July 24, 2025 • 17 mins
From defending 28K champion to 50K challenger, Robin Lesch brings her trademark consistency and strategic approach to this year's Speedgoat 50K. The mountain ultrarunner from Durango shares a refreshingly honest assessment of her racing philosophy: "I'll either blow up, and that'll be a learning, or I won't, and that'll be a learning."
Robin's consistency across diverse race distances and terrains stands out in a sport where many experience dramatic performance swings. She attributes this to her measured racing style—staying within herself during the first half before hunting down competitors in the latter stages. With coaching from Robbie Britton for four years, she's developed a dependable approach that regularly lands her near podium positions.
Training in Durango provides the perfect playground for mountain race preparation. With the La Plata Mountains essentially in her backyard and the San Juans just an hour away, Robin has easy access to punishing vertical gain—ideal for preparing for Speedgoat's brutal 11,000 feet of climbing. She's also simplified her nutrition strategy over time, moving away from complicated plans to focus primarily on gels and water, with her sister Celia providing crucial crew support during the race.
What truly sets Robin apart is her mindset toward goal-setting. Rather than fixating on placement or times, she focuses on process-oriented objectives: pushing hard on specific sections or maintaining a higher effort throughout. This approach allows her to concentrate on her own performance rather than getting caught up in what others are doing. As women's ultrarunning continues to evolve with increasingly competitive fields, Robin's thoughtful approach to racing and training offers valuable insights for runners at all levels looking to find consistency and joy in mountain ultras.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, fam?
Welcome back to the Steep StuffPodcast.
I'm your host, james Lariello,here to bring you another
Speedgoat 50k pre-race interview, this one with none other than
Robin Lesch Super excited tohave Robin back on the podcast.
Since we've chatted, she'staken a fourth place finish at
the Gorge Waterfalls 100k,placing just off of Team USA,
and she's also taken a top 10finish at the Broken Arrow Sky
(00:21):
Race 46k.
For those of you who don't know, at the Broken Arrow Sky Race
46K For those of you who don'tknow, robin is the defending 28K
champion at Speedco.
So she'll be moving up indistance this year to race the
50K, which I know she's superexcited about.
You'll hear her talk about thaton the episode and, yeah, I'm
just really excited for whatRobin's going to be able to do A
lot of really strong womengoing into this race and it was
kind of fun to get her, uh, justher perspective on it and just
(00:42):
her perspective on the course,um, and just kind of how
training's been, and you knowher plans for the rest of the
summer.
So, without further ado, I hopeyou guys enjoy this one, robin
Lesh.
It's time.
(01:07):
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
(01:54):
We are live.
Robin Lesh, welcome back to theSteep Stuff Podcast.
How's it going Good?
Yeah, beautiful morning.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm soexcited to have this chat with
you ahead of, uh, the speed goat50k.
It's taking place saturday,it's a couple days out.
Um, what's the stoke levelpre-race?
How you feeling?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
yeah, pretty high um.
This race I'm just gonna playaround with and see uh sort of
push at a different level, um,and see where that gets me.
I'll either blow up, andthat'll be a learning, or I
won't, and that'll be a learning.
Um, so it's going to be sort ofa play day, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Fair enough, fair enough.
You know, I gotta give you your, your kudos.
Man.
Like you are one of the mostlike, you have been one of the
most consistent athletes.
Like it doesn't matter if it'sa long like, if it's like an
ultra, it's a long like.
If it's like an ultra, like asuper long distance, or if it's
like something shorter, likebroken arrow, 46 K, like very
consistent results across theboard.
Like do you like attribute thatto great coaching?
(02:52):
Do you attribute that to justlike you know being well
prepared for these races andbeing able to prepare well?
Like what do you think that is?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Uh, great question.
Um, great coaching for sure.
Like I love my coach, robbieBritton.
We've been working togetherfour years now and just like
really clicking.
It's wonderful.
I think it seems to be my racestyle.
Like that's why I'm going tosort of play around with it this
weekend and see if I can dosomething else, but to just be
(03:26):
not really conservative but likewithin myself for the first
half um and just racing reallymy body in the course, and then
in the second half, going andplaying forwards and seeing how
many ladies I can catch, umseems to be my like happy.
Just some default method Um.
So I'll see if I can play withthat and either I either I'll
just fall back into it or um.
It does give a lot ofconsistency, which is cool.
(03:47):
So far I haven't had any bomberraces.
It usually puts me somewhere inthe bottom of the podium or
just off, which is a good-ishplace to be.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
It's not bad, I take that over.
I would take that even overjust winning one and then just
completely imploding on everyother one.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
That's true, I implode very rarely.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
That's fair, fair enough.
Yeah, it's been amazing towatch, like I said, just so,
much consistency and yourtraining's been really fun to
follow along to and you'repretty open about some of the
stuff that you're doing trainingout there in Durango.
You've got the San Juans rightthere.
You've got the San Juans, uh,you know, kind of right there.
Um, it must've not been verydifficult to get ready for a big
mountain race like this, givenwhat you have, as far as like,
(04:30):
at your disposal in yourbackyard.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, yeah, most of most races I have to stay off
too much vert um, becausethere's just a lot of steep
trails that are beautiful andit's like no yep Run.
A lot of steep trails that arebeautiful and it's like no yep
run the smart stuff um, but thisone you can kind of go and play
on anything.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, do you, you know?
Do you do more like stuff,because durango is so close to
both the san juans and thelaplatas?
Do you do more stuff in thelaplatas or are you more going
up to like silverton and the sanjuans?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
yeah, um, I haven't run very much in silverton
actually because it's a wholehour away, really close so far.
Yeah, um, the laplata is for usbecause we're just west of town
.
The laplata is for us are likeright around the corner, uh, and
super good training in there.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
So often laplata, but don't tell too many people yeah
, I was gonna say I didn't wantto throw it out on the podcast.
That's actually a place wecould talk about this offline.
That's a place I've beenwanting to get out to train for
a while, like cool area, veryneat, and yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And then there's heaps and heaps up in the same
ones that are objectivelyprobably more impressive, but
yeah, logistically a bit furtheryeah, no, no, fair enough.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
I do want to talk a little bit on broken arrow.
Another like phenomenalperformance for you.
Obviously just short of teamUSA, but damn, like you were.
You ran a great race, likereally really well.
Same kind of concept Would youagree with.
Like was it start off moreconservative in the first lap
and then pick ladies off at thesecond?
Like how did the race play outfor you?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, broken arrow was tough.
Um, I think I just wrote a postabout this.
I think I took all my like,fire and energy from racing
gorge and being just off of theteam there um into the training
for the next block the twomonths before broken arrow.
Um, and I have learned don'ttake fire and energy, put it
into training, put it intoracing.
Uh, so I was.
(06:16):
I think I was into a hole.
We could say, um, yeah, it waspretty tough.
Um, the whole week before I waslike, okay, we're not going to
do anything that's pushing atall and just try to recover as
much as possible.
Um, and it was hard on race day, especially at the beginning,
(06:39):
like my warm up, I think Iwalked to the end of it because
I didn't feel like running theend of it, which has never, ever
happened.
So the first hour or so waspretty tough, just like keeping
moving and trying to settle intoit and just run with what I had
on the day.
Luckily, after about like anhour, weirdly up high, after
(07:00):
about an hour and a half orsomething, I started to feel
better and then just sort ofclawing back positions.
So like, in time, it was apretty good race.
I did like even split the firstand second lap, which is
unusual, but it was not aperfect day, I would definitely
(07:21):
say.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
but I'm really proud of like how I handled, how I was
feeling, um, and just clickinginto race mode and giving it
what I had that day yeah, no, Imean, like I said, I gotta
commend you like not just aconsistent result, but just like
man, so many people blew up andthose races start out so fast,
like people, yes, going out likelike, like yeah, way too fast.
(07:43):
And it's so funny to see, likeyou and I've said this so like
on broke, like on the racepreview episodes and stuff like
that I was just like man, like,usually the person leading the
first lap unless you're, elihemming is not necessarily the
person winning the race, right,or david sinclair, I should say,
um, but yeah, it's just sointeresting to see like the
dynamics of that race and how itplayed out, so kudos to you.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, send the last down.
Is was what I did.
Yeah, yeah, listen so much fun.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
What, and what a fun course too, like I absolutely
love broken arrow.
Um, yeah, yeah, super fun topivot back to speed go.
You are.
You are 28k champion, so youunderstand this course.
You've been on the coursebefore a good chunk of it, so
you have an idea of what toexpect.
I didn't go to.
I obviously know your resultsbecause we've had you on the
podcast before.
But have you ever run 11,000feet in that condensed of less
(08:33):
than 30 or 30 and less milesbefore?
That's such a.
It's a ton of vertical gain,like that is, it's a bc 60k.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, yeah, um, in my head it's.
I should probably check thenumbers, but in my head it's the
same race as occ yeah, yeah,that makes sense, it makes sense
so I know it's long, I know youjust keep eating and you keep
climbing and you keep runningeverything you can um nice, nice
, and you know a little bit lesstechnical, but higher up
(09:00):
obviously.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So it's going to be, you know, and it's just
interesting to me, it's so crazythat, like it's a you know six,
I mean, I think the courserecords for women's 602.
So it's a six or seven hourrace for the top 10 women, which
is so wild to think of for 50 K.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, keep eating.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
What is the nutrition strategy for this one?
Is it going to be like moresolids, just because it's a
slower race and more like fordigestion is going to be
different?
Is it going to be more liquids,gels, because the altitude like
how do you like plan toapproach something like this?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, good question.
I used to be very sort ofcomplex in my nutrition schedule
.
I was like, all right, so it'llbe easier for me to eat smaller
gels here and bigger gels here,and you would eat these before
this and then these here, andthen at Broken at a Black Canyon
this spring.
I was like, wait a second, whyam I making this complicated?
I don't really get flavorfatigue.
(09:53):
I don't get tired of certaingels.
Have a gel that is has alwaysworked.
Why not just do that like sortof mix liquid nutrition?
Just do gels and water.
Um, so that's my sort ofprimary strategy.
I'll put in a little bit ofliquid nutrition.
Just because it's when I havetwo bottles, I might as well.
Um, it'll mainly just be twobig gels an hour.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Nice, nice, do you and I know there's two like
crude checkpoints on like do youplan to take advantage of those
of like?
Yeah, yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah yeah, my sister Celia is coming out.
Um, she's flying in today andshe'll crew me.
She was at gorge sort ofcrewing and spectating, um, and
that was not too traumaticexperience for her not to accept
the offer to come out and crewme here, so it'll be super fun
for her to be part of it.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Super fun, yeah, especially, it's always fun
having family.
I like to get to see you, oncourse, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
And she was the original runner.
I was a sailor and she was therunner, so it's done this sort
of switcheroo, but it's reallyfun to have her here.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
So cool, so cool, so cool.
Have you made, did you I knowsome people do, some people
don't for a race this long Like,do you make splits for
something like this?
Like I know jazz one last yearwith like six I think she ran
six hours, 15 minutes.
Do you have something aroundsix, 15, six, 20, somewhere in
that area, or is it just goingto be go off feel?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Uh, I was.
I have made splits for it forthe purpose of planning
nutrition, because I need totell my sister what to give me
when.
So when we go for the backside,for example, that's like I have
to look at my spreadsheet butlike over 20 kilometers of on
your own, um, so I need to knowapproximately how long that's
(11:35):
going to take.
Um, also, the women's fieldsare getting so fast that you no
longer can just go off winningtime.
Last year, like, for example,broken arrow, my time was pretty
much winning time.
Last year, um, same with JFK,same with um, a bunch of other
races this year.
So, uh, I I'm just taking achunk of time off the winning
time and being like that's veryoptimistic, um, david Roche
(11:56):
style is like super optimistic.
But you know your targetsshould be fast and if you don't
make them, that's the way it is,um, so see, I like it.
Six is what I'm planning from.
I wouldn't say like I expect torun six, but that's fine oh, I
know I like it I.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
The reason I bring it up is because, like, we did the
course, or we of course preview.
We did the uh preview episodefor the race yesterday and we
were just talking about like 602is the course record, but it
was set back in 2008, like itstood for so long and like
somewhat, like especially thisyear, like we've got a pretty
deep field of ladies, um, likethere's a strong contingent with
yourself, jennifer Lichter,returning champion Jazz, malia
(12:36):
Noyes there's a lot of reallystrong women.
So my hope would be that we getclose this year at least, or
break it.
I think it's totally possible.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Do you know if the courses let's say because the
28K, well actually all thecourses changed a bit three
years ago with a different startspot.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah, so that's the million dollar question.
I did a bunch of research, soas far as I went, on the 28K is
longer, it's a 31K.
Yes, 28k is longer.
So, and here's the question weget so much variance year over
year, not just from shortdistance changes, but also
temperature wise, like, forinstance, like McElheno's ran
under six, I'm sorry, mcaleenanhas ran under 520 twice and then
(13:16):
we've had.
But Christian won a few yearsbefore, in 2023, ran I think it
was 523.
So a temperature plays a vastrole, as you know, after running
the 28K, if it's a hot day,it's going to be much different.
I don't know.
Ultra signup counts the 2008record as the official record,
and they count, obviously.
Last year David Sinclair wentunder five hours.
(13:38):
That's the men's record.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah, I mean if it's longer and the times are faster,
that's more of a record.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Well, that's the million-dollar question.
It's like okay, so if there'sno one to account for the fact,
like 2008,.
In my opinion, while Ultra SignUp does recognize the 2008
number, it had to have been ashortened course just because it
stood for that long.
And we've had Anna Frost, We'vehad so many strong women come
through there and not even getclose.
They're within 10, 15, 20minutes and you would think just
(14:09):
by how much better people havegotten over the years and where
it's gone.
I would guess that was ashorter course, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
It's okay, it gives us a high bar to shoot for.
I agree, I agree.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
I think it's possible to do it this year in my
opinion, so it'll be definitelyfun so cool.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Where are we at?
Speaker 1 (14:26):
About 15 minutes in.
What is your expectation?
Is your expectation compete forthe podium or?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yes, compete for the podium or um, yes, uh, I don't
generally make like place goalsbecause it's I.
I have control over how I race,but I don't have control over
how anyone else's day is orwho's there.
Um, the time thing is a bitfunny.
Like I need to have some sortof time idea to tell my sister
when to when to expect me, orand or to plan nutrition.
Um, it's less of like a goal,it's more of a logistics.
(15:00):
Um, so I'll make goals likereally, really push that sneaky
little bump on the last descentand um, like practice playing in
this, like race most of therace at a higher effort level
than I usually do, and stufflike that.
So goal two is to be filled inmy coach's meeting just after
this.
Those are the types of goalsthat I make for myself for race
(15:23):
day.
We'll see where how that shakesout in terms of place and time.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
I think it's a much healthier way to approach it too
Control what you can control.
Like you said, you can't dowhat anybody else is doing, you
know, and it's going to be funto see it play out.
But, like I said, you're one ofthe most consistent ones out
there.
I think you're going to have agreat day.
It's going to be really fun tofollow along and, yeah, I wish
you the absolute best of luck onrace day and thank you for
taking the time out of yourmorning to chat with me.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Always.
No worries, it just got megoing.
It's perfect, sweet sweet.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Well listen.
Good luck, have a greatshakeout, run and enjoy the rest
of your time in the Salt Lakearea and have a blast on race
day.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Thanks so much, James .
Have a good one you too.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Take care, robin Cheers, listen up, guys.
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What's up, fam?
Welcome back to the Steep StuffPodcast.
I'm your host, james Lariello,here to bring you another
Speedgoat 50k pre-race interview, this one with none other than
Robin Lesch Super excited tohave Robin back on the podcast.
Since we've chatted, she'staken a fourth place finish at
the Gorge Waterfalls 100k,placing just off of Team USA,
and she's also taken a top 10finish at the Broken Arrow Sky
(00:21):
Race 46k.
For those of you who don't know, at the Broken Arrow Sky Race
46K For those of you who don'tknow, robin is the defending 28K
champion at Speedco.
So she'll be moving up indistance this year to race the
50K, which I know she's superexcited about.
You'll hear her talk about thaton the episode and, yeah, I'm
just really excited for whatRobin's going to be able to do A
lot of really strong womengoing into this race and it was
kind of fun to get her, uh, justher perspective on it and just
(00:42):
her perspective on the course,um, and just kind of how
training's been, and you knowher plans for the rest of the
summer.
So, without further ado, I hopeyou guys enjoy this one, robin
Lesh.
It's time.
(01:07):
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
(01:54):
We are live.
Robin Lesh, welcome back to theSteep Stuff Podcast.
How's it going Good?
Yeah, beautiful morning.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm soexcited to have this chat with
you ahead of, uh, the speed goat50k.
It's taking place saturday,it's a couple days out.
Um, what's the stoke levelpre-race?
How you feeling?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
yeah, pretty high um.
This race I'm just gonna playaround with and see uh sort of
push at a different level, um,and see where that gets me.
I'll either blow up, andthat'll be a learning, or I
won't, and that'll be a learning.
Um, so it's going to be sort ofa play day, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Fair enough, fair enough.
You know, I gotta give you your, your kudos.
Man.
Like you are one of the mostlike, you have been one of the
most consistent athletes.
Like it doesn't matter if it'sa long like, if it's like an
ultra, it's a long like.
If it's like an ultra, like asuper long distance, or if it's
like something shorter, likebroken arrow, 46 K, like very
consistent results across theboard.
Like do you like attribute thatto great coaching?
(02:52):
Do you attribute that to justlike you know being well
prepared for these races andbeing able to prepare well?
Like what do you think that is?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Uh, great question.
Um, great coaching for sure.
Like I love my coach, robbieBritton.
We've been working togetherfour years now and just like
really clicking.
It's wonderful.
I think it seems to be my racestyle.
Like that's why I'm going tosort of play around with it this
weekend and see if I can dosomething else, but to just be
(03:26):
not really conservative but likewithin myself for the first
half um and just racing reallymy body in the course, and then
in the second half, going andplaying forwards and seeing how
many ladies I can catch, umseems to be my like happy.
Just some default method Um.
So I'll see if I can play withthat and either I either I'll
just fall back into it or um.
It does give a lot ofconsistency, which is cool.
(03:47):
So far I haven't had any bomberraces.
It usually puts me somewhere inthe bottom of the podium or
just off, which is a good-ishplace to be.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
It's not bad, I take that over.
I would take that even overjust winning one and then just
completely imploding on everyother one.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
That's true, I implode very rarely.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
That's fair, fair enough.
Yeah, it's been amazing towatch, like I said, just so,
much consistency and yourtraining's been really fun to
follow along to and you'repretty open about some of the
stuff that you're doing trainingout there in Durango.
You've got the San Juans rightthere.
You've got the San Juans, uh,you know, kind of right there.
Um, it must've not been verydifficult to get ready for a big
mountain race like this, givenwhat you have, as far as like,
(04:30):
at your disposal in yourbackyard.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, yeah, most of most races I have to stay off
too much vert um, becausethere's just a lot of steep
trails that are beautiful andit's like no yep Run.
A lot of steep trails that arebeautiful and it's like no yep
run the smart stuff um, but thisone you can kind of go and play
on anything.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, do you, you know?
Do you do more like stuff,because durango is so close to
both the san juans and thelaplatas?
Do you do more stuff in thelaplatas or are you more going
up to like silverton and the sanjuans?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
yeah, um, I haven't run very much in silverton
actually because it's a wholehour away, really close so far.
Yeah, um, the laplata is for usbecause we're just west of town
.
The laplata is for us are likeright around the corner, uh, and
super good training in there.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
So often laplata, but don't tell too many people yeah
, I was gonna say I didn't wantto throw it out on the podcast.
That's actually a place wecould talk about this offline.
That's a place I've beenwanting to get out to train for
a while, like cool area, veryneat, and yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And then there's heaps and heaps up in the same
ones that are objectivelyprobably more impressive, but
yeah, logistically a bit furtheryeah, no, no, fair enough.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
I do want to talk a little bit on broken arrow.
Another like phenomenalperformance for you.
Obviously just short of teamUSA, but damn, like you were.
You ran a great race, likereally really well.
Same kind of concept Would youagree with.
Like was it start off moreconservative in the first lap
and then pick ladies off at thesecond?
Like how did the race play outfor you?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, broken arrow was tough.
Um, I think I just wrote a postabout this.
I think I took all my like,fire and energy from racing
gorge and being just off of theteam there um into the training
for the next block the twomonths before broken arrow.
Um, and I have learned don'ttake fire and energy, put it
into training, put it intoracing.
Uh, so I was.
(06:16):
I think I was into a hole.
We could say, um, yeah, it waspretty tough.
Um, the whole week before I waslike, okay, we're not going to
do anything that's pushing atall and just try to recover as
much as possible.
Um, and it was hard on race day, especially at the beginning,
(06:39):
like my warm up, I think Iwalked to the end of it because
I didn't feel like running theend of it, which has never, ever
happened.
So the first hour or so waspretty tough, just like keeping
moving and trying to settle intoit and just run with what I had
on the day.
Luckily, after about like anhour, weirdly up high, after
(07:00):
about an hour and a half orsomething, I started to feel
better and then just sort ofclawing back positions.
So like, in time, it was apretty good race.
I did like even split the firstand second lap, which is
unusual, but it was not aperfect day, I would definitely
(07:21):
say.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
but I'm really proud of like how I handled, how I was
feeling, um, and just clickinginto race mode and giving it
what I had that day yeah, no, Imean, like I said, I gotta
commend you like not just aconsistent result, but just like
man, so many people blew up andthose races start out so fast,
like people, yes, going out likelike, like yeah, way too fast.
(07:43):
And it's so funny to see, likeyou and I've said this so like
on broke, like on the racepreview episodes and stuff like
that I was just like man, like,usually the person leading the
first lap unless you're, elihemming is not necessarily the
person winning the race, right,or david sinclair, I should say,
um, but yeah, it's just sointeresting to see like the
dynamics of that race and how itplayed out, so kudos to you.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, send the last down.
Is was what I did.
Yeah, yeah, listen so much fun.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
What, and what a fun course too, like I absolutely
love broken arrow.
Um, yeah, yeah, super fun topivot back to speed go.
You are.
You are 28k champion, so youunderstand this course.
You've been on the coursebefore a good chunk of it, so
you have an idea of what toexpect.
I didn't go to.
I obviously know your resultsbecause we've had you on the
podcast before.
But have you ever run 11,000feet in that condensed of less
(08:33):
than 30 or 30 and less milesbefore?
That's such a.
It's a ton of vertical gain,like that is, it's a bc 60k.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, yeah, um, in my head it's.
I should probably check thenumbers, but in my head it's the
same race as occ yeah, yeah,that makes sense, it makes sense
so I know it's long, I know youjust keep eating and you keep
climbing and you keep runningeverything you can um nice, nice
, and you know a little bit lesstechnical, but higher up
(09:00):
obviously.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So it's going to be, you know, and it's just
interesting to me, it's so crazythat, like it's a you know six,
I mean, I think the courserecords for women's 602.
So it's a six or seven hourrace for the top 10 women, which
is so wild to think of for 50 K.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, keep eating.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
What is the nutrition strategy for this one?
Is it going to be like moresolids, just because it's a
slower race and more like fordigestion is going to be
different?
Is it going to be more liquids,gels, because the altitude like
how do you like plan toapproach something like this?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, good question.
I used to be very sort ofcomplex in my nutrition schedule
.
I was like, all right, so it'llbe easier for me to eat smaller
gels here and bigger gels here,and you would eat these before
this and then these here, andthen at Broken at a Black Canyon
this spring.
I was like, wait a second, whyam I making this complicated?
I don't really get flavorfatigue.
(09:53):
I don't get tired of certaingels.
Have a gel that is has alwaysworked.
Why not just do that like sortof mix liquid nutrition?
Just do gels and water.
Um, so that's my sort ofprimary strategy.
I'll put in a little bit ofliquid nutrition.
Just because it's when I havetwo bottles, I might as well.
Um, it'll mainly just be twobig gels an hour.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Nice, nice, do you and I know there's two like
crude checkpoints on like do youplan to take advantage of those
of like?
Yeah, yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah yeah, my sister Celia is coming out.
Um, she's flying in today andshe'll crew me.
She was at gorge sort ofcrewing and spectating, um, and
that was not too traumaticexperience for her not to accept
the offer to come out and crewme here, so it'll be super fun
for her to be part of it.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Super fun, yeah, especially, it's always fun
having family.
I like to get to see you, oncourse, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
And she was the original runner.
I was a sailor and she was therunner, so it's done this sort
of switcheroo, but it's reallyfun to have her here.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
So cool, so cool, so cool.
Have you made, did you I knowsome people do, some people
don't for a race this long Like,do you make splits for
something like this?
Like I know jazz one last yearwith like six I think she ran
six hours, 15 minutes.
Do you have something aroundsix, 15, six, 20, somewhere in
that area, or is it just goingto be go off feel?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Uh, I was.
I have made splits for it forthe purpose of planning
nutrition, because I need totell my sister what to give me
when.
So when we go for the backside,for example, that's like I have
to look at my spreadsheet butlike over 20 kilometers of on
your own, um, so I need to knowapproximately how long that's
(11:35):
going to take.
Um, also, the women's fieldsare getting so fast that you no
longer can just go off winningtime.
Last year, like, for example,broken arrow, my time was pretty
much winning time.
Last year, um, same with JFK,same with um, a bunch of other
races this year.
So, uh, I I'm just taking achunk of time off the winning
time and being like that's veryoptimistic, um, david Roche
(11:56):
style is like super optimistic.
But you know your targetsshould be fast and if you don't
make them, that's the way it is,um, so see, I like it.
Six is what I'm planning from.
I wouldn't say like I expect torun six, but that's fine oh, I
know I like it I.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
The reason I bring it up is because, like, we did the
course, or we of course preview.
We did the uh preview episodefor the race yesterday and we
were just talking about like 602is the course record, but it
was set back in 2008, like itstood for so long and like
somewhat, like especially thisyear, like we've got a pretty
deep field of ladies, um, likethere's a strong contingent with
yourself, jennifer Lichter,returning champion Jazz, malia
(12:36):
Noyes there's a lot of reallystrong women.
So my hope would be that we getclose this year at least, or
break it.
I think it's totally possible.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Do you know if the courses let's say because the
28K, well actually all thecourses changed a bit three
years ago with a different startspot.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah, so that's the million dollar question.
I did a bunch of research, soas far as I went, on the 28K is
longer, it's a 31K.
Yes, 28k is longer.
So, and here's the question weget so much variance year over
year, not just from shortdistance changes, but also
temperature wise, like, forinstance, like McElheno's ran
under six, I'm sorry, mcaleenanhas ran under 520 twice and then
(13:16):
we've had.
But Christian won a few yearsbefore, in 2023, ran I think it
was 523.
So a temperature plays a vastrole, as you know, after running
the 28K, if it's a hot day,it's going to be much different.
I don't know.
Ultra signup counts the 2008record as the official record,
and they count, obviously.
Last year David Sinclair wentunder five hours.
(13:38):
That's the men's record.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah, I mean if it's longer and the times are faster,
that's more of a record.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Well, that's the million-dollar question.
It's like okay, so if there'sno one to account for the fact,
like 2008,.
In my opinion, while Ultra SignUp does recognize the 2008
number, it had to have been ashortened course just because it
stood for that long.
And we've had Anna Frost, We'vehad so many strong women come
through there and not even getclose.
They're within 10, 15, 20minutes and you would think just
(14:09):
by how much better people havegotten over the years and where
it's gone.
I would guess that was ashorter course, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
It's okay, it gives us a high bar to shoot for.
I agree, I agree.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
I think it's possible to do it this year in my
opinion, so it'll be definitelyfun so cool.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Where are we at?
Speaker 1 (14:26):
About 15 minutes in.
What is your expectation?
Is your expectation compete forthe podium or?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yes, compete for the podium or um, yes, uh, I don't
generally make like place goalsbecause it's I.
I have control over how I race,but I don't have control over
how anyone else's day is orwho's there.
Um, the time thing is a bitfunny.
Like I need to have some sortof time idea to tell my sister
when to when to expect me, orand or to plan nutrition.
Um, it's less of like a goal,it's more of a logistics.
(15:00):
Um, so I'll make goals likereally, really push that sneaky
little bump on the last descentand um, like practice playing in
this, like race most of therace at a higher effort level
than I usually do, and stufflike that.
So goal two is to be filled inmy coach's meeting just after
this.
Those are the types of goalsthat I make for myself for race
(15:23):
day.
We'll see where how that shakesout in terms of place and time.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
I think it's a much healthier way to approach it too
Control what you can control.
Like you said, you can't dowhat anybody else is doing, you
know, and it's going to be funto see it play out.
But, like I said, you're one ofthe most consistent ones out
there.
I think you're going to have agreat day.
It's going to be really fun tofollow along and, yeah, I wish
you the absolute best of luck onrace day and thank you for
taking the time out of yourmorning to chat with me.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Always.
No worries, it just got megoing.
It's perfect, sweet sweet.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Well listen.
Good luck, have a greatshakeout, run and enjoy the rest
of your time in the Salt Lakearea and have a blast on race
day.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Thanks so much, James .
Have a good one you too.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Take care, robin Cheers, listen up, guys.
The Steep Stuff Podcast isbrought to you by Ultimate
Direction USA.
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