On Sunday, February 26th, Scots-born runner Nikki Johnstone set a new Scottish 50km road record.He ran a time of 2 hours, 56 minutes and 21 seconds in the Ha Wei 50 km at Ubstadt-Weiher in Germany. This beat the existing road best for a Scottish Athlete of 2 hours 56 minutes and 37 seconds set by Ross Houston at Perth on March 2016.

The time places him 11th on the GB all-time road rankings and 2nd for 2023 behind Ollie Garrod’s 2:51:26 from the 14th February.
I spoke with Nikki a few days after his race.

Background on Nikki Johnstone

ADRIAN
Nikki. Give us a little background about yourself. Many people in Scotland and Britain don’t know who you are.
I believe you come from Moray in the North of Scotland.

Nikki. No, I lived and grew up in Nairn. My parents moved to Forres in Moray after I moved away, so I visit Moray when I come home. Locals will tell you that the Nairn area is a special wee place.

Adrian. You have lived and worked in Germany for 17 years now. Were you running before you moved there?

Nikki. No. I had played football all my life, from late primary school into secondary school. I represented Nairn Youth teams for under 14 and 16. Then going to Forres youth teams at under 16 and 18. I continued to play for various amateur teams when at university in Liverpool. When I moved to Germany, I continued to play football as I couldn’t stop chasing the ball.
So I continued to keep playing. I then found an Irish pub team here, which allowed me to make new friends and enjoy that lifestyle for a while.

Over the years, I have confided to a few people that running changed my life. I was a late starter and 28 when I decided to take it up more seriously around 2012.

I had so many injuries to my shoulders and ankles playing football. I am sure I broke my nose a couple of times too. Eventually, you have to give up that dream and move on.
Almost by chance, I did a 10km and immediately fell in love with running. Chasing times and thinking that I could do better and go faster.

Prolific racer!

Adrian. If anyone is interested in this geeky side of things, looking at your Power of Ten entry is a very interesting read. You can see it HERE.
There is a point around 2015/2016 when you seemed to be doing a 10k or a half marathon every other week. Then you progress to 2018, and you ran nine marathons that year.

Nikki. That was 2019, I think.

Adrian. No. in 2019, you ran 14 marathons!

Nikki. Did I do that many marathons in 2018 as well?

Adrian. Yes! According to your Power of Ten.

Nikki. Jees! Wow! I remember over the years, being over in Germany, many of the races were not on their database, so wouldn’t have been added automatically. I was addicted to racing and, with that, I got almost obsessed with updating my power of ten each time I raced. I was constantly e-mailing with new results and saying. “Please add it to my profile.”

Adrian. I think it was around this time, in 2018/2019, when you came on my radar. A friend of mine messaged asking me, “Have you seen this guy in Germany who is running all these marathons? About one a month! They are all pretty good and under 2 hours 30 too!
So after playing with the odd marathon, what made you become almost a serial marathon runner instead of a serial 10k and half marathon runner? What changed in your training?
It is not unusual these days for people to run several marathons in a year. It is unusual to run them all fairly fast.

Nikki. I have always been somebody who was a serial racer. I have just gone with the flow.

I loved the social aspect of getting involved with the running scene and meeting many like-minded people, all keen to drink Non-alcoholic beer after a race. My motivation was to go and race, push myself to the limit and lower my times, improving my Pb.
To begin with, it was all about going to race maybe once on the weekend and going to a 10k either Saturday or Sunday. I got inspired by various names around the running scene. One name that inspired me was Michael Wardian. I remember reading about this guy as I was starting to run. Michael was in a phase of doing marathons back to back on the weekend. I was a little star-struck, thinking this guy was my hero. He was a role model who seemed almost unreachable at the time. I couldn’t even imagine doing something like that as I was happy doing one 10km each weekend.
Then one weekend, I tried 10km on a Saturday and 10km on a Sunday. I did them both in pretty good times and remember thinking this is possible.
The more I kept doing weekends like that, the more I thought this was possible. The distances started getting longer, and I would do a 10km race on Saturday and a half marathon race on Sunday.
I was fuelled by the addiction of being on a start line !!
Why did it suddenly become Marathons? I just went with the Flow. When you go to all these different races, you meet all these new people and race organisers.
Some race organisers get to know you and like to see you at their races, so occasionally you might get an invite. I am very grateful for that.
Running all those marathons wasn’t a master plan. It just evolved and happened,

Adrian. Your body has learnt how to recover quickly from these things, and I am sure your cheery attitude plays a part too. Some coaches would look at all those marathons and say, “What is this guy doing?”
You didn’t see it like that?

Nikki. I have to thank my Mam a lot. She always said that if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. She always encouraged me but said I often didn’t listen. But I was listening, and I seem to listen to my body.

Adrian. As you know, certain people seeing that multiple marathon background, and your ability to recover quickly, felt you could run a good ultra if you put your mind to it.
You were in the frame for the Scottish team for the Anglo-Celtic Plate in 2020, before covid intervened. Then you got injured. The lack of races during the pandemic reduced your race frequency.
Coming out of covid and getting back to full fitness, dare I say it, but have you been training and racing more sensibly? Do we sense almost a growing maturity in Nikki Johnstone?

Nikki. ( Laughs) Yes, possibly! I am trying to race more sensibly. Maybe! Choosing races more wisely. Definitely!
I am still looking for a race every weekend like I always have done. That’s what gets me going.
You said to me once, “ Don’t ever lose that raw enthusiasm for racing. It’s what helps make you who you are .” I have always remembered that.
Joking apart. Since the turn of this year, I have set new goals and found a new impetus. I even had a rest day recently!

New Scottish 50km Road record.

Adrian. Turning to the 50km you did last weekend, I believe it was your first road 50k.
I know you have done trail 50kms. Runners in Scotland will be intrigued to know that in 2019 you ran the “Run the Blades 50k “ on runnable trails around a wind farm south of Glasgow.
You won that race, and your time is still the race record.
Was that your first ultra?

Nikki. I had dabbled before and run things like “Wings for life” events here in Germany. I also ran a few trail races here, between 50 and 60k.
But no, I hadn’t done a road ultra before, so this seemed an opportunity to try a more serious attempt.

Adrian. Tell us where the race was and what the course was like.

Nikki. So for the record, I registered for the event only nine days beforehand. The race was spontaneous in the planning, but I had had a good training block since December,
In my regular search for what races are coming up, I came across this 50k. I couldn’t find any races around the Berlin area that fitted in or appealed to me.
However, I stumbled across this Hawei 50km ultra and pondered for a while. The race was 5-6 hours away by train near Heidelberg. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to tick a lot of boxes. Ever since the Anglo Celtic Plate 100km didn’t happen in 2020 and 2021, I have wanted to get back into that Ultra mindset, and this year was going to be the year. It maybe happened quicker than I had planned.

Adrian. Tell us a little about the course. From those initial pictures you sent last weekend, it looked like you were running around a caravan park! It must have been a little more expansive than that.

Nikki. The course was a 5 km lap that you ran ten times and was flat, with a good surface. When you got out of the start/finish area where the caravan park was, it was a good course that went around a small lake in a country park.

Adrian. You finished in 2:56:21, Just inside Ross Houston’s Scottish road record of 2:56:37.
Did you look up the record before the race?

Nikki.
So I had written down a goal of 50k in under three hours. I did look up the record set by Ross and saw it was 2:56.37. I thought that’s a fair clip, but let’s stick with 50k under three hours as a target or a future goal.
Did I ever think I could break it? No! That only became apparent on the day. At the halfway point, I was doing the maths while running over the timing mat. I looked at the clock, which was showing 1 hour 27 minutes and bits,1.27.20 or close too.
At that moment, I did become overcome with a little bit of premature emotion like wow, this could be work. At that moment, I was also saying, “stay calm, stay calm”. This has the potential be something, but you are only at 25k, Nikki. The race will probably not start until about 35, 40 or 45 km. You could crash and burn, and I was saying to myself, “just keep doing what you’re doing and enjoy the race. Try and relax.”

So I think the halfway point was the first time I thought about it. As I got closer and closer, there was one point when I had a small lump in my throat. I felt good, thinking I could do this. When I hit the last lap, and realised there is only five kilometres to go. I was doing the quick mental arithmetic. Looking at the clock and then thinking I only need to run an 18-minute 5K. I just gave my everything on that last lap. It was like, if you’re going to do it, then today’s your day. Give it your best shot.

Adrian.
You would have kicked yourself when you were that close not to push it. There are similarities to when Ross set that record. He only broke Don Ritchie’s road record by a few seconds as well, and had to push hard in the last 5k.
Don has a faster track time, but that is a different story altogether.

The road record is no mean feat. 2:56 is still no joke.
You have related how the race unfolded. Going forward, do you think you can go faster at 50k? Were you at the max?

Nikki. I would like to think I could improve my time. That’s not just down to myself and just overconfidence. I am also motivated by the guy who was second on the day last weekend, Seve Felipe. He is a Spaniard who wrote to me before the race. He had written to me on Instagram and wrote me a message in Spanish, which I went on to Google Translate. He was asking, “Is there any chance, do you think we can work together? I am aiming for 2:55 for a world 50km standard,

So I typed my answer in English into Google Translate. Found the Spanish and said, “look, I think this is awesome. I’d love to work together, but I just don’t know if I’m at your fitness level. I’m just gonna concentrate on myself,” which I ended up doing during the day. I was on my own the whole 50 km, which was the best decision I could have made. You get to the point where the motivating factor is Felippe is 47 years old. He’s got eight years on me. It’s runners like that who you know, with advancing years, and into their forties are pulling times like 2:54 or 2:55 out of the bag that makes me think that anything could bepossible.

Just stick at it, and it is possible. Just keep going and keep training hard. That’s the kind of thing that pushes me on.

Adrian. You’re finding out more about 50K as an event. There has been a lot of interest in 50K over the last three or four years. The standards have skyrocketed on a global level. You saw what the runners did in South Africa last week. It’s just insane the way it has progressed. 50km has become a fast marathon runners event. People doing well at 50km now have good marathon times. It’s not just a pure ultra runners event or ultra runners doing a 50k as a bit of speed work. It’s guys like the South Africans who are 2:10, 2:11 marathon guys having a go at a 50k, or sub 2:30 ladies trying to get close to 3 hours.

That’s why the men are now running 2:40 ish for 50km, and the girls are running very close to 3 hours and why CJ Albertson, the American, is running 2:38 because he is a 2:10 guy.

Nikki. That’s incredible.

Adrian. Do you think running 50k can have a knock-on effect on your marathon.? If you did a marathon, maybe not this weekend, but soon with even a vaguely measured build-up, you could get close to a marathon PB Again,?

The optimist in me thinks yes! Why not? I think getting back up to marathon PB shape will be more of a challenge than maybe over the shorter distances. I think my 2.21 is already a good time, but would still like to think it’s possible to go faster. Thinking back to when I sat down and wrote a post-it note with goals for 2023, I did write down that a life goal would be a sub 2:20 marathon.

And I still do have those aspirations. I like to think that if, if I can stay fit and healthy, of course, first and foremost, maybe this year will be a good year.

Adrian. Do you follow the Welsh runner Andy Davies?

Nikki. Yes. I follow him on Instagram.

Adrian. Andy is 42, going on 43, and ran 2:14:20 at Seville Marathon last year. That is the current GB record for vet 40. Do look him up on Power of Ten. He’s a lovely guy. In the last three or four years, since his late 30s, he is getting faster at the marathon.

Nikki. That is even more inspiration right there.

Adrian. He probably does a bit more structured training and is probably not quite as spontaneous a guy as you in terms of racing.

Nikki. I do admire people like that. When I first started running in Germany round about Cologne, people started noticing that my times were improving. One or two people would try and get me to join their club, telling me, “We can coach you to get even faster.”
I have had a coach or two, but it seems to limit me and the things I enjoy doing, like racing!
It’s not that I think runners shouldn’t be coached. I just don’t think it suits me, and I don’t think it ever will.

Adrian. You don’t have a coach at the moment?
Nikki. NO! But I am not unstructured.
I do listen to how I feel day to day. If I am feeling good on the day, I’ll go out and do a training run and it will be a bit quicker. If I’m not feeling it, it’ll be a bit slower. There is a structure. I know what I’m going to do before I go out the door. It’s not planned and it’s not on paper. I haven’t written anything down, but I know in my head, exactly what I’m going to do according to how I feel, and I stick to that. When I go out, I never cut it short.
If I know I’m going to do 15km, I’ll do the 15, and then I’ll come home. I’ll have the route planned in my head, I know exactly where I’m going and I’ll stick to it. So, it’s a different kind of structure.

Adrian. Within that, is there any structure to speed work or tempo runs, or intervals, or are you just going by feel?

Nikki. I rarely set foot on the track. Some of my runs could be classified as tempo runs, but not intentionally. It was more that I went out, put my fast shoes on, and I just felt good.
Adrian. So you are not monitoring your heart rate or running X amount in zone A, zone B, zone C, or any of the perceived wisdom that coaches advocate?
Nikki.
I’ll admit, I do wear a heart rate monitor. I’ve always worn one because I’ve always thought, well, I’ve paid so much money for this watch, and one of the functions is it’s going to pump out race predictions. The only way for me to get this VO2 max or race prediction is to wear a heart rate monitor, so I can use the full functions of the watch. I always wear one, but I rarely look to see what zone I am in. I’ll look and will be thinking, what’s my heart rate? And I’ll be like. OK,! that’s good. That’s a reassuring thing.

Adrian.
Tangentially, what shoes did you wear when you raced the 50k?

Nikki. I wear Altra.

Adrian. That’s interesting. You used to have a tie-up with Asics, didn’t you? You were in the front-runner squad at one time. Are you still involved with them or not?

Nikki. No. That was my own decision. I was with ASICS for seven years with their front-runner community. They looked after me well, and it was a great community. I just felt after all those years it was time for a change.

As a free agent, I tried a few options and thought, I can wear what I want now. I became aware of Altra shoes by following the American trail scene. Through a friend and contact here in Germany called Neils, I had the opportunity to try a pair, and I loved them.

Adrian. Which shoes did you wear for the 50km?

Nikki. I wore their carbon plate model, The Vanish Carbon.

Adrian. Now that you have cracked the 50km. What is next for Nikki?

Nikki. I am straight back into racing this weekend. I had a Park Run this morning that went fine, and I have a 10k tomorrow morning in Berlin.
I have more races planned in the coming weeks. I have a marathon next weekend. The Bienenwald Marathon in Kandl, so I’m looking forward to that.
Also, as we spoke about it earlier, after the 50k, I am curious to know what I could do for a marathon right now.
Then, not next weekend but the weekend after, the 19th, I have a 10k in Dresden. The weekend after that, I am racing in the German half marathon championships.
I have dual citizenship now, but I’ve never been able to do the German Champs since I’ve lived here. Now I have this citizenship, I just thought, this is an opportunity. I should take advantage of this.

My club is sending down five or six runners. We could potentially get two teams into the rankings. I am just looking forward to contributing and hope I will contribute well too.

Adrian. You were never involved in the club scene here in the UK. Is there a healthy club scene in Germany, especially in Berlin where you are now? You run with the LG Nord Berlin club, I believe.

Nikki. Yes, there is, especially when it’s the German champs. The clubs tend to travel together if they can. We will all travel together and make a weekend of the race together.
I have a busy job and tend to train on my own and I know that many of the other runners do as well. There are club sessions, but getting to them in a big city like Berlin is difficult. We all keep in touch though, and there is always a buzz around an event like the upcoming national half-marathon championships

Adrian. Your club mates don’t mind you racing so often in the build-up to a championship?

Nikki. I think there may have been an e-mail where they said, “Are you sure about this? I am, as I just love racing and will give it a go.

Adrian. Is 100km still on your radar? Might we see you running one later this year?

Nikki. After the 50km, I did have Robert ( Rob Turner) on to me. He messaged me and said, “Mate. That’s a great 50km time. Put your name back in the hat for the 100k next year. I was like, let’s stay healthy first.

Adrian. On that note, let’s hope you stay fit and healthy. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat.

Nikki. Yes, Good to catch up. Good to chat.

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