What Mountain Biking Can Teach Ultrarunners About Fear, Confidence, and Racing Free | Lottie Brinks

Welcome to the Everyday Ultra Podcast, a show designed to help you level up your training,

crush your races, and ultimately become a veteran endurance athlete every single day.

Whether you're an endurance athlete as a hobby or someone who wants to be the best in

the sport, this is the show for you.

I'm your host, Joe Corseon, and thank you so much for listening.

Now, let's get into it.

What's up everybody, welcome to another episode of the Everyday Ultra Podcast.

I'm your host, Joe Corseon.

Well, actually today I will not be your host as I'm handing over the host reins to my

amazing friend, an incredible runner.

One of our everyday ultra coaches, Alyssa Clark, as she takes on the hosting role for this

episode to interview Lottie Brinks.

Now Lottie is a professional trail runner for Hoka.

She is an incredible athlete, former Golden Ticket winner, has tons of great results and

athletic accomplishments across her ultra running career.

She is one of the most insightful athletes that we've had on the Everyday Ultra Podcast.

I'm super excited to have her on here as Alyssa and Lottie Chat about all things running,

mindset, presence, and a lot of things that you can take away into your running as well

too.

Enjoy the episode with Lottie and Alyssa here.

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Yeah.

You're good.

Yeah.

Hello, everybody.

Welcome to another episode of the EverydayUltra podcast.

I am so excited to bring a guest who's been on before with Joe, but now I get to chat

with her.

We have Lottie Brings on the podcast.

Lottie, thank you so much for joining us today.

Well, I'm excited to be back, especially with you this time.

Yeah.

But how long ago was that?

Was it a couple of years ago that you were on with Joe or?

It was, I want to say, no, 2023, it was right before Black Canyon.

So about the same time of years now.

Nice.

And gosh, so much has happened since then.

I mean, you have had two top 10 finishes at CCC, an absolute scorcher ruin, desert rats.

You seem like the queen of gorge, waterfalls, and maybe are making a return appearance.

And just like so many amazing results.

And also just personally, I've heard incredible things about FUR in just our pre-chat before

this can confirm your legends.

So they, yeah, just excited to chat more.

Yeah.

I'm glad we finally hit record because we've been chatting for like 30 years before this

almost 90 years.

I was like, this happened so often, like, I should have just hit record.

We could have, you know, gotten into it earlier.

But here we are for doing it.

And so I guess how long you've been in trail racing for like five years longer than that?

I started during the pandemic.

So like 2020, I think I, I think my first race was in 2021.

That was in Dera.

But I started kind of like I ran in college, and then I took a long break from running.

And I kind of started again doing COVID.

And that's what ultimately sparked me getting into trail and off-training.

Gotcha.

Like COVID was a good time, I mean, it was not a good time.

It was a good time to get into, I think, endurance sports and be like, ah, maybe I want

to test that out.

And we are going to talk more about your running.

But I know that you've been pursuing another passion.

And I would love to hear about that.

So what is it?

And also what made you decide, yeah, I'm going to add this into the mix.

I, I assume you're talking about mountain biking.

Yes.

What is it?

How are you baking?

Because that's not a thing I picked up doing the painting.

Ooh.

I'm just kidding.

Um, yeah, I love mountain biking.

I think I've always loved bikes.

So in, I actually, like, did a good bit of mountain biking with my family as I could

kid in teenager, but nothing like I never raised, I never did anything like normally.

It was all just like cross country, just like fun times in a bike.

And then in college, I went to college in Savannah, Georgia, and I ran for like two and a

half years, and then I got pretty injured.

I got a bunch of stress fractures, and then I ended up joining the cycling team.

But that was all road because there are no mountains in Savannah.

So I've always loved bikes.

And then after college, when I moved to Austin, where like I met my husband in college, he

moved to Austin.

I graduated a year later and moved to Austin to him.

And he kind of got into bikes too at that point.

And we've just kind of been playing around on the trails in Austin, which they're like

fun and fine, but they're not like, they're not real mountains, such as like very technical

up and down to see like little trails.

But we ended up moving to Boise in 2023.

And once you moved here, the love for mountain biking really kind of took like real shape.

And like I just got really into it mostly also, more so the gravity side of things.

So before that, it was a lot of just like pedaling and more so like the endurance part that

I already do with money.

Now mountain biking is really more skills based for me and adrenaline based.

Like I don't mountain bike to gain any like cardiovascular fitness or anything like that.

I do it really just for like the mental simulation, the fun, the learning something new every

day.

That's what I do it for.

So right now my mountain biking looks a lot like I get up a mountain.

If that's shuttling, like I drive up or like sometimes I pedal up, sometimes I use an

ebike.

I really don't care about them like endurance part of getting up.

What I care about is like making it downhill fast and also like learning skills like clearing

big gaps or jumping off or like getting off drops or like clearing just fun features.

And we have a few really fun bike parks here in Boise D that are really great at honing

those kinds of skills.

I love that.

It sounds so fun, but there's a couple of parts I want to unpack about it.

How does, so you're saying okay, it's not, it's not, I'm not trying, you're not trying

to do it for the fitness side to build endurance or anything.

How do you incorporate it with your endurance training and also I'm guessing you work with

a coach?

I work with a coach for running, so Tyler Green is my coach right now.

It's nice for two years maybe, ever since I moved to Boise you really, but he's great.

He doesn't coach me for mountain biking.

I don't really have a mountain bike coach other than my community here.

I ride with a lot of guys who are better at mountain bikes than I am and they teach me

a lot and leave me into features and things like that.

I actually think it works really, really great with my run training because it doesn't

drain me, right?

Like I get my run training done, I like build my fitness brick by brick, I do my workouts,

I do my long runs, I do my easy runs, nothing changes on the running front.

But the mountain biking just, it doesn't tie on my legs out, it doesn't tie on my body

out.

It's just really like simulating from my mind and it's just like, I can always add a mountain

bike ride to any day of the week without being worried that I'm always sending myself, right?

Because it's most like, again, like I'm not trying to like go hard or like get my hard

ride up to like 180 or something, I'm really just like trying to hone these like very like

mental and physical skills and that's what excites me so much about, about especially

gravity biking is that it is so different from running.

I love that.

Yeah, because there is kind of two parts of it.

I guess one, do you feel though that the ability to see the lines that you're taking and

kind of anticipate with the downhill biking has helped with downhill riding or vice versa?

Yeah.

Oh, for sure.

I think they're, I think the overlap where like they help each other out, obviously running,

you need fitness for mountain biking, like I need to be fit to like do these, I need to

be strong, I need to have a good core, I need to be like, have a strong body to do this.

So that's where running helps my biking, but my mountain biking also helps my running

in a that I'm really good at line choice, like I feel so much more confident downhill

and I go a lot slower running than biking, right, like when I ride downhill, like I go

much faster and I have to really like quickly make decisions, especially when I have, I've

never ran or rode a trail before, it's like if I go on a side lap, like I have to really

quickly make decisions on where to go, but I think the other part is that really helps

my running is overcoming fear and that is something that is always present in mountain biking.

Like whenever I stand on like the top of a jump and I look down or I look over the gap,

like it's scary, like it's not like I don't, like I'm not, like I don't deny that.

You feel fear, yeah, yeah, not like fearless, I stand there like, oh, like I could crash

break my wrist, which I have done, but I think it's the same, like it's almost the same feeling

as standing on a start line with mine and like like it's scary sometimes being at a start line

with a bunch of people you look up to and telling yourself, oh, I can beat them, I can be in the mix,

like that is not an easy thing to do and that is scary, but I think they're overcoming the

fear part is the same, right? Like mountain biking teaches me every time I step on a bike to overcome

my fear and that translates into running into my everyday life, it just like makes me stronger,

mentally and just like it teaches me to believe in myself.

Oh, that was amazing. Yeah, gosh, that's like I, it's so interesting to hear you correlate those

two and yeah, the fear aspect because I under like I do some rock climbing and like skiing and

yeah, it is that kind of fear of exposure or like I could like the consequences were like I could

die or I could be, you know, I could not do as well, I could disappoint people like that fear of

in some ways, I feel like sometimes it's easier to deal with the physical fear than like the social

fear of chill, right? So I was like, oh yeah, I'm just scared because I might fall off a clasp

versus like I'm scared because I'm gonna let people down, my sponsors might be upset, you know, like

yeah, it's interesting that too, but they, but I love that you're using one to help the other

advice versa. That's so powerful. And I think it's like the mountain biking or like for like

what is worth like any any kind of like adrenaline like high risk sport, you get into those you practice

those situations all the time, right? Like with running, it's not that easy to practice those kinds

of things like it's not like running is just very predictable, right? Like I love it, but it is

predictable, you like put in the work, you get results with mountain biking, it's you have that extra

layer of like you also just have to go for it, like you have to just commit and you practice over

coming your fear like every single time that eventually it's just like it's just it's just part of

it, right? It's like something that it's a skill you hone just like you a skill like I don't know

bunny hopping or like doing a wheelie or something, it's just another skill of a coming you fear.

I love that. And do you what are your aspirations in downhill mountain biking? I mean you're at

the top of the sport for trail running, you're a professional. Do you see downhill mountain biking?

Is that something that you want to hold as like this is a space where I don't have to put the

pressure on to be the best or are you like hmm I kind of want to see where I can go maybe I can

you know push this to the professional level as well. Yeah like I want to say I just like keep

this as a fun hobby but I know myself I'm just I'm a very competitive person. I did a couple

downhill and in dual races last year and they were like my first ever races and I was like oh yeah

I can write in the pro category and they put me in pro and I like it was a last in that category

but like part of me is also like I'm brother last in the pro category then first in the amateur

category. So like it's kind of I don't need to become a pro mountain bikeer like that is not the

goal. I think the goal is more so to keep this very fun and get better and better and see where it

leads and the other thing that I'm just like really excited about is that I like that's just not a

lot of women in this sport and especially in the gravity side of things like if you look at all

the pro competitions it's always like hundreds of men and like five women compete. So I just want to be

like you know like another woman in this sport who's just like trying her best and trying to keep

up with the dudes. So that's that's more so the goal than like you know being a pro and all those

things. Do you think that that is that how you feel do you feel that in running in a way like have

you been able to use that just sense of curiosity and I'm going to keep doing the best that I can in

running or does running feel I don't know if the word is heavier or just more consequential because

of what you've already established. I think when I started the same way so I wouldn't like I'm

not saying I will never be a pro on bikeer but I think because my one was kind of the same thing

right I started during the pandemic and it was just a hobby it was just like there wasn't much to do

so I just like hyped and ran on the trails and had a nice time with my sister and all so it was more

so like I didn't have any aspirations of becoming a pro runner never like ever until it became a

reality and now I'm a pro runner and I love it and I thrive and I'm like going to the most

competitive races in the world and going to world championships I'm going to like world

finals it's like all these things that I would have never dreamt of and like only what is it like

five years ago so ask me the same question again in 2031 and maybe I'm a pro on bikeer right then

I believe it I 100% believe it oh I love that and Bill I guess so we've talked about all the

positives that it can bring and then how much it's I think helping both sides of the running and the

biking but unfortunately as you mentioned you did have a bit of an injury with a broken wrist

yeah yeah yeah how have you been feeling kind of yeah how have you been navigating that

um it's honestly been kind of a cool experience in a way like I know that like injuries suck and I

they're not great but it kind of I don't know it kind of makes me trust my body um even more

that it can heal itself so I broke my wrist um in the bike park going over I don't know how big the

jump is 10 feet wide or something like that um and like completely like shattered all the bones

in my wrist it was bad like I got off my bike and I like tried to get off the trail because someone

was coming up behind me and I tried to pick up my bike and looked down and my wrist was just

like completely facing the opposite direction and just like so long oh I guess I can pick up my

bike with my right hand so I reached as I went to the ER and they said it I got surgery the next

next week or the following week so that all happened in early December um and my bone healed

itself within like four weeks so my bone is completely healed that was it was just kind of cool

to like see like the x-ray every week that it's just like it's just my blowing how like how cool

bodies are like though it just grow whole new bone in four weeks that's just like kind of crazy to

me um but what's a little bit more difficult is now all the like soft stuff around it the muscles

the tendons the nerves the like even the like just tissue and the fat they all got like

like with the surgery and the crash they just like all got disrupted somehow um so take it's

taking a little bit longer to get range of motion back so while I've been running this whole time

and I I didn't really lose any fitness and I feel really strong and excited for like my races

coming up I haven't really been able to be on a bike just because my range of motion isn't quite

there yet so I can't really like make like I can't really like absorb compression or stuff like

that but I can you know I don't need my hand for running so I've been just like running like normal

ever since the crash mostly and since then I've been able to like get really good like quality

sessions and I did an FKT I'm gearing up for my first hundred K this year in Mexico so it hasn't

really changed my training other than that I just haven't been able to ride my bike for the past

10 weeks but it's coming back but I guess what like what I meant to say like long story short

like it's the experience itself has been almost like it's just been kind of cool because

my body just like showed me how it can heal itself and I've never really broken a bone that badly

so at first when I first broke it I was like oh no like this is going to be so bad like this is

going to take forever and then it just was just really rewarding watching my body just like

growing you won and they just like heal itself so it just like makes me trust it even more now

than I trusted it before that's yeah that's so incredible four weeks after having it

that broken that's wild yeah it is yeah bodies are incredible if we just let them do what they're

supposed to do like don't get in the way just let them go yeah um do you how do you feel about

I know you can't quite bike to the extent or the kind of probably the the intensity that you want to

are you feeling kind of excitement nervousness kind of how is your thoughts going into like getting

back on the horse or the bike I'm so I can't wait I've been like the day after I crashed I went

back to the crash site where like that jump and a bunch of my friends went over to like show me like

it's like you can do it like it's not like it kind of took the feel away and like look it's not

that scary about jump like we can be all like went over it you can do it once you rest the seal so I'm

really excited to go back and do that jump that specific one that made me crash gosh you have

such a good I don't wonder why you are as successful as you are like there's so your mental

side is so strong and just like problem-solving it's really impressive it's just fun like it's like

I yeah I just want to like no one is making me go back and do that but it's more so like

like again that trust in my body and like knowing I can do it makes me want to do it

so I don't get a price for like jumping that jump or like anything like no one cares other than

myself so yeah I love it yeah have you do you just see this as kind of like you know injuries

happen whether it's running or it's mountain biking like has there been any concern of mountain

biking impacting the running side if there are injuries that come up or is it just like you know

it happens it is what it is I think I'm more so in that like it is what it is kind of camp I do

absolutely acknowledge that there are risks to this um like right like the week before ccc I went

essentially on a mountain bike vacation so in early august I was at a hoca training camp

and then my husband came to Europe and a couple of my bike friends from Boisee and then we spent

a week and a half in like the poetry day bike parks and like the big like World Cup Mountain

mountain bike parks like Lige and Chatelle like all those like kind of like big gnarly bike parks

and it was so fun and I would do it again I might I'm probably going to do it again this year

and and I got a lot of pushback from people and comments about like that's a stupid idea doing that

like you could just throw your whole entire preparation for this like big a race away just by

crashing ones but I also think that again there's something like it's almost in a way the best prep I

can do before a big race is because again like it's just there's like few parts like I showed like

I lined up it's easy to see you know it's like easy peasy you know like I just like went

over way scarier things in that bike park like I just have to put one foot in front of another

whole heart could it be so that kind of like takes that feel away and on the other hand it also

just like takes my mind off of things like when I'm on my bike I don't especially like in that

scenario right like a week before like my biggest race of the year I didn't like I tend to kind of

grab it whole overraces and like look at maps too much in the competition and watch media now

especially with the U-Team B finals it's like a whole media circus which is like it's great for

the sport like I love that that is happening but it also like it's kind of like a trap for the

athletes who are actually racing to kind of like think too much about it but I was just when I'm like

on my bike going down like whatever line and maybe that's like kind of sketchy like I am tunnel

vision only focused on what I'm doing in that moment and I think that is really helpful but at the

same time I don't deny that like what I like it is like downhill mountain biking especially as

risky and I have now broken something but I also think it just works really well with running

and I just like I'm not being completely reckless like I I watch people do things first and I like

run like right up to it like I it's very it is calculated I don't just throw myself off of mountains

absolutely yeah I mean there's so many like I ice climb and everyone's like oh my gosh ice climbing

it's so dangerous it's like well I and ski touring it to a certain extent is dangerous so it's

like you but you mitigate the risk and when you're in the sport you're like yes absolutely it is

more risky than running out a nice puffed out trail in California but I have done as much as I

can to mitigate those risks yeah I am not just like throwing myself off a mountain I think it goes

the same with like in a way ultra running kind of similar right like I had a I had a really hard

year in I think 2023 where I had like a couple DNFs and I got wrapped up and they were like I

dislocated my kneecap at Black Canyon like they were just like a bunch of like random bad things that

happened during races and at some point like my husband was like you know like this is not good

for you like ultra running is not like you keep hurting your body but I think ultimately it's like

you learn right like you learn when you're in the sport and you adjust and you don't make

those same mistakes again like you again like mitigate the risks like there are risks in

ultra running too it's just like there are risks in mountain biking or backcountry skiing or

ice climbing or whatever whatever you're doing but I think at the end of the day

you as a person who's doing the sports you're the only one who knows like where you're at in terms

of like riskiness right like you're the only one who like knows your body and knows what your

body can do and that is the same with running a race or riding in a bike park or climbing up

an icy mountain right you're the only one who knows um your body

absolutely yeah I mean so many people you know Alex Honnelled with his free sewing it's like

Alex Honnelled has dialed that in like he yes of course there's risk but he knows himself he knows

all of the pieces he knows what he's doing and of course there's freak accidents as there are

anything driving down the street etc but you know we mitigate we try as much as we can to reduce

that risk we're not just you know trying to like I then one of my friends just broke their risk by

walking down the sidewalk and she had a pair of eyes and fell like it's you know there's risk in

everything we do and if we let it dictate our lives it's just that not a very fun life anymore

absolutely something I wanted to touch on and again it seems very much like a parallel is that

with the downhill biking it seems like you are forced to like forced to stay incredibly present in

the moment the jump etc that you are in and I think or what I've seen is at least for me in

ultra running is that when I'm incredibly present is when I'm racing my best I'm not thinking

about what's going to happen or aruminating on what has happened in the past have you found

a correlation between the two and have you found that if so that presence and staying in the moment

has helped your running as well yeah I think it's like people often ask me what I think about when

I run for a long time and I don't I never have a good answer because I don't like I just I'm

just focused on the next step and people like I don't know how I'm curious to hear how it is for

you because I don't I don't like you know solve my like work problems or like think about anything

in particular I'm like really focused and that is almost every run like regardless of if it's an

easy run unless it's with friends and people but like when I'm by myself I'm always just like focus on

like my next step and that's the same in like my workouts or my races or in my easy runs or my long

runs I'm always just like in the moment how is it for you do you like what is your mind goal

when I'm in my kind when things are going really well I don't know if I should say well I called like

effortless problem solving where it's just like you're able to deal with everything that comes up

because I think people think when you're in that flow state that nothing goes wrong it's like no

things are happening like your stomach could turn I've like projectile vomited while I'm running

along and like you just but it doesn't it's he doesn't shake this kind of internal focus and

don't really just like oh I deal with this I move on like it doesn't uh it just feels like

there's this flow of being able to deal and navigate with the problem and then it's like it comes

up you take care of it you move on and like you're just kind of pack manning through everything but

you're not thinking about what's going to happen and you're not going like oh no that happens so

that's going to derail and so yeah it is I like when I'm kind of in my

we'll say like fast racing mindset or even training it's like you're just existing and like doing

the thing and you're not overthinking what's happening now when I'm struggling that's where it's

like maybe thoughts of for me it's mostly like

like internal conflict of like oh did I handle that situation all right or like oh my gosh kind

of ruminating over like a conversation with someone or a problem I'm having and that can

that can sometimes be where it's like wait I should be in the workout right now and I'm like

thinking about you know this conversation with this person like that's that's not as great but

um yeah when it's like I don't know what I thought about for four and a half hours I just was out

there doing the thing I think there's a difference between like I'm not it's not like mindless

running like I have thoughts while I run but they are focused on the present on what I'm doing

currently like I think about oh I should probably take a gel or I think maybe I do this loop

or oh maybe I should pick up the pace and do some struts like I I have thoughts or like I think

and feel into my body on how I'm feeling from one of the effort or like dial it back

but they're all like focused on the present mostly I mean obviously not always but they're mostly

focused on the present so it's not mindless like I don't just like la di da like nothing happens

I'm just it's not like that I think it's very mindful but focused hey everybody before we

did have this episode I need to address a question that I get asked a ton which is how do you

prepare to go number two when you're out there in the middle of race on your training run or on

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all right everyone give them a try thanks so much for listening and let's dive back in the

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yeah no I I hadn't really thought about just how useful and connected I mean I knew there

was connections that's why I was so excited to chat with you about why you're doing both

but now like gosh there's so many lessons to have nothing to do with the physical side of it

that are so useful and in conversation yeah and and again like I don't think it's just

long biking like so many trail athletes do sports that are like maybe not as um you know like

aerobically or like fitness demanding but more like skill based and like mental mentally tough

and like if like there's so many different examples so I think that just applies across the board

absolutely so now looking at the season you have coming up I'd love to hear you just set the

Zion crossing FKT how long was that and kind of what got you interested in in doing an FKT

about this time of year I wanted a tune up I'm racing Puerto Vallarta in Mexico in two

eight weeks three weeks maybe and I wanted like a really hard long run and I was originally

signed up for terraware and decided not to do that because I broke my wrist and it was just like a big

like travel commitment and so I wanted something closer but I also didn't want to throw myself

into like like a black canyon or something like that because I just know myself that I would

then go like full blast on one of those races so I wanted something where I can just like push myself

but push myself in a way that I don't completely go myself up and Zion is just such a beautiful

area it's just so mind blowingly beautiful and it's an easy drive for like to just take take

the camper down and we can take Atlas our dog and don't have to like find a dog so it's like a it

was just like easy it's 37 miles going from the west side of the park to the

east side of the park and it originally it used to be I think 45 miles but there was a rock

site in 2019 so they closed the original route and it now ends in the canyon of Zion like kind of

where the angel standing hike starts and that's like Uber popular um but yeah it was super fun

we had a few logistical problems um I it was meant to be a supported FKT and my husband was supposed

to meet me at like mile 13 and 22 but he missed me at both spots so I had like a leader of water

for the like five hours and 40 something minutes that I ran which wasn't ideal um and then also

oh my god at the end like I finished and it was like very anticlimactic because I finished and

was like oh like it'll be so fun like I'll finish and then we have a picnic and whatnot and

no one was there I mean not no one had like my husband and my brother in law and his kids

they weren't there and they were supposed to like picking up there and and there's like no

service so I just like sat at this time I'm like I just like finished this really hard run I have no

water no food and I sat there like 30 minutes go by and Allah goes by and I just like imagine all

the worst case scenarios I'm like did they like blow a tire like did they get in like an accident

like what if like Atlas ran off or like it was just like where is case like scenarios that

played in my head and eventually I was like you know like I just like I have to get out of here

so I can find service somehow so then I had to run another six miles from the

Supreme Court of the FKT pool park entrance where it then turns out that because it was a holiday

weekend the park was just completely backed up with my visitors because that's also like the most

like touristy spot of the park where I finished and but the shuttles were also not running because

it's February so anyway like it was just like a five hour line to get into the park and they

couldn't get in so long story short I found them everything was good we were all good I got the FKT

everything's fine but it was just like let's just dig there was a little bit tough

yeah oh my gosh I hope you got like every beverage I hope you had like five drinks

out all the different types well luckily at the at this minute I like they had like um like a

water spigot where I could fill up my whole thank goodness okay it's a waterfall of

extra six months so there ran out but now it was a really nice time and the route is so beautiful

and I really hope that more people go for it again because it used to be like it used to be like a

major FKT like there were like really good times posted um I talked a bit to Hayden who has the men's

old route FKT and I know that Claire and Gallagher had the women's the French well who lives here in

Boise here ran it before so it used to be very competitive since the rock fall

there haven't been quite as many people going for it but it's such an incredible route that more

people should do I really really loved it and I think it was a really great you know long hard

training day um to set me up for Mexico in a few weeks yeah and I feel like such

good mental training again for that kind of staying present where you're like oh like they're not

here okay did you carry all your gels or like were you okay on food oh thank goodness

well I carried extra gels at the like my mom did pop out like somewhere in between like the first eight

and the second one like you like try to find me on the trail because he was like oh no like she has

nothing um but at that point I still had some water so I was like oh I'll see you again in two

miles I don't need your water because I thought he would then go to the next one but there was a

roller coaster so regardless it was like I submitted it as supportive because he like popped out of

the woods and I was supported because I thought did see him but yeah that was like I don't need

anything because I'm about to see you again but then I didn't end up seeing him again so anyway

it was fine well I feel like honestly that experience I mean having done Portability which is a

lovely race it's it's like there's so many parts fit that are so exciting but it is a wild race I

think anyone will kind of attest to that so I feel like this is the perfect trading for you to

just be like oh this isn't quite what we expected like we keep going I'm really excited

I think you'll be super if never race in Mexico before so it'll be a nice new experience

yeah well the amazing part is it ends literally at the ocean there's incredible food just the energy

and the atmosphere is so fun so yeah I think you're gonna have a great time yeah I'm very excited

and what else do you have if you're okay to share how does your season look are you going to

be balancing some downhill races with the running and yeah how are you kind of deciding on

both of those being a part of it if they are so running is a lot more straightforward and that is

like also kind of you know way dictated by sponsors and by just like wanting to run

very competitive races and also setting myself up for qualifications for next year so running

is a little bit more straightforward um however I am holding a little bit of space to be able to

do some bike races and this summer so as of right now um I'm gonna do put it over Yarda and then

I'll go back to Gorge um which is I'm so excited about that um it's gonna be kind of a quick turn

around like I think they're like four weeks in between and I want to do the 100k at both races um

but I was just like like last year I did desert rats you know this you were there um we did

desert rats um and desert rats was very fun and I loved it and it was a good time and I had a really

good day but like the weeks leading up to that race I was I just like couldn't stop thinking about

Gorge I'm like oh I wish I would go to Gorge but then I went to desert rats and I'm not being great

but I'm just really excited to go back to Gorge so there's something about that race that just like

keeps calling me back which is weird like it's yeah I don't it's like it's Gorge and CCC that are

like the races that kind of like did something with me that I want to just do them over and over again

so anyway I'm going back to Gorge in April um and then I have a bit of a break um which is nice

because in like um like May, June, July is when a good bit of mountain bike races happen um I might

I'm still not entirely sure which ones I'll do but I'll do a couple downhill and endure races um

there's like the series called the Northwest Cup um and Big Mountain Enduro so I might do

I might jump into some of those races um and they're all like within drivable distance so

it's nice because I can just like load up the bikes and not have to worry about like flying with a

bike and I can bring the dog and it's just like easy and they're all in like beautiful places where

I can also get a lot of good running in right they're all like in like nice mountain places um and then

in uh August I'll spend probably all of August maybe some of July in Europe and then do CCC again

and yeah and then in between there are a couple pacing jobs I'm really excited to pace at hard rock

this year um yeah it'll be great and then I'm not really sure about the end like fall yet

and there's they're gonna be more races after CCC but I'm not entirely like

solo on which one I should do yeah yeah I know I feel like that post UTMB CCC

you're always like well if it goes really really well maybe I just kind of like sit back and take it

easy and then if it goes like okay you're like oh maybe I squeeze one more out and then if it goes

probably you're like you need another race I can't end on this note yeah I'm kind of in line with

the idea of doing Kodiak um because I was gonna do it last year and then I didn't because I did

worlds um and it would be kind of cool to do the American UTMB nature so we'll see you needy

yeah Todex in my uh my neck of the woods and I if I think it's such a great race would you do

the 100k the 100 mile or 50k see like I want to say I should probably say the 50k if I

want to do that I was such a sucker for 100 like every race I sign up and I look at the options I'm

like 50k 100k 100 miles 100k every time I feel like your love for 100k's is my love for 100

miles from like but but why would I not do the 100 mile or why would I not do the 100k like that's

that's like my love my sweet spot yeah it's uh no it's it's good it's good to do change but

yeah it's hard to break that um well I guess that is a question that did have for you

do you like you love the 100k's like that's kind of seems to be I mean very successful distance for you

do you feel a pull of like oh one day I want to do more 100 miles are you like you know I don't

have to do the classic ultra anything we're like oh I always have to go longer because that is

the way that people are supposed to do it like I guess how do you how are you approaching

kind of what the future looks like is that longer distance or like hey I I'm happy here I'm

gonna hone this as much as possible you know I kind of go back on both of it on this I think the

beauty of like like I wouldn't really call myself a 100k specialist either but the beauty of

loving 100k's and that being kind of my bread and butter I feel like I can very easily just like

go to the 50k or go to the 100 mile and feel comfortable doing it and it always kind of depends on

the season two like right now I would feel more drawn towards 50k's because I've been doing a lot of

like fast running like I almost kind of want to like try a like a fast road marathon at some point

just because I've had like some really good fast workouts but then like if you'd ask me after

like mountain season like after the summer I would probably be leaning more into the 100 mile direction

when I've been doing like a ton of like just like time on feet so I think it kind of depends on

the season and what I'm and it's also like honestly just like the races that I'm excited about

like if there is a race where the like 100k is a beautiful point to point and the 50k is like

a loop or like multiple loops I would probably pick the beautiful point to point 100 mile

where I get to like see everything and yeah it's just like it kind of depends on the season and the race

that makes sense oh I'm gonna throw this out there I feel like UT ultra trail Cape Town 100k would be

I know you're trying to get there for world so maybe a sneak peek but like it is it's a perfect

course you would love it it's technical it's got some fast sections like oh I could see you just

absolutely loving it and doing really well I really want to go I my husband and I were talking

about going this year because Cape Town also has incredible mountain biking so yeah really great

and trails so he really wants to go too but now I almost don't want to go this year because if I

make the team for worlds I just want to go for worlds and not go to the same spot spice and you

although I'm sure it's like you can go multiple times to Cape Town and it's always going to be

beautiful but yeah the plan is to qualify for team Germany again in 2027 and then go to Cape Town

in 2027 but yeah UTCT seems yeah I think gosh I was like well next year if I try to go for worlds

maybe I'll just stick around for UTCT afterwards because it's so fun the community so amazing it's

like yeah just you know just stay out there for a little bit yeah that's what I heard too like part

of me is almost like I mean bummed just the wrong word but like I heard so many great things about

the community and the race organization and just the way they like manage everything that I

almost want to go to just the race and not to worlds it is all nice very different

organization I guess but I'll just have to come back to UTCT at some point after that I guess

yeah no you definitely should I think you do so well um but yeah is gosh thank you so much

for this I I feel like there's so much to take away just about your mindset and how you approach

running and cycling just the joy that you you bring to it um is there anything else you'd

like to touch on or or share with everyone of your learnings or experience um I think I think

what's always kind of in my driving force is just to do the things that bring me joy and that

fluctuates right like sometimes I'm like super into mountain biking and that's what brings me

the most joy and then I lean into it other times I'm like I feel so like my creativity comes in

like waves too like I it comes and then I really want to spend time in my studio and like do

some like fun art and that brings me joy and then I lean more into that direction then like sometimes

I'm like I mean running always kind of brings me joy that is kind of always a constant but that

is like another thing like I think it's just important to follow what like makes you happy that

sounds so cringey and like no it's true oh I think it's like important like what are we doing

if we're not following the things that bring us joy like that's kind of the whole point in life

is to be joyful spend time with people you love and you know do it with a smile so anyway

that I that is such a great place to to leave people with and yeah thank you so much for

sharing who you are yourself and I'm so excited to see you just have a blast this year I feel like

you're gonna have such a fun year doing all of the pieces I'm really excited to follow along

oh thank you well thanks so much for being on the podcast and thank you all so much for listening

we'll catch you all soon