Tales from the Valley Podcast

Sam & Katie catch up with William Wei 🎙️ William’s had a huge few months on the roads and track, highlighted by a breakthrough 16:27 for 5K at the WRF 5K, where he finished 3rd overall, before backing it up with a 34:13 at the Sydney 10 — a race he describes as the best performance of his career so far. We chat about balancing big performances with a frustrating metatarsal injury, why his coac...

Sam catches up with Max Gordon 🎙️ Max's running has come a long way in a short time. After only starting structured training in 2023, he's already run 2:43:07 at the Boston Marathon after first clocking 2:44 at Sydney. Now the focus shifts to chasing a 2:38 at this year's Sydney Marathon. 💥 His training has evolved too. Long runs have moved to Saturdays with a full rest day on Sunday, workouts ar...

🎙️ Sam and Katie catch up with Jess Pascoe Jess recently took out the Wollongong Running Festival 10K and joined the podcast to talk through her journey from country NSW to NCAA competition and back to running after years of injury setbacks. Growing up in Forbes, Jess played just about every sport before eventually focusing on running. That decision led her to the University of Florida, where she...

Sam and Katie catch up with Sam Sprowles 🎙️ Sam's only been running since early 2024 after taking on the March Charge fundraiser for Cancer Council following the loss of his father to cancer. What started as a goal of running 200km in a month quickly turned into something much bigger. Since then he's run 18:21 for 5k at Husky Parkrun, 1:24:41 for the half marathon (including a 39:49 10k split), an...

Sam catches up with Jordan Miles from the Good Good Running podcast 🎙️ Jordan has become one of the familiar voices in Australian recreational running through Good Good Running, but his own running journey has been anything but straightforward. A self-coached runner balancing life as a paramedic, husband and dad, Jordan joins the podcast to discuss his progression from struggling through 2.5km fit...

Sam catches up with Chris Littlejohn from the Good Good Running podcast 🎙️ Chris has quietly become one of the most recognisable voices in Australian recreational running. A 2:44 marathoner, running store manager and co-host of Good Good Running, he joins the podcast to chat about his progression from an injured hockey player to a consistent 100km-per-week marathoner, the evolution of one of Austr...

Sam & Katie catch up with Matt McKenzie from the Good Good Running Instagram podcast 🎙️ Matt’s progression has been rapid — from a COVID runner in the Netherlands to running 2:38:14 at Gold Coast and building into one of the stronger recreational marathoners in the country. After starting out with a 3:30 fundraiser marathon in 2021, he dropped a huge PB to 2:57 at Gold Coast before linking up...

Sam catches up with Katie and breaks down the final week before Shellharbour Marathon 🎙️ Sam’s six days out from Shellharbour after a huge marathon block averaging 95K/week post-baby, but taper week took a turn after rolling his ankle during an easy run. Thankfully, the signs are positive — walking normally, hopping pain-free, full mobility still there — so the focus now is staying calm, recoverin...

Sam catches up with Angela Jebb and Liam Mahoney 🎙️ Angela’s been building quietly into something serious — 17:14 (5k), 37:43 (10k) — and at Ballarat she stepped up for her half marathon debut, running 1:22:12. Despite getting caught behind the staggered start and losing her group early, she ran solo for most of the day and held strong when the legs started to go around 14–15k. No specific half ma...

Sam catches up with Harm Schaap and Jessica Burke 🎙️ Jess has made the move from Sydney to Wollongong (and picked up a fiancé along the way 💍). After getting her start at Pace Athletic surrounded by names like Ben St Lawrence, Katie St Lawrence and Sam Hopper, she’s built into a serious runner — 10:28 (3k), 18:10 (5k), 38:09 (10k). Fresh off Ballarat Marathon, Jess ran 41 minutes in tough conditi...

Sam catches up with Sam Jones & Stefan Deane-Smith ahead of the Ballarat Marathon weekend, where both are lining up in the Half Marathon with similar goals — and likely to push each other all the way. Sam Jones is coming in hot off a strong start to the season, clocking two big PBs: dropping his 1500m from 4:03 to 3:56, and running 14:44 for 5000m at State Champs. His preparation for Ballarat...

Riley joins us back on the podcast and gives us an update on his training, then reviews:   - Asics Megablast - Precision Carb Mix - On Zero Half Tights

Sam catches up with Dane Ottesen and Liam Manton just two weeks out from the Ballarat Marathon. The last time we spoke with Dane was after his 2:46 marathon debut at Ballarat last year. Since then, he’s settled into a new routine with JT Running and built into this block while balancing a new job and fresh Sydney Park routes. Dane talks us through his latest week, featuring a session of 6 minutes,...

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...

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...

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...

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 trainin...

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 t...

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 stro...

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 a...

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 howev...

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 Marat...

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,...

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 mul...