An Interview With Tyler Andrews After his Manaslu Velocity Document within the Himalayas – iRunFar

[Editor’s Note: This article was first published on our sister site, GearJunkie. We’re also sharing it here as athlete Tyler Andrews is combining multiple sports, including running, in his Himalayan speed efforts.]

Image this: You’re working within the mountains alone with minimal gear and only one liter of water. However this isn’t a day journey into the Colorado Rockies — you’re within the Himalayas ascending Manaslu, the eighth-highest mountain on this planet. And also you’re doing it with out supplemental oxygen or climbing companions.

Sound dangerous? Tyler Andrews, a 34-year-old endurance athlete from Massachusetts, can be the primary to agree. The runner has racked up a powerful checklist of feats on harmful mountains, together with 69 Quickest Recognized Occasions (FKTs) to this point, inserting him within the ranks of the world’s elite runners.

Final yr noticed a number of of Andrews’s most spectacular data but. He set new FKTs on Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro and Argentina’s Mount Aconcagua. On each mountains, Andrews pulled forward of previous data set by working legends like Karl Egloff and Kilian Jornet.

However Andrews informed us he desires to be “one of the best on this planet.” That’s why he determined to check his abilities on the largest stage of all: the Himalayas. Final month, on September 19, Andrews hiked up the 26,781-foot Manaslu in 9 hours and 52 minutes, shaving greater than two hours off the earlier document, set by Nepalese climber Pembe Gelje Sherpa final yr.

These mountains have sometimes been the realm of mountaineers — not path runners. Lots of them require sections of vertical climbing, which is why the running- and hiking-centric web site Quickest Recognized Time has lengthy excluded velocity data on these mountains. Himalayan Database tracks them as a substitute.

However now that’s altering, thanks partly to Andrews, who additionally works part-time for the FKT group. For the reason that major route on Manaslu lacks technical climbing, he thinks turning the summit push into an FKT is honest play. And he believes the coaching he’s making use of to those mountains — like bringing a stationary bike to Manaslu base camp — represents a novel method to Himalayan journey.

We caught up with Andrews to learn the way he did it — from diet and kit to timing and approach.

GearJunkie/iRunFar: Congratulations on setting a brand new FKT on Manaslu! You’ve set many data already. Are you able to inform us what this one means to you?

Tyler Andrews: I imply, initially, it’s my first 8,000-meter [peak] velocity document. In order that’s actually particular. However truthfully, I feel the factor that made it probably the most particular is that I attempted and failed a yr in the past.

And the way in which that the massive mountains go is you typically solely get one shot a yr. And that type of sucks, however it positively makes it extra particular when issues go rather well. I feel the larger the mountain, the larger the stakes, the larger the stage, the extra vital the preparation — all that stuff. And to have it go so nicely after what was objectively a reasonably tough yr, that simply makes it doubly particular.

GearJunkie/iRunFar: You pulled off this document on what was initially a coaching day for you. Final yr, you additionally gunned for the summit on what was presupposed to be a coaching day, and ended up too drained to aim the FKT. What did you be taught and what modified? 

Andrews: 100%, that’s precisely appropriate. Final yr, I positively burned a couple of too many matches on my summit day first. However there’s so few alternatives to observe these items that you simply simply need to make errors. The explanation that I did that was as a result of, on nearly each different mountain, I’ve gone to the summit first earlier than making an attempt the FKT. And it’s all the time labored, as much as even 7,000 meters.

But it surely was manner an excessive amount of [on Manaslu]. I completely fried myself final yr and had no gasoline on FKT day. So, the plan was not to try this this yr. The largest factor I discovered is that there’s no details about these items. Nobody is aware of what they’re speaking about, together with me.

I all the time say coaching is an experiment of 1. And that’s much more true when you have got stuff that’s actually tip of the spear like this. Typical knowledge simply doesn’t work. And so, it’s actually simply experimentation. This time, I positively took of venture within the different path and it ended up working.

GearJunkie/iRunFar: I learn your FKT gear checklist out of your interview on the La Sportiva web site. You identified it’s extremely harmful to ascend an 8,000-meter peak with solely that gear. Did you have got a contingency plan if one thing went incorrect? If that’s the case, what was it? 

Andrews: It’s a extremely attention-grabbing query. I feel lots of people have this concept that, “Oh, since you’re entering into minimal gear, it’s actually harmful.” I truly suppose the way in which that I’m shifting the mountain is safer than the typical individual.

Let me clarify: I spend a lot much less time in harmful locations. Whether or not it’s above 8,000 meters, whether or not it’s under big seracs, or on avalanche terrain — I’m capable of transfer a lot faster. You understand, final yr, when Chris [Fisher, an athlete and photographer] and I have been going by the Khumbu Icefall … we went by it in two hours. And it takes some folks on our expedition 10 hours.

So we’ve got 80% much less publicity on probably the most harmful a part of the mountain. Clearly, it’s of venture, and I acknowledge that. It’s a tradeoff. I don’t have large boots. I don’t have an enormous jacket. However we’re additionally speaking about Manaslu.

There’s 700 folks on the mountain or one thing, and I had Dawa Steven Sherpa, our expedition chief, on radio. He’s received folks on the mountain. So there’s a little little bit of a mountain ethic. In the event you do have that vast disaster, folks deal with one another.

GearJunkie/iRunFar: How did you deal with diet on this enterprise? What did you eat and the way typically? 

Andrews: I’ve all the time tried to method actually large mountain stuff equally to how I’ve performed ultrarunning. So I’m not approaching it as a mountain man. I’m approaching it as an ultrarunner. You understand, if I’m going to do a 10- to 12-hour extremely, I do know precisely what number of grams of carbohydrate I have to eat, what I have to deliver, how a lot liquid I want. So I’m making an attempt to eat 300 to 400 energy an hour.

The one actual difficulty I had with diet was the water scenario. I left with one liter of water from base camp, and that was all I had all the way in which to the summit for 10 hours. In order that was fairly tough. And, once more, that was principally as a result of we had our tent at Camp 3, and my plan was to go up there after which perhaps stroll one other hour after which come down.

So once I left Camp 3, I used to be like, ‘Meh, I may boil some snow and take some water, however I’m solely going up an hour after which down a half hour.’

I believed I’d be again quickly. After which, you recognize, I ended up going. It was six hours above Camp 3, simply up after which down. So, yeah, that was fairly tough, truthfully. The [lack of] hydration was brutal.

GearJunkie/iRunFar: Are you able to describe your psychological battle upon reaching what mountaineers name the Demise Zone? What helps you address the large issue of ascending that altitude with out oxygen? 

Andrews: I truthfully suppose {that a} great a part of the work above 7,000, perhaps 7,500 meters, is all above the shoulders. It’s actually totally different from every other type of athletic factor I’ve ever needed to do. There’s nobody piece that feels notably exhausting or unhealthy. It’s simply the way in which that manifests for me as a sensation. It’s this actually great want to show round.

I’m identical to, “God, I don’t wish to do that,” you recognize? And I’ve all the time been a extremely large fan of breaking issues up into smaller items on the psychological aspect. I assume that is my different superpower that I inform folks: I’m extremely good at mendacity to myself. Self-deception is one in every of my biggest strengths.

So I’ll say, “Oh, you recognize what, I’m going to go 50 extra meters, after which I’m simply going to show round and go down.” And then you definately say, “Cool, okay … Now I’m going to do it once more.” And the reality is, you’re simply getting your self by that rep. And it’s precisely the identical up there.

GearJunkie/iRunFar: The place and the way does run coaching/cardio improvement issue into prep for outings like this, together with all the opposite variables you’re making an attempt to coach for?

Andrews: That is the factor that surprises folks most about me as an athlete, once I meet folks on an 8,000-meter mountain. I’m approaching this mainly the identical as if I have been coaching for a path race. Clearly, actually large mountains, you want a ability set, proper? So there’s all the time a steadiness of ability and health, proper? So, like working on a treadmill is 100% health and 0% ability.

I’m approaching this as a runner. And so the routes which can be most fun to me are those the place health is a giant proportion. A part of the explanation that you simply’re seeing this document is as a result of folks method it extra as a ability than a health problem.

And for me, it’s like 90% of the route is strolling uphill. There’s a purpose that Manaslu is [considered] a newbie’s mountain. A whole lot of it’s strolling uphill. That’s mainly a take a look at of your engine. I understand how to get my engine actually, actually large and match.

That is in all probability probably the most outrageous factor that I’ve ever performed, however I truly introduced a stationary bike as much as Base Camp at 4,900 meters above sea degree.

GearJunkie/iRunFar: You introduced a stationary bike to Manaslu Base Camp?! How did you utilize that to your coaching?

Andrews: The explanation for that’s that is my third 8,000-meter expedition. I knew from the final couple of years of coaching that staying lively is actually vital for my health. And so I might exit each single day within the morning and go as much as Camp 1 or one thing, about 1,000 meters up, come down, relaxation, and have lunch.

After which I do a few hours on the stationary bike within the afternoon. And it was about coaching quantity, but in addition about depth. So once more, it goes again to only this concept that nobody is aware of what they’re doing, together with me. It was an experiment, and it appeared to work fairly nicely. However most individuals are like, “You introduced a motorcycle to camp? That doesn’t make sense.”

However I used to be actually simply approaching it like an uphill race.

GearJunkie/iRunFar: How do you view your accomplishment within the context of Reinhold Messner? He proved that ascending these mountains with out supplementary oxygen was attainable 52 years in the past. Now we’ve got athletes such as you setting FKTs on these mountains — additionally with out supplementary oxygen. What do you consider your home within the mountain’s historical past?

Andrews: When Reinhold Messner was making an attempt to climb Everest with out oxygen, folks have been like, “Yeah, he’s gonna’ die. He simply can’t do this.” And, you recognize, I feel he’s another person who simply type of bucked typical knowledge and was like, “Hey, I’m gonna determine this out.”

I’m not making an attempt to cheat loss of life. However when folks inform me athletically that one thing I wish to do isn’t attainable, which I’ve heard a number of occasions, that simply will get me actually fired up. I might guess that Messner in all probability had slightly little bit of that, too. So it’s an honor to be eager about him and me in the identical sentence.

GearJunkie/iRunFar: What do you hope to realize by making use of these working methods to the world’s highest mountains?

Andrews: Hopefully, [Chris Fisher and I] are heading as much as the Khumbu Valley/Mount Everest area. In order that’s actually thrilling, and we’ve got a complete bunch of objectives there. It’s probably the most lovely, spectacular place on earth. No matter we find yourself doing, it’s going to be nice.

I used to be not an athletic child in any respect. However then I completely fell in love with coaching at excessive altitude. I had performed a number of mountaineering and mountaineering in my day, however I actually didn’t consider it as one thing I wished to do competitively for a really very long time, till I used to be in all probability 30.

It’s been a journey, a mixture of my love of self-discovery and pushing myself, coupled with this unbelievably aggressive interior drive.

A few of that’s being aggressive in opposition to myself, and a few of it’s that I wish to be one of the best on this planet. And I’m not embarrassed to say that. I wish to go to probably the most aggressive routes, the largest mountains, the largest phases, and the best stress. That’s thrilling for me.

[Editor’s Note: Since this interview took place, Andrews has already set another record in the Himalayas. He and Chris Fisher ran from Lukla to Mera Peak (6,476 meters) and back to Lukla in under 44 hours. This required a 51-mile run in addition to the summit.]

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