Off The Couch

When Cam Smith graduated high school in 2014, he had little or no mountain experience. But fast forward a few years, and Cam is now an accomplished trail runner, mountain biker, a member of the U.S. ski mountaineering team, a repeat winner of the Grand Traverse Mountain Run from Crested Butte to Aspen, and a repeat winner of the Grand Traverse Triple Crown.

All of that is extremely impressive, perhaps especially since Cam grew up in Rockford, Illinois, which isn’t exactly an incubator of high alpine achievement.

So I sat down with Cam in BLISTER HQ to talk about his journey, his goals, his relation to running and skiing and mountain biking, his work as a coach and as a guide at the Adaptive Center here in Crested Butte, and more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Racing the Grand Traverse (2:45)
• Growing up in Rockford, Illinois (7:38)
• Getting into ski mountaineering & racing (10:57)
• Overcoming an overly competitive mindset (21:35)
• Who do you look up to? (25:55)
• Short & long term race goals (28:30)
• Cam’s “intuitive” training process (31:23)
• How Cam avoids burnout (34:12)
• Being on the US Skimo team (39:34)
• Working with the CB Adaptive Center (41:42)
• The coolest thing Cam’s ever done (48:36)

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Jason Koop is a passionate runner, the author of Training Essentials for Ultrarunning, the head coach of CTS Ultrarunning, and someone who is not afraid to speak his mind. So Maddie Hart & Jonathan Ellsworth talk to Jason about his endurance coaching; “nonsensical” training aids & techniques; his recent running of the 330 km Tor de Geants; the current state of the minimalist / maximalist shoe debate; what he thinks the running scene will look like 10 years from now; and a *whole* lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• How Jason got into running & coaching (1:40)
• The early days of remote coaching (4:01)
• Jason’s book Training Essentials for Ultrarunning (9:11)
• What’s the current state of endurance science? (12:31)
• Coaching “physiological anomalies" (15:20)
• “Nonsensical” training aids & techniques (22:44)
• Minimalist vs maximalist running shoes? (30:42)
• Running the 330 km Tor des Geants (38:14)
• Sharing your pain on social media (44:45)
• What will the racing scene look like in 10 years? (47:39)
• Jason’s coaching work today (1:04:50)

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Kyle Robidoux is a passionate runner and skier and beer enthusiast. He has run 25 marathons and ultra marathons, including three 100-mile races, and the Boston Marathon six times. He also happens to be legally blind.

Like the vast majority of us, Kyle Robidoux grew up loving sports and the outdoors. But at the age of 11, Kyle was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease, and he was declared legally blind at the age of 19.

So Kyle and I talk about his background, his anger about his receding vision and what he did about it; how he got into running and trail running, his efforts to create more inclusive trail races; his advice to all of us about how to deal with loss of any kind; and what specific things we all can do to be better to and more supportive of everyone dealing with disabilities. (And we talk about beer.)

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Kyle’s work with the Massachusetts Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired (2:30)
• Growing up & playing sports (3:37)
• Being diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (5:20)
• The changing condition of Kyle’s vision (6:18)
• On losing sight immediately vs. progressively (8:54)
• Facing feelings of frustration & shame (14:40)
• How Kyle got into running (28:24)
• Proudest accomplishments? (32:04)
• From road running to trail running (38:51)
• Kyle’s first 100-mile trail run (34:41)
• Running Western States with Scott Jurek (44:47)
• What makes for a great sighted guide? (48:11)
• Future plans and aspirations? (49:48)
• How can ski areas improve adaptive skiing? (52:53)
• Kyle’s takeaway message for each of us (1:03:34)

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Luke Nelson is a professional runner, physician assistant, race director (of the Scout Mountain Ultras in his town of Pocatello, Idaho), climate activist, husband, father of three, and … someone who doesn’t get a lot of sleep. 

And in this conversation, my co-host Brendan Leonard and I talk to Luke about how he and Brendan first met; his background as a serious snowboarder, climber, and kayaker; how and why he got into running — and did his first marathon; his obsession with testing his limits; how he attempts to balance that obsession with family life; why (given everything else he’s got going on) he makes the time to also be a race director, and more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• How Luke & Brendan met (1:30)
• Running his 1st marathon b/c of a bet (5:40)
• Learning from Jared Campbell (13:13)
• FKT of WURL / managing risk & fear (15:04)
• Balancing athletic & professional ambitions w/ family life (21:34)
• Sleeping little, training lots (23:47)
• Snowboarding & kayaking (& origami?) (26:38)
• Why Luke is racing less, pursuing FKT’s more (30:16)
• Finding comfort in pain (31:48)
• Medical concerns about “pushing your limits”? (45:55)
• ANWR expedition with Clare Gallagher & Tommy Caldwell (48:46)
• Why are you a race director? (54:49)
• Environmental activism (1:01:34)

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Finding the right running shoe can be far more complicated and confusing than it should be. So this week, reviewers Luke Koppa, Jonathan Ellsworth, Maddie Hart, and Gordon Gianniny discuss our new BLISTER Brand Guide to Running Shoes; why we saw a need for it; what we hope it accomplishes for runners everywhere; and the trends and takeaways we’ve seen in the process of building it.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Gordon Gianniny’s whereabouts & recovery (2:00)
• Maddie & the Eleven Experience Trail Running Camp (3:45)
• Is Stevie Kremer dodging Jonathan?? (5:00)
• The major problem with buying new running shoes (6:35)
• Our biggest takeaways from developing the guide (9:25)
• Brand lineups with redundant shoe designs (11:30)
• What are the overall market trends? (13:22)
• Should companies provide a stated last? (17:05)

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Salomon athlete, Jackson Brill, is a 21-year old senior in college at CU Boulder, but given his approach to running, the way he talks about the sport, and his race results, you’d be forgiven for assuming that he was twice as old as he is. So we talked to Jackson about his studies and his work in CU’s Locomotion Lab; being teammates with Kilian Jornet; his experience with the Golden Trail Series; and his strong interest in coaching.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Golden Trail Series (3:10)
• Lessons learned from studying physiology (14:02)
• Ascents or Descents? (19:30)
• Do you strategize races based on your competitors? (21:58)
• Being teammates with Killian Jornet (25:53)
• Growing up & downhill ski racing (31:00)
• The “distance” question (34:41)
• If you could only run 1 race in the next 2 years? (39:38)
• What was your best day running? (41:41)
• Jackson’s upcoming races (45:47)

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On Saturday, August 25th, 2019, Zach Bitter set an incredible world record for the fastest time that a human being has run 100 miles — 11 hours, 19 minutes, 13 seconds.

And for an encore, Zach kept on running, then set another world record — the 12-hour distance world record. (In 12 hours, Zach ran 104.8 miles.)

To call these achievements remarkable is an understatement. So we talked to Zach a few days after his big day about the logistics of the event; training for it; why he considers it his masterpiece; his perspective on other world records, and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Recovering from the race (2:50)
• Race day report (6:17)
• Running on a track vs. trail (15:47)
• Zach’s headspace while running (20:56)
• When did you start training for this event? (33:23)
• Thoughts on Ian Sharman & David Roche’s training philosophies (45:07)
• How to get to a 6:40 split (57:47)
• Thoughts on other world records (1:01:53)
• Why we need to celebrate more runners & events (1:07:27)
• What’s Next: Preparing for the Spartathalon (1:15:27)

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David Roche is one of the most successful running coaches out there, but he is certainly not the most conventional running coach out there.

And while data-driven training play an important role in the “SWAP” coaching program run by David and his wife Megan, there are some foundational and existential principles that underlie their approach to running, coaching, and life.

So we explore with David the philosophy and principles that undergird his coaching; how he arrived at them; how he went from being a 200 lb. football & baseball player to two-time national champion in the 10k; how he has evolved and improved as a running coach; what new training ideas seem most promising to him; whether he would consider coaching non-runners; and more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Races as celebrations of training (3:50)
• David’s days as a 210 lb football player (5:45)
• David’s philosophy (16:05)
• Running and Death (26:00)
• How have you most improved as a coach? (32:40)
• Insecurity (36:34)
• Training for fast twitch vs. slow twitch (47:08)
• Is success for yourself or your clients more fulfilling? (51:22)
• David’s book, Happy Runner (53:17)
• “SWAP” running (57:17)
• Would you coach non-runners? (58:22)

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This week’s episode is a bit of a prodigal son story, because our guest today, Justin Ricks, was an accomplished young runner who walked away entirely from the sport early into his college running career — he just dropped running completely. But some years later he found himself drawn back to running, and he gave up a secure corporate job, moved his family into a camper, and started to put on race events.

Then, Justin and his family kept putting on more and more race events each year under the Mad Moose Events moniker, and as you’ll hear, Mad Moose is very much a ‘whole family’ affair.

But Justin and his family don’t merely make a living in running, they also live to run, and they literally run together - the whole family - every single morning.

And despite putting on over 20 races a year in Colorado and Utah, Justin himself somehow manages to score some very impressive race results when he himself decides to race, including his 1st place finish two weeks ago at the Silverton Ultra 55k; his 5th place finish last month at the Leadville Silver Rush 50 miler, and you’ll find a whole lot of other wins, podiums, and top 10 finishes of his over on ultrasignup.com.

So I talked to Justin about this rather unconventional and very interesting life that he and his family are constructing; we talk about walking away from and returning to running; the origins of Mad Moose events; whether he intends to put on even more events in the coming years, which event he himself is most interested in racing in someday, and yes, I ask him about those really improbable-sounding daily morning runs with the whole family.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Justin’s background in running (4:38)
• From the corporate world to living in a camper (11:15)
• The origin of Mad Moose Events (17:47)
• How scared were you to leave your secure job? (20:24)
• What goes into putting on a good race? (26:12)
• How has race directing affected your own running? (31:16)
• What does directing a race actually involve? (32:37)
• What’s your favorite race to put on? (34:45)
• What’s your coaching style? (39:26)
• #familygoals — their daily family morning runs (42:18)
• What race do you want to do the most? (48:10)

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Ian Sharman likes to keep running fun, and is extremely good at running races in Spiderman, Santa Claus, and Elvis costumes.

But Ian is also a fierce and amazingly consistent competitor, and has completed over 200 ultras and marathons. He is the only person to finish in the top 10 at Western States 100 9 times in 9 starts; he is a 4-time Leadville 100 champion (and the only person to break 17 hrs four times at Leadville), and … we could go on about Ian’s records and results.

And Ian is equally passionate about keeping ultrarunning fair, and keeping doping out of the sport. So we talk to Ian about setting Guinness World Records for racing in costumes; some of his impressive wins and records; the most common mistakes he sees people making in training and in racing; his strategy for keeping doping out of ultrarunning; and more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Trial-and-erroring his way into endurance sports (2:16)
• Becoming the World’s Fastest Elvis (13:11)
• Racing in costumes: Pro Tips (18:36)
• Coping with injuries & life lessons (21:02)
• Record Holder: The Grand Slam of Ultra Running (29:56)
• Ian’s Western States 100 streak (31:19)
• Doping & Ultrarunning (34:46)
• Trail running culture vs. road running culture (48:46)
• Thoughts on the sub-2-hour marathon (50:23)
• Running in the US vs. Running in the UK (52:28)
• Biggest mistakes people make in training & racing? (56:23)
• How to avoid long-term burnout (1:06:48)

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