Andrew Butchart & Alfie Manthorpe - #29

0:00Welcome to the podcast boys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the Nando's as well. Yeah, shout out Nando's. You're welcome. So, Andy Butchart, Alfie Manthorpe, how are we both doing today? Very good. Alfie, how are you? Just only finished chewing, but no, I'm good. I'm good, thank you. I want to start with you, Andy. Can you just sum up yourself? Myself? For the people who don't know who the fuck you are, would you be able to just explain? If I'm making any mistakes, I'll fail, chip in. Hello, I'm Andy Butchart. Now, I'm from Scotland. I'm a British distance athlete. I've been to two Olympic Games.

0:40I've got a few Scottish records on the track. I'm fairly good at running and hoping to get better as always. But yeah, so, yeah, just a professional runner. What are those records? 3K, 5K, 10K, 10K road. So basically... Most of the distances. Yeah, you've just kind of like monopolised Yeah In the Scottish running culture I mean the Scottish running scene is very good But I guess I've got that distance sort of just now Okay, have you got times for them? I do have times for them Lift them off Yeah, 3k I'll feel you might be able to help me here I reckon like 7.34, 7.35 for a 3k 5k, 13.06 10k 27 36 10k road 27.42 yeah thanks Alfie it's alright encyclopedia over here yeah I just know the 10k road because I ran quicker oh ok here we go it's beginning already yeah it's beginning yeah this is it this is it nah there's some pretty fast times where did it all start take us back to the start was you always into running no probably quite late into this sport how old were you the scene well I think I went to my first track night my local club Central AC when I was I reckon around 16 And then I didn't go for a while Because I was just Playing football Doing stupid shit As kids do But yeah I definitely remember Going down Because I was learning to drive So I was 17, 18 When I was driving down Because I used to drive With my mum In the car My mum in the car Sorry You used to drive your mum Or your mum used to drive you I was learning to drive Alright okay So she was my Accompanied Adult In the car So I used to go to training Drive there So I was about 17 When I actually started to take it seriously and start going to my local club at my local club there was a few at my local club there's a few like very good athletes a guy alistair hay and a guy called robert russell and the hierarchy of that club they were the best and i wasn't the best and i just wanted to get up to their level and i never thought i could but eventually over years i got i got better but i look i didn't look at the olympics i didn't look at british athletes or world athletes i was solely focused in my club system for the first two three years of athletics till I was like 20, 21 years old.

2:55I didn't really care much apart from central AC. And did you train at this point in time? Was it just that middle distance? Yeah, probably like 15. I mean, I feel like every athlete growing up thinks the mile is sort of the blue collar. Like that's the golden ticket. So yeah, 500 metres was my event. I never thought I would do anything longer than that. The reason I did a 5K was actually I got hurt in 2014 failing to make the Commonwealth Games team. And then me and my coach were like, oh, we'll just do a 5K. I did one in Oxford, won it. I think I ran 13.59, which was like my first sort of like, I guess like planned 5K, if that makes sense.

3:33And then we're like, oh, maybe we should try the 5K rather than the 15 because we must have something decent of this. Yeah, that's pretty mad. So where did it all go from there? Like, did you? So after that, athletes-wise, I guess, like we just solely went into the 5K and the next year I brought that down to 1333 2015 that was 2015 and then the next year 2016 I had a massive improvement um and ended up finishing the sixth olympics and it's very weird to say like I went from 1333 to then like being one of the best in the world but that's just what happened um I don't have an explanation I guess almost suspicious not suspicious I guess just like like I guess there's sometimes I don't you guys are not both of yourself like you get on a cloud of just like hope and you just think you're invincible and i had that for like 18 months and i just rode the fuck out of it every race i went to i thought i could win it didn't matter whether i was against like the east africans or british people it didn't make a difference i thought it was the best and the only person that i saw above me was mo farah and everyone else i was like i reckon i can beat them so that was it like i didn't respect any of my other they were just like names to me that didn't mean anything if that makes sense and every race i went in 2016 i was trying to win and even if i didn't merit that mindset i just owned it if that makes sense how does one even get into the olympics like talk us through that whole like thing like is it just like a qualifying system in the uk i know every country is kind of a little bit different you know it's actually mad like the cool thing about athletics is like anybody can get in like there's no pathway sort of thing like anybody can get in you have to run a certain time so you have a qualification standard to achieve and then to gain automatic selection at the british championships if you finish top two you're automatically in the team so it's an open event anybody can enter if you hit the criteria to get get into those championships so yeah run the time finish top two and you're on you're on the flight that's that's insane so it was Rio wasn't it Rio was my first olympics yeah first olympics how was that how was that full experience it was a long time ago no it was pretty sick uh do you know what i was very lucky that it was my first championships and major championships so i went in a bit blind so i didn't really know what to expect so looking back i took it all in like i really enjoyed it like um did you make the most out of it yeah so it's weird like so explain the olympics um you live in a village so it's like a fenced off area if that makes sense like gated community sort of thing and uh all the sports people live there and then when you're out of competition when you finish your competition you can then roam free and do what you want and like i was on my final was on the very last day so you're on race competition you're in race competition the whole time but like there's people who like want to get put out in the first round so they can just like get out party do what they want etc etc so you'll get there and like by the last day i think there was probably like 95 % of the people at Olympic Games were just fucking having a good time and then you're sitting there like eating your like rice and chicken and getting ready for the final sort of thing with like your competitors it was pretty cool but I didn't really get to enjoy much because literally as soon as the competition finished I think I had one night maybe two nights and then we came back home and then also I had competition after that it wasn't like the final race of the year there was competition after so you just like it just kind of kept going if that makes sense so you're saying for most people that go to the Olympics the achievement is actually making it to the olympics there's definitely there is definitely people at the olympics who are just there to her party yeah yeah yeah but i mean but i mean people have to like you need competition don't you so like you're like everybody that gets to the games merits their spot in the olympics if that makes sense like yeah the swimmers are they're on first usually so like by the time the athletes for athletics get in like they're all done and they're just like Having a good time And all the athletes Know each other So you're like Oh fuck like I wish I was going to Tonight sort of thing Is it Is it proper like Rowdy And chaotic After Obviously like you say Your events are like On later And almost You know The final days Of the Olympics But like Does it get rowdy In the Olympic village Like Yeah Obviously you hear stories You know What's it like I mean I met my wife At the Olympics So I'm married to Come on There we go Yeah So yeah I mean I'm not like The Olympics definitely Is I mean sport in general is very ancestral I think you're the reason the condom rule come in place I'm not the reason the condom rule came in place so they have to have like 22 ,000 condoms or something during the Olympics 22 ,000 sorry how many athletes are there?

8:14probably less than that I don't know I think it works out for like two a day for every athlete or something two a day for every athlete but Alfie's dying to go to Olympic Games isn't he you're just for that yeah just to see if it all comes true and he's using them on his own Just in his room More than two a day No mate honestly the Olympics was sick The next Olympics in Tokyo was a lot different Obviously because of Covid So there was a lot of restrictions there I'm pretty sure when you finished your competition Or you got put out You had to leave within like 24 hours So it was a lot different to real Was that a bit shit?

8:50Yeah it was a bit shit I remember I went to watch I went to watch the men's 15 final And it was weird because you would shout in the crowd and like the athletes could be kidding like you know when you watch Covid football and you could hear the manager shouting it was like that it was just the atmosphere was really poor I feel for the people who performed well in Tokyo because they didn't get to live like I finished 6th in Rio and I remember coming out and there was like a friend's family there were so many people there and like I guess if you did well in Tokyo I mean I did well in Tokyo but you finish it and you're like yeah cool like sick yeah that's it I put my mask back on it's basically like a time trial just out of the track on your own yeah I mean it was it was cool I'm not gonna like if if your only ever Olympics was Tokyo it's a sick to go to Olympic Games but yeah it's not it's not a real experience yeah I was gutted obviously not to go to Paris in 2024 because everyone I've spoke to said that was unreal and I guess now looking like Alpha would be the same like I can only think that LA 2020 is going to be like even better even bigger so that's obviously the plan for I guess both of us so that is the plan then for both of you Hopefully Yeah Probably in the marathon For both of us as well We'll see what happens I fucking don't know How many places are there For the marathon Three Three for every event Every event So I could I could jump in I'm joking No you could Like here The thing is like If you ran like The marathon standard For the Olympic Games And you went to the trials Even if there is a trials Mate you can get in Like there's no reason Why you can't get Like that's quite I think that's quite a cool thing About athletics It's not like a clique That like you have to Be at an under 20 level Or this good And you follow a pathway And like you go through an academy like some random person can hop in next week and be like the best in Britain like shit like fuck's Fred doing that here like well after you did Rio Olympics I got a photo with you before the road release that year so he's just been to the Olympics and then I was having a selfie with him before a race and we both raced each other not in the same race yeah yeah we were there together at the same place I mean just so you was like a little fanboy back then yeah I can share a picture of you after this but like what did you say to him I probably just screamed his pants and that was it like I'll try and get the photo up just to show you he was lovely he did the photo I know he talks shit to me all the time it's rubbish I wish he was as respectful as he used to be no he was like a big deal a massive deal used to be a massive deal here I'm the most humble athlete there is no he is he is to be fair very humble he's still a big deal he's still a big deal just not as big as me I guess no we went down to the track a few weeks ago and there was this guy and it was like I think the first time I because when we go on runs on like the canal it's just to him like everyone was always says like go on butchie and stuff like that that's not true it is like people you always say maybe you make it up then I don't know not true but like people was like butchie and stuff like that whereas at track that time that guy yeah was like said he knew us both and I was like oh do you know do you only know him through me and he's like yeah Yeah, that's true.

11:52Mate, everyone... For the first time ever. Mate, everyone buzzes off Alfie like, he's an absolute prick, I'm not going to lie. Everyone should know that. Like, he's a great guy, but in theory he's a prick. And then everyone worships him as if it's a god. Mate, like, this guy, I'm telling you. Well, I just love it, and you're both going to give me shit for this, but I just love it how you both have the confidence that you could just get the world record in Hirox just by... Open. Open, yeah. Doubles, open doubles as well. Open doubles. You two would get the world record together. so easy mate I just think it's such an untapped sport like I just think it's without training for it nah I think you give us a week a week yeah it gives us a couple weeks fucking like it's not how hard is it like then they like you're just plodding around so like what how long like what's your average K in a doubles in a doubles open around 320 exactly so like we could just run that backwards that is true like not like went to the track yesterday and you wasn't even breathing I'm sure you was nasal breathing and you did 10x1k at 3 minute k and that's just like fucking well easy for you and then you went and did another session at night and then I was nowhere near the thing is we'll give you a bit of trash talk about high rocks all the athletes that are in high rocks at the top level they are really good athletes but I just think it's untapped you're a very good runner, 32 minute 10k yeah it's still shit compared to a lot of people It's not shit It's a good time You know what I mean It's nowhere near It's not an elite It's not an elite It's nowhere near What is classed as like Sub elite or Would you say anything Under 30 or Is it like 29 The women's European record Is 29 58 Yeah So like You're You're an average woman Okay thank you I won Do I need Is that Like There's a lot of British girls That would beat you in a 10k Which is fair Like the British females They're unbelievable athletes like yeah under 17 guys probably like your level under 17 guys or 16 I won the Bucks champs in 30 minutes I beg to differ I think they're better than me here but the thing is you are a beast in your own right like you're obviously very very talented in the Harrochs I mean me and Alfa you're two against one here and like so obviously you have a lot of Harrochs listeners I don't want to like this so I'll be very very polite with what I say nah nah nah they'll probably love it to be fair and I love it I love it that you think that you can come in and just smash it.

14:19After a week, me and Alfie would be pretty good, I reckon. Yeah, after a week. To be fair, I would be really, really interested, especially as doubles. Doubles open. I reckon that you go quick. Yeah, you definitely go fucking quick, but with a little bit of technique work. Yeah, you could help us with that, could you? Would you help coach us before we beat you? Yeah, but I'd say don't fuck around with Irox. Like, you guys have got like a, I want to say a proper sport to like go after. Nah, nah, nah. do you reckon Hyrox will ever make it to the Olympics I heard the chat that I might make the Olympics at some point hopefully hopefully 2032 they're aiming for yeah that'd be good how does that go about do you know you tell me I mean Mr.

14:59Olympics I don't know how I thought I thought you'd decide you're not the king nothing through with me nothing through with me I'm just in the sport that's the bread and butter of the Olympics you know like it's just that's my DNA yeah nah that'd be honestly a dream to go to the Olympics would you still be around? Would you still be hoping to make that team? Oh, I don't know. I've got tough paper on. Have you seen them frown lines there? I'm 27 at the moment, so what? You've got time. 20, 32, I don't know. My maths isn't great. You'll be 33. Yeah, that's very young because I'm 34 and I'm trying to make my own fix still, so yeah, you're good.

15:32So going back to the Olympics, going back to the goals, do you think it's going to be the marathon for Bottier? I think it is. I'll say definitely. With the way the 10K is at the minute as well, like 26 minutes. What did you say? I've got my speed. Yeah I think yeah I think the marathon I mean Last time I did a marathon I put my pants But Alfie's now The fastest marathoner In the Manchester group Sorry The Manchester group That's just you too right? Yeah You don't join in You join in Oh I could join yeah We were chatting GPT Hang on a minute What is your marathon PB? DNF DNF So that means that I'm a faster marathoner Yeah you can be the second faster marathoner There you go I'm humble I said that from the start Have you ever shit yourself In a race as well Not that I'm aware of What do you mean Not that you're aware of Go on How can you not be aware of that If you shit your pants You wouldn't notice I don't know Depends on how you're running Depends on what you're running away from Fair enough Yeah I mean yeah It wasn't the best experience Of my life We'll gloss over that Can you Can you explain A little bit more No I guess like When you say you like Shit yourself No, I wasn't actually that.

16:42So I attempted New York Marathon 2023. I didn't have the best build into it. And then I'd been given by my training partners my nutrition plan. And it involved taking gels that I had never taken before. And they did not agree, as we say, with my stomach. And at about mile 13, 14, I realised that it was going downhill. and then at mile 16 i saw portolo and just went for it like pretty nasty and then that was it like the race was done like as soon as as soon as i like yeah exploded and shit myself there i didn't have much energy left so continued for a couple miles then i realized yeah i've got no energy so i'm pulling out what did you do after then did you just go like straight to the pub or like did you go the worst thing is like there's a so in most elite marathons major marathons there's like a follow car that picks up the stragglers of the elites that drop out.

17:36So basically you get in a van with everyone else that's just like moping like, yeah, this is shit, and then like that was a tough day. But then like your tracker, you still go through all the marks. So like I had messages that was like, oh mate, you're still on for like a fucking 212 marathon and like keep going great. And I'm like thinking I'm in the back of a van just now, like I'm not finishing this. And then like the only positive was like I only ran 18 miles, so I wasn't that tired. So like I was able to run sort of the next couple of weeks, which Alfie, having just completed one, will tell you that it's not quite like that if you do the full 26.2.

18:08Yeah, how was your marathon experience? Horrible. Nah, I actually thought it was really well. It was a good experience, but the last 12K was, had some damaging effects on me, I think. No, you killed it. You got some TV time as well. Did I? Yeah. When? I was watching the whole thing and you was on TV for a good, like, 12 seconds. At the end, wasn't it? At the end. At the end, yeah. And he was like, yeah Alfie's going to be disappointed with this but I don't think he should be I think that's what he said it cut off just before I collapsed as well which I'm gutted about because I've not been able to see it anywhere so you couldn't get the excuse in well no I wanted to find a video is there not a stream at the finish line yeah it starts at like 2.30 for some reason really yeah so I've not been able to find it but I want to know what happened because I was like stood up and then I hit the deck and I don't know why so explain so you get to 30k everything's running smooth I remember tracking you watching you on the TV the big screen big Alfie there big Alfie I'm quite big compared to sorry I can't yeah big Alfie it might just be his hair what are you talking about he got his hair nearly done I'm a fan by the way thank you you should you should do the same I think chicka chicka slim shady do the same I've actually grown mine to be fair I think it looks good you got a haircut I had a haircut yesterday just sides though are you going to die yours well maybe it could be like I've done it.

19:29I did it. Yeah, I copied him. That's old. Should we do, like... No. The track group? No. Died hair? It's a good idea. I'm not dying again. Peroxide. No, it took so long to do something. No, I think it looks great. Good on you, mate, but I'm done, mate. Yeah. But yeah, his marathon was very good. We'll go back to that. Yeah, it was hard. Yeah, so 30k in. You're on track. Mm-hmm. What happened? I'm not sure if it's a coincidence, but, like, the Canary Wharf's pretty turny and a bit, say, hills. that weren't bad hills. But like doing that, going for a bottle around that time, just ruined my legs basically.

20:05Going for a bottle? No, but like the combination of more turns, few hills, going for a bottle, it just tied me out. I was already probably quite close to that line. It took me to the edge. I've got a question. So, I've paced on the marathon a couple of times and like the crowd, I was so glad that I wasn't racing it because I was like, I was gassed. I was like, everyone's cheering. I'm like, you fucking want to go like that. Do you reckon that like, because it's in London and you're so hyped and it's so hyped the race is so hyped and you're going through the crowd do you reckon that like because I spoke to someone they said like it was a relief to go through a tunnel and you just get silence and then like you hit the crowd and you're like oh fucking hell like obviously love the support but like it's like a lot to take in like mentally as well it's like your heart rate might be like elevated more so do you reckon that's true or like the quickest I ran in the last 10k was in the tunnel yeah I've heard a few people say that because that's when like Jake Smith dropped me by quite a lot.

20:59Okay. And then in the tunnel, I got like 20 seconds on him, just went past him. And then it's maybe a coincidence, but it did seem to be that case. It is interesting to think that because I feel like the British folk always seem to struggle at London. I do think it's a hard place to run. I mean, I've not done it and I hope to do it at some point. But I don't think it's like, I think it's a tough day out. I can't comprehend how they run 159 on London. Yeah, I mean, it's mad. Ridiculous. Yeah. Which is insane. Do you think it's anything to do with the time of year? And like, last two, especially the last two years, it's been quite hot.

21:33And us English folk. Scottish. Scottish folk. Definitely Scottish folk. I'm very accustomed to warmer weather. It's hard though, because we heat train a lot. Not enough, clearly, mate. I'm not going to lie. You're not doing it for two hours, are you? I think the heat was not an issue for me. I think I probably handled the heat better than most people who live in these conditions uh or like in the you're like uk people for example but i don't know if someone like running like a three four hour i don't know how they found it because it did get pretty hot i've got a question for you is there anything after doing the marathon is there anything now that like you kind of know and you've learned from actually like experiencing the marathon that you didn't know beforehand don't do marathon yeah that's a good start uh yeah that definitely but then also like in the build-up i'm gonna approach things definitely differently next time so more strength and um and the gym or like both running strength like going longer for further like further for more frequently yeah um not being like a i'm such a fair weather runner like go down go onto the track to do long run sessions go on the treadmill I'll do long run sessions all that stuff like maybe it's better to well it is better to like be a bit more honest with that sometimes so I'm going to do that and then be out of carbons a bit more because I just my legs just fell apart and I think that's just weakness in the legs and the best way to fix that is it's kind of not being reliant on things that help make that easier like I was telling Butchie like on Sunday I did my first run over an hour since I'd come back from the marathon and I wore like a normal daily trainer my legs were aching at the end because normally I'd wear like a beefed up like a lovely like a vimera plus for example and it doesn't damage your legs at all and i was wearing a normal trainer and my legs were like screaming at me after 75 minutes i guess it's like a balance between like so obviously you're wearing like cushioned shoes which obviously saves your legs but then like you want to wear a shoe that like also tones your legs and like actually you have to work in but it's like i guess trying to find the balance of like when to wear a shoe that like helps recover and when to wear a shoe that actually like almost hinders you and you have to work a bit more and use your muscles a bit more and like not get as much of a like cheat running if that makes sense that's just where i sports at as well like because super shoes obviously help you train more but then they also make you a less efficient runner i think when you use them so much in training so it's just like picking and choosing i don't think it's because you still recover from the marathon as well though because like i remember running the marathon i had like six seven days off and then i went back for my first run which was 13k an hour easy and it was super easy five minute k's and the day after i couldn't walk like my calves were cramping like i've never ran in my life i don't know if i'm just super unfit or what but like i don't know like what you've just explained there like feels like the same like you you was tied after a 75 minute this was like a week and a half in back running though um but on that like like you touched on earlier like for the first week i came back running i had migraines every migraines every room it was hilarious he'll go for a run down the canal met him he was like i can't see that much i was like maybe not a good thing to keep going and he was like he said to me he was like oh i think i'll flip and i thought to myself actually you know what for his own safety i'll be polite and tell him just to keep running with me and then jump on a tram yeah because like literally like we're next to canal if this guy goes fucking passes out i don't want to read about alfie half dead in the canal would be great how can you be halfted oh I don't know maybe someone can save you oh yeah okay would you that's a good question would you jump in and save him into the match no no yeah you would I'd save you I probably would I would think about it for a second I'd be like just think if there's only three places available for LA Olympics one of them's gone yeah no to be fair I was thinking this so the cool thing obviously me and Alfie have been training for like what six of months together yeah like after valencian marathon we hadn't been training that long together like we were both buzzed for each other to like 10k 10k 10k like we're both buzzed from each other to run well so like the person i want to see do best in a race is alfie probably but the person i also want to beat the most is also alfie if that makes sense like so like i'm his biggest fan but also like he's the only person who i really care about beating but it's like in the 10k i when we were together in this race like both running like 27 40 pace yeah when i saw that he was still there i was like well we train together every day i can still be there and like in the finish like last 400 you ever took me and then i ever took you yeah yeah and the only reason i kind of was like oh well i can do that it was because he was there and it's like well i train with him so i know that i can do it when you'll get that when you start training a bit more like you'll get better running i heard you might dabble a bit more after worlds is it you plan to do some more running races or is that on the down low or what's the are you going to do some we're running stuff after worlds how long you got to worlds worlds is five weeks away okay um i want to do the mid cheshire 5k next week right which one do manchester 10k as well okay the one that you're doing yeah the one that you're gonna win yeah right is that right yeah cool um i don't mind braga yeah that's fair good confidence yeah confidence that's what we need um i think i think the 10k especially i think has great carry over for high rocks i don't think it's detrimental at all okay like me getting better at running and getting faster running with you guys training with you guys yeah or whatever it is if i if i'm still allowed by the way um i think it's going to help massively like i say that's i think that is the unlocked potential within high rocks like you alluded to before yeah like the running like you guys are so comfortable running three minute k's Like why can't In a couple of years time Why can't I be comfortable Running three minute k's Whilst doing high rocks What do you reckon Your ceiling is For like a 5k 10k and a half At the moment No like General Yeah like What could you get We just said Just bear in mind We just said That we could beat you At an open high rocks together So we were pretty confident So just be a bit of a dickhead Are you saying Like give me a weight Like A weight Because I could always Just drop weight If that makes sense You're 85 Is that 85 Yeah 85 now So you get to like What were you at the marathon 70 80 around 80 carb up 80 so like 79 whatever okay it's just quite light I reckon you look pretty gaunt let's say 82 okay 82 Alfa you want to jump in here I was just trying to think if you're talking ceiling like if you lost quite a lot yeah but I mean like Jakob's in the 70s so it's probably not even that bad he has to talk about Jakob for a 5k I'd be if I could one day run like a high 14 yeah I was going to say sub 15 and then if I like this is like lifelong goal like if I could run a sub 30 10k which I don't think could be potentially possible I think you could do that if you told me two years ago Hugo Fry was going to run a sub 30 10k I'd say no yeah but the guy but Hugo Fry and all the influencers they should be running because they train like the triple 10 athletes that's true They do high mileage.

28:57They're relevant if they're not running quick. They have to run quick or else they're failing. Because they're not elite runners yet. I mean, Hugo's getting better. But if you're training full-time, you should be pretty good. There's people who have full-time jobs who are much better than these people that are putting the work in. I want to run 30-30 for a 10K by the end of the year. That's a goal that I've set, which is quite... Do you want to take it over to the first week in Jan and go to Valencia? Oh, mate, yeah, you should do that, actually. Yeah, go to Valencia. It's like 11th of Jan, isn't it?

29:30Yeah. Can we, whilst we're here, can we set up our altitude camp? Yes, let's do it. Let's do it. So, yeah, Lindsay will know after listening to this. Yeah. Or is she coming? Lindsay will probably come. Yeah? Is your girlfriend coming? That's the first time hearing about it, but... Oh, Alvy, shut up. Come on. She's come out. She's come out. Yeah, if I was going to go on training camp. Mate, we need to go on training camp. We're going... Yeah, true. we're both going to run a marathon probably end of the year probably so where are we going and why I think Alfie would love to be in Sierra Nevada but I think it's shit I would say Flagstaff is the place to go Sierra Nevada is not as good as Flagstaff especially for that versatility yeah we can go away for a month do four weeks, train for a bit Flagstaff is beautiful, it's like my favourite place in the US so far it's up there we just head out for a month end of October it's the fourth sunniest city in the US I guess like 340 days of sun a year or something like that I don't know if you fact check that but I think fact check that but yeah it's always sunny when you go right it's dry the thing is it's a hard did you run there much you probably didn't acclimatise yeah it's tough I didn't acclimatise much yeah so you were there so you had probably like you had like epo boost when you got to I've run once with Rory Yeah And then like twice on my own But like the once with Rory Like He was just chatting away I couldn't even fucking speak I think the thing that I find with Flagstaff More than any other place That I've been to And I've been to places That are much higher Is like the air is so dry That it's like The first like Two minutes of every run No matter what You're like Like so you know You're having to work like And then when you come up Down the mountain You're like Literally It feels like soup Like the air is just like It's unbelievable So if we went over Explain what we'd do Would we like Live high do our intensity low like what we're doing I mean I mean come on you're a master I'm not a master do you want to speak to the expert no the expert has never been no I'm kidding I guess like there's some people that have different some people have different ways of training like but like I always think like if you go to altitude just fucking stay at altitude like obviously you want to go lower to run quicker but what's the point just stay at altitude and make your times a bit slower if you have to like or even better just try and run C level times at altitude and just run a little bit less whatever like Rory's been on your podcast a few times he's a great person to talk to he's run a great marathon but like his philosophy is he'll go down sometimes to run quick but he lives at altitude you're only there for four weeks so man up and just crack on with it that's what I would say is just like you're there to train at altitude so just put the miles in get working like and you're going to come back fitter it's it's genuine I don't think I've ever gone to Flagstaff and not come back in a better place Than when I went out So it definitely works on altitude Yeah like I think yeah like I heard Tom Evans in the podcast saying like if you didn't go to If you he said I love Tom Evans shout out Tom But like he said something like if you went to altitude You wouldn't get better at high rocks I mean that's utter woke nonsense There's no way Like you're gonna get You're gonna be better if you go to altitude for a month Like you just are like you're not gonna lose weight When you're up there you're gonna gain Like red blood cell mass i'm not a scientist but you're gonna be better do you would you agree with that alfie 100 what for the hyrox point or just generally uh both yeah altitude i mean i've only been twice now and i think sierra is probably similar to flagstaffing how harsh it is and like i didn't even do that much because i came back off the 10k and i was just like snowed every day and i just came back and i was training was so easy i'm not gonna lie it didn't look grim when it was it was awful like you was just sending pictures of the track and the track had like snow there was like a snow plow like it just looked shit it just looked like why would you want to be there yeah i ran outside once at altitude that's that's it yeah um i'm like you are you are a fair weather runner yeah i know and i hate woodways as well so that's it was it was a miserable month from that side of things the company was great but like the training was awful but yeah altitude you don't even have to do that much and you come back fitter like you don't even have to train that hard and you get fitter.

33:47I mean, you're not allowed to train that hard. How long does it last? How long is the carryover? If you heat train, it stays. No. Like, in a normal track season year, suppose you're like, let's say your main competition is in like end of August, September, you're doing an altitude camp in the spring, so April, and that would last you for, I would say, two months, and then you go back up once you've been selected for your championships for another training camp to then drop into your majors. So like We would use it for a two month period I'd say before you go back up again But like The thing is You can go to altitude right You train for four weeks And you come back And then you can run harder When you're here So it just keeps going If that makes sense Do you think it compounds So say for example You do five years Of altitude training Where you're going up Twice a year Doing two camps a year Will you be a lot fitter Over the five years Because of the compounding effect Nah I don't think so But like you say Because you're able to run harder and then you're getting better and better like so like what yeah I mean yes you would get better like so I used to train a bit with Mo Farah blah blah and their thing was like you you adapt to the altitude so their thing was like you have sea level times you race at sea level so we'll try and hit sea level times at altitude so we'll go to the highest place and then try and run sea level times or whatever it is and then they would get to the point where they would go into competition and it would be like they'd be at like fort no more so that's like uh 1600 meters so like 6 000 feet and they'd be able to do like their sea level sessions there so when they come to sea level their sessions are even better that does that make sense so like you adapt to the altitude if you keep going so you have to go higher and you have to keep going higher because you you like i don't know if that's right but you lose the benefit of i remember farah would say that to me but also like even if you lose the benefit of the red blood cells because you've raised the bar in the training like you get like C11 you can train faster train harder you're better even without the the adaptations from altitude anymore because you've just generally progressed your training and then until like I guess you have an end of season or like a break or burnout that kind of stays around so basically we're going to altitude in October and November and we'll see what happens yeah you can show me that and then what marathon are you about in you're both going to run a marathon at the end of the year yeah I think so I'm going to race Valencia Marathon at the end of the year Valencia?

36:09yeah what about you Alfie? I think Valencia as well yeah Valencia have you got any spare tickets? do you want to come? if you can get me a ticket a ticket in terms of what? to run the race or to come watch it? yeah to run the race yeah you can I'll pass you nah you can get in I'm sure you can get in there no I'm joking nah you mate you've been to Valencia? I've never been mate great city good city yeah cool city yeah yeah nah I'd love to do it I've heard obviously I watched everyone and run it last year at the Bruinsy Marathon. I think, yeah, it seems like a cool one and it's flat and one of the fastest ones, right?

36:44I think it probably is going to be the fastest. Maybe Chicago, Bruinsy or Chicago? I'm not a marathon expert. I've got a question then. So you say it's the fastest. Why are the records not set there? Because it's not major so the prize money is probably less. So like, if you've got Sawe, let's just say Sawe, Kiplimo and Kajel are the top three marathon runners in the world right now and they've got Kareer who does a Boston every year. like they're getting paid so much money to go to a berlin go to a london yeah they're not getting the same money going to valencia and i think that's how much faster is that course over a london course for example valencia oh for me i think it'll probably be different for east africans who are like much more efficient than me but like i don't know because i've never done a marathon on a light and quick flat course but i think we just know from doing a 10k race in the uk compared to a 10k race in Valencia Valencia is just the quickest possible place you can go it's just flat it's just you hardly turn it's just completely flat I think they definitely have the fastest 10k because remember they have like the fastest they think they have European records at like 10k male, female half marathon male, female I think yeah world record in the half still because Kajelcha still has it ratified oh well yeah it's going to change well isn't it well if it gets ratified oh yeah yeah women's world record I think some Valencia as well for the half so it's a quick city it's a quick city and they talk about that when you speak to the guys that run these events but they probably they just don't have the money backing that the majors do but you know maybe we're on us up to this year who knows we'll try and crack it ourselves I was just sorry I was just going to say it has the 10k track records as well both world records on the Valencia track it does actually so who's going to win I have us to yeah I reckon we'll probably run together yeah we'll be hold each other's hands cross finish line little smooch I'm kidding I don't I think you're not depends on what we run I guess if it means we run 206 I'll definitely do that I mean I think like I think having done a build with someone will be easy like Alfie said he was crying on the phone to me before London oh I miss you that you're in Flagstaff it's not far from the truth I've really struggled the past few weeks and I thought yeah like if we do a build together and we don't get hurt and you can get to the start line like they always say if you can make the start line of a marathon not injured you've already kind of half won the race so if we can both get to start line do our builds which should look pretty similar who knows what what will happen i guess like i've got a few demons i want to crush with the marathon and hopefully valencia will allow me to do that oh that's sick talking about uh you doing a build together and you training together obviously you've been i've seen that you're training quite a lot together now um but you've got an idea right that you're going to create a bit of a broader running community is that right in manchester or is this under wrap still no i'll freaking crack on yeah i mean like here it's just like a bit like a bit of fun like like first of all how how is the running scene at the moment because i think one i think it's getting more and more positive like i feel like there's so many people are running but what i see is there's not enough there are community in sense of run clubs yeah but it's just all easy running and not really much structure and it's more of a celebration of like just getting together i guess whereas i think it's missing the yes you can go to an athletics club but it's very clicky at the moment i think uh yeah i guess like from where i see it like there's a massive gap between like an elite athlete and like your everyday runner alfie is a great example of a professional runner who's like bridging that gap there's a few of them like philly boden's a great example of someone who's like bridging that gap between elite athletes and your everyday runner and I think like me and Afik said a few times like here it'd be cool to start something in Manchester there's a great community of athletes a great community of runners so like if we can build something then it seems silly not to do that and here you're more than welcome to come along and be part of the founding members of whatever the track club is called or whatever have you got a name for it yeah no you got any ideas any of your listeners can come in like I I don't know.

40:53Yeah, they can come in and leave the comments down below. If you get this far into the episode, you might have turned off before this. Yeah, definitely, I would have. Alfie, any to add? Well, I liked the name. If we're talking about the names, I loved what ChatGBT was coming out with yesterday. What was that? He was giving, like, numbers. Grey Skies TC, because Manchester's always grey. I do think about, like... Grey. Yeah. Or, like, stuff like that, but, nah, I can't call it Grey Skies Track Club. So, I said it to him. I'll say it a few more times Go on, hand up, what is it? Rain City Rain City?

41:27Yeah, from Baton City when we went to Austin Bat City Bat City Bat City, yeah Bat City Track Club in Austin That's wank That's wank No good runners there, is there? Bat City Track Club There's Mitch Hammons That's it Sick He's a 2.14 marathon That's pretty good Yeah I'm just being nasty That's actually a quite cool name yeah the names the names to the work in progress but I think having more people to train with is just a lot better like I think like runners are mostly quite introverted and they think that like whatever they're doing is like super special and like I've always said like if I'm in a session anybody's welcome to join me like I'm not one that I don't care if you're like like me and you trained yesterday I've just made the session so that it worked with me and it worked with you like some rips you were beating me in some rips you just dropped out earlier like it worked and like I don't see why that's not possible on a bigger scale that if you want to come join if you're half decent at a run in if you're not like whatever however it works like it just seems silly not to make some moves no I credit to you because I think you were a great sport in that instance even yesterday you know pushing me on like at the end of the day you've got to understand like both of you got to understand you've only got so much energy and I understand what you're you're trying to create this community but like you can't be then making sure everyone else is having a great time because then it's going to take away from your training so there is like a fine line of like you've got to crack on with your your you have to be like the leaders and the best in this sport that's what you want to be yeah so like how do you do that so would you have like someone else coach and like say this is the session or is it not being that like do you know i feel like you need like an old man like with the stopwatch yeah i feel like i don't know like did you know about this like so Bowerman Track Club a big I don't know if they still exist actually no do they whatever Bowerman Track Club in America they have like a thing where it's like oh Bowerman sorry is that my accent Bowerman Track Club the Nike Track Club yeah the Nike one they had like a team and it was like they had like the elite pro team then they had like a club night where like just like the generic athletes and they would wear the same kit and some of the pros would go down and like help out whatever if it was something like that I don't know like if that would make sense we have like an elite night where pros go down and do their thing and then on a Wednesday night it was like your recreational owners that could do a session with me and Alfie that's just like our easy run or whatever it is that, I don't know, I don't fucking know who knows, like.

43:53I think you're like for people to understand that you're probably the most chill person I've ever trained with in terms of like, as long as I'm getting the work done it doesn't really matter, like if someone's filming in the background, if someone's chatting shit in the background it's just like, just get the session done and that's all that matters. Have you always been like that by the way? Do you know what, see because I trained with Farah that's what he was like and he was winning everything so it was like he didn't I'll say it's very different like I don't know how to explain it he's a cool character honestly like if you get him in the podcast that'd be sick but like he's so relaxed he's so down to earth he doesn't actually he does care but he's able to like switch on when it matters and I'm able to do that in a race I can switch on but for training like if you're not having fun then what the heck are you doing like why are you making it so difficult for yourself like most most runners overthink everything they all overanalyze everything and like and they like just control what you can control and do as best you can because at the end of the day like that's all that matters and I've always been like that so I used to put a lot of pressure on myself sometimes to like run a certain split for a rep and now like I'm just free I don't like someone to what Tom Evans was like talking about how he's become a dad I'm obviously a father too and like there's much more to life than running as everybody knows and the high rocks and everything like so like that's the way I think now I'm just like yeah I don't really care too much and if it means I have fun and I miss a rip by two seconds oh my god like what's going to happen like seriously and and I'm running as best as I ever have been for a number of years with this mindset so I'm going to keep continuing to do that I guess I think I think also as well like looking back at our last block together like one of our best sessions what stands out for me is when we did that like 2k marathon pace we did some twos and we did some fours and like we were both vlogging like filming that day just having a laugh like probably the most chill relaxed session ever yeah windy as anything on the track and then we're doing some 400s and like running like 62s and like this is so easy it was easy yeah and we're just we're just chilling out like filming in between reps and just having a laugh and it was like one of the best sessions i've had of the block and it was just you don't have to take it seriously as long as you're getting the work done and i think that's probably the best sort of mixture i guess like the good thing and i've like talked about this a lot and the thing that works with well with me and Alfie is like Alfie is like a bit of a fucking loser and like he over he over analyzes like we're almost like opposites like I'm very relaxed probably too relaxed Alfie's probably too tense so like it works off in both ways for like I'll then start to take it seriously because Alfie does and he'll also chill out because I'm chilling Do you ever put him on edge with like how relaxed you are?

46:23Like can you ever like can you see him like tensing up and like No but you can see him just like you can definitely tell when Alfie's nervous at the track And then he's just like Mate like But literally like I have no idea why Like you You're in good shape You've run a few PBs You're on good form Mate like Literally like Okay you have a hard rep today And what like Whatever If you miss it You miss it It doesn't make you shit Like But he'll overanalyze Like look back at what his heart rate was like Or if his heart rate's gone high Then The amount of times That we'll do a session right And like Unless he's wearing a certain pair of shoes Like It just happened once Nah it happens all fucking time lads all fucking time literally he'll be wearing a pair of shoes and he'll be like oh I feel like shit this is fucking real hard like blah blah blah and he's chilling he is chilling but he's like oh it's so hard and he changes his shoes happy through and he'll do a rep and he's like oh it was the shoes like I'm all wearing I'm like mate it wasn't the shoes like it's just a change of attitude you've got now because you've changed your shoes like it's a mindset mate like you're totally fine the whole time you're just like blaming shoes or you're using that it's just like you're chill mate you're all good and I would reiterate that every rep like mate just chill like sit my back watch the back of my head whatever and take a rep each like it's very relaxed like no I love that what shoes were they by the way what did you change to to be fair I was wearing just asking for a friend I was wearing the on cloud boom zone and then changed to Puma Fast R3 so it was quite a big step up to be fair whatever it is it's always into the Puma R3 and it's like these are amazing I've done it with the ASICs once as well is it yeah yeah so but I would say like even though he's giving me shit he is like the easiest person to train with in the world like the best person to train with and also like i think we've done probably done 50 sessions together maybe yeah and i would say there's been one session each where we haven't ran together for the entire session so he dropped me on that hill session that time yeah and then that first track session we ever did together i dropped you in a few reps but you were struggling at that point don't remember the very first the very first session we did together i just know that you had to drop out early as well yeah it was a 600 400 food but other than that probably another 48 sessions every single rep has been together and some days he'd be feeling better than me some days I'd be feeling better than him but every single rep has been together yeah I suppose over time that's the best way to do it because like you say you progress and like you say if two seconds difference per rep isn't going to be the end of the world then it doesn't really matter obviously if it adds up over time but like if let's say it's going to be fine I've got an actual question and I need your opinion on this shoe names shoe names they're not getting fucking out of hand like what did you just say that on cloud boom what the fuck's that do you know what the worst for it is is Puma they're the worst for it just want to say that I'm happy they're taking they're taking Nitro out of all the names aren't they now but it's like Puma Velocity Deviately it's like it's shocking there's too many names but I think they may be realising that now it's because they want to throw like they bring a new technology out and they want to throw it into the throw it into the shoe like there's I think the vapour fly used to be like I've got like a tip for all the fucking people out there and companies I don't know if this will work but you just call it if it's Puma for example Puma long run shoe yeah mate this is a hunt I agree with you yeah you go into a shoe shop track shoe mate then you have the fucking mate road race shoe agree and that's it agree Because the amount of folk They mention me It's like Oh what shoes Should I wear And I'm like Mate like There's literally Like thousands Like literally Like And you look like I don't know Let's just take a car For example A BMW You know like A one series A two series A three series You know what you're Going to get If that makes sense Like shoe runs Don't do that Just Just fucking Word vomit Isn't it like Do you remember When you go over to The US And like A barber shop Is called Barber shop It's not called Like raised Barbers Or something like that Like It's called Barber shop Yeah It's just yeah you need some oh here there's a picture of all shoe brands just to like lose the numbers lose the just make it easy it's like Nike have the structure Vamero and Pegasus three shoe names there's nine shoes because then they've got the plus and then they've got the premium and it's like it's ridiculous you can't keep track and then they bring out a model what maybe was released five years ago and bring it out again with the same name it's a completely different shoe is that your pet peeve what's your is that your I would say that but I'm a sucker because like you say I've got every single variety of pubeshoe.

50:58So they've got me by the balls. They're the one that I'm spending all the money on the shoes. I think going back to your point, I've spent a lot of time always wanting to find the best, best, best shoe at everything, like easy runs, session shoes. I'd say like almost all the time, that search is never going to end because there's always, you're going to get one and then you go, actually I need to try this now and then I need to try this. I'm like, what about if this one's better? And it just never stops. So it's just impossible these days. to actually, I guess, settle on a shoe rotation if you're someone like me.

51:29Whereas you try the ASICs. I was like, that ASICs is sweet. I'm old school, aren't I? I'm pretty dinosaur in this sport. If I like something, I just like it. I'm not too... It's obviously my downfall as well because I don't try enough stuff maybe. But if I find something I like, I'm just like, you know what, I'll stick with that. I'm good. I don't really care about... You've got track racing two weeks and you're still not a sudden. What spike are you wearing? I mean, I know what spike I'm going to wear, I think. And then you keep piping up like, have you not tried this one? I don't give a fuck like I'm wearing spikes these fucking do you have a big shoe rotation both of you no throughout the week I don't and what would you recommend to like a typical runner would you say that you need five different pairs of shoes no what are we saying I would say you need two pairs of shoes two pairs of shoes yeah a pair for easy running and a pair for quicker running that's what I would say for your generic athlete who's like like I mean like think about like professional footballers for example let's just say like I don't know how many boots they go through but they probably go through a lot so you don't need to compare yourself to like a footballer that's a pro footballer it's like if elite runners have like six shoes just you don't need to do it because you're not an elite runner like just save your money and just get a decent pair of daily shoes and a decent pair to run quicker in and daily shoes if you're running morning and evening i've heard that the cushion kind of like goes smaller and you shouldn't wear the same shoes for the second run is that right i don't know i reckon that's why shoe brands are saying that to make you buy more shoes yeah because it doesn't say like so if you run for 10 minutes in the morning and then 10 minutes at night like this is a lot different to running like 40 minutes in the morning and 40 minutes at night okay so let's say running 10k in the morning 10k at night are you wearing a different pair of shoes for the second run today I didn't I wore the same shoe today so I did 10k 10k today and I wore the same shoe I wouldn't really bother me if I got wet I wouldn't wear the wet shoes at night no yeah you'd run in a pair of Vans or something no no no no not like that but like here like I mean when I look at my shoes in the morning I don't like I don't like plan out what I'm going to wear like innie meenie miney mo these ones I'll do for today like because I like I'll right now I'm wearing Vomero's there's different colourways like it doesn't really matter what do you know what I mean Vomero plus he's wearing at the minute actually Vomero plus or a Vomero is what I'll wear like that's what I'll wear they were nice little camouflage number on those yeah Runorth West took me up yeah nice little shoe yeah there we go there we go so obviously like I said we talked about long term goals 2038 Olympics you've both got the marathon potentially Valencia in December what's like the summer goals for me I've got Commonwealth Games up in Scotland pending selection which is like I think start of June so pretty soon so you'll get selected in June yep and it will be in July oh right okay is that how close it is yeah why is he shaking sorry July 27th is it this guy who's not going at all no no I got my mum's coming for you he's ignoring me ignoring me yeah it's like 28th of July is the 10k so I think selection is like I think it's like the 10th of June you find out so I mean I've run the standard and I think I'm going to get picked I don't know but that's that's the aim for summer I'll do that focus on track races leading up to it that will help me get in the best shape so I'll do a couple 5ks I'll do maybe British Champs 5k to do a championship style race with a call room etc and then yeah after that I'll kind of shut down and focus towards Rhodes end of the year yeah sick Commonwealth Games yeah where is it being hosted Glasgow Glasgow Freedom can you get us tickets to that yeah yeah do you know a guy many many there we go can we come actually watch you why not yeah sick yeah are you around then am I around yeah yeah fair enough come on technically our off season is it yeah so you got Scotland's big month you got come off games and then three days later Calvin Harris Calvin Harris?

55:21Yeah mate Watch that as well innit Have you got tickets for that? Yes I don't know a guy though for Calvin Harris Maybe you'll know someone for Calvin Harris surely You're in that fucking space of cool folk Maybe Maybe We'll try Alfie can get us tickets With that haircut With that fucking haircut Mate you act like you're a small team You're a big time bro Like come on You can get tickets to whatever you want surely No I don't think so I can't even get a ticket to High Rocks at the moment oh really no can't been struggling recently yeah they've not let me get tickets really yeah go on what's your go on change the bit what's your pet peeve in life like what really fucking gets on your tits fuck what gets on my tits like what wind you up because I was thinking this morning something happened to me this morning I'll do a time in mind before like this is the non-thru athletics or anything like that do you know what I fucking hate do you know if you're in the car and like you like are polite and you let someone come through and they don't wave them that.

56:16Fuck off like that. But are you like, fuck off like being out of the window? Nah, no. Or are you out of the window? Yeah. I hate when I'm giving you common courtesy, mate, to come through in the car. Just be polite and give us a quick wave. Say thanks. Alfie doesn't drive much, but that is really fucking annoying if you ask me. Yeah, Alfie, you passed the test and you just still don't drive. I don't understand it. I've not driven this year. I'm not driven this year. Why? Just run everywhere. Just run everywhere. For a scump. I like, so for us for training like actually I've realised how bad that drive is now so we're going to change it up a bit but like he would just come to me like for our training sessions at the Etihad wouldn't you and it was just like I didn't need to drive but I'm going to I was saying on the way over here like I miss driving so I'm probably going to start again but that is also my pet peeve I was going to say if you hold the door for someone and they don't say thank you that pisses me off more than anything just people being rude mine's queuing oh you hit queuing I fucking hate queuing really how did you go about it then just not do it so say we'll keep on the subject of driving like if there's a queue I'll try and cut in or I'll do whatever I can to try and fucking get around there if there's like if there's like a straight on the right I'll pretend to like go down the side and like cut across and then cut back in if there's like a queue on the left hand side and I know there's a roundabout going up I'll go in the right hand lane and go round the roundabout and then fuck everyone over but like at the airport if there's like a queue to get through queue to get through I'll try fast pass and then obviously I don't get fast pass but I'll try it and then oh sorry it mustn't be working or forget and sometimes I let you through sometimes I don't you like fake a lump and go through like I've never faked a lump really?

57:56no, no I haven't I know someone who's like I think they finished a marathon and they got a wheelchair would you do that? no, no I don't think you should do that I would never condone do that but yeah I feel like people like to queue for no reason yeah no I do get that like queuing for a coffee for a coffee like coffee shops with queues outside like a coffee is nice but it's not that enjoyable it's not fucking half an hour of your day I'm sorry yeah I get it you're time efficient you've got shit to do I'd rather have just an instant coffee like some more shit like over here there's a Costa and there's a Greggs I'm not gonna lie because we're in Bolton there's always a queue for Greggs and not Costa is it yeah and I just don't I find it crazy how people queue for Greg's when they could go and get a coffee and a sandwich or whatever from Costa but they don't want to spend the extra pound queueing yeah queueing not for it I don't know sorry for going off topic there yeah sorry you got me on a bit of a rant now I sound like nah yeah it's good it's nice to get your shell in your own podcast yeah that was a good question that was a good question I've lost my trail of thought there do you got any quick fire questions for us I have got a quick fire question because I love quick fire questions yeah this isn't very quick but what's your favourite thing to cook you've got a family what's your favourite thing are you chefing by the way no Lindsay's in charge I'm dishes guy Lindsay cooks I prefer doing dishes because Lindsay wants to cook and I might let her do that and I can do she's a much better cook than I am I'll make literally whatever is around I'm Prison food I'd call it Pasta Like training camp vibe Rice Nah bro I think I know it's an ick For people saying The word ick But A bloke that can't cook I can cook mate Nah bro My wife loves to cook So Let's hear it Learn it It takes like fucking 20 minutes Learn it What do you mean I made this guy Can I defend you Yeah I'm a great cook I just Go on then I've had a meal from Lindsay and Andy One each and they were both incredible but Andy's was the better better meal there you go so I'm just I'm just a man of many talents okay amazing sorry so the question was what would you cook do you know what I've got there's a nutritionist guy that I know who's a chef and he gave me a recipe this thing called Scottish paella Scottish paella because Scottish people are quite tight don't spend much money and usually they use tarragon to like I'm talking like a proper chef You know I don't know Use tarragon to like That's the spice you use for Tarragon Tarragon not a bird Oh no No Is that not right Tarragon Anyway Go outdoors Anyway Anyway whatever Yeah tarragon Shut your mouth Anyway Use turmeric It's less than half the price If you spice it with turmeric So I'd make a paella With turmeric in it Angin Are you still having like All the seafood in it And stuff like that Yeah Chorizo Chicken Prawns I thought you were just going to mention no seafood there nah okay okay I'm not going to put muscles in that I'm not like Gordon Ramsay over here just whatever just a quick half an hour dinner bish bash bosh what do you cook then big time I love a barbecue what's on the barbecue tell us what's on steak right chicken thighs just because they cook a little bit better yeah and even if you shit at cooking you can do chicken thighs because they don't get dry yeah after that you've got to get burgers and sausages on there obviously Halloumi Con on the Cobb and then after that maybe like a couple of skewers but yeah that's probably on the actual barbie so you're going to invite me next time to this barbecue you don't want to invite him and I just I just wind them up I'll get all the guests like oh Jake wants to talk to you at the barbecue by the way I'll get all the amount I'll be like yeah yeah he's dying to have a chat mate all of them the reason you don't want to invite by the way is because he invites too many people and he forgets someone has a deathly peanut allergy who he's cooking for oh god have you heard yeah peanuts on the barbecue and I have some chicken in front of me and I'm like peanuts on the barbecue?

1:02:10No it was chicken satay chicken or whatever it is chicken satay and I was like this smells a bit weird I was literally about to eat it and I was like you started having an anaphylactic shock so I went to his barbecue came out my way didn't eat anything just had crisps left I've been out of the outcome yeah it was like a disclaimer like don't be a pussy yeah true cheers this is a quick fire question so I don't know why we can still talk about food what are you making for everybody? I'll do a bolognese or something nah easy fuck he's making pasta with ketchup no ketchup would be in the bolognese you know it's like blueberries in the honey no I put a little bit of honey in the bolognese oh god ketchup as well elf that's where I learnt it is it honey in bolognese oh it's so good it's so have you seen elf I literally just said that mate oh sorry obviously I wasn't listening yeah it's alright that's all good awkward sounds now lads have any of you got any quick fire questions for you not for me for everyone quick fire question nah I don't want to get cancelled ok let's go tips for someone trying to improve the 10k do you know what actually you answer this are we talking fuck me just trying to improve alright I'll give you the answer since he's such a I would say like try and get as much mileage as you can try and do sessions just a little bit lower than 10k race pace crack on just don't get hurt try to run as much as you can do one session a week to get better do you think you can get better off just one session a week and then everything else easier on this well we're not we're not talking about I'm not going to go into how fast you are but like yeah I think if you can get your mileage up high enough to give you enough muscle tone and you can do a couple reps quicker than your 10k pace you're on for a good chance to running quicker at a 10k yeah for almost everyone listening to this it's just an aerobic challenge for a 10k like when you start getting down to our times it's you have to do more mechanical stuff but like it's aerobic so what he said basically uh pre-race meal uh for me it's like porridge and a banana and a gel probably yeah i'd add pasta and bagels to that but definitely banana Top three Strengthening exercises In the gym For runners Do you go to the gym By the way Andy Mate Are you serious I'll actually ask you The same question With those tiny little Scrolling arms you've got Yeah I do go to the gym Yeah My trend Probably I go to the gym Twice a week To do isometric loading And then twice a week To beach body gains But to answer your question I would say I think Squats Are like not like quarter squat, half squat is probably for athletics pretty good.

1:05:02I think a lot of like single leg exercises like core, single leg balance things are good and then yeah any sort of core is gonna help. I don't think you need to do too much in the gym to be good at running to be honest. What about you Alfie? I'd say Bulgarian split squats, RDLs and iso car folds probably. What does RDL stand for Romanian deadlift. Yeah. Come on. Told you. I do think, I think the calves are, I think calves are underrated. I think you should, I think celiac is a pretty important muscle to train. If you can get some, I mean, I do it quite a lot, but I think if you can train your celiac a bit, it's going to help your athletics.

1:05:42Who is the most important person, aside from yourselves, in your life that's helped you get to where you are? That's a sick question.

1:05:57probably probably my first athletics coach a guy called Derek Easton he's just a really good person to have in my team, he was the kind of guy who put me in with the running group that I was in in Scotland which then made me into the athlete that I am today so yeah, probably him, he was the guy that made it happen interesting definitely my granddad for sure like got me into basically every single sport not even just running like played badminton as a kid first time I saw someone playing football was because I was with him playing a different sport and then he was my first coach and then also probably gave me thousands of lifts to and from training all the time came to all my races so I'd say my granddad for sure yeah oh good question

1:06:52I'd probably say with Tyrox with my Harrods career I'd probably say probably my coach at the moment John what's his background he's a CrossFit coach but he yeah he was the one that got me out of injury where I really struggled I wouldn't be the athlete that I am today when you train for Harrods do you have like a run coach as well as a gym coach or is it like well Alfie's been helping when we're running so i'd say yeah okay um yeah i think you do i think because hyrox is so new and like it's very hard to find someone who's really really good at the strength and conditioning and the movement but then also knows running to the extent that i want someone to know running if that makes sense and i think the hardest thing for hyrox is obviously the strength aspect has intensity in as well sometimes because you're training for you know compromised strength and training for coming in and out so even if i sat just running on a gym day you'd probably also still have like even if you're doing burpees and then into something like it's intensity so it's hard you kind of imagine that load almost yeah well it's you need to gel it a bit more together so like that's probably a challenge i've had speaking with jake i've suggested like me and john probably need to sit down more and plan it all together but i think a lot of higher oxers they kind of separate this is a running session and this is a high rock session and it's just too much load and they just don't absorb it yeah i can do that and just like the other elements as well like if you think running is one element but there's eight other stations so like even getting a rowing coach for example teach you how to do good rowing or skiing or whatever do you have that have you thought of that uh no i've like spoke to and had like one of sessions yeah with rowing coaches but i've never like had one where they've given me like a rowing plan to get better of rowing like a 10 week rowing plan or whatever um where they look at my form and stuff like that i've only had like a one-off session so i probably could pay attention a little bit more to that it'd probably be like you guys like trying to nail drills to like the standard of like sprinters for example um interesting next question if well when you do retire from your sport what do you see yourself doing afterwards so my wife is retired and I'm like looking and like she had an unbelievable career and I'm like I don't want to retire like this is the best life I'm ever going to have so if I can elongate this I'm going to squeeze and eek as much out of it as I can after it I have no idea I really do enjoy coaching and I enjoy like working with people I'm very much a people's person so if there's a space after it where I do some coaching that'd be great I want to keep in the sport if I have to get a normal job do you know what I'd love to be I would look at the postman I think that's sick just like going about finishing early on a Friday 2 o 'clock job done postman would be like pretty cushy little job I reckon yeah would you what about like putting your hands through the doors for the dog for the dog wouldn't bother me mate I'm not going to lie my mates are posting I think it's pretty cushy I'm not going to lie yeah what about you he's still got all his fingers he's still got his fingers yeah we'll go off you first I'd probably be the same I want to elongate it but I You just want to be him.

1:10:06What are you going to be? Fucking post it as well. This is what I was trying to say at the start. A window cleaner would be sick too, actually. That'd be good, window cleaning. That would be good. I swear to window cleaner at the last 247 run and he was enjoying his life. Apart from in winter. It's not good in winter. Yes. I know someone that fell off the ladders. Window cleaning. Badly injured? He's still living. Okay. Fair. Not a window cleaner. I wouldn't want to do that. You'd get blown off by the wind, wouldn't you? Yeah, true. And I'm a hypochondriac, so I'd be scared of the heights probably as well I would say I'd want to do like ultras and hyroxes and stuff ultras really ultra as long as possible mate not a multi day thing because I'm not doing a multi day but like 100k 100 mile I'm chilling on that I think but chilling nah mate bro that's a waste you're ruining your reputation doing that afterwards what's the point imagine like Farah was like I'm going to do 100k you're like nah dead Kip Choge's going to do that isn't he yeah but it's not it's not yeah but I like doing it I like sport fair fair I'm not going to judge to be honest I would say coaching as well but then also like president of World of Flex or something like that president of World of Flex guy yeah I'd do that I'd be good at that I think you wouldn't get rid of the hammer straight away what else what else would you what would you do what get rid of and sport no just like if you were president I'm finishing running and I'm doing a bit of coaching no I mean if you were president of World of Flex what would you do first take a bit of money the bank yeah fair someone did that recently they like just stole like a mill or something right probably yeah what would you do after your High Rocks career hmm just influence isn't it just keep doing that isn't it influence just influence that's your thing isn't it nah nah I think I'd love to I think just go somewhere fucking sunny and just get like a a normal job I think you'd want to own a restaurant nah you'd get a barbecue and talk to nobody yeah barbecue on the beach just off the floor for people do you know what I mean burgers two quid or four dollars where are you living maybe like Australia really I feel like if you don't need to like be like for example in your careers at the moment like you going moving to Australia would be a nightmare because you've just got to travel back up to race and shit like that if you've got nothing to travel for and you don't need to speak to brands or meet them or anything like that then I think Australia is like a sick place to live.

1:12:38Like quality of life is up there. It's just crazy but it's like super chill. How long were you in San Diego for? Two years. Two years. It's expensive. I guess Australia probably is too but high rocks just make it. Where would you move to? Or would you stay in Manchester? Mate I love the beach. Yeah? I love the beach. We used to live in a place like a place called Encinitas in South California So sick Like just like beachy Sleepy town Like it was chill So nice What did you do every day? Well I ran Yeah But like then you go to the beach And you just chill Hence why I got pretty shit At running to be honest But nah like I think like A beach should be nice My missus is always very much like Oh we should move to Australia I've never really been So like I think if I went I would be pretty keen But mate I'm happy I like Manchester just now See what happens Yeah it's pretty sick It is cool to be fair Yeah I think it's one of the best places to train Just because there's no distractions Yeah It's a good spot If we can grow it a bit and a few more people want to come to Manchester Imagine if you made it so people Wanted to come to Manchester And live in Manchester to be surrounded by good runners Mate You can all dream That'd be sick I genuinely think that idea that you guys have got Is sick And I think hopefully it goes well Where are you going to host it?

1:14:00Etihad Your house? My house? No I was thinking Everyone moved to Pointham right? For a team in Manchester So we could have Just a team in your house No not my house Got enough bedrooms hasn't it? Mate no No one's staying in my house I've got two kids I don't really get any sleep In my house No I think like If you Mate there's plenty of tracks In Manchester I think Etihad Trafford Like I mean Anywhere to be honest Like just If we can work out Sure And what's the What's the kind of qualifications that you need to enter this club are there any er TBC don't be a dickhead we're out no one's in no dickhead policy yeah shit nah I guess like I guess if you're like I guess if you're keen then yeah like I guess once it starts you'll know more we don't fucking know anything either do we so you're gonna get like t-shirts and stuff do you wanna help that you got any designs maybe not designs but you'll have to come in here try and know a few people that can make some stuff that may be handy yeah that'd be good couldn't speak to him nah that'd be sick be sick thank you boys that's it thanks for having us nah that was really interesting anything else erm anything else you want to say to the cameras whilst they're on whilst they're rolling come Manchester tune with us a bit come Manchester chill the fastest boys in the UK I don't know about that yeah I don't think we're going to claim that title not yet who are the fastest Maybe training in the UK.

1:15:29Who's your... What? See, when you say that, fastest boys, do you mean like sprinting? Do you know what I mean? Like, it's very, like, subjective, that question. Like, the fastest people in... I think, like, fastest should be, like, if you commit a crime, I'll, like, fight and outlast, like, a copper running, chasing after you. Do you know what I mean? That's fast, isn't it? Like, well, what do you need your speed for? That would be a sick race. Like, you know what I mean? Like, what do you actually need speed for? if we take tracks out of it like getting eaten by a lion I don't know like we've not got any lions here no bears it's just policemen innit that you've got to run away from I would get away before Alfred that's for sure he's getting caught first if I'm wearing fast or freezing my bed is oh my days the geese are pretty dangerous in Manchester at the minute oh yeah do you have geese in Bolton is there a canal is there do you have water is there do we have water we have a couple of reservoirs is there yeah but there's no geese on there I don't think I got attacked this morning actually Who?

1:16:30Me You got attacked? By a geese yeah But they got little chicks And they're like dead Protective aren't they Which is fair So what did you do? Nah I'm kidding Nah just like I actually like Shirt myself And like went around the corner Turned round I don't want to get in their way Protect the animals you know Nice guy Yeah Who would win An 100 metre race? Me Oh Alphie Me and Alphie and you? No well You two Nah probably Alphie I'd say me he's got those young tendons you know I'm an old man I think he beat me in a 60 to be honest no here it's a good it'd be a good race we could do I feel like Andy would be one of them people who'd be like 3, 2, 1 and go on 2 that's what I do with my kid

1:17:14but yeah class thank you boys we'll end it there thank you no no appreciate it thank you for coming down