Interview with Leadville 100 runner-up Kyle Pietari

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Who was that second-place guy at last weekend’s Leadville 100?  Get to know Denver’s Kyle Pietari in this interview and learn how he trained and raced so well.  Pietari’s 18:16 placed him second overall in the “Race Across the Sky.”

Kyle, awesome race at Leadville!  I feel like I generally know the names of top ultra finishers, but I’ll admit, when your name showed up on the iRunFar preview, it was new to me.  I read the great blog you wrote for Altra’s webpage and checked out your Ultrasignup results, so I learned a little, but fill us in, who is Kyle Pietari and how long have you been in Colorado?

My wife and I moved to Denver in 2011, a year after I finished college. We loved it here, bought a house, and decided we would never move again. Then I got into Harvard Law School. We spent the past two school years in Massachusetts and the summers back in Colorado.

2011 was the first year I managed to run with much consistency since tenth grade. When I moved to Colorado, I had enough fitness to confidently sign up for my first trail ultra, and I’m so glad I did! Since becoming a Coloradan, I’ve continually trained for and raced trail ultras to the greatest extent that my schedule, my body, and my familial obligations permit—which often isn’t much, but maintaining fitness to run ultras doesn’t require as much of a commitment as most people assume. I’ve embraced running as an ideal passion for me to have, and incorporated it into many aspects of my lifestyle, which reduces time spent training.

Second place at Leadville then, that’s a huge accomplishment.  Most ultra fans that followed the race online know how the race went between Ian Sharman and Mike Aish, but tell us about your race.  Did you run with those guys early on, have any bad patches, etc?

Thanks! My race went substantially according to plan. My strategy in all races is to keep my heart rate sustainable, eat a gel every 20 minutes, and run hard on every runnable downhill. I let people pass me on the uphills (my weakness) and made up ground on the downhills (my strength).

I ran the first few miles with Ian and Mike, but then let them and others go ahead, knowing that Leadville is particularly cruel to those who go out too hard—it’s the altitude. I assumed that if I ran smart, my only competition for third place would be Brian Rusiecki, who I enjoyed covering much of the first 55 miles with. Considering Brian’s 100-miler accomplishments, I’m clearly lucky his legs felt off on race day.

I arrived at Winfield in 8:17, 3 minutes under my target split for a sub-18 hours finish. Climbing back over Hope Pass, around mile 54, I felt the worst I did all day. I was moving very slowly, but my heart was pounding the whole climb. I wish I could have climbed faster, but maxing out the effort level before mile 60 is suicide. However, after reaching the top, I made up for lost time by bombing the downhill to Twin Lakes. My quads took a beating, but I knew they had time to recover before the next major descents. I left Twin Lakes in 5th, and from then on, it was easy to work my way up to 2nd, as those ahead of me all slowed down a lot. I realized I was comfortably on the podium when I left Half Pipe (mile 70), and largely ditched my sub-18 hours goal. I decided it was best to run conservatively so I would minimize my risk of losing my position on the podium due to a bonk, blowing out my legs, stomach nausea, or tripping on a rock. Place mattered more to me than time at that point. My split from May Queen (mile 87) to the finish was very slow, and I even walked most of the final four miles, although I felt strong. It’s pleasant when the best race strategy is to go a lot slower than I could if I was being chased.

I passed Mike shortly after beginning the climb up power lines (around mile 79). Coincidentally, it happened about the same place I passed Scott Jurek to move into 4th place in 2013. Both of them had stomach issues and couldn’t keep food down. With Mike, as with Scott, I felt as disappointed as I did excited to pass him. Both of them have the capacity to race so much faster than me, and both had the guts to go out hard enough that they risked blowing up. It was fun to beat them, but I would rather have seen Mike and Scott each have a good day and finish miles ahead of me.

There’s lots of 100s out there.  For someone who spent much of the summer in Boston, why Leadville?

Leadville was the perfect race for me schedule-wise. I got back to Colorado early June, and will leave at the end of August. This gave me enough time to train and acclimate after finishing the spring semester at school, and a week of recovery before I move back to Boston. My summer employment ended at the end of July and my wife had our second child on August 3rd, so my 3-week taper was strategically utilized to focus my energy on my family when I was most needed.

Additionally, Leadville is, simply put, one of the world’s premier ultras, and guarantees a good level of competition that I can challenge myself against. It’s only 90 minutes from Denver; it’s a family-friendly event; I know a lot of people who are involved with the race and love the community feel of the race; I have friends in Colorado who can pace me; and I ran it twice before, so the planning and logistics are greatly simplified for my crew and me.

Your longest run in this training cycle was 33 miles?!?  That’s pretty incredible.  I’ve always been scared off of 100s because I feel like mega mileage is needed.  For you, you’ve run 100s before.  What typically would have been your longest run during a 100-mile cycle?  And what generally was your weekly mileage during this cycle?

My 33-miler was way back in May, and was really just a test to see if I could go that far before eating anything in the morning. I strongly recommend fasted training. My peak long runs really only reach about 28 miles, though they are part of back-to-back weekends. I don’t think hitting a 30+-miler is necessary for success in a 100.

This training cycle was very abridged. From the beginning of November until the second week of April, I averaged about 29 miles per week, due to an injury. For the next 9 weeks, I averaged about 65 miles per week. I averaged 42.8 miles per week for the month of June. That left me only the month of July to do serious training, so I set a goal of running 400 miles in July. I assumed I had zero room for error, but then got horribly sick for a few days in the middle of the month, and was ill for over two weeks. Regardless, I made it my best training month ever, running 405 miles total and topping out at 110 miles four weeks before the race. I then ran 20 road miles on August 1st, 27 miles up and down Mt. Falcon on August 2nd, and my son was born August 3rd. I only covered about 35 miles during my 19-day taper. Most of my training was slow, but I ran hard interval workouts once or twice per week.

I’m impressed with your commitment to run commuting.  Can you really look semi-wrinkle free when taking clothes from a backpack?  How long is your current run commute?

It depends on the material. “No iron” clothing is a good thing. But I run commute with all of the same dress clothes that I would wear if I didn’t run commute. If something looks bad, I just use a spare outfit that I keep around for emergencies. Even working at a top-tier law firm, a shirt and pants rolled up inside a plastic grocery store bag is almost always good enough!

During the school year, my commute to and from Harvard Law School is 2.75 miles each way. This summer, my commute was 4.5 miles each way to the law firm office where I worked in downtown Denver. I’ll be returning to work there long-term after I finish law school next year, and am excited what that will mean for my running fitness. Running 45 miles per week with a backpack is great training. Plus, I don’t have to pay for parking, and riding the bus often takes longer than running would.

Kyle, thanks so much.  Good luck with the recovery and congrats on your newborn!

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