WHEN SPENCER MATTHEWS jumps on a Zoom call with Men’s Health the morning before Project Se7en begins, he sounds suspiciously relaxed. He’s all smiles while joking with his team, seemingly impervious to the pressure of the monstrous feat of physical endurance he plans to achieve.
Less than 24 hours after our call, Matthews started the first of seven Ironman-distance triathlons as part of his world-spanning odyssey from London to Arizona, Cape Town to Perth, Dubai to Rio and finally, Antarctica. And yet, he speaks as if he’s heading out for a jog around the park. “We’ll leave the house just before 5am probably and get right into it,” he says, with an ease that belies the enormity of what he’s about to do.
By the time you read this, Matthews will already be deep in the pain cave. He’s knocked off triathlons in the UK, US and South Africa. He’s slept on planes, eaten meals at odd hours and tried to regulate his body across a multitude of time zones. Tomorrow morning he’ll attempt triathlon number four in Perth.
This challenge is not the first time Matthews has embarked on an extreme endurance event. Last year, he completed 30 marathons in 30 days across the Jordanian desert. That ordeal was astonishing not just for its physical demands but for the emotional clarity it produced. “The 30 in 30 was one of the greatest experiences of my life,” he says. “I felt like I actually made a significant difference to the charities we were raising money for. We helped about 50,000 British families who really needed help. That kind of held me together and allowed me to have a good time, because I felt my mission had a great purpose.”
Purpose, for Matthews, acts as ballast. It steadies him and gives weight to choices that would otherwise appear reckless, even absurd. But there’s more to his challenges than a good cause – he also enjoys them. “Extreme endurance challenges are also tremendous adventures,” he says. “I’ll never forget my time in the desert.”
Throughout Project Se7en, Matthews is raising money for James’ Place, a UK-based men’s suicide prevention charity. “James’ Place are an incredible charity. They save thousands of lives every year,” he says. “Somebody takes their own life nearly every hour in the UK, and with James’ Place help we’ll be able to hopefully make a really significant dent in the male suicide rate.
“I want to raise as much awareness and as much money as possible whilst pushing myself to my physical and mental limit,” Matthews continues. “I think the desire to give up during this challenge would probably be pretty hefty if I wasn’t raising money for such a good cause.”
For more than a decade, Matthews says that he “used to have a shocking relationship with alcohol. I’d drink to excess daily for 13 or 14 years. It was really beginning to get in the way of my human potential.” Sobriety did not turn him into an athlete overnight, but it created the space for discipline and resilience to grow. He learned how to sit in discomfort without reaching for an escape hatch.
“Even though I’m nowhere near the world’s most gifted athletes, something horrendous would have to happen for me to give up,” Matthews says. “When things get really dire and really dreadful and dark and grim and the only thing I want to do is pull the ripcord and stop, I won’t do that.”
Maybe that’s why he’s drawn to other endurance athletes who live by the same creed. “I was really inspired by Russ Cook when he was running across Africa,” he says. “I think Russ [Cook], Will [Goodge] and myself are certainly not the most gifted athletes in the world, but I think we have quite strong minds and big hearts.”
Of course, mental toughness won’t make the logistics of Project Se7en any easier. The current world record for completing a triathlon on every continent is four years, and Matthews will attempt to do it in just 21 days. The numbers alone are enough to deter most athletes, and while Matthews is no stranger to extreme endurance challenges, he admits that this will be the most difficult thing he has ever done.
There was a simplicity to the 30 in 30 in Jordan. “Most days felt similar,” Matthews recalls. “Even though our camp would move, I’d go through the same routine: waking up at 3:45am, having breakfast, running by 4:30.” Routine is a luxury he doesn’t have this time. “This is either going to be an alarming wake-up call, or I’ll find a rhythm,” he says. He knows full well what’s coming. “Each continent will kick up its own problem. We only need to lose a bike at an airport for this to be a nightmare.”
The final triathlon in Matthews’ journey is in Antarctica. That means swimming in frigid waters and dealing with a range of other problems he won’t run into anywhere else. “The thing that I’m probably losing the most sleep over is leopard seals,” he says. “I’m having nightmares about them a fair amount. I don’t know if there’s a way of making sure they’ve had their grub for the morning, but we are trying to figure out ways of keeping them at bay.”
Of all the legs of the triathlon, swimming is the one Matthews feels least confident about. “I’ve done some long swims,” he says, “and I’m able to do them in a relatively struggle-free manner. But it’s certainly not a strength.” He had never completed an Ironman-distance triathlon before the beginning of Project Se7en, but he had done a half-triathlon in which the swim proved the most difficult segment. “During the swim I was doing backstroke and all kinds of shit. I thought I might drown at one point.”
Running, on the other hand, is what Matthews has spent the most time rehearsing. “Running is where the bread is buttered,” he says. “It creates the most strain, it gives me the highest heart rate. Running, I believe, is really the core of all this stuff.”
Still, he insists that the foundation of his success isn’t the mileage or the training blocks or the gear, it’s the mindset. “For what it’s worth, I think just having a really positive outlook on these things can be powerful,” he says. “It’s important to see the overall experience as fun, and as something you’re looking forward to that’s meaningful. I think heading into anything like this with fear is problematic from the offset.”
Three continents down, four to go. When Matthews’ next triathlon begins tomorrow in Perth, the heat will be punishing and the jet lag will be cruel. After that comes Dubai, then Rio and Antarctica. Whether he completes the challenge, surpasses the record, or has to battle through unforeseen obstacles, Matthews is already showing the power of rebuilding your life and cultivating a purpose so strong that it eclipses fear.
Matthews isn’t running for himself, he’s running for others. Tomorrow morning, he’ll walk up to the starting line again. Four continents still to go, one mission driving him forward.
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