In the beginning podcast episode 5. Courtney, Good afternoon to you all the way from the US of A. Well, it is night time. I mean, yeah, things change very, very quickly around here. And since we spoke last week, I've I've ended up in LA of all places. Now we're gonna get to it, because what you're doing over there for the fitness folk out there, for the runners, for just people who like looking at, I guess, health stuff online.
I'm really excited to hear about what you're doing specifically. Before we get to that, we're gonna kick off with the results from this week's In the Beginning Instagram poll. Which was which Aussie marathon do you want to run in 2025? We know marathons are having a moment in Australia right now. 40,000 people at the Melbourne Marathon Festival. We had 30,000 at the Gold Coast earlier this year.
Sydney's on it's way to becoming a major, so the options were Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne or other. The winner Gold Coast Marathon in a can to 239%. Want to run the Gold Coast Marathon in 2025? Sydney 20%, Melbourne 21% and other came in at 20% as well. So there's other marathons that people want to run out there just as much as Sydney and Melbourne, but Gold Coast the the the runaway leader. Yeah, and I mean there was great numbers who chimed in again. So it's not, you know, we're not
talking to a few people here. Maybe we have a bit of a skew of a QLD audience, but I don't think so because I I would find that Queenslanders probably want to travel. Maybe what we've got here is we talked about runs being experiences. Do the Southerners or want to come up the Queensland to run and it's a fast course.
Well, they want to move up here, so it makes sense that they probably want to run up the in fact, the day we're recording is I bumped into AFL player Jake Melksham, who's up here on in his offseason and you know, he's probably coming to the end of his career in the next couple of years or so. And he's talking about how wonderful it is on the Gold Coast as well. And he's up here doing a bunch of fitness stuff and riding and all the rest of it. So it is an amazing place to to live and train.
And I can understand why 39% of people who joined in the poll on Instagram wanted to run the Gold Coast in 2025. I do. This is something we'll look at probably a bit later on this year because we know Courtney how quickly the Gold Coast Marathon sold out and precinct sold out six months in advance for 2024. Well, it sounds like it sounds like it's going to sell out even
quicker on that poll. But and a big announcement during the week for the Gold Coast Marathon that ASICS are now on board until 2032. It looks as though Gold Coast might be the Olympic marathon location as well for Brisbane when it comes to town. So marathon running, you know, is strong, You know, we know it's strong in the country right now, but it's particularly strong on the Gold Coast are. You sure? Are you sure on that stat yet about the marathon being on the Gold Coast?
And is that we've had this discussion, haven't we? Triathlon on the Sunshine Coast Marathon Gold. Coast, You and I had this discussion on a run previously about the idea that Noosa, obviously Sunshine Coast, obviously hosts a world class triathlon. Every year the Gold Coast hosts a world class marathon. And yet the early conversation was that the two would switch and that Noosa would host the marathon.
And the Gold Coast, because of the Broadwater swimming area, would be a better place to host the triathlon because as you explained to it, you explained it to me, the Olympic marathon, they can't hold it in like open ocean. The triathlon. Yeah, the triathlon. Well, I mean, they did in Rio, so it's debatable, OK. So I'm not sure. Exactly why that is.
To put a pin in that the ASICS announcement that happened during the week, there was no commitment that Gold Coast would be the location for the marathon. It was more just a little bit of, I guess, joining the dots in that this new partnership has been made between ASICS and Event Management Queensland for the next eight years in the lead up. And perhaps it's an it's an logical planning or an easy jump to make that Gold Coast would then be the venue for the Olympic marathon.
But again, still up in the air all. Right, with that long A, Obviously they've committed that long. Do they do a special shoe assics for the Gold Coast Marathon like they do for the Noosa Triathlon? Do they? Have you've seen the NUSA Triathlon? Race. I've raced in the I've raced in the NUSA Triathlon show a couple of times. I really like. It So do they have a do they have a Gold Coast Marathon? Version of that No they do not if for any of those dolphins at
ASICS listening. Maybe I thought you might add some early. Insight in that didn't but but I know that they do. ASICS do the for in their meta speeds. They've had the meta speed Paris and the meta speed Tokyo. They have come out with city themed shoes previously. I'd love to run in a meta speed Gold Coast. What would you what would you put on a Gold Coast shoes? What kind of shoe would you? What would come out on a Gold Coast shoe?
Well, a meta speed GC is what I'm going to call it, the meta speed GC32 for the Olympic 32 look. It's got the colour way. You've got to think it's almost borderline fluoro yellow. Like it's, it's got to be fluoro yellow and Blues. There's got to be bright, bold colours. Do you reckon they could just do a pair of like thongs? So running a running shoe and just that the graphics on it are literally a pair of thongs.
So you've got however many people running the marathon on the Gold Coast and it looks like they're in thongs. It's a. Good idea. Well, flip flops if you're in the States or wherever you're. If there's any, if there's any, if there's any talented graphic designers or talented designer people listening to this, feel free to design the Gold Coast Marathon shoe and we'll take it to our six. We'll come to some sort of an agreement on a percentage split when these shoes go absolutely
gangbusters. But of course, let's talk about you. Why? What are you doing in the States? What are doing? Abroad, nothing like organising a flight 2 days before you go somewhere. But look, I, I think all this talk of us doing this podcast and you know, I've been getting excited talking about running, We've been talking about goals. Obviously Red Bull heard that too. And I have got over after all the accidents we've talked about I've had and you know, I've got
bodies a little bit imbalance. So I've decided to come over to for the week to Santa Monica. So Santa Monica and LA to the Red Bull Athlete Performance Centre. So it's AI suppose it's not a secret, but it kind of is a little bit of an exclusive secret performance centre. So think about something like the Australian Institute of Sport, but just for Red Bull athletes. So there's two of them globally at the moment.
I've actually got a feeling Christian Protraca is over in the close to Salzburg in the European base and I've come across the Pacific to the American base. So the goal for me is really about longevity and really trying to work out, OK, let's get serious, a little bit serious again about where I'm going and what I'm going to do.
And you come to this centre with experts at this place from, you know, every like if you're talking, you know, medical people, strength and conditioning psychologists, Chaopra, everything you can imagine under the one's son, all the diagnostic kind of equipment you need, ultrasounds, everything else. But I've come with to them going, I want longevity. My body is beaten up at the moment. Let's get myself back balanced and I want to be running great again.
Which would be a new challenge May. Courtney run Great again. That's a slogan. Well, there's our first hat, but that would be a new challenge for them because as you mentioned, Christian Petrarca and I know Travis spoke, another Red Bull athlete has spent time at these centres as well. And these are guys in the at their peak who are looking to maximise their peak, less worried about what how they're travelling in 10-15 years time.
How have they responded to the challenge of getting Courtney Atkinson, you know, fitting and at his best for the long term? Surprising I, I kind of in my time 20 years at Red Bull, so I've avoided this place because they love testing you and when I mean testing is like putting you through the ringers on trying to get your data and everything else. What have they done? What have they put? What have they put you through? So to begin with simply I've sent all my last two years of scans.
So when I I had a bad rolled ankle two years ago, which kind of set set in a race, I rolled the ankle, pulled some ligaments off the bone and that really set everything in motion that, you know, I was a bit unbalanced, you know, a little bit of stability issues. Then obviously I had a calf go last year and I think that stemmed a lot from that original ankle and then the three accidents on bikes and everything else going on over the past few weeks.
So All in all, mate, I'm just a walk and train wreck and we're here to straighten up. So sent the scans over, they look at it, told me get over here in two days, let's sort this out sooner than later. Went in physical assessment. So seeing how those older injuries have kind of recuperated or come back with ultrasound. So looking at the muscle fibres, looking at where nerves are, everything like that. And then the next stage is
diagnostic testing. So if you looked at my socials and I actually shared it on the In the Beginning podcast socials as well, you would explain me on, you know, knee machines, ankle machines that's doing all baseline testing around, you know, where the strength is lying at the moment, where my weaknesses are leg to leg. And then today we started on the process of, you know, small exercises to try and improve
that. Saw a dietitian for the first time in, in you know, since my time at the IAS probably six years ago. And look, that was, that was an interesting experience as well, because I, again, I don't have the same goals as what, you know, a Christian protractor or someone going to the Olympic triathlon at the moment is going
for. I'm literally like walking in there going, Hey, I travel a whole lot in my my daily life now I'm eating at service stations, probably going through the Mac as drive through a bit too. Much. And So what? But So what do they say that say to that? So the focus of that, always think about it in specifics so you can look at yourself as an athlete generally, you can listen to all the elite information, you know that you can read on the Internet and everything else.
But I go in there with one problem I want to solve. So for, for from my diet perspective, the one problem I was trying to solve is when I walk down the steps in the morning after getting out of bed, I am sore. Now most people go, well, that's age. Yeah, it is. Of course it's age, but there's something more underlying there. I want to, I want to walk down the steps and not be as sore in the morning. So when I go out for my run, I'm ready to go and it's a little
bit better. Now look, we're not going to change it, you know, completely flip that. But I want to look at ways, what can I do eating with the my daily life, with the challenges of how I've got to travel and work and, you know, all the different commitments, I suppose, how can I fix that up and go forward? So that was what we're talking about today. And did they give, give you like can you, can you give us something just straightforward and tangible that they told you
from a, from a diet perspective? So we're going to do, we're going to focus on protein and most people go here of course, like that makes sense recovery protein you didn't. Have to go all the way to Santa Monica to to know that yet. That that very true, very true, But it's actually the timing timing of the protein, but also looking at how I'm how I have been eating daily and where I eat, how how quickly I eat after
training. But it's more like, in a nutshell, the summary is more eating protein more often during the day versus having larger chunks of protein at just like. Once or twice a day, so turning you into a grazer instead of a binger. Yeah, But really focused on the protein because like from a calorie point of view, I don't really have challenges, you know, if I'm not massive eater and I'm still running a fair bit. So weight, I'm not here to try and lose massive amount of
weight or anything like that. It was purely about how can I make my body feel better. And that's the same thing with all the diagnostics around what we're looking at of trying to, let's say, put the body back into balance, you know, get my get equal drive off my calves. And look, I'm only two days here in, so I haven't got all the answers to that yet. But you know, when we're talking about experts, you've got people
here. What the beauty, I suppose, of the Red Bull kind of ecosystem in elite sport is we're not talking about just runners and triathletes here. So if I told you who was in there, I've got to kill you because, you know, that's a secret. But if you think about a centre, like there's only what were there, there's there's seven athletes here this week.
That's it. So you've got the whole centre or in this pretty probably 20 staff in there and they're dealing with seven athletes from Red Bull athletes and that's in their problem. So as you can imagine, you get pretty specialised in personal treatment. We and I mean, you know, the Red Bull as as F1 drivers has surfers, has athletes within team sports all over the world. So yeah, I get the sense of they have this ability to cater to athletes from all around the planet.
Just getting back to the nutrition stuff from a an as you were talking about it for you, someone who has been and is still at the elite level of competing. I'm listening to it as somebody very much on the amateur level who could do with the very simple equation of operating in, what is it, calorie deficit, basically using up more calories
than I consume on a daily basis. And I think there'd be a lot of people out there who are the same, which is like, I could be a better runner if I was carrying a little bit less weight just because that's how it's easier to run when you're a bit lighter. But there would also be people listening to these who are, they don't like you.
They don't actually need to lose any weight, but knowing that, that there's specificity in the timing that you eat your protein and all that sort of stuff and the way you eat your protein would be really interesting for them as well. So that's, that's, yeah. Nice. So what, So what's next? Now you've done the, you've done the baseline testing, you've done the dietary stuff. What, what's, how many more days are you there for? What? What else is on the on the
plate? Yeah, so here for the rest of the week, so it's a Monday to Friday, 5 day stint and a lot of the work will actually be done once when I get home. And over the months, years coming, you know, you'll obviously stay in contact. But if you look at, I suppose tomorrow, I'm in bio mechanics, so I'll be on the big treadmill in the lab tomorrow. And most people when they think labs and running, they'll be thinking of all the apparatus and the VO twos and all the oxygen.
None of that for me because like we said, there's like a real purpose, really single purpose of why I'm here. And it's around trying to get the muscles and the and the body back moving in the right, you know, getting mobility back right, getting the muscles balanced again. So tomorrow's all about run by a mechanics, and this is I haven't done it yet. I'm sitting here listening to this and I wouldn't have thought you had deficiencies.
That's just how I bought because you and I have run together and I know what you're elite athlete, you know, Olympics and all that, but I wouldn't have thought you would have deficiencies in your, in your bio mechanics from a running perspective. I've found it strange that yeah, you're going to be those that exist are going to be
highlighted to you tomorrow. Yeah, I mean, even to the basic, the basics of like calf size from leg to leg, you know, I've got quite a like a extra large right calf. You know, I'm pushing off differently from calf to calf. Now that's not an issue because it doesn't hamper my running.
But if we start to talk about like how to be most efficient and most economical, these are like the the small things we're looking at. So this is very different to we're going to touch on it later about running technique and cues once we go through our weeks, because I think that's important to differentiate what I'm talking about around muscles and, and trying to become more efficient with actually trying
to change your running style. Okay, So what I'm trying to do is actually utilise the muscles like push off the toes equally versus having a favoured leg because of some of the injuries that I've had recently versus come here to look at my bio mechanics to completely change my run technique. That's something I definitely will not be doing because I've had experience with that in the past and it has been an absolute disaster. But we'll get that. We'll get in to you later. We'll.
Get into a bit of that a bit later. So just to wrap up, yeah, like I'm here this week with like the surfers. There's actually a young lady from Sale GP here. Oh wow.
So sales, yeah, on the big boats does the IT was like what Kyhurst, what Kyhurst used to do with these hands yeah, pretty yeah, pretty much when both me and Liam here are like turning our hands over on it like a. Witch for those that for those that can't see it and it's it's like when you see somebody who doesn't know what they're doing on one of those boxing bags and that you try to keep spinning the what are the speed bag?
That's what I'm talking about when you try and get on the speed bag, except with a hand either side of that. We're pretty much cannot think of the the sailing term for it, but someone 100% though. But yeah, surface, there's skaters in there recovering, rehab, some people are just in their training and yeah, it's like it's always super cool.
And that's, that's my favourite thing about Red Bull and being involved with that business is, you know, it's never about my sport, it's never about anyone's sport. We're just all one big group all kind of trying to, you know, I think the slogan in is there and the slogan in there's like, you know, fuck the limits. It's a rare, it's, I did see that on one of your socials as well.
It is a, it is a rare brand. I think over the course of this podcast, I would like to explore some other parts of the Red Bull business and the stuff they do because I, I love the brand and I think that it's such a, the brand is everywhere. But I, I would, I, I think some of the stuff they do is, is super cool. In fact, I was training this morning with a fella by the name of Aza, Aaron Graham, who runs Pro Guarding, which is the lifeguarding service.
And he's on his way down to Sydney because he's he's going to be doing the water safety for the extreme diving event that's happening down in Sydney, which Red Bull has an involvement as well. So. Red what is it? Red Bull Cliff diving world champs. Yeah, so. Literally build A7 Storey high rise on the Sydney Harbour and jump off it. Nuts. You'll you'll, you'll do that right? No, no, that will never be. I get, I get weak knees at the on the three metre springboard just a bit.
Speaking of that, and I know you've got some interesting run technique stuff that you've been discovering. We're going to get to in a moment. Quickly though my week, I had a wedding down in Sydney, which was a pretty big wedding. I had a couple of dusty runs.
I haven't been as active as I as I would have liked this week, but I did go on train this morning and you talk we talk a bit about trying new things and all then you know for you right now dirt bike riding is is you're a beginner, right? You're you're a beginner level of that and you get inside a rookie. You're a rookie right. This morning I didn't exercise for the very first time and
failed spectacularly. People would have seen and you it's often surf as you see doing it watermen and women that that exercise. I don't know if you've done it according where you pick drop down to the bottom of the ocean with a rock and then try and run along the ocean floor. You ever done that? No, but I I know exactly what you're talking about. And, and people out there will know what I'm talking about this morning.
Whippet Bondi Rescue, fame who fame who runs these courses had us do this in Corumbin Creek. We were doing it in partners and your partner would go down, run along with the rock and then as soon as they dropped it, you were meant to go down, pick up the rock and take it in turns. A little relay session my partner started. Problem is and we've talked about how bad I am at swimming, there was quite a strong current running back in. It was the current was coming in
and my partner dropped the rock. But we would at a point of we're at a depth where basically I couldn't get down to the rock and when I got there by the time I got down to the rock. I couldn't pick the thing up because I was out of breath. So I, like everybody else, was kind of progressing their way up the Creek with these rocks. And meanwhile Micah, my partner and I were just floundering back at the start line because I'm, I
can't, I can't do this now. What in the end had to happen is that Micah went back down, got the rock and brought it to a shallower part of the Creek. So essentially I didn't have to dive down to pick this thing up, but I could just bend over, pick this thing up and kind of walk to sort of forehead. So you're, you're at knee, knee level. It was exactly I was at Shin Hut waiting with a rock in my hands.
But it was And then when the truth is when we turned around and came back with the current, it was much easier. And Micah said to me after we finished my partner, he said it looked awesome. I put my head under a couple of times and what should I do? And it looked like it looked like the videos you see of somebody. But it was humbling as hell. It was, it was. I enjoyed it and I'd love to try it again, but it was an incredibly humbling moment on in the exercise front for me this
morning. On the exercise so your that's your new your new challenge under the water there in Crumble Creek can you can you actually see no the. Clarity was real. To see the person. Clarity was really good this morning. Yeah, it was nice. No men in grey suits. Don't. Don't bring them up. I don't. If you're referring to the bodies, I don't want to think about them when I'm down there. Right in the alley there they'd be. I don't want to Sure they're like floating around.
I don't want to think about the bodies out there, Courtney referring to sharks. There's no need to bring those up. We're talking about interesting, let's say group activities. I over here so I'm staying down in Santa Monica and I walked down to the pier for dinner last night and as I walked out I sent you this video of a run group under the pier. There would have been 200 people, but the crazy thing was, and I haven't seen this before,
three. I think there was 3 ladies in the group who had a beatbox, boom box, boom box attached to their back like a boom box backpack and then they all ran off. Interesting. What do you think? Really interesting. What's your? Take on it because I've got a very strong opinion. I think you should get one for Adsys Group and I think, I think I'm going to yeah, maybe that's your Christmas present, Liam and Backpack Boombox. Now what I'll say is you choose your run group, right?
Everybody chooses the run group that they want to be a part of. If I if if the run groups that I'm a part of, if anybody ever turns up with one of those boom boxes beat by whatever you want to call them on strapped to their back. It's not I don't need a soundtrack when I'm running. If I'm tick, if I'm running in a group, the last thing I want is a soundtrack of somebody else's choosing to me.
And look, I'll be honest, that clip and we might even put it up on on the we'll put it up on the Instagram in the beginning podcast on Instagram. You can see what we're talking about it. It did look fun, but that would be a one off adventure for me. That would be a one time participation. With a group like that, there is no way I'm turning back up to that sort of a group week on week. No way unless I'm single and looking for love. But I'm not so I won't.
It seemed like the sort of place you could try and hit it off with somebody after you run. But the idea of it's a bit. I don't like it when people's music infringes on me at the beach. I don't like it when people are rolling with speakers at the beach in crowded sections. If you're on a quiet beach on your own, fill your boots. But if you're in a crowded beach like I, I don't. I don't want to hear your choice in music, Frankly. Yeah. Mate, each to their own but I
reckon it could be a gap. I reckon we can see this down at Burley. I think it's prime prime for a Burley run group with. Screams Burley, Screams Bondi. Yep, Yep it. You know the tan in Melbourne? These are the sort of these the ultra popular running spots is exactly the sort of place where you would It wouldn't surprise me to start seeing these backpack boom boxes pop up and and people running to a soundtrack.
Yeah, well, we might look at where we can purchase one of them for your Liam. But what else have I got up to running wise more interesting. I got, I got up in the trails behind I think they call it Pacific Palisades. I've said that wrong for sure is. That Runyon Canyon, is that, am I saying that wrong or is that
in a different part? Yeah. Let's just say one of the Los Angeles canyons out the back and I hadn't been up there before, but great running quickly like I ran 15K give or take 615 metres avert in that like yeah, solid. And this is like what surprised me, I suppose was it was a 15 well, 1015 minute drive and I was in the trails up the top of the mountains and great afternoon. Couldn't complain and. That's what that, and I know Gold Coast has this, Adelaide has this as a city as well.
Sydney depends on where you live, obviously, and and Melbourne not so much as well. But again, that ability to access trails without having to drive an hour and a half is, is incredible. And I think as a result, you see people getting into trail running when they can get there within, as you say, 15 minutes. But I. Travel Travel's Digitator. I've seen clips of people running those trails and it does look amazing. Do you know if there's any races organised events through some of
those trails? No idea. I really haven't spent a lot of time here in definitely in Los Angeles. I mean, I spent a little bit of time racing across different places in America and we spent a bit of time training. One year I stayed a boulder for I think 5 months, four months doing some training. But no, I haven't spent a lot of time in America. One thing I did come across though, which I had no idea. Rattlesnakes. So are they more dangerous? Would you rather be got by a rattler or a brown?
I think, and I'm saying this without an educat, I think brown snakes are the worst. I think, I think when it comes to snakes, we are top of the pile. Australia we are. We've we've got most of them. We've nailed it. We've Yeah, we've nailed. It so I've got a so that that talking that's coming across because, you know, no, I didn't come I'd come across a sign and I just thought and my first thought was, are they really that bad? Or is it you know where we're
jumping over Browns? You know, every so often here is it you know, just oh, there's a snake, he'll run away. But my first what what I always think about when I see signs or I think about snakes or we see one out in the trails is what would you do? And I had this conversation with doctors a lot. So we all know what to do if you get bitten by a snake. So let's say you get bitten by a brown snake or red belly or something out the back of the Gold Coast. You're an hour away from getting
back to the trail. You're out of mobile reception. You ideally you have a snake bandage or T shirt or something on you. But all of the doctors I've spoken to say the best way to beat the snake venom in that case is you're going to sit down, rest and wait it out. Would you sit down, rest and wait it out if you know no one's coming for you for 24 hours and you've just been bitten by a big brown? Well, yeah, because you've just told me that's what that's what doctors say.
Because you've just told me that's what the doctors recommend. Would you? I well, I've, I've had half an hour conversations in my head about this, debating to myself of what would I do? Because on one hand, yeah, like you sit down, no one, you know, the venom goes through you, you feel a bit sick, but you know, you can, you can manage it. And then, you know, 24 hours later, you, you get up and you walk out.
On the flip side, he really doesn't sit there knowing that you've just been struck by a big brown snake. And then just sit there going, Oh, you know, she'll be right, mate, no stress. Or do you just try and like keep your heart rate down and slowly walk out of there? Look, when when we're not advocating for either here, let's just say everyone makes their own choice. But I really think as much as I know the answers to stay still and stay, yeah, I reckon you'd struggle.
I I, I reckon I'd struggle. I reckon I'd try and get out of. There. Well, put it this way, Courtney, If we weren't running together, I'd prefer I'd, I know what I no, no, no. I would prefer that I was the one who got bit because you're more of a chance to get help quickly. If you got bit, I'm every chance to have to walk, run back because I'm cooked like it's going to be. You're in for a long way if you're the one that gets bit while we go running. Could be 24 hours. Yeah, No.
But anyway, that's whoa whoa. It's probably 24 hours actually, now that I think about. It well, if you get lost, if you get lost on the trails. And you know how I go in those Nerang trails, I still do not know my way around actually. Well, the answer, the other answer to the snake stuff is run like I run, run really heavy, run really heavy foot. So they can hear you coming from a long way away. So the week change you had the wedding down in Sydney.
Yeah. And then this weekend I'm having a in fact, the day we drop this app, the day people listening to it, I've got my 40th birthday, which are coming along too for a drink. Are you gonna be back in? Time in the States and I've I've just realised I'm gonna have to send my rain check on that one mate. We can't send a rain check. To Sunday morning. We can't send a rain check because we're not having it again. We can have another 40th just for me. We can have a joint.
No I am having sorry mate, no I won't be there. Unfortunately I don't get it back in till Sunday morning. Well, we might still be going actually Sunday morning, but the point is my wife and I having joint fortieths this the day that you that you might be listening to this podcast. So this weekend might be another tiny write off for me as well. I'm not exactly flying into Noosa this year from a preparation perspective, but I've made peace with that.
I'm OK. And this is the life of an amateur athlete when you have a full time job and you have social commitments as well. Sometimes I think, and I had this thought this morning, was that because I know, because I might beat myself up over this in days or weeks or years gone by, the idea of wanting to smash Noosa in a couple of weeks time but having all these other things, I'm OK with it. I sent APB and a half marathon 3-4 weeks ago.
I'm OK with the fact that I'm not going to set the world on fire at Noosa in a couple of weeks time. But that's OK because I'm really enjoying where my exercise is AT and I'm going to have a bloody huge party with a bunch of my mates on on Saturday for my 40th and my wife's 40th. So I'm OK with that. It's a good way to be mate, I
reckon. Because you know, when it comes to let's say you're racing amateur or just racing for the sake you're doing it like I do, see sport can be very addictive. When you're after a goal and you wanna be do everything right, it can be very addictive. But in the end, if sport's not your bread and butter, you're not gonna lose your job over
sport. I, I believe and I, I know that now, there's a lot more important things in life than, you know, that one more training session you can get done. So, you know, everyone's gonna be different on what their priorities are. But you know, I'm always on the side of mate, there's a lot more important things you can always catch back up. Another training session, another time. That's right, you can't miss a
40th birthday. Well, unless you're in at the Red Bull Performance Centre in in LA, in which case apparently you can. Now I feel really bad. Now I feel really bad. But. So we're on to running, running techniques or running queues and what works. So off the back of my off the back of what I was talking about being here and looking at bio mechanics, which is different to this. I had a so this would be going back. I've got a story from about 10 years ago.
So at the time I was at the Australian Institute, a sport. I was, you know, I guess I was probably in between Beijing and London Olympics. You know, I was right in the programme, Full Time Triathlon Australia sent an expert out from all places, the USA to help us all with our running techniques. Let's just say it was an absolute bloody disaster. I don't think I've so much so I don't think I've run as free as what I did prior to that after
that day. Now the reason I say that is everyone's got like, yes, everyone can improve efficiency running, there's no doubt about that. And there's certain cues and we'll go through this that you can implement, but they're going to be different for everyone. But what is very difficult to do running is completely in your head. Change the way you run.
Now, the way I say that is and, and what came about is I had this guy come out, you know, at the time, I was arguably one of the few best viewer in the world in triathlon just to give where the landscape is here. It wasn't like I needed to change things majorly. And it was also the case, but we're always looking for these. You know you're looking at the. One Percenters. Half a percent exactly.
And also you're probably at the point, the point where you luck that you're as good as you possibly can be and, and the blokes around you and it just comes down to a bit of luck in a race. True. And I always with the 1% as we just mentioned, always go like if you have 51% as you do, does that make you improve 50%? No, it's impossible, right. I mean it's crazy. It's not how it works, but this guy can't he's so he comes out from the States and he's an expert on running technique.
He comes into my house and I remember it playing. I'm sitting in like I had a projector up on the wall in my lounge room and he puts up some canyons running. And then he puts me up next to it on the video and starts to explain to me that I'm not swaying my, you know, I'm not turning my shoulders enough. And you know, I need more arm swing and a whole range of stuff.
And what I was thinking at the time, you know, like you just believe an expert's an expert, you believe and you, you want to believe an expert's an expert. You want to believe you're going to improve about a week later. So we've looked at this. He's like, this is the Canyon. These are the best in the world. That's how they run. This is how you're running, right? And I'm a triathlete running off the bike, very, very different scenario.
And I'm a I'm a runner who's come from a position of being obviously very naturally running as a kid. I want to see swimming and then suddenly I just one day could run. So the process of me running came very naturally. About a week later I was in the forest running with Michael Shelley. And we used to do this like 30 K. It would go out and back in the forest and he turned and looked at me and he said what the heck, what is wrong with you today?
And he could tell something had significantly changed in my running and it was my shoulders. So, you know, we're always taught to relax in the shoulders. But for some reason the cue and the techniques this American expert had given me was to to roll my shoulders forward and really like roll with my arms. And that upper body movement would obviously help with the with my running.
Just anybody who's listening to this while they're on their run, stop rolling your shoulders right now because I know you've started doing it. Just stop it. Go back to however you were running before. Continue calling. So I said to Mike, yeah, like, I know I've got, you know, this is the new way we're doing it. You know, this is what I've been told and and this is going to improve me and everything else. And it was an absolute disaster.
It, I, I went from running as free and as easy and never thinking about running in my life to from that day, from that week on, all I do is think about what I'm doing running. And that's what I, well, that's where this whole story was leading. It wasn't the fact that the running, you know, that changed me because you should be able to, you think you should just be able to go back to how you ran. The thing was, I never could. I never actually realised how I
was running. I'd never thought about it. It was all just by feel. And then as soon as someone put into my head this is how you should run, suddenly the wheels fell off and the and all I could think about and it was stiff and I was just never got back. And then genie's out of the bottle and you can never UN put it back in there. Can't put it back in mate. Then over the years, you know, like I'm, I'm very attuned because of this to running what
I call queues. And when I say running queues, it's like you'll hear someone say to you, you know, you know, maybe feel like you're running, pull your belly button forward so you get your hips up. Someone might say, lift your hips. The other day I was running along the beach and I was like, I got into a bit of rhythm and I thought, do you know what? I feel good again. I feel like I'm nearly riding my bike. My legs, my, my heels were kind of coming up hitting my bum and
I had good movement. And I thought the cue I'm thinking about at the moment is I feel like I'm spinning on my bike. And it felt great. So where I'm going with this, and this is a question I want to ask you, is what running queues have you been told that you think work for you? Right.
I've got 2 and as soon as you started explaining them, because I've never had technical running coaching, I've never really needed it. I've never been at a level that's, you know, warranted having professional coaching as soon as you started talking about it.
I've got 2/1 was given to me by friend of the show, friend of both of us. Reedy Bondi rescues Reedy, who great runner in his own right, really solid runner and just gave me the little cheat code of hinge at the the bend at the hips, that slight lean forward, not not bend over, but just that slight lean forward when you're running just to give yourself that. You know, it's almost like if you if you start falling forward, you, you naturally speed up to try and catch yourself.
And if you kind of implement that a little bit when you're feeling fatigued later on in a race, the hinge forward, it kind of forces you to go forces your legs to keep up a little bit. That was one. The other one from Adsi who's run group I run with is the when I'm running quicker or trying to run faster is are you driving through your big toe? Are you? I like that one. Yeah, I like that one as well. I'd never thought of it before. And I reckon he was 12 months ago.
He said we're doing, you know, some efforts, some 1K efforts on the way back. And for me, we were getting down into my fast side. So we're running like sort of a three 5345K pace, which is quick for me and I was running well. And as he just as he does arrogantly cruise past me because it's conversation pace for him. But he cruised past and just said make sure you're running, make sure you're driving through your big toes. Are you driving through your big toes?
And I'd never thought about it before. And instantly I noticed that I was very much driving, probably pushing off the outside two or three, my pinky toe and the whatever's next to it. And then all of a sudden it felt like I was kind of almost straightening up my feet a little bit. So driving through your big toe and hinging at the hip is the is the 2 running cues. That's what works for you, right?
And it's not going to work. This is the thing, the cues because when you were saying hinging at the hips end, I was like, oh, are you hinging backwards? What, where, where are you going with this? Because. Hinging is probably not the right one, it's just a little lean.
And this is what's so I, I, I think specific to individuals, when you give cues, you can give, you can say a cue and give, let's say it might be advise or it might be a suggestion, but you've got to work out yourself really quickly whether that cue works for you. So even back in the day, there were triathletes doing a technique where they'd tie rubber band like a, like a long elastic rubber band.
And this came from a run coach technique where they would tie it to their, I'm just trying to think. It went around their shoulders, I think, and then to the back of the heel, which would actually help with the hamstring drive up and down to get the heel to their butt. So it was nearly like you talked about falling forward with gravity. What they would effectively doing was pulling their logo from the ground as quick as possible in a really free and, and relaxed motion and just
falling forward. So if you think of putting rubber bands on the back of your legs and just put those rubber bands, pulling your feet up as quick as they can and they would run around a track and do that as the technique training. So I mean, there's, there's so many different ways to look at it. I I I like the one when you're getting tired around where your knees are going. Is where you're gonna go. Well, so explain that to me.
So so so. Lifting you when you're getting really tired, right knee drive obviously is one thing that decreases. So but then if you said to someone as a cue, well, lift your knees higher, the automatic reaction would be to lift your knees vertically higher. Yeah, but you actually don't want to be going vertical. You want to be going in the direction you where where you're
heading. So if you think about pulling your knees towards on a vertical plane towards where you want to go, that's actually helping your momentum to go forward first. It's. Almost like push. Off the ground, straight away. When, if people have ever done a mountain climber when they're on the ground, that action where you're driving your knees. Pretty much. I mean the same, the same theory around pushing a sled in rehab
or recovery. You're at that angle where you're actually pushing forward in the motion or the range of motion and where you want to go. I've just thought of another running queue that which is about for running hills, which and is the idea of arm swing because again, I'm, I've, I've never had what you talked about where it's like, I've never thought about how I'm running because I haven't really needed to. And then when we were, I was
doing a hill session one day or running with some undulation in there. And the, again, Addie was the one who made the comment up these hills, focus on your arm swing, focus on your arm swing. And it, it effectively it for me now it has two effects in that I, it's, it's a driver. It does feel like I actually gained momentum in by driving my arms, but it also makes me forget about my legs being tight. So it has to because I start thinking about another body part and I don't think about the
fatigue that's in my legs. Well, that works as well. Just take, take, take the mind off what what's hurting and what you're not thinking about. So last one and this one, I'm not going to take credit for this one. When we're running, when I used to run long runs with hills in it with Mike Shelley, he was always big on when you're running uphill, keep the same cadence. You're running on the flat. So don't like over stride up.
Like just because you're getting into a hill, you don't need to put in all that extra pressure and do these massive big strides that are going to tie yourself out up the hill. So my challenge running with Mike, who was obviously a quicker runner than I was, definitely over more of a
marathon distance. I would like be trying to hang on to him and I would just follow his cadence and why he ran a marathon so well was he was able just to run, you know, with this quick cadence and the same cadence foot strike and and never change that he had the ability to run it. You know, I don't know what California, I don't know what his cadence was running. But let's just for argument, say, say it was a, you know, 180 steps a minute, which is about
rule of thumb. But the difference is I would start at that 180 with him and then eventually I'd get tired and have to slow down. Yeah, and go to a longer stride where I'd try to use more force or a longer stride. And he was always just able to continually do that. So I always keep that, that in the back of my mind too. And so much show that when I have some. What would you say? Sometimes when I'm really stuck on my running coming back and I'm not sure I'll even use a
metronome. I'll even just put, you know, like the old one playing a piano and just, and I'll just put it on 90. It's 180 steps. Yep. And just hit one leg at 909090. I was gonna ask you so because that idea of or cadence or, or BPMS, you know, from if you're a musical person for I've, it's fascinating because when I had some calf injuries previously, the physio I went and saw at the running room in Sydney, basically Paddy Mac tried to get me to speed up my cadence.
He said the way you run, we gotta, you know, we're gonna try and take a bit of pressure off your cadence by upping or up pressure off your calves. Sorry, by upping your cadence, but then the other I didn't experiment. I don't know if I've told you about this before, but rich role for if people love their fitness and their running stuff might have heard of Rich on his podcast once he talked about beats per minute, your cadence when you're running and there's
a a cadence. I think it's a 184, which is kind of considered the the world record breaking BPM of like that's at that cadence is where a lot of world records on the track have been broken. And it's also it works out to be the cadence of the song Rock Lobster by the B50 twos. Have I told you this story? No. No, but you know that song, Rock Lobster, that song, right?
And so I listened to that podcast and I heard that story and then I went out to Keira Park Run and I put Rock Lobster on repeat for like, and I think the song goes for like 6 minutes. So and basically I tried to run to the bait for did it work? This park run? What I learned is I can't run a hundred 184 BP like it's it was too the cadence was too quick for me. Having said that, I think I still, I think I still run a a 1926 or something, which for me is is a good strong park run
performance at 5 KA time. But it was I reckon I was probably at about the 2 1/2 K mark is where I lost the bait. I just couldn't, I just couldn't maintain the cadence. But I tried it and it was an interesting exercise. So if anybody else ever wants to give it a crack, just whack rock. Just do it for one, one repeat of the song. Put Rock Lobster on and try and run to that cadence of the beat of the song and see how it feels because it's it's, it's an interesting exercise.
And while Liam's living in the past songs, I've got my my cadence song that my go to and I was just scrolling Spotify then to find it is get by by Dallas Woods. So Aussie, Aussie rapper. And that's my like if I need a beat and I want to run like to a tempo, yeah, that's my tempo. I'm not exactly sure what the tempo is, but it would be around that 180, you know? OK, a good I'm gonna try so. I'm gonna try your tempo running time but. That's Dallas Woods. Get by.
It's amazing that Spotify and and other music providers that these things now exist. Like, did you ever, you know, we live in a world where you can specify a tempo songs to a tempo that you want to run to. It's in, you know, again, you talk about fitness, having a moment. There's 180 beats per minute song lists. Yes, literally type, search it, type it in and and there you go. So, so running queues to wrap that up.
These are what we do, right? But it's not about it's about what what finding what works for you. So my advice, I suppose, is everyone doesn't have the answer. You got to kind of find the answer to yourself. You know, you try a few different things and one you you know when it works because
you'll you'll feel different. And if you feel awkward or if it feels awkward or, you know, it's kind of like, Jeez, this is, you know, I'm kind of going backwards here, you know, not to do it. So that brings me full circle because we're on this, we're on this kind of like line of questioning about what works. And we've just given a lot of probably advice we shouldn't of or we've given what we do. So my question is, how much experience then do you need to
call yourself a run coach now? In the first episode we talked about yourself giving running advice, Liam, but I'm now thinking about at a like a higher level because with the running boom at the moment, everywhere I look there is an online run coach. Everywhere I look someone is selling me on Instagram a run session or a run programme. What do you as? Let's say you, you know, a 90 minute half marathon runner, consider you need inexperience
to call yourself run coach? So for me, for me to take somebody seriously as a run coach, I re honestly, the thing that get would get me to somebody as a run coach is a personal testimony from somebody I know and and trust as a
runner, if that makes sense. That doesn't mean that there has to be of your level, but I would want somebody who I know is a good runner to recommend somebody because the reality is the world we live in now is such that how can, if you want to, if you want to be cynical about it, how Can you believe what anybody tells you about their qualifications? You know, we trust in experts when they say they're experts.
But, you know, so ultimately it's up to you to to decide who you're going to put your trust in.
But I will look for personal testimonies of people that I know as being good runners or all that I know have trained, you know, for example, Spot Anderson in in Sydney, who years and years and years of experience training triathletes and and runners in in Sydney. Now I didn't know he had all those years and years and years and years and years of experience when I went to Spot. I went to Spot because somebody on you said, Hey, you should go and train with Spot.
He's really good, he'll get you ready. And I was training for my first ever Noosa. He said he'll get you ready. So I was looking for someone to give me from a really low base to a competent base and I enjoyed the sessions and all the rest of that. And I don't know if Spot's got any formal training or formal qualifications whatsoever. He competed at a pretty decent level. So that's, you know, and I've seen photos of him doing that. So I guess that's good enough.
But I guess in the same way that I know you competed at the level you did, so if you offered me some run advice or if you said, yeah, I'll I'll coach you, I'll, I'll make a programme for you, I would trust in it. But This is why I can't ask the question, because I wouldn't trust in me. Oh, no, that's I'll take, I'll take that what I just said.
No, because the reason I say that is I've I know what I need to do. I have a pretty good understanding after 20 years of what I need to do, but I'm not I wouldn't feel confident in in getting someone. And I've tried with my brother to be really honest. And I've then sent him on to someone that I know has the expertise to go and help him get to a sub three hour marathon. But when I tried to get into a sub three hour marathon, I, I don't know the pace, I don't know the pace.
I don't know, you know, what his recovery is being I want. I would send someone to someone with an expertise that has proven not just once, but over and over again, they can take runners of that standard to the times they want. That's an interesting qualification that I like the way you put that. Then they can proven that they can take runners of that standard. That's, that's the, that's the key point, isn't it?
Because you're right. I don't want someone who might train or who might have, you know, been responsible for training Jen Gregson or or Jess Stenson or, you know, somebody of that level. I don't want them trying to train me because it's probably a waste of their time for a starters but also they specialise at the elite end of the the business. And I'm not, I'm not saying there isn't running coaches out there who have had experience at
all these levels. But what I'm saying is at the moment with the, you know, the rise of the run coach, the online run coach and the run groups, you know, at what level of expertise have they got to help the runner at that level? Like a good example is if I was wanting to run, for argument's sake, a 230 marathon, I I wouldn't want to be going to someone who's got a group and training a whole heap of guys to go under 4 hours for the first time.
It doesn't make sense. So why does it make sense for someone wanting to break 3 hours or like let's go for a three hours 30 to be going to someone who can run a 210 or a 215 and getting their advice from them? See, that's, I mean look different, that's real. And look, that is an interesting
point. And run clubs are, and that's where you and I, we talked a bit about the idea of run clubs off air previously that you get these, you get some run clubs where there is a leader and then you get some who's kind of in charge. But often it's the same loop and it's the same distance and it's run at your own pace. So it's actually not really a coaching session, it's a run session. And then you get the run groups where there is somebody essentially giving you a
session. But it's a question of, I was talking to a mate who's part of a, a run group in Adelaide called the Prospect Run Club. And he's taken to it recently. And I was, so I was really interested because I was talking to him about the podcast and he was, I said, why do you like this? Why do you keep going back to this run group? What is it about this run group that has kept you going back? And he said, well, I, I, I like
the distance we run. I like the speed we run at the his, his mate who runs it gets up there at the start and says, righto guys. So essentially there's two speeds. Is that for those of you that are going to run quickly, which I think for them is probably somewheres under 430, this is the person who's going to be on the front of that train, as it were. You got you, you're starting off with them in, in 2 minutes.
And for everybody else who's going to run, you know, 5 minutes and slower, this is the person at the front of the train. You guys are going to go off in there. So it's, it's kind of like it's not a coaching session, but it's, it's just you're splitting off in the groups. I, I always look at.
I think ultimately if you are looking for a target and you want to achieve a a, go and find a coach, a paid session, go and find someone who's who's charging you per session because that tells me that they're confident in their ability. I like where you went with that and I'm going to take it one step further because I think in my head I just worked out what is the difference between a run coach and a run leader, let's say, or a run group, someone who just literally gives go and do
this. So a run coach should understand you as an individual and understand what your goals are and have a structured programme to individually suit you to achieve the goal you want. Now what that, how you run in that structure and the paces and everything else to achieve that goal isn't going to be the same as the guy running next to you.
There's going to be some individualisation of that and that takes time, that takes expertise and it also takes an understanding of how to periodise training. So periodise training. I'm starting to use some. No, this is good. This is good industry. Words. No, this is good. So periodise training, just simply like if it was a, you know, you're talking about a, it could be a year build, it could be multi year build, it could be just a 12 week build.
But it's understanding how to load the training, the load, the volume and load the intensity over that period up to your goal race in the appropriate way to one be allow recovery and that from that recovery recovery allow you to improve going out every week and just running a session. You're not going to get the maximal bang for your buck.
No, And that's the difference between having a run coach and just joining in. And having a run club as a leader that's yeah, that's, that is the key difference is improvement. Run club leaders aren't actually necessarily going to help you improve. You you'll run, you'll stay healthy and you'll do exercise and you and you'll enjoy it. But you're neck and there's no targeted improvement for you as an individual athlete.
That's it's this, this is great. We've resolved that you just when you mentioned that period I was training, someone suggested to me and it's great. I love it when people are coming up to me, whether it's via socials or in person. I've had several people come up in person about the podcast. Someone said to me, he's like, can you get Courtney to? And he's a really good runner, by the way, but he's like, can you get Courtney to explain the benefits of certain running
sessions? So we'll do this and I'll and I'll brief you on it so you can prepare. But he said, you know, and it might seem simple, but he's like, why is fart like good? And he's a good like this is a guy who can run probably a 2. I think he's probably a 245 marathon runner and he's a really, he's a really strong, what do they call in the surf? Life saving when you get out of the big boats. Oh, like a a rower?
Yeah, well, he's a rower. Essentially, he's a. Really good Bodie Bodie, he's a goodie. He's competed at national level for bodies. He's a, he's just a very good aerobic athlete. But he said, like I, I'm a good athlete, but I don't understand why Fart Lake is good and I don't understand why interval sessions are good and I don't. And he said I would really be. It would be really interesting to hear Courtney explain why these sessions are good and what they do specifically for
runners. What what, what the purpose is and what the outcome should be? Yeah. When you do these sets. All right, we'll, we'll. Write that so you've got some homework. And get through it. So 11 last question, just so we cover the whole topic around this coach is if I if I go and see a doctor, I want that doctor to have gone to doctor school,
university, Dr school, right? Always check, so always check that your doctor has been to doctor school and if they don't have something on the wall that says I graduated from doctor school, you turn around and you walk out that door. Probably shouldn't probably shouldn't trust them to like
operate on you. Now look doctor to running Cage might be a bit of an extreme, but the the premise holds as a run coach like is because I went and ran a 245 marathon, does that qualify for me to be a run coach? No. Or should a run coach actually have a qualification? Should a run coach had have had to go and do some type of like coaching course? Interesting. Interesting. Because to, to, and I don't know the answer.
To coach in the Premier League or in the English football leagues, you need to have a coaching badge. You need to have done a coat. Now you might be the best. Now theoretically you could be the best coach in the world. But if you haven't completed your FIFA coaching badges, my understanding is you're not allowed to coach.
You're not qualified to coach in that league, which is brings it's an interesting conversation because I imagine if you're a coach and you would know, imagine if you're a coach involved with the AIS, you need to bring qualifications to the table from a from athletic school, if you will well. Yeah, triathlon school, athletic school, whatever the school is.
Yeah. I mean, there's, there's levels of coaching certificates out there, right, that you go in A and you know, you do your level 1 and then you, you learn about periodisation and you learn about all of these traits that help runners run. Now someone who is suddenly becomes an online coach because they've got a great following or they've got a run group and they don't have that coaching, you know, background. And like, I'm not saying it's
right or wrong here. I'm just posing the question, you know, does that hold merit if you have gone and done some type of education in coaching? I'm looking up as we as we talk here, Athletics Australia offers a Recreational Running Coach accreditation which is designed specifically for coaches working with adult recreational runners aged 18 and up, offering a nationally recognised qualification. That is fascinating. OK, so.
A better question may because look, I'm pretty sure I know the answer to what I've asked and that's like majority of the coaches out there won't have that qualification unless they are involved in literally little athletics and they need a blue card as well. I'm sure. I'm sure that that is a necessity, but would you be willing to pay more for a coach if they had a qualification?
Yeah, yeah. I think well, look if again for me personally, if you offered me up a qualified a piece of paper from someone with from who went to running school for to become a coach. And then if you offered me up somebody who comes recommended by somebody I know who's who runs a little bit quicker than I am that got them to a goal time.
I'm going to the personal recommendation because for my running journey, most of what I've learnt and most of what I enjoy and most of what I've found works for me has come through personal recommendations. Not through looking online for programmes or or or whatever else in my or experts as it were. It's coming from the people that I run with on a weekly basis who are better than me at running and who have recommended things to me, whether it be shoes or running groups or whatever.
So you also look at YouTube and do your own car service. I've tried. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've I've. I've tried, I've tried and it have I told you the story about when I disconnected the accelerator on my car when I was trying to change a fuse for the light? Yeah, yeah. Look, YouTube's great for some things, not great for all things. Courtney. It's an inch. Hey, do anybody who's listening out there that does have a run coach or is it a run club?
Club with a leader? Next time you're out there, just listen a little bit more closely and if you've got a run coach, ask them if they have any accreditation. I. Want to know if you've got accreditation? I want to know if you've gone to running running school. Me. Your running school graduation certificate course. We're probably almost out of time quickly. We've got time to hit on one more thing before we disappear. I know you love talking. I know you love talking about
equipment. Do you want to talk about your treadmill? I do love equipment and especially when a company actually give it a go to really change it, then it's not copying. So we've got Wahoo. So we're really well known for like, bike. I call them wind trainers. Yeah, them from the old school. What what would someone call them? An electric wind trainer. Stationary bike, electric exercise bikes. You know that where you. But you put your own bike on the
piece of equipment. People that have used Swift would know what I've got Wahoo sensors that I put on my shoes, Yeah. We're talking like Swift for your bikes and all of that. So Wahoo have come out with a new treadmill. What really, besides the factors Wahoo and you know, they've got a great name in this type of equipment around bikes. What really interests me here was one, what do they call it? They call it responsive running on the treadmill. So the the treadmill and it's
called run free. And what it does is it it actually takes into account your run stride and how hard you're hitting and you run cadence, and it makes the treadmill feel like you're running on the road. So you're not setting the speed. How hard you run is up to you. And the treadmill adapts to that. Figure that out. I'm trying to think it out. I'm figuring it out in my brain, which is why my brow is very far at the moment. So hold on. You you you set the speed.
No, so you do not set the speed. There's a mode called. Let me get it. Exactly. Oh, so we can do all the things that a normal treadmill does, but then there's a but then there's a mode where it's called responsive running, and essentially you run and the treadmill adapts. Yes. So instead of you adapting to the treadmill, the treadmill will adapt to you. So if you want to run easy, it will. It will automated run at the
pace you're running. If you speed up, it will allow you to speed up with a ground feel so as if you're running on the road. Can I still does what a still does what a kicker does? So you can still hook it up and run a course and it will feel like you're going up and down hills and all of that type of thing. You'll change the gradient. But it's this particular run free mode that I'm interested in where you can get on the treadmill and instead of thinking about I'm on a
treadmill, you just run. I like it. I don't know how well it works, but I like it. I'd love to try it because it's hard because in my mind, when I get on a treadmill right, I if I want to just go for a run and run free as this mode is called, I'll go outside and I'll just run free. If I was going to get on, if I was ever going to get on a treadmill, it would be because I want a specific, I want to achieve a specific set.
I want to do, you know, intervals or I want to do something where the speed is dictated for me, right? And I can essentially take the responsibility of holding the pace out of my own hands because the treadmill is going at the pace, so I have to stay with the pace. So in my mind I'm like, I don't know if I'd use run free mode but I'd be fascinated to see how it felt.
I love technology. The fact that, you know, a treadmill's now allowing you to run courses, it can automate it go up and down, you know, you can practise on, you know you. I'm assuming the technology will be there to plug in Gold Coast Marathon and feel like you're running Gold Coast Marathon, feel like you're running Sydney Marathon.
This is like GG Simulator technology, because all these golf simulators allow you to play the courses anywhere in the world, from your backyard essentially, or your garage or whatever. You've got the simulator set up now. You could be going and running the UTMB course from your house. I mean, for me, I'm there's never going to overtake it now in the Bush, Yeah. But I do like technology. And this is this one's definitely. What's it called the Wahoo?
It is called the Wahoo Wahoo. Kicker run treadmill. They've got to come up with a better name than that, surely? It's called the kicker. Run. OK, Kicker. Kick the Wahoo kick run. Check it out. Hey, before we wrap things up, shout out to everybody who's already on board with the In the Beginning podcast. We're going to keep throwing up polls every week because we love the interaction. If you're on Spotify or Apple, you know we're early days.
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