Northern Ireland ultra runner Gareth King talks to Runners are Smilers about his recent Word Championships experience, where he rose from relative unknown to 4th in the all time GB 100km rankings with his time of 6hours 32minutes 05seconds. Average pace 6.18 per mile. Just under 4 mins per km.

The GB team experience

AS  I know that we talked about your build up to Berlin last time we spoke, but just describe how the whole team GB experience was for you?

Gareth When I got the selection, it never really properly sunk in, Adrian. I got the email and I was over the moon. Then everything kind of settled for a while and there was nothing really happening. Then the team What’s App group started up and different things, but there wasn’t really a whole lot of conversation on that to start with either.  There were bits and pieces of information and chat coming through about flights and hotels.

The kit arrived

It wasn’t really until all the kit arrived that things got started.  I was like, oh my goodness, right, this is now happening, I am going to a World Championships. In the meantime, I was just training away and just trying to, you know, obviously get in the best shape I possibly could.

The taper nerves and worry

 I never usually experience any anxiety or pressure or anything like that before a race. Through the build up up to my half marathon effort two weeks out I felt great.  That was  one of my last big sessions of the training block and I broke 70 minutes for the first time.  I am thinking that’s the work all done now. I don’t know what it was, but just days after that, I just couldn’t settle. You know, I was like mulling over things.  Have I done enough training?   Have I got my nutrition right?  I knew from  the results that I had coming into this that I was in good shape.  The 2.27 marathon Belfast in May at the start of the training block and a great 50k in 2hrs 55 min mid way through in early June. Then running that final half marathon really as a good sharpener, I knew I was in good shape.  Maybe it was just because of the stage it was at before the championships with all  the expectation, you’re always just thinking  things and you have those taper worries like we all do.

All through the final build up  I am asking myself had I done enough.  And then when I was going to bed at night, I was like, you know, just kept mulling over these things. I couldn’t sleep well and although it  wasn’t every night, it was most nights.  And, again, I guess it’s all part of the taper but it got to the stage, you know, where I just wanted to get there and had had enough of thinking like that. It really was creating a sort of negative vibe. I had  done what I could, and I was preparedand, you know, it was time to race, so just stop thinking like that and get over there.

Doubting your ability

You are also thinking there’s some super athletes and the team was full of quality.  At Perth at the trial I was fourth in a real quality race and I knew those other guys were strong as were the women’s team.  It was a strong team going over there.  And probably there was expectation to try and go for a team medal. That’s certainly what we wanted. Being fourth in Perth and a relative unknown, I was kind of putting myself up alongside  these guys and it’s hard to explain, but I  guess I felt like the new kid on the block and then I was mulling over things and thinking I hadn’t done enough.

That Team Feeling

AS So finally your travelling and you get there.  You go through the whole travelling thing. The Instagram, facebook and other social media pages with you and the rest of the team. All there with your tracksuits on and your smart travel bags at airports. Then you get there, and you have an opening ceremony, and you’re all together, trying to gel as a team.   How does that feel for the first time?

Gareth  Yeah, I thought it was fantastic. The team got on really well.  No issues whatsoever.  We did a short group run on the Friday morning, and took in some Berlin sights, like Checkpoint Charlie and the old wall, the Brandenburg Gate etc and that was brilliant. Then we had the opening ceremony on the Friday evening. We’ve done that and got back from that, and we were just doing all the things you do before a race , getting drinks made up and nutrition sorted. Early Saturday morning its race time.  The trip was great.   Everybody got on. Well, you know, we had a great time and it was great to be a part of.

How did Gareths race unfold

AS Tell us briefly how did your race actually unfold? 

Gareth. It’s hard to put into words, the feeling I had that morning.  I knew once I got my kit on, shoes laced up, I was  ready to go. All those things I had been feeling through the taper would just go away.  I knew everything was in place and ready to go and I would be fine. The emotion of everybody standing there in the start area. All the different countries in their kit.  There was clapping and shouting. I mean, my chest, my heart was pumping. It was just a great moment. 

Then the gun went at half six in the morning and I just got into a nice rhythm.   I’m not someone that has a kamikaze spirit and goes lightning quick at the start. I like to find a nice rhythm and settle in.  I just like to get into that area where I feel it is the right place to be for that distance.  I seem to be able to tell early on where I am and how I am feeling  you know, whether I am feeling uncomfortable.  I don’t know what that is or why but if you look at my races at Mondeillo(Aug 20221), and in Perth,(April 2022) that’s a pretty similar type of a tactic that we know works. I’ll start off a bit slower, then just find that sweet spot which I’m trying to hang to as long as I can. It just seems to work for me. Although I’ll maybe drift a bit towards the end. 

Feeling the sweet spot

AS You mentioned feeling that sweet spot. You also talked about your heart rate in training  and in the race.  Are you actually looking at  your Garmin for your heart rate or are you just going by an intuitive feeling?

Gareth I just just try and run by feeling.  I spend all year looking at heart rate and trying to get as efficient as possible.  Then when it comes to race day I know that because of the hype, the excitement and the adrenaline, you know, the heart rate is gonna be high and way off anyway. So just going by feeling works better for me at least.  Thinking about heart rate and pace too much is its own distraction really that I find just saps mental energy.

AS Perth was a circular course of 2.3k Berlin was an out and back  7.5 km loop course.  You probably had a bit more contact with runners on the out and back stretches, seeing people and being able to wave or give them a high five.  How is that different in terms of being able to interact, even with your team mates, or just seeing those amazing Japanese runners bombing down the other side of the road?

Gareth  I was just focused on my own race.  Obviously, you could see how the team was getting on and that was great, but I wasn’t too bothered about the early stages.   I was just focused on what I was trying to do, what the team was trying to do and were trying to achieve.  I was also thinking of the reality of the seven and a half kilometre loop and how the feeding set up would work.  There was one main station at the start/ finish area where Walter and Jo (Walter Hill and Jo Zakzrewski ,team support) could hand us things and give us any information we needed.  As it was quite a long way to go without water or nutrition we were kind of hoping that there would be a second feed station along the way.   As it happened  we found out there was a second unmanned self service water stop at halfway, so that was a relief, because you could carry a gel easily and could then just wash it down as necessary with water and throw water over yourself too. It all worked out worked pretty well.  The weather was pretty good too.   Although it had been incredibly hot and humid when we arrived on the Thursday, there was a nice storm with thunder on Friday night after the opening ceremony.  That seemed to make the air nice and clear, so it wasn’t too humid.

AS In terms of the team performing well, in the circumstances, obviously Jason had troubles and had to drop out.  Were you aware that he had dropped out?

Gareth  Yeah, I was.  He was ahead of me initially and I passed him around mile 39 or 40.  The thing is, we all know what effort it takes to get to a race like this and to then have a bad day.  It can happen to any of us. When something like that happens it’s beyond your control.   It was heartbreaking for him to be honest.  But you know, he will come back stronger from that, and like you say, it can happen to anybody.   And the same for Sam as well. (Sam Amend also had to drop from the women’s race)

AS  Obviously, domestically, Perth was one of the highest standard races we’ve had in GB for a while at 100k.  I’ve had time to look at some of the stats and Berlin was definitely the highest standard 100k maybe ever, certainly  going back over the the last six or seven Championships that I can see.   During the race, you’re running your own race.  But in hindsight,  how impressed were you with these guys running times like 6 hours 17 minutes and as fast as 6 hours 12 minutes which I think is the 5th fastest 100 km time ever?

Gareth It’s mind blowing. You know, to run that race that I did and take almost 15 minutes off my pb and to think these guys are running 15-20 minutes faster.  I am watching them as well on the out and back loop but you try not to get too involved in that.  They are just super athletes. I don’t know what it is, the Japanese had four athletes in the top five in a world championships. It’s just incredible.  I don’t know whether it’s the climate  they train in or whatever.

AS I think over many years, the Japanese have always taken 100k seriously as an event.  If you drill down you see that most of them have got sub 2.20 marathon times in the mid to low teens. They encourage those fast marathon runners to actively look at 100k as a natural stepping stone so it’s almost built into the Japanese distance running culture.

Gareth Well, yeah, you’re absolutely right.  You know, and I think, even 100 kilometre training blocks are very similar to marathon specific ones. There’s not too much difference for me anyway, I pretty much do a marathon training block.  But then, like maybe four or five weeks out from taper, I’ll start adding some longer endurance runs in and then the hills and stuff and, yeah, it’s kind of how I have developed it.   But, you know, I had a pretty good marathon this year, by my standard, a 2 27 in Belfast and then a 2hour 55 – 50km.   So I knew I had developed the speed/endurance.  It was obviously then just getting the body used to being on the go for that length of time.

Can you run faster?

AS Your progress over the last 18 months has been, if not meteoric, then steady. You ran 7:12:30 for the 100k at the ACP  in Ireland last August. You improved that by almost 25 minutes with 6:47:33 in Perth at the Sri Chinmoy ACP in early April.   And now you have knocked another 15 minutes off with 6:32:05 .  The obvious question is while running 6:32:05 did you feel you were at the max?  Or is there still some improvement to come?

Gareth  To be honest. if I look back at this last training block leading up to the World Championships in Berlin, although it went well, I didn’t feel it was my best.  There were a few issues along the way I hadn’t experienced in previous blocks.  Particularly the low heart rate stuff, you know, I was happy with some stuff and I wasn’t happy with other things.  And it’s all been a wee bit mixed. I was hitting the targets and getting the distance and stuff, you know, obviously getting the results and racing, but  I’ve had better blocks and smoother blocks.

So I do feel there’s more to come and the marathon time, and the half marathon there’s a bit more improvement there which will also help with the 100k improvement.

As for my overall progression, I don’t think about improving to beat this runner or that runner.  I feel I am just competing against myself  to be a better runner?  I do feel there’s more there. Yes I am 42 and I have always been active in sport but I came to distance running fairly late in life so like you say, I don’t have the huge mileage on the clock some runners of my age have. You look around and see people that I follow in their  50s and 60s, still doing amazing things so you can’t see age as a barrier.

AS You  haven’t exactly been doing 100 mile weeks week since your mid 20s so I am sure you still have several years at a high level still to come.

Gareth  No I’m certainly not even doing that mileage all the time at the minute, that’s for sure.  I think it’s all just learning about yourself and your thresholds. These big, big, massive volume blocks, you know, would have been something that didn’t really sit well with me initially.  Obviously, when you start increasing, and you start developing aerobically and you start to be able to handle higher mileage, you can see the benefit.  And that definitely is something that works well with me. There’s people  that say 70-80 miles a week is enough, and people have obviously different ideas.  I just just try to get in at least  6,7,8 weeks of high volume in  a training block with good sessions and that seems to sit really well for me to get me to race day in good shape.

AS As you said, going into Berlin, you were probably the new kid on the block that not many people had heard of.  They knew your name but as in  “There is this guy from Northern Ireland who is quite useful”  Now all of a sudden, you are the top British finisher in a World Ultra Championships, 4th in the GB 100km rankings ,  and If you’re not exactly on the front cover of Athletics Weekly yet, at least a few ultra runners are talking about you.  How does Gareth cope with that?

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Gareth It’s not something I’m gonna get bogged down with.  I just want to keep it going and be better than I used to be.  That’s always been the way it has been, you know. When I got to know about and understand heart rate zone trining I started heart rate training and it was just always about developing.

I didn’t care about winning a race, just as long as I was performing better.  And if I can keep doing that, then who knows where it will go?

What’s next for Gareth

AS Obviously, you’re having a bit of down time now.  Looking ahead what does the next few months and into 2023  hold for Gareth King? 

Gareth I’ve got London Marathon coming up in early October.   London is a race I have never done and I managed to get a championship entry this year.  I was hoping maybe I could have a good go there, but having now just run a hard 100km, I’m just keeping an eye on the body here and the heart rate the next week or so as basically I’m still recovering.  Things are starting to settle down.  I will go and do it anyway for the London experience.  The distance won’t be an issue, its more what effort I am capable of. How I run it will depend how the next 3 weeks goes.  You can’t exactly say I will have a marathon specific training block beforehand!!   I will do some more easy stuff.  And then if the body is telling me I can manage a couple of good sessions I will fit them in, but how I feel on the day in the first few miles will dictate how I run London.  There’s no pressure on me as I will be doing it off the back of a year training for 100km really!!

Striking a balance

AS It’s generally acknowledged during a purple patch you kind of feel immortal for a little bit.  But the big efforts do take it out of you on many levels, not just physically, but  emotionally and mentally, and you just suddenly wake up one day and you think URRRGH!

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Gareth . Thats 100% true  and London will just be the icing on the cake of an incredible year so far and you definitely do need a break and some cruising along to just enjoy life for a bit. I will keep ticking over and there is a local trail ultra here in Northern Ireland towards the end of the year that will just be fun to do.  Then looking to 2023, training wise I need to add in a bit more strength and conditioning because I don’t really do much at the moment, and looking at all the marginal gains etc, that is certainly one I can improve.  I will just sit down too and see where the Championships are next year and what I need to do to try and get there. Now I have done one, I really would like to do more.

AS Thanks so much for your time Gareth. You have such a refreshing approach to your running and It’s been great chatting and finding out a bit more about you.

Gareth. Thanks.  Catch up again soon

You can read our pre race Berlin chat with Gareth and other team GB runners HERE

Full results from the World 100km championships in Berlin can be found HERE along with the IAU report

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