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A muddy mountainside, a deafening wall of fans, and a start line stacked with icons of trail running. Taylor Stack joins us right after Zegama to break down the day he turned a “maybe top 20 is solid” opportunity into a third place podium against one of the deepest Golden Trail World Series fields anywhere. If you’ve ever wondered what it actually feels like to race in Europe’s steep, wet, technical chaos and still finish fast, Taylor gives the clearest picture I’ve heard. 

We get into the unsexy stuff that creates big results: consistent training, finding your personal volume sweet spot, and why he avoids chasing hero workouts for confidence. Taylor explains how he uses early-season races as rust busters, how living around 9,000 feet shapes his fitness, and why he drops down in elevation for faster sessions. We also talk metrics and why he keeps it simple with pace and heart rate instead of obsessing over running power. 

Then we go mile by mile through Zegama: the shockingly hard early pace, the iconic Sancti Spiritu climb shoulder to shoulder with Kilian Jornet, and the decision to stay controlled so he could attack late. Taylor shares how he fueled, how Golden Trail bottle service changes the game, what he saw when Kilian’s day went sideways, and the mindset shift required to move from “podium is a dream” to “winning is the goal.” 

If you enjoy deep race recaps, practical mountain running training advice, and the mental side of performance, subscribe, share this with a training partner, and leave a review so more runners can find the show. What part of Taylor’s approach are you going to try in your next build?

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