Sam Heward

Profile

Name: Sam Heward

Occupation: Co-Founder Ultra X

Home Town: Edinburgh (living in London though)

Website/Blog: (if applicable) www.ultra-x.co (does that count ha!)

Questions

What is your running background?

Never ran until signing down for the MDS as a 22-year-old. Never looked back.

When did you first start running Ultra marathons and why?

Because they were there and why not?

When or where (at which events) are we most likely to see you?

I will be at 10+ events a year (mainly Ultra X ones where I am not running) and committing to racing 1 or 2 bucket listers.

What are your personal key running achievements to date?

Sub 30 hour UTMB, 2:47 marathon, undefeated record against Chris Taylor (probably not relevant).. and no DNFs to the name

What was your hardest race experience?

UTMB Oman- the inaugural edition. I was in the area and seemed like a good idea to get a UTMB place. Was not fit and had some serious headtorch malfunctions resulting in a death march through the dark. Finished in 34 hours having been hallucinating about Omani runners jogging alongside me with my support crew spending 8 hours at the finish waiting for me to cover the final section!

What is your typical race strategy for an ultra?

Spend ages mapping out a detailed pacing and nutrition plan then throwing it out the window and trying to stick with the lead pack for as long as I can.

What does a typical training week look like?

No such thing really but when I’m in a routine it’s always 2 full days off, 5 days of exercise, 1 long and 1/2 faster sessions.

What one tip would you pass onto people running an Ultra marathon for the first time?

Get good at eating on the move. It is an art form.

Can you tell us one interesting fact about yourself?

A few peaks of my sporting career include representing Scotland at U13s Rugby, winning a trip to Brazil at Uni playing 5 a side Human Table Football and running the fastest marathon as a cat (unofficially).