Tim Peake on the oddities of running a marathon in space
When arranging online interviews with international figures, it's wise to check which location they are beaming in from to make sure there's no time-difference mix-up.
It's rather more unusual to have to check which planet they're on.
But that's what Olympics.com did in February when speaking to Tim Peake to find out what it was like to run a marathon in space.
In 2016, the now-grounded British astronaut completed a marathon from 399 kilometres (248 miles) above Earth where he spent 186 days on the International Space Station (ISS). His time there coincided with the London Marathon on 24 April, nearly eight years to the day before the upcoming edition, which takes place on Sunday (21 April) and doubles as a Paris 2024 qualifier.
Athletes will be able to qualify in two ways for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 marathon, with 50% of qualification places based on achieving the entry standard for an event within the qualification period, and the other 50% based on the World Athletics Ranking within the ranking period. The qualification and ranking period for the marathon finishes on 30 April 2024 having started on 1 November 2022, so the London Marathon will be key for several athletes competing.
Back in 2016, Peake had been engaged by the organisers to promote new technology that saw virtual runners taking part in the 42.195km (26.2-mile) race for the first time via a digital avatar. Peake's icon, appropriately enough, was decked out in a spacesuit.
So, four months after blasting off into space for two consecutive three-month missions, where his role for the European Space Agency was conducting scientific experiments, a few DIY jobs including fixing solar panels that required a spacewalk, and education programmes for school children, Peake set his watch to 10am British Summer Time, which is who knows what in space time, and began his run, in which time he would go almost two and half laps around the Earth.
But how?
How does a person run in a gravity-less environment on the ISS one might wonder, especially today of all days, 12 April, the International Day of Human Space Flight.
We're glad you asked.
Space jam multi-gym
First, yes, there is a running machine on the ISS, which is bigger than you might think, he says, describing the size of the space station as "about the size of a 747 (aeroplane)". So there's room for a gym – of sorts – and it's there for a vital reason.
"One of the most important things to maintain your health, is to exercise," says Peake who reveals that the body ages 20 years while in space, thankfully reversed when back on Earth, he felt compelled to explain after Olympics.com suggested he looked good for it.
"In terms of muscle atrophy, if you don't exercise, your body is just amazing in how it adapts to a new environment and it just senses you're in space.
"Your muscles start to waste away, your bones start to waste away, and that's all fantastic, because what your body is doing is it's adapting to being as good as it can be for space, for weightlessness.
"But of course, we need exercise for coming back down to earth, back into a gravity environment, and it's that muscle-bone-ligament interaction that's really important for that."
Crew time is valuable, though, so hours-long training sessions are replaced with high-intensity workouts in the space multi-gym, which incorporates vacuum cylinders as weight training devices, plus an exercise bike and a treadmill.
So, the facilities were there for Peake to take on the marathon, achieved once before by US astronaut, Suni Williams, who took part in the Boston Marathon in 2007, finishing in a time of four hours and 24 minutes.
But, of course, there's that age-old problem of trying not to float away when on a treadmill. So how does that work?
Via bungee cables and a harness system, explains Peake, that keep him tethered to the machine.
"The maximum bungee strength can give you about 75% of your body weight, maybe 80% body weight, so it feels like you're running on the moon, you know, you're bouncing along.
"So, I guess the good news is that you're not running at full body weight when I was running the marathon, but the bad news is that pretty much all that weight is on your collarbone because the waist belt isn't really that good at carrying the load.... so it's really uncomfortable. It's fine for high-intensity workouts if you want to go for a quick 20-30-minute blast... but to do a marathon, it was never designed for that."
Nevertheless, 'running' is still achievable, and Peake completed the course in three hours and 35 minutes, compared to three hours 10 he completed on Earth in 1999.
As with every competitive type, a 'but' story accompanies both times.
Peake was desperate to complete the Earth marathon in less than three hours but was young, hadn't prepared properly, and struggled in the latter part of the race when he glugged a lot of liquid that ended up swishing around in his stomach impacting his physicality. Conversely, he was happy with his space marathon time, but he "wasn't busting a gut with that harness on".
Earth or space marathon runners, some things never change.
Space oddities in running a marathon
So, Olympics.com pondered, when he finished the marathon, did he just float away after he took off the harness?
"Yes. As soon as you take that harness off, you're floating, and I mean, what a fantastic recovery environment to be in. I've got zero body weight. All I need is a couple of fingers to pull myself around the space station, go and have a cup of tea and back to work. So recovery on the space station was incredibly quick."
Cue multiple runners applying to run a marathon in space next year.
And what about sweat, when it drips off, does it, like, float away? According to Peake, no sweat comes off any part of the body - not the arms, or legs, or armpits - just the top of the head!
"What's really weird when you run, and nobody told me this before and it's something you just find out, is as you sweat, it kind of – with the up and down motion on the treadmill – the water migrates to the top of your head and it starts to form a bubble, and it feels really uncomfortable.
"And then every now and then we would have towels velcroed to the wall next to me, and then as you're running, you just kind of mop your head, get rid of all the sweat and hang it back up to dry again."
Peake was able to watch the live feed of the London Marathon from the BBC on a laptop while a tablet with the Run Social app enabled Peake to track his progress through the streets of London showing iconic landmarks like Big Ben and Tower Bridge.
"It was really cool," says Peake, whose pre-prepared liquid bags were also attached to the wall within easy reach. "It was nice to really feel kind of connected."
Starman, floating in the sky
Another aspect of the famous race missing from the space version is the cheering crowds lining the route, so did his space buddies cheer him on?
"They would come in and check and just see how I was doing that Sunday morning," says Peake, who said Jeff Williams was there to congratulate him at race end. "But the treadmill is noisy... probably up to about 80 decibels when you're going for it, so it's not an environment that is comfortable to linger."
Music, therefore, as on Earth, eased the pain, so Peake put on his space playlist, which included the three songs he had chosen for blast-off. Each astronaut was allowed to pick a trio of tracks to play during the lengthy launch procedure with Peake' opting for some absolute bangers: 'Don't Stop Me Now' (Queen), 'Beautiful Day' (U2) and 'A Sky Full of Stars' (Coldplay).
What else? Oh yes, Olympics.com suggests that perhaps while running the marathon from the ISS, Peake would be watching the Earth through a small porthole, with a dreamy vision of feeling connected to the thousands of people running through the streets of his home capital city.
Sadly, not so. Not quite.
"It's not quite as glamorous as that. The treadmill is next to the space station toilet," he laughs.
"It's interesting, though, because the weight training device is... over the window, so when we're squat thrusting and bench pressing, we'll just look down and there's Earth beneath. That is very cool. But the treadmill is a little bit further down the module."
Properly getting into the swing of things now, Olympics.com asks: Trainers tend to be a bit, well, pongy, and the last thing anyone needs is stinky shoes up there, so where do they go?
Peake laughs. "So in this module, called node three where the gym is, we kind of hang our trainers behind foot rails and just slot them in there. Our sports kit as well is hung up around there in a storage module, so I guess that's the kind of smelly zone of the space station, if you like.
"It's away from the eating area and the sleeping area and actually, it's not actually smelly when you go in there. You don't really even notice any change in smell, but it's a separate area and the ventilation is good, so things will dry out quickly."
Is there anything else weird that happened to Peake while completing his space marathon?
"Well, it was quite weird when one of my fellow astronauts floated over the top of my head at one point, trying to get to the locker room."
ESA astronaut Tim Peake in a room with a view
Life on the ISS
Sport plays a big part in life on the ISS, as an easy way to bond with fellow cosmonauts from all over the world.
Just one channel can be beamed into the ISS live at any one time and it is the commander's choice. However, major sporting events are well received.
"NASA sent every Six Nations (rugby) match up, which I had done a video message before kick-off for the TV coverage from space... so that was really cool to be able to watch all of those matches, and the other crew members enjoyed it too because they're all into sport.
"There is also a very cool challenge (for astronauts on the ISS), which could be an Olympic sport, actually, with an American football," recalls Peake. "The challenge is, to be able to throw it from the Russian segment all the way down to the front of the American segment, and that's about the length of a football pitch, and try and throw it without hitting any of the walls."
Did you manage it?
**"**Well, just about, but you're never quite sure because there's an area where (the space station) changes (and getting it) through the gap is the hardest part, and it's very hard to see if you do actually touch the walls on the far side. But, yeah, I got very close."
The camaraderie borne from sport in space, in whatever context, reminds Peake of the Olympics, with the space traveller landing safely back on Earth a month before Rio 2016 began.
"I really do love the Olympics... They're not sports I would follow normally, but it's more of a case of when you have an event like that, it's where everybody comes together and you feel a sense of national pride, but you also enjoy the sense of collaboration and sense of everybody coming together."
One of his favourite Olympic moments was when British middle distance runner Kelly Holmes won gold in both 1,500m and 800m at Athens 2004, a memorable image of her wide-eyed look of joy after crossing the finish line first one for the icon annals.
"Just a huge, remarkable achievement," says Peake. "And also, it's so lovely when you see people's expressions and what it means to them, and you realise that they have just achieved their lifetime ambition."
Right back atcha, Tim.
- As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
- Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.