Training For The Oxfam 100km

In this episode I interview recent Summit Strength graduate Mish, who has just completed the hiking challenge the Oxfam Trailwalker 100km.

Inside she chats about her training and preparations for this major hiking challenge, and talks through her experience on the trail.

How To Train For A 100km Walk 

Episode Chapters:

0:15 
The Oxfam 100 Journey
1:15 
Preparing for the Challenge
2:07 
Mish's Hiking Background
5:27 
Finding Summit Strength
7:53 
Training Insights
14:45 
Overcoming Training Roadblocks
20:42 
The Oxfam 100 Experience
22:09 
Event Day Excitement
35:54 
Climbing Challenges
45:13 
Crossing the Finish Line
50:11 
Reflecting on the Experience
54:14 
Advice for Future Hikers

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​Want to get fit, strong and resilient for your hiking adventures?
 
Check out the Online Summit Program: https://www.summitstrength.com.au/online.html

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Episode Transcript:

[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode, we are talking to recent graduate of the online summit program,

[0:08] Mish, and she talks us through her story of completing and conquering the Oxfam 100. Now, for those who haven't heard of the Oxfam trail walker before, it is, and the Oxfam 100 specifically, is a 100-kilometer hiking event done over 48 hours. So it's a massive, massive, massive hiking challenge. And inside this episode, Mish shares some insights around her preparation, her training, her journey leading up to this amazing event, and exactly what happened and the things she experienced when she was actually on the trail. So this is a fantastic episode for anyone who may be considering a big challenge hike somewhere in the future, and also, of course, people who may be looking at tackling the Oxfam. So really hope you enjoy this. So let's get into it.

[1:16] Which is entirely dedicated to helping you train, prepare and conquer your upcoming hike, trek or mountain adventure. So once a week, I'm going to be giving you quality and practical information on the subjects of physical preparation for trekking, dealing with attitude and nutrition on the trail. So you can know everything you need to be doing to have the best chance of a safe, enjoyable and successful adventure. So now you know what you're in for. Let's get into today's episode.

[1:43] All right. Hello, hello, Mish. Welcome to the show. So, so happy to have you on. It's an honor to be here. Thank you so much. No, this is going to be absolutely awesome because I'm really, really looking forward to this because I think you've gone through such a really, really interesting journey and a really awesome goal you've just completed.

[2:04] And I think it's going to be absolutely fantastic for so many people listening. So to dive right into it, we'll just sort of start with a little bit of background and yeah you just want to share sort of where you're from what do you do and and what is your background in in hiking um look just a i've just had an interest in hiking i think since a teenager really and and the love of nature uh i've probably got into back into um the outdoors and um bushwalking and then some elevations i guess and so a bit more hiking i guess in the last five years so since 2018 almost yeah probably a bit longer now um so it was just it was a good therapy place for me so um and yeah so that's my background and by day I'm an accountant um full-time working and single mum now so it's been yeah it's a it's trying to fit that joy and that.

[3:07] That place for that happy place for me whenever I can so, So that's where I've come from with this, yep. And when you first started working with Summit Strength, what was the big goal that you were kind of looking to train for? So the big goal for me was to walk the Oxfam Trail Walker event. So it's a 100-kilometre charity event, so raising money for poverty.

[3:36] It's been a goal for a long, long time. Um I had a I think a colleague friend who had come past and said she I've probably got that five six year mark again she sort of said oh you know she'd done it I think five times and um, volunteered three of the times and I was just like that sounds like an awesome thing to do and um so we used to always keep an eye out for the the trail maps and where it was actually going and And in the past, it was previously on a lot of, it ended on a lot of path and wasn't sort of a lot in the forest areas and that sort of thing that I liked and enjoyed, the trails. And then last year, I immersed myself in a lot of bushwalking meetup groups and sort of went out with them. And then I thought, well, I'll start sort of training for this. And, you know, with the hope of, and I actually thought it was in October this year, the following year. I didn't realise it was in March.

[4:41] So when I immersed myself, I was actually, it was in October, yeah last year and then I the the trails had the maps had come out and they said look we've changed the trails it's going to be um a lot more elevation um and it's all the way through the forest here at in the Dandenong's here in Melbourne um in Victoria so that was I was like this is it this is the time I've got to do this because this is what I've always wanted to do I wanted to do it on a trail that was on a really nice place and then challenge myself to try and do some extra elevation um so that's what I that's how I started um yeah when I sort of that was the mindset and where it all sort of was birthed.

[5:27] Yeah, absolutely. And just out of curiosity, what was the kind of, I guess, inciting incident that made you reach out to Summit Strength? Obviously, you had this big goal in mind. What kind of made you reach out for extra help with your training?

[5:43] Look, I was scrolling through, I think it was Facebook, it was some marketing that had come through and I'd seen Summit Strength and also went to, over the New Year period, I'd actually gone through, I think, Rowan, you've been sort of through the hiking community. You've actually been, you know, your name's out there and there was this woman who said to me, oh, you know, we've all got pains and stuff and we were all talking about it over the New Year's when we went for this camping, group camping, hiking adventure. And um this woman said oh there's this there's this guy that does you know specific training for hikers and I'm like oh okay so I had that sort of in the back of my mind um and then I'd also started thinking I'm going to do some training and I'll try and do the actual trail myself, um and then I was just not I was having a lot of pain so there was a lot of knee pain a lot of all that sort of stuff and had started rearing its head I wasn't recovering I just needed.

[6:52] Strengthening I thought from sort of past experiences in sort of doing some sort of fitness or whatever it was always like you need to do strength work and you know work on the muscles and all that sort of thing but just needed a plan and a map and an outline, and what to do and then like I was I was looking through Facebook and this had come through and I thought look I'll just reach out and see what you guys do and what this is all about so that's how I arrived at your doorstep um.

[7:24] And it was interesting, Lee, I'm reading something else at the moment, I'm reading a book and it's saying about on a different matter that I'm trying to sort of work on. And it's talking about having these three things and it's having the coaching, community and commitment. And I thought, geez, that's exactly what I have really got from the Summit Strength thing. When I engage that, it's like the coaching, obviously, that physical coaching and also the emotional support.

[7:54] The community and then my commitment to it as well so um yeah this is where i sort of um realized that that was the key ingredient that sort of helped me along with with trying to achieve this um for myself and then then let's talk about talk about your training a little bit then so you've gone through this you sort of said you know what you're going to sign up with someone's get a little bit of extra help for all leading to this big adventure. Can you just tell us a little bit about what your training looked like and what did your actual program look like?

[8:31] Yeah, sure, sure. Well, all I could really commit to with, you know, with kids' schedules and all the various with life in general and full-time work was I said to yourselves and Andrea, Coach Andrea, I said to her, look, it's probably 30 minutes, you know, in the morning I'd prefer. That would be my preference. And then the other times to do the hiking. Um so the training was um generally like to break it down was just sort of two lots of strength two lots of um aerobic sort of work and then mobility pretty much every single day so um and that mobility was there deliberately I think to help me with in terms of the pains with knees and all that sort of stuff and loosening things off all the time and periodically and consistently differently um with the the other components it was um what I found with the whole program was I remember reading somewhere on through um the Facebook group when a woman had posted saying look she was off on her adventure and um and I couldn't I couldn't agree more with her where she was just like you know late at night early in the morning whatever you can fit this in you do it.

[9:49] And that's what it was for me in the end. And I was like at first I was a little bit scared thinking I'm just going to be loaded with all these, you know, this schedule of, you know, extra stuff that I needed to do and it really wasn't. It was, you know, it was just like I need to do this to do this, you know, this event but it was like it wasn't as taxing as I thought it would be. It flowed quite nicely and a lot of the training that you guys set up for us is it's got to be.

[10:24] Um how could you say like it's you know it's it's non-stop but it's it's not as um you know you're not completely wasted at every at every point in time and it's done you know you sort of tick it off and you get it done and it really does fit into a lifestyle for me so um so yeah the training was uh yeah like I said a strength work and then um the aerobic work in terms of for me it was I had I've got a spin bike at home so that's what um I used here um and the stairs as well and the mobility I had to sort of source a few extra things um some of my equipment was a little bit raggedy um so I had to go and get you know new thoroughbands and um some other things which was nice to get new sets of little equipment and it wasn't too expensive it was quite you know um very reasonable to go and grab some stuff and um and just yeah have them in place and then sort of have a play with them and do them as I you know as I was going I think um a lot of the videos really helped um but also I think I've told you Rowan at some point it's like it's good to watch it right to the end not thinking that you know what it is so um for me that's um that was really really key with those those um videos and those exercises and you do it in your time.

[11:48] And then through all of that, like was there anything in there that was, I guess, a little bit different than, you know, that you've potentially done before or explored before?

[12:00] Yeah, definitely. I guess it was the – I've done versions of a lot of these sorts of things, but in classes and done a lot of personal training, I guess, specifically for things. So overall, specifically working on areas to target, you know, to better improve knee mobility, ankles, calves, strengthening, your foot, all that sort of stuff, your feet in terms of plantar fasciitis, that sort of stuff, working with all of that. But so those sort of the exercises that I was doing was I was expecting I was going to be doing a lot of quad work, a lot of squats and that sort of stuff. There was some of that but not to the extent that I thought it was. I was doing some, you know, like I said, with the TheraBands around the knees.

[13:05] What else? And a lot of...

[13:09] How do we i'm not too sure how to say but they're not hardcore exercises if you like it was they're very very subtle movements and very conscious movements that we need to do with these exercises so um so the like the morning routine ones where we sort of went before we start we're doing those those were i think more critical and that's the thing that i wasn't doing a lot of and, or any anything like that at all and I think that was really critical in terms of just getting the body moving and doing and not doing yeah it wasn't sort of I think that's what you advocate a lot in it's not about just walking that's going to get you to your destination with this sort of stuff it's about all this other this lead up and this build up this slow, build up of strengthening and exercises that will help yeah so that that was the difference I think with all the those initial exercises that you need to set yourself up was quite different to what I was doing rather than just hitting hitting the path or hitting a trail and and then going okay I'm not getting any better I've got half pain I've got whatever I'm blowing out my chest feels like it's going to explode explode at the top of the hill or whatever it is so.

[14:37] Yeah these all these other little exercises that were that seem so subtle but were really critical.

[14:45] And then obviously with any kind of training journey, there's ups and downs and there's all of this. And I know for your particular journey in the training side of things, there was definitely a few bits and pieces that kind of came up along the way. So, yeah, do you just want to talk us through that? Like, were there any particular roadblocks that you want to talk about that came up during your training process? And how did you go about, I guess, overcoming them when they did come up yes sure um there was plenty of roadblocks i think at every probably at every juncture there was a roadblock um it was it was full on um but i think something that you said at the onset was like can you commit to communicating and i think you say that in a lot of your videos as well it's like communicate with us communicate with us communicate with us so um you know the roadblocks from physical pain, scheduling issues where, you know, just haven't got time, I'm running out. I've got my kids at certain times and then they've got their school things going on. I've got my work that I need to attend to. All these things were coming up constantly and life, you know, just life admin and things that you need to do and get done every time and managing those fears, the freak out of that.

[16:08] I was, you know, I copped a lot of blisters that I didn't know how to cope with. It was like, how do I, you know, do I have the right shoes? How do I work with the gear that I had? And, you know, So even building a team to walk Oxfam, you need to have a team of people as well. They were really experienced in terms of, well, some were really experienced with walking actual different Oxfam trails and events and others. The team that I eventually walked with, they were very experienced mountaineers, boulders. They had a lot of you know a lot of a lot of experience in terms of walking distances and crazy elevations and all that sort of stuff so this was something they were just wanting to sort of tick off but for me it was a bit more than that and um yeah so all of dealing with that sort of thing with every everything that came up and um how do I manage that how do I manage myself, in that situation and then communicating that with you guys at every single point.

[17:20] Also the roadblocks leading up into the event ended up with a virus, was quite run down and everything and I was getting quite feverish and hot and I thought, geez, this is going to be the kill switch for it all if I get a temperature, if I'm getting a fever. Um you know it's like all of this is you know gone to waste or whatever so it was um.

[17:47] It was about reaching out to the community and reaching out to you guys, the coaches, and just kept saying at every single point, what do we do?

[17:56] I know we had a 35-day plan. We had to replan out because I was getting a lot of knee pain, even though I was doing a lot of bike work. And it was like, oh, okay. And then simple tweaks, you know, Andrea kept reminding me, you know, just adjust your seat or do you have a look at this or have you looked at that? You know very gently and very you know just sort of guiding me along and listening to my um concerns about like I said the team structure and who's you know how we're going to form if we're going to form um you know how do I walk faster if I you know do I need to walk faster how do I do that or you know um, And also reaching out to the Summit Strength community people in the, people see you on the coaching calls and then they, you start making friends and that was incredibly invaluable. So you sort of, you're like, oh, I see a, you know, I see a friend in the distance there, a bit like when you're on the trails, you're like, there's a person, there's one of my people, you know. So that was incredibly helpful as well. Like they just reach out and sort of go, hey, going, you know, just do you, you know, I've done this as well or whatever it may be, you know, some blister advice or tortures. I asked about tortures as well when walking through the night. I was, you know, a little bit afraid of how I'd cope with that.

[19:20] The demons in my, you know, in your own mind as well about, you know, where am I going to cope with this mentally um feet swelling um during hot times when I was training at night and you know there's so many things so many things that I cannot um that come up and it's just you know take it literally day by day moment moment to moment um and then working through yeah um trusting the process was the biggest thing with yourselves and everything For me, it was like, Michelle, you know, you've been guided, well, I think, you know, a little bit esoterically being guided to work with this program and work on this program. Everything's kind of falling into place. It's not linear, as you've said in one of your videos. Life's not linear. I know that for sure. It digs and zags and it goes around up and down, up and down. And you just find a way to just manage every little peak and trough. and um, To me, it's synonymous with hiking as well and walking, trail walking. It's a lot like that. You sort of go, oops, I didn't expect this to happen. So it's like, how do I manage this now? Who do I reach out to? What can we do?

[20:38] Yeah, lots of incredible experiences along the way. And that's what I've enjoyed probably just as equally as much as the event where all the roadblocks and how I was able to manage that and trust the process. And lean into that um and then just go quiet and work on it you know um and and see where it takes me and um and then the next day you wake up and it's like okay that's that's eased off or yeah when I just tweaked that a little bit that worked better um, or, you know, went and reached out and got a different pair of shoes or, you know, different socks, structure, whatever. So, yeah.

[21:24] Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think you kind of touched on like, you know, through there, you sort of said it a couple of times, the communication factor, and it's something we stress so, so, so, so much through the process. And I think in the first week of someone joining up with us, we probably say it like 10 times in different situations. Just saying, if you can keep communication open, we can work around anything. And Mish, in your particular journey, I think full credit to you that you did do that. There was a lot of things that came up. There was aches and pains, there was busyness, there was getting sick, there was blisters, there was the questions and this and that. But the fact that you kept that communication open, you reached out for help.

[22:03] Yeah, full credit to you because it helped us work around it all.

[22:07] So, it's such an important thing in a process like this. So, I guess now that we've talked about the training let's let's talk about the event so the oxfam 100 which um you know for people who may not be in australia 100 kilometers over 48 hours you know pretty challenging thing um talk to us like how how did the actual event go you you did your training you got out on the trail talk us through it how did it all play out yeah it was um i loved it absolutely loved the event and it I kind of thought it was a bit synonymous to wedding planning it's like you you try everything and now it's just just go and enjoy have fun that's what I thought to myself in the end it's like you've got to get to I had to get to that point where it was like I've done everything I can possibly do at this point it's not perfect at any at any stretch I thought um.

[23:02] I had huge doubts going in the first, going in that week and then I had a friend, colleague who, a mature person that's actually done a lot of this sort of event work and done a lot of, you know, Ironmans and.

[23:20] Um Kokoda and all these sorts of things so done a lot of tough stuff and um the day before he was talking to me about it and um and like I said I before I had a virus it came through on the Saturday night I was doing a little bit of last minute training and stuff and then the the event was on the Friday and then it was just progressively getting worse and I was getting you know a little bit more fatigued more run down a little bit hotter and um and then I just thought, you know I listened into the education piece about you know the week leading up or the weeks leading up to an event or an adventure and um that you've put out Rowan and and listened to that a few times and thought okay well this is this is quite normal this is what's this is what happens it's just everything the build-up of trying to wind down for work as well um getting everything done getting the kids sorted getting them looked after make sure everyone's you know everyone's in their places right basically ready to go um for for the event and then um.

[24:28] So the the day before two days out actually I I walked the kids to school and I was really hot and puffed and um I reached out to coach Andrew and I said to her that um you know I go look I'm worried you know and then she said look do you think you could do you think you should go and see a doctor you know now and I was like didn't like her I wasn't happy with her saying that to me because I was like I know I'm scared of what this doctor's gonna say you know um so I I parked that for a bit, just got stuck into my work a bit more and then –, And then I tested for the other things that you could get tested for just to make sure it wasn't any of that.

[25:11] And then I thought, you know, I sort of said to Andrew as well, I was like, you know, I've got no time to go and see a doctor now. There's just too much going on, you know, leading up to all this and having all the food packed and my gear and making sure that was all in place as well. It's like it's huge logistics to get all this going. um and also the support crew it was like making sure they're okay so they know where to meet me what they were going to do and um i the most amazing support crew ever and um and again that was for me that felt quite serendipitous but um they were quite laid back it was just you know towards the the the time of the event leading up to it it was um people were all like oh you know I'm wanting to have a chat about it and I'm like, I'm just freaking out. I've got so much going on here.

[26:00] And um went to the doctor and they said to me sorry I'm not answering the question I guess totally but it's straight up but the lead up to it and um yeah the doctor had said to me look you your blood pressure is really low um I think it was I think I'll get this I don't know if I'll get this the right way around but it was 90 through 70 I just remember the figures but I remember which way it was and he was like um and he got out his old you know the old machine and equipment it wasn't even I thought oh this guy's you know I wonder if this guy knows what and he's like why are you doing this what are you what are you doing this for and I'm like oh you know doing a walk why like yeah just just check me out you know so you check me out and did the blood pressure thing and told me that and then said you you know you need to get you're hydrated and you you've got a very um inflamed throat um there's this you know you've got to get on to getting some um you know cold and flu tablets into you and that sort of and lozenges you know that sort of stuff so um he said if you're feeling fatigued that's that's when you're gonna i'm not telling you not to do this but if you're feeling fatigued you're gonna have to you know you're gonna have to stop this tomorrow i said okay so i was like okay he didn't say that i couldn't do this, it's like all right i'll get on to strategies to to get hydrated um and you know get this blood pressure going again and get some electrolytes in me or whatever it needed to be Um.

[27:30] Anyhow, so I got down to my friend's place where I was staying the night so that I'd be closer to the event start place and then a location. And then I, yeah, we started, I.

[27:46] Things started to settle down once I made the move, like I was starting to, had everything packed and everything, the body started feeling a little bit better. And also in the lead up to it because I didn't end up doing any more training it was a taper week and I just sort of thought embrace this week because it is a taper week and I think you said Rowan as well it's like if you miss some of these things don't worry about it you know like don't worry about doing any more full-on training now but the body was feeling really good in terms of no aches and pains there was nothing of the sort and I thought well this is a good tick this means that this is working you know this program's working and um the way that we strategize this was really really good and um so event day comes along um we rock up and there was a few little admin hiccups it was really great it was like the atmosphere started building when you saw everybody you know the lights and the torches and the sunrise and everybody you know the big um event banners and all the rest of it it was just really exciting and then a couple of little hiccups with admin for some reason I don't know that was just I think that was on their side so we started a little we pushed off a little bit later but nothing that was significant um and so then I started um.

[29:08] And yeah we had a a bit of a group meeting as well the day before and I was I was panicking because again these guys had been real seasoned, you know trail walkers whatever and um I thought no just do you I need to I think again Rowan you gave us the advice of um conserve your energy the whole way through that's what you need to do and um there was a plan I had a plan I had to work to each checkpoint um and it was just and then manage myself at every single checkpoint and go from there um so got on the trails and it was just um euphoric for me because it was like everybody was doing the same thing um and we're all pushing off and people cheering on the sides of the roads you know older folk we've got school kids that you know and they just it was just so encouraging to to be there but the biggest takeaway for me was finally not walking alone um it was so nice to be with the same people you know that, would must have been doing the same thing you know the training or whatever it was or anticipating this or whatever it may be but um that was that was the beautiful thing and we were just marking off these checkpoints like nobody's business um it was just I was like wow we're going at a rocket speed here at the moment. You know, we were an hour in front of our schedule.

[30:38] The first checkpoint, I must admit, I was feeling a little bit sick. I didn't get my...

[30:44] Electrolyte mix or whatever it was in my my water bladder right it was too sweet and all that sort of stuff I still had the sore throat going in um I was feeling a little bit dizzy and light-headed and then I just sort of thought okay I'll manage that with you know I need to get some just some solid food into me because you're starting off really early in the morning so um so that was really and then I did that and then it was like all right we'll just keep walking see if the body starts getting used to it um no pain and then at 30k the 30k mark it was like my body's feeling really good and this virus is gone it's lifted it was incredible like just a phenomenal um feeling and I thought I can really maybe do this I'm like I'm just I'm like okay you know we just keep going to the next checkpoint to the next checkpoint um and then those wretched blisters started appearing, and that was probably around the 40, 42K mark. And I think I might have been trying to overcompensate with them a little bit with my walking gait and the rest of it and that was from...

[31:54] Uh what do you call it and then my my hip was quite sore um but then yeah stopped at the the checkpoint for 45k and um tried to fix for the blisters and I don't know if that was a good thing or it was a bad thing but um there was a lot of pain there as well so it's just like okay I'll just manage them as as best as I could um and then sort of again rolling out the hips and trying to use the techniques that, you know, we need to do on the trail, like when you've had a flare-up. I kept thinking all that in my mind, stretching out and doing all those sorts of things during the breaks.

[32:34] I had a very persistent, like I said, I've said to many people, I felt like I was the sled and everyone else was the snow dog, so the other two that I was walking with, they were the snow dogs. But I just kept thinking I've just got to go at my pace and if they wanted to walk off then that was what was one of my biggest fears they're welcome to but they just need to communicate that with me and whatever and they said no no we're fine just as long as you know if you're I think we had this kind of agreement that you know like every time they stopped and waited or whatever they were I think they were someone said to me they're recovering during that period of time so that's that was good for them um but I kept going at the same time with them so I didn't sort of make them stop even longer again so I think they appreciated that so that's where we had this um and I had this mental game in my head as well like um you know letting people down I don't want to be doing that I feel really you know taking on all of that sort of thinking in my in my mind during the during the actual walk um but then you know I sort of said well you know look at what gratitude you can bring to this from from their end you know because I one of the walkers we was quite um.

[33:57] He was very confident and very, you know, forthright with what he was, you know, when he was communicating and it was just like, okay, well, what do we, like, what can I see that he's really bringing to this? And that was he was setting the pace and we had a joint motivation and that was to finish this with, you know, and doing it completely without, you know, too much rest and just doing it through. So we got to the 60K mark, which was, it was night time and then we had a hot food feed and our support crew, like I said, were just incredible.

[34:34] I've had two different sets of support crew. One was a hot food person and then the other one was a, he was there at every single stop for us. And it was just magical that he'd just roll out everything for us and all the chairs and we'd sit down for a brief moment, adjust ourselves and fix ourselves where we could. Um but at the 60k mark it was like I knew that last 40 was the harder bit this is where we were summiting um now Dandenong and it was relentless it was just on up and on um you know that was the big the biggest parts of the elevation was there and it was and it was just continual um but funnily enough it was we got to we pushed off again I think at about 10 o'clock that night um actually coach Andrea I hadn't met her in person and she lives around the area so she came and dropped by which is amazing and um, someone had said you know this is the harder bit and then she acknowledged and she said look you know she's trained for this and they were just invaluable words for me because it was like okay thank you you know you've got faith in me as well it's like I can do this I can do this you know we can get through this so um yeah so we

[35:49] started summiting and um we got to the base actually and it was really dark. We lost track of some of the markers partway through.

[35:58] And so we went off trial for I think maybe a kilometre.

[36:05] And, yeah, the guy that was walking ahead, he was just like, oh, guys, we've gone too far. And I'm like, oh, no, I hope it's not like, you know, 5K. That's just crap in this adventure right now. I don't want to be going backwards. woods so anyway so we backtracked and he was really good with reading you know the maps and stuff and said oh no I think it's only you know um 800 meters or whatever or kilometer so I'm like that's not too bad that's good um I lost a water bottle at one point as well someone had said that they seen it one of them in my bests I'd lost and that was um, that was it kind of threw me a little bit as well it was just funny because I just realized how much mentally that threw me because that was my my just my clean water um everything else had something in it and I was like freaking out at one point going well you know it's okay you you know you can work it out somewhere you know you there's water stops or whatever but it's funny how that plays on.

[37:03] Your mind as well um yeah so leading up to the summit I I had too much gear on me I had too much stuff on me um like i said the water i the water bladder with the electrolytes in it in my backpack in the actual back of the vest um i had a belt as well with stuff in it and um and the guys were actually my team had said michelle you got too much you need to you need to offload let's just tip some of this stuff out and i have even a powerade bottle as well at one point and they're like we'll take this you you just you know because we're climbing now so so that was really invaluable from them to to do that with me um and so we climbed we had some rope sections in the middle of the night it was just you know 12 o'clock at night or whatever we're climbing all these it was just so much to me that was so much fun like you could never do this at any other time with the SES there you know um having everything lit up and safe for us to to climb and go through so we got up to um the top of Mount Dandenong and then I was like um one of my friends had said the support crew had said you know 28 k's to go now and I was like oh it was like someone had said to me it was a kilometer away um the amount of energy and in your mind and in in all that in actual fact that's another six hours of walking but um.

[38:29] Yeah we were just like for me it was like someone said it was 15 minutes away so you get you get so excited we had some you know huge momentum in the in the on the trail at that time of night um it was like there's a lot of people just charging through um the thing everything was quiet just torches and everybody just doing the same thing and it was just amazing um but if you stopped you lose people really really quickly which was something that I never thought would happen you know I thought you know we're all keeping pace or whatever um and then that was a point in time I think it was.

[39:07] Quarter to four in the morning or something and it was starting to get really cold, and we were in that right in the depths of the um the mountains there and um my virus had started to reappear a little bit my watch battery was failing um and yeah my my team had gone up ahead a little bit again but then I was sort of holding back hanging back um and then it was it was like I had a bit of a meltdown there I was like I grabbed my poles and I was like this is just cruel I know that they could have given us a different side of this track but it just keeps going you know and going and it um and because I had all that in my head where you know you've you see the marker as well you know 75 k's done or whatever and you're like we're close you know we're really close where's the next checkpoint it was me yearning for this next checkpoint and not seeing it and then just seeing some torches way in the distance it was just like where is this place where is it going to stop you know I could surely I can see these bright lights it's so you know it's so dark out here um anyway so I pushed through and then um was working through some techniques at that point I think I've mentioned this before but it was sort of that um square breathing Rowan that you you've.

[40:27] You had taught about in terms of that was to actually relax yourself and I was using a different technique with I think with Courtney DeWalter's thing that Kyle had actually mentioned about her in the pain cave and I thought oh I just couldn't do any more pain at that point I was like I don't want to do any more pain I don't want to do any more pain I was like I just need to just, get up this and as I stood there sort of going you know cursing them going you could have done a different track here for us I thought to myself hey you know what you got yourself here, you're the only one who's going to get yourself out of this you know.

[41:08] Let's do this you know and you wanted to do this, So, I did the square breathing and I was just like, and there's, you know, every footstep, it was just doing, you know, four inhalations, four exhalations and then just doing right around. And then before I know it, I was sort of, you know, you're climbing. And then I was up to the top of that set of hills or that top of the mountain there. And then, but then I was, again, disappointed because I was like, hang on, I thought that the checkpoint was here. I was totally disorientated where the checkpoint was at that stage. And I was like because I knew that we were close to finishing by then, and then descending the hill was the next bit and descending the mountain was the really, really tough bit for me and that's when so, yeah, I had sort of that virus thing going and all the batteries, everything sort of not working and not knowing the time, not knowing where the finish was. My team had sort of gone, we can't wait, you know, here, yeah, we'll meet you at the bottom, but just, you know, we can't wait because we'll seize up. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, just keep going.

[42:16] And then my knee started, body was great all the way through and then the knee decided to, I don't know what it was, to be honest, in the end, it was just an incredible pain that I hadn't experienced before. And I was like, what is this? And then I thought to myself, how am I going to get down this? And I couldn't do what they were doing. They were doing this sort of shuffle down or whatever it was. And I remember from listening to the education pieces, like, you know, what can you do? You can go sideways. You can do all these different techniques, but couldn't work through that.

[42:48] I thought that those things weren't working for me. And yeah. All I thought was, well, you're not engaging your muscles, Michelle. Like which muscles are you not engaging here? You know, like you're putting pressure on your knees here somehow. What's going on? You know, engage your bum. You need to engage those glutes, you know, that we always talk about with the heel downs and that sort of stuff. And I thought, okay. And it worked to not totally, didn't totally get rid of it, but I managed to shuffle my way down and just sort of switching the focus onto and that reframe. And it was like, switch it to engaging the right muscles, get that, you know, what did you train, you've trained for this where, you know, this is, this is the time to start figuring out how you're going to. Um you know find a way through this and I got to the end I was teary-eyed and the woman was like this is your last one you know and I walked through that checkpoint and she's just like it's the last one I looked at her and I go that was brutal it was just brutal for me um had something to eat um something light to eat and it was by I think it was five o'clock in the morning by that stage and then I started thinking to myself this is it you know we we've almost done this in time that I never thought we would ever get it done you know like it was still dark and I thought geez you know I was expecting to do this in 30 hours or so or whatever.

[44:08] But to do this in in this time so we pushed off again had to really nurse the knee um there was a long long stretch home that was an incredibly long stretch it was quite annoying to be honest um but yeah you were across the road at one point where the the SES were again and they were sort of ushering us over and they're saying five k's to go and I was like okay and then um got quite emotional and I rang my brother at that time because he'd helped me with some training some night training um and then he's like are you okay you know and I'm like yes yes and he's like just keep going I want you to finish and I'm like no no I will I'm just you know just a bit elated and emotional with it all um and then got to we got to the end um yeah so it was it was daylight it It was about nine o'clock in the morning when we crossed over. And, yeah, and then friends were like, what do you want to do? And I'm like, get these shoes off. I'm so over, you know, these blisters and stuff. So anyway, that's a very long, long story about the journey. Anyway, with the event.

[45:14] How good. How good. So like, it sounds like you just went through it. I absolutely am. I absolutely am. And it honestly sounds like you went through a bit of everything there, which is like, yeah, how good. So talk me through, like, I want to dive into, as you cross that line, let's dive into that a little bit more. Like you crossed the line, obviously you said you want to get those shoes off, but just how did you feel with the culmination of everything just getting through the end, like what was going through your head at that stage? And then I guess afterwards, like, yeah, how did you sort of celebrate such an achievement?

[45:52] It didn't. To the end, I guess it was like I'm always rewinding here a little bit and I know with the stories, but it was probably like 3K to go.

[46:03] And I think someone had said this to me as well, like if you were told that you had to walk 130 kilometres in that time period, you'd feel better, but it's that last bit that's just like there was a guy that was on an e-bike or something like that and honestly it felt like I would just wanted to just knock him off and grab his bike because it was like it was so tempting because I was like I don't care anymore I've done this much I really don't care but I'm the type of person it's like no no I set up to do this I'm going to finish the whole lot properly because I know that I'd regret something like that but anyway that was kind of what the thoughts that were leading up and then I just also crossing the line because my team was always waiting for me and they'd actually um had they'd waited for me I think about the 3k mark and they called me and they said where where are you if you are you with someone else have you teamed up with someone else and I said no no no I'm still walking on my own and they said um and they go no well um oh good because we're here we're you know we'll wait we'll wait for you and I'm like really okay cool so um and yeah I got a bit of a cheeky comment from the other guy and he was just like oh yeah you go something waiting here a while and I was just like I can't do anymore I couldn't do any faster because of the pains and the blisters and stuff it was just I think I ended up having 12 blisters on each foot um and they were huge they were just really really big and and um.

[47:31] It just to finish was just it was good and it was it was the elation of just finishing in that time was phenomenal to me um and just seeing my team and then my friend that I'd stayed with her she doesn't drive a lot that was all these little things that really matter she came along with her daughter and um you know left her husband at home she's like I just drove off drove off on him and I wanted to see you at the finish line and I was like oh you know um and I try to get my kids to do a FaceTime so they could walk through with me. So there's a bit of a video of me doing that and you can see me sort of, I guess, hobbling a little bit across the finish line. But it was later on when we sort of, how we, I don't know if I really celebrated so much. To me it was just about getting into recovery because I was really, really scared of things. You know the aftermath and what was going to happen to me and that was um that was also a bit of a shock too because it's sort of the events the event but then there's that afterwards it sort of lasted probably another half a week of um so I went for a swim the next day just a very very light swim and um but because of all the blisters the blisters actually got infected so I had to get some antibiotics, antibiotic cream for that.

[48:56] And there was, and also just the body was completely sort of seizing up. It was just, it's not used to that. And I remember going to my osteo on the Wednesday and he said, he goes, I go, look, I feel like I'm swelling a lot. There's a hole. And he goes, your body's gone through a lot. You know, you've put yourself through a lot of, you know, a lot of load here incredible amount of load um this is just really really normal so you know don't panic about that and um so I just kind of I think the way I celebrated was I just went home and I met up with everybody I met up with my support crew again and had breakfast with them the next day I needed sleep so that was where I did that and had a bit of dinner on the Saturday night and um just talking it out with everybody that was involved and helped and everything was just really beautiful to do that um and yeah just having having time with them all I went to see my brother as well sort of did a big long pilgrimage home in the car though um yeah and worked worked through it that way.

[50:04] And then, I guess, how long has it been now since when we're recording this,

[50:10] been like three weeks, four weeks? How long ago was the event? Four weeks to the day. So, obviously, being a little bit of time to kind of, you know, reflect and recover and, you know, obviously still, you know, just kind of getting back to baseline. But I guess looking towards the future. What's kind of the plan of attack for your hiking? Would you do another event like this? Is there something else you kind of got in your mind? Or talk me through that. Yeah, I've got a bit of a, it's a bit addictive, I think, this stuff now.

[50:46] The thing that I always question is just having that support crew is a bit, that's the thing that sort of, you know, can you lean in on the same people again? Maybe not. you know, they might not want to do it or whatever. So that's something that's really important to think about. I probably want to do something a little bit more.

[51:14] I wouldn't mind doing Oxfam again. That would be unreal. But the body does need time to heal. And it's such a, to see where your feet can take you, as Courtney DeWalter says, and other people who do these sorts of, I'm nowhere near that, but it's just, you know, they do these sort of long events and that sort of stuff um it's that's that's the crazy bit about it but it's also what your body can do and where your mind goes and everything that to me was the the take home from all of this was like wow you know this is a real insight into me that i would never have never experienced unless i did this you know um so that's where it's that's where you sort of get the bit of an addiction because it's like well where can i where else can i go what else can I do and where can that take me and what else can I see you know and you know learn about myself um for me that that would be um so yeah maybe it'd be nice to do another event this year but I just to sort of be able to keep training towards something um and that you're not um.

[52:23] But in saying that as well, it's nice to not have the rigour of, yeah, just the total rigour and totally having to focus because of an event or something. It's nice to, like I went out on Friday and an impromptu walk and I ended up in the dark again and I didn't have a torch with me or whatever. And it was just so nice to go back out there and go through a river crossing and just do things just naturally. And it's like, but I can do this now. you know what I mean because I've done so much training and all that sort of stuff and I'm not scared you know those those monsters in the dark that you talk about as well Rowan and um like there was a friend of mine that said weren't you scared going down I was like no I had the thought but then I had to park it away you know I pushed it away and then it was just like no no I'll get to where I'm going you know because I'm out there on my own um but it was just and that might be silly But it's like it was just fun to do that. And that's something that a good friend had said to me. He goes, where's the fun in all of this? You've got to make sure that you have fun every time when I got too serious about something.

[53:31] Make sure you just keep making this fun, you know. So, yeah, I think I certainly want to do stuff, but I just, and also, yeah, now time has passed as well and the body's bringing up different issues. You know, you do a certain distance now, a lot shorter distances, and it's like, ooh, that's coming up and like, you know, because the body's just like, you've done all this to it, you know, and managing that is really, really critical and trying to say, okay, well, where do we strengthen this? And maybe I need some rehab in this place or, you know, I'll work on my different things. So, yeah, it's just opened up a whole new world.

[54:15] Fantastic. How good, how good. And I guess the last sort of question I kind of want to ask you today before we wrap things up is, yeah, if anyone listening to this was considering some type of hiking challenge like this, whether it's 100Ks, 50Ks, you know, one of these big sort of hiking challenges, what advice would you give them if they're in that sort of consideration stage? Enlist people to help you.

[54:43] And like I said earlier on, it's that whole whether it's Summit Strength or whatever it is, get your coach, get your community and get, you know, and then make the commitment to it. And that's what I loved about this program, and I'm not just giving lip service to this, It's just I really mean that. It was because it worked around my lifestyle and it wasn't so –, you know it wasn't hardcore kind of like you have to do this and you have to do that it was always like well just give this a go you know it was gentle gentle sort of um and then just sort of like this is all we really need from you michelle is to communicate you know make a commitment to it that's it you know if you can do that then we can work around the rest of it and so i think those are the things that i would i would do and don't pack too much crap like i did.

[55:38] I just had way too much stuff everyone's like Michelle you could feed out you know you've got food for a week here and I'm like I know I ate nothing of it I was just like everybody you can all have it I just yeah so yeah how good how good well Mish it's been absolutely absolutely absolutely lovely having you on this podcast today it's been so great just to hear about this journey both before and during on the trail because as I sort of said before we started this episode there's so many people that I know listen to this podcast and they consider these sort of things and they consider like you know they have it in the back of their head it's something they really kind of want to do and and sometimes just hearing the journeys of people going through this and obviously overcoming so many ups and downs that you went through and all the different challenges life throws at your way and just hearing this I am 100% sure this is going to inspire quite a few people to go out and do these things they've kind of been thinking about for a while. So, I just want to say a big, big thank you for coming on. It's been an awesome episode. I really appreciate you taking the time. So, thank you so much. Thank you too, Rowan. And to the whole team, Coach Andrea, yourself, everybody. I think I mentioned it in the Facebook post that it was.

[56:53] Someone had said to me, Michelle, it's like you've got more coaches in the Australian Olympic team, And it's like, it's true, but I couldn't have done it without all you guys. So thank you so much.