Portsmouth Running Podcast

On this episode of the podcast we welcome Dr Bart Olechowski on to speak with us about running and the heart. Dr Olechowski is a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, specialising in all aspects of general cardiology and interventional cardiology. He is also a runner and keen fitness enthisast. This really was such an insightful episode to research and record and I again want to thank Dr Olechowski for agreeing to take time out of a busy schedule and answer running related questions that tied in nicely with heart health.

If you run, listen to this show. There's plenty to take away from it and so much to learn about the heart and running. And as always too, Dave and Daniel get us warmed up before hand with some running chit chat. Have you ever tried Shaki mats?

As always everyone - happy miles and stay well x

Dan and Dave were delighted to have both founders of Running Late Southsea, Alice White and Molly McMaster, on the show! Alice and Molly both agreed to come and chat all about how Running Late Southsea started, the motivation behind it, and a lot more about running in Portsmouth. With all the different run groups that have started popping up in the city, it was fabulous to get Alice and Molly on to showcase a fine example. One of many great groups and opportunities that now exist for people to start running.

Dave and Dan, your absolutely dedicated running show hosts kick start this episode with a warm up chat, all about warm ups and various running related things. And Dan discovered stretching for the first time ever!

As always, happy running everyone X

On this episode of the show we welcome back the one and only Steve Bullock, founder of Grasshopper Coaching here in Portsmouth. If you haven't yet heard about Steve and his great run, swim and S&C sessions, then where have you been? Steve has become a go to coach for a lot of new and experienced runners in Portsmouth. His 'Track Tuesdays' have become legendary with many, many people attending on even the coldest and wettest of days. Steve comes on to give us an update as to how the group has grown over the past year or so, and an insight into his newly revamped coaching model and subscription. Always a pleasure to speak with the Grasshopper himself.

Any on top of that, listeners get the lovely treat of hearing Dave and I bang on for the first twenty minutes. It's like a warm up - everyone wants to get to the juicy stuff right away, but have a listen to two of the most clueless runners ever. We just LOVE RUNNING!!!

We wish you well and as always, happy running everyone X

On the first episode of 2024 we welcome local ultra runner and writer Helen Newman to the show. Helen joins us on what has been a role of episodes showing what local women have been achieving with their running, especially with the long distance events. Helen had such a fantastic year in 2023, achieving all of her running goals, including new PB's, finishing a 100+ mile ultra run in challenging conditions, and many more. Thoroughly enjoyed recording this and having a friendly running chat with another one of our inspiring local runners.

And as always, Dave and Daniel catch up with the Portsmouth Marathon and Country to Capital chat, as they finally got to race together. Experiences all shared. As we head into the new year, we wish you all the best with your running goals. Much love x

In this episode, and on our very SMOGATHON special episode, we are joined by local running legend and ultra runner Victoria Henderson. Victoria has completed a number of very long races over the years since getting into long distance running back in 2015. Those races include UTMB CCC, Arc of Attrition and many of the Centurion races too.

Victoria took part in the 2023 SMOGATHON and comes on to chat all about the run itself and about a topic I learned a lot about preparing for this show - female participation in ultra distance running and races. An absolutely fantastic chat with Victoria about this. Some links I wanted to include in the show notes about the topic if you wanted to read more are below:

https://www.oureaevents.com/news/2023/3/6/female-participation-race-directors-blog

https://www.sheraces.com/

Enjoy the show everyone and as always, happy miles! Love Dan & Dave xxx

Welcome to our Portsmouth Coastal Marathon special show! Dave and I join you this week and kick start this show with all the happy memories and pre-build excitment for this years coastal marathon races. Our guests this week include local runner, business owner and extremely talented artist, Angela Chick who has designed this years medal. Then we also have the lovely mastermind behind the races, Rob Piggott back onto the show to tell us all about what we can expect at this years events. A lot to get through, but another enjoyable show for you all to listen to at your own pace. As always, happy and safe miles everyone as we head into this years Christmas period x

On this episode of the show we have our featured guest Sarah Donaghy, joining us from Fareham Running Club, who is here to chat to us for a second time about the incredible FoodBank run initiative that really took off last year. Sarah has been the driving force behind this incredible movement that has kicked off hundreds of clubs and running groups to get involved. A truly inspiration running story, and one we can all get behind as runners.

We also have a special guest appearance from Peter Reilly from the New Forest Runners club, who joins us to have a quick chat about what it's like for race organisers to have to cancel races very last minute. This is something a lot of us have experienced as runners recently with the recent storms. It's great to hear from an organiser what actually goes on behind the scenes during these unprecedented weather incidents.

And of course, Dave and Daniel are back with some chit chat to take you from start to finish in this episode. They also announce the date for this years SMOGATHON race! That's right, it's happening again - 26.2 miles on a dirty roundabout, under a motorway bridge. I mean, why not right? Enjoy the show everyone! x

Episode 73 of the Portsmouth Running Podcast is here and WE ARE BACK! That's right, Dave and Dan are back with a whole bunch of fantastic episodes ready to record and upload for you all. On this episode we welcome Portsmouth Outdoor Fitness (POF) owner, Tristam Murdoch. For anyone running along the Portsmouth seafront, you will have seen Tristam and his POF team of coaches and clients training. No matter what the weather, no matter how they feel, you'll always see them there training hard each day.

A fantastic interview worth listening to!

And a nice length update from Dave about the events that unfolded for him at this years Spartathlon race in Greece (the that Dan DNS'd)!

Thank you for listening to the show. Subscribe, follow, listen, comment - it's all good vibes. Happy running all x

On this episode of the show we welcome local runner, and also current full time student from Iona University in America, Lachlan Wellington. Lachlan is over here on holiday during his summer break, catching up with family and friends (and running). He runs in the NCAA division in the US for Iona and comes on to chat to us and tell us all about his experiences and racing and training there. Lachlan is a very humble runner but we did dig into some of his fantastic achievements, including a sub 30 minute 10k and running 14:12 in the 5k. Two very good achievements amongst many others.

And as always Dave and I kick start the show for 20 minutes with a bit of running chat, and also Dave's new hobby baking sour dough bread. Do his skills and talents have no end?

Thank you for listening and supporting the show everyone. As always, happy running to you all x

Hello listeners! It's been a while but we are now back with this new episode where we welcome our friend Ollie Steele-Perkins, founder of Blended Trails. Blended offer some fantastic pop up routes and races on some incredible routes around Hampshire. Next year, in June, they are hosting their first ever Backyard Ultra, right here in Hampshire and Ollie and the team are going all in with this one. It sounds stunning, with great trails, elevation and in a fantastic area of the country.

Do listen to the show to find out more details and find out how you can enter as entries have already opened. As always Dan and Dave finally catch up again and this is why our show has been a bit delayed. We will be back soon with a few more episodes !

Hello Listeners! It's been a while, but we are back with another interesting episode and amazing guest. On this show we welcome Dawn Taylor, owner of Alexandra Sports, which is one of those legendary places that all runners know of and have been to at some point in their running lives. Either to try shoes, for physio, to chat to the amazing team there, to buy nutrition or sports wear, or to even pick up race numbers for some of the local events here in the city.

It was fantastic speaking with Dawn who is a third generation owner of this local running store in Portsmouth! 3rd generation!!! That's incredible because the shop has been serving the running community for 40 years! Please do give the show a listen and feel free to pop into the store and say hello to Dawn and the team at some stage because they are extremely passionate about running, runners and the great outdoors.

And as always Dave and I put the world to right and discuss parkrun PB's, withdrawing from races and general training things. As always, thank you so much for listening and we hope to see some of you out and about along the seafront soon! X

On this episode of the show I welcome friend and fellow local runner Nayeem Huq, who has a chat with me about recent training additions like switching to a bike and racing in his first duathlon. Nayeem and show host Daniel have run and trained together a number of times on track and road and are hopefully going to attempt a trail run soon. Nayeem continues to get faster and stronger as a runner, including new routines and keep consistent with his healthly lifestyle and good training regime. Nayeem has a fantastic outlook on life and it was a pleasure to speak to him all about running in the Portsmouth area.

On our show introduction, Daniel and Dave catch up in person this time, as they head into the start of the long build and training for Spartathlon. Not sure any of them are really feeling the love right now, with Dave still catching some down time and recovery after the Tunnel win, and Daniel - well, just fatigued as always! Enjoy the show everyone and as always -> happy running! X

Well, on this weeks special show edition, Dave not only co-hosts but also becomes the guest (again!). Winning the 2023 Tunnel Ultra run by Mark Cockbain from Cockbain events (The Hard Stuff!). This has been a race on Dave's radar for a while. Co-host Daniel tried it a couple of years back and didn't make it to the end, but Dave took the challenge head on and did what he does best and that is pulling off incredible races with pure grit and determination. Dave takes us through (with as much detail as he can as he's still fatigued!) the experience of the race and what it took for him to make it to the finish, ending up as the winner this year. Well done Dave! x t

On this weeks show we welcome Luke Newton from Sweat Fitness in Portsmouth. Many will know Luke from his PT business and also as organiser of the Portsmouth Fitness Festival that used to take place on Castle field, and more recently im Gunwarf Quays. Luke joins us to tell us not only all about his business and the festival, but also the amazingly exciting Power up the Tower! Get this - an actual world class stair running event - in Portsmouth. Luke reveals all the details including some special guests and participants who are flying over for the race itself. It really does sound like a really cool and unique opportunity to try make it to the top! And to top it all off, Luke has been kind enough to drop us a discount code for the podcast! That's right, a whopping 20% off too, so when you book, use the code - POMPEYRUNNERS and you get more bang for your buck. Thank you to Luke and the team for that x

And a really quick show intro today as my lovely co-host Dave has been catching some recovery time from training in Venice, which I'm sure we'll get to hear about on the next show soon. Enjoy the content everyone and we hope to see some of you at the race x

Hello listeners! Today we welcomed our main guest, Eric De Greef to the show. Lots of runners in the area will know Eric as he is one of the nicest people you could meet, and has been very prominent in the running circles of Portsmouth, having formed a few fitness groups himself since lockdown, which has now formed into a regular group called Southsea Striders. Eric has also been a local junior Run Director at Eastney junior parkrun, coached a few junior football teams and also began a junior football team for young girls, which is still going to this day after Eric handed it over. We chatted all about his love for fitness and how Southsea Striders started and the whos, whats, hows and whens of it all. Great to have Eric on the show!

And Dave and Dan spend the first 20 minutes catching up, going over some of the Portsmouth Coastal Half marathon results (great job everyone!). Dave has been feeling the ever mounding pressure of the Tunnel training with everything going on in life, and Daniel is preparing for a different kind of race series, the Chichester Corporate Challenge.  We hope you enjoy the show everyone. Recorded with love and passion for the best sport in the world. Always free. X 

A first show for the new year! Happy 2023 everyone! Dave and Daniel were extremely pleased to welcome onto the show, someone whom they've both run with recently - James Grinter. James joins us to chat all about running, and specifically his own journey from a love of the great outdoors to taking on epic ultra adventures, including the JOGLE  (John O'Groats to Lands End) which is the entire length of the UK. 

Also on the show, we have a special guest all the way from Ireland, Ricki Wynne who is also part of the Hoka family along with show host Daniel. We got Ricki on to find out from him what keeps him motivated to keep going and and training. Ricki is a world record holder and more importantly, just an all round lovely chap who get a kick out of helping others stay motivated. Ricki lives by his moto which is - KEEP SHOWING UP!

As always, Dave and Dan take you through some of their own races coming, as Dave prepares for one of his big ones, this years The Tunnel! Will he make it further than Dan did??? Of course he will ! Thanks for listening everyone X

Show links: 

James Grinter's JOGLE video - https://youtu.be/aIe4YUIBrPI

James Grinter's JOGLE page - https://www.facebook.com/runwillandjames

Ricki Wynne's World Record - https://youtu.be/WiGmlcr81e8

Dave and I could not resist one last show, and this time to have a good catch up of all the running fun over the weekend just gone at the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon events. Joining us on the show this week is the man who definitely made all the magic happen, and who co-ordinated just the most epic Christmas marathon races, local legend - Mr Rob Piggott, from Believe & Achieve Events. As runners it is fabulous to experience race days. The fun and joy, sweat and tears that go into training and running, but it's also excellent to hear about how those days play out for the organisers and volunteers too. Rob chats to us about his own recovery after the event, the day and how that all went, including the good and the pain points which he believes very much helps each year run smoothly.

And with that show, it definitely now brings us to the end of another year and once again I'd like to thank everyone who takes the time to listen to the show. Dave and I do this purely out of love for running and the running community, and we look forward to sharing our own and of course many of your future stories as we head into 2023. As always, happy running to you all! x 

... and of course, our very special pre Portsmouth Coastal Marathon (and half, and Santa runs!) special! On this show we welcome special guest, local runner and Ironman John Gosling who joins us from TJ Waste and Recycling. They are of course this years main sponsor for the coastal marathon, working with Portsmouth's very own and special Rob Piggott from Believe and Achieve Events. We get to hear what goes into supporting and sponsoring an event like the coastal marathon as it's not all just about helping financially. John and I had a wonderful discussion about running and racing, training and being coached, along with talking about what actually happens to all of the building waste that gets generated in our city. A real interesting show before such a special race.

And as always our show kicks off with a 20 minute catch up with Daniel and Dave who are equally excited about getting this years marathon underway! It's almost Christmas! Enjoy the show everyone ..... x

An interim episode before our pre Portsmouth Coastal Marathon show in a week. Hosts Dave and Dan take a trip down memory lane from the Track 100 race two weeks prior to this recording. The guys take time to talk through the experience, with their highs and lows and all the good times shared while running for nearly 20 hours around a 400 meter track in Cambridge. The event they took part in was Mark Cockbain's Track 100, where you have 25 hours to finish 100 miles. With a few twists and turns along the way, both came back with a finish and also their target A goals hit. Have a listen, enjoy the show and who knows - maybe some of you will be inspired to try this format and type of race in the future.

Hello runners! On this show we have two very special segments for you. Our first guest is Danielle Francesca Rohan who is a local runner and is organising a Run in the Dark, here in Portsmouth on the seafront in just a couple of weeks time. That's right! A brand new pop up event where you can be a part of a really good fundraising cause as well as have a brilliant run with friends and family right here in Portsmouth. And the best bit - it's in the dark which will all become clear in the episode where Danielle tells us all the details about the event.

Then next up Dave and I have a really special and heart felt chat with two guests, Sarah Donaghay and Craig Winter from Runr. Sarah is from Fareham Running Club and has been working so hard to get more runners involved in doing food bank runs. This is something that goes very much hand in hand with running where runners are easily able to organise a run and food bank donation with their local food bank hubs. Sarah has such a powerful story to share which she bravely does on the show and along with her, helping her through the show and also helping to raise awareness, is Craig Winter. The work that Runr do in the community is just fabulous. This is really one not to miss!

Thanks to my all my guests as always! x

On this weeks show we welcome Dr Jack Collins, who is a local Portsmouth runner and founder of the Southsea Fell Runners club. Jack is also a Bob Graham Round finisher which is an incredible accomplishment and he tells us all about his process getting to finish the round. Jack is passionate about health and well being and the practice where he works partner with parkrun UK as a parkrun practice. 

Dave and Daniel share their accounts of the 2022 Smogathon in the introduction and speak about local events coming up in lead up to the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon on the 18th December this year. We hope you enjoy the show!

A very special episode after a summer holiday break, with my awesome co-host David Harvey who pretty much steals the show this week with his epic tales of TDS where he completed the 95 mile grueling course during this years UTMB race series. Dave goes into some detail about the course and the race and how it all panned out. Dave was joined by a number of runners from the Portsmouth area, all taking on various races during the week long running festival in Chamonix. We also promise to get another show out within a couple of weeks, or face a trial of terror! Happy running everyone! x 

I am super happy to announce Episode 58 with the one and only Steve Bullock, or @grasshopper_gteve as many know him on social media. Steve tells us all about his weekly sessions and gives an awesome background to his own running story, training and qualifications. For those who know Steve I am sure you will enjoy this episode and for those who don't, perhaps see you at a Grasshopper track session soon .... 👍

Dave and I catch up, in person for the very first time! This gave us a weird new dynamic to work with as we actually had to face each other while recording for a change. We were both sweaty messes from our workout too.

As always everyone - thank you for listening to and enjoying these free shows! Happy running .... x

On this episode Daniel and Dave spend time catching up on the previous races that they have taken part in. Dave tells us all about his Hardmoors 200 experience walking away from the event with 100 epic miles along the stunning trails up north. And Daniel goes into some details, perhaps sometimes sharing a bit too much, about his long awaited finish at the 2022 Grand Union Canal Race, finishing 145 miles in central London.

Dave is also fresh back from Glastonbury so gives us a little insight into what the weekend was like there too. Our show this week begins with a short interview from a runner who came through Southsea last week by the name of Paul Minter. He is running the entire coast of the UK and was 2500 miles into this run when he approached our city. Daniel took some time with Paul and some of his friends to help steer them towards Gunwarf where he was stopping for the night. What an epic challenge!

As always everyone, thank you for listening and do get in touch with us if you'd like to share a story or running tale.

On episode 56 we explore the wonderful world of outdoor personal training with local business owner and PT Billie-Leigh Roberts, founder and owner of BFit with Billie. Billie is a runner herself and enjoys taking part in Southsea parkrun when she's not busy training her clients outside. One of my reasons for asking Billie if she would be kind enough to join us on the show, is that Portsmouth has a lot of fantastic open space and park type areas which are just perfect for this type of activity and business. We believe that it adds to this amazing healthy lifestyle feel that the city has with people using the seafront area more frequently. We are seeing a splurge in people turning to healthy lifestyle living and using social training sessions like PT classes and running events like parkrun and Great Run Local and it really is a wonderful thing. Enjoy the show where Billie tells all about the business and her own background about how it all got started.

And as a bonus, Dave and I begin with our own introduction about pre race woes and motivation, as we both head towards a big race over the coming weeks.

On this episode of the Portsmouth Running Podcast, Daniel and Dave bring you the latest running chit chat, involving Dave's latest marathon and half marathon escapades and results, including a nice result too for Daniel at the last Blended Trails race. Due to illness, holidays and such things, we have not got a special guest on the show for this week and so we fill the gaps on this show.

Daniel and Dave also invite listeners to get involved and try something different - sea dunks! That's right! We've been getting into the water in Southsea each morning and have found out that there seem to be some physical benefits that compliment all the training quite nicely. As always, thank you for listening and enjoying our content. Enjoy the sunny weather and happy miles everyone! x

Hello all! Welcome to Episode 53 of the show, where we give a warm welcome to Emma Cardey. Emma is the Event Director at Southsea parkrun and Dave and I natter with Emma all about the event and wonderful team who help put this run together for us all each week. We had a lot of questions for Emma about the challenges of looking after such an event, but on the flip side, the fantastic results and benefits that the community down here gain from such a 5k run. 

Dave and I start our show introduction this week with a completely blank slate and no agenda, so also tune in to hear us waffle on a bit about the new highway code rules (which we both knew nothing about!). 

As always, thanks for listening everyone and wishing you all very happy miles! x

On episode 52 of the Portsmouth Running Podcast, we welcome Michelle Maxwell from Maxwell Coaching to chat with Dave and I all about good habits that help us runners become more resilient and better at what we do. Michelle is a fountain of running knowledge and has coached a number of athletes from the Portsmouth area, including show co-host David Harvey. Along with her husband Chris, Michelle has a very impressive list of running achievements including holding two Centurion Running trophies from the South Downs Way and North Downs Way 50 mile races. The Maxwell household is a busy with with sport and particular running and triathlon being at the very heart of it all.

It was fantastic to welcome Michelle on the show and I think this episode will help us all think about our own running habits and things we often neglect to maybe consider doing additionally around the running that can help get us through training and races in better shape. 

Enjoy the show everyone! x

On this episode of the show we welcome Samuel Foreman who is the group run leader for RunTalkRun Portsmouth. We found out about the group through Instagram where Sam reached out to us last year. After some planning, and a couple of runs that show host Daniel went on, we got together to discuss all things RunTalkRun related, plus how it all works and what goes on during a group run. One thing that really struck me visiting the group runs, was finding out just how much the runners appreciated the safe space to just have a chat while spending time outdoors doing something healthy and good for the spirit. 

Dave and Daniel catch up as always and discuss a bit about the new year, taking on your injuries in the right way, and a bit about some racing news and a first track 100 mile event for Daniel in October.

Daniel and Dave return on Boxing Day 2021, with a special episode focused mainly all around the South Downs Way. A real trail hub for local runners around the area who are looking to escape the busier pathways and roads. We were delighted to welcome another local runner Alex Murphy to the discussion. Alex spends a lot of his time training on the South Downs and had plenty of great insight into the routes there. You'll find some of the routes (and segments) in the notes below, as discussed on the episode:

Ultra Trail Queen Elizabeth Country Park (100 miles) - https://www.strava.com/activities/5059070420

Great Route at QECP for Elevation - https://www.strava.com/activities/6286748372

Session for Anyone Looking to Train for Mountain Races at QECP - https://www.strava.com/activities/5814480873

Satans Climb (Strava Segment) - https://www.strava.com/segments/12323315

Daniel and Dave are taking a break after 49 episodes of the show, but not before Dave gives a full account of his epic adventure at Lon Las. For those who don't know, Lon Las is a Mark Cockbaine special, in that it runs from the north coast of Wales, all the way down to Cardiff - non stop. Dave took on the 253 mile adventure and has an awesome story to tell after leading the race for a whole day, and then being forced to retire just twenty three miles from the finish. 

The show will be back soon after we take a short break to do some technical bits and bobs and prepare the upcoming content for the new year. Thank you all for subscribing and listening to the show. Happy running and happy Christmas everyone! x