Merry Xmas my Feetlings!

This week I decided to extend my talent to interviewing and caught up with Alex Vero who directed “Running to the limits” (featured in last week’s blog). If you did not see it you still can (click here).

Basically Alex was a 16 stone, obese, heavy drinking filmmaker who decided to find out firsthand what it takes to become an international marathon runner.

Q: Hi Alex and congratulations on a great documentary, what was your initial aim time and how realistic did you think it was?

A: The initial aim was sub 2hrs 20mins marathon but, this was a dream goal and was not backed up with any science or running knowledge. I was then pretty much told that funding of the project would rely on me running a sub 2hrs 30mins marathon. So for a 3 year project I was under a bit of pressure to achieve something around 2.30.

Q: After two attempts, 2hrs 57mins was your best, was there a point before this that you started to re-evaluate your goal?

A: 4 ½ months into the project I had lost quite a bit of weight and was training regularly so I did a physiological test on my body with a sports scientist who predicted my body’s limit would be 2hrs 45mins. I therefore re-evaluated my aims and set my target at sub 2hrs 40mins with a dream goal of low 2hr 30 mins marathon.

Q: You started off at 16 stone, what happened with your weight during your project?

A: When I started I could hardly run and got some advice that I needed to lose a lot of weight before I started running a lot. The first two months I spent a lot of time in the gym on the cross trainer. I started to gradually increase my training and after 6 months I lost 2 stone. I eventually got down to 12 stone after one and a half years of training.

Q: What changes did you make to your lifestyle to achieve such a weight loss?

A: I ate healthy and stopped drinking and smoking. Just from being healthy I dropped a lot of weight and then hit various plateau’s. Generally as I started to increase my training it came off.

Q: What top 3 tips do you have for other beginners who are about to start a new ‘running career’ in the new year?

A:

1: Losing weight in a non-impact way in the beginning was a sensible way to start. 16 stone of weight bouncing up and down would only lead to an injury. Also be strict with your healthy diet (i.e. don’t stop eating, just eat the right stuff) and your body will get there.

2: Structure was something I learnt when I joined my local running club ‘Serpentine’. My coach taught me how to structure my week and the importance of different training sessions. In the early days I looked at the ‘Run and Walk’ sessions and thought it was training for wimps. It took my coach and running friends to explain that you cannot jump in at the deep end and your body needs these sessions to gradually adapt.

3: Don’t chase lost time- If I missed a training session or a run I learnt that trying to make it up the next couple of days is a bad thing and it would affect the rest of my week’s training.

Q: Most regrettable thing you gave up?

A: Socialising! The beer and cigarettes were fine to give up but having to train instead of going to meet my friends was sometimes hard. I did not drink for over a year which my girl friend sometimes did not enjoy but that is the sacrifice runners need to make.

Q: Most rewarding?

A: A lot of your runs are horrible and most of your runs are average but there are some runs where everything clicks and you review your journey and it’s the greatest feeling in the world. I remember one run in Scotland, I was on my own with beautiful mountains surrounding me and I felt on top of the world!

Q: Regrettably an Achilles injury stopped your progression and you needed a lot of time off. Apart from this injury what would you change differently with your training?

A: I’ll give you three tips again-

1: More physiotherapist/ massages – I learnt too late that prevention is better than rehabilitation!

2: Reduced my 5km times – I wish I had focussed on my speed endurance earlier because I got to a stage when my 5km time would not improve regardless of how much I would rest up. I would have liked to have focussed on my speed endurance more before I started my marathon training. This would have been the longer/ more patient route but probably would have resulted in a faster marathon time.

3: Train smart, not harder! – Recognise and understand your body needs to rest sometimes. Always pushing yourself into the ground will damage your body more and mentally frustrate you!

Thanks a lot Alex for your time. You may not have ran a sub 2hrs 20mins marathon but, you certainly made a cracking documentary.

Merry Xmas everyone and if I dont speak to you before then Happy New Year!

Tags: alex vero interview

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