Run Culture Podcast

On this week’s episode of the Run Culture Podcast, I had the pleasure to chat to Dr Philo Saunders. Philo is a senior sports physiologist at the AIS (he has worked at the AIS for 19yrs). His research has largely looked at; running economy, altitude training, heat training, plyometric/strength training, iron supplementation and the minimalist footwear movement. Philo is also an incredibly distinguished 1500m runner himself (he has broken 3:50 some 130 times!), made numerous national open 1500m finals and at the ripe old age of 43 he is still going!! We delve into how he feels he has managed to keep his body so robust and strong. Philo has also been the Australian able bodied and/or Paralympic distance running coach on several of the more recent major World and Olympic championships. We start out the episode focusing on where some of the athletes he coaches are at going into this pivotal period for Tokyo Olympic Qualification!

This is the first Run Therapy episode where I delve into some of the common myths/misconceptions or frustrations I see runners face as a ‘physiotherapist that specialises in treating runners. In this episode I chat with Brodie Sharpe fellow ‘running physiotherapist’, host of the Run Smarter Podcast and owner of the Breakthrough Running clinic about one of the most frustrating topics a runner has to deal with! This is a topic that so many runners find ever so frustrating…. 1) Knowing the difference between an acceptable discomfort and a bad pain. 2) Determining when it’s OK to run? When do we need to rest? Or modify training? I hope this podcast helps us ‘crazy’ runners make more sound/educated decisions.

Today I interview highly distinguished US marathoner Nate Jenkins! Nate is a 2:14:56 marathoner, and famously came 7th in the 2007 US Olympic marathon trials after a relatively modest high school and college career. He represented the USA at the 2009 World athletic Championships in the marathon! He noticed an incredible spike in his own performance off a ‘Renate Canova’ inspired program! We will chat a lot about this today! He hails from massachusetts, has a growing young family, he is a secondary school mathematics teacher, he is still running and is slowly doing more and more coaching with Lowell running. As you will hear he is incredibly well read in all things marathon training! I hope you enjoy this chat with Nate Jenkins!

In this episode I firstly go over the last 10 days of my training as I build up to the 50km ultra at Canberra marathon and have an enjoyable chat to new Run Culture owl athlete; Pete Dutton. We introduce him to the listeners, go over how he is finding training in the group, his recent race results, short term/ long term aims and what we are working on in training so far!

Today’s interview is with Justin Rinaldi a man who has lived and breathed the 800m event for the past 30yrs! He is currently the coach of the Fast 8 Track club, a squad based in Melbourne that specialises in the 800. He has been the coach of the past two Australian 800m record holders; Alex Rowe and Joseph Deng. In his own athletic career he was the 1997 Australian 800m champion, won a Victorian 800m title at 25 and then another 10yrs later at the age of 35 won another! In this interview we learn a lot about the group he coaches, his training methods, as well as many stories from his athletics and coaching career! So many pearls in this one, so jump in and have a listen!

Episode 28 is with a coach that needs no introduction, Adam Didyk! However for those that don’t know, Adam Didyk is a highly distinguished Australian distance running coach hailing from South Australia! He is the founder of the highly successful elite running group ‘Asics Team Tempo’. The personal coach of star athletes such as; Jess Trengove, Jared Tallent, Max Stephens, the Cocks brothers, Caitlin Adams, the Eckel sisters, Matt Clarke, Jack Colreavy and streams of others. He was nominated by Athletics Australia for coach of the year in 2015/16, 2016/17 and has been the Australian distance running coach on numerous World championship, Commonwealth Games and Olympic teams. On this episode Adam gives us a great update on how ‘Team Tempo’ formed, he opens up about the teams athletes/characters, their training, their prospects for 2020, the 4 pillars that ensure optimal performance, his coaching philosophy and much more!

Rod Griffen is a prominent Australian distance running coach hailing from Ballarat. He has coached for 30 plus years, having coached 2 of the past 3 Australian men 10,000m record holders- Collis Birmingham and Stewart McSweyn amongst many other amazing athletes. In this episode Rod portrays the friendly, approachable and relaxed nature that I feel has made him such a successful coach. He generously shares some great insight into what he believes makes for a good coach, some of his favourite 1500m sessions, some great yarns about his coaching experiences and much more! Thanks Rod for a ripper of an interview! Apologies for the occasional drop outs in audio- Skype was playing up.

This week I interviewed Sean Williams a highly experienced fulltime running coach! He has coached runners of all ages and ability levels (from Olympians to hobby runners) for 20 years. He was also quite a distinguished runner himself running 14:09 for 5k and 29:31 for 10k. Back in 2004 he started ‘Sweat Sydney’ a highly successful running group and then over the past few years has established the ‘Melbourne Pack’ run group. Anyway as you will see Sean not only knows a heap about running, he is also a great story teller and has so many intriguing and captivating yarns. Enjoy!

Hey guys, after documenting my 8 week build up to the event, here is my play by play wrap of how my race went at the 2020 2Bays 56k Trail run! I Absolutely had a ball!! 4:01:34 and the win, so happy. Unfortunately got DQ’d though as my bottle over the final 18kms was too small. Ah well a rules a rule! Still had a blast. I thought I could run low 4hrs but I wasn’t sure, it was a perfect goal and I did it!!! Longest run by 11k! What incredible scenery/views and what an awesome feel/atmosphere the trail running community posses!!! Well done to everyone out there on Sunday, what an amazing sport running is!!!

Today, I go over my final race plans/preparations and taper week leading into the 2 Bays Trail Run, which excitingly is on tomorrow! I want to wish all those that are doing it a huge ‘Good-luck!’ It’s going to be a fun/epic day! I also want to promote and encourage everyone to jump on board the fantastic initiative David Mc Neil started this week. ‘Let’s donate a dollar per kilometre run this week’ to those affected by the recent bushfires in regional Victoria/NSW!