I didn’t really get to run at all last week, but on Sunday I finally went for a nice run and had the wonderful choice between slippery ice or muddy puddles. It was just the right thing after a week where I had too much work, not enough sleep and not enough time for myself. I was so happy after the run in the sun and now I just need to push myself to go running again during the week. Consistency matters, as you will read in my selection of Five Things Running.
Enjoy these five articles and then go running! 🏃🏻♂️
Today, my system is simpler. Easy runs are easy. I don’t check my watch. Hard sessions go by feel: “This should be an 8 out of 10 for these minutes.” Long runs have purpose, but not rigid structure. I know my body well enough now to trust the signals.
That’s it. That’s what years of complexity boiled down to.
But here’s what’s important: this isn’t beginner simple. I couldn’t have started here. My “simple” now contains everything I learned from the complicated phase. The fundamentals are the same, but I understand why they’re the fundamentals. I earned that understanding by wandering through the noise.
A few years ago I wasn’t even able to listen properly to my body and could not have even grasped how a certain intensity should feel. My HR obsession taught me that.
This is what I mean by raising the bar. Your simplicity evolves. It’s not static. You go through complexity, extract what matters, and arrive at a new baseline — something sustainable, something personal.
That’s how we evolve and listening to our body plays a big role in it.
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Sometimes I lack the time or energy to do what I have ridiculously termed “a real run.” That means thirty minutes or more. That’s silly. If I run for ten minutes, that’s ten minutes of running! It’s easy to default to thinking that if I can’t do something at 110%, it’s not worth it. An all-or-nothing attitude prevents us from creating sustainable habits and reaching our goals.
I run when I’m tired, when I am sad, when I think that the director was right, and I look ridiculous when I run. The best thing about consistency is that it consistently makes me better. But sometimes that means I need to do just a little bit of it, because as you might have noticed, looking around at * waving arms * all this — life is complicated.
And the really awesome thing about consistency is that running just gets better and better with every run, even if some runs suck.
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One person who didn’t sugarcoat his disappointment was Jamil Coury, owner of Aravaipa Running and winner of last year’s challenge. In response to what can only be described as a strategic oversight by Chipotle and Strava, Jamil took it upon himself to keep the spirit of the challenge alive. The result is Burrito League, a grassroots challenge that started in Tempe, Arizona and has since spread to cities around the world.
While Burrito League perfectly captures the ethos of endurance and trail running, it also surfaces several business lessons worth paying attention to, especially for brands trying to engage niche sports communities in authentic, effective ways.
I loved watching the Chipotle x Strava Challenge last year and I can’t understand why they didn’t do it again. Well, I do understand why: typical nonsensical corporate behavior.
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Through good and bad, high and low, running has always been there for me. Even when injured, it’s a north star that keeps me looking ahead and moving forward. Running is a journey that goes for as long as our minds and bodies will allow. It’s full of life lessons and ripe with perspective. It’s taught me how to stay calm under pressure and to see the value in efforts with no immediate finish line.
I am not really a professional runner, but I can totally relate to this.
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Coffee first. Running second. Two parts of the same ritual.
That’s where it starts to make sense why these two things fit so well together.
Running doesn’t become meaningful because of a single race, a season or a personal best. It becomes meaningful when it stays. When it survives busy years, injuries, changing priorities and the simple fact that life doesn’t care about your training plan.
Your running long game is built on what looks boring from the outside: easy runs, cut-back weeks, phases with no clear goal, days where you go out for twenty minutes even though it doesn’t change anything on paper.
I tried quitting coffee once, It didn’t work. And every single morning, when I take that first sip of coffee, I am glad that I drink coffee. Coffee is amazing. So is running, but different.
(…continue reading.)
If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:
Now, go running!
— Nico
🏃🏻♂️
