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Episode 79: GTWS Final, Moab240, and Running Safety While Travelling.
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Welcome to Episode 79 of Peak Pursuits, your ultimate podcast for everything trail running in Australia. This episode is hosted by Sim Brick and Vlad Ixel, with a brief update from Brodie before his internet drops out. The team covers training updates, a listener question on how to stay safe and find people to run with while travelling, and results from the GTWS final, Moab 240 and the TRSA Trail Championship.
Results:
Moab240: https://trackleaders.com/moab240-25
GTWS Final: https://results.stopandgo.pro/1783/ranking/individual/1/1
TRSA Trail Champs: https://eventstrategies.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=90&RId=620&EId=8&dt=2
***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 of Hosts
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 79 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. My name is Simone Brick and we have three of us on deck again, finally. um I'm lucky enough to be joined by Brodie Nankervis.
00:00:21
Speaker
Where are you, Brodie? haven't even asked this. I'm in
Brodie's Greek Adventure
00:00:24
Speaker
Greece, actually. The sun's just coming up. I'll see if I can flip my camera floor for you guys. I don't know if the the listeners will hear Oh, I've just turned it off.
00:00:32
Speaker
Not sure I'm that technical. It's over there. Yeah, it's quite nice here. I'm in Greece. It's 8 a.m., so the sun's only just coming up now because it's getting ah closer to winter.
00:00:43
Speaker
um But I'm here for another or three or four days and then headed home. So this is the last last stop on the very, very long journey. So i'm I'm sort of ready to go home as well, but it's a nice place to finish the trip.
Vlad at Bix Headquarters
00:00:57
Speaker
Very nice. Well, that means next week we'll have all four of us back on Aussie soil because I think Jess arrives back into Australia today.
00:01:05
Speaker
and so that means the other person on this episode, we've got Vlad. How we doing, Vlad? Yeah, not too bad. I'm coming from the new Bix HQ. I've got like a little storage slash office slash showroom spot in Kalamanda, which is cool.
00:01:23
Speaker
um And, yeah, it's going to be like a little bit of a shop, so do some group runs from here and stuff like that. Oh, nice. Doing well. Very nice. And now I do have to ask, so people won't be able to see this, but Vlad has a whole bunch of hats on the wall behind him.
00:01:37
Speaker
How long, like is that one per year or are you going through them faster than that in terms of those colorways? Because what are we looking at, like 12 so far? Yeah. yeah i think we've done over 30 hats so this is just the ones that we like have right now in stock but i've got to add some more hats into that wall because we have been doing a lot of hats we probably do maybe like 10 to 12 different hats a year especially the last year last two years damn nice variety Looks very, very cool. Awesome.
Upcoming Topics and Events
00:02:10
Speaker
Well, this week on the episode, we have we've got some in hopefully interesting, informative trail um safety slash travel ah um chat ah for a listener question.
00:02:25
Speaker
The updates from the three of us are probably all going to be a little all over the place. um We're all in three very different places when it comes to running. But thankfully, there's also been some very cool results from Golden Trail.
00:02:37
Speaker
um We've had some a couple of Aussies up over at the final there and the South Australia Trail Running Trams coming up. But to get us started, um I'm going to throw to you first, Vlad.
Vlad's Race Plans
00:02:49
Speaker
How's the body coming back as since you're the one that currently actually has a race, the 60K in a mile you're training for or going to be training for?
00:02:57
Speaker
But how's the body coming coming back to training post-travel, world champs, et cetera? Yeah, I had nine days off and um slowly getting back into it, getting back into double runs. So morning, 40 minutes and afternoon, 60.
00:03:10
Speaker
um sixty Did my first session yesterday, which was nice. A bit of like faster running on some nice grass back in Perth. um The weather is cool enough to to enjoy it.
00:03:24
Speaker
um But yeah, slowly getting back into it, feeling okay. I've got eight t weeks till that I'm on race. So hopefully enough time to build some fitness and then maybe do one or two track races as well over a summer here.
00:03:40
Speaker
Trying to go, trying to do that sub 15 minute 5K. And then I've also signed up for Tarawera 100K. um Signed up two days ago. So yeah, pretty excited about that trip and doing a 100K race.
00:03:55
Speaker
Yeah, because remind me just back on the 5K, you ran like 15.00, didn't you? 15.05. 15.05, okay. Hopefully, hopefully on the track that means that I can go under 15.
00:04:10
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I reckon. It's been nice, you know, as a 38-year-old, 5K PB could be nice. But, yeah, still a lot of track sessions, yeah. in front of me if I want to get close to it because I think actually like you know coming back from Europe the fitness is there the strength is there but um yeah probably missing a little bit of like turnover but yes they wasn't as bad as what I thought it would be um even though it's a bit more of a threshold session of 10 times one minute on one minute off and then 10 times 15 seconds on 15 seconds off um so kind of you get a bit more of a
00:04:47
Speaker
25-minute threshold, 27-minute threshold workout. yeah And that actually felt better than what I expected and better than usually coming back from Europe where it takes a few weeks to feel okay on faster running.
00:05:02
Speaker
Yeah. And is that a typical first session back for you? It kind of worked well because a lot of the guys in the group just did the the Perth running festival, the Perth marathon that was a few days ago on Sunday. um So it was a bit of a recovery session for them. And then it worked well because it was a good first session back for me. So um it will get harder. That was...
00:05:26
Speaker
Yeah, I guess
Brodie's Rehabilitation Journey
00:05:27
Speaker
ah guess on the easier side, but they will get harder and a bit more specific from next week. Yeah. And how do you find, I've only ever done it as at the end of mona, but how do you find 15 second on 15 second off? Because I find that the most frustrating on off cycle, mostly because it's like you just get going and then you slow down, but you don't slow down for long and then you get going. And I find it choppy, but I'm probably also, it's like the opposite of my forte.
00:05:55
Speaker
So how do you find doing that 10 times in a row? Yeah, we haven't done that too many times, probably like three or four times in the past few years. But the good thing about yesterday, there was a group of five or six guys that I would just like at the back of them and just not looking at my watch and going with them.
00:06:13
Speaker
um But yeah, super, super choppy, especially if you try and like, you know, lap every single 15 seconds, you know, by the time you pick up the pace, you already have to slow down. And then, yeah, I guess after a few sets, it feels like there is no recovery at all. And the recovery was, I guess, the fast sections for us were around three minutes a K, maybe just on the three and then the easy 15 or the recovery 15, we're still probably like three 30s. So it just feels like a bit more of a threshold kind of ah effort.
00:06:45
Speaker
Yeah. ah Fair, fair. probably like Probably even better once you go further, but I always switched it and I ended my monitors with just more 30-second efforts instead of the 15s just because, I don't know, my brain didn't like it.
00:06:57
Speaker
But I can see how if you're doing it for longer, it just becomes a bit of a different session in a way. Yeah, i think I think if you have a couple of people to do it with, it's a bit easier. If you're doing it by yourself, um it's definitely hard for sure.
00:07:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But that's good. That's good. Good for the confidence when the first session getting back into things actually feels good. Sometimes I really do find that though, it's like this reminder of how freshness feels um when you've just come off a break and a little bit less mileage or a little bit less intensity. And that first session back every now and again, for me too, it's been like, oh, that felt really good and smooth and fast. And you go, okay, this is actually what it feels like to run on fresh legs.
00:07:40
Speaker
oh and Yeah, I think for me, like confidence plays a massive role with my racing. And after my confidence getting smashed to the world champs, even like something like a short session like that can just change you know confidence, not a lot, but at least moving in the right direction.
00:08:01
Speaker
um So that was a nice feeling. I think that I was probably like a bit worried going into that session, kind of going, you know maybe I'm not fit at all after that world champ race. and you know this is going to be know a few hard weeks of hot summer running in perth before i feel fit again but yeah i guess having a session like that just brings the confidence up and maybe i'm not as bad as you know i tell myself i am don't think you're ever probably as bad as you tell yourself you are but that's almost yeah don't know the finish line of the world champs and the yeah the week after it
00:08:38
Speaker
ah you know, wasn't that confident for me as a runner in general. So, yeah um yeah, it's just nice being back on like some flat ground. Yeah. Yeah, I reckon everyone listening will have been there where just you take a few, like everyone, it takes knocks and then, yeah, finding ways to rebuild. But the rebuild will happen.
00:09:00
Speaker
That's why it' why you've been in this sport for so long that it's just like we always know you're going to come back. It's fine.
00:09:09
Speaker
It'll be good. It'll be good.
Simone's Fatigue Struggles
00:09:11
Speaker
Awesome. Well, throwing it to you then, Brodie, how's are the holiday life treating you slash super shoe life and um return to run?
00:09:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's going and pretty well, actually. I think um I'm just nearing the end of the sort of return to run purely rehab component.
00:09:32
Speaker
um So I've been doing that for the last three and a bit weeks. It's about four weeks in total is the um sort of building up through walk runs and then doing single continuous runs. And then I've just done one back-to-back continuous run.
00:09:50
Speaker
I do like a 30-minute run and then the next day another 30-minute run. And then I do that again today and tomorrow. And then that's sort of me finish the rehab return to run component and then um yeah then I'll sort of slowly start building back some volume ah just like a normal build ah if you had some time off like I'd had eight weeks off I guess um so it'll be pretty slow still but um yeah hopefully we'll be able do more um but yeah it's been good I've been in the gym a lot um done a tour of gyms in everywhere Italy, Spain, Greece
00:10:30
Speaker
um Found some pretty good gyms, found some less than average gyms. But um yeah, it's been good. um The Achilles seems to be going relatively well. Like it's such an annoying injury, like long-term injury to have because you have some time off. And like with most other injuries, if you have some time off and then you come back gently, you don't even have enough to think about it.
00:10:52
Speaker
um Whereas the Achilles doesn't really like having time off. um So, yeah, even though it also doesn't like running. so to it's ah It's a very fine balance in between. But but from I would say that it feels better than it has in previous return to runs or like earlier in the year when I started running again after having sort of two and a half months off.
00:11:18
Speaker
It feels a lot better than it did that time. um And, yeah, it seems to be tolerating half an hour runs, which feels like a big win to me. like it And then I reflect on that and go, well, that's not really that big a deal. But, like, for me, like… No, it is. It it is. it's it's hand Whereas even in – if I look back even in May and I was – I wasn't so much, like, blind to it, but it was struggling its way through, ah yeah half an hour runs, struggling my way through any training I was doing, I was still having issues. So,
00:11:50
Speaker
yeah ah It's going all right. Good, good. Yeah, there's a few annoying injuries like that. I've got a few people I coach at the moment with like either Achilles or the other one I find that I've had is similar is osteitis pubis, which I had really bad for a little bit and then it only ever returns at the beginning of a return to run.
00:12:10
Speaker
I can feel it and I'm like, okay, it did not like that break. um But then I'm at the stage where i'm I kind of just go, eh, I won't feel it again in two weeks. It'll be fine. Hopefully you can get to that stage with the Achilles too. um yeah But, yeah, yeah little the the injuries like that that actually require load to get better are possibly the most frustrating because it's the right load you've got to find at any one point in time, which is a moving target at all times.
00:12:40
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah, I think planer fast is another one. I've heard, like, a lot of people have, like, long-term plan of bash issues um yeah achilles i think is well known for being being one but also like many tendon issues not just achilles i think you can also have similar stuff so yeah it's frustrating and like i feel i feel like it's funny because i'm frustrated but i also like feel bad that i'm just annoying everyone with three years of a stupid injury that i should get rid of already um even not the podcast but like my friends and family my people I'm talking to like everyone's always uh like it's always it's such a feature of my life that it's like it's it's starting to become an annoyance in in that side of things um but yeah we'll get we'll get there hopefully
00:13:25
Speaker
Um, and with that, we have lost Brody. Yeah. Okay. We're just gonna keep rolling through and Brody will be back eventually. Um, but to anyone else out there that's, that is listening, that does have a similar injury that's just taken forever to get through. um yeah, hopefully you can relate to Brody because there's many, many people out there.
00:13:46
Speaker
I know that are going through similar things. So we're all, we're all with you. um while brodie tries and sorts his internet out uh my update is weirdly similar not similar i don't know i honestly don't know where i'm at with uh running um because i tried to do that 30 minute run essentially last week i ran three times um did get up to an hour of run walking but um ah Have you ever had any any form of like fatigue, Vlad? To be honest, like I'm always tired.
00:14:19
Speaker
um i think I just kind of got used to it and it almost feels normal. But I'm guessing that your fatigue is like next level rather than just pushing through normal tiredness of work and training.
00:14:32
Speaker
Yeah, it's like i would I've been tired before. And so like I would have called that fatigue in the past, I'm fatigued. But now I actually would almost call that I was just a little tired.
00:14:44
Speaker
um And now I'm going, okay, when people talk like fatigue, this is what they mean. And it's like this whole, um like i went for I went for an hour walk run last week um on the Thursdays.
00:14:58
Speaker
after not running since the Tuesday, I essentially did Monday full rest, Tuesday run walk, Wednesday rest, Thursday run walk. And it was just like, it felt easy in a way, but I was doing three minute run, one minute walk. And yes, I've had a month off, but i obviously I can still run.
00:15:18
Speaker
So at the start, I just go back into the three minutes or at like my five minute pace. But then by the, I think I was looking at it before, by the ninth, three minute run and I'm taking those one minute walk breaks I am moving slow like I'm coming to a stop moving slow so trying to get my heart rate back down um by the time I'm on like the eighth ninth three minute run my pace was about 520 to 530 per kilometer with my heart rate in the 160s and i it's just this really weird feeling of part of me like
00:15:54
Speaker
I've had so much rest. So my brain's actually really active and it almost feels like parts of my body, like my muscles and everything, not tired at all, no fatigue, no pain, no nothing in the muscles, but then trying to coordinate all together. Like my whole body feels heavy and like weird, but it it's like I'm running along and I'm only going like 520 a K, my heart rate's really high and I just wanna lie down.
00:16:24
Speaker
and um'm it's um I mean, I think you could try a little bit more cross training to start off and get rolling maybe. um Obviously, maybe you need a bit more time of nothing, but you could start very, very slow.
00:16:37
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. i'm Like I'm in a million different minds. um So what I did do is I didn't run after that one. um I did a couple of shorter sort of 15-minute kind of things between then. so that was last Thursday.
00:16:50
Speaker
Today we're recording this on Wednesday. And today was my next run walk. um And today was much better. I still did ah about an hour of three minute run, one minute walk.
00:17:02
Speaker
My heart rate was, yes, it was going up into sort of high 150s, but I was running five minutes K and getting faster over the run, feeling good as opposed to slower.
00:17:15
Speaker
um So I did, I went back to just, okay, we need to just take another step back again and and rest more. um But then the reason I'm in two minds about the cross-training is that what I want to somewhat maintain is whatever conditioning I can in terms of muscles, tendon, all those sorts of things when it comes to running and impact.
00:17:38
Speaker
And because no matter what I do, because the, and I'm nowhere near as tired this week, which is great, but I've still got the dizziness that comes on. So no matter what exercise or activity I choose to do,
00:17:52
Speaker
I have to rest afterwards. So if I do cross training, can't do any impact loading. But if I only run for that 30 minutes to an hour that I'm allowing my body to be active on whatever days feel good, I'd rather get impact um as opposed to no impact.
00:18:10
Speaker
if I mean, if was you, I wouldn't be thinking too much about what you're going to lose and not lose from this break. I think you just want to get better. This is true. Yeah, I mean, like Ruth had a whole month of no running straight after UTMB and you know, that shows confidence that she's not scared to like take a big chunk of time of no running. So I think it would be worth a try, like maybe just giving yourself little bit of time and then cycling a bit, going for long walks, you know.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah, I've done. True, true. Although I will say when it comes to running in the last six weeks, I've done approximately 30 kilometres of running. Yeah.
00:18:51
Speaker
um So I have taken, it like I did take that big break. um And I suppose at this point when it comes to, I'm not forcing, like, and that's why I had didn't run from last Thursday to today because at no point on any of the days in between did I want to.
00:19:06
Speaker
And today I went, no, I want to move. And I suppose there's, again, there the other part of it is that I'm spending so much time doing things I don't want to do, which resting or doing nothing, that when I have the energy,
00:19:21
Speaker
kind of want to enjoy it and nothing else is in touch. Like I'm not about to go to the gym and put up, get get on the elliptical. That's just not going to happen. its It's sunny outside and I'm spending so much time indoors.
00:19:32
Speaker
And so like walking feels good. Running feels good. I could get on the bike, um but I don't actually enjoy it as much. So I suppose I'm then again, I'm then also going, well, what am I going to actually enjoy?
00:19:44
Speaker
um It's so, I'm not thinking so, like when I said the impact loading and stuff, like that does come in my mind as just the benefits in a way.
00:19:55
Speaker
But the main decision maker is I do it. Like I want to run. I freaking enjoy it. Like I just want to walk out the door and be able to do it um without thinking about it so much. But either way, I'm taking today as a positive. I made it a whole ten ks in an hour um So where that's something, that's certainly something.
00:20:16
Speaker
And if I can keep my runs sort of feeling like they did today, i do actually trust that I can sort of, I don't even mind if I don't um progress. I just hold it here for as long as it feels good until it feels really good. That's so fine. Like I don't need to do any more than what I did today.
00:20:35
Speaker
um i just want to try and get a week, two weeks where say repeating this every week two to three days feels good. That's kind of where I'm thinking I'm at. um But, yeah, honestly, i' at i actually did a... I was saying to someone today that, like, I'm in the messy middle of this sort of thing.
00:20:55
Speaker
Whenever something goes really wrong, like illness, injury, et cetera, I feel like the first two, three weeks is like this whole... It's not a crisis, but it's like a crisis adjustment thing. You cancel all the plans, you and you do all the, like...
00:21:09
Speaker
cancel the races, um I've got all the money back from all the flights, et cetera, et cetera. And you're in this sort of period of everything's a bit hectic and changing. But now it feels like it's been long enough that I'm in like this just weird, annoying middle portion where feel like I've rested enough. And if I go to lie down when sometimes I need to, as soon as I lie down, I feel great.
00:21:33
Speaker
Well, not as soon, but within 10 minutes, I'm lying there going, I feel i feel fine again. Let's go do something. But then if I do that, I know I'm overdoing it. So I just have to rest.
00:21:44
Speaker
And that is where I'm currently at, which is honestly worse than when I just had to rest and I was actually really tired because it's like I know I need to, but I no longer want to.
00:21:56
Speaker
And I feel like I can do other things, but I keep running into it. Like on Sunday, i did melt Mara. I rode around for a little bit and did some of the drink stations And I felt still felt good and so I just went and caught up with friends afterwards.
00:22:12
Speaker
And I spent a few hours sitting down chatting to friends and, oh, my goodness, I was a wreck for the next 24 hours. um And it's just, yeah, it's like,
00:22:25
Speaker
Don't even know how to describe this. It's honestly wild because you go from like I was with, like you, where it's like I can run out the door and go for four-hour run today, another three-hour run tomorrow, then maybe take a rest day, then do a session.
00:22:38
Speaker
Then like it's just, it's a completely different world. But it's fine. It's fine. Maybe you just need more time. like No, I do. I do. And it will take ages. And I know it will.
00:22:48
Speaker
And I don't mind the fact that like I'm not trying to rush it. I guess I'm just trying to find there is such thing as also doing too little. Because the last week where I was fully resting, um it actually, as soon as I got back moving a bit and actually out in the sunshine and doing things, I started to feel a bit better again.
00:23:07
Speaker
But then because I'm like, oh, I start to feel better, I progressed a little too much and then I went backwards. And so it's just like you're balancing on a knife edge of too little also isn't going to help.
00:23:19
Speaker
Like, it's they say exercise is good movement is good your body needs to still do things but it's finding out which ones you can do on any given day so yeah but i think that's a bit more of a general advice where your advice is probably should be a bit more targeted to what you've been doing so i think because you put your body through a lot of five, six hour long runs, a lot of heavy training, a lot of racing.
00:23:47
Speaker
It's not that bad if you have, you know, two months completely off with no training at all and just some easy walking and easy cycling. Oh, yeah. And that's actually pretty much what I'm going to end up doing. I suppose I'm doing the running because I want to run. Like I just like it. Like I'm not trying to do it on a performance aspect, but I hear you. There's chance. Yeah, but you could be taken like half a step back every time you do push. You know, especially if you say like I'm doing 60 minutes of three minutes on, one minute off, that's still a decent run. Like, you know, even if you're going slow, that's still...
00:24:22
Speaker
True. Although I will say I was doing less and my my doctor told me to do longer ones but less often. So I was limiting myself to 30 minutes and then my doctor said, no, go to 60.
00:24:35
Speaker
um hi So that wasn't me doing that. That was actually my doctor going, no, I actually think you should do a little more at time outside doing this. as long as I take the walk breaks to keep my heart rate down.
00:24:48
Speaker
So I mean, my only experience with this is back like, you know, back in 2016 and 17, where it was all about faster training runs and like, you know, ah yep yeah very, I used to do very long runs with zero calories and so on. And I did feel pretty tired. And then I did triathlon for a whole year.
00:25:10
Speaker
because I guess I was a bit tired of doing 150 to 200k every week with hardly any calories. yeah And that change did help and I felt a bit stronger. But I guess maybe i'm like it took me like literally like 10 years to get over that fear of doing another 100k race because I remember how tired I was after it. I didn't stop at all. I just changed the sport and went from 150, of running a week to maybe 14 or 15 hours of training a week, but it was a bit more cross training and I felt better. but Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:47
Speaker
yeah That's probably where I'll, like, I don't know where I'm going to end up in terms of cross training, running, et cetera, et cetera. it's still all just in limbo, but I'll figure that out slowly.
00:25:58
Speaker
I'm trying many different things. You can put some more calories as well. Like I think your buddy will thank you if you do have little bit more calories on board. Yeah, 100%. Like my eating hasn't changed all that much at all.
00:26:12
Speaker
um That's for sure because there's, it's, you're never going to get better if the fuel's not going in. So, you know, the fuel side of things, ah the only thing that's changed really because of the only thing you need to add when training is the in nutrition and the immediately immediate post-run nutrition.
00:26:32
Speaker
Meals are looking exactly the same. um So, I know that my fuel and nutrition and energy levels and all that are good and I've made sure that's the case the whole time. So like I trust I'll get there.
00:26:45
Speaker
It's just trying to figure out what I'm meant to do to get there. but also not thinking about it too much, which has been nice. I have been switched off in a lot of ways from running, um especially for the last week.
00:26:57
Speaker
I reckon I went, other than Melbourne Marathon, solid week or so there of just not looking at anything and not feeling like a runner. I renovated the bathroom. This is the this stuff that I'm like, I'll go from like a little bit of rest and then I put up new towel rails and I changed our shower and I've done a whole heap of stuff around the house because I can sort of have a few ah things on the go and when I do have bits of energy, go do stuff and then come back. and It's not even energy. I don't know why I'm saying energy when I'm not dizzy um or feeling a little dizzy because currently this week, energy hasn't been a problem.
00:27:34
Speaker
So I'm hoping I'm on the way out of that side of things. um But that's happened. Yeah, maybe if any of the listeners have been through something similar in the past, maybe send us a message on Instagram because I'm personally not very experienced. No, it's all good.
00:27:52
Speaker
I'll stop waffling on anyway. just yeah I'll just say it's a weird time. But stayve stay tuned. allah I'll let you guys know when I'm actually a runner ri again. currently just expert rester um anyways anyways 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
00:28:26
Speaker
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00:28:37
Speaker
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00:28:56
Speaker
And with that, let's get back to the show.
Running Safety Abroad
00:28:58
Speaker
On to listener question for the week, which um thank you for sending this in Anusha. And it's come, it's around travel. I'll read out the actual thing.
00:29:10
Speaker
um what And Anoush has asked, what do you do if you are traveling overseas and you want to find people to run with? Are there Facebook groups slash apps that you know of? I'm nervous about the safety of running alone in an unknown country in the lesser populated areas. And the countries she's put in, such as Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Georgia.
00:29:31
Speaker
Do you have any advice? And I'm going to say we're probably not going to be perfect on this because i don't I don't actually know of many places like I've in terms of finding people to run with, especially in those lesser populated countries where trail running is not as big.
00:29:49
Speaker
um Personally, I would be just be doing the troll of Facebook if I wanted to find them or friends that I've met along the way. um But my biggest piece of advice and I did this when I was in Turkey, but you do this for every country you go to that's especially if it's a non-European country or if it's a very different culture.
00:30:09
Speaker
is actually research the culture and research what is appropriate in terms so of clothing, in terms of um areas to run. Like sometimes um there might be slightly more populated areas. Turkey, Istanbul was actually really easy.
00:30:27
Speaker
um There's some really good running spots in Istanbul. But then as soon as you i got to places like Cappadocia, it felt a little like that it felt certainly...
00:30:38
Speaker
less like I was willing to go off the beaten track or out of populated areas and those sorts of things. So um for me, the first thing I do if I'm in an environment where I'm like, I don't actually know what's safe here is as much research as I can.
00:30:54
Speaker
um If I know someone from that country, asking their advice, that's always the easiest, but also just looking up ah yet dress codes, et cetera, et cetera. And Following that, following on from that, it's, it's you might not feel, like, you have to adopt that culture's practices.
00:31:14
Speaker
Like, you can't expect them to adopt, don't know if I'm saying this right. um Like, when it comes to dress code, et cetera, I'm not about to go into a Muslim area, Muslim country in bra and shorts on a summer day and run through it.
00:31:31
Speaker
And yeah. expect that that is okay because i'm I'm the person that's entering their culture, they're not entering mine, if that makes sense. um So that's why you want to know those sorts of things and that comes into both a respect and a safety aspect in some of these countries.
00:31:50
Speaker
um But obviously finding people to run with would be great. do you have any tips on that front, Vlad? Yeah, actually what I did um earlier in the year when I was in India, I was in um as I was driving to the hotel, I ah saw a runner get bitten by a wild dog. And I was like, I don't know if I i don't know where I should be running. I don't want to want to get attacked by dogs.
00:32:10
Speaker
um So i went on Strava, had a look at some segments that were not far away from the hotel I was staying in and then just stalked a couple of runners saying like, are they running on regular basis around here?
00:32:24
Speaker
Um, and then when I saw one that looked like he was running on regular basis, I saw that, you know i did a run yesterday, the day before and a few days before I just sent him a message, found found him on Instagram, sent him a message and just asked him, just told him the truth. Like, Hey, I just got here.
00:32:40
Speaker
Um, I'm not a hundred percent sure where I can run. Is there any chance I can join you for a run for your next run? um and actually i replied is like, oh my God, I follow you on Instagram. um And, you know, we had a couple of good runs together, but I think that um this could work, especially if you find, you know, the female leaderboard over segment, you don't have to go to the fastest runner, but more about a runner that runs there on regular basis. Maybe she has got some friends that she runs with.
00:33:09
Speaker
Usually, you know, runners are pretty nice and, you know, would say, ah yeah, no worries, join me for a run or I'll come and pick you up from where you run and we can run together. um Yeah, that's that's what I guess I would do.
00:33:23
Speaker
Yeah, and like there is running groups on Facebook for almost every major city, like especially around the world. um You almost always find someone, but Strava is a good get.
00:33:34
Speaker
um I've actually done that plenty of times for finding routes that are actually running routes and you know you can get past or you know you can get through the trail, et cetera, et cetera. um Because just because the trail's on a map doesn't mean it's necessarily passable all the time.
00:33:50
Speaker
um So that can be huge. Another thing I will say is that when I'm travelling and i am I do a lot of my run solo, I'm quite comfortable doing it now, especially even in less populated areas, but I have a lot of experience doing that. And I always, and if I'm by myself, I have my PLB.
00:34:11
Speaker
um personal locator beacon, which is like the satellite SOS device. So it can send like just one button sends the full satellite SOS deal.
00:34:22
Speaker
um And then there's a whole bunch of other, like just general solo travel safety things you can do of making sure you know how to use your iPhone alarm, making sure that like I have Find My on for other, like my partner and other people, like so they can always see where I am, but especially when I'm traveling.
00:34:40
Speaker
um But there's things you can do that just make you feel more comfortable if you are by yourself going for a run. And then it's sticking to lit paths, populated areas um and middle of the day if you can or like good times a day where there's plenty of people around. But by far the most fun you'll have is finding someone like Vlad did and actually going for a run with local people because yeah, it can ease all of the worries, but that's not always possible.
00:35:09
Speaker
um Have you ever had to like, have you ever had any runs or any places you've gone running, Vlad, where you actually can't find anyone to run with and you're like unsure if it's safe? Yeah, absolutely. When I was running in South America a few times, I felt a bit unsafe and maybe ended up doing some boring loops around, you know, ah ah car park or something like that.
00:35:31
Speaker
um Obviously, I can imagine that being being a girl, being a woman in in some of those countries could be, you know, a little bit scary. um So it's definitely better to play it safe and um maybe sometimes do a couple of loops around the block in daytime. um Treadmills and gyms. Treadmills, yeah.
00:35:52
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, unfortunately, you know, there's a lot of, you know, unhappy stories about female runners lately. So um better be safe for sure. Oh, yeah, 100%. And it depends what you're travelling for too. Like if I'm being the tourist, I'll often just try and book um either an apartment or a hotel or something that has a gym, has a treadmill.
00:36:13
Speaker
And you can get up, you can do your 30 to 60-minute run in the morning because and especially if you're in tourist mode, that's usually enough for the day and then go do the touristy things of whatever you're trying to do in that country or that area.
00:36:26
Speaker
um I've also backpacked South America and up Patagonia, et cetera, et cetera. And it's it's it's truck doing all the things you can to make you feel safe while also yeah respecting those around you.
00:36:39
Speaker
And the most of the time, um the people I've found to run with in completely random places and countries, I've come across via either Strava or in-person um meeting them on a trail.
00:36:54
Speaker
and trusting my spidey instincts, which I must say, was isn't always going to work for people. But there's plenty of times that, especially in South America, I found myself just on a trail, kind of not sure where I was going or like trying to figure out the lay of the land, meet someone on the trail and you just ask, hey, are you a local? Do you know where you're going?
00:37:14
Speaker
Do you run here often? And it's kind of like, you make good friends that way. um But it takes a certain amount of yeah confidence and knowing um I suppose. You just make sure that person is a runner and is doing a run right then and not just a random person walking somewhere in the forest.
00:37:32
Speaker
This is often often on ah on a trail. And I must say, especially as a female, ah you get far too good at um planning exit routes, et cetera, et cetera. Like this is almost a separate topic in a way, but I choose my position of knowing if there's a downhill nearby um to chat to people and I go, it's all good. There's that steep downhill there.
00:37:53
Speaker
I'm off. If anything goes wrong, I'm off. See ya. But yeah, but Yeah, hopefully that helps Inusha. I would say my number one port of call for a lot of those places would be what Vlad said with Strava and seeing if you can find the female leaderboards of segments and these sorts of things and try and find regular runners there.
00:38:09
Speaker
Even if you just ask them, hey, is there a group you run with? They're going to be the most knowledgeable people. um But aside from that, taking all the safety measures, researching the culture and...
00:38:21
Speaker
um making sure you're doing all the right things there. So hopefully that helps. um it's ah It's a wild world trying to learn all that stuff when you're travelling. feel like you there's a lot of learning by doing and figuring out the lay of the land in each country as you get there and, yeah, asking what's safe tip for twenty anyone that's willing to actually answer the question.
00:38:43
Speaker
Yeah, i mean, I guess like living in Australia, we are pretty lucky that it is fairly safe most of the time. And, um you know, some other places generally not even for tourists, even for locals, it can be ah yeah a little bit unsafe. So, yeah, we are very lucky too to have that safety in Australia. So it's good that she's thinking about it and she's,
00:39:02
Speaker
you know, planning ahead. um i think that's important. I think sometimes when you come from a safe country, think everywhere is going to be safe, which a lot of those places are not. Honestly, when I think back as a 21-year-old, I spent a month in Kenya volunteering as a nurse and I was a brand new runner and I was in Mombasa. And like looking, nothing went wrong necessarily.
00:39:23
Speaker
ah Nothing did go wrong. But when I look back now at the fact that I just had no idea what I was doing, where I was going every time, i like I went on some 35K runs through places that I would never even, like little towns in the outskirts of Mombasa that I had no idea where I was, how to get home, didn't have my phone on me.
00:39:41
Speaker
Like I think about all the stuff I did and just don't repeat, don't like the fact that she's asked the question I'm very glad for because obliviousness doesn't help. um I've done many dangerous things that I would not repeat.
00:39:54
Speaker
um So, yeah anyone travelling, stay safe. Stay safe indeed.
Golden Trail World Series Highlights
00:40:01
Speaker
Cool. Well, that brings us to results for this week. I reckon we're going go international first and bring it back home to finish.
00:40:12
Speaker
International, ah one of the, still going right now, I'm I think it's still going, but Ben Kubra. He has just come second place at Moab 240 mile.
00:40:26
Speaker
These just keep getting longer and longer. Well, as as you know, as the 100 mile distance and the hundred k distance are getting more and more competitive, I guess people just have to start pushing the distance to to kind of, you know, break through and get some recognition on the trails, maybe.
00:40:43
Speaker
Maybe that, maybe just people are, like, the boundaries are always getting pushed in every area, be it speed or be it distance, etc, etc. So, like, I know that there's some people whose brains are wired to go faster and then there's some people whose brains are more wired to just want to see how far they can go and push in that way. So it's it's interesting watching the two sort of expand at the same time.
00:41:04
Speaker
um But 240 miles is 386 kilometres, which, yeah, just when I think about that as a as a non-stop race is kind of wild.
00:41:17
Speaker
no not kind of wild actually wild um so but ben cubra he can i'm trying to look at the actual average pace he did there oh yeah there go it's like 10 minutes a okay um the he in 68 hours 52 minutes now i will give a massive shout out to the winner i think did it in 58 hours so 10 hour win as far as i can find on their socials um the online tracking is far from perfect, but Killian North, ah he won the Triple Crown. So I think that means that he did all three 200 miles in whatever they count as the Triple Crown.
00:41:55
Speaker
um But, yeah, he did it in like 58 hours, which mental, absolutely mental. So, yeah, Ben, this was his first 200-mile-plus event. I know that he's done done the likes of like Cozzy, Coastal Cozzy maybe?
00:42:13
Speaker
I swear I've seen his name on there. um But either way, second place, very, very good run, 68 hours, 52 minutes, 44 seconds. So well done, Ben, over in Moab, which beautiful place. Have you ever been to Moab, Vlad?
00:42:26
Speaker
Not yet. Not yet. It's great. It's very, very cool. um So that's and then Golden Trail, Golden Trail World Series final, which you mentioned, Vlad, how it's like it feels and I Personally, I could feel this too. It feels like we've all had this massive double climax in a way of like you've had the UTMB, then you had world champs.
00:42:52
Speaker
And part like part of me and and you would be the same coming off world champs where it's like you take this breath and you go, oh, there's just like a bit of free air. And then it was like all of a sudden, oh, crap, Golden Trail finals here.
00:43:03
Speaker
um And because it was only what, a few weeks after. Some people did double up. ah but this was the overall series final in Italy in the Trentino region.
00:43:15
Speaker
um And it was same as last year where they had the prologue two days before and then the ah final. I think it was so with a bit less than 2,000 up down. And did have Leo there.
00:43:29
Speaker
up and down um and we did have ah leo there as the Golden Trail National Series winner. I was the other person meant to go. Clearly that didn't happen.
00:43:41
Speaker
um was I was watching on at times going, oh my gosh, I had a free trip to this thing. Like, why life? Either way, it's fine. were you sorry Were you supposed to go there and then the week after go to Kota Kinabalu for the Climathon?
00:43:56
Speaker
No, no. But the backup plan of if something went wrong with Kota Kinabalu or Skyrunning or anything, like I wasn't going to do that to myself because I knew that that would burn me out.
00:44:07
Speaker
But turns out, you know, here I am. um But it was the sort of backup in a way of had it in my back pocket of if something was, if I wasn't going to be able to do the whole rest of the Skyrunning World season, like because there was three or four races left and like a one-off race was going to be a better idea.
00:44:27
Speaker
Like I would have done it, um but it was never my goal for the year. So no, there was most likely I wasn't going to be there, but there was still just part of me when everything else is taken off the table and then I'm sitting at home and I'm just like, I still couldn't do it.
00:44:41
Speaker
It's so fine, but also um I think, sorry, before you continue on, I think we should mention um the Climathon. We probably kind of talked about a little bit about it, but um this is a race that used to be pretty big. And it's actually pretty cool because it's not that far away from Australia. And it's probably one of the...
00:45:00
Speaker
i've never done it i wanted to do it i've been on kota kinabalu mountain a few times but um ah they haven't had the race for a good good amount of years i think killian would have won that race in 2014 and then they didn't have the race for like 10 years and then last year was the first year they got a back which was very local and then this year it's part of the sky running world series But um anyway, this is this is a good chance if you if you do want something very extreme, it is 26K with 2800 meters of gain. So you go thirteen kk straight up to the peak of Kotakinabaloo, which is at 4000 meters and then you run
00:45:42
Speaker
back down. um There are pretty limited spots and the race is going to happen this weekend and they'll probably start registrations like four or five months later. So maybe keep that in mind if you do want something pretty cool. it is ah It's not that far away because you can fly pretty easily to KL in Malaysia and from KL to Kotak in Abulu. It's another short flight. And then you're not that far away from the race village and the mountain itself.
00:46:10
Speaker
So it is, yeah, something to think about if you are wanting a different challenge for sure. And you live in Australia and there aren't too many places where you're going to get something so extreme. So I'm going to try and make it there next year.
00:46:23
Speaker
This year, I had an entry this year, but I felt like it was a bit too much after this long Europe trip. But next year, I'm going to do my best to make it to the start line. Yeah, I'm in that sad week of still getting all the emails with all the race information because my name's on the start list.
00:46:43
Speaker
I've just been deleting them as I go. Just like I'm not coming, guys. Sad times. um But, yeah, I was... so excited for that one except also scared for the altitude you do need to get some altitude training and from us to do that one it'll try to at least um but but yeah we'll um we'll rehash the results of that maybe next week i'll just be very sad when i'm doing so uh but i'm used to that by now guys it's fine um But back to one that the Golden Trail, which has already happened, um that was over the weekend, over four days.
00:47:19
Speaker
And the prologue was actually, i was going to get the distances back up, but um the prologue was two days before we had Leo and he came 30, damn it, I'm not in the prologue. Yes, I am.
00:47:34
Speaker
He came 31st.
00:47:37
Speaker
which thought was a really good run um in the men's. He was, what, two two places back from Nick Turco, which is another name that I recognise in the area of him. um Anders, who's been on the podcast, was just a little bit behind him. um And, yeah, what, a minute behind Damien Bogdan and the likes him.
00:47:59
Speaker
couple minute minute and a half so I thought when I saw that I was i was we haven't heard from Leo in a while and obviously this being two days before the main race i was like Leo's in form um because that was a much better run I believe than the prologue last year for him his this is now his second year doing this one um obviously different course so I don't know if it suited him more or any less but Either way, then Katinka was also there. She didn't do the prologue. She just did the main race.
00:48:30
Speaker
So don't have a result for the prologue there. It was won in the men's by El Huzin by a ways. um So this was like, ah ah so so here it is, 7Ks with 550 up and down.
00:48:44
Speaker
Huzin won by like 2 minutes and 15 seconds over 7Ks. which as soon as he did that, was like. Yeah, I think that a lot of the other guys did the world champs. um Did Joey Hadorn?
00:48:56
Speaker
No, maybe not. but He was second. Definitely Patrick and Philemon and i think also the American guy. Taylor Stack.
00:49:07
Speaker
Yeah, think he did the world champs as well. so Yeah, I think he did. Taylor Stack came third. um So he did he did damn well. followed by Patrick. And then it was Christian Allen.
00:49:18
Speaker
And was he at Weld's or not at Weld's? He did only the uphill. So I guess. Yeah, not too bad. Yeah, maybe it was a bit fresher. And Taylor, I think he, well, any, and he doubled, he's doubled up from the short distance, like not the short trail. He's done the classic distance.
00:49:32
Speaker
um Same with Philemon. Philemon, I think we didn't see the best Philemon. He was eighth in the prologue. um But yeah, there was a number of names that were doubling up. However, I'm,
00:49:43
Speaker
going to say that most of the double ups were from classic or uphill and less from short trail. Yeah, I think like there was a couple of people that doubled from the short trail. um Definitely one of them was Roberto De Laurenti. Yeah, yeah.
00:49:59
Speaker
One of them was Roberto Cesare Maestri, but i did hit which one did he do? He might have done classic. um Yeah, I think so. yeah But yeah, Remy LaRue, there was...
00:50:11
Speaker
um Damien Bogdan, who was in Short Trail, i think. he was in Long Trail. Oh, my gosh, he was too. Damn. But I think he DNF'd, so.
00:50:22
Speaker
Okay, okay. Well, still. Depends how high you know you can. So Aspoklyn is one of our new big athletes out in in Europe and Aspoklyn a little bit.
00:50:34
Speaker
And I asked him, why you doing the long? Because he's a bit more of a golden. He's done really well in the golden trail in the first two or three races. I think it was ranked third after the first two races and he's been doing well around that two to five-hour mark races. But then he said,
00:50:51
Speaker
they don't have a big um team going to the world champs and the only way they can get any team ranking is in the long trail for the men. um So that's why he did it. But I think it's probably maybe a little bit about outside his comfort zone considering you just did OCC as well like a few weeks before. so Yeah, damn. Yeah, some of these people when you look at their recent calendars, it's a bit wild. but Either way, one person that has played it right, I reckon, and and this is off back on the women's side in the prologue, that was won by Madalena Florea.
00:51:27
Speaker
um I love Madda. And she didn't go to World. No, she didn't go to Worlds, I don't think. I think her last race pretty much was like ETC, where she won ETC and had a ripper run at UTMB week and then clearly has been targeting this one um However, not far behind her, I think about 10 seconds in the prologue, was Lauren Gregory, who was at Welds, Joyce Njeru, and then Sarah Alonso, Rosalara Feliou, Marlon Osart, Naomi Lang.
00:52:02
Speaker
All of them were at Welds across various distances for them, even Selena Ebbie. She was at Worlds, Marina Vett, Courtney Coppinger, all of the top 10 except Madalena who won was at Worlds.
00:52:15
Speaker
Same Halicine. He was in a World Championships and he did well so chose his battles right. Wow. Yeah, when there' ah they just won a good amount of money so um I reckon chosen the right battles here but Either way, they both still had to get through the overall final, which started with the women's the day before the men's and I loved that watching parts of this race and it was a bit back and forward and it was pretty close for a good portion of it.
00:52:49
Speaker
ah Lauren Gregory did end up coming away with the win, which I think it's her first golden trail win and it happened to be at the final and it was a big win. So she won by two and a half minutes from Madalena in the end.
00:53:04
Speaker
But Madalena coming second secured the overall win for her. So she came first overall in the Golden Trail ranking. And then in the final, Sara Alonso came third, only 30 seconds back from Madalena.
00:53:20
Speaker
A name that I've never seen before, lu Lucia Kurukok from Slovenia. She was in fourth between Sara and then Marlon Osser was in fifth.
00:53:33
Speaker
So few new names. And then even sixth overall, but Barbara Bukovicin. from Czech Republic um was also just an open athlete that um came to the final. So it looks interesting when it says on the categories, it's got elite, elite, elite, then open, elite, open. And I'm like, those two open athletes have like, A, had a ripper and B, I feel like it's a good spot to have a really, really good run that you've been probably been targeting for ages. Yeah.
00:54:04
Speaker
So that means that they probably paid like the normal entry fee and like registered online. that Oh, wow. Yep. So they they would they just entered this race um and they've come fourth and sixth.
00:54:17
Speaker
So and when you're doing that at the Golden Trail final where a lot of these athletes have a lot of money on the line, there's a lot of um yeah the ranking points on the line, but also they're obviously targeting this race and have been all season.
00:54:32
Speaker
Like that's some bloody good runs. um if you're just someone that's come in and entered. So, yeah, that was cool to see. ah But then um overall in the rankings, yeah, it went Madalina, Sara Alonso, Lauren Gregory for the top three.
00:54:48
Speaker
On the men's, it was El Huzin with a perfect 1,000 points for the win. ah No one was, don't think anyone was going to beat him. Patrick Kipkaino in second and then Philemon ended up in third.
00:54:59
Speaker
Taylor Stack made his way through for fourth, which bloody good runs him. good runs by him um so yeah that was the overalls on the women's side for an on an Aussie front we did have Katinka von Elsna-Welsteed she was there uh she came 47th and this is her first season or first um few races overseas uh in Europe especially and I don't think she'd had much well no she hasn't had much experience on this sort of terrain in these sorts of races and
00:55:30
Speaker
having been there before, jumping in the deep end like this with these massive races on terrain that you're still a rookie at, like I want to give us a massive kudos for that because it's so hard and it can feel like you've just felt this in a way, Vlad, where you you can end these races demoralised a little bit because you're just there going, hang on, how are these people running so fast in this terrain that I haven't really tried to race on before or seen before? or Like it it can...
00:55:59
Speaker
There's two ways you can look at it. You can go, oh my gosh, how cool is it that that's possible? And then there's also the part of you going, oh my God, I suck at this. Like, why am I trying? Like, I remember the feeling so well of going, oh my gosh, I'm traveling the world to do this and this is now really scary and I feel like I suck.
00:56:16
Speaker
And it's just you go from being at the front end of Aussie races to being so far back in the field fighting for your life that I'm just... and Like anyone that does it, anyone that jumps out there, puts themselves out there and has a crack, I think Katinka had a really good run overall for the fact that it's her first try at a golden trail. It's her first try a race of this distance in Europe on this sort of terrain. Like there was some massive ups and downs. and Like it was a really long uphill and a really long downhill and it looked steep and it looked freaky and just amazing.
00:56:51
Speaker
it's so hard. I feel like us run as well, sometimes not not not good for ourselves, where you want to be amongst the best in the world and you want to do all these things and it's good too. But there's also got to be this recognition that like so many of the people that you're around have been doing it for years and are used to this or grew up in this and did all the things. And then you're there like learning things for the first time.
00:57:13
Speaker
um And yeah, just but I suppose I'm just always in awe of someone that jumps in. And I think Katinka did a really good job of jumping in and having a crack. And 47th by no means is a bad run, like especially in these sorts of fields and these sorts of environments.
00:57:32
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, Katinka, if you are listening, well freaking done. um You did good. Then um on the men's side, um We had Elhuzin still got the win.
00:57:46
Speaker
ah yeah Overall, sorry, it's just loading. Bloody internet has just carked out on me. But there we go. Only by 20 seconds from Patrick. I didn't watch the ending of this one. um i didn't I was too tired to stay up. It was at night.
00:57:58
Speaker
But Elhuzin, then Patrick, then Paul Machocker. Taylor Stack again in fourth. He's on a tear at the moment, I reckon. Philamon coming through for fifth. And then Michael, which I will say there's, what, four Kenyans in the top six. So it's they're certainly um dominating these sort of distances now too.
00:58:19
Speaker
Joey Hadorn in seventh. um And then that meant the, I've already said the overall. But, yeah, did you watch any of this, Vlad? Just some of the replays. um Yeah, I mean, I think.
00:58:32
Speaker
like you were saying before, you kind of question yourself like that, you know, those top people are really, really good. And i think what else, what another thing that makes it really hard is if you kind of like look at a person that does really well in one of those races and you go,
00:58:48
Speaker
It's weird because like at a half marathon or a 10K, I'm only like one or two minutes behind them. But in a trail race, I can be half an hour behind them. yeah Then you kind of, you really question yourself even more.
00:58:59
Speaker
So I think that that's, you know, that's the crazy thing about trail. And that's also, i guess, a cool thing because then you have people that come in from to the open, like, you know, to come come into a big race from the open category or like, you know, a bit less known in the trail running world, but they could be really, really good road or track runners and very gifted on on trails like Taylor Stack from the US who is a really good track runner that looks like he's very talented on the trails as well action and can do really well. so Lauren Gregory, she's won there too. exactly. Makes our sport pretty interesting as well. But then, you know, when you have a bad day and all like, okay day, you also realize like, wow, I shouldn't be doing this. I should go back to Australia and do my local races there.
00:59:48
Speaker
It feels like it at times. Oh my gosh, it does. But I was messaging Katinka just going, I swear it gets better. Like it gets easier we when you get sort of more experience in these sorts of terrains and things. And because like that is one of, I must say, that's the side of the sport ah ah that I've always loved too, where it's like, I still do have a crack at some road and some track and some shorter distance races, et cetera.
01:00:12
Speaker
And then ah part there's part of my brain going, well, yeah, you're going to beat me here, but just come to my terrain and we'll see what the evening out does. Like it's it it's cool and unpredictable, but it's also like when you're first entering it or first trying it, you've got to keep that in mind that sometimes, yes, there is the outliers that ruin it for everyone. I feel like they do a great job of like there's a roadrunner that comes in, the Taylor Stacks, et cetera,
01:00:40
Speaker
And they make it look easy, the transition across. And it's not easy for everyone. It's not easy for most, especially maybe the more so American slash Aussie um with less of the terrain, of the Euro terrain to work with, like getting over to Europe and trying to um race through Europe.
01:00:57
Speaker
ah But, yeah, it's so hard, so, so hard. um And, yes, that I suppose another person that's just done that in and this is his experience Second year of doing it and on this level, um like again, is Leo.
01:01:14
Speaker
Like Leo, he's only been beaten once on Aussie soil and he's dominating Aussie soil trail races. um And he still, if he he had a ripper run by what I reckon in 53rd.
01:01:27
Speaker
So, I will say, so when you take into account the overall field size, which is something that I will mention in the way that there's 168 men, 164 men and only 68 women this year at Golden Trail, which there's always been a discrepancy, but a discrepancy of like almost three times feels like a bigger one than normal.
01:01:52
Speaker
Um, so Leo being 53rd, that's top third of the field. Um, more better than top third of the field. so And he's only 30 minutes. Like sometimes I look at the time behind the win as well as a way of going, well, yeah where's the stacking? But that's a big gap. That's a really big gap in a two-hour race.
01:02:11
Speaker
it Yeah, it is. it is. um But at the same time, like Euro terrain and these sorts of things, like it it's you're not going to be able to be within 30 minutes of El Huzin without at least being a damn good runner.
01:02:27
Speaker
on these sorts of terrain, I don't think. Yeah. No, I mean, like, it just shows, like, that. How good they are. The thing is that Leo would have finished one minute behind him in a half marathon or a 10K. Yeah.
01:02:39
Speaker
You know, that's what makes it, you know, where you start questioning yourself. I don't know if Leo is questioning himself, but that's the way I felt after the world champs is, like, you know, like, wow, um that's a big gap.
01:02:52
Speaker
And, I mean, I haven't spoken to him after the race, but I think, you know, it would be a little bit disappointed even though like if you look at the numbers, yeah, top third of the race overall for such a competitive race is a really good result. Yeah, and I think it's more that you also then look at the sort of people around you and like good days and bad days and things can all change. But at the same time, like they're all good runners.
01:03:18
Speaker
that's the That's the interesting thing, we're especially rocking up to a golden trail and then you come, yes, you come further back. But like even last year when I came 63, Like I was so far back and I had such a crap, like by my standards, a really crap run.
01:03:31
Speaker
But you still look around and you go, well, that person one place ahead of me is also sponsored. The person behind me is also like, this is what they do. This is, Like they're all like competitive runners and that would win races in their home environment kind of deal, a lot of them. Yeah, and think I think we should mention that Leo is a paid athlete now, is is is sponsored by Brooks. Oh, yeah, Brooks.
01:03:54
Speaker
Yeah, part of the international team, which is really good because we don't have too many trail runners, I guess. Technically, we could have three right now with Lucy, Leo, and Charlie being the three sponsored runners.
01:04:06
Speaker
athletes right now that will be probably sponsored next year as well okay um so yeah i mean is you know i don't know we should we should maybe um chat with leo and see what he thinks about that result yeah well yeah we'll help try and have a chat with him um We'll see how that goes down, of if we can get him on after his travels. I don't know if he's staying over there at all, but I'll message him.
01:04:33
Speaker
But either way, I think especially that's a big step up from last year. Actually, I was just about to see if I can find out where he came last year um because compared to last year where he came then...
01:04:47
Speaker
um then Although then again, if you look at the time gaps, possibly possibly he was better last year with only being 23 minutes behind the win. um So I might have stood there, Leo. But at the same time, at least its um he didn't get any worse.
01:05:05
Speaker
No, that sounds rude, but at the same time, he's like, he's done damn well. yeah I think we should also mention that he's probably the best Australian runner in that, I guess, he still one to two and a half hour races.
01:05:18
Speaker
um Yeah. So like you like you said, there isn't really not too many people get close to him in races that are maybe one and a half to two and a half or one and half to three hours. is and And obviously a very, very good road runner. Yeah.
01:05:32
Speaker
I remember it wasn't that long ago that he did that double road race where he won the 5K and then straight after that won a 10K both going sub 15 and sub 30. So, yeah.
01:05:44
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Very talented. Yeah. I would love to hear from him how much he thought this course suited him because it had some a really, like it was a really long downhill. And I think if there's one place, well, no, I know that if there's one place he struggles compared to the runners around him,
01:05:59
Speaker
um it will be the downhill and considering how long of a steep and technical downhill this had to finish like I'm not sure what position be interesting to see what position he was in at the top of the climb which I can actually check I've just realized um because I dare say would have been a little further up, but not really, 51st.
01:06:21
Speaker
So he only dropped two places. so um So maybe that's a bit positive, actually. Yeah, I was going to say that's consistent because I just remembered speaking to him after especially the prologue last year. I was tracking him on the prologue last year and he was like 16th to the top of the climb, but then a fair way further back by the bottom of the descent kind of deal. But that's super duper fast and it was a technical descent.
01:06:45
Speaker
um And so it was just like, I was like, Leo, if you get your descending as good as you're climbing, like you're going to be well up there. So hopefully over time. But as we've already mentioned, it's bloody hard.
01:06:58
Speaker
It is. so Golden Trail is over for another year, which now I think that's kind of everything over. Like is that? No, Skyrunning World Series.
01:07:10
Speaker
That still doesn't end until November. Yeah. that That's the only major thing still going other than that we keep rolling around with UTMB races. Yeah, UTMB never stops now. No.
01:07:20
Speaker
Yeah, I think next year it's 58 or 56 races. What? Which is, yeah, crazy. There's, um yeah, a couple of new ones in Asia, which is really cool. i think is that the Philippines are going to have one. I've heard that Romania is going to get one.
01:07:36
Speaker
Nice. Cool. Well, yeah, yeah it if the branch out is happening to envelop more of the world that's had that hasn't had these big races before, like I'm all for it. in that way. like Yeah, especially like Southeast Asia, which is not that far away from Australia. It's nice that we'll have some more options there.
01:07:54
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not the easiest place to race, but a great place to race. Yeah, but a quick flight and similar time zones, quicker flight compared to going to Europe, you know.
01:08:05
Speaker
Oh, 100%. So much better. So much better. So think I'll be interested to see at what point they actually stop the build and just go, yep, this is the actual number we're going to keep.
01:08:16
Speaker
No, i think they will do the Ironman kind of mentality where they will just do a lot of races. Races that do well, they keep races that don't do well, they just scrap and move Yeah, yeah. They don't, you know, obviously it's a very planned out business where a profit stands, you know, very firmly at the top, which is nothing wrong with it.
01:08:38
Speaker
um But I think that that kind of, you know, tactic has worked well for them with Ironman triathlons. And um yeah, I mean, I remember doing a half Ironman in Colombo in Sri Lanka, which I guess they tried as a location and it's not on.
01:08:54
Speaker
They've tried it for, I think, three years in a row and maybe didn't get the numbers and it's not on anymore. And I think that that's kind of how they do it. Yeah. Yeah. Fair, fair, fair.
01:09:05
Speaker
Yeah. Watch that space, but there'll be plenty of options. ah Bringing it back home, and I just realised I never mentioned the fact that Brody's gone, guys.
South Australia Trail Championships
01:09:15
Speaker
just We've just rolled on without him because his internet decided to die. It's still closed.
01:09:21
Speaker
Yeah. It's only just now I'm like, yeah, guys, Brody's not coming back, if you hadn't figured that out by now already. um There's the ongoing ah ongoing that Brody always has the worst internet out of all of us.
01:09:33
Speaker
But I don't know how he manages it, but he does. Yeah. It's good. Either way bringing it back home, the one ah a bigger result we've got from home, which I want to give them a shout-out for putting something like this on and for having a championship of sorts, and that is the South Australia Trail Championships by the, um ah oh, my gosh, SA...
01:09:59
Speaker
a Now I've got it. Trail running SA, TRSA. Oh, my God. That was a mind blank. Either way, trail running championships they've got there. They had four distances, ah the 10K, 19K, 25K, and 35K.
01:10:14
Speaker
um So I'm just going to roll through the results. each of these was so Each of these became the South Australia Trail Champ for 2025, which in the 10K on the women's side, that was Natalie Cretenden.
01:10:27
Speaker
and in the men's side, Ben Killsby in the 19K. And this was all around Mount Bold Reservoir, which we have got the inside knowledge actually. Thank you, Brett, for sending through the three d inside knowledge that um some of these trails and stuff, they've actually just opened up and they're no longer they're not available to public, but they got them on for the race, which I love it when racers are able to do that. It always makes it feel that bit extra special.
01:10:56
Speaker
um And then, so bringing it back to the results in the 19K on the women's side, in first place was Melissa Rick in an hour 39. It was pretty close here because in second was Emily Sorensen in an hour 41 and Megan Semzuk in an hour 48 in third.
01:11:17
Speaker
On the men's, Clay Smith in an hour 25, Ethan Smith in an hour 28. I'd love to know if that's a brotherly rivalry because, yeah, That makes it even more fun. And then in third place, Mitchell Gray, an hour 29, only about 20 seconds back off second.
01:11:34
Speaker
In the 25K, Indiana Zamet, she won it on the women's side, which is really cool to see. So she was at the Golden Trail final for Oz last year in the under-23 category, ah which is really cool.
01:11:45
Speaker
ah Second place, Amanda Farrelly, and third place, Ada Baranoff. On the men's side, Mark Bloomfield got the win, and then only a couple minutes back was Rurik Simon and in third Brad Phillips.
01:12:00
Speaker
In the 35K on the women's side, Talia DeWood got the win in 3 hours 33. Robin Hanson was second in 3 hours 36 and Heidi Salter in 3 hours 40 for third.
01:12:12
Speaker
On the men's side, Nick Muxlow looks like he ran away with it for the win by quite a bit with 2 hours 36. Then Andrew Heitman in 2 hours 43 And Jonathan Stevens in two hours, 59 for third. So congrats to everyone there at in South Australia. We love what you're doing.
01:12:31
Speaker
and was It's very cool to see. and don't know if any other state has anything. Like i i shouldn't I should have done the research. Yeah, and I think Queensland's got something on and think Western Australia even had something last year. I remember they just won it. last yes said Was that part of like the series? Yeah, you're right. Is there state Yeah.
01:12:53
Speaker
is there ah is there a state body They should. um Like, yeah, I mean, that would be a big step forward is trying to, I don't know, um linking them somehow to Athletic Association or somebody to make it a bit more. yeah, because I'm looking at it now and it does say the Trail Running South Australia Trail Championship. So they've decided to put on this championship, um which is similar to what happened in, in,
01:13:20
Speaker
in Perth last year WA with the series and I think is similar to what happens in Queensland where all these states have their like summer series, winter series, et cetera, et cetera, and the organisers decide to put on a championship, um which I love.
01:13:39
Speaker
I would also just love it to be like status, like I suppose like you have the Victorian half marathon championships by Athspic kind of deal. It would be cool to have...
01:13:50
Speaker
We used to have actually, we had the 10 mile trail champ a few years ago with ATSVIC in in um Victoria. um I think it was called the trail championships, but ATSVIC we're running a few trail races.
01:14:05
Speaker
um I ran a few um a few years ago. So it was a thing. um It's just currently nothing too huge. So i suppose that's where the shout out comes from for TRSA for putting it on and having something like this.
01:14:22
Speaker
Very cool to see. But that's the end of the results for this week, unless there's going to happen. Let's do one result. Let's give our, well, let's give our, I guess he's not going to be doing too much trails maybe after this result.
01:14:39
Speaker
Fraser Darcy coming third at the Melbourne Marathon, which cool absolutely massive result. Like I had a quick chat with him and kind of like jokingly said, I guess trails can wait for a bit and You know, with the Sydney Marathon result with this, with running 217, he's probably not that far away from getting some kind of a contract with with a shoe brand.
01:15:04
Speaker
um And yeah, i mean, he's still young. He's definitely going to run quick. I've spoke with him a little bit at the World Champs a few weeks ago in Spain and kind of going, how quick were you three years ago or two years ago when we did... um when we did the world champs in in Austria, like, cause he did a short trail there.
01:15:27
Speaker
He didn't do too well, but he said he was probably 15.30 for a He's 14.15 now for a 5K, which is a massive jump in a very short amount of time. So I think maybe there's a bit more room on that marathon time for him. And you know once he gets closer to 2.15, he's is a world-class marathon runner, and obviously he's doing really well around Australia now, but might be we might not see much on the trail anymore.
01:15:57
Speaker
I was listening to, apparently he's not done with trail, um but at the same time, um it would be cool to see him. I suppose, yeah, there's always this thing in my head and I know that there's a lot of people asking this question of, well, if he can do that off the back of, like he had a trip to Europe before Sydney, then ran Sydney, did really well. He then went back to Europe and ran World Champs, then comes home and then runs bloody 217 again at Melbourne for third.
01:16:25
Speaker
And there's um obviously the question is, well, if you can do that, like yeah you must be tired. So if you can do that now, like what can you do with just one uninterrupted and uninterrupted build into a race?
01:16:39
Speaker
like But at the same time. Maybe we found the winning formula right there. It needs a Europe trip a week before his next marathon because it looks like it's working because before that e he was running like, you know, 2.30 at the Adelaide Marathon.
01:16:55
Speaker
Yeah. And maybe you've cracked it. In there, there was, what, a 70-minute half, like five days before World Champs or some crap before he flew over? Like there's just so much where I'm like this is wild.
01:17:05
Speaker
And so for a normal person, you'd go, well, surely you'll be better if you do less. But then there's part of me that also goes, but Fraser's not a normal person. So is he the sort of person that actually this is what works for him and therefore he's going to keep still keep getting better doing stuff like this? Because I think there's – there's There's no perfect formula and sometimes figuring out how to get better at running is actually just figuring out at what works for you, which might be different to what works for a lot most other people.
01:17:36
Speaker
And it might be very different very different results even if you try and do exactly the same thing. But I think I've also seen people that go from doing similar race schedules, et cetera, and mayhem to Fraser to going all in on one race.
01:17:53
Speaker
And then getting, because they've got so much mental energy, like clearly he's got so much energy, but if you put all that energy into one race, sometimes that can backfire. And yet that's where injuries can come in and that's where you can get burnt out because it's a bit like, well, it's no longer this exciting thing where I have other things to think about all the way into the race.
01:18:14
Speaker
It's, this one race far off in the distance that then you can run yourself into the ground before you even race the race. And that's where you can run into a
Fraser's Marathon Experience
01:18:24
Speaker
lot of trouble. So like for all we know, that would be what happens if he picked a race far off in the distance and didn't race before it.
01:18:30
Speaker
hum
01:18:33
Speaker
But no, I did see Fraser. I handed him his bottle at about, um I was at the aid station, the elite table at about twenty five k So at that point it was Joe Fukuda leading and then Jack Rayner and they were in just their little pack and Fraser was about 20 seconds off the back of them.
01:18:49
Speaker
um And he was looking good and I was just like, you're an absolute beast. But um he still held on and then joe Joe dropped off and Steve McKenna came past him, which was also cool to see because Steve also did Sydney.
01:19:06
Speaker
um Steve McKenna has now done like four marathons for the year. But I saw Fraser after the race in sitting in the elite um elite room under the MCG.
01:19:18
Speaker
And he was just sitting there staring off into the distance. Like he had the full on thousand mile stare going. And I walked over and I'm like, are you awake? And are you on this planet? And are you okay?
01:19:32
Speaker
um He looked tired. I'm like, it's kind of nice that you currently actually look like you've just ran a marathon at 217 pace. um because I tell you what, Jack Rayner on the finish looked like he'd been for a jog.
01:19:45
Speaker
um
01:19:48
Speaker
But no, it was that was ah definitely a very cool result to see. Fraser smashed it. And I will not be surprised if we see him at another race in like two weeks' time. No, think he's going to take some downtime. I think he said that he'd probably take it easy after Melvin.
Upcoming Recordings and Episodes
01:20:04
Speaker
Good, good. I hope so. We're actually, he's recording with Nathan Pearce tomorrow. um a recap on World Champs and we therefore we're also going to get the recap on Meldmara, which will be fun.
01:20:17
Speaker
I'm going to release that on Friday, which, yeah, out for those listening, our episodes are all a bit over the all over the place this week, but hopefully you've got the rollercoaster preview has just dropped, that dropped today.
01:20:31
Speaker
um And then on Friday, you can listen in for Fraser and Nath. And we've got a bunch of other, Nicole Patton's been in for an interview. We've got, we're slowly getting rolling again now that everyone's back in Oz and getting back into the rhythm of it. So lots coming, keep an eye out for all of it.
01:20:47
Speaker
But for now, this has been episode 79. Thank you all very much for listening. Any feedback, any questions, any insights that you want us to cover, by all means, send them through.
01:20:59
Speaker
ah Any results you want to cover, Brett's been doing amazing for South Australia. We love him. um If anyone else has any results they want us to cover, by all means, send them through. But yeah, thank you all for listening. Vlad, thanks for joining.
Closing Remarks and Future Guests
01:21:11
Speaker
um One day soon, we'll actually get Brody on for a full epi episode. um And we'll see the return of Jess fresh off a holiday in the Azores. So thank you all and we will speak to next week.
01:21:26
Speaker
See you guys.