The Steep Stuff Podcast
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The Steep Stuff Podcast
#188 - Bayden Menton Joins the Trail House
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A 5K with nearly 3,000 feet of gain, a choose-your-own-line climb, and a descent that’s basically controlled chaos. Bayden Menton joins me right after a huge Mount Marathon performance to break down what it actually feels like to race one of the most iconic mountain running events in Seward, Alaska and why the smallest decisions on cliffs, scree, and in the gut can decide your day.
We also rewind to where Bayden comes from: Joseph, Oregon, early cross-country roots, and a life built around mountains. He shares how Western Colorado University’s trail running team shaped his development, why good coaching is often about communication and consistency, and how he tries to chase progression without burning out or turning running into a joyless checklist.
Then we get into the Trailhouse, a new training-house project supported by Hyperlite, Wynn, and Lever, with coaching from Matt Daniels. Baden talks about the selection process, what day-to-day training looks like with housemates, and the part nobody warns you about: being on camera and navigating social media without letting it hijack your focus. We close with what’s next, including the High Five 100, Kodiak 100K as a UTMB qualifier, and long-term dreams like Zegama and UTMB.
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Welcome And Quick Housekeeping
SPEAKER_02This is the Steam Stuff Podcast. What's up, guys? Uh hey, before we get started, if you haven't already, whatever platform you're listening to this on, please hit that subscribe or follow button, whether that's Apple, Spotify, or YouTube. Those subscriptions go a super long way in being able to keep the podcast going and allowing me to continue to tell the stories of these amazing athletes and also do some of the race coverage and all the good stuff that we've been doing over the last few years. And also, if you haven't already, please give us a rating and a review if you haven't. Yeah, let us know what you guys think about the podcast and hope you enjoy this episode. Thanks so much for tuning in. All right, Baden Menton, welcome to the Steep Stuff Podcast. How's it going, dude?
SPEAKER_00Oh, it's going great. Uh yeah, thanks for having me, James. Yeah, man. I'm so excited to finally chat with you.
SPEAKER_02It's funny, like I almost reached out to you after your third place at Pike's Peak last year. And then I was like, you know, I just, I don't know. I I didn't, we didn't wind up getting it together, and I didn't wind up having you on, which I feel like is uh is me dropping the ball because I always love having like up and coming athletes. And then, dude, you go and have like an absolute insane season so far. I mean, third place in Mount Marathon is huge, and now you're working, uh, you're on you got selected to be in the trailhouse, so things are finally coming like they look like they're really coming together for you, dude.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, it's been it's been great. And uh yeah, no, I've just been having a great year so far. Just finished up college at Western Colorado University this May, and then hung out in Gunnison for a month or so, getting ready for a Mount Marathon, and then yeah, moved into the trail house, start July, which has been really awesome so far.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Oh, we'll do we'll get it, we'll get into all of it. Before uh we get started though, for folks that might not be familiar with you, like maybe give me I hate this, I hate this question, but I feel like I feel like I gotta get to know you a little bit more in the sense that I feel like the audience too, as far as like where where are you from? Like, what is your relationship with running and your running background? Like, what's the what's the give me like the five or ten minute elevator pitch on where you grew up and how you got into
Foot Care And Injury Prevention
SPEAKER_02running? Guys, how's your feet? Like, seriously, yeah. How's uh how are your feet doing? Um I'm sure if you're listening to this, you're a runner or an athlete of some kind, uh, in one way or another. And as most athletes do, everybody struggles with injury one way or another. And foot care is like one of the most important things when it comes to injury mitigation or just dealing with injuries in general. Um, everything from plantar fasciitis, peroneal issues, uh, a lot of people deal with blisters in the sport. Uh kind of the list goes on. It's a great opportunity for me to talk about our partner, Cetus US. Um, I've been partnering with them for a couple of years now, and man, the products have just gone such a long way for me as an athlete personally. Um couple months back, I'd been dealing with some peroneal issues and some planter issues on my left foot, and uh got hooked up with some of the Cetus insoles. Um, it was the trail three feet, and man, it went such a long way in helping me rehab that foot and just helped a ton. Um, on top of that, big fan of the socks and big believer in the socks as well. I use them all the time because they're amazing. Uh, but in all seriousness, I'm sure you've seen like Jim Walmsley, Hidden Hawks, and then you know, some of the best women in the sport, like Robin Lesh, um, or even on the ski side, uh Jesse Diggins rocking uh the Cedus feet. And um, for me personally, it's the run-in atomic comfort. I absolutely love those socks. Um, it's got reinforced protection, it's got a great grip strip to keep the sock from kind of moving within uh the shoe. It's breathable and it's got great protection, especially for technical trails for your heels and your toes. And uh above all else, it's breathable, so it's not gonna stink too bad. Uh, my wife definitely gives uh thumbs up when it comes to that. So I don't have two stinky feet or stinky socks. So if you haven't already, go online, check out CDUS.us, and if you find something you like, use code SteepStuff. It's good for one use only. It's gonna get you 20% off your car and uh giving you guys the hookup. So hope you enjoy it. Check it out, CDUS.us insoles and socks, they've got the best in the game.
Growing Up In Joseph Oregon
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Um, so I grew up in Joseph, Oregon. It's a really small town in northeast Oregon. Most people don't really know where it is unless you're like, you know, big into the mountains like most of us are. And yeah, there's great, great stuff to do outside, but big mountains. Um so I grew up, I started doing cross-country and track like sixth grade, and that was a ton of fun. Didn't really know what running was before that, but just fell in love with it the second I started, and also like grew up going camping and backpacking and whatnot. So uh as I got a little older, I go out with some guys in the area and run run up the mountains with them just on the weekends when I didn't have a track meet or a cross-country meet. Um so I think that kind of spurred my passion for the mountains. And then all I mean, you know, when cross-country and track wasn't in season in the summer, it was always just out in the mountains. Uh just kind of what I love to do. Like on my free time, I was probably out exploring some peak, going off trail, doing this cool ridgeline that I'd imagined. Um so yeah, that's kind of how it was growing up in high school. Um and then moving into college, I like I was fast enough. I could could have gone and run at a small school for cross-country track, and it would have been fun. That's what, you know, that's probably what most people do. But I had heard about the trail running team at Western Colorado University, and I was like, oh, I kind of thought it was a long shot, but I figured I should go go visit it, visit the school and see what it's all about, and wound up going there. I mean, I think the second I visited, I knew that that's where I was gonna go to school. Um, yeah, and I spent the past four years there running on the trail running team uh with Josh Eberly, and then also in the winter when the running isn't quite as enjoyable and it's really, really cold and snowy there. I was on the ski mountain mountaineering team at the school, which was super fun as well. It was nice to kind of switch between sports and keep keep running fresh um throughout the year and get a little break from it, and also learn learn about schemo because I had never done it before. So that was fun. Um but yeah, I think I just I just live for being out in the mountains and getting on really cool adventures.
SPEAKER_02So cool, man.
Western Colorado And Finding Community
SPEAKER_02Uh a few questions off of that. I'd I'd say first and foremost, talk about like what it was like. I mean, you're like the 30th person from Western that I've had on this podcast. Literally everybody, there's so many good athletes that come out of Western. Like now, stepping gr stepping foot on ground there and you know, getting on the trail team there, and uh just explain maybe what would that what how impactful that was for you and what it was like because so many amazing athletes, you know, Kieran Nay, uh, you know, Brian Whitfield, Taylor Stack now, who's like one of the best in the world. Like, did you get to interact with any of these guys? Because I know this was probably there's there might have been a little bit of crossover in between kind of all those athletes and yourself, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think um those people that you just mentioned, I never was on the team with them at any point, but I mean Kieran works for you know in the mountain sports program right now, and he has pretty much the whole time I've been there. So I've gotten to know him pretty well. And yeah, I've seen uh Brian recently moved back to Gunnison, so run with him quite a bit. And Cole Campbell was on the team for the first two years that I went to Western. So that was super cool to have him on the team and look up to as I was training. But I think at the time I probably didn't realize how much it changed my life, just being on such a cool team environment like that, and the support that they get from Adidas and the school. Um it's just so cool because you you know the registration fee for the team is 600 bucks or whatever, and then you don't ever have to pay pay for a race entry or travel or gear really for the next few years, and also it's not like there's really high standards to be on the team, so anyone can do it, which makes I think kind of takes some of the stress off a little bit, makes it really enjoyable because you're just running with people who love it of all different skill levels. Um yeah, I think really cultivated I love for trail running.
SPEAKER_02How was it like oh as far as like working with Josh a little bit? Because Josh is just so inspiring, he's an amazing athlete in his own right. He's like seems like a fantastic mentor and just a just a great human in the sport. How much has his guidance kind of helped shape uh you know who you are today as far as you know the athlete that you're becoming?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I would say quite a bit. Um it'd be a yeah, um Josh has been a huge part in getting me to where I am today. Uh and honestly, it's not it's not really anything crazy. It's just you know, you go to practice, you um put the work in, and he's really really good at communicating with me and just like telling us about the training. Um and at least from my experience, he's just been a great person to get to know. Um so yeah, really, really great relationship that kind of inspires me to run more, I guess. And it's pretty cool because in in season in the fall and spring and whatnot, we have pretty structured uh training, and it's great. You show up to practice every day and he's there and we do core and weights and then go on a run. Um, but then in the summer, I think he has some structured training for some people, but he would kind of be like, Oh, I know you want to just go out in the mountains. Um, take this time, go do what you want. And you know, I just kind of go do my thing for the summer, and it was awesome. You know, I um text and talk back with back and forth with him a little bit about my races, but for the most part, it was kind of the it's summertime, go have fun. Um I think that really helped, you know, keep uh a healthy attitude towards it.
Chasing Growth Without Burning Out
SPEAKER_02Uh as far as like just um just overall shaping wanting to be a professional athlete, and you are very much on this trajectory now, and you're you're very close, if not, I mean, it depends on how you how you define it, right? Um was that did you see guys like Cole, right? Who you know joined the Eterix team and and now he's full-time with them and doing that jam. Um I'm trying to understand like what time did you make the switch that I want to go, I'm gonna pursue this, like uh from a professional level.
SPEAKER_00Well, I don't know if there was ever necessarily a switch. I think the way I've approached it is the trail running, mountain running, skiing, all of it. It's something that I just love so much. Like there's honestly not much else I'd rather be doing. Um, and I don't ever I don't ever want to ruin that, you know? And it's like I just want to love the sport that I do, and obviously I want to get better and progress. That's always always a goal. It's cool to see see what I can do, but I think that I don't I'm not setting these standards like oh, I need to go get this sponsorship or that sponsorship by this year or get this result. Um I just want to try and see what I can do, get the best out of myself. And you know, if that does wind up getting me a sponsorship, that would be really, really cool. Um be super happy, um, sort of a you know, a dream come true, so to say, but I'm not trying to you know set myself on this this path of oh, I need to get a sponsorship. I just want to keep it, keep it healthy and be like uh enjoy it as much as I can.
SPEAKER_02Very cool.
Mount Marathon Race Breakdown
SPEAKER_02All right, let's shift gears. I want to get into uh Mount Marathon. Uh I just have a few things to say, man. I gotta give you your flowers. Like I previewed the race, did a lot of like pre-race stuff, talked a lot about like the history of the race. And obviously, I had you in my top five, if not top ten. And I gotta say, like the linear progression of yourself at this race, like that was an amazing performance. Like uh, I'd say arguably one of your best performances to date. And you I feel like you know, getting on that podium, you know, amongst guys like David Norris and Jesse McAuley, and you beat a lot of really good dudes. How would you rate that performance? And and what are your thoughts like on that race? Because I know you've been going to that race for for some time now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I obviously there I think there's always like a little bit of hunger, like I want to go back and I want to do better, but I couldn't be happier with how that race went. Um yeah, I think I mean in terms of time, I ran almost like three minutes faster than I did last year. I got I put moved up a few places. Like you and I during the race, I felt so good. I think maybe it was a combination of coming down from Gunnison at 8,000 feet, going to sea level, and you know, just being fresh for the race. Uh, and who knows what else lined up for it, but I just felt great. Like on the uphill, um, I was just having a blast. And then I also think uh the downhill this year, I think it was pretty fast. It seemed like even though there was some snow down in the gut along the sides of the of the walls, um, a lot of it had been filled in with rocks, so I think that made it a little easier and quicker. So that was cool, and it was fun to be up in a mix with those guys. I think usually I'm you know the next group back or setting the even the group after that back. It was cool to get out of the trees and look up and be like, oh, David Norris is not that far ahead of me, at least relatively speaking. Um so I think that probably helped me push a bit harder. Um but yeah, dude, it was such a great race.
SPEAKER_02All right, like I said, amaz it like absolutely like lights out performance. I like I said, I think objectively, like one of your best to date. Um looking at looking at the race though, like what does Mount Marathon mean to you, especially now that you've now that you've podiumed, you've done a lot of things. The only thing you have left to do now, dude, is kind of go win it. So yeah, I mean, seriously though, like what what does that race mean to you?
SPEAKER_00I think it's one of those races that I'll want to keep going back to year after year, no matter how I do. It's just such a cool race. I think it kind of embodies what I really like about trail running. Um just the the all the whole like it seems like the whole state of Alaska comes together for this race. It's so cool. Like everyone's out there, even if they're not running, they just love to come watch. And just the fact that it's so rugged, and really the only thing you have to do is go up and down the mountain. It doesn't matter how, you just have to. Um, so I kind of like that whole atmosphere of the race. And yeah, no, it's it's great.
SPEAKER_02Maybe walk me through, and I so for the audience, I I mean I would hope that the audience listening to this knows what Mount Marathon is, but if they don't, it's it's almost, I don't know, just just south of 3,000 feet in a 5k, you're in the town of Seward. It's kind of the biggest deal when it comes to 4th of July racing or July racing in general. And the Alaskan mountain running community is just probably the best mountain running community in the country, possibly the world. It's amazing. Um, but maybe maybe walk me through the race a little bit and how it unfolded for you. Obviously, for the audience, you start out on an uphill road. Um, it's very fast, like you're talking like low five-minute, high four-minute gap, somewhere in that range. Um where did you find yourself on the road? And then when you get into picking the the cliffs or the routes, what line did you pick and and how did you kind of establish yourself on the climb? And then just transition to the to the descent.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so the gun went off, and you know, everyone goes out super fast. Um and I, you know, it's kind of jumbling for positions for the first 30 seconds or so. But I just tried to settle in, honestly, right behind David Norris. Uh, because I think you know, people you can stay with him until the mountain hits at least. So I was like, try to have good positioning on the road, and then you know, you don't really need to do anything too crazy. Just stay with that front group, and then once you get to the once I got to the mountain, I I've never taken the routes. I've scouted it a few times and done it, but I always think going up the cliffs is faster. Um yeah, I just got in line. I I don't know exactly what place I was going up the mountain, maybe like sixth or seventh place, maybe eighth place. Um yeah, just got in line behind a few guys and honestly from there to like halfway through the you know the brush section, I didn't really pay attention to my placing and wasn't like super worried about passing people. I just like honestly, I just put my head down and like was working as hard as I could. And you know, it's kind of the trail braids quite a bit through there, so every once in a while I would uh take a different path. And I think I was able to pass um Ali Papillon, like partway through there, on one of those little little splits, and then honestly, I didn't really see many other people going up through the rest of the brush, and then yeah, like I said, I got out of the trees and I could see David Norris up ahead, and then there was one other guy in between us, probably like 30 seconds either side of us, and I think it was William McGovern. He's an Alaskan guy, and he's super, super good at the uphills. And yeah, kind of just I think David stretched the gap a little bit. William probably stayed pretty steady um up the rest of the climb. And I was always, you know, kind of just looking back to see where people were, and towards towards the top, maybe no, maybe like 800 feet from the top, maybe a thousand, uh Jesse McCauley caught up to me. And I tried to stay with him for a little bit, but then he he got me, I don't know, maybe 15 or 20 seconds on the on the let that last bit of the climb. Um but yeah, no one no one else had caught me by the top, so I got to the summit in maybe fourth. And but honestly, though, people were not that far behind. It was really close. Like by the time I was around the rock, I could already see people starting, like a few people coming up over the top. And yeah, then I just bailed off over the cliffs into the descent. And I there was a little bit of snow this year, but I I skipped that um just because it wasn't very long. I know a couple people took it, yeah. Um but I just went around it, stayed on the scree, and this is the part of the race where you're just like, oh, who's gonna hopefully no one catches me. Like, I know there's people behind me who are going so fast. Um and I was able to pass one guy on the way down, and then I think it was right at the crossover point on the descent, right after that, Jackson Cole just came flying by me. Did he really? Like I it almost looked like I was just standing still. I like couldn't believe it because I thought I was going pretty fast, and he I don't know how fast he was probably running like 430 pace down the scree. I don't I don't even know. It was ridiculous.
SPEAKER_02He's such a fast ascender, dude. It's insane.
SPEAKER_00Dude, he was so fast. I couldn't, yeah, like I said, I couldn't believe it. And so he just blew by me. And I think at one point I saw him, he like caught up to Jesse, but yeah, then they disappeared into the gut, and I was behind him. And yeah, just made my way through that. Since there's some some snow uh built up in there, you had to like slide down some of the waterfalls instead of going around them. They weren't they weren't that big, but it's a new something new for this year. Um and then yeah, I was coming back down, and they had shut the waterfall descent this year. I don't think I was gonna do it anyways. I thought about it. Um but it was it was closed uh just because it was raining and wet. And yeah, so I went over and I was going down the cliffs, and I could see Jackson going down the cliffs, and I could tell that I think I made up a few seconds just in that section down the cliffs. Because you have to, I think that's where experience comes in pretty handy because you have to know the line on that, and it that doesn't really change much since it's um just rocks and it's frequent in so um so often. Um but yeah, just came back down that. gained a little bit on him and then it was just a ramp off the mountain to the to the road to the finish and I could see Jackson and Jesse ahead of me and I was like oh I think I think I can catch him uh so I just ran as fast as I could and I was able to able to reel Jackson in and then I would think I was definitely gaining on Jesse but you know there's only a half mile of road at the end so I didn't quite catch him.
SPEAKER_02Damn dude what a race I that's amazing that you're able to catch Jackson because Jackson's a mountain ninja it's he's a very well respected athlete so that's that's crazy dude uh yeah that's kind of you'd be stoked on that one yeah no he was uh he definitely had a faster descent than me but I think I had enough of a buffer on the climb that like his descent off the mountain itself was like way faster but I was able to yeah reel him back in just fairly experience goes a long way like you said knowing some of the sections and knowing some of the lines to pick um I feel like that's you know if you go and keep coming back you start to get things dialed and you have a better idea of what to do and how to do it. Did you do the course like a couple times uh like in this trip? I mean obviously I think they require everybody to do it at least once but did you start dialing in because obviously the mountain changes right did you start dialing in different things ahead of time like on more than one occasion?
SPEAKER_00Yeah so I mean I guess this year I was just looking back when I was there this is this is my fifth time doing the race I did it once as a junior um but yeah so I have quite a bit of experience as someone not from Alaska which is pretty cool. Uh but I got there on the fourth and went and scouted no not on the fourth on the second and went and scouted the full course. I actually went and did it with uh David Kennedy I think you know that yeah it was super cool because he hadn't done it before so we went and did it and I was kind of uh not that I did a whole whole lot of helping but showed him the routes that I like and whatnot. Um but yeah I did the full thing with him uh on the second so two days before just super easy and yeah and then the day before I went up and just practiced the cliff section as like my 30 minute shakeout before the race just did that a few times um which was cool but no it was really only one full lap prior to to racing it. But I know I think like some of the people who've done it a lot they don't know if they even do a full lap before race day since they've done it already. They just like oh it'll be a little different but they just know it it'll be fine.
SPEAKER_02Yeah yeah I gotta ask David one of these days uh David Norris like what he does like if he even looks at it ahead of time or if because he I think he flies in very last second from steamboat now.
SPEAKER_00Like I was very surprised like he was in steamboat like at least a day or two before the race and I was like dude you cut that very close yeah yeah I was just gonna say I when I was uh scouting the cliffs the day before he was actually there doing the same it was so busy there was like constant like conveyor belt of people going up and down but he was there practicing that first little bit I think he went up to like see how the gut was looking and whatnot but I'm pretty sure he mentioned that he didn't do the full thing before race day.
SPEAKER_02Interesting so kind of just flying blind I don't know what it is that he's I guess it's the the hike run master like he's just so good at like so many different technical aspects that yeah like that is just his course. Yeah David David's an interesting guy like it's uh it's interesting to see like what he's figured out to win that damn race six times seven times now it's been a long time seven and it's like all of a sudden he's with you and then you don't really know how but he's just gone like I can't really figure it out like it doesn't look like he's you know running super fast you know way faster than us it's just maybe he's really efficient and no pushes when we're not looking I don't know but strong I mean yeah he's so strong dude I watched him at uh when we took off um at one day so I think it was Cirque series Brighton like three years ago Patrick and Philemon were in that race and I was like really astonished because we got there's a section of the race where you get to this um I don't know if you've ever raced it before but there's a section it's not even I think they got rid of the race now but there's a section of the race where uh it's a boulder field and I watched David Patrick and Philemon hit the boulder field and David was gone dude like they just could not keep up with him on the technical stuff. He was like jumping and bouncing on these rocks I was like how do you do that? So yeah some people just are have that gift from God. I don't know it's kind of crazy. Yeah something like that for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah um dude how did you find out about Mount Marathon especially being not from Alaska yeah no it's funny actually um my my English teacher in junior high was from Alaska and she knew that you know I like I did cross country and track and that I like to be out in the mountains and one day she's like you know I think there's this race that I know of up in Alaska I think you would like it you should go check it out and she's like told me to look up Mount Marathon and I watched the the Solomon TV video you know and I was hooked. I was like immediately went home and told my parents I was like if I apply for the lottery in this race and I get in can we go and they're like oh yeah we can go I don't know that they probably thought I wasn't gonna get in but um yeah I ended up getting in the first time which was sweet.
SPEAKER_02Family vacation to Seward there you go super cool man well congratulations I'm um thank you for uh kind of breaking down the race and and just talking about what it means to you because it's it's a special one man I and I think it deserves a lot more discussion and credit when it comes to the sport because it's it's not like you it's something you can like put in a box because it's not a 10K it's a it's not like a it's a mountain classic but it's a very short one. It's just a different type of race and I think that there needs to be more conversation around it just in the zeitgeist of our sport because it's it's it's I think it's the like one of the coolest like best races we've got when it comes to the lineup like don't get me wrong like Broken Arrow is cool and it's and the rut is dope and they just they deserve their place in the sport but Mount Marathon is something different because the community about it makes it interesting too.
SPEAKER_00Definitely it definitely is and I will say it'd be it'd be really cool if you know you get you know get even more people to go up there and race it and whatnot. There's because you know the hundredth year anniversary of the race is only two years away so there are already there's already grumblings at the race this year about it. I don't know I don't really know what they're gonna do but it sounds like maybe they'll try and get a whole bunch of past winners and really fast people to show up. Who knows?
SPEAKER_02We'll see it'd be really cool. I've heard very similar things where I I can't remember who told me but a lot of discussion of like past champions coming back. It'd be cool if Killian came back man I don't know what his situation looks like but like you get Killian even though Ricky Gates has never won it you invite him back like get get some of the legends of the race to and just pack that at least field and see if you can I mean somebody's got to go under 40 one of these years. I mean it's at some point. Scott I I'm surprised like Norris isn't cracked it yet or if like I thought I really thought man I mean obviously this year was a little more nuanced like not as much snow even though it rained it made for a good descent but still like not quite as fast um I was hoping like with the with the level of like Kyle Richardson right and like athletes like that kind of coming in um you know they would have all pushed and you including yourself like would have pushed David or someone would have you know gotten gone under 40 or at least gotten closer but not yet.
SPEAKER_00So it's a tricky it's tricky balance because when it rains the descents are usually faster because it softens up the scree but then the climb up especially below tree line gets really really muddy so I don't really know what conditions are best for a a course record run I guess.
SPEAKER_02Interesting. Yeah I don't know hopefully one of these years it'd be cool to see it happen but I'm sure I'm sure at some point it will has to be I think we'll get it we'll get it in the next few years especially now that like guys like yourself Jackson you've you know like Jackson's one of the best in the sport like it in the mountain running scene. Do you get athletes like that Jesse, Kyle Richardson and others like once we start like filling that elite field with more and more really good mountain runners it's got to go down. Like somebody's either going to beat David or David's going to get pushed to have to go under it. So yeah very interesting dude that's a psychological question too is like how the hell does he do that seven times in a row and not even get challenged like that's a like I guess once you get that do you just get that confidence that like I'm unbeatable you know yeah I don't know it's uh has he ever really pushed himself to the to the limit?
SPEAKER_00I mean maybe he just knows knows how to win the race I mean either way it's so impressive.
SPEAKER_02It is interesting yeah because he's taught he's knocking on like like like historical doors now because like I think Nina Kimpel I think she's won the race nine times something like that. So he's he's close. So I mean he's getting there to being the most because she's the most winningest person if I remember correctly. So he's close to being one of the most winningest persons to ever win that to win that and to do it without any gaps in between I don't wait.
SPEAKER_00No there were gaps.
SPEAKER_02Never mind not seven straight but but on his first go to go beat break I think it was his first go to break Killian's record that's that's nuts dude um yeah I don't know it's uh with gaps I think is interesting and then yeah the fact that it's um I think in this era too I know everybody wants to talk about you know their perspective era and it being more or less competitive in that era but I think now I mean I think this year when you're starting to look at you look at this and I think 2015 was Killian's year. It was either 15 or 16. Yeah um I think this is the most competitive year outside of that in my opinion but when you start I think Matias was saying that they've never had five people finish or five men finish under 45 minutes before maybe they have once or twice but like that happened this year.
SPEAKER_00I think it was and it's you know not very common.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. The women's race was cool too I mean that was just as just as entertaining.
SPEAKER_00Like I honestly did I I threw a watch party I had a blast it was great watching it was it was so fun because it uh we went the men went first so I got to go watch afterwards so cool to watch I feel like there was you know because I wasn't watching the live stream I just saw them like go up the mountain and then come back down. It seemed like there was a lot of lead changes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah like really dynam more so than the men's race at least Claire got lost dude I mean I think she did her wrong turn going up and that was almost her race and she even said it at one point in time because the way Rosie and uh I think it was Rosie and I can't remember who else she was with who's the Olympian whose name escapes me. Oh no yeah her name yeah they I mean dude they they had her like dead to rights at the top like it was it was it was and then all of a sudden Claire who's I just like a world class descender just like jumped off the side of the mountain she took a different line on the descent and was able to like didn't even look back. So you know Christy Marvin's interesting too that that lady's scary I would never want to be running anywhere like she would grow like her descending is insane.
SPEAKER_00She's so strong and it seems like she's just getting faster which is so impressive.
SPEAKER_02Yeah she's like 45 years old or something like that. Maybe a little young I don't want to age her but yeah she's a she's a monster dude yeah so cool.
Post Race Traditions And Why It Matters
SPEAKER_02What do you do post race like after race like that? Do you like hang out and party in Seward or do you kind of like do your own thing? Like what did you what did you do after the race?
SPEAKER_00Yeah so I mean uh after the race kind of um I went and got some food right after um I was pretty hungry but then yeah I went up and watched the women's race and uh went out and got some dinner with my mom which was really cool. She came up with me. Nice um and then yeah we got got back to the hostel we were staying at and I don't know I walked around and I I like some people told me there were some parties like up up the canyon and I went I went and checked it out um but honestly I'm not gonna lie it's not really not really my thing um more of a you know go over to your friend's house and like have a few beers and hang out with you know like seven other people um so those big big post race raves are maybe at some point I'll I'll enjoy it but it's kind of um not really my thing.
SPEAKER_02I respect it dude yeah I it's uh yeah it's not for like I don't know I feel like post race from a race like that especially with your result you gotta soak it in and enjoy and just kind of take it easy you know although I I have noticed like there are paint pictures floating around of Norris like with his giant cup like partying heart dude goes wild.
SPEAKER_00So yeah yeah no I've heard some rumors that people do do like get after it even if they're like up at the top of the race which is really cool on like more power
Inside The Trailhouse Project
SPEAKER_00to them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah yeah all right let's shift gears a little bit I gotta ask you uh so did you've been selected for as one of three members of this trailhouse talk about this man like this is this is big news this is the first thing we've had like this in my opinion like the Coconuno Cowboys didn't really live together like they obviously lived in based out of Flagstaff but this is very unique where you've got guys living together training together and it's supported by several brands talk about what this means to you to get selected for it and and give me the details on like what it's all about yeah um honestly I was yeah I this winter you know I'm trying to figure out what I'm gonna do now that I'm you know grad done with college and yeah like this was announced and like dang this is such such a cool opportunity so obviously like you've gotta you've got to go for something like this and yeah to be to be selected it was like on it's like kind of a dream come true like but at the same time it's also like oh man like this means I'm definitely committing to the this whole trail running thing um so it's you know kind of a a scale of like I'm committing full time but it's also something I've been dreaming of so it's really yeah really really cool and to also be doing it with guys that are you know all in like different aspects of trail running right now.
SPEAKER_00I mean Aries is definitely a short trail like classic mountain guy. Like he did really good at Cenepee and like races earlier this spring and then Dylan is like crushed Chuck a nut earlier this uh this spring as well um it's just cool to live in this house and train with them and also the support from the from the guys at Hyperlight and Lever and Beth and Luke at Wynn it's super cool. Like they're just they're such nice people and they truly want to do something good for the sport and I think this is the best way they see fit. So it's really you know it's almost inspiring to be able to join them and like sort of help them with this project even though I'm really just running I'm not actually the one putting it together. It's yeah it's so fun. What was the selection process like was it a series of interviews after they identified like you would be a good fit like how did the whole process go yeah so I know initially like they had they sent out that uh application on Instagram um but also they had reached out to a few of us before that I think they were like had some people in mind and just wanted to like send out some messages. So they actually reached out to me earlier just through Instagram it was Emory from Hyperlite and he's just like hey dude we have this cool project and I'd love to talk to you about it.
SPEAKER_02So basically just got on a phone call with him and chatted for a while like a good while and yeah it was I think that's mostly it um so yeah it was nice yeah pretty like low low key selection like process I guess and you guys are all coached under Matt Daniels correct Matt coaches all three of you or yeah we are how does that work does he like because obviously you guys are all training I mean you tell me like are you guys all training for different stuff are you gonna pick like a few races to all show up to somewhere in the season uh and how does it work with the programming and stuff like is Matt just handling you guys like individually or how does that work?
SPEAKER_00Yeah so it's definitely individualized. Um Matt, because you know we're all training for different stuff at least somewhat different um and you know each of us even if we're training for the same race we probably need different training so it's really cool Matt is at least so far has been great about um individualizing the training but it you know also to some extent you there's like only so much you can individualize. So a lot of our easy runs at least like the past couple weeks I've been running with Dylan like almost every day and he's like oh you got an hour and a half easy today and he's got like an hour and a half or maybe he's got two hours it's like oh we'll just go run together and then I add on or he adds on or whatnot. It's you know it's different but it seems like it's meshing together really well. Interesting.
SPEAKER_02And what's the involvement from like Emory and the guys at Hyperlight and stuff like that do they who like who handles all the social media and kind of that end? Because like it's it's got to be difficult to ask like obviously you guys are the athletes so you probably play a role in the content and stuff like that but who's kind of managing that whole media side?
SPEAKER_00Yeah so I know at least for all of the YouTube episodes Rue Smith he's the he's the photographer or videographer for it. So he's you know filming everything and editing all the videos and putting those together every two weeks. So he's you know he's kind of the one doing the majority of it. But I think that um might I'm not quite sure but I think Emery is probably doing a lot of the social media stuff for the Trailhouse account on Instagram. Rue might be sending him some photos and whatnot in short clips. And then also Rue's been giving us you know little GoPro or little DJI camera to go out and run with and get some cool clips when we're out on our runs. But at least as far as the filming that we have to do it's it's pretty low stress. Like usually if Rue wants to do something we'll like he'll have it planned out and he's like okay you guys want to go do this or like let's do an interview in this time. It's not uh really like self um paced I guess or like I'm not the one coming up with the ideas or the content for the episode which is pretty nice.
SPEAKER_02Yeah yeah no I mean that's that's a huge bonus instead of having you know because when you're the idea guy and have to do all that it's I don't know it just adds an extra layer. I I mean I could even talk about it from like the podcast side like when you're doing stuff like that and trying to train at the same time it's a lot of extra stuff. So it's cool that they kind of take that off of you and you just have to you're just the you're just the star dude or you're one of the stars.
SPEAKER_00That's pretty cool. Essentially yeah it's it's really nice. And also I think that the quality of the videos in social media be it's just so much better that they have someone dedicated to doing just that. Yeah. If we were responsible for all of it like I mean I don't I didn't I don't really do a whole lot of social media at least I didn't before this. So be pretty inexperienced for such a cool project. I'm glad they're you know they've just decided to do it justice and hire a full-time photographer.
SPEAKER_02Yeah I mean like I said they're they're doing an amazing job. Like so far it's it's fantastic. I I love following the whole thing. I gotta ask you this though on on the flip side for the social media game because like if you you know it's got to be more difficult because if you are a quieter person just like focused on your craft and not that big on social media has is it harder for you to kind of come out and now you're this proverbial star and you you got to share the stuff and do all that has that been difficult?
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah absolutely I mean maybe not maybe not difficult but when I was you know before it was actually happening like oh this is the social media and being on camera that is definitely going to be the hardest part for me like there's no question about it. Like I can I can go run and train with people and like that that's super fun. I've like done that the past four years like it's great. But I think it'll just be I'll have to be make some conscious like thoughts throughout just to like keep myself in check. Because I don't want to get too carried away or you know like get super anxious like oh how is how's this video doing or what are people saying about this and that um I think it's like it's it's obviously it's not helpful for me to do any of that stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But I think and so far it's like it's going great but I think I'll definitely need to just Just keep myself in check and give myself a few reminders that you know not everything's gonna be perfect and that's okay. Uh and don't don't beat yourself up over it and don't put too much stress on yourself.
SPEAKER_02Not 100%, dude. That's the that is the most uh and it it goes a couple different ways too because it's like the bigger this thing gets, the more it will catch the zeitgeist of social media, and then everybody's got an opinion. And it's if I were you, I would just focus on your running, don't read comments, just focus on putting your stuff out there and you know, don't let them handle the rest of it because you know the second you kind of get into the whole uh yeah, everybody's just got an opinion on something, and you can't yeah, you just gotta do your art and what excites you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, I will say I did I like I watched the first episode just before it was released, and like it was super cool, but I haven't looked at any of the comments like at all. So, and I honestly I probably won't. Maybe I will at some point. Who knows?
SPEAKER_02But well, 99.9% of them will be positive, but you always get that one asshole. So, and that's the one that stays in your head. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, I've heard like Rue has been talking about a little bit, and it's like yeah, it's like 99% amazing comments. Like people are so nice, but I think regardless, I probably won't won't look at too much of the YouTube comments.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think it's the way to do it, man. It's uh especially because like, yeah, this thing, it might be smaller now, but it's gonna be huge. And when it is, like, yeah, you can't even you gotta just focus on your art.
Racing Plans High Five And Kodiak
SPEAKER_02And speaking of your art, what do you what are you racing this year? Like, what do you got planned for now that Mount Marathon's over?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I had um this winter, I was kind of putting together a couple races I wanted to do this summer, and Mount Marathon was one of them. And then I've always been curious about doing longer races. I've done 100k and I was like, you know what? I think I'm gonna do 100, I want to do a hundred miler this year. So I applied for the high five 100. Cool. I don't know if you've heard of it. I have um vicious, dude. Oh yeah, it's really hard. Um but yeah, it and I mean I wasn't guaranteed to get in because on on their website they say that you have to have done multiple mountainous 100 milers prior. They're like, oh, I don't know if they'll let me in, but I feel like I could prepare for it well enough. And I emailed them this big long letter with all my essentially my whole running resume. It was like, please let me in. And they were nice enough and believed in me enough that they let me in. So I got that lined up August 7th. Cool. That's assuming it's still a go. There's been wildfires in the area and some like land closures, kind of where the route goes. So it's kind of kind of up in the air. We'll see if it's actually a go. And then I don't have anything locked down for sure after that, but I think it would be really cool to go do Kodiak 100k. Um just to because it's a uh qualifier for um UTMB finals next year, and it goes 10 deep, so I think that'd be a great way to kind of get a ticket to go to UTMB next year. Um and it seemed like a lot of the other guys in the house, both Dylan Aries for sure, want to go um get some sort of qualifier. Um, maybe not for CCC or something, but we all want to try and make it there uh next summer. So yeah.
SPEAKER_02Nice. Uh dude, talk to me about your race selection because it's like uh I like this. It's not like you're hunting for no, no, I think it's cool because in a in a world where everything's either let me get in the Western States or let me get into UTMB, um, I like like you're you're throwing in like Mount Marathon and High Five, like you're doing the stuff that gets you excited, and then yeah, you go race Kodiak, but I I like the balance where you're you're seeming to do the th both of those uh and not just focused on like one specific thing. Maybe maybe talk about that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I think it's all about balance. I don't I mean, for some people, all they want to do is get into Western states, so they're gonna go race all the golden ticket races, and that's perfectly in balance for them. Um, but I think I I love being out in the mountains and doing the really steep technical stuff, and that's not necessarily all of the most popular races. Um yeah, I really like high five.
SPEAKER_02Um could you explain to the audience what high five is so that way they know? Because it's I might butcher it a little bit. It's the five it's five fourteeners or something like that, or if it's I know it's a hundred miles and five really hard peaks.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so you it's uh you start and end in Lake City and you summit five for the five fourteeners kind of in the area, Ungampagre, Wetterhorn, Handy's, Red Cloud, and Sunshine. And there's not a set course. So there's no course markings, there's no aid stations, but there's 24 checkpoints, and you have to go to all of those checkpoints in order, and you can make any route you want in between them. So it's pretty cool. It's not like you just show up and you know prepare for the race by training for it. You also have to, you know, go out and scout sections of the course and make a map and a route to that you think is most efficient, and it'll be different for every person who does it. Um, you know, relatively similar, but certain people will choose different ways depending on their strengths. But yeah, it's really hard. There's not a whole lot of support. You can have a crew at a few checkpoints, but there's no yeah, there's really no, it's pretty bare bones, and like I don't even think there's a big finish line archer, and they don't give out medals or anything like that. So it's pretty cool. Like you have to like that stuff to uh go do it, and it's what I love doing the most.
SPEAKER_02So oh, I love that dude. I love the motivation. It's about just getting out there and enjoying it. Like it's uh yeah, like you said, it's not there's no frills, it's it's it's truly a sufferer, truly a suffer fest. Um, how does one go about training for something like that? Are you just running up four teeners now, or are you just trying to get super fit down low? Like, what do you what are you doing?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, you definitely, at least in my thoughts, you definitely have to spend time up high because the route I plan right now, it averages like 11,600 feet, which is that's high. You're up high for a long time. Um and I think you know, because I was trying to balance this with training from Mount Marathon. So pretty much all of my long runs, I would just drive down to Lake City because I was still living in Gunnison and just go run sections of the course and kind of dial it in. And in doing so, you spend a whole bunch of time up time up high and get really specific training, which I think for a race like that is super important. Like it's such hard terrain that you're really not moving that fast. I don't think that you need to be go to be like ripping track workouts or doing any crazy thresholds on the road or anything. I think the most important is just spending a lot of time up high in the mountains. So that was kind of my goal.
SPEAKER_02Interesting. Um yeah, I no dude, I love to hear it. I love the balance. Do you treat this like a race or are you treating this as more of an adventure? And then if you just happen to be the fastest guy, you you'd you're the first one, right? Like how do you how do you conceptualize that?
SPEAKER_00I think it's more of a it's definitely less of a race and more of an adventure just because it is it's so hard to finish. I think they've done it for six like six years now, and the finisher rate's only 30%. That makes sense. So just finishing the race in its in its own right is a huge accomplishment. Like that's honestly that as long as I finish, like I will be, I'll be stoked. Um and I'm like trying not really not to think about a whole lot of time goals. I think it'd be great if I didn't have to run through part of a second night, um, which would mean I'd probably have to finish somewhere under 40 hours. But you know, that would just be just because I don't want to run through a second night. Um but yeah, it's uh more of an adventure or of like a I don't know, a quest you could say. Yeah.
Big Goals Skyrunning And UTMB Dreams
SPEAKER_02I like it. Long-term goals in the sport. Like, what do you want to do long term? Like what calls to you? Is it like UTMB or OCC or something like that? Is there a race that you haven't done yet that like really gets you excited? Like series and all. What uh what gets you out of bed for like some of the long long-term things?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think um I've decided I really I really want to go do Zagama next year.
SPEAKER_01Cool.
SPEAKER_00I'm not sure how easy it is to get in. Um but I'd really love to do that. And then I mean at some point it'd be really, really cool to do UTMB. Who knows if that's a couple years down the line or maybe next year? I don't I have no idea, but it'd be really cool to do UTMB. And also, I haven't done many of them, but I think what I'd really love is to do is all of the sky races, um, especially uh trophy Okema.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00I've watched some videos of that, and I'm like, oh, that at some point I gotta do it, but it's tricky because it's only every two years. So it's hard to get into.
SPEAKER_02It's like impossible to get into. So yeah, 100%. That is a dude. You know what looks sick? Skyrace stay methane, also like that that race, because it's early season too. You can kind of if you're fit early season, like you could knock that off in May, and that's a sick, sick race. There's a lot of really good ones on the Skyrunner series that I think are just like kind of under uh underappreciated, you know, in a lot of things.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I totally agree. Totally agree. They yeah, they look so cool. It's just like you do have to travel a long ways to get to them, especially living in the US. I mean, we have the one this year over in Washington, but bad beast.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but other than that, you've got to be flying across the ocean.
SPEAKER_02And it's a the one in Washington's dope. Like, don't get me wrong, like it's the horse is sick, but it's it's like skyrunner alight. It's not like an old track dream where you're you know running through talus fields for miles and miles or like trophia game. It's just it's you know, I we have to work with what we got in America because you know, wilderness and all that, all that stuff makes it kind of tricky. But dude, I would love for them to put something like really sick and technical in the Wasatch or you know, even in some of the high country in Colorado. But it's funny. I was uh I was doing uh I was doing my long run up high this weekend. I was over in A Basin, and I was like linking up that uh you can like link up that ridge from like Loveland Pass to A Basin, and I was like, oh my god, like how sick would it be if we had something in the States like this? And you know, everything's always in wilderness, so it makes it tricky. But yeah, if you could link like a ski resort to like a to a different ski resort and use like the ridge lines and stuff like that, I feel like that. That might be an easy way for people to do it, but yeah, it's fair.
SPEAKER_00It'd be so cool because it's like all of this, like a lot of the standard sky races in Europe are kind of they're more akin to the FKTs here in the US, I guess. Yeah, um, and I don't know if the US can if like yeah, like you said, if it's even possible to put on a race like that, um, due to a whole whole bunch of things, but I don't know. I was looking at uh the Ski Talk Scramble up in Alaska. I mean, also Alaska has a lot of really cool races, it's not just Mount Marathon. Um, but yeah, Ski Talk Scramble looks pretty proper.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, dude, I think Alaska is where it's at, in my opinion. Like I was thinking about this the other day, and I literally have this conversation with everybody because everybody's always high on you know on mountain racing and skyrunning. And I think Alaska is what's up because I don't know, like the their
Why Alaska Produces Better Mountain Racing
SPEAKER_02wilderness, the way they treat wilderness there is different than the way we troll treat wilderness there. Like it's you can nobody gets on you if you're running up alpine terrain in uh like off trail in Alaska and you do that in Colorado in the swatch and you're gonna get murdered. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well it's like there's just I think it's probably because there's just so much terrain up there, yeah, and so few people, like you can't like you're not gonna really do any harm. Unlike here, if honestly, if they had a free-for-all up, I don't know, Mount Elbert or something, it'd probably get ruined.
SPEAKER_02Michelino takes his turn on uh on Grand Deton and dude becomes public enemy number one. So yeah, they don't mess around here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no. Um, but yeah, I mean I've always thrown out the idea that it'd be cool to go up to Alaska for a summer and just do like the race circuit up there. Yeah, I think that'd be so fun. Um who knows if it'll happen, but that Grand Prix is sick.
SPEAKER_02Like I've uh I was thinking about this year. I just can't fit it into my schedule because it's literally this weekend. Uh, but Cirque Series Aliaska, like that course is very compelling. That's like I think that in my opinion, that's probably the best Cirque Series course there is. Like it's just such an aesthetic like line, and you get up on you know, straight up Aliaska and you get up on that that ridgeline, and it just looks I mean it's like almost 4,000 feet off the ground, which is kind of crazy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. And like I'm probably a little biased. I mean, I love running up in Colorado, but for those short races, I like it when they're down at sea level. 100%, dude. Yeah, and then you can you can really rip.
SPEAKER_02I always get so annoyed with Colorado running because like, yeah, you you move, you start to look at your watch and you're moving so much slower at like 12,000, 13,000 feet, and you're like, well, this kind of sucks. Uh but yes, if you're much lower, like that's why I even like racing in like Wyoming, dude, because 9,000 feet there is is a tree line. So it's not like it's here where it's 11,000, 12,000 feet. So uh yeah, it's uh the northern Rockies I think are a little more compelling from the mountain running perspective for sure. Yeah. Yeah, here it's here it's brutal. Yeah. Well, Baden, I just want to say thank you so much for coming on the show, dude. It was an absolute great conversation. And uh dude, wishing you the best. Thank you for kind of breaking down uh the trail house and all that good stuff, and can't wait to see where the rest of the year takes you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02I appreciate it, dude. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so I'm gonna get a lot of people.
