Episode 32 - Lee Plank, Longest Prison Break Run from Dartmoor

In this episode, we explore the extraordinary world of ultra running, featuring Lee Plank, who has run the furthest in the Dartmoor prison break challenge. Discover tactical insights, inspiring habits, and behind-the-scenes stories from one of the top ultra marathoners. Whether you're a seasoned runner or just curious about pushing limits, this episode offers practical advice and inspiration to elevate your adventure game.

00:00 - Introduction to Dartmoor Prison Break ultramarathon and episode overview

00:35 - Explaining the race concept: running from inside the prison walls and geography challenges

02:05 - Lee Plank's record-breaking 102 miles in 24 hours and route planning strategies

03:45 - Inside the prison setup and race dynamics, including the theme and logistics

04:50 - Strategies for route selection, terrain analysis, and staying on track

06:15 - Training the gut with real food like rice pudding and varied fueling methods

07:45 - Control what you can: gear testing, weather considerations, and kit preparation

09:10 - The importance of maps and navigation skills in ultra races

10:15 - Memorable moments on the route: support from strangers and overcoming low points

11:50 - Inspiration from top ultra athletes and reading adventure books

13:10 - Doing something that scares you, like upcoming 10k or new adventures

14:25 - Treats and rewards as motivation, with examples like McDonald's and milkshakes

15:50 - The importance of continuous mental and physical preparation and coaching

17:15 - Final thoughts: pushing limits, embracing the adventure, and race sign-up info

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Okay, hi, and welcome to another episode of Adventure Habits. Uh, with me, David Overton and Splash Matt. And uh for all blue light customers of ours out there, anyone who's in the emergency services, we've got a prediction that there's going to be a prison break. And it's going to be Dartmoor Prison and it's going to be at the end of next month. So 30th of May, 24 hours. There are going to be at least a hundred people running away in after this podcast, maybe a few more. How do we know? Because we've got the person who's run the furthest from Dartmoor from the pit from the prison break. Um very warm welcome to the adventure habits. Uh for Lee Plank. Lee, how are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Hi, David. Uh I'm very well, thank you. Thank you for for having me on. Um exciting.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

It's superb to have someone of your calibre here.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

I I think we should explain that you've done nothing criminal as far as I'm aware. No, I haven't break.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Well, uh yeah, I keep ending up back in Dark Wall in the prison and uh having to escape, so I don't there must be some I must be doing something wrong.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

I I I think I think that could be the case. Or it could just be the case that it it's one of the the funnest themed uh ultra marathon. Would you call it an ultra marathon race? Does it it does fit that description?

SPEAKER_01 1:34

I I guess so. I mean it gives you it gives you that platform to have a go with um without the added pressure of a finish line. You you you can stop whenever you want to stop. I mean they the beauty of that of that race, that event, is that you can sign up for a six hour, a twelve hour, or the twenty-four hour. Um which is great because it opens up to anybody. Walkers, runners, you know. So yeah, I think you know, if you can if you can walk a good pace and and you want to go for twenty-four hours, yeah, you'll be definitely into the ultra world.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Fantastic, fantastic. So so in in broad terms, this is a group of runners that congregate in uh at at just outside the gates of Dartmoor prison. And um on a on a certain day this year, the thir 30th of May, I think it is. Um everyone will gather there. Search and rescue are there, but they're all in theme, they're all dressed up as prison guards, and uh the the starting gun goes, and you just run as far as you can in whatever direction. And uh make no bones about this, guys. It this is this is a geographical mapping challenge as well as being a feat of considerable uh strength and and endurance. And Lee has got run the furthest in 24 hours. How far did you get, Lee?

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Well, I they work it out as the crow flies, but I can't I can't remember off the top of my head what that is, but I I've reached a distance of a hundred and two miles. That's just left me sh just shy of Bath. So I tried to head towards home. Um Bath is is where I got, just just shy of Bath basically. Um but like you sort of say they they we sort of put us inside the prison walls and then they set the sirens off like so we're we've all escaped and we all just go off in different directions, so it's quite it's quite comical.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Genuinely you're inside the prison walls. This is like a proper prison break.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Proper prison break. Yeah, they push us behind the gate and then they let the sirens go and you know, and we all go it it's quite comical because some people go left, some people go right. You you start off together in a group probably of about ten or fifteen of you, and then gradually every foot path someone just goes off in a different direction. And you know, after after a few miles you end up you can end up pretty much on your own, but you know, you can also there's a beauty of having some crew if you want to have crew, people that can meet you at certain points. So that's that's always an added bonus.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

So there's quite a bit of thinking behind this. I mean I should say, you know, that this year we're actually sponsoring um this amazing event. Um and so we're we're fully behind it. There will be there's a 15% discount for people who are taking part, and that code will be available via the link uh at the bottom of this. But do make sure that you enter if you if you are a runner, um, then this is definitely a challenge you don't want to miss out on. But a hundred let's go back a hundred and two miles, that is a phenomenal distance to run in twenty four hours. How how do you build up to that?

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Um I d well I I go I guess you have to go back to back to the beginning and where my running running career starts and you do certain distances and then you think, well what is possible? What can what can I do? You know? What is what what can where can I take this to? Um and you know, you read things, you you watch quite a lot of the YouTube videos of people running and but it's it's just nice to see where you can what where you can go, where what can you do? And test yourself. I think it's important to do that.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Yeah, well I mean surely you did test yourself as well, but there must be uh I mean I alluded it to being a topographic challenge as well. Is it I mean you've got a there's there's only if you're heading out west, there's only so many ways to go across the the Tamar or if you're planning to go up country. Um there are ways you can work the contours of that that sort of thing, and and I guess you want to stay away from those major roads quite a lot of the time. So how much of your time is spent planning your route? And then you know, what do you take with you to to make sure that you're staying on track?

SPEAKER_01 6:07

Well I've been I mean I've been I've been doing this uh event now I think it's this by this this this year will be my fifth fifth time. I'm down scaling this year to twelve hours. Um but I do 'cause and I've gone north and I've gone to the to I've headed towards land's end, I try to do that. So you spend a lot of time looking at at lines on maps, looking at contours, seeing is can I gain by going over something or is it quicker to go round it? Um is that road safe to run on? Is there a trail nearby? And it's I'd say like I say, four years, and I'm still looking at my maps now, thinking, oh I can pinch a little bit there, I can pinch a little bit more there, just to straighten the line, because you're trying to get as far away from the prison as the crow flies. It's not about how far you can run in the 24 hours, it's about how far you can go in a straight line. That's how they do the measurement.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

So you have to think about this as kind of circles, you know, and and you know, you're you're aiming for that hundred mile radius, hundred mile uh yeah, radius circle uh around your your spot. Or, you know, given it was 102 last time, you're now looking at 103 mile radius uh so where well I guess you probably won't tell us where your which direction you're planning to go this year. It'd be strange to give it a lot of it.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

They ask me every time I go to the start line which way am I going? I don't want to tell them because they have guards, they they have people that dress up as guards and they give you a little bit of a head start and then they they they try to come after you or catch you. And it's it's not um like the end of your race if they catch you, it's just a little bit of name shaming onto their socials that you've been caught and they set you off on your way. So I don't like to give anything away. So I'm not I'm not saying anything on this, but I will say that I well I went to sign up today to do the twelve hours and I'm I'm still hovering over that twenty-four hours, but I think I just don't I want to focus on some other projects later in the year, so I think twelve hours is the suitable route for me this year.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Okay, okay, and um you know I I put the challenge to uh well one of our runners that was on on here uh earlier in the season, uh Jamie Ramsey, and I'm I'm trying to persuade him to to come along and uh and and take part in it because it if if there's a guy that knows long distances, he knows long distances, but um yeah, hopefully he won't bring his three-wheeler with him as as he as he took from from the US all the way down to Buenos Aires. Very impressive. But uh I you know what an amazing feat over 24 hours, 100 102 miles, fantastic. So um I guess uh credit must go to whoever's coaching you, is that is that um, yeah, I mean definitely.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Um I use a coach um called Nathan Montague. He he works at of a company called the Running Club with a K. Um I he's been coaching me now for the last three years I'd say. But I mean I didn't take him on purposely for this event. It was for another event that I did um a couple of years ago that I failed to do. It was my first DNF and I thought, well, I need I need a bit of guidance. Um so I took took Nathan on and yeah, he's given me he's given me that he's taken me to that next level and to go 'cause then I can sort I've seen the progress just by the start like I say I've done four four attempts different different directions and I've seen by having the coach it's it's improved my running and I've managed to get further. Um the first the first uh three times I did go s completely solo. I had nobody you know, I think they like you to sort of have some sort of crew, but I I did it did it solo and on this last attempt because I saw that the record was getting pushed further and further away someone of my capabilities just going solo. Um a good friend of mine, David Churchill, came along and crewed me for the for the twenty-four, which helps massively because you can stay on that straight line. The previous years I've had to go off and find food, find water, you know, these things you these are the other things you've got to think about. You can't carry everything you need for twenty-four hours. You have like you've got to have your maps, which is very important because you know, my watch died the year before last, within five five miles of leaving the prison. My wa uh my watch had an epi, my phone had an epi. Um eventually it all came back on. But that's why you've got to have a decent map. You've got to have a map and you gotta know what how to read a map.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

That's it, people. You need a backup and you need to know underst you need to understand how to read a map. So um yeah, and and there's no no map lighter than a splash map, so you know. Well, um uh absolutely brilliant that that you're here. You can share your story. I mean, what what was is there any kind of standout like odd moment that happened to you or a kind of interaction or something along the way that uh made you smile?

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Go yeah, well going north from Dartmoor. Um I always hit Taunton around sort of early hours of the boarding and you get the chuckouts from the pubs and the clubs. And most people are most people are friendly. Once they know what you're doing, obviously it's you're raising money for dark for the Dartmoor rescue team. Um they they want to log on as soon as they get home and see where you are, track you. Um I've had a couple of things where they they've tried to get me to go into a pub and buy want to buy me a drink, and I'm like, No, there's no way I'm I'm having a drink. Um I've gone into atomic, isn't it? Yeah, that's it, that's it. I've I've ended up in twenty-four hour petrol stations where the staff have like, Well, where have where have you come from, you know? And you you know normally they shut they shut everything down, so you talk you're going through a hatch to get what you want, and you think I'd really fancy some fizzy drink or whatever. The red ambulance, the Coca-Cola. And they've actually got once they realise what I'm doing, they've opened up the door so I can go in and get stuff and they've actually purchased it for me, they've paid for it as well. 'Cause once they know you know how far you've run, they're they're like gobsmack some people, they can't believe it, they just can't get their heads around it. But I I just I think and also at one time I was just r running and two people that I know were on holiday and I wasn't I didn't organise to see them, they didn't even know where I was was going, but they were they were there, they were on the side of the road. They were like, Oh and and just at the right time things like that happen always happened to me and I think you know, um you've got to always think positive. I was getting low on fluids, getting low on food, wasn't feeling it, I was having a low spot, and then out of the blue, someone that you know lives just not far away from where I live now, and they were there, and they they went off and got me some drink and got me some food. So there's always people out there that help. There's a lot of good people, I think, uh around.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

It's it's a common theme on all the adventurers that we you know we hear on this story. It's a lot of coincidence going on if you put yourself out there right. Um, I mean, in my mind's eye, I can see this this is an extraordinary event because I mean, like like yourself going through Taunton in in the the wee small hours of the morning. Um, you know, first of all, it reminds me of the 118 advert, but there's also the um uh the fact that you know you when you see people with numbers on running, you expect to see a group of them, you expect to see, you know, you know, or a trail of them at the very least, you know, headache, you know, trailed out along the the hill line or something. Um but in this case, you're all running individually, it must be quite an unusual sight for people to see. And uh I love the idea of them being chucked out of nightclubs and pubs and bumping into you. Okay, well, look, um Lee, uh they we love to give value to our listeners, and I know that a lot of people are going to want to hear what your adventure habits are. So I understand that you prepared five for us, and I was just wondering what your first adventure habit would be.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Well, I always think it's it I think it's important that um whatever you're running with that you should train train the gut. So we use that I use that term train the gut. If uh if I'm out in my training runs, I use the fuel that I'm going to use on that race. Um I try to stay away from the gels and I try to eat food that I enjoy. Um I like rice pudding. That's probably why my go-to. But yeah, definitely train the gut. That's number one.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Oh well great. So so ri rice pudding, you'd rec recommend that easy to to digest on the go, is that? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I like I like that.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

It's quite it's quite an easy thing to carry. You can decanter it into into silk bags if you want to, if you could be a brave man. Um but yeah, I I like that sort of thing. Um try to eat more f real food. Keep the real food, um, and then go to jails if you need to at a later later date. Once you get to a certain point you can't eat food, then then go to the jails. That's that's what I do.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Yeah, yeah, okay. So you you have those gels, but they're something that you come in, you get to later on when you need a pep or something, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:44

Yes, definitely, yeah. Yeah. Just mix it up a bit. You don't want to be eating the same thing all the time, drinking the same thing all the time. I try to to bury it.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Uh I remember doing that on the um on the South Downs way, mountain biking, and um just bringing too many flapjacks. And honestly, however much you love flapjacks, just don't use it as your principal energy source. Yeah, that's it. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Great. Okay, so training the gut is is the first of your adventure habits. What would you say for the second one?

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Control the controllables. I think you know that is big key. Make sure that you can do everything that that's possible in your power to be prepared for what you're about to do. I mean there's things that are gonna happen that you can't control, so but everyone else has got that problem as well. So just keep control of the ones that you can control. I think that's that's a good point now.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

So that might be your what your choice of of of shoes or your uh you know, all of that stuff, uh as opposed to well you can't do anything about the weather.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Um and uh just make sure that the kit test just make sure that the kit just make sure that the kit's tested for what you're about to put it through. So make make sure you run in those conditions that it could be. Could be could be I mean, May's a funny time of the year. Um it gets quite cold overnight, so just make sure that you've got the kit that can get you through. There's nothing wrong with going out for a run at midnight just to test some kit. Not a problem. I'd rather do that. I'd rather do that than get to the event and pull some kit out and go, oh, I haven't tried this. No, that's not that's a no-go.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

So in in in in regards to that, when you buy kits, um does it always live up to the marketing hype for that kit? Or do you find that you literally have to test it yourself? You won't believe what's written on it until you test it yourself.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

I I I I mean I think it's great that you listen to other people's advice and you you you try different things that they recommend, but I think you've always you've always got to find what works for you. It doesn't matter th I don't think the price tag ever comes into it. It doesn't have to be the most expensive. I've brought them I've brought things that are expensive and I thought, well, I don't think there's much difference between that and what this jacket is or what this shoe is. It's finding what works for you and you know, I I run in the Brooks trainers and I've tried other brands of trainers and it just they just don't work for me, so I ended up actually picking up an injury from wearing another shoe, so I reverted back to the Brooks and that's what works for me. So I stay with what I know, stay with what I know and hopefully they don't change the models too much, they don't mess about with the jackets that I like. And yeah. That's it. Train train in what you're gonna wear. Train in what you're gonna wear.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, and uh and a good good plug for Brooks Brooks shoes there. So um yeah, well that's uh Um Well it's an easy thing you can follow, guys. You know, I'm not saying everyone can do a hundred and two miles, but No. Maybe that's part of it.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

You don't just go straight out there and do you and run a hundred bars. There's a there's a build-up to it, you know. You c I think the marathon is still a massive challenge, even for me, people think, oh you can run a hundred miles, a marathon's easy. No, it's a totally different ball game. A marathon is I think marathon is one of the hardest run running of running challenges that you can take on. Um you're racing time and you're under a bit more pressure, there's expectations higher. But if people say uh if you do an ultra run, people aren't worried about the time. It's uh how far have you gone? You know, that's all they're interested in, not worried about time. But if you run a marathon, the first thing they say, oh, what was the time? So you know, I'd say you've got you've got to respect the marathon, you still gotta respect the marathon, you know, and I still do the odd marathon, but it's not my favourite. I take an ultra any day over a marathon.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

I l I love it. And and and this particular race as well, it's it it's not how far or or you know what time, but where did you get? Um so it it's almost unique in that regard. Um well fantastic. And in terms of what's your third uh adventure habit?

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Um get inspired by other people. Um there's there's some great runners out there, there's some fantastic people that have done amazing things, not just running. Um I mean I followed I follow Dan Lawson, um he's broken loads and loads of records, UK records. Uh ultra one of Br probably Britain's best ultra runners. Um I read books uh Scott Jurek, I've read all of his books again. L read those books, um and Aussie Davis that ran round the whole of the southwest, um last the coastal uh she went right round the county of Cornwall last year. People like that just sh just keep raising that bar and then you can it I just think just get inspired by what they're doing and then you think, Well what can I do? Don't try and try to get I don't think I can get to their levels, maybe people can, but I just think what what can I do? I think that's that's that's the key question.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

Yeah, that's it. So so treat that as inspiration, not as uh I need to do that as well, but it's by reading the book, I guess you get a bit inside the mind of of how that person's performed. I love those those kind of the travelogues and the uh the adventure books, the the the the almost i autobiographical all of them because it's a bit of a uh a mental game going on. And uh a good friend of mine, uh Steve Till, who was in uh Team GB, but back in the 1980s, uh he he writes phenomenal books and is is is uh you know you'll find that uh these people are great at writing. And it's it's uh and it it's inspired by the in by the adventures that they've had. They've seen life in a different way to the rest of us, and that's what makes it intriguing. And yes, we'd all love a bit of that. That would be wonderful.

unknown 21:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Okay, so that's being inspired. Uh, what's what's your fourth adventure have it?

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Uh do do something, I think do something that scares you. Um, you know, you can't I think you can go through life and you can just keep doing the same things and everything's fine, it'll tick along nicely. But I think it's important just now and again, just why what's what scares me? What can I do that's gonna scare me? And you know, and people laugh and they'd be like, Well, what scares you? And I'll be like, Well probably doing a five K now because you know it's that's a hard effort. Um so yeah, I think I think do something that scares you.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Um seriously doing a five K scares you now, does it?

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'd rather do something big than than do fast, high like high tempo running. Um I avoid park run. Uh I've done two park runs uh so that sort of thing. That scares me, but now and again, you know, I think right, I've just but I've actually just um booked in to do uh 10k locally. So that that for me, that's scaring me. And I think it's good to have that excitement, those nervous energy, you know, I think it's good. I think it I think that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Well, people will be expecting great things of you there, just as they will do at the end of May. Um so fingers crossed on your 10K. We report back. Yeah. Fantastic. And and your fifth adventure habit, Lee?

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Um well when I whenever I'm doing anything big, I make sure that I've got treats that I really like. A go-to treat. So or I plan something in my on my route that I'm gonna stop at a certain place at a certain time and gonna have a I'm gonna I'm gonna treat myself. Um I mean it's not really a treat because I don't really rate McDonald's that much, but when you're doing ultra running, sometimes you crave for something like that. So Dartmoor for me, like using it at Dartmoor, I've used McDonald's as my I'm gonna have breakfast at Dartmoor, not for Dartmoor at McDonald's, that's what I'm gonna do. So I try to to keep that in my head. A positive for I'm gonna have a break, it's gonna be like six o'clock in the morning, I'm gonna sit down, have a nice coffee. Or the other like the other thing that I've done before is like I've had something in my bag when someone collects me. I love chocolate milkshake, that's there waiting for me. So I've got got a treat. So I think you should always have a treat there, either mid-race or at the end of the race. Something you can go to if you've got a low spot, you can just reach out and go, Right, I'm gonna grab my treat. I need a treat.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Yeah, yeah. I mean I uh I think uh that that works so well in in the rest of life. Uh I mean I I I give myself a treat every 45 minutes because it it it just gives me a a break from what I'm doing, and I'll only have the treat if I feel I deserve it. And the d and you know the deserving means that I have to work hard before I I get to it. It's kind of um yeah, it's kind of a nice analogy, but yeah, that the treats along your adventure. Um so what's been your what's been your favourite treat that you've given yourself then?

SPEAKER_01 24:54

I love the Mar I love Mars milkshake. That that for me, or if if you get really lucky sometimes you can get an ice cream, you know, something like that. Uh because your mood your mood swings are all you know, you get you're gonna have low points. Running running for 24 hours, there's gonna be some sort of moment. It might only last for a few seconds, it might last for an hour, but there's always gonna be that low point. So if you can get to something that that perks you up, like um a clipo, ice cream, that's probably one of my my little vices as well that I like. So if I can get that in my hand, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

Well, people, it looks like Lee hasn't been able to join us for the end of that one. Anyway, prison break, Dartmoor. We're sponsoring it. If you're a great runner, get yourself down there the 30th of May. So if you do um manage to make it down to Dartmoor, uh then uh take part in the race. You do need to sign up. There is a website which will be in the show notes as well. Um, Lee, I'm so pleased that you're able to join us. Lee Plank, the guy that's run the furthest in the Prism Break. Um the Prism Break, we're the sponsors this year at Splash Maps. As such, we've got that discount there, 15%. It's a big discount. Uh and it will give you the edge on the other competitors. So if you've got a want a chance of beating Lee this year, then get hold of one of those now. Um and get yourself off to the website and sign up. Sign up just as soon as you can. Um and uh and and have a fantastic time. Lee Plank, thank you so much for your time with us today. It's been great getting your adventure habits.