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Episode 24: The search for vert, altitude woes, and Backyard Ultra training.
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Welcome to Episode 24 of Peak Pursuits, your ultimate podcast for everything trail running in Australia. This week’s episode is hosted by Sim Brick, Jess Jason and Vlad Ixel and takes you through their training/race weeks, answers a listener question about backyard ultras and covers some big results from the week around the country!
Start - 37:20 :-Training/Race Talk
Hear where Jess is up to in her training post Hounslow and how the first trail marathon has affected her. Then hear about Vlad’s search for vert in his training for Asia Pacific Trail Running champs and how he got 6000m in a week in Perth. Finally hear about Sim’s worst race of the year so far at altitude in Mammoth lakes - this is recorded only 2hrs post finishing so you get a very raw recap!
37:20 - 55:45:- Listener Question: Backyard Ultras
The team answers a listener question about backyard ultras and give their training advice/how they think they would train if they were to do one themselves.
55:45 - 1:02:00:- Race Results
We then cover a few Aussie races that went down over the weekend:
Surf Coast Century - https://tomatotiming.racetecresults.com/Results.aspx?CId=16&RId=29707
Yurebilla - https://eventstrategies.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=90&RId=556
Sydney Trail Series - St Ives: https://my.raceresult.com/309783/results#0_F927D2
1:02:00 - End : What’s coming up
Lastly, we do a quick run through of the upcoming trail races around the country and what is coming up for us.
Thanks for tuning in to Peak Pursuits! Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
Jess: @jess.jason95
Sim: @theflyingbrick_
Vlad: @vladixel
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter
License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
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Transcript
Introduction to Episode 24
00:00:08
Speaker
and welcome to episode 24 of the Peak Pursuits Podcast. My name is Simone Brick. I am coming to you from Mammoth Lakes, very fresh off a race finish line as of a couple of hours ago. And I am joined by hosts Vlad Ixl from Perth who has gotten up at 5.30 AM to get this done. So thanks for doing that, Vlad. Hey, guys.
00:00:34
Speaker
Oh, the commitment is real. And we also have Jess Jason, who now is in Canberra. So she gets a nice sleep into 7.30 to make the timing work with me in the US. Hi, Jess. Hey, guys. Oh, goodness. they are Yeah, this is going to be a fun one. I do apologize if I cough a little bit. The ah altitude is absolutely killing me right now, but that's all good.
00:00:57
Speaker
We will get this done.
Jess's Recovery and Upcoming Competition
00:01:00
Speaker
I reckon I'm going to throw to you first, Jess, if that's all right. And I want to hear an update just quickly on how the recovery from Hounslow's been going, and then how obviously you've got ah the race at South Korea that people may have just listened to our very first episode of. Wow, we called it Road to South Korea, you guys. And Brody messaged me this morning, saying, Why didn't we call it Trail to South Korea?
00:01:24
Speaker
ah And I thought that's a very good question, but I've already, like, we might do a renege on that, and I'll change the the image and everything, and we can Twitch it to trail, because it would make a lot of sense. But we'll see. But anyways, if you have listened to that, ah you'll have heard a little bit about the Asia Pacific Trail Running Championships in South Korea that both Vlad and Jess are currently preparing for.
00:01:51
Speaker
but Jess has the added bit of also recovering from Hanselow. So how's it been Jess? Yeah it was going okay so last week I had just like a week of jogging um so no sessions um and luckily like there's so many runners in Canberra I pretty much had company for every run which is pretty cool so got out at lunchtime with my colleague Tom Driscoll um which was pretty nice got some sun and a bit of warmth so it was nice to not have to face the cold in the Canberra morning
00:02:27
Speaker
um Wednesday I got up with Jess Ronan around Black Mountain, um which is yeah it's pretty cool, having that literally right next to my work. um Yeah, it's pretty awesome. Thursday, day that one was actually on my own, so I just went after work around Bruce Ridge, which is kind of like a little trail that connects up to Black Mountain. And then Friday, actually by Friday I was sort of getting in my head a little bit about like not doing any sessions. I was getting a bit antsy. So fair, fair, fair. Yeah. I like told myself I wouldn't do that, but I don't know. I just like, I think I just, I don't know, like how Vlad was saying like a couple of weeks, like when we, after we spoke about Hounslow, like it is possible to lose fitness and stuff. And I was just like feeling a little bit rubbish, like just a bit, I don't know, a bit slow and
00:03:25
Speaker
mopey after just like jogging the whole week so I went to Mount Ainslie with Tom Driscoll because I wanted to check out like the base loop um for doing tempos on like once I started doing sessions and then I don't know I just like started getting moving a little bit like I think I got down to like four minutes something in case um and i yeah I don't think I was quite ready for it like just my breathing got really short. So then I was like, okay, I'm just gonna pull back. Yeah, I don't know. I've been feeling good. Like my legs have been feeling really good, but then the energy is not quite there, which I think...
00:04:08
Speaker
It's probably been like a combination of the race, but also like ah I haven't had many nights of like eight hours of sleep um just because we've had so much to do like after work and stuff with the move. And yeah, I probably wasn't eating like super well before I even got here because I'm just hopeless on my own. It's like so lazy. I'm just so lazy, like so bad.
00:04:35
Speaker
um But yeah, I think I'm going to prioritize that now.
Jess's Training Insights and Challenges
00:04:40
Speaker
Yeah, like I didn't feel too bad after doing that kind of faster ish. Yeah, I'd probably call it like a steady run with a bit of a climb to the top in the middle um and some strides at the end on the Friday and then.
00:04:53
Speaker
Saturday was just like a jog. I felt good on that jog, just like around, I just went on like a path around the lake near me. That's good signs because sometimes it's the day after trying to do a session again that you really find out whether you are ready or not. So feeling good the day after is a good sign. Yeah. And then Sunday I went, I had a plan to go out with Charlie, Mikey,
00:05:18
Speaker
Andrew Gattonby and yeahp um Tom Driscoll. And there was like two options of either a 20K or a 30K loop. And I was like i like was adamant that I had two and a half hours of my program. And so I was like, well, I'll just do the 30K because that's closer to two and a half hours than the 20 will be. Well, it's sort of in the middle. So I was like, well, maybe me, I'll just go up.
00:05:48
Speaker
Is that Roxy in the background? Yeah, sorry, I'll move. No, no, no, it's all good. I'm just, I wasn't sure if Roxy was with you again or not, so hi, Roxy. She's being so naughty. Yeah, and then I would have felt, so we went out to um this run called Stockyards, which is like up in the Boleyn Ranges. So it was my first run out in like the proper mountains in Canberra, which I was pretty excited about. And I was feeling like pretty good before the run. Like I got a good sleep the night before and everything. And then yeah, the run sort of starts with like a really, like a pretty steep climb. Like it's two and a half K and you gain like 600 and something meters. Nice. And
00:06:39
Speaker
Yeah, like I was out of breath after like the first 30 meters of the climb. Like, I don't know what it is. Like my legs feel okay, but it's just like, I have like no energy. And like, I don't know. It's yeah, I think it's just just like a fatigue.
00:06:58
Speaker
kind of feeling. Yeah. After a race that's so long that you did for the first time, and then also everything else going on with the moving and the sleep and the eating and everything, like it's, it's not surprising. um And I think sometimes people underestimate the fact that the nervous system and the energy systems need just as long to recover as the muscles and everything from a big effort. So that can be what catches people out. If you try and push too deep, too much, you could end up in a hole a little bit. So You don't want that. Yeah. Yeah. And now I'm like pretty worried about it because I ended up doing the full 30K. I sort of started feeling better, like as the run goes on, which does happen to me sometimes. Um, that's good. But yeah. And then after that, I got home and like checked my training weeks and like my run was way off what I was supposed to do. Like it sort of colors it in different colors, depending on like how much you diverged from the training program.
00:07:57
Speaker
And I was like, oh, it's weird. And then I realized that I was only especially 90 minutes. And ever since then, I've felt so anxious about just overdoing it. I'm like, I'll cook myself, put myself in a hole. Nah, you've got enough time to get out of it still and be fine. Yeah, I feel pretty tired and sore this morning, which is pretty normal after like a run like that. like I used to feel the same after the 30K runs in Perth. Yeah. How much vert did you get this week compared to what you were getting in Perth? ah Surely that's more. Yeah, it's kind of weird. like It was 1,500. Oh, okay. Not too much. In Perth, I was getting like a bit over 1,000. It wasn't like a crazy jump. um Nice. yeah i think Yeah. I'm just going to adjust this week. and like
00:08:51
Speaker
maybe not do my session on Tuesday or just like make sure that I recover from that. Cause I'm, yeah, I'm really like, I'm pretty scared of like putting myself into a hole and like, yeah, after Worlds last year, I just really want to make the start line. So, um, yeah yeah I'll be like careful not to make dumb mistakes like that again. We've all done it at some point. So I think you'll be fine. Uh, you are obviously so aware of it already. So that's a good sign.
00:09:18
Speaker
Plus, you still have a bit of time. like you know It's still five weeks away, so there's still still time yeah to yeah feel fresh and then do some sessions. And obviously, you have the fitness in your legs because you just did your first ultra marathon and you ran well. Yeah, you still got time.
00:09:38
Speaker
Yeah, you might find that some lower mileage and ah adding a bit more intensity might kickstart your body again into feeling a bit better with her not doing any, because sometimes it's the endurance efforts that your body then doesn't want to do after a big endurance effort. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:09:53
Speaker
It'll be good. It'll be good. We can ah all hear about the turnaround hopefully next week when you get through another week and hopefully gain some
Vlad's Training Techniques
00:10:00
Speaker
confidence. But ah Vlad, I'm throwing it to you because you're preparing for the same thing now in 5 weeks, exactly the same course as what Jess is doing. And how's the, that you've but had the trip home, everything going on with the house and everything. So how's it been?
00:10:16
Speaker
Yeah, it's been quite good. So the first two weeks back in Perth, which was really nice, you know, nice relaxed lifestyle here. um But yeah, definitely like, I know it just means like, you know, we don't have much elevation here, so you always have to search for it, which yeah means a lot, a lot of hill repeats. um So for me this week and last week was all about hill repeats. um Just trying to get as much elevation as I can while obviously not overdoing it.
00:10:44
Speaker
So yeah, actually had a pretty good week this week with 6,000 meters of elevation gain. Nice. Which for Perth is probably like my record. I think that's the highest I ever got in Perth. I was going to say, where are you going to get that? like Break that down for me, because how are you getting 6,000 in Perth?
00:11:02
Speaker
um so pretty much now so like I pretty much live in the hills, um so I have about a 100 meter hill outside my house, which makes it a lot easier. so like my easy like Let's say when I do 30-40 minute easy run in the morning, um I can get 300-350 meters of gain.
00:11:22
Speaker
So usually like some monday morning was like an easy 7k run but they had 350 meters of gain um then something similar in the afternoon so that was a recovery day um so double easy double in monday so that's um yeah 350 and 380 um yep And then the next day again, 30 minutes in the morning, 300 meters only. um Then track on Tuesday afternoon, which obviously zero amount of elevation gain. But then on Wednesday, midweek, long run, hill repeats to get 1200 meters of elevation gain. So it's one hill that I just did 10 times.
00:12:02
Speaker
Um, then the next day I did a shorter one. So an hour of hill repeats in the morning, um, to get a 650. Is this all on the same hill again? No mixing mixing. the Oh, sorry. The 1200. Yeah. That was two hours on the same hill. Um, oh it's 120 meters long. So it's actually, it's really good. Like, I mean, uh, compared to what you get in Perth, that's, that's a really good hill. Um, yeah. Okay.
00:12:32
Speaker
Good mental training as well. Yeah, I was going to say you're getting the mental game in sharp. And then yeah, pretty much like all my easy runs get 300, 350 meters of gain um and then double kind of weekend of longer runs. um So the Saturday I get a thousand meters in hill repeats and then long run on Sunday was 1,350 as a three hour run without doing the reports actually. So yeah, that was actually quite good.
00:13:05
Speaker
And also a bit of time on the bike. So I used to do a lot more cycling when I used to race longer. Obviously as I dropped my distance, I was not doing any cycling, but yeah, the last two weeks just throwing in a couple of easy rides just to get the legs a bit stronger, especially the quads, um which was good. So yeah, fairly two very good weeks, last two weeks with 13 hours of running and four hours of cycling.
00:13:33
Speaker
So yeah, it's been a nice way to coming back and also running back with my dog. It's been really nice after three months of not running with her, now trying to take on her. Where did your dog live while you were away? I had one of my running friends look after her, but it took me a long time. So he was running with her and she was kind of fit when I when i came back. She was looking fit, but yeah, definitely now doing five, six rounds with her a week. It is going to start warming up so we don't have too much time. Um, usually like during summer, I don't run too much with her, but, um, yeah, still right now we pretty much got some of the nicest weather ever in Perth. Cool mornings, 20 degrees, 20 degrees during the day. So it's been, yeah, really enjoyable. And hopefully it can stay like that for the next four weeks before I have to go to South Korea.
00:14:26
Speaker
Yeah, hopefully. So that was a pretty big week overall of like time training. How many, like, are you planning on doing a couple more weeks like that with the hill repeats or like, is the whole block going to look like that? Yeah. So I think that's my only chance to get strong enough for a four and a half hour race. Um, yeah is doing that pretty much still about.
00:14:47
Speaker
10 days till the race and then kind of tapering up slowly but not too much. So I am not overdoing my track sessions and threshold, just kind of keeping that probably like 5% or 10% less than what I would usually push just to make sure that I don't overdo it and got the energy to put in some longer heel repeats. and Some more time on the bike, so it kind of like evens it out a bit, which is not ideal, but it would have been nice to have like eight or 10 weeks to prepare for this race, but um I'm still going to try to make the most out of it in, yeah, five, I guess five weeks of training, one week of taper.
00:15:27
Speaker
I think you had, you had a lot of fitness coming into the block too. So like a lot of racing and up still so a lot of load going in, in terms of ah intensity and stuff. So you know you weren't in a bad spot going into the five weeks at least. Yeah, absolutely. Like obviously not amazing of like three months of traveling around and not really having a routine. Um, but still I was still running between, yeah, I guess seven and nine hours every week with.
00:15:55
Speaker
you know, 10 races in the middle. So it's not ideal obviously, but yeah, I'm just going to try and make the most out of it now. And yeah, it's just, I think I'll feel good next week. Like that's what I'm hoping for. Good. Good, good, good. Yeah. We'll get you to see how it goes.
Simone's Altitude Race Experience
00:16:12
Speaker
Yeah. What about you? And now that, um, that the race that you had today, you know, you said that before when on air didn't go a hundred percent to plan.
00:16:22
Speaker
Oh, today's race was a shit show. um There is no other way to describe it. Oh my goodness. Anyways, so obviously had the race last weekend first, um which was not meant to be my first full race over here, obviously with Tatra getting canceled. And then I had Headlands last week, which I kind of knew the course didn't suit me.
00:16:46
Speaker
um But also knew that I needed to use all the downhills that I could ah to catch to catch people and that backfired pretty quick when I took a really bad fall um at maybe I think it was about 18k at a 27 so it was a very slow trip home. But um that has, that did shake me up a little bit this week, not gonna lie, um because it was pretty painful trying to, like, it's hard enough going to back-to-back races, um especially back-to-back races that are, like, last week ended up being two hours 45. And geez, today was even longer. I don't even know the time because I haven't looked and I don't want to know. um But um yeah, it's already hard enough, like, if things go well to back up the races. And so
00:17:34
Speaker
Yeah, the the week was different to what I would normally do um I still got out on course checks and I still jogged around and I tried one session um on what Thursday day yeah Thursday by the time I tried a session and Going from so obviously I did font remote which was at 2,000 meters and I was there for like 11 days I think which is something but 11 days at altitude is not actually gonna do that much for you. That was my kind of hope that it would do something, and then spend a week at sea level. And then we come straight up to Mammoth, straight after the day after a race, and that's it. We're sleeping at 2,600, which is not low. um I'm like, I'm 300 meters above the frickin' highest point in Australia currently sleeping.
00:18:22
Speaker
So um yeah, I've been feeling pretty crap all week. um I did manage to get a massage. My leg is pretty beat up and sore. All my whole sort of left side of my body. But anyways, I was honestly, I don't know if you guys know this state that you get into as a runner. When you've got a race coming up, stuff's not going to plan and you kind of just got to go, nah, forget it. Everything's going to be fine. Like I go into this state of like denial that anything is wrong. And to be fair,
00:18:51
Speaker
I don't think that the the leg for last week was not the problem today, not by a long shot. um And to be I don't actually know. the entire ins and outs of this. But Vlad, you've raced at Altitude a couple of times. um I'm not sure whether it's better to race after being at Altitude for sort of five days, or like, I'm pretty sure I felt better running here on day one than I did today. Like, it's, oh, I don't know. I ran There's the two that two camps like obviously some let's say like if you are going to race in altitude get there like two or three weeks earlier or just get there one day before. I have racing altitude a few times usually it's not good um because I get there yeah like you said four or five days before and you feel good the first two days but then your body just gets tired I guess and
00:19:44
Speaker
um Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like, I've been waking up every morning and standing up out of bed and like, everything's a bit dizzy and I've got a headache and I'm like, Oh, okay, we're just gonna drink some water and forget that that happened. um And so for today's race, what am I, a day like five or six of being at altitude? And part of me was like, no, no, no, we're coming good. We're coming good. And Yeah, no, we're not coming good. We took off and I think once my heart rate was high, I could hear my breathing. like For me, an altitude, i never it never mixes well. That being said, the last time I did a Golden Trail race that was at altitude, I spent six weeks at 3,000 meters before it.
00:20:27
Speaker
So I did everything to try and make myself feel okay for that race. Didn't do that this time. And I am never doing this again, ever in my life. Like, it's just not worth it because, yeah, we took off and the first K was only a slight uphill on road, but obviously it already gets your heart rate up. I already sound like a freight train because I have, I've been asthmatic since I was like 12 and it's like exercise altitude and thunderstorm-induced asthma. like it's It's not good asthma for altitude, that's for sure. um so yeah i was like The first 5K of this race is kind of rolling hills and not too much climbing before you then hit the big climb. And I got to 5Ks already dizzy going into the big climb.
00:21:12
Speaker
So, I knew I was in for an interesting day, but I was hoping, my hope was that if I took the climb just as it came, got myself to the summit, then I could send the downhill, catch as many people as I could. That was always going to be my plan.
00:21:27
Speaker
And once I hit 3000 meters on the climb, like I was seeing stars. Things were a bit, like I was pale. People were, what guys were running past me and checking if I was okay. And I'm like, holy moly, I'm 10 Ks into like almost 30. What am I doing? oh And then I got to the summit and like 200 meters before the summit, you can see it. We're on a little bit of a flat bit. And this guy comes up next to me and shout out to, he's never going to listen to this probably, but there's an American guy that was in the race named Mack.
00:21:56
Speaker
And he catches me and he is in my ear just giving me the biggest pump up going, there's the summit. There's the summit. It's amazing. You're doing great. This is awesome. Stay with me. And he runs past me and I'm like, holy moly, I've got to get myself to the summit somehow. So I get on his back and he's like, the whole last 200 meters to the summit, he's talking to me, cheering me along like,
00:22:17
Speaker
trying to get me over the line. Worst idea of my life was that one, because I then peek over the summit. And this course was interesting in that you've been climbing for like an hour at this point. And then you get over the summit and it's a really steep ski slope descent for about a K. Like I'm pretty sure the top women would have been running. I think I looked, Judith has covered it in like a .308. Like it's a bloody fast descent.
00:22:42
Speaker
And so I get over the summit, I grab my next bottle, and I start running fast down the descent. And 500 meters later, I realize my blood pressure or something is way off. Everything goes black, and I end up lying on the side. Like, I was out of it. I was like, this is not to plan. Like, I didn't actually black out. It was just that feeling of like, OK, I'm about to go down if I don't put myself down. So, yeah, that was 500 meters into a 15K descent.
00:23:10
Speaker
So the rest of the descent didn't go much better. I was kind of hoping that... What altitude was that at? 3,400 is the peak. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's high. Yeah. it's It's not low. Like obviously I've raced up to the top of Pike's Peak before, but as I said, I'd done a full acclimatization for that one. And yeah, 3,400 meters.
00:23:32
Speaker
just, it's a different kettle of fish trying to run. And I was hoping the downhill will be fine. My body let me know real quick that it wasn't. And so I genuinely covered the rest of the race in the downhill faster in my course check than I did today, running. I had a 7-minute downhill K that was just, I was, because I kept having to stop and breathe so that I could then run again, otherwise I would have just had to walk the whole thing. Because I was hoping in my head, I was like, if I jog really slow for a little bit, breathe deep, and like, I'll come good and I can run fast again. But every single time I went to run fast, I'd either get a stitch in my diaphragm
00:24:11
Speaker
Or yeah, anyways, enough said about that. It was just a shit show. That's going to be the explanation of that one. And I do not plan on racing at this high altitude again, unless I've done another six weeks or whatever of a fuller climatization, because it was the sort of, I had an hour of jogging down a hill, questioning all my life choices and whether I should just get on a plane home tomorrow. Like, oh, it was not a fun day.
00:24:38
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there were a couple a couple of elite runners that did the first race, but didn't do the second one, probably because of the altitude. How many of the elites actually did both of them and how many actually went back home? Well, Joyce won both, so um but she just didn't seem to get affected by the altitude. So there was definitely a good portion of people doing both. I'm going to say maybe 15 to 20 sort of people. And then, um yeah, i'd I'd guess it at that. And I know that some people definitely that raced last week, like I know a few of the people that beat me last week were behind me also absolutely suffering.
00:25:19
Speaker
um I know that for some people it seemed fine. Like even Judith, I feel for, I haven't spoken to her, but I feel for her because obviously she came 14th today, which is not at all normal for Judith. um So, and other people, other guys as well that were top 5 to top 10 last week were in the 20s to 30s this week sort of thing. So,
00:25:39
Speaker
It's one of those situations, though, where because some people pull it off, you almost feel like, why can't I? In a way, like other people seem to manage the altitude differently or just the back-to-back races differently. And you always are left questioning why it wasn't gonna, why it didn't pan out for you and it doesn't, but also like i kind of knew that like this The plan was that this race was always going to be the least important one of the season because I was going to have Tatra and I was going to have Headlands both at
00:26:12
Speaker
lower altitude and courses that were slightly better for me. And this one was just going to be the third one on the way to the final. And yeah, anyways, my season's gone to bit to shambles and that's okay because it happens. So, Sim, when you were um at like little sort of altitude camp place in France, like how high was that?
00:26:34
Speaker
That was at 2000 meters. Like I think I was sleeping at 18, 1900. So in like, in the future, how would you change your prep? Cause like you did sort of do that little stint there, like, which she would have thought would help with the attitude, but like, how would you change that in the future? Um, so like I originally did have the plan of going straight from Tatra across to the US and acclimatizing again at the two and a half, 3000 meters sort of level.
00:27:02
Speaker
um which I did have the option to do and if I was to do a race like this again, I would maybe take that option. The things that didn't work out in my favor for that option is that my 30th birthday was a week after Tatra and I didn't fancy going across to the US and spending it by myself when I could go to Chamonix to spend it with people. That was just a sort of life thing there that took me down to a thousand meters for a week um or two there because Yeah, not wanting to spend my birthday alone, I suppose. But um then I, instead of font-re-mo, I again could have come straight across to the US, but that was a financial thing. The life in the US and at altitude is so much more expensive than in France. um And in terms of the cost, it would have been at least double for the two-week period.
00:27:54
Speaker
Um, which was already obviously expensive when traveling to come to the US early and be at a higher altitude. Cause I looked at, I looked at every logistic and everywhere I could make it cheaper and I just couldn't. So, cause I know that the six weeks I did, like when you can spend six weeks in one spot, you can manage to make things a little bit cheaper at times, but still that six weeks in the US that I did do at altitude is probably the most I've ever spent in six weeks when traveling. So.
00:28:22
Speaker
Yeah, mostly a financial problem, that one, um I'm going to say. But in future, if I was to choose to do one of these races again, which right now, if you ask me, it's not happening ever, um not at this height, um I would make sure I'd do something, not be an absolute shambles.
00:28:41
Speaker
Yeah. And why do you think like, when you did the course check, like, did you feel like, Hey, then the attitude felt horrible, but I did it faster. Um, the climb, the climb on the course check day, I did do faster, but by like 30 seconds. And obviously you're doing that very fresh, getting out of the car and then just jogging your way into the climb, not off already, I think seven Ks of racing. Um, so it's a it is different doing it that way because obviously you're fresh and your heart rate's not already high at the bottom of the climb. Like I was already suffering before we even got there. So, um, the, but then in terms of the downhill, again, I suppose I was on,
00:29:23
Speaker
fresher legs and just one day into altitude, like it didn't feel great, but it also felt better than today. So yeah, I don't know. um I think it's just, I don't sleep, like I've maybe been sleeping five hours a night because I don't sleep well at altitude. I never have. I've got one good night's sleep, but all the other nights have been four or five hours kind of broken sleep because I wake up with a dry mouth or like a headache. And yeah, it's a,
00:29:52
Speaker
But then i then I very much go to myself, well, you put yourself here. ah You've made this choice. So it's ah it no one to blame but myself here.
Simone's Mental Resilience
00:30:02
Speaker
um yeah does this How is the mental hows your mental ah kind of feeling going into the finals now, which are like three, four weeks away? It's four weeks till the final, which means four weeks till home, finally.
00:30:18
Speaker
um ah I don't know. I'll know tomorrow once I've had a sleep maybe. But there's definitely, as I was out there today, there was definitely part of me that was doing all the calculations again of how much it would cost to cancel everything and just come home this week. um But then there's also the big part of me going, I very much value just keeping showing up and also knowing that the final race itself is is not an altitude. It suits me a lot better as a course. And I know the value of finishing on a high rather than a low, because obviously if I was to come home now, it'd feel like everything went
00:30:56
Speaker
right like there was not a single good race in there. So, um mentally, I know I have four weeks in Italy in a beautiful place, you've been there Vlad, Canobio, to sort of get myself right again and sort of make ah just, I suppose, I just need a week or two of feeling good while running because I haven't had that now the last week and then the two races not going quite to plan.
00:31:21
Speaker
To be fair though, Headlands went really to plan until I did fall. I was in a good spot. I knew that I was fit and I was, so having that is helpful because I was like, I know I'm, I know the fitness is there. um So I want to make use of it. But, so I'll be using that going into um the final. ah The other thing that I suppose has been playing on my mind a little bit, because if my, my poor puppy in the last two weeks has had two seizures,
00:31:49
Speaker
again, longer ones. So if she gets any worse, I will go home or I don't want to cry now. Oh no, hopefully, yeah, hopefully. You still don't have to come home. Hopefully you can stay up. Yeah, yeah. I know. And yeah, that was definitely another thing. I was trying not to let on my mind today racing, but oh, anyways, it's been a ride. I can imagine this has been pretty emotional, having a bad race and then all.
00:32:20
Speaker
other things that go around it and you put so much pressure on yourself training for it and getting ready and you know obviously big financial sacrifices as well doing this whole treatment when things don't go to plan.
00:32:34
Speaker
ah not easy but Yeah, I think like you said, and so yeah, something that I've been obviously saying to myself for years is just keep showing up. So um yeah, still have four weeks. It'll all pan out one day. Yeah. And yeah, I know that the good racers come and go, the bad racers come and go. Like it'll be fine. I'll be able to forget about it. um And yeah, it's another four weeks. Like it's not too long.
00:33:00
Speaker
So hopefully, I can get myself back on good stead. um And I obviously have very good, but my pups is staying with my fam at the moment. So she's in a good spot. um But she's definitely getting old, which is hard. But yeah, that is the life I have chosen. So it's, it's honestly, the last 4 weeks has felt a bit like a,
00:33:20
Speaker
if you don't laugh your cry kind of situation. So I've tried to do the laughing side of things. And yeah, life choices have led me here. So we'll keep going with them. Just think of all the lessons you've learned and the experience you've gained. You know, just make me stronger in the long run. Yes. Yes. I think I've already decided this is the last time I do a length, a trip this long, because I'd rather do one big race, come home, like a month-long trip for one race. Um, cause yeah, Vlad, you know how hard it is to just travel, but yeah even doing it solo doesn't, doesn't make it any easier, that's for sure. So anyways, that's, uh, that's my little piece for today. That's what you get for having a a very raw me straight after a race that's gone to shift.
00:34:08
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think obviously it's tough living in Australia and trying to race in Europe and the US. I mean, I think hopefully as the sport grows, we'll have big opportunities to race in Asia because that means that we can do short one-week trips, 10-day trips, come back home, train, come back and race again. um Because, yeah, it's definitely not easy when you try and, be like, you want to combine a couple of races because you go, I don't want to fly back.
00:34:35
Speaker
um You know, jet lag, try and get over that. That's like a week in each side. So yeah, I really hope that, you know, we can have some bigger races in Asia more often so we can do shorter trips and we don't have to go to Europe all the time too.
00:34:49
Speaker
to race. And even, like, race is in Australia getting bigger, so. um Yeah, for sure, for sure. And I think, yeah, and it's it's just, when things like this happen, it's like, I feel like the, I spent the last few years, like, obviously I was injured. But when I, for me, doing Golden Trail is very much a case of putting myself out there amongst the best in just hoping to learn and see where I sit and get better by surrounding myself with really the top level of runners. um And that is hard to do because when things don't go to plan, it really doesn't go to plan sometimes. And also
00:35:24
Speaker
you you don't get the confidence boost of leading races or being anywhere near the front to begin with for me, and especially because it's like I know where I sit. um i'm I'm trying to break into sort of the top 15 to 10 sort of maybe if I have a really good day, but via it's it's where I know I learn a lot more. You learn a hell of a lot more in these races than sort of a smaller race that you know is less competitive or just has less pressure and all those sorts of things. So I'm still very, very thankful to be in this position. But damn, when it, when it goes bad, it's really hard. um But for sure, the, the being from Oz is definitely the hardest part about doing this sort of series. But I'm hoping
00:36:11
Speaker
that in future, like I do know next year, again, they'll have the Asia trip, um which I might do, I might not do. I'm very up in the air about next year's schedule, but that's a much easier trip because we just fly. They have a race in Japan, a race in China, and then I can go home.
00:36:25
Speaker
And it's still at time zones as well. It's only like an hour or two difference. Yeah, because I suppose that was the one thing that I will say went well this week is that I had to deal with what, a nine hour but um time difference. Sorry, this trip when we came across to the US for Headlands and I only arrived five days before. um And I really hadn't traveled that close to a race before. and that the time zone thing went fine. So that was a really cool thing for me just long term to know that um the tactics I used, obviously, and there was a lot of um melatonin and different foods and hydration and those sorts of things that I tried to use to navigate the jet lag.
00:37:02
Speaker
And that went well. So it's nice to know that I can fly into a race with a time difference fairly close to the race and feel like I can ah adjust to the time sooner. um Because in previous years, I've been pretty scared to do that. So yeah, there's something I've learned a lot of the way. Well, I think from that positive note of you being able to fight off jet lag, we can move into this week's listener question, which is a good one.
00:37:31
Speaker
Yeah, this is where other people get to learn, hopefully. And ah this has come in on Instagram from Tassie underscore mountain
Backyard Ultras: Tips and Trends
00:37:38
Speaker
goat. I should have clicked in and actually checked what your name is, but cool, cool tag. And that is just that if we have any training tips for backyard altruists, which I have a few because I've trained a few people for these things.
00:37:51
Speaker
Jess, I'm not sure. yeah Jess, do you know what a backyard ultra is? Yeah, of course I do. It's a massive impert. Everyone in Perth is obsessed with backyard ultra. That's all I heard about when I lived there. Perth is the capital of backyard ultra races in the world. Love that. Love that. Well, yeah, they're a different kettle of fish just in case there is someone that doesn't understand what a backyard ultra is that is listening.
00:38:18
Speaker
It is an ultra with no finish line or no set finish line, I should say, because it's just a last one standing kind of event where I think the loops are about 6.7K or around about there because theyre they've started in miles. um That's from the American side of things. But um you do one loop on the hour every hour until you can no longer do a loop. So you run 6.7K starting at whatever the bang on the hour is every time. And if it takes you 50 minutes, you then get a 10-minute break before you go and do another loop. um If you run it faster, you get a longer break. Slower, sometimes people are just continuously running at the end to try and make it to the end. So the, or what's the world record now? It's something ridiculous, like 100 and something hours.
00:39:08
Speaker
um But these are the sorts of ones that are just a sufferfest from what I can tell. um And I've, I've crewed for some and I've coached people to a few, but Vlad, what's your experience with them? um Yeah, I was just going to say the world record is 108 laps, which is 724.
00:39:28
Speaker
um kilometers. Oh my gosh. Absolutely crazy. um Yeah, I've been involved a little bit because ultra serious in Perth put on herdies, which is the biggest one in the world or probably the most amount of people that participate in them. um So I was this there this year, we were sponsoring it with bigs for the past few years. But this year, there was 470 starters, 475 starters. So it's crazy to see a backyard ultra start like pretty much like a half marathon because it was so many people at the start. um Obviously, a lot of dropout before it gets dark. So it starts at 6 o'clock or 4 o'clock in the afternoon. um A lot of people just come down, do five, six laps. um A lot of people look for that 24 hours, 100K.
00:40:16
Speaker
um So yeah, it's it's definitely a fun event to watch, especially I think as much as the sport evolved. So I remember like going to the first but few backyards here in Perth and it was a pretty small setup. Now, so the race starts on a Friday, people get their Friday morning, they open the gates or like they only open it at seven o'clock or eight o'clock. They you can start setting up your, your eight station, your tent, and people take it super serious. They bring, they bring in so much stuff. It's like,
00:40:45
Speaker
you know It looks like a little town where you can literally spend a week in your tent. You got everything there from like fridges to um fans, beds, closets. you know It looks pretty cool. um And it's a fun vibe to be around, especially for the first 24 hours while there's still a lot of people there. But yeah, it's it's it's it seems like it's kind of like still under growth in the world scale of racing, because there's the world championship now, there's a couple of new ones in the East Coast, there's like a couple of variations to backyard ultras now where they're doing like um some with a with like, you know, without actually elevation. um yeah There's that one in Victoria, I think with the $10,000 prize money, um which is a pretty cool same concept, and just on on trail with elevation. Yep.
00:41:38
Speaker
But it's definitely growing and I feel like it's a type of type of a race that people do want to try and do a couple of times. um You know, you're kind of like, okay, I did 10 hours, let's see if I can get to 14 or 16 hours and so on till he gets to a point where it's just like a little bit too far and people okay, all right, I've tried that and I can move on to different races on a few people that, you know, kind of did a couple and now they're kind of back to normal ultra racing and normal racing. Um, yeah, yeah definitely cool to see that kind of side of ultra running grow. I think that, um, training for it can be pretty tough because if you're planning to 24 hours or, you know, try and be there for more than a full day, it's pretty hard to train for it. So.
00:42:25
Speaker
it just It just means that you have to be creative with your training. um you know like I don't know. yeah kind of want I do want to do one myself and I don't at the same time because I can imagine it being super painful as you get into like this. um But yeah yeah, I mean if I train for it personally,
00:42:47
Speaker
I would just try and set up everything as much as possible to race day. So I'll put up my tent. um i'll I'll obviously go on the lap that I'm racing on or a very similar lap. um Because some of them are on road, some of them are on trail. Most of them are flat with slight elevation but nothing.
00:43:07
Speaker
super crazy, but I would just set up my tent, set up my nutrition and then I would build up. So like, let's say I'll go out there and maybe even get a few people. So it's not as boring just doing it by yourself. I know there's a few runs in Perth where they actually gather and a couple of them would do you know six or seven hours you know fully at race format. But yeah, I'll try and get as close as possible to race the experience and really focus on nutrition because yeah that just becomes such an important um part of racing for so long, especially when you start it.
00:43:46
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's the key here is specificity in some ways, um although I think someone could probably run quite good over a backyard ultra trading as they normally would for, say, 100 miler. And then you've got, you do have the breaks and stuff though, which I think can actually work against you if you only train normally, like for a continuous 100-miler event. So when I've coached people to backyard ultras, my biggest thing is that um it's normally, especially to begin with, it's every, every second week the long runs are in the format of the
00:44:24
Speaker
um of the backyard ultra. So if it's a four-hour long run, it's 4x6.7k loops. um And the a couple of the easy runs throughout the week might even be just 2 hours of 6.7K with a break in between of whatever you have to take ah to get your body used to the sort of, and your mind, used to the stop-start nature of it. And that's where I also get people to train. Do you feel better when you start again if you've stopped and lay down and then get back up and keep going? Or do you feel better if you've sat in a chair? Do you feel better if you've stayed on your feet?
00:45:00
Speaker
um There's so many things that you can do with that time in between. And I think the biggest thing about a backyard ultra is figuring out what works for you in the times of the breaks. Because the running takes care of itself takes care of itself if you just train for the running and the fueling while running as normal as you would for any ultra. But training for what you're going to do to either help or hinder yourself in that break can be the um difference between how far you can go. Because I know I had one guy that was doing it and he felt a lot better. um And he got a lot further in these events if he had the, and I've seen these tent cities that you're talking about, Vlad, where it's like someone's moving into the bloody paddock too her to get around as many loops as they can. But he felt a lot better if he just had a camper bed set up. As soon as he finished his loop, he was lying down.
00:45:50
Speaker
And he was never sitting because otherwise he had problems with his hip flexors. I had another guy who actually preferred just a c sitting down in between to eat some hot food and all those sorts of things. And the nutrition in between is also really good to practice. And that's where I do have one um that I've given to especially everyone on their second go. It depends on, I suppose, life as well, because my training for people always has to fit around their life. But I have a race simulation weekend.
00:46:19
Speaker
that I'll give people where they'll do 5 to 6 hours. And this is for people that are aiming pretty high in these things. Like they're aiming to go the 24 hours plus. So they'll do like 5 or 6 hours, but starting at 6 p.m. in the evening. One on the Saturday, they will then only have, say, a 3 or 4-hour break in between and start again for another 6 hours.
00:46:40
Speaker
at, say, 5 a.m. So that your body is not just getting used to the daytime running to the fueling during daytime, but also nighttime fueling, because I find fueling at night can be very different to fueling during the day and you want different things and need different things, but also just the feel of the sleep deprivation and those sorts of things. so I would normally do this three to four weeks out and then have not no sleep deprivation, obviously, leading into the event. You want as much sleep as you can get.
00:47:09
Speaker
But I find that that helps the people that I've coached really hone in on their tactics for overnight, as well as just every break in between. By the time they're doing, like they've done 12 hours in that weekend, um if they're doing the 2-6-hour blocks, if they're someone that has built up to that distance. And that is then the test run for going 24, 48 hours plus sort of thing. So and yeah, that's one thing. What do you think about pacing? So obviously, there's two ways of doing it. You can have a longer break, or you can have a shee you can go so you can go faster, have a longer break, or you can go slower and have a shorter break.
00:47:46
Speaker
So that's another thing that I get them to practice. um Some people, and I've seen so many people have really good success with the steady eddy approach of forever having that maybe an eight minute break. So they're not running super fast, but they're also just keeping things consistent. um I did have one runner that preferred every fourth loop. He went faster, and he had a longer break after every 4 hours. And then the other hours, he was coming in 54, 55 minutes. um So sort of skirting the line of feeling like he was running almost continuously for 4 hours, and then he'd have a faster one where he might get a 15-minute break, and he'd lie down. he'd close his eyes and do that. So there's, there's many ways you can go about this. I've never actually seen someone do really well if they're running every loop pretty fast um and taking longer breaks every time. I've never seen that pan out. So I don't actually recommend that one. I've seen people try andnna and, and
00:48:39
Speaker
fail pretty quickly. So I do think that the steady eddy approach of aiming for a similar time every hour, maybe with a few hours um faster to get a longer break if needed. But yeah, my tactics, if I was to do one personally, I'd be just aiming for as similar as possible every time, not fast, not necessarily skirting the line of 58 minutes. You don't want to do that one, I don't think.
00:49:04
Speaker
but yeah yeah also I also think like it also depends how well you can eat on the run and how much you can actually stop, eat a bigger meal and then keep going because I guess when you don't have too much time, you probably have to take some calories with you.
00:49:19
Speaker
and eat it slowly on on the go. If you do have a longer break, you can eat something bigger, but you know if your stomach is not happy with having a bowl of pasta every few hours when you have your 15-minute break, it also you know could slow you down. I think, like you said, I think personally if I did it, I'd probably aim and try and stay at zone one for the whole run, maybe have few planned walking breaks where I can get in some nutrition. So instead of, personally, I mean, instead of having a big meal, you know, like, let's say 200 or 300 calories every hour, I would try and break it down to like 50 calories every 15, 20 minutes on the run, um where I would stop and walk. um And I probably won't use a crazy amount of sports nutrition because you are there for so long. So I try and stay as natural as possible for as long as possible. um
00:50:12
Speaker
So I'll keep my heart rate as low as possible, run for maybe 2k, walk for like three, four minutes, try and get down a banana or like, you know, bread with peanut butter or something. um Then run again for 2k, probably walk again, try and get in another half a banana. um Yeah. And then have a shorter break of like where I can you know If I need to change my socks or shoes or whatever, cool down if it's getting hot, um but definitely trying to stay at a low heart rate for most of it to get you know enough of a break, maybe five, seven minutes, but nothing super long. That's how I would look into it. I think that's why it would give me the biggest chance of going the longest, but um yeah.
00:50:54
Speaker
Yeah, and that's actually a good point in that um I actually get my runners to test whether they want to run the whole way or um one of the guys I had that was the most successful at this, he would walk 350 meters off the line, jog 6K, and then walk 350 meters in yeah um to get the, so that every time he was going from sort of static to moving, it was a walk into a run, into a walk, into a stop. And he found that was the most, um was the best way to sort of, and it makes sense if you're trying to sit down or lie down in between.
00:51:27
Speaker
to make the transition from made um static to running again. So that's another thing that you can test in training as to what tactics in terms of a walk run possibility work for you. It might even be easier to get some more calories in when you do that because you got few more minutes to bring your heart rate down when you before you try and eat, and then a few more minutes um of digesting food before you have to start running. So yeah, that makes sense. I think there's a few ways to of doing it. Probably the most important thing is to go out there and test it and and not just go, oh, well, the best person in the world does it this way, so I need to do it this way as well. But rather maybe like, yeah, test what they're doing, see what worked there, what didn't work, and
00:52:13
Speaker
and keep testing and testing. I think you really, especially if it's your first one, you gotta do a couple, like, you know, maybe six or seven kind of smaller ones that don't have to be super long, but just to get a feel of what, where do you feel better? at Longer breaks, walking breaks, you know, but.
00:52:31
Speaker
Jessa, what are your thoughts on all this? Have you learned a lot or are you ever tempted to do this? Oh, no way. Like, never. I would never ever want to do anything like this. She's not as crazy as us, Vlad. I just, I don't know. I just like you need the idea of a finish, like a set finish line. um Fair. Very, very fair. And sane. And I feel like I gave up track because I hate doing laps, so.
00:52:59
Speaker
I just, yeah, not for me. um But i I've actually heard a lot of the good ultra runners talk about it, because on the WA Running podcast, they've interviewed um a couple of like the really top guys. And um yeah, what I've sort of heard from them is that like it's so much more than like your physical fitness. like it's It's so mental. And I think like The people that are like at the top like feel born or they're... I like ah genuinely think they have something like different like mentally that just makes them so strong and like able to just push their bodies beyond what humans are really like.
00:53:45
Speaker
capable of doing. um But yes, I heard one of them say that like like as part of their training, they'll do like really difficult things mentally. like They'll go like do ice baths or they'll just rug up, almost hate training, but like to the extreme and just like get used to being like really uncomfortable and like mentally able to like handle that.
00:54:12
Speaker
yeah yeah that makes sense Yeah, that's probably the only thing I really have to add. I think it would be cool to see if the sport ever gets prize money. And obviously, right now, this segment of the sport is pretty big, but it doesn't get the same attention as ultra running or UTMB events and stuff like that, where they're sponsored athletes and stuff like that. Some of the best backyard runners in the world are not sponsored or if they do have sponsorships, those sponsorships are not very life changing. So it would be cool to see if those races do have some significant prize money and and maybe some of the top ultra guys like, you know, some of the Courtney DeWalters and, you know, Killians go to like try to do one of them. I reckon that would be really cool. Ah, Courtney's done them before heaps. She's done them?
00:55:10
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. She had the record, the women's record for ages. um She's done like four of them or five of them. Like she's, she's almost, she's at the world champs almost every year. I can see Courtney doing it. Now that you say that, I can kind of see Courtney doing it. You know, she's definitely done it. She's done like 70 yards before. ah I'm going to say she might've even done more now by now. um But yeah, anyway, she definitely has.
00:55:33
Speaker
Yeah, but it would be cool to see if it does get to the point where um maybe some of the faster like guys do it as well. See how far they can go. It would be. It would be. But Jess, you need to get to work soon, so we might very, very quickly. Do you have time for us to rip through the results or do you me and Vlad need to handle it? No, I can quickly do that. Okay, cool.
00:55:55
Speaker
um Well, we hope we have answered and gone on many tangents for your question, ah Tassie Mountain Goat. I should look up your name again. But let's chuck it to the results this week, because there was some pretty big races in terms of ah the Aussie scene. So Surf Coast Century, which is a very big event in Victoria. ah Vlad, you're going to take us there.
00:56:17
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, um, great to see Holly Renson come second overall first female, but second overall in nine hours and three minutes. Um, massive run to finish yeah second overall second female behind her was Nicole pattern, but she was, yeah, just over an hour after. So I guess, um, there was a bit of a gap there for most of the race. Um,
00:56:45
Speaker
And third place female was Claire Palmer, um not too far behind Nicole in 10 hours and 20 minutes. um In the men's side, Nigel Hill won in 8 hours and 48. Did have a bit of a gap over Thomas Dale and Ali Wilcox, who finished not too far from each other in 9.05 and 9.09. But yeah, a race that has been pretty big on the scene. And same you're saying, it's still one of the biggest races in Vic on the Vic calendar. Yeah, for sure. It's always been one that I wanted to do, but I don't know, there's so many big races and cool races out there now that this one has been going on for a long time. They've been going on for
00:57:31
Speaker
Way over 10 years for sure. Oh, yeah but yeah. Very, very well run event. Yeah. Some beautiful views. I feel like, you know, there's some of the new events that came up probably took a bit of of space of into into becoming bigger races, but yeah. um Cool race and some great results, especially from Holly.
00:57:51
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Very, very cool. Well, Jess, you're going to take us to Eurobilla. Have you heard of Eurobilla Vet, Jess? It's in South Australia. Yeah, no, I haven't heard of it before. um But yeah, I just saw it's it's in South Australia, like 12Ks from Adelaide, yeah around some gorgeous Yeah, it's part of their ah you South Australia 550 series. So they've got that series that runs over the year of five different 50K races where people get ranked like over the whole year, um which I think is pretty cool. And ah it's the fourth of the series um of races. But I do know from running five peaks the year I ran it that many, many people spoke also of Eurobilla and it seemed a pretty big race on the South Australian scene.
00:58:34
Speaker
Yeah, nice. Yeah, cool. So we had a 56K, which I think was the main race. And in the women, we had Sarah Melville in first place in 6 hours, 09. Rachel Sharp was in second place in 6 hours, 48. And Anna Pierce was in third with 6 hours, 49. And then in the men, we had John Chongay in 4 hours, 58.
00:59:01
Speaker
In second was Andrew Heitman in 5 hours 08 and they're just William Ritosa in 5 hours 12. So well done to those runners. Do we want to cover the 28k as well? ah Sure. Cool. So in the 28k...
00:59:18
Speaker
In the women, we had Bruna Lanzoni in 2 hours 42. And then second place was Belinda Richardson in 2 hours 58. And Matilda Duncan took out third in 3 hours 10. And then in the men, we had Brett Goldfinch in 2 hours 24. Second place was Rob Wood in 2 hours 28. And third was Benjamin Cling in 2 hours 30. Nice. Very cool.
00:59:45
Speaker
Very cool. Another big one on the South Australian scene. And I'm going to take us quickly to the last one that we've confined results for for this week, which is part of the Sydney Trail Running Series and the one in St. Ives. um And so the winner of the 18K there, sorry, was Sophie Brown in an hour 41, followed by Matilda Betayla in an hour 47, and Kim Service in an hour 48 on the women's side.
01:00:12
Speaker
And then in the men's side, Thomas Saby got the win in an hour 26. Followed closely on hour 26.53 and about a minute and a bit backwards, Andrew Lee in an hour 28.11. And not far back again was Joe Hinson-Morrell in an hour 29.23. So as part of their trail running series going on.
01:00:32
Speaker
there. And then I suppose for international results, there, my wish I could have a better one to say. But um the ah the Aussie duo didn't have a great time today, because I also know that Lara, Lara wasn't having a great time out there. And obviously, after coming 13th last week,
01:00:52
Speaker
Geez, I'm not sure what position she ended in. Um, a lot better than me still. I think she was still 10 minutes ahead of me, but 20 something. And then I ended up in 35th, which I think is my worst result on a Golden Trail series race that wasn't Sia Zanal. So, uh, worst result by a bit of a way. But anyways, we also had, uh, Pike's Peak Ascent. We had Nathan Pearce go there and I know he learned the exact same lesson I did. And that is that once you hit 3000 meters, your body doesn't like you anymore. So he still did damn well to run two hours 51 at Pikes Peak Ascent to come 25.
01:01:29
Speaker
5th overall, 23rd male. um ah But yeah, having chatted to him, he definitely had the whole feeling of also that your body just kind of shuts down and your brain might say to go, but your body definitely says to stop once you hit the super high altitude. So yeah, just a huge well done steal to Nath because damn, that race is hard and that last 5K hurts.
01:01:50
Speaker
um Because that goes up to 4,300 meters. So another 1,000 meters ahead of where I was today, which, yeah, crazy times. But that is all our results for this week. um As always, if you see any Aussies out in action but overseas or any cool results around the country, we can't always manage to find some of them. So, but Send them through if you've got them. ah For what's coming up next week on the Australian Trail Running Calendar, we have one in Adelaide ah that seems to go from the CBD to the top of Mount Lofty called Operation Flinders City to Summit, which I think that sounds cool because it's always fun to do something right from the middle of the city.
01:02:31
Speaker
Then there is the Kumbaba Trail Run in Queensland on the Gold Coast, the Great Southern Half Marathon in also in South Australia at Aldinga Beach. And that is all actually for next week. It's a rather light on week before we have some other big races again coming up the week after ah around the country. But Vlad, what do you got coming on? I think we might have lost Jess on her way to work.
01:03:01
Speaker
um It just doesn't work. But yeah, just hopefully another week. My wife is finally coming back home today and my daughter. So they've been away for a while. So they did an extra two weeks on each side of our trip. So they've been away for four months. I'll just try and bank in some more Ks this week and try and get fit for Korea, which is not far away at all.
01:03:28
Speaker
Nice. Yeah, it is getting close for sure. It's one week, I think, exactly after my next race. um So coming up for me is the fact that we have a beer mile in two hours. So that will be how I very quickly forget today's race. That will be the plan. um And I think that is then very closely followed by karaoke, which I think is a pretty good duo, which will be a fun evening. And I suppose it's always a nice way to end-ish.
01:03:57
Speaker
a horrible race to know that you can still party hard afterwards. So yeah, got that win. Then I'm back to Italy in two days. So I have 24 hours of travel coming up. Not looking forward to that one. um It's hard enough after a good race and after a bad race. It's too much time sitting on a plane is not a good thing. It's all good in the hood. We'll be fine. I can't believe I just said that anyway.
01:04:26
Speaker
i'm goingnna buy me al yeah yeah I was say you just did a race today um in high altitude. So yeah, we'll forgive you. Good, good, good. Please forgive me for every single thing I've said this podcast, guys. Anyways, I think Jess is not going to make it back to actually being able to speak on the podcast. We can see her. She might be able to hear us. But this is some of the fun stuff that goes on behind the scenes, guys. So thank you, everyone, for listening. We hope that you have enjoyed this Episode 24 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. And we will, again, navigate the time differences to speak to you all next week. But thank you. See you guys next week.