Running 230 km Through The Arctic Circle!

So the challenge was a 230-kilometer run through the Arctic Circle, and it was ran by a company called Beyond the Ultimate, BTU.

I highly recommend them.

Their organization was absolutely second to none.

The way they had it set up for health and safety, the medics that were there and available, and I'll talk you through my Achilles tour 84 kilometers from the end and how the medics literally were able to get me through that.

They're an incredible company, and I recommend anyone that wants to do these extreme challenges, I would 100% recommend them and I'm happy to put my name to them because my goal for the Arctic was number one, not to die and number two, get to the finish line, get to the 230 kilometer finish line.

Ironically, I recorded it on a Fitbit And there'll be a couple of videos going out of my time in the Arctic Circle.

And I recorded my sleep and my activity on a Fitbit for the five days that I was out there.

And even though it was 230 kilometers, my Fitbit ended up coming in way higher than that, partly because I went wrong several times.

And there was two of us.

So me and my friend Simon... who ran through the Sahara with me and was one of the main reasons that I got to the finish line, because we were able to pull each other out of the low points.

And he's a real testament to the quote that I love, that if you want to go fast, go alone.

And if you want to go far, go with other people.

And Simon was that person for me.

That first couple of days where I was feeling really strong and I trained very intensely leading up to this event.

A lot of it indoors, a lot of it on treadmill and a lot of speed work.

But I trained very intensely for this in terms of mental preparation.

I've done a lot of work in my ice bath at home.

I've done a lot of long distance runs on the treadmill, which I actually find harder than outdoor because they're boring.

And that tends to build a little bit more mental toughness for me anyways.

and getting up earlier and doing things that I really didn't want to do was preparing myself mentally for this event.

But when I clocked in and checked out my Fitbit at the end of the five days, day one, I ended up clocking 60 kilometers, day two, 52 kilometers, day three, 55 kilometers, day four, 66 kilometers, and day five, 22 kilometers.

So because of the conditions in the Arctic, You can go wrong, effectively, because you've got the course mapped out as best you can, and there's an indigenous tribe, the Sami people, who are incredible with this event, will lay out paths so that you're able to run, so you know where you're going and don't get lost.

Like, you get lost in the Arctic, you're fucking dead.

So they were amazing at laying things out, but you can get lost.

So I'll talk through day one.