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 65
Welcome to this week’s Friday Thoughts, where I share my favorite things I saw on the internet this week, plus the occasional random thought that didn’t make it into a full post. Enjoy!
Shoe Police:
I hate playing shoe police, but this time of year, it’s important that you bring a clean, dry pair of shoes to train in. The salt eats away at our rubber flooring and stains it. Help us keep the gym clean this winter and bring an extra pair of shoes. Don’t forget the shoe rack if you want to leave a pair in the gym. Thank you!
James Clear Quote:
I saw this on James Clear’s newsletter this week, and thought it’s such simple explanation of what it really takes to stick with something. Adaptability is key. In all these years of training people I’ve noticed that many people are unwilling to do the easy version, and that stops them from doing anything.
Biking Steps?
I can’t seem to stop mentioning 10,000 steps. Over the past week I’ve noticed that when I select “Indoor Bike” for my AirBike workout, it will not count towards my step total. However, if I select “Cardio,” which I use for most general in-gym workouts, my step count increases from the bike. Remember, with the AirBike, you pump your arms and your legs to move.
I’m on team, yeah it’s close enough to a step to count as a step. I’m moving, exerting myself physically, breathing, the only missing piece when compared to actual walking is that I’m not supporting my own bodyweight, and I’ve got to say that is a good point, too.
So, what do you think? Do AirBike steps count?
This was a good, thought provoking post from author Ryan Holiday.
This is a deep cut but hopefully one of you will appreciate the Eastbound and Down clip.
That’s a wrap for this week!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Winter Run Chat
I’ve been back in the winter running game, and I’ve got to say, it feels good. For years I was a dedicated winter trail runner, running 3, 4 or 5 days a week regardless of weather. I experienced all the conditions possible, deep snow, thick ice, wet slush, strong winds and freezing temperatures. For the past few years though, I’d run all summer, get burnt out and focus on something else for a few months. This year, my desire to run is still there so I’ve been getting out for 2-3 runs each week. In no particular order, here are some winter running thoughts.
Be bold start cold. This old adage rings true when you’re heading out for a longer run or a hike. When I’m doing my neighborhood 5k lap, I’m going to layer up as much as needed to get myself out the door. If I’m too warm I swing into my house and drop it off.
I wear leggings or tights when I run in the winter. I have two pairs, a light pair for when the temps are above freezing and a fleece lined pair for anything less than that.
Wool socks.
Move some dirt. In 2024 my first run of the year was in May. I feel like I’m cheating by getting such an early start this year. Anything is more than I was doing last January, so I’m trying to remember that. If you’ve seen the shovel and spoon flag in the gym, it’s inspired by a quote that goes: “training is like moving a pile of dirt. Sometimes you take a shovel full and sometimes you get spoonful. Either way you’ve got to move the dirt.”
Hoods > Beanies.
Speaking of hoods, the tighter the fit the better. If it looks like I’m gearing up to go scuba diving - perfect.
If you’re scared of slipping on the ice - run on the treadmill. If you run too cautiously, you’re more likely to fall than if you just go for it. If you keep your center of mass over your mid-foot, and don’t reach too far on your stride, you shouldn’t slip on the ice. In fact, check out the video of Dr. Romanov, creator of the Pose Method of running, and who taught me how to understand running mechanics, running on ice below.
Grid fleece, with a big zipper to dump heat = GOAT layer.
Two pairs of gloves: 1. Super light weight, used for 30 degrees and above. 2. heavier, wind-proof, water-resistant and used for colder days under 30.
Audiobooks. You know I’m a fan of running without headphones, but lately for a little extra motivation on those cold days, I’ve been listening to an audiobook while hitting the pavement.
Speaking of pavement, all my runs lately have been on the road. It’s much easier and more predictable than the trails. I love some snow running in the woods, but getting to the trails, even though they’re just a mile down the road, is another barrier to entry, plus any required gear like snowshoes or micro spikes.
These are some of the thoughts I’ve been having while winter running lately. I hope you picked out a thing or two that will help you get some cold weather exercise in this year!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
December by the Numbers
Welcome to this month’s by the numbers, where I look back at the data that my watch collects over the month. I look back to spot trends and make adjustments for the next month. It’s been a useful exercise for me, and I encourage you to do the same. Let’s get into it.
Steps: 281,202 total steps for a daily average of 9,071.
I feel like I say this every month: higher than I expected. Something I learned last month, while doing a lot of kettlebell swings, is that my watch would count the swings as steps. At first I was annoyed at this revelation - only steps should count as steps! Then I realized if I do a 600 kettlebell swing workout, and get 600 steps from it, that’s nothing if trying to get into the tens of thousands. This discussions has evolved into what activities should count towards your step goal? Only steps? Or should movements like kb swings be okay, because you’re moving anyway?
Sleep: Average sleep 7 hours 2 minutes, average sleep score 79
December was a tough sleep month. Lowest average of the year, and not too surprising too. I was off my routine a lot, stayed up late more that usual, spent a few days sick. Instead of getting caught up I wasn’t getting 8 hours, I’m reminding myself that a couple years ago, a month like that probably would have been a 6 hour average.
Workouts: 25
24 of those sessions were kettlebell swings. I wrote my recap of the 10k swing challenge here, if you want to check that out. All in all, it was a fun challenge but all I did was swing a kettlebell. I mixed some push ups and pull ups in when I could and I got one trail run in as well. Lately I’ve been enjoying more variety and spending time working on my conditioning on the various gym machines.
Thanks for reading, as always, I hope this inspires you to look back at your previous month and spot any trends and set some realistic marks for the next month.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
How to Improve Your Push ups
Push ups are frustrating. On one hand, they’re a simple exercise, no equipment required and something that most everyone in the world familiar with. Many people think they should be able to do them based on that alone. However, push ups require a lot of strength and technique, and practice.
Eventually, poor technique will halt your progress. Whether your shoulders starts to feel achy or you’ve plateaued and can’t tack on any more reps, it’s likely that both strength and technique are your issue.
Here’s a checklist to ensure you’re doing everything to build the strength and technique required for big set of perfect push ups.
They should be hard but not too hard.
Reaching failure is a sure fire way to halt progress. We want you to use variation that is challenging to get the reps done, but not impossible, leading to frequent misses or sloppy technique. When you train your body to fail, it doesn’t adapt as well. Whatever the goal reps are, always try to leave one or two more reps “in the tank.” This is a discussion for another day, but this is called reps in reserve and knowing your RIR is a high-level gym skill.
Frequency
If push ups are really on your mind, talk to your coach and add in an additional day to get the reps in. One day should be hard, grinder reps focused on progressing in difficulty and building strength. The other day should be an easy volume building day where you do 40-50 reps at a variation that’s easy for you.
Place a premium on accessory movements.
A push up is just a plank where you bend your arms. Seriously, think about that. Lock in your plank technique, grip the ground, engage your glutes, use your upper back, breathe purposefully and realize that the more robust you are here, the better your push ups will be.
Mobilize those wrists.
If your wrists are really stiff, it can place more pressure on your shoulders while doing push ups. Stretching them out prior to your set can make a significant difference. Sometimes this is all it takes to unlock better technique.
Even if you were to never get a push up on the floor, chasing one is a worthwhile training pursuit to build total body strength, awareness and control.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
All Week
Taylor and Caroline are headed off for their honeymoon this week. That means I’ll be at the gym covering Coach T’s normal sessions and I am looking forward to spending more time on the floor coaching and catching up with those of you who I don’t see regularly. Clementine is excited to catch up with you, too.
See you soon!
PS
6am session cancelled today due to the snow, opening at 7:30am!
Justin Miner
Friday tHoughts 64
Welcome to this week’s edition of Friday Thoughts, where I share half formed blog ideas and some of my favorite videos I saw on Instagram recently. Enjoy!
I’ve always liked listening to podcasts and books. The first audiobook I ever listened to was the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson while I was commuting to finish out my college credits. Back then you had to download a book on a computer and transfer it over to an iPod. That book had a big impact on me, and is the reason we have a pirate flag in the gym. This past year, I have been listening to and reading the same book.
I forget exactly how it came about, but in early 2024 I was reading the Expanse series by James S.A. Corey and had a road trip coming up that I would be solo on, so I got the book I was currently reading on Audible, and listened to it on the road trip. This let me listen to a chapter or two while driving, and then pick back up when reading later. It isn’t always feasible, to get both the book and audiobook, but I will when I can. It helps me stay engaged in a book and I love it.
This clip talks about some of the interesting benefits of listening to books be read aloud.
This clip makes me sad, and unfortunately, it’s a reminder that no matter how perfectly you do something, shit happens. Lauren knows all the right ACL prevention; does all the warming up, cooling down, strength work, plyometrics, recovery, etc. You can still take a funny step and tear right through the ACL and become another non-contact ACL statistic though. Best of luck on your rehab Lauren.
Some January James Clear Inspiration.
This was an interesting take on stability from the internet’s favorite Olympian.
Pie January…
Thanks for reading, until next time!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Which is more impressive?
I’ve mentioned a couple times in the past two weeks that I wanted to hit 10k steps more consistently this year inspired by my wife Hannah’s 230+ day streak she has going.
Well, it’s a lot harder than I expected. I’ve only hit 10k about 50% of the time, so my streak is non-existent.
I did, however, realize last week that I took 3.7 millions steps in 2024, for a daily average of 10,109.
That got me thinking. What’s more impressive? The consistency of Hannah’s streak? Or does the consistency not matter because we got the same result?
Personally, I feel like I cheated my way to that daily average, because there were a lot of days that I only got 5 thousand steps (or less), but there were some outliers to make up for it. I got 20-30k, or even on one occasion over 100k.
Either way, they’re both impressive and show a commitment to moving and getting your steps in, but I just can help but think Hannah’s is more impressive due to the every single day consistency, whereas mine ebbed and flowed throughout the year.
Let me know what you think. What’s more important? Consistency, or is just getting the result just as impressive?
If you need to know where I’m at on this, take a look at our core values; be consistent not heroic: consistency and moderation over intensity.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Do This to get Stronger
If you’re doing your program at GAIN and stuff is starting to feel hard, or maybe harder than it should or usually does, there is one simple thing you can do to get more out of your workouts, strength and fitness.
Rest more.
When people see 4 rounds, or 5 rounds, they think, I need to complete these rounds quickly without any rest - and there is a time and a place for that. If we’re trying to get stronger though, a 90-second break can make the difference on a heavier weight feeling too hard or just right. As you work through the rounds, you accumulate fatigue. Your muscles get tired, your heart rate increases, blood is pumping to where it needs to go. Eventually things will feel harder than they should and your form could get sloppy.
Slow down!
Taking a minute, or two, or even sometimes up to 3 minutes is completely appropriate, especially for the big compound lifts typically completed at the start of the workout. Movements like squats, bench press, deadlifts, strict press, db snatch and the like.
To be clear, I’m not advocating for you to rest all the time. There’s a time and place to move quickly without rest, and there’s a time to slow down and let the body recover. If your main goal is to gain strength, slow down, rest a little more between rounds and you’ll be surprised at how much more weight you can add to the bar.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Movement Patterns
The fundamental movement patterns are a collection of shapes and positions that our bodies can make.
When creating a training program I use these fundamental movement patterns to guide exercise selection.
As a general framework I aim for clients to hit each movement pattern every workout. This ensures we’re exposing our bodies to the right ranges of motion and properly working all the muscles.
The movement patterns make it easy to individualize training plans. We can work around an injury or customize for a specific goal.
Pressing aggravates your shoulder? Let’s dial that knob back, maybe once per week is enough with the right variation, or maybe we cut it all together for a period of time.
Lunges bug your knee? We can work on more hip dominant single leg movements instead, and revisit quad dominant movements in a month or two.
Want a big bench press? We can turn up the volume and press more frequently.
Keep in mind, these are not exercises in and of themselves, but classifications of movements, and specific exercises are derived from these patterns and shapes.
Fundamental Movement Patterns:
Squat
Hinge
Push (horizontal / vertical)
Pull (horizontal / vertical)
Single Leg (hip dominant / knee dominant)
Core/Carry/Locomotion/Throw
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Write It down
Still riding the New Year’s high and chasing down your goals as motivated as possible? Or has your enthusiasm wained as January ticks by?
Chances are, if you’re reading this, you probably do have some goals or habits you’re trying to work on, and the tricky thing about motivation is that it just doesn’t last. If you’re chasing a goal, challenge or new habit and you feel it starting to slip away, I have some advice for you.
Write it down.
That’s it. In a notebook, on a post-it, a napkin or the notes app on your phone. It doesn’t matter. Although, using a pen and paper does seems to pack more of a punch. Write it everyday if you need to.
13 days into the year, keep going strong!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts 63
Greetings! Welcome to this week’s edition of Friday Thoughts, where I share half-formed blog ideas and some of my favorite things I saw on Instagram recently. Hope your 2025 has been off to a good start. Enjoy!
I will do a By The Numbers: 2024 for all things exercise and Garmin tracking related, but for now let’s talk steps. I took 3,761,103 steps in 2024. That was 381,000 more steps than I took in 2023, which is pretty crazy considering it’s like a full month of steps. Daily average was 10,212. I attribute this to one thing and one thing only, running. I ran 3x as much in 2024 as I did in 2023.
Cost of getting lean. This is a classic article from the people at Precision Nutrition and it compares the cost of getting lean, or having visible abs, with the lifestyle choices you’ll have to make. I think it’s an eye opener for many and enjoyed Juliette Starrett’s look at it.
If you want to get fitness information from the internet, get it from Jordan.
Catch me, Elliot and Nolan doing this in the summer.
Loved these dinner ideas from Meg Squats.
That’s all for now, see you next time.
Justin Miner
10k Swings Review
In December I set out, and failed, to complete ten thousand kettlebell swings. The challenge was created by strength coach Dan John, and consists of completing 20-500 swing workouts throughout the month. The problem with those workouts is they would take 60-90 minutes to complete, and I usually don’t have that much time. Instead, I wanted to sneak in swings whenever I could, instead of them having to be in a formal workout. I would use the 53-pound kettlebell for most of my swings, until the last few days, but more on that later.
The first week had a great start. I was motivated, had other people doing it with me and felt like I could do a million swings. Then after the first week, I tallied up 2200 swings and felt drastically behind (even though I wasn’t), the enormity of 10,000 swings became clear. I had the idea that I would train as normal, plus do kettlebell swings throughout the day and during my workout. The second week I found that wasn’t going to work. I could not complete 500 swings in less than 30 minutes so I felt like I was battling the clock. Adding anything else to the workout would only slow down the swings. I ended the second week with 4700 swings and three 0 days.
The third week I needed to add some other things in, my body was craving it. So I did a bike and swing workout and a couple of swings and push up workouts. I took two 0 days this week and all in all was feeling good and really noticing some adaptations from the 6500 swings. My swing felt tighter, breathing better and they felt less taxing on my body. However, in practice that didn’t hold up. The following week, on Christmas Eve, I was doing swings on the minute and my left forearm got all nervy and weird. I couldn’t grip the kettlebell.
I took the next day off and on the following day after completing 100 swings my forearm was cranky again, and this time my hip joined the party too. I called it a day and had my lowest total day for the month. Two more 0 days and I was back to swinging, this time with a 44 pound kettlebell to see if that helps my arm out at all. It did, but I tried running and swinging while sick and this workout put me down and out for the rest of the day. This was the day, 26 or 27 days into the 30-day challenge that I thought I may not finish. I was running myself into the ground and getting a cold wasn’t helping the cause. The next day I do a measly 100 swings and end the week at 7800.
Monday the 30th, two days left, I plan on an epic day. I do 700 all with the 20 kilo bell. Wasn’t bad. The next day, final day of the challenge, I have 1500 swings left. In perhaps the hardest swing workout I did, I did EMOM 45 - 20 swings for a total of 900. I went about the rest of my day thinking I had 500 left but it was 600. When I retailed and realized I was 100 off, it took all the wind out of my sails, not to mention 900 swings is absurd.
After putting the kids down for bed and went a grabbed the kettlebell and decided, I’m done. I got what I set out for, accumulate a crazy amount of swings in a short period of time. I’m bummed and a bit disappointed that I missed the mark. Robert, who completed the challenge, gave me a push to finish out my final 600, and I had the intentions to, but I just couldn’t muster up what I needed to swing again. I was over it. I am feeling inspired though, the monotony of all the swings put me in a conditioning mood and I’ll take advantage of the motivation.
All in all, my swings improved drastically and this was a fun and rewarding challenge, though I’m not sure I’ll be rushing to take it on again any time soon.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Gather Basket
We’re still collecting personal hygiene items for Gather.
We were late getting our basket set up this year and started right before Christmas, rather than the beginning of December (would have just been more stuff for us to move for the party). We are going to collect through the end of next week (Jan 17).
Things like shampoo, soap, tampons, toilet paper, paper towels, diapers, deodorant, tooth paste.
Stop by the store to grab something for the basket the next time you’re headed to the gym!
Thank you!
Justin Miner
Tough Start
As you may know, my wife Hannah has a 10k step streak going. She’s close to 220 days in a row. It’s been inspiring seeing her walk everyday and stay committed to her goal. Well, this isn’t a story about her success, it’s about my failure and what I’ll do with it.
As we were closing down 2024, I was thinking about what I want to do in the next year, and I couldn’t get over how impressive Hannah’s streak is, so I said to her, maybe I’ll get 10k steps everyday in 2025 to try and keep up with you.
January 1 rolls around and I head out for a 3 mile run and easily hit the steps. I had a hectic day on January 2. Lots of errands to run, work to do, and before I know it, I’m headed to bed with 7000 steps. The same thing happens the next day.
I made it a one day streak…. Might as well wait till next year to start fresh!
That was my mindset around habits for a long time. They needed to be executed perfectly or I’ll just try again another time. I’ve learned that nothing ever goes perfectly, and the most impressive thing about a streak is when you start back up after faltering.
My should be 6 day streak is only a 3 day streak. Not a big deal.
I’ll continue on as planned and see where it goes. After missing a couple days so early in the year, I’m nervous of the year long commitment because I better understand how easily it can slip away. For now, I’ll focus on the day ahead of me and not worry about the grandeur of the challenge.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
First Week - Back to Basics
I know it’s already been 2025 for sometime now, but today feels like it’s really getting started with our first full week of the year.
If you have some awesome new goals and habits you’re taking on in the new year, congrats, I’m excited for you.
With all the excitement around the new year, we can often feel pressure to start a new habit or challenge just because, and that usually leads to burn out. What I’m doing this week is getting back to basics and making sure I have my old habits nailed down before focusing on adding more to my plate. I’m talking super basic.
Getting in bed by 9pm, drinking some water in the morning (and not surviving off just coffee), planning and prepping breakfast and lunch, and getting my calendar organized are my priorities this week.
New goals and habits are awesome, but also make sure you have your basics squared away too.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts 62
My brain isn’t sure it’s Friday, but it is according to the calendar. Welcome to the first edition of Friday Thoughts in the New Year. I hope your 2025 has been off to a great start so far. Enjoy!
Short people AirBike hack:
This is a clever solution.
Running Warm Up?
This is some fine stroller running. Great form.
We’ve tried this in our house, no way you’re getting to a 15 block stack with Nolan around.
Whoa…
Lastly, some habits/goals/resolution stuff to think about from my favorite, James Clear (via Peter Attia’s Instagram account).
Make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, make it satisfying.
Happy Friday everyone, see you in the gym!
Justin Miner
Happy New Year!
2025 is here and the blog is back!
I had a great time hanging with the family over the holiday break, but I’m eager to get back into the gym and into my normal routine.
If you’ve known me for a while you probably think I’m a New Year’s resolution hater. I’m all for big goals, I’ve just witnessed too much resolution big talk with little or fading action. I actually like the idea of the fresh start. What things can we change or adjust to make better this year? I also like reflecting back on the year. How many miles did I run? How many workouts did I do? Can I plan another family vacation for the summer? What did I do well? What didn’t work? What do I want to try this year?
They’re all good chances to bring in the year right. Whether you have a big list of goals, a few small habits to change or are using this time as a chance for reflection, I wish you all the best heading into 2025!
Justin Miner
Friday Thoughts 61
Greetings! Happy Holidays. Welcome to the 255th blog of the year, and also, the last blog of the year. I do enjoy writing the blog, especially these Friday posts, but I’m looking forward to 10 or so days away from it ready to come charging out of the gate in January.
New Year, New Me?
If you don’t have any big, drastic, life-altering goals set up for the new year, or any new habits you want to develop - that’s okay. I’m at war with half-assed goals and would venture to say that not having one is better than some non-specific, hard to define wish. If you are eager to make change in the new year, please, start small. Tiny changes that don’t seem like much, that seem too easy, are the ones you’ll be able to stick with for the long haul. Don’t ‘burn out’ from your goals after a few weeks. Set it up to be manageable.
Other Notable 200 Day Streaks
I’m one of the most impressive habits I’ve seen pulled off this year, my wife Hannah just hit her 201st day in a row of 10k steps. I asked her how long she plans to continue and she said forever. For the most part, she rolls out of bed and gets straight on the treadmill for a 30 minute walk before running or lifting in the garage. There’s been some days she gets an extra walk in at night to hit the number, or a couple of crazy travel days involving overnight flights and time zone changes. Which, funny enough, at the GAIN party when I overheard Hannah telling Taylor her account of getting her steps in that day he replied, isn’t that kind of missing the point?
Their conversation has sparked a lot of discussion between Hannah and I over the past couple weeks.
I see Taylor’s perspective. The point of a steps goal is to have something to strive for and encourage you to move more and make it a natural part of your day to be exposed to more movement and more walking. While I get Taylor’s point that it could be seen as unnecessary or over-the-top to take a late night walk (early in the morning at home) after an international flight. To Hannah’s point, that’s the exact reason she’s doing it. Nothing can unwind 12 hours of travel like a nice walk, and if keeping the steak going encourages you to do it, I think it’s good.
KB Swings Update
The kettlebell swing challenge continues on. On Day 19, I’m averaging 295 swings per day with 5600 total 95% with the 24kg kettlebell, some lighter if I need to warm up or some heavier with the 32kg. I’ve taken more 0 days than I expected but that seems to be helpful to get a big day in. The most I have done in a day so far was 800. That was spread out throughout the day plus a workout of push ups and swings that accumulated 400. It takes about 5 minutes to do 100 no matter which way you slice it. It’s more time consuming that I expected and I thought sneaking in sets of 25 throughout the day would add up more, but it’s really only worth it when you can bang out 100 at a time, so I try to work within 5 or 10 or 20 minute chunks to get some work done. Technique feels great, and well-connected to the ground. Initially my forearms were a bit stiff and I’ve been trying to stretch my wrists more. I’m looking forward to moving on to something else, but in the meantime I’m going to keep chipping away at these swings, and hopefully log a couple of big days (1000+) over the holidays. I’ll keep my kettlebell roasting by the wood stove.
Holiday Hours Reminder
CLOSED: 24-25-26-31-1
Until next year!
Justin Miner
Must Watch
This podcast with Andrew Huberman and Kelly Starrett is a gold mine of information about health span, lifestyle, movement, fascia, training, the pelvic floor and breathing amongst many other topics as well. It’s loaded with discussion that will make you think and actionable items you can start implementing in your life.
It’s a long one, so buckle up.
Enjoy!
Justin Miner
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
running by the numbers 2024
Like many of the apps we use these days, Strava has an end of year wrap up that shows how many miles you ran, vertical gain, time spent training, etc. I want to share this with you today because I had a bit of a comeback to running this year, and I was surprised to see my miles compared to the past few years. If you get anything out of this, I hope it’s that you realize playing the long game is key. If I run for the rest of my life, a couple of down years will just be a blip.
To paint the picture, let’s go all the way back to 2019, what I would consider my ‘peak’ running year where I logged the most miles and felt very fit.
(btw, this is chump change for big milage people)
In 2020 I start my slow decline. I ran a couple big epic runs like a Hut Traverse, but it seems stressful now.
2021 - We have a baby at home and running is hard to prioritize but I still get out there.
2022 - we have a two year old, another baby on the way, running takes a back seat. I had a hard time getting excited about running at all this year and remember that clearly.
2023, my low point of running. I hated running this year, and couldn’t get myself to enjoy it at all. I ran only once race.
Whenever I would get out on a run I would feel guilty… I should be with the kids, or mowing the lawn or calling this person back… These thoughts had been building for a couple years and reached the breaking point this year - I was no longer having fun.
After the 50k in August I decided it was time for a long break from running. I took some time to chill and the hired a weightlifting coach in November, and would spend 6 months training specifically for the sport of weightlifting thinking my running days are behind me because it just wasn’t fun anymore - it was stressful. And of course it was stressful, in 5 years I went from 200+ hours of running to only 60. The drop off was noticeable and it felt like I wasn’t being productive for any of it to even matter.
My 2024 running season started in February, though I didn’t get out for my first run until April. I was in full on weightlifting mode, gaining weight and training hard in a new rhythm now with a coach telling me what to do for a new sport.
When the Mount Washington Road Race lottery opened up, I couldn’t resist. I threw my name in for the 8th year and finally got picked!
I was stressed. I was coming off my ‘worst’ year of running and now I hadn't even run in months and Mount Washington was just 7 weeks after the weightlifting meet! But I had to do it, it’s a classic race and it’s been on my list for a while so I accepted my registration and forgot about running until after the weightlifting meet.
Getting into that race sparked something in me. I ran 7 races this past summer, more than I ever have. I had fun too, and really enjoyed it for the first time in years.
Having to ‘cram for the test,’ and get ready to charge up Mount Washington was a novel problem to solve - how can I get ready to run this very quickly with just several weeks of training? That combined with the Hannah taking on her longest trail run ever, 20-miles, was the spark I needed to be reinvigorated for the summer.
Here are the races:
Bow Lake 15k
Market Square Day 10k
Mount Washington Road Race
MMD Franconia Notch
Wasatch pacing
Great Bay 5k
Stone Cat 50 Miler (DNF, ran 25)
Here are some other numbers from the 2024 running season:
Longest run: 45 miles at Wasatch Front
Longest streak: 44 days (July 1-Aug 12)
Most active day of the week: Thursday
Most active time: 2-3pm
Average activity duration: 40 minutes
Total active days 140 - 73% increase from 2023
Total run time: 150 hours - 107% increase from 2024
Currently, I’m on a break from running. My goals for 2025 are fluctuating as I decide what to do. The break has been since early November, when I DNF the 50-miler. That result definitely changed my outlook on the 2025 season, but nonetheless I’m feeling the itch to get out there sooner than before.
Above: finish line on top of the Rock Pile.
Below: me and Noli finishing a stroller run at the Great Bay 5k and Market Square Day 10k.
The point, as I mentioned above, is to dive into these numbers because it’s fun to look back and reflect. Also though, I want to prove a point that just because you have a bad day or week or year(s) it isn’t over. We need to focus on playing the long game if we want to live healthy and fulfilling lives and part of that is the peaks and valleys of your training life cycle.
Take some time today to reflect back on your 2024 training. How did it go? What trends can you spot? How can you adjust heading into 2025?
Thanks for reading.
Justin Miner