Runner’s Life Newsletter

Highlights and stories from August 18 — August 31, 2024

Jeff Barton

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Runner's Life

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4 min readSep 1, 2024

Welcome to the Runner’s Life newsletter!

If you’ve missed previous Runner’s Life newsletters, you can find the archive here.

Below is the most recent edition of Amby Burfoot’s weekly newsletter titled Run Long, Run Healthy, where he publishes short summaries and links to the Internet’s most recent and scientific reviews of running information so you can learn how to be better at running.

Double Threshold Workouts Vs Singles — Which To Do? 10 Worst Training Tips; Bounding is Best Plyo

Previous editions of Run Long, Run Healthy newsletters can be found here.

Featured Stories

My New Way to Prevent Running Injuries by Robert Roy Britt

“Across four decades of running, zigging and zagging from casual jogging to competitive triathlons, ankle-turning trail races and one ill-advised marathon, I’ve developed everything from shin splints and chronic hip-flexor pain to inexplicable knee pain and soul-crushing plantar fasciitis. Each time, a major contributing factor is irrational exuberance — ramping up too quickly. Yet there’s more to it, I know: weak muscles or joints, or some sort of structural imbalance — something that needs more attention.
Whatever the case, I keep coming back to running, for reasons every runner understands.
While I seem not to have gained any wisdom through all the pain and frustration, I have come to understand that the solution to each setback was simple and obvious: Stop running or scale way back, get a proper diagnosis, do the physical therapy while leaning into other low-impact activities to stay fit, then ease back into the running cautiously and try not to be an idiot again.”

“The starting gun goes off. Soon I’m charging down hills and across valleys, enjoying the sights and sounds of nature while testing my physical abilities alongside a pack of fellow runners. But as I make my way along the trail that comprises this race course, my eye is drawn away from the beauty around me toward the ground…and the litter scattered on the otherwise pristine trail. A GU packet here, an errant tissue there, and it seems that everywhere paper cups deface the landscape.
Running is, in general, an eco-friendly sport. No grassy golf greens that require fertilizer, no ice rinks in need of refrigeration…not many essentials in the way of equipment except a pair of decent running shoes. However, the races in which runners participate can negatively impact the environment if steps aren’t taken to mitigate potential damage. Fortunately, many race directors are taking action to decrease the adverse consequences that can result from their events.”

Treading lightly upon the trails

“As a back-of-the-pack person at races, I get a good look at the junk left behind by the faster folks ahead of me. Some items appear to have been dropped unintentionally, but I suspect others are jettisoned on purpose — empty energy gels, unneeded gloves, and most often, paper cups from aid stations. Volunteers collect discarded clothing from aid stations or mile markers and then donate the items to charity, but there’s not much they can do about waste that litters the course.”