Welcome to Peloton
Studios London. I am super excited. My name is Susie
Chan, and today, we have got a 30-minute Pop Run. Whilst we're locked
in here, I'm going to tell you a little
bit about the race that I'm about to undertake. It is called Badwater 135. Badwater is the biggie. 135 miles-- Through Death Valley
in the scorching heat. Why are you doing that, Susie? If someone told me I
had to do Badwater 135, I'd laugh in their face. Less people have
completed Badwater than have climbed Everest. Quite an intense thing to do. Bring it on. [CHEERING] I started running at
the age of 36 years old because my brother wanted me to
run a half marathon with him, and I didn't run
at all before then. I was a very different person
in my 20s and early 30s. It was a very different
life I was leading, and I was on a very
different life trajectory. I started off with
a half marathon. I just really fell
in love with running. Quite quickly, I dipped my toe
into the ultramarathon world. It took a lot of
courage, but I decided to resign from my 9-to-5 job. I did race commentating. I wrote articles. I worked in collaboration
with different brands for activation of shoe
launches, that sort of thing. And then one day, I just
got a message on Instagram from Peloton, saying, do you
want to come do an audition? And here I am. [LAUGHS] Where I am now is probably
the product of all of that running I put in
up to that point. Some of the races I ended
up at the start line of were unusual races in
quite difficult conditions. I was drawn naturally to
hot desert environments. It's an environment
I really love. There are a small
number of races which have been around for a
very, very long time in ultra running circles, and
Badwater 135 is one of them. So I was like, I'd always
love to do Badwater. I have talked about this race
so much in the last 13 years that I'm now at a point
where I've got to do it. CHRIS KOSTMAN: Badwater 135 is
considered the world's toughest foot race. It's a 135-mile running race
from the bottom of Death Valley at Badwater Basin, which is the
lowest point in North America, over three mountain ranges to
the finish line here at Mt. Whitney. It's considered the world's
toughest foot race because it has a 135-mile distance, it has
14,600 feet of elevation gain, it's held in the official
hottest place on Earth-- Death Valley National
Park-- and we intentionally host the race in July each
year so our athletes experience Mother Nature in all
her glory and majesty. And you add all of
that up together, and it's an epic challenge. It's hard to articulate
how hard and dangerous that environment is. When my sister first told
me she was doing Badwater, my first thing was
I think she's crazy. People who run Badwater 135
are on a whole 'nother level. Honestly, I was mind
blown as soon as she told me what this race entails. It sounds so intense. We've had as much as a
90-degree extreme temperature change from the hottest to
the coldest part of the route. Which is unfathomable
for most people. Ooh! This is going to be tough,
but at the same time, if there's one person that
could do it, it's Susie. I take my hat off to
Susie, but I would never want to do that. This race-- this
race is so fucked up. To give yourself a real good
chance to finish Badwater, you need to be trained. I mean, you know,
it's 135 miles. I can only do what I can do. I've done what works for me,
and that isn't necessarily really high volume of mileage. About 50 miles a week now. I have not got time
to do 100-mile weeks. I've got a full-time job. I've got three dogs. I have not got time for
huge volume training, but I say that.
I did 100 mile. I've done 81 mile. I've done two 50 milers as
a part of my training block. That actually sounds like a lot
now I've said that out loud. It's a fine line for me
between really pushing my body, and making sure
that I get the rest and I'm looking after
myself in the right way, so I've spent more hours doing
things like yoga and strength training in this training
cycle than ever before. It affects all
women differently. The list of symptoms
are huge and vast, and it's still slightly
taboo in a lot of areas. Honestly, this has
happened to me, and it can be really,
really miserable. I had all of these
symptoms-- constant tinnitus. I overheat very easily. That's good, isn't it? [LAUGHS] But for me, the worst
symptom which I have suffered is I have quite a
lot of joint aches, so my joints really hurt. It used to be really, really
bad, but I'm on HRT now, and it's more manageable. The biggest struggle
is the unpredictability of how you're going
to feel week on week. Fitness definitely helps.
The running definitely helps. Yoga mobility has been
an absolute game changer, so I'm really into that. For big events, I really
focus on what I can do, what I can control. And if my shoulder-- it's
always the same thing-- shoulder, knee, and
one foot starts aching, just starts aching. If it's going to be aching in
it in about 100 miles' time, so that's just another
thing, isn't it? There's something called
the Badwater Ultra Cup, and it's all three of
the races in the series-- Badwater Cape Fear, Badwater
Salton Sea, and then the final flourish
is Badwater 135. I've done the first two.
First one was fine. No drama. Bust it out, 50 miles tick. And then moved on to Salton
Sea, which is a team race. Not a relay. You have to be in
teams of two or three, and you have to stay together
for the entirety of the race. You're only allowed
a few meters apart. Beautiful course,
like a mini Badwater. The first half is through
a desert, not the hottest place on Earth, but
a desert nonetheless. Very flat, and then it's
very hilly at the end. It was a really hard
50 miles in the middle there, probably the hardest
50 miles I've run in my life, I'd say. That was gnarly. It's hot. Really hot. SUSIE CHAN: Honestly, between
you and me, we smashed it. The only thing, really, my big
takeaway was that I felt sick. It's hard to chew
anything in a desert. I either have to deal with
nausea and have energy. I risk actually puking up. Or not eating so
much, and then that will definitely make
me slower, and make the whole process longer and
more difficult for my body. Out of all the things
I'm worried about, a bit of a concern there
is all around the food and the nutrition. Running in extreme heat is
actually quite a claustrophobic feeling, I'm going to say. Even the breeze is hot. It's really, really tough. So the thing which is
really crucial for me is the heat training,
which is training in a plastic box with
a treadmill in it and just running. In the desert, we're going
to be expecting temperatures of over 50 degrees, so that
could be over 120 Fahrenheit. The human body is not really
designed to go and run in these temperatures. So there's a few things,
from heat illness to heat stress and heat stroke. So we want to minimize any
of those potential dangers. SUSIE CHAN: I need to
get my core temperature up when I'm running,
as quickly up as possible to 38.5 degrees,
which is 101 Fahrenheit, and then maintain it there. And that is basically the
parameter for being in a fever. Yesterday, I did
one hour in there. I lost 2.5 kilograms
in 60 minutes. It's hard. That was insane. It was not as warm as I
expected when I walked in, but as soon as you
start moving, it's like-- ding, ding,
ding, ding, ding. But it was amazing
because just having Susie in there and her
energy powering you through-- and she's just talking casually
while she's working out, running, on the Bike. It's just insane, but
it's such a good energy. I love it.
- 5 minutes. I'm putting on my jumper. I'm putting on my jumper
in the heat chamber. Let's go.
Let's go. Let's go.
Let's go. [LAUGHS] What the
hell am I doing? [LAUGHS] FREYA BAYNE: We're already
seeing a lower starting core temperature, which means
that she has a greater rate of rise or heat storage
capacity during the race, which is good. And we've also got a lower
exercising core temperature as well. The heat training's grim. I'm not going to
pretend it isn't. It's joyless.
Worth it. Worth every kilogram I
sweated out, which was a lot. I was totally prepared, and it
was worth every bead of sweat. This race needs a
lot of organization. So there's a lot of
logistics going into this. There's a lot of moving parts. It's a lot to think
about, to consider, and all of these little working
parts have different timelines. I don't even know if
I've got enough packing space for the amount of crap
I have to bring for this race. It's ridiculous. You never quite know
what you're going to need so you have to
prepare for all eventualities. And in a race like this, you've
got a car, so you can fill it, which is what I'm attempting
to do right now with all of this stuff. I hurt my finger, Manny. Am I going to live? So the UK is absolutely nothing
like Death Valley at all. I started training
months out for this. I run in places like this,
normally out on the trails. A lot of trail running,
slow running, time on feet, just taking my time. For me, it genuinely
has been the race I've talked about the most. Any interview you ever
see with me online, people always ask me,
what's the ultimate goal? And I've always said Badwater. This race is going
to kick my ass and really test, really,
really test that will, that desire to finish. I don't know why I did this. Jesus. I looked up the average life
expectancy in Death Valley without water. It's 14 hours. I got 48 hours to
complete this race. Now I'm at the bit
where I'm like, can we just get on that plane
and get to that start line? I'm ready. I'm absolutely ready. All five of us are going
to be in the car with all of our luggage and the
coolers, so it's a bit of-- it's a bit Tetris. I'm not even saying
this lightly. The crew who you
have to help you, they are genuinely
keeping you alive. I had to think really long
and hard about who I would ask to be on my crew,
and every one of them has their own experience. On my crew, I had
Crew Chief Chris Howe. Loves a spreadsheet. Mega organized. He's a doctor in
ultrarunning-- perfect. I had Phil, who takes
a lovely photograph. Also can survive on zero sleep,
and he's a doer, so brilliant balance to the team. Next up, I had Debbie. She's done the race before. I've crewed her. She's my cool
friend that I don't want to look weak in front of.
Great crew member. And then, of
course, I had Shaun, who has been with me
for every single one of my 100-mile races. The emotional support guy. All of my crew have
this quality in them, and it's like a
quiet determination. So they're all quite calm,
steady personalities. It's not even 9:00
AM, and we've had to stop because the brakes
are overheating in the car. [SIZZLING] Punctured as we're fucked. I can control all
those other bits. I can't control
if the car breaks. Om. [LAUGHS] It was encouraging
that we were only stopped for about 4 minutes
before somebody asked us if we were OK. Do you know what? I came here, first came
here 2018, I think it was. And I saw it, and I was
like, that can fuck off. [LAUGHS] And then I came back. And then the only person
I genuinely did this with, and I thought, yeah, I think
I can do it, is Debbie. I'm excited now I'm here. I thought I was going to be
terrified, but I'm excited. Very lucky in Chinese culture. So Chris Kostman knows
that because he's an educated guy, gave me 88. Very happy. It's quite a strange
thing knowing that I'm about to embark
on something which I know is going to
physically hurt me, like give me physical pain. Knowing you're about
to have an operation, or knowing you're about to
give birth, knowing something is going to really hurt
you is about to happen. Yeah, a little bit scary. So it's not just my crew
who are out supporting me whilst I do this race there's
a group of Peloton members who regularly take my classes. I love them. They're called the
Susie Striders. And they're like a little
official Peloton fan group, I guess you could say. And there's some really,
really great Peloton members, and they just like
to run with me. And whilst I'm running
Badwater, they've arranged it so that the striders
will do a massive relay. So somebody is going to be
running at the same time that I'm running the whole
time of that Badwater course. So even in the
middle of the night, there's going to be somebody
running on their Tread whilst I'm out
there in the desert. And they've called
it a stride-athon. I love it. And I'm not joking. It's pretty mind-blowing
and incredible to think that people
all across the world would organize this just to
help me and support my dream whilst I'm doing this race. And it's going to really
help me in the race. And that's the power of the
Peloton community for you. [MUSIC PLAYING] There's nothing I
can do at this point. I just got run, don't I? It's literally
nothing more to do. MAN: You have lots off,
flashing lights on. SUSIE CHAN: One, two. Really, I thought I'd be
really nervous, but I'm not. I'm just sort of like
a little bit excited. Maybe that is
nerves, I don't know. I thought I'd be feeling
a lot worse than I do now. I've eaten well. I've napped, as good as it gets. ANNOUNCER: OK, runners to
the start line, please. 7, 6, 5, 4. WOMAN: Have a Good time. ANNOUNCER: 2, 1. and go. [CHEERING] Enjoy everybody.
- Good luck. Good luck. [CHEERING] MAN: Go Susie. WOMAN: Go Susie. SUSIE CHAN: I hate
running at night. I don't really like the dark. Generally, in ultramarathons,
when I get to the nighttime, it's usually towards
the end of a race, and my body starts to shut down. And I always find the
beginning of an ultramarathon hard because you're
so far to go. So I had those two things,
the night and the distance I still had to complete,
and this cutoff to go. WOMAN: They have to complete
that first 50 miles unaided and within a given time frame. So that's when doubt
can come into the mind, especially if you're cutting
it close to the cut off. I was just trying to keep
things quiet in my head and just keep moving forward. [MUSIC PLAYING] I'm feeling good. The solids are working, so
I'll try a banana this time. It's a marathon. - Oh, is it?
- Coming up too. Nice. Can't believe we're
at dawn already. And Susie was super
strong during the night. She ate well. She drank well. She was moving super smooth. She's feeling a bit
tired, understandably. And she's got a
little bit of a niggle in her knee, which we're trying
not to catastrophize just yet. But hopefully, start of a new
day, she could do a hard reset, and I'm sure she'll be looking
forward to some daylight. Here comes the heat. [MUSIC PLAYING] The first benchmark for me
was dawn of the first day, because the night was
hot, but it was nighttime, so it felt a little
bit more manageable. And then dawn came up and I had
some music going on in my ears, and the sun came up, and
the desert was beautiful, and I was on target
for my 50-miler. So I was like,
oh, this is great. I'm going to smash this race. And I was prepared
for agony and just like nonstop mental torture. And I was really-- I had a real stint where I was
just absolutely loving life, really enjoyed it. MAN: What you feel like? All right, actually. I feel better than I
thought it would do. The sun's coming up now. I need to get a hat on pronto. And I want to get-- I just want to get
to the 2,000 sign. I don't want to piss around,
no pissing around to 94 miles to go ye. Once that 50 miles is done, it's
not like the book is closed. You have another 85
miles left to go. But Susie said, if
she gets the 50 miles, she's going to finish
no matter what. I really need to keep
eating, because it's going to get hard now for the sun. Do you want-- I've got you crisps,
nuts, cheese. You want some--
- Nothing. They're fucked.
- It's bad war. There's going to be
many, many, many deaths. And she's having one just now. And we'll pull her out of it. Stand up. 3, 2, 1, go, no problem. Everything is absolutely fine. You're all good. SUSIE CHAN: My knee was giving
me trouble I don't know why. The hill didn't really help it. It's a 17-mile hill. And it's really steep. So I was just thinking about
my knee for about five hours, I think. Why is this happening to me? Do you know what? Someone's going to give, right? Everyone's going to
have that one key issue. Yours is going to be your knee.
- OK. But do you know what? It doesn't mean that it's going
to be like that the whole time. How does that feel? There's saying, just
put tape around it. So even though you need to
cut off by a specific time, it gives you time to be steady. So for me, it's just
not realistic to run like the whole thing fast
in an ambitious pace. I have to take it steady
throughout like up those inclines. And it really is
for me the best way to get to that finish
line in one piece. So my goal for this is
just to complete the race. I got to the cut-off in time. Well, you made it. [MUSIC PLAYING] Then when I got to the
top, the pain sort of didn't quite go away,
but it was a lot better. And that was a good stint. I then ran downhill
like the wind. I don't know what I was doing,
something probably quite slow. But I was running. I was running I felt quite
fast, down into a section called Panamint Springs. You need to worry about the
heat in Panamint Springs. It's like a big salt flat. And it's hot as hell. Yes, big cheers. Yeah, big cheers. So we're stopping every
mile, even a half a mile in some points to make
sure she's got plenty of ice, got plenty of fluids. We're giving her ice
towels, ice in their hats, ice in their shorts. So really trying to keep
a core temperature down. 76 miles, and I've just
done the last 12 with Susie through the hottest part of
the course, and then up a hill. It's quite an
overwhelming climb when straight out of like the
hottest part of the course. And she's just an amazing. She's just chipping away. She's super strong. She's super confident. You know, her will and her drive
has never, never gone away. So it's quite
inspiring to watch. Had a few moments going up
that way that's really, really, really struggling. But then other moments
where it was OK. I have 55 miles to go still. And then coming up here
at Panamint Springs, I knew that was
going to be hard. So I sort of mentally
prepared for that. The first bit is really steep. And honestly, I just had
a little silent tear. I have to do it now. This is going to be
horrific, on a scale of one to extremely painful. I'm going to go for it. Just a little bit. That's it, go. I was in bits, absolute bits. It hurt. My knee was still sore. And then I was going
into what I knew would be the most
psychologically difficult part for me,
which was the second night. Now, I'm not good at-- I've never gone through
a second night before. [MUSIC PLAYING] Have a bit of a down. EMMA HARRIS: Hey Susie,
how are you doing? I'm sure you're
absolutely amazing. A bit tough at times, I'm sure. But the end will
come, and then you can celebrate, having
an Aperol, and never have to do this bloody
race ever again. I love you. I'm with you every
step of the way. Dig deep and get going, girl. That's nice. It was an absolute
fight with my body, which wanted to go to sleep
and just wanted to stop. I think I must have
asked about 100 times what time is the sun coming
up, how far is the sun? Is it going to be dawn soon? Looking back and trying to
see any-- any signs of light in the sky. There were none. I can't remember large sections
of it, to be honest with you. MAN: How are we doing? I'm absolutely fucked. I just want it out of my life. I just want it done now. SOPHIE RAWORTH: Yes, you
are at that moment when you're about to call me
and say, can I give up? You absolutely cannot give up.
- As if. SOPHIE RAWORTH:
You're not giving up and you're getting to the
end, even if it hurts, even if you think you can't
do it, you can't do it, and you will do it. So a quarter past
3:00 in the morning, she had a bit of an
up and down night, but still moving
really, really well. Mind is starting to play tricks
on her, seeing faces in rocks, all the good fun stuff. But she's eating well. She's drinking well. At this stage of
the race, things are turning into other things. Bushes are animals
and dinosaurs, stegosaurus, triceratops. I might not make it. It's a hard race.
It's a very hard race. Anything can happen. And if I don't, I will be--
there's no two ways about it, I'll be really upset, because
it's a lot of work, in it, to op out. It's just part of
life, isn't it? [MUSIC PLAYING] I'm in so much pain. [WIND BLOWING] There's something
about the sun coming up which nourishes you again, and
you feel a bit invigorated. And I started to run again. The pain in my
feet by this point was absolutely horrendous. It's like somebody had just
cut the bottom of my feet off and I was just walking
on the raw wounds. But I knew there's nothing
I could do about that. I still had 25 miles to go
and the biggest mountain climb of my life. I think I died and
resurrected about five times. It was absolute fight not to
fall asleep and not to stop. It's like a very, very
overwhelming feeling. It's like literally somebody
putting a massive tog duvet over the top of you. I could have laid
down in that road and fallen asleep for hours,
absolutely no problem. And you know you can't. I take my head to the place
that I take it to when I just make stuff happen. I might get my
resting bitch face on. And I will just get
my head in the game. The climb up Mount
Whitney was epic. The scenery changes
dramatically from like the dry, boiling hot desert
to snow-tipped pine mountains. The last miles are
the hardest because you are so close to grasping
what you desperately want. DAVID HILL: I just couldn't
fathom the distance, the heat, and the elevation, just
that feeling of what is ahead of her.
And it was just incredible. You have to be
in a place where you are ready to put
everything into it. Oh, man. You've got to really want
it, because it's so tough. It's hot. It's endless. It shows you the capacity
of the human spirit. GREG DAWSON: It doesn't
matter how long it takes you. It doesn't matter which
way you get there. It's just about getting
up and put one foot in front of the other. So we came up with
this challenge to have someone somewhere
in the world on a Tread or outdoors at all
times when Susie was taking part in Badwater 135. They really came
together for this. DAVID HILL: She's always
giving hands on our back. And for once for us to
have a hand in her back. GREG DAWSON: People
dropped everything to take part just as Susie was
coming through the fatal bit, we had people from
all over the world want to take part 2:00 in the
morning, 3:00 in the morning. That makes me feel
quite emotional, actually, that somebody, somewhere in
the world got up at 2:00 AM to run with you. And it was my God, I really
thought about that in the times where it was a little bit tough. DAVID HILL: And then
culminating in this warm run that we did at the end,
where we had over 280 people logged into the
platform, and knowing that Susie was just coming into
the finish line at that point. And we were there
doing her a little bit was probably the most incredible
thing not only individually, but as a whole group. [MUSIC PLAYING] SUSIE CHAN: It is
customary in the race to finish with your crew. There's absolutely
no way, no way you make that finish
line without your crew. So you cross the
finish line together. I was watching
the live stream. Wow, I cried a lot. I was just so excited. And I can't imagine the amount
of pain that she went through. [MUSIC PLAYING] SUSIE CHAN: I'm
not really a crier. I think I've just--
yeah, it was just like, oh, it's finally
happening to me. It's finally happening to me. I've made it. Yeah, it was a moment. [CHEERING] The way I felt when Susie
came across the lane, I burst into tears, if
I'm honest with you. [MUSIC PLAYING] Badwater, world's
toughest official finisher. So that is for you. So that is yours. And then here's what the
buckle looks like this year. On the back in Latin,
detur digniori, let it be given to
those most worthy. And you certainly are. [MUSIC PLAYING] SUSIE CHAN: There's nothing like
running beyond your abilities to make you have to start
your confidence from scratch. Running has helped me find
my voice, find my confidence. It's like, it's given me
like a new lease of life. It's given me me back. [MUSIC PLAYING] Normally, you do these races
and you go back to work. And in my previous
jobs, it's just like, let's go back to work.
It was so lovely. It was a little
bit overwhelming. But it was so, so, so lovely. It kind of helped me take
stock of what I'd done. ["SUSIE CHAN" CHANT] [CHEERING] Hello. How are you doing? [CHEERING] All right, are you ready? Are you ready? [CHEERING] Whether it's in
studio or outside, she spreads so much joy. But also, she has
such a deep place where she pulls that energy
from to motivate others. I hope for her that she
realizes how much of an impact she had on this community. SUSIE CHAN: I really
hope people that are following along or
watching, that it gives them a tiny little bit of
encouragement or confidence to take on the thing that
they really want to do, because I'm just a
mom from Hampshire. I want people just to be able
to have a little bit of belief in themselves and do the thing,
do the thing that they've always wanted to do. Take the plunge. Take the risk. [MUSIC PLAYING] It's only just
really sinking in. It's only sinking
in how limping-- managed to finish
his race, but I did. [INDISTINCT TALKING] Cheers. There are epic challenges
held to the standard of Badwater events. And it's just been awesome
to have Susie Chan come over from the UK and complete
all three of them this year. And action. Badwater 135 sounds
fucking horrendous. [LAUGHING] But brilliant. I take my hat off to Susie,
but I would never do it. I would never want to do that. [LAUGHING] We're very loud here
at Peloton Studios. As I think back to
what that race was like, it was a feeling which I
carried with me the whole way. Yes, it hurt. Yes, it was hot. Fuck's sake. We've been trying to do this
last bit for about five minutes now. I couldn't stand
up, and I thought I was going to throw up. Had a power nap and
a slice of pizza. And now, I feel
like a new woman, generally speaking, but not
including my feet, which are absolutely killing me. On a scale of one to 10,
how dreadful do I look? Is it like a solid nine? I don't know how I'm going to
do 135, I'm not going to lie. I got some chips for 135. MAN: What was your
favorite bit, Susie? Uh, the finish, the finish. Why would it be anything else? It's quite painful, but
I'm going to manage this by drinking some cocktails. That feeling of having
achieved, that's like, what I really focus on. MAN: Awesome. You are done. Great.
