Training for the Leeds Ironman

This episode of High Performance is brought to you by Bulldog Skincare. In their mission to support everyday skin endurance, Bulldog skkincare are proud to be the official men's skincare partner of Ion Man Europe. and our guest today here on High Performance is a true high performer. Rus Cook or maybe Haris Geezer, as you might know him. Rus, of course shot to public fame after completing a number of incredibly impressive feats of endurance, most notably his run across Africa in twenty twenty four, which saw him become the first person to run the length of Africa Over three hundred and fifty two days, rust covered more than ten thousand miles along the way inspiring so many people as he documented his journey and raised close to a million pounds for charity. However He didn't stop there. He's got on to complete a number of other serious challenges. and as he sits down and talks to me He's currently training for the Leeds Iron Man triathlon. Yeah, baby. Now look, I haven't competed in an Iron Man, but Bulldog skincare have challenged our guest today to do exactly that and I'm excited for him. However, in this episode, what I really want to dive into is the mindset around what it actually takes to prepare for something like an Iron Man. What is driving Russ And can he pull it off? How's the training going Um well, I had a baby four weeks ago, so getting a good amount of sleep deprivation training in. But now mate I'm really looking forward to the Iiron man and's going to be a bit of a different test for me. Ivious've done the running before, but the swimming and the cycling is a whole new kat of fish. Okay, sum up parenthood after four weeks for me. You you know what, mate? I was talking really honestly, when she was born, I've never been struck by like it literally felt like a lightning rod of emotion. I don't know how it was with with your kids. It sounds quite slfy, but I've never felt so much love in my heart. some of my favorite things at the moment are watching Em Misses and Poppy our little girl just asleep in the mornings or in evenings. they're just like co her up there asleep. or I'll dance around with her in the kitchen send her off I'll stick cld playay on the speakers and I'll have a little sing and a dance with her. and Oh mate. there's yeah a real deep sense of like fulfillment. from the last four weeks, which been really nice actually. And this is interesting in the conversation we're having, I think for you because motivation is so important to do the things that you do and I wonder whether haaving a baby is this whole new layer of motivation, a whole not reason for what you do. definitely think I mean, I am only four weeks in, but I would definitely think so. I think it gives a new sort of responsibility as well, you know, it's not even when I look back at some of the challenges that I've done before Like there's definitely an element of I'm doing it for a higher purpose or doing it for other people, but Now that I've got my little go in the world like there's a There's like this sense of You know, I'm her father, I want to protect her. I want to guide her in all the right ways. and I know that a lot of that is down to how well What can I do in my own life? you know? Listen, I think a lot of people talk to you about what happened in Africa And before this conversation, I obviously listened to you on lots of other podcasts and read lots of articles and So much focus was about what you learned in Africa, how Africa tested you where the growth was, and I would like to rewind quite a lot Sounds great. T when you're twenty one, you're in worthing. You've been up since four o'clock in the morning, working as a cleaner Come home You open a cupboard And that cupboard is a single tin of littleittle potato what a time to be alive that was. takeake me into that room. I was a bit younger than twentyenty one then actually I would say when I look back on it now, I'd say that that was like such a pivotal moment for me as a specific moment in time. Yeah, I don't think I necessarily realized it at the time, but it's It encapsulates a time in my life where I felt kind of directioness. had a lot I had a lot of energy and I had a lot of motivation to do something for my life, but I really didn't know where to apply that So I think I was really struggling with that and in that kind of moment You know, you open the cubin and you' got tinner and new toails thinner And that's all I had had no money to get anything else It was showing me my like almost uselessness and it just gave me this feeling of like I know that I'm kind of like I feel like helpless and useless and don't know where I'm going But I know I'm at the start of trying to figure that out So I mean, it wasn't for a few years until I've really started making any significant changes, but that was definitely a pointant moment where I went like one day, this feels rubbish now but one day this is going to be worth it and this is going to have meaning this moment. So how had you ended up working as a cleaner with no money with only a tin of new potatoes to eat for dinner. Like what was going on? because you are like driven, interesting, dynamic, hard working, ambitious guy And we write people off in this world too often Yeah yeah. whereereas often the circumstananceces just not right for them. So I was about seventeen, eighteen during during that time. And I think being now I look back now and go being a seventeen, eighteen year old bloke, I mean, I'm sure Girl as well is hard In that moment it's like I didn't have any skills, didn't have much life experience So I was kind of struggling with the fact that I was like, had all this ambition and motivation. But skill set was, I hadn't really I haven't really figured out my place yet and I was kind of bottom of the food chain as it were, you know, what jobs can I get? at seventeen eighteen, or the only jobs I could get was cleaning jobs. It was minimum wage scrubbingait toes toilet at four in the morning. But interestingly you talk about, I was super ambitious. I knew I wanted to do something Yeah. it should't look like at that point You know, what actually how it manifested was in a lot of ways, like an arrogance, I didn't want to listen to people that If I looked at someone's life and I would look at, you know I wouldd say this like with bit shame now, but I would look like my parents or maybe some other adults around me, some of my teachers at school, and I'd go Well, I don't really want your life So I ain't listening to you. And I kind of just applied that logic to sort of a lot of people that I would encounter that were older. so that kind of ends up leading me down quite an isolated path because I'm no longer really trying to take direction off people that I don't deem valuable enough or living a life that I want to live. so I'm not kind of not going to listen to you. And that kind of was a blessing and a curse. It led me down quite a lonely path to start with But then once I was, you know, I was born in that sort of age where podcasts were coming through at that time and I was listening to the Joe Rogans and these typees. and I was thinking, you are living a life that I' got I am going to listen to this and that kind of was a really important staff kickstarting my thinking in that way I think we've got a bit of an issue where particularly for young guys a little bit unsure about what their place looks like in society now And I think it's huge problem, eh yeah I I get the sense that you were kind of in that place. Massively, yeah, massively, I think You know, it wasn't necessarily an information problem. like we have access to an amazing amount of information It was a bit more of a direction problem. I didn't know What direction do I want to head in? and that's s bit of a rite of passage for a young man, I think. is fined in that direction. So here's my question, then if you could rewind the clock and leave school, know the direction and immediately begin whichich is what all parents want for their children. Leave school, have an idea of what you want to do. What do we say to thirteen year olds What do you want to be when you're old Oh my goodness, that's the worst question you can ask a young person because they should be available to explore If I could remove that period of your life and take you straight from school to a sense of fulfillment and a purpose in her career Would you take the opportunity now? Why not Because I think that it's really valuable to come to that conclusion through the mistakes, they kind they keep you in line when you like I know now that gambling is a bad thing for me to do Be I've been there, I've spunked all my wages month after month on Roulette and and accos at weekend deeply entrenched but I know that's silly whereas if I never have done that then I wouldn't same So I've done that in so many different vehicles. I've done that with the party and with the drinking and with the sitting down on a on a Saturday on a Sunday morning after a hangover with the dominoess and the pizza and the ice cream in bed forever and just wishingh I wish this was my life. And now I know's like no no, you can have your comfort moments It's not good for you. it's not we want either I wouldn't change it. at all now. I just wish that I'd been told when I was seventeen Embarrassment is the price of entry. Yeah, yeah. failure. is prrice of ambition. Yeah. Be embarrassed. and fail. Yeah, but we go again, we? Exactly. Well you did. So let's talk about the moment that you went again. Yeah Oh I guess there was a lot of going against to be fair. I think that's quite an interesting part of the journey because people see like the running the Africa thing or whatever and they think, oh wow, that was, you know, did that M. I literally and even since then I'm constantly failing at things that I'm trying to do. So Yeah, I mean, the Going again. what from the from the tinaoobe potoes. Yeah, let's go from that moment. Yeahah, J just a few of them So I think I didn't even have the bravery or courage at that point to really start looking at the places that were going to be successful. I was going for the easy ones first. I would do the partying, the drinking, going out, the doing the things that I shouldn't be doing Those were all of those kind of like I'm searching for like little dopamine hits. Yeah, like Oh is that going to make feel better? Is that going make me feel better I remember I ran back from a nightclub in Brighton and then That was eleven miles after a night out And my mate texted me after that saying, comeome and run bright and half marathon then we'll do the full marathon after. And it was actually the process of just training for one marathon that really showed me a different path. It was like Okay you know, you've got a challenge, you've got a test, you've got to train for it, you've got to be disciplined to accomplish it You've got to be motivated, you need to believe in yourself, you need to push through hard things. That was like the real start for me of unlocking like a new perspective on it and then I kind of, you know, ran with that really do feel that there was a real value in those hard times. And I think sometimes people look at those hard times and think, well That was there to give him the energy to go and do what he did in Africa and all the other things you've done. But I actually think You would have learned a huge amount about yourself in a difficult time. What were the big things that you learned Russ or about the hardest skys are in those difficult days you know what? I'm not sure I've actually thought about this too much,ough it's a really interesting one to try and unpack. So you're talking about like the gambling, the cult like if I you, I really go back. he's like the hard days to go back to Pfair, but I remember I remember one day after I've been on a gambling bit of a bit of a gambling spiral. and I think I'd spent about two grand which was like my whole, everything I had. And it was like you my whole monthly wages and I couldn't afford to pay the rent and I was living on with my girlfriend at the time in a house and I had to lie to her borrow rent money. It's a shame. Yeah, yeah, and that deep sense of shame, I think I mean, what that moment showed me really is that like I had a responsibility in that time to someone that I really cared about and My actions alone had really let them down thenen I like tried to cover it up by lying, which is something that I knew knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway because of the shame that I was feeling. And I think even in that moment That showed me how important like responsibility is especially to people that you care about. That person's ring me and I've let them down and it kind of That was such a pain it pained me enough to know that I need to change this, you know So I think like if I try to pick that would be a big one that would pinpoint and go like that was a tough one that And I can see even now it gets you, right? Yeah, yeah, like Wh I can't believe that I would let myself get to that kind of position You know, say lily, that's the journey of life and I feel I'm a better person now for it There's one thing that I think' really interesting in your story at this point, which is that you've been through the tough times. you've run home from the nightclub. That feels like a seminal moment. Yeah. Your mates said do the Bright and half marathon There's a big difference between doing the bright and half marathon running across Africa. Yeah, yeah So I'm interested that's not though. Is really? Well, I would say like It's the same fundamental skills just on on a bigger scale, you know What gave you the belief that you were the guy it can do that on a really big scale. because most people wouldn't even consider that So I did Brightonfall Marathon and then from then I was training a lot. pretty much every day and I'd kind of gone on this run of building self esteem, building belief in myself M than anything just by going out and doing the work, I was building my evidence that I am who I say I am, you know, It was naturally building in me. and it got to a point where I was like, right, you know, I'm sick of the cleaning jobs that aren't giving my life any meaning. And I'm sick of just living in the routine that also feelills meaningl so I'm going I need inspiration. I'm going to go out, I'm going to quit everything, saved off C grand And I just one way flights just around the world hoping to be inspired really more than anything And then it was that journey went to Kenya, started running with all these big dog Kenyons that were absolutely rapid. and then met this Italian man who'd been cycling around the world It was just a conversation with him that was way out of the zone of conversations I' had or role models that I'd had in my life before You know, he had a bike and a pany bag and he had his all his possessions in in his bag and he just camp around. It sounded mental to me at the time and often it sounds mental to people that you know don't live in that world when I tell them the story this guy just six years, just six years. a long time, you know. And he just gave me a new perspective on life that I took and just thought right, I'm going to apply that to. I could do something like that. I'd love that. I'd love the adventure. I'd love to see what I'm made of, I'd love the challenge of it It was then I decided I'm going to run home from Asia and I just packed a camel backack for hammock and phone charger and a bar of soap and a toothbrush and I thought How I do it? I think I've got the resilience for it. I think I've got the greatreediiness for it. But we are going to find out that's the adventure. We're going We are going to see what I'm made of in this moment. I'm going to find out who I really am And I was just pulled pulled towards that got through it. it was seventy one marathons and sixty six days that time, but I was fully by myself, eleven different countries camping in the woods every night. I had a bunch of different challenges there. And I'll finish that with this kind of like Steady sense of if I apply myself, I believe I can do anything like on this scale that's when I fought Afric And that's the great thing about doing hard things. Yeah, yeah building up a body of evidence that you can do hard things. Yeah And I love this idea where you said you said something there. you said People are not in his world think it's mad when you're talking about the guy that cycled across the world in Jpania And this is where I think It's all about perception in the way that we're all brought up. like we're told you wantan tove a good life? Okay, great Get a job. Yeah. Do that job for life, pay your taxes, buuy a house. When you buy a house you can have kids. When you've bought a house and had kids, you can buy a nice car and then you can eventually retire. Yeah. And then you look at people like this guy who you'd say he like lives on the edge of society in so many ways But who's the person who's got it right? that guy who's exploring and is content and is challenging himself and it's we look at the J, he's a bit weird because he does be different. It's the most it's the least weird thing for a human being because we used to be explorers, right? And we just stopped exploring. Yeah. No, I would I would agree. I mean Just like everything, there's a balance a nuance to it all because That's probably a thought that I really doubled down on su hard and then obviously, I've come up with this idea I'm going to Africa. It's going be the most difficult, demanding challenging thing I've ever done And you know, it's dangerous and there's all these things that might happen I think what I did find is that challenge and test and a test is a really important part of being a human, I think, and like maturing as a person But there is You know I've poked around at the limits of those kind of things and you can kind of delve into the realm of like traumatizing yourself or you know, if you push too hard then actually it can be damaging. you know, so it's like finding that right balance you like you want the adequate challenge. you don't want to nearly die or, you know, these kind kind of things. So I think For me, that's just like the nuance I' put in. Challenge is super important. I'm a huge promoter of challenging yourself There's limits just like everything. There's limits to all this kind of stuff where It starts becoming a damage or it start becing a Did you get to that point? because I'm sure I remember seeing an interview with you where you said, Well, if I die I die like Yeah Yeah, I' met I was whole hundred percent the belief like when I started Pjectest Africa it was run Africa or I trying I really did mean that But I also think that living that mindset taught me why that's not actually a mindsets have It's amazing if If you're looking to get things done quickly you're optimizing for achievement, which I probably was at that time in my life, like having that achievement would really meant something to me. But I think I'm in a slightly different season of life now and it's like have a responsibility to other people around me I also like commommunity is much more important part our family and These things are more important to me and go and just sort of throw my life risking my life, like it doesn't mean anything is actually foolish. It's not a wise thing to do. Like I've been blessed with the opportunity of life and It feels somewhat noble to go, I will die for this game But on To say that would be to say that my life isn' hasn't got the inherent value that I think a life does Total achievements not everything, you know, you are totally correct. Yeah But again, a bit like that young guy who was staring at that potatoes. Yeah, trying to work out the way forward. Yeah, yeah. And the only way forward was to explore You've had to explore it to reach this point. one hundred percent. Yeah, yeah And that's I think, One of the biggest takeaways so far from this conversation is the power of exploration, asking questions of yourself and as well as other people Yeah Well, I think it's different it's just different seasons. It's like that season. this ferociousness and tenacity, which I think iss really powerful for young people in general is like Like the facts are you're kind of a bit stupid. You don't have the wisdom yet to know which direction to go in, but you kind of replace it with this just like like ferociousness for life whichich is valuable. which is super valuable and I would never want to put that fire out in someone, but I think Just part of the arc is then realizing that that ferociousness needs to be tamed and guided in certain ways because if it is left to manifest in whatever way you want it to, then it will I' am literally a walking of this. It will take you down some paths that maybe you don't want to go down, you know or maybe you are not wise to go down so I think when that ferociousness matures, it's like You just start Iving the Wisdom gun Maybe I'm noting to die in Congor rainforest today, you know Well maybe I do want to have kids in a family and grow old. Okay, let's talk training now because preparation obviously is key. Bulldog get that, which is why their products are all about helping men sharp, looking and feeling their best every day, whether that's the original moisturizer for daily hydration or the original face wash to feel fresh before and after your serious workout Let's talk then about training. Before you get your body right, how do you make sure you've got the right mindset to approach training? I mean, it sounds like it was an all or nothing mindset. It was very much an all or nothing mindset. Like I said there, it was a run Africa or die tryon kind of situation for me at the time. So I was giving it everything I had, but I also think that this is something may people don't understand so much about the project itself is that Running was just one tiny part of getting that project underway. So Yes, I was running a lot. I was running to two hundred two fifty k miles a week kilometers a week even Um But I was also like high person like, I've got no money and I need to basically build a business alongside this to fund the whole thing And I also need to recruit a team that are going to help me with this and I need to grow an audience online that can help the business that can help this whole thing function. So I was like I was spread across a few different areas, you know The run in was the bread and butter. I had to get the running done, otherwise this whole thing was never going anywhere to start with. so two hundred and fifty k a week was sort of my baseline Mage I would be doing And that's interesting because people have focused on the running, like the incredible insane, ridiculous distances that you were covering. They haven't really talked very much or spoken very much. I don't think you have either about The additional challenge of creating the content, building the brand finding businesses to partner with So I'm interested where even the idea to do that came from. Do that go back again to the podcast you were listening to? like the conversation with Joe Rogan that you might have heard about what it takes to build a brand? a little bit. I mean, I was probably on that sort of self development arc as a young guy, trying to find I'm trying to look for that direction. so ull pulling bits and pieces in from that area, I think. O person I met that was actually pretty important in just opening up that sort of way, looking things was Gy called Zaklesop. I don't know if you've heard him a YouTuber, really successful guy, makes great videos and I met him And he started talking to me a lot because I didn't know how media worked or I didn't really have a scoobies about any of this whole stuff And he was a YouTuber and he was like, right? You know, if you build if you make content, you build an audience and these brands look how much money these brands will give you to do this. And I was like, shit, that's that's how fund it. I don't go in a cleaning job for minimum ways and just save as much as I can and then go and do it I buildil a business around this, but it was my first sort of like time really think about it. So I'm going through theotions with it all, but I think the one thing that was the most important to me at the time that was one of the biggest reasons that it was successful is that I really believed in the vision and I sold the vision to people that could come and help And that was like if there was nothing else I could do, that was like my job was like tellell people right I'm going to be the first person to runing Nthfrica. We're to raise a million pound cherry and we're going to make content It's going to inspire a bunch of people to going get after their own life, take on the adventure of their lives in the meantime. I need you, the videographer, you, the editor You guys you guys are fundamental. I need you and together we're going to be a part of something that's like. Amazing So yeah, I mean, he was really selling that vision to But I mean, the the boys came in at the start, they were just like they're starting off in their own careers, you know? So I was pitching to the right I wasn't trying to get after your crew that had been, you know cushy jobs in London. happappy days. they don't need it. I need Chry jobs guys. Would you say your jobs are? You didn't know what need I needed people that were like me that want that needed the opportunity, they wanted to make something of their lives So that's, you know, selling that vision to the team was like That was huge once we had once we started getting help in like right now we're start to build some momentum now, you know? But there's that energy once again. Yeah, yeah. and your energy was suddenly directed in the right place. Yeah. It wasn't you needed more energy than you needed when you were seventeen or eighteen. Noah, You had the energy, then but you were putting it into gasbling wiser. That's you know that's it takes time It takes time. Yeah, that's it. you can't just have to You know, it's like you said, you pay through the experience for failure so you just fail, fail, fail, fail, fll, and it's like, A next time I failed a little bit less. Get in, you know, But yeah, that iss just that tenacy tenacy ferociousness. G go, go, go, go Why do you think cotton ono your story because Doing endurance events is not rare anymore Do an endurance vend genuinely does what you said, you know, the raising of the money for charity. Yeah Do something that no one has ever done before but also raising awareness of what you're doing because the income from the brands doesn't happen if no one knows you're doing it. Yeah. The millions of pounds for charity doesn't happen if no one's doing it. I guess you still do the run, but I wonder whether even that would have felt a bit empty if you'd got home and gone all right, no one realizes what I've achieved here. That's it would have done to a certain extent. ye. I mean So why you? Why did people latch onto s hotest geer. U Was it because you were ting about this geeazer maybe was it like branding was probably a certain element of it, you know, harder sks is qu of like B ginger beard, white booy run in Africa, you know, it's quite funny. There's I mean, there's so many things to go into. I do think even from a time point of view, I think we're particularly sort of entering an era of culture where People are Looking for that direction a bit I think like The riseing of like the things like the manosphere, people listening to podcasts, more people like people want, you can feel people want to be guuided, they want that direction they want the inspiration. So I think maybe that was a good era of like people wanted to be inspired. So was that here's a story that you can be inspired by sort of thing. That probably helped U I think a lot of times on these endurance, big expeditions before, you'd have the category of someone funded by big TV doing it and it was all And you know, and they would be super successful missions and people would love watching it. But on the like social side of it, you wouldd have people that have maybe clawed a bit of funding together themselves, but they've just got enough funding to do it. They haven't really thought about telling the story outside of that of their own little world. So I think I thought about it, right. We're going to tell the story. We're going to try and put together a good story. it was still ragtag as you know, I had three boys li in a van, but we really we were really focused on How do we document this and put it out into the world that people in a way that people are going to want to at least try and half engage with So we did think about it a lot and I think was probably unique at the time because not many people would have done the running and then gone right. What video should we make on this? So do that part properly because I can imagine a lot of people go, look, I'm just going to do the running. Yeah. you film it and that willll be enough, but you knew there was more to it than this you like the thing you said numerous times tell the story. The story was not that you ran across Africa. Yeah. it was so much deeper than that. Yeah. I would look at this as a blessing for the position that I was in because Because I was, you know, I'm a work class lad that didn't have the money to do it anyway. I wouldn't have been able to do it So I think that was actually ended up being a really important component is that it's not that like, oh I was doing it and I could decide whether I was documenting it or not. It was like, if you want to do it, you must document it to give yourself a chance of funding it So I didn't have a choice But the fact that I didn't have a choice meant that I did document it. And then the fact that I documented it meant that we had we had the money to make happen. So I think that also documenting it did something else veryery important. I'm sure you thought about which is that suddenly you had a contract with the public Okay seeing you and thinking, oh, I look forward to seeing whether this guy completely change or not. Yeah. There's nowhere to hide When you tell the world what you're doing. Yeah How important was that for your mindset? huge Countability is massive. like I always say it's one of my The first piece of advice I'll give to people is They want to do something really hard, I' like tell as many as many people as possible about what you're trying to do because it will just box you in and burn the boats. There is no If you have in the back of your mind this little get out clause, this little back door, I could just, you know Things are hard now. I'm in Angola, I've been running for two months, I'm injured a little bit. If there is a back door You best fucking believe that I'm going through the back door. Do it Right? Be I am not. God and I am, you know, I feel pain just because everyone else feels pain. and if you press down hard enoughten that pain, And there's there's an exit door, I'm out of the exit door. So I think Understanding that like as a human, we are that is going to happen, just that is how it is.'s just my mindset going in was like right, rememove as many exit doors as possible. The more ex doors there is, the more chance I'm going to take one I do not want that So accountability is a massive one. You've got social contract with people You know Now we're uploading content. if I just stopped uploading content I said, I'mitting I've, you know at that point now hundreds of thousands of people it would be like, what what are you doing that? I've also got charities that'm don that we're raising money for, which is a purpose. It's more than ego. it's more than the status of the achievement itself. It's actually what this project is now gonna going to help people more like in a way that's bigger than me So I think you know, those two things got family back home, I've got boys that I've sold a dream to, sold this big vision to that I need to deliver on for I'm penned in. I'm penned in so much to the point where the amount that I can tolerate, the amount of suffering I'll tolerate. is now exponentially higher than it ever would have been if it was back to me in a hammock in the middle of Bulgaria on my ones that no one knew about ye, I mate, I can't talk enough about accountability is so important, so so important You're also a guy that expericed your fair share of shame. Yes, And I imagine the last thing that you needed was more shame. Noah, exactly that and that's even that, that's like a You know, I want it to pro myself right, but it's almost like a redemption story for all of the times in my life where didn't deliver on the thing that I said I wanted to do. I wasn't behaving like the person I wanted to be. I had in that moment there opportunity to be the man that I wanted to be and also have a bunch of people see it Qite my and powerful S And I think there are some things that you did as well, which I'd love to explore in terms of A very different side of motivation. L that is almost like What you've just spoken about there is almost like a painful motivation. It's like an angry persistence. It's always there. It's like angry Whas I know that you broke the runund downown into small chunks. I'd love to talk about how you knew that was the right thing to do and what that did for you, but also this idea of a Zengarden that you created because no one can live with that amount of pressure constantly. So you had to find an escape and the escape, was it in your own head That is what. run in has eventually become for me is like my little meditation time and For me as well, like I'm a believer in God and it's that a run in will often be sort of my time with God which has turned out to be like quite a beautiful experience too. So yeah, I mean, you hold both things, right? Like it's the carrot and stick. you're you the stick is, the horrible gritty stuff, the proving the people wrong and blah, blah, blah and then you have this carrot of I want to not only just run away from things. I want to run into something good, I want to, you know progress and be better and I would have both of those forces operating on me brereaking it down into small chunks That was big I mean, when you start to look at something like Africa ten thousand miles I knew I was going to be on the road, you know, best part of a year It's like any challenge in life it feels daunting you know, I get if you went back to sort of sixteen year old you and said You know, Look at this challenge ahead of you. You're going to build a big company, a media company, you're going to go into podcasts, youre going to do TV like Why exc time you go a lot to take on. So I think For me scale on that it can be really exciting, but becausecause it's daunting, I like to just focus on It can get a bit messy if you look at it all at once, right? You don't know what's the first step I'm going to take. So for me, it was all all right. just This is a big task, but we are just going to break it down into the twenty K before breakfast, twenty K before lunch, twenty K before dinner. I know I can do that. So it feels way more comfortable now go you X you X, you X, you X So I want to talk about the sort of continued motivation that you have particularly when it comes to competing And again, Bulldog have got products which can help you and help everyone feel their best when these big moments of competition arrive such as the Bulldog anytime daily UV moisturizer SPF fifty, which gives you all day hydration and sweat resistant protection whereere the starting pistol goes. I want to talk to you a bit about the feeling that you get, particularly as someone who in the eyes of So many people has achieved the ultimate. like what you did in Africa almost feels like it can never be bettered or never beaten But you've kind of you've found a way to continue competing, continue pushing yourself. Yeah. well, I think For me, challenge is not something that you do tick and then you move on to other areas of life. It's a constant part of life and it's a necessary component to for me to continue to find out who I am as I' develop in different seasons of my life. So running Africa was obviously like an achievement or a challenge that's sort of more attention than others and people frame that in their own mind that it was like the hardest thing that that I'll never be able to topop it and blah, blah, blah. But for me, there's always I am so flawed. There's unlimited things that I can challenge myself with, right? So like with the Iron Man, for example, I can barely swim. I did three lengths of pool the other day and nearly passed out Soonight I am up against it. And how long have you got till the leads travel? The leads are Not long enough I think it's like two months now or something. If you've only got three lengths in your life. Yeah. Yeah, exactly so. but this is the beautiful part about a challenge for me is that like In order for me to go from someone that is doing free lengths and is about to pass out to life, however many lengths are an eye moment his fingers It's four and a half k of swimming. It's a long long our way. I managax people. You know, when you because how many how far do you run and cycle on the Oh well, you know, I've run hundreds of kays and cycling's easy enough. why once you' got the technique. And then when you say, I've got four case swim, people go, well, that doesn't sound like very farast. Yeah ye. You try' Well far. So I think you know, a beautiful part about that is that for me to get from someone that can only do three lengths to a four and a half k swim, I'm going to have to put myself in difficult and challenging environment weekly in training sessions and figure out a way to overcome them each time. And that's going to Give me a sense of purpose, G me a resolve. So there's so much to be gained from it still And I think that you have got so much from creating this persona of the hardest geizer and the things that you've done But it also comes now with an expectation. So like when you're on the start line the Lee Dman triathlon here People will be looking at you going Oh, well if this is easy for you. Yeah ye yeah whichich is blessing ofur because he's not he's not. Yeah, people say Id said,h I'm walking a part. Yeah. So do you get nervous? L when you're on the start line of that race, how would you be feeling J I don't think I'll be nervous. I acknowledge that there comes a little bit more added pressure when you're a bit more known then people expect certain things of you and they maybe don't understand the context of you know, I actually can't swim so Iron's definitely going to be really difficult for me. You know, that that is kind of pressure that exists externally. For me, I'll always have the standard that I want to give myself I want to give the best performance that I can. I want to try my hardest like you werere saying fromum artist. with where I am and what I've got right. So That's that's an internal pressure that Other humans can't Yeah, that's going to be that's going to be higher than what other people can put on me really. So I'll try my absolute best And I know that on race day it will happen and there's not really an awful lot to be nervous about. what you'll see is my best And that could be a complete failure And that's okay because we'll get up and we'll go again next month. You do the best you can, where you are with what you've got. Is that right I think before we move on to our quick farire questions One thing that I think is very interesting and you've already spoken about the risks of the mananosphere and the dangers of people constantly searching for answers I think a lot of young people particularly are lauding content creators who are dealing with unresolved childh trauma in some way. You know, I see a lot of these people that get lauded as running away from something. Yeah ye. the pain they haven't yet managed to solve is the thing that drives them on this need to kind of punish themselves all the time Do you feel like you are running towards something great or away from something Uh At this moment in my life, I would like to think I'm running towards something great That's definitely always been the case for me though, I think I'd be honest to say that. also probably have to Be honest to out, I'm not hundred percententual I think I What would you be running away from? There's so many things that I think it's hard to really fully understand yourself to that level where you fully can say sit and go, I am one hundred percent not running away from anything because the subconscious runs deep and it's like Tformas run deep and they could be affecting me in ways that I'm not actually G. So yeah, I mean I'd like to think no I think like we look at someone that a really good example is my fellow podcastter, Spencer Matthews and I untapped another show that we produce here at high pererformance like People laud what he does now But he used to have an alcohol addiction. there's an argument that he's still addicted to something. but the addiction is achievement and sport. therefore we laud it rather than criticize it. And I think It's just remembering that It's okay to be a human being, not a human doing. Yeah. Like you are enough as a person. Yeah. You don't have to do good Christian message. But you are like you don't have to do amazing things to be an amazing person. That's trueah J so aled as you are I know one hundred percent. and I think you can you can replace alcoholism with achievement, you know, that is a real thing and you make achievement, you're sort of But you get praise of that so it doesn't feel as negative necessarily. but 's so interesting, isn't it? Yeah. you could just chop it out for hours and hours now hour. I pick these things. Yeah yeah. There's just such a it feels like an infinite compleplex nuance to all of them. Yeah, but it never it also never ends, which I think is interesting. Yeah Listen, before we get to the quick fires, what do you think that young lad looking at that tin of potatoes would be thinking of the man in front of me now G grateful for the journey to that I've been on And I think the young the young version me would probably be like M mostly pretty proud of how I've u of their situation. I'm alwaysways more cautious to sayay prou, more grful. I'm grateful for the journey rather than proud. We're having this conversation thanks to Bulldog. Yes. and they talk about Bulldog understands men I think this is exactly the kind of conversation that men need to be having to understand other men. Yeah, yeah. And if people have listened to this, try and have this kind of a conversation with your mates and just see where it takes you Yeah yeah. I have hope that we're getting better at this as men. I think that like Be a bit of vulnerable lads. It's great to have friendships that for me that have evolved from like sort pubmates drinking, having fun to a bit more like what I'd call like a brotherhood, like where you actually have deep connections and you do life together and you'll talk about all the real stuff So yeah, I'm big on promoting that for our boys. loveove this. Ready for some quick file questions. Let's do it The three non negotiables live a great daily routine Gotta be that SPF daily moisturizer in' it? C on Yeah, get that skin nice and protected other non negotiables do I have At the moment, four weeks post baby it's a bit of caffeine in the morning. Very good. Yeah me fired up. Very good. I've tried to quit that a while ago, but it's come back in it's snuck back in there in a minute, which is a tough one. and then For me, always try less successfully of recent. I always try and get my fitness done, my running done first part of the day. hardest thing of my day, get it done. And then we're free, threeree of them The G greatest piece of advice you've ever received One that I would say recently that that's really resonated with me more is I think, sometometimes can be really focused on being the most interesting person in the room, but it's way more beneficial and valuable to be the most interested person in the room, asking the questions, finding out what other people are what's going on in their life, what they're doing How can you help Talaga Sheould be interested not interesting biggest strength probably say that like there seems to be This that burning ferociousness and tenacity in me seemeems to be more than average so I'd say that's probably my biggest strength. and your biggest weakness will be the same thing It's the hardest thing about being the hardest geizer I dram probably in hard gizer. I'm pretty blessed right now. I'm trying to try just wow, that's actually great that I can't think of anything. Isn't it? Unbelievable. Oh Butich you know I would say is maybe like as is anything in life, responsibility feel like a lot of pressure. I'm aware that it' actually a massive blessing I wouldn't have it any other way, but it can sometimes feel. I'm sure you feel this sometimes too but the responsibility of providing front of people Hving other people lying and you can feel That's just something that ass difficult. but I do on the whole of it. Yeah. Well, it boxed you in Africa and I think it can box you in life. Yeah. if you don't keep an eye on it What does high performance mean to you the ability to get what you want Hth Amazing. I've love this conversation Me too, man. Really, really interesting and good luck in Leeds ye thans as well. Yeah. I'll be thinking of you that you can only currently swim three links good news if I make it out of that lake, then I've got a good I've got half a chance there. Is that what you're feeling as soon as the swim's over, you' I'm glad it's first. M difficult one done first and then we're away love Ross. Thankk you so much for no. And thank you as well for listening to this special episode of Higherformance brought to you by our friends at Bulldog Skincare. As you've just heard, right, it can be exciting to talk about big achievements, whether that's winning a race or competing in an ronman But I think what we've actually touched on in this conversation is that it's easy to overlook the everyday hard work both physically and mentally that goes into making great things happen. And actually the same goes for all of us in our personal lives. We all want that buzz, right of reaching for the big target But the risk is we overlook the strain it can put on our lives. That's why self care is so important And that is what Bulldog are all about supporting with their quality products, purpose built for men You can find Bdle skincare in major retailers and online The Bulldog understands men.