Transcript
Speaker: Music
Speaker: Hello and welcome to episode 125 of the People's Feet Podcast. My name is James Sieber, one of your regular hosts. I am joined by Vlad Ixl, who's, you're still over in Europe, aren't you, Vlad? Yeah, I'm about like 60k away from Chamonix, which is nice. I'm in the Italian side. Yeah, pretty happy to be a little bit away from the whole UTMB chaos.
Speaker: It sounds like it's got getting a lot bigger. And yeah, um i'm I'm very interested to hear hear how you how you found it. Someone else that we we have on the podcast, our host is or guest is a regular to the Valley, pretty much lives in the Valley and has a deeper voice than myself. so everyone's going to get a really nice trip this one.
Speaker: Matt Dunn, welcome to the podcast. ah Thanks heat for having me on. I've been a long time listener, it's being to been good to come on. I appreciate it. It's good that you actually listen. So i appreciate the that you do.
Speaker: So obviously, Matt, we've got you on because you've just and done UTMB. This is your third attempt. Seemingly, at least from the outside, looks like everything's gone really well. I know someone that's followed you for a bit, and this is the first time we've ever had a chance to actually chat in person, I'm really curious by the fact that you seem to have lived at least semi-permanently over there for a while. And I think one of the things we hear so much about is gym going over and having to live in the area to be able to get UTMB down and and we've kind of seen that with Ben this year so I'm really fascinated to hear like the differences that you found living there versus Australia and the training etc but for everyone that might be new to you maybe he's followed you for the first time for UTMB what's your background with running like what got you into trails? um So my background with running i never ran growing up or
Speaker: e I played football and cricket um up until I was about 30. And then once I stopped that, after ah because I played sport my whole life, um I just needed something in my life.
Speaker: So I got into running, just road running at the start. um But then, yeah after like ah year of doing that, I sort of faded in and out. Like just you would run do a race and then stop running. Yeah.
Speaker: and Basically, yeah i I read Scott Durek's book, Eat and Run, and for some reason, it just captivated me to start running trails, even though I've never run trails before. and it was just like It's like everyone, it's just that slow progression.
Speaker: you know You do your first trial race. 2019 was first ever trial race. two thousand and nineteen with my first ever trial race um And, yeah, since then I've just sort of slowly progressed on. um i think UTA 100K was my second ever race in 2019.
Speaker: um And then, yeah, after that i moved to Melbourne and COVID hit. So then we didn't have any races for quite a while. um And then...
Speaker: I was quite injured for a couple of years. um And in that time, i decided to like, um through friends and influence like, um, my old back housing, Madge, inspired me to like, tell me all about this European dream of,
Speaker: all these races over here and Chamonix and all that. So yeah, I looked right into that. um And pretty much my first race back, I was meant to come and do Lavoretto in the Dolomites in Italy with Matt Crean.
Speaker: um But then I had a stress fracture two weeks before flying out. ah So yeah, Matt still convinced me to come to Chamonix anyway. He's just like, you know, he's been here, he's been coming here for like eight years and, you know, really spoke about it and, you know, it's beauty and,
Speaker: what it does to you, your soul and all this. um so yeah, I just went over, injured. ended up crewing going and crewing Matt at Lavaretto, which was an amazing experience. um And then, yeah, I came to Chamonix.
Speaker: was like I couldn't even hike at that point. So I spent three weeks here just doing just being in the valley and was really captivated by it and I understood um the aura and everything about this place. So I made up my mind then. i was meant to be in Europe for an extra few months, but I made up my mind. I'm going to fly home now. i'm going to do all the rehab.
Speaker: And next year, like April or May next year, i'm going to I'm going to come here for at at least six months. So I flew home that next week. um And then, yeah, I went to basically, yeah, went to work rehabbing, doing everything.
Speaker: um And yeah, the me and Matt Kreen found this place, which I still am renting now in 2023. um And yeah, we were here for six, me and him were here for about four months. i was here for six months.
Speaker: um And yeah, came back and did Laboreto and UTMB in 2023 and them both. you know, it was like this three-year journey and i just dropped out of both races. So it was it was a hard one to take at the time. um So at that point, I wasn't intending on moving here or anything like that. I was coming here for the purpose of just training here in the mountains and...
Speaker: doing these races, you know, the dream of UTMB. And I had when maybe I was a bit naive about how hard it is to train here and then also to rain race here for coming coming from Australia.
Speaker: And also just the, you know, the competitive nature level over here is just on another hemisphere compared to Australia. So, yeah, there was, there was that. And i think that ultimately led to maybe it was an ego thing where you have these expectations up here and you just get brought back to reality of where you're really at.
Speaker: Um, so, which was good. I think it helped me a lot. Um, so after being effing both races, yeah, I decided that I would need to come back again. Like I just, I had this 24 hour goal on my mind for UTMB and,
Speaker: I thought learned a lot from my failures that year and then I could come back and do it. So, yeah, I sort of used Tarot Weir the following year as like a race to get back in, to um get back into UTMB, which had a good enough race at the Milo to get an entry um back in UTMB, but which at the time i thought it was for that following year for 2024, which in the end it was for the following year, 2025, which was basically a blessing in disguise because I just wasn't ready. and
Speaker: Even though i told myself I was, I just wasn't. um Yeah. So that year in 2024 is when I decided to actually, because I wasn't racing that much. I was just, I just came here and I was just in the mountains and enjoyed training here and being here.
Speaker: And that's when I decided I wanted to live here. The culture here is so much bigger than UTMB. UTMB is great, sure, as an event, but the way of living in lifestyle over here is is far bigger than that.
Speaker: um Not just running, just everything and the people. So yeah, that's when I decided would try to make the semi-permanent move over and sort of integrate into life here.
Speaker: um And then from there, obviously, I still had the UTMB entry the following year. So i I was pretty focused on that goal, on the whole 24-hour goal and put – like 12 months of work into it.
Speaker: Um, starting with, I started working with Lockie flow state strength. He was helping me over here. And really from that, from that year in 2024, I learned how to train far more efficiently here because it is so the easiest place to train until you get used to it and learn how to train properly in 2023. When I trained here, I just over-trained and, um,
Speaker: I was just so cooked at the start line because I just didn't respect where I was and and what I need to do to be able to feel good. um So, yeah, learned a lot from that.
Speaker: And then, yeah, 2025, I went in probably the best shape I've ever been in. And I thought, yeah, I ah think I'm in good enough shape to run sub-24 for sure.
Speaker: But I know the complexity of putting UTMB together. It's not as easy as just being fit enough. Like there's so many pieces to go into it. um And then, yeah, we get absolutely putrid weather, like the worst conditions you could possibly imagine.
Speaker: um And ultimately, I... What had been ah been for me for the following, the past years was found like I got really good at training, but I i was really poor executing races.
Speaker: um And that trend just continued. And i sort of, yeah, ruined the first half of the race and it just set me up for failure for the second half, which is, yeah, for anyone who wants to do UTMB, like it's all about how well you execute the first half of that race.
Speaker: is he It's going to dictate how well your race goes. Yeah. So yeah, basically after that I decided, i think like we spoke about before, the biggest issue with so many people with this race is um is like always stomach issues.
Speaker: is that's Hands down, going through the night, the intensity of the event. um So for me, I decided not so much from a running standpoint but from like a health standpoint.
Speaker: wanted to do a lot of work on my gut health and see what's going on. Um, so yeah, I did with my good friend, Jess, she's a naturopath back in Australia. We did a lot of testing, um, and there was a lot going on.
Speaker: Um, so yeah, we just went to work on that. And at that time I didn't know it would have any impact on my running. It was more of a, being here, living here, um i just wanted to be the healthiest version as I could, not just for running but just for living this life over here because you want to just make the most of it when you're here. did my first winter, like skiing and all that, um and it was probably the most fun I've had in the four years now of being December through to April.
Speaker: um The running was it' horrible, absolutely horrible that time of year. It's like you're either on icy roads or a treadmill, but you you put that – it's just a totally different world here in winter. You put that um a sort of winter vibe here it mixed in with that running and made the running bearable. So, yeah, um so that for me as well this winter is like – even put a bigger emphasis on me staying here because how much I love being here. So it's not just like a summer thing here for me yeah anymore. It's ah all year round.
Speaker: Um, so yeah, now, now trying to make it work for the whole year instead of just coming here for summer to summer, Australia to show me new. yeah,
Speaker: But yeah, so for the with it with the gut stuff, I just continued on that. And i for my overall, how I felt um doing anything here day to day, i just felt exceptionally better.
Speaker: Recovering from everything was doing mentally in such a good place, it really changed so much for me And then that just... Like, of course, just flowed on into all the running and training and that.
Speaker: um I didn't even have UTMB as a goal this year. Like, I had as a backup option. Like, I had the entry and I wasn't even going to race it ah because I was on the wait list for Western States.
Speaker: So that was that was my goal. um I thought going off previous years, I would have gotten in of where I was on the wait list. So I trained for it as such. And I thought I'll just have the UTMP in the background. It's like it yeah if I don't get in sort of thing.
Speaker: And yeah, that's just the way it worked out where I missed out by two spots, I think, in the end um from getting in. um So then I had to make the shift from not hiking a single step in all year.
Speaker: Yeah. Or basically all year and not even using my poles outside of skiing. all year to the start of July make the shift to basically doing a lot of hiking with a lot of poles and that type of training. So then I wanted to UTMB, which I'll look you back at now and maybe maybe it was a blessing the way it sort of worked out and how I trained those different ways.
Speaker: um And it just allowed me, i didn't have to focus too much on running so much in the eight weeks going into UTMB. Um, and i was able to do quite a little, quite a high load and with quite a high elevation for me, like yeah personally, like more than I've ever done.
Speaker: um, My body really, really tolerated it well. um So going into the race, I ah felt pretty optimistic about where like having being in the in as good a position to have a good race as I could.
Speaker: Yeah. But... the doubts you have from poor execution in the past still float through your mind. So trying to piece that together and how would I go about it and, you know, will I be able to contain myself early and not make the same mistakes as i had previously – Yeah, it was it was always in the back of my mind, I guess. knock him Yeah, there's like a thousand things we could go off there. It's it's it's really, really interesting to hear. Sorry, I went on a bit of tangent there. No, no, no, no, no it's it's it's good. i'm I'm just in my head and might don't make this a two-hour episode, James. um
Speaker: When you came from ah from soccer, what was it about like the 100K and then the 100M artists? you stepped up pretty quickly for someone that wasn't really a runner growing up. Yeah, so I didn't play soccer. i played football, which is Australian real football, mate. Sorry. Don't mix the two up.
Speaker: um ah To be honest, the fascination i think for me is, like like I said, after I read that Scott Jurek book, Eat and Run, and so i got fascinated by races for some reason.
Speaker: But I've always been mentally, and this is from an even work standpoint or whatever, pushed towards doing the hardest thing what in my mind.
Speaker: So it sort of drew me – initially to the longer stuff because I'm like, oh that's that's going to be harder. So ah had no intention that it would go anywhere or I would actually get invested into this long distance running. was like, that looks like a hard thing.
Speaker: I'm really intrigued by it. um and doing it is just a one-off thing so i my first ever race is the marathon and the second was a 100k there was no like between or below was it was it hard to step up like did because just looking at your results like you yeah uta you finished 100k surf coast 2020 you finished that i'm sure there's some other results that are up there but like it did did you find that transition into running tricky um not not as such like i i found that i've yeah i didn't find it tricky i i found like i should have been a lot harder than it it was um like it really like i understood how much ultras hurt like pretty early on um but that i remember that first hundred k which is the uta
Speaker: I was surprised at the end like how well I got through it considering how new I was to the sport and how just little a background. I'm not sure if playing sport my whole life contributed to that or like even though it wasn't long distance, it was playing football and cricket and all that stuff. But yeah, the transition up, it wasn't as bad as i thought. And that that was in the end...
Speaker: Because of that, I ended up pushing myself too hard in the first 18 months of getting into running. And that's why after 18 months of running, I was injured for nearly two years.
Speaker: So I got caught into a trap almost. Because was Lafarado in 21, the year that you got the stress fracture? Or 22, sorry? 2022, yeah. 22, yeah. Because I was just saying you're 21, like Razorback, and then a month later, Alpine Challenge 100 mile. And then a month later, you tried UTA 100 and DNF'd. And then two months later, you did Brisbane 110K.
Speaker: So like there's yeah there there's a lot of back-to-back going on there. Yeah, we did. um This when I race a lot with Matt Crean. We did... um Cradle Mountain 80k in February then two weeks later we did like Mount Borbo 45k so just well and truly way over raced.
Speaker: That was the same year that Matt Crean got his stress fracture wasn't it? and yeah we i did Yeah we sort of got injured about three weeks apart. Which like, obviously you can laugh about now, but it's, it's crap that you had to go through, go through that and learn the lesson that way. But it's a good lesson to learn going forward in the sense that, okay, you have to be a bit more specific. And it seems interesting that you've now switched to like actually not racing that much and just training compared to where you started at. Yeah, definitely. um I think this might sound bad, but I think everyone needs to go through, not maybe a stress fracture, but everyone needs to go through an injury situation.
Speaker: to learn that lesson because not everyone but like a lot of most people train or race too hard yeah and they won't listen to anyone until something bad happens and then you learn it from it and as hard as that lesson is it's it's a good one to go through and to learn from yeah yes definitely been a Vlad, have you ever had that moment? I feel like you you're fine. No, knock on wood, have um I've never been injured. so um Really? Yeah, but I mean, I understood from the beginning. Like, I raced a lot. Like, I mean, i've I would do like 25 to 30 races a year. A lot of like long distance, kind of 100Ks, 50Ks, 70Ks in the beginning. um But
Speaker: Yeah. I think I learned the fact, not that I learned, I just knew that getting injured would really slow me down. I put in a pretty, um ah like I studied a lot about like recovery and strength and mobility and I put in like a really, don't I don't even know, i's say a precise kind of routine that I still do pretty much every single day.
Speaker: um And that helped a lot. And that just knowing where I get tightness and like what I should work on more and usually around my feet, like my feet get a bit tighter and carved. So I know but what mobility exercises i have to every day to kind of keep going.
Speaker: But yeah, luckily I've never been injured. That's amazing. Yeah, it's it's quite quite remarkable. Unfortunately, we don't all have the yeah the foresight or intelligence of Vlad coming into the sport. Definitely not. Coming into like actually making the move to Chamonix be something that you can do like you're doing right now. how How do you make that work with work? I get asked this question a lot.
Speaker: So i don't actually work over here. um i ah worked a lot and hard um leading into this like last few years. um So I've worked as an electrician back back in Australia um and also sort of renovated and sold houses and stuff like that. and um So i got to a point where, yeah, financially i could be here for X amount of time and then
Speaker: go back to Australia when I am back there work back. As this is an electrician, and doing that sort of stuff back in Australia. So that's – it's not – I won't be able to do this forever. Yeah. um But I'm at a point in time in my life where I can just make it work. So I do. Do you feel like you have a an idea of how long you'll do this for?
Speaker: No. – i I'm going through a ah phase now where I'm looking into how do I make this work long term and being able to work over here.
Speaker: Because I'm looking at it like a, like, yeah, I do love running here and all that, but more of a integrating into life in France in the Chamonix now. um That the running is just a small part for me now. um being So now it's just working out how how am I going to make this work financially from a work standpoint. So yeah, um I'm spending the next sort of six, 12 months to make that work. But in terms of how long I want to be here, I feel like at the moment indefinitely.
Speaker: yeah um I'll always come back to Australia to visit, but at the moment, it definitely does feel like I'm here now. So what visa are you on right now? I got a four-year like the talent visa.
Speaker: Okay. So I got a residence permit. So i've got I've got four years to learn French also which is proving to be harder than I first thought. So, yeah. So, when does that run out? um So, the first two years I was here, I was on one year just tourist visas. and But now I yeah started that one in April 2025, my four-year.
Speaker: So, 2028, think. yeah um So, got the four years there. Yeah, sweet. I think you can extend for one one extra year after that. And then the following that, you need to pass a proficiency test if you want to apply for a tenure after following that. Yeah.
Speaker: One thing that I find interesting, what you just said there as well, is that the running has become a small part of why you're in France. Do you feel like that has helped with how you were able to so approach UTMB and just kind of how you feel about training in general, not getting excited by being in the mountains and overdoing it now?
Speaker: Yeah, I think massively this year. This year, with all my racing, there's been no pressure because i've I've got to a point where I don't look like i i enjoy racing, but don't love it as much anymore.
Speaker: But I love training. yeah So my I did go from a place where I just used to love racing and now I've just transitioned at the other side. And so that maybe pressure or whatever I put on myself, it's just not there anymore. And being here and just being in these mountains and really enjoying the process of the training is what I love.
Speaker: um And then I just – this year I've not – try not to overthink the racing to be honest um so yeah have you spent much time outside of chamonix because i'm i'm literally about 60k away from you in the oster valley and similar mountains probably like you know um I'm a bit lower on on altitude than where you are, but it's like so much quieter, so much cheaper, so much more relaxed. And I was just thinking at yesterday because I was walking through this old town here and I was like, this is so much nicer than Chamonix, like same mountains, but like quiet, um really relaxed, a lot cheaper, like supermarkets are like 20, 30% cheaper. Rent is like half the price of Chamonix. Have you tried like any other areas in the Alps?
Speaker: um Not too much. i I lived, I was in onis Ansi for 10 weeks last year, I guess, which is no cheaper than here. Probably more expensive if anything, um but not really. like I mean, I've ah've been to those mountains. I've been like running there, but not from a living standpoint.
Speaker: think I built up such making the move here and bringing everything over here. And there' there is quite a community here in Chamonix. I've got a lot of friends now here. um so I've really integrated into the community here from all different places around the world. There's a few Australians here and yeah, everyone.
Speaker: So I know what you mean. It it does get quite full on here um and it can be quite expensive. So there is that draw to go these other quieter mountain towns.
Speaker: But, yeah, I just think I've just put so much work into integrating over here and and there's such a good community here that i'll at the moment I don't... having any interest to leave on the short term i i know what you mean though vlad like uh when i was working in italy i was based out of aosta i was working in like pilar and um the resorts there and there is something really nice about that area in that old town it's um and it it is a hell of lot cheaper than the chamonix but matt i feel like when you've got that community vibe now which you wouldn't have had the first year or two like do you feel like that has made like a really big impact on like how well you're doing in the area
Speaker: Yeah, definitely, definitely because like, i don't know, you've got a lot more, feel like you've got a lot more resources and help and that around you and when a place really feels like home, um I feel like you're just generally in a better place, like mentally, physically and that. so For me now, i don't feel like I'm over here training in this, you know, distant place like this is home now and because of that community feel. And I think generally that just helps helps a lot. I'm going to ask about training before you see it. Do you have any other questions for Matt before we go training stuff? Yeah, I wanted to touch touch a little bit about the gut health because I think that that's a topic that most people don't really... Well, they have, I think, lately um more and more people are getting more into gut health. But if you can maybe share a bit of your experience, um what was really bad at the time, what did you do to improve it and...
Speaker: um Maybe like recommendations for people that might not be feeling 100% or could improve their gut health? Yeah. So, after going through what I've gone through, I...
Speaker: I reckon it it's probably something that nearly every single runner, at least elite or want to be a professional runner, should do is get your gut health checked because i had a gut microbiome mapping test done and an OATS test testing my mitochondrial function and on all that um in October last year.
Speaker: And so with my good friend back in Australia, Jess, she was a naturopath, and a lot came up. um You know, there's there's I had quite low, even though I ate fairly well, I had quite low microbiome diversity. stomach acid was very low. i said ah even though I ate a high-fibre diet, I was low in fibre.
Speaker: i was um bad at metabolizing and absorbing carbohydrates and protein. um And also, I was producing a lot of serotonin, but apparently I wasn't breaking it down. Low in vitamin d um So all these things I was getting, but my body just didn't know how to like break it down and and absorb it.
Speaker: And my lower, almost maybe upper intestine, the mucus layer and so ah um was quite damaged. They call that leaky gut. So...
Speaker: getting a lot of bad bacteria through there. i also have candida, which is also affecting me and feeds off sugar. um And when you're in this state where like you run so much and train so much and you you can just eat whatever and like you're not putting on weight and it's fine, you just don't – I don't think you realize how much damage you're doing because you think you're fine.
Speaker: um So, yeah, so we we started on this protocol with supplements, like a lot of – gut flora, antifungal, trying to build up the immunity back in my stomach, build the stomach acid up, um and and that, and a lot of probiotics. i We were doing like three, like four-month protocols.
Speaker: It would be almost like a 12-month process. and I decided then I had to cut out sugar also to like this is what the candida feeds off um outside of training.
Speaker: so Like it training at a high load, it's nothing possible to not have gels or water a race. Outside of that, cut out all added sugar, everything. so yeah, for basically 10 months, I hadn't had anything, like nothing with any added sugar, um no chocolate, no no anything. um And then with all this different – adding different food groups in – Try to like each week at least do at least 40 different fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and all that um and then with the supplementing.
Speaker: And I noticed, yeah, ah a big after about three months or two two and a half months, a big shift already in how i was feeling and also mentally as well. Like not that I was in a bad place but I just seemed to look in a lot better place. Yeah.
Speaker: which is all linked with with the stomach. And yeah um the first time I noticed this from a running standpoint that the work I was doing was working was ah did raced Trans Grand Canaria early in the in March and did the 120K through the night. And I've always had issues with stomach through the night.
Speaker: And every time I've had gels or carbs in racing or training, like i've always looked at it as like, this is just going to stop, like prolong the breakdown.
Speaker: And I've never once felt energy from a gel in my life. Like I've had it and like, yeah. And this was the first time I've ever felt like a boost from putting in um the nutrition.
Speaker: So I'm like, oh, this is what people actually talk about. This is the actual thing. And yeah, that whole race just went perfect in terms of nutrition, had energy the whole race, which was a first for me.
Speaker: So at that point knew that this was the thing that was having the biggest impact this year. um And then from a rec... From a training recovery standpoint, like this year, I've never recovered so well from training in my life.
Speaker: Like I feel like I could just, I didn't want to get ahead of myself, but I feel like I could keep pushing and pushing the load and everything up because I was just recovering so well. I i do put a lot of emphasis on recovery. Like I could do a lot for it.
Speaker: um But I think this has been the biggest – the gut work has been the biggest health for me. um So, yeah, I think in a world – we live in a world where, you know, everyone's talking getting high carb and all this and, you know, pushing that that sort of thing.
Speaker: But no one – I think no one really knows what's – like you could be having – 100, 150 grams of carbs, and if your body can't metabolize or absorb 80% of that, you know what's what's what's all that sugar doing to your stomach and to your gut? It's just going through and it's just creating more and more damage. So that's where I think ah hopefully in the sport, something this area really grows and um because I think you know so many people just wouldn't understand what is actually going on. And with the, the sorry, the sugar windows that you talk about that you don't consume processed sugar outside of training, is that like straight after training you go like zero processed sugar um or do you give yourself like a window like an hour after each run? No, that's like straight away.
Speaker: Like anything outside of training, um I just, yeah, fully fully cut out. Yeah, because I personally like give myself like a window of like half an hour where I can, you know, have some extra sugar to help recovery. But maybe I could also try um cutting it like completely because I try not to have much during the day. um But yeah, it's probably a good idea because you obviously overload your body with sugar during training and you kind of have to if you're training high load, high mileage.
Speaker: um But yeah, it's not super healthy at the same time. No, exactly. And if you don't already have a strong stomach or gut to to process all this and then you just keep feeding it with sugar, it's just like this endless cycle and it's just making it a lot worse.
Speaker: So, yeah, it's it's something that I'd never used to think about. And not that I had a lot of sugar, but you just don't – you never look or think about like when you have sauce or, you know, stuff that – so much things contain sugar that you just don't even think about because you – you're generally healthy and you train so much. So what does it matter?
Speaker: And then you realize how much stuff you actually were having that had sugar in it. And it's pretty, you know, it's, it's a bit of a, I'm not saying it's pandemic, but like with the sugar, sugar industry, it's just like wild, like within the nutrition industry in the world, I reckon something that needs to be regulated and changed. I think,
Speaker: I think going back to like sugar during training for many years, people didn't really feel correctly during training. So like after after training, ah like I remember myself just eating as much as I can, like as many calories as I can because I just did a five-hour, four-hour training run with no calories at all and I would just go as hard as I can on anything like energy energy drinks, like whatever I could get my hands on, like chips, anything.
Speaker: um When now, when you feel correctly, You have the ability to like not be super hungry and be a bit smarter with the choices that you make um after training, which made, i think, a big difference in like overall health as well. Yeah, absolutely. Definitely agree with that.
Speaker: What symptoms did you have um that you kind of decided to look at your gut health? um i was i think i think there's a couple of things. um The main one was would get quite low in energy. um I was feeling even like I'd have low low dips mentally as well. um Not like bad, but like enough.
Speaker: And I was always in the cycle of training as well. um so And I've always been interested by the human body and everything. So it came half out of not feeling great from an energy standpoint for so long and then also little bit from the mental side of things. And then there was just this intrigue of, um and my friend had been pushing me for the past 12 months.
Speaker: to do this testing. um She doesn't come from a sport background. She specializes in gut health and she was pushing me for the past 12 months just to do this. um So yeah, half of it come from just I was very interested interested to see what was actually going on. And is that a process that you're going to like redo again, like get it all tested once ah once a year or once every few years?
Speaker: ah Yes, definitely. I've i've already ordered my test to to retest. and i mean I'm very interested to see where it is now, like all my results and where they stack up to like where I was um in October last year.
Speaker: So I should be heading back to Australia in October yeah, I've really got the test there, ready to go when I'm back. So from from what you said before, like a little thing that people could consider is um probiotics, like a range of diets or like different fruit, vegetables and also spices and stuff like that and what else and sugar, sorry, cutting down on sugar, what else qui could somebody do to improve their gut health? um A lot of fermented foods was good um but even with me, my my stomach was that damaged that I had to build up my gut immunity and flora
Speaker: before I could even, for like three months, before I could even start having fermented food because your body my body couldn't regulate it. So it is a bit of a process and that's why getting tested to understand what's going on.
Speaker: you know in the world of marketing today, people just like, oh, they just take supplements or whatever for the sake of it or like, they won't understand what's going on with their stomach, but they might hear something and they're like, I'll try to fix my stomach and I'll just start eating this food and taking this supplement and your body just mightn't be able process any of that. So yeah, I think it's important too get to get the test done to understand because it's very individualized to each person. like It's not like, yes, eating better, more rounded diet will help anyone,
Speaker: So that should be a starting point for anyone. um Less processed stuff, more whole foods and all that. But if you really want to get down to the depth of it, yeah, I think getting the test done and to know what's going on inside you individually is the most important thing. Did you find actually eating enough of the whole foods ever a challenge? Like if you were transitioning your diet across, because know that with a bunch people that I coach or have coached in the past, one of the challenges like they either don't like eating that much or they're so short on time and the meals have to be big. And then if you make them fibrous and really whole food, which is obviously more healthy, it's just like a lot to get down. So was there any challenges with changing up how that source came in? For me, I've always been really – not really for me. I've always been really interested in nutrition. Like it's been something that I've sort of invested a lot of time into. So the process for – and I love eating. So I don't have any issue with eating more. So the process for me, it's almost like excited me more than –
Speaker: doing all this, then all the running and training, I found that this is a big goal 10 months down the track, all right, this is what I'm going to do. and it really it excited me for to have this goal of it. So for me, yeah, not really. I didn't find the challenge.
Speaker: um But for anyone else, I guess you just got to work out, yeah, what sort of motivates you or what what food, just try to find foods that inspire you that will fit the model that you're trying to go go through.
Speaker: rather than you hating like, oh, i know I have to eat X amount of stuff and you like just dreading it. i just Just trying to change it up and be a bit more exciting for you, I guess.
Speaker: Maybe last question about food before we get into your race. um What is like a typical eating day for you? How does that look like? um In the morning, i i do eat a lot of oats.
Speaker: um A lot of oats with... um berries. So whilst I have cut out sugar, I still have fruit. That was my trade-off. Like instead of us going ah really aggressive on this candida, which the yeast overgrowth, I said mentally I need to have fruit. because um So yeah, I have a lot of berries, bananas, um nuts and seeds in my oats. I have quite a large thing of oats in the morning.
Speaker: um And then i'm always like snacking as well. I think that's the key because I think you can get pretty bloated and overwhelmed just trying to eat three main meals a day. So I try to eat.
Speaker: slightly less for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but then continually eat through the day. I snack a lot. When I'm here, I ah do eat a lot of bread. I eat a lot of baguettes. Yeah. And then just, just um yeah, heaps of different um fruits and and nuts. And um from a carbohydrate standpoint, like a lot of rice and potatoes, um I eat, yeah,
Speaker: Mixing a lot of vegetables, so say from a lunch standpoint, I'll have like – because I have time, i will cook. I know most people don't, like if they've got an actual job. um But during the day, like for lunch, I'll try i always cook food. So i' like it just a stir fry with lots of different vegetables and rice um and then dinners can consist of whatever. um but then there's also having – I'll have like smoothies during the day, um So I would just continually – I think that was ah that's the key for me is just like continually eating through the day and not try to get too overwhelmed with having massive portions of food at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Speaker: um For dinner especially because before I tried to – you want to digest you can sleep well. so trying to limit that and not going in super hungry and like you've got to eat this massive portion at dinner.
Speaker: I try to limit that as well. So yeah, like what I did do it is now is just a lot of whole foods, um which I really enjoy. Cool. Perfect. It ties quite nicely into talking about your training as well, because they just having a quick look for your Strava, you you have you've put in some pretty impressive weeks from ah a time on feet, from an elevation, from a volume perspective, it's kind of of a factor of it. And I'm assuming like actually eating enough to fuel all this is kind of a full-time job in itself. So has it been...
Speaker: Has it been tricky as your volume has increased to actually keep up with that and to to realize how much you need? Um, ah yeah, a little bit. Yeah. Um, it's It's been – wouldn't say – no, not tricky. it It's been interesting. like I love playing around with it. um And you're always wondering – because i don't I don't like counting. I know people do, but I don't like counting how many carbohydrates or proteins yeah I have. I just backed my intuition in that i I know enough about me and my body now that I will –
Speaker: eat enough to do what my body requires. but yeah, from that point, it's interesting sort playing around with that and have to, as more of a focus, this eight-week block into UGMB and how much I was eating because was, for me, doing 20-hour running weeks is quite a lot. It's like bigger than I've done Yeah.
Speaker: So definitely the the the emphasis on eating more was was definitely in the back of my mind. Yeah. So I – yeah, and it was just like fitting it all in. And it does always become like a full-time job.
Speaker: It's like the training's there, but yeah I think I'm constantly thinking more about eating than the training itself. What other factors of recovery? Obviously, like the sleep, but what else are you thinking about to be able to do that training and actually recover from it and make it productive? Yeah, so I do put a big emphasis on sleep um and quality of sleep. um So i because I think ultimately that's the best recovery tool we have. That and nutrition are the two biggest.
Speaker: I sauna a lot. I use that a lot for recovery, not just for like, you know, if you're doing heat training or adaptations. um I use that a lot.
Speaker: I don't cold punch or anything. Yeah. But yeah, sauna and then I'm just constantly like every morning, Got a morning routine of stretching and getting on the rollers and bands. So that's basically that's seven days a week. yeah um you know i used to hate doing that stuff so much.
Speaker: I was like, Vlad said, you just you just put in it you just like ingrain it into your routine. And after a while, it just you know just becomes habit and second nature. ah So that's always so a big a big thing for me and made like a big difference. I'm feeling good.
Speaker: every day doing that first thing having that morning routine of doing that um so yeah theyre they're the main the main things i focus on is nutrition sleep and then all that work in the morning i think it's interesting seeing like when you have people that are training 20 hours a week and then listening to a week talking about about the food preparation obviously the eating time sleep self-massage all that kind of stuff like sauna you can see where obviously you're essentially living the pro-lifestyle but maybe not with the professional sponsor contract there but like that is essentially doing but you can really see like where all that time goes and why it is like the sports becoming so professionalized and why it's like getting so fast when because it's like those are the things you have to do to get to be able to do this work
Speaker: 100% and like yeah I'm definitely far from professional but I'd probably train or have a lifestyle very very similar. um do it because I love it rather than you know want anything else out of it but yeah for sure like outside of the 20 hour run you know you're doing cross training and then you're in the gym and And that as it turns in easily a 40-hour week you know of everything you're doing.
Speaker: um And it's just ah for me, it's just a lifestyle choice. But yeah, a lot goes into it now. And for those people at the top, they're doing the same or more. And they I guess get the sport's getting to a point now where you have to.
Speaker: So talk me through this block. So you didn't get into States. Obviously, if you've done a Western States block, you would have been in a good 100 mile shape, very much running shape. And then you've gone, okay, i've I've now got to transition to this, get the poles out, start hiking. I've seen some some weighted vest stuff in there. what yeah What were you prioritizing? What were you introducing for the first time? What did you carry across from the Western States b block? the And like the past year's experience, do you like, oh, this is what will get me ready for year? Yeah, so I think yeah i carried i had a lot of good volume this year. very Probably my most consistent year from January to July of running. A consistent block we height with good volume.
Speaker: So carrying that across really helped. it helped me. been able like, all right, going to transition and my body should be able to handle this load. um i think what I learned from last year was, and I know it's all the rage now, but like um doing the weight vested sessions because I was never the strongest hiker or uphill, moving up steep incline.
Speaker: Yeah. so I introduced that i from my friend Millie Young, who lives here. She first introduced me to that a couple of years ago. and then last year,
Speaker: with another friend, i we would do workouts on the VK here in Chamonix with weight vests, do three by 20-minute uphill, not the VK, with 12, 14 kilos on the with the weight vests. And then you drop the weight vest at the top and then do a hard descent back down, not down the VK, but the track that runs parallel down down to it, um and then do a hard descent down.
Speaker: So I think that work out there specifically or the weighted session, made I didn't realize how much of an impact it made at the time. But after like a month last year, I was already felt the strongest I've ever felt like moving uphill.
Speaker: And I can't directly say that it was everything. yeah I think that contributed a lot with and then helped a lot with you know the know its just like fatigue resistance training basically. Stronger in hiking uphill or like stronger in running uphill as well?
Speaker: um Both. um I go guess I noticed my hiking, especially up the steeper terrain. I was just, I was doing course wrecking for UTMB and not that I was, you know, because obviously I trained to effort and heart rate. So i'm at the same level of effort, I was doing massive PRs up like, you know, the Grand Colt Foray and these segments on the course through hiking.
Speaker: And then one interesting one was when I, the year before I was training for UTCT, so in Cape Town. And I remember I've got this climb. It was like a 400-meter climb that I did. And I remember I was in really good – felt like I was in good shape for that. And remember running this climb once and feeling really good up it. And then just before UTMB last year, I'm like, I'm going to hike this it at the same level, like the same heart rate and see the difference.
Speaker: And I actually went up this climb nearly two minutes faster hiking than I did when I ran it. film The session like going up the VK, doing three by 20 minutes, would you have done that in the past without a weight vest?
Speaker: No. Yeah, okay. Because I find it this interesting and I'm i'm not saying I have the answer here at all, but like we see people doing these weighted sessions up something like the VK and it's like, yeah, the weight vest is a new stimulus, but also is that session a new stimulus and how much is it one or the other? Yeah, yeah. I definitely like, I think think you can do it without the weight vest for sure. um But yeah, you're right. it Me doing it on the VK upset without a weight vest is a different stimulus to what the training I had been doing.
Speaker: So I think that would have i would have benefited from it regardless. But adding the weight in there, I just felt like I just became a lot stronger. yeah but i I wouldn't have been able to do that and my body and the reason I hadn't done weighted stuff in the past is I wouldn't be able yeah able to tolerate that sort of load had I not started doing consistent strength work for like 10 months or eight months before.
Speaker: yeah yeah So there's a big the big thing there. Like you can't just go and think, oh, this this looks cool and I'll just do it. Like you you need to be strong enough and you you're – your tendons and everything to be able, because it is quite a, you know, it's quite a high stress on your body.
Speaker: you need to be to tolerate, your body needs to be able to tolerate that. So I, I put myself in a position to be able to do that. And then going into, you know, 12 months later at the end of this,
Speaker: um Western States block. um um The one thing I've been so consistent with is being in the gym consistently. So I knew I could just transition straight into that style of training without like – doing like incremental loads. Like and I thought I could go from like, you know, and not push it too high on the first week, but like step it up quite a bit and see how the body reacts to the weight and stuff. And also I went from doing, i was doing 4,000 or meters a week, but over like 190 and ninety k
Speaker: which is not much, um for the Western States. Yeah. And then I could transition straight away to like 8,000, 9,000 meters over 140K, which is is quite a lot of difference um to the vert to K ratio sort of thing. Yeah. But yeah, um the body the body handled it and transitioned quite well and tolerated it probably better than i thought, to be honest. Did you change much from an intensity perspective with the Western States block to the UTMB block?
Speaker: Yeah, definitely. um This year as well, even going into the Western States block, I'd had a change in I fully cut out – um anything above thresholds. So is it was either a threshold or below going into Western States, like a lot of L21 work, um you know, a lot of that style work. And then going into UTMB, like i was I was definitely sticking with that model.
Speaker: But more so, I was focusing more so on volume and vert and doing... I didn't do a ah stack of workouts in that block. Like I did the VK ones, like with the weight vest, and maybe to three or four uphill sessions, and then a downhill conditioning run, that was it.
Speaker: I did no flat workouts at all. um So yeah, a lot of lower aerobic work basically is what I... what I did. So I had dropped it for Western States, you know, a bit and then just even more and just focused on making making a volume and that my bigger priority than any specific sort of higher intensity workouts.
Speaker: And the sessions that you did keep in uphill and obviously on on the VK, are they more focused towards LT1? So you're kind of almost removing the threshold work or are you keeping some LT2 threshold in there? Basically, they were all below. i' can't remember if I did it one at three. I don't think I did one at LT2. I think um i was doing like, you know, 45-minute sessions incline on the treadmill um progression like so i'd do like 15 minutes at um 8 and 15 minutes at 13 and 15 minutes that just kept ramping it up um at 18 and just to afford like continuous continuous workout uh and then i'll test after it so i test a bit with lactate and you know and then keeping in just in that two sort of millimole range and not once in through my testing
Speaker: i did I think 2.2 was the highest I tested. So yeah, I didn't get near that threshold, that altitude threshold work in the using the ball. Sorry, Vlad, I felt like you were getting ready to meet questions. No, I was going to so i was like thinking, did you increase the pace when you were increasing did you keep the pace the same when increasing the the gradient on the treadmill workout?
Speaker: ah No. So I dialed down the pace just to match the effort. Yeah. um Just to keep like – it's sort of hard. Like using heart rate sometimes can be quite unliable, especially in a gym.
Speaker: But trying to match that effort to be at that same sort of – yeah, in that same aerobic um aerobic threshold sort of effort. I really didn't want to go above. If anything, I was happy to like sit in the upper zone too. Yeah.
Speaker: and just have that consistent work. I think in terms of recovery, me being able to train correctly in the right zones like that also has had a massive impact on how well I was recovering because a lot of stuff was, you know, it's quite in the lower aerobic zones.
Speaker: um So that also is a trap that you can fall into, is training know at that if I had a you know creeped into that altitude then the flow on effect you know into the next days when you're when you're doing such high load it just sort of accumulates I think and you can easily spiral especially when you're in the mountains where it's like very easy to overdo it when you're going uphill um yeah exactly I mean, like I got i got to to the to the mountains this year and I'm like first run just running up. Like, you know, my heart rate goes to LT2 straight away.
Speaker: So like it's hard to keep that. Yeah. Absolutely, yeah. I feel like it's like a bit an ego within myself. Sometimes you just can't let the ego get the better of you and just need to really slow it down. And I think you hear this so often about people that are living there versus come over to Chamonix. People that live there understand that you need to move with the mountain and that means hiking a lot more as well. Whereas people that come over, like in Australia, you run everything because nothing's ever long enough really or steep enough to warrant hiking with exceptions, obviously. But you try and do that in Germany and you're going to get your ass handed to you and be in your VO2 in 20 seconds going up the VK sort of thing. But it is like, it's a very different way to run and to train and to be like, okay, that ego is going to have to get checked at the door because otherwise this is not going to work.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly. And that's what happened to me in 2023. And yeah, that's basically why I was destroyed before the race started because I let the ego get the better of me and I was quite naive. And also just, yeah, so it was the biggest humbling year of my running life for sure.
Speaker: But that's also created to this point now where you have such a better understanding of what your body needs and how to train for these events and how to execute them properly. Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely. Definitely.
Speaker: Yeah, I've learned quite a bit from all of my mistakes, which has been quite a few over the years. But now, yeah, i'm starting to piece it together bit right bit, and better better and better now.
Speaker: Is there anything else the youth that you've like made a conscious effort to work on or that you've changed this year before towing on the start line that think is worth talking about? Um, not, not particularly like, I mean, I've put a bigger emphasis on life, not being so hyper-focused on running, um, having, you know, doing other things, investing in other like people or sports or whatever, having a ah broad life outside of running, um,
Speaker: I think it's really helped a lot. I was for, for a while there I was, I was quite hyper-focused on it. Um, cause had this goal in mind, and you know, and I wanted to execute it. And so to execute it, I had to like put everything into it.
Speaker: And i think, yeah, not having those outlets outside of that, um, Yeah, I don't know. I think mentally it just has more of an impact on you than you think.
Speaker: yeah So this year I've just put an emphasis on life outside of running and I think that for me it's had a really big really big impact. think that's a pretty powerful one for everyone to take as well. I feel like after this everyone's going to be reflecting on on their life and how much they think about running and also going getting their guts checked and panicking about everything that they've ever put in the summit.
Speaker: and Basically. All right, let's move on to UTMB. So obviously for those that that haven't been following along, Matt, you finished this year in 22 hours, 39 minutes. So obviously there are some course changes that that happened, but I think even without the course changes, that would have been a sub 24 hours judging by by the times you obviously have run the course in multiple iterations and I'm sure run all of the course multiple times.
Speaker: Looking at it now, like how how are you feeling towards towards the day? 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, yeah whereas most gels on the market do not have sodium within them. 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.
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Speaker: um So, yeah, like it was... It was interesting, like we going into the race, um the weather was meant to be almost similar to the previous year and that's why the course had changed. It was actually a very similar course to the previous year. Yeah. um Like they pulled out the pyramids through, which is after Kodalasan, through the night, um which is about, depends who you are and how you're moving or what the weather's doing.
Speaker: It probably adds about 30 minutes. The statistics for the whole race are very similar like because there's an add-on at the start. It's just that section is quite technical. It's quite slow through the night. so that Before the race, we knew that was gone because of apparently the potential weather.
Speaker: um and i think they made one other short change, but it wasn't ah wasn't besides that, it wasn't a great deal of change. It was all... Basically, I think you saw all the quick times this year and the biggest factor by far was not the course changes, it was the weather. like It just turned out to be the perfect day in terms of through the night and then the next day for weather. um i think it allowed a lot of people to set their races up through the night. They took out the pyramids and you could just run very well and ah efficiently through the night and then have perfect morning conditions going into the day. The race started two hours later as well, so I'm not sure...
Speaker: what impact that had because you're not running three hours into the light then doing a whole night section you know by the time it's sunrise um you know you've already done an extra extra couple of hours and you're not making the most of that morning so that two hours The two hours delay, it's like how much impact does that have because you're going into the night straightaway basically and then you hit the morning. So you get to take just that a little bit fresher when you actually hit, you know, the sun comes up.
Speaker: where like Sorry, where where were you when the sun came up this year? ah This actually was probably the highlight of my whole race was I just hiked up to Baton. So I had a Cormoie. Yeah.
Speaker: I just got up to the balcony section. Yeah. Like, um, just a ah for the refuge baton. Uh, and then if anyone knows the course, like it's the best section of the whole race that you never, well, in my previous two races, I never see it because it's in the dark.
Speaker: Um, And having sunrise on on that side, because that side of the mountain is just so in your face, all the mountains there. And then having sunrise going along that and then going up the Grand Coal Foray was was that definitely the highlight for me. That's good. And it definitely, like, sort of, even though i wasn't in a low patch, it picked me up.
Speaker: yeah higher than where i was at yeah so when shiv and i did the the route a month ago or so when we hit that section that was like for her especially it was just like a wow like the trail is so nice it's so yeah it's also just like what you keep looking up at you're like oh my god Yeah. yeah things that likes sorry you go Sorry, you keep going. No, I was just saying it's a good 12K section along the balcony. It's just rolling and because it's the most least technical trail in the whole course, you can just not worry about your footing and you can just really take in like where you are.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, I was going to say, um you think that because that two-hour delay, most people started the race probably just a little bit slower going into the night, so a little bit more conservative and then had a better day the next day?
Speaker: Yeah, so for me, I definitely... did start more conservatively um going into the night. not sure how everyone else did. It seemed that way for a lot of people. um But it's also UTMB. Like so many people go way to this, like a wild experience watching people, how hard people go at such a long race.
Speaker: um But the people that did well are the people that, yeah, took their time through the night and then really benefited from the next morning. um And yeah, not having to do that extra few hours before you know the sun, before it went dark and then the sun coming up. I think if you played that right and took your time, um yeah, you've got to take advantage that next morning and next day. Yeah, because overall I feel like The people that I spoke with to had really good days and now you're saying it actually makes sense that maybe people are just a bit smart at the beginning going straight into the night instead of having two or three hours of like daylight where they can go hard. Yeah, yeah exactly. Yeah. So, sorry, I interrupted you before you kind of saying how, how the race was starting for you as sort of the, the, the changes that made with the start time being a bit later, et cetera. Like when you had started and you got, you got yourself going with the sensations good. Like, did you feel any different to the previous years? Like you you knew this was going to be a good year.
Speaker: Yeah, I ah did. I just felt i felt very relaxed. um i went out with The intention was me and Matt were going to run the whole night together. or id come on um And yeah, we're just sort of chatting all the up to like lazoure doing that first climb.
Speaker: And actually, i thought i was going very, very easy. And speaking to Matt last night, he was telling me, oh he was like, oh, i think I think you're breathing pretty hard up that climb um because there's so many people around you, you can't need yourself. and But I just felt really comfortable.
Speaker: So I felt like i was going quite easy um compared to previous years where so early on in the race, especially that first descent into Saint-Gervais,
Speaker: it's ah It's a tricky descent and um there's Matt there. and um They won't be able hear you, mate. um Yeah, it's quite a tricky descent down to San Gervais. In previous two times, I got to the bottom and it's only 20k into the race and I thought, this is going to be a long, long, long day. Yeah. Because i was already like my legs just felt so loaded already.
Speaker: Whereas, um you know, sat there just gone or Friday night. I got down there and if you you've been to San Jose Valley in like UTMB, it's probably for a crowd experience, probably the best place for the whole race. It is is insane, San Jose Valley. And to get there and then you're just feeling like, oh yeah, I'm feeling really, really good.
Speaker: um and to be able to soak it all up rather than like knowing you're 20K and you feel like crap already like previous years. So at that point, I'm like, yeah, still I still try to keep a lid on it like just because you're feeling good now. We're 20K and don't get carried away. And there is ah so manic UTMB early on, the first 30, 40K with just crowds and this year was on another level.
Speaker: that it's so easy get caught up in it all and adrenaline and everything. And the fact that, you know, I was feeling really good. i was just trying to shut everything out and it's like, just calm down. um I even walked some of these like gradual uphills intentionally just to like,
Speaker: not that I needed to even from an effort level, but just like make sure I settle myself and not get sort of, there's always runners around you as well. Like it was super, super deep field, like really competitive.
Speaker: um And there's always runners around you regardless. So it's it was so important just to like forget they existed and not get dragged along with them.
Speaker: So that was that was my two biggest challenges. I think focus is early. it Yeah, really trying to really trying to control myself um and not ruin my race through the night again like I've done in previous years.
Speaker: Um, but then when I got to um my, cause I wasn't really like hitting, I wasn't going off splits. I was sort of going to feel a bit. Uh, we got really, really good weather through the night. And then I was running with a couple of friends through the night when a couple of, um, one of the girls who actually come third, who trained with a little bit, uh, here in the valley, Emily Schmitz.
Speaker: Um, so I ran, I ran with her on and off from like look onto me into the Grand Colfery. So quite a bit. Um, But yeah, so we were just trying to chat and working together a little bit then go off. and But when I got to Cormier and I looked at my watch, I realized that I'd got there an hour quicker than I had mind.
Speaker: And I think the biggest, that split come from, I took most of the time after Le Chapio, which is 50km to Cormier, I think I went like 40 minutes quicker. than I intended from that point.
Speaker: Wow. Which is, ah did concern me when I got to the aid session a lot. Like even though felt fine, i it did concern look Looking back now, did you go too quick or you were pacing it right?
Speaker: i i This year, I decided to go a lot off feel and I felt the effort was right. um and I was not putting any focus on time, which i' in hindsight, I probably should have maybe a bit more than I did.
Speaker: um When I saw Robbie i who was crewing me Komei Air, said to him, First thing I said to him, like I told him that I was fine, but I've gone here way too quick and I need to calm down and chill out and because I had different people crewing me at Champagne Lac. I said, tell them I'm going to slow down a lot.
Speaker: They're going to see me drop back, but don't be worried that because this is intentional ah because I don't want to get carried away here, um which I felt like i did a bit, but – I don't know, from what everyone was saying, everyone when I got to my crew at Champagne Black, they were telling me, um we thought you going to slow down, not speed up. I didn't feel like I sped up, but that's just, don't know, maybe a lot more people slowed down more than me. Yeah. i'll just slow up sort of looked that way.
Speaker: I've got your splits up here, to give people some context. So at Saint-Gervais, you were By Cormailleur leaving the aid station, you were 78th. And then Champagne-Lac, you arrived in 52nd, left in 50th. This is overall. So men and women's field. So yes, obviously there's people slowing down. People will have dropped out at this at this point. But you you you definitely kept moving forward. And and they even your rest time wasn't particularly long, like nine minutes in Cormailleur and sort of three minutes at the rest of them. So it didn't look like you were trying to waste time anywhere. just kept moving well. yeah yeah come on i probably sat in longer than i planned and it wasn't like i wasn't sort of stuffing around it was it was intentional because i'd gotten there too quick well like in my mind i had gotten there too quick so i'm like right gonna take an extra few minutes here um and just eat more eat more real food um so i just had some potatoes and
Speaker: the sandwich and change clothes. um like I changed like yeah had just change tops and did all that and made sure i was I really got out of there just just feeling like, all right, just sort of calm yourself down and we're going to Keep moving. Um, and then, yeah, I mean, I definitely did after that have low patches. Um, I think everyone speaking to people after the race, they're like, Oh, you know, everything went so well and so consistent basically from a hundred K's on like it, it hurt a lot.
Speaker: i It definitely wasn't smooth sailing. Um, I was really struggling, started to struggle up, up the climbs, um, but for whatever reason. And that my, my thing was, sorry, every time that happened, just slow down.
Speaker: And just, I just didn't want to stop, you know, didn't want to stop. And young if you're too tired and stop and worry about it, just like, even, even if you're moving, you're moving forward. And,
Speaker: I think ah for me, if someone who actually lives here, I struggled started struggling with the altitude, interesting which I just hadn't before least most of the race or I don't in training. And once I started descending and my legs freed up, then I could start moving. And I felt so much better.
Speaker: um so basically in the second half, my descending saved me a lot. like I would pass a lot of people going downhill. um So from then on, I'm like, all right, I knew this was going to be – a recurring thing for the rest of the race.
Speaker: So yeah, it was just my my mindset, all right, you know, you're going to be slow uphill, but just continually, just just don't think about it, continually move, don't let it get you. so I never once stopped and I was still continually ticking along knowing that I could, my legs, even though they were quite painful, that would allow me to descend and descend quite well, probably better than I have, like ever have in a long race like that. Hmm.
Speaker: hi In training, the sort of focused downhills that you've done, whether it was after the weight vest or in general, is that something you've you've always had in or have you put more of a focus on that this block?
Speaker: ah Something, yeah, I've worked a lot with Blake with that um in the previous years. yeah um Sometimes probably too much. yeah But this year, yeah, it was from the previous two experiences at UTMB, my body was completely shut down and it was it's the same but the same place both times over the Grand Colferé and you got that long 20k descent through La Fouille to the bottom of Champagne Lac.
Speaker: And both times my legs are just blown to pieces. Yeah. And to a point where I could, you know, couldn't even hike it in. That's that's the point. So the the emphasis on conditioning the legs, making them strong enough yeah to be able to descend this race, I think i think is just, I don't know, I think it's the most important thing for this race, to be honest, um so from edge from a training standpoint. Yeah. you put it down more to the volume and the elevation more than trying to do downhill sessions specifically. Yeah, exactly. oh that's what I thought. i'm like, no, how much? Cause they take a lot out of the downhill sessions, like recovery wise and all that.
Speaker: So my my thing was if I'm just putting in the volume, especially, the know, the descending volume, um that will just accumulate and just just strengthen and the body up a lot more and then just add in as an extra bonus or benefit, um you know, a couple of these descending workouts, especially closer to the race. Like I think I did my last one.
Speaker: nine days out. I did a, did a hard descending session, um, just to give that final bit of conditioning. And yeah, I think that, I don't know if that like itself, but like the reason why I was able to end up having the day I did was because of how well i could descend late in the race.
Speaker: Um, I think I looked at the flagee descent and I've done it like 20 something times in, um, like in my segments, like on Strava. and I think I did it like, that was my my fifth or sixth fastest descent off the jet into town.
Speaker: um So with 170 Ks in the legs, it sort of, yeah, it showed all the work I did in that sort of, that's that's sort of like what helped me through it. What was the last kilometre like? Because where where you were in the field was obviously in that top, I think top five or so for the the women, maybe a bit further up.
Speaker: And it watching it, it looked like incredible, but also chaotic. Just people everywhere and in the ways. Was was that your experience going through? Yeah, it was it was quite wild. So I think the ah third, Emily, my friend who's come third, she was just ahead of me.
Speaker: yeah um and And it was funny, like you you do that overpass over the road and then you've got that final K. And some guy who I'd passed down the descent, for flager he had his mates running with him and he's just got this second wind. And then he's run over and he's caught me. So we're along the river and he's caught me and he's like trying to aid me on to sprint finish with him.
Speaker: And I looked at him, I'm just like, nah, mate. Like, I had no intention of sprint finishing. oh Like, I was so – this is my third time. i was really looking forward to that last K. Yeah. Being in with a massive crowd. um I'm like, I'm not wasting it on a sprint finish for 40th place. that you may like So he just pegged it and he went um and I watched him. he just like went flat out and I just – I just, if anything slowed down and yeah, it was, the crowds was amazing. Like through the whole thing, it was, it's quite intense. Um, but like a good, good intense. Okay. Um, yeah, everyone's just piles onto the road and like, you can barely see where you're going and everyone's just right in your face. It's,
Speaker: ah true Yeah, it was an experience that yeah I definitely won't forget, especially after you know never being getting through the race or being there at that point. um And then to be able to do it in that time where the crowds were still massive, obviously the you know the top females are still coming in, you've still got just this crazy atmosphere going through.
Speaker: was definitely an amazing experience. And now that you've got it done, you've broken 24 hours, granted a slightly different course, but et cetera, are you feeling content with UTMB or are you more driven to come back now and implement what you've learned this year and future? ah no um I highly doubt I'll race UTMB again.
Speaker: um um i had a goal four years ago. break 24 hours, um you know, and it's taken me three goes and four years to finally do that. And, the yeah, i'm so I'm pretty content with that.
Speaker: um More so from the fact that it's just like being here, you you really get opened up to like there's so much more than you, GMB. Yeah. Like UTMB is an amazing experience that I think everyone should do because it's it truly is an amazing experience. But there is a lot more outside of UTMB, which I'm excited for so And UTMB takes a lot of time and a lot of focus.
Speaker: Yeah. Depends what you want out of it. But it takes up it consumes a lot. um So I want to start to put that into other things or events around that. Anything in particular?
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. So next year the goal is to do Tour de Gions. Ah, sick. So, which is – I was thinking during the race when I was like in a lot of pain, how am i going to run double this? It's been on my mind for quite a while, this race.
Speaker: um So for anyone else, that's like what, 330 kilometers, you know, starting from Kaua, basically doing all the Italian Alps. And with about, I think it's 25,000 meters of climbing. Yeah. um So that's always sort of like I've always looked at that event as something that's really interesting interested to me in doing.
Speaker: um But I had to get, because they're two weeks apart, so it starts in two weeks. But I had to get this UTMB sort of milestone the way. Because technically, you can go both ways. Either way, like you can do a really long race like UTMB and then go like I'm done with it and I'm going start doing shorter races or you can go like I'm going to start doing the longer races. And yeah, that's absolutely insane.
Speaker: Something that I can't understand. I'm scared. Like I'm scared of UTMB, like scared of that distance, scared of the elevation, scared of the terrain. And then even like double that. Yeah, absolutely insane.
Speaker: Yeah, i think I think like with that, I'm not treating it as like I don't think I'm going to put as much like effort into doing super well there. ah It's more the experience of it all. It's totally different like on another realm to what I've done. 100 milers, they hurt differently to any other race, any other distance I've ever done. like I've done a few now and anyone that says they feel good, is i just think is just liar. Yeah.
Speaker: just a liar Like, you know, some people say, oh, have a good race. And they're like, nah, I felt good. um I just, I don't know. I don't know how it's possible. Like I've never once felt amazing in a hundred mile. Like I had a good race on the weekend and there was times where I was like, this it's just a different type of pain that yeah I haven't felt in a hundred K racing, 80 K, 50 K.
Speaker: It's just this totally different it's totally different spectrum to everything else. So I don't want to i want to make border giants an experience that's bearable and not hating hating life of 60 hours or 80, 100 hours or however long it's going to take. Yes. It also sounds like the approach that you've come into this year with essentially only eight weeks worth of the ability to focus on UTMB because you were hoping and so close getting into states that that mindset might actually really work for tour and probably the the best chance of getting getting you firstly to the finish line and then also getting there with some dignity left. Yeah, exactly. and that's the key issue with some dignity. Um,
Speaker: But I think the think one thing that excites me most about tour the training for it. Like like I said, like I ah do enjoy racing, but I don't love it as much as as I do training now. Yeah. So the the training, long days in the mountains, um doing the adventures and Like the specificity won't be sessions or anything. would just be like going on multi-day running adventures, you know, and that that excites me the most. I think that's what drew me to do it more than anything. Like I did like the aura around it, but yeah, that. When you are doing those sort of 20-hour on-foot training weeks, do you ever get that motivation waning to go back out the door for those days? um
Speaker: Yeah, I think so. this This year, I've been really good with it. The motivation has been quite high. And I think – In previous years, it ah definitely has been – got to a point where there's a chore um and like I just read I can get out the door sometimes. um So I think there's like two things with that. the first one when I was talking about like having this running hyper-focused identity –
Speaker: And then you end up not enjoying the thing you love because you just put too much into it. um And then the other thing is also maybe with even the gut work and how I said like mentally now, i'm just a lot clearer, a lot more focused and that. So my motivation levels are quite high.
Speaker: all the time and because I'm recovering so well, feeling good, you're always just like getting out the door even after 20-hour weeks is super easy now because being in that constant state, you know, you feel fine rather than if you're always tired and mentally drained, like the last thing you want to do is just out again. It's also a lot easier getting out of the door when you live in Chamonix around some of most beautiful trails in the world. Yeah, it doesn't suck. Yeah. are you saying about Perth, Vlad? Instead of like doing hill repeats in Perth, yeah. Yeah. Scott, imagine how far you'd run in Perth in 20 hours.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, you hit 200K for sure. Oh, yeah, easy. Even more. Even if you just do hill repeats. Yeah, you still. You still get, yeah, 200K, easy.
Speaker: That's awesome. Vlad, any other questions for for Matt? No, think was good. I mean, I think it's um it's cool to see somebody making that change and taking the risk of like moving to a different country. It's not many people have the opportunity and and it's cool that you're in a place where you can do it and we can hear your story and, and you know, probably now follow your journey to like crazy races that most of us can't even imagine. um So yeah, well done on taking that chance. It's pretty cool. Yeah, awesome. Thanks hes for... um to get me on. and i really appreciate it and enjoyed chatting and telling my story about being over here and hopefully, yeah I mean, I can promote this place more to anyone, you know, anyone wanting to like get over here and experience it. It's, it's yeah, it's definitely something I think ever anyone in the trail world should do eventually, whether it's just for a short amount of time or a longer period for sure.
Speaker: Matt, obviously we've, we've kept you quite a while already. So if you need to jump off at any point, please feel free. Vlad and I will keep on going with our, our, our stuff. But, um, yeah, if you can stay on also more than welcome, but yeah, I don't feel like yeah have to, um, Vlad, you've also had the Chamonix experience, maybe not quite the same one as Matt has had, but how's it, how's it been for you over there? Yeah, it was, i mean, i think like Matt said before we got onto the onto the pod um that he didn't really go into town. He went in to get his bib and that's about it.
Speaker: And I literally like went on the main street like two or three times and I tried to stay away from the main street because it was just so hectic. um The internet, like there was so many people around the finish line and the internet was like down. You couldn't use your internet at the finish line. You had to like walk five, 600 meters away from the finish line to get any connection.
Speaker: That's how many people were there. um I've been coming to Chamonix for like 13, 14 years. So, as a big change um this year felt like brands were bringing in their influences not just the athletes so usually you have you know your athletes racing the brand is there trying to do photo shoots with athletes where this time it felt like it was the athletes but their influences as well um so it felt like a few brands brought in a lot of influences and Yeah, just a bit of a different vibe. Like the sport is getting bigger.
Speaker: um You know, the amount of people on the finish line, a K from the finish line was insane. like Like a K from the finish line, the amount of people that were there, like three or four years ago, that's how many people were right at the finish line. um So yeah, pretty insane experience.
Speaker: I did enjoy kind of like driving away, like getting into the tunnel and like not seeing so many runners like yes that's i'm in a little town in the oster valley right now and i'm literally like the only runner here and that's kind of a nice feeling as well um yeah but yeah it was an experience Matt, what's the vibe like in Chamonix living there?
Speaker: ah sort of Year to year, have you noticed it changing like throughout the year? and is the like Obviously, we hear we've heard a lot about the sentiment about of the locals towards UTMB. Are you feeling what we're hearing about that sort of bit of animosity towards UTMB? Yeah, i think I think this definitely is. And I think what Vlad said, like the biggest thing is now like with all these influences coming in with the brands, it's just...
Speaker: Yeah, I think it's really blowing it up. um And I definitely feel it. Not with all the locals. Like a lot of locals love it, love UTMB. um And when you're out there and doing it, like you see how much people actually love it. But there is a lot of a lot of people don't have a lot of um respect as well. You know, a lot of these people are coming in.
Speaker: So you see like place not trash, but yeah, it's it is not respected. And then locals, you know, they're already frustrated because it takes – you know, a hundred times longer get anywhere.
Speaker: um And then, yeah, then you've got all these different entitled people, you know, making things worse for them. um But from like an all year round perspective, since I've started coming here to now, the all the seasons are changing. Like the shoulder seasons aren't like, when I first came here in 20 or when I did the for six months in 2023, the shoulder seasons are so quiet. Like going through that May season,
Speaker: June, and then even in the back end, you know, October and September, Now, there's cold. Yeah, sure, it might be slightly quiet, but it's it's still very – it's getting more and more busy all year round.
Speaker: And I think the push now because there's the winter's supposedly getting shorter, um it's flowing on. like The summer is longer. like This year has just been crazy. Since May, it's been every day. Jeez. Yeah.
Speaker: please So, you know, with that comes a lot more. Like there's just this year more than ever. There's just so many people here. So it is definitely getting worse. um And then I think at the end of that, after a big summer, then you have UTMB and it's just, it weighs on a lot of people, I guess.
Speaker: Yeah, it's interesting, like we've been following it, but to actually hear someone that's living it and has not just like, obviously Vlad, you've got the 13 years of seeing UTMB as an event change, but actually seeing what it's like as an area change is really interesting. Yeah. And I think like from the people that I spoke to, because we had our expo canceled because of this move to make it a bit smaller. So I i was a bit interested in like asking a few locals like um about what they think. And it was like 50-50. Some like really liked it and some were like, yeah, it's too much.
Speaker: So, yeah, it's a bit, and it's hard to say, like, right, it brings a lot of money um to the valley, but then, like, maybe they don't need as much money because it is pretty busy. Even, even like, the shoulder seasons, there's still some tourists there, and it's still, um you know, enough, I guess. But, yeah, it's hard to say what will happen in the future because what I saw this year is,
Speaker: is insane like yeah if we i don't know if we're going to be in the expo next year with bix or not um but i don't know if i want to come back again if i'm not racing um you know it was yeah a little bit too much for me personally i'm i'm an introvert so you know it's a bit hard um but yeah we'll see about next year and what will happen with the race itself and expo there's a lot of like rumors about what's happened like i spoke with some people from from big brands and like kind of like the rumors are going all around about the changes that might happen next year but yeah it'll be interesting to see because i feel like if it can't keep growing because it's a bit too much have either of you guys heard anything about the potential date change i have yeah but i don't know if that's possible something to the soccer or soccering event yeah it's like a world champs or something that's meant to be on the same weekend and
Speaker: yeah yeah i i i heard him talk about on the boulder boys podcast because like we're shiv and i planning to go over for it because she's got occ and we've already like booked some accommodation and looked at a race for me in the pyrenees and i we we're like well this could get completely thrown up in the air um but yes yeah um all right so vlad like you know takeaways from from his time time there because and how long have you got left over in europe I got exactly a week, so I'm flying out next Monday. um
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, like like I said, I think it was a bit too much for me, but um overall, like still fun and it was nice to see a lot of people. um I did manage to run a bit, probably overdid it like every uphill um just running a bit quicker. First of all, because there's so many people on the trail. So your ego kind of kicks in even more because there's like hundreds of people on the trail.
Speaker: um So yeah, pretty much every uphill was an LT one for me. So didn't have to do too many sessions to like get the intensity managed to get about like 11 or 12 hours of running, which was kind of perfect.
Speaker: And yeah, have one race on the weekend in Italy. So the World Cup, the VK and a 20K, which will be really, really competitive and I'm getting ready to get my ass kicked there. um But still, should be a fun experience. Has there been any race you've done this year that you haven't done in the past?
Speaker: No, I haven't done that many races this time. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like... I do enjoy more. I just enjoy like when I'm coming, like when I get to Europe and like, you know, living in Perth, I just enjoy like looking at Strava, looking at segments and just trying to run them, not even race them. Just like, all right, that looks like a cool climb. um yeah I'm just going to do that. So I kind of enjoy that a lot more than racing.
Speaker: Probably the fact that the level in Europe is so high that, know, Even if I would race, you know, finishing 50th, you know, maybe not as enjoyable and maybe I'll get more enjoyment of just like being out in the mountains. um But yeah, I mean, obviously i'm I'm getting older. So like the combination of the two kind of just meant that I haven't raced as much um this year in Europe. and um But I've enjoyed it more because I had more like less taper and more running time. just you didn't need to come 40th and then you you enjoy it more yeah mean like I think like natural I mean naturally like when you do better races you enjoy more racing and of course maybe when you don't do as well then not that I'm not motivated to run I'm just a little bit less motivated to race um
Speaker: But yeah, I mean, that's just the evolution of the sport. And you know i think it's a good thing that the sport is is more competitive and there's more opportunities. But I mean, you if you had a look at the lists at UTMB this year,
Speaker: um Yeah, it's coming like a good example is, yeah, it's Toby. Toby finished fourth at at UTA and then finished 30th, 32nd. 30th, yeah. um Yeah, at OCC. um So, yeah, I mean, just just shows big, big improvement in the level. But, yeah, I'll probably be racing less as well as, as you know, as I get a bit older.
Speaker: do Do you have anything lined up that you want to do the rest of this year in Oz? Any race? um I have a few races. I want to do Kotakina Baloo. So i'm I'm at that point where I want to chase some races like...
Speaker: goal races that i've had for for many years um so last year i did that india ice marathon um this year i'm doing i'm planning to kota kinabalu um which is run up um kota kinabalu mountain to the peak run down think it's about 20k with about 2 000 meters of gain so a bit more of like a bucket list race i've always wanted to do like um the great world marathon so i know there's like five or six of them now so that'll be probably a a bucket race for next year um but yeah i think i'm gonna try and you know take some of those bucket goal races the in the coming years and and enjoy this just still hopefully racing at at a high level but also understanding that probably not going to be winning as as many races ah as as in the past which is absolutely fine hu how old are you getting flat now 39.
Speaker: Yeah, well, Christian Monocchio is 42. You can still win CCC? Yeah, no, I know. No, absolutely, I know. But, like, also, like, I think um the amount of commitment that you've got to put in to be semi-competitive is very, very high. So, like, you know, Matt just put in, like, some crazy weeks and in the mountains. Yeah.
Speaker: And it's a great result, but like it's it's far away from being competitive, um which makes it a bit harder. i think personally, like, you know, kind of looking at like how much effort you got to put in for a 30th place. um Yeah, kind of as you go, as you guess get older, you go like, well, maybe it's not worth it and maybe i want to spend more time. with a family or doing other things or even working on on bakes you know other goals and that you know i can try and excel in as well yeah no for sure it makes a lot sense um yeah i'll just quickly to go i think the last time i was there was a couple weeks ago but in that time i did the transcend live stream so that's for the 65k ultra which was really it was was pretty unique for a race in Australia to have a live stream. Obviously UTA has one and Transcend has has had one, but from what I can tell, they've really invested into it this year. They had an awesome setup from a like the actual live streaming software. think it's called Streambridge. And it's really cool. As someone that was watching it, you could go into the link and choose which camera you wanted to watch. And then you could- That's so cool.
Speaker: They didn't quite have, i think they said this this is coming where they you couldn't have the audio from the YouTube and then watch Streambridge yet. So yeah, You'd have to have like two screens if you wanted to listen to what we were saying, not that that's particularly interesting or have Streambridge. Um, but it was really, don't know, I really respect that the race organizers, Shane and Mitch for investing in that. Cause it's ah like, I think from the sport to grow, like as you're seeing in in Europe or UTMB, like there's that spectator element. um
Speaker: And we can't do that if we can't ever see what's happening. And we got to see Billy and Charlie racing head to head for about 45k and then Charlie put the hammer down and Billy went backwards a bit. But like we got to see some stuff happen there that you just never get insights to. And then then the women's race, like Holly just put in an absolute performance.
Speaker: And then, but then for, I think it was seventh to second, you had the women that are battling and like, yeah, you didn't always have the cameras on on that kind of part of the field, but we sort of watching Kelly go forward and then some names that we don't like get get to see over on the Eastern state side, like getting a bit of a platform. It was really yeah it was was really fun to be but but to be a part of. um oh Yeah, one thing I was thinking about because I had like the UTMB live stream on like in the background most most of the week. One thing I was thinking about it now that they have so many cameras and the the ability to
Speaker: to actually show showcase it all, they could have a separate male and female live streams because I feel like at times, like you want to follow what's more exciting and you know, like the OCC finish line for the female, like you want to watch that race a bit more. Um, you know, I think in Zigam, I was also thinking about it when Tove was racing. I just wanted to watch Tove run.
Speaker: um And they were kind of cutting back to the men's race where they just showing like you know somebody just running. And then you see Tove again. And like I feel like there's enough to like separate the two and come make it a bit more interesting. Yeah.
Speaker: I don't know what you guys think. On the scale of UTMB, I would agree. Obviously on a smaller scale, you kind of need both races on one stream to keep it interesting. Otherwise you could have a lot of dead space or just watching guy running off into the distance for the next But...
Speaker: Yeah, I i agree. with I was very impressed by the UTMB live stream, just how much of the race they had for Stitch 4. We watched the whole of OCC. I feel like I never really missed anything. i saw most like there were but they They had dead spots of the of the course where they didn't have some cameras on the clients. was because you have so many people in there and you can tell a story, like a competitive story of the top 20, 30, 40 runners in both the men's women's field. Yeah.
Speaker: It's tricky because like if you separate them, then you have to keep those like two different streams interesting for eight to 24 hours. Whereas if you keep them together, then you can kind of play off each other. But that inevitably means that you're going to miss some of the good stuff as well.
Speaker: And it feels like the commentators have to like jump from one story to another story, yeah which is the two races where if you have them separately, you can focus on the first 15 or 20, especially with how there competitive with how competitive the sport is becoming. You have some good battles from seventh to eighth, which we never really see because you know they have to jump between the two and get similar kind of airtime. That's the feeling that I'm getting is that they're trying to do like kind of like a fifty fifty um But then it's also hard for them to kind of like follow the race when you're commentating because of those jumps between the two.
Speaker: um So yeah, maybe something that will change in the future as again, as the sport gets bigger. Yeah, would be interesting, especially yeah as just the participant, but also the spectator side gets bigger. I haven't looked at the numbers on the live stream, but I've got to assume it was up quite significantly from last year. just And even just due to the production quality was a significant jump from last year. It's kind of crazy to think where we've come in like even sort of five s or seven years they've been doing it, like really focusing on it.
Speaker: um so yeah so yeah anyway transcend very cool um great some great great racing i think the guys went through it last week so we we'll go through that and then we had the last of our riverina series fed hill the next day um so it was a very not that my entire life is try running but like a very running field weekend which was which was fun uh it's cool to see we had our and we've been trying to get past this like number of people on the start line uh and we managed to to break it at fed hill so that was pretty cool cool thing when you know that the community is actually getting behind it and we sent out like feedback afterwards and it's kind of it's fun when you've given people ah something to show up for and push yourselves or the number of people we have doing trails for the first time and maybe they've seen it at parkrun and they thought they'd give it a shot it's uh it's fun to know that we're moving more people into the cult of trail running um cool all right i we won't go through the results i think there's so many podcasts going through all the results and as much as i'd love to break them all down with you guys i we genuinely would be here for way too long so i'll i'll run through the um
Speaker: the Aussies in action at UTMB CCC and occ Obviously there are, there were other races, but they those were the, the key ones. One, one name that I was very impressed with. Uh, I'm, I don't know if you've met Luke Nichols or had any chats to him post race or pre-race, but seemingly just, yeah, the run of his life to come 36th overall. Did you have, did you see him at all at any point or have any, ah ever meet him?
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. So I, I went for a run with him. he was staying here in Monroch for a little bit. Oh, cool. Put up with him for a run, um, and was chatting to him on and off before the race, like about training and all that stuff.
Speaker: And then i caught him, uh, passed him at a champagne lac. You des descend, you do this like gradual descent down. um and he didn't see, he seemed like he was, I just kind of quick chat to him. It seemed like he was really struggling.
Speaker: Like he'd had a bad night with vomiting. Um, So then, yeah, I didn't – not that didn't think I'd see him again. It's just like in that moment, he just – he wasn't looking good. Yeah. Then he re-caught me up the bovine climb and he was just climbing so strong.
Speaker: um He's like, he wanted me to go up with him and ah at that point, I wasn't climbing well. um And I'm like, there's no – like in my mind, I'm like, there's no way I can maintain this pace up the remaining three climbs.
Speaker: So I just let him go. And then, yeah, I saw him again at a Triant. the aid station and like i was only 30 seconds behind him i reckon and then the same that big steep climb out triant and he that was the last time i saw him like he was just yeah like powered up it and it was it was impressive to watch him move up are that like that late in the race up that you know it's a tough steep climb that one so probably the steepest climb the whole race um so yeah that's the last time i saw him and obviously he finished it off well and had a really good result
Speaker: yeah luke if you listen to definitely well done it was cool to see a name that like i wasn't expecting luke's name to be the first male aussie on the board i was expecting like yourself or matt or even chris mccauliffe um so yeah that was really cool to see uh obviously yourself matt came 40th uh i stick with the men chris mccauliffe from 76 matt crean and 136 and then it's actually it's really cool to see how many names are on there so as i'm scrolling down i'm realizing i cannot go through all of these so i just kind of talk for the first few um Lucy obviously backs up. I think this is this her third, seventh in a row now.
Speaker: I think she was 10th, seventh and seventh going into this year. Something like that. Don't quote me on it. yeah But yeah, another another top 10. And i find that really impressive. The fact that the sport is just keeping moving forward so fast and Lucy's still able to be up there. And she was off the front early on. like I don't know if that was her game plan to be a bit more aggressive this year. I know last year a fall kind of slowed her down. So That was really impressive. did if he did he Did you see Lucy much out there, Matt? Yeah, I passed on the descent into Kumaya, which was it' really interesting. like The last three times I've done it, I think I've by chance been coming to the aid station Kumaya with her. Yeah.
Speaker: So it's like almost identical spots all three times. but yeah, i passed her down to Kumaya and then I didn't see her again. But she obviously had really good race finishing seventh in the top competitive field.
Speaker: Yeah, extremely impressive. And then we also had Steph Austin coming in in 42nd, Hannah McRae 52nd, and then Ruth Eagles in 64th, sort of the the top Aussies in action there.
Speaker: Over in the CCC, Jack Ferris, he was our top male coming 70th. And then we had lots of Todd Simpson, 177 and Robbie Savage in 190. And then in the, oh, sorry, and Zane Robertson, 144th. then Sophie Broome, she was our top female in seemingly having a ah really strong day. was chatting to her briefly afterwards and seems really happy with that. Nicole Patton, likewise, 49. think they they had the course change happen mid-race. So the end of their race, they took out the Lafleger climb. And I know, speaking to Nicole, she got quite confused by...
Speaker: like that intersection wasn't particularly obvious and sort of trusting that you were going to go off your GPX and follow something where she says you couldn't really see any markers that far down was quite disconcerting, especially when you're there, probably 90 K or so into this, this race at this point. So ah ah very unique one to have to manage. And then Meg Sinclair,
Speaker: was in sixty six as well. So cool to see those ladies out there. And then lastly, in the OCC for the men's Toby Sparks, uh, I don't know if either of you guys have chatted to him afterwards, but he seems to have had a really incredible race coming 30th. Do either of you guys had a chance to catch him up with him?
Speaker: No, I saw him, I caught up with him before the race and then I went out and saw him during the race and I spoke to him briefly after. But yeah, it was just more about congrats and yeah, he's pulled up well and the basic stuff, not yeah but not catch up properly.
Speaker: Yeah, i spoke to him a bit before and after, and I think overall he's pretty happy. You know, a super talented runner. But, yeah, still, mean, ah ah just having a look at that list you're saying, he's 15 minutes behind the first. That's almost like a minute a K. And Toby is a really good runner. like Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: It just puts it into a perspective that it's almost like a minute a K for the whole race. That's how how fast like um Fred ran that race. But, yeah. Yeah, I think overall it was pretty happy, but yeah it makes it hard to make catching up, making up 50 minutes in 60K.
Speaker: But also like if you think back to Toby at Five Peaks with you, Vlad, last year and he was miles off you, like Toby's progression over the last 18 months, he's that ands and that's not even plain sailing. He's had a bit of calf stuff this year. he's come on so well. Like I do think that this experience for him, he's obviously catching up to Fred is, is next level, but like moving forward from where he is. Yeah. I can definitely see that in his future.
Speaker: No, I think the five picks was just like a really hot day and it probably just didn't handle the heat as well because he ran like 227 marathon in Hobart without too much training. Yeah. um Like before that, so he's obviously like a really good runner.
Speaker: um That was just like a one off bad day, I think, for him because it was 35 degrees. um But even this, like i think overall, was pretty happy with this run. But yeah, it just puts it into perspective like he's one of our best runners um and he's 50 minutes behind. 50 minutes is a long time. Obviously, the trails, it's not like a road race where 50 minutes is a really long time. But yeah, that's um ah so that's a good still a really good result, right? Like top 30. I think he was ranked like going into the race, he was definitely closer to like 70 or 80 Yeah.
Speaker: like by um ETNB index so I mean like overdoing your ranking is already like a good result definitely a lot of DNFs obviously also like OCC like I think yeah from the outside it felt like OCC had the most big names that dropped out because the pace was just probably so hot that Um, a lot of people blew out.
Speaker: Um, so I think he ran a really smart race, but not overdoing it too soon. Even though looking at his Strava, there's a lot of like three or five and three or eight K's in there. Um, I think overall it's still, it's still like, um, it was pretty smart with that race execution. Other name that we're we're used to hearing Tom Banks. He was in 126. I've got to assume because he was an hour and 15 back from Toby and I would say would normally give Toby a ah good run over the 50k distance. So I'd guess that Tom didn't have quite the day that he was he was hoping for, but still awesome see him get to the finish line in the women's.
Speaker: We had Sophie Lynn, 25th, which was ah was it's cool to see Sophie OCC, which we saw at UTA based in based in America, ex-triathlete, Olympic triathlete. Jess Jason, she was 35th. And Jess will go through her own day when she's on next. And then Monica...
Speaker: Ludrax was in 87th as well. So a a load more Aussies and everyone that was out there racing, like well done. it's It's cool to see so so many names. And something that's really stood out to me looking at the results is how few women there are from Europe. Like when we compare the participation rates in Australia and even like in the UK, there's a much it's not equal, but there's a much closer to being equal male, female, whereas is in Europe, it seems to be that the female participation is very low. So cool to see so many Aussie ladies going over to do it because yeah, it's a quick glance. It looks at least 40% of everyone in the field, which is pretty epic.
Speaker: Any other reflections from either of you guys on UTMB? I think I've reflected enough. I won't force you anymore. um Kind of only real bit of news wanted to go through this week. We mentioned last week as well. Phil Gore was doing his project 168. He eventually finished, no, I've actually got it in front of me. think it was 152 yards, which was over a thousand kilometers, searched his Strava because I've never seen a 1,000 kilometer run uploaded to Strava before. So that was pretty cool.
Speaker: um but the more impressive thing is he raised ah when i looked earlier today 283 409 dollars for telethon which is like yeah the rate that it was going up and and the people getting behind like they had a live stream they had ah they had like quite a big production i was having a quick chat to holly ranson it's part of phil's um crew behind this and I asked her for any takeaways and she said like you can do anything if you put your mind to it um but basically that like it's had such a aura about it and everyone that was there was so invested and has taken so much away from it. Phil is an absolute machine. He has like he had his dietician was there for a bit, his hypnotherapist came, his physio was there um and then obviously he had yeah people dedicated to the live stream and the documentary getting made, there's volunteers all through the nights and the days so a huge undertaking and now he's set the standard of see this is how far somebody can go in the backyard ultra format it's um yeah just an incredible accomplishment and and the the physical side is is very impressive but to me just that that the amount he's managed to raise is is incredible
Speaker: Cool. All right. ah Going through results quickly. So done in Victoria, we had Wonderland, the fifty k Logan Welsh took out the win there at 510.57 from John Koska in 532.46. In the women's first was Shapiro in That's pretty sick.
Speaker: i was in the fifty fifty nine categoryes i was pretty sick um And then in second, we had Isabel Marsh 7.43.30. In the Doyle took out the win there in from Matt And the women's Victoria to the win three thirty eight o seven with molly tramblell profit in second three forty one thirty nine And then in the 20K, we had Harrison Flynn in 148.56 with Emmanuel Ray 155.42. And then the women's Rachel Ayers first in 204.58 and second female was Isabel Bayless in 227.22. So Richard, quite a commanding lead. With the Wild Earth Coastal High here, Lindsay Laurie take the win there in 5.06.33 from Antonio in the women's Amanda Short from Jessica
Speaker: fatigue in six thirteen or two so too very close races The coastal crunch. This one had quite a few names. We're, uh, we used to seeing Zach Newsham took the win quite commandingly, um, in the men's side, at least in two 31 39 with Brad ed, two 20, 55 33 in the women's race. This is pretty exciting. Bear in mind and Zach ran two 31 and Zach is a very fast runner.
Speaker: Joe Hepton took the win there in from Zoe Manning in 237-40. So two of our best females over this distance and really Zoe over every distance, but that's pretty impressive to see. And then we had shorter distance called the Pullingbrook Push. Andrew Hills took the win in and Courtney Gilfellan in 46-18. We had the, also had the Trailblaze over in WA and the 15K for the women, Petra, who, Petra, I'm pretty sure, yeah, she raced at Transcend in the or 28K.
Speaker: I can't remember now. Yeah, 40. for Yeah, 40. Backing up one week later to do another is pretty impressive i had to take the win there in 126.20. I feel like Petra is basically winning everything on the local scene in this sort of distance. It's saying her name a lot. Yeah, you really, really good runner. Yeah, yeah. She does us a bit of road running here and there as well. So, yeah, really, really good. I think she also went for the Xterra World Champs in Malta, I'd like to say.
Speaker: She did fairly well there. um So, yeah, good trail runner for sure. exciting Exciting name that hopefully we'll see a bit more um on the East east Coast as as well. Obviously, it's not exactly easy. but And then in the men's side, Alan Stable took the win there in 1.16.46 from Vincent LaDaniel in 1.17.30. Northwest trail running series down in Tassie.
Speaker: The long course, Thomas Merton took the win there in 1.42.21. And then the female, Amy Lamprecht took the win 1.57.15. The medium course. was Ben Young in 53-44 followed by, sorry, and with ah Lucy Moya Wilson in 104-52 for the women. And lastly, the Great White Ultra, the 100K was won by Sheena Appleyard in the women at 12-44-25, Martin men.
Speaker: um and so other distances In the 60K, Lucy Clutterbuck took the win for the women in 7.04.23, Clay Smith for the men in 5.14.59, and then in the Margot McIntosh took the there 1.41.22, and Neil McParland in the men 1.46.08.
Speaker: margaret mcintosh win there one forty one twenty two and neil mcparlland and the men won forty six i i Coming up this weekend, we've got Coastal Classic in New South Wales, Light Horse Ultra in WA, Running Works Three Valleys Marathon in WA, Cleland Trail Run in South Australia, Cape Palarenda Trail Run in Queensland, and the Trail Run Epic in Queensland. is a real When I was putting it together and the the name of the event was literally Trail Run Epic, I was like, they've really just gone straight for the point there. Very on the nose. Cool. Cool.
Speaker: Guys, thank you for being with Matt. It's been great to have you on. It's been great to hear how about UTMB and your life over there. And yeah, as I said, I think everyone will now be booking appointments with ah with Jess, your naturopath.
Speaker: yeah that's right question um Vlad, do the chat as always. Everyone that's made it two hours in. Thanks for joining us and we'll catch on the next one. See you guys.
Speaker: Thank you.
