UX-UI/subjects/ux/athele-keep-hydrated/user-interviews/interview-script-joe.md

Joe, 30 years old, translator, British, lives in Lisbon, Portugal

Run

• What sports do you practice?
  • Not that many. But throughout my life, I've tried many things. I go surfing sometimes, swimming quite a lot and I've tried skateboarding lately.
  • I run quite often though.
• How often do you run?
  • On average, probably 3 times a week.
• When was the last time you went out for a run?
  • Two days ago, on Tuesday. The last time was last week, probably on Thursday. When I started running it was for fitness, but now it's almost meditative. It's nice not to think about anything. Also for fitness as well, but now it has a really good effect on mental health.
  • How long: it depends. Probably like 6 km. Last year I was stuck in England for quite a while and I was running every day. Probably for half an hour.

Races

• What was the last race you ran?
  • I haven't run many races. Maybe the last one was the half marathon in 2019 in Lisbon.
• How was it? Tell me about the experience you had.
  • The actual marathon was cool. It goes along the river. The view is very nice and it's not too demanding. However, the race was quite challenging. I remember it was quite a hot day. It was really hard. I started too fast because I wanted to do a good time, and I was quite exhausted at the end. I was trying to maintain the pace which was a bit stupid. I only had done 2 half-marathons in terms of distance. I didn't prepare myself enough, that was unpleasant. But I managed to finish and the experience was very nice, especially for the sense of achievement. Even though I pushed myself too much.
• How did you get prepared?
  • I did it with my friend. He had done a few half-marathons before. We were running every day in the morning. We started very casually. Not going that far or not setting targets. And gradually we increased the distances a little bit. From Lisbon to the bridge and back. Gradually we did it a bit quicker and shortened the time. This was his idea. We did some sprints in the middle of it, which was pretty nice. Then we ran from Carcavelos to Lisbon. It's good we did the full distance twice before the actual race.
• What would you have done differently? Why?
  • Probably more training. To do the actual distance a lot more. Doing the half marathon during the weekend because I found there was a big difference between 15 km and the actual 21 km. You need to be closer to the target. And do it something like 10 times the actual distance. We should have focused more on the details.

Hydration

• What do you remember about the way you hydrated?
  • I drank a lot after. But the big distance, I remember the day before, drink a lot. And on the way around they give you some hydration things. That's something I should have focused on more because I felt dehydrated.
• How did you manage your hydration?
  • For the first quarter of it, I was not thinking about it. But since it got hot, I really felt the heat and the fatigue. So I had the hydration bags they gave along with the race.
• Have you ever found yourself in trouble due to hydration? What happened?
  • Not exactly in trouble, but it was the limit. I was basically super tired. The day before I ate a lot. I should have slept more. We did some stretching but not enough.
• What would you never do again? Why?
  • Being unrealistic about the pace. I ran it in 1 hour and 43! The target was 1h45. But that was unrealistic. I was pushing myself.
  • When I run normally, I try to drink a lot before and a lot after. It's better to get prepared in the winter.