Zharnel Hughes: 10 things you didn't know about sprinters (here's one – we vomit a lot)
British sprinter Zharnel Hughes, who trains alongside Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake in Jamaica, chats to Telegraph Men about the pain and adrenaline of life as one of the fastest men in the world
1. We almost kill ourselves in training
“My Thursday training sessions are so hard they are called ‘Burial Thursdays.’ You feel like calling it quits halfway through. I say to my coach: ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t do it anymore.’ And he is like: ‘Z, this is what it takes to become a champion.’ When the second set of sprints is completed I lie out on the track like a dead body.”
2. Sprinters are beach body ready
“I like core exercises because I watch Baywatch a lot. You always see people on the beach looking all cool. I go to a lot of beaches so I walk around with my Ray-Bans and enjoy myself. For my core exercises I like to do crunches and med ball tosses.”
3. You get used to vomiting
“Fans don’t see what is happening behind-the-scenes before we race but that is the tougher part. Usain said it himself: ‘the competition is the easy part, but people don’t see us killing ourselves.’ There is normally a pool of vomit on the side of the track and we are all on our knees. But you feel strong afterwards.”
4. Sprinters run differently
“Footballers and other athletes run in a different way to sprinters. Footballers are chasing after a ball so they have their head slightly down but we want to be tall, with our shoulders relaxed and our knees high. Basketball players lean forward more than us too. Rugby is the same thing.”
5. We don’t just eat protein
“For breakfast I have a bowl of fruit and maybe a salad on the side. I know it is a bit weird but it’s healthy. Maybe one or two boiled eggs for protein too. Then a glass of milk and a cup of tea and some honey.”
6. You want to be calm, not excited
“Relaxation is key when it comes to competing. You try not to overthink things. You know what you are supposed to go out and do so just go out and do it.
"I listen to my music for some fun time before I warm up. I listen to rap music, dancehall, a little bit of soca music and little bit of pop music as well.”
7. You always want more
“The Beijing World Championships (in 2015) was an awesome highlight for me. I was the youngest in the field so to finish fifth in the world in my first World Champs was like amazing and strange at the same time. Now I know what I am capable of and I am working on fulfilling my potential hopefully for the best in the years to come.”
8. When I crack I eat cakes
“During the season you can’t eat bad stuff so whenever I get the opportunity at the end of the season, I kill it. I go hard whenever I get the chance. I eat all the cakes - you name it. In the off-season I become fat and when I go back my coach says: ‘Zharnel, you were so fit last month. What happened?’ I say: ‘Sorry, coach, I ate all the cakes.’”
9. Fun makes you faster
“We try to have some fun in our reps, man, because you can’t be too serious. If you are always serious you miss the fun of it. We compete hard and we always want to hit PBs at every session. One week my friends might beat me and then the next week I will say: ‘Okay, I will beat you.’ It’s the same in the gym: some days my training partners push more than me, other days I say: ‘I have got you.’ It is a friendly rivalry which helps us get fast.”
10. Sprinters need a game face
“On competition day I am a different person. I go into this zone where I don’t talk much and I stay quiet. I am focused. After the competition is over people say: ‘Ah, here comes Zharnel – he is back with us again.’ But that is what works for me.”
Zharnel Hughes wears the adidas UltraBOOST Uncaged, a shoe inspired by fans but engineered for maximum performance – available at adidas.co.uk
