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Training for Big Vert from Aus, Italian adventures, and a Scandal!
335 Plays9 months ago
Welcome to Episode 25 of Peak Pursuits, your ultimate podcast for everything trail running in Australia. This week’s episode is hosted by Sim Brick, Jess Jason and Vlad Ixel and takes you through their training/race weeks, discusses/tries to understand the Camille Herron Wikipedia scandal, and covers some results from the week around the country!
Start - 40:00 :-Training/Race Talk
The discussion of how to best prepare for the Asia Pacific Trail Running Championships continues with Jess and Vlad recapping where they are at - including the challenges of recovery for Jess and some insane vert training from Vlad. Then hear about Sim’s chaotic week of travel and jumping in races at the last minute including a win at Ultra Trail Lago Maggiore!
40:00 - 56:00 :- Trail Running News
It’s not often a scandal pops up in trail running but this week socials have been blowing up with an interesting situation regarding Camille Herron and Wikipedia, so the team discusses what happened and some of their thoughts about what seems to be a very messy situation! Also on the news board this week is the announcement of more UTMB trail races in Asia that gives Aussies more easier-to-access options to qualify.
56:00 - 1:02:45 :- Race Results
We then cover a few Aussie races that went down over the weekend:
Duval Dam Buster (Thanks for sending in info Kisimir Gregory): https://my.raceresult.com/309030/#0_4D6867
Run the Maine: https://tomatotiming.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16&RId=29711&EId=1&dt=0
Great Southern Half Marathon: https://eventstrategies.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=90&RId=552
1:02:45 - End : What’s coming up
Lastly, we do a quick run through of the upcoming trail races around the country and what is coming up for us.
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: @jess.jason95
Sim: @theflyingbrick_
Vlad: @vladixel
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter
License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Jess Jason
00:00:07
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Episode 25 of the Peak Pursuits Podcast. My name is Simone Brick. I'm still coming to you from Europe, this time in Italy, in Canobio.
00:00:20
Speaker
And I am lucky enough today to be joined by Jess Jason, who has recently moved to Canberra and is ah learning the brutality of constant long descent finishes to runs. How are you feeling Jess? Yeah, still pretty sore from long run yesterday. He's getting used to finishing every run on a like 6K descent. But hopefully it'll get stronger, it'll make me stronger for it.
00:00:46
Speaker
Oh, it definitely will. It just might make you feel a little beat up for a while
Vlad Ixl's Training Regimen in Perth
00:00:50
Speaker
first. Always the things that make you feel weak in the moment can make you feel stronger long term, I feel like. And I'm also lucky to be joined by Vlad Ixl over in Perth still, racking up some big gains via some absolute headcase hill repeat sessions. Absolutely loving following your week, Vlad. How are you feeling? Yeah, actually not too bad. Yeah, a lot of hill repeats, but Yeah, that's what we're going to do in Perth to get those gains.
00:01:22
Speaker
ah It's the very Aussie style of training for the big climbs, and I love it. So coming at you guys this week, we have ah some results from the
Trail to South Korea Series Insights
00:01:30
Speaker
week. We'll run through where we are at, especially Jess and Vlad in the lead up to Asia Pacific Trail Champs, which on that note, I hope everyone listening has either already listened to or is going to listen to our road trail.
00:01:44
Speaker
Trail to South Korea series that we have been putting out and will continue to put out every week with the most recent one being just a few days ago, going through the course. ah What were your thoughts on it, Vlad? Yeah, it was great. It was a cool episode. Definitely. It's a fun way of listening to how people think about their training um leading up to this race, especially like um Charlie and Mikey that doing two different races, but have very similar kind of training.
00:02:13
Speaker
And then, yeah, kind of getting a bit of an insight to what they're doing, because I'm doing kind of similar um in my build up. So yeah, it's a cool episode. And if you haven't checked it out, definitely check it out. Yeah, definitely. I do love that, that they Charlie and Mikey managed to meet in the middle. They've got the same coach that's clearly like Even though they're doing the same training, it actually is very tailored to both of them working on each of their weaknesses or what they feel like they need to work on, which is ah damn
Jess's Endurance Training Decision
00:02:42
Speaker
cool. So shout out to Blake Hose, well done. And Jess, I don't think you've listened to that one yet, have you? I listened to the first one, um but yeah, I loved it. I think those guys, yeah, they're super charismatic. And Sarah, I really like listening to her as well, so.
00:02:58
Speaker
Yeah, yes Sarah give gives a bigger rundown in this week's one of ah what it's actually like to train in Broome, which is an insight and a half. So yeah, I think that that definitely takes the cake for the Flatlander spot over Perth. So yeah, definitely.
00:03:16
Speaker
I mean, I don't know how she's been doing it for so many years. I'm happy that she's moving to Canberra. um But yeah, for so many years, training in the room, being a mad respect to her, considering that she's doing all those raises and having such great results. I know. Just a hard worker.
00:03:32
Speaker
I know. like Considering how good Sarah already is and the fact that she doesn't live near mountains and she's about to move near mountains, I'm a little scared. yeah She's going to be insane soon. So your your little pack will be, um it'll be bolstered on the female side, Jess, which will be cool. And I am super excited.
00:03:50
Speaker
Yeah, awesome. And speaking of your pack your training pack, and I think this week we'll tie into the Road to... I really need to stop doing that, the Trail to South Korea series with you two. Obviously, you two are training for the exact same race as Charlie and Sarah, Mikey doing the long version. um So It's going to be a bit of a theme up until this race, but being a championship, I think that's a pretty apt for a trail running podcast in Australia because you're the Aussie team. But Jess, the training with Charlie and Mikey, did did you do much of that this week and how's your approach been? No, I didn't say them this week. To be honest, I was a bit scarred after last Sunday. I was like, I'm just going to run at my own pace for a week and let my myself recover.
00:04:39
Speaker
But last Sunday, trying to cave up with them was a bit of a mistake. So um yeah, I just um yeah, I did another week of jogging because um I was cooked after last Sunday and I spoke to my coach and he just said that um it's better that I just recover from that run so that I can get in another decent long run um the following weekend. So I just pulled out the intensity and jogged around all week. How did that make you feel considering last week you were already saying you were antsy for a session? Yeah, I was pretty
Endurance vs Speed in Trail Running
00:05:17
Speaker
like,
00:05:18
Speaker
concerned that I'd be starting to lose some fitness because it was week three after Hanzo. So yeah I did go back to my coach and I was like oh I'm happy to like pull out the volume and keep in the intensity but he yeah he was pretty adamant that um just like keeping the more endurance side of my fitness is more like K for South Korea because it is like an endurance race like the riding economy isn't really a huge factor in it so um there wasn't much point in adding fatigue to me with like the intensity from a session so um yeah I just backed in with that decision and I think it was a good one in the end because my long run yesterday I felt a lot more myself like really strong on the uphill um and
00:06:09
Speaker
Yeah still working on those long descents but definitely felt a lot better than last weekend so it's a good sign. Yeah nice and do you find on the long descents that you actually do get moving anyway and so you're almost getting a little bit of at least turnover and speed work in disguise there? Yeah I think so like yeah your cadence definitely gets up and even on the flats because I find like your effort level when you're going up the hill is like pretty high and then you're kind of used to like pushing that little bit so then when you get to the flat you get rolling a little bit like four thirties ish. So yeah it was definitely like it was definitely counts as a session in my long run yesterday so yeah. What about you Vlad do you back in the fact the ah the focus on endurance for Jess over speed right now given speed it kind of comes naturally to her? Yeah I think like strength is probably where
00:07:00
Speaker
Um, you know, if I, if I was kind of thinking, if I was and in, in your shoes, Jess, I was, I'll be thinking about a lot of strength kind of runs. Um, I think, yeah, you probably would be one of the fastest out there. If you, if you ran lucky enough, 5k, um, against a lot of the girls will be going to be racing in four weeks. Um, so I think for you, it's really about that back half of that race where.
00:07:26
Speaker
a lot of elevation um is kind of going to be at, so being strong in that side. So I think, you know, looking at whatever three and a half weeks that we got left, I think that a lot of it has to be kind of strength
Training Strategies with Jess and Vlad
00:07:40
Speaker
-based training and you don't probably don't have to touch that faster.
00:07:47
Speaker
um speed stuff anyway, even if you lose like, you know, one or 2% of your speed, but gain like 5% in your strength, especially going uphill and downhill, it'll make a massive difference, it'll make a bigger difference for you. Yeah, so you mean like i wouldn getting as many kills in as I can? Yeah, even even if you do like, let's say, you know, even if you do your key sessions, very specific to up and downhill running, and and not like, you know, and try and get a bit more elevation in them would probably be a bit more important rather than, um, you know, doing a pure speed session. Um, or even like doing a speed session, but you might, you know, do an hour of easy heel running before and then do the speed session or the other way around, do the speed session, but then the cool down might be an hour of like easy elevation run. Um,
00:08:44
Speaker
So kind of getting that time unfit where you are going up and down at slower paces because you're probably a bit tired. Um, I think that'll be kind of important and all like a long run where the back half, you'll find a big uphill and you might hike as fast as you can, you know, for 30 minutes up and then run fast down as well. So like really race specific for the race for that last up and downhill of the event.
00:09:12
Speaker
yep Yeah, I've actually found that um like, I don't know, I usually cringe at this stuff, but um trying to get like the Strava crowns because I don't like to look for them, but I just know that they're there because there's always like segments on the uphill. um So I just like keep in the back of my mind that I want to try and get the CR and then it just like makes you push it a little bit harder. Love that.
00:09:39
Speaker
I think on trail even more so than road, Strava segments are like actually really good training. I know so many trail runners that will use a Strava segment as motivation for sort of an uphill session or something. It's good. I think i um I screwed up mine yesterday because I stopped before the peak because I was like on this false peaks and then I like had my gels and everything and like stopped for a few minutes and then when I checked later, I was like, like really slow. And I was like, Oh, damn it. Because it takes you like a lapse time, I think. It does. It definitely does. Damn. That's great. So was your, how was your elevation for this week, Jess, compared to other weeks? Like, are you still been you've just targeted that a little bit?
00:10:26
Speaker
Uh, sort of like the first half of the week I was pretty cooked. So I just like really took it easy. Um, and then I got a couple of good runs towards the backend. Um, so I think it was, my elevation is about usual for me, like 2000 mid something, but I only covered like 70 Ks. So it was pretty good elevation for like the amount of Ks that I did.
00:10:51
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. what is what What is the plan for the next? So the race is three and a half weeks away. what and Do you have like an approximate plan of what you're going to do for the next three weeks? Yeah, um I'm supposed to be jumping back into sessions this week. um So I'm actually doing a track session tomorrow with Philo's group. So I'm a little bit nervous about that one. But I'll obviously just like,
00:11:15
Speaker
see how the body feels by tomorrow, however, if I'm still like a bit sore, I'll just pull back a little bit and try not to, um, gas myself. Um, but I'm looking forward to it. Like I met some of the girls in the weekend. They're all really lovely. So excited to join the group. Um, and then I'll do a tempo, like a undulating tempo, like I was doing before Hounslow on Friday.
00:11:41
Speaker
um There's a good loop around Ainsley Mountain, like the base loop, that ah it's like 12k with like 200 and something. um So just like some rolling hills on like a gravel kind of trail, which would be good. yeah And then I'm supposed to be doing three hours next weekend. um So yeah, if I pull up okay from the sessions and... We're back in the longest.
00:12:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. Yep. Nice. Because then from then what? It's it's only two weeks. Surely. Yeah. Is it three weeks from next weekend or two weeks? um ah Three weeks from this Friday. Yep. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So it's, yeah, still almost three from this weekend. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Yeah. i Yeah. I just, yeah, I think given Hounslow and like the, cause it's the first time I've ever done this sort of,
00:12:31
Speaker
um distance of race like the main thing for me is to get on the start line um I've also been like kind of battling with some planter and shin stuff ah since like before Hounslow so I'm just like trying to like manage that at the same time and not let that pull me out of the race so um Yeah.
Incorporating Cycling in Training
00:12:52
Speaker
That sounds smart. Um, it sounds very smart. What about you, Vlad? What's your sort of approach for the next little bit and your week of training, like the game talk us through it. Yeah. that Definitely had a good week. Um, long run was, yeah, pretty good. Three and a half hours of literally one hill right next to my house. It's 120 meter hill. Um, and I just did that for 30 K. Um, not exciting, but like I had, you know, two podcasts and.
00:13:20
Speaker
you know, time just went by pretty quickly. And, um, I actually like pretty much ate the same amount that I'm planning to eat during the race. Um, so about 90 grams of carbs an hour. And that meant that my recovery was like really good. So today I actually woke up feeling really good and managed to do like two 45 minute runs and a 45 minute cycle today. So yeah, actually, um,
00:13:46
Speaker
didn't feel too bad after that big week. But yeah, three weeks to go. So I think main thing for me is getting that elevation. You know, I am doing a little bit of like speed and tempo work, but not going like to the max with those sessions rather kind of getting the legs turning over. um Obviously I built some strength when I was in Europe, but ah like it's hard to build fitness without moving around. So yeah, last three weeks have been kind of good hitting about 17, 18 hours of training, trying to do about four hours of cycling a week as well. I used to do a lot of cycling when ah when I used to do ultra racing. But then when I dropped distances to like, you know, 20 or 30k races, I haven't done my cycling. So yeah, also, it's a good chance of like building that strength for the downhills. I feel like, you know, for those long downhills, you know, a bit of cycling always helps. um So yeah, I feel it's still a bit weak, like I'm only like pushing
00:14:43
Speaker
probably 120, 130 watts where I used to like, you know, push 180, 190 in like an easy ride. So yeah, she probably should have kept doing some cycling in the past few years.
Consistency and Motivation in Training
00:14:56
Speaker
But nevertheless, I still think that another two weeks of cycling will definitely help with like strength um for the event. um Yeah.
00:15:05
Speaker
I wish I could be very specific with my training. Like I wish I had like a 500 meter hill here that I can do some race specific stuff. um But yeah, the closest I can get to race specific is just trying to bring in some effort at the back of like a long run. So yeah. Do you have for me ah you have access to any treadmills that go to 20% to just do a long climb? Yeah. I mean, so I did a bit of it um in the lead up to Europe, but then I also find like,
00:15:35
Speaker
I kind of lose strength on technical trails. um So um I mean, obviously I spent a bit of time in Europe. So I did get a a lot of enough of like, you know, one hour climbs and stuff like that. um But I do find when I do a lot of treadmill climbing, kind of like strength of running on uneven ground, just like goes out the window, yeah which obviously you can expect. um And this course kind of being half stairs, half rocky.
00:16:05
Speaker
Um, I'd rather do more like, like technical trails and do repeats on technical trails. I think, ah I think that like, you know, the time that I did in Europe will stay kind of stay still stay in my legs till that race. Um, so yeah, I'm kind of looking for more like technical trials. Cause a lot of trails that I did in Europe were pretty like nicely, um, kind of like.
00:16:29
Speaker
A lot of people go into Australia, so they're kind of nice trails where here in Perth I get to run on some like really rocky trails. um so yeah just I'm just like trying to think what are my weaknesses and where I'm going to gain the most um percentages right now in those four or five weeks of training. I think technical running, cycling is where I'm going to bank in a bit of kind of improvement.
00:16:57
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I mean this week, hopefully one more plus big long around probably about, yeah, I definitely aim for more than 2000 meters. So, um, ah again, more Hill repeats, but yeah, it's still ah still a while. You can still build a fair amount of fitness in three weeks. So, um, yeah, a couple more, a couple more hard weeks.
00:17:18
Speaker
And I think that number of hill repeats in a way brink builds more leg conditioning overall, maybe not for the super duper long climbs, but overall for an event, for a race that has multiple ups and downs. I think it's, it builds some strength and a half doing that many repeats because that's what like is the hardest I reckon going from up to down to up to down constantly. um Yeah, I think you're right. I think, um,
00:17:44
Speaker
I think it builds that kind of like change in muscle that you use. Cause obviously if you climb for an hour, right? You're using one group of muscles and then you go down. Yeah. The first five minutes are a bit tough, but then your legs get rolling. Um, but yeah, when you do change from up, down, flat, up, down, flat, quite often, then you do build that different type of strength. Um, and that's what's cool about trail running that there's so many ways to train. Obviously Sarah training in Broome.
00:18:11
Speaker
on soft sand and in the heat, you know, that's built up strength to do well in races around the world and around Australia. um And you can obviously train for trail races in Perth by doing hill repeats, you can obviously train in Europe and in Canberra where you get like a bit more elevation. So yeah, as long as you put in the work, it doesn't matter where you are, you can get some results.
00:18:34
Speaker
Yep. I have one more question for you about
Simone's Italy Travel and Racing Experiences
00:18:36
Speaker
this week. Is the ah almost perfectly flat line on Strava for the last three weeks an accident or by design? Because it's impressive. If you look at your Strava right now, it's just a flat line with your last three weeks of kilometres being within like two k's of each other. yeah i was So I was just looking more at time. So I'm kind of aiming between 13 and 14 hours of running and then four hours of cycling. Some of the bike rides are not on Strava because they're pretty boring.
00:19:04
Speaker
But no, that's my mistake. But then again, it looks exactly like my marathon build up early in the year, which was three weeks exactly on 200K. This is where I wish you could actually set it to time, especially for a trail runner rather than distance, because You'd actually look like you're building over the last three weeks, if it was time, because you went 13 hours, 13 and a half to 14 and a half. But it looks like you've done exactly the same thing because there's Ks are exactly the same. So this week you did exactly the same number of Ks, but took an hour longer because there was a thousand meters more climb. my Yeah, you're right. I think that Strava should be a little bit more trail running specific, but
00:19:46
Speaker
or have the option, but probably most of the users are used to rather more cyclists and stuff like that, road runners. So they'll go about case, but yeah, I was looking at time. So for me, I think a good place is 13 to 14 hours of running. um If it's on the trails, like I don't find it like that heavy, but 200K, I remember like doing 200K on the roads pretty much like, you know, it is about 14 hours. So 200K is about 14 hours.
00:20:14
Speaker
Um, yeah that was a lot more painful than, you know, what I'm doing right now. Like I remember like the build up to the marathon. I was like, that's really painful. Like and waking up. So when now I'm just feeling good and I'm actually like stopping myself from running more. Um, which is, yeah, it's a nice feeling. That's why I prefer trails and roads.
00:20:34
Speaker
What about your strength sessions you still doing two a week? um So now, so I just do very easy strength session right now because I've added the cycling. That's kind of like a strength session for me. So I'm kind of, you know, my first cycle back when I got back to Australia, I was struggling to hold like a hundred watts. So I feel like four hours on the bike is almost like a strength session. And then I add in a little bit of like core um and stability.
00:21:02
Speaker
So it's different than before I went to Europe when I was in the gym two or three times a week trying to actually build strength. Right now I feel like I have a bit of strength from the trip, from a lot of trails in Europe. um And the most game I'm going to get right now is probably from cycling. If I would have had like eight weeks of cycling or six weeks of cycling, then I would keep the cycling at like four hours, but then add on some strength while I, but right now as I'm building my strength on the bike again,
00:21:32
Speaker
I think like there's no point building strength in the gym because I haven't been in the gym, um, obviously in three months while I was away. So like kind of introducing my buddy to two new strength, so-called, um, sessions would probably be too much. Yeah. I wish I had more time and I would have probably build up that bike strength, then continued that on with a few hours a week, but then added on some gym strength.
00:21:57
Speaker
But you know when you kind of add too many new things, your body's just like what's going on. And then that's probably when you start feeling tired and and and probably not getting the same amount of benefits of if you're focusing in more on one thing.
00:22:12
Speaker
yeah Yeah, for sure. Sounds very smart. Very, very smart. Cool. um Well, yeah, we'll ah be able to follow the build for both of you alongside Charlie, Mikey and Sarah, which will be very cool. And have we figured out whether Brody's doing this race or doing the Sky Race? No, we haven't yet, have we? Because he's going to be there. Yeah, I think, I mean, from when I saw him last in Austria, we did a cool run together only a month ago.
00:22:38
Speaker
um I think he said he was going to do it, but yeah, we should probably confirm with him. I mean, I told, I mean, from my personal view, I think he should do it, um especially in the lead up to next year's world champs. yeah But yeah.
00:22:53
Speaker
Hopefully. Everyone but me, which will be great. It'll be great to follow along. um Cool. Well, speaking of Strava and wishing it was more trail runner specific, my Strava for the last six weeks looks like a solid nosedive. When you look at the kilometers per week, but the time and the gain tells a very different story, thankfully.
00:23:18
Speaker
um But um yeah, I suppose I'm finally in my last location for this entire trip, which feels very good. It's like it's nice to get to just the last stage of the journey. um But it was a bit of a week from how in some ways because, wow, it was only seven days ago I ran in Yosemite. Wow, that was cool. We ran under Half Dome, I think, is the one that we went to. um And honestly, i it looks unreal being on the ground in Yosemite Valley.
00:23:53
Speaker
Like the walls do not look real. They're too big and too steep and too like, I don't know, it was pretty insane. Um, but very cool group run there with, um, uh, a couple of the, a few of the other golden trail runners that I was traveling with. Um, and that was where actually I was running with Roberto de Lorenzo was one of the people I was running with. And he told me about the, uh, vertical race that I will, um, I was just going to ask the Ferrari one.
00:24:24
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Roberto was meant to come do it. He told me he was going to come, but then he didn't come in the end. So. um So I remember like running along there and kind of seeing this Ferrari something like whatever. There's a Ferrari residence. So I'm like surely that the guy that, you know, ends a Ferrari, um probably got a house there. So I did do that uphill that you did in the race. Oh, did you? um Yeah, obviously, you know, it's that was the Anza Ferrari doesn't live there. Yeah, yeah of I have no idea where how or where or what it got its name from. But yeah, that was that was son yes yesterday. Oh my gosh, it was yesterday. um But yeah, that was for me, the Monday was just an easy jog after obviously the race being on Sunday and
00:25:15
Speaker
I felt pretty crap, but that's all right. Everyone felt crap. um Then Tuesday was the longest day of my life, I reckon. I think from Tuesday morning when I woke up at, what was it? 4.45, something like that, AM to get to the airport. um we I did not get to a bed for another 36 hours after that. Then that's thanks to travel delays. I see my first experience actually of Having a delay long enough to then miss the next flight and for anyone that's traveled enough My next flight was not on the same ticket. It was on a separate ticket, which means you just kind of lose the money I'm actually really hoping my travel insurance comes through with that one But anyways, what was meant to be already a long 24-hour trip turned into more like a 36-hour trip
00:26:07
Speaker
um trying to get to where I currently am in Canobio.
Challenges in Ultra Trail Lago Maggiore
00:26:11
Speaker
And one of the most sketchiest drives of my entire life, because I had to hire a car in Milan Airport and drive at about 9 p.m. from there to Canobio. And Vlad, you've been on these roads. They're not wide by any stretch of the imagination.
00:26:27
Speaker
And I was in, and black thankfully, a very little hire car that was not the one I was meant to get, but a smaller one, which I'm thankful for now, because it was piercing down with rain, pitch black on these roads that I've never been in before. I hit the side at one point. Whoops. um Thank goodness for I got full insurance. come Because there was a truck coming the other way. And honestly, I was that jet lagged and tired. I hadn't slept in, like,
00:26:53
Speaker
30-something hours at this point. And it was just one of those moments where I was like, okay, this is when travel gets hard. And I finally got to, so where I'm staying, I'm actually at the back of Canobio in a place called Trafume.
00:27:07
Speaker
And I think it's like right out the back of town. And I got to the place I'm staying. And I tried to drive the way Google Maps told me to my account. And I got stuck in between houses because I couldn't fit. Even in my little car, I couldn't fit down the road.
00:27:24
Speaker
And I ended up, it was like 10 p.m. and I realised that my were mirrors weren't going to make it through this road. And I had to like reverse and try and be as straight as possible because there was front doors within inches of both of my mirrors. And I had to reverse about 200 metres to then try and find another way around all these one-way streets. And honestly, I was just like, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. Like,
00:27:49
Speaker
you get You'll make it, oh my God. I swear, Sim, Sim, you won't believe it. I swear to God that happened to me right there as well. No way. This is like, yeah, this is like at the back of the city, right? North of the city. Yes. So yeah, Google Map is like, yeah, go straight on this road. So I go there, I'm driving and it's like getting narrower and narrower and narrower. And I get to the point where I'm like, I cannot keep going. And then I had to reverse the whole way back and it took me about 15 minutes to reverse back.
00:28:18
Speaker
And it was the same time that people were like um picking up the rubbish beans, because i they had those little tiny hearts to pick up the beans. And he's there like waiting for me, and I'm like, oh no, oh no, oh no. So it took me about 15 minutes.
00:28:33
Speaker
But yeah, that was not fun. But I'm pretty sure it's that same street. Google is like, yeah, go straight here. like yeah no It probably was, um except I was doing it in a torrential downpour in the dark at about 10 p.m. It was not fun. um But it's also one of the ones that you can laugh at now and put it down to a fun travel experience. um once you make it out of it. So anyways, we finally made it here. But by the time, obviously, I made it here, I'd missed what? Two days. So Tuesday, Wednesday was write offs for me. And um the one good thing that came out of all this is while I was traveling, I just started looking up. So this is this is a big mental shift for me. Normally, I would not do this. Obviously, I've got one more race for the Golden Trail World Series final that was kind of from here going to be the aim.
00:29:24
Speaker
Right now, mentally, obviously with the season going a bit to crap, and I'm i'm currently ranked like 57th in the series. Like, um the series isn't happening for me, essentially, after everything that's gone on for this trip. And so mentally, I was just finding it like, it's hard to get excited for a goal.
00:29:41
Speaker
in this way. And I was like, I just wanted something to sort of latch onto to a bit sooner. And so I started looking for as many races as possible in the area online. And so in the midst of all that travel on Wednesday, I signed up for a race that I found um for Saturday, about 20 minutes from where I'm staying, it's on the same lake, it's actually really perfect timing, ah called Ultra Trail Lago Maggiore. So that was for Saturday morning and it was a 35k race, in hindsight, maybe a little bit long, but anyways. So ah tried to just spend Thursday, Friday jogging around Canobio, which I don't know, you just said Vlad, that a lot of the trails you ran here weren't very rocky. Canobio is very rocky, at least the parts I've run.
00:30:28
Speaker
No, so you've only ran the the like, so like the first two or 300 meters of gain are pretty rocky, but then it becomes less rocky. Okay, okay. So yeah, I'm having a look at Strava right now. So you've been only going up like in your training runs, like not super high. And that's yeah, that's all rocky, wet. But as you go a bit higher up, then they become like more like soft forest trails.
00:30:53
Speaker
OK, that makes sense then, um because I was running along and I'm like, oh, this is steppy stuff, especially because it was raining both days. So it was wet. It was rocky. It was steppy. I was like, this is slow. But it was good because being jet lagged and then, um yeah, rocked up Saturday morning to Ultra Trail Lago Maggiore. And it was really, really cool. It was a very it was like a small race, I suppose, in similar vibes to an Aussie race, um about as big as what you would call a normal Aussie trail race.
00:31:21
Speaker
um Which was very cool and interesting though not speaking an absolute word. Well, I speak a few words of Italian, but not much. um So standing there for the race brief, I was just like, Yep, I can totally know what you're saying. Sure. um Understand? But, um but yeah, when we took off, it was an interesting course in the fact that the first 8K were on road. um So essentially, they were boring. And I got moving to just try and
00:31:52
Speaker
get them over with um when I realized that we were on road for quite a while. And it was pretty obvious early on that it was, um like, i I was in, I think, 4th place with 2nd place in sight at the end of that 8K of the guys. So, um and I hadn't seen another female.
00:32:11
Speaker
And so I was just kind of in this pack of guys with the guy that was in first from the very beginning, like within 50 meters, he had a gap. And I was like, okay, that guy's gone. He was turned out a Solomon runner as well um from the local area. So he took off and he ended up winning by like half an hour. So, but the rest of the guys, I was just kind of around. I didn't see any other females and I was a bit like, okay, cool. Like I'll take an easy win at this point. Like I'm not going to complain too much.
00:32:39
Speaker
um So yeah, I pushed for maybe 13K and then honestly, I just felt like crap. The jet lag hit, we hit a climb that was about 800 meters or so in about 4K, I think. um And up that climb, I was just getting passed by guys left, right and center. um And it was at the top of that climb where we hit the descent and the descent was about as technical as it gets. It was just rocky ridgeline I don't know if you have much experience on these, Jess, but Vlad, do you know the rocks that are like, they're like sideways slabs, but back to back to back to back?
Vertical Race in Canobio Experience
00:33:17
Speaker
Like, it's almost like they're long, horizontal rocks sticking out of the ground. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:33:25
Speaker
Almost like, yeah, almost like nails on their side. There was some of that at Han's side, I think. So you're like stepping stepping stones, but like, you don't want to miss them. Otherwise it's like a big gap. Yeah. A bit like that, but just, i didn't yeah, I didn't even know what you would call them. It's almost like, yeah, it's not shale. It's just terrain that is not, you don't want to fall on by a long stretch of the imagination and it's not easy running. But anyways,
00:33:49
Speaker
um hit the descent and realised that a few of the guys were coming back to me, thankfully, pretty easily. So, because I was kind of just using the guys around me as a mental bit to get me through the race because it was, in the end, probably a bit long. I was pretty sleepy and tired and had been awake since 3am. But um Did hit a point where there was a marshal and I was sent the wrong way I think because the marshal thought I was part of the 50k maybe and not the lead female in the 35 But I had it on my watch. So I only went about 200 meters 150 200 off course before turning around um But I'm annoyed now because I ran four hours and two minutes. So I part of me is like, damn, nah, but I could have picked it up. So in the end, just ran that one in for fifth place overall, lead female, but I'm like, and I don't, i like, I don't mean this again, but it was like 45 minutes back to the next female. So um it was, yeah, just one of those a much smaller races that that can happen sometimes. And then
00:34:54
Speaker
I did actually have this guy that I was running with for the last 2K. And part of me genuinely was thinking, okay, well, they're going to want to put the tape up. So I'll let him get a gap. He can run through the line and I can just run through after him so they can get the tape up. And this was with like a K and a half to go. So I had, he had a gap on me. And then just as I was running along, I realized I was catching him, but it wasn't until like a hundred to go. I was like, okay, I've either got to pass him.
00:35:20
Speaker
or really slow down. And I ended up picking up the pace to try and go past him. As I go and go past him, he looks across and starts sprinting. So I start sprinting. So there was an all-out sprint finish between me and this guy. And because we were sprinting down, they didn't get the tape up anyway. So the video that everyone sees that they posted online of me finishing is actually a few minutes after I finished, because they made me go back and run through the tape for the photos and the video.
00:35:47
Speaker
So that was a bit of fun. Nice little sprint finish. But anyways, it turned out to just be, in many ways, a very good four hour long run for me. 36Ks. And then I had also found what we were talking about earlier, direct la directissima verari.
00:36:08
Speaker
um is what the race is called, a little vertical race in Canobio, about a K and a half from where I'm staying, which meant that there's no way I couldn't do it. I had to go see what it was about. And what it was about was a vertical race where in 1.8 kilometres, we climbed 845 metres, which is an average gradient of about 47%, which is insane. And I made absolutely no sense to my brain until I was there. um And so i took I was very tired, took off at a jog, which was probably, actually turned out to be a very good idea because um I was well back in the field and we kind of just started hitting the bottom of the slopes. And there were so many times we had to come to a standstill as someone tried to get up some of the super steep stuff.
00:36:56
Speaker
that we'd like everyone had to take their turn on. um But these races are hazardous. like I had people ahead of me. You were trying not to get kicked in the face by the person ahead of you because every each of their steps was at your head height. So it was constantly like you had to give enough space to not get pulled in the face or kicked in the face by the person ahead of you. And the number of times I had my hands on the ground to try and drag myself up this slope. Vlad, you said you did it? You did the gradient?
00:37:26
Speaker
So I was definitely at the peak and I think I ran down the course and I ran up a bit of a different way. Um, but yeah, I was, um, on some of those trails for sure. How did you get down it? I would have been on my butt sliding down it. Yeah, it was super, super steep. It's like, yeah, probably like 50% that few of those sections, but that's all kind of like pine woods, right? Like.
00:37:51
Speaker
um soft kind of ground, right? It wasn't rocky. No, no, no. it wasn't very There was a couple of rocky sections um for sure, but yeah, no, it was all pretty soft. And um I actually ended up loving it, which for someone that I normally don't like up hills, but this was so steep that it was just, I found fun in the end. And um taking off easy meant that the whole way up I was just passing people, which is a great feeling.
00:38:16
Speaker
And I reckon this has got to be one of my favorite vertical races ever because it ended with like 800 meters of really steep downhill. So I had been like passing people quite a bit because I started so far back. And at the top of the climb, we then hit this descent. I felt great and I just hooked it down the descent. And I think I passed like four women in the last 800 meters to then cross the finish line. um No idea what I came because I actually didn't stick around for presentations, because I think I was may i was maybe fourth or fifth, based on Strava. um But the lead female, I think, was about 12 minutes ahead of me, over 3.3k. So like, nowhere near actually being competitive, not that I was trying to be on a vertical race. But what an experience. Like that, I don't, I don't think you could get any steeper, possibly, because you'd fall off backwards.
00:39:10
Speaker
Yeah, it's a beautiful part of the world. So if um if yeah if you guys ever have a chance to go down there, it's definitely fun trail running out there. um Just on the board of Switzerland as well. so Yeah, my R and K to kind of switch.
00:39:26
Speaker
between Italy and Switzerland. My phone will tell me I'm in one or the other. But um yeah, just the gradients here and all the mountains and everything, like, yeah, there's, there's nowhere I've been like it, that's for sure. um So I'm keen to spend another couple of weeks here.
Camille Herron's Wikipedia Controversy
00:39:39
Speaker
um But yeah, in the end, my week in some ways was similar to Jess in that it was low mileage. I think I hit 80Ks, but about 4,000 meters up and down.
00:39:48
Speaker
Or actually, not in, actually, no, I did go back down. So yeah, um I'm tired, that's for sure. Like after doing all that in five days, thankfully, still makes it a decent week, um as opposed to looking like the super, the much lower mileage week it was. But anyways, we shouldn't be moving on, shouldn't we? Nothing about us. Definitely enough about us. Jess, you were the first one on to some of the news for this week. You want to give us an intro to it? Yeah. um So we had, um, yeah, I actually had this article sent to me, uh, from Tom Driscoll. So he's a char runner over in Canberra as well. Um, and we sit next to each other as he's a data analyst there. Um, so he sent me this article from running, is it running world? Um,
00:40:42
Speaker
yeah hello by which was about um Camille Herron who I hadn't heard of her before but she seems like a really kind of popular ultra runner in the States and looks like she got caught kind of fudging some stuff on Wikipedia so They sort of traced it back to her IP address and ah wiki like a fake Wikipedia account that her and her husband had made um and they caught them changing the wording of the Wikipedia pages of um Courtney DeWalta and um I think it was Kylian Joynet and basically like changing the wording to make them sound less amazing so just
00:41:29
Speaker
I think Courtney's one was like, she's the wild one of the world's best female trail runners, and then she sort of removed that and said, oh, she's a female trail runner sort of thing. um Yeah, so I don't know. It's pretty awkward and pretty gross. Like, women downplaying other women is pretty shit. Like, I don't know. I actually have no idea like why you would even do something like that, how that how you can gain anything from it. but Yeah, pretty bizarre. yeah Yeah, we should add that. So her main sponsor was Lulu Lemon. And she did a big Lulu Lemon shoe launch that they did in the desert where she broke the 12 hour world record, she broke a few records. um So Lulu Lemon dropped her like two or three days after, ah after all of that. So
00:42:21
Speaker
Yeah, I guess. yeah Yeah, I mean, hard to say why she would do it. Obviously, they've done it a few times on two different accounts. And it was, yeah, it was probably hit the US, Canada. So I think it was ah Running Worlds Canada that did the whole investigation, brought it up. I think they even emailed them first, but didn't get a reply. And then they kind of came out with that story. And then, yeah, it was pretty big on the US side of things.
00:42:49
Speaker
Obviously, she's American, so it was big news there for most of the early luck last week. um But yeah, the fallout is Lulu Lemon kind of releasing a statement that they they dropped her as as an athlete, which yeah, would be a big deal because that would have, I'm sure it would have been a pretty nice um sponsorship with Lulu Lemon, kind of Lulu Lemon, um getting into trail running with without shoes that are about to launch or launch, um but definitely going into footwear.
00:43:17
Speaker
um So yeah, that's definitely a weird one. It's not one that you kind of expect from from a trail runner or expect from anybody, but yeah, it's kind of of red I've been following that story for the last few days and it's yeah it's pretty weird. Yeah. I feel like the the more you follow it, like initially I was very much like, oh, is this just a bit of clickbait and hearsay and like, is it is it real or what? um But I think since seeing, obviously, Lulu Lemon um have parted ways with Camille. Her husband, Connor, actually came out with a statement saying that everything was him, um that Camille had nothing to do with it, which, if your husband and wife, I'm sorry, but pardon me, how does one person have, and is the only person that has anything to do with it? Like, I don't necessarily buy that um personally for me. But, um
00:44:09
Speaker
Yeah, I think I had, of I think we probably live in a bit of a different bubble of trail running in Australia, maybe, because I didn't realize ah the more that I sort of read into it, that there's been a bit going on for maybe a little while in terms of um how records have not been ratified or been ratified that have been broken of Camille's and there's a lot that was going on with, i like there was a most recent Runners World article with like her name's Stina Rex that broke one of Camille's or some of Camille's records that um Camille accused her of cheating and I think there was there's apparently a lot of patterns um in the past that have come out and like personally for me I'm like well
00:44:56
Speaker
you cant you can make a mistake in life and um do the wrong thing and like maybe then just apologize and own up for it. But there was an Instagram post that came out that was very much a, it's been, everything's been deleted now. um I think every single one of Camille's social medias and everything, which I ah like that if that's what you need to do, that's what you need to do, I can understand doing that. But it was after stuff was posted that was seemingly a non-apology and, um Yeah, I think it's it's just sad if you ask me. It's it's like, well why does any of this need to be happening or yeah confusing? I don't know. Another thing I did hear about Camille, this is a few weeks ago. um I don't know obviously if this is true or not, but there were people were talking about the fact that she used to say that she never does like a long run.
00:45:48
Speaker
So like, she would max out at a two hour long run. um That's what she used to tell everybody. But realistically, she used to train like and do way longer. So she was almost like trying to, go you know, kind of give people the wrong information. um Yeah. So I think if you listen or read some of the interviews, she would say, No, I don't do long runs, you know, my longest run is two hours. And probably some people believe that. But actually, she was going obviously much, much longer in in a training Um, but she was trying to throw off her competition by saying, no, I'm not doing long runs. Well, like longer runs, which is, yeah, a bit weird. Obviously we don't know a lot about this story and and the motives behind it, but it's definitely sad. Um, yeah yeah, for sure. And like one piece of the whole discussion that I think for better or worse, my brain pays attention to, um, is that some people, like there's, there's two sides of the whole.
00:46:48
Speaker
Camille, I believe, based on her own, like, I can't actually go back and look at any of the posts anymore, because things have been deleted. But um the, obviously being diagnosed autistic, I believe, or ADHD autistic. um And I know that she'd done a lot of advocacy around that and those sorts of things. And, um, I personally have seen some things of people sort of putting it down to that. And as someone who personally for me, I also have ADHD and I know quite a number of beautiful people and family members with on the spectrum in terms of autism and these sorts of things. And I like it, it gets really under my skin. If someone tries to use that as an excuse for her. yeah Um, I'm not sure like that.
00:47:32
Speaker
to me can't be part of the conversation. that's not like ah yeah ah didn't know I even know how to voice that side of it, but Jess, your thoughts? Yeah, um I just feel bad for her because she's obviously got some mental health problem. like I don't think a normal person would be that focused.
00:47:51
Speaker
like Even if it is just like competitiveness, like like I don't think are not like a normal athlete is that to the point where they would bring people down um and like give people the wrong information. So I don't know, I just hope she's getting the help she needs and this is a bit of a um wake up call that like she needs to change. and ah you could It could also be like, you know, one thing that I was thinking it could be just like being super competitive and then like, you know, almost going after like sponsorships that are like, you know, like, let's say a Lulu lemon is sponsoring an athlete Lulu lemon is not a trail running brand. So maybe when they are looking to sponsor somebody, they do online research, right? So they kind of go through results, articles, whatever. So they kind of read about her compared to other people and maybe make a decision to sponsor her.
00:48:43
Speaker
um So maybe some of the thoughts came from that is like make myself look a bit better. So I have a chance of getting sponsorships outside of the normal kind of salamons.
00:48:55
Speaker
And the normal brands, you know, so like, yeah I don't know, it could be that as well. and because i think yeah yeah that's very but That very much could have been in many ways an aim if ah like, i'm I'm not about to say that what Connor Holt, her husband has said isn't at least in partly true where he may have led or try been trying to protect a partner and a loved one that um I honestly don't know what all the bullying and harassment that is coming um as in they've they've referenced in the past has happened but that's me maybe living under a rock and not being aware of the American scene as much. um So it's all very much developing on that front of exactly what has happened and I'm not about to say that
00:49:37
Speaker
like Camille may be an absolutely lovely person that's lost her way due to many, many reasons on these fronts alongside her husband because of things that have happened in the past that none of us have any idea of. um And I do know people in the, um even in the Victorian scene that maybe have met her or done all the, like, and been inspired and there's a lot of good work. um And so I don't want to be only one side of an argument in some ways. um I'm always ah very wary that Yeah, like there's, there's two sides to a lot of things, but I do think that in some ways I'm, I would personally just be like, well, if this has happened, maybe let's, like Connor's owned up to it without really apologizing and sort of excused it and those sorts of things. And that to me is where it hits wrong. I'm like, if, if you're owning up to it, at least apologize. um I don't know. That's, that's my thoughts at least.
00:50:32
Speaker
I guess like the states are... I was just gonna say I guess like it's like we probably don't realize how competitive it is in the states because like there's a lot more sort of athletes and more brands like wanting to sponsor the athletes so um yeah it probably does drive people to do crazy things.
00:50:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Interesting times. Interesting times. so yeah That is sort of our touch on this because it's been very it's been very front of mind for a lot of people and it's been absolutely all over every single social media thing I have seen in the past week.
00:51:10
Speaker
So felt kind of impossible not to touch on, but on some big and new, ah on some just as big news, I feel like, or brighter news for the Asian, Australian, Oceanian contingent of races.
New UTMB Races in China and Southeast Asia
00:51:23
Speaker
Vlad, there's been some new ones announced. Yeah, UTMB coming out with two new races in China. Obviously we knew that China was always going to be like a place that they are going to try and push. I mean, trail running is massive in China. Obviously they had Um, that tragedy few years ago with, um, 12 people losing their life in that storm in that race. I thought it was like 20. Probably sorry, might've been 20. Um, so a lot of people, um, yeah, a couple of people dying in that race mid race. And that kind of our, I know that the government kind of, I guess tackle trail races and made it hard for trail races to actually happen for a bit in China. So.
00:52:05
Speaker
Right now we're seeing kind of things coming back to normal in China with races. um So yeah, UTMB announcing four new races, two of them in China. One of them is the Great Wall. um wo nice Great Wall of China, UTMB event, which, yeah, I guess sounds something like that I could do. I always wanted to do that Great Wall marathon they have that's been going on for 20 years.
00:52:32
Speaker
um But yeah, that's good for us. Obviously living in Australia. Flies to China, actually ham pretty cheap, easy, similar time zones. um Yeah, I've raced obviously, I would say probably at least 10 times, 12 times in China. um And China's just got this different trails, different climates, different possibilities of events, which are pretty cool. So yeah, great to see UTMB putting up some new events there.
00:53:02
Speaker
Um, and yeah, good also for us. So we don't have to travel to Europe more chances to do UTMB or UTMB races here. But I was going to ask you if you feel like maybe there's room for some UTMB races a bit closer, like Southeast Asia. Um, I feel like Indonesia could be a place that ah if, if there were, it was a race, a lot of Australians would go to, um, obviously.
00:53:29
Speaker
you know closest neighbor to us in many ways. um And I do feel like UTMB is going to put a race in Indonesia. Indonesia is also like growing massively in the trail running scene. um But yeah, thoughts on that? Yeah, be pretty cool. um I guess, yeah, they could put it in Bali or something like that.
00:53:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the opportunity is like, you know, obviously Bali's got massive mountains and um right next to it. What is that called? Rajani. There is a race on Rajani. But yeah, yeah, I don't know if they're going to go for an island or like a bit closer to the mainland. But yeah, there's so many options in Indonesia would be cool. yeah Definitely. I feel like more Australians would travel there for a race.
00:54:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think it'd be very cool. um Obviously, we've got the major in Thailand, um which is at least the closest major race for us, but to see them branch out and get a bit more, like just more options and more dates and those sorts of things um for Southeast Asia, Oceania kind of area is always going to help grow the sport in the air in the region, which is going to be cool. um it's that How many races do they have now? There's got to be loads and loads. Yeah, I mean, I think if anybody has been noticing, so I'm guessing the Ironman
00:54:58
Speaker
um tactic was buy a few races first, get your name in the door, get your foot in the door, sorry, then put on some of your own races. So as we're seeing now, UTMB are putting their own races, they're not buying races anymore. um Yeah, they obviously know they want full control. And I'm sure slowly, when once they get big enough, they will start, you know, any races are not fully there, they will kind of take them off the um of the list of events. They have so many events right now, but I think the way they used to do it in triathlon is put on a lot of events, events that don't work well. They would just cancel it two or three years later um and try different in different locations. So similar tactics, I'm guessing here, um which, yeah, I don't know. It's it's a mixed feeling about UTMB. As always, like obviously, I love their races.
00:55:54
Speaker
But yeah, there's always ah kind of like good and bad things about it. Yeah. Yeah. You just don't want a monopoly um to be developing too much if so. um But that's probably a discussion very much for another time. um yeah But so we will move on to this week's results.
Race Results and Highlights
00:56:14
Speaker
um Now, for the first round of results, this was actually one that thank you to Casimir Gregory.
00:56:21
Speaker
who last week after the episode sent through a bunch of results from a small race called Douville Dam Buster that happened in Armadale. um And I didn't, this one wasn't on the Australian Trail Running Calendar website, doesn't have everything, unfortunately. So it's hard to stay on top of, but thanks for sending these through because there was a two course records or three course records got beaten. um So in, this was,
00:56:48
Speaker
at Douville-Danbuster in the 16K. I think it was matt Mac Oxley, sorry not max mac oxley um that the men's, and he's only 12.
00:57:03
Speaker
but beat the course record, which is pretty cool and love seeing that for um a junior coming up. And that was in an hour 8.55, one by 10 minutes, which is damn cool Mac. The women's of that one was won by Jessica Lamb. And then apparently Mac is also a national cross country champ. I've got sent through by Casimir, so that's good.
00:57:27
Speaker
In the 32K, I've been told there was a really good head-to-head battle between Daniel Stein and Trent Irwin. ah Then they finished about 40 seconds apart and that one went to, oh, I should scroll down. My bad. That one went to Daniel. He got the win in two hours, 22.52.
00:57:47
Speaker
to then Trent, two hours, 23.33. And in third was Mal Donnelly in two hours, 37.48. On the women's side in that one, Annabelle Swainston ran three hours, 19.44. And I believe that was the third course record ah that went down and it was her own record. um But she then second to her was Megan Harris in three hours, 27.50. And third was Leanne Collingwood in three hours, 45.35.
00:58:17
Speaker
And then the 50K, which is the long one called the Hendo Hustle, ah was won by Annika Bray in 5 hours 35, very closely followed by Mindy Durden in 5 hours 38 and Naomi Mitchell in 5 hours 54.
00:58:33
Speaker
On the men's side, it was won by Luke Ferry in 5 hours 27, Damian Richards in 5 hours 32, and ah Michael Bray in 5 hours 35, 31, which I am going to go out on a limb and say that Michael Bray is partners or related to Annika Bray, the winner of the women's, because they have exactly the same time. So that's some good teamwork going on there for the women's win, ah I would say. And, oh, the other thing that Casimir sent through, which I just realised we should touch on, Brody's currently at the, ah um he's currently at World Orienteering champ, World Cup something, but then we'll get him to cover off um just briefly that the ah Australian Orienteering Championship went down this weekend.
00:59:20
Speaker
Um, so he's keen to hear about that once we'd have the results. But yeah, that was the Duval Dambuster. And Jess, you're going to take us to Great Southern Halfway. Yeah. So I was just looking at the photo of this one on the results page and I was like, I know that place.
00:59:39
Speaker
It's at um alinga Aldinga Bay, ah um which is like 45 minutes out of Adelaide, um along the coast. I was there for one of my friends 30th last year. um So yeah, I looked just looked at the course. I think I pretty much did a long run um on the course. So yeah, it sort of like starts on the beach, which is like super hard pack sand. like it's fast running on that sand. like You could run pretty much the same pace that you could run on road. um and It starts on the sand, 4km's along the beach and then it sort of comes back up through this little um kind of like national park thing that they have there where there's like a few little single track
01:00:24
Speaker
kind of sandy trails, which would slow it down a bit, but the times were pretty fast. um So in the men, ah first place was Ben Melville in one hour 17. Second was Brett Goldfinch in one hour 20.
01:00:41
Speaker
And third was Nathan Manley in 1 hour 22. And close behind him was the first female who was Meg Doherty in 1 hour 22, 27. And second was Paige Cranage in 1 hour 28. And third was Amy Ricketts in 1 hour 35. Nice and some very fast times.
01:01:02
Speaker
Cool. That's very cool to see. And ah one more race that I've got. that Look, it's it's partially, it's trail race. um I think the half marathon is rail trail and the 10K has about half road, half trail. But this was in Run the Main, which are sits close to my heart. I love this event. They do a really cool thing of fundraising for the local hospital in Castle Main.
01:01:25
Speaker
um So very cool event to check out if you can. And again, a very, very speedy one being the half marathon point to point, I believe, on a rail trail. ah So that was won by Tristan van Pidgey Anderson in 76 minutes, so 1 hour, 16.54. And it must have been the sprint finish because John Haworth was second in 1 hour, 16.55. So fun sprint finish going on there for the half marathon with Peter Reynolds in 1 hour, 17.13. So only, what's that?
01:02:00
Speaker
18 seconds back or so um in third. On the women's front it was won by Claire Johnson in an hour 27 and second place for the females was Jessica Fitzgerald in an hour 39 and third for the females was Laura Van Dyke in an hour 41. The 10k was won by Alexander Harvey. This one has a bit of a decent climb for the first 4k before um the a 6K downhill to finish, which is nice and fast, but in 38.28 was the win there for the men's and the women's was won by Ingrid Woodward in 42.51. So that covers off all of the Aussie results that we could find for this week. It's a bit of a lighter week, but that does that sometimes happens because next weekend is a major week in a lot of places ah because in Vic,
01:02:52
Speaker
We have the Macedon Trail Runs, which is a pretty big one on the victoria Victorian scene. I know I've always wanted to get out there, and um it it looks like it has some beautiful courses going there. Then there's the Lonely Mountain Ultra, um which always attracts a pretty stellar field. There's two different backyard ultras, Sydney's Backyard Ultra and Garden City Backyard Ultra. I just realized, is Sydney's Backyard Ultra the one that has a massive prize pool, or is that a different one? No. Oh, could be.
01:03:22
Speaker
I know that Victoria has got the trail one with like 200 or 300 meters of elevation gain per local. They got a 10K. Yeah, okay. Which is in November. Yeah, okay. um I thought there might've been one in New South Wales at some point, but we can bring that to you next week, um if that is the case, because we'll have the results. And then there is the Garden City backyard ultra in Toowoomba. ah So that's, where's Toowoomba? That's Queensland.
01:03:51
Speaker
I know the name of the town, but I couldn't actually picture on the map where it is. um So there's our races that are coming up next weekend. But what are you guys up to next, for the next week? Just normal training, Vlad?
Vlad's Upcoming Race Preparations
01:04:04
Speaker
Yeah, pretty much normal training. But I did forget to mention when we were talking about the UTMB races in China, that they also announced the Japan one as well. Oh, really? No way! Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's like a hot springs kind of a region, which yeah, June next year, they have a couple of different options. So that's yeah, that's probably a, well, I mean, like, Japan has become the biggest destination for Australians lately. So there's this possibility for
01:04:34
Speaker
Yeah, for a fun fun event. That's good timing. Yeah, exactly. I mean, so I was a bit surprised because Japan is actually like obviously June is summer and it's fairly humid. So I'm guessing it's it's a bit higher up um in the mountains. um Yeah, I mean, would be a would be a beautiful place and yeah, a good time of the year as well. And with so many flights to Japan could be could be a good option for a race. Yeah.
01:05:01
Speaker
That is a exciting news to my ears. I want to look into that one now. um but what if That didn't answer what you've got coming up there, Vlad. Just normal week? Yeah, normal training. I'm trying to just get into some consistency as we're talking about in the beginning of races and three and a half weeks and not much time left. How many hill repeats are you going to do about one hill this week?
01:05:28
Speaker
So I think I'm going to go to a different hill because I've done quite a lot of this one in the last three weeks, I'm going to find it. Okay, you are, after we say that's good to know. So my long run is probably going to be hill repeats again, but we do have one bigger hill that is about a 50-minute drive for me, so I'm probably going to go down there. You should have a look at the run that Brendan Verrier did at Wangong on the weekend. He got like 2,000 meters in 30Ks or something.
01:05:55
Speaker
It's pretty good. Oh, wow. Nice. Look how good Strava is in it. Yeah. I mean, two yeah, 2,000 minutes of gaining per is is not easy. So yeah, well done to him. Nice. And Jess, we've heard what's coming up for you training wise. You gave us a rundown of that. But ah how's the how's the life in Canberra going otherwise? And are you all moved in? um Yeah, getting there. There's still quite a lot of boxes to be unpacked.
01:06:23
Speaker
ah But um yeah, now it's starting to feel more like home. um The weather is definitely warming up. I think I actually got a tan on the weekend, so I'm starting to feel more myself. Nice. And yeah, I'm i'm enjoying it. It's yeah, it's pretty cool here. There's a lot of running friends to run with and pretty cool trails and I still can't get over just like being able to see mountains in the distance from like my home. It's pretty cool.
01:06:52
Speaker
and Yeah, that doesn't get old. It's such a path, like such a path going into same. Yeah. No, I love it. I love it. That's perfect. ah Nice. Well, for me, I have actually managed to find another race um to jump in and this race.
Simone's Excitement for Claro Pizzo Race
01:07:12
Speaker
Well, again, I'm I'm I've mentally shifted to just going for as many experiences as possible while I'm here. And I found this race called Claro Pizzo. I'm not sure if you've heard of it, Vlad. It's about an hour from where I'm staying. And it's one of those, it's a vertical race again. I have no idea why I'm doing this when it's a vertical race, but it's one of those ones that is in a town and it's got a lot of um history to it. Like from what I can tell from the photos, it's one of those ones similar to Sierzinal where like the markings are permanent setups. um And it climbs from a town called Claro.
01:07:49
Speaker
to the peak, Pizzo I'm assuming is the name of the peak. But this is where the stats get wild because it's 9.2K and it climbs 2,500 meters. Wow. That's crazy. So it was again, another one I kind of looked at and went, I have no idea what that feels like. That is going to be hell. But it also just, I want to experience it. It sounds amazing.
01:08:17
Speaker
um As soon as I reached out to them, because it was sold out and said I was an Australian, they said, yes, we would happily put an Australian in the field. And I'm like, great, you're about to see me die. um But, ah but yeah, and looking at the gradients, the course profile, ah it's one of those ones that starts off not so steep and just gets steeper and steeper as you go. ah Because I think the last K climbs over 300 metres. um So yeah, I have no idea what it's going to feel like to I think I get to 6K with a thousand meters left to climb. So you climb 1,500 in 6K and then another thousand in 3K to get to the top. um And the best bit is also the only way back down is to get yourself back down. So we're going back down 2,500 meters in 9.2K as well. Yeah. And when when is the finals?
01:09:16
Speaker
Uh, so the finals are in three weeks today. So this is two weeks before the final. I'm doing this vertical. Um, and from what I can tell, like I have, I honestly, this blows my mind. I'm pretty sure the course record is El Huizin, El Azui, obviously everyone. Well, hopefully most people know him. He's one of the best in the world and he's winning the golden trail national world series at the moment. Um, I think he's done it in an hour 36.
01:09:42
Speaker
or something ridiculous like that. Which blows my mind how someone would get up this much. But then also like the women's record by Andrea Mayer is like an hour 50 something. um Which also does my head in because it's like two and a half VKs.
01:09:59
Speaker
but really, really steep, like back to back. But anyways, it's two weeks almost to the day before the final for me, but obviously being a vertical, ah it takes, it's a lot less beating for the legs and more just ah aerobic um work in that front. So yeah, it's, I'm not about to say that it's super smart to do two weeks before the race, but also,
01:10:27
Speaker
I don't know. I want to do it. See what it's like. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like you've obviously you said that you shifted your focus a little bit and now you're just trying to make the most out of it. And who knows, you might actually like...
01:10:41
Speaker
You might have a really good day in three weeks time in the finals. Yeah. Yeah. I think I just, I needed to take the focus being off the final race, just for the fact that, yeah, I'd, I'd no longer felt like a goal that I could really work towards, um, and meant a whole lot to me. I don't know. I can't, I didn't even know mentally where I'm at other than the fact that I'm excited for the fact that I have a few things along the way, um, to actually just experience and not feel any pressure for and just go enjoy ah like I did the vertical race yesterday and just have a blast out there and no pressure. It's good.
Upcoming Trail to South Korea Episodes
01:11:18
Speaker
So yeah, I'll hopefully report back and still be alive next week after attempting that. But on that note, yeah, as usual, any trail fails, any results, any questions, anything anyone wants to say, any news, anything anyone sees in passing um that they want to send in.
01:11:38
Speaker
Please do. We are open to all feedback, questions, opinions, all of the above. Keep your eyes and ears posted for the next instalment of the Trail to South Korea series that will be dropping this Sunday and also coming up soon.
01:11:58
Speaker
ah Jess, you want to announce what we've got coming up with GPT? Yeah, um so off the back of our first Trail 2 series, we're going to be starting another one, um because it's been going so well. And we're partnering up with Singletrack, who are the event organisers of the Grampian Peaks Trail, um to put together three episodes in the lead up to GPT. So we'll be getting some amazing experienced ultra runners to cover all things ah in training, nutrition, um and gear. So yeah, keep on the lookout for those. Yep, first one of those should be dropping, what is it? October 8th will be the first one coming out. Talk in all things trail. We'll keep an eye on our socials for the announcement of who we'll be talking to you about training for GPT, um which I will be at doing the 50K, which will be a lot of fun.
01:12:58
Speaker
I love the Grampians. So yeah, anyways, thank you so much for listening, everyone. This has been episode 25 of the Peak Pursuits podcast, and we hope you enjoy the next week of going out and chasing some peaks. Thanks for listening. See you, guys. Thanks, guys. See you.