Knowing the signs for when to take a DNF
Today’s Guest: Andy Moskal
Andy Moskal is willing to push hard to find his limits. But he’s also willing to pull the plug when things aren’t going right in a race. His hundred-mile attempt at the Yeti 100 had him looking at a sub-eighteen-hour time and in 5th place overall. But around 50 miles in he was facing the symptoms of rhabdomyolysis. He decided to pull the plug and survive to race another day.
Information:
Andy was a police officer.
He was in the Special Operations Division.
He did martial arts, played soccer.
He competed as a Cat 1 cyclist.
He was on the SWAT team and was one of the team’s snipers.
He started out running on the roads.
He had an injury to his posterior tibial tendon and had a very long recovery.
Andy does not like road racing.
He ran a road race and ended up qualifying for Boston.
Things we discussed:
How he started running; when he went to a bike store and ended up talking to the owner.
In 2019 he signed up for his first marathon but it was canceled and starting in 2020 the only races they were doing were Ultras, so he skipped the marathon and got right into the ultramarathons.
We talked about Andy’s race nutrition.
The importance of listening to your own body and being willing to pull the plug when there is a risk to your health.
Bridge questions:
What is your must-have piece of gear? An elastic utility belt to hold his phone and gels. And a foot pod to get an accurate reading for power.
The strangest thing you have ever seen while running? A bobcat in the suburbs.
The phrase that sums up his life philosophy? He says that something he thinks about a lot is the Western States documentary that in an interview he said he was not going to quit and that always stayed with him in the back of his head for life in general, that he has to keep pushing and trust that he will succeed.
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