Jackie 0:11
Hey, this is Jackie Tann and welcome to the body’s built better podcast. On the show we chat with experts, athletes, coaches and authors to educate and inspire you. We explore the body’s incredible ability to heal, adapt, and evolve so you could crush limitations, reconnect your body and mind and discover your extraordinary potential.
Jackie 0:45
Today on the show, I speak with elite Australian distance runner Izzi Batt-Doyle. Izzi represented Australia at the 2017 and 2019 World University Games in the 10,000 meters, where she placed seventh and sixth in 2019. She had the third fastest time in Australia over the 10,000 meters for the women. Izzi spent five years competing as a student athlete at the University of Washington in the US. There she was a multiple all American and school record holder at the 5000 meters and the 10,000 meters. She’s pursuing her postgraduate studies in psychology back here in Australia after graduating in 2019. Izzi’s career highlights include placing third in the 10,000 meters in the 2019 NCAA track and field championships, winning the 2019 Pac12 conference championship in the 10,000 meters and winning the 2020 South Australian State Road at 10k championships in 32:37. I absolutely love Izzi’s passion for running, but also for her positive outlook on happiness and well-being and doing things that are right for you and your body. She’s gone through so much as an athlete, and has really started to implement some positive strategies that helped her in her running and her everyday life. And this is something that is reflective through her coaching now where she wants to share those benefits with others as well. She’s a champion, I cannot wait to see what the future holds for Izzi. I know you’ll enjoy this episode. Please enjoy this chat with Izzi Batt-Doyle. Izzi, thank you so much for chatting with me today. I’m super excited. What listeners don’t know is that we’ve never really formally met. But I’ve heard so much about you and all your amazing accomplishments through your stepdad. So this is, this is really exciting. And I’m super stoked to chat with you today. So let’s get right to the beginning. What’s, what’s a bit of your background? When did you start running? And how eventually did you get into it?
Izzi 3:16
Yes. So thanks for having me on the podcast. I’m so excited to chat today. And I’ve heard wonderful things about you too over 10 years of CRISPR. So yes, I really just, I mean, I was the younger sister and I followed my sister around, and she went out to the athletics. So I followed her out there. I was probably about eight years old. And yeah, just did the last. And both my parents had been active. they’d run marathons, always been active during my life. So they were great role models. And then I actually ran the city today, six kilometers when I was nine years old. And I held Chris’s hand my step dad’s hand the whole way. And we actually got a picture in the paper, which was so exciting at the time. So yeah.
Jackie 4:03
I didn’t know that. Do you still have that picture?
Izzi 4:04
I have it somewhere. Yeah. But yes, I guess after that, I started making state teams for cross-country when I was 10 years old. And I continue to do that. And then track once, I think at about 14 years old, you can do track. So did track and cross-country all through school. And then it wasn’t until year 11 that I started to kind of take running seriously. Stop, you know, partying and having fun on the weekends and kind of commit to my training a little more. And then I ended up coming good at nationals in the three k in year 11. And then that was kind of the start of my guess, committing to running seriously. And then I guess if people don’t want my running career was I was turning 18 and I decided to do the city today on the Sunday morning and my birthday was on the Saturday and instead of going out like a normal 18 year old hitting the town having a big night, I actually had I went to bed at nine o’clock, had a big bowl of pasta. It was actually a story in the advertiser saying, on the night of her 18th birthday, if you that door will be tucked up in bed with a bowl of pasta. And I was and I committed to running that, that race, and that was kind of a big change when I took running more seriously.
Jackie 5:23
Was, was that in terms of the change mentally you’re like, Oh, well, if I can do this, then I can really?
Izzi 5:29
Yeah, I think I’d seen I had some potential in running, but I’ve never really committed to it too much. And I, you know, I tried to, I have a very big social life, but also trained and just, yeah, wasn’t really able to get a lot out of myself. Until I kind of Yeah, fully committed
Jackie 5:44
at that stage. What were your strongest events?
Izzi 5:47
Well, when I was younger, I mean, I did everything a little less, I think I would say I was best at anything longer, whether it was 400 800 at the time. And then once I was a teenager, it was a 1500 three K. And eventually, when I was in year 12, 11, or 12, I started doing the three k steeplechase. So it’s the event with the barriers in the water jump. And I actually had a real breakthrough a year in 2014, which was the year after I graduated from school when I made, I qualified for World Junior Championships for the Australian team. But unfortunately, due to some political events, I didn’t end up going. But that really fueled me. I mean, a huge breakthrough made the team qualify, the team did end up racing. So that was a massive kind of, I guess, driving me to keep running because I wanted to kind of prove myself after having that kind of missing out on the team.
Jackie 6:47
Mm hmm. And so what do you believe your strongest events, and now
Izzi 6:51
I’m well now I am Yeah, five k 10. k runner. And I really want to improve those, those, those times, those events, really, I’m more of a 10K runner, I do the five k as well. But I’m really excited about road running, I really want to go up to the half-marathon and marathon in the next couple of years. And I think that one of my biggest strengths is my endurance. And Chris would call it my engine. Yes, Holly’s teammates would say that I had a third lung. I just, I think I seem to be able to keep running and pushing myself. And usually the longer the better that it goes for me. And I can definitely ride that redline for a long time. So yeah, definitely the longest stuff is where I feel most confident.
Jackie 7:38
Well, that’s super exciting. And like, what’s the timeline for that? When do you think you’ll start to commit to that?
Izzi 7:47
Yeah, I don’t know. It’s a bit tricky, because everything’s kind of been thrown off with the timeline. And this year, I was really keen to have a crack at it. Well, in 2019, I’d run the third fastest time for 1 K, in Australia, and I was having a crack, kind of towards the Tokyo Olympics. And then yeah, obviously, everything else this year, that’s happened not gonna happen until maybe next year, or maybe not at all. Um, but yeah, I’m keen to, I would have liked to do a half marathon this year. Probably not until next year now. And then, I don’t know, a marathon could be within the next two years, depending on as long as my body holds up and stays injury free. And I can keep doing the training.
Listen to the complete interview in our Podcast
Where to find Izzi
Website: https://www.runasone.com.au/
Instagram: @izzibattdoyle
Instagram: @runasonecoaching
Get in touch: jackie@jackietann.com | @jackietann_rmt
