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Before Courtney entered the ultra world, she was saying, "Let's just try." Then she tries and becomes the best ever. Now she stands at the top and...is just as humble and grateful as she was at the beginning. I admire that part of her as much as her amazing achievements. What. role model!!
I like how open she is to adventure! She didn't want to live with regrets, and she made the leap to pro just to see if she could. That's courage for sure!
My favorite take away? Courtney noting that a lot of her running is "explorer" and "cruiser." Even before this podcast, I found myself trying to be less regimented, and being more present in the moment -- of testing myself and seeing how much farther I can go in those cruiser, long runs.
Just subscribed and WHO ARE YOU??? I have really enjoyed your podcast but Dauwalter? Jornet? Kipchoge?????? How do you get so many amazing guests? Great work, great content!
The modesty and humility she shows is amazing. Love the opening statement 'the world's greatest uttra runner'... Camille and Conor will be trying to figure how to edit someone else's RU-vid videos once they get back from Greece. 😂
My favorite takeaway was flipping the script on pain and discomfort from avoidance to “this is where I get to learn and grow”. I think this could be applied to so many different areas of life 🤓
Was inspired by Courtney and signed up for my very first running event. A 25k jungle trail. DNFed after getting lost while it was still dark and I followed 10 other people / headlamps ahead of me that were scrambling up a steep hill by mistake. Sort of like lemmings .. climbing to their death (nobody really died but most of them eventually DNFed). Ahead was a landslide so it did not look like it was possible to keep going, I guess that's why everybody thought they had to climb that hill instead and I even saw that it wasn't the correct track on my watch but I just assumed they must have changed the course last minute due to landslides. You just don't think the 10 people ahead of you could possibly all be mistaken. The first doubts only started to creep into my mind half way op the hill when it was impossible to keep going because it got steeper and there was nothing to grab to pull myself up further. It was unusually steep, if it would have been the official course there would have surely been a rope, we pulled ourselved up on vegetation, it was full of thorns, the last thing on my mind was to check for any ribbons, just focused on trying to get up and not slide back down. People behind me had to push their running poles into the mud to stop my shoes from sliding down. As people reached the top they realized it was all wrong and there was no way to go. It was too dangerous and wet, slippery, muddy to try and get back down again. I hiked alone through the wild jungle where there wasn't even a trail trying to find a way to get back down to the official trail, was very scary. I found the course again but totally exhausted and stressed. A lot of time and energy wasted. Had to give up after covering just half of the course (12km) which took over 4 hours - I had thought I'd be done with the event in less that 4 hours. So that was very disappointing.
I can’t thank you enough for this video, as a baby ultra-marathoner I feel greatly encouraged!!! My number 1 motto always has been Run Happy, which means listening to my body / mind / inspiration and going off that each day! I’ve tried following a plan and it just didn’t work for me at all!! Fortunately I was very much into strength training and yoga long before I started running and greatly feel their benefits on so many levels with my running!! I’ve also seen the massive benefit of being well educated, and I mean science based, not what “everyone says” but what the evidence shows … Aussie running physiotherapist Brodie Sharpe’s Run Smarter book and podcast is a godsend!!!!!
Easily the takeaway here for me is to approach training on a day to day basis rather than a very structured "cookie cutter" approach to a training plan. The holism associated with Courtney's training is likely the key to her success: how am I feeling right now/today? What do I crave right now/today? There's probably a lot of foundational knowledge on her part to be able to know what she needs..
Thank you for this FlorisGierman, and thanks to Courtney Dewalter for my takeaway that I have heard many times from her "try, you gotta try". This is huge , someone really powerful handing over a key that deflects fear, " just try"!
I love her advice. Other people on the internet say otherwise. But I listen to my body like she said. Only we know what we need and no one can tune into us. The minute my new little hobby becomes too technical will be the day I no longer try. I want to have fun with seeing how far I can push my body before becoming obsessed
My biggest takeway is the fluidity of her training. It can be easy to get caught up in a "plan", but checking in with how you're feeling is something we runners should probably all work to be better at.
My body lies to me too often to rely on its signals to dictate how I train that day. Often I have my best runs when I feel like crap beforehand. A structured plan has helped me a lot lately. I ran without one for decades with mixed results. A plan, and sticking to it, has worked well for me. Maybe years of experimentation is what it takes for each of us to settle on a method.
Glad you found what works well for you. Every athlete is so unique and these experiments are great ways to find out what works and what doesn't. Enjoy your running journey!
My favorite take away is the overwhelming joy Courtney gets from what she does and how it grows her as a person. She is always open and gives freely. Great podcast.
Wow, feeling day to day - this is definitely new and refreshing at least to me! As a beginner and training for my 2nd marathon, I train with fear. Fear that I won’t be able to finish the race! Add to that, I psych and push myself that this is for me and I want it, almost, that I need it. As of, happiness (maybe relief) comes at the finish line. I need to tweak this attitude and run happy! Thank you Floris for this interview your videos helped me tremendously specially on zone 2 running. Cheers!
What's the worst thing that would happen if you didn't finish? Would you lose your job, friends, family, reputation? Nope. You wouldn't even lose the time and money invested, because you're more fit than before, had a crazy cool experience, and tried something challenging very few in the world have. If your worst case scenario happens, you learn valuable lessons, you sign up for another and use that increased fitness to kill it. At the end of the day, this is just a HOBBY. If it adds more stress and tension to our lives than enjoyment, if it's a stressful second job we don't even get paid for... why bother? DNFs are a stepping stone. They are simply a part of running, even for the pros. Even Courtney, an absolute GOAT, has DNFd. The only shame to it is the shame you yourself attach. Happy running!
@@Kelly_Ben Thanks for the insight and I agree with what you said. The fear I mentioned was just for my own motivation for the marathon and each one has his own. After all we don’t need to run 26.2 miles.
Glad you found this conversation help and great response by @Kelly_Ben already, fully agree with what was said! Enjoy your 2nd marathon journey, plenty of things to learn from the training and race day experience. Let me know how it goes!
@@FlorisGierman Thank you Sir - I learned so much from your channel. Kudos to your insightful interviews and chosen guests. Looking forward to the next one.
Great chat Floris ok. I would have like to listen to some of her funniest hallucinations on the trails, but maybe on the next interview 🤷🏻♂️😁😁. Courtney is a Legend 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼👏🏼👏🏼
What a fantastic interview! Courtney is such an inspiration for me, as an athlete and as a well grounded person... fueling on nachos and training by feel is definitely my style of training, though my results are just a TAD less awe inspiring than hers! 😂 🐢 It was great to hear a GOAT like her say that consistency, even a mile or two, is key. As an ultra runner who works 60+ hours a week on my feet, it's easy to convince myself to skip runs. Consistency is my nemesis. This is a fabulous reminder that even 10-20 minutes can move me towards my goals. Wishing her an incredible 2025!!
She is an extraordinary humble person. Love how she doesn’t take her too seriously. The take way, “give it go, the end result is usually not what is matter”, and of course “the consistency”. Thank you Floris for an awesome interview.
My favourite take away .."Just go...maybe leave your watch at home" . Courtney has put me at ease with my approach to my first ultra (a short one). I am going for the adventure with no expectations of how it will go. My only plan is to enjoy it. Thank you both for this discussion. 🥰
I watched the Soloman documentary of Courtney’s three wins last year and was blown away. Thanks for doing this interview! For me an important takeaway is not to avoid the ‘pain cave’ but reframe it as being something productive; that can really change the game mentally in harder portions of a difficult run regardless of the length. Thanks to you both!
The advice that Courtney would give to her younger self, besides “Buckle Up”: 45:57 “Just Try. The coolest part of this life we get to live is going after things. Getting the thing at the end of it is usually not even the highlight at the end of the whole story. Choosing the path to go down to go after this hard goal, or this thing that sounds impossible, that path is full of so many adventures. So just choose the path and go for it, and see what happens!” Thanks Floris, awesome content 🤩
My favorite takeaway is what she said regarding a failure or disappointment. That it’s important to allow yourself to feel it for a day or two before moving on. That resonated with me because I would try to sweep it under the rug ASAP and try to make like it never happened. Great interview Floris!
Totally, that was spot on and I've done the same thing of trying to sweep things under the rug ASAP, while we could be learning a lot in that process. Glad you enjoyed it!
How inspiring to hear from Courtney directly about her tips, tricks, and failures! This interview truly changed my mindset and fueled my motivation. Thanks for all your hard work and time and for sharing it for free with us!
Courtney uses her womens intuition to guide her training ,love that! I think us gals listen to our bodies and feelings more than men ( no offence blokes!) This helps big time with avoiding injury.
Great conversation, thank you both. Courtney got me into ultrarunning and completely changed my mindset about sports and the value of doing your best and listening to your body. In this interview, I liked the small part about her saying Kevin kept the lights on during the early phases of Courtney going full-time into ultrarunning. Their relationship is very inspiring.
So well said. Glad Courtney has made such a positive impact on your running and life. Also, that support system on the home front can make a huge difference.
The thing I’m struggling with the most are the mantras and mental aspect. I loved learning what she does about that including the pain cave and how she works through it. Will be using that!! 🤖🤖🤖
I'm never disappointed with your content. This one is the best one to date, IMO. She is so positive and happy and such a great human. My best lesson or takeaway was when she spoke about letting negativity in your mind. I am so happy you got to do this interview
It's great to hear her talk about being scared and races that were hard and her legs hurt. I know i personally can fool myself into thinking running is "easy" for so many others. I'm training for my first ultra and am so scared and that's to be embraced and explored! I also loved hearing her talk about running being an adventure and not becoming a slave to data.
Totally! We all experience these emotions in one way or another. Loved hearing her talk about her first longer race experiences. All the best on your first ultra, enjoy the journey!
Great interview! So many good points I took notes on but, what stood out the most is just the joy she radiates in living and running. Her acceptance of all the good and bad that comes as you pursue a worthwhile goal.
What I'd like to know is- does Courtney have a training diary of some sort where she records things after the fact? Does she look back and compare what she did before race A vs. race B?
The best yet , my favorite pro runner of the current gen (though Clayton Young comes a very close second) , Thank you Floris for getting Courtney on as a guest.
Some people love those toe socks, some people have challenges with them. Happy to hear they work well for you. Courtney is such an inspiring athlete, glad you enjoyed this conversation.
What resonated most with me was acknowledging failure and letting yourself feel it. So often we want to forget it and do better next time but it's a good reminder to feel those tough feelings in the moment.
I love her advice. Other people on the internet say otherwise. But I listen to my body like she said. Only we know what we need and no one can tune into us.
I'm so glad the thumbnail for this interview showed up in my RU-vid feed. It was a great interview and awesome to gain some insight on how Courtney trains, races and approaches life. Leadville's a fun and beautiful place to live but the winters are harsh! I lived in a nearby county for quite a few years :) My favorite takeaway from this interview is when Courtney spoke about having fun on the training run or in the race; enjoying the journey; having an adventure. Another notable takeaway is how she approaches her training by not adhering to a strict training schedule. I'm older and on a fixed income; trying to get back to running. My trail shoes are very worn and they are being held together by gorilla tape 🤣 My workouts are almost always based on how my health-challenged body feels. Restoring my health and fitness levels to a place where I can run regularly is my main goal. I'm now a subscriber to your channel and looking forward to seeing more videos. Sorry for the long comment!
Sounds like you live in a beautiful place yourself as well. The colorful trees were so bright when I visited Leadville last week. Glad you enjoyed this conversation. Wishing you many healthy, happy running miles ahead. Thanks for the sub!
@@FlorisGierman I no longer live in the mountains but I'm very grateful that my 15 year old car can get me up there so I can get some 'mountain therapy' :)
I can’t tell if she’s trying to be more ambiguous and dismissive of some of the questions or if she’s really this “go with the flow.” It’s cute to laugh off some of the questions, but some of it comes off dismissive of the interviewer.
She was laughing because she doesn't do any of those overly technical training practices like Killian. My takeaway was she really is that easy going and didn't have super specific answers to everything.
To me she is as authentic as it can get. Many people live in the opposite of "go with the flow" and I truly belief it's her layback, relaxed approach to things that allow her to ebb and flow so well in her training and racing.
@@FlorisGierman I do wonder Floris.... sometimes when, for example, runners want to do a faster marathon they step away from marathon training and focus on 5-10k speed so they can carry that over to marathon performance. I wonder if Courtney ever thought about training for a fast marathon so she could benefit from this for her Ultra distance.
