Vitality founder sets himself a significant challenge: to run a 5-minute mile
Challenge aims to highlight importance of physical activity and power of goal setting as he invites others to join him in completing their own Vitality Mile
Adrian Gore, Vitality founder and group chief executive of Vitality’s parent company, Discovery Limited, has set himself the challenge of running a 5-minute mile by the end of November 2022.
Vitality’s core purpose - to make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives - has inspired Adrian to set himself this challenge, with data from Vitality showing just how powerful physical activity is. Exercise is a powerful trigger event, stimulating other healthy behaviours, and has beneficial effects all-round, including on mental health and resilience: Vitality data shows that physical activity and good nutrition are associated with up to four times lower psychological distress*. Vitality data has also shown that improving from no exercise to just one physically active day per week, results in a 35% reduced risk of death**.
Through the Vitality Programme, Vitality has seen the power of incentives in encouraging people to improve and maintain their activity levels. In a similar way, setting goals can motivate and drive people to reach their potential. Through his challenge, Adrian aims to illustrate the power of setting goals and hopes to inspire and encourage people to join him in completing their own Vitality Mile, whether that’s walking, jogging, or sprinting it – whatever is right for them.
To complete his Vitality Mile, Adrian will need to run at 12mph or faster for the five minutes, which at this pace, you would run 5km in 15 minutes or 10km in 30 minutes. Only 1% of males in Adrian’s age category (between 56 and 61 years) are said to be able to run a mile in 7 minutes 39 seconds***, showing how challenging the goal he has set himself is.
Speaking about it, Adrian Gore said: ““There is a huge amount of power that comes from setting yourself a goal, whatever that might be. It triggers the dynamic of loss aversion and as a result, higher levels of focus and motivation - loss and triggering the idea, we know it brings out the potential in each of us to make positive and meaningful changes in life.
“In aiming and training to run my Vitality Mile in 5 minutes, I have set a personal challenge that has completely taken me outside of my comfort zone. This is why I am reaching out to the likes of Lord Sebastian Coe, to inspire me and talk me through how he became one of the most successful middle distance runners we have seen, and Gillian Stamp to talk about the tools required to enable individuals to realise their full potential.
Greg Levine, Managing Director, Distribution and Sales, at Vitality said: “Vitality has redefined insurance by creating products that help drive positive changes in its members. In taking on this challenge, Adrian is leading from the front and bringing to life the importance and role that goal setting plays in helping us all make positive changes in our lives. Just setting such an audacious goal and then going for it is an inspiration to us all.”
Adrian, who has carefully considered and chosen the distance for the challenge, added: “One mile is right in the middle of the distance spectrum, not a short sprint and not a marathon, it insists on an equal amount of endurance and speed with trade-offs between their competing demands.”
Adrian will be following a strict training plan by JP van der Merwe renowned middle distance running coach who trained South African athletes Johan and Werner Botha, Hezekiél Sepeng and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi – winners at the World Championships and Olympics respectively.
To track his progress visit Adrian Gore’s LinkedIn page.
Ends
Notes to editors
* Science of Vitality journal, March 2022
** Science of Vitality journal, March 2022
*** data from US Army Physical Fitness Test
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