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South West Traverse FKT feat Piotr’s | Episode 95
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In this episode of Peak Pursuits, Brodie and Sim sit down with Piotr Babis to unpack one of the boldest endurance feats ever attempted in Tasmania’s southwest: a first-ever continuous FKT linking the Eastern Arthurs, Western Arthurs, Port Davey and the South Coast Track. Piotr breaks down the brutal reality of 240km and 12,000m of elevation across some of Australia’s most remote and overgrown terrain, covering navigation challenges, weather windows, crew logistics and multi-day fueling in true wilderness conditions. The team dives into why Tassie’s Arthurs remain among the toughest environments in Australian trail running, what it takes to plan FKTs, and how this adventure fits alongside Piotr’s 2026 race calendar including Gone Nuts, KMR and UTA. A must-listen for anyone fascinated by FKTs, Tasmanian trail running, and the outer edges of endurance adventure.
The team then dives into some chats around the changes in the trail running scene as it gets bigger and social media influence brings new people to the trails, as well as some results and a listener question around race pressure.
Results:
- Kilcunda Running Festival (VIC)
- Beerwah at Night (QLD)
- SEQ Trail Series Round 5: Bunyaville
- Perth Trail Summer Series
***Don’t forget, use code PEAK at https://bix-hydration.myshopify.com/en-au for 20% off Bix products, exclusive to PPP listeners!***
Thanks for tuning in to Peak Pursuits!
Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
Follow Sim: Instagram | Strava
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Follow Piotr: Instagram
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
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Transcript
Introduction and Excitement for Milestones
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 95 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. We're getting very close to the 100th episode. Anyways, my name is Simone Brick and i am lucky enough today to be joined by Brady Nankervis. Brady, how are we doing? Yeah, pretty good. Yep, pretty close to the 100.
00:00:20
Speaker
one hundred it's been Looking back, it doesn't feel like we've been doing it for that long, but I guess um i guess we have. Yeah, I know.
Introducing Fyodor Vavis and His FKT Adventure
00:00:27
Speaker
I know. That was a very me intro too. get me just sidetracked in the middle of my own sentence. But anyways, we have a awesome guest today who has just done a pretty big adventure, FKT, down in Tassie.
00:00:43
Speaker
And that is none other than Fyodor Vavis. How are we doing? Yes, feeling good. Back to normal. Nice and sunny day here on the east coast of Tassie. Okay, back to normal. How many days ago did you finish this thing?
00:00:56
Speaker
I finished on Wednesday morning. I was back to work on Thursday. so pretty standard for me. That is commitment right there, being back to work the next day. so But to give people context on what we're talking about here, I tried to look into the exact stats and I couldn't exactly figure it out. but but As far as I can tell, it was, yeah, Eastern Arthur's, Western Arthur's, Southwest Trail? Davie and South Coast.
00:01:27
Speaker
South Coast. Okay. So what is the, give us just the basic stats on the distance elevation on the exact FKT that you just made. This with NOPE have been done before, right?
00:01:40
Speaker
I don't think it's been done as a kind of single push or fast attempt. It's been done as a maybe three, four week hike. ah So the stacks on that that got, it was 240K 12,000 meters of elevation, which doesn't seem maybe that impressive. But if if you've been to Tassie, if you hiked in the Southwest, you know how challenging this terrain is. And sometimes even the route finding is challenging of its own. So ah yeah, very, very challenging and rugged terrain. Sounds amazing. Brody, have you done much of these trails?
00:02:13
Speaker
I haven't actually done any of these trails, but Piotr is probably underselling it. Oh, actually, no, I've done some of the South Coast track just the very end, which is probably the easiest part of the route. And that would be somewhat of a challenging trail run. So like Piotr is probably underselling it a little bit.
Challenges of Tasmania's Terrain and Weather
00:02:29
Speaker
It's it's pretty intense terrain. And if you yeah if you want to have a look, there's a lot of pictures on Piotr Strava and he's been sharing them on Instagram as well just like to get a bit of a gauge of what the terrain's like but um Tasmania in general is slow going but these more remote tracks um they don't see a lot of traffic so nature takes back over um so there's a ah fair bit of wayfinding involved um a lot of scrubby pushing through bushes I'm sure Piotr you've pushed through a lot of bushes in the last
00:03:00
Speaker
Over those three days, I can just imagine. And um yeah, very technical underfoot, rooty, rocky and and including probably some of the more dangerous, I guess, hikes in Tassie that people, by unfortunately, people have passed away on because they are so exposed and and rugged. So um yeah, it's definitely...
00:03:21
Speaker
The stats don't don't give it its true intensity. And I think anyone who spent time in Tassie or specifically down in the southwest of Tassie would fully appreciate just how intense and how crazy this attempt was, let alone the speed in which Piotr did it. So, yeah, hats off to you, Piotr. I think it's going to be a hard one for anyone to take off you. I don't know if you have many people are attempting it.
00:03:49
Speaker
Yeah, as you said, they very challenging terrain, like climbing our Federation, um super sketchy. And there's been a few deaths in the past few years. And ah Eastern and and first part of Western art was extremely overgrown. We really struggled, especially doing that section at night. um The route finding very difficult, as you said, nature overtakes. And we had to squeeze in very, very thick bush. And our legs were so scratched to ah to the blood, literally. um But the trade-off is that is as challenging as it is, it is probably the the most beautiful part of Tassie. that The landscape is actually spectacular and to be able to experience it in a good weather. All those sunrises and sunset are just absolutely spectacular. So that to be able to fit that in in just under four days, it's pretty overwhelming.
00:04:40
Speaker
ah you And as much as Brody's like, not many people will want to attempt, even just looking at a few of the pictures, I'm like, let me at it. Like, I want to see something because it looks incredible. with With those sort of adventures, it's it's not more of the capability. It's a lot of planning and logistics and finding the right people to actually help you out and say, Hey, I'm doing this thing. Do you want to come in? And for example, Joe and Ziggy join me and that they spent 40 hours of their time, you know, doing that with me and among other people, the writer as well. It's two days of of his life. I'm sure he enjoyed it to certain extent, but it's a big commitment. It takes a bit of time to build those connections, to find people to join you for that. The other thing, the big thing is the weather and this, know,
00:05:25
Speaker
This summer was extremely bad when it comes to the weather, a lot of rough weather, even events snow and around Christmas. I was actually planning to a bit of a recce in November and December, and I was never able to do it because every single weekend had off, it was a bad weather, so I wasn't even able to do any recce.
00:05:43
Speaker
And when it comes to the the attempt itself, I think yeah more of it just doing it in the time, i think it's also the commitment. Someone needs to really be committed to actually be like, yeah, I want to try and spend you know four days to to do that.
00:05:57
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. It sounds... That's where I suppose where a lot of my questions lies around the logistics. But just quickly for everyone listening, if you wanted like Piotr's background and this story up until this point, you recently chatted to James on an episode.
Planning and Logistics for FKT Attempt
00:06:13
Speaker
So people can go back and listen to that one if they want some of the more background. But the last time we saw you, was the last sort of race slash big event you did King of the Hill last year? Yes, yes those yes. And so when did you,
00:06:28
Speaker
Just back to the very beginning of this, is this something you've been looking at doing for a few years? Is this something that just recently you just you started planning? Like when did the idea of this come from? The started probably few years ago. I was just kind of busy or haven't fully committed. But when I got this sort of idea, I kind of hold it for a little bit. And when I feel like it's irresistible, I just go for it. and This year seems seems like a good year for it. Just down the king of the hill and had a pretty solid block of training and not specifically for this adventure, just in general training for races that I have coming up.
00:07:05
Speaker
And also had a partner that the idea was that he would join me for the whole thing. Unfortunately, he had to pull out of Melaleuca, so he done three thirds of that. um Sorry, three quarters of it, most of it. But yeah, the dates align and yeah we decided to go for it this year. Awesome. Awesome. So from, say, King of the Hill until now, you say you've just been training in the general training block for other races and this has kind of fitted in. But
00:07:39
Speaker
what are like getting the people together in the planning and these sorts of things what were those logistics like and even to come down to choosing when to start based on the weather and those sorts of things like what was that period from sort of december january like um planning all of this Yeah, so my partner for this adventure, Simon Duke, was coming from Alice, so that was giving us pretty limited window. So we actually set up a date, 24th of January, and we able to start it which is extremely fortunate, but we had 10 days weather window. so
00:08:13
Speaker
We're hoping to start within the first five, six days. If the weather wouldn wouldn't be good, we'll consider starting in other directions. So South Coast and Port Davy, it's something we could ah try in an average or even bad weather, but you you don't want to be on the art tours in a bad weather. So I'll kind of take a bit of a risk and if the weather changed for better, we could we could attempt it. If not, we probably have to bail. But as I said, we where we set the date in December and it happened to be a good day. So there was no issues with that whatsoever. Love that for you.
00:08:45
Speaker
Absolutely love that. so then a bit more of the sort of nitty-gritty in terms of the actual attempt um before i get to sort of how it felt necessarily the like planning your fueling throughout something like this being so remote like where did you have fuel drops out there was it just carrying really like a lot in your packs or like how often were you actually able to see someone to fuel this yeah so we there was a supported attempt but we had to be pretty much self-efficient for
00:09:17
Speaker
um anywhere to 30, 35 hours. So we started on the Eastern Arthurs and we had a next, so we had someone who joined us for for that bid and that was about 16 hours. And then we had, I had other two people who joined for the for the whole Western Arthurs and that was about 30 hours.
00:09:35
Speaker
Then we had a sort of like a camp near the Junction Creek um and that was where could get the first sleep. So the first sleep was after, know, probably 40 hours.
00:09:47
Speaker
um A few hours sleep, we could refuel, eat properly, get more supplies, and then pour daily. That took us 18 hours. Unfortunately, bit longer than we planned, but you had to bring more food just in case. So that was not an issue, it's just more time on food. and And the last ah sort of aid station is Malaluca. And that's fairly easy because there is so playing a plane service. So you can you can just send your staff there and that's waiting for you there.
00:10:15
Speaker
And there are huts as well. So that was that was the easiest, call let's call it aid station. So I had two places I could sleep in and then one section that had food carried in. so I was able to um just do it based on three support points.
00:10:33
Speaker
And that first camp at Junction, is that a place people can drive to or is that where did have No, you have to carry in, they carry everything in and walk in 10 kilometres through mud and scrub. So yeah, it's also very big commitment for the crew.
00:10:47
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. That's what I was trying to get. Like those sorts of things can, when you're that remote, it's a massive effort just for the crew to carry it. everything that you're going to need in there. But it's almost ah having been on crew for not quite something this big, but on crew for other things, it's almost just as exhilarating as if you're doing the damn thing sometimes. It's just like, vibes are high usually between the whole group. but But then from, so from the get-go at the start, A, what time did you start? um And B, like,
00:11:17
Speaker
How were you feeling and what was your approach from
Nutrition and Aid Strategies
00:11:20
Speaker
the beginning? Like mentally, physically, was it a case of use the energy while you've got it, slow and steady the whole way or yeah, just talk me through that first phase.
00:11:29
Speaker
Yeah, so we didn't we didn't start super early. we started 9.30 a.m. That's just to make sure we have... That's my sort of time. Well, usually if if that would be just like a one overnight, we'd probably aim to still like still stay or start at 5, 6 a.m., but that would mean we have to you know camp out there and ah we aim for better sleep in Hobart rather than camping um at the trailhead. um So that's why we gave ourselves a little bit of time. So start at 9.30 and push on to the to the Federation peak. We got there. a few hours before sunset just to make sure we're doing it during the daylight and kind of a just jes on time. We kind of went down just before sunset and did the last section of, well, the first section of Eastern Artists After Federation in a and beautiful sunset. And the rest of it was during the dark, which is a bit of a shame because I haven't been there before, but, you know, that's... You have to move during the night as well during those attempts. So kind of missed out on the views and and started to Western Artures I think around 3 a.m., which is a bit challenging because that's the most overgrown section. And so the navigation was an issue because the the track was basically non-existent in certain sections, which was quite a surprise. And we were like looking at the maps and there was four of us there. were all working together with the head torches and maps and like, oh, we're on the track, but there's no track and we have to you know figure out a way up. But from there it's just got a little bit better but extremely slow going. The scrub was extremely thick. So you hadn't gone and done any any of this first section before? at any I've done most of them but not haven't been on that one and that's because of the of the weather as as it was in Tassie this summer. So it enabled me, I was not able to um to do any of the Reiki which To be fair, I don't think it will help that much. At least I would maybe know that I would be prepared as more challenging. But, you know, once you're there at night, I think you'll have to do 10, 15 times to be actually confident where you're going. Because the fact that you've been there once, maybe two months before, it doesn't really help much in the middle of the night.
00:13:49
Speaker
So how were you navigating then? like ah Yeah, we had the maps on the phones and tracks on the watch and we just kind of were able to find the route or just go off route for little bit and join the route later on.
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, somehow we you know make it made it. Brody, they needed you there, the R&T. Yeah, i'm not sure I'm not sure I would have been much help. I don't think there's good maps of that area. But yes, i know you're i know you're feeling, Piotr, when I was down in Tassie, I did the Hazards Traverse and that was like following it on my watch. And yeah, you just you just couldn't see it. So there you lose it and then you have to come back to it and you sort of cut your way back to the track and that sort of thing. So I can imagine what it was like and you add some thick bush to that and it would have been pretty tough.
00:14:36
Speaker
makes except Nice. yes Yeah, very hard. Yeah, we haven't talked a lot about FKTs on the podcast, even though we're sort of saying we've been going for some time. But yeah, like we've been alluding to, it sounds like the logistics is like one of the key components to having a successful and more so just having enjoyable time out there.
00:14:58
Speaker
um And maybe this one being so remote, it's even more so than than usual on other areas. FKT routes. So yeah, super interesting to hear and and awesome to your team. A big shout out to them for coming out and assisting because it sounds like it wouldn't really be possible without that assistance or it would be a lot slower or harder. Yeah, so that exactly this this one is it's more than any other one. i think it's one of the most remote because you have one option for support which is a plane that's fairly easy but the other one requires 10k one way and the first one it was i think it was almost 30k to walk in so your people that joined you at that point had already done 30k they did 30k and then they had a nap on the bottom grass plains because they're waiting for us just in the in the bothy bike so that's how committed they are to to this uh yeah
00:15:53
Speaker
Hang on, hang on. I need their names now. These people need all their respect. what are the whats they did them They did the GBT miler last year, didn't they? it's joseph It was Joseph Nunn and Ziggy, was it? Joseph Nunn Ziggy. ah John Carl joined for the first section and then Ryder Jameson joined the Port Davy and South Coast. And there was also Ryan Slater who um dropped us off, picked us up and also met us at Moraine So he was taking photos as well. throughout the
00:16:23
Speaker
ah throughout the mission so and also work as support crew and also deliver the pizza at the end. So I think he'll be up there for the MVP.
00:16:35
Speaker
i think yeah And he would have had a lot of driving to do still. Because it's like in there were these places, although they're 100k apart on tracks maybe, but like you have to drive a really long way to get around. But you have a long drive because the pizza he delivered was cold, but you know.
00:16:53
Speaker
there's still some improvements there that's our that's our inside joke we are making fun of it and you know the pizza was cold and but still tasting pretty damn good um the chocolate milk and some coke oh that's amazing that's amazing but from like back on the way that you were going on from that like western arthur's and to that first sleep like how were you feeling at that point like was it was there any points throughout there where it was like sketchy or your body wasn't playing ball or was it like up until that no it felt i felt really good the first two days i think we're falling behind a little bit on the on the day two but we're able to get a good sleep and we're off to a good start at poor davy but then the the pace was started slowing down unfortunately sam was struggling a little bit he's an absolute beast here the fkt on lara pinta and uh And the Hazen Trail was just a thousand kilometer track and he'd done like a hundred K on the trail for 10 days. But I think Tazi, it's it's a bit of a different beast and the Western artists took a little bit more too much out of him. um
00:17:58
Speaker
And so falling behind on that poor Davey on top of it, I felt like this weird pain in my knee. um which i think it started coming down more in a which is like extremely steep descent didn't bother me until um probably 24 hours later and when i got to melaluka i was like really doubting if i can run properly on the next day woke up on day four felt fairly okay but i knew it's not 100 percent um and after 40k of the south coast I I yeah started bothering me again so there's a bit of a struggle especially coming down steep descends um yeah make it made it made it to the end little bit of a pain but you know it's part of the part of the game part of doing those things so it's amazing what you can you can sort of zen your way through almost one the pain front when you're like in the middle of a big thing like this but um
00:18:54
Speaker
Yeah, once you're 40K in the South Coast, you you might just well finish off because 40K from any any help, so it's not like you have any choice.
Emotional and Mental Challenges of FKT
00:19:03
Speaker
was about to say. and It's not like I ever considered turning around, but I'm just saying like you you just, <unk>s it's so remote that you don't have any options out. Which is almost can work in your favor where it's like, hey, well, you put yourself here on the map, so you've got to get to somewhere else on the map, even if you wanted to quit. so So that works, that kind of works for you or against you at that point. And it's going to, like what you've done, what you're doing or asking your body to do is going to hurt in some way. um
00:19:32
Speaker
But how did you fuel this? Like what were you fueling with throughout it? And obviously pizza at the end, that's very important, but like fuel and water throughout all of this attempt? Like is water readily available on the track or? Yeah, I think the best thing about Tazi is that you can drink from the streams. So we only filter water in one spot, but other than that, you're just able to drink from natural sources and that's pretty pretty well available. So we we never had any issues with the water. Obviously we had done the research. and know where that water is to plan ahead. And, you know, sometimes you would take a liter of water, sometimes it would be two or three, but it was it was fairly easy. um When it comes to nutrition, just standard gels and and bars, but also because it's a fairly slow effort. You know, the first first day I had some burgers and sandwiches with egg and avocado.
00:20:28
Speaker
um My crew would bring some food in as well, and so had some, like, you know, bread with with tuna and just to get some proteins. Bread with tuna that had done 30 days in their back?
00:20:40
Speaker
Yeah. ah It's ahs what like well packed. So I think I had it on the first on the first station. I think it was just basic. We didn't really stop there for too long, just get extra nutrition in the pack and then kept going. And we didn't really have time to cook anything. Just just kept going. Didn't even even treat myself to a hot hot to coffee and just kept going. Nice.
00:21:02
Speaker
Nice. Use the momentum. Definitely want to use the momentum. um Yeah, i'm I'm baffled. Like this is, it's such a cool, like I'm having never been there and I've been to just the north of Tassie. I haven't yet done the south. I want to at some point, but having never been there, obviously I don't even have a frame of reference for exactly what you did, except for that at this point in time was when I was in Tassie on the KMR training camp with Lincoln.
00:21:30
Speaker
and he was just giving me the blow by blow of what you were doing where you were what that track and terrain is like and just i could almost see through how much it was blowing his mind of like this is incredible this is actually insane kind of deal of me going okay like this has got to be pretty cool um following along but yeah throughout throughout all of it like when you have those really low moments um or like moments of pain and those sorts of things, like what is it that actually makes you want to keep going and push through that and not sort of just give in to that sort of discomfort?
00:22:07
Speaker
Yeah, I think I had a chat with with James in the last podcast. I think it's just that stubbornness. And once I set my mind into doing that, I'm just just going to keep going. There's never a doubt that, you know, i just want to have bail or not finish it. It was just a matter of like, oh, can I do it in in a fairly fast time or would I have to? and when i When I start feeling that that pain in my knee, I just thought maybe I just need to take some camping gear and and finish that off in or three days because I won't be able to run or won't be able to finish it before it before I you know collapse from sleep deprivation. So...
00:22:41
Speaker
Yeah, once I have that goal, I'm just going to get to the finish. That's as simple as that. Fair. No other option. I like it. I like that tactic. And I suppose you had the – did this feel – have you done an FKT where it's like this one that's already been laid down that you're trying to beat? Yeah, I've done a few. um Yeah, like a Lara Pinta and a few other ones in Tassie.
00:23:02
Speaker
um But, yeah, that's – Yeah. So did this one feel different in the way that – like kind of you could have slept for two days and finished off and still had it right like it's did that feel different for that fact or yeah it did feel different so just to mention like it was not the the fkt per se it wasn't the main aspect of this adventure first of all it was i was just catching up with a friend and we're both excited to go out there again this is the most, one of the most beautiful places on earth. So just spend a few days in there. That's, that's a word of itself. You know, we obviously had that in mind and and we knew because no one ever attempts it, you know, that would be in that case, first known time, which is always fastest known time, just because no one ever done it. Um,
00:23:50
Speaker
So we know we knew we didn't have to stress about the time, but attempting an FKT, you want to you know do as do as good as possible. and But it's also difficult because you already know how to plan because you know no one ever done it before. So how can you you have to just make your own plan and and follow that rather than having a benchmark? So that's what makes it challenging for sure. But again, the main thing it was just have fun and soak in those views.
00:24:19
Speaker
I love that quote of, yeah, main thing was just catching up with a friend. um the The lengths you're going to to catch up with a friend at that point of running 240K with 12,000 metres with them is great. I love it um and speaks to me.
00:24:35
Speaker
It's perfect. um Awesome. Brodie, you got any more questions for Piotr on this particular attempt? this particular fk Not so much on this attempt, but um I was just wondering, Piotr, I know you've done, like you said, you've done a few FKTs in various places, but is there any others in Australia that you sort of have your eye on of maybe wanting to do one day um in like in other states or in Tassie?
00:25:01
Speaker
Yeah, we'll see. mean, I like to, those ideas usually come in naturally. So if something sparks my interest, I think one I've recently discovered is the Australian Alps tracks, 650K. I think that'll be something right in my, my only just a little bit more. uh elevation i know there's a lot of long trails like hayson bibelum but those are fairly flat and i'm not sure if i'm that interested in doing those um i might be looking into doing something in new zealand um there is this uh fkt doing the 10 of the new zealand grade walks um i think that would be very interesting also doing it in a in a different country so
00:25:44
Speaker
um Is that doing the 10 in like consecutively at all at the same time? Yes, consecutively, yes. All the big walks in New Zealand on the South Island. Oh, I think they're both, ah sorry, North and South actually.
00:26:00
Speaker
Yeah, okay. And you're allowed to drive slash fly between them? yeah, yeah. So also a lot of logistics. Oh, that's cool. a little bit scared of it. I'm a little bit sick and tired of it. I'm sure I've changed my mind in a few weeks.
00:26:13
Speaker
When I first started trail running, I watched a bunch of like, there's like, ah can't remember, it was like some sort of annual um video film festival. And there was a one about these guys who did the highest mountain in each state in Australia. And like they had to fly between them.
00:26:34
Speaker
um And it was just so interesting. Like that, i don't know if like i'm a fan of like the amazing race and stuff. So that, extra logistical challenge of like getting to the start of each run as well as and maybe how you recover between them and that sort of stuff. I just yeah that one sounds really cool. I'll be excited to see how that one goes. Yeah I actually have seen that recently and I feel like that one is it's honestly it's more logistics than actual running. Yes yeah that one has a lot of logistics. I read the report and to climb seven mountains they had to take 20 flights
00:27:06
Speaker
Yeah, yeah yeah maybe maybe not the most um environmentally friendly and these days, but um the New Zealand one sounds very cool. But other than that, this year I might be going to Nepal or back to Kyrgyzstan. There are some nice FKTs there.
00:27:22
Speaker
will be might be interested in in up attempting, just depending on feel. But um just yeah spend some time in the mountains and if if I feel right, um I might try something over there.
00:27:35
Speaker
Do you have any races lined up as well for this year? Sorry? Do you have any races
Fyodor's Upcoming Race Plans
00:27:41
Speaker
lined up as well? Yes, I was just starting starting in a month time, my standard races, so doing GUNNUTS and KMR and then the the new race on the West Coast Diverge and probably going to do a UTA Miler.
00:27:56
Speaker
um It's my main race here and in now in Australia for this year. cool nice and then second half was gonna say it wouldn't be gone nuts and kmr without peter on the start line so it's cool to hear that you're getting back to them yeah since 2019 i've always been there so i don't imagine myself not not being there even if it's 25k i think it would be more this year but um yeah it's just such a great race it's great community so yeah gotta gotta be there which um are doing which event are you doing at kmr I think I would do 40, 46 again. It's just a good distance. It's good to build up for the miler with that, and but also not too long to recover for too long from that. so Yeah. And then the 50K diverge?
00:28:40
Speaker
Yeah, 50K diverge. It's only two weeks from from the miler, but I think I can, hopefully I can treat it as a last long run um and then do the miler. no Yeah.
00:28:51
Speaker
That sounds good. Sounds like reasonable to me. he's still He's still got still got a back calendar despite doing FKTs. Good to see you doing both. But yeah, I don't know. It's it's very cool to me to see.
00:29:05
Speaker
I don't know. I feel like America has a very big sort of FKT scene and it's not very... FKT scene doesn't appear very big. but There's obviously... really great people doing them in various places, but they're sort of like one off. So yeah, I think that's a a place that things could grow a little bit in Australia. And it's um it's exciting to see you taking on some of those and leading the way, Piotr, the FKT man.
00:29:31
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's a great way to mix it up. And ah usually those FKTs, you know, entail also beautiful views. So that usually it's it's a good, maybe not this one I've done recently, but, you know, you can treat it as a training and just have fun in the mountains. You know, it's not a priority to collect them, but it's a great way to challenge yourself and just have a fun day in the mountains. Yeah, love that.
00:29:54
Speaker
Love, love that. Definitely, yeah. inspiring and also awesome when you're paving the way for like other people to even come have a crack show that it can be done all those sorts of things yeah we didn't want to encourage anyone from doing that just a disclaimer this is extremely challenging even just doing one leg of of its own it is it is difficult want any unprepared main landers coming to tassie and you know and we have to rescue them but you know you are prepared physically mentally and logistically please uh yeah come in and have fun
00:30:27
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And it's probably like if people are keen to tackle some of those, ah that terrain, just not if you're doing an FKT or if you're, if even if you're just in the area wanting to do some runs and you want to explore that stuff, it is and these serious stuff. So chat to a Tasmanian is usually a good place to start. People like Piotr and others that know the area really well can sort of give you some tips about what to expect because yeah even if you're just going out for a run that terrain can be pretty intense so it's it's important to be prepared and and be ready for it it's no um yeah it's not like they do it different down there.
00:31:00
Speaker
Also estimating like the the eastern part of western arters um again there was just challenging instead of navigating in terms of navigation that being dark but it took us 10 hours to cover 13 kilometers. Just to give you an understanding. And that's with light pikes and, you know, moving pretty much. That's like just over a K an hour at that point. Exactly. Every every run I've done in Tasmania in the last like year that I hadn't done before has taken me double the amount of time that I guessed it was going to take me.
00:31:31
Speaker
Which is not great when you've got people waiting for you. Yeah, that's an interesting question, actually. pdo what what On like your best day or like, did you have a plan for how long this was going to take? Like you said, at some point you were falling behind.
00:31:43
Speaker
So did you have a faster aim? Yeah, well, I was hoping for four to five days. So technically I was on the schedule, but the first transition, so Ziggy and Joey, I think were there before midnight. We estimated we're going to be there on around around midnight and we end up being there think after two o'clock. um And then we actually had Ryan waiting for us. We're hoping to meet Ryan in the evening of day two on the range, on the Western Archer, so he wanted to take some photos.
00:32:10
Speaker
and we're still we're probably like three hours behind so he had to come down to the the bottom of of moraine and uh just camp out because we we haven't made it so kind of missed that um that one arrangement there but he still was able to take some photos like the next day or just taking some nice landscapes but Well, yeah, I think that's only on day two. i think we're falling behind. And and but when we started on day three, we're hoping to you know to be in Meloduca late evening. that will allow us to have proper meal and and proper sleep. But we end up being in Meloduca at almost 3 a.m.
00:32:49
Speaker
um So that meant you know just eating a pack of tuna and going to bed for four hours. Yeah. Love it. Awesome. Awesome. Well, by the sounds, if you ever wanted to do it again yourself anyway, you have a bit more experience there and have seen some of it. But yeah, just a quick answer, summarizing it. I think along the line, along the, sorry, while we're doing it, I think sub four days kind of become possible and that was what we're aiming for. So was able to do well under four days and I'm pretty happy with it. But also-
00:33:23
Speaker
um It was three hours so three days, 18 hours. So, yeah, very happy with that. But I also think it can be done faster. I think I could do faster, but yeah not not going to try anytime soon again, ah although maybe maybe few years. do it Sounds incredible. Awesome.
00:33:45
Speaker
Well, thank you for running us through that. but Yeah, I think that will hopefully open many people's eyes to the world of Southern Tassie, which as you've said, yes, don't you're not going to about to go and take a trip there.
Sponsor Break and Product Mention
00:33:58
Speaker
anne If you walk shouldn't go take a trip there and just think that you can go tackle that terrain if you haven't been there before and have no idea of where you're going. So hopefully people have got that gist from that recap as well. A quick break in the show to thank Bix. Bix has just come out with their 30 gram gel in two brand new flavors. This is a new gel, new flavors. You've got the choice of the salted strawberry or the berry. The salted strawberry is also packing 300 milligrams of sodium as an increase, whereas the berry has 200 milligrams. Both make them perfect for the conditions we have in Australia, whereas most gels on the market do not have sodium within them.
00:34:37
Speaker
What Bix has done here is take the recipe for the gels that work so well, that 1.8 ratio that is very, very friendly on the stomach and added a soft, subtle, but very tasty twist that you can dial in your race day and your training nutrition to that extra fine detail.
00:34:52
Speaker
As you know, bix has been supporting the show from the start and it literally helps keep the podcast coming to you every week. So if you want to support the show, level up your own nutrition game, head over to the Bix website, use our brand new code PEAK, P-E-A-K, for 20% off at checkout. And with that, let's get back to the show. Brody, where are you at? What are you doing? And what are you preparing for? i haven't even caught up with you myself, so give us a rundown.
00:35:16
Speaker
I gave a quick rundown last week. um yes but Yeah, so make it quick. I haven't, not not much has changed since last week, i'm just sort of continuing to try and get some some training weeks in the in the bank. um Yeah, so sort of coming together slowly, slowly.
00:35:35
Speaker
And race is Donna, is it? ah Yeah, like I don't really, i didn't really have any races on the calendar per se, but I'm just sort of just like looking for things that excite me and are interesting. um And yeah, obviously Donna with the the prize money and being nice and close to home, um it should be a nice competitive race. I've done it before. It's easy to do.
00:35:56
Speaker
um so I went out a few weeks ago to sort of see how my body works. felt doing the actual race uh the course um and it was it felt pretty good so yeah i'm headed out again this weekend actually to try and run the climb a bit harder and see what that feels like but likely i will probably sort of sign up and do that one which will be cool um and then yeah i don't really have anything to ah too uh too locked in or anything specific that i'm training for i'm just sort of trying to get back into some some normal training it's happening slowly and still sort of like dealing with the Achilles but like it's it's in a it's in a progressively better place but it's just really slow so yeah um yeah you want nothing nothing too crazy you coming down for diverge or heading down for diverge maybe maybe I'm thinking about wandy cross um which I've never done before
00:36:50
Speaker
I'm doing the double, diverge one week, wander across the next. Yeah, I don't think my body will be ready to do two by then. So I'll probably have to choose. Neither will mine. I'll be going easy. I'm just doing it for fun, man.
00:37:01
Speaker
Yeah, I sort of want to do, I want to do one hard will be the plan. So, yeah, one of those two I probably will do. Again, I haven't really decided what I'm doing. Wandi's one I've always wanted to do and it's a little bit closer to home. So, might be the one I go for, but Diverge looks pretty cool, something special. So, um yeah, it's still I'm still tossing those two up.
00:37:24
Speaker
I'll probably do something either Buffalo or KMR. I see Piotr showing me his Diverge top. I i am excited by it. um It's pretty cool part of the world. Yeah.
00:37:35
Speaker
But, yeah, so nothing locked in. Like I'd really like to do, I keep looking at it and thinking about it. I'd really like to do Cradle Mountain Ultra at some point and and potentially next year would be good. But, like, you have to fit in an 80K race before that.
00:37:51
Speaker
um And I haven't done an 80K race. So, like, maybe I'll look for something like that a little bit later in the year. um There are Kunani... Like there are races less than 80K that you can qualify with, yeah. Yeah, there's two races less than 80K you can do. One's Kenyani 65 and Gornuts 75. But again, those two are in the next couple of
Race Strategy and Personal Adjustments
00:38:10
Speaker
months. So yeah not ones I'll probably be ready for.
00:38:13
Speaker
um And then the other main thing I'm sort of are really keen to do is probably Hound's Low. So that's roughly maybe the same time as when I would need to do an 80. So I might need to decide between the two by that point. But yeah, essentially I'm just...
00:38:26
Speaker
Excited to jump in things that look cool, similar to like Piotr, except he's doing them on a much longer scale. um ah Yeah, I'm just excited to do where i follow follow my heart in terms of races and and do ones that excite me. So yeah, we'll see. I'll probably be in and out of a few things this year. But next up is, yeah, Donna's the current plan and and it looks like I'm on track. Are you guys traveling to Europe this year?
00:38:52
Speaker
I am. Brodie, you at all? Yeah, I probably won't. I think I'm probably going to be in in the in Australia for the whole year. So yeah, that's what I'm like looking locally and and doing some things maybe I haven't done. Like I've been to Europe the last, well, I've been to Europe so many years for orienteering, but even just since COVID, i I've been to Europe every year since 2022 to do some trail running and and a little bit of orienteering, like a bit of both.
00:39:17
Speaker
um and um I've probably skipped some things that I could have done closer to home. Like I only really got into trails more in like 2021. So there's still a lot for me in Australia that I'd like to like to do. Like even KMR, like I've done the 25K and I've done the the VK, but there's still the 65, there's still the 40K and they're even like the new Mountain Running Champs course that they're doing this year. ah I ran that when I was down in Tassie to sort of trial it and that looks like a really fun course. So like,
00:39:46
Speaker
Even events I've been to before, there's other distances I haven't tried. So, yeah, I think there's enough in Australia for me this year as I sort of build back, but hopefully get back to Europe in future years. Yeah, yeah. this' less' the up That's the thing of that I'm kind of looking forward to for this year is I'm not going to Europe for as long. I'm there for four weeks, most of August pretty much, start of September.
00:40:09
Speaker
um And that, yeah, I booked in knowing that off kind of with the knowledge of, hey, I might not even be able to compete or run, but my brother's coming with me and we're doing a big road trip regardless. So it's got a lot less of a performance race um aspect to it, but there's two sky running races that I am yet to confirm, but hopefully will be running um in August in Italy.
00:40:37
Speaker
So be there for Europe for that. And then I've got, like I have other things planned, but for me, similar to you, Brody, this year where it's just like, jump in things for the fun of it. Hence why, like, i'm I'm locked in for Donna, but when I like signed up for Donna Double, I signed up for the 5K the day before, Donna Double, the Three Thong Fang, and the Lilo Derby all in one go.
00:40:58
Speaker
um Because, you know, fun weekend, why not? ah Because I think when you're unfit, well, as unfit as I currently am and feel, it's almost like I just want to have fun with what I'm doing. I don't really care when I get back to competitiveness. I just want to get back to being out there.
00:41:14
Speaker
So hence why I was like, oh, Diverge and Wandi Cross are one week apart. f Doesn't matter. I can pretty much hike the 50K at Diverge if I need to. Fly back, hike Wandi Cross, happy days. I get to be at both. No stress. And it's almost like like i'm not I'm not, at least at this point, for until I don't know when it'll come back, but at this point I'm not in any of this to actually like push really hard and compete. and Unless ah if I feel good on any day, I can guarantee that competitive urge is going to come back and I'll be out there racing.
00:41:45
Speaker
But I just want that to come back naturally whenever it comes back and the rest of it will be having fun. Hence, yeah, even my trips this year are all, like I'm doing a two-week road trip to go to the Simpson Desert Ultra.
00:41:56
Speaker
to go on a four-wheel drive trip through the centre of Oz and Oodnadatta track and a whole bunch of like like two whole weeks of driving for one little Simpson Desert Ultra race running through the desert kind of deal, which is just seemed a cool thing to do with a bunch of friends. So, um yeah, I think this year's going to be fun. But when are you in Europe in August yourself, Piotr?
00:42:20
Speaker
and Yeah, I think I'm actually need to shuffle a few things around because first thing is that I got a permanent residency just in November, which is great news, but it still has a lot of restrictions. Basically, if I want to apply for the passport this year, I can only leave...
00:42:35
Speaker
country for 90 days. um So that means I had to work around because I initially I was planning to leave right after UTA to travel to Nepal and Kyrgyzstan. They spent some time in Poland. But now it looks like I have to either come back early or extend my stay in Australia and then leave earlier in time in ah to be back sort of within that 90 days. On top of it, the two races I had planned in August. There was one that decided to go back to the initial and schedule, doing it every every second year. That's a Skyrun in Tatra Mountains. and That's just got announced. And the other race that's supposed to be the mountain running champs that's been for the past seven years i actually lost that race
00:43:21
Speaker
ranking and now the mountain running champs will be on a different race so now i have to um i have to fit something in something else in august i actually just thought i'm not sure if i can still sign up but thought of doing tds um at utmb so um chuck your chuck your name in the pre-registration for keema see if you get a come do keema okay yeah you'd love it i swear oh Yeah, we'll have a look. I'm not sure if I'll either stay in Poland or I'm thinking of doing UTMB maybe 27. So that will be a kind of a good warm-up doing TDS this year, just purely based on the fact that my i A races for this year are just not happening as as I was...
00:44:04
Speaker
planning to another thing is you were saying that the verich is um just a week from wandy cross and that surprised me because i just checked the dates and it it is but wandy cross was always at the beginning of june so i think they just changed it yeah they changed it so now we have two i was i was gonna do both and then yeah then they changed it and i'll probably decide now Yeah, it was always June long weekend because I've done it once and I was always wanting to come back and never happened. But now it's it's May.
00:44:36
Speaker
It's probably, i think, just to do with weather. um Like last year, they had to cut the course short with weather. And I'm i'm not sure if there'd be other aspects of it that they need to change for um to make it in May. possibly something to do with access to the mountain bike path on a long weekend or like all sorts of things could have come into play there. um Which, yeah, it is kind of like that week difference between those two is a bit like, eh, although for me right now I'm like, that's exciting. I get an epic like eight days of running by doing both in that one.
00:45:06
Speaker
um But, yeah. Are going back to Poland to have a third try on the Tatra Sky Marathon or you just give up on that? But that's what I was wondering. The race that you said you wanted to do but can't do, that's not the Tetris guy marathon?
00:45:20
Speaker
No, that one is a different name. Tatra Sky, is I think it's in June, July, sorry, July, and my August was in August. So that was 70K with 5,000 meters of climbing.
00:45:34
Speaker
um You've done that before, yeah? Yeah, so that was Skyrunning Championship in 24. Yeah, i remember. Yeah. Because I think that, I could have sworn that was on like just before Tatra when I did it.
00:45:47
Speaker
I think it was a week apart, yes. Yeah, okay. I was going to say we were there at similar times and I was like, oh, my gosh, Fjorda was just here. I think they moved the dates now. i think that's Stad Trosca is last weekend of of July. Yeah. I think so. Yeah, so there was something it was very close. But, yes, part of me would love to go back for a third time Lafayette in Poland, but also...
00:46:10
Speaker
After the last two It like it might be cursed for you, Sim. I think for the races the race is benefit, you should stay away. I'm so cursed. unfortunate. I think I was the the ah of one of the only people that had been at both of the cancer ones.
00:46:26
Speaker
And I was like, sorry, guys, I'll leave you in. My bad, still don't. Just to give the background to folks who listen, both years were some horrific storms and it was the race was either cancelled or shortened. Yeah, well, technically shortened both times because we got results both times. But the first time it was shortened, we got a result for an 11K. Yeah.
00:46:46
Speaker
yeah um And it was just like, guys, that wasn't like because they ran the golden trail and results off that. Like I got an ITRA score for that 11K. And I was like, that doesn't even make sense. But sure, we didn't even really hit touch the mountain. It was all on gravel pretty much. Yeah.
00:47:02
Speaker
Either way beautiful. Like, I love that event. Could not love an event more because the after party that they put on at that event every year is just awesome. Like, two years in a row I've been up on the stage dancing with TJ while it's just incredible. And the race director, Marcin, is, like, awesome. So it's one of those ones where I'm like, I would really love to go back, but also there's a curse there. There's some sort of curse there. Yeah.
00:47:29
Speaker
um And so not this year. Will I try and maybe like in future at some point if I'm in the area, will I be jumping back in? Sure. I still have not made it to the summit that I have tried.
00:47:41
Speaker
I spent that many weeks in Thatcher in that area in Zuckabine just wanting to make it to the summit of that damn mountain. And because I was injured the first time I was there couldn't train and get to the summit, even though i was there for two weeks, didn't make it in the damn race because it gets cancelled. Then again the next year, I'm about to get up to the damn summit and I don't get there again because I get sick and the race gets cancelled all in one.
00:48:04
Speaker
And I'm just like, okay, I'm not making it to the summit of that mountain. It's just not happening um in life. So I do love Poland, but it doesn't love me back, unfortunately. I need to give it a little of time.
00:48:17
Speaker
Yeah, although it's a great place, actually not the worst place at all in the world to get sick because I love their healthcare system. It's incredibly cheap. yeah Not that you would want to know that about being on those trips, but um but yes, it should be ah should be a very fun year. And because I just did where I'm at right now is just coming back from Tuna New Training Camp, which was one of those risks I was willing to take because of loving what it what it was and and getting to do it the last two years. I was like, the last couple months of being unwell and not being able to do much, it was always that thing off in the horizon of like, can I maybe, will it work? Is it a risk?
00:48:56
Speaker
Yes. um But as soon as it was kind of cleared by medically as like a risk that I could take, I was like, sweet, let's see how this goes. So I got back to, I did one session with Brody and Kate. that was ah That was a fun little session Brody, where I finally got back to a semi normal it like not normal but also running behind brodie and kate for a session feeling a bit more normal before um cuanni and then somehow made it through the 80ks over three days after my biggest week being 30
00:49:30
Speaker
thirty five case um beforehand do not recommend but also it's kind of was perfect for me and um my my itb did give up on me on the last day i was using coldest crutches to get through the last 20ks pretty much but um in many ways that actually worked in my favor because um the main thing i was actually worried about was my energy systems and my my fatigue and impact And because I was forced to take it so slow on the last day, like I was at the back of this camp and literally getting dropped and just going, okay, I just need to go as fast as the last person here.
00:50:09
Speaker
And because that was then very chill, Like i didn't I didn't crash energy-wise. And my ITV recovered fine because I took five days off afterwards, six days, almost a week off straight away because I'm like, cool, you let me get away with that body, I will now give you rest.
00:50:24
Speaker
It's okay. I'm not going to overdo it here. So I finally got back to running yesterday after pretty much another week of nothing, which was fine. I will pay that price for my three days in Kunaan because I love Tazzy.
00:50:38
Speaker
And now it's like, If I can do that, then I trust that I can do Donna and I can like start signing up for things just for the fun of it because I can make it through. And it was my own damn fault. My leg went down the descent to Myrtle Forest, which you two probably both know very well, off the top of the mountain. I love that descent.
00:50:57
Speaker
And it was on day two and I was still feeling good and like my legs weren't too trash and I kind of just went fast down that descent, got to the bottom and turned around and went up.
00:51:10
Speaker
like I had immediate doms like going to hike. Well it's not doms if it's immediate is it? Oh yeah exactly it wasn't even delayed I had immediate onset muscle soreness. I've never had it before I was trying to hike and I'm one that pushes on my quads as I'm hiking up the hill and i was pushing down on my quads and going oh I can't like I can't actually do that and it was immediate and I was like oh god what have I done but Yeah, we got away with it. And I would i do it all again just for those sort of five minutes of running at a semi-normal pace, down a really technical descent and jumping some logs. I took a fall, went into a tree. It was great.
00:51:50
Speaker
But it's those things that I'm just like, oh, this is living. um So I'll take the pain. It's fine.
Training Camps and Overcoming Challenges
00:51:56
Speaker
And yeah, from here on, I'm back to aiming for 35 to 40 k's this week. So I'm not trying to then continue on. Back to regular programming. Good to hear. yeah Yes, very much back to regular programming and baby steps. I took a big leap back to baby steps now. so we'll get Super compensation, they call that in the biz. Yes, I did a super super compensation three days. um and yeah And then I got to see Bruny Island too, which was gorgeous. I've never been there.
00:52:24
Speaker
And I got pretty much a full tour of Bruny Island. say I gave myself that as recovery. say Sounds like a good weekend. It was a whole week. i was down there for a whole week, except just don't talk to me about getting home from Hobart because it took for I left the house at 6 a.m. that morning and I got into Melbourne and it home after 6 p.m.
00:52:44
Speaker
and it was hell. guessing one word could explain it, Jetstar. Jetstar. I've had some great experiences with Jetstar recently to Tassie and they are dirt cheap but it is not is it ist is not a smooth sailing.
00:52:59
Speaker
No, no. When it goes, when it goes fine. The trip down, perfect. Not even a delay. The trip back, it was just one of those ones delayed, then got on the plane, then plane problems, then got off the plane, then got told a new plane had to be flown down to us to then get on the plane. And the second time we get on the new plane, we sit on the tarmac for an hour before we get even get in the air. It was, anyways, I burst into tears in the middle of the airport at one point in that day.
00:53:23
Speaker
was just like, I'm done. I can't. Oh, the joys, the joys of life. but Anyways, back to bigger and better things. Brodie, what's the news this week that James chucked our way?
00:53:37
Speaker
Yeah, we're a bit light on in news, um but ah James james er just ah sent us through.
Future of Ultra Running and Community Changes
00:53:45
Speaker
And I didn't actually see it, so I don't know. I'm an Autra member, but i i don't maybe I don't have the emails set up, put the email notifications on or something. But Gary Mullins, who's the president of Autra, he just wrote an article.
00:53:58
Speaker
about ah some maybe some lessons for ultra running in 2026 or at least his perception on it um in turn and he titled it time to embrace the different. Now James was a little bit critical. I actually think it was pretty good article and I thought um i thought he did a good job of sort of overviewing ah that if we do want trail running to expand or if we do want to be more inclusive um or if we want to see the sport grow in Australia, then then sort of, I guess, approaching it with an open mind and the different facets of the sport or the different ways that you can engage in trail running as an activity or as a sport is is going to be important. um Maybe some of the people he highlighted, I wasn't a huge fan of. He started with ah William Goodge, who's the guy who ran across Australia last year, and there was a
00:54:55
Speaker
a lot of um a lot of controversy about his attempt. But I think Gary's point there was that actually like the the it's maybe negative publicity or that that it bought to some extent was actually any publicity is good publicity. so But yeah, he sort of went on to discuss some other key figures in the sport in Australia and how they're sort of leading the way in their in their different facets. And I thought, um yeah, I thought it was a good overview of maybe where we can utilize the stories of people who are doing trail running to sort of show that anyone can get involved in trail running. And it's not just ultra running, like some of these conclusions were around um like more inclusive entry points with shorter trail intros. I think that's really important um if we're thinking trail running, not ultra, but like a pathway towards ultra.
00:55:49
Speaker
um but giving people something that they can actually consume if they're new to the sport. um I thought that was really a really good idea and something that it it seems that Ultra is sort of working towards. So yeah, I thought it was a pretty good article. Sorry, James. I don't know what you thought. Well, I can... i can ah So James's question that he's put up put in here is, is this what progress will look like when our sport's built on trust and community connection but now lives on social and mainstream media.
00:56:20
Speaker
And it is that whole um conundrum or that whole push and pull of the larger the sport gets the and welcoming all people as trail running is is always going to do because, and that's something we love about it, is that whole the bigger it gets, the mindset shifts of the different people coming in. Like it you can't,
00:56:42
Speaker
even in the, what, eight years in Australia that I've been sort of heavily involved in the sport, you can see the shift in a big way of um how many people are coming to these events, which is incredible, um the mindsets of people coming to these events and the their influences and their interaction with the elite side of things and then there's that to and fro as well and that piece, which, yeah, I think it's it's kind of one of those ones where it's like there's there's good change and then there's, um
00:57:13
Speaker
For me, there's change or like not even change, but just little things that you're like, oh, you're kind of losing the soul of what I like about the sport. And that's all personal preference in many ways too of how people approach it because at the end of the day, is more people out there being healthier and within nature a good thing 100% fact of,
00:57:34
Speaker
that people with big online communities and these sorts of things that bring a whole bunch of people along and show that they can do it and those sorts of things going to bring more people in, for sure. um Is that then going to have lots more people with different reasons and mindsets and approaches to doing things that are different possibly to the way we do things or that things have been done previously? Sure. um And then it I think it is just that how much just how much of that grates against what you want out of the sport versus what versus things that you go, oh, no, that's actually a cool shift. um Like, I don't know, like an example, I was really hesitant, and this is kind of to the side, but also just an example of change. Like I was really hesitant looking at the first time I saw like the flower-shaped courses that ran different loops through the same area.
00:58:23
Speaker
And then experiencing one, I went, oh, I actually like this. This is actually pretty cool, um having experienced it. But then there's other shifts like, for me realizing within myself of like when I got into trail running almost loving the fact that it was smaller and I could rock up to a race and it just felt had that community feel and it was like I was there for disconnection in a way from external world and social media, et cetera, et cetera. So that was what I liked about it. And then now just understanding in myself, I don't like the big events and I don't as much, and I don't like that whole side of it per se, or it did that's not why I'm in it, I suppose. Sometimes it's kind of fine, but that's not why I do it.
00:59:07
Speaker
And so then there's that whole, like, even when you got into it, that runner mind, that people always put it road runner mindset versus trail runner mindset. Um, and that humbling piece almost of the trail doesn't care about your pace and the hill doesn't care about how fast you're running and looking at your watch and the sort of number based to feeling based like that there's differences um and so yeah don't even it's just that the observation of so many different personalities and people coming into this sport is at this point i suppose all i'm all i'm trying to do is sit back and observe and see what happens and you kind of go do i like
00:59:42
Speaker
this do I look like this? I think that's the main thing is like we can't actually fight it like we can't actually like there's small things we can do to ah to sort of shape the sport the way we want it it to be shaped but in reality it's mostly going to be observing what happens and you can't really control all of those things and I think there's always i don't know if it's the optimist in me but I think those parts of trail running that historically have maybe been more evident and like the community based stuff, the small events, like all that sort of stuff. Like I think that stuff will still exist.
01:00:18
Speaker
um And it's just like you just you just get the choice to sort of spend your money where you and and go to the events that you like or go out and you can still run trails that aren't at events you can still go out and do other bits and pieces like sort of I guess like what Piotr is doing is sort of in my head like going out and doing like a personal challenge or um there's still lots of there's going to be lots of ways to engage in the sport but I guess Opening the door to, i think the point of Gary's story was like, if we open the door to more people more ways to engage with the sport, then more people are going to enjoy trail running. And and that is good for people's health. and And I guess it's like good for the sport of trail running, potentially. Some people might say it's not good. um But don't know. I think more people engaging in it.
01:01:08
Speaker
As long as we're sort of still looking after the environments that we use and that sort of stuff, then um yeah, I think it's it's a positive. What are your thoughts, Fiona? And what have you observed like is changing throughout the last few years?
01:01:21
Speaker
I think the main thing is that the the the increased numbers, like how popular it is. And we're just talking about the our racing schedule and think we're pretty spoiled because now it's just you can race every month or sometimes you have to choose what you can do. Even in Tassie, I'm struggling. like I've been thinking of doing cradle mountain run for a while and it just never fits the schedule never makes the cut because you have other races. So I think we're observing the the massive growth growth of of the sport and it's I think it's it's a benefit for for our unhealthy society everyone should go outside and you know try to challenge themselves and enjoy the nature yeah I think is there's that growth but then that challenge of um like that educational piece for the people coming into the sport in terms of
01:02:14
Speaker
hey this isn't a road race where you pick up a cup and you throw it up back on the trail and someone else is going to make that up this is a place where we protect the environment ourselves and all that like just the little pieces that are different um A lot of it, a lot of the behaviours that people can sort of do demonise and look at and go see this is a problem because of how many people and all of that sort of thing. A lot of it's an educational piece and a lot of it is like, um yeah, just setting it up such that people understand expectations of them. And that there is an element of safety for sure and some of that onus is on races that have that safety element, having those qualifiers. Like, and I say this as someone that works as a medic at these events and questioning people in really long events and asking about their training. And these are people that are have in the medical tent slash ending up in hospital at times and really unwell and questioning their training and just seeing how prepared they are. And then they're just not prepared. Like,
01:03:16
Speaker
at all and so there's there's educational pieces needed on that sort of safety aspect and what it is actually like to be out in these remote environments where people can't get you and the resources you're drawing if you're putting yourself out there when you're not prepared and not able and capable um there's there's a lot of things that come with growth in a sport where you then have to sort of educate adapt and try and um facilitate that growth because yeah i think that's probably that was probably james's big point there was like is any publicity in that in that context of like we want people to be behaving in in like obviously people can behave differently but we want people sort of like a basic level of safety awareness and environmental awareness and that sort of stuff
01:04:06
Speaker
Is any publicity good publicity if we're putting our sport into the hands of people who maybe are not publicising it in the best way? I think that was probably James' main point um there yeah in terms of some of the people that that Gary talked about in his article. I won't name names, but, um yeah, it's... Yeah. Well, we can name names.
01:04:27
Speaker
i I've actually come around to Ned Brockman a lot. He's one of the people mentioned, and I've i've come around to him a lot. When he first did his thing, and I was like, oh, this is a lot of showboating and and whatnot. But, like, I don't know, for him, I've come around to, but it's the people that have followed. there's ah There's a bunch of people that have followed on from Ned Brockman who saw that he had success from what he did.
01:04:48
Speaker
Some of those ones are the ones that I'm like, these are maybe not the best advocates for our sport. and that's And that's the piece um that speaks to safety, it speaks to community, it speaks to all sorts of things in the terms of, and dare I say it, I haven't, I'm just yet to see necessarily a female in this space. So...
01:05:07
Speaker
bear with me, but that the whole macho bro, I can suffer through this and look at how look at how much this destroyed my body, but I still got it done or look at how little preparation I've done and I still managed to do this. And the people that are out there on social media and influencing in that way, 100%, I'm like, okay, I'm not okay with that and I'm going to distance myself from that and I just, I'll like they need education um or just their brains to mature and like actually see what they're doing and what they're advocating for. And it's that whole Goggins mindset of I will push through any and all pain. Like even what you're talking about, Piotr, of that stubbornness. it's It's almost like you've earned the right over years and years of training and knowing your body to be stubborn. You've earned the right to do that in a way and you're not doing it in a way that is putting other people out.
01:05:58
Speaker
or even as you said, like I mentioned. He's also not telling other people to go and do the Southwest. That's I was about to say. Like, even as I said, inspiring other people to do it. And your first thing is, no, don't go do this if you're not prepared. Or you can do it if you're prepared. Yeah, I think, ah yeah, there is the stubbornness and pushing through pain, but I feel like I put all the necessary work, like logging on that of kilometers and also,
01:06:25
Speaker
I lived in Tatsy for seven years and it's not like I was like, it's my first year, I'm just going to do the Southwest Traverse. By the way, it's it's just the name I made it up with. It's not the official name, so you can call it whatever you like to call it. Just just link up of those trails. But the point is that, yes, I've done a lot of other things to build up in order to do the the challenge I've done. so Yeah, and it's it's that respect I'm talking about that is sort of what I admire. And that, as I said, like earning the right to be stubborn and earning the right to push through because you know what you're pushing through and you know your actual limit. Like, as you said, like you were prepared to stop if the weather got bad. You actually had all the contingency plans in. But the more I see people sort of promoting online that whole, I will not stop for anything, I will destroy my body and I will, in many ways, you can kind of see it of destroying their future capabilities to do things, but not only doing that, but advocating for others to sort of, or like,
01:07:26
Speaker
That whole but trying to bring people along and then honestly, it does my head in. You can see it in the comments of the whole, oh my God, you're incredible, but also the whole yeah like other people sort of heroing that.
01:07:39
Speaker
um It's almost like you're heroing someone else's destruction, which i'm I'm not here for. personally not my flavor of influencer oh yeah and unfortunately as the social media actually rewards that just by the way that it's sort of set up but like the more inflammatory stuff is more likely to get clicks and therefore this sort of like this approach to being an influencer rather than piota being like i've done this many like It's not, as for some people it's not as impressive that Piotr puts in, like because he's achieved, because he's done 100Ks or 100 and whatever, many many many, many, many, many Ks of many, many, many weeks, what he's done is less impressive than someone who's done no training and then did a similar similar thing because they can't comprehend. But like, that's just how people's psychs go sometimes. Blows my mind, blows my mind. But on this and on the educational piece and on respect,
01:08:30
Speaker
Like, and this has come up in a topic over this week for all of us in terms of um influences and effects on start lines and these
Race Etiquette and Influencer Behavior
01:08:39
Speaker
sorts of things. And this is a call that I'm going to make mostly for the fact... The bad behaviour watchdog.
01:08:44
Speaker
Oh, the bad behaviour watchdog in a big way. And it's it's on topic for this article. And it's here... in The thing is, and I'll just just say it say out, it's the At Kilconda Half Marathon. trail race on the weekend. It's impossible to ignore the fact that the Lambros army are jumping on trail at the moment.
01:09:03
Speaker
They were at Two Bays. They were then at Bogong to Hotham. And then now they've recently been at Kilcunder. Now I was there at Two Bays. And again, is it just not my flavor of influencer? Am I not here for what they're trying to spruce? 100%. I here for them being on the trails? Are they welcome? 100%. there causes or like what they're trying to do in terms of like run for purpose and those sorts of things? Is that is that more than welcome? Is it weird to be at a trail event watching cameras and videos follow people along on multiple takes on the finish line trying to get the right reel or like like that vibe is not
01:09:42
Speaker
me and it's like and and that's just me that's personal preference that's fine doesn't they're not here to please everyone but this is where the line of being that you're not doing no one harm just in my eyes looking a bit silly and immature to your being disrespectful and the line that was crossed at this event in particular was and i've seen videos and i'm just like oh my gosh pushing past the elite females that have worked their way to the start line and are standing on the start line to start in front of them when you have no no ah no idea who it is that you're pushing past, which by by reference, it was Kate Avery, it was Kelly Emerson or Kelly Angel. it was
01:10:28
Speaker
Courtney Ellis, Lauren Cockerell. It was people on that start line that women, first of all, have worked so hard to actually take up our space on the start line.
01:10:39
Speaker
To then have the Lambros army pushing their way past them, taking their reels on the start line, but then staying there to start the race in front of them. I'm sorry, but that's where the disrespect comes in. And I'm just like, yeah and then I don't even think they realize, even in the videos I've watched of the perception of people... They're singularly minded on creating content. They're not thinking. They're in their world of looking at the the camera and you can even see they take the video, they're then straight away just looking at the phone sort of thing. Well, other people, everyone around them is kind of looking at them going, what are you doing? Having a bit of a chuckle going, this is weird. But also, the and I know from chatting to the women, it's almost like they don't know what to do. Because it's like when it um comes to influencers like this,
01:11:23
Speaker
At times, and I'm not saying that they would have done this, but I know that this is an experience that people have and that why that question is up is sort of in your head of going, well, if I step in and call them out, are they then going to make a big thing about this online that all of their bros are going to jump on and then they're all going to jump on me?
01:11:39
Speaker
And it's that whole question of then that's why that's why people let them do what they do. And at times they're doing great things. That's fine. I'm all here for that. That is all good. But it's then why they don't get called up on sort of the disrespect at times or like what they're doing to the people around them that they just have no idea because they're stuck in that little world of their phones. And I suppose in my mind, I'm like at some point in the future, they're probably going to look back at some of their actions and be a little red in the face.
01:12:09
Speaker
And once their brain's fully formed and mature and actually can see what they're doing. But it's just, please, be there by all means, take your content. But these women beat you by a long way.
01:12:26
Speaker
You didn't. isn't it Isn't it more authentic to take the video from where you should be in the start? Like a little back because that's where you're going to be in the field. and and And it's bad enough that they went to the front, let alone, like you said, women over the last three, four, five years, and I know Kelly's been a big proponent of standing up for having women on the start line and and taking their place at the front.
01:12:51
Speaker
Like bad enough going to the front, so much worse that they're like pushed past the females to get there. Like it's just, it's wrong on so many levels. Yeah. And they just would have not even thought they were like, I gotta got to get that content piece.
01:13:04
Speaker
Yeah, and I'm sorry, but for now, boys, your content piece should be further back in the field. And you've and that's not a that's not even a bad thing. That's the thing. Like they're actually running really well in context of that probably their training and where they're at.
01:13:18
Speaker
But it's just you don't don't disrespect the people around you that have worked hard to get there in the process of making that, please. and But then by all means, celebrate everyone and bring people along onto the trails for sure.
01:13:34
Speaker
just don't push past like i i would love them to push past me at some point. it is yeah um and I'd like to see it actually that would be that'd be great on them that right on social media good content. That would go viral for sure.
01:13:51
Speaker
But it's it's just and it's not If they're Donna double Simone I want you to because they're not going to listen to this I want you to either give them an educational piece or fists. No no it's it's you throw them. Or maybe just a hip and shoulder that'd be all right.
01:14:06
Speaker
Now you throw the democratic mature argument that they're probably not going to understand the roast. um But at the same time, and and this isn't, yeah, as I said, this is literally just that's the vibe and that's the things that I'm like, okay, that's a change I'm not willing to accept or be here for or advocate for or think is okay. And I would hope and i think based on chats to other people that were there and around,
01:14:34
Speaker
Everyone's on the same page on that one. Like they're not, they weren't received well. um And so it's, which I'm glad for because that's that's our community speaking up for that sort of thing. But at the same time, there's ways to go about what they're doing and what other people are doing beautifully.
01:14:49
Speaker
So that's that's the whole piece. It's just, boys, you missed the mark on that one. Please don't do it again. But. die
01:14:59
Speaker
But that's not the real for this week, Simone, and you can tag them in it. Maybe they'll get the message. because i'm not I'm not here for that. Like, I just, there's no need. They don't need the airtime on out on our on our sound waves and our Instagram. They really don't. True, true. I'm not, yeah.
01:15:14
Speaker
It's fine. Anyways, moving on. Should we talk about some athletes then? Yes. Yes, we should. Tell me to go through the results of Kilcunder while we're on it.
Race Results and Highlights
01:15:26
Speaker
Definitely. Alright, at there was the and in the in the females, first was Kate Avery 133.50, second place was Lauren Cockrell in 139.35 and in the females first place was ted avery in one thirty three fifty second place was lauren cockerrell in one thirty nine thirty five and Third place was Courtney Ellis in 145.50. Then in the men's race, pretty close, not too far up the road from Kate. Kate was telling me she was sort of running with second a little bit and then he sort of
01:16:01
Speaker
kick forward and Kate was doing his bit of a training run. um The men were very close. So Jack Steele got the win in 130.25. Second in would have been cool finish.
01:16:14
Speaker
and third was pierce bresman in one thirty one o two so that would have been a cool finish ah In the 17k we'll just do the winners. Olivia Gassoni was first in 1.24.59 and Stanfield Catherine Hobson was first in 1.50.53 and Dan was first in
01:16:43
Speaker
that looks like it a be difficult event Yeah, it's pretty nice. Like um there's some cool photos on the coast there, some nice sort of flowy path, but still like bit challenging, not just ah not just a road race. So nice introductory type trail race, I reckon, Kilcunda.
01:17:00
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. Definitely one of them. When we're talking about those sort of like shorter races that can help people sort of get into it, um I think it's, yeah, it's a nice that's a nice one, nice example. Perfect.
01:17:11
Speaker
Perfect. Awesome. Well, another one sort of in the same vein there. Biowar at night. I'm not actually sure the distance on this one. They haven't got that here super readily for me, but there it was one on the women's side by Zoe Manning in 52 minutes um and on the men's side, one by James Booth in 47.20. So some nice speedy racing there. Brodie, did you just look up the distance?
01:17:41
Speaker
I tried to look at Zoe's Strava, but I should have remembered that she's not a data person. She has zero activities on her Strava, so I cannot see how far it was.
01:17:53
Speaker
yes Yeah, yeah. I think it looks like 10K on the website. I was going to 10K makes sense for that time. So well done to Zoe and, ah oh, my God.
01:18:06
Speaker
I'm going to just crop that. James. James. Well done to Zoe and James. um And then just quickly, the South East Queensland Trail Series Round 5 in Bunyaville. um Apparently, according to the court the website, these were all new course records. Unsure if it was a different course, though, or just if everyone ran incredibly and the weather was great because sometimes that happens. But the winner on the women's side, Kelly Bobia in 1 hour 20.58, and actually second place was only 30 seconds back, Alyssa Baker.
01:18:36
Speaker
um And on the men's side, it was won by Andrew Day in 105.53, second place Liam Therence. That was for the South East Queensland long course.
01:18:48
Speaker
um And then for last but not least, Swiss Murdy over in Perth Trail Series. um I think I remember Jess doing this one last year or if not last year.
01:18:59
Speaker
the year before at some point, um but it was won on the women's side. This is the black event by Ebony Regan in an hour 36.25 and on the men's side, it was won by Kaylin Bennett in an hour 17.08.
01:19:12
Speaker
eight Nice. That was all the results, yeah? Yeah. um Now, just quickly to finish up, you you're all good on timing, Piotr, just before I ask one quick question.
01:19:23
Speaker
Yes, yeah, yeah. Plenty of time. Perfect. Perfect, because this one, this was meant to be on last week, but it got missed, so we're definitely going to do it
Psychological Impact of Announcing Race Plans
01:19:31
Speaker
this week. And that is from Gus the Trail Runner. He sent in the question, have you ever felt pressure in a race from announcing your race plan?
01:19:40
Speaker
Now, the way I read this is not like your race plan in terms of the races you're doing, but like what you plan to do within that race. So how are you going to tackle it um if you've announced that beforehand to people around you? And to be fair, sometimes we've talked about it on the podcast. So we've definitely announced what we're planning on doing. But Brodie, does that add pressure for you? does it What does it do for you?
01:20:04
Speaker
I think anyway it's it's pretty hard to like not add pressure because you're you're actually Like, I guess part of the pressure is ah like if you have a race goal um and you don't tell anyone you have that pressure from just having the race goal.
01:20:19
Speaker
um When you announce it, then you open yourself to sort of external pressures because people, other people are sort of like looking at you or you might have that perception of other people looking at you. So I think like, yes, it would. But I guess it depends.
01:20:33
Speaker
ah It depends on how you're feeling probably going into the race. Like if you're really confident and maybe it helps, ah it might help if your confidence is high. um i think if your confidence is low, then it's probably not a good idea to sort of announce your race. But if your confidence is high, then maybe it helps and it helps sort of drive even higher confidence or or sort of help you sort of reach that sort of optimal level.
01:21:01
Speaker
sort of anticipatory position by being like hyping yourself up and hyping up the race and all of that sort of stuff so if if you if you are at a high confidence level then I think it'd probably be beneficial low confidence probably not and I've probably done it a bit of both uh in the past like I don't always go out and announce what I'm planning to do I think most people implicitly sort of know roughly what you're trying to do but I guess even just being on the podcast and talking about things coming up then you are I probably have done it maybe a little bit more. um So yeah, I think i think it if your body's in the right place to do what you need it to do and you're feeling pretty confident, then it's not a bad thing necessarily. Obviously don't do it in a braggy way, but like a and I don't think it's a negative to sort of talk about like what you're wanting to achieve. um But yeah, if you're not in the best position, then maybe it's not a good idea, which is probably me for the last two years.
01:21:58
Speaker
What about you, Piotr? Have you, do you normally, like, have you ever been a circumstance where you've sort of said your plan of what you're actually going to do throughout a race like beforehand? don't usually do that, so I can't really speak for that. I don't announce, like, oh, what my plan is. I would only announce what I'm doing. It's only sometimes, um like, what races I'm doing, but I never say what I'm going to do on the race day.
01:22:21
Speaker
So and as Brody said, I think it just depends if you... I think it will add a bit of accountability and extra motivation. If I say like, oh, I'm done, I do... If it's a race or a project, I want to do that, you know, in under 20 hours or or under 30 hours, whatever the goal is. I think it it, for me, would motivate me and give that accountability aspect. So, yeah, I think it would be beneficial, but I don't think I would feel...
01:22:49
Speaker
pressure because of that. Yeah. Yeah. I kind of love the psychology of this one um because i've I'm usually quite happy to say what I plan on doing in a race, whether it's take off at the front or sit in and see how I feel and those sorts of things. And I'm happy to do that because say I say that on the week before in the podcast, I might get to the night before the race and just decide to take a different plan, but no one knows about it.
01:23:15
Speaker
And so it doesn't matter anyway. So ah so it's mind game. Well, see, here's the thing. It can be because you can and and you're right, Brodie, when your body's in that really good spot that you trust of what's going to happen, it can be that visualization piece of this is what I'm visualizing. This is what I'm and I'm happy to tell people that this is what I'm planning.
01:23:35
Speaker
and when your body's ready, it's amazing when that thing just goes and happens because you're almost like, hey, yep, called it, and it it almost feeds into that confidence mid-race where you're just like, yep, this is exactly what I expected. This is good. This is what's going to happen, but I almost then flip it in the whole if things aren't going to plan and I have to change something, all of a sudden I feel like it's almost like psychological up of hands because people think I'm going to do one thing, but I know I'm going to do another thing, so then I'm just like it doesn't that that that takes, like for me that's not pressure either. And i don't think it's ever pressure in the way that I can plan all I like. Life has kind of shown me that it's going to slap you in the face more times than it's not when it comes to your plans. So you can say I could say every single race I could tell people exactly what I'm planning to do and that might happen one in 20 races sort of thing. And I know that.
01:24:29
Speaker
And it by knowing that and also being like, If I'm happy with my decision and it's not that I'm then sticking to that plan because it's what I've told others to do or hope yeah holding onto it for too long even when it becomes not as good of a plan or feeling like i have to then do it to meet some expectation of other people or something. Like that would be where the pressure comes from. But for me, it's almost like planning each race is so fluid and it happens in the moment that it's just kind of, sure, I can tell you a week out what I'm planning. I can tell you a day out what I'm planning, but I could get a K into the race and plans out the window.
01:25:06
Speaker
um Something's gone wrong. It's plan B. It's plan C. It's a plan I'm making up on the fly. So for me personally, does it add pressure? No. But do I then take the good times and use it to my advantage for that accountability and that feeling of like, yeah, this is what I wanted to happen and I'm going to make it happen today sort of thing or it like it's happening?
01:25:28
Speaker
Yes, it becomes a positive then, but it's then making sure that it doesn't become the negative pressure of life. You can hold on to a plan for so long that it becomes a very bad plan. Definitely. Yeah. And you don't want to do that. So hopefully that answers your question, Gus.
01:25:43
Speaker
um Feel free to send in a follow-up question if you want more insight on any of that, for sure, because this is all just speaks to the psychology of running and everyone's going to approach it differently, which is a beautiful thing. It
Listener Questions and Upcoming Races
01:25:57
Speaker
sure is. think down If we're finished on that question, there was also a few questions for Zoe last week that we missed. Sorry for everyone who sent them in. no jamess James has filed them away for when he does a follow-up with Zoe in the future, if he does a long form. So um your questions are not ah and not gone. we will We will get to them maybe at some point.
01:26:21
Speaker
Yes, every question usually ends up happening. It's just on the admin side.
01:26:29
Speaker
We're not perfect at admin people. Hell, we're not perfect at podcasting or anything we do. So don't hold us to it. um Awesome. Brody, you want to take us through what's coming up this week? Yeah, so we've got a few races next week, ah or this week coming weekend. um Probably the, maybe the headline or the one that I'm always most excited to see, watch at this time year is Cradle Mountain Run. um That's just because I want to do it myself one day, but that's Son in Tassie, so that's the full length of the um um'm Overland Track. Sorry, my mind was going blank for a second there.
01:27:00
Speaker
um Then in South Australia we've got Robe Run, in WA John Forest Trail Run, Sydney Trail Series is kicking off. it was I think it's rescheduled from January, the Manly Dam Race.
01:27:15
Speaker
There's a top of the range Adventure Trail Run in Queensland and then one up in the Blueies, Wentworth Falls Trail Run. and I think I've seen like a few things shared about that one, maybe some of the young guns up in the Blue Mountains going head to head on that one. So yeah, that one might be an interesting one to watch.
01:27:32
Speaker
Nice. Love that. Love that. Awesome.
Training, Recovery, and Personal Growth
01:27:35
Speaker
Piotr, you're just back on recovery and straight back into life this week? I think I'm ah back to training this week. I took a few days off. only had just a couple of hikes and and very easy runs, but back to training this week.
01:27:48
Speaker
Do you find you recover a lot better since doing some of those like backyard ultra, king of the hill kind of things. Like is your recovery just nonchalantly awesome at this point? Well, I think first of all, my body is very used to that and doesn't take me as long as it was in the past.
01:28:04
Speaker
Just adapting to those efforts, but also this this one particularly, or even king of the hill, you never run really hard. yeah So this one was honestly mostly hike. It is called a run, but if you know the terrain, it's it's mostly, it is, I would call it a run because of the style. You're moving with the lighter pack, although the pack is much heavier than it would use for use for regular run. But you're moving, you trying to move fast and, you know, you're going and without taking many breaks. But for most part, it is a hike. So you don't take that much, your body doesn't take that much damage. So I think it doesn't take that much recovery. The only aspect really is the sleep deprivation because you sleep, I slept maybe eight hours in in three days. So that's the only thing. And that only takes, you know, a few few nights of a good sleep to catch up.
01:28:49
Speaker
It'll be a different story. If I would run 150K at once, I think I would need a bit more to recover. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I always find like, especially those flatter... Clatter races and stuff, they take a bit more to recover from even than just the hilly ones once your legs are conditioned for the downhills, et cetera. So, yeah, nice.
01:29:08
Speaker
Nice. Brodie, anything exciting? Headed out to Donna to do, yeah, I think I'm going to do a hard effort up and see how it feels, get a bit of a feel for that because last time I did the race, I bungled the first climb. So try and get right this time.
01:29:27
Speaker
Yeah, me and Kate are going to go out again. um i don't know. We'll see. I sort of want to do it hard. So we'll see how we're tracking. I'm very keen to see how fast Kate goes up this weekend because already your easy effort last time you guys went up that mountain was faster than Mia got up at last year in the race.
01:29:45
Speaker
Like she would have been in the lead in race. It's a sort of climb where there's like no easy effort. So like yeah whilst we say it was it was it was just not race effort last time, it was like, yeah let's go up at at an honest pace. and And I think Kate was like, she hadn't done that sort of climb for a while. So she still found it difficult.
01:30:02
Speaker
Nathan was running or just up and back, but me and Kate were struggling along. I reckon Kate can go so fast up that thing. Like I'm just going to be. We'll probably go only five minutes quicker max this week because there's not a big difference between going harder than going easy, I think. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it.
01:30:20
Speaker
The fastest person up is Lara Hamilton on the women's side, an hour 11 or an hour 12 because, yeah, I was an hour 14 when I did it.
01:30:31
Speaker
um for the previous course record. She wasn't far behind me that year when Lara did, like at the top, I think she was like a minute to two minutes or three minutes behind me at the top.
01:30:42
Speaker
An hour 11 or so, 10 even, like somewhere around there was Lara. Yeah, it's quick. It's bloody quick. So i i'm I'm just, and this is just something I'm excited to observe in the next little bit. But anyways, um I'm building my four-wheel drive. So that's my exciting thing. Sorry, building my the rear drawers of my four-wheel drive. Like I'm building a floor and drawers and stuff because I'm deep in the four-wheel driving world at this point. ohop Sorry, people.
01:31:09
Speaker
But that's my life. My life at this point is going to be hear you're becoming a four-wheel drive influencer, so I'm excited to speak. A bit, little bit. there's Every now and again I'll do a little bit for some free stuff.
01:31:24
Speaker
um I'll try. i'll I'll be respectful and inoffensive, I promise. Yeah, be respectful to the Forward Drive community, please. Oh, on that note, thank you, everyone,
Closing Remarks and Future Plans
01:31:35
Speaker
for listening. This has been episode 95 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. We wish you a very happy week and we'll speak to you next week. Thanks, guys. Bye. Thank you. We'll see in Tassie soon, I guess.
01:31:47
Speaker
Oh, yeah. See you at Diverge, Piotr. And thank you for coming on. I didn't even know if I said that. Thank you. And I will see you at Diverge.