the morning shakeout | issue 559

Good morning! I snapped the above photo with less than a mile to go in the Wharf to Wharf road race on Sunday morning. Our godson, who’s eight years old, was participating in the event for the second year in a row and wanted me and Christine to run with him. He was determined to go under an hour for the nearly 6-mile course. The little bugger, whose training consisted primarily of surfing, biking, fishing, trampolining, and skateboarding, ran every step of the way. We gave him a fruit snack at every mile marker, upping it to two the last couple. He took water at the aid stations like a pro, and didn’t complain once. Early on in the race I showed him how to cut a tangent, and by the last couple of miles he was slicing them with incredible precision. When he saw the finish line a couple hundred yards out, instincts took over and the pace picked up by well over two minutes per mile. He crossed in 57:16, stopped his watch (which he had saved up for and bought himself), and had the biggest smile on his face for a solid five minutes afterward. Life highlight for everyone involved!

— A few years ago, my buddy Brendan Leonard sent me a coffee mug he knew I’d appreciate. It’s white with text on it that says “Put in the miles so you can→Put in the miles so you can→” wrapping around in a circle. He calls it “The Zen of Running,” which beautifully encapsulates a message that has become central to why I run: You do the thing so that you can keep doing the thing. (n.b. He no longer sells the mug, but that same design does come in shirt form.) Along those lines, Brendan recently produced this two-minute film about why we put in the miles and you should watch it.

— Sam Robinson’s latest essay on the fragility of Type-2 fun really resonated with me, which makes sense as we are about the same age and share a myriad of similar interests. He argues that the “parallel friendships” we forge through shared hardship such as running or other “Type-2” endeavors become harder to sustain as we get older for a multitude of reasons. “All this makes me wonder: is there something inherent to the community created by type-2 fun that makes parallel friendships more vulnerable to the friendship dip?” he writes. “Is it less likely to survive the natural social ebbs that come with the middle stages of life? It could be friendships squeezed entirely into the hours reserved for exercise or sports become harder to sustain in middle age.” Many of my best friends in life and the people I’m closest to in general (even if the form and frequency of that closeness has changed) are the folks I’ve been in the trenches with. For me, that’s the people I’ve spent a lot of time training and working alongside, mostly. I think that like the rest of life, friendships evolve as our circumstances, responsibilities, and/or locations change. Two things I’ve come to realize and accept: 1. It’s harder to form new friendships as we get older; 2. Maintaining the old ones often takes a LOT more work than it did in earlier years. What’s been your experience? Let me know by replying to this email or commenting below this post.

— As I’ve noted a few times here in this newsletter over the past few months, high schooler Cooper Lutkenhaus has been lighting the track on fire over the past year or so. He won his first U.S. outdoor title this past weekend in dominating fashion, winning by over a second with an head-spinning negative split. More impressive, however, might be how the 17-year-old carries himself off the track, as evidenced in this recent interview he and his father George did with the author (and pretty decent 800m runner in his own right!) David Epstein. “Yeah, if I do have a bad workout, it’s pretty easy to forget about it, just because when I get home I really just don’t think about it,” he says. “I mean, if you have a bad day, look at it, think about maybe what you could have done better throughout it, or leading into it, but things kind of wind down.” This may seem like a throwaway quote but it’s actually quite profound and was really refreshing to read. A wise coach once told me that the best athletes have a short-term memory: They don’t beat themselves up after a bad day or dwell on what went wrong, they simply learn from it and get on with their lives.

+ Even Hobbs Kessler, who finished third in the 800 Sunday behind Lutkenhaus, is impressed with the kid. “Cooper’s a badass,” he said after the race. “I mean, he’s obviously got incredible physical gifts, but…I’ve been in this position, it’s really hard. I don’t think people give him credit for how well he’s carried himself—his composure, showing up. For me it was just so overwhelming. I feel like I didn’t have the tools yet, I just wasn’t at that maturity. So I’m really impressed that he seems to be.”

— I was interviewed along with John Fitzgerald for this piece by Cliff Pittman about what this year’s Western States 100 revealed about elite coaching in ultrarunning. I’m not sure that title/description of the piece is entirely accurate, however, as much of how both John and I operate applies to working with athletes at any level of the sport. After breaking down what he calls three pillars of elite coaching (personal connection, evidence-based training, and data), Cliff concludes that it comes down to treating the athlete in front of us as a person first, then using evidence-based training and data to help training fit into his or her life, not the other way around. “The data is the information,” he writes. “But the coaching itself, the actual thing that separates good from great, is the same whether the athlete is racing for a Western States title or trying to survive their first 50K: pay attention, build trust and have a deep level of emotional engagement with the athlete’s goals and development.”

+ Amanda Loudin of The New York Times recently asked me about how runners can develop a healthy relationship with data in a world where we’re constantly being bombarded with it, and you can read what I had to say at this gift link.

— Just trust me on this one: Disturbed frontman David Draiman with an a capella cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sound Of Silence” from some number of years ago is one of the most moving musical performances I’ve ever listened to. Holy shit, it’s intense. It might even be more powerful than the original version (which is a bold claim, I know).

— From the archives (Issue 507, 1 year ago this week): How do we know what works in training? Many people might snap, “Science, stupid!” Steve Magness, however, reminds us not to forget the importance of knowing your history, and he makes a strong argument for it in this manifesto. “What I hope you notice is that there’s a natural evolution to training,” he writes. “We can see how the pendulum swings, how we try new things, and even build off what’s come before. It’s not perfect. Sometimes we take some wrong turns and have to go the other way. Other times, something that worked pretty well isn’t continued exactly because it’s too hard to teach and pass along to the masses (i.e. Igloi). But what we can see are some major trends and understanding for why we do what we do.” Or, to share a line that I’ve borrowed from Alex Hutchinson: “The wheel is being continually reinvented, but it’s still a wheel.”

— These recently-released watermelon chews from my partners at Precision Fuel & Hydration taste so good I just want to snack on them throughout the day. (Don’t worry, I’ve resisted…so far, anyway.) They’re perfect for the summer months: refreshingly tasty but packed with plenty of carbs to fuel my hardest workouts and longest runs. I pop a two-pack (30g of carbs total) about 15 minutes before I head out the door. The consistency is perfect as they don’t stick to your teeth or the roof of your mouth, and they go down super easy. Did I mention that they taste great?!? (If you’re interested in trying the PF&H’s new watermelon chews, or any of their other products for yourself—they’re a longtime partner of the morning shakeout and the drinks/gels/chews I use to fuel my own training and racing—check out this link and save 15% off your first order.)

It’s rare that I’ll write about a shoe I haven’t had a chance to run in yet, but I also can’t remember the last time I’ve been this excited to put something on my feet! The soon-to-be released SuperComp Rebel from New Balance (available everywhere August 6) should be arriving at my doorstep any day now and it looks super fun. It’s built with the same Infinion midsole foam as the 1080v15, so I know it’s got great energy return, and features a precision-engineered propulsion plate that’s built for speed. It weighs in at just under 8 ounces and looks like the perfect workout shoe, but also well-rounded enough to hold its own on race day. I’m stoked to literally put it through its paces, and when I do, I’ll share more with you in an upcoming issue. Learn more about the new SuperComp Rebel here and get notified when it becomes available.

If you look at the training schedules of top runners throughout recent history it’s more likely than not that you’ll find regular bouts of tempo running in there. Why? Quite simply: It works. Tempo runs, which involve maintaining a steady effort for a prolonged period of time (e.g. 4-8 miles at 1/2 marathon effort or 6-14 miles at marathon effort), give you a lot of bang for your aerobic buck. It’s hard, but not too hard, running that helps build aerobic strength, improve efficiency, and/or practice running race pace. The Tempo Plus workout is the leveling up of a standard tempo run by pairing it with a short set of faster intervals afterward. Here are the details.

“Only the one who does not know what is life may believe that it is beautiful and easy.”

— Albert Camus, Notebooks 1935-1942 (I love this quote. It pairs well with one of my favorite movie lines of all time, from Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride: “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” To me, both are a reminder not that life is doomed to be hard and painful, but that it’s always going to challenge you. Accepting that, even when you’re not sure how or if you’ll come out the other side, helps you work through it instead of waiting for things to get easier or better, or buying whatever panacea promises to instantly ease your pain.)

That’s it for Issue 559. If you enjoyed it, please forward this email to a few like-minded friends and encourage them to subscribe at this link so that it lands in their inbox next Tuesday.

Thanks for reading,

Mario