Oct 1, 2024 4 min read

September 2024 bakery

I've become persuaded by the idea that we are the product on most social media apps. The thoughts and links that I would have shared on these hellsites, I now aggregate in a monthly post I call the "Bakery."

Half baked

Some written thoughts, but not enough for their own post.

Last month I ran the most mileage in a single calendar month in my entire life. The next closest milage this year came way back in April, but that was over 20 miles less than August. The second greatest mileage month of all time was August of 2022, which was when I was training for my first California International Marathon.

Month	Distance
8/1/2024	267.73
8/1/2022	263.84
3/1/2022	256.48
7/1/2023	254.95
10/1/2023	252.56
7/1/2022	247.01
8/1/2023	246.44
4/1/2022	245.59
4/1/2024	245.11
7/1/2024	241.98

I reread Seveneves by his Lordship Neal Stephenson. This book is actually goated. The book is divided into three parts and my reread has prompted a revision in the official power rank. The original ranking was Part 2 > Part 1 > Part 3. The new ranking is now Part 2 > Part 3 > Part 1. This is highly consequential.

I noted two quotes as I read that I will share.

I release you from your vow.

Damn. That part is so good.

Bodies were not trash, of course. But burning them up in the atmosphere seemed as good a way as any to dispose of them. The space-age equivalent of a Viking funeral.

Long live his Lordship Neal Stephenson.

Slow down to speed up

This weekend I set a personal best at the 5k distance with 21:25 unofficial watch time. That is a 6:50 minutes per mile average pace.

If you look at my runs on Strava, you'll see that most of my runs are not at 6:50 minutes per mile. Rather, over the last month I averaged a 10:13 minutes per mile pace.

Imagine a new runner who just completed their first 5k at a respectable 30 minutes or roughly 10 minutes per mile.

I subscribe to the 80 / 20 running principle which holds that at least 80% of your training runs should be at an easy effort.

According to my average pace on Strava, lately my easy effort is 4 and a half minutes slower per mile than my 5k pace. If our new runner made the same absolute shift, they would need to consider a 14 min mile their easy pace.

If we go off percentages, which is probably more accurate, 4 min out of 6 min is a 67% slowdown from 5k effort to easy pace. For our 10 minute per mile 5k'er a similar slowdown would put them at over 16 min mile.

While many, many people finish 5k's at 10 min per mile, I see very few 16 min per mile walks on Strava.

And yet I see so many people getting injured and leaving the sport altogether.

If you want to get fast, you have to run consistently. If you want to run a lot you have to slow down. Shortcuts lead to injury.

Disclaimer: I'm only ~50% confident that I'm training correctly.