Running Makes The World Go Round

On a warm 22 degrees day I am mile 8 into my first of two 12 mile runs laden with weight. I am sweating and the skin on my back has worn away to such a degree that the platlets in my blood have given up forming over the area of friction.  Every time I hit the ground my backpack lifts and when I lift off it sags. The result of these conflciting motions have inspired me to run in a hunched form not which give a certain resident of Notredame a run for his money.


In these days of relentless training I could do two things. A): Give up and cry myself to sleep. Or B): Laugh at the whole situation. I always try my best to choose the second option. Because, lets face it is is funny. I mean Im running this same route with a huge backpack on, my 10th pair of Ipod headphones cast off over my shoulder because they no longer work. And I have a towel wrapped over my left shoulder to prevent the chafting of my cut back. All of this training is for the most extreme marathon ever attemped and its going to be ran my me... and one of my best friends who at the same time last year were both living homeless in Sydney selling Psychadellic Electronica CD'S recorded by us in a drunken/green haze during our College years. I take everything with a pinch of salt. Whenever I start to take myself to seriously I take a long hard look in the mirror and initiate myself into a 7 minute Mayan Ritual Mating Dance which I picked up in Lebongan Island from a shamen.

 I am not a super Athlete or even a great runner. Nor is Max but we both have one thing in common which many much fitter people lack in the case of these events. And thats motivation.The motivation to prove the legions of people and companies who wrote us off in January stating such things as (and I quote). "You cannot run 20 miles a day, it is impossible". Well guess who is now? and "You will never be able to get to Rome in under 60 days" ( we have yet to try but you can be sure we will give it our dam best shot!).  I have trained so hard for this event and so has Max and not one person can tell me what I can or cannot do. Since day one I have said and said with confidence that I am running to Rome in June. And I will complete the run in under 60 days. My word is my bond and this bond supplies me with the fuel to continue no matter how bad things get. No matter how low I feel. And no matter who tells me to give up.


For my training im wearing  Compression Vests I used these when I was fighting and they really help me keep cool. Something I will need to be on this run.
On Saturday me and Max will be running our longest Ultra to date. A 74 Mile run from Redhill to Brighton and back. The route will be using maps and we will be navigating across the hills of south east England. Of course this event will be filmed and im sure it will provide you people with 5 minutes of laughs, shocks and entertainment. Then after that we will both be taking our training down a few notches, preparing ourselves for our exams and organising the logistical aspects of the run.


Our fates cannot be predicted but they can be manipulated. The man who basks in the glow of success simply turned to face the sun. 

Have a good one people.

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112 Days

Thats right 112 days ago I set off on my first run. Fast forward to today and nothing has changed apart from the miles and intensity of each session. Over the last week I have been out to see my family in Italy. Whilst there I could not resist the chance to go out and explore the Island of Sardinia!

I have been ranting on about "Operation Spartan" for some time now without really explaining what an average week will be for me in terms of my training. I dont just wake up and run.Its much more complicated then that.

A 12 mile run to most people seems very simple. You simply put your shoes on and move your feet forward until your pedometer bleeps. However most people do not train as much as I do, and most people do not run 12 miles twice a day carrying 30 pounds of weight on them!

During my training I have incorporated many forms of exercises to improve my performance during my runs. For example I dedicate two hours per week working on my upper body muscles. Why? So my body can cope with the extra 30 pounds of weight on my back. I am also an avid circuit trainer. Circuit training is a form of conditioning combining resistance training and high-intensity aerobics. These twice weekly sessions are designed to improve my aerobic and anerobic thresholds. These elements are usefull for the run to help decrease my overall 12 mile time and develop the explosivness needed to tackle periods of incline (such as a 100 mile, 3000 meter ascent over the Alps!). I also Stair climb which is a mixture of both Anerobic and Aerobic excercise which helps bridge the gap between the two.

It is a fact that there is a positive correlation between performance and diet. Therfore I have put hours of research into having a diet which keeps my body fueled throughout my training. It is not very complex, I do not believe in "Diet Fads" and strict regimes designed by people to make money. So stick to the basics truths. High Carbs, High Protein and Eat your Greens! I eat around 5 times a day and prepare fresh meals and avoid anything processed like the plague. I recover with one shake formulated by Multipower to resupply my body with the electrolytes I sweated out during training. I have to consume over 3000 calories per day to maintain my weight and prevent my body from going into a Catabolic state (it starts to eat my Muscles!).



I have also started stretching much more and force myself into a ten minute period of leg and upper body stretches. This is something I have only started doing recently and I have allready noticed an improvement on my recovery time which is the name of the game.

I need to be able to run 25 miles in any weather condition, carrying my life on my back. And then recover to to it all again the next day. For 8 weeks. I have reached the point where I am doing this. Nothing, nothing can replace hard work and dedication. There is no short cut to getting into shape and becoming fit. It has taken me 112 days of sacrifice to get into the condition I am in now and I still have another 30 days of hard training to go. Then I will complete this run in the time I said I would do it in. And then, and only then will I rest until the next challenge. There will always be more challenges. Its what makes me tick.

You can find out more infomation about our training on our website.

Train Hard.

Why Do You Do What You Do?

I am currently in Italy staying with my mum for a week. The weather has been really nice and its great to see my family again and return to some home comforts  which I miss back in Portsmouth!

As I write I am lying in my bed with a heat pack covered over my hamstring after covering 23 miles of mountanious terrain in the Italian Countryside. My blister is playing up and I have friction burn on my back due to the persistent contact with my backpack. This regime has been extremely testing on my body but I count myself lucky that no serious injuries have been inflicted on me yet. I recently wrote an article for a journalist who asked me a few questions about the run itself. So I thought I would share it on here.

Hey **** hope your all good and Uni is going ok. You are not the first person to ask me this many people will never understand why I choose to do what I do. And to be honest I really don’t care.  The truth is I really don’t enjoy what I do anymore. Before I started training for this event my view of the world was extremely broad now I have blinkers firmly focused on running.  Doing anything in excess results in the activity becoming boring or a chore. I am running in excess. It is extremely boring and I am constant pain. Yes there are times when I hit the circuits but I will soon be running again. Running long distances with a big bulky bag. Completely alone.

 No one likes to be alone but the truth is we are alone, we are alone on the start line, when we hit walls even when we get promoted from work.  Running has become a metaphor for my life. Ultimately I make the decisions to stop when I want to stop or continue when I feel like continuing and the same thing applies to everyone. We decide how hard we want to go, how far we want to push ourselves and what things we want to sacrifice to achieve our goals.. People will of course influence these decisions and “Pillars of support” such as family, friends and loved ones will aid you in times of need. But the buck stops at your feet.

Like I said before I would not say that anything about my training has been “fun or “enjoyable”. But I would do it again in a heartbeat. I believe greatly that the human character grows mostly through times of struggle. Even more so it a statement to the training regime I have inducted myself into that I am feeling like this. It means its working. Operation Spartan has one goal. To make a man fit enough to run a 1000 miles in under 60 days. As I write the time of departure draws nearer and nearer. I firmly believe that the man standing at the foot of Canterbury cathedral will be 10x the man who staggered home after 5 miles of running on a cold January morning.

I want to experience life in all its glory. And in my youth I am able to do that. I do not get the thrill I once did out of drinking, taking recreational drugs and chasing shallow woman. I am not suggesting that I am “partied out” or slept with so many woman that I find the whole experience boring. Nothing motivates me more then the sight of a beautifull woman whilst running, if Marika Fruscio was in a van driving infront of me with the promise that she would spend the first night in Rome with me then I would get to Rome in half the time I estimated! Its just the fact that so many men these days seem to only care about getting laid whilst being drunk whilst not developing other areas of thier lives.

When I started training MMA again in September I found myself getting bored of the routine of training. The rush I used to get was, again not as intense as it once was so I found myself searching for a goal. Something so unbelievably epic that it would force me into a lifestyle so extreme that it would consume me into a cocoon and spring me back out an improved person. And that was one of the motives behind this run.  Really I should be the person asking “why do you do what you do?” Habitually throwing away your youth to the bottle buying new clothes and new “trinkets” which grows nothing apart from your spiralling student debt.

L8N.