Nutritional Revolution Podcast

Ultra Fuel: Lydia Oldham on 650km FKTs, The Speed Project, & Why Carbs Are Key

• Season 5 • Episode 165

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In episode #165 we talked with ultrarunner and adventure seeker Lydia Oldham about:

  • Lydia's solo completion of The Speed Project, running 500km from LA to Vegas
  • Her solo 650-kilometer Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the Camino Portuguese.
  • Her journey from running for fitness to finding her passion on the trails
  • Gut training and learning from her fueling mistakes

Lydia Oldham is an ultrarunner, adventure seeker and the voice behind @comerunwith.me. She’s smashed a solo 650 kilometer Fastest Known Time on the Camino Portuguese, powered 500km from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in under five days for The Speed Project, and doubled the Berlin Marathon, running the course backwards overnight, followed by the official race in the morning, totaling 84 kilometers in under 12 hours. Next up for Lydia in 2025 is London to Cornwall to raise money and awareness for the MTA charity, helping women who have had masectomies. Lydia runs to push limits, and to show that the impossible is worth chasing.

Please note that this podcast is created strictly for educational purposes and should never be used for medical diagnosis or treatment.

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Hello everybody and welcome back to the Nutritional Revolution podcast. Today we have for you guys Lydia Oldham. She's an ultra runner, adventure seeker and the voice behind @ComeRunWith.Me on Instagram. She's smashed a solo 650 kilometer FKT on the Camino Portuguese. She's powered through 500 kilometers from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in under five days for the Speed Project and doubled the Berlin Marathon. Running the course backwards overnight followed by the official race in the morning. totaling 84 kilometers in under 12 hours. Next up for Lydia in 2025 is London to Cornwall to raise money and awareness for the MTA charity, helping women who have had mastectomies. Lydia runs to push limits and to show that the impossible is worth chasing. Such a great episode. You guys are gonna really love it and enjoy. Hello everybody and welcome back to the Nutritional Revolution podcast. We have for you guys today, Lydia Oldham. Thank you so much for joining us today from across the pond. Is that what we say still? Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. well, we're super excited to talk to you today and learn about your fueling experience, hydration, all that stuff. but first we're going to jump into your two truths and a lie. So I'm going to have you break those down for me Okay. I think they're quite simple. and I guess if, if you've listened to a podcast with me on before, then maybe you might know them, but, um, there's this one that is, grew up in China. And then the next one is the last night of The Speed Project at 400 kilometers in, I was hallucinating that aliens were in the sky and I was talking to them. And then the last one is I have been running for eight years. Oh, okay. uh well I did listen to a podcast. I feel like what I gathered from that. I did hear you traveled around a lot with your parents and I remember you did say China was one of the places you spent some time in in your childhood. So feel like that is true. I didn't catch anything about hallucinations and aliens, but I feel like that could be very true. Thank you started running during COVID, which means not eight years. So I'm going to go with the eight years one was a lie running for eight years, but don't tell me the answer. And certainly if the hallucination about aliens is true, I can't wait to hear that story at the end of the episode. We will see if that's true. Hang tight listeners. But let's take us back a little ways. Maybe this might reveal that last one, but you don't have to tell us maybe duration. got you interested and excited about running and then taking it farther and farther. Yeah, I mean, I have quite an addictive personality. If you can see me, I'm covered in tattoos. So I got one tattoo, liked it, and then skyrocketed into that world. And it was sort of the same with running. I sort of dipped my toes in and was one of those runners that at first was doing like 5Ks. Every 5K had to be a PB around the park and did my first half. And I don't think I really caught the bug until I tried my first sort of like trail and ultra. And that's when was like, oh, I do like running. I think at first it was sort of like, oh, I wasn't that healthy through lockdown. Let's like, maybe try and get my health back on going again. And I was running a lot in London. So it's like. you know, around a park at best or road running. And I didn't quite find the passion there. And then as soon as I was like, oh, you can just go out for days and you can eat snacks and chat to people, was like, this is great. This is what I love. And so I found it through that way. that's amazing. So it was a bit of like not being on hard packed pavement and being able to be outside nature. There's a community aspect, lots of snacks to fuel the effort. I am totally on board with that. kind of talking about snacks, when you started kind of the shorter stuff, you know, running around the block and then getting a little bit longer and longer. What was your thoughts and implementation around nutrition then, and then how has that evolved to how you're using nutrition during training and racing today? I have gone on a whole journey. I've gone on the whole spectrum of nutrition. think when I started, it was very much more, um, yeah, let's try and get healthy from passing a lot in lockdown, tried out running, and it was maybe more in that like get healthy weight loss sort of spectrum. And maybe I wasn't doing it because I loved running at first and I didn't understand that. food was fuel at all. I wasn't eating carbs. was like staying away from carbs. I wasn't eating any gels and I definitely paid the price. I had stress fractures and yeah, all of that. So I've definitely come uh a huge way from back then and I now eat loads of carbs and I have gels all the time and it's been like three years with no injuries so far. So it's proven, yeah, effective. That's awesome. Do you want to share a little bit about your stress fracture or stress fractures? What did you feel and then how did, when did you realize it was something more serious and that you had to get it looked at? Yeah, I was training for my second marathon in 2022, I think it was, and I hadn't... I didn't have a coach at the time. So I was also not training quite effectively either. was doing a lot of speed and trying to also build up my mileage, not feeling correctly. And I think the impact of all of those, those things just like sort of hit me all at once and feeling that like the inside of my shins weren't feeling great. I was like, there is something not right here. And I'd already planned to do Barcelona Marathon and I was like, I've got to do it. I still want to do it. So I ran it and I had gone to a physio the week before and he'd been like, I don't think you should run. But I'm still going to run. And he looked at me like, why did I do that? Like, now I just wouldn't have run it. I think, yeah, in those early days, I just didn't really have enough knowledge. And yeah, ran it and I was in a boot for... to two months afterwards, had fully gone. I couldn't walk and I couldn't put any weight on it. But I learnt my lesson. So it was good learning, if anything. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think it is certainly that with athletes, like as you progress in your sport, you do really start to learn your body signals and when to back off or when it just means like, I could like rest a little bit, maybe like push through. I think that's huge. Like being able to listen to your body, I think is what keeps us going or being able to keep going right when we learn those lessons and be able to move forward from that. So share with our listeners a little bit about your, I guess, ultra history. Because a lot of the stuff you've done is, I call it like self-styled ultras. Or I think maybe you had quoted that in one of the articles or podcasts we uh did our research on on you. yeah, tell us what's got you interested in kind of creating some of your, whether it's FKTs or your own routes and just pushing those distances. Yeah, I guess I sort of fell into styling my own routes and sort of falling in love with that because I was, did my first, I did my first ultra in 2023. Yeah, the summer of 23, I did my first ultra, DNF'd, went back a month later and did 100K again and finished it. So I was like, need to finish it in my mind. I was like, I need to. And. I then got talking to Reebok about The Speed Project And this is sort of where The Speed Project came into like my line of vision. I'd always thought about it as a relay and I was like, I really want to do it. And so I said to them, I was like, I want to do it as a relay. Let's form a team. It'd be super cool. And the guy I was speaking to was like, I actually wanted you to do it solo because I think that would be a better story. And I was like, hadn't thought about it solo. I've literally maybe like four months ago done my first ultra. But I'm also someone that just says, yeah, I love saying yes. like adventure is, I just absolutely love it. I always think you just got to go for it because you never know when those opportunities or you might not be able to do it again. So I said yes. And that's sort of when I had my first taste of the difference between going to a race that's an ultra. which I found obviously very challenging because it my first ultra, but also because you're alone for a lot of it and as soon as you hit that like 30k you're like, I've got, you know, 70 more K alone and you don't see anyone and I found that quite hard. Whereas when you're in The Speed Project, you've got a crew, you're seeing them constantly, they're checking on you. And in a selfish way, it's quite nice because they're making sure you're okay all the time. They always want to chat to you. They're always like, keep your spirits up. That was really nice. Also, because we went with... such a great crew and we all just had fun the whole time. I went with like a load of boys and they were just being boys. And you know, like you could see that they were just having a great time. And every time I pulled up to the van, was like, it's like you're like on this weird road trip holiday and I'm just, you know, running alongside you. From that, I think that's where the Portugal project came in because I was like, I really want to do The Speed Project again, but because I was moving here, we couldn't get out of the country at the time. I was like, how do I recreate that, but in Portugal? was like, how do I see where I live now? Like you, kind of want to show that. Obviously I have a lot of support and I reach out to brands for help and I wouldn't be able to do it without that support. But you can get a camper van. You can do those adventures if you really want to without having to be like, I need to go to like the States and do The Speed Project or I need to go and do these things. So it's sort of finding a way to be able to do those adventures and FKTs, but sort of in your own back garden. Yeah, yeah, amazing. So for our listeners that aren't familiar with the Speed Project, can you give us a little bit of a breakdown of where is it? What's the location? What's the terrain like? Break that down. So The Speed Project, it originates in, it's from LA, Santa Monica Pier to Las Vegas, the Las Vegas sign. And basically it's, it's called The Speed Project because originally it's done in a relay and it's the fastest relay to get there. So these, mean, some of the people that do it as relays go insanely fast. They don't sleep the entire time. They're doing like, you know, four minute, less than four minute, three, 3.5 kilometers, like insanely fast. And then there's the solo people that still do it fast, but obviously take a little bit longer than that. And they now do one in Atacama Desert and they do one in Chamonix as well. But the original one is out in the States. And you basically get these two points and you have to get there. in whatever way. So you can choose your own route. There is no let's go this one way. em Obviously there's not loads of routes out to Las Vegas. It's pretty straight line. But yeah, can take off into the desert and it's shorter, but you don't get any help obviously from your vehicle or you go along the main road and then it's longer. but you get help from your vehicle. So it's quite like tactical. Yeah, so obviously it's done with relays, but I did it. There's like a smaller group that do it solo. That's so cool. how, so what is the miles there? Kilometers? What's the distance from LA to Vegas? I think it's about 500 kilometers. I think it's actually less than that. But by the time you, you know, do all the slight detours and everything, it ends up about 500 kilometers. Okay. And when you're mapping that out with your crew, what are you thinking in terms of like, want to be out there moving for so many hours a day or cover so much ground a day. And are you trying to do it at certain times of day to avoid heat? What's your planning around that? think for me that was, it was just such a big learning curve because I'd come from, yeah, just doing a 100k race to them being like, right, I've got a plan and I didn't know this world of ultras yet at all. So it was, I was really going in completely blind and just sort of hoping for the best. You know, I using, did, I did. reach out to a lot of previous runners and try and get as much help as possible. Cause I think that's what's lovely about the ultra world, especially as everyone helps everyone. So people were giving me that help and you know, saying certain routes might be better or. you know, give him those little tips about, yeah, I mean, we were very lucky. The next day after I finished, it started snowing. So we'd had okay weather the whole time. It was like cool at night, warm in the day, but like nothing crazy. And yeah, we finished and it started snowing. And I was like, woo, I'm so glad I finished when I did. It was just outside in the, yeah, it was like maybe, maybe like 100K outside. um out in the desert area. Yeah, because it happens in March so the weather can be a little wet. yeah. Yes. That makes sense. did you ever have any issues during The Speed Project? Meaning like cramping, GI distress, flavor fatigue, em anything like that occurred during that speed project? Yeah, I think with that one, I definitely was getting used to solid foods more. I hadn't really ever trained eating solid foods. So that was a big, that was very different. I sort of went in very naive being like, I can have gels and like carb mixes the whole time, but I mean, I was out there for almost five days. So it's obviously not gonna be enough. Yeah. So yeah, just getting used to that food and taking it in and what I liked. I sort of stuck to three food groups. I had a huge bowl of granola with banana and peanut butter, or I had sandwiches with cheese, lettuce and ranch dressing and avocado. That was one that I loved. uh And then I would have like really random bits like trail mix and things like that. Something just like really easy to get in. And then a lot of gels as well. But I did find, I think my body after two days got used to it and it's okay. Whereas going into the Portugal project. I'd done so much more training coming up into that one and I could take in normal food along with gel so much easier. So the training of the stomach was just as important as training like me and my legs. Yeah, yeah. If you can't take in the fuel and you can't keep pushing the body forward, were you eating the sandwiches while you're running? I was taking a lot of bread with me. Bread was a good one, I like bread. And that happened in the Portugal one. I think I lived off those little chocolate brioche things that come in. Kids have in the plastic wrappers that are so, normally you just would stick away from them. I don't know, they're always dry and they're not bakery sort of level anything. They're so gross. They were so great. You can sort of compress them. having almost one with like gel or with water just to disintegrates in your mouth so you could have multiple. It's really gross but it like keeps you going. Yeah, I I love I love hearing of all these like unique foods we had a guest on recently and she her like go to think that just like helped her come out of the hole every time was was hot Cheetos like a spicy hot Cheetos. I would have never thought of that. But it's just like there's you find what works for you and what your yeah, your palate is interested in that you can keep putting food down and especially if you find that one thing, I feel like once you find it, when you're on the road, you're like, that's it. I think I must've had like maybe 10 or 11 burgers on the Portugal run because I was just like, this is working. Like it was always at the end of the day because it has like carbs, fat, protein. And I think there's even a video of me at one point I'm crying on the side of the road and Ollie just hands me two McDonald's hamburgers. I'm just like crying, eating them and walking along like, thank you, I keep going now. That's great. Just yeah, feed me and tell me I'm pretty. There's like that meme or something that goes around. It's like, yeah, I got to keep the keep it going. I love that. So the gut training piece is such a huge piece. talking about the Portugal project? How long before did you really start emphasizing training the gut so that when you got to the Portugal project, you could tolerate that amount and those more solid foods? Yeah, think taking on oat bars on runs with me was something that I really liked to do, or taking like nuts, just small things. I wouldn't take on... sort of the same quantity of food that I knew that I would be eating. But doing afternoon runs was a big one for me because I love running in the morning, but I know that my stomach feels heavy and like I don't want to sort of go for that run in the afternoon. So, up training and going for that run after a day of eating, just like sitting with that uncomfortable feeling just really helped me. understand that it's fine and like my stomach was like, okay, I see what we're doing here. And so I wouldn't have to actually eat while I was on the run because I find that quite hard. If I'm only going for, you know, 15 K then I don't want to eat that solid food. So sort of just working around it and finding ways to train my stomach without actually eating on the run was really helpful. Yeah, yeah, that's smart. But eh that is certainly one of the ways in the literature where they look at training the gut is having like a meal right before you go run and go run and it's going to feel uncomfortable. But your digestive system can adapt to that typically. em What about your fluids and sodium? How have you kind of navigated those needs? And certainly when we think about these multiple day situations, are you finding is the level of dehydration compounding day after day, or do you feel like you're able to catch up and manage that at the end of each day? I think I'm quite good at taking on quite a lot of salt. I think it also helps having a crew in those situations. I've actually found that my worst situations with that... has been races because I don't have someone being like, have this, have this. Like with the Portugal one, was, guys would tell me, you know, they'd make concoctions at the end of the night with like magnesium and like, you know, my favorite one was magnesium powder in warm water, almost like tea. And it was actually so nice and like just soothing. just sent me straight to sleep at the end of the day. But having some of just tell you, you need this, to have this is obviously amazing. And I think I've definitely had it in races where it's been like a gloomy day, but still hot and haven't taken on any salt or hardly enough salt because you're not thinking about it. And yeah, it's never been good, never. yeah, shoot. And what were you trying to target from a fluid and salt? Do remember? you trying to hit like so many milligrams of sodium per hour or were you more just going with your... think that I'm very scientific when it comes to things like this. um Even with my calorie intake and things, um it would really be based on how hot it was, how much liquid I sort of needed. um Usually with like the Portugal one, I've seen the guy every 10K, maximum every 20K, and I'd refill my bottles every time. and one of those bottles would be salt, one of them would be water, then maybe the next time it would just be water and we'd keep switching like that. So it was a constant intake all the time of that salt. Yeah. Do you, what kind of products worked for you from a hydration or electrolyte lens for the sodium? Yeah, I use Styrkr for electrolytes and then I find that they're the highest. So they've got like a thousand milligrams or something crazy in them. So I just know that there's a lot of salt in there, which is great. And then nutrition point of view, I always use Maurten I find that very relaxing on my stomach, which is fine. It's good. Yeah. Do you do the gels or are you doing the drink mix for Maurten I do the gels, gels and the the solid bars. I can't do drink mixes. I don't know what it is. I think in The Speed Project, I was given a bottle of drink mix and it sort of turns a bit gloopy and I know it's really good for you. One of my pacers is like, it's like pasta in a bottle. uh Yeah. went, that sounds so gross. And then I went off and it was right at the end. I think I had like 50K left into Vegas and I was not feeling good. And I remember picking up a bottle, not checking it. I didn't have any other water on me. And it was the Maurten drink mix. Yeah. and it had heated up to like more than lukewarm and that's all I had. And I remember just sipping on it being like, all I want is cold water in the desert in the middle of the day in Las Vegas. And I think somehow all drink mixes now, I can't go near them, have like been scarred by this whole experience. I just take gels, loads and loads of gels. I like gel. yeah, that's great. How many, well again, you weren't kind of like targeting the gels, but are you kind of going, when you say more by feel, is it like, hey, I'm starting to feel a little bit low energy or what kind of things are you noticing in, whether it's your performance or mental status when you're like, hey, I should probably do another gel or do you feel belly hunger? don't think I feel like hunger when I'm doing anything like this. Like if it wasn't for needing to carry on, I pretty much don't want food because it's just like, even chewing it, it's just everything about it just turns, it's just no. I find the first day is probably the most crucial and the day that I probably don't eat enough. because you're still so high energy and you're like, yeah, we're doing this. Let's go out. It's the same with the beginning of the race. I really have to remind myself, like eat, eat the gels, eat the gels. Even if you don't want them, you don't feel like you need them. Just have them. So I have like reminders being like at the beginning, eat when you, when you don't need it. And as soon as it gets into the further days, especially with not a race, I will have my pacers force me to eat. They'll turn around and be like, have you eaten yet? Have you eaten yet? um accountability is very helpful. Yeah, exactly. It's definitely needed, especially when your mind's sort of like, oh, I'm tired, I'm over this. Yes. I mean, even when you have your own plan and checklist for yourself, you get to the end of the day after something like that. And you've got to be so just like, yeah, your mind's been thinking about so many things up until that point. And you're probably exhausted. And you just like, I don't need hot magnesium tea to sleep or whatever it is, you know. uh So, yeah, that is that is certainly very helpful. Were you finding that you had to do any heat management protocols while you were out doing either of these? speed projects where you're doing like cold water, ice, or anything like that on your body to manage core temperature. Yeah, we actually had some crazy weather when it came to the Portugal run. We had like one of the biggest storms in Portugal, so like thunder and lightning. And then we had a really hot day, so it was all over the place. But I actually really enjoy hot weather. So I did a run in the Oman desert this year and really enjoyed this sort of temperatures. It's hot, I really like them. I'd much rather run. in the desert than in the snow or the cold. So I have that sort of on my side that I do actually like that. But for me, was more, I wouldn't need to be cooled down. It was, especially with The Speed Project, I got really bad swelling in my feet. So it was constantly trying to ice my feet. And I think that's just because I hadn't had the practice of like time on feet. It's just my feet just turned into, yeah, like trunks. no. Yeah. What are we doing? Did you have to change like shoe sizes throughout that? Like with the swelling that happens for ultras like that? I did have bigger shoes and I also started wearing compression socks. But afterwards I've never seen like a muffin top on top of my ankles. I was like, my goodness, what's happening? What's happened to my, I was going around Las Vegas in one of those mobility scooters. I mean, you fit right in in Las Vegas, it was great, but it was quite comical. Yeah, you poor thing. um So so um with the heat, heat piece, that's very fascinating. I always think that's so interesting how some people are like, I would race in the heat any day over the cold or the rain or snow. And then some athletes are complete opposite. And I'm so curious why that is. But do you you perform well? Did you grow up in a very warm environment at all or at altitude? Not an altitude. I grew up in... This is my giveaway. I grew up in China. But I grew up in Brazil as well. So, China has that really hot, humid summers where it's like 40 plus degrees in the summer. And then Brazil's obviously very hot as well. So, even though I am English, growing up over there, think has really... I just absolutely love being in the heat, being... Have you ever done any sweat testing out of curiosity to see how much fluid? Okay. Yeah. And I've never done altitude testing as well, but I am going to go to Kenya at the end in December. So I'm super excited about running out there and I mean, running with some amazing runners. Trying to keep up with some people out there is going to be impossible. Yeah, so Kenya in December, their opposite. So that'll be their summer, right? Peak of their summer. think it's gonna, I mean, think it's warm, warm, warm and very warm. Yeah. No, I'm gonna do a camp, camp for two weeks. I'm just super intrigued about like altitude and how that affects like your training. So it'd be interesting to see, see what it's like. Yeah, certainly. um So touching on these speed projects and then thinking about certain, I mean, there's such conversation around like ergogenic supplements and bicarb and beta alanine and caffeine and all that stuff. Were you utilizing any tools like that for either of these projects? So I actually don't drink any coffee or have caffeine. have quite a bit of tea. I think that's probably the amount of caffeine that I get. But I don't think I had any extra caffeine supplements at all for either of these runs. And I don't use it in racing. Just because when I do have caffeine, I feel sweaty. And your heart rate is just like, oh. I remember someone giving me like a caffeine chew on the Oman run. And I honestly thought I was going to pass out going up a hill. I was like, you know, when you, when you have like, yeah, can I describe as like having far too much caffeine all in one go and you're almost like shaking and you go white. It's just not feel good at all. I had that and I was like, that is the worst feeling. And it almost is the opposite effect because I had to slow down and like try and breathe. back to normality. So the lack of caffeine I've had for so long, I'd have to really start implementing it slowly. And I do listen to other athletes that, you know, don't have caffeine for a long time, then use it in races. But now I'm so scared of using it in a race and having that happen again. I'm like, I don't know how to implement it. So it'd be interesting to see if it could be used in a good way. But I think I need someone to train me on how to use caffeine. slow and steady. mean, it sounds like you might be a fast caffeine metabolizer too if you're you get that sensation with it. But yeah, certainly listening to your body and how you feel. I mean, if it makes you feel worse and you have to slow down, that's not necessarily a performance enhancer, right? So. I'm someone that would, if it comes to it, I would rather take that 10 minute nap on the side of the trail than have caffeine and try and push on. I sleep impacts me. I mean, I just absolutely love sleep. think sleep's the miracle of everything. I have eight hours plus every night. In the Portugal run, I was having as much sleep as I could every night. And I think that really helped my recovery. if it comes to anything that enhances my performance, it's Sleep helps. 1000%. Were you so the hot magnesium kind of nighttime tea that was the LA to Vegas speed project, right? And did you implement that in Portugal as well? That was Portugal. So I hadn't actually tried that in the LA one. That was brought in for Portugal. With the LA Las Vegas, the sleep was all over because we were trying to get either runs. in the evening or night and certain, yeah, certain routes, we had to just sleep wherever. Whereas Portugal, I knew that I could get in, I could start at like 4am, start running at 4am. I could finish at 9pm and I could have food and then sleep. I thought that over again. So I was having quite a lot of sleep, even though it broken sleep, because my, joints get itchy and your legs sort of aren't that comfortable. But That's sort of what I was doing. was having painkillers, like paracetamol or ibuprofen, one of those, hot magnesium, and then falling asleep. And then the last day I had a sleeping tablet, because I was like, my legs, can't. You're just like, I need some sleep. uh So yeah, that was my sort of sleep implementation every single night. Yeah. So after both of those projects, how was your hunger and energy in like the week following? And then how did you support your recovery, whether it's nutrition or recovery boots, all that stuff? Like what did that start to look like in the week after those events? Yeah, so I'll talk about the Portugal projects. feel that's fresh in my mind, but I took a week off work afterwards and I had a friend stay over as well. So she was here in Portugal with me just to sort of ease back into normality. Cause after the LA Las Vegas, I think I definitely had a real... come down of just like emotions, like it's over, like you're excited that it's over, but you're really sad. It's such a weird combination. So I really wanted to ease back in. So I made sure I had that sort of implemented of like a week off. We did loads of like girly fun stuff of just going around, being on the beach, just completely not going into normal life, which really helped. And apart from that, we ate a lot of food. think my hunger comes back pretty fast. I think my stomach probably shrinks a bit because you're not eating as much. So I probably wasn't eating quite enough, but that comes back really fast. Just trying to eat small things all the time, snacking all the time, having loads of hydration, and then also just resting a lot. did feel like my body needed that sleep. Yeah. would do all these things in a day, but it was probably only half a day really, and then I was back on the couch like, I'm tired. And then I'd just sleep for ages. Aw. Did you like from a stacking and a meal lens, I mean, you're listening to your body. Was there anything you were craving in particular or was it just like anything could go down? Yeah. yeah. Yeah. them for a week, was like, I can't do, I cannot do them anymore. I can't. Don't want to see it back for a while. Right. Yeah. You get that kind of like, yeah, too much. that, yeah. almost like, I think actually what I really wanted was, I had a lot of poke bowls. had lot of like carbs and like protein, but a lot of nutrition, like things that were bright in colors, like fruit and vegetables. Cause I just lived off so many like gels, nuts, crisps, easy carbs, everything beige you sort of have on those runs. Like high calorie, get it in. Mm-hmm. I just, I could tell my body was just like drawn to the fruit and veg section. Like, I just need these vegetables. Yes. Yeah. I that is that is probably one of the most common things to we hear athletes report after these ultras is they're just yeah, they're ready for color and leafy greens and all the produce. um And I yeah, I don't know if that's a flavor fatigue thing or if it's I have a theory it's like oxidative stress and we want antioxidants. But um yeah, I think that that's great. So kind of through these periods of doing these FKTs and speed projects. Are you, I guess, how is your training looking and are you monitoring any metrics like your HRV or your heart rate? Are you doing blood work to stay on top of stuff at all throughout your seasons? No, I actually haven't, I guess I haven't really delved into that side. I feel like I'm so new into this sort of world still of ultra running and trying to understand like what more races I want to do, what I sort of want to get into what I like. So I've sort of been testing out more 50 Ks this year. I've got a big run coming up in October. but I have just taken on a coach which should start next week. So I think I was sort of looking at it and I've always sort of coached myself with like, we'll just go for runs and I'll be fine. And now I actually want to take this like uh a bit more seriously and I really want to figure out what I like doing. And I know I like those multi-day, those big races, those two like 200 miles sort of things. getting someone that can help me with my... sort of mental aspect of it, understanding how to strategize in a race, understanding how to recover and take files down, but also carry on training. So hopefully I will understand myself a little bit better as I have a coach. Yeah. I can't believe you've been doing all this without a coach up to this point. That's really incredible. That is. Yeah. I guess, just like get miles in. I hope that's okay. And I'm for the best. Now, like, actually it'd probably be quite useful if I had a coach. I don't know why it's taken me this long. yes. um Speaking of coach, do you do any sort of like mobility or do you incorporate strength training at all into your like weekly training program? Yeah, I do strength three times a week. It's my least favorite. I hate strength. Cause I think in my mind, I'm like, ah, these hours I could be running. And the same if I do like yoga or something, like, I could, I could be doing something else right now, but I do do it and I get it done and I do do mobility. I am like a piece of cardboard. Like I go to classes because if I do it by myself, it's just not going to happen. So I go to mobility classes and Especially here, I live in like a surf town where everyone does yoga and surfs and they're all like really flexible and like I'm there like eee eee eee eee eee eee eee eee eee eee eee eee eee eee eee eee That's a great mobility class because I think you are spot on with like the mobility work and the recovery or even just stretching is it's the unsexy stuff. Like people want to spend like the 1530 whatever minutes that they would be doing the mobility. They'd rather be biking longer or running longer, you know, and but that's when you have a class you You have to sign up for the class. Yeah, you have kind of that accountability, that structure, direction. I think that's a great idea. it's sort of their running is their meditation or their time to be peaceful and do that. So I think doing a class that is mobility or doing mobility is just being, is sort of meditation for some people. For runners, it's like, that's not, no, that's not really the meditation I want to be running. So it's quite hard to feel like I need to do it, but it helps. yes, definitely. OK, I want to be mindful of your time here. So I'm going to kind of jump through a couple of questions. But um you do you have a fantastic Instagram and we will link it for our listeners in the show notes to em do you want to shout out your what's your Instagram handle real quick for the listeners.@comerunwith.me So @comerunwith.me Yeah. that. you've yeah, you have a fantastic Instagram and you're I mean, I love it. But do you how do you think about capturing your content and without disrupting your performance or I mean, how? Yeah, I'm I've asked also like selfishly personally, because me and Amanda have been having this like ongoing like she's like, you need to record more reels. And I'm like, I hate recording reels. I hate recording content. So how do you get in that flow, is that just natural to you? Is that, do you kind of have a plan? What is that like? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I really love like when it comes to sort of like fashion or things that are different within running. So I try and highlight that as much as possible. I'm definitely out of the norm of what a runner sort of looks like, I guess. So I try and... incorporate things that I like in day-to-day life or things that I see in fashion into the running world. That's sort of one way I think that sort of helps my content. because it doesn't have to be completely run focused. It's more about maybe the outfits that I'm wearing or things that happening in the running world. And then a designer by sort of trade, that's my 9 to 5 So that also helps trying to think of like different ideas. If you're already in that design world talking about things, you're like, oh, that's a really good idea. Maybe I'll bring that into my Instagram. And then when it comes to projects, then I try and use either other people. or photographers and things like that because I do find it, it is hard to be on a run or be on a race and think about content. I really hate getting my phone out on runs. So I will make sure that I go on runs that I don't have a phone with and enjoy that run. And then I'll be like, okay, this is a content run. I'm gonna take my phone and I'm actually gonna do content. And I know that I'm gonna be stopping and starting and just... It's yeah, it's not a sexy run. It's just like, I'm going to have to keep doing content. And that's the reality of it really. If it looks cool, it's not been a cool run. Yeah, that's what I like tell all my friends that I'm like if I don't post about our like hangout today, it's because we were having so much fun. We didn't take out our phones. um yes, I think that's a great way to kind of like structure and have your brain space. So you're not every run. You're like, my gosh, I forgot to capture content. I think that's great. So OK, so fast forwarding again, I'm going to give you some rapid fire questions and then we're going to jump into your two truths and lies. So. um try and keep them rapid fire but what is one fueling mistake you keep seeing in marathons and what do think the fix is? I think fuel's been drilled into me now from all my mistakes, but I still see people, or what I think is not fueling enough or not having enough gels. I definitely see reels and content. directed at like, oh, you only maybe need like two or three gels for a marathon. I'm like, that's not enough. I want more. So I think that's probably one thing. I think that's quite fixable if there's enough content out there of people being like, eat, it's good, it's great, it'll get you further. Like, I think one thing that I see is, you know, like the Tour de France riders, they have so much carbs. And I'm like, they're doing so great. There's a reason, there's a reason they're doing so great. Take on those carbs. I love that. That is. Yeah, that's a good one. What is your favorite real food that survives heat and still sits well? the chocolate brioche buns. They are the go-to. Yeah, they probably taste better when they're warm. um What is your Footcare Holy Grail product? um I would say one, I I'm going to knock on wood now because I don't want it to jinx me, but I'm quite blessed with not getting blisters or anything like that. I don't know if my feet are just so tough that they don't, but um I always have Sum Socks I've used them. They even made me little socks with my Portugal logo on for my run. they're like, they're almost like compression socks, but they're not. They're like, huh. Yeah. Okay. yeah, I absolutely love them. I've run in the rain and still not got blisters with them on. Wow. And what shoes do you wear? Like what brand shoes do you like? So for the road, I wear Reebok, and then for the trails, I wear Merrell Okay. Nice. Okay. There's something, something, some combo there's working really well. One cue to reset form when you're crumbling in a long duration event would be your suggestion. I guess if I was going for like a multi-day, then I sort of have like a list of like, first I'd go feet up and try and like get the blood back down from my feet. Then I'd have food, then I'd have salt, uh hydration, then I'd walk it out. And if I'm still crumbling after all of that, I'd have a nap. That's my list. In order of what I do, that's the list I go through to get myself. Yeah, good like checklist action plan. Okay, We had a listener question, which I think maybe we answered this a little bit, but@master_goodvibe said, what's your favorite gel and carbs and what do you use for training and race days? Maurten Solids, gels, um, and then the electrolytes you said were Styrkr I always pronounce that one wrong. Yeah. I like them just for their high amount of salt. It just means that I know that in that one bottle there's going to be loads of salt. Whereas with lower quantities, like with Tailwind I obviously, that's really nice because it doesn't have all the additives of everything, it's like supernatural, but it doesn't have the same quantity of salt. Yeah. But yeah, so that for salt and then Maurten is just so easy on the stomach. And also I find that, you know how some gels have taste to them? It's actually quite nice to have just like a sweet neutral taste of nothingness because you can get it in and it's fine. Yeah, that is, yeah, finding that what works and also, yeah, what feels good going down when it's warm too is the other thing. OK, so I'm going to jump back to your truth and a lie. You said you grew up in China, which I think we just check that one is true. You said the last night of The Speed Project at the 400K, you were hallucinating there was aliens in the sky and you were talking to them and that you've been running for eight years. I was thinking the running for eight years was a lie. Is that right? Yes. I've been running for five years. Awesome. Okay. I got it. So tell us about this hallucination. Yeah, we were, we just come out of, can't remember the name of the city, but it is off the highway as you go into Las Vegas. And it's, I think, we're near Area 51, was where like aliens are seen. So it's like an alien town and you can buy like alien jerky, there's like statues of aliens everywhere. And I think we were tired anyways. So seeing all of that coming into it, was like, boss, yeah. And seeing that we were like... this is like a crazy American town. And then we go into the power line, which is up off the highway. And we know we're not going to see our crew for about 65K through the night. And it was a full moon. So we were able to turn our headlights off, like our head torches, and just walk in the dark. Wow. Yeah. it was so tired. We were walking on sand, so couldn't run any of it. We were just walking. We got like 60 K in and the sun was source of coming up, but not quite. the clouds, I'm convinced we, I have a picture and the clouds are actually in sort of these like weird circle shapes. And Tyson has a picture of me, my pacer and I'm underneath them. and it does look like an alien spaceship but at the time it was fully they were aliens and we didn't want to scare each other so we were walking along like are you good? He was like yeah I'm good I'm good. You good? We were like just chatting and afterwards we were having food in the van he was like were you the aliens were you seeing them? was like yeah I was seeing it. He was like I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to freak you out and I was like no I was seeing them too they were like talking to me I was like yeah. my gosh, was he so do we? Yeah. my goodness. Was he was he asleep deprived as you do you think or? he was, he did a lot of running. He did over half of The Speed Project with me. So he did a lot of the night sections. He's from the States. And so he sort of didn't know the area that well, but felt comfortable being out there. Um, so he did, yeah, he did a lot and 65 K. I think at the time he hadn't done an ultra yet. He had just really, really strong runner. And he was like, yeah, that was crazy. Yeah. that's wild. Okay, so what's coming up next for you down the pipeline race wise? Are you going into offseason? I mean you mentioned the Kenya thing so that's coming up, right? I've actually got quite a few coming up. I'm in Berlin in two weeks for the Berlin Marathon, which I'm going to be running backwards and then forwards, which I did last year, but I'm doing it again this year. Where sort of last year, was only 34 % of women at the start line of Berlin, which is crazy, especially because feel like trails are really making an effort to be a bit more 50-50. Yep. especially around like the UK. So we're sort of trying to get more women. We've reached out to loads of women-run clubs and we're gonna do an event beforehand where we can all run together and then hopefully get some women as well to run the night marathon with me. And then I've got my best friend who's also a woman running the day marathon. So just trying to make a bigger impact on that. And then from that in October, I'm gonna be running from London to Cornwall, which is... 500 kilometres? Yeah, this one's going to be a tough one because I have no pacers And so it's going to be a real mental challenge. It's just me and my husband. So yeah, very different. It'll be some good training in my mind. Yeah, yeah. That'll be fascinating. I'd love to hear more about how that all goes to. We'll have to connect with you. We'll be certainly following along. And then our listeners can follow you at your Instagram handle. Come run with me. So we will link that below as well. Check out Lydia's content there. And then The Speed Project. Is that is that a video? Are you on YouTube? Okay. a video out on the Speed Project on my YouTube, as well as on Webox. And there is a video about the uh Portugal project, but it's not out yet. We did a lot of viewing in London, but it will come live soon. So yeah, that's a really fun one. yeah. Yay. Oh, cool. OK, well, we will link all that in the show notes for the listeners so they can watch that. then certainly when that comes out, the Portugal stuff, let us know. Well, we can add that to the list. And thank you again so much for joining us, Lydia. Thank you for having me.

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Kyla Channell, MS

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