Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Meet Andrea Kolbeinsdóttir, Ultra Trail Snowdonia Mayhem, Do Historic Times Limit Our Potential? | Episode 101
267 Plays1 day ago
In this episode Brodie and Jess get the pleasure of getting to know Andrea Kolbeinsdóttir, a world class trail runner from Iceland and the recent winner of the GTNS Donna Double. Hear about Andreas running journey and some of her incredible results, and make sure you get behind her as we hope to see more of her in Aus!
Then the team cover news from Ultra Trail Snowdonia, Results, and a listener question about how focussing on historic times may limit our potential.
We hope you enjoy!
Results:
- Razorback Run (VIC)
- Six Foot Track Marathon (NSW)
- Trail Run Australia: Tathra (NSW)
- ATR Summer Series 5: Port Elliot Surf Run (SA)
- SEQ Trail Series Round 8: Daisy Hill (QLD)
***Don’t forget, use code PEAK at https://bix-hydration.myshopify.com/en-au for 20% off Bix products, exclusive to PPP listeners!***
Thanks for tuning in to Peak Pursuits!
Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
Follow Andrea: Instagram | Strava
Follow Brodie: Instagram | Strava
Follow Jess: Instagram | Strava
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction of Hosts and Setting
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 101 the Peak Pursuits podcast. My name is Brodie, one of your regular hosts and I'm joined by Jess Jason, also one of our regular hosts. How are you going Jess?
00:00:20
Speaker
Hey guys, going well? um Yeah, feeling good. Nice day in Cambridge today. It's a morning recording, which I don't think we've ever done morning recording before, it's a bit different. I've got my coffee rather than any other sort of beverage. Yeah, I've got my coffee as well. I was like, that's a non-negotiable at this time.
00:00:39
Speaker
Fantastic.
Guest Introduction: Andrea Kolbenstotter
00:00:40
Speaker
and And the reason we're doing a morning recording is because we're trying to hook up times with someone who's over in Tenerife ready for the Blue Trail in next weekend.
00:00:51
Speaker
And we're very lucky to be joined by Andrea. Now I'm going to get this not perfect, Andrea, but Andrea Kolbenstotter. Maybe you say, what's it supposed to sound like? what's That was pretty good. If I would say it in pure Icelandic, it would be Andra Kolbein Stotter. So, we were pretty That pretty much sounded the same.
00:01:14
Speaker
Fantastic. Awesome. so good to be joined by you, Andrea. And um we've got you on mostly because you took out the Donna Double last ah weekend before you flew out of Australia.
00:01:27
Speaker
um but also you were in Australia for Ultra Trail Cozzy at the end of last year. So we're keen to hear a little bit about what you've been up to in Australia, but we might start with a little bit about how you started running and and your running journey so far, because I can see you've got a lot of athletics results, um but you also got a lot of trail results recently. So what was your sort of journey
Andrea's Early Running Journey
00:01:51
Speaker
into running? um Yeah, that goes a pretty long back. I've been running for like um yeah, many years now. Like I started maybe 15 years old and I'm 27 now.
00:02:05
Speaker
And I always like thank my tennis coach for it because she made us do like a 5k road race as a practice for tennis. And I did pretty good. And she was like, oh, you have to go into this track and field club and do a track and field. And that's how I started in track and field. And started racing more on the track and like 1500 and what kids like start doing and then i always like the longer stuff more so I did 5k and 10k road races and then yeah I've always liked the longer stuff and you have to be I think 15 years old to do the half marathon it's like a rule so I was 15 when I did my first half marathon
00:02:47
Speaker
And then I think you need to be 18 year old to do a full marathon. So I was like waiting to get 18 to do a full marathon. And yeah, then recently just been doing, um yeah, falling in love.
00:03:02
Speaker
I've always like preferred being in the mountains and nature rather than just running circles on the track. So I've always been like um drawn towards that.
Balancing Multiple Sports
00:03:12
Speaker
So yeah, that was a quick way through that. Yeah.
00:03:17
Speaker
Very cool. And um did you continue tennis a little bit while you were running as well? Or did running quickly take over as the sort of main sport? Yeah, did like both soccer, tennis and um running for a few years and just did like running one or once or twice a week with um the other sports. And then maybe in college, I was purely like only running.
00:03:40
Speaker
So it's like, yeah. Yeah, thank okay. and we And we probably didn't mention mention there that you're from Iceland, if anyone hasn't picked up on that. Tennis in Iceland, is it a big big sport? i know I know football is big, like soccer is big, but tennis? yeah like is it i know Yeah, no, that's actually very not common. common It's just like ah because I lived in Norway for five years and my brother okay did tennis there and that's why I continue it in Iceland. But that's a very small sport in Iceland. But yeah, soccer is...
00:04:10
Speaker
is the main sport in handball. Yeah, fantastic. And then I can see, and I don't know if this is like, as in UTMB doesn't always have all the results, but I can see that in 2017 you did a trail race in in Iceland, the Hengu Ultra Trail in 4K.
Trail Running in Iceland
00:04:28
Speaker
Was that your first trail race?
00:04:30
Speaker
Yes, amongst them at least. And I remember that very clearly, that I was like so excited for it. And yeah, it's just something about being... in nature and going up mountains that has just always, yeah, suited me very well. And I love just running downhill and yeah, it's more like you feel more free there than on the road and just worrying about every kilometer being the correct split and stuff. So yeah,
00:04:56
Speaker
yeah Yeah, fantastic. And then um over the years, it looks like you've you've run lots of races in Iceland. From what I can tell on UTMB, you are undefeated in Iceland. It looks like you've won every race in Iceland on the female side.
00:05:13
Speaker
ah From what's on UTMB anyway, is that is that the case? Are you the the queen of Iceland? Um, yes, maybe. i yeah I've like won every single race that I've competed in in Iceland for like five years or something.
00:05:29
Speaker
yeah Yeah, that's that. Very cool. Very cool. What's the trail running scene like in in Iceland? like It looks like there is a lot of different races. It's not just the same race each year. You've done like a variety of different races.
00:05:42
Speaker
Is there a lot of people doing trail running? or Yeah, running, it's like just like in the whole world, i would say, it's just like growing so fast and like Probably I started maybe in COVID or something, but it's just like, yeah, it's very big. And like every weekend during the summer, there is like one or two trail races that you can choose from basically every single weekend in Iceland. And always every year there there are coming new races and there's like a great atmosphere and it's a lot more popular actually than the road road races, I would say.
00:06:15
Speaker
And yeah, just always, it's so funny that when you were in college, you were like the weird one, like, what are you, are you running or running in the mountains? And now like my friends in college are actually just participating as well. So that's very cool to see. Yeah. Fantastic.
00:06:31
Speaker
Very cool. um And with the trail running, like obviously it's been, it's been going for a little while
International Competition and Validation
00:06:38
Speaker
now. I can see that you went to the world,
00:06:43
Speaker
mountain and trail running champs in 2023 like was there a point where you went okay I'm going to take this a little bit more seriously like I'm obviously you've raced a lot in Iceland and you're doing really well but at what point were you like oh I'm gonna go and see how well I am like outside of Iceland or like was there a point where you're like I want to take this a bit more seriously or was it just you just kept jumping into more and more races yeah I've always been like it's probably a very positive thing to be from Iceland. It's like a small nation and you get like more opportunities.
00:07:15
Speaker
And it's, I've had a lot of fun with it of just like every opportunity that I get, I say yes to. So it's like, ah we need someone in a 3000 meter steeplechase team championship cup. And I would go on that. And then like, ah, we are have sending a team in the world trail championship. And it's so cool to like get the opportunity opportunity to go there.
00:07:38
Speaker
And when you like see that you also have like potential to become very good, it makes you um want to do it even more. And yeah, it somehow just started off racing in Iceland for fun and winning races and then getting these opportunities to go abroad and seeing like, oh, I could actually...
00:08:00
Speaker
like also be good in this outside of Iceland because I thought I was just like, oh, it doesn't mean anything to be good in Iceland because we are just like under 400,000 and it doesn't mean anything. But yeah, it's very cool too compete ah um yeah on a bigger on the bigger screen scene as well. Yeah, very cool.
00:08:20
Speaker
And you're going to the the World Cup trail champs in Austria 2023. Was that, you said maybe you've been, had you run in some other teams for road running before or like how did that compare to other teams that you'd it sort of participated in?
00:08:37
Speaker
Yeah, I actually did the world trail championship in Thailand a year before that. nice that was like what first stop on youtube rail yeah That was like the first trail ah trip that I went to. But before that, I had yeah a lot of like track and field competitions where you're like, oh yeah, that like the European team championship and um the world championship and half marathon. And yeah, had done a lot of track races.
00:09:08
Speaker
ah But yeah, just I like the trail so much more. So yeah, after maybe Thailand and Austria, like my focus started to be there, but always doing, I combine, combine everything a lot. I do the track and roads also like with the trails, but I kind of want to try to stop doing it because I want to focus on more and like collecting more elevation gain. Because if you like have a 10k road race, you tend to maybe skip the mountain for that week. But then
00:09:40
Speaker
the mountain race comes and you're like, oh, why don't I have more elevation gain in my legs? So it's both a good thing and a bad thing to do everything. And I really want to put more focus on only the trails this time.
Coaching and Personal Growth
00:09:52
Speaker
Yeah, cool.
00:09:53
Speaker
Very good. And you're the coach, Andrea? um Yes, now. But over the last years, I've basically been mainly only coaching myself and But ah yeah, I went back to my old coach. Just, yeah, it was a very good decision. So it was like, he's a great coach and he's like the main coach that has like the trail team in Iceland. And um yeah, I had nothing wrong with it, except like, I just love jumping on. Like if someone is going skiing in the mountains, I want to do that. If my friends have a session tomorrow, but I have a session today.
00:10:31
Speaker
I want to do the session with my friends tomorrow. And I just started to feel very bad that I wasn't following the plan that the coach was spending time ah doing for me. so I was like, oh it's just better to not have a coach so I can just be flexible and free.
00:10:43
Speaker
But then, yeah, I made the decision him to start again with him last November when just training was not going very well. And that has like helped me so much to just be back on a plan. And I have never been so consistent of just actually following the plan. So I'm seeing a lot of improvements in that, even though it's also very fun to be flexible. Yeah.
00:11:05
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah, there you go. um If we maybe like pull things together in terms of more into more recent times, I think like we talked about your running over the years and yeah, i just wanted to shout out, you've got the,
00:11:20
Speaker
You've actually you've got the, well, this may or may not be right, but you've got 3,000-meter steeplechase national record of 1007, which you got last year in the middle of, I guess, your build for world champs. And is that sort of what you're talking about there terms of, like, you were balancing different things?
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. I think it's maybe a problem of, like, finding it hard to say no to. Exactly. Like, I was asked, can you go on this trip? I'm like, yes, of I want to do that. But that, of course, takes the focus of this I prepped for this race, of course, for like two or three weeks, but that then I was sacrificing long mountain runs and elevation gain. And then you stand on the start line at the trade championship and like, oh, why didn't I prepare better for it? But of course, it's fun to do everything, but I feel like I...
Handling Pressure in Races
00:12:10
Speaker
Now is the time to maybe focus a little bit more on one thing at a time. yeah Yeah, I can definitely relate to that. I'm a big yes man. I love sort of saying yes to opportunities that come up. And it it does. It's fun, but it can also lead you down some rabbit holes.
00:12:26
Speaker
and So, yeah, so that led, I guess, last year, if we if we sum up like the last few years that you've been sort of building your trail stuff.
00:12:36
Speaker
You were running the long trail in in Spain um and you came 13th in the women, which if we compare to, I've only got Austria here, but in Austria you ran short trail and you're 35th. So did you feel like you had a big improvement in in in Spain? Like it's an incredible result. Like we were happy with that?
00:12:59
Speaker
um Like, of course I want to say like, oh, 13th place at World Champs sounds amazing, but... I was very disappointed and like had a very bad experience and just like a very long and hard day and I was just not feeling good. But like finishing the race and getting through the hard parts, of course, I should i should be proud. And like now there's like time has passed and I can look back and like be proud of myself and the race. But um yeah, I went in a very deep hole after that race because I was just like not satisfied with results and
00:13:34
Speaker
just leading up to the race I was just like not in the right headspace of just putting a lot of pressure on myself and that just I felt that that affected the race a lot yeah but yeah then that's all so a good result but maybe not the the best run um or the best experience yeah which of course it's like um motivates me and like gets me excited it's a big positive race again and, and yeah, hopefully to do better next time. yeah What did you sort of take away from that race? Like, like, um, how do you, like, do you have strategies to sort of try and handle the pressure for the next big race?
00:14:15
Speaker
Yeah, I've been working a lot, uh, at that and with the help of my coaches and, and good people that, so, It like started almost because I did the Copenhagen Marathon in May in that like earlier last year.
00:14:31
Speaker
And I wanted to break the Icelandic record of 2.35. And that just like that's where the like pressure got me. And I like had a lot of stomach issues just because I was stressed. And ah just like becomes ah sort of like a bad circle.
00:14:48
Speaker
And then I had to make up for that.
Proving Worth and Personal Life
00:14:50
Speaker
like bad race because last year was like my first time all time being a athlete like I finished school and i was just going to focus on this and I had to show I felt like I had to show and prove to companies that I was worth sponsoring. So I just like and i just lost like my joy off running because was just like, ah I have to get the A goal and I have to do this to be worth being this athlete.
00:15:20
Speaker
And that just like peaked during the World Champs because I also had to make up for the marathon. So I've just been... um learning a lot that like yeah remembering why I'm doing this and finding the joy again and that was just so good to race the Donna double last weekend and like feel that I'm like back how I'm supposed to be just like doing this for myself because I like this and the result is self this like um yeah not the yeah not the main reason yeah it's a hard it's really hard balance to get because like on
00:15:53
Speaker
and you know that your performance is going to be better when you're doing it for the love of it and you're doing it because you want to be there but there's all these other competing pressures these days in terms of race results and sponsorships and all of that sort of stuff so it's it's very hard to not get dragged down into that so yeah but it sounds sounds like you were able to sort of pull that together last weekend you did have one other race in Australia the end of last year at Ultra Trail Cosby where you you also were able to get the win there and and third overall, which was was a really impressive result as well.
00:16:29
Speaker
um what What brought you down to Australia? what What's made you come all the way from Iceland? Yeah, that's a very funny story. ah So when I was prepping for the Copenhagen Marathon, I went to a training and camp to Kenya, Eton.
00:16:46
Speaker
It's like, yeah, I've just always dreamt about going there and it's like perfect for a marathon training. And there I met an Australian. he he would He wouldn't allow me to ah call him a runner. So he would probably like to hear that I met an Australian surfer. He would prefer me saying that, but I would call him a runner as well. But he was ah there as well. Yeah.
00:17:10
Speaker
Yeah, um we eventually just got together and so I have an Australian boyfriend and that's what brought me to Australia. Very cool. But he must be he must be a bit enough of a runner to go to Kenya to go running. Exactly, that's what I tried to tell him. There's more running than surfing in Kenya.
00:17:29
Speaker
Yes, exactly. But yeah, he was like hiking Kilimanjaro and more like just wanted to see it because he's like, ah yeah, a hobby runner, but still a very good runner. Yeah. Yeah, very cool.
00:17:40
Speaker
And um he he's the actual um stereotypical Australian that he actually surfs unlike the rest of us. yeah You've met one of the 2% when everyone actually from overseas thinks it's like at least 50% of us surf, but really it's not that many. you You found one in the rough. Would you only say that it's 2% though?
00:18:02
Speaker
Yeah, i don't I don't know for sure, but I feel like it's it's very small. If you're in a town, like I think you were down on the surf coast, is that right? you were Yeah, Turkey. and Turkey. Like if you're there, it's probably 50%. Yeah, and that's like the only people that I have met, so I have a wrong place. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:18:20
Speaker
Yeah, if you go to a town like that, I think i think you would. Most people probably do, or a lot of people surf or have surfed. But um yeah yeah I think across Australia, probably probably not as many. But there you go. You found one who surfs and runs, which is pretty cool.
00:18:35
Speaker
That's a great combination. Fantastic. so So you came down to visit and then sort of jumped in Kozzy when you were here. is that right? Yeah. Yeah, my goal was to get the ticket to, like, I've always dreamt about doing the OCC. So...
00:18:50
Speaker
It was very good to get ah a ticket to that that I'm doing now in August. Oh, that's it. So there was another benefit to coming down the Cossida race.
00:19:00
Speaker
yeah And you were part of that really strong women's field. Like actually last year that was potentially, like from my side, like looking at all the races, I think it was potentially the most competitive female race in Australia. So it was cool race to be a part of as well. um And it was good to having you there making it even stronger. Yeah, that was, yeah, was very happy with that race. And like, exactly, we were like,
00:19:25
Speaker
eight or something girls starting and running together at the start so that was very cool Yeah, it's very cool. so yeah um Have you done UTMB before, like the OCC or any of the races there?
00:19:38
Speaker
No, this will be my first time. So I'm very excited for that. Fantastic. Yeah, very exciting. um did you So I think you were telling me when I saw you last weekend at Donna Double that you went you went home, but then you came back again um for a short time and and that's when you decided to do Donna or how did you hear about Donna or why did you decide to run it?
00:20:00
Speaker
Yeah, that was actually so random. It was my coach from Iceland. I don't know how he found this race, but he's just genius of like finding something like doing training fun. So he had probably just like thirds races near Melbourne or whatever. And he just put it in my running um like training plan, do a 20k tempo or and like a link to this race. And it's just like a week before the race. I click this link. I'm like, Oh, this looks fun. And I didn't know it was this big race. So it was just like, it just became better and better. And then like winning it was just like, wow, I just got a ticket to South Korea in October. So it was, it was, yeah probably like my, it will be very memorable and one of my most favorite races for for certain. Yeah.
00:20:48
Speaker
Yeah, that would mean such a that be such a cool experience to remember where you were just like, oh, yeah, my coach has put in a 20K tempo. oh I wonder what this race is. Oh, it has prize money. Oh, I could go to South Korea. Yeah. It was exactly like that. And then you get the win. Yeah. Very cool. I can imagine that the how exciting that would have been. It's is's very, very cool. um What was your experience like in the race? Like, did you...
00:21:14
Speaker
Did you feel like you were you were moving, you were saying earlier that, like, you felt like you had a really good race? Like, was it things starting to click again and coming back together? Yeah, definitely. And just also, like, feeling that everything is clicking made me so happy. And, like, oh, like, I don't have stomach issues. And, like, I feel like my mind my mindset is strong and positive. And that's, like, just builds on top of it of, like, oh, I like this. And this is so, like. yeah being in a good headspace it's just like when I've been yeah like I said last year struggling a little bit you just appreciate this so much better and and yeah i guess it's just like even though it was ah not nice to go through this year or last year it probably just give um makes me a better runner now because yeah it makes me like appreciate everything more and and yeah
00:22:09
Speaker
just remembering how important the correct mindset is and just believing in yourself and being strong. And yeah, that was very, very good feeling to start the season like that.
00:22:19
Speaker
Yeah, cool. Fantastic. And then you jumped on a plane um and headed to Tenerife, which is where you are now, and you're about to race the coming weekend. How are you feeling about that?
00:22:33
Speaker
Yes, feeling very good. it was a long trip, so I caught some a little bit sore throat and stuff, so I've just been pretty easy the first two days here, but I will do some course, take a look at the course tomorrow, and feeling very excited for the 47k Blue Trail on Saturday. Some of my friends from Iceland are coming over, and I'm also thinking...
00:22:59
Speaker
um About that of both like getting a ticket hopefully to OCC 2027 and also it's like a perfect a Timeline for I'm doing the European championship first weekend of June which is 50k as well So it's also a perfect prep for that.
00:23:18
Speaker
Okay, fantastic and and whereabouts is the European off-trail champs? this It's in Slovenia this year Ah, very cool. which which ah Which town or like city, which part of Slovenia do you know?
00:23:31
Speaker
ah Just like I was telling you about asking the pool trail. I'm not very good at planning and checking places. Before we got on to record, I was asking Andrea about the course that she was running this weekend and she wasn't quite sure what what what the what the stats were.
00:23:49
Speaker
that we had yeah But this ah the UTMB race looks quite interesting in terms of like I feel like sometimes these UTMB races can be, and we talk about a little bit with the Snowdonia one, but they make them a bit easier over time and um they're not always the most maybe most vert or really difficult courses, but the Blue Trail course we we were looking at has a 2k section with 620 meters of climb straight up a bit of like a wall. So yeah, that looks like it's going to be fun.
00:24:23
Speaker
Yes. And I will still decide if I will take my poles or not for to use in that section. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you, we were talking a little bit about that before, in terms of poles, like, is there a shortest distance that you would consider using them?
00:24:41
Speaker
Or is it something about the terrain in terms of how healy it is? Like, what ah comes into the decision for you? Good question. Like, I think I've never used them for anything shorter than, like,
00:24:53
Speaker
for 40k but like if there's a i would always just look at the ratio of elevation gain compared to the distance so yeah for example like the most famous trail run in iceland is called the loga utra and it's a 50k but only 1500 meters of elevation gain so you would like never use poles there but then yeah and then it's like Yeah, this is like tricky. 47k and what, 2500 or something elevation gain? That's like just in the middle of where you can use them or skip them, so...
00:25:25
Speaker
And of course, the steepness of the hill, if it's like super gradual and you can run all the way, then you probably shouldn't need them. But this gradient sounds like poles would be great, but then you have to carry on the whole way and maybe only them for this this one hill so or mountain. So yeah, it's what you prefer. And if you're good with poles, it it of course saves your legs. So could be a could be a good call to take them.
00:25:50
Speaker
Definitely. So is the 50k distance um your sort of favorite distance on the trail at the moment? Because I've seen that you've done like short ones and long ones as well. What do you prefer?
00:26:01
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. i would always I've always said that fifty k is like my favorite one, but I've done two longer, like 100k and the World Champs long trail, which was 80k last year. and just both races I felt not good and I was like,
00:26:19
Speaker
I just think about like this longer distances are so appealing to me because I feel like you can enjoy the first half because you can't be tired that early. So you just like get enjoy running in nature and up the mountains and feeling good. And then the tiredness comes.
00:26:36
Speaker
But in both. cases that has not been the case and I've just like felt pretty bad from the start so I really want to do a longer like 100k race soon again just to prove to myself that I can do that because I think I am very good at longer stuff but at the moment fifty k is like yeah my favorite and then the marathon on the road is something that I also want to um try again I'm doing the Valencia marathon in December cool Oh, cool. So trying again for that ah record that I didn't get last year. Fantastic. Sounds like a good year ahead. Yes, a lot of... Have you any... Sorry, go on. No, was just going to say like a lot of fundraisers on the schedule. Yeah, it sounds like a sounds like a really cool program. Lots of variety as well.
00:27:25
Speaker
Jess, you have any other questions for André? um I would be keen to kind of understand a bit more about your training. Like what does a typical week sort of look for you? Like maybe like in preparation for um your races that you've got coming up?
00:27:44
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah. There can be weeks can look very different because, know, one week I'm prepping for a 3000 meter steeplechase and then the next yeah month I'm prepping for a 50k but if we talk about like for blue trail um yeah I've always like cross trained a lot just because I like it and I don't want to get injured so I think just biking I bike a lot and I think that helps a lot with the mountain runs so Mondays are normally just very easy i try to like have one day without running and that's normally Mondays and I would just bike and I also like strength training a lot so I do that normally twice a week then Wednesday would be like a workout some kind of threshold and hill sprints And then like Tuesday and Thursday, just easy and maybe strides. Friday, also easy. And then if I am in Iceland, then Saturdays are like the big club practice that we would do like a big mountain session of like three times up the like local mountain in Reykjavik in Iceland. It's just like 600 meters of elevation game. would be like go three times up and down with some efforts, like some effort sections like
00:28:59
Speaker
eight times, eight minutes or something like that. And then Sunday, like a long run. So i like I like to have big weekends and then an easy Monday.
00:29:10
Speaker
And then the rest of the week is like pretty typical, like threshold and 10K efforts and easy runs. Yeah, awesome. um And how do you, like what days would you do your strength on? Like do you, because...
00:29:25
Speaker
There is a bit of an argument where like people, some people like to do them on workout days. Some people like to do them easy days. How do you balance that? That's like, I also, exactly, I've been thinking about that because I was like, oh, well do you want to do hard days hard and easy days easy?
00:29:41
Speaker
Or i tend to do them on my easy days. But then ah you're maybe sore and sore in your legs for the workout next day. ah But normally I would do them on Tuesday and Thursday morning and do it before my run. So I would eat breakfast, do one hour of strength training and then straight into my easy run. And that both um from my boyfriend, he has taught me that it might be better um just for bone health and injury risk. That you don't want to tire the bones.
00:30:16
Speaker
after running and then to strength and also I feel like you make your body tired from all the weights and then you run for one hour or 90 minutes and then I feel like I'm getting more like mountain practice in because you make your legs fatigued with weightlifting and then you run on tired legs so you don't feel as good maybe but I feel good about it yeah yeah Yeah, that makes sense. um And like have you what's your sort of injury history been? like Have you had many injuries in the past?
00:30:49
Speaker
um I wouldn't say many, but enough to be very scared of injuries. It's like, I feel like runners, so many say like, oh it's normal to have niggles just every day, basically. And I don't relate to that. I always feel very good everywhere.
00:31:10
Speaker
Until like twice I've had ah bone stress injury. And I feel like they just came on very sudden. just like had basically no pain and then like, oh, a little bit stiff calf. And then it just turns into, ah yeah, bone stress injury. So both first time I had in my navicular bone, which is a very bad place to have it. And it was a very long time to heal. That was 2019.
00:31:37
Speaker
And then I had in my tibia bone edema. in 2023 so I never have any tendon issues or like knee or whatever you call it pain it's just like these two times it has been my bones it takes like I'm just off for 6 to 10 weeks or something so I'm very like um yeah I try to do everything to yeah um not make that happen again
00:32:09
Speaker
Yeah. Well, it looks like you're in a good spot now because like it's been, what, three years since your last injury. So that's yeah it's a pretty good sign. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, nice. All right. Well, we might move on to some other topics. It's been really good to get to know you. André, I think um if you need to jump off, feel free to at any point, but um we'll move through some news topics. A quick break in the show to thank Bix. Bix has just come out with their 30 gram gel in two brand new flavors. This is a new gel, new flavors. You've got the choice of the salted strawberry or the berry. The salted strawberry is also packing 300 milligrams of sodium as an increase. whereas the berry has 200 milligrams. Both make them perfect for the conditions we have in Australia, yeah whereas most gels on the market do not have sodium within them. What Bix has done here is take the recipe for the gels that work so well, that 1.8 ratio that is very, very friendly on the stomach, and added a soft, subtle, but very tasty twist that you can dial in your race day and your training nutrition to that extra fine detail.
00:33:17
Speaker
As you know, Bix has been supporting the show from the start and it literally helps keep the podcast coming to you every week. So if you want to support the show, level up your own nutrition game, head over to the Bix website, use our brand new code PEAK, P-E-A-K for 20% off at checkout. And with that, let's get back to the show.
00:33:34
Speaker
So first up, Just for anyone who hadn't seen, ah anyone who was a member probably would have seen, but the AUTRA AGM has been shifted a little bit.
00:33:46
Speaker
um It was supposed to be, I think in a couple of weeks, but it's been shifted to after Eastern Hour. um So that's to April 15th. um And yeah, there'll be more information that comes out two weeks before that. So um If you're interested in attending the AGM or for those people who aren't an AUTRA member but want to keep across that information, um that's when AGM is. And if you want to be a part of it, you have to be a member. So, yeah, you can join up before April 15th. There might be a minimum time you need to be a member, but that information will come out.
00:34:23
Speaker
and we'll share it. um Yeah, might skip my topic that I had last week. We'll save that for another time. um But yeah, we've got a few other pieces of news. So I feel like all of some of this news weve we had in last week, but then the episode was quite big. So we um we skipped it. um So we've got ah probably been covered a lot elsewhere. I've seen a lot of information.
00:34:48
Speaker
um Most listeners have probably seen elsewhere what's been going on with the Ultra Trail Snowdenia. ah Just a little summary, I guess, and then maybe we'll have a quick chat about it.
00:35:01
Speaker
um The landowners... ah Well, what what we saw was that Ultra Trail Snowdenia released the course for the hundred k and they had drastically changed the course um from what it previously was or at least it had gone from about 6,000 metres of climbing to 4,000 metres of climbing um and missing some of the key parts of the race that people who were maybe doing it for specific reasons may have wanted to cover.
00:35:33
Speaker
um The worst kicker on the back of that was they'd opened entries, reopen entries for more entries like a few days or in the week before they did that announcement, not after they changed the route.
00:35:49
Speaker
um So there was a lot of backlash. um Since then we've heard a little bit more information. So the the timeline as as as I understand it now and James has summarized a little bit for us is that back last year the landowners um reportedly reduce the number of entries allowed to cross the terrain. So this is an event that wasn't a UTMB event back in the day, got bought by UTMB, has slowly increased its numbers every year since then. So the landowners who are responsible for looking after the area asked, well, they reduced how many numbers they were happy to accept passing certain parts of the terrain from 600 300. And then
00:36:32
Speaker
um and then Obviously that that led last year to there being less entries over since since last year to now. Our understanding is that the race directors were maybe looking for other routes so that they could increase their numbers again.
00:36:48
Speaker
um So then they added an 80k, they added more entries to the 100k and then they they got rid of they changed the route. um Mostly it sounds like so that they could have back to similar entries that they used to have.
00:37:03
Speaker
um The kicker there is I guess like at the time they hadn't allowed any refunds or changing. I think maybe that's sort of changing now and there may be a bit more flexibility. But yeah, it was just a bit of a bit of a shambles. um There's probably reasons, but again, the transparency was a bit bit of an issue and and and therefore people were quite felt like they'd been blindsided. um So, yeah, jack James has asked, how many times can UTMB event degrade trust before we actually care for that more than a day?
00:37:38
Speaker
um So he's getting a little bit political. But, yeah, i don't know if you guys were following this story with Snowdonia. Did you have any any thoughts? Not really. No, sorry. This is the first I've heard about it. But... um Yeah, throwing in the deep end there. Yeah, it's – I don't know. It's tricky. It must be tricky, like, from, like, the race director's point of view because, obviously, like, yeah, it is a business. So, like, they need to make money but at the same time, like, keep people safe and, like, follow all the rules. um
00:38:14
Speaker
But, yeah, I think it's pretty, like – They should be allowing refunds if they're going to change the race that much um because it's like a totally different experience. And, yeah, like I think there should be something in the clause to, like, allow for refunds. I think there is a few things, like obviously UTMB, like, try to make as much money as they can. um Like, because I was, like really like, as another example, like, I was recently trying to get um an entry for UTA.
00:38:45
Speaker
um and I eventually got one. But then they also, like, if you're transferring an entry from someone who doesn't want to do it anymore, like, they charge an extra fee, which I thought was, like, pretty ridiculous because it's, like, they should be encouraging people Like, if you can't run anymore, they should be encouraging you to, like, transfer your entries so that, like, they still have, like, a lot of people at their event and it, like, I don't know. I don't know why they're charging extra money for you to just transfer your entry. I think that's ridiculous. Yeah.
00:39:21
Speaker
yeah um yeah oh i think there's a there's a couple things to this i think like in the trail running world utmb operates more on the business end of the spectrum of of events like i think and i think if you if you look at maybe where trail runs started or where a lot of people first experienced trail running they had more of the community vibe end as their first entrance to trail running some people start with a utmb event some people uta or ah UTK might be their first event.
00:39:50
Speaker
But I think a lot of people started the events with where the the ah RD probably wasn't making any money. um They were doing it for the love of it. They wanted to put on an event.
00:40:01
Speaker
They weren't really approaching it with a ah very strong business mindset. Whereas I think UTMB on that spectrum is probably closer to the other end and they're thinking about their margins maybe more so than the than the local run director.
00:40:16
Speaker
um So I think that's the first thing and like, look, that's like you said, that's that's their prerogative, their business. they can do what they They can do what they want and if people want to buy their product, then so be it. There's nothing that.
00:40:31
Speaker
wrong with that I don't know if that they're the events that I want to be on. Like I prioritise events of that that are going to do cool routes and and and do awesome climbs or visit parts of ah a national parks and terrain that I really want to tackle over going to an event that is really hyped.
00:40:53
Speaker
That's just probably my preference, although I have been to UTA and other UTMB events before, so it's it's not like I haven't been to them. but for me it's just like this one is just so shady I'm like just be transparent about it like if you're going to change the route like especially the final bit like I can understand last year maybe they didn't know what they were going to do so they just opened their entries and said okay 300 people you can enter our current course and that's they didn't know what they were going to do and then they spent six months deciding what they were going to do but
00:41:24
Speaker
recently it sounds like they knew what they were going to do before they reopened entries and they've just sort of tricked it it it seems like a massive trick that they opened entries let people enter a product which they thought was the previous product then released a few days after like they just needed to swap those two and there wouldn't have been half as much blowback there probably would have still been some blowback because people would have wanted to do a specific event, but like doing it the way they did it just. Yeah, I don't i don't know how they ever thought they were going to be able to like get away with with that in terms of like not have blowback. But yeah, I still think even the people who entered six months ago, even though they say the root is subject to change,
00:42:09
Speaker
maybe UTMB's coming from more of that Ironman background where triathlons, if the route changes, it's not really a big deal. Like if a marathon route changes, yeah, maybe a little bit's added or there's a few more turns or there's slightly more climb or whatever it is. But like,
00:42:28
Speaker
that's very different to a route slowly changing. Even the UTA a few years ago when they had to change it, and this is not a, I'm not talking about the UTA here, but where they had to change it because of the the closures. The UTA course that they ran in, what was that, late 2022, I think, in October 2022, that course was so different to the normal UTA course. And that just shows like changes in trail running courses are much like they changed the type of course much more significantly than they would in other events and maybe UTMB are not fully across that as much as like because of they where they come from. Yeah. It actually like their business model reminds me so much of like um airlines because like
00:43:19
Speaker
he is like you like, like the airline knows that like they're the people's only option. So it's like they have all these like additional fees and like you can't get refunds and like it's the same because like I think UTMB think that like their races are so high profile that like people are going to want to do them anyway.
00:43:42
Speaker
So like – Well, yeah, they built this model of off UTMB. Like they've been able to do it because UTMB is so iconic and they've yeah they've built a world world series purely off that. At some point, and I think that's what James is getting to, at some point I think that will collapse.
00:43:59
Speaker
Yeah. And yeah, like my like my question from James is like, how much more of this from UTMB do you have to see before... elites or even just general public people go, I just just don't want to go to their events anymore. And yeah unfortunately, I think it's still a lot. Like they just still hold that power, like you're saying, like people don't have other options, especially maybe the elites.
00:44:23
Speaker
Yeah. that All of the sponsors, bonuses and yeah yeah, they're all linked to that. But yeah, but so maybe the movement has to come from the brands first. Who knows? I think if the movement came from like the general public first that would shift everything because then like the brands want to be where the majority is.
00:44:46
Speaker
so the brands would shift if the if the majority shifted. Um, but yeah, it's tricky for like elites because most of the time in their contracts, um, the brands are like, we want you to be at UTMB races and we want you to be at the high profile races because that's where we get exposure.
00:45:05
Speaker
Um, because of the numbers so yeah yeah I think it's like ah ah one thing I was thinking about when I saw this this morning and ah over the weekend there's also the sky running race on on the same island where they had trans grand canary it just looked like such different race like the sky running race even trans grand canary is not part of UTMB but it's maybe like a it's more iconic but it's a similar type of race that maybe it's not as like intensely technical or something like that but just seeing the the two different races I thought it's good to see sky running still sort of kicking along a few years ago I thought sky running might be dying um but they seem to still be holding a little bit of their own and and it's good to see them sort of holding that end of the sport together because it just feels like
00:45:50
Speaker
that end of the sport is slowly disappearing, um the technical, the steep stuff. And like, that's not for everyone, but it's nice to still have that exist. um And I'm not saying it's not OK. Like, I think it's great to have those flatter options that people anyone can tackle. But I think people knowing what they're signing up for is is probably the most important thing. And and and people can self-select what what they want to do. um So, yeah, it's an interesting story. I think it'll probably still evolve over a few more weeks. um
00:46:24
Speaker
But, yeah, um it's not it's not a giving me any um it's not giving UTMB any brownie points in my eyes anyway. No. Yeah. It's a tricky one. Tricky one. Yeah.
00:46:35
Speaker
All right. Well, sorry. Did you have something else? Oh, no. i was going to say, like, Yeah, moving on to the next announcement, yeah um which is UTMB related as well. So UTA has been announced as another event where they'll have a live stream um as well as Chianti and Black Canyons, um which are both going to be golden ticket races for Western States, I assume.
00:47:05
Speaker
um Yes, yeah. But yeah, that'd be really cool for UTA, like putting Australia um in the international light again. um And we usually get really good races there. It'll be interesting to see like what internationals come down for it. um Because last year there was quite a few.
00:47:27
Speaker
so yeah, it should be should be fun. Definitely. Yeah. And I remember watching i was at um UTA last year and I still watch some of the live streams. So it was yeah, it was pretty cool to see. And they had some some great footage that had Mijel Backhausen and Jackie Bell and I think they might be doing it again um and I think they did did a great job um last year so it'll be cool to sort of get them back on the mics and and put Australia on the map um especially like I think it definitely put Australia on the map last year with the like they have the drone shots of like people running out along Naranek and it just like it just looks so iconic and yeah definitely
00:48:09
Speaker
Definitely is a good ah marketing strategy for the event as well, I think. um And hopefully, like you said, we can draw some really good crowds. um ah so it oh Sorry, a really good elite crowd because, yeah, it'd be great to have some super competitive races on on the um on Australian soil um rather than just super competitive Australians racing against each other, like have some internationals thrown in there so you can sort of have have a few yardsticks of,
00:48:37
Speaker
how people are tracking and and and what competition is like outside of Australia. Yeah. um And yeah, like you said, um getting ah ahead of Chianti and Black Canyons, which are both golden ticket races, UTA chosen as a...
00:48:53
Speaker
as a live stream, probably because it's the major, I guess. um But yeah, still cool to see that UTMB actually value value the event down here and well well done to UTA for, I'm sure they campaigned to get that put it all together so good work for them and excited to watch because i don't think i'm going to be going out myself so be nice to sit at home and watch some of the action yeah um another one last piece of news and again this is from last weekend um so this is from trans grand canaria um
00:49:31
Speaker
not so much a piece of news but more James just poking poking fun of trying to get some controversial content. James doesn't like a handhold finish um and there was a handhold finish for second and third in the women's Claudia um claudia who was, I'll give that, forget their first names, or full names. So there was ah Claudia Tremps um was about, got caught about 15 minutes before the finish um by Melanie Delosoy.
00:50:11
Speaker
um And the two of them, from what I haven't actually sort of read heaps up on it, but from what James is saying, the two of them sort of ran from there to to the finish and and finish together. James wanted to get controversial and ask us what our opinion was or ask Andrea. Unfortunately, Andrea was about 10 p.m. over in Tenerife, so she's had to drop off um so we won't get her opinion. But Jess, I think we've talked about the handholding before. yeah what What's your take on it?
00:50:42
Speaker
take on it Um, well, I mean, are they friends or are they, like, teammates? Yeah. I mean, a bit more context would kind of... Melanie's from Switzerland and Claudia's from Spain, but I don't know if they're i don't know if they're teammates or not.
00:51:01
Speaker
um Yeah, like, yeah, I don't know. I feel like at the end of a really long race, maybe it's... It kind of makes a bit more sense because it's like you guys have been through like a bit of a journey together. um say yeah, I feel like in a shorter race, like you'd probably want to see a bit more of a sprint finish, but maybe at the end of one hundred and twenty six ks you're just a bit like, let's just get to the finish together. um yeah Yeah, and the sprint and the sprint might not be easy to do after a hundred
00:51:34
Speaker
I think it's a hard one to like judge them not being in the moment and like you said there might be some storyline there that we don't know in terms of some sort of relationship or something that happened or I'm sure there's maybe something behind it um and like I know definitely when I'm in the tail end of a race even if it's a 20k literally the last thing I want to do is race someone to the finish like you just feel like you feel so exhausted, so hard. And like even it would have been good to talk about this as Andrea because Andrea was chasing me a double and I'm like looking over my shoulder being like, oh, do I have to sprint to sort of stay ahead of her or is she going to come past me? And like that's when you're hurting, like ah it's it's really hard to do that. So if someone said to me, oh, let's just go across together and we'll share it. Like I don't know what I would do in that moment. I might just be like, yep.
00:52:29
Speaker
I'm done. Especially if they're 126k is a long time. They've been racing hard for a long time. Yeah. it's It's hard to watch though as well as like a spectator. So I think it comes from like the old school would be like, yeah, that's fine. Like,
00:52:41
Speaker
Trail running is all about the community and being part of the event and and pushing yourself, but and but then enjoying it with other people. Like I feel like that's very much the vibe. Whereas I think in most recent years, because it's started to become more competitive, maybe you have more people from road running and other sports coming in. That's maybe less acceptable to the to the spectator now because they're like, I want to see a race. um and I guess you don't see that a lot in other ah events. Like maybe you don't see that like at the end of Kona, like they're not sort of walking across the line, but maybe there's been opportunities. But I usually, i feel like Kona, whenever I see like the triathlon in Hawaii, they're like battling across the line and they're usually like collapsing and stuff. So like it's a very different to like holding hands. Yeah.
00:53:28
Speaker
Maybe like because the sport's becoming more professional or more sort of visible, people expect racing and that's more the old school. I don't know. Yeah, it's an interesting one. Yeah.
00:53:40
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. i think I think it's, yeah, depends on the context, but I think, um yeah, it is it it just makes for a different storyline, I guess. um Yeah. Yeah.
00:53:54
Speaker
And obviously, I think in this case, James said the commentators were calling it sportsmanship. Like, I think in the in that case, the commentators can't really call it out. Like, they've got to they've got to do what they, like, even if they felt like it was it was they should have raced. Like, they're go to they're going to put it in a positive light.
00:54:10
Speaker
um Yeah. Because that's that's what you've got to do in that moment. Yeah. Yeah. yeah it's ah It's an interesting one. I'm the probably the same as you. I think I don't feel super strongly. Like ah would have been happy to watch them race to the finish, but I'm also not that mad that they crossed holding hands. Like it it doesn't doesn't affect me that much. And like, I don't know. It's sort of like you said, it's like they've probably been on a bit of a journey together. Yeah.
00:54:35
Speaker
And I think we've all been in that position at the end of the race and it might not be for second and third or whatever it is where you're sort of around some people at the end of the race and you feel like you've developed a strong bond with them even though you've only ran with them for like an hour. Yeah.
00:54:48
Speaker
They feel like they could be siblings. Yeah. So... Yeah, anyway. So yes, an interesting one. Maybe we'll put a poll up and see what people think and see if James can yeah get his fix of controversy. Because think James is it james is a very much not a fan. So yeah, it'll be interesting to see.
00:55:10
Speaker
We might pop a pop a little poll up and see what people think. yeah um All right, let's go through some results. I don't know you've seen any of these ones, Jess. i can um I can pull up the the Razorback ones to start with if you want to have a look at one of the other ones after that. So I'll pull up Razorback. Now, this is a spreadsheet, so give me...
00:55:35
Speaker
a a little bit of time to suss it. So Razorback Run, this is one of the single track slash running wild events. So one of the ah sort of the sort of more community or like the the ones that single track have sort of taken over for this year.
00:55:51
Speaker
um But we did get a very slightly like a fairly competitive field at this this one, um which is really cool to see. And yeah, such a cool place for a race in Harrietville.
00:56:04
Speaker
or starting in Haritville for some of the races are up on um all of the races centered around the Razorback Ridge, which goes from Mount Hotham to ah Mount Feathertop. And it's sort of like, I wouldn't say it's actually a Razorback, but it is, it's not, it's not a super ah pointy ridge, but it is beautiful and it's it's very nice. It sort of runs along along the ridgeline between those two mountains and some really nice views.
00:56:31
Speaker
beautiful sort of single trail, some nice little punchy climbs. um So yeah, cool race. The 22k was out and back along the Razorback.
00:56:42
Speaker
um The winner in the men was Ian Best in 2 hours 15. Second was Rex Wickenden in 2 at 19. And third was Daniel Hyde in 2.23.
00:56:56
Speaker
In the women, Gillian Turnbull, took the win in 2.32. Sophie DeGrave took out second in 2.45 and third was Vicky Mayberry in 3.24.
00:57:10
Speaker
twenty four So cool race there. That's a, yeah, the 22k is quite nice, not too intense. The 37k is what is commonly known as the good loop. So that one comes from Harrietville and they climb up to the Razorback up Bungalow Spur, that the one I think? I don't know i forget all the names.
00:57:36
Speaker
Up to the peak, it's the same route that they take on Four Peaks, the same route they take at GSER in the 30 which I did last year. So it's yeah, pretty tough climb, like 12k, 1400 meters of climb. So that's how you start.
00:57:50
Speaker
They run along the Razorback and then down into town. um down one of the other the the other route. um So in the women in this race, so this one was pretty packed.
00:58:02
Speaker
We had Nicole Patton took the win in 4 hours 41. She was six overall. um Actually the women were sixth seventh and eighth overall which is cool.
00:58:12
Speaker
ah Second female was Tori Thomas in 5 hours 31 and third was Stacey Hogan in 5 hours 36. In the men in the men Michael Dunston took out the win um in a pretty quick time. I think it was a course record for for that the race.
00:58:30
Speaker
um Three hours, 26.31. Second was George Knight in three hours, 35. And third was Matt Crean in three hours, 39. So some so some tight racing and then yes it's it's a good good field there and then in the 62 i'm not exactly sure the the route on this one uh in the men the winner was harrison flynn in 8 hours 31 second was Thomas Chalou in 8 hours 53 and third was Jeremy Pausty in 9 hours 13 and in the women
00:59:06
Speaker
Brittany Harridan, who's actually second overall, ah was 8 hours 47. She was first woman and second was Luke with... Sorry, she got course record? No, but she ran the whole way with a broken wrist. Oh, what?
00:59:22
Speaker
That's crazy. Yeah, she fell at like 3K and like had a wrist, but she didn't realize it was broken and then, yeah, ran that whole seven hours or whatever with a broken wrist. Damn.
00:59:35
Speaker
That's crazy. Well, fantastic time for Brittany there and well done for running, what, 59 Ks with a broken wrist. That's pretty impressive.
00:59:48
Speaker
I'm not sure if we should be celebrating that or not, but that very nice. I guess she didn't know she had a broken wrist. um Yeah fantastic time then that's that's awesome. um Second was yeah Lou Clifton in 9 hours 26 and third female was Sharon Whitehead in 14 hours and 13 minutes so yeah some cool racing up there some some people sort of tuning up for various races I imagine later in the season.
01:00:16
Speaker
um So that was Razorback. You want to take us to six foot? Yes, um so we also had the iconic six-foot track marathon, um which is up at the Blue Mountains.
01:00:32
Speaker
um I believe it's in Out and Back on the six-foot track. um So in the men, we had Joseph McGrath in first place um in 3 hours 42, and then second was Chris McCullough,
01:00:51
Speaker
in 3 hours 49. And then third was Brendan Hancock in 3 hours 50. And then in the women, we had deaf Austin um in first place, and she ran a time of 4 hours 08.
01:01:09
Speaker
And then second was Anne Hand um and she ran a time of four hours 14. then Sarah Leavitt was in third in four hours 15. So pretty close between second and third there and really fast times as well. Yeah, no, it was cool who racing. I think some of the people that we um thought it might be racing weren't racing. ro Ronnie Sparke.
01:01:36
Speaker
wasn't racing and Mike Carroll um I think in the females all the people we thought maybe were racing race is that right um i remember talking about Steph and yeah and the others um but yeah Joe McGrath he's actually coached by Ronnie Spark um and Ronnie was I think Ronnie was there which was cool he was there supporting Joe um and yeah a great run from Joe it's cool to see he's um been working hard over several years he's usually around the blue mountain races he lives in new south wales so yeah keen to see if he's sort of doing something at uta um but yeah really cool to see him take the win um and yeah steph so dominant in this race i wonder how many times she's won it she's always i feel like in just the last few years she's won it at least twice if not more so very we'll call it it's nearly it's going to be renamed steph's race soon so
01:02:30
Speaker
Nice, alright, so then yeah we had a couple of other races. I'll just ah read out some of the winners. So we had the Trail Run Australia in Tarthra.
01:02:41
Speaker
ah The winner in the 28k was, oh sorry, you lost it there, Hugh McKenzie in 2 hours 21.52 and in the women Rebecca Brown fifty one thirty six We had an Adelaide Trail Runners Summer Series at Port Elliott Surf Run.
01:03:03
Speaker
There was a 21K there. Lachlan Hillis took the win in one hour, 16.25. And Emily Anderson took out the women in one hour, 27.54.
01:03:15
Speaker
um And then another of the South East Queensland Trail Series. They're up to round eight. That's very cool. So i don't know. i wonder how many of they have in the series. but that's um yeah eight for the but the the series so far. um Long course, Matt Cooper, or Matthew Cooper, sorry, won 21.54, was the winner. And in the women, Sally Mutsabara was the winner in the women, won out 29.17. In the short course, the women's winner was Amy Fitzgerald in 1.04.03, and she took out new course record there.
01:03:55
Speaker
and in the men Nelson Patarejo was first in 51-52. So there's some races from the various series across the country, so cool to see them still ticking along. How are you going for time, Jess? you want to do this question or should we leave it for next time?
01:04:17
Speaker
Yeah, we can do it. Cool. Now, I'm going to have to interpret this question because I don't know. and We're going to do it live on the podcast, which is very exciting for everyone. um I'll just read it out to start with and then we can work through it. So this comes in from Billy Curtis, I believe.
01:04:34
Speaker
um So he's wondering, Do we limit our potential by using historic times at a race as a benchmark and therefore leaving time on the table? So he's sort of ah defined a little bit. um What he means is if if it takes someone doing something unthinkable ah before we remove the perceived constraints, especially if the previous time was set by a big name. So I think in this case he's saying like if if the course record or um Yeah, I guess the course record previous winner was set by a big name or is is we use that, we sort of put that time up on a pedestal. Is that limiting people from getting the best out of themselves because they don't think that they can beat that time, I guess is what he's trying to ask you. Does that make sense, Jess? Yeah, I guess this is like,
01:05:29
Speaker
I don't know. Personally, I don't really look at times when I go into a race. um Do you do that much? Not heaps. I think this was Billy specifically asking about, and we was thinking about the Buffalo Stampede um marathon time. I'm not sure actually what the course record is. I don't know if it's Mikey's maybe.
01:05:52
Speaker
um from from last year. I can have a look while we're chatting. But, yeah yeah, I don't know. i I don't feel like it holds me back personally. yeah Maybe like if I am looking at time, I'm usually, and it's a course record, I'm usually actually like fired up to try and beat the time. And I yeah think if I'm not looking at the time, maybe I'm, yeah, well I don't think it holds me back if I don't think I can beat the time. I think I'd still like to try and beat the time.
01:06:22
Speaker
Yeah. But, yeah. I guess, like um like, I know there's some people that would look at, like, the splits of each section in a race and go, oh, like, I need to be running this time to run, like, this sort of finish time. So maybe, like, if they're going, like, too fast in that certain split, they might, like, pull back a bit. um Because i know, like, some people like to break down the race like that. Mm-hmm.
01:06:49
Speaker
Personally, I don't really do that level of planning, but I sort of see, like, what he means. um But it at the same time, it, like, it just helps you, like, kind of pace your race a little bit, I guess. Like, um and I guess, like, the the goal for most people is to, like, get the most out of yourself. So, like,
01:07:14
Speaker
I would say to do that, like, you need to sort of pace the first bit of the race based off a time or, like, a perceived effort um so that you have a bit left in the tank. And then, like, probably for, like, the last bit of the race, you take time out the window and you're just kind of going as hard as you can, like, to finish. um Yeah, I don't know.
01:07:40
Speaker
I think it's like i think people talk about this in like road running or or track running and you see it quite a bit where like there's this barrier that then and I guess like the most iconic is like the four minute mile barrier when that was broken and then everyone started breaking it. But you also see that in just a lot of like ah maybe a specific age group or a specific gender for a specific distance like like in the 1500 meters in the men or like in the 800 in the women in Australia, I feel like no one was going under two and then maybe cat this, it went under two and then heaps of people under two since then. So, and I think maybe that's what Billy's referencing, like that sort of thing. And I think it may be for me in trails, I think it's a little less relevant because you don't, you can't dial in and know exactly how quick you're going to run compared to like a track race where there's,
01:08:33
Speaker
less variables. There's so many variables in a trail race, especially the longer it goes and even weather conditions can drastically change how fast you might be able to run.
01:08:46
Speaker
um And you don't and and that's without the small course changes that there probably has to be or the trail maintenance that's done or something like that. So there's just so many variables in the time that I i think there's less of that sort of barrier mentality.
01:09:01
Speaker
um But yeah, I still think there's there's times when people don't know how good a course record is or the fastest time is and they don't know if they can beat it. But it personally, I don't think it necessarily holds me back. And I think maybe that's because there's like you don't actually know you're a bit naive to actually how you're going. Like even if I'm like ten going to be 10 minutes slower than the course record before I go to a race, I've never actually done the full route at race. Like I've rarely ever done the full route.
01:09:33
Speaker
I definitely haven't done it at race pace. I haven't done it in race conditions. Whereas people doing 800 metres have probably done that heaps of times. um I'm thinking of like... ah je personally, like GPT 50K, Mikey's time was the quickest before I ran it and he was like 4 hours 38 or something like that. And I knew what his time was and I was like, think like that is possibly beatable, but I had no idea how quick I could actually do it.
01:10:01
Speaker
and then and that it was super hot anyway and and I i didn't run that good I ran 25 minutes slower so like it's yeah I I don't know if it's as much of a thing but yeah maybe for some people it is um but if it is a thing for you then maybe it's worth sort of trying to zoom out and be like well I just want I just want to sort of like um go like use it to to to pace yourself like you were saying Jess but like know that you can sort of like push harder at the end or if you if you don't get there, then it's not it's not like it's a failure or something like that. so
01:10:37
Speaker
Yeah. and It's an interesting one. i think I think like recently like we probably saw like talking to nice Nathan and and Patrick after the Don a Double where they raced each other.
01:10:49
Speaker
Neither of them actually knew how fast they were running and because they were racing so hard, they weren't really looking at their watches that much. Yeah. They didn't have a good idea of what time they were going to run. And like I ran with Nath last week and he was saying that he didn't know he'd even gone under the course record until he finished. He was only focused on racing.
01:11:10
Speaker
um lucky And when he looked down at his watch and it was like 1.45, he was like a bit surprised. He was like, what? that That was not what he was expecting to see. so Yeah, yeah. I think where there's a race on, it's even less relevant as well. Like where you're racing someone, like you're even less likely to be worried about the time and therefore it holding you back.
01:11:31
Speaker
yeah Yeah, and I think, like, over time, like, we'll naturally, like, the events will naturally sort of progress with course records and things as, like, um technology and, like, fueling improves. um Like we're seeing at the moment, um it sort of happens in every aspect of running, like, with the marathon, just slowly getting faster and faster as people kind of figure out the sport more and, like,
01:12:00
Speaker
tweak the one percenters so yeah definitely yeah there's there's sort of ongoing discussions like how relevant are the course records how much how much weight should we actually be giving them and and whatnot given the changes in in that sort of thing, like I think celebrating the win and celebrating the the time is important.
01:12:20
Speaker
And obviously, like it's still cool to have that history of knowing what times people have run in the past. But like you said, they become less and less relevant as as tech improves and there's feeling changes and and all that sort of stuff. Yeah. cool Well, Billy, hopefully answered your question.
01:12:37
Speaker
If you want to, you can hit us up, but let us know. Yeah. All right, well that's that's yeah that's it for this week. um We've got a few races coming up next weekend.
01:12:50
Speaker
ah Noosa Ultra Trail up in Queensland, ah Run the Rock in Victoria, Otway Trail Run in Victoria, Brimbank Park Running Festival in Vic, Sydney Trail Half Marathon the 9th edition as well as the Sydney Trail Summer Series at Manly Dam.
01:13:10
Speaker
So a bit going on in Sydney. Washpool World Heritage Trail Race in New South Wales, Tamworth Trailblazer in New South Wales, and SA Conquer the Summit. That sounds fun.
01:13:24
Speaker
wonder where that is. Maybe somewhere in the Adelaide Hills. So, yeah, some... lot of racing ah happening across the country. What have you got coming up, Jess? ah Not much just work and, yeah, starting to kind of gear up for Buffalo. It's only less than two weeks to go now.
01:13:47
Speaker
Coming up soon. Just final, know like, hard training sessions this week and, yeah, then it would be an easier weekend um with not as much of a long run which would be nice um yeah as i ask you that i realized that we did not do an update for you or me true we can we can finish with we finish with a short update so just as yeah so you've got you're doing the 20 at buffalo is that right yeah yeah um Yeah, I'm feeling excited about it. Yeah, I think the race kind of suits me. I like the fire roads and the steep fire roads, but I'm a little bit scared about middle track. um But hopefully I can...
01:14:32
Speaker
rally myself. I think the toughest thing is like, cause it's, um, it's like steep climb and then it's like the downhill and then another steep climb. So the downhill is like where you need to kind of catch your breath, but then cause it's middle track, you don't really catch your breath cause it's like, so it's like so stressful.
01:14:52
Speaker
So yeah, we'll see. That's the only thing that I'm kind of worried about. But other than that, like I've been feeling pretty strong. um Yeah, it was interesting, like, listening to Andrew at the start of the episode talking about gut and stress connections because, like, yeah, definitely feel like I have that issue and it's still, like, a work in progress. Like, Snowy's was a big um kind of – like break not breakthrough but like improvement um where like I felt my stomach was getting a bit better um and I felt like I had a bit more energy at the start of the race like I wasn't kind of like spending too much energy in the days before worrying about it um so yeah I'm just gonna try and do that again i'm trying to stay busy like
01:15:41
Speaker
um I've actually had like a really busy month at work which has probably been good um just to like have my brain in other parts of my life um so yeah I don't know we'll just keep trying to put the pieces together and keep trying to improve yeah sweet and um what are you doing any key sessions before Buffalo that you've got to like check off you said this is your last sort of week Yeah, I guess like probably last week was the more key sessions for Buffalo. So Friday I did um seven by three minutes hard up a hill and then like kind of steady down.
01:16:23
Speaker
That was a lot harder than it sounds on paper. Like, I don't know, three minutes uphill is like quite a long time to be going hard. um Definitely. But I was happy with that. Like, I don't know, it's hard to like know how you're going on like an uphill session, but I felt pretty good. And then like the gap pace was like quite good. um Okay. So I was happy with that.
01:16:46
Speaker
And then, yeah we did like a hilly run on Sunday, um which was twenty three k with like 1,300. um And, yeah, I felt good. Like I had recovered from the Friday session and felt like my descending has gotten a lot better off um and climbing felt super strong. sorry Awesome. Yeah.
01:17:12
Speaker
This week will be more like flatter sessions just to like keep the legs ticking over but start to like not have too much fatigue building up. Awesome. All right. Well, excited to...
01:17:25
Speaker
excited to see Buffalo and um I think James and myself are doing a bit of a preview for Buffalo this week so we'll be able get all the goss here what yeah see what the competition's like but I haven't actually looked at the full list yet so yeah I'm actually yeah hopefully you guys get like an updated list because I've heard there's been a few changes yes people jumping around events so it'll be interesting to see ah yeah what about you what's your update uh yeah I've Been taken along.
01:17:56
Speaker
I seem to recover from Donna pretty well, which was good. um But yeah, I took it took last week pretty light um so that I wasn't sort of aggravating my Achilles too much. But I um i joined Kate for she wanted to do sort of a long, a long run um to get in before Buffalo. um So we headed out to King Lake and I did the longest run I've done in at least eight months, even probably a bit longer. So I was pretty happy with that. We did, I did 35, but I did 33 in like three hours. So yeah, that was pretty decent. And I've seen to have pulled up
01:18:35
Speaker
right from it so yeah i'm pretty happy i want i like my goal for this year is to build the capacity to be able to longer um i've spent the last two years wanting to go longer but my body sort of because i've been pushing myself to sort of race and stuff like i've never given the time to allow my body to get there.
01:18:57
Speaker
Um, and therefore I've got stuck at the, I've been stuck on the 20k distance because that's all my body could sort of tolerate. Um, or, or when I went to fifty k i I was only good for about half of it.
01:19:10
Speaker
um So yeah, i'm I'm excited to sort of slowly build that up and maybe approach it the right way rather than the rushed way. um And yeah, hopefully jump into something, and some longer races at the end of the year.
01:19:25
Speaker
um I just feel like my my physiology is probably much ah better are linked with longer races. The question will be, can I actually get my body in a position where I can tolerate 50 to 100 Ks? That's the question I'm not sure. So yeah, I'm working slowly on that. And I was pretty happy to able to do three hours of of running and and we we had dacent decent effort. Like we did 4.30 gap pace, I think. So yeah,
01:19:55
Speaker
Like it was we were definitely moving. um So yeah, and and a decent amount of climbing in there, something like 1300 or 1400. So yeah, I'm pretty happy. I'm going to head up to Buffalo, um but I'm just i'm jumping in a relay.
01:20:12
Speaker
Someone's, Ian Best relay team had a skateboarding injury. So I jumped in as a replacement. So yeah, I'm doing the 29K, which is also why I wanted to get in a longer run. So I knew I could do from essentially the top.
01:20:30
Speaker
from essentially the top of Buffalo back down to Euroban. So climbed the horn to start with. yeah We changed just before the horn, climbed the horn, come back and then run across the top of Buffalo and then and then to the big descent. Yeah.
01:20:48
Speaker
Yeah, I'm excited to get up there and be a part of the event. and my race, I just get to do it whatever effort I feel like feels right on the day. Like I don't have to stress about being really, really quick because it's, yeah, I'll just do it a long run effort or a bit harder, hopefully. and So it means I can enjoy the weekend without being too stressed. But I still but i still get to compete. So, yeah, it's it's going to be fun. I'm looking forward to it.
01:21:13
Speaker
Yeah, that'll be fun. Awesome. So, yeah, I just got to yeah make sure my body stays in ah in one piece before then. And then, like, after the week after that, I'm i'm heading down to Tassie for Easter orienteering, which is the Australian Champs actually this year down in Tasmania. So um I haven't done any orienteering for, like, six to eight months. So...
01:21:36
Speaker
so I'm going to go in pretty um unprepared, but um yeah, i'm I'm looking forward to that as well. But I just, yeah, I couldn't risk doing something at Buffalo that was that was too hard. So I thought about the 20, but it just, yeah, I thought it would just be maybe too risky before trying to do that the following weekend. So yeah, yeah I found a nice middle ground to be a part of the event, but not cook myself.
01:22:00
Speaker
Yeah, nice. That'd be awesome. I'm sure like your experience will come through in the orienteering. Yes, that's what I'm hoping. That's what I'm hoping. I think that i think the running is is probably okay. um The technical side I think will be interesting. I coach and I coach a bunch of orienteers so I look at maps very frequently but i haven't and I talk a lot about we talk about how we did how they did the orienteering and how I might have done it or how some ways that we might better to improve. So like I'm thinking about it a lot, but I just haven't actually done it for a long time. So yeah, we'll see see what happens.
01:22:39
Speaker
Cool. That'll be fun. Yeah, nice one. Cool. All right. Well, that brings us to the end. Thanks, Jess. And thanks to Andrea for drop for coming on. And it was really good to hear her, what she's been up to and excited to see her back in Australia, hopefully at some point in the future.
01:22:56
Speaker
But yeah, happy training, Jess. And good luck for Buffalo. I'll see you up there. Thank you. Yeah, see you up there.