Yep, you have to enjoy putting in the work. The joy comes from know you're doing something good and seeing the progress you make from week to week and more noticeably from month to month. I'm still a pretty novice runner, coming up on one year since starting my running journey at 37 years old...but I am loving it. I love the challenge, I love the comradery of doing track days with the local running group guys, etc. I just love it all, really.
Awesome video man, everything you say makes so much sense... running marathons is not normal, average people do not run marathons, I started to run seriously about a year and a half ago and so far I've ran five marathons (currently training for Chicago), I decided to run 36 marathons for every year my little sister was alive, she passed away three years ago and every race so far has taught me about how much pain we as human beings can endure, not just in the race but during the hundreds of miles we do in training. I'm the first one to admit that I'm slow but in every race my main goal is to get a little faster. It is good to seek to be uncomfortable, that's where we find who we really are.
Stephen. I owe you so much man. You continue to inspire me. Ive been running for 9 months and I just qualified for Boston. I trained so hard and truly suffered on a regular basis. Come race day the pain flowed over me like water. I didnt follow a training plan or have a coach. I trusted the suffering and pushed my mental.
This video gave me extra motivation 😊 I just ran 1h32.12 for half marathon improving by over 10 minutes since last months 🙂 it hurt as you said but I pushed as much as I could from very beginning. Its part of my prep for next years Copenhagen marathon😊
Running is truly such a great thing and it does so much for a person's overall being. A runner knows how to deal with struggle and has developed strict perseverance, they understand how to battle through trial and tribulations. Running exposes weaknesses and is a true test of you vs you. I've been running consistently for 7yrs now. Running is life! It's medicine, it's a teacher, it's therapy. Engage with Running at any level and enjoy!
Thanks for a great video. I learned it the hard way. I did my first marathon last year with a lazy, gut-feel mentality to the training. Did 3:18 in the end (which was good) but completely died out in the last 10K of the race. I began to schedule my training, watch tons of RUclips videos (like Stephen's - awesome by the way), and most importantly, I stopped my excuses and followed the advices. Did 130 km weeks before my second marathon race in Paris back in April this year and finished in 2:41. Massive improvement from just dedicated hard work. Now off to Amsterdam in 6 weeks with +160 km weeks. Hopefully sub-2:32. If a lazy person like me can do it, I am sure many of you out there can too. 💪
Having put up to 90k/week from 45/week before , I see the effect as well. Sounds like another world to put another 50k/week on top but the barrier is probably mostly mental and somewhat logistics although the logistic part is probably an excuse to not even try 😅 have fun in Amsterdam!
Whoever you are sir, very impressive accomplishments. Good luck with the future races. I’m running 80 miles/week with an eye to running a 3:15-3:20 marathon in November.
I’m currently in week 17 of a 41 week plan to go from not running to a marathon, last week was 10k milestone… I am thoroughly enjoying the process and looking forward to the challenges ahead. I find your vids immensely helpful for motivation and also giving myself a break I’m not as young as I think I am and the process takes time.. But I’m really looking forward to possibly being able to run much quicker zone 2 than I currently can.
I’m the same way. I love my slow long runs, and am having to change my mindset. The long slow runs are what got me started in the sport, but at some point it becomes crap or get off the pot.
I did 20 miles last week in prep for Berlin, after 15 my foot started hurting so bad, for some reason I was able to compartmentalize it by keep reminding pain us part of the game and everyone goes through it. Wish I will be able to do it at Berlin. See you at Berlin my friend.
Because of your help Stephen I completed my first full marathon at Kauai and place 62 of 320. With your advise, I had no injuries, no bad psych, I just ran and had fun. It was a battle but the trainings were worse. Everything you said on this video is spot on. Thank you for being the complete opposite of todays social media, you’re vulnerable and genuine which makes me love you more bro. I want to make this a career I’m so in love with the sport now. 🙏
Been watching Stephen for the last 6 mos. helps me psychologically in my running journey. This man deserve more subscriber. “If you dont practice hard things you will be not capable of hard things in marathon”
Truth. Teller. Extraordinaire. So much better than all of the ‘If you just do this one thing, you will be instantly faster’ RUclipsrs 🙄. For me, 4 weeks until the Abbott World Masters Marathon Championships in Chicago. Exactly what I needed to hear. Real talk. Keep up the awesome work here, and on the roads (I pay attention to that also, thanks to Strava🙂)
This is by far one of the best videos you have made. It's the true reality of going after what you want. How much are you willing to HURT. How much can you fight off every demon that says stop. You know how many runners or athletes who scientifically are the BEST but when it comes down to it...they just dot want it bad enough to HURT for it.
there is a documentary on Seb Coe from the late 1970s in which his coach and father Peter explains that one of Seb's standard sessions of 6x800 at 1500 pace with 60-90 seconds recovery was basically to teach the athlete that just because you are in pain, just because you feel exhausted doesn't mean that you cannot continue at that pace, indeed you can actually accelerate. The body had to learn to operate under conditions of extreme stress, at times training has to simulate the pain of racing. Herb Elliott used to say you run 3-4 times week until nearly dead (actually dying isn't going to happen) the other days you take it easy.
Love this video. Agree with almost everything you said. I disagree on one point however, and that's the breakdown of the mental physical. You said it's 90/10 race day but 10/90 during training. It's always 90% mental imo, every decision and every tiny battle during training is mental. Even by your own admission, your training for London 2020, was 90% a mental battle. The ability to remain present and deliberate in this moment, not looking back at what you had, or forward to what might be, is probably the most important skill anyone can have, and it applies to training as well.
C.T. Fletcher said it so truly in many of his videos that there isn’t a magic pill or a magic formula to achieve your goals. It’s hard ass fucking work. C.T. Fletcher isn’t a runner but his approach is applying for so many different sport and situations in life 🔥💪🙇♂️ And that is exactly the point what you‘re pointing out in this video in my opinion 🙏🙇♂️ What is talent or knowledge worth without hard work? That’s right not really much 🫶🏻
great advice....but all this talk of the difficulty of mountains makes me think we'll see Scully in the results of next year's UTMB 50k race (OCC). That's something to look forward to.
This is such a breath of fresh air and so helpful. I have ADHD too and really relate to what you’re saying. Especially that I always want to be comfortable. Oof. Needed to hear this.
I love your channel man. It's a great combination of science just plain hard work and dedication to getting better. We live in a world of data overload, but improvements comes down to how bad you freaking want it. There aren't lactate and heart rate monitors at the finish line. Keep up the good work!
Great inspiration! Yesterday I ran my weekly long run "way too hard". Now I don't mind at all. It just makes sense ... If you want to run faster you have to run faster. Thanks.
I love this…and I love your videos. Mental strength is definitely the hardest part. I’m really trying to figure out how to push through when my body is screaming to stop. Maybe I need to perceive pain differently, like not as a threat. I don’t know but I’ll probably watch this video several times. And thank you for what you do for the running community. A lot of your videos speak to me❤
Thank you so much for this video. It may seem obvious, no pain, no gain, we all know this truth. But to work hard and endure pain we all need motivation. And I'm pretty sure that whenever I get any doubts while pushing really hard during a workout or on race day, I'll bring to my mind you and this video. Hard work is always connected with doubt and thinking of giving up. And whenever such thought comes to my mind, thanks to you I'll have more power to beat it. Thank you. There is also a reverse side of this coin. You need to work hard but you have to be able to rest, to let your body recover before another piece of hard work. And I guess this is even harder than pushng the limits during workout. While you're training, everything's in your hands. But when you need to recover, everyday life can make it hardly possible. Good luck in Berlin, I hope you'll make 2:06 there, keep my fingers!
Thank you for this video, really inspirational. Let me share a story, how I started running almost twenty years ago. The guy pulled me into runnig was doing it some years already then. I was really into cycling at that time, never run in any capacity except all the Cooper tests in school. After year I was pretty much had better race times than him, athough he destroyed me on training runs. Simply he never had the mind part buttoned up for races. I was performing music before and gone to many science competitions so I was used to getting everything out of myself in stressful situations. Like you said: performing above my pay grade, because I was always getting every drop of perfomrance out of myself when it counted. Another personal example on this: after five years of running I enrolled in a marathon after a couple of ones already finished, but had life intercepting my training that year. I was young I thought "okay I will get through this from memory". It was the Kosice Marathon which is a two lap course. I ran a 95 minutes first lap (my marathon PB was 3h10m, half marathon 89min), without real training, I would have been 8th amongst women with that at that point. Then my final time was 3h54m. I was slowing down at about 25km which was close to the race center area. Then walking it in from like 30 km. But I never quit that race (or any before or after except one because of an ankle injury). I was miserable for most of the second lap. I am more proud of that race than my PB in Florence (even though there I had killer knee pain the last 8 km). Besides just wanting it, I also wanted it because my parents were there in Kosice. So find the things which are motivating you to endure the pain. There are always some. Even more reasons to give up I know. There is a hungarian saying: the champion is not the one who gives the punches, but the one who endures them. You need the training, otherwise the mind itself can achieve only that much (or even get you into serious trouble physically!), but the body is nothing really without the mind. I am now restarted runnig after an about tenish year hiatuy targeting ultra running events and Courtney Dauwalters "pain cave" concept is really fascinating for me. If someone wants even more inspiration about hard work and enduring pain/suffering, check out some ultra running documentaries: backyard ultras, Cocodona 250, Spartathlon and so on. Great and hardcore stuff on this matter. I think in general if someone accepts beforehand that it will hurt and actually expect the pain and suffering, they can better cope with it.
In my last marathon I had more to give at the end. So afterwards I started to do a 10k training to improve my PB by around 10%. The longer the training went the more I got frustrated with the lack of doing training at race pace. So last Sunday I was so angry and frustrated (not running related) that I ignored the pace given and just went running based on my gut feeling and ended up with a 10k time 1 minute faster than my goal. The next day I did an easy recovery run of 4 miles w/o any issues.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I just finished a marathon that felt like an easy long run. My RPE was maybe a 4 max. It was nice to finish and feel like I wasn’t working that hard, but I felt a little depressed afterwards… I want to qualify for a major and I won’t get there running a 4 for perceived effort.
True words spoken.. I'm just about to turn 47 next week, I have Melbourne Marathon on the 15th October, so about 4 weeks to go.. Last night after a big day at work, in the dark with a headlamp, I managed to run 20x800 with 200m rec on an oval. 40 fucking laps . I've never done a session that big before and averaged 3.35's.. At this point it's the fear to the confidence.. What you say in your videos covering everything has been amazing since I started following you and I do put some of the stuff into my running. Running faster gets addictive.. Keep pushing! Good luck for Berlin. The right weather, I think you'll be a bit quicker than 2.09.. I like to say to myself before a race and hard training.. BE FUCKING RUTHLESS. I'm aiming to run sub 2hr 30 and I coach myself.. Just to see what I can do.
Couldn’t agree more. Programme structure is of course paramount but nothing works if you don’t work. HARD work is what separates elite from non elite….. not the spiciest programme.
This is only a fraction of the story. It's not only hard work, it's everything. The knowledge, experience, genetics, recovery, lack of having to work a real job.... and sure hard work (dedication).
@@Tritiuminducedfusion genetics and hard work for me are the two main driving factors that separate average from not - plenty of CEOs etc that wake up at 4am to train for iron men, most Olympic sports are not funded, they do it and make it work with their jobs. Genetics is always the elephant in the room but it’s also an extremely limiting belief system to go into a programme highlighting genetics and a reason you WONT progress
I totally get your point and agree with that! The 100% of your performance is only achieved by this extra push coming from yourself which might correspond to 10%, the other 90% is science, proven and working good! And also I am curious, are you talking to athletes which have full time to train, or to employed people with families to take care probably and a full day maybe filled up with stress? Of course you might consider these people (99% of runners) on your words
Keeping it real as usual Scully, great motivational video. You get out what you put in!! Peak phase for Chester at the moment. Wish a 90kg bloke luck for a 3:20!
Thanks for the good insight shared, my first marathon is on mid Dec 2023 apart from long easy run it seems like I do need to run more long interval sessions at harder effort than my expected marathon pace. Sometimes you just gonna push yourself a bit for better results by setting a harder target!
So glad I found this channel last week. This talking in serious manner really tells what you mean by what it´s like to make a goal to reality in running. What it's like when you really need to push to make things happen. Keeping up a pace is hard, and this well I haven't heard anyone putting it so far :)
I love the example with going left or right out of the door, down- or uphill. It reminded me of my last marathon preparation, when my coach made me do 10x1k-repeats. For 3 weeks in a row. I felt that anxiety in week 1, I hated it in week 2 and I had control over it and - almost - enjoyed it in week 3. We must know that progress will come, we need this belief to push hard. Nevertheless, there is a fine line between crossing the next threshold or ruining everything by resting too little or running into injury. I think one needs to develop a sense for when your body wants to cheat (by being lazy), and when it wants to warn you.
I think when we're passionate about something, we can overthink/analyse things that take our minds away from the goal. I've definitely made that mistake countless times. On strava, I like to look at the monthly recap. As an example, I had 27prs in August. I tend to run the same routes each month. So that tells me I've upped my effort on previous months no matter what it feels like at the time.
Good content and transparency brotha. I pull tidbits from a lot of different running channels and you're one of the better ones. You inspire new runners such as myself to get better.
Great advice. I only took up running a few years ago and I've been very fortunate to have had a long steady stream of PBs, but it's only really dawned on me recently that in some of the more recent races the reason for the PB wasn't better fitness but an ability to push, to dig deeper than I had before. I'll also admit that this scares me a little because now I'm seeing how much I'll have to be willing to hurt to keep running at my best.
Regardless of the level this is just hard work. I m going through a tough marathon training this summer with Berlin in sight. I only set a goal of getting better than 8 years ago (3h16h) and did lots of hard work with no clear idea of where I would land. Hard 30+k eg with 3x4k-3k and I start to realise what is now possible. So focus on hard work not to achieve a certain time but focus on hard work and see what seems possible and give it a go. I try to bring that spirit to my kids about not only looking for shortcuts and look for the hard work but boy is it hard! Oh, another hard piece of work I guess 😅 Thanks for this vid. Elite does not mean you are not human. It’s good for others to hear elite go through the same struggles.
"My body believed that to run a marathon, you had to be comfortable." That is an interesting and important insight. So many of the books, articles, videos, etc ... about running talk about the importance of pacing and how to avoid bonking and they give a lot of runners the mistaken impression that they have to run their races slower than they are capable of running. Obviously, pacing, nutrition, and the like are vital, but knowing that what you are about to do is *going to be hard* and then preparing for that is a lot more effective and rewarding than preparing to run a race in a way that is comfortable.
Bonking and discomfort are 2 different things. If you bonk it doesn't matter what you want, your legs just don't operate (or like you'd want them to). But yeah, people usually sugarcoat things because most people are soft.
Great video. Your tolerance for pain is very important in distance running, this is why East African runners perform so much better than those in the west. The pain threshold of East African athletes is very high and that helps during the last half of any race.
Possibly psychologically, but not physical. Read the book “finding ultra” possibly and talks about some East African athletes who won’t run through blisters and these western athletes pushing through all sorts of injuries just in the build up, never mind race day. Perhaps we’re far too good at pushing through physical pains, but not psychological. When it should be the opposite
Great content Stephen, as usual. Thanks. Just noticed the amount of fueling you're taking on board. Looks like I may be under fueling based on your figures. I'm usually about half of what you take on board, at least. I might try and tweak this on my next long training run. See what gives.
Stephen, I've really been enjoying the content. Racing the same marathon for the third year coming early Novemeber with the goal of breaking 3. I was a few minutes off the last two years, but I feel very confident of breaking it this year. Quick question. What carb product is in your drink? and is have you done a specific video on how your fuel during a marathon? Thanks and I appreciate the content.
I believe that the only secret for getting better in running and in life is to enjoy the hard work. 👍🏻
Facts
Yep, you have to enjoy putting in the work. The joy comes from know you're doing something good and seeing the progress you make from week to week and more noticeably from month to month. I'm still a pretty novice runner, coming up on one year since starting my running journey at 37 years old...but I am loving it. I love the challenge, I love the comradery of doing track days with the local running group guys, etc. I just love it all, really.
I love hard work and thinking at the end of the day did you get a good day of work running weights and eating well I am better.
that is very wise IMO
What about 80% easy work and only 20 hard?
Awesome video man, everything you say makes so much sense... running marathons is not normal, average people do not run marathons, I started to run seriously about a year and a half ago and so far I've ran five marathons (currently training for Chicago), I decided to run 36 marathons for every year my little sister was alive, she passed away three years ago and every race so far has taught me about how much pain we as human beings can endure, not just in the race but during the hundreds of miles we do in training. I'm the first one to admit that I'm slow but in every race my main goal is to get a little faster. It is good to seek to be uncomfortable, that's where we find who we really are.
A most noble endeavor Sir
Stephen. I owe you so much man. You continue to inspire me. Ive been running for 9 months and I just qualified for Boston. I trained so hard and truly suffered on a regular basis. Come race day the pain flowed over me like water. I didnt follow a training plan or have a coach. I trusted the suffering and pushed my mental.
This video gave me extra motivation 😊 I just ran 1h32.12 for half marathon improving by over 10 minutes since last months 🙂 it hurt as you said but I pushed as much as I could from very beginning. Its part of my prep for next years Copenhagen marathon😊
Running is truly such a great thing and it does so much for a person's overall being. A runner knows how to deal with struggle and has developed strict perseverance, they understand how to battle through trial and tribulations. Running exposes weaknesses and is a true test of you vs you. I've been running consistently for 7yrs now. Running is life! It's medicine, it's a teacher, it's therapy. Engage with Running at any level and enjoy!
I'm training for my first marathon. My aim is to complete the 42.195km. Thank you for this prep talk,; we all need it.
where bro?
You are going to crush it 💪💪💪 just 1 KM at a time!
@@mm23456 Singapore Standard Chartered
I ran my first couple days ago, good luck
@@Alan-di5kq Thank you
Thanks for a great video. I learned it the hard way. I did my first marathon last year with a lazy, gut-feel mentality to the training. Did 3:18 in the end (which was good) but completely died out in the last 10K of the race. I began to schedule my training, watch tons of RUclips videos (like Stephen's - awesome by the way), and most importantly, I stopped my excuses and followed the advices. Did 130 km weeks before my second marathon race in Paris back in April this year and finished in 2:41. Massive improvement from just dedicated hard work. Now off to Amsterdam in 6 weeks with +160 km weeks. Hopefully sub-2:32. If a lazy person like me can do it, I am sure many of you out there can too. 💪
See you in Amsterdam!
Having put up to 90k/week from 45/week before , I see the effect as well. Sounds like another world to put another 50k/week on top but the barrier is probably mostly mental and somewhat logistics although the logistic part is probably an excuse to not even try 😅 have fun in Amsterdam!
Whoever you are sir, very impressive accomplishments. Good luck with the future races. I’m running 80 miles/week with an eye to running a 3:15-3:20 marathon in November.
This is amazing
Did u follow a plan
I’m currently in week 17 of a 41 week plan to go from not running to a marathon, last week was 10k milestone… I am thoroughly enjoying the process and looking forward to the challenges ahead. I find your vids immensely helpful for motivation and also giving myself a break I’m not as young as I think I am and the process takes time.. But I’m really looking forward to possibly being able to run much quicker zone 2 than I currently can.
You've got this!
I'm running my first marathon on November! Started training on March 2023. The goal is 4:15hrs or 4hrs if I can.
Route 66?
@@Roastbeef88420 It's in my country. The ASICS Rock n' Roll Marathon, in Manila City, Philippines :)
I’m the same way. I love my slow long runs, and am having to change my mindset. The long slow runs are what got me started in the sport, but at some point it becomes crap or get off the pot.
I did 20 miles last week in prep for Berlin, after 15 my foot started hurting so bad, for some reason I was able to compartmentalize it by keep reminding pain us part of the game and everyone goes through it. Wish I will be able to do it at Berlin. See you at Berlin my friend.
Because of your help Stephen I completed my first full marathon at Kauai and place 62 of 320. With your advise, I had no injuries, no bad psych, I just ran and had fun. It was a battle but the trainings were worse. Everything you said on this video is spot on. Thank you for being the complete opposite of todays social media, you’re vulnerable and genuine which makes me love you more bro. I want to make this a career I’m so in love with the sport now. 🙏
Scully is the man. Aiming for 2:50 at Barca next March, started running 9 months ago! Such motivation!
Been watching Stephen for the last 6 mos. helps me psychologically in my running journey. This man deserve more subscriber. “If you dont practice hard things you will be not capable of hard things in marathon”
Truth. Teller. Extraordinaire. So much better than all of the ‘If you just do this one thing, you will be instantly faster’ RUclipsrs 🙄. For me, 4 weeks until the Abbott World Masters Marathon Championships in Chicago. Exactly what I needed to hear. Real talk. Keep up the awesome work here, and on the roads (I pay attention to that also, thanks to Strava🙂)
Me too! Good luck in Chicago
Man the quality of this info/motivation is priceless..shot man💪
The message in this video is outstanding. I’ve watched it a few times now as I enter the final month before my first marathon. Great stuff, Scully
Agree! In the end after the training it comes down to just how much pain you can endure in race day
This is by far one of the best videos you have made. It's the true reality of going after what you want. How much are you willing to HURT. How much can you fight off every demon that says stop. You know how many runners or athletes who scientifically are the BEST but when it comes down to it...they just dot want it bad enough to HURT for it.
Reading through the comments, I’m amazed at the dedication.
there is a documentary on Seb Coe from the late 1970s in which his coach and father Peter explains that one of Seb's standard sessions of 6x800 at 1500 pace with 60-90 seconds recovery was basically to teach the athlete that just because you are in pain, just because you feel exhausted doesn't mean that you cannot continue at that pace, indeed you can actually accelerate. The body had to learn to operate under conditions of extreme stress, at times training has to simulate the pain of racing.
Herb Elliott used to say you run 3-4 times week until nearly dead (actually dying isn't going to happen) the other days you take it easy.
I just freaking love this guy
Watched this video before a 20 mile long run near race pace and kept replaying it in my head during the run. Helped me push through. Thanks!
Love this video. Agree with almost everything you said. I disagree on one point however, and that's the breakdown of the mental physical. You said it's 90/10 race day but 10/90 during training. It's always 90% mental imo, every decision and every tiny battle during training is mental. Even by your own admission, your training for London 2020, was 90% a mental battle.
The ability to remain present and deliberate in this moment, not looking back at what you had, or forward to what might be, is probably the most important skill anyone can have, and it applies to training as well.
C.T. Fletcher said it so truly in many of his videos that there isn’t a magic pill or a magic formula to achieve your goals. It’s hard ass fucking work.
C.T. Fletcher isn’t a runner but his approach is applying for so many different sport and situations in life 🔥💪🙇♂️
And that is exactly the point what you‘re pointing out in this video in my opinion 🙏🙇♂️ What is talent or knowledge worth without hard work?
That’s right not really much 🫶🏻
I really appreciate and value your humility. Everyone should be saving this video for future reference.
You have the best videos out there man
100 percent agree with everything you say
Thank you for all the tips
Keep ‘em coming
great advice....but all this talk of the difficulty of mountains makes me think we'll see Scully in the results of next year's UTMB 50k race (OCC). That's something to look forward to.
best channel for no bs truth. I am soft in the mind, give up too easily.
This is such a breath of fresh air and so helpful. I have ADHD too and really relate to what you’re saying. Especially that I always want to be comfortable. Oof. Needed to hear this.
You remind me one of my favorite quote: "Pain unlocks a secret doorway in the mind, one that leads to both peak performance and beautiful silence."
I love your channel man. It's a great combination of science just plain hard work and dedication to getting better. We live in a world of data overload, but improvements comes down to how bad you freaking want it. There aren't lactate and heart rate monitors at the finish line. Keep up the good work!
Great inspiration! Yesterday I ran my weekly long run "way too hard". Now I don't mind at all. It just makes sense ... If you want to run faster you have to run faster. Thanks.
I really appreciated this video! Ive been mentally stuck in my triathlon training and this is exactly what I needed to hear
Thank you for sharing this man. I’m 6 weeks out from my first marathon, third race this year, and this really got me hype.
We can’t shortcut hard work
I love this…and I love your videos. Mental strength is definitely the hardest part. I’m really trying to figure out how to push through when my body is screaming to stop. Maybe I need to perceive pain differently, like not as a threat. I don’t know but I’ll probably watch this video several times. And thank you for what you do for the running community. A lot of your videos speak to me❤
“U have to practice hard things!” I love this! So true!! 💯💯
Thank you so much for this video. It may seem obvious, no pain, no gain, we all know this truth. But to work hard and endure pain we all need motivation. And I'm pretty sure that whenever I get any doubts while pushing really hard during a workout or on race day, I'll bring to my mind you and this video. Hard work is always connected with doubt and thinking of giving up. And whenever such thought comes to my mind, thanks to you I'll have more power to beat it. Thank you.
There is also a reverse side of this coin. You need to work hard but you have to be able to rest, to let your body recover before another piece of hard work. And I guess this is even harder than pushng the limits during workout. While you're training, everything's in your hands. But when you need to recover, everyday life can make it hardly possible. Good luck in Berlin, I hope you'll make 2:06 there, keep my fingers!
Best running channel around! Rootin for your Scully!
Spent 3 years at Queen's University Belfast, so good to see the city! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this video, really inspirational.
Let me share a story, how I started running almost twenty years ago. The guy pulled me into runnig was doing it some years already then. I was really into cycling at that time, never run in any capacity except all the Cooper tests in school. After year I was pretty much had better race times than him, athough he destroyed me on training runs. Simply he never had the mind part buttoned up for races. I was performing music before and gone to many science competitions so I was used to getting everything out of myself in stressful situations. Like you said: performing above my pay grade, because I was always getting every drop of perfomrance out of myself when it counted.
Another personal example on this: after five years of running I enrolled in a marathon after a couple of ones already finished, but had life intercepting my training that year. I was young I thought "okay I will get through this from memory". It was the Kosice Marathon which is a two lap course. I ran a 95 minutes first lap (my marathon PB was 3h10m, half marathon 89min), without real training, I would have been 8th amongst women with that at that point. Then my final time was 3h54m. I was slowing down at about 25km which was close to the race center area. Then walking it in from like 30 km. But I never quit that race (or any before or after except one because of an ankle injury). I was miserable for most of the second lap. I am more proud of that race than my PB in Florence (even though there I had killer knee pain the last 8 km). Besides just wanting it, I also wanted it because my parents were there in Kosice. So find the things which are motivating you to endure the pain. There are always some. Even more reasons to give up I know. There is a hungarian saying: the champion is not the one who gives the punches, but the one who endures them.
You need the training, otherwise the mind itself can achieve only that much (or even get you into serious trouble physically!), but the body is nothing really without the mind.
I am now restarted runnig after an about tenish year hiatuy targeting ultra running events and Courtney Dauwalters "pain cave" concept is really fascinating for me. If someone wants even more inspiration about hard work and enduring pain/suffering, check out some ultra running documentaries: backyard ultras, Cocodona 250, Spartathlon and so on. Great and hardcore stuff on this matter.
I think in general if someone accepts beforehand that it will hurt and actually expect the pain and suffering, they can better cope with it.
In my last marathon I had more to give at the end. So afterwards I started to do a 10k training to improve my PB by around 10%. The longer the training went the more I got frustrated with the lack of doing training at race pace. So last Sunday I was so angry and frustrated (not running related) that I ignored the pace given and just went running based on my gut feeling and ended up with a 10k time 1 minute faster than my goal. The next day I did an easy recovery run of 4 miles w/o any issues.
I love that you share your honest thoughts video by video! Thank you and much love!
Yeah I needed to hear that. Managed to push through today even though I wanted to slow down with 15 minutes of tempo left to go.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I just finished a marathon that felt like an easy long run. My RPE was maybe a 4 max. It was nice to finish and feel like I wasn’t working that hard, but I felt a little depressed afterwards… I want to qualify for a major and I won’t get there running a 4 for perceived effort.
True words spoken.. I'm just about to turn 47 next week, I have Melbourne Marathon on the 15th October, so about 4 weeks to go.. Last night after a big day at work, in the dark with a headlamp, I managed to run 20x800 with 200m rec on an oval. 40 fucking laps . I've never done a session that big before and averaged 3.35's.. At this point it's the fear to the confidence.. What you say in your videos covering everything has been amazing since I started following you and I do put some of the stuff into my running. Running faster gets addictive.. Keep pushing! Good luck for Berlin. The right weather, I think you'll be a bit quicker than 2.09.. I like to say to myself before a race and hard training.. BE FUCKING RUTHLESS. I'm aiming to run sub 2hr 30 and I coach myself.. Just to see what I can do.
Couldn’t agree more. Programme structure is of course paramount but nothing works if you don’t work. HARD work is what separates elite from non elite….. not the spiciest programme.
This is only a fraction of the story. It's not only hard work, it's everything. The knowledge, experience, genetics, recovery, lack of having to work a real job.... and sure hard work (dedication).
@@Tritiuminducedfusion genetics and hard work for me are the two main driving factors that separate average from not - plenty of CEOs etc that wake up at 4am to train for iron men, most Olympic sports are not funded, they do it and make it work with their jobs. Genetics is always the elephant in the room but it’s also an extremely limiting belief system to go into a programme highlighting genetics and a reason you WONT progress
I have my first marathon in about three weeks and this video was exactly what I needed as I enter tapering. Thank you
I totally get your point and agree with that! The 100% of your performance is only achieved by this extra push coming from yourself which might correspond to 10%, the other 90% is science, proven and working good! And also I am curious, are you talking to athletes which have full time to train, or to employed people with families to take care probably and a full day maybe filled up with stress? Of course you might consider these people (99% of runners) on your words
I’m cheering for you! 99% of People don’t want any discomfort. Sometimes it’s going to happen even if you don’t run.
Keeping it real as usual Scully, great motivational video. You get out what you put in!! Peak phase for Chester at the moment. Wish a 90kg bloke luck for a 3:20!
Thanks for the good insight shared, my first marathon is on mid Dec 2023 apart from long easy run it seems like I do need to run more long interval sessions at harder effort than my expected marathon pace. Sometimes you just gonna push yourself a bit for better results by setting a harder target!
So glad I found this channel last week. This talking in serious manner really tells what you mean by what it´s like to make a goal to reality in running. What it's like when you really need to push to make things happen. Keeping up a pace is hard, and this well I haven't heard anyone putting it so far :)
I love the example with going left or right out of the door, down- or uphill. It reminded me of my last marathon preparation, when my coach made me do 10x1k-repeats. For 3 weeks in a row. I felt that anxiety in week 1, I hated it in week 2 and I had control over it and - almost - enjoyed it in week 3. We must know that progress will come, we need this belief to push hard. Nevertheless, there is a fine line between crossing the next threshold or ruining everything by resting too little or running into injury. I think one needs to develop a sense for when your body wants to cheat (by being lazy), and when it wants to warn you.
Callous the mind with hard work and going through the pain.
I’m here for the background wall.
Great video. Definitely very helpful 👍.
Wow this talk was full on David Goggins…loved it!
Best video you have ever made, and I’ve watched a lot of yours. Great work
This is a brilliant video and it doesn’t just apply to running. The best advice you’re going to see all day 👍
What a video 🤌 exactly what we need to start the new year right
I think when we're passionate about something, we can overthink/analyse things that take our minds away from the goal. I've definitely made that mistake countless times.
On strava, I like to look at the monthly recap. As an example, I had 27prs in August. I tend to run the same routes each month. So that tells me I've upped my effort on previous months no matter what it feels like at the time.
Good content and transparency brotha. I pull tidbits from a lot of different running channels and you're one of the better ones. You inspire new runners such as myself to get better.
thanks Stephen for being you, I feel i can relate with my ADHD and Anxiety and love running also. keep up the content - Nathan
This Episode sends the message that Hard Work Truly Pays Off.
Great advice. I only took up running a few years ago and I've been very fortunate to have had a long steady stream of PBs, but it's only really dawned on me recently that in some of the more recent races the reason for the PB wasn't better fitness but an ability to push, to dig deeper than I had before. I'll also admit that this scares me a little because now I'm seeing how much I'll have to be willing to hurt to keep running at my best.
Regardless of the level this is just hard work. I m going through a tough marathon training this summer with Berlin in sight. I only set a goal of getting better than 8 years ago (3h16h) and did lots of hard work with no clear idea of where I would land. Hard 30+k eg with 3x4k-3k and I start to realise what is now possible. So focus on hard work not to achieve a certain time but focus on hard work and see what seems possible and give it a go.
I try to bring that spirit to my kids about not only looking for shortcuts and look for the hard work but boy is it hard! Oh, another hard piece of work I guess 😅
Thanks for this vid. Elite does not mean you are not human. It’s good for others to hear elite go through the same struggles.
Incredible. This is going on my headphones before every hard session
Nice to see the Lagan towpath. Great for long runs!
Thankyou Steven, agreed, one of your best videos yet
Awesome video. Running my first marathon on Saturday and needed to hear this.
such an inspiration, appreciate this and the last video man!
Fully agree, my best results comes when I suffer hard.
👍🏻 there is a lot of videos on running slow and become fast… like your view, the need to push it.
Excellent video Scully 👍 100% genuine honest guy
Powerful message. So simple yet so easy to overlook. The glory of the grind. Thank you for the pep talk ❤
One and only truth about getting better at running!
everyone is cheering for you in Berlin man! go get it! 🔥
Amazing video. Feel ready to smash my training after watching this
"My body believed that to run a marathon, you had to be comfortable." That is an interesting and important insight. So many of the books, articles, videos, etc ... about running talk about the importance of pacing and how to avoid bonking and they give a lot of runners the mistaken impression that they have to run their races slower than they are capable of running. Obviously, pacing, nutrition, and the like are vital, but knowing that what you are about to do is *going to be hard* and then preparing for that is a lot more effective and rewarding than preparing to run a race in a way that is comfortable.
Bonking and discomfort are 2 different things. If you bonk it doesn't matter what you want, your legs just don't operate (or like you'd want them to). But yeah, people usually sugarcoat things because most people are soft.
Great video. Your tolerance for pain is very important in distance running, this is why East African runners perform so much better than those in the west. The pain threshold of East African athletes is very high and that helps during the last half of any race.
Possibly psychologically, but not physical. Read the book “finding ultra” possibly and talks about some East African athletes who won’t run through blisters and these western athletes pushing through all sorts of injuries just in the build up, never mind race day. Perhaps we’re far too good at pushing through physical pains, but not psychological. When it should be the opposite
This video reminds me of the book - How bad do you want it? by Matt Fitzgerald. Super vid super book
Thanks for the video. Hope you doing well!!!
Such good advice! I need to refine this skill.
What a great video!. It applies in so many things in life.
Your contents are the best. Thank you for your precious work. 🤙🤙🤙
Well said Steve❤ all the best to you in these last few weeks leading into Berlin 💪can’t wait to follow along!
Thanks for sharing the knowledge amigo!
thanks for the encouragement!
Powerful video. Exactly what I needed now going into Berlin Marathon too. Thank you!
Thank you fella you are ace I like your approach to running you are my unofficial coach thanks again cp🏃🏻♂️ps sat in an ice bath watching this one
Love this one. Thanks for the video, definitely what I needed
Great content Stephen, as usual. Thanks. Just noticed the amount of fueling you're taking on board. Looks like I may be under fueling based on your figures. I'm usually about half of what you take on board, at least. I might try and tweak this on my next long training run. See what gives.
Awesome video, thanks for sharing
Love your stuff going to look at some of programs
Stephen, I've really been enjoying the content. Racing the same marathon for the third year coming early Novemeber with the goal of breaking 3. I was a few minutes off the last two years, but I feel very confident of breaking it this year. Quick question. What carb product is in your drink? and is have you done a specific video on how your fuel during a marathon? Thanks and I appreciate the content.
A very down to earth, stripping back all the layers of BS and getting to the non egotistical nitty gritty 🔥
Thanks Scully, just what I needed to hear.
You’re a fking legend, thanks, I’m irish and I know pain… running my first 50k tomorrow.
Good reminder. Thank you brother!