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SRWS: Penang SkyRace Recap with Sim and Blake!
344 Plays28 days ago
Welcome to a special episode of Peak Pursuits where you will here from the podcasts own Sim Brick alongside Blake Turner as they both begin their seasons in the SkyRunner World Series!
Sime and Blake give an overview of what the SkyRunner World Series is before recapping their races in the extreme heat at Penang SkyRace in Malaysia. Hear about the wild course, their respective strategies and struggles, and what it was like to race in Malaysia.
They then finish up with their thoughts on the race they will tackle this weekend in Japan. Wild is an understatement for this one!
SkyRunner World Series Website: https://www.skyrunnerworldseries.com/
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/hartzmann/clear-sky License code: JFCE3VLFTFTXGN1C
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Transcript
Introduction to Skyrunning World Series
00:00:03
Speaker
you
00:00:22
Speaker
Okay, hello and welcome to a special episode of the Peak Buseets podcast, ah following myself and I'm joined by the lovely Blake Turner. How are we doing, Blake?
00:00:32
Speaker
Excellent. It's fun over here. it is It is good fun over here. ah We are doing the Skyrunning World Series, or the they two races that happened last week and this coming weekend, which we're going to recap and give our thoughts on, which is an interesting kettle of fish, this Skyrunning
Qualifying for the Series
00:00:53
Speaker
thing. So I suppose we'll start there in a bit of what is the Skyrunning World Series.
00:00:58
Speaker
um In the purest form, I suppose, it's just a series of races around the world, but being the Sky Running World Series, they are probably the, what would you say, gnarliest just wildest deep and technical combined yeah yeah the quickest way to the top generally and down quickest way down yep um i like to say it's how it's trying to run on the hardest terrain to run on possible pretty much yeah that's got some set up mostly
00:01:28
Speaker
So there's not often actually that much running, um but they take you to some pretty cool places. Like the team were telling us about a race they recently did in the Andes at what, 4,700 metres or something. So hitting minus 27 degrees. And then the one we just did in Malaysia, hitting 33 degrees and wildly humid.
00:01:51
Speaker
So they go everywhere around the world. There's 23 races, I think. um And for a bit of context, to be part of this series, you need and minimum of four races in the main series and then the final at the end, which is in Spain in November.
Racing the Course vs. Competitors
00:02:08
Speaker
But if you can do five, five races count before the final. um So in a similar way to most series, it's you accumulate points based on your position throughout the series. Lots of prize money at the end, which we'll appreciate the hell out of because that's what we're here for in some ways.
00:02:25
Speaker
um But also mostly the experience because each of these races feel like more of a battle with the course itself than the people you're around, at least. That's what I found. Yeah, definitely. The experience is is what it's about, I reckon, for me, just going to these unique places and running places.
Unexpected Challenges in Malaysia
00:02:42
Speaker
Like people would never run these tracks.
00:02:44
Speaker
No. being some of the only people that would do these routes or would even think about doing them yep definitely not many people are dumb enough to try um so takes a small amount of insanity uh and a lot of wild uh faith that you're going to come out unscathed the other side but it's particularly for this weekend's race that we're doing in japan but before we get there We both just raced in Malaysia Penang Sky Race.
00:03:13
Speaker
That one was one with, was meant to be 30K. Everyone got somewhere around 32 on their watch because they changed the course the night before. But so yeah, 32K with about 2,400 up and down.
00:03:27
Speaker
ah With the main challenge being that on the start line, it was 94% humidity and degrees in the ah at 6.30am.
Heat and Darkness Issues
00:03:38
Speaker
How were you feeling at that point, Blake? Yeah, I wasn't, don't think anyone was expecting it to be that hot that early. yeah We thought, okay, it's going dark in the morning, it'll be a bit cooler. But we got there and it was like impressive. Like any amount of running, it would just you would just pour sweat.
00:03:53
Speaker
So for me, the the warm-up was was almost nil. Because I'm like, I don't need this extra stress on me. But um yeah it was it was unique. Because they started the race half an hour later this year, which... No, last year they started at like 5am because was longer. Okay. So they started half an hour later than planned um to allow people to do prayers. Yeah, I think so. That's what they said.
00:04:18
Speaker
it, which is at the end of the day, meant we didn't have to take a head torch. We'll go into that a little bit soon. But they you didn't make a head torch mandatory and we're starting in the pitch black now.
00:04:29
Speaker
And yeah, I was the same. I did, I think I did 1K at 5.55 pace and was sweating bullets. And you know, it's bad when even the day before at the um elite presentation, the Malaysians were complaining about how hot it was and saying this isn't usual. Yeah, even the Malaysian athletes were saying, we don't like running in this. This is not You'll never get used to this, oh well ah to some degree, I suppose. But, yeah, when they say it and, like, we're coming from wherever we come from, it's it was always going to be a shock.
00:04:59
Speaker
But we we kind of knew what we were in for to some degree. Yeah. Yeah. And I actually, i still stand by the fact that I said the elite presentation. i do actually like, I like heat and humidity. I like racing in it purely for the added aspect of problem
Adapting to Conditions
00:05:14
Speaker
solving. And I prefer to be warmer trying to cool myself down than cold trying to warm up. That's just me, though, as a preference. Yeah. um You were the most confident person.
00:05:24
Speaker
in saying that in the lead up the few days before. And everyone everyone's like, all right, cool. Well, she this should be walk in the park for a a different story coming over the finish line. But, yeah, confidence is the key. Oh, look, I was fine by the time I walked over the finish line. and I just put myself in a tough spot in the middle. But that's okay. We'll get there. um But then, yeah, back to the start of this race, ah we had about 200 metres of road before you're on a very steep stairs and roots and rocks single track uphill.
00:05:53
Speaker
In the pitch black. And neither of us had a head torch. um Some of the smart people still started with a head torch. the But the sun was meant to rise like 10, 15 minutes after the race start. So I naively thought we would have a bit of light pretty early on.
00:06:13
Speaker
And that was not the case. So how did you actually get up that first climb? No, it was very naive of us. And I don't know why they wouldn't have warned us more that it was going to be that. They told us it was going to be fine. It was honestly like black.
00:06:26
Speaker
And there the guy, the under-23 guy, stepped up to the opens. He had a head torch. He's just like, I don't know. It seems like a good idea. Am i Sweet. So he led the race pretty much from the start. And there was a guy too behind me who had a head torch. And it was a battle for me. It was like, do I run up to try and keep up with the guy in front or...
00:06:43
Speaker
stay with the guy behind. I didn't manage to keep the guy in front because I didn't have the legs. And then I ended up finding myself in no man's land. Yeah. um And i had to turn my watch light on, which was useless.
00:06:55
Speaker
um And then you're pretty much just feeling your way up the trail. It's like it was literally black. Like it's pretty hard. like um You got a little bit of light from people behind you, but it wasn't really ideal.
00:07:07
Speaker
um It was just hitting hope really, you know. and and But no one came unstuck by the looks of it. We took a wrong turn at one point. For our naivety, there was a couple of guys, me and an Italian guy. we didn't have a torch.
00:07:18
Speaker
And we only went a few hundred metres and came back. But it was all right. No harm, no foul. But that first section was, yeah, it was, it was it we definitely needed torches. All that should have started the race later.
00:07:28
Speaker
Yeah, one of the two. I don't think it would have made a difference starting the race 15 minutes later in the heat we had. But, um yeah, I was very similar. I found that I had for quite a while someone right behind me with a head torch, but then you end up in a shadow.
00:07:42
Speaker
because your body blocks the head torch for what's in front of you. So it was still maybe slightly more helpful. But then whenever they went past and there was a couple of times, I came to a complete stop trying to step over a route because I didn't want to miss the route because some of them were quite pronounced. And you could kind of see it if it was in the distance. And then as soon as it was right in front of you, it was almost like, okay, that's just black.
00:08:03
Speaker
So I found it made the climb go real quick though. Like just because you're in survival mode. Definitely. I think when you're on the dark, even if you go ahead torch, it's quicker because you don't take in – you're just looking right ahead of you. You like to step your first like step, step, step. So you're not looking up the trail, how far you've got to go and you just work your way up. And and you you do seem to surprise yourself when you get to the top and be like, oh, geez, that was all right. It wasn't
Mental and Physical Challenges
00:08:25
Speaker
so bad. But if you did it during the day, you'd be like, oh, this is this is painful. But yeah I think it does have its benefits. Were you – Because I was at times, I didn't realise quite how long it was going to take and when the sun was going to come up. So I was at times purposely slowing myself down, and worried that I was going to hit the first descent still in the dark.
00:08:41
Speaker
No, I didn't think of that because I knew the first climb was substantial. Okay. You were smarter than me. 500 and something metres, I think, was it? No, it couldn't have been that much. It was 500 metres almost exactly. That's right. Yeah. And that took a long time.
00:08:53
Speaker
So i'm like, surely we're getting the top. like longer than half an hour. Yeah, I just wasn't sure where the sun was going to be in respect to the mountain. And, yeah, anyways, I was a bit like, okay, well, I just want to make sure that I'm hitting the descent in the light. Yeah, and no I never thought like that. I couldn't go down in that.
00:09:08
Speaker
All I thought was get as much of the course done in the morning as possible to try and beat the heat, but it didn't really matter. I don't think it mattered yeah it was more humid in the morning than later, but then it was hotter later. So, anyways, – we um There was a really steep climb, really steep 1.5K descent. Did you get under the waterfall at 4K? No. Oh, you didn't? I was just in, like, survival mode for the first part of the race. I didn't look at anything around me. I was just like, all right, like just trying to bring my legs back around to, like, getting under me and and feeling good. So I was just, like, focusing. i
00:09:40
Speaker
Like, on the descent was pretty sketchy for me. I don't know. just didn't have legs at the first part of the race. So I was just focusing on the trail because there was so much that you – could come unstuck with, yeah that if you didn't focus, that was it. so i didn't know I didn't see any waterfall, unfortunately. Yeah, fair. Oh, we did have to cross the water, so I don't know how you missed that. But anyways, yeah, no, I was on the first descent, I was actually feeling quite good. I took it pretty chill because you've got so much left to go.
00:10:06
Speaker
that it's like it's just not worth taking any risks on a 1.5km descent, not log in. But, yeah, at 4km there was a little water crossing we had to do and there was a waterfall and I went off track to stand under the waterfall for a little bit to, like, then be soaking wet.
00:10:21
Speaker
But um that then that second climb to the aid station, do you know what position you were in when you hit that first aid? Yeah. Yeah, I didn't know. No, I didn't because we went off course a little bit. So I didn't exactly know positioning, but I ended up catching up to an Italian runner who I heard was a handy orienteer and I thought he was going to be up the front of the race. I caught up to him. I'm like, okay, I can't be too far back, maybe fifth or something like that.
00:10:42
Speaker
Um, And then I started to feel better about myself and, i ah yeah, I can get through the race when I caught up to him. But he was having a really bad day. I'm like, are you all right? He's like, oh, I'm – this was like 4K in. He's like, I'm dizzy.
00:10:54
Speaker
I can't. Like, I don't know if I can keep running. He goes, I'll see feel the next aid station. pull. this was the first aid station. i saw him and as yeah. And this a serious runner, like, you know what I mean? And, like yeah it was affecting people pretty early on. And I'm like, oh, God. I'm like, all right, well, if I can just pick some people off, like, just throughout the day, i would just keep going. So i just – I had – from then on, I had a bit of confidence. All right, just – just K by k knock it off and just see how you go.
00:11:16
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I knew it was taking souls early. When I think at 3Ks, I could hear someone head of me vomiting. And I was like, that person's having a rough day. And then, yeah, I got to the aid station and he was, I think the Italian
Technical Terrain and Strategy
00:11:29
Speaker
guy was getting on a motorbike to tap out.
00:11:31
Speaker
And it does it doesn't surprise me at all. every Like if you if you weren't handling the heat at that point already, then it's probably better to not keep going yeah anyway. I had the same thought. Like honestly, i don't know, I had the same thoughts at like 2K in. I'm like, oh, I'm going get the first aid station. If I feel crap, I'm pulling.
00:11:46
Speaker
Like honestly, I've never felt that before, but I'm glad I kind of just pulled myself out of that hole because like it would have been a pretty upsetting and like yeah yeah day to do that. But to see, all right, people, everyone's feeling crap, just suck it up. yeah Yeah, that's the thing. It's like you go, well, everyone's in the same sort of boat. And, yeah, I was i'd checked that part of the course. I knew what I was in for up until then and it was kind of nice to know that but also kind of know what was coming. And, um yeah, honestly, I got to the first aid station at that point with a whole bunch of confidence going, yep, I'm sweet. I got told I was two minutes behind Iris. Yeah.
00:12:22
Speaker
And that was after two decent climbs and I was like, okay, I can deal with that. Like I was expecting to lose quite a ah like a bit of time to the top knowing that the second half was net downhill in a big way. So, yeah, I hit that aid station and then I didn't realise, I hadn't checked the road section on the next. We had three Ks of road downhill.
00:12:40
Speaker
And it was shocking. That road was just way too steep. Yeah, you did note or tell me there was a lot of road on the course, but I don't remember this one. You didn't run this one. And it was too steep to run almost. was. And it was just pounding on the feet. It was, like, not good. I got caught up few, like – I was a fair way ahead of someone at the A station, but I got overtaken by like a Malaysian runner who just blasted that downhill. and I'm like, oh i ah don't even care right now. Like, I'm not blasting. I'm not killing my quads on this downhill. wasn't worth it.
00:13:07
Speaker
Yeah, it was just too steep. And you could feel if you'd pick up picked up any speed, you're like, my quads are already sore and we're 8Ks in and like an hour in to what turned out to be a four and a five hour race. so it wasn't worth it. The concrete, yeah, it's not good like on the on the quads or the feet like yeah that early in the race. Yeah, for sure. And also it was kind of, I can see why they did it. Access to these courses is always very interesting. But we had an aid station at 6K at the top of this to the top of this climb and then we had 3Ks of descent to the next aid station. So there was 11 minutes between those two aid stations.
00:13:39
Speaker
You'd waited for me, it was like an hour 13 or something to that first aid station and then 11 minutes to the next. so It was an interesting mix of where the aid stations were, um which we can touch on too, because we'll get that all that'll become evident in the end back half of the race.
00:13:56
Speaker
But that second aid station at the bottom at the Botanic Gardens after the um road descent, did you stop much? You refilled there? Yeah. Yeah, because I knew there was only a short distance, so I just i just filled a bottle and um took a couple of watermelons ah just because I felt like I needed some extra flavour and then just headed straight off. And it was a nice little road ah climb from there to the jungle, so was nice. It was runnable. You get your legs you get your leaks back and just start getting your rhythm back.
00:14:23
Speaker
um And then into the jungle again but just started with a whole bunch of stairs. It's on those stairs. A whole bunch of stairs and no way to go on the side of them and it was just that's a slog.
00:14:34
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Yeah. So it was a from that aid station it was a 6K climb up and then another couple of Ks to the aid station on more slightly more runnable stuff. um And that was that how did you find that whole climb, like to the next aid station? Were you ah changing positions at all?
00:14:52
Speaker
ah No, not really. well We started passing a fair few 50k runners at that point. Yeah. um So it was all right. There was a few people around, but the positions didn't change a great deal throughout race. Which is interesting because you were also close together. Exactly right. Like, I never really saw anyone in front of me.
00:15:07
Speaker
I never overtook anyone. he was only a minute, do you know? No one overtook me. Like, i there was a guy close to me at one point, but then he, like, was 40 minutes behind at the end. but um yeah, it was pretty much just like, all hold your position from then on. And it was good it wasn't a bad climb. It was nice. It was steep. It was, you know, ah I don't know what you'd call it, mud, like clay, little, thin little singletree. trail like yeah step up proper stepping up you know what i mean yeah yeah was no running involved really no but through the jungle so it was all right yeah it wasn't a bad climb that was probably the best climb the day yeah well it was nice that it was getting a little colder as it went up and I'm glad that was your best climb of the day because that was my suffer point so this is where for me I was I was trying to play it so smart and I was being I was so happy with myself going yeah I'm making good decisions I stopped at that aid station in the botanic gardens
00:15:54
Speaker
Made sure I filled up all the water things I had and I also drank. um I drank a full 500ml before I left as well and then left with the leader that I had thinking it's like was what, 6.5, 7km between the two. Yes, it's all climbing but I was like okay, I'm going I've already drunk
Resilience and Strategy Adjustments
00:16:11
Speaker
a litre and a half to this point, almost two litres, and I had a litre with me, thinking all's well.
00:16:16
Speaker
And I thought I was taking in a bunch of electrolytes via my little bottle that I had made up the night before. um so all felt dandy at this point still.
00:16:28
Speaker
And then about half an hour after um the way up that climb, um i so i like I can't even describe. i started just feeling like I was moving in slow motion.
00:16:39
Speaker
And I was so thirsty. And this should have been, like, I've done all this study. I should have known what was going on. But I was so thirsty, couldn't drink enough, but also needed to pee.
00:16:50
Speaker
So it was like this weird mix of going, okay, my why do I need to pee but i'm I'm really thirsty and what's going on? And then it just felt like I was in slow-mo. I got a headache.
00:17:01
Speaker
And then with, um I think it was at about 11 or 12K I'm going to say because it was about 3Ks after the aid station, I ran out of water and i was like, great, okay, I've got four Ks uphill to get to the next aid station. I've got no water. I'm thirsty. I've got a headache.
00:17:19
Speaker
And my foot started cramping on the uphill. And I was just like, what is going on? I thought I'd already had a bunch of my sodium and electrolytes in my bottle. But then I was like, okay, ah maybe I just need even more. So I take two take two I took two salt tablets, so 500 milligrams of sodium with like my last 20 mil of water.
00:17:39
Speaker
And so that hit my stomach. Thankfully, I had a ah decent amount of water right at that moment. So it was fine. But then ah slowly, as you go 40 minutes in that heat, sweating with no water, I was just suffering. I was like, okay, I just went from being feeling like I was doing a good job and being smart to so dumb.
00:17:58
Speaker
Like this is the last thing you want to do in that heat is learn out of water. Anyways, we made it all the way up and I finally got into the aid station, which is at the summit at the highest point of the whole course. And i think it was about 16 K or so on a road section.
00:18:14
Speaker
I was moving so slow on the road, on the way to this aid station. Honestly, i felt like still like I was just in slow motion. My muscles wouldn't do what they wanted, what I wanted them to do. and then spent like was like, okay, I need to reset. i need to revive. Something's gone wrong. Not sure what's gone wrong.
00:18:30
Speaker
So I sat at the aid station and refilled my bottles. I drank two litres straight of water. I just couldn't stop myself though. I was so thirsty by that point that I just kept drinking and drinking and it was really nice ice cold water. I was putting ice all through my old down my bra and everything.
00:18:47
Speaker
And because we're at the halfway point, I got my second electrolyte bottle out, which is just, I make a really concentrated 150 mil for with some glucose powder and electrolytes. And it's designed to be really concentrated, but I'll have a sip of that with my plain water because I find it's the most satisfying way of having plain water, still getting everything I need in.
00:19:06
Speaker
It's worked for me quite a few times now, but I filled up my second 150ml bottle, which I had just prepared the powder and to refill it halfway.
00:19:17
Speaker
and I filled it up, took a sip, and that was when I realised my mistake because it was double concentrated. So I think I had over 2,000 milligrams of sodium in 150 mil because I'd accidentally poured all of my two sachets of electrolytes into the one bottle when I was setting them up the night before, um which is such a dumb mistake. Like I did it to myself and I was kicking myself as soon as I realised because then I was running away from the aid station I'd just drunk two litres of water.
00:19:47
Speaker
I knew I hadn't had enough electrolytes. I'm like, I'm about to give myself hyponatremia if I don't bloody get some salt into me. So thankfully I had some very highly concentrated salt. But every sip I took, as soon as it hit my throat, it was so salty that it would like make me gag.
00:20:01
Speaker
And then if it hit my stomach later on, as I was running along, I'm like, well, I need to get this in, but I need to be careful because if it hits my stomach when it's empty, I feel really nauseous. And anyways, I put myself in a bit of a spot and running away from that aid station, we had three Ks of road.
00:20:16
Speaker
off the aid station, all super runnable, but I'm jogging along that with my belly sloshing full of two litres of fluid and trying to, like, just revive my race. I knew there was still a long way left. I was in third at this point. I'd let the Mongol – there was a Mongolian, a super powerful Mongolian ahead of me. She was in – She was in the 45 to 49 age group and she was a beast. Like just watching her go along, I'm like power to you, woman. But she'd taken off on me and I was like I was in that mindset of going, okay, I've screwed up. Third's good for today. I'm done. Like I can't deal with anything more um along that road section.
00:20:53
Speaker
but But, yeah, how did you find the, I think in total it was maybe four and a half Ks of flatter. road sort of stuff across the top yeah was pretty annoying like you don't really expect that in the middle of like a sky race kind of like what we were doing but it was obviously a link up and I understand why they did it but just harping back to the nutrition wise like Yeah, a lot of moving parts. and Yeah. Because you try a lot of things out, you could want to make sure it works for you. But i like I had no issue. I just kept it simple. All I did was plain water all day, yeah two bottles, and then I just had gels. That's it.
00:21:25
Speaker
Gels and plain water. And the gels, was speaking to Vlad the days before. He gives me some gels, and he's like, listen, this is what people do in the heat. They said, don't put mix in your water. um Just go for gels. And I said, I'll try it out. And to be honest, it served me well. yeah ill Probably a gel short at the end of the day.
00:21:42
Speaker
um But I had no issue. Like salt, it seemed like it was fine. um I didn't – the carb input was fine and a little bit of caffeine. But, um yeah, the simple on the day was the best because one of those days where it's that hot, you just – the less you have to think about, yeah yeah better.
00:21:57
Speaker
You know what mean? And aid stations, I did – the last aid station I took coke, but I didn't take anything aid stations because I didn't really know what they had and I didn't want to – introducing new things into it but but that middle a station was it probably took the longest because they had ice there so i got a bag of ice shoved it behind my neck um i had a piece of watermelon um that was it and then i just set off and i'm like well this is a runnable bit of road so i have to put some sort of effort in because everyone else is so it was a little bit painful because like to run on that road the heat it wasn't super undercover and it was like bitumen and you're like someone's going to catch up to me or you don't know what's happening so
00:22:32
Speaker
ah Yeah, you had to push. Like, there wasn't much bludging. um It was a little bit – it was wasn't my favourite part of the race. Yeah, yeah. Like, these little carts coming up and down the road, flying past you. And it was like, they didn't care, you know what I mean? Yeah. And it was a bit it was a bit of a punish. But it
Course Navigation and Community Support
00:22:47
Speaker
was all right. Like, it was a nice little reprieve. You don't have to think too much. You're just on the road you're just ticking over, you know.
00:22:51
Speaker
I was just thankful that the kilometres were passing a little faster. Yeah, true. Because it was like getting, you're like, okay, the kilometre-wise, I feel like I'm actually making progress at this point. but But, yeah, on the nutrition, you're right. I think, to be fair, I felt like mine was fairly simple. I had my gels in one bottle, my electrolytes in another small bottle, and then water. true. And it was all meant to be very simple.
00:23:12
Speaker
I just screwed up the mixing, which, yeah, honestly, shouldn't shouldn't be a problem, and I did it to myself. But at the same time, I actually, for the first time, which I highly recommend, I put all my gels in a 250-mil flask, like, and I could just, tweet I could have fit 10 in if I wanted, but ah thinking that the race wasn't going to be quite as long as it was, I only put eight in, um and getting all those down, I found fuel for me was going in easy.
00:23:36
Speaker
It was just I didn't then have enough electrolytes for me. And I know because I've done all the studies and I know for myself I am a thirsty and a salty runner. Like I just, even in colder weather, I'll drink more than usual, more than probably most people would, and I sweat so much.
00:23:53
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that's why I know I just need to have a little bit more thought going into it and then I can screw it up pretty easy, unfortunately. yeah it would have been interesting because that section from the mid-A station to the next A station was a long slog.
00:24:08
Speaker
It was ridiculous. I'm like, surely I'm going to turn a corner and there's going to be an aid station and it never came. Yeah. Until like, what, three k to go? three k to go. Yeah. And it was was just going forever. So it was, like, 16 to 26K, but in a Sky Race 10Ks.
00:24:22
Speaker
Exactly. Like, for me, that was an hour 40. Yeah. Self-supported. Yeah. um And there was no way you could have filled water either. That was the other thing. Like, there was no water sources along the way. So and yeah I was, like, because I'd drunk so much at that top aid station, I didn't touch because I still only had a leader on me.
00:24:38
Speaker
Yeah. Or actually, i had one point. four litres on me, but the um because if you add up what was in my gels and stuff. But the um I didn't touch what I had for maybe half an hour into that because I was still digesting all the fluid I'd taken in at the top. So that worked out well for me. So I didn't actually, I think I drank the last couple of sips of my water at the top of the stairs climb, which is then only two Ks or so before that aid station.
00:25:06
Speaker
Downhill. Yeah. Which is manageable. Still before the aid station, which is less than ideal. But, yeah, when did you run out? Oh, well, that was a good section. After the road section, we we kind of headed into the jungle.
00:25:19
Speaker
um It was really nice. Like, techie, it wasn't, I think they cleared some of the paths. They did. Because, yeah, there was none of the spiky bushes there. You start to jump over the ball and trees. They taped the main spiky Yeah, yeah. They put red tape. So was worried about that because when you go down the hills, you can't stop, right? Yeah. Especially when you're racing.
00:25:35
Speaker
So I think they cleaned that up which was really good. It was good to see. um It was really nice down that hill. you had It was techie and steep. Like, my toes are still feeling it today. Yeah. But, and you just, your feet just wet. And then you're heading down. That was really good. And then you come out.
00:25:50
Speaker
You head along um the track a bit and then you end up just walking up stairs for who knows how long. That was road. There was no stairs. Oh, but we we' we'd done the road uphill first.
00:26:01
Speaker
Yeah, correct. You'd taken the steep turn. oh that road. Now you just reminded me of it. What a pain. so yeah, when you come out of the. was going to say, surely your brain hasn't cropped that When you out of the jungle, then that's when the race for me got tough because yeah we got out of the jungle and it was just exposed. And as soon as the sun hit you, it felt like it was just cooking me. Oh, yeah. that And the shade was bearable. That's what I was saying. But in the sun, it felt like like I was being cooked. Yeah, yeah. You couldn't put any output, like output any power.
00:26:28
Speaker
It felt like for me, and things that you'd run normally on easy days, like I couldn't even ever run it. No, yeah. I walked that whole road. yeah And actually there was another tiny little waterfall thing off to the left of the road. You had to go off the road to get to it. I went off the road and I went and stood up to the waterfall again.
00:26:46
Speaker
I was like, I need to cool down. But it felt like it didn't even cool me because the sun then hit and it was there was it wasn't as much wind as I had hoped for. no um And it was still wildly humid and just getting hotter.
00:26:59
Speaker
But that was actually where they changed the course. And I think previous to the changes, it was quite a bit easier just because you kept heading up that road rather than going across to the stairs. yeah um But the way the course went, we had like half of the climb on some road and then ducking across some like, they're like, the fact that these are moped trails does my head in. like They're like how the people that live there get around, which is crazy, but it's like they've put tiny bits of concrete along the sides of the mountain so that just a moped can fit on it.
00:27:30
Speaker
And then that's how they get in and out of their houses because we were like running through backyards. Yeah, it was nice. I think everyone locked their dogs up, which was good because they didn't even inside their houses. They worried about the dogs. But then, yes, they had locked their dogs up.
00:27:42
Speaker
um And then ah for me, I wasn't expecting it to be so long to the bottom of the stairs. It felt like forever from the time we left the road to getting across to the stairs. And then on the drag was a race for me, from like, sorry, the race was a drag for me because those sections were just, like, longer than you thought, unrelenting. Yeah. No cover. It was just like, you're in no man. I couldn't see anyone, Mike. I was around no one. And I'm like. That was where I got caught.
00:28:06
Speaker
Oh, far enough. And, yeah, I'd run out of water somewhere there too because I'm like, there'll be an A station. I'll just drink the rest of my water. Oh, no. But surely. And, yeah, we never went the top, yeah, um of the funicular, which I thought we were going to go back past to get more Oh, okay. Yeah, and then we just headed up those stairs.
00:28:23
Speaker
Yep. in Those stairs were shocking. Yeah, the funicular, like following this funicular, this train which goes straight up and it's just stairs upon stairs upon stairs. Yeah, yep. So in that section just after the road, and I'm not entirely sure what happened. either Either she went off course or she might have ducked in to go to the bathroom or something. Like you' not you're never entirely sure what happens when this happens, but I thought I was in third.
00:28:46
Speaker
I was running along. I did not pass the woman, the Mongolian woman that was ahead of me at the top aid station. I hadn't run past her, but then on that section, on a bit of the moped concrete up a hill where I was just walking, I started looking out at the view and I was like, oh I'm suffering. Okay, I'm still in third. Third's what I've got for the day. I look back and she's like 40 metres behind me. don't know.
00:29:06
Speaker
I was like, ah no, I have to actually fight here. What is happening? And which ah but there was ah there was is still a small inkling of me that went, oh, my God, I'm in second. I couldn't still come second.
00:29:19
Speaker
But there was so much of a bigger part of me in that moment in the sun that just went, no, man. So she did not take long to catch me because I was moving really slow. But then it meant that the whole way up the stairs, I just followed her.
00:29:33
Speaker
I was at that point going, I'm no longer trying to get to the finish line as fast as I can I'm just trying to get to the finish line in second in the most the best way I know I can which meant not cooking myself like god i when when I went i was like I want to know I can go to the finish not I'm going to go and bonk which it still felt like at that point I don't know i just still didn't feel like I had my fully recovered fully got all the electrolytes in and then um by the top of the stairs because I'd taken them so slow i was doing 10 stairs take a break 10 stairs take a break and by the top of that stairs I'd gotten all my water in I'd had a whole bunch of salt and it was a runnable section and she was actually maybe got to the top of the stairs 30 seconds before me and I reckon I made up that entire gap real quick because I caught her before we even got onto the trail within that 200 meters um
00:30:25
Speaker
um And she was quite a bit ahead. But then again, she put in a burst as soon as I was on the back of her and we had a solid battle for a little bit. But then I went past her on a technical section and this was maybe with, I'm going to say four Ks to go on a technical bit of that descent.
00:30:43
Speaker
um I went past her and went, okay, you've just got to go for a little bit. And I full sprinted for a bit and then there was a little bit of a wide open part where I could look back and I looked back and she was walking.
00:30:55
Speaker
I like, ah my goodness, thank you. Thank you. i still ran scared the whole time. But coming into that last aid station, i was running well, feeling good, but also running scared. And the people at the aid station honestly didn't know what to do with me because I was trying to get things so quickly to fill up bottles because I found even though there was three Ks to go, i ran away from that aid station with a whole litre.
00:31:17
Speaker
was like, I just need as much water as you can give me and I can carry. But what did you do with there? Yeah, I was i knew it was pretty good. close to the finish line aid station so I just filled up 500 mils of coke yeah um I didn't actually end up drinking much of it all I probably had a yeah couple hundred mils um I wasn't really feeling it um it was hot as heck and I'm just like i just need to get to the end um from there to the end it was a little bit deceiving because I had the elevation on my watch and it pretty much just showed it going down but for the longest time which it felt to me it was just like undulating yeah up and down, like little climbs and down. And I'm like, this is not, surely, this is not what it shows in the elevation profile, but it it it was annoying me.
00:31:55
Speaker
Yeah. Because I'm like, i just want to be going straight down as little fast as possible. Yeah. and And then it eventually did start going down and it was steep down. and Yeah, it was the most technical K, I reckon. Yeah. From two k to 1K to go, I think was the most technical. philosopher And there was a ah photographer there from Skyrunning and he's like, 30 seconds ahead, 30 seconds ahead. And I'm like, he's like, you can do it. Like there's a guy 30 seconds ahead of me. Yeah. And I'm like,
00:32:18
Speaker
No, I don't think so. But anyway. I love how you don't trust the information. While he was running with me, I was banging it down a hill. And then when he when he stopped chasing me um with the camera, I kind of like, yeah, I'm going to catch him. And I just started running normally down the hill again.
00:32:34
Speaker
And it turns out, like, i but the lower you got, the hotter got The hotter it got. to And I'm like, I cannot put any effort in. it i it It was a minute in front of me anyway, so I would never would have caught it. Well, was a minute by the end.
00:32:46
Speaker
Yeah. He might have been a little less at that point. You never know. Could have sprinted to the finish. But down the bottom, I was just so thankful to, like, hear the announcers. You know, when you can start hearing the announcers, like, at the end the time. Yeah, I found it took a lot longer to get to them, though, than I thought. but I know, oh, the end's in sight. And I'm like, all right, I don't have to run scared anymore. Just, you run it in and you're not going to get caught.
00:33:06
Speaker
But um that was, like, salvation, getting to the end there. And it was, like, I had no idea where I was coming still. Yeah. um I crossed line and I still didn't know where I came. And everyone's like, third, fourth, third, fourth.
00:33:16
Speaker
I'm like, what was And it was like about half an hour the race, which I realized where I came, which was fourth overall, but third in my category, which is how they do it over there. But yeah, I was glad to get it done, that's for sure. Yeah, yep, yep. So you were fourth overall.
00:33:31
Speaker
third open mail because it was won by the under 23 that stepped up mu um marcos villamira who absolutely trounced it in what three hours 45 um and then i should have the names in front of me but i don't and i feel bad about that but there was the mongolian in second yep can't quite remember his name really long name very long super friendly guy um and then a malaysian in Yes, David Simpat.
00:33:55
Speaker
No, David Simpat was behind you. Milton Amat. Milton Amat. Milton was the one one minute ahead of you. So you had you had the person in second maybe two, three minutes ahead of you, and then you had one minute ahead of you third place, and then there was you in four hours and four because you were all between four hours and four hours and four. Yeah, and I never saw those guys.
00:34:14
Speaker
Probably the whole race. Which is crazy. Literally the whole race. I never saw them. Have you looked up how far apart you all were at the last aid station? No, I haven't actually. We should look that up. That would interesting. Whether, who got caught, who whatever. Yeah.
00:34:26
Speaker
But, um yeah, then there was a massive gap behind you because fifth place was four hours 44. So 40 minutes back. Yeah. And I remember coming out of that... the jungle section after the second A station and before you go onto that road section we talked about. Yeah.
00:34:39
Speaker
He was, ah he was within sight behind me. David? yeah pat Yeah. Yeah. Okay. He was within sight and he was a good descender. um So I'm like, I've got to put some time on him. Anyway, he was 40 minutes behind at the end. So he must've blown up big time. Well, yeah, it was a day where I think a single thing goes wrong and you're a little bit like, okay, I'm back here. Like this is, it's not, ah yeah it's it's not, wasn't an easy day to make anything happen, that's for sure. But for me, it was like um that from the last aid station,
00:35:08
Speaker
I think just that usual thing, which does happen for me, where like I wasn't cramping on downhills all day. I was only cramping on up. So I trusted my legs and it meant I was a bit more relaxed, but also I'd gotten more fluids in, had more electrolytes and I came good.
00:35:22
Speaker
So as soon as I had done that burst where I took off from the lady, from the Mongolian Dalamsaran, I'm not going to get her name right, but um as soon as I took off from her and it was just like big because I'd switched gear, my body almost felt like it switched on and I was moving well again. So I got to that aid station, tried and fumbled more both my bottles but got away from it and ran the whole last 3K scared, but I was fanging it. Like I was just like, okay, do whatever you can to get to the finish line as fast as possible from here because you feel like you can move again and I was running scared. so still, not going
00:35:58
Speaker
ah Because I knew from the beginning that the Mongolian woman, she was a very good descender as well. And she was actually quite hard to pass on the descent already. So i was like, okay, she's good at this. But then still when I got to the road with what, we must have 800 to go by the time we had road, I was still looking back going, is she there or am I clear? Is she there or am I clear?
00:36:17
Speaker
Um, I expected Iris to be way, way ahead at that point because I knew how slow I'd been on every single climb and I knew how quick she was. So yeah, running into the finish, as soon as I was past the swimming pool and I couldn't see her, i was like, okay, I've got seconds. We can relax a little bit here and just enjoy the finish. So I could enjoy it from there.
00:36:36
Speaker
Um, but But, yeah, it was it was interesting for me to look at the splits because at the last aid station with three Ks to go, we were i was together with third and I was 12 minutes behind Iris.
00:36:47
Speaker
But by the end I was only eight minutes, I think, behind Iris or eight and a bit and I had put five minutes into third. So i was like, okay, I came good. We ran strong to the finish on that last descent and I really enjoyed it.
00:37:01
Speaker
Yeah. And I was like, I ended up, because I took a whole litre of the water, I was like, I don't think I'm going to drink this, but I can cool off with it. So id I dumped 500 mil over my head and that made, once you run a downhill then with wind, I actually felt like it cooled me down quite a bit. So I didn't think I, I wasn't getting quite so hot um on the descent and running into the finish.
00:37:23
Speaker
But yeah, second place. I was quite happy to be as close as I was to Iris. I thought I was going to be a lot further back and she was kind of who I was gauging. in some ways my result off because she's the only other runner in the race I know um which was but was kind of cool I I thought at the start line I thought I was a very good chance to win and I thought if I played my card smart I could do it and that's what I was kind of there for I was like okay I think I can do this as soon as I screwed myself up and was put myself in a really shocking spot I kind of knew that was a long shot um but also you never know what can happen so
00:37:58
Speaker
I think for me, the main thing I'm proud, I'm happy with is that at every point of the race with the conditions we were in and what I did to myself, if I asked myself the question of, are you doing the most you can? it was like, yes, I actually am.
00:38:11
Speaker
Because anywhere I was moving really slow, it felt like if I went faster, I was either going to faint or like i was cramping all things were just going wrong. So I was moving at all points as fast as I could without things going pear-shaped, I think. Yeah. Yeah, well, it was a good result in the end. Like, you seem to
Community Experience
00:38:29
Speaker
manage yourself pretty well to come back and not not go into a deep, dark hole and rally, you know. so Yeah, yeah. So that was probably a good race all in all. All in all. And same for you because I think at the end of the day, it's like this is your first Skyrunning one as well. ah this The first of the proper Skyrunning World Series. So obviously we have we had some Skyrunning races in Australia and New Zealand. I've done a few of those back in the day. We we had a ah somewhat a Skyrunning.
00:38:53
Speaker
Yeah, okay. Roundabouts, and they called a sky running. Did it both back in the day, and obviously, well, obviously, but I've done sky running all the champs, which wasn't really a sky running race. um But this is the taste of the proper sky running. Yeah, yeah. And to be fair, I've done Dolomites, which yeah when it was Golden Trail, but it's definitely also a sky race. Yeah. um Or it has been in the past as well.
00:39:12
Speaker
but But, yeah, like, fourth at some good points, which is good for you. You happy with it? Yeah. late Not really. Leading into it, i was really cool I was pretty confident. I'm like, if I have a day, i can pro i can easily crack the top three podium.
00:39:26
Speaker
And I looked at the start list. I'm like, all right, I have a chance. And then when the under-23 guy stepped up the day before because he realized he could win it too because – I'm like, all right, that's one more person now who's going to compete with me.
00:39:39
Speaker
um And then just on the day, I ah just, I didn't have it. You know what I mean? Like, who knows why, whatnot. But I'm still just moving through my fitness gears at the moment and that's going to bring me up. So ideally, yes, top three would have been good. You were so close too. That's always like that thing of like, you're like, oh. Yeah, it's just become quite common with me in the past year, you know what I mean? Yeah, damn. But it's all right. Like, it was fun. Everyone's super, super friendly. Like, it's such a good community. How good are they? Like, you know, it was a well set up event.
00:40:13
Speaker
um And we get to do it all again this week, you know what i mean? And hopefully, like, go better. Like, that's that's that's the idea. Yeah, for sure. for I think for me it was a great experience just because the Malaysian people were absolutely incredible. The race set up was awesome. You felt like a bit of a superstar. Yeah. um they There were so many people that treated you amazingly.
00:40:32
Speaker
um And then even just, the so again, more of the experience of the for whole opening ceremony, the elite presentation, the prize-giving ceremony, although quite long because they gave lots of prizes out, was quite nice. And, like, we got to see some traditional shows and things, which I think as far as the whole package of the race was.
00:40:50
Speaker
Malaysia was, Penang Sky Race was really good. um Just I wish it wasn't quite so hot on the day we had. Even the day after, we were walking around the city going, damn, we could have taken today, guys. Yeah, it's a little bit overcast. It's a completely different story. But we just had like full sun. Yeah, yeah. And I finished a whole hour after you pretty much. So I was out there quite a bit longer. Yeah.
00:41:12
Speaker
um and yeah I think it was what 11 30 a.m by the time I finished which is just not a good time of the day yeah I think the guy who won it Marcos he thought he could do 315 I thought I could do 330 and we ended up 15 minutes slower than our times you know 30 minutes slower 30 minutes slower and so on the day there was pretty slow times I think yeah if he had a good day on a course like that yeah you probably could hit those times so you could just see it was yeah Yeah, it was it was interesting listening to Marcos too because he was saying how shocking it was. yeah It was one of the hardest races. Like obviously he trounced it compared to like the field in a way. But at the same time, it's it's always nice when just every single person that crossed the line went, oh, my gosh, what just happened? Like that was shocking.
00:41:57
Speaker
um So it was a battle. It was a battle. And I think because they this is only the second time they've done this one. Last year they did it on October. um And it was a bit longer and they started at 5am and I'm told less humid, which I'm like. It was pouring rain apparently all day.
00:42:12
Speaker
Yeah, it was pouring rain. So that made it a bit cooler. And I was a bit like, because when I looked at my time, I'm like, honestly, that feels like such a slow, shocking time. Because I looked at what they, I knew what they were one in last year.
00:42:23
Speaker
And now one in only just over bloody five hours last year. Like I think Iris ran five hours 25 hours. And it was
Travel and Arrival in Japan
00:42:29
Speaker
seven, eight k's longer. And I'm like, seriously, am I that slow? Like, what is going on here? But then, yeah, talking to a few people, they're like, no, the conditions were different. They're like, don't don't base too much on it. So that was nice. I was like, thank you. and Across the board, they were slow in our race. But I think the 50 k's were still decent.
00:42:47
Speaker
50Ks were still decent. I think they had less climb and lost. They were a bit less technical because it wasn't a sky race. It was just andrew the trail champs. And so there was a bit less technical, bit faster moving, and they started quite a bit earlier.
00:42:59
Speaker
um So more time in the dark. um Also probably more well. No, because they must have, they were finished before I finished. So they finished earlier in the day. Yeah. Even the women. wasn't Yeah, true. So the lead male finished before I finished. Yeah. um I didn't see the females come in, but.
00:43:14
Speaker
Yeah, so they were all finished before we were, which, yeah, I think, yeah. It's like it's it's interesting those things that you try to eat compare yourself to at the end where you're like, oh, my gosh, it feels like I just did something so slow. But when it's everyone in the field, you're like, okay, it's a little more nice. Yeah. um It's like my effort was still there, guys, I promise.
00:43:34
Speaker
But anyways, moving on from ah Malaysia, we had an interesting trip to get from Malaysia to Japan. We were due to fly out Penang at 9.20pm with a very tight layover in KL and the flight ended up sitting on the tarmac due to a thunderstorm.
00:43:57
Speaker
The first thunderstorm we'd seen the whole time we were bloody there and it was while we were on the plane waiting to take off so we were delayed by close to an hour. And me and Blake had a great recovery run sprinting through the Kuala Lumpur Airport trying to make our connection um and missed it by about five minutes. They gave us false hope because they kept saying, pan where were we going? Narita. Narita, this way. You on Narita? Yeah, this way, this way, on the train, this way. They did. And then like ah the doors are closed. but like Yeah, I know. They gave us so much false hope. every They said ground staff will help. They'll be there to direct. And every time we pass some ground staff, they're like, that way, that way.
00:44:32
Speaker
Anyways, so we got gifted an extra night in Kuala Lumpur in a five-star hotel, I will say. So, you know, it wasn't all bad just when you're only getting in at 2 a.m. to that said hotel. It's not ideal. And what? We got five hours sleep um before flying all day instead of all night yesterday and finally made it to Ueda.
00:44:52
Speaker
which is a couple hours train ride away from where we flew in in Tokyo last night. What time we get in? Like 10 in the end? Yeah, just before 10 probably the accommodation. Before 10. Lovely. So that was a very long travel day.
00:45:05
Speaker
um But finally, we're in Ueda. The mountains here are beautiful. The weather is much nicer. It's cold, though. I feel cold, at least. Yeah, it was definitely a change. Like, it was quite chilly this morning. Went for walk on the street, and I was like, I need to put a jacket on. Like, yeah, it was like 11, and it got down to about 5 overnight with bit of a breeze, which probably made it feel cooler, which is like you slowly forget, like you quickly forget about the humidity, and you're like, take it back to Benang, but then you're like, no, don't take me to Benang. Don't take me back. But it's definitely better for running, yeah.
00:45:35
Speaker
Yeah. And existing in general. Yeah, yeah just just yeah. Just everything in general is a bit easier. I will say, like, I didn't mind Penang just for easy jogs and for getting around the place in the morning and the evening.
00:45:46
Speaker
It's just so hard when you can't do anything in the middle of the day because it's too hot. But here, yeah no, definitely gifted with much nicer conditions outside. um And, yeah, we've been here all of...
00:45:57
Speaker
less than 24 hours um and we've done a course check so far. We've checked maybe
Japan Course Challenges
00:46:02
Speaker
7k's total of the 25k course and stats wise this weekend's race is one of the wildest on the calendar with 25 kilometers with sorry twenty five kilometres with three thousand meters up and down So we cover 3,000 metres up in about twelve and 3,000 metres down in about 12.5K, which there's a couple of flatter sections, so i'm going to say in 12K for both of those. Yeah.
00:46:31
Speaker
But, yeah, thoughts on the course, Blake. You can't really fathom it until you're on the course. Yeah. You know it's going to be it's gonna be tough. You're like, it's going steep. But then when you get on the course, you're like, this is not necessary. Like, what are we doing?
00:46:44
Speaker
And it's like, who does this? um Yeah, we we got on it today. We started at 10. Like, it was perfect conditions. And then we worked like worked our way up. And um the course is marked, which is handy at the moment.
00:46:57
Speaker
Yeah, was super handy. but We still went not wrong and got a bit lost, but that's fine. Yeah, that's what happens. But I'm framing this as a hiking race almost, you know what I mean? like Hell yeah. Yeah, as who can hike the fastest.
00:47:11
Speaker
And i'm I'm amazed at the times that have been set on this course just by what we did today and like not sure if i'm going to get anywhere close to that myself. But its it's going to be an experience and that's why we do it and come here and kind do this stuff.
00:47:26
Speaker
this is the stuff I'm excited for. Like being on course, you are is so many times you're just laughing at the situation you end up in But also it's the most fun I have because it's like, yes, you're running, but it's you're not running.
00:47:39
Speaker
And you're also just trying to survive. And it just has this whole different aspect to it. Like the number of times we were just laughing at ourselves, trying to make it across this terrain today was A lot. Yeah. So, end of the kind of, like, watching us is, like, these people have never been on the trails before. Oh, honestly. You know what mean? We would have looked like... Sliding down the hills....numpties.
00:48:00
Speaker
But the thing... So, the thing that um that surprised... Not surprised me, but the thing that I'm taking away from our first course check is, iy like, the super rocky or the... um The stuff across the top where it's like a ridge line with rocks, that that stuff is fine because it's like I've done that before. I'm used to it.
00:48:16
Speaker
And even especially going uphill on the rocky stuff, you're like, yeah, I've done this. I've done – there's plenty of this in Europe and those sorts of things that I've been around, um and that's fine. The thing that got me was just how steep the gravelly kind of single – was like gravelly dry ground covered in leaves, single trail still, but then there's still rocks and roots – But just how steep it was meant that even stepping up the bloody climb, you're slipping backwards.
00:48:44
Speaker
And then trying to get down that without sitting on your butt to just slide down. Like the number of times your shoes just weren't gripping and you were just sliding down the mountain. Yeah, it was like you're going down a ski slope on snow or a ski slope. Yeah, but it was dirt. Yeah, and you were just like, was just taking, you couldn't stop, and it was almost like just easy to just like ski down the yeah the dirt, really. Like we were using the ropes to get down the damn thing, and you were holding them on onto them to slow you down, because if you got up you got up too much speed, you there was no way you were making the corner at the bottom.
00:49:13
Speaker
Like there's that many corners that I'm a bit like, I'm going to miss a corner in this race somewhere. Yeah. They're so hard to stop and get around. And then there's that lovely rocky boulder field, which I've run quite a few of them before. And in Europe, those sorts of boulder fields have always found there's like almost a bit of a made trail on top of the rocks where people have traversed them enough that they're sort of compact, they don't move. And yes, it looks rocky, but you can trust them a bit more.
00:49:40
Speaker
I found that one. There was just... Loose rock. And it wasn't scree. It was so much bigger than scree, but so much smaller than your foot that you're just like, okay, where do I step to not snap my ankle?
00:49:52
Speaker
yeah It didn't seem like it was like a well-trodden path. It was like a path that they will use maybe. Like people didn't hike up like in Europe, you know. No, no. It wasn't a hiked path. And we we managed to run into John Ray and Aoife, the Stingray. Oh, yeah, Stingray. When we were at the climb, we'd run up the climb, we just walked up. He was just like laughing, like just wasn't even like breathing.
00:50:11
Speaker
And he ran with the rest of us, the rest way with us, and he just flew down that descent. I was just like, what is this? Who are we competing against here? Watching the video of him and then watching the video of us is quite laughable.
00:50:24
Speaker
I will say, and I said this when we were out there, it's the sort of terrain that I feel like I go a snail's pace in training. But when you're in race mode, actually trying to go fast because the risk is so much more worth it.
00:50:37
Speaker
It's easier to go fast and it passes quickly and you can kind of end up going, oh, what was i even worried about? That was not actually as bad as I thought because you're not so worried about every little step. And I'm not on guard of going, don't get injured four days before the race. Like this is not what you're here for sort of thing. Yeah.
00:50:54
Speaker
um I think just because it's such high risk ah terrain that there was certainly sections, you take a fall and you're not getting back up very quickly. um And so, and and some of those sections where it was like gravelly dirt, but rocks interspersed, like where we took that other video that we've got of us trying to get down this slippery terrain. To be fair, Stingray also was a bit like, this is wild.
00:51:18
Speaker
And I'm like, good, but good. Thank you for acknowledging the fact that this is insane what we're doing. Um, but we only saw such a small amount of the course and we still did ah thousand meters up and down in about the 7k that we did of the course.
00:51:34
Speaker
So interesting times ahead. I think our course starts with a 5k. It is the VK course is the first 5k of our course, but it's a thousand up. I reckon what, 250 down in the middle there. yeah yeah so in the first 5k, um, and then you've just got the rest of the race to go. so Yeah, what what how are you going to tackle that one?
00:51:54
Speaker
I think it's one of those things if you just have to limit the amount of time you're stopped. If you can just keep moving, yeah just move move, move, move, move without stopping and just move purposefully, that's how you're going to get to the end. If you stop on the downhills and grab every tree or on the uphills, stop or breaks every...
00:52:13
Speaker
couple of steps, you're going to take forever. Yeah. You just keep moving and and just picking where you move faster because you're not going to move fast a lot but, okay, if you can pick up a couple of seconds, you know, just just just incrementally yeah pick up the time because you're not going to be able to just have long sections of where you're going to be able to make time up.
00:52:31
Speaker
No. it's just but You can incrementally lose a lot of time for someone that's better than you the downhills. Yeah, yeah. And the ups. Yeah. that There's long ups. Dreading the downs, it's this Like the one we came up, the but first down, there's no trees on the trail. No, it's just a straight It's straight down. and On leaves. we I don't see how going to yourself. That's what I was saying. I'm like, I don't know how I'm going to stop myself coming down this thing. It's a long descent. well it is So that is the sort of descent, to be fair, in a race I quite like because if you are willing to send it, you get down it so fast.
00:53:03
Speaker
I will say it's the first descent. So it's a bit like, holy moly, i could you could do your quads in in that one go. but It's the sort of one that you either go slow and stay slow the whole time, but you get down as efficiently as possible and you don't cook yourself.
00:53:19
Speaker
And your quads, yes, they've done some braking power, but if you're taking small enough steps, each brake is small enough that it's kind of like, yeah, you're fine. um Sending it down that is one of the ones where you send it, you feel like you're about to die, and then you kind of get to the bottom and go, oh, my God, thank God.
00:53:34
Speaker
I didn't fall. If you fall, though, you don't be like <unk>s you're moving so fast, you're screwed. There's nothing to stop you from just hurtling into who knows where or who knows what. yeah Yeah, pretty much. That's the thing. So it's a risk-reward game, I think. Yeah.
00:53:48
Speaker
And there's
Upcoming Race Expectations
00:53:49
Speaker
a lot of risk to be had on this course. um pump is just It's just managing it, I suppose. So much. And how long do you want to take to do the race, you know what I mean? How do you want to perform? like I kind of have expectations. I've seen the start list. There's actually quite a few good runners in this one.
00:54:02
Speaker
unfortunately probably more than the last race I had high expectations and I want to turn up feeling the best I can and I kind of want to compete with the guys right I know I'm probably not going to be able to beat some of the top guys because they're super fast in this terrain but I want to be able to move as fast as I can and say all right like exactly what you did last week on it i did as good as i can on the day yeah yeah so it's about managing that like i want to come away from this trip saying all right you know i mean like this is good had a good learning and i've built a like i've learned a lot from it i think no matter what this course is going to teach us quite a bit about ourselves um and yeah my my back is already learning quite a bit because i took a fall today right onto a tree and it hurt and it went straight through my shorts it was lovely um and i think honestly i'm i'm
00:54:46
Speaker
prepared to come across the line with everything scratched to pieces because I think there's just no way to not fall on this course especially on where where it is less um less risky on some of that super duper steep slidey stuff that you were sliding on today falling all over the shop and it's like you bounce back up there you can take the risks and then other the spots you can't but yeah In terms of this race, who are you up against on the men's side? You've got Rui Ueda.
00:55:13
Speaker
You've got Omi Rayanosake, I think is his name, but he just did two top tens at Golden Trail, I believe, or top five, I think, or four in Kobe, which is wild.
00:55:26
Speaker
And Marcel Hoag from Germany. um And then well who's the French? There's a French Skyrunner. Yeah, I'm not sure. His name once more.
00:55:40
Speaker
Yeah. We could get up. Yeah, Stingray's running it too. And now Stingray as well. Another Japanese guy, looks like a decent runner. There's a few in the field. There are probably a few that come out of woodwork too. Yeah, there always is. The other are in our race as well.
00:55:54
Speaker
Yeah, yep. So um I don't think Marcos is. No, Marcos went back to do an exam because he's in university still. No. Lovely. Yeah. um So, yeah, Benjamin Townsend who came second in the 10K. Yeah.
00:56:08
Speaker
He'll be doing this one now. It's a long race for the under-23s though. Especially, yeah, because I think like for the men on this one, what's the course record by Rui, I think. Around 3.30. Yeah.
00:56:20
Speaker
Yeah, so depending on the conditions on the day, you don't know what conditions that was run in anything like that. But at the same time, yeah, depending on the conditions of the day, you can say winning time somewhere around 3.30 to 3.40. Well, the conditions are going to be pretty good by the looks of it, and yeah I don't think I can run that time. So we'll see. yeah. Hopefully no one can. Yeah, well, but...
00:56:40
Speaker
Break four. And I think you'll still be, from what I can see on results from previous years, even if there is someone that's way faster, that's able to run on terrain, um just from what I can see, there's like groups behind yeah and they might be a bit behind like 15, 20 minutes back.
00:56:56
Speaker
but there's like the outliers on the terrain and then there's the rest of the field fighting it out sort of thing from what I can see. Cause yeah, on the women's side, I'm not sure. Like, again, you never know if it's the exact same course, but I know for the race, I think, I think, no um, um,
00:57:13
Speaker
Takako, Takamura. That's the name I'm looking for. Takako, I think she's run a few years ago, 4 hours 10 maybe, but last year she won it in 4 hours 25. twenty five um So I think I'm expecting more like a four-and-a-half-hour race for the women and then most, like I think you're doing, again, for the women, you're doing well if you're breaking five hours sort of thing, which for feels wild. Yeah.
00:57:39
Speaker
because that's 5Ks an hour, um which feels like it's, well, that's walking pace. well Well, I thought but like coming off Penang, I'm like, I think that we'll be similar times almost, the races, which will be odd, but yeah. Yeah, so we can make our battles just beat our times from last weekend. Oh, that'll be a struggle. But yeah.
00:58:01
Speaker
um But yes, on the women's side, I've got Takako's racing. She, I'm going to say, but then again, all of us have raced a bit, but she's just done two golden trails in a row. So it might be a tired Takako, but she's certainly would have to be the favorite being a multiple time winner of this race. Plus just being Takako.
00:58:20
Speaker
And two top tens at Golden Trail the last two weeks in a row. Priya Rai, who was second at the 50K in Malaysia that we just ran, she's running. and The under-23 Betty Bergstrand, she's very good, very, very good. So um I think she'll mix it up at the front with the opens.
00:58:39
Speaker
Iris is running again. um And then Nini Oliveira, not pronouncing that right probably, but from Brazil. um She runs for Adasterics and she's here.
00:58:51
Speaker
And I hope I'm not forgetting anyone. No. There was other Japanese names um on the post that they did. But essentially it still is there's more people here than there was in Malaysia, um i think,
00:59:07
Speaker
There's exciting terrain in much better conditions. Plus, being a Japanese race, they love their running and they love their trails as well. But... i'm I'm going to be very interested to see, this is my first Japanese start line, just how many people, if they run the same way they do on the road and if a bunch take off real quick and then come back to you, um i have no idea if they do the same thing on the trails or not. Well, I've had experience at Asia Pacific's last year, which which they took off at lightning pace. Yeah, okay. And a few of them came back to the field.
00:59:36
Speaker
Yeah, okay. I haven't raced that many times against Japanese athletes, so but that was our experience, yeah. half the race three course to the race day and'd find them walking and just run past them yeah okay which is odd because they have the prowess like the guys have serious marathon times and then they i don't know why they just blow themselves up like they could just win it easily if they just paced it but anyway yeah yep yep so you can hopefully we can both be setting off the start line banking that will catch a few people at some point well hopefully you'll be good i usually you'd like to round people up towards the end of a race yeah yeah ah but um
01:00:08
Speaker
It's hard these days. Yeah. And especially just this course, I think, is going to eat everyone alive, really. When you think about the fact that the last half is the hardest half, the longest climb is the second last climb, and then just with two k's to go, you're on this one of the steepest bloody climbs, just slipping backwards going. At that point, I think we're both going to be questioning life.
01:00:29
Speaker
um So, yeah, but keep an eye out, everyone, for the footage of this race. I don't know how
Recovery and Preparation
01:00:35
Speaker
much they're going to manage to get of the really technical stuff. Hopefully they can get some little bits of it, but it also just never looks the same on video. It's going to be hard because it's all covered in trees. Like, the whole course is is covered. So they won't be able to get drones. Even at the top? Or just only that little section.
01:00:50
Speaker
Yeah, okay. What about the very top of the mountain? didn't there. little bit a tree trying, I suppose, then, won't it? Yeah. Not much up and down. So it's not. be nice for and like a view kind of thing, but you won't see the downhill technicality possibly. I should have asked Stingray what it was like.
01:01:03
Speaker
True. He might have given some insider info. It'd be interesting for the videographers on the course because that's going to be tough to get footage. Yeah, know. I know. But they might get a few good falls as well if they put themselves in the right spot. Including themselves, yeah. Including themselves, yeah.
01:01:18
Speaker
Oh, I tried to film you and Stingray running across that ridge and honestly trying to run on that stuff with holding a camera and one arm still, i was like, okay, this is a dumb idea. If I drop my phone, it's gone. um But, yeah, that is um that's what we're in for this weekend on Sunday.
01:01:34
Speaker
so yeah interesting times. how are you um Last question is how are you recovering from last weekend and, like, trying to navigate the body getting to this weekend? Okay, great.
01:01:45
Speaker
Yeah, I was um ah ran Buffalo to try and get the legs primed for these two races so close together. Yeah. But was surprisingly sore in the carves, not so much the quads, but the quads too, coming off Penang. Yeah. um It was fine on run today. We didn't really run, though. We didn't run much at all. didn't run. But they're still feeling a bit, to be honest, on the downs, the quads. You're taking it pretty easy. But I've still got something there. I haven't ran in the last two days.
01:02:12
Speaker
um It should come around by the race. If they
Travel Impact and Future Plans
01:02:14
Speaker
don't, I'm in trouble. um But, yeah, um I did put must have put a bit of load through them last week. But I think we've come around. I feel good. I'm looking to push this one because, obviously, got nothing after it. You've got a break after it. Exactly right.
01:02:26
Speaker
Same, just do or die kind of thing. But, um yeah, i'm this I'm the same. i do they The travel that we had, the 24 hours of travel, I think is a bit of a shit one where you're like, you're trying to recover. I would have liked to just go for a jog yesterday to keep the body moving and help flush things out again still. But um I did get a recovery jog in the day after the race um on the treadmill. And my legs have recovered nicely, I'm going to say. The quad's totally fine.
01:02:53
Speaker
The calf that was cramping is a little bit wild still and not quite happy with life, but I can get that fine again by the so by Sunday. um And, yeah, I think at this point, like I've done enough back-to-back races to sort of know what works. So um do some pickups tomorrow on the Wednesday before the Sunday race and then ease the body into the weekend with some easy running.
01:03:15
Speaker
But, yeah, Maybe check more of the course, partially because these sorts of courses are just fun to be on, I think. They just, because they ah they don't feel like they beat me up as much because you're moving so slow when you're trying to take it easy. No, yeah it's just time consuming to see any amount of the course.
01:03:31
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah. But the time consuming aspect, I think, doesn't bother me at this point. It's not as nice to be out there in the wilderness, you know, away from the city. Especially when it's not hot. Yeah, exactly. It's much nicer. Yeah. But, yeah, we'll do a quick recap. Blake does head back to Oz pretty quickly after the race, but we'll try and do a very quick post-race recap of what happens in Japan.
01:03:51
Speaker
um If we don't get it done straight after, we'll try and tee up one um when we're both back in Oz. But, yeah, hopefully you guys all enjoyed hearing our escapades on the Sky Running Circuit so far.
01:04:03
Speaker
I'm going to be doing
Future Race Plans
01:04:04
Speaker
this is my second Sky Run Sky Race for this year. I'm also going to be doing Tatra in Poland in the end of July. And then there's two more in Asia at the back end of the year.
01:04:16
Speaker
Kinabalu Climathon followed by Two Peaks, which I'm trying to, Blake might be coming along for. I've signed up for Oh, you've signed up for it. Yeah. Who knows what happens? I'd love to get over Kinabalu, definitely. Yeah, yeah. I was there last year as an adjacent event with the Asia Pacific. Yeah, yeah, the Asia Pacific. And I saw Brodie when he ran it. looks like a tough race. Yeah. Some good competitors turned out for one too, to be honest. Yeah, yeah. Considering where it was.
01:04:40
Speaker
But it would be good to get the four races done just to see the series out. Yeah. Because it's good to be a part of it. It's really good to get you up and about. Yeah, yeah. And they look after us well, which is nice, which is very, very nice.
Conclusion and Engagement
01:04:51
Speaker
Yeah.
01:04:51
Speaker
Yeah, we move into the racer comm again on Friday. So looking forward to that. But for now, thank you for listening. Any questions, ah please DM the podcast ah peak at Peak Pursuits Pod on Instagram and we can answer any questions that you guys have about sky running, about these races.
01:05:10
Speaker
about our stupidity for running them. All of those questions, welcome. um But otherwise, thanks for joining me, Blake. Yeah, thanks. Good luck. Good luck to you too. Let's just try to survive this weekend, shall we?
01:05:21
Speaker
definitely. That's the plan.