Title pretty much says it all! I'm based in Germany and looking at finally going for my first 100-miler in 2027. My preference is trail and something runnable. Forest environments are my favorite. I don't mind a climb, but I'm not as nuts about getting to the top of a mountain as some other folks.

Suggestions much appreciated!

This Saturday I completed the North Bend Triple Crown. 35.5 miles, and 12,300' gain and loss, in 13 hours and 15 minutes.

At a high level the Triple Crown is up and down: Mount Si, Mount Teneriffe, and Mailbox Peak, three of the most well-known peaks in North Bend/the i90 corridor near Seattle. As this was just three big up and down efforts (connected via road running), it changed the effort feel/pacing compared to rolling elevation like my previous races. It also has some very steep, technical portions which slow things materially.

I decided to do a full writeup as it's an interesting, accessible route stitching together three well-known Washington peaks, without many trip reports online. Planning was a (mostly) fun logistics puzzle with many different variables to weigh.

 It was my fifth ultra but my first unofficial/non-race backcountry race. I had support via my wife covering the mobile aid station (her car), and friends joining for the first mountain (Si).

Route: No single variation is the "official" route that I am aware of. I chose to do "full send": Doing the class 3 Haystack scramble at the top of Mount Si, Teneriffe via the climber's boothpath (fka Kamikaze trail), and Mailbox via the Old trail. For the latter two I took the new, easier trails down - more mileage but runnable. I also ascended/descended Si and Teneriffe all the way to trailheads to maximize the vert (versus linking them via the ridgeline trail).

I also connected the trailheads on foot via road running. I opted to do this because I wanted to hit the 50k mileage marker and because I liked the style of doing the whole effort on foot (honestly, I also wanted a nice clean Strava map… which is a dumbass reason, I know). I considered biking the connectors but didn't because of the reasons above and also for safety; there are numerous shoulder-less places on the road, blind turns, guardrails, etc and I wanted the option to be able to physically jump out of danger if a car was driving dangerously. In hindsight I would probably just give up the 50k goal and drive between trailheads; the road run didn't feel very safe and wasn't particularly enjoyable. 

Peak Order Debate:

I went in circles on this one.

• Mount Si with the haystack - the easiest trail, but the exposed class 3 scramble is the most dangerous/technical part of the whole route. Wet rock scramble could suck, so would be not ideal to do up first if it had rained the previous day. Generally the busiest of the three hikes - a pro and a con.
• Teneriffe - the most consistently difficult ascent (climber's bootpath is notably harder than Mailbox old trail imo), a long but easy descent via the new trail. The least amount of people so less safety margin.
• Mailbox - The last 1,000 feet up the boulder field is the most exposed to weather in my experience of any of the three peaks, I would time this around inclement weather if it's in the forecast.
• Road run - mentally fatiguing due to watching/dodging cars in some sections.

I ended up doing Si first, to get the Haystack out of the way on fresh legs, and to avoid the crowds/mid morning parking lot zoo. Teneriffe next because it's next door less than a mile of road running away (or a slightly longer trail connector), which leaves Mailbox last. I think this is the best order overall though I might reorder based on forecast. 

Weather and gear:

Forecast was looking like high 30s and rain/sleet which I was very nervous about, but luckily it improved closer to the day and ended up being beautiful weather. Since it was late in the year, daylight hours were limited so I started and finished in the dark. Cold rain and more wind would have made this a much harder effort and demanded pretty precise layering to mitigate hypothermia risk.

Since it is basically three climbs of 3-4k each vs a rolling course, you can get a pretty wide range of conditions from base to summit, plus you have more time to cook on the ascents and cool down on the descent.

I wore my most breathable base layers and carried a backup rain shell rolled up tight in my pack + a breathable midlayer which I only needed on Mailbox when it got windy up top and colder in the dark on descent.

Mailbox was when I was most fatigued/slowed, was going to be finished in the dark, and had the risk of some potential rain so I swapped into my warmer (and non-sweaty!) merino wool base layer before heading up. Other than that, swapping from trail runners to cushioned road shoes for the road portion, my kit stayed fairly identical all day (I also put on blinking lights on my pack and flashing headlamp on for the road run for visibility, and ditched poles for the road run).

Carried my usual other items - gloves, buff, two headlamps for redundancy, Inreach, emergency blanket. 6 lb pack weight total with water and snacks. 

Used my phone a fair amount for navigation and videos and drained battery, so carried my battery bank plugged into it for the road run to have it charged before Mailbox.

Effort summary:

Started up at 6 am on Si. It was very uneventful, though I budgeted time a bit wrong (scramble took longer than expected). Beautiful sunrise/dawn on the haystack. Took it easy on the descent to save quads for the next two mountains. Teneriffe was also pretty uneventful, it was my fastest mountain in 3h40m roundtrip. 

I started to feel the fatigue on the road run, I was moving pretty well overall but in blind turns and hills and sketchy road sections I had to run fast to pass through quickly, which spiked my heart rate and was mentally draining. I hopped off the road into the brush at least a dozen times. Drivers were overall pretty considerate though - thanks!

I started Mailbox pretty cooked around 3:45 pm (6 pm sunset), and too nauseous to eat, but pushed on (should have spent a bit longer at the aid station) because I was getting nervous about daylight hours and being solo on the mountain. I came dangerously close to a big bonk partway up Mailbox, forced myself to eat, and gutted out the last 3000 feet quite dizzy and miserable. There was a single hiker behind me who I suspected was the last person on the mountain (she was), so the 'game' I made up in my head was just to keep ahead of her at all costs so that I had a small extra safety buffer - more of a psychological boost than anything. Ended up summiting in 2 hours which in hindsight I think is actually solid for how wiped out I was. The sun started to set right before I summited and once I cleared the boulder field and back into the trees I put on my headlamp for the descent.

Timing was a bit harder to predict in advance, at our slowest I was around 1 mile per hour on the scramble, and at my fastest 9 minute miles on the road. Teneriffe up is especially slow going due to the very rough and steep trail, but had plenty of cruisy sections down.

I am a middle of the pack runner and finished in 13h15m - I am actually pretty proud of that as I ended up finishing withing 5 minutes of when my timing chart predicted. I think a strong runner could easily go sub-12 hours, and then obviously even faster if you skip the road connectors.

Aid station planning:

My lovely wife supported me via car aid station which was a huge help. She also tracked my location - I had my Inreach sending tracks every 10 minutes - to make sure I was on the move. She was planning to do Mailbox with me but had caught a cough the week before and decided not to.

For aid stations I did Si trailhead after Si (in busier months I'd reco doing Teneriffe trailhead as the lot is way less crowded… and better maintained), Si trailhead again from Teneriffe, Mailbox parking lot before Mailbox.

If you don't connect the mountains on foot and drive instead (what I would do if I were to do this again), you don't need support and can self-serve on your car aid stations (versus starting at Si and ending at Mailbox which leaves you in a pickle), as long as you think you'll be OK to drive home after.

Anyway, really cool route/effort that I overall recommend :) I am all ears if you know of other approximately similar linkups in Washington.

Last Saturday I ran a 45 km mountain race with about 3,100 m of climbing. Short for an ultra, I know, but plenty of vert. There was a solo race and a relay on the same course, so out on the trail nobody really knew who was where.

Nobody gave me the same answer twice. First, volunteers at an aid station told me I was 3rd. Then spectators along the course said 2nd. A bit later, other spectators said 5th. With relay runners mixed in, they couldn't tell who was in which race. At some point I was sure I was 6th.

What surprised me is how much it changed my legs. When I heard "2nd", I was flying on the climbs. When I heard I was further back, it hit me hard and I just let go. The last 8 km I was running to finish, not racing anymore.

At the finish line they told me I was 3rd. I'm happy with it, but a bit frustrated too, because I think I could have fought for 2nd if my head had stayed in it.

Has this happened to you? Do you try to ignore position info during a race, or do you need it to keep pushing?

I'm relatively new to ultrarunning. I've done two 50ks with respectable placements and training for my first 50 miler at the end of the year.

I am using a Garmin training plan and it gives me about 2 runs/week for anaerobic training. My God, I hate them.

How important is anaerobic training for 50-100milers?

Am I an idiot for considering skipping these runs?

My good buddy and main pacer knew I was pretty heart broken. So we went out to Zion and made our own 100m course. So relieved to have it done and off my back. Hell of an adventure.

Ten years ago I read an article about thru hiking and how it might translate to ultra running. I was on the AT at the time and it kinda stuck in my brain.

Fast forward to 2026 and I have the opportunity to see for myself. I just completed the long trail + another 150 miles of the AT, so roughly 400 miles in 25 days. I ran a 6 month backpacking specific training block beforehand (I can be more specific if the desire exists), but no 50k specific training.

I’m signed up for a 50k in roughly 3 weeks, so about 4.5 weeks total from when I finished my thru. I am continuing running and backpacking until then, but no specific training block for the 50k.

Has anyone done anything like this? Any insight as to how that fitness may translate? I don’t have much of a strategy, just plan on sending it. I’d love any feedback even if it’s just “you’re an idiot.”

I was backpacking in Asia a while ago and decided to do a little challenge, run around the Angkor park where Angkor Wat and such are located. A 50km run, hoping to see some temples.

The biggest struggle here was the weather. It was around 35°C every day with high humidity. Not the weather I'm used to in the Netherlands lol. Thankfully I was well acclimatized already and there were quite a few places on the route where you could buy water and other drinks and occasionally even food. Carried 2 softflasks of 0.5 liters and a 1.5 liter bladder that I could refill many times.

So I tried choosing the most cloudy day. The forecast said it would be cloudy but alas, the first 25k was no clouds and a very intense sun, but every now and then the trees provided some shade. The entire road was tarmac which didn't help. At the halfway point the weather completely changed. Huge black clouds, pouring rain and lots of thunder. Was pretty nice after being in the burning sun all morning.

Eventually got back in Siem Reap, I was pretty broken haha. Sadly didn't see any temples and it was a very boring monotonous road in general. But got a nice run in and I saw a snake and a scorpion, it was a good day ✌️

Is there an easy way to clean these? It's tough to get anything in there to scrub it out and the bite valve gets gross as well.

I know I will catch a lot of flack and hate for this, but if any of you can provide the best strategy or guidance, this will have been worth it.

I’ll try to be as short as possible.

28M, 6’1 195lbs. Running for less than 2 years now, longest race completed was an 18 miler roughly 8 weeks ago. Average weekly distance is only 25-30 miles a week… I know. Longest run SINCE the 18 miler has been 7 miles… I KNOW.

I’m a firefighter, I do CrossFit, shift days average 25-30K steps a day, non-shift days I’m still roughly 8-12k steps just to keep up with the kids and wife, life stuff. Not that any of that matters out there, just giving context.

Anyways, here’s what I’m getting at. Today is October 27th. On November 21st, I’m attempting my first Ultra at 32 miles in Carthage, Missouri. Not sure if any of this matters but the course is flat and shaded from what I hear. Weather roughly 50 degrees. 8 mile out and back I’ll do four times.

Here’s the thing: I feel like I can do it and stand a real shot at coming in under 6 hours like I want to. During my 18 miler I played with nutrition a lot as it was a backyard format, and stomach held up great. I know there will be hiccups, but I don’t anticipate nutrition to be a super big one. My plan is to use the 4:1 strategy from Mile 1, minute 1. Run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute. Run at about 10-10:15 pace, walk at 15-16 minute pace.

I say all of this to pose the question, what am I really going up against here? Do I realistically stand a chance? Am I completely overthinking it or am I absolutely cooked? Mentally I believe I have it, it’s not knowing whether my body will hold up under mileage that far, that quick or not. Any advice, help, words of encouragement are appreciated.

Edited to say my bad, this was not nearly as short as I wanted 😂

Hi, I use the Footpath app to plot my routes and then send gpx to Garmin Forerunner 945 which I use to follow on my watch.
Over the weekend, all routes on my Garmin are not allowing me to sync to my watch. And showing all routes as 3 miles 🤷‍♂️
Has anyone else had this problem?
I know Footpath have recently had an upgrade and I’ve emailed them (awaiting reply).
Which route plotting apps do you guys use to then transfer gpx to Garmin and then to your watch?

Has anybody tried the salted soup drink mix from Naak? I’m intrigued for winter and overnight runs to have something savory. Price is steep and I don’t have a feed order planned for awhile, so wanted to find out how people liked it. Personally, I do not like their other products which is why I’ve been hesitant to order it in my last feed round.

My wife and I have been working on our passion project for our running site, nextrace.live, for years and haven't yet onboarded ultras. We currently use some public API sources like RunSignup, Active, and RunReg but they don't provide many ultras. I saw a post on ultra signup's forum - https://ultrasignup.nolt.io/112 which sounds like they are working on an API for this very purpose but it's not available yet. Or if anyone else aggregates ultra races and have tips, lmk - any info is appreciated thanks!

Finished my first 50k and really happy with the result. I told myself I would be happy just finishing, but I wanted to be under 7 hours with a 13 min mile pace and it was pretty much spot on. I trained for 16 weeks, with my longest prior run being just under 19 miles. While I’m definitely satisfied with the result I discovered some things to work out for the next time.

The first, I think I could have picked up the pace a few miles earlier and shaved off some time. I felt good for the first 2/3 of the race, but I tried to be conservative with my pace until I hit the 17 mile mark. Looking back I think I could have speed up earlier.

Second, I need to experiment with nutrition more. At about the 5 hour mark I really didn’t want to eat anymore, I was mixing gels with solid food up until that point and the thought of eating more just didn’t sit right. The plan went well in training, but I think the higher intensity and effort of the race really messed with my body’s ability to digest it. I see now the benefits of carb drink mixes, a few volunteers filled up one of my flask with tailwind and made me eat some salt tabs and it really helped.

Overall I feel good about it and I’m glad to know where I can improve for next time. The goal now is Cayuga Trails 50 miler in NY next spring, if anyone has any tips I’d appreciate it!

Hi everyone!

Wanted to share a route write-up and GPX/Strava track from a recent Sea to Summit push from Mission Beach to the summit of El Cajon Mountain. My friend, Jacob Szilagyi, and I, Chase Tesoro, completed this 42-mile route in around 16 hours. Connecting the Pacific Ocean directly to one of the most prominent and iconic peaks in San Diego County felt like an aesthetic line waiting to be run. As far as I know, this is the first-ever completed attempt of this route. Neither of us is an endurance athlete; rather, we are 20-year-old students who wanted to push our limits, explore San Diego, and motivate others to do hard things! 

Key Stats

• Distance: 42.82 miles
• Elevation Gain: 6,278 ft
• Start: Mission Beach shoreline (Elevation: 0 ft)
• Finish: El Cajon Mountain Summit (Elevation: ~3,675 ft)
• Support Style: Self-Supported
• Total Time: 16 Hours 23 Minutes

Route Overview

We started around 2 a.m. October 24th right on Mission Beach. We then ran up Mission Bay Dr., then onto Friars Road. When we needed to stop and refuel, we stopped at gas stations and coffee shops that were open. We ran through the night up Mission Gorge Road and down into Lakeside. From here, we started our initial ascent of the long Wildcat Canyon Road to the trailhead of El Cajon Mountain. At the trailhead, we were 30 miles in with around 3000 feet of elevation. Once we were here, the pavement turned to dirt and rock, and we climbed and reached the summit around 4 p.m. 

Hydration, Gear & Nutrition

• Fueling: Energy gels and chews, assortment of candy, and electrolytes (50-70 grams of carbs per hour)
• Water Carry: Carried 2 liters in backpack, had a 16 oz water bottle with electrolytes, refueled at different gas stations.

Strava Link (username is ChaseTesoro if link does not work)

Strava Link

I passed out and hit my face on the carpet this afternoon. The ER doc guesses it is a combination of my low resting heart rate due to excellent physical condition (yay!), my heart medication that is a beta-blocker (for PVCs) and the fact I am on the same dosage as when I weighed 40 lbs more than I do now. But no real idea as to why it happened today of all days. I've been at this weight for many months already.

My face broke my fall and I have some crooked teeth. I luckily I meal prepped this morning for my post-workout snacks for later this week, so I have some pasta to eat. However, even soft pasta isn't working. My front teeth are just out of place enough that my bite doesn't line up enough to allow for chewing even pasta!

I spent hours meal prepping for the week and now I can't even eat it 😫 I even added more milk to try and soften it up, but it didn't help.

The blood work was good (including electrolytes) and it is not caused by my diet. I ate a bagel with honey and a kiwi for breakfast (a normal breakfast for me) and I had oatmeal & raspberries less than 1.5 hrs before this happened. My heart was fine. This has happened to me two other times in my life but it was back in high school and the summer into college.

The ER doctor chuckled when I asked when I can go back to running. Well, now I have a couple more days off. I took 2 rest days (Sunday & today) when it should have only been 1 (Monday), so now I will have 4 days off in a row. Not what I wanted at all, but shit happens, I guess.

I suppose it's better to happen in the beginning of my training program than farther along.

DNF’d my second 50k running the Patapsco Valley 50k outside of Baltimore, Maryland this weekend.

2nd 50k/Ultra, first was Dirty German in May 2026 and finished in just over 6.5 hours, and I DNF’d after 21.5 miles 4.5 hours into the race. Quads, hamstrings, calves totally locked up and I could barely take any consistent strides and would have spent the last 10 miles walking.

While some of you reading this may say why stop with still so much time left, I could barely move and felt like something was severely wrong how quickly I fell off.

Training prep went great peaking around 40 miles for the last 4 weeks and then a week out I had some issues that really hampered my recovery and rest. Whole training block was about 14-16 weeks and lifted throughout the block. Was bit my a spider a week out before the race on a training run causing my whole lower leg to swell up for a few days. After that, had to travel for work last minute the Monday the week of the race where I ended up working second shift supporting a project all the while maintaining my current work on first shift where I averaged about 4-5 hours of sleep the whole week leading up to the race. On top of that, other projects have been going haywire and admittedly I am more stressed than I honestly ever have been. Ended up flying back in Friday morning after 3 hours of sleep where I was able to get a decent nights sleep the night before the race. So really the 10 days before the race I averaged around 5 hours of sleep up until race day.

Race day felt good getting to the course and felt like I was ready to run. The first loop was just over a 25k and actually was on pace to PR my time for this distance however going up the last hill at around mile 16, my legs totally locked up. The cramping I felt was nothing like I had felt before, just could not pick up either of my legs and was so uncomfortable and in so much pain. I finished the first loop on 3:07 and after refueling, I told my girlfriend I felt terrible and was thinking 4 hours to finish the second loop.

Second loop, my pace dropped significantly adding about 3 minutes to each mile and progressively getting worse. Around mile 2.5 we hit a big climb where on the first loop I scaled pretty quickly, this time around I could not pick up my legs without cramping. The further I lifted my legs, the worse I felt. I tried alternating which leg I lifted first, scaling the climb sideways, going backwards, anything to try and get up. Once I hit the top, I was so dizzy and uncomfortable, it really started to set in that I might not be running much longer. After that I walk/ran for the next 3 miles going slower and slower and stumbling all over the place. A few people that had passed me asked if I was okay and someone mentioned that they could see that I was in rough shape and cramping hard. The whole time trying to make it to the next aid station I kept contemplating quitting, continuing, walking, the whole thing but with a rather hilly course, I was in no shape to finish. At around 21.5 miles there was a volunteer with a walkie set up and asked if they could call someone for me and called myself out of the race.

As you can expect, the last 24 hours have been awful and I am more sore than I’ve ever been. After the race I couldn’t get out of the car, I pretty much laid around all day yesterday and today and am in immense pain. I truly feel like I prepped for this race and am better prepared than I was for the last 50k. I’m just extremely dissapointed in how yesterday had went.

Anyways, I’m running The View 25k in 2 weeks and am pretty much just focus on sleeping, recovering and resting and just taking that for what it is. I also will be running Patapsco next year because the course was a blast, the volunteers were phenomenal, and honestly I need some redemption.

Any advice, questions, comments, I’m happy to chat!

My FIRST Ultra ever - Williamsburg, VA
2.2 Mile LOOP on soft flat gravel

From My Experience -

Ultra Vibes - People rolled up early, on time, late. Maybe this isn’t the norm but everyone was relaxed and very chill. No one was doing sprints or laps in the parking lot like at my wife’s 5k or 10k events

Ultra Folks - Crushing it? Other racers cheer you on. Struggling? Other racers cheer you on. I had a 70 year old tell me I had ‘Great Walkin’ Pace’ and two hour laters I had a guy say ‘You ok? You got this Big Dawg’ as I was staggering from stiffness after a pit stop.

- DO NOT SIT. Seriously. For real. 11 hours into the race my wife and young boys came to cheer me on and brought me a snack …so I sat in my chair… I was never the same. My body cooled down quickly (shivers) and my muscles locked up. It took me a loop+ to move with some sort of purpose.

- In a loop race I ditched the super cool running vest and ditched the floppy water jug thing pretty quickly. I carried a bottle of whatever as I ran the 2.22. The leaders had no gear - they ran efficient 2.2s and stopped at the pit stop when needed.

- When I woke up this morning my wife asked when I was doing my next one and I said ‘MEH’ to the whole thing… I had just opened my eyes for the day and felt hungover, exhausted, manic and depressed.
‘Not sure why people do this’….. ‘It’s not natural’…. Etc etc etc. 8 hours later I’m ready to consider it.

- I thought while running I would be meditating on my life, the universe, philosophy, etc. I thought my mind would be free of distraction and I could reach new levels of zen and oneness. It’s weird that I don’t really recall what I was thinking about but I know that I didn’t spend time centering my chi.

- I started with no music…. Then Music sounded good… then silence sounded more relaxing… no, time to chat with another racer. I listened to a podcast that kept me going for 40 minutes and then WHAM it was completely uninteresting and was bringing me down. Lots of going with the flow regarding what was mindless enough to keep everything moving.

- People move a million different ways of going. It’s not just running or walking. I saw so many variations of MOVEMENT that I eventually realized that many people don’t see an Ultra as a race… but a distance- travelled challenge.

- Inclusivity. It seems that Ultras lend themselves to giving everyone a shot. There was a blind racer, many 70+ age racers, someone with their colostomy bag peeling away (me), young folks, college kids, retirees… everyone had different purpose and different goals but the same trail to accomplish them on.

- Post-Race Amnesia. Is this a thing? On a normal day I could describe specific details of most events during the day. But I can’t recall for the life of me what happened hour to hour during the race.

- The three parts of training require a balance I was not prepared for: physical, physiological and emotional. My physical training was fine but I tweaked a knee at Mile 20 which shifted a lot of plans, strategies, etc. Emotionally I was ok and was resilient enough to push through an angry knee. Physiological I felt very far behind. I did the things people recommend for fuel and drink but wasn’t prepared for the shivers and coldness to set in SO fast when I took a break. Unsure if it was dehydration, temp, etc. When I read about our bodies and how they react to extreme efforts I wish I had done far more research prior. I figured soreness and maybe a popped blister would be dealt with for a few days. I didn’t read about how sleep, fuel sources, etc are affected for weeks.

- I’ve got a tweaked knee, swollen feet, a toenail on its way out, some regrets about my race choices, WAY more appreciation for those who compete in these challenges but also a much broader idea of the many ways things can go on any given Ultra.

Perhaps that’s the allure of it all?

Xtrail Jurassic Coast race report is here - https://oliletriathlete.com/maverick-jurassic-coast-xtrail-50k/ - in case it will inspire someone!

I finished in 5:31, placing 7th woman overall, wearing the VJ Ultra 3. Would I have loved to finish a little faster? Absolutely. But based on my training, this was exactly where I expected to land, and I’m proud of the race I ran.
What makes this race so special to me is how much has changed in almost exactly a year.
At Stone Cat last year, I let my nerves get the best of me. I fell six times, slammed my head, and spent a lot of the race feeling distressed and overwhelmed. It was a really difficult experience.
Since then, I’ve been diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and left foot dystonia, and I’ve spent the last year dealing with a lot of skin issues on top of everything else. I’ve been working incredibly hard to figure out how to manage my body, adapt my training, and keep showing up.
Today felt like a completely different person running the race.
I used my breathing techniques, stayed calm and collected, chatted with other runners, and genuinely had a fantastic time. No falls. No GI issues. No skin issues. I finished in the time I expected, and I walked away feeling good about the entire experience.
I think sometimes we get so caught up in chasing a faster time that we forget to appreciate the progress that doesn’t show up on a results page.
A year ago, I was overwhelmed and struggling to get through a race. Today, I ran 50K, managed my nerves, adapted to my body’s needs, and actually enjoyed the experience.
Of course, I still want to get faster. I’m a runner. That’s never going away. But today was a reminder that progress isn’t always about the clock.
Sometimes, it’s about how far you’ve come mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Hi everyone!

We are university students from BSP Business & Law School in Germany, currently working on a Marketing & Sales research project.

We are investigating how runners perceive recommendations from sales staff when shopping for running shoes, particularly how a salesperson's knowledge and competence influence customer trust.

We would really appreciate your help with our short survey!

We're looking for participants who:

• Are 18 years or older
• Have received in-store advice about running shoes within the last 6 months
• Were recommended a specific running shoe by a salesperson (you don't need to have purchased it)

⏱️ Time required: Around 4–5 minutes, plus brief feedback.

📝 Survey link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfWyzPBRUlqKjxsVQt9W8kI5CFmb08IqGpm66Q1HgsuMbfPzg/viewform

Participation is voluntary, and the questionnaire does not ask for names or email addresses. This is a small academic pretest to help us improve our questionnaire before the main study.

Thank you so much for supporting our research! We'd really appreciate your input. 🏃

Hi from Portugal,

I started my journey in trail running in the beginning of the year (2026).

All my life I have hiked trails and explored mountains and nature.

So I have a not so good for my health "hobby" and this year I take the decision that this needs to change in my life, so started running, running trails that I have hiked all my life, I find a beautiful healthy new hobby, that help me battle and win my demons.

So I started sharing this journey on my Instagram @lciserf and I open to share the my history and power to change my life.

So if you are interested give a follow a like a comment, anything that share some positivity will be much appreciated, if you feel connected to my story and want to share some love 💚

I will see many of you on the trails.

Peace

I'm familiar with concepts surrounding intervals. Such as 4x4's / VO2 max 1:1 work and Hill repeats. Most "free" plans have blocks of work like this. Then the rest of the week is easy running.

Wondering though, what other workouts have you found to be really important? Such as adding long format up tempo during long runs? Double workouts?

For context, I've raced a few ultras up to the 100km distance. I'm finding my leg durability to be the limiter when I tag a new distance. Hoping to run my first 100m next year. I've trained 4+ years thus far so have a nice engine built following mostly beginner plans - ie. 1-2 workouts a week + lots of easy running.