Minute 1: Fall marathon updates
When your favorite uncle is 92 years old and in hospice, you aren’t surprised when you get the call that he passed away last night. But it still hurts. That’s a bit how we felt when we learned that the TCS New York City Marathon was cancelled for 2020. Given how hard the pandemic has hit that region, the news shocked no one, but stung many. This would have been the 50th anniversary of what has become the world’s highest profile running race. (Cue hate mail from the 617.) Because of its leadership role, this cancellation may be a bellwether for other fall races, unfortunately. For some perspective, we appreciated this piece: “Why Can’t the NYC Marathon Happen? I Thought We Were Safe Outside.” According to the Chicago Sun Times, the Chicago Marathon is still scheduled for October, but a race organizer shared this ominous statement: “At this time, we are unable to say definitively whether or not the Bank of America Chicago Marathon will proceed.” Ironman just cancelled its 70.3 race in Texas this weekend due to the escalation of COVID in that state. Meanwhile, in Quantico, Virginia, the Marine Corps Marathon announced that their October race will march forward. “Many other large events have canceled but our Marine instinct is to lean in and fight for the possibility of hosting a live marathon,” said long-time race director Rick Nealis. The MMM will limit the race to runners who can finish in a 12-minute pace or better because of new COVID safety precautions. Nealis described his rationale in a thoughtful Facebook post that is generating lots of comments, mostly positive. #SemperFidelis
Minute 2: Retrieving Alaska’s most infamous bus
A strange relic of Alaskan history was choppered out of the wilderness last week. Fairbanks City Bus 142 was home to Christopher McCandless for almost 4 months in 1992. Jon Krakauer’s best-selling book, Into the Wild, told the remarkable story of McCandless, who took the road less traveled after graduating from Emory University, moving into the Alaskan wilderness and renaming himself “Alexander Supertramp.” The bus took the short way home thanks to an Alaska Army National Guard helicopter, recorded in this video. The bus had become a fatal attraction for adventurers trekking 25 dangerous miles into the woods to experience the place where McCandless spent his final days. Into the Wild was a better written book than Krakauer’s more famous follow-on work, Into Thin Air, which chronicled a disastrous Everest expedition. #OutOfTheWild
Minute 3: Training table news
U.S. News weighed in this week with it sannual ranking of 35 diets for those seeking to drop a few quarantine-related pounds or improve their overall health. The Mediterranean Diet received the #1 ranking from the panel of health experts surveyed. Atkins (#32) and Keto (#34) were panned by the group. Healthline’s extensive review of the Mediterranean Diet is here. Looking for a safe way to shed 5 pounds before our next virtual race, we also found value in “Dieticians Share the 12 Biggest Mistakes that Prevent Weight Loss.” Tip #7 warns against compensating for a bad diet with more exercise. The math usually doesn’t work well for indulgences, as downing two IPAs requires about 3 miles of running at an 8 minute pace to burn them off. Check out this handy calculator to learn how much fuel you burn based on your running pace and weight. Also out this week was this helpful list of 5 “Healthy” snacks that actually promote weight gain. Dried fruit and protein bars are on the naughty list. The final item on our training table menu is a new study just released that shows a simple 5-minute urine test can reveal the optimal diet for your personal body chemistry.
Minute 4: Workout ideas
If you ask an athlete to describe their routines, you may want to block out 20 minutes or so. After all, one of the ways we get good at our training is to make our training routine rather than optional. Often that leads to repetitive sweat sessions, but is that hurting us? Just as we were pondering this deep thought, LIVESTRONG published: “How Bad Is It Really to Do the Same Workout Every Single Day?” Short answer: not ideal. In a related vein, you may want to check outthese 10 exercisescomprising The Ultimate Cross-Training Workout for Runners. Or this piece: “How To Combine Lifting and Running."
Minute 5: Quick Intervals
Adidas will expand its carbon footprint next week when it releases the adizero adios Pro at a $200 price point. The German sneaker behemoth finally added some carbon plates to its shoes to avoid getting lapped by arch rival Nike. Famously, the Nike Vaporfly was used by Eliud Kipchoge when he broke the 2:00 marathon mark as part of Nike’s Breaking2 project. Reception for the new Adidas shoe has generally been positive as in this review.
CrossFit founder Greg Glassman’s fall from power became complete this week when he could no longer sustain the criticism of his controversial remarks following the death of George Floyd. Glassman had stepped down as CEO earlier this month, but was fiercely criticized for continuing to enjoy ownership control over the company. This week he sold all of his stock and stepped away for good. His exit was hastened by further reports this week that he had allowed a culture of sexism to fester at the company. Anecdotes described in that story link would make a high school locker room blush.
We have a favor to ask. No, we don’t want to pitch our cousin’s real estate deal or borrow your pick-up truck to move some stuff. Thanks to the secret and magical Gmail algorithms, we have heard from a few folks that Six Minute Mile has been landing in the Promotions tab rather than in the Primary inbox. If that happened to you, please just drag and drop this email into your Primary tab. Once you do this, Gmail may ask you whether you’d like to filter future messages into the inbox. If so, please click yes. That’s it. Improved deliverability and eternal bliss guaranteed. If that weren’t enough incentive, anyone who sends us a screen shot of SMM looking lonely in their Promotions tab will be eligible for a sweet Six Minute Mile t-shirt give-away. Just email us the screenshot and your preferred size. Winners announced next week.
Minute 6: Daily Inspiration
Golden Hour at the Western States 100 is one of the most compelling concepts in all of endurance sports. You are only allocated 30 hours in which to finish the race, so if you finish in 29:59:59 you get the prestigious belt buckle and an official finish time. If you finish in 30:00:01, you receive only a tale of woe to share with future barstool companions. Sunday at 1:00 pm EDT, filmmaker Austin Meyer will release his documentary on the 2019 Golden Hour finishers on his YouTube channel. As a preview of the emotion you will see in his film, consider the amateur video below that captures Gunhild Swenson becoming the first woman over the age of 70 to officially finish the race. Watch her come down the home stretch with only 6 seconds to spare. If you don’t get tingles in your spine, may we suggest the homepage of Quilts.com instead.
