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Good morning! Life came at me fast the first half of 2024 and I’m going to spend the rest of July trying to slow it down a bit. While I’m busy doing that, here’s a roundup of things that I’ve read, listened to, or watched recently that you might find interesting, entertaining, and/or insightful. Enjoy!

Quick Splits

— This is a great interview with Mike Smith, coach of Northern Arizona University and several top pros, five of whom will compete in the upcoming Olympic Games. Smith recently spoke with Flagstaff Running News about prepping his athletes for Paris, juggling his collegiate and professional coaching responsibilities (and the differences between working with collegians versus pros), the influence of Dan Pfaff on how he coaches, his approach to preparing different athletes for different events, the importance of maintaining a good team culture at NAU, and a lot more. It’s full of little nuggets like this one that will benefit coaches at all levels of the sport: “When an athlete’s instincts are good, some of it is getting out of the way and not overcoaching,” Smith explains. “The tactical side is everything in championship racing. Before the 1,500 Olympic Trials finals we (he and Nikki Hiltz) talked about different scenarios and things to pay attention to, a little reinforcement on the race plan, and then I get out of the way. There’s a lot of over-inserting yourself that coaches do.”

— Ed Eyestone has been around the block a few times, first as an athlete who competed in two Olympic Games, and, for the past two-plus decades, as a top coach of both collegiates and professionals. Eyestone will have four athletes competing in Paris—Conner Mantz and Clayton Young in the marathon, Kenneth Rooks and James Corrigan in the steeplechase—and he’s as good as anyone at having his charges ready to compete when it counts the most. In this recent episode of the Running: State of the Sport podcast with Amby Burfoot and George Hirsch, Eyestone talks about his career as an athlete and a coach, how he’s preparing Mantz and Young in particular for Paris, his approach to training for the marathon, and a lot more. My favorite part of the conversation was when Eyestone explained his c2 = e2 philosophy of training, i.e., Consistent Competence equals Eventual Excellence, a formula that has proven itself valid time and time again whether you’re a newbie, medal threat, or anyone along that incredibly broad spectrum.

— Eyestone doesn’t coach Canadian Olympic marathoner Rory Linkletter anymore, but Linkletter spent some time back in Utah a month or so ago training with Mantz and Young, his former BYU teammates, and he documented it for his YouTube channel. Linkletter, who’s no slouch with a 2:08:01 marathon personal best, gets dropped during a set of 1K repeats on grass and remarks how Mantz and Young “do threshold on another level compared to everyone else.” He goes on to explain how he’s riding a fine line of staying within himself while also pushing himself, which is the paradox we all wrestle with as athletes. (n.b. I love that they’re working out on the grass in the middle of a marathon build, by the way. It’s not specific at all when it comes to hitting paces, but it does force you to lock into the proper effort, while also building additional strength by stressing the body in a different way.)

— This profile of sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, written by Maya Singer for Vogue, was solid and surprised me in the best way, i.e., I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would because it revealed a side of Richardson, who hasn’t always had the warmest relationship with the media, that few outside her innermost circle get to see. (n.b. I haven’t watched the Sprint docuseries on Netflix yet.) Singer likens Richardson’s presence at practice to that of a movie star on set, “not diva-like in any way, just there to do the work.” Singer is describing a consummate professional, someone, who, for all her flash and swagger when she steps on the track to compete, is dialed into the details of what she’s doing on a day-to-day basis in a way that most can’t see, much less appreciate. “Most people, they only think of track every four years,” she says. “The Olympics, that’s all there is—those few seconds on TV. But for me, track is my life on a day-to-day basis. Everything I do—what I eat, what I drink, if I stay up too late—it’s all reflected on the track. Every choice. That’s what the world doesn’t see.”

— Here’s a short video of YouTube sensation, creative genius, and marathoner Casey Neistat on what it takes to be successful at…well, just about any pursuit that’s worthwhile.

— I’ve known Steve Magness and Brad Stulberg for a long time, I’m fortunate to call them both friends, and I’ve linked to their work in this newsletter more times than I can count because they consistently put out useful information regarding health, performance, and excellence that is backed by research, ancient wisdom, and real-world experience. It's in this vein that they launched the Growth Equation Academy, an interactive course and community devoted to learning and connection around the aforementioned topics. They’re running a limited-time launch week special that I took advantage of when the announcement email hit my inbox yesterday. I have zero affiliation with the Academy, they didn’t ask me to post this, and I paid for an annual membership myself because I’ve long trusted Steve and Brad to help me find the signal through the noise, and know that this investment will help me become a better coach, athlete, and person.

— My wife and I were supposed to see Thievery Corporation last month at a small venue close to us but life happened and we weren’t able to go. It's hard to describe this band’s music other than to say that its influences are diverse and their sound is unique. “We just sort of set out on this path of making music that is influenced by the past but has a step into the future,” explains co-founder Rob Garza in the middle of this short set the band played for a Red Rocks Trail Mix session. The mix of reggae, Brazilian, hip hop, Indian, jazz, electronic, and Middle Eastern sounds has always been interesting (and pleasing) to me.

— From the archives (Issue 36, 8 years ago this week): “If you have too much time in the performance zone, you need more time in the recovery zone, otherwise you risk burnout…The value of a recovery period rises in proportion to the amount of work required of us.” This excerpt from a recent article isn’t referencing training for races—it appeared in the Harvard Business Review, after all—but it might as well be. The takeaway? Whether it’s staying up late so you can get ahead at work or training harder than you ever have so you can make a major breakthrough on race day, it’s important to remember that being resilient isn’t about how much more you can push yourself, but rather how well you can recharge the batteries between those big efforts so you don’t end up in too deep a hole—something I’m constantly trying to keep in mind and practice in a a few different areas of my life. Admittedly, it’s not an easy balance to strike!

— A big thank you to the partner brands that help make this newsletter possible: Tracksmith, New Balance, Precision Fuel & Hydration, and Final Surge. All of these companies have missions I believe in and products that I trust and use myself on a regular basis. One of the best ways to support the newsletter is by patronizing the partners that help keep it going week in and week out. Check out some of the discount codes and special offers available exclusively to readers of the morning shakeout at this link.

Workout of the Week: The 3 x 3 Cutdown

Many runners are in the midst of marathon training (or will be soon), which means the long run takes on an extra level of importance. The 3 x 3 Cutdown is one of my favorite go-to long runs to help develop the specific fitness and skills necessary to race 26.2 miles well. Here are the details.

The bottom line.

“And I think that the ultimate way you and I get lucky is if you have some success early in life, you get to find out early it doesn't mean anything. Which means you get to start early the work of figuring out what does mean something.”

—David Foster Wallace to David Lipsky in Lipsky’s book, “Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace,” which I just finished reading this past weekend.

That's it for Issue 453. Enjoying the shakeout? Please do me a solid and forward this email to someone else who might also appreciate it. (And if you’re seeing this newsletter for the first time and want to receive it for yourself first thing every Tuesday morning, you can subscribe right here.)

Thanks for reading,

Mario

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