Fredinho Vidal is a Jiu-Jitsu black belt of five years, and has been training for more than ten with his teacher Rodrigo Comprido.
But the greatest challenge he has had so far came last weekend in Holland. Fred decided to jog for 24 hours non-stop in the cold. He carried a training injury, caught the flu, even went as far as to verbally desist, but he persisted. And he made it to the podium.
The adventure began in London, where the forbidding cold kept him from training outdoors. For opting to do his training on the treadmill, his body lashed back and his left leg swelled up. After restricting himself to swimming and weights, and taking loads of anti-inflammatories, the black belt contracted the aforementioned flu.
From there on… Well, let him tell the story.
“On the week of the Ultralopen Steenbergen 24-hour run, I had two trots on the treadmill of 10km each and thought: whatever, it’s in God’s hands.
“I’d think of the financial investment I’d made, the fact it was my first go at the 24-hour modality, the solid training I’d done in Brazil, overseen by my trainer Dr. Geovana Coiceiro.
“Even with my state of medical impair, there I went, accompanied by my wife Patricia, on my way to Steembergen, a town in Holland
“When the event started, it was 8 degrees Centigrade with a lot of wind and rain, lowering my body temperature. Less than 30 km into the race, the specter of desistence haunted my mind, as the temperature was almost unbearable and my body was folding from the pain.
“At that point I told Patricia: ‘Even the most durable and famous ultra-marathon runners give up, why can’t I?’ My wife responded with profound silence (I don’t know if it was due to the cold… the situation…) and that made me not give up on the race.
“Little by little I worked on my mindset, and in the early morning, even at such low temperatures, my performance started to improve. I started moving ahead in position until I made it to third, with eight hours left in the run. From there on my only concern was the Dutch guy on my tail. Thank God I kept my position, finishing the race with a total of 193 km, securing third on the winners’ podium. I’m so happy to have overcome all the hardships.”