Good Morning! 🏃🏻♂️
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! 🏃🏻♂️
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.
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.
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!
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.
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
🏃🏻♂️