June 25, 2025 • 34 mins
The trail running world has a new star to watch, and she comes from an unexpected background. Rena Schwartz, fresh off her victory at the Mount Washington Road Race, joins the Steep Stuff Podcast to share the fascinating journey that took her from Nordic skiing champion at Dartmouth College to dominating some of America's most challenging mountain races.
What makes Reena's rapid rise in trail running so remarkable is how new she is to competitive racing. After graduating from Dartmouth in 2022 where she competed as an elite Nordic skier, Reena moved to Boulder and almost accidentally discovered her talent for mountain running. Within months, she stunned the trail community with a fifth-place finish at the US Mountain Running Championships at Sunapee Scramble before claiming victory at the iconic Mount Washington Road Race.
Throughout our conversation, Rena reveals how her extensive Nordic skiing background created the perfect foundation for mountain running success. The physiological adaptations, training approach, and mental toughness developed through years of elite skiing transferred seamlessly to the trails. "Most of [ski training] is honestly hiking," she explains. "Skiers, when they're going slow training, they're going slow training, and so you're hiking a lot. I think that's probably a huge part of the way I run today."
What truly sets Rena apart is her balanced perspective on athletic achievement. Currently pursuing a master's degree in social work, she views running as one component of a multifaceted life rather than her sole focus. As she navigates the possibilities of sponsorships and more competitive racing, she brings a refreshing mindset to a sport often defined by singular dedication. For anyone fascinated by athletic crossover potential, the science of endurance performance, or simply inspiring stories of unexpected excellence, Reena's journey offers valuable insights into what's possible when Nordic skiing precision meets mountain running passion.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What is up, fam?
Welcome back to the Steep StuffPodcast.
I'm your host, james Lauriello,bringing you another amazing
episode today with none otherthan Miss Rena Schwartz,
currently residing in Vermont.
She's a Vermonter for thesummer.
Rena was most recently you guysmight remember that name very
well she just took the dub atthe Mount Washington Road Race
(00:20):
about two weeks back and on topof that, got a top five finish
at the US Mountain RunningChampionship at the Sunapese
Scramble back in early June.
Rita's just like lived anentirely different life, skiing
in college for Dartmouth, and itwas just so interesting to get
to talk about that and talkabout just the Nordic skiing
(00:40):
life and just the differencebetween that and trail running
and how trail running is, as ofright now, a hobby, but
something she's considering, uh,taking a bit more seriously as
she goes with, uh, all thiscrazy talent that she has.
So, without further ado, I hopeyou guys enjoy this one.
Reena is an amazing person tochat with, um, just super
inspiring with just, uh, how sheapproaches the sport.
So, without further ado, noneother than Reena Schwartz, we'll
(01:15):
be right back.
Ladies and gentlemen, we arelive, rina Schwartz.
(02:10):
Welcome to the Steep StuffPodcast.
How's it going?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Good, thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, super excited to have you on.
I have to be honest with you,you were this mystery going into
Sunapee.
When we did our race picks, weweren't really sure because you
came on the scene, won Loon,obviously.
You were this, like you know,larger than life nordic skier
and we weren't really sure, likewhere you were gonna place.
Um, and then we got, then I wason the live stream and you had
(02:35):
this like amazing, insane raceat sunopee.
So it was like I have to haveyou on the podcast and then, as
we were trying to figure thisout, then you go and win uh,
then you go and win mountwashington.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So this was like really perfect timing to have
you on yeah, I mean, I guess Iwasn't really sure where I was
gonna place either, so we werein that together.
Yeah, how do?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
you, uh, I mean, you must have rebounded pretty quick
because, like, only within acouple weeks, you go and wait.
You know, race mount wash.
Obviously that's all uphill,but still like, um, you know
well, let's, let's track thisfrom the beginning, maybe.
How was sunip for you?
Did you enjoy it?
Have a good time?
Like it's kind of a crazy raceyeah, I felt really strong.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Um.
Uh, my goal I guess going intoit was to be fierce on the
downhills and I think I did areally good job of that.
Um.
Um, I'm new to trail racing Iwould say not necessarily new to
trail running.
Um did a lot of trail runningfor Nordic ski training in
college, um, and just for fun.
(03:36):
But the kind of runningdownhill fast part is not
something that I was that usedto.
Um, so I think I was likereally targeting the downhill
there and that went well, so Iwas happy with it.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Like I said, it was amazing to follow along your
race.
I mean it just like I don'tknow like you.
Well, you finished fifth.
You were right there, right inthe mix, pretty much the entire
time.
It was against some of thereally some of the best women in
the world, like those women aregoing to go on and probably
hunt for gold medals, uh, atworld mountain running champs.
So it's pretty cool that, likeyou step into the sport, you're
kind of new to it and you'reright there, like right in the
(04:09):
mix, which is pretty.
How did that feel to you maybe?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
um, yeah, I guess I wasn't really thinking about
making team usa going into it.
I'm not even sure if I knewthat.
That was like what the race wasabout when I signed up.
Um, I'm originally from verm,vermont, and it was like a race
that was close by and I knew I'dbe going back to new England.
So I signed up.
Um, and, yeah, it was prettycool to be among those um, woman
(04:35):
and kind of I feel like I wasrunning with Courtney for a bit
there and she was like talkingto me a little um, and that was
pretty cool.
Um, yeah, it was really fun tobe out there with all those
strong women.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, it was amazing performance.
We could dive deeper into it.
As we get into it, I guesswe'll probably talk a little bit
more.
It'll probably come upthroughout the conversation.
But for those who might not beaware of you, maybe maybe give
me like the five minute elevatorpitch, maybe talk about give me
some of the background onNordic skiing, as well as like
what you did with cross countryas well, Because it's just
interesting to me that you wereable to kind of do both at such
(05:09):
a high level.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, I guess I.
So I ran cross country in likehigh school and track.
I enjoyed doing that but wasmore focused on skiing.
And then decided to ski incollege and skied for Dartmouth
for four years, graduated in2022, lived in Boston for a bit
and wasn't really running thatmuch I guess it was just like
(05:36):
pretty flat and then moved toBoulder this past fall and
started running a little more,was doing a lot of kind of big
mountain adventures and wasfinding that really fun.
Um, and then decided to hop inmy first race since maybe like
(05:56):
2019, when I did loon um thispast spring and I did the horse
tooth half marathon actually andthat was really fun, yeah.
And then I decided maybe Iwanted to start racing a little
bit more.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
That's so interesting to me.
So like you just kind of getbit by the bug after you know.
Kind of coming back to thesport, let's dive a little bit
into like the the skiing aspectof it, because I think I don't
think listeners maybe understandmaybe those really in the know
(06:30):
that like that background setsyou up for to be.
Like some of the best runnersin our sport came from cross
country skiing backgrounds, likeDavid Norris, I mean quite a
few of them, like we saw whatDavid Norris did at Sunapee, um,
you know, david Sinclair,there's quite a few um maybe
talk about like what thattraining is like, why that
crosses over so well to trailrunning.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, it's really cool to see Nordic skiers
crushing it in the trail runningcommunity.
I guess it's just really a verydemanding sport but also one
that makes you kind of thinkabout training a lot and kind of
the science behind it and kindof the science behind it Um, and
(07:09):
I guess mentally too it's justkind of like a lot of hours and
a lot of races, um, and so itmakes you kind of focus on the
mental side of um sport as well,I guess Um.
So I think that kind of can setpeople up for success moving
into running Um, and then justkind of like the
well-roundedness um of skiing,like you kind of have to work on
(07:30):
being strong, being agile, um,but then also kind of I guess a
huge part of it is also theendurance um, and just being
able to go for a long time andbeing able to pace yourself.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Can you talk a little bit about, like maybe some
cause I know you guys focus alot on obviously you kind of
glossed on, it was hours butalso a lot of intensity, a lot
of threshold, a lot of heartrate stuff.
Do you guys did you, were youdoing more, mostly like in the
heart rates, like payingattention to heart rate zones,
like heart rate training, um, asa skier, like how does that
cause?
I feel like that's?
(08:01):
It seems like that's the matrixthat I see a lot of runners
adopt and it tends to actuallywork out pretty well for them
when they kind of adopt a moreheart rate based training as
opposed to just, uh, maybe justfeel, if you will.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah, so I, when I was like um, ski racing, I guess
, um, yeah, I was counting hoursversus miles, which is
something that's different inthe running community I've heard
so far.
I guess I don't really knowexactly too much of the running
stuff yet Any kind of modalityof training is training, so like
(08:37):
running, skiing, biking, rollerskiing, strength, I would count
that all.
Yeah, I, I did use a heart ratemonitor.
Um, we would test lactate, um,and I guess, since stopping
competitive skiing at first Ididn't really wear a watch at
all when I was training and Ifound that really freeing
(08:59):
actually.
And even now I, um, I'd saylike about once a week I go on a
run and I don't wear wear awatch, and I think that's been a
bit of like a release for me.
Like it's like I'm doing thisbecause I really want to do it,
I really enjoy doing it.
Um, yeah, so I, I I guess Ihaven't I've kind of trans
(09:22):
transferred to doing a littleless of the paying attention to
stats like heart rate and, um,running a little bit more freely
now, which I've been enjoyingand I think helps me listen to
my body as well.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I think it's super smart and I think it's just like
, like I said, that crossoverjust works so well.
I got to ask you this Maybe canyou talk about your time at
Dartmouth.
Obviously, it's this legendaryuniversity, one of the best
colleges in the world.
What was it like going there,but also being a student athlete
there?
Maybe talk about what it waslike skiing at a high level on
(09:54):
the team there?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah, I mean the team is really a very, very special
environment and just a reallyspecial place, and I do feel
very, very thankful that I gotthe opportunity to be part of
that team.
Everyone on the team reallylifts each other up in workouts,
but also sees each other ashumans outside of skiing as well
(10:18):
.
It can be really tough whenyou're all kind of seeing each
other every day for most of alot of the day but also
competing against each other,and I guess it just requires
like a lot of communication andalso just really getting to know
each other and I guess whatticks you or like what you enjoy
(10:42):
both of those things.
Knowing that about yourteammates is really important,
and that's something that I domiss a lot.
Being part of a team like thatit's interesting, is it like?
Speaker 1 (10:52):
so it's funny like I talked to a lot of D1, a ton of
D1 athletes and a lot of themobviously come from the steeple.
They're always on the track andtheir experiences might not be
the best.
Obviously, collegiate runningsome people have really good
experiences, but a lot of it ismore eating disorders and a lot
of issues that come out of it.
Is Nordic skiing at all similaror is it a very healthy
(11:13):
environment?
What is that kind of like atthe collegiate level?
Is it much different?
Was it very positive for you?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yeah, I mean I don't know that much about the running
collegiate experience, but Imean there are eating disorders
in Nordic skiing too, um, and Ithink it's really team dependent
um the community and kind ofwhat the vibe is on the team.
But I did have a very positiveexperience on the team in
(11:47):
college and I think that wasalso kind of helped along by the
fact that I did have a femalecoach and one that was very
conscious of kind of how we wereall doing.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
No, I think that's amazing, it's crazy.
What was the goal Like?
Would you, would you do like?
Was the goal to be an Olympian?
Was the goal to just rate, likerace, collegiately, like
especially like as a highschooler, kind of going into
college, like, how did yourgoals change the route?
And like, how did, how did likethat kind of work out for you?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
funny thing is I don't know if I ever thought
like that long term about it Iknew I wanted to ski in college,
um, and then once I was incollege I guess I was kind of
just focused on the like verymuch in the present moment of
skiing, um, and then senior yearcame around all of a sudden, um
, and I broke my foot, the.
I was kind of dealing with abroken foot through the winter
of my senior year.
(12:43):
It was actually still brokenand I was racing on it, and that
was a tough winter, as you canimagine.
And I was thinking about skiingafter college and decided that
I kind of wanted to explore someother parts of my life, um, and
(13:05):
so actually didn't really feellike I could keep skiing and
also live in boston and work atthe place.
I wanted to work at that time,um, and so I stopped skiing,
yeah wow, do you?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
do you still like roller ski at all, or play
around with any of that?
I just got into roller skiing,by the way, like in this this
past, like winter ish, becausecolorado springs is, obviously
we don't get it on the snow andI'm obsessed like it is so much
fun.
Yeah, don't mess around with itat all, or?
Speaker 2 (13:28):
um.
So I coached the boulder juniornordic team, or this past fall
and winter.
I did, and I'll roller ski withthem.
I'll roller ski with the kids,but I don't really roller ski by
myself.
I feel like I just have toomany memories of almost crashing
or just like being really hotand sweaty out there on the
roller skis, and I'd much ratherjust go run in the mountains.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
I think that's smart.
I don't know.
I feel like as a cross trainingmodality can be fun, although
people like drive past me andthey're like who is this clown?
Like what is this guy doing?
I feel like we need more of ascene like in in colorado for
roller skiing in my opinion, butI don't know, that's just me,
yeah I mean it's great for crosstraining, for sure.
Yeah, yeah no, big time, bigtime.
So I gotta ask you like now thatyou've like obviously we'll
(14:13):
talk about mount washington in aminute because I think that's a
really important thing todiscuss and get into but you've
had a couple of like, reallysolid results.
I mean, fifth at the usmountain running championship is
no joke.
And then you go and win mountwashington, which some of the
greatest women like uphillrunners, um, you know, have have
like kim dobson, like you'restanding in the shadows of like,
or of giants that have likekind of come, you know, through
(14:35):
that race and done that.
Does it intrigue you now tomaybe like want to be a
professional in the sport, likeLike or like want to like try to
pursue that at some point intime or continue to build a race
resume, or is it just somethingyou want to do for fun, like?
How do you kind of approachthat?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, there's definitely like a tiny whisper
that says um, try this, give ita go.
Um, and I think I'm still kindof navigating where racing fits
into my life.
Right now I'm in a master's insocial work program.
As I said before, that's prettystrenuous 10 weeks of school in
the summer and then internshipthe rest of the year, and I
(15:13):
think that I'm OK if runningkind of like fluctuates in my
life.
Sometimes I'm racing a lot andsometimes I'm not racing as much
.
I mean, I would love somesupport in that.
But I mean the running world iskind of hard to crack from the
outside.
I'm not really sure there's nolike document that's like this
(15:34):
is how you do it, this is howyou get sponsors, like this is
how you do this full time, thisis how you support yourself
while doing this, this is howyou could have a full-time job
while doing this.
Um.
So I mean, like that's kind ofthere's a fun part to that too.
There's some creativity that'sneeded in order to figure out
where it fits into my life.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
um, and I guess I'm like excited to continue to
explore that I think it's abeautiful answer and I think,
like you're so young in thesport that there's just like you
could do whatever you want.
You know like it's you can kindof, as you go and as you
develop and build your careeroutside of running, like you
said, you could kind of figureout like okay, well, how does
running fit into this lifestyleand do I want to have more
(16:15):
professional life or do I wantto go?
You know potentially the routeof a sponsored athlete and what
does that look like and can I doboth?
So it's kind of cool.
Like I think we're seeing thatmore and more in the sport.
Like I think more so on the subultra side you can see a lot of
athletes that most of them havefull time jobs more or less a
lot of them and kind of do doboth.
(16:37):
On the ultra side you'restarting to see more
professionalization, wherepeople are just doing one thing.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
But I think, um, and I think there's more opportunity
to do both at the sub ultralevel, which is kind of cool,
yeah, and I feel like thatopportunity isn't really there
as much in nordic skiing, whichis also right.
Like there aren't that manynordic skiers that are pro but
also are kind of like workingfull-time jobs or um, yeah, yeah
, that just kind of community,at least in the U S, of people
that aren't racing world cups,um, but are still kind of very
(17:08):
much us based um is pretty small.
There aren't many supports setup for that, so it's cool to see
that maybe in the trail runningworld there is.
Yeah, it's well, it's very likeyou know, I think I don't know
(17:42):
no-transcript way to make aliving, doing it when you're um,
maybe not winning world cups,um, but I don't really know,
because I was.
I never skied after college, soyeah.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, cool, cool.
I mean it's interesting, so Ialways love it.
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
All right, let's get into MountWashington.
I don't want to bury the leadthere.
You took the win this pastweekend.
Uh, it was really cool to youknow, obviously, get to follow
that race.
Good friend of mine, actually acouple of good friends of mine,
joe Gray and Remy LaRue, wereout there competing as well, so
(18:25):
it was kind of fun to followalong.
Obviously, they cut the race alittle bit short this year.
Maybe can you get into that.
I don't know if a lot of theaudience follows Mount Wash.
Hopefully we get a little bitmore of a following as the years
go on and we start to buildmore of a fan base for it.
But like, maybe talk about,like, why they cut the race
short a little bit this year andthen we can get into your
experience.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yeah, I'm not sure of too many of the details of it,
but I guess I got.
So I drove like the four hoursthere Friday night and I got an
email that was like the race isnow going to be half the course
and I think it was because oflike high winds and cold Maybe
there was some ice up there orsomething like that and it it
does go to the top of MountWashington, which has pretty
(19:08):
extreme weather, maybe even likethe most extreme weather in New
England, or something like that, um, and so the course was cut
in half.
It was only 3.6 or 3.7 miles,but still like quite a bit of
elevation gain, like 2000something feet of elevation gain
, um, so that made it definitelymade it a bit of a different
(19:31):
race, um, and I prepared for ita little differently too, like
had a bit of a longer warm-upwith a little more intensity, um
, and didn't even think aboutlike eating anything during the
race did you feel obviously fueljust before, like are you a gel
person?
Speaker 1 (19:48):
like how did how did that go feeling going in?
Speaker 2 (19:51):
um, I guess I don't have too much experience with
fueling.
I tried to have it gel duringthe sunup race and that was okay
.
Like I feel like I was kind ofchoking on it a little bit.
Um, usually I feel like on likelong runs or like big mountain
adventures, I'm just like eatingbars or like gummies.
Um, but yeah, I I wouldn't.
(20:14):
Maybe if I were doing the fullwashington race I would try to
have something during it, butthis one was just really short.
I mean, it only took like 32minutes or something like that
super quick one.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
How did the race play out?
Were you challenged at all?
Were you alone?
Like how did I didn't reallyfollow too closely.
I mean, I wish they had likemore of like a live stream that
you can like watch from likestart to finish.
I know something I gotta workon, but like, how, like, how
like were you able to break away, get a break away and just kind
of hang in there and develop agap, or how did how did it play
(20:47):
out for you?
Speaker 2 (20:49):
yeah.
So I wasn't.
I'm pretty like new to thisrunning races scene, so I wasn't
really sure who the otherpeople were on the starting line
, um, so I didn't really knowlike how fast it was gonna go,
um, um, if people were going totry and like sprint the
beginnings.
It's such a short race.
So I kind of was just trying tohang in there around like, uh,
(21:10):
second place, third place, um,and I think I primarily was in
kind of second um, until likethe last mile.
And that's when I was like, oh,we're almost near the end, um,
and tried to go a little harder,yeah, and it was like it's kind
of a strange distance too, likeI wanted to go really hard but
(21:31):
didn't want to blow up, becauseI feel like with all the vert,
there is like the chance that,even though it's short, like you
could, you definitely couldblow up in that time.
So, yeah, I think we took itout pretty fast though up that
first hill, and then it kind offelt like we were chilling for a
bit, and then that's when Idecided to take the lead.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Okay.
And then when you, when youcrossed the finish line for the
win, you must've been elatedLike how does it feel?
Like I mean, regardless of ashortened course, like you're
now a Mount Washington champion,Like that's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah, there was just such kind of like a scene there
like so many people on the sideof the course cheering, and that
made it really fun and it islike a like I've heard about
this race for a long time and so, yeah, it was pretty cool to
cross the finish line first.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
So, like, let's talk maybe a little bit like is there
anything bucket list for thesummer you want to hit off?
I know you're going to bespending a good amount of time
in the Northeast um working onyour master's program.
Is there any like otherNortheast races that you want to
get to?
I know you're talking aboutpossibly doing catamount this
weekend, like what.
What intrigues you now that youcan, you know, kind of get out
to and race up here?
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Yeah, I, I think, because I haven't done like that
many different races, um, andlike some of you, was my first
like up down race.
I'm kind of excited for surfseries races, cause those are, I
think, usually like up downraces.
So maybe Killington, um, yeah,I'll be headed back to Boulder
(23:08):
in September and thinking aboutkind of focusing in on racing a
bit more then, once I'm donewith kind of like this summer in
school, yeah, and then maybesome just like really long
adventure fun runs, like I thinkthere's like the four pass loop
heard of that one like nearAspen, yeah, just kind of like
(23:31):
getting out.
I meanpen, I'm an East Coastperson.
It's just so cool to be inthose big mountains.
I'm really excited for maybe alonger race too.
Yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Super cool.
I got to ask you the questionNow that you've obviously grew
up, lived in Vermont and did theVermont thing.
You're back here now for thesummer, but you've also spent
some time out West.
What do you like better?
Like grew up, lived in vermontand did the vermont thing.
You're back here now for thesummer, but you've also spent
some time in, you know, out west.
Like, what do you like better?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
that's a tough question.
I mean, I'll always vermontalways has my heart, um, so I
think that there's a clearwinner, um, but I mean, the big
mountains are pretty hard tocontend with.
I mean even just like skiingthis winter, like I'd never
really quite skied powder likethat, or like had such long runs
(24:17):
, um, and that's like prettycool.
Um, that's very cool, yeah, umyeah, and the access is pretty
good too.
I mean, living in Boulder,sometimes there's a bit of a
drive which can be kind ofannoying.
I do miss for sure, though,especially in the winter, like
(24:38):
the small kind of Vermontbackcountry skiing, where you
like don't really see manypeople at all, or like there's
like a very small community andeveryone's just like so friendly
with each other.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Um, so I guess I missed that a little bit I feel
like there's a like, especiallyin vermont, specifically, like
it's like dime a dozen for skiresorts, like they're everywhere
.
It's literally one on everycorner.
It's kind of.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Yeah, but they're tiny.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah, a little compared to like the colorado
ones oh yeah, the ones incolorado.
Yeah, bananas, like how bigthey are.
It's cool.
I I been playing around up here.
I just went to like a couple ofsmall New York ones and I'm
going to go to another one thisweekend to like get ready for
Killington in the in theCatskills.
And yeah, they are reallylittle like.
They are like just kind of tiny, but you could still get steep
stuff.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
So I'm like, all right, this is not Colorado, but
it's you know it'll work, youknow, and there's something
really special about thecommunity they can build when
they're kind of this littleplace and everyone kind of knows
everyone else.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Um yeah, yeah, I gotta ask you this when you were
so in your time, like maybebefore you learned about this
whole trail running thing, likedid you do a lot of hiking.
Did you explore like the greensand and kind of go out to the
white mountains at all and kindof explore like Mount Wash and
any of that?
Or like, were you aware of likesome of like what you could do
with some of those big link ups?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yeah, I grew up doing a lot of hiking.
My parents actually met ontrail crew and then my dad
worked at a hut in the WhiteMountains for a while.
So my parents really love theWhite Mountains and that kind of
instilled in me this love forthem as well.
So I have been up Washingtonmany times, not taking the paved
auto road, but yeah, I've donea Prezi Traverse, a few Prezi
(26:18):
Traverses in there and thosemountains really like I love
them.
They're, they're very beautifuland yeah, so I did.
I grew up doing a lot of hiking, um, and even like ski training
.
Most of that is like honestlyhiking like skiers when they're
going slow training, they'relike going slow training and so,
(26:39):
yeah, you're hiking a lot, um,and I think that's probably a
huge part of kind of the way Irun um today, like even at
Sunapee scramble, I feel like Iwas hiking some things that some
people were running and I don'tknow if that like suited me
well or not, but yeah, it's justkind of my style.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
I mean it definitely helps like you're moving pretty
efficiently.
So I don't know.
Something worked, yeah, so cool, all right.
So it just interests me because, like a lot of times you talk
to a lot of athletes right andlike they're kind of like they
might not be adjacently aware oflike the trail running scene
itself, but like they grow upyou know hiking, and or maybe
mom and dad, like for you, forinstance, like it makes a lot of
(27:19):
sense Like mom and dad were youknow your dad was doing the hot
thing and like you know, andmom and dad were you know
spending time outside.
So it makes a lot of sense tosee like kind of formative years
and how people become who theyare.
So it's very cool.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Yeah, I got to ask you this.
So, races, as you've becomemore aware of the sport
obviously not this year, but,like you said you're you seem to
be very good at this up downthing, um, or or more mountain
classic distance, outside of theseries, is there anything that
intrigues you, any races thatyou'd become aware of?
Like, have you started lookinginto?
Like, what the Golden Trailseries is and things like that
(27:55):
Are?
Speaker 2 (27:55):
any of those intriguing to you?
Yeah, those are definitelyintriguing to me.
The thing is like getting there, like deciding that you want to
train for something, trainingfor it, and not just like going
on random mountain adventuresevery weekend, but like
intentionally training forsomething that like involves
(28:16):
time, that involves money, um,that involves flexibility in
your schedule, um, and thengetting there too, like that's
that can be a huge challenge.
Um, but I guess I have someeyes on like have eyes on some
fall races potentially, butprobably only ones in Colorado,
because, to be honest, like I Idon't really feel like paying
(28:37):
for a flight to go somewhere torace when I know that I can
support kind of like the localcommunity and around me by
racing the races that are closeby.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah, yeah, no, I think that's a very good way to
approach it.
Especially being very, you know, just kind of new to it makes
it makes absolute sense.
I saw, so andy was kind ofhyping you up.
I saw that you know he had youwere wearing I think it was a
trail team kit.
Are you working with the trailteam now, or like with them,
like at the community level,like how does that work for you?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
yeah, so when I got to boulder this fall or this
past fall I ran with them a fewtimes and then I was kind of
like focused on skiing in thewinter and wasn't really running
.
And then in the spring, um, Istarted kind of training with
them once a week just with theBoulder.
There's like a big group ofpeople from Boulder that run
(29:26):
with them and that's been reallygreat just to have kind of a
community to um do inter likeworkouts with um, cause I
probably wouldn't reallyintegrate many workouts into my
schedule, it would probably justbe like all long like
adventures, um, so it's beengreat to kind of like get on a
track with them and see whatwhat that's like.
(29:48):
I mean, like I haven't reallybeen on a track since high
school, um, yeah, so that's beenhuge to have kind of a group to
train with.
I'm not on the elite team,though, I'm just kind of
training with them.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
I like it.
I like it.
Do you?
Let me ask you this aboutBoulder this isn't this isn't
necessarily like, notnecessarily a part of the trail
team thing, but like, do youthink you would?
Is Colorado somewhere you thinkyou'll stay long-term or do you
think you'd go back out east?
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yeah, I mean I'm going back in September and I'll
be there for another year, foranother internship year after
that.
I'm not quite sure.
I mean I've I've really beenenjoying my time there, so I
guess we'll kind of see.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Yeah, interesting, interesting.
I feel like people either loveit or they hate it.
It's like very and more peoplelove it than than anything.
It's kind of interesting to seewhat people think of it.
Well, listen, rena, I reallyappreciate your time.
Thank you so much, and this wasa great conversation.
I'm super excited that I wasable to have you on after
Sunapeed, and it was even moreof a cherry on top.
That Mount Washington thingworked out so super cool that
(30:48):
we're able to do this.
Um, I hope that we have to havelike many more conversations
down the line, especially as yougrow with your uh career, and I
really appreciate your timeyeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Maybe I'll see you at killington absolutely count on
it.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Appreciate it, okay, thanks.
What'd you guys think?
Oh man, what a great episode.
Want to thank reena so much forcoming on the podcast to have a
quick chat.
I'm hoping to have rena back onas her career progresses and
can have do a more longer forminterview, uh, and just have a
longer discussion, um, so reallywant to appreciate rena for
coming on.
Um, guys, you can find her.
(31:20):
That's going to be on instagram.
Give her a follow.
You can find her at rena.
That's going to be rena r-e-n-adot s 22 on instagram.
Give her a follow, let her knowwhat you guys thought about the
episode and just send her wellwishes, as she, you know,
continues to just progress inthe sport.
I'm sure she'd reallyappreciate it.
So, uh guys, hope you enjoyedthis one.
(31:41):
If you did, please give us afive-star rating and review on
apple spotify podcast orwherever you consume your pods.
It has been a crazy few weekswith son of p, followed by
Broken Arrow.
So we're going to be taking acouple day break.
I'm going to enjoy some.
I've got a race coming up whichis going to be super exciting
We'll see how that goes and justgoing to be enjoying some of
the northeast, the WhiteMountains and what's to be
(32:03):
offered up there before makingit back to Colorado.
So hope you guys enjoy.
Hope you guys enjoy the rest ofyour week and really appreciate
you for tuning in.
Take care, listen up, guys.
The Steep Stuff podcast isbrought to you by Ultimate
Direction USA.
Guys, I am so excited.
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Thank you.
What is up, fam?
Welcome back to the Steep StuffPodcast.
I'm your host, james Lauriello,bringing you another amazing
episode today with none otherthan Miss Rena Schwartz,
currently residing in Vermont.
She's a Vermonter for thesummer.
Rena was most recently you guysmight remember that name very
well she just took the dub atthe Mount Washington Road Race
(00:20):
about two weeks back and on topof that, got a top five finish
at the US Mountain RunningChampionship at the Sunapese
Scramble back in early June.
Rita's just like lived anentirely different life, skiing
in college for Dartmouth, and itwas just so interesting to get
to talk about that and talkabout just the Nordic skiing
(00:40):
life and just the differencebetween that and trail running
and how trail running is, as ofright now, a hobby, but
something she's considering, uh,taking a bit more seriously as
she goes with, uh, all thiscrazy talent that she has.
So, without further ado, I hopeyou guys enjoy this one.
Reena is an amazing person tochat with, um, just super
inspiring with just, uh, how sheapproaches the sport.
So, without further ado, noneother than Reena Schwartz, we'll
(01:15):
be right back.
Ladies and gentlemen, we arelive, rina Schwartz.
(02:10):
Welcome to the Steep StuffPodcast.
How's it going?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Good, thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, super excited to have you on.
I have to be honest with you,you were this mystery going into
Sunapee.
When we did our race picks, weweren't really sure because you
came on the scene, won Loon,obviously.
You were this, like you know,larger than life nordic skier
and we weren't really sure, likewhere you were gonna place.
Um, and then we got, then I wason the live stream and you had
(02:35):
this like amazing, insane raceat sunopee.
So it was like I have to haveyou on the podcast and then, as
we were trying to figure thisout, then you go and win uh,
then you go and win mountwashington.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So this was like really perfect timing to have
you on yeah, I mean, I guess Iwasn't really sure where I was
gonna place either, so we werein that together.
Yeah, how do?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
you, uh, I mean, you must have rebounded pretty quick
because, like, only within acouple weeks, you go and wait.
You know, race mount wash.
Obviously that's all uphill,but still like, um, you know
well, let's, let's track thisfrom the beginning, maybe.
How was sunip for you?
Did you enjoy it?
Have a good time?
Like it's kind of a crazy raceyeah, I felt really strong.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Um.
Uh, my goal I guess going intoit was to be fierce on the
downhills and I think I did areally good job of that.
Um.
Um, I'm new to trail racing Iwould say not necessarily new to
trail running.
Um did a lot of trail runningfor Nordic ski training in
college, um, and just for fun.
(03:36):
But the kind of runningdownhill fast part is not
something that I was that usedto.
Um, so I think I was likereally targeting the downhill
there and that went well, so Iwas happy with it.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Like I said, it was amazing to follow along your
race.
I mean it just like I don'tknow like you.
Well, you finished fifth.
You were right there, right inthe mix, pretty much the entire
time.
It was against some of thereally some of the best women in
the world, like those women aregoing to go on and probably
hunt for gold medals, uh, atworld mountain running champs.
So it's pretty cool that, likeyou step into the sport, you're
kind of new to it and you'reright there, like right in the
(04:09):
mix, which is pretty.
How did that feel to you maybe?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
um, yeah, I guess I wasn't really thinking about
making team usa going into it.
I'm not even sure if I knewthat.
That was like what the race wasabout when I signed up.
Um, I'm originally from verm,vermont, and it was like a race
that was close by and I knew I'dbe going back to new England.
So I signed up.
Um, and, yeah, it was prettycool to be among those um, woman
(04:35):
and kind of I feel like I wasrunning with Courtney for a bit
there and she was like talkingto me a little um, and that was
pretty cool.
Um, yeah, it was really fun tobe out there with all those
strong women.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, it was amazing performance.
We could dive deeper into it.
As we get into it, I guesswe'll probably talk a little bit
more.
It'll probably come upthroughout the conversation.
But for those who might not beaware of you, maybe maybe give
me like the five minute elevatorpitch, maybe talk about give me
some of the background onNordic skiing, as well as like
what you did with cross countryas well, Because it's just
interesting to me that you wereable to kind of do both at such
(05:09):
a high level.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, I guess I.
So I ran cross country in likehigh school and track.
I enjoyed doing that but wasmore focused on skiing.
And then decided to ski incollege and skied for Dartmouth
for four years, graduated in2022, lived in Boston for a bit
and wasn't really running thatmuch I guess it was just like
(05:36):
pretty flat and then moved toBoulder this past fall and
started running a little more,was doing a lot of kind of big
mountain adventures and wasfinding that really fun.
Um, and then decided to hop inmy first race since maybe like
(05:56):
2019, when I did loon um thispast spring and I did the horse
tooth half marathon actually andthat was really fun, yeah.
And then I decided maybe Iwanted to start racing a little
bit more.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
That's so interesting to me.
So like you just kind of getbit by the bug after you know.
Kind of coming back to thesport, let's dive a little bit
into like the the skiing aspectof it, because I think I don't
think listeners maybe understandmaybe those really in the know
(06:30):
that like that background setsyou up for to be.
Like some of the best runnersin our sport came from cross
country skiing backgrounds, likeDavid Norris, I mean quite a
few of them, like we saw whatDavid Norris did at Sunapee, um,
you know, david Sinclair,there's quite a few um maybe
talk about like what thattraining is like, why that
crosses over so well to trailrunning.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, it's really cool to see Nordic skiers
crushing it in the trail runningcommunity.
I guess it's just really a verydemanding sport but also one
that makes you kind of thinkabout training a lot and kind of
the science behind it and kindof the science behind it Um, and
(07:09):
I guess mentally too it's justkind of like a lot of hours and
a lot of races, um, and so itmakes you kind of focus on the
mental side of um sport as well,I guess Um.
So I think that kind of can setpeople up for success moving
into running Um, and then justkind of like the
well-roundedness um of skiing,like you kind of have to work on
(07:30):
being strong, being agile, um,but then also kind of I guess a
huge part of it is also theendurance um, and just being
able to go for a long time andbeing able to pace yourself.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Can you talk a little bit about, like maybe some
cause I know you guys focus alot on obviously you kind of
glossed on, it was hours butalso a lot of intensity, a lot
of threshold, a lot of heartrate stuff.
Do you guys did you, were youdoing more, mostly like in the
heart rates, like payingattention to heart rate zones,
like heart rate training, um, asa skier, like how does that
cause?
I feel like that's?
(08:01):
It seems like that's the matrixthat I see a lot of runners
adopt and it tends to actuallywork out pretty well for them
when they kind of adopt a moreheart rate based training as
opposed to just, uh, maybe justfeel, if you will.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah, so I, when I was like um, ski racing, I guess
, um, yeah, I was counting hoursversus miles, which is
something that's different inthe running community I've heard
so far.
I guess I don't really knowexactly too much of the running
stuff yet Any kind of modalityof training is training, so like
(08:37):
running, skiing, biking, rollerskiing, strength, I would count
that all.
Yeah, I, I did use a heart ratemonitor.
Um, we would test lactate, um,and I guess, since stopping
competitive skiing at first Ididn't really wear a watch at
all when I was training and Ifound that really freeing
(08:59):
actually.
And even now I, um, I'd saylike about once a week I go on a
run and I don't wear wear awatch, and I think that's been a
bit of like a release for me.
Like it's like I'm doing thisbecause I really want to do it,
I really enjoy doing it.
Um, yeah, so I, I I guess Ihaven't I've kind of trans
(09:22):
transferred to doing a littleless of the paying attention to
stats like heart rate and, um,running a little bit more freely
now, which I've been enjoyingand I think helps me listen to
my body as well.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I think it's super smart and I think it's just like
, like I said, that crossoverjust works so well.
I got to ask you this Maybe canyou talk about your time at
Dartmouth.
Obviously, it's this legendaryuniversity, one of the best
colleges in the world.
What was it like going there,but also being a student athlete
there?
Maybe talk about what it waslike skiing at a high level on
(09:54):
the team there?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah, I mean the team is really a very, very special
environment and just a reallyspecial place, and I do feel
very, very thankful that I gotthe opportunity to be part of
that team.
Everyone on the team reallylifts each other up in workouts,
but also sees each other ashumans outside of skiing as well
(10:18):
.
It can be really tough whenyou're all kind of seeing each
other every day for most of alot of the day but also
competing against each other,and I guess it just requires
like a lot of communication andalso just really getting to know
each other and I guess whatticks you or like what you enjoy
(10:42):
both of those things.
Knowing that about yourteammates is really important,
and that's something that I domiss a lot.
Being part of a team like thatit's interesting, is it like?
Speaker 1 (10:52):
so it's funny like I talked to a lot of D1, a ton of
D1 athletes and a lot of themobviously come from the steeple.
They're always on the track andtheir experiences might not be
the best.
Obviously, collegiate runningsome people have really good
experiences, but a lot of it ismore eating disorders and a lot
of issues that come out of it.
Is Nordic skiing at all similaror is it a very healthy
(11:13):
environment?
What is that kind of like atthe collegiate level?
Is it much different?
Was it very positive for you?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yeah, I mean I don't know that much about the running
collegiate experience, but Imean there are eating disorders
in Nordic skiing too, um, and Ithink it's really team dependent
um the community and kind ofwhat the vibe is on the team.
But I did have a very positiveexperience on the team in
(11:47):
college and I think that wasalso kind of helped along by the
fact that I did have a femalecoach and one that was very
conscious of kind of how we wereall doing.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
No, I think that's amazing, it's crazy.
What was the goal Like?
Would you, would you do like?
Was the goal to be an Olympian?
Was the goal to just rate, likerace, collegiately, like
especially like as a highschooler, kind of going into
college, like, how did yourgoals change the route?
And like, how did, how did likethat kind of work out for you?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
funny thing is I don't know if I ever thought
like that long term about it Iknew I wanted to ski in college,
um, and then once I was incollege I guess I was kind of
just focused on the like verymuch in the present moment of
skiing, um, and then senior yearcame around all of a sudden, um
, and I broke my foot, the.
I was kind of dealing with abroken foot through the winter
of my senior year.
(12:43):
It was actually still brokenand I was racing on it, and that
was a tough winter, as you canimagine.
And I was thinking about skiingafter college and decided that
I kind of wanted to explore someother parts of my life, um, and
(13:05):
so actually didn't really feellike I could keep skiing and
also live in boston and work atthe place.
I wanted to work at that time,um, and so I stopped skiing,
yeah wow, do you?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
do you still like roller ski at all, or play
around with any of that?
I just got into roller skiing,by the way, like in this this
past, like winter ish, becausecolorado springs is, obviously
we don't get it on the snow andI'm obsessed like it is so much
fun.
Yeah, don't mess around with itat all, or?
Speaker 2 (13:28):
um.
So I coached the boulder juniornordic team, or this past fall
and winter.
I did, and I'll roller ski withthem.
I'll roller ski with the kids,but I don't really roller ski by
myself.
I feel like I just have toomany memories of almost crashing
or just like being really hotand sweaty out there on the
roller skis, and I'd much ratherjust go run in the mountains.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
I think that's smart.
I don't know.
I feel like as a cross trainingmodality can be fun, although
people like drive past me andthey're like who is this clown?
Like what is this guy doing?
I feel like we need more of ascene like in in colorado for
roller skiing in my opinion, butI don't know, that's just me,
yeah I mean it's great for crosstraining, for sure.
Yeah, yeah no, big time, bigtime.
So I gotta ask you like now thatyou've like obviously we'll
(14:13):
talk about mount washington in aminute because I think that's a
really important thing todiscuss and get into but you've
had a couple of like, reallysolid results.
I mean, fifth at the usmountain running championship is
no joke.
And then you go and win mountwashington, which some of the
greatest women like uphillrunners, um, you know, have have
like kim dobson, like you'restanding in the shadows of like,
or of giants that have likekind of come, you know, through
(14:35):
that race and done that.
Does it intrigue you now tomaybe like want to be a
professional in the sport, likeLike or like want to like try to
pursue that at some point intime or continue to build a race
resume, or is it just somethingyou want to do for fun, like?
How do you kind of approachthat?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, there's definitely like a tiny whisper
that says um, try this, give ita go.
Um, and I think I'm still kindof navigating where racing fits
into my life.
Right now I'm in a master's insocial work program.
As I said before, that's prettystrenuous 10 weeks of school in
the summer and then internshipthe rest of the year, and I
(15:13):
think that I'm OK if runningkind of like fluctuates in my
life.
Sometimes I'm racing a lot andsometimes I'm not racing as much
.
I mean, I would love somesupport in that.
But I mean the running world iskind of hard to crack from the
outside.
I'm not really sure there's nolike document that's like this
(15:34):
is how you do it, this is howyou get sponsors, like this is
how you do this full time, thisis how you support yourself
while doing this, this is howyou could have a full-time job
while doing this.
Um.
So I mean, like that's kind ofthere's a fun part to that too.
There's some creativity that'sneeded in order to figure out
where it fits into my life.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
um, and I guess I'm like excited to continue to
explore that I think it's abeautiful answer and I think,
like you're so young in thesport that there's just like you
could do whatever you want.
You know like it's you can kindof, as you go and as you
develop and build your careeroutside of running, like you
said, you could kind of figureout like okay, well, how does
running fit into this lifestyleand do I want to have more
(16:15):
professional life or do I wantto go?
You know potentially the routeof a sponsored athlete and what
does that look like and can I doboth?
So it's kind of cool.
Like I think we're seeing thatmore and more in the sport.
Like I think more so on the subultra side you can see a lot of
athletes that most of them havefull time jobs more or less a
lot of them and kind of do doboth.
(16:37):
On the ultra side you'restarting to see more
professionalization, wherepeople are just doing one thing.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
But I think, um, and I think there's more opportunity
to do both at the sub ultralevel, which is kind of cool,
yeah, and I feel like thatopportunity isn't really there
as much in nordic skiing, whichis also right.
Like there aren't that manynordic skiers that are pro but
also are kind of like workingfull-time jobs or um, yeah, yeah
, that just kind of community,at least in the U S, of people
that aren't racing world cups,um, but are still kind of very
(17:08):
much us based um is pretty small.
There aren't many supports setup for that, so it's cool to see
that maybe in the trail runningworld there is.
Yeah, it's well, it's very likeyou know, I think I don't know
(17:42):
no-transcript way to make aliving, doing it when you're um,
maybe not winning world cups,um, but I don't really know,
because I was.
I never skied after college, soyeah.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, cool, cool.
I mean it's interesting, so Ialways love it.
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
All right, let's get into MountWashington.
I don't want to bury the leadthere.
You took the win this pastweekend.
Uh, it was really cool to youknow, obviously, get to follow
that race.
Good friend of mine, actually acouple of good friends of mine,
joe Gray and Remy LaRue, wereout there competing as well, so
(18:25):
it was kind of fun to followalong.
Obviously, they cut the race alittle bit short this year.
Maybe can you get into that.
I don't know if a lot of theaudience follows Mount Wash.
Hopefully we get a little bitmore of a following as the years
go on and we start to buildmore of a fan base for it.
But like, maybe talk about,like, why they cut the race
short a little bit this year andthen we can get into your
experience.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yeah, I'm not sure of too many of the details of it,
but I guess I got.
So I drove like the four hoursthere Friday night and I got an
email that was like the race isnow going to be half the course
and I think it was because oflike high winds and cold Maybe
there was some ice up there orsomething like that and it it
does go to the top of MountWashington, which has pretty
(19:08):
extreme weather, maybe even likethe most extreme weather in New
England, or something like that, um, and so the course was cut
in half.
It was only 3.6 or 3.7 miles,but still like quite a bit of
elevation gain, like 2000something feet of elevation gain
, um, so that made it definitelymade it a bit of a different
(19:31):
race, um, and I prepared for ita little differently too, like
had a bit of a longer warm-upwith a little more intensity, um
, and didn't even think aboutlike eating anything during the
race did you feel obviously fueljust before, like are you a gel
person?
Speaker 1 (19:48):
like how did how did that go feeling going in?
Speaker 2 (19:51):
um, I guess I don't have too much experience with
fueling.
I tried to have it gel duringthe sunup race and that was okay
.
Like I feel like I was kind ofchoking on it a little bit.
Um, usually I feel like on likelong runs or like big mountain
adventures, I'm just like eatingbars or like gummies.
Um, but yeah, I I wouldn't.
(20:14):
Maybe if I were doing the fullwashington race I would try to
have something during it, butthis one was just really short.
I mean, it only took like 32minutes or something like that
super quick one.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
How did the race play out?
Were you challenged at all?
Were you alone?
Like how did I didn't reallyfollow too closely.
I mean, I wish they had likemore of like a live stream that
you can like watch from likestart to finish.
I know something I gotta workon, but like, how, like, how
like were you able to break away, get a break away and just kind
of hang in there and develop agap, or how did how did it play
(20:47):
out for you?
Speaker 2 (20:49):
yeah.
So I wasn't.
I'm pretty like new to thisrunning races scene, so I wasn't
really sure who the otherpeople were on the starting line
, um, so I didn't really knowlike how fast it was gonna go,
um, um, if people were going totry and like sprint the
beginnings.
It's such a short race.
So I kind of was just trying tohang in there around like, uh,
(21:10):
second place, third place, um,and I think I primarily was in
kind of second um, until likethe last mile.
And that's when I was like, oh,we're almost near the end, um,
and tried to go a little harder,yeah, and it was like it's kind
of a strange distance too, likeI wanted to go really hard but
(21:31):
didn't want to blow up, becauseI feel like with all the vert,
there is like the chance that,even though it's short, like you
could, you definitely couldblow up in that time.
So, yeah, I think we took itout pretty fast though up that
first hill, and then it kind offelt like we were chilling for a
bit, and then that's when Idecided to take the lead.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Okay.
And then when you, when youcrossed the finish line for the
win, you must've been elatedLike how does it feel?
Like I mean, regardless of ashortened course, like you're
now a Mount Washington champion,Like that's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah, there was just such kind of like a scene there
like so many people on the sideof the course cheering, and that
made it really fun and it islike a like I've heard about
this race for a long time and so, yeah, it was pretty cool to
cross the finish line first.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
So, like, let's talk maybe a little bit like is there
anything bucket list for thesummer you want to hit off?
I know you're going to bespending a good amount of time
in the Northeast um working onyour master's program.
Is there any like otherNortheast races that you want to
get to?
I know you're talking aboutpossibly doing catamount this
weekend, like what.
What intrigues you now that youcan, you know, kind of get out
to and race up here?
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Yeah, I, I think, because I haven't done like that
many different races, um, andlike some of you, was my first
like up down race.
I'm kind of excited for surfseries races, cause those are, I
think, usually like up downraces.
So maybe Killington, um, yeah,I'll be headed back to Boulder
(23:08):
in September and thinking aboutkind of focusing in on racing a
bit more then, once I'm donewith kind of like this summer in
school, yeah, and then maybesome just like really long
adventure fun runs, like I thinkthere's like the four pass loop
heard of that one like nearAspen, yeah, just kind of like
(23:31):
getting out.
I meanpen, I'm an East Coastperson.
It's just so cool to be inthose big mountains.
I'm really excited for maybe alonger race too.
Yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Super cool.
I got to ask you the questionNow that you've obviously grew
up, lived in Vermont and did theVermont thing.
You're back here now for thesummer, but you've also spent
some time out West.
What do you like better?
Like grew up, lived in vermontand did the vermont thing.
You're back here now for thesummer, but you've also spent
some time in, you know, out west.
Like, what do you like better?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
that's a tough question.
I mean, I'll always vermontalways has my heart, um, so I
think that there's a clearwinner, um, but I mean, the big
mountains are pretty hard tocontend with.
I mean even just like skiingthis winter, like I'd never
really quite skied powder likethat, or like had such long runs
(24:17):
, um, and that's like prettycool.
Um, that's very cool, yeah, umyeah, and the access is pretty
good too.
I mean, living in Boulder,sometimes there's a bit of a
drive which can be kind ofannoying.
I do miss for sure, though,especially in the winter, like
(24:38):
the small kind of Vermontbackcountry skiing, where you
like don't really see manypeople at all, or like there's
like a very small community andeveryone's just like so friendly
with each other.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Um, so I guess I missed that a little bit I feel
like there's a like, especiallyin vermont, specifically, like
it's like dime a dozen for skiresorts, like they're everywhere
.
It's literally one on everycorner.
It's kind of.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Yeah, but they're tiny.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah, a little compared to like the colorado
ones oh yeah, the ones incolorado.
Yeah, bananas, like how bigthey are.
It's cool.
I I been playing around up here.
I just went to like a couple ofsmall New York ones and I'm
going to go to another one thisweekend to like get ready for
Killington in the in theCatskills.
And yeah, they are reallylittle like.
They are like just kind of tiny, but you could still get steep
stuff.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
So I'm like, all right, this is not Colorado, but
it's you know it'll work, youknow, and there's something
really special about thecommunity they can build when
they're kind of this littleplace and everyone kind of knows
everyone else.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Um yeah, yeah, I gotta ask you this when you were
so in your time, like maybebefore you learned about this
whole trail running thing, likedid you do a lot of hiking.
Did you explore like the greensand and kind of go out to the
white mountains at all and kindof explore like Mount Wash and
any of that?
Or like, were you aware of likesome of like what you could do
with some of those big link ups?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yeah, I grew up doing a lot of hiking.
My parents actually met ontrail crew and then my dad
worked at a hut in the WhiteMountains for a while.
So my parents really love theWhite Mountains and that kind of
instilled in me this love forthem as well.
So I have been up Washingtonmany times, not taking the paved
auto road, but yeah, I've donea Prezi Traverse, a few Prezi
(26:18):
Traverses in there and thosemountains really like I love
them.
They're, they're very beautifuland yeah, so I did.
I grew up doing a lot of hiking, um, and even like ski training
.
Most of that is like honestlyhiking like skiers when they're
going slow training, they'relike going slow training and so,
(26:39):
yeah, you're hiking a lot, um,and I think that's probably a
huge part of kind of the way Irun um today, like even at
Sunapee scramble, I feel like Iwas hiking some things that some
people were running and I don'tknow if that like suited me
well or not, but yeah, it's justkind of my style.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
I mean it definitely helps like you're moving pretty
efficiently.
So I don't know.
Something worked, yeah, so cool, all right.
So it just interests me because, like a lot of times you talk
to a lot of athletes right andlike they're kind of like they
might not be adjacently aware oflike the trail running scene
itself, but like they grow upyou know hiking, and or maybe
mom and dad, like for you, forinstance, like it makes a lot of
(27:19):
sense Like mom and dad were youknow your dad was doing the hot
thing and like you know, andmom and dad were you know
spending time outside.
So it makes a lot of sense tosee like kind of formative years
and how people become who theyare.
So it's very cool.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Yeah, I got to ask you this.
So, races, as you've becomemore aware of the sport
obviously not this year, but,like you said you're you seem to
be very good at this up downthing, um, or or more mountain
classic distance, outside of theseries, is there anything that
intrigues you, any races thatyou'd become aware of?
Like, have you started lookinginto?
Like, what the Golden Trailseries is and things like that
(27:55):
Are?
Speaker 2 (27:55):
any of those intriguing to you?
Yeah, those are definitelyintriguing to me.
The thing is like getting there, like deciding that you want to
train for something, trainingfor it, and not just like going
on random mountain adventuresevery weekend, but like
intentionally training forsomething that like involves
(28:16):
time, that involves money, um,that involves flexibility in
your schedule, um, and thengetting there too, like that's
that can be a huge challenge.
Um, but I guess I have someeyes on like have eyes on some
fall races potentially, butprobably only ones in Colorado,
because, to be honest, like I Idon't really feel like paying
(28:37):
for a flight to go somewhere torace when I know that I can
support kind of like the localcommunity and around me by
racing the races that are closeby.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah, yeah, no, I think that's a very good way to
approach it.
Especially being very, you know, just kind of new to it makes
it makes absolute sense.
I saw, so andy was kind ofhyping you up.
I saw that you know he had youwere wearing I think it was a
trail team kit.
Are you working with the trailteam now, or like with them,
like at the community level,like how does that work for you?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
yeah, so when I got to boulder this fall or this
past fall I ran with them a fewtimes and then I was kind of
like focused on skiing in thewinter and wasn't really running
.
And then in the spring, um, Istarted kind of training with
them once a week just with theBoulder.
There's like a big group ofpeople from Boulder that run
(29:26):
with them and that's been reallygreat just to have kind of a
community to um do inter likeworkouts with um, cause I
probably wouldn't reallyintegrate many workouts into my
schedule, it would probably justbe like all long like
adventures, um, so it's beengreat to kind of like get on a
track with them and see whatwhat that's like.
(29:48):
I mean, like I haven't reallybeen on a track since high
school, um, yeah, so that's beenhuge to have kind of a group to
train with.
I'm not on the elite team,though, I'm just kind of
training with them.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
I like it.
I like it.
Do you?
Let me ask you this aboutBoulder this isn't this isn't
necessarily like, notnecessarily a part of the trail
team thing, but like, do youthink you would?
Is Colorado somewhere you thinkyou'll stay long-term or do you
think you'd go back out east?
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yeah, I mean I'm going back in September and I'll
be there for another year, foranother internship year after
that.
I'm not quite sure.
I mean I've I've really beenenjoying my time there, so I
guess we'll kind of see.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Yeah, interesting, interesting.
I feel like people either loveit or they hate it.
It's like very and more peoplelove it than than anything.
It's kind of interesting to seewhat people think of it.
Well, listen, rena, I reallyappreciate your time.
Thank you so much, and this wasa great conversation.
I'm super excited that I wasable to have you on after
Sunapeed, and it was even moreof a cherry on top.
That Mount Washington thingworked out so super cool that
(30:48):
we're able to do this.
Um, I hope that we have to havelike many more conversations
down the line, especially as yougrow with your uh career, and I
really appreciate your timeyeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Maybe I'll see you at killington absolutely count on
it.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Appreciate it, okay, thanks.
What'd you guys think?
Oh man, what a great episode.
Want to thank reena so much forcoming on the podcast to have a
quick chat.
I'm hoping to have rena back onas her career progresses and
can have do a more longer forminterview, uh, and just have a
longer discussion, um, so reallywant to appreciate rena for
coming on.
Um, guys, you can find her.
(31:20):
That's going to be on instagram.
Give her a follow.
You can find her at rena.
That's going to be rena r-e-n-adot s 22 on instagram.
Give her a follow, let her knowwhat you guys thought about the
episode and just send her wellwishes, as she, you know,
continues to just progress inthe sport.
I'm sure she'd reallyappreciate it.
So, uh guys, hope you enjoyedthis one.
(31:41):
If you did, please give us afive-star rating and review on
apple spotify podcast orwherever you consume your pods.
It has been a crazy few weekswith son of p, followed by
Broken Arrow.
So we're going to be taking acouple day break.
I'm going to enjoy some.
I've got a race coming up whichis going to be super exciting
We'll see how that goes and justgoing to be enjoying some of
the northeast, the WhiteMountains and what's to be
(32:03):
offered up there before makingit back to Colorado.
So hope you guys enjoy.
Hope you guys enjoy the rest ofyour week and really appreciate
you for tuning in.
Take care, listen up, guys.
The Steep Stuff podcast isbrought to you by Ultimate
Direction USA.
Guys, I am so excited.
Ud just dropped their newRaceVest 6 liter and UltraVest
12 liter in two beautifulaesthetic colors.
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(34:13):
Thank you.
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