Good Morning! 🏃🏻♂️
A few days ago I talked to my best friend about running as we age. He ran more marathons than I have and we both enjoy running races every once in a while. But we both notice that we are getting older, that injuries take longer to heal and that recovery after a long run takes longer. There is one thing about running that we really cherish: being able to move while out in nature. And we think that other people who are not running, are really missing out. It doesn’t matter if you run 3km or 30km - once you hit the trail, you can leave everything behind.
And that’s so awesome.
Our new era of corporate running
With less than a month to go until the race, the marketing strategies have been in place, and the budget has already been spent by all those other brands. I would have expected a scramble from in their offices and Slack channels (not an official sponsor), but I was surprised that so many normal, everyday, outwardly non-corporate Runners On The Internet were also outraged.
Because in my mind, cheer zones are about people cheering for people. It’s human connection at its finest and most altruistic. For me, cheer zones are for run clubs, family, friends, a stranger handing you a popsicle on a 100-degree day. For me, a multi-national corporation doesn’t come into it.
This morning, I received an email from a big publicity agency about McDonald’s having five (5!) cheer zones on the Chicago Marathon course, launching their latest nose-to-tail culinary offering: Pickle Boost.
While I think that brands should get involved in running, I do think we need to recalibrate how large events deal with the commercialization of our sport.
Everybody’s Trail Running Now. Use These Expert Tips to Get Wild.
You’re going to run at least a minute or two slower on trails than the road. “It really bugged me how much slower my paces were [on the trail],” says trail running pro Caleb Olson, who just finished 3rd at UTMB. To take the stress out of pace, change your watch’s main data screen to show heart rate on interval days. For long run days, Olson just does “a sanity check” to be sure his heart rate data coincides with how the run felt.
If you do check pace, let go of old numbers. “I think the biggest waste of training time is trying to maintain the same speed on trails as you do on the roads, and pushing on trails in parts of the trail that are just not as fast,” says ultradistance pro Michael Wardian, who talked to us from a two-month adventure run on the Pacific Crest Trail. A lot of great trail running is actually walking. When the gradient is steep, it’s actually more efficient to walk. Embrace that.
My 5 cent: just run.
You’re overpaying for fitness you already have
The best analogy I can think of is getting a rocket into orbit. Most of a rocket’s fuel is spent getting into orbit. Staying there takes small, occasional burns.
Training works the same way. It takes far more effort to build a physiological characteristic than to maintain it. Understanding that has big consequences for how to structure training.
Getting up there is the easy part, staying there is hard.
Could A Greener Route Make The Same Run Feel Better?
If motivation and consistency are your limiting factors, route selection may be a free training tool. A park, trail, waterfront, or tree-lined loop that you genuinely enjoy can make it easier to accumulate work without adding another metric or gadget.
Do not read this as proof that forest running creates superior fitness adaptations. The performance difference was modest, and one short experiment cannot establish adherence. The better takeaway is that the environment that makes you want to run may be the environment that best supports your training.
I change my routes all the time, I don’t think too much routine is helpful.
Running Supply #97: World Marathon Majors Are In Business, Who Will Capitalize?
We’re in full swing of the Fall majors, and every brand big and small are going all out in the attention economy. Berlin was last weekend, Chicago is coming up this weekend, and NYC will be here before anyone is ready. NYRR is already making an effort to crack down on non-sponsor brand activations. We’re reaching a fever pitch here, and it’s harder than ever to stand out, and there’s very little sign of things slowing down. If brands are seeking to operate outside of the official expo and sponsorships, what could reace organizers or the expo do to actually make things…more fun? The best race expo I’ve been to for a major was Chicago. Easy to get to, spread out, and some fun brand popups inside. Less like Boston which is very constrained to title sponsors.
We came full swing, from a critique on the commercialization of running to its celebration. Running is so diverse. Run in style!
If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:
Now, go running!
— Nico
🏃🏻♂️