-
Weekly Newsletter – How much vert do you actually need for mountain races?
This weekend marked the anniversary of one of my favourite races – Sulphur Springs. It’s the fastest and most competitive trail race in Ontario, and with its runnable terrain and modest elevation, provides the opportunity for trail and road runners to intertwine. In Ontario, you don’t get that much high-quality, runnable trails, as they’re either…
-
Weekly Newsletter – My fuelling secrets in 2025
Fuelling is one of the three most essential facets to getting better as an athlete (alongside proper training and recovery). And it’s equally essential to aiding the training and recovery process both in the prehab and rehab in between runs. Not to mention all the fuelling that needs to happen during the thing itself. With…
-
Trail du Coureur des Bois de Duchesnay 34K Race Recap – Mud Wars & Water Slides
If you combined all of the mud and water on every single one of my trail races so far and tripled the number, it wouldn’t compare to Trail de Duchesnay on Sunday. And I’ve run on some super muddy courses. Falling Water was torn apart and super slippery; The Bad Thing rained throughout, turning bridges…
-
Weekly Newsletter – The secrets to my recovery in 2025
As someone who is forever injury prone and forever punished by simple recovery mistakes, I’m always scrutinizing over recovery. Recovery is the single most important facet of training. Way more important than the training itself. It’s not only where those key adaptations take place. But it’s your body’s chance to allow you to continue to…
-
Weekly Newsletter – The Magic of 2-Minute Hills
I love hill workouts in every form. From 3-minute hills to 10-minute hills to 90-second hills, I LOVE MY HILLS. There’s so much magic in a hill workout for trail running, as you get the muscle breakdown of all the downhills on your rest and recovery; and get to practice pushing harder in a more…
-
How I’ve become a better trail runner by running less on trails
I knew I needed to prioritize my “speed” in 2025 to get faster. But I didn’t realize how quickly we could make cosmic changes just from more of an emphasis on one thing: Road running (i.e. running economy and efficiency).
-
The importance of mobility work for trail runners & injury-prone athletes
As I’ve continued to endure injuries even despite the diligent attention to this piece of the puzzle, I’ve reflected on how I can make sure my mobility is properly attended to as much as my runs. Here are my best tips for prioritizing mobility, and why it’s so essential for trail runners and injury-prone athletes…
-
The best performances from Canadian trail runners in the first third of 2025 – Women
Canadians have been on poutine fire at the start of the 2025 trail running season, posting up some of the most impressive performances of the season so far in some of the biggest North American races. Here are my picks for the best of the bunch so far this season (Jan-Apr. 2025).
-
Weekly Newsletter – Le Fun vs. Le Duh
It’s so hard to tell ourselves to stop in the moment, especially because humans are very, very bad at changing their own minds once they’ve set their mind to something. Now imagine how bad RUNNERS are at changing their own minds. You have to prioritize Le Fun. There’s no other way. But it must always…
-
The changes to my training in 2025
2025 has been a year of growth so far as I recover from an injury. It’s also been a year of newness, as I train in new trails in a new province under the guidance of a new coach. We’ve focused more on running efficiency – touching more roads already in April than all of…
Rhys Desmond
Training Theory & Coaching
Rhys Desmond 