Happy Memorial Day!

A sincere thank you for the messages about the race last week, and the recovery that followed. It was a disappointing result, no doubt about it. But I am quickly reminded that that is all it was - a singular result.

The training has not been diminished, the discipline is still intact, and my floor and fire for the next training block are only higher.

For this week, I think a simple reminder that growth is not linear will suffice for an overarching point. We often expect to continue to get exponentially better, never taking any steps backward. What often happens is the opposite. We have long periods of slow, slow growth, followed by spikes of improvements, and often quick lapses of setbacks.

The important reminder is to plot out your starting point, desired endpoint, and where you are today. You will find you are much further along than where you started, while also having much room to grow to get to where you want to be. That is encouraging. That is fun. Take the setbacks as they come. Just keep going.

Brain - To Listen To Your Gut, Or The Data?

Last week, Nick Bare had Dan Churchill - an Australian chef intertwined right into the fitness & dieting community - on his podcast to discuss “Eating for Performance.” You can find the link to that episode here: Eating For Performance

They discussed a number of valuable things when it comes to nutrition and mindset around food / training. There was one semi-off-topic discussion on the episode though that I continued to think about, and found valuable enough to share.

The conversation begins with a quick highlight of the last year for Nick Bare, who is the CEO of Bare Performance Nutrition (the supplement company I use for most of my endurance needs). Nick has grown this business since 2012, and at one point last year, had stepped down as CEO, and was in the process of taking on venture capital money to scale the business to the next level.

Long story shortened for this email - Nick ended up retaking over the CEO role this year, and the pursuit of venture capital money fell through as well. He’s been vulnerable to the fact that as he has reflected on the experience, what he came to realize was that he had simply lost faith in his own ability to grow the business to the next level he thought it needed to get to. The same ability and vision that got them to where they are today.

He talks directly about the fact that he had brought many voices into his life to guide him on his entrepreneurial journey and that his biggest mistake was actually listening to some of the advice they gave him that ended up steering him the wrong way.

The business’ vision was lost in the process of trying to scale to new levels without his presence and oversight of the marketing, products, and messaging. His gut told him one thing, and other people / data / past examples were saying another. He listened to the external and has come back to realizing that the business grew to this spot because of what they did to get it there, and with time, will continue to grow because of that.

That’s a long-winded background into the simple premise they bring up in the podcast, more specifically around training and nutrition. The idea is one we can all adapt - There is a ton of data and examples out there for anything you want to find. The challenge becomes when do you listen to the data and the advice, versus when do you listen to your gut, and your experience doing certain things?

• You can find data supporting vegan, supporting low carb, supporting carnivore diet - but how do you feel and look when YOU do those things? Your body will respond to what works for you.

• You can find data supporting running-only plans, training Cross-fit style, training like a bodybuilder, etc - How do YOU feel when you’re lifting heavy? Running a lot? How does your physique react?

• Some people wake up early - some people stay up late. When are YOU the most productive and happy?

The podcast will provide more clarity around the idea, but I think it’s a good reminder that most of the time, we simply need to take action, give things a try for a set period of time, and then reevaluate when things are or aren’t working. Your gut instinct is often right. Leverage data to start, and trust your instincts from there.

Body - Don’t Skip Leg Day

One of the areas I always suffer in during marathon prep is maintaining the proper level of weight training that the legs require. Knock on Wood - One of my biggest strengths in running so far has been injury prevention, and I credit that a lot to continuing a pretty rigorous weight-lifting regimen alongside the training prep.

As I get deeper into the weeks though, I slowly start to scale back on the intensity and focus on legs, so that I can be fresher for my runs. To be honest, I am not sure that helps me much, and it is something I will evaluate for the next race. What I do recognize though at the end of the race blocks is the immediate impact of getting back under some heavy weight and pushing the legs for growth and strength, not endurance.

Legs is an easy day for most to skip. It’s hard, you get sore as hell, and all of your work is often covered under the clothes, unlike your biceps. Here are some reasons to consider not only not skipping legs, but to consider actually doing them more often:

• Fat Burning: Your legs are the strongest muscle in your body, and require the most compound effort to train. Training legs allows you to load the body with more weight than any other muscle, requiring a higher expenditure of calories, which in turn increases your metabolism and burns fat.

• Longevity: What do your grandparents complain about? Knee Pain? Hip Pain? Low Back Pain? Strong legs can alleviate this all. Training legs strengthen all of the small muscles that support our knees and hips, while also providing our core, glutes, and hamstrings with an increased workload to support our lower back

• Hormone Stimulation: Leg workouts can stimulate the release of large amounts of hormones such as cortisol, testosterone, and human growth hormone (HGH). Cortisol helps your body to respond to stress and increase fat metabolism. Testosterone helps your body to repair damaged muscle proteins and build skeletal muscle. HGH promotes muscle growth, boosts immunity, and boosts fat metabolism.

• Build Muscle: Most of the lifts on leg day are compound movements (Back Squat, Leg Press, Hack Squat, Lunges) that utilize multiple muscle groups. As the largest muscle system in the body, focusing on growing your legs can help stimulate overall muscle development across the body

The memes are funny, but there are several reasons to make sure you are training legs at minimum once a week. Mix it in with an arms workout. Split it up into two days. Whatever you need to do to get it done. Your body will thank you.

Book - Courage Is Calling - Ryan Holiday

I revisited another favorite from Ryan Holiday, Courage is Calling, to draw some inspiration for the race last week and some other content ideas I have been thinking about. A re-skim is always a great reminder for why I highlight these books as I go. In a matter of 10-15 minutes, I can pull the most important concepts and quotes and get the inspiration I am looking for.

Here are a couple of favorites from this title, which is on Amazon here.

• “The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life,” Joan Didion observed, “is the source from which self-respect springs.”

• “Man is pushed by drives. But he is pulled by values.”

• “The belief that an individual can make a difference is the first step. The next is understanding that you can be that person.”

• “Don’t worry about whether things will be hard. Because they will be. Instead, focus on the fact that these things will help you. This is why you needn’t fear them.”

• “If it were easy, everyone would do it. If everyone did it, how valuable would it be? The whole point is that it’s hard. The risk is a feature not a bug. It’s good that it’s hard. It deters the cowards and it intrigues the courageous.”

This book is loaded with short one-liners like these above. Simple, yet encouraging and motivating. Pick it up this week. Courage is Calling.