Adidas Terrex Infinite Trails Training: War Journal, August

Infinite Trails Continued

As part of the Adidas Terrex mentorship program, I will be training and running in the Adidas Terrex Agravic Speed Ultra, a premium race day shoe featuring a dual-layer Lightstrike Pro midsole, Peba EnergyRods, Continental rubber outsole, and aggressive rocker geometry. 

Like a war, the path towards running improvement is long and grueling. This is the story of my journey towards a 27-mile trail race in the Austrian alps, my first marathon distance race on any terrain, road or trail.

The program is taking place virtually from June to September, and will feature trail running athletes from the TERREX team mentoring hand-selected program participants to improve their skills and experience taking on the trail. By the end of the program, participants will have the opportunity to show off their new skills in the Infinite Trails race. The program concludes with an on-the-ground Infinite Trails race experience in Austria in September.

For the first correspondence into the Infinite Trails War Journal, check out the July entry.

What I’m Doing With Adidas Terrex

I have the tremendous pleasure of being a part of the Adidas Terrex Trail Mentorship Program over the course of this summer, a hand-selected program that seeks to improve participants’ skills and experience taking on the trail. 

The program will culminate with the Infinite Trails Race in Gastein, Salzburgerland, Austria, where our class will run various distances ranging from 10K to 45K. I will be participating in the 45K distance– the longest I have ever run. I have chosen this distance for a few reasons, but the number one reason is a throwback to my mantra from my college days: you should do it because it will be funny. Give the people the content that they want! Run a trail ultra before you run a road marathon! 

To help me in these endeavors and keep me from looking like a real joke, I have been paired with an excellent coach in Corrine Malcom, an accomplished trail runner and Adidas athlete but undoubtedly her true feat of endurance was her recent live commentary of the 2024 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. Corrine got to know me, my style and how running fits in my life and has built a plan that pushes me to get in extra miles, practice hills, practice vert, increase my strength, but in a way that doesn’t uproot my life. This is the first time I have used the TrainingPeaks app, and I’ve found it to be very helpful for managing my training plan.

Trail Journal, August 2024

There seems to be a universal feeling of dread that creeps into every long training cycle, and in the middle of my regimen for Infinite Trails, in the summer heat and wet and relentlessness… I started to feel it come in. (AUTHOR NOTE: I’m about to make a lot of ’90s movie references so anyone who isn’t a millennial please bear with me).

Generally, I have a fairly laissez-faire attitude when it comes to running. Solidly I love the Wednesday and Friday group runs and try to keep those consistent, mostly because of the time to connect with friends but also because its a time I’ve carved out every week to get some miles in. Otherwise though, I’m not too bent out of shape if I have to move a run around and I’ve never been above opting to sleep in/hang out instead, especially if the weather is bad. I also don’t sweat it too much about nutrition, pace, tempo. In this way, you could consider me like the protagonist from the Disney original film Brink: a “soul skater,” mostly in it for the love of the game.

The Training

 I got into running more or less through fashion (looking good while doing something is my top priority for doing the thing in the first place), stayed for the fitness and the community, and I’ll work hard when I have to. This summer is one of those times when I have to; sticking to the plan my coach laid out for me, being like Jim Carrey in “Yes Man” and not being able to say no to 12 miles at 5:20, and filling my exactly one hour of free time with some sprints. 

It is good and important to have goals. It is also good and important to be able to ebb and flow. I have been blessed with this opportunity, and to not take it for granted I have thrown myself wholeheartedly into the experience. And I will continue to press on, when I don’t really want to, because I can see the results, I can feel myself getting stronger. And If I keep training like this I’m going to have to buy different jeans because my calves are too jacked. 

The Gear

As the Infinite Trails racer may be faced with uncertain weather conditions, I have been kitted out with performance wear for every possibility to complete my mandatory gear list. This season’s line features a bold black, orange, and white motif, perfect for our hometown team’s (Baltimore Orioles) playoff push.

The piece de resistance of my Adidas kit is the Agravic Speed Ultra, which until this year had only been seen on the feet of Terrex’s elite athletes. On my training runs, the shoe feels fast, agile and ready to take on anything. The summer months in Baltimore are typically pretty wet and sticky, and I was impressed that my feet and shoes both survived a particularly sweaty run on a humid morning in Loch Raven Reservoir with fellow BITR reviewer Matt Kucharski. We absolutely wanted to give up, but the Agravic Speed Ultras stayed true.

Final Thoughts

Everything is coming together for the final push into my first race over a marathon distance. I’m feeling good, I’m healthy, and I’m ready to get this thing done. For a recap of the Adidas Infinite Trails race experience, stay tuned for the next edition coming soon!