I have been slowly listening to Oliver Burkeman’s new book, Meditations for Mortals, and a couple of the sections of this short video draw on chapters of the book. I don’t quite know how to describe his work—it’s not quite “anti-productivity,” but he sure makes me feel better about not getting everything on my to-do list done. If you don’t have eight minutes to watch the full thing, I’d recommend watching the short section on “Productivity Debt” starting at about 3:30. (video)
I found Robin Wilding’s Substack this week through her post about putting her senior dog down (which was wonderful but maybe not what everyone needs to read this week), and I clicked around a bit and found this gem she wrote last September, The 11 Traits of Utterly Unfuckwithable People. My favorite might be #5, They Treat Servers Nice.
Peter Bromka, who is one of the most compelling voices currently writing about running, writes about being injured, and although I wish he wasn’t injured right now and could run, this is a great piece of writing that came about because he can’t.
Would you like a guide on how to make the best coffee in a Moka pot? Here it is. (Also love the data distinguishing Moka pot coffee from actual espresso in this piece—it’s not espresso, but it’s fantastic).
Perhaps you heard about or watched Jamil Coury and Kevin Russ’s battle to run the furthest on one two-block Strava segment in Tempe, Arizona, in order to win 52 free Chipotle burritos in a year? If you didn’t, I won’t spoil it for you, but I really enjoyed this breakdown from Matt Trappe, which dived into some of the media and social media stats of the whole thing.
I got a sweat test done last week, not because I am an elite athlete looking for every piece of data I can get in order to perform at my best on race day, but because I am a normal person looking for data that will help me feel better during and after I exercise. It was honestly quite the revelation—not the fact that I have slightly below average sodium levels in my sweat, but the 30+ minutes I got to spend with Tom Robey, the guy who did my test, talking about how much sodium I should actually be ingesting during big days (and after normal-for-me workouts). It’s pretty fascinating: an electrode the size of a quarter makes a small spot on your forearm sweat, and that tiny amount of sweat is analyzed for sodium content. You then measure how much you sweat in a typical 30-minute effort and figure out what your electrolyte and fluid needs are. Let’s just say I have been pretty far off in my past efforts to hydrate and take in electrolytes. A couple articles from newsletter sponsor Precision Fuel and Hydration’s website about this (reminder: clicking on these links will apply a 15% discount to your first PFH purchase):
- The different types of Sweat Test and why you should have one
- Does consuming more salt mean you’ll have saltier sweat?
I have never looked too much into thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail or the PCT or the Continental Divide Trail, but this article had a bunch of interesting statistics about demographics and cost ($10,500 to hike the AT! on average).
From what I gather, these people were about to become grandparents, and wanted to record a short video message to their daughter, who was about to give birth to their grandchild, but they couldn’t keep from cracking each other up while trying to share a heartfelt message, which makes me think they will be pretty wonderful grandparents.
Lastly: A reminder that this coffee mug exists and is for sale in my DFTBA shop for $18.99:
