Welcome to the GAIN Blog
The blog is updated Monday-Friday. Tune in for posts and discussion about health, fitness, nutrition, training experiments and reflection. We share articles, videos and more. We post the link to our Instagram story every day, make sure to follow along there to never miss a post.
Friday Thoughts 48
Greetings from Utah!
I’m here to crew and pace GAIN member Peter in the Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run. This is his fourth 100-mile run of summer, which is the final race in his Grandslam of Ultrarunning. Each summer a couple dozen people attempt to run 4 of the oldest 100-mile runs in the country in just one summer.
As you can imagine, it’s quite the feat and I’m honored to be a part of it.
The race starts at 5am local time, I’ll try to post some updates on my Instagram if I get the opportunity.
That’s all for today, have a good weekend!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Gym Lingo: Suitcase CArry
The suitcase carry, or one arm carry, where you carry a single kettlebell or dumbbell by your side is a great builder of trunk strength. It challenges your grip, builds shoulder and hip stability. It pairs well with a variety of movements in the gym. Performed between heavy squats or bench press, it can provide your body reminders to brace better and create more stiffness, and in a conditioning context we use it as a filler movement, something that allows you to keep moving and keep your heart rate elevated between bouts of a different movement or something cardio based.
Mastering a suitcase carry will have carry over to real life outside of the gym. Once you’ve done a suitcase carry with a heavy kettlebell, all other objects you carry are just an opportunity to practice. Obviously, a suitcase, but also grocery bags, jugs of water, kids gear, you name it. If it needs to be carried, you’ll be ready for the job.
How to do it:
Start with the kettlebell next to your foot.
Drive your butt back and let you knees bent, hinging through your hips, to bend over the pick up the kettlebell. Focus on pushing the ground away as you stand up.
Keep a firm grip on the kettlebell. Squeeze the handle!
Keep your core engaged and don’t forget to keep breathing.
As you start to walk, keep a few things in mind:
no shrugging your shoulders, keep them away from your eats.
Reach your opposite hand out to the side for balance if needed.
Prevent the weight from crashing into your leg.
Walk a little slower than normal. Keep your trunk upright and try your best not to lean away from the weight.
Turning is hard, don’t let the the weight swing around too much.
Loaded carries are a fantastic way to build real-world strength and push your limits in the gym. Get to carrying!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Bored? Good.
In order to get better at something you need to practice.
The better your practice is, the more likely you are to improve at this skill, whatever it is.
Athletes from all sports, from all different levels, have a tendency to focus on drilling the fundamentals. The basic skills required to play well. Even the highest level professionals continue to hone these skills.
In fitness we have an obsession with novelty.
We want something new and different so we don’t get bored.
What if boredom is part of the process to get better?
If you move from one thing to the next without ever getting bored, you’re leaving a lot on the table in terms of adaptations you could make.
Boredom often comes from doing the same thing over and over, however, this is the best way to improve at something - whether it’s to get stronger, improve your mobility or your conditioning - you need to do the thing consistently, for a long time. The same exercises, the same stretches, the same workouts.
Try reframing boredom as something good. If you’re getting bored with your routine it means you’ve been consistent, working the fundamentals that are required to get better. Maybe feeling bored means you’re right on track. Slowly and steadily making progress.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
august by the Numbers
Each month I reflect back and look at some of the data I collect around my health and wellness. This practice helps me make adjustments, spot trends and hopefully inspires some of you to do the same. Let’s dive in.
Steps: 443,292 total for a daily average of 14,300.
I’m surprised I beat my July totals, which were pretty stout due to many two-a-days, an increase in milage and the running streak. More total miles running in July too but more hours in August. More on that below. All in all, nice to see a steady progress in steps and my running fitness continues to build.
Sleep: 7 hours 44 minutes average per night
My sleeping hit a peak during lake week vacation in July, and ever since I got home, I haven’t been getting 8+ as easily as I was then. Still, pleased with 6 nights of 8 hours plus, and 7 hours and 44 minutes is still better than the 7hr22min I was averaging around a year ago when I started really digging into this data and trying to make changes.
Workouts: 31
All but two of these were running workouts. I had a really solid build up to MMD in the mountains, took a low mileage week, then had a peak volume week, or really it was more like 10 days. Being confined to a 7-day calendar isn’t always ideal for training. When building up for pacing in the Wasatch this week, I had a big 9 days of cramming lots of volume in. I accumulated 57 miles and 12,00ft of gain in those 9 days. On paper, or Strava, this looks like a low mileage week followed by a high mileage week, however, when really looking at I, it was a few days of recovery following a big mountain effort, then a week and a half of building up and getting some quality training in. I took 3 days off this week and am feeling well-tapered and itching to get out there!
Other running stats for the month:
31 hours total
133 miles
28,527ft of elevation gain
This ends up being 5 more hours of time on feet than in July with 5 less total miles. Likely due to the extra 10k feet of elevation gain. All in all, pleased with how my fitness is coming around and how this build up to the Wasatch Front has gone.
3 month summer running build. Taking it easy this week and running 30+ miles on Friday-Saturday.
Thanks for reading, if you have a wearable fitness device, take some time today to look back and reflect on any trends you notice and try to make some adjustments heading this month. Remember, the numbers don’t lie!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday thoughts 47
Happy Friday! Welcome to this week’s edition of Friday Thoughts, where I share random ideas, half formed blog post and my favorite things I saw on Instagram throughout the week. I posted the first ‘Friday Thoughts’ the Friday before Labor Day last year. It’s always fun to put together and gets the most reads by far each week, thanks for checking it out.
Labor Day:
Reminder - we are closed on Labor Day, Monday September 2nd.
Clementines:
Yesterday I had a long run planned at Stratham Hill Park and some errands to run afterwards, anyway, I left Clementine at home. As I was coming down the Kitty Rock Trail, I ran past two people and their dogs, I said hello and one of them said, “Clem come.” I hit the brakes and asked, “Did you just say Clem? Short for Clementine?” Sure enough, she did. This is the one I’ve met, but the second Clementine that I’ve heard of. Crazy!
Ninja Kid:
Where do I sign Elliot up for this? Wait, where do I sign up to try this? This looks like so much fun, and as you watch the video it keeps getting crazier and crazier, like it never ends. Such a cool display of athleticism and stamina. Way to go, kid!
Killian:
Killian Jornet is widely regarded as the best mountain runner (mountaineer?) of all time. Watching him run down hill is one of my favorite things to do. It’s so flowy and smooth with no hesitation whatsoever. I used to frequently watch clips of him running hard downhills for running motivation. This clip is from this year’s Sierra-Zinal race which took place a few weeks ago. Incredibly work by the camera operator!
Definitely check out his Instagram, too. He’s linking up as many 4000m peaks in the Alps as he can. As usual, his head mounted GoPro has insane footage that will make your palms sweat (see the second video).
Pee Color:
I think people fall into one category or the other, and they’re both on the extreme side. Of course, I’m talking about hydration levels. From my experience talking to people about this all the time, they’re either totally dehydrated and barely think about water, or way over hydrated so they have to pee every 45 minutes. As with many things, the sweet spot lies somewhere in the middle.
Check out this post from Bri about what color your urine should be - I think a lot of people strive for clear, but that’s indicative of over hyrdration, perhaps from not getting enough electrolytes. Remember too, electrolytes don’t just come in the form of expensive salt-drinks - salting your food can increase your sodium intake and help you hydrate better.
Salting your food is viewed as “bad,” but for me this helped my hydration levels immensely, and why I was so early to hop on the salty drink train. You see, if you’re eating a lot of chips, burgers, French fries and dining out all the time, maybe you don’t need to up the salt on your already salty food. If you’re like me though, and cook most of your own food, skimping on the salt might mean leaving a critical electrolyte on the table.
Shredder:
Check out this 80-year tearing it up on the waves!
Creatine:
This is my friend Nate from Oak Performance. Give his post some love for spreading the word on the benefits of creatine supplementation.
That’s a wrap for this week, see you next time!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Toe Spring, Balance and foot strength
Put your shoe on a table or flat surface and look at it from the side.
Does the toe of the shoe sweep upward? So the tip of the shoe is no longer in contact with the ground?
If that’s happening, it’s not a good shoe for the gym.
This is called toe spring. As soon as you put them on your feet, they shift your balance backwards. Over time, chronic use can lead to stiff, weaker muscles and fascia your foot and lower leg.
If you stand on the ground barefoot, do your toes naturally slope off the floor like that? Probably not.
Toe spring is supposed to making running and walking easier, but that isn’t necessarily the case, or maybe it’s is but not a good thing in the long run.
The Harvard Gazette: Your shoes were made for walking. And that may be the problem; upward curve at tip eases motion but may lead to weaker muscles, problems.
Toe spring, combined with the fact that those same shoes likely have thick and cushy bottoms, with the heel raised above the rest of the foot, are why shoes like this shouldn’t be in the gym.
All that extra padding desensitizes your feet, shifts your center of mass and makes it more difficult for your body receive feedback, or rather, makes you more likely to lose your balance.
Balance will deteriorate as you age. There a lot of things you can do to continue challenging your balance and help it stick around. Getting appropriate gym shoes, ones with stiffer bottoms, a minimal heel drop and space for your toes to spread out is an easy place to start.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Get Up
The Turkish Get Up, TGU, or just the get up, is a complicated, multistep move that many people can benefit from learning.
Starting on your back with a kettlebell raised up to the ceiling, the get up requires the lifter to get from that supine position to a standing position, and back down while the kettlebell remains stabilized overhead. In doing so, your body moves through many important shapes, demanding mobility, stability, breathing, patience and strength. It exposes you to many foundational shapes and movements like rolling, half kneeling and finding support in various angles. Not to mention, the ability to get up and down from the floor is a critical skill.
It is not a move to be rushed. In fact, slower is better - it requires more control and ownership of the shapes. Heavy weights aren’t necessary either, a light to moderate kettlebell will be plenty. When I first learned the get up in college, the instructor had us first demonstrate we could complete a get up balancing our shoe on a closed fist before graduating to weight.
Here are the steps to nail a perfect get up:
Roll to the elbow - stop here! Pause, don’t rush into the next step.
Reach up to the hand - imagine reaching the KB toward the ceiling.
Hips up - drive your hips up creating a bridge.
Feed the leg through - get that knee back! Much further than you think to be in a wide base of support.
Windshield wiper - turn your lower leg as you lift your torso, ending in a half kneeling position.
Stand up!
Lunge backwards to half kneeling.
Windshield wiper the lower leg and reach towards the floor with the free hand.
Feed the leg through.
Slide to your forearm
Roll to your back.
More often than not, a half get up will suffice to get many of the benefits without being overly complicated. It teaches stability and control, and once you can really master the half get up, the full move becomes less daunting.
It’s three steps up:
Roll to the elbow
Reach to the hand
Bridge up, and practice getting the shoulders aligned, making a “T’ with your arms and torso.
Plus the reverse to get back down.
Here’s a version I played with last year, a pressing get up, where you do a press at each and every step of the get up, forcing you to slow down and make sure you’re in a strong and stable position in order to rep the press.
The half get up is showing up in some of your programs this week or next. Remember, go slow and don’t rush!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Range
We often program, “4-5 rounds,” or “8-10 reps,” and many people assume this means you have to do the higher number in the range.
This is not the case.
Instead of always defaulting to doing the most, develop the skill of listening to your body.
How many rounds do you need today?
Are you in a rush? Coming back from a cold? Feeling fresh and flying through the workout?
The answer isn’t always the higher number, in fact more often than not, you should be doing the lower range.
Getting in tune with your body, and what it needs, is a critical skill for long term success in the gym.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Why This Matters
Strength training is so important - maybe even more than you realize. We’re constantly bombarded with posts and tabloids showing us shortcuts to get the body we want, or following people doing novel things on Instagram.
What strength training and developing a gym habit is really about is being able to do stuff that you need to do; to be capable. That should outshine all other motives, but typically, more flashy goals typically get the love, and while that’s fine, it means you can miss the point.
This past weekend at the park, we helped a grandma get her grandchild out of the swing - she couldn’t lift them out herself.
It’s not my intention to pick on her, but the rest of the day I couldn’t help but think about how that would not have happened if she strengthen trained. I thought about all the other people that would be in similar situations that would be preventable with some goblet squats, push ups and ring rows once or twice a week.
We only get one body, and while flashy, cool goals are awesome, sometimes it’s the simple ones right in front of us that could provide the best reason to train - being capable and reliable for those around you.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts 46
Welcome to this week’s edition of Friday Thoughts. Here are some updates and a couple of random thoughts from me, plus some of my favorite Instagram posts I came across this week. Enjoy!
September Hours:
GAIN will be closed on Labor Day, Monday September 2nd. I can’t believe the unofficial end of summer is here already.
Another September Note: Staring in September, there will no longer be a 7pm class. The attendance has been too low for us to continue on, thanks for understanding.
Team Cupcake:
The Seacoast Cancer 5k is coming up on Sunday September 15th.
Just like last year, GAIN Member, Kendra’s Team Cupcake is getting involved. Sign up using the link below if you want to run, walk or just to support Kendra and the local fight against cancer. Here’s the whole Miner fam after the race last year.
Seacoast Cancer 5k Sign Up (make sure to join Team Cupcake during registration!)
The Miner Fam after last year's race.
Healthy Kids Running Series:
We just heard about this last week and are getting involved. This organization puts on races for 2 year olds up to 8th grade! We’re going to be running and volunteering at the Dover event that starts on September 22nd. If you have a little kid who likes to run like us, get involved too!
James Clear:
Atomic Habits is one of those books I reread every couple a years, and between those times, I love seeing these reminders from James Clear’s Instagram account
Adam Grant:
SEE: Instagram
Instagram vs Reality:
Speaking of Instagram, I enjoyed this post and how it shows the people we compare ourselves to on the internet don’t really look like that IRL. Don’t forget it!
Check out line find:
What does burn fat like a kid even mean? How is this realistic, or make any sense whatsoever. If I were ruler of the universe, I would ban all terrible magazines from checkout lines.
Holy Athleticism, this is nuts!
I can’t believe I’m older than the iced coffee!
That’s a wrap for this week, thanks for reading along.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
LAP FEATURE
This one’s for the runners out there.
I learned this trick in 2020 when attempting a White Mountain Hut Traverse, and it’s been helpful for big efforts ever since.
When you press the Lap button on your watch, it starts a new timer from 0:00.
When out for a big day, one of my data screens is:
Lap Time
Average Pace
Lap Distance
Each time I come to a trail intersection, peak, or whatever marker I may be using, I press Lap to reset the timer and distance.
This allows me to break the run down in smaller chunks and focus on one segment at a time and makes it easier to figure out how long till the next land mark or segment.
I use this strategy for organized races too, using aid stations, or the course loop as the reset point.
This makes the long day more digestible and prevents you from having to do math with decimals while trying to run.
Give it a shot!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Plus One Rep Scheme
Over the past couple of years one of my favorite ways for clients to gain strength is to add reps.
It seems counterintuitive, but adding repetitions to the same weight is a great way to develop your technique and build strength. This is often called a ladder, as the reps increase each set.
Many of you have done this with deadlifts.
You start with a weight you can do for around 8 reps.
On your first set, you only do 1 rep. It feels super easy and you can really focus on your form - things like creating tension with your feet, breathing and bracing. It’s easy to focus since it’s only one rep.
On the next set you do 2 reps, then 3 and 4 and so on. Typically ending in that 5-8 rep range.
This bakes your warm up into your strength workout, and despite your initial impression that each set will feel harder, it actually doesn’t. You’re more prepared for each consecutive set.
This method works great for deadlifts, goblet squats, kettlebell swings and even bodyweight movements like push ups. dips, pull ups and chin ups.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Everything I ate Hiking and Running in the Mountains for 10 hours
Here’s everything I ate on an all-day running and hiking adventure through the White Mountains last week.
I tried to put this on a timeline, quickly, that became too difficult to recall when I ate everything. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich, for example, I ate much earlier than expected. I had half of it on the Franconia Ridge in the morning, around 7:30am, and I know I ate the other half, but I cannot remember when into the run it was. Instead, here’s just a list of everything as it came to me, along with its caloric content, and macronutrient breakdown.
This was my first big mountain day using liquid calories. I’ve supplemented with them before during long efforts, but for this day I had a bottle with two scoops going at all times. It really helped me boost my total calories up and was easy to drink and tasty too.
One last note, the eggs and bagel were in the morning, about 90 minutes before I started.
Egg Bites (eggs, cottage cheese, turkey bacon, cheese): 340 calories, 6g carb, 18g fat, 36g protein
Cinnamon Raisin Bagel: (half) 140 calories, 29g carbs, .5g fat, 5g protein
Momentous Fuel: 7 scoops throughout the day - 770 calories, 196g carbs
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich:
Peanut butter - 4 tablespoons 380 calories,14g carbs, 32g fat, 16g protein
Jelly - 4 tablespoons 100 calories, 34g carbs, 0g fat, 0g protein
Dave’s Killer White Bread: two slices: 220 calories, 42g carbs, 4g fat, 6g protein
Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars: 3 total, 165 calories, 30g carbs, 4g fat, 1.5g protein
Snickers (share size): 420 calories, 60g carbs, 18g fat, 6g protein
Scratch Energy Chews: 2 packets, 380 calories 95g carbs, 0g fat, 0g protein
Dried mango: 1 bag, 510 calories, 125g carbs, 2g fat, 4g protein
Peanut MnM’s: 1oz, 17g carbs, 8g fat, 3g protein
Totals:
3667 calories
641g carbohydrates
90g fat
80g protein
After the run, I ate 3 cheeseburgers, and a lot of salt and vinegar chips, along with some cookies and watermelon.
In years past, I probably would have done this with half the total calories, just because I thought needing food was inconvenient and if you were trained enough you could do it on less. That’s obviously not the case, and on this day I felt strong, had energy and handled digesting all of this without issue. Thanks for reading!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
How to Join
Potential members at GAIN start with a 3-session trial. This serves as an opportunity to meet the coaches and see how we do things at GAIN. Our individualized, feels like a group, but isn’t actually a group, vibe is different, and unlike any other gym you’ve been to.
On the first session, you’ll work closely with a coach doing an intro workout. This gives us an opportunity to go over some finer details like bracing and breathing and seeing how much range of motion and stability you have. We talk about injuries, training history and what you want to get out of your gym time.
Regardless of your fitness level and experience, we want you leaving the gym after that first session feeling as though you could have done more. We like to say; we can write hard workouts, but don’t need to prove that on the first day. We want you to build a new habit you can stick with, easing in paramount to this.
You’ll learn new movements and lingo, and if you’re a newbie to the gym, it can be a bit overwhelming. Just know that we’re aware of this, and try to not overload you with gym jargon. On the first day we primarily focus on learning and breaking down the squat pattern, body weight upper body movements, the push up and ring row and some of our core training drills.
By the second workout, we’re ready to introduce some more movements and will do some conditioning (cardio) and get introduced to some of our favorite cool-down mobility drills. This workout focuses on pressing and pulling with the upper body, along with some single leg movements.
On the last workout of the trial, you’re learning and working on the hinge pattern. This can be a tricky one, but is important for everyone to learn. We revisit some movements from the previous two workouts here if needed. This will feel like a bigger workout for most, because we usually give you more to do on the third day as your body is starting to adapt to some new movements.
All in all, the 3-Session Trial is a crash course in all things GAIN. Learn our favorite exercises, get your movement broken down by an experienced coach and learn how to move better, feel more connected and get a plan that unique to what you need and want to accomplish. GET INVOLVED.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts 45
Welcome to the new GAIN site! We’ve been working on this facelift behind the scenes for some time and I’m proud of the new and updated look. Plus, I’m especially happy for a new font - for the past 6 years I despised that old blog font. I’m happy to have a refreshed site that’s easier to navigate and more inline with the rest of my branding.
Your training shoes matter! This post is one example of many that professional, high-level athletes aren’t always making the most educated choice in the gym. Save the running shoes for running - especially the $300, carbon-plated, super-shoes that should be saved for elite racing.
If you no idea what I mean by a super-shoe, try to get through this review. Basically, the carbon plating and bouncyness of the shoe is supposed to shave time off your miles when racing. This creators claim that it could be up to 30 seconds per mile is absurd. Though, I’ve never tried them.
While we’re on the topic of super shoes, how about super-pants? When these first popped up on my feed I thought it was a joke, then I kept seeing it so I read this caption. For only $5000 you can have your hiking pants do the work for you! Seems like a great deal, old-school effort is for the birds!
Hybrid athlete? Meaning you like to both lift and run. Wow! So original. Revolutionary! This was great satire.
This has me lol’ing so hard. My first thought as a parent of a kid who is just getting into legos though, who’s going to pick all those up?
Powered hiking pants? No. Power hiking. Seriously though, whenever anyone learns of my ventures into the mountains their first questions is do you run the whole time? The answer, for most ultra runners, is no, not at all. There’s a mix of walking, hiking, running - the goal is to keep moving as efficiently as possible. Last week, I hiked all the uphills and only ran the down hills.
Speaking of which, here’s a video someone grabbed of me running off Mount Lafayette and along the Franconia Ridge. Classic!
Thanks for checking out Friday Thoughts, until next time!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
slowly and consistently
I heard this the other day and I can’t stop thinking about it.
The best way to get in shape is the same way that you got out of shape; slowly and consistently.
It’s not one meal, or two meals or probably even ten meals that lead to someone being overweight. It’s consistently overeating for a long period of time. It can feel like it creeps up on you, but in fact it happens slowly.
When starting back up at the gym, or with a diet, or a new routine, people tend to bite off more than they can chew.
Instead of taking a slow, long-term approach, they go burn-it-down monk mode before fizzling out after a week or two.
There is no shortcut.
Get back into shape slowly and consistently, the same way you got out of shape.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
no more streaking
The running streak ended yesterday.
On July 1, I had a crazy thought, with MMD (my big mountain run I do every August) about 6 weeks away, I thought it would be a fun challenge to try and run at least 2000 meters (1.25 miles) every day for the month of July. When August 1 rolled around, I had momentum and decided to keep going until MMD, only 10 more days, making it a nice and even 40 day streak.
MMD was my first run in the 20-something miles since MMD the year before, and I was pretty sore come Monday, but still motivated to keep the streak going. When I got home Monday afternoon I put Nolan in the stroller and headed out for a walk and eventually an easy jog.
As these things typically go, my legs started to feel better the more I moved.
On Tuesday I couldn’t think but help if a client came to me in this situation, sore and beat up from a hard effort but wanting to continue a pointless streak, what would I tell them?
I landed on it’s not going to be productive. It won’t help my training in anyway to get out for a 12-minute run. The rest will do me better, or just a walk or maybe a walk and a nap.
It felt freeing to stop it. Disappointing in someways, because I was curious as to how far I could continue. And it’s motivating seeing people on Instagram and YouTube on a running streak into the 1000s of days. At the same time I’m looking forward to doing something different for training today, and later in the week, once my legs feel better, getting back to running a lot.
Last year after MMD I hated running. I full stopped for about 9 months and was even considering never starting back up again. I just wasn’t enjoying it like I used to. This summer, and the past 40 something days taught me to enjoy it again. It was a productive experiment, despite the last couple days.
I built my volume steadily for 6-weeks in a row. Something I’ve never done this consistently. I logged nearly 40-miles in a week, which is also the most miles I’ve got in a week, and only done it a couple other times. I accumulated 138 miles in July, the second most I’ve ever done in a month! Which is kind of hard to believe, actually. But the data doesn’t lie.
Needless to say, I’m proud of the experiment and it taught me I can handle more volume than I thought.
I’m going to let the legs recover for a couple more days and then I’m looking to getting back to more consistent running and trying to build up my volume, for no reason other than the fun of the experiment.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Gain’s in Bloosh
If you’re a fan of Parks and Rec, you’ll get the reference. If you’re not, Bloosh is Anabel Porter’s app with all the hottest trends for the citizens of Pawnee, and here is what’s trending for me right now.
Grape seltzer - It all started at Taylor’s bachelor party in May, someone ordered a drink with grape juice, a transfusion. I tried a sip and ever since I had a craving for something grape. I can’t get enough of the Spindrift Grape, it’s so good. When we visited some friends in Maryland, they had Waterloo Grape seltzer, and it’s even better than the Spindrift. Grape Olli Pop is good too, but just not as crushable as the seller for me.
Momentous Fuel - For a long time my mindset was, “I’m not going to eat during a run unless I absolutely have to.” That’s changed over the past couple years based off conversations with Briana, and I’ve been trying to be more proactive. Specifically on shorter runs, I’ve been taking a scoop of Momentous Fuel. Not only do I think it’s been helping during runs, especially on really hot and humid days, but I think it’s helping me recover faster (or feel less depleted) after the fact too. They have two flavors, strawberry lime and cherry berry, and honestly I can’t tell much of a difference between them. For longer runs, I’ve been throwing double scoops into one bottle for some extra concentrated calories and electrolytes. On my big mountain adventure this past Sunday, I used 6 scoops total over 10 hours (along with some other solid food). I’m working on tallying up all my calories for that day so stay tuned.
Merrill Vapor Glove Shoes - I got my first pair of these in 2019 right before our honeymoon and walked all over the Azores with them. Hannah thought they looked silly, but all barefoot shoes do so I dealt with it. I replaced that pair this year, and they have been my daily shoes for a couple months now, and I really like them. They’re thin and flexible, have some treads on them if I want to wear them for a hike with the kids and I usually do my easy neighborhood jogs wearing them as well. Instead of lacing up my trail running shoes, I use my neighborhood jogs (usually pushing a stroller) as a chance to work on my foot strength and running stride. The best part is that these come in at about half the price of the more fancy barefoot shoes - I’m having a hard time paying nearly $200 for less material, less structured shoes that only last a few months.
Strong Ankles - Speaking of foot strength, my left ankle has given me a lot of trouble since I first sprained it about 400m into a Pemi Loop attempt in 2018. Each year I typically sprain it again, and last year I would often lose stability and roll it, even running on flat ground, twinging it and leaving it tender for a day or two. This summer I realized my 9 month break from running was really helpful. I took August 2023-April 2024 completely off from running focused on getting really strong. I followed an Olympic weightlifting plan, and was squatting frequently, snatching, cleaning, jerking and deadlifting 4-5 days per week for months, and I got much stronger, hitting PRs in all the big lifts. All that strength has me feeling really strong charging uphills and I’m confident on my ankle for the first time in a long while.
Go Macro Bars - I’m not sure if it’s a new flavor or not, but they recently started carrying Cashew Blueberry at Market Basket, and I’m a big fan. There’s also a new Mocha one that I’m quite fond of. I typically eat one of these bars 30-60 minutes before a workout.
That’s what’s been trending in my fitness life lately, tell me what you’ve been into this summer.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Praise for Step Ups
Step ups don’t get a lot of love in the strength training world. They’re not that complex and they are overshadowed by more impressive things people do on boxes, like jump on them.
It’s too bad, step ups teach us about how we move, how to create tension and where our movement faults may come from.
Once you have your foot planted on the box, don’t let it cave inwards, towards your big toe. A good cue is knee towards your pinky toe. It’s almost overcorrecting it, so if it falls in a bit, you’re still in a good position.
That knee may also want to push too far forward, lifting your heel off the box. Don’t let that happen either! Imagine your foot as a tripod, big toe, pinky toe and heel. They should all be firmly planted when doing a step up.
One more cue to think about, a slight lean, when starting the rep, will aid in keeping your lower body organized. Don’t be afraid to get your shoulders over your thigh.
These tips will help you whether you’re doing step ups for conditioning, with some load for strength work or if you find yourself outside the gym stepping up on things.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
retroactive heart rate
I wear my heart rate monitor (chest strap) for 75% of my runs, depending on the time of year and what I’m training for.
When I got to the track, I have typically have it on display along with lap time and current pace. I want to be able to correlate certain heart rates with how I feel, so it’s important to keep a close eye on it. For example, I feel like I could keep holding this pace at 165 beats per minute (bpm), but 171 bpm was unsustainable, I couldn’t breathe and want to go hide in the shade.
When heading out for a road run it’s usually an easy 30 min jog through the neighborhood early in the morning. Then I’m not wearing it or gathering information from it. If I’m doing intervals and trying to be fast, I’ll wear it.
That leaves us with easy effort trail runs, which make up 85-90% of my running. I typically wear the chest strap for these runs, but do not glance at it while running. Rather I wear it to collect the data and look at it afterwards. This is the point I want to make today.
If you’re trying to log some time in zone 2, and are having difficultly flirting with the line of your top end Z2 and Z3 - stop looking at it while running!
Frequent glances are helpful when first starting out to keep your effort in check, but once you’ve built a base, the whole point of zone 2 running is to eventually get faster. When this starts to happen, it can be hard to trust your perceived effort without feeling like you’ll blow up, or that your bpm will get out of control.
In these cases, I recommend not looking at your heart rate data till after your run rather than letting it guide your run. Coach Taylor did this recently and was surprised to find that he was in zone 2 for most of his run, but he felt like it was going to be a run above that HR. When this starts to happen, it’s a good sign. It means your base is expanding and you’re getting fitter and faster.
When looking at the data after your run, note when it came out of the range you’re aim to stay within, any big spikes, how quickly it recovers from spikes and what you exertion level was like.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain