Thursday 15 December 2022

Interview with Pro Trail Runner Francesco Puppi

 I am SO happy to announce my new interview with pro trail runner, Francesco Puppi. 

Francesco is someone I have followed on social media for a long time, being an 

extremely accomplished athlete, but also just a genuinely lovely, intelligent guy. He

is now 30 years old, living in Como, Italy where he is from. I was interested to hear

his take on environmentalism within the sport, something he has been quite vocal 

on, at least in comparison to other athletes, so I hope you’ll enjoy this

chat as much as I did.




The format of the interview is slightly different this time. I sent Francesco a list of 7 

questions, which were responded too via an audio message, so please expect my

first ever podcast-type recording to be released soon if you’d rather take a listen!

 

 

Helen:            Could you give a brief run-down of who you are, what you're about and your history in running, i.e., some of your achievements which stand out to you.

 

Francesco:    Hi Helen, thank you for sending me this email with these great questions, and yeah, of course I’m happy to answer and I hope this helps. So about me, I’m an athlete, I’m 30 years old and I’m from Italy. I live in Como, that is in the North very close to the Alps and I’ve been running since I was 6 years old. I’ve always had a very strong passion for running but it wasn’t until my twenties that I started trail and mountain running, so my background is on the track, cross-country and on the roads. I wasn’t the most incredible talent when I was young, part of it is because I grew up really late, like when I was 25 years old, so the age gap was pretty big when I was in my youth and I think my passion was not linked to the race results or anything like that, but just the passion for running, for improving myself and to be able to get satisfaction and really see the results of the work that I was putting in. So, I have been used to running pretty good mileage since I was like 10 or 12 years old, like I started running long distance. I ran a half marathon when I was 13 for example. Maybe it was a little bit too soon but just to point out that, you know, I’ve always loved to run long distances. And some of the achievements that stand out for me…so I consider my best race the 2nd place that I took in 2019 at the World Mountain Running Championship in Patagonia, Argentina. That was a race around 40km with 2200 m elevation. I was 2nd behind Jim Walmsley and I think it was the best race of my career so far. Then last year for example, I won the Golden Trail Series world final in El Hierro in the Canary Islands that was another great achievement for me and this year I was second at the World Trail Running Championship behind Stian Angermund and in front of Jon Albon on the short trail distance in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Besides that, I also wanted to point out, because for me it’s important, because I still put in effort to run well on the roads I ran 2 hours 16 mins in the marathon last year and I ran a 64 mins 40 s half marathon in 2020 and I’ve got a 29 mins 47 s pr on the 10km.

 

 

Helen:            Tell us a bit about your career history - I understand you studied physics at university (as did I!), then became a teacher. Is this still your job or have you transitioned now to a full-time athlete?

 

Francesco:    So, regarding my career history, yeah, I studied physics at university and then I became a teacher in high school. After university I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and the transition from my studies to getting a job wasn’t the easiest one. So maybe going back to school as a teacher was the most natural choice for me, in part because it left different options open. And then I’ve always enjoyed working with kids and inspiring other people and teaching them why physics has been important for me and has inspired me, like the very basic and simple ideas that it is based on; that of course get very complicated the deeper you get into it, but I think it’s a fascinating subject for very different reasons, so I wanted to try to pass on to the kids some of that. And that’s one of the reasons I became a teacher. Then yeah, I had an opportunity to become a professional athlete. I still keep a job as a freelancer because I cooperate with vert run, an app for trail runners, a platform for training, resources, community, podcasts and different things. I take care of some coaching for them, I host a podcast and I also take care of some content creation. So besides running and having a professional contract with Nike that is what I do on a daily basis. I also have a collaboration with the World Mountain Running Association and I take care of the World Mountain Running ranking basically keeping in touch with the different races and their organisers, updating the calendars the athlete’s profiles and everything so yeah. My days are quite full but the good thing is that my work is flexible, I can work from anywhere so it’s never difficult to find the time for training and to travel to the races and everything. But yeah, I would’ve never imagined 4 or 5 years ago to become a professional athlete and I’m really grateful for this opportunity, like getting paid for something that is my passion, that I love, you know, to get recognition for that, someone that trusts you and believes in what you’re doing is pretty special to me so yeah, I’m really happy about my situation now. 

 




 

Helen:            Who are your biggest inspirations in either the running world or more generally, and why?

 

Francesco:    I think I get different inspirations from many, many athletes for different reasons. It’s not that I have like an idol or anything like that whether that’s in trail or road running, but there are a lot of athletes that inspire me a lot for different reasons. One athlete that I really look up to is Molly Seidel, she’s a marathoner, she took 3rd at the Olympic games last year, for the way she runs and also for her voice in the sport. I think she’s brave enough to share her weaknesses and her struggle sometimes and just to take running seriously but at the same time not being too serious about herself and to me that has been really inspirational, like she is an athlete that I really admire in this particular moment. Then of course it’s easy to be inspired by Kilian Jornet, by Eliud Kipchoge, by Jim Walmsley, by Courtney Dauwalter, you know, Ruth Croft, so many great athletes, um, Emily Fosberg. Each one of them has tonnes of reasons to teach us something, so it’s hard for me to pick one. But yeah, maybe I’d choose the name of Molly Seidel who you know is someone that is maybe not the most typical athlete that people see as an idol or a person to look up to, but for me it’s been really important. 

 

 

Helen:            You've been quite vocal about environmental issues and how these relate to athletes. You are part of the Outdoor Friendly Pledge and the Kilian Jornet Foundation. Tell us a bit about these and why you joined them.

 

Francesco:    Yeah, I’m part of the Outdoor Friendly Pledge that was launched by the Kilian Jornet Foundation and to me it’s really important to be a part of this project. I think as athletes we have a voice which is important to share. Of course, it’s important to take action as individuals and I try to limit in any way I can my impact on the environment, but I am aware that I can use my voice and my recognition to inspire other people to do the same. So, for me, it has been really important and to feel part of a community that values that within my sport is also really important. So, I think it’s important not to pretend to be perfect because nobody is and the to realise that running is ultimately a good thing, we are not impacting the environment that much. Of course, most of the impact comes from travelling to different places and to competitions, so it’s important to pay attention to that but also to realise that we aren’t the bigger problem. But we have this power to speak up and inspire other people, other sports and people who are maybe not involved with trail running to be more outdoor friendly. I think this has great value.  

 

 

Helen:            How do you think large brands in the sport can pave the way in environmentalism, such as through their regulations and ethics, for us as athletes? International travel is clearly an issue, but as you phrased it, 'no athletes= no competition = no sport'.

 

Francesco:    I see a lot of possibilities for athletes that are opening up in the outdoor sports, particularly in trail running. I think that athletes are starting to have more power to influence the way that brands and sponsors work. So, I think if elite athletes have clear values of environmentalism and the fact that we put it at the centre of our attention, the climate issue, just trying to limit our impact as athletes we can also influence the way that brands produce, and they work basically. We can really push them to be more environmentally friendly, we can really influence their regulations and ethics. That’s one important thing because are just a few people, but we have a powerful voice, especially when we unite because we have a great influence on the community I think, and ultimately, we are what drives the sport forward. So again, this goes back to the previous questions I answered, like if you know elite athletes are the driving force for this change then the community will follow, and the brands will be forced to follow our priorities. And if among our priorities are environmentalism and respect for our planet, limiting emissions and everything like that then I think we can strive to build a better economy. Then of course, I see it’s very political. Our greatest influence comes by far from the way we vote so we should always pay attention to that from political leaders. Then just the way our economy is built that unfortunately so far has not taken into account the fact that our planet is limited. We still believe an idea of an endless progress that is just not possible, not true, not compatible with the planet where we live, so yeah, I think this is a really vast, broad topic but that’s pretty much what I think. And yeah, international travel is clearly an issue but of course we are athletes, this is our job, we need to compete. It’s important to plan a calendar and pick our races wisely because it’s always possible to limit international travels, like we don’t have to do 5 or 10 international travels per year but maybe just a couple are enough. And that has some impact on the planet but it’s not as big as many other things that we do and its one way to still compete at the highest level, and at the same time limit our impact on the planet. Because of course, no athletes means no competition, means no sports so we would be talking about nothing.

 

 

Helen:            What do you think athletes, both amateur and elite, can do to reduce our impact on the environment through our sport?

 

Francesco:    So, to reduce our impact, as I said, mainly is travelling to the competitions and I think the points that are on the Outdoor Friendly Pledge under the athlete’s tab, they’re really good, so I would suggest checking out those. Then, more in general, think about the way we live, the way we eat and the way we consume. So like try to buy only the things that we really need when it comes to equipment, cars, our homes and everything we use to live. Of course, we are immersed in a culture and business model that encourages us to buy more things, more and more things that we don’t need. You know, Black Friday was just a few days ago and it’s the festival of consumerism, so we should have the courage to go against these trends and realise what we really need because that can have the most impact on the planet. And then of course, the way we eat is also really important. I’m not saying that everyone should go vegetarian or vegan but you know there are some behaviours that we can do to reduce our impact on the environment, of course, like limiting our consumption of meat and then, yeah, just try to buy local products, support local farmers, find sustainable protein sources and also realise that we may not need as much protein as a lot of people say. My diet is actually mostly based on complex carbs I think, so, I think for athletes its really good. So yeah, as always, it’s very basic things, it’s important to take care of them every day. And then I’m thinking about travelling, a lot of times I see people that want to travel to exotic places and go on vacation to the other side of the world, without maybe realising that we have so many amazing places close to where we live and we don’t need to go to the Maldives Islands to have a great vacation, cause that’s maybe not a good option for the environment. So yeah, just think about different ways to reduce our impact on the planet in everything we do. 

 

 

Helen:            If you had not become a pro runner, what would you have pursued instead?

 

Francesco:    I think if I had not become a pro runner I would’ve still liked to work within the sport or in the field of physics. I think I could exploit my degree in physics in different ways. One of the things that I really wanted to do was to work for an energy company, for example, to develop some kind of renewable or work in that sector. Of course, doing something related to the environment, improving energy efficiency, ultimately doing something good for people and the planet. So, I would’ve probably ended up doing something like that or I don’t know, just working within the sport of trail running, for a federation, a brand or just the same as I’m doing now. I’m working for Vert, I’m a freelancer, I’m working for different, not brands, but a federation, a start-up and then sometimes I write articles for different magazines. I don’t know if I could’ve made a living just on that, but it would’ve been kind of nice. So, I think this is all I had to say and thank you again for your questions, they’re very insightful and I hope this helps.






Thanks so much for reading guys!! You can find Francesco at @francesco.puppi on Instagram, Any 

Surface Available podcast on Spotify and if you're nosy like me, at Francesco Puppi on Strava. Keep an eye out for the podcast version coming out soon :) Lovely to speak to you Francesco!



 








 

Friday 24 June 2022

Interview With Abby Hall

 Interview with Ultrarunner Abby Hall:

I've been fortunate enough to land an interview with yet ANOTHER prominent ultrarunner, Abby Hall. Currently residing in Flagstaff, Arizona, as is a classic for elite ultrarunners it would seem, Abby was introduced to running at school through track and field. Although not originally planning on pursuing this as a career she was later introduced to the world of ultrarunning whilst working as a (very talented) graphic designer in Boulder, Colorado, where she met her now-husband, Cordis Hall, both professional trail runners for Adidas TERREX. Some of you may in fact know her work if you own a copy of Jason Koop's book, 'Training Essentials For Ultrarunning' (second edition), for which Abby was responsible for making look so pretty and well laid out. Some of Abby's notable running achievements include 2nd place at UTMB CCC 100k back in 2021 (an extra-special race given she had originally placed 8th there in 2019), 2nd woman at Canyons 100k in 2021 then in two races only recently, 2nd woman at the 125k Transgrancanaria in March and 1st woman at the Innsbruck Alpine 65k just last month. So you could say she is...ehem...*somewhat of a big deal*.

Photo credit to Ian Corless

Monday 18 April 2022

Interview with Ultrarunner Adam Peterman


Those of you who haven't heard the name Adam Peterman before would be forgiven. At only 26 years old, he has somewhat exploded into the trail/ultra scene in the past year or so, without much prior warning, although already a reasonably accomplished runner. Having ran through High School at Hellgate (Montana, US) and then collegiately at the University of Colorado where he majored in geology (accompanied by environmental science), his background makes perfect sense to pursue trail running. With a love for the outdoors cultivated at home by both friends and family, a degree quite literally studying the outdoors and having been extremely active his whole life, there couldn't be better candidate. His resume now includes several wins and a course record at the Moab Trail Marathon, the speedgoat 50k course record (he set this in 2021), a win and course record at Chuckanut 50k only last month amongst many other impressive achievements. 



Photo credits: Left, Seth Orme (IG: seth.orme), right, Evan Barnes (IG: evanbarnes__)

 Adam was kind enough to sit down with me over Zoom (Montana is quite far away from Glasgow) and allow me to pick his brain. We talked about High School, road and trail running, his training and goals, nutrition as well as some favourite memories. I always like to ask interviewees their most embarrassing moment (just to remind us they are human too, despite their accomplishments) and I think Adam's might be one of the best I get! The next big race on the calendar for Adam is the Canyons 100k April 23rd, which could land him which, if successful, will give him shot at running either the OCC, CCC or UTMB, as well as a possible ticket to Western States, none of which he has competed in before, but as discussed in our interview, he would prefer to do a UTMB race first to protect his longevity in the sport being only 26. It was a pleasure meeting a guy with such a head screwed on, in no rush to compete at every distance/event just yet, but crushing goals he sets one step at a time with a long term perspective on the sport. Please feel free to tune in and follow his progress at the race through their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/runcanyons/.

Friday 23 October 2020

Amenhorrhea in Runners

 I am going to try and write this post in laymen's terms, as after all I am no biologist, I am a physicist, and shall not pretend to understand all of it. Put in it's simplest form; secondary amenhorrea in female runners is the absence of your menstrual cycle due to not fuelling your body with enough calories for the stress you are putting it under. It does not necessarily mean you have an eating disorder, or a negative relationship with food, although it is often linked to disorders such as in my case. It simply means for your body to be happy enough to undergo one of its primary functions as a woman, you need to give it more fuel, because otherwise it prioritises other bodily functions which are necessary for life with the fuel it's got. 

My story:

When I was 17, I had been on birth control (the patch, I am allergic to the pill because it has dairy in it) as I had a boyfriend at the time, but when that ended I came off it. This coincided with a time that I began to lose a lot of weight quite fast as my complicated relationship with food began, and I also soon found out that my dad had lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes). So not the best time for Helen. This was when my period decided to go walks, and didn't end up finding me again until 4 years down the road...initially when I went to the doctor I was told it was quite a common side effect for stopping the birth control, and that they would most likely come back within around 3 months. Now, I'm sure that's true, but in my case it didn't happen. I suffered with bulimia for a short period in school, although I joke now that I wasn't even capable of that. It turns out that forcing your fingers or a toothbrush down your throat to throw up the food you just ate is actually pretty difficult, especially if you have a strong gag reflex, so this usually just resulted in me having quite a sore throat a with swelling from the forcefulness. not for me. So I turned to the gym, where I started to track calories, run on the treadmill until I had burnt 500kcals then move onto weights on the floor. This was on top of a sports club each day, or sometimes 2, while on a restricted diet.


Amenhorrheic to healthy cycle


The stress of a family situation at home, body image issues and a growing eating disorder all combined to make sure I didn't get my period back for a long time. And even when I started running and began to feel better in myself when I was 19, I was still restrictive in my eating, so although my diet may have looked normal by this point, it wasn't enough to account for all the activity I was doing, especially at the start of university where I'd often go straight from a speed session at the running club to 2 hours or gymnastics without so much as a banana for sustenance. Second year of university saw my father's condition get a lot worse at home, my boyfriend at the time dealing with suicidal thoughts and I got tendinitis in my hip for around 6 months meaning I couldn't run, which for anyone with the remains of an eating disorder is the worst thing in the world. How am I going to burn all the calories I eat?? So I'd train for 3 hours in the gym, most likely just making any injuries worse, to cope with the stress I was dealing with. So from an outside perspective, or even just myself looking back, it's pretty easy to see why my body was in no condition to even consider having kids. But what I'm worried about is the effects it has on my future.


Back to facts...


Functional hypothalamic amenhorrea is a common form of secondary amenhorrea resulting in oestrogen deficiency in young premenopausal women. It is very common amongst female athletes, as a very low body fat percentage or low BMI are big contributing factors. It is especially common in distance runners.

This disorder is related to psychological stress, excessive exercise, disordered eating or a combination of these. The significance of oestrogen in women extends way beyond fertility. It plays a role on most tissues and organs throughout the body. Loss of oestrogen effects the cardiac, skeletal, psychological and reproductive systems in the body...let's just let that sink in a minute. What we've just unearthed is that, not supplying our body with the correct amount of fuel for the level of activity that we do, whether that be 20 mile weeks or 100 mile weeks, not only effects whether our body feels capable of producing a child, but also how stressed we might feel psychologically, our bone health in older age (leading to osteoporosis), and all the factors of the cardiac system that we care most about as runners. So it is definitely not aiding you in becoming a better runner, which is what I'm going to assume you want.

There is much research yet to be done on this condition. A lot of research has been done on the effects of low oestrogen in menopausal women, but not premenopausal, so there are a lot of information gaps. However, the little research that has been done concludes that the long term health effects of secondary amenhorrea are far-reaching, including being related to cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, fertility, and cortisol levels, and these are just in the long term. The effect on your body while still in this state of stress is even worse. I am going to insert a quote from the research paper I found on this which I feel underlines the issues that need addressing amongst young runners...


"The term “female athlete triad” is a syndrome used to describe a type of FHA with three interrelated conditions: amenorrhea, osteoporosis, and disordered eating. These components are becoming increasingly prevalent among competitive female athletes, especially among those who participate in strenuous sports where leanness is highly encouraged such a competitive runners and swimmers. After the passing of Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act in 1972, the term female athlete rose in popularity as more women took part in routine exercise. In one study comparing 669 female athletes to 607 nonathlete controls, athletes reported more stress-related fractures and menstrual irregularities compared to nonathletes (p<0.05). Despite the fact that these at-risk factors have been frequently observed in women trying to excel in their sports, the female athlete triad remains an under-recognized concept, which puts more women with these factors at greater risk of worsening their symptoms if they are not detected early. Therefore, more awareness is needed to expose the detrimental impact of excessive exercise, stress, and disordered diet on bone status."-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6374026/


So although I understand that if you are as stubborn as me, you probably aren't going to listen to the people who love you, and might have already brought up this issue with you and urged you to see a doctor. You're probably ignoring the fact you don't have a period, because let's face it, who wants to bleed for a week every month out their vagina anyway, and sit hunched over in pain as you wish for death. But the thing is, it may be pretty sick not having to deal with them for a while, but you're gonna regret not eating that bowl of pasta at 50 when your bones are becoming weaker than they already are and you are at greater risk of premature death. I know that sounds dramatic but it's the reality. You have people that love you and want you around for as long as possible, and by that time you might even have little ones depending on you, so please, I BEG YOU, at least do some research on what you're going through and then figure out the best plan or action to getting your oestrogen levels back up. This could be by eating enough for your activity, or dealing with the psychological stress you are dealing with in a more constructive manner.


MUCH LOVE,

HELEN XOX

Friday 17 April 2020

Preventing Foot Injuries

5 Exercises For Your Feet to Prevent Injury





There are a wealth of products on the market claiming not only to make you a faster runner, but to decrease your risk of injury, a somewhat plague amongst the modern running community. Cushioned soles, stability controls, barefoot mimickry and  counter-pronation padding is the jargon we are sold as we approach the cash desk in the large sports chains. Or if you choose to visit a more independent running store you might be set up on a treadmill to be told you have multiple body mechanics issues and be sold a shoe that will apparently fix all of them. 10% off for customer loyalty. What maybe hasn’t been considered is the more protection, awkward positions and support we give our feet, the weaker they will grow and the more reliant on orthotics we become.

This isn’t to say you should start rambling through woodlands barefoot (although each to their own), but why don’t we start at the root of the problem. Our feet.