Road to Berlin: Jason Kelly talks about his Road to Berlin World 100km Championships

Scottish 100km Champion Jason Kelly talks ahead of the upcoming World 100km championships in Berlin

AS You qualified for the World 100km Championships in Berlin by placing 2nd in the trial race in the A standard time at Perth back in April. Was that race in line with expectations or exceeded expectations?

JK Exceeded. I had trained really hard and had a solid block of training since Christmas and I knew I was in shape for it. After my 7.07 at the ACP in 2021 in Ireland I was pretty confident I could go for a sub 7 hour finish. I  thought on a great day I could hit  hit 6.50 or sneak under 6.50 but didn’t expect to be so far under that.

AS Do you think there were any reasons for the great performances at Perth in the trial?

JK Conditions were spot on, some folk mentioned the wind picking up but I didn’t see that was a factor.

The course is perfect, there was a good atmosphere and my tempo was spot on.

Berlin training build up

AS Have you changed anything in your training building up to the World 100km Championships in Berlin? 

JK Not too much from the running side. As the block building up to Perth worked so well, I didn’t want to change too much so have kept it pretty much the same in terms of the weekly mileage, and the duration of the long runs I have done. 

The main difference is, I have been doing a lot to prepare for the possible warm conditions this time around. I have been looking at the average temperature in August in Berlin. I think the average is around 22-23 degrees but could be anything from 15-30! I think you have to prepare for 30 but, if you get sub 20, it’s a bonus.

The weather we have had lately has been great, and a help. I have tried to get out in the warm weather as much as possible

Approach to the race

AS Are you looking to run a PB or just be prepared to run the course and the race as a Championship as it unfolds. 

JK For me its mostly about running it as a Championship race. With the team we have we have an excellent chance of a team medal. With 4 guys in the team we need 3 guys to run well to have a chance of that. If you go out and run for yourself, and think I am in shape to run a great time, and it doesn’t go to plan, you run the risk of harming team chances .

The chance we have for a team medal, that has to be the target so my personal target is make sure I am in the top 3 for the team and make sure I have a solid run. I have to accept that if the conditions are warm a PB may not be possible and I just have to “run to the conditions”.

AS In terms of nutrition have you changed anything or looked at anything?

JK Not massively. The main difference I have looked at is the loop length in Berlin is significantly different to my previous 100k’s in Perth and Dublin. It’s a  7.5 km loop as opposed to 2.3 km in Perth. I want to try and keep the feeding frequency as similar as I can as that seemed to worked really well. The logistics will be a little different, as well as the probable temperatures, so I will just drink to thirst as well as making sure we have sponges and I  can pour water over my head to help keep core temperatures down too at every possible opportunity.

AS Some runners when they reach internatiional level try to develop  a small team around them with key skills be that coach, massage, physio, nutrition etc. How do you approach all of that or are you pretty self sufficient?

JK Well I don’t have anyone specifically coaching me but I feel like I have a really good network of friends and colleagues who have a lot of knowledge, and certainly a lot more knowledge than I have, so I do draw on that quite a lot. In particular, I have a colleague at work who studied physiology as his degree so I have been having good conversations with him on preparing for the possible heat.

So, no,  I don’t have any formal coach or network but just friends and colleagues to draw on.

AS So do you think it’s a good policy to to be thinking ”Hey I don’t know everything here, who can I ask for advice“?

JK Definitely. There will always be someone out there who knows more than you on a particular subject and it’s about being ok with that and comfortable in reaching out and deferring to those with superior knowledge. I think that’s really important. If you can do that it doesn’t matter how much you know yourself, if you have that around you to draw on .

The opposition in Berlin

AS OK Imagine yourself on the start line in Berlin. Mentally how will you cope lining up against someone like Nao Kazami  who has run a 6.09? 

(Nao Kazami is a Japanese runner and former 100km world record. His 6:09:14 is still the 2nd fastest ever behind Alex Sorokin’s new 2022 mark of 6:05:41. Kazami will be running in Berlin for the Japanese national team)

JK Before I got really into the training block for Berlin I was feeling a little nervous and slightly in awe of the prospect. I guess I was still in recovery mode from Perth and possibly in a bit of a rut and just struggling with getting back into training, and it was actually my Dad who said to me out on a run “Look don’t think of this as the big target, look at this as the reward! Perth was your target and you ran brilliantly there and achieved what you wanted to do in getting selected for GB. This is the reward. It’s your first GB vest so just go and enjoy things at World Championships level. Whatever happens, happens, you can always target it again in the future and go back and improve”.

So I think that helped take a bit of pressure off and since coming to terms with that, I have trained really well and I can just go into it and run the best I can and you can’t really ask more than that.

If I am running at 6.50 pace and I realise the guy next to me has actually run 20 minutes faster than me does that make it any different to running with someone who has not previously run under 7 hours? No, because I am just going to do what I am going to do and am not going to worry about that. 

Mind games in ultra’s

AS In terms of approaching the race itself how do you prepare mentally for  the inevitable ups and downs that happen or strange places your mind can be drawn to. Are you like Nadal who just concentrates on the next point, next point …..

JK Yeah, I think the point you make on Nadal in a long tennis match is totally applicable to ultra runners. You are running  a long way and at a reasonably Intense level practically from the start.

Let’s say you’re 40km in and you have a rough patch and you start saying to yourself, “Oh my God, there is still 60k to go, this could turn into  a disaster” then you’re going to find yourself struggling even more and getting into a bit of a trough. If you hit a bit of a rough patch you just have to think, OK,  next kilometre, similar to Nadal’s next point analogy. You just have to ask what am I feeling and what do I need? Should I take on more water, another gel, something to just get you through that next kilometre.  Its totally relevant and almost vital, I would say, to break it down into small bite size chunks. Then before you know it your at 45km, then 50k, and so the race goes on.

AS   Is that advice you feel is applicable to all distances at all levels ?

JK Totally, even if you’re a recreational runner running 10k or half marathon, just think about what is happening in the next 10% of the race not the next 90% of the race and just do what is right for your chances of success in that moment. Don’t think too far ahead or you may miss something you should be doing NOW.

AS So beyond  Berlin what does the future hold for Jason Kelly?

JK Phew. The way things have panned out this will be my third quality 100km race in 12 months, so I haven’t really thought much beyond that really. I definitely feel I will need some down time to rest the system a little both physically and mentally before thinking about the winter training and racing.  

Looking to 2023 ,the Anglo Celtic Plate is always going to be on the horizon but there are a few races I have always looked at like the Highland Fling on the trails to go and have some fun. I definitely feel my strength is the roads just now and in the right 100k race and conditions I could go faster. 

Unfinished business at the marathon

AS As you know I have a little thing about marathon speed helping to dictate 100km speed. Having concentrated on 100k so much the last 18 months, it seems your marathon best could also be due for some revision? History shows people running 6.40-6.45 at 100k have usually or subsequently run well under 2.30 and even 2.20 at the marathon distance.

JK Yes, It’s the gaping whole in my running cv just now. I haven’t yet put the time into a good training block to a large city marathon, whether that is London eventually or Berlin we shall see. I have done a few local and regional events but my PB was set at Strathearn in Perthshire, which, although beautiful, is not known as a fast route. Its actually pretty hilly and I was in the early stages of building  up to the 100k in Ireland when i ran that in 2021.

I guess I am going to have to do one well at some point.  It doesn’t presently give me such a thrill as training for a 100k, but I know at some point I will just have to plan one in and try and nail it properly. Having the likes of Chris Richardson here in the club (Metro Aberdeen) who has run 2.24 I am looking at that and doing sessions with him and thinking, yes, I should be capable of doing something like that too. 

You can read about the Sri Chinmoy 100km race at Perth which was the trial for the world 100km Championships in Berlin HERE

The event website for the world 100km championships in Berlin is HERE

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