Sam, Katie, and Mitch speak with Sam Jones. Sam has very impressive personal bests, including 14:55 for 5K and 68:30 for the half marathon. Sam was involved in athletics when he was younger but found more enjoyment in downhill mountain biking. However, running made its way back into Sam’s life out of necessity during his travels.

Being self-coached, Sam wanted to remove the stress of creating his own training programs and enlisted Brady Threlfall to take the reins. Sam manages to balance a demanding job with his running program and finds that there is a fine line for him in maintaining healthy running habits.

During the training week, everyone discusses their warm-up and cool-down routines. Katie put together a 42km week, seeming to bounce back from her injury. Sam Jones balances his hectic work schedule and is recovering from some sickness, but keeps his focus on his Sunday long runs. Mitch struggles with motivation but keeps grinding, completing 102km, including an impressive impromptu Mona Fartlek on Saturday. Sam battles through Achilles and back pain but manages to put together a 100km week with two sessions and a hilly long run around Candelo.

Sam, Katie, and Mitch chat with Claire Rayner. Claire has had a long and successful running career, boasting a 35:00 10K personal best at just 16 years old. More recently, she ran a 2:58 marathon in Newcastle on a lapped and windy course.

Claire shares her journey of moving from Canberra to Wollongong for university and how she has learned to manage her training load and intensity over time. We hear how Claire benefits from training with a squad and incorporates strength training into her routine. Recently, Claire has been dealing with hip issues, which have prevented her from maintaining a high-mileage training regimen. She has since pivoted to the increasingly popular Hyrox events, where she walks us through the specific exercises and asserts that they are even more challenging than an all-out road marathon.

Sam kicks off his week with lighter training, recovering from an adductor strain. He manages to log 85 km of running and 40 km of cycling, but ends up with a sore back after being knocked over by a large dog during his Saturday session across the road from Warrawong Maccas. Katie, feeling pain-free, strings together a few runs along with her usual cross-training, while Claire puts her to the test with a Hyrox training session. Mitch caps off his week with a 79-minute half marathon at Olympic Park. It wasn’t his best day, but he grinded it out and is proud of his effort.

Katie, Mitch, and Sam speak with Liam Manton this week. Liam is fresh off his 2:54 marathon on the Sunshine Coast last weekend, so we’re lucky enough to get a current recap. Liam has an eclectic endurance history, spending a lot of time in the gym with kettlebells and biking.

Liam started running with Runcrew but recently began working with Pulse and has seen great results. His other PBs include 17 flat for 5k, 34:47 for 10k, and 1:18 for the half.

Sam put the tools down for 4 days last week with a self-diagnosed adductor strain, which seemed to improve by the weekend. Katie is also cautious with her injury and is waiting for X-rays from her doctor. Mitch runs 102 km this week, off the back of C2S, and manages to find some good trails after a big chunk of climbing early on in Cessnock.

Sam, Katie, and Mitch are joined by WTC member Dane Ottesen. In just a few short years, Dane has run an impressive time trial of 15:04 on the Picton Parkrun course (though not during an official event), but officially clocked 15:37 at the Wollongong Running Festival, 31:55 at the Sydney 10K, and 71:50 at the Gold Coast Half Marathon.

Dane started running when Picton Parkrun began, initially finishing in 22 minutes. He improved to 18 minutes on his own until Myles Gough traveled up for Parkrun and introduced him to WTC. Since then, Dane has been coached by IRP’s Brady Threlfall and has seen great improvements in his running. Currently, Dane is managing his work-life-running balance and trying to string together more consistent training.

Mitch is back from Spain. Despite the jetlag and a bucks party on Friday night, he managed to run 49:50 at C2S today. Katie is building on her running while continuing to work through her hip injury. Dane put together a solid week with strong sessions and an unintentional 2-hour, 20-minute long run, which included a 9-meter fence climb. Sam hit 100 km for the week, his first time reaching that milestone since March.

Sam, Katie, and Josh are joined by Jaymee McPherson, the founder of Just Another Run Club. Jaymee started JARC in January this year as she wanted to have a safe space for women to get into running. Jaymee also provides holistic programming for running, cross-training, and strength training. Jaymee ran her first half marathon at Kiama Classic this year and feels ready to step up to the marathon, though she is biding her training efforts while she deals with a few niggles.

Katie is slowly ramping up her running as she does 25 km featuring a lot of cross-training. Josh is stacking brick on brick with a very solid long run on Saturday with some hills, 3 x 6 min at half marathon pace, and 30 min at marathon pace. Jaymee mixes up her training in the gym, on the bike, walking, and with the JARC run on Sunday. Sam has a scheduled down week, complains about three days of quad DOMs, and Katie calls him out for uploading strength sessions to Strava, but he walks away with 90 km for the week.

Join us for the usual segments and find Jaymee’s Instagram for her PT services and Just Another Run Club below:

https://www.instagram.com/jaymeekaitmcpherson/

https://www.instagram.com/justanother.runclub/

Sam, Katie, and Josh catch up with Myles Gough. Myles won the Canberra Marathon in 2021 with a time of 2:25 and holds some other impressive results. To our hosts' surprise, Myles only picked up running in 2016, starting at Parkrun to meet new people.

Myles explains how his running developed, taking many learnings from local coach Barry Keem. He shares how he stayed fit during injury through cross-training and recently ran 2:39 at the Gold Coast Marathon. We also hear how Myles manages the challenges of balancing work, family, and running at a high level.

Myles takes us through his training week, balancing cross-training with key workouts like sessions and long runs in the lead-up to the Sydney Marathon. Katie gets two more runs on the board and racks up hours of cross-training. It’s business as usual for Josh as he puts together another impressive training week, and Sam runs his first-ever trail race, coming 4th in the Summit Shoalhaven half marathon over the weekend.

Rohan is also a physio, so he talks us through his strength and conditioning protocols, as well as providing feedback to our hosts this week. Josh stacks some tempo running on top of some solid weekly mileage (109 km), all while adjusting to his new strength program prescribed by Rohan. Rohan talks us through his program, which is typically set in three-week blocks, including hill efforts, gym routines, cycling, and the "Kamikaze" Saturday Session. Sam stacks a 92 km week together with two sessions and a trip to Dalmeny. Katie gets some running advice and starts to do some jog/walking, while she smashes out hours of cross-training.

Sam, Mitch, and Katie are joined by Kate Matts, Head of Saucony Australia. Kate has been with Saucony since before the launch of the Endorphin line, so she has extensive knowledge of how Saucony’s incredible range has expanded over the past few years. Kate is able to give us technical insights into some of the upcoming shoes in the range over the coming months and years, as well as insights into how design choices and product direction are determined. Kate also provides a unique perspective on her own running, given how she came to running after starting work with Saucony.

Katie is back on Australian soil and is spending a lot of time on the bike. Sam has improved ever so slightly compared to last week, both in terms of sessions and overall mileage, which is now at 84 km. Mitch runs 144 km of jogging but spices things up by revisiting his old training diary.

https://www.saucony.com.au/

Tune in for our usual segments and also some exclusive intel on Saucony's upcoming range.