Running long - A trail and ultra running talk

This is the second part of "How to plan your trail running season" with 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. After talking about how to choose your goal races or objectives, understanding your starting point and what are the key factors in planning the season, this episod...

It's easy to get excited about races and goals, but how much can we really handle until it's not sustainable anymore? How many races is it realistic to plan? What is a good way to plan the season in order to perform well, recover enough and have fun? Should every athlete have an off season? What should our periodization look like?  Just a few of the questions that we will discuss with Daniel...

2022 was a memorable year for many reasons. We wanted to close it with an in-depth review of what happened inside the sport of trail and ultra running over the past 12 months. Some topics that we covered: top performances in trail and ultra running during 2022 best/most consistent athletes of 2022 most exciting races to follow 2022 rising stars and greatest comebacks calendars: an overview of the...

Naak stands for Nutrition for Adventurous Athletes who run Kilometers, and is a Canadian based nutrition company with one main mission: build the most efficient and sustainable fuel for endurance sports, helping athletes sustain their races and adventures with a long lasting, high quality energy source.  We sat down with William Walcker, Naak's co-founder, to talk about how the company starte...

Francesco Puppi is a pro athlete for Nike, a Vert.run coach and your Running Long podcast host. In this episode I'm joined by Max Keith to talk about my 2022 season and how I went from a hospital bed to taking second at the World Trail Running Championships in Thailand, on November 5th 2022.  We discuss about training, recovery, injuries, races, mental health and everything I've gone through...

Allie McLaughlin is a pro trail and mountain runner for On Running from Colorado Springs, USA. She recently WON the uphill race at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and took 3rd in the up and down mountain race. With these two performances, Allie caps off a tremendous season that has probably been the best one so far in her athletic career. From the win at...

Like the Wind is my favorite running magazine . It's printed on paper, beautifully illustrated and incredibly well written, and it tells stories about runners, from all walks of life, gender and color, no matter how fast or slow they run. Simon Freeman is the editor and publisher of Like the Wind.  In this episode we talk about running - anytime and anywhere - and why running can be a catalys...

Thailand was the stage of the first ever unified Mountain and Trail Running World Championship (the two events used to be separate), from November 4th to the 6th. Francesco talks about his experience - and individual silver medal! - in the short trail, his feelings, the ambience, atmosphere and results from this championship.  Madeira was the perfect scenery for the Golden Trail World Series...

Ryan Thrower is a professional photographer and film maker, and the creative director and co-founder of Freetrail . Besides being an athlete, I’ve always been interested in the way we communicate our sport, because I think the way our stories are told and shared really influences its development. Stories have the power to inspire people, to give motivation, to share knowledge and information, and...

Gian Marchet Schictanz is a professional trail runner from Switzerland sponsored by Brooks. He burst on the international trail running scene after his second place at the year Lavaredo Ultra Trail, one of the most famous and competitive ultra trail races in the world. After a great battle with the winner, Hannes Namberger (listen his interview on Spotify or Apple Podcast ), he was only 10 minutes...

Anders Kjaerevik is professional trail runner from Norway sponsored by Salomon. He’s mostly famous for two things: being an “experimental mountain runner”, as he likes to call himself, and being extremely good on the downhills. Right now he’s competing at the Golden Trail Series final in Madeira (5 stages, a total of 109km and +7300m), where - of course - he’s the leader of the special downhill se...

Albert Jorquera is a journalist, author, community manager and runner specialized in trail and mountain running. He's one of the voices from the sport that is contributing to its popularity and expanding its audience. Albert travels to the world most famous trail races to tell their stories and showcase the athletes, the competition and the values that make our sport so interesting and unique. He'...

Andreu Blanes is a Spanish runner for Club de Atletismo Serrano. He really is an example of "any surface available", with world class results from the track (7:52 3000m, 8:33 3000st) to the roads (62:40 half marathon) to the trails and even off-trail (orienteering)! Andreu had the race of his life at Sierre-Zinal 2022, where he ran 2h29' at his debut in this classic alpine race. But at the time wh...

Kertu Palo is a Vert.run premium athlete from Estonia living in the United States.  Kertu has been my very first athlete that I've coached since I started collaborating with Vert. We finally had the chance to meet for the first time in person  in Flagstaff, where we both ran Flagstaff Skypeaks - she did the 50k, placing 4th, I ran the 26k which was part of the Golden Trail Series. ...

The Golden Trail Series coming to the US, the final rounds of the World Mountain Running Cup and the preparation for the 2022 World Mountain Running Championships in Thailand and the Golden Trail Series Final in Madeira. More: the 24h world record, the marathon world record, Run Rabbit Run, The Rut, VK+Trofeo Nasego, Canfranc-Canfranc, Mammoth Trail Fest, Skyrunning World Champs, Redbull Dolomiten...

Pikes Peak Ascent is a 21km race from Manitou Springs, Colorado, to the top of Pikes Peak, also known as America's Mountain. It climbs 2380m of elevation gain, from 1920m at the start to the 4300m (or 14115 ft) of the finish line. It's one of the most competitive mountain races in the US, that has traditionally had such a great importance for the history and the development of the sport, inside an...

Peter Maksimow is a lover of mountain and trail running at 360°. There aren't enough words to describe the passion and the incredible value that he has brought to the sport. Peter lives in Manitou Springs, Colorado, at the bottom of Pikes Peak. He works for the American Trail Running Association , taking pictures and writing stories to showcase the athletes hand the events, and to bring these stor...

Petter Engdahl is a Swedish trail runner sponsored by Adidas Terrex, Redbull and Maurten. He's coming off a huge win at CCC, breaking the course record and becoming the first athlete to ever go under 10h in this 101km, +6100m of elevation trail race from Courmayeur to Chamonix, around Mont Blanc. We talk about Petter's preparation, fears and expectations before the race, his strategy, nutrition, g...

It was an incredible month of races and performances by so many inspiring athletes across the world. UTMB week was a chance for the Vert.run team to finally meet and hang out together. Our founder Moisés raced UTMB and finished in under 25 hours. We had a great time meeting those of you who came to our Vert Run + Breakfast last week . Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for coming to meet us i...

Dillon Quitugua is an Hawaiian trail and ultra runner sponsored by Janji. Dillon recently ran the 100 mile perimeter of Guam, an island in Micronesia, in the Western Pacific. In doing so, Dillon wanted to change the perspective that Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders don’t do certain things outside the traditional paradigm. He wanted to empower his people and promote sport and physical fitness among...

What are the most common injuries for a trail runner, and how can we deal with them? What are the best strategies to prevent injuries? Is it true that trail runners tend to get injured more than road runners? Cross training tips: how is it possible to train for trail running without actually being able to run yet?  How can we better deal with the mental challenge of being injured and not bein...

July was a relatively "more relaxed" month in terms of racing, compared to the previous month. We saw most of the elite athletes putting in great training blocks towards their big  goals of the season, more shifted towards the end of the summer (UTMB week, Sierre-Zinal..). Nonetheless it was very exciting to follow the trail running scene and catch up with its diverse and fun community. ...

Dakota Jones is a trail and ultra runner from Colorado and an environmental activist. Coming off a third place finish at Hardrock 100m Endurance Run behind Kilian Jornet and Francois D'Haene, we sat down and chatted with him about everything that is going on in his life.  Dakota is not the average trail runner. He surely is one of the most established and successful athletes in the sport, hav...

Hannes Namberger is a professional trail and ultra runner from Germany sponsored by Dynafit. On the last weekend of June he won Lavaredo Ultra Trail , a 120km - 6000m of elevation race in the Italian Dolomites and one of the most famous and iconic ultra trail races in the world, this year part of the UTMB World Series. We talk about his race strategy, including pacing, nutrition and hydration, how...

What should we eat during a trail race? how many calories should we aim for? What are the best types of gels? caffeine or no caffeine? Are carbon plate shoes the future of trail running shoes? What's the best way to refill a camelbag?  Just a few of the many interesting questions that I discussed with Vert.run coaches Max Keith and Manu Ramirez! Enjoy this conversation and if you've learned s...