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Good morning! This past Sunday I did my first interval session since late May, four 5-minute repetitions at a steady effort with a 1-minute jog between each for recovery. In analyzing the data afterward, I was nearly 20 seconds a mile slower than I’d typically run for this type of workout. (For context, this is an effort that I’d normally hold for 30-40 minutes straight when I’m firing on all cylinders.) It was humbling, to say the least. And while I might not like where I’m at right now, I accept it. This is my starting point.

Traveling the road to fall fitness will require patience more than anything else. All too often as athletes and coaches we have a tendency or inclination to train where we want to be, or where we think we should be, or even where we were a few months ago, and not necessarily where we are at the time. We end up getting ahead of ourselves and inevitably end up in a cycle of frustration, stalled progress, injury, or worse. If nothing else, I’m committed to being where I am as I work toward getting where I want to be.

So yes, the mileage will gradually pile back up, the paces of the workouts will eventually quicken, and, as these things go, there will probably be a setback or two along the way. But I can’t rush any of it. I’ll get there when I get there.

To quote the legendary Japanese coach, Kiyoshi Nakamura, as paraphrased by John Kellogg in the book Run Strong, “On some days the rain falls hard, on other days it falls gently, and on some days it does not fall at all. But in the final analysis, the process cannot be rushed, and we must wait patiently for the natural order of events to run its course before we can admire the finished product.”

Quick Splits

— My head is still spinning from the men’s 10,000m final in Paris and I’m not sure if it will stop anytime soon. If you had told me before the race that sub-26:45 wouldn’t get a medal on a warm summer night I would have laughed at you. This was one of the wildest races I’ve ever watched. At halfway the field was strung out like an accordion as 17 guys went through between 13:23 and 13:26. They slowed down for a short while before kicking it into high gear with three laps to go. Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, the fastest man in history over this distance, closed his final K in 2:26 and some change to take the win in an Olympic record 26:43.14. Berihu Aregawi closed hard down the stretch to snag second in 26.43.44, while American Grant Fisher held on for third in 26:43.46. Just how close was this one? Fourth and fifth ALSO broke 26:44. Every tenth of a second mattered—in a damn 25-lap race. I’ve watched this one about a dozen times already, which is probably contributing to the aforementioned head-spinning, and I cannot for the life of me believe how many guys were still in it coming off the final turn. Everyone came to play (and play hard at that). The 100 is going to get a lot of attention—and rightfully so—but this wins it for me as the event of the meet.

+ There were a number of notable performances to call out in this one, but as a biased American fan, I can’t think of a more deserving medalist than Grant Fisher, fifth in this event at the Tokyo Games, and fourth at the 2022 world championships in Eugene. He raced intelligently and valiantly to take home just the third U.S. men’s medal in this event since 1964. Also, shoutout to Nico Young, finishing 12th in 26:58. He was hurting so, so bad for so,so long and he wore that pain on his face with pride lap after lap. Watching him, you could see that he was practically willing himself to “just hang on for just one more,” the entirety of the second half of the race. Much respect to him for the way he raced. The future is bright.

— The men’s 100m final was one for the ages with Noah Lyles of the United States eeking out the win in the final meter to win by 5/1000ths of a second, 9.784 seconds to Kishane Thompson of Jamaica’s 9.789. He led the entire 8-man field under 10 seconds in what was the deepest sprint race in history. Here’s a cool breakdown from The New York Times that shows how the race played out by analyzing photos that were captured every 100 milliseconds. “Lyles did not lead at any point of the race until the final stride,” the Times’ writers wrote. “If the race was 99 meters instead of 100, he would have received silver.” [Here’s an awesome overhead shot of the finish line from World Athletics. Keep practicing your leans, kids!]

+ Here’s some more good stuff on how Lyles pulled off his big win. Spoiler: He just followed the script. “And when he crosses the finish line, according to the script, he’ll have a personal-best time, finish in first place, smile, and feel a sense of relief,” Sean Gregory writes for Time. “Check, check, check, check. The only thing missing, really, was the agonizing wait for Lyles, Thompson, and bronze-medalist Fred Kerley as the judges settled the photo finish. Then he could let out a cackle on the track, take his victory lap, and officially back up the brash words he had been saying all year: the 100m was now his.”

— A big thank you to my partners at Tracksmith for supporting my work in August (and throughout 2024). The brand recently launched its first ever “Federation Collection,” i.e. “a capsule that blurs the lines between performance and style and presents a new take on the culture and heritage of the Games’ attire.” Basically, it’s a collection of products a typical Olympic athlete might receive from their federation, ranging from a blazer for the opening ceremony, casual wear for the village, a race kit for competition, and a podium jacket should you finish in the medals. It’s stylish and beautiful and uniquely Tracksmith. Check out the lookbook here and/or shop the collection here. If you buy anything from Tracksmith.com, and you’re doing so for the first time, use the code MarioNEW to save $15 on your order of $75 or more. If you’re already a Tracksmith customer, use the code MarioGIVE and you can get free shipping on your next order (and 5% of your purchase will go to support the Friendly House in Worcester, Massachusetts, an organization that is near and dear to me).

— My wife has been swimming since she was a little kid so you better believe that we were glued to the TV every night last week watching that day’s action from the Olympic pool in Paris. I don’t know much about most of the characters involved but one athlete in particular caught my eye, Cameron McEvoy of Australia. At 30 years old, “the professor,” as he’s called, is no spring chicken by swimming standards. And this was his fourth Olympic Games. He swam in just one event, the 50-meter freestyle, a straight shot across the pool, and he freaking won gold. It was his first individual Olympic medal. How did he do it? After the Tokyo Olympics, he took a year off to contemplate his future, ultimately deciding to completely overhaul his training, working smarter, not harder, and it made all the difference. Not only did his new approach help take his performance in the pool to a new level, it gave his love of the sport new life: he now wants to see if he can go until 2028 so that he can compete on home soil in Brisbane.

— Rest easy, coaching legend John Anderson, who passed away recently at the age of 92. “I’m certain that I would never have been a decent athlete if it wasn’t for John,” said Dave Moorcroft, who broke the 5000m world-record in 1982, running 13:00.41. “Not just because of the training he gave me, but he took a shy kid who didn’t believe in himself and just had that amazing ability to believe in me and others.”

— I didn’t expect to see The LOX performing behind the Tiny Desk anytime soon, if ever, but 16-year-old me is here for it! This was a super fun 17-minute set, complete with an orchestra, but make no mistake about it, the crew was “doing real hip hop.”

— From the archives (Issue 91, 7 years ago this week): Have smartphones destroyed a generation? asks The Atlantic. By all accounts, the short answer is yes. And while this article focuses primarily on teenagers being overly reliant on their phones, the ways in which many adults use their own devices isn’t much different. I know this because I observe many of these detrimental behaviors on a daily basis and I’m guilty of partaking in them myself more often than I probably care to admit. Being glued to our smartphones leads to less interpersonal interaction, less going out, less exercise, less sleep, less sex—in short, it leads to less living and less happiness—all of which contributes to more instances of depression, loneliness and various other types of emotional and physical damage.

“At the generational level, when teens spend more time on smartphones and less time on in-person social interactions, loneliness is more common,” writes Jean M. Twenge. “So is depression. Once again, the effect of screen activities is unmistakable: The more time teens spend looking at screens, the more likely they are to report symptoms of depression.”

Striking a balance is hard—e.g. the way I make my living in a lot of ways requires me to be looking at a screen and/or accessible via my little device—but setting (and sticking to) boundaries is necessary for ensuring that the relationship you have with your phone doesn’t take precedence over the relationships and experiences you share with the most important people in your life.

Workout of the Week: The "2 By" Marathon Long Run

It’s still summertime but fall marathon training is very much underway and improving your ability to run for longer at goal race effort/pace is probably top of mind. The “2 By” marathon long run is one of my favorite ways to introduce some running at goal race effort/pace into the mix and then extend the amount of time you spend there over the course of a 12-16 week cycle as fitness and confidence both improve. Here are the details.

The bottom line.

“Speak your mind, don’t bite your tongue.”

—Elizabeth Francis, the oldest living American at 115, on one of the keys to her longevity​

That's it for Issue 456. Please forward this email to a friend, share the web link on social media and/or in your group chats, or reply to me directly at your own risk.

Thanks for reading,

Mario

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