How to train for an Ultramarathon in 37 days – BBC’s Reece Parkinson

Reece Parkinson; 37 days to train for 55-miles!

BBC Radio 1Xtra presenter Reece Parkinson took on a tremendous challenge during lockdown 2020. After struggling with a break-up as the world slowed down inside of a global pandemic, Reece took the opportunity to speed up, utilising road running as an outlet for his anguish.

With 5-miles under his belt, Reece began to feel both the physical and mental benefits of running early on, and as the road became a form of therapy, Reece started to push his body further, realising; the longer the run, the better he would feel.

“The further I would go, the harder it was on my body and the better it would feel in my mind”.

Jumping from 5-miles to 14-miles, Reece was “blown away” by what his body could achieve. Listening to the remarkable David Goggin’s as he pushed his body further and harder, he was inspired as he learned of the ultramarathon, “if he can do it, then I can do it”, he thought, as he began to prepare for his first marathon challenge.

“I did my first marathon. It was a self-made experiment. It was a terrible idea! I did not take any water with me, and I had no clue what a gel was back then, so I didn’t take any. I just went out there and ran the distance. When I got back home, my legs were useless; I could not move, but to be able to say that I had run that far felt like the most incredible achievement”.

Raised in a single-parent household by his mum and having worked incredibly hard to pursue his ambitions, Reece, no stranger to hard work and endurance, was determined to prove that he could do anything that he set his mind to, he decided to take on the infamous Montane Cheviot Goat Ultramarathon; with only 37 days to train for it.