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Episode 63: Big Training Weeks, Dead Cow Gully, Broken Arrow, Western States and more!
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Welcome to Episode 63 of Peak Pursuits, your ultimate podcast for everything trail running in Australia. This episode is hosted by Sim Brick and Vlad Ixel as they discuss their big training weeks towards Gold Coast for Vlad and CCC for Sim, answer a listener question about bathroom breaks in races, and discuss all in the incredible things going on around the trail world with Dead Cow Gully, Aussies at Broken Arrow, and this weekend's Western States, Marathon du Mont Blanc and Lavaredo triple!
Results
Kiama Coastal Classic: https://www.multisportaustralia.com.au/races/kiama-coastal-classic-2025
Dead Cow Gully: https://www.facebook.com/deadcowgully/
Broken Arrow: https://my.raceresult.com/344643/results
***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!
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
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Transcript
Introduction to Episode 63
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 63 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. My name is Simone Brick, trial runner hailing from Melbourne still at the moment and absolutely loving our cold but sunny Melbourne weather.
00:00:22
Speaker
Joined by Ixl over in Perth who did complain it's cold but it's not quite as cold as over here Vlad. No, no, it's not that bad. It's just the building that I'm in is really, really cold. it feels cold. Fair. It does look like one of those like warehouse type things where it's about 10 degrees cooler than even outside for some reason.
00:00:42
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, no, exactly right. I feel you. I feel you. Fun. Well, yes, hope you're rugged up and warm and I hope so is everyone else listening for this episode we've got coming up.
Training Goals and Upcoming Races
00:00:53
Speaker
We will be chatting through where our training is at for very different goals at this point as Vlad hits the road soon. And then we do have a listener question before some fun results from Broken Arrow, both globally and on the Aussie front.
00:01:08
Speaker
And then a lot coming up next week. It is wild what, well, this weekend in a few in a few days really um entails for trial running world, worldwide and in Oz. So to get us started, Vlad, how's marathon training treating you?
00:01:25
Speaker
Yeah, i mean, I wouldn't really call it marathon training. um It's pretty much the same trailing training that I always do, just a bit like longer on the key sessions. Yeah. um But, yes, still trying to spend some time on the trails. and You got almost 200Ks in last week though.
00:01:43
Speaker
Like that's the biggest I've seen you go in quite a while. Is that just because it's flat so you're doing the same time but longer distance? um Yeah, 15 hours or just a bit under 15 hours um of running.
00:01:56
Speaker
Still, yeah, still got a bit of elevation. Still got 3,000. I've still got 3,000. three thousand Yeah, i think like, you know, just a combination of the longer sessions. So midweek, you know, instead of 17K, they go up to like twenty twenty one k yeah So yeah, that's kind of adding up.
00:02:16
Speaker
But yeah, I guess it's similar training. a tiny Obviously a tiny bit more volume and yeah, Gold Coast is just under two weeks away. So yeah, I'm going to do small taper for it. Probably a week um where I slow things down. Well, i'll probably start slowing things down towards the end of this week and then a lighter week do that race and hopefully not get damaged too much and get back into a bit more trail running because after that,
00:02:42
Speaker
few weeks after that, I fly out to Europe, which I'm really excited about.
Travel Plans and Trail Events
00:02:48
Speaker
That's going to be interesting to see how your leg... I suppose you've still been getting the gain, but it's already hard enough to transition to Euroterrain as an Aussie.
00:02:56
Speaker
So to do it off a little bit more of the flatter, faster training, I'll be interested to see how that feels for you. Yeah, and I'm really excited. you know Obviously, ah all all over Instagram, is we see all those beautiful European trails and...
00:03:08
Speaker
um This year I don't have too much FOMO yet at least. I'm a bit like, oh, I'm enjoying my routine at home for once, but it'll come. um Me too, absolutely. It's been fun to be back um like around winter in Perth because it's it is good running weather.
00:03:24
Speaker
um But, yeah, it's kind of like four weeks into the European summer already and lot of big races are happening, seeing a lot of my friends are training up in the mountains, beautiful views, and I'm pretty excited. I have, yeah, four weeks still I live.
00:03:38
Speaker
to Europe when our broadies are already there. um You're gonna head over a few weeks after that. And- Well, no, I think I must leave similar to you then. What date do you leave? 28th of July.
00:03:49
Speaker
i leave before you. I'm going on the 20th. No. no yeah Yeah, i was thinking about UTMB is not that far away. No, it's not. It's like... It's not that far away. I find it wild because I'm like, here I am just like, all I'm thinking about is CCC. Like I'm in my build for CCC. But then I see so many people that I know are doing it that are like either doing like Western States or like all these big races at the moment.
00:04:13
Speaker
And I'm like, it's just interesting. The whole like, I feel like it's so close yet it still is far enough away, obviously. Yeah. um Yeah, so much can happen. But yeah. Yeah, it's going to come quick. um But yeah, I'm excited about Gold Coast. There's a few people that I know over there. So yeah. how did the So I saw that you did what? A 12K tempo and then you also did 6Ks at the end of the long run.
00:04:38
Speaker
um how did You were running pretty quick. How did those paces feel for what you hit for those sessions? Like is that marathon pace? Because you were like low 320s for what looked like a good portion of the 12K and the six k Yeah, so that um tempo session was kind of a marathon session. So that goal was to go a little bit faster for about 30 minutes, um so about 340s, and then get a bit closer into marathon pace. Yep.
00:05:11
Speaker
Still alternating a bit, so a tiny bit under, there a tiny bit over marathon pace. Okay. Free day kind of on and off. Um, it was literally one of the worst days in Perth. It was windy, rainy, cold, um, dark, like it was the shortest day of the year as well.
00:05:28
Speaker
Yeah. So that kind of brought a bit of confidence cause we were running through puddles and, you know, very, very windy conditions and wet, um, conditions. Um, so yeah, that was, i guess a confidence boost. I think most of the confidence that I got was from that 50 K that I did three weeks ago now.
00:05:45
Speaker
um, I did kind of talk about it when we did that podcast after the fifty k I was like, yeah, all i have to do is like um just keep training on track, not get sick, and then got a bit of a head cold last weekend. So missed the session in the long run, but still feels like... Fresh legs.
00:06:03
Speaker
Yeah. um Everybody gets, you know, a bit of a cold around winter right now. So yeah, no big deal. It's rampant at the moment. I chatted this through because I just did that targeting a ticket, which comes out two days after this. So if you're listening to this, that comes out Thursday. But it's like, especially in that that one week of ah coastal ascent, it felt like everyone was taken out by the flu.
00:06:26
Speaker
And it's definitely going around. I'm like touching wood. And to be fair, I'm also hibernating away from people and just trying to be like, stay away people. But my partner, Matt got sick. So I've been like but around someone that's sick for like a week now, haven't got a thing.
00:06:41
Speaker
So reckon my immune system must still be pretty good.
Winter Training Challenges
00:06:44
Speaker
um but I'm on every supplement under the sun trying to keep it good, the zinc and the vitamin C and the vitamin D and everything. um So it's like my one fear at the moment. So it's kind of good. If you just got a light head cold, got over it, your immune system's got the boost.
00:06:59
Speaker
Now you're good to go. Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for that I can um yeah get 10 days now before the race be good. And then most importantly, after the race, not overdo it after the race. And I got another 50k two weeks after the race in Kalgoorlie, um which is a pipeline.
00:07:16
Speaker
Why? It's a race that did in 2021. twenty twenty one and um Yeah, just we support it with beaks as well and it's like a, um I don't know, it's a small race but it's a fun atmosphere.
00:07:31
Speaker
Just tell me, if you do run really well at Gold Coast but you pull up quite sore, is there wiggle room on doing that 50K? Just don't go to Europe cooked, please.
00:07:43
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think like two weeks should be fine. Okay. even I am going to be sore after a marathon, you know, But yeah, I think two weeks after it, I should be okay.
00:07:56
Speaker
then No one, absolutely no one else listening to this right now would be saying that. um Two weeks after a road marathon, I'm still cooked.
00:08:07
Speaker
But that's just me and the road aren't friends anyway. so to And to be fair, you've just done a bloody road 50k and you're fine. So yeah, you will be fine. you um Yeah, it usually takes me about a week. So yeah, hopefully I'll be okay. The main thing that I want to do is after Gold Coast is to get into some uphill treadmill work.
00:08:26
Speaker
um So just been on Facebook Marketplace trying to find a secondhand treadmill and get some of those longer uphills. um Yeah, they're valuable. I'm doing so many at the moment and I love them. Yeah.
00:08:40
Speaker
I think like they're obviously fitness, they're great for fitness and strength, but they're also like really good in like strengthening your calves, Achilles and feet. um I find like the last three years I've been doing it in the lead up to the Europe trip. And then when I get to Europe and a lot of long one hour climbs,
00:08:56
Speaker
I actually feel fine in them. um My feet get, like ah I did, ah I've literally just come off a one-hour uphill treadmill now as we record, and my feet are the thing that get the most sore. Like I don't know what it is. The balls of my feet get quite sore after like 45 minutes.
00:09:10
Speaker
um And that does get better over time of doing them. But at the same time, it death definitely is like, I have to have my shoes quite loose um compared to outdoors, I find, just for how long the climb is.
00:09:23
Speaker
And I'm not used to, like, I'm used to long uphills in my trail shoes, but obviously I'm wearing my road shoes. And normally, like, compared to if I've just worn them outside, I have to loosen off all the laces for an uphill treadmill.
00:09:34
Speaker
um if I'm wearing the same pair shoes. It's very interesting, but I'm with you there. Yeah, I'm just not used to like really long climbs. Maybe you're a bit more but because you you have some long climbs around Melbourne, but like in Perth, I don't get anything that long. So I'm doing a couple of like, and I'll build up really slow, like, you know, 20 minutes to 30 minutes and 40 minutes and so on.
00:09:53
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. But yeah, hopefully i can get a treadmill so I can start doing that as well and get my feet a bit stronger. Yeah. Yeah, excited about
Training Strategies and Nutrition
00:10:03
Speaker
this marathon. should be fun. Hopefully, like, you know, I don't know. I'll be really happy with a 225 or 226. I reckon you're on track for a 225 based off all that training, man.
00:10:13
Speaker
Like, you really are. When you look at what most people can do that are aiming for the same thing, like, ah but that being said, I still think the fastest way, obviously, especially for you, because we know your back end is going to be strong, is to be slightly conservative, knowing that you're prime candidate for being able to rip the last ten k Yeah, and I think like coming back from um from a 60K trail race, UTA and a couple of like four hour long runs um in that build up, I do know that my endurance is pretty strong.
00:10:45
Speaker
Yeah. so yeah, as long as I don't go too quick. But then I know there's like a big group that goes with the female leaders pack. And I've heard it's going to be around 224. So I'm like, do I go in the back of that or...
00:10:58
Speaker
If that feels real easy, I say no reason why not if it's a big enough pack. The problem is that i I think because of just who's normally in that pack, the females just from, this is from observation, never been around that pack myself, obviously, but from observation of like even international marathons, the females often end up being some of the strongest in that pack or the most consistent.
00:11:20
Speaker
And you see a lot of men blow up that are trying to hold on and trying to hold on. So um'm I've never seen that pack end up big. Like, you know how some packs can actually end still like as a cohesive pack, even with like 8K to go, that's going to help.
00:11:34
Speaker
But I feel like that's a pack that starts to disintegrate fairly early. Yes, I could maybe hang on the back of it and hopefully there'll be like a bunch of guys that fall off and we can hopefully just hold on.
00:11:47
Speaker
you know one or two minutes slower than the um leading female because i don't think i have the fitness to to run with the leading females but maybe you're better off going slower and catching the pack yeah maybe like i really think you are but that's me thinking not your brain so whatever works but yeah i think i'll see kind of on the day how it kind of looks and Yeah. My goal is to hold around 327 So if I can stay around that, I'll just be happy. And PB is a PB and I'm really happy with that.
00:12:22
Speaker
You're so used to not running in packs. That's why I would like, ah I think the one way I see your race going pear-shaped is only if you go out too fast. Like you go out at you're going to pick it up.
00:12:32
Speaker
Like I just think that's going to happen, even if you're solo the first half because you run everything pretty much solo when you're a trail runner. Yeah. it's yes the pack's obviously always going to help but I almost at the I'm at the stage where i almost feel less comfortable in a pack than out of a pack at this point like I need my pace and that's where I get my best results on the road too I don't know yeah you're right and the three marathons that I have done I've done solo by myself so um I think there might be a couple of people that would be around that pace but yeah
00:13:05
Speaker
but Yeah, hopefully, hopefully like still helps. You're going to have people around no matter what. Um, it's just yeah whether you have people that you can actually work with, there's nothing more annoying than someone that might yo-yo with you or the heavy breathers that are obviously going too hard at K1. Um, but they're just hanging off the back of you. It feels like they're sucking the energy out of you. So hopefully none of them.
00:13:30
Speaker
Um, um Yeah, and that would fun. know, it would be an experience. know, it's the biggest marathon in Australia. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Yep.
00:13:40
Speaker
Well, we'll all be keeping track. That's, what, two weeks away. We've got a big weekend to get through this weekend. First of our trail content. but um But, yeah, I think I did in some ways a similar, very different aim, but similar-ish training week to you in just the fact that it was long.
00:13:57
Speaker
Um, but I completely, completely shifted my training. I kind of have two types of weeks I'm cycling through at the moment. I have like an intensity week and then like just an endurance week.
00:14:09
Speaker
So because this week ah that like the week that I'm talking about now, I was coming off three sessions, like including that 5k, um, we completely switched it up to, pretty much only did four runs, um,
00:14:23
Speaker
but I covered about 140 Ks across four runs. So i think there might've been one extra run in there that was three Ks of a treadmill uphill, like a very slow treadmill uphill.
00:14:34
Speaker
But I think it was only five runs for the week total, but then also on my off days doing bike or elliptical. So it looked like, I think I did like two and a half hours of mountain biking on the Monday followed by the 30 minute uphill.
00:14:51
Speaker
Uh, Tuesday was four hours running. ah Wednesday, this is where I'm trying to give myself, i don't know your thoughts on this, but I'm trying to give myself room to go many ways. Like I've done this type of training before and I based this off it. And originally when I wrote the plan, I had myself down for a 90 minute to two hour flat run on Wednesday.
00:15:15
Speaker
But then waking up Wednesday, I was like, look, I already know I'm in for a big week. And I kind of want my weeks to get bigger from here in many ways. not That was an immersive week. i don't know how they can get any bigger than this.
00:15:28
Speaker
Well, they do like that's the thing. Like when I last did this block, I think I maxed out of the 22-hour running week and absolutely loved it. And it like it worked for me at the time. um And that's what I think I had 21 hours on the plan.
00:15:41
Speaker
No, 20 hours on the plan for this week. um In the end, I got all the time, but I just ah switched the Wednesday from a run to an elliptical. So same heart rate, same everything, but I did elliptical.
00:15:56
Speaker
That one was a heat elliptical. I'm doing lots of the heat stuff at the moment um and finding it really useful. But yeah, normally like- is the goal right now to build volume and then sharpen it before you get closer to the race?
00:16:09
Speaker
I don't know how much you need to sharpen, sharpen for 100K. But at the same time, like, got yes, freshen up, sharpen up, definitely. um But I don't know, like part of me, I adore this type of training.
00:16:23
Speaker
Also, I just know the last time I did an eight-week block of every single week looking like this, like I built from like 16-hour weeks up to that sort of 20 to 22-hour running week. The week after that, I ran the fastest 6K I've ever run.
00:16:36
Speaker
And no sessions. So it's the best I felt running. Like even the paces of my four-hour, six-hour, like I got to the end of them and I'm like, ugh, okay, we're not adapted yet because they were so much slower than what I did last time I was doing for the same heart rate, same effort than what I was doing last time.
00:16:52
Speaker
So I'm hoping I can get back to that spot. I know how it felt. I know the feeling I'm looking for of just going – getting to the end of a six hours and going, yep, that was easy. Like that was fine. That was nothing i that I need to recover from. um I just think I'm not like, I can remember how the end of the endurance block felt, but I'm um' less like, I've just maybe blanked out how the beginning felt.
00:17:15
Speaker
So I got to the Wednesday and I was like, damn, I don't remember being this tired on a Wednesday. Cause I used to run my Wednesdays trying to aim for like four 15 pace. Yeah.
00:17:26
Speaker
on the flat every Wednesday in the middle of these blocks. And that was my speed day. Yeah, I mean, don't don't forget that heat is, you know, a stress on your body as well. and um Exactly. So this time I am adding heat.
00:17:40
Speaker
um But I also know i'm like I'm like trying to be as smart as possible. So this felt, and to be fair, when I just did for the day a 90-minute elliptical in a heat suit, um It felt like an easy day. Like it felt like a rest day.
00:17:54
Speaker
By the end of it, I was like, yeah, I'm good for six hours tomorrow. Happy days. so I don't think I would have felt like that had I done that run outdoors, so um and especially uptempo-ish. So anyways, that's it's still where I think I'll go. But also, i don't mind if I never get there.
00:18:09
Speaker
Like I don't mind if on these weeks I need to keep it more cross-training. I've come around to the idea that more cross-training and less running is really not a bad thing. um And it's an easy way to stay healthy.
00:18:20
Speaker
I mean, if you if you follow Killian on Strava, you see that that's kind of how he's been doing it for Western States this year. Yeah, I saw that. um That was one of the reasons I was like, if it's good enough for Killian, it's good enough for me.
00:18:34
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, he's been doing like a fairly hard three-hour trail rent run and then the next day a recovery two-hour HIIT session on the bike. Yeah, yeah. I did see some of that.
00:18:47
Speaker
um So there's some of those things. that I'll do. Yeah, it's, so in some ways what I did was similar, but I think just my running days for this week in particular, I knew my way to get through it was to keep everything really easy.
00:19:01
Speaker
Like every every day my heart rate was low um and I knew that the load itself was what I was trying to adapt to this week, not the load at an effort sort of thing. So heart rate was like, like I did do six hours on Thursday.
00:19:15
Speaker
This was an interesting one because I really, like last time I did six hours, I think I got like 3000 gain and 54 Ks in the six hour run at the dandies. And I just remember how good it felt.
00:19:27
Speaker
And then I only had those stats in my head, which was a dangerous place to be. um But at the same time, I did stick to like, it was easy. My average heart rate, I think was like 130. Yeah, exactly. So like I didn't push at all, but I ended on 49.3 K and I was a bit like, damn, didn't quite make it But either way, um that was then Thursday. And I will say what I'm finding I'm loving is I know last time I didn't have my nutrition dialed at all, last time I was doing this sort of training.
00:20:00
Speaker
And I found 600 grams of carbs over six hours, easy as anything to get down. Like it's never felt easier to just go, yep, that was fine. No stomach issues, no nausea, no nothing.
00:20:11
Speaker
um And I felt hydrated because I also got – I don't know how, I think I got at least three litres and it's cold. um Like I got actually I think three and a half on that one. um So that's definitely another thing I'm focusing on that I wasn't last time I was doing this and it feels a lot better.
00:20:27
Speaker
but um And I think you'll find out, yeah, you'll find out quite a lot about what it's like training with um so many carbs on board right now. um Yeah, I always, think I did do a decent amount of carbs, but A, I didn't know my body wasn't absorbing fructose very well.
00:20:44
Speaker
And so it didn't feel very easy. Like i would I would slam it down, but I think I was probably more at the 80 to 90 gram range. um So I didn't ever do anything like this unfueled. um I guess it was just, this was back in 2022, I last did a massive block like this.
00:21:00
Speaker
And I feel like that was before the really high carb stuff. Like I thought 80 to 90 then was going well. um ah That's, I mean, 80, that's quite a lot. Like I've i've done 70K training runs um with just water.
00:21:14
Speaker
Yeah. Like I'm um'm excited to see what it's like training like high volume with high carb. but um It's amazing. I can tell you now. check and I got to the end of that six-hour run.
00:21:25
Speaker
And I got in the car and I'm like, I don't feel dehydrated. I don't feel like I just have to go for food straight away. And like even my meals the rest of that day were just normal meals.
00:21:37
Speaker
Like it's a lot of food still. I'm trying, obviously you run for six hours. Like I need a lot of food, but I have a lot of food every day. But there was none of that, almost your body feeling desperate for something or even that feeling of like, I don't know what I need, but I need something because obviously I'm umm on top of the salt as well.
00:21:54
Speaker
It's chalk and cheese. And I thought I really did think when I last did this, that I was doing it well. Like I was still getting the 80 to 90 grams of carbs, didn't have any content, like any idea what I was doing with salt. Wouldn't even be able to tell you what I was doing with salt back then.
00:22:09
Speaker
um But also I was getting it in a lot via real food. Like I was having banana bread. I was having cookies. I was having all sorts of things out on the trail, which is good gut training, but I don't think was doing me any favors because now it's all gels and glucose powder.
00:22:25
Speaker
um So, which I found a magic formula for myself, which is amazing. And I get like a 500 mil flask. I put 200 grams of carbs in, which for me is, i think it's five gels. And then I add glucose powder.
00:22:40
Speaker
um And then I add another thousand milligrams of salt. So it's like 200 grams of carbs and 1500 milligrams of salt all in a 500 mil flask. And I have to get through that in two hours just with a bunch of plain water. This is in the cold because I don't need as much salt.
00:22:55
Speaker
But I find it so easy to do because I'm like, yep, 250 mil of that and however much water I want in an hour. Done. Like don't have to think at all. Don't have to open a gel. I'm just sipping away on that. And then straight away, I'll take some water down. And so I also never get sick of the taste because I'm washing it down with just plain, plain water every time.
00:23:14
Speaker
And it is working wonders. I used to get sick of like at some point you get sick of everything. if all I had to take in was flavored stuff. Whereas now I'm finding if I really concentrate up my nutrition, but then always I'm drinking a good amount of water with every sip, it feels easy as anything and is nice.
00:23:35
Speaker
So yeah, there's my tip. Also, just putting it- Yeah, plain water. I mean, I think the the higher you go with carbs, the more plain water you should have. um But yeah, what it washes everything down and it tastes so nice as well.
00:23:49
Speaker
ah it's just like yeah palette refreshed off we go let's go yeah it's amazing so there's my tip for people also putting your gels in soft flasks game changer in terms of just I find I have that mental barrier of it's annoying to open a gel so if it's just in my soft flask and I'm sipping it so I do just it's in the kitchen and I just empty them all into the soft flask so if you whatever gels you work for your system you can still use them but I find that amazing um And makes it easy so my brain can't get in the way.
00:24:20
Speaker
But yeah, anyways, we finished off that week. Just easy ride. Like I was pretty cooked on the Friday. my Not cooked in terms of my body, but my legs. I could feel obviously that I'd run six hours with...
00:24:32
Speaker
Like I still got two and a half thousand gain in that six hours. So like it was enough to have my legs feeling it. But then um Saturday, Sunday was my backup days. So I did Saturday, I did an hour outside easy before 90 minutes uphill on the treadmill, like straight away. I came straight inside, jumped uphill on the treadmill for 90 minutes.
00:24:53
Speaker
But I did keep that super easy. um I think again, my heart rate was 120 something. um Oh, no, 1.30 something for that one. But then Sunday got out with um ke um Kel Angel. I keep calling her Kelly Emerson. Sorry, Kel.
00:25:10
Speaker
um Kelly Angel and a runner that I raced in Malaysia actually that – from Russia, lives in Kazakhstan, has come to work in at Mount Bulla for the winter.
00:25:21
Speaker
um Dasha, so that was lovely. And we did um Mount St. Leonard, which you would love, Vlad. It was in total, it took us two hours to get to the top. So it was two hours of climbing straight up um with like there's one 5K section in there that I think has 800 metres or so um in five k to start the climb essentially.
00:25:42
Speaker
So that was good fun. Um, ah but then you do also get 1500 meters of drop in the next like 14 case. Uh, so you just straight up, straight down, great training session.
00:25:54
Speaker
Um, for that one, that was another three and a half hours. So I got 17 hours of running for the week, but 22 hours total cardio wise, once you add in the bikes and the elliptical.
00:26:07
Speaker
So. That's a massive week. I mean, 16 hours of running. Um, Yep, that was, yeah, I think it was, yeah, 7,200 climb too, which I was happy with um over the week.
00:26:20
Speaker
So in case-wise, it actually looks like I was pretty much the same as last week, which is kind of funny. um My Strava graph looks perfect even though I went from like, 12 hours to 17 hours.
00:26:33
Speaker
ah So, but that's just because, yeah, lot more uphill and slower efforts. But anyways, that was my endurance week. This week I'm back on two sessions plus BTU.
00:26:44
Speaker
So it's back to sort of not as much of the long running and more of the intensity or like threshold type work slash a two hour long, a two hour race effort on tired legs.
00:26:57
Speaker
So
00:26:59
Speaker
Fun times for sometimes for me at Brisbane this week. I'll be very interested to see how how my legs go. i i do actually trust them to feel okay. um But at the same time, they're not going to be perfect for sure.
00:27:13
Speaker
I don't know, sometimes you can have like really good races of not much taper. I've had some of my best results of zero taper. Me too, me too. And that's why I'm doors open for anything. I just know that you're going find, I know that the day I'm going to find one of two scenarios where I feel totally fine, take off at the front and just absolutely let rip and see what happens.
00:27:33
Speaker
And a day when my body's going, yeah, nah, we're not doing that. And you just, I've just got to do what I can for the day so kind of deal. Um, I think it's more likely that I'll feel pretty good, which is good.
00:27:44
Speaker
Like I just know how my body's feeling now and the spot I've been in before. Like I've run, yeah, all my best runs are off big weeks instead of small weeks for sure. So, yeah, interesting times.
00:27:55
Speaker
For... ah next weekend and BTU is looking interesting for the Golden Trail National Series final. um But if you want more info on that, we won't go too deep in because targeting the ticket is what that's for and that comes out on Thursday. So myself, Nath, Bridget and Toby go deep dive into this week's BTU.
00:28:17
Speaker
This episode is proudly brought to you by Bix. Bix has supported the show from the start and personally, I'm really loving the big 40 gel. Whether you're just going out for a 60 minute run and want the one gel, you're a moderate carb fueler and have 80 grams an hour, or like myself, you're trying to hit that 120 grams an hour range, it makes the maths super easy.
00:28:36
Speaker
Not only is the 40 grams of carbs, but I really like the fact there's 200 milligrams of sodium. It's a nice number that's not going to overload you if you're going high carb fueling, but it also means you don't have to carry around any annoying little salt tablets.
00:28:47
Speaker
And again, the natural flavor, I've always been a fan of that. There's no palate fatigue. The consistency is really nice and thin. It goes down super easy. So I've become a really big fan. If you want to give that a go or try out any of the rest of the range, head over to website, use code PPP at checkout to save yourself 20% off the entire range.
00:29:06
Speaker
And with that, let's get back to the show.
Listener Q&A: Race Day Challenges
00:29:09
Speaker
We do have for this week a listener question, which I love this listener question because I feel like as a coach, it's one I actually get asked quite often, but people feel almost too embarrassed to ask it. But I'm like, nah, this is every single runner ever dealing with this.
00:29:24
Speaker
And the questions come in. Liam has asked, ie he said, I always need to run on my long, I always need to pee on my long runs. How the hell do I deal with this during a race? And yeah,
00:29:36
Speaker
answer is pee, obviously. Like bathroom breaks of all kinds occur in races and that is so fine. to what well Toilets at aid stations, but also that's part of the bet one of the best parts of trail running is often you there's plenty of places to hide to pee.
00:29:53
Speaker
um Step off the trail a few metres and you're usually pretty good. So yeah vlad I think like as long as you do like a good warmer before, um hopefully you kind of move things around and and you pee before the race. actually, you know, I've done hundreds of races and maybe had to stop for a pee in like five or six of them.
00:30:15
Speaker
doesn't happen to me that often. Yeah, maybe I don't know. It's lot more often to Yeah, but yeah, I think for me is like on training runs, i obviously have to stop quite a lot because I'm always fairly hydrated in races.
00:30:28
Speaker
I don't know, maybe just my buddy is like, nah, there's no time for stopping now. So i usually don't. And I've actually spoken with with another runner who goes like, who like has maybe like 200 grams of carbs in 15 minutes before the race in like ah in because it it never stops in a race to pee.
00:30:49
Speaker
Wait, wait, wait. Did you just say 200 grams of carbs? Yeah. So he would like make this really strong mix, carb mix, and then he would drink it about 10 to 15 minutes before the start of a race.
00:31:01
Speaker
It means that he starts the race like a little bit slower. um so he's like a bit heavier at the start, but he's got so many carbs on board that he's okay and he's like not too worried about nutrition for about half an hour.
00:31:15
Speaker
would take so long for the body to absorb all that though. Wouldn't it feel shocking? He's a pretty elite runner. He's fair. Yeah. So like he's like I always have to stop in training to stop for a pee lot of times, but it's never happened to me in a race.
00:31:31
Speaker
um So he's been having quite a lot of carbs and water right before the start and usually just means he's a bit heavy for the first like 20 or 30 minutes and then he's fine and yeah.
00:31:45
Speaker
Yeah, I do find definitely. I didn't erase, but I can kind of see it like, you know, being useful. If, if you're not like, you know, if you can, I don't know, it's not even holding on to your pee. It just feels like when I'm racing, that's the last thing that I'm thinking about. Maybe, I don't know, my buddy knows now it's for racing time. It's not peeing time.
00:32:06
Speaker
Yeah, I will say that I definitely like, especially when a race is going well, it's almost like your body 100% just, you're not thinking of it, but also you're you've got such a high output that your kidneys are probably getting a lot less like in terms of to create urine.
00:32:24
Speaker
But um I've definitely also had races where I've needed to pee a stupid amount and that's because I was getting my salt wrong. If you just take it in water and no salt, it goes straight through you. So that's not ideal.
00:32:36
Speaker
um So that actually, the thing is during races, I find peeing can be a great sign of what's going on internally in your body, especially in the longer races. Like I work as a medic in the longer races. And one of the first questions we ask people is when did you last pee?
00:32:50
Speaker
Because that tells us, are they hydrating enough? Or what color was it? Tells us like electrolyte imbalances and all those sorts of things. But Something tells me that normally people don't ask this when it's for a longer race because in longer races people are very much happy to go, yeah, bathroom break is just fine.
00:33:05
Speaker
um yeah you think I think actually, no, the 100K I did, I didn't need to stop ever. oh No, I did actually once and then the 80K I did also once. um Usually shorter races, I find the adrenaline so high, but I will say definitely also in some shorter races where things haven't entirely gone to plan just peed myself number of times.
00:33:26
Speaker
um Because if you're winning a race, like i I can distinctly remember the first time it happened and it was my first ever trail race at Donna Double. I'm winning the damn thing, running downhill, had never gone from an up to a down, didn't know my nutrition or anything, but just had plain water the whole run.
00:33:43
Speaker
And I can distinctly remember the moment of going like, it being so painful because I'd held it in for so long, but I was not willing to stop because I'm winning the damn race and I have no idea where anyone is. I'm like, I'm not about to like, let this stop me winning.
00:33:56
Speaker
And it happened again. um It has happened in another national championship. I'm only winning by 20 seconds. I'm not losing the race because I need to pee. So depending on the circumstances, your brain does let you just pee yourself at times. It doesn't let you most of the time, I will say, at least for me.
00:34:12
Speaker
But sometimes nature calls and you're not about to stop for it. But at the same time, usually it's literally a case of if it happens, I'm the sort of person that will preempt it.
00:34:24
Speaker
Like you can get I remember even my marathon PB, like my marathon time trial I did around Melbourne in COVID. I had a bathroom break in there because I remember getting to 15Ks and going, no, i'm going to tell I can tell that I'm going to need to And I find that if you start to really need to go, you will slow down.
00:34:42
Speaker
Like your body slows you down because it's like you've got other signals coming in. And so I've definitely become the runner that preempts it. And if I even start to need to go I'll stop then and there.
00:34:53
Speaker
Because then I find that you can run faster and you don't have a period of slowing down and then usually just needing to go anyway. Because if it's if it's already if you already need to, it's not a zap out to like properly go away, I don't think. um Yeah, happened to me a couple of times in a triathlon where I guess I was drinking quite a lot on the bike. And then when I got onto the run, um just needed to go. So i just...
00:35:19
Speaker
in my pants um yeah i mean it's racing in asia so like so you're already like dripping wet it's so humid and hot um that i don't think anybody would have even noticed because i was sweating so much anyway oh yeah it's a great thing that water's for straight after you can wash yourself down and no one knows it's sweat guys it's fine um but yeah i feel like here in races your body kind of like i don't know for me anyway um The more practiced you are, I think, like I found now, now that I think about it, I really don't have to think about it often in races, especially the four or five hour distance where input's probably matt um matching output now that I've got it dialed enough and I know what I'm doing.
00:36:02
Speaker
So it's a lot less of a problem. um But there's always going to be some days where your body works against you a little bit. And my answer is just stop. It's fine. Like you're going to be better off stopping than keeping on going and trying to fight a body's urge that's not going to go away.
00:36:19
Speaker
um and is just going to slow you down. But, yeah, all the fun, all the fun indeed. The glamorous side of running, that's for sure. ah The joys. And thankfully most races, like almost every race, every single aid station has bathrooms. So I just try and make it to an aid station and you're good.
00:36:37
Speaker
um So hopefully answers you qui ah your question, Liam. um It's not really much of an answer, but Do what you need to. ah Now, for results for last weekend, I'm going to start local and then I'll throw it to you for Broken Arrow, Vlad, because there's only a couple of local results I'm going to go through. One of those was this one. I don't actually know any of the names, um I don't think, but at the same time, the results excite me because I looked it up and it's all super close. So it's a race that looks gorgeous, the Kiama Coastal Classic in New South Wales.
00:37:13
Speaker
And in the 21K on the men's side, it was won by Stephen Horrocks in 1.2909. And second was James Noldret in 1.2912. three-second sprint finish there.
00:37:24
Speaker
in one twenty nine twelve so three seconds sprint finish there And not far back again in third was Angus Hewitt in 1.30.50. And then in the women on the 21K, Martine Shostler was 1.44.30. only minute back was Amelia Horn in 1.45.
00:37:41
Speaker
back was amelia horn in one forty five And then Katie Samahia in 153. And then, yeah, it was nice and close on the 12K side too, but then the men's that was won by Charlie Gibson and on the women's Alicia Bell.
00:37:57
Speaker
um That was Kayama Coastal Classic. But then this one, look, these aren't really results so much as just this is still going. Dead Cow Gully, I think it's like definitely seems to me the biggest or the longest, well, actually they just got a world record, I'm pretty sure,
00:38:12
Speaker
but the biggest backyard ultra in Oz. I believe I've been following along on their Facebook for so long and they've got a number of like almost worldre what world record type things. I think they had, was it 84 runners go out on after 24 hours.
00:38:30
Speaker
So the most people to make it through 24 hours ah and then we've had the Aussie record. ah this is still going. I and don't know if I said that, but the Aussie record's gone down to Holly Ranson running 62 loops, which 62 hours of running, I don't even know how many K's that's got her, but it's ridiculous.
Race Updates and Highlights
00:38:52
Speaker
Uh, the lead woman or like the last woman standing, uh, only just stopped at hour 72. seventy two That was Jennifer Russo, 76.
00:39:03
Speaker
ah seventy six Sorry, sorry to shortchange you, Jennifer, but that was Jennifer Russo from the U S. Um, and then they currently have eight runners out on lap. seventy 70, on Loop 78, still including ah Phil Gore, Sam Harvey, both of whom have won this before, Harvey Lewis from the US, Simon McLean, Oriole Antoli Meringertz, who think was the first one to go over 100 hours from memory.
00:39:32
Speaker
and then Michitaro Mizuno from Japan and Jonathan Ash another Aussie so and think there's there's three Aussies left in and one two three four five international so go the Aussies um we're cheering for you but yeah who knows how much longer that's going to go because what are they 78 hours in could have another hole 24 hours or more to still to go Like, oh, these things. That'll be good until next week's podcast for sure.
00:40:05
Speaker
Can you imagine, like genuinely, if they are? That would be – how many Ks is that? I've got to do some math right now. What do they say? 78 times 6.7. I'm pretty sure that's how long the loops are.
00:40:16
Speaker
They're 520 Ks deep. That's so crazy. That's like – and 78 divided – I don't even know how many days that is. Three days, 3.2 days, and they're 520 deep. That's wild.
00:40:28
Speaker
So well done to everyone still out there because – That's mental. Vlad, I believe you've still you're still technically on the start list for something similar to this at the end of the year. We've got so many things that I've signed up for.
00:40:42
Speaker
I know. Good luck to you. um To be fair, I am very much intrigued by this format and I do want to do it one day but maybe not for a little while. Yeah.
00:40:54
Speaker
We'll see what happens. But, yeah, they're the end they're the results from Aussie side of things. But did you watch Broken Arrow, Vlad? I did. I was following a bit of the whole coverage, which, yeah, I think we were talking about it, that Golden Trail was offering a lot less travel support this year. And it kind of felt like it was more like a U.S. s um yeah championship.
00:41:20
Speaker
Very much so. um Obviously, you know there were a couple of Europeans in the mix and you know a lot of good runners, but it felt like there was a lot of Americans, a lot of good Americans um racing.
00:41:34
Speaker
That weekend, Broken Arrow um was also their qualification race for the world champs for the uphill race. The uphill race got shortened a little bit because of the wind.
00:41:45
Speaker
um Killian did it, finished five seconds before Anna Gibson from the US, so didn't have a great day.
00:41:56
Speaker
um He flew there like the day before though, didn't he? Yeah, which you know flying to the US from anywhere in the world is really hard. Yeah.
00:42:07
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not surprised. Not at all. But yeah, they also had the 46K, which was their short trail qualification race for the US.
00:42:18
Speaker
So, yeah, it felt like a really big US race. um Definitely. Yeah, obviously the 23K, the final race on the Sunday had some international runners there with two Australians as well. But um it felt like a lot of Americans. And if you have a look at the top 20,
00:42:38
Speaker
um Yeah, like if you can compar this if you compare this top 20 to last year Headlands or even Mammoth, but those two races, it is a lot less international this year, um which will be, I'm assuming, due to the less travels. Like last year,
00:42:56
Speaker
you could like I was there and I know how many of the people in the top, even 30, were being put up by Golden Trail. So then that's changed quite a bit in terms of there's no accommodation and travel support anymore. So there's obviously still the prize money, there's still the prestige and those sorts of things, but it has seemed to mean that a lot of people are prioritising the European races over These ones, in it's chalk and cheese when you look at this year's top 20 versus last year's top 20 in terms of international representation. doesn't mean it's necessarily any less deep because the Americans, especially on American soil, are incredible at these races.
00:43:32
Speaker
um But, yeah, it is interesting to just to notice the difference that that's made. ah especially even as you go down the field into the 30s, 40s, like it is entirely American um at that point pretty much and that wasn't necessarily the case last year.
00:43:48
Speaker
But we still did have two Aussies do some ripper runs with Charlie Hamilton. He's over there at the moment. He ran the 23 Golden Trail race and came 15th.
00:43:59
Speaker
And Lara Hamilton, they are, I don't, they're not related. But when I saw that, i was it was not until then that I twigged they have the same surname.
00:44:10
Speaker
And I'm like, oh, yeah. Anyways, Lara Hamilton, she came 11th. She was like seven seconds off top 10. And if you look at her Strava, she absolutely ripped the last downhill. Her last K was like 258 trying to close.
00:44:23
Speaker
um And she got so close to that top 10. But 11th is still absolute ripper. Did she also come top 10? She did 9th at the ascent, I think.
00:44:34
Speaker
um so I'm just trying to get those results up, which... I don't know if you saw the 12-year-old girl that finished... Hema, yeah....in the ascent.
00:44:44
Speaker
That is absolutely crazy, 12-year-old... um she did She did the 23K too. She was on this front line like taken off with everyone. yeah So she was also at these races last year, like a year ago when she was a year younger. She did the Ascent at Mammoth um because I remember I was running with her at one point and in like the course checks for Golden Trail and here's all these Golden Trail athletes and this little like 11 12 year old following us up this mountain and because she's from ecuador and from altitude i'm at mammoth absolutely struggling up this mountain and then she's just like zooms in and out between people coming up between everyone and she's absolutely tiny and i'm like oh my gosh but um
00:45:27
Speaker
she it's It's interesting. She's a 12-year-old and it feels like she's been around for a whole year now. ah But, um yeah. she Obviously, she's a very good upheller and the uphill being a short race at her age, um much more doable. she did of She was quite a ways back in the 23K, as you would expect. Still not that far back. Yeah, yeah.
00:45:53
Speaker
um and yeah Yeah, I think probably another three or four years and she'll be a lot higher up. three or four years, she's still only 16 years old. Yeah, 12 years. Yeah, I mean, that's absolutely crazy. I mean, apparently she trains with her brother and they're getting coached by the dead.
00:46:11
Speaker
Yeah, they are. Yeah. Yeah. I've met them. Her brother's 20. He was in the men's race. um So, and yeah, from Ecuador up at altitude, they're doing a lot of uphills um as far as I can tell on what they do. But yeah, it was wild to see. But in the main race, yeah, what was um was won by Joyce on the women's side, nice and close to Madalena, Florea, Anna Gibson, after winning the ascent, she backed up for third.
00:46:40
Speaker
at the 23. So, um, Anna's on a tear at the moment being, she won their, um, classic distance and their uphill for the, to make the world's team for America. She's still fairly young as well. She was only like 25.
00:46:54
Speaker
Um, yeah so yeah, she's, she's got a good chance of meddling in the world champs and. Oh, does she ever? Oh yeah. Yeah. She looks like, looks like she's, um, she's going to be winning a lot of races in the next few years.
00:47:09
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. She's an absolute legend while she does it too. So go Ana. And then on the men's side, it was won it was the typical battle between Elhuzin, Patrick and Philemon.
00:47:19
Speaker
And Elhuzin, again, got the better of Philemon by only four seconds though. And then another like 10 seconds back to Patrick. So... That's just a lot of fun to watch, the dynamics between those guys.
00:47:30
Speaker
it's um Christian Allen did bloody well. He was not far back in fourth. But, yeah, if anyone wants some good tight racing to watch, then watching this 23K between both the men and the women is some good fun because the battle is real on both sides.
00:47:44
Speaker
Fifth place was a German team. Youngster as well, a 20-year-old, Lucas Terrell. Yeah, was too. Yeah, he actually like runs for a college in the US. He runs for Ole Miss in the US.
00:47:59
Speaker
He actually in the same college as one of the guys that I trained with here in Perth. Kai, who is, I think he's 18, 19, super young.
00:48:10
Speaker
um But yeah, it's crazy how this Lucas kid is so good on the trails. He came second or third at the European short course this year. So i think he was behind Roberto De Laurenti for second, maybe third.
00:48:25
Speaker
um But yeah, he's 20 years old. He's, I don't know, kind of asked Kai about him and You said like, you know, he's a solid runner, but it looks like he really excels at the trail stuff.
00:48:38
Speaker
Maybe he's a really good uphill runner or a really good downhill runner or really good on technical stuff because he's only literally like under two minutes. um Well, if you think about it, he's 30 seconds behind Christian Allen, who maybe is the best mountain runner in the US right now, a 210 marathon runner. um Yeah. Definitely the best uphiller. He won the uphill.
00:49:02
Speaker
He won the Assemble. Yeah, won the uphill. I think he also... He would have been in the top three in the short, um in the mountain um qualification race for the US.
00:49:15
Speaker
So I think he's got a spot for both teams. um I'm pretty sure. Maybe, ma well, he's obviously a really good runner and Lucas, a 20-year-old.
00:49:26
Speaker
Yeah, being that close. 30 seconds behind him, um which is, yeah, absolutely crazy. Yeah, definitely. No, that was was all a lot of fun to follow along. We now know half of the US team that our Aussie team will be up against at Welds. Well, sorry, you know the whole of the vertical and the up-down.
00:49:45
Speaker
um It's just the long and the short trip the short trail now we only know half of because they give three spots out to the top three at Broken Arrow 46, which was Eli Hemming, David Sinclair and Ryan Becker on the men's side and then Daphne Danny Moreno, Helen Minow-Faulkner and Jennifer Lichter in the opposite order for the actual race. Should have said it the other way. But um on the women's side were the six that got their spots, um which...
00:50:16
Speaker
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see because i know this has been a chat on our front, but Danny's been quite publicly training for CCC. So I don't know. A lot of them, yeah, a lot of them are doing. So Eli is doing CCC as well and I'm not sure he's going to do the world champs.
00:50:31
Speaker
um Okay. mean, it's three weeks apart. Obviously, is long way. CCC, sorry, the World Champs short course is that easy. think it's four weeks, but it doesn't make that much difference. Yeah, it's not weeks. Yeah, but it's not an easy course. You know, it's a very technical, a lot of elevation kind of a course.
00:50:49
Speaker
um Yeah. You hopefully want to be a bit fresh for it. But I mean, it's just great to see like, you know, trail running exploding in the US, you know, like this feels like, and you know, it's they're going from strength to strength and the level.
00:51:05
Speaker
is um it's up there and I think you know they are going to be competing against France and Spain for those UK for those really top spots for the team medals and stuff because they have strong strong runners on the men's on the females short long um uphill yeah it'll be interesting to see um how they just so stacked that's why their races are so fun to watch like i look at it and i'm like oh i wish we had that in oz and then i go hang on we've got like how many million population compared to their population like it's uh kind of yeah but if you think like about trail running in the u.s it was a very 100 mile focused community yeah but a lot less so now
00:51:46
Speaker
And now it's kind of like really up there in the shorter stuff. Yeah. Really, i mean, some of the best runners in the world are from the US, especially in that sub ultra 50k ultra distances right now. For sure.
00:51:59
Speaker
And they just have, yeah, massive, a lot of runners, massive depth in all distances. And yeah, I mean, they weren't that competitive. Like I remember the US in in the 2016 World Champs, they weren't doing that well. Yeah.
00:52:13
Speaker
but now yeah they'll be up there top three in most races like to think so but yeah i think they're still a bit behind france so is um just the depth in france is is in france and spain too spain's kind of wild um yeah and make that team yeah i mean i can imagine the french team being super hard just because it's you know an established sport they're like um yeah As it is getting established in the US. It's been established.
00:52:45
Speaker
will never forget my first world champs. And I was the only female on the Aussie team. And we had like five of us there. Like it was tiny. There was not many people there at all for us. I was adopted by the New Zealand team. But then on the course on the day, this was an all uphill in Andorra.
00:53:00
Speaker
So obviously nice and close to France, but still. I've every world champs I've been to has been similar the amount of flags and people screaming and it was all like every 500 meters you had a group of French people just absolutely like screaming for their team and it was i was kind of like damn, like I know, like we're in Andorra, but I'm just like, that is like a massive advantage in some ways. Like it's just that whole, the hype up they were getting constantly. Like got the number of times I had to run under a French flag that they just hung between trees above your head.
00:53:36
Speaker
So like you're just their mid-world champs and just running under a few French flags as you go because they're there cheering and they've written LA on the ground in like spray paint and stuff. um I'll just never forget but how much they got behind their team.
00:53:49
Speaker
i think to put into perspective like our like itra obviously not you know it's a ranking system that you know not 100 accurate but if we use that um our highest ranked runner in australia mikey 860 points that would put him at 75th place in france rightches yeah i know um which is crazy like Technically the best run in Australia um is 75th in France.
00:54:19
Speaker
yep Yeah. yeah It's definitely, we try. We try. We bat above our weight sometimes every now and again. But, oh, my goodness, it's ah it's an uphill battle. But still, hey, we're here, are guys We are trying and our team.
00:54:34
Speaker
is soon to be announced, I hope. um We are just waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting for the ah announcement to come through so we can actually discuss our team, but it's going to be amazing regardless.
00:54:46
Speaker
and But moving on to other things coming up, This weekend's wild. So obviously we do have BTU again, I've said. Go listen to TTT for that one.
Preview of Upcoming Trail Events
00:54:58
Speaker
We're going to cover everything else that's on around the world ah this weekend, which is the three main ones. Tell me if there's more, Vlad, but there's less mistakes.
00:55:09
Speaker
I'm sure there's more. There's many more races in Europe that weekend. But this just feels like a bigger weekend than UTMB in many ways. Oh, yeah, in some ways. Yeah, Western States on this weekend, obviously a big race, but only 360 spots. So it is a bit limited um by the amount of people that are running out. Obviously a lot of hype in the US with it being one of the oldest races, the oldest ultra marathon in the US.
00:55:35
Speaker
But also this weekend, um Mount Blanc Marathon, who is... Used to be a Golden Trail series for a really long time. um Not this year, but... Yeah, it's the first year they're not. It's been a while.
00:55:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing. I can't really say. um But it feels like Mount Blanc has been trying to get some elites. They increased the prize money.
00:56:00
Speaker
It's a pretty solid prize money this year. So for the marathon, which is the main event, um, 10,000 euros for first place, 6,000, um, for second, 4,000 for third.
00:56:13
Speaker
And it goes all the way down to 10th, um, ah a little bit lower in the 90
00:56:20
Speaker
3000, 2000, 1000 euros, but and some prizes for the 23K as well. But yeah, just nice to see um them trying to bring in their leads that they would have lost from the Golden Trail series.
00:56:33
Speaker
And um yeah, I mean, it just feels like all races today are connected. to some kind of a series it's utmb sky running golden trail um when you kind of don't ah you are not connected to anything you obviously have to do a bit more to attract runners and um yeah it looks like they have really good lineups both in the females males in both distances as well um and then also lavoretto so this weekend Yeah, I'm trying to see if we have any Aussies that I can see. Oh, Matt Crean, he's running.
00:57:10
Speaker
and matthew And Matthew Dunn. um Hannah McRae, Jessica Schluter. Like I'm looking up the 120K right now. um So these are all our top-ranked ones.
00:57:21
Speaker
Trent Irwin, he's also up there ranked highly. um But definitely Hannah McRae and Matt Crean, two to look out for in the 120K of Lavarado. will check the others. while Have you done Lavarado, Vlad?
00:57:38
Speaker
Yeah, I have. um I didn't finish it, but DNF'd I think back in 2016 or 17. Damn. um da I'm not a big fan of those midnight starts. Why is it a midnight start?
00:57:50
Speaker
The full distance, yeah, when I did it was um midnight start, which yeah wasn't that much fun. UTMB do that too, don't they? UTMB starts at 6 o'clock or 4 o'clock in the afternoon. So you kind of, you get a few hours of daylight before you go into the night, which I think is a bit nicer um rather than a complete night start.
00:58:13
Speaker
um Yeah. Okay. But yeah, it looks like, um I don't know, Lavoretto feels like the 120 has always been the main event there. But this year, the 50K is really competitive. And maybe it's got to do with, you know, the Italian in qualification for the world champs. Maybe they're trying to get some um points through there. But it just feels like the 50K is really competitive this year.
00:58:39
Speaker
Yeah, who's it got? Francesco Puppi, Luca Delpero, Gianluca Gianno, Daniel Pattis. All right, though, I did just see him post a story about a bad ankle. So be interesting to see if he's there. Tony McCann, Camilla Magaliano in the women's side.
00:58:54
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not sure if he's got to do anything with the short trail. um it could. just feels like a lot of Italians are doing it, a lot of good Italian runners are doing it. Yeah, Julia Machado.
00:59:06
Speaker
50k with 2,600 meters of gain. So um I guess not a crazy 50k, not a crazy amount of elevation, so fairly quick, but good time of the year for selection for a September World Champ race.
00:59:20
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, i wouldn't know if it is, but it wouldn't surprise me. um Yeah. yeah Italy and being such a big race for them already. I know that Germany. Courtney DeWalter is doing the 120. That's right.
00:59:33
Speaker
ah that's right Yeah, yeah, that's right. And so is Martina, Valmassoi, Claudia Tremps. So the 120 on the women's side is looking fun. um I don't recognize too many. Hang on, I clicked female again. But...
00:59:47
Speaker
um Andreas Reitera is the top-ranked male on the 120 from Italy. And then, ah yeah, Ben Dimon from the USA second. So and don't remember I don't recognise as many names, um but they've got very, very high interest scores. So they're probably they're very, very good um in the 120. But, yeah, it'll be interesting to see. That's clearly the top one for out for the Aussies headed over. Yeah, i guess it's a good um ah good option if you're not doing UTMB.
01:00:19
Speaker
Really big event. and Even if you are, surely this is a good lead-in in some ways. Yeah, if you're doing world champs and you can't do UTMB maybe. No, but if even if you are doing UTMB.
01:00:30
Speaker
Oh, yeah. 120 into the UTMB sounds, I don't know smart to me at least. Yeah, La Verena is a bit more runnable, I think, than UTMB. So could fit some different style runners, you know, like Courtney maybe. I don't know.
01:00:45
Speaker
um She's pretty good in in in in all distances and all terrains. um But, yeah, it's just crazy that, you know, here we go into Western States week and then at the same time there's so many other big races.
01:01:00
Speaker
happening yeah talking about utmb races there is a new utmb race not far away from australia um in indonesia which is cool they announced that this week um ah so mid-october there's a new race in lake taba in indonesia um which looks really really cool um and just nice having more options for asia pacific and this is the first utmb race in indonesia indonesia is a massive market for trail running they have a lot of trails of a lot of peaks they have you know some of the highest points around southeast asia so i have a feeling that that we might see you know another race in indonesia um in the future because
01:01:52
Speaker
So a lot of people that live in Indonesia, um a lot of trail runners around there. The problem obviously becomes that now we're starting to have a lot of races in that October, November, December yeah window in Southeast Asia, um which obviously there's enough runners in the region to to fill all those races up.
01:02:13
Speaker
But then, yeah, it just becomes pretty crowded and it would have been nice to have it a bit more spread. I don't know. I kind of, because there are so many runners, it's kind of like I get on the elite side of like, it's better to have less, but also it's kind of nice to have choice too.
01:02:31
Speaker
Like there's so many different races to choose from, which can help you pick and choose ones that you're either interested in or are going to suit you more as opposed to only having one race at time.
01:02:43
Speaker
Yeah, no, absolutely. But that weekend, so this is the 17th to the 19th of October. There's another UTMB race exactly that weekend in China and in South Korea.
01:02:54
Speaker
okay. And it was, Suppose there's only so many months you can run in Asia, right? Like... yeah i guess it's a little bit cooler um in winter um i know that utmb malaysia which is also an option where a lot of aussies could go to or maybe go to they've moved that to the to late september so that was a november race this year is the 26th the 28th of september which kind of spreads things around a bit more um and but yeah obviously translantale is in november and then um
01:03:28
Speaker
Kozi is in November as well. Chiang Mai is first week of December. um So yeah, pretty kind of stacked yeah pretty stacked amount of UTMB races around that time where like the rest of the year there's only really um two or three for the other nine months of the year true that is true just for one region of the world for sure so yeah interesting to see where that goes it's gonna be I'm excited that there's a race in Indonesia that would interest me that'd be fun to pop over to do I think yeah they really in Malaysia at that point in time anyway but uh
01:04:03
Speaker
it so Yeah, I think you won't be too far from there. um But yeah, they have 28k race. So maybe you can double up. Yeah, yeah know rudwood I'm already doubling up that one next with the South Korea the next six days later. So, um yeah, yeahp I'm learning to say no to more things.
01:04:24
Speaker
Last time I was on in Kotakonabulu on the mountain doing the climb, we were climbing up and then realised that we were getting pretty tight with our flight out of KK, Kotakonabulu.
01:04:36
Speaker
um So we had to run down and we literally made it to the plane about 10 minutes. before the gate closed. Love that. maybe you can run down and then straight to the airport.
01:04:47
Speaker
And it wouldn't be a long flight to Indonesia, probably 20, 30 minutes. Yeah, look, I'm pretty sure the day after doing, what is it, 2,600 metres of descent in 13Ks or something stupid, I'm not running.
01:05:02
Speaker
Like knowing myself and knowing these downhills, yes, my legs are very well conditioned to downhill already at this point, but at the same time, like sending that distance and that ah elevation loss as I know I'm going to have to for a good result there, yeah.
01:05:18
Speaker
um' I'm banking on my legs being like absolute snappable toothpicks for about four days or feeling like it. Could be a big pay payday weekend. Yeah.
01:05:29
Speaker
Um, maybe. Half price money. so And after all that CCC training, your legs should be pretty strong. Well, yeah, I'm already going to be interested to see how I pull up because it's only six weeks, I think, after CCC.
01:05:43
Speaker
So suppose when I think about where I was six weeks after after my last 100K, it was not up to racing this. But to be fair, that was also off not the right training in the back of a massive season. So different circumstances I'm hoping and my body feels good for so far. But yeah.
01:06:01
Speaker
Yeah, will be interesting. Now to finish off, Vlad, I want your tips for Western States. Tell me what you think is going to go down, who you think is going to win um or what you want to happen if you've followed it closely enough.
01:06:12
Speaker
I mean, it's hard not to follow if you um kind of follow the American side of things. um I mean, I would love to see David Roach win it. Me too. My, like, dream is because you know how everyone has that thing of the first to the top of the escarpment can never win or has never won? Yeah.
01:06:32
Speaker
I would love it if David Roach is first to the top of the escarpment and then hangs the frick on and does the whole thing and proves that wrong as well. Like just prove everything wrong all at once.
01:06:43
Speaker
that would be great. Yeah, fun to see. I don't know. i think after Killian having a bad day at the Ascent is going to be super motivated to have a better day at Western States. So hi you know i would have to go with Killian. But then again, on the back of that, there are so many good American runners who are racing it that probably don't race a crazy amount outside of the US and probably a bit maybe a bit less known um outside of the US.
01:07:12
Speaker
Is Vincent Boyard still racing? I think he is. think it should be. um Yeah, he's not taken off the start list. But the um ah i'm I reckon Dan Jones is going to be top two no matter who's at the front. Like I reckon he might win, but also um just off the form he's had. think he's got smaller chance for a top three for sure.
01:07:33
Speaker
I mean, like I think he said, like, you know, he came – came to Australia for um for UTA 50 and you know used that as a training run I think that was the highest ITRA scoring race in Australia like I've never I think you got I have to double check but I think you got way over 900 points for that race and I don't think we've had too many um runs in Australia over 900. I don't think we've yeah if if we if we've had any.
01:08:04
Speaker
Yeah, so I looked at it like straight after the race and I was like, if that was his no taper straight into training kind of a race, then he's going to do well at Western States. And he's already come fifth and fourth.
01:08:17
Speaker
Like I don't see any way, unless something goes really wrong, that he's doing worse than that. So he's almost like a guaranteed top three at this point. I mean, obviously it's a long race. and Yeah, but when you pulled it up twice, you know how to do it. Like he knows how to look after himself. if That's why I mean bar something literally just going wrong. Like I don't think he's going to do anything wrong, but you never know what a day throws at you. Yeah.
01:08:41
Speaker
Yeah, no, absolutely. I think that is he's just a solid runner. He's been working hard, training hard. And um yeah, I won't be surprised if he's top three there.
01:08:53
Speaker
um it is a It is a bit more competitive this year, even without Jim and Hayden. It is really competitive. and Rod Favard is probably the other name that is to me. Like he came second last year. He wasn't far off Jim.
01:09:07
Speaker
Like he was with Jim for so long. So I think most most things I've seen have Rod Favard for the win from the American side of things. Like on my books it's still I'm – probably biasly so on paper saying Killian's the fittest um and therefore I think he should do good.
01:09:25
Speaker
How wild is it though to think, I've heard this said recently, so the women they're going, like ah there's definitely talk of the women going for the Courtney's course record um and seeing if they can do it, the like Sylvester Chillag and um some other women they're going for it.
01:09:41
Speaker
How wild is it to think that the what the time they're going for is faster than Killian's ever run it even though he won it? Yeah. Yeah, crazy. Yeah, I mean, just shows how much the sport has leveled up.
01:09:53
Speaker
Sorry, just to go back to Dan Johns. um So he scored at UTA Australia 50k. He scored 910. And then his fourth place last year at UTMB is scored 913. And and you know with itra points and all that you do get a bit more points for the longer races um so technically that 9 10 at a 50k race is more impressive than than fourth place 14 hours and 32 minutes for the 160k so he's definitely fit so yeah it's got a good chance but yeah females you know maybe not a standout name there's no um katie or
01:10:38
Speaker
um or anybody else that really stands out, but most likely the record will fall. um I think, well, there's there's still second and third from last year. Fu Jia Zhang, I think, is probably favourite um going in. She was ah second and she was 20 minutes ahead of Esther last year. But then Esther Chulag, we saw her down under um this year already at Buffalo 100K.
01:11:03
Speaker
And by all reports I've heard from people and listening to podcasts and stuff, she is in fine form. And then we've also got last year's fourth, Emily Horgood, I'm intrigued and going to be following very closely to see how Caitlin Fielder does, just as a friend of Caitlin's and wanting to see how she can pull off her first miler.
01:11:24
Speaker
um But then, yeah, there's Tara Dower, Abbey Hall, like a lot of Ha Ha from Vietnam, like the the people that have um got their tickets from CCC last year. There's the podium from CCC um in there as well Marianne Hogan like she's come second before at Western I believe hasn't she always she was up there um and obviously I think like took a couple years ago she wasn't in it last year um but she ah she knows how to pull off these hundred mile races every single time so yeah I think
01:11:59
Speaker
Yeah, I don't even know. I'm just looking forward to the fact I can distinctly remember last year I was i went for like a six-hour run or a five-hour run while the live stream was on. And I had like literally the YouTube open on my phone um playing the entire time. So I had to take a battery pack with me in order to the charge it.
01:12:17
Speaker
But I'm just listening to the live stream as I'm running for like six hours. But it was like the timing of when the top ten on the women's and the men's were all like so close together for so long.
01:12:28
Speaker
um And I can still remember the commentators essentially going, half these people are going to blow up. And then like five hours later going, hang on, no one's blowing up. Everyone's still there kind of deal.
01:12:39
Speaker
And that whole, like, it was almost like that recognition of the change in what happens in the sport now with just improve training, improve technology, improve fueling. So many less people blow up. So everyone they're expecting to absolutely to have gone out and die off in the end, um it was still such tight racing. So I think I ran that that run a little quick because I was just like you can hear them.
01:13:02
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. It's like this person's overtaken, this person dropping, this person. It was so good. So I'll probably do that again. Let's be honest. It's going to happen. I think I i i think i might go running with Kel again. I'm like, I might bring a speaker, by the way.
01:13:17
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I really hope that Esther does well. You know, obviously, I know i'd be a bit well. She lives in Hong Kong and planning to do a 100K team race with her in November. I have a phone.
01:13:30
Speaker
How many things are you doing in November, man? Yeah, no, I'm really excited about that because it's a race that I wanted to do for a long time, but obviously being a team of that trail walker in Hong Kong. So you're running a team of four.
01:13:43
Speaker
Yeah, nice. Yeah. Like will four of you do the or relay? Yeah. ah relay No, no, so you you run together the whole way and you have to stay together. Yeah, wow. It used to be like the maybe still the biggest race in Hong Kong.
01:13:57
Speaker
amount of people that do it's really hard to get into. um always wanted to it. Why do you have to stick together? Is it just because it's a team event? Yeah. ah okay So we have mixed team of four. um you get like a lot of You can have a lot of support because Hong Kong trails are so accessible. So um yeah nice you can run it pretty light and you should get some support. it's a bit easier having a few people supporting a team of four than individual people. So um not yeah for a long time, I wanted to do it and you know always like trying to get into ah the right teams that could do well. And yeah, this year we have a pretty solid team. and
01:14:33
Speaker
might be my return to 100k so I'm hoping that damn that sounds like fun western states and then be fit for that uh which yeah will be pretty fun that sounds like so much fun that is totally the sort of thing I'd jump in on that is awesome love that well I think with that, we've covered ah good amount of what's coming up next weekend, unless you want to throw anything, any more curveballs at me.
Trail Community Growth and Local Races
01:14:57
Speaker
but we got It's an exciting weekend for trail running and yeah, just cool to see the sport moving forward. And so many events are on and ah as ah as an athlete and also as a fan of the sport. It's just, yeah, nice to be around this growth that we're experiencing right now.
01:15:14
Speaker
Yep, yep, exactly, exactly. So, yeah, for everyone in Aussie that is doing BTU or any other races on Aussie soil, which actually I just realised I haven't actually looked to see what's coming up this weekend, we've got on Aussie soil we do have BTU. It looks like there's ah Lofty's Revenge Ultra Marathon in South Australia, King of the Mountain in Newcastle, um Ultra Trail Jervis Bay,
01:15:42
Speaker
What else we got? Wondai Country Freysenay Circuits down in Tassie. Damn, that would be a pretty run. That would be gorgeous. um And then something called King of the Mountain in Perth in WA.
01:15:55
Speaker
Have you heard of that one, Vlad? Yeah, i'm going to be down there with Bix. Oh, nice. The finish line. Yeah. It's not really king of a mountain. It's a little hill. I was going to say, it's in Perth. So...
01:16:10
Speaker
Yeah, i'll be surprised if there's more than like 250 metres of gain for that 16K, maybe 300 metres of gain. So, yeah. yeah Oh, and um shout out to Northwest Trail Running Series. That's northwest of Tassie.
01:16:25
Speaker
and This might be their second year. I'm pretty sure they had their first year last year, but there the first one of their series, which I reckon would be one of the prettiest trail running series around the country going around, that's on next weekend as well.
01:16:38
Speaker
So, yeah.
Podcast Coordination and Listener Engagement
01:16:39
Speaker
to everyone at all of those events and whatever else is on because I'm sure there's more. Good luck and I hope you've all enjoyed listening to this episode. We will have whatever mix of the four of us we can get on next week now that Brodie's overseas and yeah, if everyone knew the behind the scenes of what happened to get today's episode up and running for figuring out who was on.
01:17:00
Speaker
um Yeah, it's getting back to the stage of yeah, like multiple time zones, multiple countries and yeah, figuring it all out. So no idea who's on next week. You will hear from whatever whoever of us can manage.
01:17:13
Speaker
um But that being said, we hope you enjoy listening. If you do like what we do, please leave a rating, review, comment, anything on um socials or where you get your podcasts.
01:17:25
Speaker
But otherwise, good luck for your, I'm assuming not really a taper week, but technically what most people would call a taper week, Vlad. Thank you. Yeah, no, still got two weeks. So still a couple of runs.
01:17:38
Speaker
So not time for the taper yet. Not not for the Vladexals of the world. No. Love it. Love it. Well, good luck for it. Hope it all goes well. Hope no more colds come your way. And yeah, we'll speak you next week.
01:17:50
Speaker
See you guys.