The 35-year-old ultra-marathon runner was excited about competing in today’s Kepler Challenge in Fiordland, still calling Dunedin home despite spending most of her time travelling.
"I’ve done the actual Kepler route before, but I’ve never actually done the race," Frost said.
"The way my racing seasons always go, when I get back to New Zealand I’m ready for a break. But I was able to come back right at the very end of my season and still have one more race in my legs. I thought that would be awesome to do a New Zealand race for once."
Frost had been back in New Zealand for a week and was travelling around the South Island with her American fiance, who had not been to the country with her before. With him she worked as a trail guide, taking runners through mountains all over the world, alongside competing in ultra-marathons. That lifestyle meant she was rarely in one place for too long, and was often living out the back of her car.
"It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to travel to so many places and its exciting that I get to choose the races that inspire me and I like the look of.
"So its a really fun lifestyle but it’s like anything, the novelty wears off you. You have one backpack for an entire year and you never get to unpack. You’re in one place, then the next place, then the next place. You wake up some mornings and forget where you are and what language you’re supposed to speak, but I wouldn’t change it for the world."
It had been another big year for Frost, most notable for her winning the 161km (100 mile) Hardrock 100 in Colorado, for the second year in a row, her eighth career race win. She said it was a hard race which required plenty of training, although she did say it was a highlight.
"[When I’m training for it] I basically just live in my car out there and sleep at trail heads or camp out near the river. Everyday it’s six to eight hours up in the mountains, it’s at high altitude, so you have to be really used to the high altitude which is one of the hardest things about the race.
"And just the amount of up and down that you’re doing in the race is enormous. So it’s training the legs to understand that and to be able to get through 28-30 hours of just that.
"I do about six to eight weeks of focus training beforehand and that’s kind of six to eight hours every day of hiking, running, swimming, yoga, just anything to get myself fit for that."
She was keen to keep racing and would head off overseas again sometime in January or February, although admitted she was having to take a step back to keep going.
"It’s been 12 years now that I’ve been racing, so it’s definitely taken its toll on my body. I’m definitely not as fast or as fit as I have been before, and my body’s definitely had its meltdowns and breakdowns over the years.
"But I think, over the last four years, I’ve really been able to step back a bit and appreciate that my health is more important than any race. It keeps me with a realer view of what my body can and can’t handle.
"So I think I might be able to continue for a bit longer because I am aware of the toll I am putting on it and I want to keep going."
