Welcome back to Episode 4 of the Run Culture podcast mini-series, “Boom or Bust!” Join us as we track the journey of four athletes gearing up for the 2025 Ballarat Marathon, just under seven weeks away! This week, we have Kate Mason sharing her experience from a tin shed during a storm at school camp in Dartmoor—talk about dedication! While she faces a down week due to camp and a frustrating workout on Friday, her spirit remains unbroken.Ned Verwey updates us on his dietitian appointment and his impressive long run on Sunday, truly living up to our podcast's title! Meanwhile, Aaron ‘Throbber’ Sim continues to crush it with a solid 3 by 5k workout at goal marathon pace, preparing for a head-to-head showdown with Dane at the Inverloch half marathon next weekend.Dane Verwey wraps up the episode with details of his consistent week, including a double threshold session and a marathon workout with Pete on the bike. While he’s pleased with his endurance, he’s working on finding that extra speed.We hope you're enjoying the show! We’d love to hear your thoughts or any listener questions for next week's episode! #RunCulture #BoomOrBust #BallaratMarathon2025

Kate, Ned, Aaron, and Dane not only recorded episode 3 of the "Boom or Bust" podcast—locking in its new name and thanking listeners for their suggestions and questions—but also powered through another eventful week of training for the 2025 Ballarat Marathon.

Ned notched up a couple of big sessions (including one in heavies as he forgot his trainers and one with the Geelong River Run) whilst suspiciously getting lost around the chocolate factory on a run, go figure?!

Kate hit another impressive 100-mile week, enjoyed the Kooks concert, rocked an outrageous shoe and sock combo on Friday, whilst the boys marvelled at her incredible ability in a 5am easy run to hit low 4 min/km out of the gate.

Aaron enjoyed his new Vomeros, checked off both a quality track workout and a marathon-specific session, whilst locking in the nickname "Throbber" on his Ballarat Bib.

While Dane recovered from minor niggles and maintained a solid training week, reinforcing his focus on recovery.

If there are any listener questions, please reach out to the Run Culture Instagram or any of us on socials. @ballaratmarathon

Guess what? It’s time for Episode Two of “Ballarat Marathon Buildups!” I’m excited to have Aaron, Kate, and Ned back on the show. This episode starts with our favorite training sessions and workouts that help us gauge our fitness.

Ned and Aaron then detail their first marathon-specific workouts, while ‘Kate 5am Mason’ shares the crazy things she sees during her early runs (I still can’t believe what she saw in the ocean?!) She also shares a powerful lesson from her Gold Coast marathon experience when she faced ‘heat stroke.’

Unfortunately we lost the last 10 minutes of the recording due to a software glitch (one technologically savvy person had so many podcast recordings saved to their computer that their storage reached capacity, sorry all!)

Nonetheless, Dane, jumps back on and wraps it up with details of another motivating training week! We cover a lot in this episode, and I hope you find it entertaining!

All 4 of us would love to hear your thoughts! Drop your listener questions or name suggestions in the comments below.

Today and over the next couple of months I've got something a bit different for you all!

Each week I am going to catch up with my brother; Ned Verwey and good friends from down here on the 'Ninch'; Kate Mason and Aaron Sim, as we all train towards the 2025 Ballarat Marathon in just under 10 weeks time.

We will catch up weekly to chat about the inevitable ups/downs and life hurdles typically encountered in a marathon build. I hope this podcast can inspire, entertain and/or influence other runners in some way. I also hope it highlights the fact that we can all come at the marathon from different angles and different approaches. That we all have similar challenges and different challenges, and that no one is perfect and that's ok! We aim to have a lot of fun:)

More about the Guests:

Aaron Sim is a 35 year old father of two, who only picked up running during COVID (2021). In the space of 3 years he has dropped his marathon time from 2:50 to 2:25:32! From 2008-2013 he travelled far and wide playing drums for an Indie band. Prior to finding running, he was an avid golfer! He's now a music teacher at Woodleigh Secondary.

Kate Mason is one of the most infectiously bubbly and positive people you will meet. Her and her partner, Ben Griffith (Griffo) with their fur baby Nala in tow, intentionally make their whole life 'not' about running. If they aren't caravanning in NZ, they are always doing something interesting be it: mountain biking, going to a gig, catching up with friends or house renos etc...Kate's an incredibly talented runner with amazing grit and endurance, coming 3rd in 2:34:08 at the Melbourne Marathon in 2024.

My brother Ned Verwey is 32 years old and lives in Anglesea and works in Prosthetics and Orthotics at Ballarat Hospital. He was a super talented junior track runner over 1500m-3,000m medaling Nationally! During University years he enjoyed himself and running fell by the way side. He then had several years plagued by injury. However, with patience, persistence and the helpful encouragement of his lovely wife Simone McInnes (also a runner) he has slowly got himself back to the strongest and fittest he has ever been. He's learnt a lot through the process and loves going out for a run everyday!

And, then there is myself; Dane, a 39 year old father of two, I have been immersed in running my whole life; as a runner, physiotherapist and coach. This will be my 19th marathon and there is certainly a deep seated motivation to turn back the clock a little, show myself that I can still do it and nail a 'dad PB'!

Listen in if you want :)

For the first few months of 2025 I am going to re-release some of the most listened to Run Culture Podcast Episodes over the past 5 years!

We live in a fast paced, information dense world, attention spans are fleeting. Sometimes we ‘look’ but do we ‘see?’

Lately, I have loved slowing down and re-listening to past podcasts, allowing them to marinate better. It's incredible how each podcast can mean something different to me today than they did 5 years ago!

In 2020, I chatted to Dr. Keith Livingstone- It was an amazing insight into the Principles of Arthur Lydiard.“Champions are everywhere....they just need to be trained correctly." -Arthur Lydiard

If you want to hear a fantastic insight into the history, training and coaching philosophies of Arthur Lydiard and his pupils, then there is no better man to chat to than Keith Livingstone and that's who we have on the show today.

This is a lengthy one, Keith's a fantastic story teller, I was spell bound, ideal for your next long run!

Dr. Keith Livingstone not only was a high level distance runner himself in his day running; 14:04 for 5000m and 29:19 for 10,000m but was also a highly sought after chiropractor, running coach and now author of three books!

These include; 1.) Healthy Intelligent Training- the proven principles of Arthur Lydiard, 2.) Champions are Everywhere-The Schedules (A practical user friendly summary of Healthy Intelligent Training) and 3.) Staring down the Beast- A book recounting Keith's survival journey after being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor (glioblastoma multiforme) in 2007.

Keith also has a fantastic blog at; www.drkeith.com.au, where he has a number of fantastic interviews, blogs and If you are interested you can also purchase his books.

Today on the Run Culture Podcast I had the privilege to chat with Scott Simmons a professional running coach of the American Distance Project, the US Army World Class Athlete Program and Team India, based in Colorado Springs, USA. Scott has over 30 years of coaching experience! He shared so many incredible stories and insights about training and coaching Olympians, Olympic Medalists and collegiate athletes. It felt like having a casual chat on my couch, asking all the questions I've always wanted to know! I can't wait for you all to listen and learn from his wisdom and stories.

Topics covered include:

-The importance of Speed development and always developing the aerobic house.

-Non linear periodisation.

-The myth of peaking/tapering.

-Key training principles: Specificity, overload, recovery, adaptation, progression.

-‘Harambee’- Swahili for ‘all pull together’ This is the official motto of Kenya, appearing on its coat of arms.

-Take a step back from time to time and reflect if running is making you a ‘Better human’?

-The importance of Self belief and taking a bet on yourself.

-How the environment, people, traditions, culture and embedded beliefs can influence performance.

-Training is as much about training one’s ability/skill to cope with pain as it is about improving one’s fitness.

-What’s a Hammer rep or Predator Tempo?

-Improving as a coach/athlete requires time and space to make mistakes to learn. These are the required steps to grow to get better.

Thanks once again Scott. Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you enjoy this listen and the festive season!

Today on the Run Culture Podcast, I chatted to one of the most ‘well read, knowledgeable and innovative’ coaching minds in current day distance running; Brad Hudson.

The interview was quite high level, it covered a lot of territory and did bounce around a fair bit, many times I didn’t know what direction it was going to go which made it fun. Since starting the Run Culture podcast some 5yrs ago, I’ve had some interviews I’ve really cherished and this one ranks right up there as one of my favorites, I had a blast trying to keep up with this running genius.

Brad is a well-known running coach (who’s currently living in LA, USA) and was a former elite (2:13 marathoner) distance runner himself.

He is recognized for coaching many top-level athletes, including; Dathan Ritzenhein, Shayne Culpepper, Jason Hartman, Parker Stinson, Benita Johnson, Allie Kieffer, Jorge Torres, amongst many others….

There were many take home messages, including:

- How Modern elite training has changed in 2024?

- Why we should all be 'Experimenting, Innovating and Evolving' our training?

- Some of Brad’s key Endurance Training principles.

- The importance of customized and responsive training plans.

- The Importance of Sleep, Psychology, Nutrition, Stress management.

- His many coaching influences (too many to list, he’s a lifelong learner and learns from anyone if he feels it could be useful). Some mentioned, include; Mark Wetmore, Bill Dellinger, Renate Canova, Arthur Lydiard, Percy Cerutty, Antonio Cabral, Jack Daniels, Nick Bideau and Pat Clohessy.

- And many other pearls of coaching wisdom, including his two book recommendations- Ryan Holliday’s ‘Daily Stoic’ and Marc Bubb’s book; ‘Peak: The New Science of Athletic Performance That is Revolutionizing Sports’

If anyone wanted to reach out to Brad for ‘Online Running Coaching’ Brad’s email is: ⁠[email protected]⁠

Thanks once again Brad, you were a joy to listen to and have certainly got me excited about my own coaching!

Today on the Run Culture podcast I chat to renowned exercise physiologist and running coach; Greg McMillan.

We specifically talk about the importance of individualizing training. Over the years Greg has used a simple evaluation to help thousands of runners train more effectively, avoid injury and peak when it counts! He shares how you can do this too!

Here are three questions every runner should answer:

-How do I respond to certain training? Runners respond differently to different types of workouts and mileage. Are you a speedster, endurance monster or a combo runner?

-How do I recover from certain training? Recovery isn't static. What workouts do you recover quickly from, what workouts do you take longer to recover from?

-How do I adapt to certain training? What workouts give you a quick fitness boost (fast-adapting), what workouts take a bit longer (slow-adapting)?

Greg McMillan is a renowned running coach, exercise physiologist and founder of McMillan Running. Greg has had some incredible mentors, including; Arthur Lydiard, Joe Vigil, David Martin, Gabriel Rosa and Jack Daniels. For a number of years Greg coached an Adidas sponsored pro team in Flagstaff, Arizona called 'McMillan Elite' or 'Team USA Arizona'. As you will see Greg has been a student of the sport his whole life, he is an incredible wealth of running knowledge and I am so grateful that he could share some of this with us today!

If you want to learn more about; Greg's coaching services, try his world famous pacing calculator or just continue to be well informed about running, be sure to go to; www.mcmillanrunning.com