Unstoppable - Award winning triathlon documentary

just off out for a quick 15 murder a few boys thanks for joining me so you're all right are you sure ask yourself why am I put myself through this again do you know what I can't help myself I'm a Glam for punishment my name is Professor Greg White I'm an Olympian a sports scientist and an endurance specialist and I'm often asked what's the secret of success in endurance competition well getting yourself in the right physical shape is one thing but for me endurance is a battle that's fought and won in the mind this is a film that gives you an insight into the mental strategies I've used for years through the story of an extraordinary year in my life and demonstrates that any budding athlete watching that with the right endurance mindset you too can overcome adversity and become Unstoppable endurance events have been a part of my life for almost 50 years as an Olympian I competed in modern pentathlon a multi-disciplinary sport I went to two Olympic Games the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and won a silver medal at the world championships in 1994. for many years I've been the endurance specialist for sport relief a worldwide Aid organization I've trained dozens of celebrities to successfully complete some enormous endurance challenges including swimming the English Channel cycling the length of Britain and summiting Kilimanjaro the tallest freestanding mountain in the world twice in order to help raise millions of pounds for people less fortunate than ourselves I've competed in some of the toughest endurance races on the planet including the marathon de Saab the Race Across America and the host of Iron Man Triathlon competitions nothing could have prepared me for the Norseman this extreme Triathlon pushed me harder than anything before it it was always going to be incredibly tough but the race was made even more so by the unseasonably hot weather which peaked at a blistering 34 degrees C the Norseman was an incredible event that captured the essence of endurance Sport and Triathlon and capped off an incredible 2019 for me but just around the corner was a major challenge that was going to affect all of us covid-19 has been a global Health catastrophe not only affecting our physical health but also our Mental Health it was an unprecedented time in world history and each country had their own response in the UK we locked down on and off for two years which basically meant that we were isolated from each other we lost our freedom we lost our confidence and the structure of Life as we all knew it unraveled I don't think that there was anyone whose mental health wasn't affected by the Dreadful situation I know mine was which brings me around to what this film is all about for me I found the isolation particularly difficult endurance competition is all about Freedom you're outside amongst nature to be suddenly trapped inside locked down at home was difficult and I'm sure my wife and kids would agree my years of experience from endurance competition has taught me that structure was the key to success both physically and mentally and I knew that by employing the same techniques and strategies that I've used all my life that I could get back to feeling like myself again and so with the rollout of vaccinations and the gradual lifting of covid restrictions I set myself a challenge not just any challenge the most extreme Challenge I could think of which I knew would probably be made even more difficult by the restrictions we were still faced with and then turn that journey into a film my hope is that not only does this provide an insight into an extraordinary year in my life but it also provides an endurance mindset toolkit for anyone aiming to tackle an endurance Challenge and as I always say nothing good comes easy but honestly this one nearly broke me that's a good man it's an extreme Triathlon that takes place in the pristine beauty of Chile's Patagonia region like its equally tough sibling Norseman the race begins with a leap from a passenger Ferry an icy 3.8 kilometer swim is followed by a 180 kilometer bike race up through some of the steepest terrain that Chile has to offer finally competitors run 42.2 kilometers along mountainous gravel trails to cross the finish line and ring the bell inputer engineerio Ibanez amongst the chaos of the covid-19 pandemic competing in an extreme Triathlon on the other side of the planet seemed like the perfect solution to me and so that brings me to the endurance mindset number one so goal setting is absolutely crucial to success and in my opinion without setting goals you are destined to failure now of course it's not just about setting goals it's making sure those goals are the right goals and there are a host of different models that you can use my personal favorite is the Smart approach and with smart that means that they are specific measurable achievable relevant and timely by ensuring that each of those goals hits those different criteria you can ensure that you've got the right goals at the right time to deliver success patagon man was not only going to be tough physically and mentally I'm 54 now and believe you me it doesn't get any easier it was also going to be tough practically with travel restrictions in place around the world based on a red to Green traffic light system dependent on the levels of covid-19 infection there were lots of logistical problems to deal with the first of course was getting there and also arguably more importantly being able to get back but for me in the short term there was a much bigger problem and that was that swimming pools and gyms were closed and they are a fundamental part to Triathlon training add on top of that the restrictions and the lockdown meant that we could only leave our houses by a certain distance now that led to an awful lot of running around in circles but the most difficult thing for me was the absence of movement the absence of people no cars on the road no people on the streets it was like a ghost town without options I decided to strip back my training to the absolute Basics and move to what I like to call the green gym there's lots of science about the benefits of working out in the Great Outdoors for example there are enhanced happy hormones released things like dopamine when we take it Outdoors there's improved physical benefits we actually work harder for longer when we go outside and after what we've all been through connecting with nature felt like absolutely the right thing to do I always say nothing great is ever achieved alone and luckily I managed to pull together the same team that I'd had success with at the Norseman incredibly important for mindset and let's face it I needed everything I could get at this stage Central to the team is Richard Ball AKA Bali he is my oldest pal and a formidable athlete he would be accompanying me on the Run leg of the patagon man as he did on the Norseman all he lives in France where they had a whole different set of covered restrictions I only hoped that he would be ready in time so listen I was training go all right it's it's difficult I mean we've got the restrictions quite similar to you I mean similar to you we've we're allowed to go out for an hour um but within one kilometer of the house so you know I'm getting out and doing stuff but I mean it's it's always you can appreciate it it's really difficult and also for us we need to have an authorization um piece of paper so we need to put our details down and if you get to stop without that you were you know you get fined you know quite big fine so you know it's a real challenge I managed to get stuff done obviously just for the challenge but it's not going as great I mean it's it's not what ideal is it you know going into this kind of challenge trying to support you it's I'd like to have done a lot more I must admit but we do what we can access is not a chance to invent so for me planning and preparation is absolutely key to delivering that success and in that I've got this little motto it's not about hoping for the best and hoping things will go well it's actually about preparing for the worst and then hoping for the best so that what you know is that if something goes wrong you've got a solution to that problem which will enable you to keep going and bring you to that success you're looking for it was important for me to learn the lessons of endorsement and what's crucial about that is actually it's all a learning is that every time I race I'm learning something new and I'm adapting the way in which I approach the next race and when it comes to the Norseman the one thing that I learned was that I am a swimmer on a bike and it is incredibly hilly so in preparation for the patagon man what I'm doing is looking at very much the lower body enhancing strength developing power making sure that that bike leg the very very tough bike leg becomes more manageable so that when I'm off the bike I can then hit the run and hit the run hard to run as fast as possible I mean the human brain has developed over Millennia and fundamentally it is a protection system it's a Gateway which is controlling your actions to keep you safe so the bottom line is running up a mountain is always a very bad idea and so what we have to do is we have to create solutions for that and we call that the central Governor where the brain is governing what the body is doing and so what we're doing is we're effectively teaching the brain about what our new limits are how far can we push it and that's where training becomes absolutely crucial because in training what are we what we are doing is progressively teaching the brain that we can push further we can go harder and we can do it for longer what they say size is not everything and in fact quality counts and I think the tendency for some people is to hit every training session as hard as possible when actually what you should do is step back take a look at the plan and look at the short-term goals which are created to improve those weaknesses and maintain those strengths and in doing that what we get is we get these short-term gains these short-term wins which feed the brain and what they do is that they feed a positive mental mindset which allow us to develop progressively to the point where we're going to push ourselves longer harder and more intensely towards our racing goal at the end of the day all of those feed into what I like to think of as the happy Bank the happy bank is a reservoir of happiness that you have actually created during training and the great thing is that you can dip into that happiness when times get tough during racing effectively the short-term goals that you have set create success that success creates happiness which you then embed into your brain and so when it comes to racing those periods when it's very very difficult what you can do is you can draw on the experience of training you can draw on that happiness and that will enable you to keep going and keep driving to the Finish they're a host of psychological tools that you can use during those dark periods but for me one of the most important is is positive self-talk is essentially telling yourself you can do it so at those moments in any race in any training session where I think I can't go on what I do is I actually just quiet the brain I quiet that side of my brain which is telling me how tough it is and can I make it am I going to make it and what I do is I replace those thoughts with positive thoughts about yes you can make it you've done it before think about the training you've done all of those things and that positive self-talk effectively becomes louder than the negative thoughts and enables you to keep going having the right kit for an event is absolutely essential but it's not just about the physiology it's also about the psychology and just because you've spent a huge amount of money on a piece of Kit doesn't mean to say that it's right for you and in fact the more you spend if it doesn't work that actually is a negative feedback for the brain is the brain is now thinking why am I not going faster despite having spent all of this money so the key is to make sure that you get the right kit that works for you that has a positive impact on your performance it's not always about spending more it's about spending more time to make sure the kit is right for you now for the Norseman the team at iride had sorted me out with an outstanding Oro bike and my attitude is always if it ain't broke don't fix it I knew it worked for me all I needed to do now was adapt it for patagon man and that to me was incredibly important not just physically but psychologically I had confidence in my equipment all I need to do was make some small adaptations and those adaptations were changing the TT bars and interestingly we changed the wheels and increased the width of the wheel now that doesn't add significantly to The Rolling resistance of the bike but what it does do is it improves comfort and what that Comfort does not only does it does it give me positive feedback physically but mentally if it feels more comfortable I can drive harder for longer and be more successful on that bike stage knowing your enemy is absolutely essential for the endurance mindset every endurance event has a unique set of environmental challenges so doing your research and understanding what those challenges are is absolutely crucial for example if the race is in C for swimming then what you need to do is train in the sea very different to Fresh Water Swimming if you are going up in altitude on the bike or the run then you need to train at altitude in order to optimize that adaptation as former director of research for the British Olympic Medical Center I had access to an altitude chamber there are quite a few Chambers up and down the UK and I thoroughly recommend seeking them out if altitude could be a factor in your challenge in addition to your body adapting your mind also adapts for example understanding pacing and understanding tactical changes that need to take place at altitude but be warned it is tough my oxygen saturation would have had me admitted to hospital in this session as we entered October the world started opening up albeit with a host of restrictions and training was going really well so physiologically I was in great shape but I hadn't competed for over two years and psychologically I just needed to know that I could cope with the environmental differences between Chile and the UK which are miles apart and so fully vaccinated up fully masked we headed out to Croatia for an intensive training camp [Music] Croatia was the closest I could find in terrain to Chile and as a green country on the traffic light list one that I was able to get to easily incredible opportunities to swim loads of rugged gravel Trails biking up Extreme Hills and importantly all this in the heat we were entering winter in the UK and in December when the patagon man was taking place it was going to be summer in Chile with expected temperatures at around 32 degrees C I'm sometimes asked about the validity of a training camp for me I think they are fantastic environments to really focus your mind on the job in hand you've got no other distractions no commitments and importantly no excuses you surrender to the training any anxieties you have are quietened by the assurances of your preparation it's a really important moment to know when you are ready when the training is done at this point there is always a danger of pushing a little bit more pushing a little bit harder and then coming to the start line injured or exhausted you have to believe that you have delivered to your plan that you have filled your happy bank that you have prepared as well as you possibly can it is at that moment you become Unstoppable and whatever happens in the race what you know is that you have won the race to be prepared with one month to go until patagon man I began the important process of tapering after seven long months of brutal training of preparing my mind and body in the shadow of covert of pushing myself harder than I'd ever done before what could possibly go wrong dear athlete as you may know acen is still in phase two of the national covet plan however we are working directly with the ministry of sport to get an exceptional permit to execute the race even in this phase we have heard you and we know that most of you at this point just want to race that's why we are doing everything imaginable to make this happen the final decision should be made by Thursday November the 25th if we have no positive confirmation by the ministry of sport by then the race will be postponed to 2022. so basically we've got a number of days again to wait I mean it's it's I mean you know it's incredible obviously that that that is how it's been for months now um and there are much worse things going on with Kobe without any shadow of a doubt but it is incredibly difficult to prepare when we don't know if it's on or if it's off and in fact we are due to fly out on the 30th of November and we won't know until the 25th weather we're actually going or not so it's uh it's going to be a few more days of waiting and let's hope we get a positive result vaccination's done forms completed Logistics in place seven months of arduous training done and with just 10 days to go before we fly out to the to the race despite the best efforts of the race organizers it's canceled and it's not just me it's 300 other athletes all of their support staff the local hotels the local population who rely upon this event are all going to be affected by this decision what can you say for me this was the endurance experience in a nutshell I mean let's face it no race ever goes entirely to plan but the key here is actually to be able to improvise to be able to adapt to believe that you are physically prepared to believe that you are mentally prepared and look to where you can have success going forward and as I always say nothing good comes easy and by that I mean that what we have to do is push ourselves to the absolute limit we have to think of ourselves as a different individuals a different animal we have to expand our Horizons of what is possible if we are truly to achieve what we are able to achieve which frankly is a good thing because I just come up with the most ludicrous idea kiltman is an extreme Triathlon that takes place in the rugged beauty of the highlands of Scotland the race begins with a 3.8 kilometer swim across the freezing depths of luck shieldack the bike takes you 180 kilometers up through some of the most spectacular scenery in the British Isles before you begin a 42.2 kilometer run would you climb two monroes keltman is known as one of the toughest races out there and alongside Norseman and patagon man takes its rifle place as one of the world's big three extreme triathlons I can't get to Chile but I can get to Scotland the only problem is kelp man's not on it's a Summer Event and let's face it what sort of Nutter goes up to the north west of Scotland to complete an extreme Triathlon in December [Music] well what's it going to be like I mean what kind of temperatures are we looking at I mean yeah it's the highlands of Scotland in December so it they've already got snowfall there so there's snow on the ground already um I mean the temperatures will be in the low single figures centigrade um but then of course it's the the water temperature is probably the real thing and we're swimming in a in a place called lock Shield bag which is actually it opens to the Atlantic so it's um brackish so it's a mixture of salt and fresh water and the water temperature there is definitely going to be in the low single figures Centigrade so it's going to be a it'll be chilly because you've got the added danger as well of you know ice on the roads and stuff I mean yeah as a mate um and is your co-pilot as a worker I mean this is this is dangerous this has got the potential to be very dangerous um yeah I mean we've got hypothermia onset of frostbite I mean all those things we need to take into consideration this is this a tough one it's one thing doing these challenges in the summer whether it be Patagonia or Scotland but doing it doing it in the winter I think we've got you know there's I've got real concerns about this one I had to do it I had to race you've got to remember that while some of the world was trying to open up other parts were locking down again infection rates were going through the roof with new variants of cobit being discovered who knew what was around the corner for any of us and like so many people I found lockdown tough doing this race was an essential part of my return to normal life part of my return to a way of life I recognized I simply couldn't just walk away but there were new risks Chile and Scotland were obviously very different places with different potential dangers but going through my mental toolkit I had a goal my body and mind was prepared I'd hit all of my short-term and long-term goals in training and my happy Bank was full thanks to a lifetime of racing in different climates I felt sure that I knew my enemy and could adapt my plan to fit this new challenge the most important thing was I was ready I was Unstoppable as long as there weren't too many surprises along the way it would all be fine storm Bara arrives in the UK on Tuesday likely to bring disruptive wind and Hill snow to Northern England and Scotland in particular the approaching storm was exactly what we didn't need the weather was going to force the temperature to plummet even lower than we feared with the hill snow torrential rain and gale force winds making the Swim Bike and run leg all potentially very dangerous so we met with a team and the local guides to discuss the the plan for the course itself and what we realized was that the full kelp man the Iron Man distance simply wasn't going to be possible fundamentally on safety grounds starting in the pitch black ending in the pitch black meaning that we'd be running High into the mountains in the black and then of course add on top of that was this potential level 4 storm coming in so we took the decision early to Target a half Ironman and that would be our Focus to try and complete a half Ironman across all the disciplines and where possible we would go beyond that but only when it was safe our half Ironman route would follow that of the full kelp man as best it could on safety grounds we decided to enter the swim from The Jetty at shieldag and make our way 1.9 kilometers along shieldag Island before returning to Shore and transition one the 90 kilometer bike route would take us from Shield AG to gerlock Via kinloch U we would be traveling through some incredible Countryside beside Loch toraden through the valley in the spectacular bent air range then along the length of Loch Marie before turning back and returning the way we traveled to transition to finally the 21 kilometer run would begin from kinlochu however if our calculations were correct by this point Not only would we be losing light the predicted storm would be in full force too so we made a plan to follow the first half of the keltman Run route towards tauren Coolin before heading towards the Finish Line at the entrance to the town of toradine tomorrow's a big day Greg's ready for this physiologically and psychologically he's prepared fantastic for this he is ready for it the problem that we've got is that the conditions are absolutely brutal so the water is going to be extremely cold and we've got to monitor him very very carefully we might need to pull him out if it gets too cold in there on the bike you've got the chance of snow and ice on the road and again that's going to be treacherous for Greg and again the run some of it's going to be off-road so the conditions are going to be absolutely brutal for him every competency is going to do it but fingers crossed for that weather with everything in place physically now it challenge of the Mind [Music] I think the the key moment of any challenge is just prior to the start because there is a mixture of of excitement of anticipation of the challenge ahead but also of fear and that fear can become pervasive if you're not very very careful you can overwhelm everything you know I've spent months thinking about the challenge and of course for this challenge it changed dramatically from the the patagon man in Chile now we're in toradun in Northwest Scotland in the middle of winter and the challenges that lay ahead are incredibly different of course it is absolutely pitch black and what I'm wearing which we don't usually wear are glow sticks and those glow sticks really are for the crew the team to be able to see me because in this Darkness you can see absolutely nothing and so it's really about bringing all of those things together and just reiterating in your mind how prepared you are what you are ready to do the fact that you've got the right team around you that you've planned everything to make sure that you can get from point A to point B that you can actually complete this challenge but the most important thing is that you can do that safely and the interesting thing is that when you enter water when it's completely dark is that the first thing that hits you obviously is the cold I mean incredibly cold and almost instantly everything goes numb but then at that point you look up and you realize that when you're that down that low at water level you literally can see absolutely nothing I mean I've swum in every Ocean on the planet I've swum all around the world I've swung thousands of hours in open water and this experience was utterly unique it was one of the most frightening experiences I've ever had in the water the weirdest thing about swimming in the dark generally but particularly when it's cold is knowing the difference between the water and the sky because the face is completely numb you can't really tell when you turn to breathe whether your face is out of the water or in the water because there's no contrast there's no light and dark it's dark and dark and you've lost feeling in your face and that's a really interesting place to be and in fact if you look at swimming style in that environment is that you end up swimming really quite upright what you're doing is using kinesthetic awareness that body position so that you can know confidently that your mouth is out of the water before you take a big deep breath in because you don't want to do that when your face is in the water I mean the interesting thing for for the team it's incredibly difficult for the team on the boat because they're in the pitch black as well add on top of that because they're on the surface the wind was howling up the lock that day and so it's moving the boat around me and then that whilst filming shining lights on me so I'm moving from a position where it's pitch black into absolute bright light and what that does it just disorientates you so on on a number of occasions what I found myself doing is either the boat was coming into me or I was simply swimming into the boat and hitting the boat and that that's quite a disconcerting situation to be in as well because you just don't expect to touch anything one of the key things to think about is actually the wildlife that's out there and it's always interesting because normally you can see what's in front of you and what's beneath you in this Darkness you can't see anything so when you hit something is it and you pull through it it's like is that seaweed is it a jellyfish you're never quite sure what it is of course the one positive is that I'm so numb that if it is a jellyfish and that stings me I won't feel it for a few hours anyway but but it's it's quite an unusual scenario where normally what you can do is you can you can confirm what it is so if you hit something you take a look you realize it's seaweed no problem and carry on in that sort of Darkness you hit something it could be anything and perhaps the worst thing is actually when you hit the boat because when you hit something solid you shouldn't hit anything solid instantly you have a reaction to that and then it's making sure that you understand what it is and obviously the boat you can see so you can tell yourself that straight away but then immediately following that it's a big sympathetic Drive you know the adrenaline starts to buzz you've got to bring it back down again relax take control and continue on at that same Pace making sure you keep it level on a continual basis because the swim is just the first of three disciplines for today there's a lot of brutality that lies ahead but getting out of the water is probably the real danger Point I've been supine for quite a long period of time in very cold water and you stand up instantly straight away that disorientates you luckily at that point baldy comes in and just grabs me by the arm and at that point I know I'm safe and I know it's the end of the swim and as he grabs me I can use Him to guide me into the back but actually it's that point that's the point that the real danger starts when we're in water when we're actually in cold water and we're swimming what we're doing is we're generating a huge amount of energy in order to swim and much of that energy in fact about three quarters of that energy is disappeared as heat as soon as we get out of the water a couple of things happen we stop swimming so we stop generating Heat number one and number two is that the periphery is really cold so the arms and legs and the head are really cold and what we start to do is we start to move blood to those areas and so therefore the blood is cooled at that point and so what can happen when we get out of the water is this thing called the after drop is we see a very very rapid drop in core body temperature which can be incredibly dangerous it can it can lead to things like hypothermia but equally the end of that spectrum is it can lead to arrhythmias and it can lead to death key thing is to re-warm but not again you can't re-warm too quickly if you re-warm too quickly that could lead to all sorts of problems as well wet clothing is going to keep us cool so we try and get that off as quickly as possible dry as quickly as possible and then re-wrap y yeah I've never been scared and then add on top of that warm fluids can can be really helpful being very very careful because remembering the face is completely numb so if that warm fluid is too hot it is very easy to burn yourself on fluid and just what you think right this is as bad as it gets and the digweed has made the coffee that day and I cannot tell you how bad it tasted who made this bloody coffee I called it bisto on the day I was being kind to be honest with you I have never tasted coffee so bad in my life so in the triathlon normally the transition is as rapid as possible what you don't want to do is waste time in that transition having worked so hard on the previous discipline and about to work hard on the next you don't want to give away time in this challenge it was entirely different because what we were looking at was safety so we took the decision to lengthen that transition to make sure that we were to make sure that I was re-warmed to make sure that I was absolutely dry because what you have to think is that as we move on to the bike air temperature at that stage it's still only 6 a.m the light is only just coming up it's still dark air temperature is below freezing and then you're on a bike moving at 25 miles an hour with airflow coming across you you cool very very rapidly and if you're starting from a pre-existing low level of heat then you're going to cool to dangerous levels very very rapidly I mean despite the freezing temperatures actually the one memory that I have is the beauty the absolute beauty of the northwest of Scotland I mean just stunning scenery moving through the mountains look the white snow covered mountains and the wildlife you know almost it felt like around every corner there was a huge stag just watching me wondering why I was out there on my own because it was on your own it was isolation you know apart from me and the team there was literally nobody during the bike itself next to this beautiful environment that I was cycling through it was freezing cold and obviously that's affecting the periphery in my hands but particularly my feet underneath the wheels themselves on the road surface it was glistening and there was a lot of ice in places so making sure I kept concentrating to avoid the ice which was particularly problematic actually downhill where you're moving that a little bit quicker a bit more difficult to avoid as you're going at speed as the cycle progressed the weather got worse and worse and in particular that wind and those side winds were starting to become a real problem where you're in the tree line you're fairly protected as soon as I came out of the tree line there were these gusts of wind from the side which were moving me about the road and so all I'm thinking in the back of my mind there is a big storm coming is that we are isolated we're in the middle of nowhere the nearest hospital is hours away and if something happens which it can we would be in real trouble foreign almost to the minute that it was predicted storm Barrow would arrive it arrived with a Vengeance and as much as the snow makes a difference it's actually the wind on the bike that really does become dangerous and so we tried to combat it by by drafting by the side of the vehicle by being behind the vehicle but effectively nothing was working the force of the wind was so high it was picking me and the bike off the road and moving me across the road and at this point it started to become incredibly dangerous to be out there on the bike Greg sorry mate we're gonna have to call it we've got a severe weather warning here we've gone up to Amber level you're going to have to turn around I'm really sorry buddy over so I've got an earpiece in listening to the following vehicle and effectively listening to Bali who's in charge of my safety and he called it he said it was the end of the cycle at that point and it was an interesting time really because for me it was the balance between I wanted to go on I felt great the bike was going really well but at the same time it was becoming more and more dangerous just to be out there the decision to turn around was made just as we were pulling into the town of gerlock which was always our goal I'd hope to go beyond there and see some more of the spectacular Countryside along the keltman Route but I knew that I still had a very difficult journey ahead of me to get back to the second transition point and beyond that a half marathon run still to go as the full force of the storm began to rage around me I just every time he came into a clearing the bike was literally picked me across the road as soon as I stopped all of a sudden it sort of comes into Focus what had actually happened on the bike the pain started to rise particularly in my hands and my feet it's actually what we call reperfusion so what starts to happen is we start to get blood flow back into those limbs everybody knows this when they go out in the snow and make and make snowballs their hands feel fine until they come back into the warm house and that's when the pain really starts and so the pain in my hands and feet when I stopped and got into the warm band was absolutely excruciating so we started the run and it just felt like nature was saying to me what are you doing why are you out here and and the ferocity started to grow the wind really picked up and then came the snow and effectively found ourselves in this incredibly remote beautiful location in the highlands of Scotland in the middle of a blizzard of a named storm and certainly there's no doubt about it it was right on the edge of what is possible the one point on the Run where it really changed was when we took a left off the main road and we started to climb into the mountains and the further up we climbed the heavier the snow got and I think the interesting thing was that through the walkie-talkie we could hear that there was significant concern from the rest of the team feeling ill right yeah he's lost his voice his throat is absolutely like red raw and he's clearly clearly in a statement that uh bike ride absolutely destroyed him he's the he was already knackered from the cold in the water yeah and just to be out in this I genuinely although like I know that it'll just keep going I want to keep going but I am genuinely concerned the Criswell being but we we pushed on because we could see the summit to this particular and so what we did is we went up and then started to this end and that's when we then came back onto the main road and met up with the team I think they were more delighted to meet up with the stomach than we were you could see the relief on their faces that we were back on target Ultra endurance exercise is always pushing you to the Limit and particularly because it's quite it's quite a personal thing it is isolating so having the right mindset is absolutely crucial because you're having to deal with that it's not something that you can necessarily share and I think particularly during this challenge we were pushing to the edge of the envelope we were right on the edge of what would be deemed as safe so now we're just over halfway through the run and the light is failing fast it was the weirdest experience we went from light to dark almost instantaneously it was like somebody switching the light off I've never experienced it before and almost at the same time what started to happen was that the snow turned to sleet and with that sleep comes wet you start to get wet and before I knew it I was absolutely drenched the one thing that I remember distinctly is that my gloves filled up with water and so inside the glove I'm clenching my fist to avoid where the water is why does it make a difference well the bottom line is with high winds and freezing temperatures when you get wet you lose heat much more rapidly and it was the most extraordinary experience that I have ever had and that was I was actually running along whilst and we're running at about a 145 half marathon place we're clipping along we're moving at speed generating lots of heat and yet I am shivering while I'm running I'm so cold the fact that the core body temperature is low enough to drive this shivering thermogenesis response the shivering response tells you that there is a real battle going on inside and you are teetering on the edge of hypothermia and the interesting thing now is is the fight that's going on inside my brain is that the problem with the cold is it's Insidious it's omnipresent it's always with you can't get rid of it and what you know is you're not going to warm up and so the question is can I cope with how cold I am and the only way to maintain that temperature is to maintain the pace as soon as you slow down you lose more heat you get colder and colder so what you can't and what I can't afford to do is slow down so in my brain that there's this fight going on which is saying you're cold stop you know there's a car behind you it's nice and warm get in the car and warm up and on the other side it's saying keep going keep driving keep the pace up maintain that temperature and you will get to the end at this point the happy Bank becomes absolutely crucial because now what you are doing is you are basically drawing out from that happy Bank contingent there's nothing going into it and so the amount of reserves that you've got in that happy Bank are absolutely crucial so that means the amount of training you've done the amount of preparation and planning that you've got in there which has filled up the happy bank now becomes incredibly important but of course with the temperature as it was with incredibly numb hands and face and ears and nose and core temperature dropping the question that sits in your mind is have I got enough in that happy Bank are there enough reserves to get me to the Finish because I am withdrawing at such a rate now that I'm to cope with what's going on you have to then be able to just look inside and decide whether what you have got available to you is enough to get you to the Finish we knew where the end point was because from the plan that we made it was on on the entry to torridden literally as we enter Torrid and that would be the end of the run but of course in the pitch black we couldn't tell where that was and the weather was just getting worse and worse and we're being buffeted on the Run by the wind and the sleep was coming down we were soaking wet and we really couldn't see what the end point was it was only the feedback that we're getting from our watches that were telling us how much further we had to go and as we drew to the end I just distinctly remember that we were literally on the edge I was absolutely on the edge of my capacity without any shallow doubt and we came round a slight Bend and as we came around the bend the lights lit up the sign for torridden and we could see uh the one of the vehicles with with the camera team on and it was just like it was almost like a dream come true it was one of those things that we've waited all day long for and I don't honestly think I've ever been so happy to see the camera team in my life as when they came into view and at that point it was that that balance between a sense of achievement having got through this this brutal day but also this this overwhelming sense of relief that it was finally over so at the finish that hug with Baldi was just so sweet I mean just fantastic you know but it's a strange situation because psychologically you've been focusing all day I've been focusing on performance and staying alive and all of a sudden that dissipated it disappeared it was gone and so at this point I'm just nothing mattered I had finished that is not extreme and the way this thing is I stumbled into the road and in fact the only car for about a 500 mile radius came along the road at that point and almost hit me and actually if you're watching I really apologize for that entirely my fault um but it was it's a strange thing when you effective at that point I'm not thinking about anything I'm just being moved around somebody put a coat on me moved me to the car put me in the car all of that without conscious thought because effectively what I've done is I'd let go [Music] thank you the day following the event I remember reflecting on what we had achieved and I think what was interesting was that there were so many occasions in the lead up to the challenge where we could have stopped the global pandemic of covid and the closure of swimming pools and Leisure facilities and gyms and then the cancellation of patagon man we could have stopped at any stage but we didn't what we did is we planned and we re-planned and we set ourselves to this challenge in the north west of Scotland in Winter a a period of time in a place where nobody does anything like this so we were pushing the envelope and pushing our capabilities not only me as the athlete but also the camera crew working and operating these really really difficult environments and yet we did that without any hesitation without thinking that we were going to stop and I think the one thing that I take from that is the fact that with the right planning with the right team with the right mind set anything is possible and we can all be unstoppable [Music] [Music] so what's next to you then quick man I just you know what it's too soon to say really that said I I have had this crazy idea [Music]

Channel: Professor Greg Whyte

Views: 51,870

Keywords: nxtri, Norseman, The Norseman, Triathlon, Professor Greg Whyte, Greg Whyte, Endurance, Open water swimming, swimming, cycling, marathon, running, distance running, HUUB, Training, athlete, Documentary, Extreme Triathlon, Patagonman, Patagonia, Celtman, Solo extreme, Ironman, Scotland, Award winning film, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Xtri, Cxtri, patagonmanxtri

Id: rKlfKDoZUw0

Length: 49min 29sec (2969 seconds)

Published: Mon May 15 2023