Running 44@60 - tips, ideas and advice for your first ultra marathon or marathon

On this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I'm talking to Colin Bathe as he is busy preparing for the West Highland Way Race   The West Highland Way Race gets underway at 1am on Sunday June 22nd starting from Milngavie which his about 10 miles north of Glasgow. The 95 mile route with 15,000 feet of elevation makes it way to Fort William The 300 runners, which the race is restricted to, have...

On this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I'm talking to Wez Swain In 2023 Wez had an idea that became the Scilly60 A 60km race that takes in the five inhabited islands of the Isles of Scilly 75 places were available and 65 runners started with 24 finishing. If you missed the cut out you missed the boat to the next start line! The average pace needed to make the cut offs is 7.30 mins / km ...

On this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I'm talking to Fergy - who is now the Event Director of Arc of Attrition by UTMB -  about the Arc of Attrition, how it started and how it’s going to look as part of the UTMB World Series. There has been a tremendous amount of chatter on social media since the announcement that UTMB is taking over the ARC and Ferg explains some of the differences bu...

On this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I'm talking to Mark Roby about how he went from struggling to walk because of a back injury to a sub 3 hour marathon in less than 3 years.  Mark ran his first London Marathon when he was 23 years old back in 1999 in a time of 4:18 He didn't really run then until he discovered parkrun in 2017 but his running was scuppered in 2021 with a signifi...

Landmark Birthday Run Challenges for St Petrocs with Rachel Thomson  On this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I'm talking to Rachel Thomson about four running challenges she has set herself to celebrate a landmark birthday and raise money for St Petrocs , the homeless charity based in Cornwall.  You can support Rachel through her Local Giving page. The four challenges Rachel is undertakin...

For this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast host Trevor Lee recorded on the run at the 2024 Brighton Marathon on Sunday April 7th Trevor used the same Jeff Galloway method that he used in the 2023 Brighton half marathon when he was several minutes under his predicted time The method is to run four minutes then walk for one minute throughout the whole of the event, even though in those first few...

In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I’m talking to Christine Anthony about her adventures at the 2024 European Masters Indoor Championships in Torun in Poland in March 2024.  Christine won Silver in the 400m, came 4th in the 800m, 5th in the 1500m and won Bronze in the 4 x 200m mixed relay - during which she recorded a best ever 200m time. We talk about running tactics, how to cope with s...

Mike Samuels - combining Powerlifting and Ultra Running In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I’m talking to Mike Samuels about how he combines Powerlifting with Ultra Running  We talk about how he got into both sports and how he combines them to get the benefits of one for the other. In Powerlifting Mike focuses on Back Squats, BenchPress and Dead Lift. For Ultra Running Mike has run six 1...

In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I’m talking to Nicky Chrascina  Nicky is the co-founder of Flanci as well as a passionate runner who has completed over 130 marathons and ultra marathons.   Flanci make brightly coloured running clothing and started when Nicky struggled to find anything but largely black running clothing.  Flanci is an anagram of the first 3 letters of Nicky and husband...

In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I’m talking to Andy Williams about being the valet manager at St Ives for the 2024 Arc of Attrition.  Andy talks about what a valet does - they essentially pick up runners on the course just before the checkpoint and guide them in. The valet’s were in action from 3am to 6pm on the Saturday in various shifts Andy talks about his plan to run the 64 mile p...

In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I’m talking to Pete Sowerby about his amazing 100 mile debut run in the famous Arc of Attrition .  He finished in 23:42 thus taking home the coveted Black Buckle and winning his age category, not that the Arc has age categories, by over four hours. Indeed his time would have won him the whole event in 2018. So during the episode we talk how he started r...

In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I’m reviewing the Arc of Attrition 2024, in particular giving a shout out to known listeners who took part in the 100 or the 50. And as I like a good stat here are some: Arc 100 - Starters 363 Finishers 217 - Finish rate 60% Winner Mark Darbyshire in a new record time of 18:51:54 beating his record from 2022 of 19:12:48 when he became the first person t...

I had a great time at the Cornwall Running Show recording 10 little sections for this episode with visitors to the show. Here are the links to all the events that they refer to along with some of them the businesses that they run: Arc of Attrition 50  Steaming to the Coast Portreath to Devoran Bristol Running Show The Tunnel Lakeland 100 Tracy Waite Run Lab Outlaw Triathlon Flanci Saints & Smu...

In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast photographer, videographer, trail, fell and ultra runner Toby Lowe shares some great insights and advice into the world of self navigation fell and trail running as well as the film he has made about Allie Bailey and her Arc of Attrition 100 in 2023. The film - entitled ‘Allie’ is to be premiered at the The Cornwall Running Show 2024 at 3pm on Sunday Ja...

In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast Performance Psychologist, Certified Running Coach and Ultra Runner Dr Kaz Williams shares some great insights and advice into how to plan and deal with the mental side of running. Kaz also refers to some of her running adventures Including the Tahoe 200 , the Moab 240 and the 400 mile+ 6 day event known as ‘ Across the Years ’ We have a fascinating conv...

In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I’m sharing my favourite 6 races of 2023 I mention separately the three favourite park runs I did which were Babbs Mill on the morning of the national running show and it was also the coldest ever Park run I’ve ever taken part in, Trelissick on June 10th when I celebrated my 100th park run at that venue by donning complete cricket gear and my favourite...

In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast Tracy Waite tells us all about the Cornwall Running Show 2024 The Cornwall Running Show 2024 will be held on Sunday January 14th at the Heartlands event centre which is juts off the A30 between Redruth and Camborne.  The Cornwall Running Show 2024 will feature things you take part in including guided runs, yoga, pilates, and general exercise sessions. T...

In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I’m sharing my experience of running the first ever Lighthouse Marathon . Pendeen to Godrevy on the North Cornwall Coast with a bit on at the start and finish to make it the full marathon distance.  For me it was an ARC 50 test. With 3 months to go where am I fitness wise was the key question to be answered. Sadly a recent achilles injury I had recovere...

In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I’m talking to King Alfred's Way top 5 finisher Jim Spencer.  Jim successfully completed this one time event in mid-August 2023.  We recorded the episode whilst setting up the Trelissick Parkrun on Saturday October 14th.   King Alfred Way's went through 4 counties and the event, organised by Cockbain Events was billed as being 220 miles with 8...

In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast I’m talking to first time IronMan Tim Hill who successfully completed the Copenhagen Ironman in August 2023.  Tim worked for the LTA for many years as a high performance coach and spent seven years as a Tennis Coach in Australia which is where the idea for an Ironman first emerged.  We talk about Tim’s planning, how he hired an Ironman coach, his balanc...

In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast we hear about two of the UK's most epic ultra running challenges – the Lakeland 100 and the Bob Graham Round . Stuart Musson undertook the Bob Graham Round challenge in June 2023. You have 24 hours in which to complete the 42 peaks, 66 miles and 27,000 feet of ascent and you have to have someone witness you achieving every single peak so a massive...

Imagine taking part in a run that’s called ‘Bring out your Dead’ or BOYD for short that starts with a rather macabre leading of the runners to the start line by a guy dressed in a plague type mask and with a drummer beating the death march and has a field of only 10 runners. And then just to spice things up this race takes place over an out and back distance of 4.3 miles which includes some horren...

Hope 24 Running Festival The Hope 24 Running Festival took place near Plymouth on the weekend of July 8th-10th. The Hope 24 Running Festival consists of a choice of 12, 24 or 36 hour timed runs during which you complete as many or as few circuits of a 5 mile off-road course as you wish. There are also various relays from a team of two right through to a team of eight. This was my first ever ventur...

The Isle of Wight Ultra challenge took place at the end of April 2023 and in this episode of the Running 44 at 60 podcast one of our stalwart listeners Steve Perkins shares his adventure in taking on the 106 km challenge over two days – 52 km on day one and 54 km on day two. To put this in context prior to taking on this challenge Steve, who is in his mid-50s, had only run competitive half maratho...

James Skeplorn is a gig rower who had a go at triathlon and then joined  a running club to improve his triathlon. Now he's an ultra runner and a former rower and triathlete! In this episode of the Running 44@60 podcast James shares his adventure of running 3 major events across a 10 week period from the beginning of March to the middle of May. James started with the Green Man Ultra then ran l...