 So with the other trigger point foam roller, you cannot roll your lower back. If you can, you're very, you're a lot tougher than I am. Hi, yes, sir. Another day, another vlog, more filming, rolling out, recovering. Can't wait to use this guy today. And yes, keyword is going to be questions. And I'm just going to lead off question of the day. What questions do you have for me about any topic? Now, down in the comments. Now, how many I will actually be able to respond to? I don't know. I can almost guarantee I won't be able to respond to all of them, but I'll do my best to type as quick as I can after you ask down below in the comments. All right, let's roll out. And just a beautiful day, basically Twitter, Instagram. Those are probably the top two places to ask me questions. So this comes from Kit and he asked, do you recommend those Hoka recovery slides? My feet are taking a bit of a pounding and my foot roller and spiky ball just aren't doing the job. Kit, thank you for the question on Twitter. And yes, I 100% think that you should pick up a pair of the Hoka recovery slides. I personally prefer the Hoka recovery slides over the UFUS, O-O-F-O-S recovery slides, which you can find my comparison video up a right hand corner as to why I chose the Hoka recovery slides. I wear them every single day, every day around the house. I love them. I love them. And yes, you know where they're available. All right, let's roll out. And as we begin the rolling out, I'm going to start with a gentle foam roller and then transition into the trigger point. So here we go. Actually, this is the first time I'm using it. Oh my goodness. Yes, sir. It's a 12 inch model, 12 inches. You can pack it in a suitcase for your travels. And guess what? I can fit both my legs on it. Now I have kind of chicken legs, but so if you have tree trunk legs, you might not be able to fit both legs on. But I think they do 12 inch, 18 inch, 24 inch and 36 inch. So you got options. So nice warm up for the trigger point. Oh, that felt so good. All right, here we are in downtown Denver, stretching out here, filming, rolling out, going for an easy run. And yes, tomorrow's blog is all about answering as many questions as possible from all of you. So I'll take at least a couple here. I'll do my best. So if you have a question for me about running, about, you know, shoes, life, whatever it might be, make sure you hit me up in the DMs. All right. Love you guys. See you soon. Holy. So with the other trigger point foam roller, you cannot roll your lower back. If you can, you're very, you're a lot tougher than I am. I think I would break my back. But with this guy, oh my goodness. It's like, oh, it's like heaven, heaven, heaven. Wow. That feels amazing. There we go. I'm all rolled out, stretched out, feeling good. And we're going to get rolling here in a minute, but I just posted that a question to Instagram and they're rolling in. All right, here we go. I'm just picking the first one. This is from Ross and he's has a question about mileage. And he basically, he puts it like this. Would I lean toward volume and lower quality, meaning lower quality mileage or running or lower volume and higher quality? So Ross, I'm not afraid to put it out there. I lean toward higher volume. And if you want to say it's lower quality, that's fine. But I truly believe building that aerobic base at slower paces is better for the long-term development in your training block, meaning I always talk about the pyramid, the bigger the pyramid, the higher the peak. So the more base mileage that you have, aka lower quality mileage, which I don't know. I'm not going to put it in that category. Hold on. There's a truck driving by. So I'm not going to put base mileage in lower quality, but I'm a firm believer in bigger pyramid, bigger the base, higher the pyramid, meaning you're going to peak better on race day. But I will say one more caveat. I've been running for 20 years. And so I've learned to listen to my legs and my overall body and my mental state to know when I'm running too much and when my legs are completely shot and when I need to just slow down and chill out and not run as high volume. So I'm going to leave it there, Ross. That's my quick answer for you. Love you guys. All right, let's go run. Come on. All right. So I found, it's a little crazy out. It's windy, really windy right now. So hopefully you can hear me. I want to take one more question on the run here from Paul Harvey on Facebook. He asked this, and this actually connects to the previous answer as well. He asked, how many speed work sessions a week should I be doing to better my 5k time? And he said, cheers, Paul. So Paul, here's a quick story to help illustrate what I want to tell you. Basically, my 5k, my 5k PR is 1446. I ran it 10 years ago in college at sea level on a track, the University of Oregon track. Fast forward to four months ago. I ran my second fastest 5k PR time of my life as a 33 year old with no speed training. What was I doing? A aerobic base, mountain running, and threshold running, getting ready for the Cleveland Marathon. So, but I will say this, Paul, to answer your question, I would lean toward once a week for speed sessions, at least especially if you're just getting used to speed sessions. I know if I want to drop from 1531 down to, let's say, back into the 14 minute range, I know that I can't do that just on base mileage alone or mountain running or threshold running. I know for a fact I would have to mix in anaerobic running as well. So Paul, short answer is once a week to start. And then if you really feel like your body can handle it, maybe bumping that up to twice a week to connect back to Ross's answer, I would emphasize more base mileage, long runs, middle distance runs, and yes, yes, threshold running. All right. All right. Love you guys. We're almost back to the car. Then I'll get more answers for you in the shooty. A couple more questions rolling in on Instagram. Here we go. This is from Helen on Instagram. He asked, will you ever make running singlets or t-shirts in polyester with your seek beauty work card and love each other? Funny you ask because I was just texting back and forth with a gentleman in South Carolina who's going to help me make some singlets that are polyester dry fit, but we're going to take care of that after Pike's Peak. So good question. Yes, they are coming. Let's grab one more from Alexis. He says, I'm watching in Chamonix, France. That's amazing. I bet you're there for UTMB or CCC. What is the best method for you to do interval trainings in the trails, flat or steep, long or short? Thanks for the inspiration. You are welcome, Alexis. Thanks for watching from France, basically. And let me real quick here. Let me just straighten the camera. So that's a great question. Alexis, I would recommend doing your interval training on the trails on a flatter section of the trail rather than really steep uphills. I would prefer to do a long sustained effort for steep uphill running, but the key for interval training, not only is the anaerobic development, but it's the turnover. And it's difficult, obviously, to do hard, to do quick turnover on a steep hill. So I would recommend finding a flatter or rolling section of trail for intervals. That's why I went to the top of this 14,000-foot mountain that you're looking at right now. It's like a flat football field up there and you just can do some nice good 60-second or 90-second surges on top of that mountain. So that would be my recommendation. Alexis, thank you for watching and off we go. All right, we're rolling through them. We're rolling through them. All right, everyone, back at the house and answering more questions from all of you. This comes from Tommy on Facebook. Thank you, Tommy, for the question. He asks, Ray, I think Tommy's racing Pikes Peak. I do believe. He asks, Race Week Nutrition, Carbo Loading, Race Morning Meal. Thank you and we love your channel. That's awesome. Thank you, Tommy, for the question. So, oh man, basically, if I'm going to carb a load for a race, I actually do it two days before the race. So two nights, the dinner, two nights before. So if the race is on Saturday morning, I'll actually eat a bigger meal on Thursday nights. You know, some pasta, some angel hair pasta. Love that. And then if you are going to have carbs, like a big spaghetti dinner or a bigger spaghetti dinner the night before the race, I try to eat between four and six PM so that I can really digest it all and absorb it into the body rather than let's say a late meal, like six to eight PM or definitely know nothing huge like past eight PM. So that's my strategy. I like to eat the bigger pasta meal two nights before and listen for a five K race, it's not quite as important. It's not as important. I'm just going to say that above 10 K. Yeah, you start talking about some carbs you're burning and then race meal on the morning. I'll usually have a half a banana, a granola bar, maybe a little bit of oatmeal, and then just water or coffee, of course, black coffee, pretty simple stuff. I don't eat too, too much. Now, listen, if I'm racing a 50 K or a marathon, I would bump that up a little bit. But for anything below marathon, half marathon 10 K, it's a pretty small meal because yeah, it's just a pretty small meal. So good question, Tommy. Thank you for that. I appreciate it. Oh, look what look what's arriving. Oh, true love's making me a salad. Appreciate you love. This is the best. Oh, yes. My salad, my steak, my chicken, honey, you're the best. Oh, yeah, butter, my bread, butter, my bread. What are you doing? You eating a peach? Oh, buddy, you took my foot. Can't handle it. Can't handle. I'm sorry. Is he hiding from you? It was amazing. How are you getting that energy for that? Now I'm digging into the archive, looking for your questions all over the place there. Oh, I appreciate your questions. There's a lot of them. So I'm going to pick out as many as I can and answer the rest in the studio. All right, let's see here. I'm going to start on Twitter. Twitter. All right, there we go, everyone. I got some good questions pulled from all over the intro webs. And I don't often do this for the daily vlog, but frankly, I just can't, my fingers are not quite as fast as my legs. So it's just a little too difficult to type out answers to everyone. So this is a good way to do a catch-all for all the questions coming in. So thank you for sending them in if you did. And let's see, before I dive in today's run, nice and easy, three miles, 5k, 940, 940 a mile, 620 per kilometer. That's what I'm talking about. Full on taper mode now. Okay, so it felt great, just bopping along, real nice and easy. All right, let's dive in. You ready for this? Question number one in the studio comes from James on Facebook. He asked pain on the side of my knee. What's the best stretch to fix it? Oh, James, it sounds like an IT band issue. Oh, now I'm not a doctor. Just clarify. I've had IT band issues once in my life back in high school. And basically, I'm actually going to film it outside the studio for you. So what you see on your screen right now is the stretch that I would do, leaning up against the wall, putting your healthy leg over your injured leg and then leaning in toward the wall to help stretch out your hip flexors and your basically your IT band on the outside of your leg. In addition, I would recommend getting a foam roller like you saw me using earlier today in the vlog. And again, it's available down below. Oh, and then just roll back and forth on your IT band on the outside of your leg slow, gentle and slow. And I'm telling you, do that, do that two to three times a day. Ease into it at first, but do that two to three times a day. I would be shocked if that pain is still there in three to four weeks from now. It'd be shocked. All right, so that's my answer for you, James. Good job sending that in. Okay, moving on to Dan from Facebook. He asks, will you break your PR in the Pikes Peak? I'll send. Dan, I'm not going there. All right, I appreciate you trying to pull that out of me, but I just, I don't think like that. I know like it's, I just don't think like that before a race as far as trying to knock down my old times. I think about, what do I think about, Dan? I think about competition. Honestly, time is kind of secondary to me. I think more about battling and duking it out and going with people and tracking people down and going for it, going for it. If you know what I mean. So Dan, that is my answer for you. Good question, but you will just have to tune in and see. I appreciate it. Okay, moving on to Chris on Instagram. He asks, any tips for running easy on easy days? I feel slow and clunky on easy days, but I know I should do it. Chris, you should absolutely do it. Listen, I'm a 1446 5k guy. That's my PR and I ran my easy day today at 940 a mile. Okay, easy days, easy hard days, hard. That is my thesis for how I train. And so, and this connects to the next question as well, Chris, I would recommend finding some big, huge grass soccer fields because guess what? It's a lot harder to run on grass. It will naturally slow you down. I promise. And, and you're getting the double benefit of running on a soft surface on your easy days. Now it's a little boring. You might have to listen to some music because you're just doing loops, but try and find like three, four, five, six, but try to find three, four, five, six soccer fields stacked together. And that'll be about at least a K around and just go around and around. So that's my recommendation, Chris. Go find some grass. It will naturally slow you down. And it's in my opinion, very critical for your training to do easy days easy. That way, why? You can come back harder on your next interval session because your legs will be fresher. Okay, moving on. This is from, ooh, I didn't write it down. I believe it was from Twitter. Sorry about that. I don't know your name. Thin or thick socks for easy runs. I lean toward thick socks for easy runs for a little more cushion, but it depends on the season in the dead of summer, like dead of summer, dead of winter in the heat of summer. Like right now it's pretty difficult to put on a thick pair of socks. I guess hot out right now, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. So I do thick socks for easy days and I do thin socks for hard workouts and race days. All right. And in the winter, it's always usually thick socks. All right. So good question from Twitter. Appreciate it. All right. Moving on here. How do you know when to retire a shoe? That's from Serene on Instagram. Great question, Serene. Okay, basically there's a lot of different ways to do this. One, I guess the number one way, Serene, on your easy day, if you come back from a run in a shoe that is dead, meaning the midsole has been compressed so much that you don't get any cushion or energy return through the midsole, and you come back from your easy run and your legs feel basically more tired and like not they don't feel like they're recovering well, that's probably a good sign that the midsole is dead. Another rule of thumb, every daily training shoe that you purchase should get at least at least 250 miles. Preferably you want to get at least 350 to 450, if not 500. But like some shoes, I just put a couple out there. Like I'm hearing reports from the Hoka Rincon crowd that the outsole is really wearing out quickly. Now I've only taken mine to like 70 miles, so I don't know as far as my experience, but anyway, so that's another way. And then another very obvious way is if the outsole, so the bottom of the shoe, if the tread or the lug pattern on the bottom is basically flat, meaning it's totally worn out, that's definitely a sign that the shoe is done. And then another one quick one is if there's little holes beginning to form in the upper, that's another sign that the shoe is probably on its way out. The number one though is if your legs come back from an easy day and they just feel like they're not recovering well because that midsole has been compressed. So well, great question from Serene. Moving on again. Okay, gosh, you guys have good questions. Here we go. Let's see here. Who's this from? This is from Scott on Instagram. Scott on Instagram. What are some of my favorite drink supplements? So good question, Scott. So I must say this is a little bit outside of my wheelhouse only because, Scott, I'm coming from ultra running back down to marathon racing, and because I was unable to race the Cleveland Marathon, I didn't really get to test a drink supplement, like whether it's Morton or Tailwind or UCan. So those are the three that I've really been testing right now, but there are so many. You all know it's an endless option out there, but as far as my experience so far, and this is what I can tell you, the consistency of Morton spelled M-A-U-R-T-E-N, which is what Kipchoge uses, the consistency is unique. So I need to do definitely more practice, and I will start in late August, early September, getting ready for Amsterdam. So the consistency, I need to really nail down how I mix the Morton drink. Then moving on to Tailwind. The Tailwind seems to be giving me good performance, but the taste, I'm not crazy about the taste of Tailwind, and sometimes at the end of a long run, like 20 plus miles or at the end of a marathon, sometimes I must say I like a little taste to my energy drink. So I'm not sure about the taste yet of Tailwind, I probably just need to try more flavors. UCan is going down easy. I like it, spelled U-C-A-N. So far so good. It's more of an electro, what I'm using right now is more of an electrolyte mix over an energy plus electrolyte. So again, more testing needed, but I'm enjoying it. It's going down easy, not messing up my stomach at all. So that's what I've been using. And actually, you know what I use UCan for probably the most? After a long run, especially in summer, I come back and I mix it immediately. Actually, sometimes I have a pre-mix and I just put it back for immediate replacement of lost electrolytes after a long run. So good question, Scott. I wish I could give you more, but I will in about a month from now. I'll have a lot more. Actually, I'll mark it down to do a vlog just about, probably at the end of September, just about drink mixes for a marathon. All right, moving on. Good question. Okay, this is from Jonathan. I believe this was from Facebook, but I'm not sure, Jonathan. Do you recommend the Hoka Carbon X for my next 5K or 10K? Jonathan, I own a pair of Carbon X's, but I haven't even run in them yet. I'm waiting till after Pikes Peak because right now I'm really honed in and dialed in on Pikes Peak and trail running and mountain running. So, but Jonathan, I will just say probably not. That is not the right shoe for your next 5K or 10K. I believe that the Carbon X, based on what I've read and what I've seen on the Intrawebs, that the Hoka Carbon X is definitely a shoe for at least half marathon and above. Just because the midsole stack height is so high, it's going to be a little too much stack height for especially 5K, like sharp corners on a road 5K. I just wouldn't go there. So, Jonathan, good question, but I think there, I know there are better options out there for you and it is hot in here and I'm going to take a drink of water. Hold on. Okay, that's much better. Moving on here. Okay, Steve asks on Instagram, this is going to be the last question. Any experience or thoughts on the Hanson training method and what is the Hanson training method? The Hanson marathon method operates on the idea that by running more miles during the week, you are in essence running on tired legs for your long run. This operates on the idea that you will build more mental and physical endurance by consistently running in that fatigued state. And here's an example of a training week. High mileage, six days of running, speed emphasis early in the training plan, no planned cross training, cumulative fatigue, and then they have in quotes here the development of fatigue through the long-term effects of training which results in a profound increase in running strength. And then another two more bullet points, three something of substance workouts per week, so a speed workout, tempo run, or a long run, so three of those per week. And then one more bullet point, longest run is 16 miles for most people. So that is in a nutshell, the Hanson training method. Steve, what are my thoughts? Frankly, Steve, I have never trained on that method. I know there has been some success with the Brooks Hanson marathon project up in Michigan, especially like 10 years ago. And let's see, Steve, my guts. So I think I like the high mileage overall, but I can immediately point out that I don't think they're emphasizing rest enough or easy days enough. I'm not sure why they have no cross training in there. That's kind of a little bit of a misguiding light right there for people. I think cross training is critical for people who really want to stay healthy when they're running high mileage. That's just my opinion. So Steve, my gut is telling me high mileage good. I would not do speed training at the beginning of a training block. I definitely would not. And I, again, as I mentioned, I guess earlier today, I'm a fan of building the pyramid of aerobic base bigger at the beginning so that the pyramid, meaning once you start to add the speed work, can be taller because the bigger the base, the taller the pyramid. All right? And what else do they point out? Cumulative fatigue? Listen, my legs, you know, they're not fresh yet, but they're definitely not like dead to the world. And I don't think you want to go crazy into fatigue. I think you're flirting with overtraining syndrome. If you feel like you want your legs to be, I don't know, I'm not, I'm not really buying it at this point, Steve. That's like my gut reaction. So yeah, hit me up again on Instagram and I'll give you more thoughts. Thanks for the question. Oh, that's a huge, huge question. But my gut is telling me it's a little, maybe a few things I would definitely change in that training method. I love you guys. Thanks for being here. That's the vlog. All right? A lot of talking I realized, but every now and then, I need to catch up on all of your questions. So that is what it takes. And I already asked the question of the day. And let's see. So if you want to dive into a couple more vlogs on the right hand side is a live Q&A that I did a couple months ago answering more of your questions. And on the left hand side is my thoughts or my thoughts on tapering. All right? Thank you for being here. Thanks for watching. Seek beauty, work hard, and love each other. See you tomorrow.