Speaker A
I want to start by showing this picture. This is you. You already ran about 623 km by this time.
Raj Shamani interviews runner Ayyoub El Osrouti about his Backyard Ultra race, 623 km of running, mental toughness, training, and the limits of body versus mind.
Key Takeaways
- Mental toughness is trainable, but it must be balanced with recognizing genuine physical damage.
- Consistent daily training over years matters more than occasional intense effort.
- Pacing discipline and deliberate rest strategies are critical in ultra-endurance events.
- Long-term athletic goals may justify stopping before a short-term finish line.
What the video covers
- Ayyoub El Osrouti describes the Backyard Ultra format: a 6.7 km loop every hour on the hour, continuing until only one runner remains.
- He ran about 623 km over roughly 93 hours across four days and five nights, sleeping only about 60 minutes in total.
- At loop 87 he suffered severe Achilles pain and considered stopping, but chose to push on, weighing the risk of long-term injury.
- He explains he stopped at around 620 km because accumulated physical issues came together, prioritizing a long-term running career over one more loop.
- He trained for roughly four years, with year-round daily training from Monday to Sunday, and argues that dreams without work are meaningless.
- Recommended strength work includes squats, deadlifts, calf raises, and single-leg movements, performed cleanly rather than heavily.
- He discusses sleep management, including short rest breaks, NSDR-style guided breathwork, and using creatine to help cognition during sleep deprivation.
- A tactical mistake of running loops too fast to gain rest time taught him to maintain steady pacing.
- He reflects on distinguishing genuine physical limits from the brain's protective discomfort signals.
- The episode closes with promotion of the show's subscription and Spotify audio, plus a sponsored segment for ASUS Expert Book laptops.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to the 623 km Backyard Ultra
- 07:00Explaining the Backyard Ultra format
- 23:00Guest introduction and running background
- 41:40The final loops and why he stopped
- 75:00Training routine and strength exercises
- 110:00Sleep, recovery, and nutrition during the race
- 140:00Mental strength, pain, and knowing physical limits
- 165:00Advice for building mental resilience
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
If someone who's never heard of Backyard Ultra, what is it? The Jyard is an ultra running race running 6.7 km every hour on the hour.
Speaker A
race is endless. There will be two runners at the end of that race. Eventually after that it will be just one.
Speaker A
That's brutal bike. And you just kept running for days. How many days? 4 days.
Speaker A
4 days. 5 nights. How much did you sleep? Those 93 hours. In the first 36 hours, I slept maybe 5 minutes. 60 minutes over the whole race.
Speaker A
It's a sleepless race. Did you ever in those 93 you felt like I'm done?
Speaker A
Maybe for just a second as a as a thought. Yeah. Um at loop 87 I had something at my Achilles and it was hurting so bad. Every step hurt. I was like okay maybe it's over here.
Speaker A
Why didn't you go? Wanted to just overcome my limits. It's just some pain. It will go away.
Speaker A
But what if you you would have ended up losing your leg. Yeah. Then that's what it is. I need to finish that roof.
Speaker A
Why do you want to become great? Because I I can't live like that. I want to just show the people out there, the world out there, that you can dream, but if you just dream and don't do the work behind it, it's basically
Speaker A
nothing. How long did you specifically train for this race? Trained the whole year for that. Every day, every week, just training from Monday to Sunday. And if a race comes, I'm ready.
Speaker A
Don't you rest? If people ask me, do you rest? I tell them always, you need to rest. Maybe, but for me, it isn't a thing.
Speaker A
I mean, what exact strength exercises somebody who's watching this should do to build a great body or to build great strength and endurance? Starting with squats, deadlifts, not too heavy. It's important to do it very clean. Then we
Speaker A
have cal raises very important for runners and single leg movements. You are one of the most extraordinary minds in the world when it comes to suffering and just tolerating pain. If someone's watching this and they're like I can't take this another step. How do I
Speaker A
know that that's my physical limit or that just my brain telling me and protecting me from discomfort?
Speaker A
Somebody watches you today and be like, "Hey, I want to become mentally unbreakable." What should they do for next 30 days? I think the first thing very simple.
Speaker A
I have a small favor to ask you. I need you to subscribe to our channel. The more subscribers we have, the better and bigger guests we can bring and provide you more value through these conversations. And the full audio
Speaker A
experience of this show is also available on Spotify where you can follow us and listen to the new episodes as well. In today's world, most of your work is done on your laptop. You use it constantly every single day for years.
Speaker A
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Speaker A
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Speaker A
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Speaker A
Okay, so hello. Ha, welcome on the show by the way. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much on coming on figuring out.
Speaker A
I thank you for the invite. It's a pleasure to be here. It's awesome to talk about all the things.
Speaker A
Thank you. You know, if someone is watching you for the first time and they don't know who you are, how would you explain what do you do, who you are, why they should listen to this conversation?
Speaker A
Um I'm L. Um yeah, I'm doing sport. Um I love to run. I love to run far. Um I started at I would say nothing to becoming now professional um in a short term.
Speaker A
That's what I did. So just run run doing things be delusional and go all in. Um and that's me.
Speaker A
And then why should somebody listen to you today? because um there are too many people out there um would just talk about things and not doing it. Um and I want to just show the people out there, the world out there that just
Speaker A
talking is okay. No, but you need to put the work behind it. You can dream, you can dream, but if you just dream and don't do the work behind it, it's basically nothing. And of course I dreamt before I um was like okay you
Speaker A
need to work for it not just talking dreaming about things you need to work you need to train hard and um just be delusional.
Speaker A
Interesting. You know before I ask you about delusions before I ask you anything at all I want to start by showing this picture to you.
Speaker A
This Yeah, that's um this is you. That's me. That's you. That's me. Right. You already ran about 623 kilometers by this time.
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. Then why did you give up at this point? That's a very hard question.
Speaker A
Why did I gave up at particular at this point? It's hard to tell because it's just I ran before it was 600k, 620k. Um, and I'm thinking about when you do this kind of sport, it was a backyard
Speaker A
running 6.7 kilometers every hour on the hour. Um, you think in loops, not in miles, not in kilometers, just in loops.
Speaker A
And at the last round, it was uh round 93, it felt so hard. I started the loop like every other loop before, but the time was going so fast and I was so slow and I was running and I thought like,
Speaker A
okay, maybe I could finish it, but the time is going so fast and still there's so much miles to go.
Speaker A
And it was exactly this moment I was looking at my watch and I thought like I think it's over.
Speaker A
You can't reach the finish line anymore. Just lie down there on that big moose field and just take a moment.
Speaker A
I don't know, sleep there or do anything. But it's over. I looked into the sky and it was like okay I think I think it's over. There was completely emptiness.
Speaker A
But what was going inside you? Let's say there was you said emptiness was just what you were seeing what was going inside you that after 6 23 kilometers of running you were like I can't do this anymore. This is it. People out there
Speaker A
would say like another 6.7 km isn't something you ran 600 kilometers before. Just do the 6.7 kilometers. But I would say exactly this loop felt so hard in comparison to the sex. It was like so hard and I was I was struggling a little
Speaker A
bit. I would say not mentally, just physically. I had some issues before over the race and at that point everything comes together.
Speaker A
So I thought like I don't know over the loop it was like I had so much things going through my mind like go finish it go finish it you can you can but it was it was I don't know there was it was just hard
Speaker A
but you said your mind still wanted to go. Yeah. Then body gave up. Mentally me I would say mentally I'm very strong. Um but in that last moment it was just so many physical issues I had before come
Speaker A
together came together and it was like too much if you go further it could happen that you damage your body and it wasn't discomfort it was okay if you finish the loop of course my ideology was over the race just loop by loop of
Speaker A
course it was that thing um But how is it if you finish the loop and start another loop, another loop, and every loop you damage more your body? Is it good? I don't know. Because I love this game. I love the running
Speaker A
stuff. I want to run in 20, 30 years. So it was okay you need to stop because you want to run in the next years.
Speaker A
You want to set statements maybe next year the other years. Do you want to you want to have fun in that sport and you want to just run the next 20 30 40 years. So my thought was like just just
Speaker A
put it all I don't know it's enough it's enough and uh just keep it there.
Speaker A
So if you if you are saying that my mind wanted to still run my mind wanted to finish the race or my mind wanted to go do another loop.
Speaker A
How did you know that the body can't move? Like at what point the body wins over the mind?
Speaker A
Mhm. Um so I know my body now. Um I trained for 4 years now. Um spec specifically the running stuff. Um I started running in 2022 with my first half marathon. Uh so this was exactly 4 years ago. Um after a
Speaker A
while I yeah I pushed me a little bit harder. I did my training sessions. I did my miles over the years. Um I had so many races. Um I started 2025 with my first ultras. Um so my first
Speaker A
ultramarathon u and I never trained with a watch just with my phone. So over the years I know my body very well. I know okay now it's just discomfort but after that it's damaging your body so it's experience over the years um and at that
Speaker A
point it was okay it isn't discomfort anymore it's damaging your body because my right side was swollen like everything was swollen um but I could run because it was just swollen I had some issues with my um inner thigh with my um with my ankles
Speaker A
like everything was but it was fine. I could run but at that point it was now you're damaging your body and if you go for another I don't know five loops 6 7 10 loops uh it will get it will get
Speaker A
worseer but you had it in you that you could have done it at that point I could have finished the loop but after it so it was hard to say that and in that moment spec specific in that
Speaker A
moment it was I could did I know but it's hard to tell it's very hard to tell mentally I'm very strong I know that I know that for sure but I love the sport I want to run in years
Speaker A
so it's but did you know here at this point that you can at this point specific when I lied there it was I knew it was over. I knew that.
Speaker A
You knew that you don't have it in you at least right now. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker A
Do you regret it when you look back? No. Because it's the experience I take.
Speaker A
It's like last year I did the same thing. Um last year I did uh I ran 66 67 loops. Um and I stopped when my Achilles was a little bit inflammated and I did the same thing. I saw okay it doesn't
Speaker A
work anymore. you need to stop. And I came back, yeah, a year later doing 30 more loops and that's the progress. And I trust the process in that case. Um because it's not a sprint, it's a marathon.
Speaker A
Mhm. So don't rush, you have time. In that sport, in that ultra game, in that backyard game, I'm pretty young, so 27 years old.
Speaker A
And there are people out there, for example, um the World Cup is held by a guy who is maybe over 35 or over 40 years old. Um so for me, it's like, okay, you have time. You have time, but
Speaker A
put the work in. I'm not lying down. So like, okay, I have enough time. I will push myself even more for the next couple months. I will train hard to reach a better level of that.
Speaker A
Interesting. So, if someone who's never heard of Backyard Ultra, what is it? What is this? What exactly is this race?
Speaker A
Because you and I, we keep talking loops and ultra. Explain everybody. Uh what's what is the Bayard? The Bayard is an ultra um running race uh running 6.7 kilometers every hour on the hour.
Speaker A
Um I think it's something between 4.2 miles. There will be a lot of people running that. Um and the winner is the last man standing. So you run as long as you can and the last man standing will win that
Speaker A
race. That's a backyard. And um and the race is endless. Actually, it could be endless, but there will be two runners at the end of that race 100%. Someday and some days maybe in weeks. So, and um eventually after
Speaker A
that it will be just one and yeah, it will be the last one. And wow, that that's brutal. By the way, that's just brutal. Like, let me let me rephrase this if I've understood it right. Okay, so this race is called Last Soul
Speaker A
Standing. It's Last Man Standing. Last Man Standing. Okay, so Backyard Ultra, which is Last Man Standing.
Speaker A
Every hour you run for 6.7 km. Yeah. You finish it and then you start again.
Speaker A
Yeah. And then you finish it and then you start again. Exactly. The only time that you get to rest is the time between you finishing 6.7 hours and the before the next hour starts.
Speaker A
Yeah. Exactly. That's it. Yeah. And then you keep running. You keep running. Everybody keeps running again and again and again till everybody collapses.
Speaker A
Yeah. Basically and there's nobody who will come second or third or fourth. There'll only be one winner. Everyone else will be DNF.
Speaker A
Exactly. So there is no second place, third place. Um and people call me, yeah, you were second at last soul. Last soul was the um the race in Germany. Um just one month ago, I would say. Um um
Speaker A
and they call Yeah, you are second, you are second, but for me it isn't. It's DNFED. Like last year, I was also DNFed.
Speaker A
I was the last man uh quitting. So yeah, it's like very hard to say quitting because I hate it. Yeah, I hate to quit. I hate it so much, but it is how it is.
Speaker A
So, DNFS did not finish. Yeah. Now, this time, so everybody say, let's say you were second, but there's no second position.
Speaker A
So, the guy who finished it just finished 94 loops. Yeah. Just one extra loop and then Yeah. So, I was in the 94th loop. Um if I had finished it then it was like it it will be like I don't know 94 94 and we
Speaker A
start the next loop. Uh but yeah unfortunately I did not. Uh and one loop is 6.7 km. So 93 loop and you just kept running for days.
Speaker A
Yeah. How many days? Four days. Four days. Four full days. Five nights. How much did you sleep?
Speaker A
So in the first 36 hours I slept maybe 5 minutes. Um it was it was yeah it was it was a little issue because my coach who is Sam Harvey he is the assist for the world record. Um the world record is at the
Speaker A
moment at 119 loops. Um he held it for 118 loops. So also like we the last man was who were quitting. It's crazy. Uh so he told me at loop I don't know 36 35 you need to rest now. You need to sleep more and
Speaker A
from there on it was okay run the loop a little bit faster so you have more time and to sleep a little bit more. You need to manage it. You need to coordinate it because it's it's very important. You need to sleep
Speaker A
because it can backfires. If you don't sleep for I would say 50 hours, 60 hours, you start to hallucinate. I had it last year. It was something else.
Speaker A
What were you hallucinating on? I saw things out there who weren't there. Like I saw animals, dogs, cats, and it was just water lying on the ground. So it was just water on the ground and I thought it was a cat or
Speaker A
dog. I it was just just so strange and weird. It was my first time hallucinate and um yeah so it's very important to sleep and but we we managed it very well so over the 93 loops I did not hallucinate one
Speaker A
time it was perfect I sleep very good of course I had some loops where I was very tired um and I told that my coach um after the loops yeah coach uh um I'm very tired.
Speaker A
Then he said, "Yeah, now run faster so you can rest." And that's what we did.
Speaker A
And how much do you rest? It's hard to say because um you can't Some loops you run a little bit slower, so you can't sleep. You just eat something and start the next loop. Um I would say maybe
Speaker A
in that 93 hours maybe 60 minutes. 60 60 minutes. So there were you would like sleep for like 5 minutes 4 minutes every hour.
Speaker A
Yeah. Just in the last I would say the last 80 loops uh the last no the last 20 loops I slept for five minutes each loop. Before it was like okay just lie a little bit down shut your shut your eyes
Speaker A
and just relax a little bit and most of the time you are eating you'd get a massage from your physiotherapist so it's a sleepless race a minute you said for 93 hours every hour you get like about 5 minutes
Speaker A
and in those five minutes You eat, you pee, you poop, you get the massage, you rest, and you sleep in 5 minutes.
Speaker A
Yeah. And for 93 hours, you just keep doing it again and again and again.
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. Is it is this format brutal? Because it's very very difficult psychologically or physiologically? What's harder, mental or physical game? Uh for most people mental uh for me it's like physic just a physique thing. Um my body will shut
Speaker A
down eventually some at some loops um I had some issues over the race. Uh it started at loop 40 where my inner thigh was like inflammated. It hurt so much.
Speaker A
Um, then it started with my ankles, with my with my um yeah, some issues just getting over the race. But mentally I'm Yeah, I said it before. I'm very strong.
Speaker A
I um started when I started the running thing um four years ago. I started with reading a lot about mentality with uh mindset uh ultra things. Um or just take some stuff and just change it and putting in me like
Speaker A
you need to be a little bit mentally stronger to run that far. So for me it's uh the mental thing isn't a problem.
Speaker A
It's just a physical one. Um but for other people out there it's maybe tightness, the physical issues. Um but also the mental thing because for most people running in the night it's very heavy because it's dark, the discomfort, the
Speaker A
the Yeah. The silent it's so it's so silent out there and um for a lot of people it's it's too hard.
Speaker A
So you're just running alone. Yeah, I was over the over the race. I was maybe 80% I was running alone and there were sometimes people coming to me just talking a little bit and there was um Harvey Louise also a backyard runner um
Speaker A
doing very funny stuff out there. So it was very funny to talk with him to chat with him a little bit but 80% or 85% of the race you're running alone. I would say maybe even more like 90%. Um, for me
Speaker A
it's perfect. I love that. I love the running stuff. I love to run alone to be just alone in your head. Um, I don't run with a phone. I don't run with headphones. Um, so till loop 80, 82 or
Speaker A
85, I just went without nothing. Just hearing my steps, the nature, the Yeah. the people suffering maybe um it was just me and after 85 loops I started taking off um taking my phone with me on the track and listening to some podcast
Speaker A
uh yeah stuff like that why do you do this why did you start running like this is obsession this is madness yeah yeah yeah it is it is uh when did this love for running became madness an obsession
Speaker A
I so I started 2022 with a running thing. Um I just um run my first half marathon in Cologne in Germany with a friend of mine. Um he's a boxer. I was basically nothing. I I stopped with playing soccer. Um and I
Speaker A
had maybe two years of doing basically nothing, no sport, nothing. It was so unhealthy. Um so when I started running also started with going to the gym. Uh I think one year ago I started with a gym thing just lifting heavy uh getting
Speaker A
bigger. Um but I needed to do something for my yeah for my health just running because just lifting weights isn't the thing. Um I was okay let's do half marathon cologne and um I stick to it.
Speaker A
So after the half marathon, I was okay. Um, let's do that. It's kind of fun. I love the running thing. Um, and I started to run every week for maybe three times a week. Um, from there on it
Speaker A
was just run, take some races with you. Um, I started to travel and do races all over the world. For example, in in Italy, in the Nether Netherlands, in London. So um yeah it it was fun and um
Speaker A
from there on I started to do trial yeah triathlons uh like 70.3 like an iron man a half iron man um and after that in 2025 I started with ultras because I would say one or two years ago I heard
Speaker A
something about Gogggins. Gogggins is an um also an ultra aathlete, as an ultra runner. Yeah, David Gogins. Um and I started reading so much about him. Um I read his books um and listened to every podcast, every podcast, every video, like
Speaker A
everything. I was so amazed from his as a persona and also from his like historic his his story is like very fascinating. Um and for me it was okay you can you can be a little bit mental and do that ultra
Speaker A
thing. So in 2025 I started ultras and um before that I was reading so much I was reading very yeah much heard listen to every podcast of David Gogggins and um yeah that's David Gogins thing that's a David Gogan thing exactly so um
Speaker A
yeah he's a kind of role model to me a little inspiration in that mental thing but the he's destroying his So, it's very hard to tell if but I just took the I just picked up the mental things. Um,
Speaker A
and that was okay. You are now mentally stronger than before. You can do the ultra things. Um, so I started with 250ks per week. Um, and just run every week over 170 200ks. Um, and in 2025 I was uh selected by Last Soul Ultra,
Speaker A
the first one, and I did the backyard. And what did David Gogins change in your life?
Speaker A
Um, he changed a lot of um things in my life to not be lazy anymore, to overcome the laziness, to go over your limits.
Speaker A
And often is it is just discomfort. Um you need to push a little bit more. You need to train more and just you need to do things. Don't just talk about things.
Speaker A
You need to put the work behind it. And that's what he always tell everybody out there. Um you can be delusional. You can also dream about things but you need to put the work behind it. So that's what I
Speaker A
took and um it I would say it changed my life. What do you absolutely love from him?
Speaker A
There's there's one quote you know which which I really love of David Gogggins. It's like you are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft that that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.
Speaker A
Yeah. It's great. Yeah. Um yeah, to me it hits so hard. I heard it years ago.
Speaker A
Yeah, years ago. Because I found out his book uh Can't Hurt Me or Can't Hurt Us or something.
Speaker A
Can't hurt me. And then I listened to some podcast or some clip and I heard this this this quote and it just I was like he he has so many quotes and I think it's like every quote is
Speaker A
hits you. Exactly. Like it it hit it hits you and no matter and at that time I thought that I was already doing a lot of things in my life, right? I was already like the guy and trying to work
Speaker A
hard and do it and then he just comes out and and the way he says it it's so brutal.
Speaker A
Yeah. It's never enough. You need to do more. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You need to do more.
Speaker A
You Yeah. But it's right. It's my It's basically now my lifestyle because I'm obsessed with the things I do. I'm obsessed with the sport. I want to do more. After the race, I ran like I ran 620 kilometers, but it it isn't enough
Speaker A
for me. I just recovered a little bit. Uh, I would say for 2 weeks and from there on it was, okay, get back to work now. Get back to work. You need to train way harder now.
Speaker A
Yeah. And that's what I love about Gorgens. He's just training. He's just doing things. Don't talk too much. Just do it.
Speaker A
And uh always stay hard. True. True. True. And it he's amazing though. He's just Did you ever in those 93 you felt like I'm done?
Speaker A
I I don't want to do this. Maybe for just a second as a as a thought. Yeah. Um, at loop 87, um, I had something at my Achilles and it was hurting so bad. Um, every step hurt it so much. I was like, okay, maybe
Speaker A
it's over here. And I just turned and was like, okay, just just quit now. 87 loops.
Speaker A
It's okay. Why didn't you quit? I was thinking about the reason why I started that race, why I'm running, and everything, everything came together, why I'm doing that stuff. Uh, doing it for me, doing it for my family, doing it for people
Speaker A
out there. Um, and I wanted to just overcome my limits. And from there on it was, okay, turn around, finish the loop. It's just discomfort. adjust some pain it will go away. You need to finish the loop and in
Speaker A
the tent you can manage to solve that problem. This was the thing. But what if you you would have ended up losing your leg because you have you would have broken your ankle.
Speaker A
Yeah. Then that's what it is. That thought didn't come in your head. No, because I know my body very well.
Speaker A
Um, I know it was just just an inflammation uh at my Achilles and it it was nothing very bad but the the pain was very very hard to I don't know to one in that and every step was such a
Speaker A
such a pain. Um but I knew okay it's similar to last year I had the same thing on the other leg and um this time it was okay now I need I need to finish that loop 100% I need to finish that
Speaker A
loop why there's a need to finish loop because I sacrificed so much before all the training sessions the loops before the the invest before I I trained for that and this was yeah kind of going through my mind and
Speaker A
um there's a reason why I'm running and um I want to test my limits I want to do that for my family and everything comes together and if I know mentally I'm still there and in that particular in
Speaker A
that loop 87 I knew okay mentally I'm very Yeah, still fresh. Um, you can finish it. Um, it's just pain at the moment, but you will solve it if you get to the tent. That's the things always my
Speaker A
coach told me. Just finish the loop. You think in loops, not in kilometers, not in miles, just in loops.
Speaker A
Just like one loop at a time. One loop at a time. I love that you just said subtly. It was like 87. It was 87th loop. You were already like more than 500 kilometers in the game.
Speaker A
Mhm. On no sleep for 4 days. You your your entire right side was swollen.
Speaker A
Yeah. You had an inner thigh problem, your Achilles. And then you said my mind was still fresh.
Speaker A
Yeah. How? Yeah. It all it's it's always the body thing. I knew it from the beginning. I knew it last year. Last year a friend of mine told me um mentally you are so strong because you're doing the training
Speaker A
stuff and for me the training stuff is even harder than the race. I went 600 kilometers but the training session is more harder for me. The race is just an a little achievement for me but the training behind it it's
Speaker A
it's big. Mhm. This is this is again a very Gogggins thing to do, right? Where he says that there's no point in romanticizing suffering.
Speaker A
Yeah. There there's a quote, right? Life uh what is it? Life is the most brutal endurance sport of all the time. All time. That's what says, right?
Speaker A
Do you believe in that? Yeah. Of course. Not because race is not the brutality.
Speaker A
Never. Never. Life is life is of course not just a training things happen with a family with a like with the work everything could happen.
Speaker A
So the race is just a little achievement for yourself nothing else. True. From the time you take your first breath you become eligible to die. You also become eligible to find your greatness and become the one warrior.
Speaker A
Good one. Do you do you think like that? Yeah. Every breath that you take, you think that's an opportunity 100%.
Speaker A
To become great. Yeah. 100%. It's a privilege to do the things. Why do you want to become great?
Speaker A
Where does it come from? Where does it come from? I think my inner child um because I was living in comfort before and doing nothing basically. Of course I did my studying. I worked a lot. Um I worked in the in the supermarket of my
Speaker A
father starting with 10 years. Um I did everything but that wasn't enough because you need to do something for your body. You need to achie a achieve things. I can't just living that basic life, the average life. I don't want to be average.
Speaker A
Why? Because I I can't live like that. I don't know why exactly. It's just we have so much potential to do things.
Speaker A
I agree so much. And it's it's a privilege for example to go for a run, to do sport.
Speaker A
there are people who can't run. So it's I think it's our responsibility to do the those things. It's it's a privilege.
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It's we need to be thankful for that. Were you born in an average family?
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Not an average, but it's my father worked very hard for the things we have now. Very hard. Working from Monday to Sunday 24/7. My mother just raised five childs. So very hardworking people and I think this is also reason why where I'm where I'm at
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now because I need to work harder hard as my father maybe as my mother because they raised me like that and if I'm just studying or go to work and the rest of the day I'm just chilling. Nah, that's
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not my thing. Were you the brightest child amongst the five? No, no. Every child in my every every uh sibling is working working very hard. Um my younger brother is working from from the morning till the night. It's like it's like a family
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thing, I would say. We we work very hard for the things we have. It is. But who's the who's the brightest? Who gets the most appreciation out of five?
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I can't tell. Who's the star of the family? The star? It's me. And now I was I was the black sheep. The black sheep before. I did so much bad things before like going out till the night and doing basically
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nothing. Just living life. And I think also this was a reason why I wanted to change my life in some ways and I did. They were tired of just being that person.
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Yeah. Do you think that your do you look at your father and be like he's worked very hard but he couldn't he couldn't become great. He remained average so I want to become great.
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He's great for me. He's great for you. Yeah. But for the world, do you think so?
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He's I would say he did everything. He did like everything worked from from Monday to Sunday. Um and he wanted that we have a good life, not him. That's the craziest part.
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Do you feel like you want to make him proud? Yeah. Yeah, of course. 100%.
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Not just him, my whole family, my mother, my siblings, like everyone. And I think I just achieved it with that with that way. Um, but I need still I need to train harder to do more because it's not over here.
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Are they proud? Yeah, they told they didn't tell me that, but I think so.
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Have they ever told you? No. Never. Never. But it's good for me. I love that because then I train more, then I work harder. M. And did they tell you before?
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Uh, I would say no. No, never. They never did. They never did. Did they say this to any of your brothers or sisters?
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No, because we are all like hardworking people and I think we don't need to tell it to each other. It's just okay appreciation and we know that we love each other and doing all that things.
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That's amazing. And your family I'm assuming because you're from Morocco. So it'll be just like the way we have in India like everybody lives together.
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Everybody Exactly. 100%. Everybody shares everything, lives together, eats everything. That's how 100% like that. Yeah.
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That's you don't live like a very western life, right? No, no, no. Everybody separated. I'm pretty I'm pretty I would say I'm pretty modern but still I have that culture in me that that how you said before like that
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family things doing things together eat together and um just look after each other nice it's a it's very cultural it comes from specific cultures like in India it's the same I was telling this to Andrew Huberman that India Uh we have joined families
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and joined families like the whole me, my mom, my brother, my dad's brother, his wife, my grandfather, grandmother.
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We all live in one house, like one big house like us. Yeah. Like you guys, and he was shocked. Andrew was shocked.
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Andrew was like, "What are you saying? Is that even a thing?" And I was like, "Yeah, it's a it's a common thing." And he couldn't believe it. That's he's like this is the first time hearing that everybody lives together.
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It's crazy. It's wild, right? Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Very wild for me. Living alone is wild.
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Yeah. Yeah. Basic. Yeah. The same. I just moved out uh just 6 months ago. Um when before I was living in the house with my parents. Um but it's it's now it's it's okay. I got used to it. But it
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was strange at the beginning. And even if you live alone, at least in our cultures, you take care of each other, you talk to each other, you eat food a lot of times, you meet a lot of times,
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which is very rare to see in other cultures, which is fascinating. The good thing is my parents just live 20 minutes away. So I I will be there maybe for I think three times a week just visiting, taking some food with me.
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What's your favorite food to eat? Or in Morocco you have two two traditional dishes. It's couscous.
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Mhm. And tajine. Okay. What are they? Awesome. There's like couscous is that kind of not oat. It's like I don't know how to describe it. It has potatoes on it, meat, and a lot of vegetables. Yeah.
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Okay. Coming back to your race. Your you said you've trained very hard for it. How long did you specifically train for this race?
Speaker A
Um, so the race was in August. Um, I started basically in January. Um, I'm I trained the whole year for that. Um, because I train every day, every week, and if a race comes, I'm ready. Um I knew that I'm
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participating at that at that ways just I think in April. Um in April we started to um started to train with a coach. So we messaged Sam Harvey and asked him hey you want to become my you want to become
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my coach? He told me yeah okay that's that's nice. We are basically on the same level. Um the sympathy the empathy is very very similar. We laugh, we It's It's funny to talk with him. Um, so started starting the whole year with
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just training from Monday to Sunday. What did your tell me how does a normal training week look like?
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Exact details. What time do you wake up? What time do you sleep? What do you do after waking up? Everything. Um, so starting at Monday, um, waking up every day at 7:30.
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Okay. And run 60 60 um minutes. That's my first session. But without eating anything at all.
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Without eating anything. Just waking up and start running. Yeah. No warm up, anything. Yeah, of course. Warming up. It's basically the most important thing to warm up for five to 10 minutes.
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What do you do in warm-ups? Um, running drills. Um, stretching basically everything for 5 to 10 minutes to get very warm. Um, and then starting to run for 60 minutes.
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Mhm. Uh, basically easy run because on that day I have double sessions. So starting with 60 minutes run getting back and relax because you need to have a puffer between the first session and the second session.
Speaker A
But then 60 minutes how many kilometers do you run? It's it's yeah 60 minutes it's a pace of 430. Um so it's between 12 and 13k.
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So 12 and 13 kilometers in approximately um because I don't have a spec specific um kilometer I have just minutes.
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Okay. So my coach told me yeah okay you will train in minutes just not in kilometers um so you train for 60 for 70 minutes um and that's a training plan.
Speaker A
Got so 60 minutes you run about 12 to 13 km on a treadmill or outside?
Speaker A
No outside. Always outside. Always outside. always outside. Okay. Because at the end of the day, a race is also outside, not inside.
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Fair. Yeah. Okay. So 7:30 you get up, you done, you do 60 minutes, then do you cool down or no?
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Um I don't I just go home, relax a little bit, eating some something. Um I eat I eat a lot of protein. So maybe five to six eggs uh with vegetables and um yeah basically protein.
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Okay. Just eggs and vegetables. Yeah, basically protein. So just that thing. I'm very simple in that case. Um and I'm just resting a little bit.
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Sometimes between the first session and the second session I do a little gym session. Um but this is very spontaneous. Okay. So, let's say Monday 60 minutes.
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60 minutes breakfast. How much do you rest then after that? Some hours. Four or 5 hours.
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Okay. 4 hours you sleep. Yeah. Okay. And then then I get back to the next session.
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It's 75 minutes also. Easy. Basically the same little warm up before running the thing and just finishing it.
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Okay, that's Monday. Okay. Very simple. Um, but every day in the night I do mobility and stretching basically every night for 30, 45 minutes. Um, and I take my supplements, training supplements nutrition and hydration.
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It's not just the running thing, it's also like the things next to it. Got it. So 60 minute session then 75 minute session that's Monday and then Monday then Tuesday the same thing Tuesday I switch I have that running
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thing on Monday then I change Tuesday to also running I run basically every day okay I just have some sort of easy runs for example Monday Tuesday I have pace runs like intervals running um I have a warm
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down uh warm up or 15 minutes then for example 8 * 3 minutes very fast pace speed it's 85 90% of your race pace okay it could be 3 minutes 15 per kilometer so that's my race pace at
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um half marathon pace Mhm. So Tuesday is then intervals. After that interval going afternoon into the gym and doing legs because legs is like the most important thing. Going to the gym doing weight training is like so necessary for people running far
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or just running. It's not just doing your running sessions. It's you need to go to the gym and pushing some weights, lifting some weights to strength your legs. It's so important.
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Okay. So, Tuesday intervals, weight training, gym, then Wednesday getting back to easy pace like two sessions again uh morning session, afternoon session. Then I have Thursday again intervals um basically the same as Tuesday. Then Friday just one session one um pace for
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example half marathon on 80% of your race pace and then we have the weekend.
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The weekend is for me like the most important thing because on the weekend I do my long sessions. Um running on Saturday for two hours and running on Sunday for 3 hours.
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3 hours. Yeah. This on the work on the Sunday is like my longest running sessions. But also like easy pace, not very fast like a I would say 430 to 5 pace.
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Mhm. Um, so nothing very fast for me. And in between of the of the whole sessions, like the running sessions, I always go into the gym. Basically running from Monday to Sunday, but also going into the gym from Monday to
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Sunday. Not just training very heavy or lifting he lifting heavy weights. It's just going to the gym and doing like maybe stair master or doing like bike sessions doing a high intensity training. But I have always like a
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puffer between the first sessions and the gym session to regenerate. PUFA is like the uh the the the time between the just the first session and the second session because you need to regenerate in that time like maybe 5 hours, 6
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hours, 7 hours just to give the body a little bit of time of regeneration. That's very important.
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But in that time you do weightlifting. when I started at 7:30 with my first session and going to the gym at maybe I don't know 6:00 p.m.
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Okay, that's enough time. You can um slip into that. I have like I have some compression boots.
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I go into them and it circulate my blood a little bit. So compression for the bloodstream and I have enough time between that.
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Okay. And then after gym like you go for gym, you go to gym for an hour.
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Uh maybe an hour. 2 hours. 1 to 2 hours maybe. Okay. And then you do you run again before sleep?
Speaker A
No. So there are days where I have two sessions, two running sessions, one in the morning, one in the afternoon and between of that I go to the gym and sometimes I have just intervals in the morning and after that just one more
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session gym. Okay, that was it. But running from Monday to Sunday like running every day.
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Okay. So you have in in in totality you have seven days, seven running sessions.
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That's for sure. Yeah. 100%. And then in the evening you have three running sessions and three times a gym.
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Yeah. And then that's more or less. And then seventh day you sometimes do gym, sometimes do running, something like that.
Speaker A
Okay. So but every day two times you train. Yeah. Maybe three times sometimes three times. Yeah. Why three times? How many times in a week you will do three?
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Uh three times um I will do three times a week. Three times training. Yeah. When I do the double sessions between the first session and the second session, I have always a little bit time to go maybe to the gym just to do a
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little bit of training. Nothing heavy, just to do maybe high intensity training to do some body weight, to do some pull-ups, push-ups, dips, uh something like that. So you are telling me every day you get up, you run for an for an
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hour, then you rest, then you go gym for an hour, then you rest, then you run again for an hour, then you rest, and then you do mobility drills for about half an hour, and then you sleep every
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day. Every day. Four sessions almost a day. Some are light, some are heavy. So you just keep doing whatever the body is telling you.
Speaker A
So I train. you don't you rest like don't you feel like it's it's a yeah I would say um if people ask me um do you rest I tell them always you need to rest maybe um do you rest sessions 100% but for me
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it isn't a thing because I I I for example when I do the double sessions in between all that I have enough time to regenerate when I go to sleep I regenerate maybe why I need basically rest days
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I don't. So, but I would say after a race, of course, I have rest days. Like after a race, I need to rest.
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For how long? It's important. Yeah. For how long? For one day. That's it. And then second day, you're back on the training.
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I'm back on light training. After that 600k, of course, I was lying down for 3 days because everything on my right side was swollen. Um, I did rest for 10 days doing nothing because it wasn't important for me to do nothing because
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my coach told me so. Um, on the 10th day I started with bike and gym and on exactly after two weeks I started with my first training session on Yeah. with my first running session. This is why because my training and because my coach
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told me so if I had my my my own brain it was in my own head it was like okay rest three days and then go back to work but he taught me hey you need to rest it's very important I did so and it was
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very good it was perfect why do you why don't you rest what keeps you not what keeps you restless because I have a training plan uh the those sessions is um is coming from Sam Harvey with my coach coach and um I'm
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just training as he told me. No, not not him. I'm saying that you said if it was your own brain Yeah.
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you should you would have just gotten up and started training every day. Why? Because I love this game. I love the sport.
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I love it so much. But there's something in you that must be telling you, right? Like you need to rest as much as you need to train.
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But you're just like on and on and train. And I love that the moment I asked you, don't you need to rest? you just like you need to then I was like okay okay don't attack me all right
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uh yeah I just I just love the sport there are people out there doing all that stuff maybe for social media or for money I don't know but for me it's like I love to go out to do the running
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sessions I love to go into the gym to do my weight training because I love this game and it's kind of therapy for M you keep this is fascinating. I have more questions on training. I I'll keep asking you. And you know this reminds me
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of something which Michael Phelps told me. I asked him that don't you need to rest? Because he's I asked him like how did you win all these gold medals in the world? And he said because I trained every day.
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Yeah. And I was like yeah so what? He's like no I trained every day. And I was like, "And what did you what else did you do?" He's like, "I trained every single day for six years of my life."
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Yeah, I saw that. It's brutal. And then I was like, "Why don't you need to rest?" He's like, "Every other athlete who's my competitor or anyone, they rest on Sundays." So I train 52 days more than other people.
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Exactly. So I 52 more days of training and that's why I win. I'm more prepared.
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Yeah. Do you feel like that as well? Yeah, 100%. While maybe while I'm then resting, there are people out there putting in the work. So, I need to train.
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You have this in your head all the time. All the time that someone else is training, so I need to train them.
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Yeah, of course. We live in that social media life. We have Instagram, we have all that stuff. And we see each other on social media. Okay. Um, a scenario, I have a rest day.
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and just scrolling over Instagram and just see, okay, there's another person just doing their training sessions. So when I see something like that, I need just just the seeing thing. Yeah, you need to get back to work. There's no
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rest day. So for me, it's just training every day for 7 days a week for the whole year and just putting in the work. It's necessary to perform because for me I need to I want to just set statements over there. I won't I
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want to have an impact into the world. That's that's my thing. Do you feel like if you won't train then someone else is out there training and you lose to that person?
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Yeah. Do you feel like maybe there are person overtraining me then or just being then better than me?
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That's you feel like they're getting better than you. Yeah. Yeah. And you can't see anyone else getting better than you.
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Yeah. No. No. I need I need to push myself even more then. If what what what goes on inside you when you see that someone else is training more than you and is getting better than you?
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I I love the fact that they're training. What happens like when you're not training and someone else is? It's basically hard to watch because I then I think to myself I think like you need to get back to work while they're training.
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You are sitting there lying there on the bed. That's not that's not the thing.
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You need to get back. You need to go train. You need to train harder training from Monday to to Sunday like every hour on the hour.
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Crazy. How much do you sleep? Uh I would say enough 8 to 9 hours.
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Okay. Yeah. I go to sleep at um I would say 10 10:30 because it's it's important.
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Okay. So there you don't comp. No no that's very important. So the sleep the hydration nutrition thing it's very important for me.
Speaker A
We should look at your boob data. We can we can we should look at your recovery data.
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How much are you recovering? Is it really working this overt training or no? Yes, no worries.
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You have your you have your whoop training data from the peak? Well, no, because I started just um one week before the race. I started the whoop thing during the race. You were wearing this?
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No, I could not. No, I could not. It was um I because it's like I want I I just want to have one watch on my hand and that was it.
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But that's garment, right? That's a corros. Okay. Yeah, it's same. But it has data, right?
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Yeah. Yeah, of course. So during the race, you were you must be having data.
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Yeah. Yeah. 100%. And what was that showing? Uh well, I don't know actually because I'm not into that data thing. I'm just training. I'm just doing things.
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So why you waiting? To track my sessions. That's it. just to track my sessions because for me it's that's why I love Gorgans because he just doing things data and everything all good but for me it's do the things data is one thing but
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still you need to work crazy you know what it'll be very fascinating you send me a I'll you send me a picture next time M of 3 days Mhm. Whenever you're training Yeah. for three days and you're doing like two
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sessions a day and just resting like a little bit. I want to see how it course how it shows on your body because everybody is different.
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Yeah. Of course. 100%. Yeah. Like there are there are friends of mine who who sleep for 10 hours.
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Mhm. And they're still the recovery is bad. There are friends of mine who are who sleeping for like 6 hours and their recovery is great.
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Yeah. Um yeah the the there could be um yeah maybe some issues with the with the with the bed. I don't know could we have could I think it's mind as well.
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Yeah. Okay. I think I I think it has to be a lot with mind and the food probably.
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Mhm. Also when you train in the night um for example just 1 hour before going to bed it's also bad for you sleep. So there are so many so many factors that need to be on point to have a good
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sleep. Yeah, it's true. With me this happens like if I if I'm if I'm like panicking and sleeping just like okay I need to do so much so much so much and then I sleep like that my recovery is lesser versus on the days
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when I'm very easily sleeping like okay I had a great day tomorrow I need to like yesterday I just worked out and yet I had a great sleep.
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Yeah. So it it it has to something to do with my mind as well could be. Yeah.
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Yeah. At least with me, it happen. But yours I I'm I'll be very fascinated to see yours.
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I will send you there. It'd be amazing. You send me a lot of your training videos as well. Okay.
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It'll be fun for people to watch. I will. But okay, coming back to your training, what give me what exercises do you do?
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Um, so in the gym when I train legs, um, very simple squats, um, Romanian deadlifts, Bulgarian split squats, um, and and what I need to upgrade is, uh, single leg um, movements.
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This was a big issue, pistol squat. Yeah. So I had my whole right side how I told before it was swollen. I have um before the race uh I got into the race with a wus knee. Uh did you ever heard
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about that? It's like an issue on the right side of your knee. Um the tractors is very I don't know inflammated a little bit. So you will have some issues with the knee. It feels very stiff. So when I started the race, I I knew okay
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my knee is stiff but I can do my work. I still I will run and I do my race. But um before that I did not train single leg movements for stability. It's very important for your hips, for your core. Um and I did
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not do that. So for the future I need to train that very good to because the one knee is like my biggest issue.
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That's the thing that's that causes you pain or like what is it that causes that I had the most issues on the right side over the race like the inner tight the and how will you fix it?
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Yeah. How will you fix it? How uh with training training very hard training like single layer um there you you can you can fix it with mobility with stretching um with you have some exercises for that thing um and with
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physotherapist. So you started doing that. Yeah. Yeah. I need to I need to that's how did you give me give me a give me a detailed answer on or give me a detailed protocol on how did you train
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your legs to keep functioning for 40 50 70 93 hours basically basically weight training like how I said squats Romanian deadlifts um split squats bulgarian split squats all that thing to strengthen your your hamstrings your you tight It's your
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knees um and your ankles. It's um just lifting a little bit and doing leg sessions.
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How much do you do? Um for 1 hour and a half. Um maybe something between four and five exercises and doing it very properly and right. That's very important.
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And how many reps do you do? What weight do you lift? I do something between um three to four sets and each set has like 10 to 12 reps something in that very very basic nothing special. Um but I do the things and for people who
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want who want to run far and also just for for that running thing you need to lift you need to lift weights and do that leg sessions. It's very important.
Speaker A
People out there think, "Okay, I'm running for like 50k or 100k um a week and that's enough. That's leg training for me." But it's not true. You need to go to the gym and lift those weights. It's very important.
Speaker A
How much do you lift? Like what's the weight that you For example, when I do um deadlifts, maybe something between 100 and 120 kg.
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Uh not nothing more because at the end I don't want to be a bodybuilder. I just want to strengthen my legs.
Speaker A
Okay. And then with legs, how much did you like squat? What's with your squats are also like something between 80 and 100 kilos?
Speaker A
Okay. So you don't So just No, no, it's not necessary. I just want to strengthen my legs a little bit and uh strengthen my every tendon and every muscle next to the knee is very important. Um, so the most the
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biggest issues uh runners have is like the knee area. It all always can get swollen and it's kind of hurting for a lot of people, but for me it's basically it's okay.
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And how many times do you do legs in a week? Uh, two times. Two times.
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Two times for example on the on the Tuesday and one on I don't know Thursday or on Friday. And to have one or two days between each other.
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Okay. And do you train on already fatigued legs? For what? Let's say on Monday and on Tuesday you're tired. Your legs are fatigued because of running and you feel that they're tired. You still train legs?
Speaker A
I still train. Yeah. Yeah, I still train. Tired legs also. Yeah. Yeah. On tired legs. Um but not too heavy because there's um it could happen that you injure yourself. But um also when I go for a run and I feel like
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tightness in my legs, I still run. That's basically what it will be on the race running on tight legs. Why running if you are tired? It's it's part of the game.
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What were your longest uh at your peak? What were your longest sessions? Like how long how many kilometers were you running um in training? It's it's basically um 3 to 4 hours on a Sunday maybe. Um it's between
Speaker A
30 and 40k. And on my peak week, I run between 180 to 200 kilometers per week. That's my peak at the moment. Um nothing above.
Speaker A
So before the race, my peak week was at 200k of running. Every week you run 200 km.
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It was 1 month before the race and before this before the uh peak month it was 170 to 180k.
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180 kilometers per week. Per week. Yeah. Five times six seven times a week you do weightlifting.
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Mhm. Two times you do leg training. And even after doing all of this, yeah, you you end up managing like 200 km.
Speaker A
Yeah. I will be maybe very tired on the end of the week, but it's what?
Speaker A
Okay. Tell me one exercise which only you do and it makes sense to you.
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Yeah it's I would say the most important exercise I'm doing is walking backwards on a treadmill incline.
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That's that's basically my my exercise. Why? Um because it's strengthening your knee. It's um I would say the best exercise for runners.
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It strengthen your whole knee area, every tendon, every muscle. Um, you could mention a little bit of balance.
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It's like, in my opinion, the best exercise I doing it just for 5 to 10 minutes every day.
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So, every time I'm going to the gym, the first thing I do is going on a treadmill and doing that thing. And a lot of people just copy it. And they told me it's the best exercise. And how long? So
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10 minutes backward walking or walking just walking just walking incline it's 15%. 15% incline the walk speed is between 2 and 4 km.
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Okay. So not fast as well. Not fast. You need to just concentrate on that on that movement. It's so important. And doing that I think I started 4 years ago with this exercise and it's for me it's the best thing.
Speaker A
What? What? I never had I never had some knees in issues. Never. Fascinating. Yeah.
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So, it's it's funny and I'm asking you these questions because I started doing this 6 months ago.
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No way. No way. Like for real. So, my trainer Kalpeshi, if he's listening, he should know this.
Speaker A
So, he just forced me to do this because I suffered a back injury. Yeah.
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Okay. And he was like, "Every day you need to do this because it'll strengthen your lower back and knees and everything so that we don't face more injuries, leg based injuries or lower back injuries. We just need to do it." And for 5 to 10 minutes,
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he just forces me to do it. He makes me walk on like 3 kilome per hour speed.
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Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. And then about we started with like 5% incline and now we are at like 12 or 13% incline.
Speaker A
That's That's crazy. That's insane. That's insane. And it it if I do that for 15 days back to back 16th day, my back pain is much better.
Speaker A
Crazy. Like in just 15 days at the end of it. I could see that.
Speaker A
It's amazing. That's my That's my exercise. I did it for 4 years now. Like basically not every day. Sometimes I forgot it. But it's the thing. I never had some knees in issues or something like that. Never.
Speaker A
Nice. And I run a lot. So nice. Now I'm going to do this even more rigorously. I try to I try to skip it because I like it's not making sense. I don't want to do it.
Speaker A
Only on the pain days I'll do it. But fun. He will look at this and he'll be like, "I told you so.
Speaker A
I told you so." Because my trainer, he's like, if I ask him that why do we do this? He doesn't tell me. He just like just do it. And I'm like, "Okay." Like my coach is the same.
Speaker A
He's also like um if I ask him, "Hey, what about that? What about that?" He told me, "Just do it. I'm a coach. Just do it." Okay. So tell me what exact strength exercises somebody who's watching this should do
Speaker A
if they could just steal five exercises from your program. Yeah. Uh to build a great body or to build great strength and endurance.
Speaker A
Okay. Um starting with squats. Okay. Um, I would say squats would be the first, um, exercise. Um, deadlifts, Bulgarian deadlifts. Um, not too heavy, like both squats and the deadlifts. You don't need to push so hard. It's important to do it very clean.
Speaker A
Um, then we have calf raises. very important for runners for the Achilles and the calves. Um if you want to run far you need to do that. The most issues happened at the knee area and the second is like the Achilles thing.
Speaker A
So cal is very important. Okay. Um and single leg movements could be everything. Just do single leg movement like what?
Speaker A
Like um stepups or like No. Uh like having dumbbells and doing the the the um I need to think about the English meaning of that. It's Yeah. Step ups.
Speaker A
Is it like Exactly. Step-ups. Yeah. Lunges. Exactly. Yeah, man. Okay. So put lunges, step up and then you step up and lunge.
Speaker A
Yeah. H. Okay. So step ups or lunges or reverse lunges or what? Yeah. Anything.
Speaker A
Anything. But the because the single leg single leg movements is that you have so many exercises and just find one and do that.
Speaker A
Okay. You need to do that because uh you need to have like balance in that thing.
Speaker A
you with this with those exercises you strengthen your core, your hamstrings, like everything and it's very important and then fifth will be back backward walks.
Speaker A
Yeah. Okay. So, these are the five. Even though the five the fifth one is the most important thing, it's the most important thing.
Speaker A
Nice. I like this. But tell me if someone who doesn't have access to gym and they they want to just do it at home, can they do something?
Speaker A
Yeah, of course. Just wall sitting for example. Wall sitting on the hamstrings for three times or I would say five times 30 seconds not very long.
Speaker A
Okay. So wall sitting would be the first one. Squats you can do at home.
Speaker A
How many? Every time you can do like three * 20, 5 * 20. How much you can do?
Speaker A
Okay. Then m yeah what else? Step up can be done at house as well. So we can just the simple ones.
Speaker A
The simple ones without weight without nothing just leg up. We can do it that single leg. Calf raises can be done as well.
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. You just need to have a platform where can way you can do that on a stairs. You can do it. And also the backwards walking just do it outside. If you have a hill do it there
Speaker A
and if you don't have a hill if you live plane then what I want to make it really simple for people.
Speaker A
Do you think without incline backward walk makes sense or no? Yeah. Not really. Not really. Just do it for maybe two 2% 3% if it there's no treadmill then what? still do it.
Speaker A
Maybe it has it has a benefit, but I don't know. You figure it out.
Speaker A
Fair. Fair. Okay. Did you Did you stimulate the backward ultra race before the final race? Like did do you train like that?
Speaker A
Mhm. I did it last year. Okay. I did last year before my race two simulations. Um one simulation was 24 hours. It was at the end 160k and the second was just 1 month before the first race. It was um 15 hours. So at the end
Speaker A
it was 100k. But this year I didn't. Um why? Because my trainer my my coach said so.
Speaker A
He told me you don't need to do that because you have now the experience of one backyard race. I did it last year and just take the experience from that one. So you don't need to do any simulations.
Speaker A
Um on my long runs I took food with me. Um I eat while I'm while I was running.
Speaker A
Um so those things I trained at my sessions, but I did know I did didn't do any simulations this year and this one this year was much better.
Speaker A
Yeah, 100%. It was 33 hours more almost. Yeah. Tell me what did you eat during those 93 hours?
Speaker A
Um, for 93 hours you're just running, exhausted, no sleep. Do you even eat? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's important. Um I had the privilege that I had a coach on my side who did everything. Um he managed the food thing, the nutrition,
Speaker A
the hydration, basically everything. So he gave me everything like sweets, m crackers, then some real food, for example, pasta, potato, mashed potatoes, and proteins.
Speaker A
And then he just changed everything to eat something real, then sweets, then again some crackers because you need to um have a good amount of um of zodium in you in yourself in in it. Um so zodium is very important the salt. Um and every
Speaker A
loop he gave me one car mix. There's electrolytes in it. So, water with electrolytes and carbs. Every hour he gave me I think it was 80 it was 50 g of carbs and electrolytes.
Speaker A
So, he managed he managed everything and he's like a very good he has his knowhow is very good because he's assisted for the world record in backyard and he did so many races before he know what he's talking about.
Speaker A
So um everything he gave me he wrote it down down in in a book. So he and he was managing it very very well. I had no issues with my stomach.
Speaker A
No issues at all. Everything was fine. So yeah, sweets, crackers, pasta, mashed potatoes, hydration, so electrolytes and sodium. Um, and basically just mix everything up and every hour they keep giving. And you only drink or you eat as well?
Speaker A
Um, for example, the real food I eat maybe pasta or mashed potatoes every third loops, every three loops and the Yeah, that was the thing.
Speaker A
Okay. So, every loop you will drink something which is a carb mix. It's this one was the most important thing. every loop I need to drink the carb mix and the electrolytes.
Speaker A
Uh the first um 20 or 24 hours um the race started in the uh at the day. So it was so hot. It was something between 25 and 28°. So it was very hot. Um and if it's hot, you need to drink more. The
Speaker A
electrolytes is the most important thing. So yeah, basically every hour. And do you eat any do you drink water or electrolytes while running or only in the breaks?
Speaker A
No. No. While running I I had one bottle I took with me every hour.
Speaker A
Okay. So on the on the loop I had one bottle of carb mix and I drink it.
Speaker A
Okay. The carb mix, not the water. Yeah. It's carb mix with a little with electrolytes. It's like both in it but no water. I changed maybe after the first 20 loops a little bit. Um, no, no, it was just in the tent he gave
Speaker A
me water. That's how how it was. Uh, in the tent he gave me sometimes water to just feel something else. Not just all the time carics and and electrolytes, but yeah.
Speaker A
Did any food become disgusting after a while? Yeah, it was it was not the food. It was the car mix electrolytes.
Speaker A
After 80 loops, it was No, after 85 loops, it was horrible to drink. It was very disgusting.
Speaker A
It was so disgusting. And I was like, I can't drink that anymore. And he was like, you must. It's important. You need that. And I drink it. Did you feel like puking?
Speaker A
No. No. Did you? No. No. No. No. Did your stomach ever stop cooperating after a while?
Speaker A
Uh, it was in the first, I think, uh, 10 loops because he gave me two bottles of car mix and it was too much of carb mix.
Speaker A
So, he changed it to just one bottle. And from there on, my stomach was completely fine over the next 80 85 loops. So, what was going on in your stomach? Like what were you feeling when you were drinking?
Speaker A
It was just uh a little bit of pressure. Just pressure. It's because it was too much of car mix.
Speaker A
Yeah. Um I had it last year the same issue and was like, "Okay, um this time I'm not sweating." So why if you sweat a lot, you need to drink more of carbs and electrolytes. It's necessary. But he told me okay you don't
Speaker A
sweat because I I'm not sweating a lot when I'm training or doing all the sessions. So he told me okay we we going to reduce the thing on just one bottle and from there on it was perfect.
Speaker A
So about 3 days later which is like 80th hour or something. Mhm. For 3 days every hour you're having this carb mix with electrolyte.
Speaker A
After third day it just gets bad. you can't eat it anymore. Yeah, it's the good thing is we had two different flavors. So for the for the for the 3 days it was okay. But I would say in the last couple hours it was just
Speaker A
disgusting because it was the same thing and it felt so weird in your mouth and it was like I don't want to drink that anymore. So for the next race we need to change that to maybe five flavors to
Speaker A
have another thing. So, uh, but it was it was horrible at the end. It was just h I can't drink that anymore.
Speaker A
Fair. And you didn't puke. You didn't feel anything else. Everything else was great. Everything else.
Speaker A
Do you drink coffee? I love coffee, but I didn't drink uh at the race. Um, I just Yeah, because I I just I just did not because uh he gave me he gave me something else. He gave me coffee uh tablets, something
Speaker A
small, and gave me um I think after the first 40 loops, he told me, "Hey, here um here I have coffin." That was it. It was enough for me. It was perfect. So, don't you need coffee to stay awake?
Speaker A
Yeah, because he gave me coffee tablet caffeine um meds or I don't know how how to say it. It's It was completely fine for me.
Speaker A
Okay. So, I think how much caffeine did it have? I think it was hard to say how many over the race, but um I think after the first 30 loops, he gave me 150 mg. Um then the next five
Speaker A
loops he give me another. It was very um yeah there was no real like how to say it um timeline of giving coffine. It was just okay you are a little bit tired take one.
Speaker A
You're a little bit tired take another one. That was it. So bas it was very simple.
Speaker A
Okay. Whenever you're tired and you feel like sleeping, take it. Yeah, exactly. So very simple for me.
Speaker A
And you you take and you sleep or you get up and then you take Now this this one's very important. Take one, go to sleep.
Speaker A
Yeah. So it was a 10 out of 10. Yeah. After after I wake up, it was like, okay, I'm back. I'm back at it again.
Speaker A
Mhm. And you I learned this trick from some athlete only. But explain more. Tell me. Do you got to know about this right now or from before you knew this?
Speaker A
I I knew it before. Um but this there's no specific um in my case also like my training sessions in my races. I'm just doing things. I'm not into into that theory into that um theory like thinking about oh what's the best thing for an
Speaker A
athlete? I'm just doing things. So I had my coach in my corner who knows all that things.
Speaker A
Yeah. He has the knowh how um and I'm just running. Nice. But this what happens? How do you feel the moment you take caffeine and then you sleep and then you get up in 10 minutes or 5 minutes?
Speaker A
Yeah. I'm I'm awake again. So from tightness to okay, I'm feeling a little bit better now and I can just finish just starting the loop and feel a little bit fresh again.
Speaker A
It's that was the feeling and it works right it it works for me like miraculously. It's something that I started doing is so when I have these long shoot days and hours because you have so me like in my work you're
Speaker A
mentally exhausted because I've slept for like 4 hours in a different time zone then we start preparing so 4 hours of preparation and then 4 hours of podcast and then you take 30 minutes of break you eat everything and then another 4
Speaker A
hours of preparation and 4 hours of so you're like 16 17 hours you're just back to back working and then you have third one sometimes you have you go for like third podcast as well and when you do that so what I do in
Speaker A
middle of 8 10 12 hours after after 8 10 12 hours and if I have to go another 6 hours I take a shot an espresso shot and then for 10 minutes I do a power nap a power nap I I do yoga nidra which is
Speaker A
uh have you heard of NSDR no never non-sleep deep test. Oh yeah. But but what was it again?
Speaker A
Okay. So it's a it's a way of it's very ancient Hindu practice which so it's yoga nidra.
Speaker A
Mhm. But in the modern uh western world a lot of people call it NSDR, non-sleep deep rest. So you breathe in certain way and you do this guided breath work which puts you on asleep and in 10 minutes
Speaker A
you're like you're fully out and then like 11th minute you get up the coffee hits the power nap like boom I'm like as good as I slept for 8 hours now.
Speaker A
Okay. Okay. It it is bang on. Okay. Crazy. Like if you do breath work and nap together with like hot Yeah. I need to I need to start with that uh breath working because it's I still I still don't train
Speaker A
I still I I train a lot. I train so many hours but there are some things I need to upgrade from for example the breath working the some other things um to get more potential out of me the the
Speaker A
percents the the the 5% maybe I need to get over so I need to work more I need to get also like a a little bit of knowhow in that game that athlete game it's very important nice okay so We we covered food. What
Speaker A
about supplements in the during the training? What kind of supplements do you take? Um very important. Magnesium.
Speaker A
Okay. Every night. Um it's between Yeah. for sleep, for regeneration, for like basically everything you need to sleep very well. Um I take between 400 mg and 500 mg. It depends on the training sessions. If I have trained very hard
Speaker A
and a lot of training sessions, I take a little bit more. Um, so magnesium is like top one.
Speaker A
Okay. Um, I take creatine like 3 g every day. Um, not at the night, not at the day. It depends. It could be every night. It's not necessary. It's not very necessary to take it at the night or at the day. It's
Speaker A
basically um Yeah. So creatine important. um magnesium and I drink beetroot juice. Okay. Beetroot juice.
Speaker A
Beetroot juice. Um also for the bloodstream for regeneration and um if your legs or muscle feel sore, you need to drink that. It's very important. It's had it has maybe the same effect as magnesium, but it's it doesn't taste very good. It
Speaker A
doesn't taste very good. It's uh It tastes bad. It tastes bad. Do you take that in the morning or?
Speaker A
Uh no, in the night. As a beetroot juice at night. Yeah. Before sleeping. Before sleeping.
Speaker A
Interesting. And what kind of beetroot juice you use? It's simple. It's um in Germany it's bio. It's B io. It's like the the healthy one.
Speaker A
Okay. The healthy not just just just one. It's a very healthy um So it's biological beetroot juice.
Speaker A
Biological. Biological. Exactly. Okay. Biological beetroot juice. You drink that. But is that isn't that flavored or something? No.
Speaker A
No. No. It's real healthy. It's real. Yeah. Yeah. It's real just beetroot. And you don't do it yourself?
Speaker A
No. I could, but it's so much work. Fair. It's so much work. Um, every night you drink that a glass.
Speaker A
Yeah, it's um between 300 and 400 milliliters, not more. Um, I drink that every night. And the other things I get from from real food like proteins, like vitamin C, vitamin D, um, orange, orange juice, um, and maybe another thing is just
Speaker A
vitamin C. um also as a supplement and vitamin D as a supplement. Basically just those things. Nothing more.
Speaker A
Nothing else. No nothing else. No fancy supplement. I don't know. For focus, for endurance, performance, performance-enhancing drugs.
Speaker A
Yeah. Never. Nothing. Anything? Never. Nothing. Have you ever tried like some some performance-enhancing drugs? Mm-m.
Speaker A
Steroids never. Why? All of this don't need you want. But do you you want to stay away from all of this or I want first of all I want to stay away from this because I want to reach all
Speaker A
the thing on natural base. That that's my thing. Um because we have so so much potential in reaching all that things. Um so in my case it's okay just work for it. You don't need to take all the things. Uh you have your
Speaker A
supplements like magnesium. It's essential for me. Um and everything else you get from real food, from fish, from meat, from uh vegetables and fruits and everything like that.
Speaker A
So for me it's enough. Is there anything any supplement that you take and it only makes sense to you?
Speaker A
I would say vitamin C and vitamin D. Okay. But there's no it's only those things but for me like magnesium and beetroo juice and um specific magnesium it's so important if you train so much you need to take
Speaker A
magnesium to have a good sleep that's very important I'll try I'll try your beetroot juice that's that's maybe it's something what does it do um it's basically supports your bloodstream It helps to regenerate and just for your blood it's very good.
Speaker A
So if you train very hard uh it has the same effect as magnesium when you do a leg session for example after the day you feel so I don't know not tired but your legs feel sore and everything but my the juice is like it's
Speaker A
preventing all that stuff. So you feel less? Yeah. Yeah. Way less. Oh, that's my thing. That's what I what I experienced now after 2 years of taking that.
Speaker A
Wow. That's it. Yeah. Let me try that. Try that. I will try that. It's kind of weird when you go to the toilet after a day. But but it's good for your health. It's very good.
Speaker A
But you know for me the big one was creatine since so I I used to take magnesium and everything and creatine just it just changed the game for me. It was so that's like a boost for you.
Speaker A
It was because you're always in different time zones and you're sleeping less and you're sometimes sleeping more.
Speaker A
You're I'm always like exhausted and sleepd deprived. Mhm. And I started taking creatine and it just made my brain think in a better way. Even on the days when I'm really less sleep like I'm on less sleep, very
Speaker A
sleepy groggy creatine just help like it's a it was a game changer for me. I don't know what it does for other people but I think my thinking ability and focus goes up on the day especially when I'm very sleepy. If I take
Speaker A
creatine, yeah, just 1.5 grams to three grams is also good for me at least for a boost.
Speaker A
Yeah, I I I stopped taking creatine I think 2 years ago. Um and I just started I would say two months ago now.
Speaker A
Oh nice. So I started again with taking creatine because for me it was just when I started the gym thing just lifting heavy and getting bigger and creatine was the best thing because of the water thing.
Speaker A
there has there's like a thing with the water. Um I don't know how to say it in English, but you're getting a little bit bigger over some month. Um and creating was for me the best thing. Uh and also
Speaker A
like a little bit of boost. Um and you're getting stronger. That's the thing with creatine.
Speaker A
True. True. I the strength and stronger part I've not seen yet because I'm very off training these days. But that's what I felt now because the last the last weeks and months I I took creatine was okay. You getting you're
Speaker A
getting strained again. So I found this new creatine. Okay. Which is like dissolvable. Have you tried that?
Speaker A
No. Oh like I take creatine monohydro. So the basic thing. No no the monohydrate but it's like mouth dissolvable like you can just have it if if you haven't taken on a training day. It's wild.
Speaker A
Why? Can you can you get me? Can you get me that? I'll show you. It's insane.
Speaker A
Okay. It's really crazy. By the way, can you get it? It's by one of my friends, Pranov. He's did this. Okay. See this?
Speaker A
It's like a 1.5 g session. Okay. It's just like Have you had your creatin today?
Speaker A
No. It's It's crazy. It's just dry. Okay. See, this this is what you got to do. You just open it up.
Speaker A
Mhm. and I just put it in your mouth and nothing else. Like just the most fascinating stuff like that's it.
Speaker A
It's mouth dissolver clear. It's a clear job and the company by my friends. It's crazy.
Speaker A
Well, it tastes good. Yeah. Right. Tastes very good. And the the big thing for me is I don't have to wait for my protein shake or something to mix in. I could just have it on the go.
Speaker A
Awesome. Crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. It's It's good stuff. I really like it. I always carry with me when I'm traveling.
Speaker A
Awesome, dude. And it doesn't taste like that without any flavor. That's like so weird.
Speaker A
Yeah. Very strange. Yeah. But this one's good. Like orange. It's very good. Orange is like I really like it. Oh, this is wild. I never thought I'll try creatine on the camera with you. First time.
Speaker A
This first time for everything. How was it though? Good. Very good. Good taste. Um, so how I said before, I started now 2 months ago and I feel like very good now. Uh, more strange.
Speaker A
Yeah. But and it works. It's a It's a good one. Okay. So, creatine was one. Do you take during your loop?
Speaker A
Mhm. Do you know what was like when you do loops and loops and you your Achilles, it's paining and you know that it's it it can break also like your ankle can just come out. I mean it can twist.
Speaker A
So, when you feel a lot of pain, do you do you take painkillers in the middle of the race? Um I take um not painillers specifically.
Speaker A
I my physotherapist put some cream on it. It's like a painkiller but just a cream.
Speaker A
So the the the inflammation goes away and the pain goes away but with the time. So not just directly after he put it on. That's basically after some loops. So running in that pain for three, four, five loops and
Speaker A
then the pain is away. That's what I took. It's just a cream. You put it on, that was it. But no meds, nothing else.
Speaker A
No injections, no meds, nothing. Why? Because I want to keep it natural as possible.
Speaker A
But painkiller sometimes it just helps you go through the pain. like a lot of athletes, a lot of tennis players because they go through injuries all the time and during the tournament they would just pop a painkiller so that they can get through
Speaker A
the entire game. I I I'm too afraid of getting uh some other issues like with the organs and everything.
Speaker A
I don't want to risk it. Do you don't take painkillers even when you're training?
Speaker A
No, never. Never. We have not. You don't like because in my training sessions I've never have pain or something like that.
Speaker A
It's like just it's it's it's training sessions. Um I know a lot of football player would take uh painkillers when they're training and but it's not nothing for me.
Speaker A
Yeah. They just pop like as if it's as Exactly. It's Nah, you're scared. I'm not specifically scared because Yeah, of course afraid a little bit, but I don't need that. It's not necessary in my case.
Speaker A
M because I keep my body very healthy. I prevent everything. I do my training sessions. I do my weight training. I do my mobility, my stretching, um wall sitting, uh walking backwards. So that that knee thing is away. So I doing
Speaker A
everything so my body stays healthy. Interesting. And then you said that after five or six loops you put cream. Why not in the beginning when you feel the pain?
Speaker A
It was because of the physiotherapist he told me. So he's like, so he's Yeah. Yeah. He's not like feel the pain. He told me, "Okay, we do some tapering. Just some tape on it and run in that and maybe it goes away after two
Speaker A
loops or three loops." It didn't. So after five loops, five loops of pain, he told me, "Okay, now we can do some cream on it." So it was four, five loops of pure suffering. Then it did go away
Speaker A
in some ways. Yeah. But in that case it was it was hard but it's part of the game. So I know what I'm dealing with. I know okay that's discomfort but it's not damaging it. You not damage your body
Speaker A
because it's just an inflammation and nothing else. So at the backyard you have a team with you. I had a coach, a physiotherapist, my brother-in-law, and a cameraman. So, the physiotherapist has the responsibility and it's his job to
Speaker A
know, okay, you can run in that because there's no nothing. The tendon is good, the muscle is good.
Speaker A
It's just a little bit of discomfort. So, he has he has knowhow. He knows okay, it's just an inflammation.
Speaker A
Is it Do you feel like pain makes you better? No. I would say no. It's I I love I love some some days I love the suffering because it's part of the game, but pain isn't every time very good. It's uh
Speaker A
it's pain, but it's part of the game. And yeah, I love sometimes suffering. It's um it I don't know how to explain that but it's that's why we doing it all that.
Speaker A
But does suffering motivates you? When I see other people suffering yeah but not me.
Speaker A
when I see on the on the race I saw a lot of people just suffering and uh it for me it was it it motivates a little bit because okay you can go further you can go far there are people who are
Speaker A
struggling it's a phys physiological thing if you see other people suffering and you get a little bit stronger why it's a brain why what what do you feel when you look at when you look at other people who are
Speaker A
suffering it's Okay, we at the race. They are suffering. You're not at the moment. You You are I don't know. It's like the mental thing that you are a little bit stronger at the moment and you can go, you can run.
Speaker A
I don't know how to explain, but it's like just a mental thing. You can ask a lot another athletes in that sport. They will tell you the same thing. when they sees other people suffering, they get stronger.
Speaker A
Do you Does it make you feel better when you when you look at other people and you're like, I can take more pain than you?
Speaker A
Not better. No, no. Like I'm just saying does it make you feel good about yourself that that I can take more pain than you?
Speaker A
I have more pain. Yeah, maybe in some cases. Yeah. But do you think that do you think your pain tolerance capacity is super high?
Speaker A
Mine? Yeah, very high. Over the race I had some loose they were like horrible.
Speaker A
So much pain. And I know if other people out there would have the same pain, they would have quit way before 100%. Because that's that kind of pain that is destroying you. And if you're not mentally strong, you will quit 100%.
Speaker A
What keeps you going? Why why suffering feels nice? It's it's the mental thing I built over the years.
Speaker A
Read so much about mentality. Strangen your mind, kept a focus doing the things started at the bottom.
Speaker A
And I just want to set a statement into that world that Yeah. Yeah. that that you just can achieve things by doing.
Speaker A
Do you do you feel that suffering is necessary for you to win and that's why you suffer more?
Speaker A
You need to suffer. You need to suffer in that game. You need to suffer.
Speaker A
backyard ultras you need to suffer it's part of the game you need to suffer if you don't suffer maybe it's I don't know it's very it's very um everybody is different now I have suffered at that race um
Speaker A
maybe another another athlete not but it's part of the game you need to suffer that at that it's ultras at some points you will suffer 100%. Maybe your ankles, maybe you tight everything can happen.
Speaker A
Maybe the mental thing also if you are mentally not strong enough you can suffer. You think okay the night comes it will be so hard I don't know that's suffering and you how do you prepare yourself to suffer more
Speaker A
by experiencing races just in races and my training sessions I I think in 99% I will not suffer it's um just my training sessions of course I will do training training sessions when I'm tired. But that's not suffering. That's just my training
Speaker A
sessions. But the experience I take from races, for example, last year I was suffering also in some part of the race.
Speaker A
But that's the experience you take and put it in the into the next race and maybe you will get stronger. So yeah. So when you are in the race, you know you don't you are not quitting. Okay. And
Speaker A
you have built yourself that you'll suffer more. Mhm. And your suffering capacity is way more than others, right? And you just keep going. You're suffering. You're in pain.
Speaker A
You're you don't know if you'll be able to take the next step, but you still go, right?
Speaker A
And you keep going. Mhm. At what point do you realize that I can suffer more?
Speaker A
like not yet. I'll suffer more. When I know that I'm not damaging my body, that it's just discomfort. Then I know it's it's suffering. It's discomfort. Okay. But it's not damaging your body. So I can keep on and go more
Speaker A
and go more and run more. The next loop, the other loop. That's the point.
Speaker A
And four days, you'll just keep going. I just keep going. And when do you know what's the what's the point? What's the distinction between this is discomfort and this is damaging body?
Speaker A
Hard to tell. But I know my body. It's there's just a feeling. There's no specific Okay. Uh it feels kind of strange. It feels like it's it's a a muscle tearing apart or something like that.
Speaker A
It's just a feeling a feeling of yeah okay it was discomfort before now it's damaging just a feeling do you do you get what do you call in German there's a there's saying right inner shine right I don't know if if I pronounce it
Speaker A
right there's a there's a inner dog there's a inner pig dog inner bastard that you need to keep yeah it's inner dog also in Germany also in German it's the inner Hunt is Yeah.
Speaker A
Yeah. 100%. There's like an inner voice in yourself uh in you that tells you give up, give up, but you need to smash him and just keep going.
Speaker A
Do you do you have that inner voice? I have. Sometimes I have. Yeah. also also my training sessions. does, for example, if I'm exhausted over the week and I have on Sunday uh the next session a long run for three or four hours and my inner
Speaker A
dog tells me just do 2 hours of work, you need to smash that inner dog and put in the work and run and do that four hours of work. And you have the same in races 100%.
Speaker A
Maybe over four, five, 10 times in a race. It's like and in the night when the first pain comes when you have problem with um with nutrition, hydration, all that stuff. There's an uh there's a inner dog tells you why you do that. You don't
Speaker A
need to just quit. Go home. go to sleep, but you need to smash that thing.
Speaker A
And take me back to the starting line. Like take me to these 93 hours. I I really want to know this.
Speaker A
What how does it start? Then when does the first change comes that okay? Mhm.
Speaker A
I'm little tired, but I need to go more. Then the pain, then the suffering, then this inner dog comes in and then like what's the progression from zero when you start running 93rd like this is 93 hours of hell.
Speaker A
Yeah. So I had that little issue the that one knee thing. Um so so from the beginning of the race I had some discomfort. It felt a little bit weird before that or yeah before that.
Speaker A
Okay. So take me one night before. So my knee it was it was month ago.
Speaker A
Okay. So the first um beginning of the year I had that thing. I don't know where it came from. It was just one knee. Uh your knee feels a little bit stiff. So I started the ways with that thing. But I
Speaker A
did my training session. It was no problem. It there was no pain. It was just stiff.
Speaker A
So from the beginning of the race it's very hot. um 25 to 28° um over 10 hours of just burning on your head. The sun came out. It's just so hot. Um and you're running your loops. The first 24 hours is just
Speaker A
getting in getting in into that loops, getting in um into that team because I knew my brother-in-law and my coach, but the other twos were completely new. So at the backyard 50% is like is your is your team. Without your team, you are
Speaker A
lost. You need a good team. Yeah. So we had our team um it was completely fine. Everything goes well.
Speaker A
The first 24 my coach said so the first 24 to 36 hours is just getting in getting comfortable with the night with the with the with the track. Um and it was like that just getting in.
Speaker A
The same track for 24 hours for like whole Yeah. For the whole race the same thing.
Speaker A
Same track, every stone, everything is same for 93 hours. You'd go just just loop by loop. The same track and just different. Does it rain? Does the weather change? Does it?
Speaker A
It rained. It rained. It rained for just I think for two loops. So, it was perfect. No rain, no mud, nothing.
Speaker A
Perfect. So, the first hours was very hot and then it wasn't. So the temperature dropped a little bit. It was a perfect conditions and after 36 hours it began to be a little bit less athletes. So a lot of people dropped.
Speaker A
You have over the race you have some some some distances like the first 100k, then you have the first 100 miles, then 200k, 300k. And you can see that on the first 100k they will drop maybe 20 people. Then the first 100 miles,
Speaker A
another 20 people because they go into that race and said into their brain, yeah, okay, I just want to won the first 100k, maybe the first 100 miles, the first 200k. That was it. Then I'm out.
Speaker A
With that thing, you limit yourself. And I'm not that like that because my ideology, my philosophy in that race is just running loop by loop. I don't think in distances in miles and nothing just loop by loop. So you see okay they will
Speaker A
drop the first 20 the other 20 and after um yeah 48 hours there will be just maybe 20 runners left. So after a while um I would say loop 50 there were maybe 15 runners something like that and it
Speaker A
get it it after the first day or second day it gets very silent because there's no one there's no one and into the into the night also into the first night you hear nothing because maybe 50% of the runner
Speaker A
just struggling with the night because they are not mentally strong enough to to feel that night.
Speaker A
What happened? What what's about night? It's it's dark. It's just darkness. And they are not used to it to run that darkness.
Speaker A
For me, it it was perfect. I love that running in the night, running in the darkness, silent, just you in the road.
Speaker A
Perfect for me. And um on some parts of the of the road I just shut down my headlamp because I love the darkness running in the dark without any light.
Speaker A
It was completely crazy. But for me it was it was very it was very nice. So for the three is for the can you see for I could see a lot but after 24 hours 36 hours you know every every curve you you
Speaker A
know everything you know the whole track. Yeah. You don't need even eyes for that because you know the road.
Speaker A
Okay. So um yeah, I shut down my headlamp and just run um into that night uh into that two day three days. Um and after some loops I failed my first um issue with my inner tight. So there came
Speaker A
the first issue. Um for five loops I had just pain pain um and we could solve it. So this problem was gone and the other problem came after some loops. Uh my ankle on that inner side was swollen a little bit. So we had
Speaker A
the other issue. Then I ran for another 40 I don't know 40 loops. So at loop 82 I had that problem with my Achilles. It was hurting so bad. I ran and we could solve it at the same loop. So at the
Speaker A
after the loop 80 so in the loop 83 we could solve it and it was gone and yeah we won and um we could always solve the problems but yeah over the loops it was it was completely fine. I could manage the
Speaker A
darkness. Um I had some issues with my with my um tightness. I was some some loops I was just tight.
Speaker A
Yeah. But um we could manage it very well. And then and then for and then at what point keep going keep going um till nothing is left.
Speaker A
And from which loop you you were like now this is getting hard. I would say loop 48 because there started the first pain and I knew okay now it's getting discomfort just the first pain the other pain but
Speaker A
we could solve it you don't think in in kilometers so you just think in loops you finish the loop go back to the tent and just solve the pain solve the issues solve the pain just physio and like
Speaker A
massage massageage tapering like all that stuff and just works and just it it works very well.
Speaker A
So for 2 days, 48 hours you're like, "Oh, nothing. Piece of cake." Yeah. Great.
Speaker A
Yeah. Really? Like 2 days you're just running for 48 hours? Yeah. Yeah. Just running. Um no rest, no sleep, like probably 10 minutes of rest and then for continuously 2 days you're running and then it starts getting hard. At what
Speaker A
point it gets like this is too hard. I don't know if I'll survive another loop.
Speaker A
M from what this starts? It it it starts from in that race. It started at loop 82 when I had the issue with my Achilles.
Speaker A
From there on it was what what starts breaking first? Yeah. So loop 82 started with um it started very well but after 1k 1.5k it was a very hard pain at my and it was like okay you need to turn um just just
Speaker A
quit but at that point was like okay you can go you can finish the loop and you will solve the problem in the tent when you get back you have a freezer therapist you have people out there they
Speaker A
can manage it. So we So I finished the loop and he was tapering my Achilles and the pain was gone and from there on I could just uh run further.
Speaker A
What did you what did he do that the pain was gone already? He was tapering um he did a tape over my Achilles um and just I don't know gone.
Speaker A
Just tape and it was gone. And then what next? Like what starts breaking? Does it for Your stamina goes first, muscle goes first, feet goes first, physically you're done. Or like the mind, mental game, it breaks first.
Speaker A
What breaks first? What starts breaking one by one? It's just a physics. It's a physical one. The body shuts down.
Speaker A
That's a muscle. It's it's not I think it was just muscles. The achilles, the tendon, then the inner thigh. It was a complete thing. Everything comes together. From there on it was like over.
Speaker A
What about your decision making, concentration, focus, all of this breaks or no? No. No.
Speaker A
Even after 82 hours, no sleep, nothing. No. Mentally I'm I'm very strong mentally. And you're alert.
Speaker A
Yeah. After 82 hours also you're alert. You're focused. I'm focused. There are some loops maybe for example loop 90 where I was very tired. I just slept for a moment I think for 5 minutes on the track.
Speaker A
M um and then I got back and just finished the loop. So mentally I'm very strong in that case. Um the only thing was when we were just two guys on the track then everything changed a little bit.
Speaker A
Why? because the other competitor just did some um yeah some things on the on the track.
Speaker A
What did he do? He uh it was loop 87 I think where he um it was just you versus Mark.
Speaker A
Exactly. It was just me and Mark and we were starting the loop basically as any other loop before. Um, and I was running a little bit faster. Um, so from loop 83 to 86, I ran a little bit faster because
Speaker A
I was a little bit tired and I needed to rest a little bit more. So I run faster to get in uh with a 10 minutes break to just shut down and just sleep. So the loops before I ran very fast and then
Speaker A
came loop 87. And this loop I also wanted to run a little bit faster. But the strange thing was he was running just behind me and he was following me over 4k into that loop. He was just following me. Uh, I stopped, he stopped.
Speaker A
I ran, he ran, I stopped, he stopped. It was so strange because I don't have the experience of more races. I just have one.
Speaker A
And he's um I think very experienced in that game. He did over seven or eight backyards before doing all that stuff.
Speaker A
I think over 7 years now. I'm a rook. I'm a absolute rookie in that game. So, it was very strange for me. It was so weird like what are you doing running behind me and um it was strange. And after 4K into that
Speaker A
loop, I decided to just lie down on the field and waiting till he's gone. And from there, from there on, I just finished the loop. It was very strange.
Speaker A
But why was he doing that? Playing a mind game could be um in a race in a backyard. Everything you you do could interpret like mind games.
Speaker A
The faster loops I did before he could seen that as mind games. But for me it was just running so I can be back in the tent so fast and sleep a little bit more. But um it could be mind games,
Speaker A
could be everything. I don't know at that point. I never asked him. But But what what do you think? What was going on psychologically between you?
Speaker A
Psychologically, I think he did something like mind games. But how I said before, everything everything could be seen as mind games. Like maybe running a little bit faster, running slower, getting back to the tent 2 minutes.
Speaker A
um like in 58 minutes just to play a little bit with the mind of other athlete. Everything could be seen as mind games. But for me, I don't even care. He was screaming into that forest, for example. He was just screaming all
Speaker A
the time. I was like, "Okay, do that thing." But for me, I'm mentally strong enough.
Speaker A
But I did the mistake on loop 87 when I started and run very fast.
Speaker A
I should have been slower or just doing my thing. I were very fast. We were so fast. We were We run like 3 minutes 45 per kilometer. That's so fast. After 87 loops, it's it's different.
Speaker A
Um it was a mistake from my side. Why? Because why should I have kept running that fast?
Speaker A
Not necessary because he was following you. So you kept doing it. Yeah. Exactly. And you exhausted yourself.
Speaker A
Yeah. And why was he screaming? What was he doing? I don't know. So he screamed like he's he screamed like he screamed like an animal into that forest.
Speaker A
Just alone or he just just alone? He was alone in the forest and he was just screaming.
Speaker A
That's maybe his way of I don't know what his intention is. I don't know. But it's maybe just his his thing.
Speaker A
Do you do you scream? No. No. You I'm I I was just running. You when you are suffering as well, do you scream? Do you show your emotions or No, no, I'm not screaming, but maybe I'm breathing a little bit louder. That's I
Speaker A
think I did that one um in those loops. Um 85, 86, 84. I breathe a little bit louder just I don't know to get back my body I don't know something but not like screaming something and then going aggressively
Speaker A
nothing. No no no even if you're suffering you just go through it. Yeah. Do you know about a Japanese word called gaman?
Speaker A
No. Have have you heard of it? It means like enduring unsufferable unbearable pain with dignity and patience.
Speaker A
Okay. that you know that you're going through unbearable pain, but you want to still in front of the world, you'll show up with dignity and patience because you know that this will end.
Speaker A
Yeah. And you'll just suffer through that pain. Suffer through the pain. Yeah. It's a term in Japan that as a man you just suffer through dignity.
Speaker A
Yeah. That's that's a good one. Do you do that? That's a good one. Yeah.
Speaker A
Yeah. So you do that you believe in that not in screaming out. Why should I? There's absolutely no reason.
Speaker A
H But don't you feel like sometimes just going out and being tant throwing tantrums?
Speaker A
I'm not that kind of guy. No. Do you pretend at any point that you're stronger than him than your competitor?
Speaker A
No. Because I'm doing all that thing for just just to overcome my limits and doing all that thing. And I'm I I don't think about other athletes at that race.
Speaker A
I see that it's okay, but I'm not comparing myself to others. But when there are only two left Mhm.
Speaker A
and there's one guy who's running right behind you screaming in the forest. He's a he's lived this race seven times. He's an experienced guy. Then do you not think about the competitor?
Speaker A
Because I will still do my race and you don't care about it. I don't care at all. I'm that kind of guy.
Speaker A
How I said before, I did a mistake that I run very fast. I could have just stopped and do my do my do my loop, finish my loop. It was a big mistake from my side, but I learned it was my
Speaker A
second race. That's how life goes. But don't you do you ever think that, hey, maybe he's better and he's a competitor, so I need to beat him or something?
Speaker A
No. No. No. Never. In any case, never. Do you think you're best? Um, I would say I'm good in not giving up, but I would say I'm not the I I want to stay always humble. So saying I'm the best is like
Speaker A
not very it's you can't say you are the best and being I don't know hard to tell I'm that humble guy.
Speaker A
I will not tell to the world I'm the best. I'm the best but of course I feel like I need to do so more so much training and train hard to be the best.
Speaker A
But I would never say into the world like I'm the best. I'm the best. That's that's not my characteristica.
Speaker A
But do you deep inside yourself, do you know that you have it in you to become number one?
Speaker A
Yeah, I have it. You have it. You have this belief. You know this in that 100%.
Speaker A
I'm because I'm delusional. I'm delusional. And in every race I participate, I want to go all in. And one day I will become the best.
Speaker A
You just go through it. I go through it. Dude, I see a lot. You're doing obviously much harder and more painful things and but I see a lot of what you do is so similar to what I do.
Speaker A
I I don't I I know I'm not the best, but I know that I have it in me that I'll train hard and work so hard and learn so much that one day Yeah.
Speaker A
I might be close to that and I'll become I have it in me to become number one.
Speaker A
Yeah. Like not today, but I know this someday. Yeah. Someday. It's there, right? Yeah. 100% 100%.
Speaker A
It's a thing. And I don't I don't look at other people as competition. No, I know. I don't I don't want to compare myself to others. Never.
Speaker A
I take some inspiration 100% from other people. For example, from Gorgans, the mental thing um or from other backyard runners, for example, Phil Gore, who is the current um world record leader.
Speaker A
I take them as an inspiration, but the work behind it you need to do by yourself.
Speaker A
Sure, I agree. And I know someday I will be with the now I'm part of the elite.
Speaker A
Years ago I I was like how can I be part of that elite in that running staff and now I'm part of it and it's crazy and now you need to work harder to be at the top and that's what what I'm doing. Do you
Speaker A
think now the normal marathons are joke for you? Like running like 40 kilometers or like 50 kilometers in you like on what days? If I'm tight it could be Yeah. Now it's for example a 20k is like it's like warm up.
Speaker A
It's like warm up basically. So when I'm doing my 60 minutes sessions or 75 minutes is like basically my 5k 4 years ago. So it's like in comparison to that it's like okay.
Speaker A
Yeah. Like after running like 600 kilometers I'm wondering what do you think about a Boston Marathon?
Speaker A
Yeah I did. That's very funny because just a couple days before I did the Berlin marathon.
Speaker A
Okay. Just on Sunday and it was very nice. I did a sub three um and I just enjoy it.
Speaker A
Yeah, it was very funny and but still I need to stay always humble. Yeah, it's very important. You could be at the top and very fast at the bottom.
Speaker A
Everything could happen. So, still staying humble, doing the work and just do your races.
Speaker A
True. Tell me the darkest moment of of those n like tell me the darkest moment from those 93 hours. The darkest moment was when I had the issue with my inner thigh.
Speaker A
It was horrible. It was it was basically at the beginning. It was Yeah. Not the beginning. It was Luke 48.
Speaker A
Yeah. And it hurted so much. It was such bad pain. And when you have that pain, everything kind of gets worse because you stressing a lot a lot. You are sweating a lot because it's so painful. And and when I
Speaker A
said it to my coach, he was like, "It's just discomfort. You can still do that.
Speaker A
Just run. We will solve it in the next loop." And after four loops, I was like, "Hey, we need to solve that because it's getting very worse because every step is like such a pain." And the fifth loop
Speaker A
was then um he put the the the cream on it, the painiller cream. It's um the name of the cream is bits. It's a German um cream and it's like kind of painkiller but just a cream on the on
Speaker A
the muscle and it was gone from there on it was very good. But were you close to giving up? Never. No.
Speaker A
No. It was just discomfort because everything else was fine. I was still I was still there but the pain was very hard.
Speaker A
Interesting. And then the similar thing kind of similar kind of thing happened in last race. Very the same thing. Yeah. But the um last year the it happened also the thing is it's a little bit different. Last year it happened at the
Speaker A
last loop and we could not manage it to solve it before. um it was at the Achilles on the right side. Um and it started just mid the loop. So for me it was a new experience to have something
Speaker A
like that and I just quit because maybe I was not mentally very strong or I did not experience the discomfort the the pain before. So it was okay it's new to me I need to quit now. I don't know what
Speaker A
will happen after that because I could not run. It was such a pain and it I could not handle it.
Speaker A
So yeah, but you were hallucinating as well, right? Yeah, at Loop 60 I was hallucinating.
Speaker A
But it was funny for me. It was very funny doing doing having that the first time. It was so funny and I was mentally there. I was not I was tired but in a clear head. So I told my team I was
Speaker A
hallucinating and they laughed and I also laughed because I saw things there and they were like oh crazy you you were hallucinating and it was like yeah it I was and u it was just funny and I was
Speaker A
hallucinating just for one um from for one loop and from there on it was just But what did you do differently this time that you didn't hallucinate?
Speaker A
I slept more. I slept way more. How much did you sleep overall? Yeah, it's it's like how we said before like 60 minutes over the whole race, but it was way more than last year. So, in comparison to last year, it's last year
Speaker A
I did not sleep even 15 minutes over 16 hours. You wake up on a on a Friday at 6:00, the race starts at 12:00. So you have over 70 hours of no sleep. So you need to hallucinate. It's it's
Speaker A
necessary. But this time we managed it very good. So I had a coach on in my corner and he told me, "Okay, you look a little bit tight. You need to rest now." Perfect.
Speaker A
This is I I'm not able to comprehend this. never did the experience. That's the thing.
Speaker A
That is so people out there never Yeah. people out there never I think more than 99.9% of the world will never experience something like that.
Speaker A
And for people like us, it's now pretty normal. But it's to describe it, it's you people will never understand it. Never.
Speaker A
Yeah. Can't Yeah. Can't I I It's It's so You know, I I respect your courage and the kind of things that you're saying so much. I have no words.
Speaker A
A because I can't understand. B. Even when you're trying to make me understand, it's so difficult to digest.
Speaker A
It's brutal. Mhm. 93 hours. Maybe in your world this is normal and everybody talks like this but as a normal average civilian ordinary person I would say no you are not average at all how much you're working you are
Speaker A
definitely not average but in this context let's say let's say ordinary person is 93 hours no sleep and you keep run you're not like just no sleep or chilling it's like 93 hours you're running you're exhaust just running
Speaker A
running and out from 93 hours you've slept for like 51 52 minutes in total.
Speaker A
Mhm. And every hour you sleep 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 4 minutes, 2 minutes, 5 minutes.
Speaker A
That's maddening. I don't know why you do that, but it's I mean we all play different games.
Speaker A
Yeah, exactly. We all have those the we tell our brains to I love this quote by do you know Travis the the guy who founded Uber?
Speaker A
Mhm. Okay. So he said something that entrepreneur about entrepreneurship but I think it goes for everybody who's in this game of achieving something extraordinary in their heads no matter what they're doing and and and he says that the game is that I can take more pain
Speaker A
than you and I can suffer more. Good one. That's and he he talks about entrepreneurship that entrepreneurship is I can suffer more than anyone. Yeah.
Speaker A
So it's same with Yeah. Basically just business. Yeah. Forget business. Everything is like that. Anyone who wants to become extraordinary, the game they're playing in their head is I can suffer more than you.
Speaker A
Let's see. Good one. Yeah. Yeah. Like let's see who has more pain tolerance. That's the Yeah.
Speaker A
And that's where the last man standing. And the same is in. So that's what you do. You do that for living. Yeah, tell me if if my brain tells me that in a gym in normal context for everyone
Speaker A
who wants to build this unbreakable brain okay and they're listening to you right now.
Speaker A
Mhm. Because you've you are one of the most extraordinary minds in the world when it comes to suffering and just tolerating pain. You've proven that. So, if someone's watching this and they're like, I can't take this another step. I
Speaker A
can't do another push-up. I can't just go beyond. How do I know that that's my physical limit or that just my brain telling me and protecting me from discomfort? How do I know that?
Speaker A
So how do you know that? It's simple. Your brain tell you this. When your brain tells you you can't, now I quote Gorgens, you you are at 40%.
Speaker A
There was always more in yourself. You can go further. You can train more. You can still manage to train. It's just your head. It's just your brain tells you no. But your body is still fresh.
Speaker A
You can. You always can. It's just do that thing. But how do I know that it's my brain telling me or it's the body? Like do I need to rest or just mind over everything? It's like wake up. You need to do it.
Speaker A
Oh, just wake up. Wake up and still do that work. It's so simple. It's very simple.
Speaker A
There's no theory or something else. It's just wake up still get back to work. Just do the thing. Who else will?
Speaker A
You need to do that work. No one else. It's you. True. Tell me what happens before you quit.
Speaker A
What are the thoughts in your brain which is going on 3 to 5 minutes before quitting? Because you've done that. So you know it it's the comfortable feeling of okay you did enough you had enough you trained enough you run enough
Speaker A
and from there on you need to change that you something like it's not enough you need to do more you need to do one more one more loop one more session just One more.
Speaker A
That's the same. It's the loop. If you think in loops, just one more loop.
Speaker A
There's you don't your brain doesn't negotiate with you. No. That's like, hey, you know, like we are at 80. Let's do 83 and then we'll quit.
Speaker A
Yeah. Never. Never. over the whole race, over the whole whole race. It was, for example, I had some moments when I think about the race last year. I was um at loop 50. Um I told myself, okay, how can
Speaker A
I manage it to run over my PB like 66 loops? Um but my brain changed immediately to just do your thing loop by loop. Just loop by loop.
Speaker A
Nothing else. Nothing else. If you think in distances, in kilometers, in okay, I will just run 100k, 200k, you will limit yourself and you will start to struggle loops before. For example, if you want to run 200k, you will start to struggle
Speaker A
at 150k. It's very it's often like that. So it's so important for people out there who start for example to run or doing that backyard thing. Don't limit yourself. Think in loops because everything will happened in that loop
Speaker A
you will solve it. Just think okay will I will do that loop and after that loop you will solve any issues and start the other loop. Just thinking in loops on hours just one loop at a time.
Speaker A
Exactly. Do you do selft talk? Yeah, obviously. What do you do? What do you tell yourself?
Speaker A
So over the race without phone, without headphones, you will do that for sure. I maybe motivate myself like um oh yeah you can do that or the next loop or you basically talk about everything and also like your thoughts you you think about
Speaker A
your whole life. If you have 80 hours of just nothing you will think about everything.
Speaker A
What happened in your life? Why you do that? What's what's the reason you do that? All that stuff. You think about everything. But people who will listen to music or other things, of course, they have just music, podcast in their
Speaker A
head. But for me, it was just me, the road, the steps I do, and my inner thoughts.
Speaker A
What's the deepest thought you got? Why I'm doing that? And what was the answer? for me, for my limits and for the people behind me, family, friends, my team, like everyone who believed in me.
Speaker A
This was like my my deepest thoughts. And what about them? You want to make them proud or you want in first or do you want them to not see you as a loser?
Speaker A
No. No. I want they will never see me as a loser because they know where I started. I started at nothing and I have my inner circle. I have my family, some friends and my sponsor, my team and they will always believe in me
Speaker A
100% with any race. Doesn't matter what will happen. It could happen that for example in that race I will start a loop and just twist my ankle and I'm out but they will always believe in me. So I have just my
Speaker A
inner circle, my family, my team and they will always believe in me. Very simple.
Speaker A
But what do you think like why why do you think you want to make them proud? Like what is the feeling?
Speaker A
It's a good feeling. It's a very good feeling. I need to push more to make them proud. For example, my family because I was all the years before I did basically nothing. Just a little bit of work, studying, all that stuff. And from
Speaker A
now on doing that thing professional, it's like it's the world to me. Do you think you've found your purpose?
Speaker A
Yeah, it feels like that. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. And now I can focus on that one and becoming the best. Before that it was just running, just running, doing all that thing, doing all that thing for me. But now I know, okay, I
Speaker A
can become one of the best, maybe the best in that specific races, in that backyard thing, in that ultra thing. It's it isn't just the backyard.
Speaker A
It's ultra in general, like trail ultras everything. And yeah, nice. And what was the weirdest and the funniest thought you got?
Speaker A
Well, the funniest it's um I had some funny thoughts. It's uh because of my coach when I go to the tent uh when I finish a loop, he was always doing some jokes or uh calling me very funny names.
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So, it's it's always that thoughts and the things I get on the track when uh when I see my coach and it's like very funny. He is a funny guy. It's he calls me names and it's just What names? Tell me. I can't. I can't. I
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can't. It's just very He told me he told me afterwards. He told me, "Hey, I'm very proud of you." Um, I was one of the athletes who went like the most miles, so the most loops. He's a coach in
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specific for the backyards and um he has another another coach. He it's Candle. Candle is um was running at BPN from Nick Bear and did 73 hours. So basically I did 20 Yeah, I did 20 more loops. Um
Speaker A
and he was very proud of me. So it's like crazy if your coach to tell you that.
Speaker A
Yeah. Coaches never tell you that. If they tell you it means that you've done a lot.
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Exactly. Exactly. That's true. Do you visualize? Um do you do visualization? Manifestation. Manifestation. Yeah.
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Do you do that? Yeah. Yeah. What do you Yeah. For example, that pro thing uh getting becoming pro. I did it.
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um two 3 years ago that I need to become pro in any game in any part like for example that backyard or that ultra thing um I had my mind you need to become elite and I did it um and it happened.
Speaker A
What was your process like you used to think every day visualize it or you used to write it somewhere?
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No, I told myself that that you'll do it. Yeah, you need to become pro telling me telling me that thing like every second day or I don't know every every day every week you need to become pro you need to become one of
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the best you need to train hard for that to become that like and then right after that day how many years ago this was oh it was when I started the running journey um I think after a year, it was
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2024 after my first half marathon because I know okay now after that first half marathon I just trained for basically nothing just to train train um and when I started to see progress it was okay you can do good
Speaker A
things you can be part of the elite someday not now but someday And I I saw just the progress and from there on I manifest all the things.
Speaker A
Nice. So just in 2 years of telling yourself that you want to be amongst the elite, you became That's insane.
Speaker A
It was very fast. It was very fast. But it I was dedicated and I was obsessed with the things I do.
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I was so obsessed with the training sessions, with the races, with the with the things I do in general.
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You were just eating, breathing, sleeping. Yes. And working and training and doing all that stuff.
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Just this. Yeah. Nice. So, you turned around. This is so good. It's It's amazing.
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Especially after knowing that it's just like a 4 year journey. It's it's wild. It just gives me hope that anyone can turn around at any point.
Speaker A
Exactly. That's why that's what I telling people out there. You can reach everything. You can you can in general you can do that like you never you know a lot of kids they start their athletic journey or their
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when they're like four or three or five and they train their whole life to become an athlete to reach amongst the elite and it takes them years to reach there.
Speaker A
Exactly. And you started 4 years ago just by obsession you beat 100% 10 years of work.
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Yeah. That's that should give a lot of people a lot of hope that you can turn around.
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It will be it would be amazing for me if other people just take th those little things I did the obsession in 4 years to become a pro ultra alathlete.
Speaker A
That's why if you tell me if someone's watching this and they decide today they want to they visualize or manifest a new reality about them for themselves that's they want to let's start simple like somebody watches you today and be like hey
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I want to become mentally unbreakable I want to change my life around what should they do for next 30 days how should they build their day from morning to night. Give me some manual so that they can start doing something which
Speaker A
pushes them. They're just sitting at a couch potato right now. Okay. I think the first thing very simple uh read read read read books about mentality. Um take some inspiration from other people who are mentally just strong. Like I the
Speaker A
first book I bought was from Gogggins. So basically just start to read about mentality about personalities to build your own personality your own mental strength and just start to read start to read books. Um from there on try some podcast podcast from people who
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talk about that things to build up your yeah your personality. So podcast and books is like the best thing for me. So no working out, no something, nothing at all or like trying to do something where you push yourself
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to the thing is if you do too much things you will do at the end of the you do nothing.
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True. So start with one thing do that for 30 days and after that start with another thing but take the other thing with you.
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So read the book, do that and start maybe with the first sessions, training session with your f first run or your first steps. You don't need to run far or long. Just take some steps. True. It's for me. I don't want
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to be like a role model like you don't need to run an ultra. I just want to be a little bit of inspiration to go out of your comfort zone and start with your first training session, your first run, your first gym
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session. That's what I want to want from people. I don't want them to run an ultra because that's definitely not healthy at the beginning. Just start with your first workout, your first run.
Speaker A
Very simple. So start first you start with reading and podcast to build your mentality mindset.
Speaker A
Yeah. And then you do Yeah. Yeah. The workout. If it's good for you, you can do some I don't know go out for a walk just in the morning for maybe 30 minutes, 45 minutes. Just go out for a walk. It's it's nothing. 30
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minutes from 24 hours. Take eight sleeps, 8 hours of sleep away, you have 16 hours. Take 8 hours work, you have still 8 hours.
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Take 4 hours of whatever, you have so many so much time. You still can do so many things.
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1 hour, 30 minutes, I don't know. Just do something for your health. Very simple. And also like the podcast thing while you're driving you can listen to podcast in the night you can listen to podcast everything it's it's very simple
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true have you have you heard of uh a term called misogi misogi yeah that that's also Japanese so they do like once a year you do something very very hard so that you just push your limits of doing something hard and then you come
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back as a different personm M. So do you think do you believe in that? Do should people do that? like pick up one thing out of their life which is incredibly hard for 30 days or 7 days or 10 days I
Speaker A
don't know once a year pick up and do I think go the same thing like 75 75 days hard something like that but um the most people are so much in their comfortable life they will not do something like that doing something very
Speaker A
hard they they love the comfortable life So in my opinion, just start with a little thing. Just start with some steps, some runs with a book, with a podcast to step. But don't do that for 30 days and then stop. Keep pushing.
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Keep going. You need to have that discipline, that consist constancy. Consistency. You need to have that.
Speaker A
Yeah, it's important. True. True. Here are last two three questions that I ask all my guests.
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One is what's one advice that nobody should follow. Compare yourself to others. So never compare.
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Yeah. Never compare but take people as inspiration to do things because we live in that social media life. Everyone is comparing theirel to others for example.
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Oh, he's doing an half marathon. I will also do one. But he had training before.
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You're not train then you can do an half marathon or your first 5K, 10K. It's extremely toxic now. So don't compare yourself to others. Take people as inspiration and build your own life.
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True. Um what is one thing that you know you believe which rest of the world doesn't know that you are capable to weigh more. You are capable to do so much big things to achieve big things out there. And
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maybe just with your first run, other other people's can just see that and do the same thing.
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So it's a butterfly effect. You do the thing, maybe the next day other person see that and do the same thing. It's awesome. M and all that running thing it's getting so big now it's um first I was like it's
Speaker A
just a trend it's a hype but it's a good hype it's a good to trend people doing people run out there all that run clubs first I was like ah it's it's just run clubs and dating and all that stuff but on the other hand
Speaker A
it's it's a good trend people go out for a It's awesome. People stay healthy and it's it's amazing. I love that. So, you could be a role model or inspiration for other people just by doing some small things. Go out for a run. Other people
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see that and also do that. Nice. Now, here's the last question. What's the most extraordinary thing you want to do next?
Speaker A
Very simple. I want I want to run more loops. So, train way harder now.
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I've did so many training sessions this year. I'm uh currently at 6,000 uh kilometers.
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But next year, for example, I need to do more. I need to do more. I need to train harder and maybe at the next backyard to push even more to do more loops and become one of the best. Maybe the best.
Speaker A
Become the last man standing. Become the last man standing. That's the goal. That is.
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I hope you end up doing that. I believe you'll end up doing that. Wow.
Speaker A
Thank you so much for coming here, brother. It was amazing to have you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Speaker A
Was amazing. Thank you. It was lovely. Wow. Hi. How are you? Yes. How are you doing?
Speaker A
I'm very fine. Good to see you. Welcome. We are excited. We're super excited to have you here. It'll be fun.
Speaker A
I am. I was just I'm amazed by what you do. Thanks. Thanks. It's insanity what you do. Awesome, man. Yeah, it's Yeah, it's crazy what happened. What happened the last month?
Speaker A
Um yeah, what happened over the last Yeah, I don't know. After the race. How old are you?
Speaker A
Um I'm so 27 years old doing Yeah. studying stuff. Uh and um hopefully soon a business owner. I'm um into opening a coffee lab. So doing everything.
Speaker A
Nice. And just having fun. Nice. That's good. That's good to hear. Thank you for watching this episode till the end. We would love to know what you liked or disliked about this episode and which guests you would like to see on
Speaker A
the show. Let us know in the comments. Your feedback help us improve and make every episode a little better. I'll see you next time. Until then, keep figuring out.
Topics:Backyard Ultraultra runningmental toughnessendurance trainingAyyoub El OsroutiRaj Shamanisleep deprivationrunning motivationstrength training for runnerspain tolerance
