ultra marathon

Podcast: Episode 96 – Kirsten’s 100km Adventure at Oscars Hut 2 Hut

Zoey · March 15, 2019 · Leave a Comment

This week, I talk to Kirsten about taking on her first 100km event at Oscars Hut 2 Hut.

We talk about what kind of training she had to do, how she adapted her training based on limited access to similar terrain and what the first day was like.

We also talk a bit about the things that might stop someone from training or entering ultra trail events and what can be done to make it more accessible to people.

You can check her on instagram at @shelovestorun and connect with us through the Operation Move Sisterhood in Run Club

If you would like to join us for Learn to Run we’d love to have you – it starts on Monday!

You can listen here:

You can view this on YouTube here:

Podcast: Episode 51 – The One Where Ness Ran 100km

Zoey · July 20, 2017 · Leave a Comment

This week, Ness is back!

And we are talking about what it’s really like to run 100km. We talk about how she felt going into it after her last (very) long run, how she felt going into such an epic run, support crew shenanigans and would she do it again?

You can follow Ness on facebook and instagram. And you can check out her interview on Sparta Chicks Radio too!

And I had a bit of surprise news this week too!

It’s been a huge week! And I talk a bit about some of the exciting things that have been happening in Operation Move land. But if you want to skip to the juicy bit you can do that here.

It was pretty incredible to be honoured by some of the women that I admire the most and to be put forward for that honour by the most amazing women I know.

Head over to iTunes to listen (and subscribe! and review!)

You can listen and download episodes in Itunes here.

Why you need a Plan B. And maybe a Plan C.

OperationMove · January 23, 2015 · 1 Comment

I think most people going into a run have an idea of a finishing time they’d like to achieve. They know what their training runs have been like, they have a general idea of what their body is capable of and a great run is a great acknowledgement of that training. Sometimes you want a nice achievable goal and sometimes you want an aggressive one.

Whatever your goal is, I like to have a solid backup goal and a backup for my backup.

You need a Plan B. In 2015 I did the Kurrawa 2 Duranbah 50k. My Plan A for was under 5 hours. Which is a highly aggressive goal given the heat and the distance. But I thought I’d like to give it a crack. In any races there are so many variables. Conditions, how your body feels on the day, fatigue, nutrition and any manner of other things. Some of which you have a reasonable level of control over and some of which you don’t. Things that I didn’t have control over was the fact that I was carrying a bit of a virus on race day. And things that I did have control of (but chose to ignore) was that I was in a period of recovery and my body was in no condition to run a race. So I had a couple of back up plans. One was under 5:30 and my Plan C was under 6 hours. It became really obvious in the first 10k that Plan A wasn’t going to happen. Sometimes in racing you are not sure if you can make it at pace and you need to stick to your guns and find somewhere in that pace that is comfortable for you to run. This was not one of those times. Breathing was a bit laboured and I just didn’t have it in me. So I accepted that it was going to be Plan B.

When I hit about 35km and it was like running through quicksand and the temperature started to get really hot I had to let go of Plan B and just finish. I got there at 5:50 and I had made Plan C.

Plan B or Plan C is so important. Because if I hadn’t had that I could have gotten to the finish line and been disappointed. And how awful would that have been? To be disappointed with my first ultramarathon. Plan C was great. Under the conditions, Plan C was something I could be very happy of and I could be proud of what I’d done crossing the finish line.

Never be afraid to set an aggressive goal.

If you don’t, you’ll never know and you can limit your abilities by only setting safe goals. But have a Plan B. Or C. So you can be proud of your achievement no matter what.