Salomon’s Aero Glide 3 GRVL Could be the Trail Shoe You Actually Need
The do-everything Salomon Aero Glide 3 GRVL is an ideal trail shoe for road runners.
Are you losing sleep worrying about aging? We hate to break it to you, but that’ll only make your longevity (and running performance) worse. Don’t panic, because we’ve got a bunch of tips and data to help fix the problem, starting with this article: “What Does Sleep Have to Do With Aging? Everything.” Loss of sleep efficiency can start surprisingly early, according to Dr. William Lu. Hormonal shifts and lifestyle often drive this decline, creating a two-way street where aging affects sleep and poor sleep can worsen age-related health issues. The good news? Experts suspect quality sleep could potentially delay aging’s effects, much like exercise. Prioritizing healthy habits like consistent bedtimes, exercise, and avoiding pre-sleep alcohol is key. For athletes, this focus on sleep isn’t just about long-term health; it’s critical for performance, especially around big events, according to: “Sleep Better, Run Faster: Marathon Race Week Sleep Strategy” from our Official Sleep Partner, Lagoon. They recommend a technique called “sleep banking,” where you make an effort to add about 30 minutes of sleep per night in the week leading up to your event. While specific race-week tactics are vital, Lagoon’s founder says you won’t get far without the right tools. In fact, he recently wrote another piece that performs a sort of cost-benefit analysis on various sleep products you may use. Check out: “The Most Underrated Sleep Investment You Can Make.” Simply put, he found that quality mattresses, pillows, and blackout curtains were some of the easiest ways to catch more Z’s without breaking the bank.
#PillowTalk
Recently, we discussed how some experts consider VO2 max a robust indicator of cardiovascular health: “VO2 Max Unveiled – What This Key Metric Says About Your Fitness and Longevity.” But given the name of this newsletter, it should come as no surprise that we’re fans of an even simpler approach to measuring your fitness: “You Should Know Your Mile Time, Even If You’re Not a Runner.” The author suggests that “For once, forget the subscription wearables and AI-powered insights and lab tests some influencer told you to take. Four laps around the track might be the simplest, clearest mirror you’ll ever hold up to your health.” We think he’s got a point – just like a high VO2 max, running a fast mile demonstrates a broad set of positive health factors. You’ll need a strong heart, efficient muscles, and healthy body composition to make it happen. Wondering how your own potential mile compares? If you filter finishers by age and gender in this iconic event, you’ll have a good idea of where you stand: “Individual Results – 2024 New Balance 5th Avenue Mile.” If seeing those times sparks a competitive fire, or even just a desire to establish your own baseline, we are big fans of doing a race that is only 5,280 feet long. For events near you, check out: “Calendar : Bring Back the Mile.” Considering your mile time might just be a refreshingly simple yet potent way to track your health and fitness progress.
#MileHealthMarker
The tortoise taught us in elementary school that slow and steady often wins the race. Because every simple concept seems to generate a complicated way to describe it, we share with you the term “ergodicity.” A good explanation of this concept and a real-life example is in this new piece: “The Key To Success In Running Is Ergodicity (Or, Why The Fastest Usually Doesn’t Win).” The core idea, as author Luca Dellanna puts it, is that “Catastrophic losses absorb all future gains,” meaning avoiding game-ending disasters like injury or burnout might be more crucial than constantly chasing peak performance. Running in a way that delivers consistent, predictable results year after year just might be your best bet for long term success. We see this endurance-first philosophy in action with elite athletes like ultrarunning phenom Courtney Dauwalter. As noted in this Run247 article, “Courtney Dauwalter ‘hoping to show up with all my marbles in the right places’ for Cocodona 250,” a huge part of her success in grueling events involves mastering the long game and surviving the deep mental challenges, or the “pain cave” as she calls it. Ensuring she’s one of the last ones standing is key. Many observers believe that Courtney has the potential to beat all other runners in that upcoming race – male and female – thanks to her incredible motor and endurance strategy. If you want a deeper dive into ergodic running and how consistency trumps speed, check out the full post on our website.
#HareBrainedStrategies
Sometimes when we watch race recaps and highlights it makes us wonder if they’re being played back on fast-forward. Even trail and ultrarunners are absolutely flying, but is it just our imagination, or are finish times actually dropping? We looked into the data presented in: “Are Trail Runners Getting Faster?” from iRunFar, which confirms that, yes, across various distances and event types, runners are indeed getting speedier. The analysis offers several potential factors, like advancements in fueling strategies, technology, training theory, and overall competition levels. Even if you’re not planning to enter an ultra any time soon, you may want to consider one factor pointed out by the author: “…it’s possible that the recently popularized high-carbohydrate fueling technique is allowing some athletes to maintain blood glucose levels for longer durations, leading to better recovery during training and sustained efforts over longer-distance races.” While super shoes and nifty gels play their part, we’re focusing on improved training theory for now. For instance, you can check out these helpful new strategies from Canadian Running: “3 workouts for unshakeable marathon endurance.” We really liked the “surge and settle” workout, which could be a great tool for building race-day resilience. It involves alternating between periods of running at your half-marathon goal pace (the surge) and then returning to your long run pace (the settle), helping your body adapt to pace changes and develop both speed and endurance – just the thing to get you ready for a race like the Boston Marathon.
#UrgeToSurge
We owe you all an apology. In a recent newsletter, we described a particularly intense water aerobics class as “not your grandma’s,” implying that grandmothers aren’t fierce athletes in their own right. A reader rightly called us out, sharing that as a marathon-running grandmother, she and her running friends are living proof that high performance doesn’t have an age limit. Her email was a reminder that older athletes are doing better than ever, and this new story provides evidence: “Is it a myth that seniors need to slow down their fitness routines?” It’s not just outliers redefining athletic possibility – the average age of a person finishing a World Marathon Major is now 50. Take Jeannie Rice, who at 76 was found to have the max heart rate of an average 35-year-old, or Canada’s Ed Whitlock, who ran a marathon in under four hours at 85. As Scott Trappe from Ball State University puts it: “there is no core reason to tell someone that they can’t keep training like an athlete,” noting the body continues responding positively to exercise deep into life. Rice exemplifies this, with this story detailing her accomplishments: “She’s the world’s fastest 77-year-old.” Rice has set the 75-79 age group world record at the London Marathon last year (3:33:27) and possesses the highest VO2 max ever recorded for a woman over 75, comparable to the top 10% of women in their twenties. Her advice is simple: “Keep moving and set your goal.” So, can older adults embrace intensity as well as distance? “HIIT workouts for older adults: A guide to safe and effective high-intensity interval training” from Harvard Health suggests yes, with the right approach. HIIT involves alternating intense bursts of effort with recovery, efficiently improving aerobic fitness, heart health, and even building muscle. The key is adapting to it: don’t expect to handle HIIT without a solid athletic foundation, and consulting a doctor first is vital, especially with existing health conditions. Done safely just two or three times a week, you might adapt your everyday activities like walking or swimming by adding short, challenging intervals followed by recovery, always listening to your body.
#HIITernity
As you might expect, much of our focus over here at SMM headquarters is on the Boston Marathon, which is only two weeks away and finishes one block from our global HQ. Of course, we can’t forget an equally important event that follows right after: the London Marathon. Our excitement for the event really skyrocketed after watching a throwback clip from @londonmarathon that showed just how strong the spirit of competition is in this event. (Thanks, Instagram algorithm!) Way back in 1981, American Dick Beardsley and Norwegian Inge Simonsen crossed the rain-covered finish line of the very first London Marathon hand-in-hand. They were declared joint-winners, and their legacy of cooperation and sportsmanship lives on to this day. Check out the video if you need a little extra motivation for your own training this week.
