The sport of trail running is growing. With more specialization, sponsorships, and media attention, the scale of competition changes. The Golden Trail World Series, which launched in 2018, is helping guide this growth. With a world series circuit, national series, and a championship, the Golden Trail World Series (GTWS) “exists to celebrate and evolve trail running as a sport.” Given that trail races can be roughly anywhere from 5 k to 330 k and with...
If you follow road running, the buzz around carbon-plated shoes is not new to you. Nike led the way with its Alphafly and Next% series, which sparked rapid innovation throughout the industry to quickly ensure their top racing shoes could compete. In 2021, “super shoes” have quickly transitioned from controversial to nearly ubiquitous, permeating the elite and recreational fields alike. But what about off-road? Is there a place for the carbon-plate in trail and ultra...
Looking for an option to keep your glycogen stores full while logging hours this fall? Consider adding
Here in the Rockies near Carbondale, Colorado, June is often a transitional month. Low elevation trails are dry and surrounded by lush vegetation and spring blooms, while jagged peaks and ridges remain encrusted with receding snowfields. Roaring creeks and flooded riverbanks hint the speed with which these sun-cupped features melt away. As someone whose preferred form of movement in the summer is running in the high country, it is the season of preparing my legs...
This review is based on three weeks of product testing. During this time, the pack was used on ten outings, approximately 80 miles of running and one 20k rollerski. Since my introduction to endurance sports in high school, my two loves have been running and cross-country skiing. After moving to the Roaring Fork Valley in Colorado in 2012, a mecca for trail running, I took to running in the mountains and dipping my toes in...
For those growing up in the East and worshiping high peaks, one stretch of ridge line is the most storied: the Presidential Range in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. On September 6th, former Williams College skier Jordan Fields established a new fastest known time (FKT) of the Presidential Traverse in 3:42:38 hours. Here’s the stunner: the previous FKT established in 2018 was 4:04:30 by Lee Berube. On the FKT website documenting all things FKT, the Presidential...
In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at this week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2017 USANA Nordic Junior World Championships and U23 Cross Country World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 22-year-old Adam Martin, of Northern Michigan University, who’s representing the U.S. at his second U23 Worlds. On Saturday, he raced to 22nd...
Liz Stephen has been taking advantage of summer to enjoy another endurance-sports passion of hers: running. By both running casually and in races, like the Trail Run National Championship and Red Bull 400 hill climb late last month, Stephen gets the most out of the popular form of cross training.
This week’s workout comes from USSA's Domestic Coach of the Year, Sverre Caldwell of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) in Stratton, Vt. Caldwell shares a typical day in the life of a Stratton athlete in May, including general strength followed by an easy distance workout.
Birkie Trail Run & Trek on Sept. 27 put you on some of the best sections of the world-class Birkie Trail system and now some of the best singletrack in the Upper Midwest as well. These singletrack sections are part of the www.birkie.com Sign Up Before JULY 1 and Save! The new Birkie Ridge trailhead is on Hwy 63, just 11 miles north of Hayward, WI, and five miles south of Cable, WI. Starting at this new...
The 5 Peaks Trail Running Series came to Canmore for the second installment of central Alberta's race series last weekend. Consistent with the usual 5 Peaks format, this event consisted of an “enduro” distance and a “sport” distance, 12 k and 8 k respectively. But unlike your average 5 Peaks race, this event featured Olympians.
This week, recent Mount Marathon winner Eric Strabel shares the secret to his success: sustained, hour-long Level 3 efforts.