Marathon week! LFG. I recognized early on when I started to run these endurance races that part of the intrigue to me was simply filling a void where competitive sports used to be.

It’s hard to describe the feelings (the ones I currently have) once race week comes around. You’ve spent weeks and weeks preparing for this day. You know you are getting ready to do something that is going to ask for every ounce of effort you’ve got. You’re proud of the training but also have to battle human nature of wondering if it was enough. You’ve never run a marathon as fast as you are trying to, so you feel the doubt. You also feel the emotions of envisioning crossing the line and accomplishing your goal.

The nerves, the excitement, the energy. It’s all part of it. It’s what I used to feel in golf come tournament week. You train and train and train, and often only get to perform for one or two days to showcase that work. You want to prove it was worth it.

Sign up for something this week. 5K, 10K, Half, Triathlon, Hike, whatever. Give your body and mind the gift of these post-training block, pre-race day feelings. Let’s have a week!

Brain - Is Perseverance a Skill?

Have you ever wondered how some people can handle difficult situations, continue to show up in turbulent times, and voluntarily keep pushing themselves into new challenges?

Before I began my endurance pursuits, I often wondered about this exact thing. It seemed to me that some people were potentially born with a certain level of willpower that sets them up with an advantage to take on difficult tasks.

As I started to challenge myself - first with weight loss, then with increasing levels of endurance sports efforts - I started to notice something. Every goal I was setting for myself was something that felt out of reach at the beginning but soon came to be a comfortable reality.

When I signed up for marathon #1, I had never run more than 6 miles. Just finishing a marathon seemed insane. Then 3 months later I finished, albeit “slow” in 4 hours. That sparked a curiosity that led to wondering if and how I could go faster. 3 months later I ran a half marathon in Memphis at a 1:40 pace. I would have never thought I could get to that speed. I didn’t train for a couple of months towards anything specific and could feel the itch coming on again. If I can do a marathon, if I can do a “fast” half, I wonder if I could complete an Iron Man?

Again, at the beginning, it felt insane. On my first day in the pool I couldn’t swim a down-and-back without being winded. I had never biked outside on a road bike. I had never swam in open water. And I certainly had never done all 3 efforts in a row before. But something told me that those similar feelings of doubt from the beginning of that first marathon, the bodybuilding show, and the half would ultimately subside if I just focused on training, and training hard.

A few months later we were crossing the finish line in North Carolina for the IM 70.3. You’re telling me there’s something harder than an Iron Man? That’s right - enter the ultra marathon world. I quickly signed up to start training to run 50 miles. In 3 years, I had gone from laughing at the idea of being able to run double-digit miles, to seriously believing I could finish a 50 with enough training.

Something in my brain chemistry was changing. In layman’s terms, it felt like my brain was working through a chain like this:

1. Pick a goal that feels just out of reach for my current abilities

2. Find a training plan to follow that I believe will get me ready for the goal

3. Complete the goal, choose something that mentally feels like #1 again, just outside of my current ability

4. Repeat

Huberman was on a podcast with Jocko this last week (snippet above, link here), where he discussed the scientific reasoning behind this ability to persevere through difficult challenges.

Through some promising neuro research, a few renowned scientists have honed in on a portion of the brain called the anterior mid-cingulate cortex. What they have found is that this part of the brain can both expand and to shrink, in relation to the presence (or lack there of) of effort considered “growth” or “adaptive”.

Huberman elaborates that by choosing to voluntarily do things we know will be uncomfortable, we activate this portion of the brain, and as it grows, our ability to handle even more difficult things grows with it. In sync with this note is that if we go through periods where we are NOT doing voluntarily challenging efforts, this portion of the brain can shrink, likewise shrinking our perceived ability to endure.

If you don’t feel like you have anything in your life that is particularly challenging that you have to willingly pursue, I challenge you to find something small to do. Take the cold shower Huberman mentions. Get up earlier. Sign up for a 5K. Whatever you know will challenge you. Do it, prove you can complete it, then set another slightly bigger goal. Then never stop raising the bar.

Body - A Template to Lifting in the Gym

Lifting weights and bodybuilding was my first fitness love. I have always been infatuated with the sport of bodybuilding, and the human body’s ability to shape itself. I remember early on admiring Arnold Schwarzenegger, his come-up story in fitness, and his reign as Mr. Olympia champion.

Something about the gym has always brought peace. It’s a place I could go to put my headphones on, lift some heavy ass weight, clear my mind, and walk away from with a renewed energy. I have always loved studying the different ways to train the muscles and new philosophies to help promote a better physique.

It has taken years and years of trial and error to find the style of lifting I feel works best for me. There is so much information out there, and the big point of resistance for most is the potential of embarrassing themselves in the gym by not knowing what to do, lifting lighter than everyone, etc.

One of the foundational passion projects of this newsletter will always be to promote accessibility and motivation for everyone to schedule in weightlifting into their routines. There is no person on the planet who wouldn’t benefit from it.

Below I have provided an example workout for a Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps day. I have linked each exercise to a Youtube video showing the movement, have included the amount of sets and reps, and some small notes to consider.

I share this as an excerpt for part of Phase 2 for The Superset, which is going to be a further push into documenting and sharing training, for educational and motivational purposes alike. I hope to take common questions and provide answers, while also providing templates for you to follow.

The below lift would be a great one for someone looking to lift 3 days a week (or someone who works in a second chest / upper body day on a 5-day plan). With this structure, we can focus our days on:

1. Chest, Shoulders, Triceps

2. Back, Rear Delts, Biceps

3. Legs

A common theme for each of these days is going to be starting the lift with a heavy compound movement. We want to focus on maximizing the fresh energy we have on that first lift, and shock the system with some max effort. From there, we will focus on pumping blood into the muscles with some higher repetition efforts, with supersets mixed in. This should help us promote muscle growth as well as condition.

I will take to Instagram or a follow-up newsletter to share the workouts for the back and leg days, as well as expand into a 5 and 6-day lifting routine. For most people, hitting the gym like this 3 - 5 days a week, with either 20+ minutes of cardio pre / post workout, or simply getting 10K steps in a day, will be enough to achieve 90% of your fitness goals. With a good diet of course!

Book - A Reading Challenge This Week

One of the most common mental misconceptions about being able to read more is simply being able to carve out the time to do so. Reading, especially at first, has plenty of friction that requires most to get into a certain mode to sit down and focus on some pages.

Through some honest reflection, most of us can recognize that the real reason we don’t want to read in the dozens of windows where we most definitely have the time is that we simply don’t want to, or are prioritizing other things.

You’ve got the time in the morning, you’d just rather sleep or wake up to TV. You’ve got the hour at lunch during the work week, you just probably choose to scroll the phone. You’ve got a few hours before you go to sleep, you just choose to watch Netflix.

The truth is, there’s time for it all, and as much as I try to read, I watch just as much sports, Netflix, and social apps as anyone. That’s why this week’s reading challenge is a simple one, aimed at just helping you get in at least a few pages every day.

Challenge: Pick a book to read, and simply bring it with you everywhere possible.

• When you wake up in the morning, make sure the book is either by the bed or where you sit

• When you sit down at your office (or home office), make sure the book is sitting there right by your computer.

• When you are driving, make sure the book is in the car with you.

• When you sit down during the evening, set the book on the coffee table.

• When you go to bed, make sure the book is on your nightstand.

Front of mind is a real thing. The more exposure you have to your book throughout the day, the higher the chances you pick it up once or twice. Next thing you know you have read in small windows for a total of 30 - 45 minutes through the day - time you would have spent probably wasting it.

30 minutes a day is 3.5 hours a week. 3.5 hours as week is 14 hours a month. And at the end of the year, 168 hours. All from finding 10 - 15 minutes through your day. But the key is - the friction to go get the book has to be extremely low. Give it a go!