the morning shakeout | issue 526
Some brief reflections from CIM, Jane Hedengren's wise words, what sport should be about, and a lot more.
Good morning! I’m wrecked after spending this past weekend in Sacramento at the California International Marathon and I didn’t even race. Everything I wrote about my experience there last year holds just as true this time around (minus the shakeout run when I got home—I opted to process things on my couch this year), and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The energy of CIM is unique, and getting to be there to watch my athletes do the thing they’ve poured so much into these past few months and years is a privilege I cherish and don’t take for granted. Some flew past me while others fought it. I nearly lost my hand high-fiving a few as they ran by, while a couple were on the receiving end of a simple head nod. Some needed encouragement; others got tough love. There were celebratory and consolatory hugs afterward, various types of tears, and all manner of emotion from elation to heartbreak. As a coach, you have to hold space for all of it. But these damn marathons, man. Whether you’re running the race or just along for the ride, they find a way to get you every time.
OK, let’s get right to it.
Quick Splits
— Jane Hedengren has it. The BYU freshman was runner-up at the recent NCAA Cross Country Championships and this past weekend in Boston she ran 14:44.79 to smash the collegiate indoor 5000m record by nearly 8 seconds. Perhaps more impressive than either of those performances, however, was this 5-minute post-race interview in which the 19-year-old showed the poise and polish of a seasoned superstar. When asked about the fastest mile she’d run in a workout before the race, Hedengren simply replied, “We don’t talk about workouts,” and didn’t feel the need to explain herself any further, doing so in a way that was disarmingly confident, but not rude. Later, when pressed about the jump in performance she’s made from high school to college and how her training has changed, she shared that her overall volume had actually gone down while the quality of her work had gone up, which she attributed to two factors that competitive runners at any level of the sport would be wise to learn from: “I don’t really expect anything,” she admitted. “I just kind of try to stay in the present and see where I’m at. But it’s been great to work with Coach Taylor. I think my training has changed quite a bit and I’ve rested more and started eating more, and the work has just been far more productive. I’m just glad that it seems there’s a lot to build on and to keep working toward, and to have more of a sustainable outlook. I’m really grateful to be at a program that takes care of me and cares about me as more than just an athlete.”
— Scott Fauble, multiple World Marathon Majors top-10 finisher, sub-2:09 marathoner, burrito connoisseur, and, perhaps most importantly, the first-ever guest on the morning shakeout podcast, announced his retirement from professional running last week on both the Inside the Marathon Project and Citius Mag podcasts. What I’ve always respected and appreciated most about Faubs’ approach to the sport is that he prioritized competing over chasing fast times and consistently did things his own way, whether that meant speaking candidly about issues plaguing athletes, pursuing creative projects alongside training and racing, or now, being honest about why he’s stepping away at a relatively early age. “The most important thing in the sport is conviction,” he explains. “So if you don’t have 100% conviction—even if there’s one percent of doubt—that’s enough to make up for so much talent and so much training. Conviction is by far the most important thing in the sport of running, in any sport. And so when my conviction dipped, that was a pretty good sign I should probably get out.”
— On the topic of pro athletes calling it a career, I really enjoyed this profile of Rebecca Mehra and her “soft” retirement from the sport. In her case, that meant going from an 800 and 1500 meter specialist on the track to finishing 19th at last month’s New York City Marathon, her debut at the distance. The 31-year-old ran 2:42:49, i.e., quite a bit longer than the 2- and 4-minute races she used to run, and she also raised $12K for Bras for Girls. She walked away from the track in 2024 after a few years of health struggles and injury, and these days she lets fun be her guide while balancing 60-hour workweeks as a public affairs consultant. “I am proud to be one of very few people who ran an 800 as fast as I have and then ran a competitive marathon time with a job and extensive travel,” she told Jinghuan Liu Tervalon. “I could have reached out to New York Road Runners and asked to be included in the elite field, but I thought that raising funds for a charity that is near and dear to my heart would be more meaningful.”
— Reigning Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee isn’t retiring any time soon, but on his mini sabbatical from three-sport life he’s become rather proficient in the whole running piece of it, taking 4-½ minutes off his personal best on a warm day in Valencia on Sunday, running 2:06:38 to finish seventh. The Brit, who admitted it was “probably my best performance of my life,” put on an absolute masterclass in pacing, keeping all his mile splits within 5 seconds of 4:50, with the exception of the last two, which he hit in 4:43 and 4:38. That is how it’s done, folks.
+ Yee’s performance in Valencia was the second-fastest marathon time ever by a British athlete behind Mo Farah’s 2:05:11 from Chicago in 2018, which may present a bit of a pickle when it comes time to decide what he wants to do at the Olympics in 2028. As I understand it, selection for GB’s triathlon squad comes down to performance in a few key events in 2026 and 2027. I’m unsure how much weight Yee being the reigning Olympic gold medalist carries when it comes to being picked, but he will clearly be a favorite. But now he’s also one of the greatest British marathoners of all-time and should be in the running for GB’s marathon team. For the 2021 Games in Tokyo, Great Britain held a Trials race to select most of the team, but in 2024 it was more subjective and based on performance across a number of events. It seems highly unlikely that he’d compete in both events in L.A. (though they are two weeks apart, so certainly not impossible!), but it will be a fun story to follow whatever he decides to do. Personally I hope he continues to explore what’s possible in the marathon. Dude is a two-time Olympic medalist (four if you count the mixed relays), he knows how to win on the biggest stage, not to mention he’s only run two marathons in his life, and with a couple more years of focused work there’s no telling what he could do over 26.2.
— A couple of years ago Christine and I went to karaoke night with a friend, and on the fourth or fifth song this scruffy dude in workwear stepped up to the mic, put down his drink, and absolutely slayed Harry Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar.” He never once looked at the lyrics on the screen as he made his way around the tiny stage, and everyone in the small crowd collectively lost their shit. At the end of the song he stopped on “watermelon sugar” right as the music cut, earned a well-deserved standing ovation, and then walked straight out the door as if he’d been practicing for that moment his entire life. It was one of the most random and wild things I’ve ever seen. Anyway, that memory resurfaced the other day when YouTube served me up this live version of Styles performing his smash hit. Styles’ rendition isn’t as impressive as the karaoked knock-off from that random guy at Mac’s in Fairfax, but the sub-3-hour marathon man does a pretty damn good job with it, I guess.
— From the archives (Issue 473, 1 year ago this week): This “letter” from Roger Federer to Rafael Nadal after the latter’s retirement announcement is one of the best things I’ve read in recent memory. It’s representative of what sport should be about: being honest with yourself, respecting your rivals, appreciating their differences, making one another better through competition, and cherishing the lessons learned and memories made along the way. Read this post, revisit it often, and share it widely. “I keep thinking about the memories we’ve shared,” Federer writes. “Promoting the sport together. Playing that match on half-grass, half-clay. Breaking the all-time attendance record by playing in front of more than 50,000 fans in Cape Town, South Africa. Always cracking each other up. Wearing each other out on the court and then, sometimes, almost literally having to hold each other up during trophy ceremonies.”
We’ve had some weird weather lately in northern California, to the point where a few of my friends who were visiting from the U.K. this past week said it reminded them of back home: it’s been cold, the sun hasn’t come out for days, the wind’s been whipping, and the mornings are misty more often than not . Luckily, my partners at Tracksmith recently sent me the new Chiltern Jacket, which they call “engineered outerwear that’s just enough for English weather,” and it’s been perfect. The jacket is super lightweight and breathable, but it’s warm enough over a base layer and keeps the wind and water off me. If you want to pick one up for yourself or the winter runner in your life (or buy anything else on Tracksmith.com for that matter) between now and the end of 2025, use the code “MARIO15” for $15 off an order of $75 or more. (Note: The code is good for one use between now and the end of the year.)
Workout of the Week: The Sev Special
A great introductory session for getting back on the track is one that I learned from the legendary coach Bob “Sev” Sevene twenty years ago when I spent a week with him and his Team USA-Monterey Bay athletes in California. (n.b. I still utilize this workout with all of my athletes today, no matter their experience level.) It consists of sets of 400 and 800m repeats at a hard, but not too hard effort and will benefit you whether you’re focused on the mile, marathon, or anything in between. Here are the details.
The bottom line.
“Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.”
— Epictetus in Enchiridion (Or, to put it even more succinctly: Be about it!)
That’s it for Issue 526. If you enjoyed it, please do me a solid and forward this email to a likeminded friend or two and/or pass the web link around in your group chats. (And if you’re seeing this newsletter for the first time and want to receive it for yourself every Tuesday, you can subscribe right here.)
Thanks for reading,
Mario
Mario, that Roger Federer to Rafael Nadal letter was pretty special. Appreciate you sharing that, first time I have seen it. Thanks as always for the shake out!