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Mt. Ascutney Vertical Backyard Reaction · Run Mountain Peaks

0:00
All right, welcome back to another episode of Run Mountain
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Peaks. Today we're talking about the
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Scutney Vertical Backyard insanity, which took place last
0:12
weekend. Connor Brown, the first
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finisher, built the assist on a 200 mile, 100,000 feet of
0:24
climbing and descent jaunt that they went on 90 straight hours
0:31
of running up and down mountain Scutney at the inaugural race
0:37
took the world by storm. So we got a lot to talk about, a
0:40
lot of thoughts on that on that event and I don't think anyone
0:44
was expecting that to happen at this event.
0:46
So we have a lot to touch on. We'll go through it all next.
0:50
We're going to do a JFK recap. We'll do that quick.
0:54
One of the big road race ultra marathons, but some fast times
0:59
again this year. So we'll do a quick recap on
1:01
that. We're going to discuss some
1:03
training topics today. There's a few.
1:07
So I've been taking this ultra running coach certification
1:10
course and there's a few things that I want to touch on some
1:15
some good topics that I think are are good to hammer home.
1:18
So we'll just touch on a few training topics today and then
1:22
Thanksgiving weekend. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.
1:26
I got a hot take. I think Thanksgiving food is
1:31
mid. I think it's average.
1:33
I got I got some takes on Thanksgiving food.
1:35
So we'll do that. And then we're going to do,
1:39
haven't talked about this in a few weeks, but we'll do a deer
1:42
season wrap up update. Probably the last, the last time
1:47
this fall. We'll talk about it, but we'll
1:49
do a quick update on that. And that's what we got today for
1:53
the podcast. This morning I went on Mount
1:55
Mousselock. It was cold, it was windy, but
1:59
the trails are pretty good conditions actually.
2:01
Yeah, at the end of this podcast, too, I'm going to do a
2:03
Mount Moosa lock trip report, trail condition trip report.
2:07
So if you want live trail conditions in the White
2:11
Mountains, we'll throw that in at the end.
2:14
So that's what we got today. And yeah, I when I signed the
2:20
lease for the studio, I didn't know it didn't have heat, you
2:24
know, no heating system back here.
2:27
Yeah, no, I don't know what we're going to do this winter.
2:29
I think we're just going to have to keep ripping the podcast in
2:31
the in the in the truck bed and just keep layering up this
2:34
winter. But it's pretty cold today.
2:36
It's not too, too cold, but I got a bunch of layers on.
2:40
If you're, if you're watching the podcast on YouTube, go check
2:43
out the YouTube. We need Subs.
2:45
OK, Mount escutney, vertical backyard ultra.
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I'm sure people have been seeing this on on social media.
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It was fun to track. It was a long four days of
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tracking, but I'll do a quick you know, what is this event?
3:02
This was the inaugural event, I believe for this whole.
3:07
So it it was put on by Northeast Trail adventures, Justin Chapman
3:12
and Eli Barakian. It sounds like they're starting
3:15
up a running retreat and race a Northeast race brand.
3:21
Will you say or, or, or company, whatever.
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And so this, I believe that this was their first race that they
3:28
put on. And so I was checking out, you
3:32
know, I heard about it from a few people checked out.
3:34
They have a website and they got some a good A-Team over there at
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Northeast Trail Adventures. And I think they did some
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running retreats this year. And then this was the first
3:45
race. I don't see any other races on
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the website. So I think this was the first
3:48
race that they're putting on and we did a preview for this a
3:52
couple weeks ago. There were some crushers on this
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ultra sign up entrance list and there was a lot of hype behind
4:01
this race. Like I said, talked to a few
4:03
people about it. The word was getting out.
4:06
It was a backyard format, so it was every hour on the hour.
4:11
The runners had to complete a loop instead of doing the
4:15
typical backyard format of 4.2 miles an hour.
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So it's 100 miles every 24 hours.
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This was an Everest thing event and more of a vertical backyard.
4:30
So what does that mean? Every hour the contestants, the
4:35
entrance ran 1200 vertical feet. I think it was 2.2 miles, which
4:41
if you do that for 24 straight hours, you have 29,000 feet of
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climbing. So the equivalent of an Everest.
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So it was a single day Everest and it was a backyard ultra.
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So there was no, there's no finish line.
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You just go until there's one person left.
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And so there were, there were lots of crushers in this list,
5:01
in the ultra sign up list and people got excited about this.
5:05
There was lots of training that occurred on on Mount Escutney
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and people were were going all out for this event.
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My prediction for this event, I think I said in the podcast last
5:15
week or two weeks ago, I thought I'd go maybe 38 hours.
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I think that was my final. The winner was going to go 38
5:21
hours. The race directors came out and
5:23
said they thought that this race would be over by by 40 hours.
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They thought maybe somewhere in the 30s talking to Clark
5:30
Plummer, he goes his guess was I think it was 35 or 36 hours.
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So a day and a half straight 30 to 40,000 feet of climbing like
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that is that should win you a vertical backyard ultra, right?
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Wrong. That was we were all dead wrong.
5:49
So the winner like I said earlier, Connor Brown with the
5:53
assist by Bill Ted, they ended up so Connor did 90 hours, 90
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laps up and down Mount Escutney. The total, I think it was 202 or
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two hundred 212. I haven't pulled up here and
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here, but over 200 miles, 100,000 feet of ascent and
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descent. That's the craziest part.
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That's kind of what I just kept saying to myself.
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They just did 100,000 feet of climbing and descent.
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Some ultra runners don't even get that much gain in a year.
6:29
If if you do more flatter races, you don't get in the mountains a
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lot. 100,000 feet is a lot of climbing and they did that
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straight for for 90 hours. And some other people put up
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some crazy times too. So we'll go through the whole
6:44
results list. But when I first heard that, I
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was thinking my first thought process was was, oh man, they're
6:53
still going. So I was kind of tracking the
6:55
race and on Monday, I think that was the start of day three and,
6:59
and Connor and Bill were still going.
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I'm thinking, Oh my God, what is going on?
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And I'm thinking, did they did they make this course too easy?
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And then I'm thinking, no, it's your Everest thing in 24 hours.
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That is a very hard feat. A lot of people try to Everest
7:18
like that on skis or you hike up and take the gondola down.
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These guys did it on foot. Hiking slash running up and down
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and 100,000 feet up is is insanity.
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But 100,000 feet descent is just a massacre on the leg muscles.
7:41
Eccentric contractions destroy your leg muscles, your quads,
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they burn out that. I mean, it is just unbelievable
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to think about that they descended 100,000 feet.
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To put that into perspective, I think lots of the 200 mile races
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out there, Tahoe, 200, Moab, Coca Dona, they all have about
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200. You know, they're all 2 to 250
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miles with like 40 to 50,000 feet of climbing.
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So they did a 200 Miller with double the climbing of all of
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these ridiculous races, just, you know, just bonkers.
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And as this event progressed, like I said, nobody expected
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this race to go this long. So we'll we'll pull up the
8:30
results here and talk about how how did this possibly happen,
8:36
right? How did this happen?
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And we'll talk about Connor and Bill a little bit more.
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But yeah, so this race if, like I said, if you go 24 hours,
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you're an Everest finisher and there were a bunch of people
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that Everest, I think that's OK. So we have 1234 and then, OK,
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hold on, we're going to do some counting here.
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Bear with me, folks. So we had four on the first
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sheet and then the last sheet 12345678910111213141516.
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OK, so that's 20. So I think 20 people didn't
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Everest, which is absolutely insane.
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We'll go through all the names at the end, but 20 people didn't
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Everest of this at this event, which is a ton of vert.
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Congrats to everybody grass to anyone who did bivert.
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Yeah, there were seven people that just did the 24 hours they
9:30
didn't Everest boom from there. Three people and we'll just go
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through. We'll read those names quick,
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honestly. So the the Everest finishers,
9:41
Noah Jensen, Genis, sorry, holy holy crap.
9:45
Noah Genis, Lyle Cordes, Andrew Suarez, they did in Everest in
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2424 hours. And then Leila Godreault,
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Bryan's SV, Will Peterson, Rob Rives, all did Everest and they
10:02
bailed it 24 hours. So those were people that were
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probably just in it for for 24 hours and they said, all right,
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that's good enough for me. The next there were three more
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people who did an extra lap. So Peter Gurney, William Wren,
10:17
Kevin Lasko, they did an extra lap.
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Two more people did another one. Cal Hale.
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Jesse Earserman. I'm horrible at pronouncing just
10:25
words in general, so I'm sorry if I'm butchering any of this.
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Then somebody else did two more laps.
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Tom Dumakis, then we got Peter Benito, he did 36,000 feet of
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climbing and then we had two people, Lance Parker and Tori
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Constantine, they did 44,000 feet of climbing and at that .4
10:47
people, four people are left. So this is 37 hours in.
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So I think at this point in the race everybody kind of was
10:54
thinking it would be close to over.
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But no, you got 4 crushers who are still in this race.
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So at the 37 hour mark you had four people left.
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It was Seth Richardson, Amber, Constant, Bill, Ted and Connor
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Brown. Seth ended up doing 50 hours,
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60,000 feet of climbing. Amber ended up doing 64 hours,
11:17
77,000 feet of climbing. So substantially more than those
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people in the 30 hour range and Northeast Trail ventures did a
11:26
little write up and they said, first of all, Seth Richardson, I
11:29
don't think he's ever done 100 mile race.
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That's what I think it said in the in the post.
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He ended up doing 60,000 feet of climbing.
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That's definitely over 100 miles.
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Is that maybe like 120 a 130 miles, which is just an insane
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100 mile to do for her first one.
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So he comes out of nowhere and it's just absolute slugfest.
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And then Amber Constant, who she's had a crazy year doing
11:53
some long distance stuff. She started the year doing the
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New Hampshire section of the AT getting the overall FKT on that
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men's and women's overall FKTI think that was over three days.
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So the hardest section of the AT through the White Mountains
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includes the Whites 100 adds on 10 or 20 miles towards the main
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border and then adds on the Dartmouth 50.
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She does that earlier in this in the year, putting up big, I
12:23
think she trained big volume before that effort, just doing a
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lot of a lot of hiking and and crazy mileage.
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Then I think a few months later she comes back and does the
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White Mountains 100 yo-yo, which is 200 miles.
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I think a little yeah, it's a little bit 30 or 40 miles longer
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than the AT effort with more climbing I'm sure, which is just
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insanity. I mean, thinking about, I mean,
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a lot of people just don't even want to do that route because
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it's too hard. And doing a yo-yo is just, I
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don't, I don't know if I, I definitely don't want to do it,
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but just crazy mileage. And then she comes to a scutney
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and does 77,000 feet of vert. So just a crusher pushing the
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envelope goes for 64 straight hours, so almost three straight
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days. So at 64 hours, Amber drops out,
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Connor Brown and Bill Tit are are left standing.
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And I'm sure Justin and Eli, the race directors are thinking, Oh
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my God, we thought we'd be out of here a day ago.
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We thought we would be wrapped up with this event one day ago.
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This is bleeding into the work week.
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And they, they commented, yeah, they're they're taking vacation
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time. They're not expecting to be out
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here. And for the next 26 hours,
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Connor and Bill just go at it lap for lap.
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Just insane. 26 straight hours of going heads up against each
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other doing these laps until finally, I think the story is
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they were both still going strong, but I think Bill got a
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little lost on one of the loops. It was foggy.
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His brain was obviously scrambled eggs at this point.
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You know, when you start going so long, your brain just kind of
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starts tricking you. You start thinking weird things.
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I don't know if he was doing any hallucinations, but he got spun
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around. I guess he was 3 minutes from
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the finish line and convinced himself he was on the wrong
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trail. So he turned around and went
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back up and ended up missing the cut off.
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So that is just honestly, that's heartbreaking.
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And I think it kind of stinks that it came to an, you know,
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that this race came to an end like this, like that just being
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more of a mental mistake as opposed to physically or just
14:36
emotionally giving out. But that's all part of it. 1,
14:40
You know, that is a huge part of these long distant ultras, like
14:43
your brain staying with it. And so it happens.
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And so I don't think anyone was like pumped that that was the
14:48
way it ended. But that's the way it ended.
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Built it with the assist. And then Connor Brown goes out
14:54
for his final lap or yeah, the lap that that built it DNF came
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in late and and Connor is the winner with 108,000 feet of
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climbing. And yeah, I mean, it kind of,
15:08
it's kind of like the, you know, 5 or so years ago when the
15:11
Chiefs and Bills had that crazy playoff game.
15:13
And then the Chiefs get get the coin toss, they win it on a
15:16
touchdown. The Bills don't get a second
15:18
chance. It's kind of something like that
15:21
where it's or last year. These are just football
15:23
references. It's football season right now
15:26
when the when the Ravens are storming back in the playoffs,
15:29
awesome game. And then Mark Andrews just
15:31
dropped his touch a touchdown. It's a little bit heartbreaking
15:34
because these two athletes, you know, what would they have done
15:38
if Bill didn't get turned around?
15:40
What were their bodies capable of?
15:42
Like, would they have? Would they have got 100 hours?
15:45
You know, we don't know. But like I said, miss turns
15:50
mental gain. That's all part of this ultra.
15:52
This is all part of it. So I don't think, oh, he, you
15:55
know, somebody got unlucky. I think that's just part of it,
15:58
how it goes. And and you know, Connor was a
16:00
little mentally more locked into the trail at the end of it.
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So that's how it turned out. And and as this was unfolding,
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like I said, people are at work. This is this is Monday.
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I go into work. I'm like, Oh my God, he's still
16:15
these guys are still going right now.
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I'm getting honestly a little bit nervous because when you
16:22
think of going for for 3 1/2 almost four days, I'm more my
16:27
background is more of the the shorter distance ultras.
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I haven't done any multi day ultras.
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And so I think the through hikers, the multi day ultra
16:37
scene, the long trail, the White Mountains, 100, the White
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Mountains, Deirotissima supported 4K Appalachian Trail,
16:46
Tour de genres, all of these multi day efforts.
16:50
I don't have any experience racing them, but it seems like
16:53
what happens is is after you go a couple days, your body has
17:00
either has either given out, you have some sort of nagging injury
17:04
or or you don't and it and it really turns to a mind game and
17:08
you know who has more willpower and who's just going to keep
17:12
going. Like I said, a 100,000 feet to
17:16
the quads is just insane. But it feels like there's a bell
17:20
curve to these events where the first day, day and a half and
17:24
when you get into two days, you're probably peeking at if
17:29
you have an injury, you had something bugging you or your
17:31
muscles are kind of sore and giving out.
17:34
They're they're just going to give out.
17:37
But once you get for a couple days, I think your body starts
17:40
to adjust and says this is just what we're doing.
17:44
We're, we're going on minimal sleep.
17:46
We tried to get this guy to stop.
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But it, you know, the brain saying this, we try to get this
17:51
guy to stop. He won't stop.
17:53
So we just go into survival mode and it just becomes a test of
17:58
who wants it more. So the world, the backyard world
18:02
champs earlier this year, which I kind of talked about, they
18:05
went for 4 1/2 straight days of running 4.2 miles every hour,
18:13
sleeping a couple minutes and then going again.
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So 4 1/2 straight days on minimal, minimal sleep.
18:20
And I think if you want it bad enough, your body just adjusts
18:24
and it will go. It's like your body's the, your
18:27
mind is the general, your body's the soldier who is just going to
18:30
tell them where we are just going.
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I don't care how it feels. That's kind of what it felt
18:37
like. And on Monday when I'm watching
18:40
this event, I'm thinking I don't know if either these neither of
18:42
them are gonna quit, right? Something has to happen where
18:45
somebody misses a cut off because they are not quitting.
18:48
This is this is just crazy. And that's kind of what ended up
18:51
happening. And I think Will Peterson said
18:56
on a single track podcast once about the multi day efforts in
19:00
in those FK TS and stuff. And I think he was saying that
19:03
the gap between professional, you know, 200 milers, multi
19:08
dayers and amateurs or just people that aren't really
19:12
getting paid to run full time is not as big as you would think.
19:17
And I agree with that, with that statement, because really most
19:22
pro runners, pro ultra runners, they are training their body to
19:26
be as physically fit as possible, you know, as strong as
19:32
possible, as fast as possible. These, these people are freaks,
19:35
genetic freaks. And they, and they, that's what
19:37
they get to do. They just train and be really
19:39
fast professional runners, all that.
19:41
But this backyard ultra format, I think after those first couple
19:47
days, it is more of a mind battle and and any multi day
19:52
effort, it's more of a mind battle.
19:54
If you're willing to push sleep deprivation and not quit.
19:59
I think the gap is close to these pros because pro runners
20:03
are their body is what they're training.
20:06
You know, they're obviously training the mind too, But I
20:09
don't think a ton of people, you know, people are starting to,
20:13
but I don't know if a ton of people get.
20:16
Paid to have just uncrushable souls and maybe that is changing
20:22
now these these race are getting more popular, but I think Connor
20:25
and Bill have elite pro level uncrushable souls and and they
20:33
could they can compete at all of these 200 mile races for for you
20:38
know, with with the best with the best people.
20:41
And I think it just goes to show you what humans are capable of.
20:44
If you're willing to push it, you can go for a lot longer than
20:48
you think, like a lot of these multi day efforts.
20:51
I think Will Peterson again on his Long Trail FKT, he talked
20:55
about, I think he went the same pace as John Kelly.
20:57
He was just sleeping less. Tara Dauer is another one or FKT
21:02
effort. I think she was just saying she
21:04
was just willing to go sleep, you know, sleep less and just
21:07
keep pushing the body. And that's what you're seeing on
21:10
these efforts. These people are just pushing
21:12
their body, minimal sleep and seeing how long they can go for.
21:18
And you can go a lot longer than you think.
21:21
And so based on the, the kind of commentary from from the post
21:25
and stuff, it sounds like Connor was doing 49 ish minute laps
21:30
every hour, which gives them a few minutes to kind of get food,
21:33
get water, a few minutes to to catch some sleep and then get
21:37
back out. Bill Tibb was doing 52 ish
21:39
minute laps on average for a lot of it.
21:42
Again, a few minutes to to get food and kind of recoup, maybe
21:46
get some sleep and keep going. But this is not they weren't
21:50
doing 3540 minute laps and getting 10 hour, 10 minutes of
21:54
sleep, 15 minutes to sleep at a time.
21:56
They were sleeping minutes, if that mostly not sleeping and
22:00
just continuing to go. And it's just mine blowing what
22:06
you can do when you just don't quit.
22:10
And and the sleep thing is, is insane because a lot of people
22:14
when you tell anyone you're doing an ultra, you did 100 mile
22:17
or whatever, they're like, when do you sleep?
22:19
Like how much did you sleep? When do you sleep?
22:21
And they're you're always like, Oh, I didn't sleep for a day.
22:23
And they're like, what, how do you do that?
22:25
These people are not sleeping. They didn't sleep for for four
22:27
days like that is is insane. And like I said, I would love
22:33
to, you know, we we should have got them on the mic for some of
22:35
those last few laughs. Like they were probably thinking
22:38
and saying some crazy stuff. I know I would be.
22:41
But it's just it's next level. And honestly, I don't know if I
22:46
would want to push right now. I do not want to push my body
22:49
that hard. You know, I'm watching this
22:51
thinking I am not as tough as these guys.
22:54
I, I don't know if I want to go that deep because once you get
22:58
into that three and four day territory, your body is just
23:01
accepting that you are going. I'm thinking, I mean, I'm
23:05
thinking Rab though, I'm thinking like compartment
23:08
syndrome. I'm thinking, are you doing
23:10
permanent damage to your body? Like I, I don't know.
23:12
And, and it's, it's just insane, like pushing your, the, the
23:18
human body to the absolute limits.
23:20
That's what they did. This was just like an incredible
23:23
event to watch. This is a course record.
23:25
Will this course record ever be broken?
23:29
One question that I have, I don't know.
23:32
Because to to put on this crazy event, This is why the assist is
23:36
such a big thing. You need two people to do this
23:39
insane effort. So it's not just one person that
23:41
just takes the cake, steals the show.
23:45
It's two people that are putting on these insane performances.
23:48
So are two people going to want to go for 200 miles and 100,000?
23:52
Beautiful. I'm going to scud you ever
23:54
again. I don't know.
23:55
It's going to be a long time. Every record's meant to be
23:58
broken. But yeah, it's crazy.
24:01
I would love to get Connor and Bill's opinion if they even want
24:05
to go back. I'm sure Bill maybe has a little
24:07
more reason to like with the assist, try to go back and get
24:09
the get a win. But if I'm Connor, I'm thinking
24:13
I'm left my mark. I don't know if I want to do
24:15
that again. You know, that effort could go
24:17
to some other place or whatever. I feel like he beat a scutney,
24:21
he beat mount a Scutney. He doesn't ever have to go back
24:23
ever again. Right?
24:25
That that's how I would feel. But just just insanity.
24:30
So I'm sure those two are going to get on maybe from the
24:33
Backcountry or run the whites and and talk about their time
24:36
there. But that is insane.
24:39
One of the questions I had too is what are those two are?
24:42
Are they, how much are they communicating?
24:44
What are they saying to each other for the last 20-6 hours of
24:47
that race? Because they're just going head
24:50
to He's actually a a local Unkanuna
25:02
guy, quiet, kind of unassuming is what they described him in
25:07
the write up. Bilted super nice, just a sweet
25:10
guy. He actually I reached out to him
25:13
once on a training question. He got back to me with a with a
25:16
thoughtful response and it seems like he's just a super nice guy
25:19
and loves endurance running loves endurance training.
25:24
But what are they saying? Are they are they not talking?
25:28
Cuz are, are they chatting? Are they laughing every, every,
25:31
you know, they making a joke every lap.
25:33
Are they, are they saying a joke every few laps?
25:36
Are they just not talking at all?
25:37
Because, you know, this backyard format, you're just waiting for
25:40
the other person to, to, to quit, right.
25:43
So you're just thinking, I hope this guy quits this lap, right?
25:47
Like, I hope he quits. If he doesn't quit, I'm not
25:49
going to quit. And so it was a funny dynamic.
25:52
I, you know, I'm sure those two are going to have a connection
25:55
that nobody will have. Nobody else will, will be able
25:58
to understand being out there for so long.
26:00
But yeah, just just absolute insanity.
26:06
Connor Brown is is, I don't know if he's 24 or 25, but just a
26:10
young crusher. He's done Bubba's a few times
26:13
and put up I think 100 mile efforts there a few times.
26:16
He had a really good time at the Jigger Johnson 50.
26:18
I think he I think he won the Monadnock, the Manchester to
26:23
Monadnock race. He's got the 24 hour record on
26:27
Uncanoonic North and Uncanoonic South.
26:30
So I think he's an AT through hiker.
26:32
So this he's young, he's got a crazy resume that he's building.
26:36
And yeah, he's definitely one of the one of the strong young
26:41
ultra runners that's just going to be tearing up these trails
26:43
for the next who knows how many years.
26:46
And then Bill Tidd, Bill Tidd is 63 years old doing this.
26:52
That is just absolutely mind boggling.
26:58
I was thinking about this. The there was a, there was a
27:01
funny Instagram account that got created that was Bill Tidd is
27:05
the GOAT like fan Instagram account which I I followed and,
27:12
and I was thinking, I think Bill Tidd may be age group 60 to 69.
27:19
I think that's usually how they split it up on ultra sign up.
27:21
He may be the strongest age in his age group.
27:25
Ultra runner in the world. And I don't think that's, I
27:29
don't know if that's a crazy statement.
27:31
I think that is an actual hypothetical that that may be
27:34
true. He has the 48 supported the 4K
27:40
484K4000 footer, supported FKT, which is a strong time.
27:44
I think Will Peterson had that. Lots of people have gone after
27:48
that that time. He has that overall FKT which is
27:52
a no joke multi day FKT. He goes to Tour de Johns.
27:56
I think he ran that a couple months ago.
27:58
Finishes top 60 or top 50. I don't know if he must have
28:03
been podium age group. He made a he maybe have won his,
28:05
his age group there just absolutely incredible that that
28:10
he's doing these ultras. You look at his ultra sign up
28:12
list, He hasn't been doing this for 40 years.
28:15
He I think his earliest I, I may be wrong here, but you know,
28:19
he's been doing this for a decade or two decades or
28:21
whatever. But the fact that he is is 63
28:25
and just putting a beat down on all these these cats out here is
28:29
insane. I think Bill Tit is that person
28:32
where, you know, you show up to a start line of an ultra
28:34
marathon. If you're young, you're getting
28:37
into ultras. I'm fast, I'm fit.
28:39
I put in this crazy training like I got all this lightweight
28:42
gear. I got carbon plated shoes like
28:44
I'm going to RIP. I'm I'm about to go for this
28:46
race. Bill Tit shows up at the start
28:49
line with a with a 20 year old pack like the the original, you
28:53
know, Solomon trail pack version one point O and drinking a
28:59
coffee with like a Snickers bar and and you just are like, oh,
29:03
I'm screwed. This guy is going to destroy me
29:05
out of here. This he is the the elite ultra
29:08
runner. Yeah, he that's just insane,
29:12
insane what he's still doing. And I was wondering too.
29:14
I don't know. I wonder because I think they
29:17
posted too. I wasn't I'm not just calling
29:18
out his age. I think they posted it too.
29:20
He's 63. I'm sure he's he knows that, But
29:23
I wonder if he's like these people just keep calling me old,
29:25
like I can throw down with these these young guys.
29:30
Yeah. So he he is just incredible.
29:32
And like I said, he goes to Tour de Jeans, which is a one of the
29:35
most competitive 200 mile races. I think that's close to 670 or
29:39
80,000 feet of climbing and he puts up a crazy good time there.
29:44
Just just just really impressive these two and what I was
29:50
thinking. So like I said, built it to Tour
29:52
de Jeans earlier this year. They did.
29:54
That was maybe 2 months. I think that was early
29:56
September. So two months before this
29:58
effort, he does a A200 Bao race. Connor Brown did the backyard
30:04
ultra this year, the Bubba's backyard ultra, which was like a
30:07
month and a half before this race, which is obviously I think
30:10
he went 150 miles. And I think for these multi day
30:14
efforts, you have to be putting up big volume in training.
30:20
I think a lot of 100 mile stuff, some of the shorter ultras is
30:24
getting really fast, really much about big carbs, running fast,
30:28
speed work. The Dave David Roche's, you
30:32
know, Western States is at track meet.
30:34
I think for these 200 mile efforts, you need to just log
30:38
the miles. I think Will Peterson's famous
30:41
before his big efforts, he just goes and puts up like a couple
30:44
200 mile weeks or or does some some through hike and does crazy
30:47
volume before his efforts. And he's obviously had a lot of
30:50
success there. But yeah, I think you really
30:55
just have to grind miles because you're not really optimizing for
31:01
power and strength. You're optimizing your body to
31:06
go go forever. And and so I think big training
31:11
equates the big, big volume at these at these events.
31:15
And clearly whatever Connor Bill did to prep for this race, they
31:21
got it and they and they got the most out of each other.
31:25
And and really just, I mean, just super, super, super
31:29
impressive performance by them. I think I don't know on the
31:34
scale of backyard was this the craziest vertical backyard ultra
31:38
that's ever been had? Where does this stack up to
31:41
different 200 mile race times, 200 mile multi day efforts?
31:46
I don't know, but it was it was surely jaw-dropping.
31:50
Every time I say 100,000 feet of climbing a descent, I just, I
31:55
just start laughing because I just, I don't know, I just start
32:01
laughing because it is just so preposterous to think that they
32:05
were out there for 90 straight hours.
32:07
So that was the escutney vertical backyard recap.
32:12
Just an insane event. And I'm excited to see what
32:16
Northeast Trail Adventures is going to put on to next because
32:22
clearly they got a lot of buzz. They got a lot of hype this time
32:24
around. So, so we'll see.
32:28
Sorry, I'm just checking to make sure that that the everything is
32:30
still working and nothing has died here.
32:33
But OK, so that was the escutney vertical backyard ultra stuff,
32:36
crazy stuff. I'm excited to hear any, any
32:40
podcast or any stuff come out from Connor and Bill.
32:43
I'm sure people will get there or Amber, even Seth.
32:45
They all had insane efforts out there on what it was like to go
32:49
out there and just put down these crazy times and we'll see
32:52
what happens next year. I mean, again, what is my
32:55
prediction? Is my prediction going to change
32:57
for next year? Maybe, maybe I guess somewhere
33:01
in like the 40s or 50s thousands, but I don't know.
33:04
I'm sure I could see Amber going back and one to wanted to just
33:08
win it all. I mean, 77,000 feet of climbing
33:11
should win that event. I could see Bill maybe going
33:14
back and doing kind of Ed Clifford again.
33:18
Connor Brown could go back and beat be the the Ed Clifford of
33:22
this event. Just beat everybody for three or
33:24
four years until he's tired of this event.
33:26
I think that Lucas J would be a good one.
33:30
He won. He did three days on the the
33:32
skiing vertical backyard, the last skier standing and then he
33:37
won Bubba's this year. So he would be a good person to
33:40
go out there if him and Connor went out next year, whoo.
33:43
Bill comes back. Whoo.
33:47
Yeah. So we'll see.
33:47
We'll see and we'll see. I don't know if there's what
33:50
other trail races that Northeast Trail Adventures are gonna put
33:53
on, but we'll see. They clearly got a knack for
33:56
putting on events that people like, so we'll see.
33:58
Well, that comes out too. But alright, that was the the
34:04
backyard stuff. So Next up we have the JFK
34:06
recap. We'll just do a quicker recap
34:09
here. The winner of the JFK, Hans
34:14
Troyer, comes in first. He runs the second fastest time
34:21
on the course ever. He runs 510 only behind David
34:25
Sinclair's five O 8. The year, last year, the year
34:28
before, David Sinclair comes in second.
34:32
I think he said from the start of this race it everything felt
34:35
harder than last year. I think Hayden Hawks, I don't
34:40
know if he came in 30 or was. He was also at the front of the
34:43
pack too, that the men's race is just getting so fast.
34:47
So the fastest time on that course is last year five O 8.
34:50
David Sinclair Hanshrer comes back, puts up the second fastest
34:53
time. That is a six O 6 pace for 50
34:57
miles. That is just so crazy.
35:00
There's a little bit of trail section at the front of the race
35:03
and then it's mostly roads. And I think he was just running
35:07
five 30s for, you know, miles on end just casually.
35:12
That is insane. That's crazy.
35:14
I mean, Hans Schroer is he's actually another young ultra
35:18
running star. I think he has a huge following
35:20
already. Very popular pro runner he had.
35:24
Yeah, just a crazy day out there.
35:26
And there was a little video I saw.
35:27
So dating Sinclair, So last year at the race, halfway through the
35:31
race or at the beginning of the race after you get off the
35:33
trails and it's more flatter Rd. stuff, he switched into like an
35:37
alpha fly or some sort of faster Rd. shrew.
35:39
And so we did the same strategy this year at that when he
35:43
switched those shoes, Hans passes them and then just sends
35:46
for home and and never looks back.
35:48
So that was kind of like there was just a clip there of it that
35:51
was cool. That was having tracked and Hans
35:53
just runs right through it. So that was crazy.
35:56
And then on the women's side, Jade Bells Belzberg from Canada,
36:02
she runs the fourth fastest time of all time.
36:04
On the women's time, she runs a six O 7 and she wins on the
36:08
woman's for the woman's field. And like I said, the these races
36:14
are just getting so, so fast. And I think, although it's a
36:19
completely different race than the escutney race, I think when
36:23
somebody sets the bar on anything, This is why every
36:27
record is meant to be broken. When somebody sets the bar on,
36:30
on any course or course record or whatever, then it's, it's,
36:36
it's showing what's possible. And then somebody else is like,
36:39
oh, I, I'm just gonna push a little bit harder and try to
36:42
push that limits and, and try to go a little bit faster.
36:47
I think there is something to, you know, every record is meant
36:52
to be broken. But when you have a performance
36:53
like like Connor and Bill, I think so many more people are
36:57
gonna go so much further out of Scutney now just because they
37:01
showed what is possible. It's like, I'm pretty sure there
37:04
was experiment with mice where if you put a mice in some sort
37:09
of crazy maze or crazy puzzle on one side of the world and, and
37:16
they finish it like there's a a thing that no mice has ever
37:18
finished and they finish it across the world mice, it
37:23
becomes easier for the mice across the world to finish that
37:26
same puzzle, that same maze. And so there's something about
37:30
doing the impossible makes it more possible for everyone else.
37:36
I think it's, you know, the four minute mile, people thought
37:39
there was impossible forever and now people run way faster than 4
37:44
minute miles. I think it's a 2 hour marathon.
37:47
They thought nobody would break the two hour marathon.
37:49
They're a little bit of an asterisk, but eventually it was
37:52
broken. I think it's getting closer to
37:53
being broken. I think it's just pushing the
37:58
limits on these events. You can go.
38:02
There is so much more in you than you think and we need
38:07
people to push the limits like Bill and Connor, Hans, David.
38:11
We need all these people to push the limits.
38:13
Go as hard as you can and and really just show what's possible
38:17
for these events. So ultra running is is getting
38:20
super excited. It's getting super competitive.
38:22
And if you want to compete, you got to be willing to hurt for
38:25
it. That's what I gather from, from
38:28
the ultra scene this year. But all right, so those are the
38:32
race recaps that I wanted to talk about.
38:34
Now we're gonna dive into some training topics.
38:38
So I, I, I, yeah, like I mentioned at the beginning of
38:41
the podcast, I got my, I just finished, I got my ultra running
38:45
coach certification working on eventually offering some, some
38:49
coaching services. So if anyone has any interests,
38:52
stay tuned for that. There's gonna be more updates in
38:55
the next couple months here, but I learned a lot and I think
39:00
ultra running, it's very, it's a cool sport because there are so
39:07
many variables that go into it. We just talked about a race
39:10
where you basically low intensity hike for 90 straight
39:13
hours. And then on the other side of
39:16
the the race on, on trails, on vertical.
39:18
And then the other side of the race, you have a road race, 50
39:21
mile that people running 6 minute miles the whole time and
39:24
it's the same sport. So and there's so many different
39:28
things you can do. You can do races, you can do
39:30
FKTS, you can do lists, you can do through hikes, you can do
39:34
Strava segments, you can do short races, you can do fat long
39:39
races, Technical Rd. flat. There's so many different
39:43
possibilities and what works for different people works for
39:48
different people. There's no set training program
39:51
for ultra running. NO11 size fits all and if you go
39:57
to a 5K, if you're doing a 5K and you're following a 5K plan,
40:01
if you're training for a marathon, it's very much
40:04
numbers. They're getting very good at how
40:06
to train for those races. But with ultras you have so many
40:10
different variables and factors to consider. 1 is just how fast
40:15
VO2 Max power, how fast you are, you know as an athlete.
40:21
Then you have how much training volume you've done to prepare.
40:23
Are you over trained? Are you under trained?
40:26
How are you absorbing training then it's are you running flat?
40:30
Are you running vertical? Are you running technical?
40:33
Because running on on technical terrain has a different skill
40:37
involved than running on a road race.
40:39
There's less running economy and it's more you got to be an
40:41
athlete, you got to be in the mountains climbing and
40:44
descending. How can you?
40:47
There's lots of marathoners that would go out and do 10,000
40:49
vertical feet of of descent and their Quadra beach trashed,
40:54
absolutely trashed if they didn't train for it.
40:57
So you got to, you got to be have strong legs.
41:00
Then it's it's nutrition. You know, how are you feeling?
41:03
What can you eat? Are you drinking enough?
41:06
That's one thing about the escutney 90 straight hours of
41:09
eating and drinking. I'm sure their mouths were
41:11
torched. When I the longest thing I've
41:13
done is 39 hours. My mouth you, your palate is
41:17
just raw. It's like it's not chafed, but
41:21
it's so raw from just eating and chewing so much food.
41:24
Like that's something you got to think about your stomach
41:27
digesting the food. Have you trained with food?
41:30
You know what works for you? Sleep.
41:33
Can you go on minimal sleep? How do you sleep train and not
41:37
crush your your training volume? Running in the dark, grit,
41:44
motivation, How do you train? Being able to run for 90
41:48
straight hours? There's all of these factors
41:51
which allows a larger population of people to be very, very good
41:57
at the sport if they pick their right kind of niche of races.
42:01
So you don't have to be a genetic freak to run and be
42:05
really successful in ultra running.
42:07
You also don't have to be the toughest guy on planet Earth,
42:10
planet Earth. If you are super fast, you like
42:12
running fast 50 KS and you get really good at that.
42:15
You can, you know, go on and do all that stuff.
42:17
So there's lots of different areas for success and that just
42:22
means there's lots of different areas for training.
42:25
And over the last four or five years I've really determined
42:29
what, maybe 3-4 years determined what works for me in training.
42:33
I've tried a lot of different training approaches.
42:35
I've talked to different people. How do they train, You know,
42:39
online, there's lots of people talking about different training
42:41
styles. There's so many resources out
42:44
there. And it's really kind of a puzzle
42:47
that you got to put together and every person has to put this
42:50
puzzle together. And yeah, so I really, I think
42:55
I've learned a lot. I've learned about a lot about
42:58
endurance training, how to move fast in the mountains.
43:01
And eventually I want to, I want to kind of get into the coaching
43:03
a little bit. And but so for the
43:06
certification, I don't know, like if you really, I think
43:10
certifications really help, it kind of helps legitimacy and
43:13
stuff. I don't know, it's super
43:15
necessary for some of these if you're, if you're an ultra
43:18
running coach. But I really wanted to get kind
43:20
of the basics, make sure I had the basics down and see how
43:23
other people think about these things.
43:25
And I thought there was a few points that really kind of hit
43:28
home with me that maybe I hadn't heard or maybe I've just
43:32
realized it through my training and somebody just put it down in
43:35
words. And I was like, oh, I, I figured
43:37
that out, you know, through my training.
43:39
Now here's like the science kind of behind it.
43:42
So it was a really cool course. I'm excited to get into it more,
43:46
get into training more. And I'm going to start putting
43:50
out more information on my website and on the podcast and
43:54
stuff about training. So stay tuned for all this stuff
43:57
if you're really trying to trying to just become a better,
44:00
faster, stronger ultra runner. So a few of the a few of the
44:03
topics I want to talk about today, we'll just go through
44:05
these kind of quickly. No pain, no gain.
44:09
Everybody talks about no pain, no gain.
44:13
And I think for a lot of runners, when they're getting
44:17
into running at any level beginner or you know, maybe
44:22
you've been been training and you're, you know, you ran in
44:26
high school, running college, but now you're doing ultras.
44:29
I think, you know, any runner, you, you kind of get into it
44:32
like, oh, I have to, I got to go out and run, run hard all the
44:37
time, or I got to go out and stack a ton of miles and volume
44:41
and just absolutely crush myself.
44:43
And I really don't think that is the case for a lot of people.
44:47
And so no pain, no gain. I think that is a myth when it
44:51
comes to ultra running. So this is one of the things
44:53
they touched on and I just want to read a little bit of a quote
44:57
here. So it is widely accepted that
44:59
muscles are damaged during intense exercise bouts and then
45:04
rebuilt. So when you're strength
45:06
training, when you're running hard, it hurts.
45:09
You break down your muscles, you recover, you give them
45:12
nutrients, you refuel, you sleep good, you come back the next day
45:15
and they grow back stronger ideally.
45:20
And yeah. And during the recovery phase,
45:23
you get strength gains, However, detectable damage, which would
45:28
be plasma levels, pain, muscle soreness, you know, some of
45:31
these biomarkers is not required for strength gains.
45:37
And I think that is a key thing to think about when you are
45:42
trying to increase your volume, but also you're trying to get
45:45
faster and stronger because if you're not absorbing the
45:48
training, then you're not going to get stronger.
45:52
And so when they're looking at strength, strength gains don't
45:55
come from just being sore. This is a good in weightlifting
46:01
weight trainers, if you're a bodybuilder and you're just
46:04
trying to put on as much muscle and mass as you can, they do
46:07
lots of low weights, high reps, and they try to destroy their
46:11
muscles. They want to get as sore as
46:12
possible so they can have that muscle grow back bigger.
46:17
Strength gains don't work the same way.
46:20
Obviously if your muscles getting bigger, you are going to
46:22
get some strength gains there. But when people are doing
46:25
strength training, so if you are in some sort of Olympic strength
46:30
training program and you're doing powerlifting, deadlift,
46:34
bench, squats, a lot of the times they're doing lower reps.
46:39
So you hear like 5 by 5 for strength that is lower reps,
46:45
more repetition at that higher strength level like that output.
46:50
And so if you can do, they say if you can do 10 squats at a
46:56
certain weight in your bodybuilding, you do 10 squats,
46:59
you're absolutely destroyed. The next set you can do 6, the
47:02
next set you can do like 4 and and then you're cooked.
47:05
That's probably ideal for like a bodybuilder.
47:07
But if you can do 5 reps and and you get to 5, you could do 10 on
47:14
that first step, but you stop, your muscles don't get super
47:16
sore. You get more reps at that weight
47:19
and then you can do it four more times.
47:21
Then you do 25 reps at the same weight where you would have done
47:26
20 at the at the previous style of training.
47:30
And so when it comes to strength gains, strength is actually a
47:34
skill and you want to get as many repetitions as you can to
47:39
get better at that skill. Hillstrides.
47:41
This is why I think hillstrides work so good. 6 to 8 reps of
47:46
hillstrides 3 * a week is going to get you more strength gains
47:51
than if you did one hard workout with the same amount of working
47:56
time as all of those hillstrides together.
47:59
You need to get as many quality runs in as you can and as many
48:02
quality reps in as you can over time instead of just destroying
48:06
your muscles every time. Now I'm not saying that you
48:09
shouldn't do hard workouts. I do a workout probably once a
48:12
week that really kind of cooks me.
48:15
But the rest of the week I try to do more of that, put some
48:20
strides in, put some nice intensity during the long run,
48:22
but nothing that'll kill me. And over time, if you can keep
48:25
stacking volume and stacking those strength gains and not get
48:30
hurt by pushing yourself, no pain, no gain.
48:32
You're just going to progress more week after week, month
48:36
after month, because that's the goal.
48:38
Put in quality reps for months and years and that's how you get
48:42
better. So that was the no, no pain, no
48:45
gain thing that I want to touch on.
48:47
I think it's good. I think a month or two leading
48:50
into a big ultra, you got to get in that higher volume pushing
48:56
your body, but in a build up to an ultra you're not I, you know,
49:01
maximizing your strength and speed all the time a long
49:04
distance ultra. So when the build up it's a
49:08
little bit different. You do want to kind of push the
49:10
body a little bit. But if you are not in the
49:13
immediate build up to an ultra and you're just trying to get
49:16
stronger faster, don't always go to your breaking point.
49:20
Save a little bit and do more overtime but OK those are the
49:24
training topics today we got two last things here Thanksgiving
49:29
food is mid this this is a hot take.
49:33
I don't know if this is going to get people mad or upset.
49:36
Hopefully there's some people on my side, but everybody talks
49:40
about Thanksgiving. I like Thanksgiving.
49:41
Thanksgiving is a good holiday. You got football family, it's
49:44
the fall. It's a it's a good holiday and I
49:47
like it. But the fact that people just
49:51
say, oh, the Thanksgiving food, that's why I love about
49:53
Thanksgiving. The food is just out of this
49:55
world. I am just not getting on board
49:58
with Turkey. Turkey.
50:04
I think Turkey is probably the most average protein that you
50:09
can eat. I have never once woke up and
50:12
been like, oh, I could go for a good Turkey breast right now
50:15
that the Turkey is something if I'm trying to eat clean, I like
50:18
Turkey. Put it on a sandwich.
50:20
If you cook it good a good like local Turkey, maybe the dark
50:24
meat, it is good and it can be really good.
50:26
But for me, I'm never craving a Turkey.
50:32
And that's that's one of my big points.
50:34
Like if you're going to say that food is so good, I want a food
50:37
that I crave all the time and like what kind of protein do I
50:40
crave? I crave a steak.
50:42
Give me AT bone steak. Give me a prime rib.
50:45
Give me I like doing salmon. We're going to do salmon
50:47
tomorrow. I think salmon just hits so
50:49
good. I don't know if you like Sam,
50:50
but salmon, a good salmon when it hits good is is just off the
50:54
charts. But I I want something that I
50:56
get excited for, right. The other thing too is like even
51:00
I think a pepperoni pizza that that's something where I'm
51:03
eating it, I look forward to, oh, this is a treat, a nice
51:06
hamburger cooked medium rare from a good restaurant,
51:09
something like that. Those are all things that I
51:12
crave and look forward to. I'm never craving Turkey.
51:15
And so, you know, for my Thanksgiving, I want, I want
51:19
steak, I want salmon, I want burgers, I want pizza, I want
51:22
bacon. I want all these things that
51:24
people crave. Now a lot of people rebuttal and
51:27
say, well, it's not really the Turkey.
51:29
We kind of agree. Turkey's not a great, you know,
51:31
isn't like, you know, it doesn't knock your shoes off.
51:34
Stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce.
51:38
Stuffing is really good. I'll give you that.
51:40
Stuffing is really good, but outside of Thanksgiving, when
51:44
are you making stuffing? Are people making stuffing all
51:47
the time? Because I don't really think
51:48
people are making stuffing that good.
51:50
Like if Thanksgiving food was that good, you would eat it more
51:53
than once a year. Why do we only eat this stuff
51:56
once a year? Now obviously mashed potatoes I
51:58
feel like is something that people eat more.
52:00
This is probably where I'm definitely on the minority where
52:04
mashed potatoes don't really do it.
52:05
Like, they are good. They can be really good, but
52:08
they don't always do it for me. It's just kind of like a math
52:11
food for me. Cranberry sauce doesn't do it
52:14
for me. Gravy.
52:16
I mean, gravy is good, but I don't think it's like over the
52:19
over the top good. And yeah, so my ideal
52:23
Thanksgiving, I'm holding off on most on most of the Thanksgiving
52:27
food. And I want all the stuff
52:29
discussed earlier that may be controversial, that may put
52:33
people out this podcast, but I had to get that take out there.
52:37
Thanksgiving is great. I like Thanksgiving the the best
52:41
food of the year on Thanksgiving.
52:44
And I I'm not getting behind that.
52:48
I think Thanksgiving food is average and Thanksgiving
52:50
leftovers. I don't think people really love
52:53
Thanksgiving leftovers. I'll I'll take, you know, I will
52:57
take leftovers because it's always good to get some leftover
52:59
food when there's a ton. But Nah, I don't know.
53:02
I don't know about Thanksgiving food like that.
53:04
So hey, that's what I think. If you, if you disagree, let me
53:08
know, go at me. But that's what I have on the
53:11
Thanksgiving food. I said I was going to do a trail
53:14
report. So Mount Moose lock went to
53:16
mount Moose lock today. The gate is closed as always in
53:20
the winter. So you have an extra mile up to
53:22
Mount Moose lock. When I got there, there was
53:25
probably 20 cards there. So it's pretty popular on a on a
53:30
on a Saturday and it hasn't snowed here in a few days.
53:35
So I I had my tiny little micro spikes and I just wore my
53:38
studded trail runners. The trail up to about 3000 feet
53:43
was pretty icy. I didn't put on my micro spikes,
53:47
but I think, you know, those little spikes probably would
53:49
have helped. I just had my studded trail
53:51
runners and I was all good, but definitely rocky.
53:55
Don't slip you always when you're running in those.
53:57
If you're running in just trail runners, you don't have the
53:59
spikes on, you know, the studs. Just remember that ice is very
54:02
slick. Every year I get reminded ice is
54:06
slippery. It's like it's you always forget
54:08
during the summer, like, oh, ice is ice is always will never not
54:12
be slippery. I've known that my whole life.
54:15
How how am I still slipping on ice?
54:18
I'm still slipping on ice sometimes.
54:20
I guess I just haven't learned. So the first mile, little bit, a
54:24
mile or two, little bit icy, little Bony, I would throw
54:28
spikes on, but you can get by with the studded trail runners
54:31
at like 3000 to 3500 feet. It really got snowed in and and
54:35
the trail was pretty much just packed snow all the way.
54:38
There were a ton of people up there.
54:40
So the rest of the way was very smooth.
54:43
It was cold today, but it was more windy, like it's 20s.
54:48
I think the wind chill was in the negative 10s though,
54:50
negative teens. When it was blowing.
54:53
It was very cold up there. So I had a couple layers with me
54:57
and once you get up the tree line, it was super cold.
54:59
There was a little bit of drifty soft snow like above tree line.
55:03
But ultimately I never put on spikes.
55:07
I was fine with with just the studs all day and the trail
55:09
shoes and the trails, I would overall be like good trail
55:14
conditions, icy down low, little bit choppy up top.
55:17
It was cold. It was cold over at the top of
55:21
Moose Lock, as always. There's been a few times I was,
55:25
yeah, you're getting you're getting screwed by the wind up
55:29
there. It is.
55:31
It was cold up up at Moose Lock. It's always pretty windy up
55:33
there. But good day, fast trails.
55:36
And yeah, the winter season looks like we're getting snow a
55:39
couple times next week, so these trails should keep filling in
55:43
quite nicely. That was the trail report for
55:47
Moose Lock. All right, last topic of the
55:52
day, the deer season wrap up. I talked about this on I think a
55:59
couple episodes talked about my deer hunting and I think I did
56:03
say I was going to do weekly updates and I just stopped doing
56:06
them. I 1.
56:08
I don't know if anyone's actually interested in that
56:11
stuff on here. So sometimes if there's other
56:15
topics to talk about, we're already at an hour.
56:17
So I don't want to go crazy into depth on that.
56:20
But yeah, I don't know if anyone's interested.
56:22
So I kind of was like, and I just really didn't have any too
56:25
many updates because I have been struggling this deer season.
56:31
This has been for sure the toughest deer season I've had
56:34
maybe in my whole life. This this has just been it's
56:38
been brutal for me. So I really didn't have any good
56:41
updates. Maybe partially I was like that.
56:43
I don't even want to talk about it.
56:45
And I don't even know if you guys like it.
56:47
So that's why we took out some of the deer season updates, but
56:51
we got one to wrap up the the end of the year.
56:54
I'm pretty much done for the season.
56:57
We actually got snow coming in. So I think I might go tracking
57:00
one or two days next week, which I have not done before, Come up
57:04
into the mountains and see if I can find some deer tracks and
57:07
follow them and see where they go.
57:09
I don't know if I will have much luck, but I that was one of the
57:12
goals I want to try to get on, get on a nice buck track up in
57:16
the mountains and see that these deer even live out here, exist
57:19
out here. So that will be cool.
57:20
I'm looking forward to that next week.
57:22
But besides that, I haven't been out in in like maybe a week and
57:25
a half. And so yeah, the deer season,
57:27
the last update that I have given on here, I got 1 deer with
57:35
the bow earlier in the year in October.
57:38
I was, I was hunting a lot in October and September and
57:40
October I was seeing deer in September, but then October, I
57:44
didn't see stuff for a long time.
57:45
I was getting out a lot, putting the time in and I just was not
57:49
getting on deer. And November came around opening
57:54
weekend, a muzzleloader, I missed a doe around me which
57:59
which kind of stung a little bit.
58:01
And then from there I I just didn't have much action and I
58:07
was just running into so many hunters.
58:10
I hunt a lot in Southern New Hampshire and every piece of
58:15
woods that you can hunt that isn't near like a bunch of
58:18
running trails, There's just so many guys that get out in the
58:22
zone that I hunt in M, they give out couple extra tags.
58:26
They've been doing that for like a lot of years now.
58:29
And I really just think a lot of people go out there, a ton of
58:33
people hunt. They got a bunch of tags and
58:35
there's just, I don't want to say there's not, there's not as
58:39
many deer as there used to be, but it's definitely getting
58:43
harder and harder to hunt in Southern New Hampshire.
58:47
There's deer, there's lots of deer around.
58:49
I think this is the most deer we've ever had.
58:51
It's just with all the development, they're getting
58:53
pushed into little neighborhoody chunks of woods where you really
58:57
shouldn't be hunting private land.
59:01
There's so much posted land around me and it's just kind of
59:04
it sucks the fun out of hunting where every every time you go on
59:08
public land, you're running into other people and there's not a
59:11
lot of deer sign. There was one spot that I found
59:14
some deer last year that I haunted a lot this year.
59:18
And, and because of the drought, no acorns or just not, not as
59:21
many deer this year in there. And so, yeah, just just a tough
59:28
year all around. So pretty much that kind of
59:32
burnt myself out a little bit the first couple of months.
59:35
I always try to keep, I always prioritize running and training
59:38
and that's always the main thing.
59:39
But it, it does hard, like going out and sitting there for two or
59:42
three hours, you know, four or five times a week definitely
59:45
gets to you. And I was hunting pretty hard
59:48
for, for a long time. And then, yeah, November when
59:51
the ruts started kicking on, there were so many people
59:53
hunting around here. I, I ended up going up to Maine.
59:57
So we have a little camp up in central Maine that I like to go
1:00:00
to. And I went there, I had, I took
1:00:03
off 4 days actually, which is the most time I've ever taken
1:00:06
off of work ever. And I was kind of excited to
1:00:08
just get up there into the bigger, the bigger, you know,
1:00:11
it's super rural. There's there's just farms and
1:00:13
and. Big woods up there went up there
1:00:17
and it's kind of like the same thing to a lesser extent as down
1:00:22
in Southern New Hampshire. All the, you know, it's all
1:00:26
private land, It's all posted. There's like 3 properties that
1:00:29
you can, or pieces of woods that I, you know, we have permission
1:00:33
and, and it's not posted in other people hunting.
1:00:35
It's kind of like public land up there.
1:00:37
Even though it's not owned by the state or a town, the land
1:00:40
owners allow anybody to hunt up there and they they are pro
1:00:43
hunting and it's the same thing. These areas get haunted a lot.
1:00:49
They're everywhere you go. That's a good spot.
1:00:52
There's other people's stands and cameras.
1:00:54
I you know, I went into one spot.
1:00:56
There's 6 cell cams in this one. I found the one pocket of, of
1:01:00
good sign in this whole big chunk and, and there's just
1:01:05
blinds and stands and cameras everywhere.
1:01:07
And it's a little bit discouraging, you know, it's a
1:01:09
little bit discouraging. And so I, I spent like a maybe a
1:01:15
day and a half putting a lot on a lot of miles, sitting the
1:01:18
first and last hour or two, found some good sign and end up
1:01:22
just sitting for a couple days and, and not seeing anything.
1:01:25
Like I, I bumped into a bunch of deer, but I, I would see little
1:01:28
flashes of deer here and there, but I just never had any good
1:01:31
action. And, and I, I, when I got up to
1:01:36
Maine, I was starting to feel sick and I pretty much got sick
1:01:39
when I got up there. So I got sick for the whole
1:01:42
week. I ended up hunting for, you
1:01:44
know, dark to dark for 3 1/2 four days.
1:01:47
And I pretty much called it and was like, I'm just, I'm getting
1:01:49
sicker. I need to get healthy.
1:01:52
This deer season kind of broke me a little bit.
1:01:54
I only have one deer to show for it.
1:01:59
And so yeah, it was, it was, I would say it was pretty
1:02:01
disappointing. And I do think that I was at, I
1:02:04
feel like every fall I'm at a crossroads of should I be
1:02:08
prioritizing running more? Should I be, you know, cause
1:02:11
'cause hunting in the cold weather, just sitting there for
1:02:13
the coldest, it takes a ton out of energy out of you.
1:02:17
And so it's always kind of like a push and pull balance that I
1:02:21
try to find. And I think I really running is
1:02:25
the main thing. I love getting out on the trails
1:02:26
and that's always going to be the priority in hunting.
1:02:29
I like doing it. I really, I mean, the meat is
1:02:32
awesome. That's like the main reason I go
1:02:34
out. Luckily my dad got a bunch of
1:02:37
deer this year. So we we have venison, which is
1:02:39
awesome. Very thankful for that.
1:02:42
So there's a little less pressure on me to to get it
1:02:44
done. But but yeah, it's just kind of,
1:02:51
you can put all the time and effort into hunting as you want.
1:02:53
You got to have a little bit of luck at the end of the day.
1:02:56
I I watch a lot of people on YouTube and listen to a lot of
1:02:58
hunting things as well. And some of those guys just have
1:03:01
bad years. And, and because it it around
1:03:05
here, there's just lower deer densities, bigger woods, there's
1:03:08
lots of hunters. Well, it depends on where you
1:03:12
go. Lots of hunters in the smaller
1:03:13
woods and down South, less hunters up north, but it's
1:03:16
harder to find deer. So, yeah, I really think, I
1:03:20
think I, I went a little bit too hard deer hunting this year and,
1:03:24
and in the coming years I'm going to be more efficient with
1:03:28
my time, prioritize running a little bit more.
1:03:31
Not that I don't, I'm still in really good shape right now,
1:03:33
feeling pretty good. But yeah, I think being more
1:03:37
efficient. So my takeaways for the season,
1:03:39
if anyone's watching this and and wants these takeaways, what
1:03:43
I would suggest for anybody trying to get on deer, if you
1:03:46
have a limited amount of time, hunt September.
1:03:48
The 1st week is really good. The second week is pretty good
1:03:52
evenings mornings can be good too, but it's you know, it's
1:03:55
more predictable in the evenings.
1:03:57
October I would just if you want to get out, spend more time
1:04:01
walking, scouting, try to get on good sign and just hunt those
1:04:05
cold front days. Hunt the cold days when the deer
1:04:08
are going to be moving fine, like a good active scrape and a
1:04:13
good pinch location or an edge and hunt that on the cold fronts
1:04:17
and just do more scouting. And then really save your time
1:04:22
for November when the rut kicks in to really expend all your
1:04:26
energy during the rut. Like mid, you know, early to mid
1:04:29
November. And what I'm going to do in the
1:04:31
future is probably I'm going to start migrating N more just like
1:04:36
my running, just like how I feel, you know, my life.
1:04:40
I'm just going to migrate more and go into these bigger woods
1:04:44
where there's just less hunters and lots of, you know, places to
1:04:47
roam and you don't have to worry about running into other people
1:04:49
and, and all that stuff. And I don't know, put less
1:04:53
pressure on getting a bunch of deer and, and more just kind of
1:04:55
enjoying getting out. So that's where I'm at with the,
1:04:58
with the, the hunting. That's kind of the the plan for
1:05:02
the coming years. This is probably the last
1:05:04
hunting update that I'll have until next fall.
1:05:06
So if you didn't like these sections, I'm sure you tuned out
1:05:10
and you won't get these anymore. But that's the update.
1:05:14
Although I am tracking for the first time next week, so there's
1:05:17
a few inches of snow. I'm going to try to get at least
1:05:19
on a track. We'll see how it goes.
1:05:21
It'll be more kind of an adventure, and maybe I will if
1:05:24
that, if that, if anything eventful happens, maybe I'll
1:05:29
talk about it next week. But I don't know.
1:05:31
I don't know. I don't know if it will.
1:05:35
But yeah, we'll see. So that was, yeah, that was this
1:05:39
week's episode of Run Mountain Peaks.
1:05:42
Hopefully you guys enjoyed. If you didn't, TuneIn to the
1:05:46
escutney vertical. Go look at all the stuff that
1:05:49
they posted about it. Go look at Strava and see some
1:05:52
insane Strava files. It was just a crazy event.
1:05:56
And yeah, like I said, just mind's blown.
1:06:00
Mind's blown at that at that event.
1:06:03
Congrats to Bill and Connor. Yeah, it's just insane what
1:06:08
happened there. I think everyone is still in
1:06:10
shock, and I'm quite in shock. 100,000 feet of climbing.
1:06:15
That's craziness. We all got more in US.
1:06:18
I'm definitely inspired. I've definitely been, you know,
1:06:20
this week been at the gym, but on my runs working a little bit
1:06:22
harder, inspiring stuff. Hopefully you guys are getting
1:06:26
after it. Winter conditions in the whites.
1:06:28
It's about to get really good for trail running in the Whites
1:06:30
here. So hopefully you're getting out
1:06:32
and we'll see you next time. Thanks for watching, peace.