Hey 🙏
In a complete 180 from last week, I won’t bore you with a needlessly long introduction this week. Instead, let’s just get straight to the good stuff for once.
💓 What Really Determines Your VO2 Max?
“Your VO2 max, a measure of aerobic fitness that refers to the maximum rate at which you can deliver oxygen for use by your exercising muscles, is an important number—if not for racing, then for health. It’s an excellent predictor of longevity: better, in some respects, than how much exercise you get. “
What is VO2 Max, anyways? Well, for one, it is much more than just a number that says something (but not very much) about how fast you can run. In this old gem, Alex Hutchinson looks at the makeup of your VO2 Max, and how it is impacted as we age. And, spoiler alert, it’s not that your lungs just grow soft on you.
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😔 Not Made for This
“As a runner it is easy to feel inadequate, to think you lack the talent to succeed. But guess what. There is hardly anyone, maybe no one, who has all of the talent. Sure, there are more and less talented people in this world, but at the end of the day, if you want to be good at something, you have to put in the work. “
It’s easy to get caught up in the comparison trap. To think that, because someone else does it better, there’s no point in you doing it at all. Ultrarunner Zach Miller reflects on this, and draws inspiration from nature in trying to overcome his doubts.
› Read about overcoming your doubts
️🔎 Feeling Stressed? Zoom Out
“Stress tends to narrow us. Our attention, thoughts, and actions all center on the perceived threat. We get locked in on the proverbial python in our path, or we can’t stop thinking about how bad our quads hurt right now.”
Sometimes it’s all just a bit too much. The workout you didn’t nail, or then run you couldn’t even get to. It weighs you down, disproportionately compared to the impact these things truly have on your fitness, and your life. When that happens, you’re stressed. And in this column, Steve Magness shares his best tip for dealing with it.
› Learn how to be less stressed
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😂 Just for Laughs
That’s a wrap on this week’s edition of the newsletter. Hopefully, you found something to your liking. If enjoy the newsletter, please help me spread the word by forwarding this email, or sharing a link to https://run161.com/weekly-newsletter-about-running/
Until next week,
Lars-Christian
Did you enjoy this edition of the newsletter?
Let me know by sending me an email at lc@run161.com.