Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 35: Sustainable Training and Learnings From the Year with Juliette Soule!
377 Plays1 month ago
Welcome to Episode 35 of Peak Pursuits, your ultimate podcast for everything trail running in Australia. This week’s episode is hosted by Jess Jason, Brodie Nankervis, and guest host Juliette Soule fresh off her second place at UTK 100km! Get to know Juliette and hear her race recap before diving into all the usual segments and results.
Start - 45:40 :- Meet Juliette Soule
Get to know Juliette Soule, a gun trail runner for Asics who recently placed second at UTK 100km. Listen in for everything from her journey to date, how she prepared for UTK and a deep dive into race day itself.
45:40 - 1:05:30 :- Training Talk and Lessons From the Year
Hear from Jess and Brodie as they recap their weeks and the crew discuss their biggest learnings from the year.
1:05:30 - 1:18:15 :- Race Results and What’s Coming Up
We then cover a few Aussie and international races that went down over the weekend:
UTMB Chang Mai: https://live.utmb.world/chiangmai/2024/100K
Sydney Trail Half Marathon: Saturday https://my.raceresult.com/320096/
Sunday https://my.raceresult.com/320214/
Afterglow Twilight Trail Run: https://tomatotiming.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16&RId=29741
1:18:15 - End : What’s coming up
Hear the races that are coming up next weekend before we wrap up the episode!
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!
Jess: @jessjason
Brodie: @brodienank
Juliette: @juliettesoule
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter
License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Episode 35
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello and welcome to epi episode 35 of the Peak Pursuits Podcast. I'm one of your regular hosts Brodin and Kerbus and I'm joined by another of our regular hosts Jess Jason in Canberra. How are you going Jess? Hey guys, going well. It's bright and early, the sun's out. It's definitely summer down here
Juliet Sol Joins the Podcast
00:00:28
Speaker
which is nice.
00:00:28
Speaker
Fantastic, and somewhere where the sun isn't out, maybe, I think, um we're very lucky to be joined by Juliet Sol, who is currently over in Toronto. How are you going, Juliet? Hey, thanks for having me. Yeah, I can confirm the sunset at about 330 and it's freezing and raining, so pretty miserable over here. Bit of a bit of a stark difference to Australian summer.
00:00:56
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. But thankfully, I'll be back in Sydney in no time. Yeah, cool. We we might get into that a little bit about what you're doing for work and whatnot. But thanks so much for joining
Juliet's Running Journey Begins
00:01:06
Speaker
us on the podcast. For those who don't know Juliet, she was second at ah UTK 100 a couple of weeks ago, and she's also had some some really good results in Australia in the past. um And we might dive into a couple of those as we get going. um But Juliet, I'm sorry, you're also running for ASICs, is that right? Yes, I am. I'm on the trail team with Jess.
00:01:33
Speaker
part of the big ASICs team. So that's pretty cool. There's like lots of, I don't know how many of you, how many um runners has ASICs now got in Australia? they They're definitely sort of supporting a lot of runners. I don't know. her They've definitely this past year, like they've expanded a lot.
00:01:49
Speaker
yeah so we might I'm actually keen to dive into that a little bit, maybe a little bit later on. um But maybe Julia, it'd be a good place to start is how you got into running or how you got into trail running and a little bit of your ah early journey and we can go from there.
00:02:05
Speaker
Yeah, sure. So I have always run since I was about 11. I never ran competitively in school. I just did it for fun, um for fitness, I guess. And yeah, did that, you know, throughout high school, throughout undergrad.
00:02:26
Speaker
And then, as I suspect many people also did, during COVID, I started to run longer distances, um again, just on
Discovering Ultra Running
00:02:35
Speaker
my own. And it got to the point where I was running like 40 to 45K every Sunday for my long run. And then I heard about this race in the Blue Mountains, UTA.
00:02:46
Speaker
And I discovered there was a 50K and I was like, well, I'm running 45K every weekend. Like surely I can run 50K. Not knowing that running 45K around the eastern and suburbs is quite different to running 50 kilometers in the Blue Mountains. um So I signed up and then I started digging into the um like the world of ultra running basically. And I was like consuming all the media, like listening to all the podcasts. And I was just so enamored by it. And I had also, as when I was a lot younger, I had read the book, Born to Run, which if you know people are like super into ultra running, they'll know it, like talks about Leadville, which is this really famous 100 mile race in um the States. And it also talks about this tribe in the Amazon that just runs, you know,
00:03:37
Speaker
and insane distances every day with like rubber sandals. Is that one where he's like he goes on about barefoot running? Yes, that's the one. Yeah, I like I've been exposed into the world of ultra running and I also always loved running on trails. like Whenever I would go anywhere you know in nature, that would always just bring me so much joy.
00:04:02
Speaker
So once I kind of dove into that a bit more, and I have this sort of Taipei personality, as I'm sure many ultra runners do, that it's like, if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do the most extreme
Training for UTA's 100K
00:04:14
Speaker
version of that thing. So having signed up for the 50K, I then decided that that was not enough and I changed it to the 100K.
00:04:21
Speaker
um So then I was like, let's go, like we're doing this first 100K. This was that for the ah May 2022 version of UTA, um which having seen that now, you know, many of you may recall that was the year it was canceled because of the, or not canceled, post-point to October because of the floods. But by that point, I had been training really hard. I was very ready. I'd run a 50K that year, my first ultra.
00:04:51
Speaker
In March at the Mount Stromlo 50K, I was ready to run 100K and so I found a different race, just like a small local race in the South Island of New Zealand where I'm from, went over and ran that one.
00:05:07
Speaker
in May 2022. And yeah, that was pretty much how I got into trail and ultra running. Yeah, very cool. Over in New Zealand. So that one was a South Island
Racing Preferences and Trail Performance
00:05:18
Speaker
ultra. It's on the west coast. um It's a very small rice However, because it's a pretty fast course, it has actually attracted some like really fast people. Like the year that I did it, the woman I got second and the woman who won ran like 8.30 for 100K, which is pretty fast. um And then the year after I did it, they came out with this whole thing and they were like, we're going to pay 10 grand to the first person who can get under eight hours. And then there was some like um
00:05:53
Speaker
backlash from the community because everyone was like, oh, that's, you know, not sexist. I don't know. That's like not giving male and female athletes a fair chance because obviously the men's going to get it. um And suffice to say, Dan Jones went and ran under eight hours and got 10 grand. so oh Did they change it after that?
00:06:17
Speaker
Well, no, they just said we're going to give ah we're going to give 10 grand to the first man and then 10 grand to the first woman. Oh, OK. Nice. Yeah. So I don't think I don't know if a woman has run under eight hours yet there, but maybe one day. Yeah.
Learning from Early Mistakes
00:06:32
Speaker
I feel like you do really well to like seek out the more low-key races. I feel like this season you did a one that i I love in Canberra. Yes, that isn't good for it. I did a very low-key race, yeah the Brutus 60K. Yeah. Is that supporting the more like low-key races that people haven't heard of? Yeah, honestly, it's not so much that.
00:07:00
Speaker
um like Obviously, there I think that's a great thing to do, but that's not necessarily like why I end up doing those races. The reason why I have ended up doing a couple of those smaller races is because like often I want something to fit into my like calendar at a specific time.
00:07:22
Speaker
Um, and you know, those races end up being the ones that line up really well. Like for instance, with the one we're talking about, I did this race called the Brutus 60K, um, in Canberra, um, before, in the lead up to COSI. And that, I think it was like exactly six weeks before, um, before the race. So I was like, that's perfect. You know, it gets me like a good long.
00:07:48
Speaker
hard effort and then I still have plenty of time to recover before the race. Yeah. Yeah, nice. So would you say um like what's been your best performance to date on the trails? Yeah, so I definitely think that Cosi has been my best performance. Like I'm really, really proud of that performance. I Yeah, I feel like I really got everything out of myself. And particularly, I guess I had raised 100K before, but it was two and a half years ago. And it was like I was so fresh in the sport. Like I knew nothing, you know, I was pretty much doing everything wrong. um And I feel like over the past two and a half years, like I've learned so much. I've had, I've faced a lot of adversity in the sport in terms of like recurring stress fractures.
00:08:43
Speaker
Um, and yeah, to be able to like get to this race, healthy, feel myself really well and perform in a way that I was really happy with. Yeah. It's something I'm really proud of. And do you like, do you think like starting doing the hundred K like earlier on was a good idea or if you could go back, would you have waited until you were sort of like a bit more like
Embracing Sustainable Training
00:09:11
Speaker
experienced on the trails? Like what? Yeah.
00:09:13
Speaker
Yeah, for sure, for sure. um And I don't even think it's me necessarily like the just the distance that was the problem for me. um I think it was, yeah, the fact that I was over training hugely, um which was related as well to a ah coach I had at the time who, yeah,
00:09:38
Speaker
i Yeah, I think, coached me very irresponsibly. um And I was under eating, not intentionally. It's not like I was, you know, I wasn't trying to lose weight, but for the amount of activity I was doing, particularly, you know, running 180 kilometer weeks in training, like, you obviously need to eat a huge amount, which I was not doing. um And then also under eating, like, during the, like, long runs and the efforts themselves.
00:10:08
Speaker
And yeah, I think it was that combination of factors that primed me to get stress fractures. But I think like with the experience that I had had running up to that point,
00:10:25
Speaker
Yes, I could have trained for 100K in a healthy and sustainable way, like if I had known more about the sport. um But definitely like the smartest thing to do would have been to have, you know, stuck with the shorter distances for a few years, like work on my speed, um get more experience, race and more experience on the trails.
00:10:45
Speaker
um And I mean, those distances, it's not like they're going anywhere. Like there's plenty of time to get to racing the longest stuff. um So yeah, definitely would have been smarter too.
00:11:01
Speaker
ah not rush into that. Yeah, no I think it's really hard because like at the end of the day like you want to like you want to have that motivation and drive to do the races that you're doing so at the time like you would have been super excited to do your first 100k and super keen to do it which is like half of the battle sometimes when you're getting into racing so I think like Like you probably, it's like, yeah, it's high its hindsight is always like the battle, but I think yeah like i see ah see a lot of like young athletes now like getting into a hundred milers and stuff. And it, I don't know. It just concerns me a little bit. I just feel like, yeah, you got so much time to get into that stuff. Yeah. I see.
00:11:45
Speaker
Sorry, it's actually one of my pet peeves with having people sort of rushing out. I think there's a difference. It depends on the context of why you're doing an event. Are you doing 100K because you want to achieve that distance and you want to finish the event and enjoy that experience and be a part of a big event like UTA or UDK or something like that.
00:12:09
Speaker
Versus are you racing? Um, and if you're aiming to race at a hundred K's and I think you should then I like everyone's different, but I think building up through the distances is really important and you can also race both at the same time. There's so many examples out there now of, of people running long races really well and running short races really well, not maybe the exactly the same time, but within even the same year or within the same season.
00:12:35
Speaker
Um, so yeah, I think that's a, that's a really key message. Um, Jess and Julia, like what you're talking about there in terms of like having, having some experience over those shorter distances will actually help you race better at the longer distances probably. And or also maybe be a little bit more, uh, longevity wise, maybe help you sort of last longer in the sport as well. Yeah, for sure. I mean, the key things for me now is.
00:13:03
Speaker
longevity and like the health context. And yeah, as I said, I do think like it is obviously possible to train for and race 100k's, 100 miles in a healthy way. But that's not what I was doing at the time. And I think that the more time you have in the sport, the more exposure you have to it, the more you learn.
00:13:27
Speaker
like how to train and race in a healthy and sustainable way so you're just able to set yourself up for success and longevity. What do you think um like sort of opened your eyes to like the way you were training being unsustainable and like the fuelling like did you meet someone that kind of like guided you in a different direction or did you just kind of realize it yourself?
Transition to New Coaching
00:13:49
Speaker
Yeah so I got a sacral stress fracture in June of 2022 after running 100k in May then and you know that oh I'll save you guys the details but basically I've had yeah over like from June 2022 to uh I guess July 2023 I had a sacral stress fracture a tibial stress reaction like a severe one and then ephemeral shaft stress not it wasn't a stress fracture but it was like a grade three stress reaction
00:14:26
Speaker
Um, so I was basically forced to realize, you know, like obviously I was doing something wrong because my body was literally breaking. Um, and the thing that people tell you when.
00:14:40
Speaker
when you tell them, oh, I have a femoral stress reaction or stress fracture, they say, the femur is the strongest bone in the body. And I'm like, yeah, I know. And I still ran so much that I broke it. So, yeah, really just had to look inward at those poor hands. And even like after the first You know, the when I first got the sacral stress fraction and then I was like, well, obviously I was training too much. So then I'll go back, you know, I change coaches and I reduce my volume. But then I got another stress reaction. It's like there are so many things.
00:15:16
Speaker
that I had to, well, yeah, I don't know, like I really just had to pull back the mileage, like so significantly compared to what I was doing. um And also just really, really, really focusing on nutrition, fueling, you know, just in daily life and and in and around sessions. So that, yeah, and that took time to realize. um And also I am My current coach, Megan Roche, is amazing. I love her. and she is um She's both a medical doctor and a PhD in female exercise physiology. and She is just so incredibly knowledgeable about like female athletes.
00:16:05
Speaker
um and about, yeah, like bone stress injuries in particular, um female athlete health and how to mitigate bone stress injuries. And yeah, her has her and her husband, they have a coaching business together and their main, like, one of their main messages is always just like eat enough boys, like just eat whatever you want and eat more of it. Like it's so such like you're against that restriction mentality. um So,
00:16:35
Speaker
that has been super helpful. Yeah. I'm glad you touched on on her and and and their coaching business because I actually recently stumbled across, um you know, like we're always consuming so much content in this area, but there's like so much out there and you you miss yeah different things that have happened. But Rich Roll did a podcast with David Rich about his, he he broke the course record for the Leadville 100 this year, which was like a 20 year old record.
00:17:01
Speaker
um And since then I've now stumbled upon their podcasts and listening to it. And they are both amazing. like They are very good listeners. So if you ever want to go and consume some trail content, but particularly some very science-driven and really meaningful conversations as well. um I think it's called it's called All Work Some Play, I think, their podcast.
00:17:23
Speaker
close. Some will play. Oh, wrong way. okay Yeah, that's what we also really appreciate is the like science backing. Yeah. Yeah. But I was were looking at, um I was looking at their coaching actually and I saw your name on on the list. um So I was like, oh, I've done some research for the podcast as well. Yeah. They've got a list of all the, they've got a list of all the athletes they coach, um which is quite a few. Yes.
00:17:48
Speaker
But um yeah i saw your name there and it was the only name that i recognize because i think a lot of their athletes are american. um yeah How did you how did you find ah megan as your coach like how did you how did you sort of get onto her?
00:18:01
Speaker
Yeah, so I had that first coach that I mentioned who was not Gray. We'll go into the details of that. And then after I got my sacral stress fracture, I was like, I'm done with this, not just because of you know the boring stress injury, because obviously I take responsibility for that. like Ultimately, yeah, it's my body. um But because of the response from my coach, which was just just very bizarre. um So then I was like getting a new coach. And at that point, I had been listening to the SWOT podcast, and I was really drawn to their manner, like how optimistic and lovely and kind they they seemed, and also, more importantly,
00:18:46
Speaker
like how science-backed they are and Megan's in particular expertise. um So I reached out to them via email. They said they were full at the time. um So they referred me to someone else, Ryan Miller, who is an athlete of David Roche's, who's an American ultra and he was really good. Like he's great, but he just like he he didn't have like the expertise that Megan had.
00:19:16
Speaker
um So I was with him for maybe like six months and then I went to Boulder and I went for a run with my friend Alex who was coached by Megan and I like told him this story and he was like oh I'll like put in a word with Megan for you because obviously they get like emails from people all over the world constantly leaving being like Will you coach me? Will you coach me? Like, even before, you know, David ran Rich Roll or whatever. Like, they're very well known and highly regarded as coaches. So anyway, my friend Alex, like, said to me, and he was like, oh, you should coach this girl. Like, she's really fast or whatever. And then I guess they, yeah, some space opened up. So.
00:20:05
Speaker
Fantastic. so So what you're telling me is if if you ever want to get coached by them, you have to go to Boulder. and yeah yeah look yeah its Fantastic. Oh, that's cool. and And how do you feel like that transition or it sounds like you've been on a bit of a journey since 2022, coming full circle back to like where we are now, how how do you feel like all that's added up?
00:20:31
Speaker
um into maybe your performance or how you felt running um a couple of weeks ago at COSY in the 100. Yeah. I mean, I've just completely changed my approach to training and to nutrition. um Like if I look at, you know, me, but May 2022, when I ran my first 100K, I was training so much more, so much harder. Like I would do these sessions And, you know, albeit I was probably a lot faster than like, if I had to raise the 10K, I probably would have run a lot faster at that point in time. But, you know, I would do these sessions that I would like absolutely destroy myself in and then not eat enough and run all this mileage. And when I ran that 100K in May 2022, I felt horrible, like pretty much from the beginning of the day. I just had no energy.
00:21:31
Speaker
Like it was not fun. I think I, I probably had like four gels throughout nine hours, which like now I'm like, man I want to shake myself, like silly silly person. No wonder I felt awful. Wait, how did you survive?
00:21:52
Speaker
I don't know. That's pretty impressive, to be honest, to finish 100k race, having only 4 chills. Yeah, there's this video, me crossing the finish line, they actually look like I'm about to keel over. Like, it was not great. and But yeah, so it's like, no wonder I felt horrible. But then compared to now, like, my mileage is way lower. I'm eating a lot more.
00:22:16
Speaker
i'm I'm not training as hard like in the sense that like my, you know, my easy run pace is slower. That was one of the first things that Megan said when I started coaching with her. She was like, you're obviously like, you know, you really like aerobically fit, but like purely from like the amount of like biomechanical stress that running faster places on versus running slower. Like you need to be running your easy runs, you know, 10, 20 minutes per K slower. Um,
00:22:44
Speaker
And yeah, I'm training a lot less. And, but when I ran COSI, like, you know, I felt, obviously you always have hard points in ultras. Well, not always, but 90% of the time you have hard points in ultras, particularly if it's over a 50K. I felt really, really good. Like, you know, I remember like rocking into the 92K aid station.
00:23:08
Speaker
getting a split that I was 90 seconds behind Abby Hall. And I was like, I feel amazing right now, like just mostly, but also physically, like I still had so much energy. um And yeah, in contrast to the four gels that I took and my first 100K for this event, I was having my target was 75 grams of carbs an hour, but I actually ended up maintaining 90 grams of carbs an hour, which is three gels an hour.
00:23:37
Speaker
I don't hear of many people going above their target. Like usually it's like, that's my target and I'll probably end up a little bit under. So that's yeah, that's really impressive. I generally felt like hungry when I was running. yeah Such a good feeling. Cool. I think the messages there were really important. um Anyone I think can take away from it is like, I don't know, this is probably a pretty like brash summary, but eat more, train less, but train a bit smarter and you'll perform better. um I think everyone can probably listen into that because like they're opposite to probably the traditional messages that we that we all got, which was,
00:24:15
Speaker
eat less to run lighter and train hard, whereas it's really the opposite of that. Yeah, I mean, I think this thing is like those messages are like, you know, maybe for like.
00:24:28
Speaker
70% of the population are applicable. People who are like maybe sedentary and not eating super healthily or don't live a very healthy lifestyle. But the type of people who are likely to be racing ultra marathons probably do not need to hear that messaging and probably need to be doing the best.
00:24:46
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's the thing like we, especially with health messaging, like I've fallen into that trap before is like, uh, unhealthy foods and stuff. So people are avoiding, like I would avoid that sort of um unhealthy food. But in reality, when you're training really hard, you actually need to get some calories from that. Like I was listening to, um, the talk about Christian Blumenfold, who's the triathlete, who's very, very good. And he has something like something stupid, like a thousand a thousand grams of carbs a day because he trains so much and he's ah he's a big guy. But he actually can't, he can't get that from like quote unquote healthy foods. He needs to he needs to have ultra processed foods as part of that. And that's like actually somewhat healthy for him ah to be able to do his training. So like, yeah, I think that's it. That's some really important messages. So thank you for highlighting them. No worries.
00:25:39
Speaker
Yeah, cool. You got any other questions, Jess, about the build-up or Juliet's history, or should we get into a little bit about any details about the race? Yeah, well, I was sort of also wondering, because I noticed you did some Iron Man, like some triathlons. So was that, like, is that something that you're going to be doing in the future, or were you just sort of using it as cross-training?
00:26:08
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm going to go ahead and say, no, that's not something I I mean, like, until I get my next race fracture, which Touchwood isn't going to happen. No, I a lot of my friends are really into cycling and triathlons and the triathlons and I did a half Ironman and Cairns in July. They were sort of more like social um social trips which were very fun but I will say like preparing you know all the drop bags for half Ironman I was like this is so much faff which I guess we also do have to do for trial running like we have to prepare all our nutrition and stuff but think of like for triathlon it's like that times three and it just one it just annoyed me yeah
00:27:03
Speaker
Fair enough. But yeah, I do love um cycling for cross-training. Yeah, nice. Nice. um Yeah, I think now we'll get into more like about the race at Cosi specifically. um Yeah, just give us a run through of the highs and the low points and what happened with the weather because I know you were sort of stopped for two hours and how that played. Yeah.
00:27:28
Speaker
Can I start just by hyping it up a little bit because I think this is a pretty impressive run. um So Juliet, we we did call out the results last week, but Juliet was second place in a time of 11 hours 15, which was second behind Abby Hall, who's from the US, very accomplished runner, and she ran to 10 43.
00:27:49
Speaker
in the scope of a hundred K race, not really that far behind. And that was also ninth overall. So she beat a good bunch of the men as well. So I think it was a, like a really impressive run. Um, I'm keen to hear a little bit about it. It sounds like it was a bit of, uh, like you weren't that you were in touch of Abby at different times as well. And I'm sure there was a lot of, a lot of stories from the trail.
00:28:13
Speaker
Thank you, I appreciate it. Yeah, so I obviously knew that Abby is an incredibly fast runner. Like she won CCC in 2022. She's obviously had, um she broke her leg really badly last year.
00:28:26
Speaker
um and has been going through the whole rehab process. So yeah, I didn't like know exactly where she was with her fitness, but she is an amazing athlete. um So i yeah, talking to my coach, going into the race and also, yeah, just, I didn't recognize any of the other names on the start list other than Abby. Like obviously there can always be people who come out of nowhere, but um I wasn't going to waste all my mental energy, trying to like stalk everyone's like, UCMB profiles and see what race they've done. And so Abby was really the only person whose performance I thought about going into the race. Um, and I talked to my coach because I was sort of wondering where are the balance is between trying to compete and trying not to like burn
00:29:19
Speaker
myself out too early in the race. I was like, if Abby goes, like, do I try go with her? Like, where's the balance there? And basically my coach said, you know, this is your first 100K effectively in a long time. um So just run your own race. And then, you know, when you get to perish it, like, try reel her in or, you know,
00:29:41
Speaker
um see where you are, but if you've got leagues, then you can start like pushing and racing. So that was sort of my mindset going in. um So when Abby went out from the front, like I was not stressed. um I let her go. ah The first section of the race from where do we start? Perish it.
00:30:04
Speaker
Yeah, we started Perish it to Charlotte's Pass. It was really beautiful. It's kind of technical, a little bit of rock hopping. So, you know, it wasn't super fast for me. I'm not a great technical runner. um But yeah, I was just enjoying myself. Gone to the first aid station at Charlotte's Pass. The vibes were high. It was great. They were like... um Like a lot of my friends were there. um Obviously I saw it. That was the first point at which I saw my crew, Tom Driscoll, shout out to him. He got third in the 50k the day before um and he was just the best crew ever. um And yeah, so that was the first checkpoint at 16.2k and then it was like quite a long stretch until the next checkpoint at 39k. So we went off up COSY. I was still having a great time. The terrain was more runnable so I started to like
00:30:56
Speaker
get moving a bit more and like pass some of the guys. Then there was like a little out and back at the top of Cosi. And I saw Abby when I was going up, I saw her coming down. So at that point, we would have been like, maybe like 10 minutes apart.
00:31:10
Speaker
um And yeah, then went around the back of Charlotte's Pass, no real issues. Then coming into the second checkpoint at 39.2k, there's like a really steep hill like leading into the second checkpoint. It's like a pretty short hill, but it's very sharp.
00:31:27
Speaker
And by the time I got up to the like to the top of that hill where my crew Tom was, I was like quite out of breath. Because there's this video of me that UTMB took, or UTK checkpoint. I kind of looked like I'm dying, which you know I was a bit. But thankfully Tom restocked me with gels, poured water on me, and sent me on my way.
00:31:51
Speaker
And after that, there was a nice um sort of rambling section from Charlotte's Pass to Guthaga. And during that section, I like got my you know breath recovered a bit and I felt really good. um And gone to Guthaga, which is at $49K.
00:32:12
Speaker
And I was, I think, 14 minutes behind Abby at this point. And I came to the checkpoint and they're like, you can't go. I'm like, what do you mean? Like, I'm going. There were some, you know, expletives in there for me as well.
00:32:28
Speaker
fish I was like, I'm because my perspective was what it felt like to me, I was like, I'm having like the best race right now. I'm feeling really good.
00:32:40
Speaker
I'm going like I'm getting my ticket to CCC. But basically what had happened was there was like an electrical storm forecast. So they had paused the race indefinitely. um And the team ah at Trail Cosiosco was working with like the weather forecasts, like the, I don't know, mountain safety people. um to determine if it was safe or not. And so what had happened was everyone who was subsequently coming into the checkpoint was just getting stopped at Cuffaga. Most of the competitors were at Perisha. Apparently they were sending like four wheel drives out onto the main range to pick people up and drive them back to the checkpoints.
00:33:29
Speaker
um Abby and Tyler Windham, another man who was racing the 100K had left Guthaga, like, because I was a first person at Guthaga who they didn't let go. So Abby and Tyler had like gone through, you know, just before me. um So they had been left to run past the checkpoint, but they sent people to pick them up and drive them back to the checkpoint. um And then there were like the top six men were at perisher. They had made it to the next checkpoint. But yeah, it was a very, it was so strange. um I was like initially like really upset and stressed because
00:34:18
Speaker
Yeah, as I said, like I felt like I was having such a great race and like I had obviously worked so much to get to this point and I just wanted to run. but they you know there And there was no certainty around what would happen. um And I really struggled with that because I'm a control freak. so I wanted to know like you know it's like if they can tell you like okay in an hour the race is going to be back on I would have been like great but it was just like no one had any idea what was going on so we were basically all just standing around trying not to let our muscles seize up you know I had a little bit of veging my scroll um which really hit the spot and
00:35:01
Speaker
you know, a cup of soup. um My crew, Tom, came and gave me a little pep talk, which was much needed. And then without much um warning, you know, after about two two hours, they were like, OK, in five minutes, you're going to go again. And at that point, we had all sort of been theorizing about what would happen and we were saying like if they like let us go like they're not gonna make us run the whole race we were like surely they'll just let us finish at 92k which is like because you get into the you basically go to the finish at 92k and then you go out and do the final 15k up eagle's nest which is this like hideous climb And then you come back to the finish again. So we all thought, you know, they'll just stop in it at 92K, like that's almost 100 kilometers. But no, um they announced that we were going to go off again and that we were going to do the whole thing. um So, you know, I was like, yeah, I guess were kids we to get going. And so we started running again. My body actually felt fine. um Obviously, like mentally, it was hard.
00:36:14
Speaker
but it was hard for everyone. And I think I just really tried to just like be in a positive mindset because there's no point in being in a negative mindset. Like nothing is, you're not going to benefit in any way from like feeling sorry for yourself. And I still had 57 kilometers to run. So yeah, off we went. The next few checkpoints I would say passed fairly uneventfully. I was definitely feeling really good. um And I was getting closer to Abby. um And yeah, that was, I guess, fast forward to the, um yeah, when I came in 90 seconds behind her at the 92K checkpoint.
00:37:05
Speaker
um And then after that, there was a final climb up to Eagle's Nest, which was oh, my goodness, it was horrible. I was like, yeah, I felt it was like pouring rain, howling wind, you're like up this exposed bridge line. It's just not a fun time. You know, it was one of those situations where I was just like, if you just keep putting one foot in front of the other, eventually you're going to make it to the top of this co climb.
00:37:34
Speaker
um So I definitely lost like a fair bit of time on Abby at that point, but, um, I also knew thanks to the continuous updates from my crew, Tom, that third place was like over an hour behind me. And all I really wanted was, um, my ticket to CCC. So I at least was like, if you just keep going, like you kind of have the ticket. Obviously it's not over until it's over, but like barring something terrible happening.
00:38:06
Speaker
um You probably got that suss. So yeah, got up to the top of the eagle's nest. And then the Climb Down Merits Nature trial, whatever it's called, was horrible. For anyone who's ever done that trial, you know exactly what I mean. Also by this point, it was getting dark because again, we'd been standing around for two hours. So whilst before that pause, i was I was not planning on finishing in the dark. It ended up happening that I finished in the dark. And I was too stubborn to get my head to watch out because I kept thinking surely like we surely I'm almost there. Like I'm not going to stop.
00:38:43
Speaker
to get my head torched out when I'm like 500 metres from the finish. But um yeah, I ended up basically descending in the dark, which was my own fault. um Such that when I like came around out of the trees down into the finishing shoot, no one had any idea that I was there because. Because they were all like, she'll definitely have a head lamp on like it's dark. um But yeah, made it to the finish line eventually.
00:39:11
Speaker
It was great to see my boyfriend who is still at the finish line having finished not that long a ahead of me, I'm just saying. um And also my crew, Tom, and just give him a big hug and thank him for following me around all day. And yeah, it was a great day.
00:39:31
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. And um yeah, such a good experience for you as well, because I feel like, I don't know, leading into 100k, like there's so many different factors that you have to consider. And like, being stopped in the race for two hours is not really one that would cross your mind. So like... Yeah, definitely not. Yeah.
00:39:50
Speaker
yeah I wonder if now that like I guess this happened at GPT Mylar last year and and again happened this year in the 100 and the Mylar at UTK. I wonder if people start thinking about managing that and like how they would manage that because I think that's probably worth thinking about in the preparation. Hopefully it doesn't happen again. but like There is likelihood that it could happen. I'm not saying people should go out there and train by like stopping and then starting again, although that might be a good training session. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, it's really hard because obviously like it ended up.
00:40:25
Speaker
Like it ended up kind of being unfair because it's like, well, yeah you would have raced differently if you had known, you know, like for some people when they were stopped, they were like really like in the pain cable, whatever. And they were like, I need this opportunity to regroup, to have some food, have some water, whatever it is they need to do. And they felt better afterwards. Whereas.
00:40:49
Speaker
For me, I was sort of rearing to go, so I felt yeah like it was a disadvantage. um But then again, like Abby, had run like you know two or three extra kilometers. so They picked her up, drove her back to the aid station. She then started again from the aid station. yeah and She had to run the same part of the course again. She had to rerun the same part of the course. and like they did Mentally, that'd be pretty frustrating, like I think. They did deduct time off her finished time to account for that. but
00:41:23
Speaker
Mentally, that would have been so, so frustrating. And also, you know, you do have that extra two or three kilometers in the legs. Like, it's not fair. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder if people start like I think at at least psychologically thinking about it and working through some ah some like mental rehearsal of what you would do in that situation because it sounds like it might be some part of a race in the future where like if that does happen psychologically I think it might be the biggest effect on um performance past that point is like if you don't take it well that it happens.
00:41:59
Speaker
So being prepared for it and maybe having a plan for what you do. if you got If it happened when you were like, let's say like in your situation, if it happened when you were feeling really good, what would you do? Or if it happened when you're feeling really bad, what would you do? um I think maybe people might consider that for future races. ah Not saying you should have done it for this one because it there hasn't really been that many chances, but at Cosi where that where the the weather can change and um and it is really exposed out there and they have to make these calls. um Yeah, it's maybe worth considering for the future. Yeah, I think like the sort of broader lesson in there is that like obviously ultra running is
00:42:41
Speaker
completely unpredictable. Like there's so much we can't control, particularly when we're running in the mountains and dealing with like elements like that. And you really just need to, you know, you can be prepared as prepared as you like, but ultimately you're very, very likely to come up against some element that you can't control. And the more you can, you know, try and approach that with a positive mindset, the better it will set you up for success because Ultimately, like, even if it's not fair and it does suck, you being pissed off about it is not, like, no one cares about that in the end. Like, you're only hurting yourself. You've just got to, yeah. yeah
00:43:27
Speaker
Yeah, so there's present problem solving in the moment as well. And and that's what we, I think we all love about trail running is that we have to do that problem solving during every race, even sometimes 30K races, you still have to do a bit of that. So yeah, that's definitely a good skill to have to be a competent ultra runner.
00:43:44
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And um how have you pulled up from the race? Yeah, I've actually pulled up really well. um i As I was saying to you earlier Jess, I think that's definitely because of the amount of carbs I consumed during the race. like I think that makes such a massive difference. um So, yeah, like I touch wood, don't have any niggles. I've been on a few easy jogs this week, um but the body felt pretty good, enner energy levels have been good. So, yeah, I'm ready to get rolling into the next training block, hopefully. And what is um your next race? So the next race is Tarawera 102.
00:44:34
Speaker
I am really looking forward to it. I think it's more suited to my strengths than Cosi in the sense that I feel like I'm stronger on runnable terrain. Obviously Tarawera is known for being very runnable. It's also got a bit less elevation gain at, you know, just over 2000 rather than 3000 meters. It's also not at altitude. um And while I don't think I like, like I think I do pretty well in altitude, I don't live at altitude. So yeah, um obviously that's a disadvantage.
00:45:04
Speaker
And yes, I did do the 22K last year at Tarawera and had a fun day there, so I'm excited to... ah Just add 80K? Yeah, also it's going to be like a really competitive race, so I'm really excited to just...
00:45:24
Speaker
put myself in a field and I feel like racing in a field like that. I feel like the only way to like level up is by racing competitive races. um Yeah. Yeah. Fantastic. Exciting. Cool. Awesome. so um All right. Well, thank you, Juliet, for giving us a fantastic overview about your journey so far and and then diving into, um, ultra trail cosy.
00:45:50
Speaker
um on I know me and Jess haven't been as interesting over the last few weeks, um but Jess, what have you been? How have you recovered from the race? how have you What's the last week look like for you? Um, yeah, I pulled up like a little bit sorer than I expected to two just like, I don't know the race, like only has 600 meters elevation gain. So I sort of thought I'd feel okay after. Um, but yeah, I had a fair bit of dons for like maybe quite a bit of, um, descent though, doesn't it? Like it's got a net, it's a, it's a drop. So probably a bit more eccentric loading.
00:46:25
Speaker
Yeah. And like the pace of the last few k's was a bit faster than like some of the other trail runs I've done. So I guess, yeah. But yeah, I'm fine now. Like I ah haven't run since the race yet. I'm sort of having like a planned two weeks off, just... i So you did a very um impressive ascent of a mountain on a bike with no gears. Oh, that was actually really dumb. Like, yeah. You still got the QOM.
00:46:54
Speaker
ah That was um just another little hill like in my little neighbourhood that no one actually rides up. So you were going to say you got a cycling KOM up Mount Majora and I was like that as well because cycling KOMs are like so hard. No, I definitely didn't. That was a girl that went past me anyway. so okay um yeah know i like I literally had done hardly anything all week. like I went for a couple of swims.
00:47:21
Speaker
um and then yeah Sunday I was feeling pretty antsy and it was a nice day so I was like oh just go out on the fixie I do have a normal road back as well but I get scared of the cleats like every time I haven't ridden in a while I'm just like oh just go on the fixie and just like please stop being on the bike again um and like I'd been on some pretty hilly rides with it before like in Perth but they were more like undulating like with little hills so I was like Yeah, going out Madura on a fixie, I had like, I was, I literally could have run it faster. Like, I was like, it was so... Really grinding, really grinding. so get to the top I was like, no, I'm i'm halfway now. um And yeah, actually, like pretty sore from that ride. So you really made it harder but for yourself by using that bike. Yeah, I'll probably do it again, but on the road bike.
00:48:18
Speaker
Good idea. camera so writinging there and sex yeah yeah I'm really jealous because Melbourne is not good for riding in central central Melbourne. It's just like, yeah, it's it's not good. And I'm doing quite a bit on the bike as well. Sydney's pretty shocking for riding. Well, okay. No, it's like we do have some beautiful cycles, but the cars are definitely out to kill us.
00:48:42
Speaker
Yeah. yeah yeah what's the Jesse said the plan was to have another week off running, is that right? um Yeah, I'm starting to get a bit like, I don't know how much longer I'll ask. Running is just so much more convenient than cycling and swimming. i'm like I can't be bothered. like just, I don't know, getting changed for the pool and then getting like chlorine and having a shower. And whereas like running, you can just run out the door and you're like, you're done in like half an hour or something. Yeah, it's definitely, I was having this conversation with someone at work yesterday and I was saying like, like my training at the moment is like so much more time consuming than it normally is. And I also feel like I'm not training as hard. It's like, it's it's very different.
00:49:27
Speaker
Yeah, it has been fun. Like it's been so nice just like having, like choosing to have a break rather than being forced to. Cause I feel like it's probably the last time in a few years where I've not been like stopped for like four or five months with a stress fracture, which is, yeah, it's, it's pretty nice. And I'm pretty proud that I've gotten through the whole year, like without a major injury. So hopefully it's like really smart, you know, from your coach's perspective and from your perspective to take these planned risks.
00:49:57
Speaker
so that you don't get injured in the bigger scheme of things. Yeah, definitely. um And I think like, oh, like younger me would have been like pretty freaked out to stop running for two weeks just for the sake of it. But I think just like like learning from like your mistakes and like learning that having two weeks off, it doesn't actually like do you any harm, it's more benefit than harm. So Yeah, um I'm pretty excited for next year though. like I feel like I'm really motivated to get into training again, which is good. I'll probably start jogging towards the end of this week and then do sessions do some sessions in a couple of weeks and yeah, get back into it. Fantastic. what's on Have you got anything on the cards like early in the year or is it more sort of for building for stuff later in the year?
00:50:46
Speaker
Um, I was considering Tarawera, but, um, I think I'm going to do Buffalo is that, uh, I've got an entry to two bays, um, cause I'll be in Melbourne in January. Um, so that's, yeah, I'm excited for that. one It was the first trail racer ever I ever did. So excited to go back there and see how much I've improved. Which the sense ah just a 28 K. Nice.
00:51:15
Speaker
Yeah. Cool. Fantastic. Yeah. And then Buffalo will be like the next big one after that, the marathon. um Awesome. which Yeah. podcast exclusive. ah Yeah. okay Hopefully I actually get to the race this time. Cause I, yeah, like this year at Buffalo, I obviously had a pretty shocking experience where I had to pull out. So definitely got some redemption to do at that one. Yeah, definitely. good Motivation.
00:51:46
Speaker
Yeah, fantastic. Cool. Yeah. And I think, I think it's really smart. Like you're saying, like the most of the most athletes in the Northern hemisphere have like an extended period where they're probably not running for like maybe even two months um or they're doing very little running for two months.
00:52:02
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. and And we don't have access to skiing as much and and ah and usually our off-season unfortunately has to time with their off-season, which is now when it's actually amazing to go out and go running a lot of the time. um But I think those planned breaks like you're talking about, just like for my athletes, I always try and schedule in at least. like a week to 10 days at the end of each sort of mini season and we might do two or three a year. So having those the short breaks just to offload the tissues and um give them some time to recover before you get back in and start smashing them again. um I think, yeah, it's a really smart choice. So I'm sure you'll come back nice and strong anyway and you won't lose any fitness at all, probably in two weeks. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I'm excited to get back into it.
00:52:49
Speaker
And um what's been going on with you, Brady? Yeah, so I haven't been doing a whole heap. I've been, after GPT 50, I took two weeks. I was planning to sort of do 10 days to two weeks of just not much at all. I haven't done any running since GPT and it's been now two and a half weeks or closer to three. um But I was ah didn't even do much, say, training. um I did a little bit of,
00:53:17
Speaker
ah maintenance strength work and just cycling commutes to and from work for two weeks. But that was the plan to give the body some time off. I'd have had a big year. um And now I'm getting back into training. The focus is for me 100% on getting my Achilles, right? Um, because I've been neglecting getting it, like putting the full focus on that for like, arguably four years. So it's time. It's time. It's, it's been enough time. And, and I'm, um, I'm really sort of leaning into doing some cross training and enjoying that. So I've been out on the bike quite a bit. Um, I've been, yeah, I started sort of training say last Wednesday and I did about, I think I did about 300Ks on the bike in last week, that includes a couple of commutes, so like I was pretty happy with that and I'm excited to sort of improve my bike fitness to a level where I can actually get some training effect out of it, because at the moment I feel like I just can't get my heart rate up, like I went on on Sunday, I rode for
00:54:22
Speaker
two and a half hours and I would struggle to get my heart rate up over like 150, 155. I think roughly that I've done some testing. The top of my zone two is closer to say 160, low 160. So I'm like struggling to get to top zone two even when I'm um pushing and then I went to the gym and and went on the stepper.
00:54:43
Speaker
and i got to like 165 within like five minutes so it's just like i struggle with the and i think it's just ah someone commented on my strava and dekla mckenzie actually from victoria and he said you just need to get a bit more bike fit and then you'll be able to get your heart rate up So I'm keen to utilize cycling a little bit more within my training in the future. So I'm using this time as a good opportunity to get my body used to cycling that I can actually get my heart rate up on the bike. um And I think that's very valuable as well as obviously I'm doing a lot of work in the background to try and get my Achilles right. um I've been listening to a lot of podcasts and hearing a lot of stories of
00:55:24
Speaker
of people who are having awesome performances in their late 30s, having awesome performances after like one example is a David Roach who has had great performances in the past, but he had this probably career defining a performance this year at Leadville 36 years old, but he's done 18 years behind that. So I know that there's like, there's something to just training many years and you can wait for that thing to come.
00:55:50
Speaker
um And I think we're going to touch on it and in a moment and I might ask you guys what your what your biggest learnings from the year are. um But for me, my biggest learning is that I need to stop rushing to things and just let them come. um And I need to put the body first if I want to be running for a long time. um And i'm I'm pretty keen to run competitively for as long as possible. I'd like to be doing that into my late 30s and I'm not going to do that if I put my Achilles any worse than what they are now. um So I'm going to try and pull them out of the deep end and hopefully be back running more consistently and and running without symptoms is sort of and another big goal. It's just like I've spent a lot of this year
00:56:35
Speaker
doing training sessions or doing runs or doing races where I'm like consistently thinking about what my Achilles feels like and it's just not like I just sort of lost I didn't lose the love of running I still really want to go out and go for a run like if I could go out for a run today I would absolutely love it but It's just not as fun running when I would come back from a lot of runs frustrated or and or not angry to some extent or um and a bit sore. And it's just, yeah, I want to get myself out of that space and get back the enjoyment of running where I can do a two hour run and and I don't come back sore or I don't have soreness during that run. And I'm not thinking about how my Achilles felt when I ran up that hill.
00:57:16
Speaker
Um, so yeah, I guess big learning from this year. I feel like ah I've done some character building in the last few weeks. And, um, um, ah usually in this spot, like I had a stress fracture in 22 and I was aching to get back to running and I'm still very keen to get back to running, but I'm, uh, where I'm at the moment is I just want to get my body right. And I know I'm very happy to not run until.
00:57:45
Speaker
it is the right time to run. So I'm working closely with my physio and my coach and um figuring out what that is, seeing if there's anything, I'm seeing a sports doc and doing everything to see if there's anything additional I need to do apart from rehab to get onto my Achilles. But yeah, that's where I'm at. What about you guys? Do you, um What did you, what's maybe Juliet, we'll start with you. What, is there a big learning you've taken away from this year, either from your own running or from something you've seen in the, in the, in the ultra world? Hmm, that is a really tough one.
00:58:23
Speaker
Um, I mean, so many things. Okay. I'm going to say two things, which I know is cheating, but I'll just go through. I feel like the first one that is like from seeing ultra running in general, looking at the sport, um, is just how, uh, strong.
00:58:43
Speaker
female ultramas are. You know, no shade to men, obviously. But like, I just feel like the women have been crushing it this year. Like, I don't know if you guys remember the Lululemon Further Project?
00:58:55
Speaker
That was insane. um And particularly seeing women, yeah, like later into the 30s and even in the early 40s just absolutely crushing it in ultras is really as inspirational. And yeah, like seeing women who have like had children come back in and crush like marathons and ultras.
00:59:17
Speaker
very, very inspirational. um So that's one. And then I guess the second thing, like more personally, um thinking about sort of sort of what I was saying earlier is just like, you really don't have to kill yourself to train and perform well.
00:59:37
Speaker
um like yeah The training that I've been doing has felt really sustainable. It's been a lot more relaxed than what I've done in the past. like Obviously, you have to train hard sometimes, but it's just like you're not waking up every day and killing yourself. and Training should be fun.
00:59:59
Speaker
And you can, you probably will have your best performances and it will be the most sustainable if you're training um in a way that that you enjoy. Yeah, awesome. I think they're both key. Yeah, the level of women running in general, like across the board, whether that's trail, ultra, road, track is just like, it looks like it's continually levelling up. i feel I feel like I've seen it in so many places.
01:00:25
Speaker
this year with the Olympics on, in trail running, um in things that have happened outside of events as well. like it's just It's crazy and and it's so cool to see um say that. and i enjoyed I think there was, I saw a post from Kelly around the time, this is sort of a little slide aside, but around the time of Hounslow of um women standing on the start line at the front.
01:00:49
Speaker
um And at UTK I saw some cool pictures of like, um I think I saw a picture today of Tia Bull starting in, I think it was in the 100, did she run the 100K Tia Bull?
01:01:02
Speaker
um Maybe and she's from New South Wales. I think she's coached by Run Lab or something there. um But yeah, there was this older lady and I actually don't know who she was. She was on the start line at the front and it was so cool to see. And Abby Hall, her I think it must have been 100K then. But yeah, it's so cool to see a little bit of that um happening and and obviously there's still a little way to go. but um I love seeing that and in a hundred k it doesn't, it doesn't you don't you don't need to self seed so much because there's not that many runners and you've got a hundred k to cover. um So it's it's cool to see that representation up the front. um So I'm sure we can see a little bit of more of that in 2025.
01:01:44
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to continue to grow and grow. And I think like similarly for me, I've noticed like ah straight like this year, just being part of Asia Pacific Chance, Australia as a whole, just like really leveling up in the trail running world. um Yeah, just to see so many young guns in the under 23 races. like meddling. like We had a silver, a bronze in the men's and a gold in the women's. like That was amazing. And then um obviously our great performances in the seniors, like so many in the top 10 and a couple of medals as well, which was awesome um and really exciting because I think like the sport is just going to continue to grow and grow in Australia and we're just going to get better and better, which is really exciting.
01:02:32
Speaker
Yeah. Cool. Definitely. And definitely to that. and And yeah, I think we said we're going to circle back to it. um And I'll just, just you saying that reminded me, but do you think um you, you both run with assets and we were saying before how big a team assets have, do you think some of that has to do with the brands getting around and building their teams a bit more? Because I feel like we've gone from maybe two or three years ago where there wasn't that many say sponsored athletes, but now there's a a fair few more and also maybe some more of this sort of team vibe, like within ASICs, do you feel like you're bringing each other up together? Is there some is there a bit of team vibe going on there or um what are your thoughts, I guess, on brands being involved at the moment?
01:03:13
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. I think it's um an important factor because firstly, you want to create awareness um for the sport, which is how you sort of get people interested, like boost the audience, but also like inform the younger generation of um like really inspirational performances so that they can be motivated to get in the sport.
01:03:34
Speaker
Um, and the brands are sort of like a really key component of that because they can bring that audience. Um, so I think, yeah, Essex getting involved in the trail running world has been awesome for the sport because there's such a big brand. Um, and with the growing popularity of trail, like they're helping to sort of boost that. So yeah, I think it's, it's, yeah, it's been awesome. Yeah, definitely. And just adding like from the.
01:03:58
Speaker
you know, point of view of the more like elite performances, like having more money and more brands interested in the sport is always like, it's super helpful. Like, I mean, if you look at like trail running in Australia compared to, you know, like in America or Europe, we're still like, you know, years behind where they are in terms of how much like investment there is. um But just having yeah more opportunities available for elite athletes. Everyone who's listening to this podcast probably knows trial running is a really expensive sport, particularly when you're talking about getting gear, paying for a century, travelling for races, like it all getting nutrition, like it all adds up. and On the elite side, if
01:04:49
Speaker
There are more brands that are interested in um like sponsoring athletes that just makes it a lot easier and it's it's like obviously going to bring up performances. um Yeah, definitely. Cool.
01:05:04
Speaker
Awesome, some good ah learnings from the year and all I think some all positive towards 2025 and seeing where all those things build to in 2025. It's an exciting time to be involved in trail running I think, um especially in Australia because it's just growing all the time.
01:05:24
Speaker
um On that note we might move on to some results ah from the week so I'm gonna start over in Thailand so we had the UTMB I think it's called the it's just called Hoka Chiang Mai I think.
01:05:44
Speaker
Chiang Mai Thailand um doesn't have a specific ah race name but it was the ah major for the Asia region so the UTMB world series has a number of ah races that they designate as a major.
01:06:03
Speaker
each year, which essentially means I think there's a bit of prize money. There's a few more spots available for the following year's UTMB finals in Chamonix. And therefore it attracts a lot of really great runners. um And so these races are usually highly competitive. We talked a few weeks ago how UTA has just become the major for the Oceana region. So they've added a region which is Oceana and um it will be a major in 2025, which is really cool um because like, yeah, we might see some of these runners that are erasing
01:06:39
Speaker
um at this Thailand race or other regional races attracted to common race in Australia as well. um We had the podcast's own Simone Brick running, which was very cool to see. um I won't go through all the results, but Simone was running the 100K.
01:07:00
Speaker
distance. She had her eyes set on a top 10 so that she could get the spot at CCC, which is 100k equivalent at the UTMB finals next year. um And she crushed it and definitely got that top 10, which was amazing. I'll just get the winners from each race. So ah the male winner was Hugh Bao in 10 hours and four minutes. And the female winner, who also came seventh overall, which I thought was pretty incredible, given how deep the ah men's field was, ah was E. Katarina Mitayev, and she ran 11 hours 30. And Simone was in ninth place in 13 hours 55. So she, I spoke to her a little bit after the race, she had, um
01:07:54
Speaker
got some some ah like mild blistering or her feet were getting like really sore on the bottom due to a bit of friction early in the race which made the whole day pretty tricky but apart from that she actually felt like she ran really well she got a good amount of nutrition in given the context of her experiences leading into the race and I'm sure she'll she'll give some more detail when she does a recap. um And yeah, she finished strongly. I think she was a bit upset because her feet meant that she couldn't enjoy the downhill as much as she normally would. um I think she's pretty happy to make it to the finish line um and a good way to sort of top off her season and I'm sure we'll hear a little bit more about it.
01:08:36
Speaker
uh, when she jumps on the podcast, hopefully next week. Um, did you guys see that race at all? I was following along a little bit. There was actually some good coverage. Kelly Angel was doing some commentating, which was very cool to see as well. Um, so, and yeah, the trails look pretty nice. I think that was, uh, they were on some of the trails where world champs was in 22. Yeah, I saw it as well.
01:09:02
Speaker
Oh, sorry. Um, I was just gonna say I saw it as well today that Kat Bradley got sixth. Um, she won Western States in 2017 and that's definitely her biggest performance. And then she sort of like, I think she like had like a hip surgery or something. Um, she's an American runner with Brooks, but yeah, interesting. Now she's got a ticket to CCC. So. Yeah, cool. And she's another person to look out for.
01:09:31
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, these the races were so deep. um I was looking, I was following a few of them, like the 50K Rui Yuita was the the winner in the men and Hua,
01:09:47
Speaker
I always say her name wrong, Hua Ha from Vietnam, who was at Asia Pacific champ. She was first in the women. um and running in pretty impressive time as well but all the races were so so deep um so yeah it was pretty cool to see um and it was cool to watch some of the footage kudos to the commentators who were at it all weekend um I think these races, I see, they're compared to other commentating gigs, probably quite a tricky or long day at least. um lot Lots of filler time that you have to talk in. Awesome. um I think, Jess, you're going to take us to a Sydney Trail, half marathon.
01:10:31
Speaker
Yeah, so the Sydney Trail half marathon was on over the weekend. um So that one's held around a little park in Parramatta. Juliet, do you know much about this one? Because it looks like there was a race on the Saturday and the Sunday. I've actually never heard of it before. I hate to say it.
01:10:53
Speaker
No, that's all good. um Yeah, so it looks like there was a half marathon held on both the Saturday and the Sunday. So I guess like people could choose which day they wanted to run, which is pretty cool. um And I think there was about 300 and something meters of elevation gain.
01:11:10
Speaker
over the 20 something K, which makes it um relatively fast. So on this Saturday in the ladies, we had Georgia bar in first place um in one hour, 50 44. So well done to her and then second was Georgie McBridey in one hour 55 and third was Annette Henderson in two hours 04. And then in the men we had David Bailey in one hour 35 in first place um and second was Alex Bate in one hour 36 and third was Joshua McNabb in one hour 37. So well done to those guys.
01:11:55
Speaker
Um, and that Saturday looked a bit horrible as well. It was super rainy and gross. Um, and then on the Sunday in the ladies, we had Kiara Ritke in first place in one hour 58. Uh, Madison Lane was second in one hour 58 31. So she was only 15 seconds behind first. So a bit of a sprint finish between those two.
01:12:23
Speaker
um And then third was Becca Morgan in two hours. Oh one um and then in the men we had Thomas survey tree in one hour 33 Second was Louie Minette in One hour 33 58 or one second behind first say another sprint finish in the men um And third was Zach O'Neill in one hour 36. So Well done to those guys Awesome. um I think we had highlighted down Juliet to do the Afterglow Twilight Trail run. Have you got those results? Or I can read them out, Juliet, if you want. Oh, I mean, i can I can Google it. I haven't prepared anything. there' it There's a link um in the... Wait, there's one? I can look at the link. We can ask Simone to smooth this bed out, or we can leave it in for fun.
01:13:22
Speaker
OK, well, after Glow Twilight Night trail run in the surf coast of Victoria, um first was Lachlan Wright in a time of 1.23.40, closely followed by Archie Fifoot. Please excuse my pronunciation.
01:13:44
Speaker
um 124 46 and then rounded out by Matthew Neve in 127 58 and then for the woman um first place was Tracy Austin 142.59, second Josie Riesley 145.04 and third Zara McKeegan 151.49. Awesome. Thank you very much. And I also saw this week and actually I believe
01:14:26
Speaker
was Kepler challenge in New Zealand. Um, I'd miss that, missed that one off. Um, have you, do you know about Kepler Juliet or you've been down there before? Yeah. So I've never run the Kepler challenge. Um, but I was, it's, it's an iconic race, um, in New Zealand, uh, for those who don't know in the South Island, um, at 60 K and yeah, it goes through the Fiordland national park. Um,
01:14:57
Speaker
And there is a very big climb in it. And I was following the race in particular because, um, these Mackenzie, who, well, she's American, but now she lives in New Sur and race is in Australia, uh, one hundred this year. She's also coached by Megan Roach, my coach. Um,
01:15:16
Speaker
She was racing. And so I wanted to see how she was going. And yeah, I think there was a woman who won, who had won in previous years. She seemed really good. Katie Morgan. Yeah. Yeah. So I've got the, I've got the results up here. Katie Morgan was first in in the women in five hours, 48, 42.
01:15:42
Speaker
Um, Francis Redmond was second in 6 0 4 0 3 and Beth was, uh, third in 6 0 9 43. Um, so I think actually that Katie, Katie's time, I was just looking at the course records, like 5 23 or something for the women. So not too far off that pretty decent time. Um, and fast course record yeah, I think both the course records are really quick. So the men's is four as far as 33 by Marty dent, who's a, um,
01:16:11
Speaker
Australian ex-marathoner and he I think he did that when he was close to his prime. so and I think there's been some really fast Kiwi men also have a crack at that course over the years and and that course record still stands. so Both those times are really quick. um so I'd say 5 hours 48 looks like a pretty decent time.
01:16:35
Speaker
Um, in the men, the winner was Daniel Bouchen in 503, 44. Thomas Barnes was second in five hours, 16, 12. And third was Benji Patterson in five hours, 23, 11. So that was.
01:16:51
Speaker
Kepler challenge. ah It's one I would like to do at some point. Looks really, it looks like a really cool, cool race. And like the, the bit where they run, like, like the, the forest that they run through looks so beautiful. Um, like the ferns and stuff. So it just looks amazing. Is it just the one distance?
01:17:08
Speaker
There's also a shorter distance ah called the Luxemore Grunt, which I believe goes up the big climb and then turns at the top and comes back. um I'm not sure exactly how, it might be about 20k, I think. um Yeah, I think it might be 28. Okay. Yeah, okay. I've got those results actually as well here. So in the men, the first was one ah Jonathan Jackson in 1 hours 55.
01:17:36
Speaker
fourteen So if it's 28, that's moving. um Liam Dooley in second in 157.15 and third was Timothy Jorgensen in 205.08. And then in the women, it looks like it was really tight. ah First place was Penny Millett in 2 hours 30, 32. Miriam Clark was second in 2 hours 30, 43. And third was Stephanie Wilson in 2 hours 33, 53. So three women within about 30, in three minutes. And the first two separated by like 11 seconds, so very tight at the top 10.
01:18:14
Speaker
Awesome. All right. Well, that's, I think, all the results for this week. There's not heaps going on um at this time of year. Next weekend, there's a few things. We've got the six-inch trail marathon in WA, Greenvale Backout Ultra in Taz, Nara Bean All Nighter in New South Wales, Adelaide Trail Runner Series number two in South Australia, um and a race in Victoria called The Last Legend, which I was like, I wonder what that is. um It sounded like maybe a back out ultra. It's a little bit different. So it's a 2.5 kilometer loop.
01:18:54
Speaker
and you have a diminishing time per lap to finish the 2.5K. So it starts at 30 minutes to finish 2.5K and it ah speeds up every lap until you get knocked out, which I thought sounds really interesting and sounds a bit more attractive to me than a back out ultra. So you just have to keep running, running as fast, ah faster and faster until you get knocked out. So yeah, that one sounds like a cool little format um in Victoria.
01:19:21
Speaker
um All right, well that I think is all for us this week. What's coming up for for you Juliet? We didn't really touch on it that much, but are you headed home from Toronto soon or are you there for a little bit longer?
01:19:36
Speaker
um I leave on Friday, back to Sydney for a few days, and then I'm back um to Christchurch where I grew up for Christmas. So looking forward to that. yeah Yeah, that'll be fun. Are you going to do some running in the like up in the hills? general definitely definite Yeah, Really beautiful trails there. So excited to get home. Yeah, fantastic. And what about you, Jess? What have you got coming up?
01:20:05
Speaker
Um, yeah, not much. It's a pretty like chill time of year. I feel like work's starting to wind down. Everyone's just thinking about holidays and partying and having fun, which is nice. Um, yeah, I think I'll just be enjoying myself.
01:20:23
Speaker
Yeah, cool. It's a good time of year just to be relaxed, I think, and not have to be too focused on training or all that sort of stuff. Like it's nice of time of year to be relaxed with those things, I think, because there's lots going on. I feel like I've got something on every night. I do a few like evening work meetings for my orienteering work. And if I don't have one of them, I've got like a dinner or a ah work s thing or a something going on. Like there's just like so many social things at this time of year. Yeah. We're i'm going camping along the south coast over the like Christmas break. So I've just been like planning that as well. Awesome. Looking at the different trails and all trails. Yeah, I was going to say.
01:21:08
Speaker
Whereabouts are you going? um We've booked a site in a town called Kiola. Kiola. Which is near like a little national park that has some cool looking trails. It's always like fun though when you get there like seeing what they're actually like because sometimes they're just like on the beach like through the sand. yeah Yeah, we'll see. I'm excited for that.
01:21:34
Speaker
Yeah, I reckon I've run, I did a little like road trip up from Melbourne up to Sydney and we went up the south coast and there's some really pretty like coastal national parks along there as well as some like inland ones. I think like the Butterwongs are like inland maybe from from there and they're pretty cool. They're like these like big um sort of like ah rock topped mountains I guess or hills sort of like the blue mountains I guess but they're a bit like I don't know there's those like I think they're called teepees or something in South America which are like just like the top is just all rock there's a few of those like in the bottom ones one called the castle and it's just like a bit of rock it's more maybe a hiking trail than a running but I'm sure there's plenty of cool running trails yeah yeah cool can't wait to explore awesome
01:22:23
Speaker
All right. Well, thanks again, Juliet, for joining us this week. um And thanks everyone