Backyarding, a VK record and mini bands

Two more weeks with no live class on Wednesday night. I am headed to Oaxaca Mexico for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).  A little bit of a travel 180 there, but when you get invited, you say yes! 

STRENGTH TRAINING
Here is a video of Strength Training for Runners from the archives. Grab a mini-band and get in some strength work this week. 

PUBLIC HEALTH
Last week I sent a link to the Consumer Reports article about lead in protein powders. You have probably seen 100 others weigh in on the subject ranging anywhere from, this is the worst, only eat chicken breasts to chill y'all. One of you dear readers tipped me off to a great Substack, Your Local Epidemiologist who weighs in on lead, (her take, "don’t worry too much") but also has a weekly post on public health that seems like a worthwhile read. 

NOPE
Watch this ride along with the POV camera of second place woman, Hannah Bergemann, at the Red Bull Rampage. When she finished, she was hooting and hollering and I said out loud, "Well, I never want to do that again." 

VERTICAL KILOMETER
Five years ago, Remi Bonnet was going for a sub-30-hour vertical kilometer (aka VK- a race that involves a 1,000-meter (3,280 ft) vertical ascent over a maximum horizontal distance of 5 kilometers). Now it looks like he went 27 minutes and change. Red Bull needs to send up some regular athletes after him to put that accomplishment in context. For you Portlanders, Dog Mountain is almost 5k up and is a little under 3,000 feet of gain. 

BACKYARDING
If you weren't watching, last week was the Bigg's Backyard Ultra, the last person standing format where runners go 4.12something miles every hour on the hour. The winner, Phil Gore from Austria went an astonishing 114 hours and 750km (466 miles). His record is 119 hours, so this is just him doing his thing, I guess! The women had a rad day out with Sarah Perry completing 95 hours and Meg Eckert finishing 92 hours. The previous record for women at a backyard ultra was 87 hours.