#118 Brooklyn Montoya - Ultramarathon Runner
Brooklyn Montoya - Three-time marathoner and 50k finisher, Brooklyn Montoya is training to be the youngest female in history to compete in the Leadville 100 ultra-marathoner in August of 2023. Tune in as Brooklyn Montoya joins Bobby Marshall in studio to discuss running long-distance races, ultramarathons, marathon racing, diet, running the MMA, outdoor life, and much more.
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Brooklyn Montoya - Ultramarathon Runner
Our guest for this episode is ultramarathon runner, Brooklyn Montoya. Brooklyn is an amazing young woman with incredible drive and a work ethic. I enjoyed her company. She has been selected to run in the Leadville 100-mile race over the Continental Divide. She is the youngest woman in history to be selected. We talked about much more than running and training. This was a great episode. I enjoyed her company. I hope that you enjoy the episode.
Brooklyn, thank you for joining us.
Thank you for having me. This is so cool.
I'm excited to talk to you.
Me too, honestly. This is a cool setup.
It was a little hard to come in. It's freaking beautiful out.
I went running and it was so good.
Where did you run out?
I ran up Waterton Canyon all the time. It's super close to our house. I went up there. It's awesome.
That is beautiful out there.
It's so pretty. It's close.
You got to watch out for rattlesnakes up there though in the summer.
I hate rattlesnakes. I have a legit fear of them. I get scared but I carry a bunch of stuff with me like pepper spray, taser and all of it.
I was visiting here. I was doing the NFL kickoff here. I didn't live here for a period. I grew up here but I moved away. I was visiting my family. I was working in Denver and I was like, "We need to close the place. I want to get out and go for a hike. Let's take the family." We all met at Waterton Canyon. We started up the canyon. Maybe about 1 mile up, there's a public restroom. It's all my family with all these little nephews, nieces and kids. One of them picked up a baby rabbit. You had no idea what it was. He thought it was a stick or something.
It bit him around the thumb three times. As soon as we saw that, we went into panic mode. I grabbed him. I was like, "Somebody, dial 911. I'll be on the trail. I'll be at the bottom of the road." I booked it. The extent of my running is in a panic. He had to get life-flighted and everything to the children as soon as I handed him off to the firefighters. It's West Metro there. They're super cool guys. They were like, "Do you care if we call helicopters?" I was like, "Do whatever you need to do."
Even for baby rattlesnakes?
Yeah.
I'm scared.
He was so small. He was 2 or 3 years old at the time. I didn't know it but the reason why you wear your wedding ring on your ring finger on your left hand is there's a vein that runs to your heart. That's what I've heard. Is it true? They were like, "He was bitten on his left hand. It's a bit more critical because that's where the venom is trying to get." That's what the doctors explained. That's why they probably life-flighted him. I handed him off to the firefighter. He was in pretty good spirits. He didn't know what was going on. I was trying to be calm.
Was he in pain?
He was all about me holding him and running down the trail.
Free ride.
He got a little freaked out when he saw the firetruck pulling in as I got to the bottom of the trail. It might have been a record-mile run for me. It was all downhill. I handed him off. They were like, "We're going to call a helicopter." There was an ambulance there. They put them in the back of the ambulance. Within five minutes, he was in the helicopter and gone. Those guys were so amazing.
They are quick.
Luckily, my sister was right behind me. She came to a couple of minutes behind me. She was able to ride in the helicopter with him.
That is crazy. I hate them.
He came through it but it was pretty wild. We saw him at the hospital. It was crazy. They put all these marks on him and then gave him anti-venom. You have to balance it.
How did they treat him? Do you know?
They gave him anti-venom. They give actual venom to sheep, produce antibodies and take the antibodies from the sheep. It's a balance. They Sharpie all over his arm at certain times.
I take a Sharpie running for that.
You're supposed to track your swelling. They write on it. If it went past the line, they would give him some more anti-venom. If it went down, they chased it back to his thumb. His whole thumb turned black. He had to go through some physical therapy type of stuff.
I take a Sharpie running for rattlesnakes.
What's the MO if you get bit or something? What's the Sharpie for, to mark it?
You hear funny stories about what to do. From what I've picked up, if you get bit, you circle it with a Sharpie and write the time. Whenever the ambulance comes, if it's past that circle, "Let's life-flight you out. This is getting bad."
That makes total sense. That's exactly what the firefighters did in the ambulance. They did it at the hospital with him too.
That's crazy.
I don't know why people give first responders a hard time. It irks me because of the sheer fact of what those guys go through and how willing they are to help you and put their lives in line. Not 100% of them are all good but the majority of the firefighters, policemen, first responders that I know and active military are all genuinely good people that are so self-sacrificing.
It's a hard job. I used to be a nurse on an oncology unit at Skyridge. I was a CNA or a nursing assistant. I had to quit because I'm like, "This is so sad." I couldn't do it. I don't know how they do it.
I don't know how they do it either.
Major props.
If I was forced into that position, I would but I wouldn't voluntarily choose it unless there was an absolute shortage. We almost saw that during the pandemic.
That was part of it. It was so short-staffed that I'm like, "I can't do twenty patients by myself. This is too much."
They're seeing that nationwide. I heard a scary thing on Breaking Points. I don't know if you listen to that podcast. It's an alternative news podcast but they're good. It's one person from the right and one person from the left, Krystal and Saagar. They're incredible. They were talking about how the airline industry is overdue for a catastrophic event like a plane crash, the turnover rate and what the corporations are asking their pilots to do. They have had a couple of near misses because there has been a turnover rate in air traffic control.
This has all happened in the last couple of months. There was a plane coming from Hawaii. It nosedived 700 feet from hitting the ocean. They don't know why. The plane landed safely. They went through all this. The plane landed and pulled up to the gate. They let everybody off. I can't remember. It was some crazy negative g-force. Some people had to be admitted to the hospital and stuff. You didn't hear about this in mainstream media.
That's the wild.
It's under the blanket. They pulled up to the gate and then the flight took off two hours later. It's the same plane. They turn the flight around.
I'm going to have to listen to this. That's wild.
They have had a couple of super close near messes. It's not only in the medical industry. It's first responders too. There's everything that they have gone through in the last couple of years. There's the whole, "Defund the police." I don't understand any of it.
It's wild. I couldn't do it. I'm like, "I quit. I can't do this. It's too sad."
Were you working in a specific unit at that time?
I was on a med surg oncology unit. I got the job on the same floor in the same hospital that Marc was on for cancer. While he was in there for the staff, I interviewed. We had no idea about cancer or anything. I interviewed and got the job. I worked up until he got his kidney removed. He got the surgery. After that, I started going back to work and said, "No more. I can't do this anymore." It was wild.
Did you have an insight? You knew the unit and some of the staff.
That was so terrible because I knew a little more than family and everything. I've got all these things playing in my head.
It was wild. I've gone through it with some family members and stuff but that hit hard for me even as an outsider or a friend of Marc. I was feeling for you and your family.
Thank you.
He's such a rockstar. I never doubted that he wouldn't pull through that and then have him in here, talking to him. He's such an awesome guy. I love that guy.
It was crazy. Still, even when we talked about it, I'm like, "How is this real? This doesn't feel real." He feels that way too.
3 or 4 months later, he's deadlifting and running.
He texts me a video. He was running on the treadmill. He put it on Instagram. I'm like, "What are you doing?"
Here's a shout-out to coach Marc Montoya. He's an awesome individual. He's one of my favorite guests to have on. His episode crushed. He's such a loved guy in the community.
We got so much support.
Speaking of that, I want to talk about what you have coming up. It's amazing. To bring that to light, you're an aspiring ultrarunner. You've completed one ultramarathon and a bunch of other marathons. You're aspiring to do this at a very young age, younger than normal. You're gaining some serious traction. You grew up in an MMA gym pretty much around savages. Let's dial it way back. Let's start at the beginning. What was it like growing up in that environment around professional fighters?
Honestly, I credit a lot of how I am and how Wy is to growing up the way that we did. It's super unique. After school, kids would go home and play video games. Wy and I would go to the gym, sit there forever and be with the fighters. It's super unique. It's very different. That's where I've gotten a lot of the work ethic that I have and the maturity of how I am as a person from them because I've always been around older people and these elite and incredible athletes. How can you not want to do something elite?
Being surrounded by incredible people at their craft is one of the best things about this show that I love so much.
They're 1%-ers that you don't see anywhere else.
It's the drive and the way that they carry themselves. You have to carry yourself with them professionally, especially when you have those sorts of tools and that background. For a lot of these guys, this isn't the only thing that they do either. Some of them have full-time jobs. This is extra, over and above.
Brandon Royval would work all night long. He did something in prison or juvie, maybe security there. He would work all night, sleep for a couple of hours in the morning and then train all day long. It's so crazy. Sometimes Wy and I forget that the whole world is not like these fighters.
Wyatt is your brother. One sibling?
Yeah. He and I.
He's a crazy dude. I follow him on Instagram.
He's so crazy. We get along so well. We're best buds. It's great.
That's incredible. That can be unusual sometimes in siblings. I'm super fortunate that I get along with all my siblings pretty well too.
It's so important.
We start some trouble together.
You have to.
When we had your dad in here, we were talking to him. You came up in the conversation because you had reached out to me to come on the shows. He started the story but I want to hear it from you.
Thank you. He botched it. I'm listening. I'm like, "No." He did get it right. Before COVID, running was not something I did at all. You take the family I grew up in and there's no room to be a wimp, "I don't want to run." Sometimes we go on these trial runs. I would cry the whole run. "I hate this. I don't want to do this." He would take the palm of his hand, put it on my back and push me down the trail to finish these runs because I'm like, "I don't want to do this." Right before COVID happened, I went to Africa in the summer prior to COVID. I came back in January and got malaria. I was almost dying.
Before COVID, running was not something I did at all. But if you take the family I grew up in, there’s no room to say, "I don’t want to run today."
What were you doing in Africa?
It was a mission trip through our church. I was there for two weeks. It was incredible. It's such a perspective to go there. I came back in July. By January, I got super sick. We never thought of malaria. That was back in the summer. I came hours from going into a coma and dying. It was wild. That was right before COVID. We were lucky because they would have written me off as, "She has COVID."
How did you contract it? From water or food?
It's from mosquitoes. It gets in your blood. I had taken all my malaria medication. While I was there, I got a UTI. I took antibiotics and ended up canceling the malaria meds out. I had no idea that you can't take two different things at a time. They didn't work. I got malaria.
You didn't realize it until you got back stateside.
I got back in July. I was good until January and then I started getting sick.
Is that dormant that long?
It can stay in your system for four years. The doctors never said, "Let's test for malaria," until it got so bad at 105 fevers. I can't walk.
Mosquitoes are the number one killer of man when it comes to animals or insects.
It's crazy. I'm like, "There's a little bug and I'm going to die."
Rattlesnakes or venomous snakes are way down there.
That happened. I got better and COVID happened. Once COVID happened, I had been on the couch for three months. I hadn't done anything. My main sport was jiu-jitsu. That was my thing and then we shut the gym down. I'm like, "What do I have now?" I started running and then brought up the idea of, "Do you think I can do a 5k?" He's like, "You can." It's the big coach sock. He flips the coach and dad switch on and off, "You can do it." He bribes me into this half marathon. We went and did it. He's filming Wyatt and me after, "How do you feel?"
I remember seeing that one of our fighters had run 20 miles a week prior because he was bored. It was COVID. He pans to me and he's like, "How do you feel? You did your first half marathon." I'm like, "I'm going to run several more miles to make the 20 miles." I'm like, "We're 7 miles out," but he thought I was joking. I'm going from couch to half marathon. He stops the video and gets in the truck. I'm like, "I'm doing 7 more miles." He dropped me off in our neighborhood. I went around and did my 7 more. From then on, I'm like, "If I could go couch to 20-miler, I can do a marathon."
What's interesting about this is you used to hate running. Was it like, "I have nothing to do. I'm going to try this," or is it because you hated it so much?
It was that a little bit but I didn't have that as I do now. It was more of pre-COVID and pre-getting into running. It was a force, "You have no choice. We're doing this because I told you we're going to do this." Once COVID happened and I had nothing else to do, I'm like, "Self-inflicted, I'm choosing to do this." It's fun.
How did malaria affect your body? You ran 20 miles. Were you exhausted? How did that affect your stamina and muscles? I could not imagine sitting on the couch for three months, getting up and being like, "Let's run 20 miles."
I ended up having malaria, mono and pneumonia all at the same time. They found all three. Technically, I was released from the hospital. It took me a good month or two to feel human again but once I felt human again, I was good. For recovery, I was great and ready to go. Malaria will be in my blood forever. I get paranoid because it can come back.
What is the post-treatment? What were you doing? Where were you in Africa, specifically?
I was in Rwanda.
That's the Congo.
We were not in a nice part of Africa in a nice hotel. It's super rugged.
I've been to some spots in Africa but I've never been out in the cut where there's bad poverty and you have to worry about so many different things. Whom were you helping there? What was happening? Can we dive into that story? That's something interesting to me.
It's so cool. We were in Rwanda in a village. We pretty much help this one little village. We would help them get water and food. We built a house for this family and all these different things. It's crazy, "Here's some water." They would hike up 7 miles up this dirt hill at the crack of dawn with this little jug. They dig a hole in the ground. It's this muddy water. They fill up their jug with the water from this pond that they made. They hike 7 miles back. Any of the water that spills out of this jug they don't have anymore. It's such a scary 7 miles back. That's the water they have for the day for cooking, showering and all of it. It's so crazy.
How big was the jug? 1 gallon or 3 gallons?
Probably 2.5 gallons. It's not much.
I try to drink at least 1.5 gallons of clean and purified water.
You shower, go to the bathroom and do all these things.
We're so fortunate. That makes you humble in perspective. Go into some third-world situations. I've been to some third-world spots in South America. It was very humbling to go into some of those favelas, which wasn't the safest thing to do. A couple of stupid friends and I were super into photography. We had gone in there, took some photos and met people. Some of the stuff that you see is very humbling.
They're so happy. They're the most joyful people that I've ever met. It's a genuine joy. It's crazy.
Some of that is they don't have a whole lot of outside stress. They don't have a corporate boss that's breathing down their necks or a car payment. They don't have a bank account that's running dry. They haven't lost a bunch of money in the stock market. It's like, "We go and get water in the morning and then survive during the day."
It's crazy. It is simple. I don't think we were created to know as much as we do about devastations, "This happened. This is bad. This shooting happened and all these things." They don't have that.
You're either genuine or you're not in their eyes. How excited are they when you were there helping them? Are you in the way? Are they accepting?
We were bum-rushed with these people. When we would go there, they made us take off all our jewelry because you get so many little kids, families and all these people running to you to give you hugs. They don't see White people ever.
What if you had a possession like that or something?
They will take it. I had a hair tie on. I didn't mean to. They took it. The guy was like, "I'm keeping this hair tie. I want this." I was like, "You can have it. Go ahead." It's crazy. They're so grateful to have you there. Honestly, you're a specimen to them. You get looked at differently.
Had they had any interaction with people outside of their community?
I don't think so. They would touch my hair, "I can't believe your hair feels this way." It's crazy.
Do you know who Justin Wren is? He's a former UFC vet. He only fought in Bellator. He's a Bellator fighter. He's an incredible guy. His name is @TheBigPygmy on Instagram. He started a foundation. He does similar mission work. His foundation is Fight for the Forgotten. He's bringing clean water to some of these villages and stuff.
They need it so badly.
They're going in and drilling wells but he got super sick. He got some crazy parasites that pretty much ended his fight career but he's so passionate about this. He has been back multiple.
I tell people all the time, "I would go back in a heartbeat."
Even after everything. That's amazing.
It's so cool. I couldn't believe it.
I tell people all the time that I’d go back to Rwanda in a heartbeat. It’s so cool, I couldn’t believe it.
He's an amazing person. You should connect with him, especially with your culture, your family and all that stuff. You might be able to do something together. He's an incredible human. He has been on Rogan several times. Fight for the Forgotten is his amazing foundation. He's doing incredible work. They had one cracked jug. He's giving them a water bottle that has a cap on it or something easier to carry.
That was a big deal. None of them had caps. We would go on hikes with them and get water. This water would fall out and you would feel terrible, "I have water. You don't. I'm spilling your water." Caps are a big deal.
That's a little strange because you have water and food. It's provided. Where are you staying? Is it a camping-type trip?
In their elementary school, they converted a couple of classrooms for us to sleep in. They would give us a big jug every couple of days. That would be our jug of water. They would clean it and it would be good water for us. We brush our teeth. I would pour some water in this cup, get my toothbrush wet, brush my teeth, spit the water back in the cup and keep that water for the next day because they don't have a ton to give to us either.
How long were you there?
I was only there for two weeks, which is not long for a trip like that.
How big was the group that you went with?
Probably 15 or 20 students.
You're all of similar age. How old were you when you did this?
I was fifteen. I was the youngest on the trip. They take freshmen to seniors through high school.
What's it like traveling in there? You have to fly someplace.
It's scary.
Are you on a bus or something?
I don't know exactly where we flew in but the last airport to finally get to Africa is scary. They have all these security guards and everything. They don't usually have people like us flying into their country. They look you up and down, "What are you doing here?" From the airport, we took a bus and drove for a couple of hours to their village. That's how we got around. We walked everywhere.
Are they bringing in anything to these people or dried goods?
We weren't allowed, which is crazy. We would have some meetings before the trip to answer questions, "This is how it's going to look," and different things.
You're there to help them gather and provide for their family.
Pretty much. This kid raises his hand and he's like, "Can I bring some candy to these kids?" They said, "You can't bring anything to them."
What is the purpose of that?
It's safety.
At the same time, people like that might rely on that or expect it to come.
Even when that kid took my hair tie, I said, "You can have it." He's like, "You're from America. You have everything so I can take your hair tie." I wasn't arguing with him. I said, "Go ahead and take it." They take it as an offense almost, "You have that and I don't. I'm going to take that from you." They know how well-off we are. You would feel it.
Is there a sense of guilt a little bit being there? I'm sure it puts it in perspective when you come home and you're going through the grocery store. I know it did for me. It's what people think is a big problem like if somebody is at Starbucks and they're bitching about how their latte wasn't made correctly, they grabbed the wrong cup or the lid wasn't put on properly.
In the first shower I took when I got home, I cried the entire shower because I was like, "We are so lucky to have the shower. I feel so guilty for being in the shower. This is crazy."
The first shower I took when I got home from Rwanda, I cried because we are so lucky to have the shower, and I felt so guilty being in the shower.
This is why people like Elon Musk take so much heat for some of the stuff that they're doing. With some of that money, we could be doing so much to help people that are in this situation. That's a human right. Everybody should have at least food and clean water to drink.
I'm like, "You are digging from the dirt to get water and drinking it. That's so crazy."
That's very humbling. That's cool that you got to do that. Do you plan on going back for sure?
I wrecked this trip because of malaria. The church would go back every year.
You ruined it every year.
I did. They're like, "No more. It's not safe." The pastor's son the year before me got malaria too. It's the same deal. I went the next year and got it. They said, "No more."
That's so crazy because mosquitoes are unavoidable. It doesn't matter what net you have or what you wear.
They had mosquito nets around our beds. I'm like, "This is pointless."
That's pretty wild. I've been on a few hunt trips. I'm sure your dad could tell you some of these stories up in Alaska. You get into some of those rural areas. The mosquitoes are so bad. You put all these nasty chemicals on you to keep them off but they will hover around your mouth because the chemicals aren’t in your mouth. They're trying to fly into your mouth.
The crazy thing is the entire trip, I didn't see one mosquito.
It wasn't like they were everywhere.
I didn't see one. Even when I started getting sick, I was like, "There's no way." I didn't see one bug.
What do you have to do to keep track of your malaria? Do you have to take a blood test every certain amount of months? Do you start feeling bad?
It will be in me forever.
You need to seek medical help.
I know pretty instantly the difference between either a cold or the flu. I've got malaria.
They're probably dying of malaria on a pretty regular basis.
All the time. They don't have medical help as we do. I'm not a doctor so I don't know but there's something with the people who live there. Something in their body makes it so that malaria to them is equivalent to the flu for us. It doesn't have as big of an effect.
It's probably herd immunity. We're seeing that with COVID.
There's something in their blood. I forget what it's called. They're born with that. We don't have it. It's crazy.
It's pretty wild some of the vaccines and stuff that you have to take to travel out of the country and get stamped. I figured that out at a young age when I was rock and roll touring. I was like, "I have to go to the doctor and get all these shots." They're like, "It's a big deal. You could get malaria, measles or all kinds of different stuff."
I get called the million-dollar baby though because I'm a medical mystery all the time.
Back to running, you decided during COVID. A lot of people changed. The show was rocket shipped. I had the idea pre-COVID to start a show. It was going to be something different. COVID came along. I was like, "I'm going to do my second idea." This was originally going to be my second show. I was going to have multiple but this was going to be the second one to help raise awareness on preserving public lands. We have seen such an influx here in Colorado of people using public lands. I've seen firsthand the wrong way. That was the initial intention or start of it. I was like, "I'll start this."
I was starting to simultaneously. This took over because of COVID. It spurred all kinds of stuff happening. We started talking to guests right around the pandemic. We had a bunch of guests scheduled pre-pandemic and then the pandemic came along. Colorado Parks and Wildlife was supposed to be our very first episode. They were like, "We can't let anybody go anywhere." I had Alpine Rescue set up for number two.
It was going to go a different way. I had the studio all built and everything. I was like, "What do I do now?" We started talking about the pandemic with survival experts. Your dad, Marc Montoya, was on Episode Four. It turned into this whole thing. We're still hyper-focused on that but we're also showcasing people and hearing stories. It's more of my greed. It's interesting people that I want to talk to and learn about their experiences too, which has been super cool.
Is this just the one now? You don't have the other one anymore?
I do have another one. It's called Show Ready. It's pretty stagnant. There's nothing serious about it. My background is in rock and roll touring. Over the years, I know so many rock stars and roadies that are even crazier than the rock stars, honestly. These guys have been around for years, living on tour buses. They're good people. They have that military or firefighter camaraderie.
There's a lot of practical joking but you're also in the trenches. You're working with these people twenty hours a day. It's hard work. Everybody thinks that you're backstage doing crazy drugs. There are women everywhere and Jack Daniels. That's not the case. It's pretty well-organized. There's fast deployment and fast teardown. There are long days. You're sleep deprived. If you don't have some humor involved, you won't get along.
You will never make it.
Sometimes it's not even how good you are at your job. It's how well you get along with people. That's why fire departments do some of these psychological tests, "Can you fit in with this group of alpha-type individuals?" There are females in there too. It's crazy. It's so much fun. They're the coolest people but there are no filters. There's no politics.
You can say you can pretty much do whatever you want as long as you show up on time and your job gets done. Nobody says anything. You can be as loud as you want. They're characters. Each guy has a creative side. They have a weird thing. It's their OCD because you have to be a little bit OCD to do that job. You have to be very organized because you will be in one city for one night. You're talking about semi-loads of equipment. When I was on Madonna, it was 40 semi-trucks. That was our portion of the production. There were 40 trucks that showed up before us. There were multiple crews.
You would never guess.
You're responsible for all this stuff. If it's not meticulously put in the same spot at the end of the night at 2:00 AM, you're going to a city the next morning. If you can't find it, it might add hours to the day and screw up the entire show. It's a ripple effect. It slows everybody down.
You have to be super anal.
That's what we call it. I was trying to be politically correct with OCD but you have to be super anal. You're dealing with local crews in whatever city you're going to. You might be going to Madison Square Garden in New York City. Those guys will give you a ration of shit. It's the most fun industry to work in my opinion. I loved it up until I had kids and I changed everything because I was like, "I don't want to be on the road anymore." It's super cool.
I have a ton of downtime with what I'm doing. It would be an excuse to catch up with old friends. They have crazy stories of when they were working for Ozzy and doing a Christmas special and all kinds of crazy stuff. To try to get some of those stories archived was more because none of these guys write books. They don't care about that. They don't care about the limelight. Some of them have had careers with everybody from the start as easy top up until Madonna and interesting people.
They all have these little niche things. It's how I've met a lot of the special operator guys that have been on this show. I've spent hours with them outside of an artist's dressing room or something where it's me and them. I was a stage manager heavily integrated with them. We formed all these friendships. Each tour would be some different personnel. Sometimes it was the same group of people but for the most part, you see those people. They're friendships that are unique like no others because you've suffered so much together. You can not see somebody for ten years and pick up like you haven't missed a beat.
That's how the fighters are. They all suffer with each other.
It's a definite culture. That's unusual.
Most people don't get what they do. It's a group of, "You get me."
That's why most of my guests come from that world. They're fighters, former military or first responders because of all the stuff that they have experienced. Being genuine is the biggest thing in all of that. That's the same with roadies too. You can see through somebody that lies right away. It's super simple for me to tell if somebody is bullshitting me. I love the transparency. You know what you're getting. That's why those conversations are so genuine.
That's why I'm there all the time. Everyone is like-minded. You don't find people like that on the road.
They're not afraid to tell you what they think either.
What do you need? I need that. Be honest with me.
We don't need a bunch of yes people, "Tell me what I want to hear," because we run into people like that. That's one reason why I called you before. I need to get a feel for somebody before I invite them in here because we have all kinds of people that hit us up. It's a hard thing to balance. Sometimes we get duped but they better be prepared because I got all these people on my back like all the fighters down there at Factory X.
It's funny because we do so much with the military. There's so much stolen valor in that space. We get hit up by a lot of the guys that reach out to us to come on the show. When I've checked up on them with some of my friends, they're like, "That dude is not credible. We have never heard of them." It's wild. They want to come on and tell their story. A lot of times, I'm introduced by a third person or something like that for the real ones or I have to physically reach out to them but it's the same thing with fighters.
I ran into your dad at an archery shop. That's the only reason we had that connection. I thought it was so cool. I knew exactly who he was because he's in a fighter's corner almost every week. We hit it off well. I was like, "He would be perfect to have on." I wanted to show some of that conservation. I did luck out because we forged a friendship. It's very unique. Not that I'm integrated into any part or I have any status with Factory X but I feel like I'm a part of that little community a little bit.
It's a cool community.
I've had so many of those guys in, you and your dad. It's the interactions that I have with your mom and brother and everybody on Instagram. It's a cool group of people.
It's one you don't find often either.
I encourage anybody that's reading this to go out and follow these people. You are doing amazing stuff.
Thank you.
If you have any interest in pursuing martial arts in any formal fashion, go in and check it out. It's one of the best things that has ever happened to me in my life. Being on a mat is very humbling like going to Africa or something like that. We dove into a lot of that during your dad's episode. Here is another podcast out there. It's called Show Ready. It's a bunch of drunk roadies talking about sports or whatever comes up.
There's no filter.
There's no valuable information there. You're not going to hear an inspiring story. If you want to listen to some banter, there are a few episodes out there. We're trying to keep it going. All these guys had a lot of career changes during the pandemic because that was one thing that was shut down.
Many people changed their paths in COVID.
Circling back to you starting to run, you decided, "I want to run a marathon." That was the first goal. When did you decide? This is a major step to be like, "I'm going to run a marathon." I don't know how many Americans probably run a marathon on average. It's probably not that many.
It's quite 1%.
I thought marathons were more popular.
You think they are and they're not.
Per capita, it's not. I have no desire to run a marathon. I'm like that 99% on that side. I have some other fitness goals.
It's a big feat. It is a big undertaking.
I can see the suffering. I'm driving myself through something. Have you ever heard of the body armor workout?
I haven't. I was going to ask because I heard you talking about it with Marc.
It's one of my goals. How fast would you run a marathon?
My fastest is 5.26.
That's 5 hours and 26 minutes. This is nowhere near that. I'm sure that you're tracking your heart rate and all that stuff over that amount of time.
I don't. I'm super anal. If I track things like that, I get too anal. It takes away the joy. I run with a Garmin for miles and pace. That's it.
Ultramarathon Runner: Tracking things takes the joy out of running. I run with a Garmin for miles and pace, and that’s it.
I have a Garmin as well. This is a military workout that was founded by a Navy SEAL. They were in Afghanistan or Iraq, 1 of those 2. They were deployed. They didn't have a way to lift weights or work out. All they had was their body armor. It's Lieutenant Michael Murphy. I don't know if you've seen the movie Lone Survivor. I knew some of those guys that knew him firsthand in that community. These guys are complete savages in life, business and the mindset that they have.
They either go in two directions. They feel sorry for themselves and everybody owes them something or they turn into the humblest people in the world. I've seen the extreme on both sides. I don't think there is a middle ground. I'm speaking for them. I have no veteran experience. With the stuff that they have been through, I don't blame any of those guys that do feel sorry for themselves but most of them are incredible people. They have that roadie mindset or that definite fighter mindset. They crush it in life, in general, business and family. They can balance it all. They can do it all. They can stay fit. Number one, discipline is huge. It's overcoming adversity no matter what it is. There's no question. They're all in.
You have to be.
That was one thing that drew me to this workout. I was like, "I know these guys and how savage they are. I appreciate that. I'm patriotic. I appreciate their service." This workout was brought to light after him being killed in Afghanistan on Operation Red Wings. I'm screwing this up. There were 40 Navy SEALs that lost their lives trying to rescue these 4 guys. Marcus Luttrell was the only survivor of the four guys that were on the ground. The only reason that he survived is Lieutenant Michael Murphy sacrificed himself on top to get to a satellite service with a sat phone to put in a call so he could call in coordinates.
This was his workout. In honor of him, a bunch of people from the military community and the CrossFit community have adopted this workout because there are some former SEALs like Josh Bridges and those guys that are CrossFitters. Some people try to set personal records. There are guys out there that have tried to set world records at it but it's not about that.
It's more about, "You're going to suffer for how long this takes. You're doing this for a bigger purpose." I like that. When I'm sitting there and my inner bitch comes out and I'm going, "I can't do another push-up. I can't do another squad. I can't do another pull-up," I think about him and what he went through. This sounds a little screwed up but I'm like, "What if I had to run to save my daughter?"
You start thinking of some crazy things when you're like, "I don't know if I can do this anymore."
That helps push me to that next level. The workout starts with 1 mile run as fast as you can. For me, it's all about trying to get within a certain timeframe because that's how I'm going to track my progress to complete it. I do this every Sunday. I do it on Sunday mornings. I don't go to church or anything. This is my church or my time. I go out and do something outdoors but lately, I've been doing this because this is a goal. I've said it here publicly. I'm working towards that. It's 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups and 300 air squats and then you finish with a 1-mile run.
It's the Murph.
You're supposed to do it in body armor or a 25-pound vest. I'm not doing that. I'm working my way up to that.
It's once a week.
I'm doing two a week. I'll do one loosely. Every day I do one part of it. I'll do some push-ups. I went back to jiu-jitsu and injured myself too.
Jiu-jitsu does that. That's why I can't train anymore.
I don't know if it's overused or me getting old. I'm trying to balance it a little bit so I don't go too crazy because once I get all in on something, much like you, I get obsessed with it a little bit.
To a sickening point.
Each day, I try to do something to better myself at that. It's every Sunday without questions no matter where I'm at. I'll change it up. My kid played in the state chess tournament. I could have done it there but I'm not going to be that dad grunting, groaning and trying to do 100 pull-ups on something outside at the fairgrounds or wherever we were at. I did it on that Friday. My goal is to do one a week. I call it Suicide Sundays or Suffering Sundays. I'll fit it into my Sunday somewhere.
I've done the Murph maybe four times in my lifetime.
You know what I'm talking about.
I hate it.
Bow hunting is my life. That's what I enjoy doing.
You have to be in shape for that.
This is the best workout that correlates with being agile and strong. Being able to run 1 mile is super important.
I'll run for a couple of hours but not that.
Running is the worst part of it for me. I don't mind the pull-ups and the push-ups. I don't mind suffering with the squats. It sucks because I've never liked squatting but who does like leg day?
I do.
You're a ballerina.
I'm a dancer. Leg day is every single day.
Every day is leg day.
I love leg day.
I didn't think about it that way but it has been cool. It has been awesome for me. I'm not trying to compete anywhere or for anything.
It's a personal goal. You need those.
It's a way for me to relate to some of the sacrifices that have happened for what we have because that's what gets me through the workout. That's what I love about guys like Josh Bridges. When they do it, they do it religiously. They do it on Veterans Day. It's a big deal. Everybody goes and does a Murph. That's where I first started it. I was like, "I want to do this once a week." I would love to do it in under an hour.
There's a guy on TikTok. He has done a Murph a day. He wants to do it for a whole year every day. He's at 200-something days in because he started middle of 2022.
Do you know his name by chance?
I don't. I saw it as I was scrolling.
I wanted to give him a shout-out because I would like to follow him too.
365 days is crazy.
That's wild but I could see how you could get there.
He's like, "These are no big deal. I can bang it out," which is crazy.
You look at guys like Cameron Hanes that run a marathon a day.
Your body adapts.
I never have. I love his philosophy, "How do you run a marathon 1 mile at a time? One stride at a time." My whole thing with it is from start to finish trying not to stop. You have to take some breathers, especially me. It was hard. I went through a drastic weight loss and all kinds of stuff. I got out of shape. I would always get in shape in the summer for elk hunting season but it's a different type of shape.
I was doing a lot of hiking and carrying a lot of weight and farm strength but this is a little bit different. This is more cardio-based because I do track my heart rate. I hit the cardio app on the Garmin watch for a workout. It's a lap button. I hit a lap button so I can keep track of my intervals and how fast I ran my mile. Am I improving or getting slower? That happens sometimes. Now that I've done one a week, I'm starting to where I'm like, "I could do two of these a week." The first three suck. I couldn't walk the next day. I was having trouble going up and down the stairs. I'm also trying to do more intensity.
Your body adapts. Even with training for Leadville, people are like, "How are you doing this?" Your body adapts to what it's doing. Your body knows what you're trying to do.
It's pretty remarkable because I've only been doing this religiously for two months. I at least did one a week and then I'm pretty much doing something each day. I'm trying to run at least 7 miles a week minimum. I have to get 1 mile a day but sometimes I'll bank a little bit more and get a couple of miles in. I ran into Tabatas to help with that. Have you ever done a Tabata workout?
I haven't but I've heard of them.
They're super awesome.
My mom has a Peloton. She will do the Tabata Pelotons.
It's insane. It's helping me improve my mile time. In marathon running, how do you pace yourself? That was one of my questions for you. I haven't sought out any help. I'm surrounded by all these savages like Coach Marc and Coach Eric Telly at Landow. I could ask these guys but I'm trying to get my legs under me a little bit. I should go ask for help. You're stupid for not asking. What I want to do is improve my mile time so I can chip away at that. One of my first things is I have to improve my cardio. The better cardio I have, the faster I can run at a faster pace. How do you gauge that when you're running a marathon? Are you trying to keep a certain pace or mile?
As far as pacing goes, there is a pace. I don't want to bunk. That's my biggest thing. I don't want to go out super fast and be like, "I feel so good." Mile 17 or 18 comes and I'm like, "I don't think I can finish this." You have to pace it so you can finish. I like ultras because you can go slower. I'm not a fast runner. People are always like, "You run so fast." I'm like, "I don't." I don't run fast but there is pacing. Marathon-wise, I have to pace it or I'll bonk.
In my first marathon, I went out so fast. By the halfway point, I was in tears, "I don't think I can finish this. There's no way." I do pace it. I go uber-slow in the beginning. That saves me enough energy to keep that pace all the way through, which ends up being faster anyways. It sucks because when you start a marathon, you start a long run. You're like, "We're going so slow. I can go so much faster than this," but in miles 15, 16 or 17, you're thanking God, "Thank you that I went so slow." You have to pace it.
It's the same thing. If you're trying to run a super fast mile, you almost want to run the back half of it as fast as you can. That's what I'm working at. I started to where I'm running Tabatas on whatever the AssaultRunner thing is or the self-propelled treadmill. That thing is dangerous. The one I'm using is an Assault.
I know what you're talking about. We have one of those at the gym. I will not run on it.
I hate the treadmill. I would rather run outside but it has been so icy up here. I feel like I can't improve my time because I'm so conscious about slipping or something like that.
The treadmill will bang on your knees and your joints when you're compressing.
The treadmill is bad. I use the treadmill during the winter.
This AssaultRunner doesn't give me that same sensation because it's curved and self-propelled.
It's like running outside. You're propelling yourself outside. You're propelling yourself on this treadmill.
I love it. I will not get on a treadmill.
A normal treadmill is propelling you. You're keeping up with it.
You feel like a dog on a leash or something.
That's why your knees hurt so bad. The longest I've done on a treadmill is 18 miles. It was brutal.
I'm a big guy too. I feel like I'm going to break the damn thing.
My knees are sad and sorry at this point anyway so it doesn't matter where I run.
It's the mind fuck with it too.
It's mental. It's so boring.
The other issue is I don't have a treadmill at home because I hate them. I'm like, "Why would I spend money on this piece of crap?" I go to a gym. There are only three treadmills. It's a small mountain gym up here. They're always taken. It's always these people that are walking on it.
You can walk outside.
I've been watching Dustin Jacoby's Instagram. Those guys are down there running 20 miles an hour on this thing. I saw Marc running on it. That was another thing.
I'm like, "You're going to slip and fall and hurt your incisions. What are you doing? Go outside."
Those things take a little bit to figure out but I love them now. I won't run on anything else.
I'm going to have to try it out. I haven't tried them. I hear you feel like you're sprinting.
It takes a little bit to get used to because it feels like you get going too fast. You're like, "I'm going to go right off the bat," but as soon as you stop running, it's got these side step-off things. That's the biggest thing. I've been doing Tabatas on that where I'll sprint as fast and as hard as I can.
That's a good treadmill for it.
Those are my fastest miles. I'm thinking about incorporating that into my Murph. I'll do ten seconds of rest at a walking pace and then sprint because I knock a minute off my mile.
That's how I train too. You get your heart rate up a lot at 30 seconds or something to 1 minute. You get your heart rate up high and then walk it out for 30 seconds. It's getting your heart rate up fast and then coming back down fast. Dancers are on stage sometimes for two hours. You have your minute or two variations and then you go off, "I got to do the core part." For hours, you're up and down. Your heart rate is going crazy. That's a great way to train.
I'm doing ten seconds of rest. Your heart rate drops off pretty drastically but not that much. It is brutal. You can wring out my shirt when I'm done after running for fifteen minutes.
Running fast is hard. My paces have gotten faster. I honestly think it's from eating more.
I work out fast a lot of the time too. Sometimes on Suicide Sundays, I'll eat breakfast but I don't want to throw up at the gym.
I have to eat before I run. One of the first things I do in the morning is eating breakfast. I wake up starving. Part of it is that I run so much. I'm burning so much that I can't get enough. I've been eating more because I've been running more. My miles have been faster significantly.
You have the fuel for it.
It was not purposeful but I don't think I realized how little I was eating. I thought, "I'm eating well." I'm not eating enough at all.
You're watching your calorie intake. Are you watching it macro-specific too?
I'm so anal.
It can be detrimental.
I don't want an eating disorder. I'm a girl. I'm an athlete. I get scared.
It's so hard to balance too, especially if you want to have any life outside of being an athlete.
I would get way too deep into that. It would spiral.
That's a good outlook. I'm glad that you're conscious enough to realize that.
Balance intuitive eating.
There is some balance to it too for sure. Have some pleasures in your life. It's not an excuse to go out and eat a pint of chocolate chip ice cream but every once in a while, that's okay, especially if you're sharing a moment with your kids or a celebration. I've done this, "Let's get ice cream." You're not the guy getting ice cream. Your kids are like, "What's wrong with this guy? He's a psycho."
I credit a lot of it to my mom. Both my parents eat well. She is the woman I look up to most in my life. She has such a balanced relationship with food. She eats well but she will have ice cream. She's so good, intuitive, healthy and balanced. That's what I've seen.
What's her hack? Is it having a little bit?
She will have dessert every single night. It's a little dessert.
She's talking about intuitive eating. You listen to your body.
She listens to her body.
Especially for athletes, that's a good point. Listen to your body. If your body says, "I want to eat ice cream," eat ice cream because what are you going to do, eat chips? You're going to eat an apple, chicken nuggets and then ice cream. Listen to your body.
Listen to your body. Intuitive eating is listening to your body, especially for athletes. If your body says, “I want to eat ice cream,” just eat the ice cream.
It's a spiral. I credit a lot of how I am with food to her because she's a woman. I'm a woman. I look up to her a lot.
It's awesome to have good role models like that.
You need it, especially as an athlete and a girl. It's a slippery slope if you get too far.
I should watch that a little bit more because I have noticed that it does affect my endurance when I'm doing the Murph.
It does and I had no idea.
I'm like, "I'm dragging." Sunday was suffering. I was like, "I probably didn't drink enough water."
"What did I eat? Have I eaten enough?" It's always mine. Chances are, I probably haven't.
The huge thing that I've noticed too is I've been using these LMNT salts.
I love those.
Those are awesome. I was on the carnivore diet. I discovered it through Dr. Shawn Baker. He was helping me out with it. They're awesome. It's one of those in the middle of a workout. You're ready to go.
I take sodium through a lot of my longer runs and they're great. It's crazy the effect that electrolytes and salt have on you while running versus not taking anything. It's salt but it helps.
Watching hydration is huge too because it correlates with hunger a lot and brain function.
People think they're hungry and they're thirsty. I'm like, "Did you drink water? Maybe you're not hungry."
Do you listen to Andrew Huberman?
I don't.
I talk about him every episode but you should check him out. He's a neuroscientist. He has done all kinds of crazy episodes. He did one on alcohol specifically and how it affects the brain, your body and all kinds of different stuff. I haven't even listened to it because I'm scared I won't want to drink ever again. I've taken a lot of his stuff and applied it to some of my everyday practices. It's something as simple as my use of caffeine. He was talking about caffeine and how it correlates to dopamine and dopamine depletion during the day if you have caffeine too early.
I started this thing where I'll get up in the morning. You're supposed to get up before the sun comes out. You will notice at sunrise, there's always an orange and blue light. You go outside for five minutes and get that in your pupils. Don't look directly into the sun if the sun is there. It's natural light. There are no windows, UV, sunglasses or anything like that. It automatically starts this dopamine dump for the day.
It's equivalent to caffeine.
It's better than caffeine. It wakes you up. Unnatural light is bad for you. If you pick up your phone in the middle of the night to look at it, it's bad for your eyes because it's this blast. You're confusing your brain.
That's why people don't sleep. They're like, "I didn't sleep well last night." I'm like, "You sat on your phone for four hours before you went to bed."
There's a lot of that too. Little hacks like that are huge. I'll have caffeine later in the day and it doesn't affect me as much. Another thing he was saying is, "Don't get too reliant on too many dopamine factors." Going to the gym is one dopamine factor. Don't have something sugary or these pre and post-workout things. I'm sure that there's some good stuff out there. Some guys pound a cup of coffee, do a scoop of creatine, have a protein shake and then go to the gym. It's a dopamine hit after dopamine hit. They're listening to heavy metal music. That's dopamine. That is one thing. I hate running so much if I'm not doing it with headphones and some hard rock.
I don't listen to music. During marathons, I will not. I'm a big energy drink gal, which is so terrible. I have to try and be done with them.
What energy drinks are you drinking?
The Monster Zeros. I'm like, "Zero calories. Zero sugar. It's fine."
I need to put you in touch with the Jocko GO people.
It's bad. I did a 21-day fast of no energy drinks. I'm like, "I feel so good." The 21 days were up. I'm like, "I'm going to celebrate. I went 21 days without one. I'm going to have one." Something in those is addictive.
I'm going to show you this. Try the watermelon. This one is mango.
Where do you get these?
This is one of our sponsors. Read the can real quick. It's only ten calories. It's paleo keto. It's vitamins. There are amino acids in it. There are only 95 milligrams of caffeine. There are nootropics in it as well, which are cognitive function types of stuff.
Look at how short the ingredients list is. The problem is that I know it's bad and I continue to drink them. That's bad.
It's an addiction. I'm addicted to these.
It's sick, honestly.
This is my third one of the day.
These are very good. Where do you get these? Can you get them at a gas station? They're local.
You can buy them online. We have a discount code that people can use. They're one of our main sponsors here. They do sell them at some grocery stores on the East Coast like at Wawas. I don't know if you've ever been to a Wawa. It's a staple. Gabby knows what I'm talking about.
Wawa is the greatest place you could ever go to. They have expanded to another state.
I don't understand it. What is so special about it?
It's everything.
I've been to them. I would go there to buy Jocko GO.
It's a convenience store.
Have you been to a Buc-ee's?
No. I hear the coolest things.
Texas has a Buc-ee's.
I need to go.
It's not quite to that level.
Wawa is superior.
They have all kinds of sandwiches and food. It's a one-stop shop. It's a gas station but it's the next level. You can get some decent food. They have all kinds off-brands.
It's a convenience store but also a hoagie shop. They have a whole screen. You can tap in a whole order. They have everything from chicken nuggets to hoagies to a Thanksgiving feast. They do everything like milkshakes and smoothies. It's crazy. It's endless there. It's open all the time for your 2:00 AM drunk food but also your breakfast and lunch. It's great.
They're carrying all the Jocko Fuel products. That's our sponsor. They make protein powders and creatine. They have been a great sponsor. Some incredible people run it. It's veteran-owned and operated. Jocko has an incredible podcast, Jocko Podcast. He's a good dude. This is my go-to.
I'm going to have to switch because I know it's a bad habit.
They do sell them at The Vitamin Shoppe.
I'm going to get them there.
Online is the way to buy them. It's the best way. We will hook you up with our code too so you can get a discount.
Please do. It's a bad habit. I'm trying to kick it.
This will help because these aren't horrible for you. I don't mind it.
Honestly, it's carbonation. I love carbonation.
Do you drink fizzy water at all or soda water?
Yeah.
I'm addicted to that too.
We're addicted. I went to Safeway at 8:00 PM because we didn't have any. I'm like, "We need carbonated water." I'll make a Safeway run for that.
I will too. I don't blame you. That's good stuff. The only time carbonation is not good is when you're doing a show. I had to stop drinking these during the show.
You will burp.
It makes me cough and my throat a little bit scratchy. I was like, "Why am I always coughing?" It's because I'm always drinking one of these. The best part about this is it's good for you. There's nothing in here that's negatively affecting you. There's no sugar. There's no bullshit. That's why I like these. I'm super stoked that we're endorsed by them. I've worked for a bunch of those energy drink companies in the past. I would bring a pallet full of Monster Zero home. I'm not saying that it's bad or that you shouldn't have it. I don't think they're great for you.
A bunch of the bands that I went out on tour with were sponsored by Monster. They sponsor so many athletes. They would make stuff for us on stage. It was called tour water. Nobody knows this. I'm probably going to get in trouble with all my Monster friends. It's water in a monster can. It's the black can with the M claw. We would all be up there as a crew with rock stars. It looks like you're drinking fifteen monsters but it's just water.
They don't want your heart to go out.
I got addicted to water in an aluminum can because that's what we had on tour. I'm all about this whole drive to go to aluminum and have water in it. I prefer to drink water out of aluminum. Bottle or can is the shit.
It's a bad habit.
I like cold water.
It doesn't matter.
I've heard that cold water is not good for you to drink though. I've heard that it will kill you if it's a hot day.
You hydrate faster if it's room temperature, supposedly.
There's some science. I'm sure Andrew Huberman has a whole thing on it.
If you like cold water, drink it.
Check out Andrew Huberman. There's some super interesting stuff. I'm sure he has done some stuff on ultra. The best part about him and why I like him so much is I came up in that punk rock music or heavy metal scene. He was a professional skater and was super into punk rock as a kid. At some point, he decided, "I'm going to be a neuroscientist." He went off and did that. He's still a cool guy.
Imagine being that smart. That's crazy. Smarts are not for me.
He's got an incredible podcast, Huberman Lab. It's worth checking out. I would love to have him on here. It's super cool stuff. He goes into much more. It's about how to get good sleep. It's all stuff to improve you.
Sleep is so important. It's underrated.
Sleep is so important, but it’s underrated.
I've been tracking that too as much as I can.
The Garmin will tell me. This is new. I'm not used to seeing my sleep. When I first got it, I was amazed at the little amount of sleep I was getting. I'm like, "I thought I had a great night's sleep." It was six hours. I'm like, "That's not a good night's sleep." It tells me. I'm anal about it but that's a good thing to be anal about.
It's crazy how technology has changed some of that stuff.
It will track my REM sleep, light sleep, heavy sleep and all these things. It's so wild.
I love mine. What watch is that?
This is the Enduro™. It's solar.
I have the fēnix®. Mine is a few years old. Mine is solar too for backpack hunting and all the stuff that I do. It's so great for outdoor stuff.
I got it for Leadville. I'm like, "An Apple Watch isn't going to last me 24-plus hours. This thing is going to die."
I know that you're already training for it but do you anticipate running Leadville before you run it this summer sometime? What's the work up to it?
It's about 32 weeks of training in total, which is a long time. Toward the peak of training, I get to 80 or maybe 90 miles a week, which is crazy. Between now and then, I have five marathons lined up. I'll do those all over Colorado. My cousins live in Buena Vista, close to Leadville. I'll go up there probably once or twice before the actual race and train up there for a couple of days or a weekend to get used to Leadville itself.
It's the altitude. What's the elevation climate at Leadville? It's a couple of thousand feet. It's up and down.
I want to say 14,000 feet. It's a monster.
For people that don't know what the Leadville 100 is, can you explain some of that and what the lore is behind it? If I decided I wanted to run the Leadville, I can't sign up on the website and run it.
You can qualify for it. They have qualifying races with qualifying times. You can get in that way. If you volunteer for a certain amount of hours or races, you can get in. You do the lottery system, which is what I did. You put your name in a hat. If you're lucky enough to be picked, then you get a spot in the race. An average Joe couldn't say, "I'm going to sign up." You have to be selected and picked. It's a tight process. I applied and didn't get in. I'm so glad, looking back, that I didn't. I'm like, "What was I thinking?" I had one marathon under my belt and I'm like, "I'm going to run Leadville." It was such a blessing I didn't get in because that would have been a nightmare. You have to put your name in a hat.
Once you've raced this and let's say you complete it, are you invited back the next year automatically? Do you have to go through this process again?
You go through it again. It's heartbreaking for a lot of people because God forbid you don't finish. You don't have a guaranteed spot to go back and get redemption next year. You have to give it your all.
In those 32 weeks, what is your plan?
It's a lot. I train all day and then work at the gym at our front desk at night, afternoon or evening. I'm running twice a day, typically. I train with Eric at Landow Performance for strength training. I do that twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday with him. I run once in the morning usually for an hour plus. I do that lift, run again for an hour-ish and then go to work. I'm clocking 10, 12, 14 or 18 miles a day. We're in double digits pretty much every day, which is awesome.
That's incredible. That takes some discipline.
It's a full-time job. On the weekends, you have back-to-back long runs. I have off on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, I have a long run of 10, 12, 16 or 18 miles. Sunday is the same thing.
At this point, are you looking forward to that? What is your mindset going into that?
For Leadville?
For training in general because I find myself a lot of times having trouble putting on my running shoes, "I don't want to do this."
I'll talk to them about it. They always ask, "How are you so motivated?" I'm like, "This is not motivation. If I did this with motivation, I wouldn't be doing this because I don't have that 80% of the time but I want it. It's something I committed to. You do it anyways."
People always ask, "How are you so motivated?" I’m like, "This is not motivation. If I did this with motivation, I wouldn’t be doing it because I don’t have that 80% of the time." But I want it, and it’s something I committed to, so I do it anyway.
Commitment is huge for me. It's saying something publicly or having some accountability.
Deep to my core, I've thought about this race for years. I get to do it, which makes training so cool. I was talking to one of our fighters. He's like, "How is training going?" I was like, "This has been the best training cycle that I've ever had among all my marathons and all these different things because I get to do this." This is not a race again that you can sign up for and flippantly train for. To be accepted and to train for this race is such a cool opportunity.
You want to show up.
You got to be on your Ps and Qs for this. You get to do this. I get to train for this. I get to run.
What is the lore for you behind this race? Why are you so adamant about running the Leadville 100? Is there a special thing? Is this something that you've wanted to do since you started running marathons?
When I ran those 20 miles, I was just off the couch. I was sitting and watching YouTube videos about running. I was inspired and motivated. This video comes up about Leadville. At that time, I thought people ran marathons and that was it. I had no idea we were even humanly capable of running 100 miles or running further than a marathon.
I watched this documentary of this guy going out and doing Leadville. That was the first picture in my mind of ultramarathons. From that point on, I knew. I didn't even know that was humanly possible. I want to do that. It's to prove to myself that I can do it but there are also bigger reasons. All of my dad's stuff has been a big driving factor, "You might have not been with us." I better do this.
Many people have goals in life and stuff like that but they don't do anything to pursue them.
You have to have a why.
"Wouldn't it be great if I could do this?" That's the biggest thing even when I'm sitting there, "I don't want to go to the gym. It's Sunday. I don't want to do a Murph."
Those are the days you need to do it most.
"I want to stay home and watch football." I'll procrastinate. I get there half an hour later than I wanted to be, "I don't have time." All this shit is going through my head. I'm talking myself out of it but once I start doing it, then it's like, "Here I am. There's only one way to get through this. It's one more squat at a time."
I have more runs like that than I do, "This was such a good run." I was on a 10-mile run. It was the best 10 miles I've had in probably a year. I went out, ran 6 miles and thought I was going to die. You have bad days. It's part of it.
As far as your training regiment goes and what you're doing, are you doing strength and conditioning stuff at Landow and working on some of that stuff?
He has a program pretty much built for Leadville specifically. It's not heavy lifting, "I want to get strong." It's to keep my body together to make sure it doesn't crumble.
Did you put this program together yourself? Do you have some coaches outside of Eric helping you out with the method to the madness?
I've never had a coach in this ever. For my marathons, I've had my dad write me a program. I'm like, "This will be good enough." It's not that a marathon isn't a big deal but you could if you wanted couch to marathon. I'm training for it. I took it seriously but you don't have to take it super seriously. You have to take this seriously.
For people that don't understand, they call it ultra for a reason. It's not about the distance. 100 miles is insane but also the terrain that you're running on. Most marathons are in a city. It's around a lake, point-to-point or something like that. You're typically on asphalt. The street is closed. If you fall, there's probably somebody there that can get you medical. There might be a water station here or there.
You don't have that in this.
This is a little bit different. This is over the Continental Divide. It's on a trail. You have the elevation. In a lot of marathons, there's not a whole lot of elevation change. It's pretty flat.
I got the actual training plan from Hal Higdon. That's where I've gotten all my marathon plans from. That's where my dad got his plan from. I sat on Zoom calls with probably 4 or 5 ultra coaches. I took that plan and said, "I'm going to give you this plan. Make your edits. Help me. What do I do?" I've reached out to some people who know more than I do. You can't do this alone. I had them make this plan for me. I picked my dad's brain and my brain. With 5 or 6 people, we made this custom plan.
Reach out to people who know more than you do. You can’t do things alone.
Do you have anybody locally that you're working with or that you train with at all? Is there anybody in Colorado?
Most people don't like running. To call someone up and be like, "Do you want to go run 20 miles with me?" People don't want to do that.
I would tell you no.
I train alone 99% of the time but I enjoy it like that. I don't like running with people.
It's your time. We have had a couple of ultrarunners on the show previous to this a few episodes back. My buddy Jay Steinberg lives right up here. He has been on twice. He was our Second Episode. He's an incredible athlete. I would love to put you in touch with him if you want some help. He has run Leadville and The Bighorn. He does a bunch of Iron Man stuff.
I want to do one of those.
He has done Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim.
I've seen that.
He was a personal trainer for a long time and an awesome human being. He's an incredible dude. I don't know how many ultras he's completed. It's not about social media or any of that stuff for him. He deleted his social media. He's a super-focused guy. He's an in-shape guy. I would love to connect you with him.
That would be awesome.
Mercedes Siegle-Gaither is in Buena Vista. She's an ultrarunner. We have had her on. I was talking to her. I would love to put you in touch with them if you want some help. Pick their brain a little bit or something like that.
I've had some connections. I'm like, "Can we call? Let me pick your brain on these things."
These are good people. As much as you have a community at the gym with your fighters, that's how I view this show as well. It's anything that we can do to help. The people that we have on understand that. They have done nothing but help me. I'm sure that they would accept to help you. With that being said, when I talked to you on the phone, I didn't understand. You're the youngest female to be accepted to run Leadville 100. You're breaking a record right there. If you complete it, you will be the youngest female to finish it in history. That's pretty incredible.
It is wild. The crazy thing is that when I first heard about Leadville, "I'm going to put my name in," that was never on my radar. I never said, "I'm going to run Leadville to be the youngest." It was, "I'm going to run Leadville. I want to do it." I was doing some research before I put my name in for the lottery. I came upon this list on their website of all the past runners. I'm looking at their ages. I started to realize, "All these people are older than me. What is the age record here?"
I don't have contact with Ken and Merilee. They're the race directors or owners but I got in touch with a family friend. They have contact with them. I said, "Can you reach out to them and confirm this? That would be crazy." She called them or whatever she did. Sure enough, I'm the youngest female, which is so crazy. That has been an added piece to this, which has been cool.
That's even more of a reason to show up.
When I don't want to run, I'm like, "You're going to be the youngest one. Let's run."
That's pretty incredible. It's cool. I'm going to be rooting for you. We're going to do anything that we can do to help you here.
Thank you.
You let us know when you need something.
I will. It's cool.
As far as this race goes, there's got to be a plan in place too once you start running it because you have some pacers. You have to set up your aid stations, drop bags or something.
It's so detail-oriented. People don't give credit for that. You have a crew and then pacers. In the first 62 miles of the race, you're on your own when you're running but you have a crew. Every 10 miles, you meet up with your crew. They have food. You can change your clothes and shoes, do all your things and then keep going. After 62 miles, you can pick up a pacer. I've got a couple of our fighters and then my family to all come in, which is so cool, to pace me to the finish, which is incredible.
Ultramarathon Runner: For the first 62 miles of the race, you’re essentially on your own when you’re running, but you have a crew every ten miles. After 62 miles, you can pick up a pacer.
It takes a support team.
It takes so many people to make this come together.
Don't ask me to be a pacer. I can give you a protein bar.
I had to tell the fighters, "You're going to pace me. I'm normally super bubbly and chatty but I apologize in advance for how I am when you pick me up 62 miles deep."
Remember you're there for yourself and not for anybody else. It's a huge thing. When they step into the octagon, they will understand.
Honestly, ultrarunning is a gross and crazy sport. You're throwing up and crying. It's all the things.
It's funny because the couple of times that we have had Jay on, he's like, "You find out who your true friends are. They're rubbing lotion on your feet and maybe clipping your toenail."
I'm like, "Who's going to be there when I'm throwing up in the bushes and crying?" It's crazy.
I want to bring this up real quick because I thought it was super cool. To have the support that you have around you is so special and unique.
It's so rare.
You ran an ultra back in October 2022.
It was a disaster.
Youssef carried you to your car. He's a professional UFC fighter. He's the Moroccan Devil.
He was piggybacking me up to the car.
I thought that was awesome. To have that support is super rad.
You need it. Any athlete out there can attest that it's hard to be an athlete mentally and emotionally. It's not like, "I'm going to run." There are so many other things. To have support like that is super cool.
Any athlete out there can attest that it’s hard to be an athlete, both mentally and emotionally. It’s not just, "I’m going to go run." There are so many other things. Having support is important.
Do you have anybody outside of this? I'm sure that there's some financial burden that goes on with this. You're sacrificing a potential amount of money to train for that thing. If you place high enough in this, is there any prize? Do you have any sponsorships or endorsements? Is there anybody helping you out to train for this thing?
I'm not sure about placement. I'm not sure what you get if you placed high. I don't want to place high. I've gotten a couple of sponsorships. There's a Christian clothing company. They're called God The Father. I've been sponsored by them. There are super cute clothes. There's a great mission statement and the whole deal. There's an IV company. They're called Twin Rivers. She started at the gym with our fighters, giving them IVs for performance, athletics and all these things.
I'm a huge fan of IV.
I love them.
I would get stuck every day if I could afford it.
She comes in every Friday. I worked out a sponsorship deal with her. I get one every Friday. It's so awesome. Check them out. They're so great. I've gotten that. I was in nursing. I was going to make $50,000 a year. That's a lot of money for a nineteen-year-old. I quit that because I didn't enjoy it and also I got in this race. There was no way I was going to train the way I needed to train and be on a twelve-hour shift. Financially, we're going to live at home. We're not going to move out as soon as we thought or make X amount of money each month as I was going to.
That's part of that sacrifice and discipline though.
I left a lot behind financially doing what I'm doing now.
You can always make more money.
I don't care about money either. I enjoy my family. I'll live at home until this is finished. This is my A-goal. We will do whatever it takes to make this happen. If that means sacrificing some money and living at home and the whole deal, we will do it.
We will be rooting for you. I want to have you back after the race.
I would love that. I'll tell you all about my guts and glory.
I want to hear all those war stories. Don't let me forget. I would like to connect you with Jay and Mercedes as well and get you their information. They would be a valued resource for sure. What have you got coming up? Are you doing anything prior to this? Is there any press? You're coming on here. I'm honored to have you.
Thank you for having me.
Thanks for coming and sharing your story. I didn't think we would dive into Africa and all kinds of stuff. You're welcome back anytime.
Thank you.
What do you have coming up? Are you looking to do more shows if people reach out? Do you want to do more media stuff? Are you looking for any endorsements? How can people help you?
I took it as a sign from God that once nursing didn't work out, I quit. Three days later, I got the email that I was accepted into Leadville. I took it as a sign, "This is maybe where I'm supposed to be for now." I'll take all the podcasts, endorsements, sponsorships and all of it to make this thing happen and ride it as long as we can.
We network with a bunch of them. I would be glad to share you with that too. I can put you in contact with some of our sponsors to see if they would be interested.
That would be awesome.
It's great that you're a female and you're in the outdoor space and doing this because it's rare. Honestly, it is rare for us to find guests that are females, especially your age and with your drive. We're rooting for you. I want to regift you something. This was a couple of episodes ago. I thought that you could relate to this. This was Lisa Thompson. I had her on a few episodes ago. She's a cancer survivor. There's everything that you and your family have been through. She has done the Seven Summits. She has climbed seven of the highest mountains on each continent.
That is crazy.
It's an awesome book. It's a great read. I was sent this by the publicist but I'm going to regift it to you.
Thank you.
She's the second woman to ever summit K2 as well. She did this later in life. I don't know if you read but I'm sure that you do, being Marc's daughter. I know that books are big for you.
You do a lot being Marc's daughter. This is so cool. Thank you.
It's a great read. I got something out of it. There was one point in the book where she was talking about how she decided that she wanted to get into mountaineering well before she was diagnosed with cancer. Cancer came along and it was like, "What do I do now?"
It's life-changing.
She was like, "I'm not going to change anything. I'm going to keep after my goal." There was one point when she had gone through treatment. She got home. I'm probably screwing this up but it's in the book. Go check the book out. She was scheduled to climb Everest in four months or something. She was so weak that she was having trouble walking to her mailbox to get the mail and get back inside. It's pretty endearing. There's a lot of discipline.
You have to have that for things like this.
It's a super inspiring story. I wanted to share that with you.
Thank you. This is awesome.
You could probably relate to everything that's happened. Is there anything you want to bring up before we end this thing?
I don't think so. This has been awesome. Thank you.
Where can people follow you and your journey? You're on Instagram.
I'm on Instagram. I'm technically on Facebook and Twitter. I don't ever go on there, though. I'm mainly on Instagram.
We're the same way. We have those accounts. The Twitter account is stagnant.
I have them to say I have them. I don't ever go on there.
What's your Instagram handle?
It's my name, @BrooklynMontoya, which is nice and easy.
I'm sure you can find Facebook there too. You've got an awesome page.
All my accounts are my first and last names.
Thanks so much for your time. I appreciate you connecting with me. I'm glad I got to sit down and get to know you, another person from the Factory X family. We love you. Here's a shout-out.
Thank you.
Thanks, everybody, for reading. Have a good one.
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Important Links
Brooklyn Montoya - Instagram
Marc Montoya - Previous episode
@TheBigPygmy - Instagram
Episode Four - Previous episode
Coach Eric Telly - Previous episode
Dustin Jacoby - Instagram
Second Episode - Previous episode
Mercedes Siegle-Gaither - Previous episode
Lisa Thompson - Previous episode
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Twitter - Brooklyn Montoya