State: ACT
Sport: Mountain running, trail running, Skyrunning, ultra running and stair running.
Sporting Accomplishment:
2016: 2nd place Buffalo Stampede Marathon (Oceania Skyrunning Championships), 2nd place Mt Buller Skyrun, 3rd place Buffalo Stampede Vertical Kilometre (Oceania Skyrunning Championships), 4th place Sydney Tower stair run, 8th place Bush Capital Half Marathon, 9th place Roller Coaster Run.
2015: 7th place Mt Buller Skyrun, 7th place Bush Capital Marathon, 10th place overall 4 Peaks stage race
How did you get into your sport:
I was previously a cyclist and whilst working in a café in Canberra one of the regular customers, who was into ultra running, would always talk to me about trail running and the book “Born to Run”. So as I was getting towards the end of my cycling season and wanted to have a significant break before heading over to France to race the next season I read the book he suggested and this with the way he talked about running inspired me to give it a go. I got hooked, but had to stop after 2 months of running to get back into cycling.
Two years later, feeling like I needed a change of sport feeling as I was a bit disheartened with cycling due to crashing which led to a lot of injuries. I decided to get back into trail running, I didn’t look back after this and have now been running for the last 2 years and enjoying every moment.
Hardest thing about your sport:
The hardest thing about my sport is getting through the hard interval sessions, whether they are hill reps or flat intervals, they are the ones that need the most mental strength. Knowing how much better they will make you is what gets me through these sessions.
What does your regular training week consists of:
Monday – long tempo intervals, anywhere from 5 to 18 minutes and usually 3 repetitions.
Tuesday – easy hilly run from 1 hour to 75 minutes.
Wednesday – Hill reps, depending on what sort of race I have coming up they could either be shorter max efforts or paced longer efforts. If I have a race where hiking is important I’ll have longer hiking reps.
Thursday – recovery undulating 60 minutes.
Friday – off or active recovery ride.
Saturday – Long run, anywhere from 2.5 hours to 5 hours depending on the length of the race I have coming. I usually do these in the Brindabella mountain range around Canberra so as to get some long climbing in.
Sunday – a shorter 1 hour to 90 minutes easy run, sometimes with a faster finish for the last 30 minutes.
How do you keep motivated:
I find motivation in the fact that I chose to be outside running.
Goals (Future Plans and Career expectations):
For the rest of this year, my goals would to finish my first proper ultra at Hounslow Classic Ultra (68km) and at least a top 20 placing. Then to get into the top 5 overall in the 4 Peaks stage race in Bright after placing 10th overall last year.
In the long term, my goals would be the Long Distance Mountain Running World Championships next year, to get a result I’ll be happy with and represent my country for the first time. Then in 2 years time to represent my country again in the Vertical Kilometre and marathon distance at the Skyrunning World Championships and again to get a result I’ll be happy with.
On the non-sporting side, my goal is to be the best soft-tissue therapist I can be and eventually open my own clinic hopefully in Bright to be close to the mountains.
Best piece of advice you have been given:
Remain positive and always keep moving forwards.