My guest today is Luke Nelson. He's a physician assistant, race director, husband, father, and public lands activist. He’s been on the podium at many of the top ultras, set course records, and has set numerous FKTs of mountain linkups and traverses. Prior to getting fully into mountain running, in 2012 he was the U.S. Ski Mountaineering National Champion. He’s active on Instargram and you can follow him @slukenelson He’s and ambassador for Patagonia and also runs for La Sportiva, GU, Zeal Optics, Jaybird, Suunto. And, in August of 2018, he placed 8th at the legendary Tor de Geants. Our conversation today is mostly about his preparation and experience in that race but we get into a lot more as well. He’s also a friend and neighbor of mine, so we recorded the episode when he joined me at my house. If you’d like to support the podcast and keep it advertisement-free, go to https://scienceofultra.com/support. If you want to take your training to the next level, and you’re interested in hiring me to be your coach, go to https://scienceofultra.com/coaching