I am about to barrel down the highway into the middle of no where Oregon, then onto the middle of nowhere Nevada, Utah and Arizona. There are Ruby Mountains to see, a rarely visited National Park to discover and the sounds of my feet and bike tires. I am headed into a week with more trees than WIFI so this email is coming to you a day early. 

NO WEIGHTS NEEDED
No live Strength Training for Runners on Wednesday BUT, don't skip strength training because I am out of service! Here is a video from the deep archives of 2022 when we lived in Portland, had a different dog and did strength training without weights. So, no equipment needed, but you do need 45 minutes. Mark the calendar, protect your time and get this done. If having no home weights was a barrier, now there are no excuses. 

SMOOTHIES
I saw this article on How to Make a Smoothie and I nearly went blind rolling my eyes. Well, I read it anyway, because I like those "Four mistakes you are making" articles and then feeling smug when I am not making the mistakes. Turns out this article is actually quite good and if you have a post run smoothie or aren't having recovery fuel for workouts over 90 minutes but a smoothie sounds good, READ UP HERE. I promise you will learn something (or you can feel extra smug because you knew it all already!)

The same person also has a podcast you may need to hear right now, Why slower runners still need carbs. 

CAN'T SLEEP POST RACE
I got a great question from one of my athletes, basically saying, why can't I sleep after a big effort? 
My answer: After a long run or race you have elevated cortisol from the effort, that effects sleep and ability to stay asleep. Post long run athletes often have more caffeine in their system disrupting sleep as well as elevated core body temps which impede sleep and core temps can stay elevated with dehydration, also not helping you sleep. If you didn't fuel well post-race you can still be hungry and low blood sugar crashes at night cause you to wake up. AND of course there are sore legs making a good body position hard and killing sleep even more. You can read more here.

RUNNING VESTS
If you are looking to add a new running vest to your running gear, a bigger or smaller size or one that bounces less IRunFar has a review of some popular running vests so you can get an idea of where to start your search. 

“Whatever you're meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible.”
― Doris Lessing, Author and Nobel Prize winner 

Hi all,
IRONMAN recently released a report with new survey data offering insight into global athlete trends within the IRONMAN triathlon community. Surveying 10,000 individuals across 97 countries, the findings reveal a familiar barrier for many women: time. Specifically, women cited the demands of family life and the challenge of finding childcare as key reasons behind the barrier of "finding time" to participate in triathlon or endurance sports.
Currently, women represent just 18% of IRONMAN triathletes worldwide. In ultrarunning, while women have made up just over 30% of race participants (across all distances) since 2021, that percentage has remained stagnant for more than a decade, according to Ultrarunning Magazine.

The report also includes data from USA Triathlon showing that while men's participation in the sport has rebounded to 91% of pre-COVID levels, women’s participation has only reached 71%.
Now, I would love to wait until society fully values women’s work—until household responsibilities are shared equally, and women’s sports receive the recognition and support they deserve. But we can’t afford to wait. Until those systemic changes come, we only have ourselves.
So, I ask:
Are you valuing your own participation in sport enough to set boundaries, ask for help, and make space for your goals? Can you separate what is yours to carry and what you have been carrying for so long you forget others can do it too? (simple to say, so hard to do, but we can do hard things, right?)
And if you’re not the one trying to “find time”—are you helping your wife, daughter, sister, or mother carry the load? 
The conditions are always impossible. Do it now.
BARRIER FREE, I MEAN AS BARRIER FREE AS I CAN 
I know going to the gym is a barrier for many, so join me live to your screen for Strength Training for Runners. Class is always free knocking down the barrier of cost, commute and fear of gyms. See you on Wednesday nights. During the height of the pandemic multiple sets of moms joined in with their kids. Feel free to bring kids mature enough to do a decent lunge! If I see a kid onscreen, I promise to help modify the workout as needed and keep the language clean.  

A LABORATORY FOR VIRTUE
This podcast with guest Sabrina Little, discusses running as a laboratory for virtue and other deep thoughts including, “fitness is feeling like you are dying at a much faster pace than you used to feel like you were dying at.”
― Sabrina Little, The Examined Run: Why Good People Make Better Runners

Happy trails,
Dana

Hi all,

Last weekend I was spectating at the Peterson Ridge Rumble. Almost a third of participants in the 20-mile race had a dog, so if you are into dogs, running and being in Central Oregon, put this one on your list. It was also the Bend Marathon, the Walla Walla 6 hour run, the Yakima Skyline 50k/25k and Gorge Waterfalls races. LOTS of athletes out there, so naturally I got to hear lots of post-race stories yesterday, basically, best day ever.

POST RACE STORYTELLING
Let's say you set out for a 4-hour marathon and run a 4:15, how do you talk about that race? Let's say you set out to run 30 miles on a weekend long run and "ONLY" get in 26. 

Do you swat away the compliments like flies, feeling undeserving that you are a badass because you ran 30 sec per mile slower than you hoped? Do you go on and on about how it wasn't very good and why it was terrible and you are terrible and everything is terrible?  Is that what you would want to hear from someone who ran 45 miles instead of 50? 

Be careful of how you talk about big accomplishments that are just off the mark. Talking to coaches, besties and running friends about missing a goal is a great place for reflection, real talk and nuance. Find the faults, figure out how to get better, lament what could have been. But your cubicle neighbor at work who doesn't run thinks you're awesome. So does your hairstylist and neighbor. They don't care that your time isn't what you wanted, they are damn impressed you trained every weekend for months and got out early in the rain. They may never run a marathon or maybe will one day because you did. But one thing is for sure, they don't need to hear your negative self-talk about how the amazing thing wasn't good enough. More importantly YOU DON'T need to hear that about yourself.

You don't need to hear yourself over and over saying the run wasn't that good. I wasn't fast enough. I didn't get as far as I wanted. Repeating these sentiments can make you harsher to yourself and social media is already working hard on that! 
By putting yourself down you are convincing your brain to feel pessimistic about your running and what you deserve. You deserve to feel awesome, even when you don't hit the A-standard, gold medal level you set for yourself.

It is ok to accept compliments on your run without saying anything disparaging about how it went or about your ability. You ran far, even if you were bummed at the outcome. 

POST RACE REFUELING
I had an athlete ask a good question about post-race refueling. The question was, I typically have a protein shake post run, should I do that at a race? 
Funny enough, I hadn't really thought of that for runners at a race since there is food, no need to drive from the trailhead home, no waiting, just eat. BUT, many runners can't finish a tough race and then go right to the post race burger/pizza/burrito. If you live for finish line food and can get in good calories with protein post race, then no need to bring anything to supplement. If you cross the line and may not be able to eat for hours, BRING THE SHAKE, it gives you hydration, calories and protein without you having to stomach real food if you aren't ready. 

A REVOLT
"A revolt against impossibility." A podcast with Jacky Hunt-Broesma, a cancer survivor, amputee and trailblazing ultrarunner who just ran really far.

PROTEIN FOR YOUR AGE
Check out this newsletter which addresses protein needs in female athletes. A key takeaway here (and why you shouldn't just copy a friend or some Instagram meals) is that a women in her 40s+ needs more protein post exercise than a woman in her 20s.

JOIN ME
Strength Training for Runners on Wednesday nights. Always free. See you on your screen. 

I just read a great piece from Matt Fitzgerald about self-disqualification, "whereby runners eschew certain practices because they view themselves as unworthy of them." 

He opens with a runner realizing that fast runners run right through puddles to optimize the route and how it didn't occur to her to just run through the puddles. No need to save a few seconds here and there as a "slower runner". I haven't had a term for this before but I see it in two areas for age group athletes and he addresses these in the article as well.

The first is having a coach (or a prepared training plan). Many athletes think that a running coach or purchased plan is only for the fastest among us when in reality, it doesn't matter how fast you are running, if you want to optimize your own performance, a coach or plan is for you. As a coach, I promise you, finishing before the cut off of a dream race or going whatever far means to you is a really valuable and worthy goal.

The second is nutrition. I am serious, if I hear someone say that they didn't fuel that much on a run because they aren't running that fast, I will force them to eat a gel standing there until they fully apologize to themself. Fueling information is readily available but yet so many athletes are leaving performance on the table under fueling, thinking it doesn't pertain to their speed or their effort. I have linked to this post before but it helps you determine how much to use fueling before and during a long run. Hint, it is more than you think and yes, even your run needs it. 

Are you feeling unworthy of finding a great training plan or coach, not fueling enough, not buying yourself new shoes when you need them, thinking sports massage is for someone more serious or refusing to run with a group assuming they are too cool? This is all self-disqualifying behavior and it is time to starting counting yourself in. 

Think strength training is just for strong people? Nope! It is for people just lifting their first weight and people who can deadlift their bodyweight. Need a way in? Come to Strength Training for Runners on Wednesday night and see what it is all about. 

RUNNING NEWS

• UofO researchers find a cool new way to do a gait analysis outside instead of treadmill based assessments.
• If you want all the news from all the people writing about running, here is a directory of running content on Substack. 
• Running tech in your shoes. 

​THINGS I AM EATING

• A salad which has cheese as a main ingredient. YAY.
• Chocolate chip oatballs that are easy to make.
• Salmon. Every week! I ordered my first box from the Fish Princess a fisherwoman in Hood River who travels to Alaksa each year, gets the catch, freezes it in portions and sells it to you in a 10lb box. Totally worth it and so good. Next boxes arrive to a meet up point in Oregon locations in May. 

A science newsletter I am loving right now highlighted a study examining how periods of high academic stress, think finals, impacted injury risk in college football players. The study period lasted 20 weeks and included over 100 male student athletes. Researchers found that injury rates significantly spiked during exam weeks to nearly double of the rates they found during low stress academic weeks. 

The study suggests stress compromises your attention. Under pressure, you have reduced reaction time (hello twisted ankle). Stress increases muscle tension and then sprinkle in some fatigue from poor sleep, and it is no surprise you are running funny and now your knee or hip or back is starting to bug you.

This study was on a bunch of college students, all of them younger than us. Who knows how much worse this is as we age. You can't always control your incoming stressors BUT you can control your training. Some things you can do to promote healthy training during periods of intense stress include more rest days, rest weeks that come more often and more easy days. 

STRONG GRANDMA
Put down your phone, put down your work and go watch this video from the New Yorker, Strong Grandma. If I live to 95, I really hope I am deadlifting BUT even more I really hope I have a friendship like the one highlighted in this short where we share gym time and giant cookies. 

Want to be strong like Grandma? Join me on Wednesday nights for Strength Training for Runners. It is free, so tell work you have to go help your grandmother with something and get your workout on. 

BOUNCE, BOUNCE
An unlikely injury tale from a runner losing vision on the trail and requiring emergency surgery. A story from Scott Dunlap. 

APRIL FOOLS
These are the best April Fools marketing pushes that have come across my eyeballs today. 

• Meatballm from Ikea.
• Marathong from Skratch. 
• I actually think this one is real, nice work Iceland. 

Happy trails, no fooling

I just got back from a visit with my grandmother who recently turned 99. Imagine seeing this past decade and all that has changed. My niece asked her what her favorite era in fashion has been and she said it was the miniskirts of the late 60s and early 70s. Love that! She thinks she is losing memory but I think it is fair to assume you won't remember all the things that happened when they are 40, 60 and 80 years ago. She is sharp as a tack but cannot understand my career, am I an adult gym teacher? She also can't understand how I get paid through the TV. (I don't but thank you Venmo) 

Her mother lived to 99 and now here she is at the same milestone. It makes me wonder if I will see the age of 99 in 2074. Genetics seem to be strong here, I just might and the year 2074 feels like science fiction. I am guessing super shoe mid-soles will be about four inches high, we will have seen a women break the 2-hour marathon barrier and I don't even want to know how many grams of carbs per hour we will be up to by then. Long races will be weeks long and I will be messing up and calling it a 50k. I do hope if I live to 99 that it includes quality time outside, friends (better start making much younger friends!) and something that gives me as much purpose as running. Stay tuned, maybe I will still be sending Tuesday emails. 

STEEPER IS CHEAPER
"A steep slope will have a shorter course distance but be harder to run up. A gentle slope will be easier to run up but cover a longer total distance. For a given finishing time, what’s the sweet spot?" The article in Outside Magazine, Why Steeper Is Cheaper for Climbing Hills, by Alex Hutchinson answers the question how to choose a trail up a hillside for maximum speed, the longer but less steep way or right up. "If you’re choosing between two routes, remember this: If one route is twice as steep as the other, you’d have to walk twice as fast up the gentler route to reach the top in the same time. Counterintuitive though it may sound, that data shows that under most circumstances, twice as steep is easier than twice as fast."

A FEW GOOD READS

• "I got my first period in 15 years the morning of a big race, and didn’t know what to do". An article by professional bike racer, Sarah Sturm. 
• “The primary lesson from the monks is one of commitment. When you commit to doing something—do it! Don’t make excuses. Don’t renegotiate. Just do what you said you would do—as if your life depended on it.” -Stan Beecham, Elite Minds: Creating the Competitive Advantage, the next book on my to read list.
• Words From the Wild is written by Heather Anderson, National Geographic Explorer of the Year and famous thru-hiker. She writes monthly articles and if you are thinking about going long, read here.

STRENGTH TRAINING
Change out of your work pajamas and into your workout pajamas tomorrow night for Strength Training for Runners. Live to your screen on Wednesdays, stay home, get strong. Information here. 
​

Do you have friends that can make a hill less steep? If you run with a supportive longtime friend, this study says you do!  
"It is important that friendship duration moderated hill slope perception. The longer participants knew their friends, the less steep they estimated the hill to be"

The simple presence of a supportive person can change how difficult something feels, so maybe the hill isn't smaller, but it will feel that way. Knowing this we need to both watch out for bad route information from our most social of running pals and keep our friends on our same running plan.

I have definitely been guilty of sending people on routes I ran with friends telling athletes they weren't so bad and hearing otherwise. And I have been sent up the side of a mountain by friends remembering routes 'that will only be a little longer' on solo runs feeling like death marches needing at least three emotional support treats to keep from having a tantrum. 

Time to get in touch with some running friends to join you on your next tough run. (or text a laugh to someone who sent you up something too difficult!) 

Also, time to mark your calendar for Strength Training for Runners on Wednesday nights. Is it easier if you have been joining me for years and we are friends? Not sure I can make that kettlebell lighter but why not come and find out. Information on the always free class is here. 

MOOD AND ENERGY
If the study linked above has you curious to dive in more, there are lots of studies regarding "geographical slant", HILLS. Here is one study that notes, "observers in a sad mood reported hills to be steeper" and here is another in which "two experiments demonstrate that participants who had consumed a glucose-containing drink perceived the slant of a hill to be less steep than did participants who had consumed a drink containing non-caloric sweetener." Sounds like you need friends, good mood and calories for best results, but you could have guessed that! 

RAISE THE BAR
If you want to watch women's sports, here is a new resource for finding a sports bar that pledges to show women’s college games on at least 50% of their televisions throughout the tournament and to ensure a safe, inclusive space where fans can gather for March Madness. 

GRAPE FLAVOR IS TRENDING
Tailwind Endurance fuel just announced its grape flavor is no longer seasonal but part of its core lineup. Skratch just announced grape chews. What's next? Are we going to start seeing Grape Crush at ultramarathon aid stations? I just learned it does come in a drink mix (which has zero sugar, so I would avoid during a race!) But if you need your nostalgia hit pre-race, you can get it with grape Pop Tarts, which according to their own marketing are back by popular demand. 

Five years ago, I was home from the gym where I had been teaching Wednesday night Strength Training for Runners. I was supposed to be teaching class, but I had just returned home from Finland and having traveled from Europe was a risk factor for this Covid 19 thing going around. I thought I would be home for two weeks but in reality, as you know, it was a lot longer. At the urging of another trainer, I hesitantly figured out the newfangled thing called Zoom and taught class from my home office. I figured I would do it for a couple times and head on back to the gym. Five years on, you can still find me, different home gym, same time and place, on Zoom live to your screen on Wednesday nights. 

When I was encouraged to teach online, I was not only hesitant, I thought it was dumb, no one would join and I didn't have interest in learning how to do it. 
If you would have told me that five years on, I would still be offering this class, I really would never have started. A FIVE year commitment to something EVERY week sounds like a no to me. 

There are some good lessons in there, about continual learning, being open to new ideas and not being afraid to start, BUT I am not going there. Instead, I want to express my gratitude for those of you who were a part of the five amazing years of Strength Training for Runners at the gym and these last five amazing years of Strength Training for Runners online. If you want in on this super happy fun crew lifting heavy weights and sometimes detergent bottles or Corgis, then JOIN US TOMORROW. Class is always free and the tip jar for snacks is always open. 

GET UP, RUN FAST, STAY WARM
Here are some athletes at the TOP of their game. 

• Here is a video of the latest world record of 255lbs for the Turkish Get Up. With this video as inspiration, I attempted to hold a 15lb barbell overhead and keep it steady which makes this record 1,000 times more impressive. 
• Here is what it looks like running at mile 26 of a 50k when you are on pace to finish in 3 hours and 40 minutes. Check out Jim Walmsley's gait, even over rocks, it is soooo good. 
• Lael Wilcox, ultra distance cyclist and Guinness World Record for fastest circumnavigation of the WORLD by bike, finished the Iditarod Invitation on a fat tire bike and talks about it in this podcast. So many lessons in living in the moment, avoiding frustration, having grace and staying warm. 

KRISPY TREATS VALIDATED
If you are one of my coached athletes, you know I am an advocate of the Rice Krispy Treat as fuel for ultras (not exclusively, I am not a savage!). Most people are able to stomach rice-based fuels, they are never super dry and don't melt in the heat. Skratch Labs attempted to make a healthy/sportified version that included quinoa (NO! BAD! STOP!) and it was discontinued because hard chunks of quinoa do not belong in your life. Maurten has a solid bar product in addition to their more popular gels and it is basically an extremely expensive Rice Krispy Treat. And now, the message board Let's Run is incredulous that a track runner has credited the marshmallow treats (and other sugar snacks) with some of his success. I think the evidence is in, the treats have been validated! 

My go to home recipe for the treats. If you are more a salty type and want to make the treats with potato chips get cooking. 

One of the key indicators of success for my coached athletes is having a person or people supporting their running goals. I have seen seasons ruined by unsupportive spouses or friend groups that just didn't seem to care. On the flip side, I have seen athletes rise to their potential on audacious goals bolstered by friends who help find good routes and join for part, partners who do pick up from a one way run with snacks and parents who go to races despite having no clue on the distance of a 50k.

Here's the thing, it isn't just luck that these athletes have a supportive circle. All those seemingly lucky people have something in common, which is, they all are part of another person's supportive circle. These athletes lead group runs, sweep races, put on training run events for the fun of it, bake treats for friends after hard races and are actively part of another person's cheer squad. 

Can you say this for yourself? Good thing is trying out for this cheer squad is free, you already have the uniform and being a small part of someone's success will fuel your own. 

BE STRONG 
Time to give this a try! Strength Training for Runners is live to your screen, Wednesday nights. Get the scoop here. 

STRATEGIC SWEARING
"A variety of dosages of swearing (i.e., word used, intensity, frequency, quantity) have been reported to improve physical performance." You read that right, this study says you can let it rip! The effect of swearing on physical performance summary states, "swearing represents a low-risk, effective, and inexpensive intervention that has the potential to acutely improve physical performance although the taboo nature of swearing may limit its utility in real-world situations." 

Great news! You can swear during Wednesday night Strength Training for Runners since you are on mute! 

FOR YOUR EARS

• New to me podcast, Your Diet Sucks, has some good food for thought and seems like they are serious about fact checking since one of the co-hosts is Zoe Rom, Editor In Chief of Trail Runner magazine. I just listened to this episode about sports nutrition marketing and it has me reminded to check my sports fuels for fake sugars that can cause GI distress (and to be super weary of some popular gels out there)
• Against the Odds has done it again and made a podcast season that had me binging it in one day taking the dog for extra walks so I could hear the whole thing. The Nome Serum Run is a good story for your next long run. "It’s the winter of 1925 and in the remote town of Nome, Alaska, children are dying from a diphtheria outbreak that’s spreading fast. But in the dead of winter, the town is nearly impossible to reach and its supply of medicine is dwindling. The only option is to send the medicine by dogsled, in a relay..."

"So, what is joy, if not a feeling? Thomas Aquinas defines it as a “consequence of love.” Joy involves a kind of happy alignment with one’s good purpose that provides internal stability. It is this aspect of joy — that it is rooted in an internal condition, rather than external circumstances — that makes it valuable during setbacks. A joyful runner has an internal anchor, or buoyant fixity, on her purpose, that helps carry her through the difficult miles."

Hi all,

The above paragraph is from an article by Sabrina Little, philosopher and runner in which she writes on the "Virtues of Despair Resistance". She covers joy, hope and resilience and I encourage you to give it a read. Joy doesn't need to mean you need a smile on your run through slush or inches of mud. Hope doesn't mean toxic positivity and resilience doesn't mean we forget our setbacks. 

Yesterday I was looking at race data from a race I did in 2017. I thought I would find despair at no longer being able to hold paces anything close to the paces I ran then, but instead I felt proud (joy even?) that I once did that. HOLD THE PHONE, this is a huge win and I am telling you about it not to brag but to say, we CAN get past comparing ourselves to our former selves. It feels like a miracle and maybe this will be the only time this ever happens for me, but HECK YEAH, small win for the week! 

YOU CAN HAVE A SMALL WIN TOO
You have won a free Strength Training for Runners class! And you have won and you have won. OK, it is always free and no one wins, BUT I hope to see you on Wednesday nights. Check it out. Free as always, live to your screen.

FLAVORLESS
I have been asked multiple times in the last month for fueling options that are flavorless. It is a boom time for fuel and electrolytes without strong flavors, so if you get the ICK from too many sugary flavors, maybe some of these will work. All are sold in single servings by The Feed, so you can test them out. 

HIGH CARB DRINKS: Tailwind Naked. Maurten Drink Mix. UCAN Energy. 

ELECTROLYTES: Skratch Labs Clear, Capsules from Precision Hydration or LMNT Raw

GELS: UCAN Edge, Precision Original, or just buy this 6 pack of neutral gels and test a bunch of options. 

SPEAKING OF ELECTROLYTES 
Electrolytes can be confusing. There are electrolyte drinks sold with concentrations from 300mg of sodium in products like Nuun Sport or products that have the number 500 huge on the package but contain 250mg of sodium. Confused yet? There are products like LMNT that have 1,000mg of sodium, want more salty goodness? Here's one with 1,500. The recommended doses are from almost nothing to the whole salt shaker which is because athletes have different sweat rates. Take a group of runners and one will have a drenched ponytail and one may not even have a glisten. That is normal so the first thing is knowing yourself. If you are soaked with sweat and ringed with white salt marks after a run even when it isn't super-hot, you may be a salty sweater. There are tests for this if you feel like you need some guidance. In the end, you may need something wildly different than your training partner, so start experimenting with what works so summer doesn't have you staring down GI problems, bonks and no fun long run zombie marches.

RED-S BONKS
If you have suffered from RED-S (or relative energy deficiency in sport) you may be bonking sooner or harder than people who have been consistently fueling and do not suffer from disordered eating. Here is a story from Jenny Tough that may resonate, "Because understanding that you need to fuel is not the same as believing you need to, it takes a long time to work out exactly why and where you’re denying the science"

Happy trails!