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# A Spontaneous Alpine Run, Heart Rate Threshold Training & The Marathon Nutrition Debate
- URL: https://www.inthebeginningpodcast.com/gold-coast-marathon-series-the-courtney-experiment-update/
- Published: 2026-05-05T06:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-21T01:32:02.000Z
- Description: Courtney Atkinson and Liam Flanagan on nutrition, heart rate training, Gold Coast Marathon — recorded on the Gold Coast.
- Author: Courtney Atkinson
- Tags: Episodes, Gold Coast Marathon, Sports Science, #Import 2026-07-28 20:58

Courtney's back from a Red Bull product-team trip to Europe, running on a handful of hours' sleep after a spontaneous, unplanned run near the base of Germany's tallest mountain — a last-minute alpine detour that turned into one of the best drives and hardest hikes of the trip. It sets up a real conversation about what an international flight does to your body (a hard session's worth of stress with none of the payoff), and what genuine heart rate threshold training actually looks like eight weeks out from a marathon, when every attempt to hold tempo pace sends the heart rate climbing. A listener's DM chasing the exact number behind Courtney's "Experiment" — and a guessed 2:23:48 marathon best for the mystery target — adds a running joke to the mix.

From there it's practical marathon-prep territory: when race-day nutrition actually matters for a half versus a full marathon, how much a gel every 20–30 minutes really does, and why so many runners are reluctant to experiment with fuelling in training. They also cover treadmill training — incline compensation, the mental tricks that make it bearable, and when it genuinely beats the road — plus hill reps as a lower-impact substitute for flat speed work. It closes with a plug for Gold Coast Run Co's upcoming Capture The Flag community run.

## In this episode

- Why did a jet-lagged international flight and a spontaneous alpine run wreck Courtney's heart rate numbers?
- What's the rumoured target time behind Courtney's "Experiment," and how did a listener's DM try to guess it?
- How do you build genuine heart rate threshold training eight weeks out from race day?
- Half marathon vs. full marathon: when does race-day nutrition actually matter?
- Treadmill training: incline compensation, mental tricks, and when it beats the road
- Hill reps as a lower-impact substitute for flat speed work

## Timestamps

- **\[00:00\]** Back from Europe, a shocking night's sleep and a wrecked heart rate
- **\[01:34\]** A Red Bull product-team Hyrox simulation as the trip's warm-up
- **\[04:43\]** The spontaneous, unplanned alpine run near Germany's tallest mountain
- **\[09:25\]** Building genuine heart rate threshold training eight weeks from race day
- **\[14:02\]** The rumour mill: guessing Courtney's target marathon time
- **\[17:38\]** Half marathon vs. full marathon: when does nutrition actually matter?
- **\[25:49\]** Treadmill training tips: incline compensation and mental tricks
- **\[32:01\]** Gold Coast Run Co's Capture The Flag community event

## Listen

Listen on [Spotify](https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/inthebeginningpodcast/episodes/GOLD-COAST-MARATHON-SERIES---THE-COURTNEY-EXPERIMENT-UPDATE-e3itajk?ref=inthebeginningpodcast.com).

## Related In The Beginning episodes

- [Benita Willis — Half Marathon Focus](https://www.inthebeginningpodcast.com/benita-willis-half-marathon-focus-gold-coast-marathon-series-2026/) — the episode referenced for flight-recovery advice
- [In The Science Lab At Southern Cross University](https://www.inthebeginningpodcast.com/gold-coast-marathon-series-in-the-science-lab-at-southern-cross-university/) — more on the training science behind heart rate work
- [EP 89 — The Sun Got Beaten & The Chainsaw Came Out](https://www.inthebeginningpodcast.com/ep-89-the-sun-got-beaten-the-chainsaw-came-out/)
- [The Gold Coast Marathon guide](https://www.inthebeginningpodcast.com/gold-coast-marathon/)

## Full transcript

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

**Read the full transcript** 

\[00:00\] In The Beginning podcast, Gold Coast Marathon series continues. Welcome back, Courtney Atkinson. Good to be back, Liam. Really good to have you — we missed you last week. I'll tell you, I ran this morning, jet-lagged, heart rate doesn't want to work. Let's start there — obviously last week's episode I sat down with Benita and it was great, and I think we're back on the horse leading into this. If people are listening to this on the day it drops, we're eight weeks and two days out, right?

\[00:31\] Don't tell me it's only eight weeks and two days out — from half marathon, 10K, five, whatever it is you're chasing. I'm way behind schedule then. You've just come back from a European adventure, and we'll talk more about that — if people are interested in what Courtney's been up to overseas, you'll hear more in Saturday's episode. But let's talk about it purely from a running-and-training-for-this-marathon perspective. You've got back, presumably had a rotten night's sleep — shocking night's sleep. So going

\[01:01\] over to Europe, perfect, slept right through, had the whole day there once I got in. And when I got into Europe I did, of all things, a Hyrox simulation workout. The group I was with over there is a product group from Red Bull, and half of them are actual athletes — we'll talk about that more this Saturday, who I went running with, some of the best in the business. But even then, we all got put into Hyrox — dietitians, a whole range of people who work in a similar space to me.

\[01:34\] That was the warm-up to our conference week — going to the gym. And you know what, it was hard, but I loved it, because it's always hard getting off a plane, especially after twenty-four hours, when you're out of whack with time. You should probably be sleeping, your heart rate's obviously elevated at that time anyway, so it was a nice way to just warm into staying awake for that long. But on the way back — I got back last night, and I reckon I've had maybe a proper

\[02:07\] four hours of sleep in the last thirty-six, and I just went running. I told you I'd be late because I just wanted to get the run in, wake up, try to — for context, I ran 18 kilometres at the airport in Munich before I got on the plane, and I was able to hold under 140 heart rate for around four minutes a kilometre pace or below. Today I ran an hour along the beach, and I'm just looking here — the average pace was nearly 4:30,

\[02:41\] and I was struggling to keep my heart rate under 140\. That just goes to show you — and that's with nothing changed, a full thirty-six hours of rest — it's just the body going, hey, you're tired, ease off a bit. This goes to show you weren't present for last week's episode with Benita, because for those who did listen, one of Benita's tips for people who've got travel planned in this block is that an

\[03:12\] international flight is the equivalent of a hard session, without the benefit — it puts your body through a hard session or a long run's worth of stress with none of the payoff. So you've put yourself through that, and then tried to run on top of it. And then I've got to try to run again. Yeah, yeah — but waking up is the best thing. No, but running-wise, you know what, I nearly broke the rule. I nearly broke one of the three rules, two weeks in.

\[03:43\] Can I guess? Have a guess. Trying to keep up with the — no, I wasn't trying to keep up with the big dogs, it wasn't an ego thing. I'm the big dog there, mate. No — I'm the old dog. Yeah, there's a difference. There's a difference. No, so I was in a conference-style thing for the weekdays, and that's why I was running with those blokes. Then I had two days spare.

\[04:13\] And I think I told you before I left, I hadn't had much time to plan the trip — I had two personal days, so I just put it into ChatGPT. That's right — I said, I've got two days to get from Salzburg to Munich, I've got a car, give me two epic runs. I wanted to do some long runs in the mountains. So the first day, I went up to Innsbruck, up the big mountain at the back of Innsbruck — beautiful, awesome running. I was two and a half hours on my legs.

\[04:43\] Equivalent to a long run, except pretty much straight up a vertical wall. What vert did you do? I think it was around 1,500 metres, give or take — but instead of it being 1,500 of up, down, up, down, it was basically straight up and then straight back down. There are some pretty steep sections — it goes up through the forest, then straight up above the alpine line into the rocky section. But where I nearly broke the rule was, I only had two days to

\[05:13\] run, so I was going to break my rule and go back-to-back — I wanted to make the most of my time in Europe. What stopped you? Did you break the rule? I didn't break the rule — I ran Saturday morning in Innsbruck, a big run, then I ran at the airport on Monday morning before coming home. So I kept to the rules, but the reason I nearly broke it was, I'd had a plan to go to — I can't remember the pronunciation — a town at the

\[05:44\] base of the tallest mountain in Germany that I'd read had amazing running, up a gorge, waterfalls, all that. Then the night before, lying in bed in Innsbruck, I saw you had to pay to go up the gorge. Now, it wasn't the money that was the sticking point — the sticking point was, if you've got to pay, it's going to be touristy too. Of course. And that wasn't what I was chasing. I'd already seen that day in Austria how many people were out hiking, and I

\[06:14\] thought, this is going to be a nightmare. So I quickly started looking around for other options — a few runs in the forest, up near the border of Austria and Germany, back towards Salzburg. I plugged one town into Google Maps — I think it was called Wallersee or something — and when I got there it was basically a duck pond, not much of a run around the lake. That wasn't really what I wanted, so I plugged in another spot.

\[06:46\] And what followed was one of the most amazing drives I've ever done in my life — when you don't plan things. If you're driving the tourist route, big city to big city with a purpose to see things, well I had the exact opposite — I was thinking, my day's kind of stuffed, I've got to be back at the airport by this evening, I'm in no rush. And then the mountains just — I was on

\[07:17\] this alpine drive going, this is amazing. Ended up at a lake right at the top and decided not to run — had an ice cream and a coffee and just chilled out. So, yeah, things work out. Beautiful. I think the people listening — because we're in the Gold Coast Marathon series of this podcast, that sounds like I'm training really hard, doesn't it? Well, I'd say if people are looking for inspiration out of that, it's this — I'm trying

\[07:47\] to think of the takeaway, and one would be: if you're running the same tracks over and over, try to find somewhere you don't know, somewhere new — not necessarily to get lost, but variety, spice, and differentiation can really break things up if you're locked into a training programme and finding yourself running the same routes over and over. Speaking as someone who's currently super sick of the usual trail and the local range that's my regular training ground for this Miler, spicing it up can really break you out

\[08:20\] of it, if it's starting to feel monotonous. But I also think the key to marathoning is repetition — going over the same course, again and again. True. So I'll jump ahead a bit here, because one of the things I wanted to flag today is something I'm noticing, and coming to terms with, around these rules. Remind people of the three rules again — you've got

\[08:53\] the three rules: not running every second day, avoiding the fast guys so I don't get myself into trouble doing too much over-the-top speed work, and three, gym — really working on the calves and strengthening around that — instead of chasing speed, just getting out there and doing some rhythm running. It's made me really think, okay, eight weeks now, I didn't realise it was that close — what can I do within those rules to maximise what I've still got before the marathon?

\[09:25\] And two things keep coming back to me while I'm running. I go by two things — I'm wearing my heart rate monitor religiously, watching it and learning. I'm learning every time I go out: what pace is this, how am I feeling, how's my heart rate reacting — those are the cues I'm watching. And secondly, I'm realising — yeah, it's a marathon, it's been a while since I've really knuckled down on the road to try to do something properly.

\[09:56\] And rhythm is key — rhythm running is key. There's no point feeling good for 5K if your body then starts getting niggles, or your hips start getting tight, or whatever it is — it's pointless. I think there's a gem about to come out here. Let's drill down — if you're out there listening to this on a run, or planning your week ahead, I feel like we're about to get an absolute gem from Courtney Atkinson. Explain what you mean by rhythm running. Rhythm is — and it's

\[10:29\] come about because of my heart rate, and you're right, I'm struggling to explain it. What I'm doing is picking a heart rate — the heart rate I'd normally choose to get fit quickly is probably pushing up towards what some people call tempo, up towards proper anaerobic threshold. So, chasing the fast zones. Yeah, exactly. So, you'll hear people talk about threshold, and I hate all these

\[10:59\] terms, because it's so hard to actually decipher what we're talking about. Threshold means nothing if you don't know what your threshold actually is. Well, it depends whether you're talking anaerobic threshold or aerobic threshold, right? So what I'm quickly realising — or reminding myself of — is that it's my aerobic threshold that's going to make all the difference in this marathon. If I can't run at that aerobic base, no amount of anaerobic threshold work matters — it doesn't matter how good a 20-minute effort I can run, it's not going to make a difference in the marathon, not at

\[11:29\] eight weeks out, where I am right now. So I've picked a heart rate, and I'm realising how quickly, once I go over 140, I fluctuate up towards 150 — it's a very quick threshold, working it out just by running and feeling that rhythm. My anaerobic capacity right now is actually pretty poor. So if you were chasing rhythm running right now, you'd almost have to slow right up, sitting around 131\. I'm literally going out to run and slowing down the whole time. Yeah, I'm putting the brakes on.

\[12:01\] I want to run at tempo, and I'm putting the brakes on constantly. Every time I let it go a bit, my body, the way it's currently conditioned, wants to speed up, wants to burn through that energy — it wants to run quicker, but I know I can't hold that for a marathon. So I'm purposely holding back — I've nearly got to the point of thinking, okay, for the next month or so,

\[12:31\] until I get really comfortable running at that pace, I'm going to limit myself, to make sure I build that aerobic base and that rhythm at that pace first, before I even start thinking about anything else. Okay, so there's a little nugget there — if you're listening to this and thinking about your own training, if that rhythm isn't there, it's all well and good to have a time in mind, a pace in mind, and all the rest of it,

\[13:01\] but if you're running and not feeling in rhythm, not confident you can hold that pace for a marathon, half marathon, whatever it is, you need to do some different work first. Everyone loves to ask — eight weeks out, you'll probably be starting to lock in a pace, what are you doing? I'm not even considering pace at the moment. All I want to know, four weeks from now, is that I can run at around that 140 heart rate and have dropped a

\[13:31\] considerable amount of time doing it. I want to be running a lot quicker at that 140, which is still going to be close to my marathon pace, but I want to be comfortable there before I even start considering sessions. Can I — on that note, I got a message about your marathon. Who from? Anonymous — Chris. Do you know Chris? I know a fair few Chrises. I got a text

\[14:02\] or a DM a couple of weeks back saying, I've got the hot scoop for you on what time Courtney wants to run for the marathon. There's a few Chrises it could be. The time he gave me — this could narrow it down — was 2:23:45\. That could be an Al Stevenson time. Explain this to me. It could well be.

\[14:33\] When I said that just now, I said, amazing — any reason for such a specific time? And then he sent me a photo of you, what looked like running across the Story Bridge, or maybe Sydney Harbour Bridge — I couldn't quite tell. With a guy. Yeah, that's the Story Bridge. So that's one of my best mates, Al Stevenson. And he's got the bunny ears behind your head in it.

\[15:03\] And then he also sent another message saying Alastair's apparent best marathon time is 2:23:48\. So, we obviously grew up running at national level and school level against Al. I think he ran something like 3:35 for a 1500 — he had a quick turn of speed. Then he stopped for a good stretch — I think he hadn't run for about ten years.

\[15:34\] I think we talked about this with Benita last year — he hadn't run for about ten years, and then him and a few mates got into training, trained with Benita for maybe sixteen weeks or so, and then he came out at the Gold Coast Marathon and ran something like 2:23:46, came twelfth in the race, and I think he also got second at the Australian Championships. Do you have that in you? Is there any truth to that time for you? Honestly, right now, I don't

\[16:07\] have that in me — that's a big ask, in eight weeks. I love that people are floating these things to me though, I love that these things are starting to come my way. Hey, can we get into some rule-specific training stuff, off the back of Benita's message last week, and off the back of Saturday's episode — I've had a few people hit me up with some questions. What I'm going to do with these questions is relate them to the half marathon first, and then see

\[16:37\] where we can apply them to the full marathon as well. As we said, we've had heaps of people asking about half marathon training, so we're really trying to look out for those people in the lead-up to this series. Half marathon nutrition — I've got a friend running this year's half who wanted to know what his nutrition should be. He's a solid runner. My first question is always, what's the goal time, because that makes a big difference. He's aiming to get the half done under two hours. Okay, two hours, so that changes it.

\[17:07\] Compared to someone running around, say, 75 minutes, that changes a lot. So I guess, more broadly — and this applies to any advice we give on this show, whether it's you and me or Benita — it's general advice, and you need to apply it to your specific circumstance. So this is general, and you can drill down from a personal perspective as you see fit. But from a nutrition standpoint, could you get through

\[17:38\] two hours of running, or just under, for the half marathon without any nutrition? You could, but you're going to do better taking something on over two hours. So where's the cut-off, in your mind, where nutrition becomes useful? I think there are two ways you could attack it over two hours — and assuming a two-hour half marathon, the pace you'd be running is roughly

\[18:08\] 5:40\. Relative to the person running, of course — it's still the same perceived effort as, say, me running a 75-minute half, or whatever it is. He's currently running his 15Ks around 5:05 to 5:10 pace and feeling good. So the key is — that's what I said, the key is pre-loading. There are some really good things you can do around loading — take the day before, but even the morning of, you're

\[18:40\] probably going to be nervous anyway, so it's worth getting up early and getting some carbs in nice and early. Whatever that is, it's got to be something you're used to. If you're nervous and can't get solids down, that's when you use sports products — gels, drinks, whatever. If it were me, I'd always use a

\[19:10\] combination, because I want to get in as much fuel as I can, but I don't want to take on too much food that morning, different from the day before. Then at the start line, with twenty to thirty minutes to go, enough time to digest without feeling queasy, have something quicker-acting — fast sugars. There are a number of things you could use for that — a sports drink, if that's what you

\[19:40\] like. Personally, I actually drink a bit of Red Bull — that's my Red Bull moment, twenty minutes out, I'll have a can — easy to carry to the start line, or a gel. Then during the race, I think you've got two paths if you're running for two hours. You could continue that fuelling strategy — attack it more like a marathon, even though it's a

\[20:11\] half — going every twenty to thirty minutes with a gel at that pace over two hours. That's probably what I'd personally lean towards. But just as easily, I'd say what most people out there would probably do: take the pre-race fuel, get out on course, start using some of the course nutrition as you go, and then have that one gel with, say, half an hour to

\[20:41\] go — I'd probably say more like forty to forty-five minutes to go. So from a marathon perspective, there's not too much to extrapolate beyond that — you need to figure out your race-day nutrition strategy in advance. The difference with the marathon is you need to be structured about it. You're not going to get away without it — there's no

\[21:11\] chance you're racing a marathon in a time where you won't need nutrition. A hundred percent, and the earlier you can get it in, and the earlier you build a structure around it, the better the outcome. It was a Clint Kimmins-ism — he told me years ago on the start line at the Gold Coast Marathon, I wasn't racing that year, but we were having a chat, and he said, I always try to remind people, you're not fuelling for how you feel now, you're fuelling for how you're going to feel in twenty minutes. That's what you're taking the nutrition on for. It's too late if you're already feeling crap and thinking you'd better take something now — it's too late by then.

\[21:41\] Just on that — talking to him this morning, my friend asked about half marathon nutrition training. What I'd say for people of my level, your average runners trying to figure out their nutrition strategy, is it can be really easy to avoid experimenting during training runs, because you feel like you'll waste the run, or something will go wrong and you won't get the full benefit of the session.

\[22:11\] So there's a reluctance to experiment and figure out what actually works for you personally. I think you've got to figure that out first, but there's got to be that risk-reward mindset during training — going, I need to work out my race-day fuelling, whether that's in the morning or during the run. So make the effort on your long runs to figure out how you're going to structure it. And I think, as Benita always says, those key long sessions before the

\[22:44\] main race, or any race, are where you can practise. If you've got those long sessions, that's the time to really practise it. I know what's right, and that doesn't always mean I do the right thing in training. But in this case, even I know I haven't had the racing experience over the last five, maybe three to five years, that I had in the

\[23:15\] past, when I was continuously racing week in, week out. I'm going to have to really knuckle down and do a few different practice sessions — it's always easier in a race if you can find the right one, or in training sessions where you've got to get out and trial some things. I'm at the stage where, because I've been racing trails more over the past few years, I'm a lot more comfortable with a high-carb sports drink.

\[23:46\] But I don't think that's necessarily the optimal way to go in a marathon, partly because, one, I'm not going to have an elite station where I can drop my perfect drink, probably. I could give you one. No, no, I mean I'm going to be racing like everyone else, trying to work out how to get the fuelling strategy right without access to the perfect environment. On that — and this is in no way a sponsored

\[24:18\] shout-out, but I recently did my shopping for the Miler. Oh yeah? What did you — I'd never used them before, these guys. AID Station? Yeah, as a platform, yeah. They sent you a kit? No, they didn't send it to me — I did a big bulk order through AID Station, and a mate of mine, Katie, a semi-professional triathlete, had a 10% code, so I got a 10% discount through a friend. Would recommend them.

\[24:48\] Aussie mob, based out of Melbourne. Do you know Jimmy? No. Started by triathlete Jimmy McClure and his wife back in 2020 — relatively new, but I've noticed they've had a lot of ads pop up here on the Gold Coast, on bus stops. Weren't they around T100? I think around T100\. If you're looking to try some nutrition — you're just jealous they knocked you off the bus stops. Yeah, well, I don't think they can afford my face up there for much longer. Okay, let's keep rattling through some tips and tricks.

\[25:19\] We've covered nutrition. The other question I've had is about treadmill usage. Here on the Gold Coast we're generally fine, except for the last week when it's been absolutely hailing down. In your mind, if someone's got a training set, is it transferable to a treadmill, anything they should be doing differently, or is it just, treat it like the road? Yeah, I mean, just imagine it's the road.

\[25:49\] I like the treadmill, I'm all for it. I was once told that to simulate the road surface, you should set the treadmill to around 1.5%, or depending on the treadmill, 1 to 2%. Is that true? I'd say so — it's never going to be perfectly ideal, but the

\[26:20\] idea holds. So yes, you're correct — set it to one percent, one and a half percent, even up to two percent on some treadmills, if you're in a gym or hotel. Just depends on the treadmill. What that does, I suppose, is change your foot strike slightly, but really it's more about the effort required — it helps with pacing. But I'd forget trying to make it exact, because it's not really apples to apples. As long as you're running consistently on the same treadmill, you can dictate the same effort, but I'd never assume what I'm doing on the treadmill is going to equate directly to the

\[26:50\] road. Heart rate's always a great thing to watch on a treadmill too. But the real advantage I've found with the treadmill, going back to what I said earlier about rhythm, is a bit like going to the track — some marathoners, especially when they were younger track runners, will say, I'll just go to the track and do a little speed work to find my rhythm. I find newer runners, or people who've come to running later, sometimes a treadmill

\[27:21\] can help with that turnover. Yeah, I get what you're saying. Do you want to do all your running on the treadmill? No — if you're a proper distance runner, I don't hear of many full-time marathoners using the treadmill much, but I think it's a good tool in the right place. On gym etiquette — what's the longest session you think would be acceptable to go in and

\[27:53\] do on a public treadmill? I honestly don't have an answer to that, because I've never done a long run in a public gym — I've never gone and done a long session there. My gut says if you go over an hour, you've been there too long, if there's someone waiting. I've definitely run an hour in hotel gyms, thinking, well, I'm here, deal with it. But was there anyone waiting? I wouldn't say I noticed anyone waiting, in

\[28:23\] hotel gyms — people kind of wander in, look at you, and go do something else. But you kind of know, mate, you shouldn't be using it for more than an hour. I think if you need to run that badly, the outside conditions can't really be so terrible you couldn't get a session done out there instead. Yeah, that's true. Alright, lastly — hills. I was talking to a friend the other day training for the marathon, who basically sees a hill and is allergic

\[28:55\] to them. Right? Why are they so important? Well, again, it's a tool — why is this tool a useful one to have? It's about strength. If you look back — and this is really the only way I know it — to the old Lydiard model, there's good evidence in running that if you build some strength component into your periodisation leading up to an

\[29:26\] event, it has a real benefit. Where would you incorporate that into a week, because we spoke last week with Benita about the idea of what a week looks like if you're only managing three runs a week? If you could incorporate a hill run, where should people be looking to fit it in through the week? How far from your long run, how far from your tempo? Well, like I said, it's a tool, it's a choice.

\[29:56\] So it's one thing you could choose to do as a stimulus in place of something else — you're not just adding hills on top of everything else in your week. You might swap out a rep session that week and replace it with some longer hill work somewhere, or vice versa — if you're doing a rep session that's more speed-oriented, you might, every second or third week, throw in some shorter, faster, more explosive

\[30:29\] hill reps instead. The best example I've seen lately is with Gold Coast Run Co — Jacko's group will do something like a threshold-effort run, and then at the back end of that, go off and do some sharper, short 150-metre or so hill sprints. So the stimulus there is, you're towards the back end of the run, getting tired, and then using the hill to get explosive and pull some

\[31:00\] extra benefit out of your running stride, instead of just doing pure flat speed work. Personally, if I were structuring it, rather than just thinking about where to throw it into a week, I like to look at it from a periodisation point of view — it'd be great to run some hills earlier on. A great example is looking at Michael Shelley's marathon programmes over the years — all his long runs, early

\[31:31\] on, are done on trail. As soon as he gets into his marathon-specific prep, all those long runs move onto the road — the more specific he can be, the better. There you go, that's perfect. Quickly, before we wrap up — we're trying to keep these half-marathon and marathon series episodes nice and short and punchy, so you can get through them during the week before the main meal on Saturday. I want to give a quick shout-out — Eventbrite, people might know the website, essentially an event-hosting platform. If your

\[32:01\] event, whatever it might be, is listed there — if you're preparing for the marathon, the half, or something around this, we want to tell you about an event called The Final Kick: Getting You Race Ready. It's hosted by our friends at Southern Cross University, Courtney, and you're going to be a panel member. It's an exclusive online panel presented by Southern Cross Uni and the Gold Coast Marathon — leading experts, including Mr Atkinson, unpacking the final elements of race readiness. It's happening on

\[32:32\] the third of June, a Wednesday, running from midday to 1pm. You'll be there, Courtney, alongside an osteopath, a nutritionist, Dr Christy Freer, chair of Human Sciences and Rehab, and Chris Stevens. So basically all the experts you'd need, sitting down together to talk about getting ready — this'll land about four weeks out from race day. Yeah, putting me on with all the professors, aren't they.

\[33:03\] They need someone to punch the line — they need to balance it out. But genuinely, if you're truly locked in on your training and looking to dot the i's and cross the t's, search The Final Kick on Eventbrite. Hosted by Southern Cross University and the Gold Coast Marathon, our man Courtney Atkinson will be part of it, and it'll be the perfect thing a month out to tick off any questions. It'll be interactive too, so you'll be able to ask questions through the site. Go and

\[33:34\] reserve your spot at eventbrite.com.au. That's us done. For those of you who really want to know what Courtney got up to in Europe, if you want to know how the night run went — you're getting very close. By the time you're listening to this, I'll be just over a week out from running my Miler, and I'll talk about it all in Saturday's episode. Yeah, we'll see you then.