Your fortnightly running fix to become the dopest runner in town
🏃🏽♂️Skim time (5k pace): 1 min 7 sec
🚶🏽♀️Read time (long run pace): 4 min 47 sec
👋🏽 Hello! New blood, invigorating vibes! And to our old pals, a nod of recognition
TLDR about what’s coming up;
- ⌚️ Body Battery & Smart Watches | Present things you can try right now!
- 📊 Training Updates & What I’m digging | Past things to learn from me
- 🎲 Group Dice Workouts & Dosages | Future stuff for you to try
Feeling this? Why not…
Sponsor: MOS COACHING
If you were in need of a coach, my coaching sub company – Master of Some MOS (MOS Coaching) is finally offering limited coaching spaces.
We know a lot of runners like to self-coach themselves but sometimes struggle with having an objective view of what they are doing, or just may not know how to get to where they want and (insert your goal).
There is a way to be in the middle – I call this “Run Advice”. Just like a general practitioner (GP) doctor would recommend you to a specialist, I can do that for you by talking with you once, once a month, or once before you start your big race block.
Go here or email me if interested – coach@dlakecreates.com.
Welcome! Three Thing Thursday is dead. Long live One Percent Better! The internet’s best-running tips, wisdom and (bad) jokes newsletter.
You’ll be on your way to better performance in five minutes or less. I’ve spent the last 11 years experimenting with myself to figure out how to improve my performance as I age. Now, I want to share that knowledge with you.
Each newsletter will feature a few ideas from the internet or from me that you can choose to implement.
Heel lock lace and tie your racing shoes tight because we’re about to get loose on the track.
THE FEEDBACK LOOP
Alright, alright, alright! Lay it on me – what worked, what didn’t, and what’s still a mystery. And hey, while you’re at it, share your training updates and any righteous articles with the Master of Some community.
Feeling this? Why not…
Share DLake Creates Newsletter
⌚️Body Battery & Smart Watches | Present things you can try right now!
Garmin’s Body battery (and other smartwatches) explained
WTF is Garmin Body Battery?
Garmin Body Battery is a feature on Garmin watches that calculates your energy reserves and readiness for training based on heart rate variability, stress, and activity data.
- It tells you how much juice you’ve got left in the tank for your next workout.
Why should you give a damn?
Using Gearmin’s Body Battery can help you avoid overtraining and improve your overall health.
- It’s like having a personal energy coach, physiologist, and a personal trainer on your wrist, telling you when to push and when to pull back.
How do you make this thing work for you?
To use your Body Battery effectively, wear your Garmin device consistently, including at night, and pay attention to your Body Battery score.
- It’s like a fuel gauge for your body. Keep it topped off with rest and recovery; you’ll be ready to rock your next workout.
- Note – Coros, Polar, Apple Watch, Sunto, etc. at the time of this newsletter, do not have anything like Body Battery that I could find, but I’m sure there are apps that can take into account all your training, heart rate, hrv, etc. I use the HRV-based “Training readiness” app for Apple Watch/iPhone combined with Strava’s fitness/freshness feature from their premium plan.
Is your smartwatch data lying to you?
What is it?
- Smartwatch insights are metrics designed to help guide training decisions
Why is this important?
- While helpful, smartwatch insights can sometimes be inaccurate or misunderstood.
- Seeking input from a coach who can provide subjective guidance can complement smart watch insights.
How to implement it?
- Use smartwatch insights as a tool to help guide your training decisions.
- Look at the figures over time to see if they are varying.
- Compare them to other data you have and your own gut/effort/intuition.
- Seek input from a coach who can provide subjective guidance based on your unique needs and goals.
📊Training Updates & What I’m digging | Past things to learn from me
Training Update Canava Photo from June
How I’m listening to music
I’m now listening to music actively. As a musician/audio engineer/producer, I often had to do this. Now that I’m doing more “Content”, music is always my background thing.
With active listening, it’s like meditation, easy in theory, crazy hard in practice. I mean, all you need to do is focus on the song. I personally like to focus on the bassline and drums (aka the groove). Others like the melody. I personally do this with instrumental tracks (music without words) to avoid the distraction of lyrics (they add a beautiful layer on top of the music but can take away from the actual music/notes/sonic palette.
I’d say this is great for people who don’t like to meditate or if you can’t meditate for some reason (on a train, waiting in line) and just have a few mins. Pick 3-4 of your favorites and make a playlist to return to this.
🎲 Group Dice Workouts & Dosages | Future stuff for you to try
💪🏽 Physical Thing For You To Try ASAP
What is the Group Dice Workout?
The Dice Workout is a fun and unpredictable way to break up a hard day of running. It also can be done solo if you’re extra introverted like me and drained by other people’s energy.
Why is this important?
It’s important to add some variety to your running routine to keep it interesting and challenging. The Dice Workout adds an element of surprise to your training and helps you stay motivated.
How to implement the Dice Workout:
- Choose a flat surface or track to run on
- Roll a die before each interval to determine the pacing pattern for the rep
- Each number on the die corresponds to a different pace pattern that you can make up or use my examples below
- The paces aren’t exact; focus on the effort level for each pattern
- Do each interval between 400m-1k depending on what you are training for (5k runners do 400m, half marathon and up do 1k total)
- Stop when you’ve done between 4k-10k total distance or when you tap out
- Note – this is a wild one, so approach this with caution the first time you do it.
Examples of rolls on the die
- 1 = alternate easy/medium/hard every 100 meters
- 2 = alternate easy / hard every 200 meters
- 3 = Run the whole interval at a medium effort
- 4 = Run the whole interval at a hard effort
- 5 = alternate medium / hard every 100 meters
- 6 = alternate easy / medium every 100 meters
Question
Hit reply to answer and/or hit me up on Instagram (link tbd) to learn from the Master of Some community and one per cent better your running life.
🧠 Mental Thing For You To Try ASAP
What is your desired dose? What do you need right now? A little bit more or a little bit less?
Nearly everything in life has a useful zone, a desired dose.
Ten minutes in the sun can energize you. Ten hours in the sun can burn you.
Forty-five minutes of running keeps you fit and healthy. Forty-five hours running will break you down.
This concept applies to many things: work, relationships, hobbies, exercise, food, etc.
Life, training, racing… same, same! What’s your dose?
Hit reply to answer here via email or go on Instagram to answer and see what others have said.
And…
… for July 2023
PS – If you were in need of a coach, I’m finally offering limited coaching spaces. Go here or email me if interested – coach@dlakecreates.com
