Vriko Kwok knew the fourth day of her six day ultramarathon was going to be the toughest one. She had some floor to make up if she was going to attain her purpose of operating a complete of 300 kilometers (slightly over 186 miles) over six consecutive days— round 50 kilometers (31 miles) day-after-day.
She wakened at 4 a.m. able to work, and did she ever. She ran continuous, aside from gear adjustments, for 9 and a half hours straight. However simply two loops away from her day’s purpose, she sat totally gassed in a relaxation tent, feeling she had nothing left to offer—not even tears.
What occurred subsequent encapsulated how she managed to satisfy—and even surpass—her 300-kilometer purpose and run 303.31 kilometers (188 miles) within the Lululemon Additional ultramarathon as a 31-year-old novice runner who had by no means logged even a mile earlier than committing to ultramarathon coaching simply 11 months earlier.
Specialists In This Article
- Vriko Kwok, ultramarathoner, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor, and entrepreneur
Kwok is a Hong Kong-based former Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor and entrepreneur. In early 2023, Lululemon introduced her as a member of the 10-woman Additional ultramarathon, an initiative held March 6-12, 2024 in La Quinta, California. The race was launched in partnership with the Canadian Sport Institute of the Pacific (CSPI).
Every girl set a person purpose they’d try to satisfy over the course of the race. By documenting and learning every girl’s coaching and efficiency, Lululemon and CSPI aimed to additional consciousness, understanding, and analysis in ladies’s endurance athletics.
Different members of the crew included ultramarathon world report holder Camille Heron, ultramarathoner and activist Mirna Valerio, and different public figures and athletes of many nationalities, backgrounds, and physique sorts. Whereas expertise on the crew various—and it was a difficult endeavor for all concerned—Kwok was the lone distance operating newbie. However, on the Additional launch in Might 2023, she introduced her 50K per day purpose to get to 300K whole, which quantities to operating an ultramarathon each single day.
“I remember starting Further. The night before, I was talking to my partner, and I was like, ‘Do you think I could actually do this?’” Kwok says. “Even the day we were starting, I was still having doubts because it was just too big of a challenge. But one quote I always go back to is ‘If your dream doesn’t scare you, it’s not big enough.’ And I definitely like to pick my biggest dream to crack.”
Over the subsequent 11 months, Kwok skilled with Additional teammate Stefanie Flippin, a operating coach, physician, and ultramarathoner who holds the 2021 ladies’s title for the quickest 100-mile run, to actually go from zero to 300 (kilometers). Beginning with walk-runs that have been below an hour lengthy and laddering as much as marathons, she ended up operating 2,700 kilometers (1,677 miles) over the course of her coaching, logging 30 hours every week of operating and different types of coaching.
These are the nuts and bolts of how Kwok did it. However there’s a much bigger story behind the numbers.
“One quote I always go back to is ‘If your dream doesn’t scare you, it’s not big enough.’ And I definitely like to pick my biggest dream to crack.” —Vriko Kwok
Whereas Kwok sat depleted in the remainder tent on the finish of day 4, she was noticed by Additional teammate Montana Farrah-Seaton, a member of Australia’s nationwide basketball crew and skilled long-distance runner. Farrah-Seaton greeted her with an enormous hug, and feelings poured out of each ladies as they affirmed how proud they have been of one another.
When Farrah-Seaton requested Kwok how she was feeling along with her arms cupped round Kwok’s head, Kwok replied “F*cking awful.” Farrah-Seaton didn’t deny or reduce these feelings. As an alternative, she provided to return out on the course collectively.
The ladies began with a stroll, however as they approached the ultimate miles earlier than Kwok’s 100-mile purpose, extra Additional teammates joined the march towards the end line, placing apart their very own tempo and mileage objectives. Kwok and her teammates completed operating Kwok’s one centesimal mile collectively.
“It was the highest high of my experience,” Kwok says. “Contrary to many people’s thinking, Further is actually not just about one individual. If there’s one thing Further has shown, the world is running is very much a team sport.”
After assembly that purpose, Kwok took her first actual remainder of the day.
“I actually took a good one-and-a-half hour break to just nap, to eat, to feel well rested again,” Kwok says. “Then I went back out and did another half marathon before calling it at night.”
Via listening to and nourishing her physique, resting when obligatory, staying centered on her purpose, and, most of all, being surrounded by individuals who actually cared about and understood her, the tip of day 4 encapsulated each what Additional was all about for Vriko Kwok, and the way she felt whereas ultramarathon coaching and operating the race itself. It’s an achievement she hopes others will be taught from to search out their very own end line.
“Our journey may be about running, but it is so much bigger than running,” Kwok says. “I really hope that our combined story can help more women and more humans in the community look into themselves and ask, ‘What is their own version of Further?’”
How Kwok went from being a newbie to operating 303K over six consecutive days
1. She took a “wellness first” strategy
As a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor, Kwok was used to pushing by way of ache it doesn’t matter what.
“I would drill 10 hours a day sparring with different partners and I dislocated my shoulder and broke a couple of my fingers,” Kwok says. “My training partners would tell me to just suck it up and deal with your pain and keep going.”
To coach and finally race in Additional, that strategy wasn’t going to chop it as a result of Kwok knew she needed to get to the beginning line damage free if she was going to do the race in any respect.
“I thought coming into running would be an even harder form of workout, which it is on some level,” Kwok says. “But in a grander scheme, I actually learned a lot of things about my body and how to take care of it and prioritize my self-care in the journey of running because in order to perform I just have to feel really well, I have to eat really well, I have to rest really well. And the fact that I take care of myself in that sense is the reason why I could do Further.”
Placing “wellness first” into follow meant staying in shut communication with coach Flippin. If Kwok was feeling depleted, Flippin would advise her to again off on her mileage objectives for the week and never transfer onto the subsequent purpose till she was feeling nicely and actually prepared.
Moreover, these 30 hours every week of coaching integrated yoga, stretching, and bodily remedy. In different phrases, coaching hours have been devoted to restoration, mobility, and adaptability simply as a lot as they have been to constructing power and endurance.
The wellness first strategy paid off.
“I went into [Further] without any injury, I came out of it without any injury, I didn’t even have one single blister coming out of six days of running,” Kwok says.
2. She power skilled
These ultramarathon coaching hours additionally integrated loads of power coaching. Weight coaching for operating is an under-appreciated part of coaching. It ensures runners are in a position to have interaction their muscle tissues—notably the glutes and hamstrings— which might too typically go un-engaged, so runners can benefit from each stride.
Constructing muscle tissues round joints additionally reduces the affect round these joints, which is essential for a high-impact train like operating to stop damage. In that manner, power coaching was additionally part of the wellness first ethos.
“Most of the time, I was using my training hours to take care of my body,” Kwok says. “We do lots of weight training to strengthen the lower body. I’m a bigger girl, and as I was coming in from Jiu-Jitsu, I had my own injury coming into running. So we very much focused on weight training for the lower body to strengthen all the muscles for running.”
“I believe that whatever you are doing, find your people and then you’ll be able to push further.” —Vriko Kwok
3. She discovered a balanced purpose and didn’t “move the pole”
To keep away from burning out throughout coaching, Kwok didn’t change or improve her purpose as she discovered herself in a position to run longer distances. The 300K purpose was actually an enormous one. However in distinction to the massive objectives she set herself in prior years, she went into the Additional problem with the identical purpose she set on the outset.
“I always say not to ‘move your pole’ because I remember in my 20s I always moved my pole, which is, I want to do this thing, and when I got there, I would try to just move the pole to make it even more challenging,” Kwok says. “Pick challenges that push the envelope without overdoing it.”
4. She used the precise gear
The Lululemon gear, together with the beyondfeel footwear and forthcoming Help Code Bra, helped Kwok keep away from blisters and chafing. Whereas Additional athletes had customized race kits made for them—and that’s not one thing each athlete can do—not settling for one thing that doesn’t match or really feel proper was a precedence Kwok urges others to take to coronary heart.
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5. She harnessed insights about her physique
All through the Additional crew’s ultramarathon coaching, CSPI examined biometrics like VO2 max (the utmost quantity of oxygen your physique makes use of whereas exercising) to realize perception into ladies’s endurance efficiency. That enabled Kwok to be taught concerning the limits of her physique and the way she processed power.
These assessments helped her establish totally different paces, from her max effort to her “forever pace,” that means she knew simply the way to push when she wanted some further oomph and the way to tempo herself when what she wanted was to simply maintain movement. Kwok really tapped into that without end tempo on the finish of day 4, when she ran that further half marathon after her hour and a half relaxation.
“It enabled me and empowered me to know at what pace I could keep running forever without feeling tired,” Kwok says. “I was actually using that pace to run those four laps back to back. It’s funny, the thought I had after those four laps was, ‘Oh damn, I’m a runner now. I really am a runner now. What’ve they done to me?’”
6. She discovered her individuals
With out hesitation, Kwok says working as a part of a crew coaching for and operating the ultramarathon was what enabled her to get by way of it, and what she is most pleased with. Whereas Kwok was coaching in Hong Kong, she would really feel lonely at instances, however the thought that her principally U.S.-based teammates have been additionally on the market clocking mile after mile helped her go on.
“This experience has taught me so much, and out of everything, I think it was definitely the love and support I share with my teammates and how we have that for one another,” Kwok says. “The idea of community, the idea of how you can do this as a team, that would be hopefully my idea or my message to share with the audience because I believe that whatever you are doing, find your people and then you’ll be able to push further.”
