Courtney Dauwalter Talks UTMB 2021, Nachos, and More | Injinji Interview

hello and thanks for joining us for a very special interview with one of our ngng pro athletes courtney i'm isabella aka izzy b the team manager here at in jinji and i'm super excited to have one of my favorite ultra runners joining us today courtney is one of the top ultra runners in the world not just for the females but overall she's the hottest name in the ultra community right now with just winning and setting the new course record for the utmb mount blanc in 2230 54. she's also won a countless amount of challenging races including big dogs backyard ultra last man standing the tahoe 200 western states the moab 240 i mean the list can just go on and on not only she amazing athlete but her style of running in gears such as her basketball shorts and her love of nachos and craft beer is another crowd favorite so thank you courtney for joining us today thank you that was way too kind uh so we'll just get started here um i'll ask you some like lifestyle questions but first before we get into the fun stuff just a couple ques questions about utmb wow so how many times have you actually ran this race and what were your goals going into it this year i have done utmb two times i did it in 2019 and then got to do it this year and my goals were to enjoy all 107 miles um to really like soak in the experience and have fun on the trails and i wanted to make sure to leave it all out there so push as hard as i could and do whatever my body would let me do to get to that finish line as quickly as possible and i think you did leave it all out there because i saw some of the pictures of you and your happy place i'm like wow one of those photos i mean i apologize if it's caused any nightmares because it is it is like a zombie [Laughter] but it just shows the honest truth of ultra running and pushing it um can you maybe share with people who are not familiar with the course what makes this particular race so challenging and yet so special at the same time yeah so utmb or ultra trail mont blanc um starts and ends in shamany france and then the course is 107 miles with roughly 30 000 feet of climbing 33 000 feet of climbing or something like that and uh it travels around mont blanc so you're kind of like on the shoulder and like up and down through these valleys around this huge beautiful mountain um so you end up going through italy and switzerland and then back into france and it's um i mean the trails are just gorgeous out there and the towns you drop into all these little towns along the way and all these people are out cheering like crazy and the aid stations are just stocked with any snacks you could think of so it's a really cool experience and then it also is a huge race like as far as how many people run it so it's thousands of people doing this 100 mile race which is very different from a lot of our ultras here in the united states where there's like 100 or 300 people in the race total this one is like ultra running blown up times you know hundreds it's crazy there so what are some of the logistics going to europe into three countries i heard you have to carry your passport with you at all times like yeah you i wanted to uh get stamped like how cool would that be like as you're running go through the aid stations yeah all the borders are actually on the very tops of peaks on the course so it's kind of cool there's usually like a little setup up there but they don't check your passport they don't stamp it um they're i think they the race has worked out the logistics where it's like if you didn't want to notice that you were switching countries you wouldn't have to um but they definitely like welcome you into the next one when you go through it and then i was trying to always remember how to say thank you in the new language i'm like it's not mercy anymore now i'm grazie or whatever so that's one cool part of it for sure and was the aid station food different like in every country maybe unfortunately i stay away from all the aid station food because i've just got this like pretty dialed and simplified nutrition plan and so i was watching all these people eat like charcuterie boards and all these like really good looking snacks at them and i was over there just on like pure liquids yeah you got to do what works for you right yeah in a race that long i think it's important to know what will work and stay in for you and is there anything different when it comes to crew and pacers for that race in europe with there are no pacers allowed in this one so everyone out on the course is a racer um and then crewing there are a handful of spots that you can have crew come to so my husband was able to come over to europe with me and did a fantastic job crewing and i don't know all the logistics probably because he was the one you know driving between all these with mont blanc in the middle like blocking the way but uh i think it's pretty straightforward they haven't really dialed and it's a very organized setup over there for utmb so you had one just one crew person just one crew person but he's a professional he goes with you everywhere right he's a he's a pro crew yeah and he knows you he knows exactly what you need that's awesome yeah it's the perfect setup for us i'm still trying to get my husband to be a good crew he gets better every time but courtney's husband i feel really lucky that uh kevin my husband likes it uh so he gets a kick out of like figuring out how to do it better and like what are his systems he can you know dial in so that it's a more fluid you know go-between of like me coming in and me leaving an aid station that makes it super fun for both of us because i love the running part of it and you guys get to travel everywhere together and celebrate afterwards drink beer and every place you go to yeah exactly um well again congrats on your course record that was just i was following that whole race all weekend just incredible i think what was done i loved it um okay so now so for some more fun lifestyle questions here and again this list came from local san diego runners here um for those that don't know in genji's headquarters is in san diego california uh big courtney fans around here they talk about you all the time and always tracking you on your races so this is a big one what are your favorite snacks either when you're running or not running yeah it's more fun probably is than not running snacks i mean if we're talking like snacks like real quick i love any salty crackers but goldfish crackers are one of my go-to's and uh if we're talking sweet then i'm gonna go for the like candy like jelly beans or mike and ikes or um even twizzlers sometimes just getting in some of those vitamins through the fruity candies but if we're talking like elaborate setup i love nachos a mountain of nachos with layers of cheese and toppings in the mountain or we have a lot of fun sometimes just making charcuterie boards like as our dinner so like vegetables and like all sorts of pickled things and then tons of cheeses and stuff like that is always fun and what ingredients are your top for your nachos um so is cheese a given yeah cheese is a given then for sure jalapenos get some spice in there pico de gallo i think is a fantastic addition and then i'm gonna go with uh ground beef i think is one of my favorite toppings the courtney nachos yeah but really i mean anything goes like anything that you have in the fridge should probably be tested on a pile of nachos just to see you never know so what do you do on rest days because as an ultra runner we know the hard work out hard effort days are just as important as the lower effort rest days so what do you do on a rest day if i'm taking a rest day i am taking it fully so i don't do any cross-training on a rest day i'll kind of lays around read a book maybe watch a movie and maybe like go for just a stroll around the block or like a walk to the local ice cream shop to get a ice cream cone you know like nothing like serious but just to get outside and get some fresh air and move a little bit um but yeah if i'm if i'm gonna take a rest day it's full on rest day that's good are there certain movies or books type that you like uh no i mean really anything i um will read most any book and i get really into them i like to like fully invest in the story and uh my one of my favorite genres is probably like murder mystery which then if i get really into it i'm like not sleeping at night because i'm so invested in this murder and like figuring out what happens next yeah i just started uh a murder book the gray man you heard about it is it good and yeah and they're making a movie out of it next year with chris evans and um ryan gosling so okay i gotta look it up yes the gray man we can have a virtual book club yes there we go i love i love books too although i listen to them more now okay instead of reading them but uh so on other races where you're loud pacers and a crew how do you choose your pacers so your husband's like your crew chief how do you choose who's like running with you in these you know like 100 milers and stuff i choose pacers based off of just who what of my buddies are available and want to run with me um usually i don't mind not having pacers so if i'm in a race that allows them i'll just have people join me if they want to experience the race as well you know like maybe they're never going to run tahoe 200 themselves but here they could do a 50-mile section of pacing it with me and we'll have a blast together and make those memories together so um usually it's just some calling up some friends to see if they want to go on a trip to a cool place hopefully and uh join me for some miles fun isn't that funny how like a pacer can run up to 50 miles it's so crazy yeah maybe even more right yeah i feel really lucky that we have friends who are willing to do that with me yeah and then do you drop your pacer sometimes like does that ever happen to you um it it has happened but not regularly gotcha i always hear that too sometimes from people um another big question from the san diego fans are you ever coming to southern california for a race oh i really want to i would love to come check out more of the trails down there whether in a race or just like coming out to play um but for sure that's on my list of places to visit nice well you would have plenty of people to run with you if you ever come down thank you that would be so fun uh this is a good one toilet paper or wipes toilet paper have to throw in the funny ones uh all right tell us a little bit about your basketball shorts and why you chose to wear those because they're not typical running shorts for most people yeah i since i've been little since i was little i wore long shorts i always preferred them maybe it was because i was like getting the hand-me-downs from my older brother or you know whatever but i've always preferred them even through like high school into college i was still wearing them and so when i um train like started doing ultras it it didn't even cross my mind to switch shorts why why switch them if this is what you're comfortable in yeah totally did you ever play basketball or you just did cross country when you're younger i did play basketball i we were more of a soccer family okay a lot of our shorts were just those you know longer length soccer shorts that we lived in breathed in all the time um but i had a few years of basketball in middle school it wasn't pretty the soccer shorts are really comfortable my husband plays soccer and i'm like yeah i can see it yeah totally yeah they're great and really i mean for these distances that i'm doing i don't need to be aerodynamic by any means and i think comfort should be everyone's like that's the top of mind what are you comfortable in that's what you should be then running in because it's such a long time and there's no need to be uncomfortable in the outfit you're wearing yeah and i also notice you're not really into hats or sunglasses too much either sometimes i do sunglasses definitely not hats mostly not hats because i i like my hair off my neck like my ponytail i want it higher so it's not even touching um and hats you have to lower your ponytail which is so tricky yeah like man if i had short hair that would be sweet i'd wear a hat way more but i gotta keep keep the ponytail high um who is one person dead or alive that you would want to run an ultra with oh man the whole ultra yes an entire one the whole ultra now an ultra could be a 50k so yeah oh geez oh there's so many people i have no idea um i think it would be cool if my mom would train and want to do a 50k or 50 mile race at some point and then i would absolutely sign up and and run every step with her that would be really special that's awesome does she go watch your races she's been to a few of them yeah and she's like really curious about the sport and um she's yeah i could totally see her just jumping in and wanting to try one that would be so cool um this is a funny one how many jokes does it take to cross a hundred mile finish line you can always fit more jokes in that's a great answer do you think you will return to teaching in the future because weren't you're a science teacher was that yep um i don't know i think right now i'm just like living fully in this chapter of ultra running and i know um i feel very lucky that this is what i get to do right now as my job and i don't know what the next chapter will be so i'm just trying to like live this one fully and when we turn the page we'll see what it is so what you so you did science teacher in the past like what grade was that how was that experience yeah i taught i taught for nine years i taught a few of them at the high school science level so biology and chemistry and then the majority of those years were teaching eighth grade science eighth grade science i remember that that's fun um what is one question you wish people would stop asking you and one question you wish people would ask you [Laughter] i don't i don't mind any of the questions i don't know those that's a very tough one i don't know what i wish people would ask and i don't have a problem like talking about things multiple times this is what came up after all the nacho talk then someone posted it but i'll talk about nachos all day are you running from something or towards something if you're running towards something what's your something it's a hard one yeah i think um i think i'm running towards something and like i'm just in i'm doing this for it because i'm so curious what's possible so i guess i'm running towards that and trying to figure out like how far can we go what can we do to make our brains stronger and our bodies stronger and to be more efficient as the days go on trying to do these really long distances and then your favorite beer cold one that is put into my hand [Music] would you would you even drink something like a coors light or a bud light or you know you would absolutely i lost that bet really not picky at all i'm a craft beer snob i love it uh yeah we used to get supperfest in san diego all the time and then the distributors stopped distributing so we get sierra nevada still because they're owned or they own supperfest but yeah we were getting i love the names of the beers they have they're all running good um do you what's your favorite comedy movie oh um i'm pretty easily entertained but the one that we have that we watch like on a rainy day sometimes is pitch perfect have you seen it i would not i guess you would have said that one and it's pretty funny though i think there's a pitch perfect too right yeah and it's one of those the more times you watch it i think it becomes a little funnier somehow so and you're like i'm still watching this and i'm watching this again yeah i know what's going to happen and i'm still watching it um all right some people are asking are you interested in running bad water next year i think bad water is very interesting i don't know if it will be next year but at some point during this ultra running chapter i would for sure like to give it a shot and just see what that's about to run across death valley that is one though where my pro crew kevin has begged me to not do because he does really bad in the heat and so he's like i don't know if i can crew you at that it's so hot it it was i went and pasted and crewed this year and oh my goodness i had to train for it yeah like i we had one person all he did was drive i believe crazy i think it was 34 hours yeah so it's a hard job for a crew yeah it's funny he says that yeah were you putting your runner in like coolers of ice and stuff we didn't do coolers but we had a bunch of other little tricks like with a cold ice sheet put him in front of the air conditioner but yeah it's working around the clock and i'm like i can't mess this up like i was heat training yeah i mean i know that if i did sign up for it kevin would do it he mostly is joking when he is begging me not to but it it seems like a really tough one to crew and it's so hot it is it's very hot but wow yeah everyone's asking if you do it and any more 200 milers that you're interested in doing in the future oh absolutely i hope um i hope to return to moab 240 at some point i'd love to try it again tahoe 200 definitely would like to give that one another go um and then there's uh cocodona 250 down in arizona which i had the opportunity to crew and pace at this past year this year yeah yeah it just seems like a really awesome course and air viper puts on just great events so that one is on my list for sure for next year in may right yeah i don't know if it'll fit next year but eventually i wish there were more months in a year i and then everything got deferred and pushed and rolled over it's like my whole spring is booked yeah still just from 100 small yeah and then those 200s you know you can only do so many yeah there's all right training [Laughter] are you interested in doing the whole triple crown one year maybe that seems really cool like the in between is interesting to me in in how you maximize recovery maybe get a little training in still and then like how do you get yourself mentally fresh for another 200 mile battle like that's crazy so that would be a really cool puzzle to play with yeah i don't know how they do it and then a third one and then the third one's 240 miles yeah even more the cherry on top and the traveling i'm sure is exhausting right you got to be out there ahead of time and acclimate well you don't you live in colorado yeah those events are i mean they take a lot though like if you have crew or pacers which you don't have to the aid stations are fantastic enough where i mean you could do it alone but um it's like at least a week long trip to be out at that place to run it and you know not have to jump in a car immediately after yeah yeah okay some things to look forward to to watch you do okay so after your teaching career um who was your first sponsor and did you approach them did they approach you how did you make that transition to a professional athlete um my first partnership it was like an ambassadorship i guess with was with solomon and so um they i don't i don't actually remember the exact order of events but i met someone we were chatting and then uh they connected me i guess to the team manager there um and so that first year that i was connected to solomon i was basically at that i was an ambassador for them and then it just kind of snowballed from there yeah yeah and um i feel very lucky for all the people that i've met through it and the companies that i've gotten to work with nice speaking of solomon didn't you guys have like some sort of a running camp this summer solomon yeah we did we put on a running academy for um basically like a group of short distance people and a group of ultra running like longer distance people who maybe weren't affiliated with a brand yet and were interested in just like learning a little bit more about how to trail run and train a little bit and also make those connections you know meet people with solomon and see if it could be a good fit so it was really cool we spent some days out in moab and um got to spend a lot of hours together running which was very special the pictures looked amazing it looks so beautiful out there i'm finally going to moab next month i've never been there you're going gonna love it it's crazy because it's desert and canyons like you would picture but then the lasalle mountain range is right there by moab and it's like snow-capped mountains all in one place like the moab 240 goes through all of that so it's it's not very far apart and it's just this landscape there is stunning yeah because of the moab 240 doesn't it go from like super hot in the valley and then super cold at night when they're up high in the mountains yeah yeah we i mean part of it is running through this desert where i remember looking around and there wasn't even like a bird out there i was like nothing wants to live out here this is like straight up desert and then a little bit later we're in the lasalle mountains like there was frost on the ground because it was uh so high up and it was yeah the diverse like landscapes and types of trails you get to go on for that course are really cool and the desert section wasn't there like a super long section where people were running out of water and it was like a super hard 20 20 miler i think yeah yeah i i think i remember running by like a little like cow puddle and i was like drinkable [Laughter] you're like let me bust out my life straw yeah oh wow so um or what's up next for you this year do you have any big runs you know you just finished utmb i'm sure you're like doing some recovery weeks and resting and reading and watching movies yeah um have for sure been doing some great recovery and taking that very seriously like not jumping back into training very quickly but after that i'll um get back to it because big's backyard is in the middle of october so i'm planning to go race that again this year nice and that's the one where you and henry were like the last time harvey harvey harvey yeah yeah so last year it was harvey and i um it's just a really cool format though like it's just got this amazing community feel and it doesn't feel like a race because you actually all need each other to be great so everyone's encouraging each other crews are sharing gear you know like you need duct tape we have duct tape you need you know whatever you need people are going to try and help each other out because the more people you have staying in the race for longer the better it is just as a whole um and helping everyone push farther and see what's possible wow do you have any big goals like how many yards you want to do this year no i just want to stay in it as long as possible so i'm hoping as a group we can keep each other moving and keep that momentum going into i mean it would be awesome to get into like that third day the fourth day and see if we can uh um i don't know really push it with each other and that's the middle of october so that's coming up quick pretty soon yeah don't you have to go out there early and just be ready for that conch call or whatever he does um this one he just does a whistle and a bell okay barkley is the one where he barks with the i always get them confused right yeah but so with biggs he does um he does whistle blows like when it's three minutes out from the start of the next lap he'll do three whistle blows two whistle blows one and then he rings a bell when it's time to start the loop and it honestly becomes like uh like you become a robot and you just start reacting to the whistles like i remember not even thinking of them as whistles anymore but it was like i would hear the two whistle blows and i would just like stand up like this zombie and like walk to the start again like you just start reacting to it because it's every hour you're hearing the same pattern and then you run at the bell so it was like pavlov's or whatever you know where you don't even know what you're doing anymore it sounds easy but then it's kind of hard too because your rests are so short there's only so much you can do in those rest breaks right yeah you have to be pretty smart with the those in between spots and pretty intentional with what you do with the off time like do you just take a like a three minute nap or you decide to fix your feet one time or yep so during the day loops um it was usually a shorter amount of time because the trail lap takes a little longer so during those loops maybe i would have eight to ten minutes and then i would like stretch or um eat or just like mostly foam roll and try and keep my legs limber and then during the night loops maybe i would have like uh i don't know 14 minutes and then i would try and actually sleep so i would lay down and get like roughly eight minutes of shut eye and then you have your crew person making sure you don't fall asleep like for longer yeah yeah they're just making sure at those two whistles your zombie like reaction to it happens like it should [Laughter] so what are the things that you eat how's your nutrition for these kind of races um like for bigs yeah when you have the short breaks yeah biggs is um a slow enough pace where mostly anything goes for eating so um for sure i was using like tailwind or honey stinger products like normal but i also had mashed potatoes and pancakes and cheeseburgers and perogies and um we did stovetop stuffing which is delicious all the time but for sure during a race um basically just any carb and usually like a hot carb tastes fantastic and the mashed potatoes you eat they're from the box too right yep those are just instant mashed potatoes so hear that people stoke top stuffing in the box mashed potatoes in the box you just add hot water perfect yeah you don't even need to know how to cook yeah we are very fancy [Laughter] and then you kind of send people out to grab your mcdonald's right yeah it would be like someone was running to town for something else it'd be like put in your mcdonald's order lots of french fries double cheeseburger with extra pickles and then lots of french fries and is that kind of the way you eat for your hundred milers or is those completely different because you run a hundred mile are pretty fast compared to you know the majority of hundred mile runners i have to be a lot more um specific with what i take in during 100 mile race so then i'll keep it really simple like at utmb i was just doing tailwind honey stinger mashed potatoes and even um at mile 50 i went to just liquids until the finish so it was just tailwind and then some like gels like i threw in there but the stinger brand so you do the the gels and the waffles and the chews yeah and then with tailwind do you go back and forth with caffeine and non-caffeine i go no caffeine no caffeine unless it's a um race that's going to take more than two days i'll usually go no caffeine for anything in that first day wow okay so you're not the person at the aid station who would drink like a little bit of coke or anything no i uh have found that i'll have coffee before the race uh-huh usually you're normal two cups before the race two cups every day um and then i'm amped up enough where caffeine just kind of messes with my stomach more than it actually benefits my energy levels because i don't find myself to be getting tired usually in that first 36 hours so speaking of stomach because that's a lot of issues that people deal with during 100 mile races when you feel the start of the stomach issues starting to happen what are your tips for runners out there to make it go back to normal and continue running for sure to pay attention to it because usually those issues if you address them sooner they'll resolve faster and you can carry on you know and forget that it even happened um i think if it's like a food thing maybe you have to just try some other things so if i'm having trouble like during tahoe 200 my stomach wasn't really taking in any of the normal things so then we just started like cycling through what's at the aid station what can we try what ideas does anybody have that we can attempt to see what will actually work usually uh also helps to just like slow your roll a little bit your stomach is mad and if you could just bring the whole system to a more calm level it will help your uh stomach get calm as well so your recommendation might be like to sit at an aid station or just to keep moving and walk maybe a walk or probably depends on the setup if it's if it's like cold or it's nighttime sitting might not be the answer um maybe then you do walk but you just get your gear on and you have something hot to try and like nibble on for a little bit and you cover some miles as you try and problem solve um but maybe if you're rolling into an aid station and it's super hot and your crew is there and they can you know work through this problem with you maybe you pause for a minute because stomachs don't usually appreciate that super hot weather either so if you could just like chill for a bit and cool down your body and try some calories while you're sitting it could be helpful gotcha yeah i've definitely seen the heat you know being at bad water i've never seen so many athletes throw up before oh i bet it's crazy it's just like it's just like speckled along the side yeah it's just like everyone every single one i think pretty sure every single one just gets so hot out there and like you know you're running 135 miles in it so um so how did you find out about in jinji and the toe socks and why do you prefer them i found out about in jinji through a friend who was also wearing in jinji and she basically saw my feet after a race and i when i wasn't wearing toe socks all my toes would just like really tango together in my socks and i would get all these blisters on basically every single toe and she saw that and was like you need to try these toe socks because it keeps your toes separate and then they'll stay blister free and it blew my mind that i could run without these like balloon blisters on every single toe once i tried it i was like this is the best so i'll do like squirrels nut butter on my feet specifically i'll get every single toe really really coated and then put on the toe socks and now i'm basically even after a big's backyard which is multiple days or a 200 miler my feet are pretty much entirely blister free which is so cool that is amazing and do you have a favorite type of ng like is there a certain weight or style that you prefer that you like i like the crew length ones um partly for like i think they help keep a lot of the like dirt and dust out of getting in your socks actually but i also like them because they're a huge canvas for a cool design like the courtney inspired nacho socks those are amazing i'm super pumped to get my feet in some aliens and dinosaurs very cool i love it too super cool um what else do i have for you that's kind of the questions i had from the people uh in our you know thing here um any other uh um oh i did want to ask you did you have any tips for runners on running at night maybe running safety tips for female runners at night because you know with ultra running sometimes you got to fit in your runs when you can and you know it's not always safe to go by yourself at night or what are some advice tips you have for night running and that sort of thing um for sure to go no music just to be aware of your surroundings a little bit more and uh be able to be listening for animals or you know whatever your environment might be there that's causing you to be nervous to run i'd probably also just choose like a looper an area that i know in the daytime really well and i you know feel confident running it in the daylight then i would feel good running it at night um but i think it could be helpful sometimes like bring a friend that first time if you know not every time we can coordinate with someone to come with us but for the very first night voyage on this loop maybe i would meet up with someone or bring my husband just to like check it out with me is this a good loop like now you know where i'll be those kinds of things um but i think the biggest one is just awareness of your space and and not wearing headphones is a huge part of that and when you're training for these 102 200 mile races do you go out in the middle of the night on purpose and train those hours not usually no i sign up for a lot of races that are very long and so i use those to just get better at it and um i mean living in that headlamp bubble can be tricky like your footing can feel a little trickier and just like running your normal pace can feel tricky so it is good to test it out and to see like what works for you and um i've found that you do get better at it over time so it'd probably be a great idea to train at night for something but i just don't usually and what about uh sleep deprivation do you have any tips on how to train and be more prepared for that because that's definitely something you guys deal with on these longer races yeah i don't train specifically for it but same thing just like getting experience with each race and trying to learn from what worked what didn't work how did my body react did caffeine help me or not those kinds of things can help you do the next one just a little bit better and keep piecing it all together awesome good advice thank you well thanks again for joining us today courtney you're amazing we appreciate it so much you've taken the time to be with us i wish you the best of luck on your next adventure and we're excited to follow along on your journey thank you so much

Channel: Injinji

Views: 4,167

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: courtney dauwalter, utmb 2021, ultra trail du mont blanc, nachos, injinji, running, toe socks

Id: RENiszs9OGg

Length: 41min 4sec (2464 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021