Endurance athlete and Athletica user Jens joins Paul Warloski and Dr. Paul Laursen to share the story behind Project Trans France, his ambitious attempt to run roughly 1,000 kilometers across France in just 17 days while pulling a self-supported trailer. Jens explains how years of ultrarunning and orienteering shaped his approach, how he incorporated high-volume training into an ordinary workweek, and how Athletica helped him adapt his workload based on heart rate, HRV, sleep, and recovery. Once the project began, an intense European heat wave and a worsening groin injury forced constant adjustments. Ultimately, Jens made the difficult decision to stop—not because his motivation disappeared, but because his body was sending unmistakable warning signs. The conversation is a powerful reminder that successful endurance training is as much about adaptability, self-awareness, and decision-making as it is about fitness.

Key Episode Takeaways

• Huge goals become manageable when broken into smaller units. Jens turned 1,000 kilometers over 17 days into a target of roughly 60 km per day, then split each day into two 30 km sessions.
• Training has to fit real life. Rather than building his life entirely around training, Jens used his commute to incorporate running, cycling, elevation, and back-to-back sessions.
• Progress eventually becomes durability. For an ultra-endurance challenge, simply getting faster wasn't the objective; Jens needed to develop the ability to repeat a sustainable workload day after day.
• Adaptability matters more than rigid adherence. Illness, injury, work commitments, and changing conditions required continual modification of the plan.
• Recovery data can provide useful context. Jens used heart rate, HRV, sleep, training load, and Athletica's coaching feedback to help identify when to push and when to back off.
• Don't try new gear immediately before a major event. Jens believes using fresh, insufficiently tested equipment during a long training run contributed to his groin issue—a classic reminder of the "nothing new on race day" rule.
• Environmental conditions can completely change the challenge. The heat wave in France elevated Jens' heart rate and dramatically reduced the pace and volume he could safely sustain.
• Know your personal warning signs. Jens recognized agitation, excessive heart rate, exhaustion, swelling, and increasing pain as indicators that something was wrong.
• Stopping can be an endurance skill. After consulting medical support and reassessing his injury, Jens chose not to continue simply for the sake of completing the challenge.
• Remember why you started. His closing advice is simple: "Be kind to yourself and keep it simple." When things become difficult, reconnecting with the reason behind the goal can help guide the next decision.

• Try Athletica | Adaptive Endurance Training Plans Powered by Sports Science
• Dr. Paul Laursen
• Paul Warloski - Simple Endurance Coaching

Hello and welcome to the Athletes Compass Podcast, where we navigate training, fitness, and health for everyday athletes. Our guest today is Jen Vechter, an endurance athlete and a training and development instructor and an Athletica user who recently attempted the Project Trans France, a self-supported run across France, the whole country. Although the journey ended sooner than he hoped, the experience offers valuable lessons about preparation, durability, decision making.

And knowing when your body is telling you it's time to stop. Today we'll discuss the training behind such an ambitious project, what happened during the attempt, and what every endurance athlete can learn from pursuing a goal that's bigger than themselves. So for listeners who haven't heard of Project Trans France, Jens, what was the goal and what inspired you to take on such an ambitious challenge?

Yeah, hi folks. thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here. the goal was actually very simple. I just wanted to run home. about thousand kilometers in in sixty days, in sixty in seventeen days and about sixty kilometers. the plan kind of started, I suppose, a decade ago. So I need to go a little bit further back.

my experience in in sports and running comes from orienteering in in in Germany. So I grew up in Germany, I'm living in Ireland now for the past thirty years.

orienteering is still a thing that I do and I absolutely love it. it has so much influence on on my decision making and and I how it helped me to ultimately do actually that project trans-France in terms of how I train, in terms of how I need to listen to my body, in terms of the mental fatigue that that may occur in in such an event. and ultimately.

what do I need to do at what point in time? I

Mm.

suppose one of the main goals and and the inspiration is not only I suppose going r running across the country. no, I have to say that part of the inspiration really was a book that I was reading as well from Christopher McDowell McDowell, I think is his name.

this guy that talked about and and wrote about barefoot running and running in copper canyons

What really what really engaged with me was like this just there was it was limitless. There was no it just felt like everybody can do it and everybody can run forever. So that was my kind of tipping point to to get into this long distance running and fast forward to twenty fourteen. Between twenty eleven and twenty fourteen, I think I managed to cramp in probably

Six or seven ultramarathon projects. and I came off the back of my very first hundred and twenty miles.

Ultra in Ireland in twenty thirteen. and I felt great. It was awesome. I felt you know, I can do this forever. My dad was turning seventy in twenty fourteen and I said, you know what? Might as well do it. And so I was getting ready. Life just had other plans.

So that's that that was and then again fast forward over a decade I started to get ready and plan for it and in twenty twenty-six I towed a start line.

Amazing.

All

right.

So let's let's let's talk about that. So Jens, you you this has been obviously was on your mind for a long time. How did you approach your training?

So for me my holistic approach is whenever I'm attempting s some form of training is trying to keep it simple. So not have too many gadgets, not having too many mindsets or or training plans or whatever is out there. it is gonna get complicated in any sense of the word.

My outset really was to number one, find something that can give me a a guideline in regards to okay, it's not it's not a marathon, it's not a 50 miler, it's not a hundred miler, it's not some of the projects that I've been seeing 350 kilometers or something like that, or multi-stage day events like

some of the the the longer races that that we see. So it was how can I increase training volume, right? And at what point do I need to say, okay, here's my sweet spot where I can train on a weekly basis in order to to move forward. And lastly I suppose it's what does progress look like?

at what point do I know okay I'm progressing and and then at what point am I moving from progression into sustainability and durability, right? So again like this this was really something that I was really struggling with and and trying to find literature and trying to find training plans and speaking to people that that

may have done something similar. And I always fell short on there is a prescribed plan, but that only works to a certain extent. So for example, take a 5k plan or prescribed plan or a 10 10 mile prescribed plan, right? you do this for a s a couple of months and then your at your race and then you race and you taper.

And then you might do another race and so on. but for me that just didn't fit the bill. so I at some point I just said, you know what, get started. just put one foot in front of the other and see where that takes you and and take note of it.

I knew that

I want to do thousand kilometers. I knew that I only had a finite amount of time or days available because this was my annual holiday. and so I landed on 17 days. So thousand kilometers divided by 17 is about 60 kilometers a day. And I thought, well, that's achievable. Can we break that down further? knowing what I know from my experience and and reading and researching,

I divided that day into two portions of 30 kilometers in the morning and thirty kilometers in the evening and have a a good break in the middle and just have that break to relax, have a nap, eat, refuel, and recover a bit and then carry on. and I want to get into that cadence. and that had an influence then on how I want to train, right? So

the likes of life happens, work happens. I I'm not something extraordinary or special to be honest. it's I I'm a nine to five guy. I have a wife at home and very understanding by the way. I absolutely adore her and she she loves what I've been doing. But it's about the balance, just you know to find that balance as well and I need to build that into my training plan.

I needed to come up with an idea, okay, how do how do we actually do that? how can I how can I train

But not too close. So it's about thirty kilometers from door to door. So from when I'm leaving my house to getting to my office is about thirty kilometers one way. endless possibilities to use this. You can cycle, you can run, you can take the train part of it and cycle and run. so and and that's how I ended up building this in. and the cool thing was I was able to do back to back training pretty much off

the get go, right? So it's it's like run down to the train station as a warm-up for ten minutes, then you're you're taking I'm taking a train and twenty minute break and then I run to the office which is usually five K depending the shortest distance, but I can make it longer, whatever suits me. it's uphill so I'm building in a hundred and fifty meter altitude gain within four and a half kilometers. and I'll do the reverse on the way home.

And I can extend that. Right. So like that was the the minimum set distance. I walk out of the office three times a week, which is great. and I can have Monday and Friday as my kind of recovery days at the beginning. and that was cool too. and it worked beautifully. So whenever something changed in the office,

time wise or or some of the the more intensive tasks that I need to be doing in my job, I can still do my training and it does not affect work it so much, it does not affect home life so much. And then I have the weekend to spare to do some some some particular work that need to be done. And that was I'm very lucky, really. Thinking back, I'm

Mm.

actually very lucky.

Sounds like a perfect setup, Jens. That's that's awesome. That's great.

Did you you train using Athletica for part of your preparation? What aspects of your training d did that ha contribute to?

what the the platform gave me was the adaptability. So it it it

The the only thing that was missing really was maybe the the the human touch in terms of how how guidance can be, right? But what what I really appreciated was the fact that like a real coach, it adapts to my circumstances. So when I'm saying, for example, I'm I'm not sure I'm feeling too good. So the data that is plugged into the platform

is very simple, right? It looks at heart rate variability, it looks at your heart rate, it looks at your sleep. and I can

Yeah.

add to it if I wanted to with the coach and and have a feedback that way. But the the baseline is is is pretty much there. And so it's adapting the training dynamically depending on my circumstances, maybe on my training

stress that I have built already and and is adjusting that accordingly. And that was the the guideline that that I really needed in order to help me to stay on track, stay focused, and stay slow. That was really key. Not to overshoot in terms of speed, in terms of you know building up stress score too fast and and and have that that ratio right.

and that that was fantastic. The idea having a a an AI coach in the background and just bounce ideas off. The amount of time and hours I spent logging in first thing in the morning after waking up and it's like hey, what do you want me to do? Can I do this? Can I can I do the other? Can I go running or cycling? How long should that be? Adjusting it and then ask the coach also to to maybe project. It's like, okay.

if I change some aspects of my training for this week, what does the end of the week look like? What the projection maybe towards the end of the month. and that gave me far more predictability and and freedom as well to choose. and that made up the last five percent where this ten year old what in me was happy. I was like, yeah, I'm getting the guidance that I need and you know, it's it's heading the right direction here. And

It's forgiving. Like if and again I su this is maybe not something that that everybody has to a certain extent that I maybe have, but is having a a a good self-awareness to understand where you might be hitting the limits so that you can at least start asking the right questions. And I've been wrong so many times, right? You feel something else like

Not great today. I'm not feeling great. I slept, I don't think I slept well. And then you're asking the i coach, and and the i coach just tells you your data looks fine, go ahead with your training. I started doing the training, and

Mm-hmm.

after about 10, 15 minutes, 20 minutes in, I felt great. My body was waking up, and it's just needed that extra time, whatever it was, and and I got the training done. And likewise on the flip side, and this is what I paid.

very much attention to specifically about six months prior to when I wanted to start at the end of May this year is when do I need to be careful? What are some flags that I need to look out for? And when when the coach turned around and said, look,

it's it's it's almost I have this this I have this thing in my head where I have like a holographic image of this coach sitting on my desk and talking to me. This is how close I got to this guy. love it. And

Okay.

anyway, so it it the the flags and in regards to okay I'm I'm starting to notch into almost over training and over stimulating. So how can I how can I ride that edge?

at what point am I am I falling off and and and and how how can I navigate that? and the AI coach was was with every iteration and every build that you guys have provided in the background, it got better and better. And it's it's like it kept me honest, both on the positive and on the negative. And that that was awesome. You know, that was an awful awesome experience.

Well that that's amazing. Amazing feedback, Jans. Thank you so much for that. And is so glad it helps. So you it it helped you navigate your training load, we call it, and then the response to that load, right? The we often argue that there are two different things. You can have you can have training that's prescribed, but how you're actually responding to that is a total different thing. you've got a an a an amazing performance management chart that's tracking that load.

And giving recommendations on a daily basis. And then how you're responding to that is your heart rate, your sleep, and your HRV, right? And I can see you've got beautiful graphs. I'm just on your profile here. I can see how you use that as a tool. Now maybe take us to take us to the project transfrance, like what what what then happened in the in the race.

I I'm I'm glad you're you're calling this a race because it isn't. it it it is and this was and this is actually the key, right? it's it's like this is a mindset that I had to shift very very profoundly to the point of it is not something that is finishing in a in a day or two or three. and if you do multi-stage races, take the Tour de France, for example,

it is something that that is long and prolonged and comes to an end. and for me when you're in it I needed to really from from a competitive point of view, I need to leave that out front. I cannot I cannot think that this i is is is something I need to catch the next guy in front of me, right? it it cannot be otherwise I will be I'll be

burning up so quickly. and that that was the real challenge to to shift that mindset. Training helped to a certain extent, but there were things that I cannot train for. So

I got ready with a cold and a flu. So I was down and I was about two or three months before the race actually started, so before I towed the start line. and it is and and trying to shift that away and staying on track and not being been pulled down by something like that is it was very hard.

Like there's nothing easy about it, but I needed to trust the system, I needed to trust my system, I needed to trust Athletica coach. And I knew that y you're not your whatever have built so far, a week or two off that doesn't make really much of a dent. Right. So I needed to keep that in mind while while I was in that in that sick period. the cool thing is is that

And with with HRV, for example, and the coaching itself, the the signs were there before I actually got the symptoms, which is cool, right? So like I I could

Mm.

I could before I actually had a runny nose and I'm paraphrasing here, before I had my runny nose, the coach and and myself we were already saying like okay, I have to pull back, there might be something coming right now that either be overstimulating in training or or an actual cold or flu.

and it turned out to be a a cold or flu, very mild, but it extended to about I think two or three weeks before it was completely cleared and I was able to go back 100% training. I have a a leg injury or I sustained a leg injury injury

it wasn't a big problem until about three or four years ago,

I need to be very mindful of how much volume I'm putting onto my feet, literally. And not only that, but how fast I'm going. And I noticed in the last years that if I'm running too fast, it is actually activating it and and it starts to swell up.

I I encountered as well six weeks before the start. and so I I saw my physio that was all cleared. So with with both the the flu symptoms as well as as this the swelling of my kinetic chain and my muscles.

it ended up to be swelling in the grind. So that that was that was where the symptom then kind of became very visible and and painful. So the result of it was to do strength training to navigate that and and build that. I still had six weeks to to to train and go and cycle. So I wanted to keep my engine running and that that aerobic engine and and keep that

ticken over nicely. and again AI and and Atletica platform was absolutely fantastic to make that switch. I use the wizard and then instead of running and go cycling it it has a a similar load to it. And so that was seamless. even when I'm not feeling well I can make that switch literally on the fly from one day to another and and I'm not I don't feel I'm losing anything. And it was great to to

switch it as well like i w it was nice so it's not too boring. and I do like cycling too, so that helps.

so that that brought me to the to to the start line and and I needed to navigate that. Interestingly enough.

I did a a full training session with my with eighty-five percent load on my trailer. So just for for explaining purposes. So when I'm running across France, the idea is not only to run across the country from the west to the east, which is the widest part of France, but it's also doing that self supported. self supported means that I need to have something

like a trailer that's a touch to me, that is carrying camping gear, that is carrying some provisions that that can sustain me and and and all the fallback stuff, all the the nice things. The challenge, the logistical challenge was to keep it light, right? And and not have this thing too heavy. so I was training with a trailer load of about forty forty kilograms and it it

It sounds heavy, but it's it's actually not as long as the trailer is moving, right? So if you're pulling uphill or it's going

Yeah.

downhill, then yes, then that that's becomes an issue. And that would that was an an added challenge to that. So it's not only running with the trailer whenever I I get a chance to do that. So on my daily commute a lot of people got to know me in in the in in Cork in Ireland.

that's a guy that's running with a trailer and I had so many f so many

Ha ha ha.

funny conversations it was fantastic.

So going back to my injury on my muscle and my groin is is that I ended up doing a seven hour Saturday training run off about sixty kilometers and and I was that was one of those things where where I kind of

system checked a couple of weeks before I'm starting just in case I needed to change something or or changing shoes, changing some gear, running gear, hats, small little things that people usually don't think about that might become an issue when you're doing the seven hours on one day. Imagine what will happen if you do this, what happens on day fourteen

Yeah.

or fifteen every seven hours. So that that that was the idea to to deal with

So there's a lot of moving pads just before I started. I made I need to admit that I made the classical mistake of using fresh gear without breaking it in on one of those training runs. And I think that costs the the the injury on on my grind. So a rookie mistake, I admit that, and but that's the biggest learning, right? So I needed to make sure that the gear that I have with me.

is functional and it works and and and and has been used by me. So the old rule, don't try anything new on race day.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. So

so so Jens, when what tell talk us talk us through the event. What what happened? Like how how many how far did you make it and then when did you have to call it a day?

So the the idea was to do as I said it's about sixty kilometers a day. I think the one of the the the biggest challenges that I could not anticipate is the weather because we in Europe we just started to get that big heat wave.

usually I'm at around one fifteen to one twenty in my heart rate and to say okay this this is when my diesel engine is running and this is when it's taken over and this is when I can go and I can work for forever on on this. I'm in the zone, right? it was just that heat was driving my my heart rate up past the threshold.

that I have set for not

only that day but what I actually wanted. And it was it was very hard not to get frustrated. It was very hard not to to to just keep that down, right? and that was a real challenge on on day one. and when I came to my to my rest stop for for my lunch, I only had done

half of what I wanted to achieve. But I knew that okay, it it

Hm.

it is what it is. and and I have to I have to manage w while while it happens, right? beautiful landscape. France is beautiful. Brittany is

Yeah.

absolutely gorgeous. If you ever go there, if you get a chance to cycle or run there, it's it's it's fantastic.

Yeah.

I only felt that afterwards. When I was in that moment it was it was

Yeah.

it was not so nice. But I did a check in with myself and I needed to n I I knew what I needed to adjust and how I needed to adjust certain things. so I started off on the first day then for the afternoon session and the afternoon session got even hotter.

to the point where the French meteorologists National Meteorologists Society had given out I think it was the the second highest heat alert on that day. so like it's an orange or red warning

Mm.

to simply say, yeah, don't do anything, stay indoors, don't be outside.

And here you are running across France, yeah.

yeah, the key thing for me was I could f couple of things, right? So I could feel that okay, I'm I'm getting agitated and as the agitation was holistically not

lack of motivation, but it was really the exhaustion, right? simply

Mm-hmm.

because okay I'm I'm getting too exhausted right now. So the one of the the the indicators for me is is that I'm getting agitated and I'm getting grumpy and I'm getting you know shorthanded with myself and maybe with people around me. So that was a clear sign for me to to okay that's the first thing. The second thing is

The data testing and the data that I have collected prior, the six months prior to that start line, I knew without having a body thermostat that I may be overcooking. So overheating w became a real problem. and I have simply set myself a goal that at a certain heart rate, at a relaxed state, I know that if I if I go over that, I need to stop. This is this is an an orange flag for me and I I have to bring my heart rate down.

Otherwise I'll be having too much of an expenditure and my training stress score is going too high. so long story short, I went into a supermarket and found the coldest spot in it and just sat there for about twenty minutes to calm down, cool down and get my bearings and get my stuff together and and my thoughts together and started to plan for alternatives.

So the end of day one was a combination of my tier system that I have built and checking in with the Atletica coach to see where we're at. It was it was super beneficial to pull the stop. So it was not the sixty kilometers that I had planned, but it was the first day.

Jens, did you did did you try to figure out like s like I needed to start like at two AM or something to beat the heat? Or did you did you change kind of how you're you were thinking about running?

yes. yes and no. So

I defaulted back to to what I loved doing and I I absolutely love running start running in darkness and run into the morning hours and and and go from there. there was no way that I can avoid any heat at any point. that wasn't feasible. So I I did the best that I could on day two and I started out I was on a road I think at half four in the morning and I had about

an hour and a half darkness before the crack of dawn and that translated into maybe ten, fifteen kilometers on the road. and that that was okay. That that was that was the saver. I felt much better. I was positive about it and it was ideal to start that. Unfortunately the heat kind of catches up with you on on that second day.

and it was it was

Yeah.

similarly intense but I was prepared. I was more prepared on day one and and I felt I s I started to get into it. so I was looking for specifically places that I could stop at lunchtime that were shaded, that were cool and that that made the on spot decision rather than sticking to a a rigid plan and and just navigate that. Now

on a side note, this is what I had in mind anyway. Right. So like whenever I do something like this, I'm not planning every detail. I want to have a rough outline, but I don't want to fall into the trap of if I have something planned and and then it doesn't work, I don't have a plan B or or I'm not able to manage on the spot, right? and that was helpful and

that's how day two started. unfortunately day two and I have to be very honest with that I could feel my groin area to start to

I'm not a doctor, but it almost felt like an inflammation to a certain

Mm.

extent. and so I was trying to build in my my strength training that I have done prior to this, some light stretching, making sure that when I start moving that I'm not start running straight away, but you know, start your walking and and your walking pace and your power walking until you're you're getting into a nice flow and and your system is activated.

And be more mindful of the terrain, right? So like if it's going uphill, is it going downhill, how can I navigate and manage that? and that brought me to pretty much the end of day two. and I was in in high spirits. it was good. I found a nice spot again for resting.

And I started day three. on day three it it was something very interesting. For some reason, certain things have shifted on to to begin with. Every fifteen minutes or so, I just I I mentally I just could not get into it and and it was like I wanna stop. I really this is this that this is just too much. It doesn't work. followed by

do one more step just go go see

Mm.

what's what's on top of that next hill what what's b behind that little bend that you see in front of you and if it got too much then there is this this bus shelter a hundred yards away just go to there and then you can rest at the bus shelter and at some point it just kept going and I ended up doing nearly 30 kilometers and heat

hasn't changed.

Yeah.

It it got hotter earlier as well. So that that was not helpful.

I parked my trailer on that on that third day in France so it was four days on the road at this point.

Mm-hmm.

and I sat down trying to find some shade again and had my my my nutrition, my spot strings and everything. and I fell asleep.

woke up. It was time to kind of get ready and I just couldn't get up. Literally my legs wouldn't

Mm.

work. and I could feel a bit of a lump on on in in my left groin area. and so like that everything went through my mind at this point. It's like, okay, so what's the plan here? what am I what are we doing? so priority for me was okay, you know.

Is it just something that

Yeah.

is just dead, like when you're sitting on the couch and watch TV and they're just sitting too long in one position and you know you want to get up and it doesn't work, that kind of stuff? Or is it something more serious?

then I rang a friend that is in the medical world, physiotherapist and we assessed the situation, I described the symptoms, we we did a few exercises. Luckily enough I I got feeding back but the the the groin pain and and

the swelling didn't subside. So at that point it I was fairly confident that it's probably the better to not go any further today. Right. So at this point the decision I made was okay we'll take that 30 kilometers for today. I was lucky enough that there was a campground nearby and I was able to to get to the campground.

without major issues. and I took the following day off to assess. So, you know, how am I feeling about things? What does the the situation look like the following morning? What can I do in the meantime to navigate that? And so things started to fall in place. There was it was never ever a the idea of disgust or being disappointed or or or anything like that. It was just, okay, now plan B is is coming up.

it's it's almost like a red flag. and this was the part of the plan that I that I outlined if there is a severe injury, whatever the injury might be, then we have to reassess the situation in the moment and and see what goes from there. So Sunday came around and I was going out not for a jog but just for a walk to see okay how how is that thing all handling.

And it it was not pretty. and that's when it started

Mm-hmm.

to to kind of hit me as okay, I need to make plans to see if I can get a train station closer to Germany. and then

Mm-hmm.

and then there were questions like, Okay, can I can I rest for a little bit longer and just maybe jump?

bit closer to to my destination and you know maybe do the last five hundred kilometers or something like that because it's still an achievement in my books. I'm still running home. is that feasible? Is that something that I can do? so I again

I cannot do that on my own, but I needed to at this point have medical advice and and and bounce ideas around. so I was bringing my remote support crew, I call them, and we talked through this and assessed the situation. And the bottom line was that mentally and physically without injuries, I could have run sixty kilometers a day, not a problem.

It was just that my body said no.

to be honest with that. Right? And that

For sure, for

sure. sound sounds like you got to the end there, Jens, and you you made an incredible incredible effort. and super yeah, commendable. any thoughts for the future to to do something like this again, based on all the learnings?

I'm I'm moving I'm I'm pivoting back to to orienteering for the time.

Mm.

it it's still I I took my time now to to relax a little bit and and just do what I want to do and not think about structured training or anything like that. but I'm pivoting back to the orienteering world a little bit and and let let that simmer for a while and and see what takes me from there.

Sounds great. That's that's amazing. yeah, vi again, just such an ambitious goal and such an incredible attempt and such a, incredible tenacity to to to go to as far as you can, but it you had to make that call at the end of the day that, you know, just this is this is not sensible to move any forward and anyone has to do that. Anyone listening to this is

you know, has to has to there there comes a time when it just doesn't make sense to to move forward and that's what you did with your medical team. So yeah, again, congratulations on on the attempt. thank you for using Athletica to to get you as fit as you possibly can. It r you know, your conversation reminds me a little bit of Phil Whitehurst, who's an ultra cyclist that invented our Garmin app here and whatnot and

He you know, he uses Athletica for similar purposes too for his centuries and ultras that he does too. So it is a it is a an incredible tool for the ultra athlete if they leverage it correctly to to get as fit as you can for these types of events to give yourself the best opportunity to get through that. So yeah, awesome job, man.

Thank you.

Definitely. So Jens, if you could give one short piece of advice about preparing for a real big goal for our athletes, what would what would you say in in a in a minute?

Be kind to yourself and keep it simple. Everything

Okay.

ev everything else, everything will will come, trust your plan, whatever that might be. It doesn't matter if you're starting out and and attempt a 5K or if you're a season pro, and I'm pretty sure those that that are season pros probably concur with me.

If there are too many things in a way, then you're you're losing sight of your goal. Understand why you're starting. Understand why why you're doing these things that you currently are doing. And believe you me, if it's getting really difficult and it will get difficult, if you can recall why you started something in the first place, it will get you pretty much throughout the

Yeah. Well, Jens, thanks for joining us today. We really appreciate it.

Thank you both. It was fun. Thank you.

Thank

you again.

Thanks for listening today to the Athletes Compass Podcast. Take a moment now, subscribe, share, and let's keep navigating this endurance adventure together. Improve your training with the science-based training platform Athletica and join the conversation at the Atletica Forum. For Jens Vector and Dr. Paul Laursen I'm Paul Warloski and this has been the Athletes Compass Podcast. Thank you so much for listening.