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The Trail to Western States with Holly Ranson | Episode 114
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In this episode Jess and Sime sit down with Holly Ranson to walk through her journey towards Western States which is now just two weeks away. They talk through her approach to training and racing, her incredible 3rd place finish at UTA50k in the lead up, and how Holly feels being in America preparing among some of trail running's greatest athletes.
News items include a brief preview of Broken Arrow SkyRace this weekend as well as the AUTRA Uniform Sponsorship tender announced HERE.
Then stay tuned for the results from the week and some updates from Jess and Sim!
Results:
- Wild Boar Trail Run (VIC)
- Tower Trail Run (SA)
- Yandina Five ‘O’ (QLD)
- Four Corners Trail Run (NT)
***Don’t forget, use code PEAK at https://bix-hydration.myshopify.com/en-au for 20% off Bix products, exclusive to PPP listeners!***
Join us on Patreon HERE
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 Holly: Instagram | Strava
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Follow Jess: Instagram | Strava
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Reveal
00:00:09
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 114 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. My name is Simone Brick and I'm joined today by Jess Jason. How are we doing Jess? Yeah, good. Thank you Very excited about this episode. We've got an exciting guest on today.
00:00:24
Speaker
We definitely do. And that exciting guest is someone that is about to tackle Western states, which is almost always the talk of June. And that is Holly Ranson. how are we doing, Holly? Good. Thanks, Sam. Excited to be here.
00:00:39
Speaker
I feel like this is like the coolest timing um because you are so close to this event but also you've had such an epic year so far on the last couple of seasons of running.
Holly Ranson's Journey and Race Preparation
00:00:51
Speaker
um So I'm very keen to hear where your mind's at but also take everyone through a bit of the journey of what it's been to get here so far um because it's been a very cool one, hey? Yeah.
00:01:04
Speaker
But and remind me, have we had you on before? Yes. Yes. I started with James not long after I won the golden ticket at Tarawera. I thought so. um i was like, I remember listening to it and sometimes I listen to too many podcasts and I'm like, was it on ours? My brain, my brain. But yes. Okay, cool. So everyone knows the story of how you came across this golden ticket, thankfully, um which amazing.
00:01:32
Speaker
such an incredible thing and I still just love that reaction like it's still something that I'm just like so good like it's it's impossible not to get pumped for you um but talk us through then uh I suppose let's start with was UTA your next race after that I did five peaks in Adelaide uh that was about three weeks before UTA ah Yes, you got my course record. Sorry.
00:01:57
Speaker
No, it's good. It's good. it That was from years and years and years ago. And that's just such a fun event. it i was in It was similar to you where it's like, let's go have some fun. This looks epic. So talk us through talk us through the lead up then to UTA, including Five Peaks of like how training looked. um And then Five Peaks itself, I think I remember chatting to you and that was kind of just a lead up to UTA again too, yeah? Yeah, well, both races really were B races or training races for me in the lead up to Western States. um I had a pretty interesting trajectory going into both. So not long after Tarawera, we ended up moving from Queensland back to South Australia.
00:02:36
Speaker
ah So my partner went straight back there and I kind of did a bit of a road trip where I went down, saw my sister on the Gold Coast for a bit and then saw some friends in Coffs and then went to Katoomba and did like a training camp there just to recon the course for UTA because I'd never actually been there before. um Oh, that's cool. Did you do that by yourself? Yeah, did.
00:02:57
Speaker
oh yeah oh cool cool. Yeah, I had a friend that came out and did some hiking, but she's not a runner, so we just, had dinner but together a couple of nights and then she was out. So yes, been a week there um doing my thing and then ah drove to Canberra. My cousin was getting married there. So i did a couple of runs in Canberra and then um back to South Australia. And so we moved into the middle of nowhere in regional SA, no trails, no hills, no nothing. So the next six weeks I spent, I ah do four days at home running on the road and the treadmill and then I'd pack up my stuff and go to Adelaide and spend three days doing track workout, long run and hill run, and then come back. um Oh, my
UTA Experience and Race Strategy
00:03:38
Speaker
gosh. Yeah, and then um i think mid-May we left and drove back over to the Blue Mountains to do UTA and then stayed in Sydney for a few more days and then over to the States. So it's been a real whirlwind. um
00:03:52
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if Five Peaks really ah gave me a good indication of where my fitness was because unfortunately not many competitive people really lined up. um Yeah, so that was a bit disappointing. It is such a great course and a really well-run event. How fun is it? It was so much fun. Yeah, I'd really encourage people to. um Did you still have to get wristbands at the top of each piece? Yes, yes, we did get something. Was it a wristband? I can't remember. Yeah, something like that.
00:04:21
Speaker
um I love that because then you're running along and you're like slowly accumulating wristbands on your wrist as you run along to the next mountain. I love that aspect. Yes, it was it's really cool. I think they have changed the course just slightly because it's now, well it was 60Ks on ah my watch um and they're now saying it was 59 but they're still ah it's still on the website. It's a 58 but they are saying. oh It was 60 when I did it too. I got 60.4 or something and that was 2019, 20 maybe. But it's so like great trails, mostly really groomed sort of stuff, a lot of downhill running which was perfect for what I wanted, training for Western States. um So yeah, I really enjoyed that one, although would have been nice to have a bit more competition, but I guess um UTA kind of made up for that.
00:05:06
Speaker
I reckon. Yeah. Just a little bit, jumping in the 50. And so um were you always going to be doing, like was the 50 always going to be the goal being closer to Western States? Because sometimes you see people do the 50, sometimes you'd see people do 100 at that point in time. Like what was that decision? Yeah. Actually, initially, I really wanted to do the miler, but they told me it was sold out. So they put me in the hundred. But when I realized I was going to Western States, I thought that's a bit too much.
00:05:35
Speaker
So close to the race. I think it was five weeks out. So some people might gamble with that, but um no, I didn't want to go that far. So. thought I'd jump into the 50. And as it turned out, it was kind of like the Blue Ribbon event anyway. So i was kind of glad that I did. It was yeah really nice to get in the mix with a competitive field. And I certainly wasn't expecting to have such a good result, as you could probably tell again by the shock on my face when I finished, probably because I didn't even know I was in third until I got to the further stairs and the cameraman was there And he was a French guy and he was going, Toursiem, Toursiem. I'm like, what do you mean? I'm third. And yeah, so I didn't know until I was at the base of the Ferber Steps that I was third. And I thought that was, I mean, I knew that unless something catastrophic happened to Meow or Ruth, that they would take the first two spots. So i was kind of thinking, you know, third is the first place available for an Australian woman. um And yeah, I was pretty stoked to get it. Just, you know, it was pretty close. I didn't come into that position till maybe, two or three kilometres before the finish. So that was a really good race.
00:06:40
Speaker
Yeah, okay. So talk us talk us through that because the last time I saw you before the finish is the last time anyone really can QVH. And you were maybe back in, I don't even know. think it was fifth. Maybe. Fifth, yeah. Fifth or sixth was where my brain was going. But you certainly, like there was a couple of people ahead of you that I was like, oh, they're working. Oh, yeah. And there was, then you come through smiling, looking chill.
00:07:08
Speaker
And I was just like, oh, okay. um Like, because the gaps were, i don't know, it's always the perception can be a bit wild when you're doing the crewing. Because Jess, for you, I'm not sure what it was, but to me, the gaps seemed pretty big. at that point for a few people. Yeah. I think I thought because you sort of came in with Kate and I didn't think it was that long after fourth.
00:07:31
Speaker
Okay. Maybe like a couple of minutes. Yeah. Yeah, but then to third I thought was. um Yeah, that might have been a bigger gap actually. Yeah. And so it was like, oh, who can hold on, who can catch sort of thing. But then, yeah, I guess, just guess when you came through, you were definitely sparked that, oh, you look fresher. Yeah, you looked like you were chilling. Like, I was like, yeah she's on here.
00:07:54
Speaker
Well, I did have a very conservative start, partly because I actually felt terrible at that that narrow neck bit. I just, I don't know why. It's just, you know what it's like. Sometimes you start ah a run and you're like, oh, maybe I should have warmed up a bit more. I mean, fifty k is not really my thing I don't have that kind of speed anyway, um but I was feeling pretty average. And then it had always been my intention to be very conservative on those stairs and things because the last thing I wanted to do slip down and break my ankle or something a few days before I was going ah to America. So um that was kind of my plan from the start. And then, um yeah, just after and the first aid station, I just started catching people and overtaking them. um Then I was running along with Kate before QVH and having a chat to her and she said she wasn't feeling well and she was going to pull out. And I was like, oh, you're still moving really well, like just persist and, you know, it might get better. But she was pretty, yeah, wasn't feeling good and couldn't take any nutrition on. So she stopped there. And um yeah, I've just been working on trying to enjoy the racing and, um
00:08:58
Speaker
enjoy the atmosphere and not be kind of in that what position am I in how many minutes to this person in front or behind because I just I don't enjoy racing that way and i obviously don't perform as well when I'm in that sort of mind space so yeah it's just having a good time and then um after leaving QVH I saw Sophie pretty much straight away so I just came up on her and um like i've been working pretty hard on my downhills because obviously Western States is a lot of downhill running i I was yeah pretty confident I would catch someone on the downhill and I caught her almost straight away. But I said, so you'll probably catch me back on the uphill because my climbs are my weakness. And that was exactly what happened. I probably had a fair lead on her by the time we got to the bottom, but I wasn't feeling it with the climbs. I walked a lot of them and she just shot straight past me. But I reckon she probably overdid it because when we got back to the single track, she actually stopped. I'd i'd caught back up to just behind her and then she stopped at the first creek and was sort of
00:09:57
Speaker
you know, cooling herself down or splashing her face or something. And I just let me and the the guy that was between us go straight past. and So again, I thought she'd probably catch us between there and the further stairs, but she never came back and um yeah, just kept going. And then happened upon Jemima and she was in a pretty bad way. ah Like I was, I sort of was like, are you okay? Do you need a gel? Do you need something? issues um yeah She yeah, she'd obviously worked really hard. Like she probably had the opposite, race strategy to me where she just went out really hard and tried to stay with Ruth and Meow which is commendable like that's um awesome I wish I could try and race that way but that's not my style so um yeah I mean she'll be great like when she I i think she's reasonably new to the trail um but yeah when she learns how to pace those maybe a bit more conservatively she's going to be an awesome runner so I was pretty surprised to um
00:10:49
Speaker
overtake her and and then I still thought there was someone in between Ruth and Meow and me but yeah turned out there wasn't so yeah it was really british and yeah it's not very often I get in a race where there's prize money for being on the podium so I was pretty happy about that I reckon, I reckon. I'm just, I'm looking at some of the splits in the back end here and it looks like you were just two seconds. It's got you coming in emergency aid station sort of near the bottom there, just two seconds behind Sophie. So is that she'd already overtaken you again there? Yeah, she'd just come past me there because I think you get two of the smaller hills before you hit emergency aid station. So she, yeah, would have brought up to me. I wasn't really well up those inclines, but I also wasn't really didn't want to blow a gasket on that race because it wasn't an a race for me um although there was plenty of time to recover from that between that and western states but um memorial day weekend was that following weekend so we raced uta on the saturday and then the following saturday sunday and monday we did 110 kilometers of the course of western states so It was a big week. Oh, I can imagine. i can imagine. But, yeah, I was it's was so stoked for you coming across the line and getting to chat to you in anti-doping. was that ah you You would have done anti-doping a few times before. Only once at 24 Hour Worlds last year.
00:12:12
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Yeah. That was definitely, definitely cool to chat. And, and yeah, on Jemima as well, like I have always have absolute kudos for commitment and she committed and it almost paid off because she did, she was five minutes ahead of you at emergency yeah aid station.
00:12:29
Speaker
um But then, and that's the thing with the UTA course, I think we chatted about it in the debrief that just that downhill can equalize a lot of things or can, can affect a lot of things. Yeah. um in that back thing and so if the course had a been a bit less brutal in the back end I've I've no doubt Jemima might have held on yeah um a bit there but that that downhill oh when you commit it's it's scary knowing it's coming if you're on the edge yeah at the top of it I'd say yeah um But at the same time, yeah, such a strong finish from you. And then, yeah, talk us through.
00:13:01
Speaker
Jess, you got any more UTA questions before? Oh, yeah. Just quickly, like you spoke about your mindset when you're racing and like not trying to like focus on positions and stuff like that. Has that always been the case like with your racing on the track and the roads or has it been something that's changed recently?
00:13:19
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely changed. I think the switch came after Taraweera last year because I went there with the sole goal of getting that golden ticket. I was really focused on that and, um, I, well, it didn't help that I was really sick leading into the race, but I didn't have a great race and I was just so focused on that and, you know, constantly doing mental maths, calculating where am I, who's in front of me, how many minutes and, um,
00:13:47
Speaker
Yeah, I just don't like the stressed out feeling ah of running that way. And I think it um stops me from being able to enjoy, like the reason we do this sport is because we're in nature and it's beautiful and you want to take in the course and um yeah, just in enjoy it.
00:14:04
Speaker
and learn something about yourself. And I don't think you can really do that when you're so focused on positions and outcomes and and things you can't control. It's it's really crazy. i know we just keep on doing it, but and yeah, it's crazy to stress about things that you can't control, like other runners and how fast they're going to go.
00:14:22
Speaker
and actually, I'd say probably Worlds last year taught me a bit about that as well, because I had my heart set on breaking the world record and winning the race. um And I broke the world record and I still didn't win the race or get to hold the world record. So that was a really strange mixture of like success and disappointment um that, yeah, kind of made me realise I need to take other things out of the racing as well as just the the outcomes of position, distance, time, all those things.
00:14:51
Speaker
Yeah. That's a really cool example of it just because you achieved everything you set out to achieve, but because of what someone else
Mindset Evolution and Expectations
00:14:59
Speaker
achieved, you looked at it differently, yeah which, yeah, it is is a really important thing, I think, to reflect on. And i think so many of us would have been in similar situations just with what we were trying to achieve on any given day where you can really let what other fact that other people have done better affect you and trying to flip that to go oh my god how cool is it that we all did amazing yeah or that more people or that like and sometimes it's it's it's looking at the bigger picture of going well would you have run as far if you didn't have as many people if you didn't have someone ahead of you pushing you the entire way to the line and that whole like iron sharp and eye sharpens iron outlook um which which I must say and when it comes to UTA this just reminds me of like that was one of my favourite things of just doing even the race debrief with Meow where all she could talk about was how cool it was that it was a such a close race and how good Ruth was and how amazing it was that they both ran well sort of thing. yeah And there was none of this because she because Ruth climbed better than her and there was none of this I need to get better at climbing or like I i suck at this. There was just this oh my gosh how good is Ruth? Yeah.
00:16:07
Speaker
And I was like, this is refreshing and awesome to hear because there was just zero stress. There was just, I did amazing. She did amazing. Happy days. Let's go home. Yeah. Kind of thing. yeah And yeah, I just, I love it when, if you're able to get to that spot, what a happy place. Yeah. tellt hard It's not always possible. And you definitely don't spend the whole race in that mindset, but I'm definitely something. No.
00:16:32
Speaker
Yeah, and it's not 100% of the time and especially as you're working on it but um I think when it, you know you're doing well when, and I've found this a few times, not all the time, it depends on so many things going on in your external life as well and your own stress levels even at that point in time but… When when you can get it that that sort of mindset is your default. It's not your, oh, I'm thinking this way and I need to change that. How can I reframe this? It's the, my default is, oh, how cool is that? Or like the, I did great, you did great, happy, like we're all lifting each other kind of thing. um And just...
00:17:05
Speaker
not like And I've been doing it even just in training recently because um it's like when you're rebuilding from anything, it's it's the same thing can happen every day in training, I find, where like if you're training with a group of people, um you can let how other people are doing in that session affect how you feel about even that one session. So inconsequential. But at the same time, if it's affecting you every single session of every single week, Then your default does become that comparison um as opposed to like when I've been rebuilding from this and it's like, no, I need to do exactly what my body needs because I'm screwed otherwise. It's been very much a I felt great, happy days, ignore everything else. Easiest. So good on you. easy
00:17:50
Speaker
Easier said than done. um And I will say like for this one, it's been forced upon me, which is great because then you can reflect on other things. But the fact that you are working on do doing it in those environments where it's much harder to do, it's much bigger consequences, like a world champs, that's that's that's as big as it gets. um And it's kind of...
00:18:10
Speaker
the The journey is, for me, is like work on it in your daily training and in how you're approaching the daily and slowly it might become your default on race day and on the important days too because, and it's not even the settling with less or anything along those lines. It's the freeing your mind up in many ways to give you more, yeah like to to stop there those barriers. But it's always such a fun conversation, those mental barriers we put in place that change the way we think about things. Yeah.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah, imagine you'll be taking in that approach for Western States. Absolutely, yes. And that's definitely a challenge um given the nature of Western States being such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity potentially um and just the quality of the field. um And I guess being a golden ticket entrant, I feel that I'm expected to perform amongst the professional runners of which I'm not. So it's definitely been an exercise in being really kind to myself and um trying to just focus on running my own race and not comparing myself to people that have a completely different lifestyle and situation than I do. um So yeah, it's it's definitely been a good experiment for all the mindset stuff and I'm really intrigued to see how it's going to play out on race day. I hope I can control my mind the way that I want to be able to it and not fall into that. um
00:19:44
Speaker
Yeah, that comparing myself with other people. I'm interested to know who do you think those expectations come from? Yeah. because I just get from me. I'm like, if someone's got a golden ticket, they've got a golden ticket. They're in the race. I know. And especially when it's an Aussie coming across, you haven't done the race before. Like, I, in my head, I'm like, well, I wouldn't expect you to expect like, and this is, this is the thing. It's like a hundred percent. If you're there, let's go. I'm, it's not the, I'm expecting you to perform as the same as someone that's an M one to or an F one to 10 or like runs in America all the time and knows the course, like the back of their hand. And I'm curious where you think that expectation comes from. No, you've hit the nail on the head. That's it. We make it up in our own heads that all these people supposedly are watching and they really care when really no one cares at all just you um and that's what I've been having to overcome is just no one is expecting you to do anything you're not on any of the people's watch lists you have a free run at this because you're not a professional you don't have people that you need to impress or you know
00:20:53
Speaker
sponsors that, you know, a fractal is supporting me, um but they are certainly not putting any pressure on me to perform. So it's all made up. It's absolutely 100% made up. And that's what I have to keep telling myself and remembering on race day that there's absolutely no pressure there except for what I'm putting on myself.
00:21:11
Speaker
Yeah. And I think remembering that the freedom that comes with that, like that's a, it's a so freeing thought. It's not a, it's not in any way a bad thing. It's this whole, um, screw it. And this is, this is what I love doing. So I'm going to go do it because I love doing it. And,
00:21:29
Speaker
Yeah, I think ah for me it was it's a lot of reframing, not reframing, but just going, well, I freaking love competing and trying to be up there. So as long as I'm doing that, then happy days. Like does the rest matter anyway? And even if you do meet someone that does put an expectation on you, because you do, you you you have people around sometimes that will go, oh, I think you'll be able to do this. Or maybe even people that don't know the sport so well that will say, oh, did you win? Yes. When you ask about things and those sorts of things or like when you say, like I remember the first few times coming back from Europe and it was like, oh, yeah, i came like 16th, 20th, those sorts of things. And they're like, oh, what happened? i'm like, no, it was a bloody good run, promise. um And so so not letting that sort of affect you in that way. But for me, the the it's the freedom that you can kind of remind yourself of, of going, well, no thinking this way.
00:22:23
Speaker
is is the way to like to to have a free run. You can almost guarantee that a good bunch of the people with those expectations on them, rightfully so, at the front would love to have another free run at something like this where no one's watching them. Exactly. And yeah I have been thinking about that and there are a lot of people that are there for redemption or they're, yeah, they've got their own pressures from whoever it might be. Actually, I've been training a bit with Fiona Pascal from Britain and her sister, as you would know, have won the race maybe five or six years ago, maybe longer. And it's funny because she says, well, she got home last year and she came fifth. And her parents said, how did you go? she said, oh, fifth. And they were like, oh, okay, that's all right.
00:23:08
Speaker
You know, because they're comparing with her sister that's won the race. Oh, good. old Yeah. Which, which is complete side note, but how good is it to see Beth Pascal back? We're doing some running. Yes. yeah Yeah. More recently, which is awesome to see. um But, yeah, that's, that's it's such yeah,
00:23:27
Speaker
an armour to try and build up for yourself to not let comments like that where you're just like, well, no, they don't have all the information. And I actually love, I think this comes from Brene Brown or something where it's like have the five people whose opinion you actually care about and screw everyone else. Yeah.
00:23:42
Speaker
And then, and I've actually used that a lot where I'm like, okay, is this person on my five person list? No. Okay. It doesn't matter. Like none of that matters. And then, and then it it keeps you in check of like, okay, no, these five people, if they tell me I'm doing something wrong or something was bad or something was good, trust them and trust no one else. Um, that for me has been one of those sort of protective factors of going, okay, if I asked him, if I asked Matt, if I asked my best friends how I did and they say, I did great. I did great.
00:24:07
Speaker
Happy days. And I've got five people on my support team. And my big goal is to make sure that they all have the best day. And to do that means I'm coming into the aid stations happy and positive and not being a horrible person so that's a good motivation for me to just keep the energy really high and um enjoy yeah the race and that's I do find that an interesting one too though because that do you feel that you could come into an aid station like not being a shit person but showing that you feel like absolute shit and letting them lift you if needed yes because to me that's also part of crewing is going well no i want I need to show you exactly how I'm feeling so that you can help me through it but you don't obviously need to be a shit person to That is very true. and yes, I have complete trust in both my crews that they will be able to do that. Um,
00:24:57
Speaker
And, yes, inevitably there will be some tough times out there. and So, yeah, I'm sure. Because there's just been times in races I'm like the worst thing I can think of right now is pepping myself up to pep up. Like most of the time I have my parents crewing me, which is an absolute safeguard of going I can be the absolute shittest and yeah you will still crew me and love me. So happy days. um But, yeah, I can just imagine in the back end of 100 miler, I don't think I would have that much time. pep for other people if I'm trying to keep moving. So when you're talking about that, I was like, oh my gosh, I don't think I could do that. don't know. I think even just seeing those people lifts you up. Like you're talking about the aid station at QVH in UTA. And I wasn't feeling amazing as I came along, know, that, that rutted road where Ruth fell into the big puddle. But then I saw, so Nick, my partner, who wasn't actually crewing me that day, he was crewing someone in the miler, but he had managed to get away from that and come and see me on the side of the road and wave to me. And then Rob, my mindset coach, who's going to be crewing me at Western States, he had driven up from, lives on South Coast in New South Wales. He also wasn't crewing me, but he was there, waved and said hi. And then I saw my actual crew. And then I saw Adam from Fractal and I saw Demi and I just saw all these people there. And that was probably why I was so happy. I definitely wasn't that happy running into the aid station. But when I got there and saw all those people, was like, yeah, this is cool. So I think I'm hoping that's going
Training for Western States
00:26:24
Speaker
to happen. And everyone says the volunteers at Western States are absolutely amazing. And there's 28 stations. So that's a lot of spirit lifts.
00:26:32
Speaker
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Have you, have you raced in America before? Uh, well, I've done the Boston marathon and I've done a triathlon in Las Vegas, but not a trail race. Okay. Okay. Cause yeah, I, and ah we're about to get into the race for everyone listening of like how you're feeling, but I've done the, um, I crew, sorry, I paced for 60 Ks of the Leadville 100 mile and coolest experience through those aid stations. Like it it is very similar in Australia, but I think when you're coming into a new environment and new people, there's a few little intricacies of like language and the way people go about things, but it's still just that. the enthusiasm and a few more people than most Aussie races, especially at Western. Yes, definitely. But on Western, talk us through, so Memorial Weekend, I'd love to know what that was like, being there for Memorial Weekend and seeing 110km of the course. And I'm assuming since then you might have seen the other 50 as well, possibly. I've seen all but um maybe the, so I've been to the top of the escarpment, which is seven kilometres into the race. I haven't seen from there through to the 25K mark, but that's all. The rest of it I've seen and most of it more than once. So, um yeah, I feel like I know it quite well, which is great. Memorial Day weekend is the best. um I wasn't planning on coming out here so early, but a few people, including Lucy Bartholomew, told me you can't miss it. It's so great. So I ended up coming out five weeks before the race, which is a long time and and very expensive, but it was so worth it. It's like imagine it's ah like a race because you've got 300 people, but you're not actually racing. You're just there to do it for fun. It's all supported. There's aid stations everywhere. They bus you out to the start and you just get to meet all these people and see the course. Although the seeing of the course is not that effective because I found i was in so many conversations with
00:28:24
Speaker
that I found it so easy. And when I went back and saw it later, i was like, I thought this was all downhill, but now there's heaps of hills in it. Like I was just having such a good time chatting to people that the course seemed so easy. And yeah, in hindsight, doing it again, it's actually not, there's a lot of ups in the downs, but um I would definitely recommend the training weekend. it It was such a cool experience. I've never had anything like it. I don't know if the GPT miler, they did a training camp recently. I saw on the socials, they maybe had a similar experience, although with probably a few less people. um But yeah, I think more events should get on that training camp ah train and do it because it's like, there's no pressure of having to go fast and you get to meet so many more people because as you know, in a race, you often end up on your own or you're chatting to one or two people who seem to be about the same pace as you. But in that sort of scenario, you can go back and forward, you can stop, you can get into the river and cool off. um Yeah, it's just awesome. Loved it.
00:29:26
Speaker
Yeah, nice. So the the other two we've got here is GPT, but then Kunani have a small one um because I'm on that one every year. So that one is is actually more a bit more like an actual training camp in a way um because we'll kind of coach the run as we go if people have questions and those sorts of things um on techniques and those sorts of things because it's it's obviously much um smaller but obviously shorter event than 100 miles. So you do get the 25K runners that are new to trail and those sorts of things. but i'm I'm imagining that because we bust to the start, bust in from the end and like you get to just chat and it's a similar thing where it's it's a much smaller. We only have like 20 people but at the same time it's the same vibes of just it's fun. yeah Like you're on this race course because you can do over three days you do the sixty six k um Right. In three days sort of thing. And actually like we've had like Ben Burgess was on a couple of them when he was doing the race and those sorts of things. So we have like there's a big mix of um speeds as you would have helped probably also had at Memorial. But yeah, that's that and GPT would probably be the two closest we've currently got in those. Yeah.
00:30:32
Speaker
not on the same scale but it was similar where like aid stations were fully set up same as aid stations for the races in the same spots and you kind of just jog between them and chat to people and no pressure and ah to me I'm like this is a much better way to see the course if you want to actually just see the yes you want to take photos and you want to stop and do things yeah definitely I think yeah UTA could definitely um there'd be heaps of people are be keen to do that Yeah, yeah and definitely, definitely. That'd be a lot of fun. Okay, cool.
00:31:02
Speaker
and Highly recommend that one. That one sounds amazing. But the from there, you've got, what, five weeks, four weeks um until race day? So talk me through what – and are you working while you're over there? No, I'm not working at the moment. I'm still studying, although I have to say I've been fairly slack with that. Yeah.
00:31:24
Speaker
It's amazing how easily one run can fill up an entire day here, especially because some of the places where we'll go just to get to the aid station, you might drive an hour and a half or nearly two hours and then you yeah do a loop and drive home. And, you know, by the time you've done all that, it um it eats up the entire day. um But yeah, I spent three weeks staying in Auburn, which is where the race finishes. and doing little bits of the course, um just mainly on my own, but sometimes with a few other and people. Honoka, the Japanese athlete that also won a golden ticket at Tarawira, she was around for a while. So we did a bit of training together and then Caitlin Fielder was in town. So we ran together a few times um and yeah, did a few other trails around Auburn. There's so many trails, but honestly, I just wanted to be on the course as much as I could. So doing that, trying to do a bit of sauna training, um still getting to the gym. um And then this weekend, so yesterday i came up to Truckee, which is a little town about 15, 20 minutes away from what what is now called Olympic Valley, officially, where the race starts. ah so yesterday went and hiked the first seven Ks, which is a climb. It starts at about...
00:32:45
Speaker
1,900 metres of elevation and goes up to about 2,600. it's a rude shock to be at altitude. And I realised I probably overlooked that part of my preparation and i completely understand why pretty much everyone else is in Flagstaff, Arizona, training at altitude and um not hanging around the course. But um yeah, hopefully over the next two weeks spending here, I'll acclimatise a little bit to the altitude and hopefully feel a bit better with that first part of the course on race day.
00:33:17
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. ah Two weeks is a good amount of time, especially if two two six is the highest and then it's all lower from there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. um And I was going to say being at the beginning is probably the best spot for that then because at least you're not dealing with the highest point and that altitude like way late. But um yeah, if you're for a miler, I wouldn't.
00:33:42
Speaker
Like fitness does a long, goes a long way at altitude, um just general fitness and health. And um even the heat training, if you've been doing heat training, would have been helping a little bit. So. um yeah hopefully that all feels good but what then um just as I'm just intrigued what's sort of your mileage been in this block um like a in Oz before you left and then now is it different or the same now um yeah it's so leading up to leaving Australia I was doing about 140 Ks a week so it or somewhere between 130 150 and then the biggest week was that week with Memorial Day weekend in it so i ended up doing 170 that week and 150 the week after and then the two weeks since then it's dropped back to 130 ish and yeah so the next week will probably drop substantially down to maybe
00:34:39
Speaker
80 or so in the next week and then not much at all before the race uh maybe yeah and because you've got a coach or self-coach doing it all myself so nice yeah that usually doesn't faze me too much but definitely the last few weeks have been like oh it would be nice to have someone to double check what I'm doing because you're ex exposed to so many more people doing other things and that's when you start to question yourself, have I done the right thing? But it's too late now, like the work is all done. Yeah, and even with a coach, it's sometimes then with a coach it's reminding yourself that only you know your body best. yeah So yeah it's it's both sides of the thing where just, I'd say, just keep reminding yourself that you know your body. You've done that many races before now that you you actually do know exactly what helps you feel the best before a race. um it's just then and obviously before a race like this isn't the time to try what other people are doing just for funsies um yeah um and how long have you been self-coached for uh forever in running yeah yeah um well and pretty much all my life I think I had a brief period where I tried out two different triathlon coaches but we're talking back in like 2013-14 so a long time ago I've always been a bit of a lone wolf with this sort of thing, but I'm open-minded. I did have a couple of offers leading up to Western, but it was too far into the piece and where I was like, I don't want to start second guessing what I've done or what I'm doing now. um It's too late, but, um you know, I'm open to discussions after this race and seeing what's next.
00:36:12
Speaker
Yeah, well, it's definitely working. And um the do you have any any coach or any philosophy or anything you've read that you you base what you do off or like what it would look like in general? you what? I probably started developing the way that I train through, i don't know if you'll remember this, but Joseph Friel used to have these books. This is back when I first started triathlon. So we're talking a long time ago now, probably 2010. can't even remember what they were called, but he taught you how to set up your season or your year as a triathlete and all these build periods and peak periods and things like that. And um I've changed over the years because I've read more and listened to more and, you know, training theory has developed a lot and changed a lot. But I would say i still stick by pretty much the basics.
00:37:02
Speaker
of that that Joe Friel stuff from all those years ago, which is pretty funny. Yeah, I'm looking up now. I've read a few of them. He's had the High Performance Cyclist, the Triathletes Training Bible. reckon that was it, yeah. this Yeah, I was going to say the Triathletes Training Bible. i'm going to like I didn't read these until much later, but I went through a period of reading as many training books as possible. um So I think I've read quite a few of Joe Friel's as well. But have you read um The Uphill Athlete, Holly?
00:37:33
Speaker
No. Is that Scott Johnson? Yeah. I should read that. you I also reckon you'd love it. It's Scott Johnson and Killian. Yeah. yeah Yes. And the people I was staying with in Auburn, they had ah Jason Coop's book, his guide to ultra running or whatever it's called. So I did have a look in there and he's got a little bit of a different approach as well. So I might adopt some of his, but I know his athletes do really massive mileage and that's not for me, but yeah, yes still some of the principles could work.
00:38:02
Speaker
The Uphill Athlete has like complete sections on how to put together a season, what each week, like week types. And like you could honestly coach yourself off that book quite easily, but I think you could also still apply things that, you know, work for you within it.
Race Day Strategy and Excitement
00:38:16
Speaker
um That's because that I look, I have, I have Tim as my coach, but I do a lot of like, I kind of will make a plan and go, Tim, what do you think? Like, it's almost like that sounding board kind of thing. um And there's quite a few number of things that I just read in that book years and years ago and had a try and went, okay, this works.
00:38:35
Speaker
um So, yeah and it's, it's nice to bring the different phases of like the base, the, the build, the, yeah. um So highly recommend that one. But now moving into the race and um race, wait, is it two weeks away?
00:38:52
Speaker
It is two weeks away. Yes. Two weeks away. Nice. How are we feeling? bit nervous uh yeah I think just partly arriving at the the more um the higher elevations yesterday and just seeing what that did to the way I was feeling i think that threw me a little bit I know that'll improve by race day um but you wouldn't be human if you didn't have some nerves about competing in a race like this and it is I know I've done races longer but I've never actually done a hundred mile trail race um I think
00:39:24
Speaker
you know, throw in the climbs, the descending, a little bit of technicality and the heat, as well as like the whole hype around it. And it could be just as difficult as doing a 24 hour track race. Oh yeah. Because even though it's shorter, I think it's going to be a lot more difficult for different reasons. So um yeah, I guess I am a bit nervous about it, but also just really excited. I mean, every day you're seeing more iconic locations like I don't know about you but I always watch the live feed and then to come and see those places in real life meet the people who are legends of the sport are involved with this race it's just so surreal and so I'm just trying to enjoy that part of it and and not focus too much on yeah the racing and and the comparisons and and that sort of aspect of the race
00:40:12
Speaker
Yeah, nice. And will you, um like when it comes to making plans for your race, like how how you're approaching things in that, you said you had a mindset coach. Is like, because that's the one spot where I'm like, i having a coach there is super du helpful of going, okay, what am I doing and where am I doing? Where am I like using different mental strategies, physical strategies, taking it easy, going a bit harder to break it down and sort of stop the mental spiral that can happen without a plan. Um, sometimes no plan is a great plan, but plenty of times it's not. So how does it look for you when you're going into like, um, planning, like even crewing for this race and also um you have, you have paces, um, like talk us through the plan and how it's become, have become about.
00:41:01
Speaker
Okay. so I've got a crew of five people. So, um two people from New Zealand who are friends of ours that were at Tara Weara and saw me get the golden ticket and they were like signed up straight away they're like we're booking our flights to America tonight I love that yep and then my partner Nick of course as a crew chief and then Rob my mindset coach and then Phil Gore is going to pace me and he's going to do the whole back 60 kilometers of the race which would be awesome and people here they usually have two to three paces and when I say I just have one pacer they kind of get this shocked look on their face. Like, do you think they're going to be able to make that distance? And like, yeah, Phil can run 800 kilometres and then go and pump out a 17-minute park run the next day. so I think he'll be good for it. I was going to say, you might have one of the most credentialed paces for distance when it comes to pacing. I think he'll be all right. I think he'll be fine.
00:41:57
Speaker
Yeah, but I'm definitely someone who really likes to control the controllables. So I have put a lot of time into writing out. I mean, my nutrition plan seems to change every day, but, you know, as I go out on the course and I get more information about what the conditions are like, how long it takes me to get from A to B, because it was really difficult to put a plan together using other people's splits that I've never raced against. I have no idea how I'm going to fare compared to some of these women that have run the course. multiple times before. So I was kind of really guessing until started to get here and run the segments myself. But then you actually feel a lot more thirsty at altitude and you need more calories as well. More calories and electrolytes. Don't forget that. Yes. So I've had to start factoring all these things in that I've never really thought too much about in racing before. So it's been a really good challenge and certainly taken up a lot of time.
00:42:52
Speaker
In terms of the mindset stuff, we've gone for a fairly simple plan. We've just got my, I guess you could call it a mantra, but my intentions for the racing is joy, gratitude, and unattachment. So being happy, being thankful to be there and being unattached from the outcomes. So just, yeah, enjoying it and not, not focusing on that. And then um I think we know that i see my climbing as a bit of a weakness and,
00:43:20
Speaker
yeah In reality, i haven't had the exposure to climbs like this. As I said, where I live is so flat. And here there's, I think, so the first part of the race is a seven kilometre climb. And then you've got the three canyons, which each go for 30 to 40 minutes of climbing, like there's nowhere I could even replicate that in Australia or not anywhere close to me. So I have got a bit of a complex that I'm not strong on on climbing. So in order to try and combat that, we've got ah a mindset plan where i I think about, okay, maybe I'm not the best climber, but this race is not all about climbing. There's a lot more that goes into it. It's about being consistent, determined, um and you know it's a long race so um just trying to pull myself back from getting really down about my abilities and comparing myself and just focusing on my strength which is probably durability and um I'm okay at running downhill and a lot of the back end of the race is downhill so um yeah hopefully that can
00:44:21
Speaker
play to my strengths later in the race. Yeah, yeah, definitely. And I think you can almost counteract the thoughts you have on your climbing with the one of durability of going, well, um like when I look at longer races, because what you're saying there, I'm like, oh, it's very similar to how I feel about these things. But I just look at it and go, well, I'm climbing at the same speed at the end as I am at the start. So some and often you find I'm like, well, they're climbing faster than me now, but will they be climbing faster than me at the end? I'm not sure yet.
00:44:50
Speaker
But it's kind of I try and rejig it and going, well, I know I'm going to maintain this. Like I know I'm not going to be the one slowing is kind of where I go with my mind of going, no, it's fine. You're fine. You are so fine right now when everyone takes off at the beginning because you're going to maintain um and you're going to be, yeah, instead of the person sort of going backwards. And there's a lot of um there's a lot of confidence you can build just from that thought alone, I find. Yeah.
00:45:14
Speaker
Yeah. Especially when it comes to those comparison things. But I love that, ah the unattachment piece you've put in there too, because I think, yeah, we've discussed that quite a bit. But um what is your, for a hundred miler, are you going in with the same similar or same nutrition strategies as you would for, say, your 24 of our events? Or does that look different too?
00:45:36
Speaker
um Similar in the products that I'll be using, but different in terms of the amounts. So because the race starts at altitude and it will be quite cool, but then it goes into the canyons where it's going to be really hot and I'm climbing. I'm actually going to use poles in the canyon section, which is might be a bit out there because it's the first year the race has allowed the use of poles. So I think okay there'll be a bit of judgment coming down on that, but I don't care. um But that also occupies my hands, right? So I can't eat as much when I've got my hands full of poles. So I know i'm going to drop down from probably 90 grams of carbs an hour at the start of the race down to about 60 through the canyons just to try and preserve my stomach function through that heat period. And then later on in the race when it hopefully cools down, I'll try and get back up to about 80 grams an hour towards the finish. And that'll just all be from gels and drinks, like of no solid food planned whatsoever.
00:46:35
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, nice. I love that. And I find I just have to switch to liquid um calorie, liquid carbs the whole time I'm using poles because I'm like a gel's not happening but I can like when the bottle's close enough, you don't need to use your hands. You just sort of exactly lean down and grab your drink. but um That's plan. Awesome, awesome. Then outside of the race, um sort of while you're there,
00:47:01
Speaker
what What excites you the most, outside of, I mean, your actual own performance, what excites you the most about being there? And you've got, um we've got Broken Arrow this weekend. We're about to get into some of that. But yeah, just the whole event. um Yeah, what for you is the most exciting part?
00:47:16
Speaker
Oh, I think standing on the start line, looking around and looking at some of these absolute legends of the sport, like Killian, Jim Warnsley. um i mean, the the women's field, although we don't have the standouts like Courtney, Katie and Ruth, we've got such a deep field, like there's probably 10 different women that could easily win the race. And a lot of these women I've never raced or never met. So just to be able to look around and go, that's Tara Dower, that's Riley Brady, you know, um i think that'll be just really cool. I'll be definitely fangirling.
00:47:50
Speaker
i love that. I love that. And yeah, suppose we can get a little bit into some of the, um, the people running. I'm, I'm on the start list now and it was last updated a couple of days ago. Cause, uh, just before we got on the recording, with um me and Holly were chatting through that and flowers looks like she's not running anymore. Um,
00:48:09
Speaker
But we've got on the women's field, and this is not going to be comprehensive because it's hard to find everyone, but um Emily Hall, good, Caitlin Fielder, Hannah, all good. How heart Fiona, Pascal, Marianne Hogan, Fu Xiaoxiang and Abby Hall are all back on here, which is F1, two, three, five, six, seven, eight and 10.
00:48:32
Speaker
So almost close to all of the top 10. The whole top 10 were coming back, but I think Eden Nielsen's had to pull out with an injury. f four yeah. yeah And then F9. I'm not sure who F9 was. um Are the only two missing there, which is? Keely Henninger, maybe?
00:48:50
Speaker
not sure. Maybe. Maybe. Yeah, I'd have to look that up. um but um But yeah, and then there's, well, they they're all the sponsor ones, but then there's actually quite ah there's more than I thought in the um golden ticket. um So there's Martina Milnacic, who I remember from winning CCC.
00:49:09
Speaker
Is that what she won? yes um Lottie Brinks uh Tara Dower Addie Bracey Jen Lichter I'm <unk> keen to see how Jen Lichter goes um yeah me too being the and Molly Seidel that's the next person I was getting to but yeah yeah je Jen Lichter I think of more as a suppose a 50k runner um so yeah Molly Seidel and Honoka Akiyama, I think is who you were talking about, had gotten it with you. Yingvild Kaspersen, who is, you know, you're going to be strong in all of these. um Lauren Piretz, an American. Riley Brady. oh my gosh, it keeps going. sa Sarah Humble.
00:49:53
Speaker
and Eleni Madarese, who I'm not known. I do not know that name, but they're all the golden ticket and the F1 to 10 names, which already is obviously your name. I skipped yours, but you were in there, which is which is exciting. Jess, just quickly, just give us your tip. of Who do you think might come out on top here?
00:50:20
Speaker
Oh, I mean, my idol is Holly, so I'll have to go for Holly.
00:50:27
Speaker
Honestly, you would have all of us back here absolutely screaming our heads off, I can tell you that much. No, like I was yeah running with Sarah Ludo yesterday and we were both just like, how cool is it that Australia is like – starting to dabble at like races like western states like i don't know we're just both so excited and we're like ah everyone back here is so excited to watch you run yeah epic yeah i hope i can represent well yeah there's so many names on that start list that just like
00:50:58
Speaker
amazing runners. Yeah. so And I think that's the thing I love about this is as I look back through, I'm like, I couldn't pick, like I couldn't pick who's going to come out on top there because there's too much that happens in a hundred mile.
00:51:11
Speaker
Like, and like Abby Hall obviously has to go in, so in my mind, it's like you put the person that won last year in his favorite when you can't pick because they've earned that spot. um So that's the person who I would just go, well, their favorite at this point, Abby Hall's favorite. um But yeah, it really is the sort of ones where you just can't pick. And then even on the men's, um just quickly at the top, there's Killian Jornet, Hans Troyer, Ryan Montgomery, Daniel Jones.
00:51:39
Speaker
I'm so keen to see how Dan Jones does again. um Jeff Mogavaro, Hiroki Kai, they're all the top 10. So that's M3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10. So slightly less of the returning ones. But then there's a few men in and more men that I could see that I knew the names of than women in the sponsor spots because they had, that is how they um Jim Wormsley and Jeff Browning are both in on sponsor spots.
00:52:11
Speaker
um I wonder under what special consideration is. There's two people here on special consideration. No idea what that even means. um But then, yeah, golden ticket on the men's Francesco Pupi.
00:52:23
Speaker
will be an awesome addition in there. David Sinclair, Jesse Run, Paul, Small, sorry, um Will Murray, Canyon Woodward, Anthony Costales, Trayson Knopp, Jordan Bramlett and and Thomas Cardin and Vincent Bouillard.
00:52:40
Speaker
um They're in there too. Zach Miller, Hayden Hawks. Jeez, it really does just keep going. That's all of them though. We got there. We got there. So, Yeah, exciting, exciting times um on the Western States front. You will have all of us watching you though, Holly. That's for sure. Thank you. Actually, this does tell me if there's, there will be more Aussies. um Yes, there's about half a dozen. I've looked at the entrant list and I met one of the ladies just coincidentally out running yesterday. night Brooke Martin, but I don't know any of the other Australians. And there's also one Australian who's sitting
00:53:16
Speaker
just there on the waitlist so he's actually going to fly out to Australia ah to America just in case he gets that spot because it's up to I think it's 3 p.m the day before that the waitlisters can get accepted into the race so imagine that imagine not knowing if you're going to race a hundred miler one of the biggest hundred milers in the world tomorrow but you're just like rocking up to a different country and getting ready to race yeah Damn.
00:53:41
Speaker
there's actually two There's actually two Aussies also that have been put in on the wait list. So just to give them a – actually, we we'll probably do the um the next week. But, yeah, Yuan Chow, Cheng, Lachlan Colbatch, Matt Collin, Brooke Martin, Juan Antinio Gonzalez-Cecilia.
00:53:56
Speaker
What a name. Chris Broadhurst, Marcus Staker, Peter Scott. They're all the Aussies. um So I'm going to give a special shout-out to Brooke being the only other female with you. um in there um because we need in the lottery for 10 years yeah you can actually see how long people have been in how many tickets they've got which 200 brooke has the most oh actually sorry there was another one yuan chow cheng um who also was in with 256 tickets which must be the 10-year mark so
00:54:26
Speaker
um yeah exciting and meant exciting exciting times and things like this often can change in the lead up to the race again so we've got next week to sort of give the final debrief um and I've no doubt doubt that uh there might be a couple of changes again but hope I'm really hoping now that Aussie guy gets in yes That's my story out of that. I really hope he gets in. But that's um that's in two weeks. But in one week, we do also have Broken Arrow, which kind of starts the whole trail con week um as far as I can tell. And the um one of them I just noticed on the start list, the Yuan Chao Cheng, um James has listed here as actually doing the 23K at Broken Arrow as well.
00:55:11
Speaker
Oh, wow. That's mean. That's really key. so i feel Well, if you're over there just to have fun and do the events, like why wouldn't you? That sounds epic. Do week. In case you trip over and break something and you can't do Western in States, that might be one reason. Like fair, fair, but you could do a pretty easy 23. Like you're probably going to run 23K that day anyway, surely. Like it's one week out, maybe.
00:55:35
Speaker
It's got a lot of elevation in it and it's also at altitude. It's basically on the escarpment where where state starts. So it must be a pretty tough 23Ks, I reckon. Yes, yes, quite possibly. Quite possibly. But the... The exciting thing about Broken Arrow this year is just that there's a massive amount of prize money. I think the 23K has $102,200 of a prize purse, so $30,000 to the winners and then money going 10 deep, um which is huge. So awesome to see that happening. um It's attracting all of the people you would –
00:56:14
Speaker
typically see it's sort of the Golden Trail World Series um where you've got El Huzin coming out, you've got ah the um Philemon and Patrick, ah the Kenyans, Taylor Stack. Like there's a whole bunch of, you could pretty much go down the Golden Trail list and you' and then you've got all the top Americans also rocking up.
Races, Sponsorships, and Community Highlights
00:56:33
Speaker
On the women's side,
00:56:34
Speaker
Very similar, Joyce and Geru, Anna Gibson, Lauren Gregory, McKenna Morley, but then we also have our very own ah Lara Hamilton running, who I am excited to see how she goes because she's been doing some epic ah runs over while she's living in Font-Romeau.
00:56:53
Speaker
and She's been doing some fast ten k um And it looks like she's in good form. So that will be the one to look out for this weekend. Coming up is, yeah, Lara Hamilton at the 23K. We do also have Beth McKenzie in the 46, but she is did tell us in no uncertain terms that it's just for fun. um So not to follow too closely and she's just she's just here having a good time. so um yeah, she's in there. So I'll still be cheering, um which will be a bit of fun. But, yeah, Broken Arrow to start the whole ah festival of TrailCon.
00:57:33
Speaker
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.
00:58:13
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.
00:58:30
Speaker
And the only other news we've got for this week, which is bringing it back locally, um is that Autra have done a uniform and sponsor call out, which is exciting to see because hopefully this does reduce some of the costs um to making an Australian team. So you can see on their website, we might put in the show notes, there's a um it's just Autra opens the tender for Australian team uniform and sponsorship partner. And they've got all of the details there. um It's up until the 25th of June, 6th of July, the tender closes. um So I'm just excited to watch that space in the way of I'm hoping that future teams never have to fork out a good deal of money for their uniform anymore um because that was always, it's just another barrier added to a lot of the barriers that can be in place financially to represent Australia on the trail. Um,
00:59:26
Speaker
which just all I think in so many ways all we've ever asked for is progress on this front and to me at least this this if it's fruitful which you would hope it would be um especially with the way trail running's going at the moment like it's it's a much bigger sport it's got a lot more eyes on it like surely people want to be on that uh shirt that we wear but um but yeah Jess your thoughts on this one Yeah, it's awesome. um Definitely needed. i feel like the uniform hadn't changed for like half a decade or something. um It was looking a bit, yeah.
01:00:03
Speaker
Well, to me that was also scratch the confusing thing was that it has changed, but it's just flipping, flopping like in different ways. When I first started competing, it was the AMRA uniform, which I must say I really did like. um It was a beautiful uniform we got and I've still got that tracksuit. one of my favorite. um But that was when it was separate from mountain and trail. There was two separate ones going on. And then we came together and we did have the AA uniform for a couple of years there. um But first it was the blue and white one. Then it was the green and gold one for one year. And then it went back to Autra uniform, but that's where the one you're talking about where it feels like it's from two decades ago. It's just, yeah, it just has that old school kind of vibe with like the female shirt has a little V neck and like, I don't know, it doesn't really feel like it's made for running, to be honest. Like it feels like it's made for cricket or something. Yeah, yeah. And I think, I think that's the thing. It's like for for people that get this uniform that, well, you you pay for this uniform that as it has been so far. I will say we did not pay for the uniform back when things were split from AMRA. That was given to us. So that I was very appreciative of back in the day. But the the thing is that you kind of, you do, you pick it up and you go, well, I wouldn't, for the most important race of my year or possibly my career in life, this is not what I would buy to wear because it doesn't feel it's in any way. And in hot conditions, it's going to be bad. yeah It's actually
01:01:37
Speaker
a like a hindrance in that way. You're like, this is not what I would run in if I had the choice. yeah And to me that's like, like it doesn't have to be perfect because you're never going to get the perfect uniform for 30 people on a team. There's going to be different tastes, but it yeah can be – Good.
01:01:55
Speaker
um Yeah. So, yeah, hopefully this is a step in that direction of just you get handed the uniform instead of second guessing and going, oh, I'm not sure about this. You go, this just, this is good. This feels right. and there's not even a second thought. Like there's none of the...
01:02:13
Speaker
Am I going to get too hot? Should I cut holes in this? even though I'm not allowed to do that, so I can't. um like there is yeah there's definitely um There's a lot to be said for comfort or just performance ah fabric good performance fabric on the day of your most important races. um Yeah. so fingers crossed this gets us over the line. If anyone has anyone that they think would be interested, by all means, send them the way of the, um the ORTRA website has all of the details on sort of how to get in contact and do all that. So yeah, send it to the way of your brands if you are a sponsored athlete, like just see how, see who we can get on board for this one because we'll keep this, we'll watch this space as it unfolds.
01:03:01
Speaker
Sim, can I ask, is it just the trail team they're putting out the tender for or is it for the road and ottin track ultra teams as well? um So, hang on, I need to read this quickly just to make sure I'm giving the right info. Long-term partnership, growth of ultra trail and mountain running across Australia. So I do believe that, um and this is coming from other people that have I know have um looked into sponsoring the reun uniform in recent years, it does have to be the same uniform across all teams.
01:03:36
Speaker
for atra Okay. That's nice. So that was in some ways, I think some of the barriers. of a brand going, I want to sponsor the trail team and Autra, in my mind rightfully so, going, well, you also need to sponsor all the other teams that we look after. You can't just pick one team and do that. So I do believe that is something that, yeah, could have had we could have actually had a brand sponsor in the past for a trout for the trail team, but um they wanted every team looked after, um which yeah good like in my books. it Like you want everyone in the same uniform. so Yeah. Yeah, I agree. But it just has a ah wider variety of products because some products suit road running better and some suit trail running better. Yes, yes. Like ideally, um the, well, in it does say the tender includes the supply of competition apparel, training and community wear, team jackets, accessories and other official team merchandise. That's what they've put out to ask for, um which would be damn cool.
01:04:34
Speaker
No, it would also be cool. It would be if they had a little, they had some people like yourself or other athletes that they were going to go to and say, what would you want to see in this apparel? Like what would be a good performance design rather than basing it off whoever comes up with the best value for money quote or whatever, um something that the people who are going to perform at the highest level are actually going to want to wear.
01:04:58
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. that would And I think they would be certainly open to anyone sending in that and sort of like um just giving their their piece on what they would like to see. But I think that a lot of that also comes down to the brand when they come in. um Yeah, I suppose that sort of information piece of ah reaching out and...
01:05:21
Speaker
But if it's a big enough trail brand, I'm going to say, and it's not a sort of, um I'm going to say niche brand that we'd never heard of before. um Like if it's a big enough trail brand, you can kind of just trust that they would probably know what they're doing. Like imagine if a, if an Asics or ah a Nike or a Brooks even, like if any of them come on board and and, and sponsor it, like they'd know what they're doing, I would think. Um, and you kind of go, well, yeah, I would wear this.
01:05:50
Speaker
i'd like I'd wear this kit on anywhere. So it's fine. Um, So, yeah, fingers crossed. it looks like contract is awarded on the 1st of August and first it says first delivery required September. So um we might know by the first by August sometime. So this is very much a watch this space piece because we won't know anytime soon.
01:06:13
Speaker
But cool to see that is for sure. Now, um so we've got a question, some thoughts and a question through from Liam based on Nigel's interview from Singletrack. So he said, love Nigel's interview. I think rollercoaster run can and should become much bigger, especially with how accessible it is to everyone in Victoria. It's the perfect event to build the sport. A good crossover race for junior athletes or cross country with less technical trail. Even room for some kind of an uphill race or 100k event to attract even more variety of runners. What do we think?
01:06:46
Speaker
Any thoughts there, Jess? haven't been to rollercoaster before, but I have run in the Dandenongs and yeah, I agree. Like it's a really nice intro to trail running. um Not too techie, but like beautiful and like beautiful.
01:07:00
Speaker
like ah like enough vert um to make it interesting like if you brought in some road runners like they'd be able to dabble but um yeah like enough vert for trail runners to still like have a good race against um some faster runners so yeah I definitely agree well yeah we've already seen that a little bit because Seth O'Donnell won it Yeah, that's true. That's definitely ah a road ah a very, very accomplished road slash track runner coming to run it. But we also saw um one of the years Sarah Klein v Kate, which was a very close race. Yes, yes. Like Sarah was winning for most of the race and then Kate sort of won in the end, um which I think is a good example of that like more road-focused athlete v trail athlete being like pretty close in the end. Yeah, yeah, I do. And I personally, for me, courses like this, I just go, oh, damn, not my, not my forte. And like, I need more of an equalizer. But I love watching those ones that do perform as some somewhat of that, um,
01:08:08
Speaker
In between where you're right, it is definitely hilly enough and um I'm not going to say it's ever really technical, but it's hilly enough and ah challenging enough to no one ever is going to call it a road race um yeah or like flat.
01:08:24
Speaker
Yeah, I'd say like if it was wet, you could probably say it was a little bit techie. Oh, yeah, some of those descents if it was wet for sure. um But it's not, as as eve as I look at it, there's not much um single track, I suppose. It's yeah ah almost all of it's double track.
01:08:41
Speaker
um But when it comes to Liam's question here, um oh, actually, Holly, have you done roller coaster? Have you run a Mount Dandenong? No, I have not run anywhere in Victoria except for Surf Coast Century. I'd love to get down there and see what some of these big events that people talk up are really like.
01:08:59
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. You've got to get to, yeah, some of the ones in Bright or the High Country or, to be fair, this one is so close to the city. um This one's on our normal training ground. Like it's where, like, we drive to just go get a mountain close to Melbourne because, like, I live in the middle of Melbourne and it's maybe a 45-minute drive um to the mountains. So it's a very cool spot and, as ah Liam has pointed out, incredibly accessible. I would love to see that. It would be very cool for an uphill race. Like it would short uphill race. I'm going to say. um Possibly you'd want to do it up, down, up, or maybe even just a race up Glasgow would be bloody cool to see. That'd be about a 20-minute race.
01:09:39
Speaker
I'm going to disagree, Liam, on the 100K side, though. And that is slightly biased by me of... so often you see a hundred k come into an event or like the longer one come in and it kind of overshadows and takes over sort of the shorter ones or like they're not championed as much anymore. And I love that this is one of single tracks events where you really do champion these shorter distances um because they've got the 12K, they've got the 23 and they've got the 46.
01:10:09
Speaker
um And in a weird way, I think the 23 kind of the champion event, at least in my head, because the 46 being two loops of the 23, kind of, um, seems to attract less of the top runners than the 23, at least in, um, previous years. So it's one of those cool events where I go, well, this is actually championing some of these shorter distance, um, runners. And you do see a lot of really good runners come and converge on this one. um,
01:10:40
Speaker
Um, I personally wouldn't want to see a hundred and also I don't think logistically it would be the easiest one because currently they don't cross any main roads, um, or, um, and they wouldn't have a lot of those logistics in place, but to do a hundred without just looping the same loop again and again and again, um, you are looking at a couple more road crossings, probably possibly into Sylvan or, um, one tree hill. So,
01:11:05
Speaker
um Yeah, like doable, 100%, I'm going to agree, doable. But ah for me, I love the event as it is, but I definitely want to see it grow because it is one of those incredible events where it's worth checking out. And it's a it's a brutal 23 and 46K for the reasons we've said of like it it it you can run the whole time. They're quite steep hills. Yeah. But you really can run the whole time, even though your brain's going, do I want to run this or hike this? um Whereas if it's longer, yeah, you would definitely be hiking some of them. But Holly, worth putting on your schedule, that's for sure.
01:11:41
Speaker
All right, it's on the bucket list. Love it, love it. And that one, when is it? It's October. ah Let me get the actual date. 17th of October this year, um just for anyone that does want to have a look at it, and has prize money, which is one another thing we love to see. I think it's $600 for the win on the $23, same prize money,
01:12:06
Speaker
um on the uh 46 and then the 23 so happy days um awesome well that's our questions and news but we've got some pretty cool results uh just quickly to go through um here in vic jess did you want to run us through wild boar while i get tower trail up Yeah. um So at Wild Boar Trail Run, um there was a few different distances. So we had a 50K, 42, a saw Sophie Broome take out the win and a ten
01:12:41
Speaker
um so in the fifty k ah we saw sophie boom take out the win ah for the ladies and she was also second overall in 4 hours 31. That sounds like a really fast time for 50 so um definitely good signs ahead of CCC.
01:13:00
Speaker
um And then we had Oliver Kaprzak who took the win for the men and overall in 4 hours 11. And then in the 42 we had O'Shaughnessy taking out the win for the men in 4 hours 09. And then in the ladies we had Catherine Elliott taking out the win in the women in 3 hours 45.
01:13:27
Speaker
And then jumping to the 21K, we had Shane Malia taking out the win in the men's in 1 hour 42 and Jacqueline Sturgis taking out the win for the women in 2 hours 15. And then lastly in the 10K, we had Dominic Channon taking out the win in the men in 45-20 Emma Perron taking out the win in the ladies in 50-39.
01:13:54
Speaker
Nice. Then also we had Tower Trail Run over in South Australia. The 56K was won on the women's by Piper Killick, also third overall.
01:14:07
Speaker
And in the men's, it was won by Thibaut Delacroix. The 32K was won by Daria Burden in the women's and Owen Williams in the men. And the 21K was won by Isabel Holmes in the women's and Alex Foote. in the men's.
01:14:26
Speaker
And then we had a very cool looking race or a very um deep ah looking race, at least on some of this ah women's side. But we had the Yandina 5-0 in, where is this one? Queensland.
01:14:42
Speaker
um And from what James has put on here, it's the final year of this event, um which sad to see when when an event disappears, um but hopefully it comes back at some point. Some of them do. But on the women's side, this was won by Melissa howe sch House Schilt 4.32.55, which was second overall, which four thirty two fifty five which was second overall which Melissa seems to just pop out some incredible runs. um She's got so many incredible runs on her ITRA at this point that, um yeah, I think most of them being Queensland-based, but she's won by half an hour ahead of Buhar Bali, who is another name that we know of um that has won a bunch of events up in Queensland and surrounds. So, That was a very cool, that's cool, but head to head, but shows how good of a run that was for Melissa um being that far ahead. And then similar story on the men's side, because it was won by Billy Curtis in three hours, 53, 40 hours. with Jack Valentine in second in four hours, 37.59. And so for Melissa and Billy, that was course records, but ah it also says it was they were those were course records run in horrible conditions.
01:16:03
Speaker
So... Some very cool runs there in the 50K. Also, the course records went down in the 36K because we had Anna McKenna running on the women's side, winning in three hours 32. Not far behind was Katie Booth in second, three hours 36, and Sarah Wiley in third, in three hours 37. On the men's side, Jordan Ryan won in three hours 13.
01:16:26
Speaker
And then second male but fifth overall because our first, second and third female were second, third and fourth overall was Fred Boyne in 3 hours 39 and third ben Baker hours forty six so Go the women on that one, coming in second, third, fourth.
01:16:44
Speaker
And just quickly, the 21 had Hannah Lee Young winning the women's in an hour 53, again a course record, and Lachlan Landy in an hour 44, 47 on the women's.
01:16:58
Speaker
um And oh he said that the course records also happened to go down. always on like I love that they've done this on the last year um because Cherie Croft also got the course record in 12K in 109 and Jake Berg got the course record on the men's in 5849. To do that in the last year is he' like, well, no one can beat me now.
01:17:18
Speaker
um So well done to all them. um Jess, take us to Four Corners. Yeah, so we also had the Four Corners trail run up in Alice Springs.
01:17:32
Speaker
Just trying to say how far that one was. It looks like a stage race. Yeah, Four Corners is four different stages over three days and they're all 5 by the looks.
01:17:46
Speaker
Yeah, so there's four legs. Leg one is 6K, two is seven, three is six, and four is 5K. um Yeah, it sounds pretty cool, something different. So it runs from the second, runs for two days. Oh, two days, sorry.
01:18:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, nice. Up in Alice Springs, yeah. Yeah. um So, yeah, results-wise, we had Lachlan Donchi taking out the win in the men's in one hour 37 and Emily Mills taking out the win in the ladies in two hours 17, which is – yeah, their overall time across the four legs. That sounds like a very cool event um to do.
01:18:24
Speaker
Although I don't know how ah you'd feel doing two 5 to 7k runs like hard in a day. If you're doing that real hard, that'd be sore. um Very sore. um Awesome. Well, but quickly before we finish up, ah Jess, how you been going?
Racing Strategies and Personal Adaptations
01:18:41
Speaker
Yeah, good, good. um Yeah, training's going well. i am gearing up for occ um Also hoping to race this weekend um at the Cullen Trail Running Festival, which is just like a local Canberra one. um Actually, yeah I'm still undecided on what distance I'm doing. I've entered in the marathon. So there's a marathon and a half marathon. um And originally I wanted to do the marathon just as like a longer race in the lead up to OCC. um
01:19:16
Speaker
But I'm a little bit kind of scarred by like how bad I pulled up after UTA. So I'm like, i just don't want any more setbacks to training. um So I'm thinking about jumping down to the half and just doing it as like a hard effort.
01:19:31
Speaker
And then hopefully recovering better just because like i haven't like i I haven't done any runs longer than like two hours for quite a long time now, like probably since last year. yeah so my body is just not super conditioned to the longer stuff at the moment. Fair.
01:19:49
Speaker
Fair. Could you, could you like, and this is just the way I would be thinking about these sorts of things as I look at them, but could you also possibly do it as something where you do like a progressive progressive, where you maybe run just to get the different stimulus of the longer race, where you maybe run the first half easy and then pick up as many people as you can in the back half to finish strong and like simulate that feeling of finishing strong in a longer race um without actually racing the whole thing.
01:20:19
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. um i think there will be like some competition though. Like it won't be an easy race. So I'll probably get dragged out of it. Yeah, like I suppose it is – there's so many times where you've got to look at these things and I suppose I do of going well – am I in this one to compete? If, if, if so, if you think you can, if you think you're better off competing in the shorter than amazing. Um, but some of the ones I look at and I go, well, I want a specific training stimulus out of this as well as to feel competitive, um, to a degree. They're the ones that I'm happy to go, well, ah like this strategy I'm,
01:20:56
Speaker
unlike less likely to win or look like I'm doing really well, but is it going to give me the stimulus that I want to do really well in the one that I'm really aiming for? um It's that difference of going, well, ah in the ideal world for my goal race, how am I going to run this?
01:21:13
Speaker
And does it matter then who beats me, et cetera, et cetera? Does that make sense? Yeah. um Yeah. Yeah. yeah, don't know. I think Kate, my coach is leaning more towards the half. yeah Well, that's what a coach is for, for sure. So maybe I'll just back her decision. Definitely back the coach's decision. Definitely back the coach's decision. This is just like the way that when I look at these things, it's, it's, I suppose where my brain goes of like,
01:21:41
Speaker
um giving a purpose to all of the events. And if the purpose is to feel good and race and build that confidence for that way, then 100% the half sounds amazing. And like you still get a lot of fun out of it too because where's that one's what? It's in Coen Forest, so it's like a half an hour drive from Canberra City. um and yeah, it's – It's not a very technical race. I think the half has about 500 metres vert and it's all like fire roads. Nice. So it'll pretty quick. I think the record, the course record's like an hour 43 or something. so Okay.
01:22:20
Speaker
Yes. for it how What was the distance again? 21, think. 21, okay, yeah. okay yeah Nice, okay, yeah, nice and quick. Love that. Love that. Awesome. Well, that's really good to hear and because how long till you fly out now?
01:22:34
Speaker
Oh, I don't actually have any flights yet but I think it'll be um start of August, say like like so weeks or Yeah, actually I've had, yeah, just a bit of a rigmarole with the travel plans. um Yeah, I was hoping to stay in Font-Romeau again, but um unfortunately it's like booked out with road and track runners. So can't go for as long just because like I'll be paying for accommodation whole time. um
01:23:09
Speaker
But hopefully get there like three to four weeks before the race um and get to go in the course a bit. um I've done the same thing as you, Holly, like posted in a Facebook group looking for accommodation. So that's actually such a hack. like um It's hard to do. I don't like asking for help. And I guess it's probably harder when your your audience is French speaking probably. That's sneaky. But someone will reach out and help you. There's so many people out there that just want the best for all the athletes and want them to enjoy their experience and enjoy the host country. so I'm sure someone will help you. Yeah, yeah. And that be good. It'll all work out in the end.
01:23:49
Speaker
We're going to be flying out at similar times then um because I fly out I think the 27th of July. um So that will be. So what race are you doing? I've got three races um that I'm doing and to be honest, the closer they get, the more it's becoming one race and two experiences um because I'm not – confident yet at this point in my endurance, but um my recent road trip actually that I just got back from yesterday where I did the Simpson Desert Ultra gave me a lot of confidence for things in the 25 to 30k region. um So thankfully when I first fly over on the 1st of August, I think, there's a race called Schnellstell Alpine Trail um in the Dolomites.
01:24:38
Speaker
And that has a, it's either 27 or 30k Sky Race. So I'm doing that one first and then I'm doing Trofeo Chima, which is two, three weeks later um at the end of August.
01:24:53
Speaker
Oh, must only be two weeks. No, three weeks later because it's on the 22nd of August um in again in Italy. And then I'm doing Swiss Peaks Marathon. which is two weeks after that in Switzerland. So I've just got, yeah, those three, which I always for this year put on the calendar going, well, no matter what, I'm going to enjoy the experience of going to do these events, um no matter where my body is at. Yeah.
01:25:22
Speaker
But, but yeah, like I'm, I am coming somewhat good, um, which we'll see how then that translates. Cause I don't have, like, I still, my training is maybe a quarter to a third of what I would normally do in a week. And, um, the vert that I've been doing is not a huge amount. So that's sort of the next thing to layer in, um, especially off the back of this two weeks where I was driving in a car for sort of six hours a day and, going for flat runs
Desert Ultra Experience and Learnings
01:25:50
Speaker
otherwise. um So not a huge amount of vert in my legs, but I actually did um because I did Simpson Desert Ultra and it was it was a really cool experience in the way that I was just going to jog it.
01:26:03
Speaker
And the two nights before we were staying at the Batuta Hotel for anyone that knows Batuta, which is in the middle of absolutely nowhere just before Birdsville. There's not even anyone that lives there. It's just a random hotel where we could camp for free.
01:26:16
Speaker
And ah the owner of the hotel, ah but like when we were talking about the run, they thought that it was like going to take sort of six, seven, eight hours. And I was like, nah, you like because it's it is relatively flat. um I was like, nah, you could do it in four. Yeah.
01:26:34
Speaker
And then he was like, no way. And he was like, if you do it in four, you can come back the next day and you can have anything you like from the pub. Hell, I'll give you the damn pub. um And me being me and not, I genuinely didn't care about the outcome, but I loved the idea of having a carrot to chase when you're on, like you are so on, I'm going to have a crack um because it didn't matter. And it was just so much fun because then in my head I was like,
01:27:02
Speaker
racing, but genuinely was just like, this is just for for fun. Um, so yeah, rocked up. And the thing is that the, there's a lot of logistics that go into place on this one. Cause it's on just a cattle station.
01:27:15
Speaker
ah right near Birdsville. And it is beautiful. But a few things that have happened this year is that there's a lot of flooding in the area. So the desert is not red. It is green, which is gorgeous to see. It is wild to see. There's just vegetation everywhere. There's none of the what you'd imagine our in our right outback desert looks like.
01:27:37
Speaker
um It's a lot of spin effects, but a lot of like head high kind of vegetation over all the sand dunes and then all like it's just beautiful. um But the logistics of this race, there's like 160, 75, a And I was doing the 50, but um it's not a race. There's no official timing. They just check that you've made each checkpoint for safety reasons. um And that's about it. But then because of the way things normally go, the latest I was allowed to start my first 25K loop, because there's two 25s on the 50, was 4am.
01:28:13
Speaker
But the earliest I was allowed to start the next five k the next twenty five k loop, so the last one, was 7am because they don't want anyone on the last loop in the dark. So they wait till sunrise. So I set off at 4am in pitch black um and you're running across things called gibber planes. gibbub Gibbers are like metallic-y looking rocks. So just a bunch of rocks.
01:28:34
Speaker
um And then you're running up and over sand dunes and through a bunch of spin effects, which I must say is not fun, but was also the spin effects itself wasn't fun. But The first 25K with my head torch and it's just me out there and there's like um I passed a few people but there's not many people in the whole event and I was just letting rip to like my head torch. I had my music in and it was flat terrain but because of the way it is, it's technical. Like you have to think every moment and I did take a bad fall on the Gibber Plains. I took one of the most spectacular falls of my life down a sand dune.
01:29:09
Speaker
but Because it's in the dark. And because I was trying really hard but in the way of like, I was just wanted to see how close I could get. um I was doing the like jump and hope because it wasn't running in running's normal sense where you're trying to get up and over a sand dune because of how much vegetation there was to get across the sand dune. You're like jumping all the bushes and jumping all the spin effects. And there's no, not a single part of this course was on a trail.
01:29:33
Speaker
You're just looking for a pink marker up ahead and running towards the pink marker and then looking for the next one and running towards that. So zero trail, complete wayfinding and just in the pitch black. And it just felt so ridiculous that it was just so much fun. And I knew, i wasn't sure how it was going to go, but I knew that whole first 25K, I was flying for that terrain. Like I was actually doing really well. My body felt amazing. I ran every step, even up the stupid sand dunes in the sand.
01:30:03
Speaker
And it was just the first time in a long time where I was just like, I'm okay, my body's clicking today. Like, this is amazing. And I was in complete flow state. And then a good ran two hours 15 for the first loop thinking, okay, that's not too bad because the first loop's in the dark. The first loop is on paper, slightly harder. So in the light, I might i didn't think I was going to make four hours flat, but I was like, maybe, maybe four hours 10 if I can make up a bit of time here or or four hours 15 if I can just run this second one in two hours. But I did not factor in that taking a 45-minute break at 6 a.m., which is it was still dark, so it was still pitch black because sunrise was 7.30, in four degrees where we're in the middle of a paddock.
01:30:46
Speaker
there's no There's a fire and there's that and that's it. And trying to stay warm for 45 minutes when I'm like I'm in leggings and everything and I'd run in long sleeve, but it is so, so cold out there that – I just, everything stiffened up. Like imagine you'd gone, cause it'd been two hours 15 and I'd been running relatively hard. Um, like at a level that I thought I could hold for 50 K, but at the same time, that's, that's relatively hard. And the way, the only way I could equate it is like, you've run into QVH because it was a similar time, two hours, 15 ish.
01:31:19
Speaker
um or similar time-ish. But imagine stop, like you've been running hard, but you have to stop there for 45 minutes. Like even in good conditions, the next part's going to suck. But I was freezing. And then i tried to get going again. And just every, like I got going for maybe four or 5k before my whole body just went, nah, we're done. We're walking. Yeah.
01:31:41
Speaker
It was like an 18K walk into the finish. um I think the second loop alone took me four hours in the end um because i could not run for the life of me because my hip flexors and my glutes, like everything went. But I was also yeah still having the time of my life because I'm like, no, this is they've gone because they've worked stupidly hard and it feels good, the fact that they've worked hard. And then obviously stiffening up, like you can't, I couldn't bring them back from the how stiff they got. so I was still walking along, looking at the view and love and life, although hating, hating the spin effects to walk through. um If anyone's ever done it, it's just, it stabs you and it hurts. I took 30 spin effect spikes out of my feet at the end of this run. Is this like a cactus thing? It's like ah it's like a grass. um You're at the beach. um It's like the tall grass.
01:32:32
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah. It's that stuff. But when it like stabs you, it's got these little so like really sharp spiky seeds that go into you um and they hurt. I had them like in my big toe and like they were just so sore. But either way, it was beautiful. um And it was a long, slow trudging to go, yep, I've lost this bet but I feel like – Like the the day was such a win because for 25K I felt like myself again and like I was running well and things were going great. And I had DOMS for three days but it was like proper DOMS of like not there's no injury or anything happening. I've just worked hard. And yeah as someone that hasn't been able to work hard for quite a while, I was loving it.
01:33:13
Speaker
was hating it but loving it at the same time because now I'm like, well, now I'm going to be a bit stronger and fitter again. Definitely the gains. Yeah, yeah. And that was the thing. It was, I suppose, when you were talking before about the – like, um, thoughts on the races. I was like, I got everything I wanted out of this because I got the beautiful views. I got more of them than I planned on because of how much I had to walk. But at the same time, like it felt like as something that was just meant to be fun, felt like an epic training stimulus. Um, and I was really thankful that I did make the bet because I was like having a carrot to chase that was, didn't, I didn't need the carrot. Like, um, I didn't, sorry, like the outcome didn't matter to me. Just made it better because it let me tip into my competitive mindset in an environment where I otherwise wouldn't have. um
01:34:04
Speaker
And I haven't been in that mindset for a long time now, not properly. So yeah, lots of fun, but that's given me some confidence going back to where we were for the 30K that I have coming up in seven weeks or so. ah Not much confidence for Trofeo Kima. Yeah.
01:34:21
Speaker
I must say, because that's going to be like an eight-hour race. um But we'll see. We'll see what happens. Like, body's coming good. So there's not much more I can ask ah than that for this year, I'd say. So, yeah, we'll be seeing how things go. But if anyone ever wants to go just get an epic experience while running, go do the Simpson Desert Ultra.
01:34:45
Speaker
Like it was so, so cool. Just teeny outback town, running across someone's cattle station, up and over sand dunes. And like running down sand dunes is also so much fun because it just feels like you can just let go because if you fall, you fall in sand, you're fine.
01:35:01
Speaker
um So, yeah, I think everyone that was there and got to do it was definitely like coming a away, going, that was one of the coolest non-race races I've ever done. um Um, cause yeah, definitely the Outback at the moment, um,
01:35:18
Speaker
If anyone's thinking of going anywhere in the holidays, like they they need more people out there at this point just because of all the flooding stopped most of the tourism. So now that it is clearing up a little bit, um yeah, they need more people out there, which we did have to completely change our entire route, ah driving route up and back because of the floods.
01:35:39
Speaker
But it's also on one hand really annoying when you have to change, but on the other hand, we got to see the desert be green. so Yeah, that's so cool. Like they've had this, this um what we were running through, they said, is the most vegetation they've seen this area has seen in like 100 years. Wow.
01:35:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's ah it's a cool natural phenomenon to see. Are all your shoes trashed now from the red dirt? No, no, because, ah well, a lot of the dirt was like a lot of the sand, some of it was red, some of it was just normal sand colour. But okay um you hose them out, chuck them in the washing machine and they'll be right. um I will say if anyone ever has to run through spin effects or through deserts or things like this,
01:36:23
Speaker
ah I changed shoes to the in the second loop to my race shoes, which are amazing race shoes, but they've they've all the outside is really airy and meshy. not Not a good call. Not a good call in Spinifex because I was just like catching them through the mesh holes into my straight into my foot. I swear you would want shoes covered in like Kevlar running through this stuff.
01:36:46
Speaker
um It was like you do not want holes in your shoes. You want the least breathable shoes possible. Maybe some good gaiters. I had gaiters on, but i did you would need the gaiters that cover your whole shoe, not the ones that just cover your ankle because my ankles were fine and I wasn't getting stuff in my shoes that way because I had gaiters on. But it was like up near the toes where a lot of shoes, especially the lightweight shoes, will just have like airy mesh to so yeah you breathe. But you do not want that.
01:37:14
Speaker
you do Not designed racing through the desert. Not designed for spin effects. I'm not sure there's many shoes that are, but yeah, it hot tip for anyone that does that, do not do it.
01:37:26
Speaker
um But yeah, yeah no i mean I'm in a good spot, I think, finally, because yeah, sessions and things are actually just normal again. And I'm actually excited to just get some form of normal training done, hopefully, for the next five, six weeks before I fly.
01:37:43
Speaker
um But we'll see how that goes. It's still going to be long, slow process. um And I did my genetic test today
Health Insights and Music Preferences
01:37:50
Speaker
actually. So I get to know my whole genome, whole exome sequence in three months. Okay. What do you what did you do that for?
01:37:59
Speaker
um Because it's testing for all of the connective tissue disorders just to make sure that the one that I have, um they know the one I have essentially. Like I've got a connective tissue disorder, that's guaranteed. um whether they think it's just hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, but the only way to know for sure is if you test for all of the connective tissue disorders um and then sort of see because, yeah, hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos doesn't actually have a genetic test. They haven't found the genetic marker yet, but they have a genetic marker for like 200 other connective tissue disorders. So they go, well, if it's none of them, then it is this one kind deal, diagnosis of exclusion. so Yeah. it was one of the ones where I didn't need to have it and to be fair, it's stupidly expensive. um But I was also like, well, you only need your genetic testing done once in your life, thankfully. um And I'm the person that likes the most information possible.
01:38:57
Speaker
So I'm like, well, I'll do it and see because it will also give me all of my genetic info for anything else um that could possibly be a problem, which sometimes you want to know and sometimes you really don't. know yeah um So we'll see. But, yeah, I should find that out sort of August time, maybe September.
01:39:18
Speaker
So we'll figure that out. But either way, we're currently treating it like I have Ehlers-Danlos and that's kind of how we're moving forward. So – We'll um yeah see how that goes. But yeah, fun times.
01:39:30
Speaker
Fun, fun times for all. Well, I think that's pretty much rounding us out. So I'll let us everyone know what's coming up. And we are like deep in the busy weekends on the Aussie scene as well because we have Surf Coast Trail Marathon in Vic as well as Mount Barranduda Trail Run, which is one of the Riverina Trail series ah that James puts on up there. Then also Freycine Circuits Trail Run in Tassie, Kunanyu Trail Series, Knocker Solstice in Tassie, Kuyama Coastal Classic, Cowan Winter Trails and Woodford to Glenbrook Classic in New South Wales.
01:40:06
Speaker
And then in Queensland, Curtis Island Trail Run and newsset Noosa Enduro Trail Run. And over in WA, Snakes and Ladders, which I think you've done before, Jess, yeah? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, nice. So busy weekends on the on in almost all states of the country, um but certainly probably the coolest weekend coming up for Holly over there in America. Definitely. um ah yo well Because is Broken Arrow near where you are?
01:40:39
Speaker
Yes, yeah, it starts or it's sort of all run in Olympic Valley where Western State starts. So, yeah, if I can do, i will get down there and have a look because I think it will be pretty spectacular to see some of those people moving so fast through that sort of terrain.
01:40:55
Speaker
Yeah, I reckon that would be a really fun spectator um event hopefully because it looks like a very, very cool spot. So awesome, awesome. Yeah.
01:41:05
Speaker
One last question, Holly. um I saw they released like a Women of Western States playlist on Spotify. Which um song was yours? Oh, you have to guess. Which one do you think it was? Oh, wow.
01:41:19
Speaker
I did not realise this. give you a really good hint. I thought it was Fred again. No, it's the i think it's probably the only Australian song on there. I would hazard a guess that it probably is, which is partly why I picked it because I thought, you know, you've got to have an Australian song on there.
01:41:37
Speaker
um But no, I picked You're the Voice by John Farnham. Oh, yes. Nice. Yes. Not this super duper obvious Land Down Under, but still a classic. Yes. I thought about that. that was But I actually do like You're the Voice. I think it's a pretty inspirational song. So,
01:41:54
Speaker
im I'm into my 80s Aussie rock, so I picked that. And I've actually i've added her playlist. I really want to get to listening to it. But I listened to her one from last year, and it's just the most weird collection of songs. Seriously, I can't believe some people listen to that stuff while they're running. It would really not hype me up. But then i guess, you know, there were some like Chinese songs and probably Vietnamese songs from the overseas athletes, which we're going to. understand but yeah um yeah yeah some of that music was a little bit not not my sort of taste but each to their own I guess that's why it makes an interesting playlist. Fair very fair I love a good ah playlist and um this was I found it on this trip actually i found it a bit before this trip but I ran to it almost that entire first 25k Celtic techno or Celtic i don't know if you say Celtic or so Celtic But it's like imagine Irish music fiddle but with a techno vibe and it is so good to run to. The beats in it are just continuous. it's Honestly, you've got it you've got to try this out. I'll try it. That sounds interesting. I reckon it did a good job of getting me in my flow state um because it was it's just one of those ones where you're constantly like your footbeat is to the music the entire time and it doesn't like there's no real slow bits where it just feels like it lags off a bit.
01:43:19
Speaker
um yeah But, yes, I have the Celtic Techno ah album by Atratus. Atratus? I don't even know how you pronounce it but you'd find it and highly recommend to run to. How did you find that? Great question. No idea.
01:43:34
Speaker
i The algorithm. the Probably the algorithm. My brain, things appear in my brain. And I i probably, I'm one of those people that like ah when I get sick of my music, I just randomly search music on Apple Music. um And I think probably just one of their songs would have come on something I was listening to. or But once I found, once I heard one, I'm like, oh, I wonder if there's more like this. This does cool things to my brain when I'm running. um And then I found it's a whole genre.
01:44:01
Speaker
Wow. Who would have known? Who would have known indeed? um So on that note, listeners, let us know if you listened to some of that because, um yeah. it Let's make a wave of ah runners running to Celtic techno. um um But thank you very much, Holly, for joining us. This has been a lot of fun. um We will see if we can have a quick chat at least after Western States and hear how it all went down. um So if anyone does have questions for Holly post-race, let us know. Once we've compiled a few, we'll see if we can get in touch and, um yeah, just hear how it went down and your experience of it. But thank you for joining us all the way from America.
01:44:41
Speaker
Thanks for having me. Thank you, Holly. fun. Yeah. And, yeah, this has been Episode 114 of the Pequiseus Podcast and we'll speak to you next week. Cheers, guys.