 Cool All right, we will go live here in a minute and let me just see here if we are Let's see. It'll go live in one second. All right. Is everyone Let's see if we are live. Sorry about that if we are live. Let me just refresh the page here and Andy you can you can hear me Andy perfect. Yeah. Yeah, perfect. All right, we'll just Let this kick in here. Usually YouTube is in charge there it goes and I'll just so you know Andy I'll introduce you and we'll do we'll let people stream in slowly here Just see here Okay, so All right, it looks like we are live good to see everybody and You know how it is everyone with YouTube and live streaming. There's always a little bit of lag and some Technical difficulties, but can you can everyone? Maybe give us a thumbs up in the chat. You're probably looking at Andy right now Andy wave there Yeah, there we go. So Alright, so everyone is saying hold on. Let me just pull up Ecamm here and okay now can can everyone see me And Andy could you give us a test of your audio to make sure if someone could Give us a thumbs up in the chat to make sure you can hear Andy as well. That'd be cool. So yeah, Andy Maybe you just introduce introduce yourself awesome Awesome awesome cool. Okay. All right. It looked like it looked like everyone It looked like everyone can hear Andy and awesome. So I'm gonna do my best to monitor The chat and then also of course Interview Andy and it's so good to see everyone. I'm just before we dive into the questions I want to give a shout out to some folks who are here. Jared is here. Awesome awesome tropical runner Carl is here Jake and Let's see. We have some viewers from Portugal Andy. So that's exciting Jackson is watching as well. Jake Brent is here. Awesome. Good to see everybody and Again, we're just figuring out this live streaming business. It you know, it's just trial and error sometimes with technology. So Good to see and we're gonna let a few folks trickle in here first of all I always like to ask where you from where are you watching? Let us know in the chat on the side Alberta Canada is here Let's see who else is where else is everyone from I know we've got some Colorado for some locals here from Colorado watching Portugal as I already mentioned, but yeah, let us know where you're from and Let's see one second Okay, so that's good to know. Okay, so Rhode Island is here. Chili is here. Awesome. Awesome. Good to see everyone Okay, so I'm going to Well Awesome, so I'm gonna pull Andy back onto the screen in one second and we will get going It's probably gonna be a similar situation when I interviewed my brother. Basically, I'm gonna put Andy on screen so you can see So you can see him and then hear him as well because it seems like when I'm on screen It's not always possible to to hear me. So awesome Western, Colorado Remington, Indiana, London, Andy, we've got a big we've got a big crowd tonight. So this is good All right, so I'm gonna pull pull Andy back on screen here and we're gonna we're gonna get going Skype Okay Let's just see one second there Andy and There we go, okay, so Andy can you can you hear me? Yes, okay Awesome, and then I'm just gonna get a confirmation in the chat that everyone can hear you in one second and then we will dive into Dive into the questions and get going and I'll introduce you so so good to see everyone awesome Let's see Ronan is here. So yeah, Andy. Could you yeah once again just say hello and then we'll get it Make sure everyone can hear you Sure. Hi, I'm Andy Wacker. Yeah, nice Andy from Boulder. It's awesome Cool. Okay, so it looks like everyone can hear Andy and just so you know everybody if If you could Awesome, that's good. And you can hear me. Just let me know in the chat again If if any audio cuts out and we'll get going Okay, sweet. All right. Well welcome everybody. Welcome everybody and this is Andy Andy Wacker my Former teammate at the University of Colorado hard to believe it's been it's been almost 10 years Andy since we were training together in Boulder the good old days But before we dive into the University of Colorado I want to hear first of all maybe you could just introduce yourself as far as where you are originally from and Yeah, just where you grew up Sure. Yeah, I grew up in a little town called Pinehurst, North Carolina Which is just a small maybe 10,000 people town in central North Carolina. Yeah, nice so shout out to everyone out on the East Coast and So yeah now did you do I actually don't even know this Andy Did you do other sports growing up or were you? Were you a runner from the get-go? I was a runner from the get-go. Okay Jumped in in seventh grade and started running and loved it. Wow seventh grade. Okay. Awesome. Awesome. So Everyone is you everyone listening basically if you're just joining Andy and I ran at the University of Colorado together and and Andy was very fast in high school and so Andy. Let's talk about I want to hear What was the moment when you realized like oh? I'm actually kind of good at this running thing. Was there like a was there a moment whether it was middle school high school that you were like Man, I think I can do this running thing competitively Yeah, well what really first started me, which is kind of funny was I did this thing called the probably like every US Middle school or did this called the presidential physical fitness challenge Okay, there's different components like pull-ups and sit-ups and that kind of thing and one of them one of the components is a mile race and So when I started doing that You know like fifth sixth grade Just was one of the best kids in my class and I just knew like from that moment that I would be Competitive at running but also just that I loved it that it was super fun to like compete and race. So yeah, nice nice and now When you were transitioning to high school What where were you at with respect to training and understanding training on did you have yeah? I guess did you have help from? Your coach and like what was what was the whole dynamic between you and your coach going into high school? Oh, man so yeah, so I went to a tiny private school and Small town, North Carolina, and I feel like looking back on it. I didn't know that much at all Yeah, I had a you know decent coach. I don't think he did anything wrong, but I was running you know not very much which was probably good for an early age and Didn't really know like that much about Why to do certain workouts or anything? It would just be like show up and And do the workouts, but one little interesting tidbit is that so I went to the small private school We didn't have a track. We didn't have any of those kind of facilities We also had so few people on the team that I remember doing like workouts with sprinters like hundred and two hundred meter sprinters Wow, and we just go out like behind the school and it was real sandy in North Carolina And we do these like a hundred meter sprints that were probably not even wheeled off. It's just like here to there That's awesome So you're so your so your high school coach and I think this is the case for many, you know places across the country is Maybe didn't have all the the experience or background that you might have maybe hope for As a as a you know as for a high school coach Hope did did I lose you there for a second? You'll ask me for a second. I hear you now though. Okay. I was just wondering so for your high school coach Was it basically you you were learning it sounds like you're almost learning together with him As far as what worked and what did not work to push you to Your fast PRs in high school Yeah, so I'm switching schools and went to a bigger public school, okay And my coach there definitely had a lot more knowledge. He'd ran in college at a small school in Pennsylvania and It was it was nice because yeah, all of a sudden I kind of had a lot more structure and I think a little bit more like I'd better teammates and people to push me so that was nice It was a big bump in just the level of running that I was doing. Yeah. Yeah, which was nice. Yeah And let's just put it out there right now. So what were some of your PRs from high school? Yeah, so the good ones were I ran for 16 for the full mile. We'd like a weird invitational nice I ran 1459 for the 5k sweet Nike outdoor nationals and let's see 9 16 for the 3200 maybe oh my god. Yeah. Yeah, very very cool now As you were on Transitioning out of out of high school in the college. Did you know that you're like, ah, I think I want to run in college Or was it? Yeah, what was that experience like as a senior in high school? Yeah, I definitely knew probably from ninth grade that I wanted to run in college I just knew that it was such a big passion of mine and it was just that goal to like keep on going keep on improving So I can run in college. Yeah So yeah, it's definitely always on the radar. Yeah, it's nice Now everybody, I hope you heard some of those PRs We're talking about some speed in high school and so Andy I have to ask What was a workout in high school that just like really gave you confidence for those race days to go fast Is there a workout that you that jumps out at you that you remember? Not a ton. I do remember so before I ran 1459 which was at the end of my high school career Which is track 5k we did Six by 1k nice and also did three by 2k Okay, remember those being like really tough and really Appropriate to get ready for a 5k. Yeah, good workouts. Do you remember the do you remember the rest in? in between the K's or not I'm pretty sure they were at They were at they were at three minutes of K and it was probably Like a minute rest or something. I don't remember but it was For the time, it's great great workout. Yeah, yeah, yeah um, and then what was the experience going to Like how many I guess how many schools did you visit and what was it like? I you know be getting recruited out of high school. What was that experience like I? had a I felt like I had a bit of a difficult path going between High school and college so I did know I wanted to run in college but I And I knew I like to see you excited I went to a running camp there when I was in between sophomore and junior year of high school I just loved the town and it felt like it was the right fit and It was just funny how oblivious I was at the time I didn't even know like see you was a good running school and they just won like the national cross-country title. That's awesome Good like Good to be naive. Yeah. Yeah. So by the time I got to my senior year I I knew it see you was was definitely in the mix. I went to on recruiting visit. I own a New York City, which is used to be one of the best running schools in the country still still does well. Yep and Also looked at some local schools in North Carolina, which You know, this was back in the day when you're sending in like paper questionnaires. Yes And you just had a wait for a mail response and it's or someone to call you and It wasn't that smooth I felt like a lot of North Carolina schools didn't really get back to me and it was You know a lot of like kind of wait wait and see here in there sure sure Yeah, the times have changed that is for sure and Okay, so everyone if you're just joining I am talking with Andy Wacker Who lives in Boulder, Colorado now and is originally from North Carolina and Andy runs for Nike as you can see there on his On his shirt as a as a pro now after college and we're just running through his High school career a little bit and started to talk about the recruiting moving into college And so what I guess what sold sold you on see you? Yeah, so it's so funny just because I think as a 17 18-year-old going out of college You just don't know that much and it's such a big decision for you But I think the things that I really took away where I wanted to go to a school that I knew would be a good place No matter if I was running or not running because I've a lot going on in my life and I wanted you know to challenge myself academically and in a lot of other realms and so I wanted it to be a school that wasn't just Just the perfect running school or nothing else. Yeah, and then also I think the size of the school really made a difference So again, I kind of grew up in a small town and I I love Competition I love like thriving in a bigger environment. I like having other people who are better than me Yeah, I gave the way and nice and so I thought that after going to for example like Iona that visit I own is a very small school. I think there's only about 2,000 students. Okay It just felt like it didn't didn't make sense to me I wanted to go to a bigger school and see you obviously as much larger like 35,000 students something like that So sure that that felt right I think that felt like more comfortable to me going to a bigger bigger school nice and before moving on from high school One more question about we so there's a lot of high schoolers that watch this channel and so Volume of training in high school. What did that look like for you? Yeah, again, this is so funny back and you know back before GPS watches and he had those I think I was I was probably running 30 miles a week. I was not running it a lot Yeah, so we did some harder track workouts for sure twice a week, you know in a high school You're always battling having to do lots of meets and workouts in a short amount of time But yeah, I think only maybe 30 and maybe at most the biggest week in my high school career is probably 50 miles But we're you know making it up basically right and down what we thought we ran. Yeah, yeah Nice well now moving on to see you What is a I guess a story that jumps out at you from some of your early days? Arriving at a huge school, you know with the one of the best Cross-country and distance running programs in the entire country Whether it's connected to mark wetmore or the team as a whole. What's it? What's a maybe a moment that jumps out at you? Yeah, oh man There's so many stories, but one from an early in my career. You just made me think of it actually was so it's see you So many good people and we used to do Roughly four workouts a week. It'd be like a short shorter intervals on Tuesday Something longer on Friday So like mile repeat type type workout Sunday's always the long run and then back in the day on Wednesday We used to do a medium distance run. Yeah, and one thing you learn really quickly in high school You're kind of at the top of your game You're the best person there, but once you go to a school like see you you're the worst person And even if you're one of the better people at see you you can't hit four workouts in a week You're gonna hit three max basically and one of them. It's just not gonna go well. Yeah But one one thing that always happened to me that was funny It's like the basically the worst thing that could happen to you is getting pulled from a workout because that means you're looking really bad Yeah, yeah, we're doing this long Friday workouts Friday was hitting me when I was kind of early in my career I'd see you and so Mark what more would always basically pull me off the track and you'd be like in Ferris You're like, oh man, like can't even finish, you know, I must be looking really bad. He thinks there's no way I'm gonna be able to finish this work out hurting myself. Yeah, it's yeah Oh, man, I've been I've I've been there That is not yeah, that was not easy. Oh, man And just so everyone knows again, I'm chatting with Andy Wacker and if you have any questions I can't and we can't answer all of them But and we're gonna keep going I have I have some more questions for Andy But don't be afraid to ask some questions in the chat on the side and I'll make I'll probably grab a couple questions from there and so um Andy is there let's talk about a race that really jumps out at you from CU that just Whether it was on the track or across country But a race that you just felt like gosh that I really nailed that race So that was one of my better races from your because we we can't go through our entire timeline of your your CU career But yeah, what's a race that jumps out at you? Yeah, two races Basically went really well and it's I feel like I was lucky and I was patient And so I just got slowly better each year at CU and kind of culminated when you get towards this junior senior year You start actually racing well, but the first one that went really well for me was Prenets and cross country so we're at Terre Haute and I Ended up getting second in the race and I was racing right by me this guy named Lenny career or neck and neck and Yeah, he was pretty good back then and now everyone probably knows him he runs for the American distance project He's probably one of the best American Runners so he's but but yeah, definitely a good day when you can run with Lenny Yeah, and then that the second story is one which is So I think a lot of people have this experience But you kind of have like a lot of races that are so so and then finally you just you just hit it out of the park and so I Ran the 5k frequently on the track, you know over the years not frequently But you know a couple times a year at an invitational and then something at like conference and regionals. Yeah, and At Stanford, which is big invite When I was a junior I'd hit my PR basically which is 1341 and then I'd hit Like 14 flat so many times. I think I've hit every second I've run a 5k in every second between 14 0 0 and 14 10 and I've run like 14 or 3 3 times I just hit it so many times and it was such a big moment to come through and have like a PR where you're finally under 14 Which is a huge? Yeah, huge mark and then and then really breaking it by like 20 seconds. So that's cool. That's awesome And that was out at Stanford Yeah, it's Stanford. Okay, cool and What's this? What's the story that jumps out so for everyone out there watching? Mark Wetmore is pretty infamous in the well, obviously in Colorado, but really globally and We were privileged to train under him But what's a story that jumps out at you from your time? Whether it's in a workout or just going to chat with mark in his office or maybe After or maybe after a race But do you have a story that jumps because I think a lot of people think of mark wetmore and they're like gosh I don't I I Appreciate who he is, but I don't really know who he is, but maybe you have a story that can help Yeah, there's so much. There's so many it makes it so hard. I think I One of me interacting with mark and one one's a story that mark told me. So the first one is Basically, I think a lot of people have had this experience you run at see you too But marks just hold you to high standards really pushes you which is a great great attribute so Basically, it was like after the hardest week that you've ever had of training, you know, we finished our long run 20 mile run You're exhausted. It's just been super hard. You've had all the hard workouts and mark just looks at you and goes All right, 20 more weeks and you'll be fit. Yeah Yeah, over and over and over again your hardest week ever Which I think is a kind of a good way to look at it It's like just because you've hit one hard week doesn't mean you're the great athletes Like you need to be consistent and that's the bar now. You know, yeah, I like that story. Yep That's awesome. Um Sorry one more quick one. Yeah. Yeah, it's he'd always say the funniest things if you to get him in the right right mood and so it'd be like He'd be like eating dinner before like some race and you're all nervous You're just hanging out and you're kind of nervous to sit next to mark because he's such as such a figure, right? But remember one time he's telling me that he he's sure that he killed his college Philosophy professor. So have you ever heard that one? I don't know if I have actually so he's in uh, he's in this philosophy class as like a freshman in college or something like that and uh his his professor goes Basically asking this question that there's an ultimate truth something that is always true. Yeah, and uh Like just a second later mark stands up and cracks this wisecrack answer, which is There either is or is not an ultimate truth Ha ha ha and apparently his like professor like went home sick like in the middle of the class like just a couple minutes later Oh, no, and he died never comes back. Oh my gosh That was the last interaction that mark had it. So mark thinks he killed him. Oh my gosh. Oh, boy. Yeah Benny blew his mind for everyone listening We've got a lot of Interesting stories with uh with mark that is for sure too many uh, oh man that it's literally endless stories He's because he's he's a personally a great storyteller himself. So that's awesome. Um, okay So Andy before we move on I do there's a couple questions coming in they all there's a couple that um Inter intersect and it's really about uh workouts and getting faster and before we move into your pro career after college Um, I'll I'll just ask a couple here. It's one from john. He says what's the best workout to? Uh, basically cut time for a 5k And there's jordan also asked what's a good workout for the 3200 which are you know similar distances They're they're different, but um, yeah, is there and this is they might I'm wondering if these two are from uh, Are in high school, but is and obviously we don't know their background But yeah, any tips for running faster in the 5k or the Yeah, I would Sure, I think um, yeah, I wouldn't say there's like ever a perfect workout You know, there's there's so many different ways to get at it and I think one thing always keep in mind um is that There if you're training for a race if it's 3200 or if it's the 5k You're basically trying to get something that's specific that seems like it's appropriate for the distance So I mentioned like a workout earlier. That was like six by one k for the 5k. I think that's a great workout Just because you're able to break that bigger race the 5k into pieces They're long enough to kind of simulate what it feels like And then hitting that pace that you your goal pays for the 5k for 1k is kind of manageable So I think something like that's a good a good workout Nice nice, and I'm actually going to add this from from tom here He asked what was your running style in high school. Would you jump out in front? Or would you sit back and close at the end? Yeah, that's from tom Sure, definitely. I'm For better for worse. I'm one of those people who pushes really hard from from again. So I love leading races I like being in control and um It just uh seems seems better for me and I think um, that's not always the best race strategy But in certain ways it helps so Yep. Yep nice Okay, so we'll I'll jump back in everybody to your questions in the chat keep them coming But I want to ask another one here um, so Let's see. I guess let's just list your your prs from college. So you mentioned 13 41 for the 5k, right? Yes, and uh, yeah I ran 29 10 in college for the um 10k nice and Let's see Uh 348 for the 1500. Okay. Nice Move that's that's moving um Okay, cool and now um, and were you So moving past college what uh, you did you know like leaving college? I want to run professionally or was it more of a wait and see moment for you Yeah, I think it was wait and see I think, uh, again, there's always these funny things you tell yourself and You may or may not be kind of correct in your assumption So I remember in college it was such a big deal to break 14 minutes in the 5k like we talked about earlier Yeah, and times have certainly changed like The u.s. Is just becoming such a good country at running that uh, even so between I basically hit that when I was a junior this was 2011 um I ran that 13 41 and um By the time I graduated a year later It was like I kind of got to understand that it Wasn't a big deal. So I was kind of telling myself. Okay Like if I can break 14 like that means I'm kind of good enough to compete on this like next professional stage and um I think it was kind of a wake-up call that Even within a year so many people had already hit times like that that I think it was not as realistic to say I'm going to get a contract or something out of college. Sure Sure, so Yeah, I feel like I stumbled through that answer but I guess the answer is like I I definitely wanted to run out of college and I didn't know if that was realistic or not And so I was trying to set gauges to understand like where I thought I needed to be out to be able to continue doing this And see if it was worthwhile compared to You know pursuing other things in life like careers and those kind of things And did you have any any help from anyone like to bounce ideas off of or were you taught or were you kind of Figuring it out on your own Yeah, a little bit of both. Um, I had a couple friends, you know Who had gone to see you and graduated and who had already done it But I made so many mistakes and so I think in a good way I Did a lot of things myself and made a lot of mistakes and learned from it and learned about how That post collegiate running scene worked. So for example, I was training under mark wetmore still for a year post collegiate Lee and I try to get a contract and so I try to get an agent and kind of through that process realized like well, I am not fast enough to Get a contract or have an agent. It just didn't make sense. Sure Because an agent's kind of someone who's going to help you if you're like the top top top top person by Kind of kind of selling you to these shoe companies and then Mark wetmore is also really he's such he's such a good coach But he's like the worst person to help you post collegiate Lee Just he's not part of that world at all like he doesn't know much about road racing He doesn't know about um kind of performing at this level. That's not diamond league or That collegiate track scene and so with him. It was pretty funny just navigating this this You know jumping into local road races and trying to To get into that kind of scene. Um was interesting. So yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll just uh, andy I'm gonna jump on screen here for a second and just uh share my little tidbit Basically mark is so I'll just put it this like mark is so invested in the collegiate scene and like his athletes um He just he wants to win At that level so bad and help really Turn like young young teenagers Into men and women to go out into the world and to pursue their own dreams. Whether it's most likely like 96% of the athletes he coaches in college are gonna, you know, they're gonna go on and they're gonna pursue careers and so I just think um he's I think a lot of even though he's coached many olympians And I'm gonna bring andy back on screen here. It's um, it's just a different He's really what I've It's just hard to break through his his uh, demand the demand on his time because he's so busy with coaching and recruiting and at the collegiate level that um Yeah, I just I I hear what you're saying. It's like he's he's in that bubble Yeah, totally So, okay, jordan asked real quick. What's uh, what did you What's uh, let's see. He said, how did you balance running and school work during your time at at the university of colorado? Well, how was that balance? That's from jordan Yeah, I think um, that balance wasn't as hard for me. I think um, I was a good really good academic student in high school and in college Um, I definitely made it a priority to do You know, both it wasn't like I was just there for athletics It definitely is challenging because things like You're traveling so for example speaking of that great race at stanford. I had I can't remember if it's that race or another time But we went to stanford stanford's in may and that's when final exams are for for college And so I remember taking um An organic chemistry Tat final which was like one of the hardest classes I took as an undergrad And I finish it in about half the time so that I could make the bus to get on the plane To go to stanford and then at stanford I had to take another final and it was like you're taking it outside at a hotel Why you're trying to like concentrate, you know and finish your final before racing at 10 p.m. That night And so I think those those challenges definitely come into play I think it's really good to be be able to time manage well to be able to um To plan ahead. So, you know, it's always a big thing is for collegiate athletes to say I'm going to get these projects done way earlier. These papers are study before I need to And I'll try to take tests before I leave In order to kind of get that done and and have time to focus on racing when you're there. So yeah, yeah Good advice. Good advice. Um, and everybody listening We're talking with andy wacker and we're going to open it up to a an open q&a here in one minute But first andy if you could walk us through what Your experience has been racing wise. Um, let's say in the last, I don't know three or four years Because you've been mixing it up and I want to hear the story behind Your your race choices and everyone listening Um, I think this is yeah, just very interesting like the types of races you are pursuing now and how you're going about Um, I'll just put it in the diverse the diverse diverse category Of racing whether it's on the roads or on the trails. Yeah, break that down for us Yeah, I I love racing as part of it and I've always loved running on the trails so I think my background is definitely that more traditional track and cross country and um So I've just been able to balance all those things when I come out of the collegiate system, which has been great because um, I think there's they're just so different and they're so fun like road racing Is incredibly competitive in the u.s. And you can do it at all levels. There's local five k's. There's you know, then there's The new york city marathon like there's there's and there's so much in between. So it's really fun to be able to Um, get that speed, you know, I'm the thing that really strikes me about road racing The fun thing is like when I was in let's say like seventh or eighth grade I like broke five minutes in the mile for the first time and then when you're in high school you break like 10 minutes in the two mile and then in the college you run five minutes for three miles And now I'm running like a half marathon at sub five minute miles or marathon at that pace Basically, and uh, just being able to progress through those distances like still using that speed is really fun. Yeah And then uh, yeah, I always like having like right now basically the last two years have had like uh, like seasons So I'd like a road racing season kind of in the spring from january until June maybe and then I'm using all that fitness and the speed that I've used to train For those road races to go into the trails start doing more trail specific work Um getting more technical slower harder uphills and those kind of things to go into these big trail marathons I like to run in the summer. Yeah. Yeah And uh, I'll just ask right uh right now. What um What is your so how many marathons have you raced? And on the roads and maybe you could run through them and then also just share like Uh, maybe like a marathon racing tip. Um, and that yeah, maybe just run us through that Yeah, sure. So I'll have only run two. Um, I ran the belfast city marathon in 2015. I think okay That's in northern ireland And um, that one was great because this is probably a good tip So I signed up for that race a lot of times you got a really plan ahead So I think I I basically committed to that race in late summer and it's a race in may so almost like, you know At least six to nine months ahead of time And in the meantime, I got some like just some minor injury and just wasn't able to train very well So going into the race. I was way under trained And um, just had that kind of experience that a lot of people have which is You feel great for about a half marathon and then about 20 miles in or 18 miles in you're like, whoa I don't know if I can keep running. Yeah Really hit the wall. Yeah So kind of a tip with that is just a Well, in that case, there's so many ways to do it But if you're in the race, just do what you can and just enjoy it and that was still a really cool experience and a great way to jump into the marathon And then this the second second one was Rotterdam marathon in the netherlands last year And that one totally different story definitely prepared for it did all my long runs did my training correctly And I ran 217 Nice really kind of flipped that one around because bell faster was much rougher So you have the uh, you have the olympic trials qualifier Yep, that's correct. Nice. Very cool. Very cool. Um, very good. Well, all right. So here's a question In the chat from Jason. I think it's an interesting one. I'll add it here to the broadcast So Andy, who do you look up to in the ultra running scene and where do you find your inspiration to continue to perform? at such an elite level and again, uh, that is from Jason Yeah, oh man. That's a good question. Um, there's so many people. I think uh, a lot of my influences actually come from like the road scene Um, someone like erin brawn. He's a guy who's just retired. He used to be a really good road racer Um in the trails. Gosh, I think um, I mean people are there's so many incredible athletes I just raced with hayden hawks He's such a good uh runner and it's so cool to see him run. Jim wamsley is obviously just such a Freak and so amazing. So yeah, he's pretty cool. Um, and I mean could go on and on there's michael warden He's just insane doubles and triples and running every day Like 60 miles a day in israel like he just did. Yeah, there's there's a lot of a lot of people I look up to you so um And let me make sure i'm answering the second part of the question. Could you make sure? I So basically the the second part was um, how do you find let's see the inspiration to keep going and training at such a high level? Like I guess after yeah Man, um, I think no matter what I just enjoy the process. I think it's fun to train and it's fun to race. So Um, you know every day is just new and and exciting for me to be able to keep keep going out there And um, I think we all have hard rough days, and I think that's definitely part of the sport It's you know, you're not going to feel good. There's certain days where I run one mile and I feel horrible You know, and I'm trying to truck out five miles for an easy day. Yeah, but um, just knowing that there's um, you know, there's a bright future and and time to to feel good and have those great days where you just Want to keep running all day? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Uh, okay, so this is uh, this is gonna be an interesting story everybody and I actually I don't know the details of the story But I think Andy's going to be able to fill us in on this. I remember hearing about it Andy So David asks tell us about the bar trail race in 2015 Uh, what happened there? And I think uh, David probably knows a little bit about your running background Uh, so I'm going to bring you back on screen here. Yeah, what happened at the bar trail race in 2015? Which is uh, just so everybody knows is a race that goes uh up Pikes peak not all the way to the top, but uh goes up pikes peak Yeah Yeah, okay. Oh man. Um, this is a great story and an embarrassing story, but uh, I basically um, set my alarm uh incorrectly And did not wake up on time because I was um, planning on basically waking up super early and bolder driving down to Colorado Springs warming up and then racing and um, it's about 100 miles takes a couple hours at least Even if you drive at like four in the morning, which I was planning on doing And I just remember waking up and it was like If I had left exactly when I woke up, I think I would have gotten there on time. So yeah I thought, you know, maybe I'll just drive down I said I was going to do this um friend of mine is the race director's name's Peter Maximo And I said, you know, at least I'll just go down and like volunteer at the race Like I feel super bad, but I like I said I was going to be there I'll be there. So I started driving down and um, I'm texting Peter. I'm super sorry and I'm just going to miss the race Like I'll come and help out do whatever, you know to help out and he goes, you know, I think I think uh You might make it So he's basically just telling me, oh just come down and race. Yeah And uh, another friend of mine Simon, uh, Gutierrez had my number ready So literally I jump out of the car Grab my number and literally just start racing like awesome of zero anything and um Yeah, so it's seven minutes late to the race start, but it's chip time got in and Yeah, like you were saying, it's a huge race up pike's peak halfway to bar trail and then down so I was just going as hard as I could and passing people on this single The single track on the way up and uh, at least at the time I was a good Was a timer and good at going up. So uh made up a lot of ground and then Um, at some point I was just like, man, I'm passing everyone. I'm just gonna see what I can do and I think within like maybe a mile or two to go. I caught the leader caught the guy was winning the race And so we're battling on this like steep downhill switchbacks Um, and then basically I'd say we tied we came to the line within like meters, but uh, wow Yeah, you've been on gun time. I took technically Or sorry, I'm not on gun time. Yeah, if you go off just the yeah It just got it by seven minutes. So or it's nuts. Wow, that's amazing. That's awesome. That's awesome. I remember hearing about that. Um, crazy. Well, um, so we're gonna open it up to uh, open q&a. So anything you want to ask andy about, um, racing at the racing in north carolina in high school and I know we didn't get into the Uh, doing the nice nike cross nationals. You can ask about that if you're in high school I'd actually be curious to hear your thoughts on Uh, nike and and footlocker like why you decided to go the nike route and I know both are great events, but um, but yeah, let's uh, open it up to a open q&a Uh for everybody in the chat and we will try and get to as many of the questions as possible But yeah, what was uh, what was that thought process? Uh andy between footlocker and and nike cross nationals Yeah, sorry, mr. Blue, but your question there. So, um Uh, could you say it again? Yeah, basically, um the difference Uh, why you decided to go nike cross nationals in high school instead of footlocker and like because I know both are great events And what kind of drew you to the to the nike cross? Oh, so I uh, didn't make it Oh, yeah, for the yeah, yeah, I think either um, I was the first guy out not to make footlocker Got it Yep, so I was like, uh, I think they took 10 people they switched it my senior year from eight to 10 people and then I did Now I got was 11. So yeah, and then that's fair. We were trying to make it as a team I think that was the first year they did like a nike team event And um, it was a little different than they do it today. They didn't have um, the regional qualifying for the teams And so our team also, this is a great good old, uh cross country high school cross country story is We lost our state cross country meet my junior year by One point. Oh no And um, yeah super close and that team uh, chapel hill high school made it to nike cross nationals and we didn't wow crazy crazy Okay, so here's a here's a good question from kori When you were at the end of your race, how do you push yourself? What are some tips on how to finish? Finish strong. So that is from kori Yeah, I think training helps a lot definitely if you're doing longer races having longer runs going to help with that Um, mentally, it's always good just to stay focused I found like little things you can find out about like what what is different when you're racing at the end of your race And you can work on those in practice like um, maybe you can do um, you know, certain repeats where you're trying to feel strong at the end of those workouts Um, or is if you're just losing concentration and focus then maybe you can work on that aspect Um, or if it's your cadence all of a sudden is going nowhere and you're taking one step per minute Then uh, that's another thing and so just kind of working on these cues to Make sure that when you're feeling weak at the end you can start Keep on keeping on because it seems like just to go to the same pace in a lot of races You got to have a bigger mental effort. Yeah. Yeah Good good point and I I mentioned to everybody a couple days ago on the vlog like I like to Just kind of close it down a little bit the in a long run Like the last two miles just make sure I close out a long run not slower, but just maybe You know 10 seconds faster a mile just to make sure I feel like I'm in control of the workouts. Um, so that's one little tip I would throw out there Okay, another question and I think this is good. Um Shoes so, um, I guess we'll go with you could do training and racing But like what are some of your favorite shoes to to run in both for the trail? Now because Andy's in a very unique situation because he does roads and trails But what are some what are the shoes that you like to grab for knowing? Obviously that you're Running for for nike now Yeah, definitely. Um recently I've been wearing Um the peg turbos for training and they're like a Lightweight trainer. I think they're great. They're super bouncy. So those are nice I've worn structures before then which are just kind of like their Pegasus with a little bit of uh Support so those I think are good for a lot of people. Yeah a shoe that anyone could wear Um, obviously for racing. I think, you know, everyone knows loves the vaporfly 4% sunroads. Yeah, and those are just nice shoes Actually a quick cool story with that is that um, they did a lot of the nike 4% shoes studies here in boulder And uh, it's like a participant for those and it's kind of cool just to see I'm uh I've been masters of science and just kind of a nerd in the biomechanics world of Seeing how that works and and getting to the point where now I'm sponsored by nike and able to wear them. It's really cool Yeah That's awesome. Now, uh, I'll just add are you so I'm intrigued. I think the wild horse and the terra keigers coming out soon the fives Uh, I'm I'm pretty excited for those. I don't know about you Oh for sure. Yeah, so I was gonna say that for definitely for the trails. Um So I've been I usually run in the wild horse of warm today just an easy run on a kind of flatter trail I think those are a great shoe for someone who is used to running in road shoes Um, because I think they feel a bit more like road shoes in a good way Um, so they don't have any weird. They're not super stiff or anything like that They just feel like a running shoe and it feels pretty normal Yeah, but have a great grip if you're going on the trails and then yeah, the new kigers and the new wild horses are amazing So I've been racing in those kigers the kiger fives. Yeah for um, you know over a year now and I wear them for Any any distance. Um trail race. I think they're a really good shoe and it's a huge difference for nike because they're like um kiger fours and before are very similar to the wild horse They're kind of like a training shoe feel sure and I'm like a racing shoe feel and I think the uh, the new kigers Um have changed that and they're really nice. They're real bouncy and um, Kind of you have like a ground good ground feel that kind of stuff. So nice. Nice Um, and I'm just gonna add real quick. Uh, you also run for so you run for nike but also scratch labs, right? And maybe you could talk about um Talk about scratch labs real quick Yeah, sure. I think um I've always just been a strong believer in only being sponsored by You know companies I really believe in and I would buy their product and do that kind of stuff And I've been sponsored by scratch for five years, but they're You want to call it? I think the best thing they make is the first thing which is uh It's like a gatorade powder. Basically. It's a um Drink mix that you mix with water to make make something that's a sports drink and They do such a good job because they really started with um eliminating The junk so it's just natural like fruit That's basically ground up to get fruit sugar and then they put salt in it. That's basically it And um this thing is your body really Takes that well. So for people who are like marathoners um, again, I'm a science guy a big thing I think it's like the absorption like Absorption is super key like you're not going to get any of the calories unless you're actually absorbing them and having kind of a really simple natural type um Drink mix is a good way for your body to absorb that you're not going to have a lot of stomach issues That you would have if you have like a high fructose corn syrup type drink. Sure. Sure. Nice And okay, this is a good question Daniel asks noticed he noticed on ultra sign up. Yeah, you haven't run a 50 miler or 100 miler yet Are you thinking ever about moving up in uh distance and that again is from daniel? Yeah, so, uh, I'm not planning on it right now. I think maybe in the future. I'll do a 50 miler Yeah, I feel like I'm just starting to get the hang of the trail marathon So It's one of those things where you kind of have to understand what to do and Also, personally, I think I Do I excel better at shorter and faster trail running? So I prefer races like this year. I'm doing a race called sears and all Which is a very smooth fast big climbing than some fast dirt road type of trails I prefer that type of racing. So, um, I think it just suits my style better to do Faster and somewhat shorter races. Sears and all is about 20 miles Get out there. Okay. Nice And this is from go kiwi. He asks Do you have a smoothie or recovery drink or what do you eat after a long or hard race a long run or a hard race? um, yeah, do you have a strategy for post long run recovery Sure. Um, I think I'm definitely proponent of just eating real food. So if you can go after your long run and go have some Bacon and eggs or whatever that's great But if I also think it's good to get calories in pretty quickly and I've gotten better at that over the years So, um, there's a thing for example like scratch mix and a really amazing Protein shake that's for after running and it's basically tastes like a chocolate milkshake So that's like a good one and there's there's so many options you could take Kind of whatever you want, you know, just like a bar or something like that is a great thing to have when you're Maybe just immediately done with your run before you drive and go get something else and yeah So a big proponent of just real food. Maybe some water and maybe a bar if you're got some time before you can get some food nice nice And this is from kenny. He asks How do you deal with an injury close to a race? It sounds like you have a little bit of experience with this Andy He's uh, kenny is two weeks out from a marathon and just had an injury to his tendon Running along his shin any suggestions for his best course of action? Keeping in mind, uh, kenny that we're not doctors, but uh, andy any any tips or advice there for for kenny Yeah, I think um, it's really hard as a runner because a lot of times you do run into injuries Um, and I think you have to know you and what I mean by that is like you have to know if this is Going to be an injury that you really might have to pull out. I mean a marathon's a long race You could do a lot of damage Um, or if it's something that you know, this race means a lot to you. You've been putting it a lot of time You think okay, it's not it's kind of a minor injury. Maybe I can make it through Um, so like for example, I'll I'll give a quick personal story. I've been dealing with some minor achilles uh injury and it's just been like, um frustrating because I've been able to train through it sort of And uh, it's not getting worse. It's just one of these things that You know A minor injury and so for me personally, I've been racing on it and um, it's just good to know that you're That that is a weakness and that you got to be careful of that and then um, just a quick tip would be Do whatever you can to make sure that that injury is treated as much as you can before you get into the race If that's the scenario so for my achilles, it's like get a pt visit in or get go see a chiropractor someone who can Help kind of um treat some of the symptoms get you maybe just these You know the injury in the best shape that you can before you race Um, some people use tape that kind of stuff I think is there's different ways around to make sure you're protecting your body as best you can if you are gonna race on an injury Yeah, nice Okay, so we got a few more minutes here with andy. I want to respect andy's time But uh, let's see if you have a few more questions you can ask in the chat I would like well, I'll just I'll just toss Uh question in here real quick from anthony. He asks favorite places to run in north carolina and colorado Oh, man. Okay. Uh, gosh, okay north carolina. Um, i'm stead park near raleigh. That's an amazing spot I've had some really good runs there in the past um That's a cool really cool trail system that anyone can run on or Um and do um gosh and then colorado Man, it's there's so many spots. I think uh I really like running in this town called grand lake. Seth knows all about that. It's a beautiful spot with um It's outside of rock amount national park and it's basically all snow covered except for june and july maybe or july and august um, so that's got to be one of the best spots and then um Also, this place called eldorado state park near boulder pretty amazing. So there's there's lots of options around here nice nice Okay, and um, so we won't wrap up quite yet, but I do want to ask andy about the future. So What are your goals or plans for 2019? And let's just say maybe even like two to three years down the road Like what are you some of your long-term goals? Uh moving forward Yeah, so I got a couple more um road races coming up But the big thing this year is definitely going to be i'm running what's called the solemn golden trail series Nice, um, which is a lot of trail athletes might be um Aware of this, but it's a about six marathon length trail races all over the world So i'm racing um that and I'd love to be in the top 10, which is kind of their criteria to make what they call the final Which is a trail race in um, napal. So i'm going to be racing in zygama Which is a race in spain mount blanc, which is a race in um chamois france And then also sears and all which is in switzerland and these are all kind of part of this series So those are my big goals for the summer. Yeah, um for 2019 and then moving on man, I I definitely I'm looking at the olympic trials for the marathon. So that's about a year off It's um end of it's either march 1st or February 29th. I think it's the leap year next year or something like that. Yeah So that's on the radar and then I'd love to just continue to um I always love the world championships for trail running. I think they're kind of underrated and There's world mountain running championships and a world mountain running long distance championships that I've been a part of US team in the past and it's always like extremely special thing to be on those teams and to be Someone who can represent the us and do well. So on my radar is always I think one of my biggest goals in life is to try to win um A world championship, uh, specifically the long distance mountain running world champ. So that's on the radar Yeah, yeah, very cool. All right, we'll grab one more question from the chat real quick I think it's interesting one. How do you deal with running plateaus? And I I know, um I guess I'll just say one quick thing on it is um You know Well, actually, no, I'm not I'm gonna let andy andy you take it. What's uh, what are how do you deal with like running plateaus? Let's say you're getting faster and faster and then you hit Yeah, you hit a plateau where you just aren't seeing results where you want them to be Yeah, sure That's a hard question because I think it can depend on a lot of people and where you're at but um as I said in that 5k story before I had to run 14 flat 10 times before I ran um a big pr and another time in high school I'd ran um around I think I ran 945 and the uh 3200 three times in a row before I uh ran a big pr there and ran 925 so I think part of it is if you're young and you're definitely a younger athlete You're still training. It's like you got to be patient You got to know that sometimes training now won't pay off for about six months or a year maybe even so that's That's part of the process and then I think um, you know, maybe someone who's I'm 30 If you're my age and you're hitting plateaus, I think um There's always ways to mix it up and make it fun like change your training If you've been doing really intense stuff start doing more miles if you didn't been doing more miles Maybe start doing more intense intensity Yeah What I always try to tell people because I'm a huge fan of the trails is If you're one of those people who's kind of burnt out You just can't seem to run faster on certain times like you've run 25 marathons and your pr was 10 years ago And you're just getting frustrated You got to enjoy the the process of training and you got to enjoy the The races so move the trails do a trail 50k or do a race that's different for you. Yeah, awesome Awesome. Well, Andy. It's been about an hour of chatting and thank you everyone for being here And we're going to continue to do more of these types of interviews Andy thank you for Taking the time tonight out of your I know you're a busy man with travel Just so everyone knows Andy is Is well for I guess you were racing just last weekend right at chucka nut? Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh, which was uh, uh 50k. Is that right? Yeah, it's a 50k in Bellingham, Washington. It's amazing. Everyone is a trail runner. They should go there. It's so good That's awesome. That's where you raced. Uh, Hayden, right? I did. Yeah. Yeah, awesome. So, um, yeah Thank you again, Andy for taking the time and that was fun and everybody Actually, let's give a shout out if you uh, are you uh on instagram and where can people connect with you? Yeah, sure. I'm on um, instagram and i'm on twitter Um, gosh, i'm gonna mess these up. I'm at wacker a and at wacker andy So wacker a for instagram and wacker andy for Twitter for twitter. Awesome. So yeah, everybody you can go follow andy and and see his uh, see his results and see his Pictures from around the world where he's where he's racing this year. So thank you again, andy for uh, for taking the time You're welcome. It's awesome. Awesome. Very cool. All right, everyone Thank you so much for being here and um, we will do another live stream on wednesday And i guess i'll just say it right now since everybody's watching uh, we're gonna do the next running shoe giveaway on Monday april first so a week from tonight Monday april first for the next running shoe giveaway. So mark your calendars and that'll be great. All right. Good to see everybody signing off awesome