Running Things – Details, episodes & analysis

TEMPO editor-at-large Riley Wolff is joined by Stewy McSweyn for a very rare, very special talk live at Up There Athletics. Topics include: Stewy’s COVID recovery, his race schedule for the first half of the year, planning for a double major year, lessons from his Tokyo 2020 experience, pacing Eliud Kipchoge at the Ineos 1:59 challenge, DMs from Cheptegei and his relationship with Jakob Ingebrigtsen off the track.

Big shout outs to the team at Up There Athletics for hosting such a great event.

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Tim Rossi talks with Jess Hull before she runs the 1500m at the Lilac Grand Prix. They cover getting back on the track, her 3K national record, warming up in a parking garage during a blizzard, setting priorities for the year ahead, feeding off the success of her teammates in the Union Athletics Club and their world record attempt at the Lilac Grand Prix.

The Lilac Grand Prix is on Friday 11 February in Spokane, Washington. Get your pay-per-view tickets now.⁣

Lilac Grand Prix
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Union Athletics Club on Instagram
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We head across the ditch this week to speak with New Zealand's 11-time national champion, Camille Buscomb. Camille has been back home in New Zealand since March, when she returned for a family wedding – at the time not knowing the world's borders would close and competitions everywhere would be cancelled. Camille has enjoyed relative freedom of movement when compared to some parts of Australia, and in the past month has raced a number of times on the roads – running a PB at the Auckland Half Marathon earlier this month.

We check in on 2020 with Camille and hear what it has been like training in New Zealand through the pandemic. We also talk a bit about the Doha World Championships – a meet where it all came together for Camille as she ran 2 PR's in the 5,000m and another one in the 10,000m. Camille talks about the approach that helped her perform so well in Doha and it contains valuable lessons for runners of all abilities.

Finally, we get some insight into what summer holds for Camille – starting with a 5000m race in late December and then heading into the early part of 2021.

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Camille Buscomb Doha 5000m final
Camille Buscomb Doha 10000m final
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We’re rolling out a massive summer preview today on Running Things with one of the finest athletics minds in Australia: Sean Whipp. Sean joins us to run through all the must-see events on the calendar over the next couple of months – there’s a stack of events in Australia and a few notable races overseas. The first of which is the Valencia Marathon to be held on December 6th – race organisers have put together stellar fields in all races – men’s and women’s marathons and half marathons.
Sean also educates us on the ekiden season in Japan – Aussie Melissa Duncan is racing the Queen’s Ekiden this weekend, and we cast an eye forward to the famous Hakone Ekiden taking place in early January.

Locally, there’s plenty happening. Riley and Sean talk about the upcoming Launceston Running Festival, which features a 10k and a half marathon – historically we’ve seen deep elite fields at the Launceston 10 and this year is shaping up as no exception. Late December sees the Albie Thomas Mile taking place up in NSW, and the year is closed out locally wih the Christmas Carnivals back down in Tasmania.
The big one in January is of course the rescheduled Zatopek:10 on 26 January – likely with an expanded schedule to include more support races in a summer where our athletes may well be starved of racing opportunities.

We go through all of that and much more on an episode that we hope gets you excited for the next couple of months of racing in Australia and abroad.

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Japan Running News
Hakone Ekiden YouTube
Launceston Running Festival
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Riley is joined on the show today by Paralympic star Jaryd Clifford. Jaryd competes in the T12 (vision impaired) classification in the 1500m and 5000m – where he is the world champion in both (oh, and he holds the world record in the 1500m).

Jaryd chats with us from Canberra, where he relocated as lockdowns came into effect in Melbourne in July. In Canberra Jaryd has the opportunity to train with his coach, Dr Philo Saunders and his squad – including his guide Tim Logan. The athlete-guide relationship is critically important to Jaryd, and he speaks at length about the elements that have to go right for the partnership to work – in a race the athlete and guide are connected by a 30cm long tether – which is a lot shorter than it sounds!

Jaryd also talks about his plans for 2021 and beyond – including a potential 1500m, 5000m, and marathon triple in the 2024 games. Mind blowing. If you want to learn more about Jaryd, make sure you hit the links below!

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Jaryd Clifford on Instagram
Jaryd Clifford article on TEMPO
Jaryd Clifford 1500m World Champs win
Jaryd Clifford 5000m World Champs win
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In an absolute treat for the show, we have legitimate superstar of Australian athletics Stewy McSweyn joining us this week. Stewy is coming to us from his hotel quarantine in Brisbane, where he has had a chance to (finally) reflect on an incredible season in Europe – a season where he broke the long held Australian 1500m record in the Doha Diamond League (his first Diamond League win). Stewy also broke the Aussie record in the 3,000m, to go with his 10,000m national record from December 2019.

The biggest takeaway for Stewy from this season was confidence that he can compete on the world stage, and the knowledge that he has made another significant improvement from where he was in 2019 – and he says that’s the key for 2021 as well, to find another 10% improvement in his development.

Stewy also says he doesn’t necessarily have a preferred distance to race – his preference is whatever he’s doing best in – something that changes throughout the season. He credits his Melbourne Track Club team for helping him develop that range from the 1,500m to the 10,000m – the squad has talented athletes at all distances, meaning Stewy can always be pushed and tested in training.

Finally, we get a bit of a look into Stewy’s plans for the summer – including potentially opening up his season at the Christmas Carnivals in Tasmania.

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Stewy McSweyn Instagram
Stewy McSweyn’s 1,500m win in Doha
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This episode of Running Things we chat with one of Australia’s most accomplished distance runners: the incredible Jess Stenson.

Jess is based in Adelaide as part of Team Tempo, under the tutelage of Adam Didyk. Jess has been to two Olympics, competing in the marathon. We talk about Jess’s return to competition in 2020 after giving birth to her first child, a son named Billy, in late 2019.

Jess has been racing in Adelaide for the last few months across cross country, a 10k road race, and a recent half marathon victory. Jess talks about the road back to training and racing from having her son, and where she went for advice.

Of particular interest is Jess’s marathon PB – 2:25:59 set in the Toronto Marathon in late 2018. Jess ran this race in a traditional racing shoe – without a carbon plate. With the indisputable benefit marathoners are now seeing in carbon shoes, how does Jess’ PR stack up in ‘modern times’?

Jess also talks about trying to make her third Olympics team and her plans to race a marathon in the first half of 2021.

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Jess Stenson Instagram
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Jess Stenson’s website
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Jess Hull joins the show from hotel quarantine in Sydney’s Darling Harbour. Jess is fresh back in Australia after an incredible 2020 season that saw her break three national records – she now holds the 1500m, 3000m, and 5000m national records at the age of just 23.

Jess reviews her 2020 season and gives herself a harsh B+ grade for the year. She speaks about the adjustment from college athlete to professional, and pays tribute to her teammates for helping her settle so easily into the professional lifestyle - in particular Jess has learned a lot from Shannon Rowbury. Speaking of her team, Jess says the main reason she signed with Pete Julian’s group at Nike was because of athletes like Konstanze Klosterhalfen – athletes who could challenge and drop Jess in workouts.

Jess also talks about her plans for the summer and the reason she’s back in Australia for a couple of months.

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Jess Hull on Instagram
Jess Hull 5000m NR
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A fun episode today as Riley interviews US 1500m national champion Craig Engels. Craig is in his new home in Portland, Oregon - a home he’s in the middle of renovating.

Craig reflects on a weird 2020, and highlights that he’s never been good at time trialling - he needs real racing to perform at his best. Craig also talks about his recent trip to Monaco and hanging out on yachts with teammate Donavan Brazier.

Craig talks about the life of a runner - the struggle to balance the quiet life of a runner who needs to rest, versus enjoying life and experiencing everything it has to offer. He’s found a great situation under the tutelage of his coach, Pete Julian, who understands Craig’s need for balance. Outside of running, Craig is passionate about sustainable energy and protecting the environment.

We also get the full story behind a memorable trip Craig made to Darwin a couple of years ago.

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Craig Engels Instagram:
American Dreamer article on TEMPO
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On this episode, Riley chats with sprint phenom Sha’Carri Richardson. Sha’Carri made world headlines in June 2019 when she ran a 10.75 100m as a freshman at LSU, smashing the collegiate record and paving the way for her to turn professional shortly after.

Riley speaks with Sha’Carri about her transition from college into the pros, and the higher stakes involved with being a professional athlete in a professional training environment. Sha’Carri talks about the Olympics postponement to 2021 and how that might benefit her as a new professional - another year in the system and another year with her new coach, Dennis Mitchell.

Riley also asks Sha’Carri about her source of energy – she’s known for her high intensity in practices and has a contagious exuberance.

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Sha’Carri’s 10.75 at the 2019 NCAA Championships
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