Episode 57 - Mens' Ultrarunning Fantasy Draft with Phil Vondra and Rich Heffron

Despite Phil’s abominable behavior during our womens’ draft (for which he was roundly criticized in the media and penalized by the voters), he was invited back, along with GFOP Rich Heffron, to select our mens’ ultrarunning fantasy teams. And this time, the Legend did not disappoint! Take a listen and let us know who had the best performance in this year’s fantasy draft.

Beers for this episode: Ithaca Every Day Haze and Flower Power; Equilibrium Wavelength, Energy Equals, and Super Fractal Julia Set

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 56 - The Best Running Books with Joe Puleo (Part II)

Quarantine content continues! Now that you’ve had enough time to plow through our favorite running movies, you should have plenty of time to tackle the reading list we’re about to assign you. I’m joined by my great friend, coach and author Joe Puleo, possibly the most well-read person I’ve ever met, to go through our favorite books about running. In Part II, we cover our favorite biographies, memoirs, science/training books, and running fiction.

Links
Part I - narrative non-fiction books
Joe’s first appearance on the show
Joe’s book, Running Anatomy (blurbed by yours truly!)
Hear Joe’s presentation at an upcoming virtual NSCA conference

Episode 55 - The Best Running Books with Joe Puleo (Part I)

Quarantine content continues! Now that you’ve had enough time to plow through our favorite running movies, you should have plenty of time to tackle the reading list we’re about to assign you. I’m joined by my great friend, coach and author Joe Puleo, possibly the most well-read person I’ve ever met, to go through our favorite books about running. In Part I, we tackle our favorite category: narrative non-fiction running books.

Links
Joe’s first appearance on the show
Joe’s book, Running Anatomy (blurbed by yours truly!)
Hear Joe’s presentation at an upcoming virtual NSCA conference

Episode 54 - Women's Ultrarunning Fantasy Draft with Phil Vondra and Laura Kline

The cure for your quarantine blues! No, races aren’t happening right now, but that’s not gonna stop us from bringing the concept of fantasy sports to the world of ultrarunning. I’m joined by the legendary Phil Vondra and the great Laura Kline to draft our women’s ultrarunning fantasy teams—one runner in each of twelve different events. Let the hilarity (and the outrage) ensue! Take a listen and let us know who you think has the best team. The winner gets beer, so it’s important!

Beer for this episode: Equilibrium/Civil Society Sweep the Leg; Founders Rubaeus; Battery Steele Flume

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 53 - Podcasting, Running, and NBA Crossovers with JE Skeets

There’s not a ton of news going on in sports these days, and the trail and ultrarunning world is no exception. And I don’t have the emotional bandwidth to turn this podcast into a stream of stories about how we’re all dealing with isolation. Instead, we’re going to try to branch out a little bit; one avenue I wanted to explore was interviewing some runners who are better known for things other than running. And I was absolutely ecstatic to kick off this series by snagging one of my favorite podcasters to come on the show and talk a little shop. JE Skeets is the co-host of No Dunks, a daily NBA podcast on The Athletic. This is the third iteration of the show that he and his friends Tas Melas, Jason Doyle, Trey Kerby, and Leigh Ellis, have had since the Podcasting Stone Age in 2005. Prior to this year, they produced a daily show on NBA TV called The Starters. I sat down with Skeets to talk about being one of the pioneers of podcasting, his background in high school hoops, his newfound love for running, which NBA players would make good marathoners, and more.

Links:
No Dunks podcast
Skeets on IG (and the pod)

Desert Island Picks: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, A-Sides Win by Sloan, Wrecking Bar Brewpub Beer Flavored Vienna Lager

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 52 - Ten Best Running Movies with Phil Vondra

The Legend is back!! From a socially appropriate distance of course. As it’s been about six weeks since our last episode, we started with an abbreviated version of This Month in Ultrarunning, recapping results from the (hopefully temporary) end of the ultra season—including the Olympic Trials marathon, the Caumsett 50K, the Pioneer Spirit 50 mile, and Transgrancanaria—as well as recapping the Quarantine Virtual Backyard Ultra and some FKT news. Then it’s time for our top ten running movies of all time (40:30)!

Huge thanks to Podcorn for sponsoring this episode. Explore sponsorship opportunities and start monetizing your podcast by signing up here: https://podcorn.com/podcasters/

Beer for this episode: Equilibrium Fluctuation, Alchemist Focal Banger

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 51 - This Month in Ultrarunning with Phil Vondra

The 2020 ultrarunning season is in full swing, and we’re back after a two-month hiatus to bring you all the news that’s fit to discuss, and also a bunch that probably isn’t. The Legend and I start off by discussing the surprising cancellation of the North Face Endurance Challenge series (4:00) and the Sage/Koop Twitter beef (16:00) before our whirlwind tour of results from around the globe in the first two months of the year (26:00), including the early-season Golden Ticket races, the US road 100 mile championships, Tarawara, the Spine, and much more. (Unfortunately at one point I mistakenly imply that Drew Holman is from the East Coast. Not sure what that’s about.)

Beer for this episode: Other Half/Equilibrium Lab Daydream, Start Line Brewing Hop Load

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 50 - Reforming the Western States Lottery with Joe Uhan

Joe Uhan has been a mainstay of the West Coast ultra world since he burst onto the scene with competitive finishes at Chuckanut and the AR50 in 2011. Since then, he’s gone on to record top 10s at Western States, Lake Sonoma, Bandera, Waldo, and many other elite races. A well-respected coach and physical therapist, Joe has been involved with the Western States 100 ever since he first paced the race over a decade ago, as an athlete, volunteer, and therapist. Now as a coach, he has seen his athletes struggle with the frustration of the WS lottery—and he thinks he has a solution. In this episode, we talk about how Joe came to be involved with Western States, the formation of the current iteration of the WS lottery, the problems of the compounding ticket system, “premature” and “stale” lottery entrants, “lottery fatigue” and second-order effects, and how moving to a multi-tiered, non-compounding lottery could fix these issues.

Links:
The Olive Oil Joe origin story
The legend of Olive Oil Joe
Uhan Performance
Joe’s blog posts that formed the basis of this episode: Part I, Part II, and Part III

Desert Island Picks: Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Achtung Baby by U2, Ninkasi Spring Reign

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 49 - Debating the Mens' UROY with Phil Vondra and Rich Heffron

Since we ran incredibly long, we had to split up our UROY debate into two episodes. Here’s our mens’ discussion of UROY and POY.

Beer for this episode: Bissell Brothers Substance and Reciprocal

Links
Laura Kline on the 2017 ballot
Jason Mintz on the 2018 ballot
My final ballot in 2016, 2017, and 2018
And, after much consideration and debate, my final ballot for 2019, which differs somewhat from what we talk about in this episode

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 48 - Debating the Womens' UROY with Phil Vondra and Rich Heffron

As always, I’m honored and excited to be included on the voting panel for Ultrarunning Magazine’s Ultrarunner of the Year. But as usual, this leads to days of internal debate and wondering what I’m doing wrong. This year I was lucky enough to be joined by my usual co-host, Phil Vondra, as well as Beastcoast ultra stud and former podcast guest Rich Heffron, so they could set me straight. We recorded this show last week, two days before ballots were due, and thus I was able to incorporate their sage perspectives into my final picks, which I’ve linked to below. In this show, Phil and I spent a quick fifteen minutes recapping some recent ultra results before Rich joined us to discuss our top 10 picks for UROY and our top 5 mens’ and womens’ Performances of the Year. For time purposes, we had to split this show into two episodes, so the men’s discussion will be presented separately.

Beer for this episode: Bissell Brothers Substance and Reciprocal

Links
Laura Kline on the 2017 ballot
Jason Mintz on the 2018 ballot
My final ballot in 2016, 2017, and 2018
And, after much consideration and debate, my final ballot for 2019, which differs somewhat from what we talk about in this episode

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 47 - Pushing Boundaries with Maggie Guterl

Last month, Maggie Guterl became the first woman to win Big’s Backyard Ultra, the de facto world championship of the Last Man Standing format. This month, her career reaches new heights with her appearance in the Pain Cave! The Legend, Phil Vondra, joins us for a quick recap of the World Mountain Running Championships and the North Face Endurance Challenge championship before Maggie calls in to talk about her epic run at Big’s, 24-hour racing, the allure of Barkley, her favorite seltzer, and more.

Beer: Other Half Green Down to the Socks and Small Nelson

Maggie’s IG
Rugged Running

Desert Island Picks: an atlas, Bonobos, Polar Lime Seltzer

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 46 - This Month in Ultrarunning with Phil Vondra

The Legend is back in the co-pilot’s seat for another installment of TMIU. We start off with a whirlwind of results from around the globe before delving deep into the two biggest events of recent weeks: Big’s Backyard and the 24 hour World Championships. Along the way, we tackle the burning questions, like: how to we fix the USATF championship process? Do people root for Camille, or just respect her? What is a Moscato? Plus, we give our picks for the podium at this weekend’s North Face Championships.

Beer for this episode: Trillium Brewing Dialed-In Double IPA

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 45 - Overcoming Adversity with Tom Kaplan

Whether hiking through the Alps, rock climbing in the Gunks, or hammering mountainous 100-mile races all over the US, you will not find a more amiable outdoor companion than Tom Kaplan—and you will not find an athlete more willing to push themselves past their breaking point. We welcomed the great TK into the Cave after his recent finish at the Bear 100 to talk about rock climbing, his mercurial Ironman career, how he was able to overcome DNFs in his first nine attempts at the 100-mile distance (and what kept him coming back again and again), how he (kind of) invented Strava, and more.

Beer: Southern Tier 8 Days a Week

TK’s IG

Desert Island Picks: Coors Light; The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn; Led Zeppelin III (though Tom later clarified he actually meant Zep IV, and said he wishes he’d picked The Last Waltz instead)

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 44 - This Month in Ultrarunning with Phil Vondra

Fresh off an age group podium performance at the Bear 100, the Legend returns to the Pain Cave for another installment of This Month in Ultrarunning. As it’s been almost two months since our last episode, we have a lot of ground to cover! We start with our thoughts on another wild UTMB week, including Courtney’s historic performance and what’s wrong with the US men. Then it’s our trademark blitz through everything happening in the trail and ultra world, including Zach Bitter’s amazing 100 mile WR, Leadville, Pikes Peak, the conclusion of the Grand Slam, the penultimate races in the Golden Trail Series, our obligatory Jim and Killian conversations, and much more.

We had all kinds of technical issues with this episode; unfortunately, the last 10 minutes or so are lost to the ether of my computer. Sorry about the problems there! You mostly missed Phil discussing his race at the Bear and brief recaps of the Cat’s Tail Trail Marathon and the Grindstone 100.

Beer for this episode: Frost Beer Works Plush and Lush, courtesy of Kirsten Kortz

Links
As discussed a number of times, the Billy Yang Podcast (including his UTMB recap and interviews with Justin Grunewald and Lucy Bartholomew)

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 43 - AT FKT Attempt Recap with Kristian Morgan

In June, we spoke with inov-8 athlete Kristian Morgan as he prepared for an audacious attempt on the FKT for the Appalachian Trail—an attempt that was aborted less than a week in. Kristian was kind enough to return to the Pain Cave to discuss what went wrong, how he’s dealing with the disappointment of having to let go of this goal, what he learned that he’ll take forward, running in the White Mountains, hurling, and more.

Links
Kristian’s pre-AT interview
Kristian’s website
The AT FKT

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 42 - This Month in Ultrarunning with Phil Vondra

Jared Hazen, WS100 runner-up

photo: irunfar.com

The Legend returns from his pilgrimage back to the motherland for the latest installment of TMIU. We pat ourselves on the back for some not-terrible WSER predictions and recap the biggest storylines and surprises from Auburn (2:30) before discussing the doping mini-controversies clouding the podiums at Sierre-Zinal last weekend (19:30). Then it’s our whirlwind recap of the trail and ultra results of the past month (28:00), including Fat Dog, Eastern States, Badwater, Laveredo, AC100, and many more; before we touch on the shitstorm surrounding the entry process for the Last Annual Vol State (39:30) and Laz’s cult of personality.

Beer for this episode: Hill Farmstead Nelson, courtesy of Kirsten Kortz

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 41 - Western States Preview with Phil Vondra

The Legend at Manitou’s Revenge
photo: Steve Aaron

Oh boy! It’s the best time of year…Western States time! And the Legend himself, Phil Vondra, is fired up to talk about it. Before we dig into what’s going to happen this weekend, though, we’ve got a bunch of news and results to get through, including Phil’s recap of this past weekend’s Manitou’s Revenge (1:30), the cancellation of the Hardrock 100 (5:00), the untimely passing of Mark Richtman (10:00), and results from around the globe (11:30), including Comrades, the Trail World Championships, Bighorn, Mohican, Broken Arrow, and more. Then it’s finally time to dive into Western States (26:00), where we discuss Jim and Courtney’s chances to repeat, who we expect to bounce back with big performances, some dark horses to watch, and our picks for the podiums.

Beer for this episode: Fort Point Animal Tropical IPA

Links:
Hardrock 100 cancellation announcement
AJW’s remembrance of Mark Richtman
irunfar’s men’s and women’s WS100 previews

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 40 - ReWiring the Brain with Sun Sachs and Laura Kline

We’ve talked a lot on the show about the role that the brain plays in determining performance in endurance events, but we haven’t talked so much about how we can actually modify the brain’s response to physical stress in order to improve our performance. In part, that’s because this is a very difficult thing to practically address. Sun Sachs is here to change that. Sun is the co-founder of ReWire Cycling, a tech startup that is aiming to bring “brain training” to the endurance sport masses. Sun joined us in the Pain Cave last month to talk about how is background in cycling helped develop his interest in the mental side of the sport, the work of Samuel Marcora, the lowdown on “response inhibition training” and how he and his partner developed the app that may change how we view mental training for endurance athletes. Then, we welcomed back the great Laura Kline (32:30) to talk about her experience as a beta tester for the app, the changes she’s noticed in her performance, and more.

ReWire Cycling just launched a Kickstarter campaign to help secure funding for mass production of the app and the device we talked about here. If this campaign is successful, we may see this come to market in early 2020. Check out the links below and consider supporting them!

Links
Our interview with Alex Hutchinson, where we talked a bunch about Marcora and brain training (and Alex’s excellent book)
ReWire Cycling
The Kickstarter campaign
Laura’s website and her blog post from her most recent race, where she says she drew on the mental training she’d practiced with the app
Our last interview with Laura

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Episode 39 - Assault on the AT with Kristian Morgan

If you aren’t yet familiar with the name Kristian Morgan, you will be this summer. On July 1, the London-based ultrarunner will leave Springer Mountain, GA, aiming to become the first person to complete the Appalachian Trail in less than 40 days. Last month, after a final reconnaissance mission on the trail’s southern section, Kristian called in from across the pond to talk about why he likes racing hundreds, how lo prepare for a mountain race in London, Tour de Geants, his experience with Karel Sabbe on the AT last summer, FKT culture in the UK, and more.

Links
Kristian’s website, including tracking for the AT and coaching info
Feet in the Clouds
The Bob Graham Round
Karel Sabbe’s AT FKT
Desert Island Picks: Are You Experienced? by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Gipsy Hill Hepcat

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale

Kristian Morgan
photo: inov-8/Brian Meltzer

Episode 38 - This Month in Ultrarunning with Phil Vondra

New 50 mile world best by Jim Walmsley.
photo: Hoka ONE ONE

After a few quiet weeks on the ultra scene, the season starts heating up again, and The Legend returns to discuss all the latest happenings. We start off by recapping Phil’s race this past weekend at the Cayuga Trails 50, the US trail 50-mile championships, and some of the other storylines coming out of Ithaca. We also tackle the possibility of a cancellation at Hardrock, record chasing at Project Carbon X, Dawn to Dusk to Dawn and the US teams for the 24-hour world championships, recent results from the Backyard/Last Man series, unbreakable records, and more.

Beer for this episode: Foam Brewers Pavement

Links:
Red Mountain Pass SNOTEL site, which will factor into a go/no-go call for Hardrock (probably next week)
Project Carbon X
US 24-hour teams
AJW’s unbreakable trail 100 mile records

Intro music: "Fine Line" by the Bloodletters
Outro music: "When I Was Still Young" by Yard Sale