HOW I RAN

[@youngheart17]

This is so inspiring. I've had a life long dream of running a sub-3 marathon, and 18 months ago, I collapsed 200 meters to the finish line and DNFed (with probably enough time to spare, it took a while for me to pause the watch...) Thank you for sticking to your goals and dream, and showing everyone, me included, it's possible. I'll be running London Marathon for the first time this April, if I won't get a sub-3 - Valencia will be my next attempt. But I will get this done.

[@SethJamesDeMoor]

BIG deal sir, big deal! You're rolling. 2023 is going to be fun for you.

[@rickbowker]

Absolutely Fantastic running Matt, Quick running tip: I found to avoid sore quads in a Marathon I started doing a few downhill strides on the road once a week in my marathon build up, worked a treat!

[@TheWelshRunner]

Great advice. Thank you.

[@simonhall7945]

There is x amount extra force downhill herego the stronger quads.

[@mattb6873]

I need to try this

[@michaelgriffiths305]

Fantastic review video! Inspiring.

[@61js]

Pretty good feeling when everything drops into place.

[@robbristle5642]

Congrats I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN.

[@MonkeyShoulders1337]

Congrats bro!! Well deserved :)

[@emanuelsantos5585]

I Saw a video of you with a man in the london marathon helping him getting to the finish line!!! AMAZING!!! CONGRATS

[@marcwilcox2281]

I can’t tell you how much you motivate me to get out there running. I’ve got a half marathon in march and keep telling myself I can’t be bothered. But then I see your videos and that’s the only motivation I need.

[@nikolaykumchev9530]

Amazing result and a great video. I am a very new runner, "ran" London in 5:28 hrs in October and had a much better day in Valencia at 4:56. Up until 30km I could stay with the 4:30 pacer and kept telling myself Don't be greedy, don't be greedy. Really liked the last 2k after the right turn and the blue carpeted finish. My emotion with 4:56 must've been the exact same as yours at 2:24. One thing I did better: I was right at the front of the grey wave on the start at 9:05, an unbelievable feeling to be standing on the very start line (albeit in the slowest wave) right next to the guy with gun! Re-entered it for next year of course

[@dapwhu66]

Well done Matt. So well deserved.

[@finn_english]

Legend, thanks for the breakdown and inspiration!! Now for sub-2:20?

[@bubkabubka]

Right on matt. Genuinely happy for you.

[@duhvn]

You’re the man. Good storyteller too

[@GyulaJentetics]

Awesome time matt,keep it up ☝ ☝ Congratulations 🙌👀👏👏👏

[@michaelbloor8965]

"If I could get more pain that would be a good thing" 🤣🤣 amazing mate congratulations. Absolutely inspiring 💪🏽

[@TheWelshRunner]

Thanks mate. Appreciate the support 👊

[@robwetherell]

Running can shure be a mental barrierr to deal with. Well done on your achievement. Epic!!

[@Stevenc1984]

Love these in depth race reviews. Giving me plenty of fuel for thought about races coming up! Also congratulations 🎉🎊🏅

[@TheWelshRunner]

Glad you enjoyed it. I’m hoping just by getting my thoughts on video that I can look back at this and learn for future marathons too. It’s so easy to forget how you were feeling and what you did in each race. KZbin has been really helpful for me in this regard. Glad you enjoyed and good luck in your future races.

[@herecomesbod]

So happy for you. Laughed at the end as even I can run 400m in 2 minutes 🤣 I was 5 seconds out, so close!

[@stevencolby6664]

I loved this Vlog, truly inspirational and information. Having failed in two sub 3hr attempts this year you have motivated me to hopefully achieve my goal in 2023 London marathon. I must remember that marathons are hard, they will hurt and I must remain positive! Thanks for this Vlog 🙏 it’s exactly what I needed.

[@peterkisidaj9329]

Hey Matt, you're amazing inspiration for us runners that it's worth to struggle not to give up even last Ks in the marathon when is' all about the head. This is like a beauty of marathon. I'm from Slovakia, where's oldest marathon race in Europe, Kosice Peace Marathon, celebrating 100. anniversary in 2023 and its "mantra" is " "TRY ONCE AND LOVE FOREVER" 😊

[@TheCoadyp]

binge watching your videos here this morning. Fantastic PB.

[@brisketsnbourbons9198]

My dude, the emotion you had at the end of the race 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼 beautiful thing to see. Great race man.

[@bh4560]

You deserve it man. What a guy.. followed you since I started running during lockdown and kel too. Brilliant 👏

[@raphaeljohn287]

Congrats sir, way to go💪

[@L00PYDRAG0N]

Da iawn, very inspirational, very informative, and thanks to Kelly too for supporting you. Can I ask. Do you know why your quads began to hurt? What have you done to overcome that? Hopefully meet you both sometime at a race meet. 🏃🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿👏❤️🙏

[@user-rl3ef4ju9k]

It helps so much if there is even one person leading you, let alone a nice blob. Felt that in my last HM, PB:ing 1.29 :)

[@TheWelshRunner]

Absolutely it helps a lot. Congratulations on your PB. Great running.

[@English.runner.en.Espana]

Huge congrats matt!!! Been following for a while and it’s well deserved!!

[@TheWelshRunner]

Thank you. I really appreciate it. Your support has been great 👊

[@ireeves]

Congrats Matt, really chuffed for you and proper happy to have almost guessed the correct time. Thank you.

[@TheWelshRunner]

Congratulations Ian. You may have seen that you are the winner of the competition. Please can you email me at [e-mail]. Thanks.

[@andreafraquelli2870]

Brilliant! An example to all of us... there is something beautiful about a person who never gives up!

[@Pietrotherunningfarmer]

Wow it was a real roller coaster of emotions till the end, but you managed to control everything 💪💪💪 can't wait to see what's next.

[@paulbailey7641]

Well done Matt. Been watching you a while now. Amazing 🎉

[@Andy.mikhail137]

Congrats...just started to follow you on strava recently!

[@martinreidart]

Watching from Thailand!! Come out here for some warm winter training!! Amazing time - well done matt!!

[@LuisBecerra79]

🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 amazing race Matt !!! Congrats

[@josephgonzalez_]

You’ve earned it. Perseverance Parrots get the prize 🏆

[@stephenmiller722]

absolutely smashed it matt, you're a massive inspiration !

[@victorisrunning]

Congratulations Matt! I’ve been following you for a while and fully deserved that massive PB. Long time overdue!!! Enjoy

[@thomasbriggs2744]

Just great. Well done!

[@clairel3730]

Great race recap Matt and of course a great run and a great time - well done you 😃

[@tdr10]

Such a great race review full of all the little important details of fuel, feel throughout , use of emotions. Really useful much appreciated 👍🏻

[@drjd876]

Awesome stuff, you, in part, are a big reason I decided to do a marathon this year, and a larger reason why I finished because of the examples you set, thank you... Super proud you hit the goal! Keep up the good work!

[@Gez-C]

Incredible time Matt, sounds like that everything went to plan, well deserved

[@racer125mx]

Absolutely unreal well done 🔥🔥

[@erosennin4203]

I got very emotional watching this video. Absolutely stoked for you big dog!

[@juanseaforth5111]

Congrats Matt on your amazing achievement 😁👊🏾 well done 🥇 super happy for you and you and your family 🙌🏾

[@alison8843]

Amazing Matt 👏🏻

[@scalyskincw210]

Well done, mate. Good race. I saw you finish on the live stream; you looked majestic. What's that big black thing on your arm just out of interest?

[@georgearthur3232]

Congratulations on you pb Matt it all about chasing the dreams looking forward to your next challenge 👍👏👏👏

[@tomharvey-run]

Love this video, great 5:30 pace over that duration. Congrats. Got Berlin 2024 hope to PB.

[@petetwigg5197]

Inspiring stuff Matt

[@clairhardywynn5620]

Massive congratulations Matt - well deserved indeed 💪💥 x

[@DeeJay_78]

RESPECT!!

[@stevethompson2884]

Awesome effort, your journey is fantastic, such courage and determination!!!

[@GaryJahman]

Thanks for sharing your experience! 👍 I’ll do my first marathon next year, so your videos are really helping ✌️

[@aitorarotzena2550]

5 pounds heavier is huge. However, as you said, I guess that's good. I once read that your ideal marathon weight should be the one you have at 30k in the marathon (or something like that, I may be making it up). Btw, I love your thoughts that Scott was pacing for you exclusively. In my first marathon I also had to trick myself in a similar way. 38-39km in, there were two guys in a bike riding next to a guy that was running at similar pace than me and casually had the same name. So when they cheered for their friend saying his name, I played the metal game that those cheers were exclusively for me.

[@stuartwheeler6877]

Amazing time. All your hard work paid off. Many congratulations 😀

[@John-hd6pl]

Absolutely brilliant mate, very inspiring 💯🔥

[@Rusty_Runner]

Incredible achievement Matt 🔥 I enjoyed your analysis - really helpful. Im training for London and trying to get pre-race and race fuelling right for once! I was interested that your pre race carb intake seemed relatively low and you opted for Maurten 160 mix over 320. Would be appreciated to get any thoughts or advice on these points.

[@TheWelshRunner]

I tried different amounts in training. Nearly 100g of carbs on race morning when I was fully carb loaded seemed to work well. Muscle glycogen stays fairly constant overnight. Liver glycogen falls slightly so 100g of carbs on the morning before the race worked well for me to replenish those stores. Everything is trial and error and a balance. For me the balance is being optimally fuelled but considering any discomfort of feeling too full or stomach discomfort. Maurten 320 would have been 80g of carbs which is fine but I wanted some solid food too as well as liquids. So ~40 from the Maurten 160, 44 from the Maurten Solid bar and a rice cake just to top it off. Over consuming on race morning has never worked well for me. I had my biggest meal at 3pm the day before (lots of rice). Everyone is different but some principles remain the same. I am aware that guidelines would suggest for my weight I have between 70-280g of carbs but guidelines are generic and I always find it is important to test what works for each individual athlete. I see every long run in a marathon block as an opportunity to test and learn. My most specific testing was running Dublin Marathon as a training run. I hope that helps in some way with how I addressed it.

[@Rusty_Runner]

Thanks so much Matt. All makes sense and v helpful! 🙏You’ve convinced me to test out on long runs. Best wishes with your journey. Maybe with 2.24 in the bag, potential to throw the dice and shoot towards 2.20!

[@claremccabe3958]

Brilliant result! What was the temp at the race? What hotel did you stay at?May look into this race! Thx

[@jjnrmason]

Good inspiration for Manchester in April targeting top 5 in uk on power of 10 for u23

[@keithconneely4725]

Congratulations Matt! Brilliant work!

[@jasonpike9620]

Love this video Matt. Massive congratulations!!

[@vnvtraining7203]

Appreciate your vids and congratulations on the PB 🏃🏻‍♂️👍🏻💪🏻

[@Ammerstol]

What a lovely video man, so honest. Huge congratulations Matt!!

[@TheAnikdam]

Amazing! Perseverance 💪

[@jondalgas7201]

Great stuff, great achievement! Really interested in the caffeine, do you drink coffee / take caffeine on a regular basis? I have heard research that totally back up how you use it!

[@nataliehombrado1865]

Such a good video Matt. Fantastic end to your year 👏🏼

[@BlamingNargles]

Just shows how important mental toughness is

[@gokiwi2642]

Great race recap incredible marathon time, congrats Matt😀✅👍

[@petergibbs6993]

Matt - loved this and so chuffed to see that hard work and positivity can reward. Fantastic effort

[@jonathanwatkins447]

Amazing. Well done. Great video and of course a great race.

[@martingrey5655]

Inspiration Matt! I cannot help but notice your quads feature in each race.

[@TheWelshRunner]

They were an issue in Cheshire too. I have some thoughts on what I can do to address the issue. So I will change a few things. I have also noticed that they seem to only hurt when I’m wearing Alphafly but I don’t know if that is correlation or causation. Stuff to work on for sure.

[@martingrey5655]

@@TheWelshRunner I wondered if it was either physiological or training oriented issue, even a mix of both?

[@r_unner_G]

Brilliant Matt!

[@brionia9760]

Congrats Matt, great video. I’m going to try taking the perseverance 🦜 to my future races 🤞

[@GuoGuangChiou]

Such an inspiring sharing of your Valencia marathon journey and congrats the achievement you made. Keep up the good work 👍

[@NicolasVERMANDE]

Very inspirational speech Matt! I'll try to follow your positivity for my next sub 3 attempt in Vienna. My second marathon, the first was in September with a 3:25 where my mind started being very negative at kilometer 30 and I basically gave up as I was on a 3:10 pace. but I'm 42, not one of the youngest runners 😂. Congrats again, amazing time, I'm sure you can go sub 2:20 and get there before Nick Bester 🤫hahaha. That would be awesome!

[@simonhall7945]

Nice, the mind always gives up before the body.

[@user-yl7lz1hm6r]

Great stuff, give this guy 20K more subs!

[@wemorgan]

You're awesome Matt!

[@starlightandcruiser]

Can you share that article about insulin release - would love to read more!

[@sylvainbauge]

Funny how we lie to ourselves at the end of a marathon. I do it too and I'm sure others do it as well. The mental side of things is often the part we work on the least but it's very valuable when things start to hurt.

[@mreuphonium]

Our breakfast was at 5 o clock (near airport ) perfect , did a little run befiore and had it at 5.15

[@TheWelshRunner]

That’s better than mine but still too late for me. I tried to eat between 4 and 4:15.

[@mreuphonium]

@@TheWelshRunner i understand, worked fine for me. ( i also missed the 41 km (and the 40 k ) mark. The 800 m was a blessing. I will follow your journey ( mine s breaking 2.30, now at 2.33 aged 50) 🏃‍♂️💪🖐

[@mylesgibbons2377]

Super stuff matt, v inspiring and great to see hard work really pay off, I ran 2.34.18 this year and to break 2.30 is the dream, what did u think was ur most important session u did in ur build up?

[@fitz1888]

Top running - congrats. Already looking forward to your next series - inspiring stuff. Q- Wondering what your thoughts are on caffeine tablets after vs. a gel with caffeine? Thinking of introducing one in my next marathon block & I'm wondering if 200mg is the right dosage, if you think it helped much beyond perking you up for a couple minutes mid-race & if the tablet was difficult to get down when running. Cheers

[@neilhulme5897]

Inspirational Matt.

[@user-rl3ef4ju9k]

Get yourself Polar Verity Sense and forget playing with that chest strap monitor ;). It's got much better battery than OH1 that was the first arm strap sensor from Polar. Also the strap is better now.

[@TimGrose]

Well done again Matt! Sorry if I missed you mentioning it but what was your reasoning for using your own gels rather the Maurten ones? I see you were using their products for breakfast as it were.

[@TheWelshRunner]

It’s a bit of a long answer. The main reason was I could make up 200g of carbs in 2 small soft flasks rather than carry 8 gels. They fit in the SOAR marathon shorts and were less weight and volume. I rely on water from the course and make the drinks very concentrated. When I tried them out I actually found they were sitting better than Maurten too at marathon intensity. My hypothesis is because of the fructose in Maurten gels. Fructose is slightly lower GI so more difficult to digest. The reason doesn’t really matter though I found homemade ones were working well. Maurten gels or drinks are too weak to carry 200g in 2 small soft flasks so that was the biggest factor though. Final reason was more a bonus than anything. Cost. 5kg of Maltodextrin cost me £8.74. That’s equivalent of 200 Maurten gels for less than a tenner. This allowed me to test like crazy in training and not worry about replenishing Maurten all the time. I used Maurten before hand to save my course fuel and in the morning because that’s what I’d practiced.

[@rod2gban]

@@TheWelshRunner Thank you for going into this level of detail, very useful information. Can I ask what the electrolyte is that you added?

[@TheWelshRunner]

Electrolyte powder from Bulk.com. Also very cheap but currently out of stock. I think you can probably get electrolyte powder from many places though.

[@matejcerkvenik.5181]

Based on your soft flask approach I Did the same in my marathon yesterday. Easier to drink/eat from flask than gels. Use what fits you the most (electrolytes, caffeine..). The challenge is to drink the planned amount as I dont know how much to squeeze the flask. The best is to use 2 flasks of the same amount. I had one bigger and causes the shorts to make a little clockwise turn.

[@halmo68]

Félicitations 👍

[@ollieparker4178]

Hi Matt, quick question, What are the ingredients and measurements for your energy drink/gel you make for your marathon fuel? Trying to find the most suitable gels currently and they are just so pricey £££

[@neilcurran9661]

Hi Matt. you may have answered this before but where did you buy your maltodextrin ? any particular brand ? im just thinking of trying my own drink as had bad experience with gels last time out on a marathon. thanks

[@TheWelshRunner]

Thanks for the question Neil. I got the Maltodextrin from my MyProtein. 5kg was less than £15 (equivalent carbs to 200 maurten gels). I know you can buy Maltodextrin from Bulk.com too, and probably lots of other retailers. I got some electrolyte powder to add in from Bulk.com (again very cheap). I bought cheap soft flasks from sportsshoes. Good luck and I hope it helps.

[@neilcurran9661]

@@TheWelshRunner cheers for the quick reply. i have actually got soft flasks. just need something to fill them in 🤣 how much elecrolyte did you add into each soft flask. it didnt seem like much from the video. cheers

[@TheWelshRunner]

@@neilcurran9661 Yeah you don't need much of the electrolytes. I think I added a little extra to be safe but it's only a few grams in total. I would adapt this depending on predicted weather for the race.

[@neilcurran9661]

@@TheWelshRunner yeah thanks for the info. also dont think my stomach could handle 100grams carbs every 60 mins at minute so will have to start and test with a lower amount. thanks

[@simonhall7945]

Hi Matt, after the big training block for valencia what weekly mileage do think you would need to do to firstly further improve your fitness or secondly maintain what you have now, or are you at the stage now where its quality sessions rather than quantity?

[@shaynefrancischristineeckh244]

Would be interested to know why you think your quads got so sore. Lack of fueling? Not enough taper? Or is it just going to be normal for them to get so beat up running that pace in a marathon?

[@shandyooo]

After what you said about the start. Does it give you confidence to shave off even more off the PB?

[@AJaguar1]

subscribed

[@robnott6622]

What's your next goal. sub 2:20 or another time/distance?

[@alexandertedd8893]

Hi Matt - just entered for next year. Please can I check if you need to go to expo to collect number or does it come out in the post?

[@TheWelshRunner]

You have to go to the expo. The expo is really nice but I would go early. I ended up in a long queue at the prime time the day before. It’s located in the same place as the race start and finish. Great that you have entered. It’s an amazing race.

[@AJaguar1]

14:50 thought pace was fading while hurting, but it wasn't, why did you not lose pace when it was super hurting, ???? that's interesting. Kudos man

[@nwjlions]

What is the patch on your arm?

[@TheWelshRunner]

Supersapiens Glucose Monitor. Measures blood sugar. Allowed me to dial in my fuelling strategy and learn how different foods impact me. I found it really helpful in training.

[@jricab30]

Your using 100% MaltoDextrin or total glocuse and not using any froctose on your mixture? Thankyou for sharing..

[@TheWelshRunner]

Yeah 100% maltodextrin. Tried fructose mixed in and for a marathon I don’t think it’s necessary for me.

[@jricab30]

@@TheWelshRunner thanks alot Matt! I'm using MaltoDextrin now in may preparation for my Toronto Marathon. I usually take 2:1 ratio using MaltoDextrin and Sugar. Im having stomach cramps maybe because I really don't like the sweet taste I get from Sugar. If I mix it in 500ml during it would be fine but if I mix it I. A small flask like yours I'm having the stomach cramps. I will try using 100% MaltoDextrin or maybe 90% MaltoDextrin and 10% fructose. Thanks for sharing.

[@TheWelshRunner]

@@jricab30 Yeah I would try maltodextrin without the sucrose. I replied in Sub 3 group with more information on what I use and why.

[@ratherrapid]

were there training mistakes that resulted in the quad problem. insufficient long speed work, possibly?

[@TheWelshRunner]

I wouldn’t call them mistakes but of course there was more work I would have liked to have got done. Long hard runs are key for me. The main reason I ran Dublin Marathon was to condition the legs for the pounding of the marathon. I would have loved some more time to prepare and some more big long runs. I would also do higher volume overall if I had the ‘perfect’ block. All things I can try to improve for the next one. 👍