Running long - A trail and ultra running talk

Masters' running is usually framed as a process of decline and we rarely talk about understanding and optimizing masters runners’ potential in the same way that we do with younger runners. This episode wants to bring a constructive approach to the topic, giving some tips and ideas to better manage our training as we get older. Our guest is Eoin Everard, an Irish athlete, physiotherapist and pi...

Stian Angermund is a professional trail runner for Asics living in Norway, and the 2023 (and 2022) short trail world champion. Stian is one of the most humble, well known and respected athletes in the trail running world, and he managed to repeat himself in the last edition of the trail world championship in Innsbruck, after his gold medal in Thailand of last year. In this episode, we chat about h...

Kris Jones is a professional runner for Hoka coming from Wales. Kris placed 8th at the 2023 world trail and mountain running championships Innsbruck 2023 in the short trail distance, and thanks to his result he helped the GB team take home the gold medal with his teammates Thomas Roach and Jonathan Albon. One reason why I decided to invide Kris to the podcast was because he’s always been very open...

Marco Altini is a data scientist, computer science engineer, high performance coach and founder of HRV4TRAINING . In this episode we talk about heart rate variability or HRV. Measuring HRV is an effective way to capture our body’s response to stress and how it's responding and adapting ​to training and lifestyle stressors. In this episode, we learn what heart rate variability is, how to measur...

Steve Krenn is a trail and ultra runner from New York City and a Vert.run coach. In this episode we will try to answer the question "can I train for a mountain or trail race even though I live in a flat place? Even with limited access to the trails, you can still call yourself a trail runner and develop the specific adaptations required by running on trails. With some adaptations and creativi...

Adam Peterman makes his second appearance on this podcast after his incredible 2022, when he became the Western States Champion and the Trail Running World Champion in the long distance event, in Thailand. In this episode, we discussed how Adam’s life has changed after his incredible 2022, how he balances being a pro athlete with his other occupations, dealing with expectations and outside pressur...

Craig Thornley is the race director of Western States. Western States is the oldest 100 mile race in America and one of the ultimate endurance challenges in the world, and Craig has been race director of the race since 2013. In this episode we talk about the history of the race, how he got involved, his work as a race director, and how he and the WS board are trying to evolve and at the same time...

Leo Pershall is a Vert.run athlete and ambassador from California. Leo has an incredible story in endurance sports, and he went from being an ultra cyclist, to sailing around the world during the pandemic, to becoming a smoker and quitting any kind of physical activity, to finding the love for running again. This year, Leo was signed up to Black Canyon 100k and he felt very well prepared, but he e...

Rachel Drake is a professional trail runner sponsored by Nike from Portland, Oregon. In this episode we talk about Rachel’s experience with postpartum return to running, how she’s dealing with a bone injury that she picked up during her post pregnancy, the challenges of being a mom and training as a professional athlete. This is a great episode if you want to learn more about pregnancy and running...

In this episode of Coach Lab we talk about cross training and how to incorporate it into your preparation. As runners, we tend to focus very much on running and neglect what is a fundamental part of training.  Max and Francesco discuss the different types of cross training, their benefits and purposes, when you should you include cross training into your training periodization, and some ideas to h...

This is the story of how Vert.run came to life and what it has become today, from the voices of its founders: Moisés Jimenez , Max Keith and Kirsten Kortebein. Vert is a project born out of friendship, passion and love for the trails. From South America to the world, from an excel spreadsheet to hundreds of training plan and a smart training app, from a handful of people to thousands of beginners...

Ruth Croft is a Kiwi pro trail runner sponsored by Adidas Terrex. We’re very happy to announce another Vert.run training plan by Ruth: a specific 16 week program for OCC, a race that she has won twice, in 2018 and 2019 . Sign up today on our website or in the Vert.run app!  Ruth is coming from a great 2022 where she won Western states and placed second at Festival des Templiers. This was a very fu...

Petter Engdahl  is a Swedish trail runner for Adidas Terrex and the 2022 CCC champion. We’re very happy to announce our official partnership with Petter, who designed a specific training program for CCC. Sign up today on our website or in the Vert.run app!  Petter was the first athlete to ever go under the 10h mark for the 100km, +6150m race from Courmayur to Chamonix around Mont Blanc. In this ep...

In this episode of Coach Lab we talk about recovery and managing the time after a race. It’s a very delicate period, both physically and mentally: to make sure you recover well after completing a preparation and to lay the foundation of what is next. We talk about how the cardiovascular, muscular and hormonal systems recover, how we can maintain fitness, how long we should recover in the context o...

Parker Farabee is a physical therapist from Portland, Oregon, specialized in neurologic rehabilitation and treatment. In this episode we talk about running related injuries, the most common causes, how to deal with them and how to prevent them. We also talk about the importance of strength training both for injury prevention and for performance. What I liked about this episode is its holistic appr...

First run in 1905, The Dipsea Race is the oldest trail race in America. It is run every year on the second Sunday in June. The scenic 7.4 mile course from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach in Marin County, CA, is considered to be one of the most beautiful courses in the world. The stairs and steep trails make it a grueling and treacherous race. And its unique handicapping system has made winners of men...

Thomas Janichon is a 28 year old trail runner from France and, with Simon Gossellin, he's the co-founder of Team Sidas Matryx .  Thomas is developing an elite professional team with an approach that is quite unusual in the sport of trail running, usually based on shoe companies sponsoring athletes. His project is actually more similar to the approach of a cycling team: Team Sidas matryx is an...

Gina Lucrezi is a trail runner from Colorado, a women's right advocate and the founder of Trail Sisters , an American based organization with the mission to increase women’s participation and opportunities in trail running through inspiration, education and empowerment. In this episode we talk about how Gina started this project, how it’s grown over the years, and what impact Trail Sisters has had...

We've set our goals for the season and the strategy - or training plan - in order to achieve them. It's now time to train! How can we better handle and execute our training plan? How can se make informed decisions on whether we should take a rest day or not, whether we're running too much or too hard, what should we do if life gets in the way and we need to skip one or two sessions? What should we...

Anthony Felber is a French pro trail athlete running for Team Sidas Matryx .  Anthony is very young but he’s already established himself as one of the best trail runners in the world, especially in the short distances. In 2022, he took 9th place overall in the Golden Trail World Series, he placed 7th at Pikes Peak Ascent and 5th at Flagstaff Skypeaks, he won Eiger Ultra Trail 50k and he ran 2...

Kaytlyn Gerbin is a professional trail runner sponsored by North Face living in Washington, United States. Kaytlyn has established herself as one of the best endurance athletes in the world: she’s been on the podium of two of the most iconic and competitive ultra trail races in the world - Western States in 2017 and UTMB in 2022 - and she’s a true lover of the sport, of the mountains and the wild...

Thomas Krejci is the founder of Run2gether , an Austrian road and trail running team supported by On Running.  The motto "Run2gether" does not only refer to just running training together. The team is made up by European and Kenyan runners who want to learn from each other, support each other, achieve goals together and benefit from each other on different levels. Run2gether is more than just...

How do we go from setting our goals for the season to actually setting up a plan or a strategy in order to achieve them? This is the main topic of this episode with coach Daniel Rowland, a trail and ultramarathon runner and Vert.run coach , one of the most interesting Twitter profiles I follow and a great expert in endurance science.  We will talk about the concept of microcycle vs macrocycle...

Jim Walmsley is a professional trail runner from the United States running for Hoka.  He's one of the absolute GOATS of the sport, an athlete that should need no introduction. I’m lucky enough to be able to call Jim a friend, and I’ve shared with him some of the best racing moments of my career. In his personal quest to win UTMB, and most importantly chasing the best version of himself in the...

Greg Vollet is the creator and director of the Golden Trail World Series , a circuit that exists to celebrate and grow the sport of trail running to the highest level. Zegama, Sierre-Zinal, Mont Blanc Marathon and Pikes Peak are just some of the most iconic events that are part of this global series, races that any trail runner from all over the world dreams of running at least once in his lifetim...