Run Culture Podcast

With just 5 days till Raceday, this is the ‘Pre-race’ Episode of the 50km Lockdown Challenge Podcast! On this episode; Dion, Jd, Apples and Dane go over; -Dan Andrews latest announcement and what it means for the event. (further clarification to come during the week!) -Their COVID Safe plans for the event. -The long range weather forecast predictions for race day. -Their recent training weeks. -Their taper plans. -Their final race day tactics/pacing strategy! ...and Dion also interviews Barry Thomas one of the main guys behind the zero plus sports beer and the Australian Sports Brewing Co, who have been huge supporters of our event! The boys would also like to personally thank everyone who has got behind this event during the COVID19 lockdown, they hope that others have been inspired to set crazy goals, stay motivated and get creative during this unprecedented time! Hope to see many of you there on the day! And if not, be sure to follow along on Sunday with the online tracker and fb live event!

Dane opens the podcast with an enlightening chat with newly minted 50km WR holder CJ Albertson. They discuss how he found running 125 laps of the track, his rapid rise to being one of the best marathoners in the US, his amazing ability to recover from weekly hard long runs, what he’s excited about in the future (be it a sub 2:10 marathon, representing his country at the highest level possible and ultra marathons). CJ really has some great advice when it comes to balancing structure and flexibility with training, the value of doing training or races that excite you and the importance of having a really balanced/happy/fun lifestyle outside of running. (Turn the volume up for this one, the sound is just a little soft at times). Then it is once again over to; Dion, John, Craig and Dane! They cover all the progress they have made from an event organisation point of view, such as; -The application for an IAU Bronze label event was successfully approved this week and so the event is now officially recognised as such! -Tomato chip timing is officially onboard, which will allow live online tracking throughout the event compared to Mark Tucker’s current Aus 50km record. -There will be a Facebook live feed of the event on race day. -John’s super shoes (Brooks Hyperion elite 2) currently sit in Florida awaiting shipment as he nervously awaits to see if they arrive before race day. -Next weeks episode will have the boys discuss race day pacing strategy/tactics and the final details that everyone needs to know about the event. -Final Covid safe measures will also be able to be clarified by November the 22nd. The boys then answer a listener question and then go on to discuss their training weeks and how they are tracking with just 2 weeks to go till their Aussie record tilt! Thanks once again to the Australian Sports Brewing Company for throwing their unwavering support behind the boys with this challenge and the podcast!

Welcome back to Episode 8 of; 'The Lockdown 50km Challenge!’ This week, Dion, John, Craig and Dane, go over their training weeks and how they are tracking with just 3 weeks to go till their Aussie record tilt! Thanks once again to the Australian Sports Brewing Company for throwing their unwavering support behind the boys with this challenge and the podcast! Dane starts off the podcast with a huge thank you to all the listeners that came forward and helped us find some amazing track officials for the event! Sarah Davis is to be the events official track referee. Her husband Patrick, friend Stewart and his wife are also qualified officials that will help out on the day! The four volunteer officials we have enlisted above all need to go on after our race and help out at further Athletics Victoria Track meets later that day, so the boys also announce that the race start time has been brought forward from 7am to 6:30am Sunday Nov 29th, to make this possible. In general the efforts of officials and volunteers don’t get enough recognition or thanks in our sport, I mean without them we wouldn’t have an athletics meet, it just wouldn’t run. The process of organising this 50km challenge event and communicating and liasing close with officials has certainly highlighted that they are some of the ‘quiet legends’ of our sport! Tomato Chip timing is all but locked in for the event and Dion chats about the latest Shoe regulation update! All going well with COVID19 restrictions, we look good for a 50 person crowd on the day at this stage! In terms of weekly training developments: Dion ‘the Hulk’ clocked his second straight week at 211kms for the week! Which included a mid week workout of 5km reps and a 50km Sunday long run with a fast finish! After a couple of inconsistent weeks John ‘the beast’ Dutton was awoken again! Clocking a 166km week, 45kms more than last week, Including 50 plus kms on Sunday and a 60 min Kenyan fartlek on Friday. Earlier in the week, John also channeled a bit of former marathon great; Charlie Spedding. John did one of Spedding’s favourite fartlek workouts: 32kms of speed play. John recites a paragraph from Spedding’s book to listeners explaining why he loves this workout so much! John also explains, after chatting to his mentor (Mona), that he will now hit a couple of weeks of shorter/faster stuff before he tapers. Well done JD! Craig strung together another good week, collecting 8hrs of running (including a 32km Sunday long run with JD), another 6hrs on the bike (including a 4hr epic- up and down Mt. Dandenong 3 times, on Cup day). Craig outlines that it is unlikely he will run the full 50kms (given how training has progressed) but he continues to try to see how fit he can get to help the other boys with their record attempt on the day! (Before retiring to some sports Beers) After one of the biggest weeks of his prep and a quite a lot of volume over the the past month or two; Dane had a week where he planned to change the focus a little in a bid to hit a fast 10km timetrial with his training squad, the Run Culture Owls. Dane was rapt with his and his fellow Owls’ form, he now plans to have one more big specific week, before a 2 week taper into the event. He also talked about Stumpy Gully Rd again and how it tragically even featured on Jess’ Birthday! The guys finish the show answering a listener question about their personal eating habits, diets and how good or bad they are!? If there are any further listener questions please send them through to either Craig Dion John or Dane via their socials. The boys would love to answer them on next weeks show!

Run Culture Podcast Episode 80: The Lockdown 50km Challenge Ep. 7. Welcome back to Episode 7 of; 'The Lockdown 50km Challenge!’ This week, Dion, John, Craig and Dane, go over their training weeks and how they are tracking with 28 days to go till their Aussie record tilt! Thanks once again to the Australian Sports Brewing Company for throwing their unwavering support behind the boys with this challenge and the podcast! Dane issues a call out to any keen listeners of the podcast that know any qualified athletics officials that would be keen to help, to get in touch, their help to get this project off the ground would be so appreciated! Otherwise communication and progress on all moving parts continues to steadily progress in the background- the boys talk about this at the end of the show. We all have gained a far greater appreciation of the inner workings of an athletics event because of this process! In terms of weekly training developments: Dion ‘the Hulk’ Finocchario continues to clock ridiculous mileage; a whopping 211kms for the week! Which included; a ‘triple’, a 2:48 marathon- pacing some of his evolve run club runners, ‘selfies’ in his beloved Braeside Park and some busy days now that he is back as a massage therapist given the reprieve in Metropolitan Melbourne’s stage 4 Lockdown! John ‘dark horse ’ Dutton had a ‘mixed bag’ week. Clocking just 27kms for the week till Friday as of the Christmas rush at work, he stacked his weekend with a crazy 84kms including a leg of the Victorian Ultra Runners Relay! Craig strung another good week together, running 90.88kms and collecting 6hrs on the bike! He now plans to slowly focus more on increasing his focus on his running as he hit a confidence building long run on the weekend. He continues to try to get in the best shape he possibly can for 4 weeks time! Dane, hit his hardest and most specific week of his preparation. He nailed a marathon workout over the weekend that his dad in fact suggested he try! He plans to hit a 10km timetrial next week with the Run Culture Owls, then one more big specific week, before a 2 week taper into the event. If there are any listener questions please send them through to either Craig Dion John or Dane via their socials. The boys would love to answer them on next weeks show!

Run Culture Podcast Episode 79: The Lockdown 50km Challenge Ep. 6. Welcome back to Episode 6 of; 'The Lockdown 50km Challenge!’ This week, Dion, John, Craig and Dane, go over their training weeks and how they are tracking with 5 weeks to go till their Aussie record tilt! Thanks once again to the Australian Sports Brewing Company for throwing their unwavering support behind the boys with this challenge and the podcast! The boys, start the chat discussing how all moving parts continue to steadily progress to get this event off the ground. Including; -Dan Andrews encouraging Covid announcements this week. -That Box Hill Athletics track has officially been locked in and booked as the event venue. -Correspondence with Athletics Australia has confirmed that we will need a minimum of 3 level 2 qualified Manual Time Keepers for the event or Electronic Timing and a chief track Judge. So, the boys are calling upon any listeners that may know anyone who can help out to contact us, it’d be so appreciated! In terms of weekly training developments: The resilience of Dion ‘the Hulk’ Finocchario’s robust body was on full display this week as he got back into his usual km crunching groove, clocking 197kms including some quality workouts. John Dutton nervously started the week in isolation awaiting his covid test results. He finished the week clocking 109kms in 4 days, including a 43km Sunday at 3:48/km. Craig was able to run every day this week, 10hrs of exercise; collecting 5hrs of running and 5hrs on the bike for the week! His 50km race day hopes continue to lay in the balance! Dane, logged his planned down week with a couple of short sessions to keep the legs in the game and a lot of running along Stumpy Gully Rd. He plans to hit 3 more solid weeks before a 2 week taper into the event. If there are any listener questions please send them through to either Craig Dion John or Dane via their socials. The boys would love to answer them on next weeks show!

Welcome back to another episode of the Run Culture Podcast. Today I am extremely privileged to be chatting to Dr Jeff Moreno. Jeff is a highly established and renown Physical Therapust from Santa Cruz, California. In 2005 Jeff became the team Physical Therapist for Nike Team Run Los Angeles, a post collegiate running team sponsored by Nike. Dr Moreno’s running clientele have included; US, Canadian, Mexican and Chinese Olympians in events from the 800 to the Marathon. In 2015 he founded ‘Move to Thrive’ an initiative aimed at improving youth inactivity. He is also the co-founder of ‘PWR Lab’ a platform that is designed to link to a runner’s GPS watch and help process their training data to assist in making smarter training decisions. There were so many great takeaways from this episode with Jeff, such as; Our healthcare system and culture is in general, too reactive rather than preventative in nature. Runners need to gain control and become independent, empowered CEOs of their own running journey. We should all make training decisions from a, ‘how can I run for the rest of my life?’ point of view. He also touched on the importance of movement variety, the direct interplay and relationship between the need for movement and a full life and that we are all a function of our environments.

Run Culture Podcast Episode 77: The Lockdown 50km Challenge Ep. 5 Welcome back to Episode 5 of; 'The Lockdown 50km Challenge!’ This week, Dion, John, Craig and Dane, go over their training weeks and how they are tracking with 6 weeks to go. The boys open the show with a special mention to the Australian Sports Brewing Company for supporting the podcast again with another batch of Zero Plus ‘Alcohol free’ Beers! In terms of weekly wraps, Dion and his beard, were the most busy this week, clocking a whopping 189kms. Look for Dion’s training only to go up a notable notch or two after Dan Andrews’ announcement on Sunday (opening metropolitan Melbourne to an infinite daily exercise duration, up to 25kms from home). John Dutton had a week riddled with fatigue, after upping his training significantly over the past 4 weeks! He had to stubbornly resign to the fact that this week and some of next will be devoted to recovering and absorbing the training as he now awaits the results of a COVID test! Craig’s 50km race day hopes lay in the balance as he returns to teaching on site this week, continues to rehabilitate his hip and attempts to use the bike to maintain cardiovascular conditioning. Craig gets through a couple of 13-15km runs and on Monday negotiates 104kms on his wahoo kicker, earning the illustrious 25lap badge for zwift’s Volcano circuit! Dane gets through another 140 odd km week, ticking off a speed session, one of his favourite workouts and a specific long run along Stumpy Gully Rd. Citing some fatigue, Dane is keen for a down week, rapt to shelf the treadmill and super keen to venture back to Devil Bend next week. The boys, round up the chat discussing some of the AURA age group and IAU 50km world best and Area records. Progress on all moving parts continues steadily in the background, nothing else new to add this week.

Today on Episode 76 of the Run Culture Podcast I have Ben Green, he is a full-time World Athletics Level 4 Middle and Long Distance Coach and the Coaching Manager at 'Front Runner Sports'. He also has a Bachelor of Sports Science with First Class Honors in Biomechanics to his name as well as a deep seated love for the sport of running himself. As a coach he manages all levels of athletes; from recreational runners to elite middle distance athletes with a scientific and research driven methodology. Ben, has an uncanny ability to articulate and explain scientific 'mumbo jumbo' into simple, easy to understand terms, appropriate for any runner. Ben is also a trusted facilitator for Athletics WA, Athletics Australia and the World Athletics and increasingly plays a significant role in the ongoing development of Coaches through the Front Runner Academy. Ben has just so much coaching wisdom,  I just found myself nodding in appreciation the whole conversation! I loved this chat and took a lot away from it and I know many others will benefit from it too.  This is once again a must listen for all runners and coaches, please share this episode with all those that you feel will benefit from listening to it! In this episode, Ben shares some brilliant points about coaching runners, that I'm certain so many will gain from hearing. Such as; -Tailor your coaching to the individual, be clear on where they are at, where they want to go? -Be clear on the 'purpose' of each training session, the 'why'. -Be careful not to do 'too much all at once', 'everything is a trade-off'. 'If you are building something, you're taking away the opportunity to build something else.' -Be careful of just using a myopic lens to view training and thereby being too reactive; 'every horse is allowed a bad run.' Take a step back, use a wider lens. Thanks again for your time and a brilliant chat, Ben!

Welcome back to Episode 4 of; 'The Lockdown 50km Challenge!’ This week, Dion, John, Craig and Dane, go over their training weeks and how they are tracking with 7 weeks to go. John ‘Dormant Beast’ Dutton continues to enjoy the hills of Gembrook averaging 4:05/km for the week with a heap of climbing, Dion labour’s through the mental rigours of stage 4 Lockdown and nails a monster of a session on the weekend! Craig ‘Apples’ Appleby summits Mt. Ventoux and makes great gains with his recovery from a sore hip. Dane embraces the monotony of his treadmill and his local track as he works on stealing his mental game! We also have great news to share about Dion’s latest discussions with the members of AURA about how to make the event certified; including applying to make the event an IAU bronze label event. While track location discussions and pace making arrangements continue, the boys along with the rest of metropolitan Melbourne have their fingers crossed for Dan Andrews next announcement! Thanks also to the Australian Sports Brewing Company for supporting the podcast this week and supplying the show with some Zero Plus Alcohol free Beers for the week!

After a rain check as of essential London marathon viewing, then some recording difficulties, Episode 3 of; 'The Lockdown 50km Challenge' is out a touch late this week. This week, Dion (Loco), John (JD), Craig (Apples) and Dane go over their training weeks and how they are tracking with 8 weeks to go. John keeps collecting ‘elevation’, Dion discusses his 5km timetrial, Apples shares an injury scare and Dane keeps collecting ks on that treadmill. We also have great news to share about Dion’s latest discussions with Dave Cundy, Brian Roe and the members of AURA about super shoe rulings for a 50km track race. Thanks also to the Australian Sports Brewing Company for supporting the podcast this week and supplying the show with some Zero Plus Alcohol free Beers for the week. IAU Guidelines: https://iau-ultramarathon.org/assets/pdf/perform/IAU_WorldBestPerformanceGuidelines_Sep2019_approved.pdf