Latest / Run Mountain Peaks / Setbacks & Uncertainty in Running, White Dot Crown, FKTs - Ep.31

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Setbacks & Uncertainty in Running, White Dot Crown, FKTs - Ep.31 · Run Mountain Peaks

0:00
OK, this week we're talking setbacks and uncertainty in
0:05
running. This was not a planned episode.
0:08
This was basically the circumstances.
0:12
Let us hear. But I think running, running in
0:16
general, it's a very high rate of injury.
0:19
Lots of people get injured, and lots of people get injured
0:22
multiple times. Like overuse injuries are very
0:25
real. And so a lot of people have to
0:27
deal with setbacks and have to find ways to overcome them.
0:32
So going to talk about that. And yeah, basically what kind of
0:36
set me back? Not too much, but hopefully we
0:39
we can rebound from it. And then uncertainty, I think
0:45
running is a very mental sport. And so the mental highs and lows
0:51
can just be hard. And so I had a little bit of a
0:54
set back and ankle roll. We'll talk about it.
0:57
We'll talk about it. And yeah, I just had some
1:01
thoughts on on how I have handled or like what goes
1:05
through my brain during this period because it's not all
1:08
good, but I think it'll be interesting.
1:11
And then for mountain running, I really do think there are ways
1:15
to train around and through injuries.
1:20
Road running, you need to kind of run roads.
1:24
You need to get the leg turn over the speed stuff if you're
1:26
going to road race. But I think in the mountains
1:29
when you are going up, down undulating terrain, there are
1:34
some low impact ways to train around it.
1:37
So I'm going to talk about what happened to me, basically how my
1:41
plans kind of got ruined and then talk about why am I
1:48
blanking right now? Yeah, talk about me and then
1:50
talk about how I plan to get back on track and not let this
1:56
spring season go awry. So that's that's the topic
2:02
today, the main topic. And then I'm going to talk about
2:05
the white dot crown. I didn't uncanunic time trial N
2:10
uncanunic time trial up white dot.
2:12
It went fairly well. I had some things I want to take
2:15
away their tied for the crown. I will say didn't get.
2:18
I mean I technically got it, but tied Travis Mahonin, who well, I
2:23
think honestly I was thinking about this.
2:25
Is tying a straw of a crown the best way to get a crown except
2:29
for just completely blowing someone over the water?
2:31
Because he really doesn't have any reason to come back and get
2:34
it right. We both technically have the
2:37
crown. So I'll talk about that.
2:41
I was originally planning to do an FKT this today, yesterday or
2:46
today or this, you know, I wanted to do last week.
2:48
Weather wasn't good, so I was going to plan this week.
2:51
I didn't get to do it because of the ankle.
2:54
This was kind of like a last minute.
2:56
Oh, I'll just, I'll just kind of go and do this.
2:59
And so I had a few, a few thoughts on it.
3:01
Happy with the effort. It was hard.
3:05
Yeah. So we'll talk about that.
3:07
And then FK TS in general. I had a couple tidbits on the FK
3:12
TS that I wanted to talk about. So we're going to wrap all this
3:15
stuff together quick. Love on the spectrum talk.
3:20
I don't know. I've been deep in love in the
3:21
spectrum right now on the new season, but yeah, that's what
3:26
we're going to talk about today. And before we get into the
3:29
episode, no training tip, because I think this is going to
3:32
be a little bit of, I don't know, we did lots of training
3:35
tips last week. This is going to be some
3:37
training tips in here. So I'm just going to highlight
3:41
the Scutney Vertical backyard race.
3:44
The registration opens up this Sunday.
3:46
So whenever this podcast goes out, the registration is open.
3:51
Let's see who fills that list up.
3:54
I don't know how many people are on it, but I mean, last year
3:58
bunch of sluggers came out a couple episodes talking with
4:01
Connor Brown. I was kind of saying, oh, who
4:03
knows if we see something close to that.
4:05
Again, the registration is open. If you're interested, I would
4:09
get on there and try to get this event stacked again this year.
4:13
It's in November, so it's a long ways away, but the registration
4:16
is officially open. But OK, let's get into the
4:21
episode. So what happened?
4:23
All right, Andrew, what happened?
4:25
I think I've mentioned a little bit with the ankle.
4:29
I mentioned a little bit in the past that I dealt with an ankle
4:32
for a long time this winter. I, I did kind of an an episode
4:36
where I talked about it 10 years ago.
4:39
I had, I broke my ankle. I have a plate and screws in
4:42
there. Nine months ago I sprained it
4:45
really bad that I've never sprained that that ankle bad.
4:48
I sprained it really bad and it had been nagging me for so long.
4:52
Could not get this thing right. Finally this winter went and saw
4:55
PT and he was like, dude, there's where you're having your
4:58
pain is, there's no soft tissue. This is this is not like a
5:02
straightforward injury, which kind of stunk but but we made a
5:06
plan work the way through it two weeks ago no pain finally was
5:12
getting up like good running volume like happy with where I'm
5:16
at fitness is good ripping around the trails feeling
5:20
amazing like Oh my God springs in the air ready for the trail
5:23
season. All things good and then at the
5:28
end of a big week, I go out for like the slowest little easiest
5:34
recovery hike, run. I'm barely moving, just rounding
5:38
out the the time, the time, the volume for the week and I have a
5:42
little oopsie and my ankle on the same ankle.
5:46
And I mean, it hurt, but then it was fine like most ankle rolls.
5:51
But then the next couple days I did a couple runs, I kind of
5:55
forgot about it and I did one run and it just flared it up big
5:59
time. And I was having flashbacks
6:02
like, Oh my gosh, am I back at square one?
6:04
Nine months ago, I was going to do this FKT this weekend.
6:10
In May I got a a couple of one or two things I want to do.
6:13
June, I got a one or two things I want to do.
6:15
So I'm freaking out panic mode like I cannot rehab for nine
6:20
months again. And so I was kind of going
6:23
through it. Luckily it's going to be fine.
6:25
So what kind of talk through it? But I was definitely going
6:27
through it. I panic emailed my PT and was
6:30
like, this is horrible. Like we we were back and now
6:33
we're so UN back. I'm freaking out.
6:35
And he he just responded. He's like, listen, Andrew,
6:38
you've built up all the strength, this new mobility.
6:41
It's not it's not super bad. I think you just just you can't
6:45
do this, this FKT. You have to take it down week or
6:48
two, but it's going to be OK. It's probably like, God, I need
6:51
new clients. But no, I overreacted a little
6:55
bit. And, and part of me, this is the
6:59
thing with setbacks where it's like when you have a few in a
7:02
row and, and maybe you, you're just stringing like a couple
7:06
things together and like, ah, man, I fought through this.
7:09
I, it's, it's tough to come back again.
7:12
You just kind of panic. And so I was in the mode where I
7:14
was like, you know what? It's not seriously hurt.
7:17
It's just kind of flared up, tweaked.
7:20
I'm just going to still RIP it. I don't care.
7:22
I'm going to take Advil. I'm just going to RIP it because
7:24
my fitness is there. I've kind of like had a down
7:26
week, tapered into it a little bit and I don't care.
7:29
I don't care what happens. I'll deal with the
7:30
repercussions. And then I finally talked myself
7:35
out of it, maybe with the help of a couple people.
7:37
There's this beetle freaking out of my truck bed right now.
7:42
I finally talked to a couple people and was like, that is not
7:46
smart. So I, I, I, I transitioned and
7:51
instead of doing this FKT, which was like it not even a real I, I
7:57
just kind of like wanted to do it recently and I'm still may do
8:01
it this spring. So you still may get this.
8:03
So I'll just keep it kind of under wrap still, But it was
8:05
nothing crazy and it'll tie into the FKT talk at the end.
8:09
But it was flatter, it was longer, and it was just like
8:13
something that I felt was a good kind of like tester for me, a
8:17
fitness of speed. And I didn't get to do it.
8:20
And so I'm thinking like, all right, what can I do?
8:22
I was like, maybe I go to central New Hampshire and do
8:24
like a longer mountain ascent because I was really scared of
8:29
the fast running downhills with the ankle.
8:31
I felt like the uphills I'll probably won't, won't flare it
8:34
up too much. So yeah, so I, I was kind of
8:39
like, all right, maybe I do a longer effort, but then kind of
8:42
trail reports, there's been a little bit of ice patches and,
8:44
you know, on the bigger mountains, not obviously in the
8:47
4000 footers, there's ice and snow still, but Belknap's,
8:51
Ossipees, Kearsar's maybe it's like, you know, is there
8:55
something I can just time trial uphill and that'll be a similar
8:58
effort. And I was like, ah, even a
9:01
longer thing. So if I do like 20 to 40
9:03
minutes, if there's some ice, I'm going to be kind of upset.
9:07
If it, if, if for some reason I, you know, if that's too long in
9:11
the ankle, I don't know if I should do it.
9:13
So I landed on the white dot send, which is at .6 miles and
9:19
700 feet to gain 21% and did it in 8 minutes.
9:23
So it was a shorter effort and it, the ankle was fine on it,
9:27
which was good. It wasn't really what I was
9:29
planning for, but it was kind of like a, a compromise.
9:35
I got to kind of test my fitness.
9:38
I didn't really mess with the ankle.
9:39
And then I can just like, OK, I, I put in a hard effort and I can
9:42
just go back to training, building and getting the ankle
9:44
right, which that's like the most important thing getting
9:46
healthy. I talked about it last week,
9:48
consistency. I don't want to miss training.
9:51
So if I did something stupid and it turned into like I had to
9:54
take some actual time off and I couldn't even cross train or
9:57
whatever, that was not going to be conducive to what I'm trying
10:00
to do this year. So that's why I landed on and so
10:03
I kind of, you know, wrapped in my emotions, but there were a
10:08
few things that I wanted to, I don't know, a few things that I
10:12
wanted to talk about related to setbacks.
10:16
I think this is going to be made maybe like a philosophical talk
10:20
a little bit. I think I have in my years of
10:24
trail running, you know, I've probably been training good for,
10:27
I don't even know what it is now, four or five years, like
10:29
pretty good pretty consistently, like serious.
10:31
Definitely the last three to four years very serious,
10:33
consistent. And I've, I've dealt with a lot
10:36
of injuries kind of getting to getting up to speed with
10:39
running, like overuse stuff. And I was just not used to load.
10:42
So that was kind of hard. I had some, you know, things
10:44
there when you jump into ultras with, with not a ton of running
10:48
background, you're just going to, it's going to be take longer
10:51
to recover from events. They might flare some things up.
10:55
So I kind of, you know, I would do an event and then would take
10:57
me a little bit to kind of get back into it.
10:59
And then I had the, the stress reactions in my shins, which
11:04
were really tough to deal with. You know, stress, bone stress
11:08
injuries are hard, stress fractures, all that stuff is not
11:11
fun, not pretty, wouldn't recommend.
11:14
And so I had to deal with that and that wasn't really fun.
11:18
You know, I was able to do, you know, the Jigger Johnson 100.
11:21
I came back from that, but then I had to take some time off
11:23
again, 2024 was pretty, pretty fair.
11:27
But at the end of that year, I had a a good ankle that was kind
11:30
of nagging me for a while. And then this injury last nag
11:33
nine months. And I think it's important to be
11:38
durable and running. The more you know, the more
11:41
you're durable, the more you can train and can recover from
11:43
things and get after and just like keep stacking volume gains.
11:47
But it's hard when you keep getting injured to keep having
11:51
setbacks and you feel like you can't string things together.
11:54
Like some people. It just looks like they just
11:56
train big race big all the time, fast, no injuries, no debt, you
12:01
know, and it's, it's hard And so like these setbacks can just be
12:06
really mentally challenging. Like, you know, this last one
12:09
with the ankle. I, I, I was very like, I, I know
12:14
I can get this right. I, I getting good help.
12:17
It's getting better. Like I know, you know, my
12:19
speed's getting better. My training's getting better.
12:21
Like once I get the ankle right, it's good.
12:23
There was nothing wrong with my training really.
12:25
It wasn't an overuse injury. It was just like an injury from,
12:28
from an accident. So I was confident I can get
12:31
back. But then, you know, I finally
12:33
like maybe a month, maybe month, maybe only two weeks of feeling
12:37
like 100%. I just feel like, Oh my God, I
12:40
could be back at square 1. And that's just mentally hard,
12:45
really mentally hard. Sometimes I, I think, you know,
12:49
I'll watch some motivational videos online and I think, you
12:53
know, the, the mindset of, of like manifestation or, or like
12:59
the greats like Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, Kobe, all these
13:05
people, they talk about this mindset of, you know, the power
13:08
of being mentally strong and like, I am going to do what I,
13:11
what I am say I'm going to do. Those guys thought they're going
13:14
to make every shot they took win every game that they played.
13:17
And so sometimes I'm like, maybe I need, I need to have that
13:20
mentality more. Maybe I'm like too negative or
13:22
pessimistic, but then stuff like this happens and I just can't.
13:26
I try some days, but some days I'm just like mentally in bad,
13:30
bad places. And I think it's like, you know,
13:34
we're all human, right? It's it's good to feel that that
13:37
bad emotion or it's normal. And so I don't really think that
13:43
that mindset of like, you know, those one of one athletes is
13:48
easily attainable for the average person, right?
13:51
Like if I had a, if I was, you know, a Kobe or a Jordan or
13:54
Tiger Woods mindset, like we probably would have known by
13:56
now, I'd probably be doing something or I don't know, who
13:59
knows. But yeah, like, you know, I'm
14:02
human and I'm going to feel negative emotions and don't let
14:07
it dictate or like make you do bad things.
14:10
And and yeah, so like when you're when you're when I'm
14:15
having bad days, like, you know, it's, I think like I don't know
14:19
what I'm trying to like acknowledging it is fine, but
14:21
don't let it like try to bring in positivity as quick as you
14:25
can. They say I've heard this for
14:27
tennis players the best the difference between the best like
14:31
few tennis players and like the 10th through 40th guys.
14:34
Nothing to do with skill. It's all mental.
14:38
Who can there was like study who can bounce back from bad points
14:43
or like reset and be like, Nope, I'm going to just dominate.
14:46
Even if they're having a bad, bad day like the Federers,
14:50
Nadal's, Djokovic, all these guys they're so good at when
14:54
they have a bad point, like they'll scream, they'll get
14:56
frustrated. It's fine to feel those
14:57
emotions, but then they are positive mindset.
15:01
I'm going to do this, as you know, quicker than the rest of
15:04
them. This is a real study.
15:05
I'm pretty sure, pretty sure of it.
15:09
So I think working on that muscle, I think mental, mental
15:14
toughness and fortitude is definitely a, you know, kind of
15:16
like a muscle that you have to use and flex.
15:19
So it's kind of leaning into that a little bit.
15:22
The other thing too is that I was thinking about the set back
15:26
was the the difference between like somebody's destiny or or
15:35
path in life. Like some people say, you know,
15:38
this is his chosen, this is, you know, you were born to do this
15:42
or this is what you're meant to do versus like how your choices
15:48
impact that. You know, it's like this past
15:52
year, I feel like I've had a good amount of adversity, I
15:55
would say. And it felt like at a lot of
15:59
times I would have a couple of choices or kind of like options,
16:05
right? And I would always think like,
16:08
OK, either one I either one that I choose, am I going to still
16:12
get to like where I'm supposed to get to?
16:15
Or is this choice like super important?
16:17
I really need to like think about this.
16:19
And, and this is like, I don't know, I can't really give like
16:21
super in deep, you know, detailed answers to like the
16:26
scenarios, but like, there's just this feeling and like one
16:28
of them this, this this week was should I just go and do this FKT
16:32
and be like, no, I think I'm a really good runner.
16:35
I want to prove something. I'm going to make it happen no
16:37
matter what. Or do I play it safe because I
16:42
know eventually things are going to click, you know, so that
16:46
those kind of choices for all these hurdles that are kind of
16:49
like in, in athletics and just in regular life.
16:54
And, and yes, this past year just felt like all of the
16:58
choices I were making in the immediate aftermath of whatever
17:02
that would be, we're just like wrong.
17:04
Like they didn't seem like the right choices, right?
17:06
Or I, I don't know, I just like, feel like I was getting into a
17:11
string of, of just losing bet, you know, taking sides and just
17:15
losing my bet most of the time, which is kind of like mentally,
17:19
mentally tough, right? But you know, trying to keep
17:21
that positive mindset, but looking back, it's always like
17:25
the grass is the grass is greener or you know, you learn
17:30
life doesn't make sense forward. It makes sense looking
17:32
backwards. Like all those choices looking
17:34
backwards, I did take away something from it.
17:37
I did learn from it. And I feel like right now I'm in
17:40
the right place. So maybe those were the right
17:44
choices, but it just in the in the moment, it just stinks.
17:47
And when you're getting a lot of those stinking moments, it's
17:49
like, Ah, maybe I'm not in the right place.
17:51
But so this is one of those moments.
17:55
I think I'm already pulling out of it pretty good.
17:57
Like the ankles feeling decent. The the FTT was like a very
18:00
minor goal. Like I don't even wasn't even
18:02
thinking about it till recently. So I can do it a different time.
18:05
It's not a big goal for the year.
18:06
It's not an AB or C goal for the year.
18:09
So it's like, all right, Andrew, don't do anything stupid here.
18:13
So I think I made the right choice.
18:15
I think the ankles going to get better.
18:16
I really just tweaked it up, flared it up.
18:20
It's, it's, I'm going to have to train differently for, for a few
18:24
weeks, but that's OK. That is OK.
18:26
I'm fit right now, which is good.
18:28
And I, I have a good base. I have the good strength and
18:31
mobility. I've been working on it.
18:32
So all things are good. My plan for the spring is mostly
18:37
intact, which is good. And I just, and I just did the
18:41
white dot effort. So which I'm very happy with.
18:43
So it, it almost taught me the white dot effort was a more
18:48
competitive time than this FKT. So it almost was like, oh, this
18:55
was maybe, maybe something that I needed.
18:57
I'll be honest, I didn't want to go and run a hard 8 minutes up,
19:00
hit up that steep climb like that.
19:03
I don't know when I turned into this short distance uphill guy,
19:06
but that is not being in the red for that red for for like 8 to
19:11
10 minutes is it hurts. I want to get back to longer
19:14
stuff because I really do think like long mountain efforts is
19:18
what I like the most. We're our most competitive and
19:21
that's where I'm going with all this stuff.
19:24
So I think it worked out. I'm already seeing that I made
19:27
the right choice. I don't know the full learning
19:29
lesson from this. No, here is the learning lesson
19:32
from the ankle roll. I was, first of all, I was
19:36
feeling so good. I was feeling so good.
19:39
Running, fitness, just loving being out mountains.
19:42
I'd never loved trail running more.
19:45
And I think it's just reinforcing like this is I just,
19:48
I can't get enough of this stuff.
19:50
I really can't, which is awesome.
19:53
And then two, every once, you know, every once in a while or
19:58
continuously, you got to look at your, what you got going your
20:03
game and you got to see where can I up my game, What's what's
20:06
my weakness? And two years ago, I'd probably
20:10
tell you my weakness was uphill running.
20:13
And for the last two years? You guys haven't seen all the
20:16
the workouts, the Stairmaster workouts, weighted, unweighted,
20:19
dying on the treadmill, people staring at me, rubbing ice on my
20:23
body incline treadmill, testing out some shorter segments.
20:27
I I've really tried to make it a priority and I'm getting there.
20:30
I'm getting closer to where I want to be, which is a good
20:32
feeling. Durability in my ankles are, are
20:38
my weakness right now. And I think, you know, I got my
20:42
ankle back to where it needs to, needed to be mobility wise and
20:45
strength wise, but I got to stay on top of it.
20:49
When I was feeling great again, I, I, I was less on top of it
20:51
was kind of focused on, on some other things to work on.
20:54
No, my number one priority right now, I want to get the bigot,
20:58
not the biggest, the strongest, most mobile, flexible ankles
21:04
that I can. And that is a constant goal for
21:07
the next year. No matter if my ankles are
21:09
feeling amazing, If I can do single LED calf raise with a
21:12
billion pounds, I want to be a billion in one like that.
21:15
That needs to be my goal. Because it's like, Andrew,
21:20
you're good at mountain running and technical running, but you
21:22
just roll your ankle on these easy runs all the time.
21:24
It's like, I know, man. I don't know what to tell you.
21:27
I don't know what to tell you. Yeah.
21:29
You know, I, I, every time I roll my ankle, it's just like
21:33
from doing something, it's a mental mistake.
21:36
Not like I'm very comfortable and confident running on rocks,
21:41
but when I'm lollygagging or looking at one thing or being
21:44
complacent, that's when I just slip up and my ankle just cracks
21:48
on itself. So I got to just get really
21:50
strong ankles. So maybe those are my 2
21:52
takeaways and maybe I need to learn it now and hopefully this
21:57
year it does not happen during the real trail season because
22:01
that would make me sad. We have a ton of traffic on this
22:05
road. People are looking at me and
22:07
people are looking at me because I'm just basically pulled off to
22:10
the side of the road. I'm trying to find a new spot.
22:12
I had to cut. You know, I have some spots that
22:14
I like to record, but I need to find some new spots around my
22:18
new spot, new spots around my new at home.
22:23
OK, so that was a little bit of the setbacks.
22:26
Uncertainty. Yeah, uncertainty and running.
22:32
I think if you are setting big goals, there needs to be an
22:37
element of I don't know if I can do it right.
22:40
Like if you think you can do it, it's it's just not big enough.
22:43
You're just not going big enough.
22:46
And so, you know, when you have an injury and you're thinking
22:50
like, wow, I, I don't even know if I can, you know, what if I
22:53
just keep getting injured and I can't make the things happen I
22:56
really think are going to make be made happen, you get a
23:00
negative spiral. That can be hard for me.
23:04
And, and so there's a lot of uncertainty when you get
23:07
injured. And then there's a lot of
23:08
uncertainty just in general when you're going for big goals.
23:11
And if you have these little setbacks, it, it digs into that
23:14
uncertainty. But I heard a quote from
23:16
somebody, I forget who it was, they were saying that successful
23:20
people, one of the biggest predictors of success is just
23:26
the ability to stay in the pocket, outlast uncertainty.
23:31
And I think I've really noticed this in my running with the
23:35
podcast, like everything that I've really been been striving
23:41
to get better AT and have like kind of goals for the ability to
23:45
overcome uncertainty. When you see someone who is
23:49
super gritty, wicked gritty, a Tara Dower, a Courtney do alter,
23:54
Larsen Ojala, we'll throw some local names in here, Someone
23:57
super gritty, right? They the grit is them just no
24:03
matter what I'm going to get through uncertainty.
24:07
So and a lot of the most successful people are these
24:09
gritty. So like that's one way to
24:11
describe people who get through uncertainty, Super gritty,
24:16
relentless. I think it's similar grit maybe
24:19
has more of like a he's they're injured or there's some sort of
24:22
ailment that are getting through.
24:24
But relentlessness is somebody who has a goal, takes it down.
24:29
It's like what's next? Never satisfied, right?
24:33
And when that person is never satisfied and they're just
24:35
building at these big goals, get big goals.
24:37
They're just constantly, I want a goal that I'm not sure that I
24:41
can reach. So relentless people are just
24:45
overcoming uncertainty. The park Ranger just looked at
24:48
me. People, I have psycho desire.
24:53
This is kind of like the Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant kind of
24:56
thing, but psycho desire and belief, people who just have
25:01
unbelievable belief like I, this is going to happen.
25:04
If you like UFC Iliotapourier, he puts his his wins and his
25:09
championships in his Instagram bio before he even goes out for
25:12
the fight. He says I already won.
25:14
I, I know this to be true. It's already winning.
25:16
Like those kind of people, a Conor McGregor, right back in
25:19
the day when he was just saying what he was going to do and
25:22
doing it. Those people when it's like, oh,
25:25
he can't, you know, there's a, there's a quote from Connor's
25:28
like he can't keep doing what he's saying he's going to do and
25:30
and keep doing what he's saying he's going to do.
25:32
Oh, here I am. I butchered that so bad.
25:34
I thought I could remember that. That was a real that's a long
25:37
time ago poll. But those people with insane
25:41
belief, they're just overcoming other people's uncertainty and
25:45
what they're going to do. And then optimistic people,
25:49
people that just that glass is always full, the water's always
25:53
warm, the Sky's always blue, it's raining, but maybe it'll
25:57
clear up. Those people are also just
25:59
outlasting uncertainty. And all of these people are like
26:03
the most successful people. So I, I really think in running,
26:08
there is going to be a lot of setbacks and uncertainty and
26:12
figuring out how to overcome that is a huge skill that you
26:17
need to flex the muscle and don't get too down because it's
26:22
not going to, it's not going to benefit you.
26:24
I don't know, try, try to try to just keep a positive mindset.
26:28
One quote that I have here and I almost was like, let me name the
26:31
podcast episode this it is the more I got to struggle is the
26:36
more I gain from J. Cole by J.
26:39
Cole. I think it's this new album.
26:41
I can't stop listening to it, but the more I got to struggle
26:44
is the more I gain this. It just came out of this new
26:48
album. You know, it's fairly recently,
26:50
but this is one thing that is stuck with me through all of my
26:54
kind of obstacles this last year.
26:56
I don't know why. I'm not really sure exactly what
26:59
it means, but I feel like I know what it means.
27:02
It's if you can just get through the struggle.
27:05
If you're struggling, you don't know why you're struggling.
27:09
You will know why one day and just take it as almost a gift,
27:15
right? It every all this stuff that
27:16
we're doing as a gift. Well, I don't know that we're
27:19
all the running stuff for sure is a gift.
27:21
I don't know. But you know, yeah, it's all a
27:25
gift, right? And, and and if you're
27:27
struggling, just know it's for some reason it's going to
27:31
slingshot you higher and farther than you think.
27:36
So if you're struggling and you don't know why, try to lean into
27:39
that. It's hard.
27:40
And I can't like it's easy to say like, oh, you know, it's
27:42
going to get better. Don't worry about it.
27:44
I very much get in the mindset of no, it's not sometimes.
27:48
And I think that's OK, but try to get small wins and pull
27:53
yourself out of it when you can. OK.
27:58
That was a setbacks in uncertainty.
28:00
I don't know how rambly that was.
28:01
I don't know if I get to rambly in this things like sometimes if
28:04
I don't have as many structure thoughts, I really just try to
28:07
wing some of this stuff. I I, I wing some of this stuff
28:13
and I don't know how it turns out, but that was that kind of
28:16
talk. I think I hit on pretty much
28:17
everything I want to hit on. So now we'll go into the white
28:20
dot effort. I kind of mentioned, you know a
28:23
couple times in here, but Unkanunik N Unkanunik time trial
28:29
up the white dot. We'd already told the stats.
28:33
I did it in eight O 2. We'll tell the stats again half
28:36
a mile .6 and do people are just honking at me.
28:41
I usually the mic is really good at cutting things out.
28:44
I think because it's such a nice day out.
28:46
People are just everywhere. This road isn't usually so busy,
28:49
but people are people are staring.
28:52
It's OK, stay in the pocket. Don't cut this out Andrew.
28:55
I don't have time to cut this out.
28:57
The white dot effort, .6 miles, 750 feet of climbing, 21% grade.
29:03
I did an 8O2 tied to crown. It's got to be the best way to
29:07
get a crown. No reason for this guy to come
29:09
back, Travis to come back. But I was happy with that effort
29:13
and like I said, it was a competitive time.
29:15
So Travis Mahonan, I've talked about him at least a few times,
29:19
maybe a handful of times in the podcast.
29:22
Dude is fast. I mean, all those Mononoke guys
29:24
are fast, but he is fast like elite speed.
29:30
He's had some crazy races. And so he ran this in August
29:34
2024, which in August 2024 he was ripping around.
29:39
I think it was the inaugural bald face scramble.
29:42
He crushed that. The 29 K went like 315 or
29:45
something ahead of some other fast people.
29:48
He came in third on race the cog, like 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 minutes
29:52
back of Remy LaRue Pro runner like crazy.
29:56
You know that that race is competitive.
29:58
There's always a few elite people that come out and run
30:01
that. I think in June of that year,
30:05
Travis set the Monadnock White dot Ascent record, which is
30:10
another really competitive 1. So to be in there with his, his
30:15
name is I'm I'm happy with it. I'm I am happy to tie.
30:19
That is good company, right? I think in his bio or just from
30:23
his description on Strava, he said was in the area for work.
30:27
Figured I would take a hike. So this that could be his first
30:31
time on the white dot. So obviously he has time to he
30:34
could improve that time and he was just hiking from his bio.
30:39
It's his, I mean, he no, no, no, he he sent it for sure.
30:43
But you know, who knows how much he really, you know, he, he did
30:46
a little run on that, but he, he had a good time on it and that
30:51
leaderboard. So I'm happy with it.
30:53
That leaderboard on Strava is stacked.
30:56
So we'll, this is kind of like how I, I don't know if this is
30:59
just like dropping local knowledge or how you can kind of
31:01
compare some things. But so Travis and I go 8O2, Nick
31:06
Agwalia, he I think he was from Manchester.
31:10
I don't know, he's on all the Unka Munich segments or I don't
31:14
know, golf sound stuff, but he's a he has the the next fastest
31:18
time like 822 I think, and he's a 222 marathoner.
31:23
I think he was the fastest New Hampshire, New Hampshire runner
31:26
in the Boston Marathon in 2017. He's got some top five, top five
31:31
and maybe a top ten at US trail champs like 30K10 KA couple of
31:37
these times. I was looking on his website.
31:39
He's a coach, so if you want to look at his website, but he has
31:43
some crazy times and and so that's good company.
31:47
I think he said when he ran it, you know, he was on a longer
31:50
run, but he said he he had PR to buy 40 seconds or something.
31:53
He was happy with it. So another fast person, Dylan
31:58
Schluse was on that board. He's a a Goffstown guy.
32:01
We've talked about when I did the the South on Konica Road
32:04
uphill effort. He's on every segment in
32:06
Goffstown. Ryan Fournier fast he ran at 830
32:11
something. Andy MC Gibbon was in the 8
32:14
somethings, Lyle Cortez, Connor Brown, lots of local crushers
32:19
fast all gave it goes. So this is a stack board.
32:22
I think you'd have like 450 Strava goes.
32:24
So I think it's probably the most popular trail at the
32:27
Yonkoneunix. So I was happy with the effort.
32:31
I mean, it's hard to compare like that's, you know, that's me
32:33
comparing to people. But also I really just went out
32:38
there. I warmed up for like a mile or
32:40
two, maybe a mile and 1/2 or two miles.
32:42
And then I just sent it. And then I went down and I, I
32:45
had to go to work. So like some of these people
32:47
will run the, the effort in, you know, and then run for like 8
32:53
more miles on like fast times. So it's like they're they
32:57
probably had more in the tank or maybe they didn't go as hard.
33:02
But I usually just if I'm going for like a time trial or a hard
33:05
effort, I just just record that effort and I don't know, I don't
33:11
know if I guess, I don't know how it maybe comes across for
33:16
me. I think sometimes if I, if I run
33:20
something and then, you know, run 10 more, 5 more miles or 10
33:22
more miles, it's it's an easy ish way to say or not say like,
33:27
oh, I probably could have gone harder or I probably could have,
33:31
you know, done better. Like it's almost like kind of
33:35
like a little bit of an excuse for me.
33:38
So I think when I'm just, it's pretty much me just saying like
33:41
I ran up this as fast as I I could that day.
33:44
That's I tried, I tried my hardest, you know, because that
33:48
was a really hard effort. So that's how I kind of like
33:50
look at that. So it's always hard to compare
33:52
like some of these guys. I'm sure everyone I just named
33:55
could go out there and take the crown, you know, So who knows?
34:00
And who knows if they will. I, I think cuz there's a few
34:04
things I want, I think I want to improve on.
34:07
I think that this will get to like 745 probably soon or
34:11
probably this year. I, I don't know, I think you
34:14
know, Ryan, Lyle, Connor, any, any of these unconnunic guys,
34:18
anyone I named on that board can just go out there and run it if
34:21
they, if they wanted to. So I'm just going to give some
34:26
insight on how to run it fast if anyone's listening and wants to
34:29
give it a go. The first thing I will say is I
34:33
thought I was under. I didn't look at the segment
34:36
before I ran it. I thought I was under by three
34:39
or five, three to five seconds. I was like, oh, I got that for
34:42
sure. And I came down.
34:43
So I was tired. I was like, Oh my gosh.
34:45
So this segment starts at the road or like tiny bit off the
34:49
road. And then I think it goes to like
34:53
almost the lookout point. And I really got to like the
34:56
lookout point and just kind of like stopped right there, which
35:00
you always want to run through a Strava segment at the end.
35:05
It sometimes if you just get to a summit and stay at the summit,
35:08
it won't log that you got out of the segment.
35:10
You're just clocking time. So if you're racing a Strava
35:13
segment and you get to a summit, go pass by like just like 30
35:17
feet, you know, I mean to make sure you get out of the segment
35:21
so your time gets going. And I I usually do that.
35:25
We'll look at the segment if I'm going to go for it.
35:27
But the the summit of the on community, like there's a sign
35:30
of the tree and it's kind of like that middle areas, the top.
35:33
So I just didn't think the segment went longer.
35:36
I don't think that I had some seconds in the segment, but it
35:40
wouldn't surprise me if I did. So if I do it again, I'm running
35:45
to like the start of the trail, the blue trailer, whatever it
35:48
is. So if you run this, make sure
35:50
you run through it hard so you get all the way through it.
35:53
That is 1 trick because it's hard.
35:56
Like I was in the red. So I was like, you know, just
36:00
dry breathing super hard, like lactic everywhere in my
36:04
eyeballs. But I swear that I was 750 like
36:07
8 or 9 like I thought I was. So whatever, that's one little
36:12
thing. The second thing I want to talk
36:15
about, I think my gap on the on my watch is off.
36:19
When I ran the Uncanoonic S, it said 450 gap, which I think made
36:24
sense because Dylan's time on that was a five O 8 gap and I
36:28
was like 20 seconds faster. So the guy that checks out and I
36:32
think when you're in a road with with no tree cover, you're going
36:37
to get better accuracy with your watch.
36:39
But this one, my gaps at 5:11 for the segment and Travis's
36:44
said 533. And then if you compare it to
36:48
like the the other people in the eights were like 540 something,
36:51
550 something. So I don't know, I don't think I
36:54
ran a 511 gap and now I'm like, oh, should I have not Like I
36:57
literally used the 450 gap in my title for one of the podcast.
37:02
Was that just a lie to you guys? I don't know.
37:05
What can I do? Am I watch?
37:06
It's a Garmins, which I feel like it's the one of the more
37:09
accurate watches as far as distance and elevation.
37:12
But I think my watch was a little bit, I don't know if it
37:15
was a 510 gap, but that makes sense because it was a steeper
37:18
climb, a little bit longer and rockier.
37:23
So I was just one thing I wanted to get out there.
37:26
Another thing that's hard about this climb, the beginning of it,
37:29
you get in, Anyone who goes to the has gone to the white dot
37:32
knows this. You get like a 30% thirty to
37:36
3540% little burst right at the beginning.
37:40
It's like the hardest, the steepest part of the white dot
37:42
is in the first little .1 miles. And so it's, it's hard to pace
37:48
that I think because you know when you start a race you want
37:51
to go out fast so you go up pretty fast.
37:52
But running like super fast, super steep at the beginning can
37:56
really take the wind out of your sails a little bit.
37:59
It reminds me of Race the Cog. I've been there a couple times.
38:02
I usually try to volunteer there or at least see the start of the
38:05
race and those guys like Joe Gray, Travis, Steven Kerr, if
38:11
he's there, like whoever's going in that going that race, they
38:15
just Sprint that first section that's super steep.
38:18
And I always think, Yikes. That has got to because there's
38:21
a certain when you start an effort, your heart rate's not up
38:24
yet, but the muscle, the toll it takes in your muscles and your,
38:28
the oxygen needed to, to do that work like you're breathing is
38:32
just going to immediately go maximum.
38:35
So when I was warming up, I went up at a couple times.
38:38
I was like, I don't know, do I just like hike this?
38:40
Do I run it slow? Like when I run it slow, it
38:42
still feels hard. So I might as well run it fast,
38:44
get it over with. The 30% grade at the beginning
38:47
is is tough. And that climb has about I think
38:52
maybe 4-5 of those little 30 to 35% grades where I I've done,
39:01
I've done a set a white dot send before, a couple of them before
39:04
and I've always just run the whole thing.
39:06
But this time I was like, you know what, just power hike those
39:09
steep sections. I have longer legs, like I'm a
39:13
taller, longer person. When you're trying to find
39:17
footholds, sometimes it just doesn't make sense.
39:19
Like I think staying with the momentum of running is always
39:22
better, but with the footholds and you're taking smaller steps,
39:26
like I'm just like you just power hike up this thing and get
39:28
back to running. So I mix in a little bit of
39:30
hiking on this effort, which I want to talk about.
39:33
I don't know which is faster. I honestly don't like when I was
39:37
trying that first section like seeing if running or hiking
39:40
would be faster and I finally ended up on hiking.
39:44
There was a party meal. It was like, ah, if I just run
39:46
it fast, I kind of get it over with.
39:47
And if you can recover it should be fine.
39:49
Like running is definitely it doesn't slow you down as much,
39:53
but it's less efficient. So I think for a short effort it
39:57
depends on your fitness. It depends on on the distance of
40:01
your like how long of an effort you're going to do uphill.
40:04
Like I think the grades going to change where you should break
40:06
from running to hiking if you're doing 10 minute uphill versus a
40:10
30 minute versus an hour versus an ultra, right?
40:13
There's going to be different breaks in grade where you should
40:15
run and hike. And it's more efficient too.
40:17
But the one thing I will say is transitioning from running to
40:22
hiking in a shorter effort can lose you time.
40:27
I think the momentum, it's a change of momentum.
40:30
So you kind of lose momentum. And then two, when I'm power
40:34
hiking and there is just red going through my body, my body
40:40
doesn't want to start running now, you know what I mean?
40:42
Like I think it's like, why would I run?
40:44
I'm, I'm, I feel horrible right now.
40:45
I'm not going to run. And so I think you probably like
40:49
lose a second every time you go from hiking to running because
40:52
you don't start running fast enough.
40:54
Like I know there were two, two points in particular.
40:58
You can always shave time, you know, seconds off an effort.
41:02
You can go back and think, where did I could I have made-up time?
41:04
But there were two times where I was like, I should be running
41:08
crap. I need to start running right
41:10
now. Like I should have already been
41:11
running. And I think on that one, just
41:14
going between hiking in and running 5 to 6 times probably
41:18
wasn't. I don't know.
41:19
I need to get better if I'm going to do that.
41:21
I need to as soon as that steepness breaks, be in a, in a,
41:26
in a running cadence. So I would do that, yeah.
41:33
And that was that. Those are kind of my takeaways,
41:36
takeaways from the effort. So like I said, super happy
41:38
about it. Those are some of the tricks to
41:40
do it faster. I think this effort is going to
41:42
go faster this year. I know Ryan said he wanted to go
41:44
this eventually this year. So we'll see.
41:49
We'll see. We'll see.
41:50
I think I there's definitely, you know, I took a down week and
41:54
then I have my ankle kind of flare up and then so I was a
41:56
little bit more, a longer taper for it.
42:00
OK, yeah, this was two things I want to talk about.
42:02
I, I, I don't think you have to taper for a super short and
42:06
uphill things as much like I didn't mean to taper for kind of
42:10
like a full week plus a little some.
42:12
That just was how my training lined up, the weather window
42:16
lined up and then the ankle played out.
42:18
So I think I wasn't as sharp as I should be.
42:20
Like I would have probably done a a little bit of a workout of
42:23
two or three days before to get the legs kind of prime for it.
42:26
So I think that that is something I could prove.
42:29
The night before I ate too much food.
42:31
I I I had a massive plate guys and I and I wasn't really up for
42:36
it and I ate it anyway. And then my more in the morning
42:41
I woke up, I ate a my breakfast for I didn't even start doing
42:44
gels been or anything like that. And I was full and I was like,
42:47
God, dude, this is not good. This is not good.
42:51
So I would, I don't know, I would eat a little bit less
42:53
food. I would not.
42:55
You don't really need to taper for for this stuff as much.
42:59
I'd be better about the running and hiking.
43:02
And then I probably just go a little bit harder.
43:04
I don't know. I went pretty hard.
43:06
I went pretty hard, but you can always go harder.
43:09
So that's what I would do for the white dot effort next time.
43:13
But OK, do do do I think that's a full first sheet.
43:17
So we're done there. Now we're going to get into a
43:20
couple more topics. So FKTSI want to talk about
43:24
FKTSA little bit. I mentioned I was looking at
43:28
FKTI want to do it. I wanted to go hard like I I
43:33
think I'm going to get better about having C efforts mixed in
43:38
like this. Doesn't you don't have to go
43:40
balls to the wall. I need to stop staying on this
43:42
podcast. I don't know why.
43:44
Why I say that I don't know. I don't think it's weird if I
43:46
didn't stop every time I said it and made it weird.
43:48
But when I'm thinking about the expression, then I just make it
43:52
weird. But I don't need to go balls to
43:54
the wall on 10 efforts a year. I really don't.
43:57
Especially in ultras. You got to have an A, maybe an
44:01
A2, A, you know, 2A races during a year, a couple BS and a couple
44:05
CS and treat them, treat them as just kind of like testers.
44:09
Like for this one, I was going to go hard, but I wasn't going
44:12
to kill myself on descent. Like, you know, I wasn't going
44:16
to risk getting hurt. I was just going to go
44:17
comfortably hard and see what I got.
44:21
So I think leaning into that this year, I'm going to do more
44:24
efforts overall. And if they're not my best foot
44:26
forward, that's OK. Your, your great effort forward
44:31
is still going to be good. Like you're going to probably
44:33
surprise yourself. I think I'm going to surprise
44:35
myself. So I'm going to do more of
44:36
those. And this FKT, it's not, it
44:41
wasn't, I won't say it wasn't super competitive.
44:44
I'll talk about it more when I do it eventually.
44:46
I don't know if I even want, you know, my gatekeeper right now is
44:49
that even I don't even know how to really use that word.
44:52
But I'm just not going to tell you right now.
44:54
I'll tell if I see in person, I'll tell you, but I'm just not
44:56
going to put it out there, I guess.
44:57
But I it's not, it's not a competitive time.
45:05
Like there was no kind of question in my mind that I would
45:08
get it or I was capable of getting well under it, which is
45:12
fine. But I think it raises the
45:13
question for me of the FKTS in the White Mountains and in in
45:18
New England. There are, and I've talked about
45:21
this once before, I think there's a ton of FKTS.
45:25
It's almost overwhelming. It's hard to track.
45:29
I have a full, hopefully comprehensive list that I want
45:33
to kind of keep track of this year and talk about when people
45:36
go after things. But there's so many of them,
45:39
it's kind of hard to hard to to wrap your brain around.
45:42
And it's hard to know which ones are, you know, obviously you can
45:44
look at who random, what the times are and see how
45:46
competitive they are. But I think there are some FKTS
45:50
where nobody wants to do them because nobody has done them
45:55
right. And once you create an FKT, it's
45:58
on the website, we got a million FK TS.
46:01
I'd be hesitant to be like creating new FK TS all the time.
46:05
But I think, and I've come around on this a little bit, we
46:08
should just start filling up these FK TS that we do have.
46:12
And so if an FKT kind of has a soft time or somebody has kind
46:16
of done it faster but it hasn't submitted or whatever, I think
46:20
people should be submitting. I think people should be going
46:23
after these and let's just make them competitive guys.
46:28
There's a mill. There's a lot of strong runners
46:31
in New England. We all know that.
46:34
Lots of strong runners, like elite level men's, women's,
46:39
mountain runners, that if they go RIP a route, there you go, we
46:44
got a good time on it. So I think not being afraid of
46:48
FKTS because they haven't been touched or no one had some of
46:50
these FKTS, they have no times. So like, do I want to be the guy
46:54
that goes out there with no time and takes an FKT?
46:58
I think before I'd be like Nah, but now I think yes.
47:02
You know what, yes, if I go out there and I put a mediocre time
47:07
or, or I just go for a decent run and I submit for an FKT and
47:10
then it encourages someone else to, hey, you have a time to go
47:14
to go beat this guy's talking about his podcast.
47:17
He keeps blurring these crowns in these thumbnails.
47:19
I'm going to go take it. I think that is net good for
47:22
trail running in New England. So you know what, I'm going to
47:25
take a stand. I'm going to start doing more
47:27
FKT efforts and I'm not going to like cherry pick a ton because
47:31
my I do really, you know, I'm still I'm not going to I always
47:35
want to put my best foot forward and I'm not just going to start
47:37
racing all the time. But I think it's something like
47:40
this year, I mean, the trail scene is growing.
47:43
Lots of money coming into the big races.
47:46
The White Mountains throw down has been a huge kind of eye
47:49
opener of what we have in the whites.
47:51
Let's this year start putting down more times.
47:54
And if you do it, I'm going to I'm going to talk about it.
47:56
So maybe there's some incentive right there.
47:59
So that's my kind of like FKT talk for the year.
48:02
Hopefully I get to do that that podcast that I want to do
48:06
sometime this spring or summer, but we'll see.
48:09
We'll see. I want to do a quick.
48:13
So I got a message from Emily Thompson, who is a hiker, and
48:18
she said she's finishing her grid this weekend, which is
48:21
awesome. Congratulations.
48:23
That's a huge effort. Don't know what number we're up
48:26
to Two. Only 200 people have done that.
48:29
Ton of time hiking, ton of time driving.
48:32
Grid finishers are grid gritty. She said she's thinking about
48:38
finishing on bond. And when when I had the podcast
48:42
with was it, Yeah, my mom, we talked about what was the most
48:45
finished grid peak and some of the other the least finished
48:48
grid peaks. And some of the peaks haven't
48:51
had grid finishes because you do them with other peaks.
48:54
And it sounds like the bonds, she's going to finish out on the
48:59
bonds this weekend. And she was like, I'm a Bush
49:02
rat, whack around Bond, get West Bond or I would assume or I
49:07
don't know if she would be go for Lincoln Woods or the other
49:09
way. I'll get Bond Cliff, Bond Cliff
49:13
and then go back and finish on Bond.
49:14
Be the first person to finish on Bond.
49:16
So when you can't when this is coming out, I think it's
49:19
happening this weekend, unless I like misinterpreted something
49:22
could have the first Bond grid finisher.
49:25
So shout out Emily and shout out Mount Bond.
49:29
So that was a quick note. And then love on the Spectrum
49:32
talk. Yeah, we'll do a quick love on
49:35
the spectrum talk. Before we get into the race
49:37
results. I have to check if this is
49:39
overheating. No, No, No, No.
49:42
No. Yeah.
49:43
No, no, no. This is fine.
49:46
OK. Love on the spectrum talk.
49:50
I started watching this. Me and Jocelyn started watching
49:54
this last year. Or she had watched it.
49:56
She got me into it. I don't know what seasons I had
49:59
watched. I, I don't really know all the
50:01
people's names, but I watched a good chunk of it last year and
50:06
then didn't finish a season or up to the end.
50:08
And then the new season is on, I think, or it was on somewhat
50:12
recently. And so I've we've been watching
50:16
and I have a few. I don't even have any notes for
50:18
this. I'll just give you my, my
50:20
thoughts on the season. I think, I think, I think
50:27
Madison and the Cowboy, they Madison, the cowboy and Connor
50:34
for me are they keep the show. They propelled the show to what
50:41
it is. I mean, I think those are the
50:43
staples stories that I like following.
50:46
Honestly, I guess the the I'm just going to end.
50:48
This is no, I just this is how I remember the people's names.
50:50
So I'm bad at the names, the the Cowboys, Madison and the cowboy.
50:57
They their relationship is so like good and smooth and they're
51:02
both like, I mean, I love it. He's just like, Oh yeah, baby,
51:06
like every everything. I definitely will drop that once
51:08
in a while. It's a good line.
51:10
He just so go with the flow and and Madison is like, I mean, you
51:15
know, the dolls are a little bit for me.
51:18
I'm not a doll person like like a lines of dolls that maybe is a
51:22
little bit creepy, but like, I think she's got it together.
51:26
She is with it, you know, I, I think she is a, she is a when
51:31
they put her on the date with that guy who couldn't even
51:35
really look at her, I felt bad. It was a mismatch.
51:39
I think some of the, some of the dates just the miss.
51:41
It's kind of like a little bit of a mismatch, but I think those
51:44
two are a good match. And it's almost like the
51:47
relationship's so good. There's no storylines.
51:50
You know, like they they recently this season that the
51:52
parents were just kind of talking all about it and their
51:55
love and all this stuff. So there's no storylines.
51:57
But I guess the big storyline. And I don't know if this is a
52:00
spoiler. I don't think it is.
52:01
I think we saw it in the preview or maybe I saw it on Instagram.
52:06
I think, OK, if you don't want to spoil it till the end of the
52:10
seasons of Love on the Spectrum, just stop talking.
52:14
I think they he proposes at the end of the season.
52:16
I'm pretty sure. So I guess this.
52:19
So I guess that's like a good, you know, good end of the story.
52:21
But I think they're elite. I think he's probably want like
52:24
he's just he just seems like a great guy, a good dude.
52:28
He knows his cars too. He gets on the radio talk.
52:32
Yeah, they I don't know where they were, but they oh, they
52:34
went to the place of the figurines and and he's he gets
52:38
on the radio and I'm and I told Josh I'm like, he just he just
52:42
did a pro radio call. What was that?
52:44
And he was like, that's his job. I was like, Oh my gosh, that
52:46
makes sense. And then he's going through his
52:49
NASCAR cars and talking about this is Jimmy Johnson follows in
52:52
that 94 race, blah, blah. He knows his stuff.
52:57
So fan of them. Connor he he can be all over the
53:01
place. But I I think if I had to pick
53:04
one person to hang out with for from a day on the show and I
53:08
think that I would just get along with so well and he'd make
53:10
me laugh. Is Connor.
53:12
I think he's just he's passionate about funny things.
53:16
I'm a little when I started watching it, I think I was
53:19
getting out of Game of Thrones. So I was very much appreciative
53:22
of like the sort like he knew knows all the swordsman's the
53:25
nights, the night stuff. It's and I was in that mode of
53:29
like that is that is badass, that kind of stuff.
53:31
You know, riding a horse with a sword on your on your hip after
53:34
you watch Game of Thrones all the way through.
53:36
It is badass. So I think he's on the money
53:39
there. And the one I don't, this is the
53:42
one moment that I remember most of Connor, but Connor, and I
53:45
think he is a fan favorite Connor and the way he talks, he
53:49
talks like he's, he is the narrator of a of a dramatic
53:53
movie all the time. And in the one line 2, I feel
54:00
bad. But when they were speed dating
54:03
that one time, like I don't know what season it was And and he's
54:07
feeling and oh, do you do you like nature by any chance?
54:14
I, I think I'm more of a city person.
54:15
I think I'm more of a city person.
54:16
And he just goes and then he takes out his form and marks off
54:23
on her name. No.
54:25
And then the cameraman goes hey, hey, Connor.
54:29
Are you filling that out in front of them?
54:32
Oh, am I not supposed to? No, Dude.
54:36
Yeah. I feel bad for that girl,
54:37
Connor. That was that was messed up,
54:38
dude. But that is a good question.
54:43
I I don't, you know, city. Hey.
54:45
City people with city people. Nature people with nature
54:47
people. Do you like nature, by chance?
54:49
I don't think so. OK, yeah, that that's Connor, I
54:57
think. Who who else is on the on the
54:59
show? Oh, Oh, the the guy who wants to
55:05
be on the streets. I forget his name, but he he he
55:08
maybe he's probably my favorite new character from this year.
55:12
He comes in literally the nicest bubbliest guy, the nicest
55:19
bubblest guy and he immediately is like my names, whatever, I I
55:23
belong on the streets, I belong on the streets.
55:26
And then he just like says the kindest things and nicest things
55:29
that you're like, so and then the first date that that he went
55:35
on, it's like they they roll up and before they show anybody,
55:38
it's like an old western scene. It's a kind of like, you know,
55:41
tumbleweed badass kind of vibe to it.
55:43
Some some dramatic music. And I just go to Joss and I'm
55:46
like, is this is this that guy? Is this that guy?
55:49
And she's like, no, it's not, it's not.
55:50
And then it's him and he's got handcuffs on his belt to meet
55:53
this girl. Oh my God, dude.
55:56
That had me cracking up. That was so good.
56:00
The other one too. And I don't know if I should be,
56:03
you know, I'll call it out. I'll just call it how I see it.
56:07
Is he a liar about the TV? The first scene when, when he's
56:13
introducing himself, he's like, I watch TV right here all day,
56:16
every day. And then he goes to turn it on
56:19
and he's home alone all day. So he's like very dependent,
56:23
independent, sounds like he just is, is at home running the place
56:28
for most of the day. He goes, this is where I watch
56:31
TV all day every day, and he can't turn it on.
56:34
And I'm thinking like, what is going on with this remote?
56:37
And then there was something else that he couldn't turn on.
56:39
So I don't know if that was a little bit of a fib.
56:42
We'll let it slide. But but yeah, that was cracking
56:45
me up. And then were there any other
56:47
storylines? Oh, he got the call on the
56:49
phone. You know, he asked a girl on a
56:51
second date. They said yes and and then he
56:55
got a call and she said no, she's not ready for a
56:57
relationship, which honestly is just like you went on a date,
57:01
you knew about the show. It's just, you know, you letting
57:04
her down, letting him down. That stuff is sad When it
57:07
doesn't work out. It is it is very sad.
57:10
This is a very wholesome, feels good show when it goes good in a
57:16
sad show when it goes bad. Oh my God.
57:19
Speaking of bad, who was that girl?
57:21
Oh, kind of like the bubbly redheaded girl who sings the
57:24
song about the Princess. And then for the first minute
57:28
and a half, it's just like the Princess has no one, No one's
57:31
coming. So sad.
57:33
She pulled it around was like, I'm going out and doing it on my
57:36
own. Like I don't need anybody, which
57:38
was kind of baller. But that, that was very sad.
57:41
But when we were watching that in real time, the first half.
57:45
All right, So that was a little bit of love on the spectrum
57:48
talk. We're going to finish this up
57:50
with some race previews, 2 race previews and two race results.
57:55
So we'll go race preview for this weekend, the Trap Rock 50K
58:01
in Connecticut. Saturday the 18th, it's a 50K
58:05
and a 17. Miller.
58:06
Here's the description that I pulled from AI or Google or
58:10
whatever taking place in Bloomfield and Simsburg,
58:14
Connecticut. So it must be like a loop that
58:16
goes through both towns 'cause I'm like, hey, hey Gemini.
58:19
I don't think they we usually say, I think it's usually like
58:22
you just say what town it starts in.
58:24
But anywho, Bloomfield in Simsburg, Connecticut.
58:27
This race features a dis distinguishly Oh my God gosh, I
58:36
wrote this down a distinguishly beautiful three mile loop course
58:43
primarily along technical single track of the Metacomic trail.
58:48
It is known for its steep power line climbs and rugged terrain.
58:53
That's trap rock 50K. I think in Connecticut it's a
58:58
lot of looped races because I would assume these conservation
59:00
areas aren't very large. That's why a lot of these ultras
59:04
have to be looped. But I don't know that is what it
59:07
is. There's so much traffic today.
59:09
I hope this all edits out the TAR and then the second race,
59:14
this is on Sunday the 19th. The TARC don't run Boston. 50K50
59:19
Miller held at Blue Hills reservation in Milton, Mass,
59:24
this no frills cult classic is a free self supported event where
59:30
navigation is just as challenging as the blank
59:34
unmarked trails rolling unmarked trails.
59:37
I got it. So this is for people that don't
59:39
want to do Boston on the Sunday they go run a 50K or A50 mile
59:43
kind of on your own. I love free races, DIY, good
59:45
community. I feel like there's a big Tark
59:47
race people run this and for all the TARC previews, and I said
59:52
this before, I need to just stop saying Patrick, Karen, Patrick,
59:55
Karen, Patrick, Karen. From what I know from talking to
59:59
Patrick, I don't know exactly the number, but he wants to run.
1:00:03
I don't know if it's consecutively, but he wants to
1:00:06
run like 50 Boston Marathons. Like there's a a handful of
1:00:09
people that have run like 50 marathons and he wants to run
1:00:13
50, which is super cool, but what does that mean?
1:00:17
He's that means that if you want a Patrick Karen free race, you
1:00:22
don't have to worry about him flying to the first base finish.
1:00:25
You're trying looking at that first base spot and you want to
1:00:28
eat maybe a pick em, go to the don't run Tark right or don't
1:00:33
run Boston Tark event because he if he's running Boston the next
1:00:36
day, he he cannot race it. So there's a little Tark race
1:00:42
hack potentially, but OK, we're going to wrap this up with some
1:00:47
race results. So we're going to do the run
1:00:50
across Connecticut 123 Miller that we previewed the first
1:00:55
overall finisher overall. Jen Higgins, she runs a 2634,
1:01:01
which I'm trying to think that is a fast 123 miles.
1:01:05
That is a fast 123 miles, 26 hours flying.
1:01:10
I think it's a lot on roads, but that's fast so she comes in
1:01:14
first. The 2nd place female is my
1:01:17
Mayera. Mayera Miakaro.
1:01:23
Oh my gosh, I'm I'm sorry, I can't.
1:01:26
It's just my handwriting on this one too. 3352 she comes in
1:01:30
second. Stephanie Stone Breaker.
1:01:32
She comes. 3534 I saw the name Stone Breaker and was like, that
1:01:37
is Baller. That is baller.
1:01:39
If you want a tough mountain running name Stone Breaker.
1:01:45
She comes in 3rd, 1st overall. Bertram Johnson runs a 2649, so
1:01:52
he comes in second overall. First place men.
1:01:55
He wins it for the men's second place.
1:01:57
Ryan O'boyle, 30 hours 59 minutes.
1:02:00
Third place. Matt Burrell, 34 hours 23
1:02:03
minutes. That was a run across
1:02:05
Connecticut. And then last but not least,
1:02:08
definitely not least cause a couple people showed out for
1:02:11
this race. Mount Toby 50K 1st place
1:02:15
overall. Mead bin Hammer 4/15.
1:02:19
He wins it by 22 minutes. That dude is fast.
1:02:23
I think we talked about it on the Connor Brown episode.
1:02:25
He had a crack and run at A at ACCC.
1:02:27
He is super fast, as fast as they come in New England, he
1:02:33
runs a crazy fast race and he goes 2nd place.
1:02:35
Matt Pacheco 437 Matt Pacheco is really fast.
1:02:39
So to beat Matt Pacheco by 22 minutes meets fast and had a
1:02:42
good day. And then third overall winner
1:02:45
for the females is Britta Clark, Pemi loop, FKT holder.
1:02:50
Britta Clark. I think she went to UTMB this
1:02:53
year. I don't think she had as good of
1:02:55
the day she had hoped, but she went to UTMB with eyes on.
1:02:59
I mean probably a top ten. I don't know what her her plans
1:03:02
are, but she as is super fit and can take down anything and I'm
1:03:06
sure she wants to go back to UTMB.
1:03:08
She comes in first five O 7. We'll round out the 3rd place
1:03:12
men Benjamin Morse. He runs 518 and then second
1:03:16
place Livi female Livi Weld 635 and then third place Kate Moore
1:03:23
656. That was the Mount Toby 50K
1:03:27
results. And those are all of my note
1:03:30
sheets today. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this
1:03:35
episode, catch you catch you up on kind of some of the stuff
1:03:39
that I'm going through. The stoke for the trail season
1:03:43
was put out, was extinguished with maybe that last bit of cold
1:03:47
front that came in. But it is growing again.
1:03:50
I'm feeling good. I had a 2 hour run today after
1:03:55
yesterday, which I did the did the white dot and then the I did
1:04:00
an hour bike it in the afternoon.
1:04:01
So I think things are OK. It's it's sore, but it's OK.
1:04:04
We're going to salvage our training plan.
1:04:06
We're going to salvage the hype for the year.
1:04:07
It's going to be good. And what was the one thing I
1:04:11
want to say to to end it? Trail season caught you for
1:04:16
where I was. We went to results.
1:04:17
Oh yeah. Next week we're going to have a
1:04:20
guest. We got guest lined up.
1:04:23
Would you say that lots of Crusher, Slugger, Mountain Goer
1:04:29
guests that are going to be coming on the podcast at the
1:04:34
hype of the trail season beginning of it, It's going to
1:04:37
be awesome. Stay tuned.
1:04:41
This is me doing a bad outro. I can't do the outro, guys.
1:04:43
I can't do the outro. I cannot do the outro.
1:04:47
We'll see you next week. Thanks for watching Peace Boom
1:04:52
boom.