#051 - Interview - Carol Davis. World record holder, Pentathlete and Heptathlete, Masters games champion at 75yo

We had the pleasure of interviewing with the amazing Carol Davis who has achieved incredible things in athletics including a gold medal in the world championships in Perth in the 100 meters, a world record in the 4 x 400 meters relay in the age group of 65-69 years old as well as a world heptathlon record for the long jump in her age group.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Good evening, Sportsbiz family, and welcome to episode 51 with more frivolity, fun, and pheromones. With Mr. Martin Winnell, aka the dog, and myself, John Briggs, or Briggsy, as some of you prefer to call me. Today we have a very special guest, a lady by the name of Carol Davis, who has achieved unbelievable things in athletics. Welcome, Carol. How are you going?

SPEAKER_06 0:35

I'm going very well, thanks.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Good. Good. So Martin and I will be peppering you with questions.

SPEAKER_06 0:42

As hard as we can go.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

Indeed.

SPEAKER_06 0:45

I can answer everything you ask.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Oh, I'm sure you will. And so for the next 40 minutes or so, we'll be asking you, and you're going to do all the talking.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Okay, so but first of all, I'm going to hand you over to Martin because he's probably got a question, I imagine. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 1:00

Uh I've had a quick look, Carol, at the bio that uh that John sent me. Okay. Uh I don't even know where to start. So I'm This is what I was thinking. Exactly. So your Master's Athletics. So let's go with how did you get involved in that? And were you involved in athletics in any way? Juniors, little athletics, anything like that?

SPEAKER_06 1:26

No, not at all. I wish I had been, but um I've I've done a lot of sport in my time. And uh I eventually went into social tennis with my husband, and uh we met some really nice people there that were doing um park runs. And I had been doing running around the block and all that sort of thing, just for fitness and that for tennis, and it was probably around four to five K. And he said, Oh, the park runs are 5k, you know, you should have a go at it. And I went, Oh, okay, so that's how I got into park runs. But then with the people that were doing the park runs, there was a couple of people that were just walkers, and of course they stood out because they weren't running, they were walkers. So I sort of got friendly with them, they were around my not my age, but a bit younger. And uh they said, Look, uh you why don't you come to our track? We do a lot of walking at the track for Gold Coast Masters, and uh they have a lot of running and all that sort of thing there. Why don't you come along? And I thought, okay, I'll give it a try. So I went along, and the first competition I did was a 1500 because I thought I'll aim low. I haven't been training it for a while. So I did a 1500 and uh it was alright. And uh when I was sort of cooling down and um just doing a few stretches, I was watching the 100 metres and the the 200 metres, and I'm thinking their race is over and done with, and they're having fun, and I'm still trying to get recover from this 1500. So I sort of tried it at the next week. I went along and I tried doing the the the 60 and the 100 and then the twos, and it developed from there where I went into the fours and then eventually in the eights, but I'm not real keen on eights because that that's a lot of hard work with leg speed.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Indeed, it is how long ago was this, Carol, when you first started, just you know, from the tennis to the Okay, I was 64 when I went into Park Runes and so a year ago.

SPEAKER_06 3:18

Yes, I wish it was.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

Just for the listeners, apparently, and Martin and I don't believe this, Carol's 75. You'll see in the photograph we're gonna take afterwards, she's lying.

SPEAKER_04 3:29

I'm gonna require proof, a birth certificate, and not a uh a transcript. I'm gonna want the original and a drugs test.

SPEAKER_06 3:38

Well, thank you very much. Lovely compliments from you two. Um yeah, I was 64 when I first started uh in uh the park run, and so I was in up to that category of um where they do percentages. Uh have you ever been to the park runs yourselves? Yes. Yeah, where you have your percentage. Well, my percentage was 82% for my runs, which I felt was okay. Yeah. Um and I tried to better that, and I ended up doing the exact same time twice, which I thought was a bit funny. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:09

That's very good. Good pacing.

SPEAKER_06 4:10

It was. But then I went into Masters, so I was 64 in the uh Masters starts in October, usually every year, the season, and it goes through till March, April, depending when Easter is. Um, so yeah, I was 64 then, and that's when I sort of got more involved into um different distances, and then someone said to me, Look, why don't you try doing pentathlons? You look like you can handle, you know, you're 800 okay and and you're doing 100, which is two of the events, and running does give you good points. So try pentathlons. I said, I can't throw uh a javelin. Oh, I'll show you how to do that.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

So I I learned how to pinch one of my questions. So who showed you how to do that kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_06 4:57

And I owe so much to him because he gave me the encouragement I needed to try something totally different that I've never tried before. That's why I say to people, don't ever think you can't do anything, give it a go, you know. You don't know until you actually try it. And just learning the basics, and then if you want to put the effort into it and just practice and practice, you'll find improvement, and then the improvement gives you confidence that you can get out there and amongst competition and people that know what they're doing, and you think, well, I could learn from them even though I'm not doing it all correctly, I can still learn.

SPEAKER_04 5:31

That's right. So that gives me two quick follow-up questions. Um whereabouts are you doing this? Um what where you said you went out to the track, and then you said you were doing the pentathlon?

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 5:45

What are the five events in that pentathlon that apparently you're quite good at?

SPEAKER_06 5:52

Well, I love it, and that's probably half the reason why I'm okay at it. Um it all started, I suppose, um yeah, I was 64, and then uh this Vidy V Jermickens he said, I can organise a pentathlon. Uh it's not a championship, but I can organise, you know, within the state to see how you're going. So he invited the Brisbane people down, and I ended up doing a record on that first 64.

SPEAKER_04 6:20

Well, right. So that was from 60 to 64. The events in that.

SPEAKER_06 6:24

And the events are you start off with your hundred and then you do um you do a short put, a javelin, a long jump, and the eight hundred. You finish on the eight hundred and you do it all in the one day.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Yeah. So okay, so they're all very different events, right? So obviously you've got your explosive events, you've got your running events, you've got a jumping event in there as well, as you say. Long jumpers, right. So so uh they all require different training. How do you how do you transition from one to another?

SPEAKER_06 6:59

It's a program. I've never ever been coached, um, but you know what you're capable of doing, you know your own body, and uh you just do a program that's gonna fit in. So when I'm doing speed work, leg speed, um, that gives me a chance to learn to do the long jump because you you need that approach, and it's it's got to be explosive off the board, and so you sort of combine those two. Um, and your middle distance, I do like the 800. When I'm finished that I'll try and do the javelin because it's not no leg where it's all upper body work, so I'm resting the legs reasonably well, and I do the chop foot as well, all on the same day. So my programs sort of fit in with the events that I need to do, and the days I'm doing it, I have breaks in between, so I'm not doing it day after day after day. You know, I mean, you're after well, you're gonna get injuries if you do that sort of work.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

May I ask how long is the run-up then for the javelin?

SPEAKER_06 7:58

The javelin, um it's not a very short run-up. Well, mine is. If you look at the professionals on the TV, they have a very long run-up, but mine's mine's probably about 12 meter run-up, you know.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

So you're relying on just arm speed and technique.

SPEAKER_06 8:16

Yes, it's a technique. And and this Viddy taught me the technique and he gave me a lot of material to read with photos and step-by-step how to do things, and that helped me a real lot. Perfect. And I owe a lot to him because he not only taught me uh that and encouraged me to do pentathlons, which I've managed to have all the age groups since I've started to win that uh Australian record.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 8:42

Um, but he also got me to go into the heptathlon, which is your seven events. So you do all of those same five events, except you don't do a hundred, you do a two hundred.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 8:53

And you still do your eight hundred, but you have your high jump as an extra. You have a hurdle. So then we're going into hurdles, which is another thing.

SPEAKER_04 9:03

Wow. Okay. Um so one thing that comes to mind there uh is when you're competing, are the order of the events always the same? Yes. Right. So then you can train them in order as well. So you build up your your tolerance for one moving into the next, similar to a triathlon where you would you train in order. Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_06 9:33

They break it down. So um and your 800 is always at the end of that. So um yeah, you don't have a huge break in between each event. It's not one thing after the other. You sort of walk over to the next event, change your shoes because you're always in usually different spikes, that sort of thing. Um, and then you've got to wait for the officials to get there. So you're you're not doing it straight away, you're having a little bit of a gap in between. Um but you you've trained for it all. You've done all your hard work, you've you've done your days of your distance, your days of your throwing, and that. And even with the shop put, I was never coached at that. But at Masters, there's so many people there that do all of these different events. They're so willing to help you, and you learn so much by watching the people do the right thing. You know?

SPEAKER_02 10:21

May I ask, with the shop put, what's the weight of it?

SPEAKER_06 10:24

I used to do a three kilo put, um, which isn't easy. No, it's not. That's a decent weight, that's right. With the um and it's and it's got to be legal, you're not throwing it, it's got to count you know, yeah, like that. And uh now I'm 75. Your your encouragement is you get to do two kilos. Oh, right, okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 10:47

And the same as a javelin. It's a 500 weight for a javelin, but when you turn 75 it comes down to 400. And the hurdles, they've only just introduced this rule because they've discovering a lot of people are finding it difficult at my age to do that sort of work. They've bought down the um, I'm pretty feel I'm right in saying that the 65 year olds um come down, sorry, 60 to 65 year olds come down to my height. So I don't think it's fair. They're jumping the same height.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Yeah, well that's right, exactly. Do you do you have certain recovery methods between either in between events or sorry, in between the pursuits of the events and then as well afterwards?

SPEAKER_06 11:33

Yeah, um I my program is just set up mainly for sprints, and and the pentathlons and the heptathons, they're not right through the year. They're usually at the end of towards the end of the season, so you're you've got that fitness there anyway. Um, and then I increase the days that I'm training to fit in all those events I need to do for that specific thing. Um, and recovery-wise, um I do a lot of um pool work, um, do do the laps, I run in the pool, I do the the tread work in the pool, that sort of thing, just to build up that stamina, and I'm doing no impact. So I'm giving that um impact problem a rest, you know, with all of the hard work that I do. Um so that does help to the aqua works.

SPEAKER_04 12:20

Yes, really, really good for that.

SPEAKER_06 12:22

I truly do believe in the swimming is a big help because I I've had a knee issue uh from time to time, and I find doing the breaststroke, it's like resistance work. Um so it it it does, it builds up that muscle that you need to get going again. So that does help with you know helping in between.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

What was the issue with your knee? Just out of interest.

SPEAKER_06 12:42

It was uh is it a nemiscus? Meniscus. Meniscus, yeah. You've got to get the constant. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:50

You can tell I'm a runner and not a doctor.

SPEAKER_04 12:54

Um, so Carol. Yes. Uh again, every time you talk, I come up with two more questions.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

That's okay.

SPEAKER_04 13:01

So one's going to be very easy. Thinking heptathlon.

SPEAKER_06 13:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 13:05

Circling back to something you said.

SPEAKER_06 13:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:08

How many pairs of shoes do you have?

SPEAKER_06 13:10

Uh, I'll show you later. They're all hanging up outside. Um, I do spread shoes because there's no heel on them. They're very, very lightweight. Um and yeah, you just feel great and they fit like a glove. Uh then I have my hurdles and my 400 and 800 shoes that they're all from. Are these spikes? They're spikes, but they've got a heel on. Yes, middle distance spikes. Impact, yeah. Um for um uh high jump and javelin, they're different shoes again. Yes. And I've only just got those shoes, so I'm I'm sort of still getting used to them. They're spikes on the heel and the toe. So they're uh a different kettle of fish, so it's a little bit of getting used to with that.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

Um is there a different stability in cushioning with the high jump shoes, for example?

SPEAKER_06 14:00

Um I think it's more spring, it gives you more explosion off the ground, and which is why you need that in in the high jump. Um the hurdles I need the heel because that's where you are landing. You're landing on that heel to get that impetus to go in the run. So, and with the hurdles, I was going to say before, the difference with my age group now that I'm turned 75, um, the extra added little bonus I have is that I don't start off a 12-metre mark to the first hurdle, it's 11, and it's not seven metres in between each hurdle, it's six. So, therefore, at the end of the last hurdle, the eighth hurdle, I have that longer distance to sprint to the end, which suits me because I'm a sprinter, not a hurdler. Yeah. Um, and in fact, I really uh I was so close to getting the world record in the 80-meter hurdles when I was doing my heptathlon this year, and it was because I had a minus 1.9 wind, which you would understand against me, and I was only 0.4 off the the record. So it would have been a world record hence. I had to.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

So your stride pattern in between the hurdles, then is that something that you really have to focus on? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 15:09

Three steps, eight steps to start, three steps in between. But the two hundreds is another thing. I did do the 200 world record when I was 70.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 15:18

And um it was held at the state championships.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 15:23

And uh I was the only one in the race because my age is difficult for anyone to be in it.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 15:28

Uh I didn't know what time I could do. I was only practising and practising hoping I could do a good time. That was my thing. Because I don't go out there saying I'm going to do an Australian record today or I'm going to do a world record today. I go out there and chat. Well, I go out there to have fun to enjoy. The training side is the hard thing, it's not fun. But I go out there when I've reached my peak and I know I believe in myself, that's fun. You go out and you enjoy your race, and when it's finished, if you look at the time where someone tells you it was a great run, it's a pat on the back to yourself, you've done the job and it's worked, you know. So this race was the same thing, and I finished it and I was told I did the world record.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_06 16:08

And uh I celebrated and everything, and the next day I got a call from the Athletic Association in Brisbane. Sorry, you can't have that as a world record, it can't be ratified because you need more than one runner in the race. I went, What?

SPEAKER_02 16:20

That actually makes it more difficult. It does.

SPEAKER_06 16:22

It does. They were pushing you. To make it worse, the runners before me in the other age groups, they do like a 300 hurdle, and those hurdles were still in their lanes, except my lane, on the track, which was again not much help to me.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Self-putting.

SPEAKER_06 16:38

Anyway, the story to all of this was I was awarded the Australian record by Australia. Australia uh recognised it as a world record, but the world record record body would not recognise it. However, to make matters worse, the very next year they allowed one runner in the race for it to count. Because I put more or less to them to realise it was a silly rule.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

Right. So did did you compare to that? No. No, okay.

unknown 17:09

No.

SPEAKER_06 17:10

You have that one chance, and you know, I was only just 75. The older you get, the harder. It's the time to do it. I did try. I tried later on in a f about six months later, and it was up in towns. Well, different track, harder track. Um the track I was on, it was nice and springy, it was just perfect day. The wind was perfect, everything was just right. And you can never re-do all of that again. That was my one.

SPEAKER_04 17:35

Everything's got to be perfect on that day.

SPEAKER_06 17:37

Yeah, my my run was rhythmic. Everything, the steps were right, the lead leg was right, you know. Yeah, yeah. And and you say do it again.

SPEAKER_04 17:46

So at this point, John, I am thoroughly intrigued. Of course. And likewise. It's my curiosity that drives this next question. What's the time for the unofficial world record that is now clearly going to be promoted by sports beers as the bloody world record?

SPEAKER_06 18:05

For the 200 hurdles.

SPEAKER_04 18:06

For the 200.

SPEAKER_06 18:07

Uh the 200 hurdles is 39.89 for my age. Yeah. That's the world record at the moment. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:14

And what is that you did faster than that or has it come downstairs?

SPEAKER_06 18:18

That's what I've got to do better than that this time. Okay, 39. Well, when I was 70, um my record was um I think now uh 35.53. And then the lady was um 35. No, she might have been 36 anyway. It was th it was like I was ahead of her.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

I was okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So again, this is flat or hurdles?

SPEAKER_06 18:43

This is hurdles I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_04 18:45

35 second 200.

SPEAKER_06 18:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:47

With hurdles.

SPEAKER_06 18:48

Yeah. Yeah, that's yeah, my 200 record is quick. My 200 record for the heptathlon at 70 was 32.69.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 18:57

So that was that was a good run.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

So I'm gonna steal Martin's under here. I've got two questions. So, how long do you train for an event like the masters? Question number one. And then number two, how long do you devote to each pursuit in each event? Is it equal, or do you just say, well, I'm I'm better at running, so therefore I don't have to train as much for that?

SPEAKER_06 19:21

Yeah, no. Um for masters, you have different events. You have competitions usually every uh second Sunday, and uh in Brisbane's every second Saturday. So you can make, you know, whether you want to go to Brisbane or to the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is a bit harder to get onto that track there. Um and you have uh state championships, you have Pan Pacific Games, which are coming up in November. They're my next uh thing I'll be going for.

SPEAKER_04 19:49

Um and are they here, as in uh Queensland?

SPEAKER_06 19:52

Yes, usually at Runaway Bay.

SPEAKER_04 19:54

Yeah. Oh okay, yeah, they are too, that's right.

SPEAKER_06 19:56

But last year, uh because we had our cyclone or something, Runaway Bay wasn't available, so we had to go to Brisbane. But it's normally at Runaway Bay. Um and the Oceana are every second year, and of course they're all different places. Uh I think it's a New Zealand that's coming up one that's gonna be there. I won't be going to New Zealand. Uh I'm not a good traveller. Um, and then I think there's gonna be decathlon at the end of the year. They started that in Masters as a new event for us girls. Um and I didn't do it because I was uh zoning in on the heptathlon, and I didn't want to have any injuries into the heptathlon. Sorry to interrupt.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

We've got a question here because I always thought, and wrongly so obviously, because I'm a bit off the pace these days, uh, that the decathlon was purely for men.

SPEAKER_06 20:44

Yes, that's why I say it's only a new year.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

So it's is it is that for masters. Is that well, all over the world. I mean, even in the Olympics. It's it's I didn't think women did that.

SPEAKER_06 20:53

It's all over the world because uh they started it last year, like I said, as a first.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 20:58

And a friend of mine went in and did it, and she couldn't do some of the events because it's too hard for her. Yeah. But you've just got to front up for that event and try it, and you don't have to finish it.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

You've got the 1500 at the end.

SPEAKER_06 21:09

And she's still got a world record.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 21:11

And it's not an 800, it's a 1500, like you said. Yeah. So I've got to try and fit. I have done a 1500. I did that in six minutes, six minutes something. I can't think now what it was. But anyway, it won't be six minutes this time.

SPEAKER_04 21:27

Um it's uh it's it's a fair pace.

SPEAKER_06 21:31

So that's at the end of the year, hopefully. And then I'd like to try for the the world record again for the heptathlon the following year, like next year, it's usually at the beginning of the year.

SPEAKER_04 21:43

And so in Masters, is the heptathlon uh measured the same? So depending on the times and the distances that you achieve, your points awarded the same as you would be in the Commonwealth Games or Olympic Games. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 21:57

The heptathlon is a worldwide thing. Um for example the lady that I broke the record of, she uh uh was uh I think um Austrian and uh she was very nice. I got an email congratulating me and she'd held that for some time, um, so I was pretty stoked with that. And um yeah, so the all our points are exactly the same. They have changed, they have changed the points a bit, but it's changed for everybody. They've just made them more difficult because I I think um, for example, I think there was a pet pentathlon that I did, and I I got lots and lots of points. I was over 4,000 points, and because you think, oh, that's all really good. Then when they changed the numbering and how to do it, it was down to 3,000 or something. Same with heptathlon, I got over 6,000 and now it's changed back. But everyone's in the same boat.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Um do do you know each other as well? No, I don't know. Overseas it in the either overseas or locally, Australian-wise.

SPEAKER_06 22:56

I've got a lot of friends around Australia and I've got a a friend in New Zealand that and this is the other thing with doing it in uh our age group, it's not just good mentally and physically, but it's also good for social things, you know. And if you have a good diet, I mean what more balance could you have? Diet, exercise, and you know people.

SPEAKER_04 23:18

Oh, it just creates happiness, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_06 23:20

And and good health, you know. And yeah, and then you've got you can be a pest for other people a lot longer.

SPEAKER_04 23:27

Yeah, yeah. I like that, I like that theory. Yes, I'm fit, I'm healthy, I'll live forever, so I can pester people for longer. Love it. Love it. I might adopt that.

SPEAKER_06 23:38

Um but with the training and that, I don't I don't sort of because I what I was getting to before with the amount of training that I do, um I don't train for all of those events all year through.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 23:50

I I I mainly have my sprints as my main focus. Um, and then when I know things are coming up, I I start to ease into them with your long jump, you shop putting in your javelin, that sort of thing. I because I know the basics, it's just a case of working through it again, and it's a different kind of fitness, you know. So um, yeah, it's basically your leg speed that you're trying to get going. And I start off my seasons after a little tiny break and then pool work. I do um a three-day uh effort of training and it's low percentage running. It's it's not let's get out there and go like the clappers, you know. It's it's just sensible.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 24:30

Um, and then I do um I might do some uh uh jogging on the beach just to build a bit of muscle again. I might get in the waves and and do some jogging against that because it's you're against the you know the current, that sort of thing, to build up muscle.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 24:45

And um again, the diet never stops, it's always you're always on your protein diet, you're always watching, you know, all your fruit and veggies and meat when you can. I don't eat a lot of meat, I'm more into the plant food and that sort of thing. But you just still need to, I think, all these are my opinion. Uh it works for me. It works for you, that's right. So I'm not saying others have to do the same thing, but as long as you have a good attitude to things, you're willing to put in some work, um, you're enjoying it. I and as I said, people say, don't you have fun when you go training that? No.

SPEAKER_03 25:18

No, not the training.

SPEAKER_06 25:20

Training is really it's serious.

SPEAKER_03 25:22

Competition is fun.

SPEAKER_06 25:23

Competition is fun, but training is what makes that competition fun. When beat your friends, you respect their ability, you know your ability, and you believe in yourself, and you just get out there and you just do it. And and at the end of it, it sometimes it's relief when the pressure's on.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

Of course.

SPEAKER_06 25:38

But most of the time you think, oh, I've improved. That's great.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Yeah, that's your biggest thing to improve.

SPEAKER_06 25:43

It's a time. I'm not against my competitor. I'm against that stopwatch that the end of the race that someone's pressing.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

And you keep beating me to the punch with my next question. Oh, actually. So you're not competitive against other people, you're competitive with you and your times because I'm not sure. Because I train by myself. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 25:58

I don't even have people training with me. Yeah. I go to the track once a week and I have all my friends in the club there. And because they're all younger than me, I don't expect them to train with me and I don't train with them. I'd only be probably not upsetting their what they're doing, but it's it's just a matter of focus.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Do your muscles get sore?

SPEAKER_06 26:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

What do you do to to counter that then?

SPEAKER_06 26:21

Um I do a lot of stretches and I do a lot of resistance work. Um and I find that is really, really good. And I warm up before an event and I warm down before an event. And I see so often people finish and go home and don't do any of that. And they wonder why they've got problems with it.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 26:39

I even uh train in um joggers, yeah. I don't wear my sprints, my shoes, until probably about a month or two prior to an event. Yeah. Because it's it's the impact, you know, what you're doing and and in joggers, and I wear prosthetics in joggers as well. So I've got all that effort there not to have an injury with my feet. Do you have a feet are so important?

SPEAKER_02 27:03

Um do you do massage as well and supplements?

SPEAKER_06 27:07

I had a really nice guy that was a good uh guy that I'd got to do. Did you ask me about him? And he was good, but he's retired. And I I sort of haven't picked anyone up this year, uh, but up till this year, yes, I had a really good guy. And yes, I do supplements. Um magnesium, muscle uh repair and all of that sort of thing. And helps with your sleep as well. Um and the other thing I have is a spirulina.

SPEAKER_02 27:34

Okay, I've heard a lot about that lately, actually.

SPEAKER_06 27:38

Um tastes horrible initially, but you do get used to it. And I put it in orange juice because I have fresh orange juice every day.

SPEAKER_02 27:45

Yeah, yeah. Perfect. What's your favourite event in in either the heptathlin or the pentathlon?

SPEAKER_06 27:52

Well, that's that's a good good question. The um favourite used to be the Hunter because the Hunter was my very first big thing that happened to me in that I went to Perth. Our very own first world masters was held in Australia. They're always over in Europe, always, and very rarely in Australia. And it just happened to be when I turned 65, it was in Perth. And I'd only been in Masters for a few months, and said everyone said, go, you've got to go. If you don't go, you'll regret it. And I'm so pleased I did. I had no confidence in going, but they said to go, and I did. I was running pretty well in times, um, and I had got my uh 60 metres down to 9.12, which was okay. And my 15 was was 14, 14 something, I can't even remember now. But I got over there, they don't have a 60 metres in your world masters, it starts at your 100.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 28:50

And we have your semis to get into it, and you're against other countries and that. Anyway, I won my 100 meter world record, world masters um for the you know, as a first thing, and that that just made it control.

SPEAKER_04 29:04

Just give it a crack, Carol. See how you go, just win a just win a world championship.

SPEAKER_06 29:09

Well, while I was there, we decided to do a uh four by one hundred and a four by four hundred relay. I'd never done relays before, um, and I mucked up the four by one hundred relay. I got so excited. The adrenaline just took off, yeah, and so I took off too early.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 29:25

And I had to stop at b uh just before my marker, otherwise it would have been a bad run. And the poor girl was struggling to get to me because my job was to go way back. I was a better runner than her and I should have gone further back, but because I took off early.

SPEAKER_04 29:39

Yep, you needed to take the baton earlier and give it least.

SPEAKER_06 29:42

I ran like I was shot out of a cannon because I felt so bad. I really felt terrible. I let the team down. And um I I I have nightmares of it. Um I was so upset because I let them down, but we got the Australian record anyway. Missed out on the world record that we should have had. Um but I made up for it in a four by four hundred because we've got the world record over there in first four by four hundred, and then the very next year we went to Darwin and they said we've got to do the four by four hundred because there was two new girls and the other two girls weren't in it.

SPEAKER_04 30:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 30:15

And we ended up breaking our own record by ten seconds. Well, four by four.

SPEAKER_04 30:21

In Darwin. In Darwin. In that heat.

SPEAKER_06 30:23

My gosh. And it was funny in Darwin when we did our sprints, we used to do them at nine o'clock at night. Because it was so hot.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. And that's why John.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

Yeah. So for just for the for listeners, ten seconds in distance is what? What do you reckon? Carol.

SPEAKER_05 30:43

Ten seconds. Well, that's like sixty metres.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

Yes, I was going to say 100. I was going to say it's been 50 metres. 60 metres. Yeah, wow. That's so visualize. That's good.

SPEAKER_05 30:52

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

It's incredible. Yeah. Your own record. Your own record. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

That's right, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:01

So I've got so I know you go, Martha. Oh, I was just I I don't know if this is a serious question or not. But if they finally got the world champs out of Europe, no.

SPEAKER_06 31:10

Why didn't they stick them in Perth? I know.

SPEAKER_04 31:13

Um of all the places in Australia to go, I know they chose the one that's nowhere near anything. I know.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

It's near to them. It's nearer to them. It's a less of an important situation. That's probably right. That must be the nice.

SPEAKER_06 31:25

Well, this time round, it's in August and it's over in um Waegu, South Korea. Okay. And um, like I said, I'm not a very good traveller. Um I sort of get very agitated, it affects my running uh naturally. I'm not um calm and focused when I'm worrying about travel in between the the track and where your accommodation is, getting the right accommodation so you're near enough, um, because everyone's sort of there. And yeah, my diet, that sort of thing. Shops where to go? Where do I where can I get all the stuff that I need for my diet, you know? Um, and yeah, I just don't settle down very well. So I've never bothered to go overseas at all. I don't even have a passport, which would probably shock you. So I'm a really an Australian person.

SPEAKER_04 32:13

That's why I required the birth certificate for your opening.

SPEAKER_06 32:17

No, I I've been to everywhere in Australia. Am I okay on the plane and and okay with the accommodation and um you know that sort of thing? Um, but yeah, I I just find it very difficult to settle down at and when you're doing worlds, I found out in Perth because that was a really an eye-opener, it's over for a fortnight and you're not running every day. You have days in between, it's like twiddle your thumb, what I think.

SPEAKER_04 32:42

Take a big Lego set.

SPEAKER_06 32:44

Well, I didn't know you shouldn't be doing your training that you did before the thing. I was still doing hard yakker at the training track in between the days that I should have been resting, and wondering why I didn't do too well in the 200 and the or the 400. You know, I mean it it was just silly. I had no one telling me really what I should and shouldn't be doing. So I I learned a lot from that. You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

I've got here that you've got another world record here. The long jump for the 65 to 17 years, 70 years of age for the heptathlon record as well.

SPEAKER_06 33:18

Yes, that's a heptathlon.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 33:20

Yeah, and when you do these events in in pentathlon or heptathlon, if you happen to break a record, say in the 100 and the pentathlon, that's recognised as a hundred record. It's not just for that pentathlon. You get an overall uh points for your pentathlon, and if that's a record, then you get the record for the pentathlon. But if you break a record in any one of those single events in that pentathlon, it's recognised as that event is an Australian record. Like a hundred. I might do a hundred and I might get an Australian record for um the eight hundred, you know. Well they're they're both Australian records, as well as a pentathlon record.

SPEAKER_04 33:59

Yes, yeah, so they're individual event records as well as the combined record. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 34:04

So I like I like the field events and I like the track events.

SPEAKER_04 34:09

So the field events.

SPEAKER_06 34:10

To answer your question before about my favourite, the Perth, what was my favourite? Because that was my very first eye-opener to Masters, and it was contagious from then on. But now it's sort of like um year hundred, you have a little more time than the 60s, 60's over in a flash. Um, the 200 have even more time to think if you make a mistake or an area you've got time to recover, so that's not too bad. Your 400's getting a bit hard on the old legs, the 800's even harder. But yeah, I I love I love mixed events. It's that's that's a challenge. All of those different things are a challenge. Because I I've worked out all the competition events that I've had. Um, I've probably done um 15 different events. Yeah, um, so that's that's a big lot of range to not so much to train for, but to compete in over a period of time.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

Yeah, yeah. We've got a number of records which we want to discuss as well. We've also got a couple of trophies on this table here, which obviously listeners can't see. Would you like to just tell us all about them?

SPEAKER_06 35:12

Okay. Um the first one I got was when I turned 70. Um, and that was extra special because it was for my mixed events of heptathlon. And um during that heptathlon I did a lot of um good times and good distances, and they were like, if there weren't an Australian record, they were a Queensland record. And so that sort of promoted me into gee, that that's not a bad effort, you know. Um so um it put me down to um they have masters, uh Australian masters, the AMA, um have a voting session sort of after the season's finished, and um they vote on who they think deserves a trophy for a best female and a best male athlete of the year. And I was nominated amongst some others to get this trophy, and I ended up getting the trophy. And I think it was mainly due for all the events that I did in the heptathlon. Um, and there was not I don't think there was one event that I did poorly in. I did oh I excuse me, I did do poor Shop Putz Mom forte. And so I didn't do too well on that, but my other events I did quite well. So and I did the pentathlon on the record that year as well.

SPEAKER_02 36:31

Well from listening to other, you know, uh athletes who I've known from you know decades ago, and Daily Thompson is my favourite. Oh, do you like Daily Thompson as well? He he hated the 1500. So does everybody in this sort of thing have a pet hate?

SPEAKER_06 36:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 36:48

You just mentioned the shock port. Yeah, or the one they dislike it.

SPEAKER_06 36:51

I don't hate it so much, it's just that I'm I'm hopeless at doing it. Um I'm just not an upper body person, as you can see. I'm very little, and so my muscles are not there to to create that distance that I need to do really well in it. Whereas other other women just seem to do it effortlessly, yeah, you know, whereas I put a lot into it and boop. So um my yes, my pet hate too is is the distance one.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 37:20

Um and mainly because it is the last event that you've done so many up to then. And um sometimes when your points are close, it hinges on that last event to do really well, and that's a hard event to do well in, you know.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 37:35

Um, so uh that day I did didn't do the um hurdle record because of the wind. I had bad wind for all my races and the ATR.

SPEAKER_02 37:45

I wouldn't go around telling everybody that if I were you. That's that plant-based diet.

SPEAKER_04 37:52

Leafy greens.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

Let's just change that one. So do you do you do any strength training or anything, Carol?

SPEAKER_06 38:02

Strength work. Yeah, strength training or I've got my own little 3k um things to lift weights to lift. So I do yeah, my own sort of uh workout for that. And it's mainly to help with the running, yes and to get the arms pumping. Because if you look at runners these days, they are all muscle in upper body as well. It's not just your legs. Yeah, you know, some of them have got the really big uh glutes, and you know, you think, oh god, yes, I can see they got power, but their upper body is just so strong. I mean it's incredible, but I'm a bit behind the times there, but it might I haven't got that natural build to I yes I could build some muscle, but I don't think I'd ever have the power that they have or should have for my age, you know. Uh and you look at some of the girls that are my age, we are all little people. I'm I'm short. You know how I talking about height? Yes, I do recognise height a lot because when you see photos of me with all the other athletes, I'm the shortest one that's in that group always, you know. And I'm not a short person. I'm I feel I'm average. You probably don't think so. But I'm five foot five.

SPEAKER_04 39:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's about on average, isn't it five foot?

SPEAKER_02 39:12

Yeah, it's about average in Australia.

SPEAKER_06 39:14

But uh a lot of women are five nine, five ten.

SPEAKER_02 39:16

Yeah, but again, it comes down to technique and yes, it does.

SPEAKER_06 39:19

You're you're quite right.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

A certain amount of natural ability as well. You obviously have that fast switch fibers.

SPEAKER_06 39:25

Being blessed with uh a a gift of of leg speed. Yeah, there you go. I've always loved running um from when I was little. Um I I first of all I was a swimmer at at primary school, then I developed into softball, yeah, and then I developed into squash, yeah, then I developed into soccer, yeah, yeah, and then tennis, and then athletics. Brilliant. I've never not done anything.

SPEAKER_00 39:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 39:50

Um this is the most challenge.

SPEAKER_02 39:53

I'm looking at a photograph behind you. And I'm guessing that's you in the lead.

SPEAKER_06 39:58

Yes, I'll bring it over to you so you can see it better. Yeah, so that's a good thing. It's probably getting a reflection because it's probably.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

Look at that. It's absolutely spot. That's awesome, isn't it? Isn't it?

SPEAKER_06 40:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:08

The technique in in in that running style. Is that a hundred metres?

SPEAKER_06 40:12

Yeah, it's a hundred.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

Yeah, I thought so, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 40:14

So I'll drop another name, Wayne Cousins.

SPEAKER_02 40:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 40:18

He was a very, very good runner in his day for Masters. Yeah. And I'm not sure, don't hold me to it, but he did held, if it's gone, the 55 uh year old meter of age group uh for a hundred meter record for many, many, many years. Right. Um, and the reason why he was so fast and quick, yes, he was quick, he had leg speed, but he had brilliant start off the blocks.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 40:40

And he saw me down at the park training one day and came over to me and said, I think you need some help. Oh wow. Nice, okay. Basically, um, and I said, Look, I'm open to it. Yeah, anything, any suggestions.

SPEAKER_04 40:52

You can take half a second with no effort whatsoever off your hundreds little better blocks.

SPEAKER_06 40:57

He taught me about starts and transition and and style, and um just relax, keep the shoulders down, all that sort of thing, get your legs up higher. Um, but mainly it was the start that he he got me going on because when I first started, no one knew taught me about blocks, and I knew I thought, I've got to try this, everyone else is doing it. I don't do it, and I thought, this is killing though, I'm not doing it right, you know. And I asked someone there and he said, Oh, you just put them down there and he you hop into those puppies and away you go, and I'm thinking that's great. But yes, he did help me out.

SPEAKER_04 41:33

You'd be better off just doing a standing start if you don't use them properly.

SPEAKER_06 41:37

Yeah, but he taught me with uh get your bum up and have your arms out and your hands right and look at your spot, you know, get your spot that you're going to look at.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 41:49

And keep your head down, and it's like an aeroplane. As soon as it's like an airplane taking off and your head's getting up, and that's when you're in chest out and you just get your arms and that. So yes, he was very, very good. I I've still got his his words in my head.

SPEAKER_04 42:03

Yes, yeah, brilliant.

SPEAKER_02 42:04

Martin, do you have any more questions for Carol?

SPEAKER_04 42:07

Because we're Yeah, we're just about done, aren't we? I think I've asked everything that I can fit in, unless we do a follow-up once she's got another world record.

SPEAKER_02 42:17

Just quickly again, Carol, when is your next previous November? Do you say?

SPEAKER_06 42:21

Yeah, Pan Pax is in November.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 42:23

And uh our competition starts in uh October. Yeah. Or just in between Brisbane and whatever I do on the Gold Coast.

SPEAKER_01 42:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 42:32

Um yeah, it's uh uh because the world's um championships are in August, so everyone sort of has a bit of a break after that and then our seasons.

SPEAKER_02 42:41

Yeah, then get into your season again for next year. So And you're right into the training at the moment?

SPEAKER_06 42:46

Not seriously, but I'm training yes. Okay. Yes, I am training. I it's a more of a fitness thing for me at the moment. Yeah. I'm doing my four threes, two fifty-two's on on the track just to get the fitness going. But through the week I'm doing my um sprints and my hurdles mainly, and a bit of four hundreds.

SPEAKER_02 43:05

And obviously you aim to peak on the day for each event.

SPEAKER_06 43:08

Yes, and you and of course you you you stop early, you know, you have your break before your event so that you're not overdoing things. And that's when I get back into swimming. I'm not on the track, I'm back into the pool until I go into my big event. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 43:24

Well, amazing. Fantastic I've really enjoyed the viewers. Uh it's been an absolute pleasure.

SPEAKER_06 43:30

I think we've had a few laughs. Yes, we have. But don't come and watch me do a chop book.

SPEAKER_02 43:36

So that's all we have time for now. Hope you all enjoyed this episode. And remember to have a gander at all the socials when we put all of this up. Um until then, it's goodbye from me.

SPEAKER_06 43:48

Get out there and exercise. Get out there and exercise.

SPEAKER_02 43:51

Exactly right. And it's goodbye from him.

SPEAKER_06 43:54

No excuses.

SPEAKER_02 43:55

No excuses. Goodbye. Goodbye.