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hello and welcome to episode 29 ish of
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Runners only with dom Harvey on this
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episode triathlete Hayden Wilde hey
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there was a
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family and uh yeah my dad as well he
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passed away like 12 years ago so he
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never got to see me race so no I need to
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put a disclaimer out there this is a
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repeat episode that was first shared
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back in March I'm reposting it because
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at the time of recording Hayden was in
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Birmingham for the 2022 Commonwealth
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Games if you've already heard it feel
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free to listen again it's a great chat
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or you can skip it or if you've not
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heard it I really hope you enjoy it we
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discuss a whole lot of stuff how he won
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and then almost lost his Olympic medal
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losing his dad in a plane crash as a
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young boy the Romantic gesture to his
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girlfriend while she was an miq and much
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much more alright let's get into it
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let's get it started hey this is
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slow and steady anyway you coming just
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wanna connect for everyone who loves
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running this is
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with
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[Music]
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Runners only with dom Harvey and Hayden
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Wilde Olympic Games bronze medalist and
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the triathlon g'day mate hi how's it
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going it's good to good to meet you yeah
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I've always heard you at 5am when I go
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to some squads so it's actually nice to
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put a face to the name if we have we met
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before I know we were in this we were
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running an event on the same day you did
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a half marathon and I was doing a
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marathon on Hawke's Bay did we meet then
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no I don't think we did because I think
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you know it starts about halfway so you
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started obviously probably uh in the
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city
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um but I do recall yeah you doing uh you
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were you had a yarn about it uh post
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post run and uh yeah I finished up um as
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well
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um but it was very nice kind of
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finishing in the vineyard it was
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actually like one of the best kind of
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post events I've ever had ever gonna in
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the vineyard having a wine or two yeah a
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good little good little setup and you
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you won that day how old were you at the
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time I was about 16 17.
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um I just moved well I just moved in my
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last year in high school
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um and then kind of moved to Tauranga
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from whakatane and actually bit my coach
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that I actually uh presently have Craig
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Kirkwood who's uh well accomplished in
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the marathon at the moment but yeah he's
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uh it was quite funny so that's kind of
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how the banter started and I think every
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time he gets he's on a podcast that gets
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brought up and uh kind of he was going
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down there he was all uh pretty
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confident that he was gonna take a
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thousand bucks home but then some kid
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from whakatane just kind of stole his
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lunch so and then then how did the
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relationship start like did he did he
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hit you up and offer to coach you or um
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Craig's one of those guys that doesn't
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like to approach anyone that's kind of
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you approach him um you know he doesn't
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like that and poaching or doing anything
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like that it's like he sees their talent
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and you know might give some tips in
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here and there and then the um I might
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start but I actually had a guy called
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Dave Jags who is my coach I did
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multi-spots of the coast to coast and
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whatnot and then from there my Dave
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pretty much turned around and said like
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um like mate I've heard it pretty much
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at my peak of coaching uh I don't know
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if I can coach him any longer which was
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like pretty awesome to hear so he gave
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me a couple options and total
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yeah he pretty much said he was he broke
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up but on a good basis so basically
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saying basically saying you're you're
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you know you've sort of outgrown the
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pond yeah pretty much which was awesome
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like there was no bad blood I was still
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into his Jeremy resolved and we always
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give each other banter all the time and
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uh he's like you know I've got two
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coaches that out I know that are well
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better than my capabilities and uh yeah
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I had two options and my fizzy at the
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time was getting coached by a lady
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called Liz van Wiley who went to the
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Olympics and com games for suing and she
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well her stepdaughter was getting
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coached by Craig and that's kind of how
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it started and Craig was also doing Iron
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Man at the the present time so that's uh
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kind of how that linked in quite nicely
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and uh was part of you like
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I don't want to go to Coach me I I'm
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better than him already I know right I
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know I was like I was like I didn't know
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who the guy was it's actually quite
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funny because they uh I forgot the
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um the commentator who was at the who's
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doing all the awards ceremony and
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whatnot and they were just blowing smoke
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right up his ass it was quite funny and
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then the a couple months later I was
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coached by him and uh you haven't looked
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back since so um he's got a pretty good
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uh resume behind him now with you know
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coaching Sam Tanner who went to the
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Olympics for the 15 as well and you know
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he's pretty much coached him from uh
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complete scratch obviously had a massive
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natural talent and uh a big kick but um
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you know you've got to nurture that and
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put that in the right direction so um
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yeah he also coached me from Ground Zero
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I think I was like uh uh 16 minute 5K
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guy and now I'm a 13 28 uh off the bat
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so it's uh it's a massive improvements
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wow yeah it was huge yeah but even 16
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minutes is huge as well yeah it was
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actually in the Night of Fire I was in
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uh in Auckland
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um yeah it was my kind of my first track
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proper track race after uh High School
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um and he was like oh I think you could
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probably run about 15 30. um so I went
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out and went out way too hard with the
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front group and just completely just
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blew my doors off
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um and then suffered big time the last
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couple came I think I just came I think
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I came last in that race uh and then jog
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jogged it and and uh just looked down
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like oh man what the heck was that and
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Craig laughed at me saying we've got a
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bit of work to do you came last at 16
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minutes
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yeah yeah I'd be 12 and a half laps uh
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to do five thousand meters I I can't
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tell you how many times I'd be lapped
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it's so embarrassing yeah it was well I
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think it was the A1 so I think I should
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just go on with the B boys and uh and
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finish Midfield but when I was good
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experience and uh it was definitely a
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rude awakening um heading kind of into
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that professional tri-circuit so that
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was good how much how much of your your
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talent is natural like were you
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naturally good even even before the um
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you know the sharpening up with coaching
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and serious training well I don't really
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it's quite hard to know actually because
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I had I did Strava when I was there as a
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young fella so well I only kind of
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started in high school uh I only played
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football uh I played but a higher Turf
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hockey that was kind of my passion I
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played for waikato bays and um a couple
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kind of international
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um kind of um Midlands sort of teams uh
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facing Aussie and I really enjoy the
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hockey aspect
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um and then kind of just got fit from
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there I was actually pretty like chubby
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and whatnot through intermediate so
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there was no real natural Talent uh or
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like Fitness there back in the days I
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used to get my ass kicked by my brothers
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but then yeah just kind of moved into
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the orienteering six hour Venture races
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12 hour event races moved on to coast to
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coast and had this massive engine but
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just no speed at all and that's kind of
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how when Craig came in and nurtured that
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speed and you know I had this big base
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that I could work with
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um doing these massive you know days uh
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on the feet and then yeah all of a
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sudden just like took a couple years to
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to build this kind of the speed phase
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and then all of a sudden it was real
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easy and I think that's been a blessing
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in disguise in a way like just had this
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massive engine and just had to kind of
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yeah work work on the speed uh and it's
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been one of our biggest work ons
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um but it's it's great that I had this
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as I said this big kind of this engine
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because it does the risk of injury was
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so low because I had this big kind of um
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near base and there was just really easy
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to work off which was key so you um yeah
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you you sort of down plant but there
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must have been like a fair bit of
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natural if you're if you're winning half
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you know five and half marathon events
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as a as a school kid yeah I think my
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first one was uh actually uh was that it
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was just after hockey tournament at high
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school we uh we played in uh Auckland in
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the Auckland League uh when we did our
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kind of high school
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um kind of week
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um camp and
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um I think just before it was uh the
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Topo uh kenlock uh race and uh I think I
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was probably year 11. I don't know what
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I think maybe 16 it was my birthday
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um you know did the run on my birthday
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and it was kind of like an off-road one
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which it was pretty tough but I still
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ran like I was running probably like
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115s 113s there's like a wow a high
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school kid so
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um a guy that you might know Mike Voss
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uh have an eyes to Bell each other were
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quite similar in age we spell each other
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and we're like the only ones at our age
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that were kind of doing like half
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marathons and stuff
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um so we we both of these like engines
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but just no speed so it was quite funny
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but yeah that's kind of where it started
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just the longer stuff and then I've kind
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of Gone full circle and Gone Reverse and
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gone to this you know real short
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Triathlon 5000 meters by the way can I
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just can I just say it's infuriating
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sitting here
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um and it's probably infuriating for
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some people listening to this podcast as
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well when you talk about having no speed
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you know like I mean I I understand what
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you're comparing no speed then to now
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like yeah you hear you are at Olympic
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level and world-class level but is
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still quick yeah I guess yeah quick like
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and as as I touched on before like I had
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a Strava when I was just coaching myself
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and and doing it is like I still do it
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for the enjoyment but more of like not
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doing it as a job uh but more of just
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like a good old weekend warrior having a
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real good time with it and
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um yeah I was looking back and I was
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definitely one of those kids that kind
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of just went out for 6K and just fully
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sent it uh and then fully sending back
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then was like you know just run it 330s
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until you blow and that was that's what
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it was like I think and I think it was
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kind of like the Bay of Plenty like
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whakatane culture we had some awesome
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athletes getting produced like Daniel
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Jones uh who won the Auckland Marathon
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just before he wins everything yeah well
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I used to run with the guy and his
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brother uh Brad was an amazing biker
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like um back in the day would would kind
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of tow Sam gaze and Anton on Copa
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Olympic mountain bikers and so we had
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such a great talent of athletes at my
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age so getting pushed by those guys and
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just running with those guys do you find
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that helps having that sort of
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competitive environment you you're
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coached by Craig Kirkwood and you've got
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Sam Tanner in the area as well do you
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find that up to your game like training
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with people that are just dead I think
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so like I've always gone with a
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philosophy of training with like pure
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athletes so running with the runners
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biking with the bikers swimming with the
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swimmers uh in that way and I think Sam
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and I just Thrive off each other so well
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because we know we trust our coach so
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well we we don't do anything uh we don't
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go over the over the kind of over the
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lip of
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um sending it or going too hard we do
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everything as controlled as we possibly
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can we listen to our coach and it works
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well like I look back at the sessions I
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used to do when I was not coaching
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myself and I was like man I was an idiot
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back then but yeah because you're just
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having fun and yeah you just love
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running fast but at the end of the day
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most your stuff shouldn't be fast like
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90 of the time
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um most of our stuff is tempo running we
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never really hit that much like
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threshold only when we come close to
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racing so we need to talk about Tempo
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running just for anyone that doesn't
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know what yeah so team power running for
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US is like something that you can hit
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um quite comfortably
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um so yes it is fast so for me for
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example I'm uh say if I'm looking at I'm
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a 90 say a 90 minute half marathon
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athlete a tempo for me I should be
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hitting you know
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um maybe like a 135 so it's comfortable
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but it you know you're feeling it's not
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your full Max
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um kind of session so for me would go on
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the track would do instead of
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um you know race pace for us we'll be 63
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400 laps for tempos we'll be hitting 65
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66 so it's about three four seconds off
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race pace for us so that's to kind of
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give you an example of what our tempos
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would be day oh my God that's crazy it's
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unbelievable when we look at it now it's
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like I did I think at high school I've
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got a couple of the like the 1500 meter
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uh 800 meter records in our grass track
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I think it's like a three like a 213 214
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for the 800 and now we just kind of Pop
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those out for um six six by eight
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hundred meter efforts you know we're
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running at 208s 205s
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um we're like I'll look back now I'm
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like wow I couldn't even do that three
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years for four years ago at high school
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and now it's like just one of the Reps
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that we do it's crazy obviously the
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quicker you get it's harder to you know
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make more gains then I suppose they
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become more marginal but do you still
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think there's some room for growth and
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where you're at and where you want to be
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yeah I think so like um you know I've
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been in the sport for five years now and
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doing it properly for five years now so
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uh I think there's definitely a lot more
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to gain I think just the experience of
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being an athlete
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um you know I've had some amazing
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opportunities but I'm still learning
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massively like
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okay you've got to listen to your body
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notice you know I think 100 of the time
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you're gonna listen to your body uh if
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you're not feeling great just tone it
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off a bit still do the session but just
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take it a bit easier and I think
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um that's what
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um it's so good being coached by Craig
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is like it's Craig once told me
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especially before the games
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um he was like you know we haven't done
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any breakthrough world record sessions
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but we've made these amazing blocks of
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little sessions where they just you know
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stack on top of each other and then
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after after a while all these um you
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know blocks we've been building
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um kind of make a perfect platform and
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then you kind of come into a race and
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you just you just feel good and that's
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kind of what what we kind of uh that's
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what Erica's philosophy is is just
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building the little sessions and they
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just stack on top of each other and make
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this amazing kind of uh athlete and and
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um you know bass coming into a into a
00:13:54
race and yeah it works well for us I've
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got something I want to play here we
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were we've been sitting in this um
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Podcast chat up for like the last you
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were actually um you sent me a voice
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memo while you were out training
00:14:04
so yeah man sounds good yeah apologies
00:14:07
for that
00:14:08
um but yeah safe travels have a good run
00:14:11
and uh next time if you're uh if you're
00:14:13
ever around that hit us up for a run uh
00:14:16
be pretty cool
00:14:17
um also if you want to have a podcast as
00:14:21
well Malcolm X
00:14:23
he'll be around Auckland as well so he's
00:14:26
back in town which is cool and we did a
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nice little 30k jolt yesterday beautiful
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conditions
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oh yeah we'll see you soon sorry
00:14:36
mate it's gone down a bit of a descent
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oh yeah I think I was I was I was
00:14:40
recording I think I got to the end of
00:14:41
the uphill part and I started like going
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on the flex lower downhill and I was
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like oh I'm gonna put the photo back
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going halfway down to uh like a Grade
00:14:48
Three Trail so you you just had one hand
00:14:51
on the bar yeah yeah pretty much yeah
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man that was uh I was like well it's a I
00:14:56
finally got a reception I'd like and
00:14:58
once you get reception in the Redwoods
00:15:00
it's uh just starts your phone starts
00:15:01
pinging at you so I just had a look and
00:15:03
I was like well I've got another five
00:15:04
minutes of climbing I'll quickly do some
00:15:06
admin as I was because I was out for a
00:15:08
four-hour ride because I was training
00:15:09
while for exterior but also for the uh
00:15:11
the Waka 100 which was unfortunately
00:15:13
cancer which is a it's a hundred
00:15:14
kilometer mountain bike ride inside the
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Redwoods and just you know changes
00:15:18
scenery but a fun for me
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um and uh yeah obviously couldn't do
00:15:22
that but um yeah I just love kind of
00:15:24
cross-training it's it's a fantastic
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kind of way to get mileage up it's an
00:15:28
interesting insight into into your day
00:15:29
what is an average day like in terms of
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training it sounds like there's a lot
00:15:32
going on yes so I'm I've I'm actually as
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a I guess if I look at the international
00:15:38
aspect of training as a professional I'm
00:15:41
not I don't probably train as much as
00:15:42
others
00:15:43
um so I Peak between
00:15:46
um 24 to 26 hours a week
00:15:48
um so that consists of about five kind
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of swims
00:15:52
um in the morning between 90 to two
00:15:54
hours
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um and then I normally go for let's say
00:15:57
like uh two run sessions uh throughout
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the week with kind of a couple easier
00:16:02
runs and a long run Sunday so you're
00:16:05
looking at five kind of runs a week and
00:16:07
then between that is cycling between an
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hour to about four hours of riding so
00:16:11
that kind of adds up to mostly about 24
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26 hours if I look at other athletes on
00:16:16
the circuit that I kind of race against
00:16:18
uh and some most of some of the New
00:16:20
Zealander athletes are between 28 to 32
00:16:23
hours so I guess my philosophy in
00:16:25
training also is a little bit more
00:16:27
intensity so a lot of people say for
00:16:30
example they go like uh 80 percent of
00:16:33
this stuff is endurance and just base
00:16:35
mileage with 20 of effort so it's kind
00:16:38
of that Tempo threshold stuff for me
00:16:40
it's kind of like a 40 60. so a little
00:16:43
bit more intense but just a little bit
00:16:44
less kind of mileage as we like to call
00:16:47
like junk mileage yeah
00:16:48
right do you find the swim training
00:16:51
boring or yes yeah
00:16:53
I uh yeah as much as like once you I
00:16:57
love Open Water Swimming because it's
00:16:58
just you know you're not looking at
00:16:59
black lion but yeah if I had to choose
00:17:01
out of the three that uh that is the the
00:17:04
most tedious would be the swim like I
00:17:06
guess if you are a swimmer and swimming
00:17:10
you know naturally feels easy like it is
00:17:12
great when you when swimming feels
00:17:13
easier it's like when you get into the
00:17:15
flow state of running just when running
00:17:17
it at a point gets like just feels great
00:17:19
it's it's great when you feel great in
00:17:22
the right swim session it feels great
00:17:24
but 90 of the time it just you're just
00:17:26
grinding along trying to hold on to the
00:17:27
the swimmers that I swim with
00:17:30
um and looking at the black line for a
00:17:31
couple hours so it's pretty tough yeah
00:17:33
that's the Finish about swim training
00:17:35
because it's um it seems like it's a
00:17:36
real difficult sport to train for in
00:17:38
terms of the hours involved and you see
00:17:39
like school kids going there at 5am 6
00:17:41
a.m mate like you're just dropping them
00:17:43
off and you think how many how many of
00:17:44
you guys are going to make it to the
00:17:45
Olympics oh it's it's you gotta I think
00:17:47
you've got to be slightly sick to be a
00:17:50
summary like okay yeah try fine yeah
00:17:53
okay we we train a lot
00:17:56
um but we have three different sports
00:17:58
like we can mix and mingle a bit I was
00:18:01
swimming it's like especially the you
00:18:03
know some of the kids I I train with I
00:18:05
train with 15 to 18 year olds but they
00:18:07
all are so quick
00:18:09
um but you know they get up at 5am they
00:18:11
swim until seven
00:18:13
um they have some bricky they go to
00:18:14
school and then they literally walk back
00:18:16
into the pool for their second session
00:18:17
yeah and they'll do that you know five
00:18:19
five six times a week
00:18:21
it's a massive commitment so like yeah I
00:18:25
think any athlete I'd have to give kudos
00:18:27
to like the summer's day like for me I'm
00:18:29
I'm tapped out at one session a day uh
00:18:31
for five you know five times a week
00:18:34
um but yeah it's like I think it's a lot
00:18:37
better when you've I guess when you're
00:18:38
young as well because you you know you
00:18:39
make those relationships with friends
00:18:42
um and it is quite nice to have uh you
00:18:44
know it's it's a lot different you know
00:18:46
you okay you don't you hardly talk in a
00:18:49
swim um session but you're suffering
00:18:51
with others
00:18:52
um so it actually makes it go quicker
00:18:54
where if you swim by yourself it kind of
00:18:56
does drag on a bit but yeah you go with
00:18:58
others even though you don't talk to
00:18:59
them you know they're doing the same
00:19:00
session so you're kind of just suffering
00:19:02
with each other which kind of makes it
00:19:03
go faster I suppose it's that sense of
00:19:05
community as well like outside of the
00:19:06
pool like beforehand and after
00:19:07
afterwards 100 yeah I think if you grow
00:19:09
up with those people in your life you
00:19:12
know you've done it through you know
00:19:14
most your life so you kind of make those
00:19:16
good relationships before you get in the
00:19:17
pool after you get in the pool you have
00:19:19
that banter with them so I think it is
00:19:20
definitely like what drags kids you know
00:19:23
they might not be the greatest swimmer
00:19:25
in the world but they just kind of love
00:19:26
the atmosphere
00:19:27
um which I kind of understand I can kind
00:19:29
of see uh when I kind of rock up to the
00:19:31
pool um you know the kids are all the
00:19:33
same age and they're always having good
00:19:34
time and yeah it's tough It's a tough
00:19:37
gig but they really enjoy it all right
00:19:39
can we get to the fun stuff now yeah
00:19:41
take the seriousness out of it yeah
00:19:44
Tokyo let's go for it oh I have a mask
00:19:47
off you can take it off if you want on
00:19:49
you
00:19:50
oh yeah
00:19:52
you're right yep good to go Hayden Wilde
00:19:55
Olympic bronze medalist how do those
00:19:57
words sound oh it's pretty good
00:20:02
[Music]
00:20:07
thank you
00:20:09
yeah yeah that's pretty cool coming back
00:20:11
in uh 2019
00:20:13
um and then going back in 2021 and
00:20:14
getting on
00:20:16
and so uh
00:20:18
and uh it's good to get a medal back in
00:20:20
Triathlon without it means um a lot of
00:20:24
inspiration from my coaches
00:20:29
it was uh yeah definitely for my um
00:20:32
that's for my family and uh yeah my dad
00:20:35
as well he passed away like 12 years ago
00:20:37
so
00:20:38
you never got to see me race
00:20:40
sorry
00:20:43
yeah chance for everyone back home as
00:20:46
well
00:20:49
oh man I'll tell you what I love that so
00:20:51
much every time yeah I hardly even
00:20:54
watched today but um yeah that was a
00:20:57
pretty awesome moment for the team for
00:20:58
sure
00:20:59
for the team pretty awesome moment for
00:21:00
you you know everyone thinks I guess
00:21:03
back home you know like things
00:21:05
triathlon's such an individual sport but
00:21:07
I've got such a massive team back home
00:21:10
like I just love coming home
00:21:12
um you know like I don't think I'd be
00:21:14
the athlete that I am today with the
00:21:16
people back home in Tauranga and
00:21:18
whakatane
00:21:19
um you know Craig Kirkwood you know he's
00:21:22
pretty much you know helped me from
00:21:24
ground zero and same with Liz so um you
00:21:26
know I've got such an awesome team and
00:21:28
yeah I know the effort comes from the
00:21:30
athlete but it's the kind of the magic
00:21:32
that happens in the background and um
00:21:34
yeah like it was a pretty awesome moment
00:21:37
and as I said you know no dad well now
00:21:39
it's past you know 13 13 years ago so
00:21:41
never got to see me race
00:21:43
were you at the time yeah so I was at I
00:21:45
was at primary
00:21:47
um so I was about I what would be
00:21:49
probably about 10 years old so you kind
00:21:51
of knew what happened but you kind of
00:21:52
didn't know what did happen um so my dad
00:21:54
was a fertilizer pilot and unfortunately
00:21:56
had a bit of a mishap in the plane and
00:21:59
um yeah there was a kind of um what do
00:22:01
you call it a
00:22:02
um an engine failure and unfortunately
00:22:04
just uh the plane came down and that was
00:22:06
uh and that was that so I was at a
00:22:09
mate's house and Mum told me had to come
00:22:10
home and I thought it was a party but uh
00:22:12
you know I for me personally like I can
00:22:14
talk about it um you know it was it was
00:22:16
quite a while ago so it's it's for me
00:22:18
it's you know it's unfortunately one of
00:22:20
those things that that happened and it's
00:22:22
terrible but you've got to get on with
00:22:24
life and you know he's watching you and
00:22:27
um
00:22:27
yeah I think so yeah like actually the
00:22:30
the time that I did the half marathon I
00:22:32
got the tattoo on my back
00:22:34
um on that same day so that was kind of
00:22:36
uh for him so yeah
00:22:38
yeah so I got to tear this tattoo on my
00:22:40
back um so it's pretty much a pilot
00:22:42
Compass
00:22:43
um and then it's got some wings on it
00:22:46
um and then the ropes for fishing and
00:22:48
then it's got no north south east west
00:22:49
in it and wherever I go here we go with
00:22:51
his initials and whatnot and it's so
00:22:52
yeah a lot of people kind of ask what's
00:22:54
the tattoo about today that's what's
00:22:55
kind of what it's about so when you lose
00:22:57
a parent at that age is it one of those
00:22:59
ones where
00:23:00
like you look back now as a as a young
00:23:02
man and like that was a that was a
00:23:04
big thing can you sort of appreciate the
00:23:06
magnitude of it as a 10 year old like I
00:23:08
think as a 10 year old you kind of you
00:23:11
you just you're just too young in a way
00:23:13
I think mostly my brothers would have
00:23:16
failed to because I've got two older
00:23:17
brothers a couple years older than me so
00:23:19
obviously my oldest brother had to be
00:23:21
the man of the house so for him it would
00:23:23
have been a you know obviously a
00:23:24
probably a way different experience
00:23:27
um you know trying to be the man of the
00:23:29
house and trying to look after us to uh
00:23:32
younger kids so I guess I was more of a
00:23:35
mummy's boy in a way
00:23:37
um so I didn't really I definitely had a
00:23:39
massive connection with my dad but my
00:23:41
middle brother was kind of the head was
00:23:43
kind of Daddy's boy in a way so to have
00:23:46
that I guess a massive impact on on my
00:23:48
older two brothers whereas I said yeah
00:23:50
like as a a real young kid you didn't
00:23:52
really understand the magnitude of what
00:23:54
kind of just happened
00:23:57
comes from a very sporting family grew
00:23:59
up in the Topo region with the lake in
00:24:01
the mountains uh very strong multi-sport
00:24:04
Club meant the whole family became
00:24:06
involved in the triathlon and the world
00:24:08
champion
00:24:09
and what a day for him sure he would
00:24:11
have loved to have had the gold medal
00:24:12
but when he looks across the Daya since
00:24:13
he's his good mate Hamish there with the
00:24:15
gold I don't think there's going to be
00:24:17
much disappointment for Bevan Dockett he
00:24:19
will always remember this day as the
00:24:20
Carter droppity day in New Zealand sport
00:24:23
yeah I was very young so I wouldn't it I
00:24:27
would yeah wouldn't even know what the
00:24:28
sport was back then it wasn't even radar
00:24:30
no it wasn't a moment we just went no it
00:24:33
would be like Hamish yeah so I only you
00:24:35
know watched his race properly when I
00:24:37
after Rio you know I was like I was the
00:24:39
Rio was kind of 2016 where I really kind
00:24:42
of was like wow like that would be
00:24:43
awesome to be
00:24:45
um to go to Triathlon because at the
00:24:46
point I was I was doing the off-road
00:24:48
stuff I was like I'd be awesome to to go
00:24:50
to the Olympics and and do
00:24:53
um do the on-road stuff and I know it
00:24:54
was going to be a huge uh you know
00:24:57
gamble say at the time I was I was
00:24:59
actually working as a landscaper I had
00:25:02
an awesome crew around oh yeah had an
00:25:04
awesome crew around me though like
00:25:06
um they did a lot of sports themselves
00:25:08
so you know I would train in the morning
00:25:10
go to work from like uh nine till two
00:25:14
and then I'd do the rest of my training
00:25:16
so I honestly I don't know how I got
00:25:17
through it
00:25:18
um just like the
00:25:20
uh just all the training in the morning
00:25:22
and then always on your feet and then
00:25:24
going doing some more training I've did
00:25:26
that for about three years just so I can
00:25:28
fund myself because I didn't go through
00:25:29
like the I guess the pyramid program as
00:25:32
you would go through as a as a normal
00:25:34
kid through the high performance program
00:25:35
so I kind of had to try and funnel
00:25:37
myself in there and and gain my own
00:25:39
results that was yeah working part-time
00:25:41
as a landscaper digging some holes and
00:25:43
driving some little diggers around and
00:25:45
building some some walls and retaining
00:25:47
walls and all that and then finally got
00:25:49
enough money for myself to to head over
00:25:51
to Japan and I knew I was like well I
00:25:54
need to race well
00:25:55
um to get some points if I don't get any
00:25:57
points it kind of works the system you
00:25:59
kind of do Continental cups and then you
00:26:01
go World Cups and then you go to the the
00:26:03
big boy kind of World Series where most
00:26:06
the Olympic athletes will kind of race
00:26:07
there's seven World Series races in the
00:26:10
world and you kind of follow them that's
00:26:12
our top top in circuit and that's where
00:26:14
you want to be and then yeah after three
00:26:17
years finally got to that that point in
00:26:18
2019 and I obviously had their delay in
00:26:21
2020 and then came back in 2021 and had
00:26:25
a Blinder of a year so yeah is the money
00:26:27
good when you do a Google image search
00:26:28
there's a photo of you holding a big
00:26:29
ceremonial 35
00:26:31
000 us triathlon's getting a lot better
00:26:34
um obviously if I for example if you
00:26:36
look at running it's very hard to make a
00:26:37
living uh we're Triathlon it's it's very
00:26:40
s uh it's probably there's a lot more in
00:26:43
it um like I'm not making anything that
00:26:45
what Roger Federer would make or
00:26:47
anything uh or a golfer so if I was like
00:26:49
if my word ranking was like I wasn't as
00:26:51
a golfer I'd be uh having a mansion on
00:26:54
the uh on the North Shore or something
00:26:56
like that with you know Triathlon like
00:26:58
you can make a good living so
00:27:01
um you know this year I just made over
00:27:02
six figures which was like a big a big
00:27:05
year in Triathlon for especially for
00:27:07
short distance uh you don't I don't have
00:27:09
to come home and and work as a
00:27:10
landscaper anymore that's life to say
00:27:12
do you think you'll ever um because I
00:27:15
know a Lance Armstrong he um cut his
00:27:17
teeth in Triathlon and then I suppose
00:27:19
realized yeah he was he was a good
00:27:20
runner but not a great Runner a good
00:27:21
swimmer not a great swimmer and
00:27:23
obviously just you gravitated towards
00:27:24
the bike do you think you'll ever do
00:27:26
that with running I was actually
00:27:28
thinking like I've always wanted to I
00:27:30
was I've always wanted to one year maybe
00:27:32
after if it's maybe a year after Paris
00:27:34
or after La I'm a little bit older uh
00:27:37
especially La you'll be that 30 so
00:27:39
you're kind of in that prime time to
00:27:41
really switch over to the marathon so
00:27:44
I've always had Ambitions of maybe
00:27:46
trying out the road scene and trying to
00:27:48
go but faster on the marathon or half
00:27:51
marathon marathon and I've also kind of
00:27:54
had Ambitions of maybe just being a pro
00:27:56
cyclist and being like an ultimate
00:27:58
dollar steak I've always really kind of
00:28:00
enjoyed just having a team environment
00:28:03
and sacrificing myself and for the team
00:28:05
leader because you don't have as much
00:28:07
pressure where you can just completely
00:28:08
bury yourself for 60k on the first part
00:28:10
you know on the Olympic stage race and
00:28:12
and uh and that's your job done for the
00:28:15
day so um yeah like I've yeah I've
00:28:17
definitely had Ambitions of of moving
00:28:19
away from triathlon and giving something
00:28:21
else a go which is obviously still on
00:28:23
the sport but
00:28:25
um yeah just focusing rawly on that and
00:28:27
and seeing how it goes that would be a
00:28:29
pretty awesome kind of Avenue to go
00:28:31
towards I know that you've had a taste
00:28:33
of success I don't reckon you could be
00:28:34
the
00:28:37
oh I'm gonna be going back to the
00:28:39
support Karen getting water bottles oh I
00:28:41
don't know I think it'd be I think it'd
00:28:42
be pretty funny like you know you don't
00:28:44
have the big team pressure as much as I
00:28:46
thrive on pressure uh I think it'll just
00:28:49
be fun Cottage you know going for
00:28:51
someone you know you've had the success
00:28:53
as a triathlete and you want to kind of
00:28:55
you know try something else out it would
00:28:57
be one of those things but yeah like
00:28:59
Marathon or even charm pushing the boat
00:29:01
out and trying 10K uh a real quick 10K
00:29:05
um and really focusing on track stuff
00:29:06
would be something I'd look into as well
00:29:09
um you know in Tokyo I did attempt to do
00:29:11
the triathlon in the 5000 meters I did
00:29:13
qualify through world ranking um so
00:29:17
there's two ways you can qualify for the
00:29:19
5000 meters in the Olympics so it's
00:29:21
whether it just gets past the Euro
00:29:24
Olympic Committee right I was in the top
00:29:26
40 in the world which you got to be your
00:29:28
first uh first time Olympian you've got
00:29:30
to be in the top 40 in the world for
00:29:31
your chosen distance nor Sport and
00:29:34
Athletics and I was 38th when you take
00:29:36
up the Russians that did the drug doping
00:29:40
um so that put that pushed me to
00:29:41
threshold nicely so I actually qualified
00:29:43
through through placing
00:29:45
um but unfortunately just didn't have
00:29:46
the time with the covert and New Zealand
00:29:49
we just didn't have enough athletes to
00:29:52
push through a real fast 5k we got close
00:29:54
to it so I was 10 seconds off which okay
00:29:56
the 5000 is quite a lot but
00:30:00
um just that's kind of working on the
00:30:02
front as well where you know if you've
00:30:04
ever run whether it's on the road or on
00:30:06
the track it's just you can switch off
00:30:08
and just let others do the work and then
00:30:11
just sit in behind and just go for it
00:30:13
and that's what we kind of lacked get on
00:30:15
the world stage and you get into these
00:30:17
uh we you know Athletics Diamond leagues
00:30:19
where the guys around running the
00:30:21
Olympic qualify you know just just like
00:30:24
that that's kind of sort of racing you
00:30:26
want to get into so but yeah we
00:30:27
shouldn't have those opportunities and
00:30:28
I've unfortunately missed out doing the
00:30:31
double but I'm going to give it a go on
00:30:32
the com games as well
00:30:34
um it's uh I think it's a 1318 qualifier
00:30:37
13-17 so it's about five seconds
00:30:40
yeah 5 000 moving so it's like
00:30:44
63 63 second 400 laps what's that per K
00:30:50
like it's about 237 about 237 per K so I
00:30:55
attempted it to solo very so I got to
00:30:59
three I did it one one day I I went for
00:31:02
it and I went for it solo which is very
00:31:04
hard uh and I got to about 3.8 K and I
00:31:08
was on Target and then just all of a
00:31:09
sudden you just hit the wall and just
00:31:11
the whole the doors fell off and I think
00:31:14
I went from being on on point on time
00:31:17
about 3.8 K to them being about 30
00:31:20
seconds off it though there's another
00:31:23
thing um uh you had an attempt at the uh
00:31:25
the New Zealand record for one hour on a
00:31:28
track yeah as far as possible what's
00:31:30
what is the current record standard so
00:31:32
Bill Bailey's got it and I think it was
00:31:35
20.85 or something like that it was it's
00:31:38
definitely in the 20s and I think I ran
00:31:43
19.85 I think something like that like a
00:31:46
chaos yes I was better chaos
00:31:49
um or there also I was it was it was
00:31:51
between eight it was between like four
00:31:53
to okay 400 meters to a case it was very
00:31:55
close but yeah yeah so it was a tier
00:31:59
like we had we had a three-day window
00:32:02
um and it was in Auckland
00:32:05
um and we just had it was just three
00:32:07
windy days and the thing with the
00:32:09
running trackers unfortunately we got it
00:32:11
on a day uh at the track where it was
00:32:15
the prevailing wind um so with the
00:32:17
prevailing one at that track you get a
00:32:19
decent abuse you get about 100 meters
00:32:21
ahead ones but then it's completely
00:32:23
blocked at the back so you get
00:32:24
completely no win so you miss your
00:32:26
tailwind and then you just come back and
00:32:28
you get hit again so unfortunately with
00:32:31
the trackers
00:32:32
um you can't really gain that headwind
00:32:34
back from the Tailwind
00:32:37
um so yeah it was it's always it was
00:32:39
always going to be tougher during that
00:32:40
day but my Pacers did well I had Ken
00:32:42
Graves who did well on the marathon
00:32:44
Santana those boys got me to about 12K
00:32:47
and then just went solo for the last 8K
00:32:50
and was on was on it until probably the
00:32:52
last 3K and then you kind of start
00:32:54
really fatiguing and that's when the
00:32:57
um the kind of yeah I got to about 50
00:33:00
minutes and oh man I was suffering eh
00:33:02
but I think if it was a better day I
00:33:04
probably could have got very close to it
00:33:06
um so yeah I'll give it a go one one day
00:33:08
okay yeah I think so yeah it's just I
00:33:11
think um you think their records attack
00:33:13
when did Bill Bailey do it by the way
00:33:14
very a long time ago I think it's the
00:33:17
longest holding record in New Zealand
00:33:18
just in front of you know some of the
00:33:22
some of the greats in New Zealand so
00:33:24
yeah one of I think yeah one I think it
00:33:26
is the longest standing record in
00:33:28
athletics history in New Zealand at the
00:33:30
moment so it's a good you know 60 50
00:33:31
years or something yeah I remember I
00:33:34
think I talked to one of the old boys
00:33:35
afterwards he was like yeah uh his post
00:33:38
interview he just said oh yeah I'll
00:33:40
probably just go home and do my Lawns
00:33:41
and have a steak and all the sort of
00:33:43
stuff just purely classic qeos
00:33:47
where's the Middle where do you keep the
00:33:49
um the bronze yeah so last I guess the
00:33:51
last three weeks have just kind of been
00:33:52
traveling around with it
00:33:54
um just because I want you know people
00:33:56
like oh where is it where is it so
00:33:59
um yeah like it's it's it's here with me
00:34:01
I think it's in the car
00:34:02
um but I'll tell you it's either hero
00:34:04
it's at my mate's house but always try
00:34:06
and keep it close to me but nearly I
00:34:08
nearly got robbed um Barcelona I had had
00:34:12
an incident in Barcelona where our car
00:34:13
got robbed and the bag that got taken my
00:34:17
middle was always in that bag but um we
00:34:19
they were in an Airbnb so I had the
00:34:21
middle and the Airbnb so I was very
00:34:23
lucky that day if something like that
00:34:25
happened if it got stolen on this place
00:34:26
could you can you write to the Olympic
00:34:28
Committee and want to replace it I don't
00:34:29
I don't think I don't think you can get
00:34:31
a replacement that's the that's I think
00:34:33
that's the most uh uh scary thing is
00:34:35
when you lose it you lose it uh or when
00:34:38
it gets stolen it's yeah it's gone so
00:34:41
you just hope that you know like for
00:34:43
example when we did get robbed
00:34:45
um our part the person that robbed us
00:34:48
um they actually put our passports
00:34:50
inside a bag and put it under a car and
00:34:52
this lady actually never seen her in my
00:34:54
life just reached out on Instagram in
00:34:56
Barcelona and said oh I found your
00:34:58
passports under my car I've given it to
00:35:00
the local police uh so we've got our
00:35:03
passport back
00:35:04
um and then so you hope you know if they
00:35:06
did seize if there was Olympic medal in
00:35:08
there with men's Triathlon on it they
00:35:11
would hopefully you know put it under a
00:35:13
car or return it to something you know
00:35:16
that'd be a thing to steal what are
00:35:18
you gonna do with it it means yeah has
00:35:20
no real value does it to anyone no
00:35:21
exactly like I think I think a lot of
00:35:24
people don't know what what uh it's
00:35:26
actually made out of so it's coated and
00:35:27
bronze but the the foundation of it's
00:35:29
actually uh reused um are recycled
00:35:32
Japanese metal
00:35:34
um made out of phones and all sorts so
00:35:36
the value of
00:35:38
um of um I guess burning it down and um
00:35:41
making it bronze it's it's is you might
00:35:45
get about 50 bucks out of this
00:35:47
um the Olympic experience was obviously
00:35:49
amazing in terms of competition and
00:35:51
winning the middle but do you feel a bit
00:35:53
Short change that you know that it was
00:35:55
in a covert year in terms of I feel like
00:35:56
you wouldn't have got the full usual
00:35:58
Olympic experience where you get to
00:36:00
mingle with other athletes yeah like I
00:36:02
guess I've never been I guess I can
00:36:03
never really
00:36:04
um until maybe hopefully Paris or any
00:36:06
other events I've never really can
00:36:08
compare it to another Olympics
00:36:11
um but well you know we still got to mix
00:36:12
and mingle um you know the big kind of
00:36:15
the big cafeteria that everyone talks
00:36:17
about where you go and have food and the
00:36:19
big
00:36:26
but yeah so like we went in there and
00:36:29
you got to see some of the massive names
00:36:30
of of sporting you know like um you know
00:36:33
the US basketball team so you got to see
00:36:34
some pretty massive names there and
00:36:37
um you know just some of the massive
00:36:38
names in New Zealand as well was it were
00:36:41
around so just mixing mingling with
00:36:43
those kind of athletes was really cool
00:36:44
you know the top of their
00:36:47
um you know the top of their crop of
00:36:48
sport and I think the coolest thing was
00:36:51
when
00:36:52
um we were kind of getting a little
00:36:54
detour and we were looking around and
00:36:56
before we actually got told we were
00:36:58
allowed to
00:36:59
um go into the gym a couple of the uh NZ
00:37:02
guys took us to the gym just to have a
00:37:04
Lot quickly and um you just saw like
00:37:06
there was no uh wannabes in there this
00:37:09
gym was just full of like clutch
00:37:12
athletes like there was guys just like
00:37:14
chilling out doing like five minute
00:37:15
handstands and just doing massive like
00:37:18
deadlifts and I was just insane like you
00:37:22
you're pretty much looking at the best
00:37:24
athletes in the world in one gym it was
00:37:26
just like holy and then we saw uh one of
00:37:29
uh China's like biggest
00:37:31
um basketball players I think it's Kim
00:37:33
Young I think but he was like like he
00:37:36
just made you look like you're a
00:37:38
like he was you know seven and a half
00:37:40
foot I think he's like 14 and a half
00:37:43
um
00:37:44
um 40 and a half for his shoe size U.S
00:37:47
now I'm just like I'm in like an eight
00:37:49
and a half nine like this in the double
00:37:50
my foot size like I can't like
00:37:52
comprehend them did Japan girl over
00:37:55
anyone in particular ask anyone for a
00:37:57
photo no I didn't actually I think
00:37:59
because like the guys that I really
00:38:01
wanted to see they weren't in the
00:38:02
village
00:38:03
um because there's a lot of athletes
00:38:04
that don't come to the Village not until
00:38:06
really the end where the triathlon is
00:38:08
one of the first events so you kind of
00:38:10
miss out a lot of you know a lot of the
00:38:12
big players right right if I saw Kip
00:38:15
Toge I'd lose my I know I was I
00:38:18
didn't see because the Marathon was up
00:38:20
up the coast it was meant to be cooler
00:38:23
but I did see a couple like carapes who
00:38:26
won the road
00:38:27
um the road cycling yeah I saw him
00:38:29
outside it's pretty cool and he was like
00:38:31
he looks tiny and on the cameras but
00:38:33
he's like even smaller and and in person
00:38:36
must be quite good getting uh getting
00:38:38
your event out of the way early did you
00:38:39
get to enjoy the Olympic experience
00:38:40
after that or not so much well it's it's
00:38:42
quite funny because with the covert
00:38:44
protocols you've pretty much once you do
00:38:46
your race you have 48 hours to leave uh
00:38:49
and if you if you don't leave in the 48
00:38:51
Hours you get put into the hotel until
00:38:52
your flight leaves but we were quite
00:38:54
lucky because we have two events so
00:38:58
um we were there a week before and then
00:39:01
we did our race but then we had five
00:39:02
days of correct recovery before the
00:39:04
mixed team relay so then we had like a
00:39:06
whole for another four days of chilling
00:39:08
at the Village I think in sports wise we
00:39:10
were probably the
00:39:12
um people that were in there for the
00:39:13
longest yeah but yeah we got we didn't
00:39:16
get to go we weren't allowed to go to
00:39:18
like the Athletics track and watch some
00:39:19
of the events I would have loved to go
00:39:21
and watch the 100 meters or the 1500
00:39:22
meter and watch my training partner Sam
00:39:24
Tanner run pretty much the day I left as
00:39:27
the day he arrived I got to see him that
00:39:30
night which was cool but I had to leave
00:39:31
pretty much as soon as he got there so I
00:39:33
was kind of like ah kind of kind of got
00:39:35
in so next time next time exactly
00:39:37
exactly so aiming for Paris and
00:39:39
hopefully yeah covert is uh restrictions
00:39:42
have gone so
00:39:45
um run through that race day so um first
00:39:46
of all were you expected to get a medal
00:39:48
I think you think you should finish yeah
00:39:50
so I think in 20 if it was 2020 uh I
00:39:53
would have been pretty chuffed with the
00:39:54
top ten I was trekking really well I was
00:39:57
running quick
00:39:58
um but unfortunately got stuck in New
00:40:00
Zealand and obviously everything else
00:40:02
was canceled but it gave me a whole year
00:40:03
to kind of nurture
00:40:06
um so my son was obviously my weakness
00:40:09
it always has been so it gave me another
00:40:11
extra year of just
00:40:13
um you know learning my craft
00:40:15
um it's you know getting some more
00:40:17
knowledge and really kind of dialing
00:40:20
down on what my weaknesses were so yeah
00:40:22
really focused hard on the swim and try
00:40:25
to you know expand my knowledge and kind
00:40:28
of like my stroke and my technique and
00:40:31
all these sort of things and then I gave
00:40:34
a great opportunity for actually running
00:40:36
as well because everyone was back from
00:40:38
the States from the NCAA which is the
00:40:40
pretty much like uh University States
00:40:43
college running so we had all of our
00:40:45
fast guys here we had I had that and
00:40:48
then yeah if I come in coming into 2021
00:40:50
I was pretty I know that if I had the
00:40:54
race I knew I could have and and the
00:40:57
Stars aligned I could have a pretty
00:40:58
special day I was running to the fastest
00:41:00
I've ever run before my swimming was the
00:41:02
best it's ever been and I kind of backed
00:41:04
myself on the bike if anything kind of
00:41:06
happened so yeah I was like it was just
00:41:09
one of those things where I needed I
00:41:11
needed to get overseas and just have a
00:41:14
few blowout races as I hadn't raced in
00:41:16
20 22 months or something like that so I
00:41:18
needed to get ever say is I needed to
00:41:20
race so I got three races in so erased
00:41:23
my first race in May what do you mean
00:41:24
what do you mean a blowout race it's
00:41:26
kind of okay you're training you're
00:41:28
training well you know you're hitting
00:41:29
your targets you're hitting better than
00:41:31
you were uh two years ago but as good as
00:41:35
training is it's so different to to
00:41:37
racing
00:41:39
um Race speed and race and Training
00:41:41
Fitness is just a completely different
00:41:42
get ball game so I just needed to get
00:41:45
over season race guys that I can Toe to
00:41:47
Toe with the top ten so you went to
00:41:49
Leeds had a massive blowout pretty much
00:41:51
if I race smart I could have probably
00:41:54
got a podium in that race but the whole
00:41:56
point was to go and burnout rust so it
00:41:58
was attack attack attack defend and
00:42:00
defend
00:42:01
um beastly on the bike and just go hard
00:42:03
on the run and just see where you blow
00:42:05
up and I was about I was second the
00:42:07
whole race coming into the eighth 8th K
00:42:10
and we had a group of five and then kind
00:42:11
of my doors fell off because the guys in
00:42:13
Europe have been have been racing
00:42:15
through covert so where they've been you
00:42:17
know been still racing for the last 12
00:42:19
months where I haven't you know touched
00:42:21
a touched the start line and you know 20
00:42:23
months so to get that race was fantastic
00:42:25
I went to Kit Spiel in Austria and race
00:42:28
the European Champs so I got a wild card
00:42:30
to to get a race in there and um yeah
00:42:33
that's what kind of all I needed to know
00:42:35
those two races uh is what I needed to
00:42:39
kind of know where my body was right and
00:42:42
where Craig kind of said you know like
00:42:45
hey this is what we need to work on uh
00:42:48
you're pretty much there you just need a
00:42:50
couple fine tunes and some certain areas
00:42:53
and when you come to Tokyo you should be
00:42:55
as good as you can possibly get
00:42:58
um so yeah coming to Tokyo I was
00:43:00
um I guess confident in my own abilities
00:43:02
but there's so many things you can't
00:43:04
control
00:43:05
um there's so many variables with the
00:43:07
swim and the bike and the run the only
00:43:09
really one you can kind of control is
00:43:10
kind of the Run
00:43:12
um but it's you know you could get a
00:43:14
punch you could be in a crash you could
00:43:16
get absolutely smashed by the guy next
00:43:18
door to you uh and the swim so there's
00:43:20
so many variables you can't control so
00:43:22
we kind of went in there and just said
00:43:23
just have some fun you've got no
00:43:26
um you know got you've got no pressure
00:43:28
in a way uh you're just going out there
00:43:30
just have enjoy it like it's in the
00:43:31
other race and that's how mentality
00:43:33
we're in and just kind of race and just
00:43:36
piss everyone off really that it has
00:43:38
that has kind of big expectations so and
00:43:43
that's what we did we went out there and
00:43:44
people were saying okay your head and
00:43:46
might do well but you know he might do a
00:43:48
top 10 or a top seven or whatever but
00:43:50
you know he shouldn't really be a Podium
00:43:52
Contender but I knew my coach know if we
00:43:55
had a day that everything lined up it
00:43:58
could be it could be pretty special and
00:44:00
yeah it all lined up pretty well and uh
00:44:02
yeah ran away into a Podium position so
00:44:05
this where were you when you came out of
00:44:06
the water so it's swim first and
00:44:08
triathlons yeah so I think a lot of
00:44:10
people that haven't watched me raise
00:44:11
before were freaking out like he's like
00:44:13
oh he's so far behind like what's he
00:44:15
doing and I was like I was about 30 40
00:44:18
seconds behind what is actually a decent
00:44:20
swim for me I'm normally a safe look
00:44:22
back on the Tokyo test event in 2019 I
00:44:24
was 90 seconds behind
00:44:26
um unfortunately had a bit of a mirror
00:44:28
and transition coming onto the bike my
00:44:30
helmet got knocked off and had to kind
00:44:31
of grab that and unfortunately missed
00:44:33
the front pack so had uh well the chase
00:44:36
packs of the second pack so got there
00:44:39
and I just missed it and then luckily
00:44:41
there's a third pack with some amazing
00:44:42
athletes in there we all worked together
00:44:44
and in three laps we caught the chase
00:44:46
pack and then it all came together and
00:44:48
kind of we call it neutralizing so the
00:44:49
pack the all the whole packs together
00:44:52
and um at kind of the the intensity of
00:44:55
the ride kind of listens a bit and you
00:44:57
can kind of yeah re-gather your uh your
00:45:01
energy and get ready for the Run
00:45:02
um 40K 40K yeah 40K so it was it was
00:45:07
they kind of it was a very technical
00:45:09
course so a lot of u-turns 90 degree
00:45:11
turns uh very tight so you had to in a
00:45:15
way even though it did neutralize it but
00:45:17
it didn't get a little bit easier uh you
00:45:19
had to be in a good position or else you
00:45:21
would suffer big time so I was normally
00:45:23
sitting around that top five staying out
00:45:26
of trouble for one and just always kind
00:45:29
of watching
00:45:30
um kind of where the attacks will be and
00:45:33
um yeah just sat there nicely and then
00:45:35
went for the run and knew that I had to
00:45:38
had to go to the front straight away
00:45:39
instead of the top three and I think I
00:45:42
it was the best time because when it
00:45:44
when you talk when when Runners talk
00:45:46
about going into the Flow State and just
00:45:48
running feels easy and I think we're
00:45:50
running about 255s 250s and I just felt
00:45:53
like amazing like it just did not feel
00:45:55
like it just felt effortless in a way
00:45:57
wow and then when we got to last 2K
00:46:01
where Christian did his attack I I've
00:46:03
been studying Christian and Alex I knew
00:46:05
Alex was very aggressive around corners
00:46:07
so what Alex would do he would come out
00:46:08
of a corner and he would hit it pretty
00:46:10
hard to try and drop us and then
00:46:12
Christian I knew would sit on until the
00:46:15
end and then he would kick down the last
00:46:17
1500 meters he did that three times and
00:46:19
on the last three races so I know he was
00:46:22
probably gonna do that and that's what
00:46:23
he did and I think we were just too
00:46:25
stuck in a metronome state but also
00:46:26
mentally Alex and I so Alex and I are
00:46:29
really good mates and uh you know first
00:46:31
time Olympians so I think we kind of
00:46:33
came into the race and that last lap we
00:46:36
were like oh you know we kind of I think
00:46:38
in a way we in a way okay we may have
00:46:40
been able to hold on to a Christian for
00:46:42
a little bit longer but I think we kind
00:46:43
of settled as like oh my God we're just
00:46:45
about to get Olympic medals uh we're a
00:46:48
Christian that's the third time uh going
00:46:50
for it
00:46:52
um so he's had that experience and he
00:46:53
really obviously wants that gold medal
00:46:55
as much as I wanted the gold medal as
00:46:57
well you kind of mentally you kind of
00:46:59
just go like you kind of just settle for
00:47:01
what you got
00:47:02
um and you know like it was oh you know
00:47:05
last lap we have 45 seconds
00:47:08
um in front of like the fourth like no
00:47:10
matter what so the middle was in the bag
00:47:12
exactly exactly so the only thing that
00:47:14
could happen is you could like just pull
00:47:16
a muscle that's the only thing that
00:47:17
could happen but it was too hot for that
00:47:18
kind of in a way so
00:47:20
um yeah we kind of got into that last
00:47:22
1500 meters and we I think we did settle
00:47:25
for a Podium but we yeah it was just I
00:47:27
think it was just that young mentality
00:47:29
of like oh we're gonna get a medal but
00:47:31
we just didn't know what one so that is
00:47:33
amazing yeah so it was pretty cool in
00:47:36
hindsight like could you have done more
00:47:37
do you think or I think if I look back
00:47:40
at it
00:47:41
um I did spend a lot of energy I think
00:47:44
I've panicked a little bit coming out of
00:47:46
the water where the where I had the
00:47:47
fumble of the helmet
00:47:49
um and I was pushing well above what I
00:47:51
should have been pushing on the bike
00:47:52
because I didn't actually realize there
00:47:54
was a good group behind me so I probably
00:47:56
spent five percent of the NG that I
00:47:59
probably shouldn't have that I didn't
00:48:01
need to use what if exactly if all the
00:48:04
F's so but you got it yeah uh yeah if I
00:48:08
look at where I've come from and where I
00:48:10
kind of placed like I don't think I
00:48:11
could you know write that in a book you
00:48:13
know so oh man it's an incredible
00:48:15
performance and that um that speech um
00:48:17
that we played before just on the Finish
00:48:19
Line I go goosebumps every time I hear
00:48:20
it it's just amazing I think yeah it's
00:48:22
like I don't really listen to it too
00:48:23
much because I'm like oh man man needs a
00:48:25
Grammy for that doesn't he
00:48:29
it's real it's raw it's vulnerable it's
00:48:32
powerful it's just I mean you're
00:48:34
obviously just completely spent at that
00:48:35
point and just elated as well yeah now
00:48:37
it was uh it was a pretty awesome like
00:48:39
it's a massive moment and you know it's
00:48:41
like the Pinnacle of our sport it's just
00:48:43
like having something like that and you
00:48:46
know Bevan docherty and Hamish Carter
00:48:48
you know they've got three of them in
00:48:50
the first one was in Sydney in 2000 uh
00:48:53
where it all started off so you know
00:48:55
there's only a handful of guys that
00:48:57
actually have Olympic medals so it's
00:48:59
like it's a pretty Prestige
00:49:01
um kind of group of people so it's
00:49:03
amazing to be a part of it really is in
00:49:05
and this is Youth for life regardless of
00:49:07
what happens from here on in yeah
00:49:08
Olympic medal yeah so it's yeah it's
00:49:11
pretty awesome like you kind of
00:49:12
especially when you rock up to races now
00:49:14
on the on the world circuit that you get
00:49:16
into Deuce going on to the the blue
00:49:18
carpet we call it on the onto the one
00:49:20
turn and they say like Olympic medalist
00:49:21
like Hayden wild and it's like wow
00:49:23
that's pretty cool so good mate yeah wow
00:49:26
what a story yeah what a story The
00:49:29
Maltese Falcon is that still your
00:49:30
nickname yeah it is what does that mean
00:49:32
exactly yeah I got in a Malta and uh
00:49:34
it's in the Mediterranean and Malta
00:49:36
Little Island just off Italy off the
00:49:38
boot and uh I was climbing up this hill
00:49:40
uh and I was like the way the way that I
00:49:44
race is you've probably heard as I come
00:49:46
out of water a little bit behind I come
00:49:48
through the rankings on the bike and
00:49:50
then have a pretty solid run not a
00:49:52
strategy by the way you just know
00:49:54
it just is what it is and
00:49:57
um and then and then over the mic this
00:49:59
guy was like oh here comes the Maltese
00:50:00
Falcon I have no clue who he's talking
00:50:02
about uh and then we finish up and then
00:50:05
they really wanted to get the Maltese
00:50:06
kind of
00:50:08
um fan base up so they started calling
00:50:10
me the Maltese Falcon so I asked them I
00:50:12
was like I was like am I the Maltese
00:50:13
Falcons like yeah Matt would have
00:50:15
started calling you that and I'm like
00:50:16
and it's stuck ever since and the reason
00:50:18
why they've called me that is there used
00:50:19
to be this guy's war was kind of like a
00:50:21
war hero around there and the way he
00:50:23
used to attack his enemies was he used
00:50:25
to lay low under the GPS's on the in his
00:50:28
in his jet fighter he used to come
00:50:29
around the island and then attack them
00:50:31
from behind and that's what kind of my
00:50:32
tactics has come out of the swim a
00:50:34
little bit behind attack them on the
00:50:36
bike and then uh and then catch them on
00:50:38
the run so it's like oh here comes the
00:50:39
Maltese Falcon it's just kind of stuck
00:50:41
ever since so that's how the nickname
00:50:42
kind of turned up in a way so it's a
00:50:45
great nickname yeah yeah I would say it
00:50:47
can be worse so well that's great by the
00:50:51
way we point out you're an Auckland at
00:50:52
the moment to show moral support for
00:50:54
your girlfriend who's an miq yeah which
00:50:56
seems nuts to me because it's like
00:50:58
there's I've been in here MyQ you've
00:50:59
been in MyQ yeah you you can't see her
00:51:01
yeah what are you doing is it just um
00:51:04
you're waving it here from the street
00:51:05
yeah well we had lunch date yesterday uh
00:51:08
I took his Sushi uh so she's on like the
00:51:11
eighth floor and uh I I rocked in gave
00:51:15
uh gave the person the solutions how
00:51:16
this is for this person's room and then
00:51:18
I just park out on saw the road I turned
00:51:21
Face Time on so and then I turn it on
00:51:23
speaker and then we just talk through
00:51:25
the phone and then I can just see her in
00:51:26
this window and that's how we have our
00:51:28
lunch dates
00:51:30
um yeah so I was like and also I kind of
00:51:33
came out talking for a bit of admin as
00:51:34
well I had some things to do here and
00:51:35
there so it actually worked out quite
00:51:37
well as ish I knew she was coming to
00:51:39
Auckland and then I was like well I've
00:51:41
got to do some things so might as well
00:51:43
come up for the 10 days and if she
00:51:44
needed anything I could just go in
00:51:46
straight away and you know need some
00:51:48
snacks so I can drop it off so she
00:51:50
didn't have to worry about anything so
00:51:51
yeah it worked out pretty well and uh
00:51:53
she's out on Monday so I don't kind of
00:51:55
so second time in there I know how it
00:51:57
feels and it just sucks so it drags if I
00:52:00
can if I can help anyway you know I'm
00:52:02
not too far away so yeah how long have
00:52:04
you guys been seeing each other uh two
00:52:06
and a half years now uh met on the
00:52:07
circuit so uh she's here triathlete yeah
00:52:10
she's she's Belgium
00:52:11
um so she's uh second ranked in Belgium
00:52:13
at the moment
00:52:15
um and uh yeah hopefully a Paris
00:52:17
Contender so she'll be heading over
00:52:19
there but I wish it was is trying to
00:52:21
keep her at a hospital she loves to
00:52:22
crash
00:52:24
uh so we yeah we crashed in 2019
00:52:26
together this kid ran on the road and we
00:52:28
went over the handlebars and she knocked
00:52:30
herself out and I somehow ninja rolled
00:52:32
out of it and just got a hematoma on the
00:52:34
ankle that was it but she was knocked
00:52:35
out on the ground for about 90 minutes
00:52:37
and it's crazy how head injuries
00:52:40
um just hit you out like she was
00:52:42
probably suffering from nearly every
00:52:44
year over a year and just got into it
00:52:46
and uh just as we finished off season
00:52:49
and Girona and Spain uh if anyone likes
00:52:52
Game of Thrones that's where the big
00:52:53
castle is in Girona a lot of cyclists go
00:52:55
there it's an amazing place and we did
00:52:58
one of the famous climbs that Rocky
00:53:00
where she did one of the famous climbs
00:53:01
at Rocky corber and I get this call
00:53:03
Hayden I've crashed I'm like oh and
00:53:07
she's and she's like it's pretty bad I'm
00:53:09
like oh man what if you die she's like
00:53:11
um I can see my bone I'm like oh so she
00:53:14
did a double fracture in the finger
00:53:18
um and you had to get operation and
00:53:19
stuff and the operation went well we
00:53:22
thought and yeah um didn't go actually
00:53:24
well they thought they did a good job
00:53:27
but they kind of messed up and one of
00:53:28
the plates was actually restricting her
00:53:30
movement into one of her fingers so she
00:53:31
couldn't actually properly move her move
00:53:34
her finger and then she's yeah
00:53:36
um now yeah four months down the track
00:53:38
and only still doing rehab so wow out
00:53:41
still battling through that just like a
00:53:43
toe or a finger they're an absolute pain
00:53:44
in the ass to fix so yeah it's amazing
00:53:47
it's such a small part of the body can
00:53:49
cause you so much yeah so she can't
00:53:50
really grip onto the bike too much so a
00:53:52
lot of indoor training and she's getting
00:53:53
back into the pool but yeah she's a
00:53:55
natural swimmer so she comes from a
00:53:57
swimming background so that's his
00:53:58
strength so it's um yeah she's kind of
00:54:00
kicks my ass in the pool every so often
00:54:02
she uh takes a couple there but
00:54:04
um yeah she'll get back to hopefully
00:54:06
normal and uh yeah smash the circuit and
00:54:08
yeah we pretty much followed the same
00:54:09
sort of racing so works out pretty well
00:54:11
God it'd be nice to see her again yeah
00:54:13
it's been a couple months we went uh we
00:54:14
went to Melville last summer swords in
00:54:16
December so it hasn't been too bad
00:54:18
through covert was about seven months so
00:54:20
it's quite nice to yeah when I'm
00:54:22
overseas we come together and we're
00:54:23
literally pretty much doing everything
00:54:25
together so it's quite nice and kind of
00:54:27
when you for um when you go away it's uh
00:54:30
it's it's pretty crazy you know having
00:54:32
that person there all the time and then
00:54:34
just straight away it just goes it's
00:54:36
like ah I'm kind of my life is actually
00:54:37
quite boring
00:54:38
yeah yeah so it'll be nice to get her
00:54:41
out on Monday and uh yeah we're here
00:54:43
until until May and then we head over to
00:54:45
Yokohama for the first uh for the first
00:54:47
race it's brilliant exciting hey um I
00:54:49
look forward to see what's in your
00:54:51
future yeah with Commonwealth Games
00:54:52
Olympics and just whatever you do next
00:54:54
because I'm sure whatever you do Excel
00:54:56
and do it amazingly well yeah give it a
00:54:57
good crack and no just loving it being
00:54:59
home and just embracing the the yeah I
00:55:01
guess the success of uh of what happened
00:55:03
and then yeah had it had like five
00:55:05
months of delay of not getting it being
00:55:07
able to celebrate the middle so it's
00:55:08
nice to just come here and just
00:55:11
celebrate and have a good time so yeah
00:55:12
how good how good Hayden wild Olympic
00:55:15
medalist thank you for having me yeah
00:55:16
it's been good thank you so much for
00:55:17
sitting down with me today now it's been
00:55:19
a pleasure it's good that we finally got
00:55:20
it uh got it done yeah I really I really
00:55:23
appreciate it so good of you to do that
00:55:24
yeah thanks man no drummers oh you're
00:55:27
still here aren't you the best
00:55:28
um thank you so much for listening all
00:55:30
the way through I can't tell you how
00:55:32
much I appreciate it I'm guessing a lot
00:55:34
of people don't make it this far so so
00:55:36
if you have done uh yay yay for you I
00:55:40
really appreciate it no appreciate it do
00:55:42
me a favor if you want if you don't
00:55:43
already do this uh like subscribe follow
00:55:46
do whatever you've got to do whatever
00:55:48
you get your podcast from I'm not sure
00:55:50
how it makes a difference but apparently
00:55:51
it does feel free to give it a rating
00:55:53
like a five star or a review and I think
00:55:56
the best sort of marketing I can do to
00:55:59
spread the word about this podcast and
00:56:01
this Mission we're on is the word of
00:56:03
mouth stuff so let a friend know if you
00:56:05
think they'll enjoy it or share it on
00:56:07
your social media channels but no
00:56:08
pressure to do any of that only if you
00:56:09
want the main thing is I just appreciate
00:56:12
you being here appreciate you listening
00:56:14
to this and I really hope you got
00:56:15
something out of it feel free to send me
00:56:17
any feedback complaints criticisms
00:56:19
whatever you've got any time I won't
00:56:22
necessarily change anything but I do
00:56:23
read it all and I do take it all on
00:56:26
board Instagram is a good way to get a
00:56:27
hold of me slide into my DMs at
00:56:29
domharvey NZ or email me domharveynz
00:56:33
gmail.com okay thanks so much I hope to
00:56:36
see you next week
