
Show Notes
Steve House welcomes newly appointed Uphill Athlete Coach Gabe Joyes for a comprehensive look at the 2025 trail running season. Gabe brings deep expertise as both a competitive trail runner and race director, having organized Wyoming's Sinks Canyon Chill Races and Run the Red Desert for nearly a decade.
The conversation covers the year's marquee events: Western States 100, where Abby Hall and Caleb Olson claimed victories; Hard Rock 100, marked by Katie Scheid's stunning course record; and UTMB, where Ruth Croft became the first woman to win the UTMB/CCC/OCC triple crown and Tom Evans finally claimed victory after two previous DNFs. They also discuss the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, the rise of 200-mile distances, and the inspiring presence of athletes in their seventies and eighties still finishing hundred-milers.
Special Offer to Listeners: Receive free four week samples of our most popular training plans, visit uphillathlete.com/letsgo [http://uphillathlete.com/letsgo]
Write to us at [email protected]
More from Uphill Athlete Podcast
Signed up for your first ultra? Coach Alexa Hasman, who has run 40+ ultras including seven 200-milers, joins Steve House to cover what first-timers need to know: why you don't need a road marathon first, how much runway to give yourself, why hiking is part of the plan, the minimum strength training that works, fueling, poles, dress rehearsals, and the two keys she wants you to remember: consistency and adaptability.
Buzz Burrell coined the term "fastest known time," and he's spent his life honoring the athletes who never tell anyone what they did. Steve House talks with Buzz about his 1969 run to Lake Michigan with no food, no water, and no one to tell; pushing multi-day FKTs on the Colorado Trail and the John Muir Trail; surviving a "widowmaker" heart blockage his doctors kept missing; and why, once goals and expectations fall away, what's left is simple: keep moving.
Trail running, climbing, skiing, riding: can you train for all of them without getting worse at each? Steve House and Director of Coaching Chantelle Robitaille share the framework Uphill Athlete coaches use with multi-sport athletes. Pick one priority per season, run an honest gap analysis, and harmonize your sports instead of balancing them. They also cover the interference effect, layering sports through the year, when to set one aside, and why strength training is non-negotiable.
Steve House talks with Dr. Eliza Sampey, a Doctor of Physical Therapy specializing in brain injury rehab, former professional endurance athlete, and concussion survivor herself about why mountain and endurance athletes so often underestimate head injuries, and what science-backed recovery actually looks like.
Steve House sits down with elite mountain athlete Kílian Jornet, calling in from his home in Norway, for a wide-ranging conversation about what draws people to high-risk mountain pursuits. They explore mountains not as a destination but as a sense of home and identity, the fine line between earned confidence and dangerous complacency, and how fear and euphoria can each distort decision-making in exposed terrain. Jornet reflects on his upbringing; being "born into the mountains," his mother's nighttime forest walks, a family trek across the Pyrenees; and how he's now passing that connection to nature on to his own children with his wife, Emily. The two discuss the blurred lines between mountaineering, alpinism, and running as labels; the philosophy behind going fast and light versus slow and immersive; and the particular psychology of "accepting" mortal risk versus fighting to survive an emergency. The conversation turns deeply personal as Kílian opens up about the loss of his friend and climbing partner Stefane Brosse and how grief and loss reshapes friendships, risk tolerance, and one's relationship with death across cultures. They close on parenthood, legacy, and the freeing realization that, ultimately, no one will be remembered. What matters is being present, honest, and good to the people around you now.