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Mikey Dimuantes: Racing with the World’s Best at Canyons 100km
476 Plays22 days ago
Mikey Dimuantes is back on Peak Pursuits after an impressive and gutsy performance at the iconic Canyons 100km.
Fresh off his race, Mikey joins us from sunny Santa Cruz to share all the gritty details of competing against a world-class field at one of trail running’s most competitive events.
In this episode, Mikey opens up about the highs and lows of his race day—running shoulder-to-shoulder with elite runners, navigating the relentless climbs and technical descents, and experiencing a sudden, challenging shift in the race at the 70km mark. We delve deep into what it takes physically and mentally to compete at this elite level and explore key insights on balancing peak fitness, fatigue resistance, and strategic risk-taking.
From running through snowfall to managing intense competition on unfamiliar terrain, Mikey discusses the crucial lessons learned, including his reflections on training load, pacing strategies, and race scheduling. Whether you're aiming for your own competitive peak or just fascinated by the mental and physical demands of ultra-running, Mikey’s candid race breakdown is packed with valuable insights and inspiring takeaways.
Tune in for an engaging, behind-the-scenes look at Mikey’s experience at Canyons 100km, his thoughts on Australian trail running’s global standing, and how he's approaching his upcoming season—including a major relocation to Turkey. This episode is a must-listen for anyone captivated by the grit, strategy, and heart that defines ultra-running at its highest levels.
***Don’t forget, use code PPP at Bix’s website for 20% off Bix products, exclusive to PPP listeners!***
Thanks for tuning in to Peak Pursuits! Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
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Transcript
Introduction to Mikey Dimoantes and Recent Races
00:00:16
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Peak Pursuits podcast. My name is James Sieber and today we're welcoming back Mikey Dimoantes to the podcast. Mikey is coming fresh off his 11th place finish at the Canyons 100k over in the States, as well as a first place at Buffalo Stampede Marathon and the Asia Pacific Trail Champs Long Course third place, which is the last time that we heard from Mikey on the Trail 2 series.
00:00:43
Speaker
Today is a really interesting chat
Focus on Training and Perspective on Sport
00:00:44
Speaker
about his experience in canyons, but also his whole approach to training, where he sees himself in the sport and the sport going in Australia and worldwide.
00:00:54
Speaker
I really enjoyed this one. There's a lot of very valuable insights for everybody listening. And with that, let's get to the podcast with Mikey Dimoantes. Mikey, welcome back to the podcast. are you doing?
00:01:05
Speaker
Good, James. How are you Thanks for having me on. it's good to It's good to connect.
Travel Experiences and Political Insight in California
00:01:09
Speaker
I'm doing well. I'm probably a lot colder than you are right now, as I'm i'm guessing, because you're still over in the States. Yeah, I've just got into into Santa Cruz, so um hanging out with all the sea lions on the jetty and just, um yeah, it's good. Having swims.
00:01:24
Speaker
It's been very nice. Have you been over to the States before? ah Not properly. I've been like through New York airport, but not like a proper trip like this that we did through California after the race, which is really nice. so yeah super um California is really like diverse place to visit. so It's really, really awesome for a little two-week holiday.
00:01:45
Speaker
Sounds like it. I'm guessing it's quite a nice time of year to be over there as well. Yeah, yeah, super nice. Well, I mean, we've had everything. we were up at Lake Tahoe afterwards and it was snowing on the drive over and then we were in Death Valley for night and it was 32 degrees. So you can get, yeah, lots of different stuff.
00:02:05
Speaker
It's good. Wow. what At the risk of this being at all political, what's the atmosphere like over there at the moment? um I think I haven't seen much of it really. I was staying with some with a lady in in Auburn before the race and she was very ready to separate herself from the political situation of the country but um Yeah, I mean, I think we're pretty, the spots that we've been have been pretty touristy particularly well off, I guess, because they're tourist towns. so
00:02:41
Speaker
And we've spent a lot of time just in the car and gone for hikes and stuff, so we haven't really seen much of it. But um yeah, I mean, at least the the ladies that we were staying with in Auburn were pretty quick to separate themselves.
00:02:53
Speaker
Yeah, okay, interesting. Yeah, it just just just curious.
Reflections on Asia Pacific Trail Champs and Race Strategy
00:02:57
Speaker
Alrighty, so we're obviously on here to recap to recap canyons that just happened the time recording just a couple weeks ago now.
00:03:05
Speaker
Before we do so, i'd like to jump back to the last time that we had you on the podcast, which was the series leading up to the Asia Pacific Trail Running Champs. And Just recap that race for us because we never never got a chance to to do so.
00:03:20
Speaker
How did it go? What lessons did did you take away from it? What was experience like? and Yeah, awesome. Really cool place to visit and really awesome place to run like Korea and Seoul and the Yongnam Alps that the things that the um championship race was in was awesome.
00:03:39
Speaker
And the event itself was, was like incredible. They put us up for four nights and there was food and stuff. And it was like really well, um you know, we were really well looked after, which was really cool.
00:03:51
Speaker
um And the race itself was really good, really fun. Um, I think for my my own race, went well until it started to get hard. And I think I just felt the the length of the season probably more than anything. Because I think i was I was definitely in the... was probably in... I was in pretty good shape leading into it. like i was I think I was in peak fitness leading into that race for the season.
00:04:21
Speaker
But I don't think I was necessarily in peak freshness because I'd come off kind of... you know Tara Weirer first at the start of the which didn't go great and then and then Buffalo 20 UTA Hounslow then in August there was a bit of a break between Hounslow and UTA but it was still a 100k race and then two-month kind of turnaround three-month turnaround for another one for another marathon um and then you know quite a short I think it was seven or eight week turnaround from Hounslow into
00:04:53
Speaker
the asia pacific champ so i think i just wasn't maybe i got the fitness versus freshness balance a little bit too far in the in the swing of fitness um leading into that race and i think in retrospect it's easy to do things in retrospect but i think i would have maybe um gone into houndslow a little lighter and then to allow myself to peak more effectively for Asia Pacific. And I think that probably would have been a better way to do the end of the season. But I, you know, at the time i was very, very motivated by Hounslow. So I was like wanting to peak for that completely and then deal with whatever happened afterwards, afterwards. So I think, you know, um it's all fine.
00:05:33
Speaker
But yeah, so so I think basically I was ah very fit, which meant at the start of the race, I was, I was feeling good. But then when it kind of got a little grippy towards the end, I didn't have anything really in reserve to,
00:05:45
Speaker
to help myself despite, you know, fueling well and not feeling like I was burning heat to matches early on. But um yeah, I think that's, that's the main takeaway.
00:05:56
Speaker
That's really interesting. Do you feel like with UTA and Hounds like Hounslow and obviously Tower Era, which wasn't the result you wanted, but I'm guessing you still had to dig in pretty deep to get that one just finished.
00:06:08
Speaker
Does it feel like you, you, you, you kind of use those chips to like earlier in the season? Yeah, maybe. yeah I think it's really hard to get this balance, get the balance right for when to peak and um basically trying to balance all the different races that you want to do different times of the year.
00:06:30
Speaker
um and I think that's something that I've kind of, I would like to talk about in reference to Canyons as well, because think it's kind of interesting with how it informed this year. But um like, I think for for example, Tara wherere was didn't go to play and was really hard.
00:06:44
Speaker
But I think I actually benefited from that long endurance effort at UTA. I think it benefited me having that in my legs, even though um it maybe took something away from me in terms of freshness.
00:06:58
Speaker
But I think it was really valuable having that strength in my legs for UTA. uta But then you can't just keep on doing that for the whole year.
Training Routine Post-Race and Preparation for Upcoming Events
00:07:04
Speaker
At some point, you have to. um you know, race that. Looking back at the results you had in the year, the two performances that really stood out was UTA was incredible.
00:07:14
Speaker
And comparing it to what you did at Canyons has actually been really interesting, which we'll we'll we'll come to later. But then Hounslow also, it does seem like you had a real day there. Yeah.
00:07:25
Speaker
When you have days like that, and then you're kind of, you're you're having days of the Asia-Pacific where you still ran really well, but not quite too your performance. Is there anything else you you can kind of take away from it?
00:07:37
Speaker
I think, um yeah, i think I think you take away like the psychological learnings of, because it's easy to push when you're having a good day. When you're having a good day, it's really easy to continue to push and kind of go on.
00:07:51
Speaker
But I think, especially in longer, longer races, it is really hard to push when you when you haven't had, a when you're not having a great day or something's turned a corner or whatever, but it's actually really important to keep trying and because you never know if your legs are going to turn around and I think it's always important to try and push yourself to a finish that you've prepared for no matter how your day is going.
00:08:13
Speaker
um So I think on the harder days or on the days where you don't get a plan, that's when you actually um get to practice pushing through things that are actually really difficult because on days when everything goes to plan it's actually you know you feel like you feel lucky to be able to push so hard and it feels amazing but yeah I think on the harder of days that's when you learn the probably more valuable lessons about ultra running i couldn't agree more and it is something i find when i'm talking to people like i coach that when everything is so outcome what performance or what time you you finish and it's it's easy to lose the fact that there's a lot of gains and a lot of development that's made even in the hardest days so i think what you just said is
00:08:55
Speaker
It's great for people to be reminded of that there's always that there's always lessons, there's always positives, even if it's its hidden ah under the negatives. Taking away then from Asia Pacific, that was in the end of October.
00:09:08
Speaker
next race wasn't until Buffalo in end of March, correct? Yeah. Did anything change in training after that? Did you have some time off, I'm guessing? Yeah, I had some time off.
00:09:20
Speaker
I had like pretty much two to three weeks completely off running, off any training, any structured training at all, which was really nice. And then kind of slowly got back into it over um Christmas with basically with the goal of doing buffalo marathons as my primary goal um and then kind of you know later down the track i think decided on canyons for an early season race but that uh that was kind of tossed up and about i've considered doing transvolcania and considered doing a couple of other
00:09:54
Speaker
early season races but kind of settled on canyons because of how it fit with a couple of other things in the year um yeah but i was kind of tossing up between transvolcanoes and canyons but with ah again in a similar way to hounslow was kind of very motivated to run well at buffalo first um and kind of make the rest of the season after that work around that, I think.
Preference for Longer Races and Adventure Aspect of Running
00:10:16
Speaker
That's interesting. I would have assumed that canyons was the ah first thing to come into the plan as opposed to the Buffalo. So that's really interesting. It it makes makes me think, do you have a preference of distances? I know that in the past, you've kind of it seems like you kind of came into the sport at the 100k distance, have dropped down and have kind of moved back up, but you're fluctuating.
00:10:35
Speaker
Is there a preference? um I think it's, I get asked this a lot because my family or like, you know, my wife's parents are always like, why don't you just do the shorter distances? Because you always seem like more healthy afterwards when you do the shorter distances.
00:10:52
Speaker
um And I think like I find so so satisfying days in very long races are more satisfying than um or at least I find them more satisfying than good days on in shorter races.
00:11:09
Speaker
Like shorter racing is really fun. Like I find, know, Buffalo 20 last year and like the Buffalo Marathon, even though it's not a short race, like I find that a really fun kind of race but i think nailing a hundred k to me is is very or nailing a longer race is kind a bit more elusive and therefore more satisfying i think when it comes off um yeah and i think i just like the i kind of like the um 100k races often have these really cool courses to overcome rather than a you know
00:11:44
Speaker
um these races, these courses that seem really epic and kind of in themselves a really difficult challenge, um, rather than, you know, the shorter races are a different kind of challenge. Cause I think for me, I'm trying to run that course as fast or as well as I can, but I find the, the ultra distances in themselves, like a really cool challenge to try and run for that long and run this really cool courses that,
00:12:10
Speaker
Yeah, i don't know. I think I just find they capture my imagination a little bit more, I think. I like that. I feel like this might be unexpected for some people listening where we just assume that everything is about performance. It's the pursuit of performance. How fast can you run? Can you win?
00:12:26
Speaker
but what you're saying is that actually there's this kind of equal side of the adventure like everybody else in the pack. Oh, completely. Yeah, I think that's really cool. Yeah. Like, yeah, when I was running canyons, it's like the...
00:12:39
Speaker
The hundred k or the but the hundred k there seems like the coolest course out of the three because it's like you run from one point to the other through these canyons almost in ah like a straight line following the river.
00:12:50
Speaker
like it seems like a really It's a course that like makes sense and is in itself really inspiring to to to run. um you know And the other courses are in themselves cool. like You run from Auburn, cut a cool loop and come back, but the just seems more like, don't know.
00:13:08
Speaker
more inspiring, I guess. Yeah, I do like the idea of a ah ah point to point. makes me think of just listening to Alex Hutchinson, who's a famous kind of author in this in this space, talking about his new book, The Explorer's Gene. And essentially, no no matter what performance you're looking for, there still is this pursuit of exploration, of adventure. And it's nice to it's nice just to hit hear that
Importance of Rest and Injury Management
00:13:30
Speaker
again.
00:13:30
Speaker
Before um we actually go too far past there's one thing you said prior about having the two to three weeks off completely structured training after Asia Pacific and I find that something that's interesting because i think a lot of people that are in the like their pursuit of their own performance but they've got well like you do to be honest of a busy job family you're in this structured training program you hit your big goal and then it can be it's there's quite this weight there's attention you've been holding for that whole time so I'm just I'm just interested as you say like why why you feel like that benefits you having those two to three weeks off and also how that works with your coach Blake and
00:14:05
Speaker
And so yeah what happens there? um Yeah, I think I'm i'm also not the always the best at doing this. Like I love training as much as everyone else does. So I find it, have in the past found it hard to take time off and I still find it hard to take actual full full structured time off but I think it's a little bit easier when you feel like you've hit your goal instead of maybe fallen slightly short of it so I think it's easier when you've had a satisfying run to go yeah okay gonna take some time off but Blake's really good at keeping people everyone that he coaches I know um accountable to taking enough rest and I think that's the reason that
00:14:46
Speaker
a lot of us are running consistently and, um, have you know, have, have avoided injury for for so long. Um, and I'm just able to get out, you know, a lot of the time every, every day consistently, um, for, for years. Cause that's where you get the actual, um, the long-term benefits, you know, like it's, it's about being consistent over years, not, not even months or weeks.
00:15:11
Speaker
Like that's where you get the, The real, that's where you become a better runner it's is over you know lifelong consistency. Have if you had any big interruptions in your running history?
00:15:24
Speaker
A couple. like i have after After Asia Pacific, actually, I had an old injury resurface, which is um something that may be ongoing that kind of comes up and and disappears every now and again is like a ah hip labrum injury.
00:15:42
Speaker
um irritation thing that's to do with the shape of my um hip so i don't know it tends to pop up and come down you know it'll pop up if i'm doing super heavy volume but um haven't had that pop up too much in the last year except for a couple of weeks after after pacific so That's been fine. But aside from that, I've been pretty lucky for the past but the past like three and a half years at least to not have had any major interruptions at all, which is really good.
Balancing Speed and Endurance in Training
00:16:13
Speaker
that that's That's brilliant. In the lead-up to of Pacifics on the the Trail 2 series that we had, you were talking about... you've worked out that about which I'm guessing is about three hours ish with the elevation you do is sort of the maximum long run that you'll go. And you were training more with a speed focus, you almost training more like a 50k runner than you were 80k, 100k runner.
00:16:36
Speaker
Is that partly because of this hip issue? And has that also, has that stayed the same since Asia Pacific? ah Not really to do with the issue. No, um I can go out and do,
00:16:51
Speaker
45 or longer long runs. In fact, I think I did before Hounslow even. I was doing longer long runs before Hounslow. And I think it was it was maybe just in in that context. I think I didn't feel like I needed longer long runs. But um it has stayed the same this year so far. Like the longest long run I did was before Buffalo was 38k.
00:17:16
Speaker
um But that was still 38k with kind of two and a bit thousand meters, which is still a long long run. We're still like close close to four hours. um i think I think there is a space for longer efforts beyond that.
00:17:30
Speaker
But I think you don't need to use that you don't need to do do them... every week kind of what I was touching on before with how I think Tara Weirra doing how we're at the start of last year, probably benefited me for UTA.
00:17:43
Speaker
I think, um, every now and again, touching on that long endurance stuff benefits you. And I think if if you're racing ultras, you know, two to three times a year, i think around that, you don't need to go into ultra distance, you know, super ultra distance, long runs, almost at all. Um, at least in my opinion.
00:18:04
Speaker
No, I like it. And using races for that stimulus where you've got safe, catered environment, you've got other people to share those that time with, think is definitely beneficial.
00:18:16
Speaker
So, okay, we've done Age Pacific, you've had some time off coming into the new year, looking at Buffalo and now, you know, Canyons is in there. From a training perspective, had Knowing how well you did at UTA last year and how good that run was, were you just repeating what's worked or had there been an evolution to how you train? Yeah, it's funny because UTA was like one of the most disrupted training blocks of my entire life. Like UTA, I was on holiday for six, were like from six to probably from seven to five.
Preparation for Buffalo and Canyons Races
00:18:53
Speaker
four or even three weeks before we went over we were visiting friends over in lao and so i was kind of running just on the streets of lao and and on their kind of treadmill that they had at their diplomatic um facility so um actually like those 10 days that i was in lao was pretty disrupted training and then i kind of got to we had a short layover in korea for like four or five days so i did a couple of longer long runs then and kind of squeezed in training where I could and then I kind of got back and probably did a little bit more closer to the race than I would have usually.
00:19:28
Speaker
So, like, I don't even think I could have recreated the chaotic block I had before UTA if I'd tried and I wouldn't want to, i don't think. um But, no, I mean, ah I don't think there's much point in trying to recreate stuff from the past because you're always going to be a different runner now.
00:19:46
Speaker
So, I think it was just kind of working on the weaknesses that ended, you know, that I knew I had from chatting with Blake and we were kind of continue trying to continue to work on um flat speed and then incorporating some kind of specific stuff for canyons in the few weeks leading up to Buffalo.
00:20:04
Speaker
um Kind of knowing that Buffalo... I would probably be fairly comfortable on the climbs and the steeper descents. And it was kind of more of the running that I wanted to focus on and and work on for that race.
00:20:15
Speaker
Brilliant. The run at UTA, run at Hounso, even going back GPT 50k in 2023, which was another really, really stellar run. Have you found yourself increasing that level of self-confidence and self-belief that you can compete at that that top level? Because obviously as we'll get to, Canyons is one of the most competitive 100k's in the world.
00:20:37
Speaker
Yeah, um yeah can completely. like um i seen I think Australian trail running is a lot stronger than people give it credit for, actually. um And there's a lot of runners in Australia right now that should have a lot of confidence in themselves to be able to compete at these, you know, on the global stages, I think. Yeah.
00:21:01
Speaker
that's That's a really interesting take. I agree. like the The perception is that Australia's, we've got a lot of big fishes in very, very tiny ponds. And I think it's interesting when we look at the likes of yourself going out at canyons and we've got other examples, um especially with Anna McKenna, that Australia can compete at that level.
00:21:25
Speaker
Maybe we just need exposure to the terrain or we have to experience the pressure of being in that sort of field. But the performance can be there. Do you agree? Yeah. Yeah, I do. And I think it's a little bit of matter of getting used to, because it is different. Like, like um I'll just jump. do do Do you mind if I jump forward to talking about canyons a little bit? Go for it. Go for it.
00:21:47
Speaker
Yeah, I think the the main difference that I noticed at at canyons is... um a lot of the people that i was racing against are kind of used to racing each other and are used to racing that hard all the, you know, throughout the year. they're kind of, they've raced, they're, they're, they've raced a lot of runners who are at a pretty high level throughout the year all the time. So they're kind of racing at a really high intensity.
00:22:12
Speaker
um And I think in Australia, we have some runners that are, at that level, but maybe just not as deep. So we're not racing each other as often at that super high intensity.
00:22:24
Speaker
um And i think I think the reason that maybe the wheels came off in the last six, like from 70k in the at canyons for myself,
00:22:35
Speaker
wasn't necessarily fitness like i think my fitness was there but i think just the strength and exposure to that kind of racing um wasn't there and like the experience of of racing at that level wasn't there um and i think that's something that you know european and american trial runners have an advanced job because they're racing with these bigger fields where there's there's a really deep field not that um you know what i mean um and i think Because as australia I think Australian trail run is becoming that strong now. I don't think it's that strong where it has fields that are 10 deep of runners of that level.
00:23:10
Speaker
um But I think it's it will become that. And I think like even Buffalo this year in the 20K was an example of of like a really deep field that was... You could throw a fishnet over the top like seven that came through. Yeah.
00:23:25
Speaker
So I think in the next few years, we'll start to see we'll start to see that again. I think it's been been like that in the past. Like there's been eras of Australian trail running that have been stronger than ah others. And i like to think we're coming into a strong one now.
00:23:37
Speaker
Yeah, it definitely it definitely feels like it. And you're right. You look at some of the events like Buffalo or UTA that's coming up next weekend as we record. like The fields are getting very deep. um and And you're expecting very close racing and probably, although courses keep changing, equivalent course records. So it's definitely very interesting.
00:23:55
Speaker
all right. So we're on canyons. One of the the things that I find interesting whenever people have to go overseas to race is that just throws a whole nother spanner in it So how long before you before the race did you get over there and how did that whole travel go? um Yeah, travel was great. I was canyons...
00:24:15
Speaker
hooked me up with someone that volunteered to host me for like from 10 days out until the race day, which was really, really nice. Um, shout out to Julie. There's no way she will listen to this, but yeah.
00:24:29
Speaker
Um, she, yeah, hosted me and like, I had my own bedroom, my own bathroom and the house in Auburn that was pretty much on course, which was like a massive, you know, weight off my shoulders and a massive expense that I have to bear as well, which was good.
00:24:43
Speaker
Um, And yeah, I've got there probably 10 days out. So kind of long enough to take ah an easy day and then do a mile up and then do kind of my last, you know, medium long run before before the race and a couple of tune ups on course and then um kind of get to know the area, settle in.
Racing Strategy and Experience at Canyons 100k
00:25:03
Speaker
um And I think that was enough time, really. ah Had you managed to run much of the course? I ran, I think I ran an enough of it. Yeah, I probably ran 40% course.
00:25:15
Speaker
um But I ran the cruxiest sections or most of the cruxy sections um in my kind of my final long run, the week, seven days before the race whatever.
00:25:26
Speaker
um Nice. And coming into this race, yeah would you say this was um the most competitive start line you've been on? Yeah. ah Yeah, I think so. um yeah Cool. Bar 2023 CCC, I think was probably a similar start line.
00:25:45
Speaker
But I think not in a position then to run in that start line that I am now, if know what mean. Completely. So lining up on the the first the first time you've been on this level of competition and actually had a ah genuine shot of competing at the top end, what were the goals coming in? um My goals were to basically try and have as much fun with it for the first half of the race.
00:26:12
Speaker
um And I was, I think off a satisfying run at Buffalo, i was ready to and pretty happy to take some risks. And I kind of knew that I would have to take some risks if I were to try and race for a top five, which is what I kind of kind earmarked as a bit of a goal.
00:26:30
Speaker
um And so, yeah, I think I was, was as always in a 100K, was trying to relax at the start of the race and just enjoy it. But then... you know, at kind of probably 30 K was ready, was ready leading into the race to, to kind of go fairly deep, fairly early and kind of see what happens.
00:26:50
Speaker
yeah And obviously this was the last golden ticket chance for Western States this year. Had that crossed your mind at all? Yeah, for sure. Of course it does.
00:27:01
Speaker
Um, it wasn't the reason I went though. Like the, the reason I went was cause knew it was going to be a really competitive race and I wanted to, wanted to do the race itself as well. um with the supplementary thing of of there being a bunch of hypes it's a golden ticket race and like if i were to be in that position that would be a really fun thing to be able to do you know that's a dream race to do one day like so was was like why not yeah and and you know any golden ticket race is always super competitive you always get like really good runners coming and you know they even had a bunch of really strong
00:27:37
Speaker
Runners from Europe going to canyons and stuff. So it's always going to be very good race. Would you say on paper that this is a course that suits you? Because you you've mentioned how you were comfortable Buffalo going up and down, but not so much as the flats. And this one isn't yeah like there's what, 3,700, 3,800 meters over this 100K?
00:27:53
Speaker
Yeah. I think maybe two years ago it wouldn't have suited me. But I actually think now I'm – i it's a course that could suit me on, ah on, on a good day for sure. Like the, the climbs at the start are not easy at all. Like they're, they're runnable, but kind of only just like, they're pretty, they're fairly steep.
00:28:15
Speaker
Like the, there's one climb out of devil's thumb. That's kind of 24, 25% couple of um which Which, you know, the whole front of the pack is definitely running and running quite hard at that point in the race.
00:28:30
Speaker
But um there's a lot of there's a lot of good downhill running as well. And I think I'm a a pretty good downhill runner. um So i think that does actually suit me for the first 70Ks at least. And then even the last 30Ks, they're fast, but they're like there's running, but it's still undulating kind of mountain bike path.
00:28:52
Speaker
So it's it's not like the... It's probably the... the slowest of the golden ticket races this year, I think, in terms of like technicality and just being a bit awkward to run in spots.
00:29:05
Speaker
so All right. so let's Let's go to the the start line and and take us take us through. Can you run through to the point where, you said, the wheels fell off?
00:29:16
Speaker
Yeah, sure. um so We... I kind of thought, I think everyone thought it was going to be hot potentially. And then turns out that it was snowing and really quite cold on the start line, like snowing pretty thick, um, to the point where like your head torch isn't really working that well on the start line. So it starts at 4am, meet to get the, ah sos started at five. So we met to get the bus at 4am, took the, took the bus up the hill.
00:29:43
Speaker
um I've kind of got my headphones on listening to music whatever. um get out at the top of the hill after 45 minutes in the bus in the dark. Um, and kind of there's only 20 minutes before the start. So guide for a quick jog, start warming up, take my puffy jacket on and then kind of get to the start line.
00:30:00
Speaker
Um, and yeah, and then I guess it started, it starts with with, kind of eight K slightly ever so slightly downhill road and fire trail.
00:30:13
Speaker
um And we probably went off and there was like 40 to 50 people all running about three thirty s um for the first seven k's like it got taken out really quite hard which felt okay like it didn't it didn't feel stupidly fast it's slightly downhill and that pace can feel okay sometimes at that um that early in the race especially and then you kind of turn on to some more technical stuff and um and then it that actually slowed right down coming over some technical stuff
00:30:45
Speaker
um We were all kind of in a group, like I could see first place, you know, um once it got lighter, I could kind of see forward to first place and was naturally overtaking some people on the downhills.
00:30:56
Speaker
um And then you kind of hit the bottom of the first descent. So over the first 15 also k's, you'd probably lose 700 meters. So it's kind of flat, flattish for eight k's and then flat undulating. And then you'd have your first proper descent.
00:31:11
Speaker
You hit the bottom, you hit a river and then you start climbing up. um And that climb was was like really fun. I was like running with some some people that I you know would put way out of my league. like I was running between Rod Favard and Francesco Pupi and Hannes Namburger.
00:31:29
Speaker
And I was like, I actually even said at one point, I was like, oh, this is a pretty good group to be in. And they were like like, it's always funny. I think i'm I'm a little bit more chatty sometimes at the start of these races and...
00:31:40
Speaker
A lot of these pro guys are super locked in and in the zone. And I kind of got a little bit of a reply from Francesco, but not really anything from anyone else. And yeah, and then kind of climbed up over the top of there.
00:31:55
Speaker
And then you have probably four or five k that's kind of flat undulating. um And we kind of rolled up towards the,
00:32:07
Speaker
front again like we kind of naturally found ourselves at the front of the race again after you go through this other feed station another aid station i kind of had my bottle unscrewed before i got there and then um just ran through and found you know we found ourselves as a group at the front um and then a couple guys i think it was maybe hans troyer and francesco poopy ren and um a las pativa guy ah what's his name anyway ah jackson cole sorry jackson cole from um from lasbo from america he he like ran off the front down the devil's thumb descent which was which is kind of this steeper one that i'm talking about um and they put in quite a lot of time fairly early um and i kind of was running with jeff mcgivero and a couple of other guys for a while on that descent and then again on the climb out um
00:33:00
Speaker
And honestly, things were feeling really good. Like coming out of that climb, I kind of deliberately went off the gas a little bit. Hannes kind of, I was with Hannes Namburger at that point. And he, you know, obviously he had an amazing run. He was obviously very comfortable early on.
00:33:15
Speaker
um He ran quite hard out of devil's thumb and then over the top and kind of ran himself, ran away the whole rest of the day. um And I kind of deliberately tried to control going up that climb and then down the big descent into El Dorado Canyon and then to climb up into Michigan Bluff, which was at about 34k. And I think at Michigan Bluff, we were about in sixth um six or seventh place. I was running with Jeff Mogavaro and this other American guy, I can't remember his name, um for a while. And I think Rod came in just after I was Rod Carver.
00:33:52
Speaker
um And I was feeling pretty good at that point, like kind of just like I'd been out on a fairly steady long run. um And then we kind of left that aid station and I was running with Jeff again. And we were kind of going back and forwards on the uphills and the downhills, kind of he'd pull slightly away on the ups and I'd kind of usually catch him on the, the downhill sections.
00:34:15
Speaker
And then, yeah, we ran that whole section from Michigan Bluff to Forest Hill together. um and Forest Hill is at 50k and at 50k like I was still feeling good but I kind of had that first feeling of this is an ultra and I'm starting to feel pretty tight like it's starting to maybe get a little bit grippy um but still feeling like in control still feeling fairly good um and yeah ran out of that aid station overtook
00:34:47
Speaker
Hoopata, Mexican runner, um on the descent out of Forest Hill. um And, yeah, yeah obviously, but both of the data stations at Michigan Bluff and at Forest Hill saw my cruise. I saw ah Zoe, my wife, and her parents that were there crewing and spectating, and her parents had never seen me race before. So I think that will make you a little bit...
00:35:09
Speaker
concerned about how i was looking, but I felt okay. um And yeah, honestly, coming out of Forest Hill felt great. And that was the first feeling of, I was like, when when we passed Hoopita and I was kind of, Jeff wasn't getting out of my sight, like I was still running with him and I was um actually gaining on him on this one flatter runnable section, um kind of as it skirts around into Cal 2 on this section.
00:35:38
Speaker
And I was like, I might be on here. Like, I'm feeling actually really good. I just need to make sure I keep eating, keep running, keep keep doing everything right. um And literally, probably five days later, I was feeling like absolute garbage. Like, I'd run into a wall completely.
00:35:54
Speaker
Like, um which was really a little bit strange. Like, it didn't feel like it was a slow decay. Like, it felt like all the... pep had just been like completely ruined from my legs almost in over the space of 5k's and it wasn't didn't feel like a fueling issue or a hydration issue like i'd been hitting really high good numbers all for most of the day um and yeah so ah at that point i kind of went into a slightly different gear like i wasn't trying to chase jeff anymore um and i
00:36:28
Speaker
Hooperdo kind of came up. or Obviously, I didn't put that much time into him. He was probably only 30 seconds behind me. But he kind of came up towards me and I kind of ran with him for a while. But at this point, I was feeling like I was pushing really hard to hold a pace that was feeling a lot easier, probably five kilometers prior. ah um So, yeah, a little bit confused about what actually happened.
00:36:50
Speaker
to be honest. Um, but yeah, that's great. deerss it it' Awesome. Just to listen to that. um It is, it, it does sound interesting. Cause when I, when I first joined the race at like 5.00 AM m on, on the day, you've been running for a few hours at that point. And I think you were running about 10th. Um, the, the tracking was a little bit all over the place. So kind of 10th, six or somewhere around there.
00:37:12
Speaker
yeah But my first thought was, wow, Mikey's up there. Has he gone out too hard? And then I saw you you kind of fade back. But then before this call, I was looking at your UTA run and like the great adjusted pace, which is obviously a bit of a guesstimate, was actually faster.
00:37:28
Speaker
So you and yeah add nearly a year on and and instinctively you go, oh, he wasn't going out too hard. We know that you actually work with, you you're still with precision. Yeah.
00:37:39
Speaker
Yeah. So you're working with precision. You know that's going to be dialed in. Like it is really interesting then that you would just hit this like brick wall. Have you, I'm assuming you've debriefed with Blake since. Have you come up with any ideas?
00:37:52
Speaker
i mean, the, I think, I think firstly, um the, the UTA thing crossed my mind also. i think Canyons is, is but runs ah quite a bit slower than UTA in in my opinion. Like it's a lot,
00:38:08
Speaker
The steeper sections are steeper, which I think is less benefit on, like at least in the first half of the race, the steeper sections are steeper than UTA.
00:38:19
Speaker
And I think Gap is more generous with shallow gradients, I think. Even though it has about the same climbing, I think the... um Yeah, the big, runnable, slow descents that you get at UTA benefit you. and And I think Canyons is more technical.
00:38:36
Speaker
Like, there's there's a bit of fire road, but a lot of it is still single track. Anyway, I'm getting company involved off course. No, no, no. I like it. um I've forgotten your question now. What was question? yeah Essentially, have have you, like, talking to Blade or Patricia, like, have you come up with anything?
00:38:53
Speaker
um A little bit. I think um the main thing that was different was... Um, this year I've been working a lot more.
00:39:04
Speaker
Um, like I've been, I've been working four days a week, also studying little bit of coaching on the side and like, we've been moving house, like life has been really busy at home.
00:39:16
Speaker
Um, probably busier than it was ah year ago. Like a year ago i was, I was working an easier job, um, And we'd just kind of come off a big ah big holiday, to be honest. I was probably, up um yeah, able to kind of get in a ah few more hours of training than I did could this year.
00:39:35
Speaker
um So I think like, you know, my overall volume in my peak weeks was probably at 11 hours or so. and kind of before UTA, I think I was up closer to 14 or 15.
00:39:49
Speaker
So i think that does make a difference. um And I think it was also maybe the timing of those weeks. Like I think um with having Buffalo in there, you know, kind of, and I wanted to peak for that race, it kind of meant that I had a lower volume week leading into Buffalo. Buffalo was then a lower volume week and then kind of coming out of Buffalo again. So that's three weeks where that's three weeks, which were five, six and seven weeks out from canyons.
00:40:17
Speaker
that I'm probably not at my full training load, which is probably where you should be peaking your aerobic stimulus for a 100k race like that. So kind of a theory maybe is that, um you know, the balance just wasn't there.
00:40:34
Speaker
i you know, I wasn't able to peak for both of those races in the way that I wanted to. So like when I needed the strength in the back half of that race, didn't quite have it from the running volume.
Analyzing Race Performance and Training Adjustments
00:40:43
Speaker
um because I haven't been running as much volume because my life has been busy. And if I tried to run anything more, I think I'd probably break down or cry in the bathrooms at one ah um Or, yeah, just the timing of the peak weeks wasn't ideal with running Buffalo as well.
00:41:05
Speaker
Okay. That's really interesting. And you alluded to the season selection in terms of racing and how everything is like what you're trying to peak towards before. So coming away from this, are you kind of realizing that you may might have to peak less or to just have more time between key races?
00:41:24
Speaker
Yeah, i think um yeah I think so. I think you can't anymore, like if you're going to go to a race like Canyons, you really have to be absolutely firing on all cylinders because to race at that intensity for that long, you need to be really peaking properly.
00:41:43
Speaker
um And I mean, there's there's runners that can do it and do do it, like a lot, that race lot more, but I think a lot of them are full-time athletes. So I think it's probably, it's easier to to do that, to, to recover from big races and carry higher volume through bigger races, like smaller races. If you're, if you are a professional, because you have more time to recover, um, and you're able to run vi a bigger volume around those races. But I think,
00:42:09
Speaker
um Yeah, and and unless you're a pro, I think. If you're kind of a semi-pro and you want to peak towards a really competitive race like that, I think you need to put all your eggs in that basket um would be my one of my takeaways.
00:42:21
Speaker
And I think another takeaway that I had in terms of training was um i would have liked to have done... at least one, even if it was a slower effort, one longer aerobic effort at the start of the year just to kind of remember what it's like to run beyond six hours and also as a bit of a way to build strength early in the season. But I think doing that, you have to be really careful um because it's going to be a fairly risky thing to do. And I can hear Blake's ear telling me maybe maybe it's not the best idea, but I think he would actually be on board with that if it was um controlled and
00:42:56
Speaker
you know, well-timed and you had time to recover from it. Because I think it's a it's a that's kind of something I wish I had in my legs at the end of canyons or something at least I was thinking about when I was like really searching for strength in the last three hours of the race. That's kind of something I wish I'd done.
00:43:14
Speaker
So do you do you feel like it was a lack of aerobic capacity or do you think it was more of a fatigue resistance perspective that you just you just couldn't deal with a breakdown? Yeah, I think i think strength. i dont like I don't think it was, it wasn't fitness. Like i didn't feel like i was lactating. Like I didn't feel like, I didn't feel like there was that much, I wasn't lactating that hard.
00:43:35
Speaker
And um ah that's a word choice there. Yeah, i know. That's, yeah, I felt it. I just went for it.
00:43:44
Speaker
I think it was more of a ah strength, a strength thing. um I know that's like, ah people use a lot of different words, don't they? Like fatigue, resistance, strength, whatever. um Yeah. and And I think you build that over ah the span of a running career um as well.
00:44:02
Speaker
Like, and just in lifetime miles and the amount of times that you've run beyond six hours or whatever. um But yeah, I think I would say that was that was the majority of where it happened. And I think I compare it to, i guess, you know, we've drawn comparisons to UTA a lot. But if I draw a comparison to something like UTA, where it was a very relaxed race all day in a bizarre way, like,
00:44:29
Speaker
I was running by myself without heaps and heaps of pressure for all for the entire day. And I think it's easier to nail everything when you're doing that. And I think this was a scenario where I was actually racing from early on.
00:44:43
Speaker
Um, and I think trying to run well at the end of a race, when you've been kind of left to time trial yourself versus when you've been racing all day, I think it's a very different kind of strength, um,
00:44:56
Speaker
And you just need a lot more of it to be able to to continue to race at a high intensity after seven off five or six hours. Are you alluding there more to the mental resilience side of things?
00:45:09
Speaker
and Not really. I think a little bit, but also mostly just the... um Actually, you can race 100k, I think, at at quite a high intensity, kind of, you know, somewhere around...
00:45:25
Speaker
T1 plus on some of the early aerobic thresholds. um And I think that's probably where I was sitting for a lot of the start of Canyons, 100k. I don't think I was sitting at that intensity at the start of UTA. And I think, you know, continuing to run that intensity at at the end of Canyons this year is a lot harder to do after you've been racing at that higher intensity earlier on in the race compared to UTA where I don't think I was running at that high of an intensity. And maybe I was fit up in leading into that race. i don't know.
00:45:56
Speaker
But um I think... People are racing 100Ks that hard now and I think and it's a different kettle of fish trying to trying to hold on to that intensity. And I think it's possible. and I think it's just ah it's a strength game and and an experience game. But I think that's where racing is at at the moment.
00:46:16
Speaker
Yeah. but How old are you, Mikey? 27. twenty seven right okay so there's still ah and lot of time to build on this and like you said each each one of these big 100k stimuluses especially is just going to be layering more and more strength on top of that base so yeah Okay, so we've got to, it kind of, you've hit that wall, starting to fall apart.
00:46:39
Speaker
I think one of the interesting things here is that you didn't end up falling back further than you did from a position perspective. Like youre you still ran just over nine hours. You still came 11th in this field, which is very impressive.
00:46:52
Speaker
Hmm. you started to feel your legs go what has kept you going like what strategies have you used um uh so my legs properly fell apart just before the the next kind of crude aid station which was at driver's flat um and kind of got blown and i did lose a couple a couple of places fairly like i lost Like, Hoopita overtook me, and then another guy overtook me, and then Ryan Montgomery overtook me, and then just lead leaving um drivers flat, Rod Favard overtook me. um
00:47:31
Speaker
And then from there to the finish, Cody Lind and Eric Lapuma overtook me. So i I lost six positions. which is depressing to think about now.
00:47:44
Speaker
But um that was, yeah, i I do get what you mean that I didn't completely fall back. I think I probably had 10Ks that were really quite low and pretty slow, and that was kind of leading to and then leaving driver's flat.
00:47:59
Speaker
um And I think I just let myself enter the um whatever pace process is a finish pace at that point.
00:48:10
Speaker
Like I just tried to think more about finishing rather than racing from when my legs started to fall apart. Um, and taking as much strength as I could from the crew that I saw at the aid station. Cause I was a bit, I was a bit of a mess to be honest, when I got there, like i was pretty, um, pretty like upset and like had the,
00:48:33
Speaker
end of ultra emotions kind of peaking through. So yeah, was, was pretty, i think if I didn't have crew there, i would have found it a lot harder to try race properly to a finish um or like to try and run well to a finish.
00:48:54
Speaker
But I kind of just tried to switch mindsets from racing for a top five to then just just emptying myself to the finish, no matter what that was. Like just giving my absolute best for the until the next day's station.
00:49:08
Speaker
um No matter what that was, just trying to to do my best pretty much to just kind of honor the race and honor the all the prep that you've done, you know, um even if it doesn't go perfectly to plan.
00:49:20
Speaker
um Yeah, which was... I'm really glad I did that because I think I could have easily, easily at driver's flat, thrown my hands up and gone, Oh, well I gave my shot, you know, brave race, but have, you know, whatever people say when they blow up, um yeah which is what happened really.
00:49:41
Speaker
um But I'm happy that i stuck it out and tried to finish as best as I could. And I think it was the best that I could have done in that one, that day. Like I think, you know,
00:49:54
Speaker
I took the, um I knew that I would have to take risks. I took some risks that didn't feel like they were stupid risks. Like I still felt like I was running within myself, but I think at the end, I just didn't quite have the strength to continue to race at the intensity that I set out at.
00:50:09
Speaker
um And that will come with with time, you know. um But yeah, like ah on honestly, in the last 15 Ks, i was like really...
00:50:20
Speaker
you know, like at the end of ultras, you can just get really emotional for whatever reason. And I was just like, really, I gave some of the people that I was overtaking in the 50s. At that point, we were starting to overtake the 50. I was kind of like blubbering, half crying my way up some of these climbs. And some of some of the some of the people that were turning around to see me in the 50 were like, right on.
00:50:43
Speaker
Nice. Like I was completely emptying myself, but yeah. Yeah, I think that proves you ever seeing it. I think. It's got to feel good now, looking back at being able to be on this conversation and saying, no, I so i stuck it out. I emptied myself. ah Whatever the time was, it didn't matter. It was like I was finishing that. You feel proud of yourself now?
00:51:05
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Definitely. Yeah. That's great. Like said, we're following along very eagerly. From my perspective, I was curious to see what you would do on this international stage. And I think you've you've seemingly showed, I hope, yourself that you can be up there.
00:51:21
Speaker
Like you were running with those guys nearly till the finish. Like it's it's not far away. So it's been it' been awesome to see. coming Coming away from Canyons now, you've had a couple of weeks to think about it.
00:51:33
Speaker
Aside from essentially just needing a bit more time to build some strength, maybe a couple of changes to training in the lead up. Are there any other takeaways from the event? um i think I think that um i i think I previously pegged myself more as a mountain ultra person.
00:51:52
Speaker
But I think um this race was encouraging that I actually can maybe run some of the more runnable ultras fairly well as well because i feel like that was actually a lot of my the like the running runnable downhills i was running really well um at the start race so that was good um i think in terms of just like broader perspective just just um recognizing just having another reminder of where you know the very best in the sport are at and that it's actually
00:52:23
Speaker
quite a long way. Like, yes, I'm happy to really happy to be able to run at the front of that race. And I think definitely it's possible for me to run at the front of these races in the next few years.
Future Plans: Mont Blanc 90k and Move to Turkey
00:52:33
Speaker
Um, but it's always a good reminder just to be like, yep. Okay.
00:52:36
Speaker
These guys are better and they are really, really quite good, you know, especially, um I feel like there's a tier of runner that I can run with, like, yeah you know, in that race.
00:52:48
Speaker
I think like Francesco Pupi blew everyone out of the water, like, insanely. And like, I think that's the top tier of the sport. And then there's another tier that I think I, at least for now, is the next attainable goal um it allll be that I'll be working towards.
00:53:04
Speaker
um But I think it's it's nothing it's nothing new. It's just continuing to work, ah you know, work on yourself as a runner, recognizing your strengths and weaknesses and just just trying to be sensible and have a long-term approach of what you do and can just continue to enjoy it and do it every day, you know.
00:53:23
Speaker
um So, yeah, I think those are the main takeaways. That's exciting. it's um the Do you feel like if we're kind of looking at that that finish line, you said you were initially going in thinking about a top five was possible on a great day. so Having seen the time Ryan Montgomery ran 8.45, which was essentially what rod one won it in last year do you do you feel like that is within reach at the moment or or that the sports just it's leveled up a little bit so fifth might been a bit more no completely yeah i think that was in reach on completely yeah um definitely uh and i think even retrospectively like even if i pace things slightly differently i'm i'm glad i ran it the way i did but even if ah you know you take a little you know
00:54:11
Speaker
2% off the top at the start of the race, you've always got something extra at the end. So, um, no, I don't, I don't feel like that kind of time is beyond me at all. Um, so good. Yeah. nicequi I guess that's good. I like it. It's exciting. It's exciting. and And as you said, Ryan came past you in that last 30 K and ended up half an hour ahead. So it shows that that most likely was possible.
00:54:34
Speaker
Yeah. And yeah, they're an incredible runner. Like, always close really really well and um yeah it wasn't a surprise to see them definitely all righty so canyons is done you are still over in the states for another six seven weeks or so is that right ah well a bit of a mix around i'm in the states for another only four days and then i'm going to um Spain for an Asics camp. Like I'm going up to the altitude camp. It's in Fontenremont for a little while, which will be really cool.
00:55:11
Speaker
And then I'm going to a mate's wedding in Italy and then everything going to plan, I will be lining up at Mont Blanc 90K at the end of June. Nice. Okay. So, we just spoke about the peaking for like the season. How how do you think about yeah training training now? Yeah.
00:55:32
Speaker
Well, yeah, I think it's a balance of things. It's definitely not, like from a training perspective, it's not it's not perfect. Like I really should probably be taking some time off and we'll see how this goes.
00:55:44
Speaker
um Like I'm definitely taking a risk trying to prep for another race, but um I think with how the rest of the year is panning out, um Like I've got, it's going to be a very busy second half of the year.
00:55:56
Speaker
um So yeah, I think um this is kind of my opportunity to race now at the start of the year. And, you know, if I end up um doing something silly and end up not racing well or not racing at all, like I'm kind of happy to take that risk.
00:56:12
Speaker
We'll see. Because I, yeah, I don't think I'll be able to race from from July through to kind of November based on work and some other family stuff so we'll we'll kind of see you know i'm kind of happy i'm I'm over here, I've planned for it, so it'll be cool to see if it works out.
00:56:31
Speaker
Especially if you know you've got that break. Anyway, what's what's changed with work? um So I was working at a um primary school and now I'm working full-time at like a senior school with my own classes, basically.
00:56:46
Speaker
Right, okay. So yeah, I've gone from being a like I was a learning support assistant um kind of three to four days a week um while i was studying, but now I'm also studying, but I'm just teaching full-time.
00:56:59
Speaker
Yeah, okay. I can see see that balance becoming a lot a lot harder now for training, that makes sense. Yeah, but it's okay. And I'm guessing from what you just said then, you did not apply for Worlds team?
00:57:10
Speaker
No. No, I did not. Yeah, that's kind of... September's a bit of a no-go. Sure. Is there anything else at the end of the season you've put in yet?
00:57:20
Speaker
um Well, strongly considering... um GPT would love to go back um and whether that's the 50k or mile is yet to be seen but I'll see I think I'd love to run i'd love to run Buffalo a hundred k next year I think will be something I want to want to do um kind of probably is one of my last races in Australia because we're heading over to go live in Turkey for three years my wife works for her public service so
00:57:53
Speaker
um We're going to go live in Turkey on a posting for but three years as of next April. So that'll be that'll be a huge change, obviously.
00:58:04
Speaker
um But yeah, we leave sometime in some time in April. so ah Gosh. That'd be, yeah. That's a big change. kind of have to try and tick off some the final Australian race I want to do before I go or use it as an excuse to fly back and see family and stuff.
Advice for UTA Race Participants
00:58:22
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Oh, that's exciting. It's going to be a fun fun, kind of, yeah, Christmas-ish period at the end of the year for you then. Um, and, but I, I would be bit remiss not to ask, obviously, yeah, this will come out, actually this will probably go out today, Friday, a week before uta you have some tips of you, you set an incredible time last year in the hundred for people running this year? Oh, um,
00:58:52
Speaker
yeah Don't run the first descent too hard. in the That's probably the best one. um Yeah. Don't stress out if you start to feel really slow on the stairs because everyone is slow on the stairs.
00:59:06
Speaker
And from from QVH to the finish, just try and like leave your body. Just forget about everything else that's happening because the Kadamba will suck. Are the courses this ah the other the course is the same?
00:59:21
Speaker
Very close from what I can tell, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, actually I mean, we can talk about this maybe after the recording, but i have I'm not sure what the fields are this year. actually haven't looked. But hopefully it'll be, I'm sure it'll be competitive with it being a major. sure we'll have some so people coming over to find out how quick Australian runners are.
00:59:41
Speaker
it It definitely strikes me as having a ah bigger international, sort of especially Asian presence. So it would be a fun year to follow along and see if anyone can ah can can take take your time down from last year.
00:59:55
Speaker
Yeah. Awesome. Mikey, thank you so much for coming on. It's been great to recap Canyons and hear about everything that's coming up for you. Enjoy your time overseas. I hope everything goes well from the wedding to the race and that you bounce back quickly from from this.
01:00:11
Speaker
Beautiful. Thanks very much, James. Catch you later. How good was that with Mikey? There were so many points in there that I found myself mentally taking notes and I find that his mindset, his approach to racing and training, his pursuit of adventure at the same time as performance is a really valuable context for everyone to get their head around.
01:00:31
Speaker
If you've enjoyed this, then give Mikey some love. Follow him on Strava or Instagram. And please consider sharing this with somebody else you think would like to listen to Mikey's perspective and hear about his story.
01:00:44
Speaker
Give us five stars wherever you listen to podcast. It really helps more people find us. Have an amazing day, everyone, and we'll catch next time.