What non-running activity led you to more successful running?

Who and who? Wake me up when Jakob or Kipchoge do it.

Reading about running and the type of training by the best runners.

I became a runner at the age of 13 because I'd spent the previous 5 years doing nothing but ride BMX bikes.

I was a pretty fast kid at "field" days at school, and this was during the running boom in the 70s. I ran two or three miles a few times, then ran a 2 mile "fun run" before a local 10K start, and that was that.

But yeah, decades later I still ride bikes a lot, in addition to running.

Massages with Alberto’s special cream

Supplementing with electrolyte tabs, daily in summer and on hard or long days the other three seasons.

Weight lifting, especially heavy squats and deadlifts (they left me totally tanked and depleted when I started but I was able to handle way more miles and quality once I adapted.

Getting away from running websites and running content on social media.

Buritos from an “authentic” food truck.

Being in a running group with runners who were faster than me was the most important thing that helped me get faster. Having someone to chase during a workout or a long run is so important. Most amateur runners get too caught up in training plans and trying to hit the perfect pace for workouts and long runs such that they never really challenge themselves. In Kenya, it is common for large training groups to have a group of top runners who set the pace and everyone else just tries to hang on as long as they can. Eventually, some of the guys who would drop out half way make it to 3/4 and then end up hanging for the entire workout.

This was high school and college to me.

As a female, biggest training boost once recovery happened and we were in a good sleep routine, was having a baby. I’m early 30s and with both of my kids after I stopped breastfeeding, it took a year of consistent training, and then my times dropped pretty drastically. I was a 20 min 5ker pre kids (pretty undertrained) a decade ago and now I’m in the 16:40s. The extra blood volume from carrying a baby along with consistent training and sleeping has been most beneficial for me.

Meditation

Drinking beer helps me recover after hard workouts and relaxes me to go to bed and get good sleep. Also works to rizz up.

Without a doubt = pickleball. Running is such a dull, boring, thankless, onerous punishment that one needs a mental and physical uplifting exercise to cancel out the sheer drudgery that wot is running.

Pickle does just that. Pro running is such a depression inducing activity (think Seidel & Allie O) - you need an activity that is actually FUN to mitigate said depression. Pro runners are robbed of their college teammates for fun, bon vivant and slap & tickle.

In summary - pickleball by a metric mile.

The operative part of the post is "led you to more successful running". Most runners don't have the time, money, knowledge and skill level to engage in cycling in a way to make them better at running. Most cyclists take for granted how much you need to build your life around this activity in a way that runners don't understand. Runners only need to pay for a pair of shoes and can get their heart rate to over 170 BPM for half of their run. Cycling requires spending thousands of dollars on equipment and most runners simply can't come close to 170 bpm on a bike. Notwithstanding relating to the unique cycling culture. For the most part, cycling tends to work well for runners who want to 'maintain' some fitness while nursing an injury or give their legs a break after a hard workout.

Several that I'm surprised I haven't heard anyone mention yet:

1) Garmin / Strava. The combination of measuring performance, having a detailed training log, and holding oneself publicly accountable has been hugely impactful for me. This was especially true once I stopped focusing as much on vanity metrics (pace on recovery days) and started caring about more important numbers (heart rate on recovery days, pace on tempo workouts).

2) Building ritual around "hard" workouts. For me, that means I always eat ice cream the night before along run, and always have the same sandwich for lunch on days I do track workouts. Why? Who knows? The body and mind are weird.

3) Setting concrete goals. It's very, very hard to get better (or even maintain fitness) if there isn't a date circled on the calendar.

I run on them for 300 miles.

Just don't be surprised when Garmin predicts an unrealistic race time, tells you that your heat acclimation is moving backward after you spend 70 minutes running in 95-degree heat (this happened to me yesterday), or lowers your VO2 max estimate the day after you destroy a 10-mile tempo run and receive a "Nice job!" workout summary from your watch.

For me following supplements lead to breakout PRs for me:

Mestanolone
• Mesterolone
• Metandienone (17ß-hydroxy-17ɑmethylandrosta-1,4-dien-3-one)
• Metenolone
• Methandriol
• Methasterone (17ß-hydroxy-2ɑ,17ɑ-dimethyl5ɑ-androstan-3-one)
• Methyl-1-testosterone (17ß-hydroxy-17ɑmethyl-5ɑ-androst-1-en-3-one)
• Methylclostebol
• Methyldienolone (17ß-hydroxy-17ɑmethylestra-4,9-dien-3-one)
• Methylnortestosterone (17ß-hydroxy-17ɑmethylestr-4-en-3-one)
• Methyltestosterone
• Metribolone (methyltrienolone, 17ß-hydroxy17ɑ-methylestra-4,9,11-trien-3-one)
• Mibolerone
• Nandrolone (19-nortestosterone)
• Norboletone
• Norclostebol (4-chloro-17ß-ol-estr-4-en-3-one)
• Norethandrolone
• Oxabolone
• Oxandrolone
• Oxymesterone
• Oxymetholone
• Prasterone (dehydroepiandrosterone, DHEA,
3ß-hydroxyandrost-5-en-17-one)
• Prostanozol (17ß-[(tetrahydropyran-2-yl)oxy]-
1’H-pyrazolo[3,4:2,3]-5ɑ-androstane)
• Quinbolone
• Stanozolol
• Stenbolone
• Testosterone
• Tetrahydrogestrinone (17-hydroxy-18ahomo-19-nor-17ɑ-pregna-4,9,11-trien-3-one)
• Tibolone
• Trenbolone (17ß-hydroxyestr-4,9,11-trien-3-
one)

Yoga. learning to hold annoying poses that I suck at, and being humbled, gradually learning the value of it, instead of being upset at where I started.

Sprints with full warm up, dynamic stretches, painstaking attention to how everything feels, and long enough rest to feel like I’m itching to get back in, but I hold myself back and center so that I can use good form. Then I stop before the reps get sloppy.

Getting both knees injured, truly believing I was out of sports and training for life, and then building myself back up from wearing braces and tape and using crutches, to being more athletic and wise than ever before.

Putting on and taking off my shoes and socks while standing on one foot. Making myself change shorts and underwear in the car while keeping my shoes on, which might sound stupid, but is a really good way to force yourself to do a very arduous ankle mobility, proprioception, core, and deltoid endurance task, all while you have to avoid someone seeing your noodle, and keeping your underwear from contacting the bottom and sides of your shoes.

Twisting an ankle and learning to do boring, uncomfortable ankle strengthening drills from knees over toes guy.

Playing catch, frisbee, and training gymnastics, just BSing around with friends or by myself on the turf. Learning how to move my body, pivot, come to a stop aka blocking safely.

Learning to swim and forcing myself to regard my cadence and gradually beginning to use flip turns.

Walking lunges with a pause. Duck walking in a deep squat.

Jecht try not to bring up Irish step dancing challenge

(impossible!!)