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Episode 18: Travel Highs and Lows, Strength Training for Trail Runners, and Sierre-Zinal Brilliance
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Welcome to Episode 18 of Peak Pursuits, your ultimate podcast for everything trail running in Australia. This week’s episode is hosted by Sim Brick and Brodie Nankervis, with a brief hello from Vlad Ixel before the mountain wifi takes him away. Sim and Brodie bring you updates on their training/travel, this week's results, and some insights on strength training for trail runners.
Start - 33:45 :- Training Talk
First up, hear about Brodies adventures preparing for the incredibly long and technical Trofeo Kima and how his course recce has changed his approach to the race. Then Sim gives an update on a rollercoaster start to her trip, highlighting some of the hard parts about solo travel and navigating acute injuries.
35:45 - 48:50 :- Listener Question
This week's listener question is all about strength training. Our favourite exercises, types of workouts, how much is needed. Always lots to learn for any level runner when it comes to this and we hear how there are many ways to go about it!
48:50 - 1:21:00 :- Weekend Race Results
In our race results segment, we cover this week’s trail races, including:
Jabulani Challenge https://www.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16253&RId=6229
Kwat Kwat Trail Run https://my.raceresult.com/302737/results
Peaks and Trails https://www.alpinetiming.com.au/results/r445/
The Berry Long Run https://www.facebook.com/100064172101609/posts/895204892628573/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
Stranda Fjord https://live.eqtiming.com/68498
Sierre-Zinal https://www.datasport.com/live/ranking/?lang=EN&racenr=26138
1:21:00 - End : What’s coming up
Lastly, we highlight the upcoming trail races around the country and what to look out for on the global scene.
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!
Sim: @theflyingbrick_
Vlad: @vladixel
Brodie: @brodie_nank
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter
License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
Transcript
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 18 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. My name is Simone Brick. I am coming to you from Poland and I am joined by Vlad Ixl in... Oh, again, don't know what country. Where are you, Vlad? Austria again. Okay, cool. And Brody, where are you up to at the moment?
00:00:28
Speaker
I've joined Vlad in Austria, actually, so I just crossed into Austria from Italy yesterday. Oh, nice. Cool. Well, yes, three, well, not even three different countries, but all coming from Europe. So I'm going to give a bit of a caveat that all of us are working off mountain internet. So if we lose anyone, we're going to soldier on and see how we go. Hopefully we get the whole episode done.
00:00:53
Speaker
um but But coming up this week we have a lot of results both from in Oz but then some pretty cool results from Aussies around the world. We've got a listener question all about strength training and yeah you'll get to hear the updates on all of our adventures. So to start off us off on that, Brodie we haven't heard from you in a couple weeks. How's it been?
00:01:16
Speaker
Yeah, it's been good. um i Last week I was, um before before the last week, I was at the World University Orienteering Champs in Bansko, in ah Bulgaria, and I was coaching there, so I was pretty busy. um Had a busy week, couldn't jump on the pod, tried to fit in a bit of training.
00:01:39
Speaker
Didn't do too badly. I got my big, I think I did five hours and in the end, five hour run in um on my birthday. Got the 30Ks. So that was good. It was a bit of an adventure. It's pretty hard actually. So um it was a good training run. um And then this week just gone, I flew from Bulgaria to Italy and I flew into Milan, Bergamo.
00:02:09
Speaker
And then I headed up to where Trafea Kim has held up in the mountains. um It's in a sort of valley called Valmeceno. And me and a couple of friends that I'm traveling with, we headed out on the course and and tried to sort of cover as much of the course as as we could. So we stayed at two refugios.
00:02:31
Speaker
along the way because essentially the course is like this big loop. It's a big walking track um and it's ah you sort of climb up out of the valley up to about 2500 to 2900 and then you spend most of your time at that point between 2,500, 2,900 as you sort of do a semi-circle around these big mountains and then you descend back into the valley. um so yeah we There's a few refugios along the way, so we planned a route where we could see
00:03:12
Speaker
as much of the course as possible um and stay at two refugios along the way, which was super cool. It was really fun. So we did some sort of fast packing. Nice. Refugios are epic. like They're just so cool to see. Yeah, it was awesome. We got some really nice sunsets. It was really beautiful staying up high.
00:03:33
Speaker
um got a bit of attitude in so ticked all the boxes but yeah i spen we spent three days doing that we didn't we didn't see the whole course because um on the first day that we got there there was a big thunderstorm um that was going to come through the mountains in the evening um so we decided to change our plan um because the first day was going to be quite big and sort of cut the corner a little bit. We still had to do the same amount of climb, but we just climbed up a more direct way to the first refugio. But then the next two days, we just followed the course, and it is tough, man. It's so hard. I was going to say, thoughts? Yeah, I'm like a confident technical runner.
00:04:20
Speaker
um And it's it's just relentless continuously very tricky like you get you get little bits like this on on lots of different places like I've covered this sort of terrain in lots of different places before.
00:04:35
Speaker
but it's just ongoing. It doesn't stop. There is no there is no relief. um There's no 20-meter flat section that you can just run like a beautiful like just single trail with but not many rocks. like its It's just rocky, up and down. yeah um Even the flat sections are just as hard. So I found it a little bit demoralizing to start with because the pace is so slow because it's so tough the pace is just so slow and I've been looking at ah times from previous years and what people were running um and going oh yeah I can I can run like maybe half an hour hour slower than than what Killian's run before just like looking at the paces and then I got there and I'm like oh actually this is maybe a whole different ball game and I might be taking a bit longer than I think so
00:05:27
Speaker
Yeah i don't know i was a bit not not not upset but i was like it was a bit of a shock sha and now it's a bit of a restructure my expectations a little bit. I'm really glad i saw it because if it was happening to me on race day i think i would have really struggled mentally because i would have had times in my mind and i would have been really really struggling to hit them whereas now i think like i probably have a under expectation of how I'll run and I'll probably do better than what I think. um And therefore I think it'll be a lot easier mentally. But um yeah, it was it was so beautiful. Like it's amazing. And I think now I'm just going to have, I'm just going to go out there and and and and try and enjoy it. not Not think too much about the result and and the time or anything like that. And just like, I'm really there just to experience the race, not to like, obviously I want to do really well. And that's what, it was one of my focus races, but
00:06:22
Speaker
Uh, now I think just that I just need to sort of take it a little less seriously and just enjoy it because that's what I'm really going for there. And if we boil it all down, that's, that's why I'm going there. So yeah, it was a good experience. Um, prepared me, I think mostly mentally because the terrain is like, it's nice to see, but it's it's just tough terrain. It's nothing too crazy to like, it's nothing like I'm not going to do anything differently on race day. So I think mostly my benefit is mentally.
00:06:51
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's that's huge though, because ah like seeing videos of Trofeo and having been in the sort of similar areas before. Yeah, black there's only so much you can do when you're trying to race on that for the first time, um for that length especially. like It's going to be your longest race. It's going to be unrelenting and all those sorts of things. You can only inspect so much of yourself before you actually make yourself miserable in one of the most beautiful surroundings if you're trying to do more than you're currently capable of.
00:07:23
Speaker
exactly exactly yeah so i think um i think it was it yeah it's definitely a good experience um there were some bits that were definitely good to see like it's it's got seven six or seven passes um which essentially is like the race once it gets up to a certain elevation it it either stays There's these just massive rocky ridgelines that come down ah the mountain range and you have to cross about six of them. And some of them are sketchy. One of them felt quite dangerous. um So it was nice to sort of... see it for the first time, I think, and and know that, yeah, we can I can do it rather than having that happen on race day. I don't know about racing up and down them, so it's going to be that's going to be interesting, but it's a long race. You're not really racing. you're sort of just i don't know I feel like it's going to be a ah race of survival, to be honest.
00:08:18
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And like, do you have to wear a helmet in the race? Yeah, so I um i bought a ah bought a helmet after. We we did the recce and then I went into town because i do you do have to wear a helmet for um the entire Alpine section, which is like probably 35k of the race.
00:08:40
Speaker
Yeah, I thought so. You pick it up at one of the refugio's and drop it off at one of the others. um So yeah, I went, I headed to the sports store. They gave me a little bit of a discount. Shout out to Ferrellisport in Valmasino. If anyone ever needs a helmet, head down there.
00:08:55
Speaker
um But we we were chatting about the race and and they actually owned one of the refugios that we stayed at, like his parents, the guy who was at the shop, his parents were the people who had served us food the night before. um So we had a good chat. um But yeah, picked myself up a helmet. Nice. So I don't know. I don't know if I'll be keeping it or trying to sell it afterwards. Maybe it's useful for some veer ferrata or something in the future. Yeah, pretty hard to travel with though.
00:09:22
Speaker
or annoying to travel with. Yeah, I know. It's like fairly, it's light, but it's a bit bulky. So I think it weighs, I didn't get the super lightweight one cause it didn't feel like, I think it was like a hundred grams different. And I'm like, that's like a hundred meals of water. Like it's really like from a weight perspective and it didn't, it didn't feel heavy on my head. So I went for the slightly cheaper option. Um, but the weight's not so much an issue. I think in the bags, it's probably more precise.
00:09:51
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Well, yeah, I'm so excited to see how you go and just hear the aftermath of this race because I reckon you treat it like one great big adventure. I'm always on that sort of terrain, especially for that length of time.
00:10:07
Speaker
it's like that whole slow is smooth, smooth is fast kind of terrain where like, yeah you'd be'd be amazed how quickly you can move through it when you're in a race sort of thing where like you' you really switched on and you've got the support and you're like, yeah, like I reckon you'll do a lot better than you think, but also as long as you treat it like one great big adventure where you kind of laugh at any mishaps or slow moving sections and make the most of any way you feel like you're moving well, like you're gonna love it, it's gonna be great.
00:10:36
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And I think my my friend yesterday was like, we were talking about this year's an hour results and Killian ran like 35 minutes faster than I ran when I ran Siaza now. And he's like, well, that's like half the time. So like, if you're an hour and more than an hour behind Killian's time at Kima, like, that's still quite a good performance. So like, it was nice to restructure the thoughts like that as well. um ah You should not be measuring anything against Killian.
00:11:05
Speaker
like the guy was born in the mountains like he's been moving on that cross to cross that terrain since he was like three years old like no you could be within two hours and i still think you're freaking managed an amazing result like yeah exactly it's yeah it's just yes yeah you know for runners though we're always like trying to find as much data as we can from wherever to prepare so i've just i've been deep into the strava for keema and and then it's probably overwhelming I probably should just go out there and run it and that's I'm not looking anything else I think I do the opposite I purposely don't look at any of that stuff before technical races because you don't want to know like yeah I don't want that in my head yeah well I actually don't think I'm gonna I'm not gonna set myself any time like I want to be here by this time I want to be here by this time because
00:11:55
Speaker
I don't, like you said, I don't think it's super relevant in this race and I just wanna, like I know that I can measure my effort well just by, like I actually, it's hard to go hard on this terrain. So like it's just about moving through it. Like you said, slow is smooth, smooth is fast. And I think if I set myself time, like times to be at different places, I'll just stress myself. So I'm just gonna go in and and like you said, it's just a big mountain adventure now. So i'm yeah, I'm pretty excited to be honest.
00:12:25
Speaker
Yeah, like, chemo is more of a skills race than a cardio race. So, yeah like, yeah. At the end of the day, as long as you're fueling well, that's gonna be the main thing, I reckon, because you want your you need your brain switched on at all times. So, your brain's almost gonna be using more bloody glucose than your muscles at times, it's gonna feel like. So, as long as you're fueling enough to keep your brain sharp, um like, you're gonna make it through and be,
00:12:53
Speaker
Yeah, see where you end up, like, enjoy it. Yeah. And then I guess after the recce we, um, we've now sort of, I'm driving, we get to garage today, but we had like three days to drive to garage in Austria. So we've been not high tailing it, but we're driving like three hours a day and then trying to fit in some stuff as well. So it's been a bit tiring. Um, my legs have been a bit tired. I think from the recce there was like,
00:13:18
Speaker
that finishes with like a 2000 meter descent on the last day. So just like a bit of heaviness, but, um, yeah, it's been nice. We went through the Dolomites. It's always nice to sort of see something, see something cool. We went up a few mountains, um, saw some nice things. Um, so that was cool. And yeah, headed to Ros today and then slowly back through Austria towards the race over the next sort of two weeks.
00:13:44
Speaker
Yeah, nice. Cool that you're getting an adventure in as well and seeing a bit of the sights and around the training. and Because your partner's with you, Neil? Not yet. I get to see Laura today, which is really, really nice. i've It's been sort of two months. So um she's flying to Graz and we meet up with her there. And then the friends that I'm traveling with at the moment, they head on to Hungary and me and Laura head back towards the race. So yeah, it's going to be nice. I just, I guess it's sort of like,
00:14:12
Speaker
I'll be decreasing the training a little bit, um going into the race, not heaps, but just a little bit and trying to recover really because I find travelling can be quite stressful, both on the mind and the body. So we're going to try and take it a bit easier to get back to the race um and just sort of enjoy each other's company being in the mountains and whatnot. And um yeah, hopefully I hit race day feeling fresh. Nice. Nice. That'll be cool.
00:14:39
Speaker
How about you? You've been checking out your race, which is next weekend, yeah? I haven't quite yet. ah Just kissed as a side note, in case people haven't noticed, we have lost Vlad. And for context, we lost Vlad about four or five times in trying to put this call together. So I think that is the last time we're going to lose him. And he got all of one sentence in on this podcast episode. so um He wins the award for the worst mountain internet at this point. um So it's just going to be me and Brodie. um But yeah, ah I've had a bit of an interesting start to my trip. And yeah, I've seen almost none of the course so far. I've actually done very little running in the last week.
00:15:26
Speaker
which sucks. So, essentially for context, even when we recorded the podcast last Monday, I thought I was fine because I'd run that morning and everything was actually good, but On my very first long run in Paris, um that one that I spoke about last week with all the bloody blackberry bushes, um there was one point in there where I was on some really nice single track. It was fairly overgrown so you couldn't see a huge amount of what was going on on the ground but it was a nice downhill section and I was running reasonably quickly and around a corner I essentially just
00:16:07
Speaker
misjudged a tree root that was quite large and um on as I like went to keep running my toe you know we've all done it before my toe like clipped the tree root on my way up and I just did a full superman um which I've done that many times before and it's like it's it's a non-event because I like I did the full roll get back up keep running okay cool whatever um I've fallen like that many, many times before. um And then that was near the end of the run. And towards the very end of the run, I noticed that the shin on the side that I kicked the tree root was like, it was a little sore, but I was like, ah like it didn't hurt that much and I was still running. So I was like, yeah, that I'll ice that when I get home and see what happens. Thought I was fine because the next morning got up, ran, and that was, we did the podcast straight after that. And I was like, yeah, no, it all feels good.
00:17:02
Speaker
um But then that evening when I went to the track in Paris to watch, which by the way got to see Mondo de Plantes break his world record and that was pretty freaking epic. But yeah I had to walk to the track and back so it was like three k's to the track and three k's back and it was on the walk to the track that like the entire front of my shin and ankle was pretty sore and I was like oh this doesn't feel good to walk on. um So Yeah, got to the track and I was a bit like, what have I done? um And the walk back was even worse. So clearly like the inflammation just took a bit of time to build up. um Got up the next morning and I did get my session done. um So I did run like in hindsight, maybe not the smartest idea, but at the same time, like I didn't have enough to go on to think that I'd done anything too bad. um When I woke up the next morning, it was my first session overseas.
00:18:00
Speaker
um And as soon as I started warming up, like running was actually better than walking, which makes sense now that we've figured out what I've done. um So I did a session in Paris on mostly the flat. It was a few rolling hills, but I think I i ended up doing four by four minute, three minute, two minute. So about 40 something, 36, 40 minutes of work. um And that felt good. It was bloody hot and humid, but it was good to sort of get moving again. It was honestly the best my hips have felt. That was great. I could feel my shin was maybe a one to two out of 10 kind of awareness. And I was like, yeah, I can deal with that. wellll um
00:18:41
Speaker
We'll manage it. um and That was super early morning because I was flying to paris that ah um was in paris flying to Poland that day. um The rest of that day is where shit went downhill quick. so After the run, again, walking was sore, but this time it was more sore.
00:19:03
Speaker
and I had to pack up all my luggage, walk my luggage through the bloody cobbled streets of Paris to and manage my way to get to the airport um and then through the airport with all my luggage and everything. And there was times on that walk that like I'd take a step and if my ankle, like if my foot was on uneven ground or something and my ankle went a weird way, like it was this sort of sharp pain where like immediately tears in my eyes.
00:19:32
Speaker
kind of pain and i was like oh shit what have i done so managed to make it to freaking poland after a flight delay and this is where like ah sometimes travel just freaking sucks so i'd done my session i'd had a small meal at like 10 am after my session before my flight at the airport i couldn't find any food that i could bloody well eat that was a proper meal so i had one piece of sushi because it was four euros per piece of sushi And because my flight was then delayed by the time I got to Poland and into my accommodation, it was 7 p.m. And I'd run 20 kms that morning. I was in pain and I hadn't eaten since like properly since about 10 a.m. And so I was in a little bit of all sorts because obviously by then it's also nighttime. Can't call home. Everyone's asleep. And I got to Viacom, absolutely starving, only to realise that I was on the fourth floor with no lift.
00:20:31
Speaker
So, oh shit man, like it was just, I just had a moment there. I was like, my foot hurts every step and I can't make it up these stairs. It took me like 20 minutes to get my luggage up four flights of stairs. I was like, oh shit. Anyways, we got there and um managed to go find myself a meal, which was good. But it was like 9 p.m. by the time I was eating properly. Honestly, it was just one of those days. so I was like, oh, I'm done, go to sleep. um And yeah, essentially since that day, because that was Tuesday, so I got a run in then, obviously with how it felt walking around, I was like, well, there's no way I'm running tomorrow. So I skipped the next day's run and I didn't cross train or anything. and I was like, let's just give this a day and see what happens.
00:21:22
Speaker
um and I still had to travel from Krakow where I landed on the plane down to Zakopane which is where I'm staying and where the race is. So I still had another bit of travel and a lot of walking which um was it actually even more painful again and this was where I started to freak out just a little because And you would know this as a physio Brody, like that first night in Krakow and then the next night after having to do all the walking to get down to Zakopane, like every step was painful, still had the sharp pain shooting and then all night it was aching, like it was keeping me awake all night.
00:22:02
Speaker
And I was like, ah, I'm broken. like In my head, I was like, surely this is bone if it's hurting all night. It's not, we don't think. ah So spoiler alert, it's like I panicked for no reason on that front. Turns out, so the next day, back thank goodness for people in the end. So I got to have a call with my physio back in Oz.
00:22:25
Speaker
Alice, my sport stock, she's actually in Paris at the Olympics, so I got to have a chat to her. And essentially, we think I've a torn my tibialis anterior muscle or tendon, not sure, maybe a bit of both. um But I've given it a good go of not No, trying to, trying to, trying to, yeah, my t-bine is just really not happy and that's why it's hurting at night because um it's like, even if I'm lying flat on my back and my foot's flopped, it's on stretch. If I'm, depending on my position, like there is one position I can lie where it's fully relaxed and it doesn't hurt, so that's good at least.
00:23:04
Speaker
um But yeah, that day I managed to elliptical, which was good. So I did like two hours on the elliptical, including a session, which felt mentally really good to for the fact of going, well, I can keep fit. um But yeah, since since then I've managed to see a physio in Poland um that speaks English and he was great. Shout out to fellow Solomon Runner Bart, who's from Poland. Him and his partner sorted me out and the race director actually of where I'm racing.
00:23:35
Speaker
So between Bart, Patricia, and the race director, they've found me a physio. They've got me booked in today, actually, um after this podcast for an ultrasound with an orthopedic specialist. I'm being very well looked after. That's so It's like they're they're doing all the translation for me. They've been calling the doctors and the physios to book these appointments. And like man, I feel so grateful for that. um Yeah, and so good.
00:24:03
Speaker
Because it thats so that sort of stuff is so hard when you're in a and a foreign country, um really any country. and like So I think having that, it's awesome. like That sort of shows like the trail running community is very similar in orienteering. People are just there to to help. And if you ask people, they often give you a little bit of help, which is awesome.
00:24:24
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, so good. And um yeah, like I know Bart quite well with and Patricia, we've traveled together a bit and um I've met them before, but then yeah, the race director, he's been amazing as well. So yeah, got to see the physio and yeah, ah across everyone, we think we've ruled out having done anything to the bone, they've essentially like, look, it's if managed to do anything to the bone by kicking a tree root, it would be like unheard of almost.
00:24:51
Speaker
So, um but I've definitely done something pretty good to my T-band. So I have run a little bit, like I did. I've done, I think in my first three days in Poland, I got zero runs in and five hours on the elliptical, why or first four days. black It's been a pretty depressing week, to be fair, because I'm stuck in a gym.
00:25:15
Speaker
surrounded by mountains that I can't go out and do anything with. But um on Saturday, so I didn't run Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. On Saturday, I went out for a short run on the course. So I did actually get to check out about the first six Ks of the course.
00:25:35
Speaker
And because being a tendon like your Achilles and those sorts of things like a bit of pain is okay. um But I'm just I'm walking that line of how much I can do without making it worse while still loading it enough to progress it better in a way. um So I managed a short run that day. Yesterday, I actually managed total 17K across two runs, but learned that double running is not ideal. So my physio, Locky, thought that two shorter runs would actually be better than one longer run. um But just the way it was, I was actually pretty good yesterday after running on the flat.
00:26:16
Speaker
in the morning um and flat running is currently pain-free, uphill is also pretty good, downhill is painful. um But then my double run, everything hurt again. um Only like halfway through, so it was really annoying, because I'm like, if it hurt from the beginning, I wouldn't have bloody done it. But then like half to three quarters of the way through my 30 minute double, I was like, oh shit, like it's worse now.
00:26:38
Speaker
um So good to learn that early. um But i I think I got a total of like 60k's running in the last week and the rest of the time I've been spent cooped up inside with my leg up on a chair icing my leg and praying that it comes good in time to race on Saturday. um Obviously this ultrasound will tell me the level of damage and how smart or dumb that is. um But yeah it's been Interesting start to the trip. like after After all the freaking lead-in, I thought if anything derailed me, it would be my hips getting worse again on the train. And luck to have an acute injury on my five days into a 12-week trip, whoa, man, it has sucked. Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, that's like the reality to to some extent of trail running, is that you can, it is a high risk of these acute acute injuries happening.
00:27:35
Speaker
ah It's tough, um but I guess you're doing the right things to try and manage it. How is it like today? like is it What's it like in the morning actually, like the day after? Is it is it is it okay? not Yeah, so this morning, that's my one saving grace after yesterday. Obviously it was the most sore it's been in a few days after my double run yesterday, which was Sunday. um But waking up this morning, it was pretty much the same as yesterday morning, which is like one out of 10 kind of pain. um
00:28:06
Speaker
or awareness. so like It's not too bad, thankfully, and it's definitely getting better because i waking up on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, it was like a constant six to seven out of 10. It was bad. yeah so I was really worried at that point, but anti-inflams, ice, like I've been icing so much and trying it because it was swollen too. like It was warm to touch, it was swollen. so like Yeah did it did a good job of it but I'm today it's not too bad and lucky this morning I had a video call with my physio and I've got it all taped up and now to see if we can just support it even further again um so I'm still gonna like I'm still gonna do something today and um run on it a little bit just for the fact that it's got still getting better while loading it.
00:28:56
Speaker
Um, yeah. So I don't want to lose all the other conditioning I've got, obviously. And then my race is like five days away. Yeah. Yeah. it's like Yeah. So the race is on Saturday.
00:29:08
Speaker
Yeah, race is Saturday, um and I'm not worried about the flat or the uphill. To be fair, like I know I can make it through it. I know for sure it's gonna hurt, um which is why I just wanna know from this doctor I'm gonna see this afternoon, yeah is it stupid? like is it Is it a sort of pain where like it's a tendon and it's gonna hurt, but you can then settle it and it's okay? Or is it I'm being dumb trying to run on it? um So,
00:29:36
Speaker
Yeah, we'll see how that goes. um But i'm I'm confident that uphills and flats is going to be fine. I'm going to based on the last couple of runs by the end of the downhill because my race is like a long up and then like a 10k downhill.
00:29:51
Speaker
I have a feeling that's gonna hurt. um But as long as it's a pain that I know isn't doing more damage, like im I have no qualms about that, like I've done that before, we'll survive, I'll make the best of what I can. um But yeah, like this race, Tatra, the one I've got this Saturday is like, it's breaking my heart a little bit because this one's the one that I've been most excited for and building towards for like six months. So yeah, definitely we'll see, we'll see how it goes.
00:30:21
Speaker
If I make the start line, I'll be happy at lengths because like to come all this way and not even make the start line would be the the biggest heartbreak. A bit frustrating. Yeah. I guess, I guess, yeah, it is it would be super suck. It definitely suck if you can't do it. But I think you've also got other reasons you're over here as well. So there's there's more races to come. So yeah, keeping that in the back of your mind. Obviously, it's hard, but it is, it is. But not doing wish you all the best. Hopefully it's not too bad.
00:30:50
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, and like in some ways not doing this one, it writes me out of the season again, um because I would only have two races to do before the final. So I wouldn't, like it completely writes me out of ending up anywhere in the points on the national, on the World Series, um which I can suck up. ahla I'll deal with if like obviously long-term health is is more important, but yeah, we'll see how we go.
00:31:19
Speaker
um Based off the trajectory so far, it seems like you might, you might be fine. So the fingers crossed. Yeah. Yep. Yep. So I might've done it just far enough out to still, still get there and still, like I still feel fit. I know I haven't lost any fitness. Um, cause I just still have been working hard. Definitely won't have lost any fitness. Yeah. necessarily for It's mostly, it's mostly the long-term thing that you want to look and you're doing the right things to check that. So I think you're you're on the right path.
00:31:49
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, odd man. But tell you what, Poland, I freaking love it here. But it has tested me more than any more than any other location I've ever been to when it comes to solo travel. Like far out the amount of times I've found myself waiting an hour or more for a bus that just isn't coming or ah like unable to walk the three Ks and therefore having to suck up like an hour long trip on a random bus or no one here, not many here, people here speak English. So it's like... Oh, honestly, I love it here because it's beautiful, but it has been the week from hell travel wise. The number of days that it's taken me eight hours door to door to get a two hour elliptical in is just, oh, like.
00:32:37
Speaker
not ah so Yeah, especially when you're stressed as well at the same time and you've got other things on your mind that can be really frustrating. But yeah, it's ah ah I think some some of the countries like that, ah like they can be amazingly beautiful but tricky to travel to as well.
00:32:54
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like most of the time I love solo travel. um and like But then there's been so many nights recently where like I'm lying in bed in pain going, I just i just don't want to be by myself. But the rest of the ah Golden Trail people arrive tomorrow, I think, to um to where I'm at for the race this weekend. so And I might have one of the other girls um that's racing, Ellie-Ann from Norway coming to stay with me, which would be good if she does.
00:33:23
Speaker
um So yeah, more people coming. And from next week, I'm with Aussies and everyone in Chamonix, so I'm hanging out for that at this point. But anyways, this is how it goes sometimes. And hopefully, hopefully the start to my trip is the worst it gets.
00:33:43
Speaker
Yeah, our fingers crossed. Fingers crossed indeed. um And yeah, see how we go. But to move on to probably more fun topics and something that we've had sent in, we're gonna do listener question next. um This one has come in from Strong with Fidey on Instagram. And this one is strength training. What are your tried and tested and favorite workout slash exercises for runners?
00:34:12
Speaker
ah We're going to come at this obviously from different places in that I've been a strength and conditioning coach for longer than I've been a runner um and I was a gym junkie well before I started running and Brody is obviously a physio. So Brody hit us with your like, if you have time to do four exercises as a runner, what four exercises are you doing?
00:34:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's interesting because mine's evolved a lot. like Mine doesn't so much come from my background as a physio. like I am a physio, but I work in the hospital, so it's a little less to do with sort of more like less to do with high performance. like Obviously, I still have the the the theoretical knowledge and whatnot, but I'm applying it in a different way on a daily basis. so I've still leaned a lot on my physio, Locky, who's helped me a lot in the last little bit. um Same physio as your physio.
00:35:03
Speaker
very good physio or other physios in the past as well. Because I think like it's always good to get this stuff from other people or at least see a variety of what people do um and and then and implement that for you and in what works for you. So yeah, for me, like my go-to stuff now is like if I had a short time um And I could do four exercises. It's like, keep it simple and, and put weight on, uh, put some like, uh, and do lift heavy essentially. So like I would probably do. Like if I was going to choose for squat, deadlift, split squat, and like a calf raise that would, because of my Achilles, not so necessarily because I'm a runner, but mostly because Achilles has been my main issue over many years. Um, so.
00:35:57
Speaker
Yeah, you don't have to do anything fancy. I think most of it is just like if if you're not injured, um if you're just doing it for sort of injury prevention, but also performance gains, then you can just do big compound movements and slowly build up the weight that you're moving. um You don't have to do any fancy stuff. So that's my sort of main thing.
00:36:20
Speaker
with like the athletes I coach as well is just keep it simple. You don't have to do anything too crazy. You can just do simple, big movements and and and build up the weight that you're lifting and you're going to get the most bang for your buck from that. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. What about you? Yeah. so like For me, it always depends on context of who I'm dealing with. so like I've worked i worked for a couple of years um at the Elite Athlete Program at Melbourne Uni. so like I was dealing with the top end um of Elite, but obviously I also have my own business strength coaching for
00:36:55
Speaker
much more sort of recreational beginner sort of athletes kind of thing. So context matters um of where you're coming from, how much experience in the gym you've got, um injuries, those sorts of things. But on the whole, like how how I've learned to, and I've learned from thankfully some of the best, um how I've learned to approach a strength training program the the basics and the foundation of the program are always the same. So for a very quick run through of like when I'm thinking of a strength program, obviously I actually fully agree with the four exercises or at least the four movements you've chosen in terms of if I only had time for four, um I would also do a squat. There's many different variations of squat. My favorite is just a back squat with a pause at the bottom.
00:37:45
Speaker
um and you're moving slow on the way down, fast on the way up. But the deadlift I'd always, usually if I'm just doing squat deadlift, I'm getting them doing an RDL, which is the Romanian deadlift. That's the one with your legs. They're not locked straight, but they're much straighter than a traditional deadlift.
00:38:03
Speaker
um So it's just more hammy focus for that one. um Instead of a split squat, um or a traditional split squat, I'd normally give people Bulgarian. and So that's just your back foot raised up. Yeah, sorry, I didn't preface that. I don't think I've ever done a split squat. I've only ever done Bulgarian ones, but I just call it a split squat.
00:38:23
Speaker
That is not a split squat, Brody. That is not a split squat. I've always done it like that, so I just like say it in my mind. But that is like literally my favorite exercise of all time. If I was going to choose one exercise, I would choose that as well. Because I think single leg is so important for runners. So that would be my number one. said yes like i love bogarians i also love it's a very it's almost the same movement just you have to focus a bit more on core and everything it's just a simple single leg sit down stand up so the same bench you're just standing on one leg sitting all the way down standing all the way back up with good control so
00:38:58
Speaker
exactly the same movement without the level of support that a Bulgarian gives you. um but And then calf raises, but as long as I'm always making people alternate calf raises, doing straight leg and bent leg, especially as trail runners, um calves are super important. So those, I agree with you there, but when it comes to sort of um Yeah, basing a program for anyone I'm writing a program for, my biggest things is the warm-up has to involve hip stabilization and core to sort of switch everything on. So there's a million ways to go about that. You can do bridges, you can do um banded walks, you can do planks. like There's just so many ways to go about it as long as you're doing something that um
00:39:44
Speaker
activates your core and posterior glute chain. um But then if if if you're looking at a full program, I was always taught it in terms of movements. The actual exercise that goes with it, it's important but less important as long as you're getting the movements in and that is squat being one main movement pattern.
00:40:04
Speaker
um the actual exercise of a squat is only one way to go about getting a squat pattern in. um So like leg press and those sorts of things is counted in there. ah he Hinge is your RDLs, it's your hip thrusts, it's anything that involves like the hip been hinging essentially. ah ping Single leg and something single leg has to be in there for runners, it's a single leg sport. um So yeah, you've got squat, hinge, single leg, you've got to push, you've got to pull. When I'm giving runners push and pull exercises in terms of upper body, I'm doing something that also involves their core being fully stabilized.
00:40:44
Speaker
So that could, like you can get super creative there, um but I love things like abandoned row while in a side plank. So that's hard to explain, but it's it's anything where you're stabilizing yourself um and having to activate your core while moving your upper body. um So that we work on that sort of anti-rotation side of things that comes into running where we've all seen the runners with their arms sort of, their entire torso follows their arms kind of thing.
00:41:13
Speaker
um from side to side. So you want to counteract that. um Yeah squat, hinge, single leg, push, pull, calf. They're your six main ones and then core is the seventh. So they're the main movements. How you go about that always depends on injury, background, all those sorts of things. but um But yeah, I'm trying to think, oh, also I think for runners, um so if I'm structuring a program for runners, yeah, I might give you the the four heavy lifts twice a week kind of thing. But around that, I'm i'm always encouraging my runners to do, um it can be pilates or it can just be at least some core work and some some other banded hip or glute work of some sort.
00:41:56
Speaker
And yet often I send people just towards Pilates videos for that one because it's, it can be the best for that. And then I count running drills inside someone's strength training. And I think running drills on whole are underrated.
00:42:12
Speaker
um So i I get even my beginners, I get every level of athlete that I coach to do running drills. And I will put in a specified 10 minutes of running drills after this 30 minute run kind of thing. Because what running drills work on, um because it's so they involve hopping, they involve skipping, they and but they improve your ground contact time, your knee drive.
00:42:35
Speaker
um because obviously hip flexes is another thing that a lot of runners need to focus on. So I'm putting that in a lot of runners programs, but you can get that just by doing running drills two to three times a week. um And it doesn't need to be a huge amount, but I'm um a huge one for running drills.
00:42:52
Speaker
is part of your strength training in order to maintain form when running and improve all of that. So um yeah, I think I went on a bit of a tangent there, but I'm hoping that... um I think that's think that's that's super important.
00:43:06
Speaker
Just to simplify it, a week as a whole for runners, if they have time, is two heavy lifts, one core slash Pilates glute or more, one or more, can be every day if someone's got the time, and two to three, five to 10 minute drill sessions, which when you put it all together, if I'm doing two 30 minute lifts, 30 minutes worth of drills, and 30 minutes worth of core, it's like two hours over the week, um is often what I'm asking people to try and manage in terms of maintenance.
00:43:34
Speaker
to get stronger and and not be injured. um Yeah, no, I think that's a really good overview. I think you're like the two things like I didn't touch on, you covered really well there, two categories that I would call one conditioning, which is more that ah sort of Pilates type stuff. um That's just keeping the body tissues nice and like strong maintenance more stuff like you sort of saying. um Core, it's often core, it's often body weight stuff and you can target specific muscle groups depending on maybe where you've had a previous injury or or or that sort of thing and I would do that regularly and like you said you can split that up into small little bite-sized pieces. You could do 10 minutes of hamstrings with 10 minutes of core and and then and you've done a 20 minute session then another time in the week you might do 20 minutes of calf and 20 minutes of
00:44:27
Speaker
something else. um So i yeah I really like that sort of thing. And then and then the running drills is is another huge component and that really works on that neuromuscular pathway of strength. So you're working more on the how quickly the message gets through to the message to the muscles, how efficiently it gets through to the muscles, um which is super important carry over into actual running. So yeah, I think you covered it really well. there's ah There's a good book called Strengthen conditioning for endurance runners by Richard Blairgrove. He's a researcher out of the UK.
00:45:02
Speaker
um And that sort of splits it up into those categories nearly. So if you're if you're interested to find out more, that's ah that's a nice little book that I've that i actually purchased. And and i really I think it's got such a great overview of strength and conditioning for runners. So that's a good one if you're interested. Yeah, nice. I have to look at that one. i've read I've read a lot of books and a lot of research papers um and I love them. I've got it so you can borrow it. I'll give it to you when we get back.
00:45:29
Speaker
that's good Good, good, good. um Yeah, I love nerding out on this stuff and this is something that I've paid so much attention to over the years because I've always had a body that like isn't exactly like running if I'm not teaching it how to run better um constantly and getting stronger in certain areas. so um Yeah and like I'm now a new advocate for like as much hip stabilization stuff as you can damn well do because after all the rehab I've done for my hips in the last 12 months, ah running up until I did this freaking injury, running has never felt better.
00:46:06
Speaker
um And I feel so much more stable across the ground. So I think that's been that's been huge. So I'm giving a lot more people hip stabilization, very small hip stabilization exercises that aren't just working the glutes, but all the internal rotators and external rotators and stuff. So yeah, it's cool to see what you can achieve um with even just a little bit of of strength work daily to help your muscles adapt to running. so Yeah. Yeah. And I guess that's a probably the summary is if all of that's a bit overwhelming, like just anything is better than nothing. So whether you're doing running drills, whether you're doing some some Pilates or whether you're doing some heavy weights and that's all you're doing, like anything is beneficial really. So um don't be worried that you're not doing the whole shebang. If you're only doing a little bit, um that's better than doing nothing.
00:46:56
Speaker
hundred percent hundred percent I will also say, though, that as I got into running, and I would i would certainly count myself in the in the group of people that I've only gotten to where I am by at the beginning and at any time along the way that I've needed to, skipping runs in favour of conditioning and strength work.
00:47:17
Speaker
um like Yeah, i that's really important. i Yeah, like I'm not one of the people that goes, well, just to get better at running, run more. That that is not an approach that my body would have handled at any point along the way. um And I got to being able to handle bigger mileage by running smaller mileage at every point along the way, but ah focusing on gym work. um So yeah, I reckon it's huge.
00:47:44
Speaker
so Yeah, we got two big advocates, to two big advocates on the podcast today. Yeah, and I think if Vlad was here, um I know he's spoken about this before. He's a huge advocate for strength as well. He has a different approach of, um no he um' based on what he said to us before, like he doesn't lift super heavy, but he does a little bit every single day. um so And he counts that for why he his bloody bulletproof. like I ah wish I had that guy's ability to not get injured, it's insane.
00:48:14
Speaker
Give him a shout out actually if you're interested in having a look at some of his stuff like he's got a lot of YouTube videos that go over strength and conditioning and mobility and that sort of stuff and I've used a couple of his stuff before so that's yeah definitely go over and check out his YouTube page and and see because he's got some some strength and conditioning stuff that he does over there. Yeah for sure and he's ah and always found it very simple easy to follow um and yeah it goes a long way so a little bit goes a long way um on that front so Yeah, thanks for the question, Heidi, and we hope we've answered sufficiently. Now, had didn't I didn't ask you before we got to to recording Brody, but did you have any fails on the trail this week? I don't think so. None that are like coming to the front of my mind at the moment, I'll keep it in mind, bring one next week.
00:49:08
Speaker
Yeah well other than obviously for me getting injured and taking a bloody tumble um I haven't had much trail time to fail on this week which is good but um yeah any any listeners want to send in any funny stories we know how much can go right and wrong out on those trails and how humbling they can be so we'd love to hear any trail fails from anyone um as they have been out adventuring and exploring Moving on, we don't have any big trail running news this week. um However, I would love to do so. We can give everyone a shout out next week um and start to do a bit of a pre preview of who to look out for. Any Aussies that are at UTMB, let us know which event. um Yeah, just let us know which event you're running and we'll try and put together sort of a list for people to
00:50:02
Speaker
cheer for and have a look out for on the Aussie front when it comes to yeah UTMB which is coming up super quick now it's what two weeks away so yeah UTMB roll call um and we'll do next week we'll try and do a bit of a preview of yeah everything that's going on there so that that brings us to to results from this week i'm gonna start out with jabilani challenge this one looks so pretty it's through the I don't know how to pronounce it. Cooring Eye Chase National Park in New South Wales looks like a very cool event and very beautiful. They had many distances there but I'm going to run through the 45k. This is 45k with 1100 meters up and down also. so
00:50:48
Speaker
um On the men's side, that was won by Joy McGrath, so a very well-accomplished runner at the front there in three hours fifty. In second was Ben Silk in four hours twelve, and in third Harry Silk in four hours fifteen.
00:51:04
Speaker
would love to know if that's a brother brotherly rivalry going on there um because obviously same surname and very close together and i would have loved to see if that was like i don't know a family rivalry playing out over four hours on the trails um because that's always funny to watch. Then on the women's side we had Brydie Temple win in four hours 36 which is a new course record ah because this Jablani Challenge had all their course records listed on their website so well done Brydie. It's got to be run of the day because it was the ah
00:51:38
Speaker
um in the 45k getting that course record in second 50 minutes back so that just shows how good brides run was for the day was ellen tarry berryman in five hours 26 36 and in third so i guess Sprint finish in a way over 45K was Gem Dawkins in five hours, 26, 44. So eight seconds between second and third, which is tight. So well done to those running that 45K. There was also a 22K with 550 up and down in the men's. That was won by Pierce Bresman in an hour 50. Not far back, about 30 seconds back was Ryan Armstrong in an hour 51.
00:52:20
Speaker
and not far back again in now 53 was Trent Stanmore. Again on the women's side, Sarah Leavitt who has podiums at UTA 22 before, she won in an hour 58 54 which is a course record and I believe the first woman to go under two hours on this course so well done Sarah. In second was Leisel Major in two hours and nine minutes and in third Janna Robertson in two hours 16.
00:52:50
Speaker
So well done to everyone at Jabulani and then Brody you're going to take us to a little run in Wangaratta. Yeah yeah this one's called, well I hope I'm getting it right, Quat Quat trail run in Wangaratta. And yeah this is just a small one but it um Interestingly had some prize money for the, for the races, which was pretty cool. So I think for the 50, the winner, for example, got $300 and a $300 voucher. So it was actually quite a bit of prize money there. Um, and it did attract some, some quite good runners. Um, so in the 50 K, uh, in the women, we had penny Deakin in first place in five hours, 53.
00:53:33
Speaker
And second was Michelle Martinez in 5.58 and third, Jess Cox in 6.19. In the men, we had Robbie Savage in 1st and 4.40, Nick Creek in 2nd in 5.11, and James Carbone in 5.28. So, some good runs there. They, of course, had 1,600 meters of climb. So, little Healy for Wanger out. I don't know where they get those heels, but um na Nice little bit of vert. And then there was also 25K in the men. Tim Goddard was first in 158. Second was Josh Godden, 201. And third was Daniel called Caswell in 202. And in the women, Maddie Hyner was first in 207. Second was Eliza Beasley in 219. And third was Amy Payne in 228. So some fairly quick times, therefore.
00:54:30
Speaker
for a 25K as well. And then there was also a 12K, which also had prize money, which is cool. So the prize money went all the way down to the 12K. And the winner in the men was Morgan Clark, who's 55 minutes. And winner in the women was Jordine Orbe, who's finishing 58 minutes. And I think you're saying Sim, she was at ah Donna double earlier in the year, maybe one of our under 23 runners.
00:54:55
Speaker
Yeah, I believe she's under 21. So she's a young one coming up um that was top 10 at Donner Double for the Golden Trail National Series. I don't think she was at any of the other national series, might have struggled obviously to do the travel front of side of things. But yeah, really cool to see. And I hope she continues on because yeah, she's she's doing damn well. um And yeah it's good to see her get the win there. Yeah, cool. And then over to Peaks and Trails in Victoria.
00:55:22
Speaker
Yeah, Peaks and Trails. is it This is definitely a bigger event on the calendar um just in Victoria and it's in the Grampians. I think like the south end of the Grampians, like Dunkeld kind of area, which it's just everyone in the Grampians is beautiful and so cool to see. um So Peaks and Trails has heaps of different distances. I know it does go below as well um but like there's like everything from a 6k to a 50k. I started the shorter ones in the 13 and a half k which is 13 and a half with almost 500 up and down so that is uh fairly um steep. It was one on the women's side by Rachel Ayres who I used to coach and she's a damn good runner that's from the area and she also
00:56:09
Speaker
She ran the course record of an hour 1944 and it was already a good course record so um she's done damn well there and I think she now holds the course record for both the 13.5 and the 20k so well done Rach. In the men's the course record also went down to Brenton Row who ran an hour eight. um So that was cool to see both of those course records go down. In the 20k which is 20k with 650 up and down on the women's side it was won by Raya Gilly in two hours seven, second was Jay Baker two hours 14, third Tyra coming in two hours 20.
00:56:49
Speaker
on the men's Owen Williams he got the course record eight um running an hour 32 and I think that was the course record by about five minutes or so. So he's done very well there and then second James Robertson in an hour 40 and third Bill Meeker in an hour 52. So yeah epic run by Owen by the looks of the time there for 20k with that amount of up and down in what is usually a fairly technical uh side of the world um in the 50k which is 50k with 1800 up and down on the women's Victoria Cole who she runs the Crosby crew I know Vic well and she is an absolute powerhouse on the trails and triathlon and everything she tries to do um so she got the course record on the women's side in five hours 33
00:57:41
Speaker
in second was Sue Forsyth in five hours 51, 02 and only 25 seconds back in third was Tara Brick in five hours 51, 27 and Tara is my cousin. So go Tara, um she lives in Ballarat and ah yeah it's always cool to see. She only really runs these local races and she almost always ends up on the podium so yeah. Love your work, Tara. Then in the men's, Andy Turner got the win in five hours 27, which shows how good Vic's run was because she was, what, six minutes back um and she was second overall. So, yeah, go Vic. In second for the men's was Jordan Swaney in five hours 48 and in third was Brad Reinschlek.
00:58:31
Speaker
I'm going to say maybe. um Sorry if I've got your surname pronunciation wrong there, Brad, but in five hours, 50, 12. So yeah, that covers off peaks and trails, which yeah, I really need to get down there at some point, but I'll be in the Grampians later this year at least. They also have a um ah really cool race on the Saturday there, Sim, that I think you would love. It's called the Mud Dad Jug challenge. um And it's up and down Mount Abrupt, I believe it is. um And so it's like 6K with, ah what is the climb? I think the climb might be something like 400 to 500 meters up and then straight back down again. um So that was, it's always held on the Saturday. So you have a lot of people backing up. I can see some of the names from the other races here. It was sort of hidden on a different page of the results. So
00:59:24
Speaker
I'll just shout out the people who ran that. I've run it before. It's really fun. um Yeah, nice. And the females first was Brooke Gordon in 49 minutes. ah Second was Sue Forsythe in 50-10. And third was Stephanie Rowland in 54-40. And then in the men, first was Bill Meeker in 44-27. Second was Brett Godden in 45-55. And third was Brett Infantee in 51, 32. So yeah, that's a cool little one. I reckon you'd love that one, Sim. So you put that one on list. Sounds like it. For sure. but I love it when you can get a double header in the weekend when you've traveled sort of the three to four hours it takes to get down there. When I ran peaks and trails, I did the the up and down on one day and then the 20K the next day. And it was, yeah, it was such a cool weekend. So would highly recommend peaks and trails. It's a good weekend of running
01:00:22
Speaker
Yeah, nice. Very cool. Very cool. And I'm very cool going to take us to the Berry Long Run. Where was the Berry Long Run again? That's in Ludderderg. So in Vic as well. Ah, Ludderderg. Okay. So pretty tough trails there, I imagine. um It's pretty um rocky. ah So there was a 70K with 2000 meters of climb. And first place was Tim Dooley in 6 hours 30.
01:00:48
Speaker
Second place was Stefan Taranto in 649, and third was Shunai Zhao in 701, 59, so close to 702. And then in the women, first was Emily Chiller in 746, second was Kristy Lambert in 756, and third was Deb Taylor in 851. So that sounds like it would be a pretty tough race. Yep.
01:01:16
Speaker
and then They also have a 40K there um with 950 meters of climb. And first in the women was Cecilia Smith. And first in the men was Ben Burgess. Sorry, Cecilia ran 422 and Ben was 335. So pretty quick for 40K. Yeah.
01:01:40
Speaker
Yeah, so those two, from what I could see in the results, they won by quite a bit, both of them. Yeah, I was going to say they both look like pretty good times for a 40K. If it's in the tough stuff, I've alerted her, so good on them. Yeah, and then we have some, well, actually we have one other result in Australia. So Beth McKenzie, who is the UTA 100 winner, ran the Sunshine Coast half marathon and ran time of 77.37 so it's pretty speedy time. Very speedy for someone that's that like she's she's clearly got range Beth and obviously she's definitely she's come from more of a road um triathlon background so like but I just I loved seeing that result because this was the Australian half marathon championships too
01:02:27
Speaker
And she was, geez, I should have looked at the position, but she was top 10. Like, she was she was up there. um So it was just cool to see go Beth. After, yeah, winning UTA 100 to then be pumping out that sort of speed for a half marathon is ah commendable, massively. So yeah, huge well done Beth. I'm going to give a big shout out to Trish McKibben. I think this is her first race over in Europe. So we're covering off some of the European um Ozzy results now and she went to Strunderfjord which ah two years ago, three maybe three years ago now, I went and raced um the one year it was part of the Golden Trail World Series. And this is the one with like, there's videos of me everywhere slip and sliding on my butt as I fall absolutely everywhere because it's super duper technical, super muddy, it's like such
01:03:19
Speaker
hard terrain to run through, but so much fun in Norway. um And so it's 25k. I can't remember the up and down, but it's a lot straight up, straight down. And Trish came sixth in three hours, 40, 11.
01:03:35
Speaker
So huge result for Trish. Obviously, she's more of a longer distance specialist. um And I think this was just a shorter race at the start of her trip. And yeah, I've chatted to her and we've reminisced about how hard some of the bog and the rock and everything is to run off. And I know it was also, um as it almost always is, they're quite slippery and rainy and cloudy. So yeah, she's done real well there. um in Yeah, one of my friends ran stranded this year as well, and he's an Orienteer. His name's Joe Dickinson, and he I think he came 30th, but he's an Orienteer, so he was like, oh yeah, I'll be fine. like This is this is ah just a tough trail race. It's like triple tops, and he's like he described it as triple tops on steroids, so um I think it's a pretty tough race.
01:04:21
Speaker
Oh, if that's worse than triple tops, then, yeah, triple tops are going to be great. I freaking loved Strander. Like, I thought that was fun. Yeah, you're going to be chilling at triple tops. I freaking love Strander. I thought that was one of the best races. That one, that one break my heart a little bit. That was the one I had to do like four weeks or three weeks post COVID. Um, and I was kind of dying, but also like loving life. Cause as, as you've just,
01:04:47
Speaker
scene like It is one of those ones where for a good portion of it, it's the slowest, smoothest, smoothest, fast kind of terrain. You're rock hopping for kilometers on end, on a ridge. I loved it. One of my favorite races I've ever done. so If that's triple top. Add it to the list. Awesome. You would love it, Brody. There's a 45 or a 48k there as well, um if you want more of a mountain adventure as well. But I reckon you'd love the 25. I reckon be right up your alley.
01:05:16
Speaker
I might have to add it to the list for next year, I reckon. Yeah, the climb's not too technical until one point where you kind of almost climb up a cliff and there's definitely a lot of arms involved. um And the descent is like six k's of rock, two or three k's of bog, and then a mudslide to the bottom. like it' yeah It's great. um So highly recommend, highly recommend.
01:05:42
Speaker
ah Another result we had for Aussies in France this time was Trail du Laurent, which looked like it was in the very south of France along the border of Spain um in the Pyrenees there. So this one was 27,700 meters up. I couldn't find the down um amount because it was a net uphill that ended with a climb, like a decent looking climb.
01:06:06
Speaker
there in action we had Matt Crean on the men's side and he came fifth in two hours forty seven and Maddie Reynolds who has recently moved to France um to live in this area she won the women's in three hours and eight so awesome results there for both Maddie and Matt I'm not sure how how long Matt has been overseas again because I know he was here and then he was home and now he's back again so I think he only just arrived so I think it was quite soon off the plain but not not super soon but i think he he hasn't been in in europe for very long yeah nice but that's an awesome time but maddie she's not far behind matt the she's she's chasing him it's very impressive yeah yep i think this one suited maddie to the tee with the uphill finish
01:06:52
Speaker
um She was loving in life because I know she's she's an absolute beast on the uphills um and is is slowly working on um getting the downhills down um down pat, so she'll be an absolute powerhouse um on those as well. so yeah She's doing damn well on this terrain.
01:07:09
Speaker
and Then Vlad's race. Now, I cannot pronounce this race. Hochkonic, maybe? No, it's Hochfuggen. Hochfuggen, I think. Oh, okay. So, I think there's another one called that I just said the name of um that is a Sky Race. But this one, um whichever one, but however you pronounce the name of it, um I haven't got the actual results. And to be fair, I'm not sure we would know many other runners, but I do know Vlad came third in this one. And what was it, like 17K with?
01:07:44
Speaker
Yeah, so it's 17K with 1,179 meters up and down, I assume. Looks like it started to finish the same place. yeah Yeah, it looks like a loop. He did one hour, 49, so pretty good time for for that. Yeah, yeah, good time. I know just obviously having a quick chat to him and it's pretty obvious on his Strava as well. he he didn't he He didn't rate his performance a huge amount um and said he's still um lack struggling in terms of the like the race travel training balance. Honestly, for the amount that man is managing to get done, I reckon it's a ripper performance, but man, his fatigue has got to be piling up at this point. like So yeah many races around working, around traveling. like
01:08:34
Speaker
All the kudos in the world to your blood because um I wouldn't be surviving at this point um I could not race that often and to still have another podium um But yeah, the fatigue has got to be real because he got a massive weekend. Yeah Yeah, and it sort of shows you can't have like You can't have 10 A races in a period of three months. like he He hasn't taken them as A races, but you just you can't perform to your absolute best 10 times in the space of three months. say he ah think he's ah think he's and under I think once he gets home or wherever he has some time off after these races, he'll probably absorb a lot of it and um he will actually be very fit.
01:09:15
Speaker
um I don't think he's as unfit as he thinks he is. As he said, I think he's just carrying a lot of fatigue into these races and therefore not performing as well as he would like to. um But I think once he rests and for the races he's doing later in the year, he's going to be super fit. So yeah, we'll see I guess.
01:09:34
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. he's obviously he I wish he was here to discuss this with us, but I'm glad when you do listen to this, you're not getting less fit in my opinion, you're just getting more fatigued. like You can't be getting less fit off the amount of climb and running he's doing and racing, I don't think. But you can definitely be piling up a level of fatigue that needs a little bit of recovery to then feel the fitness, I think. um Definitely.
01:09:58
Speaker
Yeah, so ah another podium. I reckon he's the most consistent podium performer. So that's good to see. Now, the other big was um race we had on in Europe, which is, I'm going to say, ah for the shorter distance races, definitely the most competitive and one of the biggest around is Siesenal. Now, Siesenal is like a crossover.
01:10:23
Speaker
event because it's part of the world mountain running cup and it is also part of golden trail world series so it's like this place where you get just this big crossover of two of the major um series around the world where so you just get anyone and everyone rocking up and it's it's 31k with 2200 after and like 1,000 down, so net uphill, a very big net uphill, um and you climb kind of, I think you climb most of that distance in 15k, so you kind of go up for 15k where you get almost all the climb, 2,200 meters in that 15k, with a good portion of that being in the first eight.
01:11:09
Speaker
um it's pretty much a VK that continues on for 8k and then you kind of wind up for the next seven. And then it's it's smooth, it's runnable net downhill for the next sort of 15k or so. um So this one, did you watch this at Al Brody?
01:11:26
Speaker
No, I just saw some, I saw the footage of the the finish afterwards and saw the time and I was like, Oh my God, that's crazy. So yeah, I didn't get too much. deal I highly recommend going and watching like just even the last 20 minutes or 30 minutes of this race.
01:11:42
Speaker
Um, the women's race also, but just if you want some motivation for racing, like obviously because there's like the epic coverage, epic coverage on terms of like they've got mountain bikes following all the races and just the number of passes and just, I've never even the commentator, David, he's so excited in the commentary because within the last like two Ks of the race, you see Killian get passed by Philharmon and Philharmon like you just got two guys going for it.
01:12:13
Speaker
in the last two k's because Philharmon's been catching and catching and catching. Killian had it like a two minute lead or something when the downhill started um and Philharmon was a fair amount back and then you just see Philharmon come past third, come past second and then when he passes Killian it's like you don't see many people within the last two k's of a race pass Killian. Like, yeah. Especially in a downhill.
01:12:37
Speaker
Especially on a downhill not was on the left technical part of the downhill and then when it gets to the more technical part is where killing. Get sick kind of back and you but you can see that both of them are just sending it to the line killing gets a bit of a gap when they hit the road with about four hundred meters to go and you can just see so even on the road film on got more of the speed.
01:12:59
Speaker
um And he's sort of catching, they do this drone shot as they're coming around to the finish, when you can see Philemon catching Killian, but he just doesn't quite get there. And there's four seconds between them at the end. And that sprint finish, Killian breaks his own course record from 10 years ago or so, by less than a second. yeah damn um thanks to the sprint finish. um So the course record just went down. And they were saying on the um on the livestream that that course record that Killian ran 10 years ago, that was already his, that was his highest ever score on Itra. So that was on Itra's standards, his best race ever. And he just broke that course record, obviously only just
01:13:44
Speaker
But still, like to do that after how many years he's been competing and to so be at the top of his game, and obviously it took having Philharmon there, chasing him down and pushing him to the line. um like That was cool to see. And then in third was Patrick Kipcano. And in it was a surprise bit purely because Patrick is normally patrick and Philharmon are normally quite close together. They're both from Kenya. They're both with the Oh damn, I can't remember the name of the group there. Run Together, is it? But they're both from Run Together, from Kenya. And normally Patrick's ahead of Philharmon. And Philharmon's just been slowly working his way into being better and better. And just to see Philharmon have such a breakout race was really cool because he has been racing these series for a few years now.
01:14:32
Speaker
um And yeah not many people can take killing into the wire and he did it so I highly recommend everyone going to watch at least the last part of that race and cool to see the one thing I thought was funny in that. and in that ah finish was that the mascot still jumped in. There was like a sprint finish, but the mascot was like between the two of them. It was very strange. Yeah. if and So when in the videos you would have seen, um because of the front-end view, that looks worse than it was. If you see what the mascot was doing from the aerial view, like because Philemon was catching Killian,
01:15:08
Speaker
When the mascot sort of jumped in behind Killian, there was a decent gap and it was obvious he wasn't going to get caught. But also you can sort of see he came behind Killian and then off to the side. So he had Philharmon. Like Philharmon was not defeated in any way. Yeah, yeah. Because I did see people getting all angry in the comments at that saying, get out of the way to the mascot. And I'm like, nah, if you saw this from the bird's eye view, the mascot was not in anyone's way. Phil and Mon wasn't impeded. He wasn't going to catch him. But yeah, I see how it looked a bit like, oh, my God, get out of the way kind of thing. I just thought it was funny that they still tried to get the mascot in the finish, even though it was like a sprint finish. I was like, it just seemed like unnecessary risk, but it worked so good on them.
01:15:53
Speaker
Yeah, I know, I know. That mascot, oh dude, he's is hilarious. I cannot imagine that mascot's got to have the hardest job of the day because it was hot. Yeah. And they're in like this massive mascot um costume and they're there for hours. But anyways, one of the coolest races. And then on the women's side, this was also just super interesting to watch. So there's always met plenty of changes of position. People that ah go out hard on the climb don't always hold it off.
01:16:20
Speaker
The woman that won, Joy Lean, I think she was Chep-cano? Chep-ngano? I don't know how to pronounce properly their surnames, so apologies on that front. But Joy Lean, this was her first ever trail race, which is wild. Like, can you imagine rockin' up? Your first ever trail race is Sia Zanal and you win the damn thing? Like...
01:16:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty crazy. So she's obviously, she's from Kenya as well. She was in an on kit. She wasn't in the run together kit. So I don't think she's part of their group, but she was in the professional on kit. So clearly like she's got some some pedigree, but I know that she's she's doing this after coming back from having her kids and not really running and yeah, just getting into it. She said, I think a year and a half, two years ago.
01:17:06
Speaker
um to start running but then she must have maybe me run on the roads a bit but this was definitely her first trail race and she won by a good margin. I think it was like three hours fifty two to then um in second was Scout Adkin from GB from um England.
01:17:27
Speaker
I think it's England. Well, she's from Great Britain. I'm not going to say England. Oh, Kendall. I don't know where Kendall is, because I know they were calling her the Kendall Runner. That's in the Lakes district. Okay, cool. Well, yeah, she's from Kendall. She's an absolute powerhouse. like She's always at the front of the world mountain running races. She's... Oh, geez. She would have met probably podiumed at world champs on the mountain running front. ah She's just... I think this is the longest I've seen her race.
01:17:52
Speaker
um Usually she's sort of the 10 to 20K, maybe even the vertical K kind of runner. So it was interesting to see her step up to a ah longer race and she blitzed it. Like she ran three hours and two minutes, um I think was the finish time. I don't have it in front of me, so don't quote me on that. But um yeah, she was in second for a very long way and just kind of held everyone off. So that was cool to see. Third place was where there was a lot of movement because I think Joyce,
01:18:22
Speaker
Geru, who is often at the front of these races, she had gone out hard. and She might have even been leading for a bit. She ended up dropping back. Madalina Floria from Romania, she came through um for third, which was cool to see. There was also another Romanian in, I think, fifth. So as usual, these races are about as deep as they come. And just if you look at the results, like top 100 is insane runners. They're all incredibly good runners. So this is where Brode, I'm going to throw to you. You found another Aussie who did incredible. Yeah. So we had an Australian running in the race. I don't know Sarah well, but I believe it looks like maybe she lives in the UK. She came 27th, which is an awesome position to come and see her as an hour. And she ran three hours 27, which is super speedy time. So
01:19:14
Speaker
um good on you, Sarah. That's a really solid result. That's it's a hell of an impressive result. So freaking good. so and On a hot day, I don't know if she's run. I know I've raced Sarah at Strandefjord. I think I noticed her results. that We didn't didn't even get a chance to say hi, so I've still never met you, Sarah. Hopefully, I ah Hopefully I meet you at some point because I don't believe she lives in Oz, but that that's a run and a half. like on In the heat, on this terrain, Siazanal is brutal and also just so deep. so Top 30 at Siazanal is absolutely incredible. say yeah Go, Sarah. That is cool to see. Unfortunately, Lara, who we shouted out last week as someone to look out for, she
01:20:02
Speaker
didn't end up running Siazanall, she's still over in the US, just trying to get her health in order after struggles with trying to get the ah right medication and everything. She's going to be back up and running for the, because she was meant to be at Tatra this weekend with me too, but she's going to be back up and running for the US side of Golden Trail World Series. So I'm hoping everything goes smooth for her until then.
01:20:26
Speaker
and But yeah, she wasn't on the start line. And I will do a quick shout out to, my to well, one of my favourite Kiwis, Kaitlyn Fielder. Bit of love for the Kiwis over here because she came 10th. And Siesa Nal, Kaitlyn's an amazing downhill runner. So I think even she was saying how like she wasn't expecting much of herself at Siesa Nal. And to come in top 10 still is just, whoa, so good. So epic run by Kaitlyn in the lead up to He's doing something at UTMB. I'm not sure whether it's OCC or CCC. But yes, that was exciting to watch. But to look out for what is coming up next weekend, because that's the end of the results from the weekend just gone, ah we have. I've found there's essentially a race in every state or territory except Tassie this coming weekend. I couldn't find anything in Tassie.
01:21:18
Speaker
um But we have Run Larapinta in Northern Territory, a very well-known stage race that just looks incredible. um You get to cover the whole Larapinta track over, I think it's four days? um Maybe three? I think it's four, yeah. It's four? Yeah, okay. ah In Vic, wonderful falls trail run down on the Surf Coast. That's a really cool event. In WA, they've got one called Salt Lakes City Trail Race, which I think they actually run across Salt Lakes.
01:21:47
Speaker
which would be a damn cool experience. um We might have to get more info about that one from one of our WA Jess of Lad next weekend. ah In South Australia, they've got a race called My Ponga Loop, which I think is essentially a loop of a reservoir called My Ponga Reservoir.
01:22:06
Speaker
In Queensland, I'm going to give, this has got to be one of the most northern races in the country because there's a race called Corranda to Port Douglas Ultra. I think it's a 60k point to point that ends at Port Douglas right up the top of Queensland, along like the bump track, which I think is like a really hilly four-wheel drive track up that um area of Queensland.
01:22:30
Speaker
And then in New South Wales, in the Blue Mountains, we have the Glenbrook Trail Marathon, which and you run anywhere near the Blue Mountains National Park is always going to be beautiful. So a bunch of cool um races coming up next weekend. And then on the international scene, umm if Vlad was here, we'd probably get more info. And I'm sure there's more than just Tatra next weekend. But oh yeah, obviously,
01:22:58
Speaker
Hopefully this coming Saturday in five days time, why I'm lining up at Tatra Sky Marathon in Poland, which is right on the border of Slovakia. Am I on the border of slovakos slovenia dam Slovakia Slovakia. Slovakia, good. um So yeah, I pretty much run the border, which fun fact, this one in this race, you have to carry your passport because you're running the border.
01:23:24
Speaker
So, like, part of the mandatory kit is either your national ID or your passport, ah which, yeah. I'm not sure how I feel about doing a race with my passport in my pack, but, you know, obviously we got to do it. um So, yeah, cool. And then, Brady, you've got nothing coming up this weekend. You're just trying to get the final prep done for Trofeo, for Kima?
01:23:47
Speaker
Yeah, just just yeah just normal normal running week this week. Nothing too crazy. So, yeah, I'm racing in two weekends time. So, yeah, just chilling. Good, well, chill well, taper well. For me, it'll be... Yeah, praying that this ultrasound and doctor's appointment this afternoon goes well and then see how we go um for Saturday. And then we'll get updates from Vlad and Jess about what's coming up for them next week. I'm not sure which three of us it's going to be next weekend. It's always always going to depend at this point on who's got internet. But thanks for bearing with me and Brodie as we do it. um Just the two of us for this week's episode.
01:24:28
Speaker
ah so Yeah, any questions, any ratings, reviews, all welcome. ah Thank you to everyone that has sent stuff in so far. It's is very, very much appreciated. But yeah, this has been episode 18 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. We made it to the end without me or Brody dropping out, so that's a win on our end.
01:24:50
Speaker
ah And I'm hoping I can get this to everyone that's listening on the Tuesday Aussie time. Time differences are getting to me, but thank you so, so much for listening and me and Brady will chat to you next week. See you later, everyone. Bye.