Interviews

Mt. Taylor Profiles: Eric “Sully” Sullivan

Eric “Sully” Sullivan is a top contender for first place at this year’s Mt.
Taylor Winter Quadrathlon. Photo by Dan Campbell.

In my interview with Josiah Middaugh, I described the first time I saw the four-time Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathalon champion flying down the mountain on the seventh leg of the race. This was around the three-hour mark of a brutal human-powered assault up and down the mountain and about a minute behind, just one minute, was Eric “Sully” Sullivan, the 27-year-old adventure racer from Gunnison, Colorado.

I’ll never forget the look of pain on either racer’s face. While Middaugh looked focused and cool, Sully was this two-legged inferno. He had the look of a mountain lion chasing down its prey and I had never seen such intensity in an athlete this far from the finish line.

Although Sully had managed to close the gap to Middaugh, in the end, after 42 miles of biking, running, nordic skiing, and snowshoeing, he finished 1:14 seconds after Middaugh to take second place.

Tomorrow, the Quad marks it’s 25th anniversary. It should be an epic race and a highly anticipated battle between these amazing mountain men and women who truly embody the spirit of multisport endurance athletes.

Question: You’ve done Mt. Taylor four times and have an incredibly diverse background. You wrestled in high school and were a gymnast for seven years. How did you get into endurance sports and adventure racing?

Sully: It all started with mountain bike racing. I moved out from Kansas to Colorado in 1999 to go to school at Western State College. I started mountain bike racing in 2001 and eventually found out I was much better in the longer events. I don’t have that top end speed for two-hour races. For four hours though, I can keep going at a pretty good pace. In regard to heart rate and pace, there’s very little difference between my two-hour and four-hour speed (laughs).

Team Salomon Crested/Butte (left to right): Sully, Jari Kirkland, Jon Brown, and Bryan
Wickenhauser. Photo by Dan Campbell.

About five years ago, Jon Brown and Bryan Wickenhauser from Team Salomon/Crested Butte were looking for a replacement team member for a race so I joined up. We ended up winning that event and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Question: Do you train and race full time?

Sully: Mostly. During the winter, once the adventure racing season is over, I do a lot of odd jobs. For example, this summer I was helping Wick (Bryan Wickenhauser) remodel his house. This winter, I’ve been busing tables three nights a week so I can still train during the day. It seems like if I try and have a regular job during the summer, it’s more of a hassle. I’m gone so much traveling from race to race that it’s difficult to get my shifts together.

Question: When was the first time you did the Mt. Taylor quad?

Sully: The first time I did Mt. Taylor was in 2004 and I ended up winning the 19-24 year-old age group that year and in 2005 as well. In 2006, I won the 25-29 age group and took fourth overall. Last year I was able to sneak in there and get second overall.

It is definitely one of my favorite races. The amount of support you get during the race is amazing. You come into the transitions and there’s just tons of people there to help you out. It’s one the best organized races that I do. You get such a great variety of sports where you are biking and running and skiing and snowshoeing and you have to be fast up and fast down and that’s a pretty good distance for me.

Question: Were you pretty close to Middaugh throughout the race?

Sully: Josiah was ahead of me on the bike up and the run up. I knew that’s where he would be strong so I tried to be a bit more conservative on those parts of the race. Once we got to the snow portions of the race, I started to whittle away on his lead. I think every split of mine was faster than his after that.

Question: The ski up. Power hike or V1 up the mountain?

Sully: I go with full skins, tip to toe, so there’s no glide on that one flat section of the course at the bottom. At that point, I just jog. Then when you hit the steep climb on Heartbreak Hill, you’re not slipping out. From all of the rando races I’ve done, I’ve developed a pretty good feel on where I need to go hard and where not to. I just skin hard up the steep sections. I keep it pretty mellow on the bike and run. Once I get on the skis, that’s where I like to open it up and push hard.

For the first-time racers, just try and keep a jog going through the flats with the skins on and use your arms. On Heartbreak, make sure you don’t slide out and try and keep a good tempo going.

Question: The last portion of the snowshoe up is wicked with most of the 600-foot elevation gain coming in the last portion of the one-mile leg. Former triathlon champ Wes Hobson, who raced Mt. Taylor once, wrote that the sand ladder at the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon seemed like nothing compared to the final “up” leg of the race…especially at 11,000 feet. At the elite level, do you run up that portion or is it just an aggressive hike?

Sully: I don’t run the whole thing that’s for sure. I run quite a bit of it, and then I go into more of a power hike mode since I’m running at my red line and I still have a long ways to go once I reach the turnaround at the summit. I don’t wanna blow up.

To tackle that part of the course, I just push off my quads with my hands real hard and try and keep a real fast tempo going. I find that if I try and run up that super steep section, I just go into the red line and it kills me for the rest of the race.

Question: What’s the biggest rookie mistake you see people do on the course?

Sully: People want light skis for the leg up so they go with nordic gear. But on the downhill, those skis aren’t always the best in regard to control and people need to practice their downhill skiing. I was looking at the splits and some people were taking over 30 minutes to get down. The downhill ski portion is really treacherous. It’s narrow and there are some really tight hairpin turns without much room to slow down. You need to be really on it to make it down there.

With there being so many transitions, you make sure you have your transitions down. The night before, when you’re packing your bags, make sure you’re organized. Put the stuff you need on top. If you can save 30 seconds over six transitions, that’s three minutes right there.

Question: I can attest to challenges on the downhill ski portion of the race. I saw plenty of snow angels on the corners of those hairpin turns and added a few to the collection! I think I set the record for the slowest downhill at 1:17. I was on my face more than I was on my skis…and I’m a pretty decent downhill skier. So, the million-dollar question: skate or classic skis?

Eric Sullivan in the 24 Hours of Sunlight Race in February 2007.
In the background Mount Sopris.

Sully: I like classic because the tips are a little bigger and that keeps you above the snow a bit. They’re also a little longer and a little wider. Plus, the motion of kick and glide that is used on the ascent with the skins…the classic binding is built exactly for that.

Having said that, it doesn’t make all that big of a difference as long as you have a full skin on the way up the mountain. Going down is about the same whether you’re on skate or classic skis.

Question: Do you do any training specific to Mt. Taylor?

Sully: With all of the randonee racing I do before the Quad, I’m in pretty good shape. For example, last year I had completed the 24 Hours of Sunlight (where competitors hike up the mountain at the Sunlight Ski Resort in Colorado and then ski, snowboard or snowshoe their way down for 24 hours) two weeks before the Quad and I was pretty skeptical on how well I was going to do. I was tired and had been in the hospital for pulmonary edema as a result of the Sunlight race and I pretty much didn’t do anything for seven days. Just before the Quad, I did a little jog one day and then went and did the race.

As far as specific training, since it’s so cold outside here in Colorado, I’m in the gym quite a bit. I’ll do a lot of brick workouts on the indoor equipment. For example, I’ll do some work on the bike, then hop over to the treadmill and increase the incline, then hop back to the bike. I’ll go back and forth like that a few times and do those bricks two-to-three times a week leading up to the Quad.

That’s the huge surprise for a lot of people right at the start of the race. You’re coming off this huge climb from the first bike leg and you are totally red lined. You transition to the run and start climbing again and your calves seize up. I try and train to keep that from happening…too much.

Question: You don’t have an off-season do you?

Sully: No, not at all. We just came back from the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge (a six-day adventure race held in December) and I have the Snowmass Randonee Ski race and the 24 Hours of Sunlight race coming up. I try and take it easy around Christmas because I can get pretty cooked from all of the racing I do. I’m finding out more and more that recovery is critical with all of the racing on my schedule. The volume is pretty ridiculous.

Question: Since your racing is year-round, do you do most of your training at a pretty low intensity then and use the races as your high intensity efforts?

Sully: Not really. Right now I don’t need any more miles for my aerobic base so I’m just really trying to focus on quality. I want to get really good workouts with top end stuff where I can get top end on the bike and top end on the run and also get some brick workouts thrown in the mix.

With the randonee races, that’s two hours of nothing but full throttle ski racing. So actually, the winter season is where I get my top end, high intensity stuff going because I race by myself and the races are shorter.

Question: Do you train with a heart rate monitor?

Sully: Most definitely. Especially for the bike-specific stuff. I have certain workouts that I really like and what heart rates I need to train in on the bike so I can maximize my time. I don’t want to be on the trainer three hours a day in the winter like a pro mountain biker.

Question: Have you found that the nordic skiing and the weight training have a pretty good cross-over effect for your fitness?

Sully: Oh yeah. The nordic skiing and rando skiing are full-on legs and upper body because your pulling really hard and using your core. By the way, I’m going for the half course at the Rage in the Sage in April (1.2 mile swim/56k mile bike/13.1 mile run) so I’ve been getting in some swimming as well. I don’t like swimming (laughs), but I figure I want to come out of the water in decent shape. Then I’ll thrown down once I get on land.

To follow Sully’s racing exploits, check out the Team Salomon/Crested Butte blog.

A special thanks to Bryan Wickenhauser for sharing the photos used in this article.

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