Roller Coaster Recap feat. Course Record Breakdown with Jess! | Episode 132

Transcript

Speaker: Hello and welcome to episode 132 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. My name is Brodie, one of your regular hosts, and today I'm joined by two of our regular hosts. First up, James, you're up there in Albury-Wodonga at home.

Speaker: Wait, Baron Duda. Yeah. Baranduda. Where do you say you're from? I'd say Ubrudonga because no one really knows where Baranduda is unless you've come and done the best race in Australia, the part of the Riverina Trail series here. No, I'm good. I've actually got the aircon on in my office because it's really warm and I'm not used to it and I'm not coping with it already. Yeah, we've had ah a few warm days in a row and someone who experienced one of those warm days on the weekend doing the roller coaster 46k in the Dandong Rangers, Jess Jason. are you going, Jess? Big race on the weekend. How are you feeling? Hey guys, yeah, I'm pretty tired still. I feel like, um yeah, it was nice to spend a few days in Melbourne after the race, um but yeah, drove back to Canberra today, which is a bit of an early start. um

Speaker: So a bit tired from that, but nice nice to be back in Canberra after a while away. Yeah, fantastic because you came from ah Perth directly to Melbourne and then Melbourne up to Canberra. Yeah, I pretty much, um yeah, trained for about a month or like stayed. Yeah, i was in Perth for a month before roller coaster. So flew straight from there. Awesome. Fantastic. well we wanted to get ah yeah We wanted to focus on Jess's race over the weekend or spend a bit of time getting into that um as our sort of guest, although she's one of our regular hosts. so um yeah Hopefully, we'll be able to dive into into that race a little bit, um and and we have some questions come in from some of our Patreons as well, which is which is going to be fun. so Maybe, Jess, maybe we'll start there. like you were saying I think we've heard from you maybe a couple of times or at least once since you were over in Perth, but Can you tell us about the block maybe leading up and into Roller Coaster? Yeah, definitely. um

Speaker: So i sort of had like two weeks of very chill training after OCC.

Speaker: i think I might have covered that last time. um But basically, yeah flew to Perth shortly after arriving back to Australia, after getting back from Europe, um and then did my first session over in Perth.

Speaker: um Yeah, about a month ago. um yeah first session post-OCC, that is. um And yeah, I sort of actually started, like I didn't have a plan to do roller coaster about a month ago. um ah sort of just started off with maybe thinking about jumping in four peaks or something like that before Asia Pacific Champs.

Speaker: um And i the block started off with like a very heavy gym load. So i started doing three sessions three gym sessions a week um instead of two. And then my sessions were um two sessions a week. One was sort of short trail undulating reps or heels and the other one was like a flat um kind of like ah threshold session. like K reps or 10 minute reps sort of vibe.

Speaker: um And then I reckon maybe like two weeks before Rollercoaster, I started feeling really good in my sessions. um And I realized like i had a flexible flight from Perth. so I decided to change it to fly into Melbourne.

Speaker: um because I really wanted to race because I just like had this, I don't know, I just had this like confidence in myself from how i was feeling in training. i was like, oh, i want to see what I can do. And I also felt like um just because of a few things that happened while i was in Perth, I had this massive like perspective shift that I even noticed while I was doing the sessions. Like I just didn't, I just wasn't worrying so much about like the small things. And that meant that I was a lot calmer and enjoying running more than I have for a few years, I reckon.

Speaker: um So, yeah. Amazing. There's a a few things to unpack there, I'm sure. um Firstly, I just sort of thinking that that feeling of, say, confidence um that you were sort of ready to race and that you were in really good shape, I think some of us could probably see from even just from Strava, like the the training sessions you were having and and that sort of thing, it looked really good. um Is that something you've experienced before, like that sort of confidence or is that a new sort of feeling or like have you had a similar feeling before previous races or in previous blocks? um

Speaker: I think so, but it's been a while. reckon it's been like two years, maybe before – maybe before um u ah UTK 30 was the last time I felt like that.

Speaker: um Yeah, nice. Yeah. And that was when was that? Was that in 24? 2024. Yeah. four twenty twenty four ye yeah Yeah, because I feel like that's so powerful. Like I've only, I think I've only, like I've been running for so many years, I've probably only experienced that a couple of times where you've got that, like that super confidence feeling and it's like so so reassuring and and it's often it does lead to these, like it does line up quite well with these sort of great results as well. So yeah, it's interesting to sort of hear that. um Any idea about what was contributing to that? Was it that perspective shift that helped a little bit or was there other things that helped build that confidence? I think so. I think, yeah, so like without going too much into it because it's it's like, yeah, it's pretty heavy. But like while I was over in Perth, there was um

Speaker: a shark attack fatality that was actually um a dad of a clo ah my best friend. um And he, yeah, I'd known him since I was really little. um My friend and I had been to each other's like two-year-old birthday parties, so it Yeah, he was like a lifelong family friend. um And so the most of my time in Perth was spent helping out the family and like being with my best friend and helping her through the grief. And I think and then at the same time my dog

Speaker: was like kind of passing away, like he's had an awesome long life, but having to be like a nurse to him um while I was there. um i think just like experiencing those two things at the same time, i just went through this massive life perspective shift where I was like, why was I worrying about these silly little things and not just like enjoying myself? Because, and it's like so cliche, it's like,

Speaker: life is too short, but it's it's hard to actually like believe that until, yeah, you experience these kind of things. um So I think that was a big part of it.

Speaker: But also I think like coming back from OCC, like I just did that really well. Like I didn't come back too soon. um i took my time and I think I've sort of,

Speaker: hit train like the build back up and then roller coaster at like kind of the perfect time where I'd absorbed all of the fitness from occ and then I had done like a decent four-week block of like long runs and sessions where I could build any like loss of fitness that happened over that two weeks back up um and then the conditioning from Chamonix and even like training in Perth, like it's very similar to the Dandenongs in a way um because the hills are like very steep and rocky.

Speaker: um And i i was running a lot at midday um because I was working while I was over there. So getting out at weird times. So I was very like adjusted to the heat. Like it it didn't feel that hot to me on the day. Amazing.

Speaker: Yeah, I feel like just firstly that like obviously some really tough news and very sad but also beautiful, the things that you took away from it and were able to sort of take forward I think is, yeah, it's pretty powerful stuff.

Speaker: um And, yeah, it looks like the heat train, like it was warm on the weekend. I was there. um I felt warm. and I wasn't running. um And, yeah, compared to like a lot of people were suffering from the heat. But, yeah, from from watching you come through those aid stations several times, you you didn't really look too much different um as you came through. So, yeah, I feel like that yeah that heat little bit of heat block would have helped.

Speaker: Yeah, I still use the ice. Like i one thing I love about single track events is that they always have ice at the aid stations when it's hot, which is like actually a luxury. Like you don't really get that at many other races. um So I think that makes a massive difference because I did notice like in parts of the race you'd start to feel like a bit kind of like it was getting to you. Like,

Speaker: just a bit more like fatigue. But then as soon as the ice went on you, it's just like you're like, oh, like that's nice. And it's just like a little refresher. um Yeah. So i loved yeah I loved that about the um aid stations and I think the race is set up super well um to run fast because you get to go past the aid station so often.

Speaker: um Like, there's yeah, there's only really – Yeah, there's not that much time where you're like not able to get a dosing of ice on you. So, yeah. Definitely. Such a fun race to be a part of. And the icing is, like you said, game changer. Not only from a performance point of view for you and the rest of the top end of the field, but I think for the rest of the field, it's from a safety point of view, I think it it helps the single track look after their runners um because it does mean there's probably – Like I don't know if we see that at a Melbourne marathon where there's access to ice like that. It's probably a bit harder for them to do it. um So, yeah, I think it's ah definitely useful for the whole the whole field.

Speaker: James, um before we jump into the race, did you have any other questions for Jess on the block leading in or off the back of Chamonix? Yeah, hundreds. Yeah, I guess I was going to say. we could We could go for a while probably.

Speaker: Yeah, very easily. I think, just as well, as Brodie said, I think it's incredibly sad the news for your friends, dad, and also your dog passing. Those are two pretty big impacts on your life.

Speaker: But I feel like it it really has just made you go, running's just running. And it's, as you said, it's cliche. We hear all the time and you hear, hear elite say, and you're just like, well, this is your job. It's why that, but it's, it is just running. Like we're just going and playing in the mountains or going and running up and down a road really quickly for one random reason of trying to try get fitter. But that allows us to unlock what we do, which is cool. And like, when you look back at your results,

Speaker: I know that it's a very imperfect system, but you go on UTMB and by far your best score, probably before roller coaster loads up, was COSI30 from 2024. So it's cool that we've had an opportunity to see the fitness that's always been there, but now...

Speaker: you're in the place to express it, which hopefully we see that go to age specific. So that's my, that's my little like interlude on that. Awesome to see from a useful question perspective, looking at training, obviously this year you've had kind of UTA and then OCC.

Speaker: What have each of those races and and this is your first year with your coach Kate, What have you guys worked out with each race and what have you learned about yourself and your training and what your body needs and responds to and doesn't respond to that you've kind of taken forward and will keep taking forward?

Speaker: um I think a big part of training that I've learnt this year is that I don't actually respond that well to track sessions um because that's a big thing that I haven't done um for a big chunk of this year. And like in the build-up to OCC, I didn't do any um track sessions or any like speed work that was really quicker than like 320.

Speaker: pace. um Whereas before, which is not slow, like it's still, it's probably like my 5k pace, but like before i was probably trying to keep up with different groups that were running a bit probably a bit too fast for me um and I think I think that's all well and good but when you're trying to juggle that with like a mountainous long run on a Sunday and then like a midweek long run on the Monday it's just it just doesn't really work um so I think pulling that back to just like threshold effort

Speaker: has allowed me to absorb more of that long run um on the Sunday and then like still be able to get a little bit of vert on a Wednesday um and then again like recover into the more trail specific session that I've been doing on Friday. um Yeah, that's that's probably the biggest change. Other than that, like training hasn't changed a lot, I would say.

Speaker: Yeah. Which again, makes complete sense. And the changes that you've made, obviously for what we do, thresholds like our speed side of it, and and it is hard to take the load of the the hills and the volume and everything and and fit it all in.

Speaker: When you were training on the track though, were you training often with groups, as you said, like, is that kind of how those sessions would work? yeah Yeah. Yeah. So how have you found the training now not being able to go to the groups? Has it been harder to get the work done?

Speaker: Um, I've actually started to get used to it. Um, especially in the weeks before rollercoaster, was really enjoying just running on my own for the fact, like I still enjoy running with people for the social side, but, um, I, yeah, I don't know. It's not bothering me as much as it used to.

Speaker: oh that's cool Yeah, I think i just was enjoying having time like, yeah, using, yeah, i don't know, just like time to myself and like time to my thoughts and...

Speaker: um when my thoughts are not negative, like I'm actually enjoying it, I think that's when you are able to enjoy solo sessions. Because I think when your headspace isn't great, that's when a group can help because it takes your mind, and takes yourself out of your own head.

Speaker: yeah so there's pros and cons to each, I think. No, i think that's a really cool reflection. um The other question I then had was, When we were doing the preview and Bruno and Sophie were talking, one of us, it might have been me hypothesized that because you've now done OCC, which is 60K, lining up to a race like roller coaster, which is five weeks before Asia Pacific doesn't feel as big of a thing. Whereas this would have previously been 4K shy of your longest race.

Speaker: Does that feel true? Like did 46K now not feel like as big of a thing to go do? um No, I was definitely arming and aring about whether I wanted to drop down probably all the way up until like the Wednesday before the race. um Just because it is still far and it is like a bit of a risk. But um I think with Asia Pacific Champs, like my race is probably roughly like four to four and a half hours. um So the 23...

Speaker: was probably arguably a bit too short as a lead-in race, but then the 46 is probably a bit too long. So the ideal race would have been like 35K, I think, but unfortunately that wasn't an option. And um yeah, there was something calling me to the 46 for some reason.

Speaker: So I just went with that. I think we're we're all glad you did it and you managed to just make it take less time. So that was the easy workaround. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Maybe the time difference to Asia Pacific won't be that much difference because you ran so quick.

Speaker: but Exactly. um One question coming in from our Patreon, which is somewhat related to more the training side of things, I guess, or at least the planning side of things is from Carolyn. She was asking if this was an A race for you, Jess, or a test to see where you are before Asia-Pacifics, or did you have another goal or intention in mind? Yeah. No, I think I kind of touched on it before. Like, i it was a very last-minute decision.

Speaker: Like, two weeks before, I i just... was like, oh, it works out. And I knew I was going to see a few of my friends there, which was exciting.

Speaker: Um, and yeah, I was just feeling good. So i was like, why not? And like Kate and I had said, we, it would be really nice to do a race before China. So whether that was, rollercoaster or four peaks, I would have done either of those. Um,

Speaker: But yeah, roller coaster just worked out and my plan on the day was actually to not do it super hard. So yeah, I don't know if that really went to plan.

Speaker: did you notice Did you notice a change of that going out the window in the race or did it still did you still sort of feel in control the whole time? I actually felt in control. that Like the first lap I definitely felt in control. The second lap I took my music out and started like really being present with the race and the crowd. And I think I actually started pushing a bit more, even though like, yeah, i was like my legs would have been tired from the first lap. So I don't know if I actually sped up

Speaker: But I did notice that was at the point where I started like catching up to the men was when I took my music out and like was just really vi like vibing and like I was like focused on people in front of me and like catching up to them and um pushing and like and then i think from.

Speaker: maybe like 35k I was really like okay I'm just gonna like give everything I have left but I I just felt like a machine the whole way like I was just like a robot like I was just like I felt like I could just keep pushing the whole way and I wasn't gonna stop kind of thing awesome I don't think there's many people out there that felt like that. So that's great. This course, the more I've looked at this course a lot, probably too much in the last two weeks because one of my athletes was racing. And the more I look at it, the more I'm like, this is one of the hardest races to get right.

Speaker: in the country. Like it's just such a tough course and I think sort of some of the things you were saying there maybe I think nearly the way to have success at this race is to like feel like you did in the first loop because I think anyone who felt a touch harder than that probably had a tough second lap. Yeah.

Speaker: um yeah which is really interesting because it's not – it's a tough race to pace. You nearly have to go slower than you really think you need to in that first lap. um So, yeah, very interesting to hear that. um We might jump into it now. you ran – First in the women for the 46K, third overall, ran through a few guys in the back end of the race. um You were just saying there, 407.58, a new course record.

Speaker: Course record from Lucy Bartholomew from last year, which in the preview we were saying it was a It wasn't one of the course records we were talking about going down. So no you you surprised us. And, um yeah, it was like the the previous course record, I think one of Lucy's really good races probably in Australia. Like she's obviously had some incredible performances in lots of different races. But I thought that this time was a really tough one to beat. So – Yeah, pretty impressive. um On the splits, i don't know if you've looked at this, but lap one, you ran 158.07, roughly thereabouts. And then the second lap, you ran 209.51.

Speaker: fifty one So that was a 9% decrease, which for this race is actually pretty standard. Most people end up in the 10% to 25%. think the only...

Speaker: Mike Carroll, I think, was maybe in the 5% last time. I'm not sure what he's this year. mike Yeah, mike Mike was like 4.3% last time and they went through a little bit quicker this this time. So, he'll be, I think he'd probably be like 6% or so. And then, yeah. yeah and i think given that the Sorry,

Speaker: was to say, you know, when we looked at, Braden and I were doing so back and forth on this and there were, I think, a couple of guys, were looking at the guys predominantly um for both of our athletes that arere racing, but there were a couple of guys that managed like a 14% slowdown and then there were others that were like 19, 20, as you say, plus we're at the front of the field, which, as you said, it's it's a a hard race to get right. Yeah, yeah. And I think probably some of the heat contributed to that more, the lap two being a bit harder. um But, yeah, definitely an impressive impressive turnaround. And the first lap, like given that you felt pretty good, 158 would have, if it's different because they started an hour later, but in the women's race for the 23 would have put you right in the mix there of the podium. um So a pretty impressive first lap and then and didn't let it decline too much in the second lap. um that were the stats i pulled out on reflection for you just like what have you what have you any more sort of thoughts on on the race and how it went and and maybe um anything of of note in terms of pacing or nutrition or any of that sort of stuff um yeah like i did have a little bit of an issue which i don't need to go into full details about but i had buy a car before the race and

Speaker: There was a little bit an issue with that. um I did also like, yeah, because my stomach's been really, this is the first race I've done ah since my stomach has been pretty much 100% fine.

Speaker: So I ate probably a bit more then what I'm used to before the race. which was two sachets of like Uncle Toby's oats, potentially a bit too much fibre.

Speaker: um so yeah, I feel like people can draw the dots. But yeah yeah um it wasn't too bad. I was still taking on fuel. um The other component that was just new to me in this race was that And it's like it ties into the headspace.

Speaker: being like Being more calm about the race itself allowed me to have a lot more space in my head for like the things that mattered. So like i was taking gels at the right times. I wasn't forgetting.

Speaker: I was drinking water. i wasn't forgetting to do that. um which I think made a huge difference. um Like I took my first gel at 20 minutes and like did it very frequently from there throughout the whole race, didn't have any issues getting any of the gels down um and, yeah, made sure I was drinking at least 500 mils an hour sort of thing, um which is – usually my goal, but I feel like in the past I've just been too caught up in feeling bad, not wanting to race, wanting to pull out, feeling quite negative that I've forgotten to keep up the important things like fueling and hydration.

Speaker: um So that was, yeah, really positive to have that experience. Yeah, nice. Nice. And I think we were sort of mentioning that the roller coaster course, you come through the central aid station four times and one other time you're sort of at the start finish point. um every I was at the the middle aid station, so I saw you four times and every time you came through, you looked pretty similar. Like you looked calm, you looked focused. Um, so that was, that was really cool to see. And, and, and we thought you would like, we were standing there. I was ah with a few, uh, trail runners from Canberra and we're like, has Jess gone out too fast? She's, she's running really quickly.

Speaker: then we're like, well, I wonder what's going to happen in the second lap. But like, yeah, out of everyone around you, you were the one that was taking places. So yeah, it was really cool to see. i really enjoyed sort of being at that central aid station and seeing the race play out with the others, but also your performance. It was, yeah, it was cool to watch. Yeah, I think um it was a big jump from my recent results. so um But yeah, to be honest, there wasn't any part of me that like didn't think I was capable of something like that. like i knew i was I knew I was capable of it from my training. I just felt like there was things like getting in the way each time. Yeah.

Speaker: it's a pretty awesome feeling when it finally all clicks on the day because it it it so often doesn't. um And it's cool that I've been able to learn from each of those little things and get to this point where I can pull together something that I'm really proud of. Yeah, amazing.

Speaker: Mostly you just made it hard for me because I thought that the athlete I was coaching was going to be ahead of you and you were together exactly together, which meant I couldn't crew both of you at the same time. it was very hard. I had to enlist the help of Max Taylor. Thank you, Max. Yeah, thank you, Max.

Speaker: Jess, um, one of the guys like coach Billy as well, he was kind of with the head behind you. yeah So one of the feedbacks he gave me was that you just came like sending it down the downhills and you said that you seem, you seem to be running like with real confidence with like, yeah that yeah, that was a real strength. Is that something that you were consciously doing in the race? No, I think I've just gotten a lot more confident on the downhills.

Speaker: um Yeah, I think it's just come with experience now. Like it's been a few a few years of building that confidence and then um the experience that I got in Chamonix and then also training in Perth.

Speaker: is quite good for that because we do have fairly technical trails and I was on mountain bike tracks and things like that. So, um yeah, and I was conscious of kind of, yeah, like trying not to smash myself up too much on the downhills. Cause yeah.

Speaker: Um, I knew that could come back to bite me, especially on the second lap. Um, but I think sometimes if you kind of just like, don't brace too much, but like engage your core, that's like the best way to do that. So you're still kind of moving. You're still flowing, um but you're not like locking up and tensing your muscles too much on the downhills. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, that's a tricky balance. I feel like you don't want to fight the downhill in terms of break over-breaking yourself just because you think you need to run slow.

Speaker: um You can also like sprint down a downhill, but it's probably less of in the front of you. I think maybe that happens more in say the 23K or something when they're they're like sort of going all guns blazing I feel like it's it's a big risk there but um yeah it's a definitely um a big positive to be able to sort of be so strong on the downhills I know you're such a good uphill runner as well so you put it all together and yeah roller coasters of course you have to be good at the uphills and the downhills to have success you can't be good at just one so yeah it's nice to come away with that result James did you have any other questions um

Speaker: We've spoken about all the positives. We've spoken about the bike hub element to it. But was there anything else that you' come away from roller coaster now and that you've identified as like, ah I still could have got this a bit better or I feel like I need to get stronger here? Because as we spoke about in the preview, like from a profile perspective, we think this is going to be relatively similar to what Age Pacific is going to be.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I definitely want to try and have less fiber before the race next time. Like I think I'll still have bike up because it's worked, it's worked fine for me previously. Like I've never had,

Speaker: this reaction before. um so yeah, I think just the pre-race breakfast, I need to practice a few more times now that I can take more on because I think I wasn't having enough before, but now I'm, yeah, I need to find the right balance that works for me now that my gut is a bit healthier.

Speaker: um And then i think like during the race, fueling is pretty good now. i've got, a bit over 100 grams an hour, which is pretty good. i don't think I need to really do much more. um And then the only other thing that i want to be a little bit conscious of is just like maybe trying to move through the aid stations a bit more like rather than kind of stopping because I'd feel like um I was still kind of stopping to a standstill to get my gels and bottles and like get the ice water on my head, which I don't know i feel like it can save you a bit of time, especially if the race is close, if you just keep moving.

Speaker: um That was you and the only other thing that I thought of, yeah. I've just looked at your your Strava which thank you for actually putting this on Strava it's nice to have a look at the uh the run but and it's obviously imperfect but it has a 66 second stop time across the whole race yeah I think I have auto like stationary stop on my on my Garmin yeah so when I yeah yeah Yeah, and this is like a plug-in for Stravosaur, so even if you've just gone on a long run and never stopped your watch, it just sort keeps doing it. But I'd say with the conditions and icing yourself down and keeping yourself cool, that's pretty good. And then Brody failing as his job of giving you your bottles. Yeah, I was going to say, I thought it was actually quite quick. I thought we were like, yeah, I thought were pretty fast. Maybe it was Max's ones, I reckon.

Speaker: Yeah. I think I'm nitpicking now. But no, there was um just at the halfway turnaround point, I kind of like, I don't know, I went to fill up my bottle and the people were like, oh, we can do that for you and you can keep running. And I was just like, no, no, it's all good. So I wasn't, yeah i don't know, I think it's fine. like But I just think if it was a close race, like ah I'm expecting an Asia Pacific chance like it was last time, then you want er be able to save every second you've got kind of thing.

Speaker: Do you feel like that's also down a bit to the like the mindset you had coming in, in the sense that this isn't an A-race, you were trying to do it more conservative or at least build into it. And so, yeah, you're you're not going to be panicked coming in or not just trying to like take every single second. Yeah, probably. Yeah, for sure.

Speaker: Awesome. All right. Well, I've got one question from Patreon coming in um about the race. um Congrats, Jess. This is from Jeremy. ah Congrats, Jess. You appear to have a healthy gap in first through halfway.

Speaker: ah Interested to hear about your competitiveness slash motivation from there. Do you switch to racing the blokes or are you just focused on the women's race or something else?

Speaker: Yeah, this is a good question. i So coming into halfway, so I had been running with your athlete, um Pierce, for most for like most of half for most of the first half, um but then he did actually gap me just before we like got to the turnaround point.

Speaker: So i started I did have a little thought like, oh, am i slowing down or is he speeding up? um But then as soon as I turned around, I just had another, i kind of like took my headphone, that was like when I took my headphones out and I had this, another burst of energy because then I like kind of was engaging with the crowd a bit more. um And then after the turnaround point, you start seeing the 23K runners like coming

Speaker: like back towards you, which is probably one of my favorite parts of the race. Cause I got to high five, like my coach Kate and like all the other girls and like cheer them on, um, which was really fun. And then,

Speaker: you start to run past um the like pack the rest of the pack of runners and they're all cheering you on and it's like it just really it was like really elating. um And so I definitely used that for like motivation for the second loop.

Speaker: Um, and then, yeah, just like seeing the guys coming back to me was definitely like a bit of a boost as well. um and then, but yeah it was like, it was super interesting to me to just not have one single thought of like wanting to stop or not wanting to be there. Cause that's just, yeah, it's been something that's been on my mind in every other race that I've done for the past little while. yeah.

Speaker: And I think part of that was like definitely i kept coming back to the thought of like Um, yeah, like my best friend's dad who passed away, like he was massive into like adventuring, like he did mountain biking and like kite surfing and was just and like an open water swimmer. And um he was really big on just like getting the most out of himself. Like he would ride to work. He'd go for a run at lunchtime.

Speaker: And I was just thinking like how lucky am I to be doing this right now, like getting the most out of myself. um And then also I had like thoughts coming back to Ida who was another girl on the Essex trial team um that I roomed with over in Chamonix who unfortunately didn't.

Speaker: um most people would have heard by now that she passed away on a trail run um about a month ago as well. So I just kept having thoughts back to her, being like she would give ever anything to be able to do this right now. so just, yeah, it was just like an overwhelming sense of gratefulness to be able to like be so lucky to be pushing my body like that.

Speaker: That kept me going, yeah. Amazing. I'm a bit lost for words. It's pretty powerful. Yeah. I'm kind of just sat here nodding, smiling, grinning, half about a cry. thought James was tearing up actually. Yeah. I just didn't well i think it's anyone that's kind of gone through loss hardships trauma whatever it it is you yeah i think that would have resonated quite a lot and just really coming back to doing this for a certain reason and and making sure that you're making the most of those opportunities and not getting lost in the other stuff which can become quite consuming especially when you're trying to push yourself to your performance limit like like you guys are well yeah

Speaker: All of us are. Everyone is. Yeah. but And it's easy to get lost in the details, but remember that we're out there to enjoy ourselves and and enjoy pushing our bodies. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. yeah All right. Well, let's ah I want to leave this chat about... It's been amazing hearing about the block and and the race. um But I reached out to Kate, your coach, Kate Avery, and asked her if she had a comment on what you've been, the the race and the lead up. And this is what she had to say. She said, I'm very proud of her patience through last year and keeping the belief in herself that she was better than the races that she'd had. The pieces are coming together and it takes time.

Speaker: So I thought that was a nice way to finish it off and some powerful stuff from Coach Kate as well. Yeah, that's that's so lovely. And, like, yeah, it's it's so nice to have a coach that, like, believes in you that much and, like, and yeah, I just feel like we're just on the same page and, like, we work really well together, um which which Yeah, it it makes a lot of difference in, um yeah, like how confident you are in the training but also like going into races. It definitely contributes to that confidence in yourself. I think it's about the most – I don't know how we're going to do the rest of the show and make it any good but –

Speaker: We'll just stop now. The rest of it can ah can hang on. yeah Feel free to listen on. It probably won't be as good, but yeah amazing stuff, Jess. Congrats from me. i was yeah I was very happy to see you pull it off a similar sentiment to Kate. I think I thought it was there and and it's nice to see it all come together. Thank you. All right. Let's ah move on. James, maybe do you want to give us a little rundown of what you've been up to and then we'll move on to, yeah I'll give a little update and move on to some news.

Speaker: Yeah, thanks for letting me follow that. appreciate that one, Brody. Yeah, i was like, you better than me. ah So i I guess in the in the in the spirit of celebrating little wins, as we came on ah to start this one off, I was saying to Brody how injuries are hard and my nerve pain, the stuff ah dealing in my legs is kind of flaring up a little bit. We're trying to work out stuff that's causing it. ah But Even with that, last week it was the first day I got back to five days of running for, don't know, six weeks or so. And the most I run in nearly three months in this week will be a little bit more. And so it is it feels very good and positive to be getting out a bit more. I wish it would hurt a bit less and would be a little bit more. i think the predictability is probably more the thing that I wish it had because I can have one day where it feels great and then the next day it doesn't.

Speaker: And we're working out things that definitely contribute so if I run after driving that's really not good if I don't have enough time in the morning to really get myself ready fortunately with my schedule and working for myself I'm going to try some different things and run a bit later in the day give myself time to to warm up and move around to mitigate that a little bit but it's yeah It's just tricky. you you start to You start to get a little bit hopeful and then it slaps you in the face again.

Speaker: it's which I think anyone that is going for an injury, Brody, as you would know right now and Jesse's known in the past, it just gets to a point where you're like, oh, I'm kind of over this. I just want a little bit of consistency. I want a little bit of linear trajectory.

Speaker: But it will come. ah But i'm trying to I'm trying to really make myself focus on the the wins of being able to do the five hours of running or whatever it was last week or and the six hours that's planned hopefully for this week if it goes well.

Speaker: um And then apart, yeah, apart from that, i just had a very, don't know, quite quite relaxing weekend. Whenever i have athletes racing, which is pretty much every weekend, my weekends are just ah like, not stressful, but I just feel like I'm glued to the tracking to find out where they are. So they kind of link past. So rollercoaster was a great example. following Billy who was racing Kelly who was kind of yeah there to do the long run but also still got a podium which is always really cool and it's fun to see the fact that Jess, Alice and Kelly who were the podium were all in the Asian Pacific teams and then athletes throughout the whole whole field out there so yeah that was pretty pretty much my weekend my my my weeks are running and my weekend is following running it's and then we come on here and we talk about running it's great yeah

Speaker: Yeah, a lot of it. Yeah, and it i think i can I think those injuries where you can do a little bit, um even more like when I was struggling with my Achilles versus now, obviously coming back from a surgery, when I was struggling with it and and still training, I find those moments the hardest because the predictability element ah is really tricky and difficult.

Speaker: And you get some wins, but then you get some losses. And, um yeah, I think focusing in on the small things, like you were saying there, James, like making sure that you celebrate the small wins and and and zoom out a little bit because it's very easy to be zoomed in.

Speaker: um Yeah, very important. But, yeah, yeah can I can relate and I'm sure a lot of people listening can relate. Yes. And I'm sure, yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure they can. And it is exactly what you said there. It's easy to really lose that perspective of where you were even a few weeks ago. And then you have a bad run and it kind of gets you down. And so trying to forget about those or hold those really lightly and focus on what i can do.

Speaker: And i would just, I just really, really like to do a session. Like I just really want to run fast. Like I've just, i feel like my body is stuck easy and it just feels a bit clunky and I feel like I need to run a bit quicker and open up to be able to make that feel better so hopeful some hopefully somewhere soon can you do any like exercise bike stationary bike and Yes.

Speaker: um I'm not the best at cross training. have a few issues. i but ah my ah The bikes I have, they don't like they're the right size, but they're not the right right fit. And I just get sore when I ride them. Plus, my bum is not very conditioned to the bike, as I spoke about last week. and i think i had I was sore for about seven six, seven days after riding for 90 minutes in in Melbourne. And i I love being outside. like being in nature. i just haven't been able to work out with the bike to really enjoy being outside. And then i struggle in the gym. I just, yeah, I've, I think I said this last week, it's been so long now that I don't want to, I'm not fussed about cross training for the fitness element of it. And I don't get any mental benefit from it.

Speaker: Um, like I, I like the feeling of running quickly. I don't like the feeling of being on a bike and working hard. So, uh, 100%, I do it for a shorter period of time. If I was not like building up to a race and there was a four, six week period where I had to, to offload, but yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, it's which is why like i'm not I'm not complaining about not being able to do it because there are ah options I could take if I wanted to. I would just really like to run quick. Well, whatever quick is now, which probably is not. Yeah, anyway. Yeah, no, I just think like for me, like the thing that sort of – itch that scratch was either like really hard, short intervals on a stationary bike, like one minute or even 30 second intervals. Or like um sometimes I would just like take my fixie out and like ride it on hills. So it was like really hard and or just like not change the gears as much going up hills.

Speaker: Yeah. You're like, I don't know, you're still outside, but it's like you really get your heart rate up. No, and I was talking to my coach on on the weekend and he said like, I feel like you just need to get back out on your gravel bike and go on the rides that i was doing last year. And I stopped because I was getting pain in my leg, like some femoral nerve pain.

Speaker: from that. So, so I need to work out the fit so that hopefully it's a bit more comfortable and then recondition my body to be able to sit on the saddle for a bit of time. But it's, it's also, it's also like, I've got a lot going on right now. We're away pretty much every weekend, weeks are busy and and getting out,

Speaker: to get myself ready to go on a ride i just find i'm a lot less uh i'm not less likely to kind of carve out the time to do that whereas if it's my long run i'm always going to find the time but getting myself to the gym to ride it on the indoor bike and do a session or go outside and ride i just don't prioritize it as highly so i end up working more or i'll do something with shiv or i'll go to i'll go just take alfie for a hike instead those sort of things which yeah To be honest, like from ah from a mental health perspective, the best thing I can do is spend time with shit, spend time with friends, spend time walking my dog.

Speaker: yeah um From a physical health perspective, there's a lot more better I could do to make myself not feel this unfit. but yeah um I am going to try and get out on the bike more. It's also just, I think at the moment we're pretty much away every weekend between now and now and December. And so when the weeks don't have time for for any for me to actually drive to the gravel and start riding for more than 45, 60 minutes.

Speaker: Yeah. I mean, you could even just do like a short one and just really like push it and then you'll get like a boost of dopamine and then maybe your brain will be like more inclined to want to do it. Do it. yeah Yeah. No. and I feel like the bike fit is also like a good idea is to like get that set up. o I know a few people that have had a lot of issues with some small niggle on the bike and then they got a bike fit and it drastically improved it.

Speaker: um I feel like the position because you're in the position for a long time can be a bit tricky. Yeah, I think that's, I think, especially if I commit to doing that as well, that I'm financially invested in this rather than just like, obviously I'm financially invested in the bike, having the bike in the first place. But I think, yeah, that, that will, that will help me. And a few projects of what going on should quiet down in the next couple of weeks, which will help free up a bit of time on the weekends as well, which will then make it easier to just spend the morning going and do something. and because i think the other side is because i can run like this week if if all goes well from today i'll still be running six days and i'll yeah each each runs between 60 and 80 minutes so it's not like i'm not running and so it's kind like well then do you fit how do you fit that in on top of that and yeah i'm just making a lot of excuses basically if you just listen to me talk for the last five minutes you're just being like shut up james and go do the ride

Speaker: Someone's going to come out there, drag you on a bike and get you out there. I'm tempted to come out there and drag you out on bike because I've been riding a little bit. Yeah, I've seen that. Although financial things does not always help because I bought a trainer earlier this year or I bought a new bike to put on the trainer so I could still ride my other bike outside. cost me about $1,500 and I've ridden it three Yeah. $500 a pop at the moment. So hopefully I do a bit more on the indoor trainer. It's not, it's, you know, when it's sunny outside, that financial investment is still not wanting me to ride on the trainer. I'm like, I'm going riding outside for sure.

Speaker: And we've had some pretty good weather. So I've been out on the bike. I've looked at the, is the, the Zwift rides and we had ah a friend has lent us a, uh, kicker to attach to, to, to my bike, which I've watched that. actually can't touch my bike. and need a different attachment, but I'm just like, what's like, why would you want to sit inside and stare at a screen?

Speaker: And yeah, but I'd not get it with right. Like with riding, it's very different. I just, that's my thing of like, I'd rather go outside and go for a walk than I would be inside to do the fitness thing. Yeah, well, my thoughts were I would use it a lot over winter, but unfortunately, my ankle had other plans. So yeah um maybe I'll get a bit more use out of it. But the weather is improving and I've been out about on the bike. And yeah, speaking of small winds, my ankle can now seem to tolerate riding a little bit better. Yeah. I'm doing a bit on the stepper and my calf has finally decided to start increasing in size. So it's all where systems go over here. So yeah, i'm feeling I'm feeling pretty good. I'm still maybe a month, month and a half off running, but um it's good when you can start to see changes. So I'm pretty happy about that.

Speaker: I thought you looked pretty strong when I saw you in Melbourne. I think the gym works painted. Well, yeah, I've been lucky. like I've been working with Lockie from Flowstate for, I don't know, three years. I'm probably his most annoying client. um But...

Speaker: He's, yeah, i like I know gym stuff because i because I am a physio and I have a strength background, but having someone set it for you, being accountable to it, he's also such an expert in the running space more so than than I am specifically in in in gym for running. Yeah.

Speaker: that, yeah, I feel like I have a lot of buy into his stuff and I really enjoy Jim. So, yeah, I guess I've been leaning into it. My my right calf is so big. I'm like, is this how big my calf should have always been? Or like when I go back to running, will it will it decrease in size? But, yeah, I've got a huge calf on my right side now, which is making my left look even smaller. um But I guess it's a positive. And hopefully when I get back to running,

Speaker: I'm not my Achilles on my right is not giving me grief because ah've I've been hitting it with a lot of work, which is a big positive as well. So, yeah. Yeah. I also shave my legs because it's easier to see your calf. And I'm like, I really need to keep track of like it's helping me keeping track of like seeing where the small parts of activation is like when I do my gym exercises or or when I'm sort of comparing week to week and like, oh, yeah, I got a little bit more medial gastroc or I can see my lateral gastroc like activating. but so he's gone full gym bro on us james he has he has do you have a little like uh array of mirrors that you just stand in and you can see your car from every angle little bit of baby you know what this is this is this is my calf is so small i'm not doing it for showing off it's it's purely for rehab purposes that's what we're saying is purely for rehab purposes

Speaker: We really need a video of of you in the bathroom just trying to get your calf from every angle. so my question, like if you are shaving your leg, ah i yeah if you're shaving to see the calf, have you shaved your whole legs or have you just shaved the bottom half of your leg? You can't shave just the calf. I've got quite hairy legs. But also, I'm a big fan of shaving legs anyway in general. Like I would always do it before, particularly orienteering competitions because you get lots of cuts and stuff. is much easier to sort of keep your legs your the wounds like healthy if you get lots of cuts and and risking infection and that sort of stuff so I'm pretty regular to it and I actually really like it so it was a little treat on the weekend that I was like oh it's it's time it's also helping me keep track of my scar a little bit better and and mobilize the tissue a little bit more so you know there's a lot of benefits to shaving your legs I know I'm gonna get a lot of shit for this but I'm a big fan

Speaker: if if If it makes you happy, Brady, it makes you feel good and you can analyze the shape of your medial and lateral gastroc a bit better, then you go for it. Exactly. I feel like it's a big cyclist thing as well. Cyclists have shaved legs. I'm pretending I'm a cyclist. It does look good. yeah, things have been good.

Speaker: um And yeah, just sort of enjoying life like it was... Yeah, it was awesome to go out to roller coaster on the weekend, be there for for Jess and I'd pass some bottles to Kate and obviously my athlete Pierce, um which was pretty special. Like I really enjoyed being there, nearly maybe more so than I have at my last event that I ran at. So that was pretty cool. And I've got a busy few months coming up as well with with bits and pieces events that I have athletes running and then going to China for for the team sort of manager position. So yeah, I'm, I'm pretty happy and Finley's going well and loving being a dad. So yeah, I can't really complain. Like it's funny cause I'm like, I'm still not running, but I don't really have too many complaints. Like it'll happen when it happens.

Speaker: Yeah. I find being at events that my athletes are at, it's addictive. i like it's It is the, you see all the hard work that they put in week after week, year after year to get ready for these events. And then actually being a chance to be there and see them go through it see them experience it, be there when they cross the finish line, highs or lows, like,

Speaker: Yeah, it is better than any race, any result that I've ever done getting to see that. And I feel like you'll start doing it, Brody, and be like, oh, crap, I'm going to end up being away all the time and you can't. But it's, yeah, it's such a good thing. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, so yeah that's all all from me, I guess. um as yeah hopefully Hopefully, maybe a run. I would like to do a run in China just because like it's it's a cool thing to do when you're traveling, but that'll be probably the earliest I can run, so I'm not sure I'll be doing much. That's exciting. um Yeah, I'd like to get out on course somewhere and have a look.

Speaker: Yeah, I'm excited excited for you to be able to start that because it's been such a long time and I'm also excited for the calf photos that you're going to send to the group chat after this call. Yeah, I'll just put one on Instagram, just like lots of different angles of my calf.

Speaker: Yeah, no context either. Just start spamming the story with the calf. if Fantastic. All right, well, enough about my calf. Let's ah get on to some news. um Yeah, we've got a few bits of news. We're going to sort of quickfire through a few because it's worth mentioning. um We've got the, at the moment, the Australian Backyard Ultra World Team Championships are on. I've been sort of being...

Speaker: bits and pieces covering this so my understanding is every nation has 15 runner team they all started at the same time in the world but they're doing their own course in their own uh like their own country so all the courses are technically a bit different um is that about right james yeah i don't know how much you're following Yeah, yeah. from From what I understand of this, it said they they do it in their home country. They all come together within their country to do it at at at a an event. But then it's this satellite championships, essentially, which we were saying before, like it's it's a really cool format because obviously people don't have to then travel internationally. They don't have to turn up. It takes away that thing of being done at disservice by the fact you have to fly fly internationally in time zones and they can do their creature comforts of bringing their own food and stuff. So it's, yeah, it's been, it's been fun to follow along, especially as I'm sure you're about to get into Australia's leading.

Speaker: Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, it's i don't I don't know if they, like I'm assuming they'll crown an overall winner as well, but um essentially at the ah the the main focus appears to be the team ah component, which is what we were sort of, James was saying, is very cool. So they add up all the yards that the team's, a yard is one lap, sorry for any who don't know. back at ultra speak um but they add up all the yards completed by the team so essentially the longer more of your team go for the higher team score you will get so at one point I think maybe our first runner dropped off before Japan lost their first runner and we were in second um but now because we've held

Speaker: the higher number of team runners still going, we have sort of got a growing lead at the moment, which is which is very cool to see. But obviously, that can change quite quickly. So at the moment, Australia is – and you can go to the World Team Championship website and watch all this live, which is pretty cool. There's nice dashboard you can have a look through.

Speaker: Australia is on 964 yards in first place. Japan is on 917 in second, and the United States is in third Australia has runners still going at yard sixty eight they're currently on ah whereas japan has ah seven still going United States have ten still going but must have lost people earlier so yeah really interesting to see um sort of like I'm not a huge back at ultra follower but um I don't know I really like this team element to it which is which is cool to watch It's going really interesting to see how this plays out. I remember, i think this is done every year. i remember following it the last time. And obviously right now there's there's a lot of people left in and it makes it kind of works out ah that yeah if you have more people, you're going to get more yards. But

Speaker: i think it must have been I think it was Belgium, and I think three of them went to pass the old world record and went on and just sort of went straight up to the leaderboard. So Belgium currently have eight, where we have 11. But if ah I think the most number of yards anyone in our team had was 100. That was Jonathan Ash, and he actually dropped first, I think, at 40 yards or something like that.

Speaker: And so if none of us guys have gone over 100, but I think the Belgians have at least three. Yeah, they've got three big scorers. Yeah. And the same for the US. I think they've got at least three that have gone over 100 as well. So as we got two, but they've both gone 111. going to be interesting to how that keeps playing. how we We'll just have to wait for the next two days to find out.

Speaker: Yeah, exactly. so And we've got a bunch of people in our team who are around their maximum or past their maximum that they've previously done. So we do have, you like you said, john Jonathan Ashton, 40s already gone. Dan Kamak is the next highest. He's 93. And then Tim Kakrezak.

Speaker: He won a back at ultra early in the year in 75. So theoretically, maybe he could go further. um But yeah, most of the others have got PBs in the 60s or 70s. So whether we slowly lose everyone, it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. um So yeah. Yeah, I'm curious to see at the moment in our team, Mathieu Dube is at 112% of his best. So he's ah he's obviously done 67 yards and his previous best was 60. So it's cool to see people putting in their best performance when it matters the most. And like you said, when they win an event, they've had to stop because the second person has had to stop.

Speaker: But it's fun to see. And they do have a great dashboard. This is really fun, like really easy to use. And I mean, watching some of the content coming out, because there's my alter ego, Brady Nankervis running, who is the more famous Nankervis. He...

Speaker: He's a bit of an influencer, so he has someone there doing some content and it's actually really interesting to see. Even more so than other back-out ultras, they're really like getting around each other, obviously trying to get their teammates out and about and onto the lap so that they can get more yards, which is, yeah, it's really cool to see that team aspect in action as well. It's not just individual results adding up to a team result. It's like some of these yards they're getting are because...

Speaker: they're getting around each other which um yeah it's pretty cool to see And the other aspect of the satellite element is, and they have a map view here, is obviously right now we're we're in the daylight, whereas the US is at nighttime. And so sort of seeing how the drops are going to shift based on time of day. And I've been looking at the number of countries, there's 67 countries that doing it, but you've got, don't know, it's just a ah really cool mix of of countries that have shown up for this. So yeah, fun to watch.

Speaker: There's so much data on here that I could say so many things, but i' I'm going to let people explore that and themselves. well One big downside of this competition is that there's no there's no like minimum of female runners. like I would like to see maybe an even even split of men and women in the team. like The Australian team is all men. We have no women in our team.

Speaker: I know the American team had some women. um Yeah, I feel like given the team aspect, it's not that whoever runs the furthest, it's most amount of yards accumulated. It would be very easy for them to have equal numbers of men and women in a team. So, yeah, I feel like that's maybe that'll be something that they...

Speaker: change in the future but for me looking from the outside it's and not being someone who knows back at ultra very well it feels like a very low-hanging fruit definitely and i think sims just announced that uh she's doing her backyard ultra publicly although maybe she did on the podcast last week i think yeah she did so maybe tim sim could be on the team in future that'd be cool yeah yourself Something you would do, Jess?

Speaker: What do you reckon? Not a chance. Yeah, I'm in that bucket. i enjoy watching it. I don't think it's something I will do. Yeah. Yeah, ah there's something about the king of the hill that kind of intrigues me.

Speaker: I think the change of terrain, seeing hey your body responds to all of that, also be really cool just to say ah you've kind of done an Everest times three, four, five, however far you go in elevation. But it's just like these guys are going so long now that I don't want to dedicate. like Assuming that you can do this in an okay state, I don't want to be out there for two to whatever these guys can do days. Not that I could go that far, but you know i mean Like it's, yeah, ah's that's too long.

Speaker: not so especially What do you reckon? Some sort of shorter version where you have to do it in like 40 minutes, not an hour. So it goes for a lot less, but still the team competition element. Yeah, I think either reduce the time so you actually have to run these things or I like the formats that are six or 12 hours long where the last lap is a race or something which you do get a few of those. So, or just, yeah, I think obviously we've seen the six day or the 24 hour format where it's just how far can you run in that time. Like I like things with an end point.

Speaker: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, same. Yeah, for sure. All right. Well, let's ah I did say quick fire through some news. I think the rest will be a bit quicker. um So the Moab 240 race, unfortunately, was cancelled mid ah mid-race ah because of flooding, high winds,

Speaker: I saw some footage of people trying to get like across a river and it looked very dangerous. um Yeah, unfortunately they to call it. We had an Australian running, was it Ben, i don't know how to say last name. Ben Cuffbra. Ben Cuffbra. was definitely going to say that wrong. And he was second last year, I think you were saying, James?

Speaker: Yeah, pretty sure it was last year. yeah So, yeah, shame that that race unfortunately got called off. I guess, yeah, an interesting, like I ah feel like we've maybe seen a little bit of that sort of stuff this year.

Speaker: But, yeah, maybe the climate changing affecting some of these events, especially given that we do our events in the outdoors. So maybe hopefully something we don't see too much more, but likely that we will see a little bit more of that in the future. Don't know if there's anything else to say about that. Not really. I think like from what I can understand, the race director has definitely made the right call. I actually think it might have the tale of a hurricane that came through. I heard that a different podcast. And so, and the destination trail races have an interesting standing on safety. Like at the start, you have to say, if I die, I die. yeah.

Speaker: I'm glad that they didn't actually try to live up to that and let people stop the race. And I think I heard another podcast that we talked about how it's not just the runners, it's the volunteers that are out there getting absolutely destroyed and putting their safety risks. Good call. We've had enough people pass away at events or recently, even going back to China well a few years ago, there there's no need to try and repeat that.

Speaker: Yeah, for sure. For sure. it Sounds like they made a good call. ah in ah Speaking of China, we have the, I feel like I've heard of this race a few times. We had the Tsaigou Trail, which has a huge prize pool, RMB 1.2 million. Do you know what that is in Australian?

Speaker: Yeah, it's two hundred it's just over 250,000 Australian. Okay, so that makes sense why it's attracting the sorts of people that it is. So Jim Walmsley is listed for the 105K as well as Courtney Dolwater in the 50. Also people like Tove Alexanderson who we haven't seen as much in the since, yeah, because she had to pull out of OCC, which would be cool to see. Naomi, sorry, go on.

Speaker: Oh, so she just raced the 30K at Le Templier where she won by 15 minutes again. But that's the first time we've seen her back. Okay, classic to doing Tove doing Tove things. But, yeah, be interesting to see her in this race in China. Naomi Lang, who had an incredible run at um OCC. Remy Bonet, who he ran OCC but had to pull out. um So, yeah, we've got some people doing some big back-end races. Esther Schillag as well. So um likely that that that race is sort of looking like it will become its own sort of powerhouse type of race. And be interesting see if it takes off in future years as well. Yeah, for again, from what I understand, it's one of, if not the biggest race in China. And it's always had names like Hayden Hawks has been there in the past, a bunch of the Salomon race. A lot of Salomon athletes have been there. But it's cool to see. Obviously, Jim is Hawker. So is Esther. So it's nice to see that it's attracting non-Salomon. Some others, yeah. When you have that prize pool, and I've got to assume they're also helping people get there, it would probably yeah makes it pretty...

Speaker: is it a big incentive to go and I think China as we're seeing with like the rise of Kylos and Trail and Antara in general they're putting a lot of focus into growing their they running market or taking their national international so yeah cool to see yeah so that's the end of October for anyone interested 30th and Yeah, the Saigo Trail, I think the Solomon Australia athletes got invited a few years ago. Should have gone. Cool, um yeah. I didn't really know what it was then, so it sounds like it sort of keeps growing. um Speaking about events, the Innersbrook Alpine Trail Run joins the World Trail Majors, so that's the – the big series that's sort of separate to UTMB that has ah races like the Vietnam race that Billy ran a few weeks ago and Mount Fuji, which some of our Australians ran earlier in the year, and in Australia, GPT-100. So, yeah, a new race.

Speaker: adding that and that's ah I guess roughly I think yeah you've added here James that's where the 2023 world mountain and trail running champs I'm sure it's on similar trails to that it sounds yeah pretty tough the 110 is hundred and twelve k with

Speaker: And the 42 is 43K with 2,400. Sounds pretty nice. They're nice mountains there, though. So beautiful. I went through there last year, I think, or two years ago.

Speaker: Very nice. So maybe one to add to you. bucket list and one more on events ruth croft uh wins diagonal day foo on reunion island uh she won the race in 27 13 23 um so yeah another huge uh win for ruth diagonal day foo i feel like in australia is not very well known maybe outside of france is less well known but it is sort of recognized as one of the

Speaker: I don't know, Big Four are we calling it? i don't I can't remember what the other one is, but it's like UTMB, Western States. Hard Rock. what Hard Rock. Yeah. yeah kind with a Similar type of intense races.

Speaker: Yeah. There's, there's, there's a name. There's a there's this website for it as well. Um, but remember if I find it, I'll send it to Sim for the show notes, but yeah, there's a whole list of people that have done all of them and what order that they typically do, the do the races in. Interestingly, diagonal day food tends to be the first one of the people that do all four, but it's interesting. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: Sounds tricky. saw that it's the longest version. So it's like 110 miles, around 10,000 meters. But from what I understand, the center of the island is really ah inhospitable, the best way to put it. Very technical, very humid, hard to access.

Speaker: And you can't use poles. Yeah. It sounds like you have to do all those climbs and descents without poles compared to, say, UTMB or Hard Rock. At least you don't have to think about it. so does that mean Ruth's won three of them now? has she won Hard Rock?

Speaker: No, she's not done Hard Rock. Okay. That's pretty impressive. So that's the one. And there must be just a few people that have won all four. Is there someone that has? assume maybe Courtney.

Speaker: Courtney has. Killian has. Pretty sure he'll in house. Probably, most likely. Yeah, interesting. Yeah, i'm not Yeah.

Speaker: Big race in France. I think the men's I was looking at had the top five were all French. But Tom Evans was running in here. I think he was like seventh or something. Yeah, he was seventh. Yeah. it's ah it's ah It is a competitive race. ah yeah, great. Another um notch in Ruth's belt. Such an incredible runner and trail runner. So, good on your oath. Cool.

Speaker: All right, that's the news. I think we covered a few of these questions. Maybe jump onto some results. do you want to read out these international ones, maybe, James? Yeah, so obviously not trail running, but we felt like we needed to give a shout out to last last weekend. So technically a week's old news, but Izzy Baddoyle set the new women's Australian marathon record at 2.20.38, which is taking 46 seconds off Jess Stenson's 2.21.24.

Speaker: I feel like if you listen to this podcast, you probably also are aware of the road running community and where we listen to those. to those So you've heard enough people talk about this, but it's just like it's epic to see. And if you listen to any of Izzy's interviews or look at her YouTube about the change of approach that she's done to get ready for this and the difference of mindset that she's done to get ready for this.

Speaker: it's yeah it's very much that like why not me this has been built over years it's all there like just just fine-tune few things and go out and shoot for it I yeah so cool to see I feel like Jess you're probably the more place to to say with this one but it was just yeah I gave me goosebumps when I i looked to the Chicago results on Monday morning and I was like oh damn see that's quick Yeah, I drew a lot of inspiration from Izzy for sure. Like I think her persistence in like, yeah, like how many goes she's had at it now and to finally like crack that Aussie record, like it's been a long time coming. um And just in the past like six months to a year where she's

Speaker: really recognized like big things that she needed to change that would have been pretty scary for her, I think. Like particularly with the change in coach moving away from one of Australia's biggest or like most elite coaching um groups, I think that would have been pretty scary. And to see it pay off is really cool and inspiring. And I think like her approach like she's super logical but also like has that kind of calm confidence about her i think it yeah it's it's awesome i really like her youtube videos yeah they're gonna get on a youtube i haven't watched them but i love listening to izzy and like i've And she's another person. She's a person that I take a lot of inspiration from because she's she's so clinical. But like you said, she's so she's so thorough but also not overly like gets too stuck in the details. um I did listen to her. She's spoken. They've done um interviews with her a couple of times on Inside Running Podcast this year, including one last week after the marathon. And just, yeah, such a good listen.

Speaker: um Love hearing from her. And she speaks so well. So, yeah, would – recommend that and it sounds like I need to get on the YouTube. yeah yeah i definitely would it's it's getting hard to keep up with with all the youtube channels now out there especially if you do follow like the road and the trail side of things and that's just if you just follow running but this is definitely one i would i would recommend outside of izzy i feel bad for putting ian after this but uh ian best has has been been at it again not not quite setting the the australian marathon record unfortunately for ian but uh so we actually we missed last week he had a fourth at a race called the pelton 2000 And then i pretty sure that this was all this week or this might, might just be his highlights, but he had the, this week he definitely had the Val Bregaglia trail where he came second overall. And on his travel, he did have in the, in the title, second at KV Lagunuk, which I think, and a second at the combined KV and VB, which I think is ah kind of his podiums from his season racing over in Europe. He did say that this is his racing season done, where the, it stays that way we'll we'll be kind of wait to see with ian i know they're still over there for a bit longer but yeah he's had a pretty impressive year and doing a lot of very cool races with some beautiful photos like so some of the places that he's been able to get to is yeah quite uh quite envious of of of those opportunities but it's it's great to see and great to see this be interesting to see what he comes back

Speaker: with shape wise and what he dials in for next year because he's done a bit of ah of a variety of events and I think it's exciting to see what this can do with to his fitness and his shape and his confidence as he at some point comes back to our shores and shows us what he can do in in Australia. Yeah, definitely. And the Peloton 2000 was ah like a double VK, which is cool. Yeah, sorry. two thousand m One day.

Speaker: That'll be very fun. Sure. Nice one. ah Jess, do you want to take us to BlackOwl 100? We'll go domestic results now. Yep.

Speaker: So at the Black Hole 100, which is 100 Ks, um in the men we had Lowry in first place in 10 hours 7 minutes um and then Chris Beasley was second in 10 hours 37 and Madjo Backhanson was third in 10 52. Yeah.

Speaker: a And then for the ladies, ah Bihar Bali was first in 11 hours 08, Catherine Parkinson was second in 11 hours 26, and Megan Brown was third in 12 hours and 10 minutes. Just before you go onto the 50K, Jess, something we we but didn't necessarily miss last week because it's a road race, but the Gold Coast 50, which is a 50K road event.

Speaker: But we had two two names in the women's field that we've seen racing ah quite a bit this year. First was, well, in first place was Jemima Cooper, I think I need to get results in front of me, but she ran a ridiculously quick time. She came third overall in three hours, 17.46, which I think was a three, ah four minute pace from memory looking at this. So yeah, it's really, really impressive. No, sorry.

Speaker: Three, three. Yeah. It might have even been lower faster than, oh, three, three 57. So yeah, very similar. um But also Zoe Manning, who came fourth female in a time of three 37. then now Jess, you may go to the 50k at uh at blackhall yeah so i guess the interesting context behind that is that in the 50k at blackhall this weekend um the female winner was zoe manning so she backed up the week later with another which is pretty impressive um yes

Speaker: Yeah. um So, yeah, I wonder if she was kind of taking the weekend before a little bit easier. would be interesting to catch up with her before Asia Pacific Champs to talk about her block. But, um yeah, she took out the win 4 hours 43. Lou second hours Nicole Miller was in hours in 4 hours 14.

Speaker: and then for the men jordan ryan was first in four hours fourteen And then Mark Boyk was second in four hours, 49. And Dustin Phillips was third in five hours, 02. Yeah. I have to imagine. I'd say quick, look, Zoe's marathon PB from last year was 247, which is a 357 pace. And then she ran Gold Coast at 420. So I'd have to imagine that's not a full race effort for her, Gold Coast 50.

Speaker: That would, yeah, seems like more of a steady effort. Yeah. Cool. Nice. Nice. also Do we have a Oh, there's a twenty one k there. Yeah, there's also a 21K at the Black Hole 100. For the ladies, we had Lydia O'Donnell in first place and a course record um in one hour 34.

Speaker: um So cool to see Lydia jumping in the trails again because she's a very strong roadrunner that's only just kind of making the transition. um so I think UTA...

Speaker: 50 was her best first kind of like big trial race. So i think I think she does have some big ones in store for later in the year, but I'll let her announce that when she's ready. um And then second was Tatum Green in the ladies in 1 hour 47. And then third was Cara Landels in 1 53. Yeah.

Speaker: um And then in the men, first place was Nick Mooney in 1 hour 31.05. then second was Tim in hour in 1 hour 31.43. all within 40 seconds.

Speaker: racing. Yeah.

Speaker: so all within forty said racing each other that's a good race yeah and then yeah i guess lydia was yeah fifth in 134 22 so um is it all pretty close up the front there um fantastic great running up there black hole looks like a cool event um some big names uh out there running which uh and some really good results um ah We touched on, we've obviously talked about some of Roller Coaster, but we'll get into the results. um I can lead this one because I was seeing a bit of the action out on the trails. So we'll start with the 46K and the women. Obviously, we talked about this a lot already, but Jess was first in 407.58. Second was Alice McGushin in 4 hours 41.28. And third was Kelly Angel for 49.15. So all three of those headed to Asia Pacific Champs in a few weeks.

Speaker: In a few months, in less than a month, in a month. It's getting yeah just around the corner now. So that's exciting. ah In the men's race, Mike Carroll took the win again a few minutes shy of his ah time from last year. He ran 3.36.40. Josh Managed to hang on and only lose a little bit of time in mostly in that sort of last 20% of the course. He ran three hours, 42.03. And third was Billy Mitchum in 4.09.30. And I think Jess got past him just at the end there. He was telling me after the race. So, yeah, some good racing there from all of them. Very cool to watch that race unfold because I got to see everyone four times. Yeah, it's great from a spectator's perspective of that one, getting to see everyone come through. I was really ah impressed by Josh. I think he's taken about nearly 15 minutes off his time from last year. um He won in 2024. I think he was second last year, second again. um But yeah, big time PB. And yeah, when he was in with Mike and Reece Edwards was there for the first lap as well, at the start, I was like, oh, this looks hot, this looks fast. And I was sort of...

Speaker: thinking again maybe he's going to drop off. But, yeah, he he looked really good. i think the second time I saw him, he looked like he was struggling and i was like, oh, I wonder what he'll be like when he came back. And then the third and fourth time I saw him, he looked better.

Speaker: um So, yeah, he definitely had a ah good ah finish and he kept – Kept a hang on a hold on to it. So, yeah, great race. And, yeah, it was good to see Alice out there. She looked very calm and collected all day. Kelly, I saw her when I was foolishly walking my bike up Dodds at the end of the day and she looked like she was chilling. So she had a good time out there as well, I think. Yeah.

Speaker: definitely She looked a lot better than all the people I saw around her at that time at the race. so she's yeah I feel like it's a pretty mean way when when you're out there for your essentially just doing it doing a long run as part of and the event. Obviously having greg a great time supporting the event, which I love for people to do. But everyone around you is hurting because they're obviously pushing themselves to the max and you're just kind of like going along. i would be i'd I'd probably tell the person to get behind me and shut up and just stay away.

Speaker: Just be like, let me focus on feeling bad. Yeah, yeah, fantastic. ah In the 23K in the women's race, Kate Avery took the win again.

Speaker: yeah She didn't run last year. She ran in 2024 and 2023. She took her own course record in time

Speaker: Absolutely flying. It was a bit warm, I think, maybe by the 23K they started at 10 a.m., um so definitely not ideal conditions. so a fantastic time from Kate to come in first there. Jess Ronan was in second ah late. I think she got into second in the the tail end of the course, 2.01.25, and Lucy third off the back of mar Melbourne Marathon the last weekend. so and That was the the women's race. only saw these ah twice, so got a little less information. Kate looked very good all day. um Yeah, Jess looks strong. She always looks just strong, and she's ah another solid second place for her.

Speaker: Yeah, Jess came through late, though. Like when I went past them, like Lucy was in front of her by maybe like a minute or two. Yeah, okay. Yeah, she only overtook them in the last...

Speaker: Like, I don't know, it would have been 5K or so. Yeah, both times I saw her at the age, she looked very in control. So that sort of, I guess that fits with having a good, strong finish. Yeah.

Speaker: Great. And in the men's race, ah it was the top three that me and James thought it was going to be. Probably wasn't the order that I thought it was going to be, but Patrick Clark took the win in one hour, 40-47.

Speaker: Curtis Scott in second in 1 hour 41.57. And third place, James Barnett in 1 hour 46.47. So a little bit off the back of the top two. All in the youth category, which is very cool to see. I think the 23K, the top four at least, maybe the top five, are all in the youth category. um So, yes, some very strong young runners in the 23K on the men's side. Another win for Pat Clark looking good ahead of...

Speaker: Asia Pacific champs again for him as well. um So yeah, that was the 23K. Yeah, it didn't get as much from that because when they're running through, they're just sort of the 23K runners just run through looking fast. So you don't get as much information maybe as the It's impressive. I'm on their website right now and they've already updated the course records list with two days removed. Right on to it.

Speaker: Yeah. But I am curious why they start it at 9am for the 9 the 46 and 10 for the 23. It's

Speaker: like i i get that the sort of the registration everything is is on the day but it just feels a bit late given that we are often coming into warmer conditions by now and for the 46k the i can't remember exactly what the cutoff is but if but you're out there for a while it's going to be a pretty pretty hot day um maybe ah especially thinking about the the faster side of the field and and kind of not keeping people out necessarily it would be nice to see that come forward a little bit but I'm sure they have their reasons. I enjoyed the 9 a.m. start because meant I didn't have to get up as early.

Speaker: yeah I loved it. I think all races should be like that, to be honest. Yeah, I hate getting at like 4 a.m. m to eat your food. Yeah, the rest of the world does it like that. I don't know why Australia has to be so early.

Speaker: It's hot. Probably because it's hot. But again, James, we keep saying they should move the rollercoaster dates, not to the weekend after Melbourne Marathon. Perfect. Yes. they They should do that first.

Speaker: Yeah, do that first. and then And then it's happy. But and i I don't know. I just... I'd also, I reckon they do that because that allows people to drive in from Melbourne to do on the day. So they, they get up at five o'clock, drive there six to whatever, long it takes to get out there. So I can see why they would do it, but I think that it's, it's one thing to like it when you're going to take four hours. It's a very different thing to like this when you're going to take eight hours plus out there. And so it's, yeah, I just don't, I don't know. To keep everyone happy.

Speaker: Of course. Yep. Yep. As quickly, the 12K Joe Dorff, race director, won the men's race in 58 minutes. I'll call these out because they're quite close. Alexander Van Kriken, also a youth runner, 58.41, and Hayden Barnett, who ran the in the morning, he ran one hour and 11. And in the women's category, Harley Shannon was first in 1-10-19. Second was Irish Chennault in 1-11-14, who's in the Asia-Pacific team. And Gillian Turnbull was third in 1-11-48. So, yes, some close running in the 12K there.

Speaker: um That was roller coaster. And I think that's all of our results for the week. Yeah, it' was pretty light on in terms of number of events, just two. kind of One of Queensland's, if not if not Queensland's biggest, and one of Vic's biggest, yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, it must be. I reckon, is the Gazla or a Blackall bigger? Blackall might be bigger. You'd have to ask someone Queensland. Yeah, somewhere in Queensland you can tell. I don't want to that one wrong. Maybe because the Black Hole has the iconic Black Hole 100. I feel like it's got the iconic piece to it. Anyway, that's some musings that I'm unqualified to talk about. The race is coming up next weekend. We've got Pembe Trail Fest in WA. Run Babibula Fest.

Speaker: I can't say this word. I'm so glad you're reading this bit out because I can't do either. Biblium. How do you say that? How do you say this? Bibiuman. Yeah, was so far off.

Speaker: I'm not going to say it again. Track stage run. That looks like a cool race though. I'd like to do that. There's super super nice trails down there. ah Great Ocean Trail Ultra, Hasten Trail Ultra Marathon in South Australia, Paluma Ultra in Queensland, Paluma Village Trail Run in Queensland, which I imagine is Maybe the same event, two different races. Southeast Queensland Trail Series in Pomona. So a fair bit happening weekend coming up.

Speaker: um What have you guys got on next week? Jess, recovering? Yeah, recovering, moving house, all that fun stuff. I'm not sure those two things go very well together. I was just thinking that. But no, I'm taking it pretty easy this week with training. So hopefully that helps with moving.

Speaker: So will you guys obviously have like a recovery week this week and then a few weeks build again and then taper in? Or like, Do you what you're going Yeah, I think it's pretty important to recover from that effort, especially because I probably did go a bit harder planned. Yeah.

Speaker: So, I definitely will take this week easy. and i'm I'm not sure what next week will be, but I would imagine maybe just one session. Yeah. Very nice. James, what have you got coming up?

Speaker: Going down to Melbourne on well Friday, but for Saturday. yeah We're having coffee. We are having coffee. That's the most exciting part of my week, Brady. Yeah, so... Excited.

Speaker: Come down doing the strength and conditioning masterclass thing down there and... Yeah, otherwise, just getting like it's getting into the busy period events-wise. like Obviously, roller coaster is a busy one, but as we start to come into GPT, I've got a bunch of people doing the Mylar and other events, so we're getting the final dials on there.

Speaker: UTK, there's a lot going on up at upper COSI and then Asia-Pacifics as well. So it's getting into the the busy busy period of the year. Yeah, busy for podcasting, busy for coaching, busy for running. There's lot going on. Yeah, we've got a lot of previews. Yeah, that's another nothing thing we've got. Oh, yeah, I've got in an interview this week, which will be with Steph Austin as well, which would be fun to do. Oh, cool.

Speaker: Fantastic. You have a few previews coming up. uh yeah nice well i've yeah much of the same gotta gotta get get all the finishing touches ready for some races coming up and and then yeah it's the thing the the wheels are turning with asia pacific so exciting that's uh coming around very quickly so fantastic thanks for listening everyone and hope you enjoyed this episode and we'll catch you next time bye guys see you guys