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Episod 74: Meet Robbie Rorich, Athlete Life in Font Romeu, Six foot Track!
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Welcome to Episode 74 of Peak Pursuits, your ultimate podcast for everything trail running in Australia. This episode is hosted by Sim Brick, Jess Jason, and a special guest Robbie Rorich who is training in Font Romeu with Jess! Get to know Robbie and his approach to trail running, hear how Jess is feeling ahead of World Champs, get an update from Sim, answers to listener questions and more!
Results:
Six Foot Track: https://thetimingguysresults.com/list/sixfoot/2025/6FT/
Coastal Classic: https://www.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16253&RId=6263
Cleland Trail Run: https://eventstrategies.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=90&RId=617&EId=6&dt=2
Kunanyi Trail Series Rialannah: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=404620&lang=en
***Don’t forget, use code PPP at https://bix-hydration.myshopify.com/en-au for 20% off Bix products, exclusive to PPP listeners!***
Thanks for tuning in to Peak Pursuits! Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
Robbie: Instagram
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
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Transcript
Introduction to Episode 74
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 74 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. My name is Simone Brick and I am lucky enough today to be joined by the lovely Jess Jason. How are doing Jess?
Meet the Guests: Jess and Robbie
00:00:13
Speaker
Hey guys, i'm very happy at the moment in athlete heaven over in Font-Romeau. oh I absolutely live in the lifestyle in the Asics house in Font-Romeau.
00:00:24
Speaker
And that is where Jess is joined by today's guest, which I'm excited to learn more about. and that is Robbie. ah Robbie, I don't even know your surname. We've done real well on the pre-recording introductions, but how are doing, Robbie?
00:00:39
Speaker
Hello, hello. Good morning. Super nice to be here too. My surname is Rurig. Oh, okay. I'm kind of glad I didn't attempt that one.
Upcoming Races and Training
00:00:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:51
Speaker
Oh, perfect. Now, where from where in South Africa are you from? From Cape Town at the moment. Yeah. On Table Mountain. Yeah. Nice. So you must be excited to have World Champs coming your way.
00:01:03
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, we are. It's it's next level. Yeah. um Awesome. And you're currently in Fontenremont in the Asics House as well. ah What are you training for?
00:01:14
Speaker
um Nothing exactly, but we have a few good races coming up in South Africa. Two in October, the Otter Trail and the Cape Town Trail Marathon. And then at the end of the year, we have Ultra Trail Cape Town.
00:01:26
Speaker
Yep. That's a big one. That's definitely a big one on the calendar. Yes. Which one will you do there at UTCT? 100 miles. Okay. So you're you're ah you're a long distance ultra guy.
00:01:39
Speaker
Sometimes.
00:01:43
Speaker
That will across all of them. Hey, I love that.
00:01:47
Speaker
Yeah. Absolutely love that. Awesome. Awesome. Well, we'll get to know more about you as we go through training and chats and all these sorts of things. um i am going You guys going to have a much more interesting week than me. So going to throw it over to you first just to give us an update on how you're feeling for world champs.
00:02:05
Speaker
How was the trip over there? And, yeah, how's the training and body going? Yeah, it's been really good. I um so i flew to Barcelona from Sydney.
00:02:17
Speaker
on the Friday and then spent one night in Barcelona and then drove up to Font Remo, which is like a three hour drive. um So got here on the Saturday.
00:02:31
Speaker
um and yeah, sort of since then I've been on a few runs. um So Saturday I just jogged on the local trails, which are really beautiful kind of like mountain bike, little track, single tracks.
00:02:43
Speaker
um And I was feeling pretty good, like a little bit tired from the travel, um but hadn't really noticed like the altitude yet. um And then Sunday. It's coming. it Don't worry about I'm like out of breath. Sorry.
00:02:58
Speaker
oh and like out of breath say Sunday, um we went over to a mountain that was like a 10-minute drive away. can't really remember what it's called, but sort of in the Fontenot-Mere area.
00:03:18
Speaker
I'll see if I can find it on your stride before you. um Yeah. Yeah, we can see it from here. um and just did like a 20k out and back sort of loop. It was epic. Like I think definitely got like higher than I've ever been on a mountain. So was really cool. Oh, really? That's always exciting.
00:03:38
Speaker
I really love that feeling. Yeah, it was amazing. Me and Cantinka were just loving it and just like chilling because I didn't want to like go too hard on this one because I thought I would like feel it a little bit with the travel and everything.
00:03:51
Speaker
um But, yeah it was so fun. And then um Monday was a rest day. i just so went to the gym here and like sussed it out. It's a pretty cool setup, like lots of um pro athletes training, so very inspirational stuff being around there. How much easier does it make it to get stuff done? Like I've always like been in awe of this because it's just the shift when you're in a group that is all doing the same thing and all cares about the gym session, cares about the running session.
00:04:28
Speaker
Like the group environment is a real performance enhancer. in so many ways and it's just so much easier to make it through a good training week without things going wrong or just I don't know like the difference it makes always has me going hey I need to like make my life set up at home a bit better but yeah how cool is it Jess?
00:04:49
Speaker
It's amazing yeah it's like yeah I mean it's all set up like so well for athletes to train on like a lot of road athletes come here and like skiers. Robbie are you getting in the gym too?
Amenities and Expectations
00:05:01
Speaker
I haven't been to the big Kreps gym. Okay. Okay. You're saying the group aspect is next level. I mean, it's everything I would say. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
00:05:12
Speaker
Yeah. Even having like the Aussies here now, it's so good. Just like, I don't know, having people to like train with and do everything with it. Yeah, it's really fun. And um when you're at the gym, so you're have you checked out there other all the other facilities at Kreps?
00:05:27
Speaker
Yeah. um oh i haven't been to crepes yet i just joined another gym yeah okay because i didn't realize i could go in there for free i was gonna say doesn't that cost money yeah but it is close so crepes is like three k's away yeah so the gym that i joined you can walk there um yeah okay fair Although highly recommend this sort of ice bath sauna setup they've got at Kreps for recovery. You're excited about that.
00:05:59
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely want to use that. um But we do have a sauna and a spa at the Asics Camp, so that's pretty good too. Nice. Yeah. actually You are living the life, aren't you? I know.
00:06:12
Speaker
Yeah, I feel pretty lucky right now, but it's so good. Awesome, awesome. So, yeah, gym and you've got the, you did the 20K. um yeah And then I see that you you headed down to Lactamata Male where everyone goes for their sessions.
00:06:26
Speaker
Yeah, so I was planning on doing a session with Katinka and then we got there and she did the warm-up and then her ankle started hurting. um So she didn't, do it in the end and I was like okay let's see how this goes and I'd fully expected to feel like not as good as like when I'm training a home um so I started out what I felt was like conservative but then after like a few minutes you're just like oh my gosh it's so hard to breathe and then and I felt like I was crawling and oh i don't know yeah I mean I managed to do okay like an okay session but it definitely felt harder than
00:07:05
Speaker
um at home so nothing is as hard as the first one like the first one is the proper proper shock to the system and it's different when you're easy running versus trying to go hard oh my god it's like yeah because like in between the reps when I started jogging I'd be like oh I'm fine I'll go again and then as soon as I went again i was like oh no know like cooked yeah so and for reference for everyone this session like you drive down a little bit to do this but it's still at 1500 or 1600 meters altitude which from canberra is a little bit of altitude yeah
00:07:41
Speaker
yeah So, na i yeah, was so tired after that. I wanted to sleep for like the whole day, but I'm trying to get some work done this week. So it's been, hard to balance that with the fatigue. um Yeah, I was just so tired and just like constantly eating.
00:07:59
Speaker
um Oh, yeah. Everything ramped up. You need like more electrolytes, more fluids, more carbs, more just everything at altitude. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. um Yeah. And then we went back Matamale in the afternoon ah with Robbie and another ASICS athlete, Zahid, who, side note, is the fastest 10K runner in Spain right now.
00:08:23
Speaker
so Oh, wow. bit of slightly. Zahid. He's above us. He can't hear us. And just did my, like, 30-minute double and then some stretching in the forest.
00:08:38
Speaker
Nice. Nice. should send you some of my favourite trails from the area. There's a really nice, like, balcony kind of trail that's flat for easy runs that's closer than the lake. Um, and and then there's a really, really nice valley to run up where you can get like a grad long gradual climb with a really cool summit. So I'll send them to you because yeah, I have some really fun runs that I did up there, but there's definitely, had, there's this one trail that became my favorite easy double or easy run trail, um,
00:09:07
Speaker
because it was a little higher altitude than the lake and it was still very easy running. So I'll send that to you. But, yeah, how many weeks away now are we from the race?
00:09:20
Speaker
um About two. So this Friday it will be two weeks. Yep. Yeah, damn. So what's the sort of plan between now and the race, um training slash travel-wise?
00:09:32
Speaker
Definitely starting to taper now. Like I'm not doing anything crazy. um Just, yeah, trying to keep it the same as what I've been doing, but like backing off a bit ah on the volume, the long runs, like I'll only do two to two and a half hours this weekend.
00:09:46
Speaker
um And then i will travel on next Tuesday. um And it's a long day of travel. Like you have to head back to Barcelona and then get the train out to Yaka, which is the closest town to Canfranc.
00:10:06
Speaker
um So I think it's like 10 hours of travel. Yakka sounds like an Aussie town name. I know. I'm probably not saying it right. I was going to say it might have an Aussie twang to it right there. It might be like, I don't even know what it would be, but I like it. Yakka.
00:10:22
Speaker
Yak and dander. yeah oh I love it. I love it. And now um ah how are you feeling for world champs is probably the most important thing. Like where's the confidence levels at? Where's the sort of approach to it at?
00:10:38
Speaker
um I feel good. Like I don't have huge expectations because I've never raced in Europe before um and like I just, yeah, it's going to be totally out of my comfort zone. Like I know that and I'm expecting that but I'm like embracing that I think. Like I'm excited for the experience and the challenge um and like a good outcome for me would be to like finish the race and feel like I'd just – gave it like everything I have because I think this would be like one of my last big races for the year so yeah looking forward to some rest after that and yeah excited for the challenge nice nice I think that's that's but the best approach you can possibly have it's like at the end of the day when it comes to racing in Europe and international it's like you're going in a rookie and you only get one rookie time like you only get one first time for doing all these sorts of things and
00:11:37
Speaker
It's like that's a really cool thing. It's also a really hard thing, but it's never going to be the same type of hard, which can make it kind of fun where you if if if you're ready to embrace that sort of.
00:11:49
Speaker
Some people have absolute blinders because you're blissfully ignorant of how much these mountains can sort of slap you in the face in the second half. definitely. Yeah. um And sometimes it's like,
00:12:02
Speaker
they do slap you in the face because they're always almost going to and it's few and far between where they don't. But at the same time, it's like I think you're it's a really cool spot to be in um where you can kind of go, well, no matter what, at the end of this race, I'm going to be more experienced and better off for it.
00:12:19
Speaker
Yeah. There's not really a downside. Yeah, what I've noticed is that like with every race you just learn so much. Like I don't know if you think, if I think back to Hounslow like this time last year, like how far I've come since then, it's kind of crazy.
00:12:35
Speaker
So I'm just lapping it up and excited to just get better and better. Nice, nice, good, good, good, good. um I have found, I've been slowly in the background doing some um Google searching on you, Robbie.
00:12:53
Speaker
Trying to find results and stuff before I get to you because I was like, I need to do a better job of this. You just raced ETC? Yes. Damn. Cool. Yeah, it was just fine. It was crazy, man.
00:13:05
Speaker
How was that course like? I haven't had a chance to chat to – we had Aussie Nath Pierce in the race as well. Oh, yes. And I haven't haven't had a chance to chat to him about what the course was like yet, but how did you find it?
00:13:18
Speaker
Yeah, it was amazing. It's like on the and Italian side of Mont Blanc in that valley of where Cor Maior is. And we just basically run up the hill and you I think we kind of just got above the tree line is as high as we got and it's so beautiful. The valleys are tight there and the peaks on all the sides are full and beautiful.
00:13:39
Speaker
um But it's insane. I mean, people are running so fast and then we basically just ran down. like 1,200 meters, I think, gain in sixteen ks Nice.
00:13:52
Speaker
ah At what point did Madalina pass you? Because I love Madalina and yes I love the house. I love her as well. Wow.
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah, literally in like what the first K or second day i She had such an epic run. Like when she was like, she was cha ah chatting to her after and she was just like, yeah, I was just trying to pass as many guys as possible.
00:14:17
Speaker
Like, well, you damn near got into the top 20. So... Yeah, yeah, yeah. wild. Now i'm looking back at some of the other things you've done so I can get – ah give more of an introduction to everyone in TIA. It looks like obviously lots of South African races. you The last couple um of wins from Mutt Marathon, Mountain Ultra Trail Marathon, Ultra Trail Drakensberg, 37K or so. But then i do also see that you did come to Oceania at one point last year for Tarawara,
00:14:53
Speaker
hundred gate Now I don't necessarily want to bring it up because it is the one DNF on your results. Nice DNF, yeah, I got halfway. ah and It was nice run with Ruth and from New Zealand, with Ruth Craft for like an hour on that day. So that was cool.
00:15:08
Speaker
Oh, that's fun. Yeah, yeah, we ran together. um It was very funny. um um i We were running and then I stopped and I really actually needed a poo. So I like went off the trail into the forest.
00:15:21
Speaker
and was taking a poo. And then Ruth didn't know I was there. And she stopped as well and walked off the path, but less far. I'd also squatted down and started weeing. And I didn't say anything. I had my moment to say something and I didn't. And then I just sat there and she took a and she's sitting there, got up and carried on running. And I finished and carried on running. And I was like,
00:15:40
Speaker
That was really weird.
00:15:45
Speaker
People are going to love that story. The random stuff. and and and And told it as soon as I found I was like, Ruth, I'm so sorry, but I just watched you weeing in forest. I...
00:15:58
Speaker
i but I guess I think a typical trail runner, she probably wouldn't have minded. and No. ah you lose You lose a lot of that privacy and dignity out on the trail. it At some point read some point you learn that these things are not important anymore.
00:16:20
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. um Love that. What a story. Absolutely love that. Now, Robbie, what would, as ah I've, you've got heaps and heaps of results on here that I could go through, including, I love to see that you did the, back when the Golden Trail Championship back in COVID times, like you've got. Yes, yes.
00:16:37
Speaker
Ultra how Cape Town 100k you've got the Otter Trail which I believe you said is one of your next races but then and I'd love to hear from you what's your best result like your favorite result doesn't even have to be the one that on paper is the best but the race you're sort of most happy with or proud of I think probably at the Otter in 2018 it was the final of the Golden Trail Series oh yeah yeah yeah so we had some really fast runners come and race in with us you know right where we live um
00:17:08
Speaker
That was epic, yeah, just to run with super fast runners without traveling. Yeah, and you came eighth, no less. So yeah that's a good result. That was cool. um i I don't think I've run so fast since then, yeah, unfortunately. very There is something about those really, really stacked races that just brings something else out of you. but yeah Like, oh, everyone else is going this pace?
00:17:31
Speaker
Okay, rise up or die trying. Yeah, yeah, and there's expectations, man. You just know that you you're going to try your best and it doesn't matter what happens. Exactly. You're not carrying weight of some result or expectation. Yeah.
00:17:46
Speaker
I must do something here. Just like, oh, I can run. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Definitely. Now, do you do anything aside from him running, Robbie, back home?
Robbie's Interests and Trail Running Journey
00:17:56
Speaker
um Yeah, I make art. Oh. And I cycle all a lot and I swim, free dive. Love to spend time in nature. yeah What type of art? I make um sculptures and paintings.
00:18:10
Speaker
That's cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's very cool. Yeah, if you go on Instagram, you can see all the art. I was about to say, can I see this stuff on Instagram? Amazing. love Instagram for that kind of stuff.
00:18:23
Speaker
Awesome, awesome. And so then where's the body at now? You're after ETC. What's your life in Font Remote looking like and your training? Like how do you – I'd love to hear how you train actually.
00:18:35
Speaker
um Yeah, I don't really know how I train. I just, it changes. So this last week has just been like holiday and font remote reading a lot and going to the sauna and the jacuzzi. But I've started running again.
00:18:48
Speaker
Living the life. yeah um UTMB week was quite big. it was mayhem. Dancing and sometimes all night and supporting teammates. So it's been good to have move off.
00:19:01
Speaker
Yeah, absolute mayhem. Oh, who do you run for? What team? Asics. Oh, my God. I just asked that question. yeah I'm trying. It's important. You're an Asics fan.
00:19:13
Speaker
I'll leave that in. I won't even edit that out because, you know, people can realize. So it was cool. Like yesterday we trained with Sayid who just told you about And like I trained for as much of his session as I could, which was about half, um which is fun. I love that, man. I love just doing what other people do once or twice and then doing my own thing.
00:19:32
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Perfect. Perfect. So do you have a coach or is it just you figuring it out as you go? Yeah. But i like I do need help, which ah I've realized.
00:19:42
Speaker
I'm going to, going to, maybe see what kind of coaching. Yeah. And I've spoken to a few friends and yeah, there's, I think I just actually need to ask a bit more for help.
00:19:55
Speaker
Not just for me. There's all sorts of, there's all different kinds. This a very collaborative, like I'm going to say that my coaching environment is a very much a collaboration as opposed to a, here's what to do kind of deal. And then there's, yeah, there's all sorts of different things, but having someone to bounce things off.
00:20:10
Speaker
um even if it's just you're trying to bounce your own ideas off and then reshape them yourself. Like it's always a always a helping hand. so That's great. And um you've got results going all the way back to sort of 2016 on your UTMB.
00:20:26
Speaker
Is that when you got into trail running or? Yes, yeah yeah, yeah. Did you come from road or? Just running, man, like on the ground. And then...
00:20:38
Speaker
When I moved to Cape Town, it took a bit of time, but I realized that the mountain was there and then started just running and running and running and racing. yeah Nice. Love that. Love, love that. Back to the roots of it.
00:20:50
Speaker
And it sounds like you've sort of kept the roots of what got you into it in terms of just enjoying your time out there. Definitely. Yeah, for sure, man. Like it's the best to just go outside and like see what the rocks have to say and see how the trees feel and It's wonderful, man.
00:21:06
Speaker
Like now we were running into giant herd of, well, not giant, 10 horses. It was like a magic experience. I love the horses. Horses, yeah. i I have a really cool video of me and the horses in Font Remote actually as I'm like coming through a gate. They all just come towards me.
00:21:24
Speaker
Yes, And we have a nice little conversation on the trail as I walk through them. And, ah yeah, it was great. It was amazing. Yes, man. Yeah. Yeah. All those magic experiences and like the birds that are flying and we watched the moon set as we ran up the hill today.
00:21:39
Speaker
yeah Perfect. Perfect. Absolutely love that. And, yeah, when you said ah but when you said seeing what the rocks have to say, me and rocks have had a lot of very deep conversations, including deep gashes. Yes, and so it's rock.
00:21:58
Speaker
Rocks sometimes have a lot to say straight to your face, but... But sometimes when you listen to their more subtle messages, you don't have to get the serious ones. oh This is true.
00:22:14
Speaker
This is very true. but But awesome. Awesome. Well, thanks for that. Thanks for sharing some of everything that you're about. um I'm sure we'll just...
00:22:27
Speaker
keep getting to know you more. We might, wait how long are you both in Font-Remo again next week? Yeah. Nice. Nice. so when. rui rest of our lives sure How long, how long are you staying in Font-Remo before you do go home for Otter? I don't know exactly, but I think maybe two more weeks.
00:22:50
Speaker
Yeah, nice. yeah So also just unplanned travel? You're just flitting about? No, wasn't planning to come here either, but people in the Essex team were like, Fontenot is so cool, you should go move in France, so I just came here. she yeah It's hard to get to but it's once you're there, it's great.
00:23:09
Speaker
They're amazing here. Well, for us, it's easier because there's someone who drives an ASICS van to the airport. Yeah. There. Okay. That makes life a little bit easier. Yeah. Mertil was like, yeah, I'm outside. I'm in the van with all the ASICS branding on. You'll find me.
00:23:23
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Well, they're looking after you well there, so that's great. They And they drive us around. Where do you want to go? No, we want to go there. Okay.
00:23:36
Speaker
Okay, well. ah Brilliant roadrunners that have walked before us and at the same time as us that we now get treated so well. Yeah. Yeah, which, yeah, as we've already discussed, like the environment that creates for your own training and mindset and everything is really, really cool shift that you can, it's almost like you notice it ah like straight away, just go, oh, we we switch on in a little bit of a different way here. Yes, exactly. Yes, I'm loving that you get to experience that.
00:24:04
Speaker
It's a cool thing. That's so cool. app Well, while you two are off living the life. hum enough I feel like I've been in the freaking trenches back in Melbourne. I'm coming home from Europe. I'm at the other end of the stick getting the slap in the face of, yep, you're home now.
Simone's Health and Travel Experiences
00:24:22
Speaker
um But also the jet lag, which I find the jet lag, I don't know when you last went to Europe, Jess, but I find coming home so much worse.
00:24:32
Speaker
Like the trip from Europe to Oz, um getting back on the time zone. is so much harder and I don't, and there's probably some science behind that. I don't know it, but either way, um the trip home was pretty good, but, and then it was just like sleep all over the shop.
00:24:51
Speaker
You must ask airplane to fly the other way around the world yeah and then it just keeps going in the the good direction.
00:25:00
Speaker
I don't even know. I don't know how all them. I feel like travel is a time warp. Like you get on the plane and you're like, time no longer exists. We're in like this little like bubble where it's just like, I don't know what's going on. i don't know which way is up, down, left, right.
00:25:15
Speaker
Nothing exists anymore. We're in land and then we land. Yeah. But I did the brilliant thing of which I got i said a little bit about last week on the podcast because I was home. of There were so many things that had been like in my backlog of things to do and in my jet lag state I decided it was a great time to do them straight away off the plane essentially and just used all my jet lag time to book a million appointments and all sorts of things. Either way,
00:25:47
Speaker
um I made the probably a mistake in hindsight, like not going to lie, of ah had a because of all the gut troubles I had, missing CCC, all of that sort of stuff, I was like, well, I want to get this properly looked into and let them home.
00:26:00
Speaker
So the day I arrived home, saw my gastroenterologist, booked in two days later, for a gastroscopy and colonoscopy which don't recommend because if anyone's ever done bowel prep did not like just i'm not going to obviously go into the details but at the same time doing that while jet lagged well and then going through the whole double scope in the hospital coming home safe to say the next day after that i woke up sick again
00:26:33
Speaker
And I was like, okay, here we are for round four in the last like two months of something sickness-wise going wrong. So it was very much, ah and but it really wasn't that bad. It was just like I woke up, I'm like, oh, I'm a little off.
00:26:48
Speaker
So straightaway took out the... ah me being me jumping straight into things why do I do this anyways took away the altitude tent that I slept under for two nights while jet lagged as well like again smart not smart part of me was because I had it on the same altitude that I was used to sleeping at overseas so I was like I'm just kind of keeping it going anyways that was my theory again I was like okay i probably just didn't need to do that then stress that you didn't need now it changed altitude pardon
00:27:19
Speaker
That's cool. Yeah. Because it's the oxygen or the atmosphere. So it simulated the altitude. So what it it doesn't mimic all of it because you can't change the barometric pressure unless you're in a sealed vacuum.
00:27:35
Speaker
and So all it changes is the percentage of oxygen in the air. which is not actually what happens at altitude. What happens at altitude is the barometric pressuresh pressure changes.
00:27:46
Speaker
But what it does do is it still simulates stimulates your body to produce more erythropoietin because like I aim to sleep at sort of not I don't want to like um really diminish my sleep. So I was just aiming on the pulse ox.
00:28:02
Speaker
Like you just, I hadn't even done this yet actually, but you just aim for like 92 to 94% oxygen. So obviously we're normally sitting at 98 to 100. If you're sitting at sort of that, they say 88 94-ish and like 90 to 92 might be the really good range to stimulate your body but you can still stimulate the production of EPO and get some of the sort of benefits that are going to help you at altitude um because for reference my next race Robbie is Kinabalu Climathon which goes to 4100 meters and I'm flying straight there a couple days before from sea level
00:28:40
Speaker
So I'm kind of in this pocket of going, well, I actually need, like need, need these adaptations. And I was hoping to get a full six weeks in the tent. um I had two nights and then went, okay, I've got a little tickle in my throat and my nose is blocked. So we're going to stop that.
00:28:59
Speaker
um Now, I then did still do a session on Friday, but but I felt fine. The session actually went great. um And it wasn't until i did session Friday, got through Saturday easy, and I still did Burnley, not hard, but I did a steady Burnley Sunday. And that was when I came crashing down and went, oh, my gosh, this was not smart. Why did I do this to myself? Because I did so sort of thirty five k ran Burnley in about 90 minutes, rode half marathon. Like it was just a steady run.
00:29:30
Speaker
And the run itself felt fine. But the whole afternoon of Sunday I was like, yep, you've done it again. You've like just overcommitted life. And I was like worse on, sad like still not that bad, but worse Sunday evening than I was when I woke up Friday.
00:29:47
Speaker
and I was like, okay. so finally for once did the smart thing and just completely rested Monday, Tuesday. We're currently on Wednesday now. um I did also go see my doc, my GP, and I got an ultrasound. This was an interesting one.
00:30:03
Speaker
I got tested for glandular. It's not glandular. Thank goodness. um Doc thinks it's just the fact that I've had so i've had obviously the big virus in June.
00:30:14
Speaker
end of June and then the gastritis was probably because of that and then I had food poisoning which wiped my immune system again and then two weeks later traveling home he was like you just your body hasn't ever had like and my body hasn't ever had a chance to fully recover from any of them so i was like well great this is just perfect but then um I also did get an ultrasound of my neck or my lymph node oh yeah Which I'd never had before.
00:30:45
Speaker
obviously it Like it pretty much just showed that all of my lymph nodes are swollen and I'm like, cool, yep. So they're fighting off something. with them Did you get some nice pictures? Yeah, I love the pictures of like the ultrasound and those sorts of things. So while I was in, the ultrasound took like twice as long as it should have because while I was in there, the guy doing it, when he could tell that I was interested, he'd talk to me and I'd talk back, which obviously when you're understanding your neck doesn't actually work very well.
00:31:15
Speaker
So it took him quite a while to actually get all the pictures because I kept talking. But I'm like, well, you keep talking to me. So anyway, got there. It did come back. I have to go see an ENT, like an ear, nose, throat person, because my parotid glands are too big, which probably stems from the fact that I was the kid that got sick all the time. And despite being vaccinated, I still got mumps when I was a kid.
00:31:41
Speaker
So either way. Had a whole bunch of stuff go down in the week. Still like tried to train through it for about three days and then sucked up the fact that that wasn't going to happen um and took two days completely off. Because already i was like kicking myself going, I signed up for Hounslow.
00:31:59
Speaker
And because I had two good weeks and I went, well, I feel good again. Fitness is there. I'm excited. Let's go do Hounslow, which I'm still excited. It's all good. I'm resting. We're fine. But then I was like, well, of course, I've gotten to like six days out from Hounslow and I'm sick again.
00:32:15
Speaker
Like that's just my year at this point. Well, my last couple of months at this point. So anyways. Are you sure you should be doing Hounslow? Because I feel like if you, yeah, you've got more races coming up after that. I do.
00:32:30
Speaker
I do. So no, so is the very honest answer there. ah um My decision making is that you're going to take it easy, but it is like, it's still a pretty intense race.
00:32:45
Speaker
Oh, yeah, for sure, um which is where I'm kind of like at this point I'm back in the position of going the flights are booked and paid for and I didn't get refundable tickets. um If I still feel actually sick, 100% no. But after two days off, I woke up this morning and I slept 11 hours the last two nights in a row.
00:33:06
Speaker
I'm again, and I know i need a longer time in this position, which is ideal, but I felt really good again. Now I am tired again being it being this evening. And so I'm like, okay, there's still something to sort of recover from.
00:33:20
Speaker
um But at the same time, I'm kind of of the mindset of going, I've always, always wanted to see those Hounslow trails. Like I've just never run there before. So on almost the entire course,
00:33:33
Speaker
Um, which kind of makes me go, well, the worst case scenario is I go get as long of a run as feel smart for my body on the trails. And on a good day, if it's a good day, I get to actually race the thing.
00:33:47
Speaker
Um, which when I woke up this morning felt more than more than possible because I felt really good. Now I'm a little bit tired, but I'm hoping that that trend continues. hu But, yes, am I certainly second-guessing some things?
00:34:02
Speaker
Yes.
Race Strategies and Human Efficiency
00:34:04
Speaker
Do I think, like, do I feel like I'm at the point where it's going to be really, really detrimental to at least go run? No? i don't know.
00:34:14
Speaker
i don't know. I think if it was me, I wouldn't do it. Just because you're going like you're going overseas for another race. um I think you're better off just making sure you're all good for that one.
00:34:29
Speaker
True. Although when I, like, I suppose this, thing and this I know this is just meant my reasoning with it, but even if I stayed home, I'd go do a long run. Like, so I'm just like long run in a cooler place, but.
00:34:41
Speaker
yeah How does your body feel? Like when you imagine yourself running it, do you feel like, oh my God, that feels good? or do you like have a little tense up? Today felt amazing. Like I was doing my strides, my leg, my popping my legs. Like today's run after two days, and it was only two days of rest, but today's run I was like, hell yeah, get me to that start line.
00:35:02
Speaker
Yes. So yeah i don't know. Like i I am with you on the whole. It's only when I take a step back and look at the bigger picture that I go, ooh, is this smart? If I stay in the moment, I'm going, hell yeah, I'm excited.
00:35:14
Speaker
um So like my gut instinct is to do it, like fun if I follow that. so um Because I did get to the point, I think, it would and it was wasn't during the half marathon on Sunday, it was during the cool down.
00:35:29
Speaker
was a 7K cool down into the worst headwind I have ever run in in my life. Not really because I've run in Patagonia, but very close. hum And it was during that run I was like, my goodness, if running starts to feel like this again, ah don't want to do it.
00:35:44
Speaker
um And that would be the whole, if I thought about running and I knew it was going to feel like that, it would be the tense and, oh, my gosh, no, um and it would make me anxious. But then fast forward two days and it's it was almost like this morning as I was running, my body went, no, you're good.
00:36:01
Speaker
Yes. but So I don't know, like we're always biased as runners to listen to that moment, right? Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:12
Speaker
So either way, um I don't plan on being super dumb and like pushing or forcing anything on the weekend. I'm not – I signed up for Hounslow purely for a really fun race experience because when you look at my last three races, one going down with the flu, one going down with gastritis and one going down with food poisoning – um But that being said, I felt fine on the day of CCC. I got to do a big adventure. Like I just want a good race experience. I could just to rock up to a start line and have a good time and run on the trails and be around all the people um because I miss it.
00:36:50
Speaker
So i feel like I can still tick that box, which is the reason I signed up for it. Yeah. Yeah. It is. It's an amazing event. Like it's it's really well run and it's a beautiful place. Like the start and finish areas just on this amazing backdrop. um And, yeah, it's such a cool vibe. Like it's not as crazy as like um UTA. It's bit more low key and, yeah, it's really special. Yeah, which is fun.
00:37:18
Speaker
Exactly. Like it makes it makes it my sort of favourite kind of event um and knowing what some of the trails are like and those sorts of things, like, I just have like the way I feel at this point is that if I were to not go there's every chance as I feel right now that I'm sitting here on the weekend going out to do a four to five hour run anyway, feeling fine going, why the hell am I not there?
00:37:42
Speaker
Yeah. And I've already had that experience very recently on the day of CCC when I was out for a seven-hour adventure going, I feel fine. Like, should i I should have tried.
00:37:54
Speaker
So might hopefully not be shooting myself in the foot. But I actually feel like my body has a really good run in it at some point soon. um I'm just waiting for the clear air to do it.
00:38:07
Speaker
Yeah. What's the weather looking like? It's looking cold-ish. i This I'm only going off. I listened today to the preview that James and Brodie did um and James said it was like five degrees at the start and maybe a max of 15. Okay.
00:38:27
Speaker
okay Which he seemed to think we could still get hot in some of the exposed sections but – Yeah, when I did it, it was like a max of 20-something.
00:38:40
Speaker
Okay. 21. And it was hot, like I felt. And I was coming from Perth. Okay. it was, yeah, I was using ice like the whole way and i was jumping in the river. Okay.
00:38:51
Speaker
So it could still feel hot. Yeah, I don't think, hopefully not as bad as last year, but you've got like places to cool down for sure. they' They're very good at the aid stations at Hounslow. Like they've got ice.
00:39:02
Speaker
Yeah. like in little plastic bags that you can like put down your vest. Perfect. um And then you've got the river crossing that you go through twice. So you can lie down in that.
00:39:12
Speaker
Yes, that's the one. Lie down on your back then lie on your front and then lie down on your back. I will say hot tip for this is we have actually one of the listener questions is any tips for Hounslow? Someone else is doing it for the first time.
00:39:26
Speaker
And my hot tip on that front is make sure everything in your pack is waterproofed. Oh, yes. yeah I know too many runners that have destroyed their phone because they just, they get so hot and they jump in the water and it's in the pack and you forget about it.
00:39:45
Speaker
So everything in a waterproof bag, guys. Yeah. Which also goes for like if you're continuously pouring water over yourself and everything, like um just make sure that your head torch should be waterproof, I would hope, but.
00:40:01
Speaker
things like that just make sure they're um actually in ziplocks and those sorts of things but um but yeah so like heat i read the other day sorry um we run um this article said we use 75 of our energy is heat and only 25 is motion wow do you guys is that real Yeah, but that's what makes us as humans more efficient over longer distances because where most animals have trouble with is that they overheat.
00:40:35
Speaker
And they're putting everything into motion. um i It's more to do with like the heat dissipation. Yes, okay. because like we're not fully, fully covered in thick hair and all those sorts of things, like our sweating, our ability to sweat and all that.
00:40:50
Speaker
Stand up. Our ability to sweat means we can go for a really long period of time, but our ability to sweat uses a lot of energy. Right. Okay. hey Those sorts of things. It's really cool.
00:41:02
Speaker
I love the the human body. It's kind of wild. yes But then you do look at some things and you go, come on, science. Like, can we not figure out a way to, like, make it 75% motion? like Yeah, or even ourselves, man. Like, how can we, work in in, like, a different way to breathe or, like, something, you know, our consciousness on our circulation, moving into the cool and, like, bringing it in? Mm-hmm.
00:41:28
Speaker
Yeah, so far all we've got is keep your keep your skin cold and you'll do a lot better. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. We can all run with those little fan things that people have in their offices.
00:41:41
Speaker
I just love ice. Me and I, like, you just put ice down arm sleeves, down yes bras, like everywhere in the pack. I'll happily carry excess weight if it's ice.
00:41:52
Speaker
Yeah. Five minutes. Yeah, exactly. Well, it lasts longer than you think depending on how you do it. um The last really hot long race I did, I actually froze zip flat Ziploc bags of ice and then had those as the closest thing to my in my pack to my back every time I packed them in.
00:42:10
Speaker
But I cut the bottom corners so that as it melted, like cold water was going down my back. And they would last like half an hour. I had full half hour of cooling going down my back.
00:42:21
Speaker
It was amazing. So hot tip for anyone else there, but it takes a little bit of logistics making sure that you have enough crude aid stations to get it. But even every time you can get stuff like that.
00:42:32
Speaker
um But yeah, other than heat management, Jess, any other pro tips from the course record holder for Hounslet? and Course record.
00:42:43
Speaker
Yeah. Just pace yourself in the first seventeen k um because the second half of the race is a lot harder than the first half.
00:42:56
Speaker
And also just keep in mind like when you're climbing out of the valley, like at the very end of the race, you've still got I think it was like three or four days of running uphill on a road.
00:43:08
Speaker
um So that was the hard – I think that's like the hardest point of the race because you – basically climb like 900 metres worth of stairs and you're completely cooked and then you have to still run like four k up. a very like runnable hill but it's like your legs are cramping.
00:43:27
Speaker
and Yeah. That doesn't sound fun. Yeah. Just keep that in mind. I'm not looking forward to that part of the race but...
00:43:39
Speaker
um but yeah I think like probably like like gear wise I'd say um some people use poles I'm not sure about you I probably i probably not that I've used poles before but I think you can get away without them um if you're strong enough up the stairs I find poles a bit of a nuisance on stairs yeah themselves like I don't know Yeah.
00:44:04
Speaker
I just don't have a good technique probably. yeah Stairs are the best, just crawling up them with your hands. Yeah, yeah exactly. Yeah. yeah um And I think I chose like more of a low profile kind of shoe for that race because it it is quite techy in places. um I don't think like the carbon plate or the high stack shoes really help you in that race.
00:44:26
Speaker
Yeah. Bare. I haven't seen most of these trails, but based on descriptions from people and yourself ah yeah it sounds like you do you could do an ankle pretty quickly yeah and I think it's faster running downstairs in lower profile shoes I I find if yeah if there's too much underneath my feet when I'm going downstairs I feel like Bambi trying to get down damn things my yeah
00:44:54
Speaker
they're not fun and yeah I don't know just like heaps of Like, yeah, um crew like aid stations and like places where you can see people. So, yeah, smile when you go past them and...
00:45:08
Speaker
Try and have fun. That is great like underrated recommendation right there because I do find that the more you sort of like, no matter how much you're suffering, if you just pretend you're feeling really good when you're under, it does rub off on you. Like if you smile and wave and you get back a smile and a wave, you're getting back that positive feedback. Like I swear it works.
00:45:27
Speaker
It makes you feel at least a little better for a little period of time. um But I would- To into your pain and start enjoying it. Yeah. There's that aspect too. but there's There's times your brain lets you do that and I swear there's just times your brain goes, nope, we're not enjoying this one.
00:45:47
Speaker
You're right. This one we are suffering through. um My only recommendation for the fact that it is a long technical race is try and, um I'm not even going to say lock in, try and accept early.
00:46:03
Speaker
Like the only way to find flow i find through really long technical races, which can become quite mentally draining, is accept the fact that it's going to feel slow from early on.
00:46:14
Speaker
or accept Except the fact that it's kind of just, for me, I find i you you just got to let your feet go where your feet land kind of deal and not think about it too much. But then if it's newer terrain to you, it it's less about trusting your feet, I suppose, because your brain might not let you do that early days and more about just not fighting back against the fact that you might feel like you are limited by the terrain as opposed to your heart and lungs and effort.
00:46:44
Speaker
um Because if you spend hours fighting back against that, you are using a lot more energy. And then there'll be times where, like Jess said, you get to a 3, 4K uphill on a road where you could use all that effort, but you've already drained your batteries fighting back against the terrain. So yeah don't fight the terrain and don't fight the stairs. just You've signed up for a race with a lot of stairs.
00:47:07
Speaker
like
00:47:10
Speaker
Yeah. Just got to get through them. um But, yeah, it'll be it's looking like, Jess, have you listened to the preview yet? I won't touch on it too much because they did go for an hour they've done a good job of it. It's going to be a good race though. Like um I'm not sure who's in the men's side, but in the women's there's some strong runners.
00:47:29
Speaker
like The women's marathon is stacked. I was like, I didn actually didn't realize I signed up for like the most stacked race of the weekend. Loving life. yeah Not that that puts me off at all. That's exciting. Like I'm excited to be there, but Men 17K, we've got Charlie Hamilton versus Leo, which is an exciting duel we've got going there.
00:47:51
Speaker
um Bridget Lund, Sarah Leavitt, Monica Ludrick in the 17K women. So which actually, Jess, who's your pick, Charlie or Leo? pick Charlie.
00:48:04
Speaker
I think Leo. hi yes sorry charlie i don't know i just think it's just a i think it's going to suit leo okay nice nice and then um uh sarah or bridget sarah she's just a queen on that course i was going to say, she's should last year's winner. I'm not sure he can go past her um as as fit and fast as Bridget is um at the moment with what she's been doing.
00:48:32
Speaker
Then, yeah, Women's Marathon, geez, I'm not even going to remember all the names, I don't think. Sophie Broome, obviously myself. um Then ah Steph Austin, Maddie.
00:48:44
Speaker
um Oh, my gosh, I'm blanking on who. I know because I listened and Brodie put me in third and he put – Oh, Julia Anderson, who you raced last year.
00:48:56
Speaker
Oh, yeah. So, yeah, pretty excited to be amongst all of them. Yeah, that's tough. i um Yeah, I don't know. It really, like, depends. I mean, Julia is, yeah, very fast on that course. um It's just, yeah, like, she probably, like, paced it a little bit wrongly last year, I think. Like, she probably – She needed to go out a bit slower. She was way ahead early, yeah?
00:49:25
Speaker
Yes. She was like seven minutes ah ahead of me at halfway. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Cool. So don't go out too hard, Simone. I don't know. I don't want to like, yeah, I want to say, oh yeah, I think Sophie like will probably be keen to have a good race after having um not the best day at UTA.
00:49:49
Speaker
um So, yeah, I'll say Sophie. I say common. Common. Love it. um And then, oh my gosh, in the men's, I am completely blanking on who's running.
00:50:05
Speaker
um That's my fatigue right there. But for everyone that If haven't listened, go and listen to the episode with Brodie and James. They run through the whole course. They run through all the fields.
00:50:17
Speaker
They do a very good job of geeking out on this stuff. I love listening to them. They get deep into it. So go listen to that one and you'll get some more course info as well. um So that should help out anyone else that is running Hounslow.
00:50:33
Speaker
Um, then we had one other question, which is actually semi on topic, um, that came through from Instagram and that came through from Dean. Thank you very much. Um, and he, the question, it's not really a question. It was kind of thoughts on running a race through a virus or head cold.
00:50:52
Speaker
I just, and he said, I just did it at, surf at um six foot track and I struggled. I'm like, well, that that I feel like this is self-explanatory.
00:51:03
Speaker
Like if your body's not 100% You're not going to feel very good out there. um But I'm not a good example right now because after BTU where I ran still and that I had very in other ways, very external factors and very good reasons to do, but I don't recommend at all. And this weekend if I still have what feels like a virus and it's not just it's gone and I feel good again, I won't run.
00:51:32
Speaker
Like it's not worth it, I don't think, unless there is something else making it worth it, which at BTU there was a big financial factor going on. um So, yeah, your thoughts, Jess?
00:51:46
Speaker
I think we know what it's going to be. Yeah. yeah um Yeah, I just think it's not worth it. Like it's, you're just better off um saving yourself for
Health Considerations During Races
00:51:56
Speaker
another day. Yeah.
00:51:58
Speaker
yeah I can understand, although I will, in Dean's defence, this is me because I'd be defending myself, I know. The six-foot track being postponed from when it was.
00:52:11
Speaker
um like And then also it depends. If you've travelled over for like a – and is that there has been a big financial thing going on, if it is a head cold, like if it's above the shoulders, you feel crappy but you don't have a fever, you don't – like it's not a systemic thing going on.
00:52:29
Speaker
It's like – like it's not a really bad systemic thing going on. i like I will tell athletes that I coach if they're already there, they've paid money to get there and it's above the shoulders, it's a sniffly nose and a blocked head.
00:52:42
Speaker
i like They're not racing but they can run kind of deal ah yeah is usually how I'll go about it. If they haven't travelled yet, if there's ways to get money back or investments back and those sorts of things, we go about that.
00:52:55
Speaker
But I think obviously there's times where you are tossing up between the whole do I completely miss this experience or do I go have a try? And I will say my line on that is do I have a fever?
00:53:07
Speaker
um And, like, is this going to put me, like, my health really, really compromised as opposed to we've all had head colds. And I suppose the other question I ask myself is would I train through this?
00:53:20
Speaker
And if the answer is yes, then I'm like, okay, I can run. It's not going pretty, but I can usually run. If I wouldn't train through it, like then it's like, well, that's a pretty big indication because it takes a lot to make me not train through something really.
00:53:35
Speaker
It's a pretty big indication that you shouldn't be out there. But you ever run through a cold, Robbie? Race through a cold slash virus? I'm not not sure. I've tried in short races and it takes you to the edge very soon. It's very humbling.
00:53:51
Speaker
But I did an adventure race, which is like six days of racing. it started off with drinking cough syrup um and healed very nicely over the first two days and then finished the race completely healthy.
00:54:06
Speaker
Yeah. And that's the thing I found at times. Sometimes I'm like, well, I've trained through this before and I just kept getting better and it was fine. so But I think you're not racing for days, like trying to race for four hours when you're sick is, you're not going to go fast.
00:54:22
Speaker
No. And I guess we just hope, like, let's say you're racing and you're sick, something will stop you like cramps or just tiredness before um a heart attack. yeah Because that's what you're going for, right? If you're sick and you're racing, your heart gets under pressure and you can fall over dead.
00:54:41
Speaker
So I think it's honestly depending how you feel, right? like For me, I'm not afraid of that because I know something else will come up first before I kill them but like go too far. Yeah, your body gives you very good signals and sometimes that's what cramps and things are.
00:54:58
Speaker
Yeah, that's what cramps are. It's just like, hey, slow down. and Yeah. But some people don't get those signals, not even people racing, like people like at the back of the pack. Yeah. yeah Yeah, like I did a race last November and a man died.
00:55:11
Speaker
Yeah. Rich. Yeah. I'm thankful for those signals, people. Yeah. Yeah, thankful for the signals. and and And I don't know, if you start a race sick, then be ready to walk to the finish. Yeah. Yeah.
00:55:26
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's always the other thing. I'm like, if you do the crime of like, if you know you're rocking up compromise, just don't be complained and surprised when, complaining and surprised when the outcome isn't exactly what you wanted. Yeah.
00:55:43
Speaker
Like yeah there is always examples of people that are able to go, Leanne Pompeiani has currently become known for her toughness, ah which it is. She's,
00:55:54
Speaker
trained for a marathon around a hundred and eighty k week through Influenza B. Yeah. And it sort of, it panned out fine. She went and did an amazing marathon. Yeah. But it's just always that unfair thing of life that you might go try and do that and it doesn't pan out the same. Yeah.
00:56:12
Speaker
It's, yeah, you've got a sort of toss it up, toss up the pros and cons in your own life, I suppose. But my my number one thing is I don't recommend racing, like racing and and and treating it like a race if you're sick at all.
00:56:26
Speaker
um And the decision of whether to run or not, it's got to be your own. But at the same time, there's some pretty clear indicators. Gut instinct. Go back to the gut. Yeah, it depends on the scenario. And, like, you've got to accept that, like,
00:56:41
Speaker
Like it's not going to be a good result. And if, I don't know, it just depends what you want to get out of the race. Like if you are wanting a good result and to show what you've trained for, then like, um I just don't think it's worth doing it.
00:56:53
Speaker
Like you might as well save yourself for something else. Yeah. Yeah. Very, very fair. It's like we can tune into how we feel about the race and it can show us about how we feel about life. You know, if we're sick and we're like, no, I still want to do it. And then you almost like you realize, oh, my God, in my whole life I'm pushing.
00:57:09
Speaker
Yeah. And I'm used to pushing beyond what's there for myself. Yeah. And it's hard because sometimes we literally live in that zone of racing when we're sick as a metaphor for for pushing through things.
00:57:23
Speaker
Yeah. That we can rather just let flow. Yeah. Very, very true. I think everyone who's run a few races, like you get that feeling, man, the flow starts before the race. Oh, yeah. You just get that feeling like, oh, my God, it's it feels easy. And you just like you feel that race.
00:57:39
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And it's almost like a magnet pulling you to the start and the finish. and And I mean, for me, it's a huge lesson because I just try and run races, you know. And instead of listening to that feeling, um, every single time, if that feeling is there of the beautiful feeling, the race is beautiful.
00:57:57
Speaker
And if it's not, the race isn't, it's not like a, it's not like a game. Yeah. It's a hard one though. Cause you can't force it. And sometimes I feel like that, like it's not going to come up every race, no matter what you do. no matter how it come up every day Feeling is going to tell you, and it's just to us and be like, Oh, it's not here.
00:58:15
Speaker
Well then that's okay. Yeah. Instead of being so hardcore about it, like, no, my feeling is wrong. I'm going to race. Yeah. Yeah. No, I you. I hear you. That's very true. there's ah There is that sort of, there's that sense you've got when you go, you wait we're on a good one.
00:58:32
Speaker
We're on a good one. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So. Exciting, exciting. Well, I hope that gives you some of our thoughts, Dean. Thanks for writing in the question and thanks, Heidi.
00:58:43
Speaker
Thanks, Heidi, for the questions about Hounslow. um But now we were we're going to throw to some results from the week and I am going to start us off with the biggest in terms of this race is normally so big in the calendar in terms of competition and those sorts of things. Now, unfortunately,
00:59:04
Speaker
Six Foot Track Marathon did get, what was it? It was floods, wasn't it, Jess, on the course? Yeah, we they had a lot of rain this year. so Yeah, so it is normally back in March um and it got rescheduled and I'm not, um I would assume that a fair amount of the field like wouldn't have been able to make it to the rescheduled date and now obviously it clashes with the likes of Hounslow and a few other races, um UTMB, like um some big clashes going on there. So um the fields possibly weren't as deep as they used to be, but that being said, they're still pretty deep. So on the men's side, it was won by Mike Carroll, which love to see it. Go, Mike.
00:59:54
Speaker
um When did we last see him? At UTA? 100K? Yeah, he smashed UTA. He came second. Yeah. Exactly. So that this is the next time we've seen him out there. And he won by 20 minutes.
01:00:07
Speaker
So it was a big win. um Mike Carroll in three hours, 29.08. So run out the front. And I would say with that time gap, there's probably a most, if not all, of that race that he ran solo.
01:00:22
Speaker
So brilliant running there by Mike. And in second was Michael Daly, who was three hours, 50.37. And this is where it did get much tighter because in third was Louis Manette in three hours 51.43. So it's at about 50 seconds back.
01:00:39
Speaker
But then only 12 seconds behind Louis was Liam Therens. there was ah sprint on for third. um yeah And then it was still over only another less than two minutes back to fifth.
01:00:54
Speaker
So like third and fifth were separated by two minutes, essentially two and a half minutes left. um So some very, very tight racing, a little bit behind. What's a good time on that course?
01:01:06
Speaker
So I did look this up. I believe the course record for men is 3 hours 14. Okay. um And the course record for women 3 hours 30. Right. thirty um I did look this up, but um um'm I don't know how much you can, like, because it's a different time of year.
01:01:28
Speaker
Yeah, 3 hours 34 for women by Hanny Alston and 3 hours 14 by Stu Gibson for the men. So, like, good time, but at the same time, it'd be such different conditions. Yeah.
01:01:41
Speaker
I would think, September March. I would assume the trail is a bit slower because they've just had so much rain. like it Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Exactly. So, yeah. it's um But, yeah, that just does does give a little bit of an indication sort of of the speeds. And then on the women's side, this is an interesting one because Steph Austin got the win in 3 hours 55. Now, she is backing up next weekend with Hounsel. Yeah.
01:02:06
Speaker
So she's doing a big backup there, but we that is nothing new to Steph and she pulls it off left, right and centre. So um doesn't mean that she's not going to be at the front again next weekend.
01:02:18
Speaker
um So, yeah, that was 3 hours 55 for Steph.
Six Foot Track Marathon Highlights
01:02:21
Speaker
Brittany Harridan, she was second in 4.09. ah So, yeah, 15 minutes there, but that's a really good run by Brittany who's from Canberra.
01:02:30
Speaker
um Yeah, we were training together. She just got back from a holiday in Europe as well, so she wasn't really training much for it. ah Perfect. was a really strong run from her. Perfect, very strong run. So, yeah, second there for Brittany. And then third was Anna Pillinger in 4 Hours 22. Wow.
01:02:50
Speaker
ah So, oh, yeah, Lou Clifton 4th, so for us, 26. So, yeah, it so does go back ah in terms of the names that you see on there.
01:03:02
Speaker
But, yeah, six-foot track, one I've always wanted to get to. So sometime it'll happen, but there's too many races in March. Yeah. Oh, there's so many races, yeah.
01:03:12
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, all the time. Now, the other quick one I'll mention is Coastal Classic, which this isn't too far from you now, Jess. um This one's along the coast just south of Sydney. I've been told that it's it's a point to point, I believe, 30-something K. And it's beautiful by all accounts, I've been told. So it's a very picturesque run.
01:03:37
Speaker
ah This year on the women's side, it was won by so Sarah Brewster in 2 hours 59 minutes. Jessica Ramos in second 304 and Belinda James in 305. So nice and close racing.
01:03:49
Speaker
And then on the men's side, Ryan Tompkins in first in two hours 27, Ben Timmons in two hours 34 in second and Will Draper in two hours 35 in third.
01:04:01
Speaker
um I think you two are going to take us to Adelaide. ah Jess? Yep, so we had the Cleveland National Park trail event, which is part of the Adelaide Trail Series, um and there was a 21K, which is a long course.
01:04:21
Speaker
ah So in the females, first place was Natalie Kesford in 2 hours 04. Second was Raina Tabeche in 2 hours 05. And third was Clara Morth in 2 hours 06.
01:04:35
Speaker
So a bit of a close race there. um And in the men we had Nick Muxlow in 1 hour 36, Mark in hour in 1 hour 37, 33. Wow.
01:04:47
Speaker
twenty nine and and was godfree slattery in one hour thirty seven thirty three So another sprint finish there for second and third. Every time I look at these Adelaide results, they're always close, like almost always close of all these events. I'm like, they must be such fun events to rock up to as often as they have them and just know you're going to get a close race.
01:05:10
Speaker
Yeah. like So cool. So cool that they have that. Definitely. ah And then taking it over to Tassie, um we had the Ria Lana trail race, which is in Mount Nelson.
01:05:30
Speaker
So part of the Kunani trail series. um And then in the women, ah Maggie Lennox took out first place in 5720, followed by Grace Lennox.
01:05:46
Speaker
So is that her? I believe that's Maggie's sister. Maggie's sister, nice. Yeah. I believe. Grace looks like 99 and Maggie 5.
01:05:57
Speaker
ye So Grace super did super well there on her ranking. Yeah. Well done, Grace. but Oh, the bib numbers. Yeah. Not sure how much they attest to rankings. sp e um And then Karen Hill was there in 1-hour-01.
01:06:20
Speaker
Yeah, nice. Only 30 seconds between second and third there too. Loving this. Like the more the more results we read out, the more I realize like over the years so many of these races are just getting closer and closer and more competitive. It's great.
01:06:34
Speaker
Yeah. um And then in the men, another close race between first and second. So Thomas Merton was first in 49.07 and David Bailey was second in 49.10.
01:06:47
Speaker
so three seconds between them. yeah I would have loved to be at that finish line to watch it. I love watching sprint finishes. Like... There's nothing like them, especially in a trail race where it's like you know how much their legs hurt.
01:06:59
Speaker
Yeah. And then Joseph Nunn was third in 51, 49. Nice, nice. Not far back again. Awesome. I believe that one was about twelve and a half k ah around the bottom of the mountain. They have some really good sort of shorter distance races as part of Kunaunia Trail Series, um which, yeah, it'd be very cool to use sort of training runs and those sorts of things. So cool community they got going there, which is ah bit of fun.
01:07:30
Speaker
um What we have, I will just quickly run into what we have coming up in terms of races for next week, ah which Hounslow, we've already chatted lots about that. But this one's also snuck up on me, Surf Coast Century.
01:07:43
Speaker
um That's next weekend, the 50 and the 100. um I haven't been able to find a start list, but that's always incredibly competitive and has some very good times coming out of it. So we'll have those results for everyone next week.
01:07:58
Speaker
um Then Mighty Jarrah Trail Run in WA. Do you know of that one, Jess? Oh, no, no. I didn't do that one, but um I think Vlad's done it. Yeah, it's a nice one. It's nice and runnable, I think.
01:08:11
Speaker
And then also in WA is Collie River Ultra. Do you know that one at
01:08:18
Speaker
Not too with that one. Where Collie River is. I don't know where that one is. but I think it's south of the river. Yeah, okay. Nice. Well, yes. And also just for anyone that really, really is not liking, currently it's quite windy and cold in Melbourne.
01:08:32
Speaker
So you're really not liking it next week, they have ah the Whitsunday Trail Fest. So take yourself off to the Whitsunday Islands. ah And it sounds like they've got a trail festival going on up there and sounds like a brilliant excuse for a holiday.
01:08:45
Speaker
Yeah. So what a cool place it would be to run around. But, yeah, that's what's coming up next week. But what have you guys got planned? Any big runs planned for the crew over in Font-Ribode?
01:08:59
Speaker
Maybe up the mountain on Sunday. Yeah, Sunday, the last long run before. Yeah, so you've got a mountain planned for that one already? um I think so. Yeah, we've got Lara Hamilton, the local tour guide. Of course.
01:09:14
Speaker
She'll show you all the all all the hoods. Yeah. Yeah, we should get her on. She'd be fun. ah Yeah, we I do actually need to interview her before World Champs as well. um We chat so, like we send each other memes constantly on Instagram and somewhere in amongst all the memes there's the conversation around, hey, we need to do an interview for World Champs.
01:09:36
Speaker
um but it's forever interrupted by the next meme. so
01:09:42
Speaker
Yeah, one because are right um she's She's got her crew out going out dancing tonight, so balancing the training and part of life as always. Have you been to any of her DJ gigs? They're great.
01:09:54
Speaker
Not yet. You're the best. that Yeah. Have you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's DJed for um like some of the after parties. um So like last year she DJed for the after party at Golden Trail.
01:10:07
Speaker
Oh, man, yes. And stuff like that. so And I've just been around as she's been playing some of her beats and I love it. Yes, man. Yeah, very, very cool, that balance. We'll get to hear more about that. But what about for you, Robbie? Anything else planned in terms of the next week of but just getting back into it?
01:10:27
Speaker
Something specific, yeah. Just some nice running. Maybe join, say, in some more track sessions. I love that. just I love that challenge. Yeah. I'm just going to try and do what you do really, really well.
01:10:41
Speaker
Like 10% is good. sure And see how long I can keep up. At least that's how it feels for me when I'm trying to keep up with some people and I'm like, Hey, let's just see how long it takes me to blow up.
01:10:54
Speaker
<unk> It's good. It's amazing to feel it, man. And you feel it together, you know, like you feel how his body's working and moving and, everyone runs slightly differently in the way like the energetics of our being is.
01:11:06
Speaker
We arrive in a slightly different way. So it's amazing to run with different people and feel them, you know, and we learn from each other. Like, it's like, like into each other and getting downloads yeah yeah yeah don't know what i can offer him maybe laughter but he can definitely offer me lessons on how to run i do yeah do you just do the comedic relief in the track sessions really well like just offer the over the overthe top deaths and then make someone else feel really good about themselves when they can see that you're dying a lot harder yes yeah that's actually a pretty good offering
01:11:41
Speaker
Are we going to offer some laughing yoga at the Essex Camp? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just had a breathwork session. We're going to try do some athlete things. Deal with Athlete activities.
01:11:53
Speaker
Bonding. That sounds so good. Together. So we all know that we are infinitely capable. That's the one. Yes. Perfect. Nothing to do with race results, just with...
01:12:05
Speaker
ability to live and see and breathe and be you know that's our goal that is ah very do oh yes man that's the only goal that is the best goal and uh you know what i can't leave this podcast any better so i'm just gonna cut it there and say guys listen to robbie's advice right there robbie's advice on life hu Follow your journey on Otter and Ultra Cape Down. There was something else I'm missing in there.
01:12:34
Speaker
Yeah. host Cape Down Trail Marathon. Cape Town Trail Marathon, that's the one. We can update the listeners when we find all the results. We'll be like, hey, remember that guy Robbie? Yeah.
01:12:46
Speaker
Here's how he did. you'll have some You'll have some supporters cheering for you from Australia now. ma'am. That'll be fun. That'll be fun. And, yes, so everyone that has listened, thanks for listening. We hope that you've enjoyed this. As always, our DMs are open for suggestions, questions, results.
01:13:05
Speaker
Things you see overseas, like especially if you if you have someone that you know is racing and it might not be in Australia, please send them through. We can't find everything every week. um Oh, which on that note,
01:13:17
Speaker
Demi Caldwell ran Strandafjord. I saw that pop up on Instagram. um That was a month ago now. So sorry, Demi, that we haven't got to this yet. But I believe she came 12th at Strandafjord 25K, which in Norway and I can attest is a very rough course.
01:13:33
Speaker
So well done on getting through it, Demi. That's bloody hard. So, yeah, everyone listening, talk. collaborate with us, send us through all of the things that you see that you want us to chat about.
01:13:45
Speaker
And otherwise, I think that's it for the day. Thanks for joining us, Robbie. That was lot of fun. Super fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Perfect timing. it Amazing. Awesome. Thanks for listening, everyone. Good to hear from you, Jess.
01:14:01
Speaker
Thanks, guys. Bye. We love you.