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A stress fracture can either end your momentum or teach you how to build a career that actually lasts. I’m joined by Elise Coates, fresh off being named to the 2026 Trail Team Elite squad, and her story is a rare blend of high-performance ambition and real-world perspective. She’s the only Canadian on the new elite squad, based on Vancouver Island, and she’s chasing the tricky middle ground where track speed meets mountain durability.

We get into how a soccer background turned into an obsession with racing tactics, why the 800 hooked her early, and how injuries forced her to slow down and rebuild. Elise opens up about testing herself in mountain running and trail racing, including the hard lessons from Defy De Couleur and the quad-destroying reality check of Meet The Minotaur. If you care about training for steep trails, a vertical kilometer, skyrunning, or simply learning how to transition from track training to trail running, her approach is honest and practical.

Then we shift into the side of the sport most people ignore until it’s too late: athlete branding and sponsorship. Elise breaks down her pivot from a physics degree into media work, community runs, creative direction, and what she calls “activations” that actually bring people together. We also talk big dreams like the Olympics, Golden Trail Series level racing, and how to map a season when you want both fast track results and real trail strength.

Subscribe for more conversations like this, share this with a runner who’s building their own hybrid path, and leave a review if you want more guests who go deep. Which matters more for you right now: speed, strength, or community?

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