Talking about running, it would be an easy conversation. I'm finding that. Please could we start by you telling us a little bit about Paul Harvey. Okay. I'm Paul Harvey. I'm not the famous one from America because he's dead. I am ah a life coach and a podcast host.
00:01:48
Speaker
And so I run a podcast called Life, Passion and Business. And passion is ah is the key about that one for me. and And running has become my passion over the last six years. And that's why we are talking today. Yes. Thank you. How did you get into running?
Paul's Running Journey Begins
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah, that's an interesting one. I think I was about 53 as that sort of age. My father at the time was struggling with his knees and his body. And I looked at my father and thought, you know, if I don't do something with my body, because I was someone that spent most of his life sitting at a chair on a screen.
00:02:20
Speaker
I thought, if I don't end up with my body, I'm going to end up like that. So it was kind of a negative inspiration from my father. So I went to the gym and then I got a gym program and part of that program is always a bit of warm up and a bit of running or some yeah bits some sort of aerobic.
00:02:36
Speaker
And I was running on the treadmill and I would do about a kilometer, two kilometers, and my knees would start to hurt. I would get pain in my knees. And so I ended up in in physio on that one. And that was where, that that's how I started running. And I didn't think I'd ever be able to run more than three kilometers.
00:02:54
Speaker
So you started running and it caused you pain. You end up with a physiotherapist and then you start running marathons. How do you go from the physiotherapist to a to a marathon? What was interesting is if you watch people running at the gym,
00:03:09
Speaker
when you know a little bit about running, you see all different types of of people's running but yeah style. And some people that run like a sack of spuds on legs, they throw their body from side to side, you know and then and the running machine kind of rocks their role as they're running. And this is all the problems of you know that come out when you start running on a running machine. So what and i wasn't a sub spy wasn't I'm not that big enough to be a sack of spuds. But what the problem that I was is that I was pronating. I was twisting my feet in as i landed as my foot landed on the on the deck. And that process was putting a twist on my knee, and that's why my knees are painful. And that's what the physio pointed out to me. And it also, that was i had ah because I hadn't done a lot of running or a lot of exercise, i had a tiny there's a tiny muscle on the inside of your leg.
00:03:54
Speaker
just above the knee on the inside. and It's called the tear muscle. My tear muscle probably was about, I don't know, six centimeters long with that, and like two inches or so. And it should be big because it's a main support muscle for your knee. My muscle now, six years later, is is bigger than my hand. So yeah, that's the difference. And the physio taught me how to how to replant
Improving Running Efficiency
00:04:22
Speaker
my foot. So I was planting my foot squarely to the ground, like mid-foot planting. And so I was doing lunges on both sides to practice placing my foot in the right place. And once I did that, running on the treadmill was fine. I could run five, six K on the treadmill without any problem at all. But it really is a case of learning how to run it and unlearning the bad habits that we get into
00:04:46
Speaker
Yeah, and someone running like a sack of spuds, they will really feel it. you know that If you're throwing your body from side to side as you run, you're putting stress and strain all over the place on your body. All power to the elbow, good you know good for them, they're actually running. They're on a machine, they're doing something. So there's no criticism here. But if you're going to do it ah for any length of time, you do need to make sure you are yeah working out what your stride is like, you know what your gait and stride looks like. Your running form. Each of us has our own running form.
00:05:16
Speaker
which is efficient for our body and you've got to find out what it is for you. So you've got to learn how to do it right right for you but also at the same time it sounds like unlearning all the bad habits we get into because we don't consciously walk or run and this pronation of the feet is probably something that lots of people suffer from.
00:05:37
Speaker
I have, this morning, been in the gym and doing lunges with weights. And the first set that I did, I was all over the place. The second and the third set, I decided to engage my core. And then, you know, so you just tense the core muscles all the way around the abdomen. And then I was going straight up and down. And that's the point, core muscles, so important.
00:06:02
Speaker
Yeah, the little bit of running that I have done makes me think that it's the same sort of thing with running. If you're just simply putting one foot in front of the other without thinking about it, you are going to end up with problems. And yet if you run with your whole body, engage your core, do the right things with your arms so you're getting the right type of balance.
00:06:25
Speaker
and putting your feet down in the right way, you are going to be a more efficient and effective runner than if you're just running one foot in front of the other. I think you've got to get back to the stage of running one foot in front of the other. Because if you consciously try and run, you will fall over. Yes. You trip over your own feet. Yeah. but But there is like practice how to place your feet, practice good form, which feels comfortable for you.
00:06:51
Speaker
Yes. and yeah And you can't go around crunching your core constantly while you're running. But one of the things I noticed, particularly in the running club, and I think it's something which happens to a lot of runners, is you run our backsides off. So if you go and look at people who do a lot of running, their bums are often flat. Yeah.
00:07:09
Speaker
And the reason that that that happens is because what happens that they because the way we run, we we naturally work with the quads, which are the front muscles, and they grow exponentially. They grow because they're big muscles. they grow They're easy to kind of to grow, and you can you you can use work them out at the gym.
00:07:25
Speaker
It's the buttock muscles, those those those big gluteus maximus muscles. They're hard to keep keep to to make fire properly. When you engage your core, that's what you do. You switch those muscles on. And I'm still working out how to fire those muscles when I run. And I've been running six years now. It's difficult. Well, it is difficult because it's not something that we're used to doing because we spend a lot of our time sitting down.
00:07:51
Speaker
where in other cultures where they spend a lot of time either on their haunches or standing up, they've developed those muscles, theyre'vere they're all rounded, they're developed all round, what we had just developed at the front in terms of on the quads. You always imagine that a runner is going to have low body fat, be slim, but when I think you're, if I'm correct in the way that I understand what you're saying, then the way in which we run, the way in which we live our lives means that We run the risk of being out of proportion, so to speak. with We develop very strong muscles at the front of our legs, but not such strong muscles at the back
Muscle Development and Strength Training
00:08:27
Speaker
of our legs.
00:08:27
Speaker
Yeah, that would be fair to say. And everybody can run, and a lot of runners are very, ah very, very slight. I mean, yeah there's all sorts of runners, and bigger people can run too, and they will probably run differently from from thinner people. I've never never looked at that aspect of it. I'm i'm an exomorph, I can't put weight on, so I am naturally thin anyway. And the more I run, the less less weight I have on me.
00:08:51
Speaker
Yeah, but there are three of these and morphs, aren't there? There's the ectomorph, the endomorph, and the one in the middle, of the medomorph. If you are an ectomorph, then you're tall and slim. The endomorph people tend to be shorter, put on more weight, and in the middle. Yes, and they will run differently to ah to others, I guess. that's The time that you spend in the gym helps you to balance the development of the muscles, and the time that you spend running is cardiovascular exercise.
00:09:18
Speaker
you are more likely to develop the muscles at the front of your legs rather than the muscles at the back of your legs and you might end up unbalanced but it is finding the the right combination of the two so that you end up balanced but also you've got all of the right type of cardiovascular exercise alongside the strength-based exercises because my understanding is that the strength-based exercises develop the muscles. And as you explained with the tear muscle, if you've got good muscles, then you'll have stronger bones because so it's the muscles that help the bones to do their job.
00:09:53
Speaker
And the other aspect is, as we are as we're aging, you know, I'm 61 this year, and we are losing muscle mass. Yes. And there's there's nothing that, that's what we will, we will lose muscle mass as we get out as we age. And resistance training is where you put it back. That's how you you maintain that muscle by resistance.
00:10:14
Speaker
Yes. So getting to the gym and doing the lunges, doing doing the things that you need to do to to put know to put pressure and resistance in the muscles and as you say, compounding onto the bones that it all helps maintain us and keep us younger.
Transition to Outdoor Running
00:10:28
Speaker
I asked the question how you went from the physiotherapist table to running a marathon. What made you decide to run a marathon? um I was running in the gym at them then in 2017, no 2018 it probably was. I was down in London with my brother and he was going out for a run and I never liked running outside. He never did much. He just just didn't like it. I don't know why.
00:10:50
Speaker
And then he said, oh yeah, we're going to run this morning. So I went with him and I thought, actual fact, this is actually quite nice. And we were doing, my my father had died the previous year and so we were renovating his house out in Essex. And so when i I literally moved to Essex for six months while I was renovating my father's house, I currently live in Scotland. And so I was going down south to do this. And so while I was there, I was running, running every day, running, or running around the beaches or around the Esplanade in Essex.
00:11:16
Speaker
And I just realised that this was good. I was enjoying it. I was doing 10K runs in the morning and feeling fine. So I did a 10K that year in 2018 and did my first 10K in Inverness, which is quite hilly, but it was 55 minutes for 10K, which was quite, I was, I was astounded. I didn't think I'd get under the hour. That's impressive from my perspective. My fastest 10K ever. I did 48, 31. That's twice as fast as me.
00:11:41
Speaker
I do have some super shoes and they do make a difference. Tell me about the shoes because they don't know tell me about the shoes because like the gear is so important. If anyone's coming into running you and yeah and you're older, you do need to make sure you get some decent shoes because the shoes make a difference. They really do. The modern foams and materials, they're just amazing. They do support your feet. Yes.
00:12:02
Speaker
and it's really good to go to a running shop and and then have your gait analysis done and then try on all different shoes while you run and and and yeah yeah you will feel every pair of shoes will do feel different. So essentially if you're going to go and buy trainers I get the feeling that the the thing that you should look for first is a running machine in the shop.
00:12:21
Speaker
at any shop that will, any specialist shop that will do a run, it a gate analysis. Because what they'll do, they'll film you running. The best technique to use this for is to run slowly to start with on the shoes for say like 20, 30 seconds. And then run fast because they're different gates when you do that. And then in what you'll get to see at the end, you'll see a video of your feet landing on on the deck and how your feet land on the deck. oh um And it's good to know what your natural tendency is. Some people are toe strikers, they'll they'll land on their toe and the foot will come down. Some people are heel strikers and they will land on their heel. Now that's quite a hard way of running heel striking, because what you're doing is you're literally putting a brake on every time you hit the foot to the ground. yes Think about it, your foot hits in the ground and that energy is coming up and then the rest of your foot lands. So there's like a bit of a bit of a shock for heel striking.
00:13:16
Speaker
It's almost like the same sort of action that you would have on the brake pedal in the car. you yeah That's what's happening when you when you're landing on your heel. Yes. Now, that's not to say it's wrong, because that's if some people's natural gait is heel striking, that's where they are. And you can train yourself to do other things. Now, I am a mid-foot toe strike. right I'm more mid-foot striking, which means my foot almost lands practically flat to the ground, but but on the ball of my foot, the ideal position.
00:13:44
Speaker
And the beauty of that is when I land like that, everything else comes to the ground and there's a natural flexing through the ankle. And then so the energy from the hit is taken and then spread up through my leg and in through the other muscles of the leg. It is one of those strange things, but I have noticed since I started running that if I make a conscious effort to run and land on my toes, I'm actually running faster and feeling as if I'm taller because obviously obviously I'm on my toes.
00:14:10
Speaker
But when I'm landing on the heel, it feels slower and you just explain the reason why because that's ah almost a natural breaking type process.
00:14:22
Speaker
Yes. Now, I haven't looked at this, I haven't watched it, but I suspect the faster you run, the more of a toe strike you become. when you I always expect sprinters are absolutely running on their toes, I would think probably. Yeah. You'd think it's logical because they're actually so they're literally reaching forward and like clawing at the ground to go faster and faster. Yes. um When you think about the the world record sprinters, they're doing that sprint at what? They're doing around 10 seconds for the 100 meters.
00:14:51
Speaker
So, at some point, they're covering 10 metres in one second. Yes. And I think Usain Bolt does 100 metres in 47 strides. That's fast, but again, he is the world record holder on all this stuff. Well, he is, but he's just you think the amount of land and ground he's covering. So, my striket nu mygra my stride, my natural stride, is' it's 95 centimetres is my natural stride.
00:15:14
Speaker
When somebody like Usain Bolt is running, I suspect, I'm not an expert, I suspect that his foot is not actually touching the ground, his toes are touching the ground. Yes, that's what he's doing. But, you know, going back to shoes, the important thing about shoes. So, yeah, I'm doing that 93, 95 centimetres is my stride.
The Role of Foot Strike and Shoe Choice
00:15:35
Speaker
And my cadence, the number of times i run now the number of times I put my feet to the ground is rough. It's somewhere between 175 and 220. The watch counts it. So when I'm really going for it, it goes up to 220. When I'm kind of in my normal normal pace, it's 175. That's footsteps per minute. Now, each time i my foot lands on the ground, I'm putting up to two and a half to three times my body weight through my foot. wow So now you think about these shoes. Every second,
00:16:05
Speaker
each shoe is getting pounded by three times my body weight. So you think about the quality of the pair of shoes, it's like getting something and hitting it with a hammer. Yes. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, you know, and it's like, it is amazing these shoes actually do what they do.
00:16:21
Speaker
It's why they're not cheap. Yes. Now my race shoes that I now have, i might my for my 60th birthday, my brother but said to me, buy me any shoes you'd like, I'll buy you some shoes. So I went to the local local um running shop in Inverness and and I spent two hours trying on different types of race shoes.
00:16:40
Speaker
And a race shoe is very different from a standard shoe. You'd never wear it all the time. First, of because they're extremely expensive and they wear out very quickly. But they have a piece of carbon plate or carbon rod inside them. And what that does is when you put your foot down, the rod bends as it takes the impact and it absorbs the impact.
00:16:58
Speaker
And then when you lift your foot up, it it returns energy back to you. So that's why a lot of the records are being broken these days, because of these shoes. Now, I know that they will improve my time by at least two minutes, if not more over 10K. Because you can slam your foot into the ground knowing the shoe will support you. I couldn't run like that in a normal pair of shoes.
00:17:19
Speaker
because I wouldn't want to trust taking that level of impact in my foot. But because i can because I can trust the shoe, I can actually slam my foot down and know that the shoe will support me. That's great. One of the things that gets me about this is you when I started Fit for My Age, it was to learn the things that I hadn't learned earlier in life. And one of those things is it's not
Learning Running Techniques
00:17:41
Speaker
just a trainer. it's a There's an awful lot of science that goes into the shoe and making sure that you get the right shoe for you is very important.
00:17:49
Speaker
But also the things that you've explained about the process of running. No one ever, when I was at school at least, the PE lessons and we're going to do athletics, no one ever explained how to run. It's just assumed that everybody knows how to run. Then of course you can end up with the injuries or you end up with like, well, this isn't for me. I'm not going to do it anymore.
00:18:10
Speaker
Yeah, this this whole sort of simple thing about how your leg moves, how the muscles in your leg move and support your leg so that you can do so the things that you want to do. And then working out how your foot lands and how you can can consciously change that is something that I just don't think people get taught.
00:18:31
Speaker
No, they don't. They do now. my My son was taught a lot more about running than I ever was. And i and like that's why, I mean, he's never been taught to the level that I have learned about it by reading. I read a lot of stuff and and really, really concentrate concentrated on on understanding how my body works for running. And that's the difference, I guess, when you suddenly become a geek in the subject, that's what happens. And that's how you end up running a marathon, basically. You've got to really understand running The marathon is not the challenge. Running the race is the celebration of the training to get there. That's a really good way of looking at it.
00:19:06
Speaker
Because on the day, it can all go hopelessly wrong, so all sorts of things can happen on the day. But in order to get to a marathon, it's 18 weeks of training. Yes. And you can't do it in any less. And if you've never run any distance before, you you probably need to be longer, because you have literally got to teach your body how to do this. So to train for a marathon 18 weeks, that's getting close to five months worth of training.
00:19:29
Speaker
Yes. And you will be running at least four to five times a week to do that. Now, because of my age, I recognize that i I'm not a madman like some people that will run massive distances all the time.
80-20 Running Technique
00:19:43
Speaker
I chose a process called 80-20 running, which is ah a technique designed designed by a guy called Matt Fitzgerald. Great book, 80-20 running, got loads of programs in there how to do this. And the idea being is that you 80% of your running is run at a low intensity pace. And the 20% of your running, your your training, is at high intensity. So the idea is is that you're stressing your body for 20% of the time and allow it plenty of time to recover. right And each time it recovers, it builds back stronger.
00:20:16
Speaker
So out of every hour that you run, for example, you'd be sprinting for 12 minutes maximum. No, no, you do specific types of runs. So 80-20 is based on heart rate. So you you need a running watch or some way to determine how how fast your heart is beating. I have ah a chest belt and I want a more accurate reading because most running running watches are not that accurate on the wrist, but they're good enough if that's all you've got.
00:20:42
Speaker
So you decide on what your maximum heart rate is. Now, maximum heart rate for us age you to run it is a real hot topic that no one in the medical profession will talk about. right So if you go to your doctor and say, I want to run a marathon, what should I be doing? He will tell you you should your heart rate shouldn't go over 220 minus your age. So 220 minus your age means you don't run it. So you don't run any faster than 160 beats per minute at 60 year old. Yeah. I think some doctors would tell you not to do it in the first At all. At all. Yes, they would. i mean i got I got directed to Google, read this, and it's about insurance. It's about not wanting you to die on their watch. Which is valid, though. It is valid, but on the basis that your body won't let you do things that you shouldn't, you're probably okay. Yes. If you feel really crap when you're running, you probably should go and see your medical attention.
00:21:36
Speaker
If you feel okay, then that's fine. Now, going back to that 10K I did last year, I crossed the line at 195 beats a minute, which is, you know, if 220 is death, that's pretty close, isn't it? It's spitting distance, yeah.
00:21:53
Speaker
Yes. And I felt fine. And now I've i've taken lots of advice on this. and and And everyone says to me, if you feel fine, it's OK, because your body won't let you do more than you can. yeah But I'm fighting entropy here. you know So we have a thing called the VO2 max, which is the amount of oxygen that is dissolved in your blood and available for use. ah use wait as As you're younger, you get a lot more oxygen concentration in your blood. And I'm not sure what what the difference is, how wide it changes as we get older. But it does.
00:22:22
Speaker
And we lose something like 15% of our VO2 max every 10 years we age. So by the time you get to 90 or something, your VO2 max will be ah be under 20, at which point you're going to need oxygen to survive. You can't move around naturally. My current VO2 max, and that's working hard, is 44, and I'm in the top 10% to my age.
00:22:45
Speaker
Congratulations. I have had it as high as 47. I think I've actually been as high as 48 and it takes effort to get there. And what it takes is intensity running and lots of rest running. So my running will be, I'll do a day of foundation running. So I'll do 35 to 40 minutes of running at zone two. So my heart rate won't go over 150 beats a minute in that 40 minutes.
00:23:08
Speaker
The next day, I'll do five minutes of zone two, and then I might do some zone three, zone four, or zone five. but i'll just do And I'll just touch into those zones, then I go back to zone two again. So that might might be a hill. I run up a hill for one minute, and I run down the hill very gently for two and a half minutes, three minutes, to let my heart rate settle. So I'm practicing constantly, stretching my heart rate, but not pushing it too much.
00:23:32
Speaker
Running is not just a process of the movement forward.
Casual vs. Competitive Running
00:23:37
Speaker
You've also got to learn how to manage your oxygen intake, which is the breathing, and also then be aware of your heart rate and match your running pace to the and your oxygen intake to the optimum level of your heart rate.
00:23:55
Speaker
It is sort of running for fun. None of that matters. If you just like to get out into the outside world and run at a comfortable pace and you know run for 40 minutes, you're fine. That's great. if That's what you want to do. If you suddenly want to start competing or start getting or you know seeing some improvement, that's when you start getting technical. yeah So you can run a 5K, couch to 5K, it's quite good. You can do park runs and those things They are a hard effort to get a good time on a 5K because you haven't got a lot of time to make up any distance. You've got to be running at at a maximum all the way through. So if you wanted to get good at 5K, you would have to be serious about it. You have to get good shoes and put a lot of effort into it. If you want to run a 10K, you can do those ones. and look They're a bit easier in some ways than a 5K if you want just a reasonable time because you're not having to push so hard all the way through.
00:24:47
Speaker
The half marathon, so that's 13.1 miles, that's harder than the 10k. You now got to start thinking about endurance. You now got to start thinking about how you're going to plan your race so that you can run and still have energy to get to the end of it. But in ah in a half marathon, you don't need to feed yourself at all. You might need hydration, possibly not. You might be fine. When you move to a marathon,
00:25:10
Speaker
That's different. You've now got to plan your pace from start to finish. How are you going to do this?
Marathon Experiences and Challenges
00:25:16
Speaker
You're going to have to plan eating because you're going to be running for up to four and a half hours, five hours. So you can't, you have to eat while you're running. Now a lot of people use gels. I hate gels personally. Gels are the answer. Basically you're trying to get carbohydrate back into your system and you have to have a gel, and most people have a gel every, every 5k they'll have a gel yeah or something.
00:25:38
Speaker
you have to have enough liquid in your system because you will sweat it out. And this is where the the history is, you know, the marathon starts at 20 miles, because most people can get to 20 miles or a marathon. And then when they get to that point, that's when the pain starts. That's when your body starts to tell you that you've really done enough.
00:25:55
Speaker
Well, what's happening at that point is all the planning starts to go out the window. So I, I, when I got, I know I've done one marathon, you know, and the wise reason I did it is because it was like, you know, everyone talks about this and I need to do this. So I, it just became a thing. I need to do it. So when I got to 20 miles, uh, sadly, the course I chose was a solid and great big hill at 17 miles, like it, and they called it the monster. And it really was a monster. Um, and I walked, and I walked it. And Vanessa does happen to be in the Scottish Highlands.
00:26:24
Speaker
Yes, it was in Venice Marathon, running by the Loch Ness. But when when I got through that bit, I was i could hear the – because they run you down the other side of the Ness and I could hear the crowd shouting the other side. So i I know I had about five miles to go. I guess it's the the buildup of lactate in the muscles and and things are starting to hurt and my legs were hurting, my back was hurting, everything was hurting.
00:26:47
Speaker
But I also had emotion coming up. I had so just unknown emotions coming up out of my body and I was crying. and Tears were flooding out of me. and like You know, that big soppy sobbing crying. yeah And I had no idea what I was crying about. I was literally sobbing as I was running. And I still kept going. I still kept going.
00:27:07
Speaker
Your legs go on to automatic pilot sort of thing. Yes. And, but the difficulty at that point is form goes out the window. And that's when you start getting out, when you, it's really hard to keep running for. Yeah. But you finished it. Yes, I finished it. I finished it in four hours and 35 minutes. It's a good time. It's a good time. And I was, and I was 10 minutes slower than I wanted it to be because I had to stop for a poo. Oh, was there a cue? Yes. Big events, but you know, it happened to, uh, some world famous runner, Nathan Reynolds as well.
00:27:36
Speaker
Well, that's that's the thing. See, you have to plan all these things in a marathon. So the marathons marathon started at 10, but they get you there for half seven because they have to get you to the start line by bus. right And getting a thousand plus people to the start line by bus takes a bit of time and a bit of organization. So they get everybody there. And of course, then there's a queue for the toilets. that There are about 10 toilets and a thousand people want to use them.
00:28:01
Speaker
yeah So you have breakfast at half past six, which is at six o'clock in the morning, you get to the to the marathon. By about ten o'clock, my body's going, oh, no, you can't have one now. It's too late. You paint a very realistic and practical picture. very Oh, people have had accidents and had to run like, you know, with very different colour shorts. You paint a very interesting and realistic story or picture of what it's like to be in a marathon and I've just learnt so much about the whole sort of science of what on the face of it looks like a very simple, straightforward thing to do, but the whole science of how your feet work, how your legs work, your heart rate, your breathing, the and they the use of different types of equipment. It's it really interesting. I do really appreciate your time, Paul. It's been very interesting. Thank you very much. My pleasure. Thank you.
00:28:59
Speaker
I am Michael Millward, the Managing Director of Abecedah, and in this episode of Fit for My Age, Learning How to Run, I have been having a conversation with Paul Harvey. You can find out more about both of us at abecedah.co.uk.
Conclusion and Further Information
00:29:14
Speaker
There is a link in the description. There's also a link to Paul's Running Focused podcast as well, which is well worth listening to.
00:29:23
Speaker
I must remember to thank the team at matchmaker.fm for introducing me to Paul. If you are a podcaster looking for interesting guests, or if like Paul you have something very interesting to say, matchmaker dot.fm is where matches of great hosts and great guests are made. There is a link to matchmaker dot.fm and an offer code in the description.
00:29:45
Speaker
If you have liked this episode of Fit For My Age, please give it a like and download it so that you can listen anytime, anywhere. To make sure you don't miss out on future episodes, please subscribe. Remember, the aim of all the podcasts produced by Abisida is not to tell you what to think, but we do hope to make you think. All that remains for me to say is until the next episode of Fit For My Age. Thank you for listening and goodbye.