#194 - Adam Sjolund

Send us Fan MailA lot of runners dream about a breakthrough season. Adam Joland is living one, and he’s honest about how messy it looks from the inside. Right after a standout run at Sierre-Zinal and a strong Golden Trail campaign, we sit down to dissect what actually went right: keeping the monster climb under control, staying mentally present for the whole race, and learning how to race with confidence instead of just hanging on and hoping. If you follow mountain running, Golden Trail World Series racing, or just love hearing how elite athletes problem-solve in real time, this one gets specific fast. Adam also shares the long road that led here, from growing up in Bonnie Lake, Washington to running collegiately at the University of Nevada, Reno where trail running became part of the training culture early. Then comes Flagstaff, Arizona, a training environment that can either sharpen you or swallow you. We talk about adjusting to altitude, finding a crew, and building the Ponderosa Pirates as a group of hungry “misfit” trail runners who keep each other honest. Outside the racing, Adam balances a mechanical engineering PhD at NAU with research focused on carbon sequestration, plus the practical question every emerging athlete faces: how do you chase a professional trail running contract without turning your brain over to social media? He explains why he quit posting, why he came back, and how outsourcing Instagram helps him stay focused on training, nutrition, and technical skills. We also get into the sport’s rapid professionalization, what we gain with bigger money, and what we risk losing from trail running’s dirtbag roots. If you enjoy the conversation, subscribe or follow, share it with a training partner, and leave a rating and review so we can keep telling these stories.Use code SteepStuff for 20% your cart on Sidas.usFollow James on IG - @jameslaurielloFollow the Steep Stuff Podcast on IG - @steepstuff_podFollow Sidas USA on IG - @sidas_usa