Episode 126: Jane Maus' Mountain Training Mindset - From the Grand Teton FKT to Black Canyon 50K Champion

Hey, hi, hello. Welcome back to Trail Society, produced by our friends over at Feisty Media.

I'm your host, Corinne Malcolm. And today's episode would not be possible without our incredible

support behind the scenes at Feisty. A huge thank you to the amazing women who keep this show running

like a well-oiled machine. Give them a follow on Instagram at Feisty underscore media,

and check out the website for more information on other Feisty podcasts at Feisty.co.

You can sign up there for their incredible newsletters that will keep you up to date on all things

women's sports. Today on the podcast, I get to sit down with the incredible mountain athlete

and recent Black Canyon 50k women's champion, Jane Moss. Jane is a board certified registered

dietitian with a deep passion for sports nutrition based in Boulder, Colorado. She has a bachelor's

degree in exercise science and nutrition and a master's degree in nutrition and dietetics.

Jane is also a professional trail runner and mountain athlete for Arcterix. A 2025

world's mountain and trail running US team member and currently holds the fastest known time

for women on the round trip of the Grand Teton. To put it plainly, Jane is fast. Jane currently

works as a sports dietitian for mountain sports nutrition and when she's not running up and down

mountains, you'll find her rock climbing, riding her gravel bike, baking new flavors of scones and

enjoying really good coffee. I so enjoyed getting to connect today with Jane. I don't want to say

we're new fans of Jane, but her 2025 and early 2026 does firmly cement her in our favorites bucket.

And even if she has to walk uphill both ways to race starts this year, we're excited to follow

along. If you would like to find out more about Jane, you can connect with her over at mountain

sportsnutrition.com or over at wildstridespaper.com where she provides nutrition coaching for their

wildstrides coaching collective. And finally, a huge thank you to our producing partners

over at feisty media. Follow them over on Instagram at feisty underscore media or go over to their

website feisty.co to see what they've got cooking up. Truly, their women's sports newsletters have

been chefs kiss the Olympics cycle ones have been top notch. We'll catch you next week or until then

we'll see you out on the trails. Jane Moss, welcome to the pod. Thank you. I'm stoked to be here.

I am so stoked that we made this happen. I was like trying to get you in after such an amazing

race of Black Canyon 50k. Thank you. Yes, there's a fun race. We'll get to talk about it ripping off

the bandaid 2026 well underway, but I've been starting all these interviews this year with kind

of the same question. And that is what is something you wish people knew about you. I'll go first.

My brothers and I all share the same middle name, which feels like my parents just didn't want

a hyphenate our last name. Like a little lazy, you know. Yeah, that's kind of cool though. Yeah,

it is. My youngest brother goes by our middle name. He goes by quickly as his first name. And so I

feel like he stole it. I was like, it's our name, but now he goes by quickly. So we'll let him have it,

but I feel like it was a little bit lazy on my parents part. That's kind of cool though. Yeah,

what about you? Okay, something I wish people knew about me. I would say I I stroll getting

to start lines of races. I feel like my coach knows this a lot of close friends and family know it,

but I feel like for as many races as I can remember, the one or two weeks before the race,

like something will happen, whether it's like a fall or an old injury or a new injury or something,

where I panic call my coach and we go through if I should start the race or not and like come up

with a dropout plan in case something clears up. And I'd say I part of it is I'm a little bit of

a head case, but also I'm really unlucky in the weeks before races. So like to some extent, it takes

off the pressure of me on like pretty much every start line I've ever been on because I feel

lucky to just be there, but it's it's like a tumultuous week before pretty much every start line.

I can remember. That's crazy because you've had amazing, amazing results, but I do think it's

interesting that it is this like new mental thing where you're like, well, I'm just happy to be here.

Like what a great headspace to be in. Yeah, which is why I wish people knew it because I'm oftentimes

on start lines and sometimes I'll end up doing pretty well, but getting there was like the biggest

battle in the week before. Like I love it. That's going to I'm, you know, I do a lot of like the race

previews with Dylan Bowman and free trail. So I will make sure that makes it into our our next race

preview with you in it because they'll be like, well, just so you know, because Dylan will have you,

he's going to have you in his top three on a prediction. And I'm going to be like, well, just so you know,

she's probably had some uphill battle. She walked uphill to school both ways to get to the start

line. Yeah, you've been listening to the pre-black candy one. I was like, no, don't put me there

because I don't even think I can start. But then it ends up working out turns out it's fine. We

like this. We're going to bring this into 2026 for us. This isn't a problem, I think. It's not.

Oh, I've learned to expect it and deal with it. Okay. Well, we're going to back up a little bit

because I don't think our audience is going to know you a little bit. Your name has popped up on

a handful of results over the last several years. I feel like they definitely popped up initially

for me in some of your early Cirque series racing, I want to say. And then I feel like 2024,

2025, we were getting like really hyped for you on start lines. But you grew up in Salt Lake City.

And while that is now like a trail mecca, you know, like there are amazing showrunners who live

there. There are amazing races. You know, we're inherently a runner growing up. So I'm curious

about your background with sports and your relationship to movement in general. Yeah, so I did

grow up in Salt Lake was born and raised there. I grew up playing sports. I was a, I've been a

lifelong athlete. My parents put us in all sorts of sports growing up. But the main two that I

focused on were soccer and track and fields. So I was in pretty competitive track and field

in middle school and into high school where I focused on sprints. So I always knew I was

relatively fast. But I would say soccer was my main focus. And even in high school soccer,

me and Grace and Murphy were high school teammates. So we went to the same high school. No way.

And played on soccer together. And we were always the two fastest on the team. And we would

like compete in our conditioning. And we'd be like, who's going to be who today? And then kind

of seeing her take off was really cool to see. But it kind of deep down. I was like, I feel like

I could also be really good at running because just like growing up with her and see how

I'm like, how her career has just taken off. But then focused on soccer. And then in college,

I ended up playing one year of soccer at a division three school of Minnesota. And then once I

aged out of kind of like team sports and stopped playing soccer running. I mean growing up

doing soccer and track and field running. It's like the form of activity that I knew.

So I just kind of kept running. Signed up for a road marathon as like a bucket list goal to see

if I could do that. But also growing up in Salt Lake, I grew up hiking with my dad and we would go

camping. And I spent a lot of time on trails. So then once I stopped playing college soccer,

I transferred back to the University of Utah. And just inherently found the trails again and

started running on trails. Signed up for a Cirque Series race to see what like trail racing was about.

And then kind of caught the bug and kept going from there. But yeah, grew up a lifelong athlete.

And then just being in a place like Salt Lake, even kind of before it exploded for trail running,

I was didn't like know that many trail runners out in Salt Lake.

Yeah, I feel like it's it's been on the up and up in the last like five or six years.

I guess a question in that regard. I know that you're a climber as well.

Did you grow up climbing or was that like a collegiate pastime?

I wouldn't say I grew up climbing. My dad took us on like a couple climbing trips,

just to kind of introduce us as kids. But I didn't start really getting into climbing until college.

I would say just joining a gym to meet people was kind of the main way that I got into

gotten to climbing. I feel like social being social is like a part a foundational part maybe

of your activity like climbing friends in Salt Lake City. Now running community in Boulder.

I guess can you just speak a little bit to like that community and social aspect of sport for you

because it is a huge driver for many of us even when running can feel like a very solitary activity.

Absolutely. And for me, I would say even I mean, it's changed a little bit up into this point.

But running's always been kind of my thing that I've I still do like 90% of my training alone.

But up until like I moved to Boulder last year. But up until then running was really my thing.

And my community was more in climbing like in Salt Lake, all my friends were climbers.

And we'd go to the gym with people and go on climbing trips with people. And then running was

the thing that I did as kind of like my time. And I would train for these races. And people

didn't really know what what I was doing. It was very I guess my solo activity. And my community

wasn't climbing. But then moving to Boulder last well June of 2024. The intention was to commit

more fully to running and to build that running community. And so since moving there, my community

is now very running focused. And I'm really like grateful for that. Like the amount of training

friends and partners that I've founded Boulder. And the communities that I feel like I'm a part of

it races. I feel like I still have that climbing community that I've built in Boulder. And I have

my climbing community from Salt Lake. But running's become much more of like a central community part

of my life that brings a lot of richness to it. I still do really enjoy my solo time running and

picking things to do on my own. But I think like having those training partners and having that

community or running and being surrounded by people that also have the same goals has really helped

me kind of like take myself to the next level. I guess with both climbing and running.

Yeah. And we'll dig into the Boulder bubble a little bit more in a sec because it is very special.

I've had a lot of friends who have lived there and still live there. And when it comes to running

or triathlon in particular, it's like, oh yeah, all of my friends are pros and they all win

Kona or Western states or Leadville or whatever. It's just very normalized there. So we'll talk about

that in a sec. But I want to still talk like still pull apart a little bit this like kind of early

trail love for you because I see the thread now even in 2025, 2026. It's this pull between like

long days in the mountains and running like throwing your body up and down ski resorts. It seems

more than anything. But you and I've listened to a number of podcasts with you and I think it's

really cool that like the Camino hike in Europe and the Colorado Trail were kind of foundational in

some of your earliest experiences with like linking long days outside. But that isn't like direct

contrast to I think a lot of the racing you've done recently. And I'm wondering kind of what love

of the outdoors maybe comes from that like long day side and how do you like find that same

sensation in a Cirque series race or Broken Arrow sky running race like what is that kind of

commonality. That's a good question. I really love like spending time on trails and spending time

outside and that's like a big reason that I do do trail races and that I trail running things

because I like love that I love the movement of running especially when you're on a cool trail

that's really inspiring. And I'm really like I did get into this sport from along from the

the longer things like the Camino and the Colorado Trail and I was like wow I really love

spending all day out here seeing like where you can push your mind and how you can push your body.

I think my main the main thing that I really love is the training and I get to spend long hours

out on trails and with races I do have have like that competitive bug in me. I wouldn't say I'm

like hyper competitive but races more feel like a celebration of all of the training that I've

gotten to do to get to that point which is why like I pick a lot of races well you can't really

pick races last minute anymore but I used to pick a lot of races like last minute of like oh I've

done all of this training that I really enjoyed this this race is something that I can like use

this training for I guess so I would I would view it more as I'm in this sport because I really love

being able to do the training and spend all the hours that I get to do each week but then as a

I guess more of a quote-unquote reason that I've been doing all the training is that then I can

use the fitness for something like a race and then he against all these other competitive women.

I like that it kind of goes both ways like I feel like you took those initial experiences on the

Camino or the Colorado Trail you're like oh I'm so fit because I've been hiking 20 plus miles a day

for weeks I should jump into a Cirque series and now I feel like you're training like a mountain

racer and you're like but now I have all this fitness and yes I can use it in racing but I can also

use it for big adventures and it is kind of this nice like it goes both ways and allows you to

fill the spirit sponge when it comes to you know getting time on feet for example.

Yeah absolutely yeah I'm I dig it

and it also like I'm pretty torn which I'm pretty torn between like do I like racing better or

do I like the objectives better which I still don't really know like what distance I like or where my

long-term goal's lie in the sport because it's like oh this sounds fun this is what I'm going to do

I've been training in a way that kind of reflects this like why not so that's also been a struggle

for me is like where do I want to and I don't really feel like I have to choose I think I can do

kind of it all and don't have to follow like a certain path but I do find

it's made it hard to decide like when I want to race and what I want to race or if I just want

to spend long days doing objectives. Yeah the menu's too big you know it's like you've

gone into a restaurant and the menu is like 10 pages long and you're like I really just would

like 12 options but now I have pages and pages of stuff and you're 2025 I think spoke to that

it was like golden ticket swing into doing a short mountain season but you were signed up for

ledville and I was like I chuckled like I didn't know the ledville piece until recently I just like

assumed that like you know pivot post black canyon being kind of a funky one in 2025

found like found like a great home for 2025 season in this like short punchy mountain stuff

worlds lined up really nicely and so I like died when I heard the ledville component of it because

I was like oh no there's still this bug here of like I really do want to go along like how do you

balance chasing excitement with chasing goals and you like you are competitive you are a sponsored

runner there is like some degree of like I don't know obligation or responsibility like how do

you balance those three or four things yeah which I think a lot of people chuckled at that because

it's it's kind of par for the course to me like oh this makes sense because you kind of do like

whatever you want your poor coach you know oh I know yeah and it's it's also I I have some

I do feel bad for my coach Rik Floyd I have some very chronic issues with my right side which

for many years it's caused me to take like many years off where I've like given up on running

many times because there's been like just these chunks of time where I'm like I can't figure out

what's going on I don't know if this is something that I can work through then I'll just take

a bunch of time off but I've gotten to the point now where I've learned to work through it I have

like a toolbox Rik's really good with helping me manage volume and such but I do I do still struggle

with like piecing together super quality trading block which has kind of taken all expectations

off me where if I feel if I like if I feel really good then I feel like I can line up for a race

whatever the race is I'm just like happy for it and I've found that my body does better with

like 50k in below distances because then I can train specifically for that and line up speedwork

out some long runs and such I really I really want to be able to do like the 100 mile stuff and the

100k plus and I like I was signed up for black canine 100k before the 50k because I really wanted

to do it and try for a golden ticket but I it's hard for me to train for that type of race

not get injured and then or to do the race and then not be in a whole afterwards for a while

because just things that I deal with with my right leg so I I love the short stuff and I love

the steep mountain stuff and I feel like my body likes that a lot better too and when I feel like

my skill set kind of lies in that arena but I have this like deep desire that I really want to do

100k's and 100milers and be good at that distance too um it's a lot of it's what what my body allows

me to do and what I can train for then that's kind of where I put my focus yeah and there's some

maybe there's some cool mountain objectives that will kind of maybe scratch scratch both itches

where you can be out a little bit longer but it's not the vert makes the distance not quite as

as long so yeah we'll see we'll see what happens I'd love to talk a little bit about

the move to Boulder I'm just kind of curious you know you we're living in Salt Lake City

I think at that point in time I could gone gone to the Midwest come back to Salt Lake City

gone back to the Midwest for grad school come back to Salt Lake City correct and then you're like

I'm going to Boulder what was the impetus between you know leaving the nest of Salt Lake City

great mountains in your backyard to move to another like running mecca in Boulder Colorado

I've been wanting to move for a very long time like I love Salt Lake I was born and raised there

but I was it was very comfortable and I was getting like kind of sick of it just knowing that I've

been there forever and if I don't leave I'll probably be here for the rest of my life and I just

felt like I would have been missing out on something like not trying something new or going

somewhere that I actually wanted to go and I mean a lot of it was just a deep dissatisfaction

of feeling so comfortable and like every aspect of my life like I had a nine to five at a hospital

working as a dietician I was in a really long-term relationship everything just felt like

like my job wasn't unfulfilling my relationship wasn't unfulfilling but I just like knew there was

more and I always knew that I could be a really good runner like I had a lot of people around me

telling me that if you commit more to this like you could probably pretty good and I had done

well at a couple races and I just I just like knew it in me but I wouldn't I was too scared to like

take that leap I guess and then my relationship ended that was like a kind of like a factor in

the point of like I don't really have to be in Salt Lake anymore and if I don't do this now I'm

never going to do it so I just feel like telling people I did it all once like I quit my job I

broke it with my boyfriend I moved to a new state and it all down yeah well like that's kind

of what happened but I didn't know where I wanted to move but I knew I wanted to move somewhere that

was I could like pursue running at a higher level so I was looking at and in a climbing area too so

like Bishop Flagstaff and Boulder were like on the top of my list I'm like where do I want to go

and I put out a question box on Instagram for Boulder I was like how do you find housing here

because everywhere I was looking for rent was like wildly expensive and Johnny Luna Lima messaged me

back and I didn't know who he was at the time but he's like I have a room that's cheap we live on

magnolia road and I was like why not let's do it and so I just felt like I was at a point in my

life I'm like if I don't do this now I'm never going to do it so and I also work as a dietician and

like I had a couple job opportunities in Boulder and so it just seemed like things were lining up

that I just ended up doing it and it also kind of seemed like the place was furnished it was my

family's in Salt Lake it was a super safe move where I was like if this doesn't work out I can

easily go back to Salt Lake but it was more of a deep feeling of I will regret this if I just stay

in Salt Lake and stay in this comfortable place for the rest of my life and never see what else is

out there for me I like it was like this comfortable place but you're like I'm going to move into a

furnished room on magnolia road of the bunch of runners which is like inherently maybe not the most

uncomfortable but it's definitely you know maybe getting outside of the comfort zone of what has

been home for forever yeah and I'm more of an introverted person so I was like deeply anxious and

for like the first couple months out here I was like in a whole locking myself in my room like

what have I done like I'm so lonely I don't know I don't know what to do but my mom's like just

stick it out you'll be fine yeah just you're living with like a bunch of fun people maybe just talk

to them um that's amazing I've talked to Abby Hall about this a bunch when it comes to the Boulder

phenomenon and I spent time I spent time in Boulder I've had a lot of friends who have lived there

over the years who were professional cyclists or triathletes or runners and there is this like

interesting Boulder bubble phenomenon in which it's just like excellence is kind of normalized

in a way in which it's like I don't know my friends just like one western states and one ledville

and everyone has a shoe contract like the community they're like obviously they're a quote-unquote

I don't want to say like normal people in Boulder but this excellence thing is just is very normalized

within that community and then the people you moved in with too like fit that bill as well so I'm

I'm wondering like how did it feel moving into the Boulder running scene in which it's like oh

the sky is the limit I could go do any of this stuff yeah it's uh it is like Boulder bubble is the

most accurate way to describe it it is so real um and it's very it was very intimidating to move

into like this this space in Boulder um and I was I was nervous too because Boulder does get that

reputation um so even in Salt Lake telling people I'm moving to Boulder like oh you're moving to

to Boulder like it's it's very elite and usually there um and I had been dealing with some like

knee pain at the time so I wasn't fully running and I was thinking this is either the worst idea ever

if I'm gonna go there and then be injured like I don't feel like it's a place I can live if I'm

injured I still feel that way because it is very intense and everyone's training at a high level

and the excellence is real here and if you were injured it could be like a defeating place to be

but I do think it like the house I moved into everyone there is a sponsored runner and I was

like the only unsponsored runner at the time but I felt like I could be at that level um and I really

always wanted to be so I did end up feeling like some sort of pressure of like all these people

are at this level I'm not I feel like I don't quite fit in um but it I would say it it pushed me

to like fine training partners and to reach out to people on like how can I achieve this goal of

like becoming a sponsored runner um so I think in some extent it was helpful but it's also and now I

feel like living here training at a high level for my sport I'm like I I'm doing what everyone else

here does I just like a normal normal a normal boulder person but it is very real that like whether

it's in cycling or triathlon or running or climbing there's this is like the hub for excellence

and it can be very intimidating if you're not in your tip top shape or if you're not racing where

I feel like if I were at that point I might go back to Salt Lake and stay with my parents for a

little bit because it's just kind of it gets to the point where it can be a little

little unhealthy yeah I could see the burnout being a real factor but on the other side of that now

you have people that are good friends who you've got a sponsorship question too you've got your

entry into trail running was like I'm signing up for whatever's available and now these people are

like oh this is what you should race or this is what you should run talk about like finally opening

the door and breaking out of your introverted shell maybe and leaning into like the positive side

of that community of like helping you establish professional running routes yeah and I would say

moving into that house so it was yeah Johnny Luna Lima Bailey-Qualturek and Chris Myers and

some good runners some good runners yeah and I I mean I knew Chris I knew of Chris moving in I was

like are you kidding me like Chris Rume or Chris is living is living across the house for me like what

and as I pulled up to move my things in Zach Miller was staying in the driveway and I was like what

is going on right now it was like a awe but I find that moving into that house was probably the

best thing I could have done for my running career because as I was running trails and putting up

certain segments like Johnny would tell to me like you're really fast like I feel like you have a

and at that point I was signed up for black canyon wanting a golden ticket and then he told me he's

like I feel like you could totally get a golden ticket and then they all started believing in me

and I was like it's really crazy to have these people believe in me when I wasn't sure like if I

was in my head about maybe um becoming a sponsored runner and doing well in certain races so they

they believed in me and then um they started like like I asked them questions too of do brands

reach out to you do you reach out to brands and then they told me that you reach out to brands and

I mean Johnny put on my radar he's like I feel like Loss Bertieva would be a good fit for you because

you're really good at scrambling he we went out for a scramble and he told me like I was one of

the best scramblers he'd seen and I was like these people are believing in me so honestly they

told me to just like cold email so I'd cold emailed Loss Bertieva um because that was my first pair

of running shoes that I bought in Boulder and they ended up emailing but me back which I wasn't

expecting and it all happened quite quickly it's kind of just like a I mean that they became

my first sponsor it was like a pretty small deal but it felt like I'm still super grateful for it

and it felt like a really big deal um but they like encouraged me and kind of helped me navigate the

process of like how it worked and then seeing how they were navigating with their sponsorships

and everyone else in Boulder.

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You've had a coach for a while. I know that your first coach was anime Flynn. How long have you

been working with Rick Floyd who we've mentioned previously? That's another perk of moving into

that house. I came into the house coachless because I had just been dealing with injuries for so

long but Bailey recommended me Rick Floyd. The house was like you really need to work with a coach

and I didn't really want to at the time because I was like there's new mountains in my backyard. I just

want to go play and Bailey told me Rick's really good with people who have been coming out of injury

and he's good at people who aren't super good at following training plans and kind of want to do

their own thing and so hopefully they're in biking and mountain adventures and running so I had a

call with Rick June of 2024 and it felt like a good fit so we start working together then. How has

he dealt with steering this kind of crazy ship that does have the tug of war of wanting to do a

little bit of everything of you know lining up for golden ticket races of pivoting of doing FKT's

like how has he been instrumental in I don't know helping to provide guidance or saying well why don't

we steer it back this direction if this isn't going to work out over here. He's been the best at that

and I attribute a lot of my success over the past like two years to him like learning my body and

learning the things that I want to do and framing in races and training and objectives that work

well with what I want to do but also what's going to work well with my body. He's gone to learn

my like training style and the way my body feels on trails like really well um he knows like

post race is a really tweaky period for me that I tend to want to jump back into things and I'll

look at other people's training and I'm like well this person's jumped right back into it and I do that

and I like always have the same injury pop up so he just knows that really well and he's like okay

like no matter what these two weeks we're going to take super easy um and we communicate like

probably every day of the week just kind of texting back and forth of like this is my body is feeling

should I rest should I do this um so the communication is super open but he's also learned

my strengths very quickly and very well um and every race or objective I do he ends up like

predicting my time like to the minute like even on the grand teeton he knew my time what it would be

and I was like you are 30 minutes off and black canine he predicted my time like to the minute um

but he like I'm always telling him I want to like for for a golden ticket or for black canine

for instance I'm like I want to go for a golden ticket he's like I know your body I know that's not

the smart thing to do this early in the year this is kind of where your strengths lie but he's very

open to me sharing with him what I'm interested in doing and then he'll give me race suggestions

that will um kind of like match what I'm interested in doing and then I'll the objectives mostly come

from me and like this is an objective I want to do and then he will come up with races that are

kind of similar to that and then our training will kind of blend all of those together but it's

I would say my training with Rick is a very day-by-day basis we just communicate based off of

kind of the vibes that I'm feeling and the races that are interesting to me and the objectives

that are interesting to me um and he he guides it in a somehow like I don't really know how he

does as good of a job as he does with like knowing what I'm gonna do well at what I want to do

we're just very much on the same page at this point he yeah I I love Rick I've known Rick for

probably 12 or 13 years now he met at a US mountain running champs back in bend forever ago um

and pass athletes back and forth frequently so Rick is Rick's good but Rick has a squad

and while running is individual there is this community element there's this like almost team

element even if you're not competing for the same brand and so I you know was blown away and not

surprised that for example like the almost the entire women short trail team for worlds were

Rick Floyd athletes like what does that I guess feel like when you guys are lining up at broken

arrow or kodiak or black canyon and you know in a way you're not teammates because you know someone's

running for ultra someone's running for hoca someone's running for for our terex but

you guys do have this commonality with like Rick as the glue like just like what what is that

like I'm super curious it's so fun and he doesn't coach that many athletes like he keeps his

roster pretty small but as in like a lot of my friends now in the trail community are through Rick

I'd say I've become really good friends of Lindsay and Helen because Rick is also our coach um

and it's it's just fun like we have joking competitiveness between each other like me and Lindsay

joked that at black canyon our main goals were to beat each other but it's all in it's all ingest and

we like it's just a it's cool to all have that connection that we're all coached by the same

person and we're all in group text together and it feels like such a such a community that

I don't really think any of us care like who beats who on the on the start line are like how

we all just want each other to do well and it's cool to be part of that like our shared community

is that Rick Floyd is our coach but he makes he makes such a community of it and now we're all going

out to Madira as like our Rick Floyd retreat I guess he's like I want all my athletes to get this

race together um so I don't I don't see it as any like competition lining up against the start

line against another athlete it's coached by Rick but he was talking about how for Broken Arrow

because so many of his athletes did Broken Arrow and we all follow the most different training which

I think is really cool like you look at me Helen Lindsey's training it's all wildly different but

then we're all able to compete like at a pretty similar level with each other but I think it'd be

it'd be hard for him to coach us all for the same race and want us all to do well um

but having on the world's team was kind of special because in a way like you guys in that event

obviously like only one person can win the race but you are racing for team there so that was

kind of like the perfect amalgamation of Rick Floyd's like gang of crushers all coming together

under one like like one umbrella totally um yeah that's like the perfect example of we're all

on the same team even though we're all competing against each other and he ended up coming out for

that race too so that was another kind of like Rick Floyd celebration we were joking in the three

days prior to the race that all of our like taper training was so different even though we were all

training for the same race it's like oh Helen has 70 minutes today Jane only has 30 Lindsey has

45 minutes with strides we were like Rick why is our training so different we're training for the

exact same run because you're all individuals and it totally it totally is that through and through

I want to kind of follow this thread and Rick is part of this because Rick made the suggestion I

think in part to go after the Grand Teton FKT but it's also this kind of like competitors to teammates

element that is also a through line of 2025 i.e. Jasmine Lout there was also going after this FKT

you guys know each other you're now teammates on our tariffs but I guess like tell us a little bit

about you know lining up the Grand Teton ahead of worlds it's a premiere FKT it's a mountain test

piece I think it really aligns on your strengths but like what was the impetus behind putting that

as your August focus yeah and the so the Grand Teton's kind of the first I've gone after a couple

other FKTs not like super notable this was the first like yeah mountain FKT that I decided to go

after and really true like mountain objectives starting the year Rick did put it on my radar

as something that he's like I feel like you would be good at the Grand Teton and that was mind

blowing to me because my dad had done it a long time ago and I view it as like a true rock climb

and I'm like I don't have mountaineering experience you're necessarily a ton of like true mountain

rock climbing experience so I kind of saw that when Rick recommended that I'm like that's crazy but

that would be like so cool and then another friend brought it up to me as something that I could

maybe be good at like have you ever thought of the Grand Teton and the Macolino stuff was kind of in

the news more setting it was on people's radars and I was like that's weird my coach just thought

of like just recommended that to me too and then the guy I started dating like last year was like

have you ever thought of doing the Grand Teton I was like why is everyone telling me to do this

are you guys all talking to one another like where is this coming from exactly like I guess it's

maybe something that I could be good at because there's a runnable part a scrambly part a more

technical part and I have experienced in that and I move all that type of terrain so then

I was debating between because people had bit that on my radar and it sounded way funner but I was

also signed up for the Leadville 100 because a classic tale exactly right very similar events

yeah because I was with Las Porteva and I've always wanted to run a hundred miles it just seemed

like cool so I was psyched on Leadville but then I knew I couldn't do both of them so I ultimately

decided to do the Grand Teton because I made the world's team which I also wasn't expecting

and doing the Leadville 100 knowing how in the past I've recovered poorly from really long events

I was like I just can't do Leadville and Worlds so I decided to prioritize Worlds and then the

Grand Teton talking to Rick about it is would be really good training to do something like with that

much elevation gain being at altitude pretty similar to the world's course so I decided to the

Grand before like really talking to him about it so I was kind of nervous when I called him I was

like Rick I'm gonna go for the Grand Teton FKT I don't know if you'll approve and he's like that's

actually a great idea I think it'll be great training for the Worlds course go for it so I decided

to go for that so I spent all of August out in Jackson kind of working on that as my first true

mountain objective and even going out there having never been on those trails having never been up

the Grand Teton I had no idea if it was something that was even within my wheelhouse watching videos of

it and knowing that it does become like a five five rock climb at the top so I went in with the

expectation of spending the whole month out there but also training in the Teton's is great

training for Worlds as well so it would have been a win either way I like that you're going out

there being like well we'll see I guess I'm gonna go preview it and just like hope I don't hate it

I mean I don't think that was gonna happen but it is kind of like ongoing and blind to the

subjective where I'm gonna preview it a number of times and kind of get my get my legs under me

before going for it at the same time you also know that McLean was partner Jasmine has been talking

about going after it and for the most part FKT's are very independent individual events they

have their time trials they the times can stand for years and years and years before someone else

goes for it you know so it's kind of it's unusual in a way when all of a sudden we have

back to back to back throwdowns on the same FKT maybe outside of like the pandemic where we had a

bunch of that kind of like group up on certain certain routes like the Wonderland Trail went down

like every four days for like three weeks or something in 2020 what was it like all of a sudden

knowing that you know you're you're this is your new test piece you're gonna be there you know

projecting this thing and there's this other very talented mountain athlete who also may or

may not be projecting this thing like what was that experience like yeah it was so cool and so

unique and I feel very lucky to have been a part of this whole like grantee Tom thing that

conspired with all of us going after it when I initially decided to go put a grantee Tom I didn't

know she was going after it um and then getting confirmation once we were both out there that we

were both going after it um I will won't lie I felt quite defeated um I'm like there's like

our partners make it you know she's such a strong mountain runner there's where there's really no

way I can do this and then as she was throwing down her times on it I got like more and more

defeated throughout the process um but really cool also to kind of both be working on the same

objective it was more of a kind of like race vibes as opposed to like FKT vibes um because I mean

who's gonna go for it first who's gonna get the time here and it's really unique for an FKT to have

like two strong women going after the same the same thing um but even the day I went for it after she

had put down the supported time and the unsupported time the week prior I had ran it um in four hours

and 20 minutes on a pretty hard effort thinking I'm gonna scout the mountain today if I get it great

so kind of it was like a mini effort of hopefully I can get it this day and I was five minutes off

the unsupported at the time um and then she had ran four hours and six minutes for the unsupported

so at that point I was like I came home to my partner and was like pretty sad I was like this

is not happening this summer I called Rick and I was like she just threw down these times there's

no way this is happening um so I had I would say zero belief that I would actually get it until like

the actual day it happened things and I'm just ended up lining up um but it was it was cool to

do the process with her and we had a barbecue one night and we'd see each other on the trail and it

was very like cordial we became friends throughout the whole process um I would say it was all

friendly competition but really cool experience to get to share it with somebody else yeah I

and so so just to like set like everything out for people who don't understand maybe like

supported and unsupported FKTs so she did it supported with mechalino in 351 and then unsupported

so solo by yourself in 406 and then you were going for the unsupported time what was your

ultimate time that you ended up throwing down at the end of August I ended up running three 45

so freaking fast I can't believe it like the perfect day I guess tell us a little bit about

you know you have some doubt you you time trial it kind of in a low key way of like it was a soft

attempt let's say where it was like maybe it all comes together that'd be great in 420 that's 15

minutes off the 14 minutes off like the new unsupported at that point yeah how do you go from 420

to 345 I still don't know um but the like the day so I ran 420 on that Monday and then a

weather window was coming in it was bringing a bunch of precipitation so that Friday was my last

opportunity to go for it and I really felt like I had nothing to lose because it's my the last

effort I'm going to get um might as well give it my all but I still had pretty fatigue legs because

I did it that same week um earlier but I think a big part of it which kind of aligns with a lot of

my racing is I had no expectations and whatever happened happened um but yeah everything

I would say lined up the weather was perfect um I started out as hard as I could comfortably

sustain to get to the top and I'm like if I explode like I really have nothing to lose so I might

as well and I found that with racing too that if I go out harder than I think I can more times and

not I've been able to sustain that throughout the race so I think racing has given me confidence

that I can go out harder than I think and still be okay um but things just like I followed my

line perfectly like the tops pretty route-finding and I followed it perfectly and then on the descent

which I lost a lot of time on the attempts before um because I'm not I've never viewed myself as

the strongest downhill runner like the strongest technical downhill but I just like entered this

flow state that I've never really entered before where I just totally shut off my brains like I don't

care if like I roll my ankles or like if something happens I was just like able to go and I think

most of my time was gained on the technical top section descending and the technical um from like

the upper saddle to the lower saddle which is more like scrambly screw fieldy um that's for most

of my time was gained from mostly a mental perspective I would say I just shut off my brain and

just like sent it and I knew once I got to the summit my time was a few minutes faster than I'd ever

done so it was like the FKT is it's reaching right now and I was like I really don't want to leave

anything on the table and have any regrets when I'm done so I'm just going to send it um oh

I it's so crazy and then I guess the to put a bow on it right this was like in prep it was a

it was a don project but it was in prep for being on the short the short trail worlds team in September

and a September how did it work did it line up was a good was a good practice for racing in

Confronk and running through the Pyrenees on some trail that was defined and maybe some trail that

was a little less defined yeah I would say it was perfect training I kind of viewed the two as

separate objectives like I want to I want to put in the work to get the FKT on the grand Teton

and then I will go to worlds and kind of hope the training translates so I wasn't really like

Rick knew it would be good training to train on the grand for worlds but I wasn't really viewing it

this is my training block for worlds I kind of view them as two separate things that I really like

to do well at but I can't picture like better training than going up and down the grand Teton

then for the world's course because time on feet like three to five hour efforts on the grand

and then worlds end up taking me like five and a half hours like very steep just relentless ascending

and descending I think that the training lined up perfectly and ended up doing way better than I

thought I would have worlds like I didn't know if I would anticipate top 10 or top 30 because I

didn't really know much of the start list going into it and I don't know I didn't know much of

the international competition I've never raced on an international stage before but it ended up

feeling like as I was on the world's course like the steep steep thousand foot climbs and the

descents and like this feels like I was on the on the grand a little bit less technical but still

super technical um definitely not a classic trail race so I would say the both of those objectives

being kind of my focuses of the summer were very much in line with each other and it worked out great

I love it when the mountain play translates well to a big international stage race I want to

before we talk about 2026 I do want to touch base a little bit on kind of again I'm continuing to

call it the like teammates to competitors competitors to teammates through line here but it's just

like I love it like you battle jasmine for the grand t-town fkt and now your teammates you

signed a new deal our new contract with end of the year you are now an arcteric athlete officially

tell us a little bit about kicking off this new partnership like that's incredibly exciting

thank you I'm thrilled about it um and I'm honored to be teammates with jasmine I think it's

gonna be so exciting um I I feel like I've been because I really like mountain objectives and I really

like the racing aspect of things I wanted I was intentional with the brand that I wanted to be

with I think that's initially why I wanted to be with lost portiva because there are more

mountain focus brand um and they prioritize racing as well as mountain objectives so being

with a brand like arcterics they are very stoked that I race and compete they don't require it and

they don't require me to do any certain races they just are like whatever you feel like doing

in the mountains do it at a well like at a high level we support that so I was intentional of I

don't want to let go of my mountain goals and my fqt goals but I also want to continue racing

and competing at the highest level so the combination of those two being with a brand like arcterics

is honestly like my dream it's like I feel like such a good fit for me um and they're putting a lot

of effort into the trail space right now I feel like a lot of people don't think of them as a trail

running brand because they're definitely a mountain brand a climbing and skiing brand but

the amount of effort they're putting into trail right now feels really special to be a part of

um and being with other like-minded athletes like jasmine who also has fqt objectives and

kills it at the racing scene um like being teammates with Emma Cook Clark who does the same thing

it's just like it's really cool that they respect both and that was something that I was intentional

about wanting to be with a brand that does allow me to also push myself in the mountains

and if I end up only doing mountain objectives like they're totally cool with that too like I

don't have to keep racing but I really want to do both and be able to balance the two

I was gonna I was gonna ask like are they helping to shift your focus or like steer the ship at all

and it seems like they're not and that's all that's honestly perfect for you yeah and I

yeah I would say they're I mean they're very open to whatever I want to do um which I love I

felt like getting into this sport and even moving to boulder like the

I have to go for these fast 100k's to get a golden ticket to follow the path of western states

in utmb which eventually I do really want to do like I'm doing ccc this year um but

and I felt like that was the only way to like make it in trail running but now that I'm realizing

oh I can be with a brand that also allows me to do what excites me and push myself on this

rocky scrambly terrain and prioritize it just as much um is is something that I don't want to let

go of and want to keep doing moving forward and they're totally supportive of that so that's a

gift that's really really special yeah I feel so lucky yeah but it does sound like you kind of

know what you want to do in 2026 which I think is a big deal knowing that your heart is pulled in

so many directions just a few weeks ago you kicked off the season and what I told Rick was a

tacticians win I was like wow what an amazing great race um you won the 50k at black canyon it

was a great competitive field what did it like what did it feel like ripping off the bandaid

it felt so good I was incredibly burnt out at the end of 2025 I've never really felt that way

before because I've never raced that much and put together such a solid season so I had just

needed time um but I was feeling so ready to race again for black canyon that it it wasn't my

a race per se I have other things during the year that I'm probably more excited for but I was

so ready to race and it felt so good to I mean I was 0% expecting to win like the field was

deep and I was hopeful for top five um so it was it was kind of like a dream come true being able to

win especially given that I DNF the 100k last year kind of sweet redemption on the course but

it just gets me super excited for the rest of the year knowing that I have I had that solid

performance under my belt um with a new brand which is cool too yeah what kind of uphill battle

did you have to get to the start line to make it happen given that apparently every race has its

own special uphill battle yes I actually put together like a solid seven eight week training walk

and I was feeling ready and then two weeks before the start I had this super sharp foot pain

mid-long run that I literally felt like I broke my foot and I went and got an x-ray I was like I

I literally broke my foot um and I didn't tell Rick because he would probably tell me to take a

few days off and stop running which is the smart thing to do so I did take a rest day and then he

texted me he's like what's going on I was like well I have all this foot pain um and so I just ran

flat for the rest of the week and it started to clear up and I was like okay we're out of the woods

and then on the downhill of my run the Monday of race week all the pain came back I called them

in a panic and I was like I don't think I can race and so he's like well do you have your flights

I was like I already have my flights I'm just gonna go out to the start line and people were asking

me like well how are you feeling I was like well pretty bad I don't know if I'm gonna be able to

race and they're like you always say this this is normal for you um but it was it was like bad

pain right got imaging um didn't end up being anything the race went fine but I ran three days flat

three days in a row flat before the race and Rick and I talked through a DNF plan and what's

safe to run through and if I get to bumblebee and it's in a lot of pain to drop out because I have

bigger goals this year but the race went well it turns out it was okay you bloody Lindsay Alice

and out there somewhere I saw her come come to the finish line coated in in blood from a bloody

nose I imagine not an elbow out there hopefully but who sounds willing she hit her chair she did

did she split it yeah it was not me that's good thank you for not pushing down our friend Lindsay

that would have been a bit brutal I have to imagine that the race felt a lot better than Kodiak

50k at the end of 2025 you talked about being burnt out the Rick Floyd crew needed to get their

qualifiers in many of you came out to Kodiak you guys all survived the 50k I'm really good

friends with Claire DeVo and so like watching you guys all get it done it was not pretty but you all

did it like reflecting on how bad that felt tell us a little bit about like how the race played out

from a I don't know energy perspective going out smart pulling off pulling off the win in

quite great fashion yeah my my Kodiak 50k in October and Black Canyon were like the most

different races thank goodness the first step of Kodiak being two weeks after worlds like I had

nothing to give mentally or physically like I was like I've never been so mentally like I've

never been so actively depressed during a race like every step I just didn't want to keep going

I came into the aid station at mile 14 and told the aid station I was dropping I was like I

can't drop just because my legs are tired so I squeaked it out but for Black Canyon I felt like I

had a solid training block I felt fresh ready to race Rick Floyd squad Lindsey Helen and I

did a downhill half marathon as kind of a joke in the beginning of January so that was kind of

a way to get some get some speed turnover so I guess kind of a tune up race for a downhill 50k

but yeah I just felt really excited and ready to race which I think having a good mindset for a race

it's longer is very important and necessary and the race I knew it would go out I knew Black

Canyon 50k would go out very hot which it did and I don't have like the leg speed of like Lizzo

Conor and Erin Moyer like they're a bit clever I was like okay like all the road girls are here

which terrified me on the start lines I'm like this is gonna go out hot we're gonna be doing like a

5.31 mile which I just I can't run that I don't have that speed so I started out faster than I felt

comfortable doing but knowing that if I explode like it's a 50k it's short enough but also it's

not my a race that if I do explode that's okay so I went out like I would say risky for me like a

lot of sub seven miles which is really fast for me but knowing that it's all downhill and then

I do tend to be a stronger second half racer and Rick has learned that about me and he's told

that about me and even talking through this this race strategy he's like if you aren't in the top

five going out this is gonna be a hard race to put yourself in that position later on so like

Burn some matches go out fast with the top people and coming in I was in fourth place for most

of the first half of the race I believe so in my head I had I'm getting top five in this race great

it's an awesome way to start the season and then I think the road girls who aren't that accustomed

to the trail and Black Canyon sneaky technical there's a lot of rocks there's a lot of little

climbs like looking at it it's net downhill seems like a really easy course but it's it's hard

and there's actually a decent amount of small climbs that add up that I think yeah my trail

background in my mountain background actually helped in a race like Black Canyon where I could

then sustain my effort for the second half of the race and pick people off which I've learned

and I'm kind of good at so that's that's a good strategy to have we love that strategy and it

did it paid off you won the race it was a really I think that was a very sweet victory to kick off

2026 with and I guess knowing that you have started to line up those goals for 2026 you mentioned

CCC at the end of August what does 2026 look like and how did Black Canyon factor into getting

the ball rolling this this has been something that's been an ongoing challenge and chat with Rick

too because I'm like I don't know what I want to do I can't figure out what I want to do so I finally

I think locked in my season plans Black Canyon was kind of a last minute sign up because I was

initially signed up for the hundred K I wanted to try for a golden ticket Rick talked me out of it

and I'm thankful for that because it is so early in the year to try something like that and I had

another enough other goals that I didn't want to put Western states as a potential on my list this

year so Black Canyon was kind of just like thrown in there Rick told me we're not really going to

tape or for it he's mainly training me for the rest of the season so that was kind of just like a

me race I want to do Black Canyon so I did Black Canyon I'm not racing until April I'm going to do

this year's again a mixture of things pretty random perfect we love it but I'm going to do

Calmoral Sky Race April 11th which is in southern Spain my first true Sky Race and that is two

weeks before Madeira where I'm doing the 56k beautiful and then I'm going to be doing meet the

Minitar which is in our Terrick Sky Race in Canada me and Jasmine and Emma are all doing that one

so that'll be it's beautiful I have not been there it is beautiful from all the images I've seen

though I'm so excited I was torn between that and broken arrow but I've done broken arrow before

so I'm just going to be doing meet the Minitar my main I would say my A-goal for the year is I want

to try for the world FKT which is a Ridge link up in the Wasatch that's had a special spot in my

heart for like my whole life and I've been wanting to try it for like the past six years and it's

never lined up so this year I'm going to do a lot of scouting on that and hopefully

try and put down a fast time what are the stats on it like distance for that kind of thing

yeah it is 33 miles 18,000 feet of climbing pretty much all scrambly Ridge so the women's FKT right

now is 18 and a half hours so that will be my longest effort I've ever done in my entire life so

it's a big objective to try and bite off but I'm I'm excited to try something longer

I think it's perfect again I mentioned earlier it's like okay the time on feet aspect is long

but it's like the right vert scramble to distance ratio I think I agree and this is one that has

also been put on my radar this is more one that like deep in my soul I want to do for me personally

but I've also had so many people tell me like this is perfectly up your skillset like go for the

world and there's not there's some fast women's times on it but kind of similar to the grand

not a not a lot of fast women have tried it so I think it could be cool to maybe get some more

fast women on it with Jasmine living in the Wasatch a little bit are you all of a sudden looking

at a dueling FKT we actually are I've heard that we're both going for it so some some

like guys have to eventually stray your goals but our our seasons this year are

disgustingly similar she's also doing Madeira but she's doing the longer one then she will be at

UTMB for the full hundred I'm doing CCCs she's doing meet the Minotaur we're like what is going on

yeah you guys have some parallel and that's okay I think that's like again it's the competitors

to teammates um through line here but I feel like that is both up your alley and it'll be cool to

like get to I don't know cross paths like share some beta figure out who's going first um that

will be very interesting yeah I'm excited to again hopefully have that competition again but

part of me is like oh this she's very good at the long stuff I feel like I'm good at the shorter

stuff so I could get around the grand but it's something like the world where it's like a 17 each

an hour effort you guys might be like meeting like maybe that yeah what does the distance change

over for you guys like what is the sweet like yeah maybe you have the three and a half four hour

effort she's got the the 18 to 20 hour effort like what is that that sweet spot yep because it

worlds I feel like if it were ten more miles she could have won because she just kept picking people

off she's yeah better the longer it goes so yeah she was in the long trail race there the 80k and

was fourth and was phenomenal yeah oh I love it okay well we've got a lot of things to cheer

you on at this year which is very very exciting and I know that you'll have an uphill battle to

every single one of those start lines and we can't wait to hear about the uphill battle every single

time um we'll be keeping a log of what's gone wrong in 2026 yep as you continue to ascend in the

sport which were just thrilled to watch I kind of ask a similar finishing question for everyone

and that is simply what is something that you know now that you wish you could tell your younger

self I would say to to trust your gut and if you like to trust your gut and to just go for

things because I feel like my whole life I have had a lack of self-confidence and a lot of self-doubt

and I still have a lot of that but I've taken some leaps um and trusted myself knowing that like

taking the running thing for example I know I will regret this if I don't at least try and then

it a lot of times things end up working out because deep down I knew that they would and I just kind

of had to take that scary leap and go for it same with nutrition like I worked in a hospital as a

nine to five dietitian and I really didn't enjoy it I was like I would love to work with athletes

and do my own things someday and I just kind of like quit the job and was floundering and like this

will work so like if I have that gut feeling of I don't want to I don't want to live with the regret

of what if I'm just kind of trust that things will work out they might not but a lot of the times

they do so just kind of like take that leap yeah there's this great Stephanie case quote and she's

got a million great quotes but one of them is like just asking yourself well what if it all works out

like that's kind of her mantra like what if it all works out and I think that that is very much

kind of indicative of you not burning it all down but taking a leap in order to to grow and excel

and that is incredibly exciting to watch I do I guess you mentioned like you're like the work

that you do a little bit and I want you to be able to I want people to be able to find you coming

off this podcast be it following along on social media or you are a dietician you work with

athletes so if you wouldn't mind telling people where they can find you online and if they are

curious about the work that you do for mountain athletes and nutrition where can they find that

information as well yes so my main social media would be Instagram so that's underscore Jane

Moss underscore I also am on Strava so if you want to follow my training I think Strava is a fun

place to see what people are doing fun photos fun captions but yes then I also work as a sports

dietician I work for Vic Johnson at mountain sports nutrition so you can find us at mountain

sports nutrition.com you can schedule a discovery call with me if you want to work on your nutrition

day-to-day or sports nutrition and then I also work for with wild strides which is Grace

and Murphy's coaching collective and training log company I do sports nutrition for their

athletes as well so that's wild strides on Instagram and yeah those are the main places you can find

me on my running or work on your nutrition I love now that I know that you in Grayson were

high school teammates I love like now I'm like oh my goodness it's so cool that you work with Grayson

your friends with Grayson still and you work with Grayson at wild strides that's very cool

yeah being on the world's team together and we both qualified for TV USA it felt such full

circle we were like high school teammates we were always good at running on the team the cross

country coach always tried to poach us and now we're on the world's team together now we work

together it was so special yeah that's amazing Jane thank you so much for joining us today this

was really fun thank you for having me it's been it's been great