The hours spent alone, pounding the roads, would break most people.
But they’ve only served to make Natasha Phillips stronger.
There’s something unique about endurance runners in that they spend session upon session by themselves with only their thoughts to accompany them.
Being in one’s own head for such prolonged periods can be a dangerous place for many but although Phillips, who almost exclusively trains alone, does have days when she finds it testing, she has gleaned far more positives than negatives from her solitary training schedule.
“Training on my own can be tough at times,” Phillips says.
“But mainly, it's fine and sometimes, it’s actually really nice because it's like enforced meditation. You're forced to think things through and that can be quite important.
“Training alone is also really good for building mental resilience - it gives you an edge so when things do get hard in races, you know that you’re mentally strong and that you can get through whatever situation you're in. It builds a lot of discipline and self-motivation as well.”
Therefore, it comes as little surprise that Phillips, who only recently turned 20, has a unique mental resilience.
Despite only starting to take running seriously in her mid-teens after beginning her athletic life as a swimmer, she’s already established herself as one of the most promising young endurance runners in Europe.
In the past couple of years, the Dundonian has set British and European U20 half marathon records, as well as winning several senior Scottish national titles.
It was her most recent half marathon appearance, last October, however, which was the most impressive of them all.
Racing in Valencia, Phillips broke her own British U20 half marathon record, crossing the line in 70 minutes 14 seconds, a time that saw her shoot up the Scottish all-time list to fourth place behind only Eilish and Liz McColgan, as well as Steph Twell.
Being in such exalted company, particularly so early in her career, has been, admits Phillips, difficult to get her head around.
“It feels amazing to have my name alongside people like Eilish and Liz,” she says.
“It's really inspiring, and very cool. Sometimes I really can't believe it, especially being still quite new to the sport. I've been really happy with my results over the past while and but it still feels surreal to be in a list with these athletes.”
Last month should have marked a major milestone in Phillips' development when she included in the British team for the European Road Running Championships. Injury thwarted what would have been her GB debut at senior level but having regained fitness, and moved past the disappoint of her withdrawal, Phillips is able to glean a number of positives from her GB selection, regardless of the fact she was unable to race.
"I had some inflammation of my knee tendon and so I was absolutely gutted to have to pull out of the Europeans. I was so disappointed but I had to just keep telling myself that I'm only 20 and hopefully I'll have a lot more years at this" she says.
"I can't change what's happened so there was no point on dwelling on it. As disappointed as I was at having to withdraw, I'm still am able to take the boost that came from being selected and hopefully I'll have more chances to race in a GB vest in the future.”
Phillips has already regained her fitness and will be back racing tomorrow, at the Babcock Shettleston 10k in Glasgow. Her appreciation to be back racing, coupled with the momentum she's built up in recent months, are what's behind her optimism that a fast time is on the cards this weekend.
"I love racing in Glasgow and I've run well at this event in the past," she says.
"I feel in really good shape and it's a fast course so I'm definitely targeting a PB this weekend, although a lot of that will depend on conditions on the day."
Phillips’ stand-out performances in recent seasons may have been on the road but this year, she’s planning on diversifying by taking a serious tilt at the longer distances on the track.
With the 10,000m at the European U23 Championships this summer, as well as the Commonwealth Games next year, major targets for Phillips, she’s keen to test herself on the track, and having witnessed her fellow Dundonian, Eilish McColgan, combine the track and road so successfully, she doesn’t have to look far to see how well the two can complement each other.
“I’ll be racing on the track a lot this summer because I feel like I'm too young to box myself into just doing half marathons,” she says.
“Seeing Eilish combine the track and road so well has been really inspiring. I'm not saying that I'll be as successful as her but it shows that it's possible to do both.
“So it’ll be interesting to see how this year goes.”
