Interview with Ultra runner Ryan "hulk" Bonfield

VH - How old are you?

RB - I just recently turned 38, but feel stronger than when i was 28. I'm encouraged and inspired by guys like Luis-Alberto Hernando, a 41 year old Spaniard ranked 4th overall in the world by the International Trail Running Association!

Don't we know another over the hill guy, who spent most of his time in Spain? Prone to speeding downhill on his bicycle with nothing on but a banana shirt and breaking international 100km running records? Maybe there's something special in the bananas in Spain?

VH - Yes "el loco utro mundo" they call him in Spain.

Where are you from?

RB- I'm Canadian and spent most of my life (32 years) living all over Canada, from the Gulf Islands to Montreal, Quebec.

VH - What have you been working with?

RB - My background is in chemistry and biochemistry. I have a masters in synthetic chemistry. Now i work with that online and make my own schedule.

VH - When did you first go to Thailand?

RB - I came to Thailand in the final months of 2012, as soon as I was sure that I could sustain myself with my new choice of online self-employment.

VH - How do you like the culture and climate in Thailand?

RB - I love a lot of things about both the culture and the climate in Thailand. In the first few months I was here I was not acclimated and I was overweight, so I struggled with the heat.

Now I train as often as I can in full mid afternoon heat. This gives maximum cardiovascular strain while minimizing aggravation on joints and risk of muscle/tendon sprains/tears. I've become a bit of a heat specialist now and believe I have an edge on long trail races where the final hours are under full mid-afternoon heat.

Besides the temperature, I also love the geography of Chiang Mai in particular. We're surrounded by national parks that provide some of the best cycling routes and trail running grounds one could wish for.

The two biggest things I like about the culture is thriving small enterprise and an overall default of humility and humbleness of character, especially in the rural northern areas.

By small enterprise, I’m talking about how common it is to find street markets or just individuals selling fruits and vegetables. This man is almost my sole provider of passion fruit. I buy around 6kg/week off of him. I have a similar situation for my coconuts, banans, papaya and so on as i eat most of my calories from tons of fresh fruit.

VH - You are a very accomplished runner, when did you start running and why?

RB - Thank you, I'm certainly hugely accomplished compared to my old self , just starting out four years ago. I started running early in 2014, mainly to lose weight. I'd been a bodybuilder since I was 13 years old on and off. I used to squat over 180kg for reps, but I was always an endomorph body type and bordering on fat many years of my life.

When I graduated from university and started working on a computer at home I quickly just got very fat. I became obsessed with mastering my new job and basically never left my house and certainly never exercised. When I came to Thailand I was already 108kg and struggled to run 4km but kept at it every single morning.

It worked. I lost weight very fast, but along the way I found the trails of Doi Suthep-Pui National park and realized I loved running. It was no longer just a means to lose weight.

VH - You seem very interested in ultrarunning or trailrunning , you must love getting out in the forrest and spending time in nature

RB - I do, and I always have. When I was 7 until 10 years old my friends and I would spend all day out in the forests of Lasqueti Island, often getting lost and finding our way by streams of water. Those are some of my happiest childhood years. Even before I got into running I'd love to do road trips through the national parks of Canada and Thailand.

VH - What is the longest you have run in a day, and what is some of your other achievements?

RB - I started tracking my race results since September 2016 here: https://www.equipoisedfitness.com/results.html

Lately I've been making the podium every race, placing 1st or 2nd for my last five races and 4th overall at the Columbia Trail Masters 50km event on July 2017.

Just this past Sunday I placed 2nd overall at the Lamphun half marathon street race, breaking my PB for 21.1km and finally averaging under 04:00/km. This was a big milestone for me.

The most distance in one day for me was when I ran the North Face 50km at a competitive pace, averaging 05:38/km with around 1000m of elevation gain. I was set to be 2nd or 3rd overall out of 732 runners, but ended up disqualified because I missed a 3km hairpin loop.

After finishing the North Face race I had just 12 hours to bus back to Bangkok, pick up my race pack, find a room to stash my stuff and get to the start line. I didn't have even a few minutes to sleep.

I was signed up for the Bangkok Marathon at 12:00 am that same evening. It was actually the 2016 Bangkok Marathon postponed to February 2017 because of the death of Thailand's beloved king. I was pretty gutted about my North Face mistake but still determined to do the double marathon. My goal was to simply finish and I ended up doing it in 04:02

My longest single run was the Pong Yaeng Trail race last November. I missed a check point and had to double back 1500 meters. So it ended up being 69km with 3400+ meters of elevation gain. I ended up placing 2nd overall. I plan my first 100km race at the Thailand Ultramarathon in Mae Hong Son this November.

VH - You are famous for your double biceps shot when running ultras, do you lift weights as well?

RB - For the past three years I've switched entirely to calisthenics. But you can increase resistance in a number of ways. For example I use a weighted belt with up to 35kg extra for pull ups.

Right up until six months ago I was lifting up to 3 hours/week on top of my full running program. Since around June I've cut this down to 1hr/week just for maintenance and even gone for streaks of 4-8 weeks doing nothing at all. All my energy was going into training for the Pong Yaeng 66km event.

VH - Most people would say you are too muscular and heavy for long distance running but you are definitely proving them wrong, what is your thoughts on that?

RB - As you might imagine, I have a lot to say about this. I'll try to keep it as short as possible.

I suspect that if I aspire to be a world class runner, a professional with sponsorship, then they are correct. If my goal is to be as healthy as possible, then they are not correct. We should all avoid falling into stereotypes.

I think for overall vitality, health and sense of well being we can all benefit greatly by striving for balance in endurance, strength, flexibility, speed, power etc. Trail running has these elements of foot play (agility), interval training and strength requirements at least for the legs. So out of all the types of endurance sports I believe trail running has the most equipoise!

This is the idea behind my name on social media and my website www.equipoisedfitness.com/. Equipoise is defined as the balance of forces or interests. I think it's a beautiful word.

With that said, I have a confession to make. I've become addicted to that amazing feeling. That special combination of the rush of running trails and doing it with hundreds of other competitors, then winning!

I've also come to toy with the idea that I'm still young enough to become a world class trail runner if I drop my weight by 10kg. So I plan to compromise my equipoise a little more and become very unbalanced in favor of running. At the very least for the remainder of 2018, until I've completed my first 100km at a weight of 72kg or less.

All my past races have been at a weight at around 80kg

If i'll get the required points to qualify for the CCC ultra trail race in Mont Blanc in 2019. Depending on my performance on the qualifying races I'll make a decision about how I will incorporate strength training into my routine. I can say for sure, I'll never totally abandon strength training. I want to always be able to do at least 10 pull ups and 30 pushup s for example.

VH - You are mainly a runner but also do some of cycling as cross training right?

RB - Correct. Since June 2017 when I bought my first bicycle in Thailand I've ridden just under 3000km with 30,000m of elevation gain. I'm tuning up my cardio but not smashing my joints and tendons and causing overuse injury.

It is quickly turning into a new passion of mine.

VH - what do you like about cycling in Thailand?

RB - Where I live now in Mae On are some of the best cycling loops in Chiang Mai. Especially now with a number of newly renovated roads. They are a great example of what I love abut cycling in Thailand. That is wicked hills combined with intense sun for crazy cardio improvements. This combined with beautiful scenery, almost no traffic and frequent small villages to fill up on sugar and water. Some of these rides in my local rural area give me as much enjoyment as trail running does, maybe even more!

VH - Whats your favorite climb in Thailand to run?

RB - I really hate favorites. I think I have a number of them that I like equally depending on my mood and what kind of challenge I'm looking for. If I have to pick though, I'd say from the zoo to the highest hill tribe village (Ban Kunsangkeyn) via the "Caffeine Trail." and then directly to the Doi Pui summit from there alone a new trail that follows a beautiful ridgeline.

VH - Whats your favorite running race that you have done?

RB - It must be the cm6 race in Chiang Mai, 44km trail ultra marathon race. Me and Jon Campbell where running the race mostly together. I had to go on the toilet in the bushes and he got a big lead, maybe 1km, but i kept running hard and caught his skinny Scottish ass in the end and won the sprint with a few seconds.

VH - Thats a good ending on the interview, like Churchill said "you must never ever ever ever ever give up", especially when the enemy is Scottish.

Thank you Ryan!

If you want to get in contact with ryan:

https://www.facebook.com/EPFIT/
https://www.strava.com/athletes/4816249
https://www.equipoisedfitness.com/
https://www.instagram.com/equipoised_fitness/?hl=en