Alex Nichols has been running on the Skyrunning World Circuit for a couple years now, and along with consistently placing well, he has been a dominant runner on the local trail racing scene around Colorado. In 2013 Nichols finished third overall in the European Skyrunning Sky Series and represented the U.S. at the World Mountain Running Championships in Poland, and in 2014 he won Moab’s Red Hot 55K, placed third at the competitive Speedgoat 50K, and placed third overall and led an American team to victory at Les Templiers in France.
2015 has been an outstanding year so far for Nichols, with a sixth place finish at the IAU Trail World Championships at the 85K Tecnica MaXi-Race in Annecy, France, and most recently with a dominating win at the Mont Blanc 80K race, which is part of the highly competitive Mont Blanc Marathon weekend in Chamonix, France. I caught up with Alex briefly to talk about his season, how his dominating win unfolded, and what he has planned for the rest of the year.
PJ: Congrats on an outstanding race in Chamonix! It must feel great to have planned and executed such a brilliant race. Talk us through the race. How did it unfold? In a recent article on the Inov-8 website (your shoe sponsor) you talk about how you “could tell that something big was in store for me in Chamonix.”
AN: It was just one of those races where everything went according to plan for me. I could tell from the very first climb that my legs felt springy and I would have a good day. In the past I have raced these long distances pretty conservatively in order to save my legs, but in the Mont Blanc race I decided to be a little more aggressive and make sure I wasn’t far off the lead right from the start. As it turned out the leaders weren’t running nearly as fast as I thought they would so I just waited until I felt like I could make a real push for the win. I went for it at about the 50k mark. From then on it was pretty much my race to loose. Fortunately I kept feeling good and was able to put some big time on the field and hold on to the finish.
PJ: You are back in Colorado Springs now. How is the recovery going? It looks like you are racing Speedgoat 50K again this year. How does it compare to the European Skyrunning races? Any predictions on how it will go for you?
AN: My recovery is actually coming along a lot more quickly than it did after the IAU World Championships, so barring an unforeseen setback I will be running the Speedgoat 50k on July 25th. Speedgoat was actually a part of the World Sky Ultra series up until this year and I think Karl Meltzer has done a great job creating a true sky race in the US. It has a lot of very steep sections and a good amount of overall vertical change. It doesn’t have too many really technical sections of trail, the way a lot of European sky races have, but it is still a really tough course.
PJ: You’ve mentioned in other interviews that you really had to work on your downhill running skills in order to improve in the Skyrunning races. How have you done that? Are you just bombing down technical sections of hills faster, or were there specific drills and techniques that you practiced?
AN: When I started trail running I would purposely avoid downhill running because it would tear up my legs too much. But then, because I was avoiding downhills so much I think I became even more susceptible to sore quads. Eventually I got to the point where I knew something had to change. I started attacking downhills, especially during my long runs, just to build up the muscle durability needed to run long on the trails. I also think that exposing myself to more technical races helped me improve. I’ve learned a lot by running European sky races, seeing the lines other people choose, and then trying to do it myself. It is something that has just taken a lot of practice and experience for me to get better.
PJ: You live in Colorado Springs, having gone to Colorado Collage to study film. Like many, you’ve ended up sticking around after school. Talk about the running scene in the Springs. Do you train with any of the other strong runners there: Brandon Stapanowich, Peter Maksimow, Joe Gray, Zach Miller.
AN: Colorado Springs really seems to be in the midst of an elite trail running boom. We all train with each other on a pretty regular basis and it seems like there are always more people moving to town. I like to think that our club “Team Colorado” has something to do with it. Peter Maksimow initially created the club so that we could set the team record at the Mount Washington road race. From those humble beginnings in 2012 with just about 6 of us it has grown into arguably the best trail running club in the country.
PJ: Talk about your training and running philosophy? Do you follow a set schedule with pre-determined workouts, or do you go out and see how you feel each day?
AN: My training schedule now is relatively flexible, especially compared to what I was doing in college. I have rough week-to-week goals for volume but most of the specifics are determined by my next race. I still follow a standard schedule of alternating hard and easy days but a lot of the time I won’t decide what my run will be until the morning of. I’ve found that this gives me some freedom to take an extra easy day if I just don’t feel right. The long mountain runs that I do now tend to take more out of me than a typical speed session, so I still get in a good amount of mileage but my harder days are not as numerous as they were when I was running track or cross country.
PJ: Has racing in Europe over the past couple years changed your perspective on running? You came from a track and cross country background, but now are mostly a mountain runner. Talk about that evolution?
AN: My perspective on running is still changing on a daily basis. I definitely came from a background that would look down on any race that required hiking, but I’m realizing now that kind of thinking is just misinformed. In many of the races I run there will be sections of hiking but what a lot of people don’t realize is that there is also a lot of fast running. For example I’ve been in a 12k race where I split both a 4:22 mile and an 11:47. My racing now focuses more on getting through a given course efficiently instead of worrying about times. In the end I think that’s what all running races are about – getting to the finish as quickly and efficiently as possible.
PJ: At Colorado College you studied film, correct? What are you doing now? You made a couple running films after school; are you still working in film or have you moved on to other avenues?
AN: The last documentary film I worked on was called “Where Dreams Don’t Fade.” It took an in depth look at the culture of the running community in Eldoret and Iten, Kenya through the perspective of three Kenyan athletes (http://www.negativesplit.net/wddf/#!/page_Home) Since then I have been working as the assistant coach at Colorado College. More specifically I have been coaching the women’s distance group in track for the last three years. It has been great to see the program and the athletes improve. But most of all it is just good to see people out there enjoying running.
PJ: You run for Inov-8, a British shoe company with a background in fell running. Do you have any desire to do some fell races? They seem like they might be a good fit for your current running style, if not a bit wet.
AN: I’d love to give fell running a shot sometime. It is a really cool blend of navigational skills and mountain running. I’m not sure how I would do on the route finding side of things but I think it could be really fun to blast up and down the hills like they do. However, with the amount of yuka and cactus in Colorado Springs it might be a while before we see a fell race around these parts.
PJ: So what is up next other than Speedgoat? Are you going back to Europe, or sticking around here to run Pikes Peak again?
AN: I’m planning on running the Pikes Peak marathon after Speedgoat. I’ve come in second at Pikes Peak twice but I’ve never managed to win it all so that’s definitely on my list. After that the cross country season starts up at Colorado College so I’ll be taking a break from racing for a bit. Although I do plan on going back to Les Templiers in late October and then to San Francisco for the TNF 50 in early December.
PJ: Thanks so much for taking the time Alex, I really appreciate it. For young runners who are looking to get into Skyrunning, Mountain Running, and bigger, more technical races, do you have any advice or tricks that you have learned. For many, it can seem pretty confusing on how to get into these kinds of races or to even get onto the U.S. Mountain Running team.
AN: There are a lot of different trail running federations out there so it can get pretty confusing. The US Mountain running championships takes place every year so that is always a good place to start. But really I would just recommend searching out competitive races. If you can do well against the best, opportunities are sure to follow.