Tyler Green is back at the 2024 Western States 100. In this interview, Tyler talks about what brings him back for a fifth time, how developing specific knowledge and skills allows him to feel more confident each year, and what he thinks his maximum potential could be at this race.
To learn more about who’s racing, check out our men’s and women’s previews and follow our live race coverage on race day.
As a bonus, prior women’s course record holder and iRunFar team member Ellie Greenwood interviews Tyler!
Tyler Green Pre-2024 Western States 100 Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Ellie Greenwood with iRunFar, here with Tyler Green ahead of the 2024 Western States Endurance Run. How are you doing, Tyler?
Tyler Green: I am so good. It’s so good to be here. So good to be talking with you too.
iRunFar: Yeah. So your fifth year back here. It’s become, it seems like, an annual tradition to do the Western States.
Green: It is the annual tradition. I mean, I think whether racing or not, I think we’ll be coming back here for years to come. It’s a homecoming. It feels like this community has just become more and more special to me and my family over the years. Just good to be here.
iRunFar: Yeah, so lots of things that bring you back. I’m sure it’s the competition and the race course too.
Green: Absolutely.
iRunFar: So last year you had a really exceptional race. Second place finish, but considerably one of your faster times.
Green: Yeah, that was a cool realization. And I think maybe at Green Gate I was starting to think, “Wow, is it possible to break 15?” Didn’t quite get there, but it was amazing to be able to cut off 55 minutes off of my previous time. So I’ll take that.
iRunFar: Yeah, I think anyone would take that. So what do you feel helped you run? Obviously you’ve got more experience, but that’s a big amount to cut off your time, so…
Green: Well, of course, conditions is one of the keys to running a fast time. You always have to… I compete against the people that are better are on the starting line and times take care of themselves. That being said, last year I think I really put myself in it a little bit earlier than I had in the past, and that was really successful for me.
iRunFar: So you’re planning to do the same this year?
Green: I think so, yeah. Somewhere in there.
iRunFar: Okay. All right. It’s in training you said there, you’re competing against the people that are obviously out on the racecourse. I believe first years being in the master’s category, and Mike Morton’s master’s course record… What’s that? 15:45?
Green: No, I believe it’s 15:45 and 21 seconds.
iRunFar: Okay. Okay. So just approximately. Not that you’ve looked at it at all. That is clearly on your radar, it would seem.
Green: Yeah, it’s on my radar I would say. Again, and this is going back to… you compete. You compete against the people that are around you on the day and the times take care of themselves. I guess it’s something that’s there. It’s not my main motivation. My main motivation is to go and race the people that I’m racing against, and young or old, I don’t really care. I can race with them, I believe.
iRunFar: Okay.
Green: So let’s do that.
iRunFar: There’s a few new men in the men’s field this year. Is there anybody you’re particularly excited to race against that you’ve maybe not raced against before, or…
Green: That’s an interesting question. The entire field is spectacular. And I’ve said this multiple times, I feel like this has always been my sentiment going into these races, I was like, “How the heck do you even run into the top 10 against a field like this?” And I found that I’ve been able to do it. So I have some confidence in being able to do that. And at the same time, I’m just like, “Wow, what a list of names.”
iRunFar: Yeah.
Green: It’s exciting to race against everyone.
iRunFar: Like you say, you’ve had two second places, a fourth, so you’ve done pretty well at getting into that top 10.
Green: Yeah.
iRunFar: Are there any things you’ve changed up in your training this year particularly, that…
Green: Yeah. Well, the big thing is that we moved three weeks ago. So no longer living in Portland, Oregon, though I will say
Rachel [Drake] and I are definitely repping our community in Portland, Oregon.
iRunFar: Awesome.
Green: We moved to Salt Lake for Rachel’s residency and it’s been a cool transition there, and has obviously been a significant shift in training and just the geography that we’re running in. Finding different trails. We had lots of little out-and-backs figuring out where our routes are, of like, “Oh, this doesn’t go anywhere, let’s go back.”
You know I had my tried-and-true training runs that I would do in the Columbia River Gorge or Forest Park or whatnot, and I didn’t have those. But I also think, and I talked with my coach about this, he’s like, “You know what? Novelty is a really good thing. Doing something different can shake things up a little bit, and I think that that can be really beneficial for you.” He’s talking to me in this case.
And yeah, I’m feeling that. I’m feeling that just excitement of having done things a little bit differently. And I think my body’s responded well to that. I’ve been living at altitude for three weeks, which was never something that I had prior to this. So our house is at about 5,000 feet and coming here is not quite the task that it was when we were traveling here from Portland a few days prior. So, excited to give the high country a little bit better go this time.
iRunFar: Yeah. So far you’re feeling maybe that altitude, and I’m guessing as well, Salt Lake’s likely to be a little bit warmer.
Green: It’s been a little bit hot. Yeah.
iRunFar: You’re feeling that’s going to be an advantageous change?
Green: I think so, yeah.
iRunFar: And then going back, you’ve run, like you said, five Western States. And you’re saying the altitude here and whatnot. I understand when you first started ultras, maybe a decade or so ago, nutrition was something you maybe struggled with. Is that something you feel you’ve now got nailed? Is there anything you do different on a course like Western States?
Green: I had this way that I used to write up my race plan, and I’ve changed that a little bit to be very much more fine-tuned about, how much sodium am I getting, how many carbs am I getting per hour. So that’s been a fun process. And I also realized, I used to have my crew bring a bunch of different foods for me, a whole… Basically our own little aid station. And then I realized whenever I got there, I would eat two things.
So we fine-tuned this to where we eat a few things or I bring a few real foods, and I focus on my Precision gels and I know my hydration. I feel like every year is just layering on new lessons and that’s how you get a little bit better and maybe shave off five minutes or maybe shave off 10 minutes. Those little decisions there can make a big difference.
iRunFar: So, basically, I guess experience of, you’ve got a plan, but it’ll be a flexible plan as well.
Green: Yeah, that too.
iRunFar: I’ve got to point out, you have got your no-headlamp little pin on there, right? Is that is maybe like your signal or something? Have you checked the time that you need to run to, to not have that headlamp?
Green: I don’t actually… No. That’s a good question. I don’t know what that actual time is.
iRunFar: You’re just so confident.
Green: No, I saw it and I was like, oh, well, this is a badge of honor. Because I have finished without a headlamp. So yeah, maybe it’s a little presumptuous of me. But certainly I think that’s a really solid goal to try to finish without a headlamp. Yeah.
iRunFar: And then you mentioned your wife Rachel there, who will be running her first Western States this year. So from your perspective, I guess that’s going to be different. I think she’s paced you in the past, or been out crewing or whatnot. I assume you’ve still got a crew and you’ve got pacers that you’ve worked with before.
Green: Yeah, we have a tried-and-true crew. We know what we’re doing. Again, I can think the layers of just, we sit down and we say, “Hey, what could we get a little bit better at this time? Where do you shave off one or two minutes?”
I crewed Rachel at Black Canyon [100k] and we were checking our times and seeing how we were able to get 30 seconds or a minute on the people that she was racing against. And I think my crew knows that that is a part of their mission, that that’s their way of getting two minutes on the competitor.
Anyway, that being said, with Rachel I think that it’s just so special to be able to go to the start line with her. Maybe run. I don’t know how long we’ll necessarily run together before we just say like, “All right, have a good day. Love you.”
iRunFar: “See you at the finish line, hey.”
Green: But to have her out on the course and to be just equally excited about how she’s doing, I think that that will really bolster us both throughout the day.
iRunFar: Yeah. Cool motivation.
Green: Yeah.
iRunFar: Okay. Well wishing you the best of luck on Saturday and get done before you need that headlamp, Tyler.
Green: Let’s hope.
iRunFar: Thank you.
