This weekend I turned 50, WOOHOO! While my mom is having a hard time since she now needs to lie about my age as well as hers, I am feeling great. I don't know what little me would have thought I would be like at 50, but I am happy to say I am right where I want to be. I spent the weekend with friends in the woods, foot hustling, riding bikes and eating cake, three of my favorite things. One friend asked, what I have learned in my 50 years. Great question and honestly, I suppose the answer to that is every single thing I know, but the thing I JUST learned last weekend was to stop apologizing for myself. I knew I may be slower than others on my birthday bike ride and I decided I wasn't going to say I was sorry for being last up the hill as my birthday present to myself. I was last up some of the hills and I gave zero FLIPS, NONE. It took 50 years, but it was awesome. Best gift ever. 

STOP APOLOGIZING
You don't need to wait until you are 50. You can stop today. Stop apologizing for things that need no apology and start handing out thanks instead. Please turn your, "sorry I have to stop for a minute" to "thanks for waiting a second while I get out more snacks". Turn your, "sorry I am feeling slow today" into "thanks for the good pace today, impressive". If you are a lifelong apologist, this may take a few years of repetition, so you better start now. Sorry, I know it isn't easy. Thanks for trying! 

TRAIL CON
This week I am in Olympic Valley, CA attending Trail Con. It just started this morning so I can give you my hot take next week, but the first session this morning was a panel discussion including two members of UltraSignup on Five Trail Trends. The trend I will share is diversity. The three panelists discussed how we are not where we want to be with diversity and proceeded to discuss women's participation in trail running (which I love, thank you) but never discussed any parts of a diversity discussion you would expect including no talk of race, inclusivity or trans rights. I am feeling absolutely depressed and gutted about it. This is the state of our sport, the kick off of the trail running conference had a talk about diversity with no talk of diversity. 

WOMEN RULE
Here are the stats the UltraSignup panelists highlighted which are great for women's running. 

• 9% of trail races THIS YEAR SO FAR have been won outright by women
• 55% of course records were broken by women in 2024

CREATINE GUMMIES
If you are supplementing with Creatine gummies, you may want to try a new delivery system. Report finds little to no creatine in gummies sold through Amazon. This article has a chart with brands that are living up to their labels. 

SALTY SWEET
Need to get in a little more salt with your sweet snacks during workouts? During a bike ride a friend pulled out a snack she is calling anchovies and it was genius. Swedish fish in a bag with some salt. You are welcome! 

STRENGTH TRAINING FOR RUNNERS
I will NOT be leading Strength Training for Runners this week. I am in Olympic Valley for Trail Con and Western States and will not be available at 5pm- strength training time. Here are a few links from the archives so you don't need to miss a workout. 

• Glute and hamstring strength 18 minutes
• Lunge focus from a vacation 11 minutes
• Strength training for runners from an AirBnB on the east coast. 30 minutes

Happy trails,

​Our Public Lands are in trouble, not the "haven't had enough gels for their run" kind of trouble, but 'about to DNF their race and maybe get into some kidney trouble' kind of trouble. 

On June 11, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, released the Senate Energy and Natural Resources section of the budget reconciliation bill, calling for 2-3 million acres of “mandatory” public land sales within five years. Up to 120 million acres of our public lands could be available for sale. If you look at the what could be up for sale it includes Mt Bachelor, Dog Mountain and Timothy Lake.  Potential areas of sale also include many, many acres of land you have been on as a trail runner, mountain biker, camper or while racing. 
I totally understand feeling overwhelmed by politics, not understanding the full depth of issues and wanting to just get back out into the woods, but if we sell off the places we go to escape, then so many of us will have to face our demons instead of running from them, go to actual therapy or become road runners. NO! You can find out how to take action here. 
And while you are taking action, you can also mark yourself out of the office and clear the calendar for Wednesday night Strength Training for Runners and join class, live to your screen. There will be zero politics but there will be balance work. When you are at your favorite public lands trail head pit toilet and need to change out of your sweaty clothes, you want to be able to stand on one foot so nothing needs to touch the ground. 
BEES, THEY'RE JUST LIKE US
It turns out there are agricultural bees not getting enough nutritional variety so scientists are making protein bars for bees. In tests the hives with these nutrition bars had twice as many bees. More food means more resilience; bees sound just like us.

BOSTON QUALIFYING
If you are trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon and are using a downhill course with more than 1,500 feet of descent, like the Tunnel Marathon in WA or a Revel course, the standards have changed. Starting with 2027 registration, there will be 5-10 minutes added to times from courses with 1,500+ feet of net elevation drop while banning courses over 6,000 feet entirely. 

BROWNIE HOT TIP
Right now, the NYT has taken down the paywall to their Mochi Brownies which I will be making this weekend. 

​Hi all,

Last weekend I was at the Go Beyond Racing Bristow 24/12/6 hour races getting loopy with athletes on a one-mile lap. One mile, as many times as you can in the time you have allotted yourself. If it sounds boring, check out these photos and then rethink it. The event is not only a celebration of running, but a great way to see what is possible and so many athletes were out there aiming for time and distance PRs or were supporting friends to their own PR. Women won every time category outright and by more than 10 miles with distances of125, 69 and 43 miles. "Katherine Switzer, the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon in 1967, recalls in her memoir how her high school’s basketball coach—a woman—told her that women would never play the men’s version of basketball because the “excessive number of jump balls could displace the uterus.” (Outside Magazine, The Myth of The Falling Uterus) Nice job to the women for showing us that an excessive number of jumps can look joyous and for the record, nothing was displaced. 

The race also had more than one nonbinary racer in each division, the most I have seen at any race thanks to the celebration that is Pride at Bristow. And thanks to Go Beyond Racing, they enjoyed equal podiums. Joy. Joy. Non-binary joy!!! 

We are in an absolute boom time for running right now. There are shoes for most every foot, races for most every pace and there is no reason you shouldn't be a part of it. And even better, I offer free Strength Training for Runners on Wednesday nights, so you get a strong core, and you get a strong core and everyone gets a strong core! 

APPLE WATCH ACCURACY
The title says your Apple Watch may not be as accurate as you think, but I think for runners the news is good. "Heart rate had a percentage error of 4.43%, while step count had an error of 8.17%. Anything below 10% is considered excellent, so you should feel pretty confident in what your Apple Watch says your heart rate and step count are for the day." On the other hand, the calories burned was off by 27.96% but do people trust that anyway?? Not sure if it is measuring high or low, but either way, ignore that very inaccurate part of your data set. 

RUNNING BAND
There is a good alternative to the running vest for shorter outings. Also, as temps rise, wearing a vest on a shorter run or a run with consistent resupply points can be HOT. If you have been running a long time and tried a waist belt like this or these, you know the load can bounce and be super annoying. If you haven't tried a running band, it may be worth some new gear. Companies like Naked or Ultraspire have created snug fitting bands that use compression to stay on and hold your gear. They hold a soft flask so as you drink there is no sloshing like using a hard sided water bottle. 

I WILL LEAVE YOU WITH THIS
Love this take on should women wear underwear. 

Happy trails,
Dana

​I have been tracking my workouts for a long time. I don't always look at the data but I like having it and I always name runs and bike rides, usually after the person I am with, the place I went and a hint to if it was fun or not. Looking at my runs from the last two weeks they have names like, "Why does this feel so hard?" "Waddling around with the dog" and "Maston trails until I died". Meanwhile the bike rides are "Good fun with Denise," "Awesome new trail" and "Hurricane Trail pure joy".  

I knew the runs were not bringing the joy, but looking at the contrast in how I have been talking about runs vs bikes is prompting me to change up the training mix and clarifies where I want to focus this summer. There is good reason to track training, even if you aren't a data nerd. Sometimes you need a reminder of where you started, the places you have discovered and if you are feeling the joy.  

ANKLE PAIN
I have recommended a modality for ankle pain twice this week so I thought it may be worth sharing since it is basically free and you can do it at home in just a few minutes (not in 30 sec as the linked video promises) You just need a butter knife. Watch this video detailing how to break up adhesions for better ankle movement and pain reduction. It isn't always super comfortable but you can do it yourself and control how much pressure you use. 

SAUNA AND HYDRATION
If you use a sauna as part of your training or plan to use a sauna as part of preparation for a race listen up here. Podcast includes when to use the sauna hydrated and when to hydrate slowly after and best ways of hydrating with the sauna use. 

FASTEST KNOWN TIME

• John Kelly, of Barkley Marathon fame is on the Appalachian Trail right now attempting to run a Fastest Known Time on the trail. You can track it here. I think that tracking someone for a 40-day record is probably not up everyone's alley, BUT the website for tracking is awesome with links to his fundraising, a video about the attempt and links to socials. The current fastest overall time is 40 days and 18 hours held by Tara Dower. 
• This guy was attempting to run up Everest with no supplemental oxygen in an outfit that looked like he would freeze to death. He made three attempts in a very short period, one just three days after the one before. “I ran out of gas, I was totally fried up there,” he admits. Takes running at altitude to a whole new level. 

THINGS THAT SEEM LIKE A JOKE BUT AREN'T

• FINDING A PACER I thought this was a joke even after I clicked on the link it seems so improbable. Apparently Killian Jornet, one of the fastest mountain runners on the planet, is looking for a pacer for the last 20 miles of Western States. You need to upload your Strava and show results from two races, so hopefully the person selected isn't left in the dust at No Hands Bridge. Could it be you? Apply here. 1,000 people have thrown their hat in the ring so far. If you are wondering how he is training, nerd video here. 

• HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO RIDE YOUR BIKE 358 MILES? On gravel! This weekend was the Unbound, a gravel ride which has the marquee distance of 200 miles and an XL version of 358 miles. This year, triathlete turned trail runner, mega rad Heather Jackson won the XL in 20 hours and 57 minutes.That is 17 miles per hour and not a typo. I truly can't fathom that or her coming back and racing the Western States 100 mile run in just under 4 weeks. 

STRONG
If you are attempting to be Killian's pacer, climb Everest or take your local trails by storm, you should be strength training. Free Wednesday night class live to your screen. Find out more about Strength Training for Runners here.