This podcast is a recording of a recent mountaineering-focused Coach Corner. Join Evoke coaches Kylee Toth, Seth Keena, Leif Whittaker, and Jack Kuenzle to answer audience questions. We were also very pleased and honored to  have a cameo appearance by Steve Swenson. Veteran of many expeditions to the Karakoram Range, winner of the Piolet d’Or, and most recently the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Alpine Club.

It's a tricky balancing act to manage training with the needs and challenges of a normal life such as family, work, and school. Only a tiny minority of us can live the "eat, sleep, train, and repeat" life of a professional athlete. Here at evoke, our group of coaches aim to find the balance between life obligations and training for themselves and those that they coach. Today Scott Johnston talks to Evoke Coach Kylee Toth on how she balances her World Cup athletic goals with raising her kids and being an effective coach. 

Monica Piris MD has worked as a doctor on expeditions to extreme altitudes since 2007, having gone on more than twenty expeditions to the Himalayas, including fourteen trips  to 8000 meter peaks, and ten expeditions to Mount Everest. On these trips her work has ranged from monitoring the health of team-members throughout the preparatory period and expedition itself; treating locals and visitors for common illnesses; treating frostbite and potentially fatal altitude-related illness; and offering diagnostic and therapeutic advice over the radio to unwell climbers being rescued above 8000 meters. She currently works as the expedition doctor for Alpenglow Expeditions as well as offers remote medical cover for private expeditions.

Altitude Illness and Frostbite Flow Chart: https://evokeendurance.com/forums/topic/altitude-illenss-signs-symptoms-and-treatment/

Join coaches Jesse Rich, Andy Reed, and Luke Nelson as they answer questions submitted  from the Evoke community about training, preparation, and strategy for popular styles of distance running.

Scott Johnston talks with Judd Van Sickle, Director of Sports Performance and Wellness at U.C. Davis. In this episode, they cover many topics including: performance implications of fat adaptation; the concept of Fat Max; aerobic glycolysis; use of power meters to track training load; and the lack of nuance that has occurred with the popularization of Zone 2 aerobic training.

Contact Judd Van Sickle: https://health.ucdavis.edu/sports-medicine/our-team/judd-vansickle

Scott Johnston is joined today by David Goettler. David is a highly accomplished alpinist who has climbed six 8000 meter peaks without the use of supplemental oxygen, including Everest. David has amassed a unique and broad experience climbing in Earth's biggest mountain ranges.  Scott and David discuss the history of David's training since they started working together and over the past eight years.

Join host Scott Johnston as he chats with his coached athlete, professional ultra runner Tom Evans. Tom recently made a podium finish at the Black Canyon 100k in Arizona where he beat the course record along with the other two top finishers. Scott and Tom discuss the modulation of Tom’s training, and the essential distinction between capacity and utilization training. All of this forms the backdrop of how they work to ensure that the correct training for Tom is done in critical and essential time windows. 

In this episode, Scott Johnston outlines the common mistakes and misconceptions that derail training, and the methods and frameworks necessary to avoid these pitfalls. No training plan can predict your physical or psychological state. The best way to avoid these mistakes is to pay attention to the subtle signals your body is sending your brain, and to monitor your recovery. 

Training will not produce desired results if you don't allow sufficient recovery. If recovery is cut short before desired adaptations occur, this produces a negative effect on athletic performance. In this episode, coach Scott Johnston discusses characteristic signs the body gives during the recovery process, and some perceptive cues that he has used over the decades to assess training readiness both in himself, and in the athletes he coaches.  

Scott Johnston talks with director of Sports Performance at UC Davis, Judd Van Sickle, about metabolic testing, fat adaptation, and aerobic deficiency.