Five Things Running: Issue #92
Running is so awesome.
Heya and welcome back to Five Things Running!
So it’s the week of the Strava Your Year in Sports. I’m pretty happy about the kilometers I got to run this year. I ran almost twice as much as last year and best of all: I had no real injuries this year. Also no COVID-19, which was a welcome change.
I also got more than the usual vert this year as I did lots of runs during our summer vacation in Croatia instead of just running across one of the more than 2500 bridges of my hometown of Hamburg. I managed to get back into running after a motivational slump at the end of 2023 after getting COVID-19 in November by running for 77 days in a row starting on January 1st. This was rather extreme and I was pretty exhausted at the end of the streak, but it worked really well to get me back into running daily. Now I usually do one or two recovery days a week while trying to run at least 50 km per week. Oh, and the highlight of the year was running my first ultra, some sweet 50 km through hilly terrain at the age of 52.
Let’s see what 2025 brings, I definitely want to run a longer distance next year, but I haven’t made up my mind and just passed on a 80 km race at the end of February because it felt a bit too soon.
How was your year of running? What are your plans for 2025? Please comment!
Here are the five articles about running I picked out for you! 👇🏻
Tara Dower Signs Record-Breaking Deal with Altra
“Tara Dower, the ultrarunning champion who broke the overall record on the Appalachian Trail this September, has re-signed with her shoe sponsor, Altra. The multi-year sponsorship will allow the 31-year-old from Virginia Beach to focus full-time on running. She’ll play a key role in product development and marketing campaigns as the company works to expand its product line beyond its prototypical wide toe box, zero-drop shoes—and ultimately access to the sport.”
This is huge.
Running Was His Life. Then Came Putin’s War.
What a story. This war needs to be stopped as soon as possible.
He Fell 200 Feet During a Trail Running Race—And Lived to Tell the Tale
The horror. But what a story.
To Become a Better Runner, Should You Adjust Your Form?
While I had a few sessions with a physical therapist trying to improve my running form, I think this merely reminded me about how to run better in theory and it worked when the physical therapist corrected my running form immediately. So I guess this is something a lot of people talk about, but running form is something that works differently for each and every runner.
Is it true that … running destroys your knees?
No it doesn’t. But this myth is hard to kill. Try to slowly increase your mileage when you start running and do some strength training. I had severe knee problems when I was 17 and playing too much basketball and at times I needed to ice both knees after practice. But running? My knees are just fine. Sure this is just my anecdotal evidence, but studies show that running doesn’t hurt your knees.
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
🏃🏻♂️