Leah Yingling | 2023 Western States 100 Pre-Race Interview

Welcome back, or welcome, to the single track podcast. I'm your host, finn Milansen, and in this episode we're joined by Leah Yingling. ahead of the 2023 Western States 100. Before we get started, though, this episode is brought to you by Hoka Rabbit Morton and Features Head to the show notes page of this episode for new product releases and discount codes from each of our four sponsors. With that, let's get started. It's great to have you here live in the single track studios here in Olympic Valley.

I'm happy to be here.

I'm trying to think of where we can start this conversation. Maybe a good place is just comparing and contrasting how this week of Western States feels compared to your first year here in 2022. Talk about that.

Oh man, this is way better. I mean A, i'm staying in a house with you guys.

Yes.

Yay, yeah. Last year was just honestly hectic and I was working up until the Wednesday before the race flew into San Francisco. Didn't get out here till Thursday night and it was just a wild ride. So this is feeling way more relaxed. Got my mom here this year instead of my dad. Totally different energy, not your mom today or last night.

She's awesome.

Yeah, she's the best. She already found a cavapoo out there today, so she's living her best life, but, yeah, just way more relaxed. I think that actually reflects my general year so far. just even approached racing and everything coming into Western States. So, yeah, i feel like it jives and I'm just excited to toe the line.

Yeah, you've had a little bit less full of a racing schedule leading up to this race. Was that something that you purposely wanted to do after last year, or was that just kind of the way the cards fell?

Both. Yeah, i exited last year telling myself like I want an entirely different approach to Western States this year. Every race I did last year, i remember coming out of it and be like that was my best race ever.

Yeah.

Like every single race through Western States, which is a really cool feeling. But at the same time I, after the world championships and then after attempting quad-dipsy, it was just, you know, a little too much. So coming into this year, i was like I want to be a little bit more calculated. I've never had like a chunky block of training before coming into a big race. So this year I wanted to do that. I wanted to do like 50k, 50 miles, 100 miles, that's it leading up to the race, and I kind of stuck to it. It worked well too with my work schedule this year. My work's been wild, so just trying to counteract, counterbalance that stress of work with my running life, and pretty good so far.

We've had a lot of people come through the studio in the last three or four days. You look like one of the most relaxed. Is there something to be said about this being your sophomore year of Western States and like you've kind of been there, done that and you'll just take it as it comes? You're basically an upperclassman.

I can bully the freshman If you've done Western States more than zero times.

You're a veteran.

Yeah, you know, i felt similarly last year. I remember, like the coach, my conversation with my coach the night prior to telling her. I felt like my energy wasn't matching everybody else's and I felt nervous about that. I feel the same way this year, but I don't feel nervous about it anymore. I feel like it's the right energy to have for me and I think it'll allow for me to bring the energy then on race day Like, yeah, i feel calm, cool, collected and I think that's how I race best.

You might have to correct me on the numbers here, but Brett was saying it last episode with Heather, Maybe last year, between two and seven there was like a 30 to 45 minutes spread. That can come down to minutes spent in age stations. Certain points in the course You were in that mix finishing top American sixth overall. Where are you looking to potentially shave off time in this race?

I think there's opportunity for me to shave off some time in age stations, but I mean, i think last year I did a pretty good job of minimizing that. I think my longest stop was for a still and we have it on video and I think it was like two minutes and 51 seconds. So I don't think there's much time to cut down there. But I do think the course this year is going to present some different challenges, especially leading up to Robinson flat. I don't think I'll be shaving off anytime there, but I do think Cal Street, michigan Bluff to Forest Hill, those sections I think I was still remaining pretty relaxed and really turned it on at the river last year. I think I might turn it on a little sooner this year and I think there's definitely some time where I can be a little bit more in the mix.

Do you feel like you're a faster runner this year, like you've done stuff in training that has increased your foot speed?

Yes, yeah, i think this is the fittest I've ever been, which is nice. I focused a lot on speed this winter and ran way too cool earlier this, back in March, and then raced a flatter, faster 50 miler on the East Coast in April will run run 50. So I have been focusing a lot more on the runnable stuff this year and it actually fared quite well with the winter we had in Salt Lake Like was not able to get on many trails, kind of forced to run on the roads. And yeah, i lean on Mike for my confidence boost. Every time we're on a run he reminds me like this is the fastest you've ever been, this is the fittest you've ever been, and you're nearly dropping me on every run. So I like to trust that what he's saying is accurate.

I'm just being nice.

So one thing that you had said about you know you're racing season last year. You know it's like every race I had was the best race that I'd ever had After having an amazing day at Western States. What? what is bringing you back again this year?

A lot of things. I mean, yeah, I said Western States, I was one and done last year and I came back because I know I can do better and I really enjoy competing and I really I can be in the mix more than I have been in the past And I don't think I've given myself that chance yet. So I think this is the level of competition where I can really mix it up. Also, just like the community, the energy, the people, the hype, it's hard to say no to this race, especially if you're presented with the opportunity again.

Yeah, I definitely learned after last year that like I don't want to ratio Western States anytime, Hey, we had a great 20 miles, i know. I was saying, yeah, I'm not in the field, So I was just wondering where you were going to draw that motivation from Last year was just like I'm going to bury him.

Hey, that was my motivation. It worked Yeah.

I'm curious because there are certainly a lot of women in this field that, it seems to me, are willing to throw away their own race strategy at the beginning If certain people are taking it out at a certain tempo. you've always struck me as somebody that is, um, you stick to the plan and you don't let forces outside your control dictate your day. Even though you mentioned wanting to take maybe more risks at certain points in the race, is that still gonna be the overall strategy for you?

Yeah, yeah, it's where I race best too. I really like chasing people down and I really don't enjoy being chased. So I think there's something to be said there. But I also have I feel like I've fine tuned what my skillset and my strengths are this last year And I think with my knowledge of the field, my knowledge of the sport, i know where to inject different surges and inject my strengths a little bit more. So perhaps that's on the climbs, perhaps that's in controlling the controllables. I kind of know the places where that's going to serve me best relative to the rest of the field. So I think I'm going to lean into that a little bit more this year than I did last year, where I was just truly chilling for a long time.

Yeah, where does that begin for you this year? Where do you figuratively stop chilling?

Yeah, i think, the climb up to Devil's Thumb.

Last year was it at Forest Hill, were you kind of turned it on? Like the river The river yeah. Yeah, I think You held those last 20 miles.

I did. Those are some of the best miles of my life And they were so special Like that was the first time in my life. I felt like I was in a pure hunting mode And it was so cool because it was dusk when I hit the river. I surged up to Green Gate with my crew and then just took off with my pacer, matt Mitchell there And normally I like my pacer in front of me or behind me in races And that was spur of the moment. I was like Matt, get in front of me like carry this pace Yeah, and it worked really well.

How many passes did you make in those last 20 miles?

Of overall people gosh, probably a good like 15 of women. I think I was 11th, 10th at the river. I moved into 10th right before the river and then moved from 10th to 6th by the finish, that's a lot of carrots. A lot of carrots.

You know. I think it might also be good to talk about just your relationship with Lula Lemon. heading into this race last year You were a Solomon athlete, this year Lula Lemon, And we've been talking offline about just how excited they are, I think, to be on the ground with you. Can you share any insights into maybe how some people from the team are going to be there with you on race day in the trenches?

Yeah, I've got Peter from Lula Lemon on my crew this year And he's never crewed before but is really eager to be out there And I think he's really using it as a learning experience. Gosh, he's in for a rude awakening, But Drinking from the firehouse. Yeah, yeah, i told him to pack some warm clothes, because it's really chilly here in Tahoe And he says his excitement will warm him up.

So that's one way of doing it.

But, yeah, i really enjoy their approach to things because they're truly learning as they go with like ultra and troll running And they want to like take it all in. They want to innovate by being on the ground and learning, and not only is he doing that, but he really wants to be a part of my team and be a part of this community And I think that speaks a lot to who they are as a company and a brand in general. Just like supporting you holistically as the human And I know for me coming into this year, partnering with Lula Lemon, like even partnering with any brand, i said I just I want to feel a part of something And I want people to care about me as a human, and I think that's exactly what I'm seeing in my support crew and my partnership with them leading into Western states, you know, performance aside like they care about me as a person, they care about me as a human And they are allowing me to be a part of something bigger, which I think is just really inspiring at the end of the day, I've got to ask you one analysis question because I would be remiss not to ask this.

We're missing your insights.

We're missing your insights. Looking at this woman's field, do you have any idea of what the spread is going to look like from like winning time to back half of the top 10. Like, are we going to be looking at a pretty tight top 10 this year or pretty spread out top 10, without going into names?

How are?

you envisioning this turning out?

So last year we saw the fastest top 10 women like set of top 10 women in history. So I think Anne Marie Madden ran 19x something And she was an 11th place and 19 hours, and anything would easily put you in the top 10. It's won some years, yes any other year And she ran a phenomenal race and that's just wild to believe that a 19-something would not put you in the top 10. I think we're gonna see something very similar this year.

It's not like last year was an easy year, no, it was hot.

Yeah, yeah. So I think we're gonna see. I mean, we might see somebody crush the rest of the women's field, i don't know, but I think like we're gonna see a pretty tight, at least two to ten.

Yeah, we shall see, it'll be good. Shall we move on to our single track, hq tradition.

Yes, let's go, let's carried on. I'm very excited for this one.

Mike, you want to be our watermelon guy. Watermelon guy, i don't want you to be our watermelon.

Let me sign you, Mike.

We brought you a live cougar and we want you to draw a watermelon on it. Okay, so this is the official Western States watermelon and we want you to draw your best cougar. You will have 15 seconds and then we want you to sign it and then we will all maybe eat it or something during the golden hour.

When's the timer start?

And don't worry about the predecessors.

Can I look for my own cougar?

Yeah, you can You, can You can go Pinterest style Three, two, one go Oops, I started in the forehand 15.

Gosh, those are 10 seconds Was the coo's head even look like.

I'm going to see if yours 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Time's up Sign.

Oh god, whatever, You can kind of see my name.

This has got one of the best forms we've seen. It's pretty solid, it's full bodied.

With a donkey face.

God, this is a good tail. It's got four legs. tail. yeah, can we show the viewers A little bit rounder?

Rounder than most.

We'll put up a picture.

It's cute.

Well, yeah, i know we're biased here at Singletrack HQ, but we are very excited to watch your race and fold on Saturday, and thank you for representing Salt Lake City and our crew here and just making the sport more exciting.

I'm mostly sad to not be participating in the race previews, guys.

Maybe next year we can start the tradition. We'll kick it off.

You would. I'm assuming Lee is in the race next year I know.

I don't know. Two and done guys.

Yeah, we'll see you after Saturday. Thank you so much.

Thanks guys.