Five Things Running: Issue #115
Run more. But read this first!
Heya and welcome back to Five Things Running!
This week my running was just meh. I was never really motivated, but still managed to get four runs in. Hopefully this week will be better. Our kids have one week of vacation, so I have a bit more time in the morning and hopefully get some longer runs in. Also, the dry season is finally over and it started to rain again on the weekend, just in time for the kids being at home for a week.
What impressed me the most last week is this: Stephanie Case wins Britain’s biggest ultra just six months postpartum, while breastfeeding. Wow. That is quite an achievement!
Here’s this week’s Five Things Running!
How To Wake Up and Run (Without Hating It)
So even if you’re unimpressed by the sunrise, could care less about your cognition, and just need to adjust your schedule to get your butt up and running, we understand. Here are six tips to make your morning running routine stick.
I’m a morning runner, so I really need the opposite advice: how to run in the evening. But I can only recommend running in the mornings, especially in spring and summer, but also in fall and winter. It’s just darker then. Also, it is much easier to go running in the morning if you first prepare breakfast for kids and then walk the dog - you’re much more awake then.
Stronger, Faster, Older
All athletes, regardless of age, have certain limiters. For me, as both an athlete and a coach, the training process is all about working with, around, and through a given athlete’s current limiters to gain fitness. Therefore nothing much changes just because an athlete has passed some round-number birthday. I might still end up making one or more classic age-related adjustments to the athlete’s training, such as spacing out key workouts a little more, but I don’t make such adjustments proactively on the assumption that the athlete is too old to keep benefitting from the methods that brought them success before their birthday.
My advice: neglect your body for 20 years and then you’ll see improvements even after hitting 50! Follow me for more Gen X humor!
The first miles always lie
It’s the start line of my third 50km this year and if you asked me how I was feeling in that moment? I would say, “I’m feeling pretty calm and easy going. Just going to chill into these first miles.” Heck–I am even talking with my competition! So I must be going easy-enough right? According to my ego and my skewed sense of Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE), yes, I am going “easy.” According to my body though? My heart rate and a reality I’ve had trouble confronting? No, I am going way too fast.
I love reading about race strategy from experienced runners, not that it would matter much for my races.
Some Runners Are Filming Every Mile of Their Race. That’s Not Just Annoying—It’s Dangerous.
Lately, though, I’ve been frustrated by the number of runners hyperfocused on shooting their own content during increasingly crowded races. If you’re actively filming yourself—arm outstretched and angled down, narrating your mile splits like a sweaty David Attenborough—I’m going to politely ask you to put your freaking phone down before you take out another runner.
Oh, I don’t know. Sure, it’s a bit annoying, but I do understand that content creators have to create content to make a living. I would just try to stay away from those runners as far as possible. Or advice them to get one of those nifty drones that I wanted for christmas, but didn’t get from my wife, probably because she didn’t want me to show her my daily runs on the big tv screen at home.
Are Women Better Ultra Runners Than Men?
These instances are particularly noteworthy because they represent outright victories by women in highly competitive events that included top male athletes who are seasoned veterans with extensive backgrounds in endurance sports, not casual competitors.
However, this pattern contrasts performance trends observed in sub-ultra running races, where outright wins by women at the elite level are unheard of. This difference in performance between ultra-endurance and shorter distances naturally leads to a compelling question: why might women be achieving these results in extreme endurance challenges, and what does the existing research tell us about potential sex differences in ultra-endurance performance?
I find this fascinating. Then again, I think men would be terrible at child-birth because of all the pain.
I’m grateful for the partners of Five Things Running: Acid Running, New Balance and COROS!
If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:
Now, go running!
— Nico
🏃🏻♂️