William Sichel is a Scottish ultrarunner, and one of the world’s best multiday runners. Now, at the age of 66 he’s completed several 6-day races over 800 k (500 miles) and he’s also finished the famous 3100 mile race in New York. He has a background as a semi-professional table tennis player and already back then, he used unconventional training methods. When he stopped playing table tennis, simply because it bored him, he went into running and ran his first marathon on 2:43. He then ran a 100 k and was surprised that he won this competition, which was also the Scottish Championships.
Johnny met William a couple of years ago at a 24 hour competition in London. Since then, William has been Johnnys running coach. Many of the ideas that Johnny uses — on structure, routine and how to create a great plan for a 6-day race, come from William.
This episode is a real goldmine for anyone who loves a good advice from a very experienced ultra runner…
LINKS
Website: www.williamsichel.co.uk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WilliamSichelAthlete
Instagram: http://instagram.com/williamsichel
“Don’t overrace”
“Don’t underestimate the number of kilometers you have done in racing and training over the years — it’s all there in your body.”
“Don’t kill your love for running or your body’s ability to run, by doing high-milage weeks all the time. It suits very few athletes and many get better results from reducing the milage and increasing alternative training, such as strength training, crossfit, mobility and so on. ”
“Respect recovery”
“Get to know your body and how it responds to different kinds of nutrition during races. If general advice doesn’t work for you, leave it behind and find out what works for you.”
“Races are the best training sessions you can get. And if you haven’t done a long race in a couple of months — plan a training camp yourself (i.e. a training block which simulates an ultra race, e.g. three consecutive days of running many hours a day, or whatever is applicable to your race).”
Johnny and William at 6 Days in the Dome right after the finish of the 6-day race.
Running together in Scotland