In the beginning, episode 38, we're back.
Courtney, thank you for the Red Bull at the top of today's app,
because my God do I need it today.
You've had a week, haven't you? Tell us.
Tell me the story. Tell me, our listeners, this
story. If you're not following me on
Instagram and that's fine, feel free to jump on board.
But that's fine. What is my Instagram account?
I should know that. Is it Liam J Flanagan or Liam?
I think it's Liam J Flanagan, Feel free to jump on at the
start of this week. I've been working in radio for
12 years now, started in 2012 and I've been in the studio
environment since 2013. So this is year 12 working in
the studio environment. You run the desk.
You press. The buttons being in and around
the panel as it's called. Up until the start of this week,
I was mistake free. Not mistake, as you know, I've
taken us off air sometimes, but but from a, you know,
cleanliness and safety of the studio environment mistake free.
On Monday's show of the radio breakfast radio show that I
triple M Gold breakfast, I tipped a full cup of coffee into
the desk. Now if you don't understand the
gravity of that situation. I mean, you're all there.
Imagine this is the best. This is the best comparison that
I have been able to come with up with since I had it.
Imagine if, as you are sitting on the tarmac, the pilot comes
on over the loudspeaker and says, sorry, ladies and
gentlemen, we're going to be delayed slightly.
My Copart has just tipped an entire cup of coffee into the
console of the plane. Like it is the biggest mistake
you can make, allowing fluid to get into that desk.
It is. I think the desk's worth about
50 grand. What was the immediate reaction
from Liesel and the spider? Well, no, they they laughed.
Yeah, I would. I said shit and then the the
paper towel emerged from nowhere and suddenly, but I, I it's this
isn't wasn't just a spill, it was a full cup, like a full cup
of coffee into the desk. And to make matters worse, we
have one tech in our office, he was in Tasmania.
So 2 techs had to drive down from Brisbane later that day.
It took that whole studio offline for the entire day.
And apparently I wasn't there for this moment, but apparently
when the techs took the desk apart, literally it was like a
scene from a a movie where you know when if they bring
something up from the ocean floor and as it gets to the
surface, all the water just pours out.
When they took the desk apart, coffee just just still, it was
still there. It was, it was, and the the next
day my boss turned up and presented me with a ceremonial
sippy cup. That's the only thing I'm
allowed to drink coffee out of in the studio now.
It was. You're never this is this is
this is part of your legacy now? And the radius, yeah, they'll
never be forgotten. It's interesting you mentioned
that though it will never be forgotten, some people are still
not laughing about it. Everything's fine now, it's
fixed. Who, who?
Who? Is that guy?
I can't. I can't.
I can't name names, but there are people within my office who
did not and still do not see the funny side to it because because
the other part about it is we have two studios for Triple M
Gold and there's also kind of some shows for the Triple M
network nationally are done out of our studio.
So we need to have two operational studios at any one
time. I essentially cut off one of our
legs for an entire day. So the people that had to deal
with that. It was, it was ongoing and and
then you you leave the office and.
Then I left at. 10:30 and said, I'll see you.
No, no, no, I'll see you tomorrow morning.
I'll see you tomorrow morning. I left at 901.
The moment we went off air that day, I was gone.
I flew out the door. Well, the good news is you've
still got a job. I'm Yeah, I'm still employed.
Still employed. Yeah, yeah, but but just.
But I'm not allowed to take coffees in the studio anymore.
He's a ban I've imposed on myself.
That is, I felt for you that day.
I really felt for you that. Quickly, the other update I want
to give everybody, and I'll talk a bit more about this in next
Wednesday's marathon episode with Bronte and Benita.
But I made the decision because the offer came to participate in
a photo shoot for the Gold Coast Marathon this year by local
photographer Paul Harris. Yeah, I obviously then made the
decision to pull out of the marathon.
I made the decision to still go ahead with the photo shoot.
Oh, they were good. They were good.
Or you or or you're still, you're not officially off the
list, so I'm not official. I'm still on the entry list.
You still have a number. Did you have to do business when
you get photo? No, no, no.
So. But I, I This is why I wanted to
ask you because professional athlete for two decades, you
would have been through hundreds of these things photo shoots.
Would have but but before we get to me, I want to know what
happened on your day. Well, This is why I want to get
Bronte Bronte. Bronte did it on a different
day. So Bronte did it all together.
Bronte did that. More pressure.
No, it's one on one. 01 on one's better than having is it aid?
Well, I think if you've got you know, you're you're getting
photographed doing whatever you're asked to do and then
you're Bronte and everyone else standing there watching.
That's more pressure than one on.
One well, for anybody out there who's never done a photo shoot
before, you feel I felt like an absolute twit, Like I just felt
like a wanker for for for the for that.
No, I look and Paul was amazing. He's an amazing photographer.
It was great to get to work with him.
But what happened was I got I, I met him because he's doing a
water thing. So he's seeing how water plays
with runners. And So what I had to do in
Varsity Lakes, on the side of the street in Varsity Lakes, OH.
OK, this is now getting interesting.
Yeah, I had to. What Paul had me do was run and
then when I hit a certain spot, throw a cup of water in my face.
Well, the public's driving past you.
OK, this this this. Sounds like a rogue.
This isn't a this isn't a this is a rogue photo shoot.
So the only people who'd be comfortable with this, yeah, is
young kids who are on Instagram and TikTok and that sort of
thing. They this is normal activity
now. I think this is a trend, but so
I, I, I count, I kept count I / 25 takes of me with probably
AA67 metre run up. Yeah.
Trying to hit a certain spot while at the same time throw a
cup of water into my own face from different angles, from
high, from in front, literally there was, I think it was in the
first three, I threw the entire cup of water up my nose and I
was, and but then I'm running around with water up my nose and
I'm thinking this can't be making for good flash.
Yeah, flashes and all the rest of it like external flash.
Yeah, we had the the 2. So this is so I was gonna say
there's two types of photographers.
OK, this is inexperience, right? You've got the photographer who
is like more a studio photographer and that's what he
sounds like. He's like trying to achieve is
like the perfect flash at the perfect time, the perfect run
stance and getting it at that time.
And that is a bloody nightmare. Or the let's call you the
talent, the situation, the model.
It is a nightmare because it's the photographer wanting to get
their perfect. You know, it's one thing.
Then you get which I'll call more the the the looser modern
photographers who probably more they're very like around action
sports. Mm hmm.
Natural light shoot really high shutter rates.
So like they'll get 30 shots, they'll make you do it twice and
then go. I've got one.
I've there'll be some walk away. OK, my favourites.
Right, 100%, no. This was very much the studio
photographer set up. He had me do a test shot for
lighting flash. I was trying to hit the certain
spot at the certain. And then in the end it was fun
though 'cause obviously I'm trying to return to running a
little bit at the moment. And he sort of said, right, can
I try and get you running a bit faster?
I was like, oh, I don't know. We'll we'll find out.
Like don't put my car in yet. But after I did these run
through shots, then we carried the big lighting equipment stuff
down into kind of there's a little mangrovey foresty type
spot off the side of the road. And the next challenge I had was
to hold a a sort of a tub of water above my head and then tip
it creating a bit of a waterfall type sheet of water in front of
my face and pull it back at the same time.
It felt like remember as a kid used to, they used to say pat
your head and rub your stomach at the same time and all whilst
trying to give a an intense focused look down the barrel of.
Your best zoo Lander down the barrel.
It's, you know, all I'm thinking is you've pulled out and they're
just taking the piss out of here.
Yeah, you. Joke.
But I messaged Bronte straight afterwards and I'm like, how did
yours go? And she said, honestly, if
someone turns around and tells me tomorrow in the radio studio
that this was a prank, I'd believe him because that felt
ridiculous. She did the same thing.
She did a bit of a different one.
She was in Paul's studios. I can't wait to see the photos.
I'm really looking forward. I've looked at Paul's photos.
I think they're fantastic. Yeah, I can't wait to see them.
Me too. The process how the sausage was
made. Yep.
It was an eye opener. The other thing with running,
running photos is the hardest thing is get the right running
stance and photographer. They said another thing they've
had with over the years, like people who know running kind of
know what running, looking nice running will look like.
Non running photographers, they're looking at their, their
perspective of what they're looking for in a running shot is
completely different. It's like, you know what,
where's the background, the focus you face and then it
you've got your leg half in half stance and it and you're like,
you're not even running in a still photo.
That's that's a nightmare. Over your years, yeah. 2 Olympic
Games, World Championships, nurses, everything.
What's the dumbest photo shoot you've had to participate in?
Or the weirdest? OK.
Hands down the weirdest going to 208 Beijing.
So I went to the 2008 Olympics with FedEx.
OK sponsor so cool. International Curry Company and
they had a advert and we'll find this and I'll put this up for
those who watch the video on on Spotify or I'll put the photo
up. The idea was to get me half
athlete, half FedEx delivery man.
I want to see this so badly already so.
You can imagine I raced in skin suits with a helmet.
Oh. My God.
So I had literally had a cycling helmet on my skin suit, racing
suit which had the FedEx logo, half a pair of run shoes, and
then on the other side of the image is me in a FedEx delivery
man suit. So the FedEx logo on my chest
blends but my face is in half with half a FedEx hat, half a
helmet. It's weird.
The irony of that is the same day I had to do a an activation
for them in now I think it's Martin Place in Sydney.
Is that the main kind of Yep, comes down some steps?
The main pedestrian mall section.
Yep. Mm.
Hmm. So pretty much they did an
activation, their CEO at the time came out to meet me in a
suit and I'm in my race suit. Oh my God.
And I got on a tandem bike with him and did some laps around
Martin Place with video cameras as an.
We have to find this footage. I don't know if I can find the
video. I've got the image and that was
like at the time. This is when I talk about being
in a in a small fish bowl. But Can you imagine watching
that? I mean, it's probably, it's
actually probably not that different.
It probably goes on every day in Sydney city at the moment.
But you know, at that time I'm a young, I would have been, you
know, I can't even remember. I'm in my 20s and I'm riding
around on a tandem bike in the middle of Sydney with Aceo in my
Lycra. In my Lycra to the things you
do. Were you at the front of the
back? I can't.
I would have been steering the things you would have had to be
sure for sure. The general flip side, the CEO
going, what's my company putting what into?
And this is like a major, whoever the agency was that come
up with that idea actually. The image is the idea.
The image was fun. In the The concept's a good
idea, right? And if they're looking to get
banged for their buck out of you, as a sponsored athlete, I'd
be making you do some weird stuff.
Too and then to follow the story on SO for years and and I'm
sorry, I can't I can't remember the name, but our local FedEx
guy. So as part of the deal I had,
you know, as part of the deal, you've probably got an X amount
of dollars of being able to FedEx crapper across the world
and whatever else. All right, so the local.
FedEx could be your. Bike and stuff, yeah, because
like wind trainers and wheels, we could send them across to
Europe before we travel. So it was brilliant.
We had our local FedEx guy who would always come and deliver.
He knew me, but they had these life's like life, life size
cutouts of this same image in the FedEx stores where you went
to pick up his stuff. That's brilliant.
I never went into. The store.
Oh, you. What do you mean I?
Never went into the store. Oh my God, Can you imagine
walking in and seeing yourself in your lycra in the thing?
If there's anybody out there who has any connection to FedEx and
you think by chance we could find one of these cardboard
cutouts of Courtney as the half FedEx, half athlete, I would.
I'd pay good money for it, right?
Well, not good, but I'd pay some money for it to get my hands on
one of those. Yeah.
So that's, I mean by far that was, there's been plenty, but
that was definitely the weirdest.
Can I take you into some Sporting News Right of.
Course. Well, let's get back to sport.
It's let's get back to some sport it it's running related,
but it's still some general sport, the call and get a goal.
One of the iconic sporting. I think it's one of the iconic
sporting events in Australia. I think it's a uniquely
Australian event. Well, back from the 80s it was.
It was a legacy event from the 80s that it made TV.
Exactly. And it was for those that it it
was, it was actually out of a movie script.
So it's, it's, it was 1984 Grant.
Kenny, right, was the. Colin Frills was the actor, but
yeah, Grant Kenny was in it, and it was this awesome movie that
then became a race. So great staple on the Gold
Coast calendar and the surf lifesaving calendar.
So you've got some news for me. But there's a big change.
There's a big change coming, the Coolangatta Gold because it's a
grind, right? It's meant to be a grinding race
that you. Well, yeah, in context, you used
to go from surface all the way to Coolangatta and back, and it
had this, you know, like a location, part of these races.
To me, what makes these great endurance events, whether it's
coast to coast in New Zealand, Hawaii, Iron Man Gold cooling
out of gold was always about, it's not just about the race,
it's about the location of having the story.
You go to there right to the end and back.
And then what over the years they did is they kept shortening
it, shortening it. And I think effectively in the
end they used to just run it out of cool and gather and do a.
Like circles? Yeah.
So what's happened this year? So for those that aren't aware,
what it was, was a the distances originally 14K.
Oh no, that's the shortened one. Sorry.
Because what's happened is that it's shortened so that I'll,
I'll run you through the new distances of this race.
It used to be a 23 kilometre surf scheme for this year, it's
been reduced to 14 KS. OK, The swim used to be 3 1/2
K's. It's now a 2K swim.
The board was a 6.1 K board paddle.
It's now a 4K board paddle. When the run used to be 9.2
kilometres, it's now a 5 kilometre run.
So the race itself has been reduced in total distance by
about 40%. I mean, yeah, I'll go back to
the the idea of the locations. You used to get out of Burley,
out of the swim. You used to swim around the
headland, get out of the water and run from Burley all the way
along the beach to service Paradise.
Iconic. Doing laps up and down, cool and
gather or palming or wherever they go.
Not the same. So what do you?
But what I guess the question that's being asked about the
cool and gather gold now is, is it still the cool and gather
gold? No, you don't.
You won't. You don't consider it now the
cool and gather gold under this new shortened format.
I when they moved from starting a surface paradise at that point
it wasn't the same cool and gather gold to me.
Right. And it's probably quite, I mean
probably at the very similar time, I probably didn't follow
along as closely once it wasn't that true race.
So because the short shorten partners, the other development
with it is it's now going to be part of the Iron Series.
So now it's going to be a race within the series.
Previously it has stood alone as its own event outside of the
Surf Life Saving Series. Now it is going to be shortened
and it's going to be a part of the series.
Yep, which Which in theory seems OK, but it is a stand alone
event. I mean that's what made it
unique. It was a one off event.
I don't know. I don't know, I.
Mean you look at Ali Day, obviously the ten time winner of
the race. If someone wins it this year,
will you consider them a cool and get a gold winner in the
same fashion that Ali is or that Matt Bevel Aqua has been in the
past? My honest, I'd never probably
give it that much thought to give it a like.
I don't it isn't it isn't I suppose it and that's and that
is the problem. It doesn't hold the same
relevance for me anymore because it's not the original.
I was I I'm old enough to remember as a kid watching, you
know, the Mercers and and and even the probably not as far as
Kyle Leach. Yeah, but watching all of the
guys when they was on TV and that type of thing and it had, I
loved it for what it was. Soon as they changed the course
and they weren't doing the same course as the old days, it's
like taking the let's look at it this way.
It's like going this has happened.
Has the Hawaii Iron Man when they moved the male World Iron
Man championship race to Nice in France, did that have the same
impact as winning that for the men or the women when they
change it? So are you across that they had
no So what they did it's. The Kona isn't it?
No. So a few years ago the men's, so
they used to run the the Kona as the women's race.
A few years ago they split it so they had the men only and the
women raced in Nice. I didn't even know that.
My point? You didn't know.
You just think it runs in Kona. Yeah.
So when the men didn't race in the Kona that year and the world
championship was over in France, does that have to say when you
win it in France, is it the same as winning it in Kona?
I mean, you can still call yourself a world champion as
long. But you didn't win the Hawaii
man. Didn't win the Hawaii man.
It's not the Hawaii man. So my point that that's my point
stands when you've got iconic races that are built on
locations, you move the location or you move the change the
course, it doesn't have the same impact.
There we go. Yeah, I like it.
All right, let's move on from the call.
We go all. Right, let's get into a bit of
FUD. What do we got here?
Emmy to runners, You'll love this one, OK?
James, huge F out there today. How do you reflect on today's
run? Yeah, you know, tough conditions
out there today, bit of wind, bit of sun, bit of indigestion.
But you know, 5K in 2842, you'll you'll take that all day long at
this level. You start strong, 512 first
kilometre. Regret that.
Yeah. Massively came out like Kip
Chogi finished like someone chasing a bin truck and slippers
happens. Rookie stuff.
There was a walk break near the duck pond, correct?
Yeah. Had to reset.
Heart rate was in the red. Some bloke walking his dog gave
me the you're right mate look. And you know, that broke me a
bit. And what do you say to the
critics calling this just a jog, Jog.
Listen, that was a battle. Medical warfare legs win at 3K
Soul left the chat for. But Strava doesn't lie.
I earned No 6 kudos. And finally, James,
congratulations, You're our Powerade man of the miles today.
So that's when Jamie runs strong and he's if Sunday joggers got
the Premier League treatment. That is bang on.
It's very well done, I It's a great byproduct of the running
boom that we're getting more of this sort of content.
To that point though, this. This happens.
I've seen it. Oh, on YouTube I've done.
It Oh, you've done it. I've I've done this that run for
a had that feeling. For a close friends group.
Right. Oh, yeah, yeah.
It's not publicly. No, no, no, I wouldn't do that
publicly. No, no, that'd be ridiculous.
But there is everything you just spoke about then is that he's
nailed all the all the parts there of Sunday jokes.
I'm back to being a Sunday joker, by the way.
I'll tell you a bit more about that later on.
But yeah, very nice work. I liked that one that.
Was a good one. The other thing is there's a
question about run clubs. Let's just stay on the run club
and the image running at the moment.
I fear run clubs have gone too far.
And then people agreeing with me.
Miami. So over in the United States,
there was a there's we'll, we'll share the reel by by I was going
to be able to say by on day by Bondi Bondi Bondi Bondi run club
were in the on news.com yesterday, same issue, people
having issue of them running out and this is ridiculous.
So this is the statement. This is now becoming a marathon
without permits. Yeah.
Can this keep going? Can if, if, if run clubs keep
growing, what is going to happen?
You know, places like. By Honda.
Yeah, council's going to get
involved. Yeah, council's going to get
involved because you reach a point where, and I went through
this with the 440 in Sydney. Now, people out there listening
to this may or may not know what the 4440 is, but when I started
with the 440 back in 2016, it was 10, sort of anywhere between
6 to 12 people. Very early on, on a Saturday
morning, we'd meet down at the cutting in Bronte, run 10 laps
of the cutting, you do a little over 7 KS, get some good
elevation in with the hills, you jump in the ocean and then you'd
leave. Over the years it grew, it grew,
it grew, it grew, it grew. And now it is a perfect example
of the influence of running culture where they get in excess
of a hundred 150 people, 200 people every Saturday morning.
And that street becomes borderline unusable for cars.
And it's a danger issue, right? And I don't know how Noxie, the
fellow that runs it, navigated it with the councils, but I know
it became an issue at a point and he became really strict on
trying to keep people onto the path, onto the path.
But you just cut, it's too many people, right?
It becomes unachievable. So you'll get to a point with
any group when it gets to a certain size like the Sydney run
club is down in Bondi. Like this thing is Miami where
it eats itself, right? It becomes a victim of its own
success. And personally, I look at run
clubs of that size and I might, for me, I've got no desire to be
involved in a run club of that size because there's, how do you
know anybody? Run clubs for me are about
connection, about community. That's not I don't see how you
can be connected in a group of that size.
It might feel very connected because there's so many of you,
but how do you know anybody? Yeah, I suppose it's like going
to a festival, isn't it? You're just going along with the
masses. It's about that feeling.
You've nailed it though. It's supposed.
It's like going along to a festival.
What do festivals need to have? Permits council approval,
permits licences, all that stuff to coordinate stuff because
these run groups start selling stuff now.
Right on. You need licences for that sort
of stuff. Fair.
If you grow and you and you create all this and you create
this world around your run club, I'm stoked for you.
But when you get to a level, you accept that as you rise up, you
need to have more things to continue to function and
operate. That's the reality.
I mean, I hate the fact that, well, you know something when it
starts off so community driven and you know, for the right
reasons and it start has to start to have permits and all
that. But the reality is there like I
mean this one over in the States and then like it's making news
now, it's gonna probably come to a head at some time.
You know the one thing you forgot about 4:40?
You said everything you do. You forgot the group photo.
And the group photo was really easy to coordinate with only six
or ten of us every morning. Boom, Everybody just jump in
here when there's 150 people, all right?
You just move right? Can we just get no that by the
end? Honestly, by the time we got to
that point, my mates and I who we'd go run down there, there
was four of us. We would finish the run, jump
straight in the pool and go get a coffee and they'd all still be
lining up for the photo. Now the I don't want to do this
next one. This you put this on the run
sheet. I, I want to end this.
I what you're about to bring up. I don't, I, I think you talk
about reaching its tipping point, bursting the bubble,
etcetera, whatever, but it's done the.
Reason I put it in is this has to stop.
I want I want legislation to make this illegal.
Have a listen to this. In eight days I'm going to be
running what's called an Ultramurf and an Ultramurf is
where you run a marathon, do 1000 pull ups, then you do 2000
push ups, then you do 3000 squads and then you run another
marathon, all while wearing a £20 weighted best.
This is something that really hasn't been done before and I
think it's been done before, but I'm not sure.
We're just going to go try and set a record.
If I can do it under 24 hours, I'm pretty sure that's going to
be a world record. So that's what we're going to go
for on Memorial Day doing an ultra Murph and see if we can
set a record in the process. Do you want to run an ultra
Murph? So do you think I can do this in
24 hours? I think I can.
And if you don't think I can and.
I don't want to run an ultra murph but.
What? Here's what.
I'm not sure if this has been done, but I couldn't do it.
I'm going to break a world record.
This has to stop people making up their own shit.
Yeah, for the sake of making up stuff to do.
I was talking about this just to someone the other day that
remember when running a really long way felt special or unique.
I do. It doesn't feel that way
anymore. There's been you've you've
started to see some of this just even about marathons, is it?
But marathons don't feel special anymore.
I I agree, I used to, I used to think someone doing an Ironman
was and I was in, I was, I was an Olympic Games triathlete and
I used to watch people doing an Ironman and going wow.
That then become, I've said this before, like in a corporate
environment, in a corporate office in the middle of the
city, doing an Ironman on the weekend was like, oh, that,
that's not enough anymore. Do you not get that feeling when
you see someone doing so who you know, post that they've
completed an Iron Man? Nowadays, no, no, because there
would be enough people who have. I mean, over time, right?
There's enough people have gone through and now do Iron Man's,
but now people do Iron Man's as their first triathlon.
And now people go and create the ultra mirth so.
I don't know where I actually I, there's an interesting one in
endurance sports right at the moment because I just don't, I'm
just not sure where you go when the normalisation of such long
multi day events that we're getting away from that, that
that social post now. But just in general, like you've
got these backyard ultras, you've got everything going on
ultra, ultra, ultra stuff is getting so normalised.
What what is impressive? There you go.
There's a question What is impressive?
Now that's good. What is impressive?
I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you what is.
Impressive. You tell me what's impressive.
When you you bring it back to something that is normalised in
a race and you do that bloody quick and win, that is
impressive. Just to put a a full stop on old
mate here, the buff runner. What shits me about it or no?
I don't know if it shits me, but it didn't.
The thing that makes me go like this is impressive.
Don't get me wrong. When he does this, when he runs
a marathon 1000 pull ups to when he does this Ultramarth, it's an
impressive physical effort, right?
What I think frustrates me or makes me go about it all is that
he said in the caption to this. Do you think I can do it?
Drop a follow to watch me right? You are doing this because you
want to become famous. Yeah, well, I mean, we, we
accept that. I just think even the the middle
ground of when he said, I'm not sure if anyone has done this,
but maybe it is. Maybe it's a first.
I'll just call it a world record like.
It's and you don't know we need we need something you're right,
what's impressive anymore and we need something better than a
world record, you know, 'cause. I feel like, do you know the
problem where what is we can sit here and say that all that, but
you know what stops that other people stop encouraging it and
we're sitting here. Stop enabling.
Stop enabling these people creating their own world
records. Stop it.
Tell him to go and try and win the CrossFit.
What do you call the CrossFit Games or whatever?
Yep, that's what he should be doing.
The other that's that's what he should be doing.
If you want to put your. Effort into something, go and
compete where everyone competes. The thing about social media is
that if you think about it, your social media is your TV station
to for the old people out there, for the young kids out there
that might be listening who don't know what ATV station is,
it's your YouTube channel, right?
It's your own station. It's your own brand.
What you this guy's is trying to programme his brand, his his
station with this sort of content and by it's kind of like
announcing a big blockbuster movie on your station.
Hey I'm doing this coming up instead of, you know, just the
normal programming so I understand the algorithm of it
all, but it's so tiring. Enough's enough.
Yeah. Now to be real hypocrites, let's
get on to our you know what? Let's get on to our make.
Sure, you're tuned in to win the Beginning Podcast to win a
watch. I love your radio voice.
Yeah, well, let's move on. Straight up, yeah.
That is that's the most hypocritical moment in podcast
history that we're shitting on this bloke for going out and
trying something and then going now.
Listen to our podcast and leave a review.
Yeah, but we ain't saying that's a world first.
No, what's it podcast First. First time we've ever done a
giveaway. For the podcast, for us, for us,
yeah. So remind us that last week we
said two weeks of two weeks. The the Polar giveaway said
thanks to Polar, we're halfway the H10 heart rate monitor and
the Polar Pacer Polar Pacer GPS running watch.
It's a watch. It's a running watch.
It'll it'll help you do those
things we've talked about on the Polar episode.
Can I can I talk about the H10? You can, I've been using it.
Oh, you have? Yep.
You tried it. Yep.
And here's what I will tell everybody out there who runs off
a wristwatch sensor, heart rate sensor.
It's not accurate. The the the wristwatch.
Wristwatch no is not accurate. I, I think I sat here multiple
times telling anyone with a wrist, I mean, there might be a
certain minute situation where it's the perfect environment and
you've got the perfect wrist and even they're.
Not at first. If you are running with a wrist
sensor only and you think you've your Zone 2 is oh, you're
running in your Zone 2, you are not that.
And that's my personal learnings from having been running with
this thing for a week. I'm like whoa, my heart rate.
I am working a lot harder than I thought I was on these 5 minute
runs. I thought a 515 pace was my Zone
toothpaste. It is not.
My Zone toothpaste is a lot slower than what I thought it
was because I've been wearing one of these H10 paces.
And getting getting the proper data.
Yeah, if you want to run, If you want to use data properly, get
a, get a. Chest strap A chest strap.
Or at least go to the arm strap. I mean that that's the middle
ground, but chest strap. So yeah, I do think so with
this. So again, we'll leave this open
for another week. And what we said is send us in a
review. I think we used the word review
I. Know, and I think I can't
remember his name, but one gentleman in particular was a
bit frustrated because he's like, where do I leave a review
on Spotify? Yeah.
So yeah, Nick, Nick also is, is it just reviews that count or
other platforms and a like you're over complicating it for
us. Even here.
All we want to do is leave a comment.
Comments count, comments count. Tick the five stars make us seem
great. Thank you to everyone who's sent
in. And we'd let us like even fear
about the one thing I even love more than just saying, you know,
thanks fellas, is giving us some, you know, info on, you
know, what you want to hear or, you know, in the future or
letting us know what you do like, because then we can
obviously make sure we're talking about some of the
things. I know that one was who who is
sending? I love the footy.
Love the footy chat, Jared, Love the footy chat.
More and more of that please, fellas.
Now, not everyone's gonna like the footy chat, but we'll cover,
you know, a little bit wider than just running.
Can I just share that to BJ, who I think might have I don't know
where he's got this phrase from, but I do love the he's signed
off his comment with keep up the great work boys and stay out of
yourselves. Now, I assume that means don't
disappear up your own backside, do.
You know where that's come from. Where alpha blokes yes, it's
great, it's great. I've never I.
Wrote I did see that one. I said it was straight back to
him. I said yeah, fellow Alpha blokes
listener. Who's Kel?
Kelso? Rumour has it Ned Brockman only
run across Australia, so Liam could talk about it on this
part. All right, OK.
It's good to know we've got some smartness.
Love, love everyone coming around.
Some of the some of the questions also that you were
talking about, we'll get to the ones that actually have some
information there in further episodes.
I will say a big shout out too. I've, I've really appreciated
the messages off the back of pulling out of the marathon.
The amount of people who've messaged me saying it's great to
hear you talking about this because I'm training or I'm
struggling or I've had a slump or I've had an injury.
And yeah, you feel, you feel crap.
It feels it. But then when you hear it, oh
this is so common it makes you feel less crap.
Well, they're going, yeah, there's, there's people who've
written in saying we're going through the same thing.
You know, we're injured. We can't run the marathon, you
know, and, and that's the truth, right?
And there'll be another day for sure.
And what the other one that keeps coming through is this
quite this thing around the Queenstown Marathon?
Because you're running the Queenstown Marathon.
Apparently, apparently I am. That is a rumour that is
completely, completely founded on no truth at all.
What I will say is I'm just trying to find who it was who
rode in and said forget the Queenstown Marathon, come up to
Nelson. Where's Nelson?
I don't even know where Nelson. Is so Nelson is up the north.
Here we go, Luke Smith wrote in. Hey boys, love the pod before
booking your flights to Queenstown.
I haven't booked my flights. You should check out an amazing
running event in Nelson in December.
It's called Run the Spectacle and they have huge events
varying from a mile race at the centre of town to 100 mile trail
run, 7000 metres of elevation and everything in between.
It's a real event for the town and the whole weekend the town's
buzzing. Check it out.
He's pretty much saying come here instead of Queens the.
Spectacle seeing is believing. 5th of the 6th of December.
Oh, it looks amazing. So my my adventure mentor, Rich
Usher owns Cable Bay Adventure Park in Nelson.
So I have been up there. So he's got a mountain bike
trailer. He's got a Now I'm going to get
in trouble for saying this, but I believe it may be the longest.
What would you call it? Cable Flying Fox.
Oh cool, I'm going to just. Throw it out there in the
Southern hemisphere, but it's. Someone will tell us.
So you literally you sit in a a ski lift, so four person ski
chair. Oh, cool, Oh, cool, And you get
flung across the valley, like I'm talking like a good few K
across the valley in there. So that's Richard's place.
If you're ever in Nelson, go and have a go and have a visit the
cable. Bar look, this is, I mean that
is I don't know how long the spectacles been running, but
great way for a town to host a running event because they're
looking and just on the surface, there's something for everyone.
There's relay races, there's short, there's a mile race,
there's a 5K race on the roads. And then when you get into the
trail run, there's everything from 10 to 100 miles.
So literally it is something for everybody.
There is so many events out there, isn't there?
There's just I mean, they just keep coming in, keep coming in.
Hey, he's a you'll love this one.
He's a good one. Epic mate.
Love the pod. This come from back beach.
Back Beach. Back Beach, the word is on the
street that the fire in your heart is out.
Yeah. He, he or she hit subscribe on
Episode 1 because of myself, of course, of Courtney.
Yeah. I'd never heard of Liam at the
time, but now? Thanks, back Beach.
Liam is my now favourite voice. Hey, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. And favourite person to run
along to together. Your boys are awesome, Yeah.
So thank you back Beach. I appreciate it.
What again? So getting back to these,
though, one more week to enter our comp, one more week, we'll
give away the watch. We'll give away the H10 heart
rate sensor. We thank you to everybody that
jumping in. And yes, it might seem like a
shameless way for us to try and get more of you on board the
podcast. That's what it is.
But we also love that thanks to Paula, we got the chance to
actually give something to someone that's more than just a,
a hat or another T-shirt. So it's really, really exciting.
So thank you to everybody who's jumped involved.
Yeah, absolutely. And we listen.
We're listening and we will, you know, any, any information we
get away. You want to go with it.
Let us know, can I ask because it feels like a lifetime since
you've talked about your running and I know you're back running a
bit. How's the body?
How's your body? Pretty good.
You know, the one thing that kills, kills you not literally
but hurts you in is sitting down.
So I had a great run on Tuesday. I've got back.
I've been going back to our spit group Gold Coast run Co.
I mean, I can't run the whole session yet, but I I dipped in
for the first time to have idea what was the first bit of the
session. It was 8 by 30 seconds on off.
OK. And I ran through that.
That was the first time I kind of run a bit quicker, ran, jog
back home, all fine. Then I jumped in the car for the
day for 6 1/2 hours to go out and check her, do a bit of a
course check on a few things. And I pulled up and then had to
fly to Sydney 6:00 AM the next morning.
So then I was sitting down in an office all day.
So I literally would have sat down nearly for 48 hours after
doing this run and I pulled up sore.
Yeah, I had a run in Sydney yesterday morning, just along
the harbour. And by the way, Sydney's
freaking freezing. I think I'll stand on the
corner. When I went to a run yesterday,
this was Thursday morning, said felt like .4 of a degrees or
something in the city. It was just windy, you know,
felt. I don't mean the temperature was
that, but it was cold. Anyway, I went to run along
there. I just, I was just gummy.
I hate as we sit here talking, I hate sitting down.
It's the one thing of coming from, you know, a lifetime of
being only being an athlete to now, you know, mixing up with,
you know, doing the athlete stuff but then also doing a
range of other stuff. Sitting down.
It's just just sucks the life out of you.
Yeah. Oh, I am back on the truck.
That's good to hear. I am back on the truck.
I am how? Far.
How far are we thinking? The furthest I've run is 7
kilometres. I am back into run walks.
I'm back. I'm three runs back.
And I gave myself after the decision is stopped doing the
marathon. I gave myself probably not quite
two weeks, but a week and 1/2 no running.
I just stopped thinking about it.
And also, and this isn't this isn't anything to do with the
physios that I was seeing with Britt and Liam, who've been
awesome at Gold Coast Physio, but I also gave myself a break
from treatment. Yeah, because.
Liam has been great and giving me my rehab plans and and I had
some needling done by Trent, but I also I just took a break from
I'm like the calf's fine. I can walk around with it.
It's not hurting and I can ride my bike and I can go to the gym
and I can right. I know, I know I can't run on it
right now. Going back to the physio for me
right now, there was no real upside to it.
I wasn't now that I didn't have the time constraint of the
marathon on me. I just kind of went, all right,
well, it's not AI, don't need to fork out however much money it's
costing, but also I just don't need it.
So I'd gave myself a couple of weeks off from physio
appointments as well. And then the other morning I
just went, let's go for a run walk, let's go for a run walk.
So I literally went and did 2 minutes on, one minute off, did
10 of them and felt great and ran a little under 5 KS didn't
feel, didn't feel anything right.
And I didn't, there was no, there was no pain.
There was no, but I, I again, I didn't run.
I ran for what is that, 23, four minutes or whatever, all up, all
up. Yeah, but it's still good if you
didn't feel any because like even when you get back into that
type of thing, you're mentally you're you're waiting for it or
you're waiting to feel it. And that can be.
Interestingly, I reckon the cadence, I was running at a very
high cadence because the physio, what Liam had been telling me is
that and what I'd learnt previously is that that idea of
that high cadence can sometimes be beneficial for your cast.
So I did that and then on the next run back was a 3 minute on
one minute walk, knock, jog, walk.
And then most recently I've done AI, did a 5 minute on one minute
walk in between the 5 minutes. Now what I didn't realise
because I've stopped thinking about the numbers of running,
which is was really interesting when I was doing this run
because I've stopped thinking about splits and times and
negative splitting and all that sort of stuff.
I was doing the first five minute effort and my watch went
off and said one kilometre in and I went, Oh, I just ran AK
like I just ran like an effort K.
And I haven't run an effort I since before Kanani.
Like I haven't in almost probably 3 months since I've run
AK interval effort. But it was a very weird
sensation. I go, Oh, that was a kilometre
interval that I've just run. And then as I started to get
through the rest of the the the session, I was like, Oh, these
are I'm back running kilometre influence.
Sounds like you're enjoying it again, because you're not, so,
you know, fixated. Exactly.
It was a happy meeting. I, I know, and it was nice to, I
mean for me the time and then I got to the end of the run and
looked at the times I was running the K spits and started
to go, Oh, that's not very fast. But the moment during that run
where I suddenly the watch alert went off automatic 1K
notification. I'm like, oh, oh, there, this is
fun. I'm back running again.
When you do that run walk stuff as well, you often find once
you're starting to move along a bit better, you're just trying
to stay to that. I don't have, I don't ever use
alarms and I find like, oh shit, I was running 5 but I ran 6
minutes because you know, you're just moving along and you start
to forget about it. But.
But it's cool to be about. I think that's a good.
It's it's like if anyones listening, it's a great thing to
be aware of that goals and having that is a great idea and
you're following something to try and to achieve something.
But it is then very easy to get hung up on that.
And, and it just it, it derails the idea of just going out and
running sometimes like it is OK just to go out and run And even,
you know, we all I'm the same. I want to still know how much I
ran and put it on Strava or whatever else it is.
But sometimes just for getting the watches there and not
watching it while you're running is the biggest, like something
you can get out of it or just head to a trail, head to a
trail. Yeah, yeah, it was funny.
The the one, the photographer, Paul, after we took those photos
and I nearly drowned myself, nearly waterboarded myself for
45 minutes. He asked some questions because
he wanted to. He said that the caption and he
was asking me some questions about marathon running and and
when do you find like, you know, why do you do these and all that
sort of stuff. One of the questions he asked me
at the end was about being in the zone when you find yourself
in that fluid state of running. When do you?
Well, and I said, I said rarely. I think I said to him that said
I am what you would call an effort runner.
Paul, this is none of this comes easy to me.
I don't I've I've had maybe half a dozen runs over my running
career where I've gone, oh, I'm in the zone.
This is the flow state of running.
Every run for me is an effort. I I'm an effort runner.
There is nothing fluid about the way I run.
There's nothing efficient about the way I run.
So that idea of finding that flow state and fluidity injured,
but so I can't find that state often.
But when I am enjoying running, even if it doesn't feel fluid or
flowy or whatever it is, that's what running's best when you're
just enjoying it. A. 100%.
Like I'm because when he was asking me these questions, I was
thinking about going up those hills with you in Narang.
I am not flowing when we when I'm running behind you in the
ring, there's nothing flow about that.
Yeah. But when you're talking and
forgetting about the running a little bit, yeah, it's not
flowing the like the meditation sense.
Yeah. But it is flow in the sense that
you're out there and just running along and talk.
When you're starting to talk to the point, you're not thinking
about the running, Yeah, you're just doing part of that.
And I think music, as much as you know, there's times when not
to have music going, like, enjoy just what's out there.
But then music also can get you to that flow state where you
just kind of just lock in. You're not even really listening
to it, but you're running along. So hey, I've got a question for
you. Have you listened to?
I haven't listened. Have you watched Mobland?
No, I heard a lot about it though.
Anyone like do yourself a favour.
Heard a lot about it. Tom Hardy is 47.
Good chat, talk about man crushes.
Oh, really? Oh yeah.
Wow. I didn't think this is where
we'd end up. Really.
Tom Hardy. I mean, I don't think too many
people could look at him and go that I wouldn't want to be.
I I I so because he's because he was AUFC fighter in one of his
films. He was a fought against Joel
Edgerton in a film called Fighter or something like that
or something. But he's been.
That awesome. Yeah.
Peace, Brosnan. OK, I'm sort of in 72 now as
well, but it's the typical London gangster, Guy Ritchie.
OK, Pretty sure Guy Ritchie directed or produced it.
OK, so it's kind of like that old school UK.
Do yourself a favour, go out and watch that.
Dipping. Dipping our toes into movies.
Yeah. Just just just finished off that
trying to get to sleep late one night.
This. Is great.
OK Mobland hadn't seen it. No.
Very good. Got a little bit of a a local
event this year this this week. Hey guys, this is Brad.
I just completed my first ever trail race, the 15K at in the
Royal Naman Bar Valley, Gold Coast.
I'd like you to give a shout out to Steve at Trail trips and
events and Wild Earth for putting on a great event.
It's well guided course, there's heaps of volunteers on track and
steep hills, mud, rocks and river crossings.
I never would have heard about this event if it wasn't for your
podcast and you guys talking about the Nerang trails all the
time made me start searching trail events on the Gold Coast a
few episodes ago. A listener question about how to
get into trial running. I can recommend that in the raw
event as it really caters for all abilities.
Thanks a lot. I'm just I've found Brad on
Instagram here. What a legend in the raw 15K
race. Steve is awesome.
That's your local trails? Yeah, He's up through the
border, up through crumbling trails.
Right. Yeah, Steve is what Steve does
with the trail scene is I How do we make sure that The Pioneers
are rewarded? Because, well, like, that's
getting people to get to their event.
Yeah, because this don't. You feel like that's a bit of a
reward. I do, I do.
We spoke about it. I do.
One goes and finds it. I do.
You're right. That's great.
But I'm also conscious that as this bubble continues to grow
and the this fascination and an obsession with running in the
community gets bigger and bigger and bigger.
I would, and I hope I'm not saying it is happening, but I'm
conscious that someone like Steve who does with trail and
trips I think it's called, I would hate that suddenly a
better resourced organisation, maybe a brand comes in and
swoops in on the goldmine that running is now presenting and
someone like Steve was left on the wayside.
I'm not saying it's going to happen.
I don't think it would happen, but I would just, I think what
we what Brad's a perfect example.
Get out there and support. Them what you can do is support
them. Get out there and find them.
Yep, because yes, they. Well, The thing is that does the
cut. Yep, it puts on great races and
it's not. Like I can tell you first hand
right at the moment, especially today, it ain't easy trying to
put on events. You're trying to do.
It's not easy trying to run events in difficult locations.
You know it might be, you know you.
You spend the money, you shut down a road Rd races, you know
you've got to deal with a lot of bureaucratic stuff, but you pay.
It happens once you get off track.
There's a whole range of other factors that come into it to
running events, and Steve navigates that.
You gotta love it. Amazingly, you gotta love it.
You ain't doing it for the cash. But he's always, he's still
taking people to those locations or putting on the style of event
that I think really has that point of difference.
So yeah, definitely go and check out.
Yeah, that's awesome. Thanks for the message, Brad.
And again, if anybody out there that's a great way to send us
feedback and and get involved with the show is send us a voice
memo. Shout out to my defiant race
partner Lindsay Laurie. He got second up.
In the he's. Flying again at the moment.
But Lindsay is a weapon, and I reckon if Lindsay had the
Courtney Atkinson focus, he'd be an even bigger weapon.
Lindsay's one of those annoying humans that's good at lots of
things though he is. I think she's talented across
the feeling. Could just slip my mind.
I think he won like a junior K1 kayaking.
Australian champion, that's what I mean.
Stages annoyingly good at lots of things.
Yeah, very good. All right, what do we got left
We got we got time for any gear chat.
Do I have gear? I've got actually this listen to
question I'm interested in. So, Ryan, I wanna have number
one of Armadale, yeah. King of Armadale.
Ryan's sending boys, with how popular running is becoming
worldwide, do you think any additional running events could
be added to the Olympics? And if what, what do you think
they would be to add for a success?
Would it be a standard type race, a backyard ultra, new road
distances like a 30 or A50, or even bring the old the cross
country? Well, we've talked about
bringing the cross country back and that's where I firmly sit.
I've got a question for you because we earlier on in the
episode, we talked about what's impressive anymore.
Yeah. Because oh, and you said you had
an answer for this. No, we said, well, I said that
going to do a race is impressive.
But when we talk about like doing an Iron Man, doing an
ultra, like what's impressive in endurance anymore because
everyone's doing such crazy stuff.
When you take it to the Olympic level, do you ever think a long
like an ultra event could work at the Olympic Games?
And this probably goes from both running and then the Ironman in
triathlon. Because you, you know, that's
the argument in triathlon always has been you've got the Olympic
distance, which is the Olympic Games distance runs for just
under 2 hours, but you don't have the Ironman in Olympic
Games. Do you ever think an ultra or an
Ironman could work in an Olympic environment?
Could, but what? Why?
We are a the attention span of the globe is shortening.
It is becoming, I mean, we talked about the cool and get a
gold earlier on in this episode. The everything's becoming
shorter. Longer is not the solution.
Longer is has a niche, but it is not the mainstream niche
anymore. And I don't see a world where
the Olympic ethos is changing, right?
It is no longer about faster, higher, stronger.
That's still their motto. But it is changing to now be
about sustainable legacy, right? They've always talked about, you
always hear the words around Brisbane Olympic Games.
You're always hearing what's the legacy, what's the legacy piece?
What's the legacy piece? It's not about just building
legacy pieces for everything now it's about sustainable legacy.
So the Brisbane Olympic Games as an example, there's conversation
going around in the background about where the paddle sport
things are going to happen, right?
Redlands is approved for a new white water rafting facility,
right? The only one in this country
basically exists down in Penrith in the backyard of Jess and
Naomi Fox. They're going to build a new one
at Redlands, $20 million or whatever it's going to cost.
Why for a niche sport that only has a certain number of
participants, why are we building?
What's the sustainable legacy of that?
And then there's talk about creating this new rowing
facility in Rockhampton. Why That's not a sustainable
legacy. You're not going to make
Rockhampton the centre of rowing in this country when in Sydney
there is already world class rowing facilities.
So the sustainable legacy and I'm going to trust me, I'm going
to land the plane on this. It makes more sense for the
Brisbane Olympics to host it's paddling events down in Sydney.
Oh. Be cool, it does, but if you're
talking about the Olympics having sustainable legacy, it
makes more sense to have those things there.
Now to go back to what we're talking about about ultra or
longer events ever going into the Olympic Games, how would you
host one? How would you host 1 sustainably
and feasibly for something that might go for five hours?
It just, it draws everything out longer, it makes everything more
logistically difficult and it puts further strain on a city, a
host city and a host venue where not many people in the host
cities, it really want these games anymore.
Yeah, and we've got the marathon.
I mean, running, you got the marathon.
We're all, we talk about this every week.
The marathon, It's the it's the tipping point of you run the 32K
and then your legs fall off. I mean, it's long enough.
The marathon should still be impressive.
If we introduce more ultra things, yeah, the marathon is
less impressive. The marathon should still be
impressive. Enough.
Well, the marathon. And it has been seen.
That is the Olympic Games right from day dot.
The Olympic marathon. That's how it started.
How it started it is that distance that's the biggest test
to go as quick as possible for a distance.
And in triathlon, I suppose the same thing.
It's around that same. It's a little bit shorter, you
know, you go now 45, but it's a long way for any OK, for anyone
sitting there, then this is an endurance seat.
Anyone sitting there going it's just an Olympic distance.
Oh, here we go. Fire up Courtney.
It's. Just.
The Olympic You're talking triathlon here.
Or triathlon. Or in running terms, well, it's
just the 10K. Like you're running flat out for
30, whatever it is for different people. 25 minutes, 35 minutes,
whatever it is, that's a long way to run hard.
Two hours or three hours for a marathon is a long way to run
hard. You don't always just have to
make it longer for the sake of making things longer, because
all you're doing is creating a point of difference.
Here's our new T-shirt, right? We've never done merch, and I
know we've got the polar giveaway.
Let's make. Let's make some merch.
Let's make some. Merch.
Let's make some. Merch here's the merch ready.
It's go, don't go longer, go harder.
Let's change the mentality around running.
Don't go longer, go harder. Make it harder on yourself by
working hard. Don't go longer, go harder.
Because as you were just talking about that, I remember when I
signed up for my first new triathlon and honestly in my
head I was thinking, bugging me, how am I going to swim 1 1/2 K,
ride 40K, then run 10K? This year?
I'm doing #11 and in my head right now those distances don't
scare me at all. I could cruise through that this
afternoon if I wanted to, but could I go harder?
But should I go? Harder there is my point.
You do Noosa Triathlon, right? And then you're sitting in your
hair. I paint a picture.
I'm sitting in my office, I mean, I'm up in there level
level, level 10 up in Brisbane city.
What's in the Meriton building or something?
And my colleague next to me and I went, I just had a hard one at
the weekend. You know, I did my PB at the
Noosa Triathlon, 2 hours, 35. Awesome.
Yeah, right. Well, I'm, I'm going to race the
Australian Ironman this year. And, and the person sitting
there who just did the Noosa, Oh, you're an Ironman now or
automatically I would suggest the people who are doing the
longer distance go like, well, that's the better thing.
Like you're oh wow, like you're doing that right.
But that person's just done gone and been older, race over 2
hours, 35 at a very, very good level and beat their PB.
Like what's more impressive, I would actually go again, like
the two hours. Try to improve yourself over a
distance that's capable. You don't always have to go
longer to feel better. Go harder, not longer.
Go harder, not longer in the Beginning podcast, which means
that we're gonna start doing 20 minute episodes where we just
yell at each other. There we go.
Hey, don't forget, if you haven't already, comment and
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