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# EP76 - NEW MEDIA VS OLD MEDIA, MARATHON MYTHS & THE RUNNING SCARE THAT NEARLY ENDED IT ALL
- URL: https://www.inthebeginningpodcast.com/ep76-new-media-vs-old-media-marathon-myths-the-running-scare-that-nearly-ended-i/
- Published: 2026-03-06T06:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-20T11:51:06.000Z
- Description: Courtney Atkinson and Liam Flanagan on T100, Olympics & 2032 — recorded on the Gold Coast.
- Author: Courtney Atkinson
- Tags: Episodes, Main Feed, Triathlon, Olympics, #Import 2026-07-28 20:58

*Courtney Atkinson and Liam Flanagan on T100, Olympics & 2032 — recorded on the Gold Coast.*

## Listen

Listen on [Spotify](https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/inthebeginningpodcast/episodes/EP76---NEW-MEDIA-VS-OLD-MEDIA--MARATHON-MYTHS--THE-RUNNING-SCARE-THAT-NEARLY-ENDED-IT-ALL-e3fs73l?ref=inthebeginningpodcast.com) or [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep76-new-media-vs-old-media-marathon-myths-the/id1772010786?i=1000753686474&uo=4&ref=inthebeginningpodcast.com).

## Full transcript

Auto-generated transcript. Timestamps approximate. Hosts: Courtney Atkinson & Liam Flanagan.

**Read the full transcript** 

\[00:00\] All right, here we go. In the beginning, Episode 76, Courtney, First question straight off the top, when do you stand for a standing ovation? Context required. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gold Coast Sports Awards last weekend, Saturday night, Mat Rogers, friend of yours. Yeah, Mat Rogers got the. Lifetime Achievement inductee into the Gold Coast Sports Hall of Fame. Great speech. His speech was outstanding, but not just for a football and not just for an athlete.

\[00:31\] It was a great speech. What made it so outstanding? Because I've heard this from multiple people now. The way that he spoke, you find a lot of people and Moi probably do it as well. The people that listen to this every week probably are aware of our crutch words. Typically people will have crutch words that they lean on as as fillers while they process their next thought. Yes. For most people that's the Paul's word is arm. And if someone is up there talking for a long time, arm becomes very noticeable.

\[01:02\] Mat Rogers does not have a crutch word. He was, it was smooth, it was well performed. Now this is a bloke who works on radio, so you would expect him to speak well. But he spoke about the influences of his life. He told the Journey. He spoke so candidly about his father passing away, committing suicide. He spoke about the autism that he's gone through with his son Max and his experience in that. He spoke lovingly of his family. He did it all so well. There was humour, there was light. I was just blown away by Mat Rogers induction speak.

\[01:34\] But the reason I ask about the standing ovation, When would you stand for a standing ovation? Would you stand as that person is announced and makes their way to the stage, or would you stand after that person has spoke or delivered their speech? It could be either or. I mean, what would your? Instincts in this in this case we're talking if it's Mat Rogers up there then and the speech was amazing, it would be at the end of the speech. Yeah. I wouldn't I wouldn't I unless he's winning Australian of the

\[02:04\] Year award. I wouldn't pre empt. It OK. I stood up as he went to the stage. But is that the biggest award of the night? Well, it's not it's you. Tell me, do you think the Lifetime Induction Award is the award of the night or the Gold Coast Athlete of the Year is the award of the night? Well, the fact now athletes turned up for athlete of the year probably. He says I stood up as he went to the stage because I thought it warranted it. Yep. And then and were you alone? Not quite alone, but certainly not in the majority. OK. And then I stood up after the speech as well.

\[02:36\] And there was far more people who stood up after the speech. And there are some people saying you don't stand up until the end. Yeah. Oh, OK, I learned something. Oh, Mat's an absolute legend. I mean, because he's been every, he's been in so many different, you know, communities too. Like he had his Rat Pack and through triathlon and then running. He spoke about that and he spoke about one of the real fun moments of the night, or fun, awkward, call it whatever you want, was when he talked about his experience in triathlon after he finished his football career. And he said, I made a lot of money playing football and we

\[03:09\] used to get on the beers after every game. We had a great time. I was fortunate to be good at a commercial sport. These athletes, these triathletes, these runners that go and grind away for bugger all, They're the they're the real stars. They're the ones that should be truly celebrated. So that was a fun awkward moment because they're a whole heap of junior athletes in the room who are about to embark on these non commercial sports. But who I should say the growth of Gold project which is giving I think it's 15 athletes, $10,000 a year for the next 7 years. It's funding them to try and get to Brisbane 2032.

\[03:41\] Yep. And hopefully metal there so well. Every, every little bit helps. And my story, I don't know if I've told it on here before, but I told it at a business breakfast the other morning. My story about when I first met met Mat Rogers I. Haven't heard this? Haven't you heard? This OK so I would have been I just entered high school. At the school we went to, I'd walked, I think I was walking to my year 8 maths class. Math, right? Oh, 'cause you guys went to school together. Yeah. Oh, I didn't even think about that. Yeah, so I when I entered school, yeah. Mat Rogers, Nathan Grey.

\[04:15\] Nathan Sharpe. Handy. I'm just trying to think who else I'm going to miss a few. I think there was like 5 or 6 of the Wallabies at one stage. It all come out of handy while I was at school. So wow. You can imagine us as runners, we weren't really the pinnacle. Well, Mat spoke about his time at TSS. Yep, talked about the fact that it was morning, noon and night. Before class, during class, after class, football in hand. And that the teachers kind of said if you're missing class that's fine, but you better be out there kicking convert like practising and kicking.

\[04:46\] And he was so. For he was so I ran into him. We should get him off. I didn't know who Mat Rogers was. I mean when he was just playing junior, what like junior Australian league and union I assume at that time. So he was in grade 12 when I ended high school, OK and went up to this classroom. I can remember quite vividly, it was a female teacher in the classroom and we were all lined up outside, as you know, young 13 year olds and literally him. And in the school he was just

\[05:17\] known as the big boxer. Not Matt. This other guy spewed out of the classroom, literally punching the shit out of each. Other really like a. Full. Blown fight? You're kidding. Like he was, yeah. Going at each other. Going at it, but the guy who was going at like Mat was a bit of a slimmer guy. And then, yeah, this guy was like, you know, that the boxer. I mean, in hindsight, this is have you talked? To Mat about this. Yeah, I've mentioned it to him a few times. Does.

\[05:47\] He remember it. No, I don't think so. I mean, you know, maybe he had a few fights in his foot. He does we. Should get mad. I mean, he's here on the coast. We should get mad on the pot. I reckon he'd be a great chap. Yeah, so he, that was my introduction to at the time I didn't know where he'd go on to but yeah, I reckon remember it vividly and it could have been anyone. I just remember the fight. Transitioning from Matt to another Matt. The Matt Hauser episode, for those that haven't heard it, caught up on it on Wednesday. If you're listening to this without hearing the Matt Hauser episode from Wednesday, go and check it out. That young Man just gets better

\[06:20\] and better at talking. As much as his racing is improved, he is an outstanding interview. Yeah, because we're careful. We'd like to try and lead people down and talk about things, controversial things. Matt just was thrown himself in some of that stuff. He was actually offering it up on a platter. I he is a new. I wanted to talk to you about this because off the back of the chat with Matt. Yeah. Because what's the gap between you and Matt? 1520 years? You're 26? Yeah, nearly 20\. Yeah, I think Mat's a perfect embodiment of what Andy Buchanan

\[06:54\] has talked a bit about, about athletes needing to embrace the new world in which they live in with media and all the rest of that and access and storytelling and all the rest of that. How did you find doing interviews in media back in your day? Well, it was structured. In what way? Oh well, you. Read Actually, we've got a comment here. Greg Rust. Rusty for all the For all the redheads out there, Greg Rust is the voice of motorsport in this country. Yeah, so we've got a, we've got a message from Rusty, 'cause he saw the award we got the other

\[07:25\] week, rode in morning. He got the auto generated message. Sorry, I think, I think this is an auto generated message from here. Yeah, it was, but I followed it up. I followed up after seeing you at the AC Awards. Big Congrats. I actually worked on some intromedia training with Courtney at Red Bull HQ in Sydney many many moons ago and I was chaff for him to win an award. Please pass on my Congrats. Oh. Fantastic. Yeah, Rusty is a ripping fella. Yes, he's, I mean, been across Rusty's garage, another great podcast.

\[07:55\] He's been on Channel 10's coverage for years. When they had it, the Supercars. Yeah, he's fantastic. So to answer your question, we would get specific media training in a way to handle media. So Rusty came in and did, was doing TV training with me, but I can remember doing training even as young as probably maybe 15 or 16\. Really. Do you remember any of? Oh no, I'm asking a lot of the bloke that can't. Remember the guy who did so, the guy who No. Well, these are certain things I

\[08:26\] remember. So the guy who did my media training at 15 or 16 as part of a group and I was there with say Grant Hackett and a range of athletes was Ian Chesterman. Why does that name ring about was now CEO of he's now the CEO of the you know what organisation? Australian Olympic Committee, ah, now is he CEO? President, President of the president. Sorry, he's the press Marx. CEO. Yeah, okay, so Ian Chesterman, the president of the AOC, he was the media that helped you first learn how to.

\[08:56\] Yeah, wow. So he and I can recall it like you got cameras like this. We would stand in front of a camera. Yeah. Do your interview, get CR critiqued. That was the old media. That was the old way of doing. Things. And it's funny to say because I was going to, we're going to bring up this morning about. You've been in an event this. Morning. Well, I went to something this morning. We don't need to mention at this stage what it was, but newspaper photographers, Yep, new media, old media, you've, you've been a

\[09:27\] couple of news, you've been in a few newspapers over a time. They ask you in and they want the hero media shot. What's what's pretty much the standard ask. It's a sports shot. You're standing staring off into the distance. Yeah. Or everyone, you're in a group, give us a fist if you look like you're gonna win. It looks like you're gonna win. Well, imagine you've just won the race. There is nothing more staged than a newspaper shot. Yeah, of course.

\[09:59\] And the way they go about. It but that's but that's it. Doesn't resonate anymore. They I think they, I think, I think media still traditional media still hold on to something that they believe works. I can guarantee you if you saw in a newspaper article the difference between someone like a stage shot like that verse either using just an old action shot which could in context or take a shot of them doing the interview. Interesting.

\[10:31\] There's a camera, you're gonna resonates more so. Yeah, of course it does. It's real. What? Why are you down there? You're down there to do the interview and tell people about, you know, whatever the product is or the race. I take a photo of you actually doing something instead of the stage, new media versus old media and. I think but it's not for you. It's for the, it's for the person. Who reads the newspaper? Exactly. And who are those people?

\[11:01\] They're older. It's an older demographic that still buys a newspaper, so that idea of that old fashioned, you know. It's probably what he used to you created, but we're talking about doing, you know, upscale. You're creating the. Content for the audience mate. I agree and you don't see those shots as much on digital platforms, social platforms, all the rest. I agree. Back to Mat, I think he, you're right, new media in the sense of has his conversation. I mean, there's a very different point of view of being able to come on a podcast and just chat away to getting stuck in front

\[11:33\] of a camera and being asked questions by a journalist. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think the I mean podcasting probably lends itself more to the emerging athletes anyway because you're not required to be as word perfect. You can have pauses, you can have thoughts, you can explain yourself, you can expand on your answers. But the ones who do really well, and I don't think this ever changed. I think the point of difference of from day daughter time talked

\[12:03\] about being on the 1\. You could be on the real professional side and just be so much of A perfectionist that you're art of presenting that you're great. Yep. Or you're a personality and have a point of difference. True. I'll give you an example though, and I won't mention names. I know a footballer who I don't think would be a great podcast interview and yet is probably the most polished traditional media performer that one of the most polished traditional media

\[12:34\] performers I've seen. Yeah, OK. It gets up there and does that TV 2 camera interview, Bang smiles, gives the traditional media everything they could ask for. I get the sense and look, I'm not. I won't. I won't say the name because I haven't had the opportunity for this person to either prove me right or wrong in a podcast format. But I imagine my guts is would struggle in this sort of format where Matt Hauser in that Wednesday episode did so well. Were you surprised when we asked

\[13:06\] Matt about Alex Yee? Yeah. How friendly competitors are. No, I wasn't, I think I was surprised that he told us he was going to get him, try and get him to pace us, pace him for the 10K. That surprised me. It strikes me. I mean, what we get, what I got out of Matt from the last time was that there's really only one bloke in that field that he's not a huge fan. But at the same time, I love

\[13:39\] Matt made that clear. I love his openness and honesty about, hey, I'll train with anybody, I'll race with anybody. Like my all my data's there. This is about execution and it's like it's I guess it's like that in any sport that there's not unless it's a strategy based sport, which sure, triathlon has some strategy to it, but ultimately it's about who executes on best on the day, right? It's about who's training's gone the best, about he swims, runs all the fastest, but it's just go fast. Yeah, and we didn't mention 'cause I walked out and he then

\[14:09\] said, oh, I've got my new, new YouTube. We should give. So give the UG, Mat Hauser has been dropping these YouTube videos so he gives an insight into his training. So I did go and have a look, right? Well, I won't lie, I think my phone was listening because I sat down on, I think Saturday afternoon, put on YouTube, on the TV, and the first thing that popped up was Matt Hauser. The channel is at who is Matt Hauser MA Double T Space Hauser. Go and check it out.

\[14:39\] There's a couple of videos up there at the moment. Well, the irony as I started watching it and then you know this T100 race we've been talking about the 10K race and my match race against Tim Rigby. Gets mentioned in the video. No, Tim Rigby's training in the video is training tailing Matt Hauser. So I'm like, hang on, Matt's actually letting some of the, you know, he's, he's giving me. Some we'll move on from the media chat because there's some stuff, there's more, there's lots we want to get to today. But the one thing I will just to

\[15:10\] put a bow on this, the way you describe your initial media training, the word you used, handle the media. That's the key difference, I think. I think athletes historically have been trained to handle the media at IE, keep them at arm's length, not give them too much, protect you as an individual from letting the media achieve their goals. That attitude doesn't work

\[15:40\] anymore. No. So one of the one of the best bits of advice I've been given, which I still think works with media, especially in some cases versus what you'd probably want to do today and be, you know, we expect to be open. Everything else was to handle media just like a politician would handle media as a sport. You can, you know, you can divert and answer your question you want to ask and you can message. You can also message. There's the ability to be able

\[16:11\] to message what you want to talk about too. Of course. And you can. And then like a politician, you just double down until that message comes across. But that's the old. I don't like that attitude. I don't think that serves anybody. Gordon Tallis always. I think Gordon Tallis has one of the greatest attitudes towards media of any athlete I've worked with. OK. And Gordy's always said I never looked at media as me talking to the interview or the outlet, whatever it was. I saw every opportunity talk to

\[16:41\] media as a chance to talk to fans. I was giving, I was opening a window to our fanbase to get an understanding of what I was doing, what the team was doing, all that sort of stuff. And I kind of look at those. And I'm not saying this is you or anything like that, but I'm think, I think personally this is it's an outdated way to approach media. If your attitude is divert, divert. My, my, I wasn't going with divert, I was going with you have the message that you want to get out there. Not to the not to the journalist, to the actual yeah, like whoever's listening, but

\[17:15\] being able to tell you message once heard once. But if you can manage within, you know a 5 minute period to be able to double down 5 or 6 times, someone walks away understanding what. Agree. I also I will say that while I sit on this side of the fence and this is this, we've got a classic interaction here. Someone who has lived one life, I've lived the other. I think the media, it works. It's it's it's a two way St the old way of athletes handling media doesn't work anymore. The old way of media talking to athletes doesn't work anymore either. You can't go in with one agenda

\[17:48\] if you're not this. Again, personal opinion. If you go in knowing this is the story I want to tell and I'll use the quotes to achieve my end, OK, fine. I don't think you'll get the best out of your subject. I think you if you're not open to whatever the messages that they want to tell, you won't get the most value out of that conversation. Agreed. Agreed with yeah, but hey, but flip the flip the script the script. Where did you, what was your

\[18:20\] training? I mean, you're, you are the media. What was your training self taught Courtney No look, I've never had any official training trained by spending time and hours. It's a 10,000 hour rule. Like I learned a lot from watching guys like Merrick Watts do interviews in a more celebrity fashion on the radio. He was always looking for the humour so I think that probably informed a little bit about the way I approach it. Learned a lot from Dan Ginnane

\[18:51\] NR LS main commentator in the way he would approach things and the way he would let athletes tell their stories a bit. Did they ever give you tips or did you just have to be a sponge? Not really, and I think it was probably it was no. There was no direct lessons nested. There was never a case of you should always do X, you should always do Y journalists. I'm not a trained journalist and I and I sometimes am naive to

\[19:22\] how journalists approach situations. And I see journalists at meteor OPS and all that sort of stuff. And I've watched them give an open ended question and then dig and dig and dig and dig. Or they give a question knowing what the answer will be so they can hit a follow up. There are techniques and strategies that I don't use because I don't really know how to do them. My I found for me, the best results over the years have been approaching disarming with humour, like talking to when I talk to footballers, mostly when I get the great content, it's

\[19:55\] because I approach it from a let's let them know everything's going to be OK. This is we're just going to, we're just going to have a conversation. I want you to shine. I want to get some good stuff. Yeah, there's nothing worse if you're on the other side of the fence and you're feeling like you got to get. It's not attacked is the wrong word, but. Now I'm also probably never likely to prepare a piece for A Current Affair or any of those type of shows, so I don't need to go heavy. But anyway, let's talk some running because Melbourne Marathon Yeah has had a big

\[20:25\] announcement during the week. Someone, I'm sorry we can't remember exactly who this was, someone wrote in to us about getting 2 day marathons going. And why wouldn't they do it? Well, they have. This is so the Melbourne Marathon has announced that for the first time it is now a 2 day festival and the new era begins. Is the way the Melbourne Marathon is phrasing it. So now it is a case that what What are they going for? One marathon 2 days, but they're basically running the. It's a Gold Coast marathon

\[20:57\] format, IE though all the other races are going to be run on the Saturday. Oh, so they're not running 2 marathons? No, no, no, it's not 2 marathons. They're basically just embracing the Gold Coast Marathon format where it's a 2 day festival that has the marathon run on the I'm. Glad you've done your homework because. You did you think they'd come up with my idea? They'd embrace my idea of actually running the marathon twice. Was that your idea? Oh, I. Remember I pitched it. This is one of. No, I know you. Pitched one of Liam's schemes.

\[21:28\] I thought, yes, I did. I forgot whether it was yours or someone wrote in, but congratulations. I thought they run with we're going to do 2 marathons. No, no, they are the Mel. The Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival is what it is called. Now, it was a nice bit of marketing then on this first one, because it's literally like the first drop of it that I saw. The Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival. A new era begins. Two days, one city, 1 iconic finish. Yeah. And I'm like O2 marathons.

\[21:58\] No, OK, no. So basically my understanding is that they are bringing the half and the 10 to the Saturday and that the marathon itself will be a Sunday stand alone. So what it 10K5K3K? So here we go. The 10K5K3K is being branded as the day for the every kind of runner. You'll get to refinish at the G and then the Sunday will still be the half and the full. Oh, OK. So there's still OK.

\[22:29\] OK. So it's not quite as revolutionary as it seems, but. Should have given that a scratching. It does. No, no, no, it does broaden out the day. And I think Melbourne, we talked, I talked about this last year. I'm, I'm very strong on this. I think Melbourne needs to pull its finger out. I think and I love, love that they're leaning into the MCG as a legendary finish line. That is their point of difference. Sydney's the major now, Gold Coaster's the fast one. Melbourne needs to leverage something because they, I found it underwhelming last year as an

\[23:01\] event and I think they, and I love that they've come out strong early. They've gone, hey, it's a big festival now. All these runners will get this legendary finish to that Great. Well done. 2 thumbs up to the Melbourne Marathon. Well done. Well done. Yeah, and Nike looks really good on it. Yeah, I still think Bunnings would be better. What do we got next? We'll. Keep with the marathon theme you sent. You gave me this bit of a. Oh yes, 4 hours to run a marathon is actually one of the hardest times to run a marathon in The guys that are doing it in

\[23:32\] sub three, they're running for way less time. Great point. There's an interesting thing from like your physiological perspective. In order to run like a four hour marathon, you have to use both fat and carbohydrates as a fuel source. And it's really hard to use carbohydrates as a fuel source for long periods of times without stopping. Your heart rate is going to be higher than someone say, running a 5 hour marathon. You just can't sustain the same intensity. 4 hour marathon, the hardest marathon time to run.

\[24:02\] Thoughts. Look, let's just talk about it without this. I'm not going to pretend I'm not trained as an exercise physiologist, OK? What do you think when you hear that though, 'cause I can see. You're I am there is the notion it's harder to run a 4 hour marathon than it is to run a 2 hour marathon is complete bullshit. What, like I can see the

\[24:35\] argument saying like if you're a four hour runner, you're going to be running at the same intensity at of your best for four hours. So that's harder than doing it for two hours. The point is the reason you're doing 4 hours is you're running a lot bloody slower. So there's a lot less effort than these. Like you can't win on this because I can see where the argument can come from. Yeah, it is harder to run for four hours. Like you're on your legs for four hours, but don't kid yourself that to run at those paces. The best way I can explain it,

\[25:07\] we had this conversation, Who was I having this conversation? I was having a conversation about running paces and we said we were talking about the difference between, actually it was someone running with Matt Hauser, the difference between when you're running along at say 310 minute per kilometre pace. So it's all in quick here, 3 minute 10s. But when you drop to two 50s, that's a monumental shift, like up thing. It's a lot It that feels a lot harder than someone if you're tapping along at three 40s and

\[25:39\] you've got to drop to 3:20\. Yeah, cool. What's percentage? Right, it's purely mathematically speaking. Your percentage drop from three 10s to 250 is greater than 340 to 3:20\. And then when you go from 250 pace to try and run hard down to 240 pace, that again is a bigger, harder shift to be able to do that at the top end than it is going from that 310 pace to 2:50\. You've literally. I mean, I've never run that far so I don't understand.

\[26:09\] No one's run 2 hours either except for like one guy. So it's a mute point. But you can understand how hard it is to try and run for two hours. Yeah, my point is if you can run a two hour 10 or a 2/2 hour marathon, you are running along at such a high intensity that the reason they're elite is that's bloody hard. Is this not the same logic being applied that we apply to? Run if a distance first. No, the 100K mob, the

\[26:39\] Clydesdales that we talk about, I mean, we don't necessarily say it's more impressive, but we say they deserve their own recognition. Is it not the same logic a little bit? I'm not saying it's completely wrong, I'm just saying I disagree with it. I can see the logic both ways. I can. There's a. There's gonna be an argument either way if. You're a four hour marathoner. Just can you enjoy the fact that you're better than the two hour? Yeah, like everybody gets a ribbon.

\[27:09\] Well, look, you're right. Like if you're 100 KG and you can run and you run a 4 hour marathon, was that harder than someone who run the four hour marathon and was 60 KGI? Would say yes. But do they run harder? Have they got more muscle? Like, are they stronger? Is there more muscle like there's so many. It's a statement that you can just argue. Put it this way, if if a if a 60K person turned up to me and like if if a couple walks up to me, yeah. And then the 60K person says couple of mates walk up to me,

\[27:42\] 60K person says I just ran a marathon. I'm like great, well done, that's fantastic. Now I ran it in four hours. And then the 100K mate runs, it comes out to me and goes I just ran a marathon. I'm like great, that's fantastic. And he says I did it in four hours in my head. You're more impressed? I'm more impressed by the 100K person running that 4 hour marathon. Yeah. I'm I'm sure there's someone, I'm sure, I'm sure there's a sports scientist out there actually has the answer to this, but I get where they're going. It's like to be out on your legs for four hours is a lot harder than it's like you go for a long run for four hours and you go

\[28:12\] for a run for two hours. Chalk and cheese, right? We're not out but to say running a four hour marathon's harder than running a 2 hour like. Come on, I. Think the statement should have been to run for four hours. Yes is harder than to run for two hours. That's what it should have been Yeah, perfect correction. See, this is what we're here to do we are here to apply bar logic to influencer reels. I'm. I'm sure that was that reel was made for this exact conversation

\[28:43\] because there is like just the bait, just. Literally the bait people. They finished recording that bit that's gonna piss some people. That's gonna piss some people anyway. Yeah. Hey, Quinn. Can we give a massive chat out to this man Quinn, who for those that aren't familiar with Quinn, member of the Bondi Rescue crew, been a Bondi council lifeguard for many a moon. Also just a weapon in the ocean. And is it next weekend? I believe Quinn is attempting to break The Quinn is attempting to break the 24 hour swim record

\[29:18\] for lapse of Bondi. So he is attempting to go. Do you? Know the first thing. What's the first thing you think of when you hear that? Sharks. Yep, sharks at night time. God, yeah. Swimming across air at night time? No, thank you. It's it's genuinely. I got on the, I got into the water at Burley yesterday at 5:30 and I was like, you know, it was like that stormy day, yes. And I was thinking, no, thank you. Can you imagine? Pitch black. No, that's no. That's got to be one of the most

\[29:51\] scary, like eerie things you could do swimming, I'm sure. I'm sure doing it in the middle of the ocean is worse, but like swimming in the ocean at night where it's pitch black in the current. Sydney conditions, water, you know, salt water conditions. No, not there. I'm just trying to find the exact details of Queens because he's he's raising some cash along the way. Queen's a fantastic human being who, if you're not familiar with his story, Quinn had a liver transplant, but it was waiting

\[30:24\] for the liver transplant. Didn't an entire season on the beach with a catheter and didn't tell any of the boys that he was counselled lifeguarding with because he didn't didn't want them to, you know, essentially take pity or have any sympathy or treat him any differently while he was doing the job. Yeah. And like some of the boys of who I've known have spoken to have said, had no idea he covered up a catheter while he was. Yeah. Working as a while you're working on the beach. Which is hard to do right

\[30:55\] because. Incredible. But it's it's funny how close. It never ceases to amaze me how close our worlds between Sydney and the Goldie here are because I grew up with LAN, his older brother. Yes, whose young daughter is now up and coming well. Lucy was, yeah, his daughter. Lucy was just, which is Quinn's. Well, Quinn's niece was just surfing. Like I think LAN was saying she was going to have a chance to maybe surf against Steph Gilmore if she got the right heat on

\[31:25\] last weekend. So like, you know, she's arguably the most promising junior in the country at the moment in surfing. And yeah, you knew Queen from down in Sydney and up here in Queensland. I was hanging out with his older brother and. It's a small Here we are. It's a small world. A lot of those connections crossover, don't they? It's a. Very, very small world. So shout out to Quinn and get around him if he if he can, because he's he's gonna be giving it a crack. And if he if he succeeds, it'll be an amazing effort. Yep. Amazing effort, I oh, you

\[31:56\] know what I've missed? What? You see, so I've said I am upset because I want to just jump quickly into that world of hybrid. Oh no, yeah, we're not going into HYROX. Territory I was going to hire yeah, no, no, as Adidas have just brought out the new standard. You don't seriously call it Adidas, do you? Adidas. It's Adidas. Adidas. What are you doing, Adidas? I know the soccer stuff upsets you, but just come on. Hey, we just learned if you bait, if you bait.

\[32:27\] Oh, you're trying to bait listeners by saying Adidas. You're trying to bait me by saying Adidas. I know what you're doing. Stop it. You want to talk about their new shoes with the Stackhop? I don't really, but yeah, they're they brought out a, let's call it a HYROX shoe. Yeah, OK to race in which I think up to now Puma's been the sponsor. So Puma have had the specific shoe what interests me always. And I had a chat to a few of the elite guys on this. They do wear the like they arguably wear running shoes

\[32:57\] because that's where they can make more more time up, right. So they wear pretty much high stacked running shoes, which I've never really understood because I always thought they'd be really unstable for the workstations, but apparently not. But the ones I'm looking at here, which are the drop set elites, the stack on them is absolutely crazy. How big is it? This big? OK. I'm actually holding up my fingers here for Liam. It's. No, no, no. The reason I don't I actually. Don't, I don't know.

\[33:27\] They've at the moment put it this way, they're showing some pictures of them doing the rope pull and the whole sponge of the rear heel is literally just, it's like Jelly. Well the reason I asked is because of the so you're right, the Puma is the one that has a specialised high rock shoe right now. Puma HYROX deviate Nitro right? It's 340 bucks for those playing along at home and it has a 40 mil stack height and I was curious to know. 40 mil. Yep, and I was curious to know a

\[33:58\] 40 down to 32, so it really wedges up at the heel there. And I was curious to know if if you could find out what Adidas's HYROX shoe is rolling from a stack height perspective now? Why what I what the reason? I did not want to talk about the shoes, by the way, but why have brought it up? It was a good lead in to this new CrossFit. This is CrossFit. The sport obviously HYROX has come in and you know, taken over and really taken the trend. Well, Dream, I believe it's the DreamWorks, DreamWorks backing

\[34:31\] as well. So the Disney's DreamWorks backing. So it's called Xenom Xenom. Right. Like kind of like venom, but. Yeah, and what is it? What are they? Doing with it's the new CrossFit event. So what they've done, it's because obviously CrossFit, when they went to CrossFit Games, from my understanding, they'd switch out. You didn't really know. They changed the events all the time. Yeah, they would be given the work out of the day on the day. Correct.

\[35:02\] And it and it changed over time. So they've seen the success of HYROX obviously and gone. Hey, we need we need some of this. We need to get out, you know, we need to get some of our crew back. And this new CrossFit event will literally just be CrossFit activities, but they'll be standardised in competition around the world. So you no matter which event you can go to, you can compete on those standardised competitions. But it'll be like the heaviest snatch, for example. So it'll be driven a lot more to the lifting is my understanding.

\[35:33\] Today, a new stadium scale competition series called Xenom officially launched, bringing with a $15 million seed investment and an official CrossFit Partner Event Series licence and a foundational partnership with Rogue Fitness. Dubbed the Decathlon of Fitness, Xenom is aiming to establish a repeatable global benchmark for competitive fitness with a fixed 10 format event. 10 event format. So this is the first I've seen it across a 2 day weekend. 2000 athletes will compete in a fixed 10 event format that spans

\[36:05\] maximal strength, gymnastics and aerobic capacity. Athletes will be scored on a cumulative Elite Performance Index. OK, I'm glad you found the yeah yeah. Explanation, that's what. I so allowing competitors to measure their year over year progression against the static global benchmark. That's the key stuff there. It's effectively they've just standardised CrossFit. If standardised CrossFit, I hate the branding of Xenom. Xenom. I hate it because I as you've just discovered, we pronounce it three different ways in the side of two minutes, which means it's not sticky enough. If if it if it well, stop any

\[36:37\] Adidas it should have been compared to HYROX. You're already on the back foot. I wonder if the horse has bolted. I wonder how many athletes they've lost and especially if this is if this lends to itself too much into that running. I don't know what, how much running is going to be involved in it, but I wonder whether the horses bolted and there's, there's not, there's no ground they can't catch up the ground on. One thing's for sure, this the fact you've got all these

\[37:09\] competing organisations now, it's a little bit like if you think about triathlon where you have Ironman, then you had Challenge PT OS come in, who's running the T100? They've just acquired Challenge. It's a healthy sport. Oh yeah. That's like I'm not. The reason I brought it up is definitely not in a good way. It just shows how healthy fitness racing is at the moment. What I'm what my question will be is with all of these popping

\[37:40\] up and you know, the money being invested, do you think we'll see obstacle course racing kind of like perk up again? Because remember. Like, you mean like Tough Mudder and. Tough Mudders and Spartan Races and all that. They had their they had their day, right? They were. Yeah, they did. They had their day have. You done, Tough Mudder? No, I've gone out and watched a few out. It was a brutal challenge, yeah, but they had their day, right? And they were kind of trending. They used to get thousands of people rock up out of the country, properties and all that.

\[38:11\] Do you think we'll see obstacle course racing come back in some shape or form? No, why? I think HYROX and even this Xenom present a cleaner, more visitable version and I think for the most part in the same way that your Rd runs attract more than your trail runs do. Easier access. People want convenience. Yeah, people want to. Yeah, sure, people do want to

\[38:41\] fit and want experience stuff, but also people want convenience. It's the same reason some people won't go to the football because of the car parking situation, the time it takes to get in and out of these places, it's more convenient and easy to watch it at home. And I think obstacle racing, by the very nature of it, requires inconvenience to get there and participate. So I think you're always going to struggle. And now that there's even more, I think back in the day when tough matter and all that had their moment, these HYROX things didn't exist. Now that they do, I wonder if

\[39:13\] you're going to be able to drag people away from the convenience of this sort of stuff. Too much. Just on the Xenom thing and just to walk you through a little bit because give it its give it its due and give it its attention. The first event looks like it's going to be in Dallas. And I just want to run you through because they have released three of the events of the 10\. So event number one, the first thing they'll do is each athlete has 9 minutes to establish A1 Rep. Yeah, one Rep snatch, 4 attempts, one attempt every 90

\[39:44\] seconds. So they're trying to Max a Max, Max snatch, a Max snatch and they can have 4 attempts like Olympic weightlifting, they can have 4 attempts across the 9 minutes. They can do one every. So that's, that's event one event. Another event which will be event 5 over the 10th event programme, is a 3K timed run straight into a 2K ski ski erg. A ski erg. What do you make of that 3K run into a 2K ski erg? Isn't that high, Roxy?

\[40:18\] Very HYROX-y and then event 7 is a triplet as they call it featuring. So it's 3 rounds of 15 toes to bar, 15 jewel DB hang snatch into 10 BMU bar ring muscle up. OK, I, yeah. So it's kind of that turns into kind of a. It's not, It's not. I was Here we go. This is where. Doing the research. No, these releases, no, I saw

\[40:49\] the release of it. I just lost where I found it. But where you get it was a little bit like the Melbourne Marathon where I said it was 2 marathons in a day. That's what they kind of released it. I'm thinking in my head Snatch, deadlift, 3K3K run. Yeah, yeah, 2K swim. No, it's more of an event based thing. It's kind of like do the event recover? Do the events recover? It's it's do the event still cover multiple activities? It's still it's still crossfitty with a bit more HYROX in

\[41:19\] it. I think if they ran it more like a decathlon it would have had better traction. I. Agree and we'll anyway there, let's move. On I'm interested in your running. Liam. So we had, yeah. You got some comments for me or do you want me to jump into Oh? I just had a few fellows who want to go running with you right in, Mitch Cairns said. Few of us are doing the Oh no, they ran past you. Yeah, me, I think. I think I know who I don't. I didn't see Mitch. Mitch, feel free to give me a shout out next time you see me on the border trail, Mitch. Cairns on the Border Trail. Sawyer, you He said.

\[41:50\] You were eating up the Columbus. Eating up the kilometres. OK, got an update for everybody. I had a an appointment during the week with Trent at Gold Coast Physio. Not a physio appointment, a massage appointment. This is I talked to you about my recovery and the way I'm managing this. Had a little bit of hamstring awareness last week. Light a week for me, partly because life got in the way. Really busy life week and then added to the fact that I did have a little bit of hamstring

\[42:22\] soreness. Wasn't concerned by it. Made an appointment to go see Trent to get a massage. Some needling done. But it's the first time I've been to see them for a little while and the receptionist there at Gold Coast Physio and barely told me that the team, Liam and Trent and Mark and everyone else had put her on hobble watch. I said when Liam gets here, keep an eye on him because the fact that I registered for an appointment, made an appointment, they all got very nervous out of the blue. They all got very nervous that there was an injury and they

\[42:53\] asked apologies, I've forgotten her name to be on Hobble Watch as I got out of the car and I walked in the door and they and I, she said you seem OK. And I'm like, yeah, I'm fine. She's like, OK, good. I reckon there was a running bet behind the counter within within the. Oh yeah, there's a pool. Within the clinic. What week does Liam come in with a calf tear? Yeah, like 5 to 1 on Li having a calf. Is it a, is it a stress? What is it? But so I cleared that hurdle. But it's amazing and people, the

\[43:25\] more you run, I think people probably will understand this as a non professional athlete, non elite athlete, the more you do it, the more you get to understand your body at later ages. I'm 41 now, but I sat down with Trent. He said what's the problem? And I said I just got a bit of hamstring awareness. I think it's being driven from my right glute with the increased elevation in case I'm doing, I don't think I'm getting the full wing activation of my right glute and I think it's referring a bit of soreness down into my hamstring.

\[43:56\] Anyway, pop down, poked around for a bit, went Yep, exactly what you just said and then proceeded to throw needles in me like I was a dart board. And yeah, and so that was the other day. Feel great, feel great like that. It's and it's what I said in the when someone asked us about recovery, how I'm recovering from these runs. I don't get cupping done because I don't feel it does anything for me needling really, really. I respond really, really well to me. So I've had a bunch of needles thrown into my hip, bunch of

\[44:28\] them thrown into my duct and my hamstring. I sweat it like nothing else. I just break out into a sweat because I hate needles. But the result is fantastic. So I wanted to ask you about this because whilst I've been doing really good strength work on my calves and I feel like I've been doing them really well on my quads. Trent mate. Trent asked me what I've been doing on my hamstrings. Nothing. Now Trent talked to me about the idea of one for one.

\[44:58\] Hamstring curl cord or whatever they call the other one, lift it up. What do you think about that? Do you subscribe to that? When when I got back into the gym this late, when I after six years and I got back into the gym, that was an imbalance for me. That's one thing we found and doing that weekly, those two exercises, I do feel helped. Yeah. And I jumped on a hamstring curl the other day for the first time

\[45:31\] in a while. And like, the weight it once you get them back quite even, and they seem to say they've been able to stay like that. Yeah, I'm still a little bit off. I'm not one for one. Yeah, OK. No, it look, it's it was a good wake up for me because I don't really. I hadn't been neglecting my hamstrings, but I hadn't been paying attention to them. Yeah. So the glutes really my right one. I know there's a deficiency there and I need to focus on activating that, even just with a band. This isn't about heavy stuff. It's just about getting that

\[46:01\] band work going again. So I'll be working on that. The re sorry, the reason I kind of went around the circle there about talking about it. I this is one of those things where I'm using other PE experts to show me what's wrong so I know what feels like. I know when I get AI do something and then I go that worked or that feel good off that and then but I don't know because you asked I'm doing all my calf stuff, but I'm not doing my hamstring stuff. Yeah. Well, the next thing is, Oh

\[46:33\] well, I'm doing my hamstring, I'm doing my calf, but. Not doing my glutes. I'm not doing my glutes. And then it's a little bit like the, you know, the nutrition and the ingredients. It's like, at what point isn't Yeah, where did That's what I get not confused, but I always come back to the most simple denominator, like what's the minimum dose I can do of something that will keep me running free performing whatever it is, But if you just throw everything up against the wall, it's just going to land like shit. And well, and this is the you

\[47:04\] talk about to maintain, I'm at a point now where I'm not trying to maintain. I'm actually trying to take my body somewhere it hasn't been before in terms of mileage, in terms of elevation. So I'm actually, this is new frontier. So I am having to learn about what not just to maintain, what strength stuff I have to do maintain, but what I need to be doing in order to accommodate these new frontiers my body is going on. So look, I'm today, I'm two weeks out from my 50K qualifier. This is a big hurdle I need to jump for the 100 mile.

\[47:35\] A Noosa 50K will be next Saturday. I'm going to be up there with me old mate Rosie. Next Saturday. No2 Saturdays. Two Saturdays, I'm a week early 2\. I'm keen. I'm a fortnight out from this 50K Yep run with Rosie, which I'm really excited about, really excited about. Really excited about having that clear time to go and run. 50 KS Yep, there's there's a level of guilt that comes with doing all this running because it's time

\[48:06\] away from family, my wife, my kids. It's it's selfish time, you know, but because it's a race I'm like I've locked it in. Hey, I'm I'm headed up the sunny coast. We're going to go run this thing, then I'm going to come back and I'm going to embrace and get amongst all the T100s, so all. When you say that all going well, then you go and run the Mila. Yep. Do you then give that time back? Do you then think about that? Like do you give time back and stop running at that point for a while? Well, I won't stop running, but I'll certainly change my approach approach to it.

\[48:39\] Yeah, it'll be much priorities, priorities, priorities like the and I think I'm incorporating this running training about as well as I can given my work schedule is much more. I get my time during the middle of the day when the kids are at school. My wife's doing work so I can actually bring in some of this running stuff, but it's hard ultimately. And again, not a professional LED athlete. I am a hobby jogger. Like a lot of people, most people who would be living listening to this. But it's it's selfish.

\[49:11\] Like it is inherently selfish. I mean, you can justify it and people will justify it. And you know, we've all got to chase our passions and do the things we love because it's all the balance, right? You got to be happy and healthy. And if you got to find stuff that you love doing, but when you disappear for three hours, four hours at a time to go running and then another mate up the road says, hey, let's go and have you at golf. I'm like, mate, I can't really justify disappearing to walk off with you for four hours out. I just left for another 4 hours to go running. I can't, you know, it's, it's all that stuff.

\[49:42\] So hey, here's, here's a way to bring it back around. You know how we just talked about a four hour marathon being more impressive than a 2 hour marathon? I think somebody who does this running with a family, two kids is more impressive than in the single person that does it because they've got less to less time to more time to themselves. I'm kidding, of course. I was just putting this. I was in deep. I was in deep thought here, Liam. I'm like, I'm making the consideration. If you're a single person with

\[50:13\] nothing in your life, your achievements aren't as impressive. Kidding. And then the more kids you got, say for each kid you. Should get more kudos. Ben Hannon? Yeah, that he's won the Clydesdale category at Noosa Triathlon is should have been honoured with a statue. That bloke has more kids than Jesus did. Apostles, disciples, whatever they're called, and yet still had a full blown. Actually, it's his wife that deserves the credit, not Ben. Yeah, there's a lot of kids in

\[50:44\] that family, that's for sure. Hey, couple of listener writings and that last week we talked Caleb wrote in is the Clydesdale who wrote in last week. He just wanted us to know he's blames his parents for his name. The way it was pronounced, I think we must have pronounced. It wrong. Yeah, yeah. I feel your pain, Caleb. I've walked around with a girl's name for the past 30 years, not a. Girl's name. But he started at 100.

\[51:18\] Get this great story. He started at 142 kilos with the Couch to 5K app. Remember we used to advocate how good that app was. 42142 kilos locked in 5K every second day. Built that five half marathons last year. 3 solos, 2 events. Somehow that's snowboard and he's now into the old Clydesdale class in the triathlon. So that's how he picked awesome for a while there. Awesome. Congrats mate. Yep, fantastic big bloke to Endurance. Tragic.

\[51:49\] That's great. We had a lot of people come back to us about the Gnomeo and the way which we consume the Gnomeo. Worried about us taking $10 shots and not, yeah, not utilising them properly. We're sitting here just sipping on and critiquing the taste of this stuff and we didn't actually go out and see if it did any of that. They didn't. See how fast it got to the fridge after. You wouldn't. Nobody actually tested their lactate on it. You wouldn't believe it, Wayne Orem sent me and this is a good call out Wayne, so thank you. He said last week you compared

\[52:19\] the Gnomeo hype to baking soda bicarb. I'm no scientist, but there's a fair bit of scientific research that supports it's bicarb as lactic buffer. Agree. I do agree. Yeah, like, and that's why I made the comparison is that's what they're trying to claim. However, I went in and did a bit of like, hey, I did Google doctor. So I've just gone and had a quick look around the web at this stuff. There is, there isn't the same evidence at the moment that supports this the same as bicarb.

\[52:50\] There's definitely evidence around it and especially, you know, there's definitely correlations, but they haven't got the independent studies at the moment to go out and support that. However, we do know, and we've had a few others chime in, there are elite athletes right now out there utilising this product. Easy about door before race, yeah. Easy About Door was an ambassador for Nomeo. Well, he is he. OK. So there's a difference between being ambassadors for the product, OK. And those when I heard Matt, I won't mention who Matt Hauser

\[53:20\] walked out of here, saw the package on the ground and said what are you boys doing with that? And then he mentioned someone who did use it not being paid, but it's actually like on that level of looking for those 1% and did use it. So there are those just like at the Olympics who are using it. Then there is the influences. So there is like a little bit of A2 track thing here because Timothy McDonald also wrote in to us and he pointed out, have you ever seen, what's his name? Run to Japan or run to Japan?

\[53:52\] The No. The Brit The redhead Brit guy who? Isn't the hardest geezer? Isn't that the hardest geezer run across Africa? No, no, no, no different guy this is. Sorry, I don't, I can't think of his first name, but he lives in Japan and he goes around, I love his YouTube lives in Japan, goes around running like he's done training camps of the Ekiden relay college teams. He does massive mileage. So he literally just goes out and runs the old Japanese style and he's got himself down to like really like elite level

\[54:24\] marathoning. He's pushing the product. So they show he sent me a link as an ambassador. Well, Tim sent me a link and he was like this guy on YouTube showing his whole fridge. And it's literally just packed with that, you know, and then a few bits of rice and whatever else in there. So and. A few bits of rice. Yeah. Hey, I'm just going to do this right here because sometimes we leave it till right to the end. Subscribe. If you're not. If you're listening and you're not subscribed, subscribe. Get on board. There's some great stuff on the way. You've heard Matt Hauser. Quick little tease.

\[54:55\] We've got another one coming for you on Wednesday. We got another guest episode on the way next Wednesday. That was a fun one. It was a really. Fun one leading up to the T100\. Leading into the T100 new guest episode coming next Wednesday. Subscribe now and you definitely won't miss it. Yep, so. I want to give a quick my running. Let's go this week. Let's go Jesus. So this week I realised there was a day when I realised, like

\[55:28\] many people, how important running is to them because I had a little scare. I for the last, it's only probably been a week or so, but I've had, I wouldn't even call it niggles. I've just had some sensation that was very similar to what I had when I had a stress fraction nearly a year ago to today. Now to put it mildly, I freaked because we've spent so long doing the right things, doing

\[56:00\] everything to only then me think oh shit, this isn't feeling right now. The good news is it's all clear. There's no there's no issue here. But for a day there when I thought, you know what did the right thing when I got a like, you know, wanted to get the information, got a scan, got a great team of crew. Oh shit, sorry, got a great, great crew. I won't call them a team, but we're a great crew around me.

\[56:32\] You can help out at the moment and we've all got the similar interests and we all, you know, it's in, we can get answers, but it's also, I believe it's also, I wouldn't call it fun, but it's intriguing to everyone because we're all going through similar, you know, situations with different injuries or different sports scenarios, whatever it is. But when I was told that it could be likely that I was out for another six weeks of running, I was going to try the tailing that was. What do you mean that was for

\[57:03\] the T100? No, no, for good. That was it because I just thought I've just spent a year doing everything I possibly can. You know, I can go and enjoy running and run easy. But if you want to be, you know, if you want to have the competitive juices and fly, you've got to be running hard. And if something's going to always continually to crop up when you're running hard. So you were ready to just put the hand up and say I. Think I was going to wave the white flag and just go time to

\[57:34\] just be generally fit as in, you know, because I'm enjoying. Say goodbye to PBS. Well, I think that's goodbye to that anyway. But why? I want to bring it. Like what? Like let's try and be honest about situations. Can I ask just quickly, was this was this day Friday? Yes, Friday morning. Yeah. Oh, no, no, Friday. So Friday afternoon. Yeah, it's. It's nice to know that you and I have been hanging out long enough that I can read you.

\[58:04\] Yeah. Right. Because it was written all over your face that something was off. Yeah. Well. Friday morning was the morning I went, oh, let's go and get a scan and work this out. And because you kind of had this inkling, I knew. The thing is, I was so scared that in hindsight was, you know, anyone who has goes through injuries and all that. In hindsight, at least for the moment, it sounds like I was just, I was overreacting. Yeah, because it was in an area that I had a problem before. This is for those that don't

\[58:36\] remember, might just be new to the podcast. 12 months ago, we went down to kunanyi down in Hobart and you, I went down and ran this amazing trailer event and you came down on crutches because of this hip injury. You were, you were hobbling through the airport. You hobbled onto the plane, you hobbled around Mount Wellington, down there in Hobart. And yeah, it was seemed, it did seem like a long way back for you to run it. Yeah. And running's hard. It's it really is hard. You know, you met, you got to manage, you know, when you got weight bearing and gravity and everything else that goes on

\[59:08\] with it, you know, you're always managing something. But I definitely sounds like I've jumped. I jumped the gun and was a bit over the top. But at the same time, if I didn't do that, you know, hurt myself more, I was kind of like, oh, that's just dumb because. So how are you feeling now? Oh. Well I'm just, I'm relieved, but I'm also a bit peeved because we got T100 in two weeks. Yeah, this might have been great

\[59:38\] for. Your body though, yeah, it's not a good role. It might, but it might still be great for your suit. Yes, you arrived Friday last week. So that's where I was going with this. Like, you know, because people get injured and different things all the time. We all feel like, you know, I'm sure there's different levels of how you feel, but I was in the absolute dumps, you know, running, you know, after spending 20 years at Olympic level of running where it's your job, you would have a very different reaction. Totally, because that's a like a

\[01:00:09\] livelihood reaction. And then it's like 100%, you know, you don't really think ahead to go well, I can't not fix this and get keep going. Whereas it was a very different scenario at the moment. But more just frustration than anything. So more frustration than anything, I think. There's God, there's so much I still want. I want to ask you and I'm just going to jump in. Firstly, will you still run the T100 10K? Yes, OK, I'm not going to ask

\[01:00:40\] about the match race against Tim. I'm just going to let that play out on the day. Next question, why do you think we see this aversion to the pool from swimmers post elite career and yet it doesn't seem that way for runners? That's a great that is an amazingly good question. I'm saying this purely from no, no, I work with Liesel obviously, and I know through Liesel mostly other swimmers. And you would too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who once they retire?

\[01:01:11\] Never go near. It they don't want to go near a swimming pool. And yet runners, I feel like running is kind of I don't know of elite runners who've given up running. Oh, you know what I reckon Part of it is, I think parts to do with nature. I think part of it is that running is you're outside, you're in different environments. I think that's got a big thing to do. It must do when you spent your whole life in a pool. Yeah. Like you. It's up and back. You can be in an indoor pool, you can be in another. The reality is you're in a

\[01:01:42\] concrete pool. Yeah. And your whole, you know, if you were 15 years as an Olympic swimmer, think of that environment. Think of the environment, you're in trouble terms. Can you imagine? You just want to be out where I think it's. The smell of chlorine and what it does to your hair and your skin and yeah. So I wonder whether if more swimmers found open water for fitness and just enjoyment, it might be. Kayla still gets out there and swims and Claydo is another example, those guys who are more kind of ocean based athletes.

\[01:02:12\] Yeah, environment's gotta and whatever training you're doing, environment's got to play a massive part in. I believe that's why people like like cycling such a big recreation sport too. Late to the game We're over an hour into the pod. Late to the game. Liam's game. OK, where are we going? Let's change the bottom of swimming pools. Let's change the pattern on the bottom of Olympic swimming pools. Training pools to freshen the environment up for these athletes.

\[01:02:42\] Let's break it up. Let's find a way. Can we digitise the black line so it represents something that we can? We're the technology that exists in our well, we've got self driving cars, Courtney, Surely we can come up with a strip on the bottom of pools that gives the swimmers something else to look at. I've got the answer. I mean, everyone at the moment, well, everyone, people around me at the moment are trying to get me on Swift. Yeah, I mean Swift for swimming in the pool. So you're chasing, chasing live.

\[01:03:13\] Again, this is one of those ideas. If someone wants to go and monetize it, we'll just take a clip just to this the just the starting point, right? Still doesn't change the end of your question around why. Like I don't have the answer as to why swimmers generally don't go on, but I've got a feeling has to do with also the amount of training you're just doing. So like if you're a runner, you can only handle, let's just say at best you're running an hour and a half a day in maybe 2 sessions. When you're doing that as well, you just can't do the physical volume you do swimming. No, well, it's the weights.

\[01:03:45\] The gravity is the weight bearing stuff. Yeah, but swimmers are in there for 4 1/2 hours a day. OK, so going back to you though with this running thing, just for my entertainment sake, if you had said goodbye to chasing running and you, it becomes general fitness. Yeah. What are the, what are the, what are Courtney Atkinson's podium top 3 gold, silver bronze of general fitness activities that we would have been taking up?

\[01:04:17\] Say goodbye to the runners. So OK, that's a really good question. If I wasn't still wanting to run yes fast, I would definitely surf more. 100% great surfing, love it. That's a good question because so many of the. Would the passion for riding increase? No, Interesting. I mean, because I ride my mountain bike when I want to ride and I've. What about you riding motorbike

\[01:04:48\] now that it becomes less important to maintain your body for running purposes? No, I don't think so, because I think it's like the same reason still holds that you want to feel good. So like when I go down with Daca's mob saltwater swimmers on a Wednesday morning in Tallebudgera Creek, you get out of that. You. Feel amazing, you know, because great place to swim, you've got some blood moving. That's the reason it feels good. So I'm still would want to be chasing those things and the same reason I would still want to run.

\[01:05:19\] I'd only want to, but I'd want. So that's the running still is #1\. Would you swim more? Probably change it up well, probably surf more. Surf more OK? I'd swim a bit, surf a bit. I just, I reckon I'd go back to way more multi sport. The problem and I'll blame the pod a little bit for this. I do blame the pod. I'm right there with you. Because we focus on running, so I also feel a little bit obliged to be. I haven't. I know exactly what you're talking. About that, I'm around like. That running's my thing.

\[01:05:50\] I joke about this with my wife and my brother in law as I head out for runs. They're like, got to go get some content. Yeah, the I've got to go experience running in various forms. So I've got something to talk about. Yeah. And it's not a bad thing, but it's also there is the teensy tiniest level of obligation on my runs, which is that nagging voice which says, do you, can you really be asked going for this run? There's now as well as the passion. I know how good this will feel for me from a biology

\[01:06:20\] perspective once I finish. Now there's also that it's also a little bit of work, man. You know you've got an obligation. Finish at this on the on the ranking, right? Yeah. Where do I feel best is how I'd go be guided by it. The place I enjoy most when I'm exercising is when I'm in the deep rainforest running. OK. No better. So somewhere like Warrie Circuit all that and you're on your own completely removed in the Bush,

\[01:06:51\] waterfalls, all that number one, but nothing that's number one. Yeah #2 is on a crack of dawn swimming in the ocean. Yep. When you can see the bottom there's it's like no chop. Good winds, the feeling of being out there in the morning is #2\. OK. And then I would then put #3 is on a mountain bike on good following trails. There you go. So that's probably. What? That's good, That's good. Interesting to note that none of

\[01:07:23\] those three included you standing on a tee box with me at the 1st hole of a golf course where you're about to lose so. We need to work. On that, we do need to have this golf game. All right, hey, that's one of my favourite. Like I love every episode we put out. I've really enjoyed that one today. There's a lot of interesting stuff. I think we've got other things to pull out. If you've enjoyed any of this, you've got any questions, comments, thoughts, please. As you can hear, we try and get back to as many of them as we can. We try and share as many of them as we can. Please comment and again subscribe because next Wednesday we have got another special

\[01:07:56\] guest interview dropping ahead of the T100 event, which is coming up so fast. To everybody that's on board with the team in the Beginning podcast, thank you. We can't wait to see you on the start line on Sunday the 22nd. See you next week.