Is Running Really Skill or Just Effort?

And the best thing to do after your run for recovery kickstart

What to expect:

• 🧘🏽The perfect time to meditate is right after a run

• 🏃🏽‍♂️Is Running Really Skill or Just Effort?

• 🎢 Workout of the Week: Hill Sprints + 300s

• 🫀The Physiology of Running Faster for Longer: VO2max, Lactate Threshold & Running Economy

🧘🏽The perfect time to meditate is right after a run

It’s so obvious, but I never did it until a few months ago.

"All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone."

- Blaise Pascal, 17th-century French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher.

There are a lot of things in life that I learn, and I’m like, “Wow, I didn’t know that.” This is not one of those things.

A lot of people (including myself) struggle to give their time towards meditating, being mindful or even just sitting still and reflecting while breathing in a controlled manner.

Meditation and mindfulness are quite trendy now, but like most things, it’s a tough habit to make sticky.

I know some folks are allergic to the thought of “sitting quietly with their thoughts”, so here is a quick way to hack your brain to not think of it as mental punishment. And instead like a recovery treat that may help you perform better post-workout.

My Meditation Back Story

Meditation, for me, always seemed like what the woo-woo hippies would do. I remember telling a friend, “I don’t need to meditate; I drive, ride my bike, and run. I’m good”. While those activities force me to just focus on the thing in front of me, those things are not really meditating and being fully mindful.

Most folks, again including myself, think of me as a pretty upbeat person. But back in 2012, I had a 30-year-old life crisis and developed some very unrealistic expectation about a career in music that didn’t pan out. What followed was a wave of mild depression/severe sadness. Whilr talking to a great friend, he said matter-of-factly, “Daren, bruh… you just need to meditate.” It hit me hard, and without an app or any guidance, I just sat down half crossed legged and figured it all out. Starting at two minutes per day and then building up to 5-10 minutes. I’ve been meditating on/off for 12 years and consistently for the last six. Most days between 5-20 minutes and sometimes even multiple times per day.

I have ADHD, and this is one behavioral tactic to avoid medicine and keep me at a baseline to avoid ADHD anxiety ridden spirals

Proper sleep, diet, and, you guessed it, exercise are also a few other ways to keep that monkey in my mind from causing more chaos. Stacking meditation after your workout makes so much sense from a sequential and scientific place.

Science To Back That Up

So, on the Huberman Labs Podcast with expert exercise scientist Dr Andy Galpin, they spoke about down-regulation breathing in their recovery episode

and the best time to do it was right after a workout. Downregulation breathing after a run helps shift the nervous system from a sympathetic (fight-or-flight) state to a parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) state, promoting faster recovery and reducing stress hormones like cortisol.

From the studies he cited, the below is one of the best ways to do it:

• Time: 4-7 mins

• Place: Either a towel over your head, in a dark room, or just your eyes closed

• Method: Box breathing, double inhale, and fast in, slow out, and most preferably through the nose, are all effective

I also got the post workout sequence idea from Mark Sisson’s (Mark’s Daily Apple) weekly newsletter, who said he struggles to meditate and this works well for him

Try It Yourself

If you’re someone who struggles with just sitting still, all you have to do is start at two minutes with controlled, focused breathing right after your run. There are a million apps that can help you with this. Then, look to add one minute per week and try to get it up to 7-10 minutes.

Boom, that’s it—no chasing thoughts, clearing the brain, or any of those more complex meditation techniques. You can do that later if you choose. With this entry level method you’ll still be getting the main benefits of the down-regulation breathing post-workout while laying down the foundation for mindfulness and meditation in the future.

Hell, you can even try habit stacking it to right after you stretch. Then, it’s a nice transition from moving vigorously to gentle movement to rest.

Let me know how you go.

🏃🏽‍♂️Is Running Really Skill or Just Effort?

How do you feel after this sentence;

Running isn’t a real sport because real sports require skill.

Is running really just a challenging competition with yourself? Does an activity like bowling take more skill than running? Does that make it harder to do?!

In this episode, we’re getting extra existential on this one and going deep down the rabbit hole of the “difficulty” of running.

Whether you’re a seasoned marathoner or a casual jogger, understanding the balance between technique and hard work can transform your performance. We’ll uncover how elite runners optimize their form, improve efficiency, and why for amateurs, simply pushing harder might not be enough.

Watch, read, and listen to this on your next run or workout.

---

I love putting this newsletter out each week! It’s like my way of sharing some cool, “Deep Daren” running thoughts and practical tools & tactics I have accumulated over the last 12 years. But I’m super curious… what stands out to you? Or is there something you think I should dive deeper into? Drop me a comment below, and let’s see where this conversation goes."

---

🎢 Workout of the Week: Hill Sprints + 300s

I’ve decided to train concurrently for an 800m (my first track 800m race in 20 years) and a 3k (my first one ever).

They are technically two different races to be training for on slightly opposite ends of the spectrum as far as energy systems. Rarely can someone train for a distance that is that far of a jump away.

Example - If I was pro and properly trained, I could, in essence, train for the 800-meter and 1500-meter races at the same time. They use similar energy systems. The 1500, steeplechase (3k race) and 5k are also all quite similar. And the 5k and 10k are pretry much identical in training and the latter is double the length. The 800m and 3k are pushing it.

Note - Swedish gold medal Olympic distance runner Sifan Hassan said hold my beer to that theory. She is someone who can (and did) run at a world-class level in the 1500m and then turn around and win the marathon, which makes no human sense.

But I’m not a pro, so YOLO, let’s figure out how I can train for both at the same time and enjoy what makes me curious.

Here’s the workout:

• Find the steepest hill you can run with good form for 30 seconds (live in a flat place? A bridge or stairs/bleachers is fine)

• 6 reps x 30 seconds hill sprints @ 90-95% effort | Rest: jog/walk down to the bottom of the hill. 95% effort should feel like an all out 100-200meter sprint

• 3x300m @ 90% for the entire 300m or current 800m fitness | rest 3 min between reps

Notes

• This workout looks so easy and short on paper, and yet it fried me the first time I tried it

• You need to be in race-ready shape, have a solid base of 8 weeks, and have done some speed/interval work for at least 2-3 weeks to be safe and not pull something

• Make sure you feel rested before this workout by doing this at least 48 hours after a long or hard session

🫀The Physiology of Running Faster for Longer: VO2max, Lactate Threshold & Running Economy

This video is another gem that neatly explains running science but without dumbing it down.

My favorite part is the section where he likens Vo2 Max to how big your fuel tank is, lactate threshold to how high you can redline the car and running economy to how fuel efficient your car is. He then says that to run fast, you need three variables: high vo2 max, high lactate threshold, and great running economy. He said most sub-elite amateur runners are pretty good at all three and the pros and exceptional at one or two. Rarely are they great at all three.

If someone has all three, then they could theoretically run a 1:57:58 marathon. This is actually based on a paper that Michael Joyner wrote in the late 90s about how the fastest current humans (without any biological augmentations/enhancements) could run the marathon.

Again, dumbing it down for the smart people in the back!!! I’m always looking out for ya. Watch the video here.