Run Your Race Podcast
When I first listened to David Goggins' book in 2019, I was hooked. If he could run 100 miles without training, I thought I could do it with training! It unlocked something in me, leading to my journey into ultramarathons. Since then, I've completed multiple 100- and 200-mile races, something I once thought impossible. This podcast aims to give you that same mindset shift. Each week, we interview elite endurance athletes to inspire you to believe more is possible and push yourself to the next level.
Run Your Race Podcast
#015 - Cody Poskin: Running 100 Miles in 13 hours and 26 minutes
Cody Poskin's journey from a casual runner to ultra marathon champion showcases the evolution of passion and purpose in the world of running. Throughout this conversation, we uncover how curiosity and a carefree mindset can drive remarkable achievements in ultra sports, specifically Cody's personalized approach to training and racing.
• Cody's early running experiences and transition to competitive events
• The influence of COVID-19 on his collegiate running ambitions
• Key aspects of training for ultra marathons, focusing on enjoyment
• Insights from the Jackpot 100 race experience, including pacing strategies
• The role of mental resilience in navigating race challenges
• Vision for the future, including upcoming races and maintaining balance
You can find Cody here...
Okay, what is up guys? Welcome back to the Run your Race podcast. I'm your host, pierre Hsiao, and I'm excited to introduce you guys to Cody Poskin. Cody recently won the Jackpot 100, finishing in a time of 13 hours and 26 minutes. And, like I mentioned, he won it. He was in first place and, to be honest, I don't really know that much about Cody. Usually I know more about my guests before them coming on, but I just had to have him on. He's 23 years old and just doing some incredible things, so I can't wait to dive more into his story. But, cody, welcome to the show. Excited to have you on. Thanks, glad to be here, awesome man. So let's start where your running started. How did you get into running?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it was elementary school. My dad just signed me up for a 5K without even really asking me. So then I just went out and ran a 5k and then for four years after that, pretty much through middle school, I would just run 5ks on the weekends. I mean, didn't train, I would just run a 5k. And then pretty much almost every week, especially in the summer, I'll just run in the 5k every weekend, no training, just because I liked it, I guess, and I was good at it. Like you, you're good at something, you kind of like naturally gravitate towards doing it more. That's kind of how it started. Um, but yeah, I just loved doing it. And when I came to high school I had to choose between soccer and cross country and I was okay at soccer and pretty good at cross country. So I just chose the cross country route and it's just kind of been one thing after another cross country in high school and then getting into the longer stuff marathons and ultras after college. So yeah, it's just been one thing leads to the next.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Yeah, it's interesting how sometimes things just happen unexpected. It's like your dad signed you up for a 5k and then you ended up liking it and look what it's kind of turned into now. What did it look like in college? Did you run in college or just run for fun?
Speaker 2:So that's a difficult question. I wanted to run in college really bad. I wanted to be part of a team because coming out of high school like my identity was running like cross country. That's who I was. But I graduated in 2020 from high school, so that was the COVID spring and then I guess they were being really particular about letting like walk-ons on in the college like that first year.
Speaker 2:So I went to Ole Miss, which is SEC division one, pretty competitive. I was never going to be the best guy on the team, but I I was better than some of the guys on the team. So I really felt like I deserved a shot and I just kept emailing the coach and I waited outside of the athletic department and eventually he just told me to pretty much go away. Um, and I just ran kind of angry for like a month or two just trying to prove this guy wrong, and then I just realized, like what it is what it is, and then it allowed me.
Speaker 2:I'd always want to do the Boston Marathon. So I'm like you know what, let's take a step back, let's get away from this track stuff, cross-country stuff. And I just started going after a marathon. I mean it kind of sucked because I wasn't part of a team. I was pretty much training alone. But I'm really glad that it ended up the way it is because it led me to where I am today. Who knows what would have happened if I would have actually been a part of that team in college.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, that's awesome. So what did that training look like for a marathon, like at this point you've run cross country. Are you pretty familiar with, like, what it was going to take to get you to run a fast marathon, or did you follow a plan? Did you watch youtube videos, like what did that look like?
Speaker 2:I pretty much just made it up. I mean, I I think my first marathon was april of 2021 and I think I signed up in like early march. Like there was just like kind of like a gut decision. I'm like you know, I'm just going to go for it and um it.
Speaker 2:It hurt like I expected it to, but I've never been one for following a strict plan or any of that. Like even today, I don't really follow a plan. I just go out and run where I want, when I want, how far I want, how fast I want. That's kind of what I did for that marathon, and maybe I'm leaving time on the table, um, but just like these 100 milers, I know I can finish. It was just a question of like, how fast can I do it? Yeah, I was gonna get to the end. It was just at what cost. It ended up being a pretty good day, but it it showed me that you can be sore. I was never sore after a 5k in high school. That first marathon, it it kind of humbled me a little bit I bet no.
Speaker 1:There's always that time when you run your first and just like, oh my gosh, um, what was your time ended up being?
Speaker 2:for your, it was 241 and it was actually pretty good. I averaged like 608 or something like that and I ended up winning. It was a small little marathon in Arkansas, but it was your typical. I mean, it was raining, windy, everything you'd want it to be, you know yeah, no for sure, that's amazing man, congrats on that.
Speaker 1:And I think for for people listening, it's like yeah, it was Cody's first marathon. But if you think, like I mean, you'd have to probably go back and kind of do the math, but like you'd at that point run hundreds of miles in training, I would say probably thousands of miles on your feet, so it's not like you were just like on a whim. Hey, I'm going to run a marathon. It may have felt like that, going from 5k to marathon, but you'd put a ton of time on your feet and I would imagine, yeah, so, going from that marathon, I'm sure you do it. You get like a confidence boost. Holy cow, I just won this thing. Like what, what can I do? So where did you go from there? You started getting into ultras after college. You said.
Speaker 2:Pretty much. Yeah, I was always like ultra curious in college because I remember having the thought like when I first discovered ultras it was actually like a, an article about the Barkley marathons, about some guy being found in a neighboring town like talking to a trash can that he thought was a person. I was like you know what. That just sounds awesome, Like um, but like the thought of running a hundred miles when I was used to running like eight miles for my long day was just insane at first. Like you know, that's something I want to do but it just didn't seem fathomable at the time. Um, so I stuck to marathons for a little while. I ran like two or three more after that first marathon ran Boston, but then I just kind of the curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to do one and I was injured for a while. So then eventually, when the, when the time was right, I'm just like you know what, I'm just gonna do it and see what happens and that the rest is history so far yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:What was your first 100?
Speaker 2:My first 100 was the Mid-State Massive in Massachusetts. I was living in Boston for a while and it was just a local-ish one. It was kind of cool because it was point-to-point and you started north of Massachusetts, up in New Hampshire and you literally ran all the way down through the horizontal part of Massachusetts and you ended up in like New Hampshire and you literally ran all the way down through, like, the horizontal part of Massachusetts and you ended up in Rhode Island. So, like I more or less ran through Massachusetts all the way through, which was pretty cool.
Speaker 1:That is cool. And what was that like for you, going from marathon to ultra marathon, like marathon to a hundred miler, like was there anything you you had, you didn't expect at all, or anything that went wrong, or did you feel like you were pretty prepared?
Speaker 2:I mean, again, the preparation wasn't great. I mean I ran half of the course as like a preview and I'm like I guess that'll do. I mean it was a trail race and I probably put 100 miles on trail in the six months before, like I, I just run all the time on roads, um, but yeah, it was I. I was actually like less stressed out about it because I'm like I, I get to walk, I get to walk up the hills, I get to run at a 10 minute mile pace, like it's not going to be that bad, whereas a marathon you're redlining the whole time and it hurts pretty quick.
Speaker 2:And like I was like the time I got to mile 30 in the 100 mile, I'm like I barely even got it started yet. I haven't even broke 120 beats per minute yet on the heart rate, like I'm just kind of cruising. So this, even today, that's still my mindset. Like the stress level, I mean it's getting worse now as I'm getting faster and kind of expecting more of myself. But like, like permission to walk and to go slower is actually kind of great yeah, especially if you've tasted that like marathon, almost like sprint, the entire time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's different, so it's interesting, like comparatively, how that feels. Yeah, it definitely feels I?
Speaker 2:I actually just ran a pretty fast marathon like in november and I feel worse after that marathon than I do after like trail ultras, like my body just feels more beat up from just pounding as hard as I can on pavement for two and a half hours versus like on dirt and varying terrains and stuff like that. I think the road marathon takes a bigger toll on my body.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's actually really interesting. Um, I, I feel that too, I was surprised how much my legs were feeling it after a marathon, cause you'd think like, oh, you ran a marathon. It's like only 26 miles compared to a hundred or um, 100 or more. And then you do it and then you're like, oh my gosh, because I think it's that pavement and literally redlining it going so hard and I would imagine too, like pavement, and then if you're wearing like a carbon plated shoe, that's a little bit harder than something like softer. So, but, dude, so tell me about going into the Jackpot 100.
Speaker 1:So the Jackpot 100, to my knowledge, it's like a USA track and field, like competition. You were racing in an open division with people from all across the country going for fast hundred mile times. There are some great runners there and for everyone listening, the track is, I think it's a little over a mile and you run it 85 times. So you're literally running like around this pond kind of thing. It's like a drainage overflow, basically in Las Vegas but you're running loops, 85 loops around this thing in a park and you're just running loop after loop. So what made you want to sign up for this race and what was kind of like your mindset going into it kind of like your mindset going into it.
Speaker 2:So the initial draw towards the race was again just the curiosity factor. I've ran a couple hundreds now on kind of hilly, mountainous trail terrain and I'm like, how fast can I go if there's no roots, no rocks, no mountains in my way? All I have to do is run. And there was prize money. So between those two things that was kind of the draw I signed up before the other elite pro athletes signed up so I could look at the entrance list and be like, oh, this is a piece of cake. I got this in the bag and then a month later I see these two freaking dakota and raj, sign up. I'm like, oh man, so now I'm fighting for third. But it ended up working out. But I was just curious like how fast I could go when there's just nothing in the way, like nothing stopping me, like what could happen.
Speaker 1:So just that curiosity again, that's what got me there yeah, I got you and I think I know the answer to this question hearing your kind of winging it style, but what did your training look like?
Speaker 2:uh, leaning leading up to this, um from about the start of the year, so maybe like january 1st of what, six weeks before the race. Um, I was running about 70 miles a week, pretty much all on roads. Um, I bought the shoes that I was gonna wear about two weeks before the race, did one workout and I'm like, yeah, those will do. Um, but yeah, I just run on roads pretty much all the time. I did some hill workouts, one track workout and the rest of it was just easy zone. Two stuff like anywhere from five to 15 miles. I mean, depending on what I was doing, just a lot of just running, just for fun.
Speaker 1:Just this is what I do yeah, so you're just running a lot of easy pace miles on pavement leading up to this race about 70 miles a week yep, I'd say 65 to 75 is about the sweet spot.
Speaker 2:Um, I found like that's kind of where I like to sit too. It doesn't take a whole lot of time and it's where I like to be for injury sake. If I get too much higher than 80, 90, I start to feel like I'm breaking down a little more. So I just wanted to come into the race healthy, which I did. That goal was checked. But, yeah, yeah, just hill, like I would do, maybe one hill workout a week and then a long run, but it was still easy pace at 15 miles or so, that's about all I did.
Speaker 1:What was your longest run going into this? And you had run 100 mile races before? Yeah, but in this block did you have any longer, longer runs?
Speaker 2:I think I did 18 a couple times on a hilly route by the house, um, probably at like 7, 30 pace with like almost 2 000 feet of gain.
Speaker 2:But yeah just just a regular saturday morning type of long run. Just took maybe two gels with me and drank out of a creek and that's what I did. I mean, it's just keep it simple. I don't want to over complicate it or like all these different paces you want to hit and threshold and repeats like some point. That just gets a little cumbersome and like I'm like I'm just gonna run, come back some breakfast and then go about my day and that's kind of how I like to do it.
Speaker 1:I like no, it's very interesting hearing your mindset and training style when it comes to this, because I think we can, you know, get very particular on paces and strategy and programming, and I think that serves its purpose for sure. But at the same time it seems like you take a little more of a carefree approach that just works for you and also allows you to enjoy it seems like the training more than if you made yourself be confined to a specific routine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, and that's one of the things I'm most like excited about is that I've done everything that I've done without really a whole lot of structure or direction, and it's a balancing act. I don't want to go too far towards that structure where I lose the love and kind of like what draws me to the sport in the first place.
Speaker 2:But I know like if I put a little bit of just a little bit of effort into a training plan and like actual, maybe going to the gym once in a while, like I don't do that ever Just little things that I could do. I don't really eat super great, I eat decent there's a lot of little things that I could do that would probably get huge X returns. So I want to kind of start sliding that way, but not so far that I lose the love of why I'm doing it in the first place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. So going on that, like, what do you love most about running?
Speaker 2:it gives me. It's just kind of like an anchor, it's like kind of my identity, which is bad and good at the same time. But it's like I just know every day I'm going to get up and I'm going to go for a run and, like you never finish a run and feel bad about yourself, like if you ate some junk food or did something stupid. Like you're going to feel guilty, maybe like nobody ever feels bad after they go for maybe physically, but like not like you just made yourself worse. Like running always is like something I can do every day that keeps me accountable and like I just made myself a little bit better. So that's like the biggest thing I would say. But it also is just I, like the community for sure, like all my friends run. It's something that I can do with other people, but especially when I'm like traveling anywhere new, it's just a way to explore like where I'm at.
Speaker 2:Like this past winter I just went to a whole bunch of European countries and every morning you just got up and I would just kind of run. I take my phone with me so I could find my way back, but I would just go run in random spots and I'd look on google maps and find like mountain or something like an overlook. Just go run up to it, look and then run back like the exploring part and the adventure is really what gets me just. I can just go see things and you experience places and people differently when you're on foot rather than in a car or, yeah, on youtube or anything like that. So it really lets me experience where I'm at. That's what I love a lot too.
Speaker 1:That's really good. Yeah, I love running for the adventure aspect of it too. It's like these hundred mile races, 200 mile races are such an adventure and it's like you're you're going on a mission and you got point A to point B, especially. Uh, not not quite the, the loop courses, but the the point to point more. So, um, you know, are a little bit more fun and adventurous.
Speaker 1:I mean, different races serve their different purposes, but it seems like, too, one thing I try and embrace is just picking something, picking a challenge that seems exciting, and then, once you have that excitement behind it, it's like, well, you, you bring that to your training and I think you can get excited about the gym and it's it's. I love working out and strength training, but it's just different when you're going after, like, a certain number of weight to lift, versus, like you know, in six months you're going to be running in the in the colorado mountains doing the leadville 100 and like there's that kind of event that you're working towards. I think is is really cool, I agree, um, but but a little bit back to the race. So you, you sign up for this jackpot 100, like, let's, let's see what we can do here, like, oh shoot, well, now all the pros are signing up, so so we'll see um you.
Speaker 1:You do your training 65 to 75 miles. You're not hitting any crazy long runs. Uh, although you already have some experience doing ultras, what is your mindset coming into this race? Are you very serious? Are you excited? Are you like let's just go out and see what happens?
Speaker 2:What are you thinking? Before the race? It's really just there's no nerves, there's no stress. You're standing on the start line at a high school cross-country race, like I don't know. You just put so much pressure on yourself for a 15 to 17 minute race and I don't feel any of that anymore. I don't really know how it happened, but like I just am so, not carefree because I care, but like stress-free, maybe at the start line of these races, like I just know I'm gonna be out here running for however long it takes to get there. Not carefree because I care, but like stress-free, maybe at the start line of these races, like I just know I'm going to be out here running for however long it takes to get there. I know I'm going to get there.
Speaker 2:I don't know what's going to happen between now and then. Like I'm not a big planner If you've figured that out. Like I don't want to dial everything down and then get stressed out when something doesn't go to plan. So I pretty much just get on the start line and just am accepting of whatever's going to happen in the next hundred miles is going to happen, I'm going to deal with it. And yeah, I was just happy at the start line, smiling Like there was an Elvis impersonator singing and I went up there and like danced with him. I just like to keep it light and fun and I think that's kind of what that mental side of things is. One of my biggest advantages is just I don't get don't really get stressed out or worked up about stuff. I just kind of deal with it as it happens and usually usually it works out pretty well yeah, no, that's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I find, if you get like serious or too, one thing can just mess you up Exactly, and two 100-mile races are so different in the sense that you can't really get pumped up for it because it's so long. Yeah, it's like what. You're ramped up and then you're like, oh, I'm going to be out here for very, very long, like, oh, I'm going to be out here for very, very long.
Speaker 2:So all that stress to like you only have so much mental and physical energy? Yes, all that stress is burning in the background. It just, it just takes away from what you're actually trying to accomplish. So there's just. It serves no purpose, there's no value there. So why are you?
Speaker 1:involved with it that's actually a very good point to bring up is like stress manifests physically, and same thing with having to think a lot Like. What I find is you really don't want to think too much during like an 100 mile race. You kind of just want to zone out and just, you know, keep pushing and, yeah, get figure out when you're going to have your next gel or you're going to eat your next thing and have an idea. But you don't want to be like trying to process a ton or like work, do mental work, because the more you're doing that, the more you're actually draining yourself physically because it's like connected.
Speaker 2:Yep, I caught myself a couple of times cooking the mental math by run. I'm on this many laps, I got this many left. I've been running this pace. I'm in this place. At some point it's like just just run, like that's kind of what I did eventually, like I was just like just run, worry about your place, your time, whatever. When you have like 20 miles left, then you can care. After that, like before that it just it just doesn't matter. You're just gonna waste time and energy and probably do the math wrong too, because you're trying to run and not run into somebody else and then cook math and it's like, no, don't even worry about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. So tell me what was kind of like your pacing strategy coming into this. Did you have like, hey, I want to, you know, run at this pace pretty much the whole time, or what?
Speaker 2:was that like? So originally I wanted to run right around 12 hours, which didn't happen, um, but it sounds dumb. I didn't really have a like a pacing strategy. I knew that was like 7 10 pace ish, so I was gonna try to run about 7, 10 pace the whole time. Yeah, and it worked out pretty well.
Speaker 2:For the first like 40 miles, I was running seven o's the whole time and it felt pretty easy. I mean, I just I don't know if it was the shoes or the, the atmosphere or what it was, but I was just kind of clipping along at 7, 0 pace, um, and then obviously it didn't quite stay that way the rest of the race, because I ran 13 and a half hours and not 12. But yeah, I just it's like kind of like the before, I'm just going to run that pace until I couldn't, and that's kind of the way it went. I felt great for a while and then it just my body was like you can't do this for another seven or eight hours. So it just I just took what took, what the body in the day gave me and made the best with what I could the rest of the day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's good. No real strategy. Yeah, it's hard to pace like in a hundred mile race or know what you're gonna do. I mean a race like that's easier to have an idea of. But you still see, like you I mean I'm sure you notice this, but it seemed like, you know, several people were like gunning at the beginning and then they just got like something came up, whether it was a calf or something pulled or whatever, and they just dropped out of the race and other people you know were clipping but then slowed down a lot Um and so, and especially with like a race that's a little bit more mountainous, is like how are you going to say this, this pace, this pace, right, unless you're unless you're David Roche, maybe Um yeah, it was like this one was definitely easier to predict paces than when you're climbing.
Speaker 2:A thousand feet of gain and a mile like that is a lot more, a lot more variables of play. But yeah, I mean I just kind of stayed somewhat steady all day and just let the carnage ahead of me happen. People went out so fast and then I just ended up just passing people because they just dropped out.
Speaker 1:I mean I just that's why I didn't want to worry about it when I was 10, 20, 30, 40 miles in the race, like so much can change, so much can happen, and it just the stars aligned by the end of the day yeah, no, that's good, that's what I was telling my athlete, like he wasn't gunning for any specific um like place, but we were just talking about as we were running is like there are some people that went out so fast and you could see them as being, you know, so many miles ahead of you, but in reality if they end up slowing way down like there's a chance where you pass them because you've just been going steady and they're slowing way down even if they were 10 miles ahead of you at some point like that can happen if they slow way down, but if you and your mind are like, oh, you know, they're so far ahead of me, you know that there's no point, like in some people's mindset, then then you may not have caught them.
Speaker 1:So it's just very interesting how things play out and really how you have to run your own race, do the best that you possibly can and compete with yourself versus, like, worrying about where other people are at. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Just yeah, I've always kind of just ran my own race. I haven't really worried about like I don't want to go so deep in the well so early, and then it just makes the rest of the race miserable. Like I just kind of run within myself and then if towards the end I have any gears left, that's kind of what I like to do. I don't. Eventually that might change as I enter more competitive races, but for now I like to just kind of go out somewhat easy and then just reel them in towards the end of the race. I like that.
Speaker 1:Um, what did your fueling plan look like for this race? Like, did you have, um, you know, something laid out where you just kind of winging it to?
Speaker 2:kind of winging it. But I had a little bit of a plan. Okay, I don't, I don't train with any fuel, which I know is probably not ideal. Don't recommend it. Yeah, but I mixed up a bunch of liquid calories because the last race I did I took zero liquid calories and tried to do it all in jail. I just couldn't get it in, so liquid calories were kind of like a hack. So I ended up drinking about two gallons of water with a bunch of liquid calories mixed in there. I think I had three thirty five hundred calories of liquid calories throughout the race. So that was pretty much the main thing. Um, and then just some gels sprinkled in there. That's all I did was liquid calories and gels. I didn't do anything solid. Oh, I had two five-hour energies too, because that kind of helps. Maybe it's just a placebo, but I think it helps. So, yeah, liquid calories, five-hour energy and maybe 10 to 12 gels. That's about it.
Speaker 1:Okay, what gels and what liquid calories were you doing?
Speaker 2:Gels. It was the Huma H-U-M-A Huma. I got them for free after working at a race, so that's kind of what I use them for, um, but they have like natural-ish ingredients like apple puree and strawberry puree it makes me feel a little bit better about myself.
Speaker 2:Um, and the liquid calories were just the carbs brand I tried a sample at uh at leadville and it tasted pretty good. It was like somewhat of a neutral taste. It wasn't super, super flavorful. So, yeah, that'll work. And I'd, besides that sample at leadville, had never tried it again until the race, which I know is not ideal. So we had so. And then I just had some friends there and I'm like every lap they just had a bottle in the jail and I'll tell them I want that, I want that or I don't want anything. Um, and I was about it, there wasn't like on the third lap, I want this on the fifth lap, like no, it's just, they just held them both up and I took which one I wanted.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's kind of the fun of ultra running, I guess, is like you can be as planned out, as strategic as you want, or you can just kind of hey, yeah, I'm going to have fun and you may pay the price for winging it for sure, like you don't try any a certain gel or a certain liquid, and then you do it on race day and it messes with you. That's not good, but it worked out.
Speaker 2:I paid the price with the heat. I mean here in Missouri it's been 15 degrees. I ran and I think it was 2 one morning when I ran. It's been cold and I looked at the weather and it was like 65 in Las Vegas. I'm like, oh, that would be perfect. I didn't bring any ice bandanas or anything like that. I'm around 11 o'clock when my face is caked in the salt. I was hot. It kind of made my stomach clench.
Speaker 2:I saw the aid stations. The only thing I took from the aid station they had buckets for like ice because they literally had a sign that said body ice and I literally just took the scooper and like drank the ice water out of the body ice bucket and then just shoved some ice down my shirt and then two or three laps and then do the same thing again for like three hours. Yeah, just cooking. I was a little warm there in the middle. That was my biggest. Biggest flaw of the whole race was not bringing the ice bandana. I literally had it in my hand and I was like, nah, I don't need that with me.
Speaker 1:I'm like yeah, for sure would have been helpful, for sure, yeah, um, that brings to mind, oh, did you have any like mental lows throughout this race, or were you pretty even keel, like? What was that like?
Speaker 2:it was pretty even. Uh, mentally it was pretty. Even I kind of got discouraged towards the beginning when I was sitting in fifth place for the first 50 or so miles. That was kind of discouraging. Um, but that mentally I mean, it's always been a pretty strong area for me. Uh, the biggest, like I was pretty low in the middle there when I was hot and my stomach kind of locked up that was, and I was just like that.
Speaker 2:That was the only time the race I wondered, like am I gonna blow up? Bad, like I never doubted that I was gonna finish, but like I have 60 miles left, 55 miles left and I feel this terrible, like I I might just completely blow up. It's more like just I see what's gonna happen, like so I know like woe is me, this sucks. Mental stuff like that. I chose to be there. I paid money to be there. I'm not gonna like throw away the opportunity by throwing a pity party. Yeah, I was just discouraged, I guess, towards the beginning to be running as well as I thought I was and to be in the place that I was. It was a little discouraging but it worked out.
Speaker 1:That's good. Yeah, I find that one thing, especially when I got into ultras and I see it a lot with athletes is like when you're in an ultra and you experience hardship, like you, with your stomach, like man. If I feel this way 40 miles in or 50 miles in, like I can't imagine what it's going to feel like 70 miles in, because you almost just like in your mind naturally there's an assumption that like as the distance goes up, the pain is going to get worse. But for ultras it's not that Like the pain comes and goes and it ebbs and flows kind of up and down. So I just think that's interesting and something to really have in mind. If you've never done an ultra is like I will experience pain, but it doesn't mean that it's just going to get progressively worse the entire time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's one of my favorite things about these ultras is just, it's a roller coaster ride. You don't know if you're going to have a high for the first 40 miles or you might have a low 10 miles in, and it just. I remember thinking at mile 33, like I was like I'm feeling a little, a little tired and I'm a third of the way done, like I can't imagine feeling three times this tired. That's the mental math. Like I feel this bad. Now I'm a quarter of the way done, times four. Oh man, that's going to suck. Yes, it just it's not linear. Like it kind of hurts and then it just kind of levels off and you, sometimes it goes down, it comes back up. Sometimes you just stay at the same plane of suck for the whole race. But uh, it's definitely. Yeah, it's a journey, it's an adventure and it's it's not predictable, which is my favorite thing yeah, that's cool man.
Speaker 1:Um, so, going forward from this, like what do you have coming up and really, where do you want to take this?
Speaker 2:I want to take it all the way. I mean, I love running and I love competing, and if it gives me the opportunity to potentially make a career out of it in the future and allow me to travel to these awesome places and literally just explore islands and volcanoes and other things by running and competing like that would be insane. So that's like the north star pipe dream, eventually taking it at least somewhat professional. But, um, for this year I'm really excited about what I have left. I'm just signed up for cocodona, so a 250 miler be my first one. I've never ran 250 miles, probably going to do the same training I've been doing, just run. I'll maybe maybe go in the sauna a couple of times, cause it's in Arizona, um, but yeah, that's, that's my next thing on the calendar, um, and then besides that, I'm doing grindstone in the fall and September, and then I have a Ironman that I signed up for in November. So that's all that's on the like locked in right now.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking about doing Desert Solstice now, after Jackpot. We'll see that one's, we'll put that on the back burner, but for now I'm just really excited about Cocodona because it's it's an adventure, whereas the laps was just a race like a task Cocodona is. It's an adventure and I'm. That's what I love, that's like what my heart wants, so and I want to win. So I'm going to try to win and have an adventure at the same time.
Speaker 1:Let's go, man. That's amazing. That's awesome. Well, best of luck to you in that. I'm curious for you what do you feel like? So say, you're speaking to your younger version of yourself that's getting into ultra marathons. You've never really done one. Maybe you've done a marathon. What kind of piece of advice would you give to yourself?
Speaker 2:or to someone that's, you know, maybe hasn't challenged themselves like you have now. That's tough because I've always just seeked out that challenge naturally, and for someone who has no desire to be uncomfortable it's tough. How do you convince someone who is so just content with where they are to go out and try something like a 100-mile race? And I think if you are happy with your life where you're at, I don't think a 100-mile race in and of itself is going to make you happier if you have no desire to do that. So I say, if you're happy, just continue doing what you're doing.
Speaker 2:But someone who's ultra curious, go for it Like for sure. You never know. If you don't take a shot at it, the worst thing that happens is what You're out a couple hundred bucks and maybe you have some blisters. And then you know and don't stress out about it. Like these people, they put so much stress and they build up and like the six month training plans and they have to hit every single workout like and all that stress it just it kind of takes away from the why in the first place.
Speaker 2:Like if you've committed to doing an ultra, you obviously are somewhat curious about either the adventure or if you can do it or there's a reason why, yeah, and I just say, like, be committed to that. Don't don't get so caught up in all the data and the metrics and the vo2 max crap. Just remember that you're there for a reason. You chose to be there and just don't take yourself so seriously.
Speaker 2:At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter whether you run this pace or that pace, if you dnf, if you don't like, you're going to learn something from that experience and it's not the end of the world, no matter what. If you DNF, if you don't like, you're going to learn something from that experience and it's not the end of the world, no matter what you do. If you win, if you come in last, like, at the end of the day nobody really cares besides you Like, it doesn't affect the rest of the world. So just go out there and have your own adventure, run your race and just smile, have fun with it, like you. Just be a cheerful person and yeah, have fun. That's that's what I like to do. Just take the stress away, yeah just have fun with it.
Speaker 1:I love that, man. No, this has been great. I've really enjoyed to hear just your kind of perspective on running and how you approach training and races and and things like that, because I think there's uh, definitely a time and place for intentionality and structure. But also you want to. You want to keep things fun and we you don't get like 99% of people don't get paid to run ultras Like it's a. It's a fun pursuit, it's to challenge yourself, it's to grow, and so why take it to an extreme that you're gonna lose that and I think that's how people can get just burnt out of it.
Speaker 2:It's like I don't want to do this if it's you know, or you do too many, too quick, and then it's like yeah, you put a lot of stress on you because you get injured and it's taking too much time out of their life and like, take a step back and get through the injury. Maybe find a way to work it into your schedule where it's a little more made from with other people. Like I love running with other people because it's like so much more enjoyable, like yeah, so just find a way to make it fun and and the results the whatever you're chasing will come if you just make it fun and make it part of your life naturally, rather than just forcing it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome man. Well, sweet Cody, Thanks so much for coming on Um. Where can people find you on online?
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, my Instagram is just my first name, last name, so it's just Cody Poskin. And then I have a uh, a YouTube channel where I pretty much just vlog my races for the most part. Um, and that's the same thing. It's just Cody Poskin. Um, I just started the YouTube channel cause I was like you know what, when I'm 80 years old, maybe I'll look back and reminisce about when I could walk and run and do things. Um, but now it's just fun. I like creating the videos and it's it's fun for me. So, that's good, you want to watch? Great, if not, I'm still going to make the videos.
Speaker 1:So awesome man. Well, I love it. Thanks so much for coming on and for everyone. Go out and run your race.