Singletrack

Jason Koop | Professionalization of Ultrarunning, Trail Running Teams, Doping Solutions

Feb 25, 2023

01:53:24

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Jason Koop is the Head Coach of Carmichael Training Systems Ultrarunning.

In this conversation, we talk about whether and how the increasing professionalization of ultrarunning is changing the ways athletes train and race and generally commit their livelihood to the craft, the potential for professional co-located trail running teams, doping and the policies that should be put into place as soon as possible among many more topics.

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Timestamps:

(1:36) - insights from traveling to races with athletes
(9:53) - what's changed the most in the way elite athletes races ultras
(15:35) - why it's insufficient for elite athletes to marginally improve year over year
(30:19) - when ultrarunners reach their performance peaks
(40:45) - creating the ideal mountain ultra trail runner
(47:04) - biggest advances in the athlete-coach relationship
(55:36) - feasibility of trail running teams
(64:41) - media coverage of ultrarunning
(69:41) - doping in ultrarunning
(96:20) - training theories for 200 mile races, long trail FKTs
(105:04) - how coaching for ultras looks different in 2030
(110:00) - final thoughts

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