Five Things Running: Issue #98
Run more. But read this first!
Heya and welcome back to Five Things Running!
Last week I finally found my running mojo again and I ran 70km. I actually ran every single day, which was not the plan, but I didn’t mind, either. The best thing was that my oldest daughter wanted to run with me. We tried this a few years ago when she was still in school and while I enjoyed it tremendously, she was not too happy about running at 5 o’clock in the morning. This time we did it differently and started with just a little over 1 km, then went up to a little over two and then ran a bit more than 3 km in a nice conversational pace. I just added these small runs to my normal daily 10 km run. At one point she asked “dad, when is this supposed to be fun?” Well, she already asked to do a few more runs before she goes back to university in Vienna at the end of the week. When she’s gone, I have to go running with my youngest daughter (9) who just signed up for a so called “10th” - a 4.2 km race for kids the day before the Hamburg Marathon in April. She wants to be prepared and start training now. My middle daughter, who’s 12 years old, probably wants to come along as well. This makes me so happy. My kids don’t have to run, they don’t even have to like it, but if they do, I try to support them. Which is tricky with a packed schedule and too many kids… My son has no interest in running, he’s in the gym multiple times a week and does what I should do: strength training. That’s my big plan for the next month: finally doing these boring kettlebell swings again and the planks and what not. I need to work on my bikini body for the upcoming summer.
And from the “I never thought I’d watch something that bizarre, pointless and boring, yet somehow weirdly entertaining”-department: here’s Jamil Coury trying to win the Chipotle Strava Challenge in Tempe, Arizona. The grand prize is a one year suppy of burritos. So he’s running 30 miles and more back and forth to be the local legend of the Chipotle segment. What a time to be alive and watch this on Youtube!
Anyhow, here’s this week’s Five Things Running!
I Had My Best Year of Running, and Didn't Race Once
The amazing thing about running on the trails somewhere is exactly that: you are somewhere, where you usually aren’t and you get to experience nature in a different way. I cherish those moments a lot.
The Unimportance of a Race
John Lennon once said “life is what happens while you’re busy making plans” and I think this is what happens as soon as you register for a race.
Winter is Here: Maximizing Winter Training with the Help of Data
I keep telling my kids about the amounts of snow we had when we grew up in the 70s and they look at me as if I were some weirdo making stuff up. If you live in a region that still has snow, you might find this article helpful. I hope that we’ll at least get a few weeks of snow this winter.
The Truth About Running in the Grey Zone
I usually stay in zone 2 for most of my runs, but apparently I should switch it up every once in a while and run a bit faster with more intensity, but not too much.
The death of nuance
I recently read a post on Insta by Devon Yanko where she wrote how Lululemon dropped her as a sponsored athlete. I was really irritated by the way a large company handles its athlete relations. In this posting Devon goes into more detail what getting dropped without any prior notice means for her and her running career.
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
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hey! Really enjoy your substack and look forward to reading the posts you link to each week. I'm running the Hamburg marathon in April and realized you're a local! I'm coming from the US- anything I should make sure to do or see while I'm in town?