Today’s episode features Ellie Greenwood, one of the best ultrarunners in the world. Her crowning achievement has been to win the Comrades Marathon in 2014, and she had a long and winding road up to that point.
Ellie is not a stranger to setbacks, as she spent much of 2013 recuperating from a string of injuries, but she’s been able to take it one step at a time to achieve her goals and extend her running distance little by little.
As you listen today, you’ll hear topics such as:
- How Ellie got started with running.
- How she went from running short distances to becoming an ultrarunner.
- What Ellie did to heal from her injuries a few years ago.
- Her advice for preparing for long races.
- How diet impacts fitness and success with running.
- Her favorite book, pre-race meal and running product.
Questions Ellie is asked:
3:26: Did you start running in school, or did you pick it up later in life?
7:18: What time did you run at your first marathon?
9:35: How did you progress to running a 2:42marathon?
13:40: Was becoming an ultrarunner a natural progression?
15:10: In 2013, you had a lot of injuries. Can you share what happened?
19:58: What would you have changed about 2012, if you could?
21:24: What advice would you give someone who is running and hoping to improve?
23:50: Why do you think there are not a lot of injuries with ultrarunning?
26:13: What is a workout you might do to prepare for ultrarunning?
29:00: What was it like to win Comrades?
34:30: How did it feel to be really struggling when you began to catch up with the leaders of the race?
37:14: Do you think that your injuries in 2013 helped you get through your rough patches and focus on winning Comrades?
39:08: How do you fuel and get enough calories as a vegetarian?
44:20: Do you have a certain number of calories you try to get per hour?
45:28: What races do you have coming up the rest of the year?
[bctt tweet=”Will you let your setbacks stop you or make you better? @Runners_Connect interview with @EllieJG” via=”no”]
Quotes from Ellie:
“Maybe people from outside of the UK look at the London Marathon and they think, “there are all these weird costumes,”… but because it’s made to look like a lot of fun, it makes people who have never run say, “I want to do that!””
“I did my first ultra, a very low-key 50K, and it got my interest, like “Oh! You can run further than a marathon?””
“When I started to win some, even if they were small races, that was my motivation.”
“2013 was an up-and-down year and I didn’t actually race much that year.”
“With the human body, there are no hard and fast rules.”
“If you want to run lots of races, pick and choose if you are looking at improving your performance…. Have a rest time after races, rather than always going to another one.”
“A lot of ultrarunners just like running and might be less inclined to do track workouts or tempo runs, which are more stressful on the body.”
“Comrades is absolutely amazing… If you’re an ultrarunner and you want to do one race, make it Comrades.”
“In ultraraces and in marathoning, you just have to work through your rough spots.”
“There are a lot of vegetarian ultrarunners, and there are even vegan ultrarunners.”
“The people I look to for advice are smart, but they also throw caution to the wind and make super big goals and believe in those goals.”
“I tell new runners to run with other people.”
We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top. Please consider giving us a review on iTunes by clicking THIS link. You can follow this YouTube Video of a Demonstration of How to Leave a Review. Thank you in advance.
Take a Listen on Your Next Run
Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel
Links and Resources
Enter to win a FREE set of headphones from our sponsor, Jabra
Enter to be one of 5 WINNERS of Brad’s Book “You Can Run Pain Free”
How Bad Do You Want It? Mastering the Psychology of Mind over Muscle
Broken Goat Race– 50k/25k/12k
Vancouver Falcons Running Club
How Bad Do You Want it? By Matt Fitzgerald
Last Week’s Podcast: Inigo San Millan
Thank you so much for tuning in. Remember you can always email me
tina@runnersconnect.net
if you have any suggestions, feedback, or guests you would like to hear from.
Can I ask you a HUGE favor please? Would you be able to review the podcast on iTunes to help Run to the Top move up the rankings…..so we can bring on more of those running celebrities and influencers?
It can be confusing. Here is a video for the computer https://www.youtube.com/embed/XdWeIF6gu3Y?vq=hd1080
As for the iPhone…..
- Go onto the podcast app
- Search for the Runners Connect podcast in the search bar (bottom right)
- Select the podcast
- There will be 3 tabs, the middle one says Reviews, click that
- It will say “Write a Review”
Thank you SO much!
Next week, we will be talking to Steve Kamb, who runs Nerd Fitness and who believes that every one of us can be our own superhero. Looking forward to having you back to hear him!
