Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your guide to
Speaker 1: the White Tail Woods, presented by first Light, creating proven
Speaker 1: versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind. First
Speaker 1: Light Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host, Mark Kenyon.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. This week on
Speaker 2: the show, we're going to discuss the many ways that
Speaker 2: developing a running habit can help you become a better hunter.
Speaker 2: And we're diving into all sorts of best practices and
Speaker 2: recommendations for taking your running to the next level when
Speaker 2: it comes to increased training, taking it to the trails,
Speaker 2: better nutrition, taking part in races, and a whole lot
Speaker 2: more when it comes to developing physical and mental toughness.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome, come back to the wired ton podcast,
Speaker 2: brought to you by First Light and their Camo for
Speaker 2: Conservation Initiative, which gives a portion of every sale of
Speaker 2: First Light's Whitetail Camel pattern. A portion of every sale
Speaker 2: of that stuff goes to support the National Dear Association,
Speaker 2: which is an organization that I am passionate about and
Speaker 2: interested in and excited about. And I'll tell you another
Speaker 2: thing I am passionate about, interested in, and excited about
Speaker 2: that's running and that might not be something that you
Speaker 2: would think would show up on a white tail hunting podcast,
Speaker 2: which usually Wired Hunt is, But if you've been listening
Speaker 2: the last couple of years, you know that's been something
Speaker 2: I've been diving into more myself, and you know I
Speaker 2: found with this podcast And maybe you feel differently, but
Speaker 2: I have found that when I pursue and dive more
Speaker 2: into the things that get me curious, that get me
Speaker 2: intrigued that I want to dive into a rabbit hole
Speaker 2: on when I chase those things, it usually ends up
Speaker 2: leading to better content for you guys, because if I'm
Speaker 2: not interested in it, if I'm bored with it, it's
Speaker 2: going to translate into the content. And so I am
Speaker 2: committing myself to continue to chase and explore and further,
Speaker 2: I don't know. Explore, I guess is the word I'm
Speaker 2: reaching for, and I already said it, but I'm going
Speaker 2: to continue down those paths when it comes to whitetail hunting,
Speaker 2: when it comes to hunting in general, when it comes
Speaker 2: to conservation, when it comes to ways to grow as
Speaker 2: a person or in this case, with a set of training,
Speaker 2: practices and habits that help you become a better hunter,
Speaker 2: to help you become a more effective human. I think
Speaker 2: it helps you out in a whole lot of other
Speaker 2: ways too, And that's running. That's what I found running
Speaker 2: to be for me. As you guys know, I am
Speaker 2: not the Cam Hagnes type. I'm not some super uber
Speaker 2: elite athlete. I'm not that person, right. I'm long, lanky, skinny.
Speaker 2: My friends say I look gumby, So I'm not impressing
Speaker 2: anybody with my physical prowess or my physique. But here
Speaker 2: I am on a podcast talking to you about running
Speaker 2: and why you might want to consider adding running to
Speaker 2: your regimen, why you might want to continue doubling down
Speaker 2: on your running habit if that's something you're already doing.
Speaker 2: That's the case we're gonna try to make today, and
Speaker 2: my guest is Weston. Paul Weston works for Mountain Tough,
Speaker 2: which is a gym and online digital gym, I.
Speaker 3: Guess you would call it.
Speaker 2: They've got a whole suite of video courses you can
Speaker 2: participate in, and they do a lot of really cool stuff.
Speaker 2: They get a podcast, all sorts of resources to help
Speaker 2: people train specifically for mountain hunting and mountain hunting related pursuit,
Speaker 2: mountain related pursuits, athletic pursuits, and Weston has been someone
Speaker 2: who's reached out to me and giving me some advice
Speaker 2: as I have pursued trail running in a little bit
Speaker 2: more serious of a kind of way. And so that's
Speaker 2: why he's here today, because we're going.
Speaker 3: To start at the.
Speaker 2: Beginning talking about why you might want to consider these
Speaker 2: doing these things as I just described, and then go
Speaker 2: further down the line explore, Okay, if you decide you
Speaker 2: want to run, or if you already are running, how
Speaker 2: do you do it better? How do you build a
Speaker 2: habit that actually helps you as a deer hunter, that
Speaker 2: helps you maybe train for your first out west hunt,
Speaker 2: or maybe you've been going out there chasing elk or
Speaker 2: antelop or mule there and you want to get better
Speaker 2: at it. We're going to discuss different ways to train
Speaker 2: and to run in such a way that you can
Speaker 2: get better at these things. How can you develop more
Speaker 2: not skilled, but how can you develop the set of
Speaker 2: characteristics needed to perform at elevation? How do you climb
Speaker 2: mountains better and feel more comfortable doing it? All this
Speaker 2: kind of stuff that will help you as a hunter,
Speaker 2: whether you're deer hunting here in Michigan or elk hunting
Speaker 2: in Montana. This set of practices, this training, the mental
Speaker 2: discipline required to do this stuff consistently is going to
Speaker 2: help you. So that's what we talk about, going to
Speaker 2: dive in towards the end on you know, if you
Speaker 2: really want to get into this stuff heavy the way
Speaker 2: I'm trending right now, if you want to start running races,
Speaker 2: if you want to start doing long distance stuff, we
Speaker 2: discuss training ideas, we discuss nutrition, we discuss you know,
Speaker 2: how to choose what kinds of distances are good to
Speaker 2: ramp up to, and a hole much more like that.
Speaker 2: So I enjoyed this one. It's a change of pace
Speaker 2: from what we usually discuss, but I would highly encourage
Speaker 2: you to give this one a listen and to stick
Speaker 2: with it, because you know, whether you are a diehard,
Speaker 2: you know, exercise nut, or someone who just wants to
Speaker 2: have more success than the deer woods, there's something here
Speaker 2: for you. Also, before we get into that, I want
Speaker 2: to give you a heads up on something that is
Speaker 2: exciting and coming up here soon, and that is the
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four edition of the Working for Wildlife tour.
Speaker 2: We're back a second year of the program. If you
Speaker 2: are not familiar, you got to keep hitting my microphone. Sorry, guys,
Speaker 2: if you're not familiar with this. The Working for Wildlife
Speaker 2: Tours this thing I kicked off last year in which
Speaker 2: I am traveling across the country participating in different public
Speaker 2: land volunteer habitat improvement days. And the idea here is
Speaker 2: to shine a spotlight on the fact that there are
Speaker 2: these kinds of events all across the country that you
Speaker 2: can be involved in that give you a chance to
Speaker 2: do something good for wildlife, that give you a chance
Speaker 2: to give back to the public lands that we all
Speaker 2: enjoy so much, and that gives you a chance to
Speaker 2: meet other like minded hunter and anglers, you know, get
Speaker 2: involved in this community, meet some new friends, meet some
Speaker 2: new hunter fishing buddies, and do some good work at
Speaker 2: the same time. So that's what these things are all about.
Speaker 2: We did six of them last year. They were amazing.
Speaker 2: We made real progress, We made of real impact on
Speaker 2: these landscapes and helped all sorts of critters and had
Speaker 2: a dang good time doing it. We've got three of
Speaker 2: them scheduled so far for this year, and the first
Speaker 2: one is coming up soon. The first event is May eighteenth,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, in Kentucky. The second event is June
Speaker 2: one in Pennsylvania the Alleghany National Forest, and the third
Speaker 2: event is August twenty fourth up in northern Minnesota on
Speaker 2: the edge of the Bounder Waters. The first two of
Speaker 2: these events are in collaboration with the National Deer Association.
Speaker 2: The third event is in collaboration with Sportsmen for the
Speaker 2: Boundary Waters. All three events, we're gonna be doing various
Speaker 2: types of habitat improvement work to make better habitat in
Speaker 2: the ground for white tailed deer, turkeys, birds, small mammals,
Speaker 2: all sorts of stuff like that. There's also going to
Speaker 2: be some hunter access programs, some like fence removal, a
Speaker 2: whole slew of different things that are just improving our
Speaker 2: public lands as well. So you're gonna have a great time.
Speaker 2: We're gonna do some good work. I would really like
Speaker 2: to see you there. I would love to meet you,
Speaker 2: shake your hand, hear your stories, sign a book, take
Speaker 2: some pictures, whatever it is. Hope to see you there.
Speaker 2: Mentioned May eighteenth is that first one in Kentucky at
Speaker 2: the Daniel Bloone National Forest. You can get the details
Speaker 2: and sign up. There's registration links by you know. The
Speaker 2: easiest way is maybe just google twenty twenty four working
Speaker 2: for Wildlife Tour. Oh go, or go to the mediator
Speaker 2: website that's themeateater dot com. Look for the registration article there,
Speaker 2: or search for it in the search bar. Anyway you
Speaker 2: can find working for Wildlife Tour twenty twenty four. I'll
Speaker 2: get you there, sign up, come on out. I cannot
Speaker 2: wait for I have a great time and it's just
Speaker 2: in like a couple of weeks. So that is my
Speaker 2: one plug for the day. That out of the way,
Speaker 2: I think we should get to my chat with Weston.
Speaker 2: He's a great guy, a you know, a wealth of
Speaker 2: information when it comes to running and trail running. He's
Speaker 2: a guy who's gone deep into this world doing ultra races,
Speaker 2: doing this kind of top tier level stuff, and he's
Speaker 2: a terrific communicator or about it too. So you're gonna
Speaker 2: see he's passionate about this and uh, we're all gonna
Speaker 2: benefit from it because of that. So with that out
Speaker 2: of the way and without any further ado, let's get
Speaker 2: to my chat with Weston. Paul, All right with me
Speaker 2: now on the line. I am joined by Weston.
Speaker 3: Paul. Welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, Monica.
Speaker 3: I'm excited to be here. Yeah, me too.
Speaker 2: I gotta tell you something that's kind of funny. Ever
Speaker 2: since I first saw your name pop up on Instagram
Speaker 2: or wherever it was that I first kind of digitally
Speaker 2: bumped into you, it's thrown me off because I grew
Speaker 2: up friends with a kid named Paul Weston, no way
Speaker 2: and so and so every time I see it, it takes me.
Speaker 2: It's like jarring because I'm like, is this the name, Like,
Speaker 2: what's the first name, what's the last name?
Speaker 3: Who is this guy?
Speaker 4: You?
Speaker 3: I should probably he's probably got some of my mail
Speaker 3: in the past. And I know I get called Paul
Speaker 3: Weston constantly. Yeah, any like most email interactions, people just
Speaker 3: see west and Paul and they just spond, Hey, Paul,
Speaker 3: you have a legit reason to call me Paul.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was a good guy. He was a good guy.
Speaker 2: So the name seems to follow good folks. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm glad to be speaking to the real Paul. Well
Speaker 2: the west and Paul. See I'm already struggling, but yeah,
Speaker 2: we're talking. We're talking running today and I want to
Speaker 2: publicly thank you for something that privately you did, which
Speaker 2: is reach out to me when you saw that I
Speaker 2: was kind of diving deeper into the trail running world
Speaker 2: and I just kind of reached out out of the
Speaker 2: blue offering some advice and some thoughts and stuff.
Speaker 3: So thank you for that. Really very welcome. I was like,
Speaker 3: anytime I see that somebody asking that question, what advice
Speaker 3: do you have, I'm like, oh, I've I've got advice
Speaker 3: because there's these things that runners don't talk about, or
Speaker 3: it comes up in conversation like years after you start running,
Speaker 3: so tips and tricks and I love sharing those. I
Speaker 3: geek out on it for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, like I was saying, I'm eating it all up
Speaker 2: right now, just like taking into fire holes of information
Speaker 2: as I've kind of taken this next step myself. But
Speaker 2: I'm curious, you know, to kick it off, how did
Speaker 2: this all start for you? Like, how did running become
Speaker 2: a part of your life?
Speaker 3: This this goes way back to my childhood and it
Speaker 3: probably as roots and when my sister and I would
Speaker 3: get in trouble, my parents would have us run around
Speaker 3: the house as punishment, so we had to make laps
Speaker 3: around the house. But that didn't last very long for
Speaker 3: me because I got asthma at a pretty early age,
Speaker 3: and so I got out of having to run around
Speaker 3: the house. And I had an inhaler and so all
Speaker 3: growing up, not all growing up, but definitely into my
Speaker 3: high school days. I mean I got out of running
Speaker 3: all the time because I had such bad asthma. And
Speaker 3: actually there's a President's Physical Fitness test that used to
Speaker 3: go on and I could never get the blue badge.
Speaker 3: I always got the red one. And the reason being
Speaker 3: is because I couldn't run, So I've got to watch
Speaker 3: everybody run and do their thing, but I always sat out,
Speaker 3: and running for me was something I never participated in
Speaker 3: until college. And when I went to college in Montana.
Speaker 3: I grew up in South Dakota. I went to college
Speaker 3: in Montana. It was something about the maybe the change
Speaker 3: in geography that we didn't have as much pollen in
Speaker 3: the air, or that I finally grew. So I didn't
Speaker 3: grow for a long time, and I grew out of
Speaker 3: asthma in college actually, and so I would run for
Speaker 3: dry land training. I was a ski racer, and so
Speaker 3: I would run in college for jial and training, and
Speaker 3: it was amazing because I was always the one standing
Speaker 3: on the sidelines, and my asthma went away. I didn't
Speaker 3: need an inhaler anymore. But I didn't really I didn't
Speaker 3: like gravitate towards running as something that I would want
Speaker 3: to do as a pastime. I just did it for
Speaker 3: training and it was nice to participate in it because
Speaker 3: it does give you the benefit even as a downhill racer.
Speaker 3: And then move it up to Bozeman. My wife and
Speaker 3: a group of her friends, they ran a whole bunch.
Speaker 3: They ran these ragnar races and they were just having
Speaker 3: a great time together. And I would watch that and
Speaker 3: they would train and do all those things, and they
Speaker 3: had such a fun time. That intrigued me a bit.
Speaker 3: And I also had a hunting buddy who we did
Speaker 3: a trip one time and we were walking and I
Speaker 3: just walk all day, like I just always kind of
Speaker 3: I'm just curious, so I will walk all day, probably
Speaker 3: why I'm not as successful as a hunter of a
Speaker 3: hunter as I should be. But this is a lot
Speaker 3: answer to your question. But this is how I got
Speaker 3: into running. My buddy told me at the end of
Speaker 3: that trip, he said, you should do the Bridge of
Speaker 3: Ridge run. He's like, you could, you could do the
Speaker 3: Bridge of Ridge run. And he had just observed me
Speaker 3: walking and over the course of you know, oh, probably
Speaker 3: eight maybe nine days something like that on that trip,
Speaker 3: and I just kept walking and walking and walking, and
Speaker 3: we covered a lot of ground, a lot of miles,
Speaker 3: and at the end of that he said, you should
Speaker 3: do the Bridge of Ridge run. Well, my wife's group
Speaker 3: of friends they were doing a trail race and because
Speaker 3: they were coming out of these ragnar like road races,
Speaker 3: and I mentioned that to them, they said, well, come
Speaker 3: on a trail on a training run with us. We're
Speaker 3: doing this local race that happens before the Bridge or
Speaker 3: Ridge run. So off the couch, I went on a
Speaker 3: training run with them and I ran, like, I think
Speaker 3: we did seventeen miles that day, and I'm like, we jogged.
Speaker 3: No trail running. People will call it trail running, but
Speaker 3: it's a lot of walking. It's like a it's a
Speaker 3: hidden secret and it is a lot of walking which
Speaker 3: I can do. And so I ran seventeen miles with them.
Speaker 3: I signed up for that first race. It's a thirty
Speaker 3: eight k so yeah, it's not a not a marathon,
Speaker 3: but it's a Mountain race, and I did that. I
Speaker 3: went and did the race like I did one training
Speaker 3: run and then went and did the race, and it
Speaker 3: was so incredible, the people, the people that support the race,
Speaker 3: the aid stations, the competitors, the finish line, all of it.
Speaker 3: I was hooked, like immediately, that one race just totally
Speaker 3: hooked me. And I'd also applied to be in the
Speaker 3: Bridge of Ridge run, and so following that race, that
Speaker 3: race was like the I think fourth of July and
Speaker 3: then the beginning of August, I did the Bridge of
Speaker 3: Ridge Run. So a combination of good influence around me
Speaker 3: and the running culture and the positivity that exists in it,
Speaker 3: and then my hunt and buddy just me, yeah, you
Speaker 3: should do this because of his observation of me walking
Speaker 3: so much and scarying sobody out. Man.
Speaker 2: That's so interesting though, because that's like my thing. Like
Speaker 2: the only thing I excel at physically is I can
Speaker 2: hike forever. Like all my buddies just know, like I'm
Speaker 2: a mountain go I'll just hike and hike and hike
Speaker 2: and hike, and I hike longer and faster, I don't stop.
Speaker 2: And I finally found like my one thing I was
Speaker 2: not the star of the basketball team, the football team,
Speaker 2: baseball team, anything. I was like a hustle player who'd
Speaker 2: kind of be on the he'd be in the team,
Speaker 2: but on the bench. But I finally found like a
Speaker 2: thing that seems to naturally assume me, which is just
Speaker 2: going for a long ways at the steady pace and
Speaker 2: kind of the same deal. My buddy's like, man, you
Speaker 2: could probably do these endurance races. And I always thought, God,
Speaker 2: no way, But I'm kind of realizing, like maybe it
Speaker 2: fits my personality or something, because what you're saying is
Speaker 2: so true with my experience. The I got to ask
Speaker 2: you about the bridge run, but I'll wait, yeah, because
Speaker 2: I've I've seen videos about that and been in trade
Speaker 2: and it looks incredible and I want to do it someday.
Speaker 2: But but I want to before we lose anyone who's
Speaker 2: thinking like Jays, I'm I'm just a whitetail hunter who
Speaker 2: you know, hikes in maybe a mile at the most,
Speaker 2: you know, and you know there's some like mobile deer hunters,
Speaker 2: so like the like the athletic spear end of the
Speaker 2: white tail crowd is like going to be hiking in
Speaker 2: with maybe like twenty pounds on your back and going
Speaker 2: in a mile mile and a half sneaking in Like
Speaker 2: that's a challenging white tail hunt. So it's very different
Speaker 2: than like a challenging elk hunt. But still that person
Speaker 2: might be listening to this and be curious, like, man,
Speaker 2: I know I could probably do some stuff to make
Speaker 2: that easier, to make myself more efficient at that, to
Speaker 2: be able to do that kind of stuff for ten
Speaker 2: days straight. And that kind of person might be wondering, like,
Speaker 2: why should I care about running? Why should running be
Speaker 2: a thing I add to my regiment or my routine.
Speaker 2: If you were gonna like, let's say we're at a
Speaker 2: bar and you happen to stumble into like a midwestern
Speaker 2: bar with a bunch of guys who guys are girls
Speaker 2: who like to hunt white tailed deer but are pretty
Speaker 2: serious about it, yep. And we're sitting there at the
Speaker 2: table eating burgers, drinking a beer, and you have to
Speaker 2: make the case to them, like why they should think
Speaker 2: about running a little bit more seriously or make it
Speaker 2: into a habit or something like that. What's the case
Speaker 2: you would make, like how would you try to convince
Speaker 2: someone at that table that this is a conversation they
Speaker 2: want to dive into more.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, the case I would make to them is, as
Speaker 3: a white tail hunter, the mental fortitude that it takes
Speaker 3: to be a successful whitetail hunter is the same mental
Speaker 3: fortitude that it takes to be a trail runner or
Speaker 3: a road runner. It's and they have it. That's the
Speaker 3: case that I would make. I was like, they have
Speaker 3: it because they do the sits, they put in the work,
Speaker 3: they look forward to it so much, and they're putting
Speaker 3: all that effort into it. They they want to do
Speaker 3: it for a long time. I'm guessing I would ask them,
Speaker 3: if you if you do want to do this for
Speaker 3: a long time, and so I would back up the
Speaker 3: mental fortitude and saying like you have this, you have
Speaker 3: what it takes with let's do this for a long time.
Speaker 3: And I do want to drink beers that I want
Speaker 3: to have cheeseburgers at the bar because I love that.
Speaker 3: So for my cardiovascular health, I'll do this to supplement
Speaker 3: then what I look forward to in that in that
Speaker 3: hunting season and it and for me, I know, like
Speaker 3: I'm I'm a whitetail hunter to a certain extent, like
Speaker 3: I got into it I'm my father in law, like
Speaker 3: my Western Michigan. So my father in law got me
Speaker 3: into it, and I just know the mental fortitude that
Speaker 3: it takes to do those sits and to be patient,
Speaker 3: and so I know that that's what we have in
Speaker 3: common as a runner and a white tail hunter, and
Speaker 3: not that running is for everybody, because sometimes people you
Speaker 3: might not be able to run, but you know rucking
Speaker 3: or just walking. That cardiovascular health, the benefit to that
Speaker 3: is the big thing for me. I'm like, I'm probably
Speaker 3: to a fault. I would like to do this for
Speaker 3: a long time and hopefully this is helping that. So
Speaker 3: my cardiovascular health would be what I would back it
Speaker 3: up with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so let's assume that I know nothing, because in
Speaker 2: many ways I don't. How is improving my cardiovascular health
Speaker 2: gonna help me be a more effective hunter? Like how
Speaker 2: is that going to translate into my time of field
Speaker 2: or getting to where I hunt or or anything else?
Speaker 3: As a yeah, is that kind of girl? I the
Speaker 3: cardiovascular health and being able to maintain a pace without
Speaker 3: getting worked up. When I think of that, I think
Speaker 3: of going in with all of my warm clothes on
Speaker 3: to do a morning sit, and like, how sweaty you
Speaker 3: get yeah, exactly right. People people are you know, like
Speaker 3: peeling layers off and it's cold, and if you get sweaty,
Speaker 3: guess what, you can't sit up there as long because
Speaker 3: you're stuff sweaty and you're cold. And the style of
Speaker 3: training that running is is oftentimes a low and slow training.
Speaker 3: Will you go through the zones you like, zone zone
Speaker 3: one training, Zone two training, it's when your heart rate
Speaker 3: starts going up and up, Zone three, zone four, And
Speaker 3: then we joke around about, you know, the other zones
Speaker 3: that are out there, but zones one and two, the
Speaker 3: low and slow, the walking that that really that emphasis
Speaker 3: on just a jog, are the most beneficials beneficial and
Speaker 3: those are the ones in my experience, and too, I
Speaker 3: was like, I'm not an exercise physiologist or you know,
Speaker 3: a trainer or anything like that, but those are the
Speaker 3: zones that help you keep it under control so you
Speaker 3: don't get worked up and you're not sweating. And so
Speaker 3: if you can maintain even a slow, steady pace and
Speaker 3: you're not getting you know, overly sweaty, that's a good
Speaker 3: thing as a hunter. When it comes to being able
Speaker 3: to calm down, there is the benefit also of like
Speaker 3: that maybe target panic that those sort of things, but
Speaker 3: your your heart plays into that. So the healthier your
Speaker 3: heart is, the better your shot theoretically is going to be,
Speaker 3: so that when it does spike, it comes back down
Speaker 3: that heart rate. We don't want it to spike, you know,
Speaker 3: too much and just stay there. We want it to
Speaker 3: come back down and calm down so we can execute
Speaker 3: that shot. And so that's like the buck fever thing,
Speaker 3: but running does play into that as well. So yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: that's my that's my thoughts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems like I've long known and thought that
Speaker 2: the better, like we we don't all need to be
Speaker 2: Cameron Haynes. You know, Camra is just kind of like
Speaker 2: that person who everone you know that's like a what's
Speaker 2: the word, like the archetypepirational. Yeah, but as a whitetail
Speaker 2: guy or girl, you know, we don't all need to
Speaker 2: go that far. But I've always thought, man, the better
Speaker 2: physical fitness that you can be, the fewer roadblocks you're
Speaker 2: gonna have, the fewer speed bumps you're gonna have along
Speaker 2: the route to doing the very best you could. There's
Speaker 2: so many things outside of your control as a hunter,
Speaker 2: even as a whitetail hunter. There's so many different variables
Speaker 2: that are all the way out of out of your control.
Speaker 2: Every little thing that I can tweak in my favor,
Speaker 2: everything that I do have some agency over. I've always thought, man,
Speaker 2: you should try to maximize that as much as you can,
Speaker 2: because ninety percent of it still is up to mother
Speaker 2: nature and what those critters are doing out there and
Speaker 2: random chance. And there's just so many times where physical,
Speaker 2: physical obstacles can keep you from doing the right thing.
Speaker 2: If you are hiking along and you know you really
Speaker 2: should get to that back valley at the back of
Speaker 2: the chunk of public land, but you're huffing and puffing
Speaker 2: and exhausted, you're more likely to say, Oscar, I'm just
Speaker 2: going to sit here and not know execute the plan
Speaker 2: the way you wanted to, or maybe vice versa. Like
Speaker 2: you're done hunting for the day, and the right thing
Speaker 2: to do is to take the long way around so
Speaker 2: that you avoid the evening food source where all the
Speaker 2: deer are. Now that's after dark. But after the hunt,
Speaker 2: you're tired. You had the long hike in that you
Speaker 2: know earlier that day, and you're thinking, gosh, I don't
Speaker 2: want to walk two miles to get out the back way.
Speaker 2: I'm just going to walk straight to the road. Who cares,
Speaker 2: I'll spoak a bunch of deer. But I'm too darn tired.
Speaker 2: I don't want to be that person. I want to
Speaker 2: be the person that says, I got two miles. It's
Speaker 2: the right thing to do, no big deal. I've trained
Speaker 2: for this. I'm fine. I'm gonna do the right thing.
Speaker 3: There's so many direction Yeah, like you have that choice,
Speaker 3: and if you're you know your physical state is interfering
Speaker 3: with that, you can change it. And that's like one,
Speaker 3: that's one thing you can buy, like all the gear
Speaker 3: you can buy, have all the stuff, you can do
Speaker 3: all that, but the bottom line, like your body, what
Speaker 3: you put in is what you get out, so that
Speaker 3: input you know, as a as a hunter, and and too,
Speaker 3: It's so true. It's not not for everybody. Running is
Speaker 3: not for everybody. But I'd encourage everyone always to just
Speaker 3: be active. You know, go on a walk, and yes,
Speaker 3: campaigns is running all kinds of stuff, but shoot a
Speaker 3: walk with a with a heavy pack on your backpack,
Speaker 3: you know, the equivalent weight of your tree stand and
Speaker 3: going and getting outside and the benefits of that. Plus
Speaker 3: in the Midwest, there's so much beauty. Everything's greening up,
Speaker 3: and like you're you're in the deer woods oftentimes, Like
Speaker 3: you can get out there and you can see it,
Speaker 3: and you can learn so much by running just gives
Speaker 3: you the opportunity to learn so much of Hey, if
Speaker 3: you've got a trail system, you're hunting public land, gosh,
Speaker 3: you can pick up on a lot of patterns and
Speaker 3: that sort of stuff too. Plus you get to be
Speaker 3: out in that beautiful environment. I do know, Like running
Speaker 3: in say Wisconsin or something like that, I was like,
Speaker 3: the deer flies would always get me. So my mom's
Speaker 3: cousin she has these little sticky things that she puts
Speaker 3: on the back of her hat because she runs it
Speaker 3: like every day. She's in Wisconsin and she runs every day,
Speaker 3: And so when I'd be out there visiting them, I'd
Speaker 3: get one of those little sticky patches, and those deer
Speaker 3: flies would stick to it because I've run too slow.
Speaker 3: That's amazing.
Speaker 2: Anyway, But speaking of like gear other than sticky pads
Speaker 2: for your hat, one of the nice things about choosing
Speaker 2: running as one of your main training methods is like
Speaker 2: it's so accessible. You don't need to pay for gym
Speaker 2: membership right out the gate. You don't need to buy
Speaker 2: a bunch of heavy equipment. You don't need to buy
Speaker 2: any machines. I mean, if you just want to get started,
Speaker 2: you just need a pair of shoes that are half
Speaker 2: decent and you can go anywhere. Yeah, that's so, it's
Speaker 2: just so few barriers to entry. And it seems like,
Speaker 2: you know, there's a million different ways you can go
Speaker 2: when it comes to physical training for pursuit like hunting.
Speaker 2: There's many different levels of intensity you can take it.
Speaker 2: But am I right in thinking like, at least for
Speaker 2: your standard whitetail hunter who wants to establish a better
Speaker 2: base of fitness that they're not huffing and puffing when
Speaker 2: going to the stand or when hiking in or when
Speaker 2: climbing trees or anything like that. Like, it seems like
Speaker 2: cardio stuff that running is going to help you with.
Speaker 2: That's like checkbox number one that you need to hit.
Speaker 3: Is am I right on that? Yeah? It definitely that
Speaker 3: that your ability to your your body's ability for your
Speaker 3: muscles to take in oxygen so that you can utilize
Speaker 3: that off oxygen than any sort of cardiovascular fitness run
Speaker 3: in riding a bike and elliptical like those sort of
Speaker 3: machines that just get your heart rate up, and your
Speaker 3: heart rate doesn't have to go that high. It's a
Speaker 3: conversation pace. Honestly, if you can carry on a conversation
Speaker 3: with somebody while you're doing that exercise, that's the pace
Speaker 3: that you want to go at. That is actually the
Speaker 3: one that gives you the most benefit. I'll still put
Speaker 3: a disclaimer that I'm not an exercise physiologist or anything
Speaker 3: like that, but but having a conversation and being able
Speaker 3: to maintain that effort gives you your your body's ability
Speaker 3: to increase red blood cell count so that you can
Speaker 3: take in more oxygen so that you can adequately use
Speaker 3: that oxygen then and and it's really quite easy. So
Speaker 3: running running is that like go and it's a jog
Speaker 3: and it's slow, and that's okay. There's training blocks for
Speaker 3: for us as runners when we get like really geek
Speaker 3: out on it and we want to go for it.
Speaker 3: In the endurance space, there's zone zone two training and
Speaker 3: you don't want to go above that, so you spend
Speaker 3: all of your time running low and slow because in
Speaker 3: the long run, it pays off the most and It's
Speaker 3: kind of like with everything, like doing it slow is
Speaker 3: doing it right? Doing it slow is you know, doing
Speaker 3: it fast right. Those sort of sayings. So you've heard
Speaker 3: people say it, you know, for a long time, regardless
Speaker 3: of where you are, those types of sayings. That's that's
Speaker 3: the benefit to you of that that cardiovascular training, which, yeah,
Speaker 3: a pair of shoes, a pair of shoes that doesn't
Speaker 3: you know, hurt your feet that are comfortable when you
Speaker 3: put them on, and you can go and go get
Speaker 3: out in the morning or the afternoon or the evening
Speaker 3: and just see like this beautiful creation that we get
Speaker 3: to be you know, present in. And then you get
Speaker 3: to see it outside of hunting season too, which is
Speaker 3: which is awesome. You get to watch those seasons change. Man.
Speaker 3: So true.
Speaker 2: So so if someone wants to if someone's at the
Speaker 2: beginning stages of this and they're like, hey, you know
Speaker 2: what I gotta I've ran off and on, or I
Speaker 2: used to play sports in college and I've kind of
Speaker 2: drift away. Life gets busy, work gets buy. If you've
Speaker 2: got kids, whatever it is, and you've fallen off the
Speaker 2: bandwagon a little bit, what would your advice be for
Speaker 2: someone who wants to pick this up, try to develop
Speaker 2: some kind of running routine or habit to get the
Speaker 2: kind of benefits we're talking about. What do we need
Speaker 2: to do to enjoy this kind of benefit? Do I
Speaker 2: need to run fifty miles a week? Or can I
Speaker 2: get away less? Like what's that actually look like?
Speaker 3: Yeah? No, don't run fifty miles a week. Definitely not
Speaker 3: off the couch. You would be a crazy person if
Speaker 3: you do that, and you'll have ailments or you'll find
Speaker 3: out I can do that, and then you'll go win races. Probably.
Speaker 3: But starting small is always so important. And when it
Speaker 3: comes to I'll just say, like getting up in the morning,
Speaker 3: for instance, and going for a thirty minute walk. Heck,
Speaker 3: go for a fifteen minute walk. And if you can jog,
Speaker 3: jog for fifteen minutes and come home like I my
Speaker 3: limit that I set on my phone for Instagram each
Speaker 3: day is thirty minutes, and I hit that in no time.
Speaker 3: It's too easy. I could have got a I could
Speaker 3: have got a run in, and I could have gone
Speaker 3: a few miles actually at a ten minute mile pace,
Speaker 3: and so you could go a couple miles, you could
Speaker 3: go a few miles. But just starting and creating that
Speaker 3: habit so that you look forward to, say getting up
Speaker 3: in the morning, hearing the birds chirp because it's spring
Speaker 3: and it's wonderful out and just leaving your getting out
Speaker 3: the door and turn around and coming back and then
Speaker 3: getting up the next morning and doing it again, or
Speaker 3: getting up every other morning and doing it. But it
Speaker 3: takes you know, typically what three weeks to a month
Speaker 3: to create a habit, and so for an individual to
Speaker 3: like look forward to doing that, you don't have to
Speaker 3: get on a training plan and and just go for
Speaker 3: it big and start up in your mileage. Just just
Speaker 3: look forward to it, I would say, and go set
Speaker 3: a goal for yourself and set a small goal and
Speaker 3: then get the confidence out of reaching that goal, because
Speaker 3: it doesn't matter the miles. Like you, I ran a
Speaker 3: marathon a day. Bob Campaignes would even say it nobody
Speaker 3: cares funny, but yeah, I'm like, but but really like
Speaker 3: what matters is that you're doing that for yourself and
Speaker 3: you're getting out there. And I mean, it's nice to
Speaker 3: have a buddy an accountability partner as well. So if
Speaker 3: you if you have somebody that you know would maybe
Speaker 3: hold you accountable. My wife, like, she has a coworker
Speaker 3: who's a workout buddy and they both work out at
Speaker 3: different times of the day, but her friend, her coworker
Speaker 3: texts her every morning that she does her workout and says,
Speaker 3: I did it, And the same could go for you know,
Speaker 3: if it if it's your spouse or your kid or
Speaker 3: a friend, somebody out there would help hold you accountable
Speaker 3: and then you could encourage them to go and do
Speaker 3: that as well, which is a nice way to like, Yeah,
Speaker 3: I want to I want to wake up, I want
Speaker 3: to do this. The other piece for me is I
Speaker 3: love popping in a podcast. I'm going to listen to
Speaker 3: your podcast anyway, so why don't I move while I
Speaker 3: listen to your podcast. It's a great combo, and you know,
Speaker 3: then listen to it, listen to a book, listen to
Speaker 3: another podcast that you haven't heard of, listen to music,
Speaker 3: and kind of enjoy that as well, because it is
Speaker 3: time like you're going to spend that time anyway, so
Speaker 3: just be active while you're doing it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's there's a book that I love called Atomic Habits.
Speaker 2: But James Clear, I've talked about it. You know, listeners
Speaker 2: will know I talk about a decent bit. But uh,
Speaker 2: but the things you're talking about are right in line
Speaker 2: with like his approach. You know, attach these like positive
Speaker 2: associations to the thing. So make it easy to get started,
Speaker 2: make it fun, you know, make it something that you
Speaker 2: want to continue to doing because you've got all these
Speaker 2: other positive things attached to it. And then you know,
Speaker 2: after a month, all of a sudden, you've done it
Speaker 2: for a month now and it's been fun, and then
Speaker 2: the thing itself, you all all of a sudden start realising, hey,
Speaker 2: I'm enjoying this for the sake of it. And then
Speaker 2: it continues and it's a perpetual cycle, and it does
Speaker 2: seem you know, like anything anything fitness related, and I
Speaker 2: think running included, it comes down to consistency, right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: Like a couple of big runs is great, but a
Speaker 2: lot of medium or short runs over a long period
Speaker 2: of time, that's where you start seeing gains and improvement
Speaker 2: is when that's becomes a consistent thing that you can
Speaker 2: keep doing and keep doing, and then improvement start racking up.
Speaker 3: Yeah big time. And then you watch those and you
Speaker 3: do you truly look forward to once that's a habit,
Speaker 3: It's it's something that you look forward to doing that
Speaker 3: you don't want to miss out on And I'll say
Speaker 3: with running, a lot of us we're we're out west,
Speaker 3: we're Montana and Midwest. We have our seasons and so
Speaker 3: it's not like you got to run through the winter,
Speaker 3: like enjoy your enjoy your winter and when spring comes
Speaker 3: around and like go and run, because too much of
Speaker 3: one thing is always like it's always gonna bite you.
Speaker 3: Too much of one thing of just running all the time,
Speaker 3: I mean, it comes around more and like I'm so
Speaker 3: obsessive about this that other parts of my life are
Speaker 3: falling apart. So the running is a problem. But but
Speaker 3: but you don't have to you don't have to run
Speaker 3: year round. Like it's something that you can pick up,
Speaker 3: you can turn into training for a hunting season. I
Speaker 3: was like, there's a lot of people now that are
Speaker 3: they're getting ready for the Turkey Woods, and they're and
Speaker 3: they're getting into a fitness routine to get ready for
Speaker 3: turkey season, which who would have thought like somebody would
Speaker 3: actually do that, But they know because they're on their
Speaker 3: feet a bit more, they're walking, they're covering ground, and
Speaker 3: and they want to be able to, you know, not
Speaker 3: be overly sweaty. They want to be able to execute
Speaker 3: a shot as well. And so we see that in
Speaker 3: the in the turkey hunter population that there are actually
Speaker 3: people out that are going, hey, I want to lose
Speaker 3: some weight because I don't want to be lugging this around.
Speaker 3: And I love hunting turkeys, which is amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so when it comes to like making it fun, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, fun enough that you keep wanting to do
Speaker 2: it that you start seeing these things. I've ran on
Speaker 2: the road for I don't know, at least a decade,
Speaker 2: fifteen years, you know, out of college. I was kind
Speaker 2: of a bum for the first five years of full
Speaker 2: time work, just like I was very focused on work
Speaker 2: and just did not I guess I take that back.
Speaker 2: I guess I've been running ever since college, just just
Speaker 2: off and on. I'll have periods where I'm doing it
Speaker 2: and I know I need to do it, and then
Speaker 2: I kind of fall off the bandwagon. Then I get
Speaker 2: back on it, and it's been off and on, and
Speaker 2: I think it's always been one of those things that
Speaker 2: for me was like it felt like an obligation, like
Speaker 2: I knew I should do it. I felt good after
Speaker 2: I did it, but that the actual on the ground
Speaker 2: time I wasn't always enjoying until I started leaving the
Speaker 2: road and going to trails. And since I kind of somehow,
Speaker 2: I don't know how this surprises me because I love hiking.
Speaker 2: That's been like one of my favorite things to do
Speaker 2: is go hike. So for some reason, I'm so dumb
Speaker 2: that I didn't realize that going a little bit faster
Speaker 2: on a trail would also be fun. So since I
Speaker 2: moved my running from the road to the trail, my
Speaker 2: excitement about it and like my my actual enjoyment in
Speaker 2: the moment has gone up by like ten x, just
Speaker 2: because I'm not worried about cars. I'm not worried about
Speaker 2: you know, just staring at the road or houses, I
Speaker 2: can actually immerse myself in nature and you're taking in
Speaker 2: the trees and the scenes and the ups and downs,
Speaker 2: and you're crossing streams and you're smelling everything around you.
Speaker 2: I'm seeing deer and turkeys, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: it's you know, as you mentioned, it's like it is
Speaker 2: a natural world immersion kind of thing and a physical
Speaker 2: benefit that you're enjoying all at the same time. So
Speaker 2: for people that are taking that jump shifting from like
Speaker 2: road running or running at the track or running on
Speaker 2: the treadmill, and now they want to take it to
Speaker 2: the trails and they're maybe you know, hillier, more elevation,
Speaker 2: single track stuff, mixed terrain. You know, this year was
Speaker 2: when I finally got more serious about that side of things,
Speaker 2: and so I've been trying to like, you know, one
Speaker 2: of the first things I started thinking about when I
Speaker 2: realized I was going to be doing more of this
Speaker 2: was like, am I gonna blow out my ankles?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: Am I gonna be tripping and falling all the time?
Speaker 2: Like there's all these little things that never thought about
Speaker 2: when running that all of a sudden, I am What
Speaker 2: are what, in your opinion, are the most important things
Speaker 2: that a new trail runner needs to be thinking about.
Speaker 2: That's that's different than just taking a jog around the neighborhood.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. Road running is its own version of difficult
Speaker 3: because of the beating that your body takes running on pavement.
Speaker 3: So shoes are like a big help there, just a
Speaker 3: good pair of shoes on on the roads. But when
Speaker 3: you switch over to trails, you are working on uneven terrain,
Speaker 3: so your shoes are important there as well. More grip
Speaker 3: so you get a trail running shoe, something that's comfortable,
Speaker 3: but there isn't like a lot of ankle support in
Speaker 3: those shoes. They're a pair of running shoes, so don't
Speaker 3: expect them to be a pair of hunting boots. But
Speaker 3: even a pair of hunting boots, you don't want to
Speaker 3: have weak ankles. So trail running in that consistency is
Speaker 3: going to naturally strengthen your joints. It's going to strengthen
Speaker 3: your ankles. Over time, you're going to get stronger. That's
Speaker 3: why starting small is so important, because you want to
Speaker 3: give yourself a base. You want to give yourself a foundation,
Speaker 3: and you want to build on that. And a strength
Speaker 3: regiment for a trail runner is really crucial along with
Speaker 3: mobility because those those sort of ailments will manifest themselves.
Speaker 3: My case in point is that trail run that I did,
Speaker 3: that very first one that I ever signed up for.
Speaker 3: I really couldn't walk after that, Like I was so
Speaker 3: stoved up, and I learned about these things that we
Speaker 3: have and our bodies called our it bands ilio tibial band. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that runs like it's very very long. It runs from
Speaker 3: like your back all the way down to your ankles
Speaker 3: and I have excruciating pain after that, so it's it's
Speaker 3: like too much, too fast. And then I learned all
Speaker 3: about how important stretching was and how you can combat
Speaker 3: these things by stretching. And then that strength portion is
Speaker 3: your durability. So your muscles, they're they're here to protect
Speaker 3: your joints, and so if you have strong muscles, then
Speaker 3: they are going to do their job in protecting your joints.
Speaker 3: And that's really really valuable as a trail runner too.
Speaker 3: So and it doesn't have to be a crazy you
Speaker 3: don't have to buy a whole bunch of equipment all
Speaker 3: that sort of stuff to have a strength regiment. You know,
Speaker 3: Lunges are awesome, Squat jumps are fantastic. Anybody can do core,
Speaker 3: so we can do planks instead of set any time,
Speaker 3: like we're just going back to high school days of
Speaker 3: you know what we're doing. We're running and that's simple.
Speaker 3: Those simple fundamentals really do work quite well. And if
Speaker 3: you do have a backpack, putting weight on your back
Speaker 3: is really beneficial as well. You're not going to want
Speaker 3: to run a long distance with that weight in your pack,
Speaker 3: certainly if you're starting out, but it does help condition
Speaker 3: your body and get it ready for and adapt to
Speaker 3: those trail conditions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well you didn't do it yourself, so I'll do
Speaker 2: it for you. I gotta plug what you guys have
Speaker 2: got over at Mountain Tough, because you know, I was
Speaker 2: able to use the I think it was the Mountain
Speaker 2: Foundations course over the last couple of months leading into
Speaker 2: this most recent race I just did.
Speaker 3: And you know it's it was.
Speaker 2: I'm not I'm not a guy that loves the gym.
Speaker 2: I like being outside doing stuff, and so I've never
Speaker 2: been a person that's like all about the machines and stuff.
Speaker 2: So body weight has been usually the thing that I
Speaker 2: found like fit me most and and your body Weight
Speaker 2: Foundation's course has been really good.
Speaker 3: Like I've enjoyed it.
Speaker 2: I felt, you know, it helps out there, the mobility,
Speaker 2: the core stuff. You know, I just did this. I
Speaker 2: did a half marathon trail race last weekend and just
Speaker 2: felt like a breeze, even compared to the last couple
Speaker 2: I did in which I thought I trained a lot,
Speaker 2: just a different level. And I don't know all the
Speaker 2: things I can attribute that to, but I have to
Speaker 2: believe that becoming more well rounded has helped with that
Speaker 2: and and yeah, so so highly recommend that that's it.
Speaker 3: It's super cool. It's and just that you notice that
Speaker 3: there's a difference. And yes, it's more trail time. Ultimately
Speaker 3: you're spending more time on the trail, so you're going
Speaker 3: to feel better. But the strength component in how you recover,
Speaker 3: that's really big for me. Like I know when as
Speaker 3: I was running and my body was starting to break down,
Speaker 3: because that does happen with runners. Now most coaches will
Speaker 3: recommend a strength routine. They want they want their runners
Speaker 3: to do some sort of strength, not just run all
Speaker 3: the time. So that image that you have in your
Speaker 3: mind of somebody that's rail thin and and really fast, like, yes,
Speaker 3: those people are out there, but you're even seeing that
Speaker 3: change too because because the strength programs that are out
Speaker 3: there are getting better and better, and so for like
Speaker 3: a body weight foundation program, it's really simple. It doesn't
Speaker 3: require any gear. It's just different movements that you do
Speaker 3: on a cadence and you've created that habit, so you
Speaker 3: roll it into your train, you roll it into your running,
Speaker 3: and then you walk away from that race going gosh,
Speaker 3: I'm not so devastated. It was really fun. Bottom line,
Speaker 3: it was really fun. And I'm going to look forward
Speaker 3: to the next one, and I know that this is
Speaker 3: gonna manifest itself in other areas positively for me. Yeah, man,
Speaker 3: it is a.
Speaker 2: It's, for lack of a better term, just a really
Speaker 2: good feeling when you're out doing an event like that.
Speaker 2: And like I said, I've never been.
Speaker 3: An elite athlete.
Speaker 2: I'm not an elite athlete, but I'm going by so
Speaker 2: many people that seem like they're miserable and struggling, and
Speaker 2: I'm just feeling great and just going along the whole thing.
Speaker 2: I just kept thinking to myself, like, man, like this
Speaker 2: is why you trained like this, feeling right here, Like
Speaker 2: ninety five percent of everyone you're going by just seems
Speaker 2: like they're in hell, and I am enjoying myself flying
Speaker 2: up the hills like struggling. I'm just going at my easy,
Speaker 2: good pace and kind of crushing it. And and I'm not,
Speaker 2: like I'm not the guy that crushes sports usually, but
Speaker 2: this like like I can now I can do that.
Speaker 2: And that was like very encouraging to see, like you
Speaker 2: put in the work, it pays.
Speaker 3: Off, yeah, big time. And and yeah, that is that
Speaker 3: is a testament to what you're doing. And how curious
Speaker 3: you are about it as well. But I like the
Speaker 3: big thing for you as you're going through this and
Speaker 3: anyone else is like, these are enjoyable experiences that you
Speaker 3: wouldn't do otherwise. They just happen to have the benefit
Speaker 3: in the in the hunting realm too. So I always
Speaker 3: have that in the back of my mind. It's like,
Speaker 3: as I go into this, uh, yes, maybe I won't
Speaker 3: have as much at a post tissue on my body
Speaker 3: when I go into winter, so I'm gonna be a
Speaker 3: little bit more cold. But but you could even do something.
Speaker 3: You could do something for that. You could enjoy the
Speaker 3: running seat and then be okay with consuming maybe some
Speaker 3: of those fats and having a little bit of insulation.
Speaker 3: One of my good running buddies always said that as
Speaker 3: we're going into winter, he's like bears hibernate and we
Speaker 3: are mammals, And he would just remind me of that,
Speaker 3: because sometimes runners can get really obsessive about these crazy things,
Speaker 3: and that's when it's too much. That's when it's taking
Speaker 3: over your life and it's destructive. But by and large,
Speaker 3: we're made to move and moving through the terrain, our
Speaker 3: local topography, regardless of where you are. It's really cool.
Speaker 3: Whenever I go to a city, I love to go
Speaker 3: try to take a run and check out that city,
Speaker 3: you know, early in the morning. Something that is I'm
Speaker 3: way out of my element, right, Like I love running
Speaker 3: on trails, but to go and see that wherever you
Speaker 3: are its own sort of beautiful for sure. And I
Speaker 3: just know the Midwest and the trails systems that are
Speaker 3: out there. I met a long time ago. I met
Speaker 3: some guys from They were outside d C in Virginia
Speaker 3: and they were trail runners, and I've talked to them
Speaker 3: enough that I was like, I have to go see
Speaker 3: your guys' country. They're like, come and do a trail race.
Speaker 3: And so I found one. You know, just look look
Speaker 3: up online. There's trail races all over the place. And
Speaker 3: I and I went and did one outside of d C.
Speaker 3: And it ran across, you know, along the Potomac, and
Speaker 3: there's all the history and everything there, and I just
Speaker 3: I would never see this otherwise, and I would never
Speaker 3: see this this quickly. Granted I'm not moving fast because
Speaker 3: I'm not an elite athlete whatsoever. I just enjoy being
Speaker 3: out there and you know, high fiving people, seeing seeing
Speaker 3: the different culture that exists in the running community because
Speaker 3: it's so positive, like it's it's you're inundated with positivity,
Speaker 3: and there's few places in this world where you get
Speaker 3: that much positivity that quickly. True.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, And you know it's funny we're bringing we're
Speaker 2: talking races now, and races kind of for me began
Speaker 2: as a thing to maintain my habit, like to maintain
Speaker 2: the practice. So like I originally sign up for my
Speaker 2: first race because you know, as I alluded at the beginning,
Speaker 2: like I've been running off and on forever, but I
Speaker 2: never stuck with it consistently. I'd always kind of fall
Speaker 2: off in the fall, and then that we continue through
Speaker 2: the winter, and then like spring would come around and
Speaker 2: I pick it up a little bit, but then I
Speaker 2: go on you know, vacation, and then it's just like that,
Speaker 2: and I finally realized, like I need a stick, like
Speaker 2: I need you know, the carrot and the stick method, right,
Speaker 2: I need a stick like hanging over me in the
Speaker 2: future that's going to be looming and if I don't run,
Speaker 2: if I do not train, I'm going to have my
Speaker 2: tail whooped by this race in six months or something.
Speaker 2: So That's why I originally signed up for my first race,
Speaker 2: was just to have that incentive, to have that thing
Speaker 2: coming down the line that's going to keep me honest,
Speaker 2: it's going to keep me going. And then I did it,
Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden, like it's slowly molded
Speaker 2: into something that I'm not just doing because it's going
Speaker 2: to force me to train, but now it's becoming something
Speaker 2: I'm actually enjoying. But there's a there's a lot of
Speaker 2: people that I think are having that same discovery now,
Speaker 2: Like this is a very unscientific method of analysis, but
Speaker 2: of like all the things that I post about on
Speaker 2: social media, my audience is like hunting and fishing and conservation,
Speaker 2: Like that's the kind of stuff I usually write about
Speaker 2: or post about. But when I throw on running stuff now,
Speaker 2: I probably have more engagement in questions and interest about
Speaker 2: running than I do about any of those things.
Speaker 3: Like it blows up.
Speaker 2: So there's a lot of latent interest within the outdoor
Speaker 2: community about getting into this stuff, and I'm seeing more
Speaker 2: and more people signing up for trail runs, signing it
Speaker 2: for ultra runs, marathons, half marathons, like lots and lots
Speaker 2: of people I think are kind of discovering this now.
Speaker 2: And I don't know what that's about exactly, but it
Speaker 2: definitely seems like there is a growing movement of people
Speaker 2: realizing like, man, this is a thing that's worth my time.
Speaker 3: Are you are you seeing that?
Speaker 2: Is that just my am I just noticing it because
Speaker 2: I'm getting into it myself or is there that kind
Speaker 2: of thing going on at a.
Speaker 3: Large Definitely, No, we definitely notice it at Mountain Tough.
Speaker 3: It's incredible when people do start creating a habit and changing,
Speaker 3: you know, their fitness routine and getting into something. For us,
Speaker 3: we really see a lot of them start Mountain Tough
Speaker 3: and then naturally they get to a point where they're
Speaker 3: they're like, I'm I want to sign up for a
Speaker 3: trail race? Can you help? Can you help me with
Speaker 3: the plan? And and we don't have any like running
Speaker 3: specific plans, but we we do have great programs to
Speaker 3: help with the strength piece. And then there's running incorporated
Speaker 3: into them. And I tell everybody, I'm like, go sign
Speaker 3: up for it. You can, you can absolutely do this,
Speaker 3: So there's more interest there. It is a it is
Speaker 3: a timing thing, you know, count hunting, and it's all
Speaker 3: of its popularity and having that date or deadline out
Speaker 3: there of hunting seasons coming whatever, whatever season you're looking
Speaker 3: forward to, like it's all like you're always preparing for it,
Speaker 3: and so us as individuals as hunters, I think that
Speaker 3: putting something on the agenda and having something else to
Speaker 3: look forward to and that that way, shape or form
Speaker 3: and fitness is just ti tying into that now. So
Speaker 3: that's I think a lot of it is You're right,
Speaker 3: you need that carrot dangled in front of you. Hunting
Speaker 3: season is always that, but it comes around once a year, right,
Speaker 3: so it takes a long time to get to it.
Speaker 3: So having another one of those milestones is really valuable.
Speaker 3: And I think the accessibility, like regardless of where you are,
Speaker 3: there's races going on, there's local races, and so it's
Speaker 3: not the yeah, the running is going to beat you
Speaker 3: up and ruin your joints and all that is like
Speaker 3: there's data out there to prove otherwise for sure. And
Speaker 3: the longevity piece I think plays into us as hunters
Speaker 3: when we look at conservation and what we're doing. I
Speaker 3: just always go back to want to be able to
Speaker 3: do this for as long as possible. I want to
Speaker 3: be able to enjoy this with my family and my friends,
Speaker 3: and I want to be able to set this say
Speaker 3: it's the public lands and the opportunity that we have
Speaker 3: out there. I'm like, let's just do this for a
Speaker 3: longer period of time. So running in cardiovascular health hopefully
Speaker 3: like things happen. Certainly I could keel over tomorrow from
Speaker 3: a heart attack, but I'm going to do my part
Speaker 3: not too so that I can continue to do what
Speaker 3: I love for as long as possible. And I don't
Speaker 3: care to live forever, but I just I always admire
Speaker 3: those individuals that are older and that are still really
Speaker 3: really active, and oftentimes they tend to be those ones.
Speaker 3: I met a guy at a tactical officers deal that
Speaker 3: I was at here a couple of days ago up
Speaker 3: in Helena, and his name was Ron and he was
Speaker 3: seventy two and he worked on Fort Harrison and he was, yeah,
Speaker 3: just a really one of those cool guys. It's his
Speaker 3: retirement gig and whatnot. And he's like, oh, yeah, I
Speaker 3: don't I don't need a fitness app. I was like, yeah,
Speaker 3: doesn't look like doesn't look like you do, and he's like, no,
Speaker 3: I walk. I walk every day. I'm like, really, how
Speaker 3: much do you walk every day? He's like six to
Speaker 3: ten miles every day. I just I went, holy smokes man,
Speaker 3: that's the stuff I geek out on because those type
Speaker 3: of individuals. And then he proceeded to show me. He
Speaker 3: was like, yeah, I track it all and I do
Speaker 3: do all these things, and I'm like, that's so cool.
Speaker 3: So in my heart I like that. I know that
Speaker 3: there's a Midwest guy out there. It's like a traditional
Speaker 3: bowhunter that's running these races that nobody knows about, and
Speaker 3: I'm like, that's the guy that I want to meet.
Speaker 3: I want to I want to meet. I want to
Speaker 3: hear stories from that individual because I know that they're
Speaker 3: out there and they're out out West and they're in
Speaker 3: our trail running community and stuff too. So there there
Speaker 3: are those individuals. But when it comes to whitetail hunting,
Speaker 3: I was like, I know it'd be cool, it'd be
Speaker 3: cool interview for me to do. I was like, I
Speaker 3: want to find that. So maybe there's somebody out there.
Speaker 3: Your listeners will definitely know somebody that's out there that's
Speaker 3: doing doing trail races and is hunting well into their
Speaker 3: seventies and eighties I'm sure that there are.
Speaker 2: Well, it's it's it was so funny, Like even at
Speaker 2: that race I was at last weekend, I had four
Speaker 2: or five different people come up to me that that
Speaker 2: recognized me from my work, like just in like a
Speaker 2: very short little window when I got to the finish line.
Speaker 2: So like that is like a very small sample size
Speaker 2: of telling you how many of our kind of people
Speaker 2: are doing this stuff already.
Speaker 3: To have that many folks is telling So it's so cool.
Speaker 3: So so on this.
Speaker 2: Race thing, you know, I have loved it. I'm getting
Speaker 2: more and more into it as we talked about. One
Speaker 2: of the things I've thought about is like what's the
Speaker 2: progression of distance? Like I'm the type who when I
Speaker 2: get into something, I go hard and I go deep.
Speaker 2: And I've already been reading and thinking about like one
Speaker 2: hundred mile races and that kind of crazy stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but what's like, what is like a safe or responsible
Speaker 2: or smart progression of distance. So I've done half marathon
Speaker 2: so far, I've signed up for a thirty I'm doing
Speaker 2: a thirty k this summer. But then I'm thinking, okay,
Speaker 2: so I did a thirty k like serious trail run
Speaker 2: this summer. The way these races are broken. It's not
Speaker 2: like you can do a thirty k and then you
Speaker 2: can do a thirty four K and then you can
Speaker 2: do a.
Speaker 3: Thirty eight k.
Speaker 2: It's like thirty K or fifty K or do you
Speaker 2: want to go fifty miles or one hundred miles? There's
Speaker 2: the big jumps. So how like what should I be
Speaker 2: thinking on that?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 2: Could I do a fifty k next year? Is that insane?
Speaker 2: Should I do thirty k's for a couple of years?
Speaker 2: Should I go from a thirty to a full marathon?
Speaker 3: Like? How do you think about that kind of thing?
Speaker 3: We trail run? Is it? It's its own unique beast
Speaker 3: And like a marathon, a marathon is its own beast too,
Speaker 3: because you're running all out that fast or ting to
Speaker 3: run that fast on pavement for twenty six miles, right,
Speaker 3: So it's its own form of difficult trail races and
Speaker 3: the distance. This is one of those things for me,
Speaker 3: and I'll speak from my experience. And then two like,
Speaker 3: my experience is based on my community and people that
Speaker 3: are around me, and I asked them these questions. I
Speaker 3: have asked them these questions for forever. So when it
Speaker 3: comes to a thirty k. Typically you're going to run
Speaker 3: a thirty k a little bit faster, like you're gonna
Speaker 3: push yourself in a thirty k because subconsciously you know
Speaker 3: that it's not that far. So if you can come
Speaker 3: to terms of running a thirty k, then naturally you're
Speaker 3: starting to look at other races out there, and you can.
Speaker 3: It's not crazy to want to run a fifty k
Speaker 3: because that's the next one, and you're right like, that's
Speaker 3: like the next offering that's out there. A fifty k.
Speaker 3: You're not going to run all out as fast as
Speaker 3: you run in a thirty k. You're going to pace
Speaker 3: yourself like that's the beauty of training. And that's where
Speaker 3: I'll go back to, like right away pitching this to
Speaker 3: some guys that are drinking beers and having burgers in
Speaker 3: the bar. It's like, you have that mental fortitude, I know,
Speaker 3: because you're a hunter, Like I know you have it,
Speaker 3: and if you want to, you could go do a
Speaker 3: fifty k guaranteed. And a fifty k is a fun
Speaker 3: distance because it is a little bit further and you
Speaker 3: get a little bit more time to experience everything out there.
Speaker 3: Your body will go through a few other things that
Speaker 3: you wouldn't go through in a thirty k because now
Speaker 3: we're talking calories, we're talking the nutrition that you need,
Speaker 3: the more of the hydration, so you can't wing it
Speaker 3: necessarily in a fifty k. From there, then we go
Speaker 3: up to a fifty miler, which is a little different
Speaker 3: training style, and then you'll see a hundred ks. So
Speaker 3: the hundred k distance is really fun because your average
Speaker 3: pace is about the time you're going to finish in
Speaker 3: because it's essentially sixty miles, so it's it's this funny
Speaker 3: race that you just keep an eye on your average
Speaker 3: pace and that's how long it's going to take you
Speaker 3: to finish, which is incredibly eye opening as a hunter
Speaker 3: of how much time it takes to get from one
Speaker 3: point A to point B while you're so locking. Can
Speaker 3: you explain that?
Speaker 2: So you're saying that if your average pace is like
Speaker 2: twenty minutes a mile, you're going to finish in twenty hours?
Speaker 3: Is that right? Twenty hours? Yeah? Essentially, I'm like the
Speaker 3: hundred k for me was I was just like, I
Speaker 3: can't believe this. And then the further you get in
Speaker 3: the race, the slower you're going, and the like the
Speaker 3: sooner you want to finish, but it just doesn't happen
Speaker 3: because your average is your average. The math doesn't lie
Speaker 3: when it comes down to it. And then you go
Speaker 3: up from there and there's crazy people are going so
Speaker 3: many crazy distances. But we can and and if you're
Speaker 3: inclined to do it, you you should, you should experience it.
Speaker 3: I will put that with the caveat don't let it
Speaker 3: take over your life. Don't let it, you know, like
Speaker 3: take away so much from your time with your family
Speaker 3: and all that kind of stuff, because that's not worth it.
Speaker 3: But if you do want, if you do want to
Speaker 3: go for it, I was like, we are totally capable.
Speaker 3: I The crazy thing for me as a as a
Speaker 3: Western hunter is when I realize that it alk needs
Speaker 3: to lay down in rifle season and al needs to
Speaker 3: lay down and recover. Should you bump one, you can
Speaker 3: just walk and you'll catch up to them. Like it's
Speaker 3: it'll take you a little while, and it's gonna be
Speaker 3: through some steep, nasty terrain, but you will catch up
Speaker 3: to them because they have to recover. In us, as humans,
Speaker 3: we don't we are able to continue walking and walking
Speaker 3: and recovering while we're doing that. So we don't have
Speaker 3: to like sit down and rest necessarily. Now for cardio
Speaker 3: vascular health, isn't that great, We do have to sit
Speaker 3: down and rest, But us as a as a hunter,
Speaker 3: I was like, that's an eye opening thing. White tails
Speaker 3: are totally different. I'm not saying you're gonna walk down
Speaker 3: a white tail because you do not want to do that.
Speaker 3: They'll be they'll be gone, they're they're you know, that's
Speaker 3: the beauty of white tail hunting. But just knowing that
Speaker 3: even on that topic, you can blood trail one for
Speaker 3: as long as you need to blood trail at four yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'm not giving up.
Speaker 2: So and actually, you know there are guys out specifically
Speaker 2: the Northeast. They'll track them in the snow, they'll walk
Speaker 2: them down in the snow out there. So it is
Speaker 2: a thing in certain regions. Yes, so yes, this would
Speaker 2: be very good for that.
Speaker 3: And they drag them out too. Yeah, that's like the tradition,
Speaker 3: drag them out. Yeah, it's a heck of an endeavor.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: So, so you mentioned something that has been one of
Speaker 2: my struggles, which was, you know, time away from family, right,
Speaker 2: Like I've I've I'm already gone a lot for work,
Speaker 2: and I'm unique compared to some people and that, like
Speaker 2: I travel a lot for work, but I'm already going
Speaker 2: to be gone, you know, six seven, eight weeks a
Speaker 2: year traveling for work, and then you know, just daily
Speaker 2: work seems to take a lot. And then I've got
Speaker 2: other hobbies too, Like I'm really into fishing and I've
Speaker 2: got all that kind of stuff. So I've always felt
Speaker 2: like I felt bad adding another time suck into the world.
Speaker 2: And so when I was training for like doing these
Speaker 2: first races, I was doing it early in the morning
Speaker 2: and still would feel like, you know, on the weekends,
Speaker 2: I got to do like a you know, two hours
Speaker 2: or so away to do a run, and that was
Speaker 2: sucking into a Saturday or Sunday morning with a family.
Speaker 2: And when I was thinking about jumping from half marathon
Speaker 2: to marathon, one of the first things I thought about
Speaker 2: was like, gosh, how much more training time will that be?
Speaker 3: Do I need to be you know?
Speaker 2: Does that mean every Sunday I'm gone five hours or
Speaker 2: something or four hours? Do I really want to do
Speaker 2: that and be gone longer? What kind of advice do
Speaker 2: you have for someone who's in a similar situation in
Speaker 2: which they want to do something longer. They want to
Speaker 2: do a marathon or thirty k or fifty k or
Speaker 2: one hunter miler or whatever the thing is, but they're
Speaker 2: trying to figure out, like, how do I balance this
Speaker 2: with family and other obligations. Do I need to run
Speaker 2: for four hours every single day? Or is it not
Speaker 2: that much.
Speaker 3: I'll speak from my experience here as well, because as
Speaker 3: I really fell in love with running and then went
Speaker 3: over the top on signing up for all the races
Speaker 3: I had just started off on my wife, we had
Speaker 3: our first kid, and there was a period of time
Speaker 3: in there which was awesome. Once he was sleeping through
Speaker 3: the night and I could go and run and it
Speaker 3: was just my time, Like I got I got out,
Speaker 3: I did that, I was able to come back, and
Speaker 3: then we had a second and then I was quite
Speaker 3: obsessive about the time on my feet. But it was
Speaker 3: really really cute. I'd just get up earlier and i'd
Speaker 3: get back home on say a Saturday morning, they'd be
Speaker 3: waking up, make pancakes, do all that stuff, and they'd say,
Speaker 3: you know, dad, daddy, how was your run? And I
Speaker 3: just love that because I know that that's making an
Speaker 3: impact on them and they're seeing that. Now I wasn't
Speaker 3: gone all day long, but I was making it back
Speaker 3: in time, and that's a period of time for my
Speaker 3: life that I was like, it was really evident to
Speaker 3: me that I was making a memory for them that
Speaker 3: was impactful and it was active, it was fitness focused.
Speaker 3: But they would ask me about how my run was,
Speaker 3: and then they would go to these races and my
Speaker 3: wife would be at the finish line with the boys
Speaker 3: and they just get to cheer me on and next
Speaker 3: thing you know, they'd come up the trail and they'd
Speaker 3: run to the finish line with me. And those sort
Speaker 3: of memories are are so impactful for both of my boys,
Speaker 3: me and my wife as well of just setting that
Speaker 3: example of you can go and do these hard things
Speaker 3: I did them. I was the example. I'm at this
Speaker 3: point in life where I'm older and I'm finding that
Speaker 3: I love this. So you're you're just along for the ride.
Speaker 3: But they just would geek out on it and it
Speaker 3: would just you know, for me as a dad, that's
Speaker 3: the most special thing. And what a carrot in front
Speaker 3: of you When your kids are there and they're watching you,
Speaker 3: you know they're they're seeing all of that. So that
Speaker 3: comes back to now that my kids are runners or anything,
Speaker 3: but they don't like mine. Like even at eleven K
Speaker 3: with my older boy when he was nine, he was like,
Speaker 3: I kind of want to do that, and I was like,
Speaker 3: let's sign up and do it. Like we got a
Speaker 3: little hydration pack and all that. So setting that example
Speaker 3: is the one piece. But yes, then when you train
Speaker 3: further distances, you're gonna want naturally spend more time on
Speaker 3: your feet. And for me, that's where I supplemented in
Speaker 3: more of a strength program and less time on my
Speaker 3: feet because I was seeing it where it was such
Speaker 3: draw when you train for one hundred miler you do
Speaker 3: have to run quite a bit. But where I saw
Speaker 3: my balance come into play was adding more of the
Speaker 3: strength then, so I'm getting that durability. I'm building some
Speaker 3: muscle to protect everything. And yeah, time on my feet
Speaker 3: might not make me the faster runner out there, but
Speaker 3: I'm dying sure, very very durable, and I can make
Speaker 3: it that distance. And so those are the sort of
Speaker 3: things where I just rolled in more of a strength routine.
Speaker 3: It doesn't take a whole bunch, It doesn't take a
Speaker 3: whole bunch of gym equipment, you know, kettlebell, dumbbell, cooler
Speaker 3: to step up on, and you can add in that
Speaker 3: one hour, say even forty minute training block of strength
Speaker 3: that will pay dividends when you run. And so for me,
Speaker 3: with a busy life and all of that, that's where
Speaker 3: I was like, I just started blending the strength. And
Speaker 3: it was really cool too because Dustin who he started
Speaker 3: Mountain Tough, he was a big time runner, and we
Speaker 3: saw it correlate to hunting. Actually, we saw where the
Speaker 3: strength supplement helped. It helped in hunting. He did primarily,
Speaker 3: but then I started seeing that, you know the benefit
Speaker 3: of that when I stepped into the Elk woods, because
Speaker 3: I was more equipped to put a pack on and
Speaker 3: carry it. And that was a byproduct of running and
Speaker 3: not spending as much time out there and spending more
Speaker 3: time at home. So little bit more strength and a
Speaker 3: little bit less time. And then anytime you're traveling that
Speaker 3: sort of stuff, just embrace it and go for a run,
Speaker 3: go see the sites, go hit a trail. That's an
Speaker 3: awesome thing to get to do. And you're on the
Speaker 3: road anyway.
Speaker 2: Yeah, better sitting in a hotel room.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, even a Hotel Gym was like, yeah, go outside.
Speaker 2: Now, what about training for elevation? You know, I mean
Speaker 2: that in my case, like my next race at thirty
Speaker 2: k we're talking about that's like fifty seven hundred feet
Speaker 2: of elevation gain or something like that. I mean, that's
Speaker 2: gonna be It sounds like a beast to me at least.
Speaker 2: And we're going basically going to the top of the
Speaker 2: t Town range and then back down. But I live
Speaker 2: in Michigan and there's not a whole lot of hills
Speaker 2: here comparable to them. So what are some of things
Speaker 2: folks could do to train for elevation, whether it be
Speaker 2: a trail race that they signed up for they're going
Speaker 2: to travel across the country to go do, or you know,
Speaker 2: training for an outcome they've got coming up and they
Speaker 2: want to run and they want to do some stuff
Speaker 2: that's going to help them prepare for that too.
Speaker 3: Yep, this will this will go back to the amount
Speaker 3: of oxygen that your muscles can can take in. So
Speaker 3: your muscles, that's your VO two max and the volume
Speaker 3: of oxygen that you are able to get to your
Speaker 3: lungs ultimately, and the better that you can and equip
Speaker 3: yourself to have a high VO two max, the better
Speaker 3: you're going to do at elevation. And that goes back
Speaker 3: to the conversational pace running. That low and slow style
Speaker 3: of running is really a big benefit when it comes
Speaker 3: to helping increase your VO two max. And there's other
Speaker 3: things that you can do in the running space to
Speaker 3: there's studies out there too of certain distances like track
Speaker 3: work and that sort of thing that will help increase
Speaker 3: your VO two max. But when it comes to a
Speaker 3: mountain trail race with a whole bunch of vert that
Speaker 3: vertical climb and descent that you're going to go through,
Speaker 3: the benefit to you of having really strong quads, glutes, hamstrings,
Speaker 3: core is that's unparalleled, so your ability to tax your quads.
Speaker 3: But you can tax your quads like right now, if
Speaker 3: you were to do ten lunge jumps, one each side,
Speaker 3: your quads will be on fire doing ten lunch jumps.
Speaker 3: And even for me, I was like, and I live
Speaker 3: out here and I can go up a steep trail whenever,
Speaker 3: but but your quads take a beating, especially on the descent.
Speaker 3: So having strong legs all around, and I will say
Speaker 3: quad dominant because that's the downhill that's your deceleration, and
Speaker 3: but you don't want to forget your glutes and your
Speaker 3: hamstrings as well, and that's where that strength element comes
Speaker 3: into place. So you know, box step ups, that sort
Speaker 3: of stuff, lunge jumps, air squats. We do a bunch
Speaker 3: of wall sits in a lot of our programs too,
Speaker 3: and so like, well, I burned your quads, but you
Speaker 3: sustain that. And so those are the sort of things
Speaker 3: that you can take in to then that trail race
Speaker 3: and say, hey, yes, my legs are gonna hurt, but
Speaker 3: at least I've done this work ahead of time, so
Speaker 3: I've prepped them. I've kind of been experiencing that painful
Speaker 3: quad burn, glute burn, all of that stuff ahead of time,
Speaker 3: so that when I'm in the race, I'm taking in
Speaker 3: more of the scenery and the race itself, as opposed
Speaker 3: to say, and I'm devastated right now. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: My three days a week, my four year old doesn't
Speaker 2: have preschool in the morning, so he's just with me.
Speaker 2: Uh and so a couple of different times I've been
Speaker 2: home with him in the morning and I'm gonna do
Speaker 2: my Foundation's strength workout and I have to do those
Speaker 2: damn wall sits, and I'll be in the living room
Speaker 2: back against the wall and I'm like ah, and I'm
Speaker 2: like kind of cussing silently inside my head.
Speaker 3: Walk it was like, what's the matter?
Speaker 4: Dad?
Speaker 3: Why are you so mad? Right now?
Speaker 2: I'm making faces?
Speaker 3: Amazing you tried doing this, Colt. You'll see he's gonna
Speaker 3: come and stand on your quads the next right, Yeah,
Speaker 3: how's this dead?
Speaker 2: It's funny though. You talked about how the kids see
Speaker 2: you and kind of want to do it too. So
Speaker 2: they've you know, they've seen me that come to my
Speaker 2: races and stuff like that, and they've been like interest in,
Speaker 2: they cheer me on and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: And I found some little film on YouTube about someone
Speaker 2: doing a hundred mile race and they washed it. And
Speaker 2: now whenever they see me put on my shoes, they're.
Speaker 3: Like, can we go on a hundred mile race too?
Speaker 2: They think I'm going off for a one hundred mile
Speaker 2: race every time I go out running, and so sometimes
Speaker 2: they want to go and do one hundred mile race.
Speaker 2: And so what they do is they put on my
Speaker 2: watch and they put on their like hiking shoes or
Speaker 2: basketball shoes, and they'll run laps around our living room
Speaker 2: and every lap they'll say, Daddy, look at the look
Speaker 2: at the watch. Have I got one hundred miles yet?
Speaker 2: How far have I gone?
Speaker 3: And so far?
Speaker 2: My six year old did two miles and laps around
Speaker 2: the living room once, so he just kept going and
Speaker 2: going and going.
Speaker 3: So it was pretty funny. That's amazing, Like just to
Speaker 3: see your kids gravitate towards something like that because of
Speaker 3: what you modeled. It's amazing. But that's a job well
Speaker 3: done and so cool that they laugh about one hundred
Speaker 3: mile because they have no contact, no idea, but in
Speaker 3: their mind, I'm like, it's a big deal. They're crush
Speaker 3: from there. So cool.
Speaker 2: So you talked about training specifically for like some of
Speaker 2: those things like coming down off the hill. You know,
Speaker 2: the descent is going to be really impacting your quads
Speaker 2: and stuff. What about like actual I don't know if
Speaker 2: techniques the right word, but like when I'm when I'm
Speaker 2: running this first really big mountain run this coming year
Speaker 2: this summer, you know, walking all the hills, what degree hill?
Speaker 2: Should I walk? When should I run? When should I walk?
Speaker 2: Should I I mean as far as like tactics on
Speaker 2: the trail, I've read stuff about like when you're descending.
Speaker 2: There's some people that just seem to do big strides
Speaker 2: and just like fly down the hill, and there's other
Speaker 2: people do like short fast steps running down the hill.
Speaker 3: Do you have any thoughts on like actual.
Speaker 2: Technique or or approach to actually being there on the
Speaker 2: trail and running in a way that's going to be effective.
Speaker 3: There's there's a few things when it comes to to
Speaker 3: mountain running and that you're you're coming out in middle More,
Speaker 3: you have rocky, rooty trails. Oftentimes it's fast footwork that's
Speaker 3: gonna be the benefit that you you come to that
Speaker 3: race with because you have those technical trails, maybe they're muddy.
Speaker 3: That sort of technical piece is really important. So that's
Speaker 3: the that's your ankles, that's your knees, your calves as well.
Speaker 3: So when it comes to technique, it's just your running form.
Speaker 3: I'm like, you're you're gonna have running form on a
Speaker 3: flat road, but then you're gonna be it's gonna all
Speaker 3: break down and you're gonna be hiking. Honestly, there are
Speaker 3: people out there I'll throw I'll throw Chester Floyd out
Speaker 3: there because you know Chester, yeah, and he he's an
Speaker 3: absolute phenom when it comes to running really like he
Speaker 3: he there's a few people out here that I know
Speaker 3: can run up these really steep faces. Chester is one
Speaker 3: of those individuals. He can like literally run, but it's
Speaker 3: the same speed at which maybe a little faster than me,
Speaker 3: but same speed at which a lot of people are hiking.
Speaker 3: So you have a longer stride, you can lean into
Speaker 3: that stride and you can hike because each step you're
Speaker 3: going to be going a lot further than if you
Speaker 3: were to pitter patter and run along. But Chester is
Speaker 3: one of those individuals. He could pitter patter and just
Speaker 3: run all the way to the top of things, and
Speaker 3: then he can just descend. But he has a shorter
Speaker 3: stride as well. Also he's an incredible athlete too, So
Speaker 3: I've never seen somebody climb and descend, especially descend as
Speaker 3: fast as he does. But for you with a larger stride,
Speaker 3: just lean into that and do that hike. And you
Speaker 3: get that from hunting. A lot of people will use
Speaker 3: like running style trekking poles in those races, and that's
Speaker 3: a great thing too, to keep your your body upright,
Speaker 3: so then you're opening up your lungs more and you
Speaker 3: can you can use those poles to kind of help
Speaker 3: fight the fatigue, and us as hunters, like we use
Speaker 3: them a lot. But in the trail running world they're
Speaker 3: getting more and more popular. Sometimes some of those races
Speaker 3: don't allow them. If there's a whole bunch of people
Speaker 3: that they don't allow the poles. But you could look
Speaker 3: into that and see if that's something. But like leaning
Speaker 3: into that and putting your hands on your quads when
Speaker 3: you're in that race and pushing off your quads just
Speaker 3: as like my arms are helping me a little bit,
Speaker 3: but your stride and that like it, your stride alone
Speaker 3: will be a big benefit to you in that race
Speaker 3: when you go to the climbing portion that the descent,
Speaker 3: Like it's hard not to be on your heels when
Speaker 3: you descend, but oftentimes that's just the lack of quad
Speaker 3: strength as well. So you kind of want to I
Speaker 3: oftentimes think of it like skiing when you're going downhill.
Speaker 3: Just have a little bit of flow when you're running downhill,
Speaker 3: enjoy it like there's cool little trails and rocks, and
Speaker 3: you know, try to look at your where your feet
Speaker 3: are going and have that fast footwork. You know you'll
Speaker 3: be fatigued all of that, but enjoy it and let
Speaker 3: your arms you know, float out on your side as
Speaker 3: as balance goes, because you'll probably take a stumble here
Speaker 3: and there and it's rocky and nasty. It's gonna be
Speaker 3: up high, so you're gonna want to You're gonna want
Speaker 3: to have good balance, and that kind of goes back
Speaker 3: to them that strength portion as well. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 3: you hear everything, everything's really stable, and that'll help you
Speaker 3: on the descent as well.
Speaker 2: It's funny when you talk about descent. I found myself
Speaker 2: when I'm going down Now, these aren't as big as
Speaker 2: hills as you guys have out there, but when I'm
Speaker 2: going down the bigger hills here as I've been training,
Speaker 2: I find myself thinking about those Hoka commercials like whether
Speaker 2: like fly Human Fly. So I'm like running down the
Speaker 2: hill and then my hems fly Human Fly, and it
Speaker 2: kind of like just enjoying it, just like kind of
Speaker 2: like like I'm riding a bike down a mountain kind
Speaker 2: of and just like letting momentum while trying to you know,
Speaker 2: have good good form going down and not tripping on something,
Speaker 2: but the same time like kind of having fun with
Speaker 2: like that extra little something when you're going down.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's interesting because I think of yeah, skiing or
Speaker 3: mountain biking and how flowy the trails are. And then
Speaker 3: when you have a really get a good pair of
Speaker 3: cushion shoes and enjoy that cushion like it's there. It's
Speaker 3: there for a reason, and if it lets you flow
Speaker 3: a little bit more and lets you cruise along. I
Speaker 3: think it's would be funny if you were to like
Speaker 3: watch a video of a bunch of people coming downhill
Speaker 3: at a race, like we all think we're going really
Speaker 3: fast and we're out of control, but it's actually quite slow. Probably, right.
Speaker 2: Okay, So you think I could do a fifty k
Speaker 2: next year, Let's hypothetical, say if I could do a
Speaker 2: thirty k fifty five vert, there's a fifty k in
Speaker 2: the same area, that would be like a little over
Speaker 2: six vert or something, and then be fifty k.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: As far as training wise, bumping up from train for
Speaker 2: a thirty up to a fifty something like that, anything
Speaker 2: off the top of your head that you would change
Speaker 2: dramatically with that jump or is it kind of the
Speaker 2: same thing but.
Speaker 3: A little bit longer. Yeah, you won't have to you
Speaker 3: won't have to run as fast training for the fifty k,
Speaker 3: so you dial dial back the speed at what you're
Speaker 3: training just a little bit. You're gonna want you're going
Speaker 3: to be doing more vertical so you're gonna be climbing
Speaker 3: more and descending more. So that's where you're going to
Speaker 3: want to make sure and double down on the strength
Speaker 3: portion of that. And yes, it is it's a little
Speaker 3: bit more time on your feet, but it's not that
Speaker 3: much more time on your feet from a thirty to fifty.
Speaker 3: But in my experience, yeah, you're not running as fast
Speaker 3: in a fifty k. You got to pace it out
Speaker 3: so you can enjoy that as part of the training
Speaker 3: and do a lot of that Zone two which then
Speaker 3: will pay off should pay off in your hunts. That's
Speaker 3: where you'd probably notice it too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So another piece of all this that I've started
Speaker 2: thinking about is once you start getting that distance or
Speaker 2: even further, And I think this this ties into folks
Speaker 2: who are gonna be doing big elk hunts or mountain
Speaker 2: hunts as well as like thinking about nutrition.
Speaker 3: How do you fuel yourself so.
Speaker 2: You can maintain your you know, pace or whatever is
Speaker 2: you're trying to do. For four or five, six, seven, eight,
Speaker 2: ten hours. Walk me through like what you're thinking about
Speaker 2: when making decisions on how you're going to fuel yourself
Speaker 2: on a long run like this. There's a thousand different
Speaker 2: things out there, I've come to find out as I've
Speaker 2: been researching and trying things out myself. But what's what's
Speaker 2: the West and Paul approach to fuel during a long
Speaker 2: distance run?
Speaker 3: I love snacks in trail running, and races in particular,
Speaker 3: have so many snacks that's a carrot out in front
Speaker 3: of me that I'm like, oh my goodness, I'm looking
Speaker 3: forward to what snacks they have. But they'll set up
Speaker 3: all the tables at the aid stations and you have
Speaker 3: your pick of gummy bears and m and ms and
Speaker 3: potato chips and all this stuff. It's kind of junk food,
Speaker 3: honestly at a lot of trail races. But your body
Speaker 3: is when you're in a race, your body is using
Speaker 3: everything that you can throw at it because you're burning
Speaker 3: so many calories at such a fast rate. So you
Speaker 3: can snack on a lot of that stuff. However, the
Speaker 3: thing that you don't hear about a lot is the
Speaker 3: stomach issues that you get when you throw a bunch
Speaker 3: of junk you down your throat in a race, and
Speaker 3: then stuff comes back to bite you. So the further
Speaker 3: the distance the race, the more you're going to experience that.
Speaker 3: So maybe not in a thirty k or shorter distance race,
Speaker 3: or you're going to experience the gia shoes, but you
Speaker 3: definitely will experience those should you do it incorrectly in
Speaker 3: a longer race. And nutrition, Like, it's more and more
Speaker 3: popular to kind of dive into nutrition us as hunters.
Speaker 3: We have wild game and so much of it, and
Speaker 3: we're on that path like, hey, we're harvesting this, we're
Speaker 3: putting good things in our body, and we're looking forward
Speaker 3: to having those meals in a race. You can always
Speaker 3: bring your own snacks, but you want a lot of carbohydrates.
Speaker 3: There's people to like in There's all kinds of diets
Speaker 3: out there. There's people that follow this, that and everything.
Speaker 3: And I've pretty much tried everything as well, because I've
Speaker 3: just I get curious and I'm like, huh, I'll see
Speaker 3: if that works and if that works. But a well
Speaker 3: rounded diet and day in and day out is so
Speaker 3: important because you're getting everything that you need. And in
Speaker 3: a race it's important to think of it as as
Speaker 3: the same, Like I want to be well rounded in
Speaker 3: what I'm doing, and so you bring your snacks along.
Speaker 3: You'll have a lot of carbohydrates, You'll have a lot
Speaker 3: of sugars, and then you're gonna want the proteins and
Speaker 3: fats as well, because you're proteins and fats those are
Speaker 3: your slow burn. Those are the ones that give you
Speaker 3: the law, like that endurance over the long run, that
Speaker 3: longevity during a race, Like your proteins and fats are
Speaker 3: really important. You can't just survive on carbs alone, and
Speaker 3: you can't survive on sugars alone. Sugars in particular are
Speaker 3: the ones that will blow your stomach up. So it's
Speaker 3: like a layering system of snacks when you're in a race,
Speaker 3: and you can start out with a good breakfast or
Speaker 3: a good dinner the night before. People carbload. I think
Speaker 3: that's just a common running thing, is like to carbload.
Speaker 3: But actually, if you haven't been consuming car carbs to
Speaker 3: that extent, it's not a good idea to carbload. Like
Speaker 3: if you've been running and you're watching your health and
Speaker 3: you're watching what you eat, you're probably not consuming that
Speaker 3: many carbs, so to carbload the night before is actually
Speaker 3: a bad idea. And well, one of my buddies, Nick,
Speaker 3: we have he had like spicy elk sausage and made
Speaker 3: pasta and and I was still like, we still tease
Speaker 3: him about that because I was like, there's no way
Speaker 3: I'm going to eat that the night before a race.
Speaker 3: He said, he suffered. But but if you think about it,
Speaker 3: with the blend of those, there's so many great resources
Speaker 3: out there now, or there's so many great nutrition supplements
Speaker 3: that sort of thing that you can get for running.
Speaker 3: In particular, I gravitate towards more of the natural ones
Speaker 3: with the fewest ingredients in them, and so they make
Speaker 3: awesome gels now they're called spring Energy. They're they're they're
Speaker 3: so good. I actually look forward to to consuming those
Speaker 3: and any of them them that I have left over,
Speaker 3: they go right in my hunting pack and I'll use
Speaker 3: them like they're actually that good. And so those are
Speaker 3: you know, like like rice is carbohydrate component, and then
Speaker 3: natural sugars from fruit and that sort of stuff. You
Speaker 3: can still have your your snacks. A long time ago,
Speaker 3: I ran a race and there's an older gentleman in
Speaker 3: front of me, and he didn't have like the pack
Speaker 3: and all the stuff that a lot of us racers had,
Speaker 3: and so I was naturally curious and I kind of
Speaker 3: caught up to him and and he had a little
Speaker 3: handheld water bottle and I was like, what do you
Speaker 3: do for nutrition? And he's like, well, I got like
Speaker 3: trail mix in my pocket, and I was like, do
Speaker 3: you think about trail mix? It is actually that blend.
Speaker 3: That's why trail mix exists because it's that blend. And
Speaker 3: so I'm like, I'll copy that. So I love trail
Speaker 3: mix like it's a it's a good go to. It
Speaker 3: has a blend, a little bit of everything. You got
Speaker 3: the protein from the nuts and stuff that's in there,
Speaker 3: and the fats from those, So those are the slow
Speaker 3: burn your body will tap into those. But the big
Speaker 3: thing is that you just want to stay on a cadence.
Speaker 3: So oftentimes people will set a watch or set your
Speaker 3: phone to go every forty five minutes to an hour
Speaker 3: to remind yourself to eat and drink because you won't
Speaker 3: want to, Like, if you feel really good in a race,
Speaker 3: you're like, I'm not hungry, And the longer the race,
Speaker 3: the more you want to put that aside and say,
Speaker 3: I know you, my mind says that I'm not hungry
Speaker 3: right now, but actually I do need to fuel, and
Speaker 3: so making sure that you get that on a routine
Speaker 3: basis is what allows you to finish well in a
Speaker 3: lot of those races. I had one race a number
Speaker 3: of years ago where I was just like stumbling. I
Speaker 3: was just stumbling along my nutrition. I was dehydrated, and
Speaker 3: they've been making bacon at this aid station, and I
Speaker 3: just remember having a couple slices of bacon and it
Speaker 3: took me about another yeah, about forty minutes or so,
Speaker 3: and that stuff kicked in and I came back to
Speaker 3: life and I was like, that's the slow burn, you know,
Speaker 3: fat and protein that you get from bacon. And I
Speaker 3: just I was like, oh, I'm so glad I got that.
Speaker 3: And I came back to life and finished the race.
Speaker 3: And not because it was just bacon that maybe finished,
Speaker 3: but I felt that impact that it had on my
Speaker 3: body at that time.
Speaker 2: Well, I've done like so much reading now about you know,
Speaker 2: all this kind of stuff, and there's so many examples
Speaker 2: and stories I've heard where people will have that kind
Speaker 2: of thing happened, where something they ate or drank at
Speaker 2: an aid station or something they remember they had in
Speaker 2: their pack. All of a sudden, it brings them back
Speaker 2: to life, like they're totally bonking, and then they had
Speaker 2: a second set of wheels. And yeah, sometimes at I
Speaker 2: sometimes would have thought that's like overblown, but it seems
Speaker 2: like it's not. And speaking of Bacon, this last race,
Speaker 2: I told myself I had no time goal. It was like, hey,
Speaker 2: I just want to like this is my first like
Speaker 2: relatively hilly one like single track trial run race. It's
Speaker 2: like I just want to finish its training round. Let's
Speaker 2: just like do good, you know, natural pace, and just
Speaker 2: stop at the ad station, see what's there.
Speaker 3: Have some fun with it.
Speaker 2: Because the last race I did, I was like trying
Speaker 2: to at a time goal, and so I was like
Speaker 2: I'm not stopping, I'm just burning right through. So this
Speaker 2: time around, I was gonna enjoy it a little bit.
Speaker 2: But as soon as I started going, and then as
Speaker 2: soon as I started like passing a lot of people,
Speaker 2: I got to a point like a couple miles in
Speaker 2: where I was like, all of a sudden, I felt
Speaker 2: like very competitive. I was like I wonder if I
Speaker 2: could like maybe I'm better at this than I think,
Speaker 2: like I blew past all these people and all of
Speaker 2: a sudden was like I need to try to like
Speaker 2: I need to go for like I want to see
Speaker 2: where I can actually rank on this thing. And so
Speaker 2: I ended up not stopping at any aid stations because
Speaker 2: like my competitive juice has got it flowing and I
Speaker 2: actually wanted to, you know, to see what my time
Speaker 2: could be. I did not win the thing, nor beat
Speaker 2: nor win my category, but ye and a half felt
Speaker 2: like every time I've done a race, it's like a
Speaker 2: different like adrenaline burst, Like there's just something different that
Speaker 2: gets you to a different level, which is kind of fun.
Speaker 2: And I did finish top ten for my age bracket,
Speaker 2: which is fun. There you go, So that was something.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I'm telling myself for this next race that
Speaker 2: I'm going to again not be like going crazy fast.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna stop at the A stations and like enjoy
Speaker 2: a cookie or something ridiculous. But we'll see what happens
Speaker 2: on the day of. I might end up getting crazy again.
Speaker 3: I like, those are the things that races do bring about,
Speaker 3: and that competitive nature that's an amazing thing to tap
Speaker 3: into and to push yourself. It's we can push ourselves
Speaker 3: and push ourselves in other areas, but this is a race.
Speaker 3: It's one day and you know, like there's that little
Speaker 3: glimmer of hope and you're like, well why not, Yeah,
Speaker 3: why not just go for it. The further the distance
Speaker 3: the more the longer it takes to recover from pushing,
Speaker 3: because you'll end up hitting those walls or bonking or
Speaker 3: cramping up or like all that sort of stuff that
Speaker 3: you experienced. But even that, gosh, you just you just
Speaker 3: walk right out of it. You'll walk You'll literally walk
Speaker 3: right out of it. And it's amazing what the human
Speaker 3: body is capable of when it comes down to it,
Speaker 3: because we're like, we're made to survive and we're made
Speaker 3: to be able to push when we need to push,
Speaker 3: which is which is a cool thing to get to
Speaker 3: tap into that we don't do that often. I was like,
Speaker 3: sometimes we might say that in in a hunting scenario,
Speaker 3: yeah we pushed a little bit or we you know,
Speaker 3: but say back to whitetail hunting, you're not pushing. You're
Speaker 3: not pushing yourself to get to the stand necessarily. Uh certainly,
Speaker 3: certainly you're like I'm gonna get there at this time,
Speaker 3: and I'm gonna crawl up in there, but but you
Speaker 3: are going to push yourself to make that sit or
Speaker 3: you know, change the game plan when you need to,
Speaker 3: so you do tap into that same sort of mental side.
Speaker 3: Back to the hunting thing, I was like, we are
Speaker 3: we are certainly made to do this, and we are
Speaker 3: certainly made to move, and it's just it's just really
Speaker 3: fun to happen in a race scenario.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's Uh, there's so many things that happen
Speaker 2: in that scenario that help. Like in this last one,
Speaker 2: I found someone who was at my pace.
Speaker 3: But a little above it.
Speaker 2: And like when I got to the last quarter of
Speaker 2: the race, and I was just like behind him the
Speaker 2: whole way, but I could feel like him kind of
Speaker 2: pulling away a little bit, so I could tell he
Speaker 2: was a little bit faster than I was, and I
Speaker 2: decided I'm not gonna let him lose me. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: stay on his tail. And so like just having that
Speaker 2: like someone to stick with that, he pulled me through
Speaker 2: the last quarter ye faster than I would have otherwise,
Speaker 2: and I just kind of said, like, hey, you're not
Speaker 2: losing this guy, And I kind of pressed that mental
Speaker 2: switch and I shifted gears and it was great. I'm
Speaker 2: glad I did it, But if I was just doing
Speaker 2: a training run, it'd be a lot harder to do
Speaker 2: that all on your own. Or the last one I
Speaker 2: did when I got to the last like two miles
Speaker 2: or whatever. Kind of a similar situation. There was a
Speaker 2: guy who I kind of latched onto, and same thing.
Speaker 2: I could tell it. Naturally he was faster than me.
Speaker 2: His natural pace was faster than I wanted to go.
Speaker 2: But I decide I'm going to beat this guy, so
Speaker 2: I it became a one.
Speaker 3: On one race.
Speaker 2: And he didn't know it, but I knew I was
Speaker 2: in a one on one race with him, and like
Speaker 2: that final, the final half mile or whatever, I had
Speaker 2: to like put the burners on and ran as fast
Speaker 2: as I ran like all year, probably to beat that
Speaker 2: one guy.
Speaker 3: But I did, and it felt really good. Cool.
Speaker 2: And those little things don't really matter in the grand
Speaker 2: scheme of things, but they make for like that additional something,
Speaker 2: that little extra challenge that pushes you a little further,
Speaker 2: takes you to a level maybe you didn't know you
Speaker 2: could get to.
Speaker 3: And all of that stuff.
Speaker 2: I actually think about this when I'm training and I'm
Speaker 2: going up a hard hill or I'm tired or whatever.
Speaker 2: I will think about November when it's two degrees out
Speaker 2: and freezing cold, and you've been in the tree stand
Speaker 2: for twelve hours and you're miserable and you're tired and
Speaker 2: you want to pull the plug. Are you going to
Speaker 2: pull the plug? Or are you going to push through this?
Speaker 2: Or when you're hunting elk and there's a bowl at
Speaker 2: the top of this mountain two twenty five hundred feet
Speaker 2: above you and you've got to bomb up that thing,
Speaker 2: are you going to do it? Like in these moments
Speaker 2: when I'm tired, when i want to be done, That's
Speaker 2: like the stuff that I play in my head to
Speaker 2: make sure that no, you're to push through it, and
Speaker 2: this is how you do it. And we're practicing for
Speaker 2: those moments, even though I might be running on a
Speaker 2: flat piece of pavement, I'm training my brain to be
Speaker 2: able to push through those walls.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: I think that's what a lot of this does for us.
Speaker 3: It's so spot on when it comes down to it,
Speaker 3: that's that mental fortitude piece and to tap into that,
Speaker 3: that's where the power comes, honestly, and we yes, we
Speaker 3: get a little glimmer of that and hunting season, and
Speaker 3: we know the areas that we could improve on. Certainly,
Speaker 3: I'm just going to speak for myself. I'm like, I
Speaker 3: know that I could push a little push, a little
Speaker 3: bit further, push a little bit harder. I know I
Speaker 3: could be patient when I need to be patient and
Speaker 3: not walk all day. But but yeah, back to the
Speaker 3: whitetail hunter that's out there, I'm like, I know. I'm like,
Speaker 3: you got it. You got what it takes. It's between
Speaker 3: the ears and tap into it. Just maybe running is
Speaker 3: the way you tap into it. Maybe there's some other
Speaker 3: fitness regimen that you get into that helps you tap
Speaker 3: into that, but it's a way that you can access
Speaker 3: that on a repeated basis. You can do it, and
Speaker 3: you can create that habit and you can tap into it.
Speaker 3: And it's so awesome to be able to switch over to, yeah,
Speaker 3: that difficult hunt, what you're looking forward to all of
Speaker 3: that and play all those scenarios in your mind, and
Speaker 3: then the race is over. You're like, check, I did that.
Speaker 3: I've got some confidence out of it. I've got some
Speaker 3: of these cool stories and I've tapped into this area
Speaker 3: of my life that I wouldn't have otherwise, which is
Speaker 3: which is a beautiful thing. Yeah, yeah, so true.
Speaker 2: All right, I've taken a lot of your time this afternoon,
Speaker 2: it's Friday. I've probably got good things to get off
Speaker 2: to do, so I don't want to I don't want
Speaker 2: to use up too much of.
Speaker 3: This precious resource of ours. But is there.
Speaker 2: Any final thing that we haven't talked about yet or
Speaker 2: something that you know, just let's let's selfishly keep me
Speaker 2: in mind. And let's say that next year I want
Speaker 2: to do that fifty k or a fifty mile or something.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna take another big jump next year. Yeah, what's
Speaker 2: one more thing I should be keeping in mind over
Speaker 2: this next twelve months as I do my first big
Speaker 2: mountain run and then start training for the next bigger thing.
Speaker 2: Any other advice, any other category of thing we haven't
Speaker 2: talked about yet that that I need to be thinking about.
Speaker 2: Is kind of as a sendoff parting.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna I'm I'm gonna encourage you to go for it.
Speaker 3: It's like if people say send it, go for it.
Speaker 3: Because and it's funny, I wasn't a runner, right, I've
Speaker 3: had asthma all did all that stuff and I've still like,
Speaker 3: I really love to run. Do I do it all
Speaker 3: the time? No, I have. I have had periods of
Speaker 3: time where I'm super obsessive about it and I you know,
Speaker 3: it kind of can take over certainly, But those are
Speaker 3: those are good times in life to have had. But
Speaker 3: it is something that is so powerful and it manifests
Speaker 3: itself in other ways in life. But oftentimes when people
Speaker 3: you've you've probably heard it already, Oh you did that race.
Speaker 3: I could never do that. Yeah, well, They'll say, oh
Speaker 3: I can't, I couldn't run that far, And in my
Speaker 3: heart of hearts, I'm like, yeah, you can. Anybody can
Speaker 3: do it, honestly, Like you might have some sort of
Speaker 3: ailments that you should not run, and you know those,
Speaker 3: but there is you are already pushing yourself if you're
Speaker 3: overcoming those sort of ailments anyway. But but for a
Speaker 3: lot of people, it is a it's an awesome simple
Speaker 3: way to go and just tap into that that mental side,
Speaker 3: that mental fortitude, the mental toughness that you do have
Speaker 3: because we have it in common because we're hunters and
Speaker 3: we're competitive all of that with ourselves, and that's an
Speaker 3: amazing thing. So I'd just encourage you to go for it.
Speaker 3: I'm like, sign sign up for it, sign up for
Speaker 3: the fifty k. Heck, like put on miler out there
Speaker 3: on the docket and work towards it. I've been putting
Speaker 3: in for four years to this hunter miler and I
Speaker 3: haven't gotten in every year, and it's always a kind
Speaker 3: of a relief when I don't get in, and next
Speaker 3: year I'll get in, and I'm like, I'll look forward
Speaker 3: to that. It is. It's a good caret to have
Speaker 3: out there. And if you want to do a hundred miler,
Speaker 3: I'll I'll come pace you. Just pick it and I'll
Speaker 3: meet you. So I hope you're not saying that flippantly,
Speaker 3: because I might. I might buy it. Do I offer
Speaker 3: that that is my offer stands I will. I was like,
Speaker 3: I love. I love to see people tap into that.
Speaker 3: And that's one of the things that I've learned to
Speaker 3: love about the trail running community and these races that
Speaker 3: are out there. Yeah, they're they're kind of silly in
Speaker 3: the big scheme of things, yes, it and but for us,
Speaker 3: as humans were made to move, were made to travel
Speaker 3: and go, go and do it, like, because you'll learn
Speaker 3: a whole bunch about yourself and you'll be a better
Speaker 3: hunter because of it. I guarantee you'll be a better
Speaker 3: hunter because of it. But more so than being a
Speaker 3: better hunter, it's like, hey, just like tap into these
Speaker 3: things and then handle the rest of the stuff that
Speaker 3: life throws at you with grace and patience and all
Speaker 3: that and running just kind of teaches you that. It
Speaker 3: just breaks you down.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems like a tremendous training tool for so
Speaker 2: much of what life throws at you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, big time, big time. Have you done the rut? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I have I tattoo. I have a rut tattoo on
Speaker 3: my arm. Yeah. They give that at the finish line, right, Yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm a rut I'm a rut fan certainly. But they
Speaker 3: they moved it last year, they moved it a little
Speaker 3: bit far further into archery season, and I'm I was like,
Speaker 3: I can't, I can't go. I really want to go
Speaker 3: and hunt. It's always the opening weekend, or it had
Speaker 3: typically always been the opening weekend, but it's it's spectacle.
Speaker 3: It's one of the coolest events that I've ever experienced,
Speaker 3: events in all categories that I've ever experienced. A It's
Speaker 3: just a it's a unique culture. They started off with
Speaker 3: a bugle, so that gives me goosebumps when I think
Speaker 3: about the bugle that kicks it off, and it's just
Speaker 3: they've they've nailed it. And I asked Mike Wolf, Oh,
Speaker 3: I don't know when he did the sign ups in
Speaker 3: January they do like the locals only sign up night,
Speaker 3: and like, did you ever envision it getting this big?
Speaker 3: And he's like, no, no, never never thought it would. Actually,
Speaker 3: it was just the local kind of a local race.
Speaker 3: That's the way it started out. And they drew a
Speaker 3: bunch of big names. But gosh, if you I'd encourage
Speaker 3: anybody to sign up for that. It's it is one
Speaker 3: of the coolest races that's out there. It's different. It's
Speaker 3: not a hometown race. It's but but it's but it's
Speaker 3: big and there's just a positive energy that's there that's unmatched,
Speaker 3: and you get to just see the coolest country. There's
Speaker 3: alcohol over that. That's ski Hill. There's alcohol over it.
Speaker 3: You won't see them because everyone's running through, but there's
Speaker 3: there's alcohol over it. So it's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2: Well, I've heard that is technically more of like a
Speaker 2: like I think they call it a sky run, Is
Speaker 2: that right? Yeah, just like that style, like ridge line,
Speaker 2: like really really up there, crazy route. It seems like
Speaker 2: it's it's very it's very rugged.
Speaker 3: The the scree and everything that you experienced in that
Speaker 3: race is everything that you would if you were on
Speaker 3: a sheep hunt. I'm sure I've never been on a
Speaker 3: sheep hunt, but I'm sure that's similar. Certainly, it's like
Speaker 3: all that just gnarly rock ankle biters. I say ankle
Speaker 3: biters because I always inevitably step on one and it
Speaker 3: just comes up and snaps the side of my ankle
Speaker 3: and I just get a little angry at that rock.
Speaker 3: Just funny.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it looks it looks pretty sweet. That one's on
Speaker 2: my list for someday. That's a good Bridger. The Bridger
Speaker 2: Ridge Run is on.
Speaker 3: The list for some day.
Speaker 2: The the Tee Town fifty K I was telling you about,
Speaker 2: that's on the list. My buddy Yanni's doing the Big
Speaker 2: Horn this summer. That's on my list for someday. It's
Speaker 2: so good the Big Horn.
Speaker 3: That whole community, that's that's that's the thing. I was like,
Speaker 3: you gotta go experiences and people come out and they
Speaker 3: support it and that the Big Horn and Sheridan and
Speaker 3: all that country down there. It's like everyone descends on
Speaker 3: that race to cheer people on. It's it's insane and
Speaker 3: that's like the heart of that's really good out country.
Speaker 3: There'll be bulls no joke, bullsel bugle in June when
Speaker 3: that race goes on. I've been there, I've heard them.
Speaker 3: It's like, I'm just like, what in the world I
Speaker 3: heard that they did that, but we'll never actually experienced
Speaker 3: it and sure thing, Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, I got to ask you one last
Speaker 2: question I'll get you out of here. For folks that
Speaker 2: want to uh try some of the strength training stuff
Speaker 2: we've talked about, can you give folks recommendation? Where can
Speaker 2: they find stuff with Mountain Tough? How can they get involved?
Speaker 2: Maybe what would be like a first program to consider
Speaker 2: If they're getting into the kind of stuff I'm getting
Speaker 2: into and they want to add that base of strength,
Speaker 2: how would you recommend they do that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we love to encourage anybody to go and check
Speaker 3: out Mountain Tough, even for your audience, Mark and like
Speaker 3: extending that to them. We could do a thirty day
Speaker 3: trial on Mountain Tough, so you can just check it out.
Speaker 3: You can just poke around in there because everyone's at
Speaker 3: a different place and we don't want to be pushy ever,
Speaker 3: but we want to meet people where they're at and
Speaker 3: help get them on a path. Like I said, we
Speaker 3: don't have a running program, but we do have the
Speaker 3: strength piece covered, and we do have the cardio piece covered.
Speaker 3: But we could do a thirty day trial and say
Speaker 3: use code wired and go and check it out. You do,
Speaker 3: won't cost you anything. Just go ahead and check it
Speaker 3: out and then cancel it if you don't like it,
Speaker 3: and keep doing it. Awesome. We just want to encourage you,
Speaker 3: so I'll shoot that over email over to you with
Speaker 3: the details about that. But like gosh, we'd love people
Speaker 3: to get in there and and just see and hopefully
Speaker 3: it's a stepping stone to sign up for a trail race.
Speaker 3: That'd be amazing. And you don't need Mountain Tough to
Speaker 3: sign up for a trail race or start running. Go
Speaker 3: just head out your door and if you're not if
Speaker 3: you're not feeling like running, just go and walk for
Speaker 3: fifteen minutes and then just enjoy the beauty that's all
Speaker 3: around and then get up two mornings from now and
Speaker 3: do it again. And I'm certain people can tap into
Speaker 3: that anytime they want to. It's just just a matter
Speaker 3: of right time, ride place.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, amen to that. I couldn't say any better,
Speaker 2: And just thank you. Thanks for sharing all this, thanks
Speaker 2: for the for the offer there for listeners to get
Speaker 2: in there and give this stuff a try.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: I've just been enjoying this so much and seeing the
Speaker 2: benefits and excited how it's going to help me this
Speaker 2: fall and future years. And man, it's pretty funny geek
Speaker 2: out about this stuff too. So I'm getting in and
Speaker 2: I can just see myself spiraling further and further. It's
Speaker 2: it's getting it's getting his claws into me.
Speaker 3: Oh you're yeah, it's awesome. I'm like, I can flash
Speaker 3: back too, because I was like, I got my boys
Speaker 3: are yeah, like they're they're little and they're seeing that
Speaker 3: and and it's a big it's a big deal. I
Speaker 3: can tell you that, it's a it's a big deal
Speaker 3: to go and do it. And I guess, like I said,
Speaker 3: I caution people not to let it take over their
Speaker 3: their lives, but I was I was conscious of that,
Speaker 3: and I'm like, you know what, it's taking a little
Speaker 3: bit more time from home, and I I do want
Speaker 3: to be there and then flag football and all that
Speaker 3: sort of stuff. And I was like, you know what,
Speaker 3: I'm okay not running for as long as I thought,
Speaker 3: and I'll still finish a race and I and I'm
Speaker 3: good with that. But but having those having those pieces
Speaker 3: out there and shoot your kids running hundred milers in
Speaker 3: the house, that's that's one of the best things I've
Speaker 3: ever heard. I love it. It's pretty darn funny. I
Speaker 3: good kids, good kids, that's so cool. Good, good job
Speaker 3: for sure. And yeah, I'll continue to encourage you on
Speaker 3: this path. And yeah, I got I can. It's one
Speaker 3: of the things about running too. I was like, how
Speaker 3: I end up striking up a conversation and learning people's
Speaker 3: stories and getting to tell all these cool stories. And
Speaker 3: you get to do that in the mountains and I
Speaker 3: don't know any trail, any trail anywhere. I'm like, it's
Speaker 3: it's just one of the byproducts. So I appreciate the
Speaker 3: time here. We could have been running this whole time.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 2: So maybe next time when I'm when I'm up in Bozeman,
Speaker 2: next time, I'll be there this summer a good bit.
Speaker 3: Maybe I'll reach out, we can go for a run.
Speaker 3: Let's let's do it. That would be that would be amazing.
Speaker 3: Get to chat more and and uh yeah go ahead
Speaker 3: of trail for sure. Awesome.
Speaker 2: Thanks Wester, you bet, Thank you all right, and that
Speaker 2: is going to do it for our chat today. Thank
Speaker 2: you again for joining us. Hope you enjoyed this one
Speaker 2: as much as I did. I hope that if you're
Speaker 2: not consistently running, you might think about adding this to
Speaker 2: your routine, doing a little bit more getting outside and
Speaker 2: just moving a little bit more. I really do think
Speaker 2: this is going to be something that can help you
Speaker 2: become a better deer hunter, no matter where you hunt,
Speaker 2: no matter how you hunt, getting a little bit more
Speaker 2: active out there is going to help. So hopefully this
Speaker 2: helped kind of give you some inspiration to do that
Speaker 2: and maybe some tools to take it to the next level.
Speaker 2: If this is something that you're already doing but you
Speaker 2: want to kind of expand the challenge or find new
Speaker 2: ways to take it to that next level, I think
Speaker 2: there's been some some ideas here for you too. I
Speaker 2: want to reiterate what Weston mentioned. They're offering a thirty
Speaker 2: day free trial for anyone listening to this. If you
Speaker 2: want to sign up and try that body weight strength
Speaker 2: routine that I've been using, you can go to the
Speaker 2: Mountain Tough website and use promo code wired that's wired.
Speaker 3: Or there's also a.
Speaker 2: Direct link in the description for this podcast in your
Speaker 2: podcast app. Just look in the notes there you'll see
Speaker 2: a link. Click that and that will take you to
Speaker 2: a sign up page as well.
Speaker 3: So free day or free thirty day trial check it out.
Speaker 3: It's good stuff.
Speaker 2: I've been running at myself this spring and enjoying it
Speaker 2: and definitely appreciate Weston offering that to all of us
Speaker 2: as well. So with that all said, appreciate you, thanks
Speaker 2: for being here. Until next time, stay wired to Hunt.