Liam's 100-Miler Nutrition Plan & The Beginner Runner Toolbox | EP 85

[00:00] In the Beginning podcast, episode 85. Courtney Atkinson, welcome back again — we welcomed you in on the midweek episode from your Europe adventure, but it's good to have you back properly. It is good to be back, mate — nothing like being home, as good as it was to get over to Europe. Had some good runs. Fun runs. But let's start with you, because let's focus on the man himself — Liam Flanagan running his Miler. It's nearly come to a head. This time next week I'll be in it.

[00:31] How are you feeling — confident, nervous? All of it. I've got waves of confidence and waves of nerves, and the nerves are probably bigger swells. But I've hit the "let's just go" phase. I'm sure everyone understands that once you've been through a big training block targeted at something — whether it's an ultra or your first parkrun —

[01:03] once you've trained for it, you get to a point, not necessarily one or two weeks out, where you just think, I'm ready to do it now. I've been at that point for a week or two. I just want to get stuck in. It's becoming much more real — my flights are booked down to Sydney, I've worked out who I'm driving up with, and over the weekend I sat down and

[01:34] worked out my nutrition and how it's going to look on the day. Reminder for everyone — Nick, Holly Ranson's partner, is going to be crewing me. I've basically got the F1 crew of trail running looking after me. Were you surprised how big the pack gets with all your gear in it? Yeah, it's intimidating — genuinely intimidating. I'll start with the nutrition, because what Nick's done for me isn't lost on me — none of this is

[02:08] unattainable for any other runner. If you sat down, it might take a week to figure it all out, might take a month, might take a day — but Nick's basically taken it off my plate. The spreadsheet he gave me has the run sheet of checkpoints, distance between them, what's provided at each one by the race, a rough ETA based on a 28-hour finish, all that. He's provided suggested food for the lead-up, then broken down the

[02:38] checkpoints based on what nutrition I'll want on hand and ready. He's done a lot of the legwork most people don't get. So incredibly thankful. There's also the shopping list of suggested items, on top of the mandatory gear — I'm getting my mandatory gear checked this week at Wild Earth, seeing Ando, which is great, because as part of these UTA-style races you can get it checked

[03:10] locally instead of waiting until you're up in the Blue Mountains. I'll go do it in Byron this week. Nick's philosophy really does seem to be: let's just be prepared. And me being me, I haven't exactly been prompt getting information back to him about what I want, but I sat down over the weekend, placed an order through an aid-

[03:40] station supplier, another through Amazon, and bulk-ordered my nutrition. Let's walk through it — I'm interested to see where you landed. Starting with fluid — we know about the mistake I made at Noosa 50, taking something that basically gave me no calories at all. You were taking electrolytes, which is important, but this time I'm using Precision, which you can mix at 30 to 120 grams

[04:12] per bottle. How'd you land on Precision? Reviews, sampled it a bit, and it's neutral — unflavoured, pretty bland. I'll be running with a two-litre Camelbak

[04:43] with water and electrolytes, plus two 500ml flasks. So, per flask, somewhere from 30 to 45 grams. Precision's suggested range is up to 55 grams per flask —

[05:15] 30 grams carb, 500 milligrams sodium per 500ml, or 60 grams per litre. So I'll be sitting around 45 to 60 grams per litre across those two flasks — electrolytes in the water in the Camelbak, and the concentrated mix in the flasks on the front. My plan is to keep continuously consuming as I move. There's one stretch from 54K

[05:48] where the next aid station isn't until 90K. So I'll be topping the Camelbak and flasks right to the brim before that section, and Nick will operate as an alternate supply point too. Then there are the gel bags — I'm making up sandwich bags, each containing two Precision gels at 30 grams,

[06:20] one non-caffeinated Maurten gel 160, and one caffeinated Maurten gel 100. Each bag works out to 125 grams of carbs, and I'll pick one up from Nick at every checkpoint, plus carry two through the unaided stretches.

[06:52] Can you drop your own supplies at checkpoints? Yes — there are drop-bag stations, and Nick will be there too. Interestingly, he made a point about the gels: keep the wrappers, don't throw anything away, because he wants to track my consumption. That's a good lesson for anyone planning one of these — you think, I've taken my nutrition on board, done. But if you're working with a crew on a longer race,

[07:23] you might say you've taken it on, but Nick's actually going to be checking in between stations — "I've got three empty Precisions and two empty Maurtens, you've only taken on X amount here." That was an interesting learning for me about crewing. So that's where I'm at with fluid and gels. On top of that, there's the other

[07:53] food, as we've categorised it — pikelets with jam, really easy to eat, and unlike sandwiches they hold together better, no sharp edges, don't get soaked through. I'm rolling with pikelets — learned that from the night run. Salt and vinegar chips are a delight too,

[08:25] especially when you've been shovelling sugar all day — savoury is a relief. Some bags of mixed lollies, dried biscuits, Heinz baby smoothie pouches — the oat, pear and berry one's good — some people find the oat texture odd, but it's essentially the same nutrition as a gel, just a textural

[08:58] break from the same flavour profile the whole way. And then, mostly a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency treat, I'm throwing in some Pop-Tarts — similar to pikelets in a way, but firmer, another different texture. The thing I've found is it's as much about the amount of time you're out there and

[09:31] variety as it is nutrition — breaking the monotony of the running and the pace, which is also why I'll be really selective about when I use music, headphones and poles rather than having them going constantly. Variety's the spice of trail running too. Have you looked at the course itself — broken it up mentally into sections?

[10:01] Not yet — no mini breaks planned in my head yet. Shout-out on that note — I ran into a bloke called Aaron on the border trail a few weeks back, day-one listener, he's running the Miler too, ran it last year. I asked him for advice — he said he

[10:32] got humbled last year, a real eye-opener how long it took — 34 hours. He said you meet people along the way, enjoy running with them. He got lost — he asked, have you looked at the course? And I said, yeah — I lied, Aaron, sorry. There's a loop section apparently, where you come out of a checkpoint, do a loop of however many Ks, then rejoin the

[11:03] main track. He came out of that checkpoint at night with the guy he was running with, and they realised too late they were meant to have looped and had to backtrack a few Ks. Other people made the same mistake and didn't realise until they'd summited a section called Nellies. They had to go all the way back. So one of Nick's notes in the spreadsheet is to load

[11:34] the GPX onto my watch. Would you actually be watching it though? I think those courses are usually pretty well marked. Apparently not so much at night — that's where it gets tricky. That's why I said, if you know this section, then this section, then a loop after this checkpoint —

[12:06] if you break it down like that, you'll have a sense of "this doesn't feel right" if something's off, because you're expecting a certain next section. And that's where the night-running comes in — let's talk about that. What did you do, we haven't chatted about it — where'd you go? We got a bit of advice a couple of weeks back —

[12:36] someone wrote in, sorry, don't have the name handy, suggesting: go for a run in the morning, don't sleep or rest, then go for a run later that night. So last weekend, at about 11am, I did 18K on the border trail —

[13:07] two hours, about 650 metres of elevation. Got home about 1pm, showered, played with the kids, had a party across the road for one of the neighbourhood kids' birthdays, then I had to go call the Gold Coast Suns game against GWS. I normally sit in a chair while commentating, but I made a point of standing the whole broadcast — on air from 6 till 10:30, so on my feet for four and a half hours. Finished, got in the car, drove straight to Nerang, and met up with Rosie — big Dave Rhodes there.

[13:39] For people who don't know, that's Dave Rhodes, an Olympian — and my wife, when I told her I was doing the night run, asked who's going with me. I said Rosie's coming. She said, fine — if it had been Courtney, I'd be worried for you. She was relieved I had a six-foot-four Olympic kayak paddler with me — nobody's messing with Rosie. We met in the car park about 10:45, strapped on our head-

[14:09] lamps and away we went. Did 7.5K in two and a half hours, around 650 metres of elevation again — slow going. We ran the Goblet, 17K loop, going about 8:45 pace.

[14:41] My legs were heavy — mostly because after an 18K run that morning, being on my feet all day, and I was mentally tired too. Calling a game of AFL isn't exactly heavy lifting, but it is mentally draining — talking and thinking hard for four hours, trying not to swear. I was tired basically as soon as we got out there — around 10:30 at night, running from about 10:10 to 11.

[15:13] Got tired pretty quickly. Big takeaway from the night run — a positive one — was that the inclines feel a lot less daunting, because you can't see them. I've run that trail so many times, and every time I look up at those steep sections it feels the same — one foot in front of the other,

[15:43] except at night, several times on that run, I found myself thinking, "oh, I'm already at the top," because I couldn't see it coming. So that was a benefit. Kangaroos jumping across the path, and worse, big spiders and full spiderwebs — several times. At least with a headlamp you can see them, but we had to hit the brakes hard a couple of times, and I think Rosie's got video of me screaming pretty loudly. But really

[16:13] glad I did it, because it gave me a big day on my feet, bookended by that. The biggest lesson I took away was something Holly Ranson mentioned when we had her on the pod about the highs and lows at different phases of these events — I was properly knackered, not just leg-tired, but

[16:43] tired behind the eyes because of the time of night. It was probably past midnight, and I remember thinking, I could happily sit down and go to sleep on the side of this fire trail. Then Rosie and I would start talking, or I'd sip a gel or a squirt of drink — Rosie started throwing salt and vinegar chips at me, which, if you ever try that, you need water on hand because they'll dry your mouth right out. But before you know it, you come out of it —

[17:14] not because of anything specific, your body just grinds through and finds a bit more energy. So the prep was good? The prep was good. I reckon you'll be fine when you've got ten hours of that at night. It's daunting — I'm nervous about it, glad I've done the night run, but apprehensive, and that'll probably be the scariest part, because I'll hit that phase around 90K in, I think.

[17:48] But look, we're here — I've done the work, and I talked a bit about it last week. This is the biggest base of running I've ever built for anything. You know what's extra exciting? You've made the start line — that's an achievement in itself for us on this podcast. Year to date I've averaged 65–70K a week,

[18:18] run almost 112 hours, done 1,100 kilometres, 23,000 metres of vert. That's as big a base as I've ever had. Some people might hear those numbers and think that's not enough for a Miler, but I know for a fact there are people running it with me who've done half as much. We'll find out. You know what I reckon about the whole distance conversation —

[18:50] I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing how you get through it. Regardless of the outcome, running keeps attracting new people — there are still people just coming to running for the first time. But what surprises me is how quickly, or how far, people I'd consider quite new runners are getting in terms of distance, which

[19:22] makes me think there's a "keeping up with the Joneses" element to distance. But then I think about the runners I actually know, and we don't run those huge distances and still get through fine — more isn't always better. And with life, sometimes you just don't have that much time. Not trying to make a wanky T-shirt out of it, but run your own run — if

[19:52] you're drawn to something, go do it. Rosie and I talked about this on the night run — his antennas have been switched on by backyard ultras, he's watching them and thinking he wants to dip a toe in. To me, that couldn't be less appealing — looping the same lap. I'm not being critical of the event, I love it as a spectacle,

[20:24] but personally, I'd rather do a HYROX next year than a backyard ultra. For Rosie, that's his next adventure. Run your own run — if you're drawn to long, ambitious things, go do it; if you're drawn to something short and sharp, go do that. Just put your shoes on and do something — there's enough out there for everybody.

[20:55] Loving that there are still people crossing over and starting to get into running. Before I went to Europe, quick story — I was down in Wollongong for a few days at a conference and took a group out for a run —

[21:26] pretended to be a coach for the morning, with full disclosure that I never do this. Two things came out of it. One — when we warmed up, how differently people of different standards would just run too fast. If I warmed up with some of the best runners in the country —

[21:56] or the guys I was running with in Austria, some of the best in the world at ultras and trail running — an easy run might be five-minutes-per-K pace, just cruising. What I found with this group is there isn't enough of a speed gap between "easy" and "hard" for a lot of runners — they just run.

[22:26] So I took the group through two minutes out, 30 seconds' rest, then two minutes back, 90 seconds' rest, repeated four times. Feedback from a few of them was, "I normally just run" — one said they felt amazing, because that style of running gets the endorphins going, everything feels good, you might feel more tired in the afternoon, but the

[22:58] endorphins kick in and it was actually fun — there's interaction, a bit of racing. So if you're new to running and listening — two things: put some variety into your sessions, because it mixes things up and you feel better, and if you're running easy or warming up, you shouldn't be cooked — it should be nice and conservative, that's the point of a warm-up or an easy run. I've just had a thought,

[23:30] hearing you talk about being new to running — let's put this together on the fly, Courtney. Call it the "In The Beginning: Welcome to Running" kit bag, or toolbox. If you're literally walking out the door for the first time thinking, I'm going to be a runner — we hand you this, containing physical and non-physical things we think are all you need to start your

[24:01] running journey. I'll put in a parkrun registration — go get yourself a parkrun barcode and find your local parkrun. Agreed — if this is your first time running since high school, and you don't have a group yet, it automatically gives you people to run with. Non-negotiable, done, good one. I think we should also include some sort of non-single-pace run.

[24:36] How would we describe what you were talking about earlier — a variable-paced run. I always think fartlek is great for that — forget exact times, just pick landmarks. I love it — I'm going to run quicker to that pole. You could even think in speed terms — moderate to that

[25:09] second pole, then depending how new you are, maybe walk a bit after, or jog back to it. Then pick, say, the tree at the end of the park — go hard to that, then walk for 20 seconds. Just mix it up — good for the brain. So — parkrun barcode, a variable session, and based on what you just said, I don't think we need a watch yet.

[25:40] Not for a "welcome to running" kit. The other option, if you're running with a group of new runners — younger crew or whatever — going out for the session I described, that inclusive way of running, is to go by time, not distance. Don't make the mistake of doing distance — run out for a set amount of time, then turn back. That allows everyone to regroup, and

[26:12] everyone runs their own pace but comes back to the same finish line together. That's actually the exact reasoning behind the run club I set up in the Brisbane office — 31 minutes, 16 out, 15 back, everyone runs or walks, whatever they want. Okay, so basic function watch included then — nothing fancy, no splits, just something that can keep time.

[26:42] That's all we need there. Shoes-wise, just shoes — go buy a pair that feels comfortable on your feet. Comfortable shoes. Let's throw in a quick one — Courtney's eyes have lit up, I don't know what's coming, but I'm excited. We haven't talked

[27:14] about the new Adidas — the new marathon world record shoe. It weighs just under 100 grams, crazy light. I've talked a lot about the Adidas Boston 12, you've been a big fan of those. These are the Adios Evo — not the Boston, though.

[27:44] They're the shoe I've never heard anyone say a bad word about — everyone says try the Bostons. I've got the 12s, love them, went up to the 13s — not a fan. I can't wear them, they run about a quarter to half a size small in the same nominal sizing. They've changed something about the sizing, and

[28:16] I'm getting a hot spot on one foot. You're disappointed. It's funny when they make changes to arguably one of the best pairs of shoes around — I actually went home today and dug out my 12s again, wore them today, felt fresh. I don't know what they've done to the 13s, but not all change is good change.

[28:49] I guess they have to keep changing the technology, trying to improve things — some ways it's probably a comfier shoe, but I don't know. Alright — comfortable shoes, socks, comfortable running clothes, whatever they might be. So: comfort-based clothes, shoes, socks, whatever you want to run in — t-shirt, singlet, tights, whatever you choose. We're going with "Listen to In The Beginning podcast",

[29:19] basic function watch, the variable-run set, the parkrun barcode, and a set of headphones for the podcast. There we go. Basic watch that plays music — welcome to running. You're welcome. Let's go back to your overseas adventure — that's where we were, right? Yes — you'd just been in Wollongong pretending to

[29:49] be a run coach, with some great learnings, that was fun. So then I flew to Salzburg — that's the home of Red Bull worldwide, and my team had a kind of conference over there. Half that team is made up of current athletes, some of the best in the world. The day we arrived we did a HYROX-style workout to get into

[30:22] the week, wake ourselves up — I'd only landed that morning, so it was good to stay awake. Next morning I got out for a run with Ryan Sandes — South African, if you're into trails you'll know his adventures, holds the FKT across Nepal, won Western States. Pretty handy.

[30:53] Goes alright. And a bloody good dude — I'd spoken to Ryan before but never actually met him in person, so it was super cool to get a run in with him. Could he be related to you? There's a photo of you two side by side in Red Bull caps that looks like brothers. I believe it. Then I went out with Luka —

[31:25] Kovačić — I'm going to mangle his name, sorry, mate, I'll go practise it. The easy trick is to do it like basketball players' names —

[31:55] like Luka Dončić — Slovenian. Right, Luka Kovačić, same pronunciation logic — Slovenian, one of those guys who lives up on the peaks in the mountains and just kills it. Have you been to Slovenia? No — mate, unbelievable, apparently, the ski mountaineering he does over there — I haven't done much of the alpine stuff, but I've seen Ljubljana, the capital, and Lake Bled,

[32:26] this tiny beautiful spot on a lake — amazing country. So there were those two, a couple of ski mountaineer guys, and even one of the Polish rally-drift drivers came out for a run with us — motorsport guy, raced Dakar before, a few things. So we got out for a run, some of the best runners in the world, and — what pace do you reckon we ran?

[32:56] I would've guessed sub-4:30. We ran about 50 minutes, just a morning run before breakfast. For that calibre of athlete having a chat, I'd have expected something faster than 5:30 pace — that's so slow compared to what I expected, and I was kind of waiting to see how the run would

[33:26] develop, but everyone was just happy to settle into whatever pace felt right. That's a good reminder — just because you can run fast doesn't mean you're always running fast. It reminds me of Tiger Woods playing a casual round with Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler and they all just shoot in the 90s. Maybe it's more like

[33:57] being at the driving range, just getting into rhythm, not really pushing. So that was super cool, just chatting to those guys, everyone doing their own thing. This might be a question you can't answer, but do you have any sense of how they see you? No — in that context, it's not

[34:30] really a sport setting — we're not at the high-performance centre, which is also in town, we're there for a business need, and I suppose I've been around that business longer than them, so in that sense I'm a bit more senior — not in hierarchy, but I've been doing it longer, more of a veteran, a bit more

[35:00] experience, which I love passing on because I've seen the benefit of it myself — this is worth getting involved in, it's genuinely great. From a running point of view, it'd be interesting to ask — I'm a triathlete, so for the triathletes listening, Sebastian Kienle, won Ironman a few times, and Daniela Ryf, Olympic gold medallist and Ironman world

[35:30] champion, were also in the room — didn't come out for the run, but yeah, a room full of some genuinely interesting athletes. Running-wise, around the marathon side, I knocked out about 70K for the week I was there — the biggest week I've had in a while.

[36:02] This coming week will be a bit lighter, just getting back on top of things after travel, then moving on. Pace-wise, everything's tracking fine. Hey, speaking of FKTs —

[36:33] Johan Botha, the former South African cricketer — shout out — he's off attempting the Heysen Trail, trying to break the record with another fella, down in your home ground of SA. How far is the trail? I should've done my research —

[37:08] he's been going for seven hours, started this morning, done about 120K, aiming to break the record in eleven days. Doing the maths, they start on the far side of the Flinders Ranges and finish in Adelaide — I thought it ran the other way, but reversing it makes sense coming down. I'll put the link in — will he still be going by the time this airs? Probably finished by then. We'll see how he goes.

[37:38] But shout-out to him — and while we're giving shout-outs, big Jarrod Witts, the Gold Coast Suns ruckman, very jealous of your European trip, been following along, and also — I didn't know this — Bodhi Uljon, the Gold Coast Suns defender, local lad, big fan of the podcast — both of them have come swimming with us.

[38:09] I was chatting to him in the car park and he said he's a big fan of the podcast — I said we should get him on, he'd be a good chat, super fit, you can tell just by looking at him. I love how he goes about his football. He came swimming around the headland — he's the one you were nervous about losing to a shark. Which, speaking of, did you see at the Gold Coast Pro, the Boost Mobile Gold Coast

[38:40] Pro last weekend — a couple of halts in proceedings for bull sharks in the lineup, twice. With that many drones up, they're going to see everything. Interesting too, on finals day Monday, the announcer had to call out over the PA asking anyone with a drone up to land it immediately, because they didn't have the right permits for that many —

[39:11] there must've been a swarm of them. There's probably an issue with drones near the 5K airport radius too — would be within the CASA restriction, but need an event permit to fly officially — anyone else flying should be illegal, technically. What else — oh, so while I was in Europe, after fanboying with the running crew, I mentioned on

[39:41] Wednesday's episode that I used AI to find somewhere to go for a run for a couple of days, and ended up in Innsbruck of all places. I'm literally heading up the mountain to start the trail, and the next thing I know two runners come busting around the corner near the bottom of the chairlift with

[40:12] race numbers on. Turns out, completely by accident, I'd landed in the middle of one of the biggest trail-running festivals in Europe — the Innsbruck Alpine Festival, and it puts Australian trail running to shame. I'll show you a quick video.

[40:42] Have a look — the presentations happen in what's basically a castle, traditional Bavarian style, and the crowds. It really made me realise how much of a disadvantage Australian trail running has — same Achilles heel as our winter sports, we just don't have the mountains. Literally within 3K of

[41:12] town you're climbing a 2,000-metre peak, which makes what Holly Ranson, Lucy Bartholomew, and people like Mackenzie have achieved even more impressive. I ran there in the morning, went up near where they were, then wandered into town through the whole festival. Adidas had a massive setup, sponsoring the event —

[41:45] the investment they've put into trail running there, being more of a home sport for them, was really impressive. I watched their DJs on stage — they do it so well. We can sit here and be envious, but the reality is, it's the same reason Innsbruck doesn't have surf lifesaving events, and the Germans or Austrians

[42:15] aren't known for it either — you're a product of your environment. Living at the base of a valley with 2,000-metre peaks on either side, of course you're going to be good at this stuff. It's a bit like being unimpressed that personal trainers are in shape — you're surrounded by dumbbells every day, demonstrating lunges and lifting technique, of course you should be in shape. Shout-out to

[42:45] all the personal trainers — you should be in better shape than you are, I'm kidding, it's fine. I say the same to AFL coaches, like Riggo — when players miss an easy shot at goal, I think, mate, you're in the gym all day, look how much space there is between the big sticks, surely a few bench presses in your spare time.

[43:15] I reckon Riggo's put in his time on the bench press too, sneaky style. So Europe was great — always feel super lucky to get to do things like that. Back to square one — we should ask you about this, we haven't actually talked about it on the pod: your thoughts on the London Marathon. It's a couple of weeks removed now, but still — that benchmark's

[43:45] going to keep tumbling, isn't it, as a race, or as a time? The time. I think — and this isn't my theory, I heard it elsewhere — it's the four-minute mile all over again. It was a benchmark that had to be broken, and now it's broken, there'll be a new mentality. One thing I didn't mention last week when we talked about the marathon — Sebastian

[44:16] Sawe, 31 years of age — got me reflecting a little sadly on Kelvin Kiptum, 24 when he set the marathon world record, who tragically passed away in that car crash. He'll end up being one of the great "what if" stories in athletics. Twenty-four years old and already had that world record. Sebastian Sawe is 31,

[44:47] and it's not strictly linear, but imagine Kiptum with seven more years — maybe he gets injured, who knows, but allow yourself the positive hypothetical. Looking at the young crew running fast now, that's still the biggest shift — in cycling too, across endurance sports — that old process of "putting your time in" before winning has gone

[45:17] out the window. You can win things straight off the bat now, whether that's technology, training, or just the mental side of a benchmark being broken — once it's done once, it keeps flowing. Speaking of shoes, did you see the story out of the US — Abby Steiner,

[45:48] four-time college champion, two-time world champion sprinter, is suing Puma? Hadn't seen that. Suing Puma and Mercedes F1, over allegedly defective sneakers and spikes she claims caused career-altering injuries. Interesting — what do you reckon?

[46:19] We talk about shoes a lot, different models doing different things — she was obviously sponsored, so employed to wear the shoes, which changes things a bit. For me, it's a bit like — bear with me — in contact sports,

[46:54] we've seen the issues around head knocks. I agree a lot of contact sports historically haven't done a good job protecting players — AFL and NRL included, they really needed to lift their standards, they weren't looking after their players or their product properly around head knocks.

[47:24] They needed better practices and policies. But at some point when you sign up to play a contact sport, you accept there's a risk to your body — you can't blame the sport for not protecting you when you knew what it was. You didn't turn up expecting to watch a movie and get randomly tackled — you knew you were running

[47:55] out onto a field to play a contact sport. Bringing that down to a basic level for someone like Abby — not knowing her feet, her body, the shoe, the details — I wonder how hard it'll be to prove the shoe, presumably worn by other athletes in her field too, was uniquely at fault. I'd say she's got Buckley's, honestly, but I don't disagree there's

[48:30] risk involved — we live in a society trying to offset risk everywhere, but inherently a lot of what we do carries it. If you run UTA, you're out in the middle of the night on the sides of cliffs, and

[49:01] you sign a waiver — sorry, kids, stop listening to this bit — there's inherent risk everywhere. You could trip on a root doing a 22K run and have just as much risk. It's part of everything, part of life. You can go through life completely unharmed if you sit at home and do nothing, but if you want to go out and live a bit, try things, do stuff, there's a

[49:33] risk you're going to get hurt — like Bodhi out there swimming, no idea if he expected to get dropped by the pack and left as bait. Anyway, when I saw the Puma story I thought, wow, okay — it's about the shoes featuring a carbon-fibre plate, so the technology, which we've talked about a lot in terms of injury risk. Obviously not the same as livelihood necessarily, but it's

[50:03] interesting seeing lawsuits starting around shoe type. This also happened with minimalist shoes, by the way, when they went too far the other direction — "you didn't give me enough support, I'm suing you." At some point you've got to take responsibility for what's

[50:34] going on — if a shoe's genuinely causing an issue, like this hot spot I've got today, fair enough, I'm just not going to wear those shoes again, even though I'd like to keep trying them. Speaking of taking responsibility — right now, at time of recording, you're eight or nine days out from running the Miler. Do you know what I've suddenly become nervous about? No. Getting sick — I feel like I've been circling a head cold for a while now. If it did hit, though, the one thing I haven't asked — what are you running this week, taper-wise?

[51:06] Honestly, just some flat 5Ks, keeping the legs ticking over. I'm resting today, going in for recovery at Riggs, compression boots, hot and cold plunge, some sauna time, and keeping that maintenance up. I've got an appointment with Trent tomorrow for some dry needling around the calves and hammies, tending those hot spots. It's just maintenance now.

[51:36] It happens a lot with elite athletes on really high training loads — when you taper and the body starts to relax, sometimes you go through a bit of that. But I'll keep the legs moving. Quickly, before we wrap up, because we're running long — it's great to have you back in the country, Courtney, and I want to pump up a couple of things.

[52:09] Firstly, the podcast — we're heading toward the Gold Coast Marathon, more stuff on the way, if you're not already subscribed, do us a favour. Second, Wings for Life — that's on tomorrow night, Sunday, Australia time. I'm back on the mic, part of the broadcast, first time in a few years. I'm heading down to Sydney this weekend.

[52:39] I need to double-check the numbers, but there'll be a few thousand out at Royal Randwick Racecourse running around there, and I'll be sticking a microphone in people's faces while they run. Where can people watch, if they're not running themselves? Red Bull TV, on most smart TVs, or Red Bull's YouTube channel.

[53:09] And presumably somewhere on TV too, but I'd go with YouTube, easiest option. If you want to see me, go to YouTube — I'd tell the In The Beginning family to tune in and have a look, because when we started this podcast, coming up on a year and a half now, one of the things you said you wanted to work on was your presenting. So we'll get first-hand evidence, see how it's been

[53:40] going, and see how fit I actually am, because running and trying to talk at the same time is never as easy as sitting at a desk. So — Wings for Life World Run, can people still get involved if they're hearing this over the weekend? Starting Sunday night — I should double-check my handbook, but yes,

[54:13] you can head down to Royal Randwick and join in, there'll be around 3,000 people there, or you can run anywhere — download the app, make a donation. Wings for Life World Run dot com — that's the website if you want a little adventure, 9pm Queensland/AEST time. The main thing is just jump on it — I've backed this one for 14 years now,

[54:45] and the reason is the charity's purpose is completely pure — 100% of the money raised goes into research for a cure for spinal cord injury, because Red Bull covers the rest of the bill — all the admin, all the running costs. So every dollar donated through the run entry

[55:16] goes straight to the cause. It started because a lot of Red Bull athletes have hurt themselves in action sports, but actually only about 1% of spinal cord injuries come through sport or extreme sport. What's the most common cause? I'd guess motorbike accidents — no, falls. Just

[55:46] falls, household falls. There you go. So it plays a bigger role than people assume, but the whole purpose this weekend is to get out and run, or roll — plenty of wheelchair athletes involved too. If you're

[56:17] up for it, grab your friends, get outside, run for however long you like, do some good. The other reminder — we covered this on Wednesday's episode, but for Saturday-only listeners in the marathon-prep window — Southern Cross University, official education partner of the Gold Coast Marathon, is hosting a free webinar about a month out from race day. It's called The Final Kick, and

[56:49] it's about getting you race-ready. It's on Wednesday the 3rd of June at midday — a webinar via Eventbrite, we'll drop the link, at eventbrite.com.au you can reserve a spot. Our man Courtney's part of the expert panel — expert,

[57:19] you're going to be sitting there helping people fine-tune everything. Listed as Courtney Atkinson, Olympian, former professional triathlete and co-host of In The Beginning podcast — yours is the shortest bio of all the guests. Is that because I don't have letters after my name? Bimi Grey, registered osteopath and teaching scholar and course coordinator for osteopathy at Southern Cross Uni, Dr Chrissy Freer, clinical trial research fellow at Southern Cross University, Dr Chris Stevens, chair of human sciences and rehabilitation. Might want to look into getting some letters. I did do a degree —

[57:50] business. Did you do it at Southern Cross Uni? No — so it doesn't count, not a valid qualification, unless it was around back then. But if you're preparing and haven't already registered, The Final Kick, hosted by Southern Cross Uni, go reserve your spot — happening the 3rd of June, Wednesday, midday, and you'll get to throw questions at Courtney and the rest of the expert panel. Great one, mate, we're done — great to have you back. The marathon's coming quick, but mainly, let's concentrate on you for next week. What are we doing about next weekend, given I'll be running? I know the question about you getting down there has come up. We'll figure it out, stay tuned everyone. Travel-limited, I'm travelled out. We'll figure it out. Alright, see you next week. See you later.