Off Track 004 | By the Run Down

Off Track is back — a week late thanks to dogs and airport logistics, and with plenty to catch up on. Andy and Logan start with training: school-holiday survival mode and a busy race-season build for Andy, a post-Tekapo reset (plus a mountaineering course and a taped-up ankle), and Logan's return to running, where each new session type feels like unlocking a character in a video game, alongside big bike miles ahead of La Petite Brevet, a 300K mountain bike loop of Banks Peninsula.

We launch a new segment, Tales from the Trails, inspired by the stories that land in Training Peaks comments. The first comes from a friend's early-morning tempo run up Captain Thomas / Godley Head. Send us yours! We also read out a very good reply to last episode's chat about weeing on the run.

Then it's three weeks of Kiwi results: Annabel Bramwell and David Hammersmith (course record) at the Rakiura Challenge on Stewart Island, Clinton Manderson and Megan Craig at Marina to Marina, the dog-and-runner 4 Paws Marathon in Bottle Lake Forest (including a 39:55 10K), Dan Jones winning the masters at road relays, a record 1,300 entrants at Cave Kidnappers (a course record for Amber Morrison and a 3:02 from Calum McPherson in the 34K), and Simon Cochran's record 205K "Claw" at the Blue Lake 24-hour. A look at Masters records leads to the story of Jack Foster, who started running at 32, finished eighth at the Olympics, and still holds the NZ M40 marathon record of 2:11:18 from 1973.

Athlete to Watch is Chester Holt-Quick, who's building to the Spectacle 100K in Nelson and has an enormous 2027 calendar. Overseas, we cover Lucy Bartholomew's Melbourne Marathon PB, Salomon becoming Ironman's sponsor (and what that might mean for UTMB), Des Linden's road-to-Western-States plan, and Ruth Croft lining up at Diagonale des Fous.

Finally, a preview of Taupo Ultra and Crater Rim (Andy is racing the 22K), gear choices for the weekend, a No Free Ads shout-out, and a Coach's Corner on when to start carrying fuel and fluids and how best to carry them.

This episode covers:

• Training catch-up and the new Tales from the Trails segment
• Results: Rakiura Challenge, Marina to Marina, 4 Paws Marathon, road relays, Cave Kidnappers, Blue Lake 24-hour
• Jack Foster and the NZ Masters records
• Athlete to Watch: Chester Holt-Quick
• Overseas: Lucy Bartholomew, Salomon x Ironman x UTMB, Des Linden, Ruth Croft
• Preview: Taupo Ultra and Crater Rim
• Gear: Norda 005 and the singlet
• No Free Ads: hotel reception lollies
• Coach's Corner: fuel and hydration

Got a trail story or a coaching question? Send it to Frontrunner Colombo or @andygood on Instagram, or comment on Spotify. Anonymous is fine.