Sam and Katie are joined by Ethan Spears and Cody Bramich from the 360 South Project.

Ethan and Cody are relatively new to running but are passionate about building a movement in the Illawarra through community, challenge, and shared suffering. Their flagship event is a unique 360 km relay from Wollongong to Huskisson and back, completed by teams of six over a 30-hour window, with legs split however teams choose.

Despite being early in their running journeys, both are getting quick. Ethan recently clocked a sub-20 5 km time trial, while Cody has run 1:28 at both the Shellharbour and Husky Half Marathons.

In the lead-up to the May 15 event, the crew discusses the vision behind the project, the logistics of the relay format, and what’s planned around it — including merch, community runs, and launch events.

👉 More info: https://www.instagram.com/360southproject/

Training Weeks

Café Kit of the Week

News

Sam and Katie are joined by Chris Stone, who shares his running journey—from early runs with his dad, to a long hiatus through university, and then a spark moment after lining up at City2Surf that reignited his love (and natural knack) for running.

Since returning to the sport, Chris has clocked some impressive road PBs:

More recently, Chris has found his passion on the trails, completing UTA100 in 15 hours and 31 minutes.

Chris’ favourite place to run is the Wollongong Escarpment, he loves a strong mountain-culture status quo, and his go-to sessions are tempo and threshold workouts.

🏃‍♂️ Training Weeks

Sam

Katie

Chris

☕ Café Kit

🙌 Shoutouts

On this episode of Café Kit of the Month, Sam sits down with Isaac Shaw.

Isaac breaks down his outstanding performance, finishing 2nd in the State 3000m, and walks us through his summer of training. He also shares his experience with precision gels, gives an early review of the up-and-coming NVR running apparel—with a focus on the Ghost Singlet—and chats about the Puma MagMax.

To round things out, Isaac gives us the inside word on the upcoming Run Havoc community runs and their latest testing partnership.

Sam and Katie kick off the New Year with a proper catch-up, chatting New Year’s resolutions and recapping their training weeks as usual.

Café Kit of the Week

Nike Vaporfly 4

Brooks Glycerin Max

Zwift subscription

Huge congrats to Alex Bui, who takes out this month’s Run Havoc $100 voucher 🏃‍♂️🎉

Sam chats with Tim Manuel, a huge part of the KJ’s community. Tim rediscovered his love of running during the Covid lockdowns after first lacing up in his junior years—and he’s been flying ever since.

From a 2:11 PB over 800m through to an agonisingly close sub-3 marathon attempt at last year’s Sydney Marathon (3:00:50), Tim’s range is seriously impressive. A standout Masters athlete, he’s won multiple Cross Country and Track titles for KJ’s and played a key role in numerous podium finishes throughout the season.

Originally a middle-distance runner, Tim tackled the marathon with guidance from those around him, plenty of reading, and jumping into long runs with the WTC group as part of his Sydney build.

Sam

Another solid week of training

Yasso 800s

Friday session: 5-4-3-2-1 off a one-minute jog

Sunday long run: 2 hours

Total volume: 80km

Tim

Running purely for enjoyment through the end of the year

Mixing in swimming ahead of the Australia Day Aquathon/Duathlon

Around 60km of running, including some pool-to-run transition practice

T8 Sherpa Shorts (order a size up)

ASICS Metaspeed Edge – Ekiden colourway

Milo cereal

Tim gives a shoutout to Joe Crawford, who does a mountain of work behind the scenes for KJ’s while also running some seriously impressive times across the marathon and beyond.

This week, Katie takes over hosting duties and puts Sam in the hot seat for a change. Sam runs through his personal bests — including a 9:57 3 km time trial where a shoelace came undone mid-run, a gritty 1:18 half marathon at the Western Sydney Half, where he came third after running through the field and picking off competitors throughout the second half, and his 2:56 marathon, which capped off his original ambition of breaking three hours.

Katie then debuts a brand-new segment: Rapid Fire Questions, putting Sam on the spot with some quick hits.

Katie recaps a varied week of strength training and cycling, before having a crack at the JT Running 5 km on the track Tuesday night.

Sam successfully paces the JT Running 5 km group through to sub-20 minutes, but spends the rest of the week jogging easy while battling a head cold.

🎄 Thank you to all our listeners for the support this year — wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and happy running!

Sam and Katie sit down with Rene Collins, a familiar face in the Illawarra running scene who wears many hats — from coaching local ultra-marathon athletes, to pacing at major city marathons, and most recently leading the run sessions for SAVVY.

Rene’s running journey began with the Canberra Marathon, an initiation he describes as brutally tough, famously hitting the wall around 32km. From there, things escalated quickly. He tackled the Six Foot Track (45km) in the Blue Mountains, followed by the UTA 100km, a race Rene recalls as a comedy of errors — yet still an unforgettable and enjoyable experience.

Momentum carried him into the Southern Sydney 100km on the track, where he finished an incredible 2nd place, before stepping up again to the 100-mile distance. This progression ultimately led to his selection for Coast to Kosciuszko (C2K) in 2022.

Rene reflects fondly on completing C2K and walks us through the demanding selection process, including how he worked deliberately to earn selection again for C2K 2025. A key part of that journey was taking on the Alpine Challenge, a gruelling 100-mile race at Falls Creek, to ensure he made the cut.

Katie outlines a conservative training block, combining a strength-focused program with 6 × 800m reps working down conservatively, plenty of gym work, and cycling.

Sam continues with Yasso 800s (7 reps on Tuesday) alongside a long tempo session on Friday, keeping mileage steady in the 70–80km/week range.

Rene is easing back post-C2K, mixing cycling, Savvy sessions, parkruns, and Thursday track.

3D-printed stand to air out soft flasks

Katie’s Day Planner

ASICS Kayano

Rene shouts out Bob Oganovski

Growing anticipation for the JT Running 5km Time Trial

Sam & Katie sit down with Edwin Smith – a relatively new runner who’s dived deep into the world of trail running over the past few years. Edwin recently ran Mudgee Marathon in just over 4 hours, and he’s chasing that sub-4 early next year 👀

He also completed the Pilliga Grand Slam (10k, 50k, 20k spread across 3 days!) and is now building a running community through his social content. Edwin talks us through how he documents his journey and how his Pub Half Marathon concept ended up gaining huge traction online.

Check out Edwin here → @running_with_edwin

Upcoming for Edwin:

Six Foot Track

105k self-guided course early ‘26

Red’s Backyard Ultra on the radar

Edwin

4 runs per week

Tempo work

2hr trail long run on weekends

Katie

3 day run-strength plan

12×400m, 3×8min

Zwift sesh + heavy gym work

Sam

Half-Yasso 800s

Tempo + Threshold + k-reps

Hilly long run with a spicy finish on Sunday 😮‍💨

Toppo Trail Shoes

Injinji Toe Socks

“Warming up” before your run

Recovery Base Shellharbour

Edwin shouts out The GOATs Trail Running Club

Greg Frost – 2:28

Jacob Foster – 2:28

Stefan Deane-Smith – 2:36

Russ Dessaix-Chin – 2:38

Mitch Ryan – 2:46

Liam Henderson – 2:50

Sam catches up with James Tunbridge to celebrate the first birthday of JT Running

Sam & Katie sit down with Joe Mallat, who’s had a breakout year on the roads. Joe’s dropped his 5 K to 16:43 at Sandon Point parkrun, clocked 34:55 at Sydney 10, and finished 2nd at Shellharbour Half in 1:21:54.

A former basketball and rugby player, Joe dabbled in cross-country through high school but only recently found structure after joining JT Running. He credits the group’s training environment and guidance from coach James Tunbridge—who just celebrated one year of JT Running—for his rapid progress. Joe now has his eyes set on a sub-33 10 K and a strong marathon debut.

We unpack training weeks from all three hosts:

Katie builds mileage, tackles a sharp VO₂ Max track set (400/300/200s), and rolls through 4 × 6-minute tempo efforts while exploring strength work for her knee.

Sam logs a fast 1 K + 300s session and a surprise set of 2 K reps on Saturday.

Joe mixes running with swimming and gym, plus some snappy 600 m and 300 m intervals on the track.

☕ Café Kit of the Week: Vomero Plus shoes, Shokz Over-Ear Headphones, and Way of the Hero Half Tights