Had a chance to chat with Victor White, the free skiier who represents Barbados! What a unique story, we had alot of fun talking about his crazy sport. Press play to take a listen or read through the transcript below!
Carlie: 00:00 All right. So welcome back to Runnin Bout. I'm your host Carlie and I have a very, very special guest with me today. You know, Victor, it's going to be the first for you for many things. I think, um, you are Barbados' first free skier, first of all, first person to represent Barbados in skiing and I'm sure, any winter sport whatsoever. Um, you're also the first non runner that I'm going to be having on the show. It's really about running, but we welcome any discipline.
Victor: 00:35 I do run quite a bit.
Carlie: 00:37 Good because, and guys I didn't bribe him to say that. Right. You do run too.
Victor: 00:43 Yeah. Actually it's quite the hobby of mine, so I love to run, especially when I travel all over the world to running new places. It's fantastic.
Carlie: 00:51 Oh, it's so good to hear. Yeah.
Victor: 00:53 For me where it's kind of like meditation, you know, I clear my mind, you know, and just get out there.
Carlie: 01:01 That's good. So if you ever give up skiing, you can fall back on running or chess. Who knows? Um, so you've been skiing all over the world. Poland, USA, France, Sweden, New Zealand. That's something I didn't think, um, there was skiing in New Zealand, but I guess they do have have mountains.
Victor: 01:19 Yeah they have the southern hemisphere winter down there. So when when we have summer they have winter. Was it last? No. Yeah, two years ago or the year before the last Olympics. I was down there for three months. Just training, being on snow like by going back to back.
Carlie: 01:41 Yeah. So are you based in Sweden then? Like halfish of the year when it's winter and then when it's, when it turns summer you go down to the southern hemisphere or like how do you sort of balance
Victor: 01:54 It depends on the cycle because when there is an Olympic cycle, which is two years before the Olympics, then I usually do back to back winters by, right now I'm based in Sweden during the the winter time. And then I used to come home to Barbados during the summer.
Carlie: 02:10 I was just going to say as a Bajan... Back to back winter, no sunshine. That must suck.
Victor: 02:20 That's true. I guess you're right. It depends. If there's a snow storm on this minus 25 degrees, that is not that fun. But most of the time the weather is nice.
Carlie: 02:33 Cool. So what's like the worst, uh, weather you've had, I mean, does it get to, is there a point that it gets to where it's so cold that really makes a difference for you? Or is it kind of,
Victor: 02:46 Well you have two different types of cold.
Carlie: 02:50 Tell me, because I don't even like the AC on.
Victor: 02:54 So basically you have two types of colds. So you have the one cold, which is nice and kind of soft or you like the tropics, right? But then you have kind of like the desert cold. If you imagine yourself being in a desert where it's really dry, right? And that is the worst. It's like if you go to New York in the winter, you know, it's really biting on your heart. So I of course I prefer the tropical cold.
Carlie: 03:23 Sun still shining. Yeah, we're going to get down to business just a little bit. In 2017 you were the first Bajan to compete in the world ski champs and correct me at any point if I'm wrong. Um, you were born and raised in Sweden, your father of course, Bajan to de bone. So you're one of us. Now, most recently, which would be February this year, um, you placed second in the Europa Cup in Poland?
Victor: 03:51 Yeah. Yeah.
Carlie: 03:51 How was that? You're smiling.
Victor: 03:57 I'm smiling, but it's a, it's a bittersweet victory because I was zero point 64 points of winning or 34, so that's like, you know, because it's a judging sport. Like if there were another set of judges I might have won, might've not, you know, it's, Eh, it depends on the judges what they think, but I mean, I'm satisfied. It was a while since I was on the podium. That was nice.
Carlie: 04:26 Nice. That's good. Um, what was that due to injury or you say "a while since you were on the podium", you had an injury at some point. I don't know how recent that was.
Victor: 04:34 Yeah. So, um, the year before I only did the World Cups. Uh, so the Europa Cup is a step under the World Cup. So the competition is not as fierce. So with me, I'm competing in the world cups. You're always competing against the best of the best. And like I'm still young, I'm early in my career, so I haven't really reached the top yet.
Carlie: 05:04 You're on the trajectory,
Victor: 05:06 Yeah, hopefully
Carlie: 05:08 Explain the different disciplines because of course I'm researching and all this skiing ting, that I don't know nothing about. Um, and I see disciplines like big air versus slope style. Like what's the difference? Do you have a preference?
Victor: 05:21 Yeah. So my preference is big air. This season I've actually only been doing big air just to take some time off and let my body heal. Because big air consists of one big jump where you get in the qualifications, you get two runs and the best one counts. And then in finals you get three runs and your two best ones count, but they have to be done in different directions. So it's skiing. You can spin four ways. You can either either go forward and spin left or right. You can go backwards and spin left or right. And then in slope style you have, you have a course filled with obstacles. It's usually roughly three rail features, which is like ledges that you slide on and there you have three jumps and then you have to do same thing. They're hard to maneuver as as difficult as you can and have variety you have to have style, get execution and then you have a set of judges. They judge you on your own.
Carlie: 06:24 All right, so, okay, this sounds dangerous. How does one say to oneself, I like to ski off of a mountain, but let's add some obstacles. Is it just like crazy fun?
Victor: 06:40 Yeah. I mean, it's challenging. When I, like when I was younger, I was a bit crazy, so I naturally,
Carlie: 06:47 "Were" a bit crazy, but I'm going to guess you're still crazy.
Victor: 06:51 But anyway, I still be a little bit crazy. So I drifted towards doing that crazy stuff. I started doing flips on skis and that kind of thing. So, um, I don't know. It's just, I think it's the challenge as well as knowing the consequences that awaits you if you mess up, you know? I know, um, the surgery I've been in surgery a couple of times, you know, it's pain and gain.
Carlie: 07:17 Yeah. Yeah. So is it a pretty dangerous sport in terms of,
Victor: 07:21 Yeah. It's very dangerous. It's a super dangerous,
Carlie: 07:25 You have to have some big cojones.
Victor: 07:29 I think I've had injuries like eight times or something like that. I've had multiple concussions. I've broken my thumb. The, my rib broke, my collarbone, broke my left bone, tore my ACL. So, uh, yeah.
Carlie: 07:42 So yeah, you know, that, you know the pains of the sport, but the reward must be great. The feeling must be incredible.
Victor: 07:49 The rush that you get from landing a new trick or a trick in competition is, it's crazy. You know, it's like, it's like when you get a runner's high, but, but, but it's, it's, it's different in a way of course, because you're euphoric, you're in the moment, you know,
Carlie: 08:04 and you don't get concussions from running unless you run into something. That's really cool. So tell me about how you got started into it. Like when did you first start skiing, I guess, but when did you say that's the kind of skiing I want to do?
Victor: 08:23 Well, so we started with, uh, we had, uh, when I was younger, my, my, my grandmother, she has a cabin up north in Sweden, so on holiday, uh, we used to go there and ski. So that's how I started skiing. However, um, I did do a little bit of Alpine skiing, but then after a while I got tired of that and I saw like my friend's brothers being in the park hitting these jumps and being super cool. Yeah. So I was amazed by that and wanted to do the same thing. So it ended up with me missing out in the start gate when I was supposed to do my slalom skiing, being in the park, jumping and hitting these jumps and I don't know, I just fell in love with it. I don't know. Probably.
Carlie: 09:10 Yeah, it just clicks. You know, sometimes you just discover a sport and you discover that that's, it feels like so natural to you. Like, you know, that's the thing that you're meant to do. That's how I feel about running a lot. Um, just feels right, you know?
Victor: 09:28 Yeah, exactly. For me too, like it was because I've put countless hours into skiing. Like it's crazy when I was a kid, as soon as we had snow here in Sweden, I'd be outside shoveling building rails like all the time. Like when we were skiing, I was there one day. Like, I remember when I went, when I was in a little bit older, probably like 11, 12 years old, went up to my grandmother's cabin, took the bus like 6:30 AM in the morning, got to the ski resort like an hour and a half before they opened. I have to wait for like the, uh, the, the, the janitor or whatever to stop so I could sit inside and warm up and it was cold. Minus 20.
Victor: 10:13 I was there all day skiing like for eight hours or more. And then like last one leaving the slopes.
Carlie: 10:19 That's awesome. So what are your goals for the next few years?
Victor: 10:24 So obviously I want to represent Barbados in the Winter Olympics. Um, I failed to qualify this year or last year, 2018, um, because I had a bit of a rough start, I missed out the first half of the Olympic qualifiers because of an injury. And then when I did, um, I wasn't really there so to speak. So, um, by anyhow and then, um, so my goals are now to make the 2022 winter games in Beijing. Um, and hopefully like next year I want to do all the world cups I did good at the World Skii Championships this year my Ranking is going up every year, which is good. I'm, and I'm doing better and better, which is good.
Victor: 11:11 So I just want to keep doing what I do.
Carlie: 11:15 You get a ranking based on a point system and you get points when you participate in events that we, right?
Victor: 11:25 Yeah. Yeah. So we are ranked by the International Ski Federation. So to get to the Olympics you need to be amongst, the, you need to be ranked top thirty in the world. So the top thirty gets to go. So, so it's tough. It's really tough. But I think I can get there.
Carlie: 11:43 We're going to be backing you. You know that a lot of support from Barbados.
Victor: 11:48 Thanks. Especially since after the word ski champs and Poland, the things went viral, so it was amazing.
Carlie: 11:56 What about in the skiing community? Um, when you like go, oh Barbados are people like, wait a minute.
Victor: 12:05 It was a bit weird, but now we have tons of respect. Like everybody's super hyped on it. Everybody loves it. I mean, I'm friends with everyone on the, on the, on the World Cup circuit and it's just, they, uh, they respect it for sure.
Carlie: 12:19 That's really, really cool. Really, really cool that you're also like exposing Barbados to people.
Victor: 12:25 Yeah. But yeah, but in the beginning though, I did feel some pressure because I was representing the Caribbean and I knew I had to ski well to be all after that. You know?
Carlie: 12:35 That's true. That's true. But you're doing really well. So I think pressure eased off now. Right? So tell me about training. Um, what does a week look like? What does a training day look like? How do you get ready for, um, first free skiing competitions?
Victor: 12:55 Yeah, so, um, it depends on what season of the year you're in. If it's off season or on Season. So basically training is going skiing. So it's just like, but, but what I try to do is I train like I compete. So I imagined myself being at a competition. I want to get going early, I want to do my big tricks. So I knock them off and then I can ski and have fun. Um, and then after skiing I do a, I have a 15 minute yoga routine that I do to just like, um, you know, soften up my body and then a core exercise workout. Yeah. So that's, that's what my days looks like during the winter. And then off season I do a lot of running because I think cardio is important, especially when you're at high altitudes is good to have good cardio. When I was younger, I used to hate running. I had to run. Uh, so, so I fell in love with running by doing it a lot. Um, so yeah, I mean it depends. Like off season I do a lot of gym, a lot of cardio. Um, mixed workouts probably like five, six days a week.
Carlie: 14:24 Yeah. What about a nutrition?
Victor: 14:27 Yeah. So I eat, so for some years I'd been eating gluten free. Yeah. Because a, I was trying it out. Um, and then it turned out that I felt way better not eating gluten, which is wheat for you guys who don't know that. Um, so I've stuck with that and now I'm off season. I tend to, uh, to do a bit of a vegetarian diet, uh, or like a fully vegetarian diet just to keep my weight down, not to amass too much, you know, muscles because I'm like the way my body's built, I have it easy to like get huge. Like usually I just eat chicken and fish.
Carlie: 15:10 Yeah. Wait, a concern in terms of the sport itself or just you personally? Like, do you have to think about, because you're throwing yourself up in the air, do you have to think about how much weight you're carrying and that sense or not really?
Victor: 15:23 Um, I mean for me, I just don't want to be too heavy when I take a lot of impacts. Yeah. So if, um, if, um, like small and agile that's better rather than being heavier with muscles. Yeah.
Carlie: 15:39 Is that part of where the yoga comes in as well?
Victor: 15:42 Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It keeps me agile.
Carlie: 15:44 Is there a, is there a mental component to your sport? Like I definitely believe there's a huge mental component to running. Like you, your body is capable, but your mind if your mind is not there, you won't do what you really, really have your full potential for. So is it the same?
Victor: 16:03 Yeah. So in my sport is more, it's more about defining what you can do in terms of having that fear. Um, you know, how overcoming that fear every time we were on the slopes doing or trying a new trick. Yeah. Because it's really terrifying going up like this huge jumps we've like, they're usually 20 meters of gap and you fly, I don't know how to kick your size three, four meters high, and then you know, it's, you go like 60 70 kilometers an hour into the jumps and then you're going to try a new trick where you're going to do to double flips and spin and you know, all these days. So, so you how to be strong mentally and just, you know, just focus on what you're going to do. Yeah. And just go for it. Like the thing is you can never, you can never doubt yourself because if you doubt yourself, you will end up hurt. Yeah. That's the worst thing that can happen in a trick. If you doubt yourself coming into it and then you, you'll probably mess up.
Carlie: 17:10 Yeah. Have you seen this sort of ability to overlook fear impact you in other ways in your life or,
Victor: 17:21 yeah. Yeah. Because I'm used to such a high, high level of a, I dunno, fear or, or in, in my everyday life as a skier, I tend to, uh, I don't know. I don't know what it's called, but you know, if you up the bar all the time. Yeah. So when it comes to, I dunno, I went skydiving two or three years ago. I thought that was pretty boring.
Carlie: 17:49 classic, classic phrase. I went skydiving and I thought it was boring. But nothing that would have challenged you really, probably skydiving.
Victor: 17:59 So the way I would categorize it, two types of Adrenaline you have the controlled and the uncontrolled, so a controlled environment, adrenaline rush is like if you go on a roller coaster or go skydiving, it's controlled, you'll know you'll be good, right? Yeah. Yeah. Speed that has his limits. However, with skiing, it's like, it's all on you and the consequences are real. And I think that's what makes it, you know, so, uh,
Carlie: 18:30 So you've done skydiving. What else on the list of very terrifying things to do in life before one is even 25 ?
Victor: 18:42 yeah. I think that's most terrifying. I've been to New Zealand and New Zealand is known for Bungee jumping, but I haven't had the opportunity to do it yet.
Carlie: 18:51 Yeah, but you're gonna yeah.
Victor: 18:53 Next time I'm there, I'm going to do it for sure.
Carlie: 18:55 Are you going to wear a Gopro?
Victor: 18:56 And, yeah, of course. Yeah.
Carlie: 18:59 That's cool. That's really cool. What about water sports? Have you tried any watersports
Victor: 19:05 Surfing, kite surfing. I Love Surfing. Free diving is a big passion of mine to do when I'm back home. It's just when you're under the water and it's just you, you know, it's so peaceful, especially in Barbados where, where everything is so beautiful. You know? I like spear fishing. That's also a hobby I have. Wakeboarding. Um, yeah. So those are the watersports.
Carlie: 19:31 So, well, you know, it's going to come. So what's your favorite, Bajan food to eat or food to eat when you're at home?
Victor: 19:42 So when I was home, this, yeah, over Christmas, the first thing I did was get a big box of souse. Yeah. That's my absolute favorite piece of, of Bajan food. I was like, I need to have it.
Carlie: 20:13 Afterwards did you feel guilt?
Victor: 20:17 No, no. I just felt generally bad in my stomach. I'm not eating.
Carlie: 20:22 I don't even eat souse, to be honest with you. I'm more of a macaroni pie in flying fish kinda girl. What about some hotspots you like to go to? Anywhere you'd like to chillax any beaches.
Victor: 20:34 It is beautiful. I love it there. And then, uh, my friend, he lives side a secret spot in the jungle, which is beautiful.
Carlie: 20:44 Yeah. Don't give it away.
Victor: 20:48 That's definitely one of my favorite spots.
Carlie: 20:49 Yeah. I was just on the east coast over the last weekend that, that's gotta be my favorite place in the entire earth is, is, is an east coast. All the hills, it's like you go from, I say you going to a different country, you know, it's almost like Barbados in the past kind of feel, you know, it just feels so perfect.
Victor: 21:10 I was shooting a commercial like two years ago or something like that and a year and a half ago with the Btmi I want to apes hill and on apes hill you can overlook the east coast and the west coast.
Carlie: 21:25 Wow, that's perfect. You get to see the sunrise and sunset. Oh, nice. Are you a model as well today? Is that right?
Victor: 21:36 Yeah. I'm signed with Omega model.
Carlie: 21:38 How's that?
Victor: 21:40 Yeah, it's nice. Yeah.
Carlie: 21:42 You can sit still long enough to have your photo taken?
Victor: 21:47 So I the commercial shoot that I told you about. Yeah. It was also like thinking where we took pictures and stuff. Yeah, it's difficult. It's really difficult to like, you know, just smile for the camera and take off. It's, yeah. I definitely have some respect for models now that I've tried it out, so on.
Carlie: 22:08 Okay. Name me a trick, like a skiing trick that you do. What's harder doing a Double Cork, 1260 double Japan or having your photo taken pretending to laugh or something. What's harder?
Victor: 22:37 That's all I'm trying it out. You know, you just got to.
Carlie: 22:43 You got good charisma and that's all you need.
Victor: 22:46 Again, like the thing with me, I like stepping outside my comfort zone. That's how I got into the modeling thing.
Carlie: 22:56 Nice, Nice. Um, so tell me, going back to training a bit, do you have a coach? Do you train like with a coach?
Victor: 23:03 I had a coach but he went over to coach for China. Now, right now I don't have a coach. You train yourself.
Carlie: 23:12 Is it useful to have a coach in skiing?
Victor: 23:16 Um, like physically, like I want to ski academy. So we learned all about physics and all that stuff. So I know my body very well and, and how my schedule is with training, you know, how everything works with it. Uh, so for that part I'm set, it is useful when you're skiing, but I usually have my filmer and editor with me when I'm traveling. I have the videos to analyze, you know, helps you a lot.
Carlie: 23:44 Do you, when you're skiing, are you training with other skiers or, yeah. Yeah. That's, you should probably go see your friends of yours or people that happen to be on the slope.
Victor: 23:55 Yeah. Friends of mine. Yeah. So, uh, you ski together, you try new tricks and you help each other out. Like freeskiing is a community, you know, it's, it's like the running community. So that's what it's built off and it's a lifestyle. So yeah, now it's crazy. Now we have coaches and national teams and all these things, but before it was in an individual sport before it made the Olympics in 2014.
Carlie: 24:20 So it's a lot of things, a lot of changes or growth development. Yeah. That's good. Tell me a little bit now about World Of White and your Youtube Channel and you take your editor with you. You were saying your filmer and editor.
Victor: 24:39 Um, so basically where it all started with, uh, with me, uh, realizing that me representing Barbados is a very unique story. And then realizing that Bajans and like people of the Caribbean probably don't know winter sports. So they have someone to introduce it to them. Yeah. So that's how I started the youtube channel, just to kind of explain everything and, and, and showcase what I actually do. Not just the skiing and the tricks, but also everything that goes in behind the scenes. Yeah. And now I'm, I'm, I'm, right now we're, we're on season three. It's a little bit of inconsistent because I'm currently studying to get into university.
Carlie: 25:33 Yeah. Um, what are you studying right now or nothing at all?
Victor: 25:38 I'm studying Spanish and mathematics. So not related, but I like math because it's learning a new language is difficult, especially if you're trying to learn it throughout the book, you know?
Carlie: 26:01 Yeah, yeah. Um, is, is that your third language or do you have other languages? I studied languages at school. I love languages. I think they're really important to learn. I speak Spanish. French, English, yeah. You should watch movies in Spanish with Spanish, with English subtitles or Swedish subtitles or, or with watch things in any language, you know, but with Spanish subtitles. That's actually part of what really helped me learn Spanish was we have direct, we direct TV when I was a lot younger and we get a Latin American feed in Barbados, so a lot of the shows might be in English but have Spanish subtitles or somewhere even in Spanish, which, so I find that's a really like, like, like you said, learning from a book is hard. You got to learn from people, you know? Yeah. You got to hear it. Digest it. Yeah. So good luck with that. Do you have, um, ski sponsors?
Victor: 27:11 Yeah, so a, you right now, this season, I don't have any like ski ski sponsors. However, I have the support of Caribbean International, so I'm a brand ambassador for, for them, which is a fantastic, they support me a lot the man behind Caribbean International. Omar. Um, he's, he's a bit younger, which is nice to deal with because sometimes when you're dealing with companies and they're older, they don't really get the social media point of view. Yes. However, Caribbean International they're fully on board with everything I do. They support me and skiing and my brand, like apart from skiing with everything else that I do which is fantastic.
Carlie: 27:53 Yeah, it gets, it's hard. Um, when you're like basically a full time athlete, you know, you spend so much time training and stuff, it's really good to know you'll have people who will help support you along the way.
Victor: 28:04 Yeah, exactly. And then, then I have a brand called Oatley which is oats drink. They're made out of oat great company as well as well as a fintech startup named revolut. I'm an ambassador for them. Yeah.
Carlie: 28:21 Congratulations. Now tell me also about the other media. You do a podcast.
Victor: 28:28 Exactly right. So to this whole thing right here. So we're actually recording tomorrow. I want to show this episode is really fun. so I have a podcast with my good friend Jonathan McAllen and he's a Barbadian entrepreneur. Um, right now he's in Canada studying at business school. I just thought it'd be a good mix like having, cause I always wanted to have a podcast, but my issue was I didn't have anyone to have it with. Because obviously I don't want to speak Swedish because like most of my followers are English speaking. And then, uh, I came in contact with Jonathan and it's kind of a funny story because I did an interview for his podcast that he had and then year later we're supposed to meet up in Barbados. However, I was sick the first week I was there and then I had a super hectic time filled with whatever, lots of work stuff on that, but stuff like that. So then I actually missed out on our lunch. I overslept. I was on my way I was like, I'm on my way now, And he's like it was an hour ago I was like, Oh, I felt so bad about that and I was leaving the next day. So when I go back to Sweden, we reconnected over Skype and a, I just asked him like, basically, do you want to do podcasts with me? And we didn't know each other and now we've been doing it for over six months, which is super fun.
Carlie: 30:03 Have you met in person yet then?
Victor: 30:05 Yeah, we met over Christmas
Carlie: 30:10 That's pretty cool. It's like Barbados across all boundaries, you know, all, all geographical borders. That's really, really cool.
Victor: 30:24 Yeah. And I love podcasting because it's like you have a conversation and I think it's, it's very different from, from making videos or pull some pictures on Instagram. You can go deeper into stuff.
Carlie: 30:36 Yeah. Yeah. I like it. I usually talk a lot of nonsense. Anyways. I think the guests probably make more sense than me, but I'll, I'll talk some nonsense. I don't mind. Yeah, it's fun. Right? Um, what, so what, what is it y'all talk about? What's the, like the theme?
Victor: 30:51 So, um, the theme is, So, uh, yeah, we're in the business category because we both have business ventures and Jonathan is, he as a startup and is in business school and stuff like that. However, our main goal is to motivate, um, young people Barbadians Caribbean's from all over the place by doing and not just talking. So that's a big model that we have in the podcast to actually execute what we talk about. Um, and obviously the listeners get to follow our journeys in whatever we do. Um, so yeah, that's it, that we bring up things from cultural things. Pop culture it can be a bit of everything.
Carlie: 31:49 Yeah. So, um, where can we listen to your podcast and how frequently do you, do you have it on a, on a timeline or
Victor: 31:56 so we upload every Friday and it's available on wherever you listen to podcasts. It's available. Cool. So just search for The Breeze podcast.
Carlie: 32:07 Cool. That's the breeze podcast people. Yeah. If you want to switch from running to free skiing. I know, I know. You don't stick to running. It's safer. Um, all right, so we're going to close off shortly, but I want to know, I've got to know sport wise. Has Anyone taught you yet? Dominoes? Are you playing dominoes? No. He's shaking his or don't say the words just you shake your head because then it's not true.
Victor: 32:40 I have yet to get into the domino space.
Carlie: 32:42 You have yet to enter the Dominoes spacs. What a politically correct and you played before or not really or you don't like it it's so boring. Look it's more fun. You have to just slam them down really hard. Like even if you don't end up, you just told me you like math. It's basically math really and truly you have to promise me you will give it a try.
Victor: 33:09 You teach me when I get back to Barbados.
Carlie: 33:11 Thank you. Which is what crop over, right? You're coming, you're coming for crop over.
Victor: 33:16 I think so. It's not, it's not cut in stone yet.
Carlie: 33:20 Cool. Well if you come, we will have a domino game.
Victor: 33:26 I just have to say like I was pretty excited about my, my running times when I was at my peak. And then I saw your Instagram and the Times that you run and I was like, nooooo 3K in 11:18 I think my fastest 3K was like 13 minutes and four seconds or something like that.
Carlie: 33:56 When was it?
Victor: 33:57 When it was three years ago? Four years ago.
Carlie: 34:00 You could run faster this year.
Victor: 34:03 Oh, no I'm slow. Because I honestly, I however, like I know I'm ashamed when I run. Like my average is like four 52/k
Carlie: 34:15 when you're running, like what kind of distance would you run when you go out?
Victor: 34:19 And so my, my, my average is 7.2 K. Yeah.
Carlie: 34:26 Well I will happily go out for a run with you and don't worry, I'll stay slow so just teasing. But come on, I run like all day every day, right? So I'm pretty sure if you were like, okay, let's do it. Double Cork, 1280 Japan. I'd be like, well, you know, watching you from inside the cabin.
Victor: 34:48 So I have to ask you, what do you do to higher your ceiling of your average pace? Because the best thing that worked for me was mixing like 7.2 k with intervals. So I felt like intervals highered my ceiling for sure.
Carlie: 35:07 So what you would do is if you feel comfortable running like a seven k, you'll do that one day, but then the next day you'll do maybe really short, like quarter mile, you'll do like 10 by 400 meters. So you'll run your quarter mile, you'll take a short break, like 60 seconds, 90 seconds, and then you'll do another one and you do them really, really hard.
Victor: 35:38 So how do you improve when you're running? Like have you reached your ceiling or,
Carlie: 35:43 This year I am going to be in PR shape this year, which I'm really, really excited about. Um, I, um, I had a baby about three years ago now, so I think after that I kind of was, yeah, for sure. Um, before that I was like getting to a point where I felt like I kept plateauing and I wasn't like, my times were not getting faster and it was really frustrating me. So I was like, I need this, like step away from the sport and get mentally kind of get myself back where I need to be. So that's when I took a break. I was like, okay, let me have a baby. Um, and then when I came back from that, I struggled a little bit in terms of like losing weight and getting my endurance back up.
Carlie: 36:30 Cause I do from, I really do specialize like 5,000 meters to like half marathon type of distance are really my, my events. So I felt like it was like months. I was like, I, I thought I would be moving a lot quicker than this. I thought that I would just like snap back, you know, but, so I struggled a bit, um, to get my five k times. I was like a 19 minute low runner before I took, so I wasn't breaking 20 minutes. I was like, oh, what's going on? So I reconnected with my coach who is coaching me currently and had coached me years ago when I did the world half marathon championships in Denmark. I had a, previous to that I was like kind of running on my own. It was a little, it's that's okay. But I feel like having a coach is way better and training with people is way better.
Victor: 37:26 And it helps you how?
Carlie: 37:27 Like motivation. So your ass is getting out of bed and your ass is going to the stadium. You are not taking a day off. Like that does not happen. Um, and also prescribing workouts. I'm not like trained in any way. Like uh, in terms of sport or knowing how to like prescribed workouts that will make me faster. I just, I am, I am the athlete. I am not the coach for sure. So he, so working with him over the last year, that's Leo Garnes and he's a multiple national record holder for distance events. He's like the epitome of, of distance running for Barbados. I've been working with him in the last year. My times have just dropped significantly. Right back down. I've been doing a lot of short speed work, so like 400s 200s , that kind of stuff. Racing I, and I never really was a track runner. I was more of a road runner. So I've been racing on the track a lot. And right now it's track season. Yeah, doing a lot of races, which is that three K I did that this year, did the 1500 recently. So like shorter distances than I'm used to as well. Helps you get faster, get your legs turning, you know? So being able to, so if you can reduce your fastest speed that you can run at, it will reduce your overall speed altogether. So when you're not in winter and stuff, you can run 400s 200s and then we can have a battle.
Victor: 39:11 Have you ever run into winter?
Carlie: 39:14 No. I've never run in snow in my life. The coolest I've ever run in, which was in Denmark, which was probably like march or April was maybe it was maybe like 10 degrees and there was no snow. But I mean normally it's like 30 degrees here when I'm running so I would like to run in some cool weather.
Victor: 39:35 Yes, you run in the mornings or evenings in Barbados or during the day or
Carlie: 39:41 Morning. And even then like in, in the summer, it's so hot. It is literally 30 degrees and it's six in the morning and it's like,
Victor: 39:51 oh my God, it's the most beautiful time to see the island like running sunrise. And I love it.
Carlie: 39:59 It's, it's really magic. It's like you're the first person to wake up and like up and down the street and you hear like all the cocks crowing and like, yeah, people you'll, you'll run through like whatever area and people are, you can smell them starting to make breakfast and it's like people are waking up and it's, it's really, really nice.
Victor: 40:20 Yeah, it is. And is running growing in Barbados because every time I'm back home and every time I'm, I, I'm running, there's more people running.
Carlie: 40:30 Good. Great. I like to say yes, but I don't have any proper statistics on that to see whether it's true or not, but I'd like to say yes. I mean, I, I think like, I like to tell everyone, run, go, run. Running is amazing. Do it. I try to promote those sport as much as possible. I don't think we'll catch on to skiing down here though, except no. Okay. Okay. We're going to, we're going to go now, but um, you said that you wanna see what was it, a skiing championship in Kensington Oval with like snow. Fake snow.
Victor: 41:07 Yeah.
Carlie: 41:07 Or how do you guys, can you do that? Can you make the infrastructure in a, in a tropical climate?
Victor: 41:13 Yeah, it is possible. Uh, so, uh, on the World Cup we have a few stuffs where we, where we ski on ramps, like built physically with manmade snow on them. And I've done my research so the snow could hold up. It is possible. We just need a billionaire friend.
Carlie: 41:32 You mean you don't have any in your cell phone that you can just call?
Victor: 41:37 No, not right now. So, but that's definitely is like that's a, if I were able to get some like an event like that to happen in Barbados, that'd be something else. That's my dream. That's my, that's the one dream that seems farfetched and I have a lot of crazy dreams, but that's the one dream. If I can make that happen then I'd be very satisfied
Carlie: 42:00 I think. I think give it a few years, we'll make it happen. That technology will, will take us to the point. Yeah, for sure. I'm, I'm down for it I might try a thing.
Victor: 42:17 Yeah have the snow in Barbados. I mean I believe in the Caribbean.
Carlie: 42:22 Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, totally. Um, so I'll be there for that.
Victor: 42:28 Nice. I look forward to having you.
Carlie: 42:31 Excellent. You're welcome me to be the patron. If I can find a billionaire friend, like that'll be the first thing I say. Obviously, you know? Yeah.
Victor: 42:42 It doesn't have to a billionaire. Somebody, I think it cost approximately like 1.5 million US dollars
Carlie: 42:51 you got the costing down, you got the budget done already. I, this doesn't sound as far fetched anymore because of budget just post it on the Internet and someone will come across it and be like, yes, I have to do this. Sure. Yeah, that's true. When you put things out there, they manifest, right?
Victor: 43:07 Yeah, that's right. It's true.
Carlie: 43:15 Thanks so much for coming on and talking with me. We had a lot of fun. We had alot of laughs
Victor: 43:20 I like your energy.
Carlie: 43:25 Thank you. Yours too. I know you'll be back soon so I know we'll link up when you do. When you do come, we can do a run because like I'm so happy you told me you're a runner. It's like, yes. Got Another one guys.
Victor: 43:46 It's a passion of mine.
Carlie: 43:50 Yeah, I like it. Awesome. We'll work on, we'll work on your 3K. Perfect. All right guys. Thanks for listening to Runnin Bout. Remember, you can follow Victor. His IG is @victorwhit3 and his youtube is @victorwhite246. Stay in touch with everything that he's going to be getting up to. Lots of competitions coming up, right? Lots of training and lots of life. Well, this has been Runnin Bout remember. You can listen carlierunsbarbados.com. You can also find it on apple podcasts, so thanks a lot.
Victor: 44:26 Thank you.
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