Putting within the prime 10 at each the Western States 100 and UTMB in a single season is a lofty objective for anybody, however much more so for somebody juggling a full-time job with frequent work journey alongside coaching and racing. That’s precisely what Leah Yingling had in her sights for 2023, and he or she hit the goal on each counts. I caught up along with her to learn how her restoration goes, and to study extra in regards to the course she’s traveled to change into one of many prime 100-mile racers within the U.S.
Leah Yingling grew up in Johnstown Pennsylvania, an hour outdoors of Pittsburgh. Collectively along with her three sisters, she had an lively upbringing, taking part in soccer and basketball as a baby, till her freshman yr in highschool the place she added working to the combination. She mentioned, “My sisters and I, all of us ran on the cross-country workforce collectively, which to this present day continues to be amongst my fondest working reminiscences. We ended up making it to the Pennsylvania cross-country state championships collectively, which was actually particular.”
Leah Yingling (second from the left) on the 2005 Pennsylvania cross-country state championships along with her three sisters. Photograph courtesy of Leah Yingling.
Yingling continued working, alongside basketball, all through highschool, however left feeling a little bit jaded from the aggressive facet of the game. She mentioned: “I ended up going to highschool in Carnegie Mellon College, Pittsburgh. It was extremely intensive, actually difficult. I began working once more extra as a psychological reset throughout my freshman yr there.”
Then Yingling’s relationship with working was vastly altered, when on the finish of her freshman yr, she was a sufferer of a sexual assault whereas out working. After this life altering occasion, working turned extra significant and an act of defiance for Yingling, who mentioned, “Up till that time, I used to be simply working casually for enjoyable. However after that, I took a little bit little bit of day off and after I returned to working, I began looking for out the longer distances. Simply because I felt that working was one thing that was nearly taken away from me at that second, and I actually needed to take it again for myself, and simply discover a little bit bit extra of what I may do, and simply see the place the lengthy distances may take me.”
She turned concerned in advocacy in opposition to sexual assault, and thru an area charity, helped to lift cash and consciousness to assist others affected by the problem. Of this advocacy work, Yingling says: “To this present day, that was nonetheless one in every of my huge ardour initiatives.” Concurrently, she was coaching for her first marathon, the 2013 Pittsburgh Marathon, which was made tougher by the sensation of being unsafe working on the streets, and he or she mentioned, “I ended up doing most likely 75% of my working on a treadmill.”
Leah after her first marathon, the 2013 Pittsburgh Marathon. Photograph courtesy of Leah Yingling.
Already rising in consolation with longer distances, it was when she moved to the Washington D.C. space for work in 2014 that Yingling first found path working. She mentioned, “I used to be actually on the lookout for neighborhood there … I had heard in regards to the Virginia Pleased Trails Working Membership, and I knew that they did a weekly group run out at Nice Falls Park. So, I began becoming a member of them each Wednesday, or as many Wednesdays as I may make it, and that was actually my first introduction to path working.”
Right here Yingling discovered the connection she was on the lookout for, with a welcoming and skilled bunch of path runners, who have been already planting the seeds in her thoughts to delve into ultrarunning. She added, “Conveniently too, that was proper across the time I met my now husband [Mike McMonagle.] After I met him, I feel he had most likely 50-plus ultramarathons to his title. So, our first summer season collectively — we have been relationship lengthy distance between Washington D.C. and Virginia Seashore — most of our weekends have been spent assembly midway, or someplace on the East Coast, or working a race. He would do the 50k or 50 miler, and I’d usually do the 25k or the path marathon.”
The next yr, in 2015, Yingling stepped as much as her first 50k, on the Belmead Path Fest, outdoors of Richmond, Virginia. Her first foray into the gap went off effectively, and he or she mentioned: “After that I set my thoughts to finishing one other 50k, after which a while sooner or later, with eyes on the 50-mile distance,” however added, “I bear in mind vividly at the moment — my husband Mike had executed a number of 100 milers, he’d executed the Burning River 100 Mile and Western States 100, and instructed me his horror tales. And I used to be like ‘There’s no approach I wish to do a 100 miler,’ and but right here we’re!”
Leah Yingling racing her first 50k, on the Belmead Path Fest in 2015. Photograph: Mike McMonagle
In 2016, Yingling moved to Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah, for graduate college. Constructing on her earlier schooling, and her work as a researcher on the Nationwide Institutes of Well being in D.C., she pursued additional research within the subject of biomedical informatics. She mentioned, “I’d say that’s actually when my ultramarathon working began to take off. In Salt Lake Metropolis, our proximity to the mountains is basically unmatched for being a bigger metropolis. Now we have the Wasatch Mountains simply outdoors our again door, and it’s actually onerous to do a run that doesn’t go straight up.”
Yingling shortly found a robust neighborhood of runners known as the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers, who helped her to seek out her toes within the mountains, and to study and hone the abilities she wanted for lengthy days of autonomous exploration and longer distance racing.
Leah Yingling smiling her approach by way of her first 50 miler, the 2016 Useless Horse 50 Mile, along with her husband Mike. Photograph: Mad Moose Occasions
Then in 2018, she stepped up the gap to her first 100 miler, the Bear 100 Mile in Utah. She recollects, “It was a incredible day. I bear in mind crossing the end line and considering, That was my finest race ever, which is basically cool to say about your first 100 miles. I went in actually humbled by the gap.” Though all of it labored out on the day, Yingling had a worrying lead-in to the race and mentioned: “My coaching for that race was fairly nice, however then I stepped on a nail 10 days earlier than the race. That’s really a race reminiscence I replicate on typically, as a result of I ended up having to take 10 days off earlier than working that 100 miler. So, any time I’m in coaching and need to take per week off as a result of I’ve a little bit niggle, I remind myself of that.”
Yingling positioned second on the Bear 100 Milr and continued to rack up wins at across the 50k distance. Rising in confidence, she mentioned: “I bear in mind having a dialog with my husband on the finish of 2019, and I used to be like, ‘Subsequent yr, 2020, I’m going to place myself in it a bit extra.’ That was the primary yr that I felt I may very well be aggressive with the opposite ladies within the sport. However then 2020 hit, and I needed to put these targets on maintain for a bit.” She went on, “Chasing a Golden Ticket [into the Western States 100] was positively on my thoughts, and I signed up for the Canyons 100k in 2021. That was the primary time I actually stood on a begin line and believed that I may very well be a part of the entrance ladies. I feel simply having that perception in myself actually flipped a swap in my thoughts and in my racing.”
On the day, Yingling carried out effectively however fell wanting competition for the Golden Ticket, inserting sixth in a aggressive ladies’s subject — amongst huge names similar to Beth Pascall, Audrey Tanguy, and Emily Hawgood. She mentioned, “I feel that race actually instilled plenty of confidence in me. I raced it conservatively after which moved my approach up, however I simply felt so sturdy on the end line and thought I may positively take a number of extra dangers sooner or later.”
A coaching run in Moab, Utah. Photograph: Mike McMonagle
Early the next yr, Yingling lined up on the Bandera 100k, nonetheless in pursuit of the elusive Golden Ticket. She once more ran a robust race, however was handed with 4 miles to go, slipping into third place and out of the required inserting for the Golden Ticket. Undeterred, she signed up for one more try on the 2022 Canyons 100k later that spring. Within the interim interval, she raced the Gorge Waterfalls 50k, the Transgrancanaria 65k, and an area Working Up for Air 6 Hour. This build-up helped her transition from the kind of coaching she had been doing for a quick runnable course at Bandera, to organize for the extra mountainous Canyons course.
Lastly, her luck was in, and he or she recounts: “In that race I began conservative early within the day after which moved my approach up within the final 20 miles right into a Golden Ticket spot, after which moved into second place with about 5k to go.” Yingling’s place on the Western States 100 begin line was sealed.
Leah Yingling takes second on the 2022 Canyons by UTMB 100k and accepts her Western States 100 Golden Ticket. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
She ready diligently for the massive day, and mentioned: “I actually needed to make it possible for no stone was left unturned with regard the cooling methods, I actually needed to maintain myself on the market.”
Her diligence paid off, as she recollects, “I feel that led me to having the day that I had, the place I used to be in prime 20 early on. I moved up I feel to prime 15 by Foresthill, and eventually on the river I feel was the primary time I entered the dialog within the iRunFar tweets, which meant I had moved as much as the highest 10.”
She went on, “Between the river and the end, I had taken 4 spots. These 4 hours from the river to the end final yr have been among the most enjoyable racing I’ve ever executed. I used to be being paced by my buddy Matt Mitchell. I’ve by no means felt that good late in a 100 miler, that was a overseas feeling. That day was simply unimaginable.” She completed in sixth place, in a time of 18:32.
Coaching within the Alps, in the summertime of 2023. Photograph: Mike McMonagle
To shine off an already busy 2022 season, Yingling was then chosen to run for Group USA on the 2022 Path World Championships 80k in Thailand, in November. She mentioned, “Representing Group USA was such an honor. It’s very seldom that you simply get to take part on a workforce in our sport, and also you’re working for greater than your self then.”
Though she had been signed up for UTMB in addition to Western States in 2022, Yingling shared that there was at all times a query mark over whether or not she’d be ready to comply with by way of with the double. Ultimately, the choice was made for her, as a minor calf tear after Western States had not sufficiently recovered to permit her to race once more come late August.
In 2023, nevertheless, the double was a objective that was entrance and heart in Yingling’s thoughts. She mentioned, “My objective for my 2023 of racing was that I needed to be prime 10 at each Western States and UTMB. And I knew my approach of undertaking that may be by racing much less earlier within the season and focusing actually closely on the restoration between the 2 races.”
With the posh of already having her place within the 2023 Western States secured by way of her 2022 prime 10 end, Yingling didn’t have the identical stress to comply with Golden Ticket races early within the season, and will bask in a better build-up. She mentioned, “I saved it a little bit bit on the low quantity aspect, much less racing, simply retaining constant sufficient.”
Regardless of drastically completely different build-ups, her 2023 race at Western States performed out in a similar way to that of 2022, and he or she recollects: “I used to be taking pictures for an 18-hour end, and fortunately the climate gods have been on our aspect, so it ended up being a little bit beneath 18 hours. I completed three locations decrease, however I bear in mind crossing the end line considering I by no means would have thought I’d really feel this proud of a ninth-place end. I didn’t actually have something go mistaken all day, and I simply executed it precisely how I needed to.”
Leah Yingling, Eszter Csillag, and Meghan Morgan working collectively at Robinson Flat throughout the 2023 Western States 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Jaja Ferrer Capili
Yingling’s coaching, racing, and restoration are made extra difficult by upholding a demanding profession alongside working. She nonetheless works full-time as a biomedical engineer. She defined, “I work within the electrophysiology house, which is a department of cardiology, and I work for a medical system firm — launching all of our new applied sciences regionally.”
Yingling’s work calls for numerous regional journey, which requires her to be versatile along with her coaching, and he or she credit her coach with serving to to make this occur. She mentioned, “I’ve been working with Megan Roche as my coach, and he or she’s been so nice for being versatile with my coaching and likewise adapting with what’s occurring in my life. I’m traditionally a decrease quantity coach, in contrast with my rivals. I normally keep on with round 60 to 70 miles per week of coaching with a time off. Generally I can select after I journey for work, so I’ll attempt to overlay it a little bit bit with when I’ve an off day in coaching, and I’ll take my trainers with me.”
Yingling is at present having fun with a depart of absence for 3 to 6 months, which started in August, and has been utilizing the time to construct in additional restoration into her schedule, quite than including extra coaching miles. She shared, “The month I’ve had off with UTMB has been one of the best routine I’ve ever gotten into. I used to be sleeping eight hours an evening, I used to be consuming effectively, and truly recovering from my coaching. Restoration has been my Achilles heel over the previous few years. I took this depart of absence and I feel rather a lot folks is perhaps including coaching when they’re off from work, however my coaching has stayed precisely the identical and I’m simply including extra restoration to my calendar, which I feel is likely one of the causes I used to be in a position to make it to the UTMB begin line wholesome [so soon after Western States.]”
Leah Yingling runs by way of the cheers of crowds in Courmayeur on the 2023 UTMB. Photograph: iRunFar/Jaja Ferer Capili
Yingling mentioned the expertise she gained crewing and spectating the yr earlier than, and titbits of information picked up simply from attending the occasion, have been invaluable when it got here to racing her UTMB debut. Though she feels some errors have been made and there’s nonetheless room for enchancment, and one other chapter to be written in her UTMB story, the day performed out effectively to an eighth-place end — thus undertaking her objective of top-10 finishes in two of the world’s best 100 milers in a single season.
As for now, she says: “Restoration goes effectively. We’re about two weeks and a few days after UTMB and I’ve executed three or 4 runs. Simply brainstorming what to do for 2024 and the remainder of this yr.”
For one factor, her title might be within the lottery for the 2024 Hardrock 100, and with a return for a second crack at UTMB probably on the playing cards. Yingling was reluctant to decide to hanging up her racing sneakers for the remainder of 2023, and hinted at racing Extremely-Path Cape City later this yr. For now, we’ll watch this house.
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