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Caitlin Fielder Post Race interview: 2025 UTA 50km
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We're joined by UTA50km winner Caitlin Fielder to talk UTA lead up, race tactics and the season ahead.
***Don’t forget, use code PPP at https://bix-hydration.myshopify.com/en-au for 20% off Bix products, exclusive to PPP listeners!***
Thanks for tuning in to Peak Pursuits! Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
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Cover photo by @theother12hours
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Transcript
Meet Caitlin Fielder
00:00:17
Speaker
Hello, we are here for our UTA 50 recap episode and I am lucky enough to be joined by the one and only Caitlin Fielder. Caitlin, how are we doing? Yeah, pretty good. Happy to be here, actually. Thanks for inviting me on your on your podcast.
00:00:32
Speaker
Always, always. um i'm I'm looking forward to introducing everyone to you. it's ah I was saying to you before we got on that it's it's fun interviewing a friend, but I've got to remember that not everyone listening necessarily knows you as well
Notable Race Achievements
00:00:44
Speaker
as I do. So we'll go through a bit of an intro and then recap the ah the fifty k But for my bit of an intro to Caitlin, Caitlin is from New Zealand and but lives, where do you even summarise that you live? You live between Girona and Andorra?
00:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, i would say Andorra. Yeah, now we're pretty much from Andorra, yeah. Okay, nice. And that's where you are currently coming to us from at 9.30-ish in the morning for our evening, ah a few days after the race.
00:01:12
Speaker
But for a bit more of the results background, because that is always interesting for us runners, ah you've recently come off a second place at Tarawar 100k this year ah and a first place last year at Festival de Templier. How do you pronounce that? Grand Festival de Templier?
00:01:33
Speaker
something along those lines yeah Templier that one um but your results go all the way back in the short distance fifth at OCC last year you've got top tens at Sierra Zanile a lot of different golden trail races and Zagama like you I didn't even realize how long yours go back go back to what 2021 is that when you mostly got into trail yeah yeah no I would have started properly in I basically started in 2021.
From Boxing to Trail Running
00:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:02:01
Speaker
Awesome. And before you did, I do love your introduction to trail story um because I'm pretty sure, was your first trail race Old Ghost 85K? Yeah, it was. Yeah. I've had a pretty interesting and introduction to trail running and yeah, I went full gas straight away straight into 85K.
00:02:22
Speaker
You went from one end of the spectrum to the other too because pre-trail running, you were a professional or competitive boxer before you did that 85K. um What was the transition like from such a short power-based exercise into an 85k trail race? Yeah, I definitely wouldn't say that I was a professional boxer. I wouldn't put myself in that category. Probably not even competitive, but had a fight, I would say. I did boxing for like probably four years through university and then when I started my first job in aquaculture.
00:02:57
Speaker
And the training is just so full on that after I had my fight, I was kind of looking for something a bit different. And that's when a friend... that's when kind of trail running was starting in New Zealand, to be honest. So that that was the first year that the old ghost had even started. So they ran that course and I decided I wanted to be a part of it. And um yeah, so that was the first kind of introduction that I had, but it's pretty hard to compare trail running with boxing. I'd say boxing is probably still probably most intense thing that I've ever done. Yeah.
00:03:34
Speaker
Mainly because your adrenaline is just through the roof the entire time. And it's surprisingly hard. yeah one is But yeah, so I definitely didn't have the typical introduction into running that I'd say most people have in the professional level.
00:03:51
Speaker
ah Definitely. um i can only imagine the adrenaline of going, just don't get punched in the face. That being said, sometimes it feels like you can be like that mid-trail race where it's more just don't fall on your face.
00:04:04
Speaker
um on some of the more technical stuff yeah but I would love it to hear just as a bit more of a background what do you reckon your best results are or what are the ones you're most proud of just before we get to the UTA one?
00:04:17
Speaker
Yeah I would say for me Templier last year was a really big one. um I think I wasn't really sure the field was just super competitive there which it's like a really big race in France and so just how I felt during the race as well. Like I was super relaxed and I was sitting mostly in like seventh and then probably 20K within the span of like three or 4K, I basically moved up to first place.
00:04:46
Speaker
and um And it was just like, I just felt really good. Like even if I didn't come first, I still would have been super happy with how I kind of took the race on.
Racing Strategy Insights
00:04:56
Speaker
um And probably also Zagama.
00:04:59
Speaker
When I got second, that was probably like three years ago, I think. um I mean, Zagama in itself is just such an incredible race. And it was a year where the weather was just like awful.
00:05:12
Speaker
But I just loved it. Like it was so good. And I think the fact that I had like a really great attitude towards the weather and um looked after myself so well really favoured me in that race. And yeah, it was just amazing.
00:05:28
Speaker
That was awesome. So I'd say probably those two. And then you throw in, you know, some top fives at like OCC, which is super incredible also as well, because it's such a big race. But um yeah, I mean, some races when I do really well, I'm not necessarily like, I guess, super, not like proud, but like, I feel like I could sometimes do better.
00:05:52
Speaker
yeah And so I wouldn't say... necessarily that the results reflect how like the sensations during the race sometimes yeah I get that and I love that because they were the two that over the journey have sort of stood out to me as well your win at Templiers was amazing um and I think one thing that summarizes you as a runner when ah observing you race is how you look after yourself and move through the field um it's almost like you're just used to seeing you be a little further back but knowing that you're going to finish
00:06:24
Speaker
higher at the end than you are at halfway, almost guaranteed because you know how to feel, you know how to look after yourself and you know how to get it done and pick up all the carnage along the way.
00:06:35
Speaker
which must feel nice in all those races when you're just picking up carnage a lot of the time um in the back half, which was different at UTA though, the 50K, which I suppose we'll get to now um because you found yourself in the front quite early and it was a day of front running, which I'm not sure the last time you had that other than maybe some of the New Zealand races you do.
00:06:58
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, definitely. i'm not um I would say I'm not really used to like leading out a race. Yeah. even in like Tarawita, there was a big group of us that kind of took off for the first like 20k. And then I was like in third for quite a while as well. And then, you know, moved up through there. But I would say, i mean, I'm not necessarily sure if it's the best race technique, but it always just happens to me that I'm kind of like moving up through people. And I think it's big I tend to start just like more slow. I think I'm more comfortable with that, but then it's a head game as well, right? Like you still have to catch people.
00:07:35
Speaker
So you're still relying on the attrition of others for yourself to move up. So it is a little bit of like cat and mouse. And sometimes I do wonder if I could find myself further up if I went faster initially, but it's a, it's a gamble, right?
00:07:50
Speaker
So always yeah. And, and, uh, In UTA, it was, to be honest, it was more just me just trying to last. I think I was like a pretty unsure of my fitness. Like I wouldn't necessarily say that I have had the best build into, um,
00:08:11
Speaker
into Ultra Trail Australia. And so I was basically just, usually I just run my own race anyway. and And in that race, I was also just running my own race and just hoping that it would do well in the end. But um yeah, my fitness was a big question leading into that.
Challenges on the UTA 50K Course
00:08:27
Speaker
And even during the race, I felt my fitness a lot.
00:08:30
Speaker
So I was just hoping that it would kind of pull off. Yeah, talk to us about that. What has happened between Tarawera and now for UTA? Yeah, after Tarawita I had quite a few problems with um my left foot and I kind of experienced it a bit during Tarawita itself so I felt a bit of pain in my foot and um afterwards I probably didn't really investigate it as much as I should have so there was like a month and a half where I was kind of trying to get back into it but still had a bit of pain and then they found
00:09:05
Speaker
that I had like ah an early stage stress reaction in my foot, which is something that I've never really had before. um So I did take quite a lot of time off of running and I was doing a bit of riding instead, which I usually ride anyway, but I definitely run as well during the week. And so a lot of my, would say prep for Trail Australia was was riding. so it was, um yeah, I think...
00:09:33
Speaker
I mean, Ultra Trail Australia was my longest race ah run that I had done since Tata Witta. So it was, it was, I gave you all the dice. Yeah, it was hard, was hard.
00:09:46
Speaker
It was a roll of the dice that paid off though, thankfully. um And it was I was lucky enough to get to Crewe and it was awesome to watch you come through. um i do feel bad about not pick, as someone that was more local, not picking up the fact that it was a different course to last year when you were looking at the splits beforehand.
00:10:04
Speaker
um But how did you feel in those initial stages up until that first aid station? You only had about three minutes or less than three minutes there. But I do remember you running through going, am I actually running really slow or what's going on?
00:10:18
Speaker
um So tell me, what were the thoughts? Yeah, I mean, i had and I hadn't seen any of the course beforehand. so I mean, to be honest, usually I'd get to a race, you know, a week beforehand and check out most of the course and at least know a little bit about that.
00:10:33
Speaker
But all I kind of knew was the profile and I had looked at Kate's times from last year. And I remember while I was running it being like, this is insane. Like I know that this course is kind of muddy and it's a little more slow kind of thing, but I was like, like no offense, Kate, but that like I still had like 3K to go when that her time was up when she was at the first aid station, you know? And I was like, she was ripping. There is no way, like like just in terms of how much space she would have gone through those steps and everything.
00:11:09
Speaker
And so I was like, came and I saw you at the first aid station, just like, this is crazy. Like, am I just crawling along here? And then, yeah, you definitely gave me, you know, you you gave me some reassurance there when I saw you and and you told me that the course was was different because I was like,
00:11:28
Speaker
Wow. like Yeah, it's so for reference, all of that time you spent going downstairs and back upstairs before that first aid station was road pretty much the year before or like smooth um and flat.
00:11:42
Speaker
So there was already, we we didn't realise because when you look at the maps, it's quite it looks quite similar because it follows the same contours, but we didn't even realise until we're waiting for Dan at like an hour and eight minutes and they come through at an hour, 28 minutes.
00:11:57
Speaker
And we go, oh, in that time where we're waiting, we're like, no they can't be running this much slower. So it took us a long time to figure out as well. Yeah. but you were actually moving incredibly well for the course that you were on this year.
00:12:11
Speaker
um But then you have a much more, well, a semi more smooth um terrain until you get to Queen Vic Hospital. And you did start to put a bit more time in, but still not a huge gap um comparative to the next section that we got to. So between the first aid station and Queen Vic, how was the body? Were you holding up to that point?
00:12:32
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think... I had, I mean, I had some GI problems, which is something that I don't usually have. But I mean, to be fair, like I, when i race, I put back like a lot of carbs and my body just, I just haven't really been.
00:12:49
Speaker
Yeah, like a lot. Like I haven't been training the gut that much. So my stomach's just kind of like, whoa, we're doing this race now. And then all of a sudden it just gets hammered with all these, you know, gels and high carb drink mixes. So, I mean, fair play to my stomach for even going through that. But I just kept, you know, kept chucking in the carbs. And at some point, I mean, I had to stop quite a few pounds, if I'm honest.
00:13:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:16
Speaker
Yeah, I think I was, I was probably, it's like a weird feeling when you know that you're not super fit, that you actually can't like redline it You can't really push yourself hard enough almost to, to failure. Like it's like, yeah you have like a handbrake on your fitness.
00:13:34
Speaker
Right. And so I was like really feeling that I was just like, I just need to sit in this and then just, you know, just see where that puts me in the end. Um, And so it wasn't like I was like redlining. It was more just like I couldn't even really get to that red line. It was like, here we are and we're just going to stay stay here and see see where that puts me. And a couple of stops along the way and yeah, right, oh let's just keep going.
00:14:01
Speaker
Oh, I love that. But ah the things we put up with as runners. um And then out of Queen Vic, I was going to be, i was intrigued to see how you tackled this section because you are known as a descender. You can send it down the mountains and so fast.
00:14:19
Speaker
So you were on a smooth descent, but I was intrigued as to whether you were going push um down Kadamba or go smoothly and float sort of down Kadamba you still did put time in um but ah how did you actually approach it yeah I felt like I was running that downhill pretty like conservatively I'd say for me um because I mean obviously the profile of that course like you still have like 10k pretty much uphill Like, and so I was so concerned about how my legs were going to go in anyway.
00:14:53
Speaker
And, um, I felt like I was like going backwards on the downhill in comparison to how I'd usually feel. Like if we had finished the race at the end of that downhill, I would have done that downhill very differently.
00:15:08
Speaker
yeah But, um yeah, I was yeah running pretty like scared, I would say with that downhill to uphill transition. So I was like, I was definitely, um i would say a lot slower than I would have been in comparison to something like when you're coming down La Fougere into Chamonix at the end of like a lot of the races that happened during UTMB week, that for me is like a phone send scenario. mean I want a downhill finish.
00:15:37
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. You know you know what I'm talking about, yeah. Oh, I love it. ah love it. But you, unfortunately, um i i'm i think the finish of UTA for all the races is brutal too. But this one, yeah, you've got a long sort of rolling climb to the bottom of Ferber stairs and then up Ferber stairs to finish, um which as descenders is not the fun way to do it, but it was a good fitness test. um And this was where you sort of started to give me a bit of a scare track on the tracker, um purely because you had such a bit, I think it was out to almost seven minutes. At some point it was about seven minutes that the gap was.
00:16:16
Speaker
um And then through Lura Forest and up that climb, um how were you feeling? Because you were being reeled in. ah by the two behind you, which was Ali Wilson and um Demi Caldwell.
00:16:28
Speaker
I think there was one small section there where they put in three minutes. They got gained three minutes and three Ks and I was going, oh, no, what's happening? um So what was happening on that
Overcoming Race Obstacles
00:16:39
Speaker
climb?
00:16:39
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, obviously I just wasn't going fast enough, you know, so I i mean, I felt like I was, it wasn't like I was walking up the hills, I was still like running up the hills and stuff, but I was obviously just like creeping up the hills. I had one point where I stopped at a river and I i lost my sunglasses, so they just fell off my head, like my Julbo sunglasses, and so I was I mean, I went down the stream a bit to try and find them. So maybe that was like maybe a minute there, but I can't like, there's no excuses for the other two minutes that get like, you know, got put into me basically. So I mean, they were obviously just way stronger than I was at the end there because I felt like, was like, I'm still tracking along, you know, I'm still chipping my way up this hill. But yeah, I mean, I was just obviously just slower.
00:17:28
Speaker
Yeah. I think they had the advantage of um they were only ever a minute apart. I'm not sure if they were inside of each other, but they had a they had a race going on that was quite close, which does help you keep moving at the end of a race. When you know there's someone 60 seconds back, um you're moving. And when you know there's someone 60 seconds up, you're chasing hard.
00:17:49
Speaker
Whereas you were in that no man's land of not actually knowing where people were, which makes a lot of sense. And when you're in the front, And as you said, you haven't had the perfect build. You were doing damn well for what your body had been through in the lead up and was trying to put together.
00:18:04
Speaker
um But, yeah, how was it getting up those stairs to finish? Oh, my God, those stairs are like hell. There's no other go. To be honest, I don't have the best – o sensations about stairs anyway like when we were doing the golden trail series finals when we did the five-day stage race in madeira we had a lot of steps then and it was kind of conditions and it was muddy and i was coming down some steps and i slipped backwards and without knowing it well i felt the pain but i fractured two vertebrae
00:18:40
Speaker
and um and so I'm always pretty nervous about steps anyway but luckily this time you're going up but the legs are just like done at that point and I remember coming up some steps and this guy this photographer was there poor guy but he asked me if I wanted to stop and get a picture and I was like
00:19:03
Speaker
I might not look like it, but I'm actually trying to win this race. Like, he's just kind of like, do you want to, you know, stop and get a nice picture? I was like, a photo right now is the last thing that I want. Like, I do not want to remember this moment. like And so I just remember being like, no, no thanks. I'm actually, you know, um I'm actually trying to push right now, even though that it doesn't look like it. So, yeah, those steps are something else.
Reflecting on UTA Victory
00:19:33
Speaker
That isn't brutal. I can actually think of nothing worse than you're in the lead of a race. and it Because it that would be what goes through my head too of going, did it not look like I'm winning? Like I'm not about to stop. But anyway.
00:19:45
Speaker
Maybe love to like, I probably looked like I really needed a break to be fair. This guy was probably just handing me the olive branch just like, stop, you know, why not get a photo? I was like, oh, my God.
00:19:59
Speaker
I'm at 406 of the 952 or whatever there are to go and I'm like, oh, my God. The joys, the joys. Well, you made it up.
00:20:11
Speaker
You definitely made it up and then you did get to enjoy the run into the finish because, yeah, I met you at some point and went, woman, you've got to put some ah put some time into the people behind you because they've been catching. We don't know where they are.
00:20:22
Speaker
um And you did then push. I could hear it. You were working. um But how was the run into the finish? How it feel? Yeah. I mean, it's always it's always awesome to be able to win a race, I think. um You know, you you I wouldn't say...
00:20:38
Speaker
you lose more than you win basically. Like not losing isn't, I mean, you're just not always winning really, you know? So to be able to win a race is always something that I will like treasure and value. And so you're coming across those, um coming through the finish line. And like, I mean, obviously people are just reading the name off of my bib, but like, it's pretty cool when people are like cheering for you, especially when they know how to pronounce your name, because when I'm racing and like,
00:21:07
Speaker
europe which is most of the time everyone's like, hi, I'm Celine. Like no one really knows how to say my name. So it's kind of nice when people say it not like properly. um But yeah, no, it's I will always treasure, you know, the last kind of couple of hundred metres of a race if you're winning.
00:21:26
Speaker
Yeah. Yep, better when it's ah not a sprint finish off the top of stairs too. So we had a few people doing that for the day and um getting to enjoy the finish is much nicer. So, yeah, you did good.
00:21:38
Speaker
You did good. Well, congrats. It was an awesome win and it was awesome to track you along and um be out there seeing you do your thing on Aussie soil because was this your first race in Aussie, you said?
00:21:49
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I haven't actually done any races in Australia. I've been trying to get to Cozzy for a few years now and it's just kind of, an awkward time where I've just come off of like off season and yeah like don't really have the legs this.
00:22:03
Speaker
But um yeah, I'm definitely going to try and do more races over there. Yeah, yeah. We've got some good ones building and the community's just getting bigger and bigger, which is um nice to see. Thankfully now you also won some good prize purse at um at UTA, which is the first year they've had that too. So that helps.
00:22:20
Speaker
um But what is coming up next? Like what ah what does the rest of the year look like for you? Yeah, so obviously I haven't really had the best lead in so far and to into my up and coming races, but I am focusing at the moment on targeting Western States, which is um the
Future Race Plans and Challenges
00:22:39
Speaker
big dog. So I haven't raced a hundred miles before, but um I'm hoping that I can kind of scramble up some fitness enough and also the mental strengths, I guess, to get myself through a hundred mile race. um
00:22:54
Speaker
So I'm hoping to be in Olympic Valley in end of June. which is coming around very quickly. And then my next target, yeah, far too fast, but my next target race would be CCC after that.
00:23:12
Speaker
And then, um yeah, I have said I'll do Templier again. And, yeah, probably another few races thrown in there as well. Love that calendar for you. um And I think it'll be, no matter what, it'll be a brilliant experience or ah very,
00:23:27
Speaker
hard-earned but valuable experience at Western States for you. And you never know, being quite, being a lot fresher might actually work in your favour for it for a hundred mile or like it feels like you should go in quite fresh and raring to go on the running side. So those cycling legs um I think will go a very, very long way.
00:23:46
Speaker
um but I'll see you at CCC, which I'm very excited for. um we'll get to We'll get to hang in Chamonix later in the year. And thankfully now everyone that's listening can follow along and cheer you through and track what Western States is going to be insane this year.
00:24:03
Speaker
I feel like it just gets stronger every year, the field. So good luck. Scary times but awesome times. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, will be it will be awesome. Yeah, otherwise, thank you for joining, Caitlin. It's been brilliant to have a chat and introduce you to everyone on the podcast. And, um yeah, we'll all be following along and cheering. So thank you.
00:24:23
Speaker
Yeah, thanks for having me. It was a good talk to you, Sam.