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Transcript

Efficient Gear and Movement in Technical Mountains · Run Mountain Peaks

• 0:00
  OK guys, you can be the fittest runner in the world.
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  If you do not know how to move efficiently in the mountains,
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  your time is not going to live up to what you're capable of.
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  So today I want to talk about everything that I think about
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  when you have to move efficiently through technical,
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  not maintain steep mountains like the White Mountains.
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  All the gear that I use, the tips and tricks that I've used
• 0:26
  in my ultras to shave off time, I'm going to go through it all
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  and I think there's going to be tips from short that's going to
• 0:33
  help you in the short distance and all the way to ultra
• 0:36
  marathons. So I'll cover everything,
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  everything that I do and think about.
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  We're going to talk shoes. What shoes work good in the
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  White Mountains? There's not many good shoe
• 0:45
  options. So we'll kind of talk about the
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  range and what I like to wear. We're going to talk about gear,
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  gear hacks, little things that I bring.
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  I got a bag of stuff with me, so we'll go through all the stuff
• 0:56
  that I bring. We'll talk about strategies for
• 1:01
  moving efficiently because everyone knows running on rocks
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  is different than running on a road.
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  Different mechanics. Your running economy doesn't
• 1:10
  matter as much, Your speed, your fitness, your overall power
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  does, but there are certain ways that you can train and move
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  through the trails that just help you get get through it
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  faster. We'll talk about cooling,
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  navigation, light stuff. If you're doing overnight
• 1:26
  things, we're going to cover it all.
• 1:27
  Hiking verse running poles. The whole 9 will go through it
• 1:32
  all. I got a bunch of gear.
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  That's what we got today. I'm not in my truck.
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  My truck's got Boo boos. I'm not in my truck, but this is
• 1:39
  a new set up, race previews. We got some big races coming up
• 1:44
  this weekend, the Tarqua pack and back Manchester to
• 1:47
  Monadnock. So we'll do that.
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  At the end. We have some race results to get
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  through and at the end we're going to go through a 62nd
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  training tip boom. That's what is on the agenda
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  today, so stick around. OK, First up, we're going to go
• 2:03
  through shoes. I got a few pairs of shoes here.
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  We'll talk through each of them, but first I just want to give
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  you my thoughts on how to select a good shoe type for steep
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  technical mountains, because it seems like there's not a ton of
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  good shoe options and everyone has their preferences.
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  I'll just talk about what I look for and what I like to wear.
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  So I think in the White Mountains you need a few things.
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  You need good grip for sure. You're running on slabs, You're
• 2:33
  running on wet steep rocks. You need something that's going
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  to grip on those rocks even if it's not wet.
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  You need, you need good grip. You need good lugs, like deep
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  lugs. I'm not fully into the specs,
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  but I would say at least 456 millimeters of lug because
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  you're running through a lot of mud.
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  You need that grip like good lugs with sticky grippy shoes is
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  is the best traction that you're going to get and you need the
• 3:00
  best traction. So those are two things that are
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  a must. Cushion.
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  This is a big thing with cushion.
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  You want cushion and or a rock plate because the when you're
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  running on, when your foot is landing on little pieces of
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  rock, jagged rock, it just mangles your feet up.
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  Everyone knows you do an ultra on the whites.
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  Your feet are mangled. So you need something with
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  enough cushion to protect your feet, but you don't want crazy
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  high stack height because if you're on, if you're unstable,
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  right, you want a stable shoe. If you have a high stack height,
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  you're just more prone to rolling your ankle on all the
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  the technical little rocks. So it's kind of like you need
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  some cushion, but you don't need the maximum cushion.
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  You can't be running in huge stack heights, right?
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  And then last thing, you want to be fast.
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  So you want a light shoe. I think as far as efficiency,
• 3:57
  someone's telling me this, the lighter the shoe, the better.
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  The lighter the shoe, the faster you're going to go.
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  It's just when you have weight at the end of your body, at the
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  end of your legs, it costs a lot to move that weight.
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  So the lighter the shoe, the better.
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  So you want a really light shoe, but you want the cush, you want
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  all that grip, you want the lug. So it's kind of like you can't
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  get both in one usually. So that's the equation to get a
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  good shoe. Now I got a few shoes here, so
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  I'll talk through them. We'll start with this is just
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  the the spectrum of shoes. So I think if you're running
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  something short, you definitely don't need as much cushion.
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  You don't need as much protection, right?
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  You want something really light if you're going right uphill.
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  Oh, sorry. We're going to say one more
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  thing about cushion and the other thing with cushion, some
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  people if they will go lower SAC height, less cushioning.
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  I think on the downhills, they can't open up as much when I
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  have a lot of cushion on the downhills.
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  You can bomb some of these downhills and you don't, it
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  doesn't hurt as much, right? Like you, a lot of people talk
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  about feel. I want to feel the rocks.
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  If I'm bombing down a steep gnarly descent, I don't want to
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  feel the rocks. I want to feel enough.
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  I don't want my legs to hurt, right.
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  So I think the more Kush lets you go faster downhill.
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  So if you're doing a short race, you can probably get away with
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  it like you can just your legs can just absorb that for a
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  shorter race. So so lights more important than
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  good cushion, a shorter race. And then if you're doing a VK
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  race to Cog Mount Washington, that's a road race, but an
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  uphill race, White Mountains throwdown, you want a light
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  shoe. So this is one of my light
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  shoes. It's a Hoka Zino.
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  They're just it's a very minimal low stack.
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  I don't even know what the drop is, but low drop lightweight
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  shoe. These are one of the older
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  versions they went on sale, but this is the kind of shoe that
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  I'm talking about. So you can just see it's just a
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  low to the ground. You got that kind of feel, that
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  ground feel and it doesn't weigh a lot.
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  So you can run faster than this. So that's going to be one
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  option. Nowadays, there's definitely
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  some better options like that is probably a low, a very cheap
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  shoe. But if you have some sort of the
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  normal shoes, I think those are pretty very minimalist,
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  lightweight, fast, but have some of the grip in them.
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  I think that's a good shoe. Obviously, anything that Killian
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  does is going to be a pretty good shoe.
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  So that's one option. V JS, I mean, they go out of
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  business. So can we even talk about the V
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  JS anymore? I don't know.
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  Who knows. You got to go to Canada, get V
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  JS. I don't know, V JS had a really
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  good grip. I think they're a little stiff,
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  but I think the one of the shoes is pretty light.
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  So that's a pretty good option. And then super shoes, I mean, if
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  you go with some sort of shoe, super shoe, there's a lot of
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  them. We got one right here last
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  Portiva Prodigy Pro. I mean, the Hoka Tecton, there's
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  there's a handful of those options you can get away with
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  with a light shoe with super foam, right, some sort of a
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  super shoe foam or some sort of plate if you're just going
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  uphill. And those are all they they make
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  them pretty light, but they're very unstable on the terrain.
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  So I think those shoes are good for VKS, but if you're racing
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  down a mountain, I don't think they're very good or there might
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  not be a good option because how you run down a mountain in the
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  whites is different than on a road, right.
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  So so when you're talking a super shoe and this I guess is
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  merged from like a minimalist shoe to a super shoe talk.
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  So we'll just the next one up last Portiva project pro just
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  got these trying them out. They have really good grip,
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  decent lugs. It's they're very light.
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  They have a rock plate and they have super foam.
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  So we'll talk about the Super shoe 'cause I kind of jumped the
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  gun there. Super shoes are very good.
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  You got 2026 technology, the foam and if they have a, a, a
• 7:59
  carbon plate in them, they're going to give you bounce back.
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  They're going to give you I don't even I, I'm, I'm
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  forgetting the term. I'm not a shoe specialist here.
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  Rebound, rebound. Maybe there is.
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  When you're putting all your energy and force into the
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  ground, it's basically working to shoot it back up at you so
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  your legs can just keep moving over.
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  You can move your feet over, which is good for a road race.
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  You're trying to move the feet over, turn over.
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  But when you're going down a mountain, I found when you're in
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  steep technical stuff, sometimes you, you need to slow.
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  You're actually like it's, it's basically a bunch of kind of box
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  jumps down where you're, you want to keep your momentum the
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  best that you can. But if you just go over the edge
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  of a steep Cliff and and just bombs away, you're just going
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  to, you're going to tumble and you're going to die.
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  So there's a part of me where I'm, when I'm going strong down
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  a downhill, I actually want to stop my momentum a little bit.
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  You know how sometimes you grab trees, you you put your two
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  hands down to jump down a little ledge or something, or you use
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  your pose to stop yourself? That's the same thing that you
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  want on some of these downhills. When you can't get out of
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  control, you have to stay in control.
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  And so if you have a carbon plate that's basically trying to
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  push your foot forward, but you're trying to stop it at
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  least to ankle rolls, it leads to a lot of bad things, stumbly,
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  unstable stuff, right? So up down, if you're thinking a
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  short distance up down, I think a shoe like this with no with no
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  bounce back, but it's very light.
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  So you're going to get the economy of just having a light
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  shoe, not having to move a lot of weight, very minimal and with
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  good grip on it. That's where you want to go.
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  So maybe a super, super shoe on a vertical VKA short up down,
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  you want some sort of very low. I think a normal would be a good
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  shoe for this very I don't know. I don't think they have super
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  foam in it, but something that's light, that's got good grip in
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  it, something like that is going to be good.
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  And then for the ultra distance, I think you probably don't want
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  either. I think you want medium cushion,
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  medium stack height and just good grip is going to be the
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  biggest thing because when you're getting tired in the
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  mountains in an ultra, it's even harder to keep those muscles,
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  those stabilizer muscles firing. And so I think grip is going to
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  be the most important thing in a shoe when I'm thinking ultra
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  distance in the mountains. So Vibram, a lot of people,
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  that's Vibram. We'll talk about.
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  These are the hocus speed goats. Everyone knows the Vibram Vibram
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  grip is very good. These last Porcija Prodigy pros,
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  actually, they have the friction, which is Las Portivas
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  kind of whatever sticky technology.
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  I was very impressed wearing these for the first time.
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  I think that that grip is very, very good and I do like it.
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  So I think grip is #1 medium Kush, which is kind of like
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  these prodigy pros. And then the the Hoka Speed
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  Goats are maximum cushion. There are some shoes that are
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  Max Kush and I think Hoka makes them.
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  The Stinsons I think are extremely Max Kush.
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  I think they're a newer shoe. And like I said, you're going to
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  protect your foot a little bit better and your feet on this,
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  the the just Ultras being out there on the rugged rocks for a
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  long time. And then you're also going to
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  absorb more in that thicker foam on ultra.
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  So your legs just don't get as much of A pounding, but you got
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  to be able to to run in them. I feel like a lot of people have
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  always said, I don't know how you're still running in those
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  hocus speed goats in the mountains kind of crazy.
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  So tippy, unstable. And I mean, if you've listened
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  to this podcast for an extended period of time, you just hear me
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  complain about my ankle every other episode.
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  So I don't know if it's worked out for me.
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  That's why I'm kind of like maybe I need something
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  different, but I really do like them.
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  If you can get used to that thicker stack height and just
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  don't roll your ankle, I think it will benefit you.
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  But for most people, I think medium Kush is going to be good
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  for for an ultra distance. So that's like the speed goat
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  Max Kush. Then I want to talk about these
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  these shoes real quick because I do really like these shoes.
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  Try them out a couple times. It's a medium kush, really good
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  grip and there's no there's a rock plate which doesn't give
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  you as much bounce back. It just kind of protects you.
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  But I think there is a super foam in these shoes.
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  So these are super shoes they want to go.
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  I think because I'm so I'm so used to running in the speed
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  goats that I've gotten used to a slightly unstable shoe.
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  And so maybe I can get away with wearing the slight super shoe if
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  I'm used to the unstable and I just wear them kind of during
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  race efforts. But I would never wear a shoe
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  that wants to go. And it's giving me that bounce
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  back on like just a training run or or a non race prep run
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  because they're just too they're they're too unstable and just
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  too much rest for rolling an ankle on the steep stuff.
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  So I don't know, that's kind of the spectrum of shoe shoe stuff.
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  I think short distance grippy and lightweight, medium distance
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  grippy and lightweight with maybe a little bit more kush and
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  then long distance grippy with with more kush.
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  So I think grip is the answer. Good lugs is number 1.
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  And then whatever works for you. Try out some different shoes and
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  see what works for you. So I think those are the fastest
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  shoes on trail. I mean, everyone loves to just
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  talk about speed in the mountains or speed running and
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  it's always like what shoe are they wearing?
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  What shoe was he wearing for 159 Marathon Adidas?
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  So that's some of the shoe talk that I was thinking about.
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  Everyone's going to have their own things, but but that's as
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  far as the shoes. And then I want to talk about
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  gear. So we're just, I'm just going to
• 13:54
  go through some of the things and I guess I'll do a, a, a
• 13:58
  little gear preview and tell you this how to be efficient in the
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  mountains. The number one thing for a long
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  distance, which most of these are going to apply to.
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  And then some of these are just going to be for short distance
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  too, but for long distance is not stopping.
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  I think people would be amazed at how much better of a time you
• 14:23
  would have if you just never stopped on trail.
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  Try stopping once in a while for 2-3 minutes and then catch up to
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  somebody running the same speed. Or when someone on the trail
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  stops and you go ahead of them and you just kept moving and
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  they stop and you're moving the same pace.
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  It it is, it is crazy how much time you lose just stopping.
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  So I think the number one thing being efficient is is never stop
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  in the mountains, never stop moving, obviously for every
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  race. But I think the reason why in
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  the mountains it's so important is because there's so many.
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  You're bringing a lot of gear with you, especially for an
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  ultra longer things. So you're always kind of
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  fiddling with stuff, making sure that you're used to your
• 15:02
  equipment. So I mean, basically you just
• 15:06
  don't want to stop. You want to do that stuff on the
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  fly. And I'll just show you
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  everything that I bring to make sure that I'm never stopping.
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  So I think the first thing, just water bottles.
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  Do I have a cap here? So talk about water.
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  I think, oh, another thing with with the gear is you want to go
• 15:24
  as light as possible. The less gear that you can wear,
• 15:28
  the better off you're going to be.
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  This is just like weight versus power, right?
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  Is, is the the, you know, I'm biking, it's a lot bigger, but
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  I'm running to how strong are your legs and how much are you
• 15:39
  do you weigh and what do you carry?
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  And this is not get as light as possible, get as strong as
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  possible and lighten your pack as much as possible.
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  So one of the heaviest things in your pack is going to be water.
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  If you bring 2 liters of water, 3 liters of water, that is going
• 15:55
  to be horribly heavy. So fill up water whenever you
• 15:59
  can. The easiest, quickest, lightest
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  way to do this is just get one of these filter flasks.
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  This is a Catatin. I'm sure there's a bunch saw
• 16:06
  them to make some. Get a filter flask.
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  Bring the minimum amount of water that you can without
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  having to that where you can fill up at a stream.
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  So knowing where all the streams are and where you can fill up is
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  going to save you a lot of effort just lugging water
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  around. These Katatan filters fit on the
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  top of this is the the older Solomon bottle.
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  I think the newer ones have smaller necks.
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  Is that what they're called a neck?
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  But these fit right in here. So you don't even need to, you
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  know, this just works in the bottle that comes with Katatan
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  and it fits for the Solomon that you can put in your little
• 16:37
  Solomon vest sleeves. So don't bring that much water.
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  Fill up water and then if you finish an effort or you get to a
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  water source with half a liter left of water, you did a poor
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  job of managing. If this is, you're either not
• 16:55
  drinking enough, so we just drink the water before you're
• 16:57
  getting close to water source or if you're carrying more water
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  and you realize, Oh, I'm kind of close to that stream, It's a
• 17:03
  mile away. Dump your water, get rid of the
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  weight, don't keep it in your pack.
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  I think it's just a waste. And when I finish a run with a
• 17:10
  lot of water on me, I I'm upset at myself.
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  So that's number one. I mean, I'm just going to go
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  through some of all the gear that I bring on summer stuff.
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  This is kind of like I don't do the full winter gear, but this
• 17:21
  will be some of the summer stuff.
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  Here's going to be some Lube. Everyone knows an ultra is
• 17:27
  especially in the mountains. If it's wet, you're just going
• 17:29
  to chafe. And the best way to carry Lube
• 17:32
  and apply Lube without like stopping is put it in a sandwich
• 17:35
  zip lock bag like this. And then so basically take a zip
• 17:39
  lock bag, put it, put it inside out, grab the Lube in the middle
• 17:44
  of it, undo the bag. I think I'm explaining this
• 17:47
  right. If you're not watching and then
• 17:50
  it zips up normal and when you use it, you just do the reverse
• 17:53
  where you put your hand on the clean side and then you can just
• 17:56
  rub it everywhere and then when you're done with it, you just
• 17:59
  fold it back in. You never have to touch it.
• 18:01
  Your hands don't have to get all gross.
• 18:03
  This is no extra weight. They make some packets like you
• 18:07
  can get some small anti chafe packets to bring with you like
• 18:10
  in case you need, you know, because I usually it's not like
• 18:13
  you want to plan to chafe a bunch, right?
• 18:15
  You want to kind of have that solved from the beginning, but
• 18:17
  it's like if you do, you want to have something in your kit so
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  they make little packs, but then there there's no easy way.
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  You have to still put it on your hands and rub everything.
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  So I don't like it. Another thing is for really long
• 18:30
  races, you can do the same thing with sunscreen.
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  You don't want to bring a whole bottle.
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  You don't want your sunscreen to get, you know, you don't want
• 18:36
  the PHBBBOS or whatever is in a sunscreen.
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  That's not healthy for you getting all of your hands and
• 18:43
  then licking, licking some sort of gel with your hands.
• 18:48
  You can do the same thing with sunscreen.
• 18:50
  Keneo Leuco tape. This is just Keneo tape.
• 18:53
  Where did that come from? I was thinking KT, but then I
• 18:55
  was thinking main mount Keneo Leuco tape is just like the best
• 18:59
  tape that won't stick off. So I would this is kind of
• 19:01
  heavy, but this is always just something that I will bring.
• 19:05
  I wouldn't bring this like I would put the Lube in in a bag,
• 19:08
  but you always want to do this before, and this is a good tip
• 19:11
  before the mountains this summer.
• 19:13
  You want to put some sort of anti chafing Lube on your feet
• 19:17
  the first few hard long mountain runs because if you don't, your
• 19:22
  feet just aren't prepped for it and the rocks are just going to
• 19:24
  chew you up and you don't want to start the season off with a
• 19:26
  really bad blister. That's just no fun.
• 19:30
  This one is self-explanatory. This one is self-explanatory.
• 19:34
  If you're if you're, I should just not even say if you're
• 19:36
  watching now, just bring a little bit of toilet paper so
• 19:39
  you don't you don't have a a dirty catastrophe.
• 19:44
  Caffeine pills. I think that caffeine on a long
• 19:47
  effort is very helpful. If you haven't tried it, you
• 19:51
  should try it. I think it I think it works.
• 19:54
  This I I, I put this video out on on most platforms.
• 19:58
  You already maybe you've seen it in short form, but Maple syrup
• 20:01
  in a 2 ounce Nalgene is very if you don't want to buy the Maple
• 20:04
  syrup packs, you can put it in the Nalgene.
• 20:06
  But I also really like putting your hydration mix in these.
• 20:11
  It's like, I don't know, I I said it's exactly 1 serving in
• 20:14
  the video, but for the hydration mix, it's also close to a
• 20:19
  serving or whatever. I don't know.
• 20:21
  I don't know what even I think of serving.
• 20:22
  Is it like 200 calories, so 5050 grams of carbs.
• 20:26
  But this is better than those packets that you have to RIP off
• 20:30
  and, and hope that you RIP it clean, that it doesn't RIP weird
• 20:34
  and then hope you, you put it in your bottle.
• 20:36
  This is the the neck of this fits in the neck of your bottle.
• 20:41
  So if you're filling up hydration on trail, like you
• 20:44
  know, you feel you filled up an NAA station, but then you have
• 20:47
  to refill water and you want hydration mix back in your
• 20:49
  bottles. Bring two of these and they they
• 20:52
  dump in so fast. This probably weighs a little
• 20:55
  bit more than the the individual plastic packs, but I found that
• 20:59
  they're easier and take up less time.
• 21:01
  So it's worth it to me to just bring it to Oz analogy in.
• 21:04
  So these analogies are good little things to bring it bring
• 21:07
  out in the mountains vests. So here's here's a vest vest
• 21:13
  versus a running belt. This one, I feel like the belt
• 21:16
  is making a comeback. I don't know if belt technology
• 21:19
  is getting really, really good, but a lot of people wearing just
• 21:22
  belts now, even into the mountains, and I'll give you my
• 21:25
  thoughts on it. So this is actually a funny
• 21:30
  thing. I should have started this off
• 21:31
  at the beginning when I was talking about not bringing a lot
• 21:33
  of things. I think there's an arc in every
• 21:36
  trail runner, runners, a lifespan where you start off and
• 21:40
  you don't have a lot of stuff, but you just want to kind of get
• 21:42
  out and do it. So you do it and then you buy
• 21:45
  all the things. Oh, you got to, you know, I need
• 21:47
  this vest, I need these poles, I need these things, I need these
• 21:49
  Gators, I need these shin things.
• 21:51
  I need it. Like you get the whole kit and
• 21:53
  caboodle that you know, and you had just have a ton of stuff.
• 21:56
  I have a bladder, I have all these things.
• 21:58
  And then you kind of realize like you don't actually need a
• 22:02
  lot of that stuff. Like just go out there, keep
• 22:04
  everything super basic, super minimal.
• 22:07
  Less things to wear and fuss with is probably going to be
• 22:10
  faster. So I think that's where the belt
• 22:12
  is like, oh guys, do we even need a vest?
• 22:16
  I think the belts are pretty good.
• 22:19
  So the difference between the two, I think the number one
• 22:23
  difference you're going to get because if you have to carry a
• 22:25
  litre of water, you have to carry a litre of water.
• 22:28
  Like that weighs the same. But I think when you wear a vest
• 22:31
  up top on a hot summer day, it's harder to cool off.
• 22:35
  It's a little bit warmer. And if you wear a shirt under
• 22:38
  it, then it's just like a little bit too warm and you can't, your
• 22:43
  body can't shed heat fast enough.
• 22:46
  I think it's more comfortable to carry extra weight on your your
• 22:50
  upper body frame, but you don't get that upper body to release
• 22:55
  heat as easy. So I think it slows you down in
• 22:57
  that sense. I think it is faster in terms of
• 23:00
  where everything is. It's easier to get nutrition,
• 23:03
  hydration, all the stuff fast when you're wearing the vest.
• 23:06
  So speed is on that side, but you're just going to be hotter,
• 23:09
  so you go slower. So I think in that sense, the
• 23:13
  belt is faster. If you can carry a leader in a
• 23:16
  belt with snacks and it doesn't slow you up grabbing everything,
• 23:19
  I think ultimately this would be faster.
• 23:22
  But the reason that I don't specifically love this is
• 23:27
  because if you get a good belt that doesn't bounce, that's
• 23:32
  great. But if you get a good belt that
• 23:33
  doesn't bounce, you're putting a lot of pressure on your abdomen,
• 23:37
  your lower abdomen and maybe your stomach.
• 23:41
  And I've had, you know, I've talked about this in, in one of
• 23:43
  my, in my washer Dodge story, I had a, a, I'm at a park right
• 23:50
  now and there's some children. There's some, there's some
• 23:53
  people fishing by me. I got a hit in the family jewels
• 23:58
  basically it felt like that and I had a really bad time that I I
• 24:00
  couldn't run in one of my long efforts.
• 24:02
  And I think one of the things that was attributing to that was
• 24:05
  so much pressure on my abdomen. So I was carrying a water, some
• 24:09
  things my phone with the waste light around my belt and it and
• 24:12
  it did it was it was not good. So if you're going for a longer
• 24:17
  effort, the abdomen pressure plus pressure in your stomach
• 24:21
  where where your stomach if you're pushing yourself, you're
• 24:24
  trying to process high carb. David Roche has me eating 250
• 24:27
  grams of carb every hour. Your stomach's already working
• 24:30
  to the Max. I don't know if this belt is
• 24:33
  really good. Maybe for some people they don't
• 24:36
  have a problem with it, but I feel like I have a little bit of
• 24:38
  a problem with it. So if I can stay cool, I'm
• 24:42
  wearing the vest. If I I'm doing a shorter effort
• 24:46
  and I think that it's going to be a hot day and I can't stay
• 24:49
  cool, I'm probably going to wear the belt.
• 24:51
  So that's what I feel about the the pack versus the belt right
• 24:54
  there. Some other things the the light
• 24:58
  gloves in a in a buff is all the, you know, not in summer,
• 25:01
  but fringe, spring, fall, winter.
• 25:04
  These are just I mean, if no, if you don't have a light pair of
• 25:07
  gloves and a nice buff, the most versatile easy things your hands
• 25:12
  get cold the first, the first and the Gator can be a neck
• 25:16
  Gator can go over your head, can go over your hands, everything.
• 25:19
  It's so versatile. So those things are, you know,
• 25:21
  if it if there's a potential for colder conditions, I would
• 25:27
  always have that. I didn't have it today, But also
• 25:29
  a good idea is just to have hand warmers, hand warmers on, you
• 25:34
  know, potentially cold day and then a lighter and a match that
• 25:38
  I bring those. I don't think I brought those,
• 25:40
  but but those two Next up, emergency blanket.
• 25:43
  This one's pretty self-explanatory.
• 25:46
  A poncho. I've given this tip before, but
• 25:49
  I really think that a poncho, A reusable poncho that I've never
• 25:53
  opened is the lightest best way to have a a layer in your pack
• 25:59
  to stay dry. I was my mom listened to this
• 26:05
  podcast. She's a she's a obviously a big
• 26:07
  hiker. She's been on the podcast and
• 26:09
  she told me like, hey, Angie, you said this a couple times.
• 26:13
  You you shouldn't really say this on the podcast.
• 26:16
  And I've said if you, if there's a lot of people on trail, you
• 26:20
  don't need to bring as much stuff, safety stuff, 10
• 26:24
  essential stuff, like you can get away with something.
• 26:26
  She was like, Angie, you cannot say that.
• 26:30
  But I just think it's kind of true in context, guys, in
• 26:33
  context, if you break your ankle, you break your ankle,
• 26:37
  right, you're screwed. You got to figure out a way, a
• 26:41
  way out. And I'm just saying if there's
• 26:43
  other people on the trail, if you break your ankle, they're
• 26:47
  going to be able to get to the trailhead and call someone,
• 26:50
  whether you have a two man insulated tent or not, right?
• 26:57
  Like it's just something to think about.
• 27:00
  So I'm not advocating everyone go, I'm going to do again for
• 27:04
  this, for this episode, I'm going to hike.
• 27:06
  I'm going to list the 10 hiking essentials.
• 27:08
  You should be bringing those on every hike and or run.
• 27:12
  And this is not a safety talk. This is an efficiency talk.
• 27:15
  So I'm sorry, mom, but I it is actually kind of nice that I
• 27:20
  think she listens to most of them.
• 27:22
  And if I say anything crazy, she'll probably she'll, she'll
• 27:25
  just let me know hopefully, hopefully in somewhat quick of a
• 27:28
  time where I can because I'm going to say some stupid things.
• 27:31
  But I think sometimes you don't need a full a full proof rain
• 27:36
  jacket. If you have an emergency blanket
• 27:38
  in a, in a rain poncho, I think you're going to be able to stay
• 27:41
  dry and stay warm in the summer in above freezing temps.
• 27:45
  Sue me, sue, sue me. So it's just when you think of
• 27:50
  an impermeable barrier. Oh, I want to tell this story
• 27:52
  too. It's a sad story guys.
• 27:55
  When you think of a a good raincoat, Everyone knows if you
• 27:58
  wear a raincoat running, you just if it's good and it doesn't
• 28:00
  let water through, you just sweat on the inside and you get
• 28:03
  wet on the inside anyway. It keeps water out, but it keeps
• 28:05
  water in. So it's like it.
• 28:08
  And then they make a breathable rain rain rain jacket.
• 28:13
  If a company is selling you a breathable rain jacket, I just
• 28:18
  think there's something weird about that.
• 28:21
  So I think an impermeable layer is an impermeable layer.
• 28:25
  This is plastic. This will not get through.
• 28:27
  Obviously, if you're digging it on rocks, on trees, it's going
• 28:31
  to get holes in it. You'll get a little bit wet, but
• 28:33
  I this goes over to your knees. I think this keeps you warmer
• 28:36
  sometimes. So anyhow, there was a, there
• 28:41
  was a requirement down when I went to Hellbender, Hellbender
• 28:44
  100 in North Carolina. The requirement was a windproof,
• 28:48
  waterproof weather coat. And at the time I think I had a
• 28:54
  waterproof or a windproof, but not a waterproof like a good, I
• 28:58
  had a waterproof thing, but it's so heavy.
• 29:00
  It wasn't like a this thing which we'll talk about.
• 29:03
  So I wanted a lightweight overthrow, as light as I can get
• 29:07
  'cause I'm going to be running a Hellbender.
• 29:09
  I'm trying to run and they're just really expensive.
• 29:12
  So I was like, you know what, there there was this guy, there
• 29:15
  was one person sitting like George or something that was
• 29:18
  making these hand sewed dyneina composite material raincoats
• 29:23
  overthrows. He stitch them up.
• 29:25
  They look good. There were 4 oz.
• 29:28
  So I'm like, sign me up. Dyneema.
• 29:30
  What is the Dyneema called? It's a Cuban fiber.
• 29:33
  It's like what the hyper light and all those lightweight pack
• 29:36
  backpacks use. So I'm like, let me get this.
• 29:39
  And he's like, I, I looked in his website.
• 29:42
  It was like kind of like it wasn't working.
• 29:44
  And I was like, huh, that's kind of weird.
• 29:46
  So I checked back, it wasn't working.
• 29:47
  So I e-mail him and he's like, they sell out, you know?
• 29:50
  Oh, we sell out. You know, I, I put it, no, he
• 29:52
  said I put everything up the 1st of the month.
• 29:54
  I was like, OK, so the next first of the month, wake up 7:30
• 29:58
  AM and I go to check and the, the website's still being weird.
• 30:00
  I'm like, the website's not working.
• 30:01
  He's like, we sold out by three. I was like, Oh my gosh, so I
• 30:05
  gotta wait for the next month and the lead time was 6 to 8
• 30:08
  weeks and it wasn't time for hellbender.
• 30:10
  So I'm I'm in my I'm just going to do it myself mindset.
• 30:15
  And I, I ordered templates. I don't know what are they
• 30:19
  called? I think templates maybe to sew
• 30:23
  my own dynamic composite, a raincoat hand sew.
• 30:28
  Well, I want to sew it. So I was like looking online,
• 30:30
  there's some templates you can buy for certain raincoats.
• 30:34
  You can buy the fiber in bulk or you can buy the material in
• 30:37
  bulk. I'm going to sew this thing.
• 30:39
  So I order the material and they say like a not a lot of big
• 30:43
  companies do it because it's really hard to sew that material
• 30:46
  well. Like have good seams you can
• 30:47
  wear and it fits good so. I was like, I'll just do it, you
• 30:53
  know? Sewing.
• 30:54
  You know you. We put the needle up and down, I
• 30:57
  got the material and I'm like, well, it's going to be tricky,
• 30:59
  but I'll try it. My sister shout out had a sewing
• 31:04
  machine and I went to use it on the material and I learned that
• 31:10
  that thing has a mind of its own and I even putting in some
• 31:14
  training time. I'm not going to control this
• 31:17
  beast. I didn't know how to work it.
• 31:19
  I had no, it was it was I was watching videos and I just you
• 31:23
  know, it took me a couple times I would jam and I would kind of
• 31:27
  figure out how to re get it. And then and then I just learned
• 31:30
  even if I knew how to set it up and get it working, I just
• 31:34
  didn't have control of it. The thing was just going so
• 31:36
  fast. The needle up and down.
• 31:37
  I was like, I can't do this. So I'm thinking, well, what's
• 31:41
  the problem? I can't sew, but I need to sew
• 31:43
  this thing. Now I have a needle at home.
• 31:46
  Let me hand sew it. Long story short, I hand sewed
• 31:49
  this Dyneema composite material. I, I should put the pictures in
• 31:53
  this video right here because I was so proud of it, this
• 31:57
  lightweight thing, and it was the worst day of my life.
• 32:00
  Sewing that thing, cutting out the fabric, cutting out the
• 32:03
  material, hand sewing it, doing the seams was the worst day of
• 32:07
  my life. But I made it work.
• 32:09
  It was kind of a tight fit. I used it at Hellbender and then
• 32:13
  somewhere in the in the thing with Hellbender, like I use it
• 32:16
  for one race and I I lost it horribly sad.
• 32:21
  Just such, such a sad I. I cannot find it.
• 32:25
  I've tore up every, I've gone through everything I own.
• 32:28
  I can't find it. The thing cost me as much, so
• 32:31
  probably cost me $300 to make with the material and all the
• 32:34
  stuff. And I had to buy the things and
• 32:36
  I cut it out wrong and it bit weird, but I did it and I had it
• 32:39
  and I'll never forget it. That's my lightweight raincoat
• 32:43
  story. This is a game changer.
• 32:45
  Talked about this in the winter, especially in the summer too.
• 32:48
  It's a windproof. It's like a Houdini.
• 32:50
  I think this is Black Diamonds, but it's just an overthrow super
• 32:53
  lightweight, not waterproof, but it's windproof and it keeps you
• 32:57
  really warm above tree line with a little bit of wind.
• 32:59
  That's like a good layer to have on all your runs.
• 33:03
  A hat. Andrew, what can a hat make me
• 33:07
  efficient and move good in the mountains?
• 33:09
  A hat Dunking a hat in a crossing if you're going to wear
• 33:13
  a hat is one of the best ways to cool yourself during an effort.
• 33:17
  Cooling is a big thing. Everyone knows about cooling.
• 33:19
  The cooler you can keep your body, the more output you can do
• 33:22
  for the same amount of work. It takes a lot of effort and
• 33:25
  energy to cool your body down. Every stream crossing you should
• 33:29
  be dunking your hat in the water, dunking your hands quick,
• 33:32
  dunking your arms, dunking this, getting everything wet that you
• 33:37
  can to stay cool on a hot day. I, I do believe that.
• 33:41
  I think I remember in the jigger Johnson, you know, a couple
• 33:44
  times I, I, I think at the beginning of one or I don't
• 33:47
  know, I've been to races where I cross the stream and I dunk it
• 33:50
  just really quickly get my hands cold, get my face cold, get my
• 33:52
  hat cold. No one else does.
• 33:54
  And I'm thinking that is a miss right there, guys.
• 33:57
  Sunglasses. I don't wear them too much, but
• 33:59
  once in a while I get above tree line and I'm like, why?
• 34:01
  I forgot about sunglasses. Gators.
• 34:04
  I don't really know how I feel about Gators.
• 34:07
  I used to wear them a lot and now I pretty much never wear
• 34:10
  them. Some of the shoes have them
• 34:11
  built in now these days but I just feel like when I run in the
• 34:16
  whites. Here's my thoughts on Gators.
• 34:18
  If you're running in lower elevation where there's lots of
• 34:21
  leaves, pine needles, flatter lower elevation trails below
• 34:26
  2500 feet, I think, and you're going for a long run.
• 34:30
  I think Gators can be good. But in the whites, I don't get a
• 34:35
  lot of dirt and rocks in my shoes.
• 34:37
  I, I just don't, I don't know. And I'm not one of those guys.
• 34:39
  Like I have mud marks on my, on my, on my legs all the time.
• 34:45
  I remember one time Andrew Sora said something talking about mud
• 34:50
  barks on, on the inside of your calves.
• 34:51
  You know how a lot of people get that?
• 34:52
  I'm notorious for I, I get that a lot.
• 34:54
  I don't know what that means. I just have bad form.
• 34:57
  But he's like, no, I don't have mud marks on my calves because
• 35:00
  I'm not a hack. And I just always remember that.
• 35:03
  I don't know if he was joking or but I was like, that is me.
• 35:07
  I guess I'm just a hack on the trails.
• 35:11
  I think there's definitely as far as like if you're thinking
• 35:13
  efficiency and it's probably not efficient to just hit your legs
• 35:16
  on every stride. But anyway, I still, I don't get
• 35:21
  a lot of stuff in my shoes. So, and I think it really is
• 35:23
  like when you're just running on steep rocks, there's nothing
• 35:26
  else but steep rocks there. So like what's going to get in
• 35:28
  your shoes? I do feel like these can keep my
• 35:31
  feet and and ankles a little bit warm, like not as breathable,
• 35:36
  which I think is going to slow you down.
• 35:39
  So I actually don't recommend that a lot of people wear
• 35:42
  Gators. Like like I said, depending on
• 35:44
  the elevation of your race, if you're racing high altitude in
• 35:47
  the whites, like Prezi stuff above tree line stuff, 4000
• 35:50
  footer stuff, long projects, whites, 100 Hut traverse, Pemilu
• 35:54
  Prezi, I wouldn't wear the the Gators.
• 35:57
  I think, I think that they slow you down.
• 35:59
  That's just me. Let me know what you think.
• 36:03
  Navigation is a big one. So this is like if you're doing
• 36:07
  an ultra and navigation and I guess we're we're doing a more a
• 36:10
  gear talk, but I'm giving tips. And then lastly, we are going to
• 36:13
  talk about strategies to navigate.
• 36:15
  Good. So navigation is a big one.
• 36:18
  If you miss a turn in a race that is not efficient on these
• 36:22
  Backcountry trails, knowing where you're going, not making
• 36:27
  mistakes, not second guessing. Anytime that you look at your
• 36:30
  phone to second guess or look at your watch to second guess, you
• 36:32
  don't know where you are. I think it's stoppage time and I
• 36:35
  think you're just losing out. So what does this have to do
• 36:38
  with anything? Keep your phone charged and
• 36:41
  check your phone to make sure you're on course instead of
• 36:43
  like, I don't know, pulling something out of your pack.
• 36:46
  I don't know where this fits in with this anyway, keep your
• 36:49
  phone charged. If your phone dies, you have no
• 36:50
  navigation, you get lost. I guess that's what I'm saying.
• 36:52
  So I bring a lightweight as light as I can get on this only
• 36:56
  on a long distance ultra though, like I I try not to bring that
• 36:59
  on a regular run. This is just a heart rate
• 37:00
  monitor. But yeah, navigation.
• 37:04
  I think there's something about when you see a junction, I think
• 37:09
  if you go hard into that junction, as opposed to stopping
• 37:12
  and checking and second guessing and looking this way and
• 37:14
  feeling, I think it saves. Yes, it saves like 5 or 10
• 37:18
  seconds, but I think it saves more than that.
• 37:20
  I don't know what it is. I think if you hit a junction
• 37:23
  hard, you know where you are. I think it saves a lot of time.
• 37:27
  So load everything on your watch because lots of watches have the
• 37:31
  route now. Just load it on your watch.
• 37:32
  That's the easiest way. We're not going to stop your
• 37:35
  phone if you have like an offline map of Gaia.
• 37:38
  I do that a lot and on the climbs I feel like I can get
• 37:40
  away with with checking my phone and and not losing much time
• 37:45
  because you're going slower. But on the descents you do not
• 37:48
  want to stop and check your phone to figure out where you
• 37:49
  are. So keep it on your watch
• 37:51
  previewing the route. Just if you haven't been to a
• 37:54
  junction, go check out the junction your pre race scouting.
• 37:57
  I think it'll help you save time and stay moving.
• 38:00
  So that's the navigation stuff. And then lights.
• 38:05
  I think just a headlamp, like having a light in the night is
• 38:08
  going to help you navigate. 62nd tip, a waste light.
• 38:12
  I mean, a lot of people know this by now, but a waste light
• 38:15
  is a really good thing to have on technical terrain.
• 38:18
  It gives you a second vantage point where a light's coming
• 38:22
  from, so you get different shadows.
• 38:24
  It's easier to run on technical stuff.
• 38:26
  I don't think running in the night is good.
• 38:29
  I don't think it's fast. I don't like it.
• 38:30
  I think it's annoying. That's what I think about
• 38:32
  running at night. So I think planning an effort,
• 38:35
  if you do a non race or in some sort of effort where I think
• 38:40
  maximizing the daylight. So go sometime in June maybe for
• 38:43
  a long distance thing and then if it's a 12 hour effort, line
• 38:46
  it up so you're only going in daylight.
• 38:48
  I think that's going to help you a ton.
• 38:50
  But if you have to where where a headlight and a waste light
• 38:56
  poles, this is going to transition into where.
• 39:04
  We're talking. About how to be efficient in the
• 39:08
  mountains and how to move efficiently.
• 39:10
  So we're going to talk a little bit about like a running versus
• 39:12
  hiking. We're going to talk about poles.
• 39:15
  We're going to talk about why some people are super fit but
• 39:18
  can't run on rocks. This is the transition from
• 39:20
  we're out of the gear. This is the last gear talk.
• 39:22
  We're going to go into efficiency and strategies poles.
• 39:28
  What I think about poles, I don't think this is a super
• 39:31
  super. Controversial.
• 39:35
  Controversial take, but we'll see how you guys feel about it.
• 39:38
  I think when I first got a running, like I said, I was
• 39:41
  like, I need to get poles. Poles for mountains is faster.
• 39:44
  I think it can be, but I don't I do not recommend.
• 39:49
  I wouldn't recommend poles to somebody as as this is important
• 39:53
  for your success. And here here's what I'll talk
• 39:55
  about because I don't use poles that much.
• 39:56
  I am not planning an effort in the next two years that would
• 40:01
  require Poles and I got some long things coming up.
• 40:06
  I think the poles. Save your legs for sure.
• 40:09
  If you're using poles, they save your legs and they put load on
• 40:13
  your arms, which help save your legs.
• 40:17
  But the cost to do work, you know, you can't measure running
• 40:22
  in watts, but you're creating a force that's getting you up the
• 40:26
  mountain and the force has to carry you and whatever you're
• 40:29
  carrying, right? I think to generate X amount of
• 40:33
  watts up a mountain, your legs are more efficient at doing that
• 40:37
  than your arms. No one would climb a mountain
• 40:40
  with their arms, right? That makes total sense.
• 40:45
  That makes total sense to me. Your, your leg muscles are
• 40:48
  bigger and stronger and more efficient.
• 40:50
  So why do people like poles and when would you use poles?
• 40:54
  I think you would use poles when you're willing to save the legs
• 41:02
  and pay more in energy expended. So what do you mean by that?
• 41:07
  When would you do that? I think if you like a lot of
• 41:09
  people at UTMB, like poles, maybe like a Weitz 100, you like
• 41:13
  poles because your heart rate's not even close to that aerobic
• 41:17
  threshold. Your heart rate's low because
• 41:20
  you're going slower. You can eat more food because
• 41:23
  you're going slower, so you have more energy to spend.
• 41:27
  So although it's not as efficient to use it on your
• 41:29
  arms, it will save your legs. So if your legs aren't prepped
• 41:32
  for 30,000 feet of climbing, which it's hard to do that, then
• 41:37
  I think they're good, right? They can be beneficial.
• 41:40
  And especially I think on low technical, low grade slopes,
• 41:47
  that is where people say they are the most efficient.
• 41:50
  And there's certain ways that you can use the poles.
• 41:53
  Go look online. I think that is when poles,
• 41:56
  poles are the best. But I think in steep, rocky,
• 42:00
  rugged terrain, not 24 hour, you know, you're talking maybe
• 42:04
  10,000 or 20,000 feet of climbing area.
• 42:07
  I don't actually think that they're worth it.
• 42:09
  I do, I think they do more harm than good.
• 42:11
  I think that they make you work harder and they make you find,
• 42:15
  think about if you're running, you need to find 2 footholds for
• 42:19
  every, you know, every time you will go 1-2, you have to find 2
• 42:24
  good footholds, right? If you have poles, every time
• 42:29
  you do that you have to find 4. So it takes more time to find 4
• 42:34
  good footholds in the Prezi's, right?
• 42:38
  A lot more time 'cause there, there aren't that many good
• 42:40
  ones. So I think it's time consuming
• 42:42
  to find the poles. I think it's not even worth it
• 42:44
  if you think of it in an energy efficiency standpoint.
• 42:47
  And if you're doing like a Prezi and you're, you need your to
• 42:51
  save your legs for the last couple 1000 feet, I just think
• 42:54
  you didn't train good enough. Like I think you just should
• 42:56
  train your legs stronger. That's what I would say.
• 42:59
  And obviously if you're going into into an ultra, maybe a
• 43:01
  little bit under prepared, then yes, you could use poles.
• 43:04
  If you're doing big hikes, use poles.
• 43:06
  If you're trying to save your legs for the next week, use
• 43:08
  poles. But I think as far as speed and
• 43:11
  efficiency, get your legs stronger and don't rely on
• 43:15
  poles. And I think it's uplifting
• 43:17
  because when you don't have to bring poles, you can use more
• 43:20
  legs. If your legs are strong enough,
• 43:21
  you're going to be working a little bit less than you would
• 43:23
  with poles. You don't have to strap the
• 43:25
  poles on your belt or figure out a way to carry the poles.
• 43:30
  All this stuff. And I think a certainly in
• 43:32
  technical terrain, this is where it's worth it now.
• 43:36
  When you're doing 30. 1000 feet of climbing, you're doing 30,000
• 43:40
  feet of climbing. It's hard to prep a person to
• 43:42
  really do that. So I think when you get into
• 43:44
  that 24 plus hour range of effort, I think poles are
• 43:48
  probably probably worth it because you're going at a slower
• 43:51
  clip. But if you're if you are pushing
• 43:54
  yourself in any capacity, I wouldn't suggest pushing with
• 43:57
  poles, you know, maybe, maybe on like a mountain marathon.
• 44:03
  I don't even know if they use poles there.
• 44:05
  But when it's really, if you're running 30 to 40% grade mostly
• 44:09
  on just your race, maybe they, they can be really good there.
• 44:13
  And I don't know, like some people in, you know, that's like
• 44:16
  schema. I'm thinking like schema uphill
• 44:18
  racing. Yeah.
• 44:19
  I just don't want poles. I think if you can get away from
• 44:21
  it, get away from it. When I see someone on the stair
• 44:24
  climber. At the gym, this is a pet.
• 44:27
  Peeve. I don't think I've ever told.
• 44:28
  I'm not. I'm definitely not want to give
• 44:30
  advice at the gym. I'm not going to say anything.
• 44:33
  If somebody asked me, I'll tell them, but I do not.
• 44:35
  I'm not going to. I don't go and give my advice.
• 44:37
  I just do my thing and I want to get out of there.
• 44:39
  But when I see somebody, and not to call anybody out, everyone's
• 44:43
  working hard. If you're at the gym, you're at
• 44:45
  least working. But when I see somebody on the
• 44:47
  stairs and they are leaning on those arms or even using the
• 44:52
  arms at all, I think I'm thinking to myself, you are just
• 44:56
  avoiding getting your legs stronger.
• 44:58
  You know what your problem is? Go slower and get your legs
• 45:01
  stronger. That's what I think you should
• 45:03
  be doing more of. I don't know.
• 45:05
  I just see people at the gym crushing stairs, but they're
• 45:08
  just half of their body weight is leaning on on the armrest.
• 45:12
  So I would just assume that if I'm racing you up a mountain and
• 45:17
  we're halfway up, I don't know where you're going to put half
• 45:21
  of your body weight on a on a mountain and keep propelling
• 45:24
  yourself forward. Maybe poles.
• 45:26
  I don't even think I think it does more than maybe poles
• 45:30
  maybe. But then you got to be good at
• 45:33
  using the poles. They don't just stand there.
• 45:35
  So I think if you, if you do Stairmasters, get your hands off
• 45:39
  those poles, just face your demons, get stronger.
• 45:43
  I had to do it maybe. That's like the pole.
• 45:46
  Thing like just get rid of the poles and get stronger.
• 45:50
  That's why I think about polls. But then if we're even talking
• 45:53
  outside of if you are a gritter, right, If you're a gritter, if
• 45:58
  you're a list person, if you're doing some vertical challenge,
• 46:01
  Amber constant, you're doing some big effort long distance
• 46:06
  and you're just trying to to check off list and you're not
• 46:08
  going for speed, then poles are great.
• 46:11
  Like you know that you're saving your legs because you're doing,
• 46:14
  you know, gritters have to go every weekend and do 8 hour
• 46:17
  hikes every weekend, maybe twice a weekend, right?
• 46:19
  I think poles are great for that kind of thing.
• 46:21
  But I think as far as being efficient in a single effort, I
• 46:25
  wouldn't, I wouldn't suggest it, right.
• 46:27
  So that's kind of like the differentiator.
• 46:30
  I don't, I don't mean to take the pole business down.
• 46:32
  I mean, obviously lucky a ton of people use Lucky's.
• 46:34
  I I have used them but I've I've.
• 46:41
  I'll give some examples quick. And I've been on the poles thing
• 46:43
  for too long. I got to get off these pole
• 46:44
  thing. You got to get off the pole.
• 46:46
  Andrew in Hellbender. I I went to the I went and I was
• 46:51
  using poles and Kyle Curtain didn't use poles.
• 46:56
  Sondre Steer, Thorn Burson, who know him will.
• 46:58
  He will know how crazy of a crush of that guy is.
• 47:02
  Those guys didn't use poles and they ran it a heck of a lot
• 47:06
  faster than me and I don't think they had any problems.
• 47:09
  So there it's like, wow, they were just stronger, better, more
• 47:12
  prepared, faster, tougher than me.
• 47:15
  Jigger Johnson 100 I go to that and I'm like, you know, got to
• 47:19
  use poles on this one. The Jigger Johnson, Justin
• 47:22
  Kowski He I'm I'm going over S MO and Justin's already out of
• 47:27
  the halfway. He comes back up S MO and he's
• 47:29
  just poking around. Easy as can be.
• 47:31
  He didn't use poles. He was just strong trained and
• 47:34
  tougher and faster, right? Jack Kenzel, the Whites 100 this
• 47:39
  guy, he didn't use poles. He does 32,000 feet of climbing
• 47:43
  over 90 miles. No poles.
• 47:45
  I last year did the lodge to dodge.
• 47:48
  I will keep saying this. I don't care if people think oh
• 47:51
  this guy keeps saying this. I think that effort was freaking
• 47:54
  fast and I want someone to go after it and show how fast of an
• 47:57
  effort that was from launch to dodge.
• 48:00
  The dodge to lodge is different. Easier to sense, way easier to
• 48:04
  sense. The steepest toughest mile in
• 48:06
  the AT is the last mile. I went down on that.
• 48:08
  I think I was on the leaderboard, maybe close.
• 48:11
  No poles. I did that whole thing, no poles
• 48:14
  and I was surprised how well I fared, how much faster I went
• 48:18
  and I was just well trained and fitter and stronger, had
• 48:21
  stronger legs that that is it. So I think poles are almost a
• 48:24
  crutch if you're, if you're interested in getting faster and
• 48:28
  shorter ish things, sub ultra, ultra, 12 hour ultra, I think
• 48:33
  you got to get away from the poles.
• 48:34
  Face your demons. OK, that finishes the gear talk.
• 48:39
  I mean, is this even? I always, I don't know why I
• 48:41
  always do this, but I'm always just like, is this even
• 48:44
  recording? I said since my last podcast,
• 48:47
  I'm like, I, I every episode I record guys, I have a fear that
• 48:51
  I'm not getting it. I don't know if that's ever
• 48:54
  going to stop because like I think a lot of podcast will have
• 48:57
  producers that will be like, Hey, your, your audio is off.
• 48:59
  For me. It's just like, I have no idea.
• 49:01
  I can't see anything. OK, so that's all the gear
• 49:07
  stuff. That's what I think about how to
• 49:08
  move efficiently. This is ow.
• 49:11
  Just bash my shin on this metal bar.
• 49:16
  That's what I think about that. And I think hopefully this is
• 49:19
  helpful to you all, getting out in the mountains, getting out in
• 49:23
  the mountains, this. Summer, I think.
• 49:25
  Some of my episodes are so my tips.
• 49:27
  I've just been like, here's the best thing for winter in
• 49:30
  February, late February, and it's like, Andrew, this would
• 49:33
  have been helpful a long time ago.
• 49:34
  Oh man, oh man, a bag run away and we got a lake.
• 49:38
  Ow, I'm just paying. I just oh, and I got the short
• 49:41
  cord. Holy smokes.
• 49:44
  OK, that was that was something I need to step on this so I
• 49:50
  don't OK, holy, I'm not going to cut down.
• 49:53
  I'm sorry. So hopefully I give this to you
• 49:55
  guys before the season's up and you guys can use this
• 49:58
  information. The last thing I want to talk
• 50:01
  about is moving efficiently on trail.
• 50:04
  Excuse me. Oh my God.
• 50:06
  Get it together. Some people are super fit.
• 50:10
  And can't run on rocks. I've seen it before.
• 50:12
  I've seen super fast guys, maybe Rd. people, maybe W out West
• 50:17
  trail guys, right? They're really fast.
• 50:19
  But they come out here and they can't put good times on the
• 50:22
  iconic routes, Prezi, Pemi Hut, Traverse whites, 100 like stuff.
• 50:26
  Some people just aren't, aren't good at running on rocks because
• 50:30
  I haven't done a lot. And I think it is a different
• 50:33
  way to run running economy. I don't think it matters as much
• 50:37
  because when you're going uphill, you're, it's, it's a lot
• 50:41
  of just steps, right? So like approaches to mountains,
• 50:43
  you're going to need to run. And if they're faster, they're
• 50:45
  further, it's going to be good. But when you're hiking steep
• 50:47
  stuff from rock to rock, I think you just need to be strong at
• 50:51
  doing little 2-3 foot step UPS, which is like kind of like what
• 50:55
  Stairmaster is. So I think you could do a lot of
• 50:58
  Stairmaster and get really good at climbing in that blocky kind
• 51:02
  of way, which a lot of these trails are.
• 51:04
  And you're going to be better off than like being really fast
• 51:07
  and good at turning over on a road.
• 51:09
  So I think that's one reason why people have problems.
• 51:12
  Another one is the downhill running.
• 51:14
  It's kind of running, but it's kind of just jumping from from
• 51:20
  from rock to rock to rock. It's kind of like an agility
• 51:24
  athletic thing where you're just doing a bunch of jumps on, you
• 51:29
  know, onto one single leg jumps. So I think you want to be.
• 51:33
  Strong. I think you want to be athletic.
• 51:35
  You have to have good footwork, coordination.
• 51:37
  I think all this stuff comes with practice.
• 51:40
  If you want to get better at running rocks, I think you just
• 51:42
  have to run on rocks a lot. So that's just like the running
• 51:46
  on rock portion. But some of the things that I
• 51:49
  think about being smooth on trail, they say slow is smooth,
• 51:53
  smooth is fast, especially in the Whites and especially on
• 51:57
  technical stuff. I think that is very true.
• 52:01
  If you're going. Down a 20% grade and you're like
• 52:04
  trying really hard to be fast. You're like, Oh my God, I'm
• 52:06
  trying to go fast and you're tense.
• 52:08
  It's it's, you're probably going to be slowing down.
• 52:10
  It's going to be more jarring. It's going to be more.
• 52:15
  It's not going to be smooth. The the I.
• 52:19
  Think the best. Way to go up and down a mountain
• 52:21
  is like like they say be like water it's it's like a flow up
• 52:26
  and down the mountain like no resistance just go with what's
• 52:30
  coming with you and. Andrew, this is kind of.
• 52:35
  Getting I can't be a drop of water.
• 52:37
  I think there's almost a mindset of I know this is hard and this
• 52:41
  is not flowy and I can't get in a good rhythm.
• 52:45
  But once you figure out that that is the rhythm and you just
• 52:48
  kind of go with it and like lighten up and you and you don't
• 52:52
  I think you you move faster. So I.
• 52:56
  Think it's really, it's really just working on being smooth,
• 53:00
  being efficient and you're going to kind of learn.
• 53:03
  One thing that helped me actually, I started wearing a
• 53:05
  heart rate monitor a couple years ago.
• 53:07
  I've been wearing a heart rate monitor for a few years.
• 53:09
  Wear a heart rate monitor, pin your heart rate at a certain
• 53:14
  heart rate and then run on an undulating rocky trail in the
• 53:18
  whites. And I think you will learn some
• 53:21
  things because I think it really helped me learn how to be
• 53:25
  smooth. Sometimes you have like ups and
• 53:31
  downs, how to be smooth on ups and downs.
• 53:34
  I, I've learned that when you're, you know when you're
• 53:36
  going up here, your heart is going to be higher.
• 53:38
  But when you have little drops and little dips and downhills,
• 53:41
  your heart rate drops so you can speed up a little bit right at.
• 53:47
  The same energy. Cost.
• 53:50
  And I think knowing that is like when you hit a little downhill
• 53:53
  quick, you got to kind of use your momentum while your heart
• 53:56
  rate's dropping to be the same energy level and then get going
• 53:59
  up the little uphill. And then you kind of get up that
• 54:02
  to the top of it at the end. And and your heart rate's about
• 54:06
  the same in those dips. Sometimes you have to go like
• 54:09
  the trail dips down, but sometimes there's little dips.
• 54:12
  And I think if you can avoid going down and you just stay at
• 54:15
  the elevation to not have to go that kind of like up and down
• 54:18
  thing, I think that can help. But there are all these little
• 54:24
  problems or like trail things that pop up that you can once
• 54:30
  you kind of like do it a lot and find a flow and can kind of
• 54:32
  track effort level, I think you get better at identifying this
• 54:36
  the best, easiest way to get over these obstacles.
• 54:41
  So I think it's a little bit of a flow thing.
• 54:43
  I think latent ultras, if you complain about technicality that
• 54:47
  slows you down. Sometimes I'll be complaining on
• 54:51
  a downhill. This is so bad.
• 54:52
  I'm going so slow. This hurts so much.
• 54:53
  And when I just shut up, how much further?
• 54:55
  How much further? When I just shut up, I just seem
• 54:58
  to go a lot faster. So I think there is a resistance
• 55:02
  that a lot of people face and if you let it affect you, it slows
• 55:06
  you down greatly. But if you embrace it, if you
• 55:08
  learn how your body likes to flow through it, like it seems
• 55:12
  kind of hippie and out there, but I don't know, there's just
• 55:14
  these like states where you're moving good in the mountains,
• 55:17
  you kind of like black out. That's when you're moving best.
• 55:20
  So I think that's like the philosophical way to to run
• 55:26
  trails smoothly and effectively. I don't know, is this kind of
• 55:32
  getting out of hand? Is that like maybe I went down a
• 55:34
  path that I'm like, I don't know if I can kind of get out of
• 55:37
  this. So that's one thing.
• 55:39
  Another. Well, no, in the same effort.
• 55:40
  OK, here's another example. Hancock Notch.
• 55:43
  This is a great this is a great topic.
• 55:45
  Hancock Notch is flat, but it's super rocky.
• 55:50
  You're going on streams. You are.
• 55:54
  Getting hit in the face. With branches all the time,
• 55:57
  right? Those kind of things on a trail
• 56:01
  can it does something like, you know how pro runners wear
• 56:04
  sunglasses? Because if they squint, they're
• 56:06
  losing energy to that. If you are getting affected by
• 56:09
  branches hitting you, leaves, Oh my gosh, excuse me, leaves
• 56:14
  hitting you, rocky stuff, streams, all this, all these
• 56:18
  things, there's like it, it holds you back and you can't go
• 56:21
  as slow. And when someone who's used to
• 56:23
  running, smoking fast trails comes out and it's like, oh man,
• 56:26
  I can't run these fast. There's this friction that I
• 56:30
  think slows them down. So if you want to run these
• 56:34
  gnarly trails, when you get to a place where stuff is hitting in
• 56:37
  the face, it's over going, it's rocky.
• 56:39
  You can't move. You have to embrace it and go
• 56:44
  through it as if the trail was clear.
• 56:47
  There is AI heard this thing once were if you're if you're
• 56:50
  washing a deer in a field and it starts raining, you know what
• 56:54
  they do nothing. They don't even think about it.
• 56:57
  That's how I want you to be on a trail.
• 57:00
  When the trail goes from beautiful single track to
• 57:03
  crappy, gnarly, overgrown, rocky stuff, I don't even want you to
• 57:07
  blink. That's what I'm trying to do out
• 57:09
  there. I just want it to be normal and
• 57:11
  I flow through it. And I think that there, you
• 57:14
  know, in this conversation, there are things that people you
• 57:17
  can understand. I hope you can feel it that you
• 57:19
  just have to embrace being on the trails and, and if you
• 57:22
  embrace it, I think it allows you go to faster and then you
• 57:25
  get better at it. You have the right gear.
• 57:27
  Like we talked about all of these things.
• 57:29
  The last piece that I will add on to this is I think the skill,
• 57:34
  it's like being in the flow state, but I think it is this
• 57:37
  unrelenting. I need to move forward on this
• 57:40
  trail, this stream, this rock, this crappy descent, this crappy
• 57:45
  ascent, this all the stuff hitting me in the face.
• 57:47
  Nothing will stop me. I don't care about it and I am
• 57:50
  moving forward no matter what. That is like the mindset that
• 57:54
  you have to have and allows you to run faster on the trails.
• 57:57
  I do believe that. And so so some people just don't
• 58:01
  have that and that's great. Some people can't run a 4 minute
• 58:04
  mile. That's me and that's OK, That's
• 58:09
  OK. I'm not.
• 58:10
  I'm not trying to get on a track or on a 4 minute mile.
• 58:12
  Maybe I am. Do you think I can run a 4
• 58:14
  minute mile? I don't know.
• 58:16
  There's no chance, right? Like I don't know how you know,
• 58:18
  nowadays the world record is so fast like 342 or something.
• 58:22
  Would it even be crazy for me to run a 4 minute mile?
• 58:25
  I was, I texted this, I think I'm getting faster, but I think
• 58:30
  everyone is just getting faster and I'm thinking am I getting
• 58:33
  faster than the other people that are getting faster?
• 58:35
  159 marathon I think I can run in. 158 is a walk on a park.
• 58:42
  Like I. Don't know.
• 58:43
  Am I even getting faster compared to everyone?
• 58:45
  That's what I think about a lot. OK.
• 58:47
  The last topic on the moving efficiently, hiking versus
• 58:51
  running, hiking versus running. Hiking versus running.
• 58:58
  This is a good one. I think it depends on distance.
• 59:01
  I think a lot of people overrun and under hike in the White
• 59:05
  Mountains. Hiking is going to be.
• 59:09
  More efficient if you, if you throw for, for most people throw
• 59:13
  on a treadmill, throw it on 12 or 15% grade.
• 59:15
  See what speed and heart rate that that you can hike at or you
• 59:21
  can run at that is at the same effort level as you're hiking.
• 59:25
  Once you kind of find that and you realize that hiking, your
• 59:28
  heart rate is going to be 5 to 10 beats lower.
• 59:30
  Sometimes you need to get hiking on those grades and just become
• 59:34
  a really strong hiker. Now, if you're doing a 10 mile
• 59:37
  or if you're doing a two mile race, it's going to be a less,
• 59:41
  much less hiking, right? If you're doing a 10 mile, you
• 59:44
  should probably do more of it. If you're doing a 20 mile, you
• 59:46
  should do even more of it. Doing 100 mile, you should be
• 59:48
  hiking a lot. Kyle Curtin told me this once
• 59:52
  while we're running together. He said at the end if if it's
• 59:55
  grade that I want to run at the end of the race, I'll run it
• 59:58
  now. But if I don't want to run this
• 1:00:00
  at the end of a race, at at the end of my race, I'm not running
• 1:00:03
  it now. That's I think if you run the
• 1:00:05
  first full of sense. Like and then you can't run it
• 1:00:09
  at the end. You failed, you failed.
• 1:00:11
  You want a negative split races like that is or running an
• 1:00:15
  effort consistently is the fastest way to do it and or
• 1:00:17
  negative split. So if you can't run it and
• 1:00:20
  you're not planning to run this 10 minute mile up a hill at the
• 1:00:22
  end of a race, don't do it at the beginning when you're when
• 1:00:25
  you're fresh. I think it's stupid.
• 1:00:27
  I think I and A lot of the times if you're on a 1512% grade,
• 1:00:31
  whatever percent grade I can. I've been in races where I just
• 1:00:34
  hike with people running and I'm like, this has to be easier than
• 1:00:38
  me. My quads and my butt are bigger
• 1:00:41
  than your calves. Some people have crazy calves.
• 1:00:44
  Maybe that's not true. That actually might not be true,
• 1:00:47
  but again, this is going back to would I rather climb a mountain
• 1:00:52
  with my arms or my legs? I would rather climb it with my
• 1:00:54
  legs. Would I rather climb a mountain
• 1:00:56
  with my butt in my quads, in my thighs, over my calves?
• 1:01:00
  I'd rather do the but can't you stop saying that?
• 1:01:03
  So, so I think people should be, should be hiking closer to
• 1:01:07
  running. And that's just going to depend
• 1:01:08
  on your fitness in the distance, in the grades and if it's
• 1:01:11
  smooth. If it's not smooth, you got to
• 1:01:13
  figure that out. That's a terrain talk today.
• 1:01:16
  That's how to move officially in the whites hopefully and any
• 1:01:19
  technical steep gnarly terrain. Hopefully that helps some of
• 1:01:22
  you. But that's that's all I got
• 1:01:27
  today. We'll do the 62nd tip now.
• 1:01:30
  Is there anything else I want to talk about?
• 1:01:32
  You know, we'll do the 67 second tip now before we get into the
• 1:01:34
  race results. The 62nd tip this week is if
• 1:01:39
  you're doing speed, if you're training for an ultra and you're
• 1:01:42
  doing speed work, take longer rest periods than you think.
• 1:01:49
  I don't want to get into a full discussion, but if you're if
• 1:01:52
  you're training for a long distance ultra, you basically
• 1:01:54
  are going to be racing all at your aerobic threshold or under.
• 1:01:58
  You're not going to be in that tempo to up tempo zone, that red
• 1:02:01
  zone. And so you don't need to be good
• 1:02:04
  at running in that zone per SE. So if you are not get if you're
• 1:02:11
  not giving yourself full rest before some sort of intervals,
• 1:02:14
  you're just keeping your heart rate higher for I don't want to
• 1:02:18
  say no reason, but you're not Matt.
• 1:02:20
  You're not getting as much muscle gains as you could be
• 1:02:25
  then if you took a longer rest. If you're training for an ultra,
• 1:02:28
  you want your aerobic to be crazy good, crazy big flying up
• 1:02:33
  mountains and you want your legs to be really, really strong.
• 1:02:36
  And I think a study just came out.
• 1:02:37
  Maybe This is why it popped in my heads, but it's something
• 1:02:39
  that I learned when I started doing my Stairmaster workouts is
• 1:02:43
  I don't think it does end me any good to just do a 32nd or a
• 1:02:46
  minute rest. If I'm going really really hard,
• 1:02:50
  I just just rest even as much. If you do a 2 minute reps rest
• 1:02:53
  for two minutes, make sure you're fresh and then go again
• 1:02:56
  hard because the harder you can go in your active zone 4 zone 5
• 1:03:01
  areas, the more muscle gains and shrink gains you're going to
• 1:03:04
  get. Now, if you're going for
• 1:03:07
  muscular endurance, you do want to have longer to you want to do
• 1:03:11
  an hour climb, a heavy pack climb, something like that.
• 1:03:13
  That's different. But if you're training for pure
• 1:03:16
  power, I think rest longer, go harder in your intervals.
• 1:03:20
  It will allow you to go harder in your intervals.
• 1:03:23
  But OK, that is all. That is all from Picnic table,
• 1:03:26
  Andrew. And now you next you will be
• 1:03:29
  hearing race result recap, Andrew right now.
• 1:03:34
  Boom. OK guys, we are wrapping up with
• 1:03:37
  a race previews, race results. I lied earlier, Manchester
• 1:03:42
  Mananoch. We're going to do that preview
• 1:03:44
  next week. So the big preview for this week
• 1:03:46
  is going to be the Tarc, Wapak and back races.
• 1:03:51
  We got the 43 slash 50 Miller and the 21.5 Miller.
• 1:03:56
  This race always brings out sluggers and there are sluggers
• 1:04:00
  on this list. I always are curious the 43
• 1:04:04
  slash 50 you can sign up for the 43 slash 50 which would be the
• 1:04:09
  Wapak range out and back. Same route as the 21 but.
• 1:04:15
  You can just tell. Them which one you're doing and
• 1:04:18
  even if you get so the four, the 50 I think is you do the Wapak
• 1:04:23
  out and back and then you do an extra summit of I don't know if
• 1:04:26
  it's what Tatek one of the mountains at the at the at the
• 1:04:29
  end of the Wapak range as like extra miles and so, but you can
• 1:04:37
  kind of like you don't. I don't think you tell them
• 1:04:39
  which one you fit. You're racing.
• 1:04:41
  You just kind of finished and it's did so it's a little bit
• 1:04:42
  liberal. So the 5043 and 50 miles are all
• 1:04:46
  jumbled together. So I don't know if they're all
• 1:04:48
  going to be doing the same race, but let's just go through the
• 1:04:51
  list because it's exciting. We'll start with the 5043 slash
• 1:04:55
  50. Matt Carbone's in it.
• 1:04:58
  Always a slugger goes to tark races all the time.
• 1:05:01
  He's always in the mix. I mean David, David her.
• 1:05:06
  I've seen that name before, but is that I don't know if I'd if
• 1:05:09
  from can Vermont. He I don't.
• 1:05:13
  Do I need to look this up? Oh my God, I can't.
• 1:05:17
  Trust. No.
• 1:05:17
  No. No, no, that's a horrible
• 1:05:20
  preview. This is a horrible start to
• 1:05:22
  preview. All right, we're going to keep
• 1:05:24
  going. He's a contender for sure.
• 1:05:26
  Tom Leo, Chad McDonald, super strong runners.
• 1:05:30
  Andy Mcgibbons coming out for this.
• 1:05:32
  He just got 4th at Run Amok 50K, Super fast, big slugger.
• 1:05:37
  He's in this race, which is super exciting.
• 1:05:40
  Walter Mahonin, he's in this race.
• 1:05:43
  And oh, forgot to mention, Connor Brown is in this race.
• 1:05:47
  I can't believe skipped skipped his name up there.
• 1:05:51
  He's in this race as well. Caitlin Cheesley, I think.
• 1:05:56
  She's a pretty strong Jonathan Westerns in this race.
• 1:05:59
  He's a super fast guy. There's two people last name
• 1:06:03
  Wojick WOJCIK shout out. It's so funny.
• 1:06:09
  There's someone else with this last name at my work actually.
• 1:06:12
  And The funny thing is I actually have no idea how to
• 1:06:15
  pronounce their last name. It's my the same last name, but
• 1:06:19
  I don't know how it's supposed to be pronounced because they
• 1:06:21
  got no way in there. So anyway, but some sluggers.
• 1:06:25
  So yeah, as far as the females, I don't know.
• 1:06:29
  There's definitely less of. Them in them in here.
• 1:06:31
  So I don't really know who who will come out swinging for that,
• 1:06:33
  but I mean Walter Connor, Andy, Chad, Tom, these Jonathan
• 1:06:44
  Western, these are big name sluggers.
• 1:06:46
  Let's look at the the wait list. Don't recognize anybody on that,
• 1:06:50
  but I'm sure and and with these ones, I hope somebody comes
• 1:06:53
  prove me wrong. Somebody blows everyone out of
• 1:06:55
  the park that I didn't know about.
• 1:06:58
  All right, now we're going to go to the 21.5 Miller.
• 1:07:00
  We're going to scroll the list scrolling, scrolling Brog,
• 1:07:04
  Robert Breckenridge. I think there's a bunch of
• 1:07:06
  races. I don't know, six O 3 endurance,
• 1:07:08
  Patrick Karen's running this. He always runs this and it he's
• 1:07:11
  always duking it out with Travis Mahoon, who signed up for this
• 1:07:16
  race. So they're just sign up for
• 1:07:18
  another year of duking it out. Which will be super.
• 1:07:23
  Exciting. We'll see if they sniff the
• 1:07:25
  course record. Oh, also, Roy Van Cleef is on
• 1:07:29
  this list. He's put down at least a banger
• 1:07:32
  time at the Manchester to Monadnock.
• 1:07:35
  He's some guy who could come in here and and turn some heads.
• 1:07:39
  Also Kara McKibben. Did she?
• 1:07:42
  I don't know if I just remember. I think that's Annie Mckibben's
• 1:07:46
  maybe wife. I know I've seen her.
• 1:07:49
  She she may run the Jerry Johnson.
• 1:07:50
  I don't know how she did on that, but I I do.
• 1:07:53
  I do remember her name. Yeah.
• 1:07:55
  Like I said, guys, I can't these these runreg.com, these Tark
• 1:07:59
  race entrance list. I have no percentages.
• 1:08:02
  I have no old races so I'm just going off names on the wait list
• 1:08:06
  for the 21.5 Miller Steigberg tram.
• 1:08:10
  We need this guy to get in. He's another banana fast guy.
• 1:08:14
  We need him to get in. Usually these wait lists go
• 1:08:17
  pretty. I was always told like if you're
• 1:08:20
  on the wait list, I don't know, should I say that?
• 1:08:23
  I think if you're on the wait list for Tark races you usually
• 1:08:26
  get in but but who knows, I don't know.
• 1:08:29
  So anyway, this race should be super exciting to follow.
• 1:08:33
  We didn't even read the race preview, so we'll read the race
• 1:08:36
  preview through this. Taking place on May 9th, 2026.
• 1:08:39
  Ashburnham, MA Tech Go out and back 4330.
• 1:08:43
  The 50 mile distance is 10.8000 feet of climbing several piece
• 1:08:49
  Mount Wataic N pack runners can inspect to very terrain.
• 1:08:53
  OK, that's the Tarpac preview and then we have two other races
• 1:08:56
  to preview the CT Trail mixer. Spring Fling 600 May 9th
• 1:09:01
  Southington, CT 600 minutes. You get 10 hours to do a three
• 1:09:07
  mile loop at Camp Sloper YMCAI. Literally had a friend, my
• 1:09:10
  roommate from college work at Camp Sloper.
• 1:09:13
  That's the same. Southington, CT Approximately
• 1:09:15
  250 feet of gain per lap, Mixed single track rolling grassy
• 1:09:19
  mats. Social atmosphere best Oh, it's
• 1:09:23
  known for its social atmosphere and best ever aid station
• 1:09:26
  spread, making it an approachable entry point for
• 1:09:28
  those attempting their first distance.
• 1:09:30
  I know the CT trail mixers does a lot of these kind of events.
• 1:09:33
  These 600 events seems like a good way for people to get into
• 1:09:36
  the sport and throw down some 10 hour PRS and then the other race
• 1:09:41
  with Tupa 50K and 30K. This event kicks off May 9th,
• 1:09:46
  2026 with TUPA Reservation. Fall River, MA 30 and 50K with a
• 1:09:52
  10K2 Designed for flow and speed rolling grass.
• 1:09:56
  Fire Rd. Smooth winding single track with
• 1:09:58
  relatively moderate elevation gains.
• 1:10:01
  Local favorite for local runners trying to set a personal best or
• 1:10:04
  fastest paced day in the forest without constant technical
• 1:10:07
  footing found in regional ultras.
• 1:10:10
  Those are the previews for this week.
• 1:10:11
  So we got some good ones, basically all eyes on the Wah
• 1:10:14
  pack and back and a couple other fun ones in Southern New
• 1:10:16
  England. And then we're going to go
• 1:10:19
  through some results. Cobbs, Cook, Backyard Ultra,
• 1:10:21
  don't think we have any results there, so we're probably not
• 1:10:24
  going to get to those. We're going to go through
• 1:10:27
  quickly. The Tark Spring Classic 50K.
• 1:10:30
  We're just going to go through the 50K cuz we're at least just
• 1:10:33
  going to do the Ultras. We'll read off the top three,
• 1:10:35
  top three men. Nick Franchi wins it in 415.
• 1:10:39
  Sebastian Ruler wins 2nd place for 20.
• 1:10:46
  Shut up man. Alan Peltz, he comes in 3rd 432,
• 1:10:52
  so that's a pretty And then we set 4th and 5th 430-7444.
• 1:10:55
  So pretty, pretty tight race there.
• 1:10:57
  Nick Franchi takes it home, 5 minute margin.
• 1:11:00
  And then for the women, Candace Lazoni, she comes in 1st 452,
• 1:11:06
  Ariel Vasquez 45247. And then OK, holy smoke.
• 1:11:12
  So a 15 second, a photo finish for the women here.
• 1:11:15
  I feel like there's been a lot of photo finishes for women's
• 1:11:18
  ultra recently, or at least as I've been reading them.
• 1:11:21
  So Candace and Ariel, they go 1-2 and then Samantha Butler,
• 1:11:24
  she comes in five O 9. So that was a tight women's race
• 1:11:29
  too. That's those are the, the Tark
• 1:11:31
  Spring Classic 50K results. And then we're going to go to
• 1:11:35
  the 2026 Jack Bristol Lake Warrawag Ultra race results,
• 1:11:40
  100K50 mile and 50K Yeah, this took place April 26th.
• 1:11:47
  So we'll do 100K. Hiroshi Kawa Katsu, he wins it
• 1:11:52
  728. Michael D George comes in 2nd
• 1:11:57
  732 and then Evan Titus 832. So 1 and 2, four minutes apart.
• 1:12:03
  3 comes in an hour after and then winning it for the women.
• 1:12:06
  Rachel Spurrier 10 hours one minute, 2nd place, Miranda
• 1:12:11
  Gajda, 10 hours 23 minutes and then Jesse Mckella, 12 hours and
• 1:12:16
  39. That's a podium for the 100K.
• 1:12:19
  We go to the 50 mile 50 mile Tyler Ravenel.
• 1:12:25
  He comes in six 39758 minute per mile pace.
• 1:12:29
  Wait, what was the minute per mile pace for the 100K?
• 1:12:31
  Holy smokes. Oh my God.
• 1:12:34
  So this must be flat. The 100K winning pace was 712
• 1:12:39
  and then the second place was 715.
• 1:12:41
  So the 100K winner and the 100K second place ran a faster.
• 1:12:46
  Oh my God that is smoking. What is the course records for
• 1:12:49
  this? The course record for the 100K?
• 1:12:53
  OK, this website kind of stinks so we're not going to get that
• 1:12:56
  info, but that is insane that they ran that fast.
• 1:12:59
  So they they smoked the 50 mile. But anyway, Tyler, we don't want
• 1:13:02
  to take away from the 50 mile winner.
• 1:13:04
  Tyler Ravenel, 639, second place Ryan Williams, 649.
• 1:13:09
  That dude is very fast. And then two minutes behind him
• 1:13:11
  in 3rd place, Andrew Porter, 651.
• 1:13:14
  That's the men's top three, female top three.
• 1:13:18
  Kelly Gillen, she wins it 8810. Natalie Trapanick, she comes in
• 1:13:24
  825, second place and then third place is Morgan Nolt, 847.
• 1:13:29
  That's the 50 mile. And then last up the 50K, the
• 1:13:33
  50K winner, Nikki Dupkin, 344. Now we don't want to say, but
• 1:13:37
  the 100K winner in a faster pace than the 50K.
• 1:13:40
  Hiroshi Kawakatsu and Michael D George are freaking fast and
• 1:13:46
  they're both 20 to 29, so they're young too.
• 1:13:50
  Shout out those guys, but shout out Nikki Dupin.
• 1:13:52
  He took care. He took down the 50K field, runs
• 1:13:54
  344, good lead. Kyle Sir Prennant, he comes in
• 1:13:59
  second, four O 2. And then Brandon Sheehan, four O
• 1:14:03
  6. That's top three for men's.
• 1:14:05
  And then the female, Raquel Brannard, she wins at 427.
• 1:14:11
  Kristen Spear, Dionne, she comes in 2nd 431, so a 4 minute gap.
• 1:14:18
  They're pretty close, pretty close.
• 1:14:19
  And then a three minute gap behind for her.
• 1:14:22
  Susan Hurst. She comes in 3rd.
• 1:14:25
  That's the drag, Bristol. So, so some fast people going
• 1:14:28
  out on the Jack Bristol Lake Wirramagh ultra races.
• 1:14:32
  Those are results from a couple weekends ago and that's all we
• 1:14:35
  got today, guys. That that is the episode.
• 1:14:39
  But like I said, the the New England racing right now is hot
• 1:14:42
  and heavy. It's heating up.
• 1:14:44
  I didn't even preview the White Mountains throwdown.
• 1:14:49
  I don't know is that a problem do.
• 1:14:50
  We have to talk about the White Mountains Throwdown maze.
• 1:14:53
  White Mountains throwdown for anyone who hasn't heard is it's
• 1:14:57
  going to be a 2000 foot climb in the Norder Nor N wait, the
• 1:15:02
  greater North Conway area. Holy smokes, try to say that.
• 1:15:08
  Andrew. It's a 2000 foot climb.
• 1:15:11
  We don't know exactly what it's going to be yet.
• 1:15:13
  Am I going to run it this weekend?
• 1:15:14
  Maybe when you listen to that, I've already ran it.
• 1:15:16
  Maybe. I don't know.
• 1:15:18
  It depends on where it is, depends on the timing, depends
• 1:15:20
  on everything. It'll be fun.
• 1:15:23
  My prediction. Should I do the prediction for
• 1:15:25
  the White Mountains throw down right now?
• 1:15:27
  Yeah, I will do it. My predictions for the White
• 1:15:29
  Mountains throw down is going to be this.
• 1:15:33
  I I want to run. It, it's I, I am very much going
• 1:15:37
  to get this in my schedule. Hopefully I'm going to run it.
• 1:15:40
  What am I hoping to do there? I've done a little bit too much.
• 1:15:44
  I've been doing a lot of short, quick stuff, which one is not my
• 1:15:47
  Forte and I'm pushing myself. But I need to get back at these
• 1:15:50
  ultras and I am, I am training up for a big ultra coming in the
• 1:15:54
  next, we'll call it four to six weeks, maybe 4 to 8 weeks maybe.
• 1:15:59
  So that's a big, one of the big efforts for the year.
• 1:16:01
  So I'm definitely all eyes on that, but I want to get a time
• 1:16:05
  at the throw down. I think, you know, I'm pretty
• 1:16:07
  fit for shorter stuff. I haven't done any, you know,
• 1:16:10
  2000 time foot time trials recently.
• 1:16:13
  So I don't know where I'll be at, but the goal would be who
• 1:16:17
  knows, I think. Guys, Lars Hogney, holy crap,
• 1:16:22
  that dude is fast. I think you ran some last year.
• 1:16:27
  I just ran the moats and so I looked at my run and he he, he
• 1:16:31
  ran the moats so damn fast and he is he.
• 1:16:34
  So I did a little peeking, little sneaking, little peeking.
• 1:16:37
  He is so fast, so young. I mean, last year he started
• 1:16:40
  racing trail and he just swept. He ran a 2O four Kim's Cliff
• 1:16:45
  Cliff race, which that's only minutes behind Dave, David
• 1:16:49
  Sinclair and Dan Kurtz. He's 22 years old.
• 1:16:53
  I think if he shows up, he's got a really good chance of winning
• 1:16:56
  it. Another name that always shows
• 1:16:58
  up, Steven Kerr. I mean, he's super fast.
• 1:17:01
  I think he's going to probably, those two are probably going to
• 1:17:04
  go 1-2. Now we have some outliers too.
• 1:17:08
  Oh, I should, I should do this preview at the beginning.
• 1:17:09
  Maybe we made this move this up to the first preview, But
• 1:17:12
  because I think this is the one of the most, I mean with the
• 1:17:14
  there's a bunch of sluggers in the Tarkwa pack and back, but
• 1:17:18
  this will probably get the biggest drop because it's a it's
• 1:17:21
  a race that you can do anytime during the month, anytime that
• 1:17:23
  fits your schedule. Steven Kerr, he's super, super
• 1:17:28
  fast uphiller. He always shows out.
• 1:17:31
  So I would expect those two probably maybe go 1-2.
• 1:17:35
  OK, that would be my prediction. Who else am I thinking of
• 1:17:38
  though? If Dan Kerr shows up, if Isaiah
• 1:17:41
  Conley shows up, if David Sinclair all this, he shows up.
• 1:17:47
  Those are some of the people who have the run the throw downs in
• 1:17:49
  the past. They're up there one 2-3 in that
• 1:17:53
  mix with with Steven Kerr and and Lars.
• 1:17:57
  So that's like top of the field. The Mahoon brothers always up
• 1:18:00
  there super fast, very, very quick.
• 1:18:02
  They're running top Tarc Wapak back.
• 1:18:04
  We just talked about them or going to talk about them.
• 1:18:07
  So they, you know, I'm sure they're going to get this effort
• 1:18:09
  in. We'll see where they land.
• 1:18:12
  Pierre Pennoyer, always a really, really fast uphill guy.
• 1:18:16
  He'll probably show up. So I'm thinking crap if it
• 1:18:21
  depends on who shows up for this race, but even I'm thinking if I
• 1:18:24
  crack top five, I'm going to be pretty happy with that.
• 1:18:28
  I have no idea. This is going to be a good test
• 1:18:30
  of, you know, how fit I am in a, in a 30 minute, you know,
• 1:18:34
  effort. But I'm excited to go out there
• 1:18:37
  and test myself. And this is just the men's.
• 1:18:39
  I don't know as much of the female.
• 1:18:42
  Do I have any predictions there? I, I don't, I didn't follow it
• 1:18:44
  closely. I don't know enough people from.
• 1:18:49
  From last year, who? Who?
• 1:18:50
  Were doing those races so we'll we'll see on the I don't have a
• 1:18:52
  good preview for you guys. I apologize, but we'll see when
• 1:18:55
  we'll definitely talk about it as it as it starts going but
• 1:18:59
  yeah so any of those any of those guys am I leaving on
• 1:19:03
  anyone? I mean, I'm sure there's lots of
• 1:19:05
  people who leaving out that I didn't mention.
• 1:19:07
  I mean the unconunic boys, any of you boys going out there,
• 1:19:10
  we're going to we're going to go RIP it.
• 1:19:11
  Hopefully. I don't know who who knows if we
• 1:19:12
  all RIP it, but got some people shuffling around.
• 1:19:16
  But anyway, May's going to be exciting, exciting month for the
• 1:19:19
  ultra scene. I'm pumped.
• 1:19:20
  I'm getting prepped. Hopefully you guys are getting
• 1:19:22
  prepped. You guys getting dialed in.
• 1:19:24
  You getting your kids dialed in your I just did a little race
• 1:19:27
  effort run getting prepped for my big races.
• 1:19:31
  So the opportunities are here. And listen guys, if you have a
• 1:19:34
  race coming up in the next month or two and you have not ran it
• 1:19:38
  yet, now's the time to lock in, get that finishing touches,
• 1:19:43
  training physically, training mentally, and just know your
• 1:19:47
  story from this year's races. Ultras are not written yet, so I
• 1:19:53
  would encourage anyone to dream big, think big, script big.
• 1:19:58
  Like make it a good story, train hard and go freaking hard 'cause
• 1:20:03
  that's what I'm trying to do. So that's all we got.
• 1:20:07
  Appreciate you guys listening as always.
• 1:20:09
  We'll see you next week, next Sunday, bright and early, 6:00
• 1:20:12
  AM. See you peace.