Good Morning! 🏃🏻♂️
Still no running for me, still foot pain, but I think, or hope, that it is getting better.
I am now officially in a slump and I compensate not running by eating more. The summer is coming and my bikini-figure really needs some work…
Who of you watched the whole Cocodona 250 race? I watched a few minutes. What a race. Unbelievable. How do you train for such a monster of a race?
Enjoy these Five Things Running! 🏃🏻♂️
She Ran 250 Miles in an Astonishing 56 Hours—Beating All the Men at Cocodona and Making History
Rachel Entrekin made history on Wednesday, winning the Cocodona 250 Mile in a new course record of 56 hours, 9 minutes, and 48 seconds. Entrekin won the race outright—holding off Kilian Korth, who set a men’s course record of 57:28:36—and she became the first woman in the race’s history to win the event overall.
Entrekin, 34, defended her women’s title from 2025 and took over seven hours off her time from last year. She won the women’s race in 2024, too.
So awesome.
125 Hours vs. Zero
I continue to be amazed by what Aravaipa and Mountain Outpost pull off: continuous coverage of a 250-mile race, gaps at night aside, with the ability to rewind to key moments whenever I had a free minute. Every time I checked, somewhere between 8,000 and 12,000 people were watching, with peaks above 40,000 during Rachel Entrekin’s record finish. We can debate how to make the coverage more compelling, but the demand for live trail running coverage is clearly at an all-time high.
Which is ironic, because what was probably the race of the year went down at the Canyons 100K the weekend of April 25th and none of us got to watch the drama unfold. One of the six Western States Golden Ticket races, and a UTMB umbrella event, didn’t have a livestream.
While I truly admire the runner who can run for 250 miles, I find it hard to pay attention to such a long race for longer than 5 minutes. It is just so very boring.
Your bathtub might be the secret to surviving a hot race
Start by pairing the baths with easy runs, not hard workouts (but once you start feeling more comfortable with the process, heat training can follow a more intense, high-quality session). If you have a coach, they might tweak your plan according to your abilities and goals, but for most of us, it works to first, then sit in hot water soon afterward, while body temperature is still elevated. Water temperature is usually around 40 C, with runners submerged up to the chest if possible.
The sweet spot seems to be between 15 and 35 minutes. A lot of runners use heat sessions for about a week leading into a hot-weather race, then ease off a few days before race day. Since the adaptations do not disappear immediately, there is no real advantage to cramming it in at the last minute.
Our bodies are really interesting, aren’t they? Enjoy the hot bath!
The Case For Public Tracks
Abundance doesn’t speak much about recreational infrastructure—its case studies focus on housing, transportation, and technology—however recreational infrastructure not only supports the health and well-being of Americans, they also afford communitarian thickness. Folks of all ages use tracks and pools, so people of different generations and socio-economic backgrounds tend to intermingle, building relationships and the foundations for healthier neighborhoods.
As much as I love run clubs, they self-select their members, usually catering to younger, urban, college-educated folks. What’s needed are spaces anyone can use, from small children to retirees. Tracks are accessible: they’re flat; they afford space free from cars; they complement multi-use playing fields and can be safely used with little oversight; they cater to differing abilities—from fast runners to children to folks in wheelchairs to anyone who wants a safe place to move.
Sam Robinson totally has a point here. I live very close to a traditional track and field stadium, which is only open to those who belong to a sporting club. While these clubs perform a public service and cost just a few € a month, I still would prefer to be able to just use the track without joining a club.
Speed is still a goddess
Jessie explains how even though they referred to themselves as “ungendered clothing,” it was female runners who connected most with their products. Lexy adds that through their “attention to detail, [Pruzan] resonated more heavily on the feminine side of the audience.” And they have since leaned into it.
“We are two women,” says Lexy. “Let’s lean into the fact that we have our perspective, and that it might not be everyone’s.”
The recent spring campaign had a tagline of ‘Speed Was a Goddess First,’ leaning on the story of mythical Greek figure Atalanta, celebrated as the fastest mortal. It’s something that Maggie Mertens wrote brilliantly about in her book Better, Faster, Farther, and women winning outright and overall is again in the headlines as Rachel Entrekin won Cocodona 250 with a course record, 79 minutes ahead of the fastest man.
I love it how so many new running brands are being created because there is so much demand for nice running apparel. I’m rooting for these upstart brands, always!
If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:
Now, go running!
— Nico
🏃🏻♂️