Tales from the Valley Podcast

TFTV ft. Luke Hince (B2B NSW 5000m Champ)

Sam catches up with Luke Hince, 12 months after he was last on the podcast — and for the same reason. Luke takes out the NSW 5000m Championships in 14:00, agonisingly close to cracking sub-14.
They kick things off by discussing Luke’s strong run of form, including his impressive 29:03 over 10,000m at the Melbourne Track Classic (part of the Athletics Grand Prix Series) last year.
Luke recaps his taper week leading into the race and the atmosphere of an exciting night of racing. After a slow opening lap, Luke made the call to take it from the front, turning the race into a largely solo effort. While he was initially gutted to see 14:00 flash up on the clock, that quickly shifted to excitement when his training partner and Run Havoc teammate secured second place in 14:23.
In the B race, the rest of the Hince stable delivered strong performances:
Nathaniel Brisbane broke 15 minutes for the first time, running 14:54
Harm Schaap placed second in 14:43
Sam also recaps his own week — 83km all up — featuring:
3km hard in 10:27 at the crit track on a windy morning
6 x 500m
A big 32km long run with 2 x 10km efforts sandwiched in
Café Kit of the Month
Luke gives his latest gear and fuel reviews:
Saucony Triumph 23
On Running Winter Vest
Rhise Hot Chocolate
Luke lines up at Box Hill Athletics Track this Thursday night for another crack at sub-14 — this time in a pack. Keep your eyes peeled!

TFTV - ChatGPT Q's, Track Drama & Holiday Workouts

Sam & Katie catch up on their training this week with no guest on the mic, and also dive into some listener ChatGPT Q’s along the way. 🤖🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️
Katie continues her cycling block, hits squat PB’s, and keeps the running load sensible — while also unpacking Sam’s incredibly inconvenient offer to “help” her through one of her track sessions. 😅
Sam bounces back from a bit of a lull with a strong week featuring speedy 400s, sharp threshold work and mile repeats while down the coast for a wedding.
Tune in for Café Kit of the Week ☕️, ChatGPT Q’s, and a fresh round of Yeah/Nah rants… though Katie is still not over Sam breaking her rhythm at the track.

TFTV ft. Charl Jansen van Rensburg

Sam & Katie catch up with Charl Jansen Van Rensburg, who makes his return to the podcast with plenty of updates since last time.
Charl has rewritten his Half Marathon PB, clocking a 1:15 at the Gold Coast Half Marathon last year. Alongside his running, Charl has also launched his business Mileage Mate, and walks us through the product—designed to help runners stay warm, dry, and clean before and after training and racing.
🏃‍♀️ Training Weeks
Katie
Recaps her win at the Aquathon 5k 🥇
Backs it up with more strength training
Plenty of cycling to round out the week
Sam
Talks through a bit of a down week
Coming off the back of a heavy training block with some big workouts in the legs
Charl
Runs through his week as fitness starts to return
Recently managed a calf injury picked up at the GONG5000
Feeling positive as things begin to click again
☕ Café Kit of the Week
Tune in for this week’s Café Kit and the always-divisive Yeah / Nah segment.
🙌 Shoutouts & Congrats
Congrats to Erin Hargrave, this month’s winner of the Run Havoc Café Kit of the Month Voucher 🎉
🔗 Check out Charl’s business here:👉 https://mileagemate.com.au/
If you want, I can:
Shorten this for Instagram / Spotify show notes
Add a punchier opening hook
Match formatting exactly to the previous Chris Stone episode for consistency

TFTV ft. Ethan Spears & Cody Bramich (360 South Project)

Sam and Katie are joined by Ethan Spears and Cody Bramich from the 360 South Project.
Ethan and Cody are relatively new to running but are passionate about building a movement in the Illawarra through community, challenge, and shared suffering. Their flagship event is a unique 360 km relay from Wollongong to Huskisson and back, completed by teams of six over a 30-hour window, with legs split however teams choose.
Despite being early in their running journeys, both are getting quick. Ethan recently clocked a sub-20 5 km time trial, while Cody has run 1:28 at both the Shellharbour and Husky Half Marathons.
In the lead-up to the May 15 event, the crew discusses the vision behind the project, the logistics of the relay format, and what’s planned around it — including merch, community runs, and launch events.
👉 More info: https://www.instagram.com/360southproject/
Training Weeks
Sam breaks down an 81 km week featuring hilly mile reps and another YoYo Tempo.
Ethan & Cody battle the flu but still manage track work, HIIT and RIG sessions at the Yard Gym, run-club easy jogs, and even consult an Etsy witch to keep the rain away for Sunday’s long run.
Katie logs 41 km including another “Moana” fartlek, absurdly long core sessions, and 4 hours of cycling.
Café Kit of the Week
Mileage Mate — https://mileagemate.com.au/
Megablasts
New Balance Elite
Slam Ball
News
ASICS trade-in event ahead of the Nimbus 28 at Centennial Park
Cam Myers runs 3:49 for the mile at UW Indoor
Jake Derdon clocks 2:22 at the Houston Marathon
 

TFTV ft. Chris Stone

Sam and Katie are joined by Chris Stone, who shares his running journey—from early runs with his dad, to a long hiatus through university, and then a spark moment after lining up at City2Surf that reignited his love (and natural knack) for running.
Since returning to the sport, Chris has clocked some impressive road PBs:
5km: 19:32
10km: 39:56
Half Marathon: 1:29
Marathon: 3:21 at the Sydney Marathon
More recently, Chris has found his passion on the trails, completing UTA100 in 15 hours and 31 minutes.
Chris’ favourite place to run is the Wollongong Escarpment, he loves a strong mountain-culture status quo, and his go-to sessions are tempo and threshold workouts.
🏃‍♂️ Training Weeks
Sam
75km week
Yo-Yo tempo session
3-minute reps
Plus approximately 1000 beers on Friday night 🍻
Katie
Continues her Zwift racing and strength work
Quick kilometre reps and 400s on the track
Gets out for a threshold session in the heat
Chris
Plenty of time riding his new mountain bike on local trails
Progressive tempo session with the JT Running crew
K reps and 400s on the track with JT Running teammate Michael Donald
☕ Café Kit
Bella’s Nutella Protein Balls
Buff for neck coverage
Lee & Me blended coffee (Wollongong)
🙌 Shoutouts
Training partners: Michael Donald, Michael Bilboe, Josh Boxell
Coach: James Tunbridge
Wife: Amanda

Cafe Kit of the Month (Ep 2)

On this episode of Café Kit of the Month, Sam sits down with Isaac Shaw.
Isaac breaks down his outstanding performance, finishing 2nd in the State 3000m, and walks us through his summer of training. He also shares his experience with precision gels, gives an early review of the up-and-coming NVR running apparel—with a focus on the Ghost Singlet—and chats about the Puma MagMax.
To round things out, Isaac gives us the inside word on the upcoming Run Havoc community runs and their latest testing partnership.

TFTV 2026

Sam and Katie kick off the New Year with a proper catch-up, chatting New Year’s resolutions and recapping their training weeks as usual.
Café Kit of the Week
Nike Vaporfly 4
Brooks Glycerin Max
Zwift subscription
Huge congrats to Alex Bui, who takes out this month’s Run Havoc $100 voucher 🏃‍♂️🎉

TFTV ft. Tim Manuel

Sam chats with Tim Manuel, a huge part of the KJ’s community. Tim rediscovered his love of running during the Covid lockdowns after first lacing up in his junior years—and he’s been flying ever since.
From a 2:11 PB over 800m through to an agonisingly close sub-3 marathon attempt at last year’s Sydney Marathon (3:00:50), Tim’s range is seriously impressive. A standout Masters athlete, he’s won multiple Cross Country and Track titles for KJ’s and played a key role in numerous podium finishes throughout the season.
Originally a middle-distance runner, Tim tackled the marathon with guidance from those around him, plenty of reading, and jumping into long runs with the WTC group as part of his Sydney build.
Training Weeks
Sam
Another solid week of training
Yasso 800s
Friday session: 5-4-3-2-1 off a one-minute jog
Sunday long run: 2 hours
Total volume: 80km
Tim
Running purely for enjoyment through the end of the year
Mixing in swimming ahead of the Australia Day Aquathon/Duathlon
Around 60km of running, including some pool-to-run transition practice
Café Kit of the Week
T8 Sherpa Shorts (order a size up)
ASICS Metaspeed Edge – Ekiden colourway
Milo cereal
Shoutouts
Tim gives a shoutout to Joe Crawford, who does a mountain of work behind the scenes for KJ’s while also running some seriously impressive times across the marathon and beyond.