
Running long - A trail and ultra running talk
Vert is the home for every trail & ultra runner. On this podcast we host conversations with key members of our Trail & Ultra running community from all over the world. From professional world class athletes to our Vert.run members and community. Narrating captivating stories and learning from and about this amazing sport.
Latest episodes

Jan 29, 2025 • 1h 9min
162. Allison Lynch | Running, performance, athletes and influencers: navigating brand marketing in an evolving landscape
Allison Lynch is a writer, artist, competitive runner and sports marketing professional.
Allison has 12 years of experience in brand marketing and communications, specializing in sports technology, running, and fitness. She’s worked for companies like WHOOP and COROS.
I was inspired to invite Allison on this podcast after discovering her work and talent for writing. She wrote a very interesting Substack post on Matt Trappe's newsletter “A matter of brand”, which I really suggest following and subscribing, that is called "Athletes vs influencers: the bubble has burst". I have been following Allison since then and here we are now.
In today’s conversation we talk about the current state of the running universe, the evolution we’ve seen in the past 15 years, with running and outdoor brands progressively shifting away from performance to focus more on lifestyle and fashion, the athletes vs influencers dynamic, how can athletes provide value to themselves and to the brands they work for, how can companies help the athletes build their brand and audience on different platforms.
Follow Allison on Substack: https://notaconversationalpace.substack.com/
Allison personal website and portfolio: https://www.allisonmary.com/
PLEASE SHARE THIS EPISODE WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND ON SOCIAL MEDIA IF YOU ENJOYED IT!
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Francesco's links: Instagram | Twitter | Strava | Website

Jan 15, 2025 • 43min
161. Voices from the Vert.run community: Adina Crawford | Trail running and diversity, changing the narrative and a memorable trip to the French Alps
Adina Crawford is a trail runner from the US and a Vert.run explore athlete. Adina is a passionate runner whose goal is, like many other athletes that we coach, to run longer, faster and stronger while having fun in the process. In this episode we talk about being a trail runner from an underrepresented community in our sport, a memorable trip to the french alps, her experience training with Vert, developing community, training, racing and much more.
Follow Adina on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adinavcrawford/
PLEASE SHARE THIS EPISODE WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND ON SOCIAL MEDIA IF YOU ENJOYED IT!
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Francesco's links: Instagram | Twitter | Strava | Website

Jan 8, 2025 • 58min
160. Andy Wacker | How's The Trail Team doing?
Andy Wacker is a professional trail runner for Salomon living in Colorado. Two years ago Andy founded The Trail Team, a project with the mission to independently support and develop rising athletes into the best professional trail runners in the world through mentorship, skill development, and media exposure.
We caught up with Andy to see how the project is going, how it has developed into something bigger, how it’s made an impact on the American and international trail running scene, and talk about some future perspectives.
PLEASE SHARE THIS EPISODE WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND ON SOCIAL MEDIA IF YOU ENJOYED IT!
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Francesco's links: Instagram | Twitter | Strava | Website

Dec 18, 2024 • 1h 26min
159. Zach Miller | Ever forward: embracing the past and the future of trail running.
Zach Miller is a professional trail runner for The North Face living in the United States.
We caught up on a number of things happening in our sport right now, some future evolutions, then his current training, future plans for 2025 and much more. Enjoy!
PLEASE SHARE THIS EPISODE WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND ON SOCIAL MEDIA IF YOU ENJOYED IT!
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Francesco's links: Instagram | Twitter | Strava | Website

Dec 11, 2024 • 1h 25min
158. Tim Tollefson | We need to take care of our sport. Community, growth, professionalization, mentorship, physical and mental health
Tim Tollefson is a professional trail runner for Craft living in Mammoth Lakes, California, and the race director of the Mammoth Trail Fest.
In this episode with Tim, we talk about community, antidoping efforts, sponsorships and opportunities to run professionally, growth of the sport, circuits and Mammoth Trail Fest affiliation with the Golden Trail World Series; we also talk about some personal stories, mental health, validation, acceptance and what success looks like for us.
RESOURCES:
Watch What goes unsaid on YouTube
Read: Influencers vs Athletes: the bubble has burst on Substack
Follow Tim on Instagram
Follow Mammoth Trail Fest on Instagram
PLEASE SHARE THIS EPISODE WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND ON SOCIAL MEDIA IF YOU ENJOYED IT!
_______________________
Follow @vert.run on IG
Download our app and sign up to our training plans on vert.run
Francesco's links: Instagram | Twitter | Strava | Website

Dec 4, 2024 • 1h 8min
157. Roberto Delorenzi | Skyrunner World Series Champion, consistency at the top level, highest race results to training ratio??
Roberto Delorenzi is a professional trail runner for Brooks coming from Switzerland. Roberto has had a stellar 2024 season, with 38 races and 17 wins including 4 Skyrunner World Series races plus the final and the overall ranking, one european mountain running championship, a third place at Marathon du Mont Blanc, a fifth place in 2:32 at Sierre Zinal, 3 sub 30’ in the 10k, a low 64’ half marathon and many, many other great results.
We caught up with him during his off-season while he’s already keen on getting back to training, we dove deep into his 2024 as well as how he’s developed into the athlete he is today, from his love for the outdoors to his training philosophy and how’s become one of the best professional trail runners in the world. Roberto is also a great friend and we’ve known each other since we were little. We shared an altitude training camp earlier this year, many great battles and a lot of great and fun moments together.
Follow Roberto on Instagram
PLEASE SHARE THIS EPISODE WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND ON SOCIAL MEDIA IF YOU ENJOYED IT!
_______________________
Follow @vert.run on IG
Download our app and sign up to our training plans on vert.run
Francesco's links: Instagram | Twitter | Strava | Website

Nov 27, 2024 • 53min
156. Lauren Gregory | Elevating the game in trail running
Lauren Gregory is a professional trail runner for Nike from Colorado, living on the East Coast and training with the Northswood Athletic team, under the guidance of coach Ben True - a true legend of distance running. Lauren is really, really fast, from the track to the trails: within one season, this year, she ran a 15:17 5000m on the track and she was able to take second at the golden trail world series final in Switzerland.
In this episode, we talk about collegiate running, golden trail, track and trails and how one can help the other, elevating the game in our sport, health, and many other interesting topics.
Follow Lauren on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lgeeeeezy/
PLEASE SHARE THIS EPISODE WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND ON SOCIAL MEDIA IF YOU ENJOYED IT!
_______________________
Follow @vert.run on IG
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Francesco's links: Instagram | Twitter | Strava | Website

Nov 20, 2024 • 1h 4min
155. Eli Hemming | Working my way up to the top: how to become a professional trail runner
Eli Hemming is a professional runner for Adidas Terrex from Kremmling, Colorado.
Eli is maybe my greatest competitor of this 2024: we shared the podium at OCC in Chamonix, where he was first and I was second, so I absolutely wanted to have him on the podcast at some point. We’re good friends in life and great enemies during competitions, and we both think this is the best way to show our mutual respect as athletes and competitors: offering the best we’re capable of to each other.
In this conversation we talk about Eli’s life and training with her wife Tabor, in their ranch on the mountains of Colorado, his background as an elite triathlete, becoming a professional trail runner, his upcoming debut in the 50m distance at JFK 50 this weekend and much more.
Follow Eli on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eli_hemming/
PLEASE SHARE THIS EPISODE WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND ON SOCIAL MEDIA IF YOU ENJOYED IT!
_______________________
Follow @vert.run on IG
Download our app and sign up to our training plans on vert.run
Francesco's links: Instagram | Twitter | Strava | Website

Nov 13, 2024 • 47min
154. Vic Johnson | Nutrition principles for outdoor athletes - part 2
Vic Johnson is maybe better known on the internet as Mountain Sports Dietician.
The principles surrounding sports nutrition are relatively simple - applying them is not. Vic’s mission is very simple, to help high performing mountain athletes apply these principles properly so they can fuel and hydrate to make the most of their training and perform well at races.
In this short series of episodes that I recorded with Vic, we’re going to learn more about the topic of nutrition for endurance athletes, without pretending to exhaust the topic, but with the aim to give some practical, handy knowledge that you can apply to your own training and racing. This is the second part of our conversation.
Follow mountain.sports.dietician on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mountain.sports.dietitian/
_______________________
Follow @vert.run on IG
Download our app and sign up to our training plans on vert.run
You can send us a message with any questions for us or for our guests! https://anchor.fm/vertrun/message
Francesco's links: Instagram | Twitter | Strava | Website

Nov 6, 2024 • 55min
153. Vic Johnson | Nutrition principles for outdoor athletes - part 1
Vic Johnson is maybe better known on the internet as Mountain Sports Dietician.
The principles surrounding sports nutrition are relatively simple - applying them is not. Vic’s mission is very simple, to help high performing mountain athletes apply these principles properly so they can fuel and hydrate to make the most of their training and perform well at races.
In this short series of episodes that I recorded with Vic, we’re going to learn more about the topic of nutrition for endurance athletes, without pretending to exhaust the topic, but with the aim to give some practical, handy knowledge that you can apply to your own training and racing.
Follow mountain.sports.dietician on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mountain.sports.dietitian/
_______________________
Follow @vert.run on IG
Download our app and sign up to our training plans on vert.run
You can send us a message with any questions for us or for our guests! https://anchor.fm/vertrun/message
Francesco's links: Instagram | Twitter | Strava | Website