Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee - #196 BITESIZE | Why We Were Born to Run | Vassos Alexander

Episode Date: July 1, 2021

Do you think that running just isn’t for you? Or do you already enjoy running? Feel Better Live More Bitesize is my weekly podcast for your mind, body, and heart. Each week I’ll be featuring inspirational stories and practical tips from some of my former guests. Today’s clip is from episode 31 of the podcast with sports reporter, author, and endurance runner, Vassos Alexander. In this clip, he shares his inspirational journey - from being unfit and out of shape to running ultramarathons. He believes it doesn’t matter how far you run or how fast, just giving it a try could benefit your life in so many positive ways, and he gives some great tips on how to get started. Show notes and the full podcast are available at drchatterjee.com/31 Thanks to our sponsor http://www.athleticgreens.com/livemore Follow me on instagram.com/drchatterjee Follow me on facebook.com/DrChatterjee Follow me on twitter.com/drchatterjeeuk DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.

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10. And these packs are perfect for keeping in your backpack, office, or car. If you want to take advantage of this limited time offer, all you have to do is go to drinkag1.com forward slash live more. Welcome to Feel Better Live More. Bite size your weekly dose of positivity and optimism to get you ready for the weekend. Today's clip is from episode 31 of the podcast with sports reporter, author and endurance runner Vasos Alexander. In this clip, Vasos shares his inspirational journey from being unfit and out of shape to running ultra marathons. And he believes it doesn't matter how far you run or how fast, just giving it a try could benefit your life in so many positive ways. And he shares some of his best tips on how to get started.

I've been very interested in seeing what's been in the media about your story, in particular, your story as a runner. And you said your story is pretty simple, really. And I think it was something like you were sitting in a pub, eating a packet of crisps, realising you're a little bit unhealthy. So you decided to run. I wonder if you could expand on that a little bit. Actually, I'll tell you the moment. The moment was, I mean, I was sitting in a pub a lot in those days. But the moment was a set of traffic lights on my way to read the sports news, I think, at Radio 5 Live. And my shirt, unusually for me, because I'd been playing golf, was tucked into my trousers.

And I just noticed a little kind of a flop of fat, quite literally a kind of spare tire wrapped in a yellow golf shirt flopping over my belt. And I thought, oh, my goodness, you know, I was in my early 30s at this stage. And I thought, OK, so here's the know, I was in my my early 30s at this stage. And I thought, OK, so here here's the deal. You're no longer in your 20s. You either stop eating what you like or you start exercising or you get fat. And I remembered a late night drive back from Oxford to London with Steve Bunce. I mean, he's a boxing expert, but he's kind of, he's a well-known sports commentator. And in his kind of North London bark of a voice,

he said, you know, Vas, let me tell you something. I'm getting older. I'm getting fatter. I'm getting happier. And I thought, well, we're going the Buncey route, you know. I'll just get older and fatter and happier. But something kind of, it didn't ring true. Something just,

I just, I thought that's sort of like giving up. I was about to become a father. I didn't like the idea of being unhealthy. So I thought, well, let me try a gym. And I,

and I'm the same day on the way to the bar, television center. The bar is right next to the gym in the old BBC club. And so I went into the gym on the way to the bar and I booked a personal training appointment with a guy called Andrew, great guy. The next morning through a mild fog of hangover, I'm slightly just scared to cancel it.

And so I turned up and I hated it. I absolutely hated it. You know, when you first do exercise, having not done exercise, it's not an easy thing, but I sort of stuck with it for a little bit. And then I went for my first outside run after, I don't know, a couple of weeks. And suddenly it was as if a kind of a fog had been lifted. So, oh, okay. This is what, this is what exercise can be. It just seemed to tick so many boxes. Yes, it was hard. And yes, actually, I started running

and I didn't get to the end of my street because I came out of my front door and I thought, oh, my neighbours are going to see me here. So they're not going to see me go slowly because I'm, you know, I'm too proud. So I steamed off down the street, got to the end of the street, realised that I actually had run out of puff.

So landed, I sort of hung over a wall of a neighbor of ours um getting my breath back at which point that neighbor with a few other friends came out of her house said what are you doing and i went oh i'm going i'm going for a run she's what you've just got this far like 200 yards down the street and i went no no i've i've actually finishing my run and i always warm down this is my warm down. This is my warm down. So I always finish it here by your wall. And then I walk home. So having announced to my wife that I was going for my first run kind of two minutes previously, I'd got to the wall.

And then Sophie says, well, we're walking that way as well. We'll walk home with you. So I had no choice, but I had to then then walk back back through the front door to kind of merciless taunts from caroline my wife said what your first run lasted how long a minute and a half um and yeah i told her what had happened but i sort of i stuck with it i just stuck with it i realized that you know it was getting myself not just outside which is great yeah and one of the key things i think about running is just doing it outside, but also outside of my own comfort zone. And whether that meant running for, sorry,

this is a very long answer, but whether that meant running for a minute and then walking for 30 seconds and then expanding that to two minutes before you walk and then three minutes and four minutes, and then suddenly realizing I don't need any walking breaks anymore I can just slow down the run a little bit and then just go and then you know you went it just sort of it just snowballed but snowballed in a good way and and I sort of realized that this is this had been the thing funnily enough because I'd never run before that had been missing from my life I mean and that's Vassos. And there's so many things that I think people will resonate with on that, you know, on your story. You run ultra events now, which is remarkable because you're saying in your early thirties, you couldn't actually run for more than a minute and a half, two minutes. If that. I don't really like the term ultra running because it sounds exclusive.

It sounds like only ultra fit, ultra honed athletes need apply. And, you know, I make my living as a sports reporter and I've been and witnessed and been around an awful lot of sports. And actually exactly the opposite of exclusivity is true of I prefer the term endurance running because you go to the start line of an event like a 50-mile race, which sounds kind of so ridiculous to run that sort of distance. But it's the most welcoming and all-inclusive and all sorts of sizes and shapes are on the start line and everyone will be pleased to see you. And it's not really about the time, it's about the mindfulness aspect. Do you learn things about yourself on those long events that you can't learn or it's hard to learn in the minutiae of you know daily life absolutely

absolutely i think you've you've almost hit the nail on the head i wish we'd had this chat before i wrote my second book but because you know you you've encapsulated it beautifully. You do. You strip away the layers and you work stuff through. And it's just that, you know, the you that emerges from the discomfort, because let's not mess about here. It's not all a great big smile. You know, you do. It does hurt. And the you that emerges from the discomfort of an endurance run like that is a better version of the you that went in. Somehow it's like, you know, stripping down an engine and putting it back together slightly better.

Our lives are so comfortable, but sometimes getting out of that and stripping it back and getting uncomfortable is the best thing for us what would you say to those people that say you know i'm never going to do an ultra events i'm i'm pleased you asked because i i get caught up in myself because i love these long distance races so much and it's and because for me the journey was you know every step was a small step i didn't just choose to become an ultra runner and people who who hear me sometimes on the Radio 2 Breakfast show think, well, you know, but you're the guy that runs 100 miles. And yes, I am now. I'm doing it again next week. But, you know, but I really wasn't always. And I'm absolutely evangelical that you, A, it doesn't matter how far, and B, it doesn't matter how fast, but it does matter that you just give running a try, however unfit you are,

however bad at it you think you might be, however overweight you might be, however worried you are that other people will look at you and judge you when you go running. None of that actually matters when you're out running. What are those non-running benefits that running has given to you? How does that affect your day-to-day life? I realise that it ticks a lot of boxes and it doesn't tick every box for everybody. I think it might tick every box for me, to be honest. But so some people see it as like a form of therapy and you can absolutely see why it is.

And it's not that you're actively working through your problems like you would on a therapist's couch. It's that your brain seems to do a control or delete and a refresh. You're better after a run. In this technological era that we're living in, where everything is so comfortable, ultimately running is still the same. You put on a pair of shoes and you're out. There's very low barriers to actually running. I'm wondering, is there something about the beautiful simplicity in running? simplicity in running absolutely just on a practical level you have to put a shoe pair of shoes on and back in the day not even that and go for a run just start just start with anything you know it could be a walk you don't need running shoes you don't need equipment just start and see where it takes you one of my favorite stories actually is a guy who I was running home from work, from here, and I was on for a PB, I think,

and I was pegging it down or up Hammersmith Bridge and it's got these two buttresses, Hammersmith Bridge, and I come round the corner and there's another guy pegging it the other way and we clash heads really badly and we both sort of get knocked a little bit silly and we're both on the floor and this guy has he's got tattoos all up his neck on his face he's got biceps the size of most oak trees definitely bigger than my thighs and he starts going for me and i so i'm petrified but hang on hang on that's not that's nobody's fault and he sort of stopped and went you're right sorry and we sat down we looked at

the river and we were both feeling a little bit dizzy and we were and we started chatting and i said like i probably should have been looking where i was going i was on for a pb and he goes oh do you know what i was doing the same i was doing a pb round from putney bridge down to here and then i said, how? He didn't look like a runner. He didn't have proper running shoes, really. He didn't have running shorts. And his story was, you know, he was, I was at school.

I was one of the problem kids. I was one fight too many. I was excluded from school. And there's only one place I was heading. And that's prison. You know, he was brought up on that estate just north of Hammersmith Bridge he said you know there was shouting I'd hear gunshots occasionally he said he was you know he was just he was just going on a downward spiral and his uncle said to him

just try and go for a run and he doesn't know why he did that first what time and it wasn't he wasn't fit but he did and he went for a run in jeans he said and he said and and then that was the first time i got back from the run he said i could i was just proud of myself for the first time for a little bit a little bit proud and then and i thought i want a bit more of that and a bit more of that and now i run and now i'm trying to get a job i'm sorting myself out i'm down at the job. I'm not on that downward spiral. It sort of, it stopped a vicious circle becoming worse and started a virtuous circle,

which he was on the sort of, on the foothills of, which I love that story. It's incredible, isn't it? It's just incredible. You know, it's building up his self-esteem. Even, I think it goes back to what you said, which is, you know, start small because, you know, just push yourself

a little bit outside your comfort zone. And when you do that, you know, you feel that bit of self-worth that, oh, I've done that. I've managed to do that. And it feels good. It doesn't matter where you are on the journey. It doesn't matter where the journey is going to,

but just get on it because you really, I promise you, I honestly, you can see my kind of again my body language i i honestly promise anyone who's listening try it just you will not regret it yeah park run is a great place to start because there are you know i mentioned that there are on the start line of an endurance race there'll be kind of all shapes and sizes and everyone's pleased to see you. Times that by 100 at every single park around the UK on nine o'clock on a Saturday morning, you won't feel out of place.

But yes, it's the small steps. It's just getting a little bit outside your comfort zone. And you honestly, so if you're listening to this and thinking running's just not for me, maybe yeah, you're the guy on Radio 2 who keeps on talking about these stupid distances you run. Yes, obviously running's for you, but it's not for me. Please, I would say, just give it a go. Don't feel like you have to actually run much when you first start.

Walk and maybe take 10 running paces during your walk and next time make it 12. But every time you go out and you come back through your front door, you will not regret having been out and you will think slightly better about yourself. And you'll, you know, you'll sort of give yourself a metaphorical pat on the back for having even done it. And then just see where the journey takes you. Hope you enjoyed that bite-sized clip. Please do spread the love by sharing this episode with your friends and family. And if you want more, why not go back and listen to the full conversation

with my guest. And if you enjoyed this episode, I think you will really enjoy my new bite-sized Friday email. It's called the Friday Five. And each week I share things that I do not share on social media. It contains five short doses of positivity, articles or books that I'm reading, quotes that I'm thinking about, exciting research I've come across, and so much more. I really think you're going to love it. The goal is for it to be a small

yet powerful dose of feel good to get you ready for the weekend. You can sign up for it at drchastity.com forward slash Friday five. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Make sure you have pressed subscribe and I'll be back next week with my long form conversation on Wednesday and the latest episode of Bite Science next Friday.