Luging the Night Away in the Wasatch

bonefires and luge runs in the snowy backcountry sounds just about right. as i'm off for the special winter or edition i thought i'd post some shots from the last go around of the karl meltzer fandango.

a couple weeks ago i tweeted some video from a night of bon fires and luging.  karl has been consumed with the goal of building the best secret squirrel luge in the world!  well now there is some proof.  karl drove while his buddy tom took this video chasing me down the luge.  enjoy.

.. and here are the rest of the photos tom took.

Opening Video For Montrail Presentation

lot's of hours put into this.. i hope you enjoy it.

Backcountry.com Pray For Snow Party

i was lucky enough to tag along to the backcountry.com"pray for snow" party. it was off the heezy fo sheezy.

marit interviews some of backcountry.com's pro rippers in this vid. karl makes an appearance with his fresh off the appalachian trail fully rounded beard, but jon atencio steals it. i guess he used to be sponsored by lee jeans as a rodeo rider!? who would have thought.

Sharing Things

"how many people on their deathbed wish they'd spent more time at the office?"

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some things of interest:

sean meissner wins another marathon! - check out his race report, he ran a 2:42 at the spokane marathon!

in karl's words - karl meltzer is back in the slc. he told me yesterday he's even run a couple of times. he wrote about his journey from maine to georgia.

the man who beat lance - nyt article on dave weins who beat lance armstrong at the leadville 100 mtn bike race aug. there is a good lil' video included too.

straight chuter.com - win a free pair of black diamond boots from andrew mclean by playing his game and guessing the location.

nyt article on fast and old - nyt article on olympic swimmer dana torres.

avalanches are scary - uk pro gets caught on film

Stepping it up? - article about black diamonds new freeride touring ski boots

Resting, Running and Rhetoric - the "alaskan flash" geoff roes started a great discussion on resting and recovery for ultrarunners.

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help support CoachingEndurance.com by going over to Backcountry.comand buying a ton of gear. with free shipping and the best prices on the internet it just makes sense really.

Karl Meltzer Finishes Appalachian Trail in 54 Days

we just got the call. he's done! nuun ultrarunner karl meltzer has finished the appalachian trail in 54 days 21 hours 12 minutes. i ran about 310 miles with him from the start of his journey. i can't even wrap my mind around doing the entire 2,174 miles non stop. whoa.

karl meltzer on top of mt katahdin - right before he started

congratulations karl!

now.. head over to where's karl.com for the full scoop!

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karl relied on nuun through the journey for his electrolye replacement. i shipped two massive orders to him and he went through it all!

nuun

CNN Video on Karl

this is too cool. this piece on karl ran on cnn a couple of nights ago. this kind of thing only happens because karl has an amazing woman running his pr. nice work marit. notice the "video by matt hart". that little pentax w10 waterproof, shockproof, dustproof does a good job.

i can't even believe the haters on the where's karl.com site. yes he's behind schedule. yes the record might be out of reach. but what defines you as a person is what you do from dusk to dawn. karl is a trail runner. you, and you know who you are, are a nutless annoymous hater.

ok now i feel better.

Karl, IM Canada, Newspapers and Beach Peas

Meltzer's on the Move!

hopefully you've all been watching the drama unfold over at where's karl.com. my buddy is trying to break the appalachian trail record. after 14 days of tough terrain he came down with trench foot, and severe tendonitis. this put the whole assault in risk. after a few days off today he hit the trail again with his wife cheryl. i picture this in my mind being a nice sunny day hike with the woman he loves. what could be better? =)

good luck buddy! i'll be begging for updates on the trail at transrockies.

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Ironman Canada!

i have to wish my coaching client adrienne stedford good luck at ironman canada tomorrow (sunday!). she is one of those dream clients who always does exactly what i prescribe for her in her training plan. because of that, and all the hard work she's put in, she's going to amazingly well!

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Transrockies Run

i've been in slc hanging with marit for the last couple of days. i leave in a few hours for denver. sunday morning i pick up sean meissner, then we head to buena vista, colorado and the welcome bbq for the transrockies staged run. i talked to sean yesterday, he said "dood. i'm fit right now". sweet.

i was able to get 50mins of pain free running in yesterday. the calf wasn't an issue but it's still sore when i press on it. another couple of zero days and it should be ready for the anaerobic torture of the transrockie run. in the last update they have again lessened the mileage of the race. taking some 'junk miles' off the first two days. when i signed up for this race it was around 130 miles long. it's now down to 97 miles total for 6 days. every time they lessen the length our chances of doing well decrease - sean and i are ultrarunners. however after the fast hiking i just did on the appalachian trail this will be phenomenal 'speed work' for me and i can't wait to race!!

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Jackson Hole Newspaper

the jhole newspaper is going to do a write-up on the teton circumnavigation speed record i set (fastest known times site). here are the photos for the article.

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Beach Pea Bakery - Kittery Maine

marit found this great article on my best friends mariah & tom roberts. they run a well buttered machine. we spent the day with them in portsmouth after we got off the appalachian trail. they're cool.

Appalachian Assault - Day 1

i'm going to give a shot are recalling my adventure on the appalachian trail. 300+ miles in 8 days happened so fast. looking back now some of them have blended together. however day 1 still stands out in my mind. here is what i recall.

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41 miles of appalachian trail on day 1
(the total for the day was 45 miles w/7,739feet of vertical gain)

me checking the map before we started up katahdin
(check out the superhero arm warmers.. i'd need them)
karl and i headed out at sunrise from abol campground to climb mt katahdin. this was a slightly shorter but insanely steeper route to the summit of katahdin, which is the terminus of the appalachian trail. you get no credit for this 4 mile and 4,000ft climb as the appalachian trail starts at the top. the abol route we took up felt like a massive slide path of sharp boulders. the tough climb was made even harder by the wet conditions and the lack of coffee in the morning. by the time i got to the top (i think it was 1hr 30min) i had much respect for mt katahdin.

you can just barely see karl on our way up (i love this shot)
as we climbed i was feeling rather flat. karl was ampted to get started and pulling away fast. i kept thinking "dood, your going for the 2,174 mile appalachina trail record.. not the fastest time up mt katahdin." as we got closer to the top the rocks became wet and mossy. it was super slippery. i just stayed steady and by the top karl had slowed so i could catch up. that was my job afterall, to be an anchor to karl in the first week, and to slow this astonishingly fast 40 year old down. "3.5 miles per hour for the record".

karl meltzer on top of mount katahdin - about to run the entire appalachian trail
at the top we took a video of his start with vio camera i carried up just for that purpose. 7:08am on august 5th, 2008 karl meltzer headed south on the appalachian trail in a bold attempt to break the record. at the time i had a vague idea of just how bold this attempt was. now in hindsight after running 300+ miles of the north section i know what a monumental task this actually is.
now the down. this trail is downclimbing boulders, sharp boulders. karl always wears 1/2 fingered biking gloves when he runs for this very reason. i didn't think it was necessary - i was very wrong. so i used my arm warmers to help, which worked ok.

again on the way down i struggled to stay in contact with karl. he was moving fast, too fast in my mind. i bet when he looks back he will agree. it was dangerous terrain so a misstep could mean game over - no record. the risk wasn't worth the reward of a few extra minutes on day 1 of a 46 day run. honestly what was running through my head was what would happen if karl drops me on the first day. "do i just get in the rv and start again with him later?" i wasn't going to let that happen.. i just couldn't. by the end i caught karl and he said "i was just taking advantage of gravity". he's fast.

the amazing marit fischer - support crew extraordinaire (nice puffy!)
we're just 4 miles into the appalachian trail but we need to start eating lots now
we had 2 tabs of nuun, 2 scoops of ultragen and two egg burritos each
marit fischer and karl meltzler sr, who we just started calling senior (much to his disliking) were our support crew. marit is the superstar pr person from backcountry.com. karl senior is the most ripped 65 year old man i've ever seen.. and i have to assume the most ripped 65 year old in existence - 6 pack and all. they were there at abol campground to meet us. i still wasn't hungry but ate a lot and we were off again.

karl meltzer senior and junior checking maps
now it gets blury for me. i know i slipped on my montrail slippers, or streaks rather and was in heaven as we ran and hiked fast for another 36 miles or so. i wore montrail continental divdes for the earlier rough terrain and they turned out to be perfect.

all the day 1 flickr shots - i'm putting together the video now - and of course you can follow his current progress at where's karl.com.

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some stats nonsense:
total miles on the day - 45
total miles on AT - 41
from abol campsite to the top of katahdin at 5,267 ft via abol trail 1:40:50 with 4,000 feet of gain 4:21:10 -
katahdin to abol bridge w/285ft gain 1:40:51
katahdin to katahdin stream mile 5 2:36:19
katahdin streams to abol pines campground
7:37:10 w/3,454ft abol bridge to south nahmakanta lake

2 Days Later

this is a photo of my ankle on the bus ride from portsmouth, nh to boston’s, ma logan airport today, two days after I got off the appalachian trail with my buddy karl meltzer. i feel pretty good. but from my knees down are super puffy and swollen from the mass mileage and constant pounding of the maine section.

the lack of internet while i'm traveling back to the tetons keeping me from writing a lot, but here is a quick update…

THANK YOU karl, marit, senior, tommy and backcountry.com as a whole for making this whole adventure possible. this was hands down one of the most amazing and exhilarating experiences i’ve had in my life. it was challenging, beautiful, awe-inspiring, humbling, motivating, fun, and tough.

i was honestly sad when marit and i had to leave the backcountry.com rv. although we conquered the maine section, the adventure for karl has just begun. we left aug 8th, after the maine section and the 16.6 extra miles into Gorham, nh. it would have just been too hard to get up the next day and see karl off to run alone.

marit has done an amazing job of posting to the where's karl.com blog and now tommy has taken over crewing and blogging/updating duties. the where's karl flickr site has all my photo and vids. i'll put something together soon and update my blog with more.

one last thing – having run 300+ miles with karl meltzer in 8 days I have one thing to say about what karl is doing. say what you will about supported, unsupported speed records, etc… but what karl’d doing right now is courageous.

281 Miles of Appalachian Trail With Karl Meltzer

AT through Maine - 281 Miles
"The northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail is Katahdin, 5,267 ft. high, in Baxter State Park in central Maine. The Trail continues southwest to Monson, eventually crossing the Kennebec River, at about the Maine halfway point. Many mountains later, and after passing through the famed Mahoosuc and Grafton notches, the Trail enters New Hampshire."

"Most of the Appalachian Trail in Maine is not recommended for novice hikers; Maine's 281 miles are generally considered the most difficult of all fourteen states. Even the strongest hikers may average only one mile an hour in some parts. Other parts require grabbing onto tree roots and limbs to climb or descend, and are especially slippery and hazardous in wet weather." (link)

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i'm in new hampshire now. i ran the teton circ twice in three days, went to sleep got up at 6am and traveled for over 36hrs until i came to a stop in freedom, nh at my mother's house. my ankles and lower legs were swollen beyond belief. lots of naps but no real sleep during the basically two days of travel has me feeling pretty gross.

new hampshire is a nice, quite, peaceful place. i love coming back here.

today i'm going to kayak, swim a bit and hang out at the beach on ossipee lake with my mom, sister and two nephews. recovery with small bits of multimuscle workouts is in order for the next few days. i meet karl on sunday aug 3rd in manchester new hampshire. we'll pack the backcountry.com rv and then head up to maine the following day. we start his appalachian assault on august 5th at the top of mount katahdin. i can not wait to get running - this, my friends is going to be an epic adventure.





"live free or die"

SLC Update

here are some shots from today's run. i'm still lovin' utah. these are from my bell's canyon run today with meltzer. at one point it got steep and turned into a hike. my mind wondered to us hiking in maine, rockin' the appalachian trail! that's right.. it's back on baby! if you didn't know meltzer is going for the speed record on the AT. i'm starting in maine with him on august 5th and running to new hampshire - 281 miles later. 47 miles a day for 6 days. a couple days ago i sat in on karl's meeting with backcountry.com. they are the title sponsor for his appalachian assault and are making it all happen.. budgets, rv's, support, marketing and stickers... yes 300,000 whereskarl.com stickers! with the size of this project it's no wonder western states has become more of a distraction to him. he's got a lot riding on the AT assault. ** but i'm sure he'll still rip one at western. any way you cut it the masters record is going down this year (either meltzer or ajw imo).

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tomorrow meltzer's wife cheryl is running her first 50 miler - the tough as nails squaw peak 50. nuun is sponsoring it so i'll be up there representing, taking photos and maybe runnin' a lil bit too.

I Bought A One Way Ticket

yeah that's right, a one way ticket to salt lake city. i've got about a week to go, then i'll be gone for 4 months of the unknown. i'm definitely someone who does well with my things and my routine... but i think this will be an amazing experience. i am staring at the two bags i can take with me on the plane (one i'll apparently have to pay extra for now!) for the next 4 months. this is tough. one will be filled with some clothes, the other.. montrails, nathan handhelds/backpacks, nuun and clif shots! the gear bag is easily 4x the size of my clothes bag!

since taking the job with backroads i've been frantically trying to get my life in order so i can leave seattle. i need to sell a car (check out the jeep grand cherokee). sublet my condo; i've already found the most awesome law student who's needs work perfect for the exact time i'm gone. that was a big weight off my shoulders.


i've bailed on running the big horn 100 miler. my hip is still a mess anyway, and simply won't be ready. but the more obvious reason is i have no idea where i'll be guiding or if i'd have that weekend off or not. backroads doesn't tell us where we'll be until june 3rd, the second to last day of our training in salt lake city.

my end date with backroads is aug 23rd. i have to get my ass to beuna vista, colorado that day so i can have one day of rest before starting the transrockies ultra with meissner. i am soo excited about this. just need to figure out how to stay fit while leading trips. after that it's either try to meet up with meltzer late in his appalachian trail assault or run the bear 100 in logan, utah. it's the last 100 of the year that looks interesting, re; hard, trail with mass vert, more single track than dirt road, etc. i really feel like i need to run a 100 before the year is over. i'm also looking to return to the hurt 100 in hawaii this time running the 100 miler. we'll see.


with the hip injury i've been riding a lot lately and it's been really fun. the running miles all depend on how the hip feels. i've been working every other day on strength exercises, which i think are really helping. yesterday i got out with the lads, green angle, jeff, mike and tom for a great 10 miler and had NO HIP PAIN!

ok, i've got coaching work to do.. and tons of packing and loose ends to clean up.

Exciting News and Disappointing Reality

"You only ever grow as a person when you spend time outside your comfort zone"- Percy Cerutty

the real reason i was in salt lake last week was for a job interview. i'd made the final cut of interviews to be a guide/trip leader for backroads. they do 7-14 day cycling, hiking, kayaking and multisport trips in the most amazing locations all over the world. if it's worth spending time there, chances are backroads can guide you through your most amazing week of exploration ever. one browse through their website is enough to understand why it would be cool to guide for this organization. they are the '#1 active travel company' in the business. the trips aren't cheap and service is paramount.

i was super excited to get the call friday that i got the job.. but there was a caveat. i could not have my august to remember where i planned to run the appalachian trip with karl meltzer and the transrockies run with fellow montrail ultrarunner sean meissner. if i took all of august off, they would have to hire another guide to fill in since it's there busiest month. which means they would prefer to just hire another guide and i'd have to reapply next year... deal breaker.

how could i give these things up? i had just been in slc with karl discussing some logistics of the appalachian trail assualt. it kind of broke my heart. i first got them to give me an end date. it was aug 23rd. this meant i could still run the transrockies ultra with meissner. then i talked to karl and he was totally cool about it, and said i could meet him later in the adventure.

so after some time thinking about it and runnin scenarios in my head i decided to take the job. i will meet up with karl later on down the trail. i am sacrificing now because the job just seems like a great fit for me and will at the very least be an amazing experience. having worked for one of the best companies in the world at microsoft i was impressed with my visit to backroads offices in salt lake, and even more by the current employees.

it's seasonal employment and could be the perfect compliment to my life as athlete/coach and it will undoubtedly put me in some great locations to train! the bummer is i won't know until june 3rd where exactly i'll be. i have knowledge of the yellowstone/grand teton park area and the san juan islands so as a first year guide i'll most likely end up in one of those two places... cool with me. but i'm crossing my fingers for the yellowstone/grand teton spot as i'd be living in jackson hole - a place near and dear to my heart. plus lisa and jay batchen live there! (as a side note check out the interviews on endurance planet with jay and lisa).

so, i am heading to slc for 2.5 weeks of training on may 15th. june 4th i start guiding! things are about to get interesting.

Back from Chasing the Goat

i just got back late last night from a visit to salt lake city. i flew in on tuesday morning. the wasatch speedgoat, karl meltzer and his awesome wife cheryl were cool enough to let me stay with them. after some catching up, karl and i hit the office to discuss karl's appalachian assault and my role in that. talking about it i found myself awash with these intense feelings of anticipation ~ this is going to be soo cool! what an epic to be a part of. karl was fresh off a 47 mile day in zion, and he seemed as fresh as a daisy. the appalachian trail record is going down my friends, down.

karl lives at the foot of some amazing mtns, and even though the snow level is low for this time of year we had plenty of trail to scratch our hooves on! with my hip issues looming i wasn't sure how it would feel. well the last 4 miles hurt like hell. i made the call after this run to remove the extra insole. by my math my hip had gotten noticeably worse since using the extra lift.


thanks so much karl and cheryl for your hospitality!.. you guys are awesome and i'm soo looking forward to our adventure on the appalachian trail in august.

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day two i took my extra insole out and enjoyed the later part of the run much more than the previous day. the lift had slowly caused massive amounts of pain in my glute. we did about 13 miles with some 3,300 ft of gain near the university... and threw a quick nuun photo shoot in there too.. sweet stuff.

Some Nonsense

right now i'm hurt and it sux. there are many good things happening in my life which i'm very very excited about. but i can't get over the fact that my hip is a mess. i have two pt's on the case... there has been a bike crash on that hip and a history of imbalance so it's muddy water. i might even have two different length legs. so for the last week i've been wearing an extra sliver insert in one of my montrails. i can't say that things have changed really. yesterday i was treated to some april knee deep powder. with some trepidation i headed to snoqualmie with my long time adventure buddy steve copson. we had some amazing turns. it's pretty awesome how some good high speed powder skiing with a buddy can make you feel. of course i had to "test" the hip out after that and an easy 2.8 mile trail run left me walking the last 100 feet. it feels like i have a torn glute muscle.

i'm headed to salt lake city to pursue an interesting opportunity... more on that later.

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also check out the whereskarl.com website. as i've mentioned i'm starting karl meltzer's appalachian assault with him on mount katahdin in maine. we'll be running 47 miles a day for 6 days covering the 281 miles of AT in maine. karl of course is continuing on in an effort to break the speed record on for the entire 2,174 miles of AT... maine to georgia baby. i like to say "if anyone can do it, it's karl". he'll have a gps with him and with this site you will be able to track and follow along from online... pretty cool.

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"You only ever grow as a person when you spend time outside your comfort zone"- Percy Cerutty

i'm about to get very uncomfortable...

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i had to share this passage from the cookbook wholefood by jude blereau i just picked up from the library: "It seems that we have forgotten what good food really is, where it comes from (not plastic-wrapped from the supermarket) and what it should taste like. Once look at a school cafeteria, hospital, workplace cafeteria, bakery or corner shop will show you exactly what I am talking about: food with little flavor, loaded with refined sugar and damaged fat to give taste. It is manufactured with the cheapest of compromised ingredients. Today, even fresh produce is grown to last - superficial and tasteless." She goes on, "Refined and processed foods give nothing to your body; in fact, they take away as your body tries to digest them. These foods cannot sustain you; they cannot nourish you."

when i thought about this a bit i am reminded of something i read about tomatoes. conventionally they are grown to be tough, not tasty. off the top of my head the other foods that i can remember thinking... "wow, this tastes waaay better organic" are avocados, raisins and best of all orange, red, and yellow peppers... and strawberries! oh the goodness.. i challenge you to try and go a whole day eating just whole foods. and post a comment on how you feel.

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i just bought this song by saul williams from the new nike commercials. it is fantastic. listen to this song on your next run - it is impossible not to run fast! ~ "I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand".

Karl Meltzer's 2008 Coyote Two Moon Race Report

nuun ultrarunner karl meltzer was cool enough to pass on a quick report on the dos lunas 100 miler he smoked last weekend.

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Karl Meltzer's
Coyote Two Moon 100 Mile Race Report

Coyote Two Moons is not labeled a "race". It all begins with a group run at the Pt. Mugu State Parknear the beach in Sunny California. This 7 mile loop is a classic in this area with stellar views over thePacific Ocean. The evening kicks off a talent show won by Roch Horton and fellow Volunteer "Wild Bill". They played a tune on the Mandolin and Ukelele....It was awesome! Day two is a run at your leasure at Pt.Mugu Park again to the summit of Mt.Mugu, another peak overlooking the ocean, along with the seaside Coriopsis in full bloom made the run extra special. Now we move to Ventura for Bowling night where beers are flowing hard and strikes are few and far between...unless you are Dean Dobberteen who rolled a 206! Friday the clan moves to "Rancho Grande" in Los Padros National Forest where the start/finish is staged. I was not there for the BBQ as I had to pickup my wife Cheryl at the Burbank airport. Cherylprovide me with mental support and superior crewing as always. I arrived back at the S/F at noon to preparedrop bags. It was simple, two lights and 60 gels in three seperate bags.

The "race" or shall we call it "fun run" starts at 4pm for the slowest runners on Friday evening, the second wave at 6pm, then 9pm, then 2am (ouch). I started with the faster guys at 6am, a fairly normal day for us. For those that started on the first full moon, they certainly had there work cut out for them as two evenings of darkness awaited...not to mention some sleep deprivation.

The run started out quickly up a 1500' hill. I ran it all and put about 1 minute on the other 4 I started with (AJW, Hiroki, Justin, Clifton) as I ran up everystep. It felt way too easy, my legs were fresh again...it had been a long time since I felt this way. I slowly put time on the field only to be caught by Justin Angle at the Sisar aid station at mile 17. Justin's 9 foot long stride kept him in it on the downhills. We turned around for the climb out of Sisar, from there I never looked back and ran the entire climb out and on my way to the Ojai ridge where I met Chris Scott (the RD) to put on the leaders hat.It was a hot beanie with the propeller on the top. Classic Coyote fun! The propeller spun faster and faster as I descended into Rose Valley where on my return trip up to the ridge I had opened up at least a 21 minute gap. From this point the sun heated us up heading to Thatcher aid station mile 50.2. I turned back to climb to the ridge and had been climbing for 39 minutes before I saw Justin and AJW coming down. At this point I knew I was gone daddy gone as long as I held together. I still had no pain issues at all, so I was confident I would hang tough. We dropped steeply back to Rose Valley, and on my return over 1 hour back at the ridge, AJW and Justin were nowhere to be found. I proceeded to cruise all the way down to Gridley Top...then Gridley Bottom. This was the nicest singletrack of the day as I just cruised down then ran most of the 3000' climb back up. I met AJW and Justin at the ridge and the gap was 2hr 20min. One more big descent into Cozy Dell and back up and gap grew to 3hr20min, from there I chatted with the Easter Bunny(Chris the RD) and just cruised to the finish. It was a textbook performance, and had I been pushed I had more in the tank if I needed it.

Although this was not a race "persee", I went to this run focused on running well and being the first to cross the tape. It makes number 23 in the 100 trail win category. I have to keep this going as a few younger guys could certainly break this record as they get older.

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congrats karl!

Laid Up and Blogging

i'm laying around recovering. although i heard each day you should feel considerably better, today seems a lot like yesterday. i can just barely get up off the couch on my own. it's one of those things where you can do it, but it hurts, so i probably shouldn't. anyway, being couch/bed ridden this gives me some time to blog.

the last few weeks have also given me some time to reflect about my own training and how i coach other athletes (more to come on this one). on vacation i reread nutrition periodization for endurance athletes, and started reading daniel's running formula.

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karl meltzer and scott mason (wasatchspeedgoat.com) have posted some awesome trail running tip videos on youtube.com. "crashing is part of the deal". true dat.



karl also just did an interview with endurance planet, good stuff:

Play in Windows Media Karl Meltzer Play in RealPlayer Play mp3 stream Direct link to mp3 file

also check out the new montrail newsletter.

An Interview With Karl Meltzer, the Wasatch Speedgoat and 2006 Ultrarunner of the Year

[Karl is a friend of mine. I could have just asked him these questions on the phone and kept them to myself. But I figured the rest of the ultra world might be interested in what is going through his mind these days. So I asked him if I could post an interview. He was kind enough to oblige.]

For those uninitiated Karl Meltzer is the man. Last year, this man won six 100 mile ultramarathons, including two of the toughest; the Hardrock 100 and the HURT 100. Along the way he set four course records. So far in 2007 he’s won the Moab Red Hot 50k, the Massanutten 100, and the Big Horn 100 (course record). In July he also won the 2007 Everest Award for best outdoor athlete.

OK let’s get right to it. The whole (ultra) world is talking about Scott Jurek’s comments about Dean Karnazes on EndurancePlanet.com. What is your take on that situation?

KM:
As far as I am concerned it is their deal, The whole controversy between Scott and Dean is really between them. I do agree with Scott that the media should recognize the real champions. When Dean Karnazes wrote his book and was on David Letterman promoting it, it is hard to say if he knew he would be labeled as “Americas greatest runner�, but it happened and now we have controversy. And Dean is NOT the best Ultrarunner out there. I am sure he knows that.


First off let me just say that the front runners at this years Hardrock 100 made it soo exciting to watch. You are all amazing! How did the race go for you? Will you be back next year?

KM:
The race went as expected, Scott, Mark Hartell, Ricky Denesik and myself. I completely expected this. The race was super fast at the halfway point, mostly because of the excitement and the perfect weather. I was just cruising the whole way and not really pushing the downhills much, my quads really weren’t all there, they were about 90% ready, and in this race they needed to be 100%. Most of the ground I lost before Telluride was all the downhill. My strength is climbing and there I held my own. While climbing out of Telluride, for some reason I got very sleepy, and lost a lot of ground, when I made it to Chapman (mi. 85), I sat and got hypothermic and had to get warm before continuing. The two hour nappy-pooh was what I really needed. I had no intention of dropping, it is never in the gameplan.
I will not return to Hardrock next year, I have other plans. I will return in the future.


Just 6 weeks after Hardrock you and Jurek meet again in France for the Mont Blanc (160k/99.4 miles, with 9,000m/29,527ft vert gain). Which is just two weeks away now. How are you approaching this race? How are you feeling, recovered and healthy?

KM:
I feel recovered and ready to rip one off. As long as I don’t consume too much wine I should be fine. I plan on running my own race as usual, I do my best with this method. I will not focus on any other runners plans, only mine. I have a few secrets up my sleeve.


The press release on Mont Blanc made it sound like the field was stacked with all of Europe’s ultradistance elites. Who else do you see as competition?

KM:
I would have to say, the competition is real stiff. The last 4 winners are all present, as well as Mr. Koerner. I can’t really say much about the other runners mentioned because I do not know their history. Any way you look at it, it’ll be fast start and just hanging till the end will be tough.


How in the world do you run so many 100 mile ultras? It simply doesn’t seem possible to be recovered enough to run so many. Let alone be winning and setting course records. How do you recover after a 100 to get ready for the next one?

KM:
I recover well be not running much for a week after my races, my body gets to heal quickly this way, I play It by ear mostly and run how I feel. As far as my speed, it is the speed I run, remember we only go 5-6 miles per hour and that really is not that fast.


Let’s talk training a bit. What does your typical training week look like?

KM:
My weekly mileage is around 50-60 mountain miles, but really it is all how I feel. After I put on the Wasatchspeedgoat 50K I was fried and took a mandatory 5 days off, now I feel back to normal. Again, it goes back to running how I feel.


How many miles a week do you average? And how many miles is your big week before a taper?

KM: I average about 50-60 mountain miles a week, I usually take a couple of extra days off the week before the race.


Where do you find the motivation to train?
KM:
Just love to run, I don’t’ really train, I consider it time to just go out and play in the mountains. I sometimes think of the people out there that work all day, knowing I will always avoid that whenever possible is a great motivator.


What’s next after Mont Blanc for you Karl?

KM:
The Bear 100 is on September 28, the record is soft and ready to be broken. If I can find a willing runner to compete with at the Trans-Rockies Multi-day race I might do that instead and chase the $4000 in prize money. We’ll see.


You and the other Wasatch speedgoat (Scott Mason) recently put on your first trail race, the Wasatch Speedgoat 50k. What was the motivation? How did it go?

KM:
Scott and I have always talked about putting on a race, and it finally became a reality when I left working at Snowbird. This time I got to watch people suffer on my home turf….I was not disappointed. I want this race to be the best in the US, with the venue we have at Snowbird it is a great possibility, and putting a race on where headphones are very much accepted is nice as well. The USATF banned headphones, who needs an organization that just wants to tell us how to run.

What other products to you use [sponsor plugs please]?

KM:
I have many sponsors, RedBull is my greatest supporter with a large chunk of my travel money covered. Montrail has been supporting me since 1999 and have been great sponsors. First Endurance products are the best out there and help me recover very quickly. Its amazing how I have done so well since using these products starting 3 years ago. Powerbar supplies all my gels and are very efficient and generous, much better than any other gel sponsor. Petzl for the best lights, Ryders eyewear for my sunglasses. Nathan Sports are also the best packs and Bryce at Nathan made me a custom fanny pack to suit my needs, this is the kind of support we appreciate so much. Nathan also has an incentive program for me as well as a small travel stipend. NUUN also supplies me with an electrolyte drink that is out of this world and always refreshing when I drink it. All of my sponsors are first class and without them I would not be living the dream life of an ultrarunner.

Best of luck to you at Mont Blanc. We’ll all be following along online! And thanks for the interview!
Hart