2024 Take it or Leave It: Part 1
An honest reflection on 2024 from an athlete and coaching perspective
Einstein is often credited as the first to remark, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Whether it was Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchill, or the local tippler who actually said it, there is both truth and folly in this wonderful little quip of a phrase.
In its (widely accepted) truth, I think most people interpret the quote to mean that we can’t expect to keep making the same poor choices and hoping for better outcomes; yet, on the flip side of the coin, the very act of running is in conflict with this idea.
Do you remember the first time you ran a mile—perhaps in gym class? It wasn’t easy, and it’s probably the very reason many never run of their own volition again. Yet a few of us masochists decided that we’d do it again, and again. After a given number of repetitions, the movement patterns feel natural, the limbs aren’t flailing, the breathing calms, and the impact of every foot-strike no longer jars the skeleton. After doing the same thing over and over again, the result is different: insanity wins.
Belarusian strength coach, also known as “the godfather of kettlebells,” Pavel Tsatsouline popularized the fitness term grease the groove that refers to the training method where you practice a specific movement throughout the day with sub-maximal effort—repeatedly. Over time, the neurological pathways involved in the movement become ingrained. What once felt unnatural and clunky becomes second nature. Pavel (and really any practitioner of any craft) understands the need to keep doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result—eventually.
For my past self, this concept often served as evidence that if I just kept going, kept pushing, kept moving forward, I’d eventually break through whatever plateau or obstacle was in my path. In a sense, I could grease the groove to the point of a breakthrough.
But as with most things in life, truth lies somewhere in the gray area—that uncomfortable, messy place which requires us to do some actual self-reflection. Ideally, we come away with insight about what actions are worth repeating in hopes of a better outcome given enough time, and which we need to lay to rest permanently.
Over the next couple of posts here on Substack, I’ll dig into some of my takeaways from this year. I’ll first explore some “Take-Its”—actions/ideas that are worth repeating. Then, I’ll write a follow up article, that might be even more insightful, with my “Leave-Its.” These are actions that, if repeated in 2025, deserve the “insanity” classification.
2024 Take-Its
In the spirit of a new year approaching, it’s the perfect time to look back on 2024’s training, racing, nutrition, recovery, etc. to glean insight on what actually worked. If you’re an athlete reading this, I highly recommend taking a minute to comb through your training log from 2024 and reflect on the outcomes of the past 12 months.
For myself, I’ve come away with 4 “take-its” that I feel have made me a better athlete (and coach).
1. TRUE Rest Days
When I first started taking running seriously, I was under the wing of some questionable philosophies held by men who were anchored in outdated training approaches. Running every day (often twice per day)—regardless of how the body felt was one of the core tenets of my introduction to the serious athlete life. More mileage was guaranteed to make you faster, so go out and get that mileage at all costs.
After a couple of years floundering in this approach, mired down by repeated injury, I finally grasped onto the concept of a REAL rest day—a day where no physical work was done. I began to take one of these rest days every 10-14 days and the drastic shift in my adaptation to the training had me open to this way of thinking.
Now, as a coach, I require most of my athletes take one full rest day every 7 days. In my own training, I do the same—particularly in the off season and in volume building weeks. At the least, I’ll take a rest day every 10 days, but even this is becoming less common for me as I am incorporating more quality runs into my plan.
Many runners are on the weekly rest day train, but not as many adhere to true rest as you might think. I’ve seen clients go on 2+ hour “recovery hikes” or work shifts at a treadmill desk during a rest day. I’ve also seen coaching apps prescribe heavy lifts on a rest day.
Now, to be clear, I’m not arguing for athletes to be on bed rest, but I am saying that rest days aren’t a wild card or a free space in Bingo; there’s clear intention behind a rest day, and it’s all in the name.
If you struggle with true rest (like I often do), here are some ideas for how you can use a rest day to further benefit performance without compromising recovery:
Soft tissue work with a scraper, cups, and/or foam roller
Mobility routines and/or yoga (I don’t personally recommend yoga or static stretching for runners, but if it’s something you already do in practice, go for it!)
Creating your fueling plan for your next race—particularly if you have an ultra on the calendar.
Do race research. If you have an A Race on the calendar, dive deep into the elevation profile, the course, rules, and aid stations.
Light auxiliary work. If you have problem spots that seem to always re-injure, use your rest day to do your PT exercises (which you should already be doing throughout the week).
Get a sweat test! A sweat test can help you learn about your individual hydration needs so that you have a better idea of how much sodium you should be taking in based on your sweat rate and composition. You can often recover from poor nutrition in a race, but if the hydration approach is lacking, you’re leaving time (and perhaps chances of finishing) on the table.
In the early season, go get your bloodwork. I advise athletes to get their bloodwork done every year at least once before they go into racing season. If you have concerns with hormones, lipids, iron, Vitamin D, B12, etc., it’s advisable to get it done more than once.
If you have healthy ferritin levels, a solid hydration plan, and a history of responding well to heat stress, a 15-30-minute sauna session can help to preserve plasma volume on a true rest day. There are a ton of caveats to introducing heat stress, so be honest with yourself about how a sweat session impacts your energy and recovery.
I wrote an article on heat training here if you’re curious about the intervention.
Do something entirely unrelated to running that you “don’t have time for”.
Journal (see take-it #3 for more ideas around creating a journaling practice)
Now, I realize that weekly rest days may not fit with everyone’s training goals year-round. There is certainly a time and a place for pushing the limits of your personal physiology with your own version of a trial of miles. That’s where I’ve found cross-training to be particularly helpful.
2. An Enjoyable Cross-Training Modality
To the runner’s dismay, the repetitive nature, high-impact nature of our beloved sport is hard on the body. Even the best marathoners and ultra-runners in the world aren’t immune to the toll the body must pay. In terms of longevity, there’s a reason we don’t see as many retirement-aged runners, but you’ll still get smoked on the local hill by some 70+ year-old crusher on their Pinarello.
Having a cross-training modality you enjoy can not only offset some of the stress caused by running, but it can open up a whole new realm of possibility with respect to athleticism—particularly into later years.
To clarify, when I say “cross-training,” I am referring to a cardiovascular exercise that works similar systems to running, but minimizes or removes impact—bonus points if the exercise you choose works some different muscle groups or movement patterns than you would when running.
My cross-training recommendations for runners:
An enjoyable cross-training modality is worth the investment. It will be there for you through injury, health, and everything in between. For me personally, I invested in a gravel bike this year and it’s the best purchase I’ve made in a long time.
Look at the cross-training modality less as a means to an end, but also as a window into a brand new hobby. Do you always want to be staring out of your gym’s window, or do you want to find new ways of experiencing the world?
Cross-training isn’t just for injuries. You can use it to increase your total training volume with less risk. You can simply add 20-30 minutes post-run, or dedicate a day in your microcycle to a long cross-training session.
If you’re going to stick to a gym-based cross-training modality that’s fine too—click the image below to access another article I’ve written about how to best apply them!
3. Journaling (semi) Regularly
While my “take-its” have centered on physicality so far, this one is all about the inner self. While I’ve dabbled with it in years past, I never dove into making a habit out of journaling daily…until recently.
Journaling made a comeback for me during a recent bout with IT band pain that sidelined me from my fall races and kept me sequestered in the gym without any trails for 4+ months. I had a lot of inner turmoil to work through—everything from dissecting my choices and mistakes that led to the injury, to confronting the ugly remnants of my eating disorder and the anxiety around food that often rears its head when I can’t run or train how I’d like to.
Journaling for just a page each day relieved a lot of the tension I was carrying through the height of the injury, and I’ve since continued it through the rehab/return-to-run process.
Now that training is going a bit better, I’ll be honest, I often miss several days in a row…but I usually return to my journal pages at least once every 5-7 days just to clear any mental gunk out of my system.
For athletes who are curious about exploring journaling to support the mental side of sport, I think there’s merit to either having a daily structure with prompts OR going in the entirely opposite direction with stream-of-consciousness writing. Personally, the latter is my preferred method, as it facilitates my creativity and introspection. You could also do a combination of both, which is essentially what Julia Cameron teaches in The Artist’s Way.
10 journal prompt ideas for athletes:
What would I do if I knew I wouldn’t fail?
List 10 small changes you could make that would result in you being a happier, healthy athlete.
What’s weighing on my mind today?
What are my favorite memories from running, racing, or training?
What does endurance mean to me beyond physical stamina?
Who or what inspires me when things get tough?
If I could design my ideal race experience (course, weather, crowd, mindset), what would it look like?
If I could write a letter to myself at the start of my athletic journey, what would I say?
What lessons have I learned from endurance sports that apply to other areas of my life?
What are the mental barriers I face during training or races, and how can I reframe them?
4. Cultivating Self-Belief & Taking Risks
Of the 10 prompts listed above, the first is one of my favorites. It’s powerful, and for my fellow perfectionists, it’s imperative to ask. That’s because failure is woven into the nature of our sport—it’s inevitable that we will all fail at some point, yet we have to have faith and continue to train as though we won’t.
“If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough. The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.” -Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
For myself, 2024 was the year of self-belief. Prior to this year, I hadn’t really put myself out into the race environment—let alone some of the most competitive fields in North America. I would often justify my choice to avoid racing by saying, “I’m not competitive. I just really love running.”
In thanks partly to my fiancé, Josh, I finally mustered up the courage to stand on a starting line to see where I stood relative to some of the best female trail runners in the country (and world).
At the Broken Arrow Skyrace VK back in June, I raced to the top of Washeshu Peak alongside runners like Anna Gibson, Tabor Hemming, Allie McLaughlin, Joyce Njeru, Rachel Tomajczyk, and Jade Belzberg (who has a fantastic Substack, by the way)—women who have and continue to inspire me.
Once the gun went off and we were redlining up a 30% incline on the ski slope, I was surprised to still have these women in my sights. Once we were on the access road ascending to the Headwall ridge, I was running alongside Tabor, and to my surprise, passing her. My internal dialogue from that moment is imprinted on my psyche: ‘Does she know something I don’t? Am I going way too hard? But this feels pretty easy…too easy?’
After a small descent, the course resumed the final climb to Washeshu where I caught Jade. As I put my foot on the first rung of the infamous “Stairway to Heaven” ladder, I looked up and realized the gap between Rachel and I was shrinking.
Crossing the finish line, I looked around and found Josh, who had been filming the top men’s race. He ran up to me, beaming: “Do you know how well you just did?”
I grinned and shrugged. I had no idea my placing, but I know I couldn’t be far off the top 5 since Anna Gibson and Joyce Njeru were still sweaty, meandering around, giving out high fives.
Turns out, I was 7th to the summit in my first highly competitive trail race. I finally had evidence I couldn’t ignore; I can run with the best—particularly if it’s uphill. I can finally own up to the fact that I have a deep desire to see how far I can take this whole running thing. The next steps are to just keep showing up and choosing to take risks that may very well result in failure.
So, if you’re reading this with a secret (or unrealized) dream that scares the shit out of you, know that you’re on the right track.
I truly appreciated this deep dive! Thank you for sharing your insights!
Wonderful read and can’t wait for Part 2! Your honesty and vulnerability is beautiful.