The Sprightly Spud

Any individual who can run 26.2 miles is astoundingly impressive. The mental stamina, physical strength, and endurance required to complete a full marathon, regardless of how long it takes, is beyond admirable. It takes commitment, sacrifice, and heaps of training.

Anyone who can run 26.2 miles in under 2h 30 mins is definitely superhuman.

Philippa (Phily) Bowden is one of these elite individuals. A professional runner, coach, and prolific YouTube content creator, Bowden’s bubbly demeanour puts a positive spin on the somewhat gruelling endeavour of running very far, very fast.

The Beginning

Born on 29th March 1995, Phily Bowden was a self-confessed nightmare as a child. Growing up she was involved in every extra-curricular going, from sea scouts to karate, predominantly to keep her ‘distracted’ and out of trouble. In a video detailing how running changed the course of her life, the athlete explains how being at basketball or athletics practice, meant she couldn’t irritate whichever teacher was supervising detention.

It was a result of her dislike of lessons that the 29 year old had her first venture into athletics… she was offered the chance to miss lessons in order to do some cross-country.

Young Phily jumped at the opportunity, and so the race began.

As is the case with many bright pupils, secondary education didn’t offer Phily the all-encompassing stimulation she needed to keep her on the straight and narrow. Hence, as she grew up, petty misdemeanours developed into underage drinking and partying. In the runner’s own words, she was; “Headed down a road that doesn’t get here”.

Her path took a pivot when she joined Aldershot athletics club, at the age of 14. Though initially this was just another activity to keep her disobedience at bay, a couple of years later, she was invited, as a junior, to compete amongst seniors at the British championships. Racing with the likes of Eilish McColgan, Bowden describes this as a ‘defining moment’ in her life.

For Phlly, the commitment required to turn up to training stopped further deterioration of her habits, and running became her saving grace. She even questioned whether it kept her from straying down a path to prison!

Despite her overall dissatisfaction with school, her approach to academia swivelled when she started University. Undertaking a degree in psychology at Brunel University finally allowed her to study because she had chosen to be their, rather than being forced to attend. Albeit, she admitted, at least 50% of her motivation to go came from a desire to join the athletics club.

Three years at Brunel allowed her to hone in on her passion for running, balancing racing with earning a first class degree. Notably representing England in the Home Counties International cross country, and thriving as she made the jump from junior to senior level competition. Following her initial outing for England, she was honoured with a GB vest for the 2017 Euro Cross in Slovakia, finishing 13th overall in the U23 category.

Her outstanding performances lead to further tantalising opportunities…

First, she considered a post-graduate endeavour in San Francisco, drawn to the prospect of continuing to improve in her sport under the watchful eye of Helen Lehman-Winters, without tackling the pressure associated with the leading US schools in the NCAA. This California dream, however, was not to become a reality, as just a couple of weeks before Bowden was due to fly stateside, Lehman-Winters informed her that she was going to be moving to Oregon. Without a doubt, this threw Phily’s postgraduate plans to begin with, until she found out that Oregon could offer her a life-changing scholarship.

The decision was made, and Bowden made the 5000 mile trip from Bracknell to Oregon, where she would join the 2017 NCAA champions.

The Dark Days

The toxic message of ‘lighter is faster’ in the distance running realm has had detrimental consequences for countless individuals in the industry. At some point during Bowden’s uni days, this insipid idea, and her own determination to excel in the sport, combined to form an eating disorder.

Unsurprisingly, Phily’s times suffered as a result. Nevertheless, she recovered, before she headed to the states…

Picking up your life and moving across the Atlantic would be a challenge for anyone, and this effect is only amplified when accompanied by the pressure of performing at an elite level in sport. Despite placing 97th in her debut NCAA Div One Cross-Country Championships and 17th in the PAC-12 Conference, Bowden was falling short of the inflexible targets set for her.

If this wasn’t hard enough to cope with, Phily revealed in an interview with The Telegraph, that the environment at Oregon wasn’t entirely healthy either.

Despite having disclosed her history of anorexia to medical staff and the coaching team at the uni, she was required to undergo a selection of physical assessments, then reports being told she needed to “cut a couple of pounds” and decrease her body fat percentage. Quite frankly, the fact that these statements were said to any, young athlete is jarring, and to inform someone with an ED history that they are above their ‘optimum’ weight is nothing short of appalling.

Inevitably, the intensity of competing as a ‘duck’, the burden of termly Dexa scans, and pressure to complete a daily food diary, meant the 23 year old was thrown back into mental turmoil. In another heartbreaking YouTube video, Phily told us how she had made herself sick the night before a race, despite knowing it would almost certainly hinder her ability to run at her best the next day.

“It sent me to a really dark place”.

Bowden ultimately left the Oregon athletics program two terms early, before it could further damage her mindset. She was, however, outspoken in attempting to hold Oregon accountable to their maltreatment of sportspeople, being the only allegation-making athlete to not remain anonymous in her accusations.

The Road to 26.2

Having returned to the UK in December 19, Bowden was left slightly deflated, demotivated and in need of something to reinvigorate her passion for running.

So the universe threw COVID at her.

Each of us had a different lockdown experience, and Phily’s was somewhat typical of your average British 26 year old. In an Athlete Interview in View’s From the Concourse, an online running blog, she reveals that she was “unemployed, living at my boyfriend’s parents’ house, sewing”

Fair enough.

Despite the pandemic, and endless solo training session, Phily’s insatiable fire for running drove her to seek out a new coach. This was when she found Helen Clitheroe.

Clitheroe was an ex-olympian, competing in the 1500m and 3000m steeplechase, European champ, and coach for Team New Balance Manchester. The perfect candidate to re-ignite Bowden’s passion.

Initially, things still didn’t feel fluid on the track for Phily. She was plagued by niggles, compromising the quality and consistency of her sessions. Thankfully, Helen had a solution for this; start from scratch.

A prime example of the perks of a ‘less is more’ approach to training, the pair reduced weekly mileage, before building it back up again. The result was renewed motivation, increased injury resilience, and the rekindling of a spark muted by the darkness of COVID.

Hence Phily decided to tackle the marathon.

Tackling a new distance or event can mean only one thing for an athlete – a guaranteed PB. Consequently, though the marathon was a lengthier endeavour than Bowden’s previous races, it meant the unescapable desire to constantly improve on her times was gone.

If you’re going to make a debut in one of the most gruelling events of the sporting world, why not do it in Seville, right? Despite its reputation for being one of the hottest areas in Spain, 20th February 2022 had the city basking in a balmy 18-22 degrees C. The 26 year old admitted being ‘scared’ on the start line, unable to comprehend how she would cope with the sheer extent of the run. Nevertheless, she powered through the majority of the race bang on her target times, until disaster struck just 600m before the finish…

A different kind of gel had caused disagreed with Bowden’s belly, causing her to be violently sick.

Regardless of the gastric disturbance, Phily earned herself a wholly impressive time of 2.34.30. Not bad for a newbie.

Hooked on her new distance, the marathon became the training focus for Phily. Just over a year after her trip to Andalusia, she ran for England in Copenhagen, scoring an outstanding third place, and a spectacular time of 2.29.16.

From rat race to real race

Like the vast majority of athletes toeing the line between amateur and pro, Bowden held down a stable, ‘real’, job, for 2.5 years before she took the ‘scary yet liberating’ leap just before the Christmas of 2022, to quit her 9-5.

For sportspeople in this position, the decision to go full-time means more than just sacrificing the financial stability of a ‘normal’ career. It represents a lifelong commitment to the toils, joys, and occasional pain, that life in sport brings. What’s more, the ability to endure this requires an incomprehensible level of love for your craft, and, as Phily would say, ‘the grind’.

Prior to Dec 2022, she worked for the government as a civil servant. This meant balancing a commute into the city, working at a desk 8 hours a day, and completing all her training sessions – a nigh on impossible task, but a necessary evil to pay the bills. Despite this, in order to be able to dedicate more energy to running, Phily had taken on further endeavours…

Since the prior January, she dedicated what few hours of the day remained to building her coaching business and YouTube platform. The success of these businesses is what allowed her to leave doing double sessions in the dark behind, and adopt a ‘self-employed’ way of life which offered the flexibility to fit work around running.

Unsurprisingly, Bowden’s transition to full-blown runner coincided with her joining Team New Balance Manchester – a small team of elite distance runners based in South Manchester. They welcomed her to the squad in November 2022, resulting in Phily, and her partner Daniel, moving up North. Being a part of Team NB meant she could focus her week around running, and soak up the expertise of those around her.

After four successful years racking up hundreds of miles alongside fellow high calibre athletes sporting New Balance footwear, Bowden took yet another vault into the unknown, opting to go solo.

Geographically, Phily and Daniel decided to remain “in t’North”, but in an instagram post addressing the matter, the internet’s most charming marathoner explained she felt it was the “right time for a change”. She reassured followers of her sustained commitment to “lofty” ambitions, but that she would be fulfilling them without the backing of a shoe brand.

Brand partnerships can be fruitful for both the athlete and the business in many cases, yet as with anything, there is the capacity for things to go wrong. Increased visibility, free or heavily discounted kit, funded travel, and the ability to commit more time to training are all potential rewards for a sponsored runner. Nevertheless, it is all too easy to become reliant on a brand deal to pay the bills; a risky position when the fragility of the partnerships are considered. Additionally, contracts are often exclusive – meaning an sportsperson can’t wear any other make of clothing or equipment. This can have larger ramifications than just limiting personal style, particularly if a certain trainer is hampering an individual’s running performance.

Additionally, sponsored athletes will be encouraged to promote, extol, and raise awareness of a brand. Undoubtedly, its a genius business strategy, particularly in an age when countless athletes have ‘celebrity’ status. Much of this branch of ‘influencer marketing’ is done through social media. For some figures, this is a practice that comes naturally, but for others the pressure to constantly publicise products, alongside every intricate detail of their lives can be stressful and harmful to wellbeing.

There are numerous reasons why endorsement agreements can fall through. Inevitably, there are tales of scandal, such as Nike severing ties with Lance Armstrong when his reputation was sullied by doping accusations. Equally, athletes may choose to dissociate with a company if it no longer aligns with their personal morals. It is vital they maintain integrity and honesty if they wish to remain in the public’s favour, hence why the choice to form or continue a sponsorship deal is very much an individual and subjective decision.

Long story short, brand partnerships are neither categorically ‘bad’ nor ‘good’, but for Phily, the time had come to move on, partly because she didn’t like the way being a contracted athlete meant she had signed away her rights to talk about the ‘ins and outs’ of the brand.

As much to her surprise as ours, this period of unchaperoned work was fairly short lived. In July 2024, she announced her new coach: Jon Green.

Renowned for his coaching philosophy – ‘a combination of holistic and scientific approaches towards training and racing’ – according to the Verde Track Club site. Green has curated a group of dedicated athletes of all abilities, hailing from countries al over the world, which Phily is now a part of.

Just a month later, YouTube supporters were treated to another groundbreaking revelation.

After observing Bowden’s newly amateur status, famously innovative trainer brand ‘on’ reached out to the athlete, and together they curated an endorsement deal which offered her a unique set-up, suiting her individual needs down to the ground. A win-win for all involved.

Bringing up the Big Issues

In my humble opinion, what differentiates Phily Bowden from fellow marathoners has got to be her determination to shine an honest light on the issues and intricacies which bedevil the world of athletics.

Like most online creators, Phily has a presence on Instagram, TikTok and X, though her true speciality is longer form content on YourTube. Alongside partner Daniel, Berkshire’s most athletic activist answers questions, and illuminates topics from the somewhat mysterious realm of professional and amateur distance running, in a way accessible to us mere mortals.

Some videos simply contain practical advice for fellow joggers. Don’t eat granola before training, or else you risk a gastric disaster, or tips to run your fastest 10km, and explanations of techniques like ‘double threshold training’. Each short film is masterfully formatted, to provide an entertaining and informative viewing experience. Additionally, Phily and Daniel address more profound subject matter, including the difficulties faced by professional athletes in an ever-changing sporting world.

Its clear she doesn’t just want to be carried in the torrent of elite running, but wants to change the face of it too.

The channel also documents Phily’s own journey and career, from in-depth analyses of races, to training camp vlogs which transport aspiring athletes to the mountains of Flagstaff, Arizona. Bowden’s candid manner is amusing, authentic, and straightforward, and she has a knack for passing on her knowledge and experience, without coming across as condescending.

In truth, its a privilege to be able to watch her improve and excel.

A Multifaceted Business Strategy

Whether its her marathons or her career moves, Phily is most definitely not one to do things by halves. Aside from maintaining her 81.8K subscriber YouTube channel and 100 mile training weeks, she uses her BSc in Psychology to nurture other runners to success through her online coaching business, and has designed her own line of merch.

In conjunction with retailing the ‘Love the Grind’ clothing range, coaching programs, and access to her run coaching through her website (https://philybowden.com/collections/all), Bowden has curated brand partnerships that truly embody her ethos as a runner. Professional running is an expensive, yet underpaid, game to play, therefore utilising business acumen to sustain the expenditure required for equipment, training camps and travel is not only desirable, but vital to longevity in the sport.

One of these integral bonds is with nutrition brand, OTE. Having experienced past difficulties with under-fuelling herself, Phily is keen to raise the status of the importance of adequate energy intake for runners, by publishing videos illustrating what she eats and why on her YouTube channel. Invariably, OTE products feature in these videos. Unlike many sports supplement retailers, OTE predominantly targets endurance athletes, as a pose to bodybuilders. Consequently, many of their products tend to have a higher carbohydrate:protein ratio, in order to maximise performance whilst still facilitating optimal training recovery.

Fitness wearable brand, Coros, is next on Phily’s list of favourites. A good watch is an essential bit of gear for any runner, particularly when training with the technical specificity of a pro. As with all her content, Bowden’s promotional pieces for Coros are relatable, honest, and riddled with essential facts for any prospective Coros customer.

Long story short, Bowden is quite clearly a bit of a business boffin, yet is able to promote and advertise the wares of her sponsors without turning her YouTube videos into a 20 minute TV ad break.

Where Next?

As much as I would adore to meet Phily, and grill her on her plans for the coming months and years, unfortunately, all I have to go on is her online content.

One thing is for sure, there are many more marathons in Bowden’s legs, and she will be grafting as hard as she can to make these as rapid as possible. Namely, as of a week ago, she has just returned home from a 10 week altitude block in Flagstaff, the base of her coach. This stint of training saw her smash through multiple 100+ mile weeks, all at around 7000 feet of elevation.

Aside from the fantastic views, being this high above sea-level means reduced air pressure and oxygen levels make running feel extremely tough. It might seem utterly ridiculous to make an already gruelling sport even harder, but altitude training forces the body to adapt to low-oxygen conditions, resulting in improved blood flow to muscles, benefits to VO2 max levels, and increased lactic acid tolerance. Essentially, it makes running fast on the flat feel like a doddle.

Not only has Bowden taken her training up a notch geographically, but her and green have also been implementing new training styles, such as brutal ‘double threshold’ sessions, to bombard her with new training stimuli and maximise her race day potential.

Don’t despair, we won’t have to wait long to see whether all this hard work has paid off. Phil’s feet will not be on home soil for long, and on the 29th September she will race the Berlin marathon. A notoriously fast event, Berlin is blessed with minimal elevation, wide roads ideal for overtaking and pleasant weather conditions, with temperatures averaging around 14°C. Hence why Germany’s top road race has been the backdrop for 11 marathon world records so far.

In her own words, she has been ‘“focussing more on the process” and “enjoying the moment” therefore she is yet to reveal her specific goals.

Despite keeping her cards close to her chest when it comes to her unfathomably large overarching aims, with videos titled ‘I Quit My Job to Follow an Olympic Dream’, and ‘My Olympic Dream is Over’ one could be forgiven for assuming reaching the games is on the agenda. Although narrowly missing out on a Paris place, she is positive that with another four years of graft and grind, LA 2028 could be within her capabilities.

So, will we being seeing Phily Bowden rocketing through the streets of sunny California? Only time will tell…

@philybowden