Sam, Mitch & Katie chat with Daniel Wood. Dan has been cleaning up the local 5k races winning both Shellharbour 5k and Husky 5k in the last few months. Dan trains with Coach Rob McDonald with Nowra Athletics Club, but lives in Culburra Beach. Dan has run 16:59 at Husky Parkrun, and 35:45 at Sydney10 earlier this year. Dan started running a few years ago to sharpen up for touch, casually running 1:22 at Shellharbour Half. Shortly after he ran 52km fundraising for charity and days later tore his ACL playing Touch Footy. That gave him time to think about what direction he will go with his running and has taken a conservative training approach which is proving to be very successful.

Mitch walks us through the GONG5000 event at the Unanderra Criterium Track Saturday November 30th with races starting at 6pm. Katie runs some solid reps this week, though the crew struggle to convert the paces from Miles to KM's. Dan knocks both interval sessions out of the park and even does his first double threshold session on Saturday. Sam continues Zwifting riding 211km on the bike this week with 24km of running and all of his rehab activities. Mitch does his first Deeks Quarters session and continues consistently building up his Blue Bars on Strava.

The crew speak with Holly Howell this week. Holly is a couple of weeks off her win at Husky Marathon where she ran 3:02. Holly ran more casually years ago completing the London Marathon and the Great Wall of China Marathon. After having a few years off Holly joined Savvy runners here in the gong and after a couple of years nailed all of her PB’s this year. She also came 3rd overall in the Gold Coast Marathon Half and Full Marathon combined event running 1:25 and an impromptu 3:17 marathon.

Sam reluctantly provides a ‘shinjury’ update, but is positive that the cautious approach is the right call. Katie puts together solid sessions and some quick ‘K’ reps with a week total of 112km. Mitch strings along more great running as he pushes the pace in his session and stacks another brick in the form of a 100k week. Holly bounces back from Husky with an 85km week with hill reps and some fast threshold reps to get back in the swing of normal training.

Inspired by the vulnerability of our guests on the Podcast, Sam, Mitch & previous guest Dane Ottesen decide to open up about some of their personal mental health issues as they relate to running.

We talk about some distressing mental health topics to please consider that before listening in.

Sam, Mitch, and Katie speak with Meg Dougherty following her impressive performance at the Husky Half last weekend. Meg, who grew up in Kiama, is currently spending time with her family there but usually resides in Yamba. She and her family have just returned from a caravan trip around Australia, where she managed the adventure with five kids in tow. This year, Meg has broken several of her previous PBs, running 18:17 at the Nightcliff parkrun in 31-degree heat, completing a 38:03 time trial along a 2k-long driveway in the NT, and recently clocking 1:22 at the Aldinga Half Marathon in South Australia, where a large portion of the race was on sand. To make these achievements even more remarkable, Meg has been running exclusively in an old pair of ASICS Nimbus, even in races.

Sam opens with an injury update, noting that his shin splints have returned, but he caught them early. After getting an MRI, he learned they are only classified as Grade 1. Mitch joined the WTC sessions, deviating from his Runcrew program and racking up 106km for the week. Katie continues to train consistently and had a solid session, though she got called out for wearing AlphaFlys on her long runs.

Big congratulations to Clayton Rugg, Mel Frost, and Tereza Olbrich for winning our LSKD giveaway, and thank you to everyone who entered!

Sam, Mitch & Katie speak with Harry McGill. Harry has had an extremely exciting year being a big part of Jess Hull’s Olympic Campaign joining her workouts during her Europe training season. Harry talks us through how that arrangement came about and shares some of the experiences from being a part of the group. After recapping some of Harry’s PB’s they are even more impressive factoring in he did them the day after training sessions (14:16 for the 5km is one of them). He also shares a funny story how his mate said he’d give him $10 for every minute he ran under 3 hours for the marathon on a casual Sunday long-run.

Mitch takes the win in the community NSW state 3k this weekend in 9:43 this week, though wont be caught dead celebrating. Sam nails both sessions this week but his shin is presenting some signs of discomfort so backs things off and hits the bike rather than jogging. Katie gets down to the track for some fast 800s and 400s on Tuesday and then hits the sand dunes for some sprints later in the week. Harry eases back into training with his sites on a fast 1500m early in 2025, though may be a cameo at the next GONG5000 event on November 30th. Tune in for lots of familiar names, great coastal running stories from a lot of races this weekend.

Sam, Mitch, and Katie chat with Alex Seal. Alex competed in college for Boston University and walks us through his move from Australia. He ran 4:01 three times in a row for the mile, but unfortunately never broke the 4-minute barrier, though he boasts a range of impressive personal bests. Since moving back to Australia, Alex took a break from running but returned early last year. Since then, he’s run 30:40 at the Sydney 10k this year and 1:11 at the Wollongong Running Festival. Alex is currently managing an Achilles injury but is keen to increase his mileage and work toward a sub-30-minute 10k in the coming year.

Katie keeps piling on the kilometers, determined to beat Sam at the WTC 5k on November 30th, clocking 109 km this week. Mitch logged 102 km, training with Liam Manton, Rhys Thorp, and Josh Engel on the track, and stepped out of his comfort zone with an all-terrain race. Sam had a good week down in the Bega Valley Shire, including a parkrun and a long run with Tunnaz, Frosty, and Pete.

This week we’re joined by Jack Tidd who ran 2:58 at Melbourne marathon last week to wrap up his sub 3 journey. Coached by previous guest and Ironman Italy winner Chris Beckmans Tiddy has seen rapid improvement in the marathon, running a sub 90 half only 12 months ago. Tiddy loves the routine of running and the community, and seems to be gravitating to longer distances as he gears up for Kosciuszko 100k in December.

Katie logged 95 km of mileage this week, although she had a tough long run at the end of last week. Sam is battling through the flu but manages to maintain his routine of two sessions and a long run. Marc is starting to recover post-Sydney Marathon and is ready to inject some intensity back into his training program now.