Latest / The Steep Stuff Podcast / Tyler McCandless | Sub-Ultra Superstar, Balancing Life on the Trails, the Track & the Roads

Transcript

Tyler McCandless | Sub-Ultra Superstar, Balancing Life on the Trails, the Track & the Roads · The Steep Stuff Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up guys?
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the steep stuff podcast.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, james Laurie.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hello, and today I'm so excited to bring you guys episode 62 with none other than sub ultra track and road standout, tyler McCandless.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: You guys might be familiar with that name, as you absolutely should be.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: I feel like Tyler was on the podium of some of the most competitive sub ultra trail races in 2024.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: And he's just absolutely not getting started.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: We had a really exciting conversation.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: We talked all about his four time Olympic trials marathon qualifiers, which is pretty bananas, as he aims to kind of go for his fifth over the next few years.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: We talked all about his some of his goals.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: We talked about his training.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: We talked about his 2024 season and kind of what he's got planned for 2025, as he has big goals to try and make another us team Uh.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Last year he represented team USA in Italy in the VK, um, after placing second at the Loon mountain race, and this year he plans to make the world's team for the USA uh, as he will be participating at the broken arrow VK as well as the soon the Soonapy Scramble Guys.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Really fun conversation.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Tyler is just a consummate professional the way he approaches everything numerically and just his breakdown and the science behind everything is just really exciting.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Like I said, he's definitely someone that will be continuing to compete in the sport for a very long time.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I hope you guys enjoy this one Absolute favorite of mine.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Without further ado, mr Tyler McCandless, it's time I'm going to go get some food.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, we are live.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Tyler McCandless, welcome to the Steep Stuff Podcast.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: How are you, man?
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I'm great, it's a pleasure to be on.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, man, I'm so happy we were finally able to do this.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: I know the winter's a tough time, man, especially like I know you're super busy.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: You're in Fort Collins, I'm down in the Springs.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: We just went through a big move, so I've been doing a lot more Zoom interviews than in person, so I'm happy we were able to finally put this together.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, how's your day going?
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: What's going on these days?
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: You know it's good.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: I just was in San Francisco for work for the last couple days and, after being negative 16 when I drove to the airport, I was pretty happy to run on some trails and 50-degree weather in the morning in San Francisco and, yeah, it was good to get back yesterday too.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: I don't blame you, man.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I have some family that lives in South Florida and I have been looking at ticket prices all week.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my gosh, it's been cold, it's been really brutal, it's been cold.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, yeah yeah, all right.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: So how about this?
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: We already kind of introduced you.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Audience knows who you are.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Maybe talk a little bit about your backgrounds, and I know you've had a very long relationship with running, so maybe give us the condensed version and I'll kind of pull it apart from there and we can go with questions from there.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, great, um, I started a very abbreviated version soccer player in high school one of the play at Penn state and I did soccer my, or I did track my freshman year of high school to say, I don't know, I get in shape for soccer.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: And I broke five minutes in the mile in my first mile race on the track and was like, oh, this is like really fun.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: And four years later I was running at Penn State and I've really fallen in love with the sport and continued to improve every year.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: When I went to school on my fifth year I was All-American in my very last race in the 10,000 meter.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: So it's just consistent improvement and I thought, well, I can continue this improvement in road races.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: So I started marathoning back in 2010.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: I did the California National Marathon in my debut, ran 217, qualified for the 2012 Olympic Marathon trials.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Been road racing since then, mostly road racing.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: So 2012, 2016, 2020, and earlier this year I competed at the Olympic Marathon Trials.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: So I've done four.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: But in 2020, when COVID happened, there was a cancellation of so many road races and it was like we can't get big crowds together, it doesn't really work.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: In big cities it's hard to control this and I thought, well, track races will be open.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: So I got in ripping good 1500, 5k, 10k, shape PR in all three at the age of 34, 35 at the time and I thought I had a chance to make the US track and field championships.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: And I went out and like 1403, the first 5k and the 10k and then I ended up running 2850, which was too soft of a time to get in and I was like I gotta do something fun.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: And the veil gopro games had a 5k and 10k and I was like, oh, it's on the trails, but like I'm in good 5k, 10k shape, I just went 1348 for 5k.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: I'm like I can do this.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Um, I won the 5k and was second to Joe in the 10K and the trail community was just so awesome.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: It wasn't so much the race result that was amazing, it was the community, the fun we brought our two-year-old and it's kind of like an Olympic style event of you're watching kayakers and slackliners and like competing in trail races and seeing mountain bikers.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: It's just like such a fun, you know, outdoor event.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: And from there I was like what trail races could I find, and I think my wife found rendezvous mountain hill climb on the drive home looking on her phone and then did that one and that kind of got me into the trails.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: So you know, 2021 that was like the introduction, and then past year I've had kind of more of a season focus on the trails and kind of dabbled in the roads and um, uh on the trails as well.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Dude, I love it what I mean.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: First of all, what an amazing story.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: But even more so like I just love to see that you've kind of like entered the space in 2021, obviously a sub 14 minute 5k guy which, like you guys you sub 14 minute 5k guys are so nasty on the trails, man, uh, especially in like these shorter like Cirque series races and in your five 10 K Um, and it just translates really well.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: So it's exciting for me to have a conversation with someone like you, because I'm a big sub ultra guy, love sub ultra Um, and you seem to just just really cross over and fit that mold perfectly.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: And then, kind of to add to that, one of the things I find really interesting is you're seeing a lot of athletes like you're Christian Allen's of the world, right, he's a marathoner, he's also on the trails and you very much are in that same mold where you're competing at a high level, you know, on the track and on the roads, but as well as on the trails.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: So it's just really fun to see new guys and gals coming into the space and just mixing it up and having success at both ends.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: So there used to be this moniker that trail was slow and maybe, yes, on the ultra side, but sub ultra is so competitive right.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: And it's so intense.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: I think what I've learned well is that the uphill especially is all about having a high VO2 max.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Like you got to be capable of very intense work.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: So like 400s on the track, do 16 by 400 on the track.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: That translates really well to being good at like a VK.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: Now you have to have some specificity.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: But like it's surprising and how, if I'm like really fit and ripping it on the track.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: But like it's surprising and how, if I'm like really fit and ripping it on the track, I know I'm ready to go crush it on the mountains as long as I've done, you know, enough vertical.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Now, when we did that first bale, I hadn't done any hills and I was wicked sore.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: I don't recommend like doing nothing on the hills, but I think it's really fun to see that transition and the sub ultra is really competitive.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: The, as you mentioned, you know, christian Allen, joe gray, I mean they're fierce competitors on the roads and cross country as well and it's really fun when you're hammering up a mountain as hard as you can with with those guys.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: I don't know, it's just the purity of the sport.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: It's what I love, dude.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: I love it too, I mean, and it's been really exciting to see someone like you come in and like listen, man, and you you've raced Joe quite a few times and you know Joe's our quote, unquote goat, if you will and it's fun to, you know, see guys like you hang with him and be able to like push him.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: You know like Loon was a I mean, I followed Loon pretty closely, you know.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: I know John Aziz as well.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: He's Colorado Springs guy, so seeing all of you guys up at the front and just you know the way you've been able to push it and stuff like that with Joe is pretty cool.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: It's nice to see how much competition is up front and, dude, I can't wait for this season, like 2025 is going to be wild.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: We'll get into that a little bit later.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: First off, I do want to backtrack a little bit to growing up in Pennsylvania.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: I grew up in Pennsylvania too, I don't think too far from you, actually, I'm from Bucks County, but further down, like Fairless Hills area.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Okay, so North Hampton County.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: I went to North Hampton high school.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: So just a county or two North east of you.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's so crazy.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: I moved when I was just before high school.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: So I moved when in eighth grade, family moved to Florida, so down for the sunshine.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm very much a Pennsylvania guy through and through and can't say I'm a giant Penn state fan.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I, most of my family went to Penn state or a lot of them have, like my cousins, and yeah, it's, it's, it's been too.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: I'm impressed.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: I do have to say, like how far you guys got in the playoff this year.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: I got to hand it to you for the college football playoff.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Like it's been fun.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: It was fun to follow.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: You know, I got really into it more into it than I probably have been in any other year and I learned a lot from Franklin and his leadership skills and coaching a team and just how he interacted with the players.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: It was really a fascinating thing because you really see he's built that program in 10 or 11 years and there's the transfer portal and it's not like been consistent, but he talks about he wanted it to be transformative, not transactional, in terms of his experience.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: And that was very much my experience as Penn State is.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: I had coaches that it was about transforming us as individuals into being better people, not only better runners, and I just have nothing but great things to say about my experience at Penn State and it was fun to relive it a little bit.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: I'm actually ironically, my next race is next Friday.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: I'm going back to Penn State to run an indoor 5k to kind of sharpen those wheels and haven't raced there since 2010.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it was a good college football playoff.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Oh man, that's so exciting, dude.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Good luck too.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: That's going to be fun to go back up to Happy Valley and get to spend some time out there.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you guys get the best athletes man Bo Nickel, who's now an MMA athlete but was a former D1, obviously one of the best wrestlers ever to come out of Penn State Just on all levels and facets of the sport, it's interesting to see how the Big Ten I don't know, I'm a Big Ten, big, big, big 10 guy, so yeah.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: So, dude, what do you?
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: You have?
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: An interesting.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: One of the things that struck me about you, um, is not just are you a family man, but you're able to balance so much You're.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: You're able to balance competing at the highest level of the sport as an athlete.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: You're a family man and on top of that, you have a very serious job.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Can you talk a little bit about, because I just find it so interesting Can you talk a little bit about what you do for a living?
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: So I got a bachelor's, master's and PhD, all from Penn State.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: My PhD I was doing research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, so I spent three years doing research on.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: It was solar power forecasting, so I was using machine learning to try to predict solar power.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: At that point, 2012-ish, there was minimal data.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: It wasn't as solar as dominating as it is now maybe not dominating, but as integrated as it is now.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: So it was really at the forefront of that research and I loved it.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: I was like, oh, this is a fascinating paradigm shift in the energy.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Industry is moving towards.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Renewables, are now lowest cost.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Machine learning, weather data, science it all fits in and it's this really fascinating combination of the three.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: So I've been very fortunate.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Since my PhD, I've worked at various jobs that have been related to that.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: So right now I lead the machine learning science team and I'm general manager of our science services program at a company Equilibrium Energy team and I'm general manager of our science services program at a company, equilibrium Energy.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: We are a battery company.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: We're trying to help optimize our battery handling the forecasting side, very weather dependent renewables really driving the market, leading a team.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: The team is incredibly intelligent, hardworking and we're kind of just taking that gritty approach to trying to make a positive impact in the world and bending the climate curve.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: So it's really fun, it's like intellectually stimulating, it's very, you know, deep focus and it gives me a really nice balance to the day.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: It's a little hard to juggle at times with, you know, kids and my wife and I love them so duly and, you know, want to be with them a lot, also want to also want to kick ass at my job.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: So I I think I've heard Jared Ward say like you're always juggling balls and you're going to drop them and just don't drop the same one every time.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: And that one really resonated with me is like sometimes I dropped the family ball.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: I just went on a work trip and the kids were sick and that wasn't great.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: You know like I can't drop the family ball the next time.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: So it's definitely a balance.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: But I love it and I feel like I'm truly living in the present moment when life is full and you're doing impactful stuff, whether that's family running or your passion or your work.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: So I really feel like I'm thriving being this busy.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Wow, man, I love it.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: I think the audience would really appreciate maybe.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: How do you make the time in your day to run?
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Are you just extremely deliberate about I have to get in the gym at this time, or I have to get on the track at this time, like?
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Or are you more fluid?
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Like, oh, I've got a free hour, I'm going to go out and, just you know, sneak this in, like, how do you do it?
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Early morning.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: That's like really like get up, cup of coffee and try to get out the door, like, do a couple lunges, get my glutes activated and try to get going.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: So I try to finish my run by 7am.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Now that was Levi.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Used to sleep my oldest until seven, so it was great I'd come back and then help get him up and have breakfast with them.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: Now, levi and Jack, my youngest they tend to get up at like six so they're already up by the time we get back.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: But it's a really nice balance where, like, I get to have my focused energies on running and putting together good quality work first thing, and then I shower and then I'm with the boys for an hour 90 minutes and Kristen gets to go do her run, so she gets her time in the morning and then by 830, I'm starting the job and I've had time with the family.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: I've had the time to run and getting the bulk of my work done.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: Then Ideal world, it's summertime and then I can get out for a three or four mile jog later and Levi's on his bike and I'm pushing a stroller and Kristen's biking with me.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: We get family time and some running time together, but really prioritizing that time between 5.30 and 7.00 AM, for being focused.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: Running um is definitely how I make make it work.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Now, winter's hard, hard, it's like it's cold, it's dark.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: So the treadmill is my friend, you know.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: I just have to use it by necessity.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: But it gets to be more of a chore in January a bit some of the days, but then summer's fantastic when it's sunny and perfect weather at 530 in Colorado every day.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's hard to beat man.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Our summers are beautiful.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: No, I appreciate the synopsis and breakdown on like how you structure.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Just getting out in the morning.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: I know it's super hard, even dude, winter is the worst.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: I personally, I'll admit the same thing, like I spend way more time on the treadmill in the winter, just because it's just so much easier to go get a flat, easy run in and as opposed to having to go out and put a park on and you know, shedding layers and just getting out the door is hard.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Maybe can you talk a little bit about I'm so interested in like how you train and the reason I'll say that is because, like you, you're more or less like this dual sport athlete where you are tracks, track and road, obviously, and the trails during the winter, like you said, you're getting ready for a 5k and you're doing a lot more speed stuff.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Do you even touch the trails or are you just more so on the roads?
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: Great question.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: So I've been coached by Steve Jones, uh for over 12 years now and Jonesy, uh, he broke the world record in the marathon back in I think it was 83 or 84, band 207, um was also.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: I think he ran 401 for the mile back in the seventies, ran in the Olympics and the 10,000 meter.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: He's a UK legend and Jonesy has just been a phenomenal mentor.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: And when I lived in Boulder we moved to Fort Collins about four years ago I used to join for two or three workouts a week plus long run, and now I mostly do things on my own but still follow the general program.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: It's really simple, like we don't overcomplicate things.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: I'm not doing double thresholds, it's not overcomplicated workouts.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: It's Tuesday, thursday.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: Right now I'm doing three workouts a week.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: So Tuesday, thursday, saturday is basically three to five minute reps hard on Tuesdays, thursdays, a track workout.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Friday or Saturdays is then short hill repeats and then a long run on Sunday.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: And sometimes I shift those days around, especially with the weather and work and trying to coordinate best.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: But, um, it's really worked for me to have the season of like three workout weeks and then I'll shift to doing like Tuesday, friday, hard workouts, long run.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Saturday, um, medium distance, wednesday, ifnesday, if I'm you know, more doing longer stuff, but it's it's very much keeping it, it's simple.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: And then in the summer when I transition more to the trails, every wednesday I try to meet adrian, who he's the one led to a hundred times or a couple times, led to a hundred a couple times.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Um, he's a phenomenal mentor for trail stuff and we run towers and we run in horsetooth and we make sure we get enough burden.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: So I try to get two good quality uh trail runs per week and sometimes I transition, like I said, doing hill repeats.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: I'll do a three mile time trial on towers and, um, that's like 2000 feet of elevation gain and, uh, just over three miles.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that's pretty solid.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Do you, um?
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Do you spend any time in the gym, Like, do you like lift at all?
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: So I didn't use to.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: I used to joke that I did 20 pushups and got sore, so I didn't for like four years.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Um, and I realized this fall my my one hip had been kind of just like a little off and my glute wasn't firing Right.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: I worked at the PT and now I've been following a strength routine twice a week.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: That's about 45 minutes each session and I've noticed a considerable improvement by doing a bit of strength work.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: So I'm really excited for how I feel right now.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: I think it's gonna lead to some bigger and better things in 2025.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: So it's kind of funny.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: You asked that question and I'm like a year ago I said absolutely not, I don't do anything.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: And now I'm like that was probably a mistake Now, cause he's a ski mountaineer also, probably that's more predominantly a sport, but just from a power perspective and just like trying to get what he's looking for, like he spends like three or four days in the gym like a week and like like no joke, like hour long sessions.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: So that got me turned on to the idea of like all right, well, how much can you incorporate this in a like running without overdoing it?
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: And I'd say like the biggest thing for me has just been more so injury prevention and some power, like more plyometric, to apply that to power, like getting off like a really uh hard, like I guess a heavy um like deadlift and then doing box jumps right Immediately, stuff like that.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: For more plyometric like um, just to have the poppiness, like have more pop in the leg, um, but yeah, it's interesting like more so for just injury prevention.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: It's really helped a lot.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Like I was kind of surprised, um, like last season, dude, I had, like I was getting like weird back pain and it was because my hip flexors were too tight and I was like, is this me getting old.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Like what is this?
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that's.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: My next question is you're mid to late thirties, right, 38, 38.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Okay, do you feel like father time at all, like it's getting you, or cause you seem to be just as dominant as ever?
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Like what do you like?
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on that?
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: That's a good question I had to do.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: About two years ago I went through a more deep mental training exercise Cause I was like, all right, I'm getting to be 36.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Like I, my VO2 max is going to be slowing down here.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: It's going to be, you know, decreasing.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: That.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: That is science.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Like I'm not going to be the one who that science doesn't interact with.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: So it will, it will slow down, but right now I'm still improving across the board.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: I mean I had a good session of like 20 by 200 just the other weekend and was doing a lot in 30, 31 seconds and it didn't feel too aggressive.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: So I feel like I still have the wheels and you know I've been really smart.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Jonesy's been a great coach and he's always kept some of the speed in and doing enough strides, enough of the shorter, faster work that I've kept on that vo2 max system in that training and I think that really helps with the longevity in the sport um.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: I think oftentimes a lot of people transition towards marathon training.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: That's very long, long duration, long tempos, the double thresholds.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: I I am concerned that that doesn't really necessarily help for like longevity and especially like the marathon um and some of those events where you also need to continue to improve your neuromuscular system.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Um, so yeah, I feel like I know that I'm going to be slowing down and I did that deep work to understand, like, what are my core values?
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Why am I?
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Why am I really doing this?
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: And I just love the pursuit of trying to get better and trying to be the best I can be, and maybe when I'm 45, that's not as fast in the 1500 is what I can do right now.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: But I'm excited for the next challenge and I don't know if I'm going to hit 40 and be like I really want to try to break my mile PR or if I want to run a hundred mile, like things will change and evolve over time.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: But I really want to show long-term consistency and I think my ultimate biggest goal is how many Olympic trials, marathons can I qualify for, like I'd like to do?
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: I'd like to qualify for more than anyone else because I'm showing that long, consistent pursuit in the same direction and I think that that is more important than anything.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: And, yes, I'll start to slow down, but I think goals will just shift and if I keep the core values of trying to be the best I can be and being positive influence while doing it.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: It's going to be really fun next few years.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: I love that man and it's so crazy.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: What is the record now?
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Because I know you've done since 2012.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: So you've had four, so like how?
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: what's the?
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Is the record like six, like five I think it's.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: I think it's probably five.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: It's a little questionable because if you get before 2012, you could qualify off like a 5k time to run in marathon trials.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: So like I don't know how much you count that, I feel like you should have to do a marathon to qualify for the marathon trials um or some people have qualified and then not competed, so um, I think it's five though.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Dude, you're so close.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, the next one's a big one.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Um, obviously we're a little ways away, but like that's, that's an amazing goal.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: And it's interesting to me too from the age perspective and especially as technology gets better, medicine gets, gets better, so many things improve, even shoe technology, nutrition, and just start understanding of the sport.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: To me, I mean, like you see, joe joe's, almost joe might be 41.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: I know he's over 40, so I think he's 41.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Max is like 43, 44, so at least on the trail side, even in the sub ultra spectrum, you could have, you know, a very long career, uh, and it could continue to go.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: You could have, you know, a very long career, uh, and it could continue to go.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Even, you know, I mean, you see, even like Ludovic Pomeroy on the ultra sides, like I think he's like 47, 48, something like that, and goes and wins hard rock.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: So there it's, it's.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: It's interesting and inspiring to someone like me.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: I just I turned 34 in like two weeks, so I'm getting there and I, you know, you think about it and it's something you do Like I don't know, after you turn 30, I'm like I'm not really as excited for my birthdays anymore, cause it's like, ah, your, your prime is leaving you, but that's not necessarily the case at all.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Like you can continue to be in your prime, not just from a mindset perspective, but as you train hard and work and sit and be consistent.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Like you can keep this going for a while.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: So I had a professor at Penn State who I was ironically on a run with, but we were more talking about like life things.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: It was the day of my dissertation defense and he was in his 50s and he was saying how each decade kept getting better and he's like, you know, you think that like, oh, the next decade, I just turned 30.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: Now things are going to get harder.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: I turned 40 and now I'm old and now I'm 50.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: Now I'm like very old and he's like but you gain more experience, you might have more freedom because you've been working and able to build up your finances more, and now you feel more secure.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: You just kind of build on it and if you just stay present, it only gets better every, every year and every decade.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: And I kind of internalized that and thought about that with running too.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: And it's like what happens if I'm 47 and I'm competing at my seventh Olympic trials and my kids are in like middle school and they're able to like or high school and they're able to come and watch, like that could be the most impactful race of my life, like it doesn't matter if it isn't my fastest marathon, it could be the most impactful one that I run.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: So, like when you think about those core values, you start not being as afraid of slowing down and just more excited about the opportunity that's right in front of you.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: And working right now, in the present moment, for that next opportunity, yeah.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: The excitement of just being there.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Man, it's a big deal.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: I really want to get into your 2024 season.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Obviously you had some success.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Gopro was a great.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: You had some great success at GoPro Rendezvous.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: We got to talk about Rendezvous because that's what four in a row for you at rendezvous now and then was a two or three wins, something like that.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: So you've had great success there.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: First person to go back to back under under an hour, which is bananas, we could talk about that course.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Um, I'd say let's first start with gopro.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Um, I know we talked a little bit about it.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: You raced what the 5k this year, 5k and 10k, and then I did a team for the pepe's uh face off what'd you think of pepe's man?
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: I was supposed to go last year and then I did.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: I had it was my mom's birthday and she was in town, so I didn't wind up going.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: But long story it's fun.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Um, yeah, it's a different challenge.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: It's uh, it's gnarly.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: It's kind of like doing like mile repeats, you know, like you hurt really hard going up the hill and then you run back back down and with the relay.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: Then I tagged somebody else in and then they did a lap.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: So it was less intimidating than just 30 minutes of hammering on up and down pepys as hard as you can.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: I feel like it's a little more fun too, where it's not just consistent, where you can just tag someone, and it helps a little bit yeah.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: And it was the third event of the weekend, so it's a lot of racing.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: But I had done Pittsburgh Marathon early May, so that was then early June, so it wasn't a big turnaround and I honestly thought the 5K would just be like a bit of a rust buster of racing hard on the trails again.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: And then Cade had a tremendous run and I had so much fun running that race with him and just going back and forth.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: And I had so much fun running that race with him and just going back and forth.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: And you know story of my life, I kind of get slaughtered on the downhill technical part when he just like flew by me and he ran tremendously well in there.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: But it was a great opportunity to just like test racing and it was a good start to the season.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: And then I did the 10K two days later.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: Joe won and I was at 20 ish seconds back but I I was really close to him through like four and a half five miles and then on a technical downhill section I kind of gave up some ground.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: So it was kind of the the classic early season races for me of like just not being quite confident yet on some of the downhill stuff.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: Um and yeah, it just kind of got the racing started.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: And then peppy's was just fun.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: I had a teammate here in fort collins and we did it together and it was a cool experience.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: I got to run hard at peppy's three times and, um, yeah, yeah, man, gopro is a great, great weekend like event that they put on, like it's so cool.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Um, yeah, that's one.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Are you going to plan on going back this year, you think for 2025?
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: yeah, it'll be a busy June, but definitely.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, nice, nice Dude, let's talk about Loon.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: I'd say that's like one of the crown jewels of the season for you.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: On the trail side I would imagine, like I know both John and Joe and both of them had like really sung your praises obviously, like you guys had a really dynamic race, you know against each other, uh, the three of you going up that, uh, going up loon, I guess upper walking boss or whatever.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: So maybe talk a little bit about that experience, uh, and what it was like, because they painted it like an interesting experience for me because I know they trained together right, so they knew like they had like a little strategy, they were gonna see what they could do and work together.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: And then here you are doing your thing and you just kept it going and and kind of broke John a little bit, like can you talk about that experience?
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: And like, by the way, you two are very similar people.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: We'll talk about that after.
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: I listened to your podcast with him.
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: He seems like a great guy.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: I've only chatted with him a little bit, chatted with him a little bit, but yeah, he's a tough competitor, um, and has had a great career, um, yeah, it was a very interesting race.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: Obviously.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: There was great talent there, you know, qualifying for Italy at being a US championship, um, and I knew I was really fit.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: So I was like, well, I'm just going to go out with the leaders and see what happens.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: And a few people went out hard early Andy, I forget who else was leading and they kind of fell back and and all of a sudden I was leading at like mile one and I'm like this wasn't really the plan that I had come up with.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: I kind of was hoping that, like Joe and I would just pull away and we were just going to be fitter and then we'd work together, because it was really about, like, to me it was almost like a prelim.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: It was like I want to get to Italy, I want to be top two, and all of a sudden I'm in the lead and I'm like, oh man, well, I got to keep the keep the foot on the gas here.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: So I just like kept hammering and I had such a big lead, I couldn't see anyone.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: I couldn't hear anyone.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: There wasn't cheering behind me.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: I got that's terrifying it is Cause I'm like I know the folks behind me are really good and I'm like, did I just like go out wrong?
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: Like what am I doing?
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: But I felt strong.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: So then you get to a part where it's like it's probably about five miles and you climb up and then you go plunging down and you turn and then you start up a walking bus and I hadn't seen up a walking bus, I just knew it was really, really steep.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: So I'm like, well, it'll be fine, you know, I'll just like do my best on this and figure it out.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: And I hit that turn and I start coming up and then I could hear people cheering for Joe.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: But I'm like on my watch is like, oh, I got, I got 15 seconds, like this is fine, but like I wasn't going to risk anything because I didn't want to blow up and then like not finish or really struggle to finish and then get passed by two people.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: So I kind of played a conservative.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: And then he caught me.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: And he caught me and I looked down at the watch and it showed like 5.99 miles and it's like a 6.1 mile race or something like that.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: So we're 0.1 from the finish.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: When he finally passed me and I was like, all right, just get second, get to the lead, it's great, um.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I literally thought for about five and a half miles that race.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: I'm like I'm winning my first national championship.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: I pulled away on the downhill sections how did I have such a big lead?
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: And then he was a monster on upper walking boss, and I learned a lot I walked when he did a nice like fart lick kind of going up and his strategy was way better and he was super strong.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: So yeah, it was a very interesting race, definitely different than how I thought it was going to go, but it was a great experience.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Dude so rad.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: Thanks for painting that picture, because I heard their side and how they worked it and it was just interesting to get that like, get your perspective too.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: I have everybody being there on the day, so that's pretty cool.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and kudos to you guys, I mean what?
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: And congratulations on qualifying and we'll.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: We'll talk about the Italy race soon, um, but yeah, just such a kind of such a good paint in the picture for for the, you know say, let's talk a little bit about like, like, what your plans are.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: So you're going to go, are you going to to broke?
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: I know you're on the list for broken arrow.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Do you plan on going to that for the ascent as well?
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: yeah, definitely, I like the ascent more than the classic, but, um, I plan to do both so soon to be and then broken arrow okay, and soon to be, is going to be interesting because it's two loops, which makes it, you know, strategy wise, it's going to be a completely different game.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Um, and then the v, the VK stuff.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: I feel like that's.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: That's your jam anyway with rendezvous, so that should be you.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Well, we're signed up for broken arrow, but you didn't race the VK last year, right?
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: No, Um, I had a work trip to work trip to Germany that I uh overlap and I couldn't uh, couldn't pass up that, so I couldn't make it to broken arrow.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: Oh man, well, I'm very excited to see you this year in that lineup, because the lineup is going to be so stacked.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, everybody's going to be there.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: So it's going to be fun to see, like kind of how it all, how it all, shakes out, if you will, but soon to people will be cool as well.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: I'll be, I will definitely be at soon.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: P I'm not really sure if I'm going to be at broken arrow this year, just because, like what I want to do with media versus racing, how that works.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: It's very perplexing.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: Um, dude, let's talk rendezvous, because you've had like since 2021, have like just dominated that course, and then you and Joe were the first two guys to go under an hour.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Um, maybe talk a little bit about the race itself, its location, course, um, and we'll go from there.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so Ronnie was in Jackson hole and it's always the first weekend in August, so I always do the quiet half marathon.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: That's Labor Day weekend.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: So at that point I'm kind of like transitioning to also getting some good half marathon work in.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: And I've had good trails from like either veil or loon or some other races.
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: Like I have like that right combination of like half marathon fitness plus the trails and then it's six point something miles of like flowy single track until the top where it gets kind of rocky.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: But like that's my.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: That is what I love is just like hammering for an hour as hard as you can.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: I don't really love above 10 000000 feet.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: That gets pretty hard at rendezvous.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: So I won it the first year when there was construction on the tram, so it finished at the gondola, so you actually finished with a little bit of downhill.
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: It was like an hour or two.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: The next year I come back and I thought I had it and I didn't know that last section was like so technical, I thought I was going to break the hour and it was so, so technical.
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: I thought I was going to break the hour and it was so foggy I couldn't see more than like six feet in front of me.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: So I ended up running an hour one and I just missed it and I was like I know I can break this.
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: And then the next year Joe shows up, andy shows up, and we just hammer fast from the start and Joe was like 58 minutes and I was like 59.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: But again, we were together until just that last like mile and then he was just a monster on the final section.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: But uh, then this past year, yeah, I went 59, 59.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: So I got under by one second.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: Very nice, and uh, yeah, it's just like really fun.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: I think it just plays to my strengths.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great race man I recommend.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: I think it's one of those ones that are like not highly publicized, if you will, so like it's, it's like this really classic thing put on by Jackson Hole.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, I hope it gets more notoriety and it's like more of a bigger race because, like we don't have too many ascents or like VKs in the States, which is kind of disappointing, so it would be cool to see more.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Do you ever plan on doing the Pikes Peak Ascent?
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: Because I feel like you would smoke.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: That course I would love to.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: I had a work-related thing this year.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: We had a summit for the whole company and it overlapped with that weekend, so I wasn't able to make it work in this year but definitely want to make it work another Maybe this year, I think, depending on Worlds, if I qualify and the timing of things.
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: We'd to see.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: But yeah, definitely want to do that.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, man.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: Well, if worlds, if you don't wind up going to worlds, then yeah, let me know, cause I I just got on the board I'm trying to recruit as many elite athletes as possible to the race.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: We're trying to make it a big deal for the 70th anniversary.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: So it's, yeah, like time of the year this year, because everything I feel like is happening in september.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: So have you ever sorry?
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: what were you saying?
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: Everything is in june or september.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like it's like overloaded with like great races in both.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: So june's gonna be complicated, like I feel like for everybody's schedules, because, especially if you're gonna be at sunupi what that's june 1st literally broken arrows, maybe two weeks later, something like that.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: So it is gonna be a very complicated I.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: I think I'm just gonna either stay in the northeast because I'll be doing a bunch of the circ series races this year, or go back and forth.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: You know, leave the northeast and then come back and go to broken arrow, but but yeah, it's, it's a very complicated schedule.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: I have no idea.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: Uh, at least, at least August will be quiet.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: So it'll be.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: Uh, you know I can.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: It's nice Cause, I don't know, I love the summertime, so it's nice to be able to train on the home trails, you know, experience the back country and just kind of have fun in our own mountains.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: Um, now you're, you are, you do like you've got a lot of like hobbies.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: I, one of the things I read about you is that you're really into fishing, right?
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: yeah, I love fly fishing okay, I've never done it before, it's like highly on my list of things to do, but I feel like it's a very zen, like it's like you can actually like I don't know, when I say zen, it's like relaxing a little bit more than like having to hit a certain pace or, you know, focus on a workout and stuff like that, whereas like it's kind of more I don't know enjoyable Right.
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: So I like things that are very much like getting into the present moment and for me, if I tie my own fly, I'll only use dry flies.
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: I love seeing the fly at the surface and if I can go out there and spend an hour where I'm just so focused on, like the science and the purity of the cast and then following the fly and then having a fish come up and sip it, it is like ah, it is like pure enjoyment.
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: It's very similar running.
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: It's like the best times are like when you're floating, when you're like working really hard in a race and you're challenging yourself and you're just there and present and the focus gets really narrow.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: I just love that and I try to, you know, do the things in life that really, uh really enjoy that.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, do you ever like venture out to like Rocky mountain national park, to go like fly fish out there, or are you like hit your I guess, areas around Fort Collins Like, or what's what's going on with that?
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: Pre-kids, my buddies and I would always go to the big horn river in montana every year.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: That was a big trip, oh wow.
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: Definitely go to a bunch of places from the arkansas river, colorado river, the big thompson, um and some of the small tributaries too.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: But with kids it's been a little bit less of fly fishing, but I'm excited they're like at least getting into fishing now and it won't be long before uh levi's out with me tying flies and catching some trout on the dry fly.
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: That's so cool man, yeah, I gotta get into it.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: My dad I grew up, um, you know, like when we moved to florida my dad has always been into fishing and like loved it, but like more saltwater, like deep sea and stuff like that and I don't know.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: It's just so, I don't know.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: I I find it very zen and very relaxing to be able to do that and I've been longing to like think about, like man, like it would be really cool to link up a bunch of things in the back country where you can like run to one location to another and you know fly fish and you know just take time and just just be there, be present.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: You know it's, yeah, it's good stuff.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: One of the things that I thought was really cool about you is like how many times you've like raced and just slaughtered the Hawaii marathons and half marathon.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: Can we talk a little bit about, about your, your relationship and history with that race?
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, um.
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: So back in 2011, they had a $15,000 prize purse for all the men who broke 230, all the women who broke 245 and and it was like shared and with a little bit more going to the winner, and I went out there and I won it.
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: Mike Wardian was second.
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: We each got a really nice payday, but it was like the community was amazing and I connected with the race staff.
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: They became friends, came back the next year, just missed the record, came back the year after that.
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: I broke my record, ran 221.
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: I mean 221,.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: There's like almost 3,000 feet of vert on this marathon.
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: It's like super hilly, it's humid, it's hot and I was just like floating out there and it was such a special experience.
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: The next year they were like let's get rid of the prize purse, let's do more in the community.
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: I was like perfect, I want to do more.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: I went out for two weeks.
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: I was sponsored by Newton running.
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: At the time.
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: They donated literally hundreds of pairs of shoes.
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: I went to every school in the Island, talked about the health and wellness of running, gave out shoes to a few different communities.
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: I was so special.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: Then we did a cakey run, where now I dress in a chicken suit and I go out and I lead these kids runs on the Island, you know.
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: And now, like this year, like I did it with both of my boys, they were like doing the kids run we get 200 kids moving and like doing a sport, it's, it's so much fun.
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, each year I go out and I'm like really connected with the race.
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: I do some talks that lead a fun run, lead the kids run, try to connect with the community, and then I try to rip it in half and run as fast as I can.
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: So I have both course records.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: I've won every year.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: This year CJ Albertson beat me by a handful of seconds.
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: I had a big lead the whole race and he got me in the last 0.1.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: It's not a bad person to beat you, I mean like he's.
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: I mean CJ Albertson, that's crazy Wow.
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: It was.
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: I was pretty frustrated with this year being like the year of seconds, Like the number of times I've gotten second place is almost 50% of the races I did in 2024.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: So I do think a little bit of a mistake was, as a little too much of a generalist of like I didn't maybe focus quite enough on like the VK distance, or I didn't focus enough on the half marathon distance and then I ended up continuously getting second, and that's something I want to do.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: A better job this year is having targeted seasons where I'm like all right, I'm going to be a track athlete and get really fast, get my VO two max really high, then prepare me perfectly for a trail season and be fully trail and then get back to the road Gotcha.
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the in-between has got to be more difficult, as opposed to just doing like for I don't know, like I can't compare my season, but like mine's a little bit different where I'll just do like right now I'm in a 10 K block, right, try to hit my 10 K PR, just build as much.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: But like I'm not married to it, like someone that is going to go compete, like me, I'm just ready to.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: Let me just go run I don't know underneath 34 or 35 minutes in the 10K.
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: That's my goal for that.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: But other than that, I just want to have trail fitness.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: That makes the most sense, whereas you're somebody that competes at both, whereas the best I'm doing is competing in the trail.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: So it's a little bit different.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: But, dude, that's a perfect marriage where I think you can absolutely go dominate.
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you this so, besides broken arrow, um sunipi and uh, what was it?
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: Uh, gopro, what else do you have planned for this year, for at least the trail season?
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: yeah, it's a great question.
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: I'm still trying to figure that out and see what races make sense.
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: Honestly, I don't really want to go to sunipi as my first trail race, yeah.
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: So I'm trying to figure out what, in april or may, would be kind of good tune-up races for.
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: That Makes sense.
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: Honestly, I don't really want to go to Sunapee as my first trail race, yeah.
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: So I'm trying to figure out what, in April or May, would be kind of good tune-up races for that.
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: So I haven't quite figured that out yet.
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: So April and May are a little undecided.
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: Before that I want to do the track, get really fit for running fast, as you kind of just mentioned.
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: And then July, august, is another question.
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: I think Rendezvous Mountain is a great one.
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: Love it, would love to go back again.
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: So that's early August.
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: Be great to find something in July I haven't done any of the Cirque series races.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: I think there's a few ones in July.
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: So that might be an opportunity.
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: Um, and then it also depend on if I make worlds.
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: So if I make worlds, that I might do is actually after uh, uh broken arrows.
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: Last one, take a small break and then start building towards worlds.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: Speaking of worlds, let's talk about your race in Italy, cause that was uh, like, that was a proper VK course, like, can you, can you talk about your experience there?
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: How the race went, prepper like, preparation for it, and was that the first time you've ever represented you at team USA on the trails?
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: So it was first time I've ever represented team USA on the trails.
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: So it was First time I've ever represented Team USA.
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: It's funny.
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: I talked to Lauren Gregory who was on the team and we were joking.
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: Afterwards she's like wait, so the first US team you did.
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: You come to Italy, you hike upstairs for 30 minutes and you have a bunch of Italian girls yelling die, die, die at you and I was like that was like exactly a representation of the race.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: It was so steep, so it was 2.2 miles and 3,300 feet elevation gain and it was mostly like stairs and you just went between little villages.
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: So it was hard to understand how much to like power hike versus run and in hindsight I should have ran more.
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: I think that was a lesson I learned, but I felt like I competed to my fitness level.
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: It was time trial format, everyone 30 seconds apart, which was fascinating.
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: Um.
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: So yeah, it was a great experience, loved it.
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: Team USA was awesome Christian Allen, joe Gray, amazing teammates to be on a team with and it inspired me so much.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: I'm like I need to have a focus on making the world team, because competing on a team is by far the pinnacle of the sport.
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: There's nothing more fun than being with teammates trying to beat other teams.
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, dude, does Joe like pull you guys aside and like talk strategy?
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: That's what I've heard Like from people that, like joe, is the ultimate competitor in strategy wise he did it on this one, but this one is a little less formal of a team yeah, it's more individual world, but like he, he was already talking about worlds next year.
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: He's like, hey, we got to get the best team together.
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: We can do this, guys, so it'll be exciting dude, is it true?
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: did christian allen run in alpha flies?
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: I saw like videos of him running and it looked like he was running in alpha flies for the vk and I was like that's such a strange shoe choice.
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: Uh I think it might have been a modified street fly okay, okay, okay, fair enough.
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: But yeah, what did you run in?
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: What shoe choice did you use for that?
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: uh, the merrill skyfire 2 okay, great shoe, great show.
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: So I'm gonna pivot a little bit and talk sponsorship, because you have this like such a hybrid approach and have come from the roads where the sponsorship world is very different than the trails.
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: Um, I know you were running with or are running with um rabbit and mer.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: Is that correct?
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: Was Nothing right now?
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: Well, questionable right now.
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: Okay, still figuring it out.
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great question and story because the way it happened was super organic with well, merrill was through a connection or, sorry, rabbit was through a connection.
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: I've been with Rabbit for over six years.
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: I love the brand.
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: The apparel is absolutely fantastic.
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: They're now also pivoting into shoes, so that makes some complication with also having a shoe sponsor.
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: So we're trying to work through that.
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: Merrill saw the Rendezvous Mountain results and was like hey, you wore our shoes.
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: We love this.
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: Let us send you shoes for you and the family.
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: It was like the sweetest thing and it led to a contract for the next year, but it was unfortunately only one year contract.
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: And then it's renewals and all of this stuff.
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: That um not my favorite part of of the game, because I really just like having a great community and being supported by a brand and being really connected and having a long-term partnership.
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: So one year renewals are really hard.
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's not that fun.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: I have to go through it and have to figure it out year over year over year.
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: So, okay, so that's interesting that you're trying to figure out.
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: So you're open, then, now to a potential new shoe brand, which is exciting.
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, it is, yeah All right, cool, so we'll put that out.
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: I like your positive enthusiasm.
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: No, it is All right cool.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: So we'll put that out.
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: I like your positive enthusiasm.
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: No, I was thinking we'll put it out positively to the world and hopefully we can get some brands listening to this and get you trying on a couple different pairs of shoes.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: So it'd be sick.
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: Well, I thought a lot about this too, and there's a book, brad Stahlberger, the Practice of Groundedness, and he talks about big redwoods and how they grow really tall, and they're able to do so because of their roots, and their roots connect to each other's roots, so together they're so much stronger.
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: And I feel like that's what like a sponsorship should be.
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: It's a true partnership where, like, you're working with the brand, you're elevating their product, you're also supporting getting the marketing and the information about that product out, and then they're helping you run faster and trying to contribute to like what can we do to support you and your goals?
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: And I'm really excited to have that partnership with the next brand.
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: Oh man, I'm wishing you absolute best on that.
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: I think you'll land somewhere big and it'll be exciting.
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: So I'm excited for that announcement to come at some point in time.
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: Thank you, yeah, man.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: Oh dude, so that announcement to come at some point in time?
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, man, oh dude, so all right.
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: So we talked about 2025 and goal.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: Like I want to.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of curious.
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: I want to get in your head a little bit about goals, because you've accomplished, as someone that has accomplished such rarefied error, um, you've won marathons, you've done a lot on the trail team or on the trail side in a very short, like um short time.
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to say, say, um, I'm just trying to understand, like what, what are some future goals that you have for, more specifically for the trail space?
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: Is there any races that pop out to you that you'd be excited to go run?
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: Is there any I don't know any stuff in europe that you'd like to go race, like a series, and all I feel like for somebody like you would be like that would be a game changer.
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: Like, is there anything that like kind of draws your attention?
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: It's a good question.
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: I think number one making the world team, being on that with Team USA is going to be the top of the list.
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: I've never won a national championship.
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: I've been second in the marathon, I've been second in the vertical mountain running.
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: I've been second a lot of times.
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: So I'd like to win a national championship.
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: So I think those are two big goal ones.
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: In terms of international ones, you know series, and all does seem very interesting.
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: I'm not particularly excited about ones that are like overly technical.
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: I want it to be a little bit more about like fitness and toughness than it is about like downhill descents on sketchy rocks.
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: So trying to find the right ones that fit what I'm excited about is a little bit harder, and then just also balancing that with work and family, like the international trips, can be hard.
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: So Pikes Peak Ascent definitely won.
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: You know been one of the best in the U?
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: S and one of the toughest, so that's on the radar.
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: But it's really about like competing and trying to win and specifically trying to win a national championship.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, dude, I like that goal and the national championship.
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: I feel like that's gonna happen at some point in time.
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: Like that it has to.
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: You know, I don't know, you and joe gotta figure that one out I love joe gray.
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: I really want to beat joe gray I've heard a lot of people say that man it's.
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: And it's been interesting because, like you're one of the few people that I've met that can actually like stick with them in a race.
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: So, like you keep rolling the dice and you know, one of these days you'll get it.
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, it's going to be dude, broken arrow and you never know.
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: Like the crazy thing about broken arrow this year that just like blows my mind is now that the 23 K is going to be a, um, a world golden trail, world series race.
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: Like you're going to have Remy in the mix and I wonder if Remy might be like huh, let me try that VK or that ascent, cause he's a, you know, naturally, you know he's an uphill runner, like that's his jam.
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: So I wonder if, um, cause he did it at mammoth.
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: So I wonder if he would be someone that would mix it up.
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: And you know Patrick's going to come back, I would imagine, cause it's going to be um, a W, uh, rma or WMR RA race.
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: Um, patrick will be in the mix, so you guys should have up front like a extremely deep contingent of men to race against.
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: So it'll be fun.
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because I think about like Loon Mountain, if one of those guys, if Remy or if Patrick, was in it, like they might've helped pull me so far ahead that I would have been okay.
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: Instead of running kind of in this like am I running too hard?
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: Am I not running hard enough?
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: How hard should I run this?
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: So yeah, it'll be interesting for the VK.
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's even a deep cut from a couple of years ago at Soonapy.
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: What's his name?
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: Alex Rickard he's.
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: I know he's friends with Adam Campbell.
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: He run I think he might run for the North Face.
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: Doesn't show up to too many races, but when he does he was the last he beat joe at sunup a couple years ago.
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: Um, so it's just gonna be.
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: He's signed up for broken arrow.
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, I just think that I I am absolutely astounded by the depth of people like should everybody show up healthy and actually able to get there?
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that'll be one of the most, if not the most, competitive race on american soil that we've had to date, which would be pretty dope be, fun to be a part of it.
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: Oh, 100 man, 100, that's cool, all right.
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: So we kind of covered.
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: I feel like we covered a lot of stuff, man.
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: All right, let's get into some questions now if I feel like we haven't.
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: If I have to backtrack, I'll backtrack if I, if any new questions come to me.
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: But, um, I'm.
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: You know a couple my wife is Kristen is just like amazing and she handles a lot with.
• 53:50
  Speaker 2: She fell in love with the sport of running when her and I had met about 10 years ago and it's just fun to see her pursue her goals and have that commitment and dedication.
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: And I'm really looking forward to tonight, after the boys go down, and being able to chat running with her.
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: We haven't caught up and it's just really because I've been traveling for the last couple days it's just like really fun to see that purity of it and doing it because you love it and that being running and setting goals.
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: And then my coach, steve Jones.
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: I mean he was fearless, he was a tough competitor.
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: When he ran 207 in Chicago he went out in 101, 43 when his half marathon PR was 101, 40 and that kind of just like toughness and dedication has inspired me a lot and I'll never forget sitting down with him after my I think it was the first years with him and I had run a handful of races in a row won Naples half, won the great Aloha run.
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: I was like I'm, like I'm, I'm great, I'm on the right trajectory, I'm winning races, I'm feeling good and we sat down for coffee and he was like you're totally missing the boat.
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: He's like I want you to be aggressive in workouts.
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: He's like I want to see you blow up, push past your limits and find out what they are.
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: I did that and then I took my half marathon PR from 104, 59 to 103, 16 and competed like at the front of a national championship and he, if it wasn't for him of that pursuit of you, got to challenge yourself.
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: Challenge yourself in every workout, like make it happen.
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: Uh, I definitely wouldn't have accomplished what I have in the last handful of years.
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: And he still inspires me and I still think, even if he's not on the bike next to me in every workout now I still think about kind of the Jonesy isms that he throws out.
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: The Jonesy isms Dude.
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: I love that answer.
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: That's a good one.
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: Wow, it's always interesting to see how people tick and see what inspires different people, and that's a really good answer.
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: Do you All?
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: We're gonna go one more deeper here.
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: What's your walkout song?
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: What's the song playing in your head?
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: I know you probably don't race to music because nobody really does that, but what's the song you're getting pumped up to before a race?
• 56:04
  Speaker 2: Song Born to win.
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: I listened to it on repeat before the when I ran two 12 in the marathon and finished second at the national championships.
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: And I took second so I didn't win.
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: But the, the lyrics and the song, just like it's the right, like vibe and cadence.
• 56:22
  Speaker 2: I'm blanking on who the artist is, but a phenomenal song, that's what I'd walk out to.
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: I like it.
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: I like it.
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: All right, we can get into some funny questions.
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: It's interesting to me because you are a data guy, work in machine learning.
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: What is your take on?
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: This is a deep one.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: This is not running related.
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: I just like to ask people this question because I work in corporate finance and there is a good degree of, I wouldn't say, machine learning, but a lot of data behind it data science with some machine learning we're getting into.
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: What is your take on how the Because especially All right, sorry, this is a very loaded question because you are a dad and you have young ones that are going to be entering the workforce in the future, like way down the line.
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: What do you think it's going to be like with that world with AI kind of taking jobs and growing to such a place where it's either going to really help us or it's going to completely fundamentally change the way we view and think about anything and everything?
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: Sorry, very loaded question, but I'm just very curious to get your take on this.
• 57:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, ai is a paradigm shift for really the world's economy, what it's able to do, the efficiency gains.
• 57:36
  Speaker 2: And there was something I had to do for work earlier that was basically like ended up being a 40-page document had I wrote it all from scratch basically like ended up being a 40 page document.
• 57:47
  Speaker 2: Had I wrote it all from scratch, I would have been 24 seven for four straight days in order to get this done.
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: Instead, it took me about four hours and I nailed it and it was like chat GPT can get you a lot of the way there and that's just like an example of letting it be a superpower for you, and I think the folks that learn how to use it to make them super powerful are going to be like the next greatest tech contributors and instead of it replacing their jobs.
• 58:19
  Speaker 2: So I think you got to look at it as another tool in the tool set from whatever business you're in and how you can utilize it most efficiently.
• 58:29
  Speaker 2: I think it's going to be fascinating for my boys when they're 20.
• 58:34
  Speaker 2: Where is autonomous driving, how is fast food being served and what are entry-level jobs?
• 58:42
  Speaker 2: Because I do think AI is going to end up taking a lot of those.
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: It's really going to be a fascinating time to see how this shifts and from my perspective.
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: On the energy side, you need the data centers to be able to run a lot of this AI, and that's going to have to happen.
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: You're going to need more renewables in order to be able to match that goal, and the tech companies want clean energy to support it.
• 59:04
  Speaker 2: So the energy side is fascinating how that's going to change, so it's a really exciting time.
• 59:09
  Speaker 2: That's probably a long-winded, kind of complicated answer, but I think you've got to learn how to use it to the best of its capabilities.
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: And where I'm particularly excited is I think there's a lot of innovation that can happen in the medical science with AI.
• 59:26
  Speaker 2: And I think that hopefully there's some way new innovations in cancer treatments and others that come from this new technology.
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: So yeah, exciting times in my opinion.
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: Oh, I think so too, man.
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: It's interesting to see where it's one of the things.
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: So from the energy perspective, because I've read a lot about tech companies wanting to basically build and implement like nuclear power plants to run these data centers Is that like a real thing?
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: Is that like really what they're going to plan to do?
• 59:54
  Speaker 2: Nuclear is a bunch of policy type challenges.
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: You know nobody wants even a small nuclear reactor in their neighborhood, so you know that's going to be a challenge.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 2: But in terms of baseload clean energy it's perfect.
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 2: You know solar and wind don't provide, you know, consistent 24 seven.
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: So then you have to do matching with batteries and battery technologies improving and battery costs are coming down and you know there's a lot of opportunity there to to be able to cite solar, wind and batteries.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: But yeah, nuclear has an opportunity and it'll be really interesting to see how the technology and the political framing of that works out.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: Interesting.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: Well, dude, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: It was a great conversation.
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: You are an amazing human.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: I'm so blown away by you to be able to just balance so much as an athlete at the highest level, as a father and in one of the coolest jobs of anybody that I've spoken to so far.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: So thank you so much for your time.
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: Um, I really appreciate it and I hope this is the first of many conversations down the line.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, pleasure being on.
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you, tyler.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: What'd you guys think?
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: Oh man, what a fun episode.
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: I want to thank Tyler so much for coming on the podcast.
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: This was such a great conversation for me.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, tyler is just one of those people that just he just really inspires.
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: I mean, you can be any person and be inspired by someone like Tyler.
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: He competes at the top of the sport, he's a freak athlete, but even more so he's a professional in what he does when he's in the office and he's also a family man.
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: So the guy balances it all, he does it all, and so with that, he's definitely someone that just truly inspires me.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: So, I guys, I hope you took a lot away from this episode.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: If you happen to be on Instagram, do me a favor, hop on and give Tyler a follow.
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: You can find him by typing in tracky T-R-A-C-K.
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, track T-R-A-C-K-T-Y, so track tie.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: You can also type in Tyler McInliss, that's M-C-C-A-N-D-L-E-S-S.
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: You could probably find him that way, but, like I said, his handle is track tie.
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: Guys, if you enjoyed this one, please do me a favor.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: Share it on Instagram, as well as give us a five-star rating and review.
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: Would really genuinely appreciate that from the bottom of my heart to how we can continue to interview some of these amazing athletes and cover our great sport.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: We definitely have a lot of stuff that's coming around the corner.
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: In fact, this upcoming Friday, we are going to be announcing the sponsor for the steep stuff podcast, or one of the sponsors for the steep stuff podcast for 2025 that I'm so excited to bring.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: You guys should come as no surprise as to who it might be, as they've sponsored some stuff in the past for me, so really stoked to to finally make that announcement and start bringing you guys ads.
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: You're going to be so excited for that, I bet guys, like I said, please five star rating and review.
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: Love you guys.
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for supporting the podcast.
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: Have a great rest of your week.
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: Um, keep a lookout for Friday's episode with none other than Arc'teryx athlete, mr Jesse McCauley.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: Um, absolute stud.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: Uh was on the podium last year at Mount marathon.
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: So excited to have a conversation with him.
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: Have a great rest of your week, thank you.