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Good morning! I recently sat down with my good friend and frequent podcast coconspirator Simon Freeman, the co-founder, editor, and publisher of my favorite running magazine, Like The Wind, for our third quarterly conversation of 2024, which you can listen to wherever you get the morning shakeout podcast, or at this handy link. An excerpt of this exchange can be found in Issue #42 of LtW, which comes out this week. (You can buy a copy or subscribe here.)

In this episode, which was recorded in early August while the men’s 1500m final at the Paris Olympics was taking place—if nothing else, listen in for our live reactions during that race—we spoke about pressure: what it is, where it comes from, how it shows up, and how we navigate it in running, work, and other aspects of our life.

There’s also a lengthy catch-up in the introduction to this one between me and my right-hand man, Chris Douglas. The two of us talk about getting back into training after a break, my recent focus on strength work, the Olympics, Simon and I’s conversation in this episode, and more.

This was an insightful one, and we hope you feel the same way, so let us know what you think by replying to this email or giving any/all of us a shout on social media (@mariofraioli, @simonbfreeman, and @cadouglas).

OK, let’s get right to it.

Quick Splits

— The best book I’ve read so far this year is Sebastian Junger’s In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife. It’s not a long read but I blew through it in less than two days, which is saying a lot. Junger, a 4:12 miler and 2:21 marathoner back in his day, nearly died in 2020 when an aneurysm in his abdomen ruptured. A war reporter by trade, and an atheist his entire life, the book is essentially a front-line account of Junger’s near-death experience and simultaneous exploration of mortality, the afterlife, and the mysteries of the universe. It’s probably not everyone’s cup of tea but I found it riveting and essential. Junger was recently a guest on Peter Attia’s The Drive podcast and the episode is like an author’s commentary with some deeper dialogue mixed in. Like the book, this one flew by for me. I appreciated the frank discussion of Junger’s experience and how it changed him (although he’s still an atheist), but also the conversation around the psychological aftermath of survival and how Junger has had to learn how to develop more emotional awareness in his life (he once told his wife, after she helped him realize that the “not quite right” feeling he was experiencing was sadness, that “In the future, if you could tell me how I’m feeling, it would be so helpful.”). Anyway, this one is deep, honest, and thought-provoking on a number of levels. 11/10 recommend listening to it.

— Major kudos to friend of the shakeout and longtime newsletter subscriber Vincent Bouillard on his historic victory at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc on Saturday. If you followed UTMB at all over the weekend then you know that the headline story was Bouillard upsetting everyone to win the race in 19:54:23, one of the five-fastest times in event history. It was a headline because Bouillard, who works full-time at Hoka as a product engineer and does not have a ton of major ultra wins on his racing resume (or social media followers, or any of that), was not the talk of the town prior to, oh, somewhere around Courmayeur at halfway, when he took the lead and then proceeded to run away with the race. I’ve been fortunate to get to know and even spend some time with Vincent and his wife Kamilah in recent years and I can tell you that his victory, while not exactly expected, also wasn’t a massive surprise. The guy is a freak of an athlete. (He’s also just a humble, hard-working, insatiably curious, and incredibly kind person.) I’ve watched him race a couple triathlons and an ultra, have followed his training on Strava for a few years, and know some folks who have tried to keep pace with him on foot as well as two wheels, and he just has “it,” if you know what I mean. I couldn’t be more thrilled that it all came together for him this past weekend and I’m excited to see where this momentum carries him next. (If you have 30 minutes sometime this week, check out Vincent’s post-race interview with Dylan Bowman of Freetrail and I promise you’ll want to root for the guy if you’re not already.)

— As a follow-up to the opener in last week's issue about Mike Smith leaving Northern Arizona University at the conclusion of the 2024-25 academic year to pursue a professional coaching opportunity, I’d recommend reading this interview he did with Runner’s World’s Sarah Lorge Butler a few days ago. Smith didn’t answer any questions about his new pro group, but he did explain the thought process behind his decision, provided insights into how the college sports landscape has changed, speculated about what a successful pro group could look like, and more. The part I resonated with most was when Smith admitted to being overcommitted and spread too thin. “I went from being a college coach to being a college coach and pro coach, and I think Budapest in 2023, that was a moment of big reflection for me,” he explains. “I’ve got four athletes in the World Championships. It’s also the NAU preseason cross country week, which is a very formative week of our season. And I’ve got a four-month-old baby and her mom at home, and I felt so over committed. I felt like I was letting down my professional athletes, my college athletes, and my family. And I think that was maybe the start of looking at like, ‘All right, I really want to zero in my focus.’” I’ve certainly been there in my own way and I’m sure many of you reading this have as well. Trying to be everything to everyone is not only a fool’s errand, it’s unsustainable. Eventually you realize something has to give and take action to make a change, or something will eventually give whether you like it or not. Zeroing in your focus, however, in whatever form it takes, not only involves knowing exactly what it is you want to do, it often also requires saying no to things you might also want to do. All of this, of course, is easier said than done.

— A few months back I spent a morning at the track with my friends and partners at Precision Fuel and Hydration. In between intervals we made this video demystifying training on the track for runners who aren’t used to the friendly confines of the original oval office. In it, we discuss why track workouts are beneficial (no matter what discipline you’re training for), proper etiquette when you’re at the track, how to warm up, some sample workouts for beginners as well as advanced athletes, fueling and hydration for these sessions, recovery, and more. I’m stoked that this one is finally live! If it’s helpful to you, and/or you know others who might also find it beneficial, please share it amongst your circles. (And if you’re interested in trying PF&H products for yourself, check out this link and save 15% off your first order.)

— I’m not switching the morning shakeout over to Substack but if you prefer reading things over there (or know someone who might), I’ll be reposting the newsletter on that platform moving forward at themorningshakeout.substack.com. Spread the word, Substackers! (And leave comments, make recommendations, and whatever else it is you do over there.)

— This live performance is 20 years old, and neither the audio nor video quality are all that high, but Tracy Chapman and Bruce Springsteen singing “My Hometown” together is pretty great.

— From the archives (Issue 251, 4 years ago this week): This post from renowned conditioning coach Vern Gambetta reflecting on his 50-year journey in coaching is about a year-and-a-half old but I have it saved to my Instapaper (my go-to app for saving web articles offline) and revisit it when I need a healthy dose of re-centering and perspective. If you’re a coach, want to become a coach, or are someone who just wants to develop a better appreciation for what it means to be a successful coach, this post is required reading. “Fifty years ago, I had all the answers, now at age 72 I have more questions than answers,” he writes. “I have learned that challenging people with intelligent pointed questions is how real change occurs. Change is never easy, seldom comfortable, but it is a constant.”

— Many thanks to my partners at New Balance for supporting my work this month (and throughout 2024). My go-to shoe for speed workouts the past few years has been the FuelCell Rebel and the latest iteration, v4, has continued to hold down that spot in the rotation in 2024. (I’m already on my second pair.) As fast and fun as carbon-plated shoes can be, it’s important not to be overly reliant on them for all your track sessions, fartleks, hills, and tempo runs. The Rebel v4s allow your feet to do what they want to do while providing plenty of protection underfoot when you’re putting a lot of extra force into the ground. They offer a responsive ride in a flexible, lightweight package that will fit a variety of foot types (n.b. my wider-than-average forefoot really appreciates them!). The FuelCell Rebel v4 is available at your favorite run specialty store or at newbalance.com (men’s sizes here, women’s sizes here).

Workout of the Week: Drills and Hills

During the summer months is when I start to think about the upcoming fall cross-country season, even in the years I’m not planning to race over hill and dale myself. I have very fond memories of returning to campus with my college teammates for pre-season camp or, years later, meeting up with my post-collegiate training partners on Tuesday nights in Newton for repeats on the grass median that cuts right up the middle of Heartbreak Hill. Hill workouts have always been a staple of whatever program I’ve been a part of and with good reason: they helped to lay a solid foundation of strength and fitness that set us up for success the rest of the season. Even if you’ll never run a cross-country race in your life (though I highly recommend it!), hitting the hills hard for a few weeks early in a training cycle can get you ready to run a fast mile, go the distance in an ultramarathon, or tackle any distance in between. (And preceding them with some form-oriented drills will give you some good cues to keep in mind while getting the right muscles firing for the harder running to follow.) Here are the details.

+ For some demos of the aforementioned drills from yours truly and my friend, athlete, and previous podcast guest Anh Bui, check out this set of short videos I shared on Instagram last week. (Note: You should be able to watch them all without an IG account.)

The bottom line.

“One must believe in one’s talent to take the long hard push and pull ahead, but a talent is like a plant… It may simply wither if it is not given enough food, sun, tender care. And to give it those things means working at it every day… A talent grows by being used, and withers if it is not used. Closing the gap between expectation and reality can be painful, but it has to be done sooner or later. The fact is that millions of young people would like to write, but what they dream of is the published book, often skipping over the months and years of very hard work necessary to achieve that end — all that, and luck too. We tend to forget about luck.”

—May Sarton, poet, novelist, and playwright, on how to cultivate talent (she was speaking specifically about writing, but it applies in any domain)

That's it for Issue 460. If you found any part of it to be informative, insightful, inspiring, or interesting, please forward this email to a friend (or five!) and encourage them to subscribe at this link so that it lands in their inbox next Tuesday.

Thanks for reading,

Mario

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