Into the Wee Hours Podcast

Episode 40! 

We welcome back Luke Pryor, along with his partner, Kara Landells to talk all things post-race Western States Endurance Run (WSER). Firstly, a huge congratulations to Luke for absolutely crushing and taking out a silver buckle at his first WSER; completing the course in just over 23 hours.

It was great to bring Luke back onto the show post race, and to not only hear his experience of running 100 miles in the 50th year of this iconic race, and also to share the conversation with Kara, who did an incredible job of solo crewing Luke along the way over the course of almost 24 hours. 

We cover:

• arriving at WSER and the pre-race experience including celebrity moments, staying on the same street as the GOAT Courtney Dauwalter
• Luke's expectation that he'll be getting fist bumps from Sally McRae at every race from now on
• Injury/foot niggles and how Luke, his crew and the volunteers managed these along the way
• Luke's celebrity pacer, in the form of the one and only Dean Karnazes and how that experience came about and played out on the day
• The escarpment, snow running - fun and frustration!
• The realities of crewing 100 miles 
• The highlights of this incredible 2023 race
• Plus the many, many emotions and experiences that came up on the day!

For the WSER fans and anyone curious about both running and crewing an epic race like this, this is not to be missed.

You can also check out Luke's original appearance on the podcast - Episode 7 - and his pre-race episode Episode 39.

Luke is on Instagram @littlemadrunner and Kara is @coach_karalandells 

LittlemadNess also makes a few feature appearances in this episode after taking a well earned break from podcasting, but she does mainly settle down after the initial barks, so hang in there; it's worth it! 

If you are keen to help keep the lights on for this podcast, you can support us on Patreon, or you can leave a review on whatever platform you listen to podcasts on like Apple or Spotify.

We appreciate the support of all of our listeners! 

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Episode 39! We're stoked to welcome back Guinness World Record Holder, Erchana Murray-Bartlett to share with us how life looks after running 150 marathons for 150 consecutive days, covering the length of mainland Australia.

With Sarah's 700km Scotland trail run mission coming up, this was also an opportunity to hear from Erchana on her learnings from completing Tip to Toe, which we hope helps anyone considering undertaking their own big multiday running adventure! 

If you haven't already listened, check out Erchana's first episode - Episode 33 -where we hear her "origin story" and our great conversation while she was mid Tip to Toe. 

Amongst other things, we hear:

• how Erchana has recently written and published a fiction book - Angels of Karma
• about the fatigue and recovery Erchana experienced after Tip to Toe
• resuming "normal life" and plans for the future after 150 days focused on one project
• her first backyard ultra at Dead Cow Gully which was also her first 100km!
• a secret TV mission in NZ - we can't wait to find out more about that
• plus plans to potentially "finish" the Australian run by running the Tasmanian Trail

Sarah also quizzes Erchana on lessons learned and advice for Sarah/anyone taking on a multiday running mission - including nutrition; crew; fundraising; managing day to day life and recovery on the road.

Thanks again for your time Erchana. We can't wait to see what's next!

You can find Erchana on Instagram via her new handle: @erchana_

If you are keen to help keep the lights on for this podcast, you can support us on Patreon, or you can leave a review on whatever platform you listen to podcasts on like Apple or Spotify.

We appreciate the support of all of our listeners! 

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Episode 38 is here!

We're stoked to bring back a good friend of the show, and previous guest, Luke Pryor. If you haven't listened to Luke's original episode, jump back in the catalogue to Episode 7, where we chatted to Luke all the way back in August 2021.

After securing a much coveted place at Western States Endurance Run (WSER) through the fiercely competitive lottery process, Luke joins us in the week before he flies across to the US to race to give us an update on his lead up to this iconic 100 mile footrace. 

Luke openly shares his journey to the start line, including:

• his qualifying race, in Europe, Ultra Trail Lago d'Orta
• taking on a coach, North American world-class ultra runner, Zach Bitter
• making significant dietary changes after working with Dan Plews, to overcome ongoing fatigue issues and lab testing which has supported these changes and are guiding his fuelling strategy for race day
• Navigating injury during training and a reframe of mindset and expectations
• his thoughts on tackling snow in a race for the first time! 
• his mental preparation for the event

Luke also mentions books he's reading currently including:

• Endurance Perfomance in Sport, Pyschological Theory and Interventions, edited by Carla Mejen
• Think Like a Warrior, Darrin Donnelly 

Wishing you all the best for the big dance Luke and we look forward to checking in post race! 

If you'd like to reach out to Luke, you can get in touch via Instagram on @littlemadrunner

If you are keen to help keep the lights on for this podcast, you can support us on Patreon, or you can leave a review on whatever platform you listen to podcasts on like Apple or Spotify.

Thank you for the continued support from all of our listeners and patrons - we love and appreciate you all!

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Episode 37! 

Oh hey, it's been a while!

We're back with another shorter form episode, with Kristen and Sarah (and guest appearance from Moose, cos, we know you miss the doggos) checking in on Sarah's huge trail running mission, coming up in August of this year. If you haven't listened to Episode 36, check it out to hear the origins of the plan!

Sarah shares the elements of her mission which have changed since the January check in.

This includes:

• Being coached now by Nic Ayson at SIngletrack Collective
• Life changes meaning training hasn't been as planned at all, although consistency is coming back
• A failed attempt at joining a gym for strength work!
• Becoming a Free to Run NGO ambassador - please do check out the incredible 30 minute Free to Run film on YouTube to learn more
• You can donate to Sarah's Fundraising cause for Free to Run on Just Giving - any donation of any size is so gratefully received 
• Sarah's crew check in with chief of crew, George and his dog Tidbin
• Being gifted an ice bath/chest freezer and the benefits of this practice for mental strength, along with recovery 
• Plus some answers to listener questions! 

You can follow Sarah's journey on Instagram @allthegearnaeidea and shoot her any questions there!

If you are keen to help keep the lights on for this podcast, you can support us on Patreon, or you can leave a review on whatever platform you listen to podcasts on like Apple or Spotify.

Thank you for the continued support from all of our listeners and patrons - we love and appreciate you all! And we'll be back with more episodes from incredible everyday adventurers doing all the things!

 

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Episode 36 - and a "new" format of a shorter episode, amidst our usual guest interviews which will continue as normal...

Today we don't have any guests in the "studio" because we're launching a new mini series of episodes with a specific focus. In this episode, Sarah reveals her big mission for 2023 - trail running "the length" of Scotland (exact details tbc!). Our intention is to document aspects of this journey from now through until the mission in August of this year.

Jumping in amidst the "messy middle" (to reference a version of Glennon Doyle and We Can Do Hard Things podcast), in the very early stages of planning, Kristen and Sarah chat over Sarah's initial thoughts on this big Scotland adventure which has been in the works since 2017/2018. 

In this first episode, we cover topics including:

- the origin of the idea

- the route Sarah has currently mapped from the most southerly point in Scotland - the Mull of Galloway, to the most northerly point of the Outer Hebrides - the Butt o' Lewis - covering around 700kms on trail networks including - as referenced, the West Highland Way and the Hebridean Way.

- the supported style of the mission

The intention is to release future episodes in the lead up to the adventure in August 2023 covering other topics related to planning a long multiday mission like this.

Sarah mentions the International Appalachian Trail and also references a couple of books - The Pants of Perspective, by Anna McNuff - 

and (couldn't remember the name of!) You Need a Manifesto - How to Craft Your Convictions and Put Them to Work. Charlotte Burgess-Auburn.

If you have any questions for Sarah for future episodes in this mini series or would like to follow more of her journey, you can find her on Instagram at @allthegearnaeidea

If you are keen to help keep the lights on for this podcast, you can support us on Patreon, or you can leave a review on whatever platform you listen to podcasts on like Apple or Spotify.

Thank you for the continued support from all of our listeners and patrons - we love and appreciate you all!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 35! 

We welcome back our Episode 31 guest, Jemma Purandare, to (finally!) run us through her trip to Europe and her experience of a long time in the making dream, running - UTMB's CCC, lining up to take on 100kms of brutal trail running through the Alps. 

When we spoke to Jemma last, she was on the brink of flying from Australia to Europe to toe the line at this huge race, after months of prep - while also juggling day to day life including work, a PhD and her Law studies. If you haven't listened to Jemma's pre race episode, we highly recommend you jump back to Episode 31 to hear more about Jemma as a person, and specifically her journey to qualifying for CCC.

We're not going to give it all away in the show notes but, things didn't exactly go to plan, and altitude sickness and cut off times played a major role in that. If you're curious about what it takes to take on a major mountain race like this, and how it feels when you well and truly hit the pain/altitude sickness/tunnel vision cave - tune in to hear more.

Since this experience, Jemma has jumped right back in with her running (with an incredible research/work trip to Mexico thrown in there for good measure) and has raced Ultra Trail Australia 50km, amidst other trail runs. Her determination to keep on keeping on; to learn from her CCC experience and to build into a year of solid 50km races, while also showing enthusiasm to step back onto that CCC start line again is inspiring! 

To see beautiful mountain images and to read Jemma's reflections, you can find Jemma online on Instagram at @littlegoatjem

If you are keen to help keep the lights on for this podcast, you can support us on Patreon, or you can leave a review on whatever platform you listen to podcasts on like Apple or Spotify.

Thank you for the continued support from all of our listeners and patrons - we love and appreciate you all!

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Happy New Year to all of our amazing Into the Wee Hours Podcast listeners!!

This was a fun one, where we get to hear from previous guests about their 2022 reflections and their intentions and goals for 2023. The prompts that you will hear answers to are around three questions that we, Sarah and Kristen, asked previous guests : 

1. What was a highlight of 2022?

2. What was a lesson learned in 2022?

3. What is a goal or intention of 2023?

All very open-ended questions for a reason, and our guests did not disappoint! We hope you enjoy hearing some familiar voices about their year past and to look out for them in the future!

Thank you to all our guests for their contribution in making this episode happen!! In this episode you will hear from:

Matt Wilkins from episode 4 (@traildrifters), Cecilia Mattas from episode 5 (@ceciliamattas), Luke Pryor from episode 7 (@littlemadrunner), Hannah Russell from episode 8 (@hrussell33), Toby Lukins from episode 12 (@caryasoul), Danny Longman from episode 15 (@theworldbeaplayground), Emma Rhymer from episode 16 (@emma.rhymer.mtb), Tom Kinsley from episode 17 (@tomkinno), Allison Piercy from episode 18 (@allis_on_wonderland), Leif Christensen from episode 19 (@leif_c), Sammy Brown from episode 20 (@thesammybrown), Meagan Brown from episode 21 (@megatron_brown), Genevieve Birch from episode 22 (@genevievepaige), Kirra Molnar from episode 23 (@kirramolnar), Julie & Andy Russell from episode 26 (Strava athlete - https://www.strava.com/athletes/8342099?oq=julie ; https://www.strava.com/athletes/273473) Maree Connor from episode 27 (@mareeconnor_), Allie Geddes episode 28 (@themisadventuresofalice), and Erchana Murray-Bartlett from episode 33 (@tip_to_toe_2022).

If you have any reflections of your own that you would like to share, we would love it if you would tag us on social media or comment on a post with your answers to the questions posed! Thank you to everyone, we hope you had a great 2022 and have a safe, happy, and healthy 2023!

If you are keen to help keep the lights on for this podcast, you can support us on our Patreon page, or you can leave us a review on whatever podcast platform you are listening to us on like Apple or Spotify. Thank you for the continued from all of our listeners and patrons - we love and appreciate you all! Happy 2023!

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Episode 33! We’re back and stoked to be joined by a super inspiring, fun and determined woman - Erchana Murray-Bartlett.

Erchana joins us from Sydney, off the back of 120 consecutive marathons, having broken a Guinness World Record and continuing to crush the existing record as she runs over 6000kms from Cape York to Melbourne on her “Tip to Toe” mission.  

Erchana talks to us about her roots as an athlete, mainly in highly competitive soccer; her journey into running and subsequently racing as an elite on the road and her time in Melbourne’s COVID lockdown which sparked the idea of her Tip to Toe challenge. We hear about the realities of running 150 back to back marathons; the logistics; the toll it takes on the mind and body and how Erchana continues to maintain such a positive, bright spirit amongst it all. 

Erchana also shares with us the very important environmental advocacy element of this adventure, raising funds and awareness for the Wilderness Society and in particular putting the spotlight on the Australian extinction crisis. In addition to the not so small task of completing a marathon every single day, Erchana has a busy schedule visiting schools, community groups and local clubs, sharing this message. We were blown away by her energy and also really grateful for Erchana's honesty in terms of the highs and lows of this journey. 

One of Erchana's genie wishes was for an increased focus on the environmental message of this mission and with that in mind, we're sharing an extract from her fundraising page here:

Funds raised from Tip to Toe will go towards: • Educating communities on acting on the extinction crisis before we lose Aussie biodiversity. • Supporting the Wilderness Society's work to see Australia’s nature protected. • Advocating towards protecting our natural ecosystems and the incredible wildlife within them.   If you’re not able to donate, no worries! There are plenty of other ways you can help our important cause that is equally impactful. You can: - Share our story! - Start a conversation about the threats to the local wildlife in your community. - Contact your local MP about their plans for protecting local wildlife - Volunteer to clean up parks and waterways. Check out: https://www.wilderness.org.au/work/movement-for-life - Plant native trees - Keep your beloved cat indoors where possible, especially at night. - Minimising single-use plastics. These actions have very real, direct impacts on our endangered and at-risk wildlife and are a great example of PEOPLE POWER!   Wishing you all the best for the rest of your incredible adventure Erchana!

You can find Erchana on Instagram at @tip_to_toe_2022

To make a donation visit the GoFundMe page at : https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-local-extinctions-project-our-native-mates 

Sponsor shout out: Tarkine Running, Trackabout Campers, Clif Bar, Market Organics, Amble Outdoors, Sun Sense 

If you are keen to help keep the lights on for this podcast, you can support us on Patreon, or you can leave a review on whatever platform you listen to podcasts on like Apple or Spotify.Thank you for the continued support from all of our listeners and patrons - we love and appreciate you all!

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Episode 32! Firstly, apologies if this is a tricky one to listen to sound wise - our recording set up from three remote places didn't go quite to plan and our voices come through at different levels, with Sarah being quiet. The main thing we reckon though is you can still hear Cecilia well, and we hope it's not too annoying to listen to as it's well worth perservering with to hear from "CC at CCC"!

We welcome back good friend of the show - Cecilia Mattas, to run us through her recent trip to Europe and how it felt to take on the epic trail race - UTMB's CCC, traversing over 100kms on foot, at speed, through the Alps.  When we last spoke to Cecilia back on Episode 5, she was hot off the back of a win at Ultra Trail Australia 100km. Given COVID restrictions at the time, this opportunity at CCC was Cecilia's first chance to truly race on the world stage and kudos to her as she absolutely crushed it.

While Cecilia has an admirable training ethic and inspiring attitude to her running, nothing can be taken for granted when racing such a long distance on such technical terrain at altitude. As ever though, Cecilia, while being crewed by her partner Tom, handled it with joy and grace - and she shares some fantastic insights into the brutal nature of this course and the real prep it requires. Humble and honest as ever, Cecilia shares with us how she'd considered a top 5 finish while signing up for the race, and on having the opportunity to recce the course pre race, realised it was going to be a huge experience and learning curve. Finishing narrowly outside of the top 20 in the female field is a truly incredible achievement for her first CCC and we can't wait to see what she brings in future! 

Tune in to hear about Cecilia's race preparation, including taking time out in Europe beforehand to train and see family and friends (and take on a swim run race with Tom); the CCC journey itself - including forgetting a piece of mandatory gear last minute (again!) and the massive toll that a mountain course like this takes on the mind and body. Plus upcoming plans, including Cecilia now crewing for her partner Tom on his first UTA 100km journey! All the best to both of you. 

You can find Cecilia on Instagram at @ceciliamattas

If you are keen to help keep the lights on for this podcast, you can support us on Patreon, or you can leave a review on whatever platform you listen to podcasts on like Apple or Spotify.Thank you for the continued support from all of our listeners and patrons - we love and appreciate you all!

 

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Episode 31! Enjoy this fantastic, fun and honest conversation with UK born, now Springbrook based, Jemma Purandare.

Jemma is a wonderfully bubbly and engaging woman and shares with us how she's training for a dream race - CCC, as part of the UTMB festival, while also holding down a full time job as an Environmental Scientist; studying International Law and since that's not enough for one busy human (!) - working on a PhD looking at climate change and its influence on river estuaries on the Gold Coast.

We hear about Jemma's background, growing up in the UK, studying Landscape Architecture (before two Masters programs to refocus on her interest in Environmental Science) at Edinburgh University and first coming to Australia to study, before relocating here full-time in 2011. From a sporting perspective, Jemma shares how she mainly played netball in school and started running as a means to meet people outside of work, how this turned into racing triathlon, all the way into the full IRONMAN distance in 2016. Recognising her ability for endurance, Jemma began to focus on trail running, as part of the inaugural Mountain Goat running crew in Brisbane. 

Jemma shares with us her preparation for CCC (100km and over 6000m of vert!); her experience of goal setting and qualifying for the race; an endemetriosis diagnosis and experience of fatigue, which led her to focus more on her health and nutrition and her experience as a woman in sport and science. 

Jemma was also mentioned in our last podcast episode as she travelled to the USA to crew for Meagan Brown at Western States Endurance Run - listen back to Episode 30 for more on that one!

As Meagan shared with us in some of our pre-episode "research" work, Jemma is "one of the most kind, supportive, caring people you'll meet who will leave this Earth in a better place" and it was a pleasure to elevate her voice in this episode.

You can find Jemma on Instagram at @littlegoatjem

If you are keen to help keep the lights on for this podcast, you can support us on Patreon, or you can leave a review on whatever platform you listen to podcasts on like Apple or Spotify.Thank you for the continued support from all of our listeners and patrons - we love and appreciate you all!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.