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The Steep Stuff Podcast
Tyler McCandless - Pre Sunapee Scramble Interview
Ever wonder how elite runners approach championship races? Tyler McCandless, one of America's leading mountain runners, takes us deep into his preparation for the Sentipee Scramble US Mountain Running Championships in this illuminating conversation.
With Pennsylvania roots that perfectly prepared him for East Coast racing conditions, McCandless explains why many Western mountain runners struggle when heading east—while he thrives. "I love the hot, humid races," Tyler reveals, discussing how his background racing in Pennsylvania summers gives him a mental and physical edge that's proven decisive in previous championships. This unique adaptation to humidity and technical terrain positions him as a serious contender for this year's US Mountain Running team.
The conversation explores Tyler's impressive 20-week training block, consistently hitting 80-95 miles weekly while balancing family life and work responsibilities. What's particularly fascinating is his recent focus on improving downhill running through equipment changes and targeted training. "I found that especially for me, the downhills, I tend to feel more comfortable with a softer, more cushioned shoe that's still light," he shares, explaining how this simple adjustment has dramatically improved his recovery and performance on technical descents.
Perhaps most valuable is Tyler's strategic wisdom for approaching championship races. Rather than getting caught in the excitement of chasing the win, he maintains a laser focus on the ultimate goal: securing a top-four finish to qualify for the World Championships. This measured approach, combined with his exceptional fitness and experience, showcases the mindset that has made him a perennial podium threat.
Curious about how elite athletes prepare for championship events? Listen now to gain insights on everything from shoe selection to sauna recovery techniques that could transform your own approach to important races.
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What's going on, fam? Welcome back to the Steep Stuff Podcast. I'm your host, james Lauriello, and I'm so excited to be joined today for a pre-Sentipee Scramble interview with none other than Mr Tyler McCandless. Tyler, who's actually a product of the Northeast, he's a Pennsylvania boy. He and I caught up just after he's basically been finishing up a substantial roadblock with a bunch of half marathon racing that he had been doing and actually he just concluded. This weekend he actually just hopped into a trail race and, I think, ran a, a nine K or something to the accord of that. So Tyler has been massively fit. We caught up to talk all things centipede. We talked about strategy. A lot went into our conversation with racing strategy and just how to optimize everything for race day. We talked about what it was like racing in Northeast, dealing with that humidity and trying to strategize. You know the like trying to strategize do we go for the win or do we go for a placement spot, and how that went, um, and just kind of his thought process behind it. Um, yeah, I Tyler is someone I just really look up to in the sport, um giant fan of his, and I'm just so excited to see where his career is going to continue to take him, as he's one of the perennial talents in our sport, just so fit, coming over from the, the roads and the track and, uh, kind of transferring all of that uh, all of that fitness, if you will. So it's going to be fun to follow along on race day, wishing Tyler the absolute best of luck.
Speaker 1:This is a great pre-race interview. Lots of good nuggets of wisdom in here. Tyler's full of them. So, guys, hope you enjoyed this one Without further ado, mr Tyler McCandless. Tyler McCandless, welcome back to the Steep Stuff podcast. How are you doing, buddy? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me back on. Yeah, man, I'm stoked to have this conversation. This is our doing a whole lineup of the elite men and women for the pre-Cinnapis Scramble race that's going to be taking place on June 1st for the US Mountain Running Champs, for the Mountain Classic. So I'm excited that you're on the start list. It's going to be a loaded field, so it should be fun. Man, it's going to be a good day out in New Hampshire.
Speaker 2:No doubt about it.
Speaker 1:Really looking forward to it, for sure, for sure. Now you've had, you've had a lot of success in the Northeast man. It's it seems to be some people don't necessarily do so well coming from Colorado and going out there, and you've always had pretty solid system, yeah, sustained success going out, like maybe can you speak to that, like what, what do you think that is as far as like adapting, being a Northeast guy, if you will?
Speaker 2:Yeah, growing up in Eastern Pennsylvania, I mean, one of my favorite runs from my parents' house was like four and a half miles to the top of Smith gap. That was where the Appalachian trail was. You know, just like there's differences in in East coast trails and the footing, um, and I feel like it's very natural for me and I think there's also something to. Some people perform really well at sea level after coming down from altitude and I feel like I'm one of those where, like sometimes, my workouts at altitude aren't anything extraordinary and I'm like having a hard time running five minute pace and mile repeats, but then I can go to sea level and string together a one on two half marathon. It's like 448 pace for 13.1 consecutive miles. So you know, the Northeast being lower elevation, I think uh is a benefit for my strengths.
Speaker 1:For sure, For sure. Let me ask you this I, a lot of people complain about humidity, but you, for instance, like you've done so well in Hawaii races, you've done well in Northeast races, Like, do you just adapt really well, I guess from from being from the Northeast.
Speaker 2:Maybe, I also just like it. I don't know, there's probably some like mental aspect, but like I love the the hot, humid races. It's not like I've performed, you know, brilliantly in every hot, humid race that I've run, but, uh, I tend to perform better in those conditions and I think I also have a pretty good sense for how to pace and like dole out your effort appropriately in those hot and humid conditions. And you know, I trained in Pennsylvania summers for many years. I have good experience with humidity and how it affects you, Um, and I think I have my nutrition dialed in too. So I think all those things are definitely benefits for me. Super cool.
Speaker 1:Are you going to be going out early for the race, like a couple of days before, or are you going to fly in right before, like, what's what's your plan for race day?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I get in late Thursday night so that I can have Friday to run much of the course work remotely, just kind of be chill. Saturday do another you know shorter course preview and then be able to rip it on Sunday morning and fly back to the fan.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice, quick, little little business trip. Right, very cool. Let's talk training. Man, how has, since the last time we've spoken like how has training been going? Um, I know you've ran a few races, so maybe maybe talk about some of the things that you've been doing in the meantime.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been really great. So I think we talked towards the end of 2024. And now I just looked on Strava strung together 20 weeks that are at least at 80 miles up to 95 miles. So the consistency has been just perfect. Kind of the beginning of those 10 weeks, more track workouts, kind of trying to to get a lot faster.
Speaker 2:I didn't do that many track races for a few various reasons, but did one indoor 5k, came in second, ran 14, 35 in january. Then I did a half marathon in south carolina where it was surprisingly about 25 degrees. Um was pretty much a no man's land, ran 104. After that my training really improved. I did another half here in colorado and in fort collins, the horse tooth half, and it's fun because it has about a thousand feet elevation gain. So it's a pretty hard course. Um and I was third in that. It's like the fifth year in a row I've been first, second or third and my time was pretty comparable to other years when I had run 102 at sea level. So I feel really good about fitness compared to other years. Have been putting in strength work and sauna work consistently over that 20 weeks, so coming in just just feeling like that consistent volume of good quality work uh is really leading to some great fitness.
Speaker 1:I love to hear it, man. I mean, you're, without a doubt, in the top. You know, tied, say, top three men to fitness wise, going in easily. Um, just by looking at Strava's and seeing what other guys are up to, like it's. It's crazy how early season, how fit some of these early season guys are, including yourself, going in. I got to ask you this. So one of the things we'd spoke about last time was we talked about podiums and where you've landed on podiums and you're just so consistent Like you're always on the podium. But one of the things you had talked about going in was maybe doing some more specific work to get that first place spot. Um, what have you? I have especially cause like Sunopi is such a strange course where there's some road component to it, like dirt road there's, and then there's the techie downhill. Have you been messing with any of that stuff specifically, kind of going in?
Speaker 2:yeah, I've definitely spent more time on the trails. This like spring season especially, um, so I did a lot of like shorter hill reps earlier in the winter, then starting to get more on the trails, um. And specifically we have a 3.4 mile uphill segment here in fort collins. I've done that several times. Just did it as a time trial effort this past weekend. That went extraordinarily well very close to the time I ran before Loon Mountain last year, so that was at the peak of my fitness. So I feel really good about that, one of the tweaks that I've made a bit.
Speaker 2:Last year I had a Merrill sponsorship and was running in something like the lightest shoes and I found that, especially for me, the downhills, like I, tend to feel more comfortable.
Speaker 2:It's probably more of like a proprioception type of feeling on them with like a softer, more cushioned shoe that's still light. So I feel like I've been able to really improve some of my downhill running and how, uh, uh, how comfortable I felt running down Cause you know I'm going to need that in New Hampshire is being able to run some techie downhills but also some like more road not quite road, but dirt road downhill, um, and I think that plays really well to my strengths, so I'm excited to be able to have shoes that I feel like more comfortable on downhill running Um, and have really helped with soreness. So, like last year, I do a do that same 3.4 mile up and down. I'd be sore for a few days. I did that and more on Wednesday and I didn't feel anything. I felt kind of fresh on Thursday. So I feel like my legs are better calloused and prepared for the downhills um, which I think will be a difference maker for some of these races.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice. If you don't mind me asking what, what particular shoe you've been rocking these days, like what are you? What are you working with?
Speaker 2:Uh, I've been trying a few different ones. Um, the ones I think that have floated to the top. I really liked the Norda. Oh, fives, the, the like just under eight ounces. Um, no plate in them, it just feels really smooth and it's a little wider toe box. That has felt good for me. The Puma DV8, nitro Trail or Elite Trail has been a great shoe, also, really like some of the Nikes. The Zagama 2 has been a really great shoe I've worn that on a lot of trails and the Ultra Fly, so I've been kind of experimenting with those. I think I'll probably do the Norda for soon to be.
Speaker 1:Nice. That's interesting to hear. We'll talk more offline about Norda because there's some good stuff cooking there and those shoes are like. So I got to see that original 005 before it came out. It was like the production model from China Jason Schlarb happened to have and I was doing a photo shoot with them and I was playing with that shoe. I was like astonished, that is a really solid shoe. So, yeah, it'd be cool to see, to see you get the dub and Zunipy and something like that. That'd be cool.
Speaker 2:It would be cool. They're not. They're not a very cheap shoes, but they are supposed to last a long time, so I'm hoping I get a lot of miles out of them, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:I'm curious to hear, yeah, your take on that. Maybe in a few months or however long, you know you get a, you know, I don't know, five or 600 miles and those things I'm curious to hear, like what, what you have to say and if they do hold up, cause the only reason I say that is because, like you know what happens there. So, yeah, same, yeah, so let's, let's pivot to Cinep a little bit more. I do want to talk about um. So this is not going to be your first team USA.
Speaker 1:Last year you represented team USA, having gotten a second place at Loon, um, at the uphill vertical championship, um, this would be a little bit different because it's a different type of course. Like it's it's, it's a different type of course. The strategy going in is a little bit different. Right, it's two loops and the second loop is a little bit different. Are you going to take, what is your plan, going into something like this? I'm just curious, from a mental perspective, how you would race this, because if I would apply anything similar, I would apply almost like a broken arrow, 46k, where the dude leading the first loop is generally not the person winning the race. So it's like, how do you go in with something like that, knowing you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think. I think it plays very similar to a half marathon. That's on a hard course and then people do blow up in the last five K of a half marathon. So I think I'm you know, 38, I'm seasoned to run a lot of races, haven't done a ton of, you know, this type of trail race, this distance, et cetera, but I've done enough, done Vail several times at the 10K, to have that feeling and, I think, just being really smart. To me, as you said, it's a qualifier, it's kind of like a prelim and if you think about it, the goal is top four. You get top four, you move on to Spain and like that is the goal, and just coming in with that framework of like I don't need to try to blow away the whole field and run some you know spectacular time, you need to get through to the next round. So I think coming in with that mindset is really really important to think about how to race it strategically Well or approach it, because you know, like we both know, people are going to go out.
Speaker 1:You know hair on fire, obviously for the first, for the first loop, and then you're going. There's going to be I would assume there would be carnage, especially on the descent. You'll start seeing people start, you know flailing at the descent and then, once you start, you know picking up the second ascent, it'll be. It's going to be interesting to see the field separation, that's for sure. Um, what would it mean to you to make this team? I know we talked a little bit about this the last time and I kind of probably asked the same question, but what would it mean for you to go to world and make team USA this year?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know last year was a really cool international team competition and love the USATF. My team, you know, put that together, but it wasn't a world championship. So to make a world championship and being able to compete like, truly as a team and a team competition, it would mean quite a lot and I've I really designed everything in the last six months to prepare, to being able to give myself the best shot to make the team between the race in New Hampshire as well as in Broken Arrow, Ascent and have you know, two good chances to do it, and I just love that these events are top four make the team. It's not there's no resume, there's no time qualifier, it's just like get everyone together and you earn your spot. So to do it without pressure, it would be considerably rewarding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's crazy man and it's just like I got to say. As far as mountain classic and championships go, this might be one of the most stacked ones we've ever had. I mean, obviously Broken Arrow is going to be crazy, both the Ascent. The Ascent might very well be the most competitive race ever established on American soil, but this one's going to be right up there. I mean, both the men and women's fields look pretty wild and what a cool place to do it. Right, I don't know. It'd be cool to get one. No-transcript.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely. The one thing I know is the field will be deep. Not everyone will come with their best fitness. There will be plenty of people that had entered early that decided not to do it. So I feel like I really just focused on myself of just how do I get to be as fit as I can and prepared as I can for that event of my abilities and, um, excited for that opportunity. I know the field will shake out as it shakes out and if I end up fifth or 10th and I get beat by some of those you know really talented, tough other guys, then like I'll still be proud if I've given it my best effort and soon be.
Speaker 1:I think it's a beautiful mindset, tyler. I it's, I, I'm. I'm so curious I got to ask you this like cause it's going to be. It's not super tight turnaround, but it's a turnaround nonetheless, with work and being a family man and just being busy Like is that a lot on you to be able to go out there race, hopefully get the spot? Let me just ask you this If you get the spot, are you still going to go to broken arrow or you think maybe not?
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely I like I like the, the ascent, like I thrive uphill, like I'm relatively fast like leg speed, so like the downhill can be good and I like on loon mountain there's some downhill and I actually extended my gap on most of the downhills, so it's not like I'm poor at downhills but I just love hammering straight up, so like I would love to make the ascent team um. So yeah, I will definitely uh, target broken arrow. Broken arrow is really the peak race. So you know, I've had 20 weeks of just phenomenal training, good, like base work and then it kind of gets into the heart of racing. Season is really June and then I'll probably take a break after Broken Arrow and then hopefully build up to Worlds or some fall races.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice, do you think? I think I asked you this the last time we chatted. I know we. Obviously it was a way further out, so it's harder to plan a season. But after broken arrow, is there anything you might wind up going to like you can go back? Go back to like uh, the rendezvous hill climb, or anything like that.
Speaker 2:Love rendezvous hill climb. Would love to do it. Um, one year I'd like to get Pikes Peak Ascendant. So that depends on, you know, making the. So I think September has quite a lot of good ones. Um, yeah, we'll see August or, if anything else, in July. Um, but I think I should probably, for my mind and body, take a break after broken arrow. Uh, but it might just be like three days and like week of easy running and then, you know, get back into it for sure, for sure.
Speaker 1:What do you so, in addition to running? Do you do any like cross training at all? I just always meant to ask you this, like do you get on the bike at all, or do you do like anything else, or is it just hitting the road, like hitting the roads and running?
Speaker 2:You know I've done, uh, I bought like a, a strength program from the run strong coach, uh, who's the BYU strength and conditioning coach, and that was really helpful. To be more specific with, like single leg exercises and the right exercises for improving strength and mobility and some plyo work, I think that's helped tremendously. Over the last 20 weeks I can tell things on my left side versus my right side are more even than they used to be, so I think that's going to pay off in efficiency. That you know it doesn't take much time. It's been 30 minutes to an hour during the week, um, and then do some sauna work and then, uh, my kids will bike to playgrounds and you know I have a bike carrier behind it, so maybe there's a little bit of uh of extra work there, but it's not really like uh, like specific cycling for running.
Speaker 1:I was targeted dude, let let's let's talk sauna man. I I'm so interested in this. I I really subscribe to the sauna I love. I try to get in there three or four times a week and I would say it's hard to tell, like if there is any kind of performance benefit. Just because I've always done it, like I've done it for the last few years, would you say like there is a substantial, like I wouldn't say performance benefit to it but helps as far as recovery, sleep, performance, you name it.
Speaker 2:I can definitely tell I sleep better after doing it, especially in the evening. I don't think I can, similar to you, say my performance is increased by 2% because I've done the sauna or anything like that. But out of all the scientific innovation in performance benefits, there's very few that also have like great health span, lifespan benefits and like the sauna is very complimentary to endurance, exercise and improving health span and lifespan. So I feel like it's just like a great. You just feel really good for having done it. So I you know I think it does add some to performance, some to heat acclimatization, but it's also just like a healthy. You know some to heat acclimatization, but it's also just like a healthy thing to do and helps you just get a little bit more meditative, a little bit more sound at the body and mind. So I think that there's also the mental component that helps getting this on as well, oh, I love that.
Speaker 1:That's good stuff. Man, Jump on in there with a little like an audio book or something and just kind of phase out or meditate. Yeah, that's my jam. Well, I think I I think we covered everything. I know I try to keep these like 20 to 30 minutes. Is there anything you think we didn't hit? As far as the buildup to soon appear, do you think we're pretty good?
Speaker 2:You know, I just really appreciate yourself and others really covering the sport and it's great to see like such a great field that is assembled to go to it to try to make a world team. And I think you know we got to continue to build each other up and build up this, you know, sub ultra community into something, um, even more special. So, yeah, just big shout out to you and all the competitors are making the trip out to New Hampshire. It's going to be really fun, um racing in just a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, tyler, I appreciate it. And yeah, man, I can't harp it enough. I think the the best way we can continue to grow and elevate this sport is to tell the stories of folks like yourself and others. And you know, that's how the sport grows and it's how we get a fan base. And, yeah, that's, it's all good. And yeah, wishing you the best of luck and go get it, man.
Speaker 2:Thanks, james, appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you, tyler. Listen up, guys. The Steep Stuff Podcast is brought to you by Ultimate Direction USA. Guys, I am so excited UD just dropped their new RaceVest 6L and UltraVest 12L in two beautiful aesthetic colors. You guys got to check these new vests out. They're dynamic in ways like that you just have never seen from an ultimate direction vest Very stretchy, lots of storage, beautiful aesthetic colorways coming into, coming to you in a new, like a white and blue and an onyx and green just absolutely beautiful vests. I think these ones are just like some of the best products we've ever dropped and I'm so excited for you guys to try them out. Hop on ultimate directioncom and use code steep stuff pod Again that steep stuff pod for 25% off your new vest. I mean, they're already affordably priced, but 25% off is just going to make it so much more affordable for folks in an already increasingly expensive trail running environment. So hop on ultimate directioncom, get yourself a new vest, a pack or any hydration solution and let me know what you guys think. Thank you.
