Ask me anything, mitten icicles and times to rest

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Tomorrow is 2025 and I hope that you are ready for a good year! My plan for next week, the first email of the new year, is that it will be driven by YOU. Take just one minute and respond to one or both of the questions below and I will share it in the next edition and first email of 2025.

ASK ME ANYTHING
Anything! You can ask about training, strength, fueling, race ideas, existential questions or life advice and I will try my best to get you answers or find someone who can. I won't publish your name, so let me have it. 

REPORT IN!
I try to find interesting stories to share, give insights when I have them and share some science. Like it? Remember a particular article that changed your mind? Have a comment about anything I sent? This is the time to hit reply and let me know. I won't publish your name, so bring it on! This is also time to clear you inbox of junk, so if this email is no longer making you happy, reply and write UNSUBSCRIBE. 

NORWAY PREP SKI
As I mentioned in my last email, I am prepping for a trip to Norway the first week of January to learn artic expedition skills. In an attempt to have a big day out on skis, my better half Brian and I took on a big ski day knowing it was potentially going to get windy and really snowy as a test of gear. We made it seven out of the seven and a half hours of skiing with gentle snow, then dumping snow but stayed warm and cozy until the last 30 minutes which woke me up to just how fast things can change. We thought we were 5 minutes from the car so didn't change out of our completely soaked mittens and after 20 minutes of sloooowww skiing in a full white out, and snow that felt like concrete, by the time we got to the car I couldn't unhook my own pack and my fingers were so cold that even in the car, I couldn't get new gloves on my hands were so frozen. We blasted the heat in the car and warmed up BUT I now have a new nightmare of setting up a tent in a blizzard with cold hands and having to warm myself up from wet and frozen. I may not sleep again until after this trip. Oh, did I mention I slashed a fun little cut on my nose trying to wipe my snot with mittens that had razor sharp icicles. I really do love this stuff, what is my problem?

DON'T RUN AFTER...
I am generally a pro run kind of coach. I believe in rest days but well-structured training doesn't mean they have to be weekly if you are the kind of athlete who does better with daily workouts. HOWEVER, I do not advocate running after a flu or COVID shot. Your body is working on something for 24 hours, take that time and chill, even if you aren't having a bad reaction. Run later. After giving blood, it takes about 48 hours to replenish what is lost so I recommend one day off after donation and then coming back with an easier run before starting back to tougher workouts. If you wake up and have a swollen lymph node, once again, your body is fighting something, this could be the sign to check in with a doc or take a day to wait and see what happens. And finally, even if coach has a run on the plan and you wake up hating running, hating runners, hating people or hating life, this is likely a sign that a rest day is in order and you need a little rest. Come back to run healthy another day. 

STAYING STRONG
Strength Training for Runners video from the archives. Don't skip strength training. OR better yet, go to the gym! Here is a favorite spot in North Portland, Prism Moves. No live class this week. 

SHORT STUFF

• Exposure is a video featuring women from Europe and the Middle East taking on an expedition to the North Pole coming into the project with little to no experience. Pulling sleds, moving sea ice and group dynamics, this is a good one! 
• The High Route by the Ginger Runner is worth a watch. Kaytlyn Gerbin and Jenny Abegg run the North Cascades High Route in an astounding time. I have linked to this before but this is a new release with new material. 
• Female competitors on the Pro Pickleball Tour earned $269,000 on average. For comparison, the average salary for a player in the National Women’s Soccer League in 2023 was around $60,000 per year, and almost $120,000 in the WNBA. Mind blown.