Tales from the Valley Podcast

🎙️ 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 built an impressive résumé...

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), and is now building towards the Sydn...

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 fitness runs after footy to running 1...

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 Australia's fastest-growing running pod...

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 with Dave McNeill in 2...

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, recovering properly, and ...

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 marathon blo...

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 conditions, soaking up the ra...

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 has been very targeted, with ...

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, 7 x 600m, 6 minutes, and a b...

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 c...

TFTV Rat Race – Ballarat Build (5 Weeks Out) 🎙️

Sam catches up with past guests Mel Jefferis & Pete Naseby as the Ballarat Marathon edges closer.

Mel is gearing up for the Half Marathon and building strong after overcoming hamstring issues. She takes us through her recent block, including an 86km week featuring sessions like 6 x 1k + 4 x 400, 3 x 10 mins, and a 2-hour long run. She’s lining up with confidence and c...

Sam chats with Jarrod Boyd and Greg ‘Frosty’ Frost as both line up for Ballarat in five weeks.

Jarrod makes his first appearance on the podcast, bringing some serious credentials with PBs of 16:44 (5k), 33:38 (10k) and 1:16 (half). Coming from a high-level rugby background, Jarrod transitioned into triathlon and reached peak fitness around 2017. After stepping away from running during COVID while starting a family, he r...

Sam & Katie catch up after a couple of weeks off while Sam welcomes his daughter Elena into the world 👶

Katie shares an update on her injury and the expected timeline for surgery. In the meantime she’s making the most of the situation by getting fully set up on Zwift and learning the ropes with the full home setup.

Sam talks about the early days of balancing newborn life with marathon training, and how the two are alread...

Sam catches up with Luke Hince, 12 months after he was last on the podcast — and for the same reason. Luke takes out the NSW 5000m Championships in 14:00, agonisingly close to cracking sub-14.

They kick things off by discussing Luke’s strong run of form, including his impressive 29:03 over 10,000m at the Melbourne Track Classic (part of the Athletics Grand Prix Series) last year.

Luke recaps his taper week leading into ...

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 str...

Sam & Katie catch up with Charl Jansen Van Rensburg, who makes his return to the podcast with plenty of updates since last time.

Charl has rewritten his Half Marathon PB, clocking a 1:15 at the Gold Coast Half Marathon last year. Alongside his running, Charl has also launched his business Mileage Mate, and walks us through the product—designed to help runners stay warm, dry, and clean before and after training and racing.

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Sam and Katie are joined by Ethan Spears and Cody Bramich from the 360 South Project.

Ethan and Cody are relatively new to running but are passionate about building a movement in the Illawarra through community, challenge, and shared suffering. Their flagship event is a unique 360 km relay from Wollongong to Huskisson and back, completed by teams of six over a 30-hour window, with legs split however teams choose.

Despite being earl...