Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team

Athlete Spotlight on Rickey Gates
An interview with 2007 Mountain Runner of the Year as he prepares to defend his title at the 2008 Mountain Running Championships at Mt. Washington.

For most runners, time is of the essence. Time reflects whether those daunting hill repeats have been paying off or if that darn 20-mile Sunday morning is worth it or if 10 X 800-meter repeats are getting you to the finish line any quicker than they were last summer. Time, even just a few ticks, will have some runners saying “Yeah!” while others kick the dust in disgust, wondering why they covered 5-kilometers in 19:54 instead of 19:49.

Time- and the watches, GPS systems, heart-rate monitors, and other technological gadgets- draw out the analytical side in most of us trying to break personal records or “age” records but for Rickey Gates, time isn’t something to beat, it’s something to enjoy.

Gates, the 2007 Mountain Runner of the Year, doesn’t wear a watch, nor does he keep track of his numbers. As far as training the best he can recall is what he did today and what he did yesterday. In his own words, “I can’t tell you what I ran last week and I won’t figure out what tomorrow’s workout will be until tomorrow.”

Rickey Gates on the downhill at the 2007 Cranmore Hill Climb.

Running “roughly 40-70 miles per week”, Gates is focused more intently on enjoying the mountain running scene and delving in the pure excitement which off-road racing provides.

Coincidently, Gates happens to be one of the fastest, most talented runners on the planet, especially when pointed in an upward direction. Hmm, he just may be onto something here.

Over his career Gates has slowly but surely emerged as an elite on the U.S. trail circuit and in the past two years he has broken out, showing glimpses that the 26-year old from Aspen, Colorado still may not be at his peak.

In July, in back-to-back weeks nonetheless, Gates took home two national titles- the U.S. Mountain Running Championship (Mt. Cranmore) and the U.S. Trail Championship (Steamboat). The two prestigious wins showed off his extraordinary endurance and gave him an automatic bid for the World Mountain Running Trophy held in Switzerland (Gates went on to finish 57th overall, helping the U.S. to a ninth place finish).

While Gates is used to shimmying past rocks and climbing over grassy passages he’s also made quite the splash in really, really off-road running. Competing in the Empire State Building Run-Up for the first time in 2006, Gates finished an impressive 3rd overall (first American) and racing it just a few months ago (Feb. 6) he improved to second overall, blasting up the 86 flight race in 10 minutes, 16 seconds.

Stairs, rocks, grass and mountains; the one thing they have in common is that they’ve all been conquered by Rickey Gates. And the scary part: he still seems to be climbing.

USMRT.com caught Gates to get his perspective on life, running and the concept of time. Here’s what he had to say:

You really broke out this season with some pretty good races; did you do anything different?

I don’t think I’ve done anything special this season. It’s been a slow, gradual process of training hard and working at it. I’ve come into this season with the same attitude and thing just seemed to work out.

You also won the U.S. Mountain Running Championships and the U.S. Trail Running Championships; play that week out for me?

My original plans were to have 2 races to use in order to qualify for the team (U.S. Mountain Running Team). If Cranmore worked out, great, but if not, I’d still go to Steamboat and just take it easy. I won Cranmore, which was one of the toughest courses I’ve ever run on then I barely ran before heading to Steamboat where I originally planned on running an easy, relaxed race. I enjoyed myself a lot and started out in around tenth place, just slowly started catching people and by the end I realized everyone had burned themselves out on the first lap and I cruised in for the win. It was one of those rare times in mountain racing where it felt like a real race, where there wasn’t a clear winner until the end. It was the most exciting race of my life!

How did if feel to be the 2007 Mountain Runner of the Year?

It felt great! Here we are five months after and I’m still not sure it’s sunk in at all. Three or four years ago I wasn’t anywhere near where I am now and it’s nice every little bit to be rewarded for all the hard work.

Winning the 2007 USA Mountain Championships at Mt. Cranmore, New Hampshire

Previous Athlete Spotlights
03/08	Chris Lundy
02/08	Dan Verrington
01/08	Erica Larson Baron
12/07	Eric Blake
11/07	Maria Dalzot
10/07	Laura Haefeli
09/07	Jay Johnson

Tell me the typical training week for Rickey Gates.

My typical training is that I have no typical training. I’m one of the more unorthodox runners I know: I don’t wear a watch, I have no planned workouts and speed workouts are based completely on how I feel that day. I guess mileage-wise I run 40-70 miles per week. I feel that since we’re no longer animals trying to outrun our predators, it’s more important to enjoy running for what it is rather than always worry about timing ourselves.

How does training in Colorado aid you?

It’s a similar community of runners. There’s a feeling of constant support and you are never alone. Like today, there’s five inches of snow outside but when you run you pass people suffering just like you, it brings comfort to both you and them. I love running here because you have everything at your disposal, from flats to mountain to the altitude.

What drew you to mountain running in the first place?

Where I come from (Aspen, CO) it’s not called mountain running- just running. I do it because of the pure enjoyment of the sport. You get the choice of running on the roads and tracks or on the trails and mountains. It’s a pretty simple choice, I think.

Which do you prefer, uphill or downhill racing?

Definitely the uphill. Running downhill can be bad for your knees. Some guys are completely fearless on those downhill races, not me. In the end, not to be crude, but downhill racing often comes down to who has the biggest balls.

Do you train any special ways for downhill racing?

I don’t but there does seem to be some training that can help because the Italians just seem to be better than anyone else at downhill racing and I don’t think they’re just generically fit for it. It will take a toll on your body though. You can run Mt. Washington (in Gorham, NH) and be fine the next day while you can run Mt. Cranmore (North Conway, NH), which is up and down, and you won’t be able to walk for a week.

What goals do you have for the 2008 season?

I ran the Empire State Building race a few months ago and fell short of my goal there (he placed second). I will be at Mt. Washington again this year, which I’m very excited about. There are three Americans that have the capability to run under one hour on the course. Running in the States is reaching a new level…Eric (Blake), Paul (Low) and Simon (Gutierrez) are always a force. I’m also heading back to Steamboat and Cranmore and I’m certainly not going back to place second. Then, in mid-July, I’m heading to Europe to race and then hopefully back to the Mountain Running Trophy event.

If you could offer any advice to our readers, what would that be?
Throw away your watch (with a chuckle), seriously though, there’s some truth to that. If you’re not having fun running trails than the sport isn’t for you. Either find a new sport or change your view of running. It’s not about being fast or beating people but having fun.

See more pictures of Rickey and the 2007 team on the Photos Page

Athlete Spotlight highlights a current or former member of the U.S. Mountain Running Team. A new athlete will be featured each month. Athlete Spotlight is written by David Hunt, a writer from Fryeburg, Maine who is an avid trail, mountain and roadrunner. David is also co-founder of 100write.com, a writing and website development company.