The Evolving Adventure

It's a treat today to chat with ultra runner and acupuncturist Talia Chevassus!

Talia talks about her adventures as a run coach, how her interest in running developed over the past few years, and about future goals. She's rearranged her schedule and life to fit her outdoor passion, while balancing acupuncture clients, yoga and making the majority of her food from scratch.

Our discussion also covers Quebec trails (hello, technical!), nutrition for endurance sports and for recovery, using yoga to cross-train and stay injury-free, hiring a coach, and Talia's love of travel to explore on her own two feet.

It's an inspiring and empowering episode: as she says, the easiest way to keep progressing is to just do what you need to regardless of the weather. That advice holds true no matter which avenue of life we're considering.

Talia is active on Instagram, sharing her run, yoga and food journey as she pushes herself physically while traveling frequently.

Talia and I met during the first loop of Javelina Jundred in Fountain Hills, Arizona this fall. Thank you for doing the podcast to share your story, Talia!

You can contact me at cactusmoose [at] protonmail.com or through Instagram with questions, comments and guest suggestions. I can also be found at www.gregveregin.com.

enjoy!

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Topics mentioned in this recording include

Brix maple syrup endurance fuel

Xact nutrition bars

Bromont Ultra

Black Men Run offered space in their crew tent

Javelina Jundred

UESCA Endurance Sports Coaching certifications

UTMB Nice will be Talia's first 100 miler

Bromont, Quebec

Desert Rats by UTMB is the 100k Talia is running

Masboquera, Spain is where Talia is doing a month-long training camp

Resilience... what is it, and, more importantly, how can we build it?

Resilience is often thought of as the ability to bounce back, or return to a previous "normal" point after a challenging, stressful situation. Generally, the stressor takes the form of an external stressor related to work, relationships, family, health or finances. Resilience can also be how one adapts to life's stressors... and include a component of personal growth to thereby change from who they were before the stressor into a new person.

I share some strategies on how to build resilience and what you can do to move through a major life stressor in today's episode. These strategies and tips are from a variety of sources including personal experience, Department of State⁠, American Psychological Association, and Positive Psychology. The focus is more on growth than on returning to where one was pre-stressor, as I think we are always presented with chances to learn and grow.

Thank you for listening! Please pass the episode along to someone who could benefit if you vibe with the information and strategies that are shared.

You can contact me at [email protected] or through Instagram with questions, comments and guest suggestions.

Ashley is an ultrarunner with an incredible track record of outdoor adventures in the Sierras. Moving from marathon training to lose weight for college credit to winning ultramarathons after starting on dirt to better exercise her dog off-leash, Ashley is a badass on trails. 

We talk about some of the opportunities she has living in the Great Basin with access to the Sierra in less than an hour, exploring the mountains with her dog, then her dogs, camping trips to hot springs, and point-to-point adventures she has her sights on. Ashley has completed a number of epic races, and just as many big adventure days in the Lake Tahoe area. Mindset is a key theme of our discussion, including how to press on in an adventure despite pain and mental challenges, and what it was like exploring, solo, with paper maps.

This episode covers Ashley's experience at Javelina Jundred 2024, which featured an entirely runnable course with 105 degree temperatures in the open desert, how to troubleshoot long adventures and ultramarathons when nutrition, weather or injuries take things sideways, and some future experiences on her "one day" list.

Ashley frequently explores trails in Tahoe, and shares some of the learnings from her Tahoe Rim Trail Fastest Known Time (FKT) attempt, big future goals, and volunteering at races to give back to the run community. Some of the invaluable wisdom she shares: take baby steps toward your goal then add on. She first started running ten minutes, then added time the next run. Now, she's going after sub-20 hour 100 mile races and pondering some of the most challenging events in North America. If there's a will, there's a way! 

Ashley can be found out on the trails with one or both of her dogs, or on Instagram at @ashleyyayoutside

You can always connect with me on Instagram @cactusmoose or through my website.

Hello friends, and thank you for listening today! We've got a fun episode with Coach Sarah as we discuss our experiences at the Dead Horse Ultra 50 mile race in Moab, Utah on November 16.

It was a fun to chat about our learnings, challenges and successes at the race, and to provide information and advice to anyone considering a fall race in the beautiful slickrock around Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, and Dead Horse State Park. We recorded the episode from a hotel room just before taking our own recovery advice and heading for the jacuzzi.

Some of the topics covered include our different clothing choices for the weather, the surfaces encountered, cutoff times, navigating challenges and troubleshooting when things go sideways, and how to come back from adversity. Gaining experience, and using that experience to build resilience for the future is a theme that comes out from our discussion.

Coach Sarah can be found on Instagram or her website. You can find me on Instagram or through my website.

Emily Keddie is the first guest on the Evolving Adventurer initiative! Emily is a mountain athlete based in Bend, Oregon with a bold goal of 2 million vertical feet covered, by foot, in 2024.

Our conversation is wide-ranging, as always, starting with how to adjust and find balance between the many facets of life other than the pursuit of that goal. We discuss Emily’s body adjustments, preparation for big days, weeks and events, last minute changes in plans, biggest lessons learned in life and the mountains as her mindset and motivation shifts through the year as the goal moves closer. 

Emily has been a friend for several years now and it is always a pleasure to have a deep conversation. She was one of the first guests on the podcast in 2020 sharing how she kept motivated when the world shut down.

You can keep up with Emily's adventures and musings on Instagram. If you liked this episode, please pass it along to someone who could benefit from Emily's wise words.

You can connect with me @cactusmoose, gregveregin.com or [email protected]

Thank you for listening! Today's episode is a neat twist where my coach, Sarah, interviews me about my experience running the 100 miler at Javelina Jundred on October 26-27, 2024, in Fountain Hills, Arizona.

We cover a variety of topics including the format of the race, how I felt leading up to it, what clothing and gear I wore, what worked and didn't, and some key takeaways. It was the hottest Javelina on record, with temperatures in the triple digits out on the course. Nearly half of the entrants to the 100 mile and 100 kilometer races did not finish, mostly due to issues resulting from the heat.

It was a fun day to be out on trails to test myself: much was learned. I'm profoundly grateful to all the staff and volunteers at Aravaipa Running, the crews and supporters who came out, Maricopa County parks, and to my pacers and crew. A big thanks goes out to Sarah, Tony, Nicole, Jen, Lindsay, Heidi, Elly, Kearstin, Mike, Lee, Jubilee, Tristan, Matt, Joe, Julian and Adam.

Some of the highlights of the race are being surprised by my friend Tony, who flew in to see Nicole and pace me; a delicious burger at Jackass Junction from Julian; sharing miles with Jon and Elly; loop 4 with Tony and loop 5 with Sarah; Nicole popping my blisters before loop 4 by headlamp. It was a huge adventure!

The burning question... will I run Javelina again? Well, tune in today to find out the answer to that question!

Connect with me on Instagram or [email protected] for questions, comments and guest suggestions. I'm excited to have some interviews in the queue for the next few months!

Thank you for listening today, friends! It's been hot out here in the desert as I acclimatize for Javelina Jundred in just a couple more weeks.

The inspiration for this episode came from an experience last week: bats were raiding the hummingbird feeder! I've rarely seen bats, or a bat, in my life: definitely less times than I can count on one hand. It was a neat experience, and I explored the deeper meaning behind a bat encounter to satisfy my curiosity.

Bats are about death and rebirth, a prescient omen with the change of seasons underway, daylight savings approaching, autumn harvests in full swing, and Hallowe'en on the horizon. Listen in for the message bat shares with us and for some musings on how that can be translated into reflection for your current experience.

As always you can contact me at cactusmoose@protonmail with questions, comments and guest suggestions. We're looking forward to some more interviews and discussions in the remainder of 2024.

Thank you for listening today, friends! I've had some setbacks the past couple of weeks, and I thought it would be worthwhile to share what I've done to process and move past their occurrence. It can be a challenge when things don't go how you anticipated, but there can be magic on the other side of what's been blocked.

Thank you for listening today friends! There are a few updates to share as it's been awhile since I recorded. I had a profound shamanic journey involving a cougar and a red-tailed hawk, both of which had wisdom to share with me. The wisdom is deep, and I feel compelled to share a new interpretation, how it relates to my life, and some questions to ponder for yourself as we move through of journey.

As always, you can connect with me a through [email protected] or on Instagram at @cactusmoose

Today we're talking about gratitude... what is it, how does it work, and how can your life change once you start being grateful for what you're co-creating?