171: How Jonny Davies Built Confidence for the G1M Ultra

26:34So for me, I was always like, I hate running. So I picked the thing I hated the most. And for me, that was running. There was distance running, something that I was naturally never good at, being six foot four and big. You know, so I thought, you know what? Why don't I do something that is the one thing I can't stand doing and challenge myself with that. Because for me, that was the ultimate, like almost like a bit of a, can I swear on this? Yeah. Almost like a bit of a fuck you to like an older version of myself being like, oh, you hate running? Fuck you, we're going to do some running. And there's a certain irony in that that makes me smile.

27:01So I just would start going out every day. And no matter how I felt about myself that day, if I was ever in my feelings where I was feeling a bit, whatever, you know, not great about myself, instead of trying to go out and distract myself with going out drinking, going out, distracting myself, I would put my shoes on and I'll go out and be like, right, time is set for 30 minutes. I'm going to run the entire 30 minutes but I've got to be outside for 30 minutes once I'm outside I'm like well might as well try and run I used to do this at night time because I was embarrassed about how I look when I run and that's like people talk about getting into running now and they're a bit like oh I'm worried what people would think like I used to do this at 10 o 'clock at night in the pitch dark so no one could see me running because no one told me how to run I was just a big dude running I thought people would be I don't know I thought people would judge me for it this sounds completely bizarre now but that's my thought process at the time and I would do this every day and no matter how bad I felt about myself each day, I always had the evidence there that I did something kind to myself.

27:54That I took myself outside, I moved my body, I ran, even if I could run for two minutes, walk for one minute and that was the basis of respect that I gave for myself and from that, it built forward. Something I never told you this by the way, during that period of time, I started like, because I didn't have any friends running, who were in the running world, I had to like make do with books or with YouTube videos and I was going through my saves the other day on my notes of videos that have always stuck with me. And there's something I came across. You recognize this video? Sub six minute mile at 225 pounds.

28:28Oh yeah. That was in my saves.

28:29Nick Bare:I can tell you right now what the thumbnail looked like. Yeah, can you remember that one? Yeah, so this has been in my saves ever since then. So this is the period of time, those of you who can't see this, I put it to the camera here. This is a video from, I believe, 2019 where you were running around a track. I remember filming that one. Yeah, seven years ago. Yep. Yeah. That video stuck with me. I remember watching that for the first time when it came out. Why do you think? Why that one? 225, you're big. It was the first time I'd seen someone who was, looked more like my size, more my stature, and was doing, was pushing themselves and running.

29:01I remember thinking six minute mile, and obviously I work in kilometers. So I was like, at the time I ran in six minute kilometer. I was like, oh, I can do that. Obviously in real, it's like mile pace and kilometer pace are very different. But I remember seeing that. And that's why it's really special being here now and being a part of BPN and being a part of the team, being part of the ultra. being on your podcast because a huge part of that journey for me was the videos that you were putting out back then and they sat with me and they stuck with me and so i just want to say like this is that's why it's like it's a really meaningful thing for me to be here and like it's a genuine pleasure not to be on the podcast but to be involved with bpn like that when that came through that was a really special thing for me because it was like such a full circle moment from when i was going through that tough time and i wanted to make a change and i didn't have i had great friends around me, but none of them ran.

29:48I was like, Hey, I'm trying to do this thing of running. I want to try and push myself here. And the, one of the biggest sources from that was yourself. I appreciate that.

29:57Nick Bare:It's really easy from like a, a creator's perspective to forget that there's people on the other side of these videos that, you know, you spend so much time talking to a camera and filming and editing and working on, and you see the views, you see the comments, but when you actually then experience the impact those videos created and change the trajectory of people's life, that responsibility is heavy. Yeah. And it means a lot. So I appreciate you sharing that. No, of course, of course. I just, I was going through, like I keep journals and notes of everything. So I was going through this, preparing for the podcast.

30:33And I remember there was a video in there on one of my notes. I pulled that up there. But I remember that. I remember where I, I remember the run I tried to do after I watched that video and how I was very slow. Didn't manage to run a sub six minute mile for reference. But no, that was good. And that's where it started from. So 2019 was when I really started to consistently run. And I was going to ask,

30:55Nick Bare:what was the running culture like in the UK at that point? It existed. It was more fringe. It was, you know, marathon, you know, there's always, the UK has got a strong history of running and runners, especially from an elite standpoint. A lot of run clubs that are club runners. and so these are guys who are running insanely fast 5Ks we've always had a really good standard of elite running because cross country is a big thing in the UK and they look like runners they look like runners yeah there wasn't many people 6 foot 4 and like 240 pounds running around I can say that much for sure but during that period of time I was progressively getting better and that was really exciting to see seeing that progress was a really wonderful thing for me to see because again, I'd go out every day, whether it was five minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever it was.

31:43And then it started building up and then COVID happened. And the really beautiful thing was I'd never done a race before COVID because I was just running. I didn't care. I didn't particularly care about a marathon or a distance or a race. I was just trying to do something to show myself a level of self-love and self-respect. So that's what was in it for me. It was never about an outcome. It was never about saying, you know what? I want to go run a marathon. I didn't really care too much. I also felt like I wasn't included in the running space because of how I looked at my size. So it was just something I did for myself.

32:10And then COVID happened.

32:11Nick Bare:And at this point, you're not documenting your life on social media. I started documenting my life on social media in like 2022. There was like years of working before I got to the point where I was calm enough to start sharing this. And I was obviously still working full time as well at this period. And it was, COVID happened. All races were canceled anyway. So there was even less pressure to try and do anything from that standpoint. Um, and so I would just start going a bit further. I want to say, okay, well, I wonder what like 20K feels like on the body. I remember the first time I ran 20K and I remember like how bad I felt the next day.

32:47Cause again, my understanding of nutrition around running was pretty poor at the point. So I was just not eating enough to recover the sessions, but my weight was incrementally dropping down. I was still also playing rugby at this period of time. Um, I joined a new club in London and I noticed that my fitness was just improving constantly because I was running on the side. My ability to run through the games was, was so much better. I was still strength training significantly but my weight was down from like 250 at peak down to towards like 230 now and I was just able to move over the pitch so much faster and it was great I was like wow this is special and it got to a point where I was running in the mornings and I rugby training in the evening then I have games and weekends and the rugby was something to get a little bit in the way because you know you're taking hits constantly one's a very intense set of running the other one is obviously distance and they weren't really sort of fitting together and it got through got through COVID and during that period I started reading about ultramarathons and there was something about it that spoke to me there's something about it that when I was I remember when I was 17 I read a book by a guy called Mark Beaumont if you ever know who he is I don't think so ultra cyclist he solo I think age like 19 he solo cycled around the world and like 200 and something days and he'd record it on a camcorder and the BBC picked it up and turned it into like an eight part documentary series I remember watching that I remember reading his book first then watching watching the documentary and I was amazed at not only the feat of endurance but how he was able to communicate his own feelings his own development traveling at the time he had to go I believe he had to go through like Afghanistan Iran places like this and he's just him on a bike oh wow and he's still filming it all there you know cycling across the entire outback of Australia cycle across America like it was Paris to Paris was the entire route and I remember watching and thinking wow like the upper limit of human possibilities are incredible.

34:37And people can do some really crazy things out there, but also his ability to share that experience through the camera and through his book, that always stuck with me as well. And so I was always fascinated by ultra endurance events where cycling and running, not to do them, but just the sheer spirit of the human, what people can do and achieve when they put their mind to something. And I was going through that period, and I started reading more books about people who can make ultra marathon, these crazy races. And I thought, you know what? Why don't I now, now that COVID sort of comes to an end, then race to come back on, what's the nearest ultramarathon I can find?

35:13And there's 100K, the Thames Path 100K from Putney in London, which is like, at the time, I lived like a mile from Putney, which was really convenient, to all the way to Henley on Thames. So 100 kilometers of the River Thames, you're all the way up. It was super flat as well. So it's like quite a nice 100K to go into. And I just started training for that. And I just started going a bit further distances. I ran like a marathon in training. That was a really cool moment. That was five years ago last week. I got the, my friend of mine who I ran it with, she just messaged me with me like, happy fifth marathon anniversary because it's her first marathon too.

35:43Which is so nice to be able to do and share together. And it just progressed on from there. And I'd started dialing my nutrition and having a much better understanding of nutrition, what I need to eat, what I need to not eat, how to manage my calories, how my strength training is going to change this now. And I remember doing that 100K and I remember it was the first time I'd done a run that I had stripped so much emotion back during these things and you know it's like running ultra you get so fatigued and so tired that the walls we often put up day to day to kind of protect ourselves or protect our sort of inner voice sometimes it kind of all fall down and I would feel it's like you're basically putting yourself in such a vulnerable place physically and emotionally you often will explore certain thoughts and certain feelings that we often sometimes just try and distract ourselves from especially as men I often find it a lot a lot this resonates more with men but it's like we do kind of bottle a lot of things up more so than women big bit of generalization there but for the sake of it and that's something I feel really true about myself like I'm not always the best day to day it's talking about how I'm feeling I'm expressing I'll journal it down but I don't often put it out there to people around me

36:51Nick Bare:I actually just listened to a podcast talking about this yeah and I had Bailey yeah O 'Brien on the podcast yesterday and I had this in my notes but we just didn't get to it. So I thought it'd be a great way to just add this in now. But I was listening to this podcast. It was called Intentional Fatherhood. And it was talking about how we as men feel this responsibility to bear a large burden in life. So like things that we are feeling, things we are experiencing, we feel this responsibility not to put ourself in the victim position. and just like bear it and hold it. And just crack on. And keep it in and just like keep moving forward.

37:37Nick Bare:And I think that is a responsibility that we as men were actually provided and created to bear, but we need the appropriate outlet to have the conversations with guys to release it. Absolutely. And again, I'm very fortunate in the sense I have some very, very close male friends. I'm super close to my dad and like I will talk about a lot of these deep things at the right time and at the right moment however sometimes I find it hard to even understand those feelings myself I'll be so bored about them that I won't even think about them all that much but when I'm doing ultras the layers come back and I'll be sitting there and I'll I remember that 100k the last 20k that 100 because the whole rest the whole first 80 I was like this is fantastic I had a great time it was a gorgeous it was a gorgeous like sunny September day beautiful weather you go through some of those beautiful parts of England as well I had the best time and that last 20 it all really hit home and I'd so much have been stripped back and I was like oh wow like I was at the time as well my cousin was terminally ill with cancer and it was that was that was really weighing on my mind I felt really I really didn't understand how to deal with that and feel that and so that was all going on at the same time and I remember that last 20 I started really feeling it properly and not also not trying to understand my feelings I think sometimes we can try and over you can't outsmart feelings is what I often get told and I'm trying to like I try and think I out think them I understand them and sometimes you just got to feel them I remember that and it's like first time in years I started like ball of my eyes out on a run I remember the guy I've been running with most of the time who'd been like getting a house on fire and he's like everything okay he's a giant bloke just running like tears come down but it's a really that's why there's always beauty in these ultras because it strips you back it doesn't matter how big or tough and strong you are running for that further that far of a distance makes you it forces you to be vulnerable because you physically you physically are vulnerable and I remember crossing the finish line of that and I was like wow that was a release like I got a lot of that off my own chest I wasn't talking about it I just sat with those feelings and emotions and I remember finishing that thing like okay if I can run 100k I can I know I know I can run a lot further than that because you know I finished it I wasn't destroyed it was it was it was the first time hitting that distance but I was like a few days went past few weeks and passed I was like okay I'm excited for this and that's when I started really sharing content because I was like I didn't want to just make content about running because whilst there's lots of people who make great content about running who are way more qualified than I am to talk about running or coaching, all this kind of stuff there.

39:59And I didn't want to become a running coach. You know, I was more interested in how I've used running as a tool for self-respect and, you know, which ultimately led to, you know, becoming someone that I really like and I respect. And I think there's a much more deeper use of it. And that's kind of what I wanted to show through my journey. And that's when I started getting into going like, okay, well, I'll start around that period of time making content. I started on TikTok because I don't want to share on Instagram because my friends are on there. But then once that started generating steam, my first brand partnership came along, Lululemon.

40:26who've been fantastic partners. I'm three years into that relationship and about to carry on with that relationship.

40:31Nick Bare:What a great first partnership. First one. Yeah, no, first one was a full-on partnership. I had a few offers coming through, but they weren't massively aligned in lots of things. They were just trying to say, hey, we'll pay you this, promote this. And I was like, of course, again, previously, I was coming from working in a very good job. So it wasn't as if I needed the money. But at the same time, I was like, I only want to sign with partnerships that I care about, that want to support me in what I'm doing, that understand who I am and what I'm trying to achieve and understand that for me, the biggest impact isn't about how much I can make from this, it's about how many people I can help.

41:00Who can I help along the way of me doing these big things, these big goals? You know, that for me is important is who you can bring along the way, inspire, who you can lift up. That for me is really important because when it gives me trying to go and achieve big things, if I don't help other people up with me along the way, then it's not about that. It's not worth it for me. And they were the ones who understood that. And they said, okay, we believe in you. Here's a year contract. We believe in you. And they said, what do you want to do? and I was like you've got a great idea I've always had this idea since Covid during Covid I've often cycled to my cousin's place he lived in North London I lived South and during Covid London was completely like shut down so I would cycle the tube lines to get from where I lived at a time place called Ballam in South London he lived up in Highgate North and the Northern Line which goes right the way through I would cycle along the Northern Line London by the way is massive so you're trying to understand London you understand it on the underground because you just appear in these different places but above ground to contextualize it it was quite a nice way for me to learn where actually everything was in London and I remember going this thinking like it's kind of cool to run between all these stations at one point and I just kind of had that sitting in the back of my mind and when they said do you have any ideas for projects this year and I go yeah I've got this really cool idea I want to run the entire length of London Underground it's like 572 kilometers is the total distance about 350 miles it would take sorry about my conversions I'm aware most of the listeners here are American most of the listeners here are American and probably don't understand what I don't know what the kilometer is everything's in miles so when I'm in America I try and use miles as much as I can

42:24Nick Bare:I appreciate that no no no of course I noticed that so about 350 miles and I said hey listen I'm going to do a different tube line each day and I'm going to do it for there's a mental health charity called CALM the Campaign Against Living Miserably wonderful organisation in the UK they are sort of leading the fight against suicide and helping people in crisis because for me it's I was able to get the support I needed because I had a very close network of friends around me supporting me and cared for me I had the financial resources to seek help when I needed it a lot of people aren't in that position.

42:53And I think it's well and good me say, hey, I pulled myself by my bootstrap and got myself out of the situation. I rely on support from other people and not everyone has that same support system. So I wanted to find a charity partner who provides that support and raise not only money for them, but for awareness around their services for people who needed it. And that's what I said, that was the goal. And I wanted to raise, I think, 40 ,000 for them in that first challenge. And we went out with that being the goal. And I just had a document to the journey of, hey I'm going to trade this thing it's a wild distance and it's day in day out it's 11 tube lines in London 11 days in a row and I wanted to do it and get as many people out running with me as possible so we had a campaign alongside of it with Lou Lemon where anyone who ran their commute to work that week they would get like entered into a competition into a draw and we got 10 ,000 of people to do that over the course of the week that's incredible and then I had a I had a live tracking device on me so the entire 11 day process I was never running it alone there was always people with me because I had a map of London and wherever I was that day people could just come and find me the best about it was they could just go to the next tube station and get the train there and I would run past them they'd join in so that for me was really special because it was less about me trying to do achieve a big endurance goal it was hey if I can do this you guys can do this I want more people involved and it was one of the most special deep meaningful moments of my life completing that because you know we had the last day hundreds of people coming running with me and finishing up in the centre of London the middle of the central line and the same crew of guys I've got who are me in that challenge.

44:21My physio, Adrian, Tommy, my coach and Nick, my buddy. They're coming out for this race too. Incredible. They've been within every single challenge still and it's so like, so special to have those guys with me and that's why they weren't with me last year because just timing's a bit different. I was just feeling this format but now this year I said, hey guys, I'm going to go for it this year. I'd really love it if you guys could be there. And so that was it. So that was the first progression into these multi-day big challenges and I think with a big challenge there's got to be more to it than hey, I want to go set this record.

44:47hey I want to go see if I can do that that's great and that's noble and I love that but I think there has to be a deeper meaning or reason why you want to go put yourself through something and again this is just my own take on these things I love seeing it when people are doing a big challenge to raise money for charity something that's meaningful for them, something that matters to them and they want to try and do it in a way that lifts other people up you don't climb the mountain for the world to see you climb the mountain to see the world it's really important that the reasons behind doing something are just important as the achievement itself, in my opinion.

45:18So for me, it was, when I want to do a big challenge like that, a multi-day ultra or a big event, almost like an adventure for me, there has to be more to it than saying, hey, I just want to do it so I've said I've done it. I want to do it because two things. One, what it will make of me to do it. I know that training for this is going to be crazy. It's going to be wild. And it's going to force me to be better in lots of different ways. It's going to force me to have, you know, improve my discipline, improve my attitude towards training. Make me more organized. This is one of the other things as well.

45:44I'm not sure if you've noticed this, It's like the more you train, the more organized you have to be. It's not a case of going like, oh, you know, I've got this session tomorrow. It's, I have this session tomorrow. I start at 6 a.m. It has to get done at 6 a.m. Absolutely. There's no other way. There's no bandwidth the rest of the day for me to do this in. Otherwise, it's going to fuck up the whole day. You then start holding yourself to a standard. I think that's what, you know, when you talk about set the standard, hold the standard, that's what resonates with me. It's like, hey, I said I'm going to do something.

46:08I got to go and do it. And then you build that trust within yourself. And that's a huge, huge, huge way to build self-trust, self-respect and self-belief as well. And that's, that's, that's huge. And I think that's one of the big things running teaches you and training teaches you is that building of self-esteem doesn't just magically happen. It happens through repetitive evidence building. And over the course of now for me years, it's got to the point where I can, you know, be really confident about myself. I can, you know, have a high level of self-belief when I say, Hey, I'm going to go do this thing.

46:38Hey, I'm going to go start this channel. Hey, I'm going to start training for this thing. I know if I said I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it. And that matters a lot to me.

46:46Nick Bare:I love that you commented on the organization. Because I don't think a lot of people give credit to these preps and these challenges. I think a lot of people are actually confused why they actually do a lot of these challenges or they don't even know why they're pursuing these challenges outside of vanity. Yeah. but if I think about what I've learned the most from a lot of these preps not even just preps but goals that I've gone after I've learned how to be very organized very efficient very committed especially as life responsibilities have increased tomorrow morning just like you said I have to start my run at 4.30am because if I don't I'm going to cut into my kids waking up.

47:36Nick Bare:I'm going to cut into getting Charlie to school. I'm going to cut into my first meeting. It's either I run at 4.30 AM or I run late at night when the kids go down. And it teaches it. I say, I'm going to do this one thing. I'm going to do it. There's no if and or, but I'm going to do it. So what is the purpose of this year's G1M Ultra for you? what is the deeper meaning deeper meaning for me was consistency I wanted to really level up my consistency not just consistency of training it's consistency of everything of how I was showing up for my work for content for the business I'm involved with it and all that I wanted to be I've often felt like I'm a bit peaks and trough kind of guy I'm all in for a period then I've got to pull back I wanted to say hey you know what I would like to in order to have a great sustained output put on most things in my life.

48:30You've got to be consistent. You want to have a great relationship, you have to show up consistently. You can't show up massively and, you know, for a period of time and then have a massive pullback. Fortunately, not how life works. So for me, it's consistency. So I made a deal for the train block. I run every day. It's just, that's the rule. And there's no negotiating that. And to be fair, as soon as I agree that with myself, it felt like the easiest thing in the world. I just wake up every day and go, cool, I've got to run. And that's it. Whatever time I go, whatever time the alarm goes off, great, 30 minutes later I'm running and that's just been a rule I've set myself this year even to the point this week when my coach is like you don't really need to run this week you're about to run I was like I'll go out for 10 minutes or whatever this morning was 15 minutes just a 3k just something so I can say hey I've done it I made myself a promise it's ironic because I'm not a big fan of people who run streaks all the time

49:14Nick Bare:but at the same time I've now become that person I'm like damn it for me it was just to really hold in on that level of consistency shows you what you can do it shows you it's so weird that so many times we create excuses in our own lives for certain things we do. And, you know, a lot of the time it's just our self-negotiating and we justify certain things in our life to say, oh, you know, this is this. But you just said, tomorrow, what time does you run? 4.30? Yeah. Yeah. You've got a lot on at the moment. I'm aware. Like, you've got family, kids, responsibilities. The race is on tomorrow, starting at midday.

49:42Work meetings. Like, that's, you could very, you know, you could very easily make the argument for yourself, hang on, Nick, I've got a pretty serious day here. I should probably, you know, maybe just not worry about that run and then just focus on family, then focus on this, focus on this. But if you say, no, no, I'm consistency.

50:00Nick Bare:Yeah. I'm up. There's no negotiating. And I know what that's going to do for my day. Yeah. It's going to set my day up for success. I'm not going to have to try to squeeze it in later. Yeah. I got a question for you. Go for it. A lot of people say they pursue a lot of goals and challenges and pursuits, races, preps, because they want to reach their full potential. what are your thoughts on that do you think they actually want to reach their full potential or is it something a lot of people just say and i share that to say that i've said it before yeah and i don't know if i actually believed when i said that i think that i used to say i would do these things to reach my full potential maybe just to justify why i was doing these things I'm not saying there's a right or wrong but I'm just curious your thoughts I think it's an easy out I think saying to reach my full potential is a bit of a I think there's always more to it than that right there's always more potential than what are you willing to reach your full athletic potential your full life potential what potential are we talking about here potential is just you know we all have potential it's doing it that makes a difference if I had this, if I did this it doesn't matter you either do it, you don't do it to reach my full potential I don't think I've ever really said that but I can imagine I've heard a lot of times and hey you know what I think sometimes it can be a bit of a shield for someone to say as a way of they maybe have a real genuine reason behind something but maybe they just they want to try and protect that a little bit and I think it's an easy way to do it and I'm not one to criticize or judge anyone for when they say their reasons behind doing it because a lot of the time these things have very deep meanings to people and they may not want to just put that out there and so I do appreciate and respect that but I think full potential looks different to everyone as well you know I think what some people want to just have a life that's not too stressful and they're happy and for them that's living at full potential some people want the stress they want the responsibility they want the pressure and for them that's living at their full potential because they know hey I think I can operate at that level I think I can I think I can do this and I can do this and I can do this and I can do this and I want to find out if I can and that's true as well they're all true statements you know yeah I think we go through different and again, I will reinforce what you just said.

52:20Nick Bare:Like there's not a right or wrong. For sure. But as I've moved through different seasons of life and I believe I've matured and gained some wisdom. Cause I have, I was someone that once said like, I do these things to reach my full potential. Yeah. And now as my life looks different in terms of leadership and family and being a father and a husband and the man that I want to be, I can't imagine being on my deathbed being like, yeah, Nick, you did it. You ran the 239 marathon. You did it. You ran the hundred miles. You're just, the family's over there. You're looking at the medals being like, we did it, we did it.

52:58Nick Bare:And like, I was thinking about that on a run a while back. Yeah, it does feel a little silly at this point. But I think that's part of growing and just maturing and wisdom. Sure. I just wanted to get your take on it because I can tell by this conversation, like there is, you have so much intention. I've always respected the way that you approach these preps. There's so much intention and strategy. And I'm seeing this healthy, emotional relationship to the prep, which is, it's very unique. It's very rare. Thank you. Very rare. And I can tell the reason, and the meaning behind these preps is very personal.

53:46Nick Bare:For sure. And it's very unique. And to be honest, like in the space that we're in, the fitness industry, I think you'd probably be surprised how rare it is for someone to have that mindset and approach, a very healthy, mature approach to what you're doing. I really respect that. I really appreciate that. Thank you. I really respect that. No, I think it's important. I think as you pointed out earlier, when you have a following, when you have a level of responsibility to an audience, you are, I think you should be very conscious about the whys behind doing things. I don't want to, you know, if I'm being an example to people, especially younger people, because that's one thing I really do focus on, is like, who is that 15-year-old that I was watching my content, who's making the decisions in life and maybe isn't too happy with where they're at in life?

54:37Like, what, how should I approach this from the perspective of sharing that to them? if I'm out there being like yeah run a marathon every day and do this this this you know I don't think that's the wisest thing for me to influence someone someone to do there I think the important thing is is to improve obviously fitness is a fantastic tool in a way of improving your relationship with yourself with those around you your friends your family it's a wonderful thing but I think sometimes also people can misuse fitness you know people can use it's like they say discipline without self-love is a form of self-harm and that's really stuck with me because there's been times when I felt maybe I've gone a bit too hard in my training and I'm really pushing it because I'm maybe distracting myself from feeling as opposed to understanding my feelings and emotions and opposed to, you know, doing something because it's a healthy way of showing up for myself and as a sign of self-respect and self-love, it can almost be a sign of self-punishment.

55:25I'm very careful about that because I think there is a toxic side to fitness that often isn't overlooked because the toxic side can often lead to incredible outcomes for people and incredible results for people and especially when, you know, people go from race to race to race to challenge to challenge challenge, you know, from event to tournament to this, it can be, whilst it's really cool and good for engagement for lots of people on social media, it can create a bit of a trap for lots of people. And I do, I do worry that that sets a bad example sometimes. Um, that's why I have a massive emphasis on taking time off afterwards.

55:58I'm, I've got a month where I've got no formal training after this race. I'm just gonna let my body sit, let my body rest. I'll casually train for a month before I, you know, go and have a, again, make sure everything's checked out, make sure things are good make sure I'm healthy make sure I'm sleeping well make sure that you know I feel good we'll do some baseline testing with my coaches to see where we're at but the last thing I want to do is finish a backyard ultramarathon where I intend to go to my absolute limit and then you know a week after start hammering hard sessions again and I say no could I do it?

56:29maybe should I? no and I think it would be irresponsible of me to be doing that kind of stuff as well because I think you know at the end of the day when you are in a position where people respect you you know you're a part of a, you know, I'm a representative of not just myself, but BPN for Lululemon for other brands I work with. I have responsibility to my audience to do things right and do things sensibly and not be a poor influence on them. I think that's really important for me to hold myself to that standard because I, don't get me wrong, when you achieve something big, a part of you is like, let's rip another one.

57:00Let's do another one. You have to hold yourself back. And that's also where like I have a very good team of, you know, my agent or my coach who's like, you do, there are times when I'm going to have to tell you to stop and pull yourself back. Same way my physio, Adrian, fantastic guys currently flying out, landing in a couple of hours. Um, the only, when we do these big challenges, we did a really big challenge in 2024 that didn't, it, we, I was successful at it, but it was, it was a lot of issues on that challenge. The only way that ended was when I, when he pulls the plug on it because he's responsible for my health.

57:33And if he was to say, Hey Johnny, you're now doing something that could potentially hurt yourself in the long run. I'd say, cool man, then we'll finish that. And I think it's really good to have someone who has that control over you. Because I know what I'm like when I'm trying to run and do these things. I'm probably not the best judge of my own decisions because I'm probably looking at it from an angle of, well, I've invested all this time, this effort, this energy. I want to keep going. I want to push here. I don't care if I get hurt. Obviously, I do care if I get hurt. But when you're in that moment, it's a lot harder to make those calls.

58:01So having someone like Adrian, for me, who has that, who can supersede whatever I'm saying, and he's got my best interests at heart. He's there to take care of me because sometimes I'm not going to always take the best care of me. Think about ultra running, which is uniquely difficult where you are ultimately pushing through a lot of pain and a lot of, you know, where most people, a lot of people would stop running going, well, my legs are in agony now. So you're a hundred miles deep. It takes a very strange person to go, great. Now let's keep going. But to know the difference between I'm in pain or I'm injured.

58:34There is a lot, there is a fine line between that. One that I'm probably not best to make that decision on. So that's why I have him there to really be like, hey, you could be fucking yourself up here.

58:43Nick Bare:I remember watching your post G1M Ultra last year. Yeah. And it really like struck a nerve with me. Yeah. Because I remember you went to New York City, but I believe it was after the G1M Ultra. No, that was after the... 50 Miler? 50 Miler, yeah. That was the 50 Miler. I was going to say, I didn't feel like it was a year ago. Yeah, that was in October, yeah. It was after the 50 miler. I remember watching you go to New York City and you enjoyed all this food. Yeah. And you relaxed and then you took time off from running and then you documented yourself starting to run again. Yeah. And I remember, I don't know why this sticks in my head, but I remember you going for a run and you were talking about how you do a run walk.

59:26Nick Bare:Your heart, it was jacked up. And that was so relatable. Yeah. Where typically after I do a prep, I, three days after the race, I start running again or I'm back into it. I don't allow myself to rest. Yeah. But something about that video just like struck a nerve in me where post Ironman, I took three weeks completely off from running because of that video. Oh, yes. Okay. I've had a positive influence on Nick Bear. That's brilliant. And there's something about that one. I was like, yeah, dude, Johnny's doing this. I'm going to do this. I appreciate that. Yeah, man. It feels great though. I mean, I'm a big believer in you have to have that time off because it can't be, if you want to go all out for something, if you are 100 % committed to that goal, to that block, to that journey, that progress, that is, that takes a lot out of you.

1:00:18And I think you owe yourself the grace to have the time off afterwards. And I think as well to have that time as deep reflection. I think when I've had it before where I've had events stacked together and I finished the event and it's almost like it doesn't mean that much because my mind's on the next thing. I'm always thinking about the next thing. Whereas, you know, it should, training for something so hard and achieving whatever you want to achieve, maybe not achieving it, you've got to give yourself the moment to break it down, to understand it. And before you can move on to the next thing, I think having a few weeks where you just say, hey, I'm just going to chill.

1:00:54The problem I got, I got so ill after that race. I actually had a stomach ulcer I found out during the 50s. So I went and got back to the UK I had a great weekend in New York. I noticed my stomach was still really painful. Got back home, had our ulcers there. Like, hey, you actually need to have like a couple of weeks in bed and really like rest, some medication. And when I came back, I had this god awful cold. It was getting really cold in London. So I had a bit cold, a bit fluey. And I remember going up for this walk run and I was thinking, oh my God, my heart rate was jumping up to like 150, 160 on the super slow pace.

1:01:22And it felt like I'd lost all my fitness. And it was a very, it was a humble thing. I remember pulling my phone up being like, I'm just going to rip this video. Just to say, hey, I might be able to run. crazy distance ultras and do these big challenges and all this sort of stuff there. But you know what? How great is it we get to start from square one again? What feels like square one? Because about a week or so later, I was back. All of a sudden, my pace was back there. It's just that first week back is humbling. I think it's good. It's good to humble yourself every now and then. I remember hitting that thinking, I hadn't ran in four weeks at that point.

1:01:53And I remember literally, I had to walk running to try and keep my heart rate down. And I remember going around and it's in London where, you know, my city, so lots of people who run just no one recognised me and people put up being like you okay then because I'm just walking on my runs I'm like yeah well good just having a casual walk run I think it's good I think it's absolutely fine I have no issue doing that I remember that I remember that point I'm glad you mentioned that because that video did stick with me because much I want to be like you know with social media there is an element of performance to it where you want to put a great version of yourself out you want to put the best out it sometimes can be a lot harder to Yeah.

1:02:27I'm not sure you can't shine a light on the more negative things or things you're struggling with because that requires a lot of vulnerability. It's very easy for me to hide behind the camera and talk about these great things happening here and I'm looking good at the moment here. It's a lot harder to talk about, hey, I suck at this right now. This isn't the easiest thing for me to do because it requires you to be a little bit more. But also that's the sort of stuff that has a lot of impact on people. as you said there like you know whenever I've seen creators that I love and look up to talk about things from a more deeper perspective or something maybe they're struggling with you know it humanizes it humanizes and at the end of the day we're all human we're all human beings we all have feelings we all have fears doubts worries concerns you know we're not all superman all times where we're trying to be you know great and trying to just crush this and miss the confidence hey we you know we all have our own doubts and I think it's okay to sometimes put that out there and if anything that you know makes I think it makes you more brave to be able to do that you know to be able to say hey you know what maybe this is the thing I'm struggling with here that's why with social I always talk about it if I'm not feeling great about something or I'm struggling with something one thing I'm really trying to do now is be a bit more communicative with that not just with people in social media but with people in my life as well I think that's something that you know not to say that every time I speak I'm just going to be moaning or playing about my situation but more a case of just knowing how to understand that myself and how to communicate that I think it's key if any good relationship is based on communication and I think that's an important factor to it

1:03:46Nick Bare:vulnerability is a very easy and quick way to connect with other people and allows others to be vulnerable as well. That's the other side to it, right? Because it gives permission to those around you to share with their own vulnerabilities as well. And that's why when my friends went to rehab a few years ago, I didn't know I could talk to them about that until they went and then they came out and they were talking to me about how they had felt and what they were going through. I felt sad at first because I was actually like, Dan, they never talked to me about this beforehand. they didn't speak to me about the things they were struggling with beforehand maybe as a friend I'd feel terrible as a friend if my friends couldn't come to me and talk to me about their challenge or their problems because they didn't think that I would care enough about it or I wouldn't want to listen to it and then he goes okay well what can I do to change that well maybe I can be a little bit more vulnerable with things I'm struggling with with them and maybe I can be a bit open with them about that and that definitely helps you know it keeps me quick granted my best mate George he called me on the phone when I was on the way up to the studio here give me a little pep talk for tomorrow but also it was you know it was a real real lovely chat and he was he was took the piss out of me completely as well you know he keeps me very humble and grounded but again it's the same thing I know that means a lot but come from him because he talks in the heart about it and you know if you want to you know the best way to have to deepen those relationships in your life with the people you care about is to be loved and move on about things if you're willing to share about your struggles your worries your concerns gives other people in your life permission to talk about their worries struggles concerns and whether or not that you can solve those problems for them.

1:05:19Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't, but sometimes people just want someone to listen. I think that's a really important thing to do for those around you is to just be there to be able to listen, you know, and know that, allow them to know that they're not being judged for their feelings.

1:05:33Nick Bare:Yeah, one of the best pieces of advice that Steph ever gave me, because you know, in a marriage, it's all about communication. For sure, right. And I naturally, like a problem solver. Yeah. If someone puts a problem in front of me, like alright well here's like let's lay it out here's how we solve it here's the plan let's go attack this yeah she's like hey sometimes I I I don't want to solve these problems I just want you to listen to them oh wow that's like completely against the way that I approach most of my life it's not very pragmatic is it yeah it's but I hear you I understand it yeah but I hear you like that's what you're asking for you just you want to be heard and listened to, you don't necessarily want a solution.

1:06:20Nick Bare:I can do that for you. So let's talk about this year's prep for the G1M Ultra. What are some of the biggest changes you made compared to last year from things that you learned through that experience? Heat training, really important. Obviously, this year is not as hot as last year's race. Touch wood still. One day left still could change. but even still training from the UK where January, February time you know it's just above zero it doesn't get very warm at all and coming to Texas where it's pretty warm here still compared to the UK even though it's not the last few days it's been like not really nice weather it's still the average temperature is a lot higher than the UK so my heat training acclimation block started six weeks ago for that then it was also really dialing in form under fatigue so I'll go out and do these 30, 40k runs and then I'll go see my physio, get on the treadmill and we'd start filming my form, seeing how it's looking.

1:07:20Where's the weakest point in the chain of my legs? What's going first? Where's that weakness? We notice there's a slight overpronation on the, but to be fair, both right and left, my tip post seems to, that last little, as you step down the heel, that last little area there, super weak point. We've just put a massive emphasis in building that up and really, and training it and testing it and seeing how we're developing it. That's been a huge one. Building that how? Oh God, this awful series of exercises. It's actually the most humbling thing because all I'm doing is moving my heel like an inch off the ground and then very slowly dropping it down like a Smith machine, single leg, calf raise, but the heel just goes like one or two inches off the ground.

1:08:00Would that be considered like plyos? Kind of really. I mean, it's much more tendon work. And again, it's to a degree isometric work because you are putting it into a hold. But again, it's just trying to fix that the weak part of my range of motion within that area. And we noticed that when I go for a three-hour run and then I jump on the treadmill, he's looking at my form compared to a fresh form. And he's like, yeah, when you're dropping the pace you're going to run an ultra at and your form, your technique there, there's a little bit of instability in that area we got to work on and just finding weaknesses.

1:08:30And I like that. We'll go test things out. He's like, right, I need you to be really fatigued. Go for a four-hour run, come back, and then we're going to test you out. And I'm like, okay, great. Let's see. Let's find the weakness, weak point. that is the main one second has been nutrition so last year I found it really hard to eat last year because of the heat often there's going to be a byproduct of heat illness but I found it really hard to get the food in me last year so I swapped over to a lot of liquids a lot of G1M sport and gels but this year I've been testing every time I've done a simulation we've been testing out a whole variety of foods not relying on foods in America I love food in America but if I'm living in the UK I'm used to British food that I have in training so I think half of one of my suitcases was just was just British food what kind of stuff?

1:09:17pot noodle it's like a noodle brand we have in the UK that's come in a big pot they are one of the most like unhealthiest foods but they're fantastic for ultra marathons I've had them on different challenges before and I know that they sit really well with me I did a 10 hour simulation a few weeks back and every other round I had one and I was I felt fantastic no issues no issues whatsoever combination of gels pot noodles and then the there's a a candy or sweets we call them in the UK called wine gums they've not actually got wine in them but they can't taste that I can chuck down like three or four rolls of these an hour and they're fantastic they're a little bit more solid I can get a bit in ultras like fatigue on powders and just gels it's nice to have something I can chew into as well for sure so they're phenomenal I absolutely love those I've got like a box of like 60 of them for the ultra so I'll make sure I say a couple they're really really good so I'm just used to the things I can have access to in the UK as much as I do love food in America I'm about to go to the grocery store after this to pick up my last bits of food and American food I'd say is actually delicious, I usually do get a few pounds when I come to America because the food is so good but I have just been sticking to those basic ones here, I brought a lot of food over I've had the last week, just make sure I've got no digestion issues, your stomach can really ruin ultras, same with like an Ironman or a marathon, if you go into it and your stomach's in bits in the day, it really, it can really make it suck.

1:10:43Nick Bare:Yeah. I mean, I found in any ultra distance race, the hardest part for me is always gut issues. Like at some point, the stomach turns. Yeah. Thinking back to my last, the last man standing I did in 2023. Yeah. Everything was dialed. And then, you get to a point where you have fatigue of powders, gels, bars, candy. So you come in from a loop and it's like, what can I eat right now? And people were handing me pieces of pizza and sandwiches and then everything went downhill from there. Stomach just turned. It's really tricky to, I think the best thing to have is options because I don't know what, I'm not sure when I won.

1:11:29I did a challenge in 2024. It was called Run the Capitals, ran to all the capital cities in the UK and Ireland. which is miles it was 600 miles in 11 days 12 hours and we had an RV we had all this food and I remember I was eating the same thing for dinner every night so my last five miles the lads would pass me a bowl of like big giant like a family sized portion of like chicken pasta like a tomato mascarpone sauce and it's fantastic my favourite pasta sauces and they'd pass out the window of the RV and I'd just run with this giant bowl just getting my last bit of calories before going to bed and I think on day three they passed it to me and I had one bite I spat it out and I was like what the hell is this?

1:12:06What have you, how have you made this differently? And the lads were like, we've made it exactly the same. It's like, we've made it every other night. I was like, no, you've done something to it. You've changed this, you've changed. They're like, it's literally like five ingredients. We've not done anything to it. And my body's reaction to it was like, I couldn't even swallow it. It tasted so bad. And I think when you're doing these crazy, you're in things, one slight like flavor fatigue and something, when that goes, you don't, it doesn't matter how hungry you are, you don't want it near you.

1:12:30Nick Bare:It almost makes you want to throw up. And I was thinking, at first I thought they've done something to this they've changed the sauce they've done something differently but no they trade up mainly exactly the same as every other day it's just that flavor fatigue had kicked in thankfully we've had an RV full of like different foods and whatnot but I think sometimes like every now and then just having something like fruit even though there's fiber in it it's not the most optimal thing to have during an ultra just something fresh and something that is like something that's been grown in the ground is quite nice it's like not a processed bar or bowl of noodles or something like that.

1:13:03100%. Something that is just very simple. Like I found last year like cold watermelon was really nice in the course. Again, watermelon is like super like not calorie dense at all. It's, you know, it's actually what I like to eat when I'm trying to cut some weight. But like it was just so nice to have something that was like had been grown and was fresh as opposed to just like hammering gels and powders and all this sort of stuff there and sodas. And it definitely is nice to change up a little bit over these things. That's the thing you definitely want. I had, I think last year, like we've made loads of like PB &J sandwiches.

1:13:31years we had our cool box was full of so much stuff and uh none i didn't fancy any of it at all

1:13:38Nick Bare:last year was interesting before the race got started walking through the campsites and looking at what people had yeah in their campsites for food i mean like oreos cookies cake everything i'm like i can almost promise you you don't want to start with that stuff No. Like, that is going to turn very, very quickly. Yeah. I've told this story before, but in 2023, when I did Last Man Standing, there was a guy there that was running with me, his first ultra ever. Wow. And you can tell he came from a strength background, like a bodybuilder. I was like, hey, man, what's your fueling strategy today? He's like chicken, rice, broccoli after every loop.

1:14:20Nick Bare:It's just... I was like, brother, I highly advise against that. Like, come eat some of our food. Yeah. That is going to be a bad day out there for you. Something I was thinking about as you're talking about monitoring the form of your running post long runs. How do you think about when I go out for my average run on a morning, I'm running like a 7.30, 7.45 minute per mile pace. My gait's different. My stride is different. When I go into these ultras, if I was going to go run the G1M Ultra tomorrow, I'd be running a lot slower. My gait's going to change. My foot strike is going to change. How do you approach your daily running?

1:15:06Nick Bare:Pace, stride, gait, all of that, knowing that come ultra, you're running slower. Great point. I intentionally do some really slow runs each week. You do? So yeah, I often do it on the treadmill. So that way I just, because I think if I'm outside running, I'll naturally want to speed up a bit. Or especially around London, you're constantly navigating people and places. and you also there's something about when you're running with lots of other people around you kind of don't want to you feel I often feel this I feel an overwhelming urge to not run that slow especially like oh definitely yeah I don't want it I don't want it to take over me especially when I run around London you know I don't want to be you know going basically a little bit faster than my walking pace so I just treadmill it so those runs I often don't record them as well because for me I'm just like I just got to do an hour G1M ultra pace and so I'll stick the the speed be like 6.30 kilometer pace I apologize to everyone I don't know what it is miles very slow there's like a five and a half hour marathon pace so maybe six hour marathon pace really super control like 110 heart rate sort of effort and it just is super tight gait I just want to know what that feels like where am I landing how does that landing each step feel super tight gait because again I've been on these big challenges before like you're forced to run at that you may not want to start at that pace but come day eight or nine running 50 plus miles a day, like you are going to have to run at that pace.

1:16:26Like you don't have the capacity to move everything so stiff that that's basically all you've got to work with. And just get really comfortable in that position. How do I feel? Where's my head at? Where's my angle at? Just get used to it. I did some on the treadmill this week. Not in here because I think when you're at BP and HQ, I have a real big urge to kind of run fast on the treadmill. Yeah, that's all you cooking. Just cooking away there. And then the Airbnb has got a nice gym to it. So I just sat there. My buddy Max is over from Dubai as well. was running this in the race I asked him because he did a 24 hour simulation a few weeks ago and even then he actually ran reasonably fast pace I said you are aware because he wants to go he wants to be well into day two and I was like you are aware what that pace is going to feel like a 6.30km pace and we spoke to that treadmills to it and it was almost like he was like this is so weird for him it almost felt like it took more effort to run at that slower pace than it did at his natural organic I think you got to train it.

1:17:23You have to train it. You have to get used to that pace because again, it's a different gait. It's a different angle. It's a different, there's less forward lean. It's almost feeling like you're just, you know, you're still lifting the foot but you're not propelling yourself off there. It's much more a case of perpetually falling and catching slightly and like still having a low ground contact time but your cadence is going to change. It almost feels like a bit more of a shuffle. How you land is a little bit more, I find a little bit more flat footed. And again, it's also about like how's that feel doing an hour on that where's where's sore where hurts often finders you know that's when you start getting into things like your core and your stability and your ability to hold yourself still standing upright it's really important because if you know doing it for an hour is one thing doing for 24 hours 40 hours like that's where often your legs are the things actually don't they keep going because you train them so well but you know how are you able to support your upper body how's that feeling how's that upper back you're leaning forward too much like really focusing on those form cues are so important um i look through footage a lot of time of different challenges and just see how I'm moving day seven, day eight, day nine of these challenges where, you know, I'm four or 500 miles into something.

1:18:27And I'm like, that's really interesting to see because you can always change up your form a little bit. And for me, it's like, if I know my hamstrings get tight, I'll change to this sort of form. I know my quads are tight. I'm going to be feeling like I'm striking a match under my foot when I run. So every time something gets tight, you kind of have to push the, um, the load off different muscle groups on the body. same way I'll change out like I've got heel risers for my shoes so I know that when my quads get tight I want to try and drop those heel risers down

1:18:56Nick Bare:oh interesting yeah yeah so I really like we hone in I hone that kind of stuff there and I pick that up from doing like all these like the London Underground or the capsule challenges where you again you're doing 50-60 miles a day like you need to you have to every four or so hours I change the profile keep the same shoe or maybe the same shoe but a different like a fresher version of it but with like a an extra four or five mil heel on it that makes a big difference huge because what it does it takes a lot of the pressure on the soles of your feet it just slightly changes where the most concentrated pressure is but also what it does is one you know couple millimetre difference on that heel all of a sudden the chain of muscles that's going through you it slightly changes the load across that from glutes quads hamstrings calves there's a slight change if it leans you forward a little bit you know one degree at the bottom there's a bit that just changes that lean slightly and all of a sudden it just takes pressure off certain points and I find also it keeps your mind when we're occupied I know that oh shoot that's a noticeable difference my feet feel fresher in these shoes could be the same shoe but just by putting a heel riser in we kind of go between 2 and 6 mil on heel risers and also just changing your shoe profile sometimes you want something that's a bit more responsive at certain points sometimes you want to go back to something that's actually a bit more comfortable and a bit more stable always having an option to change I think it's really important because it keeps you I think the biggest trick with ultras is not to spiral, not to go, oh God, this is actually, this is getting worse, it's getting worse because again, you're actually feeling worse as time goes on but you need to be constantly problem solving or trying to get ahead of a problem.

1:20:26So when your legs start to get tired or your hamstrings are sore, whatever it is, they go, right, they're starting to get a bit sore, let's just change this up now and then all of a sudden it takes your mind off the problem because you're on the focus of the solution and so for me, having that constant change out is a really nice thing to do and again, a lot of the time, it's just, sometimes it's a guessing game But most of the time, it's just being a bit pragmatic in those situations. I always find being pragmatic in high-stress situations when you're just trying to focus on continuously moving is really important because you're focusing much more on solutions than problems.

1:20:57That's smart.

1:20:57Nick Bare:I've actually never heard of someone changing out the heel pitch on their shoe. You pop it underneath your insole and just pop a little heel riser on there. It's really good. My physio, they're from the running room. They're based out of Sydney, Australia. they helped Ned Brockman on his run across Australia and his thousand miles around the running track they're fantastic super specialists at running they've got a few clinics out in London and so my physio Adrian's from that clinic he's come over and they're brilliant they have the deep deep understanding of getting people through incredibly long endurance challenges as well as helping people run for training for a 10k or a half marathon or a marathon they take a very very much a data first approach to all of this stuff and they've got data from me for five years from five years of running every time I do a gate analysis, every time we wear a different pair of shoes, they've got treadmills with all these sensors on it that are just picking up all that data.

1:21:49Then we can see changing of landing forces. You know, when I, if I go off a four-hour run, I come in, jump on the treadmill, they'll then record that data and then we've got, you know, another set of data that we can see. That's incredible. Really good. I like it because it keeps, it always gives me something to focus on and work on. You know, I always think with running, it's one of those things that it's never, there's no finish line. You never, you never achieve everything. there's always something to try and work on and try and fix I think especially with ultras there's only the first few hours the only time you feel fresh and feel good so I don't want to constantly do stuff with him when I'm fresh and good it's nice to do like at the end of a big week and then go out and do a 2, 3, 4 hour session and then go and see him and then he's going to look through and see right let's see how you're moving the treadmill now let's see if this makes a big difference looking at even shoe choices, different options on there and I find that to be fascinating I don't mind geeking out the data around that sort of stuff because he's looking to he's looking to make changes to my form or to how I'm moving and even things like, you know, different body positions.

1:22:44It's always up on the camera and you can see how that impacts landing forces. And again, all you try to do is minimize landing force when it comes to running. The pain you feel is mostly just from your ability to absorb force or how that dissipates across your body. How can we reduce that further? Or how can we make you more efficient at absorbing force, which ultimately leads you to have a great capacity to go further? And I think putting a lot of effort on that side of things is really important. He's also not like, you know, he works really closely with my run coach. They don't want me doing constant massive weeks of mileage.

1:23:14We obviously have simulations, a decent level of consistency and reasonably high mileage. But sometimes you can, you know, we want to get the most return for the effort we're putting into it. So we find for me, it's like a lot of work on the bike alongside of the running as well. I noticed that. Yeah. Bikes, bikes are real. The biggest jumps I've seen in my fitness has been as a result of that. Still running every day, very specific S &C work for lower body training which has been fantastic and again really putting a massive emphasis on ability to absorb force with the legs but the bike's been a wonderful wonderful tool

1:23:50Nick Bare:that's what I love about Ironman training actually you're able to get so fit I would say mainly because the bike and the run I hate the swim so I can't give any credit to the swim nor do I want to give credit to the swim because it's like the bare minimum of what I have to do to swim. But I could run nine miles in the morning and then go spend three hours, four hours on the bike in the afternoon. And it's not going to tax the muscular system of my lower body, but I'm going to get the cardiovascular aerobic benefits of those three to four hours. I built so much fitness in my Ironman prep because I spent so much time on the bike.

1:24:31Nick Bare:I think the bike is an incredible cross-training tool that is underutilized by people outside of the triathlon space. 100%. If you look at who the fittest athletes in the world are now, it's all the triathletes. The highest VO2 max score ever recorded, is it Christian Blumenfeld? 102. Oh, wow. Yeah, triathlete. Like Alex Yee, British triathlete, he'd never run a marathon. He just ran 206 last year in London. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And he's like, he won he's like he won the T100 last year as well like he an Olympic gold medalist as well shout out Alex Lee shout out Alex Yee South London wow no 206 for your first marathon is crazy crazy yeah these guys are so fit and so fast and I think I think it's incredible and that's why for us it's like there there is a at certain points there is like a the ROI on more miles just doesn't make sense I agree it gets to a point where sometimes it's the ego talking.

1:25:34I know wrong, I've done like 200 mile training before. Like to see what it's like, to see how far I can go. I've had to do simulation weeks for challenges where I've got to run, you know, 25, 30 miles in a day. Back to back to back to back to back. And it's like, okay, let's see what that looks, see what that feels like and looks like. And again, even if you've got a great amount of capacity to do that and to absorb that, what fitness you, you know, how much benefit you're getting from that stimulus? There's a point of diminishing return. Massive diminishing returns there. So, but the bike for us, we go, okay, well, we can still kick out.

1:26:05Again, we're not taxing the legs from a muscular standpoint, but we are still working the engine, training the system. And that's been great. I absolutely love the bike. And especially now I've got, I use a Watt bike, I've got my new place. I just set up in there. I just crack on some YouTube, get flying. And the time just flies by when you're on the bike. Because again, if you're not doing a hard session, if you're just sitting like in zone two, it doesn't, you know, for me, I always feel like, I don't really feel like I'm doing much of a workout, but hey, you know, Just time is going to pass by.

1:26:34Keep putting fuel in. Keep moving the legs forward. And I say, I don't feel like I'm working out. But then after an hour run and a two and a half hour bike ride, I get to go to bed that night. And I just head into the pillow and I'm out. So I'm like, okay, I must be doing something because I'm crashing hard.

1:26:47Nick Bare:During Ironman prep, I was like a zombie at night. All the training. So last year you went 102 miles, 10th place. You made a lot of changes to your training going into this year. How far do you want to go? for you what is what does success look like outside of winning obviously of course no success hey success is multiple different things is there's obviously my own personal success within the race and distances and I would love to get past where the guys came last year 235 miles yeah that for me is like that's been on my mind I obviously am aware that the chance of this race is going to go significantly further than that looking at the field of athletes who are here.

1:27:33But success to me is a combination of things. It's doing my absolute best. And that's sometimes on the day conditions, whatever it is. What if this rain hits and it's super muddy and boggy and no one's getting that far? Hey, well, I'll do my absolute best. I want to do an effort that when I finish and I go to bed, whatever that is, I can be proud of. I do my team proud. I represent BPN on course, make sure I support other runners who are there. There'll be lots of people who got into this raffle. we talk about guys who are trying to go for two, three, four days running here. There's also lots of people in this race who would have gotten the raffle who've never ran 50 miles before.

1:28:08I want to make sure I can support those guys as well. I want to make sure that, you know, as well as I'm being here as a competitor, I'm also here representing BPN as an athlete. There's, you know, I have multiple different roles to play within that as well. And so supporting those around me, keeping spirits high on course now. My friend Max, he got into running around the same sort of time as I did. He's in this race too. He's talking about wanting to go 200 miles. I'm like, okay, great. like hey let's help each other out with this one um executing on what we've been training on so the micro sleeps i work with a sleep specialist to try and like learn how to do these little micro sleeps in nighttime um i want to be able to nail a few sleeps that for me is like i feel like i feel like after all the work i've put into it being able to sleep for like five minutes a lap at nighttime would be amazing um you dialed dude no i wanted to leave no rock i don't want to turn i don't want to turn up this race being like oh i don't know how this works like no i know how this works we practiced as we studied this um i don't yeah i didn't want to be turning up i remember last year there's a point when i looked over the kendall scene i was wide awake on my chair sweat pouring off every hole but i'm thinking like oh my god look over to him and he's sound asleep getting fanned he fanned off there and i'm looking at him and like how's this guy sleeping i'm i'm i'm sweating everywhere just trying to hold on to dear life and this kid's just like conked out sleeping i'm like oh that's why he's so fresh to the moment still so i was no one who did so well.

1:29:25And also to make sure it's a great event. I want to make sure that if anyone gets into trouble on the course, we'll support each other. I think there's always more to these races than who wins and who does what out of it. Safety is always the most paramount of things with these things. Anytime anyone's pushing their bodies to extreme levels, there's always a case of that. So make sure that everyone's safe, everyone finishes well, everyone does their best. And I'll make sure that I get to lead that course head held high, giving absolutely everything. and putting a number on that I'd love to be able to hit those distances 250 you know that's kind of stuck in my mind a little bit but again the only thing I can control two things in my control are my effort and my attitude and that's it everything else the weather, the competition none of that is up to me and that's something that I've just held as a constant throughout this they're the two things I've got at the top of my notebook effort and attitude and I just I've had a fantastic attitude towards my training this process of improvement how I come about things every day the excitement I have for training, the joy I found in training this year.

1:30:25And then the other side to it is effort. Am I trying as hard as I could do? And again, that's been 10 out of 10 this year. I put the most effort in. I've not missed a single session. I've done everything I need to do from that perspective. And then just doing it with a great attitude as well, I think so important because that's, it's the attitude that's a difference maker, right? I could do every session miserably and drag myself to every session. And I got to do that. I got to do this today. I've got to do this session today. or I could be like, wow, how great is this? I get to go do this session today.

1:30:54I get to go push myself today. I get to go train today and I get to do it with people who I love. I get to go see my friends. I get to train my friends today. You know, I've got my run club in London. I get to go, oh, it's Saturday. I get to do my long run with 200 other people. Awesome. Like that's how great is that? And that attitude of how beautiful is this? I get to push myself to my limit. I get to try really hard at something and I get to improve at my sport as a result of that. How amazing is that? What a great life I've got. What a great opportunity I've got. How lucky I am to have that.

1:31:20And that's been my attitude throughout this whole thing. How lucky am I that I get to compete in the Goalmore Ultra for a second time? Like that for me, I, you know, I'm, I'll sometimes catch myself being like, oh, God, got a long ass day today or tomorrow. Look at the schedule for the next day. It's like a triple training day and I'm tired. I'm fatigued. And it's like, how lucky am I that I get to go do this and do it as a part of the BPN team? That's really special. And so for me, that perspective of having that attitude of this is special. This, I'm lucky I get to do this. so I have no right to complain so I might as well do it with a big smile on my face and celebrate that work you know the work is the work is the win you know the work works on you more than you work on the work and that for me that resonates so hard with me because again knowing that it's the work that's making me better and my attitude towards it has been brilliant I get to go to wake up tomorrow and try my hardest again that's a really special thing to do and so that for me that attitude for me has been a very big different thing this year compared to last year where I was a little bit more worried about the race I was a bit like redone this format for this is kind of new territory for me here but this year it's like cool learn a lot of lessons let's go at this attitude and you know I've got a great team behind me and not just my team of crew but the team of yourself the rest of the BPN team here who also all have that same attitude that's something that I've noticed ever since I joined BPN is there's a shared attitude across the board from people who work in the warehouse to people who work in media to yourself to the senior team to the athletes there is this attitude of this is special we get to do this we don't have to do this and that's a really lovely environment to be around I appreciate that no of course it's a culture thing you know I remember you said you also said it's that like sheet at the start of the year with all those like the manifesto manifesto yeah

1:33:06Nick Bare:the brand vision brand vision yeah I remember you put it on the Slack group and I was like oh this is really cool thank you for that like it's nice it's nice that a lot of the things I care about about how I operate and how I do my day-to-day they're not just words for you guys. They're things that you live by. And that's like, it's great to be involved in an organization that takes that kind of stuff seriously. Like standards, like how you treat other people with respect. Those things are really important. Because they're important to me. And it's nice to get to work with brands that it's important with that too as well.

1:33:35Nick Bare:Absolutely. Well, dude, I'm excited to see how far you go. I'm really impressed with the prep you put in. Thank you. I respect the intention of your training nutrition the the sleep specialist the heat acclimation like all of it man yeah you put in a big prep and I'm excited to see you throw down tomorrow I tell you what after all this work I better bloody do well because if I don't no it's I appreciate it thank you so much it's been it's been a really wonderful journey and the final run of that journey is tomorrow the final run of training was this morning and it's so special to be here now like the day before the race on the verge of it all going together.

1:34:18And it's going to be, I tell you what, it's going to be one hell of an experience. About 22 hours out. That's it. That makes me nervous now.

1:34:25Nick Bare:Here we go. All right, brother. I appreciate you. Thank you so much for having me on, Nick.