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Episode 17: Trail Running in the Olympics, 100km training volume, Snakes, and Blackberry Bushes
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Welcome to Episode 17 of Peak Pursuits, your ultimate podcast for everything trail running in Australia. This week’s episode is hosted by Sim Brick, Jess Jason, and Vlad Ixel, bringing you training updates, listener questions, trail fails, race results, and exciting trail news.
Start - 30:00 Training Talk
Here about Jess’ win at the Perth Trail series, Vlad's food and beverage free podium in Austria, and how Sim navigated maintaining training around the trip to Europe.
30:00 - 54:00 Listener Question
Next, we tackle a listener question that takes us down a few training rabbit holes. What starts off as a discussion about the amount of volume required to run a 100km event turns into a discussion about the ins and outs tapering, and then Jess jumps in asking for advice about what her longest run should be for Hounslow marathon. Lots of useful info for everyone in this one!
54:00 - 58:20 Trail Fails Segment
In our Trail Fails segment, hear how Jess’ feet suffer as she makes the oldest mistake in the book and Sim gives a run down of an unfortunate incident with blackberry bushes.
58:20 - 1:09:40 Trail Running News
The team discusses ITRA’s press release covering their pledge to get Trail Running in the Olympics with Brisbane 2032 being the aim for the inaugural edition, including a few ideas for event formats that we think would be damn cool to see! See the full press release here - https://itra.run/News/Article?id=46088a4a-8978-46bd-8630-0371b3a3f166
1:09:40 - 1:23:56 Weekend Race Results
In our race results segment, we cover this week’s trail races, including:
Trail Running Series Silvan - https://tomatotiming.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16&RId=29681
Perth Trail Series Truth or Consequences - https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=360899
Sri Chinmoy Canberra Trail 100 - https://my.raceresult.com/301772/#1_12AF90
Mt Crawford Trail Run TRSA - https://eventstrategies.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=90&RId=549&EId=6
Kunanyi Trail Series Tolosa Half - https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=360873
Burralow Bush Run NSW - https://tempus.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16516&RId=389&EId=1&dt=2
Border Bolt Running Fest QLD - https://results.sportseventservices.com.au/results.aspx?CId=16287&RId=6380
1:23:56 - End : What’s coming up
Lastly, we highlight the upcoming trail races including our predictions for Sierre-Zinal this coming weekend and what to look out for in the next week in Aus. Stay tuned for more exciting events and opportunities to hit the trails.
Thanks for tuning in to Peak Pursuits! Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
Sim: @theflyingbrick_
Vlad: @vladixel
Jess: @jessjason
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter
License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
Transcript
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 17 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. My name is Simone Brick. I am coming to you from Paris in France and I'm joined by Vlad, who I forgot to ask you before we got on Vlad, where the hell you are. Where are you Vlad? I'm in Austria right now. Okay, cool. Another European country ticked off. And again, holding the fort back in Perth for us is Jess Jason. How are you Jess? Hey guys, I'm going well. Going well. Good. Now both of you have raced this week. Vlad, after a very cool winning streak of ah winning a bunch of food, last week it was a massive beer. This week it was just the trophy.
00:00:54
Speaker
somewhat empty-handed on the food front flat. Yeah, that's right. I thought like you know my MasterChef prizes will continue. um But no, this week was ah it was a pretty nice wooden trophy. um But yeah, last week I got this massive beer bottle together with another cheese and cold meat platter and another cutting board. um So actually, I thought about taking that beer bottle back to Australia, but it probably weighs like 10 kilograms. So we slowly drank it throughout this week. And I might see if I can take the empty bottle because it it is like a massive bottle. It's yeah, pretty cool souvenir. Nice.
00:01:32
Speaker
Well, we have a big show of results coming at you. We've had some trail running news pop up. We're going to be talking through a listener question. So as usual, all of the all of the things to discuss. And I will put a bit of a caveat that I'm hot spotting off my phone to get make this episode happen. so If there's any disruptions, my apologies. But to get us started, someone who's had a win this week, or not actually, not today, jeez, the time differences are getting to me, but a win yesterday was Jess, how did your race week and winning week go? Yeah, really well. um I sort of decided to have a pretty decent tape a week. um Just after the last few big weeks, um I just thought it was kind of smart to put one in in the build anyway. um So yeah, pretty boring week, just like um usual rest day on the Monday, um sort of fit in my mid-week long run on the Tuesday instead of track, just to remove some of that intensity.
00:02:38
Speaker
Um, another easy run on the Wednesday. Uh, and then I just did like a little taper session on the Thursday day and this one was eight by two minutes at threshold with one minute float in between. Um, and I was pretty happy by the time Thursday rolled around it, how my legs were feeling, like I was feeling super fresh. Um, which is really good to know that my body like responds to that kind of like lower intensity and like, like getting the body rest, uh, ready for like the race on the weekend. Um, and it sort of gives you that bit of confidence. Yeah. It's another job on the Friday, Saturday I had my she wolves, uh, community run, which was nice. The weather was finally turning it up in Perth. We had rain pretty much all week. And then Saturday morning was just like the most pristine conditions. Like sun was out, but it was still like nice and fresh.
00:03:34
Speaker
with no wind, so just perfect running conditions. Yeah, nice. And then Sunday when the race rolled around, the weather was very similar, but super cold. like So out in the hills, it usually gets a bit colder than where I live on the coast. and I got out of my car. It's like an hour drive away. So back in Jaradale, where I was last weekend. Beautiful area, but yeah, it was bloody freezing. like I think it was um four degrees, feels like two, is what it said on my Strava. um That's what it says. Which is like a shock for me because it
00:04:09
Speaker
it doesn't get that cold in Perth so I just wasn't used to it and like I was absolutely frozen and I definitely um get that kind of seasonal asthma which is kind of annoying like there was a few houses around the race start that had um like wood fires going as well so just felt like my breath was super short um which is annoying I'd probably need to look into some sort of way to mitigate that. Yeah, so then the race was a similar um course to what I did in my long run last weekend, except because some of the trails were closed along the Serpentine River, we had to do like an extra little loop at the start on the Mandabiti. So the race was supposed to be 24k but it ended up being 26. And i I sort of knew that it was going to be a bit longer by the time I was like,
00:05:03
Speaker
maybe 6k away because I was like oh we're definitely not 4k away because I've done the look before so it was kind of nice to have done that before and like known that I had like 6k to go not 4k to go sort of thing yeah but yeah it was um I had a couple of guys to run with the whole weight which is really cool because they did a 50k option in this race so yeah Like that kind of pulled out some of the depth from my race which is the half marathon distance um So yeah, there wasn't as many um overall letter participants in the race um But it was cool to sort of like be up with like the lead group the whole way and just yeah Like I think the guys I was running with they were doing the 50k. So um Yeah, it was good to have them to sort of push me along. Yeah, so I ended up with the win and I
00:05:51
Speaker
won each of the races in the series. So that means I'm the state champion according to Perth Trail Series. so mr Yeah, it's like the first time they've ever run that. And to be honest, it's pretty cool. like I think it's a good way to get um sort of the faster runners involved with the Perth Trail Series because it's probably it probably is more traditionally targeted as at like the recreation runner just come and like have some fun. But um I think it ah it is also like really cool to have that option um for the faster runners in Perth that want to like give it a crack at the shorter distances. and That's what I really loved about the Perth Trials Series. like They really focus on that kind of like half marathon distance rather than like the super long races, which some which like
00:06:39
Speaker
Ultra Series WA really focuses on like the really long distances, so it just gives that shorter distance of runners another option to get a race under the belt. Yeah, it's really cool. It's been awesome. luck Even as you go through the results, obviously, it's it's the same it's very similar people every time that we get to hear that are rocking up and um having these battles out and yeah for the distance. like It's such a fun distance to race and race all out. and like have that regular competition. It's been cool just to follow along from the other side of the country and now world, to actually hear it hear it go down. And yeah, you got the win, the inaugural win. Yeah, I'm a little bit disappointed that they only started at this year because I've literally would have done at least 30 PTS races.
00:07:30
Speaker
I would have loved to see the Sheridama team year in story, that would have been good. Yeah, it's a shame they only started it now. But yeah, it's it's a really cool running series. it's Yeah, like Jess said, it's not like super elite, but yeah, it feels like... this year, maybe it became a tiny bit more elite with um with that state title on on the line this time, which is which is really cool. Hopefully they can push it into next year as well. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. for sure well Well done, Jess. Damn cool week. What a way to finish it off. And a good week to then build off as you get towards um ah the name's escaping me, Hounslow.
00:08:12
Speaker
why that here um I think it's like five weeks away. Yeah, nice. Yeah, definitely, definitely coming up. Cool. Well, we'll go through the rest of the results from that Perth Trail series in our results section a bit later to shout out everyone else in the series um and that was there. But Vlad, what were your adventures this week? I've no doubt that there were many. It ended with a race as well. um but had the week pan out beforehand. Yeah, it started with them with a really cool local race in Germany last Sunday. um So the race is it's called the Weisler Trail, and it goes for like two days, but it's like a super community-based race with a lot of people. So it was like a mass event with a few thousand runners, but it's not UTMB, it's not skyrunning, it's just like a big local race that the government puts on.
00:09:03
Speaker
um Really cool vibe that there isn't much advertising and marketing. Adidas is like the title sponsor, but outside of that, it was very minimal, um which was actually really, really cool. And that was like a 15K race with about 900 meters of elevation gain. um fairly competitive, pretty pretty fast from the start, end up finishing third and and winning a massive beer bottle that I thought was sparkling wine in the beginning till my wife read it in German and actually said, like, no, it's actually beer. um Yeah, but from that race, I literally just took it fairly easy for the whole week. um
00:09:47
Speaker
Just a bit of easy running because, yeah, I ran yesterday the Cat Ultra, sorry, two days ago, um the Cat Ultra 25K with 1,700 meters of gain. And I did that race last year, and it's a lot of like downhill running, so I knew that 1,700 meters of like downhill running nonstop will smash my legs. So I took it a fairly easy the whole week, um just easy running. one little session of 10 times, one minute on, one minute off uphill. Um, but overall a fairly easy week. The only thing that did stand out a little bit is that I saw two snakes like day after day. Um, so literally like 10 years of trail running in Australia, I would have seen like two or three snakes. And here I am in Austria, um, like double back to back days where I see a snake. Yeah. And do they have venomous snakes?
00:10:42
Speaker
Yeah, probably not as bad as Australia, but like you don't really see them in Australia. like you know ah literally with I saw more snakes like while while I lived in Hong Kong. I saw this massive anaconda. like I'm talking about an anaconda you see in the movies a few times in Hong Kong. like That actually like scared me. Have you seen it? I'd love to see that. Really? I don't know. Me too. I did not enjoy that.
00:11:07
Speaker
And literally like years of running in Australia in Perth in summer on the trails, I've seen like two or three snakes. So yeah, pretty weird. But I think like there are some snakes here, especially now that's a bit warmer. Yeah, I must have seen more bloody snakes in WA than you because I saw 10 in one run over there in WA down on the bottom coast. oh um When I was doing the stage race, yeah, when I was doing the stage race down on the coast, I can't even remember along the um along the Billman track. It's like down the very south end, but i i was I was averaging one snake a kilometre for the first six k's of this. wow And I had i jumped a couple of, like it was, it to be fair, it was the most snaky territory I think I've ever seen. It was just long grass and sand in the sun. um But yeah, I reckon I would have seen upwards of 50 snakes running around Oz. So you've been lucky, Vlad.
00:11:59
Speaker
Yeah, I have. And now like you know people go, oh, yeah, there's a lot of snakes in Australia. And I'm going to go, no, there's a lot of snakes in Austria. Because I've seen two days, literally. What did it look like? it's like ah it If you have a look, I have a video of one of them from like three or four days ago on my Strava. But it's like a long brown, darkish snake. I don't know if they're venomous or not. ah I'm not a snake expert. I don't see many of them. So I don't know much about them. but Yeah, it was a bit weird seeing two in two days. Yeah, nice. There's one here I've just googled, Snakes of Austria. Ace cure, laypin snake, it grows up to two metres and it says it's non-venomous. Probably that one. There you go. You could give that one a pat but it's not going to be bad.
00:12:51
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, then race day on Saturday. So the day before, actually the two days before we had the expo. Um, yeah, actually like again, this year was super wet. So last year, this race was super, super wet and muddy. Um, I've put a couple of videos on Instagram of the mud and stuff. Um, but yeah, this year again, wet, muddy, not that much fun. Um, started fairly well but still ran a bit slower than last year on the uphill um but then about the same time as last year on the downhill which kind of makes me realize that I really need to rebuild my fitness base like
00:13:34
Speaker
You know, obviously been here for nine weeks already and racing almost every single week. ah My fitness is starting to drop a little bit. um So now that I still have five weeks left in Europe, but only two races and probably a bit of smaller races, I'm going to start putting a bit more volume in. um But yeah, race wise, the finished second place got lost right right at the end, which cost me about three minutes, but luckily was able to hold on to. um ah Second place first place just an Italian guy just ran from the front had a massive gap right from the beginning And I thought I better be smart and save my legs for the downhill and that kind of worked, but um Yeah finished about five minutes behind him um Yeah, but ah super nice race like you know highly recommended, you know a lot of those races This one is probably on the smaller scale of the UTMB races. I think maybe about
00:14:31
Speaker
two and a half thousand runners for all the events. Hayden Hawk was here to do the 50K, but otherwise, yeah, more of like a destination race. Some really, really beautiful trails that go fairly high. I think we started at about 1500 or 1400, so most of the race is in above about 1700, but yeah. It was definitely a fun event and yeah today started building up some volume so a double running day for me today and yeah hopefully build up some bass fitness because I feel like volume is so important when it comes to like racing longer races on the trail.
00:15:17
Speaker
Yeah. Have you already been focusing on that in the last week? Cause obviously like even with the two races back to back, um, last week was your biggest mileage week and time week in like five weeks. So that's on purpose. Yeah, exactly. So that's already in the back of my mind that I kind of felt like my fitness is dropping a little bit. And, you know, so obviously different runners train differently, but for me, it's always been high volume is the most important thing for my fitness. um And even though I am getting that race effort of an hour and a half to two and a half hours almost every single week,
00:15:55
Speaker
I feel like, yeah, not having the volume in the legs kind of brings my fitness down. So yeah, last week I already felt that. So every run was a tiny bit longer. And then this week I would try and even push it a bit outside my comfort zone, even though I'm racing um this Sunday. But yeah, I can't just you know prioritize every single race in the last two races that I have. coming up are a bit smaller um before the UTMB expo as well, which I won't be able to run too much. So this is a good opportunity for me in the next three weeks to put a little bit of volume in the legs. Just think that, yeah, if you have a look at any of the top runners, volume is is such a big part of their training. And um yeah, I need to get some volume back into my legs. Yeah. Yeah, makes sense. Well,
00:16:46
Speaker
Hopefully that puts you in good stead for the lot. Well, you've still got five weeks there and then um some big goals coming up later in the year. So I think it'll be good. Yeah. It's still a big, like, you know, it's only halfway through this year, still a couple of races. I've got my Asian season um shaping up where I'll spend a bit of time in, in Hong Kong, in um Thailand and Malaysia. um So a couple of races there. So I want to make sure that I put it in some volume now. Yeah. Yeah, nice. Nice, good week. Another podium finish. You're like the the king of podiums this year so far. yeah yeah yeah That's because I cherry-picked my races, that's why.
00:17:28
Speaker
Well, you've done a good job of that too then, so that's an art form in itself sometimes. Yeah, that's right. oh Good stuff, good stuff. Well, my week, geez, it feels like it was a lifetime ago because I started last week, still in Oz. um So it feels like as usual with travel, it feels like I've gone through a time warp and lived a couple of different lives in the last seven days. But yeah, my week actually started with my only main session for the week and it was a big one because it was the morning before I flew. So I spoke a little bit about this one, the that fact that I had this one coming up on last week's pod, but it was a
00:18:12
Speaker
6K, 5K, 4K, 3K, 2K session um with two minutes jog in between. So 20Ks of work total. That being said, like not 20Ks of ridiculously fast work. Like I'm not in a marathon block or anything. So it's been a long time since I've run flat for this long. so And also it was absolutely freezing and raining and cold. It was horrible condition. So it was great to go, oh, I'm in summer tomorrow when I was doing this. um But yeah, I think I averaged over the 20Ks. I think I averaged 349s, but that was with a 359s, I should say. So like just under four minute Ks.
00:18:55
Speaker
um But um that was with starting a little slower at like 404s and then my last 2K being the fastest, I think at like 348. So um a good consistent session. Like I was able to talk to Tim the entire time. It was really good. I had Tim on the bike. um And he was pretty much like Tim never helps us out on the bike. He never goes ahead or does any pacing for me and him. It's always just like, he's there to chat to, um, on these sessions. Cause like the whole idea is that I'm not going, I was not trying to go crazy hard. Um, just trying to get a good amount of volume in the legs at a decent speed. Um, so, and I think my heart rate was.
00:19:37
Speaker
well below threshold the whole time. So I was feeling pretty comfy. And it was nice because having not run that long on the flat for quite a long time, like I got to the last 2K and I was like, Tim, I feel like I could like run a marathon at a decent pace today. So the legs strength is there, um which was a good feeling to have. And then Yeah, spent the rest of the day. I suppose like when I say trying to recover, I didn't need to do too much recovery from that one. Like I honestly finished going, um I feel fine. Like I could keep running here. This is great. So um got on the plane and managed the, I think door to door it was well over 30 hours of travel. um But
00:20:22
Speaker
I'm used to it by now. The only rude shock to the system on this one was that I went from that freezing cold session where I had to have like a 20 minute hot shower to warm up afterwards. to landing in Geneva to 36 degree heat. So that was a shock. um Once I got to Annecy, I was actually meant to do a 30 minute run once I arrived after the travel, because I arrived at like, I'm going to say 3 or 4pm to Annecy, but I just could not get out in 36 degrees after 30 hours of travel. um So that one got canned real quick.
00:20:59
Speaker
I was even just going for a walk. I was like, nah, I can't do that one. So yeah, the rest of it, the week for me was pretty much just jogging. um I did skip the next day's double and put that on the elliptical as well in the gym because I did a heavy gym session and it was too hot outside again. So um elliptical it was. but um I did one of my favorite runs. If anyone ever does end up in Anasie, there's this um set of trails, I think it's called Semnos um that runs up and yeah, Semnos. And so there's this looper that I've done before and it's essentially 10K with a thousand meters up and then 10K with a thousand meters down, but all on like beautiful single track, like super rocky and technical. I absolutely love it. um So if anyone is it is ever at Lake Anasie, check that one out.
00:21:52
Speaker
um That one was a sort of three hour adventure a couple days off the plane, but I was going super slow because I did feel like absolute crap. So um just volume for me. This whole week was about maintaining the volume and then lots of bike riding, lots of easy running. And then I finally got my way to Paris. I came to Paris on Friday to watch the 800 meter first round and that evening, which was bloody cool. But I tell you what, my brain is not cut out for being in a stadium that is loud. I actually like I loved it and hated it at the same time because I was so much like I don't know where to look or what to listen to. um But yeah, in Paris, it's been hot. It's like actually it's not been that hot. It's been quite nice, but um easy touring touring run of Paris with very crap feeling legs yesterday and then ah
00:22:49
Speaker
ah sorry on Saturday and then a 31k um three hour or just under three hour long run again on the Sunday so two three hour runs in there just to make up for the fact that I was never at any point feeling up for anything fast or session like my legs this time around which it's always different took a good few days to feel anything like normal off the plane um so it was Yeah, switching out some sort of harder running for volume to maintain. I think I still got 120K and almost 11 hours of running for the week, even with the travel. So ticked that box and now I'm feeling good, which is nice. Cause I've got my first session while overseas tomorrow. So.
00:23:31
Speaker
When is your first race? My first race is um the 17th. So not this weekend, next weekend. So two weeks from now, um which is a good timing, it feels like, even though that week kind of feels a bit like a lost week in terms of intensity, like because I still maintain the volume and now I feel really good and fresh. um I'm feeling good. My main concern was getting sick and I i was wearing a mask the entire flights on both of them even though I hate doing that on flights because I'm just I'm so paranoid about getting sick before this first race. um So yeah for me I'm i I'm sighing a big sigh of relief at this point so far. um I do have one plane fight left to get through praying that I don't pick up anything because
00:24:21
Speaker
I keep seeing like athletes going down with COVID at Paris and all sorts of things. I'm like, I can't, I couldn't deal. Like I just don't want to get sick. I used to travel with a mask on way before COVID. So I think probably 2017, 90% of the flights that I've done were with masks on. I was like the only one on the plane with the masks. I was always scared of getting sick. Yeah, to be honest, my biggest worry was the bloody on Friday evening going to the Olympics in the stadium like I'm in a stadium and you're packed in like sardines and it was one of those things where I'm like, this is the experience of a lifetime because it is insanely cool here.
00:25:01
Speaker
But I had the guy behind me, he was ah Italian or something, and he was screaming. I could like feel his spit hitting the back of my bloody head. And I was like, oh my God, I'm about to get seen. And then the person next to me would sneeze, someone else would cough. And I'm like, oh, I can't deal because you're surrounded as thousands of people. Oh, that was definitely the one moment I was like, oh my gosh. Are you wearing a mask? That's a paranoia feel. That's a paranoia feel. Only runners, distance runners, like no. Yeah. Every time you hear anybody sneezing or coughing, you literally walk away, start breathing through your nose.
00:25:41
Speaker
yeah yeah and no I wasn't wearing a mask Jess, because hello if you're in the outdoors, um so part of me is like, I know that at least being in the outdoors is helpful in terms of ah spread and stuff, but I've like, it's, yeah, I don't know. I probably should have been wearing a mask, but by the time you're like going to the bathrooms and touching all that, I had hand sanitizer and those sorts of things. but Yeah, no mask on that one. i'm I'm meant to be going again tonight to the stadium and I might wear a mask this time because it feels like I got away with it once and I might not get away with it twice, but um the paranoia of getting sick is alive and well and I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow flying to a tiny little mountain town where there's not many people and I can avoid humans for the next two weeks um but before the race, so.
00:26:34
Speaker
I'm not cut out to be a city girl, that's for sure. like I don't do well travelling by myself in cities. So what is the first race? ah The first race is Tatra um Sky Marathon, which is so the Golden Trail World Series. They have Siers and I'll coming up next weekend, which I could have and maybe should have done, um but I opted against it. And I'm starting out at Tatra, um which is one week later in Poland. Reason being that, um yeah, you're meant to do well, your points count from four races in the series and then plus the final.
00:27:15
Speaker
Um, I was meant to do the two races in Asia earlier in the year, but being injured, I wasn't even running at the time. Um, and then, so I could have done Siesenal, Tatra, and then the two races in the US. But with how stacked Siesenal is with having a fairly compromised season so far, I'm kind of hedging my bets on that going into Tatra fresher, which is a race that suits me a lot better than Siesenal. I'm, will hopefully make up for any points that I might've lost. at Siesenal cause like I could have come so far back at Siesenal that I get like 10 points back and it wouldn't have been worth it. Um, so yeah, then again, I could have had a good day, but you I'm just, I'm trying to go, well, there'll be other people that are slightly more tired cause they have done Siesenal and I'm rocking up to the second race in this two week block, fresher, ready to go and just targeting that one and kind of just.
00:28:11
Speaker
I'm in a mindset where I'm just willing to go all out and see what happens. Cause I have nothing to lose. I just didn't feel like I was even going to have a series this year. So to be here, I'm like, Hey, let's go for it. See what happens. Um, yeah, looking forward to it, but, um, are you doing the two races in the US? Yeah. Yep. Yep. So I'm doing tetra, the two races in the US and the final, they're my only four races while I'm here. Um, normally I would try and chuck in a few more to make the most of being over in Europe, but just, I dunno, with it, with the year and a half I had in the lead up to this, I'm not about to get greedy with how many races I do. And I'm trying to make the most of, um, staying healthy and just getting some good races that I can learn a lot from and get good experience from, which makes, yeah, following the series is kind of an easier way to get that done.
00:29:06
Speaker
um and feel like you're working towards a big goal by the end of the year. um Yeah, and it feels like with um an extra month of training, the back-to-back races in the U.S. feel less risky than doing Sies and Alintetatra, I think. Yeah, that makes sense. We'll see how we go. Obviously, I'll still be aiming to get in the top 30 by the end of the season. I'm not gonna be surprised if I'm outside the top 30 having only had three results in the lead-in to the final. but I do know then that racing the final, your points still accumulate now. So I can accumulate enough points to maybe end up in the top 30 by the end of the final. um So yeah, that's kind of the aim. We'll see how we go. um theres a There's every chance that if I have a really good one at Tatra, that I put myself in a good spot to maybe get there before the final. So we'll see. We'll see. Cool. Well, that recaps where we're all at.
00:30:04
Speaker
um, for our last week here there and everywhere, um, and all over the world. But we have had a listener question come in, which we're going to discuss a little bit now. We can't go into too much depth because this is going to be one of those questions that has a lot of, it depends, um, and sides to it. But we've been asked is nine to 10 hours of running for a three week peak block. before tapering into a hundred kilometer race. Okay. Now I'm assuming this question means, is that enough? um Is that going to get them fit enough or be enough to manage a hundred K race? Um, which is where I'm going to say the, it depends come in because the three week peak block is not the be all end all when it comes to racing and
00:30:54
Speaker
running healthily and um consistency over a long period does a lot for you. But um Vlad, what are your initial thoughts on, like, I know you personally have a lot of volume, me too, we like a lot of volume, but that nine to 10 hours mark, just for your average punter trying to get 100K done, um you'd say that's enough? Yeah, I think if the goal is just to finish, um then I think it's okay. Obviously, like I think when I started running um and my first race was pretty much a 100k race, I was so scared that I won't finish the distance that I ran 75k training run three weeks before the race.
00:31:38
Speaker
um yeah Um, which took probably about nine hours, uh, for that one single run. Um, but yeah, I think that obviously if the goal is just to finish, then yes, but saying that that's probably on the lower. And for mid pack runners to like, obviously top runners, they'll probably try and put some. bigger week, so at least add some cross training to that week. I think if you have a look at a lot of guys that are training for 100k races today, they put a lot of time on the bike or um
00:32:15
Speaker
other cross trainings, so they do get a bit more volume without the impact of running. But yeah, there's so many ifs and what's and the experience of the runner and how the the whole block looked like and how long the block was that it's a bit hard to say. Yeah. Yeah. um And Jess, you haven't touched this sort of distance overall before, but um you currently would do nine to 10 hours, I think. in your training on your bigger weeks? Yeah, I don't really look at the hours, but let me have a look at my bigger weeks. Spoken like a transport course trail person. I feel like hours definitely becomes a thing the longer distance you go and also the longer you you're in trail because like sometimes that distance that you run means absolutely nothing. like You can have a 10K that takes
00:33:07
Speaker
45 minutes or a 10 day that takes two hours. yeah Um, they're very different runs. Yeah. No, my, my bigger weeks were like close to 10 hours, but not quite. Um, but yeah, the only thing I'll add is that like, yeah, it really does come down to the individual. Like some big, some like quite good elite runners, like they just can't handle mileage. Um, uh, like, I don't know me in particular, like I'm probably more of a quality over quantity person. even though I'm yet to sort of run an ultra, um, I don't think I've ever really like run super high mileage wakes. Um, like leading up to the marathon, I probably did like one 30 ish at most, which is like, obviously nowhere near as much as, um, like an Izzy bad Doyle or, um, like a Lisa Waitman would do. Um, so I think you've just got to sort of figure out what works for you around your work schedule, um, around life, because,
00:34:03
Speaker
there's so many different factors that come into like how much running your body can actually absorb. Yeah, for sure. And another thing that comes hugely into the differences in training when you're training for things like a nine to 10 hour week made up of like five, one hour runs, a two hour run and a three hour run is very different to a nine to 10 hour week distributed where you've got a six hour run somewhere in there. um So it's, ah distribution is kind of how you differentiate between a lot of the distances and like I've trained people to run 100k off a lot less than that. I've trained people to run 100k off six to seven hours of running a week but they as you've said Vlad they're doing a lot of biking or they've got so much consistency and a lot of other activity in their day to day life that the strength is there and we just need the right amount of conditioning to make the distance. This is people that are just trying to make the distance so
00:35:01
Speaker
it's possible to do these things. Like I've seen far too many people do it off, almost nothing to know that it's it's possible off a lot less than you would think. um But it depends very much on on your goals and your history. And like, there's there's that walking that fine line between I've got some people that really want to bump up the distance but um that they run every week, but it's at the expense of a higher injury risk and you've got to be very realistic with those sorts of things of where you're coming from versus what you're trying to do. um But yeah, I think the other aspect of this question is also just that taper and what that tapering looks like. So if you do have that nine to 10 hours um of
00:35:44
Speaker
at your peak for those three weeks. um And then say you've got the usual two-week taper. um Is that what you would normally do for a 100K distance tape of land? Is that still the two weeks or is it longer or shorter? I think it'll be shorter, I think. But then again, it depends how long the build. So for me, ah ah the longer the specific build then and like how well the build went, then I'm going to decide how long that taper is. And yeah, I think that tapering for me has changed over the years where I used to taper a little bit more and a lot less now. um So I think there's just, yeah, there's so many ifs and what's to this question and and the taper aspect. um But if I did look at three peak weeks, then I would look at about
00:36:37
Speaker
You know, kind of maybe seven to eight days of like fairly strong taper. Two weeks could, yeah, it could be, could be good enough if it could, it could even have three week taper if you had a 12 or 13 week block, you know. um But yeah, if it's a. depending on the block and how many times you've done it. um My taper has changed so much over the years and and I think it just comes down to how I'm feeling as well. Like, am I feeling really fit? If I'm not feeling that super fit, the taper could be three or four days if I feel like you know there's no point tapering um too much, then I won't taper as much. um Yeah, taper is is a funny thing that will change over time and there's so many things that come into
00:37:27
Speaker
tape a week. What about you Jess? What do you do for tape? I feel like I'm pretty different to what you guys have said before. like I like to really pull back like a lot. like and it like Take my runs as easy as possible and like not expend an ounce of extra energy that I don't have to. like I would be happy to like not even do like a fast session or anything like before the race. I just yeah'm want to do like literally like hardly anything. like I think like going out for a jog and just like moving the body is good. So I wouldn't just literally learn the couch. But yeah, I just want to go as slow as possible in my easy jobs in the taper week before a race. Would you do just the week though, or do you do longer tapers? I guess for the marathon, which is probably the only longer race that I've got to draw examples of, that was almost a four-ish week taper.
00:38:25
Speaker
you do your longest run, which for me was like a 40k long run four weeks out. And then um from there, you're sort of pulling back the mileage very gradually. And then the last, the last two weeks are sort of like pulled back quite a lot in the mileage, um still keeping a little bit of intensity. So I think there was still um like a track session and a temporary, but the distance of the temporary would reduce and the, um amount of reps on the track would reduce as well and then like your easy runs would be pulled back as well um and long run would be sort of ah going down to like a 20k I think the Sunday before and um yeah. This is tapering. I actually love the science of tapering. I've done a lot of research into it. It is very individual. I know there's one major paper that essentially shows because sometimes people get a little bit um
00:39:23
Speaker
I think you get caught up in thinking the taper is the be all end all, but I think the taper is shown to improve performance anywhere from 0.5 to I think about 5%, but the 5% of the outliers. So normally you're only going for that extra 1% to 2% on what you would be able to do with the zero taper whatsoever. So with a well with a well structured program. So they think the few things that come into a taper is that the tapers only beneficial if you've actually trained hard enough and long enough to warrant a taper. um So that's where sometimes you might find like someone um needs more momentum into a race if they haven't actually had enough much training in the lead up. So the taper ah
00:40:08
Speaker
was almost non-existent in some cases, and that's actually gonna be beneficial. But um I think in the case of... Like, like for me, I don't like a huge taper and that's what it's like. And this is where it's all individual cause Jess is obviously different and there are definitely people that this doesn't necessarily apply to, but usually the research shows that the most important factor in a taper is that the intensity is maintained so that you don't have a detraining effect during the taper. Um, but the volume, the frequency is also maintained. So that's how many runs you do per week, but the volume drops.
00:40:45
Speaker
So your 60 minute run might become a 20 to 30 minute run or those sorts of things in a taper. um And personally, I usually like probably a one week taper, like my my long run two weeks out will still be quite big and then the what long run a week out will be less um less big. The other thing For 100K, for people tapering off either bigger mileage or much longer runs or something, like for 100K, you still want to maintain in your body that ability to keep going for a bloody long time. so like I have some of my more conditioned 100K runners a week out. They're still doing two and a half hours um on their Sunday long run, but that's because it's down from five or six.
00:41:30
Speaker
So that looks very different to someone who their longest long run was that two and a half hours. So they're doing 80 minutes or 90 minutes or something. So it's all very relative. But the the thing you want to look at is that in 100K, to be specific to this question, in a 100K training block, you've already got lower intensity and higher volume. So your taper is going to look similar in that it's going to be a lower intensity, higher volume taper than you would see for someone training for I suppose the races we are, which are the 20-30k or even shorter 5-10k half marathon kind of races. so
00:42:08
Speaker
Yeah, I think that that covers a lot of tape and stuff. Vlad, any thoughts? Yeah, talking about tape, I just brought up Killian Jornet's Strava on my computer. um ah So we are literally five days away for us from Sierra Zinal that Killian is going to run. Lazy has been uploading all this stuff on Strava so you can really see how much he's running. Um, so last week that finished yesterday is still put a 200 K week with almost 9,000 meters of elevation gain. And that's 20 hours of 20 hours and 23 minutes of just running plus two and a half hours of cycling. So we're looking at a 24 hour training week, um, 23 hours of training one week before one of his biggest
00:42:59
Speaker
races of the year. I mean, obviously this is a gold race for him. um The week before another big week with 20 hours of running, 217K with 7,000 meters of gain, um a little bit less cycling, only about an hour. um But yeah, you can have a look at Killian Jornet's training and have a look at the last six weeks have all been around 24 hours of training. If you take the cycling and running around 20 hours of running and three or four hours of cycling every week. So not much tapering at all. So he's not going for a two or three week taper.
00:43:35
Speaker
um Very, very high volume. Obviously, this week is going to be a taper week, I'm sure, but you see that even like five days out, um still pretty much normal training in many ways. The Killian on tip on another note though, Killian is about as outlier as outliers get. um So in terms of someone who's even able to train that 24 hours a week back to back to back and he doesn't seem to get too badly injured or anything like that. And the volume of work behind him is very, very different to even your average elite, let alone your average runner. So I'm not sure anyone else should apply what Killian does to what they're doing. Yeah, no, absolutely. And I mean, I think there are a few runners that are putting this kind of volume um in Europe as well.
00:44:25
Speaker
I guess another example is Roberto de la Ronzi was a bit younger. He's only about 30 year old. um Still fairly high volume. And if we have a look at his training, last week was still 13 hours of running, um which is not much of a taper. you know, still putting 140k with 6,000 meters of gain one week again, five days before a Q race for him, so Sierra Zinal. So I think tapering for trail races is probably a bit different than road running tapering and same as recovery. like
00:45:02
Speaker
you run a marathon on the roads, your recovery is going to be a lot longer than a marathon on the trails. If you obviously if you've been running on the trails for a while, if this is not your first trail race, if this is your first trail race, yeah, the recovery might be longer. um But overall, like road running, I feel like you know, the taper could be a little bit longer, even though I know that Kip Choggy or like from what I've read online and and people talking about Kip Choggy's training, his taper is not that crazy, not that long as well. um And I think people, like the general feel from my point of view is that people have been tapering a bit less. They used to overtaper in many ways and then get to races.
00:45:46
Speaker
feeling a bit kind of tired and weak and the tension in the muscles obviously it's not the same when you're over taper. So I feel like yeah taper is very personal but also the general thought of taper has been not as long as what it used to be because it used to be like yeah three or four weeks of taper it's like a normal thing where today I feel like taper is a little bit shorter for many of their elite athletes. Yeah, yeah i would I would agree there. what what it yeah What is your taper going to look like before um the race in Poland, the terror?
00:46:22
Speaker
um Tatra. Good old Tatra. Yeah, it's gonna look ah fairly normal for me, which um which is where like, i having traveled with so many elites, at least it's not in the longer distance though, this is in this 20k sort of distance, um people. um There are definitely some that taper a lot more, like Jess, and absolutely rip. And then there are others that taper a lot less. For me, I taper less. So like my long run this weekend is still, I will run the whole course. So that's going to be like 30K on the Saturday before, um which because it's a Saturday race, so that's seven days out, I'm still running a 30K.
00:47:04
Speaker
longer run. Now I don't actually have a huge amount of 30k long runs in my legs anyway so I don't feel a huge need to do a whole amount of taper. So this week I've still got, this week is perfectly normal if anything. It's because I'm two weeks out, I've got a session tomorrow, a flat session and then a hill long hill session Thursday. I'm still doing my 30k Saturday um and then on the week of the race Like I still double 60, 30 Monday. I've still got a 20K session on the Tuesday. And from there it gets super easy. Like I do 45, 45, 30 for the three days before. So I'm training almost as normal until four days out.
00:47:46
Speaker
um or three days out really. I've got three easy days in the lead into the Saturday race and that is fairly normal for me. It will look slightly different for the u US s races purely because I've got two races back to back. So I like to go into that first race just a little bit fresher um so that I can still get just one session in in between the races to keep the legs sharp without being too fatigued. Um, but yeah, that's my, that's my kind of taper. And I will say though, that at this point, I still do look at the fact that, well, most of the work is done. So if anything goes even slightly awry, these are the two weeks where I will cut things left, right and center.
00:48:27
Speaker
if things aren't going okay, um or if I'm tired from travel or if things like that, but all going well, I essentially train as normal, yeah, until four days out. Yeah, I really think that the last two days play like the biggest role. So I think like, um you know, if you can, even if your taper wasn't that long, like if you can really take it easy the last two or three days before the race with whatever you're doing, not just training, it makes a massive difference. I know that days is where you know you spend a bit too much sightseeing the day before a race, you know even though you're not running, you're still spending time on your feet. That makes a massive difference with um you know how you're going to do in the race. so
00:49:09
Speaker
Yeah those last two days for me like I'm staying in an Airbnb by myself I'll just be absolutely chilling and like this okay I have the confidence to do this based off the fact of having done it before and like even my marathon PB which was a bloody um solo time trial so it's not by any means official But six days before my marathon PB, my long run was 42Ks. We only decided I was doing it 48 hours before. Then I went into a massive 48 hour, like I'm putting my legs up and doing absolutely nothing. And I felt great on the day we did that marathon. um Six days after my long run being 42K. So like,
00:49:50
Speaker
I put a lot of, ah I like what you've just said. I do put a lot of value in those last two to three days, not too much in the rest of it. Like the rest of it, I know I can go in and I like momentum personally, but I know Jess, you would, you would not do what I'm doing obviously. Cause yours sounds low. Yeah. Yeah. Actually I don't even know um what my training is for the like beyond this week. Cause I'm many up in their coach on Wednesday, but, um, Yeah, it's been I've learned a lot a little bit from this chat actually, because um I didn't realise that trial marathons
00:50:27
Speaker
is less recovery than a road marathon, so I'm very happy to hear yeah that. Well, that's not gospel. Like, this is your first trail marathon. oh Yeah. It definitely depends. It's just the fact that you've got left you've got less repetitive motion. You're less beat up by the roads as compared to the roads just by that repetition, the hard surface, every step being the same. Like, you're not you're using such different muscles. You'll be hiking in parts. um so I think speak to any long-term trail runner and they'll definitely say that, and I can personally say for me, like I recover so much better from a trail race than a road race. I would not do two 30k road races on back-to-back weekends, but I'd happily do two 30k trail races um now, not when I got started. So don't take that as what's going to happen necessarily for you first.
00:51:21
Speaker
um How long would you guys say it should be my longest run? Like given I'm only five weeks away, I've only done three hours is like my longest run so far. How long is the race? Uh, so the race, the race is 44 K, but I reckon it's going to be like six plus hours of running. What's it normally one in? Like have you looked at past results? Um, I think Jill Fowler last year, she was like six and a half hours. Okay. So yeah, it'll be summer.
00:51:51
Speaker
somewhere between six and seven hours, I think, I don't know. I think, yeah, I mean, I think there's two ways of you doing it. um And I'll probably recommend doing the back to back long runs. So what I would do is I would have maybe one or two weekends where you would do like, a 30k and another 20k the next day or the other way around um with some efforts as well especially on the second day when you're really tired so being your first really long one I'll make sure that you have two weekends from now probably as soon as possible like maybe next weekend or the weekend after um where you are doing like six hours in a weekend
00:52:33
Speaker
and trying to keep it as race specific as possible. So yeah yeah, as much as you can. Obviously, it's not easy in Perth, but as much as you can, even if it's some hill repeats or like just getting very close to the elevation level and like slope slopes that you're going to get at that race. And the only way you might get it is just by doing hill repeats in Perth. Yeah. okay Yeah. Yeah. And I'd I'd second that in that that's exactly what I would give to people is those Um, and I think two weekends is perfect. They don't need to be back to back weekends, but, um, doing the back to back long runs. I would say that the first time I give someone that I actually put, if I'm going to put efforts in, I put them on day one and day two is longer, a bit easier after those efforts. And then the second time round is when I go the efforts on day two, just, that's just what I would normally give people just so that you have that, uh, experience of running long two days in a row.
00:53:31
Speaker
before you try and run hard on like super duper duper tired legs. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I sort of, I guess I sort of did that not last, not this weekend, the weekend before with like the session on the Saturday, that was like 20 something K and then the long run, which was like 28 K the day after. So I'll probably ah yeah do something similar to that this weekend. Nice, nice. Well, it'd be cool to track how that goes for you. Well, we'll all get to hearing. You can tell us your thoughts on the back to back long runs. Yeah, thanks for the advice, guys. That's all good, all good. Now, we can move on to... Oh, thanks for that question, by the way. That came through from Heath. But to move on, both me and Jess have a couple of little funny trail fails. Jess, I'll let you go with yours first. You won your shoes on race day.
00:54:27
Speaker
Yeah, I wore a fresh pair of the Chirico Max in my race yesterday, um which probably wasn't the smartest idea. I thought it'd be okay because I'd literally been training in the same shoe. But I think it's slightly different when you're doing trail, because um and especially because this course was like quite technical. There was a lot of um like different rocks and like jumping and um yeah like a lot more agility than like just a road run. um So your foot's like sliding around a bit and I got some pretty nasty blisters like on the back of my feet, which I don't get in my older pair. So I think the new ones were just like not broken in enough and they were just like rubbing a bit.
00:55:10
Speaker
um So yeah, don't recommend doing that. um try Don't recommend wearing new shoes on race day if you're doing a trail race. I'm pretty sure that is the, like, that's the first thing you say to a new runner, isn't it? Like, you don't wear a brand new pair of shoes on race day. So I don't think that's recommended. feel like I've always been fine, like, doing that with super shoes in a road race, but yeah, the trail is a bit different. Fair, fair. If you've done it before and pulled it off. But um yeah, I still wouldn't recommend it to anyone. At least do a jog in your shoes first. But um mine was slightly different. Mine was from my long run yesterday. So I used um Strava heat maps to map where I was going to run. And this is the first time this has happened ah where every single trail that I put myself on, I purposely went one of the ones with the strongest heat map.
00:56:08
Speaker
Now, one thing I had never factored in is this. I don't think all these heat maps, like they're not current always. So like, even though it has a massive heat map, doesn't mean the trail's not massively overgrown and like almost impassable because I did realize this mid run. I'm like, why is all these trails? Like they're clearly been awesome trails at some point. But a whole bunch of them had been completely overrun by every trail runner's worst nightmare, which is Blackberry bushes. Because those things are so painful to run through. And there was one point, I had a five minute stop in the middle of my run because my hair, got so my bun, got so entangled in some Blackberry thorns.
00:56:56
Speaker
that i had this bush pulling my head backwards while i was like trying to detangle it but i kept just pricking myself on the thorns and i could not for the life of me get disentangled from this bloody blackberry bush and so yeah a straight up five minute stop in the middle of my run because i was stuck in the bloody bushes um Yeah. Don't recommend running in blackberry bush territory. Just don't do it. The joys. Have you actually, have either of you ever actually run through blackberry bushes? No. yeah You don't even know what I'm talking about then. So they're horrible. I try, I try and stay, I try and stay on the trails. I was on the trail. I was definitely on the trail, but blackberry bushes are like every single bit of them is thorny.
00:57:46
Speaker
So every single bit that spokes out over the trail, like a like say a fern, and so you try and run through them and they just cut you to smithereens, like I'm covered in cuts all over me. um But they're like they like rose bushes, but thorn like even more thorny and tangly and ugh, they're horrible. So if you ever find one, they're really good for the mid run snack. Really bad to actually go anywhere near.
00:58:13
Speaker
so Anyways, that was my little funny predicament I caught myself in in my long run. But to move on to some trail running news, now this dropped like minutes before we started recording from what we could see. And this is tied in with a discussion that we had um two weeks ago on trail running in the Olympics. And this has obviously been timed to go with the fact that the Olympics are on right now um in Paris. But Itra today released a press release from Switzerland
00:58:50
Speaker
um essentially all about like the title of it is Trail Running's Olympic and Paralympic legacy. And the headline is that the International Trail Running Association is committed to champion trail running as an integral part of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. And it then it goes on, does go on to say that they, Itra believes the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics provide a golden opportunity to showcase our sports authenticity, diversity and popularity on the world stage, which is damn exciting for any Aussie trail runners that we might be the first one. and It has a quote from Michael Duggan, who is the coordinator from Oz that has been
00:59:37
Speaker
championing a lot of this. It also has a quote from Janet, the Itra president. um We will put a link to this in our show notes. But yeah, I think we've already discussed quite a bit about what like trail running in the Olympics. And there's been a lot of discussion in a lot of podcasts and media about it. But this is the first I've seen of like any so form of official press release from any of the, I'm not sure if you call it a governing body, but they're certainly a large body in our sport. So initial thoughts on on this one, Vlad? Yeah, I mean, I think they posted this like two hours ago and there's already been like 92 shares to the post. So obviously people are pretty excited about it. um
01:00:21
Speaker
I'm kind of, you know, I was kind of hoping that, they would you know, 80s seems like a long way to get a sport in the Olympics. um So I was kind of hoping that, you know, l LA would have been the first one. And it might still be like, I still think like four years is obviously they have to get it in a bit sooner than four years. But um trail running in the US is exploding right now. Obviously, it's exploding in Australia, but I think it's next level in the US. um So I feel like you know there might be a small chance that it could even happen before and in l LA. and And outside of LA, there's some beautiful, beautiful trails. so It definitely gives the organizers a lot of options for trails just outside of the of l LA um for the 2028 Olympic Games. um But also, I feel like Aitra right now is going head to head with UTMB and UTMB last few weeks have been launching new races left, right and center. um This week they announced a new trail race in Japan. A few weeks ago, another one that they um they released, they've been releasing a lot of races. So I feel like Aitra, obviously this is a good time for them to to talk about the intention of having
01:01:40
Speaker
the the train having trail running in the Olympics during the Olympic Games. But also I feel like it's almost like I would need to come up with something because UTMB is like firing new races left, right and center. So ah um this is a good way to stay a bit more relevant together with, you know, having Morton on board as a sponsor for, for Itra. I feel like Itra is trying to like push all its resources um to stay a bit of a bit more relevant in trail runners minds at least. um And yeah, something like that would definitely kind of push them forward in in the headlines as well. Yeah.
01:02:19
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. On the um LA front, I think Jess, you flagged this, that the sports for l LA might have already been kind of finalised. I know they're adding, interestingly, they're adding T20 cricket, they've added baseball, they've added flag football, which I'm not even sure what flag football is, but that's now an Olympic sport for LA. um And they've added lacrosse and they've added squash. So um that was announced, so like I'm just looking at a press release from last year. um But I'm not, ah yeah, so like, I'm not sure whether it's maybe too late for the 2028. Sounds weird saying that when it's still four years away. um But likewise, i yeah damn exciting if it could somehow be added there. l LA would be a damn cool place to have it. But um
01:03:11
Speaker
Yeah, even even if it's like if Brisbane's the earliest they can get it, then the earlier earliest they can get it is is better than nothing. And with the amount of sports now that are being added, it kind of does feel like, okay, come on guys, like we can do this, surely. I know. Yeah, I was gonna say, like I'm looking at all the sports in the Olympics now, and I'm like, surely trail running should already be there. You've got like so many different formats of cycling, like road cycling, track cycling, mountain biking, BMX. like I think tri-riding should definitely be there. What about brake dancing? I actually thinking about the like the running to cycling comparison, where you've got the marathons, you've got the road race, you've got the track cycling, like i'd almost that's um and then the track running. so I put them as fairly similar. Then you've got the the mountain biking, um which
01:04:06
Speaker
and this similar to trail running, I almost like my brain went even further and go, well, they've got like the BMX and the trick things and stuff. So could you have like a yeah a pure ah purely downhill, like a really short downhill run and a really short uphill run kind of thing of like just making it a massive spectacle. I don't think that's going to happen. That was me and my little dreams of this massively varied running thing in the Olympics. But um But yeah it is kind of akin to the fact that they've got all the different things in cycling so maybe we can we hope that they will have the. All the different disciplines in running cuz it it'd like it's you don't do people don't necessarily always compared like mountain bikers to road cyclists the way that I feel like trail runners runners get compared.
01:04:53
Speaker
Um, which is interesting because it's like they're almost, they're, they're more willing to recognize those as very different skills, different sports, but in running, sometimes people view them as sort of the same thing or like different versions of the same thing, which, which yeah, it's just interesting when you put it that way, like you don't expect the best mountain biker to be the best road cyclist. But sometimes when a trail runner steps out onto the road, people for whatever reason, like compare them directly to all the road runners. Um, in some ways, but it's like you've got different strengths, different capabilities, and like it takes different a different training approach to do each different sport. so
01:05:33
Speaker
um That being said, this year's marathon um has has a good ah has some damn good hills and descents in it. So I reckon there's what one at least one of the guys is an orienteer trail runner that's in there. So I reckon he's going to do bloody well, at least in that section of this road race. Yeah. um Who is it? Matthew Kybers? Is that who it is? Um, oh, damn, I could have butchered that name, but there's definitely Brody will know this. This is where we need Brody. Um, but, um, there's definitely at least one, but yeah, I think, um, you know, what would be cool though. What?
01:06:10
Speaker
It would be cool if we had team relays, because I feel like triathlon is doing a great job. um Track, you know, with with that 400 team um relay that that night was so cool to watch. I reckon trail running could have something similar where like, you know, mixed relay team of like a 3k loop or something like that, or a 4k loop where it's is straight up and down. What about an uphill downhill relay? One person runs up the hill, another person runs down. Yeah, that was so much fun. But I mean, I think the transit, like you need like a good transition area where everybody is there. That's what makes it pretty special. So it would be cool if it's like, you know, 150 meters up or 200 meters up and then 200 meters down um in like a short space. So it's pretty steep. um And then, yeah, a mixed relay. I think that will add a lot to the sport. And hopefully, Aitro would, you know, kind of get that
01:07:06
Speaker
something like that happening in one of the world champs coming up soon, um because I feel like that will add so much. And I think also for the athletes, like it's a bit more fun, it's a bit more relaxed, and it takes away some of the pressure from the main event when you know that like two days later you have a relay race, like a proper team relay event. I just feel like it would bring a bit more team spirit to the event, to the whole sport in general. Yeah. I love that idea. Hadn't even thought of that yet. And damn, that would be exciting. Well, if it does happen, we can say that we brought it out here in the podcast first. We'll take all the credit.
01:07:47
Speaker
I'm not sure I'm never comfortable claiming any idea I have as a new idea because I'm like it's got to have been planted there by someone at some point. oh Love it. Well, watch this space. I sincerely hope that this continue conversation continues with Ernest after the conclusion of these Olympics. Having spoken to Michael Duggan, Adam, Brisbane, like we'll have to get him on actually and he can talk us through the whole process of what they're actually doing and um where everything's are at. But I know that he said that world athletics, because it's going to come under world athletics for the Olympics, um said that they'd be willing to talk after the conclusion of this Olympics, which makes total sense. They're kind of busy right now.
01:08:32
Speaker
Um, but, um, but yeah, watch this space. We'll get Michael on, um, for an interview at some point and talk through it and see, cause it's, uh, it's after being announced a couple of years ago, it does seem like it's gaining some momentum now, which is cool. This press release is proof of that. I'd say. Yeah, and I mean, if we just look at amount of participants that will watch the Olympics, the trail running in the Olympics, I think like trail running would stand to be ah to be like one of the top viewed sports out there. Like if we look at shooting, like how many people actually like shoot or do archery, like a fair amount of people. But obviously there are more trail runners out there that would be kind of like, oh, that's my sport. I'm going to follow it in the Olympics. I'm going to watch that. um So I think like the viewership
01:09:20
Speaker
for trail running could be fairly high if it does make it to the Olympics. Definitely higher than some sports. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, watch this space, guys. um But to bring it back to our nice, lovely Aussie, I keep hearing it described as the largest island or like this massive continent when I keep hearing um a lot of the commentary on the Olympics. So our massive island. um Back at home, we have one, two, three, four, five, six. We've had seven bigger races with some really cool results um that we're going to cover some of the races of each around the country. Now, I'm going to start off with the trail running series in Sylvan. um So their long course race in Sylvan was 22K and I haven't got the um elevation gain and loss, but
01:10:14
Speaker
um Yeah, and I actually haven't run around Sylvan myself. So the men's was won by Tom Hall in one hour 32 and two seconds. In second place was David Scott in an hour 35. And then in third place was Simon Angus in one hour 36. So nice and tight there for second and third in the women's uh in an hour 41 10 which seems damn speedy um oh it has 700 up and down so this is 22k with 700 up and down finally found it
01:10:52
Speaker
But in an hour forty-one was Mia Noble got the win and in second place not far back in an hour forty-one fifty-eight. So what's that? Forty-eight seconds back was Katinka Von Elsner-Wellstein, who was the runner up at ah the Golden Trail National Series. So I'm not I've never heard I'm not sure of who Mia is, but ah That's a bloody fast time and a good win by her. And then Sarah Lee was in third in an hour 55. That was Sylvan. But to take us to another trail series, Jess, take us through the how the rest of the races went. Yeah, so um we also had ah the blue course, which is also part of that state chant. So that's ah the races that were all around 10K.
01:11:43
Speaker
Um, and this one was like an out and back course on the Monday Biddy trial. Um, so in the men in first place, we had Radek Dizkowski in 41 minutes, 34. Um, and then in second place, we had Renny Hobbs in 42 minutes, 13. And then third place was Dane Sproxton in 44, 12. um And I think Dane is under 18, so well done to him. This one was called Truth and Consequences, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah. How do they pick their names? I'd love to know, because they've got some downhill names. I usually have no idea. I don't know where the Truth and Consequences comes from, but yeah, the race organiser is a very, like,
01:12:35
Speaker
funky lady. So she's, yeah, very creative with the race names. Love it. um And then, so there was the black course, which is the half marathon course that I did. um And this one was probably lacking a bit of depth just because there was also a 50k on um at this event. So ah in the men, we had Brendan Varia in first place in two hours, 06. um And then second place was Angus Curry in 2 hours 14. And third place was Brenton Strachan in 2 hours 20. And then in The Ladies, second place was Petra Gerejin in 2 hours 30. And then third place was Annabelle Bouchard in 2 hours 38. Nice. Do you want to run through who won the series?
01:13:29
Speaker
off of both of those, like the overall podium for the series? Yeah, ah it hasn't been officially announced and ah I wouldn't know the 10K ones, but yeah I know the half marathon um ones, but we can announce it another week once it's official. Yeah, makes sense. Did you want me to go through the 50K as well? Because there was a couple of good runners in that one. Yeah, go for it. So in the men, um Alan Bilitec, was first place in four hours 46, which is a pretty decent time on that course. um It had 1600 meters of vert, so it was two laps of ah the course that I did. um And then Mitch Crook, so he's another sort of junior under 21 runner who's just gone straight to the ultra distances and killing it. um He did four hours 53. And I think both of those guys did transcend as well and did pretty well, so um good to back up from that one.
01:14:27
Speaker
um And then third place was Fred Proll in Five Hours Flat. And then in The Ladies we had Kirsten Boost, who's usually on the podium in the half marathon distance. So she was first in Five Hours 52. Chanel Allison was second in Five Hours 56. And Mandy Bull was third in Six Hours 09. Nice. And then another race that we had on was over in Canberra. um And that was the Shri Chin Mui 100k. This one looks pretty cool. um So it pretty much like goes around all of the different trails around Canberra, um climbs up the different mountains, so Mount Ainslie and um Black Mountain and Mount Stromlo. So yeah, it's a pretty cool way to see Canberra.
01:15:15
Speaker
um So... I think it had like two, a bit over 2000 meters of vert over the 100k, so yeah, pretty decent. of And for the results, it's sort of split up by agendas, but so in the men, we had Reese McKenzie in nine hours 25, and i I think that was a fairly decent run, because I saw someone post about it being like one of the most amazing runs in Canberra, so well done to him. um And second place was James,
01:15:47
Speaker
quite feet in 9 hours 49 and third was Benjamin Butler in 10 hours 41 and then over to the women we had the amazing Steph Austin in 9 hours 47 so she actually gained second overall um so incredible run by her um and then second was Cassie Cohen in 11 hours 20 and third was Anne-Marie Cook in 11 hours 21 very nice damn fast runs going on there That's cool. I'm going to take us back down to Tasmania. um Now in Tasmania that we had the Kunanyu Trail series. So one of their bigger trail series down in Hobart. This weekend was the Telosa half.
01:16:34
Speaker
um So this one's a half marathon with 800 or so meters, 830 meters up and down. um And it was won on the women's side by Jill Lyle, who people may remember her name being spoken about in the Golden Trail National Series. So she's still ripping up the trails down in Tassie in an hour 58. um Then in second was Petra Mellis Walsh in two hours four and in third, Amy Noakes in two hours six. And now someone, um someone I coach actually ah was also in this race. And she said that it was really cool to be part of because it's the deepest and fastest race that they've had for this one. So normally she said about 10 women or so go under the two hour 30 mark. And this year they had 23.
01:17:27
Speaker
um And it was ah really some really fast times up the front there. So that's really cool to see. um And then in the men's, the winner was Titch Hagger in an hour 35.14. And not far behind him was Charles Gunn in an hour 35.44. And not far again behind him was Mark Izzelli in an hour 36.07. So less than a minute between first and third Um, another cool thing I'm going to give Kanani Trail Series and Toulouse a half a shout out for, uh, is apparently, I think it might be their mini race is pram friendly so that people can run with prams. Um, at least that's what I've been told by someone that was there. So that's really cool. Cause you don't often see a pram race in a trail. Um, but really cool to see. And then.
01:18:19
Speaker
Across in South Australia, um this is part of the trail running South Australia on the trails series. They had their Mount Crawford run. um This was 24K with 700 up and down. And that was won by Andrew Heitman in an hour 54.16. and then second was Mark Rootley in the now 55-24 and third Cameron Priest in the now 57. On the women's side, first was Lauren Rook, another well-known essay run trail runner in two hours four. This must be her last run before she goes across to race OCC. um I think she won her spot in OCC via
01:19:07
Speaker
UTK last year so that's really cool to see her getting the win here and then in second Ellie Davis in two hours ten and third, Brunard Lanzoni in two hours 13. Just quickly also on the 17K run in um in South Australia here. So first place in the female in the 17K was Indiana Zamet, who's gonna be competing in Switzerland at the Golden Trail Final for our under 23s in an hour 16. And first place on the men's in the 17K was Max Stevens, who I think,
01:19:44
Speaker
I know that name from Track and Road. um Correct me if I'm wrong, but might be part of Team Tempo. So really cool to see him coming across if it is the same Max Stevens. um But yeah, both awesome ah series races, so there's been lots of series races going on, but then there was a standalone race up in New South Wales with some bloody fast times and big runners. You've got that one, Jess? Sorry, yeah. So, yeah, the Borrello bush run over in Hawkes through New South Wales. um So there's a couple of different distances. There's a 16K and then the longer course, which is a 34K. So we'll just cover the results in the 34K.
01:20:29
Speaker
So that one had 800 meters of elevation gain. Um, and in the female, we had Emily Brunt in first place in two hours, 50, uh, Jill Fowler. So, um, she came second in three hours, oh five. Um, and Leah Saunders was third in three hours, 19. Um, and then in the men, we had Ben St. Lawrence. So he's a bit of a, superstar um in the trails and road I think. um in He was first place in two hours 15 and then second place is Alexander Matthews in two hours 26 and third was Sean Brunt in two hours 33.
01:21:14
Speaker
I'm laughing at the, I think they're yes, cause it's only like the guy that held our 10K track record for a bloody long time. Sorry, Benny. I, sorry. I know I've seen your name around like all over the place. I just don't know what your athletes are. Sorry. Oh, Benny Sain. He's yeah one of the best. Go Benny. um And it's good to see him it ah as usual. He jumps in the trails. I think he was recently winning or podiuming at their cross country and He's been around for years and years and years. so
01:21:45
Speaker
um Yeah, go Ben. um Now our last Aussie results that I've got was up at the Border Bolt Running Festival in Queensland. um This one was a 31K. On the men's side it was won by Thomas Brimelow in 225. In second was Jack Gill in 226, two hours 26. So that was nice and close and some very speedy runners. But then not far back was also Kieran O'Brien in third.
01:22:17
Speaker
about 20 seconds behind Jack. um On the women's side of things, it was won by Courtney Gilfillan, who people may remember from the K'unani mountain run, and the Golden Trail race. I think she was second, um and she's and well much more well known for being a triathlete for Oz. In second not far behind was Ursula Adams who won the VK and the multi-day at Kunanyi and has some really cool race results to her name and then in third for the females was Kylie Turner.
01:22:54
Speaker
um Yeah, that covers many, many races around the country. There was obviously a lot going on and so many people out and about, which is really cool to see. But Vlad, you want to cover off your the race you were at, the Cat Ultra? Yeah, exactly. So Cat happened this weekend. It's a UTMB race. ah I was trying to have a look at some Australians, but I could only find two or three Australians in some of the other distances. um But on a different note, this was the first race in my family where three generations ran this race. So my daughter who is three and a half.
01:23:32
Speaker
Yeah, three and a half did the kids race. I did the 25K race and my dad who is about to turn 70 did the 8K race. It was a special family um event for us. And as I said before, like I highly recommend this race and the whole area around here in Austria um is really, really cool. But on the international side of things, next week could be one of the biggest trail races. In many ways, this trail race is famous for road runners and trail runners and a race where they collide um some more specific road runners with trail runners. This coming weekend, we're only five days away from the Sierras and Null.
01:24:18
Speaker
trail race, which is 32K with 2,300 meters of elevation gain. um This race sells out very, very quick. It's a massive event. They have different waves of starting times and pretty much goes from the town of Sierra in Switzerland to the town of Zinnel in Switzerland. It starts with a big uphill. so a fairly long uphill, which is about 10K, where you get most of your elevation. So about 2000 meters of elevation gain in 10K. And then it's a bit of a rolling, flat, beautiful trails before a slight downhill to the finish. So this is a net uphill race. um But yeah, it does it is a fairly quick race in many ways that it's not ah very technical. I've never done it. It's on my bucket list. It's a bit hard to get into.
01:25:16
Speaker
Have you done it, Sim? Yeah, twice. um I've had a crack at this one. it's a It's funny because the first time I did it, all i remember is um all I remember is everyone telling me how it was a flat, runnable race. um and Then I ran it for the first time and was like, this is anything but flat. There's 2,000 meters in the first bloody 10K. ah Yeah. Yeah. So it's a special, I guess it's a special kind of a race where, you know, it really plays in the hand of like somebody that does have speed, but also enough strength in their legs. um yeah So they're, you know, like I know that they've been like 210 marathon runners who've competed in in this race, but some of the trail runners, like the specific trail runners,
01:26:03
Speaker
usually get a bit closer to the top um of of like the results. um Having a look at the start list this year, there are 155 elite male runners and 85 elite female runners. So a massive um amount of elites that you know make it to this race and there will be some more kind of really good road runners that are not on the elite starting list um super competitive race out here but I think personally the battle that will be really interesting is Ramy Bonnet
01:26:40
Speaker
versus Kylian, Jeanette, and I'm going to call it that Kylian is going to win and Remy is going to come second. And in the females, I see a similar battle between um Judith from Switzerland and Mod from Switzerland. um I feel that those two would be really close. or One of them should be top three at least. um There are two Australians. There are probably more Australians, so but in the elite female um entry list, there are two Australians, Laura Hamilton and Sarah Short, which would be cool to see them race on the weekend. But Sim, what are your thoughts? Who's going to take this one? ah
01:27:25
Speaker
Damn, um that's a close one to call. I will say that this is probably like I'm actually half gutted that I'm not doing this one. It is one of the hardest, most stacked races you could possibly do. And they do such a good job of looking after the elites. And it's like there's one great big happy family with the best after party and everything. So um yeah, honestly, I couldn't go past Judith, I think, at this point. um I think she's just got such good strength. And that last downhill, even though it's not a huge downhill, the last sort of 2K is actually quite steep downhill. um And so it can be the difference between sort of who wins or not. And you you quite literally end running downhill, um which I think is going to play obviously into the hands of Judith over anyone else. So I just think after how strong she looked at Marathon de Mont Blanc, I don't
01:28:29
Speaker
Like I think I would say Judith is my favorite pick for the women's. On the men's side, like you can't bet against Killian, but i I'm definitely keen to see the battle, or you as you said, go down between Killian and Remy. I will say that I think the Kenyan runners, as part of that come Kenyan team, like Robert and Philamon and Patrick, I think all of them will be up there um with Killian and um Remy, even maybe Roberto Delorenzi, but I don't think it's probably, he's more on the technical side of things, he does amazing. But um yeah, I think there'll actually be a bigger pack than you think at the front.
01:29:09
Speaker
um And it'll be interesting to see pack tactics play out because I wouldn't be surprised if it's um Patrick or even Robert that is like actually leading for a good portion of the race. So I think last time I was there Killian might have even come fifth or so. um So ah Yeah, it'll be interesting to see. But yeah, that is the big race that is happening overseas in the international scene next week. But for races that are coming up around Oz that everyone in Oz can get excited about, um we have the Jabalani Challenge in New South Wales, which always looks so cool that through the
01:29:46
Speaker
I'm going to butcher this name, the Cooring Eye Chase National Park um on the coast of New South Wales. So it looks absolutely beautiful. And then one that I looked up and I've never heard of before, even though my family has lived did live in Wangaratta for a long time. is called the Quat Quat Trail Run in Wangaratta. That one has everything from a 6k to a 50k. One of the bigger races that's going on and is very well known around Victoria is peaks and trails in the Grampians.
01:30:19
Speaker
um always a really, really cool event to see. ah One of my ones I really want to do, just never seemed to be in the country. Then in Queensland, we have the Scenic Rim Ultra. Also in Vic, we have the Berry Long Run. That one's the 70K in Lurderg or that area, Macedon area. And then I put this one on here just for the name of it. I love it. There's a race called Up Down Black Down in Blackdown Queensland. ah That looks damn cool and I give them props for that name. And then over in South Australia, there is the Federation Ultra Trail, which looks amazing as usual for our South Australian runners. Now, what have you got coming up, Jess?
01:31:08
Speaker
I'm just going to try and recover from the race for the next couple of days. um And I've got, um just be like watching the Olympics at work and the Power Vault finals on, I think very early tomorrow morning. So I'll be the men's one that is. So I'll be watching that at work tomorrow. And then the women's is on the Wednesday. um So I'll take up the next couple of days and then I'll try and make some sessions later in the week. um And then, yeah, just getting ready for the move, so um trying to find rentals and um a lot of life admin stuff. Yeah, fun. I'm going to be in the stadium for that pole vault final tonight for the men's. So cool.
01:31:55
Speaker
Mondo and Curtis live, um which will be bloody cool. Now we have actually, which we've done well to make it this far. We made it 90 minutes without too many stuff ups, but um we've actually lost Vlad. So his Austrian internet has failed us for now, but um I'm surprised mine is still going. So we've already said farewell to Vlad. It's just me and Jess holding the fort. But um yeah, I think I'm going to be obviously in a stadium tonight, but I'm flying to Poland tomorrow. um That's actually, I think, quite a short flight, thankfully. My first time flying EasyJet. So we'll see how that goes.
01:32:34
Speaker
but um Yeah, session tomorrow as usual before the travel and then into my course checking over in Poland. I've never been to Poland. So for someone like me who being my annoying celiac gut, um every time I travel to a new country, I actually get quite nervous about it because I don't know necessarily what's going to be available in the supermarkets or anything like that. I do have a whole bunch of dehydrated meals and stuff I travel with just in case. um But there's this whole level of comfort I've got with like um all the countries I've been to before where I know what I can buy and eat and all those sorts of things. So yeah, the next few days will be figuring out the lay of the land in Poland um for the first time. But I feel like they eat a lot of potatoes over in Poland. So just find some of those.
01:33:26
Speaker
Good, good, I'll take potatoes. It's just I've always wanted to make sure that in like there their soups or their sauces or whatever they use traditionally and those sorts of things that they don't add anything that might contain gluten like the ah the ever present. I don't think it would be present in Poland but soy sauce and things like that that just yeah people don't even think about when it comes to gluten um can really get me at times. I can't imagine. Yeah, I can't imagine how hard that would be. <unk> You learn but and also to be fair, every single place I travel, um it costs a lot more money, but every single place I travel, I book a accommodation where I have a kitchen. So I always know that as long as I can get access to fresh fruit, veg and rice, I can survive.
01:34:15
Speaker
um But ah it's the travel days that get you the most because you're kind of at the mercy of whatever you can find, which I will say, Paris has been amazing. There's multiple entirely gluten-free bakeries and cafes and stuff here. So go Paris on the ah ceiling front. Yeah, unexpected. but But yeah, how are you going with all the time differences? Are you getting up at all for the Olympics? Because like even the marathon next week, is that at a good time or a bad time for you guys? Um, I think it's good because yeah, the morning sessions have been at a good time for us. It's sort of like early afternoon, ah great good good good but but yeah, the night and the night sessions are worse for us because for you, like you could sort of almost just get up early, like a five, a four AM or a five AM. But for us, it's like two AM. It's like.
01:35:03
Speaker
It's a bit too early. i'm I'm in the country. Like they're on at 7pm for me. They're at night time. I was thinking Eastern Standard. No, no not not even Eastern Standard. like i'm one of the Like even last night I was from 7 to 10pm, my viewing sorted. um It's perfect timing. to say Yeah, easy peasy. Cool. Well, I think we'll be able to to sign off on that front. Good luck with the the house hunt um over in Canberra.
01:35:36
Speaker
and Yeah, to everyone listening that's still listening, thank you so much for giving us your ears for the last hour and a half or so. um We hope that you have enjoyed. This has been episode 17 of the Pete Pursuits podcast, and we will speak to you next week. See you guys.