Off The Couch

New races and running events seem to be popping up all the time, which raises the question: Are there some specific characteristics, policies, and practices that should be built into pretty much every running event? To start thinking about this question, we talked to Caleb Efta, the race director of the High Lonesome 100 . Caleb started the High Lonesome 100 in 2017, and the race is already a Hard...

For 2019, Brendan Leonard ( @semirad ) set a goal for himself: run 52 ‘marathons’ in 52 weeks. He told very few people about this goal, and we are proud to report that Brendan accomplished his goal with several weeks to spare.  So in this conversation, Jonathan Ellsworth talks to Brendan about what prompted him to create this plan; why he decided to tell very few people about it; exactly what...

We talk with Blister reviewers, Maddie Hart and Gordon Gianniny, about how they handle running and training in the cold and on snowy, icy roads and trails. Maddie and Gordon offer their tips and tricks and perspectives on this age-old conundrum of when and whether to run when the days are short and summer is a distant memory. So check it out, see if you agree or disagree with some of their practic...

By the time she was 5 years old, Kelly Newlon had already identified two of her biggest passions: running and cooking. Those passions led her to running longer and longer races and becoming a classically trained chef. And these days, Kelly and her husband Morgan operate RAD (“Real Athlete Diets”) out of Boulder, Colorado, where they are — quite literally — feeding and fueling the ultrarunning comm...

Stevie Kremer is back on the show, and she came to BLISTER HQ in Mt. Crested Butte to talk about her experience at this year’s New York City Marathon — including all the gory details and the lessons she learned; the things about running she truly loves and truly hates the most; how many children is too many children, and more. TOPICS & TIMES: Running in freezing temps (5:15) NYC Marathon: gory...

Mr. Cappuccino of the @cappuccinocowboys is back on the show to issue an apology for his performance last week. And then Jared Hazen and Eric Senseman join us, so we got to ask them why they continue to associate with Mr. Cappuccino, and more. TOPICS & TIMES: Apologies for last week (1:45) If “The Guys” were Sex & the City characters (2:50) Mr. Cappuccino on Jared & Eric (6:25) Jared &...

What is Cappuccino Cowboys , and who is the person behind it? Is he an evil genius hell-bent on ruining ultrarunning? A provocateur shaking up the stodgy state of running media? Or is he just a giant pain in the ass of Jim Walmsley, Eric Senseman, Jared Hazen, Cody Reed, Tommy Rivs and a few other unfortunate souls? We spoke to Mr. Cappuccino himself to find out. TOPICS & TIMES: What is @cappu...

Maggie Guterl just became the first woman ever to win Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra, a multi-day race that does not have a fixed-distance finish line. So we talked to Maggie about how this extraordinary race works, and Maggie does a brilliant job of detailing what it was like to overcome the unique physical and mental challenges of Big’s; the significance of being the race’s first female champion; the...

Simply put, Mike McKnight’s story is amazing. This year, he won the Triple Crown of 200’s, which includes the Bigfoot 200 in August, the Tahoe 200 in September, and he just won the Moab 240. And in covering those ~640 miles of racing, he smashed his own cumulative-time record for the three races by … 43 hours. That’s probably not what you’d expect from a chubby kid who grew up on a dairy farm and...

What’s it like to run two hundred and one miles … and know that you still have another 40 miles to go? And why would you sign up and subject yourself to such a thing? To find out, we went to Moab, Utah, to the Moab 240 Endurance Run — a two hundred and forty mile race — to capture the very raw and unfiltered reactions from runners, pacers, friends, medics, and concerned mothers from the Geyser Aid...

When Cam Smith graduated high school in 2014, he had little or no mountain experience. But fast forward a few years, and Cam is now an accomplished trail runner, mountain biker, a member of the U.S. ski mountaineering team, a repeat winner of the Grand Traverse Mountain Run from Crested Butte to Aspen, and a repeat winner of the Grand Traverse Triple Crown. All of that is extremely impressive, per...

Jason Koop is a passionate runner, the author of Training Essentials for Ultrarunning , the head coach of CTS Ultrarunning , and someone who is not afraid to speak his mind. So Maddie Hart & Jonathan Ellsworth talk to Jason about his endurance coaching; “nonsensical” training aids & techniques; his recent running of the 330 km Tor de Geants; the current state of the minimalist / maximalist...

Kyle Robidoux is a passionate runner and skier and beer enthusiast. He has run 25 marathons and ultra marathons, including three 100-mile races, and the Boston Marathon six times. He also happens to be legally blind. Like the vast majority of us, Kyle Robidoux grew up loving sports and the outdoors. But at the age of 11, Kyle was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease, and he was declared legal...

Luke Nelson is a professional runner, physician assistant, race director (of the Scout Mountain Ultras in his town of Pocatello, Idaho), climate activist, husband, father of three, and … someone who doesn’t get a lot of sleep.  And in this conversation, my co-host Brendan Leonard and I talk to Luke about how he and Brendan first met; his background as a serious snowboarder, climber, and kayak...

Finding the right running shoe can be far more complicated and confusing than it should be. So this week, reviewers Luke Koppa, Jonathan Ellsworth, Maddie Hart, and Gordon Gianniny discuss our new BLISTER Brand Guide to Running Shoes ; why we saw a need for it; what we hope it accomplishes for runners everywhere; and the trends and takeaways we’ve seen in the process of building it. TOPICS & T...

Salomon athlete, Jackson Brill, is a 21-year old senior in college at CU Boulder, but given his approach to running, the way he talks about the sport, and his race results, you’d be forgiven for assuming that he was twice as old as he is. So we talked to Jackson about his studies and his work in CU’s Locomotion Lab; being teammates with Kilian Jornet; his experience with the Golden Trail Series; a...

On Saturday, August 25th, 2019, Zach Bitter set an incredible world record for the fastest time that a human being has run 100 miles — 11 hours, 19 minutes, 13 seconds. And for an encore, Zach kept on running, then set another world record — the 12-hour distance world record. (In 12 hours, Zach ran 104.8 miles.) To call these achievements remarkable is an understatement. So we talked to Zach a few...

David Roche is one of the most successful running coaches out there, but he is certainly not the most conventional running coach out there. And while data-driven training play an important role in the “SWAP” coaching program run by David and his wife Megan, there are some foundational and existential principles that underlie their approach to running, coaching, and life. So we explore with David t...

This week’s episode is a bit of a prodigal son story, because our guest today, Justin Ricks, was an accomplished young runner who walked away entirely from the sport early into his college running career — he just dropped running completely. But some years later he found himself drawn back to running, and he gave up a secure corporate job, moved his family into a camper, and started to put on race...

Ian Sharman likes to keep running fun, and is extremely good at running races in Spiderman, Santa Claus, and Elvis costumes. But Ian is also a fierce and amazingly consistent competitor, and has completed over 200 ultras and marathons. He is the only person to finish in the top 10 at Western States 100 9 times in 9 starts; he is a 4-time Leadville 100 champion (and the only person to break 17 hrs...

Brendan Leonard and I recently talked to Meghan Hicks, who is one hell of a trail runner in her own right, in addition to being the managing editor of iRunFar, a website that, among other things, produces some of the best race coverage out there — or as Meghan so eloquently puts it, they cover and capture “everything from the puke fests to the transcendental moments” that make up this sport of tra...

BLISTER reviewer & contributing editor, Maddie Hart, just won the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 Mile Run, making her the youngest person — male or female — to ever win the event. So we talked to Maddie about the race; her strategy; how she felt throughout it; what gear she used and how it performed; whether running the demanding 60k Infinite Trails race in Europe was good or bad prep for the Tahoe Rim T...

There’s a common narrative in the running world about people who are struggling in life, then they are saved by running. But what happens when you’ve been an endurance athlete for over twenty years, and you then find yourself in search of some answers? We talk to Duncan Callahan — 2-time winner of the Leadville 100 and a number of other ultras — about his story, things he’d do different, and what...

Clare Gallagher just won the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Race , and she did so in spectacular fashion. And normally, that is all the introduction we’d need here, since winning Western States is a very big deal. But there happens to be a whole lot more to this particular story.  Because right before this race, Clare accepted an invitation from Tommy Caldwell to go on an expedition to the...

Scott Jurek, one of the greatest trail runners of all time, called his attempt to break Jennifer Pharr Davis ’ FKT (Fastest Known Time) for hiking the Appalachian Trail the hardest thing he’d ever done. And yet, hiking and thru-hiking often isn’t given the credit it deserves either as a monumental test of endurance, or as a more accessible / less intimidating activity to get more people outdoors....