Photo by Brett Rivers.
You just started showing up at the front of Colorado race results last year. Where'd you come from and what's your running background?
I started really running seriously about 2 years ago, but have always had a bit of a knack for it. I played lacrosse throughout high school and college where my strength was always out hustling my opponent. My role as the runner on the team obviously helped me to remain in good running condition even though I never ran in any structured way that would resemble legitimate training. Until about two years ago, I think the longest I ever ran straight was about 6 miles in my hometown's annual 10k - the legendary Bolder Boulder. After I graduated from college, there was a huge competitive void left in my life that I chose to fill by running a marathon. As they say, the rest is history.
You're 25, it's no longer unusual for someone that young to be racing 100-milers, but everyone's training still varies a ton. What is your typical training volume leading up to a 100, and how do you balance it with everything else that a twenty-something has?
Throughout the winter I would typically run 60-90 miles per week with a few forays into the low triple digits. I also ski three or four days a week and do vinyasa yoga once or twice. This would vary a lot week to week depending on the snow conditions and my responsibilities at work. Now that the mountains are closed, I plan on running 90-120 miles per week for the remainder of the summer while still getting in some weekly yoga. Essentially I'll just replace my ski time with more running, which is fine with me. These numbers are all rough estimates since I don't have a Garmin or keep a training log, but I assume they are pretty accurate. Virtually all my running is low intensity mountain jogging. The way I see it, I got my lifetime of speed work done on the lacrosse pitch in college. In terms of run-life balance, I'm very fortunate to work at The Little Nell Hotel where they are very supportive of my training and racing. I pretty much never have to sacrifice running for other life obligations.
Aspen is incredibly expensive. What's daily life like there, can a regular person make it work?
Haha. It certainly is. In fact, finding affordable housing is probably the hardest thing about living in the area. However, there is a very tight knit community of modest-living locals here which is often overshadowed by Aspen's glamorous reputation. So, to answer you question, yes regular people can and do live here.
How do you train all winter in Aspen? Are you hitting the treadmill, or can you find snow-free bike paths?
Ugh. It was a long winter in the high country and all of my training in the past seven months occurred on either of the two surfaces you mention. Typically I run first thing every morning, so I developed a temperature threshold to dictate whether I was man enough to brave the elements. If it was colder than 15 degrees when I woke up, I hit the mill, any hotter and I hit the bricks. Now that the local trails are thawing, I plan on running trails exclusively until we get buried again in the fall.
For someone from the Front Range just passing through town, what are the "must do" Aspen trail runs?
The Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop is an absolute must do for any self-respecting trail runner. It's about 26 miles long with ~10,000 feet of climbing amongst awesomely inspiring terrain. I did it with fellow local and accomplished runner Zeke Tiernan last September three weeks after we had both run Leadville (finishing 10 minutes apart). We suffered, but it was undoubtedly the best 6 hours of running in my life. I can't believe I have that in my backyard.
Another lesser known classic is the Conundrum Trail to the hot springs. The route is a ~17 mile out and back with probably close to 4,000 feet of climbing where you can soak in the naturally occurring Conundrum Hot Springs halfway through. There is so much good running here. I could go on and on.
Aspen has a lot of cougars and bears in town, which do you see more often on the trails, and which is more dangerous when encountered?
Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by cougar. If you mean mountain lion, I've never seen one. On the other hand, if by cougar you mean a middle-aged single woman on the prowl, I've seen millions. I see black bears all the time while I'm running and they are pretty harmless, so I would say the Aspen cougar is significantly more dangerous. This is only because they are usually chatting on their bluetooths on the trail and are easily startled when approached. Plus the cougar is almost always accompanied by an equally ferocious lap dog. I try to avoid both at all costs.
Tyler v. Lance at Aspen's Cache Cache Bistro, who do you got?
Lance for sure. He is a local hero who does a lot of good in our valley. I'm kind of surprised that Hamilton even had the stones to show his face in town. I got a real laugh out of that headline though. It was sort of one of those "only in Aspen" moments.
What La Sportiva shoes do you go to for training and racing?
My go to Sportiva shoe for both training and racing is the timeless Fireblade. I wear them for literally every run on any surface, even the treadmill. I really hope they come out with a Fireblade 2.0 like they have with the Crosslite and the forthcoming Skylite. It is such a versatile shoe and has enough protective bulk, but doesn't ever feel too heavy or clunky. I wore the same pair of Fireblades for all 100 miles last weekend and couldn't have been happier with their performance. I've also been running in the new Quantum shoe, but find these are best suited for really rocky or technical trail.
What's on your race calendar for the rest of the year? Will you return to Leadville? Are you starting to think about bigger races against deeper fields?
The only races that I am registered for at this point are Leadville and Imogene. Leadville 2010 was literally the best day of my life so I am beyond excited to return. The field is going to be very strong and I've heard there may be close to 1,000 racers this year. Leadville is my backyard race and promises to be epic so it will dominate my thoughts for the remainder of the summer. I'll probably approach Imogene as a fun run since it doesn't really fit my strengths and is so close to Leadville, but I am very excited about this Colorado classic as well.
As to the second part of your question, yes I would like to compete in more prestigious races with deeper fields, but it's a lot easier said than done. I missed on Lotteries for Western States, Miwok and Hardrock for the second year in a row so it wasn't for lack of effort. In fact I signed up for the San Diego 100 out of frustration on Hardrock lottery day when my name wasn't even drawn in the first 100 wait listers. Needless to say, I'm very happy I got to run the SD 100, and I do love low key local races, but I'd be lying if I said it isn't frustrating. At the end of the day, I live in a beautiful place and get to explore it on foot everyday of my life. As long as that remains the case, I'll be a very happy man.
Follow the rest of Dylan's 2011 racing season on his blog, Live Epic. Check out the rest of the La Sportiva Mountain Running team here.
Thanks for the interview Dylan and good luck at Leadville!
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