Minute 1: A Pivot for Patagonia
Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia’s founder, has launched a new endeavor under the umbrella of his gear behemoth: Patagonia Provisions. Chouinard turns his environmentally-minded eye to the world of food, amidst a wave of climate protests that swept the globe last week. Patagonia Provisions’ goal is to “repair the food chain,” which Chouinard argues is broken in a short essay called “Why Food?” he published on the project’s site. He writes: “we aim to make the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and perhaps most important, inspire solutions to the environmental crisis. And nowhere is the crisis more pressing than in the food industry.”
Patagonia Provisions’ products include both food goods and recipes, all sourced ethically and sustainably. And their vision goes beyond your kitchen: Privisons’ products are designed for both home cooking and camping eats. Hey-- if they’re half as good with food as they are with gear, we’re in. Here's a trailer to the documentary of their project:
Minute 2: More Environmental Awareness
If you want to promote climate change, one approach is dedicating the unmatched resources of your world-renowned brand and multinational corporation to overhauling the way human beings grow, distribute, and consume food. If, however, you do not own Patagonia, you may need to employ a different strategy. For those that fall in the non-Chouinard camp, Madeleine Kelly has put together a list of 5 easy ways for runners to reduce their footprint. From donating your used shoes to avoiding those disposable paper cups on race day, these are achievable, hassle-free ways to contribute to our planet’s health.
Minute 3: Still Sore? An Ironman Champ Details Her Recovery Methods
If you make endurance sports a part of your life, then you should also be making recovery methods a part of your life. And if you don’t know enough about how to treat your body after pushing it to the limit, who better to ask than an Ironman champion? In this piece for Polar, Lucy Charles-Barclay details her recovery methods for after she runs, swims, and bikes. This isn’t your old-fashioned RICE routine; Lucy gets into the nitty-gritty of what allows her to perform at a championship level.
Minute 4: Gear Roundup
There was a blizzard in Montana this weekend, so if you’re a Montanian and you’re reading this, it may be too late to consult our guide for the best running jackets. For those hailing from the other 49 states, read up and make sure you’re prepped for the onset of cold weather. While you’re at it, give our guide to the best trail running shoes a look. The only thing we love more than hitting the trails and hikes as the leaves turn is having happy feet at the end of our runs.
Minute 5: Quick Intervals
Leaning into this week’s budding recovery theme, here are 9 essential post-run stretches, complete with walk-throughs and diagrams. These stretches aren’t just for making those first few steps out of bed the next morning more comfortable; they’re also for keeping you injury-free and out of the doctor’s office.
Okay, we know this doesn’t technically have anything to do with marathons, or running, or anything this newsletter is nominally dedicated to. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, Snickers is temporarily changing its name back to Marathon for three months in the UK. Never say we don’t scour the internet for all things even tangentially marathon related, because we do.
Training based off of heart rates rather than distance is in vogue, and there’s a good amount of research to back it up. But, like how different types of exercise benefit people of different personalities (a story we covered a few weeks back), the heart rate you should be aiming for differs from person to person. Check out this piece from Medical News Today to pinpoint your target heart rate while exercising.
And finally, some thoughts on weight training for endurance runners. It’s shocking, we know, but apparently some runners are super jacked and into lifting weights. We wouldn’t know anything about it, but that’s why we didn’t write this article.
Minute 6: Daily Inspiration
Looking for a weekend mood boost? Look no further than this moving story from Amby Burfoot, a dedicated marathoner who has taken to swimming. Why? His sister, Natalie, was born with a condition that required a below-the-knee amputation at age 9, rendering her unable to join her family in the activity that brought them all together: running. So she became a swimmer. And after a lifetime of pounding trails and pavement, and winning the Boston Marathon, Amby has joined her. Read Amby’s testimonial for a reminder of the uniting power of the endurance pursuits we all live for.