Ep 18 Aoife Mundow: Ireland's top ultra and trail runner of 2019 and 2020
· Trail Running Ireland Podcast
Eoin Flynn talks to Aoife Mundow, who went from mid-pack marathoner to Ireland's leading female ultra runner, with an Irish 24-hour record of 231 km and a dominant Kerry Way Ultra win in 2020. Simon Kelly brings the latest on the 2021 race calendar, and René Borg explains why overall physical and mental health is the foundation of good training.
Simon reports that IMRA plans a full 2021 calendar, but that races needing bus transfers, including the Top of Muskerry ultra in Cork, will not go ahead. He runs through early 2021 dates, including Gaelforce and the Waterville Trail Running Festival on 1 May, and reports that the Kerry Way Ultra is now a Western States 100 qualifier. Eoin covers the 2021 Ultra-Trail World Tour, which has grown to 28 races, the WMRA World Cup won by Sarah McCormack in 2019, and the Adidas Infinite Trails event dropping its "world championships" name.
René explains the World Health Organization's definition of health as complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, not just the absence of disease. He describes how hidden problems such as undiagnosed coeliac disease, poor nutrition and chronic stress can block the body's response to training and cause injuries that never heal. Eoin shares how a stressful period in his own life coincided with two years of constant injuries, and René explains why you cannot heal in the same environment that made you sick.