Da 0 a 42 - Il mio podcast sul running · Lorenzo Maggiani

Chiacchierata con Roberto De Gasperi

·1 hr 11 min·5 clips

Roberto De Gasperi reveals how his Trail Running University project combines coaching, nutrition, and mental training for runners.

1. Da 0 a 42 hosts a long-form conversation with Roberto De Gasperi, a 32-year-old professional coach and founder of Trail Running University, on coaching philosophy and Italian trail running culture. 2. Host Lorenzo Maggiani and De Gasperi are connected through the Ran Trento community, a Trento-based trail running collective that organises collective training sessions, educational evenings, and its own podcast called Caramelle Gommose. 3. The episode's central thesis, as argued by De Gasperi, is that Italian trail running lacks credible technical content and that unqualified Instagram influencers are actively distorting how beginners train. 4. De Gasperi holds a degree in motor science from the University of Urbino and works at a gym in Pergine, where he integrates strength training into trail runner preparation. 5. Trail Running University was founded three years ago and involves three coaches with degrees in motor science, plus dietitian Stefano and mental coach Luisa, who addresses emotional intelligence as part of athlete performance. 6. De Gasperi identifies the 'local legend' problem: Italian runners who are regionally dominant are often treated as international experts by followers who have no frame of reference for how those performances compare globally. 7. He argues that France, by contrast, produces 10-15 athletes who perform at world level in ultra trail, while Italy struggles to field more than two or three competitive names from 50 km upward. 8. De Gasperi traces his athletic background from alpine skiing as a 12-year-old to cycling — including the Transalp with his father — to trail running from around 2017, when he completed his first ultra, the Adamello Ultra Trail. 9. His brother Manuel De Gasperi set the world record for positive altitude gain in 24 hours on Monte Mezzocorona, a record later broken by Daniele Cappelletti through the Italian Skyrunning Federation. 10. Roberto describes completing UTMB and the Swiss Alps 100 miles in recent years as the 'cherry on the cake' of his ultra career, before consciously stepping back from extreme distance motivation. 11. On threshold testing for less trained athletes, De Gasperi proposes two shorter tests — a 6-minute effort followed by a 3-minute effort with rest — alongside the standard Cooper 12-minute test, fed into an algorithm to estimate threshold capacity. 12. Post-race analysis, De Gasperi argues, is inherently difficult in trail because objective comparison benchmarks barely exist; he prefers heart rate distribution, pacing in the early kilometres, and comparison against known competitors as reliable signals. 13. He dismisses VAM (vertical ascent metres per hour) as a primary analysis metric on non-homogeneous terrain, noting it loses meaning when climbs vary dramatically in gradient and character. 14. The concept of the 'True Workout' collective session is presented as De Gasperi's highest-priority training prescription, even when the metabolic stimulus isn't precisely what an individual needs, because group training improves adherence and reduces perceived effort. 15. He draws on the ITEN national training centre as validation — pointing out that the best Italian athletes train together under a group model rather than each doing their own individualised plan. 16. De Gasperi is critical of skyrunning's declining visibility, attributing it to brands shifting commercial investment toward UTMB and the broader trail market, reducing the athletic development pipeline for sky marathon. 17. He argues that trail running at the elite level is trending toward faster, more road-like movement demands — citing Francesco Puppi's CCC performance without poles — and that Italian athletes with road backgrounds could transfer their speed advantage more effectively. 18. The episode is delivered as a relaxed, long-form Italian language interview with occasional English technical terms, with both host and guest moving fluidly between coaching theory, personal race narrative, and cultural commentary. 19. Runners who are developing their coaching knowledge, interested in Italian trail community building, or thinking about periodisation and group training dynamics will find detailed, actionable material here. 20. Listeners seeking race-by-race analysis, elite athlete profiles, or English-language content are unlikely to find this episode accessible.

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