In this episode, we talk with Richard McDowell. Richard ran cross-country at school and university then moved more into mountain biking for a few years. Then sport took a back seat for a few years while travelling overseas with work, until getting more into cycling in India. He got into triathlon and participated in a couple of half and full Ironman races. He discovered that while swimming was certainly not a strength, running seemed to be his strength. He ran his first marathon in Hyderabad in 2012 and finished on podium with a sub 3hr finish. After nearly 5 years traveling on work, he returned to the UK in 2015 and started running with more focus and joining an athletics club called Hercules Wimbledon. He raced over a kinds of distances and terrain, from 800m to 126km, track, road and cross-country, with marathon being the most successful distance. PB has dropped over 13 marathons to 2:23:08 finishing 10th amateur at the London Marathon in 2019. He recently started venturing into the ultra-marathon distance. He's married and has 2 children, aged 4 and 1. He juggles training with family duties and work within the engineering sector. In this episode he shares his journey, his progression, his views on nutrition among other things. This episode covers: 0:00 Intro 0:05:32 Early years in sport 0:10:48 Early years on work and life around the globe 0:13:03 Time in Hyderabad, India 0:16:59 MTB Himalaya experience 0:19:47 Tour of Nilgiris 2012 experience 0:24:25 Restarting running in Hyderabad 0:27:51 First Marathon experience 0:32:05 Winning a Duathlon with a broken hand! 0:37:40 Triathlon, first 70.3 experience 0:43:42 70.3 World Championships in Vegas 2013 0:45:58 Transition from 70.3 to Full Ironman distance 0:56:09 Moving back to UK in 2015 and focusing on running 0:58:34 Running with kid in buggy- 5k in 16-10 1:02:09 Commute runs for saving time! 1:05:35 Progression of volume on the way to 2-23 marathon time( Advanced Marathoning) 1:17:39 Polarized training! 1:22:18 Nutrition and hydration for training and races 1:30:47 Why Ultra distance races? 1:32:21 FKT Jubilee Greenway(57km race) Richard's Jubilee Greenway Youtube video 1:35:19 FKT Capital ring record (126km) Richard's Capital ring Youtube video 1:39:27 Jack Daniel's VDOT Formula calculator 1:41:57 What goes in you mind during the long runs 1:46:10 Balancing training and personal life 1:52:13 Some tips for working athletes, priorities, sacrifices, being efficient with time 1:55:31 Closing For the visually inclined, a video version of the podcast can be found here: YouTube Other Places: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google podcasts

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