Your watch doesn't know you. It doesn't know you had a rough night of sleep, that you're in your luteal phase, that you've been stressed all week, or that you're climbing in 90-degree heat. It just spits out a number. And yet somehow, that number has the power to make or break a run.

In this episode, I'm going deeper on one of my favorite coaching topics: why your body doesn't know your pace, but it absolutely knows your effort. We've talked about RPE before, but this time I'm getting under the hood on the actual physiology, what's happening in your body when conditions stack up and your pace drops, and why that's not a bad run. That's just your body doing its job.

• What heat, humidity, sleep, stress, terrain, altitude, hormones, and fueling actually do to your pace (and why none of it means you're falling apart)
• Why chasing pace in your training blocks is quietly undermining your fitness
• How VO2 max, lactate threshold, and endurance blocks each connect back to effort-based training
• What to do with all of this information when you're standing at the trailhead about to lace up

Effort is the stimulus. Pace is the result. You control one of those. Let's talk about which one.

Links & Resources for This Episode

• Episode 4: Your watch is lying to you: Ditch the data (RPE vs HR)
• Episode 19: Your Watch Is Being Dramatic: A Trail Runner’s Guide to Chill
• Episode 31: Effort Over Pace: Their Effort is Not Your Effort
• Follow me on Instagram
• Visit my website: www.sunrisetrailscoaching.com
• Want to work together? Learn about 1:1 Coaching
• Free guide: What’s In My Pack? Download here

I didn't build a love for climbing. I just finally stopped being surprised that it was already there.

In this episode, I'm answering a question from one of my athletes and friends — how did I actually build my capacity for vert? Were there numbers that scared me? How did I get here?

• How I fell in love with climbing before I even knew what vert was
• Rim to rim in the Grand Canyon three weeks into trail running
• Showing up to races without looking at the elevation profile — and what that taught me
• When I actually started paying attention to vert and how it changed my training
• How I structure long runs and training blocks around elevation profiles
• Why poles took so long to enter my life and what changed when they did
• Getting faster near the top — not slower — and what that means
• What climbing actually feels like and why it's always been fun, even when it's hard

Links & Resources for This Episode

• Follow me on Instagram
• Visit my website: www.sunrisetrailscoaching.com
• Want to work together? Learn about 1:1 Coaching
• Free guide: What’s In My Pack? Download here

You asked, I answered. This episode is a full Cocodona 250 Q&A — your questions about training, gear, crew, the mental game, recovery, and everything in between. If you've been curious about what actually goes into running 253.4 miles, this one's for you.

In this episode:

• How long my training block actually was and what peak weeks looked like
• Heat prep, shoe swaps, and nutrition that held up (mostly)
• Crew and pacer logistics — and how half my pacers weren't even planned
• The mental side: mantras, doubts, and aid station to aid station thinking
• Recovery timeline and what finishing this changed for me

Links & Resources for This Episode

• Follow me on Instagram
• Visit my website: www.sunrisetrailscoaching.com
• Want to work together? Learn about 1:1 Coaching
• Free guide: What’s In My Pack? Download here

Made it! The final stretch. Mile 176 to the finish line at Heritage Square in Flagstaff.

This episode covers the solo section through the Foxboro habitat where I was navigating a tracker scare, chatting with a woman from the UK named Jen, and trying out AirPods for exactly 30 minutes before deciding music just isn't my thing out there. Then Amanda, my very first athlete and longest client, shows up at Munds Park to pace me through the coldest night of the entire race. We talk about who she was when she first came to me and who she was that night in the dark, and I will just say she crushed it.

From there it's Cat coming back for a second leg, egg and bacon burritos at Walnut Canyon that I absolutely inhaled, Meg pacing me seven miles we both remember fondly, and Wayne, if you've watched the Golden Hour you know, who we passed about a mile from Wildcat Hill. Then it's the gear check, the buckle moment I didn't see coming, and 19 miles solo over Mount Elden in the dark with nothing but a headlamp and some hallucinations for company.

In this episode:

• The solo Foxboro section, a tracker scare, and 30 minutes of AirPods before I gave up on music entirely
• Amanda, my first athlete, pacing me through the coldest night and every dirt nap in between
• Crying on a hill because I was just tired and Amanda not saying a word, just keeping me moving
• Renee at Fort Tuthill, five minutes before her own race start, and why that hug hit so hard
• Cat coming back a second time knowing she'd miss my finish for her son's piano recital
• Egg and bacon burritos at Walnut Canyon and the moment I just completely lost all table manners
• Meeting Meg for the first time at mile 227 and how easy it was
• Wayne and the ultra lean, if you know you know
• The gear check guy who told me to go get my buckle when I left the aid station
• Mount Elden in the dark, alone, hallucinating ships, legs shaking on the edge
• Left on Birch and everything that came after it
• What 253.4 miles actually taught me about time goals, gratitude, and showing up for people

Enjoying the show?

If this episode resonated, share it with a friend. Make sure you’re following or subscribed so you don’t miss future episodes. Ratings and reviews help more than you know.

• Follow me on Instagram
• Visit my website: www.sunrisetrailscoaching.com
• Want to work together? Learn about 1:1 Coaching
• Free guide: What’s In My Pack? Download here

Mile 75 to mile 176 — and this stretch had everything.

In this episode, I'm taking you from Whiskey Row through Watson Lake, across Fain Ranch, up and over Mingus Mountain in the dark, down into Jerome, across the Verde River, through red rock country, and up the Hangover Trail into Schnebly Hill. We cover 18 hours of puking, a sodium crisis caught mid-climb, dirt naps on cold ground, hallucinations that were equal parts terrifying and fascinating, and the moment my mind couldn't push my legs any faster and I had to accept that moving forward was enough.

In this episode:

• Leaving Whiskey Row still sick and the GPX file that sent a small crowd of us the wrong direction
• The low point at Fain Ranch and the one time I asked Greg out loud: can I do this?
• Courtney showing up early and hitting 100 miles for the first time
• Mingus Mountain in the dark, sodium awareness, and a descent that humbled me
• Jerome, the Verde River crossing, and 26 miles with Kat through red rock country
• Hot dogs with extra mustard, hallucinations, and the longest dirt nap of the race
• The Hangover Trail at mile 160+ on no sleep and Kristen talking me through every single step
• And the thing I keep coming back to: find your people. And when it's their turn, show up in the dark for them.

Enjoying the show?

If this episode resonated, share it with a friend. Make sure you’re following or subscribed so you don’t miss future episodes. Ratings and reviews help more than you know.

• Follow me on Instagram
• Visit my website: www.sunrisetrailscoaching.com
• Want to work together? Learn about 1:1 Coaching
• Free guide: What’s In My Pack? Download here

Day one of Cocodona 250 covered 75 miles — through the Sonoran desert, up into the Bradshaws, through the first night, and into Whiskey Row in Prescott. And honestly? It still feels like it happened in a completely different race. Maybe that's what 27 hours on your feet alone does to your brain.

In this episode, I'm taking you from packet pickup and a pre-race cry-and-puke in the van all the way to Greg's face on Whiskey Row. We cover the Cottonwood Creek gauntlet, the Senator Highway ridgeline at night, the first sunset of the race, running through black bear country in the dark, puking somewhere after Arrastra Creek, a volunteer who tucked me in with three blankets, a dirt nap that ended when my brain said "bear," and finally — legs throbbing too much to sleep in a real bed but still moving forward.

In this episode:

• Pre-race logistics, packet pickup, and the crew/pacer spreadsheet that was already doomed
• Greg as crew chief — what that actually looks like from mile zero
• The Cottonwood Creek mandatory water carry and why that first section is the hardest terrain on the course
• Early pacing discipline and why it matters more in a 250 than anywhere else
• Poles, gels, chews, bananas, and the electrolyte mistake I didn't know I was making yet
• The Senator Highway ridgeline...first sunset, first night, first solo dark miles
• Melissa...the training run stranger turned puking-and-rallying partner through the Bradshaws
• Camp Wamatochick, the volunteer with three blankets, and 30 minutes in an anti-gravity chair
• Hitting Prescott pavement, a stranger with Tums, and locals handing out candy bars and Hot Hands at sunrise
• Changing into the H1s and what shoe rotation actually looks like in a multi-day race
• And the moment I realized: I'm still here. I'm still moving. That's enough.

Enjoying the show?

If this episode resonated, share it with a friend. Make sure you’re following or subscribed so you don’t miss future episodes. Ratings and reviews help more than you know.

• Follow me on Instagram
• Visit my website: www.sunrisetrailscoaching.com
• Want to work together? Learn about 1:1 Coaching
• Free guide: What’s In My Pack? Download here

This week’s episode isn’t a full race recap yet because my brain still feels a little scrambled from five days across Arizona. But after sitting with the experience, I wanted to talk about the things that mattered most once the finish time goal slipped away.

We’re talking about adapting when things change, the privilege of getting to do something like this in the first place, and the overwhelming amount of support it took to get me to that finish line. Crew, pacers, volunteers, friends, texts, DMs, random encouragement at aid stations…it all mattered more than pace ever did.

And somewhere out there between the puking, dirt naps, hallucinations, sunrises, and emotional swings, the experience itself became enough.

In this episode:

• Why my original time goal stopped mattering
• The difference between adjusting and giving up
• The privilege of running and having access to these spaces
• White privilege, representation, and outdoor endurance sports
• How support changes everything in ultras and life
• Dirt naps, aid station resets, and learning to slow down
• Why the experience itself became the real win
• What I wish I would’ve said at the finish line interview

This one is messy, reflective, emotional, and very much recorded by a woman whose brain is still somewhere on trail between Black Canyon City and Flagstaff.

Enjoying the show?

If this episode resonated, share it with a friend. Make sure you’re following or subscribed so you don’t miss future episodes. Ratings and reviews help more than you know.

• Follow me on Instagram
• Visit my website: www.sunrisetrailscoaching.com
• Want to work together? Learn about 1:1 Coaching
• Free guide: What’s In My Pack? Download here

You trained for it. You showed up. And somehow…you’re still telling yourself it wasn’t enough.

In this episode, I’m talking about something I see all the time—runners finishing races (or not) and immediately going to what went wrong. Missing the point entirely. Yes, goals matter. Finish lines matter. But if that’s the only thing you’re celebrating, you’re ignoring everything that actually made you the runner who got there.

This one goes beyond race day. We’re getting into the invisible work, the real wins during a race, boundaries, and why this hits differently for women who are juggling way more than just training.

Also…by the time you’re listening to this, I’m somewhere out on the Cocodona 250 course doing exactly what I’m talking about in this episode.

In this episode:

• Why feeling disappointed is normal—but living there isn’t helping you
• The “invisible work” you’re not giving yourself credit for
• What to actually celebrate during a race (it’s not just the finish)
• Why women showing up to start lines is a bigger deal than we talk about
• How boundaries in training and life are part of the win
• Solo runs vs. running with others—and why both matter
• Reframing DNFs and missed goals without throwing everything away
• Why tying your worth to outcomes will burn you out

Cocodona Live Tracking and Live Stream

Enjoying the show?

If this episode resonated, share it with a friend. Make sure you’re following or subscribed so you don’t miss future episodes. Ratings and reviews help more than you know.

• Follow me on Instagram
• Visit my website: www.sunrisetrailscoaching.com
• Want to work together? Learn about 1:1 Coaching
• Free guide: What’s In My Pack? Download here

Cocodona Live Tracking and Live Stream