About this episode
Alyssa is a “Professional Triathlete who can’t seem to shake her ultrarunning habit”. She has finished 30 Ironman Triathlons, 40 ultra races, and once finished 4th in the Taiwan Ironman using all borrowed gear. On July 31, 2018, she set a new women's FKT on Vermont’s 273mi Long Trail of 5 days, 2 hours. Alyssa describes being inspired by Jennifer Pharr Davis and Nikki Kimball, both of whose Long Trail times she bettered, while noting, “Last year was my 4th as a professional triathlete. I needed to do something different - I needed to keep my fire lit”. She once did two Ironmans on successive weekends in different continents, but notes, “The Long Trail was way harder - the hardest thing I’ve ever done. The terrain is so variable - unless you’ve spent time on this trail it’s hard to describe - it changes every few hundred meters - it’s soul-crushing. Alyssa notes that women tend to want to be very prepared before they undertake something, while men are willing to jump in, even if they’re not 100%. So her advice to women? “Go do it. There’s nothing stopping you, because you get to make it your own. It’s like your own version of The Amazing Race - you get to do that yourself with FKTs”.