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Margaret River Ultra, Cocodona 250, and Why Are Trail Rankings So Confusing feat Nicole Paton | Episode 109
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In this episode of Peak Pursuits, Sim and James are joined by Nicole Paton to recap her win at Margaret River Ultra and update us on how her season so far has gone.
The chat then turns to the ITRA and UTMB ranking systems as we still try to figure out exactly how it all pieces together, before recapping the very high highs and very low lows of Cocodona 250.
Keep listening for some final UTA chat before the weekend including updates of starting lists, hear how James is feeling before he tackles the 22, and some incredible results from Aussies around the globe!
Results:
- Transvulcania
- Margaret River Ultra Marathon (WA)
- Wandi Cross (VIC)
- Run Narawntapu (TAS)
- Springsure Mountain Challenge (QLD)
- Sri Chinmoy Canberra Trail Series: Tidbinbilla Thriller (ACT)
***Don’t forget, use code PEAK at https://bix-hydration.myshopify.com/en-au for 20% off Bix products, exclusive to PPP listeners!***
Join us on Patreon HERE
Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
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Follow Sim: Instagram | Strava
Follow Nicole: 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 109
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 109. We just chatted about this episode 109 the Peak Pursuits podcast. My name is Simone Brick and I am joined today by James Seba. are we doing, James?
00:00:22
Speaker
I'm doing well. I'm just thinking of how many times we have to do an intro before we can get it right. 109 is obviously not quite enough, but we'll get there. No, I feel like the more i overthink the more you overthink it, the more it's like you're likely to get it wrong. And to be fair, I could probably very confidently say 106 or 110 and no one's going to notice.
00:00:42
Speaker
um So I should probably have just gone with confidence there.
Preview of Ultra-Trail Australia (UTA) Event
00:00:46
Speaker
But for this episode, we are obviously going to be chatting a lot about UTA with it coming up this weekend. It is UTA week. That's just always going to be the chat.
Nicole Patton Joins the Discussion
00:00:56
Speaker
But We are also lucky enough to be joined by Nicole Patton, who just recently had a ripper run on the weekend at Margaret River Ultra. So welcome, Nicole.
00:01:08
Speaker
Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me on. You are more than welcome. It's great to have you. And for those that ah Nicole is new to, as in you haven't heard from Nicole before, you can go back and listen to one of our episodes or interviews that James did, i think, in October last year, I'm going to say.
Nicole's Race Choices and Schedule
00:01:26
Speaker
sometime around then um with Nicole that goes more deep dive into the running and or everything so far. But I suppose the main thing we're interested in at this this week is your lead up to Margaret River and how it was going. And then, yeah, we'll get we'll get to race day soon. But, yeah, how's training been?
00:01:46
Speaker
How's life been? Yeah, so um I've had a really hectic start to the year. i've done a lot of races. um which each of them actually had a reason why i I sort of had to be there and had to do that race or wanted to do that race. And Margaret River was one I'd sort of picked out because I had decided a while back I wasn't going to head back to UTA this year.
00:02:06
Speaker
And I was aware of the Triple Crown and I had done the other two races and it just hadn't ever made it over to WA for Margaret River being a May race. So I thought, oh, it might be the time to do that.
00:02:16
Speaker
And so, yeah, that's why I'd sort of penciled Margaret River in. um Then I had also penciled in Buffalo Stampede as sort of my bigger A race with a higher level of competition given I wasn't doing UTA and I did need those ranking points in that like higher level of competition.
00:02:33
Speaker
ah And then Oscars Hat to Hut announced it was their last year and invited all past winners back and I couldn't pass out that opportunity because I loved that event. For the record, before people freak out, they're taking a break but the 100K will come back.
00:02:48
Speaker
Yes. It's not the bar class. Yes. So this led to a really hectic race calendar because I also had my Las Portivas sponsored races in between, which were Razorback and Alpine Challenge and Wilson's Prom, which I didn't make it to Prom, but I did make it to Razorback and Alpine Challenge. So yeah, quite a number of races the last few months. It's been very hectic.
Training and Preparation Strategies
00:03:10
Speaker
um So yeah, lead up into Margaret River was only a few weeks of dedicated training for Margaret River off the back of the training that had been for Heights of Hut and Buffalo. So a lot more mountain training. So after just taking a week sort of light rest week after Buffalo, I got back into um some flatter, faster running and some sand running um to help prepare for Margaret River, which was and interesting. and you know, it was a cool change of scenery, but I'm not sure I want to make it my career to run on sand, I have to say, because, yeah, it's a challenging thing to do. Yeah.
Triple Crown and Scenic Races
00:03:48
Speaker
For those that don't know what the Triple Crown is for the Margaret River as a part of, Nicole, can you just explain what that is? ah Yes. So Rapid Ascent, which is one of the race organisations based down here in Victoria, but they do have races throughout Australia, has ah what's called a Triple Crown, which is the Surf Coast Century 100 kilometre, the Larapinta Malbanka, which is the long course at Larapinta. I think it's about 128 kilometres four days. and then the 80k at Margaret River and if you complete all three of those you are awarded what's called a triple crown which is a jacket and a plaque and name on a plaque with all of the other people that have done the same thing um yeah it was never like a huge goal of mine but it was just something I was aware of existing and I had sort of thought I might like to get to Margaret River at one point so it just made sense to to do it this year
00:04:39
Speaker
Having seen some of the jackets from going around, it's definitely something that is for no reason whatsoever, although that other than it's a cool jacket. It is definitely ah a big incentive as well. But as you're also talking about, like, obviously two coastal areas that are pretty spectacular in their own way, and then the Larapinta Trail, which is a pretty special trail to combine all together.
00:04:59
Speaker
When we've been doing the previews, and you've messaged me on this as well, one of the things that we we've picked up on is that your training is a bit up and down, but you've still been able to go and put in Oscars, which is a 16-hour, I think he ran roughly from memory, 100K, then Buffalo, which is a very fast sub-13-hour 100K.
The Importance of Sleep in Training
00:05:17
Speaker
And then now you've put in Margaret River, which is another 80K. How have you managed to get your body to come back, stay healthy, stay fast, stay fit, and still keep competing at this high level with that density of training?
00:05:28
Speaker
um Okay, so... i I guess I don't train very high volume between these big races because i would just be exhausting myself if I did try and get back into too much training, backing up such big races. So I'm definitely taking like a good two light weeks after each race and then just two sort of moderate weeks, which for some people would be nothing, but they're sort of enough to enough to get me some of the specificity required for the next race. and then really into the tape, just really a short taper, like 10 day taper is sort of what I've been doing. Not, not, ah there's not enough time for a long taper. Um, I, I really prioritize sleep. I sleep more than anyone I know, which is a bit of the bane of my existence because it means I don't have enough time to do everything else I want to do, but it's just something that I have to do. um
00:06:21
Speaker
And I just have to make time for it because otherwise I fall in an absolute heap. When you say you sleep a lot, how much is that? Like what what is your? I, like according to my watch, it's around eight and a half to nine hours per night average.
00:06:36
Speaker
So it's like a lot of time compared to a lot of people I know that sleep less than that. If I do sleep less, I find myself having to nap. Like if I have like a, you know, a shorter night because I had to get up early for an early training run or something.
00:06:50
Speaker
um yeah, then I find I end up crashing out um in the afternoon. so yeah, that's why I'm not really a morning training person, which is why, yeah also why one reason I don't work full time, because I just can't fit everything in.
00:07:04
Speaker
sorry i think that was one of the themes when we spoke last year,
Balancing Life and Training
00:07:09
Speaker
Nicole, about how you've like you you are committing to yourself in your training and you're trying to pursue running, but then also you have to balance that up with the fact that you are a mum and a wife and you you say like he work part-time, not full-time, but there still is a big big commitment. has Has anything changed in that since we caught up in October with how you've got that all set up?
00:07:31
Speaker
ah No, not really. It's pretty much similar to how it's been. with Juggling every week is different in our family because my husband's a shift worker. So, and I work for myself. So my work is all flexible and can be done at any time of the day or night, sort of. I mean, I do have to be somewhat available during business hours, but in general, I can train during business hours for a few hours here and there as well. so And then, you know, work at night if I want to, but I'm not a night owl like I'm not a person that will work at 11 p.m. Absolutely can't do that either.
00:07:59
Speaker
No, it's only a few people I know that actually thrive off that. Is there anything you do to make your sleep as good as it can be? Like, if you have any sleep hygiene tips and tricks?
00:08:11
Speaker
Oh, wow. um Yeah, there's been some heated discussions in our house recently about this because my husband is a shocking snorer and he also gets pump comes and goes at weird hours because he's a shift worker and I was like, you're really disturbing my sleep. Yeah, I do use earplugs and an eye mask sometimes. um Obviously, I try to have a dark, cool room and the basics and try to maintain a consistent like sleep routine of going to bed at a similar time and getting up at a similar time. But it can be quite disrupted. And I do have young kids. They are very good sleepers for young kids, but there's still the odd, you know, bedwetting or nightmare or whatever happens when you have young children. So, yeah, they they do sometimes cause me to wake up as well.
00:08:57
Speaker
How dare they? I love that. I'm such a high-maintenance sleeper myself, I must say. i am like, yeah, um the way I will travel with my pillow, my knee pillow, my eye mask, my earplugs and my magnesium and everything else that I use to sleep, even like a noise machine, all of the things.
00:09:14
Speaker
um I rate sleep. Did you just say knee pillow? Yeah. What's a knee pillow? So it helps keep my hips happy. um Essentially, it's a pillow that like it has a strap that goes around one leg that then holds it to one knee so that then when you lie on your side, it's between your knees so that your hips are further apart and more in alignment.
00:09:33
Speaker
um I cannot sleep with my knees touching. It just doesn't happen. I also have a weighted blanket, like a 15-kg weighted blanket I sleep under, and I cannot sleep without an eye mask. So as you're talking about sleep at the moment, Nicole, I'm like, oh, woman after my own heart. like that is i'm ah I'm a 10-hour night um even to feel good. so But that's my brain needing way too much, to be honest. Yeah.
00:09:59
Speaker
Yeah, i'm like I will shout to the rooftops exactly what you're saying, like that sleep is kind of everything when it comes to improving. And even for those that work full time or aren't in your position somewhere, they can sleep for 10 hours, which that sounds absolutely lovely, is that like, if you can maximize the time that you do have and make it as good quality as possible, then even if you are someone that like can only fit in six, seven hours of sleep a night, because that's just how life is set up. And if you take more, you don't get to run. Yeah, like for me, Shiv had to really convert me into using an eye mask. I was like, I felt claustrophobic for my face when she first gave it to me. And I was like, this is really weird. I don't like it.
00:10:38
Speaker
and now I cannot sleep without one it's just like any if you're feel if you're traveling and you have rubbish blinds or their curtains it just means it's blacked out regardless and the same with earplugs it's um yeah it has made a massive difference and then the the routine is great it doesn't have to be like bang on the minute but it makes such a big difference Yeah. Is your eye mask one of the ones that like doesn't actually have anything over your eyes? So like I've got one of the ones that goes around the outside. So if my eyes are open, it's still pitch black. Like there's no pressure on my eyelid. It is now. are we i' think the first one I had was one of the cheap ones you get from airplanes.
00:11:14
Speaker
And I was like, well, I've got it for free. I'll use it. And that pressure was pretty, i yeah wasn't a fan of that. But now we've got the memory foam ones that are completely black out and they contour around your face really well. And i found that we had one that the like elastic band that you could tighten up for the back, it was like, it would cut into the top of my ear. And so yeah, I wouldn't recommend that one. i can't but can't remember the brand. It's not particularly helpful advice, but the one we have now it is great.
00:11:41
Speaker
Love that. What about you, Nicole? Do you have a specific one? No, I have a one that it's somewhere between the two you're talking about, like an intermediate one um that is falling apart because I've had it many years and it needs to be replaced. i Highly recommend Manta.
00:11:57
Speaker
I like them. Manta Sleep. For anyone listening, they're my ones and I love them. I have four. i So I don't lose one. Anyways, moving on from the sleep chat.
00:12:09
Speaker
um ah Nicole, then how are you feeling obviously off the season that you'd had so far um with the ah Buffalo must have been the most recent one before um before Margaret River?
Race Day Challenges and Strategies
00:12:22
Speaker
Like how was the body feeling and how were you what how were you thinking about Margaret River as you were approaching it? Yeah, so I felt like I recovered really well after Buffalo. Like two weeks after Buffalo, i actually did do the 25K at Alpine Challenge, which was just a bit of fun in the snow. And I felt good. Like i I didn't feel like I was carrying a lot of fatigue. It was just a fun day out there. And so I thought, oh yeah, I've recovered well from Buffalo. This will be good. And so then I tried to get back into a couple of slightly bigger training training weeks and I did find myself feeling pretty tired. But once I went into tapering again, I yeah freshened up really nicely
00:13:00
Speaker
But unfortunately, then I got sick during the week this week, ah last week on Wednesday night. I came down. i woke up in the night. and i was like, oh, no, my throat's sore. and so This is not good. so you know, two days out from the race and I came down with a cold. So that was less than ideal. But I'd already done all the training. I literally was into rest days. So I was like, I'll just have to rest as much as I can and see see how it goes. i think that's something that yeah I find interesting. So Nicole, you still coach yourself, correct? Yes. Yeah. So when you get to that week out, you start getting sick, you've got the event there.
00:13:35
Speaker
How are you keeping yourself in the right headspace and not panicking about the fact that you're now sick and you've got an event coming up in matter of days? Oh, I was absolutely panicking about the fact that it was too late to panic. I literally had to get up and get on the plane. Like when I woke up, you Thursday morning, I just had to get up and pack and then go take the flight. So I was like, oh, just do this. likes Like to change anything. And um I also was like, oh, well I'll just run slowly. I'll finish. I'll get the Triple Crown. Like you don't have to don't have to win to get the Triple Crown. So that's okay I'll just see how I go.
00:14:08
Speaker
and because I don't have any other races coming up after this, it didn't really matter if I you know, buried myself a little bit. But as it turned out, I wasn't as too sick by Saturday. So was good.
00:14:20
Speaker
That's great. ah Take us through the day if you can, because I think for a lot of our listeners are probably, ah they are very East Coast based and maybe haven't made the trip out to Margaret River. And having not run the the race, but have holiday there last year the year before, like it's a beautiful place, quite sandy for the race, but it is an absolutely stunning part of Australia. So kind of, yeah, take us through how the day went and also just sort of give us a bit of an insight into the course. Yeah, sure. So um it was being not a morning person, as we just discussed, it was good with the um time zone change. I just kept myself on Melbourne time. So that was the a nice a race start for my body. So that was that was pleasant. Didn't have to even though it was, you know, at 6am start, i I just pretended that was later. So, yeah, we started on the beach. um It was dark. So we started with head torches, but that was only short-lived, about half an hour in the dark. um It's a fairly fast start. The first sort of 30km is are very runnable. um It starts with that runnable climbs and then it sort of goes into runnable descents. It's um on, like, some fire roads and some sink winding single tracks, but it's inland for the first sort of twenty seven k And, yeah, it's very, very fast. so i ah yeah I was aware of that and so I sort of had had studied the times from the last year of the top five females from the last year and worked out where I felt I fit in amongst those times and set some goal paces for each of the checkpoints and stuff. And i I was on those paces for the first sort of 30K, so that was going well. And I was sitting in the second female. Cara Dugan was in front of me, but Claire O'Brien-Smith, who lives in WA, had had given me a heads up on some of the other girls racing. And so I knew some of their strengths and weaknesses. Onyikara was a road runner, so I thought, well, she's really fast on this fast runnable stuff.
00:16:11
Speaker
So that was all right. And, um yeah, then after the first sort of 27Ks you hit the coast and then start onto like a coastal high, coastal trail for a bit, and then the first beach is sort of in the mid thirty ks i think.
00:16:27
Speaker
And after that, it becomes very sandy and and deep sand. And there's no firm parts on some of the beaches.
00:16:40
Speaker
and Some of the beaches, there's literally no firm parts whatsoever add all. You can run down in the water. You can run in the middle. You can run up on the sand dunes. There's just nowhere firm.
00:16:51
Speaker
We had a headwind, so that was delightful. ah running through soft a headwi softand with a headwind. It was fun, but it was so beautiful that you didn't take away the pain until about the last 15Ks, it became a real suffer fest.
00:17:08
Speaker
But it was so stunning. I kept getting my camera out and filming, even though I was supposed to be racing because it was beautiful. sorry I was about to say, I've got your Strava up in front of me and there's a lot of photos, you know how they kind of geolocates them along your trail and they're just scattered along. Like you've done, they've done very well to to whit win the race and take this many photos. But how, how much sand running is that, do you think?
00:17:32
Speaker
look i estimate around 25k you're on sand of some sort now that's not all on like a soft beach there are a couple of firm beaches and there's some inland trails that are sandy there's some sections in sand dunes so yeah it's the summer is it's some of it's some of it's four-wheel drive track that's quite sandy like inland but yeah i would estimate it's up to i mean i didn't measure it but i would estimate it's up to around 25k of sand of some sort so it's quite a lot It also helps put into perspective, like when we see the times I run on this course, in my head, it would be quite a fast course because it's not particularly hilly. The trails there are quite nice, but that much sand is, and and especially when you add a headwind in, is ah not as exactly fast conditions, should we say? ah Yeah, for sure. And I mean...
00:18:21
Speaker
I fell right off my goal paces. Once we hit the sandy section, i I'd been on my goal paces and then I just dropped right off, but I had moved into the lead. So I tried not to stress too much about that. I was just trying to stay in front after that and not worry too much about the the goal paces. But because I was a bit longer through a couple of the middle sections, I'd run and one of my bottles leaked. I'd run out of nutrition at one point.
00:18:43
Speaker
And so then I went and I'd run out of water. I was searching for water, at like a campground tank at one point, but then I I could got the tap on and it was only a trickle. So i was oh that's not going to work. So i just had to give up on that because i wasn't going to stand there for 10 minutes and fill my bottle with like this dripping cap.
00:19:00
Speaker
And so then thankfully, maybe 2K down the road, the race had put out extra water. So there was some drums. So that was, water situation was resolved, but the fuel situation, not so much.
00:19:12
Speaker
So yeah, I think I dropped with the pace a bit more in the back half of this race than I ordinarily would, but that's just due to different racing environment what I'm used to. I think I needed more grams of carbs per hour than i would have in a mountain race.
00:19:26
Speaker
ah makes sense Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah yeah And you're you're also in, for for you, a relatively short duration event. And you will be burning that a little bit hot. because You can move that a little bit quicker for that terrain. So that does follow. You mentioned a couple times now for this one about having time splits. Is that something that you would usually do for events?
00:19:46
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. i um If I have the the data, I mean, for something like Worlds last year where we hadn't no one had run the course, you just don't have the data. You just go out there and do your best. But for like Buffalo, for Hut to Hut and for this race. So the races that I'm, you know, i have data from previous years, either be it if I've run them before or if i people I know, you know, names I know have run them, I know what they're, yeah, I always look at the data and calculate um like ah do up a pacing chart for various paces to the splits so I can see what sort of finish time I'm on.
00:20:24
Speaker
by checkpoint one, checkpoint two, checkpoint three, this thing. and When you, when you drop off, say the goal, because if you were running at one of your post plans and you start to drop off that, does having those splits ever become a negative for you for the outcome of your race? um Um, this was, Margaret River was the first time I dropped off it. I was actually way ahead of them for heart to heart and I was on them for Buffalo. So, um, so yeah, I,
00:20:51
Speaker
trying to think if I've done this for a few years, so I probably have dropped them before, but I can't actually think of a time where I'm, and GPT, i was sort of behind them at the start and then I moved ahead of them through the night. So yeah, I, and actually my crew missed me because my, my pacing chart, I moved ahead of it too much. at tpd So um yeah, it's, that's maybe when it's a negative, if you're too fast, definitely um but yeah,
00:21:19
Speaker
I don't think I'd let it affect my mental state too much. I just was like, oh, well, doesn't matter too much. It is what it is, you know. I actually had sort of was telling myself that maybe, you know, maybe we had a worse headwind, maybe it was slower today or something.
Breaking Race Records and Future Plans
00:21:33
Speaker
um But then I saw the time that Ben Leeson ran and I had to close the book of excuses.
00:21:41
Speaker
Yeah. He did take the course record down by what, like 19 minutes? He had a river run. Yeah, that was a ah phenomenal time. I cannot even wrap my head around how you can run that course in that time. it is exceptionally fast.
00:21:56
Speaker
Very impressive. So good. So, so good. um I've just been in the background here looking up all of the previous results and where everything is. And ought to be fair, I i only just, as I was Googling it, looked up the Women's Record Time by Anna McKenna. And I feel like I missed that one at the time because that's a ripper of a time too on that course by the sounds of it having not known the course um but what what's your next sort of like is this the end of your season up until now or like what do you get a break now or are we back on the cycle yes so I'm taking a little break now um and then I'll be ramping into a big training block for CCC so that's the next big goal so I will not be racing
00:22:46
Speaker
you know, through winter in Australia, um I'll be focusing on training for CCC. Yeah. And remind me, have you done CCC before? Yes, I did it once in 2019 when I had a baby. So I'm looking for a large PB because I was breastfeeding my way around that time. So yeah, it was under-trained and yeah.
00:23:08
Speaker
Definitely keen to go back and and see what I can do on that course when I've done the work properly and I'm as fit as I can be. Yeah. That's exciting. yeah Yeah. Very exciting.
00:23:19
Speaker
bericson Do you remember much of the course? Well, I mean, it's a stunning course. And the best thing about CCC is it's the daylight. You get to see it all. as opposed to UTMB where you're like in two nights. um So, yeah, that was that's actually one of the main reasons I decided to go back and do CCC rather than UTMB is because like I just want to do the 100K wow as opposed to sort of suffer through two nights.
00:23:43
Speaker
So, yeah, and enjoy it. Well, you could also just finish under 24 hours at UTMB and then it's just one night. Easy. Oh, yeah. Also – Off the back of our sleep discussion earlier, the start time terrifies me. this excuse Doesn't it start at like midnight or 11. It's 6 p.m.
00:24:00
Speaker
Yeah. Trying to think which one is the midnight start. There's something that's a midnight. Lavorado. Lavorado starts at a weird time. Yeah. And then I think one of the island ones starts at midnight or like I think it might might even be Madeira starts like 11.59 p.m. Essentially 12 p.m. Like, yeah, it's a weird. I just can't fathom that.
00:24:21
Speaker
I'm glad that it's. To be fair, 6 p.m. is bad enough because you just I feel like you'll just be getting tired as you get going. But yeah um but great call on CCC. I'm ah i'm excited to see what ah just having this whole time for a build and one single block into a race um looks like. no Although, well no doubt, will you have um like training races in the lead up or anything sort of penciled in or just training as you go?
00:24:46
Speaker
I haven't penciled anything in, but that's not to say I won't like pop up at a small local race, but I haven't. got anything lined up yeah I've got um also got to be up at Mount Hotham for quite a bit through winter so that's always a challenge with the training um good for altitude preparation but not good for running because there's too much snow yeah I was gonna say you get some crampons out yeah well they do do about country skiing but it doesn't get you any descending so Oh, yeah.
Listener Questions on Training and Rankings
00:25:13
Speaker
True. That would get build the engine for sure. um
00:25:16
Speaker
But quads need some quads. Definitely. Awesome. Well, we have got a couple of questions um for you from listeners, Nicole, which we can dive into off the back of this. And the first one, which I think kind of relates to one of the questions James asked earlier of like, how do you keep moving and keep going ah sort of without getting injured and everything.
00:25:42
Speaker
And it came from Heidi saying, I would love to know what Nicole's strength program looks like as a mountain runner and approximately 40 year old woman. um What are her top five exercises that keep her running regularly? So how does the strength side look?
00:25:55
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good question. So I do strength at least twice a week. um I do that quite routinely. um Never, never don't do twice a week unless it's tap a taper week or rest week after a race. um And so key exercises that I do. um i do heavy single leg calf lifts because I've had calf raises, sorry, because I've had trouble with Achilles tendinopathy and plantar fasciitis and all sorts of, you know, soleus issues, issues in that region. So I do, um, I do quite heavy single leg calf raises. Um, and I also uh,
00:26:35
Speaker
ah like an ankle calf, like a calf raise essentially, um which also strengthens the ankles on the leg press machine as well, quite heavy, um which is, yeah, for the calves as well. I also do leg press, but that's that's um a separate thing for different purpose. um Heavy trap bar lifts, trying to do heavier stuff. I'm not much into heavy weightlifting, so I've had to sort of like force myself to do some of the heavier stuff because I believe it's beneficial and, and especially as an aging woman as as Heidi pointed out I believe I'm lifting heavier um and then I also have do a fair bit of glute med and hamstring stuff just because I've had also proximal hamstring tendinopathy and I just seem to have weak glute meds so I just do a lot of work on the legs I don't do tons for the quads other than like the trap bar lift and stuff the quads seem to get enough work like
00:27:36
Speaker
in the training on the mountains, I find anyway. um It's, yeah, a lot of stuff for glutes, hamstrings and calves is what I'm sort of focused on in the gym.
00:27:47
Speaker
I also do like a HIIT class, like a functional fitness circuit class. So that sort of covers off a lot of the other stuff, like some more upper body strength, some more functional stuff, more core stuff.
00:27:58
Speaker
And that really, I just do whatever the coach gives us. So, you know, it just overall, it just is overall um strength endurance and functional fitness too which I find really helps like with the more sky running style races where you're scrambling over rocks and stuff like that um where there's a lot more like diversity of movement it's not just running um and a lot of technical running yeah I find having done the functional fitness helps with that
00:28:29
Speaker
yeah Yeah, definitely. That's ah you when you're running a race, but it becomes a whole body exercise. You do need a lot of whole body strength and getting like different muscles working together in unison in terms of like often you're pushing up with your left leg while pulling with your right leg on a bloody tree or something. So all those. And I feel like ah when you described a lot of the troubles you've had as a runner, you described almost everyone. ah like saying a weak glute med proximal hamstring calf problems i was like oh that's good that's just runners um so great advice for everyone with all of those um different lists particularly the carbs i think um ah trail runners carbs just are our one of our workhorses for so many reasons
00:29:15
Speaker
um And, yeah, i've I'm yet to meet a runner that isn't working on their glute med strength. Yep. it's the It's the thing that always goes. So awesome.
00:29:27
Speaker
Love that one. And then for our other question we've got um for this part of the pod, we've got Wood ah from Steve Manning. He said he would like to hear Nicole's opinion on the UTMB score changes and the ITRA top 30 for the Asia-Pacific team.
00:29:46
Speaker
As you're currently ranked 29, he said she's currently ranked 29, but it would be a shame for her to miss the team based on all her results in the last year. We might stop there because the next one's a separate question. But um but yeah, what are your your thoughts overall on sort of A, let's start with the UTMB index changes since that's a separate topic.
00:30:08
Speaker
Yeah, the UTMB index changes didn't affect me drastically because most of my best scores came from the higher vert races, the mountain races, um because that is my area of strength.
00:30:20
Speaker
um What I did notice is that some of the flatter, faster races and some races like with Sam, like Surf Coast Century and stuff, had gone up quite a lot, which I think was fair because I'd always noticed that those races were not getting the points they really deserved for, like, the fast runs. Not that I – those aren't really races that are my strength, but you'd see people run really quite a fast time in, like, Surf Coast Century or something and they weren't really getting the points that they deserved ah um across the board at UTME and ITRAP. So it's good that they those seem to have been elevated a bit um on the UTMB side. um Hopefully that's even things out a little bit more there for people's various strengths and weaknesses.
00:30:58
Speaker
um With the ITRA one, ah yes, it's something that has been a bit troublesome for me, teetering around that, trying to get into that top 30 and teetering around that, yeah, 30th position is a little stressful. um It's, I don't expect I will get Very good points from Margaret River because it was a flat, sandy run and I was not very fast, even though I did win the race. um Yeah, I didn't expect any points from that. So, and nothing that will rival on my top five scores anyway.
00:31:28
Speaker
um So, yeah, with the um top 30 for Asia Pacific, I think it's really a challenge, especially for the longer distance runners because, um yeah they're like I'm ranked in the top 10 for all of the long distances for 50 mile, 100 mile.
00:31:45
Speaker
but I'm not in the top 30 for overall. So I would really like to see it done by distance and maybe bring it down to, say, top 20 per distance or something of that nature um was is is how I would probably prefer to see it done um for the selection criteria for ITRA. But it's ITRA that says that, not OTRA. And I know that Jeff's been doing a lot of work in the space to try and speak to ITRA and see what see, you know,
00:32:13
Speaker
what can be done about these challenges. um In being a person that likes data, we talked before about me looking at all the previous race splits and everything. I have looked at all of the data for the other Asia Pacific countries and stuff. And Australia is the second highest like ranked top 30 in Asia Pacific. Only China is harder to get into the top 30. So like, you know, with my score, which is around 30th, would be in the top 30 for every other country in Asia Pacific, including the powerhouses like Japan,
00:32:43
Speaker
New Zealand and Nepal that have very good runners, they still don't have as many good runners as Australia. They have excellent runners but not as many as Australia.
00:32:54
Speaker
So that's really interesting. um Australia has a lot of good runners basically. We don't have a large population but we have a lot of good runners. So maybe that top 30 is a real jostle, I suppose.
00:33:07
Speaker
And there are many runners sitting in the 30s, I'm not going to name names, that are excellent top-tier runners. So there are many runners between that 30 to 50 position that are, you know, definitely very, very good runners. So yeah it's a it's ah it's a strange line in the sand because 30th in Australia is not the same as 30th in China and it's certainly not the same as 30th in somewhere like the Philippines where I think you could be in the fourth low 500s and be in the top 30 in one of those countries.
00:33:37
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, definitely. But you did you say you were, because you're in the top 30. I'm currently sitting around think. Yeah, you are. i thought I thought I heard you say that you weren't. But, no, yeah, you definitely are. we And I think we said this last week, but we've got three 30th positions. So technically we've got 32 in the top 30, which I love.
00:33:57
Speaker
um So sneak it in there. um But I do find it interesting that, what you said about it ship being on distance. Last time it was.
00:34:08
Speaker
I swear that last time age of people was when I read it. Are you sure? Because I remember looking at the different distances and going, well, I'm not ranked. I was ranked differently in the 42 and the 50 and I was like, which one are they taking and trying to contact them because they said for the distance category. But this time they've said for the general.
00:34:28
Speaker
Yeah, no, like when we were waiting for the selection criteria to come out for this year's age specific, we were having to base it off the previous one, which was all the general. yeah Jeff Russell, when the background was really trying to advocate for a distance specific, because even just the fact that like, if you're a hundred K hundred mile athlete, you can't go and race 15 times a year and try and like have some good days, have some bad days and bring up your score like a 20 K athlete could. um And so it, yeah, it it is pretty It's it's interesting, and like I don't know if you've noticed this, Nicole, but ITRA are us doing some little tweaks to their index and they're meant to be completely redoing it, but I'm just noticing that the indexing scores are getting, like they seem to be coming out lower on ITRA now than where I'm expecting them to be. And like yourself, as someone that's always staring at this data,
00:35:15
Speaker
I used to be really good at predicting them, but now I'm getting them out by, they're always coming up 30 points lower than what I'm thinking they're going to be, which is tricky. And now the the differential between what UTMB gives you and what ITRA gives you has got even bigger, UTMB being higher 99 times out of 100 now.
00:35:32
Speaker
um Like even, was just having quick look at your Surfcoast century run um from previous years. There's like a 50 point index difference between what UTMB says and ITRA says. That UTMB only just went up. The UTMB quite similar until UTMB redid theirs. Both of them were low, basically. so Nicole's ITRA ranking is higher than her UTMB. So her average is higher on ITRA.
00:35:56
Speaker
Yes. I think that came down to UTMB did not give as many points for GPT as ITRA did. Yeah, it's interesting because yeah, it's it is a bit of a dog's breakfast at times when I'm just looking at it. Mine's exactly the same and I'm like, I love the consistency on mine.
00:36:12
Speaker
Most people's seem to be a lot higher on UTMB than ITRA and yeah like sometimes that's a huge difference, like 80 point difference at times. And I'm just, yeah, when, when they're that different, I'm like, well, which, which one is it guys? Um, so like, and yeah, when you're then taking only one of them, which is, which is fair, like it's, it's, it's putting on this race. So like the race wouldn't be happening without them.
00:36:40
Speaker
Um, essentially they have the right to choose sort of all the criteria, especially to begin with. There's no right, there's no perfect way, um, But I do think that it's a pretty easy, quick fix to make it just the distance as it opposed to the general. Like in my mind, I'm like, but why?
00:36:58
Speaker
yeah Yeah, I've been thinking about this though, because they have so many categories of distance. Like you have 10K, half marathon, marathon, 50K, 50 mile, 100K, 100 mile endurance. So if you say long course, do you take the 50 mile? Do take the 50K, do you take the 100K? Do you average out?
00:37:12
Speaker
It's hard because like if they took strictly 50 mile, my 50 miles goes another great. Cause it's just not that many 50 mile races, right? Cause you just don't do as many 50 mile races as you do hundred K races. So to get an average for 50 mile it's just harder. So yeah, like my hundred K score is the best, but that's just cause I've done the most hundred K races, I suppose.
00:37:31
Speaker
Yeah. Honestly, but in my head, I'd go whichever your highest is out of marathon or 50 for short trail and whichever your highest is out of 50 mile or 100k for long. They're close enough. Like the distances are so close when you're putting it that way.
00:37:46
Speaker
um So in my mind, I'm like, surely you can just submit your highest. I don't know. um Or take top 10 from both instead of one from like 30 from one of them. Take top 15 from both and then happy days. i think that would probably encompass a lot of people that would cross over anyway. But either way, interesting. The thing that I have realized from this conversation is quite how impressively stacked China is. Like in the women's, 30th is 728, which indexing that would probably put you in the top five in Australia.
00:38:20
Speaker
So China's ITRA scores are interesting. Okay. um Sometimes, like a lot of the time, you might see their UTMB scores are lower.
00:38:32
Speaker
um And a lot of the ITRA rankings in China, they get, thats to be fair, I'm keen on racing in China, you get massive scores.
00:38:43
Speaker
um But um I believe that what, and don't quote me on this, this is just my head figuring it out, I believe what's factoring in there is the density of runners because there's so many runners at all of the races that And I think ITRA takes into account like all the people around you in some way. And so it's almost like that quite literal rising tide, all boats kind of phenomenon going on but because like they don't, their races don't have the 50 to a hundred people that some of these Aussie races with ITRA scores have. They've got, thousands of people for data or like at least hundreds of people for data on these events. um
00:39:23
Speaker
And because of the population as well, when you look at like what would be an incredibly stacked race in Oz when you've got five to six really good runners in one distance, like they can have 20 of their good runners, their same level runners in one distance sort of thing. um And I believe that that influences the scores. Yeah.
00:39:44
Speaker
Don't quote me on it again, but I've looked into this and I i just don't want people coming out. like, i've I've read into it. um Because having raced in China and sort of chatted to people, um it's very much an ecosystem unto itself, yeah let's say, um where, yeah, it doesn't, if you if you took, often and often you'll find that a lot of those runners, they they they only have races in China as well to go off. um But sometimes if you can take any of the Chinese athletes that race internationally and theirs will be more accurate um or more like in line with the rest of the world. not I'm not saying more accurate, but yeah.
00:40:23
Speaker
Yeah. Kind of bring them into line. And I've just gone to UTMB and 30th for China on UTMB is $6.78 for the women. So that's quite significant. Whereas 30th for Australia is $6.97 on UTMB. yes Yeah. yes so that and It is fascinating. It just points it points to this whole system being a bit like we should not be selecting or even have a criteria to pass into a selection like bucket. Yeah. based on this yeah i'm i'm sorry it's just it's just like i i am so pro itra creating this event like that it's incredible it's an opportunity for people to get international experience racing other countries have a team environment but this is just not good enough i know yeah and it it it for me the question's always like it's just like
00:41:08
Speaker
You can't rank yourself either. Like, it to be fair, the race I did in China, in Chengdu, I was in the um sort of brief and I was ranked sixth because they used ITRA points. And I think they even used maybe ITRA points for the distance or general ITRA points. But either way, i was ranked sixth. But if you looked at the UTMB points for the distance, I think I was ranked first.
00:41:31
Speaker
And I was ranked sixth by a long way. I'm talking 60-something points. Yeah. on intra. I was way down. And then I looked at some of their some of their scores and I'm like, quite literally, I think one of them was 90 points difference.
00:41:46
Speaker
And I was just like, I don't actually understand where I sit anymore. Like, obviously, it didn't matter to me at that point in time. I wasn't exactly going to perform to my level. But it was just kind of looking at it.
00:41:57
Speaker
I was really like, I don't get it. Like, how are we using these systems and which one's accurate? Because I don't know. But, yeah, we'll see. Maybe one day. Maybe one day we'll have... Some form of accurate ranking system, but I think it's it's realistically too hard. So, yeah, I do agree with you, James. Long-term, to have a championship team of any sort that is selected based on one of these numbers is is a bit iffy. yeah And it's annoying when it's what – as a runner, it's what you have to use to get into races and to get the right level of support. And and it's it's just –
00:42:34
Speaker
Like when you're cut off for free bib for accommodation and all these sorts of things, it has nothing to do with like your positions in races of similar things. It has everything to do with your ITRA ranking or like your UTMB ranking.
00:42:47
Speaker
And sometimes I just look at it and go, but ah the rankings don't make sense to us. So how are you using them to rate us in sort of like, yeah, it's it's like you can get really, really lucky and get a really high score and go, well, I don't actually know what I did to earn that score.
00:43:06
Speaker
Most of the time, other than luck, like, yeah yeah, when I look at mine, I'm just like, I jogged that one, got a high score. I raced that one to bloody the nth degree and had a ripper race and got a really low one. So I don't understand.
00:43:19
Speaker
Yes, to that point, Simone, um like, i certainly think my absolute best performance was at Worlds last year and it is not in my top five scores. And, you know, I was ahead of very highly ranked athletes who may have had a bad day, but I can name about five of them. So that did they all have a bad day? um And, you know, they all got like the worst score they've ever got in their life kind of thing. Yeah.
00:43:43
Speaker
And it's like, well, because I got a you know a mediocre score for me, but I had what I thought was an amazing day. And then these all these other rat athletes ranked you in the 7 and 800s that I was ahead of, they they got scores that were, you know, like literally the worst score they've ever got. yeah But, you know, I mean, believe Katie Shire got a good score. So it's... it's I don't know exactly how it didn't seem to, it seemed like it went down too fast from Katie. Does that make sense? Yeah.
00:44:08
Speaker
Yeah. No, I've seen races like this. I think ah one I was looking at was Pike's Peak when I did it back in 2022 or something because Remy ran so damn fast. And so all the way from the top, like Nienke and Maud running stupidly fast are getting like low 700s. And inside the top 10 of the Golden Trail World Series on that race was not scoring, was in the 600s.
00:44:31
Speaker
All right. And it was one of my lowest scores ever and it was my first top 20 at Golden Trail World Series and it still is one of my lowest. And I just look at it and I'm like, guys, I don't get it. Because then you can look at some of the in the opposite way, which I'm like, hey like absolutely go for it because best of luck in this wild system we call the the ranking system but I think it was last year or this year at the Sydney Trail Half Marathon like the winning score was would have got you maybe fifth at world champs it was equal with the fifth place at world champs and I think I calculated that
00:45:07
Speaker
Like me running a one hour 50 half marathon at Sydney trail or marathon, Sydney trail half, which I think has 300 meters of vert. So what's that six minute pace or five 30 pace or for 300 of vert would have scored higher than every golden trail race I've ever done. And almost all my scores.
00:45:25
Speaker
And I just looked at it and I went, guys, I could have gone and jogged to like a 750. Like I don't understand what is going on here because and that is not equal.
00:45:38
Speaker
No, I would probably just say like, it's nothing on the event organizer. Not at You just submit your results and they get indexed. So like, yeah. All on the ranking system. Amazing. Yeah, that it is. it is I do wonder, like you see you saw using Katie's as an example, like she was what, i've schedule of her i think half an hour.
00:45:59
Speaker
25 minutes faster than Samaya in second and then it kind of cuts down from there and obviously it's it's indexed from the top like the fastest runner in itself but then you've got like julia yeah Jim running 835 and half an hour spread for the top five so it's not a dense pack so it's going to spread quickly so like should Jim have actually got like 1200 can you go over a thousand I'm still not entirely sure about that one um but it's yeah It's interesting. and We've probably lost a lot of people because this is a very, very small percentage of the running population that actually cares about this. But it is interesting because I know, Nicole, you think about this stuff um like we do and look into it. So it is just to hear your perspective on this. Well, yeah, especially like when it is playing into what races do at the end of the year. Like it does matter. um so But ah to lighten up, then to give a very easy answer question, the last question we've got for you, Nicole.
00:46:50
Speaker
Is the 200 miler a temptation at all? Absolutely not. i was I was very pleased to watch the Coca Dona and and see how well the women did and that was amazing and have my hat's off to them. I know that is not a temptation to me at all. I quite enjoy racing in around in and around my 100k distance. I'm happy just to range between 50 and up to maybe another 100 but I'm not absolutely no interest in going any longer than that anytime soon. Yeah.
00:47:25
Speaker
Yeah. Understandable. I'm going to call that sanity, but although I'm i'm curious. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so curious. I'm so curious what happens.
00:47:36
Speaker
i I love so many elements of it except for the sleep deprivation. Like that's the one thing that I'm just like, it's not just getting through it, but it's the after effects of that. And some people seem to get affected more than others. and But it's, yeah.
00:47:50
Speaker
I'd love to love to pace or crew someone for for one and like experience it from that side. A few people I go, it's just starting to kind of show interest in it. And most of them are overseas, but I'm just like, oh, this would be fascinating to go along and see. Like having been in the backyard ultras and you kind of see that, but it's it's different.
00:48:07
Speaker
Okay, James, I'll lock you in for crew. Yeah, done.
00:48:12
Speaker
Happy days when go. probably should have asked where first, but yes. We'll make it happen. um At some point, i'm just I'm intrigued where the mind goes. And for me, the sleep deprivation is part of the interest in a way because as much as I love my sleep, I know I can actually go a very long time without sleep and feel kind of fine.
00:48:30
Speaker
um So I'm a bit like this. Like I have crewed for one and I think I did 60 hours awake crewing To be fair, was very dumb and drove home, but I felt fine.
00:48:41
Speaker
yeah So i it was at that point I was like, oh, this is interesting. um But Nicole, that was actually a great segue you gave us into the news topic of the week or some of the news for the week, which was that epic run by Rachel Entrican at Cocodona.
Discussion on Cocodona Race Dynamics
00:48:58
Speaker
Um, and it's, I feel like this race sucks me in every year and I don't know why it's the one really long race that sucks me in, whether it's the coverage or the people that come or that run it all, just the vibe around the race looks pretty epic. But yeah, I was following on from pretty early going what's happening. Um, and seeing, i think when you do start following from close to the start and especially when she took the lead at what, like 60 miles, um, and then going, is she going to hold? Is she going to hold? Oh my gosh, she's holding. She's holding. And she's like ripping through this course. um
00:49:34
Speaker
seeing it play out was pretty cool at the time. So, yeah, Nicole, your thoughts initially? Oh, yeah, it was like it's super impressive. what what Anyone that can run 200 miles is impressive to me, but to do it in that time, um that, you know, consistency, yeah, and, yeah, to get the overall course record for a female to get that, that's really ah like super impressive moment for women's sport and because I'm not sure.
00:50:03
Speaker
how often that kind of thing really has happened. I mean, I know there was the Tara's, is it Appalachian Trail? Yeah. you Yeah. Yes, that was overall record as well. But, you know it doesn't happen that often that a female gets an overall sort of, you know, world record. So it's very, very cool to watch.
00:50:23
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And the race itself was actually, ah i must admit, I wasn't actually as tuned into the men's race as the women's. So um they didn't end, like they kind of had an hour between the top three. um It was an hour and a half or an hour, 20 minutes that Rachel won by in the end to Killian Korth. I believe they trained together. At least I've seen a lot of footage of them seeming to be together, um like running, but Then it was about a bit less than an hour back to Cody Poskin in second and a bit more than an hour back to DJ Fox in third man.
00:50:58
Speaker
But then the women's, there was just more changes going on in that second to third to fourth season. range And yeah, Courtney DeWalter did end up coming through for second ah in front of Megan Eckert. But for ages, it was kind of heather and Heather Jackson and Courtney going back and forth and back and forth, which was very cool to follow along of how that was going to play out. Meanwhile, you've got Rachel up the front, just loving life. um ah It is so fascinating as because they have, in Rachel's case, 56 hours to create a story.
00:51:34
Speaker
And there's Aeroviper who put the race on. They're so good at putting their social content out. They had live streams the entire time, like even straight through the night. I just had a look and I was listening to the Singletrap podcast recap of this. One of the live streams has 355,000 views on it very Amazing.
00:51:51
Speaker
one of the streams like it went way past anything western states has got before and and like any other trail event and people are just so caught up and i think it's because you have like we have people like max jolly who are genuinely good 200 meter runners but they've also got an incredible following and then there were some other people in there that were more on the kind of podcast the influence side of things and it just like the storytelling around a 200 miler when you've got so much time to create it so much time before it to build it up like And but there's something about Coca-Dona and I think that Rachel just going in there and just putting on a masterclass. Like yeah she sprinted through the finish.
00:52:24
Speaker
like I know, yeah. I just, I watched that and i was like, how? And preserved Precision, Fuel and Hydration they put out. within a matter of hours of video so they've clearly started it while she's been running which is another benefit of a 200 mile plus race you have time to create content whilst while ah they're going and it went it went into like how she was doing it and it was just it was simple it helps when you have a sports scientist there to guide you through what you're going to eat and drink throughout the time but it's um and it's just master class in in obviously the running the pacing but the mindset and she was just
00:52:59
Speaker
She just knew what she was going to do and she just did it. And there was no question. like I would love to to hear, maybe she said, but my guess is is that like there was never a question of that she could win this. She like she has that capacity. it's not ah and Obviously, we are looking at a male versus female, but to me, it's just like she's just the best athlete on that field, which is just incredible to see. like ah Yeah, loved it.
00:53:24
Speaker
Yeah, definitely, definitely. i And I've loved so much the banter that's come out afterwards for many different things because poor puppy, bad take. um But if you follow, what is it, your boy Scott Durek, I think ah that'll summarize some of it for you.
00:53:40
Speaker
Some of the the trail running meme accounts at the moment have just been going off. It's it's it's like it's bad, but it's, im yeah, I'm glad we're not part of it. But yes, Francesco Pupi maybe put his yeah foot in it a little bit there.
00:53:54
Speaker
you Definitely, definitely. For context, yeah, just go check ah check it. yeah yeah He essentially said he wasn't sure it was trail running. Yeah. It just, it it took the conversation away from what Rachel did. Yeah. And I don't like, I don't care what your take is.
00:54:10
Speaker
Not cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah She's, she was ripper, ripper run. um On a very horrible note though, in that one race, ah there was someone that did pass away during the race, which yeah, we don't have the name. We don't have, and you don't have any of the details, which is totally fine. I don't think anyone actually needs them. Um, but it was ah just a medical emergency during it. And the runner did pass. Um, they did continue the race.
00:54:41
Speaker
Um, and yeah, I think that for so many people, that's again, that reminder of that these things ah put a lot of strain on the body. And i think it probably does. And people, a lot, I've seen a lot of things saying like this happens a lot more often than people think. um And that to me was a very sobering sentence to read in a way of just going, oh, like, yeah, the reminder to enjoy it when we get the chance to do it. um Yeah.
00:55:11
Speaker
No, for sure. And I think like we we did have a question as well, which I'll bring forward actually, which was from from Liam Corkill on Patreon. And he was asking like, should the race have been stopped or continued? And I think that when you're putting your body through something like this,
00:55:28
Speaker
there is always going to be a risk. And if it's not due to negligence on the race director or the race organizers behalf, and it's not due to severe weather, like we saw in, it was China a few years ago, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Well, those runners pass away. Like,
00:55:42
Speaker
you there's so much else going on that that it's horrible that put that that runner died but it's not there's not something wrong with the course there's not an unsafe environment for other participants and you obviously can never speak from the behalf of any other runner whatsoever but my i i just should should say this like my guess is that they probably wouldn't want the race stopped like they wouldn't want everyone to experience what they were trying to experience um which is obviously yeah yeah i don't yeah My take on it too, like you must love running to want to run 200 miles. And I, i again, it wouldn't be speaking for someone else, but speaking for myself, like yeah bad enough.
00:56:19
Speaker
If I would, like if if it was to happen to me, you'd go, well, it's bad enough. I'm no longer there and can't do it. But if everyone else also had to stop, like, to me, that's worse. I don't know. Like, it's, yeah, it's one of those, there's no right or wrong. And we saw it with Hard Rock last year. Yeah. We saw it with Hard Rock last year. So it's, yeah, it's always going to be a question. But I think that's where the sport seems to be lying is on the, if it's safe and it's not a risk, continue. Yeah.
00:56:47
Speaker
And in some ways it's almost like I did see the posts coming out during the race ah did seem to make it almost like a tribute the rest of the time. Like there'd be a lot of people then thinking about it.
00:57:00
Speaker
And yeah um to me that it it brings the community together um yeah in a whole new way. yeah The race takes on ah a different meaning at that point. a very different meaning yes for many people um so yeah interesting the highs and the lows in one race very much saying a quick break in the show to thank bix bix has just come out with their 30 gram gel in two brand new flavors this is a new gel new flavors you've got the choice of the salted strawberry or the berry the salted strawberry is also packing 300 milligrams of sodium as an increase Whereas the berry has 200 milligrams, both make them perfect for the conditions we have in Australia. Whereas most gels on the market do not have sodium within them. What Bix has done here is take the recipe for the gels that work so well, that 1.8 ratio that is very, very friendly on the stomach and added a soft, subtle, but very tasty twist that you can dial in your race day and your training nutrition to that extra fine detail.
00:58:00
Speaker
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00:58:17
Speaker
moving home for us for our news for the week which is just UTA um for everything that's happening just to give a quick update if you haven't listened to the four and a half five hours that James and Brody have put out of previews that they did in one sitting guys so absolute kudos to the marathon you do you two did there um because that's got to go on a record of some of the longest podcasting but uh For some updates ah from information we have that we believe to be true, Lin Chen you will not be running the 100 mile, which I think will change both of yours and Brody's predictions, James. I think she was in there for both of you. And then Guamindang. In the 100K, who was very highly, so I think, ranked second oh ah from China, he's also not going to be running, I believe, injured um in the 100K. However, Tim Locke is in for the 100K, who was second at Jabalani 45K and first at the 2023 Guzzler 100K.
00:59:25
Speaker
So we have an out and an in there. I feel like it's like a tag team going on. um And then no other withdrawals that we know of at this point, ah but Curtis Scott has entered the 22K. Now, he was fourth at Buffalo Stampede Festival 20K this year, yes?
00:59:46
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And you've just put context, three minutes ahead of Nathan and three minutes behind Pat Clark. So yeah in the mix there. Yeah. Yeah, then I think Curtis is going to add a really interesting dynamic into that battle for probably third, fourth, fifth that we were expecting to sort of Nath, Pat Clark. Like I think that both Brody and I feel like Ben and and Leo will be a bit, just that little bit ahead.
01:00:10
Speaker
Definitely could be proved wrong, but Curtis had a very strong run at Buffalo. So it's exciting. And Tim Locke, we will be re-releasing, what we will have re-release by the time this comes out. Yeah.
01:00:28
Speaker
yeah has some very good running credentials and if tim enters the race he thinks he's he's in good shape to run it so it's exciting to see him and it is a shame to see both the withdrawals but yeah bit more aussie talent definitely won't go amis Yep, yep, definitely. I've been messaging Ben Duffus today because he's, after I posted meow eating potatoes, he started eating potatoes in the lead up to the race. Oh, that's great. Now I've told him he's going to win because he's got the secret weapon of just eating a bunch of potatoes. But, yeah, he seems to be feeling good and ready to rip. So I'm so keen for that race. It's only a few days away. Totally so sweet.
01:01:09
Speaker
Yeah, and i'm for the 22, whether I have reception or not, I'm not sure, but I am definitely going to go down into that valley and try and get some footage of actually what's playing out because every year I'm like, how did it go down?
UTA Race Coverage Plans
01:01:22
Speaker
Who was where?
01:01:25
Speaker
what we were all doing through the forest and everything. So I'm going to see where I can get to that might have reception. But even if not, I'll just take some footage and we can post it later. Love it. But also interestingly, I did see the most recent UTA post about their live stream and it seems to be for the 50 and the 100.
01:01:44
Speaker
Oh, cool. So all of their – in their entire post, like at the end, it says 50K, 100K live stream Friday. is it Friday, Saturday, whichever day it is, um Saturday. um So I think they're covering both this year, which is so exciting because both are going to be absolute ripper races. But Nicole, what are your thoughts? Obviously not here this year, but what are your thoughts for the week ahead and who are you looking forward to watching? Oh, well, I just listened to James and Brody's marathon previews on the flight home. So I'm
01:02:18
Speaker
all across what's going on um after that today so yeah no i think the the 50k and the 100k especially look like really incredible races the the 50k women's field is next level yeah and so that's probably the one i'm most excited to watch um it's yeah yeah gonna be great to watch and yeah also we'll be following all of the other races especially the 100k because that's my distance that's the one i'm usually in yeah So yeah, and yeah, we'll definitely keep an eye on the shorter distances and the 100 mile as well. And yeah, it's shaping up to be a lot bigger, I think, than it was last year. um I would attribute that to the fact that people knew it was a major for longer so they could plan yeah come down under, more internationals.
01:03:04
Speaker
It was sort of a last minute announcement like last year and, you know, there's hard to get accommodation and those types of things. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. I was ah like, it's been seven, seven and a half thousand people feel like for a few years, obviously had a few down years around that COVID times and post, but they said 8,000 runners, which, and and credit to them, like 56.8% 43.2% female. Obviously we'd love to see 50, 50, but that's really good for a trail running event. They didn't give us a breakdown of the distances, but like from participation perspective, that's pretty good.
01:03:36
Speaker
Pretty epic. um I like the fact that there's 99 birthdays and the oldest male is 83 and the oldest female is 79. That is cool. It's very cool. Very, very cool. Yeah. And I'm on a last minute impromptu trip actually going to be here all week. So I'll also be able to, to be fair, people can watch the live stream. You don't need updates on the 50K anymore. But I'll be out there at the aid stations crewing meow. So yeah. I will be able to send through messages of how things are going, maybe post a few stories. Might have my hands full for taking videos though. So we'll see how we go. But I'm so excited. And having I got to run some of the course today with Meow and I was just like, this woman's going to go fast.
01:04:22
Speaker
um So very keen, very, very keen. Speaking of ah one of the questions that Brody and I were wondering is like how much will Dan Jones taper for this?
01:04:32
Speaker
For anyone listening that would like to go and look at his Strava, um he ran 50k, then he did a double day that I think he ran about 50k across that day, then he did another 50k and then he's backed it up again today. So not a lot is the answer, but He's definitely making the most. He's currently in Force Creek, definitely making the most of the Alpine environment whilst whilst he's got it. Seeing seeing some of the the pretty special areas up there. But I did. yeah it's it's ah It's a fun. for I think Dan puts everything that he does on Strava. He's keeping his 200 plus K weeks going.
01:05:05
Speaker
Yeah, nice. That is wild. And I will say it is somewhat similar for Meow because this is this was a last minute jump in instead of Transvolcania because she didn't,
01:05:17
Speaker
respond well to the jet lag going over to America. So they replaced Transvolcania with this ah for the not having time difference going on. um And it's in the lead up to ah her Valderan 100K.
01:05:31
Speaker
um So similar vibes of not much tapering going on, having looked at what she's done in the last week. um please Please do not extrapolate from what the elites do.
01:05:43
Speaker
i Yes, do not not. Not a smart move, not a smart move, no. Awesome, awesome. Well, shall we bring it back to what has happened as opposed to what's about to happen?
01:05:54
Speaker
ah Oh, our updates actually. James, you're running the 22. Yes, I am. How are you doing? um Yeah, no, it's it's been obviously a long, very long time. like The last race I did was two days beginning of last year, so it'll be about 16 months or so. um i'm still as i think as I said and on the previews, still very much not in race shape, nor am I allowed to like run downhill quickly, so I still have to take it very easily the downs and go hard on the ups, but...
01:06:25
Speaker
I'm touching all the wood. There's nothing wrong, but I'm still, yeah, it feels pretty cool to say that I'm hopefully going to be on a start line again. um And I've never run anything at UTA. I've been entered for the 50k twice and not made it for various reasons. Just didn't go basically. um So it'll be very fun to actually get up there and experience that part of the course myself. Yeah. So we're kind of, Yeah, a little bit of a taper for it. We're still building because Shiv and I are doing the T&B as a fast pack in a couple of months. Nice!
01:06:59
Speaker
Yeah, so that's that's always been the big goal. Don't get food warming. Yes. Don't repeat us. go Well, we've actually chosen to not stay because we're both dairy-free. We've chosen not to stay in some of the refuges because we just can't guarantee that all the food we get there. It will not be dairy-free. It'll be cheese. Exactly.
01:07:18
Speaker
So we've ah yeah we've gone more for the Airbnb where we can rather than the the ah the refuge. But yes, with with that as our focus, didn't want to get get in in the way of that. So it will be, originally this was meant to be the 50K, but we've just purposely taken this rebuild slower because the question has always been, is could it put the TMB at risk? And if the answer is yes, we don't do it. And that's made the decision making very easy to get back to here. yeah last the last couple of weeks of putting in some long runs that are ah give or take what the course was just to condition the legs up and last week has not not sunday gone the sunday before that or saturday we did the second kind of run there's about a thousand meters or so of elevation and the next day my legs were absolutely fine so that was a welcome change because i went the week after kmr when i did my long run on the friday before the race started i was sore for a week And that was humbling again. So it's ah fun not to have those feelings. So yeah, no, it's been good. And it's like it's, it is really fascinating when you've got a decent amount of training history behind you, just how quickly your fitness can come back.
01:08:29
Speaker
like if i I don't know these exact numbers, but roughly it wasn't running for seven months last year and another three months worth of run walk programs where you don't really feel like your fitness is building. Although it is actually impressive what you can do with a walk run and what you feel like you get fitter when you start to get to some longer longer intervals. But Yeah, it's ah it's been a welcome surprise that I'm not as unfit as I thought I would be in some cases, some areas I am. But it yeah it's exciting to be looking looking forward a bit now rather than just kind of going day to day and trying to look after myself.
01:09:03
Speaker
Yeah, ah I'm so excited. I'll be ah ho um my bed i'll be ah screaming at you up further steps um as you try and get your way up there. but Hopefully I don't have to scream at you as much as I had to scream at Vlad last time as he was racing Toby up there because that looked painful. um But although I look forward to the repeats of those Ferber Steps battles, um honestly, nothing more painful. I did it today and I was like, damn, these stairs, they just get you.
01:09:37
Speaker
So, oh, exciting, exciting. I'm like, yeah, as I said, mildly tempted to jump in the 11K, but probably not going to. um But otherwise, just here for a fun week while I try and let my leg recover from What did I do? Diverge. Diverge, yeah. And I'm in a similar spot where I'm just like, I just i don't, what happens now doesn't matter. So i can ah ah if if it feels annoying tomorrow, I'll probably just take a week off because I'm like, there's nothing to lose. I'm already pretty down low on the pecking chain at this point. um So, yeah, i'm ah I'll be just around and about the event, which
01:10:17
Speaker
It's fun, i will say, to be around about an event, even though you're not running, when you know that, like, you can run. Yeah. um Very different vibes to when you're, like, fully injured and you can't physically do the thing. So this time around, I'm like, no, this is actually fun to be here this week, despite not being fit enough to race. I'm like, I can forget about that. That's fine. Yeah.
01:10:38
Speaker
But yeah, I'll just be trying to share all the UTA vibes and mostly the races, like what goes on in these races is the best bit. So it's going to be a great weekend. Like 8,000 people descending onto to one town that all share the same interest and love and for the sport. It's a pretty cool weekend.
01:10:59
Speaker
It's actually so nice being in Katoomba now before it gets wildly busy. Like we're on the trails today and there was not many people out and you could get a park in town very easily. And yeah, I'm like, oh, this is nice.
01:11:13
Speaker
I rate it. So awesome. Awesome. Well, back to bringing it back home. Actually, not even home. James, take us through, ah you've if you've got the results up, Transvolcania. And Nicole, have you ever a been to this area that Transvolcania is running? No, I haven't. No.
01:11:33
Speaker
Did you follow along at all? I didn't actually follow a lot of this race. you know I saw the results, which was awesome. But no, I didn't actually follow along. So I actually don't know tons about that race. It's pretty spectacular, to say the least. Sim, you've never done this one, have you?
01:11:49
Speaker
ah No. ah No. which yeah it's not on which Which island is it on? ah La Palma. La Palma. Okay, cool. Yeah, I've done a lot of training on Tenerife, but um yeah not La Palma. So the the Ultra, as is typically the case, is probably the more marquee race of it. It also had um a sky running mount running mountain running word mountain mountain running thank you it was at the world mountain running cup so it had a vertical kilometer which was 7k and 1200 and then it had the half marathon which is about 24k as well but the which we will we will come to because we had some aussies in action there but the ultra marathon starts with a double vk um and you just basically climb like it does from about the 20k mark to the maybe 30k mark you do get a bit of descending But then it just keeps climbing all the way up to the 50, roughly 50k mark, at which point I think you're on the top of of the volcano. yeah And then you just have a 20k descent, which from what I can tell, and there's a really good iron far post race with Lucy Bartholomew, who we're about to get to, kind of describing it is,
01:12:56
Speaker
For Europeans, probably not that technical. For Australians, quite technical. And you're doing it for for the best part of twenty k And then there is a final little climb, just because why not? And then you you finish off with what looked like about a K and a half to a 2K straight line down the main road.
01:13:13
Speaker
You're running along this blue like highlighted bike path. so many people cheering and giving high fives, but also you could see so clearly if there is somebody that's maybe only 200 meters away from you, but you also know at that point, you're not probably not going to catch them unless they're really yeah faltering.
01:13:30
Speaker
But with how close, especially the men's field was, there would have been five guys along this stretch of road at the same time finishing. And yeah, it was, I caught, I caught the final, maybe half an hour of the men's field and then into the women's field. And That part, not so spectacular, but the pictures that were coming from from the summit and and those points, it just looks yeah incredible. And I was talking to well talking to Ian Best, who we'll come in too, and just sounds like a pretty pretty high one on the list of going to.
Transvolcania and Other Race Highlights
01:14:02
Speaker
And something that Billy Curtis has said after his experience racing Trans-Grand Canaria and Madeira, and he was also at Trans-Valcania, is it kind of suits Aussies because everything starts at sea level and everybody has to fly.
01:14:14
Speaker
yeah So even though we have to fly a long way, Yeah. it does level that playing field to a degree. So anyway, I will stop burying the lead. And so we had a few Aussies in action. ah In the women's field for the ultramarathons, this was about 73k, 4,500 meters of ascent. Blondine Lauren Dale took the win. She broke the old course record. so this was a historically fast year in both the men's and the women's side. She ran 7.43, 47. And then we saw our own Lucy Bartholomew have ah like an incredible run. I would...
01:14:47
Speaker
love to hear where she ranks this one but it's seemingly this was a real real quality just so high quality performance running 7 49 26 only six minutes back and that whole that whole six minutes came on that descent i think she actually she said that in an interview she was just behind blondine for like the entire run but did make a tiny gap right at that 50k mark at the summit But then as soon as the downhill came, Blondine just went flying past her. And Lucy says in that interview that she actually said, please be careful to Blondine because she was going down so quickly. So it's, yeah, side aside aside from that, it definitely says that Lucy's in great shape as she builds towards La Veradeo is her next one. So very, very cool to see. And then Emily Forsberg, it was interesting to see her. She ran third place, 8.14.40.
01:15:35
Speaker
After a third pregnancy, I think this is one of her first big races back, which is always very fun to see. And Emily is a obviously Killian's partner, but one of the best athletes in the women's field. So it's cool to see her making that that step back. And then I won't go through all the races, but just because it is the ultramarathon is the ah the marquee one, the winner in that for the men's was David Sinclair.
01:16:01
Speaker
who ran six hours 32 and from memory this was about 20 minutes off the course record that has stood for 11 years it might have been closer to 25 minutes and the top five guys might have been six guys actually yeah i think it was the top six guys all came under that course record it was a historically cool year basically um and i think there was the the trail conditions were pretty good but we saw yeah david sinclair petter engdell um nadir mcguay ben demon last year's utmb second place was coming in fifth it's uh like very very stacked field makes it looking
01:16:36
Speaker
very enticing to get along to at some point. it's a which is I'm pretty sure it's what I say after watching all of these races. I'm like, oh, want to go there. Oh, I want to go there. Yeah. We're never going to make all of them, but we can try.
01:16:47
Speaker
lot easier said than done. Yeah, yeah. And then in the mountain races, which yeah i was following these as closely as I could um on the timing, but the ah we had Lara Hamilton. She was, I love it, 7th and 7th.
01:17:02
Speaker
um So they had the VK the day before and then the half marathon the day after. um And yeah, she got top tens in both. And this was just the start of her trail season. So I'm excited to see. where she takes it from here. I do i do know that she's been dropping hints on ah Instagram of doing more road racing and stuff too as she builds back into trails. So excited to see where Lyra leads because that's that's huge having that back-to-back top 10.
01:17:28
Speaker
And then also Ian Best was there in the men's and he was 16th in the VK then backed that up with a 12th in the half marathon, which is huge. Such good results. Yeah. And for, it's it's a bit hard sometimes I feel like with the placings because 12th, if you don't, don't have context of that race can be like, oh, that's, that's great. It's impressive. But the time that he ran on that course as well was like historically quick. Yeah. And yeah, I think the both seeing both Lara and Ian, their VK positioning is really and like really impressive, but seeing that they've been able to, in Lara's case, replicate that position for the half marathon and then Ian to run four places faster, uh, is yeah very cool and he also took a couple of the ah the kiwis scalps and that half marathon which is always a bit of fun Nice.
01:18:17
Speaker
Love that challenge going on there. Awesome. And then we at the Youth Skyrunning World Champs, did you see any of this, James? do you have any context on what it was? No, i didn't have any context and trying to find these results is impossible. yeah I can get top three and then all I could work out was that I had to become a paid membership to Skyrunning Federation to be able to access the results for this race. Yeah.
01:18:40
Speaker
Yeah, the only way that I could find out where Toby Lang came was by searching his name. So I had to know that he ran to then search his name to get his individual result card. But I i spent like 15 minutes trying to work this one out. And either missing something really obvious, which is very likely, or it's way too complicated, especially considering we're talking about the youth sky running.
01:18:59
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Okay. Well, 63rd for Toby there, which go Toby, we love your work. um Then actually bringing it home and back to where Nicole was on the weekend for Margaret River Ultra. um I'll just quickly start with ah Ben Leeson did, as we said, take out the course record by 19 minutes, I believe, based on their social media, running six hours, 16 minutes.
01:19:23
Speaker
Ethan Stirrat was second in 6 hours 57 and Jack Valentine in 7 hours 18. And then on the women, obviously, Nicole, you got the win. Cara Dugan ended up ah only about, what, 90 seconds back. So did you know she was that close?
01:19:39
Speaker
I was running scared. Yeah. Yeah, so at the checkpoint for the last checkpoint, which was maybe thirteen k or so from the finish, as I was exiting the checkpoint, I had spent a bit longer there than I sort of usually would because I'd been under-fueled in the segment before, so I wanted to mix up a new tailwind. um And as I was coming out, she was coming in, which is never what you want to see. She really hoped to have a little more breathing space. So, yes, I was running scared the last 13Ks. I was looking over my shoulder.
01:20:10
Speaker
She was wearing black. Twice people in black came up on me. Thankfully, both times they were men, but it put some fear into me. Maybe until I could see they were men, you know, as I saw them in the distance. ah um Yeah, everyone seemed to be wearing black that day. So it made me run a little faster. Probably a good thing because she was right there.
01:20:31
Speaker
Yeah, she was very much so because, say because yeah, 8 hours, 13.48 and then Cara in 8 hours, 15.06. In third was Crystal Lions in 8 hours, 51. I love that. what a Running scared for the last 13Ks of an 80 is painful but good pain. Yeah, well, mostly because it was on sand for at least five of the Ks. It was sort of like an uphill sandy four-wheel drive track too, really unpleasant. more Not fun. Can I just shout out about some of those results there? Actually, Ethan Sterrett and um
01:21:07
Speaker
And Crystal Lions were in the Grand Slam, so they actually backed it up with the marathon the next day. And so to run that time, Ethan ran and he also, I believe, came in second or third. I can't remember. He was fourth in the marathon. Okay. he He ran a very good time in the marathon is what I'm trying to say. yeah um And set the Grand Slam course record too. Very impressive performance there by him.
01:21:31
Speaker
And, yeah, Crystal Lions as well, very strong. Yeah. Yeah, so Ethan Stirrat won the Grand Slam in 1109 and Crystal Lions won the Grand Slam on the women's side in 14 hours, 17 minutes. So huge. Love that. Thanks for the context there, Nicole. ah One back in – Melbourne, not Melbourne, Vic area, Wandi Cross. This one I was keeping track of because I was sad that I wasn't there. um But it looked like, and compared to last year especially, ripper day and they actually got to run the whole course. um I do did, i don't know if laugh is the right word, but James Barnett getting the win in 3.08.54, I believe, puts him like a minute behind his brother's course record.
01:22:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think so so. the twin rivalry is strong because I believe Hayden has the course record in 307 or something, 307 high. um Oh, here I've got it, 307.32. So, yeah, two minutes off his brother's course record for the win um for James, but regardless, an incredibly strong run ah by James. Then Joe Dorff was second, 3 hours 29, and Brian Leachie third in 3 hours 42.
01:22:47
Speaker
On the women's side, it was won by Hannah McCray in 4 hours 43. And this was another close one because Nicole McKilliam was second in 4 hours 45. So two minutes between them and Jill Fullan third in 5 hours 20 Wandi Cross 27. Oh, I just realised I haven't looked at the 14. I've got it here if you want. Oh, Trad Freak was running. Nice. Yeah. So I think Chad was meant to be in the, well, on the entry list. He was on the long course, but he stepped down. So he took the win in one twenty five zero four just in front of Hector McGilvery, which we've seen Hector at a few of the kind of i'm a shorter course, but is it Buffalo and... Yeah. And Warby in 128.24. And then Tim Goddard, Timmy G, the bright local, third in 133.57. And then in the women, Simone Rich took the win there 157.15, followed by Alana Harrop in 203.31 and Tabitha Galvin in 212.26. Nice.
01:23:46
Speaker
Love that. I can't wait to go back again. It's such a fun course. ah Awesome. Down in Tassie, we had run Nauantapu.
01:23:57
Speaker
Is that how I say that? No, Narawantapu. I don't know. Narawantapu. Yeah. have to apologize to to this race. I missed them last week on the ah the coming up. But yes, I found you.
01:24:11
Speaker
That's all right. we We found you for the for the winners at least. So on the the or fifty two k that was won by Annabelle de Jong-Kirik. in the women's in 4 hours 20 and Thomas Merton in the men in 3 hours 41. For the 25K, that was won by Charles Gunn in the men in an hour 38 and Rian Miles in the women in an hour 56 and the 12K, Oscar Young in the men in 47 minutes and Stella Foley in the women's in 1 hour and 1 minute.
01:24:40
Speaker
ah James, you want to take us through what was next? Yeah, and we had just had a couple of the kind of more local races. So up in Queensland, we had the Spring Shirt Mountain Challenge. So Quinton Gill, which is good to see his name ah coming on a start list or on a results list, even as he was one of the withdrawals from uta But he took the win there in 109.15 and then Sigrid Pembroke for the females in 118.24. And we had another one of the Canberra Trail Series, which I'm really growing to like, especially their distance. So the 11.8K was won by Jared Sopniewski in 51-46. And then Brittany Harridan, who we're getting very familiar with saying her her name recently, 56-40. And then in 6.8K, Cody Clarkson took the win there for the men in 26-20 and Louise Sharp for the women in thirty one fifty eight Amazing. Love that. Yeah, and I do love all those trail series. I really need to get into the local ones when my ah body actually
Upcoming Events and Closing Remarks
01:25:37
Speaker
lets me. um But for what is coming up, obviously, UTA, that we've already spoken through, but also West Max mons west max Monster. That's actually a bit of a tongue twister, isn't it?
01:25:50
Speaker
Especially when I spelled it wrong. You had, yes. But we got there. Then Great Ocean Road Running Fest. Oh, I did not realise that was this weekend, but I suppose that's always the same weekend as UTA.
01:26:04
Speaker
ah Mount Beauty Running Festival in bic Vic. Oh, my gosh. The Forest Gump Chocolate Box Trail Run. Now, how does that work? Is that actually different distances or is that just the name? Do we know? Not entirely sure. it Yeah, I couldn't say. I had a quick look into it just to make sure it actually was like an event. But I love the name.
01:26:23
Speaker
Yeah, I've just got to know, like, how does it work, though? why Like, do you get to just pick something and then that's how the distance you run? I don't know. Anyways, we might have to find this out. or not on Not live on the podcast.
01:26:38
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, no, it's got a Milky Bar 3K, a Snickers 8K, and a Toblerone 12K. I love it. not Not a fan of the Toblerone. love the Toblerone. That's one of my faves. No, not about it.
01:26:51
Speaker
ah Either way, we then also have the Run Her Lake Manchester Trail Run in Queensland, which is a women-only event. Love it. ah Don't know where Lake Manchester is, but sounds very cool.
01:27:06
Speaker
um Awesome. I think that that winds us up. That's us. That is us for this week, and we're going to have a lot of content coming at you in the next week um and hopefully some very cool interviews next week.
01:27:21
Speaker
actual week um after UTA as we see how it all pans out. But feel free to chuck your, now that you know some of the more withdrawals and entrants, feel free to chuck your overall ah guesses in comments or um DM them through and ah we will give you as much coverage as we can manage over the week. But I'm sure there'll be plenty going out left, right and centre from everyone. So Thank you, Nicole, so much for joining us. It's an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for having me, guys. so It was a great last-minute invite. Yes, we got there. Our organization is amazing at the moment. um Yeah, that's kind of par for the course a little bit.
01:28:04
Speaker
like Yes, very much so. um But, yes, best of luck on your entire build to CCC. We might have to catch up ah either before or after CCC to see how it's gone. and how it's then going. That was a lot of C's in one sentence. was um But can you tell I'm done? I'm done. James, we're out.
01:28:24
Speaker
That's what happens when you try and keep up with me out some stairs. Brain is just fried. Very much. Very much so. It's been fried all day. And to be fair, I've been keeping up with her on naps too. She naps like two hours a day. So it's amazing.
01:28:36
Speaker
We get naps all the time. So good. So good. Naps and potatoes and trail running. That's my week. Awesome. Thanks for listening, guys. We'll speak to you next week.
01:28:47
Speaker
Thanks, everyone. Thanks. Bye.