JAM: What, then, is a skyrunner?

SJ: That term came about because of a series starting in Europe that now races in the U.S. called Skyrunning. It’s meant to evoke notions of people running across the sky — it’s just a sexy name. It’s a World Cup equivalent for mountain runners.

[Read more about skyrunning.]

JAM: I get a lot of questions from readers about how to train for hills when they don’t live near them. How do mountain runners do this, or do they all live with a mountain in their backyards?

SJ: Quite a large number of the folks we work with live in vertically challenged places. We coach an amateur who lives in Florida and just ran the Cascade Crest 100 (a 100-mile endurance run through mountains). So it’s possible. The best way to prepare is to spend time going uphill and downhill, even if it’s a simulated uphill or stair machine or treadmill. I understand the boredom factor can be huge, but if they’re looking to achieve their best results, it’s their best bet.

JAM: What about safety? I know there have been a number of deaths on Mont Blanc recently.

SJ: That kind of accident is so infrequent in the mountain running world. People have a better chance of being hit by lightning. So know your limits and understand your skill level. It’s one of the downsides of social media and things like Strava. It creates this competition. Someone posts this stuff, then someone else says, “I can do that,” when they have nowhere near the skills.

The most likely danger for people running in mountains, especially above the tree line, is afternoon lightning and thunderstorms. If you’re not familiar with it, you can get yourself well into that danger zone and hardly even notice it because the weather can come in so fast. Things like going early, carrying a rain jacket, that kind of stuff — those are pretty common-sense ideas.

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