In the earlier, younger, days of my fanatical fitness regime for the team sports that I was playing, where at my worst point I would train 3 times a day, which usually included 2 runs of at least 5 or 7 km, I had the mental approach of always running as hard as possible to try and beat my best time, always.  When I started running longer distances, my first ever road run being a 16 km race, I had great difficulty trying to slow myself down in the starting few kilometres and, I would never stop during the run. I was still doing this when I ran my first marathon in 1985, and to show you how crazy I was in those days, I went straight from the finish line to go and play a cricket match where my team was playing in the end of season one-day final.

And then I learned two very valuable lessons that have benefited me greatly over the years and will benefit everyone greatly.  When I started doing triathlons my first training programme consisted of 12 training sessions a week, 3 swims, 3 runs, 3 cycles, and 3 strength training, each of those 3 sessions was split into a slow (easy), medium, and hard (fast).  A new way of training for me, and it made a massive difference to my performance, but I still wasn’t being very good at a third crucial and often very underrated and component of any training programme – recovery (more about this later).

The second lesson that I learned happened when I started to make the move away from triathlons to longer distance running, and to trail running – how to walk properly.  In the beginning, this irritated me greatly. I was a much faster runner than these long distance plodders and slow coaches because all my running had been short distance and for team sports.  We would run about 10 km, easy peasy, and then they would all stop at a water tap and loiter for a while, and then walk a bit. This was totally foreign to me. But then I learned the hard way, when I ran the 56 km Two Oceans Ultra, and about 10 km from the finish I found that I could only walk. It was only that magical part of all races, the cheering and applauding crowds at the end, and downright pride, that had the necessary effect and I managed to trot the last few km to the finish line.  The lesson being, and I have never forgotten this – learn to plan when you will walk before it gets to the stage where you walk because you have to. A tip for new runners and novice marathon runners – walk at least every second water table.

When doing a desert run in extreme heat conditions, and running over a marathon every day for 5 days carrying a backpack of a few kilogrammes, this is an essential part of your make up.  It is not advisable to try and run the entire distance without some breaks, and even unwise to try to do so. And now having said that, and remember that I said earlier on that often we don’t know what we don’t know, here’s an interesting experience that I had whilst running certain sections of the Namib desert.  I discovered that if I stood still then the temperature hitting my body started to feel as if it was doubling. The temperature of the air around me was 38 degrees but then if I stood still this heat bounced back off the earth that I was standing on and it became even more unbearably hot. So in order to generate some air and some form of cooling on my body, I had to keep moving, and walking wasn’t good enough, I had to run to cool myself down.

And then there’s the most important factor, aside from the cooling requirement in the desert, regarding the need to factor in and plan where and when you will walk.  And this comes back to that number one requirement to succeed in endurance events, the mind.

More on this and the reason for keeping record of time rather than distance (mentioned in the last blog) in the next blog.

Jon O’Hanlon

One of the problems that everyone faces in life is that we don’t know what we don’t know.  There are quite a few ways that this can be, and is, overcome. Self-confidence, gritting one’s teeth, endurance, and the determination not to give up are a few.  I have also seen though, and especially with an unknown like running in the desert, where the daily temperature was 37 degrees Celsius, and for the most part you are running on your own without a soul in sight, anywhere, for hour upon hour, that this lack of being prepared makes it easy to throw in the towel.  Or perhaps I should say, provides you with the justification you need to allow yourself to give up.

Many people will now be saying, but how is it possible to be prepared for something if it is unknown?  In the answer to that question lies the key, and most important factor necessary to be able to successfully participate in endurance and extreme events.  This answer is also the key factor for all people to lead successful and happy lives. It is far more important that you train your mind than your body. Of course there needs to be a balance between the two, but it is not an equal 50-50 balance.

Knowing this I did do the ‘time on the legs’ running training that was required, but most of the time I was doing mind training.  And it was this that helped me to finish the run after suffering from sun stroke and dehydration at the end of the first day’s 43 km run.  I was placed under a wet blanket and observation all afternoon and I suppose to be on the safe side they should have pulled me out of the race.  I ensured them that I was recovered, they let me continue, and I finished 12th out of the 28 finishers from a starting line-up of 43 runners, and I should have done better.  Why I didn’t do better is another story and example that can be taken into our approach to everyday living, which will be told later in this series.

There are similarities in the preparation that any athlete will do before a long run.  There are also differences that need to be considered when that long run changes from being a one day event, like a single marathon on the road.  Doing the same distance as a marathon but doing it as a trail run is harder and will take longer, the equivalent say of running an extra 10 km. If it is a one day event you can get away with poor nutrition during the run, and taking yourself near to your limit and exhaustion at the end.  You cannot do this for a multi-day event. If your one day event is an ultra-distance then the kind of training and preparation that you do for marathon training is not enough. If you are running in different terrain and weather conditions, like a desert run, then there are a number of other factors that need to be included in your preparation, as is the case when you are running for days and days on end across a huge distance.

Here are the things that I did and how I prepared for the 5-day Namib Desert Challenge (NDC), and remember, on the first day I still got it wrong!

The Training Programme

I had a 13 week training programme leading up to the NDC.  One of those weeks, immediately prior to the run I did absolutely zero exercise of any description, for 8 days.  The 5 days prior to that I did light training which included swimming and cycling. Quite an extreme taper many would say, as in, I should have done more exercise.  For me though this depends upon three factors:

1. How well have I stuck to my training programme and how hard has it been?
2. How is my body feeling?
3. What is my intended outcome of the race?

I have trained with athletes who have been preparing to do an Iron Man, and who believe in an ‘active taper,’ which means that they will still be doing some fair distances but not quite as far and will not be pushing as hard as during their normal training.  One of the fears they have is that if they ‘let it go’ too much, the level of training that they’ve been used to over the previous 6 to 9 months, then they will adversely affect their level of readiness. I have carefully not said ‘fitness’ because to anyone that surely would sound ludicrous.  To do so many months of training and then lose their level of fitness through a 2 week period of tapering – this cannot happen. It has not surprised me that they have failed to do as well as they expected on the day of the race.

The first week of my programme I did 6 hours 30 minutes of running.  To some this may sound surprising, but at the age of 17 I discovered my love for being fit and active and also my mental ability to endure.  I have never lost this enjoyment and preference for being fit and in good shape, and I have always maintained a base level of fitness which allows me to suddenly up my game and kick in to a more rigorous training routine.  But not without the usual ups and downs, as I’ll share with you below … I was 53 when I ran the NDC.

In the following two weeks of my training I ran for 9 hours 30 minutes in each week.  I like to make notes so that I get a better feel of how I’m doing when I review my overall programme in the weeks to come.  Here are my notes from Week 2 of my training, unedited:

1 hr 30min (18km ?) – east Tokai forest & Groot Constantia green belts (flippin hot)
45min – Chrysalis academy speed work (flippin hot; had to bale)
1hr 30min – trail run Tokai forest (flippin hot; good run; new route)
REST DAY (did 1,5km swim)
1 hr 45min (18km ?) – east Tokai forest & Groot Constantia green belts (flippin hot; ran at 09h30; went slower)
2hrs – Muiz beach to Simon’s Town
2hrs 15min – Silvermine south to valley & extra to make up time (great run; felt really strong)

And here are the notes from a few weeks later, one of my peak weeks, also unedited:

Nothing – knackered, bad attitude
2hrs 35min – gym to past Fish Hoek
2hrs 30min – Tokai forest with NB, up over top & home to Noordhoek
REST DAY – think I might be over training – sure I did less for Cape Odyssey
Nothing – waiting for cupboards, only arrived at 18h30
2hrs 25min – Lighthouse, 95% soft sand, carried 8 or 9kgs
3hrs – old wagon trail; round Silvermine dam; detour & back; carried 8 or 9kgs

You will have noticed that I record the amount of time that I’ve been running rather than the distance, and the next blog will explain why.

Jon O’Hanlon

The image that I think comes to many people’s minds when there is talk of running in the desert, springs from pictures that they have seen of a camel train plodding in single file through soft golden sands.  They then have an image of someone trying to run through these soft sands, remembering how they have trudged through soft sand at the beach. Now add to that image the fact that this runner is wearing a backpack weighing a few kilograms, and that it is a distance of 40 odd kilometres and more, or that it could be a multi-day run so they will be doing this for a few days in a row.

It has been my experience that telling people that I have done a run of this sort usually gets three types of immediate response.  I mention this because this response profile is true for everything in life. There are those whose own experiences in life (they are not runners and not the exercising type), combined with their immediate perceptions about me, make them unable to believe that it is possible, and so they reject my story as being untrue.  At the other end of the spectrum are those who have had similar experiences, and knowing a bit, or a lot, about me, they are congratulatory and impressed. In between these two groups are those who are willing to believe that it is possible, but they either need to gather more information first before accepting the story, so they will ask questions, or, they need to change my story in their minds to be able to make it acceptable to them.  Examples of this are, that they might believe that I have done this kind of run but probably 20 years ago and, one that I have often had happen when I tell people that I ran across Africa, they will say, “congratulations on your walk.”

Now let me burst a little the myth of the first paragraph above.  There are many, many areas in a desert that are not soft sand. The fact that there is no water in the region doesn’t always mean that everything is soft sand.  One of the runs that I have done was the 5-day Namib Desert Challenge. Yes, there is a lot of sand out there including the longest sand dune in the world, and the highest sand dune in the world, and we ran them both, but for quite a fair distance of the 5 days it was not soft, sliding sand.

More about this and the run in my next article, Blog 3 in this series.

Jon O’Hanlon

In March 2018 I wrote a series of blogs about running for an amazing sportswear company in the UK called Tribe Sports.  I’ve decided to share these blogs with all and anyone who is interested.  This first blog is a series of Q’s & A’s that they asked me as an intro. This week we introduce our latest running ambassador, Jonathan O’Hanlon; the first person to run across Africa (raising awareness and funds for elephant conservation and water sustainability), an executive & leadership coach (life skills coach and ‘mind’ Personal Trainer) and inspirational speaker. When did you start running? This isn’t an easy question to answer, and the reason for that is rather strange.  I always tell people with a little laugh and a sheepish grin, “I’m not really a runner.”  I consider someone who is a ‘runner’ to be someone who does running as their sport fairly exclusively, and is a member of a running club, goes for runs with the club 2 or 3 times a week, maybe also does the time trial, and is in the routine of entering for races, recording their times, discussing it afterwards with fellow runners, talking about PB’s, maybe subscribing to running magazines, and being in the running crowd.  And even though I have done a huge amount of running, and I run all the time, at least a few times a week, I have never done any of the “being in the running crowd things.” I discovered that I had the mental capacity to endure and do well at long, arduous running when I was 17, in 1975, whilst undergoing the year long Naval Officer training and I ran my first marathon 10 years later in 1985. What does running mean to you / why do you run? Now that I am older, and wiser, I can look back at all the running that I’ve done and I understand the surface reason for my running, as well as the three underlying truths.  I have always run so as to maintain a high level of fitness, and at the same time to stay in shape.  In my younger years and into my late thirties I played many ball sports competitively: rugby, soccer, tennis, golf, field hockey and cricket, with the last two being at a reasonably high level. Here’s truth number one – I always considered myself to be less skilful than many of my team mates and inadequate so I excelled at being the fittest player on the field, always, even to today.  Secondly, body consciousness – lots of running not only keeps me fit but also keeps me in shape.  And here’s another reason that I say that I’m not really a runner – my exercise routine includes strength training, calisthenics, at the gym or at home, cycling, and swimming.  And yes, at one time I did do several triathlons.  Thirdly, I run because it is my escape, it is my coping mechanism.  I am fortunate that I have this “good” addiction as my coping mechanism rather than the obvious bad addictions.  Life is hard, and when troubled times have struck, and there have been many, I get out there into Nature, into the hills and mountains and trails, along the beach, and in the forests – and I run.  I have never once felt alone when I’ve been out there, and it always calms my mind, brings me peace, and the insights, intuitions, and solutions that I need. What is on your running bucket list?  I have three runs that are on my list, the first two as training runs really for the last one.  The Addo Elephant Trail Run, either the 100 mile, or the 76 km run.  The Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon, a self-sufficient run over 7 days, covering an approximate distance of 250 km in the Kalahari Desert.  Lastly, to run across Africa again, this time almost double the distance, for water, and this time to achieve my dream, which is not to do the run but to raise awareness and funds for the issue of water scarcity in sub-Saharan Africa. Do you prefer run alone or in a group?  Both, but very definitely each with specific reasons.  It is great to train with others and run in a group, and as I’m sure most people who do any form of exercise will know, having a training buddy or a group that you’re in makes a huge difference to your motivation to show up in the first place.  However, when doing a run where heavy endurance is required I definitely prefer to run alone.  When the going gets tough and the blood sugar gets low, your mind is going to start getting ratty and pretty much everything about the person running alongside you will be a source of irritation – they’re running too fast, or too slow, they’re too close, they’re running in the best and easiest track, they’re talking too much etc. etc. How has running changed you?  I think that even though I say I’m not a runner, my ability to run and to keep going and endure set me on a path of varied achievements that built onto each other, in my mind, unknowingly at the time, and added to my self-confidence and self-esteem.  My personal bests for 5 km time trial, hockey, cricket, and the extreme events that I have done have all been thanks to running, which has endowed me with superior fitness, mental strength, and a belief in myself.  There is no doubt that a parallel can be drawn from this into the other aspects of my life.  The mental endurance that I’ve learned through running I have been able to apply when life was at its worst, and not only could I turn to running to cope, but I could also apply my mental stamina and endurance to persevere and prevail. How do you convince yourself to get out of the door on days you just don’t feel like it?  Big smile – with great difficulty.  It always surprises the people that I talk to who struggle with their own exercise routine and discipline when I tell them that I face exactly the same thing that they do.  The way that I deal with this is that I now know and recognise the signs and the tricks that my body and mind are going to play to try and stop me going for a run, and I smile at them, and I push through them.  As I am putting on my running shoes just before going out of the door I always feel a huge wave of exhaustion come over me.  My mind also reminds me that the first few km are going to be very unpleasant; maybe it is cold out there, I’m going to struggle to breathe, and most of all my knees are going to hurt.  I replace these thoughts with a few others, positive ones and one’s that bring me pleasure and enjoyment:  It’s always hard at the start, for everyone, and I’ve done this before so now it’s easy; I only need to run for a few hundred metres and the knee pain will go away, I know this; after the first few hundred metres I’m already warm; after the first  6 or 7 km I’ll be in cruise mode and then the enjoyment of being out in Nature really kicks in; I’m proud of myself for going out in these conditions to exercise, good for me; hey, I’m good at this, look at me going out for another run, look at how fit I am.  I usually win the war, but I don’t force it if my body, or mind, genuinely show me that it’s too depleted, I’ll know this within the first 2 minutes of running and then I’ll stop and go home, and save myself for another day.

Jon O’Hanlon