00:00
Hey everyone, it's Mikki here. You're listening to Mikkipedia and this week on the podcast I speak to Simone Maier. So the five-time Coast to Coast champion, winning in her fastest time ever this year, talks to me about what makes her tick, what helps her train, including her new surprise coach, her diet, the lessons she's learnt through the adversities she's overcome and her plans for the future.

00:30
including her own goals, her coaching and a level up. The company she's set up with fellow multi-sport friend Emily Wilson to help support personal development for corporate and sports teams alike. Sabon is amazing, she is totally humble and she is so resilient and strong and you can absolutely hear it in

00:55
the things that we talk about today and I just feel so stoked that she made herself available to come on to the podcast. So Simone is one of the world's top adventure and multi-sport races and our current adventure and multi-sport world champion and she also has a God's Own Adventure race win to her name in 2019 and many more. In fact, her list of achievements are endless really.

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She's based in Wanaka, New Zealand, where she has over the years accumulated a vast skill set and condensed them down into outdoor courses and coaching. Simone offers coaching from any level up in all multi-sport disciplines and also caters for the elite performers. She's able to tailor a program or a course to your needs. And you can hear it in the interview when we talk, she's quirky, she's lighthearted, and she loves to keep the vibe.

01:50
and keep people inspired to push on whilst imparting valuable knowledge, which is what Simone did today in our conversation. And I just love talking to high performers like her because you get a sense of how their brain works and you just learn so much from listening to people who are just top of their game and so much. And that is definitely the case with Simone. So I have in the show notes Simone's.

02:18
website to her personal website and coaching email. So if you're interested in being coached by Simone, absolutely go there, but also to a level up as well. So her new company that she set up with Emily Wilson. Before we crack on into the interview though, I would just like to remind you that the best way to support this podcast is to hit the subscribe button on your favorite podcast listening platform.

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because this increases the visibility of Micropedia in amongst the literally thousands of other podcasts that are out there. So more people get to learn from the guests that I have on the show, such as Simone Mayer. All right, team, please enjoy this conversation that I have with Simone.

03:01
Simone, thank you so much for joining me this morning. I'm super pleased to have this opportunity to chat to you. You're such an inspirational person and like phenomenal athlete, obviously. First of all, how's your recovery going after the coast? Hi, Miki, thanks for having me. Recovery, oh, I think it's been going great.

03:29
till I went up Mount Roy two days ago and went back down or ran, you know, and my legs are so sore. It's not even funny anymore. So the recovery has been amazing till, till two days ago where I'm like, Oh, I should know better. But I don't know. There's no, no easy way in this there. Or that's not true. You could probably sort of start with a little hill rather than going up Mount Roy, you know, climbing a thousand meters.

03:58
It's probably not the climbing, it's the downhill that gets you. Yes, totally is. And to be fair, probably Simone, it's probably not your way of doing things to take the easy hill really, is it? It's probably more the hard yards, et cetera. You're right there. And you know, Simone, I would love to chat.

04:23
around a range of things. Of course, I want to chat your training and your nutrition. Super keen to get the insights into what helps you build into an event and helps make it successful for you on that front. But also, I've listened to a couple of podcasts and I've read such a great article that was in the New Zealand Herald a few weeks ago, just before Coast to Coast this time.

04:53
about just you and your life and what's made you so successful. You've really opened up in terms of some of the things you felt have helped you build your mental tenacity towards adventure racing and multi-sport and things like that. Where I'd really love to start is with regards to growing up and some of the challenges you face.

05:22
How do you feel that they have contributed to your mental toughness and your ability just to get out and get amongst it? Yeah, I mean, I guess some of what happened in the past, it definitely probably helped me to become a stronger, more resilient person. But I wouldn't, I'm not saying that everyone needs to expose themselves.

05:51
to do something crazy or yeah, to get, yeah. But I had this discussion actually with my partner, with a few friends, sort of they asking me the same questions like, imagine if you wouldn't have had, it would be funny if you could put a pause on it and have the same Simone, not with your past and say what an athlete I would have been now without the background, you know, without the challenges, I guess. Maybe I could be even a better, a greater athlete. You know, I don't think you need

06:21
to have a horrible or traumatic experience to become a strong, you know, resilience or tough or pain tolerant person. I mean, you look at all the Olympic athletes or, you know, like in any sport at the best in the world. I don't know how many had a trauma and yeah, and they are the best in the sport. You know, like you look at Chrissy Wellington, for an example, or.

06:49
the tennis player, not that I'm in tennis, but even the people playing golf, you know, like, it probably helps you in certain ways or the way you, I don't know, I think even I've read many books about, I don't know, mental toughness or our wellbeing or how to, I've got a book actually from Richie McCall, Perform Under Pressure, it's called, it's just in my bookshelf, but you know, like, and I don't think he had a traumatic

07:19
childhood. But I think what a lot of these books have in common is the mindset and how you can train your mindset regardless how good or bad you are to, I guess, to be, I don't know, not to become one of the creators, but it helps you with achieving your goals, if that makes sense. And that could be in life, at work, or whatever your dream and, you know, your passion.

07:49
flows into. And I guess I'm so passionate about the sport and moving and achieving and want to be the best at whatever, you know. So therefore, I guess I look at everything that might help me to get a little bit more out of it or to think different. And it is amazing, I guess what I learned, even without my past, that the mental side is big in these events or whatever you, you know, if it's a competition or an exam or

08:19
I don't know, you know, like climbing up Mount Everest. Yeah, I think there's a lot of similarity and if you can sort of figure out what makes you tick, what makes me tick, then yeah, it took a long time and a lot of trials and errors, but I feel like I've got a good sort of recipe for myself now where I know this is what it takes for me to be sharp and...

08:49
in the moment and to kind of perform when it counts the most. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it totally does. And you know, when I think about your background, I think some things which strike me is just your, like you don't, you take risks, you know, like moving to New Zealand, for example, like you knew a person here, so you came out to New Zealand without a whole lot of money, without

09:18
knowing very many people without having great English, you know, like that's a mindset of not letting these things be a barrier to potentially what you want to achieve. And I think that's something which a lot of elite athletes have in common, like not necessarily, it's not about the trauma actually, it's just that you're just, you're wired in a way, and I think lots of us are wired in a way, regardless of.

09:44
becoming, you know, being a world champion or even just wanting to get up every day and go for a run, you know, you almost have to be wired a bit differently from other people to do that. Yeah, just for example, I mean, the Wim Hof, you know, like this guy that goes into the ice bath and it's like, I have no desire, but to do that, I mean, man, you have to be mad, not mad, but you know what I mean? You, you.

10:13
you kind of not attracted, but you kind of looking for, yeah, you to, to how do you become comfortable with the uncomfortable. And that's a lot, I guess what I, what, what every athlete needs to, or not athlete, but even work life, you know, normal life situations, just to push yourself through something that not, that's not comfortable. It's not always pretty. It doesn't feel good at certain times. It's not all, you know, yeah. And learning that it's okay.

10:41
it's okay and it's okay to be uncomfortable and it's okay to be sore. It's okay to cry and feel like, oh, I don't want to do this again. And then you sign up for the next challenge. I think it's being human. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree. But also what do you reckon Simone? There are things which I love to challenge myself on to put myself in an uncomfortable situation because I know that I'm going to get better.

11:09
But there are other things which people sort of say to you like, oh, go on, this would be such a good challenge and you'd be able to build your tenacity and your mental toughness. I look at what they're suggesting I do, like, for example, I don't know, an Ironman or a Mylar or something else or like free diving or something. I'm like, I don't want to challenge myself in that. At what point in life are you like, you know what?

11:38
I'm good. I don't feel like I need to, I don't have anything to prove more to myself that I need to become tougher and stronger. And I'm actually really happy with, with where I'm at. Like do you ever have those sort of thoughts? Yes. No, I agree. Just what mediocre people like me. Okay. No, no. That's with the, for example, the Wim Hof, which I kind of admire the people who can do it, but I hate, I hate the cold. I hate being cold. I hate this feeling of sitting.

12:06
Oh, I can do it, but it's just like, it doesn't excite me, you know? And I love the snow. Don't get me wrong. I love being up in the mountains and I love skating or skiing and, and it's in the cold and I mean, even I'm from Germany and people gave me so much shit when I moved here and they're like, ha ha, you from Germany and that, you know, like you've, you have cold wind. It was like, I know, but I grew up with warm housing, you know? Um, we didn't, by the way.

12:31
Yeah, yeah. So I learned how to live in a down jacket for about four months of the year, five. Which I don't mind. But I came to terms that there are certain things, like even going up Everest, I just do not like the cold. I know I can prepare myself to be out there to handle the cold. You know that I'm not cold, so I'm warm and toasty and I can, I love exercising out there. But I guess that...

12:59
You know, there's a saying, there's no bad weather, it's the bad equipment. But I don't want to shiver the whole time. And there's a creepy feeling I just can't handle. And I came in terms, I'm fine with that. It's OK to end the same with, I don't know, falling off the sky in a parachute. Or, you know, there are certain things I realized. I just don't have to prove. I think I proved a lot in my life that I can, if I have to, if it's a life threatening situation and I'm

13:28
it's either fly, you know, run or die. Then I'm going to do and jump off the cliff and whatever do free solo or swim in cold waters. But, um, I don't know if that's a growing up thing that I learned. Oh no, I don't have to like everything other people like, and I don't have to do certain things. And maybe there's something to do when you feel a bit unsecure and you want to prove to the people or your friends, I can do it, or you want to come. I don't know.

13:55
Maybe it has a bit more to do with your psychology, you know, psychology too. I don't know. Yeah. No, I totally appreciate that. And like, I wonder, like I was thinking about it as I was prepping for our interview, like, because I just wished you a happy birthday on Facebook. How old are you? Remind me. I didn't. It's just a number, but it says 44. 44. That's right. You're just young. You're young. Could you have a med? Like if you were thinking about yourself, like...

14:25
20 years ago, would you have expected to be where you are now in terms of, I guess, geographical location maybe, but also what about in your sporting career and in your sort of professional career? Did you think you'd be where you're at now then? Probably not sure, but what I remember from back in the days when I left school and you know you finish.

14:53
you know, you carry on studies, studying at university or you, you do an apprenticeship and then people ask me, so what are you going to do? I always wanted to be an athlete and work as a school, you know, PE teacher or associate with sport. And I just didn't have the best grades to, to go anywhere. So it was a bit of a horrible time at the time, because whatever I said, I want to be an athlete or.

15:19
you know, do something, you support, they're like, no, you can't, no, you're not good enough, no, it doesn't work, or we haven't got the money to support, or it's just not possible. And that was hard. And it was like, but I just had this, I don't know, I just love it so much. But I guess you also need to be able to be teachable or, you know, to be able to study. And I just wasn't the smartest. I'm smart in different ways. I'm more the hands on person, you know, like I'm hands on.

15:48
touching stuff and feeling and not good with reading, but that's probably because I had severe or still have severe dyslexia, but that's okay. Back in the days, there was no such thing. So I always had this, this passion about doing something with this being an athlete or yeah, but it just, yeah. There was no time and place, which then I did an apprenticeship in a bakery and that kind of failed because then I got the eating disorder. And then after a long,

16:18
I don't know, Wilbur was like a hurricane. I started with life again and then I started work doing apprenticeship in a sports shop and that was sort of my, not break food, but I was like, oh my God, I'm finally doing what I was, you know, what I wanted to do, be associated with sport or selling equipment or running shoes, you know, like being right in what I was so passionate about. And...

16:43
That was kind of cool and I finished my apprenticeship and then I was like, oh, that's sort of, I've done what I wanted in life, but I love to do more. You know, when you feel like you've done something and you just want to, you want to grow and evolve and do other things. And I was always looking for the next challenge in something else. Just to not be, not a bucket list, but I had a bit of a thing, not a list, but I was like, okay, I've done that. So what now? And then, oh,

17:11
I want to do an Ironman because I had this childhood dream of watching Hawaii when I was little. It's like, Oh, let's do this. So how do I do this? Like, okay, I have to obviously start swimming or it's called triathlon. You know, like it kind of just had this sort of not planned. It just kind of kind of plan, but more in my, what is it? The subconscious. Yeah. But always sport. What I remember just being super active and just playing everything you could imagine after school.

17:41
And I just loved it. Yeah. I think it gave me a lot in sense of, um, connection, um, contacts, um, sharing, you know, you learn so much from playing team sports, you make friends, and then you got approval and a sort of belonging, you know, and I don't know. I mean, I had a good upbringing, but there was something definitely missing with, I guess, the connection with the parents, which they've been, they've been good parents, they did what they could, but you know, there was something else missing, which then I think the sport just.

18:10
place that I just got so much out of this environment to be in. Yeah. Yeah. No, I totally appreciate that. And I was just thinking as well as you were talking about having these sort of dreams and desires, but not that they weren't recognized, but you were told, oh, that's not possible. I do wonder how... That's probably a generation thing.

18:38
Yeah, I agree. And if you had stayed in Germany, I wonder whether you would have, not been put in a box, but you just wouldn't have realized your goals to the same extent as what you have with all of the other life risks, like the travel and stuff that your sport has provided you and that you of course instigated first by moving to New Zealand. What a huge move.

19:07
from Germany. Yeah. Well, there was like jumping into the pond, like, you know, in the ice cold water, I call it. There's a saying in Germany, you just jump into the deep end. And because my English wasn't that great. And I thought, ah, many men I did went on trips with my mates, it was like they could communicate and I was.

19:32
Not the dumb one, but I was the one left out. Couldn't communicate because all I knew was German. And I was like, right, I need to go by myself. It's enough. And the only way is to go to go hard. But that's, I don't know, it's a bit my personality, which I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing. It's not bad, but sometimes it is, I guess, a bit extreme. Like even with my sort of resting, I'm all in. Or I I'm not. Which then you get sore legs.

20:01
because I haven't used them much and then I climb a thousand meters and run down. I wouldn't highlight to do these things. No, but true. But the other thing is that you know yourself as well. I think that's something which, of course, we develop with age and stuff. Because then if you know yourself, you can then make adjustments to...

20:29
the recovery time or what you do next. As a part, you know, like, I can't imagine you're going to go and climb another thousand meters today. If your legs feel this way, I mean, it might be wrong, but at least you're like, well, okay, I did that. That's fine. And you know, I know, you know, I'll just do some other things while they recover and then sort of move on. It would be amazing having the knowledge I have now if I had that 20 years ago. I would have probably minimized a lot of injuries.

20:58
I just saved myself a lot more. Or if you were recovering, what is your... Says every single athlete, right? I mean, don't we all say that? Like, oh, if only. But you wouldn't be the person you are if you did as well, right? Oh, and then there's still so much more to learn. Like, as a child, you always think, oh, the grownups, all the parents, they know everything. And then you are that age and it's like, no, I still got this.

21:22
So much out there. It's like, I don't know everything. I know a lot more than I used to, but shit. I often think that, like I remember, like I think about my parents at my age and I, not only, of course, did I think that they were old. But I'm like, whoa, my parents had like, I don't know, 20 year old children at the age that I am now and I can't, and they seemed so adult to me and they still seem like the adults.

21:51
when we're in the room and we seem like the children. I reckon that stuff just never changes, right? Probably. I can't, yeah, I see your perspective. Yes, exactly, I agree. I don't have any kids myself. I still feel like sometimes the kid is like, oh, oh no, can't have them, it's too early. Which is not too early, but it's like, oh. No, I totally appreciate. Hey Simone, tell me, do you like, with your mindset stuff, like,

22:18
I don't know what you do, but do you like listen to podcasts? I mean, you mentioned Richie McCaw's book. Like what other resources and stuff, if someone's going to ask you Simone, how can I grow personally in terms of my mindset and how I approach things to be a bit more like you? Like what kind of resources and stuff would you push them towards? Oh, I love podcasts and I wouldn't. Oh, God, I listen to so many different ones.

22:47
Do you listen to Mindset once? Particularly? Or do they just come up in conversations? When they're with the hosts and stuff like that? It probably comes up in conversations. Like I still, I used to do a lot of triathlon and I still love the Fetor radio. Bebban's. And what is the other one? What's the Sky Check? The How They Train.

23:17
You know, like, I mean, and, and then there's also some other, like I've been listening to your podcast as well. And you know, when, yeah, when you talk to all these intelligent people, like doctors or whatever, like there's so much, I feel like you just pick out little tiny pieces and, and I feel like, because there's, I mean, there's more than ever, like there's so much more. What is the,

23:44
resources and everything on the net. You know, like we have access to anything these days. As I said before, I'm not the best reader. So I like even I do have books, but I'm not the best reader. So I much rather for me, it's much easier to listen even to audiobooks. So that's why I like podcasts. And so I feel like I always pick certain things out. They just resonate really well with me or it feels like, oh aha moment. And I try certain things out and...

24:14
So yeah, I couldn't pinpoint it to one specific, but I did for a while listen to a specific podcast and she was, she's from South Africa. It was fascinating because it's all about the brain and that helped me I think personally a lot, just listening, what is it called? Oh, it's on my tongue, I just can't. Was it a mindset podcast? Yeah, is it Caroline Leath?

24:43
Cleaning up your mental mess. Yes, yes, yes. Yes. Brilliant. But I don't know, it just, it clicked with me and I just, especially with lockdown, like she had so many good points and in lockdown, I was like just even before I was just like, like a sponge, just like when I find something, I'm just like, you know. Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah. I thought it was, I loved it.

25:09
And I thought, oh my God, if everyone listened to this, it's like the world would be a better place. Do you know, I know what you mean about just listening to just different podcasts, like with experts. And even like I'm like you, like they might be talking about a particular topic, but then there are things which are almost outside of the topic, like just in part of the conversation that they have or they might be explaining something about their own life. And it's those little in-between bits. And I'm like, and it gives you insight into how they think. Yes. And...

25:38
these are like these super successful people in their field and they're sort of sharing these sharing their knowledge, but the way that they say it or other elements of it sort of make me go, oh, like that's a really good way to think about that. And then so it's almost like learning how to think differently when you're listening to successful people. Like before the coast, I was just listening to a book. What is it called? I think it was.

26:07
resilience toolkit. And there's a lot of, I don't know, but it was a few key moments where just like, oh, you know, because you have all these thoughts. I mean, I don't know, I'm very busy up here. I don't know about us. And I think maybe it's a girl thing or woman thing that we are just sometimes just thinking too much and overthink too much. And she was like, I don't know, just breaking it down. Like, is this thought helpful? I guess when I'm racing and then, you know, even

26:36
I was so busy with getting ready for the course and I had all these, I guess, when I get tired and I don't know, then I get more emotional, not enough sleep. You know, like how when everything is overwhelming but it's self-inflicted. Anyway, so the key moments I had with what I got out of the book was like, just breaking down. Is the thought helpful? No. Is it relevant? No. Is it helpful? No. Kick it out. You know, it's like a machine almost, like just block it out and just kind of it comes back to just being in the moment.

27:06
and all that negative self-talk is kind of, it's not helpful and it's not actually true. It's just what my thoughts telling me like, that I'm slow and it's like, you know, you come up with so much crap up here, which is like, how is this even possible? You know? I know, do you know, I had this on my run this morning, Simone, like I was running and it was supposed to be an interval session and it was, but it was pretty rubbish to be fair. And, but what I noticed was,

27:34
I just sort of had started my run and then I just started thinking about stuff to do with my business. You know, like, well, I've got this to do and I've got to, you know, I want to start this Athlete Academy thing. I've got to get the ball rolling there and then I've got to think about my next program for Monday's matter. And then I'm like, I'm probably not going to like, and those thoughts were running through my head that well, you know, like the, I didn't feel, not that I wasn't good enough, but I just felt a block.

28:03
to my ability to achieve it, you know? And I'm like, Miki, you've got to get out of that because that's just that mental mindset. So you've like, and so I just started thinking about, and I'm like, right, I'm going to think about my run. Then I started thinking about really fast people when I was doing my intervals, like how are they going to be running these intervals? Clearly I'm going to be a lot slower than them, but you wanted to, I wanted to be in that mindset, you know? Oh, exactly. Like I would have thoughts like when I'm out running, it's like,

28:30
Oh, but these other people, they run so much faster. And it's like, well, that's not relevant right now, is it? And then instead of thinking, you know, like, there's so much going on, it's like, but why are we doing this to ourselves? I don't know, but it's not helpful. Boom, need to block it out. And then how you feel, oh well, that's on race day, that doesn't count because, oh God, you don't wanna know how I feel. Not helpful, I needs to go. So, and I think. Yeah.

29:00
Yeah, that was my whole point that just these little things with, you know, making a list and going through certain things, it did help me. Yeah. Which is awesome. Now, Simone, can we talk about your training? You know, like, obviously you've just won your fifth Coast to Coast.

29:24
It was funny because I thought it was only four, but I've obviously, I had obviously lost count and you've won five already. But what is your, like obviously your training will look quite different in the lead up to an event compared to maybe just when you're ticking over and you're just going out and smashing life, you know. But what does a typical week look like for you when you are in that, when you are in a training mode? Like do you?

29:53
plan it out with the help of a coach or are you in the space where you have a lot more autonomy over what you do and you just sort of decide on the day? Like how does it look for you? Yeah, this year I had a coach so it just helps me because I was a bit busy this year. I committed to a lot of different things like life and work, call it work.

30:22
So therefore I thought I cut out, because I have been self coaching myself as well for three Coast to Coast wins, which I'm quite proud of. But anyway, it takes out the sort of the stress thinking kind of feeling and you know, there's, I guess, a lot of analyzing involved for able, so I thought I get a coach and then all you do is you get up and...

30:49
It's a bit, I wouldn't say lazy, but it does help you with just doing what you're supposed to do. It minimizes, it just frees up more time so I can put it into my training and just work and coaching myself. Well, do you know, because like you don't, it takes the doubt away. Like, you know, sometimes if you're coaching yourself or doing anything for yourself, if you've got these little negative thoughts going,

31:13
should I be doing something even though you know you're like should I be doing something different so it just takes away that little little chatter and it gives me kind of a bit of reinsurance like he obviously or she wants to wants me to do well so surely they will help me to get the best out of me and then it takes also a bit of strain away on my me my partner the relation you know like because I would usually

31:37
ponder him and annoy him a bit like, Hey, what do you reckon? Which is hard because then he feels like, damn, if I give her the wrong thing, the wrong answer, you know, like, so I thought, yeah. But, um, sorry to come back to your question. A average sort of a week would look like usually the weekends are quite big. So therefore on a Monday, I would have sort of an easy day. So it's just an easy bike pedal or run.

32:06
just to accumulate sort of time and keep the body ticking over. And then on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, how long, how long would that be on a Monday? Oh, probably probably from half an hour run to 45 minutes, maybe sometimes an hour, but just kind of sort of. Yeah. And then probably a bike or pedal and they could be an hour and a half usually just, um, but mainly just to keep ticking over.

32:36
And then on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, we do intervals. And then usually it's like on a Tuesday or like on a Tuesday, I would do a running interval just a long way. I, why I love just out the door here. Or I go on the track and then usually a bike or another pedal. And that could be maybe on the.

33:03
Usually a pedal and then some intervals as well. And then that's basically Tuesday. And then on a Wednesday, I either do an interval on the bike or a long bike, sort of a longish like endurance. Yeah. But yeah. And then usually a run off the bike and that's, yeah, that's, that's, that's good training and then a Thursday depends what I did on Wednesday. Um,

33:33
It gets not compensated, but yeah, depends on the workout on Wednesday. I would do a long bike and then again, a run off the bike or a pedal. And then going onto the bike, you know, like, um, but it will be a longer session. Yeah. But usually be talking longer. What is it like two to three hours? Yeah. And then Wednesday, sorry, Friday is sort of an easy day again, like just, um, uh, maybe, maybe they would call it a recovery day. They just.

34:03
go out for a cruisy run, which could be mainly sometimes just half an hour, which I beg in the days, I would never do that. Even if it's just as many minutes. Would it not be worth it? You'd be like, what's the point? But I learned a lot growing up a bit more. I think it's very, very, very beneficial, these short runs.

34:33
And then Saturday, Sunday, I usually long endurance, either long bike ride, four hours, and then a long bike ride on a Saturday, and then followed by a long run on Sunday. And that's my week, kind of. And then I would sometimes make it up if I go for an easy pedal afterwards, depends, yeah. And are you always training for something, Simone? Or do you always have in your head the next event that you're doing?

35:02
Do you like only have a couple of events during the year and you have long periods of time where you're just ticking over and keeping fit? Yeah, so since COVID, it seems a bit like that. We have long periods of times where I call it, I'm training for life, just to be fit and out and about. And well, it's a bit unfortunate with COVID that a lot of multi-sport events kind of have disappeared.

35:31
And even I used to go quite a bit overseas. And last year was the first time where we had an event or two years ago, actually, where we had an event in Australia. And then I went in Paraguay. And then last year I went back to China. I used to race a lot in China with those multi-sport stage races. So that was great back before COVID. We used to do this a lot. And I would have a schedule.

36:00
almost like a triad led, where you have kind of, not really an off season because our summer is their winter. So we have our summer be training race and then our winter is their summer. So it didn't be go overseas and race. So it was like bang, bang, bang. But it was good fun. It was really good fun. I really enjoyed that. And then, yeah, now since COVID, things have changed a bit. So I have a longer off season or more. Yeah.

36:29
long periods where I don't really have anything. Oh, I guess you can do lots of local events, you know, like running events. There's always something you can do if you want to. Um, so I might do a few more of that. Yeah. But potentially maybe go back to China this winter. So there are some more in September, but even that's, it's, you know, we're talking about that's what five, six months away. Yeah, that's true.

36:58
How do you cope in Wanaka in the wintertime? Oh, it's great because we go up the hills. So hopefully we got some snow up there. Amazing. So yes, of course, because you're okay, great. Yeah. So this is a place, but it doesn't matter what season we've got. There's so much to offer. Not that I want to sell Wanaka to more people. No, not at all. I'm kidding. But no, it's pretty good. It's definitely, yeah, it's cold. It's, yeah. As I said, like,

37:28
I shouldn't complain about the cold because you need the cold in order to get snow. And you know, um, and then it's actually awesome when you can. And it's awesome for me because, um, having it's, you know, it's, it's awesome that I do different things, other things than just kayak and bike and run. I love skis skating. So it's, it's, it's good for my overall well fitness balance, you know, like even to do different things and then then rather than doing the same thing all over.

37:57
Like even now, the last three weeks, I kind of refuse to do the same thing. What I train for is like, no, I don't want to go on my bike and I don't want to run. I don't want to kayak. I want to go climbing and hang out with friends and do the things I usually don't do and have time because I'm so poof. Do you have a good network of people around you in Wanaka? I know I've got other friends and stuff in Wanaka and they just say that, you know, that's

38:27
It's like really like-minded, outdoorsy type people. Yeah. Yes. I think, well, it's changing. It's definitely changing. They have a, I think a bigger, how do you say, diversity. It's more on a spectrum, which is great. I guess I surround myself with like-minded people. It's definitely sort of a, a make-out for, for, for the outdoors, because I guess.

38:54
What's so convenient, especially for me, I guess, if you like the outdoors, everything is just so close, you know, you just, it's right on your doorstep. So we don't have to drive for hours to get into the mountains. You just like Mount Royce, you know, 20 minutes in front of my doorstep, basically. So the lake is, I walk down to the lake. I've got a, got a pretty nice spot here. I'm right at the lake, which is, yeah. Do you still swim?

39:23
Simone? Only if I fall out of my boat. No. I wondered, I didn't hear it as part of your sort of, I mean, oh, clearly you don't need to swim for a lot of the Maldives sports stuff. I wondered whether it was just something you liked to do. Oh, I, deep down, I love it. And I love because I used to work as a lifeguard for such a long time. I love watching people swimming and I always, I see Tim, I guess, with his squad there or Tony Dords or, um, swim club.

39:51
And it's really inspiring. And I still sometimes think, Oh, maybe I could have a comeback as a triad lead. You know, if I put my mind and effort into it, swimming again, but it's like, Oh, I just did that for so long and I really tried hard. And I thought I just hit the point where I'm like, I think it's okay to not be a great swimmer. You know what we talked before that when you realize it's okay to not be good at everything. Um, yeah, I still enjoy swimming, but.

40:21
Oh man, yeah, it's funny because I just haven't had the desire to do it. But even though saying though, I did float down the river a few days ago with my partner in a dry suit and it was a hell of a fun. It was really good fun. It was like, Oh yeah, that would be maybe. And what I also noticed when I did swim and I had a period where I did swim and I paddled and I felt like the swimming definitely helped me with my.

40:46
anaerobic capacity with just even with running and stuff. Like I felt like I was a lot fitter in this whole chest area than without the swimming, which was an interesting observation. But then I was like, Oh, I can't do both. I don't know. I feel like I have an allergic retching with the chlorine. Every time I would swim, I would have a really blocked gunked up nose. And I lose the sort of the smell and the taste buds while I was swimming. I was like,

41:15
Oh, it's just not good, is it? I know. But do you know, Simone, I swim so slowly that I never get, almost no aerobic. There's no way I could get anaerobic in a pool. I wouldn't even know what on, like you say that. I'm like, God, imagine how like my running could really have improved if I knew how to get anaerobic in a pool. But I literally cannot. Like there's no, like I go in and I swim a kilometer and

41:43
It takes me about 26 minutes and I've never improved. But also I don't even care. Like I'm like, I just love being in the pool. I love the feel of the water. You know, it's like when you have your body in a different environment, be it on a trail or even on a road. And I don't know how you feel about road running, but I, I love the, this, the, the flow that you get when you don't have to worry about the terrain. And it's literally just one foot in front of the other. And you're really in control. Like I really liked that.

42:13
And I love the feel of being in the water and swimming and just feeling, feeling like I'm really stretching out. That's actually a good point. You just said there with your, your example, you might do fraud running and the flow. That's something I, for an example, worked on for this year's coast or with my coach. He, we hardly did any hills. We didn't know off road running or, you know, off road running is such, I, of course I was running here on the trails, but

42:42
Um, just because I don't like the pavement and I don't think it's that healthy for me. Um, but it was to get back into this flow stage and I believe he was actually right. Like you can't do that when you keep focusing all the way, all the time, sorry, on roots and you know how people, you don't have it or you have, you have, you know, you have experience with running off road and so you don't think too much, but just to learn that flow and what it's like to run properly.

43:12
you can only do this on the normal road, on a normal track where you don't have to think. And you can literally just focus on the doing, you know what I mean? Like the flow as well to feel it. Because I mean, it takes that much, you know, it takes that many repetitions, but it also takes just the doing, like the consistency over and over. And there will be a point where you feel like, oh, my God, I finally I'm back in the flow how I used to be.

43:42
learning again. It's like, oh, it's not rocket science, isn't it? You read that, you hear it in the podcasts. And the same, I guess, with the field for the water. Yeah. But it's not until you do it that you, it's that experience, a experience sort of, you need the experience to prove it to yourself. Yeah. And there's the commitment and trusting, I guess I had to trust the coach. Like, it's going to be all right. Even I cursed and was like, do you know, the coast to coast is on a...

44:10
on a river bed. Do you know I need to do some hills? Like, do you not? Maybe you should Google coast to coast. This poor guy. No, he was amazing. But it's like, I just keep questioning. Like, what's the theory about this? So that is one difference between having a coat and you doing it yourself. Like, what were the other main differences, Simone? Like, did you do?

44:37
more or less volume under your coach? And who is your coach? Sorry, I'm so ignorant. I should know this. I think I've seen his name, but I can't even recall who it is. I'd probably say his name, right? Craig Kirkwood? Oh, yeah. Okay. Sir CK. Then you go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jeez, I didn't. Okay, look, do you know what? I didn't know that it was CK. That would have stuck in my brain. Yeah.

45:05
So this is super interesting. So he was your multi-sport coach. Yet, of course, he is like, he is like, you know, he was in his day, a professional runner and he's a run coach. What made you choose him? Yeah, that's a good question. A lot of people ask me that, just like, do you know he's just a runner? It's like, well, I think you need to be careful saying he's just a run coach. And has he ever done the coach, you know, like there's people questioning

45:35
I've done my research and I had this gut feeling he will be right for me. It was probably the running because I used to be an okay or I would say a good runner, not a fast runner, but you know, especially in terms of off-road running, I probably accelerate more in the off-road or when it's challenging than on a road run on a flat piece. Maybe there's a bit of skill in both, but again, I guess it's just what you're passionate about.

46:04
just go out and do it. So my running has decreased in the last three, four years and it really annoyed me. And then it's like, oh, well, maybe because I haven't focused so much on it and well, that's not true. But you know, like you, you come up with all the pros and cons. You rationalize, don't you? And then the only thing what has happened, yes, with COVID, I obviously hasn't, I haven't spent that much time racing.

46:32
in a team overseas. And obviously I haven't had the stimulus on fast running, you know, over, you know, almost every month you go and race full blast, especially in a team. And it's, it's all like not at max speed, but you try and obviously you try and keep up with the guy. So you're going to get faster because just of the speed you travel with and even if you're, you know, get towed around, but you know, I think it has such a massive input on again, you, you, um, you grow on your

47:02
you, um, the, how do you say the effect it has on your body and just the training, like when you go out racing, you come back from China and you instantly, you sort of a sparse, a fast, you have a higher turnover, if that makes sense. Like, yeah. And that's what the body totally makes sense. Like, yeah, yeah. Remembers from what you just done a few weeks ago. So therefore you had an amazing training block, you know, it's also the resilience and the strain on your body. You can cope with it, but we haven't had that for

47:29
Yeah. What three years almost or two years at least, you know. Yeah. So maybe that had an impact that just be grading slower at the coast, you know, which didn't know. I mean, people like, oh, maybe you, you know, you sometimes you have to let go of something to become better at the other, which my weakness was the paddling. So therefore I focused more on the paddling and then, you know, like time wise. But it's like, oh, I feel like I put in still the same time, but it's just decreased. But my paddling did.

47:57
become better. So I was like, Oh, that's okay then. But then this year I thought, man, I'm finally good at all three things. And I'd like to just become, you know, like get back into that feeling of the flow that I feel is nice. And it feels like I can run again, you know, when you get, when you talk about the feeling and just feeling happy and content and just this, this, yeah, this, this, this, this, this good feeling of the flow, which I haven't had for such a long time.

48:27
I thought, well, I probably have to get a running coach and I'm sure we can work it out. If I see I'm lacking on things, I would probably would have the bravery now to tell them, Hey, what do you reckon? Or, you know, I think I'm, I'm, how do you say, I have enough self-esteem now to tell him, or, you know, even challenge and not challenge him, but ask him questions. Like, and I did, you know, like back in the days, I would probably just

48:53
done the training and not question anything. And that's... Yeah, yeah. But in your mind, I reckon that there would have been the questions. Yeah. And I think it's actually, it's a healthy thing to not just do what the coach says because we are all so different and he doesn't know, he doesn't see me on a daily basis. We do this all online and obviously we talk to each other, but there's so much more. And I thought with my experience I have and can bring to the table and his expertise with running or...

49:22
I mean, he coached Sam Clarke for an example a few years ago when he won the coast. You know, I knew he's got some, you know, and then again, he's a coach and he wants to evolve. And you know, like, I'm sure he does his research or maybe I'm wrong. But obviously, he also has some amazing athletes he coached himself, you know, like Hayden Wyatt and Sam Tennor and Mel Aiken, the runner. You know, like

49:51
It is, Nel Aiken. She's amazing. Yeah, especially. Yeah, like just looking at his profile and how he's committed and he treats everybody the same recording to his website. I thought, oh, that sounds nice. If I get a treatment like Hayden Wyatt or something. You know, like. And then I said, look, I've got nothing to lose. He probably so busy anyway, and he probably might not even say yes or whatever. So I thought, oh,

50:20
I just got to flick him a message and see what he thinks. And yeah, then I did have to ask Aism to poke him though, if he got my message. But yeah, no, we did have a chat and somehow I guess, he thought maybe it's a great idea to help me. And I did tell him- Well clearly, I mean, hello. Yeah, I did tell him too, maybe there was the beta, it's like, this is gonna be my last course, can you help me too?

50:48
you know, send it off and oh god here I am I don't know anyway maybe it was my last I don't know yet I leave that out there. Oh yes actually because that was going to be a quick so is that your last coast was that your last coast though? Let's say it that way it looks pretty good on my CV and just to finish it off like this it looks even for me I think I would be very happy and satisfied to leave it that way and say that that's it and now

51:17
The rest can sort it out for next year and have a good rumbly tumble. However, it is very appealing for me, which I thought would never happen to come back and do something, not no one, but not a woman has done before to try and win it six times. So that's very, how do you say it's a new challenge? You know how I say it before I always look for a new, not just a new challenge, but something that's

51:45
just out the box or, you know, like something meaningful and yeah, yeah. You can do so many iron mains, you know, like how people come up with, yeah, that's, yeah, yeah. But it's like, Oh, this is same thing. Yeah. This is kind of same thing, but different because no one has done it. So Simone, like thinking on your reflecting on your win, were there elements that you felt could be improved? Oh my God.

52:12
I mean, I guess to be fair, I mean, everyone, every athlete always going to say yes to that. But yeah, so that definitely, yeah. Yeah. And lots of usually in the past, it was, it was always little minor things, you know, you can always work on your nutrition. And yes, I can work on my nutrition. But for me, a big thing is like, I had a few injuries or niggers leading into the race, which we all have. But I always think, Oh my God.

52:42
don't have to think about the pain and just block it out and your sore feet and your sore bum or you know like hip. Like imagine you could have a race where you just give it all like the performance and you've got your nutrition diet and even if that's not diet, you know, like you've done the work but just not having that pain, you know, already leading into the race. This is what's going to be like. There's no way around it because

53:07
That's just how it has been over so many months and it's not going to go away. So, you know, like that, that, that's something I'm like, Oh, imagine. Um, that's what I'm working on now with the time or for the last three weeks. So that was the pure, purely recovering for not just the body, also the mind. But what I really want to work on in my, in the next few months is sort out these niggles because.

53:35
They need a lot of attention and it will time. It will be time to know time and just not just time to do nothing, but time to reset whatever is wrong here. Whatever needs to be figured out. Yeah. And then that's probably the main thing. And if, if the other thing is I feel like I don't want to.

53:58
keep doing things if I'm just in pain. I don't want to make it worse. You know, I don't know if it's arthritis. I don't know what it is exactly, but obviously maybe there's something in the hip that's, you know, I don't know, that maybe then I shouldn't keep doing what I do. And maybe need to say, oh, okay, I had a good time. I had a, you know, I had my career and not hanging up my shoes. I will always be fit and active in it because I love to just be fit and active to be.

54:26
roaming around and move. Yeah. And I think it's healthy, maybe to a different extent, if that makes sense. Yeah. Which is great. It's great to be in that position, right? Um, Simone, can we, you mentioned your nutrition. Um, and I know that, so a friend of mine and you know him, Mali Kendall did a super deep dive into your nutrition for radix actually as to.

54:55
what you did on the day and your continuous glucose monitor, which was bloody amazing, actually. It was super awesome to read his report. He sent it through and he's like, what's this like? What do you reckon? And I'm like, oh my God, this is amazing. Look at all this data and look at all this information. Or maybe you can analyze it in the English for dummies that I understand.

55:25
There's a lot of things that are just like, huh, what is that? What does it mean? I know, I know. Which isn't it interesting? Like, like, so you've got all of the scientific sort of like analysis of your nutrition, which may or may not really be important for you as the athlete sort of being on the day, right? But I wanted to sort of mention that. So, and I'll put a link, I'm pretty sure I've seen the article published as well.

55:55
I'll put a link in it to the show notes. Simone, what I'm super keen to talk to you about is your day-to-day nutrition. What does that look like for you? You mentioned, do you know what I find interesting is you mentioned your eating disorder, and I've seen that written down in articles and stuff about you. I do wonder how much of, when we go through things like that, how much people pigeonhole

56:25
people because of that, you know, like, I don't know if that's the right way to put it, but define. So it's like, Oh, you know, well, you've had an eating disorder in the past. So obviously that's going to sort of impact on what, you know, your everyday life now and what you do, which is not what I think. Actually, what I, what I think happens is that people tend people observing outside looking in might have in their head, Oh, this sort of defines, you know,

56:53
some of the eating habits or behaviors that someone has. And I don't think that's correct. And then, I mean, I'd be interested to hear your perspective as to whether or not you feel that impacts you now, or it doesn't even feature into anything that you do. That's interesting. How do you say, message I just heard, and I would have never thought about it that way. I certainly don't think at all that way. Even...

57:23
Yeah, cool. Yeah, that's not sad, but I feel sad that people from the outside think about us or me, you know, someone who had an eating disorder that way, because, oh, gosh, if you haven't had one or any disorder or addiction, then it's hard to to say something about it, because all they know is what they read and see. But, you know, like, yeah, I used to, you know, I agree.

57:53
I chat to clients and some of the struggles they have isn't necessarily in what they're doing, but it's how people perceive what they do. And then what I feel, especially with an eating disorder, it's probably one of the worst disorders you can have because

58:16
We don't need drugs. We don't need alcohol. We don't need all the other disorders. Well, you can live with all the other disorders, but you can't live without food. So to build a healthy relationship with food again, that's a massive accomplishment for everybody that had a little disorder or been full on or had even been hospitalized. Or, you know, like they, they should get a massive clap on their shoulder. They should be really proud of themselves. Like what they have accomplished.

58:45
huge because you not just weekly confronted with you daily you every minute you confronted with the stuff you go to the supermarket you can because you just can't have it you can't be without you know um that's what i what i learned and took me a very long time to you know to build up this healthy relationship but i guess then by relearning to have this healthy relationship with food

59:14
I basically unlocked the power for myself where I'm like, if I don't eat, I do not perform. If I don't eat, I don't recover. If I don't feed, I'm not fuel to do the session. It took me a long time and some people are faster learners or slower. I always keep saying good things take time. So I took the time and I feel like I've proven it to myself and to others that...

59:43
I'm a well-rounded person now and I don't think I've got any issues with the food anymore. I wouldn't say, I don't know, there's a saying in German, like that's what the Germans probably have, but I don't know if it's a good thing, but that's what they tell you at the institution. If you had a disorder, you will always have a disorder. You will have it for life. And I guess it's the thinking in our heads that will be still there, but it's the same probably like with my abuse.

01:00:11
It's always going to be there, but you learn to live with it and cope with it in a different way than what I've done in the past. Instead of abusing it, I'm using it now. Does it make sense? Yeah, no, that totally makes sense. For my, not advantage, but I guess, you know, I learned to cope with, within a different way than abusing it. So I learned that it's helping me, it's healing me. It's...

01:00:37
It's good for me. Yeah. Well, I guess it's, I mean, you're, I think you're, what you just said really shows, sort of illustrates what, what you've just, illustrates that point, right? You're like, food is fuel. Like if I don't eat, then I know that I'm not able to recover. I'm not able to do my sport. I'm not able to perform to the best. Whereas, because you've had that experience of not being in that position. And I think that's.

01:01:06
that's where the real value of it must come. And I wonder if that's what you're meaning. Yeah. Also, I guess, even if I don't train or not, it's not about just being athlete, that's just my daily life. If I don't eat, man, gonna get at some point brain fogged. You feel a bit weird, you get tired, you know? So I definitely need something. I probably learned that my body adapts. I think I'm, I guess I had to relearn so many things. I'm a lot more in tune what I need.

01:01:35
and I'm a lot more in tune also with my feelings and sensation, you know, that I don't mix it all up. And that's another thing, I guess. People who had had an issue, there's so much more than, uh, you know, when people say, why don't you just eat to someone that's anorexic or, you know, or someone that's overweight, like, why just, why don't you just eat less? You know, then you need like, but that's not the point. There's an underlying issue that causes, you know, that's the trigger, I guess. And you've

01:02:03
need to figure out what's what's triggering you or what what what you combined with your feeling right now, you know, like, yeah, this, I've got it such a wibble, such a big complex, but I, I think I have a pretty good understanding and even separating now, you know, that I don't use my food for to dumb and numb down the emotions or you know, that I'm not drinking now excessive amount of alcohol to numb down my feelings because I don't want to feel them or something is overwhelming.

01:02:33
Yeah, and that I guess comes with, thing is, I guess like with everything in life, the only person that can do it is me. So I have to do these things and no one can do it for me. I guess that's a sad realization for whatever it is we do these days, if it's my goal or if it's my addiction or if it's my work or whatever I wanna achieve, I have to put in the work in order to become better or fix things or learn things.

01:03:02
It's not always easy and pretty, but I think if you want to get better, it doesn't matter what it is, you can if you got the will, the working and the willpower. And it's not always, gosh, I had so many, I did 10 steps forwards and I did 100 back.

01:03:23
Just keep on going. I guess the same with training, like the consistency. Yeah. It doesn't matter if you have now a day off or two days off as long as you don't sit on the couch for weeks and weeks again. Or the same if you have a fall back with, I don't know, if you need to lose weight or you had a good strike on doing, listening to your, doing your diet or, you know, and then you had a...

01:03:51
whole weekend where you just went wild. Oh, well, that's okay. You know, as long as you just go back on the track and keep going the track you wanted to go. Yeah. And that's the thing, right? Like it's regardless of the hiccups and the things that happen along the way, you can only move forward. Like, you know, like you can't change what's happened in the past, but you can only sort of change what you do in the future. So focusing on that, I think is...

01:04:20
an opportunity to continue to be consistent and do the things which make you feel good, I reckon. Yeah. And yeah, just KB edit. And if you have a bit of relapse or whatever, just, oh, well, we all have relapse. And yeah, I mean, the other thing is like, when people have had an egg, so I mean, I did the same thing. I tried to, I don't know if that was a, how do you say, when you go from one eating disorder and not another disorder, but...

01:04:47
you try all sorts of different diets to, I don't know, make life more complicated. I don't know why we do that. I did that. But I also then realized that if I'm not sick, if I don't have celiac or if I'm not, you know, gluten or dairy-free, like it's actually nice that I have a healthy body that can absorb everything now. There are obviously certain things that make me feel better.

01:05:17
than others and then I try and take notes of what makes me feel better than other things, you know? And try and have more a holistic approach that's sort of my... Oh, God. So to answer your question, which I don't even know about something about food, I'm trying just to eat a bit of everything, not be extreme in one thing. I think I have a well-balanced holistic approach to food now in general.

01:05:44
And obviously my food I use while I'm training is very different to what I have for breakfast, lunch and dinner, if that makes sense. Because when I'm out training and racing, I need the quick carbs. And if people look at that, they're just like, oh my God, oh, you eat the sugar. Yeah. But at that time, in that moment to do this, this is what I need to eat. I need this quick release. I can't have a sandwich or eggs while I'm going food blast. You know?

01:06:13
But before and after, in between, I try and eat really sort of a well-balanced, holistic meal. I wouldn't say diet. Yeah. So talk me through then, Simone, like what kind of, what are your favorite, if I'm going to ask you about your favorite breakfast, lunch and dinner, what's your sort of typical diet look like? Because people are always fascinated by what sort of fuels the engine on our elite athletes. And so I have the opportunity to ask one of them.

01:06:41
So my go-to is usually not at the moment. I don't know why, maybe because I'm not training as much, but in usually when I'm training like the coast to coast or even with China or anything, and that's I had for over many years now, probably the last six years, we make our own porridge. And I love our porridge because it's not, it's not your normal kiwi porridge, I guess. We make it. Hello, all right, talk to me. Oh, you will like that actually.

01:07:10
We make a big pot. That's the other thing. Me and my partner, we love making quality and quantity. We go good and big. Nice, I love it. So we make a big pot of porridge, which also saves you time. So it lasts usually for two weeks. So we make a big pot of, so we make a big pot. We use big rolled oats. That's sort of the base. And then we add chia seeds.

01:07:37
raisins or cranberries or dates, whatever to sweeten it a bit. And then it could be coconut flakes or all sorts of nuts or seeds, whatever you like really. You can go wild, but usually we use a bit of walnuts or cashew nuts, sometimes almonds. And then we use some spices. So we use cinnamon, turmeric and cinnamon, turmeric, oh, ginger.

01:08:05
And that could be even the powder. And if you don't have the powder sometimes, we change it up. We cut in fresh turmeric or fresh ginger, or we use the powders. For the turmeric, you just have to be careful not to go too wild on it. Yes. It's very yellow. And kind of, it has this kind of not potent, but this taste obviously. So yeah, but it gives it a nice color. And.

01:08:30
Yeah, actually, so once upon a time I made a porridge that was a turmeric porridge and I gave it to Baez to try it and he's like, oh, curry, curry flavored porridge. And I'm like, well, I guess, but yours sounds much more like porridge. And then the other, I think it's probably one of the key ingredients. They cut raw lemons and like organic lemons. So we cut the whole lemon.

01:08:57
nicely chopped big chunks. I like the big chunks. And we cut quite a lot in there. We put it all in a pot, you mix it all up and then we add about two liters of hot water like it's a big pot. Yeah. Hot water. Wow, that is amazing. It's completely soaked and then overnight we let it just sit overnight and it absorbs everything. So in the morning you've got this amazing porridge. And what I do, I top it up with, I'm on a roll with, I add cacao powder with

01:09:26
maple syrup and a ton of peanut butter onto mine. Yeah. Oh, delicious. Delicious. And my partner, he adds his yogurt. You can do whatever you want, but really, but it's just such a nice go-to. And it gives me, I think, a lot of fats and protein and carbs. You know, I've got the whole shebang with oils and fats. Amazing. In there. And then, of course, I probably then kill it with a long black.

01:09:52
No, no, you enhance it with the long black. You enhance it. Thank you. Yeah. That's awesome. But before that, actually, I'm a bit not old school, but I read ages ago, and maybe you have told me that when I seeked out for summer twice a long time ago, I have a glass of epistide of vinegar, not a whole glass, but I dilute it with water. So I have a glass of that with a glass of normal water. That's sort of my start. That's how I start, actually, every day.

01:10:19
Oh, I love it. That's good. It's so good for your digestion. Yes. So that's what I do basically. As soon as I get up, that's my go-to. And then I have my food. Absolutely coffee. I'm a coffee snob. And that's one thing I realized. I'm happy to have one addiction and I am probably addicted to coffee. Yeah. Caffeine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that is a healthy addiction, actually, Simone. It's a nice one. Yeah. I hardly drink.

01:10:47
Yeah, I would say I could probably say like we don't, I don't, yeah, no, I can't remember when I had, Oh, I had a sip of the champagne bottle at the, at the finish line. That was about it. But yeah. Um, and then I usually, I guess I do a training session. It depends what my work schedule looks like. Usually with the coast, I did everything before work because we do long hours. It's from one till eight. So I try to jam everything in before, before work.

01:11:17
Um, so I would do or two, would do two or three sessions in the morning. And that's something where, yeah, you have to be, I mean, the key nutrition is key there because I need to fuel, um, during and basically straight after just to be, be ready for whatever is happening. Like if it's not training, then it's work and to be just there at the office and be ready for hundreds of customers. Yeah.

01:11:46
And then so what's for lunch? Yeah. Lunch. It would depend. What I've, what I do. Oh, I would always have lunch, but it's usually just some leftovers he had from the day before. Or just a quick few sandwiches. Or, or I had a lot of scrambled eggs. I tell you that we should actually get some chickens. Yeah. Usually something with protein mixed with carbs.

01:12:16
Like we would always have some, oh God, I'm quite boring. I would just have the same for lunch and for dinner, but it's usually just a small portion and in the evening for dinner, I go big. We go like a big good, um, like greens and vegetables and beans and lentils. I'm sort of, I'm not a hundred percent vegetarian, but mainly vegetarian. My partner's vegetarian, so we don't cook any meat here. Um, that's just easier for both of us, but I do say, um,

01:12:44
It's not easy because I do struggle with always being on loan, being eye-indeficient. So something I've been... Yeah, it can be a balance. Yeah. Yeah. And so occasionally I do actually eat meat. I've got friends, they begin to do their hunting and so I eat their...

01:13:06
delicious venison. Yeah, nice one. And I usually make it when Marcel is not at home. When I cook up a storm of animals. Or have fish. Simone, do you take any supplements or anything like that, that helps sort of get you through? Yeah, I do have some iron pills. I'm not the biggest fan of that, but I do that. And then I have some

01:13:35
What is it from B pure? The fish oils. Um, yeah, I, I don't have too many supplements. I have a few. And then the magnesium I'm, I'm going big on, not big, but yeah, I do eat quite a bit of magnesium. Um, a bit not big. So I don't have that many supplements, but they are sort of my go-to and a bit of zinc in there. So yeah, yeah. And blackcurrant that's probably, uh, we have a lot of vitamin C and blackcurrant. We bust.

01:14:06
Yeah, that's great. And protein power, man. Shakes. Yeah, no, that's super, like just a really convenient way to get your protein in, basically. Yeah. Simone, what about my last question? Because I am weary of the time, mindful of the time, and you'll be starting work soon. Oh yeah, good point. What about sleep? What about sleep for you? Like, are you a good sleeper? Usually, I think I am.

01:14:36
It's yeah, I mean, when I was training for the coast, man, I was just like out. And yeah, yeah, sleep is just so important. And even I realized that over the last 20 years, how important sleep has become for me. Um, I sleep a lot, um, which is not funny. I shouldn't laugh about it, but I average between eight and 10 hours. Definitely like 10.

01:15:05
Yeah, my partner has turned me into a sleepy monster. No, I'm not playing with him. I used to be a morning person. I still like getting up early in the morning, but because I have such odd shifts or even from the pool, I would work till like nine o'clock and it's really hard when you come home at nine thirty or, you know, just to wind down. So I would have these late nights and then early get ups and

01:15:33
You can't do this for so long, but I always felt with training and just what I do, it's, yeah, there's a bit of trade off. Um, so if I sleep my eight to 10 hours, um, I just feel so much better the day, you know, when I wake up and give them the sessions I do. Um, and I haven't got any of these funny watches on to monitor my sleep. Um, so I couldn't tell, I just feel like I'm more recovered. So that's what I go based on.

01:16:01
that must have been a good sleep. Well, you know, like I dream, yeah. I don't know if that makes, it's good or bad, but if that's quantified or justifying how good or bad your sleep is. But in terms of how I feel, I feel I had a good sleep, if that makes sense. And then I have days of course where I wake up or where I feel like, oh God, I feel like, or I wake up a lot, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But sleep is massive, especially when I lead into a race, I'm making sure, especially with the post.

01:16:31
Like I prioritized the sleep leading into the race week a lot. Yeah, yeah. That's really, yeah, that's totally important. And I know what you mean, actually. You always know yourself, you don't need a watch to tell you how you slept. You know, of course you know. Like if you have a restless sleep and you wake up a lot during the night and you get up and you're like, oh, I just feel rubbish. Versus like last night when you sleep right through and you're like, that was awesome.

01:16:58
Yeah, last night the sleep wasn't probably that great because every time I turned I could feel my body. So I was very sore. But the good thing also is how do I, I think I had this kind of not rule, but sometimes I have moments or months where I usually get up once to go to the toilet and then I think, oh, that's not a good sleep. But when I sleep through the night, I wake up and I'm so much more ready.

01:17:23
Then when I had to get up, go to the toilet and come back, it was like, oh, even with my turning and tossing and feeling sore, I felt so much more awake than the night before. That makes sense. Brilliant. Yeah. Yeah, totally does Simone. Now, just to finish off, what is next for you? Like, obviously you've got the little worm in your head about Coast to Coast 2025, and of course resolving some of the niggles, particularly with your hip. Like, do you have any races on your agenda right now for 2024?

01:17:55
Nah, not really. Nah, there's nothing. I mean, they're all sort of long term potentially. And even I thought, oh, I could do a running race in like eight weeks. And I was like, hang on a minute, you need to sort out your bloody foot first. Before you, it's funny how we attract something that's not ideal. You know, like I need to sort out my foot and my ass. And here I'm thinking about a running race. Just that, that's the head thing is like, oh, I just had this amazing flow state of running. I don't want to lose it. But I was like, hang on.

01:18:23
You can get back there. Yeah. No, no, not that my main goal is probably more to, to work again on my, my coaching. I want to do a bit more coaching, um, um, to help out achieve their goals. And this, this, this clinic I have with my friend, which is called, I do, you do, you mentioned in your, in your questions. Yeah. The level up.

01:18:50
I'd like to establish that a bit more and that only you need time for all these things. And then I guess, because I'm still working, I'm employed here at the office at the campground and I think we might have a busy winter season ahead of us. So that's a lot. It all takes time. So I guess I just like to stay fit and healthy. So I train for life and hopefully sort out my niggas. But the big picture is, yeah.

01:19:20
probably like to coach a few more people. So Simone, thank you for your details with the coaching. There aren't many coast to coast coaches, I think, who are women, am I right, or multi-sport women coaches? Is that an area which you see that is lacking for women who are going into the sport? What are your thoughts? Yeah, well, it's something, when I did some research about coach, when I tried to find a coach for myself,

01:19:50
I noticed that when I thought about me coaching, I was like, man, there are actually not many, many women coaches out there. Well, there are, but if you look at the scale of things, it's usually men that are dominating, not respectfully, not dominating the score, but they're out and they kind of coach the elite. It's usually all male, not male driven, but it's mainly male. Don't ask me why. I don't know if we don't have enough women applying for.

01:20:20
certain applications or for coaching or for even support to become a better qualified coach. I don't know, that's something I need to do more research. But therefore I thought, man, that's something I'd love to do. I'm really passionate about it. I've done it. I know what it's about, especially in multi-sport. I know people say, oh, you don't have to be a multi-sport or to coach multi-sport or, you know, like triadly. You don't have to be a triad lead to become a triad loan coach.

01:20:50
to a sense, how do you say, specific. And there are certain very specific with the coast that it's not your normal run. It's very different run to any run you've done in your life. The kayaking, you know, it's not a normal thing. It's just like swimming. You just can turn your hands over. Like there's so much more specific skills you need. And anyway, that was sort of my thing where I'm like, man, there's a kind of a niche. I feel like, yeah, we need to encourage more women

01:21:20
get out there and follow their passion. I'm pretty sure there's more than me just out there, but I thought, man, that's something I'd love to do and establish myself a bit more. And obviously I've got such a broad skillset now from, I used to be in age group or I used to be your average day, you know, so I know what it's like being just your normal average person and you just work your way gradually up if that's what you want. You don't have to, but we can, you, you,

01:21:48
Person who is approaching me, we ever chat and sort it out where you want to go. If you want to take it next level, I can take it next level. Yeah, completely. And I think you're such a good point. Like, cause you, you know, you said earlier about how Craig was right for you, CK was right for you, but, but, and you come into the sport with like 20 years experience, you know, so you already know there's a lot that, you know, that, that

01:22:18
the specifics of what CK could provide. Whereas you're right, like to grow the sport from the female perspective would just be so amazing to have more female coaches like you helping these women get through. Probably one important note there is, of course I have a male coach now, but for me it was always important in the past. What I can probably, how do you say, what important is for, it's not important for me, but what I can.

01:22:47
deliver, I have a good understanding of women and their hormones and we have a period. Yeah. So there's so much more that goes into this whole package than just writing someone a program. Like you actually can work with your cycle if you like to. It can be, can be for some people beneficial for some, it doesn't, you know, and even that's something I had to learn for myself. And I think that's why I'm, I'm happy now to have a male because I think I, I'm very well in control of.

01:23:16
my menstrual cycle and I can work with it quite well. Yeah. And I don't need a guidance in that way, if that makes sense. But it can be quite a rollercoaster for, especially as women, when you have a guy and it's like, oh, but today I feel so lacheric or like, or you just hit your parent, you know, how down you feel and just sometimes emotional and it's like just overwhelming. And then you feel like you could jump out of your skin.

01:23:44
Yeah, it's, oh man, it's fascinating. Yeah. No, I can so see the value there. With respect to that, I said my final question, it's not true actually, I've just got two very quick ones. How do people contact you regarding coaching for their next event? Because I imagine with your success and your attitude and just your experience, Simone, like people are gonna wanna reach you. So how they, what, do you have your coaching website or is it?

01:24:14
How does that work? Yeah, if you Google my name, I think it's called simonimaya.co.nz. That should be a website. And then just my email, my coaching email is my name, I guess, simonimayacoaching at gmail.com. Maybe I write this to you. That's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, and I'll absolutely include it in the show notes. And then of course, with your business, like are you...

01:24:42
taking on groups of people or businesses and stuff now, like how can they find out, how can sort of interested people find out more about your level up business? Yeah, we also have a website which is called A Level Up, if they Google A Level Up. Oh, great. I can give you a link to it, to like you, it shoots you on a website. And in the past we had dates there, we've announced clinics.

01:25:08
But me and my partner, my business, my friend, Emily, actually, we've been so busy with our own little things. We haven't really sat down to release any dates, but we in a week's time, for an example, we have a private coaching clinic. So we had a group of girls emailing us and said, oh, you guys still doing your clinics. And we're like, yeah, we just a bit slack. But we still offer those clinics. And that's probably the easiest way right now to.

01:25:37
if you're keen to, to, to not level up, but I like the name and level up your outdoor skills. Basically. That's the way we be happy to do so. And yeah, I think we came through more of the set out some dates or people, especially if they sign up for the events like the spring or summer challenge or spirit moment events. That's an amazing, easy way to not easy, but it's, it's such a cool, how do you say?

01:26:06
It's actually a really cool setup we got like a platform we offer. Like we have an amazing playground here and we use obviously this to our advantage. We've got a really cool course where we, I guess, teach them the basics of the navigation, which is actually quite a big important tool or skill to have, how to read a map. So it's really all old school, but and then it connects them, reconnects them with nature, it teaches them so many skills about themselves, teamwork.

01:26:36
what to pick, how to prepare themselves, even if they're not doing an event, but just even how to prepare themselves to go into the right outdoors and enjoy our beautiful country. There's so many things you, if you know, I guess the thing is people.

01:26:51
when they don't know what they don't know, they think they know everything, which sounds a bit bizarre. No, it's so true. The same with everything in life, I guess with food or, you know, like dietitian or goals or training. It's like, yeah, it's like, it's an easy way and you just invest once in a while and you get this complete package and you go home and you can practice and it's such an enrichment for all of us.

01:27:20
And even your self-esteem probably gets boosted because you're like, man, I can do this by myself. I can fix my bike to a degree without annoying my partner the whole time. Hey, can you change the tube or can you do this or that? And it's just such a broad skill set we offer. And I guess, yeah, that's what we want to pass on. Totally. And I think it's, and to your point, like it is, you know, yes, it's great if you have an event, but actually learning these skills.

01:27:50
and actually show, like proving to yourself that you can learn new things and you can do hard things. It's like we were talking about at the offset, like the discomfort, you know, like it's such a good, safe way for people to experience the discomfort in a setting like your clinics, because they've got the skills of the people around them to be able to help as well. But then that transfers, like it is about sport, it is about nature.

01:28:16
but that transfers to every other area in life. Oh yeah. That confidence. Even, I guess you see this more and more that big corporates, they take the whole team into the outdoors and do these, I don't know, what do you call them, like these mentoring sessions. Team building stuff? Yes. Team, sorry. Yes, team building sessions, because it's so much relatable to the corporate world, or businesses, or your daily life, jobs.

01:28:45
Yeah, I think I transfer a lot from my own racing training, what I do into my daily life or any other way around. Yeah, same. And the outdoor is such a good teacher. Oh, 100%. Yeah.

01:29:07
Simone, thank you so much for your time this morning. I really appreciate it. Because despite the fact that you're not necessarily training for an event, I do know that you have a busy day. So I really appreciate you taking the time to speak to me. And so we will pop links in the show notes to your email and website for coaching and the website for a level up, which is awesome. And congratulations again with everything that you've achieved. It is...

01:29:37
It is amazing and I'm really looking forward to seeing what is next on the racing calendar for you. Thank you. Thanks for having me. It was awesome. See you later Simone. See you later. Bye.

01:29:59
Riley, hopefully you really enjoyed that and I think we could have probably talked for hours given our shared love of endurance. But I must say that Simone is probably on her own if I'm just thinking of myself with her real sense of adventure with God's own and multi-sport and the rest of it. And I'm super stoked that she has further plans beyond just these five wins for the coast to coast. And I'm really.

01:30:28
keen to see how 2024 and the beginning of 2025 rolls out to Simone. And as I said, I've got links to how you can connect with her via coaching or her courses, or just to send her a message to say how much you enjoyed the chat in the show notes. Next week on the podcast, I talked to Dr. Azir Christian about pain and migraine pain specifically. He is an integrative physician specializing in physiatry.

01:30:57
which I hadn't heard of before I heard of Dr. Isaiah Christian. I think you're going to love that conversation. And also, don't forget, although it is Wednesday, there is still time to sign up and get the recordings for my Anatomy of That Loss series that I would have just finished by the time that you are, or just about to finish by the time that you listen to this episode. We will put links to that in the show notes as well. Until next week though, you can catch me over on...

01:31:25
Instagram, threads and Twitter @mikkiwilliden, Facebook @MikkiWillidenNutrition or head to my website mikkiwilliden.com and book a one-on-one call with me. Alright team, have the best week, see you later.