Everything Endurance

Kris King is a Race Director and adventurer with a history of fastpacking style adventures, multi-stage races, and even a 31-day running tour of the UK, he has tried and tested a multitude of backpacks on the trail over the years. What should you consider when choosing the right backpack?  How should you approach packing it?  How can you avoid chaffing and rubbing whilst running/hiking with your pack? All these questions and more, such as what's the weirdest thing you've seen a runner pack for a race and where does a bald man stop washing his face, are answered by Kris and Will in this latest episode.

This year, John Kelly became a Spine Race winner and broke a Pennine Way FKT which had stood for over 30 years (setting a record which was rudely broken a week later by Damian Hall!). As if this wasn't enough achievement, he also recently completed his 'Hartley Slam' project by completing the Grand Round. This monstrous endeavour saw John take on all 3 UK grand rounds (the Paddy Buckley, Bob Graham and Charlie Ramsay) consecutively, whilst cycling the distances in between.  Each of those runs are around the 100km mark with stacks of ascent, and the rides between are around the 300km each! John Kelly was fundraising throughout the Hartley Slam for the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.  Read all about their work and donate here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hartleyslam Cover Background Photo: @the_phbalance 

On weds 2nd September at around 5am, adventurer, ultra-runner and coach Donnie Campbell finished a record attempt that had taken him 31days and 23hrs to complete. He had summited all 282 Munros (Scottish mountains over 3000ft in height), completing the entire journey under his own power.  He covered almost 900 miles on foot and the same on a bike whilst enduring enough ascent to climb Everest 14 times.  In doing so, he beat the previous record by over a week! In this episode we chat about his epic journey from forming the idea, through planning the monster logistics, to tackling a serious contender for the most epic record of this summer of FKTs. Donate to Donnie's fundraiser for the British Red Cross here ---> https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/donniecampbell84 Learn about the Virtual ForRangers Ultra ---> https://beyondtheultimate.co.uk/ultra/virtual-for-rangers-ultra/#!/2020

In July, a group of passionate runners formed an organisation with the aim of increasing inclusion, participation and representation of black people in trail running.  That group called itself Black Trail Runners. In this episode we chat to 2 of those runners, namely 'Marathon Marcus' Brown and Sonny Peart about their own passion for running and outdoor sports, their experiences on the trails, and about what can be done to tackle a lack of diversity that leaves many people missing out on the physical and mental benefits gained from running and other outdoor sports. Follow BlackTrailRunners on instagram---> https://www.instagram.com/blacktrailrunners/ Contact them at ---> blacktrailrunners@gmail.com Hear Marcus' 'A Runner’s Life' podcast ---> https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a-runners-life/id1504303593 Learn about the Virtual ForRangers Ultra ---> https://beyondtheultimate.co.uk/ultra/virtual-for-rangers-ultra/#!/2020    

We promised you a third installment of our series on training for endurance events/ultra-running with our very own Kris King, and here it is! Why should runners worry about strength training? Is strength work actually good for runners? Are there any exercises every runner should do? What role can strength training play in the prevention of injuries? All these questions and more are answered as Will and Kris are reunited for another episode of Everything Endurance. Alongside Kris King's role as Race Director for Beyond the Ultimate, he is also an experienced fitness coach with a track record of helping athletes to prepare for epic feats, including training Will from being an overweight kebab enthusiast with a morbid fear of running into an ultra-runner capable of a top-10 finish at the Ice Ultra, in under a year.

Carla Molinaro is an elite ultrarunner and coach with a glowing CV.  After the cancellation of all her races this year, Carla began training for a world record attempt under lockdown in South Africa, where she could only run up and down a 100-metre driveway. Nevertheless, on 28th July she set a new women's world record having run the 874-mile/1400km length of Great Britain in 12 days and 30 minutes. We chat to her about preparing for a world record under lockdown restrictions, and about the grueling 12 days of hard running it took to reach her goal.

Steve Hill is a teacher first and foremost, but he's also an adventurer and endurance athlete who has won multiple awards for his inspirational work with youngsters and an MBE for his charity work too. Each year he takes on another epic endurance challenge to inspire his next class of pupils.  He shares the whole journey with them teaching them along the way that if they aim high, dream big and never give up they can achieve anything. We chat to Steve about the message he delivers to his pupils and about being an ultra-runner who 'gets his money's worth' out of his adventures.  In a change to our speedier, record-breaking guests of late, this is a chance to hear from a runner more likely to be toward the back of the pack enjoying every inch of the trail. You can learn more about the Team Hill Charitable Trust at www.stevehillmbe.com/team-hill-charitable-trust/  

Damian Hall is a Runner, Coach and Journalist with a stunning CV, including podiums and top-10 positions at the Spine Race, the Dragon's Back and the UTMB.  He also holds a number of FKTs already including the 630 mile South West Coast Path. On Friday 24th of July he grabbed himself another record in the shape of a Pennine Way FKT, a record which had stood for little more than a week after John Kelly's incredible performance (see episode 42). In this episode we talk through his preparation for the record attempt, his time out on the trail and the work he has put in to making sure that the challenge was carbon neutral.

Adam Kimble is an American Ultra-Runner and Coach with an impressive and growing CV.  He is also a Race Director with Beyond the Ultimate, a motivational speaker, and a serious contender for friendliest human on earth. This Lake Tahoe resident recently set a new Fastest Known Time for the Tahoe Rim Trail, a 171-mile route through alpine terrain in California with over 8000 metres of climbing.  This was Adam's 2nd attempt to take the record from it's previous owner, one Kilian Jornet.  You may have heard of him. In this episode Will and Adam chat about his first attempt last October, his training and preparation since, and the amazing 37hrs and 12 minutes he spent on the trail breaking the record last weekend.

Since the planets ultra-runners have been unleashed from easing lockdowns around the world, they've been channeling their pent up energy into record-breaking feats of running. In this special midweek episode, we chat to one of those runners,  John Kelly, for the 2nd time this year.  What earns him his exalted status as the only person ever to appear on this show twice in the same year?  Breaking the Pennine Way FKT, that's what.  A record which had stood for 31 years before he came along. John covered the 268 mile long Pennine Way, the national trail running from Edale in the Peak District to Kirk Yetholm across the border in Scotland, in just 2 days, 16 hours and 40 minutes, beating the previous record by a margin of just over 30 minutes. We chat through John's data-driven approach to his epic challenges and talk about how this latest achievement fits into his plan to run the Hartley Slam in 2020. John Kelly is fundraising throughout the Hartley Slam for the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.  Read all about

At 3am on Saturday 11th July, Kim Collison set off from the quiet darkness of a small Lake District village with a running record in his sights that had stood for more than 20 years.  24hrs later he had returned to the start of his challenge having reached the top of 78 Lakeland peaks.  In all, he covered 175km (109 miles) with 11,890m (39,000ft) of ascent. Kim Collison has been a prominent figure in British ultra-running for some years now,  who's accolades including being British Trail Running Champion in 2014, wins at the Lakeland 50, Lakes in a Day and Arc of Attrition races among others, and a Winter Bob Graham record which he bagged in December last year. In this episode, Kim talks us through his journey into running, the things that keep him motivated, and the highs and lows of 24hrs of running through some of the UK's lumpiest terrain!

After a pandemic imposed hiatus from the show, Kris King returns with the second part of his enlightening series on training for endurance events.  This time we tackle the topic of basic nutrition. Whether you're looking to healthily lose a little lockdown weight, or you're building the foundations ready to train for an epic adventure of your own, there is plenty to learn as Kris gives us an overview of how to build a healthy attitude towards food and make changes to our habits which can help you achieve your goals. After nearly 4 months without recording together, expect the co-hosts to bait each other about their hair and exchange a little colourful language as we get into the basics of healthy diet.

Finding reasons not to train is rarely a problem for most of us.  Nothing stops today's guest from achieving ultra-running excellence though.  Not the fact that she works an extremely challenging role as a human rights lawyer in conflict zones, not the fact that she also gives her time to the charity she founded, not even the fact that much of her training has to take place in small concrete compounds surrounded by security. Today we chat to Stephanie Case about her running journey, her unusual training regime and about Free to Run, a charity which supports women in conflict zones through adventure sports, helping to improve their physical, emotional and social wellbeing.  A charity of which she is founder and president.  

When Kasia Orzechowska made the decision to follow her dream of running a multi-stage ultra-marathon in the Desert, she was 7 months pregnant and resettling in a new country.  13 months later she arrived in Namibia having trained hard, researched her kit, but having never run further than a marathon. Faced with 5 days and 250km of hard running in temperatures of 50°c and above, Kasia rose to the challenge and was not only the first woman to reach the finish line, she also broke the previous course record set by Kristina Madsen, a world record-breaking runner we've featured on this show in the past. In this episode, we talk through her training journey, her experience in the Namib desert, and what the future holds for this exceptional runner who is now entering races as a sponsored athlete.

In this episode we talk to the winner of the Ice Ultra, Beyond the Ultimate's 5-day multistage run across Arctic Sweden, a runner who faced down 5 days of running in temperatures as low as -35c with a grin on his face throughout. A runner who not long ago decided to take a leap of faith and work towards making a career out of the thing he loves most. When Dicksy took on the Jungle Ultra (the same format but much hotter, much wetter, and with infinitely more mosquitos) there was a lightbulb moment somewhere out among the trees where he decided to change his life. If you're planning a cold race or adventure, we have some tips for you.  If you're looking for inspiration to take your own passion and make it a livelihood then Simon's story and his massive enthusiasm is just what you need.

Gary Cantrell, aka Lazarus Lake, is the man behind the Barkley Marathons, a race with a powerful air of mystery and a reputation for insane levels of toughness.  A race that strips it's runners to the bone, pitting them against the wilderness in a fight that heavily favours the hills. Since it's 1986 inception, only 15 runners have ever reached the finish and yet runners all over the world muddle through the obscure application process each year in the hope that it might be their time. In this episode, we chat to Laz about Gary Cantrell's early ultra-running days, about how a lack of races led to him setting up his own, about his recent trans-continental trek across the US, and about how the now world-famous Barkley Marathons came to be the race that it is.

Jenny Tough is not an athlete who takes no for an answer.  Many people told her that flying alone to Kyrgystan and running through the Tian Shan Mountain Range was a bad idea.  Not least because she'd be running unsupported in a country where there are next to no guidebooks or maps to help you plan your adventure. Nevertheless, Jenny completed that run and it led her to a new goal of running a mountain range on every continent on the planet. This week's episode takes us from Kyrgystan, to Morrocco, on to Bolivia and then to New Zealand as we talk about Jenny's approach to expeditions and her motivation for taking on these epic challenges.  Read more amazing stories and watch her excellent short films at https://jennytough.com/

On November 10th 2019 Nick Butter became the first and only person to run a full marathon distance in every country in the world, and did so in just 23 months.  He travelled alone for 674 days, running 2 or 3 marathons in 2 or 3 countries, every week, for 96 consecutive weeks. In this episode we attempt to condense more than 2 years of adventure into 40 minutes of chat covering such topics as car-park marathons, wild dog avoidance techniques and running with food poisoning. Nick's awesome adventure is on it's way to being a book called Run the World, which you can pre-order now, and a speaking tour.  You can find details at https://www.nickbutter.com/  

Sophie Power is an ultra-runner with an impressive CV including the MDS, running for Great Britain at Spartathlon, and completing the UTMB. It was during this particular race that a photo, taken of Sophie whilst she breastfed her 3-month-old at the checkpoint in Courmayeur, went viral and sparked debates around the world. In this episode, we chat to Sophie about her journey into ultra-running, her sudden appearance in the international spotlight, and about the work she has done since becoming an advocate for https://www.womeninsport.org/   9t22jzrz

Jamie Ramsay is as an award-winning British Endurance Adventurer.  After 12 years of successfully living and working at a stressful job in London, Jamie realised he was unhappy with the direction of his life and that if he didn’t make some drastic changes then things would continue to spiral downwards. His rather audacious solution was to quit his job (where he was a newly promoted Partner), fly to Vancouver, and run 17,000km to Buenos Aires completely unsupported. Since his leap into the unknown, Jamie has travelled the world running, climbing and trekking his way across some of the worlds most iconic places, from running across the Atacama Desert, Cycling across a flooded Salar de Uyuni, reaching the summit of Aconcagua, and coming 3rd in the Cape Wrath Ultra despite nursing a sprained ankle. In this episode, he chats to Will about some of the highlights from his travels, about his approach to planning adventures, and about changing your life for the sake of your mental wellbeing. In the episode, we discuss