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Episode 30: Blake Turner's Podium at APTRC!
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Welcome to Episode 30 of Peak Pursuits, your ultimate podcast for everything trail running in Australia. This week’s episode is hosted by Sim Brick, Jess Jason, and guest host Blake Turner fresh off his podium performance at APTRC Short Trail!. Hear how it went down, the lessons both Jess and Blake learned from the race, and then all the usual segments!
Start - 33:30 :- Blake and Jess’ Race Recaps
Hear Blake and Jess recap their races representing Australia at the Asia Pacific Trail Champs including lessons learned, mistakes made, how they both pulled off such strong performances on the day.
33:30 - 1:04:20 :- Training Talk
Blake, Jess and Sim then recap where they are at now, with Jess contemplating another race for the year at UTK while Blake starts his off season and Sim puts down a 200km 7 day block as she builds up for her first 100km.
1:04:20 - 1:08:15 :- Listener Question
The team answer the question ‘What is the toughest race you have ever done?’
1:08:15 - 1:13:10 - :- Race Results
We then cover a few Aussie and International races that went down over the weekend:
Four Peaks: https://my.raceresult.com/316112/results#0_421451
Feral Pig Ultra: https://my.raceresult.com/314019/#0_80CC55
1:13:10 - End : What’s coming up
Hear the races that are coming up next weekend before we wrap up the episode!
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_
Jess: @jessjason
Blake: @blaketurner_bt
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter
License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
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Transcript
Introduction and Setup
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 30 of the Peak Pursuits podcast, The Big Three Zero. My name is Simone Brick. Coming at you this week from Broadbeach, Queensland, um and this week I am joined by Jess Jason back in Canberra after a trip to South Korea. How are we going Jess?
Weather and Local Updates
00:00:28
Speaker
Hey guys, yeah feeling good, going well, enjoying the Canberra sunshine. It feels like summer's pretty close.
00:00:35
Speaker
It does. The whole eastern seaboard at least. I'm not sure what it's like over west this week, but jeez, it's warm over here now.
Guest Host Blake Turner
00:00:42
Speaker
It's nice. And blake Blake Turner is our guest ah host this week after an absolute ripper run to podium at the Asia Pacific Short Trail.
00:00:53
Speaker
Blake, how are you going and where are you at at the moment? Yeah, thanks for having me on. um I'm all right. It's been a bit of a slow return after Asia Pacific. um I'm at home, ah just resuming normal duties with work and trying to return to running. Nice. And what what is work for you again? Me, I'm a building in commercial construction. Oh, nice. Just it and big building buildings.
00:01:16
Speaker
building big buildings. Wow, that that does not sound easy to put around training. No, it makes it for like, you're always running on tired legs. um But I think it's a bit of an extra bonus training throughout the day, you know, time on feet. That's how I see it. Oh, no, already. I think I dropped out for a second there, but I'll edit this out. I'm back.
Blake's Race Reflections
00:01:38
Speaker
Anyways, now for those who This is their first introduction to Blake. I will point you all back towards our episode that we did just before the Golden Trail National Series final, because we get a bit of an introduction to Blake then, before... What did you end up coming in that race? Fourth, I do believe, in that race. Okay, that's what it was. Yep. Yep. Nice. And that put you top three overall in this series? Yeah, third overall, yep. Yeah, nice. Yeah, good take, drop down a few spots, yep.
00:02:09
Speaker
yeah Yep, ran this, ran himself off his own legs. yeah um Very nice. Okay, cool. And then from there, um I've seen you, like, I feel like you've gone from strength to strength in terms of racing. and You've, since then, you've done OCC, where you managed to sneak into the top 30.
00:02:27
Speaker
Yeah, correct. So that was probably my one of two main aims for the year, OCC. um Try and get over there and mix it up with the Europeans and Americans. Yeah, 29th male overall, which was acceptable in the day. It was amazing. Like you came through the field late. It was really, really cool to see. Yeah, it was a, it was a toughish day, like warm. um And ah yeah, I felt decent until maybe, I don't know, 15 K to go. Then it got pretty tough and then it was pretty much just a slog fest from everyone to get to the end without losing too many spots. I'm not sure anyone feels good up for this year. Well, yeah, the lead female took me at La Fleur. I call it La Fleur, but La Fleur's here. She pretty much ran the whole way up that hill like heel, like I was looking down and she was running it up and I'm like, Jesus Christ, I wish I felt like that today.
00:03:18
Speaker
Yeah, Meow is pretty amazing. She's a very incredible human being. So yeah, wow. that's ah That's very cool. And then how did you go backing that up in training wise and prep wise for Asia Pacific? Yeah, so it was about a touch over seven weeks. um And I was, the idea was to get straight back into training with a couple of days off with like travel and what I traveled pretty soon after. ah But I managed to develop a really decent blister.
00:03:48
Speaker
Um, which I never had. It was on the, um, the arch of my, my right foot. Um, and I literally couldn't run. So it was like a week and a half before I could run. I couldn't even put like, uh, shoes on to go cycling for cross training. So it probably wasn't the end of the world, but it kind of was getting a bit antsy to get back in to a bit more training.
00:04:09
Speaker
Um, but, but once I got over that pretty much, I was, I was ready to go. So I had, yeah. So I got some decent weeks in, uh, you can't have like, there's not too many weeks in between you miss that week. And then you've got to, um, come down again, but yeah, I had a bit of a niggle in between. So I had to reduce my long runs, uh, between the races. So I maxed out at almost two hours as my long run, which is, uh, not ideal.
00:04:37
Speaker
Um, well, sorry, that was after this one, but yeah, so I was just had a few niggles going into it. And, um, but I felt good. I felt good leading into it. Had a bit of time in Europe prior to that race, uh, to get a feel for that some long descents, which I think really helped having those long steep descents, um, to condition the legs. Um, that's what kind of got me a bit more confident, gotten the course a bit, and then, um, just felt pretty good on the day and.
00:05:03
Speaker
Yeah, managed to run, run decently. Uh, it wasn't, you know, ABC goal. Probably that was my C kind of like goal for the race, you know, top 30, but, um, I still managed to get out of line feeling all right and, um, yeah be able to run off that.
Asia Pacific Race Strategy
00:05:18
Speaker
Yeah, good. Good. Well, you did very, very well in that black.
00:05:23
Speaker
Putting two races like that together um is hard in one season and when they're so close. And I'm not sure anything ever goes perfectly in between. Sometimes those little niggles can actually be a blessing in disguise for not letting you cook yourself um in between races after such a big effort. Because OCC is not short. like it's ah It's a very long and arduous 56. Yeah.
00:05:48
Speaker
Yeah, hours which was a bit longer than I thought it was going to take that race. But I think that that kind of set me up leading into the training for Asia Pacific. It set me up with the with the legs and also that that long run kind of brought me up. So I didn't really need to put the the longer runs in leading at the age Pacific, which I thought I might have had to. Yeah. OK. Nice. Nice. And we may as well go straight there now because we'll hear from you and then we'll hear from Jess because we're going to get Jess's recap finally of her race as well.
00:06:18
Speaker
um both of you in the top five, so happy days there. But ah Blake, we'll keep going with you just quickly. You can give us give us the brief of what happened at Asia Pacific, how it was for you, what your thoughts were throughout the race, and how the ending panned out because it was a bit of a is a bit of an interesting one.
00:06:36
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. like It was good. There was a good lead up. There was a good vibe in the team. Everyone had their different intel on the competition, which was good, because I don't really get into the nitty-gritty into the weeds, that kind of thing. But a lot of the boys that had done their intel on the competition. um And they were feeding it out, and and and who was the main contenders, and and what their tactics were, and and the like. And I've been training with Billy on course a fair bit prior.
00:07:03
Speaker
And we kind of knew what paces we needed to do to feel good throughout the race. So we knew Charlie and a few other boys were going to go half a line. Um, well, that's their style. Um, just, just, yeah, go from the gun. And we were, I was kind of like, all right. Um, I've always done decent in races when I just, uh, I pace myself and I can come through running pretty much the same at the end of the start. So we started off pretty.
00:07:28
Speaker
pretty decently, a decent clip up the first hill, and then we set it into our rhythm. yeah We let the lead we let lead pack go off, pack of about 10 or 11. And they ran the first climb and where we thought, well, my myself, I thought, if I run the steepest parts here, I'm going to be busted later. So we ended up power hiking, running the first kind of climb.
00:07:49
Speaker
We ended up getting overtaken by a few people and we're about 12th or at the first top of the first climb. um But I knew that second climb, which was more of a gradual kind of gravel ah road section, um that was where you could make up time. And I knew that was really runnable.
00:08:07
Speaker
and I just bided my time and um so off the first climb it was a little bit techie coming down some stairs like with some spaces between like there was a step and then there was nothing and there's step and nothing and I kind of caught my Yeah, it was like, I couldn't believe how slow I was going on those, those stare to sense it was a little bit embarrassing on my behalf. I'm like, this is not like this is pretty, pretty sad. um But yeah, I would just have to stop myself from falling over or slipping over and whatnot, like by missing a step and not judging a step. And then just, I took
00:08:40
Speaker
I chose to take a vest. It was two days out. It was either a belt or vest. I took a vest and I said, listen, I'm just going to be happier if I have everything on me. So I started off with two bottles, where's people start off with one and all my nutrition. So I just ran through the first aid. I didn't stop and, um, and I just set off on the next climb. And then I just started reeling in a few guys. I reeled in the two, uh, Filipino runners, um, and New Zealand runner. Um, he wasn't having a great day out.
00:09:10
Speaker
and I dropped Billy there and I just kept on kept on pushing up that hill um to the top of that climb, feeling really good. and It was nice, it was it was beautiful conditions, like the nice breeze coming over, like it was nice and cool at the top. So it felt good. And then um when you hit the top of that climb,
00:09:26
Speaker
It gets, so that's when it gets a little bit um tricky on the course, I think, where it starts with a stair descent um into like a technical rocky steep kind of choose your own adventure through the forest. nice um So the stairs were really slow once again. And I'm like, this, I'm going to get caught by everyone here. But I kind of held up like one stair at a time where training with
Podium Finish and Anti-Doping
00:09:48
Speaker
lad, he was like a monster downstairs, even in training, like,
00:09:53
Speaker
you'd look up and you'd be gone. like you just it's just If you have a technique on those stairs, you can make up so much time, I think. like He was doing two or three at a time and just like running normally. in Whereas me and and and Bill and whatnot, we were like one stair at a time like yeah sideways. it was pretty yeah It was hard to get used to. But anyway, as far as you could, into the forest, and then it got a little bit Yeah, it was really I felt I was going pretty slow. I had some really high stack shoes on which I thought would benefit me on the more runnable spots. But I was rolling my ankle like every third step and like, I don't know doing the splits and and kind of just trying to stay upright. That was my main goal was to try and not like keep moving and stay upright. Like I had no focus. I was just like just run wherever your feet land. So be it just just don't fall.
00:10:44
Speaker
yep um And I don't think it was super fast, but I held my spot, but I got to the bottom and the two Filipina runners I passed quite a while earlier when, as I was leading the aid aid, they were just coming in. So they made up a fair amount of time on that techie descent. So there's definitely some work to do there, but that's the second aid was where we saw Brody, who was, um, crewing for us that day, which was a good, and he was telling us, you know,
00:11:11
Speaker
someone's this far ahead, someone's that far ahead. So it was good to have him there, just feeding some intel. um And as I was heading out, I saw Vlad heading back in, walking, and I was was pretty surprised. And I'm like, he's like, I'm sorry, like, I've got to pull out. I'm like, are you all right? He's like, yeah, it's all good, it's all good. And then I was like, all right, here we go now, you know, it we've all got to finish, you know.
00:11:33
Speaker
yeah yeah to get some points. But then the next section was like road for five, six K and it was pretty steep, but it was all runnable. I felt good. So I felt I moved good through that section. Um, and I ended up passing Charlie on the out and back to the last aid, aid three, which at that point I still thought he was probably in first because he was moving really good at the start. And I'm like, Oh, great. Well, I'm pretty close to the sub of the, to the pointy end here, but, and I never, I think he was overtaken by a few players. So.
00:12:01
Speaker
I never saw anyone else in between that out and back. um But I didn't stop at that eight again because i I had my bottles and I just kept going. And I'm like, this last climb, i and I'd done it before in training. And I was like, all right, it's not that bad. Just push. Like, it's a one more climb to go. So I started and I started pushing. I could see Charlie and I was kept. I was reeling him in and I was moving quite good really quickly.
00:12:24
Speaker
well what I felt and um I pulled him in and I said, how you going, mate? And he's like, I fell over in the techy bit. I kind of hit me knee and whatnot. And he's like, and then he, at that point, he's like, I'm getting flashbacks of a UTA last year where the same thing happened the last climb. And I'm like, sorry, mate. I don't mean it is to do this to you, but um and I was just,
00:12:43
Speaker
I was just willing him along. I'm like, come on, let's go. Let's like keep moving. But he didn't he didn't have it in. like i'll hope I wish we could run together and like as a pack and hunt the boys down in front of us. But um but I just kept pushing on. and And it felt really good. And then it got to the top of the climb. I overtook a Japanese runner who was who was busted on the last stair section.
00:13:04
Speaker
yeah um And once you hit that, the top of the last climb, it's pretty much just runnable downhill for 5k, well 4k, road, concrete road. And I knew just go as hard as you can because we don't want to get caught this late in the race. And it was good. There was a lot of um tourists up the top there and it was good to have some people on course. And they' they're so happy over there, like cheering. and aht I don't understand what they're saying, but yeah, they're clapping you on. At that point, there was someone, a spectator, or someone that was watching the race, and he told me, yeah, number five. And I said, sweet. Okay, five. I'm decently happy with that. Let's go. Let's push. ah Towards the bottom of the climb, I ended up seeing a Chinese runner with a cameraman behind him.
00:13:48
Speaker
Just as we head into the forest about 150 meters away and I'm like, all I could probably push and I could probably try and catch this guy and get move up a spot and it entered the jungle or the forest section, which is the last maybe I don't know how long it was 800 meters or whatever it is. ah Okay, a pretty technical descending.
00:14:05
Speaker
um before the finish and I was just going. I just had turned my brain off and just kamikaze mode. I'm like, I didn't care. Running in the trees, just jumping down ledges. yeah yeah i didn't like I'm like, whatever happens now, I'm going to make it to the finish. um Didn't see anyone. Got up.
00:14:22
Speaker
across the river, ran into the um into the finish line. I could hear things behind me, but I didn't know what it was. And I ran over the finish line and everyone was there, all the all the rest of the team. and And I was ecstatic. I'm like, yeah, fifth, like this is great. like this is like I was pretty happy. and i Celebrate over the finish line, which probably too much for someone that comes fifth. That's good enough. I know. and was I was running around. I was i super happy. And then there was someone following me around, the anti-doping guy, that um my chaperone.
00:14:50
Speaker
And then I went over to see the team and I was like, Oh yeah. And I'm like, Oh, how far behind our first was I? And then they're like, Oh, and I, so I looked at the, we had a big, there was a big live stream in a, in a live position update. And I looked at it and I said third. And I said, did I just come third? And they're like, yeah. And I'm like, Oh my God. And then I started celebrating again. i'm like I'm like, that's pretty cool. Yeah. Third. And I'm like, yeah, but then it was good to have everyone there at the end. And, um, but then I was whisked into anti-doping and kind of two hours later.
00:15:19
Speaker
I got out because I ah couldn't pee. I was there for two hours and everyone else had crossed and finished and celebrated and and I got out and I was like, yeah, I'm like, yeah, pretty cool. So it was a good experience. like tab it like I've gone the wrong way before a few times. I feel for the people, but you just got to be in the race and, you know, it's trail running. Anything can happen. Like someone could get injured or but go the wrong way. And if you just got to, you got to push to the end to try and fight for those spots. And in the end, it was, yeah, it was a decent result. And I'll start like, I was pretty happy. Like I'm like, yeah.
00:15:55
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I was hoping like the Aussie team I'm like, ah before I'm like, I was thinking, do you know what, if we ever go here, we can we can go for like, in the short mail, we can go for one or two. That's what I was hoping. So I'm glad that I could kind of try and help out in that regard um to try and get us up there a bit. And yeah.
00:16:12
Speaker
on the volume You did great and I'll just fill in that a bit of context there because I'm not sure if we made it clear that yeah you were fifth at the top of the climb and you didn't see anyone and and thought you were still in fifth because the two people ahead of you took wrong turns.
00:16:26
Speaker
um Yeah, exactly right. That is part of trail running. We've all been there, done it before. And if it's, um as I've always said, if everyone goes the wrong way, it's on the race. But if it's one person, then ah that's part of trail running and you've got to keep it. It's about you at all times and that's that's on the runner. So yeah, it's ah thought of it part of the getting the win is staying on the course.
00:16:48
Speaker
so You've done amazing. like i'm sorry I love that you got to celebrate twice because you got your result twice.
Race Challenges and Recovery
00:16:57
Speaker
I'm glad and as as much as it took away a bit of the finish line atmosphere, I'm glad anti-doping was there. That's a good sign. We want them there.
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah, it was good. Yeah. Like I was walking around that whole time I finished, someone put something over my neck. I had no idea what it was, but it said third place male, but I didn't ever look down to see what it said. So I was walking around this whole time and it said third place male. And I'm like, Oh, what? I just thought it was whatever like a finishing medal or whatnot. Yeah. And it was a bit odd, but, but yeah, it was good to see that. Yeah. That ah they're taking it seriously in that regard in the, in the doping aspect and whatnot and trying to, trying to keep it a ah level playing field.
00:17:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think I tested um the top three in every race, so that was pretty good. be Yeah, normally it should be podiums and then a few random um selections and from the rest of the field.
00:17:47
Speaker
But Jess, you were out there on course. You've experienced it all. You've got any questions? but yeah like see um ah yeah like um Yeah, it's funny like how kind of similar my experience was to like what you were just describing. And actually that actually really surprises me because like my takeaway was that the course really suited like super like people that are super strong on like the technical terrain. So I assumed you were going to say like you just flew on that little rocky like rock-rocking section but yeah I was surprised to hear that you were saying you were like just trying to stay upright so that kind of makes me feel a little bit better about my race oh because
00:18:29
Speaker
Yeah like pretty similar like I felt like I did the first climb pretty strong like sort of made sure I wasn't overcooking myself but sort of knowing that the uphill was my strength so trying to like gain a bit of time on that section um but yeah as soon as I hit those like planky things at the top I just felt like a bloody like giraffe on ice skates like I was just not like just yeah I couldn't match my cadence to like the distance of the planks and Trish caught up to me and like a few other girls caught up to me at that spot. So I was like, oh, this is not good. And then, yeah, once we got to that technical bit along the creek, I just lost like so much time. I was just really out of depth. I had no idea sort of how to run um like ah yeah run at a decent pace on those rocks. and
00:19:19
Speaker
um found it like mentally quite difficult as well like um just like really hard to sort of stay switched on and like stay wanting to like push through when it's just like so choppy and changing and like yeah i don't know that's what i was gonna i was gonna ask and say that i'm glad you got to hear what blake said because um I feel like half of that technical terrain is that it's almost always slow. like No matter how fast you're going on it, you feel like you're going slow because you'd obviously be going faster if it was less technical. But half of it is mental and not stressing about that fact. Because as soon as you start stressing about the fact that you're going slow, you hold like you can hold a lot more tension. and like you It's never going to flow if you're worrying about it the whole time. or like And that comes with time. It 100% comes with like time and experience and also realizing that
00:20:12
Speaker
every single person going across that terrain kind of feels the same. Where like, it's like, okay, it's slow, just stay on my feet, please don't die. Like don't fall. Is no matter how good the runner is, ah almost everyone has those thoughts. um It's more just trying to stay relaxed and flow in it. Like as Blake was describing, he was just like trying to stay on his feet and just almost let it come um as it comes. So.
00:20:37
Speaker
Yeah, it's like you're not ah you're definitely not alone in thinking and feeling like that because everyone everyone does. It's just with time, I feel like you get better at feeling like that, but sort of flowing anyway a bit better. Yeah, for sure. um yeah and like like Did you find you sort of pulled up a little bit better from this race than other races? Yeah, surprisingly, I did not feel that bad after this race. lie I had some niggles which flared up, but the body in general, I could have ran a couple days after. The doms weren't that bad. like it ah Yeah, I'm with ya. It was forgiving, yes. It was my kind of race. like If it was an all-out road race, yeah, for sure, it might have been different. The faster guys might have been me, but there was enough varied terrain in there, and you know you weren't bashing your legs for hours on an end that, yeah, you could you could survive.
00:21:31
Speaker
Yeah, I was really surprised at how I felt after because like after Hounslow, I was absolutely cooked like for a couple of weeks and even struggled to sort of get back into training for this one. So I was like, oh, my God, like, what am I going to feel like after this? But like I felt 10 times better, um which has yeah been really surprising and kind of kind of nice, to be honest. Yeah, I think it's those races. Yeah. Yeah. So they bring you up like the Hounslow probably brought that that up, brought your legs and and everything up. So you were at that next level where you could tolerate that kind of hard effort for that long, the same as when I did OCC. I think without a race like that, a longer, harder race, I probably would have pulled up not as good after this race too, but it's just that another step to yeah to get your body ready for racing hard. Yeah, for sure. And um how did the rest of the race pan out after that first technical section for you, Jess? Like the rest of the descending and climbs,
00:22:29
Speaker
What was it to and fro? It was okay, like to be honest I felt really stressed too after the technical bit like just mentally like really anxious. I think I'd wasted a lot of energy just like being so worried about how slow I was running. um So then the next bit was just all on the road so I did have like a bit of time to kind of gather myself, um get some nutrition in because I found it difficult to get much in in that technical bit because I was so like focused on where I was putting my feet.
00:22:57
Speaker
Um, but then yeah, just, yeah, ran pretty much the whole way up that big road climb and then came into the last aid station. Um, I think I was six. That's what someone told me, but I was sort of just behind Trish, um, and another girl that was just in front of her. Um, so I sort of saw her at the Adam back point and I was like, Oh, okay. Like she's not too far off me. Like maybe like a couple minutes, I can probably try and bridge that on the last climb. Cause I was feeling still pretty strong.
00:23:27
Speaker
um And then I hadn't seen the last climb before um and I wasn't really expecting it to be quite so techy so I think that kind of Yeah, it surprised me a lot and I um kind of lost it a little bit mentally, I think, just like I was trying to push, but it was, yeah, it was a little bit more slow going than I kind of expected. um But then, yeah, once we got out of that technical bit, I was like, OK, it stares now like I'm pretty strong on stairs.
00:23:58
Speaker
um and I still feel like I've got a bit left so I'll just keep pushing. Got to like pretty much like that intersection where we're supposed to turn left and um I turned left and then I looked at the markers and there's like kind of two sets of markers. One they're both the same color. One has like 80k nine peaks and then the other one has just 40 in it.
00:24:21
Speaker
And because it was like blowing in the wind, I only saw the 80 and 9 peaks one. So I was like, oh, I've gone the wrong way. So I turned around and like sprinted back the other way, for like 500 meters upstairs. And then I started looking at the markers again and they said the same thing. And there was no 40. And I was like, oh my God, like, what do I do? I don't know which way to go.
00:24:41
Speaker
So then this camera guy was with me and I was like trying to talk to him through his phone. Like he was trying to translate my English and I was like, please tell me which way to go. And he just couldn't understand me. So then I was like, Oh, screw it. I'm just going to run back the other way. And then I, I got back to where I was before and I realized I hadn't seen the 40 K things. I was like, Oh, fuck. Like. um just tried to like not kind of burst into tears because i felt like pretty frustrated like yeah i don't know i probably lost like five minutes or like more than five minutes um so i was like oh whatever i just get to the finish as fast as i can and um just like used whatever i had left to get out the rest of the stairs and then sort of sent it pretty hard down the road um and yeah ended up the seventh which like i i definitely like am super proud of um
00:25:33
Speaker
like when I finished and like sort of in the day after the race I was I felt a bit down about it just like I don't know I'm such a like I'm pretty hard on myself and like making little mistakes like that just really gets to me but it is just trail running and it's part of it and unfortunately it happened to me in like an important race but like the lessons I've learned from that is invaluable so hopefully I can prevent it from happening in the future but Yeah, like top 10, I've got to be happy with that. so First international race and um second time in the distance. so
00:26:11
Speaker
<unk> the little end I think I think it was such a strong run and I will say that as much as we all make those mistakes and we if that you just usually you never make the same one twice like because the second time something like that happens if you thought you've gone the wrong way now that you've done that you'd probably stop and look at the marker and then figure it out rather than having a panic and just turn um And so, like, you've just made that mistake once now and it's going to be gone. Like, it's fine. But still, like, it's overall such a strong, strong run for where you've come from and, like, not not being used to the distance, not being used to the to the terrain.
00:26:53
Speaker
Like it was, it was awesome to watch. I was loving watching the live stream of both of you. Um, and of everyone, cause everyone actually got some air time, which is not common in a lot of the sort of, obviously the Euro races, if there's a couple of Aussies, like I never appear on those damn things because they're always with the other people. So they did such so well on the live stream for us being able to follow. Um, and you had a lot of Aussies on there watching along.
00:27:19
Speaker
um I was definitely getting a little bit of FOMO, that's for sure, because the course looked amazing. um But yeah, what is, Blake, for you, what is your biggest takeaway from this race that you think you're going to use moving forward? ah That's a good question. I think I'm learning, I've learned a lot.
00:27:40
Speaker
throughout the years. And I think I'd never used to get over prior and do any course recce because I didn't think it was that important. um But this one, I was over there a fair bit and did a fair amount on it. And leading like to race day, I think that that gave me a lot of confidence knowing, okay, this is where you need to push. This is where you need to like knowing to go where it just went wrong.
00:28:06
Speaker
You could have because there's no one there and there was multiple ways to go. It was like a five ways. It's like, all right, flip a coin or flip a dice. You know what I mean? yeah and i And I just knowing without having to use that mental energy to, okay, we're going this way, you know, and just knowing, all right, I'm at the stairs. There's 200 meters to the top. You can write you can push 200 meters instead of like, oh, these stairs might go for a K.
00:28:27
Speaker
So that's a big takeaway for races like this. I think knowing the course a little bit more, whereas before I said to go on blind and just hope for the best. So I think moving forward and I've been doing it recently, just getting over there a little bit earlier, spending the time earlier, it means that I don't stay along after. So I don't get some downtime after the race, but I spend most of the time prior. And I think that that that's definitely what I'm going to do more of moving forward.
00:28:54
Speaker
Nice, nice. I like that. That's a very good takeaway. And I feel like the more technical or the more just important the race, the more important it is to get that course knowledge under you. Because it is it isn't just the technicality nature. It is sometimes just how much longer is left of this damn climb. Because you're able to give more when you know when the top is.
00:29:16
Speaker
For sure. Yeah, I think I would have needed to be there for a few months to get better on that technical stuff anyway, so it would not ah help. Like, we've got nothing like that over here. I don't know how to train on that kind of terrain. Like, it's just, yeah, maybe just spend the time doing it, otherwise just hit and hope. Yeah, you do. It's just time. Like, Vlad's good at stairs all this time in Hong Kong. Yeah. Running all those stairs, so.
00:29:39
Speaker
But ah throwing it to you, Jess, what's your biggest takeaway from this one? Yeah, I think um knowing the course a bit better. like It's pretty hard because you sort of have to weigh up. not cooking yourself too much if you can only get there like a week or two before. um So I sort of made the decision to just look at the first section um and then keep it at that because um I think I was still a bit nervous about like like backing up after Han's low so I was like I'm just gonna really pull back on this taper and like not do too much but I think
00:30:12
Speaker
I sort of wish that I spent a little bit less time worrying about what shoes I was wearing and maybe some more time looking at the turns in the course. ah but I will also say one tip is if you're checking less of the course and you can't see much of it check the end not the start and that's just because that's when you're cooked it's when your brain's not functioning properly it's when you're more likely to be alone like at the start you've got people There's almost always someone you're following, your brain's fresh, you're like thinking straight. And the start, you can, not many people ever go wrong at the start of a race. It's always one of the ones in the back end. um So I'm always telling my runners that I coach and for myself, like if I only have a limited period of time to check a course, I want to know the last 10K or like the last half, if I can only check half or anything like that.
00:31:01
Speaker
because that's when I know I'm not gonna have the brain power to function enough to actually navigate or see what's going wrong and those sorts of things. And also it helps to know, okay, where can I fully just send it? And I know I'm gonna make the finish um without second guessing. But yeah, I think that's one tip i I give as many people as I can, because yeah, the start kinda comes for free, navigationally, when races, when you've got so many people around you. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's a good point.
00:31:31
Speaker
But on so on that, I think, because we'd been there for a while and and Billy was really into his GPX and mapping the course. And I thought I'd run on the the last 3K of the course five times. um But on the day, it was a different end through the forest.
00:31:49
Speaker
okay and What we thought was yen so that it could have been like I had no idea about the end either Whereas I thought I'd run it heaps of times and I've already picked my fastest lines and my roots down that end But we never actually went to it. So yeah in saying that yeah through a spanner in the works Yes, that's the roaster and a proper spanner in. as yeah That wouldn't be the norm for at least for a good amount of races. We don't know if we were wrong, or but I don't know. i think they were just yeah cause they so They changed the start of the course the day before. They shortened it up a bit, like to just a sharp left turn straight down the hill instead of a ah longer, more gradual, and then that end maybe too. Interesting. Interesting times. At least everyone's in the same boat. yeah yeah As long as everyone everyone's in the same boat, we're all good.
00:32:36
Speaker
say Nice. Well, well done to both of you. Um, and, uh, yes, cool to see Aussie teams get on the podium on both teams. And so you both were in those counting numbers, which is, um, bloody cool. Like I can't wait for the next one. Yeah. I think it was so good for like Australian trial running just, yeah, like.
00:32:58
Speaker
For so like us to come home with so many medals, like it's so cool and I think um it should like motivate heaps of younger trail runners to like get to the championships in the next few years and grow the sport a bit more, which is awesome. Yeah, for sure. And I hope all the other like all the other countries have the same experience and this whole thing just grows and we get the bigger fields and the top runners from all the countries that come along and um it really becomes a big thing on the calendar, would be damn cool to see.
Future Race Plans
00:33:28
Speaker
But yeah, we might truck on at least a little bit from Asia Pacific. But the next question is just going to go to you, Blake, of now what's up? Are you in off season? Do you have more planned for the year? What's the go for next? Yeah, so I historically don't race very much. So this was the most I've ever raced in a year, and that's five races. I was going to say that. It's good.
00:33:54
Speaker
ah There's generally lots of reasons why I don't, mainly injury is the reason, but I've been pretty good this year. I've just, because I've been, I've i said stuff at like, I'm going to run more because who knows when I won't be able to run next. Five is enough. so I've got an off season now. The end of the year, I'm just going to take hopefully work on a little bit of speed. um but Training through the Aussie summer is kind of daunting. um but I will obviously, but just not not specifically for anything super early next year.
00:34:26
Speaker
yeah um Because there might be some races at the end of the year, which and it makes it into a long, long year. So I'm just formulating something, a plan now of what I want to do. After going to Asia and speaking to a couple of the other people over there, it'd be nice to get over to Asia mid on the early side of mid next year and and do a race or two over there. yeah Something closer to home.
00:34:50
Speaker
don't have to spend the time and money getting to. Something with a bit of competition and then possibly head to. go travel asia in april Well, that's an idea either that or um one of the sky running world series. Yeah, one in Japan, which looks all right. So either either.
00:35:14
Speaker
that that for the start of the year. Just see how I pull up. I just got to get the body right first and um and go from there and then and the end of the year, maybe head over to Europe again, I suppose. I ah can't say no to Europe.
00:35:27
Speaker
I've had kid anyone. No. I clearly can't. No. Very nice, very nice. And what about you Jess? What's um next for you? I was hoping you weren't going to ask. I was going to say you made a decision.
00:35:48
Speaker
I actually pivoted like I was gonna take a break until next year um because I was assuming I was gonna be like just cooked after this race but um I'm feeling pretty motivated I'm feeling pretty good and I am leaning towards doing the 50 at UTK. Nice. um Which yeah like I'm keen to get your bad opinion. Like, do you think that's crazy? It's pretty close. It's on like the 28th of November. Yeah, I was going to say, it's not too many weeks away. I think like might be biased, but also it's like the, it's close enough that you use the current fitness. Like there's no need to try and train enough to gain fitness, um which is kind of a safety factor in that matter where
00:36:34
Speaker
All you need to do between now and then is maintain what you've already done um and bounce off the fitness you've already been using. And like, I think it has a lot going for it in the way that it's in Oz. It's inos it like not too hard to get to, especially from Canberra where you are now. And I think the course will suit you. It's a very fast course. It's not much technicality or anything to it at all, um, which makes it, ah which makes it also a lesser load on the body. Like it's going to be a much faster time than what you've done. Um, yeah but also less thinking required and just go kind of running. But, um, also being a, being a local race and already having a good season, like I'm, I'm one that's never, I never liked to shy away, I suppose, from trying one more. If, if you've got nothing else on the plan, just because if it doesn't go well,
00:37:30
Speaker
do you actually miss out on anything or lose anything? um That's kind of another question I ask myself of like, what what what's the worst case scenario if it doesn't go well? Like, there's not much to lose, really. Yeah, yeah. That's my thoughts. yeah i love about you bla Yeah, what do you think? I think if you've pulled up feeling pretty decent, which you said you had, and the first couple of weeks, just get a feel for, you have any fatigue, I suppose, lingering, um and if it's going to get worse by trying to build up for another race. But if you feel good and the legs feel good and they come back to you and running feels exciting, but to me, it doesn't feel exciting to look towards another race. But to you, if it if you're motivated,
00:38:16
Speaker
Then yeah, for you, 100% that race is a different stimulus too. It's just like, you're going to be out of just lock in and, and, and run a super fast time and not have to worry about smashing our legs on techie descents and stuff like that. Yeah, it's funny. I really wasn't expecting to feel this motivated because like, yeah, after Hanzo, I was like,
00:38:37
Speaker
really kind of not that keen to get back into training um but i think i don't know if this is like a little bit toxic what am i like a toxic trait in a way but i feel like i get super motivated when i'm not like 100 happy yeah with a result I'm like, I just, I don't know.
00:39:01
Speaker
yeah I just want to like redeem myself, but, um, yeah, I don't know. I need to like us talk to the coach first and, um, have a chat to him, but I, yeah, I really want to at this stage. So that's the plan. Yeah, nice.
00:39:15
Speaker
Yeah, weigh up the pros and cons and the pros and cons may change now compared to the week of the race. Like, it's just at all times, as long as you're, you're already aware of it. And it's like, if at any point it becomes a stupid idea, you start, you say no, but until that point, like, why not? I say. And I totally, I like, I feel you to my soul right now on the wanting to redeem yourself and the motivation factor. Cause I feel like that is like,
00:39:42
Speaker
me right now. I'm like, I have three races left of the year, like let's go. yeah so Are you looking to get a ticket to UTMB through UTK or? Yeah, that's kind of the idea because I was, yeah, initially I was thinking I'll just have a break and then maybe try to do Tarawera next year. But then I realized that that's not a ticket for like OCC the same year.
00:40:12
Speaker
yeah Yeah, for the year after. um yeah And ah like I think UTK is probably an easier kind of opportunity as well because it's not as many international athletes go to that one. um yeah So I just think, yeah, it's kind of like a good opportunity for me to try and podium and get a spot, which would be pretty cool. That makes sense. Otherwise, I would have said just maybe you do the shorter one, a shorter race and don't worry about it. But if you're on a ticket, then yeah, go for it. Yeah.
00:40:40
Speaker
Yeah, I think, why not? um Yeah, and that like, as you said, it's one of the last chances, because I was tossing up between that one in Thailand, um which is one week later for the for the tickets, because there's not many chances left in the year. And it feels like most athletes are at a mad scramble trying to get a ticket at this point, but don't have one already. So yeah, you know, it'd be cool to add your name to that list.
00:41:04
Speaker
Yeah, might might bring up some ah some more difficult decisions for next year on race choosing and timing and things. But I've always figured you get your so name in the races first and figure the rest out later. Like, yeah, yeah, plenty of time to make those decisions. So that'll be cool to see. um Very cool to see the backup.
Blake's Trail Running Journey
00:41:26
Speaker
Awesome. Very cool. Well,
00:41:30
Speaker
Blake, um we might chuck a few extra questions at you um just because I'm intrigued as much as I can't even remember how in depth we went before national series. But if we ask you any again, you can just tell us you've already answered this. um But um the first question starts from the beginning just quickly of when did you actually start trail running?
00:41:50
Speaker
Ah, good question. I did have a look back recently because I was really unsure because everyone kept asking me. Um, probably I got decently more into it, 2017. When I looked back and I did a couple of races there, but I was still more into the kind of going to a place running and then doing something cool after it, as opposed to going to a place and running. And then probably 2018 was when I started to get like decently into it as in like, okay, I'm just going to be do trail running now. 2018. And then I started ah pretty much did all the sky running events in Australia and New Zealand.
00:42:29
Speaker
and went overseas for one and then a couple of internationals in between them and and in in the aim of getting on the ah the Australian Sky Running team in 2020, I think, but COVID hit. So probably more serious around 2018, but I was running a couple of years before that, not as serious, um but just enjoying it. um And then through COVID, then after COVID,
00:42:52
Speaker
kind of just going, stepping up and and saying, all right, I want to perform at a higher level than I have been um and and get into some more competitive races and test myself against more competitive fields as opposed to the local kind of field. So trying to get overseas when I can, and when I'm not injured and the race more there, but hasn't gone all to plan, but it's definitely upward trending. So trending the right direction now, for sure. Yeah, definitely. Nice. um And so with that sort of step up and wanting to become more competitive, do you, do you have a coach?
00:43:29
Speaker
Yep. So 2017 was when I first started getting coached. Um, that was because I wanted to do a seven day stage race. Um, and I thought, i but yeah, I did the race in the planet, the roving race. Oh yeah. Yep. In Patagonia. Um, yeah, it was pretty cool. Um, so I'm like, all right, I probably need some guidance. Um, and then probably started 2017 I got a coach.
00:43:58
Speaker
and I've had the same one since then. It's Andy Dubois. So he's just he's been with me ever since. um I think we get each other. Well, I don't know if he gets me, but...
00:44:12
Speaker
He's pretty chill. um He kind of understands, you know, my needs and I'm probably not the best client or the best athlete to have because I don't really tell him everything and when something hurts, I don't usually tell him or when I'm tired. i then And then I get injured and he's like, well, it's a bit hard, but yeah.
00:44:31
Speaker
But yeah, he's he's really, he's listened and understands what I kind of need to ah succeed. And I always, I'm always trying to push him to do more or more of this, more of that. And he's kind of just been that, that, that buffer and like, all right, no, let's just keep you on track. Let's just keep you racing, keep you running and then we can build from there. Yeah. I don't think my body was really designed for long distance running and training, but we're managing at the moment. and yeah Yeah, what is the sign for and what you condition it to do is different things. It's fine. Yeah, exactly right. Yeah, true. So what does like a typical training week look like for you? ah Yeah, it's pretty. So ah I get a day off a week, so six days a week um due to my injury history. ah Easy running, so generally easy running hour, Monday, Tuesday ah session.
00:45:23
Speaker
sometimes flat speed. But when I got niggles, it's like a 7% hill. Reps, they could be from, and I don't know, two and a half to five minutes. and Then easy running, Wednesday, Thursday, follow the day off. and friday Saturday is ah usually a steep hill session. Generally, it's always been steep hills. But I've only got a hill around me which maxes out at seven minutes.
00:45:52
Speaker
just decent enough. um yeah And then long run Sunday, which I travel to generally somewhere around the Blue Mountains to do to get enough elevation in for the running. So yeah, decently low, like my max mileage I was hitting before this one and OCC, I got just under 110. Ideally, I wanted to do more. um I felt like I needed to do to perform better, but it I might not have turned up to the race if I did so.
00:46:25
Speaker
Yeah, but yeah, a lot of running on the road during the week, my easy runs, I just run straight from my house. I live at the beach almost. So it's just on the pavement and then not to get the trails on the weekend. Yeah, nice. That's actually cool to hear because I reckon you've got a lot more growth that's going to happen as your body sort of allows you to either just bump up because and more for the fact that you don't need to do a huge amount more than you're doing. Obviously you're doing an amazing job, but racing sort of five, six hours off like not many hours of running per week and a good portion on the road and those sorts of things. Like it's impressive what you've managed to do.
00:46:59
Speaker
um And so I think you're only going to go up from there as your body gets more hardened to sort of the distances and is enables you to just even just lay a year on year of the same or a little bit more. It's cool to hear. Yeah, I just need it yeah just need to keep on that consistency. As I was saying like to some other people, like my best result probably in 2022, the Sky Running World Champs, that was my highest ever mileage, averaging about 130.
00:47:26
Speaker
leading up to it. Yeah, so and that's what I felt I need to be if I want to be at my top, you know, so I got to get back there, but I got to get make sure the body wants to do it too. Nice. Very, very nice. Cool. Well, I think ah one last question, actually, before we, um Jess, I'm just going to get an update on your training, how that's been going since. But um what are your overall goals for the next couple of years?
00:47:52
Speaker
It's interesting because I'm not the youngest athlete. I'm also not old either, but I'm always i'm always on the, I go to, I pick a decent race a year I want to do and I want to do good at. And if I do succeed in those goals, then I'm like, all right.
00:48:10
Speaker
I'm going again next year. So every year I've done that, um I've gone all right. And I said, all right, let's go another one. So I suppose probably something big for me would be to represent again.
00:48:24
Speaker
Um, Australia. So that is probably something I would like to work towards and look towards next year. yeah Um, I'm trying to get a list now of like bucket list races that I want to kind of do as well while I can. Like I've done a lot that I want to do. So yeah now I just want to find something that really inspires me, uh, and gets me, just gets me ah motivated to, to train as hard as I can and compete as much as I can. So.
00:48:53
Speaker
That's the next thing just to try and find what motivates me. Cause I don't like just racing for the heck of it. yeah I understand. it I'd rather just use that time for training. I want to, I want to find what motivates me, what's going to push me and what's going to excite me. i yeah and so So are on the bucket list. Not that I can recall. I was trying to think the other day, like.
00:49:15
Speaker
going to UTMB, those style races, I would have liked to go to always the one race that comes up in everyone is Zagama. Yeah. yeah i yeah i would like I would have liked to go into Marathon du Mont Blanc while it was a go and on the golden trail, but it's not next year. So I might have a little bit different vibe, yeah um but Zagama, but that means it's very hard to get into. So you probably have to go to a golden trail. Like it's a bit of a process to work to.
00:49:45
Speaker
or just getting a lottery and hope for, that's that's one of the top I reckon for the trail running bucket list. Yeah, for sure. Nice. Well, fingers crossed it happens at some point. i'm I'm right there with you on that one. yeah um It's like dream race. How do I get in? um And I've had an opportunity to get in a couple of times and been injured. So it's a definitely one of those ones that, yeah, I think a few people are right there with you. So um Yeah, awesome. well well Well, everyone will be keeping track of you um as as we go along now because it's going to be a lot of fun to follow along, see where it leads. And and yeah, for the for Worlds next year, would you look at Short Trail? Is that the one that you would be doing? Yeah, so even for this, the AP, the Asia Pacific, I was originally thinking about putting my hat in the ring for the long because I'm like, oh, I probably won't get into the short, the caliber of athletes. And then when i've when the selection came out,
00:50:39
Speaker
And it was based on ah the ITRA ranking and I had a conversation with a few people who was going to nominate who was and where I sat on the list. I'm like, okay, I'll go short, you know, cause it's just after OCC. And I think because next year the world's is the course looks super technical. Like, yeah, like super steep. Like the short is going to be almost like a long. Um, so I think the shorts probably.
00:51:05
Speaker
the way I'm going to angle myself and try and put my best foot forward for that. Because, yeah, it's it's not going to be as simple like as the previous trail running World Champs, where it's going to be a lot of yeah climbing and technical technical terrain. Nice. Very cool. Very, very cool. Well, um yeah, thanks for answering all those questions. Well, there's some more coming up in listener questions, as we'll all get to.
Travel and Training Insights
00:51:30
Speaker
But Jess, give us a quick rundown of what how you've been since the race. and Have you been running? Have you recovered okay? As you said, you felt a bit better, but how's that look running-wise? Yes, i yeah it's been really good. I got a little bit of a cold for the days after the race, so I didn't really run. I was still on holiday. I stayed in South Korea and um did a bit a little bit of solo traveling over to Jeju, which is a little island off the South Coast.
00:51:59
Speaker
So yeah, I didn't run until... I think it was like the Wednesday after I still jog um along the coast just to like use it as like sort of checking out the scenery. um And then i I sort of ran um and hiked up Halasan, which is the highest mountain in South Korea, which was pretty cool. That was actually amazing. like I, yeah it was actually such an ordeal. Um, it was the last day of my trip. So I had a flight, um, like I was flying home that day. And so you have to book in the hike and, um, I booked like the 5am to 8am sort of time slot. And I was like, Oh, I'll be like one of the first ones there. Like, I won't have to worry about parking or anything. Like it'll be sweet. Got there. There was no parking left. They'd already filled up like the thousand bays or whatever it is.
00:52:56
Speaker
And I was like, oh god, I'm not going to be able to do this. And I was like pleading with him, so I could see there was like some staff parking or something left. I was like, please, can I just park there? It's really important to me to like do this. and Because you know it's like your last adventure of your trip. You're like, I am doing this. You're so determined. And he was like, no, no, no. like Typical sort of Korean, like stick-by-the-rules kind of person. and um So then I sort of drove off and I was looking for like a sneaky spot to park, but it was like, there was nothing. Like it was a mountain road with like just really sketchy turns and everything. So then I went back and I was like pleading with him again. And then he eventually, he eventually let me park in the stuff. I was like, thank God. But then by that time I'd like wasted an hour and I was like, oh my God, I've really got to like motor this hike. Otherwise I'm not going to make my flight.
00:53:55
Speaker
So then I was like gassing myself like trying to bloody pass through like thousands of people and that's when it just kind of like blew my mind like this is not like a chill hike like this is a hectic like nine Ks to the top. Like you gain 1,400 meters or something. And there's thousands of people doing this in like Nike, like the casual Nike shoes. I'm like, what the hell? Like, this is crazy. Like you'd never see that in Australia. Like people just doing this casually or like on their weekend or like on the weekday. And I was like, wow, that just kind of like sums up why like people that live in mountainous regions are so fit because they just do this for fun. But yeah, it was worth all the hassle because it was bloody amazing at the top. You're above the clouds and you can see the whole island. It was really cool. Nice. Those are always worth it. But yeah, actually surprisingly felt okay because I hadn't really planned to push myself so hard so soon after the race that
00:55:00
Speaker
I felt okay. um And then I didn't run for another couple of days and then I ran again over the weekend. um And again, I climbed up this mountain that I was wanting to do on the south coast, which is called Mount Galaga, which was another, it was like 6k and you climb up like a thousand meters and Yeah, I felt really good. So yeah, yeah, I'm feeling good. I think I'll get back into more consistent running this week.
00:55:36
Speaker
Very, very good to hear. um Awesome. Well, ah yeah, I won't, we're in the interest of time. I won't spend too much time on um my training, but I've been back and hit the ground running trying to get ready for this 100K. And essentially, like after I got back from the flight, I took just, I ran that day, took another easy day. And then I did this fun seven day block, which I've done before.
00:56:04
Speaker
And I love it, but it's also it probably looks a bit wild um on paper. But I'll explain where it's just I did on the Friday. So I flew back in on the Wednesday and Friday morning I did a flat hard session. It was like eight by three minutes at about three twenty five to three thirty pace. And then the next day. So that was the day one of the block. The next day I did five hours around Mount Dandenong covering forty nine K um with about 2300 or so up and down. um And then the day after that, I did two hours. um So that to me was almost feeling like an easy day, but this is where I'm just sort of slowly stacking. So it went session, long run, long run. um Then I did have an easy day on the Monday, um which the easy day was a 40 minute run into an hour 20 on the electrical into a 30 minute sauna block.
00:56:59
Speaker
um because I'm trying to get heat training in. But it's amazing how I love when my body's at this stage where that day genuinely did feel chill because I'm also coming from the place where that is all I did for the day.
00:57:11
Speaker
So the rest of the day was napping and relaxing because I'm still jet lagged. Like I felt shocking otherwise, but essentially I had a block in the middle of the day where I ran eight Ks, watched YouTube on the elliptical and then jumped in a sauna and then my day was done. So it wouldn't be easy if I had to work and do all the other things. So I will caveat with that. um But then there's round two of the block started where I had session on the Tuesday, so the next day, day four of the um block, was or five of the block was a session. And that was some 900s and 300s on around the track. Again, trying to go fast, I think I usually averaged about
00:57:48
Speaker
330s for the 900s and 310 to 320 for the 300s with a float recovery. So that felt really good. I was amazed. I was like, I am like fresh off jet lag and um this much running. So I was like, I know my body's in a good spot. And then we destroyed it a little bit because I did four hours the next day of Mount Dandenong and then five hours to finish the seven day block.
00:58:12
Speaker
on the next day. Now this is all ah for the 100Ks. I'm trying to run on tired legs. The main main hard part though was the last five hours on day seven of this block. That put me at about 202K for the seven days or so. um But in my girl it was also, I know it was also in Queensland.
00:58:34
Speaker
I did it right smack bang in the middle of the day. I think I started at about 11.30 a.m. And so it was about 29 degrees and 70 percent in humidity. And I also wasn't anywhere that had drink taps. So I feel like I was Sarah Ludowici style of like camel backing. Like I had so much water on me.
00:58:52
Speaker
um but Yeah, it was an incredible block and I will say that off the back of that block, I've had five easy days, like ah like full chill mode off the back to absorb it all, which I made the mistake last time I did a block like this of kind of backing it up with another block almost exactly ah the same. Not a good idea, don't recommend. This time around, like I'm now sitting here after four days of easy running.
00:59:15
Speaker
um and like not much overall so um yeah trying to be smarter with it while also getting the training in that I love because you won't find me happier than on a week that I've just done like that because I just, I don't know, something about it I love. Um, and this time around, just to add a little bit more context to it, I was nailing my nutrition. Like every single one of those long runs was a hundred grams of carbs an hour, like an all bust sort of thing. So on the five hours I'm getting in my 500 grams on four hours, it's 400 grams. And like, no matter how I felt, there was definitely a couple of times I was hitting my guts limit and I was feeling iffy, but I was just like, no, we are getting this in because it's,
00:59:56
Speaker
It's impossible to back up like that if you're not, um, focusing on those sorts of things. And yeah, it was a week of feeling like all I did was run, nap and eat. Um, but considering I got to the end of that five hour run and I actually didn't feel the last five hour run and I felt energy wise, good. Yeah, my legs were hella tired, but I was able to just go about my day the next day and like things feel really good. So.
01:00:23
Speaker
That's the update from me. I feel like I'm sort of sitting on this nest egg of training now that I'm like, okay, let's go, let's race. Like I know I'm in a good spot, um but yeah, I do get to test it out this coming Sunday at Triple Top, which is too short for what I'm currently training wise, but at the same time, yeah, it'll be good. Yes. The mental aspect of that training, it just boggles me. I don't know how you do it. Just that many hours, that many days in a row.
01:00:54
Speaker
Yeah, I will say that is the hardest part at times, but also you get it. I will, I myself get in this rhythm of just going, just get out the door. And once you're out the door, it's a lot easier to manage, but that is where every single run I'm breaking it down hour by hour of like, have I got my hundred grams and um carbs in like getting, doing the whole, I'm looking after myself the whole time.
01:01:18
Speaker
And also very much keeping in the back of my mind that sure, I ran a couple of five hour runs within a few days, but my race is probably going to be more like 12 to 14. So it's, um, it's like, if you want to get used to having to zone out, cause I would say the last two hours of that last five hour run, I don't remember what I was doing, but I remember being in that motion of going, my brain no longer has to tell my legs to move. They're just going to move. Like whether I like it or not, I have to keep running until I hit a five hour mark. So.
01:01:47
Speaker
I try and just not think as much as possible. um And yeah, it'll be switching, sometimes listening to nothing, sometimes podcasts, sometimes music to try and keep anything sort of moving. um Yeah, but i've I've done a bit of this before. So I feel like my brain and body just go, oh, this again. Okay, let's shut down a little bit. and hermit Yeah.
01:02:11
Speaker
That's why I stopped trying to run 100Ks because those five hour training runs and I'm just like, Jesus, that's a good day running, you know, by yourself in your own head. But yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You definitely have spending time in your head. yeah but Yeah. I have to say like when I saw your training on Strava, I was like, Oh my God, like that is insane. But like I know from the past that you respond really well because I remember you did something kind of similar like before BTU and you had a blind off. So I think like it just suits you and you know what works for you. so Yeah. And that's what I tell people. I'm like, I do not think everyone needs to do what I'm doing here. Like I'm not about to say that you need to do this, but A, I absolutely love it. And B, I feel good off it. Like those two, the track session I did and the three minute session I did, they were as fast as I would ever normally run them if I was running low mileage and
01:03:05
Speaker
like feeling good and I don't currently, fingers crossed, everything freaking crossed, have any niggles going on. like Body feels good, and I just like making use of that, but this time I am trying to learn from past mistakes, be a little smarter. and Because last time I did a 200K a week, the next week was 220. And it was like, let's just keep rolling. And this time around I'm like, nope, we got a good weekend, shut down for five days. Just chill, then we go again. um So I do have another four hour run on Wednesday.
01:03:35
Speaker
but by then it's been five days of not much um in between and full holiday mode in Queensland. So um yeah, it'll be, yeah, trying to walk that line. And that was also my base building sort of aspect of this 100K block before I now sort of, I know everything else is sort of maintenance into GPT 50K, which is two and a half weeks before my 100K. So yeah, there's a lot going on, but. um Yeah, that's pretty good. It's pretty impressive.
01:04:06
Speaker
i And that's the thing, I'm always like, my superpower almost is that ah the the longer I run, the better I feel in training. So like, I like using it. It feels good. um Yeah, yeah definite happy day happy days. But we better move through because Blake does have to get to a physio appointment soon. Now I'm just going to read out the one quick listener question we've got before we have two races to read the results of and then we're done.
01:04:32
Speaker
um And this one quick fire listener question comes from strong with Heidi on Instagram. And that is just, she wants to know what's the toughest race you've ever run. Blake, you've done quite a few tough ones.
01:04:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's hard. It's hard to because once the initial pain fades generally you forget I Never really Like suffer too much, but I did run a hundred K. My first ever hundred K. I ran Was in New Zealand. It was 106 K um called the ultra easy Start at 3 a.m i mean They were, yeah, I know the ultra easy. Yeah, it wasn't easy around Wanaka and they had a heat wave um over that weekend. So it was like 35 fully exposed trails. And I was, I had no idea. Like I didn't take any nutrition with me. I dropped bags. Like ah join I just, I had nothing. I had a singlet on. I had no sunscreen and I was like drinking out of stream. Like there's a little stream. I don't even know what I was drinking out of. But anyway, I would have, I would probably would have died if there wasn't that on course water.
01:05:37
Speaker
um And there was sprinklers at the end that I was yeah anyway I think I ended up with like third degree I couldn't eat for like a week my mouth I couldn't eat anything I was like burnt to a crisp couldn't sleep like it was just that heat and it just it just got me and I was busted for days like like the end of that race I was I was like yeah I couldn't hardly walk like to the end like my legs were seizing up and um it was just a lesson in like yeah you probably got to be more prepared if it's gonna be hot.
01:06:08
Speaker
and just now go blindly in and eat a bit of watermelon for 13 hours and hope for the best. i common data I've commandeered my parents to come along to Thailand and they're hiring a driver for the day to drive ice ice around for me.
01:06:24
Speaker
I'm going to have as many aid stations as possible and all sorts of crew going on with my parents. I've raced in the heat before and it's not fun, but it's manageable if you're smart about it. So fun. Jess, what about you? Yeah, don't do that. Yeah, I'd say like,
01:06:47
Speaker
um Toughness in the town in terms of like pushing yourself was definitely hound's way for me, um whether that was like the heat combined with like the first time I've ever done a longer trail race. Mentally, I think Asia Pacific was probably harder, um just like with the technicality of the course. so just like yeah There's different kind of toughness measures for me.
01:07:11
Speaker
yeah yeah about you Yeah, I feel like it's hard to pick. um Definitely. I've done a lot of very tough races for different reasons. I think the toughest one physically, just for navigating it all, was that when the Golden Trail Series final was the five-day stage race in Madeira.
01:07:27
Speaker
Um, cause backing up trying to race hard five days in a row was just next level insanity. Um, it was almost three hours of racing, like most days for five days. So, and there was just no letting up. Um, so physically I'd say that one. And then so far mentally, I'd say old ghost ultra, the 85 K I did. And then I actually absolutely loved it until the fact that that race ends with 24 kilometers of downhill.
01:07:54
Speaker
And I love downhill, but 24Ks of it when you've already covered 60 is just, it's just not a fun time. It's really not. like I was questioning every life decision possible. So yeah, it's different. And I'm sure there's going to be even tougher ones to come, but the tough ones are the good ones.
01:08:12
Speaker
So speaking of tough ones though me and Jess are going to quickly reel off a couple of results um and so one of the tough ones that I've also done and did not go to plan at all for me was Bright Four Peaks. Now this race is ah is a stage race it is four days back to back starting on Mount Buffalo and then it goes to Feathertop Then day three is Mount Hotham and day four is, which is actually tomorrow, so we don't have all the results yet, is um Mystic, Mystic Hill. So um I'm trying to see all of the results, but I don't know if I'm going to get all of them. I know that today,
01:08:52
Speaker
Um, in the women, it was one, which is, this is Hotham. It was won by Antonia Fan. Uh, second was Sophie Broome and third was Tori Thomas. And they were all close. It was 159 to two hours to two hours and two minutes, um, for that one.
01:09:08
Speaker
And then in the men's side, Matt Crean won in one... Oh, that doesn't make much... Oh, this is who's winning overall. I get this now. um Sorry, my bad. But the Ian Best won in 136.46. And by the looks, it was a sprint finish because Matt Crean was second in 136.51.
01:09:30
Speaker
So five seconds on an uphill race. ah That would have been the brutal finish. Third was Ethan Pink. He's backing up, man, um in 1.39.08 for the day. And overall, currently winning is Matt Crean. Second, Ian Best. Third, Ethan Pink.
01:09:48
Speaker
and currently winning in the women's was Antonia Fann, second Sophie Broome and third Tory Thomas. So the order that it sort of went in today. um The previous two days on the women's side were won by Kate Avery, the one and only, um with Antonia coming second and Sophie third on and Mount Feathertop, and then other way around. Sophie 2nd and Antonia 3rd on Mount Buffalo Day 1. And for the men's side, Day 2 was won by Ian Best, 2nd was Matt Crean. I can't currently see 3rd listed in front of me, so I'll have to get them next week when we get it. And on Day 1, it was 1st Matt Crean, 2nd Ian Best. ah That's bright. So far, we will give the overall next week. But Jess, you want to take us to the WA race?
01:10:36
Speaker
Yeah, so over the weekend we had the feral pig ultra, which is a pretty big one um on the WA trail running calendar. um There's quite a few different distances as part of this event, which I think Um, kind of like, I don't know. I think it kind of like dwindles the competition a little bit. Um, cause they do have like a hundred miler, a hundred K a 50 miler, a 50 K and a 23 K. Um, so I don't know. I just think given it's WA, like it might be a little bit better if they kind of.
01:11:13
Speaker
did less but um anyway it looks like the most competitive. Yeah it looks like um the 23k was quite competitive so Megan Bullen won that in the female. She ran two hours 15 and then in the men we had Elliot Letchford um in first place in one hour 53 um In the 50K, Brendan Varia, who is a good friend of mine and a coach to some of the junior athletes that were on the Asia Pacific team, ah he won the 50K in 4 hours, 47, and he was
01:11:52
Speaker
um Almost an hour ahead of the second male, so um absolutely smashed it. um He's getting very familiar with the bib track over there. Nice, yep. um Trying to convince him to go for the FKT, but we'll see. In the women in the 50K, we had Nev McMullen in first place in 6 hours 17. Nice.
01:12:16
Speaker
And then I'll just cover the hundred mile. um There wasn't too many in this one, but the first female was Sushia Fisher in 26 hours 56. And the first male was Okey Diggins in 21 hours 18. Nice. There's a day out.
01:12:39
Speaker
Very good. Now, before I go through what's happening next week, Blake, I do know that you need to head to a physio. So I'm going to say thank you so much for jumping on with us. um We can have say our quick goodbyes to you now so that you can get to the all-important physio appointment. And yeah, thanks for coming on. Thank you, Zoe. You're welcome. Yeah, already lost you. That's
Upcoming Trail Events
01:13:01
Speaker
all good. Anyways, what's coming up next is that what?
01:13:07
Speaker
like two minutes um What's coming up next week, oh just to quickly run through that, um is Triple Top in Tassie. I'm going down there to do that one and I actually cannot wait. ah We also have the Booty Coastal Run in New South Wales, Narrow Neck Night Run in Katoomba, which sounds like a lot of fun, ah Mount Glorious Mountain Trails in Queensland,
01:13:31
Speaker
And Southeast Queensland Trail Running Series has the Namimba Valley. ah Sydney Trail Running Series has one of theirs in St Ives. And then the last one, the King Valley Challenge in Vic is on next weekend. so have a look out for all of those. But Jess, what have you got coming up? any Anything much or just getting the body back underneath you after the travel? Yeah, just um back into work this week and I'll probably just try and sort of string together a bit more of a normal week with like consistent running and have a chat to the coach about what and the plan is from there.
01:14:13
Speaker
Perfect. And I've got one more day of sunny holidays in Queensland. Absolutely chill mode before I get to ah spend a whole two days in Melbourne before I'm off to Tasmania. So no rest for the week. I think I calculated ah calculated a while back that there was when there was 100 days left in the year, I spent 40 of them or so in Melbourne. So I'm doing a great job of never being home.
01:14:41
Speaker
yeah yeah I think next weekend for the pod, I'm in Tassie, the weekend after I'm in Bright, the weekend after I'm in the Grampians, and then two weeks after that Thailand. So yeah, we're doing it with this whole, the four of us on the podcast do a great job of just never being like, actually at home because Vlad's already off again on a trip. I don't know where he said he was going, Malaysia. um Yeah, Malaysia, Hong Kong. Yeah. on the he never He's already there again. So he na never rests either. So yeah, all the
Listener Engagement and Wrap-Up
01:15:15
Speaker
fun times. But we do have um a couple of listening questions that have come in that we'll get to next week. So sorry if we haven't got to yours yet, we will get there. ah But keep them coming, please. We do love them. They help guide us. And we hope that we're we're giving you all the information that's going to help. ah There will be the next or the last of the Trail to South Korea um episodes coming up. It's just trying to get everyone on the same
01:15:39
Speaker
sort of in the same Zoom call, or video call, there's always a bit of difficulty post-race. So we're going to get everyone on to hear recaps from Charlie and Mikey and Sarah as well. So keep an eye out for that. ah From the time this goes out, you will be a couple of days away from hearing the last of the Road the trail to Trail 2 GPT series, the third and final with Cecilia Matus. So keep ah keep an eye out for that one as well. And yeah, what's going on? But Thank you for bearing with us. Thank you for listening. It's been a pleasure. This has been episode 30 of the Peak Pursuits podcast.
01:16:27
Speaker
oh