Cultra Trail Running

The second installment of CULTRA Live! from Connecticut Sports and Fitness and Art does a bang up job rallying the troops to talk about our experiences with failure, specifically our big ultra fails. What works? Who cares- this episode is all about what didn't work and maybe we learned something. We deep dive into Eliud Kipchoge's sub-2 stunt and Brigid Kosgei's dominating performance in Chicago a...

This week's CULTRA we come back at you with a repeat offender, one Mister Andy O and his dominating run down at YETI 100 two weeks ago. He obliterated his previous 100-mile PR by a good two and a half hours. That's some serious #hundo speed folks. Before that we go into Jimmy's day at the Nipmuck Marathon and preview the upcoming races this weekend: the Midstate Massive in Massachusetts and the Te...

Hey kids, have you ever wondered what it might be like to have your significant other pace and crew you for your first hundred? Buckle up, because this is that episode! We welcome the outstanding former (and/or current) ass-kicking OCR husband and wife team of Geoff and Jamie Miller into the CULTRA Studios to recount their harrowing ordeal of Geoff's first #hundo down at Yeti 100 in Virginia last...

Do you have an ego? Sure, we all do. But does your ego get you in trouble on the trails ever? I hope so, because then you're going to definitely relate to the crew tonight. Evil Becky, AFB and Jimmy Mac sit down and go deeper than they've ever gone, getting honest, vulnerable and LOOK A SQUIRREL! No seriously, it's a very special CULTRA, I know I say that every episode but damn it, it's just true....

Hey Cultra Nation! It's always a party in the belly of the beast and Jay Mitchell joins us tonight to talk about racing and training and his interesting childhood as well as taking a helicopter ride down a mountain for some fast new Strava CRs. Art had a really good week (re: insane triathlon training), Becky is back to crushing her runs (re: fully recovered from Notchview finally) and Joe is star...

What up fam? This episode gon' be LIT. #hundojoe misses his first show and we were sad but immediately got over it because LOOK A SQUIRREL! Okay first off, we got Gelato in the house. AFB, Jimmy Mac and Evil Becky recap their weeks, talk about the Tunxis Ultra results (maybe we go off on a tangent re: Ray Crothers). Congrats to all the finishers at Tunxis tho. We dive into how we choose races then...

Tonight we sit down with a repeat offender; one Lee-Stuart Evans, he of the "I Broke the FKT Site" fame. Lee explains in detail his New England Trail fastest known time (FKT for those in the back, seriously pay attention) and gives a lot of cracking advice on just how to set these records, and why after two days of hiking and running the planned crossing of the Connecticut River with a makeshift r...

Michael Byrne is an ultrarunner and he started his ultra career swinging for the fences, and he recounts it all in gory detail. Hear how he ended up on tonight's show (hint: Christina Chin-Hing may be involved. Hint to the hint: she's on the SHOW TONIGHT, oh wow my third favorite triathlete!) and what amazing things he has tried and done. We get sidetracked numerous times by Jimmy's severe ADHD an...

Show Notes: Once again, the CULTRA Crew members (aka slackers) BRoc and Jimmy Mac are M.I.A., which means all sense of normalcy is gone and we're left to our own devices.  So, what should we do?  Argue about race management and the future of ultra running?  Nah, so yesterday.  Discuss Joe's naked hiking adventures?  Well, it wouldn't be a podcast if we didn't at least mention it.  Ridicule and sha...

Hey Cultra Nation! Have we got a good one for you today, it's a very special episode with the one and only Howie Breinan sitting in with us and his story is amazing. First ultra finish before the age of 10? Check. Several breaks followed by huge comebacks? Check. Triumph over adversity? Check. This show has everything, and the term "hundo" is ubiquitous (as is epic, stout, beta, etc.), Art has an...

This show was not on Strava, yet it still happened.   After discussing FKT's and making fun of Jimi Mac and B-Roc,  Evil Becky Burke, Highlander, and AFB take a deep dive into Self Esteem and how running impacts our lives.  We also look at Ultra social media.  Does it make us better runners or just make us depressed?  Are ultra runners super heroes, or selfish boors who torture their families in p...

No guests tonight, just raw unfiltered Cultra Crew right to the dome! Hundo, B-Roc, AFB, Jimmy Mac and Evil Becky deliver one of the worst shows in recent memory. "Arguably our worst show to date" says Art Byram in disgust after the show. "Two thumbs down" says Canadian Trail Fishing Magazine. Look, if you like shows that go off topic a lot, have no point and shit audio, we are the best podcast in...

The Vermont 100 mile endurance race was Hot.   We take a look at the race through   the eyes of a fine tuned grand slammer, a 16 time grouchy veteran grinder (#RIPNIPSEYHUSTLE), a gutsy first timer, and an Evil Crew/Volunteer.   Each bring their own perspective to a very challenging day.   We discuss all of the tricks that they used on the trails on a day where more than half the field had to drop...

Andy O is a man from Earth. He runs ultras. Occasionally he wins them. He is a quality human being. He makes bread and pretzels and beer for fun. Sometimes he gives those things to people to eat and drink. More people should be like Andy O. Andy has known Brian for over two decades. They allegedly have hidden bodies together. Not because they both have Italian last names and allegedly have mob tie...

This week we did our first ever Cultra LIVE at Connecticut Sports and Fitness in Glastonbury- yes that's right a LIVE studio audience sat in to listen and ask pointed questions about pooping in the woods, how to safely add more miles to get up off the Ottoman and up to that bigger distance (like the #HUNDO), what things can go wrong during an ultra and how to overcome that, THE MENTAL SIDE OF ULTR...

Hey gang! We're back with another installment of CULTRA, this time visited by Kate Gelato, ...er Gelineau. Kate comes to us from the OCR world and talks about her first open ultra that she spent teaming up with #hundojoe for 86+ miles at Forbidden Forest. We dive a little into her psyche and background and what it takes to go the distance. Karaoke is back and it's weird AF.  Picaridin vs permethri...

Manitou's Revenge 54 mile run is one of the Nation's toughest races. Join the Cultra Crew as we talk with up and comer Tom Starodaj as he recalls the perils of this race and gives great Beta on Devils Path, in the Catskills. Oh yeah and Evil Becky named the Chicken Stacey, and Highlander hiked naked. OK so these are now pretty awkward show notes, but aren't they always? How about we meet in real l...

This is a compilation of some recent calls to our 203-DOG-GENT Cultra Karaoke Line.   Call and sing the song that is stuck in your head during your run.   Other than that, unless you want singing lessons, that's all there is in these notes…really. OK stop reading now.  Either play the episode, or go for a run or both.   Just don't read these stupid show notes because there is absolutely no reason...

Here's that Run Ragged recap we promised- we're visited by the one and only Joe Nuara, 3rd place finisher. Or 2nd to last DNF, whatever. We go deep inside Joe's brain to see what it takes to go hour after hour after hour (29 to be exact) and what the heart of a warrior looks like- Joe gives us a really important "why" to the whole experience. He talks about his 100-mile experience from a few years...

Hey Cultra Nation! Bessic and Jara are in the studio to talk about the Worlds End 100k held on June 1st in Forksville, PA; and this one does not disappoint. Brian, Becky and Stacey all had little league games / graduations / life to attend to so they were reluctantly granted excused absences to take the night off and of course we still went over two hours. Not only were we joined by the illustriou...

Mike Dolan is a bad ass; lawyer, former boxer, West Point graduate, 2:45 marathoner, now 100+ mile finisher. Then for whatever reason he decides to accept our invitation to appear on CULTRA and goes and absolutely wrecks that stellar resume. Some people never learn. In all seriousness, we sit down with both Mike and our own Stacey Clark as they talk about how they dominated the CUT112 from start t...

OH SNAP! The Crew went deep this week on that *saucy* little magazine article about how we are parasites, ooooooh. But before that Art, Stacey and #hundojoe were buzzing with nervous energy in preparation for the #CUT112, while Becky's gigantic ankle was raring to go at the Cayuga Falls 50 and Jimmy further tries to impress his peers by trying to run the Worlds End 100k. The Crew can't stay on tas...

I have no idea what this episode is about. I think Jordan is on it. Art was murmuring something about "getting this damn Skype thing to work" or some shit, I don't know. Becky and Jimmy couldn't make it because they had important family stuff to do. Anyway, Joe ran a hundo, hundo and a half (168 miles to be exact). Brian was there and no doubt had a lot of interesting shit to say, 97% of it was pr...

The Crew is at it again, this time surprising our own Stacey Clark with an in-depth interview into why she's so awesome, and why on Earth an elite ultrarunner like her slums it with us slow old dudes. The other elite female in our crew, Becky, was AWOL so Jimmy was lifted up from the Ottoman of Shame onto the Elite Loveseat, mostly just to clumsily bump the microphone like eight times. Stacey shar...

In this very special episode the Crew is joined by the winners of the very wet and muddy Spring Fling 600, Koby Nelson and Evil Becky Burke. We go over all the relevant details including how much mud there was, how muddy their feet got, what's it like running in mud? Also what's the actual composition of mud? Is it a liquid or a gel? (It's a colloidal!) as well as other science-based "stuff". We g...