#97 - Josh Potvin

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Meet Josh Potvin, the Vancouver-based architect who's simultaneously designing buildings and carving his name into the elite trail running scene. Fresh off his victory at the highly competitive Gorge Waterfall 50K, Josh shares the fascinating journey that took him from track roots to mountain summits.

Josh's approach to balancing a demanding professional career with world-class athletic performance offers a masterclass in prioritization. "When I have to get my run in, I stop work and then go back later," he explains, sometimes returning to his desk at 9 PM to finish projects after training. This dedication extends to his preparation—sleeping in his car for a month while working remotely to acclimatize before races at altitude demonstrates just how far he'll go to overcome challenges.

The conversation reveals a crucial turning point in Josh's development: transforming his nutrition strategy. "I just wasn't eating enough," he admits, describing how working with a nutritionist revolutionized his performance by addressing persistent gut issues and increasing his sodium intake during races. This nutritional evolution enabled him to finally push through the final kilometers of races where he previously struggled with cramping, unlocking his full potential on the trail.

Josh shares insights into his training methodology, upcoming races including Broken Arrow and the World Mountain Running Championships, and his mental approach to competition. Whether you're juggling career and athletic pursuits or simply looking to improve your own trail running performance, Josh's thoughtful reflections offer valuable wisdom for navigating both the physical and practical challenges of the sport.

Follow Josh on Instagram @jjpotvin to keep up with his racing schedule and continuing evolution as one of Canada's most promising trail running talents.

Follow Josh - @jjpotvin

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, boys and girls, welcome back to the Steep
Stuff Podcast.
I'm your host, james Lauriello,and I'm so excited to bring you
guys an episode today with noneother than Mr Josh Potvin,
hailing from Vancouver, britishColumbia.
Josh joined us on the pod todebrief and talk all about his
latest win at the GorgeWaterfall 50K at Cascade Locks,
oregon, which was a prettyhighly contested, very

(00:22):
competitive race.
Yeah, really fun conversation,like honestly, josh is a great,
great person and very inspiringto learn from.
Josh talked about balancinglife as a full-time professional
in his big boy job, in additionto kind of balancing that life
between training at a very highlevel Talk.
Talked about diet and justdietitian and working with a

(00:45):
dietitian and how to zero in andkind of hone in your nutrition
on race day.
We talked about training theory.
We also talked about worldsJosh was a competitor on the
2023 InSpruck team for TeamCanada and just what he learned
and what he's going to applythis year as he'll be racing for
Team Canada as as well at theworld mountain running
championship in the pyrenees.

(01:06):
Really fun conversation.
We also talked a lot aboutgolden trail and just preparing
for those races.
Just had some great finisheslast year, both at mammoth trail
fest as well.
Um, headlands as well.
Um, yeah, hope you guys enjoythis one personal favorite
episode of mine.
I know I say that about a lotof them, but this is this is a
good one.
I really appreciate it if Ihave Josh on the podcast and let
me help tell his story.

(01:26):
So, without further ado, noneother than Josh Potvin.
It's time We'll be right back.

(01:47):
Ladies and gentlemen, we arelive.

(02:35):
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let me know what you guys think.
Josh Potvin, welcome to thesteep stuff podcast.
How are you man Good?

(03:41):
Thank you, james.
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, man.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
How's your day going so far?
Happy Monday.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, you too.
It's a rainy Monday inVancouver, which is pretty
typical, but it's going good,Full work day and I'm excited to
be here chatting to you.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Very cool, Very cool.
Well, I'm excited to have thisconversation.
It was honestly spur.
I was like we got to get thisguy on the podcast.
So congrats on your win.
We'll talk about the race in alittle bit, but, uh, maybe for
the audience that, um, maybegive me like the five minute
elevator pitch on yourrelationship with running, how

(04:17):
you got into running and thingslike that.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah for sure, yeah.
So um, I've been running sincelike grade four, to be honest,
pretty much my whole life,competing with a coach since
grade seven.
So I've been running track andfield cross country since I can
remember.
So it's really been a part ofmy life in some shape or form,
whether it's, like you know, onthe track, the road or cross

(04:42):
country or playing other sportsthrough soccer or other other
ways of of movement.
So I've always kind of it'salways been a part of me.
Mostly that came from my mom'sside.
She was an 800 meter runner andit just that's.
That's where I started to likethe shorter, shorter distances.

(05:03):
I come from like a more of aspeed background, track
background, growing up andcompeted in college, university,
at Queen's University, so Ispent my years there competing
both on the varsity track teamand cross country team at many
national championships and then,following my move out to
British Columbia so I'moriginally from the East Coast,

(05:23):
from a small town, thunder Bay,so I spent most of my time
training to British Columbia soI'm originally from the East
coast, from a small town,thunder Bay, so um spent most of
my time training and runningout there and then I moved out
to BC and, uh, slowly started tofall in love with the West
coast mountains and the, thewhat you get to see out here and
the running out here, and mademy progression to to the trails
and in a very kind of slow butinteresting way, it was always
like calling to me and and Ijust finally decided that it was

(05:46):
time for me to jump into thetrail world.
So it's really been a reallybig part of my life.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Wow, and it's been a seamless transition.
I mean you've competed at someof the biggest races on the
planet.
I mean ran at Worlds as welland you've had quite a career in
the last few years, so it'sexciting to follow along.
I'm pretty impressed 24th bothat mammoth and at headlands.
How'd you manage the sameposition in both races?
That's, that's impressive.
Like I couldn't do that if Irolled dice like yeah, thank,

(06:14):
you.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
So I, uh, I actually ended up spending a month like I
went to mammoth um two yearsago as well and the altitude
ruined me.
Like coming from vancouver,we're at sea level.
I showed up.
He showed up a day before and Iwas just I, I just had the
worst race.
So I was like you know what?
After the race I said I'm nevergoing to race at altitude again
.
And then a week later I waslike you know what?

(06:36):
I need to go back and I need tolike, I need to challenge
myself and and get the most outof it.
So I spent a month in inCalifornia, uh, in Mammoth Lakes
, leading up to that Um, justfull training.
I rented an office so I canwork remote Um, so I could do my
job and then just train.
So I slept in my car for amonth, uh, showed up to the
office for the day, did my workand then hit some, hit some

(06:58):
kilometers in the trails for theevening.
So I really did as much as Icould to prep, prep those and,
uh, go into it ready.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
So dude, I love the all-in approach.
Like I feel like, in order toespecially golden trail series I
mean, like you, you can speakforward to it because, like, the
golden trail series is one ofthe most competitive, if not the
most competitive series on theplanet right now.
So, in order, I feel like, inorder to perform at a, you know,
at a top level or do well there, you almost have to go all in
at this point, especially for analtitude based race.
So it's got it's, it's got itstrade-offs right.

(07:26):
Like I feel like, um,especially as a guy that lives
at altitude, when I go down tosea level, it's like I have to.
It's always about powergeneration and being able to,
like, get that speed and thattop speed compared to UC level
guys.
But I feel like when you guyscome up here, I don't know if
the ability to breathe is justnot as easy for you all.
Yeah, it's a challenge, forsure.
Yeah, and fueling too.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
I find the fueling is always a hard one when you get
to altitude.
That was such a fast race, likeso speedy.
What did you?
What did?
What was your takeaway fromthat race?
Probably same thing, just sofast, so brutal, intense.

(08:15):
Oh, right from the right, fromthe gun, it was just.
It felt like a cross countryrace.
It started, you know it.
Actually it kind of felt normalbecause you know we started on
this grass field, you runthrough a shoot, just like you
would in cross country, and thenyou transition to like a steep
into a trail.
So it was actually quitefamiliar.
But uh, from the gun it justfelt like we were.
We were nonstop um, which madefor a quick day.

(08:35):
And um, that day I found like Ijust had the legs to keep
climbing, even in those late,late, those late climbs in the
race where others werestruggling a bit.
So I was able to, you know,keep strong, which I was happy
about, um, and that was probablymainly due to my like I was.
I did a 50 K training likeweeks up to that, so I was doing
much more 50 K training versuslike this speed.

(08:58):
So still, I struggled a bitwith the speed but, um, you know
, I managed to pull through.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
You did a great job, man.
All right, let's uh, let's rollinto a gorge, cause I feel like
that's that's the topic of theday.
Dude, you beat Liam, you beatsome, some studs Like I was
really impressed by theirperformance and that's not an
easy course to perform well on.
Like it's semi techie it's.

(09:27):
It's it's fast in some sectionsand slower than others.
Um, my wife ran the race acouple of years ago, so I got to
play on the course a bit and Iwas like, ooh, I gotta come back
and race this one day.
Um, maybe talk about how therace went for yourself and like
how it played out, especiallystrategy wise, like what kind of
strategy you enacted for thatrace.
And, um, yeah, I'll askquestions from there.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, it's interesting.
So, leading up to gorge, Iactually focused more on like
half marathon training, uh, so Idid a half about a month before
, which was a personal best forme on the roads too.
So I kind of really actuallyspent a lot of time on the roads
.
Uh, my wednesdays were werefull track sessions or road
sessions, and then I did two big, long, long days on on on the

(10:02):
weekends.
So, um, a lot of speed leadinginto this one, just knowing that
that's my strength, and therewas probably a lot more runnable
section in that race that I'dI'd be able to to take advantage
of that Um, so definitely a lotmore speed than I would in some
other you know, trailermountain races.
So, similar to like going intoChuck, and I did something
similar the year before, uh,which I found really really

(10:25):
helped, um, so that was kind oflike the main, the main focus,
um.
I feel like, um, nutrition too,was a big one, just like really
trying to dial in my nutritionleading up to this.
So about a year ago I kind ofreally flipped around my
nutrition and how I can improvethat, and I'm working with an
awesome nutritionist out here,uh, caroline.

(10:47):
So that was kind of a big gamechanger for me and really
pushing the nutrition game to to, you know, push my limits a bit
.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
Maybe, maybe unpack that a little bit for me, just
because I know a lot of peoplethat start working with
nutritionists and it's, it'sliterally just from a hydration
perspective and just like what,from a dietary perspective, like
what?
What was the switch thatflipped for you?
Uh, that helped so much.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Oh my gosh, there's a lot I had.
I had so many gut issues likein like when I started doing 50
Ks and these longer distances II struggled a lot with with just
digestion and even leading upto the race, and I think a lot
of it is just like nerves, likea a lot of it is just like
nerves, like a lot of times youjust get so nervous your gut
goes sideways and um.
But leading up probably to thisand also the last year I've, I

(11:30):
focused on not just race day andpre-race nutrition, but just
like eating more in general.
I just wasn't eating enough,like I, just as an athlete,
didn't realize how much I neededto eat.
So just eating, you know, allday long, before and after
workouts and the right, theright fueling too was was so
critical.
So I flipped that side fromwhere I was doing before and
then, just just in terms ofracing, more carbs and a lot

(11:52):
more sodium I just found I Ineeded more.
I needed more sodium than Ithan I thought, and started
avoiding all those cramps thatwould happen, those longer 50k
races, so able to now, like Ifind, to get the most out of
myself, whereas I wasn't able tobefore I would always be the
last.
Like 10, 12 K, just legs werecramping, things would kind of
go sideways in the gut and Ijust couldn't get the full out

(12:14):
of myself for that day.
So it's just really, reallyhelped me to kind of like,
really push that.
Next the next level.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah, it's amazing, like what it does for some folks
.
Like you're, you'll compete,obviously you'll be competing at
a high level, and then all of asudden you'll kind of flip that
switch and figure out thenutrition and it's.
I mean, rod Farvard is a greatexample.
There's quite a few gentlemenand ladies out there that have
like been able to change, turnthat corner, and what an amazing
difference it's made inperformance.
I got to ask you.
I read an article about yougoing into this podcast and it

(12:42):
was about, I think you'd saidyou'd made your own gels, or you
would make your own gels at onepoint in time, do you?

Speaker 2 (12:47):
still do that, or no?

Speaker 1 (12:48):
No.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
So that was like when was that?
2020, maybe 2021,?
When I first got into trailrunning it was just so expensive
.
I was like, oh, maybe I'll justmake my own gels.
It was like jam, maple syrupand pot some salt in there.
It was really basic.
And then I stopped doing thatbecause it was after I did the
Squamish 50K.
That's how I trained and that'show I race and I totally forgot

(13:11):
to put the sodium in it.
I had the worst day of my lifeand I was like, okay, I never
again.
I just need to go with theexpensive $5 gels and pay for it
.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
Spike a bullet I feel you on that man when I started
using was recently and this isnot an ad or anything but like
this company called blankssports nutrition.
They're like base and Flagstaff.
They like make gel mix that youcan like buy and you can
actually like tweak the amountof carbs and like you can tweak
the different like things youwant in it and they'll make it
for you and send it to you andit's cheaper than gels.

(13:42):
So I've been using that andit's like a hydrogel mix
Interesting.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
Cool.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
Yeah, and it's like, and it's environmentally
friendly, it's like reusable, solike you can use their little
package that they send you.
It's like a high, like ahydropack, a little flask.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
I just fill those up a couple of them and I'm good to
go.
Yeah, have to burn through,like every run, so it's nice to
find ways to to minimize that,for sure.
For sure.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
All right back to gorge.
I gotta ask you, like, how didthe race play out for you?
From the gun?
I know liam is a veryaggressive racer, so like how
and and um.
I think a lot of the guys upfront with you were are known to
take it out.
Uh, in fact you had, I thinkwas 100k performer, 100k
champion was in the race withyou as well um, yeah, yeah, adam
that's Adam, that's right.

(14:26):
How did it play out?
Um, and yeah, what was thestrategy?

Speaker 2 (14:31):
So going in, like going into that race, my like,
my strategy was to just likehang with the leaders, like I, I
wouldn't.
I wasn't going in with thementality like, oh, I'm going to
push this lead, this lead, uh,but kind of right from the gun,
I just it was no one really wasreally pushing the pace and I
just found the climb was easy.

(14:51):
So I I kind of just I startedto go out from the lead and, and
with liam there too, and um, wekind of both just kind of
pushed that that first climb, um.
But that's not how I went, thatmy mentality, I didn't want to
do that.
I was like, okay, I'll stick,I'll stick with Liam.
I know how good of a runner heis, I know he's strong, um, but
maybe on the day he just, youknow he is a 50 K, it's only the

(15:13):
second one Maybe he potentiallyjust felt like, okay, let's
just hold in there and see, seewhat I have for the guy, cause
he's fast Like I couldn't, Icouldn't let him, I couldn't let
it be an outkick at the at theend.
That just wouldn't probably goin my favor, so interesting.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
Interesting.
So from the start of the raceto the gun, like, was there any
decisive moves made for you?
Like, towards the end of therace, we were like I'm getting
away from him and I'm building alead, or was it just slowly?

Speaker 2 (15:42):
Um, it was kind of four of us.
From the first climb up to mileeight, one of the fellows I
don't remember his name, I thinkhe ended up finishing fourth or
fifth Took a bit of a lead onthe downhill.
And I looked back and Liam waskind of like lingering behind me
and I was like you know what?
I'm going to be smart here andsave my legs on this first
descent.
He did the same.

(16:03):
And then, leading up to thatfirst aid station, um, that's
kind of where I started to put amove and I think they all
stopped for fuel.
I kind of planned it so Ididn't have to um, so I put a
bit of a surge there right afterthat that mile eight aid
station and liam ended upcatching up.
But post race he said like hehad to work to do that and so I
think that was smart, just justto like get a bit of uh on those

(16:25):
on that group.
And then the other two, adam,and I can't I apologize, I can't
remember the, the otherfellow's name but um, yeah, we
just we just didn't see themafter that.
So it was really just like a abreak in the race.
And then from that point, liam.
I just kind of like pushed eachother back and forth pretty
much the whole way to the finaldescent Um wow, what was it like

(16:47):
when you crossed the finishline.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
Just a late mint joy excitement.
You had to talk to Dylan Likewhat was that?

Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yeah, honestly, that's a new feeling for me.
Like James, I I'm not.
I like I've been to a lot ofthese big American races and I'm
usually top 10, um, at the best.
And you know I've always go insights of a podium, like that's
always my goal, and that was anew feeling for me.
And you know the I think thefeel, the best feeling, was the
last aid station, because when Ihit that aid station and I saw

(17:15):
my crew I had awesome crew there.
I had Harley, my friend, wascrewing me and I can just see
his excitement and I knew I wasgoing to win that race.
I just like, from that point Ifelt I had a lot to do.
Still, it's still like 5k to go, but, um, I knew like I could,
I could push in and take thatwin and, um, coming to that

(17:35):
finish line was, yeah, like it'sso hard to explain, Like it's
just, I would just.
I kept repeating in my head allweek it's such a good feeling
and it's what you race for,right, like it's it's why we, we
do this, for those like short,short moments, is is what we, we
push for.
So it's, yeah, it was, it'ssuch a great feeling.
Well, congrats, man.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
Did you get a long chat with Dylan after?
How did how did that go?

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, a little bit right at the at the finish line,
I guess Dylan and bit um rightat the at the finish line, um, I
guess dylan and I'd neverreally met before um, so I was
happy to be able to chat to themat the interviews and a little
bit after the race.
Um didn't, unfortunatelycouldn't stick around for their
little after party, had to getin the car and drive back to
vancouver to to make monday,monday at the office, but, um,
it was.

(18:19):
Uh, yeah, I got.
I got a little bit of time tochat to him, which is really,
really exciting.
Such a nice guy and they dosuch a good job at hosting and
showcasing the athletes, whichis so appreciated For me most
people haven't heard of.
It's just really nice that theydo that.
I appreciate it a lot.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
I think that's my favorite thing, man is, like you
said, the showcase.
It's the ability to give youguys your shine and kind of get
athletes the spotlight on theathletes after their
performances.
Um, free trial does an amazingjob with that.
So I think it's uh, it's coolto get get folks, uh, you know,
get everybody their shine andgive everybody their flowers.
So, very good, I gotta ask you,man, so you've got a big boy

(18:57):
job and you compete at a veryhigh level.
Um, I've always found that tobe very challenging, trying to
make time and balance for both.
How does it work for you, like,how do you, how do you manage
everything?

Speaker 2 (19:08):
Oh my gosh, yeah, it's.
Uh, it's definitely hard.
Uh, I'm so, I'm an, I'm anarchitect in in British Columbia
, so I work a standard well, Ishouldn't say it's a standard
nine to five it's.
It's usually never that case'sit's.
There's a lot of overtime, justgiven the, the consulting world
.
But, um, it's just likeprioritizing is a big thing and,

(19:28):
um, you know, when I have toget my run in, I I'll stop work
and then I'll get my run in.
If I have to go back to work,I'll go back and sometimes I'll
pick up at 8, 39 at night andjust get a couple hours and get
it done.
And but lately I've beenprioritizing making sure I
always get sleep, always geteating right, and then just
making sure I get the run in andthen fitting the work and
around that.

(19:49):
And work has been like soaccommodating to, to allow me to
to do that, which is, which isgreat.
Um, and obviously I have awonderful partner, suzy, who,
who supports me and like I'llcome home and dinner will be
ready, and like these thingscan't happen with everyone
around you.
Um, it's, you know they, theygo unrecognized sometimes when,

(20:09):
uh, but you gotta thank them.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yeah, no, that's an amazing answer.
It takes a village man to beable to do it.
It's not not an easy thing.
Now I know you've got brokenarrow on the start list coming
up.
Are you going to be?
Are you going to?
Are you like, are you goinggonna go out ahead of time?
Or like, what's the plan?
It's a plan um for this one.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
I can't, unfortunately I just I.
I would have you know.
I think I would have liked to,but it's just with uh, broken
arrow.
I'm doing speed go and thenworlds in the in this in
september.
There's just too much travel onmy, on my calendar, so I'm
flying up, you know, a few daysbefore the plan is to do like a
heat training block to simulateas much as I can, um, but it's

(20:47):
uh, that's going to be the focusfor me, um, leading into it.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
Let's talk about training.
I think that's something coolto dive into.
Do you work with a coach or doyou self train?

Speaker 2 (20:55):
No, I have a coach, uh, dylan Weix.
He's a ex Olympic marathoner,canadian marathoner, um London
Olympics, iics, I believe.
Um, but yeah, great, I've beenworking with him since 2017.
Um, no trail background, notrail experience, so I kind of
forced this on him when I, whenI kind of switch from like the
roads to the trails and he'sbeen awesome to just transition.

(21:18):
But he has the.
You know, we work as a team.
It's not like he sends me theworkouts.
We kind of go back and forth onwhat, uh, what, what, what I
need to improve on and, uh, it'smore of like a team
relationship than it is justlike someone telling you what to
work, to do, which is whichwhich has been working really
well for us.
So that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
Now, obviously I mean you guys super dial.
I mean you ran a fantastic halfmarathon.
I saw some of your results onthat and I was blown away.
But like in your lead up, um, Imean you could say like for 50
K or maybe even for broken arrowif you want to give a little
bit of it away.
But like you had mentioned hetraining, but like, what are you
guys doing?
Like what's the meat and bonesLike?
Are you like three, threeworkouts a week, two workouts a

(21:56):
week?
Like what's the generalstructure of what he's got you
doing?

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, it's usually two.
Two is like a midweek,wednesday is usually like
something with a little bit moreintensity, and then Saturdays
will be something a little bitlonger, with some, you know,
could be some hills or thresholdbuilt into the run, and then
Sunday is a long run.
So a lot of times it's likeSaturday.
Sunday are like two big back toback runs.

(22:23):
Sunday are like two big to back, big back-to-back runs,
probably like 50% of my.
My weekly mileage is on theweekend or if not more, which is
maybe a little bit unusualbecause, you know, but it's the
only, it's the best time I canget the amount of running in
versus the week.
You know, I just have only haveso much time.
So I played with doubles in thepast and doing like double runs

(22:43):
, but it just, you know, itcomes down to balancing, like
recovery and sleep, witheverything, like you said, like
we're talking about work andjust having to balance all that.
It's.
You sacrifice a few of thethings for quality and and just
try and really make everysession quality is kind of the
goal.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yeah, it's trying to get the, it's it.
That's the thing with doublesis tricky.
Part is like how do I get themost bang for my buck in this
one?
And then do I jump on the bike?
Do I roller ski?
Like what do I do?
It's tricky.
So when you do your speed workI'm just out of pure curiosity,
just because I love trainingtheory Do you hit more roads?
Are you hitting the track atall?
What do you hop on?

Speaker 2 (23:38):
flares up, I just end up with all these like things.
That kind of like start to kindof bug me a bit.
So I tend to go on the roadsmore.
But, um, you know, if I reallywant to dial in a session every
once a while, I'll get on the,I'll get on the track and so I
can hit some splits and it justallows you to remove the like
all those barriers and justreally focus on quality and
speed.
Uh, but most of the work isprobably on on the road, um, um
it.
I wouldn't normally go to likegravel paths or anything, just

(24:00):
because there's not a ton,especially where I'm living, of
a flat terrain.
I live right, right, prettymuch next to the mountains, so
it's, it's uphill or or or on a,on a, on a flat road section.

Speaker 1 (24:13):
Oh, wow, well let's talk about that a little bit.
What is, uh, what's it like,training in North Vancouver?
Like, are you able to?

Speaker 2 (24:23):
anytime you want to get like a long run in or a good
solid mountain access, you havethat ability.
Oh yeah, it's phenomenal, it'sI I'm.
I live a little bit more in thecity side so I'm probably be
like a 10 minute run to some.
You know you gotta hit theurban trails to the trails and
then you're in the mountains,but a 10 minute drive and then
you're.
You can hit endless amount oftrails, um, very technical
trails, so it's not like youknow these california super

(24:44):
butter trails.
That or or maybe colorado isprobably similar, I'm not sure
uh, a little buttery and somelittle buttery, yeah, um, but
it's really rooty, rocky,technical, like most of it's
like mountain bike trails, likethe technical Most of it's
mountain bike trails.
The North Vancouver is knownfor these crazy mountain bikers
and it was built by thatmountain biking community, so

(25:04):
it's just some really reallygnarly terrain.
So it doesn't make for smoothrunning, it just makes for
actually quite hard running.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
Gotcha, gotcha.
Actually, that actually begs aquestion.
So, like Broken Arrow forinstance, as you start getting
more, I guess specific forBroken Arrow.
Some of Broken Arrow istechnical.
I don't find Broken Arrow to beparticularly technical.
I feel like there's a lot ofroad sections and stuff like
that.
Will you start to layer in moreof that?

Speaker 2 (25:33):
I guess you could say just super rooty, techie stuff
beforehand, or are you justgoing to just try and build as
much fitness as possible goingin?
I'll definitely add morevertical into the, into the, in
more hills, um, still keep.
Uh, actually, me and my coachwere talking about this last
week, just like, what is thestrategy here?
How much, how much running andyou know, track work or road
work do I keep in midweek?
Because it's, you know it's itis important, you got to be fast

(25:55):
and especially for those typesof races, you still need to be,
you need to be fast.
So, so it's a balance of of theboth.
But you can't go to a race likethat without getting the
vertical and descent and thedescending in your legs, just to
have that, um, to be able to doit, cause it's two climbs,
right From what I I need to dosome research on that course,
but I understand it's two climbs, so, uh, it's gonna hurt the

(26:17):
second one for sure, so you needto be able to handle that it's,
it's brutal two loops and youknow I, I think it's.

Speaker 1 (26:21):
You're smart 100.
You're definitely smart fordoing the heat training block
because it feels like at leastthe last few years people have
gotten cooked man from the heat.
The heat's nasty there, so yeah, yeah it's definitely,
definitely good.
Are you a big sauna guy, likefor recovery?
Are you cold punch sauna guy orlike what do you do?

Speaker 2 (26:36):
for Not that I'm not, I just um, I just access.
We have some community centersthat here around in there that
have a sauna, but I've beendoing just a hot bath.
Just go neck deep in the hotbath.
It's pretty uncomfortable, butthat's been my, that's been my
strategy.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
Dude, I do the same thing.
Do you ever put?
I put salt in there, I throw it.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
It's great for recovery, it's good for relaxing
.
Yeah, yeah, it's good stuff.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
All right, let's talk a little bit more broken arrow.
Like that's going to be such acompetitive race, man, like
that's, that's kind of our oneof our super bowls this year, as
far as just the world mountainrunning scene side of worlds
which we'll get to.
Um, what's your excitementlevel for that race are you
ready for?
I mean, because it's like agold.
It's pretty much a golden trailrace without you know, without

(27:21):
actually being one.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
So totally yeah.
No, I'm pretty like this.
Leading up to this year, I wasthinking, okay, what is the,
what is the challenging race Ican think of?
And I was like broken arrow,it's at altitude, it's hard.
Um, that was like the firstthing.
I was like, okay, it's americanqualifier for, for, for for
world, so it's gonna have afield that is gonna be you know

(27:43):
deep.
And I was like, okay, this isthe, this has got to be the race
that I wanted to go to and, um,yeah, kind of putting myself
into the, the deep end there,yeah, but that's the way to do
it.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
So, well, it's like, I think, 100, because it's like,
all right, you already achievedthis level and you gotta be so
confident coming out of gorge.
I mean, you beat some reallyfit dudes and some some of the
best mountain runners on theplanet, which is amazing.
So I you gotta have theconfidence going into broken
arrow, I would imagine.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
So Right, maybe I'm hard on myself, but there's
always ways to improve and, um,you know, like it's, uh,
definitely, definitely, thatrace gave me some confidence,
but, um, I, I, that doesn't.
I know how cool, I know thequality of the American athletes
and, um, you know, you got toshow up on the day, so I'm just

(28:31):
going to go there and put thework in and then show up and
hopefully that all all comes inmy favor.
But, um, yeah, I am excited forit, though.
Super cool, super cool.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
No, I love your approach to it, man.
I got to ask you the goalquestion.
So, like, everybody's got goals, everybody moves their
goalposts on on.
You know, once they achievesomething they move their
goalposts a little bit like downthe road.
Obviously you have a full-timecareer, like it's it's.
You know everybody has adifferent approach as to the way
they do things.
Like, what is your goal in thesport?
Like, do you do you want tolike go like super pro, like

(29:02):
cause I know you said you're, Isaw on your thing, you're
Solomon ambassador Like is thegoal to like get on the
international team or is it todo something else?
Like what?
What are your goals for thesport?

Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yeah, it's a good.
It's a good question.
Should be question, should becareful what I say.
So work soliciting, I actuallyknow, but I think I think for me
, like I like to make runninglike my full-time job, I would,
I would, that would be a dream,like um, just to be able to
spend more time on the littlethings.
Like that's what comes down to,like the recovery, making sure

(29:33):
you're sleeping when you need toand eating when you need to.
It's all those little thingsthat kind of get get a little
bit harder when you're working afull-time job, um, so you know,
it's not, but for me, Iactually I love, I love my work.
Uh, it's like super motivating.
I do all community likeprojects, so they're they're
really, really rewarding and youknow, I love showing up to that

(29:55):
and it challenges me in adifferent way.
So, so it's such a good balanceright now.
But, uh, there are days whereI'm, I'm, I'm, I'm exhausted,
like I'm showing up for a runalready fatigued, and you know,
sometimes I just put that runand don't do it cause it's, you
know I need to recover instead.
But, um, to not have to do thatwould be just beneficial to you

(30:23):
know, really push my limits to,you know, that next spot and
challenge myself to the level Iwant to get to In terms of, like
, pro sponsorship.
Like you know, as a Canadian,it's hard, like there's not a
lot of Canadian athletes thatare sponsored out there.
It's a little bit differentthan I think, if you're coming
from the American groups, atleast, what we've seen recently
and that's maybe changing, givenhow trail running is becoming

(30:45):
more prominent in Canada there'smore visibility on it, there's
more funding coming into itthrough Athletics Canada, which
is great, which we started tosee over the last few years.
So that is slowly changing butyou know it's not quite the not
quite the same.
But yeah, right now I'm anambassador with Solomon.
I've been working with them fortwo years.
This is my second year and it'sbeen like a great fit.

(31:06):
It's like a really communitygroup like I'll support at all
the local Coast Mountain TrailSeries races that are put on by
Gary Robbins here.
So awesome community events.
I'll go to those.
You know support with you shoedemos at local runs and it's
just like a good way to likemeet a lot of people in
Vancouver, which I've, which Ireally appreciate it and I think

(31:28):
if I, if I ever did go or madeit to that pro level, I wouldn't
want to lose that component,because I think that's what
brings the joy to, to what we dois like just meeting all of
these amazing people who arealso doing the same thing I'm
doing, maybe at a different pace, but it's we're all doing the
same sport.

Speaker 1 (31:44):
So super cool.
That was a beautiful answer.
I appreciate that.
Have you popped up over to uh?
I think it's in Vancouver, theyhave I well, I know.
Obviously Adam Campbell livesin BC, so there's Alex regard.
Have you popped on over?
I guess our Terrix has like abig presence in uh in Vancouver
as well.
They've got like a?
Um, I think it's like one oftheir design centers or
something like that.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yeah, they're in North Vancouver.
Yep, yeah, um, I haven't ran.
I actually met Adam Campbellthis one this year, or say last,
and this year or sorry, lastyear for the first time really
face-to-face after a race.
It's amazing how fit he is.
He's just, he's amazing.
He's such a nice guy and, yeah,I got the pleasure to meet with
him.
But he does all those crazymountain loops and runs with the

(32:29):
Squamish group out there andthat's just a bit beyond me.
I did one big mountain adventurewith a group from Squamish and
I thought I was never going tocome back alive.
We were rock climbing, weweren't running anymore and I
loved it.
But I just I'd want to go moreprepared into that kind of
terrain, right Making sure Iknow what I'm doing and so I'm

(32:49):
doing it safely.
But Alex Ricard and I are goodfriends.
We've been talking aboutgetting some training runs
together before Broken Arrow, sowe're going to both share a
place up there and travel upthere together.
So that's our plan.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
Super cool man.
Yeah, alex is probably one ofthe best uphill runners on the
planet.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
Oh my gosh phenomenal .

Speaker 1 (33:08):
And you know what, so slept on Very few people.
I guess he just keeps a lowprofile.
But people don't understand.
One of the last people not toomany people beat joe gray and
he's like one of the last peopleto beat joe gray.
I was like damn, this guy islegit.
So, yeah, I'm excited to see.
Uh, yeah, you're canadiancontingent man like you guys are
bringing it like the brokenarrows.
I do yeah, and then remy larueover and queen back like yeah,

(33:31):
you guys got a deep contingent,so super cool.
Yeah, man, it's uh, let's aboutworlds.
Like, how does it maybe talkabout the like to the audience?
Like how, how do you make aworld's team?
Uh, I know you went and racedat Innsbruck.
Uh, did you qualify forInnsbruck at Squamish, or how
did?

Speaker 2 (33:46):
that work.
Uh, innsbruck was a qualifier.
It was a race in Vernon, uh, afew years ago.
Um, and qualified through.
There it was.
It was a bit of like courseerrors for that race.
Like half the field went offcourse.
Um, there were some challengeswith the, the flagging and, um,

(34:09):
just with the complexity ofrunning like multiple races on
one day.
It's not easy for anorganization to do that and
unfortunately that's how itended up.
I ended up running like a, atrail that paralleled the main
trail, so I technically got dq'd, but they, they reviewed, they
reviewed all the all the resultsbecause they're half the half.

(34:29):
The top athletes got off courseand they accepted my, my win as
a, as an auto, which is great.
So I got to go to Innsbruck andhad the worst day ever at
Innsbruck, to be honest.
Like I got super sick.
I don't know if I got foodpoisoning or what it was, but
like the night before, just upall night with like a fever,

(34:50):
night sweats, and I think I justdepleted like all my
electrolytes before that raceand basically, 10k into the race
race, I was cramping and it was.
It was miserable.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
but oh man, what a way.
Uh, that's, that's such abummer, but you get to go now,
you're good, you get to go back,which is great yeah, redemption
yeah, so I qualified for thisone through squamish uh 50k,
yeah, okay so he's qualified.
So you're going back to do theshort trail, is that correct?
Yeah, that's right short trailvery cool.
Yeah, pyrenees, man, that'sgonna be a fun one.

(35:24):
It's a little bit different ofa course maybe.
I don't know.
I've heard the pyrenees arevery steep, very different.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
I don't know yeah, yeah, it looks it's like got
like 3600 meters overt over 45k.
So again it's.
It's probably not like a racethat is like my strength, like I
like I like my strength is likesome of those races where I can
open up and and run a littlebit more.
This one's gonna have a lot ofvertical, but you know, I just

(35:50):
gotta train a little bitdifferently and and adapt that
training so that you know it canbe my strength, because I am a
good climber and I've been likeeven going, going back to gorge,
like winning that race on adownhill is not, it's nothing I
would ever expect to have done,cause that's that that
historically hasn't been mystrength.
So, uh, I'm getting better atdownhill running and getting
more confident there.
So, um, it's really justpulling all those pieces

(36:13):
together on the on the big stageSuper cool.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah, I think you guys are going to send a great
contingent, like between I'msure I think I know Remy is
going back.
I'm sure Alex will go as wellfor the uphill.
So yeah, I think the Canadiancontingent is going to be pretty
pretty.
I don't know if jazz laughteris going for the long trail I
think I asked her and do notremember but yeah, you guys are
gonna have a deep contingent.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
Yeah, it should be.
That's the hope, and it'salways a good team like the.
It's a just a great group ofathletes.
So, um, yeah, definitelyexcited to to see everyone there
yeah, how does that work?

Speaker 1 (36:46):
is the?
Is the like canadian sport,like starting to put more
funding behind it?
I know you said like some moreum, like more brands, more brand
visibility obviously is goingto be there, but like how, like,
as far as like canadian sport,like how does that work for you
guys?

Speaker 2 (37:01):
so it's athletics canada is, um, we're all under
athletics canada now.
You never used to be that.
It used to be under, I think,like the canadian mountain
running association only, uh,but now athletics canada
encapsulates the trail runningand mountain running umbrella as
well.
The funding is I don't want tobe harsh on them, but it's not

(37:22):
the greatest, but that's justthe reality of where the money
has to go.
It goes towards predominantlythe Olympic group and then,
following that, it goes to moreof the road and track national
teams, which is probably not asignificant lump sum either.
So, and then you know, we'refalling behind all this too,
because we're a newer sport.
So there's not a ton of funding, like we're pretty much paying

(37:45):
our own way.
There's some subsidized, Ithink, through the organization
that puts on Worlds.
They subsidize a bit and thathelps us a little bit, but
really we pay for our ownflights.
Um, I think this year we mightget accommodations, hopefully,
but it's it's not for certain.

(38:07):
So, uh, if we do, that's alwaysa benefit.
And, um, we get our kits, whichis good.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
We used to have to pay for our kits, uh, two years
ago.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
So like things have.
Things have like slowly changedLike we're now able to pay for
our kits uh, two years ago.
So like things have, thingshave like slowly changed like
we're now able to we get freekits, which is good.
So, um, yeah, it's harder.
You're really paying your ownway.

Speaker 1 (38:25):
That's crazy, man.
I would I know.
Like there's like we had, Idon't know.
There's a couple athletes inthe us like 100 mile team,
because there's like a special100 mile event or something like
that for worlds that they do,and we had athletes like raising
a big stink because they had topay their own way or something
like that a few years back and Iwas like I was like how is this
not paid for?
This is crazy.
Like why, are we not funding,you know, to send these athletes

(38:45):
.
But I guess this is the way itworks.
Man, it's crazy.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
It is a little bit crazy, but, um, you know what
it's.
So it's so worth the experiencethat, even if it's going to
cost a few thousand dollars, youjust, uh, I guess I'm, you know
, I'm fortunate I do work so I'mable to afford that.
But that's not the case foreveryone, right.
Like some people, this isthey're trying to make this
their job and um income.
You know, paying for a triplike that is not easy, right?

(39:10):
So, especially when the prizemoney is, uh, and you know, is
not quite the same as, maybe,like a UTMB race or a Golden
Trail series or some other bigevent.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
It's crazy?
Yeah, it's.
I don't know.
We'll see as the sport getsmore professionalized.
That's another thing.
I've had a couple conversationson podcasts where we'll talk.
I can't go too deep intocontract talk, but brands just
don't incentivize worlds.
the way they do UTMB races andstuff like that, which is weird,
but maybe that'll change in thenext few years, who knows?
Um dude, I want to talk speedgoat.

(39:42):
I know you mentioned uhmentioned that you're going to
speed go.
Have you ever been to any likeI?
I, that's some results.
I actually didn't check when Iwas doing research for this.
Have you ever been over to utahrace over there?

Speaker 2 (39:53):
no, I haven't.
Um, yeah, I'm excited it was.
It was kind of a last, like itwas originally signed up for
Broken Arrow and I didn't haveSpiegel on the calendar and I I
really want to like hit a UTMBqualifier.
I qualified for CCC or, sorry,occ this year.
I just like couldn't make itwork with all the other races so

(40:13):
I was like, Okay, I got to getanother UTMB qualifier and I I
was like this one looks hard andfun, so let's try it out that's
a brutal race, man like I knowthat's what everyone's telling
me.
That's so hot.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
I've done a couple of the cirque series races, like
in that area, like snowbird, andthen, uh, alta is like both
right there and like dude, bythe time, like hour four rolls
around for you in that race,like it's.
It's like that's the thing.
It's like just not a fast race,cause it's so so much climbing
and so brutal and so hot.
It's like, yeah, it's a, you'rein for a treat, it's going to
be.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
You know it's.
It's kind of like the ultimatechallenge I feel like putting
myself in a spot that it'suncomfortable and and you know
not my strength and and see whatI can do and it'll lead me into
a good race at worlds.
I think it's like if I can getthrough something like that, I
know I can have a good day inseptember.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
So, oh for sure no, I definitely think so.
I think there's a lot ofspecificity to like to that.
Where you know a lot of thoseskills that you'll acquire,
you'll just be able to roll overinto worlds for a better race
because you know like a lot sothere's so much hiking there.
Um, dude, I gotta ask you.
So one of the things you kindof mentioned as well was start
line.
Like nerves and stuff like thatdo you get?
I see I get very nervous beforeraces.

(41:25):
I don't know.
I've tried to control it, I Idon't think.
I think if you want it badly,you're always going to be
nervous.
Are you a nervous person before, uh, a race?

Speaker 2 (41:35):
um, I would say I've improved.
I've, uh, like I've, I do likea ton of like visualization or
breathing exercises just to likesuper, like really calm myself
down.
But like I was on that bus andmy heart rate was like 110, I
was like, oh my gosh, what'sgoing on here, like I'm like so
I'm clearly nervous because myheart rate is high, uh.
But but then I just I'll just,like, you know, calm down,

(41:58):
breathe, do some breathingexercises pre-race and, um,
usually that that releases.
But if I'm sitting on a bus,you know, going to a race it's
always the worst, it's it's itis, it's weird.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
So it's actually the reason I ask you is because it's
something I'm trying to workthrough now before my season.
It's like you know you do allthis hard work, you get super
fit, you get ready for the race,but it's like working on that
mental component is like justjust as much of a component as
preparing to, you know, just asgetting fit.
In my opinion, because it's youknow you want to face those
demons and kind of get you knowready for that.
It's kind of something I'mgoing through right now.

(42:30):
I was like all right, how do Ivisualize this?
How do I get through this?
You know it's it's weird, it'sa weird position yeah, yeah,
totally, I used to.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
I don't do as much anymore, but I used to do a lot
more, a lot more visualization.
Visualization where I'd I'dthink about myself getting to
the start line and how I wasgonna feel, just like everything
going through the motions andlike, actually like lying down
in a quiet space and thinkingabout.
It sounds weird, but, um, it'sreally just like repeating that
in your head of of, like whatyou're going to do on race day

(42:59):
and, um, you know, just to finda way to calm, calm yourself
down, and, um, I found thebreathing is just like for me,
it just works.
It's just, you know, it's justa good way to just calm and and
then show up and you've done allthe work and remind yourself
you've done the work.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
That's right.
That's right.
I got to play around with someof that, so the breeding
exercise might be.
I'm going to take that off you.
I'm going to give that one ashot.
What is your?
What's your relationship likewith competition?
Are you a super competitiveperson or are you more just like
run my own race kind of guy?
Like?
What's your take on that?

Speaker 2 (43:30):
Um, I would.
I would say I'm probably.
I'm probably very, prettycompetitive.
Yeah, I'm very competitive.
I'm probably harder on myselfand like, like, I'm always going
into race to like for my ownsorry, that's my dog If you hear
I'm always going into a race.
Just, you know, it's for it'sall for personal interest, right
, like winning or losing.

(43:51):
And then the day I'm trying toget the most out of myself on
that day and, and that's themost important, so, uh, I'm
gonna show up and you know,obviously wanted to compete and
and win the race but ultimatelypush myself and and see what I
can do, um is the ultimate goaland whether that comes at the
podium or a 10th place finish orat world, when I was like 160th

(44:15):
or something, I fought theentire way because that's what I
had for the day.
I love that.

Speaker 1 (44:23):
Let me ask you this, because I know a lot of people,
a lot of peers.
I've talked to a lot of people.
I notice get imposter syndromeDo you ever deal with that.
I'm standing on a start listwith this person.
I'm like how am I going to beatthis person, or am I?
Just going to hang with thisperson.

Speaker 2 (44:42):
How do you cope with that?
Oh, wow, I don't know if itgoes away.
I'm pretty sure I left gorgebeing like, oh man, like liam,
like he's legit, like I don'tknow, like, can I do that again?
Like, um, yeah, it's hard, butI think, um, yeah, it's a hard
one.
I think it's like just remind,like I gotta be easier on myself
, like not being so critical onum, unlike you know, I'm showing

(45:05):
up for myself.
I'm not, I'm not doing it foranyone else.
So, I think, just remindingmyself that I'm, I'm there for
for myself, and it's not aboutwhat what someone else is doing
or how much mileage someone elseis doing.
Uh, and in the day, um, I'mdoing this because I love to do
it, so, yeah, it's the bestsport on earth, right, yeah,
yeah, it's, it's a it's a greatone, also a hard one, though,

(45:27):
right Like it's.
it's not always butterflies andrainbows.
It's uh, yeah, it can be hardwith injuries and uh stressful
and in other ways right, butthat's why we do it so have you
ever had to deal with any likebig injuries in your career at
all?
I've been, like you know, I'vebeen super injury prone, um, a
lot of it, a lot of it actuallylike falled in like university,

(45:50):
when you just push your bodythrough everything and you just
never recover, and I think Ijust don't think I like ever
gave myself the time to likerecover properly.
And then, kind of later in mythirties is when I started to
like just become smart abouttraining and injuries have
reduced and reduced over theyears.

(46:10):
So, um, leading up to Gorge waslike one of my best blocks,
like very few injuries, um a fewthings here and there, but
nothing where it would like stopme from running, and I think
that's what allowed me to likethat consistency is so important
.
So, just going back to you know, if you're feeling something
coming on, it's so important tojust pull back and not push
through that workout, becausebeing consistent in the day is

(46:33):
what's gonna, is what's going tomatter, and just stacking, just
stacking those bricks over theyears.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
I meant to ask you this in the beginning and the
question got away from me.
We talked a little bit aboutyour track and field background
from college.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
You know what?

Speaker 1 (46:47):
I talked to so many people on the American scene
dude, that just have a reallyhorrible situation.
They just don't have a goodtime with their program.
How was your experience like?
Did you have a like a positiveone, or was it difficult, like
how to?
How was it for you?

Speaker 2 (47:02):
yeah, it was.
Uh, it definitely was.
It was difficult actuallybecause we went through like our
.
We went.
I went through like threedifferent coaches when I was at
my four years at university,which is not easy, and a lot of
that was due to changes inathletics.
Um, at least the university Iwas at, the track and field team

(47:23):
no longer became like God,basically demoted from a varsity
team to like a club team.
It was, which is bizarrebecause every other university
track and field is a varsity.
You supported team for students, so, um, but it just, for some
reason, the athletics wasshifting at the university we're

(47:45):
at and they and it changedeverything in terms of how it
was structured, with coaching,um, which made some challenges,
but ultimately, like, I made my,my, my best friends were from
that, from, from running andfrom school.
So, like I don't remember.
I don't remember the, the races, or you know all the, the drama
with the athletics.

(48:06):
Like I remember those, likethose parties that we had after
those races and and just likethe, the time we had together,
like that's like really was thebest part of all of it.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
Let me ask you guys, cause you you, I mean
architecture is not an easymajor, like I you know usually
it's bundled up with engineeringand things like that Did you
have a hard time balancing LikeI guess I did not run into
collegiate level but I studiedlike a hard science and I had a
difficult time balancing likelife and that.
How did you balance Like, didyou?
Did you struggle with that atall as a young?

Speaker 2 (48:37):
Yeah, so I actually did it.
I did civil engineering, uh,when I and university, but then
I I did a master's inarchitecture later in life.
Um, definitely a challenge.
Like it's you have to likeyou're figuring out how to cook,
you're figuring out how to doall these things.
You're like I was 17.
Like I didn't know what I wasdoing.
Um, so you're learning all thesenew things and, uh, I think
that's why you struggle withinjury, because you just like

(49:00):
don't know how to do all thethings properly, like like eat
properly, sleep properly, andyou just like you're not
recovering.
And after race, you're goingout celebrating instead of and
by celebrating it's probablydrinking, and you're not
actually you're not actuallytaking care of your, your body,
which is, um, you know, goingback here like what this could

(49:21):
have been done so differently.
But you know it's a balance ofyou know all going back here
like what this could have beendone so differently, but you
know it's a balance of you knowall these things and enjoying
life and and running, and um,it's, it's definitely a
challenge, but for sure for sure.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
All right, let's move on.
I got to get to some endingquestions.
We got to got a little bit oftime left.
I got to ask you to who, whoinspires you?

Speaker 2 (49:40):
Oh, awesome question, Um, um, in in terms of running,
in terms of yeah could be.

Speaker 1 (49:46):
Could be running, could be life, could be whatever
, it doesn't matter yeah yeah,yeah, um, that's a that's a
great question.

Speaker 2 (49:53):
Um, like, growing, growing up, I I would, I would
say my, my brothers would arealways my like, my big, my big
like, like, oh, oh, man, like Iwant to be just like these two.
My older brother, particularly,was a runner and excelled in it
and always looked up to him inthat way Later in life, like it

(50:14):
was the same thing like throughthe people I went through in
school.
But if we're thinking, like youknow now today, where you know
I'm following all these bigtrail runners, like I'm, I'm a
big follower of, like FrancescoPupi and even Matt Daniels Like
I just feel like those two likealign so well with like who I am
as well and who they are, andin terms of athletes, and I just

(50:37):
feel like there's such matureathletes in terms of how they
approach the sport and, yeah,it's just, there're just such a
pleasure to watch race I mean, Ican't speak as much for, uh,
francesco, because I I don'tfollow him too closely, but like
man, like I've been aware ofmatt, like he's lived in his
wife was actually my uh, ourreal estate agent when we first

(50:59):
moved to colorado.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Funny enough, but, like matt's been in the game a
long time man totallyinteresting to see his
metamorphosis and it was cool tosee him do have a great race
this past weekend at uh I'm sickgorge at uh canyons, which was
good, so yeah he's yeah, I thinkhe needs to stick to sub ultra.
I think he's gonna have such abetter career if he just stays
in the sub ultra game yeah, it'sfunny.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
I think he's trying to figure that out too.
He's such a fast guy it's abalance right.
You're trying to also do whatyou want to do, and then you're
also good at something.
I'm sure there's people youknow telling him what he should
do too, and yeah, yeah, whowould you say?

Speaker 1 (51:33):
they're your favorite runners in the sport?
This is a new question I'mstarting to ask people like
interesting um, who's myfavorite runner?

Speaker 2 (51:43):
wow, um, I would say they're up there courtney de
walter.
Like I know it seems like a namethat everyone says, but like
she just has this like, and I'venever met her, but she just
seems like she has thispersonality that is just so
enjoyable to be around and sheapproaches the sport in such a

(52:03):
good way, like, um, like it just, she always has this like
positive attitude when she's,when she's going out there and I
just feel like that's, you know, that's an attitude you need um
from that side.
But you know what I and I don'thave any desire to do 100 milers
myself right now.
So, um, definitely on, like theshort trail side, like

(52:23):
francesco, for me, I think, likehow he like transitions from
all these ways, like from fromthe roads to the track, to the
trails, to the mountains, islike phenomenal, like he's just
he does them all so well and Ijust like it's very, it's just
so impressive to to watchsomeone excel at all of those
different types of running,which I think is is I really

(52:46):
enjoy, like you know, wanting,wanting to know, like how does
he do that?
It's just it's phenomenal.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
He's a month he.
I feel like he answered a lotof questions this weekend too,
with Canyon's going to win thatrace, Like, yeah, Like, did he
accept?
I didn't even look.
Did he accept the golden ticket?

Speaker 2 (53:00):
You didn't know, I didn't think he did.

Speaker 1 (53:01):
Yeah, wow, I mean, even he can go back and win any
of those races at any time.
Like it's just amazing to likethe level that he is at.
It's crazy, yeah, interesting.
That was a good question, so Igot to start asking that.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
One more Courtney Walter comes up a has that like
people, just like love, and Igotta say I feel the same way.
She's amazing, human and superinspiring.
But, um, I gotta ask you aboutmusic do you listen to music at
all, like you?

(53:33):
Uh, oh, interesting.
Uh, I don't listen to musicwhen I'm running and usually
when I'm at home it's my partnerputting something on and I'll
listen to all all differentmixes.
Um, okay, um, yeah.
So not that I'm not, I just uh,yeah, it's never been my like.
My rhythm is terrible Same same.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
Do you have like a pump up song or anything you
listen to like for a race?

Speaker 2 (53:51):
That's like no, no, no, I don't which is maybe
bizarre, cause, like I've hadthis.
I've had people talk to meabout this and be like, like
what do you listen to, like whenyou're on the treadmill.
I'm like I don't know, I justdon't listen to music on the
treadmill either.
I'll just I'll do a 90 minuterun on a treadmill and no music,
like I just maybe that's reallybizarre.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
I think it's more impressive than it is bizarre
Like how you could be in yourown head for that long is just
like dude.
I like panic.
If I'm in my head for that long, I have to put at least a
podcast or something on it orI'll lose my mind.
That's amazing.
Yeah, do you do you follow anylike like other sports?
Like, are you a big sports guy?
Any other like?

Speaker 2 (54:30):
um, not, not really no, and not not just because not
interested, I'm just like thetop, like my time that I have,
uh, coming back to likebalancing, balancing all the
things I want to do.
It's like you know, I'll run, Iwork and then I'll add some
social life in there and not nota ton of time in there to
really invest to follow another,another sport personally.

(54:51):
But I used to like watch a lotof like soccer growing up as a
played a ton of soccer prettymuch to end of high school
before I got into running, butyou know that's kind of fallen
off.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
Interesting.
It's funny, man.
I talked to so many people fromthat like BC area or like I
know BC is a gigantic place butlike I talked to so many
athletes, that are like intorock climbing or they're into
the water sport and I'm justlike that's interesting, Like a
lot of like, very like peoplelike love their sports in Canada
.
It's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (55:20):
Yeah, and especially out here, like either you're
rock climbing or mountain biking.
I picked up a mountain biking,but that sport is gnarly Like
it's.
Uh, yeah, you feel like, youfeel like you might fall and
that's the end, so but it's, ithelps with downhill running.
So that's kind of why I did itjust to you know, learn, learn

(55:41):
to flow on the trail and be alittle bit more aggressive, and
I found the mountain biking is agood way to do it.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
That's a good one.
I might have to snag that fromyou.
I've been gravel biking a bunch, but not mountain, I'm just
afraid.
After hearing GarrettCorcoran's story of ripping his
leg before series and all, I'mlike, yeah, it's a roll of the
dice.
Yeah, that's exactly it.
The risk is too high.
Is there a race that youhaven't done yet?

(56:06):
That's like a bucket list racefor you.

Speaker 2 (56:08):
I definitely want to go to like OCC and race out
there at one of the UTMB racesfor sure, as kind of like a
bucket and one of the next one.
It's kind of like a typical onefor most, but it's really just
like that's one of the biggerstages and, yeah, being able to
go out there would be would beone for sure.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
Um super cool.
Well, you've raced marathon dumont blanc, so you've been on a
good chunk of that course.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
It's pretty sweet I did, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
The 20s, I did the 23k, the 23 technical course at
all, or is it not very technical?

Speaker 2 (56:45):
There was like one section that and I can't
remember the names of all theroutes, but there was one
section where I say it would bea little bit more technical, one
of the descents, but otherwisenot really, it's pretty fast.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
Is it Super cool, interesting.
Well, dude, I think we'realmost at time.
I want to thank you so much forcoming on the podcast, josh.
It was great getting to talk toyou.
I hope to get to meet you at astar line one of these days.
I don't know if we'll be.
Hopefully it'll be a brokenarrow, we'll see.
I'm kind of trying to put planstogether yet to figure out what
I'm doing.
But, dude, it was great havinga conversation with you.

(57:19):
Thank you so much and wishingyou the best in your 2025 season
.
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
I appreciate you having me on here and looking
forward to staying in touch,james.
Thanks, man, appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (57:29):
What'd you guys think ?
Oh man, what a fun episode.
I want to thank Josh so muchfor coming on the podcast and
just wishing him the absolutebest of luck in the rest of his
2025 season.
He's got some big goals and Ican't wait to see him accomplish
them.
So big stuff on the horizon forJosh, definitely a rising star
in our sport and, yeah, justreally appreciative that he was
open to letting me help tell hisstory.

(57:52):
That's the best way I candescribe it.
There you go, guys.
Before you get going, hop onInstagram.
You can find Josh.
The best way to support him isto give him some follows.
You could find Josh.
The best way to support him isto give him some follows.
You could find him on Instagramat JJ P O T V I N.
That's JJ Potvin.
That's P O T V I N.
On Instagram, give him a followand I'm sure I'm sure he'd love
to hear from you guys I'm surehe'd love to hear, you know some

(58:15):
words of encouragement aboutthe episode.
If you guys enjoyed it, letthem know.
And yeah, and if you guyshappen to be in the you know the
Vancouver area probably a good,probably a good mind to link up
with as far as knowing thetrails over there.
So big stuff on the horizon forJosh.
Guys, before you get going, ifyou enjoyed this episode, please
give us a five-star rating andreview on Apple Spotify or
podcasts or Apple Spotify orwherever you consume your

(58:37):
podcasts.
And, yeah, that would just meanthe world to us.
And very last but not least,this episode was brought to you
by Ultimate Direction USA.
If you guys are interested in anew pack, check out the new
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Um, and yeah, yeah, good stuff.
Got some more uh, cool episodescoming out on the horizon.

(59:20):
I'm excited to bring you anepisode on Friday with Lindsay
Allison and next week I've gotone dropping with Ryan Becker,
which is a tell-all episode.
It's a dope one, so excited forsome cool new episodes on the
horizon.
We're cooking up some stuffright now for Broken Arrow and
the Soonipi Scramble, so we'regoing to be those weeks are
going to be incredibly excitingfor the Steep Stuff podcast.

(59:41):
We've got some really coolmedia coming your way for those.
So keep tuning in.
Really appreciate your guys'support and have a great rest of
your week.
Thanks so much.
Thank you, thanks for watching.