Extreme endurance adventurer Sean Conway has a pretty incredible CV:
He is the first and only man in history to cycle, swim and run the length of Britain
He holds the world record for cycling unsupported across Europe - Completing 4,000 miles in 24 days, 18 hours and 39 minutes
He completed a self-supported 4,000+ mile triathlon around the entire coast of the UK
In this article, Sean tells us:
About his inspiring story - Including talking openly about his failures, or ‘hiccups’
What his typical training looks like for these mega-challenges
How he balances life with a family, including a young son, and his other passions
Plus, what’s next for his beard?
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JamesRunsFar: Hi Sean. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me. First, could you give us an overview of your endurance and adventure background, please.
Sean Conway: I started in the world of endurance pretty late, when I was 30.
My first challenge was cycling Land’s End to John o’ Groats, which took me 25 days.
But I was miserable working as a photographer and so I sold my share of the business for £1.
I’d always wanted to go travelling and never had the opportunity to do a gap year or anything like that. So I was trying to think “Right, I want to go travelling, but I have no money”.
So I had to think outside the box. And I thought “Maybe, if there’s some sort of world-record in the world of travel that I could break, maybe I’d get a sponsor”.
I’d seen people who’d climbed Everest and gone to the South Pole and seen logos all over them.
So I thought “This must be a thing. People must go and choose to do these stupid things with companies to back them”.
“People must go and choose to do these stupid things”
And the UK has such a long history of exploration with sponsors. Even Shackleton on his death-bed was writing letters delegating what his sponsors would get.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes had 1,500 different sponsors and took him 8 years to get sponsorship for one event.
And I thought “If all these other people can do it, surely I can”
But it was a fine balance of thinking of a record that was difficult enough that excites people and excites sponsors. And one that is actually achievable.
Because there are some projects that are too difficult and sponsors think they are wasting their money. Plus, when you die, it’s going to make them look bad.
Then, in 2011, I heard about the round-the-world bike race in 2012.
One of Sean Conway’s epic first challenges was a round-the-world world-record attempt in 2012. But it didn’t go to plan. He got run over after just a few days in America which ruined his record attempt. But, despite that setback, he completed the challenge.
So that became ‘my thing’.
I worked really hard for 6 months, got funding for flights, food and everything.
But the challenge didn’t go to plan.
I got run over in America which ended the record. But I carried on anyway.
“But I got run over in America, which ended the record”
I came home and thought I’d get straight back into employment.
For a year I was trying to get work in bike shops, charities and design shops. But I was 31 years old, with no A-levels, no university and wasn’t British.
So I was basically unemployable.
I literally got no responses to job applications.
I didn’t even get one email saying ‘thanks for your application’.
I was on the dole for a year, living with my mum in a ground-floor flat.
So I asked myself “What worked last time? What did I do last time to survive?”
“What worked last time? What did I do last time to survive?”
I thought that if I did an adventure for long enough, and got sponsored for the time I was doing it, I would survive.
And I wouldn’t have to live with my mum!
But I needed a bigger goal. More than just an individual event.
And that’s when I came up with this concept of the 3F’s:
The World’s First
The World’s Furthest
The World’s Fastest
This was a big 10-year project. And it gave me a long term vision, rather than just one or two little goals.
So the first one I attempted was the world’s fastest. Or at least what I thought was the fastest, but it actually turned out to be a ‘first’ - swimming the length of Britain.
And in 2013, a genuine world’s-first was a cool-thing to find.
It all went to plan. It took me a lot longer than planned, but I did it.
That launched me into this new world of adventure.
And, like with any sport, when you win, people start knocking on your door.
I then wanted to become the first person to do a length of Britain triathlon. And because I’d already cycled and swam it, I ran it.
“I wanted to become the first person to do a length of Britain triathlon”
I then got the sailing world-record from Land’s End to John o’ Groats, which was the world’s fastest. But I didn’t count is as the fastest, because it wasn’t human-powered.
Plus, I was mainly just a skivvy making tea whilst two mates did the work!
So I didn’t think that counted to be a legitimate 3F’s.
And so it’s 2016 and I’ve only done one of the 3F’s. So I thought I’d go for the world’s furthest.
I really love multi-discipline. I get bored of one discipline. So triathlon sounded perfect.
So I aimed to do the world’s furthest triathlon.
“So I aimed to do the world’s furthest triathlon.”
I love Britain and I wanted to do the triathlon round the coastline of Britain.
With distance records, one of the things to think about, is that if you do it too slowly, you lose the support of people.
And you lose the point of inspiring people.
With no self-imposed limit it is almost like a holiday.
So I divided the entire distance into roughly the same equivalent as an Ironman. And gave myself some targets
3,200 miles on the bike, in roughly a month
820 mile run, in a month
Swim at the end, in a month
That was a nice balance of pushing it, but still enjoying it.
it took me 85 days and it was tough. And weirdly I still have the record for world’s furthest triathlon. Although there are two people attempting it who are going to smash it.
And then I had one ‘F’ left, which was the world’s fastest. And i wanted it to be on the bike. Because I love the bike.
My first thought was to break the record for cycling Australia, in 2017.
Everything was going well. I had my bike, worked out my route, had crew, sponsorship money. And everything was going smoothly.
But then sadly, my friend, Mike Hall, got killed in a race in Australia. He was one of the best in the world at extreme endurance cycling.
“Everything was going well, until my friend, Mike Hall, got killed in a race in Australia.”
And that just took the wind out of my sails. It hit me really badly. And I had no intent to do Australia any more.
I gave back the sponsorship money. And wanted to focus on something closer to home.
And I found that there are two cross-European cycling records.
The north to south, which is 4,000 miles. And a friend of mine, Lee Fancourt held that
The east to west, which is a very similar distance
And I thought “How cool would that be if I held the east-west record and Lee held north-south?!?”
So in 2017, I used my fitness from Australia to cycle from Portugal to Russia.
But unfortunately, 4 days in, I got injured and had to pull out.
And this was shortly after getting injured in the Route 66 cycle across America race.
So I had failed at that, hadn’t got Australia off the ground and had failed at the cross-Europe attempt.
And it led me to thinking:
I wasn’t getting any younger - I was 37
I’ve bottled it. I’ve taken too long and it’s not worked out
I should have quit photography earlier
I was genuinely feeling really down on myself.
“Maybe the cycling thing won’t work out and I wanted to focus on other stuff”
I thought about working in an animal sanctuary. To get out of the endurance world and focus on something else.
Then in early 2018, I got a message on Facebook telling me that my friend Lee Fancourt had committed suicide.
And that immediately made me think “I’m going to have another crack at Europe”
So in 2018, I went out to Portugal again.
And I completed it in 8 hours ahead of the record.
And that was finally my 3rd and final ‘F’.
6 years after initially thinking about that ‘big, scary, goal.
Six years after setting the goal of completing his three ‘F’ challenge, Sean Conway held three world-records - A ‘fastest’, A ‘furthest’ and a ‘first’
JRF: What’s your proudest, endurance-based accomplishment?
SC: Swimming the length of Britain is by far the proudest.
Back in 2013 it was a very different climate in the world of adventure than it is now.
I feel that if you have a big idea now, there is more support. And less people who are negative about it.
But back in 2013, it felt very different.
“People really went out of their way to tell me swimming the length of Britain was impossible.”
People really went out of their way to tell me swimming the length of Britain was impossible.
At one point, I was looking for a support boat and I put a message on a yachting forum asking for one.
But in the entire comments of that thread, not one person was positive.
The last comment was actually “I’m sorry mate, normally we’re quite positive, but I feel bad for you”.
Those people went out of their way to email me specifically to tell me it was impossible..
It was also more difficult to find sponsorship.
And nobody had done anything similar at all. Most long swims (one that were months’ long) had been river-based swims.
So trying to get that off the ground was tough.
JRF: What’s been your favourite challenge so far?
SC: Cycling round the world was an amazing balance between adventure and endurance.
It’s the one where you meet people and see different cultures.
Plus you travel vast distances.
That’s the one that if my son asked me what he should do, I’d tell him to do that.
JRF: What does a typical training period for you look like for one of these huge challenges?
SC: I don’t have much structure now. I used to, but it’s changed over the years.
For me there’s three types of training:
Power
Endurance
Injury prevention
When I was young, I used to do all of those things. I did a lot of everything.
When I was training for the round-the-world cycle, I was training 40 hours a week.
But I prefer to go away and train with running. I struggle to train at home with all my other responsibilities. My son, my writing and everything else.
So I tend to go away for my running training blocks for a few weeks at a time.
My last training block in October was three weeks. And I trained for 50 hours a week.
That included other training, not just running.
And the running was pretty slow. I only managed to run 300 miles in three weeks. But I was also focusing on overall fitness.
My next training block is in April, and will be 3 or 4 weeks. I’ll be looking to do 70 hours a week.
I’m hoping to do about 160 miles a week of running.
The 70-hours is slow, but also includes everything from beginning to end. Stopping for food, stretching, etc.
I’ll do it in 10 kilometre blocks. Run, stop for food, stretch, etc and rest. Then start again.
And I’ll be out all day.
I’ve done bigger distances in training before. I’ve done 1,000 miles in 6 weeks, so it’s not a huge stretch.
And with running I need to focus on injury prevention and training at a very low heart rate.
Plus focus on my form.
I have a very bad habit of leaning backwards. Because my last two runs involved a backpack, so I lean backwards more than I should.
I also have 10 years of training now. So I feel that I don’t need to train as much now. And I know my body’s limits.
I rarely get over-use injuries in training now. And I feel that I know my body well enough.
The other thing is that I don’t have the drive to get up and run every day.
I don’t really enjoy running! In fact I hate running.
“I don’t really enjoy running! In fact I hate running.”
I’m envious of people like David Goggins and Dean Karnazes who say that if they don’t go running, they’ll implode.
But I’m into writing and creating stuff. Like an old Mustang I’m fixing up.
But what I do enjoy, is having the goal that running gives you.
JRF: You’re a family man with a wife and young son. Can you tell us a bit more about how you balance family life with your other passions?
SC: I have lots of stuff on the go at any one point. For example, I have 10 books that are all in different points of writing. Some are just one chapter.
But when I’m at home, I’m at home. There have to be some benefits from working from home. And those benefits are that I wake up when my son wakes up. I lie in bed until he wakes up at 8am and then play with his toys with him.
There’s no rush in our life.
So i fully take the benefits of being self-employed.
What I don’t want to be is a stay-at-home dad and then be training in all my downtime and not seeing my son.
Instead, I go off for a number of weeks and do a proper block of training to focus.
Plus, that gives me variety too. There are only so many routes you can run near your home.
Sean has to manage his time between his family, ultra-endurance challenges and his other passions, like writing. He does this by having clear blocks of focused training. Often going off for weeks at a time. And then he can fully enjoy the benefits of working from home and spending more time with his family.
JRF: You’ve been very open about your approach to failure. To the point where you even have a section devoted to it on your website, called ‘hiccups’. What’s the biggest lesson you’d like people to learn about failure?
SC: The biggest thing I’ve learnt is that a failure has no representation on what tomorrow will bring.
Today’s failure has no correlation to tomorrow’s success.
“A failure has no representation on what tomorrow will bring”
Some days on a run, you are bonking, the weather’s crap and you’re malnourished..
But the next day, it can be amazing.
It’s easy to make your future decisions based around the time you feel the worst. Or when things aren’t going too well.
It’s difficult to overcome those demons. And it’s easy to think that it’s too hard.
But every day is different.
If you fail today, that doesn’t mean you’ll fail tomorrow.
And actually, if you fail today, you can treat it as a lesson, learn from what you’ve done and have another crack... If you want to.
Sometimes you don’t want to. Like with my Australia attempt. I just don’t want to attempt that after Mike died.
I may do again. But it’s also OK if you don’t
JRF: Who inspires you?
SC: Loads of people!
From early on, when Mark Beaumont did his round-the-world bike ride in 2008.
I first remember thinking “wow, that’s a thing!”.
His record in 200 days. And getting sponsorship. That inspired me massively.
Martin Strel who swam the Amazon
Diana Nyad who swam from Cuba to Florida
Ross Edgely was fricking inspiring
Anyone who is going for these big things, really.
But Mark was the initial catalyst.
The adventure world is filled with ex-military people, posh people or private school people.
But Mark Beaumont wasn’t any of those. He was a kid who grew up in a crappy part of Scotland. With no sporting or military background.
JRF: If resources like time and money weren’t a factor, what challenge would you love to take on?
SC: Well, it’s the one I’m doing this year! The one I’m not telling anyone about!
You’ll hear about that in April or May.
I’ve wanted to do this one for years and years and years.
It’s going to take 8 months. It’s expensive. And it’s taken a long time to get off the ground.
Outside of adventure - I’d want to be involved in the day-to-day running of an animal sanctuary
JRF: What would you like people to remember you for?
SC: I’m not that bothered.
I only care about my son and wife.
I want my son to go to school or university and say “Man, that was cool and a cool way of doing it”
And I’d like him to look at how I lived life and think it was good.
Other than that I’m not bothered by leaving some sort of legacy.
Sean’s most recent challenge was what he called a ‘pointless’ run in Ireland. But his next challenge will be his biggest yet. One that will take 8 months and that he has planned for years… He’ll announce more in April or May!
JRF: What’s next for the beard? Is it staying or is it going?
SC: My wife does not know me without a beard.
I’ve had a beard since 2012. So I’m concerned that if I shave it I’ll get divorced. So it’s definitely staying.
I originally got it for the swim up the length of Britain. To protect me from jellyfish stings!
JRF: Where can people follow you?
SC: Best place is www.SeanConway.com. There is lots of information on training tips, successes and hiccups.
JRF: Thanks so much for taking the time to give us such great advice and insight. I look forward to hearing all about your next epic adventure!
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And if you agree, then please vote for me.
Thank you!
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