Tales from the Valley Podcast

Ballarat is getting closer and the marathon builds are starting to peak 🏃‍♂️ Sam catches up with Mitch Ryan & Josh Engel to break down their training ahead of Ballarat. Mitch Ryan Mitch reflects on his Valencia Marathon build from last year where Achilles issues made things challenging. Since then he’s been patiently building back up and getting consistent again. Before locking in for Sydney Marathon later this year, Mitch is planning to pace the Wollongong crew chasing 2:40 for as long as he can before finishing off his own race. His week totaled 95km, highlighted by 30 minutes on the track Tuesday running around 3:20/km pace. Josh Engel Josh is fully committed to this marathon block, putting the shorter racing aside through summer and focusing solely on the build. He’s added strength work plus quicker midweek long runs to make sure he’s strong deep into the marathon. His week included: • 16km either side of marathon pace at the Crit Track averaging 3:43/km • A Blue Mountains long run with nearly 1,000m of climbing, still sticking to the workout and matching marathon effort across the hills Sam Hodges Another strong week banked for the Shellharbour Marathon build with 96km on the board. Key sessions included: • A compromised workout in hot conditions featuring 3k, 2k, 1k at roughly 3:45/km off 2 mins rest, followed by 4km at marathon pace • Sunday’s 31km long run including 4 x 4km right on 4:05/km pace ☕ Café Kit of the Week • Adidas Boston 13 • ASICS Sonicblast • K Tape for chafe • Squirrel Nut Butter • Blacksheep Singlet 📣 Shoutouts & News • TFTV will be ambassadors for the Wollongong Running Festival https://www.wollongongrunningfestival.com/ Use code SAMH20 for 20% off • Mitch chats through Run Wollongong on April 18th https://runwollongong.com.au/ • Check out Wollongong Track Club on Instagram if you want to line up with elites like Tommy De Canto, Gen Gregson, Jye Edwards, Luke Hince and Eloise Wellings while chasing a sub-20 5k • Mitch shouts out Kristina from Coast to Mountain Running & Lauren Mitchell for the work they’re doing to bring more females into running. Tuesday mornings at Beaton Park Track have become a fantastic starting point for women joining the sport. • Josh shouts out wife Hannah as she gears up for her first Half Marathon 👏

TFTV Rat Race – Ballarat Build (5 Weeks Out) 🎙️ Sam catches up with past guests Mel Jefferis & Pete Naseby as the Ballarat Marathon edges closer. Mel is gearing up for the Half Marathon and building strong after overcoming hamstring issues. She takes us through her recent block, including an 86km week featuring sessions like 6 x 1k + 4 x 400, 3 x 10 mins, and a 2-hour long run. She’s lining up with confidence and chasing a PB in Ballarat. Pete is set for the full marathon, joining a strong contingent of Illawarra locals. Off the back of a 3:04 in Sydney, he’s targeting improvement with a consistent block — highlighted by a 93km week, including 15 x 400m off 30s and a big 37km day incorporating the Huskisson Elite Energy Half (1:29) after 13km pre-fatigue. Sam also shares his own prep for Shellharbour, with a 99km week including: • 16 x 400m @ 3:26 (45” rest) • 4 x 2k @ 3:45 (500m jog) • 34km long run + 2 gym sessions Café Kit of the Week ☕️ Running gear that doubles as post-run swim kit: • Nike Vomero Plus • 250ml pop top Ballarat is coming 👀

Sam chats with Jarrod Boyd and Greg ‘Frosty’ Frost as both line up for Ballarat in five weeks. Jarrod makes his first appearance on the podcast, bringing some serious credentials with PBs of 16:44 (5k), 33:38 (10k) and 1:16 (half). Coming from a high-level rugby background, Jarrod transitioned into triathlon and reached peak fitness around 2017. After stepping away from running during COVID while starting a family, he returned in 2024 and ran 3:04 at the Gold Coast Marathon off just six months of training. Now, with a full block behind him and support from JT Running, he’s targeting well under 3 hours at Ballarat. Frosty returns fresh off a huge run at Valencia, clocking 2:28 for the marathon and shaving 40 seconds off his PB. He’ll be stepping down to the half at Ballarat, chasing another personal best. Training weeks Frosty talks through a typical 130km week across seven runs, including broken kilometre reps on the track Tuesday and a 35-minute progression on Friday with Myles, working down from 3:30 to 3:10 pace. Jarrod shares a key marathon session of 3 x 5km after 17km easy, hitting 4:12, 4:08 and 4:04, showing strong progression deep into the run. Despite a lighter week due to work travel, he still put together a solid set of workouts including a Saturday progression. Sam reflects on the challenge of balancing training with a newborn but still gets the work done, including 26km midweek with 10 x 1k on 1k off averaging 4:11/km across 20k, and a 28km long run featuring 5k, 3k and 3k efforts around 4:10 pace in tough heat. Café Kit of the Week Mileage Mate Asics Superblast 2 Asics Superblast 3 Shoutouts & News Jarrod gives a shoutout to his old Wollongong training group Project M. JT Running are launching a new recreational session every Thursday morning at Bulli Beach (6am), giving runners an entry point into structured training with James Tunbridge and Charl Jansen Van Rensburg.

Sam & Katie catch up after a couple of weeks off while Sam welcomes his daughter Elena into the world 👶 Katie shares an update on her injury and the expected timeline for surgery. In the meantime she’s making the most of the situation by getting fully set up on Zwift and learning the ropes with the full home setup. Sam talks about the early days of balancing newborn life with marathon training, and how the two are already starting to influence each other. Despite the sleep disruption, he jumps straight back into a big training week with 102km, including: 8 × 800m session 6 × 6 minutes threshold work 35km long run workout on Sunday ☕ Café Kit of the Week Devanti Ice Maker Bike Shorts from Lokamo Looking ahead, the podcast will begin interviewing athletes preparing for the upcoming Ballarat Marathon over the next few weeks.

Sam catches up with Luke Hince, 12 months after he was last on the podcast — and for the same reason. Luke takes out the NSW 5000m Championships in 14:00, agonisingly close to cracking sub-14. They kick things off by discussing Luke’s strong run of form, including his impressive 29:03 over 10,000m at the Melbourne Track Classic (part of the Athletics Grand Prix Series) last year. Luke recaps his taper week leading into the race and the atmosphere of an exciting night of racing. After a slow opening lap, Luke made the call to take it from the front, turning the race into a largely solo effort. While he was initially gutted to see 14:00 flash up on the clock, that quickly shifted to excitement when his training partner and Run Havoc teammate secured second place in 14:23. In the B race, the rest of the Hince stable delivered strong performances: Nathaniel Brisbane broke 15 minutes for the first time, running 14:54 Harm Schaap placed second in 14:43 Sam also recaps his own week — 83km all up — featuring: 3km hard in 10:27 at the crit track on a windy morning 6 x 500m A big 32km long run with 2 x 10km efforts sandwiched in Café Kit of the Month Luke gives his latest gear and fuel reviews: Saucony Triumph 23 On Running Winter Vest Rhise Hot Chocolate Luke lines up at Box Hill Athletics Track this Thursday night for another crack at sub-14 — this time in a pack. Keep your eyes peeled!

Sam & Katie catch up on their training this week with no guest on the mic, and also dive into some listener ChatGPT Q’s along the way. 🤖🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️ Katie continues her cycling block, hits squat PB’s, and keeps the running load sensible — while also unpacking Sam’s incredibly inconvenient offer to “help” her through one of her track sessions. 😅 Sam bounces back from a bit of a lull with a strong week featuring speedy 400s, sharp threshold work and mile repeats while down the coast for a wedding. Tune in for Café Kit of the Week ☕️, ChatGPT Q’s, and a fresh round of Yeah/Nah rants… though Katie is still not over Sam breaking her rhythm at the track.

Sam & Katie catch up with Charl Jansen Van Rensburg, who makes his return to the podcast with plenty of updates since last time. Charl has rewritten his Half Marathon PB, clocking a 1:15 at the Gold Coast Half Marathon last year. Alongside his running, Charl has also launched his business Mileage Mate, and walks us through the product—designed to help runners stay warm, dry, and clean before and after training and racing. 🏃‍♀️ Training Weeks Katie Recaps her win at the Aquathon 5k 🥇 Backs it up with more strength training Plenty of cycling to round out the week Sam Talks through a bit of a down week Coming off the back of a heavy training block with some big workouts in the legs Charl Runs through his week as fitness starts to return Recently managed a calf injury picked up at the GONG5000 Feeling positive as things begin to click again ☕ Café Kit of the Week Tune in for this week’s Café Kit and the always-divisive Yeah / Nah segment. 🙌 Shoutouts & Congrats Congrats to Erin Hargrave, this month’s winner of the Run Havoc Café Kit of the Month Voucher 🎉 🔗 Check out Charl’s business here: 👉 https://mileagemate.com.au/ If you want, I can: Shorten this for Instagram / Spotify show notes Add a punchier opening hook Match formatting exactly to the previous Chris Stone episode for consistency

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 Sam breaks down an 81 km week featuring hilly mile reps and another YoYo Tempo. Ethan & Cody battle the flu but still manage track work, HIIT and RIG sessions at the Yard Gym, run-club easy jogs, and even consult an Etsy witch to keep the rain away for Sunday’s long run. Katie logs 41 km including another “Moana” fartlek, absurdly long core sessions, and 4 hours of cycling. Café Kit of the Week Mileage Mate — https://mileagemate.com.au/ Megablasts New Balance Elite Slam Ball News ASICS trade-in event ahead of the Nimbus 28 at Centennial Park Cam Myers runs 3:49 for the mile at UW Indoor Jake Derdon clocks 2:22 at the Houston Marathon

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: 5km: 19:32 10km: 39:56 Half Marathon: 1:29 Marathon: 3:21 at the Sydney Marathon 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 75km week Yo-Yo tempo session 3-minute reps Plus approximately 1000 beers on Friday night 🍻 Katie Continues her Zwift racing and strength work Quick kilometre reps and 400s on the track Gets out for a threshold session in the heat Chris Plenty of time riding his new mountain bike on local trails Progressive tempo session with the JT Running crew K reps and 400s on the track with JT Running teammate Michael Donald ☕ Café Kit Bella’s Nutella Protein Balls Buff for neck coverage Lee & Me blended coffee (Wollongong) 🙌 Shoutouts Training partners: Michael Donald, Michael Bilboe, Josh Boxell Coach: James Tunbridge Wife: Amanda

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. Training Weeks 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 Café Kit of the Week T8 Sherpa Shorts (order a size up) ASICS Metaspeed Edge – Ekiden colourway Milo cereal Shoutouts 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. 🏃 Training Weeks 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. 🏃‍♂️ Training Weeks 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. ☕ Café Kit of the Week 3D-printed stand to air out soft flasks Katie’s Day Planner ASICS Kayano 🔁 Around the Club Rene shouts out Bob Oganovski Growing anticipation for the JT Running 5km Time Trial