Blog

ahmed eid ahmed eid

Podcast Episode 1: How to start running

Welcome to the One14 podcast, a space dedicated to exploring the disciplines of running and memorizing the Qur’an. In this episode, Ahmad Fahmy answers Buthayna Fahmy’s questions about running.

Ahmad Fahmy:

My fitness journey started in 2008. Before that I was not fit at all, not an athlete, not good at sports for the most part. As a result of stress and different things at work, I started running primarily as a stress reliever, and became hooked on running. Not because I like running. I like the feeling after the run. And so that became a half marathon, marathon, half Iron Man, Iron Man, double Iron Man, Ultraman, and more and more things. And so, yeah, my background started in 2008, did a whole bunch of races. I'm not entirely sure even how many marathons at this point. I've done maybe 10 half Iron Mans and maybe seven or eight full. I don't have a good record keeping. But now, for me, it's more less about me doing these things as much as getting other people to do these things.

Buthayna Fahmy:

My name is Buthayna Fahmy. I am a senior in high school. Since I was younger I've always loved to play sports and race against my friends, anything competitive. Going back to elementary school, I played soccer for a little, I took swimming lessons. I was in gymnastics and eventually I joined a basketball team and that's kind of been my sport for the past few years now. And a couple years ago, when the pandemic started, I decided to become more consistent in my workouts, because I had no other mode of exercise. I started with strength, workouts and programs in the Nike training app. Eventually my parents bought a Peloton and I use it every once in a while. I've also tried running programs like Couch to 5K, but I've never gone further than two or three weeks just because I lose focus or interest. And that's where I am now.

Buthayna Fahmy:

So a lot of these runs are very long and the training programs require multiple hours of training per week. How do you not get bored of the monotony of the process?

Ahmad Fahmy:

First of all, I love running. I came to love running. So for me it's not that it's not painful. Whereas most people, when they think about running, they're like, oh, I hate the idea of running. For me it's not. I don't approach it or even feel that way. I actually love running. How's it not monotonous for me? First of all, I very rarely run on a treadmill. I hate running on treadmills. It's generally running outside and places that I like. So for me in Istanbul, it's running along the Borphorous river. It's just a couple minutes for my house. It's when I do most of my thinking or my best thinking and so I'll need to always run with something to capture my ideas while I run. And so that's the first thing. It's not for me, something not enjoyable, it's enjoyable. But there are times when I can get bored. And so I have different things for that.

Ahmad Fahmy:

In a race there's a whole bunch of mental tricks I've acquired over the years. I used to start with just counting. I used to count from one to a hundred. This is a race, it's not training. I used to count from one to 100 over and over again. And that's not the monotony side. That's when the giving up would start keeping in my mind. When I feel like something is bothering me, it's nagging or something like that. That inner sort of jerk, that's trying to get you to stop. So I have a whole bunch of mental tricks to stop that. But I guess that's a different question.

Buthayna Fahmy:

You said that you loved running. How did you come to love running?

Ahmad Fahmy:

I came to love running because I started running slowly. My first run wasn't just go out and run as hard as I can and then pant because I couldn’t breathe…I didn't experience that. The person that got me into running, he told me, "I want you to do one slow mile. So slow that you can be able to speak to somebody." So I think that first mile was like maybe in 10 or 11 minutes. And at the end of that, I was like, wow, I could do another one of those. But he told me to stop. And so, yeah, I came to love running because I didn't actually run in my first run. I kind of jogged. A slow jog. And so at the end I felt better than I did before I ran. Before I ran, I felt kind of like foggy and all this kind of stuff. And after that one mile, I felt good. And so that's how I got hooked. Like I said, I got hooked to the feeling of how I feel after I run.

Buthayna Fahmy:

So, for me personally, I've only ever been into strength workouts. How is running different for the body? And why specifically did you decide to make this challenge focus on running?

Ahmad Fahmy:

It works out different systems. So when you're doing strength, you have three basic systems, the anaerobic, aerobic and the phosphagen. So when you're doing hard CrossFit type or lifting motions, you're working a particular system, the phosphagenic system. So, I do also strength training three times a week. This is working an entirely different system where effectively you're training your body to burn fat for energy. The longer, slower stuff. Why did I choose running for this particular challenge? Running long distances is not really a physical challenge like people think. When you hear things like people ran a hundred miles, they go, wow, that must sound so hard. It's mostly in my opinion, mental with a physical component and an eating component. And so I felt that running long distances is much closer to memorizing Qur'an than other things. Memorizing Qur'an is a long-drawn-out process that requires discipline and consistency. It was very analogous of each other and kind of balance each other out.

Buthayna Fahmy:

So you said that you also do strength workouts three times a week. So you think that when you're training for a race, including other training methods like strength training is beneficial?

Ahmad Fahmy:

Yeah, absolutely. I generally run twice a week only. And I will cycle, I'll swim, and I'll do strength training.

Buthayna Fahmy:

How did you formulate your training? What kind of research did you do? I guess, did you have any trainers or was it just Google?

Ahmad Fahmy:

In the beginning it was not scientific. Remember I told you I ran that long, slow mile. So what I didn't tell you is that one of the most important things in how I train and what I do is I register for the race first. I register before I'm ready. And even when I registered for my first Ironman, I didn't yet know how to swim, right? So I always register for the race first.

And I said, okay, the half marathon, the Dover Half Marathon, which was the first race I did in 2008, it's 13 miles. So my whole training plan became every Sunday add an additional slow mile.

And so that was it. Every Sunday I added a very slow mile. And then eventually I added a secondary run on a Wednesday where when I got to three miles, I tried to make that three miles a little bit faster every week. So I started with like doing it in 33 minutes and then 32, then 31, then 20 and 29. That was it.

Ahmad Fahmy:

So my initial way in which I trained was only two runs a week. And that's very different than most training programs that people download, which has you running five or six times a week. I've never done that. I've never run that much. I maximum ran three times a week.

Buthayna Fahmy:

So I've personally tried running before and being consistent in that. But I can't seem to make the habit stick past a few weeks. How do you develop that habit of running so it becomes routine?

Ahmad Fahmy:

I always track myself. I had a spreadsheet, a Google sheet type thing. And every week I would track and see, how am I doing my times? But really the higher order thing that made me stick to it was that I had registered for a race. I had registered for a race, and that sense of like, the race is in the calendar, my boss knew I was doing it. My friends knew I was doing it. That probably created that sense of urgency and purpose.

Ahmad Fahmy:

It's like... You have a wedding in six months. You're getting married. You're probably going to get in better shape. Right? You have this external goal pushing you. And so that kept me consistent. I tracked myself and then I discovered community. I joined a running club called the Serpentine Running Club and it just became part of my life. Every Wednesday night I'd go running with them and every Sunday I'd go running with them.

Buthayna Fahmy:

Okay. So through your journey, you've run very long distances. In the beginning of your running career, what were some of the goals you had, and how did your or goals shift over time?

Ahmad Fahmy:

My goal in the beginning was just to run 13 miles. And the reason I did that was that the person who got me into running, a guy named Graham, he forced me as my first step to register for a half marathon. And then I got the bug... And the bug is that I need to do it again.

I'm the opposite of you. You sound like a jock. I wasn't a jock. Right? Your uncle was a good athlete. And I wasn't. I used to play stuff. I just wasn't very good at it, especially I didn't like team sports at all. Like, don't throw me the ball. Leave me alone.

Ahmad Fahmy:

And so when you have that background and you finish a half marathon, wow, there's this rush of dopamine and achievement. You want to create that again. And then couple with the fact that I really felt great after the runs. And then I found a community in terms of running with the Serpentine.

The whole thing was like, I like this. I want more of this in my life. And it just became a matter of upping the ante every time. Initially, by the way, now that I'm thinking about it, I didn't decide to do another, go do a marathon. When I told him that I finished the half marathon, he said, "Oh, register for a full marathon." And so he pushed me to do the full marathon. And after I did that, then he didn't need to push me anymore.

I kept on looking like, what's the next step? What's the next step? Half Ironman. What's that? And then full Ironman. How do I do that? And so I just progressively, over the years, started adding more difficult challenges until I reached the point where I was good. I reached one challenge that stopped me from wanting to do anymore.

Buthayna Fahmy:

You mentioned that you got the bug for running. That doesn't just come out of nowhere. How did you decide to start running? Like, instead of lifting weights?

Ahmad Fahmy:

Because the person suggested I go for a run. And it was that simple. I didn't decide myself that I wanted to go for a run. He saw that I was really stressed at work and he felt, because what it did for him, was it de-stressed him. It was like a natural way to de-stress yourself. Because running is, think about it. If you're running slowly, you're ideally disconnected from your phone. You're disconnected from the world. And you can really think through the backlog of stuff in your head. And so that's what hooked me. But why I started running was because of his influence.

Buthayna Fahmy:

So you registered me for a half marathon in September. I think I have enough time to train for it, but I don't know what I would need to do to be able to finish. What would the training program look like for a half marathon?

Ahmad Fahmy:

So what I like people to do is set themselves up for success. And so what is a half marathon? It's 13.1 miles. An average time is between two hours and let's say two hours and 20 minutes. So the first thing is-

Ahmad Fahmy:

...let's say two hours and 20 minutes. So the first thing is that number seems like a big number to most people, running for two hours and 20 minutes. And "I can't even run for X amount of minutes," and stuff like that. So what I recommend is the following: you start by finding a treadmill or doing it outside, it's up to you. But a lot of people find it easier to do what I'm about to do on the treadmill.

And you walk for 10 minutes at a brisk pace, and then you run for five minutes. And you try to keep your heart rate at about 130. So at 130 it's not a crazy run. But between 130 and 140, not getting to 180, 190. So you're going to walk briskly. Your heart rate should be around one hundred-ish for 10 minutes. It's not going to be hard. You'll be able to talk to somebody. Then you're going to run for five minutes. So all in total, 15 minutes, you're going to do that twice.

And so your total running time is going to be 10 minutes and your total walking time is going to be 20 minutes. Every time you do that, subsequent to that, you add another... Basically rep. And then another 10 minutes and another five minutes, another 10 minutes another five minutes. And within two weeks, you're going to be on the treadmill for an hour, which blows people's mind like, "Wow, I just did an hour," and then an hour and 15 and an hour and a half, an hour 45, then two hours. So you're going to be able to ramp up very, very quickly. Now what you're doing is you're getting used to being on the treadmill for that period of time. You're not overexerting yourself. You're recovering during the run. You're getting your tendons used to that kind of pounding. And it's not going to feel that hard.

Ahmad Fahmy:

You're going to overcome that. Like, "Ugh, I hate running," or whatever. And most likely you're going to feel better. Like after you do it, like, "Wow, I feel good. I could have done that longer." And if you do the math, that's, if you do two hours, you're going to be doing almost 40 minutes of running. And so that's a lot of running. And then you slowly start decreasing the amount of time you are walking until eventually... Then you go down to your next cycle. And of course I need to send you a whole spreadsheet of what this looks like to where you are running for 10 minutes, walking for five minutes running for 10 minutes, walking for five minutes, running for 10 minutes, walking for five minutes. It's almost like the next phase in the evolution. And then you're going to get to the point where you'll be able to run the whole two hours. In addition to some other sessions I haven't mentioned, but that's roughly how I get people to stick with running... Is long recovery period of 10 minutes and five minute run.

Buthayna Fahmy:

You really do make it sound so easy.

Ahmad Fahmy:

It is that easy. The hardest part is what's going through your mind. Like, "Oh, it must be hard." Or the hardest part is actually registering. The hardest part is overcoming that inner jerk in your head, that's trying to stop you from doing things.

Buthayna Fahmy:

So you said that running was kind of a de-stressor for you. What other ways did running improve your life?

Ahmad Fahmy:

When you run for long periods of time and do things that you think were not possible, like, for example, when I was training for the MDS, I ran from London to Oxford. Most of it was at night and it was raining and that's... So it was a 100 K, 60 miles. And I remember before it, not even thinking I wasn't going to do it, I knew I was going to do it. And that's what running and these events did for me. I think I can achieve anything. As long as I have the time and the preparation, I would never... I was not like that before. For example, if somebody, he goes to me, "Hey, let's run a 100 miles or 114 miles. I know I can't do it this moment, but I know I can do it. And so that's a big part of running.

Ahmad Fahmy:

Another thing that running gave me was when you can run slowly for long periods of time, you can really get to know a city. So when you travel and you able to run for like three hours around the city, very slow, you can really understand the city. It made me a much better traveler, as opposed to taking those hop off, hop on buses and things like that.

Buthayna Fahmy:

So some people are more internally driven and others externally. Personally, I'm internally driven. So I think that I can set my own goals. And I don't think that I really need external support or stressors to go after them. How do training programs differ from for internally versus externally driven people? Or is it just one program for everybody?

Ahmad Fahmy:

Wow, that's such an interesting question. I don't know like do intrinsically motivate people and extrinsically motivate people need different programs... I think that the training program's the same. I think what they need to get motivated might be different. Like for example, I know a lot of people that use Strava and they like to post their runs on Strava and they get the kudos and it helps them. And in some cases helps them go faster because they know other people are going to see their times on Strava. And so maybe not so much the training programs different, but the types of community they need. And perhaps you want to use Strava. You don't need to use Strava and people say, "Well, that was an amazing run." Or maybe even for you, you do not need to register for a race to push you. Whereas, I need a race in the calendar. I need to have a race from the calendar to keep me training. I need, for example, to have a coach. I have a coach that is giving me a plan and checks in if I do it. So I guess I'm extremely motivated.

Buthayna Fahmy:

So when I do decide to run, I like to run in a fasted state, first thing in the morning. What do you know about food intake and running? Is there a proper way to do it?

Ahmad Fahmy:

I also like to run in a fasted state, but only for the long slow stuff. What's called zone 2, where you're actually training your body to burn fat for energy. And so the long slow, low heart rate bikes runs and swims, I'll do in a fasted state, but in terrible work, the hard stuff I need to be to have had something before and maybe something even during. So for example, if I'm going to do a long, hard, two to three hour run, I don't mean zone 2. I need fuel, I need glycogen, I need sugar and things like that.

Ahmad Fahmy:

I need fuel. I need glycogen. I need sugar and things like that. And so what you eat before, during and after depends on what the workout is, the level of intensity, the duration.

Buthayna Fahmy:

So you said that food during the run could affect your run. Aside from right before and after a run, is there a good diet for runners to follow?

Ahmad Fahmy:

That's a really big question. And a whole bunch of YouTube wars are fought over this. You have the keto people that say high fat diet is the best thing for runners. Then you have the high carb, low fat people that say it's all about high carb. Look at the indigenous running tribes and look at the folks that win every year in Africa, they have a very high carb, high sugar diet. I think ... depends on what kind of running you're doing. I think if you're doing long, slow runs, I think being ketosis is completely fine. I think if you're trying to run as fast as you can, I think a high carb diet is probably better. And that's all fueling the run. Then there is the recovery. And one thing that every school of thought agrees on is you want to have as much anti-inflammatory foods as possible, like the least amount of processed foods, the most amount of plant-based stuff in terms of lowering inflammation and recovery ... and of course protein.

Buthayna Fahmy:

So moving on from food during runs. Is stretching important before and after?

Ahmad Fahmy:

Yeah. Stretching is so, so important, and I'm so bad at it. Especially when you're my age, stretching is incredibly important. I probably say that dynamic stretching before and afterwards, even at night, it doesn't need to be right afterwards, stretching. And if you're not going to stretch anything, at least stretching your hip flexors. Because we're sitting down. You and I are sitting down right now and our hip flexors are like at 90 degree angle. You know? And so all of a sudden, you stand up and you have very tight hip flexors and that creates lower back pain. There's a whole lot of bad things. So at the very least, stretching your hip flexors and being very well hydrated.

Buthayna Fahmy:

Okay. So in reference to this theme of the One14 race, what aspects of running overlap with memorizing Quran?

Ahmad Fahmy:

So many. So many because memorizing Quran, like running for most people, starts with a mental block. Like, "Oh, I can't memorize." Especially when you get to an older age like, "Oh, I haven't memorized anything in so long." You're probably still memorizing in school. So it starts with that initial block of, "I can't do it," or, "I'm not a good memorizer," or something like, "I'm not an Arab." Which the irony of that statement is that most memorization happens outside of the Arab world, the Desi cultures. And so that's the first thing is that initial mental block.

Ahmad Fahmy:

Then, they require consistency. It requires discipline. It requires putting in the miles in terms of running. And it requires overcoming the same negative self-doubt or the inner jerk. I talked about it. "Ugh, I'm tired. I don't feel like doing it today. Maybe I'll do it tomorrow." There's so many parallels to memorizing and running, and so many of the same challenges that you have to overcome. I know people who have the whole Quran memorized. When I told them about this challenge, they go, "No, I can't run. I can't do that. Just to do the Quran portion, I would do it." And I know people who run, I told about this challenge and they go, "I'll do the running portion, but I can't do the Quran portion." And so there's so many parallels between them.

Read More