This Saturday the 40th anniversary of the Hamburg Marathon was celebrated with a course record. Of course I missed Othmane El-Goumri flying by near our house, on his way to finishing in 2:04:24, but I got to cheer on plenty of slower runners right at the 22km mark.

It was just a gorgeous day for running. So I also tried it and the stupid pain in my forefoot came back after 500m, so I clocked some 1,4 km or so and called it day.
Running sucks. Especially when you cannot run.

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The 2 hour barrier has been smashed.

Sabastian Sawe just ran 1:59:30 with crazy negative splits, closing the last half in 59:01....faster than the American Record in the half marathon.

One of the most mind blowing performances we’ve seen maybe in the history of any sport. How did we get here?

Every breakthrough is a mixture of belief and progress. It takes folks daring to see what’s possible, surrounding themselves with a quality team and doing the work to give themselves a shot.

You’ve got to bet on yourself in a big way. Which is exactly what Sawe did in multiple ways. When asked whether he believed he could run a sub-2-hour marathon before the race, Sawe answered with one word: “Yes.”

Ok, wow. That’s insane. I am in awe.

(…continue reading.)

If On Shoes Are for Everyone, Are They Still Ons?

In gyms, in malls, in airports and on sidewalks around the world, the shoes — with a sole that looks from the side like a happy kindergartner’s gaptoothed smile — are hard to miss. Hellen Obiri won the most recent New York City Marathon wearing a pair of Ons — and expects to don a new prototype on Sunday for the London Marathon. Middle-aged dads, with more modest athletic aspirations, fill their closets with the sneakers as well.

But having made the leap from start-up to established name in performance footwear, the company finds itself at a critical juncture: How does it stay true to its roots as a brand for serious athletes while keeping up its breakneck growth, which it can do only by appealing to the mainstream?

While I think On can also make good shoes, for me they will forever be the brand worn by wanna-be rich people strolling on the boardwalk of some beach resort in Germany, not for serious runners.

(…continue reading.)

How do you train for 250 miles?

Training 15-22 hours per week, not including commuting to trails or time spent in the gym, takes significant mental and emotional energy. Then add in caring for a pregnant wife on top of shipping orders and working to grow a brand…your nervous system will be maxed out.

My experience of this was high stress before a run, the stress generally leaving as the run progressed, and then coming back as soon as I hopped back in the car. I observed myself gravitating more towards mindless scrolling and cheap dopamine hits when feeling tired at home too. Sometimes I’d pull up into our carport and sit in the car for 10 minutes before heading inside. Even typing all of this out I can feel anxiety starting to flood my system.

Unfortunately, my dog is getting older, so training with her is no longer possible and I guess that’s why I cannot train for 250 miles. No, in all seriousness, I am always in awe when I read about people training for such endeavors.

(…continue reading.)

The Hardest Part of Injury Isn’t Physical

If belief shapes perception, and perception shapes experience, then the beliefs you reinforce—intentionally or not—start to define how you move through both training and recovery. That’s where self-belief becomes more than confidence. It becomes a skill. It’s not something you either have or don’t have, but something you practice by deciding what you pay attention to and what meaning you assign to your experience.

For me, that’s looked like a shift away from asking “what am I losing?” and toward asking “what is still here?” The fitness I’ve built doesn’t disappear overnight. The discipline, the consistency, the ability to show up—those are still there. The body that adapted to years of training is still capable of adapting again. That distinction matters, because it gives you something stable to anchor to when everything else feels uncertain.

Oh, totally.

(…continue reading.)

The Strange Rise of Denim in Running Culture

A couple of years ago, people wondered why 3sixteen, a menswear brand that specializes in meticulously produced denim, was hosting monthly summer runs from its Manhattan store, but a little dig into their lookbook reveals a niche of equally thoughtful running apparel. 3sixteen founder Andrew Chen is a regular at World’s Fair Run Crew in Queens, and the running bug runs deep throughout the company and among the brand’s fans it has amassed over two decades of business.

The way that 3sixteen seamlessly brings together two parts of its identity in the Jorts Mile is a fascinating case study on the explosion of running into mainstream culture.

Yeah, no. Just because it is possible, we don’t have to do it. Running in denim is just stupid.

(…continue reading.)

If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

I haven’t looked at my Strava in weeks, but I hope these days will be over soon. I was able to walk with less pain in the last few days and I’m hopeful that I can start running again this week.

We’ll see, but I sure miss running.

I kind of dread the moment I am getting out there again. It will be a long time until I reach the fitness level I like to have after not running for at least two months.

Well, I guess I’ll take it one step at a time, literally.

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Fast Women: More pro runners are having babies, but it’s not easy

Not long ago, many professional runners in the U.S. waited until the end of their careers to have children, if they had them at all. That has begun to change. In the past several years, an increasing number of high-level runners have announced pregnancies while still competing. Among the reasons for the shift? Stronger sponsor support, a better understanding of what training during pregnancy can look like, and a growing list of athletes showing what’s possible.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Raising young children is difficult to balance with any career. For professional runners, part of the challenge is that elite sport and pregnancy require the body to adapt in different, sometimes competing, ways. And every athlete’s path back to high-level running comes with its own set of obstacles.

I have so much admiration for mothers in the sport. I don’t know how they are getting this accomplished, but I am glad there are more and more female pro runners out there.

(…continue reading.)

Is Trail Running Actually Growing? Here’s What the Data Says.

This tells two things simultaneously. First, the sport is already vastly larger than its race scene. Millions of people run trails weekly without ever crossing a finish line. Second, the race ecosystem has enormous room to grow. If even a small percentage of that non-racing majority eventually finds its way to a start line, the race participation numbers look very different.

Read together, the floor and the ceiling are both expansion signals. The sport is bigger than we measure it, and the race scene hasn’t come close to capturing it.

Trailrunning is a fantastic sport, so it is only natural that it is growing.

(…continue reading.)

Ultrarunning Culture

Ultrarunning is a growing sport. It used to be a small group of oddballs who, for whatever reason, wanted to run far. Now it is a large group of oddballs who, for whatever reason, want to run far.

With the growth of ultrarunning has come significant changes. Training methods are more sophisticated. Media attention has increased, and there is more money in the sport. Events are bigger, except for the ones that remain the same size but now have lengthy waitlists. The variety of event distances, surfaces, and topography has increased, and there are more race opportunities than in the past. There are also more factions — dissenting groups with competing visions about what the sport is or might become.

It must be weird for runners who have been around in the sport for a while and then all the commercial stuff kicks in.

(…continue reading.)

Experience: I won the world’s deepest underground marathon

On the day of the marathon, I was nervous but excited. I’m not claustrophobic, but it was unnerving to know we were so far underground. I tried not to think about the 1,300 metres of solid rock over my head.

The mine was operational and I could hear the hum of machinery through the walls. As we were escorted to the starting point, I was fascinated to see vending machines and brightly lit offices. It was an entire underground world.

The tunnel was five metres wide and stretched for over a mile. To make up the distance of a full marathon, we would run to the end and back 11 times.

Would you want to participate in a race like that?

(…continue reading.)

We’re So Busy Making Running Cool, We Forgot Why We Love It

The through-line is that people are exhausted by optimization. Everything has been focus-grouped and content-strategized and given a brand identity, and at some point the rough edges start to look really good. At some point the thing that was just a thing (not a movement, not a platform, not an activation) starts to feel like what you actually miss.

Running used to be like that. Weird and lonely and slightly embarrassing in the best way, something you did because something in you needed to, not because it photographed well. I ran Ragnar back when it was chaotic and silly and you slept in a van and ate gas station food at two in the morning, and I loved it for exactly that scrappiness. Then it became a $2,000 entry fee with branded finish lines, so the Speed Project came along as a beautiful middle finger of a race, six people running LA to Vegas because why not. And then TSP did the exact same thing in about half the time. Even UTMB has a Hoka logo and a global points system. I still want to run it, and yes that makes me a hypocrite, but when I’m out on those trails in Chamonix one day I know I wont care.

Oh yes.

(…continue reading.)

If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

Yesterday when I walked through our city park with the dog, I noticed an unusual high number of people running around with running vests. They seem to be a thing now, aren’t they? I think it’s a great development, not just because runners should hydrate, but because I assume that more and more people are getting serious about running. Sure, people can run short distances and take running serious, but it is just two weeks until the Hamburg Marathon and so I assume that these runners are into their last stretches of Marathon training. I love it when I see the blue lines on the streets of Hamburg. Nope, I won’t run this year, I still have trouble walking. But I will cheer the runners on, that’s for sure!

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Why Is Japan so Much Better at Running Than Everyone Else?

Which brings us to Japan: There were more American women at every tier in the marathon, but among men, Japanese men were way ahead at every tier, beginning at sub-2:10—about 2:1 in many cases.

To put it another way: About one in six sub-2:35 performances by men worldwide were by a Japanese man. And though it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, the general population of Japanese men roughly accounts for only 1.5% men in the whole planet; meaning only one in every 65-70 men in the world are Japanese.

Which reminds me: I have to get back to that 10.000 page volume by Haruki Murakami which is waiting on my nightstand. Talking about endurance…

(…continue reading.)

Should you use AI for your training plan?

A generous reading of the literature is that chatbots (usually ChatGPT) might be a decent starting point for beginners who (i) don’t have access to professional services and (ii) don’t have underlying medical issues or complicated needs. In that narrow use case, AI would be better than taking a stab in the dark, as beginners are inclined to do. For everyone else, AI is, at best, an adjunct to professional services, but never a replacement for them.

That conclusion raises an obvious question: if we trust AI to optimize traffic flow, detect banking fraud and even drive our cars autonomously (an innovation about 15 years away, at most), why do they stumble on something relatively simple like writing a training plan? How can the same technology seem at once futuristic and strangely archaic? To understand why chatbots struggle in this space, let’s look under the hood at how they generate their responses.

I think this will change radically within the next 12 months. Right now, people are using a plain vanilla LLM and wonder why it is not as good they expected. Soonish, our personal running coach agent will know so much more about us than any human coach ever could. For better or worse.

(…continue reading.)

Yes, The Speed Project is Still a Beast

The Speed Project began, like many running feats do, with a couple of friends hyping up each other’s crazy ideas.

Nils Arend, the race’s charismatic, mohawked cofounder, had been considering what it might look like to run as fast as possible from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. With the help of coach Blue Benadum, the two brought together a team of six runners, rented an RV, and set off early in the morning on March 29, 2013.

The Speed Project is a really cool cultural and commercial phenomenon. Would you love to run from Los Angeles to Las Vegas?

(…continue reading.)

The Mountains Are Getting Crowded

It’s a bit like when that band you and your friends loved suddenly gets commercially successful. You’re happy for them, yes, honestly. They worked hard, got the talent, they deserve it. But the feeling shifts. What once felt like a shared secret now belongs to everyone. Something intimate becomes public domain.

Or think of what happened to skateboarding. Once a bunch of punks celebrating a counter-culture, then a youth movement, now a global industry with coaches, academies, Olympic medals, and million dollar brand partnerships. Nothing wrong with that. Growth is not betrayal. In fact, it’s the most natural process of all. But it changes the emotional geometry. When something expands, the space between its people rearranges too.

Trail and ultrarunning feel similar right now. The thing that used to feel a bit quirky and nerdy, misunderstood by many, loved by few, is suddenly everywhere. More visible, more accessible, more structured, more commercial, more crowded. Not worse. Not better. Just different. A niche discovering it isn’t a niche anymore.

Or to paraphrase Yogi Berra: The mountains are so crowded, nobody goes there anymore.

(…continue reading.)

The Authenticity Economy: Rendezvu and the Next Wave of Trail Running Sponsorships

The economics here are worth pausing on. Brand subscriptions create a revenue floor with compounding stickiness. The more a brand integrates its data and partnerships into the platform, the harder it becomes to leave, while the recurring revenue keeps stacking for Rendezvu. Transaction-based commissions create the ceiling. As sales volume through the platform grows, revenue grows with it for Rendezvu, for partner brands, and for hosts.

The deeper advantage is the flywheel. More brands attract more hosts. More hosts build more consumer trust. More consumer purchases generate better brand data. Better brand data attracts more brands. At scale, any athlete can recommend and earn from any partner brand. Any brand can efficiently reach the high-intent buyers in any sport. Any consumer can get trusted recommendations from the athletes they already follow. Each side makes the others more valuable, and that dynamic gets stronger, not weaker, as the platform grows.

Most readers probably do not know that I started blogging in 2003 and ran the first commercial blogger campaign in 2005, so I am always interested in new concepts to move influencer marketing forward. And as the trailrunning niche is growing, this makes so much sense now.

(…continue reading.)

If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

While I am still not running, I noticed something. I am really not looking into the latest running shoe releases. That’s so healthy. Aside from the fact that my shoes last longer when I am not running, I think runners too often overemphasize on getting the latest stuff to run a second faster, but honestly: in most cases it won’t matter. Sure, I like buying and getting new stuff and it is exciting to try out new stuff, but I think runners do not need to buy new stuff all the time. Sure, if your shoes are worn out, then go ahead, but your shorts and t-shirt from last year are probably fine this year as well. And if you have found the ideal shorts, hang on to them for dear life as companies always phase out those shorts that you think are perfect.

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How to stay sane when you can’t run

If you’ve ever been injured, you’ve probably dealt with suggestions from others on how to cope. Friends or fellow runners might tell you to treat the time off as an opportunity to rest, or suggest that cross-training will fill the hole in your life left by not running. Those well-meaning ideas don’t address your late-night worries about losing fitness, or the sense that nothing quite replaces the calm you get from running.

Not being able to run sucks. Period.

(…continue reading.)

The Man Who Ran Out of This World

“3:56! Holy shit!” Spencer yelled in celebration and awe. The man we trekked three days to reach had just run a mile with almost 250 feet of vertical gain in under four minutes. Brendan trudged up the hill five minutes later and confirmed the start as legit. We looked at each other, unbelieving.

The fastest trail runner on the planet, perhaps even the greatest runner on earth, period, is a hermit in Northern Idaho.

We retraced the route and GPSed it again to confirm. One mile, 244 feet. One mile and 244 feet in under 4 minutes. Many elite athletes train their whole lives to break the 4 minute barrier on a track, and fewer than 2,000 have ever done it. Sandy did it uphill, at 8000 feet, on a trail.

He was laboring (and who wouldn’t be after a max effort) but quickly recovered his distant smile and springy posture.

Oh wow, what a story. Can you imagine that? Living in a hut somewhere in the mountains and just doing the simple life, including running? Reminds me of The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, just with running instead of bears…

(…continue reading.)

Raziq Rauf on what running culture means to him

These days we might run to combat the hours we're sitting at a desk, or for simple competition – against others or simply against ourselves. That means that running isn't as mundane an act as breathing or driving any more. Running is a choice. It's a leisure pursuit. It's a necessary act of physical exertion. It's a place where people are more free to experiment. Sometimes that's testing their bodies and/or minds, or sometimes it's experimenting with building a community. Other times, it's understanding enough about how we run so that we know how to look for great stories.

Raz is on a roll here with his new book. Go buy it and read it!

(…continue reading.)

The Ultimate Guide to Hut-to-Hut Trail Running

For those familiar with backpacking, thru-hiking or even fastpacking, hut-to-hut running trips will require a mental shift from the slow grind of a two-mile-per-hour pace to a much faster tempo. On a backpacking trip, your mind often wanders during the long, slow miles, but trail running demands more attention to the next few steps on the trail, forcing you to be in the present. That immediacy is a big reason I love it a hut-to-hut.

On top of that, hut-to-hut trail running provides a newfound freedom — you know for a fact that a warm meal and bed are waiting for you miles ahead, as opposed to a tent and a long night on your back. This freedom also translates to tangible physical lightness; you get to trade a 50-plus liter pack for a running vest that is 20 liters or less. Instead of fighting pain in your shoulders and hips, you’ll have to train your lungs and quads for the adventure.

this is so on my bucket-list.

(…continue reading.)

No, Your Race Isn’t a Failure If You Miss Your Goal Time

Here’s what I’ve learned from that, and so many other races over the years: missing your goal time is not the same thing as failing. Not even close, actually. Sometimes the win is that you trained through a messy year. Sometimes the win is that you showed up and finished on a day your legs just didn’t want to cooperate. Sometimes the win is that you ran at all when it would’ve been easier to stay horizontal and doomscroll.

I’m right there with you: Goal times are fun. And PRs? Even more electric. But the finish line still counts even when the clock doesn’t match the fantasy.

Run the race you have and celebrate the work you did. Yeah, maybe you missed the number, but so what? Don’t miss the point.

I think a race is a race and you yourself define how well it went. If you miss your goal and had fun nonetheless, I guess that works :)

(…continue reading.)

If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

I am still not running as I feel pain in my left forefoot when I am walking and somehow don’t think it is wise to go running then. But do you know what? When you are not running 5 times a week, you have so much more time to do other things! I just realized that after a few weeks of not running and.I think I will actually start doing these other things soon…

Anyhow, spring is around somewhere and here in Hamburg the temperatures fluctuate a lot from day to day, which means you have to carefully evaluate your running outfit. You might even want to try out a fancy button down running shirt and look like you just escaped from your office. Or you try running in totally weird spaces like your frontyard or in your bathtub, if it is too cold outside.

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What Trail Running Teaches Us About Creativity

Running became much more freeing for me when I realised that every run doesn’t have to be the best run I’ve ever done. Fitness is the sum of many parts, practiced over many days, which takes the pressure off any one specific run. This was soothing to my perfectionist soul. Now at work, I don’t freak out if my initial ideas aren’t amazing, or a client has more feedback than I expected. It’s not a final grade, it’s just feedback. In running and in work, I trust that if I keep aiming for excellence, I’ll get there — just by dedicating myself to the practice.

Trail running is amazing for the mind, so much better than running through the streets. My take, please challenge me.

(…continue reading.)

The Prerequisites for Consistency

The deeper kind of consistency is rarer and harder to see. It shows up not in the training log but in the results and relationship with the sport — a sustained ability to operate at an individual’s highest level across years, through different environments, different competitive eras, and different versions of yourself.

That kind of consistency doesn’t happen by accident. And it doesn’t happen simply by training harder or longer. It happens when a specific set of prerequisites are in place — prerequisites that most athletes never fully develop, and that most training plans never explicitly address.

I really would like to get back to consistency in my training. Obviously, my training is on a whole different level, but still I value consistency a lot.

(…continue reading.)

The Modern Running Boom Is Changing What a Race Even Is

If everything is selling out, then races are no longer competing against the idea of not racing at all. They are competing against other races that are also full, and that changes how decisions get made.

You’re not asking whether someone will sign up. You’re asking why they’ll choose your event instead of another one that also has a waitlist. Will that be weather? Time of year? Medal? Expo? Race perks and swag?

That leads to bigger weekends, more built-out finish areas, more emphasis on the expo, and more effort put into making the event feel like something you’d want to spend time at beyond the actual race.

It’s great that runs are sold out, I guess we need to create more to meet demand! If you travel to a race, you might as well attend an event and have more fun while away from home.

(…continue reading.)

Would You Run a 5K in a Van? On a Plane? In the Tub?

The latest trick is recording a run in an unlikely location, the more cramped the better: a 5K in a police van, a marathon in a bathtub. One man kicked off a wave of online backlash after recording a 5K inside an airplane bathroom, over the course of nearly an hour, during a flight from Cape Town to Munich.

Using the infographic that Strava automatically generates, which overlays a run’s distance, pace and route onto a photo or a video, these posts have the same slick look as a sincere race recap — except the GPS track is an absurd scribble.

I am sure that Andy Warhol had running influencers in mind when he said that “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes”.

(…continue reading.)

Shacketology: A Runner’s Guide to Button Down Technical Shirts and Shackets

Similarly the “trail shirt” has long been a staple in trail ultra running and hiking. Before there were technical button ups, runners wore 100% cotton western shirts that kept them shaded from the sun and cool when soaked in ice cold mountain creeks. The snap buttons pop off if the shirt gets snagged. Ultra running fit god Cliff Young consistently wore cotton button downs.

They’re a significantly cooler looking than the UPF sun hoodies you can get for fishing (sunlight reflects off the water and you’re fully exposed out on a boat). So not only are they useful, but you can also just wear them out and about. If I can get extra mileage out of my running stuff, I’ll always opt for that option these days.

I think I’ll not take part in this trend. I’m not wearing a shirt to the office, why should I wear one to go running?

(…continue reading.)

If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

Aaaaand we are back to the newsletter about running written by a guy who is currently not running. And he hates it.
Now I have some stupid inflamation in my left foot and I am limping more than walking, not to mention running.
To add insult to injury, I got moved from the waiting list to actually being able to sign up for a backyard ultra, but I don’t think I will be running a really stupid long run at the end of May.
Oh well.

Anyhow, it feels springy out there and I hope I am getting back on my feet and into a better mood while writing about running. 🤓

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The Digital Treadmill

The rise of the “influencer runner” has reshaped aspirations within the sport. For many new runners, the goal isn’t simply to improve. It’s to become sponsored, to receive free gear, to join ambassador programs.

This shift from internal to external motivation has profound implications. Training decisions become influenced by what will generate engagement rather than what will generate results. Runners chase trends over training wisdom. The fundamental question “what will make me better?” gets replaced by “what will make me more marketable?”

I often think about this. It would make me sick to my stomach to constantly produce text, photos and videos to endorse something and show off my running form. It probably started as a nice thing and then some free shoes and all of a sudden you’re sucked into the influencer spiral where you constantly have to produce content, no matter what.

(…continue reading.)

The Trail Running Investment Thesis

The room is skeptical. The investors see a niche outdoor sport, not a business opportunity. Trail running? Isn’t that just glorified hiking?

Your job is to change their mind.

What follows is my attempt to help you do just that. A thought experiment that doubles as a genuine investment thesis. The format is a creative device, but the data and arguments are real.

Trail running is exploding. And it’s here to stay.

I have been tinkering with some ideas about this myself, so it is refreshing to see what others think. And yes, there is great potential in trail running!

(…continue reading.)

Freshening

Where is there space for freshening up, for opening the window a bit and letting in new air, in the stoic practice? Where is the space for that in running practice? If your purpose is to increase your mental and physical fitness, which I imagine is most of the audience of this newsletter, how does that purpose have any variation beyond what is logical? How and when and to what extent do you break out of plans? Can you, even?

Well.

(…continue reading.)

Why Some Runs Feel Effortless

The same legs, the same trail, the same level of fitness, but suddenly the run feels light. Your stride feels rhythmic. There’s a bounce to it. Instead of forcing yourself forward, it almost feels as if the ground is helping you along.

Many runners assume the difference must be fitness.

But often it isn’t.

Very often the difference is elasticity.

I need to get there again.

(…continue reading.)

‘StravaLeaks’: France’s aircraft carrier located in real time by Le Monde through fitness app

Arthur had a profile on the Strava fitness app that anyone could view, because it was set to "public." As a result, the young officer almost instantly revealed the exact location of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the Mediterranean Sea as it traveled northwest of Cyprus, together with its escort, about 100 kilometers off the coast of Turkey, Le Monde found.

While I am surprised that people still accidently reveal their locations through Strava and other apps when they shouldn’t, I am pretty sure that an aircraft carrier cannot sail across the oceans unnoticed…

(…continue reading.)

If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

No running for me last week. Just no time, but I have a great excuse: my American parents were in town and we had a wonderful time. I did do some reading about running and here is what I found: Harry Styles chats with Haruki Murakami about running as the ultimate reset, stripping away fame's gaze to just you, shoes, and the road, echoing Murakami's empty-minded flow that primes the creative vessel. Ciele Athletics' Jeremy Bresnen geeks out on soft-brim, breathable hats revolutionizing run kits beyond black basics, Nike dangles a dream paid ultra-training gig in Beaverton with full kit and science squad, Longrun Labs skewers carbon-plated shoe hype and daily supertrainer misuse fueling injuries, and smart tweaks like hill sprints shake ruts without overhauling plans, all tempting me to ditch the desk for trails before running topless season season hits.

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Harry Styles Is One of Us

HM: When I’m running, I’m just running. I don’t think much. I listen to music mostly.

When I come back to sit in front of the desk I begin thinking, but when I’m running, I’m kind of empty. Something comes into me, but I don’t notice it.

To be empty is my one of my purposes with running. I feel that training your body is the way to create the perfect vessel, building a foundation for the ideas to come into.

HS: For me, one of the things that can be complicated is that, as an artist, say if you’re a novelist or a musician or a filmmaker, you’re an observer—but when you become a known person, you become the observed. You know you’re still the same, but other people can begin to view you as something different.

So something I love so much about running is the simplicity of it. You are the observer once more, and you can go about your day in the most naked form. It’s just you, alone, moving through the world.

That’s what I love about it: You don’t need anything, just a pair of shoes.

This really is a fantastic conversation between Harry Styles and Haruki Murakami - and suddenly I remember that I have a really big book by Murakami waiting for me on my nightstand. I don’t even find the time to run, how am I going to tackle these 800 something pages? Also, I think I need some new shorts and maybe I should take up running shirtless?

(…continue reading.)

A Conversation with Jeremy Bresnen, Co-Founder of Ciele Athletics

We came into the market as a headwear brand and we had a product that visually obviously was different. It hit the right note in terms of silhouette. The five panel has been sort of meaningful on the skate side. In the 80s, it was pretty meaningful on the outdoor side. Color-wise, we came with something that was different, and that was purposeful. We knew that we weren’t going to get attention if we just came with a black hat. We had to come with something different, even though to this day, an all-black hat is our best-selling hat by miles and miles.

The flip side is that if you looked at everything on the market from a headwear standpoint, nobody was doing anything technical. Nobody was actually thinking through the design of the hat. 95% of the hats in the run space had a hard brim. Our soft brim is definitely more comfortable. It’s packable. And every hat on the market was a woven fabric throughout. Maybe they had a little mesh window to give you this idea that it was breathable, but they weren’t breathable.

Aside from shoes and shorts, I think a hat is the most important part of a running outfit. So I really appreciate this talk about Ciele and hats and all that.

(…continue reading.)

Nike Will Pay You To Move To Beaverton And Run Yourself Into The Ground

The Nike Sport Research Lab is accepting applications for a new research project focused on ultra-distance running. Selected runners will be relocated to Beaverton, Oregon, where they’ll spend roughly 15 weeks training full-time under Nike’s Applied Performance Scientists — with housing, financial compensation, and a full kit of footwear and apparel covered by the company.

The program, listed on Nike’s innovation platform, is described as a “brand-new, one-of-a-kind research project.” Nike says it’s looking for high-mileage runners who regularly log big weeks, because it wants to study how athletes adapt across a complete training cycle.

This sounds like a lot of fun! I’d do it in a heartbeat, but I currently have a self-imposed travelban to the USA as long as Agent Orange is in charge.

(…continue reading.)

Why the Running Industry Is Getting Injury Prevention Wrong

Almost no one in the market understands what a carbon plate actually does. That includes many of the people reviewing and selling the shoes.

When influencers demonstrate a carbon plate shoe by flexing it and watching it spring back, they are showing a shoe performing incorrectly. The carbon plate’s job is to make the shoe stiff. That stiffness creates a longer lever at takeoff, transferring energy more efficiently through the ankle and calf. A carbon plate shoe that bends easily is not working as designed.

Gelindo put it plainly: the wrong message is going out to consumers every week, and it is coming from people with large audiences who have not been told what they are actually looking at.

Beyond the mechanics, there is a training load problem. Recreational runners are wearing their fastest shoes every day and wondering why injury rates are climbing. The shoe that helps you run your fastest race cannot also be your daily trainer.

I know the guy is out there promoting shoes, but I found this insightful nonetheless.

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How to get out of your running rut

Mixing things up doesn’t mean reinventing your training plan every month. Sometimes it’s just a small shift in focus, and a runner who spends the winter logging steady miles might add hill workouts in the spring. Someone training for a longer race might gradually stretch their long run a little farther as the season goes on.

Those kinds of changes keep your body adapting, and they also keep training from feeling like you’re stuck on repeat. Over time, switching the emphasis of your workouts can help build strength and endurance while keeping running interesting.

I’ll keep reading and posting these kinds of stories until I am back into running for good.

(…continue reading.)

If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

Spring has sprung in Hamburg and I went running again in that beautiful nature reserve in the southeast of the city. This weird sand dune is really something.
This week I really questioned if I could still call myself a runner as I really rarely run these days. But I guess it is good to do things differently every once in a while and if I need to run less to figure out I miss running, then I guess it works for me.

I am also thinking about this newsletter a lot. I still love reading about running, but after doing this for more than three years there are some parts that are getting a bit repetitive. Maybe I advance to Six Things? I dunno. If you have ideas, please ping me.

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Trail Running Is Becoming the Outdoor Industry’s Default Sport

For much of its history, the outdoor sector revolved around hiking and mountaineering. Those pursuits might produce powerful imagery that give ardent outdoors types a semi when reading through their latest issue of Mountain Gazette, but they always had limited participation. A summit attempt might take place once a year. A multi-day trek might be a rare holiday. Trail running operates on a different rhythm - It is an outdoor activity practiced weekly, often several times a week, which makes it far more compatible with the product cycles and communities that modern brands depend on.

This helps explain why trail running has become attractive to companies that historically built their reputations elsewhere. KEEN, for example, spent decades selling rugged sandals and hiking footwear. Moving into trail running places the brand inside a culture defined by regular activity, race calendars and digital communities. The presence of athletes such as Browning and Moehl offers instant credibility while linking the company to a sport that has steadily expanded over the past decade.

I totally understand this. Trail Running is something that people can easily do, as long as they find the time to get out of the city and it is just a tad more active than hiking…

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‘I try not to think about lions’: Why the Grand Canyon’s ‘R2R2R’ endurance run is not for the faint-hearted

Rim to Rim to Rim (known in ultra circles as ‘R2R2R’ or simply ‘R3’) is an undertaking that is borderline barbaric even in benign conditions. The challenge has a childlike simplicity to it: ‘I wonder how long it would take to run to there and back.’ ‘There’ is the opposite rim of a canyon so vast that you could spend decades scouring its depths: 446km long, 29km across at its widest and plummeting a rusty-red, strata-laced vertical mile.

As I’m shortly to discover, you can be shivering in -13ºC on the rim in thick snow and, only a few hours later, dusty, sweat-encrusted and parched as you run across the canyon floor doing a nervous mental stocktake of your electrolyte supplies. The wildly fluctuating temperatures are just one of the challenges. The 68km length is another – laced with head-spinning ‘vert’. Make it back to your start point on whichever rim you begin and you’ll have clocked some 3,700m up and the same down.

I don’t really have a bucket-list, but if I had one, this would be on it at the very top. I did a stopover at the Grand Canyon some 30 years ago on my way from the Bay Area to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and it was just breathtaking.

(…continue reading.)

Round and Around and Around We Go

Of course, a factor that impacted my performance more than fear of injury and weather concerns was the race format itself. Indeed, there were a few things that made this event different from ultras I’d typically run. First, the looped format, which was a bit of a mind trick. Every 2.2 miles we’d return to the start/finish, which gave runners an opportunity to quit or overstay their welcome at headquarters, trading running for listening to the classic rock that was blasting from the speakers or marveling at one of the best hydration stations I’ve ever seen: a 6-foot table with 3x 5-gallon clearly labeled containers of water or 2 flavors of perfectly blended sports drink, sporting long and wide-bore tubes with nozzles at the end for rapid refills, plus a quart-size dispenser of pickle juice with 1oz taster cups … it’s an engineering masterpiece 🫡).

Second, with access to aid every 22-25 min, I didn’t have a lot of time to get in a rhythm or lock into a steady flow. In most ultras, there’ll be 5- to 10-mile gaps between aid (1-2 hours, depending on the terrain), which gives runners a sustained amount of time to navigate the section and be self-reliant.

I love these kinds of race reports. You can truly see how much loves to run and to race. And what an insane course that is!

(…continue reading.)

Running is Painful & Stupid

Her laughter stuck with me, however, even as I accelerate, briefly, to marathon pace across the bridge, where the faux grain swirls started to feel edgy and irritating underfoot. To runners comfortably shod in the latest maximalist shoes, barefoot running must indeed seem “painful and stupid,” but to non-runners, the entire sport of running is pointless and masochistic. Why subject yourself to any kind of pain unnecessarily, whether it’s in the bottom of your feet, leg muscles, knees or hips or any other part of the body? Why would you do this to yourself?

Maybe I should sign up for a really long race this year, sounds like fun.

(…continue reading.)

The intimacy of running

We experience intimacy in so many different ways throughout our lives, and even within a day. While the intimacy between lovers is often the first thing that comes to mind, consider the more pedestrian occurrence of feeding someone or of helping someone dress themselves. Think about the level of care and trust that requires. It’s what a parent does for their child. It’s what the closest of friends would do for you when you need it most.

For me, intimacy is sharing a vulnerable moment with someone else. For me, that intimacy is key to the beauty of running.

Runners often talk about the art of discovering more about themselves as we push our bodies and minds on a run. We find our limits, and we find our support structures through that. We find our people.

Indeed.

(…continue reading.)

If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

My wife suggested I have what’s called ‘Frühjahrsmüdigkeit’ - springtime tiredness. I am in a slump right now and I want to run, but just don’t feel like it.
It will get better.

In the meantime, I am reading a lot about running fashion this past week, which I really enjoy as I think that we are finally moving past functional neon running apparel.

Also, spring is coming, so can we please move past the black tights now?

Enjoy these five articles and then go running! 🏃🏻‍♂️

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Running — And What We’ll Actually Remember

The smoothest performances are the ones which flow. Where surges were instinctive. Where positioning happened without overthinking. Where effort was guided internally rather than dictated externally.

Every glance at the watch adds friction. Every split introduces judgement. Every external cue pulls you slightly out of presence.

And presence is performance.

And this presence can be so graceful.

(…continue reading.)

How to Start Your Run (or Anything) When You Don’t Feel Like It

Remind yourself why you’re doing this. I reminded myself of the myriad benefits of a run like this, including: the increased fitness, the post-run glow of sweaty satisfaction (which I don’t feel as much outdoors in this dry, thin air that immediately evaporates sweat), and the good unplugged thinking that germinates mid-run. I realized I would not regret running, but I would regret not running. (I once ran behind someone in a race whose T-shirt’s quote stuck with me: “‘I really regretted that run.’ — said no one ever.”) I told myself that when I’m trying to run harder and faster in my upcoming races, I’ll be grateful for workouts like this one.

Sound advice, but it didn’t really work for me last week.

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Copycat Culture in Sportswear. Is Originality Dead?

Nike is known to rigorously defend its IP so copying Satisfy’s design and knowing due to the varying resources between the brands that they won’t be challenged, is in fact, very poor behaviour.

It’s funny that Satisfy’s first ever collection was designed by an ex-Nike designer, and now, we have the biggest sportswear brand in the world taking inspiration and design cues from them.

This story begs the bigger question at play here, is originality in sportswear dying?

I think this whole discussion centers around the old quote “good artists copy, great artists steal” - people get inspiration and then copy or build on it. Some brands borrow from Yvy League heritage, others from Yoga, others from 70s running, and so. The good thing is: we can buy whatever we like, if we can afford it.

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Fake Splits, Real Feelings

Impression management towards others and self-deception towards ourselves go hand in hand: we want to look good out there, and still see ourselves as fundamentally decent in here.

So no, I don’t think most race cheaters wake up in the morning planning to commit sports fraud. I think they wake up wanting to be the person they already told the world they are. And then they make a series of micro-decisions that move the story faster than the body.

Some people really need to just go running and take a break from it all.

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Neurotribe Voices: Camille Herron on Running on a Different Frequency

Running has been my special interest for 31 years. I run twice a day most days because it’s my routine, rhythm, and what I feel wired to do. I’m like the mouse that wants to stay on the wheel - maybe that mouse is neurodivergent too. I track my lifetime running mileage to six decimal places, which I didn’t realize was “weird” until someone pointed it out. Accuracy and precision matter to me. I travel with a scale to weigh my gear and nutrition. I travel with a separate suitcase with my favorite silverware, cups, coffee mug, bowl, snacks, and foods. I only like certain spoons.

I’ve always resonated with Forrest Gump - the regimented, hyperfocused, keep-going energy. I’m like the female Forrest Gump.

Camille Heron is quite an interesting person, I have been reading about her for quite a while now and find this conversation really worth reading.

(…continue reading.)

If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

And just like that, the snow is gone. The temperatures rose from below freezing to 10 degrees Celsius and rain. I actually like running in the rain, even though I realized I need to reapply some DWR coating again.

I still need to run more and drink less coffee - every time I have too much work to do, I fall into this pattern instead of deliberately taking a break from everything to go running. I am sure I’d be more refreshed after a run than after the fifth cup of coffee. I’ll try it this week. The emphasis is on trying!

Enjoy these five articles and then go running! 🏃🏻‍♂️

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Thoughts While Running #36

In fashion, trends trickle up (from the streets, instagram influencers, cultural moments) or they trickle down (from the runways, luxury brands), but what makes a trend a trend is the momentum behind the moment. It’s not a coincidence you suddenly see earthy neutrals across a variety of sportswear brands. One might have brought it to market sooner, but the momentum behind the moment was already building. It’s unfair to accuse one brand of knocking off another when there are many, many others in the wings doing the same exact thing.

How fragile the male ego is.

Best comment on the Satisfy/Currently Running discourse that is happening on Insta and elsewhere.

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What Can Runners Learn From Alysa Liu?

The meaning had drained out of it.

That kind of self-awareness is rare in elite sport. Most athletes double down when things feel heavy. We add mileage. Add ‘sessions’. Add control. Sign up for the next race. Compare ourselves to our peers. We try to push through the tension.

Instead, Liu stepped away.

For runners, this is uncomfortable to hear. We are conditioned to believe that perseverance is always the answer. But sometimes clarity requires space. Sometimes growth requires pause.

I am not really into Figure Skating, but my wife made me watch this every evening. Alysa Liu was really outstanding.

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Fueling stats from the 2025 Black Canyon 100k

5 of the 17 athletes vomited at least once during the race. Top causes were likely dehydration, slow gastric emptying, hypoglycemia (low carbs) and over-caffeinating. Nausea and vomiting is by far the #1 fueling-related complaint that I see in ultra running, and many athletes pay good money to figure it out. Usually we can…sometimes we can’t.

Black Canyon is unique because it requires a super high level of intensity, and it can also feel hot - those two things together can spell disaster for digestion. What I’m telling my athletes is that if they can stay on top of hydration (but not overdoing it!) the rest will fall into place.

I have never run a 100km, but I was reading this article nonetheless, learning a lot about carbohydrate intake among elite runners. And barfing. Interesting stats!

(…continue reading.)

The Easier You Train The Faster You Finish

At its core, this analysis of 403 verified marathon finishers, drawn from real wearable data aggregated over six months, shows that marathon success is less about the big race-pace sessions or perfectly structured long runs and far more about patient, consistent building blocks. Consistency is a recurring theme in all of our blogs; this subject is no different.

After controlling for baseline pace (your starting fitness in the first 30 training days, which alone explains ~35% of finish-time variance), the strongest signals are clear: prioritise frequency and consistency (aim for 150+ active days and multiple (consistent) runs per week), flood your training with easy Zone 1 miles (slowest pace, low effort), and accumulate balanced volume in the 500–1,000 km range over the build-up period.

Excessive time at or faster than race pace (Zone 3) reliably predicts slower finishes, even when volume is held constant, reinforcing the classic polarised training principle: the vast majority of your training should feel easy and sustainable.

Easy does it. Just take it slow.

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An Invitation to the Pain of Running

No pain, no gain? Absolutely not.

A better slogan is this: Some instances of pain can be edifying if we respond to them suitably, but the pain in question should not be the product of our own imprudence. Also, communities can help us to endure discomfort well.

Unfortunately, this slogan does not fit as well on a t-shirt.

Difficulties can refine us. They can make us better athletes and humans if we respond in excellent ways to these difficulties. But there are many different forms of difficulty and strain, and not all forms are productive.

This is so true. But oftentimes I just want to have it easy on my runs…
(…continue reading.)

If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

I need to run more. I really do. But this last week I was just not in the mood and too exhausted from work and watching the winter olympics in Italy too long into the evening. So even though I want to run more right now, I feel as if I need to slow down right now. Also, the weather is just yucky right now, it’s around 0 °C here with little sun and some rain or snow and honestly, I am not in the mood for that right now…

Isn’t there this thing about winners are being made in the winter? Well I guess I won’t win anything this summer then…

It could be worse, right?

Enjoy these five articles and then go running! 🏃🏻‍♂️

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How ex-con turned hobby into ‘biggest run club’

When Hermen Dange was an inmate at HMP Manchester, he used running as a way of getting extra time out of his prison cell.

He took part in the HMP Hindley Parkrun, which involved 11 laps of the prison football pitch.

But six years on he has turned the hobby into a successful brand, which has helped thousands of people.

I’m a sucker for these kinds of stories. Formed a run club, built a brand.

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On Running

The best runs silence my endless internal dialogue, my constant self-debate. The worst amplify it. The best runs are effortless, a body hurtling through time and space; they require no persuasion. The worst runs require a commitment to self-coercion: to talking myself into every step, every tenth of a mile, to believing that two miles is actually almost ten, if you think about it right. I never know whether a run will be the best kind or the worst until I’m at least a mile into it.

I recently read Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and I agree with his sentiment that there are some things only runners understand. I think, if you run long distances, there are things I fundamentally know about you. We share something. But I don’t consider myself a serious runner; usually, I don’t even call myself a runner. I just go for runs. I don’t know why I care about the distinction. Being committed to something I’m not good at is uncomfortable, I guess. Mildly embarrassing for no reason.

I love the commitment to running and I totally accept the fact that I won’t ever be on a podium. It is still a wonderful thing to do.

(…continue reading.)

Unconventional Things I’ve Done to Improve as a Runner

Maybe it was just maturity and age that helped me to slowly change my ways. Maybe it was burnout. Or maybe it was the more laid-back culture of ultrarunning that I was drawn into when I began competing on the trails. Either way, I’m certainly not the same runner today as I was in high school or early in college. Don’t get me wrong—I train more, longer, and harder than I ever did back then; by most standards I’m far more “disciplined.” But it rarely feels that way.

It’s important to find your own approach to running and training - and this should always involve listening to your body.

(…continue reading.)

Why Your Favorite Cycling Brand Is Now a Running Brand, Too

Ignoring the market potential of expanding your sales to include both runners and cyclists would seem unwise, considering the Venn diagram overlap of runners who cycle and cyclists who run is pretty large, and potentially growing. This is something that upstart brands like Portal have been able to tap into without needing to go back to the drawing board. It’s in their DNA.

I assume they do it because running is just so much cooler. hehe.

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Dressed to Hurt

For a long time, running gear was basically fluorescent plastic: practical, reflective, anonymous. High-vis yellow, generic logos, fabrics that felt like they were designed by road safety engineers, not people who actually loved this sport. One of the reasons I started my running brand Willpower ten years ago was because I couldn’t stand that faceless neon polyester universe anymore. I wanted shirts that felt closer to 90s band merch than to emergency vests.

Fast-forward and running hasn’t just become “stylish”, it has become fashion. Real fashion.

Capsule collections. Collabs. Catwalk shows. Limited drops you have to “cop” in sixty seconds. Seamless base layers that look like they belong in a gallery. Silk scarves. Oakleys that make you look like an insect. Shorts with a backstory and a waitlist. Tights made for a runway instead of a hill repeat.

The pendulum didn’t just swing away from neon. It flew right through it and crashed into a different kind of costume.

While I am not a fan of the all-black attire Chris likes so much, I am very happy to see less and less neon. The world is a better place when people do not run in neon.

(…continue reading.)

If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

Funny how running has become both therapy and commodity. One writer celebrates the silence of being alone on the road, another points out how even that space gets filtered through influencer deals and glossy gear reviews. January’s grind reminds us that comparison kills joy, yet we scroll anyway. The finisher-shirt debate is peak modern absurdity - wear what you want; nobody earned their self-worth in polyester. And somewhere beneath all that noise, someone remembers when running was just running, before apps and sponsorships told us how it should feel. Maybe that’s where the real finish line still is.

Enjoy these five articles and then go running! 🏃🏻‍♂️

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Alone, by Design

There is the outer loneliness: the long stretch of road where there’s simply no one else around. In races, those have always been some of my most intense moments. Not the finish, not the start, but the rather unspectacular middle sections where the pack has thinned out, the tumult has faded, and you suddenly realize you are in a silent corridor between two parts of your life.

Then there is the inner loneliness: the way your own mind sounds when there is nothing else to reflect or react to. No conversation, no music, no scrolling, no “How are you doing?” to answer politely. Instead, there is the uncensored version of whatever is going on in there.

Oh yes. I run alone and I love it.

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The Things We Don’t Quite Talk About

Running media and influencers have professionalised. Brands fund shows, athletes overlap with product development, outlets take on consulting work, and creators build real businesses hawking gels and AI training plans. None of that is surprising, and none of it is inherently negative. The interesting bit is how the presence of money subtly shapes the edges of the conversation.

The content itself is rarely dishonest. Shoes are still tested. Races are still covered. Interviews are still engaging and often insightful. If anything, production quality has gone up across the board. The change is more about range than truth, a quiet narrowing of what tends to get explored deeply versus what gets skimmed or skipped.

It’s also interesting to see how brands appear everywhere online and get rave reviews, but then you never see them on any runners’ feet on your local route…

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Yes, It’s OK to Wear a Finisher’s Shirt for a Race You Didn’t Finish

Commemorative race merch is meaningful for a number of reasons. It represents all the hard work you put in, early mornings, 20 mile long runs, and days you didn’t want to but you did. The race is the culmination of months of training and potentially a previous year’s personal best.

The journey there is more important than what one does, or doesn’t do, on a single day. Your hard work doesn’t disappear because mile 1 or mile 19 didn’t happen. Training rarely goes as planned and an injury might occur leading up to the race, or worst case, you try to race hurt and have to drop out.

I have a ton of finisher shirts that I do not wear, because they feel like a cheap plastic bag. Aside from that: please wear whatever you want to wear, as long as it is not neon.

(…continue reading.)

January training is HARD

I managed to get in over 150km in running this month, and just under 2000m of elevation. It’s not “enough” if you look at the training plan, it definitely didn’t seem enough if I fell into the comparison trap, but it sure felt enough when the cold seeped into the bones, when the pavement felt like an ice rink for most of the month, when the sun only came out for one of thirty days.

January is one of those strange months where motivation can feel both at an all time high and low.

January is a beast. And this year I ignored it and just ran a bit every week. I admire people who power through the month!

(…continue reading.)

Before I Ever Called it Running

Sometimes I think the work now isn’t about changing how I run, but about protecting that feeling. Holding onto the part of me that runs for no other reason than because it feels right in the body and quiet in the mind.

Maybe the best running I’ve ever done happened back when I didn’t need a reason at all.

Oh yes. I still remember those runs I did as a teenager when I just felt like I wanted to go running.

(…continue reading.)

If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

Baby, it’s cold outside. But I did manage to go get my rhythm back and I ran four times last week, with some 15 deegrees celsius between a run at 9 degrees in Brussels, Belgium, and a run at -6 degrees in Hamburg the next day. I do not mind the cold at all, just the slipping and sliding across the ice is a bit annoying.

I still cannot get over the fact that the Polartec Alpha Fleece I’m wearing is classified as a baselayer at 66 North - how cold does it get there in Iceland? I am just wearing a light jacket over it as wind protection.

Enjoy these five articles and then go running! 🏃🏻‍♂️

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Run and a bun - the rise of social running groups

An alternative to traditional running clubs, several all-abilities groups have popped up, each establishing strong ties with businesses.

Ending weekly runs in neighbourhood bars or coffee shops, they operate as inclusive social hubs.

At the same time, there has been a rise in common interest running groups that focus on shared identities, social causes, and lifestyle preferences.

While I do not participate in a run club (tried it, liked it, just don’t want anything more on my calendar), I think it is awesome how people organize this just for the love of running and community.

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How Running’s Burrito League Went From Internet Oddity to Mainstream Movement

How far would you run for a year’s worth of free lunch?

This question has rattled around in thousands of runners’ brains throughout January, due to an eccentric athletic competition. The rules are simple: jog endless laps around an agreed-upon pizza joint or taqueria or bakery in your city. At the end of January, the person with the greatest distance wins the free food.

The challenge is called Burrito League.

If this were to work in Germany, we’d have to create the Döner League.

(…continue reading.)

Your Watch Isn’t Smarter Than You

Every time I looked at my watch, it reported that my training status was “Unproductive,” even though I ran five or six times during the week with a couple of runs stretching past 2.5 hours. Even though I did one interval workout that got my heart rate and effort high enough to make saying a full sentence out loud a struggle, and one run where I paused my watch midway to do plyometric exercises like jump squats and skipping. Even though I did a few strength training and yoga sessions, and groomed and rode my horses.

My watch kept saying I needed higher intensity, i.e. more stressful, workouts to be “Productive.”

Isn’t that great? We have so much data and so much access to AI, yet still our running companions tell us something that is totally misleading and potentially harmful for our health.

(…continue reading.)

Can On Outrun Its Finance Bro Reputation with More Tech?

Despite the impressive marketing campaigns, there’s still a disconnect between the brand's projected image and the people actually wearing the shoes. For now, it may simply be too early to see if On's efforts will pay off or if their yuppie reputation runs too deep for the creative crowd to cash in. But we’re still at the very beginning of the adoption curve, Miller says. And as revenue rises quarter after quarter, On is still raking in the cash, so even if they haven’t achieved adoption from the “cool” crowd, obviously something is working.

I find On fascinating. I have never run in their shoes, I see there stuff everywhere and I see many people wearing the shoes at meetings. They are obviously doing something right, otherwise they wouldn’t be seen everywhere, but they do not resonate with me at all.

(…continue reading.)

What Tracking Can’t Measure

We often think of tracking as something inward-facing: data for analysis, numbers for progress, metrics for accountability. But there’s another side to it that we rarely talk about. When we track and share our movement, we make ourselves visible. And visibility—especially in a new place—creates the possibility for connection.

From a sport psychology perspective, that connection matters more than we often realize. Social support consistently shows up as a buffer against stress and mental fatigue, both of which directly influence how hard effort feels. When you’re traveling, training alone, and carrying cognitive load from work or school, that fatigue can quietly accumulate. The body may be capable, but the mind feels heavier. Effort feels sharper.

Community changes that equation. Feeling seen and supported doesn’t make the work easy, but it makes it more sustainable. It lowers the perceived cost of effort. It reminds us that endurance has always been relational, even when it begins in solitude.

These are really insightful observations about running with others.

(…continue reading.)

If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

Strava congratulated me today that I hit another week of running, which I found awfully nice of the app, but also a but dumb. Strava should know that I usually run much more than once per week. I just have too much on my plate right now and cannot fit in more runs, which totally annoys me. It will get better next week, I hope!

I did go running in this beautful nature reserve again with the weird sand dune.

Enjoy these five articles and then go running! 🏃🏻‍♂️

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Are athletes obligated to speak out on social media?

In speaking with my friends over the past few weeks, I know I’m not the only one feeling this way. The situation in the US has been increasingly dire over this past year. Tensions are at an all time high. The very foundations of our democracy are threatened.

And influencers are posting run outfit selfies.

So the question that’s been on my mind (and one that has percolated for years, especially since 2020): if you have an active social media platform, especially a large one, what do you do with that during these times?

Yes, athletes have to take a stand against evil, we all do. Otherwise evil wins. It is just that simple.

(…continue reading.)

I used to think hobbies were for losers. Then I built my life around one.

Most of us shape our lives around work: We choose a city based on where our industry is, and choose a home with a reasonable commute in mind. In a chaotic job market where workers feel an increasing loss of agency, some of them, myself included, are reclaiming it by shaping their lives around their hobbies instead.

It’s no secret that hobbies are good for us. They reduce stress, help us form social connections, and strengthen our sense of self. For extreme hobbyists, they can shape your entire being.

Obviously, this ship has sailed for me, but it does sound fun.

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Kílian Jornet on Pushing Our Bodies to Extremes

Last fall, Jornet, who grew up in Spain and now lives in Norway with his trail-runner wife and their three children, flew to the United States and set off on his most radical (or cockamamie) challenge yet — an adventure he cooked up called States of Elevation. He climbed 72 of the highest peaks in the Western states over the course of a month, and, just for good measure, he also cycled between all of them — a ride totaling over 2,500 miles.

I’m exhausted just writing about it! But as I discovered in our conversation, Jornet is not just physically extreme; he is also a deep thinker who has important lessons to impart about what our bodies and minds are capable of when we push them, the joy — and danger — that effort can bring and the distinct, but no less difficult, challenges of everyday life on the ground.

Kilian Jornet really is an impressive person, so much more than “just” a runner.

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The Phase in Running No One Posts About

For some of you, your phase might be that your plan has recently ended, you’ve run your goal race, or life has simply shifted and you’ve lost your usual weekly structure.

Suddenly you’re in running “limbo” either on your own or not at all. There’s no one expecting you and no one noticing if you don’t show up.

I totally know that feeling. I think we are all in this stage every once in a while.

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The fringe of running at Paris Fashion Week

All of the different positioning makes for a more diverse and even fractured market. Long gone are the days when all running brands essentially looked the same. Now runners are able to bring their personalities to their running through what they wear and the brands with which they align themselves. For many people, running is no longer something you just do, it’s an expression of who you are. And at Like the Wind, we’re here for that. LtW exists to tell stories about global running culture, wherever and however that shows up. Paris was a concentrated collection of the diversity that exists in running. And I have no doubt that this year - as has been the case since the Covid 19 pandemic loosened its grip - is another step on a road to running being one of the most powerful expressions of people’s personalities.

I just love it how running brands are penetrating the fashion industry. There is so much more about running than just performance apparel, just like there is more about running than just numbers, but lots of stories to be told.

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If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

I didn’t really get to run at all last week, but on Sunday I finally went for a nice run and had the wonderful choice between slippery ice or muddy puddles. It was just the right thing after a week where I had too much work, not enough sleep and not enough time for myself. I was so happy after the run in the sun and now I just need to push myself to go running again during the week. Consistency matters, as you will read in my selection of Five Things Running.

Enjoy these five articles and then go running! 🏃🏻‍♂️

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What I Kept When I Let Everything Else Go

Today, my system is simpler. Easy runs are easy. I don’t check my watch. Hard sessions go by feel: “This should be an 8 out of 10 for these minutes.” Long runs have purpose, but not rigid structure. I know my body well enough now to trust the signals.

That’s it. That’s what years of complexity boiled down to.

But here’s what’s important: this isn’t beginner simple. I couldn’t have started here. My “simple” now contains everything I learned from the complicated phase. The fundamentals are the same, but I understand why they’re the fundamentals. I earned that understanding by wandering through the noise.

A few years ago I wasn’t even able to listen properly to my body and could not have even grasped how a certain intensity should feel. My HR obsession taught me that.

This is what I mean by raising the bar. Your simplicity evolves. It’s not static. You go through complexity, extract what matters, and arrive at a new baseline — something sustainable, something personal.

That’s how we evolve and listening to our body plays a big role in it.

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It’s Not About Running

Sometimes I lack the time or energy to do what I have ridiculously termed “a real run.” That means thirty minutes or more. That’s silly. If I run for ten minutes, that’s ten minutes of running! It’s easy to default to thinking that if I can’t do something at 110%, it’s not worth it. An all-or-nothing attitude prevents us from creating sustainable habits and reaching our goals.

I run when I’m tired, when I am sad, when I think that the director was right, and I look ridiculous when I run. The best thing about consistency is that it consistently makes me better. But sometimes that means I need to do just a little bit of it, because as you might have noticed, looking around at * waving arms * all this — life is complicated.

And the really awesome thing about consistency is that running just gets better and better with every run, even if some runs suck.

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Burrito League and the Marketing Opportunity Strava and Chipotle Missed

One person who didn’t sugarcoat his disappointment was Jamil Coury, owner of Aravaipa Running and winner of last year’s challenge. In response to what can only be described as a strategic oversight by Chipotle and Strava, Jamil took it upon himself to keep the spirit of the challenge alive. The result is Burrito League, a grassroots challenge that started in Tempe, Arizona and has since spread to cities around the world.

While Burrito League perfectly captures the ethos of endurance and trail running, it also surfaces several business lessons worth paying attention to, especially for brands trying to engage niche sports communities in authentic, effective ways.

I loved watching the Chipotle x Strava Challenge last year and I can’t understand why they didn’t do it again. Well, I do understand why: typical nonsensical corporate behavior.

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Running: The Most Important Unimportant Thing

Through good and bad, high and low, running has always been there for me. Even when injured, it’s a north star that keeps me looking ahead and moving forward. Running is a journey that goes for as long as our minds and bodies will allow. It’s full of life lessons and ripe with perspective. It’s taught me how to stay calm under pressure and to see the value in efforts with no immediate finish line.

I am not really a professional runner, but I can totally relate to this.

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Coffee Won’t Make You Faster

Coffee first. Running second. Two parts of the same ritual.

That’s where it starts to make sense why these two things fit so well together.

Running doesn’t become meaningful because of a single race, a season or a personal best. It becomes meaningful when it stays. When it survives busy years, injuries, changing priorities and the simple fact that life doesn’t care about your training plan.

Your running long game is built on what looks boring from the outside: easy runs, cut-back weeks, phases with no clear goal, days where you go out for twenty minutes even though it doesn’t change anything on paper.

I tried quitting coffee once, It didn’t work. And every single morning, when I take that first sip of coffee, I am glad that I drink coffee. Coffee is amazing. So is running, but different.

(…continue reading.)

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If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

The last week was really snowy and cold here, which led to some nice winter runs. Next week will be a lot warmer and rainy, so I am already wishing the snow back before I try to get one last snow run in before it is gone.

Do you like running in the cold and on the snow?

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How Does Trail Running Survive This Boom With Its Soul Intact?

While increasing the number of people who run is an overall positive trend, the influx of money is not without consequences, including the effects of capitalism on social hierarchy and the environment. There just seems to be a rising chasm between those who just love to run and those who make money off of it. We can’t escape commercialization in the modern era, but perhaps we can help steer it in a better direction. Professional runner Emelie Forsberg once said on Instagram that she hopes to raise her kids to know the names of plants rather than brands. It was a poignant statement from the Swedish runner about how we can teach future generations to care about what really matters.

It’s a slippery slope, that’s for sure, and I am really happy that I found this fitting metaphore…

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Strava files for IPO as fitness apps chase subscription growth

The company hasn’t released official revenue numbers, but third-party estimates suggest it pulled in around 180 million dollars from Premium subscriptions alone in the year leading up to September 2025. That’s up from roughly 132 million in 2023, pointing to steady growth in paid users. Even without full transparency, it’s clear subscriptions are doing a lot of the heavy lifting. That kind of momentum is exactly the sort of thing investors look for heading into an IPO.

This isn’t just a Strava story. It ties into a wider shift in fitness tech, where more companies are trying to build subscription models on top of the hardware they sell. Whether that’s the right move for users is still up for debate, but it’s clearly where the industry is heading.

I don’t think this will be good for Strava, but then again I do not think that the Strava product strategy has really been centered on the needs of the users for quite a long time.

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Top Tips For Running Your First Ultra

Sometimes it can be daunting or overwhelming when running mates suggest experimenting with further distances. But if it’s something you really want to do and you have the time to commit to training, then there’s no doubt you can tick off that 50km trail race you’ve been dreaming of.

Before completing my first ultra-trail run, I viewed ultra runners as ‘nutters’. I thought they were a bunch of ‘running away from life’ types with issues that needed a couch and lots of therapy.

This is an older article, but if you do not yet have an idea for a running project this year, this might nudge you into the right direction.

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Does running wear out the bodies of professionals and amateurs alike?

The significant mechanical stress inherent in the sport weighs on the muscles, tendons and skeleton. There are times when rest periods are short and it’s increasingly common to see athletes injuring themselves during competitions on live television, a surefire sign of physical and mental exhaustion. Some might consider these factors to be fairly typical: after all, these are top-level athletes.

But are world champs, next-door champs and ordinary runners really that different? Considering the tip of the iceberg of this question, the answer seems obvious: they don’t run at the same speed and therefore don’t spend the same time exerting themselves. But what about the submerged part: the pre-race prep, training, the individuals’ investment and self-sacrifice? When you want to break a record–your own record–don’t you give 100% of yourself, both physically and mentally?

plus, I might add: we cannot focus as much on running and recovery when we still have another job besides running, which is sadly also true for many elite runners and I have no idea how they do this…

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Let’s Talk About Hills

Hills to me symbolize the hard parts of running. A runner who avoids hills when they can and complains about hills when they can’t is a runner who wants running to be easy, and a runner who wants running to be easy is not on a trajectory toward fulfilling their potential. To become the best runner you can be you must welcome the full spectrum of challenges that are endemic to the sport, and shifting your attitude toward hills is a fulcrum for this broader shift in mindset.

Oh yes, hills. I definitely need to tackle these again this year. Can’t wait. Unfortunately we don’t have any hills around here…

(…continue reading.)

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If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

I cannot be more excited to write the first edition of Five Things Running for this wonderful new year!

I went running in the snow! Well, mostly I took pictures every kilometer because it all looked so beautiful in white. Soon it will all be nasty slush, but on Sunday it was magical outside.

And one quick remark regarding the 66North Polartec Alpha fleece zipneck that I got from my wife for Christmas: that thing really is warm. They say it is a baselayer, but I honestly don’t want to experience an environment where I have to wear this thing as a baselayer. But it is so wonderfully warm and comfy, I wear it all the time, not just for running.

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Runner’s New Year: What to Carry Into 2026 (and What to Finally Let Go)

If you could pack just one thing from 2025 to carry into the new year, skip the prettiest medal or the race where you felt like a white Kenyan. Too easy. Those are the cover photos—but running is built on dark, rainy Mondays.

Take with you the memory of that one awful run. You know the one. The one where your legs felt like concrete, your breathing was off, cold drizzle stung your eyes, and every cell in your body begged for a bar stop and a croissant.

But you didn’t stop. You finished it. Slowly, grumpily, swearing under your breath—but you finished.

I always feel best after a run when I go running even though I came up with a million reasons why I shouldn’t go running.

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2025 Running Fashion Year in Review and Trend Report

Customization was super hot this year, which imbues a bit of your personality into your shoes or clothes. If you work on it, you feel more connected to it. It’s an expression of you.

With apparel sliding towards earth tones, blacks, and factory made sameness, AI taking over, and screen times at an all time high, people are looking to slow down and get offline. There’s a lot of gear out there, and I feel sentimental about almost none of it.

I love all these running fashion roundups. It is so wonderful to see how fashion and running go well together - and also people don’t have to wear crappy neon performance apparel anymore.

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You’re STILL Doing Your Easy Runs Too Fast

The one semi-legitimate reason not to do easy runs the way the best runners in the world do them (i.e., actually easy) is simply not caring. After all, a runner can improve while remaining in the moderate-intensity rut; they just can’t improve as much. There are plenty of runners out there who, faced with a clear binary choice between improving more by slowing down and improving less by not slowing down, will choose the latter, which is their right.

Odds are you’re currently among the ninety-plus percent of runners who do every single easy run too fast. If you wish to continue to impress your STRAVA followers with your blistering “Lunch Run” paces, be my guest.

Oh yes, guilty. This is what I really want to do better this year.

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Why You Should Not Strength Train in 2026

For runners, that resolution is often strength training. You have likely read countless articles and listened to just as many podcasts claiming that strength training will make you faster, more resilient and less injury-prone. The message is consistent enough that it has become almost self-evident: if strength training improves performance, then committing to it, especially as a structured, time-bound resolution, should logically lead to better running.

But does it? And more importantly, even if strength training does work, is it the best thing to focus on during the year ahead?

Ok, great, I wasn’t planning on doing that anyhow. Accept for some kettlebellswings.

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The Trail Running Benefits That Can Change Your Life

Trail running has a funny way of demanding acceptance of things you just can’t control. Stuff happens on the trails, and the dirt doesn’t care how determined you are to stick to your well-crafted plans. If the weather changes, you have to adapt. At worst, you learn what gear to take next time. Technical descents demand your full attention, and if you aren’t fully present or concentrating, you will fall. Progress zigzags, just like the trail.

And that’s the lesson.

Trail running is so much better than running through the streets. It’s magic.

(…continue reading.)

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If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

Christmas is over and I’m probably the only one who didn’t publish any buying guide for the runner in your life. Instead, I want to share with you what I got for Christmas. Hehe.

I got this awesome Alex Zono Trucker Cap from my oldest daughter, who bought it at a really cool running shop in Brussels called Handshake-Running.

My wife had to listen to me talking about Polartec Alpha all the time, so she decided to get the 66North Hrannar Zipneck for me, which is just a fantastic piece of running apparel! Now it just needs to get colder out there again.

This is the last Five Things Running this year, so please read up!

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Creating Running Resolutions for a Stronger 2026

I think it’s safe to say that most runners aren’t chasing radical transformation. Most of us are seeking some sort of progression — or gradual improvement. We want to be better than we were. It gets our juices going to see that the effort we put in is making us stronger, steadier on the slopes, or perhaps more capable than we were before. Ok, faster too if we’re honest. But it’s not all about speed and medals. Re-calibrating in January simply gives structure to the intention to be better.

My resolution for 2026 is simple. I will just run.

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Born to run: how exercise expanded the landscape of my life and got my mind on track

Almost every single run, there comes a point when I think to myself, I literally cannot run any more. That point shifts deeper into the run every single time, but it does always come. I’m not sure I’ll ever really be able to escape it. It’s as inevitable as death or taxes and it has the sort of grim, insisting finality of both. When the thought hits me, it feels absolute, and every single muscle in my body says time to stop then, I guess.

But, almost immediately, another thought invariably creeps into my head. It says: I bet you can keep going. And suddenly I am filled with the realisation that what I had previously considered true is not; that I spend a lot of life unaware not only of vast swathes of beauty and research that are only a book away but also of my own capabilities. Because time after time, I can keep running.

That’s the best part of running, when your mind does its thing…

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One Million Feet

I enjoy the sort of training that leads to accumulating vert. It’s the sort of thing I can imagine myself prioritizing even more in the next few years. Beyond just stacking up numbers, what a vertically-focused year really means is putting yourself in the mountains more often. Slowing down, using poles, taking in the alpine while you ascend steep grades.

I really want to run more in the mountains.

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Running Clogs

This design is optimized for converting downwards force to forward momentum, to the point where it would be a bit of a balancing act to stand still in them because the springs would be compressed and trying to shove you forwards. Not coincidentally jumping stilts have springs going the exact opposite direction because they’re trying to convert vertical force back into vertical force. Human physiology in naturally midway between the two but with bad springs.

Innovation doesn’t happen in a linear way, there are always ups and downs…

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Read This Before You Register For Your Big 2026 Race

It’s December. Race calendars are opening up. Lotteries are running. And I know the feeling to hit register on excitement alone.

This looks amazing. I have to do this.

That feeling when you discover a race in the Swiss Alps or the Dolomites and your heart says yes. That pull is real. I felt it twice, apparently.

But here’s the thing: excitement is not a training plan.

I knew it. Excitement was always my strongest trait, but apparently that is not enough.

(…continue reading.)

Thanks to COROS for supporting this publication!

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If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

The last week was pretty busy, as always during the last work before Christmas. Instead of going running every morning, I slept longer and basically enjoyed the fact that I didn’t have to get up early in the morning to make breakfast for my kids. I guess my body was telling me to take things easy before the Christmas crazyness begins. I did make my Oura ring happy on Sunday by doing a nice long walk with our dog.

Enjoy the holidays and get some runs in! 🎅🏻

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A Look at Strava’s 2025 Year in Sport

There’s a real difference between being motivated by races and sunk costs and developing an intrinsic love for running itself. I’m never in better shape than when I’m training for a race, mostly because I’m too competitive to treat “finishing” as the goal. But I don’t race very often, and I love nothing more than a long run through the mountains or countryside with no time limits, no pace, and no one watching. A race is just a measurement of something I already enjoy, not the reason I do it.

Looked at cynically, the surge in race participation can feel more transactional: sign up, document the training, post the finish line photo, collect the medal, the Hinge photo, and the validation.

Maybe it’s an age thing, but I am much more interested in just running these days, but it’s good to see that people are getting motivated to run.

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A Winter Running Field Guide

I look forward to winter jogs. They’re somehow quieter and more alive at the same time. Stillness draws me in to my center, to the essential. Then, just as I’m about to Zen out, a stiff wind will blow a sharp ice crystal into my eyeball and remind me that the Universe is big and running is small.

I hope it gets colder soon. Not just because of White Christmas, but also because I like it a lot to run outside in gnarly conditions and then get back inside and enjoy a hot shower. Awesome feeling.

Also, make sure to subscribe to Mike’s new newsletter called WIRE - Work in Running Email - and yes, it is about working in the running industry.

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SATISFY: A Blueprint for Footwear Releases

Footwear launches have become tediously predictable. A familiar choreography of seeded pairs, embargo-lifted first looks, creator content, athlete moments, and a drop date marketed with the same tired cadence. Most brands, even those with rich histories, now draw from a shallow pool of mechanics pioneered by Nike two decades ago, rearranging the same parts while hoping for a different emotional outcome. The result is an industry that feels industrial: hurried, interchangeable, and strangely hollow (okay not all the time, but you know).

In that context, SATISFY’S debut footwear release, TheROCKER, did not behave like a first attempt but rather a much needed marketing correction and the results speak for themselves.

I am not very interested about the shoe and I also think Satisfy is brutally overrated. But I do like their marketing, which is so wonderfully unique.

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Running on Clouds: The Story of On

On’s premium brand comes with a premium brand strategy running across its entire operations. The company has maintained minimal discounting from the start, using that pricing power to fuel its brand equity and signal scarcity. Distribution follows the same logic, where wholesale partners are selected carefully, with strict expectations for presentation, pricing, and environment. In an industry where many brands lean on discounts to chase volume, On’s approach has set it apart.

While many historic luxury brands became premium through decades of accumulated heritage, On attempted the reverse by establishing a premium positioning instantly. Its ambition “to be the most premium global sportswear brand” is clearly more than just a branding message, but an operating principle shaping everything from product development to pricing to distribution.

On is a company that I have much respect for, because they have achieved a really nice market share. I still don’t get the brand’s appeal, though.

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Putting the Pieces Together

It’s easy to get excited when we see good performances by runners we aren’t familiar with, or runners we are familiar with racing distances we don’t normally see them do. When someone puts down a good performance that we aren’t expecting, it can feel like it came out of nowhere. We become surprised and impressed all at once, and perhaps we sensationalize things.

It’s all hard work and we enjoy doing it, because we like running.

(…continue reading.)

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If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️

Last week I got to run in one of my favorite cities in the world: Copenhagen! According to this year’s Strava stats, the runners in Copenhagen are the fastest ones. And surely, people were flying by me all the time. I did in Copenhagen what I love doing on business trips: running through the city in the morning to see spots I’d normally won’t see. This time, I ran to Copen Hill, which was unfortunately closed. I had hoped to run up that power plant and get some vert in. Hopefully, this will happen next time I’m in town. I also ran by the little mermaid, which is such a touristy thing to do, but lovely anyways. I also spotted a runner who overtook me and wore the same Saysky shorts as I did, which made me feel like a real local.

According to my Strava Year, I ran 40% less than last year. I don’t think I can catch up in the last remaining weeks of the year. I was missing the part where Strava said: “hey, you know what? You’re fucking 53 years old and you still are running more than most people are doing. Kudos!” Well, maybe next year.

Here’s this week’s Five Things Running!

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Nobody Cares About Your Strava Year

If Strava wanted to make something meaningful, they would create a feature that asks you questions instead of displaying your numbers. Something that forces you to reflect instead of compare. Something that shows who you became, not just how far you went.

But they won’t. Because reflection doesn’t trigger envy. And envy is what drives reach.

Chris is right.

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Is Trail Running Becoming Too Saturated?

Everywhere you look these days, there’s a new trail brand. A new hydration vest startup. Another nutrition company. More shoe lines from incumbents, apparel brands releasing their own shoes, and new shoe brands entirely.

This isn’t a complaint. If anything, it’s a sign of maturity, an industry hitting an inflection point as more businesses spring up to meet a growing sport’s evolving demands.

But saturation can change things. And the more trail running grows, the more change we should expect.

And yet, even though trail running is growing like crazy, it is still a niche sport.

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Train Like a Norwegian

In 2025, Norway’s global dominance in endurance racing reached a new level, with Norwegian men placing first, second, and third at the Ironman World Championship and Solveig Løvseth winning the women’s race.

What makes this tiny Scandinavian nation so darn good at endurance sports? To answer this question fully, I’d have to write an entire book. Fortunately, Brad Culp has already done so. The Norwegian Method: The Culture, Science & Humans Behind the Groundbreaking Approach to Endurance Performance demystifies the Norwegian wave and places it in its proper historical and cultural context, and I highly recommend it.

I find it fascinating that such a small country has so many great runners.

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Nordic Recovery Secrets: How Viking-Era Wellness Boosts Modern Training

Here’s a deep dive into three Viking-era recovery methods: the hot-cold cycle of Nordic sauna traditions, a diet rich in fish and fermented dairy, and a segmented approach to sleep. No apps. No supplements. Just the kind of recovery that once kept people alive.

Okay, I will eat more skyr again.

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Run out of town

Heading into a call with a potential corporate partner, for example, Michael is in the unusual position of hoping the person on the other side didn’t do his homework. “I instantly think these people are googling me, and they’re going into this call thinking I’m the racist and sexist. That’s what’s happening. That’s what my life is. That’s the reality of it. That’s what I face with everything,” he says.

He has less to worry about now on this front than he has at any point over the five years since his cancelation. The top search results for his name are now articles that vindicate him and his record as CEO of New York Road Runners (NYRR); and that touch on the ongoing professional, social, and psychological consequences of his cancelation. There’s also an open letter signed by hundreds of runners from around the world calling on NYRR to apologize for their treatment of him in 2020, and their role in his cancelation.

Oh, wow, what a story.

(…continue reading.)

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If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:

Now, go running!

— Nico

🏃🏻‍♂️