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Lewis Ryan | UTMB | Ultra Running | Brewser
120 Plays2 years ago
Welcome to episode 64 of the UKRunChat podcast. In this episode I speak with Lewis Ryan. Lewis is an ultra runner and came in the top 100 of UTMB in 2022 which was a great year for him.
Lewis also won 3 ultras including 2 course records and a marathon PB. All this training whilst working full time and building a new business called Brewser who sponsored our event the Shrewsbury Half Marathon with a beer for all participants.
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Transcript
Introduction to Lewis Ryan and Achievements
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to episode 64 of the UK Run Chat podcast. In today's episode I speak with Lewis Ryan. Lewis is an ultra runner and he came in the top 100 of UTMB in 2022 which was a fantastic year for him. He also won three ultras including two course records and a marathon PB to boot all in 2022.
00:00:20
Speaker
All this training whilst working full time and building a new business called BRUSA, who happened to sponsor our event, the Shrewsbury Half Marathon, with a beer for all participants at the end. Enjoy listening to Lewis's story.
Audience Engagement Invitation
00:00:32
Speaker
If you have any comments or questions, please get in touch on info at ukrunchat.co.uk. Have a great week and see you on the next episode.
Personal Life and Changes
00:00:41
Speaker
Welcome, Lewis. How are you? Hi, Joe. Yeah, very good. Thanks. How are you? Yeah, really good. Thank you, mate. Where about are you?
00:00:49
Speaker
Right now, I'm in London, in my flat. Potential move to South Wales in the next few months, but yeah, London, London right now. That's a big move. It's a big move, yeah. Big things happening this year.
00:01:06
Speaker
It's going to be a very exciting year. But, you know, it would be my running a lot of good at least being in South Wales versus. Yeah, of course, of course. I've just done an introduction, you know, as to who you are. But it'd be great if you could give us a bit of an intro. Yeah, sure. So my name is Lewis. I'm a 30 year old runner.
00:01:34
Speaker
I run a beer company called Bruiser. And yeah, that's about it really. I have to teammate things thinking about my life at the moment. I'm engaged to get married to Emily, my partner.
00:01:52
Speaker
next year, and we're due our first child this year as well. So I'm not quite at the stage yet where I can say I'm husband and father alongside those things, but that's soon to come. Congratulations. You did, listeners, Lewis did just tell me this just before we press record, but yeah, many congratulations, mate. Very nice. Thank you. Yeah, it's going to be a really, really exciting year.
Bruiser Craft Beer Venture
00:02:12
Speaker
And you mentioned Bruce there, so for listeners' knowledge, we met via Twitter, obviously, because you were a runner, and we started chatting, didn't we? And your business, Bruce, actually sponsored our event, the Shoes Beyond Marathon in October. We did, yeah. Everyone went beer at the end, didn't they? Well, yeah.
00:02:35
Speaker
He's just dehydrated and running and there's no better way to celebrate the end of a half marathon with a nice beer in my opinion. Yeah, I agree. And in the spirit of that as well, because Lewis was kind enough to send me over a box of one of the breweries that you work with, wouldn't you? You can explain the
00:02:58
Speaker
business in a moment, but I got to choose a box and in my hand I have a Polly's Paternist Indian Pale Ale and I have a Polly's Cinnamon Twill. Now, these are pokey beers that you've got here, 6.6% and 6.9%. So I only crack one open, Lewis. Well, in the spirit of things, whilst we're recording this podcast, but because it's so strong, you might have to prop me up in 20 minutes.
00:03:28
Speaker
Well, I'm having a beer as well myself. I'm having a beer from a brewery called Track, which also isn't too far from you, but this one's a nice 3.8%. Yeah, much more palatable. Much more appropriate for a Tuesday. I'm going to have a twig, 6.9% this one.
00:03:48
Speaker
you go for it and you let me know what you think of it as well. But I can say a little bit about Bruiser while you pull that out. So yeah, we in the pandemic,
00:04:00
Speaker
me and three friends, one of whom has been a craft brewer all of his life, the other three of us met at university. We were all sort of subscribing to different craft beer services that are out there and realizing that they all kind of just left something wanting. The beer wasn't as good as we'd like because we'd drink if we went down the local bottle shop or something.
00:04:29
Speaker
and uh you didn't really get a choice in what you were for you getting um and then the other option we had was we could subscribe to breweries directly you get the same brewery month in month out yeah you know you might not want the same beers at work the same brewery every month so we thought there must be a middle ground here and we we set up or we kind of had the idea of bruiser which was to
00:04:52
Speaker
allow people to choose a different brewery each month. And we ourselves don't stock or handle any beer. What happens instead is that the brewery that you choose curates a box of their latest and the beers they're the most proud of. And that box gets sent directly to you. So in your case, Joe, you chose Polly's, which is a brewery and mold flinch here.
00:05:18
Speaker
really amazing brewery. You couldn't have really picked a better one. And yes, Apollis would have put together this box of the beers that they wanted to sort of showcase to you and then it got sent direct to you. So what that means is that we don't really have a warehouse or any big sort of costs that we have to run, which means we can actually pay the breweries really well for the beer. And they're encouraged and empowered to showcase what they want.
00:05:45
Speaker
that was our main differentiator and you know by putting the spotlight on the brewery as opposed to ourselves we quickly got a lot of different breweries signed up and now we have 120 businesses all independent and all what a huge diversity in size there you've got big names like Tiny Rebel and Northern Monk who you might you know see see in stores and in pubs and stuff and then you've got
00:06:11
Speaker
got one brewery that's just a one-man operation, producing some incredible stuff, Baron. So yeah, it's pretty amazing. There's a lot of choice out there. The UK craft beer scene is great and we're very proud to connect people who love it with breweries that are doing great things. Yeah, brilliant.
00:06:30
Speaker
Yeah. Well, like you say, this Polly's one's immaculately presented and it tastes very nice as well. Thank you. I'll come back to a bit more to the beer as well, but let's, we better mention your running while we're here.
Lewis' Running Journey
00:06:44
Speaker
So you've, you've just had an exciting year coming up. You just had an exciting year with regards to your running, haven't you? Oh, it's been a really good year. Yeah. Well, it was a really good year, I should say. Um,
00:06:56
Speaker
Yeah, I've always, well, I say I've always been a runner. I've always been a sporty person, I guess. But around my first half marathon in 2015, I hated it. I hated trading for it. The idea of going out for a 10-mile run was really devotivated. Really? Yeah. Then given, I'll let you carry on, but that's interesting. Yeah. I think it was because, I've always say this to my friends who,
00:07:26
Speaker
I kind of do it a bit of running or training for an event because they want to do the event, but you know, perhaps don't really want to do the training, which is exactly where I was at for that first half marathon. Yeah. I think there's a tipping point where you become fit enough where you become sort of experienced enough in running that you can then enjoy going out for a run of that length. But I think it takes a while to get to that point. Interesting.
00:07:54
Speaker
Yeah, it is interesting. But that first sort of race, I did pretty well. I paced it horribly, but I got a pretty good time in the relative terms. But then I thought, well, that was doable. I could probably do a marathon. Did you enjoy the day when you did the half marathon then, if you enjoyed the training as much?
00:08:19
Speaker
I enjoyed the day. It was a Royal Parks half marathon in London, which is amazing. Really cool route. I really enjoyed the first half because it was the first time I'd ever run with crowds and atmosphere and stuff. So I went and set a significant 10K PB over the first half. And then what that meant was the second half was probably the least enjoyable 10K by a whole running career. And I've ever
00:08:46
Speaker
I remember lowering myself into the bath afterwards because my legs just didn't work anymore. So I did enjoy it. Everyone does that. Way too over the top, got really excited. No, it was good. It certainly didn't put me off enough to not want to run more. And then, yeah, then Brighton Marathon was the next big thing that I trained for. Again, didn't pace it very well. I ended up sort of walking the last four or five miles.
00:09:16
Speaker
But I think that it was bright and really when I kind of fell in love with the community, community aspect of it. Running through Hove, it was a really hot day. I think, was it 20, yeah, 2016. Anyone else who ran it that year will know it was unexpectedly boiling. And I think they had sort of not put enough water out and it was a bit, yeah, took everyone by surprise. But people in Hove were out, you know,
00:09:43
Speaker
trying to hand out cold cans of Stella and other things to the runners and I just I fell in love with it I fell in love with just the music everyone was playing live bands and cheering I got cramp in both my hamstrings on the
00:09:58
Speaker
final straight down on the promenade. And some guy from the crowd jumped into the track and he sort of helped me with my legs and everything. I don't know, I just, I loved it. Yeah, it was great. And then my friend Alex, at the time he was really into trail running. And then that was it. Once I started running with him, I did the endurance life, Dorset, half marathon, and
00:10:27
Speaker
I was absolutely hooked at that point. And since then it's kind of been just a slow build up on the trail. As soon as I got away from the sort of time aspect of road running, of like trying to hit certain times and paces and found the, just get to the finish line element of trail running. That's when I really started to enjoy it. And found myself wanting to go further and harder and Hillier and yeah. And then.
00:10:56
Speaker
Yeah, I guess that all kind of led up to the year I've just had, which is the most serious running year, I guess, I've had thus far. Yeah. But really paid off. Yeah. You answered my next question, really, because you said that you were hooked after that half marathon. And I think a lot of people are finding that now because there's been significant growth, isn't there, in the amount of people hitting trails post Covid world, really?
00:11:25
Speaker
And I think that that trend was happening before COVID as well, do you?
Trail Running Popularity and Community
00:11:31
Speaker
I think it was, yeah, I think it was. It's certainly getting a lot more exposure as a sport. Try running. You know, you've got people like Tom Evans, who I know you had on the podcast a few months back, that kind of
00:11:49
Speaker
pioneering the sort of, I guess, UK professional trail runner scene where there's a big spotlight on him, which I think few runners have actually had in the past, where he's sponsored by big names like Red Bull and things like that. And it's generating a lot of interest on social media, which is great. It means that you go to races now and there's huge amounts of people on the start line. There's a really good sense of community
00:12:20
Speaker
Yeah. And I think, I think it's, uh, like I said before, I think what's really attractive about the trail running races is that it's much more about, can you finish this as opposed to how fast can you finish this? Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, I would encourage anyone who's enjoying their running on the roads or thinking about getting into running just to give it a go. You know, it's, uh, it's just a really nice, fun place to be out on the trails. And you, you know, I think you get a lot more connected to.
00:12:49
Speaker
to nature and that, as you said, during COVID, perhaps people really sort of started to appreciate that. Yes. That side of it. Yeah. Being in the outdoors, being in fresh air, you know, it's got so many benefits. Yeah. I find it mentally easier to run than running on the streets and road races. Just the destruction of the trail.
00:13:16
Speaker
whether it's watching where your feet land or the beauty, depending on where you are, I find it more good for the soul. Absolutely. Yeah, that focusing on your feet thing is really interesting. I think, yeah, to me, it's quite meditative. I think you do have to focus on your footing and what that means is you're not really thinking about anything else, which
00:13:44
Speaker
given I have a pretty busy lifestyle, those times are precious to me. It certainly helps me clear my head and I finish a trail run. I don't think I've ever finished a trail run miserable.
00:14:00
Speaker
Yeah, great point. So you started, you did your first half marathon, you weren't so keen on the training, you moved onto your marathon, you just said, and then you started running with your friend and you started hitting the trails and you hooked. So this, give us a top line summary of the last 12 months and then I'm going to dig into it a bit more because you've had a good 12 months and it's been a lot more serious, like you said,
00:14:29
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's been a bit more serious. So,
Training for UTMB 2022
00:14:33
Speaker
okay. Top line. I've got a coach, which was very key. Throughout this 12 months as well, it's worth noting I had a full-time job. We'd launched Bruiser and living in London with Emily, my better half.
00:14:53
Speaker
The races I did, I wanted to kind of compete at racing. I got into UTMB and I found that out at the start of the year. And then sort of all roads led to that, that race, which has been on my bucket list ever since I started trail running. So I started with the Pembroke Shear endurance life ultra. And then went up to Dolomites to do the Dolomite extreme trail, which was a hundred K race in the Dolomites. Yeah.
00:15:20
Speaker
Then it was UTMB and then had London Marathon as well, which I've been trying to get into for years and finally managed to get a championship entry into that, which was in October. And then a couple of trail races, one with Maverick race, who good friends of mine do amazing events. They did an ultra in the South Downs and then.
00:15:43
Speaker
the endurance life Dorset Ultra, which I try to do every year, because that's, it feels like a home race. Yeah, yeah. So would you, so these, the races you're talking about here is obviously UTMB, you did the 100 miler. Yeah. But you obviously, you did the big one. Dolomite, the, um, DMT... DXT. DXT, that's it, sorry. That's 100K, that one, if I remember right. Yeah.
00:16:11
Speaker
Okay, so I think these are serious distances. Have you built up to these over the years after 2016 through to last year? Have you done other ultras then? Yeah, I've done a few before.
00:16:29
Speaker
That Alex that I mentioned, uh, me him and another friend called James did an Alps ultra called the, um, trail for the ASM Bernard TV SP. Um, back in, I think that was 2017. Okay. That was a 70 kilometer race in the Alps, but that, that, that was my first race with kind of real elevation and, uh, Alps. And again, that was a big struggle. Um,
00:16:55
Speaker
But that was the first time I got a taste of ultra running and in the mountains as well. And then, um, yeah, I sort of, I sort of put that big year in 2018, where I did the Eiger trail at CCC, um, both a hundred kilometer races. Um, and we actually did the Cumbria weight ultra as well, which was a bit, a little bit longer, I think.
00:17:16
Speaker
okay so sorry just to go back the ccc that's part of the utmb races isn't it correct yeah so which one's that is that there's the occ the ccc isn't there yes ccc is 100 kilometer from kormaia um champelec back to chamony okay and you did that one 2018 so you've got you've gone through pretty quickly then really only 2015 you did your half 2016 in marathon by 2018 you're you're running ultras you've you've
00:17:46
Speaker
You did get hooked. I did get hooked. It's worth saying though, I think the mentality for those races, and this was back when the CCC was somewhat easier to get into than it is today. Same with the Eiger and other races, you could pretty much choose what races you wanted to do and just go for them.
00:18:09
Speaker
The mentality that I had for those races was like, I just wanted to go and run those trails. I just wanted to go out and experience that trail. Uh, I was never competitive or trying to sort of get a time or whatever. It was just about finishing. Uh, and then I think it was around my first a hundred miler in 2019, which was the North Downs way. A hundred from Centurion racing. Um, and then I did.
00:18:39
Speaker
probably the hardest endurance challenge I've done in 2020, which was the Chapé Bell integral, which was just under a hundred barrels, but my goodness, it is ridiculously hard.
00:18:55
Speaker
I could come back to that, but these were kind of all building up year on year. I was building up more endurance, more experience in these races and just getting better at them. Um, and I do, I really do think that experience is so key in these, in these, uh, kind of events. Um, and then last year, 20 sorry, 2021, I.
00:19:16
Speaker
won the Beacons Way Ultra in Wales, which is a hundred mile race, and set a new course record. And I kind of started to realize that I was quite good at that longer distance. And that sort of sparked something in me that was kind of like, right, I'm gonna actually see what I can do here. And if I train and put my mind to it, maybe to get on some help, then yeah, see what I could do. And then getting the entry to UTMB was the kind of
00:19:46
Speaker
the trigger that I needed to really, really kick things off this year. Yeah. That was my next question. So as you got better, did you naturally get more competitive or, you know, cause it was all about just completing at first. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. I don't know. I, I've always been quite competitive. Emily will tell you that I'm a pretty sore loser. Um, I,
00:20:11
Speaker
But no, I think that's exactly it. I think once you get a taste for it, once you get a taste for being able to be towards the front of the pack and being able to strategize and make moves and all this kind of stuff, that adds a whole new level of enjoyment to it and an interest, actually, and motivation. So yeah, I think the last couple of years, I've kind of sort of started thinking, well, what if I did take this seriously?
00:20:40
Speaker
how good could I be? Yeah, and that's kind of where I'm at now, is sort of still figuring that out. I don't think, you haven't stopped figuring that out, but yeah, last year was a really good sort of measuring stick for that. Yeah, okay. So you mentioned that when you did the CCC, which is part of the UTMB race, it was easier to get into. So do you just want to explain for people who don't know how it is that you get into the UTMB now and what that process is?
00:21:11
Speaker
Yeah so UTMB I guess has always been harder to get into so yeah for those who don't know the UTMB is a big series of races now they have a world series where they kind of own 30 odd events around the world and it's sort of like a
00:21:32
Speaker
and like a tournament in a way where you can do these other races. And then the actual main event in Chamonix in August is sort of the final week of these events, which is the UTMB race. And then there's four or five sort of smaller races as part of the same event. CCC is one of those as well. And yeah, there's always been a bit of a lottery system to get into those races because they're so popular, but it's become,
00:22:01
Speaker
become pretty crazy now I know a lot of people get frustrated with it I was very lucky to get a place last year on the lottery but yeah effectively what you have to do is you have to build up what are called running stones so you have to you have to basically run other UTMB races to build up these running stones which you can then use in the lottery
00:22:25
Speaker
as like tickets. But, you know, it's a business that they're doing very well, but they're kind of monopolizing it a little bit in the sense that you have to spend money running other races in order to do the races that you actually want to do. Which, yeah, is a whole other discussion of whether or not it's right for trail running and stuff.
00:22:48
Speaker
For me, I've always wanted to run that race and I was willing to do what it takes to get into it. And you said a few minutes back, you said that all roads led to UTMB this year. So bear in mind that you've got your job, you're in London, you're starting a new business with your three friends, Bruce, and you're training for UTMB.
00:23:15
Speaker
And you found out at the start of the year, did you say? That's right, yeah. So how do you go about planning from January to August and those ultras in between that you did and your training, what does that look like when you're there in January and you're planning that through for a hundred mile race? A lot of, yeah, you kind of, well, I don't know, you have to make up as you go along a little bit.
00:23:44
Speaker
I can't plan everything out. As anyone who's started a business will know.
00:23:52
Speaker
No, one of the key things that I knew I had to do was to get some help with someone who constructed my training a little bit and provide some science to it because up to that point, I would just sort of be going out, running, maybe doing a bit of interval work or tempo work, just whatever I think I should be doing. Yeah.
00:24:16
Speaker
I ended up sort of joining a team called HP3, which is headed up by a guy called Tim Pigott. Tim's an awesome runner. He's got an incredible backstory. He won the Spine Challenger in the summer.
00:24:35
Speaker
And he's done wonderful things, but as well as that, he's a great coach and a physio, and he's a real sort of scholar of the sport. And he's got a team, this is team HP3, they've got some strength coaches, they've got some nutritionists, all this kind of stuff. Once we work with Tim, he's helped me plan week by week, and he knows that I've got
00:25:02
Speaker
Other things, the reason why I really like working with him is because he focuses as much on, you know, how do you not drop the ball on other things in life, but still focus and improve on your running. Um, which is exactly what I needed. And that's why I sort of chose to work with him because he's, he's very conscious of that. Um, so.
00:25:25
Speaker
We kind of set a goal, you know, went through a whole goal-setting exercise and knew what I wanted to try and achieve at UTMB and then what it would probably take to get there. And then we just worked backwards and we sort of said, well, by this point in the year, I need to be achieving this. There's various metrics we were looking at and it's all a bit of a guessing game, but it was a good guide. What was the goal?
00:25:49
Speaker
My goal at UTMB was to aim for like 27 hours because just in previous years that would get you
00:26:03
Speaker
roughly a top 50. That was around 50th place in previous years. But obviously it's so weather dependent and stuff that it's really hard to judge. But that seemed like a doable but difficult goal, which seemed not the right kind of level. So yeah, it was a case of working backwards. And then some weeks, you know, I had to prioritize other stuff over training, I could only go out for
00:26:30
Speaker
half an hour run rather than an hour run some days and all this stuff. But, you know, made sure that the high quality work, the weekends that I'd go to the mountains and do big days there, they were protected.
00:26:51
Speaker
Emily is from South Wales and her parents still live down there so I spent a lot of time in the Brecon Beacons which is great and then Snowdonia as well is a very fun favourite of mine. I love that part of the world so yeah I tried to get up there as much as I could. Yeah I love it.
00:27:16
Speaker
But in terms of setting up for the year then? Yeah. So in terms of setting up for the year then, because you did the, so you had the Pembrokeshire event in the April, then you did, then you were in Italy for the, for the Dolomite, when was that, June is it? Yeah, that was June. And then UTMB in August. So what does,
00:27:43
Speaker
What does your training look like going into those earlier races compared to going into UTMB? What happens during that training period?
00:27:56
Speaker
So the Pembrokeshire one was a bit of almost like a tester. So I had A races, B races, and C races. I think that was a C race just to kind of, it was only a few months after starting to work with Tim, so it was a bit of a benchmark race. But up to that point, I've really been working on just setting a base, aerobic base, and you know. That's my second can, sorry.
00:28:22
Speaker
No, no, please do. That's good news. The pattern is the India Pale Ale. Sorry, please do carry on. What did you think of the first one? It's lovely, really nice. It's something very different to what I've ever had before as well. Cinnamon twirl. Very nice. Good, good.
00:28:40
Speaker
There you go. If anyone's listening is going to sign up to Bruiser, Polly's a very good shot for you. So that first part of the year was just about building a base up and Tim's and he works with someone called Morgan as well and she's a strength coach. Then it was all about building strength and sort of
00:29:04
Speaker
building strength and endurance for the bigger long mountain runs because the Dolomites race has something like 7,000 meters of climbing and then UTMV is 10,000 meters of climbing. So you might be able to go and sort of a lot of people could maybe go and do a hundred miler on not as much training as you'd think.
00:29:26
Speaker
But when you bring in that level of elevation, then that's what really kind of gets to your legs pretty quickly. So it was about strength training. It was about trying to replicate those sort of trails. And honestly, where I live, it's like.
00:29:42
Speaker
going on to Box Hill and doing a horrible amount of reps at Box Hill and then out to the mountains whenever I could to sort of beat them up a little bit more. But yeah, that was kind of it really. It was just a lot of tempo work, speed training to kind of get my aerobic threshold up higher a little bit.
00:30:08
Speaker
so that when you're working uphill and you're working on the flats and things like that, your heart rate is not getting as high.
00:30:15
Speaker
We focus on that a lot. And yeah, just basically all of that stuff and more than anything, as people say a lot these days, it's consistency. It's just not, you know, not missing a week of big training because then you can just go backwards three weeks if you do that. And, you know, it's, yeah, just trying to keep as consistent as possible and having a lot of time on feet. Yeah. Cool. Okay. So to tell us,
00:30:41
Speaker
I mean, I'd love to hear about the other races as well, but talk to me about UTMB
UTMB Experience Highlights
00:30:47
Speaker
then. Tell us about the race itself and how you got on. It's just amazing. If anyone wants to do more trail running or wants to aim for something, the UTMB races are, in my opinion, just the pinnacle.
00:31:07
Speaker
And you don't have to go for the 100 miler, you know, that's really intimidating. And it's not for everyone. But they've got a whole range of races all the way down from 25 kilometres, half marathon length and stuff. So much you can do. But Chamonix turns into this festival for a week. It's just filled up with trail runners and outdoorsy people and friends and family. And the atmosphere is just incredible.
00:31:32
Speaker
So we got there on the, the UTMB starts Friday evening. We got there on the Thursday, I think it was Emily, my mum and my sister came out to support.
00:31:44
Speaker
You go and get your race number and everything like you do in any race, but the scale of it is just, it's massive. It's monumental when you're doing it sort of in the Chamonix Valley with Mont Blanc towering over you. It's all, it's all pretty dramatic. And then the race, the race kicks off and we were expecting, it was expected to be quite rainy and windy, I think, but it actually ended up being.
00:32:06
Speaker
bone dry and not an ounce of wind, like the conditions were absolutely perfect. And that's why Kylian Corne set a ridiculous course record as well. I was a bit further behind than he was. The conditions were perfect. So that was point one that made it really enjoyable.
00:32:28
Speaker
The second thing is the crowds, like when you go, you start at 6pm, so you're running into the evening and then into the night, which throws everything out of kilter, like you're eating and how do you...
00:32:41
Speaker
uh, loosen up beforehand and how do you stay awake? All these big questions and stuff you have to try and prepare for, but, um, yeah, trying to take it easy in that first 30 kilometers before it gets really dark. You're trying to sort of maintain energy, but there are tens of thousands of people lining the trail on the valley and up the hills of the first sort of 20, 30 K and.
00:33:04
Speaker
oh my god it's just it's just your adrenaline is pumping and it's uh you like that for your spank at royal parks yeah exactly yeah it wasn't wasn't quite going as fast but uh but it is just it's just i don't know it's great i was i ended up sort of running uh alongside a uh a famous um female runner called Mimi Koka um
00:33:29
Speaker
as she was getting a lot of attention from the crowd. She's quite a household name in the Alps and the mountain running scene. And I somehow ended up being with her. It turns out she was suffering from an injury, which explains why I was anywhere near her. But she was getting so much attention from the crowd and I was feeding off that, you know, and yeah, just loving it. Anyway, it was really good.
00:33:52
Speaker
And then the night it came and I had a bit of a fall, landed on my sides. I stupidly tripped over my pole. And yeah, landed on my side. It was nothing at the time. And I got through the night. It was pretty non-eventful, which is exactly how you want it, I guess.
00:34:14
Speaker
When the morning came, I'd got just over halfway when the morning came and I felt this pain in my ribs on the side that I landed. And it just got progressively worse and worse. It really got me down. And I think from mile 50 to mile 70, I was just in a massive hole, motivationally and emotionally. I just didn't want to carry on. My ribs hurt. I was
00:34:42
Speaker
slowing right down, my belly had gone funny. I just, yeah, everything, nothing was working in that time. And it was meant to be the part of the race that I was going to enjoy the most because I'd done it in CCC before knew the route. It was all quite gentle running. Um, and I just, I felt absolutely awful. Um, but then I got to champagne luck, which is like, I think it's 70 miles in. Um, I said to Emily, I was like, I don't know if I can continue. I really not enjoying it.
00:35:13
Speaker
And, uh, she said, well, why don't you just peace of mind, go get checked by the medics, see if there's anything wrong with your ribs. They checked me out. Like they were absolutely amazing. Spent like a good 50 minutes on, on me checking, checking everything out and couldn't find anything really. I don't, I don't know what happened. They did hurt for the days after, but no one knew as bad as during the race. I just, I don't know if it was my mind playing tricks with me or whatever, but yeah. Um, when they said it was fine, gave me some paracetamol and then.
00:35:42
Speaker
I was a new man and there's, from that point back to Chamonix, there's three big climbs, three big descents, and I was absolutely flying. And I ended up crossing the line after 27 hours and 50 minutes in 90th place. So, thanks. In 90th place, brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
00:36:09
Speaker
Yeah, I was absolutely, I was so chussed, I still am. The fact as well that, you know, the place is great. You know, the time is great, it's only 50 minutes after the time that I planned. But I think it was more the fact that I came through it, like having that bad moment, that bad time. And I think that's the piece of any problem. You described what the ultra-running is really in that race, haven't you? It's ups and downs.
00:36:38
Speaker
I think that's the almost the addictive part about it is that that feeling of knowing that you you're in your deepest point like you you really weren't prepared to go on at all but somehow you did you know I think that's always confuses me it's always the bit you tend to forget as well when you're signing up for the next race.
00:36:57
Speaker
you forget how painful it was but no yeah it was it was the the best thing i've done in my life so far it was just a wonderful wonderful experience i really really hope i get to go back and do it again what was the um what's it like post-race
00:37:14
Speaker
atmosphere alike and everybody when they've finished. So I finished CCC at about one in the morning and the atmosphere was flat as a pancake. I remember getting my bag and going back to the hostel I was there with other people and trying to creep in
00:37:31
Speaker
with horrendously sore legs get to bed I just remember thinking this is a big anti-climax but in reality it was great but this time luckily I got to finish it it was about 10 to 10 at night still lots of people about Chamonix was still was still buzzing had a friend who was staying in the town and he
00:37:56
Speaker
if anyone's done the route before the last descent sort of comes into Chamonix along this gravel track and you sort of see the amber lights of the streets below and you sort of come in down this gravel track and there's a guy right at the bottom of it and it was
00:38:13
Speaker
It's only when I got past him that he shouted Lewis. I was my friend Chris and he was kind of waiting for me there and surprised me and he filmed the run through Chamonix. He was running by my side and filming everything and I'm so glad he did because it's all a blur but you know for that last mile, two miles, you've got so many people
00:38:34
Speaker
clapping you, cheering you, they line up the streets and it's just, it's the most incredible experience. And you get to the end, you get to that big blue arch and I had tears in my eyes. It was just, it was great. And then, yeah, then you just on such a high, but really what you want to do is eat a pizza and go to bed. That's what I did. Yeah.
00:39:04
Speaker
That was cool of your friend to do, wasn't it? Come along and run and film you that last. You've got a unique video then for your finale. Absolutely. I'm very lucky to have him do that. And then to have Emily waiting at the finish line with my mum and my sister as well. It's a really special moment and I'm glad I've got it all on there.
00:39:27
Speaker
camera. Very good, very good.
Growth and Success Reflection
00:39:30
Speaker
You've been very humble when I've been asking you about this year because I'm just going to add that you've had three ultra wins this year and two of those were course records in everything you've taken part in this year. Yeah, so I won the Pembrokeshire ultra and set a course record there. Same with the Dorset race. And then I won the Maverick soft dance as well.
00:39:57
Speaker
Yeah. Did, did you think, I think I know the answer to this already, but if you, if you think of your journey, you've, you've told us that when you started, you didn't even want to go training, you know, to do that 10 mile run when you first started versus, versus to where you are now, looking back, would you have ever believed that you'd have been, you know, winning races and, and, and thinking like that and training like you do, you know, you said you always, is it, is it, is it a surprise or not?
00:40:27
Speaker
I've always been sporty. I've never been someone who's like the top of their, you know, or one races or one event or anything like that. I guess I've always been fit. But when I first started running, it was fresh out of uni. I drank way too much uni and didn't do enough sports and was a bit overweight and everything. So yeah, I think
00:40:50
Speaker
There's a lot of reasons why I didn't enjoy running at that stage. But as I say, it's not really been a conscious decision either. It's sort of just been a really nice build up. I've been extremely lucky that I've been able to keep running all this time. I haven't really touched with any serious injuries. And the fires I knew really kind of got stronger, I guess. And yeah, there's definitely days and weeks now when I struggled to get out and train.
00:41:20
Speaker
other things like it on top of you and you need to balance it all out somehow. But no, I had no idea I'd kind of get to this stage of wanting to train so much. I mean, you could equally say like, I wouldn't have believed you that I'd be winning races, but I also wouldn't have believed you that I'd be running 60 miles plus every week. Training like that, that's even more absurd probably to the
00:41:46
Speaker
the 23-year-old limits. Yeah, whilst working full-time, whilst starting a business with your friend, it's a really nice story just to hear, you know, you've obviously been very determined and very organised as well because you've got a lot going on. Yeah, you've got to be. What does 2023 look
2023 Goals and Life Changes
00:42:11
Speaker
like? I mean, you've already shared that you've got
00:42:13
Speaker
Busy 2023 cards, but what does it look like for you running?
00:42:22
Speaker
I want to get back to UTMB. As I said, it's hard to do that. One thing I can try and aim for, and I really don't know how possible this is yet, but I can try and get in on like an elite entry at some point. That used to mean just getting your sort of international index or score up to a certain point, but now
00:42:48
Speaker
Again, back to the sort of monopoly element of UTMB, you have to come top three at one of the series races. So with that in mind, I'm going to be doing, what's the first one? I've got the Northridge
00:43:08
Speaker
the North Downs Ridge 50K next month, which is a bit of a warm up race, because I had December off completely and just didn't run. So I'm getting back into the swing of things now. So that's a bit of a cobweb clearer. And then after that, I'm doing the South Downs Way 50, which I'm really excited about. That was kind of something I wanted to do before any of this UTMB stuff sort of took over, I think.
00:43:37
Speaker
That's in April, and then in May I'm doing the Ultra Trail Snowdonia 100k. And that's going to be a bit of a wrecky, I guess, for the year after when I'm going to try and sort of be as competitive as I can, with a hope to going back to UTMB in 2024.
00:43:57
Speaker
So basically I'm going to be smashing it as much as I can up until June when, when the baby comes. Um, then I'm going to be up to my up to my knees and nappies and God knows what. Um, hopefully still getting out for some runs and I'm, I'm going to be doing well, planning to do a hundred mile race in November called the Kula Marlin, which is a UTMB race in Sweden. Um, but yeah, that's, that's to be determined, obviously. Um,
00:44:25
Speaker
That'd be easier if everything goes well in June. But yeah, that's TBD. I'm kind of writing the second half of the year off a little bit just to see how that goes. Fantastic. Yeah, fighting times. What's your plans for Bruce for 2023?
Bruiser's Expansion Plans
00:44:45
Speaker
So Bruce is really exciting. We're just
00:44:50
Speaker
going through a bit of an inflection point now where we've up to now we've sort of done everything ourselves and three out of the four of us have got full-time jobs as well but we're in the next few weeks and months we're hoping to build the team out a little bit get on some some advisors I guess and
00:45:12
Speaker
Yeah, we've kind of proven to ourselves and to the breweries that we work with that it works and it's good. So now we just really want to grow it as much as possible. So we've got some big plans throughout the year. And yeah, if anyone who's listening is keen to have a look, then bruiser.beer is where you can find out more. Give us your handles and everything if people want to connect with you as well, Lewis.
00:45:40
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm on Instagram at Lewis Ryan. And you can find me on Strava as well, if you're that way inclined. And then yeah, bruiserbeer on Instagram, all our words, that's B-R-E-W-S-E-R, beer.
00:46:00
Speaker
Yeah, check us out. And, you know, I'm actually sort of trying to talk to as many people at the moment as I can who run in and start, you know, starting their own businesses or have their own businesses because I find the balancing act really interesting. I think lots of people have different ways of approaching it. So if I open invitation to anyone who wants to grab a beer and chat through that, then I'd be really keen. Yeah, brilliant.
00:46:28
Speaker
Lewis, thank you so much. It's been brilliant to hear your journey in your running. And best of luck with your events for this next 12 months. Thank you to Bruce for supporting our event, the Shoes Be After Marathon. And best of luck with the real big one. And best of luck to you both with the new arrival this year. Thank you. Very exciting.
00:46:55
Speaker
Thanks for having me, Jay. It's been really nice talking to you as always.