Harry Kleiman Cross Country Runner

Harry is a young cross country runner who juggles studying at university with his training. He talks to Sundried about his motivation as an athlete.

How did you get into fitness?

I started when I was 15 at school. The running club coach noticed that I was quite good at running, so I joined the school team and did well in competitions. I now run for my university's athletics and cross country club. I started working out in the gym and cycling for pleasure when I was 18 because a friend asked me to join him and I got addicted to it!

What are your training goals?

For running, my goal is to run a marathon in under three hours. I have entered the London Marathon ballot, so if I get a place, it would be amazing to run a sub-3-hour marathon in my home city of London. For the gym and general fitness, I don’t compete so my goals are to continue to be happy with how my body looks and makes me feel whilst continuing to work out my upper body, legs, and abs.

Do you compete in any sports?

I compete in Cross Country and occasionally athletics. I ran for my school, Borough, and now the University of Bristol. I prefer longer distance races like half marathons and marathons, however, I have competed in distances as short as 400m before.

When is your next competition?

I am running the Great Team Relay on the 14th of July. It is a 5km road relay which starts and finishes on the track in the Olympic Stadium in London. We are entering a few teams from the University of Bristol Athletics and Cross Country Club, so we have been doing shorter training sessions on the road recently to build up our speed.

What would be your advice to someone new to a fitness programme?

Whether it be running, working out in the gym, or any other form of fitness, I would definitely recommend doing your fitness programme with a friend. I go for runs and work out in the gym both on my own and with other people and I find it so much more rewarding when I do it with someone else. It is very easy to give up when you're on your own, but together we push ourselves to achieve more than we would if we worked out on our own.

How do you balance work and training?

I am currently studying at the University of Bristol, so have lectures and tutorials throughout the week and reading and essays to do in my spare time. I tend to go to the gym early in the morning about four times a week to have a good productive start to my day. I train with the University’s Athletics and Cross Country Club, so we have set training times which are early evenings on weekdays, which is good because it is at the end of the working day and gives me something to look forward to. However, on the weekends, I like to go for longer runs with fewer people and we usually go around midday to break the day up a bit.

Why did you choose Sundried?

I chose Sundried because the products are great for so many different things; I can train comfortably in the gym, on my bike, and whilst running when wearing Sundried. The quality and finish on the products are far better than I have experienced before.