Episode 31: Project 300 Sub-90: What Really Happened on Race Day

I set out to deadlift 300kg and run a sub-90 half marathon, back to back, on the same day. This episode is the full story.

I walk through the lead-up — how I trained, what was going through my head in the weeks before, and what it actually felt like standing on that track at Sylvania knowing what I'd signed up for. I get into the deadlift itself: I hit 280kg, short of the 300kg target, and I'm honest about what happened and how I processed missing it in real time before turning around and running.

Then the half marathon — 53 laps of a 400m track, holding it together mentally and physically after that lift, and how I found my way to a 1:29:30 finish. I talk about the headspace shift between the two efforts, what carried me through the back half of the run, and how I felt crossing the line.

Finally, I get into where my head's at now — how I've processed the whole day since, what I took from missing the deadlift target, and what's next for me as a hybrid athlete.

If you've ever chased something big enough that you weren't sure you'd get it, this one's for you.

Links:

🔗 Coaching enquiry: https://forms.gle/4kRxAzHmvUZmpgu8A

📥 Training programs: https://liftheavyrunfast.myshopify.com/

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hybridcoachmike

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridcoachmike/

Lift Heavy, Run Fast Podcast Intro

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

What's going on, everyone? Welcome back to another episode of the Lift Heavy Run Fast Podcast. I am your host, hybrid coach Mike, and I have been on a little bit of a hiatus the last couple weeks. We are a little bit behind. But today I'm gonna be talking you through Project 300 sub 90. So two weeks ago, I did Project 300 sub 90. Those who don't know and those who have been following me for a little while, um, also you'll notice right now that the backdrop is a little bit different uh behind me. I've shifted my room around to optimize my lighting situation. So I hope that this is uh good enough for all of you and better. Anyway, two weeks ago I had Project 300 sub-90, which is where I attempted a 300 kilo deadlift and a sub-90 half marathon back to back. I have been training for that for probably like the last six months-ish, I would say. It's been something that I've spoken about. You can see a couple other episodes and stuff where I've mentioned it before. Uh, and you also know that, yeah, it's something that I've been training for for a little while. Why I did it was primarily because I wanted to show people that you can lift heavy and run fast at the same time. I also believe that the current, I also believe that like there aren't that many strong and fast hybrids out there. Like when I say like genuinely strong, like I don't mean just like slightly above average strength, like some really strong dudes. There's I feel like there's not many really strong hybrids out there. Nothing against like the hybrids that are out there in any way, but with all due respect, like a lot of the hybrids who have done these kind of challenges deadlift like 220, 220 kilos, 240 kilos, which in my opinion is like not that hard to get, particularly if you're someone like me who came from a powerlifting background. You'll know that a 220 or 240 kilo deadlift, uh, unless you're like in a really lightweight class, uh, like you know, under 65 or under 70 and below, it's out, it's it's probably not, it's really not that much. Um, and frankly, it's not that impressive. What I wanted to do was try to do something that is both impressive by lifting standards or yeah, lifting standards, powerlifting standards, but also impressive by you know, running standards. Obviously, I'm not saying I'm out here breaking records, okay? So that's not what I'm trying to say. Like, if I want to look at like powerlifting records, I'm pretty sure the best deadlift in what would have been my weight class on the day, which is the under 93 kilos, is like 320 or 330, maybe now, maybe even 340, I don't know. Like it's something like that. So I'm not saying I'm there, and then in terms of running, obviously there's no weight classes, so we're not even gonna talk about that. But I know in terms of running, the dudes that are doing half marathons that are obviously quote unquote fast, are doing way faster than under 90 minutes. Um, but uh I did I I would say that at least it's like respectable uh running at four, I did it, I think I did the run in 415 pace. So I ended up doing the I ended up anyway, I'll give you a rundown of all that in a second. But the point I'm trying to get across here is that I just wanted to do something that would be considered respectable in both standards, uh, like very respectable, and I have a feeling that I did that. Um, how did the event go on the day? Let's go through that. So I did it down at my local track. For those who don't know where I live, I live in the south of Sydney, and the track near me is Clodsylvania Athletics track. I booked the track, so I had the whole track to myself. I had a lot of my friends come down, which was awesome. They just showed some support. Had a videographer and stuff come down to help me out as well because I wanted to get some content for the day, which uh I'll probably use in some of my YouTube videos later on down the track. I am getting back on the YouTube front as well now, uh, that I have a little bit more time. But long story short, worked up to 280 kilos. 280 kilos felt like a walk in the park. Honestly, I think I could have done it for three or four reps. For those who know, the past couple weeks, if you have me on Instagram leading up to Project 300 sub 90, anytime I've tried to go above 280 kilos, it hasn't felt good. My position just hasn't been there. It's felt a little bit off, and I haven't been 100% confident with both my ability to do it but also my technique at the time. The last two times I've deadlifted 300, I felt way more confident, and my technique just felt a lot more dialed in. And when you're pushing your lift to that level, it needs to be spot on. And unfortunately for me, I don't feel like the last couple weeks it has felt, or last couple months rather, it has felt spot on. So I gave 300 two attempts. I did get it up to about my knees, uh, but unfortunately, I couldn't finish the lift. And the main reason why is I just think my technique and my setup wasn't as good as it should have been. But also I have been very nervous about lifting that weight, to be quite frank, because the weeks leading up to it didn't feel great going above 280 kilos. I managed to pump 280 kilos on the day. The lift actually looked really good, really clean. Um, and I thought I had 300 kilos in terms of strength, but I knew the position and everything would need to be spot on. And unfortunately, I don't think I did that correctly. I'll probably post a video of it some point on Instagram. I don't know if I have already, but you can see that I lose my position as soon as the bar starts coming up off the floor, a little bit of a round back, all that kind of stuff, and I just felt like there's no point in trying to push this or trying to grind that lift out, considering I then needed to run a 90-minute half marathon around the track afterwards. So, long story short, ended up doing 280, gave two attempts at 300. After my second attempt of 300 kilos, I called it because I knew that I'm not gonna get it on the third. My confidence wasn't there, and I wanted to make sure I could get this run done and done successfully. Therefore, I went straight from that second attempt at 300 into the run, literally put my shoes on and went for it. It was like two minutes, the the gap in between, for those wondering. Started the run. The run was 53 laps of head noise. Um because I missed the because I missed the deadlift prior, I do feel like I had a little bit of when I for those who don't know what head noise is, if you're following this from somewhere around the world, that that isn't a lingo that you use. It basically means like I just had um self-doubt. Like I had like not voices in my head, but I was speaking to myself in like a somewhat of a negative, less optimistic way because I wasn't satisfied with the fact that I just missed the lift that I was training so hard for. Um, although I knew that if I did 280 kilos and then still ran a sub-90 half marathon, that no one still has never done that before. Like I'm certain no one has done that before. I don't think anyone's even come close yet. Not saying that people will, won't, because I do think it's within reach for people. The part of the reason, actually, as well, doubling back that I wanted to try to go for 300 is because I feel like it's that little bit beyond reach for most people or for anyone who gave it a crack. Like, I don't think there's gonna be many people around the world that will be able to deadlift, if any, that would be able to deadlift 300 and then run a sub-90 half marathon back to back, unless they're like blasting steroids or something. I I wanted to get the 300 because I knew it was just that little bit beyond reach for most people. Whereas unfortunately, I just got the 280 and I feel like the 280 could be within reach for some people. Like, I reckon there'll be someone who pips it at like 285 or something like that at some point. So, anyway, good luck to them if they do. But long story short, uh did the run, uh 53 laps of head noise. Head noise basically means I just had a lot of self-doubt uh during the run. I was talking to myself in probably not so much of an optimistic and positive way, primarily because I had just missed the I had just missed the deadlift and I was like kind of like, what's the point? But I still wanted to push it. Honestly, thank God for all my mates that were there kind of cheering me on, they helped heaps. Um, and I had one of my friends kind of jumping on and off with me and and pacing me along the way. It was hard, like it was really hard. And running 53 laps around in circles, like 21.1 kilometers in a circle, it's a little bit more than 53 laps, actually. It's like no 52.5 or 53.5, I forgot what it was, anyway. Um, it was hard because you're running around in circles the whole time. Yes, running on a track is quite easy, but the other issue is because the track is on a big open space, like at some points you'll you're taking on a lot of wind, like a lot of headwind, and then on the way around, you know, you get no wind, and then you get wind in the face again, and sometimes you're also battling that. So that was a lot harder than I thought it would have been. And then other than that, it was just the difficulty of the repeatedness of running around in circles like that. I'm quite good at being able to zone out, but I still struggled at certain points to do it because one, it was boring, but also I was just like it was just so hard. Um, and I really got in my head about it, and I think I almost talked myself out of doing it and finishing it a couple times. Um, the gels I was using, I don't know whether it was something I ate that day, but my stomach was playing up, and I was just really struggling at a large part of full for the majority of the race. I would say from like the ninth kilometer onwards, I was hating it. Um, and it took a lot for me to not stop and give up. I'll I'll be quite frank. Which some people will say is quite admirable, but I was kind of annoyed at myself, even though I completed the run and did everything that I should have done. I was quite annoyed at myself that I let my head, like the voice or whatever you want to call it in my head, uh become so loud. Um, I kind of played into a little bit, into it a little bit too much, and it made it harder for myself than it needed to be. And like I said, there were a few moments where I was very close to stopping. Like, I uh a lot of times I was like, hey, I just gonna sack it, I'm gonna give up. My ankle was sore, my stomach was killing me. I'm like, I couldn't just bail on this. But then, you know, my friends were pushing me along, which was awesome. And then also, I think at the end of it, I kind of knew that, like, you know, what story would I want to tell after this? Not to make it philosophical, but it always feels better knowing you've done something hard as opposed to walking away from something hard and having failed. So anyway, I gave it my best crack. I I swear I did. So I ended up finishing the run in an hour 29 and like 36 seconds. So, you know, with only 24 seconds to spare as well. Uh, but I paced it really well. Uh, there were portions of the run where I was slowing down and I got a little bit scared, but I realized I could probably still hold 415 pace quite comfortably, even though I was in hell for the majority of the run anyway. So that felt quite good. Other than that, completed the run, did the thing, you know. My friends were great. Thank you again to all of them. If any of you ever hear this for coming along, had a couple of my clients there. Uh, shoutouts to those guys because you know, honestly, it just made it so much easier just having other people there, and people don't realize I didn't realize at the time how much better it would be having people there. I thought it would have been um worse because I didn't want to fail in front of so many people, so it made me a little bit anxious. But anyway, other than that, after the run, what have I been doing these last two weeks? Uh, I did not realize the effects, mental fatigue and physical fatigue I had accumulated over the past six months in in training for this event. I felt extremely tired. Uh, I felt almost like honestly, I the only way I can describe it is I cannot be f I could not be fucked for anything. Like even little things, like trying to decide what to eat, felt have felt hard the last couple weeks. I think one because I'm not training for a goal right now. I don't have a goal to train towards, which is all well and good. Um, but then the other thing is just, you know, I pushed myself for so long over the past six months, you know, leading into these races that I had. I had a few races this year, didn't really take a break at any point, locked in with my diet, locked in with my training um for pretty much the whole time. Um training on weekends, prioritizing my runs, prioritizing my nutrition, not having any social life, planning my runs and nutrition every day, all that kind of stuff I didn't while running a business, um, which I know by the way, plenty of people do. So I'm not trying to make out that that I am like an exception here and I've done something that no one else has ever done before. That's not what I'm trying to say here. All I'm trying to say is I didn't realize that the impact it would have had on me, the impact it had on me these past six months, um, in how hard all of that was for me personally. Uh, just because it really did take a particularly the mental fatigue, a lot of um what's the what could I use, like mental drainage, uh I would say, like out of me uh in the lead up. Anyway, all good and well. The last couple weeks I've kind of just been training by feel. I've run once, uh twice now in the last two weeks. Uh, I'm back to a regular program this week, which is nice. Uh, but I really just did whatever I wanted the last couple weeks. Um, I just wanted to focus on just lifting some weights again, moving slowly. I've picked up like a fair few niggles, like ankle situation. I've got a situation going on with my hip. So I'm just sorting all those things out to make sure that I'm all good before I kind of get back into hard training. Um, and then in terms of what am I training for right now, I'm not 100% sure. But what I am prioritizing right now is just putting out content. So you're gonna see a lot more of this. Uh, this is gonna be back on track. Um, otherwise, putting out content, getting the YouTube stuff back on track again, and then also uh I'm actually experimenting a little bit with my training now. So I'm using this off season as a way to experiment a little bit more. So I'll kind of go into that, probably not in the next couple episodes. Once I've had a few weeks of experiment of maybe even a couple months of experimenting with my programs, and I've got a little bit more data to give all of you, uh, I'll explain to you kind of what I'm doing and why. But for now, just enjoying a little bit of a break, still training, still doing all the things, but uh yeah, just trying to recoup mentally. But anyway, other than that, I think that's the Project 300 sub 90 recap. I will probably post a video of it at some point as well when I get back to all of that stuff. But otherwise, thanks everyone who supported me and anyone who listened to this and has DM'd me on Insta or whatever. You guys are the best. So thanks so much. As always, click the links down below for coaching, and I'll see you guys soon.