Run Culture Podcast

G'day everyone! Today and over the next couple of months I've got something a bit different for you all. Each week I am going to catchup with good friends; Dion Finocchario, John Dutton and Craig Appleby as we train towards; 'The Lockdown 50km Challenge' I asked Dion (Loco), John (JD) and Craig (Apples) if they were at all interested in this crazy project a month or two ago in the height of Melbourne's lockdown. To my surprise they were!  During this, 'trying time' this challenge gives us; a goal, a reason to get out the door, some routine, structure, something to get excited about, an excuse to catch up on zoom, an excuse to dream and feel alive. I hope it inspires others to organise their own lockdown challenge to strive for (Ps. it certainly doesn't have to be a 50km race around an athletics track!) The Australian 50km road record is held by Mark Tucker from 2008 at the Canberra marathon and stands at 2:53:47. The Australian 50km track record is held by David Criniti and stands at 3:07. The goal is for one of us to run 125 laps of the track under the current Australian 50km record! Anyway, in this introductory episode we talk about how all of our training has been over the past several months during lockdown and begin discussing all the 'moving parts' that have to come together to make this event possible during this time. There's a few of them:)

Welcome back to another episode of the Run Culture Podcast, today I'm incredibly fortunate to be chatting to Canadian Sports Physiotherapist, author, biomechanist and researcher with a special interest in running; Chris Napier. Known as @runnerphysio on twitter, Chris is a 2:33 marathoner, he finished his Masters in Physiotherapy in 2003 in Perth, Australia and his PhD in running biomechanics and injury prevention in 2018. He co-owns Restore Physiotherapy clinic in Vancouver. He is currently a physiotherapist with Athletics Canada.  He is also the author of a fantastic book called; 'The Science of Running'; which I might add is just such a comprehensive resource for educating the runner about the latest running research, myths and the multiple reasons why we get injured  Chris's list of research publications continues to grow as a postdoctoral fellow at Simon Fraser University; he now has a particular interest in the use of 'wearable technology' to monitor training load and injury risk in runners. Chris's approach is to fuse biomechanical data capture from the field with subjective and objective training data. He is particularly passionate about education and translating his research into practical/translatable solutions for the runner.  In this chat we really focus on how runners could 'optimise training load monitoring' now and in the future. I ask Chris;  what is  'wearable tech'? We delve into the range of possibilities that 'wearable tech' could allow in regards to better monitoring the runners training load. Where he envisions 'wearable tech' to be at in 10yrs? Is there such thing as too much data? What data is valid/relevant? We also chat about the value in monitoring daily life stress (ie. sleep, stress, happiness, wellness/health/illness, pain, fatigue) and how being more cognizant of this can help with avoiding injury and maximizing performance. Will Artificial Intelligence start doing more and more, processing of our training data and start making some training decisions for us? We discuss the ins/out of this idea. We also discuss that; 'AI' will likely never be able to replace the often under appreciated value of coach-athlete rapport and the effect this relationship can have on motivation and compliance.

What an enlightening chat I had with Jono Hall, I was utterly transfixed to his every word and I have to admit I’ve re-listened to this chat several times since! “Jono” is a renowned Coach in the world of Triathlon. He is the head coach of Triathlon Canada's National Performance Center. He coaches top Canadian athletes such as Tyler Mislawchuk, plus a handful of international world class athletes on the ITU circuit. In this training talk we discuss Jono's coaching philosophy, what makes a ‘good coach’? Why him not being a fan of triathlon, possibly helps his coaching? What can ‘runners’ learn from triathlon training? His experiences coaching the likes of; Alan Webb, Craig Mottram, Drew Ginn and Morgan Pearson. Jono has been a professional coach for the past 15 yrs; initially with the VIS, Triathlon Australia and then was a lead coach for Triathlon USA for several years too. His private Triathlon coaching business is called the @Multi sport Brain. Prior to his coaching, as an athlete Jono Hall won the 1997 Australian Road Cycling Championships and 1997 ITU World Duathlon Championships! Keen runners and coaches, this one’s for you, I encourage you to all listen in, I’m sure you will learn/refine/consolidate a thought or two. Thanks again Jono Hall, loved it, so thankful for your time!

Today, on the podcast I had such a fun, relaxed and genuine chat with former Aussie 1500m record holder, three time Olympian and 2006 Comm Games silver medallist; Sarah Jamieson. This interview is an incredible insight into Sarah’s career, the persistence she showed to get through 7 surgeries in her early 20’s, the lessons she learnt throughout her running career, how she tailored training to suit her body, what life was like on the ‘European Athletics circuit’, the importance of a good support team and the sacrifices she made to make it all happen. It’s an inspiring chat on so many fronts, so please forward/share this with any keen runner that has big dreams. Sarah, is now a mum of 4, resides in Perth and runs the Perth Running Club (a recreational coaching service for runners) https://www.perthrunningclub.com.au/ So, for those that remember Sarah Jamieson, enjoy the trip down memory lane and for those that don’t, well, here she is, what a down to earth legend!

Today, I really enjoyed getting deep into the nerdy running details of how US elite Hoka one one sponsored marathoner/ultra runner Tyler Andrews prepares for a 50km race! Tyler is a 2:15 marathoner, was the 2016 Doha 50km World Championship Silver medalist, is the current US 50 mile National champ and has the fastest known time for 50km on the treadmill (2:42:51 June 2020). He is also a coach at Chaski Endurance Collective and has a fantastic running blog at www.strivetrips.org. We open the chat discussing how he has used goal setting to continually challenge himself and stay excited about his running and what he’s building for! How he has relished the COVID19 pandemic period to ‘re-set’ and get healthy. Tyler also details the 3 ‘free’ worldwide Chaski challenge virtual running events he has set up during this pandemic period for the running world. In this chat I loved listening to how Tyler steals his mind to run 50kms on the treadmill and what strategies he uses to cope with pre-race nerves. If you are interested to check out more about the Chaski Challenge virtual runs or online coaching be sure to go to; https://www.chaski.run/challenge

In this weeks episode I had a ball chatting to former Australian distance running superstar; Susie Power. In this chat, Susie details her incredible running journey, the many ups and downs and some major learnings. Some key takeaways I took from this chat included: ‘the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.’ Or that, for most runners; ‘good life balance often parallels optimal performance.’ Susie still holds multiple U/20 Australian records, was a pen pal and close friend to Paula Radcliffe growing up, was a silver medalist to Gabriella Szabo in the 3000m at the 1994 World Junior Track & Field Championships. Was the Bronze medallist in the 10,000m behind only the Kenyans at the 2001 Goodwill Games and 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games. Is still the Sydney City2Surf woman’s race record holder (45:01) from 2001. Ran an incredible 31:25 in the rain at the 2001 Zatopek 10,000m in an incredible display of front running. Susie also ran a quick 67:56 at the 2002 Great North Half marathon. Outside of running, Susie’s life is all but boring and she sure still hasn’t slowed down, she is now a single mum to 6 kids!

A few weeks ago I was incredibly fortunate to have a good chat to highly regarded Australian Walks coach; Brent Vallance. Brent was a fantastic walker himself representing Australia in the 20km road race at the Kuala Lumpar Commonwealth Games in 1998. Unfortunately, a chronic Hamstring injury ended his career prematurely but fortunately for the walking world he turned his attention to coaching! After completing a graduate coaching position at the AIS and majoring in coaching at university, Brent soon helped guide Nathan Deeks to his bronze in the 20km at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Brent was the official Olympics Team Coach for racewalking on that trip and has been at every Olympics since! Other walkers he took on around this time included; a young, Jared Tallent and Adam Rutter, amongst others. In this chat, I really enjoyed quizzing Brent on his and Jared’s journey together as coach and athlete to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. We open the chat discussing how Brent monitored Jared’s training load. From 2006 to 2012, Brent was the AIS Chief Coach for Racewalking and took the Australian walks program to new heights. He took teams overseas each year, organized training camps and helped foster the development of the Australian walking program. He is highly sought after, both locally and overseas, as a presenter. And of course, today he continues to currently coach a number of world class race walkers, including; - 2018 20km race walk Commonwealth Games Gold medalist Jemima Montag. - 2019 IAAF World Championships Bronze medalist 20km race walk, 2019 European Champion; Perseus Kalstrom – Sweden. - 2x Olympian/Lithuania national record holder 20km walk (Brigita Virbalyte – Lithuania. - 2x Olympian and New Zealand record holder (3000m, 10,000m, 20km and 50km race walk) Quentin Rew – NZ - Olympian and 5x World Cup representative (Rhydian Cowley – Australia) - 2019 World University Games bronze medallist (Anežka Drahotová – Czech Republic

Hi guys, something a bit different today! A few weeks ago Damien Clark (a vital member of the Run Culture Owls, the squad of athletes I coach), asked if he could kindly take over as host of the podcast and interview me! So, I was suddenly thrust into the hot seat while he relished the opportunity to throw me a few curly ones! Here it is, it was a bit of fun. A good insight into my life as a marathoner and running physiotherapist! Hope you enjoy it!

Today, I was fortunate enough to chat with Kiwi Lorraine Moller; she shares her journey, stories from her amazing career and an abundance of sage learnings and wisdom along the way! Lorraine Moller is a 4-time Olympian, Olympic bronze medalist (in the marathon, Barcelona 1992), a world track and field finalist, multiple Commonwealth Games track medalist and winner of 16 major international marathons! Alongside her running achievements, Lorraine was a forerunner for equality in women's athletics and an activist for professionalism in distance running. Her career started out in New Zealand as an exceptional 14-year-old middle distance runner, coached by Lydiard protégé and 1964 Olympic 1500m bronze medalist, John Davies. Always adhering to the methods of Arthur Lydiard, Lorraine wound up a 28-year stellar career as an undefeated master’s runner at her 4th Olympic Games at the age of 41. In 2006 she cofounded the Lydiard Foundation, a foundation dedicated to educating coaches and athletes in the art of endurance training and peaking. Please follow this link to find about more about Lorraine’s Lydiard coaching courses: https://lydiardfoundation.org or contact Lorraine on email at: lorraine@lydiardfoundation.org. Lorraine’s autobiography "On the Wings of Mercury," published in 2008, was launched by New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Helen Clark, and became #2 on the New Zealand Best Seller List. Lorraine lives in Boulder, Colorado.

"Champions are everywhere....they just need to be trained correctly." -Arthur Lydiard If you want to hear a fantastic insight into the history, training and coaching philosophies of Arthur Lydiard and his pupils, then there is no better man to chat to than Keith Livingstone and that's who we have on the show today. This is a lengthy one, Keith's a fantastic story teller, I was spell bound, ideal for your next long run! Dr. Keith Livingstone not only was a high level distance runner himself in his day running; 14:04 for 5000m and 29:19 for 10,000m but was also a highly sought after chiropractor, running coach and now author of three books!  These include;  1.) Healthy Intelligent Training- the proven principles of Arthur Lydiard,  2.) Champions are Everywhere-The Schedules (A practical user friendly summary of Healthy Intelligent Training)  and  3.) Staring down the Beast- A book recounting Keith's survival journey after being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor (glioblastoma multiforme) in 2007.  Keith also has a fantastic blog at; www.drkeith.com.au, where he has a number of fantastic interviews, blogs and If you are interested you can also purchase his books.