Run Culture Podcast

Today, on the podcast I am incredibly fortunate to be chatting to Adrian Blincoe. In July 2008 Adrian ran an astonishing 13:10, the fastest ever 5000m run by a New Zealander, his record still stands today (as of early 2021)! We start off the chat by taking a deep dive into his time at Villanova College where he was coached by the legendary Marcus O’Sullivan. Adrian spent 12 yrs at Villanova as both an athlete and assistant coach. He had a big hand in athlete recruitment at Villanova and was integral in getting the likes of; Sam McEntee, Matthew Gibney, Jordan Williamz and Patrick Tiernan across the ditch. We then chat about his professional running career as a sponsored New Balance athlete that ran for the Melbourne Track Club, running with the likes of; Craig Mottram, Collis Birmingham, Bobby Curtis and many others. We discuss his Beijing 2008 Olympic experience and many other memories (races/training sessions and learnings) from his career. We finish the chat talking about his last 9yrs with High Performance New Zealand where he is heavily involved with athlete development. I personally watched Adrian growing up as a kid, whether it was at Golden League Athletics meets on TV or at Melbourne Track events! So, as you would expect it was a complete honour to chat to him. He spoke with such poise, confidence and oozed wisdom, it’s a chat many will get a lot from particularly the up and coming athlete. . To find past Run Culture podcasts or blogs, follow this link: https://www.runculture.org/ To book a Physiotherapy appointment with Dane Verwey, a physiotherapist that specialises in treating running injuries, please follow this link: https://auappts.gensolve.com/run ,or go to: www.runculture.org To improve your running performance and resilience, subscribe to the; 'Online Strength and Conditioning Course for Runners' created by Dane Verwey. Go to: https://run-therapy.teachable.com/ To check out how the elite Run Culture Owl running group is performing, follow this link: https://www.facebook.com/RunCultureowls If you feel the Run Culture Podcast adds value to your life, then please keep the podcast alive and become a patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=11035307

On the weekend, up and coming 22yo New Zealand distance running star; Oli Chignell ran an incredible 7:59 to place 6th at the NZ National Championships. This result (along with two PBs in December; a 28:48 10,000m and 13:38 5,000m) signals a return to form for the ‘smooth mover’ after a quiet 2020 recuperating from a sacral stress fracture. I caught up with ‘Chiggers’ last week before the race to have a chin wag and get to know him. We chat about how his moustache is here to stay, what running is like in Dunedin, his break out domestic and European season in 2018/19. What his training is like under this coach; Chris Pilone, whether he will be solemnly based in NZ for his whole career and his Olympic aspirations. It’s a good one, have a listen! Oli brings so much excitement to the sport! Thanks for the chat Chiggers!

Today, on the podcast I’m very excited to be chatting to the prodigiously talented; Jye Edwards. Jye’s name has been circling around the Australian running scene for a few yrs now after a promising junior career. In 2017, at just 18 years of age, Jye ran a ‘mind boggling’ 3:41 for the 1500. However, since then his career has been fraught with injury over the past 3-4 yrs. So, it has been super cool to see Jye at the end of 2020 convincingly win the NSW 3000m champs in an incredible 7:56 and then repeat the feat at the Albie Thomas mile in December running 3:57 (to beat 3 time Olympian Jeff Risely and Oli Hoare NCAA Champion and 3:53 miler!). This chat is for all the fans of the sport, here’s a name to remember/ be sure to follow and support him! In this chat, Jye also shares some of the lessons he has learnt that have helped him stay on the good side of injury recently. Thanks for a great chat Jye, I really enjoyed it! I’m sure so many runners will find listening to your journey inspiring!

In this weeks episode, I had the privilege to chat to Chris Chavez. Chris hails from New York, he’s a sports journalist, keen runner himself and is the founder of Citius mag (a media network that produces fresh, interesting and snackable running content from articles, podcasts and short videos). Chris is also a writer at sports illustrated (with whom he covered the Rio 2016 Olympics). He has previously worked at ESPN, Sporting News and Flotrack. For those of you un-initiated to the Citius mag podcast, Chris does a fantastic job unveiling the backstories of many interesting people in the running world (including Usain Bolt, amongst many others). In this chat, I ask him for his opinion on; What makes a great interview? What does athletics need to do to get more popular? How do we attract aspiring fans to pay attention, understand and appreciate athletics? How did he get started with athletics media coverage? What does he love about his job? What’s a typical day in the life looks like? In 5-10 yrs time what does he want to have achieved in the world of sports journalism?Many other topics are covered as well. Lastly, I’d encourage everyone to check out Chris’ Citius mag podcast, you’ll soon realise why I’m such a big fan! (Just follow a couple of the link below): https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/citius-mag-podcast-with-chris-chavez/id1204506559 And.........https://citiusmag.com/

Be a fly on the wall in our coach-athlete end of year debrief. I really enjoyed this episode personally as a coach, as it displayed just how much both athletes really have grown on and off the track during 2020. I also feel we cover some interesting ground and there are a lot of topics that will reverberate with a lot of runners. Both athletes have had very different journeys over the past 2-3 months, Pete has been out injured with a 3rd metatarsal stress fracture, where as Damien has been lapping up PB after PB! However, as you will see often we can learn as much about ourselves during times of hardship as we do when we can't put a foot wrong. My favourite part of the episode was when Damien opened up about some real heart to heart discussions we had had, as 'athlete' and 'coach' and how important these had been to buying in and believing in what we were doing! I also loved the part when we attempted to hypothesize 'Why Pete got injured?' This is such an important process post injury, so that we can better avoid the same mistakes in the future. We also briefly detail how the rest of the team are tracking. If you enjoyed this episode be sure to follow the   team's progress heading into 2021 on the 'Run Culture Owls' Facebook page.

Today on the podcast I was super fortunate to chat to Stephen Haas. Stephen has worked for Total Sports Management for the past 10 plus years. He is also a high level distance running coach of many athletes including the Under Armour sponsored professional running team; Dark Sky Distance, based in Flagstaff, Arizona. Prior to the recording of this podcast I hit Luke Matthew’s (top Aussie 800/1500 star and Total Sports Management athlete) up for a couple of hard hitting questions to throw at Haas. Thanks Lukey! Prior to becoming an athlete manager and coach, Stephen was an incredible runner himself having run for the University of Indiana in Bloomington, where he was a big 10 Champion at 5k and a 3 time All American who broke a few of Bob Kennedy’s school records! Out of college Haas ran professionally for New Balance running 13:33 for 5000m, 28:20 for 10,000m and 2:18:45 for the marathon. This interview is a great insight into the life of an athlete agent and this side of professional running. Thanks Stephen Haas!

Return guest of the Run culture podcast; Brodie Sharpe is back again this time talking all things Pain. Brodie is a fellow running physiotherapist, host of ‘the Run Smarter Podcast’ and owner of the ‘Breakthrough Running Clinic’. This episode is one that I urge every runner who has struggled chronically with running injury and pain through out their career to tune in to. The common misconception: ‘I have chronic pain because there is still tissue damage that hasn't healed yet.’ Is False! In this episode Brodie and I attempt to educate as many runners as we can, on why this is so. This episode is littered with personal and clinical anecdotes from Brodie and my experiences as running physiotherapists regarding injury and the subjective nature of pain. Why do we get pain? Where does pain come from? Pain intensity is more reflective of the contextual factors at play behind the running injury ie. ‘How threatening is this situation to the runner’s belief system?’ It is a myth that pain severity correlates with the degree of tissue damage incurred. Our beliefs drive our behaviours, our actions, our goals, they help determine the life we live. Are our beliefs about ourselves and our worlds completely true? Or do we need to sometimes delve a little deeper and ‘work on’/challenge ourselves? Identify and challenge those self limiting, maladaptive beliefs, thoughts, emotions and behaviours. If you liked listening to Brodie sharpe his podcast can be found here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-run-smarter-podcast/id1494778818 If this episode gets you thinking and you want to know more about this topic/ area then please don’t hesitate to contact me on the Run Culture socials for further information.

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to catch up and chat with close family friend, former 1988 Australian Ironman Triathlon Champion, 2 time Kona finisher(with a best place of 23rd), 1990 Commonwealth Games Aussie rep, 4 time Australian masters cycling Champion and full time cycling and triathlon coach at Trivelo Coaching; Gerry Donnelly! In this episode we discuss Gerry’s triathlon career, his early days, how he navigated his way through the early years of the sport of triathlon. My favourite part of the conversation was listening to Gerry reflect on what he learned from his own triathlon career, which included; just how important a balanced approach to life and training is and how his personal performance improved once he started to value rest and recovery! If you are interested to find out more about Gerry Donnelly be sure to go to; https://trivelocoaching.com.au or listen in to the ‘Get Fast’- Trivelo coaching Podcast.

Today, I had a chat with full time Kiwi triathlon and running coach; Craig Kirkwood (www.ckcoaching.co.nz). He is the coach of Hayden Wilde (a triathlete with a real podium chance come Tokyo Olympics and Sam Tanner a young 1500m superstar!). Craig was a 2:13 marathoner himself and was the former assistant coach to Kim McDonald a former athlete manager to the best Kenyan athletes of the mid 90’s to early 2000’s. I quiz Craig on this incredible experience, the US college system, his own marathon career and what he learnt, his coaching philosophy, drugs in sport, how Hayden and Sam are currently travelling and much more. Personally, it was great chatting to someone with so much experience at the top end of this sport and hearing his stories, thanks for a ripper interview Craig!

This is the 50km Lockdown Challenge Podcast Race Wrap! (the 11th and final episode) In this episode; Dion, Dane, JD and Apples reflect on their race day performances, discuss the ins and outs of what went into organizing the day and what a 'win' Sunday was for the Melbourne running community as a whole! They thank 'the village' of people that supported the event, announce the winner of the 'race prediction' contest and discuss what their next running goals are for 2021? The idea for the 50km Lockdown Challenge started out as a mere crazy idea in the middle of Metropolitan Melbourne’s COVID lockdown but on Sunday it ‘actually’ became real! Despite windy and wet conditions, the unfatigable Dion Finocchiaro was a cut above and  became the new and very deserving Australian 50km record holder; running 2:50:49! Dane, was personally pretty darn satisfied to also go under Mark Tucker’s old mark by 87 seconds; running a 2:52:20! JD went through the marathon 19 seconds shy of his Pb and hung tough to run 2:54:29, slicing 5 minutes off his old 50km PB. Apples (the birthday boy) defied his preparation and hung on till 30km, then jogged in a 2:33 mara. He was an invaluable team player! The incredible amount of support this event received from the running community will forever be appreciated and remembered! Special mentions must go to the people below, as without them, the race just wouldn’t have happened! Sarah Davis (AV official) Richard Davis (AV official) Susan Schnaars (AV official) Stuart Schnaars (AV official) Josh savage (AV official) Peter Villani (Tomato Chip Timing) Simon Forer (lap counter) Scotty Orchard (GM) Karen Mickle (GM/AURA official) Des Waldron (Utility/jack of all trades) Jeff Wright (lap counting) Sean Verwey (lap counting) David Overend (Drinks station) David Wilson (Drinks station) Nathan Fenton (Runner chats/MC) Pete James (Runner chats/MC) Damien Clark (Fb live) Peter Dutton (lap counter) Simone Brick (lap counter) Clint Perrott (helper) Tim bowman (Took over 4000 photos today, including the brilliant ones above!) Chris Smith (Zero plus sports Beers) Barry Thomas (Zero plus sports Beers) Bec Black (lap counter) Jeanette Reyes (lap counter) Box Hill Athletics Club for allowing us to use their great track, on top of being so accomodating and easy to work with! Liam Adam for his meticulous pacing for 30kms. Jess Dunsmore for pacing till 21kms all in lane 2, rolling a 72 min half. He had poise beyond his 21 yrs of age. And of course every single other man and his/her dog for coming out and showing their support and excitement for this wicked sport! What a special day Sunday November the 29th 2020 was!