How To Keep Improving--This Year, And Every Year
The two “The Growth Equation” authors, Steve Magness and Brad Stulberg, have no patience for shortcuts, fitness gurus selling one-note solutions, or digital devices that may measure something but don’t enhance your workout routine.
Consider their view on those groups of centenarians from around the globe--often called the “blue zone” peoples. Magness and Stulberg don’t think these folks consume a specific diet type, or have a regimented cardio or strength routine. Nope. Instead, they see 100-year-olds who “hardly eat any processed foods, and move their bodies a lot.”
The movement doesn’t take place in a gym, on a bike, or on the ultramarathon trails. Rather it tends to happen in backyard gardening, fruit harvesting, walking downtown to socialize, and other nonathletic pursuits.
The below essay with action principles contains a lot of M & S’s key thoughts on motivation and success. You’ll find yourself nodding often in agreement, and wanting to share it with friends.
Another good idea: Bookmark it (or print it out) to reread once a month. It will help you identify and achieve some key resolutions for 2024 as it also keeps you moving slow-but-steady down the health-fitness pathway.
I wanted to pull out a few of the statements that resonated most for me. That proved surprisingly difficult. There are so many here.
Eventually I settled on these two. “Simple does not mean easy, and the path to more sustainable health, well-being, and performance requires loads of motivation, reinforcement, and, at times, hand-holding.” Hand-holding! Find supportive, fitness-focussed friends, and reinforce them as they do the same for you.
Also: “Grit and quit.” I hadn’t heard this one before. It means, more or less: Set high goals, and work consistently toward them. But when you need a day off, or a complete reassessment, don’t hesitate to do so.
You can quit today, and start over again tomorrow … or whenever you’re ready for that new beginning. More at The Growth Equation.
This Warmup Has Been Proven To Boost Your Next Marathon (Or Half)
A warmup of some kind has been a traditional part of race prep for runners since at least the Ancient Greeks. (They rubbed olive oil on the skin before training and competing.)
And it’s easy to see how a warmup would be helpful before explosive events like sprinting and jumping. The benefit is not so obvious before a long distance race. Why not just rest under a tree and save your energy?
Recently a Japanese research team used a cross-over design to measure endurance performance after three different types of warmup. The first included a general warmup (GWU), then 5 minutes of rest, then a time to exhaustion (TTE) treadmill test at 90% of vo2 max.
The second included general warmup, some dynamic stretching exercises, 5 minutes rest, and the TTE. The third duplicated the second, but used a 10-minute rest before the TTE.
And the winner is … ? Answer: The warmup with dynamic stretching and 10 minutes of rest. The runners following this routine ran for 884 seconds on their TTE test--a big improvement over the 734 seconds of the group that did GWU +DS + 5 minutes rest. The GWU + 5 mins group finished last at 719 seconds.
Conclusion: “We recommend that runners rest for approximately 10 min after GWU + DS to enhance endurance running performance.” Me, I’m always looking for a shade tree to sit under. But any comfortable rest should do the trick. More at Sport Sciences For Health.
What’s Better For Weight Loss & Cholesterol: Low-Carb Or Low-Fat?
This paper was first published two years ago. Since then, it has been highly read by physicians and nutritionists, and answers a question many runners ask at this time of year: Should I adopt a low-carb diet or low-fat (high carb) diet for improved health?
The researchers performed a systematic review and meta analysis of only randomized controlled trials. This netted them eleven studies involving 739 participants. They looked for changes in body weight, muscle mass, fat mass, cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose.
Results: There were no significant differences between the two diets for changes in lean mass, fat mass, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, and glucose.
Was either diet a winner in other analyses? Yes. The low carb approach produced more weight loss, and an increase in the “good” HDL cholesterol. However, the high carb diet was more successful at reducing total cholesterol and the “bad” LDL cholesterol.
Conclusion: “Both diets are effective for weight control and reduction of cardiovascular risk factors.”
Interpretation: There doesn’t seem to be a big difference here. Choose a diet you enjoy that produces the desired results for your weight, cholesterol, glucose-control, blood pressure, and energy level. More at European J of Clinical Nutrition.
A First Look At Nike’s Newest, Fastest Super Shoe
It’s hard not to be curious about the newest Nike super shoe--the one that last fall produced a marathon world record for Kelvin Kiptum, another Berlin victory for Eliud Kipchoge, and a Chicago Marathon win for Sifan Hassan.
A few reviewers got their hands on early versions of the Nike Alphafly 3, which is supposed to be available to the public at large on January 4. This reviewer terms the Alphafly 3 a “quirky shoe,” but one where “every part of the shoe’s unconventional look—from its height to its contours to its material mix and knitting—has been crafted with the simple goal of helping runners run faster marathons.”
Okay, that should get your attention.
The Alphafly 3 is a legal shoe with just under 40 mm of midsole/outsole height. It’s got two layers of Nike’s proprietary super foam with a curved carbon-fiber plate between them. The shoe also has two Air Zoom air bag units in the forefoot for both cushioning and energy return.
On the underside of the shoe, a considerable amount of material has been cut out along the centerline. This allows the Alphafly 3 to tip the scales at an impressive 15% lighter than the Alphafly 2. More at Fast Company.
How Olympic Medalist Molly Seidel Trains For The Marathon
Seidel qualified for the Olympics at the 2020 Marathon Trials in Atlanta, won bronze a year later in Tokyo, and 3 months ago improved her marathon best to 2:23:07 in the 2023 Chicago Marathon. How does she do it?
Apparently with very little speedwork in her training. At least that’s what physiologist and endurance coach Alan Couzens concluded after analyzing one of Seidel’s “typical” 193 kilometer (116 miles) training weeks.
In Couzen’s deconstruction: Seidel does only 3% of her total training at 5K race pace, or faster. She does about 13 percent of her training at/around marathon race pace, and she logs about 50% of all training at a very easy, relaxed pace. More at X/Alan Couzens.
Do You Need More Carbs During Longer Races?
First came super shoes, then came super-carb-consumption. Both may have helped produce the incredible performances we have seen the last several years in marathon running and the Tour de France.
The evidence is stronger for thick, springy, carbon-plated shoes. Even if these only make you 1 or 2 percent faster, that’s several minutes in an elite marathon. And several times more if you’re lucky enough to be a “super responder” to the pogo sticks on your feet.
In a recent column at Outside Online, Alex Hutchinson tries to figure out if high-carb gels like Maurten and a few others (mostly using various hydrogel formulations) are also contributing to improved endurance performance in real-life competitions. For sure, the anecdotes are piling up rapidly, particularly in the cycling world.
Meanwhile, in the lab, some studies are showing that it’s possible for athletes to gulp down 120 grams/hour of carb fuels. These days, to reach the podium, it’s not enough to train your heart and legs. You have to “train your gut” as well.
Research has shown it’s possible to gradually increase your stomach tolerance for more drinks/gels and the sugars they contain. This training parallels what you do with those long weekend runs that gradually increase from 10 miles to 15, 20, or more. But it’s a new and different type of increased training volume. More at Outside Online.
Can A Greens-Powder Mix Improve Your Health & Performance?
Last year I expanded the number of running podcasts I occasionally listen to. And I enjoyed many of them. But I kept wondering: “Why is some product named ‘Athletic Greens’ sponsoring so many podcasts?”
Also, how and why are so many podcast hosts convinced that the green powder, now apparently named “AG 1,” is a miracle health and performance enhancer? After all there are no published scientific studies evaluating AG 1.
This article answered my questions. It turns out that many of the ingredients are part of “proprietary blends.” Translation: You don’t know exactly what you’re consuming. “In other words, we don’t know how much spirulina powder is in the greens powder or how much lion’s mane mushroom powder you are actually getting.”
At the end of 2022, Athletic Greens was advertising on as many as 350 podcasts. These podcasts might have been collecting a regular fee, but were probably cashing in on an “affiliate commission” that could reach 30 percent of AG’s $79 monthly cost. That’s $23 for each buyer who uses the affiliate link you mention in your podcast.
Now there’s nothing illegal or unethical about this. It’s just a lot of money for a green powder with no proven benefit. Even if the powder is supporting some cool podcasters.
Here’s the full ingredients list (click on “full ingredient list +”), and here’s a certification from NSF that verifies AG 1 does “not contain unsafe levels of contaminants, prohibited substances or masking agents.” In other words, “what is on the label matches what is in the product.”
But also note that some AG 1 ingredients could have interactions with prescription meds--another important reason to be cautious. I’ve recently seen AG 1 advertising on cable TV shows. That’s probably a sign, along with the renaming, that the company is moving away from the “athletic” market to the larger, whole-population market. More at Marathon Handbook and also at Healthline.
How To Train Like Taylor Swift (Rather Than Molly-Seidel)
Given that Taylor Swift was named Time magazine’s “Person Of The Year,” it’s no surprise that a lot of people heard about her workout routine as she prepared for her global, record-breaking “Eras Tour.”
Here’s what Time itself reported about her six months of training for the billion-dollar tour. Every runner who saw this article immediately thought: “Wait a minute. Three and a half hours of treadmill running every day, sometimes fast, sometimes slow? That sounds like 20 miles of fartlek a day. Really?”
We don’t know for sure, as Swift hasn’t done any lab testing or road races to demonstrate her fitness. But those who have attended an “Eras Tour” concert swear that it’s a genuine endurance test.
In the below article, editor and ultrarunner Zoe Rom jumped on a treadmill and ran and sang her way through Swift’s 3.5-hour set list. (The gym gave her a private room, so her antics wouldn’t upset other customers.) First comment: “This workout is a behemoth.”
More: “I’ve done one-mile repeats. Hill workouts. Track workouts. Long runs with tempo efforts. This is the hardest workout I’ve ever done. I was wrecked. I was soaked in sweat and fighting the urge to lie down on the gym floor.”
I don’t know a single Taylor Swift song, and I sing like a one-horned rhinoceros. But I gotta admit, the whole treadmill-singing-fartlek 3.5-hour workout is tempting.
Also: “Dear Tay: I’m sure you must be reading this. Please run a marathon next December after your final tour date in Vancouver on December 8. I’ll be happy to pace you. Thanks, Amby.” More at Trail Runner.
He Ran More Lifetime Miles Than Anyone Else. Ever
You don’t expect the New York Times’s year-end Sunday magazine to include a piece on a little known marathon runner, but there he was among the “artists, innovators, and thinkers we lost in the past year:” Darryl Beardall. Why Beardall?
Because he’s believed to have run more lifetime miles than anyone else--up in the vicinity of 300,000 miles. For comparison, that’s about 100,000 more than “Boston Bill” Rodgers.
I became aware of Beardall in the mid 1960s when I first subscribed to “Long Distance Log,” the precursor to Runner’s World. He often finished in the top 10 of West Coast marathons. But he couldn’t afford an annual Boston Marathon trip, so I didn’t meet him until nearly 50 years later.
At that time, I ran the Napa Valley Half Marathon, and Beardall the full marathon. I walked back 4 miles from the finish line so I could accompany him over his final miles. I remember that he had a smile on his face, a thicker upper body than me, and ran with a short, scuffling gait.
No one’s sure why Beardall ran so much, not even his children. Rarely a race winner or otherwise famous, he wasn’t interviewed that much. “I just take it one day at a time,” he told The Deseret News in 2013. “I just keep on chugging.”
The NYT fact-checking staff was driven to distraction by the Beardall piece, because there’s no official record-keeping for lifetime miles, nor is it possible to verify the “truthiness” of any figures. They contacted me several times, but there wasn’t a lot I could say. Except this: No one ever doubted Beardall. He crossed too many finish lines over too many years. More at NY Times.
SHORT STUFF you don’t want to miss
>>> When Backwards Is Forward: Running (or walking) backward could strengthen your legs.
GREAT QUOTES make great training partners
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.”
--Chinese proverb often repeated by marathon great Eliud Kipchoge
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. See you again next week. Amby