I’m A Runner
Former F1 world champion Jenson Button
‘I had to practise being lighter on my
feet’
THE FORMER F1 WORLD CHAMP, 41, ON ONLINE RACING AND GETTING LOST
MY DOG, BENTLEY, joins me for a 5K. He’s a three-year-old German shepherd/golden retriever mix, and he needs lots of exercise. Sometimes I’ll run with my son Hendrix. He’s 16 months and we’ve got a threewheeler buggy you can take offroad. We live on a hill, so it’s a nightmare for me, but Hendrix loves it.
I RUN WITH MY MATES ONLINE. We use Zwift. You go on a treadmill and join each other on the app. You can run with people around the world, so I’ll run with my mates in Somerset when I’m in LA. There are 15 of us and we’ll all be on Zoom, so we can chat to each other. It’s really cool – and especially with lockdown, it’s been a nice way to hang out.
I EAT A LOT FOR A SKINNY DUDE. I’m up before 6am most days, so I run early in the morning. When I get back, I have eggs – an omelette, or scrambled eggs and toast with veggies.
RUNNING WAS MY BASE TRAINING for a lot of my racing career. I was doing triathlons at the same time as F1, so swimming, biking and running were a big part of my fitness regime. I used to run around the race circuits. I’d do time trials with mates and F1 would put on competitions. Everyone in the paddock would take part – the drivers, the mechanics, the engineers and the TV crews would all run.
STRETCHING IS THE MOST BORING THING in the world. I’ve got to do it, though. With the amount of training I’ve done, it’s vital for me to stretch. I don’t do it before a run, because stretching when you’re cold is not a good thing, but I always stretch when I get back. I try to have a massage nearly every week as well.
I CAME BACK FROM MONACO TO DO THE LONDON MARATHON. This was in 2015. I really like London, so running around the landmarks was pretty cool. There were so many runners and spectators, it was insane. It was such a good atmosphere and I loved all of it, except the last three miles – but that’s normal, I think.
A PRO TRIATHLETE TRAINED ME for my first marathon. It’s hard to train yourself. Having a programme is important for me. A lot of it was getting my posture right; I tended to hunch over on the run. I also had to practise being lighter on my feet. Then I had to get used to eating while I was running, because you need to eat in a marathon. I found it difficult and I used to get cramps, so I practised that in training.
I GOT LOST RUNNING IN AUSTRIA. The scenery’s beautiful there, but it all looks the same; I got lost when I was out there for the 2020 Grand Prix. I went for an easy 40-min run, but there were no landmarks, so I ended up being out for an hour and 40 minutes, without any water. It wasn’t hot, but I hurt for a couple of days after that, just from dehydration.