the morning shakeout | issue 511
Some thoughts on love, simple answers to complex questions, absence as the highest form of presence, and a lot more.
Good morning! This week’s shakeout is going to be on the short(er) side. Let’s get right to it.
Quick Splits
— This Paul Jun essay on defending yourself against AI slop and digital brain rot is great and applies to running, writing, music, relationships, business, and any worthwhile pursuit, really. In a world that’s wired for novelty and hacks, it all comes down to nailing the fundamentals over and over and over again. Hours of unsexy work adding up over years. It’s as simple and as hard as that. “Real athletes understand something most people miss: boring fundamentals create explosive performance when it counts,” he writes. “While amateurs chase fancy techniques, professionals drill basic movements until they become involuntary.”
— Sam Robinson dropping eternal truths in his latest post on playing the long game is required reading this week. “Love. It’s the only way you’ll make it,” he writes. “Love will help choose your project and drag you back on the bad days. Love will wake you up with deep yearning for the work, such that you’re miserable when away from it. Whatever it is. You’ve got to love it.” I’ll only add this: Remember that love is a choice. It’s not always an easy one, or even the right one sometimes, but it’s what keeps you going when shit gets hard and everyone or everything else is telling you to quit.
— Continuing along this theme, Sabrina Little’s most recent column for iRunFar explores what her love of running teaches us about love in general, the two-way relationship between love and habits, how love leaves signs, and a lot more. “It is not duty or discipline that compels me to run. It’s love,” she writes. “Certainly, there are days when I linger on the possibility of staying indoors, especially when I am behind on my work or the weather is particularly cold. Those days, I either lean on discipline in order to train, or I stay home and defer to more important responsibilities. But those days are rare. Mostly I run because I love it. This motivation carries me further than duty or obligation ever could.”
— I knew nothing about bestselling author James Frey prior to this recent conversation he had with Rich Roll but it was so good that I’ve already listened to it twice. He comes across as a bit of a salty character at times but his openness, insight, and high level of self-awareness are hard not to appreciate. A few times during the podcast Frey refers to himself as “a professional athlete of the mind and soul,” meaning he lives his life in a way that supports him being a master of his craft. He has routines and practices that ground him. When he’s writing a novel, he’s going hard and shuts almost everyone and everything out except those who are closest to him. When he’s done, there’s a comedown and he prioritizes taking care of his physical and mental health so that he can do it again when he’s ready. And as he approaches the later stages of his career, Frey is recognizing his limitations and making adjustments to his approach: tighter timelines, shorter books, more recovery between big efforts. This resonated with me as a non-professional aging athlete who still loves to train and race hard but can’t quite do it with the same intensity I did 20 or even 10 years ago. I’m racing shorter distances these days not because the longer stuff takes more out of me than is necessary at this point of my life. I don’t need 16-week training blocks anymore when building up to a big race because 6-10 works just fine, keeps me healthy, and is more enjoyable. And if I don’t prioritize recovery (i.e. sleeping enough, eating well, and surrounding myself with good people, not the other BS people are trying to sell you), it’s hard to really push myself when I need to. Anyway, listening to Frey describe his approach to writing was a good reminder that the fundamentals of performance apply no matter the domain.
— It’s hard to beat a good cover and Chuck Adams’ interpretation of the Goo Goo Dolls’ Iris for Top Talent is one of the best I’ve seen in a while. The audio is great on its own but it’s worth watching this one to witness the intensity and raw emotion on Adams’ face while he’s singing it. Just captivating and inspiring stuff from a regular guy with a gift. (n.b. I’d never heard of him prior to YouTube serving me up this video the other day.)
— From the archives (Issue 459, 1 year ago this week): This 8-year old Oliver Burkeman piece about why complex questions can have simple answers touches briefly on finance, diet, and happiness, but the main premise of his argument can also be applied to how to train for running: “We’re drawn to complex strategies because they enhance the illusion of control: we feel we’re grappling with important stuff, exerting agency,” he writes. “Plus, we like the idea of detailed, personalised solutions when, actually, just doing the same as everyone else might be best.” I see this in running all the time, especially at the amateur level. A lot of coaches and athletes overcomplicate their approach to training, chasing and crunching all sorts of numbers as if they’re programming some kind of robot. And while I’ve got no problem with personalized training—we all have different backgrounds, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, etc.—you will get yourself 90 to 95 percent of the way to where you want to go by taking the following 10 words of advice to heart: Run a lot, mostly easy. Go hard occasionally, recover appropriately.
— A big thank you to my friends and partners at Precision Fuel & Hydration for their continued support of my work. In addition to making best-in-class products for use during training and racing, these guys provide hands-down the best information of any brand (or any online outlet, really!) to answer whatever questions you might have about fueling and hydrating for performance and recovery. Case in point: One of the most common questions I get as a coach has to do with how frequently to take in carbohydrates during races and various types of workouts. I love that I can share comprehensive articles like this one from PF&H sports scientist Tash Cooper-Smith that address the topic soup-to-nuts: what to take depending on the sport and duration/intensity of exercise, when and how often to take it, and strategies for getting your own dosage dialed. (And if you’re interested in trying any PF&H products for yourself—they’re what I’ve used to keep myself fueled and hydrated in training and racing for nearly 8 years now—check out this link and save 15% off your first order.)
One of the perks of my partnership with New Balance is that I regularly get to try out new products before they become more widely available. Earlier this year they sent me a pair of the new FuelCell SuperComp Elite v5, their latest carbon-plated super shoe that’s engineered specifically for racing, and it was love at first stride. I took them out the door for a tempo run in early spring and didn’t want to stop. This is the best-fitting, best-feeling super shoe I’ve ever worn. There’s enough protection underfoot to hold up to longer efforts without making it feel you’re running with a marshmallow on your feet, and a punch of pop that I appreciate when I’m ripping laps on the track or racing shorter distance on the roads. In short: it’s got range! The FuelCell SuperComp v5 is now available at your favorite running speciality retail store and on newbalance.com (men’s sizes here, women’s sizes here).
Workout of the Week: The Alternating Miles Long Run
The long run, for me, is a fickle beast, with the emphasis changing from week to week depending on what we’re trying to get out of it. It doesn’t always have to be long and slow; sometimes we’ll alternate paces to keep things interesting and get a little more aerobic bang for our buck per mile. The Alternating Miles Long Run, which bounces back and forth between marathon pace and the faster end of your normal training pace, is one of my favorite sessions to assign my athletes, whether they’re in marathon training or not. Here are the details.
The bottom line.
“Absence, the highest form of presence.”
— James Joyce with a bit of a mind-bender I’ve been spending some time thinking about lately. This resonates for me on a few different levels but where I feel it the most is in the absence of loved ones I miss dearly, specifically my Mom, my Nonni, and my Nana. I think that because they’re no longer here I have a heightened awareness of their presence in my life through the choices I make and the values I try to live out.
That’s it for Issue 511. Please forward this email along, pass the web link around, or reply to me directly at your own risk.
Thanks for reading,
Mario
Thanks for the shout, Mario!
Mario, I have been looking for a Michael Pollan analogy for runners for years. You nailed it. And the James Joyce quote is one I have never seen/ heard before. Love your commentary. Thank you‼️