S8E7 -- UMOZ + UMNZ Athlete in Proflie | Brittney Litton

You can learn a lot about an endurance athlete by what they avoid, and Brittney Litton avoids swimming. Then she signs up for Ultraman anyway, including a 10K swim, back-to-back monster bike days, and a double-marathon finish. Brittney joins us from New Zealand to talk about life as a working mom of two, a self-described “average” athlete with an anything-but-average appetite for big goals -- including wanting to set a new women's record time.

Racing lessons land hardest in the Kona Ironman recap. Brittany breaks down how over-concentrated carb bottles, post-swim thirst, and relying on Coke can spiral into vomiting, cramps, and survival mode in heat and humidity. That story becomes a blueprint for smarter fueling: drink water early, keep mixes tolerable, and respect the environment. She pairs it with the Tarawera ultra experience, where a hip flexor issue forces an awkward running pattern and a painful finish, proving that pacing and problem-solving matter as much as fitness. Finally, we zoom out to Ultraman preparation: crew planning, swim anxiety, long rides, Pilates for core strength, and the mindset shift from chasing splits to treating races as tests. It is a grounded look at how an “average” athlete builds toward an extraordinary start line.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• UM Australia 
• UM New Zealand
• Lord of the RIngs
• IM Taupo
• Taupo 70.3
• Harry Potter
• Zwift
• MyWhoosh
• R.I.O.T.  Zwift Team
• 5 Passes Race 
• Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge
• IM World Championships
• Tarawera Ultra 
• Taupo Marathon
• Wellington Marathon
• Christ Church Marathon
• Queenstown Marathon
• Christ Church 100km road championships

Shout outs and mentions in this episode:

• Simon Cochrane
• Jeff Morris
• Max Litton
• Ari Litton
• Anna Russel 
• Taylor Swift
• Gracie Abrams
• Tilly Litton
• Michael Phelps
• Kate Bevilaqua
• Fiona Gallagher 
• Kylie Brown
• Fat Cat Ron
• Fergus and Charlie

Transcript

Meet Brittney Litton

Larry 0:51

Today's guest is one of those athletes that will be competing. Today's guest is a New Zealand ultra endurance athlete who describes herself as your average 35-year-old cool mom of two, which means she's a Swifty. And from my research, she is not afraid to drop multiple F-bombs into casual conversation while talking about her esports or steroid use. She hates swimming. She actually retired from Triathlon and then signed up for UM Australia, inspired by her coach and world record holder Simon Cochrane. Today's guest joining me from Oope, New Zealand, is Brittany Litton. Welcome to the podcast.

Brittney 1:38

Thanks for having me, Larry. What an introduction.

Larry 1:43

Yeah, so after that intro, do we have anything left to talk about? Or is that just you in a nutshell?

Brittney 1:48

Yeah, I feel like we have to land right on the steroid yes.

Larry 1:54

Oh, yes, please. Uh tell us a little well, we can get to that part of the story a little bit later, I think. Uh the first thing I would like to talk about is because I think Simon's the only other New Zealander that I've had on the podcast. Um and now that UM Australia has been expanding their brand and are going to be going over to New Zealand, I want to make sure that the worldwide audience of 515 understands a little bit more about New Zealand, the geography. Maybe we can find out where you are in the country as well. Because I feel like a lot of people feel like you're just that little island off the coast of Australia, which I'm sure is as insulting to you as saying Canada is just the 51st state of America to me. So um, I have a few stats of things that I looked up to help educate the audience a little bit on your country, and then maybe you can explain where you are in it if this is okay with you. All right. So if people were coming from Australia to get to say, from Sydney to Auckland, the flight is over three hours long. Just to give you a little bit of uh idea of how far away you actually are. And size-wise, from south to north, if you are a European, it would be like going from the border of Spain and France up to the Netherlands. If you're in the US, it would be like going from the Gulf of Mexico. Yes, I said Mexico, in Florida up to Buffalo, New York. And if you're in Canada like me, it's basically the length of British Columbia, only much skinnier. Now, I think that uh for the most part, we kind of know New Zealand is having the Northern Island and the Southern Island. So where are you when it comes to the geography of New Zealand? And I understand you you actually have a background in trying to sell this information.

Brittney 3:59

Almost. So I am in the North Island. I was actually born in the South Island, not far from where the Ultraman Australia Wanaka race will be. But I am in Ohio, which is in Fakatane, and that is um about an hour north east of Rotarua, which is pretty much central North Island. I'm over about a four-hour drive south of Auckland, and I think it takes about seven hours in the car to get to Wellington.

Taupo Life And Outdoor Culture

Larry 4:36

Okay, so those are those are some big uh cities that hopefully people will recognize and be able to place the size and distance of what we're talking about. I I guess the other city that people will recognize in New Zealand for the most part from this audience is going to be Tapo. And you used to live there. Uh, can you tell us a little bit about that town?

Brittney 4:58

Yes, I lived there for seven years, rurally, maybe 20-minute drive from central Topo. Um, it's a great spot in the summer. You've got the lake to swim, lots of adventuring around, lots of mountain bike tracks. It's very central, so close to Rotorua. It's about an hour drive where Protorua has got um most of our well, most of the North Island's really good mountain biking. And then in the winter, it's close to Ruapehu and Tongariro, which, if you're a Lord of the Rings fan, that's um where Mount Durham is.

Larry 5:40

Ah, yes. When I had Jeff Morris on, I was asking him about uh if there were any Lord of the Rings locations near his race, and he was like, I don't really know, I don't follow Lord of the Rings. And after that, he looked it up and said, Nope, they're not in this area. So if you're going for the race in New Zealand, you're not gonna get them. But I'm sure if you're going all the way to New Zealand, you're gonna spend some time touring around and maybe get up to that North Island as well.

Brittney 6:07

Because not far from me is Hobberton as well. That's two-hour drive to Hobberton, and I've never been. That's probably quite embarrassing, but I'm not a Lord of the Rings fan either. I've seen the first one.

Larry 6:24

Well, I know that CNN put um Tapo as one of the 25 places to visit in 2025. So wow they must have something going on there.

Postpartum Start In Ironman

Brittney 6:36

Yeah, it is a good spot. It's got everything, just no beats.

Larry 6:41

And of course, it's got uh Iron Man, and that's uh yes, what where you started your Iron Man career. Can you tell me about how you got started into Iron Man?

Brittney 6:51

I can, and um so in 2016, I had my first child, Max, and I was so fucking fat after I'd given birth. I'm still fat. So I started running with him in the Pram. And that was before we lived in Topol, but so I started running, and when I was younger, I used to enjoy swimming and do competitions. I was never very fast, but I enjoyed the social aspect. My mum was actually my swimming coach as well, and she would set the sessions, but I would spend the hour to an hour and a half kicking so that I could have my head out of the water to gossip. So I could swim. Um I'd never really ridden a bike, but my husband had done Iron Man before, and he said, why don't you sign up for the 70.3 in December? So Max was born in March of that year. So what's that nine nine months? I had nine months after his birth. It was a C section, so I had a bit of recovery. I think I started running in maybe June or July, and then we moved to Topo around August, I think. Um so I signed up for my first triathlon, and then from there I did the 70.3. I think it was around six and a half hours it took. But then I don't know, I think I've got quite a big ego because I I did the half Iron Man and I thought, how hard is it just to add another half on top of the half? I signed up for the full, which was in March, and it it actually fell on Max's first birthday. And in hindsight, ridiculously dumb. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone because I think it takes it definitely takes over a year to heal from a C-section.

Larry 9:00

But but one year later and you're you're doing the full Iron Man on the birthday. Does that does that mean you got out of that got out of preparing the birthday uh party then? You were out on the course and and dad had to take care of preparing the party?

Brittney 9:15

Oh, there was a party the next day, but my friends um had organized that for us. Ari, my husband Ari isn't a very good party planner. And actually, there's a funny story about that. One day it was my birthday and Mother's Day on the same day, and I didn't get a gift.

Larry 9:32

Oh.

Brittney 9:33

That hasn't happened since. I must have lost the plot.

Larry 9:37

Well, I know that the UM Australia always falls on Mother's Day.

Brittney 9:42

Yes, that's my birthday weekend as well.

Larry 9:44

Ah, so you'll have a lot to celebrate.

Brittney 9:48

Yeah. How else would you celebrate your birthday? Couldn't think of a better way with some new friends too.

Worlds Trip And Small Town Impact

Larry 9:55

A lot of new friends, yeah. Well, after doing that 70.3, you did a number of them there, and you even went to the world champs in 2024. How was that experience?

Brittney 10:05

It was amazing. I qualified, I think in 2019, and then because of COVID, they pushed it out to maybe 2022, and then they pushed it out again to 2024. And actually, now I remember I got an email, must have been 2023. Congratulations, you registered for the Utah St. George 70.3 world champs. And I was like, oh shit.

Larry 10:35

That's that's not the one you want, is it? No.

Brittney 10:38

I must have had an email and you were supposed to click to defer or click to accept. And if you didn't click either, it automatically accepted.

Larry 10:46

Oh yeah.

Brittney 10:46

But luckily, I emailed the Iron Man team and they switched me to 2024, which was lucky because I didn't I looked at flights to St. George, but I think it was going to be over two and a half thousand dollars just for flights. So yeah, but the race in Tobor was amazing. The weather, it was really hot. I remember it being very hot, but because I've been living here in the Bay of Pliny, I'd sort of acclimatized because the weather here is a bit warmer and way more humid. Um I didn't, I'm not, I'm not a swimmer. I hate swimming. I wouldn't, I'm I swim for that race. I was probably doing one swim a week of up to 1800 meters per swim. It was bad, but I had a great bike, it was a good course for me, and like roly hills, nothing too steep. Um and then the run was just fun. There's people everywhere.

Larry 11:47

It was a great and how how like Tapo's not a major city, it's it's a smaller, like kind of village almost, isn't it? Like, how how well did they receive the whole Iron Man parade coming to town for a world championship?

Brittney 12:06

Uh I think there's like 40,000, maybe 50,000 people that live there, more in the district. Uh, there's always some haters that because there's a bike race in Tobal every year, and you see it on Facebook, people are pretty tough in the comments. Um, but I would say 95% of the locals loved it, and they know how good these events are for the community as well, especially after COVID, a lot of the hospitality industry was probably struggling. But that because it was two days, the women's were on the Saturday and then the men were on the Sunday, and people would have stayed a week before, a week after. So it would have brought in so much money to the economy, which is great. And triathletes love to spend money.

Party Years To Full Sobriety

Larry 12:58

Yes, they do, yes, they do. So this is this is kind of how you got into to triathlon. Um, and you said you you kind of hung out at the pool a little bit as a kid, and I I think you had kind of a sporty background a little bit. But um, after being a kid and before going into sport again with triathlon, I understand there was a transition period there in your life before you were married and had kids that maybe was a little bit different. Um, can you tell us a little bit about that part of your life?

Brittney 13:31

Yeah, so I studied in Dunedin, which is known, or used to be not so much, used to be known for its drinking culture. Um, I played rugby and again massive drinking culture in New Zealand.

Larry 13:46

Yeah, yeah.

Brittney 13:47

Um, so I think six out of seven nights a week at least for a drinking um that would have been for about four years straight. And then I went on my OE, so overseas experience in New Zealand, tend to go to the UK. I actually had a really good time. I was working in a seafood restaurant in Malag, which is where the Harry Potter train finishes, up in Scotland. And I was really drunk at this pub called the Steam Inn. And because it was a coastal town, a lot of the fishing boats would come in to drop off fish they'd caught for the day and then stay the night and then go back out. And I remember saying to some of the skippers, I've always wanted to be on the deadliest catch. And then the last thing I remember is sending my mum a selfie saying, I'll talk to you in 30 days, I'm off to sea. So I'd living out of a backpack and I'd packed my bag. I don't remember this, but I packed my bag and I went with his name as Lee. I went on to his boat, and the next thing I know, I wake up and it's pitch black, except in the corner of the boat, there's a little bit of light coming from the roof. So, and it was really hot, and I had no idea where I was. But I went over to the light and climbed up the stairs, and I was 40 miles into the North Sea on a six-week journey to catch some scallops. So that was one adventure. There'll be a lot of adventures I don't remember, but yeah, I stayed for six weeks catching scallops in the North Sea. Lucky it was like June, July, so it was summer and the weather was nice. So I didn't get seasick. But I actually didn't realize puffins were a real bird either. I thought they were just a little character on a book, but yeah, I didn't realize puffins were real until I saw them floating in the sea. But yeah, anyway, so I stayed for two years. Um and then my visa expired.

Larry 16:07

You weren't fishing for two years, though, just 30 days, right or six weeks.

Brittney 16:11

Yeah, six weeks. I think the boat broke, yeah. The boat broke down actually, and um I had nowhere to live. So the skipper said, come back, you can stay at my place until the boat's fixed, and then we'll go out fishing again. And he lived in a little town called Kikubri, which is near the south of Scotland. And my auntie, so my dad's sister, is really into our family tree, and she um went back, or she saw I was there, and she went back through the family tree, and she realized that in 1886, my grandfather's grandparents came over to New Zealand from a town called Annan, which was a 20-minute drive from where I was staying. So then I ended up going to the information center, and they said my maiden name is McKinnal, and they said there's still one McKinnal that lives in the area, but he's 80. And they gave me his phone number, but um, I couldn't get hold of him. Oh he might have been too deaf to hear his phone ringing.

Larry 17:12

Yeah. Oh wow. So some people, you know, they they they have a little too much to drink and they end up getting a tattoo. You you ended up getting I did that too.

Brittney 17:25

Oh, you did that in Obetha. Yeah. I got one on my foot that says, well, it doesn't say anything because it's supposed to say, I don't care, I love it. There's a song, I don't care, I love it. Yeah, and I wanted that on my foot. So I went. He was an English guy working in a tattoo parlor in Obitha, and he Google translated it, put it on my foot, and Spanish people said it's definitely not Spanish, it could be Italian, and then Italian people have said that it's definitely not Italian, so it's just scribbles on my foot. I could send you a photo, some foot pics.

Larry 18:05

Yeah, that'd be great. We can add that to the uh the blog post for the podcast. Yeah, okay. Um so so you had some good times. You you had some adventures um prior to this, but but at some point you decided you you were having too much of a good time, and and you just basically you cut it off like a lot of people do when they go into to Iron Man racing and things like that, right? So you've been basically sober now for a number of years.

Brittney 18:39

Oh yeah. So I am an absolute menace. Like I get loud by blackout and I can't remember. And then I was 30 at a wedding and I ended up well, having too much to drink. And I don't know if it's because when you're exercising, maybe I don't know how it works, but I used to drink half a bottle of gin a night, and then I'd probably had six wines and I was out of it, and I thought, oh my god, I'm 30. The next day I felt like absolute shit. Like I didn't have to look after my kids. But I thought I'm 30, still getting blackout drunk. I need to stop, and I stopped, and I haven't had a drink since because I know I can't just have one. I would like I can't drink socially, so I would rather not drink at all.

Larry 19:38

Right, yeah. And and that's not uncommon with a lot of people that are, you know, into this kind of racing, is they they tend to go all in with things. And a lot of people, their previous life was all in with drinking or drugs or sex or whatever it was, and then they kind of turn that around into putting it all into focusing on the sport. So not not uncommon. And uh, I'm sure you know it's it's probably served you well in your in your training to have that addictive personality, so to say.

Brittney 20:15

Yeah, I'm still a menace. I guess now I just have to remember everything I say and do because I'm sober. Whereas before I yeah, before I could say that never happened, I don't remember it. But and now it would be so much worse because everyone records everything. Right. At least when I was at uni, there might be some photos, but no one was really taking videos.

Larry 20:40

Yeah, yeah.

Brittney 20:42

And I think now like I've stopped drinking, but I'm definitely addicted to food, and I think that is a huge motivator of training.

Larry 20:51

Oh, yeah.

Zwift Teams And MyWhoosh Racing

Brittney 20:52

Is that I can smash handfuls of lollies when I'm on the bike and it's training food. That's all good.

Larry 21:01

Um, so I know that one of the things that you've taken on that you're um actually quite good at as well, is in within your training, you've you've done some virtual bike training. Um, can you tell me more about your virtual bike training? What platform or platforms are you using and and and what have you been doing with it?

Brittney 21:22

So I started on Zwift and it was after COVID 2020. We weren't allowed outside or anything, and I had a, they called it a dumb trainer where you leave your wheel on and it, there's no absolutely zero technology. Um, and I was lifting on my, it was like an iPhone four tiny little screen. Um, and that ticked so many boxes because I was exercising. Um, I ended up joining a team on a Zwift team, so we would ride together and chat through Discord. And I also got to avoid my family down in when I was in the garage riding my bike. So that ticked that box to shut the door. And then they do whatever they need to do. So that yeah, 2020 must have been end of March, start of April. Um, I slowly upgraded my gear. I got an Apple TV to run Zwift, and I got a I think about a version four Yahoo kicker. So that was when your back wheel comes off and it connects to Bluetooth through to Apple TV. And then I could actually see what I was doing rather than on the little phone. And I've been on a few teams on Zwift, but it must have been the end of 2022. I'd heard about the secret top secret, it was like fight club. No one talked about it. My coach at the time had been doing it for four months and he had not said anything because he was winning money. But so it's my wosh. And in 2022, there was one category. I think there was probably 25 to 30 women total racing. I'd come last, well, near the bottom every week. So I wasn't winning any money, and I thought it was all a scam. And then maybe halfway through 2023, they introduced some more categories. So we got separated into our abilities. Um and then there was a week-long My Wish Championship, and they were paying out, I think, a million US dollars for the week. And I did the first race, and I did the second race, and I won a sprint. And then on the third race, my app dropped out. I got kicked out of the game, and then it happened on the next night as well. So they said I couldn't race anymore. Then four months later, they said, Can we please have your bank account details? And I was like, Well, I haven't been racing since that championship. So I still thought it was a scam. But they paid me for my sprint that I won. So then I started up again. And in that whole time, I'd still been racing and training on Zwift. Um, so since then I've pretty much raced every Sunday night up until last Sunday. Currently in Cat 3, it's like the middle of the range. There's six categories now. And I think there's about 30 to 40 women in each category, so it's grown heaps, too.

Larry 24:41

And and do you do this as an individual or do you do it in teams, or how are you competing?

Brittney 24:48

So my Zwift team, Riot, I race for a team called Riot, riding indoors on trainers is the what Riot stands for. It's a clever. Clever A. Um, a woman's only team that were based out of America, but then a New Zealand woman joined Anna Russell, and then she's convinced a few of other Kiwis to join too. So we race on Swift. At the moment, there's a Wednesday Swift race league that we race on, and we race every Friday in a team time trial. And then on My Wish we race together on a Sunday night New Zealand time, but it's 3 a.m. or something in America. Something silly Saturday night. So there's a few of them, but less less Americans doing My Wish because of the time.

Larry 25:40

Right, yeah.

Brittney 25:41

Or the last Sunday of every month is a team race.

Larry 25:46

And then how does the team race work? Are you working are you actually working together as a team, even though you're remotely different?

Brittney 25:53

Yep. See, we work for each other. And if some if it's a hilly course and I'm a bit heavier than most of the women that do online racing, so hilly courses don't suit me that well. So if it was a big flat into a hill, I could do stuff like try and tire out the other climbers from other teams to try and make it to like set our team up to have better um climb.

Larry 26:24

You called it a game. Do you do you consider it a game or do you consider it training?

Brittney 26:29

Um both, I think. I love it. I love it for training, especially these hard races. They're I'm probably going like 90% effort the whole way, sometimes 130% effort. But I think especially for like a marathon block, these one hour to 90 minute races. I don't know if it's a mental thing or if it's a leg strength thing, but they have helped me hold on a little bit longer. So when you're about to get dropped, you can push, you can keep pushing because when you're hurting, you're only what 50% dead. So you can keep going.

Larry 27:13

Yeah.

Brittney 27:14

And and translating that into a marathon, it's only three hours that you're hurting in another way that I I remember thinking in a marathon I did last year, Tyler Swift performed for three and a half hours. You can run for three hours. Yeah. Something we have in common, me and Taite.

Larry 27:51

So you sing or throughout your entire marathon as well?

Brittney 27:55

Well, not in the race, no. I quite often I love singing on the trails because then people know that I'm coming around the corners. Or maybe they run away.

Larry 28:07

And and is it is it Taylor Swift that you're singing? I I understand you're also into Gracie Abrams now.

Brittney 28:14

Oh yes. So I watched her when she opened for Taylor Swift. Um I would try and watch all of the live streams on YouTube. Um and she opened for Taylor I think for this the first. Oh no, she did Sabrina Carpenter did the show I went to, but then I think Gracie did my American shows. Yeah.

Larry 28:38

Because she did the one in Vancouver, which was the last show.

Brittney 28:42

Did you go?

Larry 28:43

No. I'm not as swifty.

Brittney 28:46

You could be.

Indoor Training And Gravel Weekends

Larry 28:49

But it it definitely took over the city for for a week. It was insane. Hello, let's not. I love getting your feedback and suggestions for the podcast. At the bottom of the show. Thanks for all of your feedback and support. Now we were talking about this uh Swift racing and stuff, and I I assume like a lot of people get onto it during COVID. Um, but many people go back outside and and and get on the roads. Um are you on the roads at all now, or because you're into this team racing thing, do you do all your training indoor?

Brittney 30:14

I think it's a mix of um sessions that most of my sessions before work I'll do on Swift just because of the kids. It's easy with the kids because they're at home and Ari goes to work pretty early. Um my long sessions on the weekends I try to do on gravel. Um, but my road bike lives on the trainer. I've haven't taken my road bike off the trainer. It'll be so rusty from all the sweat. I haven't I don't clean my bikes that well either, so it probably needs a good clean. But yeah, most of my I'd say 70% is on Swift or Mywash, and then the other 30% would be on my gravel bike.

Larry 30:59

Oh yeah, yeah. Gravel racing is something that you've also gotten into and you've done a number of different um gravel races around the country. Uh again, to promote your country, people are going to be coming there to do the UM race. And I know people always look for an excuse to go to New Zealand anyway. Um, what what are some of the races that you've done? Tell us a little bit about some of these uh nice gravel races that you guys have.

Brittney 31:26

So, not a gravel race. This is a road race, it's five passes, and it goes up the top half of the South Island around Christchurch and then over to the west coast. Um, that is amazing. It's a multi-day race, stage race, very, very social. Um, the organizers are great, they organize everything, your accommodation, food, they move your bags around for you. Um, they got sag wagons and like medical teams, everything you could possibly need. Um, that is, I think it's in November. So if you are coming to do the December race in Wanaka, that's a good excuse to come a month early. Um the Lake Topal Cycle Challenge has been going for a very long time. It started as got just a road race around the lake, which is 156 kilometers or something. Um, in 2023, I think I did the Enduro there, which is two laps around the lake, so about 320k. And then a few years ago, they added a mountain bike event, which I think is about 80 kilometers, and then even more recently, they added a gravel race. So I did that one in the November just been November 2025. That was really cool. I enjoyed about 60 percent of that race. The other 40% was single mountain bike trail, and I have no absolutely no mountain bike skills. So I probably wore out my brakes. I was on the brakes the whole time, but I was sitting on the tail of a girl from Perth, Australia, and she maybe she's a mountain biker. I don't know, she was amazing. I just followed her wheel and tried like shut my eyes when I could, when it was a bit bumpy, just don't look. And the cliffs just there just don't look.

Larry 33:27

Is that is that it's fine? That might work when you're on the trainer in the garage, but when you're on a trainer. Shut your eyes.

Brittney 33:36

Another bonus of the trainer is you don't have to wear a helmet.

Larry 33:40

Yeah.

Brittney 33:40

And you don't have to worry about cars.

Larry 33:43

Yeah.

Brittney 33:43

Although the cars I haven't had any issues with cars in New Zealand. Um, the other gravel race I did was in Raglan, which I think was in the middle of the year in July. So you'd probably need a six-month trip.

Larry 34:00

It's a longer trip now, okay. Yeah. Or or two trips.

Brittney 34:04

You'd totally fill it up. There's plenty to do in six months. It would go quite quick.

Larry 34:09

Yeah.

Brittney 34:10

But that was amazing. A lot of um nice gravel rides that was. No mountain back, no mountain bike trail there.

Kona Fueling Mistakes And Survival

Larry 34:20

Yeah. And I understand that also in the last couple of years, that you've you've done some big events. You you went to Kona. Uh, you did um, I want to make sure I say this one correctly. Uh Tato Auda. Yeah, Nauta. Well done. Um and and out of those two events, those are pretty awesome events. Uh obviously everybody knows Kona. Um, you you were able to learn a little bit more because you you had to face a few uh problems along the way and and and take some some lessons from these. So maybe maybe touch on each one of those and tell us a little bit about what you learned in those races because people that are gonna come and do a UM race doesn't necessarily always go as planned. You know, like you can't come in and be a Simon Cochran every time and have the plan and execute. So most people are gonna be more like yourself and learn along the way. Um, tell us what you learned on those races.

Brittney 35:26

Um I'm not a swimmer. Well, I can swim, I'm confident at swimming, I'll never be fast, and I don't usually enjoy it. But this is saying something. The swim at kinda was the favorite part of my day, and it kind of all went downhill after that. It was an amazing swim. The the water is great, and you can see all of the fish and the turtles. Um, I had a lot of space to swim because I started wide, and I think being woman, we're all pretty respectful. I've been in mass start race with men, and they are pretty aggressive.

Larry 36:08

Right.

Brittney 36:09

Um, so out of the swim, it was really salty. My first mistake was making my um bottles of carb drink way too strong, and I'd kept them frozen, thinking that they would stay frozen, but because your bike with the bottle sits in the direct sun while you're swimming, I think my age group went like in the halfway. We probably started halfway of all the woman. By the time I got out, I was so fucking thirsty. I sculled some of my tailwind. I think I had eight scoops of tailwind in a 750 mil bottle.

Larry 36:51

Okay.

Brittney 36:51

And I thought, I fucked it. And then I got to the first aid station and I didn't want water because my mouth was still salty from the swim, so I grabbed a coke. That was my third mistake because the second mistake was um over concentrating the tailwind. I scaled it and then I started vomiting, and that was probably 15k into the race. So all I could drink from then was coke, but then I just kept vomiting it back up anyway. I wasn't able to eat. I got really bad cramp at about 160k. I had to get off on the side of the road and stretch my legs because I cramped so bad just because I wasn't um able to keep anything down.

Larry 37:35

Right.

Brittney 37:35

Got in and then started the run. And man, it was just a slog. Like if you've been to Kona or even Hawaii or any other humid, hot places, it is just relentless, like heat in the air, heat blowing at you, because it's mostly a headwind. And then when you turn around at the energy lab, you've got a hot tailwind, the ground is hot, the sun is hot, and there's no shade. Um, but I really do have to shout out to Coca-Cola for keeping me alive that day. And it was uh, I ended up doing an Iron Man personal best time as well. So that's the crazy thing. That might say something to how slow my other times have been. Because 2023 was an all-woman's year, so they had a lot of slots to give away at the Topal Iron Man. I think I got third or fourth in my age group. I think anyone that wanted to go could go.

Larry 38:35

Right.

Tarawera Injury And Finishing Anyway

Brittney 38:36

So that was fun. What I learned from that definitely don't make my drinks so strong, and probably drink water straight out of the swim rather than um a carb drink. And the coke probably I I had another experience with coke recently, and I think I'm off Coke now until the session's finished. I was in the middle of a 10k runtime trial, and it was so hot. So I stopped at the local dairy local shop and got one of the little tiny little bottles of coke and I scaled it, and then about 200 meters down the road, I was spewing in somebody's garden. So yeah, coke's off the table now, and unless it's an easy session or at the end of a session. Um, and at Taruera, I had a really because that's in February, so it's coming up in a month again. And I did it in 2024, the week before I saw Taylor Swift. A weekend I'll never forget. But uh, so it was a great summer of running, and I really, really, really enjoyed the training and I had no injuries. And then I started the race and I felt pretty good. And about four, I think it was two and a half to four kilometers in, my hip flexor, my right hip flexor got so tight, and I thought this is going to be a really long day because it's a 104-kilometer trail run. I remember texting Simon Cochran, my coach, saying I'm fucked. But then I had a stretch, kept going, it was still sore, so I had to change how I ran. So instead of running with a flat foot, I ran with my foot on the side. There's the camera, like that. Okay, for the rest of the race.

Larry 40:32

So running on the outside of your foot, basically.

Brittney 40:35

Yeah, so really stretching the outside of my foot there.

Larry 40:39

Yeah.

Brittney 40:40

Um, there's there was a section running from a place called Okatina, and it was downhill most of the way to the blue lake. Halfway down, I was taking a video because I was crying. I was in pain. I couldn't lift my leg to get over any of the tree roots, so I would have to stop and like pick my leg up to get over the big tree roots. There's videos of me from the last 14k hobbling along. Um, but I don't know what I learned from that. I guess you can just keep going even if you hit parrots. It really did ruin my, there's a ligament around the outside of your foot under your ankle, and then a tendon in there too. The I think the peronial tendon. So that was ruined for weeks after that.

Larry 41:35

Yeah.

Brittney 41:35

But I think because you spend so much money and put in so much time to doing these things, I was never gonna win. And I was I was hoping for around 12 hours, and I think I did it in 14. So I was quite a little bit slower than what I would have liked, but slow and steady wins the race.

Larry 41:56

And and I think Simon has won that race before, has he not?

Brittney 42:00

Um, he podiumed two years ago, I think. There was a the Milo sprint finish in the last 3k of a 100-mile race. And he was probably running 330s or something.

Larry 42:16

Oh, the guy's insane.

Brittney 42:18

He is. He's going again this year. I don't know if it was a joke or not, but he asked me to pace him for some of it. And I'm assuming it was a joke. Well, I could pace him on the walking, even on the walking sections. I'm such a slow walker that we waste of his time.

Larry 42:36

Well, last year on our uh live stream, Simon went out with a camera at the beginning of the run, and he ran the first 10k with the runners and filmed for us on the live stream. Oh, cool. Yeah. So you could go do that for him. You could go run with him and and and be his camera person. I could give him some stuff to put in social media.

Brittney 43:00

That's a good idea. I did say I probably needed to do a sprint session that day so I could do a 20k sprint or something to try and keep up.

Larry 43:10

So what is it about racing for you? What is your reward? Why do you why do you do these races?

Brittney 43:19

I actually really love the training. I think the race is like the cherry on top. And I used to take racing pretty seriously. I'm just an average H-grip athlete, not really going to win much, but I used to take myself seriously and get really into the data and worry about my times and my splits, but now I see it as more of a test rather than an end goal. So it's more of a stepping stone to whatever's next. And sometimes I don't even know really whatever's next. Um, I also think it's quite good. To show so I've got two kids, Max and Tilly. And I think I don't even know if they notice, I'm sure they do. But in my head, I'm showing them that you can set your mind to do something, and then you have to work really hard to do it, and then the satisfaction is finishing.

Larry 44:23

Well, I have been checking out your YouTube channel. You have a YouTube channel uh dedicated to your training, or as you've been saying in your in your diaries, that your lack of training.

Brittney 44:34

Oh, lately it has been.

Larry 44:36

And and your children have shown up in it. So I just want to play this clip from your YouTube with your children in it, uh, if you're okay with that, so that the listener can hear uh what they think of mom doing uh a UM race.

Brittney 44:50

Perfect. Hora, I'm Britt, and welcome to my life. I'm a working mom of two from Fakutani in New Zealand, and I've made a decision that's either incredibly inspiring or insane. It's nine months until Ultraman, and today I'm telling my kids what I've actually signed up for. Next year I'm going to Australia to do a race called Ultraman. And Ultraman is three days. So on the first day you do a 10-kilometer swim, and then you do a 150-kilometer bike ride, then on the second day you do a 275-kilometer bike ride. Then on the third day, guess what you do? Run run two marathons in a row. Do you think I can do that? No. What? You'd have to recover. You don't think so? They don't actually live here anymore. I got rid of them after that.

Larry 45:55

Will they be coming to the race with you?

Brittney 45:58

Oh no, they won't be coming to Noosa, but they will be in Waraka.

Larry 46:03

Okay. Yeah.

Brittney 46:04

If I don't know, they need to sort their attitudes out. That was rude. I think they would just get in the way in Wanaka. I mean in Noosa, sorry, but um, my mum and dad and my sister and her family will all be around because they all live down there. So I'll be able to entertain the kids.

Committing To Two Ultramans

Larry 46:24

Yeah. And and you've you you you've done something that a lot of people don't do. You've signed up for two UM races, never done doing one. Um because you are going to do the one in your in your home country of New Zealand in uh December. Uh November, December? December.

Brittney 46:43

Yeah, December.

Larry 46:44

December. Um, and and obviously your your warm-up race will be the one in NUSA coming up in May. Um, I can only assume that Simon was a part of you deciding to do this, or was UM something you had always kind of tracked?

Brittney 47:01

Um I remember it must have been during COVID as well, and I found the email I'd inquired about Ultraman Australia in I think 2020 or 2021. But I always thought it'd be too hard, it's too far, too expensive, and I have no friends to crew me. But now I'm married, so my husband is forced to be part of my crew.

Larry 47:30

Yeah.

Brittney 47:31

And I did message Jeff to ask if I could have help finding some crew members because Ari will not want to bar a bit. But he's warmed up to the idea. He's driving, and then I've got two friends coming over to crew me too. And then I through Ziff Zwift actually, I met another lady who is two hours north of Nusa, and she's going to come down and um kayak for me. Oh, excellent.

Larry 47:59

Yeah.

Brittney 47:59

Yeah.

Larry 48:01

Well, the swim, um, you said you you don't really enjoy swimming. You you're kind of, by your own calculations, a slower one-speed kind of swimmer. How do you feel about a 10-kilometer swim? Have you done a 10-kilometer swim?

Brittney 48:16

I've done 100-100s on the pool. I think it'll be okay. Um that is the NUSA in particular, because of sharks, is what I'm most worried about, is the swim. But I'm treating it as, especially NUSA, treating it as a long training weekend with pals. Yeah. That's so that's the vibe I'm taking in. Like it'll be hard. I'm worried about waking up on day three and getting out of bed and the swim. But I think the rest will be fine.

Larry 48:55

Yeah. So um what has Simon been doing to get you ready to take on these distances? And and do you listen to your coach?

Surgery Recovery And Steroid Clarifier

Brittney 49:06

Mostly, yeah. He bullies me into stuff, which I think helps my mental resilience. Not really. He's so nice. Um, because I had so I had my surgery at I had a hernia from my first pregnancy above my belly button, and I had that surgery in August. Up until then, I was really um marathon-specific training. So I hadn't swim, hadn't been swimming since um January. I did one triathlon and then retired. Um, and then I really focused on my esports, so my wash and marathon training, because they kind of really complement each other, I think, for me. And then I had my surgery in August. That took so much.

Larry 50:02

This is where the steroid use comes in, by the way, too, right? Is from your surgery.

Brittney 50:08

I don't know.

Larry 50:09

Was that I thought it was Were you not on a steroid treatment after the surgery?

Brittney 50:16

Uh no. I th oh was I did I have a chest infection?

Larry 50:28

Oh, that's what it was. That's what it was, yes.

Brittney 50:31

Pre nozyme.

Larry 50:32

I've watched so many of your videos I got confused as to where the steroid use came in.

Brittney 50:37

Talk so much shit.

Larry 50:38

You had pneumonia or a chest infection or something, yeah.

Brittney 50:42

That's right. I did. I think I had a chest infection. Um, so I had pre nozyme for that. That's steroid, yes.

Larry 50:53

I did say that we would bring it back to clarify your steroid use.

Brittney 50:56

So I was I thought it was a joke, but you know my life better than I do. That's right. I had the surgery and then I got sick, so that delayed my recovery by quite a bit. And then I got into swimming again. I was doing like 1800 meters, but sessions. Then my biggest week so far has been about 9.8, and then tomorrow I have a 5k session, so it'll be my longest swim, probably since I did the 100-100s. Um, other things Simon has me doing now is long endurance rides, long as in five to six hours. He lets me still do it on my gravel bike. I did six hours on Swift on Saturday, which was more mentally challenging than anything.

Larry 51:54

Right.

Brittney 51:55

Um, Pilates is something that I've started doing since the surgery as well, because I never have really had had a good strong core. Um, and that's helped. I think I get a few Achilles niggles too. So I think the Pilates has helped with ankle stability. And I have a bad shoulder because I fell off um a mountain bike 20 minutes into a 12-hour adventure race. So I was doing a lot of the adventure race with my um like this because did something into my rotator cuff, but Pilates, and actually swimming has helped with that too. And as for running at the moment, we're just treating it like a marathon build. So I think I did a four and a half hour run, trail run last weekend, but that was only a planned three, it was only three hours in my plan. Got a bit carried away there. Yeah, I listened to Simon most of the time. I don't I haven't I haven't missed a swim yet. When I've had to push out a swim, I've moved it to a different bay. So I am a new and improved Michael Phelps.

Larry 53:17

But with a bad shoulder uh to to to swim with and a bad ankle to kick with.

Brittney 53:23

That's right. And probably two minutes per hundred slower.

Larry 53:29

Well, so you're you're swimming, you're you're you're okay with you, you're you figure you'll get through the swimming. The the cycling, obviously, cycling something that you enjoy. Um, I'm guessing you're feeling pretty confident about the the cycling part of it.

Brittney 53:44

Well, funny you say that. Cycling, I would say I'm a better um, like I'm more of a punchy rider. So I will send it up the start of a climb. I'm not a steady state rider at all. So that's going to be quite a challenge for me, I think. And I struggle in that tempo sort of power for the sustained efforts. I'd rather do FTP 10 watts over and over and over again.

Larry 54:23

But I think that endurance, unfortunately.

Swim Bike Run Fears And Targets

Brittney 54:28

Maybe in Wanaka when we hit the crown range, that's gonna be fun. That's the big climb on day one.

Larry 54:35

Okay, yeah. Yeah, it'll be interesting when people um have done the two races to start getting the comparisons between the two.

Brittney 54:44

Yeah. Temperature-wise, that's I think that's going to be the biggest challenge with Wanaka, is the lake is going to be like 14 degrees Celsius. Maybe 16. But because the snow is still mounting, melting off the mountains, then it cools the lake quite a bit.

Larry 55:04

Oh yeah.

Brittney 55:06

And I remember I did Iron Man Topo, and they moved it because of it was another COVID thing. They moved it from March to December, and it's the same in Topo with the mountains. They have snow, and then the snow melts and cools the lake. And it was my slowest swim ever. And I probably was at 3.6 K and I started crying because I was so cold, everything was cramping, my feet wouldn't, like my legs wouldn't kick because they were so cold. And then I had to say, shut up, you weak bitch. If you cry, you're gonna fog up your goggles. So then I had to suck back in the tears and finished. And it was one of the most horrible experiences of my life. Because all I wanted to do was cry, but then it was gonna take me longer because I was gonna have to stop and take my goggles off and get colder.

Larry 56:03

You had your wits about you still. You you had you had reason.

Brittney 56:06

It's the big head, it's insulated.

Larry 56:11

I'm sure you'll have a couple of those moments on on the UM course as well. And and now you're just mentally prepared to to fight through what you whatever comes your way.

Brittney 56:21

Yeah, that's the one.

Larry 56:23

That's the training. Um, and then running. Your running times are great. I saw you did a 303 marathon, um, and you came second at the topo marathon. Is that the same race or is that a different race?

Brittney 56:39

Um, that's different. So I the topo marathon is in August each year. Um and I did the Wellington marathon last year. We had an amazing day. Usually it's windy in Wellington. There was no wind, and I was an absolute Muppet. I had it in my head because I've done a few marathons now, and I've fucked most of them up by going out way too fast. And I knew I had a race plan in my head to be pretty conservative at the start. I ended up getting a 10k PB at the start of the marathon.

Larry 57:23

Excellent.

Brittney 57:24

By 16 kilometers, my legs had given up, and every step I took, there was shooting pains up both the sides of my quads.

Larry 57:33

Not excellent.

Brittney 57:33

I think I did a three, I did a 301 marathon in Wellington. That was last year. Oh.

Larry 57:42

I blew up pretty bad, but um managed to marathon runner. So we can expect you to go six hours at UM.

Brittney 57:54

Yeah, maybe 555.

Larry 57:56

Oh, okay, 555. All right, we got the call. No way, no way.

Brittney 58:02

Um, I've been doing some long run sessions on the road. I'm running at five-minute pace. So I think that'll be a decent ultraman pace. Five to five thirties, maybe?

Larry 58:14

Okay.

Brittney 58:15

I don't know. Simon's there, he might try and make me run faster in the second half.

Larry 58:19

What are the numbers you're aiming for? What what's what's your swim you're hoping for, or your day one total, your day two total, your day three? What do you have targets? Are you willing to share them?

Brittney 58:29

Yeah, I'd like to break the female course record.

Larry 58:34

Okay.

Brittney 58:35

Um, I can't remember the exact times. I've got them written down. I know my swim is going to let me down. Well, not let me down, but that'll be the way we're treating that is just to go hard enough I don't lose too much time.

Larry 58:52

Yeah. Yeah.

Brittney 58:53

Because that will be the one that I'm I'll confidently get through the swim, but it will be the one I'm I'm probably going to lose the most time on. And I'm thinking it'll probably take three and a half to four hours to get through the swim. And then send it. Day two, I think I'll be pushing pretty hard on the bike.

Larry 59:13

All right, listener. I'm gonna make this easy for you so that you do not have to go and look up Kate's times. Here they are. Her swim was at 249.04. The bike total was 13 hours 02.27, and her run was 725. For a total time of 23, 17, 35. That's what Britt will be aiming for. For recovery and overnight and stuff like that. Um, obviously, Simon's got that kind of stuff dialed into what what is your what is your plan? He probably knows how your body reacts. He knows what's going to be best for you. Um, that's a big part of getting on to the next day. So what um what's your plan for your recovery each night?

Brittney 1:00:06

I haven't thought about that yet. We've got that far ahead. I think eating will be a priority. Although generally after racing, I don't feel like eating because I eat so much while I'm in action. Um yeah, that's not something we've really talked about.

Larry 1:00:24

Okay.

Brittney 1:00:25

Resting, feet up, have my slaves and minions run after me, although my kids won't be there, so I won't have any slaves.

Larry 1:00:38

Uh well, looking ahead, so we know you're gonna do the UM New Zealand race. Um, what other what other activities do you have? Are you staying retired from triathlon or are you still considering triathlons? You're looking more for for bike touring or uh gravel races? Is it more trail racing? What's what are you looking at in the future?

Brittney 1:01:03

I think next year I want to try and break three three hours in the marathon again. That was so close.

Larry 1:01:12

And do you do you have a target race that you want to do that for?

Brittney 1:01:16

Um, there is a downhill marathon that I could try and try and do. No, I'd probably do um maybe Toport again because it's nice and close, it's only two and a half hour drive. Or there's Wellington, I did enjoy, but there's also Christchurch Marathon and Queenstown, but I think I don't think Queenstown's as fast, so it's a little bit off-road. But there's also in Christchurch, they have the 100 kilometre road championship. So I'd like to give that a go as well.

Larry 1:01:52

Oh, yeah. So you don't have to.

Brittney 1:01:56

Probably no swimming in my future.

Larry 1:01:59

No, no, cycling and running only, huh?

Brittney 1:02:02

Although I have noticed, I hate to admit this, I've noticed that since I started swimming, it has helped my general fitness. Oh, okay. I've noticed.

Larry 1:02:15

We won't tell Simon.

Brittney 1:02:16

Yeah, no, please don't. He's probably noticed too. I would never tell him to his face.

Larry 1:02:24

No. Um so you've got your crew all planned out for Australia. Are you then going to have them trained up to really go and tackle New Zealand? Is it going to be the same team going into New Zealand with you?

Brittney 1:02:39

I don't think so. Um I'll just I'll see how they perform. I'll give them a performance review from NASA. Nah, if they were keen, I'd be keen to have them back. Ari will be there. He doesn't have a choice, but yeah. Yeah. Although my family will be there, so if they're not keen, I'll be able to rope my fano in.

Larry 1:03:08

As long as you leave someone left to take care of the kids.

Brittney 1:03:12

Yes. Well, they'll be they'll be nearly nine and nearly eleven, just about old enough to look after themselves for three days. Yeah.

Larry 1:03:21

Leave a little bit of food out.

Brittney 1:03:23

Exactly. Still keep the pantry full. There's water in the tap, they'll be right. Someone will have to stay home to feed my fat cat Ron.

Larry 1:03:35

Oh, you have a fat cat.

Brittney 1:03:37

Have you not seen the fat cat yet? I have to send you a photo of him to you know what?

Larry 1:03:42

No, I have seen him in the videos. Yes. Yes.

Brittney 1:03:45

Ronnie.

Larry 1:03:45

Okay.

Brittney 1:03:46

He's a monster. He's about eight kgs. And I think part of your resistance training. Yeah, he's good for arm curls. He's so funny. It's probably my he's my favorite. And I was never a cat person either until I got Ron.

Larry 1:04:06

Oh.

Brittney 1:04:08

He won the other.

Larry 1:04:09

You also have dogs. You get them both.

Brittney 1:04:12

Yep, Fergus and Charlie. They're getting old now. Fergus used to be a quite a good running partner, but he took him on Run Club the other week, six and a half K, and he was cooked about 1k in.

Larry 1:04:25

Yeah.

Brittney 1:04:26

He's like me though, he goes out way too hot and then glides slowly. Super eager to get going and then blew it.

Larry 1:04:36

Yeah. Well, you just got to remember all these lessons that you've learned and apply them. Don't just let them go out of your head when you're doing this UM race so that you can keep that goal in sight of trying to get that record.

Brittney 1:04:52

23 hours 16 is all I need to do, right?

Larry 1:04:56

That's all you got to do.

Brittney 1:04:58

Let's go.

Larry 1:04:59

Let's go. All right. Well, hey, uh, thank you for spending some time with us today to uh introduce yourself to the family. We'll be watching you on the live stream that's happening again this year. Hopefully, your crew will be uh helping us to create some of that footage. We're gonna be giving uh the Zoom link directly to the crews so that people, when there's something going on in your race, they can just click into the Zoom and they will be on the live stream with us. So uh it should be an exciting way to watch the race.

Brittney 1:05:35

Yeah, you'd be bad to see me cry in real time.

Larry 1:05:39

Well, we gotta have a little bit of drama. Yeah.

Brittney 1:05:42

Oh, there'll be plenty of drama. Maybe some singing along?

Live Stream Plans And Closing

Larry 1:05:48

Perfect. We we we'll get the rights to uh Taylor Swift so that uh we can play it through the YouTube and uh not get kicked off. I'm sure I can afford that.

Brittney 1:05:59

Yeah, okay. Some my wash money.

Larry 1:06:04

Excellent, excellent. All right. Well, good luck with the rest of your training and uh thanks again for coming on the podcast.

Brittney 1:06:11

Thank you.

MJ 1:06:12

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