Maya Rayle - Post Sunapee Scramble (U.S. Mountain Running Championship) Interview

Someone finally closes the gap on you mid-race. You don’t know if it’s one runner or the whole field. Your legs are fading on a rocky climb, the descents are muddy and technical, and every choice feels expensive. That’s the moment where champions either tighten up or stay clear headed. We talk with 2026 U.S. Mountain Running Champion Maya Rayle just days after her win to find out what she told herself, what she did tactically, and why she never let the race turn into a panic spiral. 

We break down the Sunapee course in practical trail running terms: how she handled an aggressive start, where she felt strongest, and why the descents were actually the highlight. Maya shares what it looked like when Elisa caught her, how she managed the pass without giving up contact, and how subtle terrain changes like trail sections, fire roads, and long downhills shape pacing in mountain running. If you care about race strategy, downhill running technique, and staying composed under pressure, this recap delivers real, usable lessons. 

Training talk gets equally honest. Maya explains being self-coached, balancing preparation with field ecology research in remote Montana, and using winter backcountry skiing and Nordic skiing to build aerobic volume without forcing a rigid weekly mileage plan. We also dig into Missoula’s low-key but highly athletic culture, the value of supportive training partners, and how she’s thinking about the transition to Broken Arrow and representing Team USA in Canada. 

If this conversation helps you rethink your own trail running training or race mindset, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review. What’s the hardest part for you: the climb, the descent, or staying calm when the race changes?

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Transcript

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Becoming U.S. Mountain Running Champion

SPEAKER_01 0:58

All right, Maya Rail. Welcome back to the Steep Stuff Podcast. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Doing well. Yeah. How are you? I'm doing great.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

How does it feel? 2026 U.S. Mountain Running Champion. It's a it's a pretty pretty big honor. You ran an amazing race, by the way. It was such so fun uh to commentate and follow along. But as far as feelings go, just a couple days posts removed, how are you feeling?

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Uh yeah, I feel great. Um, well, I don't know if my body feels great, my quads are pretty trashed, but um yeah, no, it was it was definitely a really exciting event. Um, and yeah, had an awesome day out there. It's is a cool course. So I I had a great time.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Amazing. Amazing. And let me just ask you this off the bat. Did you I mean, obviously training's been going well, things have been going good. Did you did you go in thinking that and believing that you were capable of doing this?

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Yeah, I don't know that I would like set clear expectations of like what I thought I could do, but my goal going into the race was to put myself in the mix and like really go for it and see what happened. Um and yeah, I mean I'm I'm really happy with how I ran the race. I think like maybe it was a little bit aggressive, like in the beginning. Like, I think perhaps I strategically maybe shouldn't have done that. But um honestly it was like what felt right. So I'm glad I did it.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Yeah, I mean, it was it was very impressive. And I I I mean, I think you ran a in my opinion, I think you ran an amazingly balanced race. Elisa is obviously extremely strong, and we'll talk about that battle back and forth with you and her, but you never you really never allowed Courtney to get back in contact, you never allowed Maya to get back, or sorry, um uh Rena. It's been a long day. You never allowed Rena to get back in contact, and you never allowed uh Taylor Tuttle uh to get back in contact. So you you were kind of just in a in a just in a race of your own, kind of with Elisa most of the day. Um yeah, I I think it was really well planned. I don't know how it felt. It looked like it was hard, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Yeah, no, it was I I'm happy with it. It won't went well for sure.

The Early Lead And Elisa’s Chase

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Yeah. All right, let's let's move on and talk about the race itself. Um obviously you took uh for folks that watched the live stream, you took it out on the first loop. You were entirely by yourself being followed pretty closely by Elisa. Um she didn't wind up catching up or closing the gap a little bit, probably until the second, to the first descent. Is that correct? Somewhere in there.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Um she ended up catching up to me in the trail section of the second lap. Um I at least that was what I was aware of. It's possible that she was closer to me earlier and I just didn't know. But um, it was kind of like the I didn't really I didn't actually see her until almost the top descent. Like in there's like a trails section, and then there's like sort of this like undulating like up and down section. And um that's where when I saw her first and we ran together for a bit there um before she passed me.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Where did you feel the strongest? Like on on the climbs, or how did you feel on those descents? Because some of them, I mean, just muddy and techy and just not not straightforward.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

I I had a lot of fun on the descents. I really enjoyed them actually. I thought um they were just honestly like the highlight of the course was those descents. They were really, really cool. Um, I felt great on the climbing um until the second, like second half of the second lap. I was definitely feeling like a little bit off, but you know, it's it was hard, and that's about where you would expect to feel pretty bad during a race.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Yeah. It's so crazy. Um the road section you were just very smooth on, looked very calm, cool, and composed. I I've never been on that second loop of the course. How technical is that climb?

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Um, it was fairly technical. I was like power hiking some a bunch of sections of it actually. Um it's like super rocky, like East Coast rocks and roots, and um, it's kind of like a a grade that's like some of it is like more power hiking, and then more some of it is like very runnable, but it's like you have to be very focused the whole time. And I think I was for some of it and I wasn't for some of it, but you know, that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yeah, it's a we that weird mental game of how to kind of stay in it. And then with Elisa catching you, did you just let her go or did you guys zigzag back and forth? Because that was something we weren't able to see on the live stream.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Yeah, yeah. Um, so she she caught up to me, she ran right behind me for a little bit, and then um I could tell that she was probably moving a little bit faster than me. So I kind of like scooted over and allowed her to pass. Um, I she got away from me a little. I think I was like having a bit of a moment there. Um, and she was just really, really strong through that section. Um, but I kept her kind of within eyesight the whole time. So I had contact, and then I think we were running about the same pace. Um up like we we got spat out of the the trail section into the fire road, and then um that section I think we were running like about the same pace. Um and then we started the descent, and I I was like starting to close on her a bit during this descent, but we didn't really go back and forth. We were it was just one pass, but um we were close together.

Staying Composed After Getting Caught

SPEAKER_01 6:09

How did you keep your composure when she caught you? Did you panic at all? Like because I feel like someone that I it it just shows like your composure and who you are as a person and as an athlete, or to be this developed to kind of not freak out and still, you know, stuff stayed relatively close in contact.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

So I didn't know anything. I didn't know if it was just her. I didn't know if it was like the entire field. Um I think mentally going like during that uphill climb, I could feel that I was probably not maintaining quite enough of a pace that I was sort of expecting that it was possible that there would be a woman that would catch me. I had no idea like who or how many. Um, so I remember telling myself, like, if that happens, like try your best to stick with them and like don't give up with it. And so like I did keep pushing, but it was like making sure that that moment wasn't like a like, oh no, like it's over. This is like continue to push, like try to like hang on. Um, so yeah, I think that was what I was telling myself.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

That's amazing. Because I know, I mean, other athletes, like I in the previous interview I had with Dan, he was talking about that second climb and where he um in in the 2025 iteration of the race, where he just kind of mentally quit on himself because he felt like he was out of the race and having a hard time in that part. So I I it's gotta be very difficult to be in the lead and then have one someone catch you and then make sure you can, you know, kind of keep contact. So hats off for

Training Reality Field Work And Hills

SPEAKER_01 7:34

that. Um going into this, like uh because we didn't get a chance to do a pre-race interview. Workouts, did you do a lot of specific workouts like for something like this with two climbs?

SPEAKER_00 7:44

No, I like I actually didn't really know that it had two climbs until I got there. Um I knew it was I probably should like do a little bit more research beforehand or whatever. But um yeah, I like, I mean, I knew it was gonna be like a big some climbing involved. Um I I mean I did a bunch of like hill workouts. I I'm a little bit limited because I do a lot of field ecology research. So I um I'm out in the middle of middle of like central Montana for huge portions of time, and it so happened that I was out there for a couple of weeks leading up to this race, but it ended up actually being really good training. It's like a lot of like solo time, and I can find some hills out there, but it's just a little bit harder.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Wow, that's so crazy. I I I could we could do an whole other podcast on field ecology. We'll save it for the next one.

unknown 8:32

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Um did you uh after this is all said and done, like uh the outpouring of people probably reaching out to you must have been insane. Like, how did you how did you handle that? Because like now you're a known quantity. People know who you are now.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

I know. I lost my dark horse status. Um yeah, no, it's been really exciting. It's um it's been super cool, like just getting like uh a lot of like runners who I respect a lot, like reaching out and congratulating me and just like uh yeah, feel I feel very welcomed by the trail community. It's been really cool.

Progression Training Partners And Advice

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Super cool. I gotta ask you about like Jen Lichner and like training with her and McKenna. Like, did you get a lot of reps in ahead of time, like before with them? Do you think that has helped? I just like it's really cool for me from the outside to see just your progression from last year where you already had, you know, two or two or three great results, and then now this like you're on the scene and you're a mountain running champion. Um, like, you know, like things are progressing very quick. So talk to me about that as far as like how fast you've progressed and and if working out with them uh has helped at all. Do you think that's given you any uh pointers and stuff like that?

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Yeah, totally. I think um we do a lot of training runs all together. Um workout-wise, like sometimes we'll work out together, but a lot of the time it's like solo where people do like different variations of different things. So I actually didn't get to work out with Jen as much as um I did last year. Um and also, you know, often when I work out with Jen, it's like I'll do some portion of the workout because her volume is like incredibly impressive. Monster. Yeah. Um yeah, and then McKenna like just moved to town. Um, so we actually did a workout together, like some of it together, some of it apart. Um the I think it was like the Tuesday or Wednesday before I left for the race. So um that was fun. Like, I mean, she's awesome. She's like a great cheerleader and is just like super supportive. And uh Jenna's like also is just like had um given me a ton of really great advice and is like, you know, really like like both of them like very much like root for me in like a really like really sweet, kind of like older sister type of way. It's really awesome. Um yeah, I did quite a bit of training solo, um, a quite a bit of training with Jackson. So kind of kind of a mix of things. I yeah, I guess I don't know if that's like a good answer. Yeah, no, no, it is yeah, it kind of varies a lot.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

And you don't have to give away any inside baseball, but like I know Jackson's like a like knows what he's doing. Like I respect and admire Jackson in so many ways. Did he give you any coaching pointers or stuff like that? Like, how do you are you coached by anybody, or is it more like getting pointers from other people or or kind of how has that flown like like in the last few few months?

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Yeah, um, no, I mean Jackson's been like, he knows a lot, and so that's been extremely helpful. He's also like a really good down hurdler, and so I think that that definitely helped me on um having like you know ran behind him a lot of times and practiced like all the footing and stuff like that. Um yeah, I I get like I get a lot of good advice,

Self Coaching Ski Volume And Flexibility

SPEAKER_00 11:36

I think. Um workout wise, I've been self-coached. Um, I feel really good about that. I've been, it's like given me a lot more flexibility and like the ability to um I I did like a ton of ski training, like a bunch of backcountry skiing and a little bit of Nordic skiing and stuff throughout the winter and spring. Um I think that helped a lot, just like having more volume and being a little bit more flexible. Like it's not like I had to run a certain number of miles or number of hours every single week. It was just like whatever I wanted to do. And so some weeks it was it just like varied a ton, and it was like everything I was doing was because I was choosing to do it. So it's very different than like being an NCA or something like that, which I I honestly have really been enjoying.

Why Missoula Produces So Many Runners

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Is Missoula like the place to be now? I because now I mean with McKenna moving there, like there's a serious like depth of like amazing athletes in Missoula. That's kind of crazy. Like for a like a relatively smallish place. Um what is your thoughts on that? Like, why why is it so special that so many athletes train out of there?

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Yeah, I mean it's funny. I think it's like it's been pretty low-key, and then all like there are more and more pretty good athletes. I think it's um it's a cool community because it's like not it's yeah, it's like a very sort of supportive and like low-key, but like at very athletic community. So um I don't know. I mean, I think there there's always good, there's like lots of mountain towns that have have different values and things that uh are drawing people to them. Um yeah, Missoula's cool. Also, just like the general population of Missoula, like everybody's like a skier and a biker and a trail runner and stuff, um, or you know, just does does stuff outside. Um it doesn't have like a competitive culture, though. It's got this like very sort of community-oriented situation going on, or at least that's how it's felt to me.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

I love that. All right, last question.

Broken Arrow Next And Team USA

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Broken arrow is a few weeks away. How do you get over like the Sunopee hangover? Like and and kind of like transition that mindset to to going and performing well at Broken Arrow.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Um yeah, I mean like Sunope, like obviously good confidence booster for sure. Um, but I think it's like uh ultimately just a race is a race. And so I think I that's how I'm gonna approach it. Um yeah, just kind of like have that sort of come down back to neutral and then um yeah, get just, I don't know, feel good. And um, I'm really excited to come to Broken Air. I've I've never been there before, and it should be a really cool experience.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Yeah. Yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be a circus this year. There's gonna be so many people. I gotta tell I just realized Jackson was in the 46K, and I was like, oh buddy, I gotta hang out. Um moving on from that topic. One actually final question. What does it mean to you to represent Team USA um on that team in uh going to Canada in October?

SPEAKER_00 14:32

I'm so excited. I it's gonna be amazing. And it yeah, it'll be really cool. I can't wait.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Super cool. Well, Maya, congratulations on your first 2026 U.S. Mountain Running Championship. And uh yeah, can't wait to see where your future is gonna take you. This was amazing how uh how quick you did it. And uh there we go. So appreciate you for coming on. Thank you for the quick chat, and uh yeah, we'll be in touch. I'll see you at Broken Arrow.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Awesome. Sounds good to see you there.