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Episode 14: Cape to Cape FKT, Latest Results & Tips for the Trails
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Welcome to Episode 14 of Peak Pursuits, your ultimate podcast for everything trail running in Australia. This week’s episode features hosts Sim Brick, Vlad Ixel, and Jess Jason, bringing you training updates, listener questions, race results, and exciting trail news.
Training Week Updates
We start off the episode as usual with our training recaps. Vlad takes us through another hectic week over in Europe, including expos, travel days, and racing. Jess runs through her week recovering from her latest race and still figuring out how to not get lost. Sim shares the details of her week clocking up some big miles and vert as she gears up for some races overseas.
Listener Questions
This week, we have three listener questions to cover, thanks to Courtney Ellis, Kasmir Gregory, and Ross Pentland for reaching out with these. The first question is for the ladies, covering the do's and don'ts of shorts with netting. The next question addresses why some runners experience watery eyes on downhills and how to manage it. The final question explores how to prepare road runners for the transition to training for trail races, providing practical advice for those looking to switch terrains.
Trail Running News
We share some big news about the location of the XTERRA Asia Pacific Championships in 2025, an update that’s sure to excite many in the trail running community.
Weekend Race Results
In our race results segment, we cover this week’s domestic races, including Raffertys Coastal Run, You Yangs Trail Running Festival, and Goldfields Pipeline Marathon. We also announce the huge news of another FKT (Fastest Known Time) being set on the infamous Cape to Cape track in Western Australia. Additionally, we discuss the results from the international scene at the Hardrock 100.
Upcoming Trail Races
Lastly, we share what trail races are coming up around Australia this week. Whether you're looking to compete or cheer, there are plenty of events to keep you engaged.
Outro
Thanks for tuning in to Peak Pursuits! Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
Vlad: @vladixel
Sim: @theflyingbrick_
Jess: @jessjason
Raffertys coastal run - lake macquarie: https://www.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16253&RId=3129&EId=3
You yangs trail running festival: https://my.raceresult.com/295989/
Goldfields Pipeline marathon - Kalgoorlie WA: https://my.raceresult.com/294588/#2_3BC71D
Cape to Cape FKT: https://fastestknowntime.com/route/cape-cape-track
Hardrock 100: https://www.opensplittime.org/events/hardrock-100-2024/spread
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
Trendsetter by Mood Maze
License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
Transcript
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 14 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. My name is Simone Brick and I am joined by my lovely co-hosts, Vlad Ixl, who just won another food prize at a race in Austria yesterday. I think it was Muesli this time, Vlad. Box of Muesli, so now covered for breakfast as well. Go with the pasta and the potato peelers and everything else you've won along the way in Europe. And over in Perth, Jess Jason, who saw Grease, the musical for the first time yesterday, which I love. And why have you not seen it before? I don't know. I've just, I've never been really like into musicals, but my mum like convinced me to go. So I'm glad I did. It was really good. Definitely recommend seeing that one. Good.
00:00:55
Speaker
Nice little addition to the week. I love that. So as usual, a lot coming up in the episode this week. This week, we're all about the listener questions. We've got three we're going to cover, um and there's a couple more that have come through that we will trickle into the episodes coming up in the coming weeks. So if we don't get to yours, it will be coming. Bit of news from around Oz and results from around Oz. there's a big There was a big hard rock race and yeah, all the usual. But to get us started, the unusual life of Vladix or what's this week been like? ah Yeah, I mean, it's been tough. I did i did a race yesterday um out here in Austria. So I'm in Iskall, which is a beautiful mountain time town in Austria. um And there's a kind of a new race
00:01:42
Speaker
that popped out with a lot of good runners that showed up. um So the it's called Pazantu Iskall PI Ultra Trail, which had a little bit of prize money, nothing big, but this was a government-based event, so a lot of money was put behind that race to invite some runners. So in the 50K, they invited Thomas Roch in the 20K that I did Um, they invited Benedict Hoffman from Germany. So he's the highest EITRA ranked German runner. I think he finished eight or six in the world champs in the long trail. Sorry, Thomas Roach came second in the, um, short trail world champs. Um, so yeah, pretty full on event with a lot of good runners. I did the 21 K with 1400 meters of elevation gain. And it was actually 1400.
00:02:38
Speaker
elevation gain in about like 15k because the last 6k was pretty much like a flat road section like a slide downhill like one or two percent so it's actually super super tough. um You pretty much start with a 14 or 1300 meter climb then you get into some very very technical running so in my head I was like this is going to be a pretty quick race maybe a now 40 ah which ended up taking two hours, 20. I was going to say, I've got your Strava open. That's not an hour 40. No, definitely not. But technically, if you look at like just the numbers, I've rent similar distances without elevation in an hour 40. This one was in altitude, so Iskall is at about 1500 meters, so most of the race is above 2000 meters. Yeah.
00:03:30
Speaker
I kind of like so I pretty much been like obviously moving big expo stuff in the morning before the race the day before and all that so my back was a bit tight and it's kind of like pulled itself as I started the race I took like a bit of a sleepy step and that just made my breathing like super hard so my heart rate was just through the roof the whole race weigh in Which wasn't fun. It was a lot of paint breathing. It was okay till the uphill. So I was in third place at the top. And then when we got to those big technical rocks downhill section, I got overtaken. But they did manage to overtake another runner at probably about 5k.
00:04:13
Speaker
um from the finish line he was obviously struggling as well probably surprised by how hard the course was and then it was 5k of probably 10 or 15 seconds between us which is even more painful than a sprint finish right to the end so oh again yeah not an easy one this European season for me has been a bit tough. But again, just keep on saying about the level of the sport where like, you know, a race like that shouldn't be that competitive. It's not a UTMB race. It's not a sky running race. It's not a golden trail race. It's just a local race in Austria. But um yeah, no easy easier results in Europe anymore. Yeah, damn. Well, the fact they've got
00:05:02
Speaker
Thomas Roach, although he lives in Austria, I believe, but runs for GB b because he's like, I remember him coming onto the scene and like he came to, maybe it was the Golden Trail final in Madeira and he was doing incredible and we were like, A, who's this guy? And B, I think at the time he was 42. And it was the first time anyone had heard of him. So it was yeah wild. Because I'm like, you are, you hand and 20 year olds their ass. Like, this is awesome. them He's a full time professor in the in one of the universities in Innsbruck. He lives in Innsbruck. He's got two kids. He obviously runs to work, runs back.
00:05:40
Speaker
is an incredible runner. And yeah, he beat all those full-time athletes. Yeah. And he keeps beating them because he came the second in the world short um short trail champs, which was last year in Innsbruck. So yeah, incredible runner. Super, super talented. He's probably about 45 right now. I think, yeah, he would be. He's still smashing yet. And I did see him with scrapper. jumper and singlet yesterday. So I think you might've got some, some kind of a sponsorship deal. I think some of the brands were like, obviously didn't want to take him on because he's a bit older. Um, yeah which but yeah, it looks like he's got something with a bit of support now, which is cool to see. Like, you know, 45 year old runner gets sponsored because he's still, yeah, it's kicking ass. Oh, I reckon, I reckon, but what on another race now I'm just looking back over.
00:06:32
Speaker
obviously some of your um training over the week. Did you do another long downhill or was that the one you spoke about? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was after, so I did the race last Saturday, the one in February, um yeah fairly long one. And then I was like, I've got to get some more downhill running. So yeah, I got got the gondola up and then ran all the way down to like the bottom. So about, yeah, 1300 meters of just downhill running. So I got pretty much close to 10K of just downhill running, um which was pretty fun, but definitely smashed the legs a little bit. And then- The elevation graph on Strava looks wide. Just to see that it's such a big downhill for so long, Jess, in case you're not seeing it, it's that.
00:07:21
Speaker
oh I know. Go check out Vlad's driver if he wants some very interesting runs popping up. um But then, okay, my next question, because obviously looking through your strive where I see the fact that the next day you have a seven hour drive and you did a workout in the middle of that. How does your body do that? Yeah, I mean, that was a long drive. And my only chance was like, you know, I was like, let's stop for an hour and refresh a little bit. And I just did, you know, it's a pretty short workout. So it's about 800 meters at threshold and then 200 meters at a faster effort. So four times one K with one minute repeats.
00:07:58
Speaker
um So it wasn't like a super hard session, but definitely like it was tough after to sitting down for like three and a half hours. um And off the back of a downhill run like that. Yeah. And a race and a two hour 40 race two days before. But yeah, I think like when you race a lot, I remember last year in Europe, I was losing my speed because it wasn't doing too much speed work. Yeah. Okay. This time around, I'm kind of like, yeah, I managed throwing some faster runs on the track here and there so I don't lose my speed completely. oh and well Yeah, well, you had some good speed in that workout. Do you think that's what could have like thrown your back out, though, for the race? Because sitting tightens the hip flexors, and then you did you do any pre-run activation stuff?
00:08:44
Speaker
probably not enough because we didn't have enough time. But I think what what was the worst is is then like moving all our stuff off to the Airbnb once we arrived. So obviously that drive, that run, and then you know moving all the big stuff. And then setting up the tents and the expert stuff. Yeah. I'm i'm still on every week coming up with more of your body every single week. I'm just like, yeah, I wouldn't be standing. This is great. I love it. Yeah, I mean, again, I just have to come just looking out of the window. And and you know, I got like two and a half thousand meter peaks just outside my window. So yeah, some parts are tough. But then, um yeah, I'm pretty lucky to still be here and do that for hopefully a couple more years. But yeah, I'm definitely getting older. And once we get to the result page, there's some old runners doing really well. But yeah, that's that's coming up on the show.
00:09:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. Love that. Love that. Well, tracking it to you back in Oz Jess over on Perth side of things. How's ah how's a week how's the last week in Perth been? um Yeah, it's been good. Very wet this time of year. We get basically all of our rainfall in June or July. So just been battling through some soaking wet runs, which is always fun. Fun. like ah Good practice for the slippery stuff. Yeah, that's true, that's true. But yeah, this week I was just sort of ah recovering from the race last weekend. um Yeah, I was pulled up like pretty sore because I went pretty hard on some of those downhills and uphills yeah in the race, so my legs were a bit battered.
00:10:24
Speaker
I always take Mondays a rest day, so I just did some light gym and yoga on Mondays. And then Tuesday, I didn't, like I procrastinated my run the whole day and didn't get out till it was dark. um And I had a 75 minute run. It actually felt pretty good on that one. So I decided to go through some of the trails and I felt fine during, but yeah, the next day it was like, sort of proved it wasn't a great choice to battle the heels again. um So short like after the race because I pulled up a little bit sore again and actually started noticing a bit of like kind of pain in the shin where I had it a few months ago. But it sort of does come and go like when I batter my body a bit too much. Yeah. And my physio sort of said that it's just like it's the downhill mainly um just like the tendon in my um that runs along my shin just gets a bit angry. So I've just got to manage that.
00:11:24
Speaker
yeah um Yeah, so then Wednesday was just like a real crazy hour run. And then Thursday afternoon I did a workout at Lake Munger with the front runner crew. And it was actually a pretty short workout, which I was happy with because I didn't want to do anything too hectic. um And it was one of those kind of style of runs that we used to do with the long floats in between the efforts. Oh, yep, yep, I like those ones. Yeah, same. So it was like two by three on three float, two on two float, one on one float. Oh yeah. Minutes, that is. So yeah, it was, I felt pretty good, like, sort of like three thirties-ish for the ons and then three fifties-ish for the offs. I think it got a bit faster towards the end, so. That's good.
00:12:19
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it was solid. It's always a good sign of fitness when you can actually recover on a float, right? Yeah. To get real, real hard if you're not fit. Yeah, I feel like I respond pretty well to that sort of session, like um sort of makes three fifties feel pretty comfortable, which is a good sign. um yeah yeah And then Friday was just a chill 45 minutes. um Saturday was another easy run with my She-Wolves group um in the morning. How's it going? Yeah, really good. We went Northside this time, um which was nice. There was a couple of girls that were sort of living around Scarborough away, so um they came down. and The group's still been pretty small, but I think that kind of suits the dynamic. like
00:13:02
Speaker
Um, not having too many people just sort of like wrangle and, um, most of the personalities that are there like really gel. So yeah. Um, it's, yeah, it's such a good group. Nice. Yeah. that Yeah. Um, and then I just did a easy 30 in the afternoon, just to exercise the dog. Um, I can't imagine your little, your dog's little legs. Roxy's tiny. She's got, she's kind of like Italian Greyhound. So she's got long legs like for her body. So she, yeah, she's such a good runner. um She gets really bored on those like easy jogs though. Like she's like, come on, run run faster. And she's like pulling me along. Chill out girl. Love it. Yeah. So then today I just had my long run. I went out
00:13:53
Speaker
Uh, down to Jared. Um, I wanted to check out the course for the last Perth Trail series race. Um, and yeah, I loved it. Like it was beautiful. I had a few issues navigationally again. Did you put it on your watch? Did you have the map on your watch? But I figured out, like I had that issue again, where it was like, if, when I didn't have signal, it was just nothing coming up and it was like telling me to go back to the start. Oh, that's weird. Yeah, so I think um what I need to do it is like... your Does your watch use your phone at all times to actually show you the map? I think so. The issue is like when I just upload the JPX file to Garmin, it doesn't download it for offline use. But if I like download the map from Strava, then it is like downloaded for offline use. So okay so I just need to figure that out. but
00:14:48
Speaker
Yeah, it was kind of annoying. like I had to stop heaps and like get out my phone and it was raining, so I couldn't really like use my phone. We've all been there before. Yeah, just annoying stuff and stuff for a bit, but it was still like super beautiful. So I ran along this trail called Kitty's Gorge, which goes all the way along Serpentine River. um And then, which is like super lush and green at the moment, which is yeah really nice. um And then it sort of follows along some of those big hills that I did the first Perth Trail series, which is nice to feel strong up those because that was where I blew my calf last time. so i was like
00:15:25
Speaker
Good stuff. I feel good going out that one. Nice. Have you done right running out there Vlad, where Jess is saying? Yeah, yeah it's beautiful out there. Well, only in winter because summer it's like snake country. yeah I've done a couple of runs there in the summer and it's yeah a bit sketchy with snakes. Yeah. um Yeah, and then I just finished on the mandabetti, which is like this gravel ah bike trail, which is kind of, it's not the best trail to finish on when your legs are a bit cooked because it's like this real soft pey gravel.
00:15:59
Speaker
It's kind of yep like sand. So I was like, get me to the get me to my car. Good strengthening, there good strengthening. Yeah. Yeah. That was fun. Um, so yeah, I was actually one of my longest runs I've done in ages, like 28 K, um, for like two hours, 45 and just a thousand meters. Um, so yeah, good to finally get some longer runs in. Cause I feel like I need it with Hounslow is like seven weeks away. So all true. You're doing the marathon, aren't you? Yeah. Yeah. You need that. I know. It's gonna be like six hours on feet, so. Ooh, okay. Yeah, definitely get some long-running, girl. But you'll be right. You'll be right. Have you done hand-play blood? Because I haven't done it.
00:16:45
Speaker
Do you know what she's in for? Yeah. Okay. I have no idea what you're in for. Sorry, Jess. It looks super like slow going. It does, yeah. So I looked at the results from last year, like Michael Dunston won it in like five hours and then the first female was like six and a half hours. Oh, yeah. We prepared for a lot of time on feet. Fun. Yeah. Fun. Wow. It's still a solid week. Get them back into it, especially after a week from after a race where you went hard. So yeah. good. That's good. We're getting back there. How was your week, Sam? Yeah, mine was long. I did a lot this week. So I obviously had my week off sort of they're super easy from after Brisbane. And then now I'm, as we sit here, like I'm two weeks away from flying to Europe. So I have a three week endurance block going on, which
00:17:35
Speaker
It's a rude shock to the system to begin with when I'm not used to it, but we're getting there. So the Monday, it was just an easy hour. Wasn't that easy because the first half was with Trina again, so it was a bit faster. But um yeah, double up though. So I did an hour it easy running in the morning and still an hour of elliptical in the evening. and Tuesday was interesting. I don't think you wouldn't have run some, you would have run some of this Jess, but I did the, I did a uphill and flat session. So I wanted the combo of longer flat reps, but some hills in between. So I ended up doing
00:18:13
Speaker
the two bridges loop around the tan, many people that live in Melbourne would know it, um but from the pillars there's like a, I thought it was about 250 meters, it was about 260 or 70, but I did. three sets of five times up the hill hard and they all took about a minute. um So it was essentially five by one minute hills, jog back down, and then a 2k flat hard, or flat, sorry, going for kind of threshold. um And the only breaks I took were kind of jogging back down the hill and then trying to cross the te the road to get to
00:18:51
Speaker
the um two bridges loop so I didn't have to turn a corner. Now it was wet and slippery because it was freaking raining but I was so happy with this session because every single hill I did at a very very similar pace they all took anywhere between 60 to 64 seconds to get up to the same point so overall for the whole session it was fine and then I was going to do four four full sets um of this but the first three 2ks I did 720 so 340 pay 726 343 with a bit of a fall because turning the corners on like road while in
00:19:32
Speaker
the super shoes while they're wet is not like you think i wouldn't fall on the frickin road but i managed to fall on the road it was great um so yeah 720 then 726 and i was kind of that normally 340 pace finnemy normally is like i'm at threshold heart rate and i'm actually working really hard but i was like i feel real good today. um And so the third rep, I wanted to actually go to my threshold heart rate and see what that was at. And then in the same condition, so it still wasn't, I don't think, like the ground wasn't great, but 705. And I was like, holy moly, I don't think I've ever run that pace at a lower heart rate than like 180 at this point. So
00:20:15
Speaker
And that was obviously the last one. So I did those three and I was like, i'm this is a really good session so far. So I did the fourth set of hills. And then by the time I got to the top of the hill, so I designed this session, not Tim. um Tim's been away overseas and I've just kind of been sending him, hey, here's what I think I should do. And I didn't calculate exactly the kilometers on this because by the time I got to the last hill rep, I was 20 k's in to the session. Oh, sorry, 16 k's into the session, but 20 k's into my run. And I was like, oh, I still feel good. Like I feel like I could go pump out another 2k rep, but I know what's to come this week. And I know that I really should quit while I'm ahead.
00:20:56
Speaker
So I actually, I got to the, I was deciding this while running up the hills and this is such like run ahead noise. In order to feel okay about stopping earlier, I called Tim, but then he didn't answer. And I was like, damn, I don't have coach to like, tell me that it's okay to stop. So I did, I stopped, it was fine. And he then said it was good later. ah But I was, oh yeah, it was just one of those little moments where old me would have ground, like just grinded myself into the ground with this session going, It's going amazing, keep going. But I left it where it was. So yeah, essentially, good session with a lot of uphill and a lot of... It it ends up being pretty perfectly 20 minutes of flat running and 20 minutes of uphill, which is nice. I like it. um Never done it before. I kind of just designed it and went with it.
00:21:44
Speaker
for this. um But yeah, that was my Tuesday. And then this is where sort of the endurance side of things steps in because Wednesday I did two hours 50 was 23 Ks 1100 up and down over Mount Alexander. Thursday I did two hours 10, another 23 Ks in Bendigo. um And I did gym. And then Friday I did my next session, which have you ever run the goat track at Macedon, either of you? I'm glad you might not have, but Jess, did we? ever We did, yeah. I don't think I did it with you, but I've done, yeah, a couple of reps up that really long goat track. Yeah, yep. So I did three reps of the goat track um as my next session. Yeah. So that is like a 2k climb with, I'm going to say 350 to 400 meters up and up.
00:22:37
Speaker
um yeah The plan was actually to go hard up and hard down, but even for me, it was sketchy downhill because it had been raining and it was wet and it was muddy and rocky at the same time. So yeah on the first time down, I was like, okay, I'm not actually here to die today. So I turned it into hard up and there were about 17 minute reps up. um And then I just went down as fast as I could safely, which did mean a quite a low heart rate. um yeah The third rep by the time I'd figured my line was a bit faster downhill, but I ended up not being a downhill conditioning session at all. But it was really good for, like I was trying to run uphill on muddy terrain that like I was slipping backwards as I was running uphill. yeah And I find that really hard on the calves.
00:23:27
Speaker
Do you find that Vlad if you're trying to run up a hill and then it's muddy and you're slipping, do you find your carbs work different? I think it's hard on every part of your body especially like your mental side of things because you're trying to run up but you're actually going backwards. um It does happen quite a lot on on on wet trails and it did happen to me yesterday. um yeah Yeah definitely not fun. It's not fun but I i found it a good mental challenge and um And Jess, do you find your carbs okay with that one for like slippery? Well, you would have had some slippery stuff today, surely.
00:24:00
Speaker
Yeah, they definitely get more tired. And then I find like, if I'm having to jump over things as well, like tree roots and rocks, then I'm like, I'm jumping and I'm going up at the same time. Yep. There's a lot of that on this goat track. There's definitely a lot of that. So yeah, that was my session for that day. And that was another two hours of running because each rep took me 30 minutes. So it was a 90 minute session. Um, on the Friday. um So obviously, come Saturday, which was my one easy day for the week, I was pretty tired. um And I woke up with a super low HRV and all sorts of things. So I was going to do an hour, but I only did 30 minutes, and which was a smart move by me, I reckon, because I didn't know how many kilometres I was on for for the week.
00:24:46
Speaker
um And then this morning, it was a, I had a, this is not normal for me. I'm normally the person that is in bed by like 8 or 9 PM the night before a long run. But last night was my best friend from high school's 30th birthday. So I wasn't in bed until about midnight. And then had to wake up at six to get to Mount Macedon. And it was just one of those modes of you have to be in go, go, go. Because yeah, I did four hours, 40K, 1,700 up and down to finish the week. And yeah, I felt it. It was good. wow It was a good week in the end. um I did have company in the middle of that, thankfully. I had to do like an hour solo.
00:25:27
Speaker
before everyone arrived. And then I had Katinka, Nate Pierce, and Sophie Broome join me for like, oh, and Jillian joined me for like two hours. And then I had to, kind and Sophie came for two and a half, but then I had to do the last bit by myself again. And that's always the worst. We got back to the cars and I'm like, I have 25 minutes left and I'm 35 Ks in and I'm done, but I've got to keep going. So. Yeah, we got it done. So my week ended up being about 145 K's, 14 hours of running and 5,000 meters up and down. And I'm tired. I'm definitely tired. That's solid. Yeah. Yeah. I'm happy with it. I'm definitely happy to have made it through. And nothing, no niggles, nothing feels bad. Like this is my norm. It's amazing to get through a week again finally, be able to pump out a four hour long run at the end and just, yes, I'm tired, but nothing hurts.
00:26:22
Speaker
Um, which is how I used to operate before January 2023, when everything went, or Feb 2023, when everything went to crap. So it's been so long since I've been able to pull it together a week like this and feel like it's actually fine. So yeah, I'm happy. Two more like that to pump it. Actually, no, this week won't be quite so much because I've got Bundoora cross country coming up, um, the 10 K cross, which will just be my third session for the week, but because of the higher intensity. I won't go quite so crazy on the kilometres and the gain. But yeah, and big week. Is that the state champs? Yeah, yeah, it's state champs. For me, it's just a, it's a really, really good opportunity for a really hard session. Like I'll race it as hard as I can on the day, but I'm going to go into it with a Tuesday session and a Thursday session. um Thursday, I'll just do uphill, uphill threshold.
00:27:16
Speaker
Um, because it won't beat me up quite so much. Uh, but yeah, I love cross country for being that, for being a hard hit out a race environment. So I stay like in touch with that race feel without anything riding on it. Like I'm not going to make the Vic team for the. Oz cross country champs. Like I've come close before, I've come 14th there, but you've got to be like top six to eight. So like nothing's riding on it, which is nice. It's nice rocking up to a start line and going, I just get to run hard and see what happens. um yeah And hopefully I don't ah don't run like I used to run. So Bandura, I'm actually, my fastest time at Bandura is still, as it currently sits, only like
00:27:59
Speaker
20 something, maybe 25, 30 seconds slower than my 10K flat PB. So if I run any faster than the fastest I've run there before, I'm like 15, 20 seconds off my bloody 10K PB. Let's see, I ran like 37 minutes there. 37.14 I'm gonna say is the time I've run there. Holy shit. um that's so i had a really I had a really good run one year um at State Cross. So um yeah, it was definitely a good one. I don't think I'm gonna, like I could, I could, but anyways, moving on, moving on next week. so Never say never exactly. See how my legs go off the back of a 40k run today. We'll see how they go.
00:28:46
Speaker
um Now, for this week, we have a big block here where we're going to do some listener questions because we've got quite a few through. A couple of them short, one of them a bit longer. um To start with the short one, Vlad, you won't have much to put into this one because this one's one for us ladies, Jess. We've had Courtney Ellis ask, do girls wear undies in the short like the running shorts that have a netting lining? Jess, what are your thoughts? I feel like this is personal preference, but what do you do? Yeah. Yeah. Like definitely. Yeah. Um, well, I'm like pretty lazy. So like if I'm just doing an easy run in my shorts, I'm not going to wash them. Like I'm going to wear them again. So I'm yeah yeah i'm going to wear undies so that I can like wear my shorts again. Like bear that week. Yep. I pay that one. Um, and what about be outfi I'm the opposite because like, if it's got a lining, it's got a lining and I don't really like,
00:29:42
Speaker
care. So yeah, for me to be, and this is probably a, I have far too many pairs of shorts, let's be honest. So I never, I don't, I don't run into them twice, but actually I do when I travel for sure. But I'm going to say, Courtney, this one's personal preference. Honestly, don't think about it and go with whatever feels good because it's still a lining. It's still designed to be some of them. I'm going to say some shorts I've worn, like Jess, have you got like the Lululemon style shorts that have like a proper lining? um Like some of them have like a lining that is genuinely like undies already. And some of them have just like weird mesh netting stuff. So yeah, running running a um apparel can can vary, but I'm gonna say go with what's comfy and I don't just us. So that gives you an answer of do what works for you, Courtney.
00:30:35
Speaker
Happy with that Jess? Yeah. Yeah. I think just go with what you're comfortable with. No one's going to know. So who cares? Exactly. Exactly. I'm with you there. No one has a clue. Now next question, which I like this one because I've actually been asked this quite a few times. I have the scientific answer, but I want to hear your guys answers first. So Kazmia Gregory asks, when it's cold and you're sending it downhill, do your eyes get watery, making it super sketchy? And do you have any solutions? Vlad, start us off.
00:31:06
Speaker
Yeah, actually, when I read that question, that brought a lot of memories when I started trail running. So I remember that happening very, very often, almost like on every single cold run when I started trail running. Hasn't happened to me for the past few years. So i'm maybe I obviously don't know if this is true, but I feel like over time, maybe your eyes get used to it and it doesn't happen as much anymore. Anyway, that's what happened to me and hasn't really happened to me for the last maybe five or six years. Yeah, wow. That's cool. I'm not sure it's... Yeah, I have no idea how your body adapts to this, because I'm about to explain why this happens. But um but we'll see. Jess, what about you? Yeah, I was gonna say, I don't feel that it's connected to it being cold, because like I get that a lot, and I feel that it's more connected to like my brain being super stressed. So I found... like Yeah, when I first started trail running, I would always get that blurry vision, because I'd be like,
00:32:06
Speaker
My brain was like trying to work so hard to figure out like where I was stepping, like while my feet were moving so fast. um And I still get it, but like I feel like it sort of goes away if you try to like take a deep breath and relax a little bit and like lower your heart rate. um So for me, it's more connected to like how stressed you are when you're running down the hill. That makes sense. That does make sense. And actually that would make sense as to why you get it less now Vlad too. a yeah So to give some a bit of science behind this, that happens because your eyes are drying out. So what happens is in the cold or in the wind or running downhill, when you're usually getting wind in your face, your eyes dry out because of the air, your lacrimal glands, which are your tear ducts, your tears, like that, your, your eyes start to produce tears to try and
00:32:55
Speaker
like lubricate your eyes again because they're drying out. So that happens and then that's why you all of a sudden get a really like you can get a rush of um tears essentially like it's the same stuff as tears but you're not crying it's just your your body trying to keep your eyes moist. Now why that gets better I think and this is my observ observation and what you've said Jess actually um ties into this is when your first trail running especially or when you're not so good at downhills you're concentrating so hard on where you're putting your feet I don't think you're blinking as much and I don't think like you're just overall more tense eyes might be a bit wider if you're a bit stressed and therefore you're drying your eyes out more and you're not relaxed and you're not just steadily blinking and like you're trying to like
00:33:43
Speaker
think of a lot of things at once. So i've I know that it does get better for people as you get more used to the technical terrain. And the best explanation I've got for that is just you're more relaxed, so you're blinking more, so your eyes are more moist. um So one thing that's going to help is time, I think. but ah The other thing that can help, depending on how bad it gets for people, obviously sunglasses, any sort, even the ones that don't actually work in, like I've got the ones that are kind of clear, um it's on a windy day or on downhills and those sorts of things. If you've got sunglasses on, you will hopefully get that less, and to especially to begin with, because you won't have as much wind hitting your eyes. And then pre-empting it, if you know it's cold, it's a windy day and you really don't want it to happen,
00:34:31
Speaker
If you put um moisturizing eye drops in your eyes, um like I know cornydewalt is famous for k needing eye drops on long runs and those on her races and those sorts of things, but that's actually a fairly common thing. If you put eye drops in that moisturize, you should need it less too, because you inhibit the reflex response of the glands of actually releasing the tears. But that's the scientific side of things. um Yeah. Does that make sense, guys? Did I explain that? Okay. Yeah, I mean, I'm i'm just happy that um to know that this happens to other people and it wasn't just me being a wuss every time I saw a down hill, I started of crying. but know No, and it still happens and there's definitely times, especially I only notice it happening for me um on a really sketchy downhill or if it's really cold. Like I do notice the cold does affect it for me, but ah ah the more stressed I am and the more sketchy of a downhill it is, and especially if I'm moving super fast, it definitely happens more.
00:35:27
Speaker
So that's where there is no science behind the theory of what I've just said in terms of like the fact that more relaxed means you're blinking more. um But yeah, that's what I think happens. So hopefully that answers your question, Kazmia. And the third question, yeah, this one's a little bit longer. um And Jess, I'm going to throw this one to you first because you're the most recent convert from the road to the trail. And this one comes from Ross Pentland. And it's to give some background on this. So the question is, what do road runners that are first trying to get into trail running
00:36:06
Speaker
have to sort of look out for and be prepared for in those initial stages. um And I know this comes from Ross was in a marathon prep, a road marathon prep, and then started doing some trail runs, but obviously they, in an unexpected ways, they beat his legs up in different ways. He found his calves working differently, his ankles getting sore, and it was kind of then obviously affecting the road running side of things that he was preparing for the marathon. But I just think he, He had no idea any of that was going to happen in the lead-in. When he was trying to get into trail, he thought it was just like, go run on the trail and it's hilly. That's about it. and So Jess, in your experience of that transition phase, like what did you have to do to actually make your body able to transition across? It's pretty tricky. And like, I definitely haven't like nailed it yet, but you really do have to like
00:37:03
Speaker
reframe your approach to training, I think. Um, because yeah, like those long runs that you need to treat them as like a session because they really beat your body up. Um, it's almost like strength, um, and a long run in one. So like, I find that, um, that was really affecting like your Tuesday sessions. So like, I wasn't really able to hit the times on the track, um, on the track Tuesday's sessions. um that I was before when I was just doing like a flat long run. So you sort of got to like reframe your goals in your faster sessions, I think just to like make sure that you are actually recovering and not sort of like continually um like putting your body under high stress because there's stress coming from other areas that you might not be used to from just training for like road marathons.
00:37:57
Speaker
yeah Yeah and then I think like balancing the strength work with the extra heels is quite difficult as well. um For me I've had to put a lot more focus on calves. I've always been someone that loves the gym so like I really enjoy lifting heavy but I was focusing too much on like just um like bat chains or like glutes, hamstrings, quads and not enough on the calves. So I think um still like maintaining those like really like key strength workouts for the like the big muscles, but I think like putting more emphasis on the calves is really important. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would second all of that Vlad. Yeah. I mean, I think um it's a tough one, right? Because, you know, in the trails I've beaten some
00:38:48
Speaker
to 12 marathon runners and I've also lost to runners that are a lot slower than me in in marathon distance um racing yeah on the road. um So I think obviously trail is a lot more strength based and you just have to make sure your buddy is ready for that load of running on uneven surfaces, running uphill, running downhill. um So yeah, calves and quads would be my kind of focus where it's not only a about building strength, but also making sure that you build mobility in your ankles so everything can kind of work well, where road runners are pretty stiff at times, where most road runners are a bit more stiff probably. So a bit more mobility in the ankles and then a bit more mobility in the hips will kind of loosen a lot of those things up.
00:39:39
Speaker
and then also like ease it into it like you can't just think oh well I'm a good marathon runner or a good road runner I should be good on the trails because it's a difference for it and if you have a look at the top 20 marathons in the world they probably look all the same wearing trail running if you have a look at the top 20 trail runners in the world some of them are all muscle like they have a bit more muscle on their legs some of them are a bit skinnier so it's You know, it's a bit of a different sport all up. And um yeah, you just have to make sure you take the time to ease into it and not just kind of go like, well, I'm good at that. I should be good at that because it's completely a different sport.
00:40:18
Speaker
100%. Yeah, that's that's for sure. And to give some sort of a couple of practical things, and I'm going to say ah don't just jump in trail long runs as your introduction into trail. Like ah my suggestion to people that are transitioning across and the runners that I coach that might be have come from the road and are trying to start enjoying the trails, but do run into quite a bit of trouble. um With the ankles, with the feet, with often it's those, it's the carbs, it's quads on the downhills and those sorts of things. is The first run to implement on the trail is your 30-minute easy run. like It's not your 60-minute, it's not your it's not your long run and those sorts of things. Depending on the trail, obviously, you go run a rail trail and they're going to be pretty flat and smooth. and
00:41:06
Speaker
you find something like that. like That's great to start doing to get your body slightly used to different surfaces. But when it comes to more hilly, more technical, anything like that, it's definitely better to not bite off more than you can chew and give your body that little bit of time to adapt. Because your ankles will get a lot stronger. A lot of different muscles will get a lot stronger. To explain some of that, I loved that um There was a research paper, and um ah I can't remember the people, and I really should. The scientist in me is hating myself right now for not being able to give the exact quote. But there was a research paper that essentially showed that they took a bunch of road runners and that were in the gym two to three times a week. And these were elite elite road runners in the gym two to three times a week, and then top-end elite trail runners.
00:41:53
Speaker
that weren't in the gym at all and tested their strength. And in pure strength, the trail runners that never touched the gym were stronger. Now that's purely because when you think about it, you're hiking up a trail, you're doing step ups over and over and over again. You're going down a trail, you're getting a hell lot of eccentric quad loading. like There's a lot of different strength components that come into it. So when you think about it that way, your body just requires time to adapt. It's like you don't just go jump in a gym and start lifting max weight over and over and over again and expecting not to be sore and pull up a bit crap afterwards.
00:42:28
Speaker
um So it's the same thing, but often it's for your stabilizers because one thing that i've I've learned from going from road to trail is that, and I think this is why I come from a soccer background, like a change of direction kind of background as well. um Straight line road track runners that have specialized in that especially or haven't done too much else, your stabilizers aren't often super strong or able to take the load. And it's often those little muscles around the ankles, around the hips that You don't need so much when you're just doing the same stimulus over and over and over and in a straight line. and But you really need when every step is different on the trail. So making sure that um that yeah you're you're very much easing into it. And the other thing, and this is because I chatted to Ross about this because this was one thing he was surprised by, is that I'm i'm yet to meet a roadrunner that doesn't jump on a hilly trail run and try and nail every single uphill thinking they have to maintain the same pace.
00:43:27
Speaker
and the biggest thing is you do not need to maintain the same pace on the flat as an uphill. And it wasn't until, um and I was chatting to Ross as well as we were talking through this a little bit, um wasn't until he started looking at gap pace and realised that some of the hills in his long run, he's hitting like 315 per kilometre gap pace. And I was just I always turn to and to be fair I had to say this to myself too back in the day when I was trying to get my brain around the fact that a seven minute eight minute ten minute kilometer is actually fine. um And it was just that at any point if you're on a flat road run ah your normal long run.
00:44:07
Speaker
that you normally run whatever, 4.30, 5.30, 6.30 minutes per K, do you ever just randomly start running two minutes a K faster for the fun of it for 500 meters? Because that's the equivalent of what a lot of people do up hills. They might be wanting to run certain pace, and then if you maintain that pace up a hill, you're actually running a hell of a lot faster. So you don't need to do that. um And that can sometimes be what what stops people coming back because they go, oh, the hills were too hard. I'm beat up. My legs are tired. I couldn't run up the hills at the same pace. And they're kind of demoralized. So that's where I think Strava coming out with sort of gap pace and gap pace being more available might help a lot of people. Because if you can look at your gap pace and it's the same as your normal flat pace, then you know you're doing the same effort regardless.
00:44:52
Speaker
um i think think coming back to those yeah I think coming back to those hills, it could be something that the canyon runners do. When they do an easy run, they see a hill. A lot of them just go fast up the hill because they think this is a way for me to improve. And a lot of road runners just naturally kind of think, I've got to go faster on the uphills. um yeah yeah which is fine at times. And sometimes I actually do that for sure. It's a really good long run. But if you're trying to get on the trails and you do that every single time, every single trail run is becoming a session in your week. And of course that's going to detract from your road running. It's going to detract from your things. But if you actually let the terrain dictate your pace a little more, especially if it's meant to be a recovery run, it won't affect all the other runs as much. Like you won't be doing a session every day. Like no one,
00:45:43
Speaker
would be able to maintain a session every single day if that was how they were running things. um And so that's where it's like sometimes 100% go faster up the hill. There's speed and strength training in disguise because you're not moving at a massively fast pace, but you're getting a similar stimulus. ah But don't do that every time and don't get caught in the trap of thinking you have to do that to maintain pace. Um, cause I, I have a couple of friends that like never touch the trail because they go, but I have to go slower and they don't want to go slower. But I'm like, if you just, just try, it's fine. Yeah. I mean, I do my long run with my road running friends in Perth on like Healy trails, obviously not a lot of elevation and naturally every uphill
00:46:30
Speaker
is an attack like you know the pace just gets picked up the threshold and then the downhill becomes like almost like a walk down and that's when I'm like no this is where we should be keeping the pace up a little bit um and that's why usually it's on the uphill they could gap me a little bit and then on the downhill kind of catch up um Yeah, but yeah, I think the mentality is like this is a chance for me to improve and you're right It and it becomes like the third session of the week that yeah long run hundred percent with some uphill strength because uphill running It's probably a bit softer on the body. So if you try and aim for your max heart rate on an uphill Your muscles are not stretched to the limits as they would on a flat road um which technically builds a bit more strength and
00:47:15
Speaker
keeps you a bit safer away from injuries. um But yeah, I feel like road runners that do come to the trails just have to kind of go like this is a new sport. I need to kind of allow my body to adjust. And if it's only one run a week, I think a lot of them can get away with it. But if you start running on the trails three or four times a week, then yeah, your body is gonna start feeling it a bit more. yeah yeah Yeah, so the context of this question is getting out on the trails multiple times a week and actually doing a bit more. So once a week, a hundred percent, you go to Fernie and go with the roadrunners that all go around Fernie for their long runs and it's fine. You can go faster up those hills and it's just a great session. um It's not an easy long run. So, but yeah, this cool stimulus. So hopefully that helps anyone that is trying to transition into some trail or at least even just a bit more trail.
00:48:08
Speaker
um The other thing I'll say is just that I did a really a course of sort of four weeks of really focusing on ankle strength and like proper ankle strengthening. And I think that and when I first started trail, um, and that really helped my transition in for not having as many ankle problems at least. So there's some really cool things you can do for balance and ankle strength and those sorts of things that can help ease the transition in. For the most part, just ease in, get out on the trails, and your body will adapt as you go. And you'll get used to the different terrains and paces. So, cool. Now, for a small amount of news this week, Jess, something cool's coming to Perth.
00:48:51
Speaker
Yeah, so um for those of you that remember from one of our earlier episodes, we mentioned the Exeterra Oz champs that were on earlier this year, I think it was in April, down in Dunsborough on the south coast of WA. So yeah next year, they've just announced that the Exeterra Asia-Pacific champs are going to be in Dunsborough. So if anyone's keen to try out that um trail course So they've got a 21k, which is their longer race, and then they've got like a 10k race as well. um And then there's sort of like the off-road triathlon format as well, which is part of that exterior champs. So if anyone's keen for that and also for a pretty nice holiday down in a beautiful part of of Australia, definitely get on it.
00:49:40
Speaker
and Yeah, nice. So yeah, Xterra is kind of like another circuit, but they come more from that off-road triathlon and then they've added a trail component, yeah? Yeah, I think yeah in the past few years, they've been trying to push the trail running scene um and they've been adding trail race to all their off-road triathlon races. Yeah, nice. And then they' they're weld champs they caught the trail world champs thing that they have is in Hawaii normally? Yeah. And actually, yeah, the trail race, the trail race, part of it has got some decent prize money and always gets like the best US trail runners going to Hawaii. I was going to say, USA always rock up. Yeah. In a big way. Yeah. Yeah. Joe Gray has won that a few times and the WACA a few times as well. Great. That's a competitive one. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, fun. Well, yeah, the Asia Pacific version coming to WA, which is exciting. And speaking of around the country, our results from this week. So for the results that we can find so far, I'm going to touch on Rafferty's Coastal Run, which just Coastal Run always sounds fun. This is up in New South Wales. This one was the one at, was it Lake Macquarie? Lake Macquarie, yes, ha, nailed it.
00:50:54
Speaker
Now the 36K was won by Simon Cochran in two hours 42.11. And then second was Mark Langley in two hours 42.22. So nice and close, but I do also notice that Simon Cochran who won is in the 40 to 49 years veteran group ah age category. And then Mark Langley is in the 17 to 29 years. So one for the old fellas or the older, I'm not going to call you old, sorry, Simon. Um, then third was Nick Hoskin in three hours, one minute and 39 seconds. So in the females, Stephanie Austin. So she told me that Steph told me she was going to run this one. So that's exciting to see that she's got the win in not far behind third male, actually three hours, four minutes and 52 was Steph's time. And second was Sarah Hammer.
00:51:50
Speaker
in three hours 3202 and third female was Melissa Robertson in three hours 46. So that was for their 36k run at Raffides. And then back down in Vic, we had a rather Big or at least there's lots of events going on at the Yu Yang's trail run festival and I'm gonna start a bit longer and go shorter, but we'll just give the Men's winner of the hundred mile was Jacob garlic in 24 hours 46 minutes and 47 seconds
00:52:26
Speaker
Wow, big day. Go Jacob. And then the winner of the women's was Dawn Reynolds in 28 hours 31. For the 100K, that was won in the men's by Steve Miller in 10 hours 23, which is pretty decent time for the 100K. And then The winner for the women's was Zoe Ravenscroft in 19 hours 11. And then in the 50K, men's winner was Steven Van Dorp in 4 hours 51. And second overall and first female was the lovely Nicole Patton in 4 hours 54.
00:53:04
Speaker
So only three minutes back. So go Nicole. And I will note also that third overall and second female, Kelsey Duba, um was not far back. And then fourth overall and third female was Maggie Noy. So the female podium had finished before the men, which is just nice to see. Yeah, the girls. um The second male in this one was Eldraine Naidu and third male was Trevor Gao. um Now in the 42, so the marathon as you can hear, there's lots of results. There's lots of ah distances at this one and they all do different versions of loops. It's over two days. It's a really cool event. ah Tim Goddard got the win in the men's there and Jade Hansper in the women's.
00:53:50
Speaker
In the 30K, a name that we all know or has been mentioned on the podcast, I believe before, and a very good trail runner around Oz is Matt Crean. So he recently did the Nepal, the ah Everest 135 mile race that we were talking about. So ah Matt got the win in two hours 26 over Douglas Price in two hours 31 and Ben Featherstone in two hours 34. In the female, another one another female that's been mentioned a few times on the pod, Aislinn Prendergast got the win in two hours 48. India Taylor, then in three hours and two. And Sandra at Beardsworth in three hours and three. So nice and close for second and third. And then taking it down to the last one um that I'll mention, the 21K.
00:54:40
Speaker
ah So that one was won by Nathan Pierce. I know he's prepping to ah go across to the US soon and race some of their Cirque series and one of the Golden Trail World Series races as well. So good to see him back up and running after a dislocated hip earlier in the season ah in one hour 27. And then second male was Gibson Paxman in one hour 46, third Liam Draper one hour 52. But this was another one where, yeah, the girls, because Maddie Heiner, who is better known as a, I think she went to the Olympics for the 5K or the steeple or both. um So Madeline Heiner, who has started enjoying some lovely trail runs as she's not taking her ah ah after her retirement from track and road and taking it all super seriously. So she got the win in the women's and she was actually second overall behind Nathan. in an hour 43.34. Second was Marie Sinclair in two hours and 35. And third, Sarah Husodo in two hours and 1.28. So close for the second and third females again, but Maddie right up there, second overall. So that's you Yanks, but take us over to WA. We had the one that Vlad's run before, the Goldfields Pipeline Jess.
00:55:59
Speaker
Yeah, um yeah that one so that one is out near Kalgoorlie. It starts from a town called Kugari and then runs into Kalgoorlie. And it follows this trail that goat runs all the way along this big pipeline that's been built from Perth to Kalgoorlie, I believe. i'm Not really sure what it was built for, but I'm assuming to carry water to the mines or something. Something like that. But yeah props to you for doing this before Vlad because it looks pretty boring and hot.
00:56:36
Speaker
Just to say it as it is, it is. It's super flat, so there's only 158 metres of gain and it's all in a straight line. So, fun, I guess. It is a fun event. It's really, really fun event. It's a community event that goes along the pipeline, the water the obviously the water that comes from Perth to Kalgoorlie. It's a really cool event. They got good prize money as well and technically flights from Perth to Kalgoorlie. Probably only like $200, so yeah, fun trip for a race if anybody's around. Perth is looking for a flat race. Fun as long as you can take the boredom. Yes, straight line race. Nice. Yeah, so this year in the men, in first place we had John Pandis in a time of three hours 11. So that's pretty solid 430 pace with
00:57:32
Speaker
Looks pretty hot out there today, so it's like 26 degrees, so nice. um And then Jack Doesbro was in second in three hours 14, and Freedom Thibeth was three hours 20 in third place. um And then in the women, we had Dot Doherty. um In first place, she ran four hours and four minutes. um And then in second place, we had Barbara Feiberg-McFarland in four hours and seven minutes. um And then third was Sarah Flaheave in four hours 12.
00:58:08
Speaker
So well done to those runners. So justin mentioned quick like about john who yeah just to mention something quick about John um Pence, he runs pretty much all the marathons in Perth and he's trying to get to his 100th marathon. I'm pretty sure he's on like 90 something or 89 or very close to 100 marathons. So he's looking for any marathon around Perth to get us to the that incredible 100 marathon, 100 marathons, which sounds insane, but it's not far off. That's cool. Love it. Go, John. It'd be cool to know when he gets when he gets that done. Yeah, I know him quite well, so I'll ill i'll definitely know. Good. Good. Speaking of people getting it done, though, there was an FKT, Jess. You were all over this.
00:58:57
Speaker
This one is super exciting. Um, cause I, yeah, no one knew about it because Mike, um, he just sort of uploaded his run to Strava today and did an Instagram post. So Mike Laurie, that's Erica Laurie's brother. Um, so we spoke to Erica Laurie, uh, recently after her transcendent. Um, but yeah, that whole family has just got so much talent. Um, and I used to train with Mike as a junior. He's, um, used to be super good on the track and he was a elite triathlete, I think representing Canada. So he's got a very good background in elite sport and now he's sort of into the trail running and chasing FKT. So he just got the unsupported record on the Cape to Cape track, which is a very sought after FKT over in WA. I feel like last year there was at least two men that broke it. um So there's a lot of people that are always going after that one. So Mike,
00:59:50
Speaker
run the unsupported FKT in 14 hours, 33 and nine seconds. And I think that actually beat the supported FKT as well. ah Wow. And so for anyone that doesn't know the Cape to Cape track, it's 126.8 K. um And it runs all the way along um sort of like the western coast of WA, like south WA. And there's a lot of sand, and there's a lot of like punchy, spiky up and down hills. There's a bit of a foresty section, there's cliffs, there's rock hopping, so there's a bit of everything in that one. um And then I think, so just some of the things that Mike said about the run was that um
01:00:34
Speaker
He said the sand was super soft this year, um not much and not much hard sand at all. So that's super impressive. um He said the river was super deep because I think we've had heaps of rainfall. So he said he almost mis drowned when the ankle deep water almost got to waste it. um And he also say he also only was able to consume half the amount of calories that he planned. And if anyone wants $100 worth of precision gels and electrolytes, then check out the bin at Yelling Out.
01:01:06
Speaker
wow But yeah, overall, he said it was an awesome experience and he's going to have great memories from that one. And I think Vlad, do you know a little bit more about Mike and his history with sport? Yeah, I mean, Mike obviously, like you said, is a talented triathlete. yeah, top top Australian triathlete for a while, then he kind of, it was, yeah, kind of became a bit quiet, he had a bit of... fatigue issues, but now he's back to like trail running. And I was trying to convince him probably two years ago to try and sign up for the Australian trail running team because it's technically I reckon is the most talented trail running is in Australia. He just struggles to get like consistency in his training. um So I think he's young, like he's only 35, or even younger, he's probably 34. So he's still got time. So um um really I really hope that he can,
01:02:04
Speaker
like get some good training in and then do some more trail races because he is a super talented athlete and um it would be nice to see him smash some trail races. I know that he did a 50k in Whistler in Canada two years ago where he came third didn't go 100% to plan then he's been a bit quiet since now he's done this FKT but hopefully he'll get to some trail running but that about that FKT that Cape to Cape, which is probably the most famous one in Western Australia. um So Sean Johnson um had it before him, what he did it a few months ago, like you said last year. And he's actually the RD of the um Transcend Trail Race. So yeah, that kind of ties it all up to the Transcend Race that happened a few months ago. But yeah, Mike, Laurie, you're probably not listening. But if you are, hopefully we can see you in a trail race soon.
01:03:00
Speaker
Yeah. And I've just looked this up because I'm i'm always intrigued. I love stats um to make like Shane Johnston, who you're just saying he actually, he did have the supported FKT on it. So he had support, which is a very big distinction on FKT. It's like whether you had people along the way pacing, helping with your nutrition and all those sorts of things, or you didn't. So Shane had the supported FKT in 14 hours, 49 minutes. So. 16 minutes slower. um But the unsupported FKT, which is sort of the category that he's now put this in, which I'm going to call it an outright FKT, but the unsupported FKT before this was 18 hours.
01:03:42
Speaker
and four minutes held by Allie Wilcox. This is according to the FKT website. um So yeah, absolutely smashed that. Now, my question for you two, because you two both seem to know the family, is there another Laurie that runs because Christy Laurie is the FKT for the supported for this trail? So how talented is that family? Like, insanely talented. Like, I just want to know, like, what their diet is or, like, what their secret is because they're doing something right, that's for sure. There is some good genes right there. hi Yeah. That is crazy. So, yeah, Christy Laurie holds this, female supported.
01:04:23
Speaker
FKT in 17 hours eight. And good old Claire, Claire O'Brien Smith has the unsupported in 1830. So yeah. Wow. Really cool. Really cool things going on in WA. So you've got some cool FKTs over there because I don't really know any FKTs like that I've paid too much attention to over in Vic, but That Bibbulmun Track FKT by Erica, it's wild. and one thing that i like One of my lifetime goals is to go attempt that FKT because I love the Bibbulmun Track and i just the idea of trying to do it would be incredible. But Erica's insane. You've got some cool FKT's. It's just so boring and dead in in Western Australia. We've got to get those FKT's otherwise there's nothing to do. So we just and invent all those cool FKT's.
01:05:11
Speaker
Yeah, because of some cool trails. like It's just the Bibbulmun track, being that nicely, 1000Ks, point to point. like So good. Also, it's like I was born right near one part of it, so I was like, yeah. For me, I would just want to do it at some point, but yeah, that's very true. You've got to have something to do over there. You definitely have the FKTs going for you over in WA. Love it. Now that ties up our um national sort of results for the week, but Vlad, there was a very, very big race overseas. Yeah, unless you're living under a rock, um this weekend was hard rock.
01:05:48
Speaker
um That was literally my mistake. I did not plan that. um Two hours of writing this joke paid off. yeahp But yeah, so this this is probably one of the big hundred milers, a bit more like obviously there's Western states and hard rock, which are the two big US hundred milers. This one is obviously a lot more technical, a lot more elevation compared to Western states. And this year, what is special about this year? um
01:06:18
Speaker
is Courtney's going for the three big ones or I don't know exactly how Salomon is calling the mission but she's aiming to run Western States, Hard Rock and UTMB all in the same summer. She's done that last year. So that video that came out is last year when she won all three. ah Is she trying to do it again this year? No, because she didn't do Western States. She just went back to Hardrock. Okay, so you're you're a year behind here, Vlad. Come on, you're the guy that's going on top of all this stuff. What is this? You might have got confused by the video timing. Yeah, exactly. So that's Salomon video and I kind of thought that she's going for it this year, but nevertheless, she's already done that. She did one. But she is running UTMB this year, right?
01:07:04
Speaker
Uh, I would say so. I haven't looked or paid too much attention to the otherwise, but I'm going to guess yes. She, but she definitely didn't do Weston. So she won the three triple crown last year, which was just insane. Like how she pulled that off. I have no idea, but it's Courtney to Walter. She does things no one else can do. But she did win this one as well. Yes. Incredible. In 26 hours and 11 minutes. Followed by... That was a course record again, I think. I have a feeling she beat her own course record. Well, lucky somebody's got the stats today, otherwise I would have been making up stories here. Look, I'm going off Instagram there too, but I do think that happened.
01:07:50
Speaker
Camille virus from Salomon as well in 29 hours and 28 minutes and Katrina Harmut from Hawkeye in third place in 30 hours um which yeah incredible resorts I know that um Katrina is a German ah runner that is pretty good in those long distance races. But what is a bit different about ah Katrina and Camille is that they're both a bit younger, 29 and 31 only, where yeah Courtney is 39.
01:08:22
Speaker
So the average age for the women's top three was 33, which is pretty young for those kinds of distances and those types of, you know, 25 plus hour races. But in the men's, the average wage on at average wage, the average age for the podium, guys, was 44. So that gives hope to old runners like me and maybe some of our listeners. So the winner from France, Lovedic Pomeray, who is 48 years old. Lovedic Pomeray. I knew you were going to correct me there.
01:09:02
Speaker
sorry but at two I purposely misspelled this um me mispronounced his name so you can correct me. yeah yeah yeah i And then Diego Perez from Switzerland, the guy that runs with a little bow tie. um A funny character is 39 and he became second in 24 hours. And just behind him, Jason Scrubs, um it was 46 years old. So yeah, yeah the old the oldies are doing well. Jason Schlabbe has been around for ages, I feel like. Like I know that name from ages ago, I think.
01:09:40
Speaker
Well, he's 46, so he's been around for 46 years now. Oh, God. Yes, I get that. In trail running. Can confirm, Courtney definitely did take down the record. um Instagram confirmed that one for me just then. And just to mention also, big things. Oh, a tiny bit. But yeah, Francois was a bit, that was his comeback race after a couple of years of laying low a little bit. He dropped out. with Yeah, it was a bit of a shame. But yeah, that race is a cool one and definitely a bucket list race, but definitely a tough one.
01:10:16
Speaker
Do we know what caused Francois to pull out? I suppose not much has come out about it too much yet. I don't think it's my day to name any facts.
01:10:27
Speaker
ah I'll see what I can get. But um I watched some of it and it was really exciting to begin with because obviously Camille, um she's she's absolutely lovely. Camille is insane as well. And I reckon she's going to be absolutely incredible across these distances. But as you said, she's a bit younger and she's a um obviously never done hard rock before so it was her first outing and it was like right up to I'm gonna say like 80k or so I think like I think I saw it was 44 miles or something like they were coming in Courtney and Camille were coming into eight stations together so she her and Courtney were running together for a very good portion of the race or like back and forward a little bit Courtney was in front and then Camille caught up and
01:11:13
Speaker
Obviously she, everyone's going to struggle in the back end of Hard Rock and she was her first go at it. But yeah, held on insanely, insanely well. But it was just really cool as I was watching it to go, they're still together. Like it added that element of excitement because you're not used to seeing women come into aid stations deeper into a race with Courtney. So yeah, big things coming from her, I reckon. um I'm calling it now. um I'm definitely calling it now. But yeah, always cool to watch. Just the altitude to me is what's wild, how long they're above like some wild altitude and working hard.
01:11:53
Speaker
um But yeah um yeah, doesn't say much about why Francois pulled out. Anyways, I was trying to look that up as I was talking. This is me multitasking guys, but ah can't I can't bring that fact to you today. Sorry, um but yes, what's coming up. So there's a little bit lighter on on the races next week, but some cool ones, some very, very cool ones. So we've got one up in Northern Territory. Simpson's Gap, half marathon. Sounds pretty damn cool. And yeah, it's not often you see, there's not that many races throughout the year in Northern Territory. So give them some love. Then in Queensland, a bigger race ah is the guzzler. The guzzler and I think their 50K is called the glass half full.
01:12:37
Speaker
one. um But yeah, guzzler in Queensland, all around the sort of Mount Coot-tha, Brisbane area, um ah definitely a bigger race. And they do some really cool things at the guzzler. um I know that they they have a big, um getting, trying to get women into the distances in trail and all those sorts of things. So yeah, watch out for that one. i and um Sorry. I had any whispers about like, who's doing guzzler? Yeah, good question. Normally I would try and figure that out, but I haven't actually heard much from them this year. So yeah, have you? Have you seen anyone post saying that they're doing it? No, I saw, do you know Lydia O'Donnell? She won it last year. So I wonder if she's going to do it again. Yeah, they definitely get some good names and they reach out and they support athletes. And yeah, it looks like a really cool event. It's one I've always wanted to go to, but
01:13:31
Speaker
timing of the year hasn't often or hasn't ever worked out up until this point and um but yeah I think Megan Brown um because she's from up there she often does really well at this one and so yeah it'll be cool to see we'll have their results for next week so we'll be able to shout everyone out. um Another one up in Queensland that I haven't heard of but it looked cool called the Boyne Valley 50 is up in Queensland and then over in WA have either of you two heard of the Yabooroo Trail Ultra? Yeah, I've heard of it and I know um a few ladies from my she-wills group that are going to do it. um Yeah, I think it's a pretty big-ish one on the WA calendar. I think I looked at the course and considered it, but it's quite flat. I think they've got like a 50k and a 21k.
01:14:19
Speaker
um Yeah, it's yeah probably not a great race for me for what I need for my training, but it should be a faster kind of trail race. Yeah, I won the 20K there a few years ago. It's pretty much just like... um Why does that not surprise me? actually Because we don't have many races. No, you've just done everything. You race everything. um Yeah, it's it's actually like a flattish trail in pretty much the middle of the city. Well, not the middle of the city, but like in Perth itself. But it it is pretty cool. I think the 50K is just like two laps of the 20K.
01:15:00
Speaker
That doesn't check out. Yeah, 25k. I think 25k, right? have a fifty day yeah attitude getting the blood hand
01:15:13
Speaker
and and believe ah nice nice That's what's coming up on the calendar. 50K, that's hopefully actually 50K and not 40. But what's coming up for you Vlad, we can start with you so your brain can fully check out for the morning. you um I'm going to stay in altitude and um um we are driving to Switzerland to Grindelwald for the Eiger. Ultra Trail that you can be iGoetra Trail. I'm signed up for the 16K. It's got like 1,200 meters of gain in 16K, so and another tough race. But I know that this race would have some big names added us. Tarex is going to have half of the team there. A couple of the Salomon guys are there. So yeah, that's going to be an exciting race. I feel like this one is
01:16:04
Speaker
a tune-up for a lot of the guys that are doing UTMB, and this is one of the kind of last big hit-outs before a proper UTMB block. So, yeah, some interesting racing is going to happen in IGA next week. Nice. What about you, Jess? Um, yeah, pretty standard week. Um, sort of awaiting some exciting news, um, that I might be able to share next week. Um, and... I feel like that exciting news might have, it will have come out by the time this podcast drops, by the way. Yeah, actually, yeah. Maybe. Um, yeah. And one thing actually that's pretty cool, I get to try the, um,
01:16:47
Speaker
medape paris for the first time in my sessions this week um expand fun And check Jess's socials for the exciting news. and That is going to be out by the time you listen to this. So those exciting times. Actually, speaking of exciting news, I realized we've done, it we've probably done a bit of a dodgy for our fourth podcast member because we didn't shout out his results at all. Sorry, Brody. We're going to add that in. No, no, no. I'm going to do it right now because we will give him the floor next week to explain exactly what happened. But I'm going to give him a massive shout out for the fact that Brody, obviously at the orienteering world champs,
01:17:29
Speaker
but the sprint orientating world champs. He did make it through the qualification rounds to the final. I know he didn't have the final he wanted, but obviously the fact that he got to the final was pretty damn cool. I haven't seen the relay results and he hasn't let us know them yet. But yeah, I realize we got this far in and haven't mentioned this yet. Sorry Brody, we do love you. um But yeah, he did good and we'll let him give the actual rundown of those results next week when he's back on. So can't say too much else other than I did try to look up some of the orienteering around the city and it definitely looked a bit wild, like running far too fast around corners and through people and stuff. So yeah, good times, but he can tell us all about it. and um
01:18:17
Speaker
Yeah, coming up for me is just another very exhausting week of long days and Bundoora, cross country state champs next week, which I'm currently up in Bendigo, um living in Bendigo for the next couple of weeks just to add to my weeks living out of a suitcase. um So I'll have to make the trip down from there and be getting lots of forest running in. which I'm always excited about. Actually, the most exhausting part of my week this entire week and most of my days is the fact that I do my long runs and even today, running 40Ks, I get back and I have three dogs to walk. So I had to walk for like, I had to walk three dogs, two of them are labs and one of them is my Maya, which is a bull Arab. So if they see a kangaroo, if they see something besides them, like I can't not run. Like I can't hold them back because there's three of them at once.
01:19:06
Speaker
So my step count for the day is up at about 60,000 by the time I did the 40K run. And every day I'm getting back from these two or three hour runs and having three dogs to walk that pull me around places. So that's another week of that is what I've got to look forward to. Thankfully, they're cute. And when we get home, then they're tired. But yeah. Anyways, the joys. luck Good luck at Bandura. Yeah, thank you. See how we go. Go go let it rip and see where that lands me on tired legs. But yeah, to everyone that's listening, ah I am going to do a quick ask of if anyone is listening and is able to leave a rating or review. We're at the point now where we'd love some of those, please, so that we can ah share this a bit further and wider and it reaches a few more ears. and um
01:19:54
Speaker
Yeah, just give us some love if you can and thank you so much for listening. Keep the listener questions coming. Any really cool news, any other FKT attempts, anything like that, please message him through. And otherwise, this has been episode 14 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we will speak to you next week. See you guys. Bye guys.