Credit: @thewolfferine – Tempo Journal

The Ultimate Guide to ASICS, Nike, Hoka One One, Brooks, and Saucony Road Running Shoes

Selecting the right pairs of road running shoes for your everyday jog or training run is super important, as it is likely to be the footwear you’ll spend most of your time training in. Picking the best road running shoes doesn’t have to be tricky. A bit of research can go a long way in making a purchasing decision. Even better if the shoe company will let you order a few sizes to try, and return the ones that don’t fit. Sometimes the small business online running stores will allow you to do this if they are local to your area.

In this first section of my best road running shoe guide, I explore some of the best road running shoes from two of the most well-known road running shoe brands: Nike road running shoes and Asics running shoes.

In the second section, I’ll discuss Hoka running shoes, Brooks running shoes, and Saucony running shoes.

Nike Running Shoes

Shoe 1: Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 37

Side view

A well-known and widely used shoe, these guys are an all-around good training shoe. I particularly love using them on the roads and gravel paths. They also do work surprisingly well on trails. I put this down to the neutral structure of the shoe, cushioning in the foam, and flexibility in the upper. Too much rigidity makes the runner prone to an ankle sprain and not enough cushion is uncomfortable on rocky, spiky surfaces. Available in both a normal or wide fit, they cater well to different foot widths. I gathered from the website reviews of the Pegasus 37 that the shoe fits true to size. From running in these shoes personally, I can confirm this. I’ve never had issues that correlate with ‘fit’ when wearing the Pegs.

In terms of shoe tech, Nike has utilized its ‘Nike React Foam’, which is intended to be cushioned and responsive. I agree, in my opinion, this is a very cushioned shoe, and it is noticeable whilst running. I like to use it for a few of my jogs and mid-length longer runs. I found that the shoe didn’t need much time to be ‘broken in’, which is super nice with my consistent running and takes the stress out of thinking about that aspect of footwear.

Sole View

I do however want to note that I find when you wear the shoe on a longer run, the foam tends to work better for the next run if you give it a day to ‘recover’. I get around this by alternating the running shoes that I use. The shoe foam seems to have more spring if you don’t use it on back to back days. Nike calls the shoe model’s cushioning system ‘Nike Zoom’. Nike states that it utilizes “pressurized air and tightly stretched fibers to absorb impact” and return energy to the runner, which in turn reduces the load stress on joints.

The mesh upper (this is a shoe tech term, referring to the fabric part of the shoe) on the Nike Pegasus 37 is thinner than the Peg 36’s, meaning it is more breathable however still retains the upper flexibility Peg users love.

It has a 10mm heel drop. A pair of Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 37 is $120USD. Get yours here.

Shoe 2: Nike Air Zoom Structure 22

Side View

I also use the Nike Zoom Structure 22 shoe alongside the Nike Zoom Pegasus 37 as a part of my training shoe rotation. My foot structure is quite flat (I pronate, a lot!), meaning I’ll often lean toward a shoe that has more structure for a general training shoe. This isn’t as important in a race or speed work shoe purchase decision. The Nike Zoom Structure 22 offers more structural support and less cushion in the sole than the neutral Pegasus 37 shoe discussed above, so it makes for a good alternative shoe choice on every other day. I don’t like to get extremely used to one shoe either, changing it up here and there allows for muscle adaption to a larger variety of scenarios, shoes, and surfaces.

Nike promotes that the shoe is sleeker and more lightweight. I do agree that the Nike Structure 22 fits my narrow foot better than the model previous, mainly due to the thinner, tighter mesh upper. Nike has made their lacing system on this shoe better than I previously recognized before, as it hugs the top surface of my feet nicely.

Sole View

Nike Structure 22 also has a 10mm heel drop. Interestingly, Nike has integrated what they call crash pad technology into the heel, to reduce the impact on joints, tendons, and ligaments upon foot contact with the ground. It also helps with the over-pronation correction process. I do notice the extra midfoot support in this shoe model, which is no surprise as it is called the ‘structure’ for a reason.

Nike has integrated their ‘Zoom Air unit’ in the forefoot of this shoe, which provides a low-profile cushioning but retains the desired responsiveness, they explain. This shoe from experience is not as great on trails due to its supportive and structural features. It truly is a road running shoe for everyday use.

A pair of Nike Air Zoom Structure 22 comes in at $120USD. Get your pair here.

Asics Running Shoes

Shoe 3: ASICS Gel Nimbus 22

Side View

This is arguably Asics best neutral road running shoe for everyday use. I personally have tried the shoe and enjoy it for regular runs. Most Asics shoe users purchase Asics for the GEL, a defining tech feature of the brand’s running shoes. The GEL unit in the heel of the shoe (shown in red in the above image) has the role of cushioning on the down-stride and providing a good level of responsiveness on the kick-back section of the runner’s stride. For most runners, landing on the heel is the first point of contact with the ground in their stride, hence why the GEL is cleverly integrated into the heel of the shoe. Naturally, in human body functioning and biomechanics, the heel is designed to be able to absorb the most shock upon ground contact.

Asics have continued to utilize their trusty Flytefoam propel technology in the midsole of the shoe to enhance energy return. Asics note that their Flytefoam (a mixture of different foam materials) is 55% lighter than industry standards of foam in other running shoes.

Sole View

Despite being a neutral shoe, Asics still ensures to include a stability piece (shown in black in the image above) underneath the arch of the food. I really enjoyed having this piece integrated, but not dominate the entire mid-section of the shoe as many other training/road running shoes have. It’s modest and effective.

The mesh upper provides adequate breathability and is pretty supportive. More so than the Nike model road shoes. Nike traditionally tends to have less support in their mesh uppers, preferring a more flexible mesh technology fabric.

The Asics GEL-Nimbus 22 comes in at $150USD. Get yours here.

Shoe 4: ASICS GT-2000 8

Side View

Before I started running in college where Nike is our gear sponsor, I swore by Asics GT-2000’s as my training shoe. I still own a pair that I use as apart of my regular shoe rotation. Like its cousin, the Nimbus 22, the GT-2000 8 also re-introduces the famous GEL component in the heel, for cushion and shock absorption. I personally find, that unlike shoes such as the Saucony Kinvara or Hoka One One which have a lot of under heel cushioning, this has a firmer feel underfoot. This is something to keep in mind, based on your own preference.

This shoe differs from the nimbus as it has extra supportive features, more suited to an over-pronation runner’s foot type. This shoe includes a more aggressive supportive piece in the midfoot section, as you can see in the sole view image (light grey) below. This piece increases the stability and support provided by the shoe to the foot.

Sole View

The lightweight Flytefoam technology is also utilized in the Asics GT-2000 8, just as it is in the Nimbus 22. The mesh is also great from a water-proofing standpoint. It is lightweight, provides good cover to the foot but also is very breathable.

This shoe is a training shoe for everyday use, best suited to the roads and gravel paths. From personal experience, it doesn’t do well on trails and uneven surfaces. This is because the midfoot piece doesn’t allow for much flexibility and reactivity when making contact with rocky surfaces. It also gets slashed up. This happened to me. I now buy trail-specific shoes. Like the other road running shoes I have discussed, this shoe has a 10mm heel drop.

A pair of Asics GT-2000 8 comes in at $120. Get your pair here.

Best Road Running Shoes Guide Part 2: Hoka One One, Brooks and Saucony

After looking at some of the best road running shoes Nike and Asics have to offer, I thought it was also important to look at some other well-known running shoe brands that offer other diverse styles and models. Selecting the right pairs of road running shoes is a very personal experience based on your own goals, foot type, surfaces most often run on, and race + training distances and mileage. There’s a lot to consider. By writing these best road running shoe guides, featuring shoe tech descriptions, reviews, and my own personal experience, I hope to make the decision process a bit easier for you.

In this second section of the best road running shoe guide, I explore some of the best road running shoes from three of the most well-known road running shoe brands: Hoka One One running shoes, Brooks running shoes, and Saucony running shoes.

Hoka One One Running Shoes

Shoe 1: Hoka Clifton 6

Side/Front on View

Hoka One One is best known for its well-cushioned running shoes. The Hoka Clifton 6 is a great road running shoe, as the cushioned sole provides a softer ride and reduces the stress impact of concrete/tar roads on the joints. Did you know that the body must absorb 6x your body weight in shock when your foot makes contact with the ground when running? Crazy huh, so it’s always good to have a bit of cushion on your everyday road running-specific shoes. It could potentially minimize stress injury risk.

The shoe is neutral in terms of stability – if you look at the sole view image below you’ll see that there are no dominating stability pieces integrated into the shoe sole or midfoot as such. This doesn’t necessarily mean the shoe isn’t a good fit for an over-pronator/more flat-footed runner. I personally have a foot that is labeled ‘over-pronator’, however, I prefer to run in neutral running shoes and place a custom orthotic/form-orthotic in the shoe for biomechanical adjustment purposes.

Sole View

Interestingly, the heel-to-toe drop on this road running shoe is 5mm, compared to the usual 10mm in the Nike and ASICS road running shoes I reviewed in the first post of this series.

I wanted to point out the change in the upper Hoka One One has integrated into their new Clifton 6 model. Hoka has addressed complaints of the fit in the upper by improving the lacing and lockdown system. From my experience working in running specific stores in Australia, I found that Hoka shoes tend to fit wider feet better. The Hoka One One Speedgoat was the best fitting Hoka shoe for my narrow feet. This is something to consider.

A pair of Hoka One One Clifton 6 comes in at $130USD. Get your pair here.

Shoe 2: Hoka Carbon X-SPE

Side View

This shoe is one of Hoka One One’s latest releases and boasts features such as reactive, energy-returning cushioning, and a carbon plate (hence the name Carbon X-SPE). I personally tried a pair of these a couple of days ago. I immediately noticed that they are extremely cushioned, the upper does not provide much support, and they feel very light under-foot.

This shoe was released in response to major brands such as Nike, releasing the various Vaporfly models. It’s a new kind of racing flat, very non-traditional in a sense. What we are seeing today is highly cushioned long-distance road racing shoes that have a ‘sweet spot’ on the sole of the shoe to gain maximum propulsion when the foot makes contact with the road.

Hoka One One explains that this shoe is extremely lightweight (8.7oz for a Size 9 shoe), with the usual Hoka signature rocker design, optimal for a smooth gait and road running purpose. The foam was designed to integrate comfort with speed. Comfort is a really important factor in Hoka – it is what the customer looking for a Hoka is seeking when they try on a pair. The top layer of foam has comfort in mind, whilst the bottom layer and the lightweight carbon plate are engineered to optimize propulsion/energy return for the runner.

Sole View

The upper is quite different from other Hoka shoes on the market, as they have decided to model off other brands and integrate a mesh bootie. The upper is also tongue-free, which prevents possible discomfort from rubbing or bunching ( I personally love this feature, I’ve had issues with the tongue of running shoes before.)

The one review which I found on the website explains that these shoes are well suited to long-distance road running, and road races specifically from 10k to the marathon. The 5mm heel to tow drop is more modest than other road running shoes I have explored in these blog posts, which supports its purpose as a road racing shoe.

The Hoka One One All Gender Cabron X-SPE shoe retails for $200. Get yours here.

Brooks Running Shoes

Shoe 3: Brooks Glycerin 18

Side View

The new model of the Brooks Glycerin 18 features better cushioning (a trend found in most new road running shoes being released on the market at present) and more room to move in the upper part of the shoe. The integration of increased stretch in the upper will allow more varied foot types to fit this Brooks model, which increases the potential suitable market for the shoe. This shoe is a neutral shoe, best suited to a neutral foot type, or an over-pronator who may use an orthotic or corrective piece. I do know that this shoe has a fairly high arch, which is something to take into consideration if you prefer a shoe that feels ‘flatter’. This may be a good shoe for foot types that do require some extra arch support.

Like most road running shoes I’ve looked at, the Brooks Glycerin 18 has a heel to toe drop of 10mm. Interestingly, it is fairly lightweight for an everyday road trainer, at only 9oz for a mid-range size of the shoe.

Sole View

From a technical side, the midsole (foam part of the shoe) has utilized more of Brooks’ DNA LOFT midsole foam technology to increase cushioning. Brooks also desired a shoe with more traction this time around as you can see on the Sole View of the shoe I’ve included above.

What is DNA LOFT midsole technology? Brooks explains that it is a mix of EVA foam, rubber, and air. Their latest shoes are meant to be their softest and most forgiving yet. If you enjoy a cushioned, soft underfoot feelings, with a bit of arch support – check these shoes out.

The Brooks Glycerin 18 is available for $150USD, get your pair here.

Shoe 4: Brooks Adrenaline GTS 20

Side View

Brooks has been releasing Adrenaline GTS model shoes for 20 years now, so they’ve had quite a while to re-think the design of the shoe but keep the same features Adrenaline users love, apparent. What’s new in this shoe is Brooks ‘GuideRails’ support technology.

GuideRails Technology

GuideRails are described by Brooks to have a supportive function, “minimizing deviation of excess knee movement (which) can help stabilize your run”. Guiderails hug either side of the heel in the upper part of the midsole structure. See the image above from the Brooks website. When the foot makes contact with the ground, the Guiderails prevent an inwards collapse of the knee, which compromises stability, form, and therefore the whole kinetic chain.

Sole View

Everyone I’ve met who has used a Brooks Adrenaline seems to really enjoy the shoe. Unlike the Neutral Glycerin, this shoe is more supportive in design and has a higher heel to toe drop of 12mm. Similarly, it also features DNA LOFT technology in the bottom part of the midsole and boasts cushioning as all the new lines of Brooks’ shoes seem to do.

Brooks has improved the mesh upper to be more lightweight, by structuring it to streamline and hug the foot better.

One review I read explained how they loved the cushioning in the heel and the comfort features of the shoe. Another user said that their feet are highly arched and structured, and the shoe gave them feet aches. This is likely due to the shoe being too structured for this particular runner’s foot type. Another runner described the new mesh design as more snug, and the lacing system didn’t require super tight lacing to hold the foot nice and secure.

A pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 20 comes in at $130USD – they’re available online here.

Saucony Running Shoes

Shoe 5: Saucony Triumph 17

Side View

The Saucony Triumph 17 is Saucony’s most cushioned shoe, designed for long runs. The protective cushioning is intended to return energy for economical running and reduce load impact on the runner’s joints – potentially assisting in injury prevention and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMs). The shoe has an 8mm heel to toe drop and is designed for a neutral foot type. This shoe isn’t a shoe for a foot that needs a ton of support but could work well if you’re looking for beginner’s long-distance road racing shoes due to the comfort and cushioning factors.

Sole View

Saucony notes that the cushioning in this shoe is 28% lighter than their previous best-cushioned shoe. This is a feature of Saucony’s new shoe technology from the end of 2019 – PWRRUN+. They note that this foam is extra springy, absorbing 5% more impact than their previous foams, enhancing the energy return of the shoe. They also note the increased flexibility, allowing “for powerful take-offs” and “softer landings”. Durability is also a key factor – they stress that this foam lasts longer, which potentially could increase the mileage life of the shoe.

Interestingly this foam isn’t EVA based like most road running shoes. They explain that PWRRUN+ features are more adaptable, flexible, and responsive to the runners foot and gait.

The Saucony Triumph is available online for $150. Get your pair here.

Shoe 6: Saucony Guide 13

Side View

The Saucony Guide 13 is one of the company’s more structured road running shoes, great for logging training miles. Saucony explains that this shoe provides a great balance of cushioning and stability/supportive features – the best of both worlds. The great thing about this shoe is that it is very versatile. I’ve tried it on gravel roads, single-track trail (not the super rocky kind), roads, and grass. It works well on each. The shoe suits a foot type that requires more support, due to the integrated stability features. I myself have flat feet (over-pronate), but enjoy a bit of cushion. Therefore, a shoe balanced with cushion and support, like the Saucony Guide, suits my needs.

Sole view

From a shoe tech standpoint, like the Triumph, it also has an 8mm offset and PWRRUN cushioning technology which I discussed earlier. What is different between the Triumph and the Guide is the medial TPU guidance frame. TPU stands for thermoplastic polyurethane – which is lightweight, longer-lasting, and extremely durable compared to most other outsoles (the bottom part of a shoe). Saucony explains that this assists the natural gait cycle of the runner.

The upper is designed with FORMFIT technology – this is in place to allow the shoe to fit a wide variety of foot types (wide, narrow, toebox and heel discrepancies etc).

Right now the Saucony Guide 13 is on Sale for $89.95 USD down from $120. Get your pair here.

Strava Club Case Study: How to create a Strava Club for your blog or business

I decided to create a Strava Club and promote it, to learn the most effective way to execute this process for a small business or company, and also for a little bit of fun. I now have my very own Strava club Wild For Trails– connected to this blog (larahamilton.com). In this post I’ll guide you through how to create a club on strava, strava club widgets, strava challenges in strava clubs, and setting up a strava marketing strategy utilizing strava clubs.

The goal of my club is to connect athletes internationally and locally (in Boise and in Sydney – my two home cities), provide a platform for camaraderie and education, and set up/facilitate live activity meet ups in Boise and Sydney when I am in the localities. I’m super excited to keep this club running (pun intended) and watch it grow.

This process proved to me that a Strava Club can be easily set up for a business or brand, opening up a new platform to engage athletes with your product or label. I recently read this awesome article which honed in on some relevant stats surrounding the growth of Strava. It’s truly fascinating.

Strava is “growing at 1 million per month as of July 2019. In that year’s Tour de France, 120 of the 176 riders regularly log rides in Strava”.

Chris H – Harvard Business School Student Article

If you’re a sport-focused brand, company, or business wonder, you’d be silly not to create and grow a Strava presence. Check out my post on Strava for Business here, which walks you through the how to’s, essential features of setting up a Strava Business account or Strava Partnership. If you’d like to contact me so I can personally walk you through the steps or help you set up a Strava Business Plan – click here.

What is a Strava Club?

A Strava club is essentially like a real-world sporting club but facilitated online via Strava, complete with statistical features, scheduled club runs, club competitions, and challenges (known as Strava Challenges). Clubs can be created for any sport or multiple sports that Strava supports. Clubs can be in the form of:

Real-life local clubs that want an online Strava presence or post their events on Strava to publicize them
Brand affiliated/Strava Partnership Clubs
An online-only virtual club

I decided to create a club connected to the larahamilton.com running blog to experience the set-up process myself and learn how a brand or business may do the same. This is a screenshot of my homepage for the Wild For Trails Strava Club.

I invited members to my club by clicking ‘Invite Athletes’ on the right.

How do I join a Club on Strava? – Creating a Community

The great thing about Strava Clubs is many groups or brands have their club page primarily based on Strava. Strava attains so many new users simply by athletes wanting to join a local club and therefore joining Strava so they can see the scheduled group meet-ups and join in the friendly Strava Challenge competitions. If your brand or business has a club on Strava, you can invite members to join as per above.

I want to walk through the simple steps of how users find and join a Strava club. I first go to ‘Explore’ at the top drop-down menu of the Strava homepage. See the screenshot below.

The next page that pops up will be the Strava Club search page. I wanted to search for all running clubs in Boise. So I typed ‘Boise’ into location, and hit the running check-circle, then hit ‘search’.

I decided I want to join the local running store club – Shu’s Idaho Running Company. I clicked their blue URL title, and then on their page, I clicked ‘Join Club’ in bright orange under the description. It’s that simple! See the screenshot below.

Strava Verified Badge: Get your club Strava Verified

If you are setting up a Strava Club for your business or company, be sure to apply on this Google Docs Strava form for a Strava Verified Badge.

If approved, Strava will give you an official brand tick next to your chosen brand icon/logo.

Promoting Your Strava Club

The most effective way to promote your Strava club is to first grow your athlete member count. This is most effectively done via:

Inviting athletes physically via the Strava Club page
Word-of-mouth spreading via Group Strava Events (physical presence)
Setting Strava Challenges – The completion banner, badges on your club member’s pages, virtual trophy symbol, brand tailored segment, and the leaderboard will promote your brand naturally
Provide Incentives for Challenge completion – Brand prizes, discounts, access to online resources etc
Running Facebook Ads directly to your brand club homepage or next club event (send them straight to a ‘product’ or live event, in this sense)

I’ll explore these other strategies below:

Pinterest pins directed to the club page
Post Content on Strava
Inserting a Strava Widget onto your personal blog or company website.

Pinterest pins are a unique but interesting way to drive traffic to your club page, and potentially gain new Strava users utilizing your brand as the segway for the athlete onto Strava. On Canva, I created this pin, which links directly to my club page:

I then targeted Strava related keywords searched for on Pinterest and placed them in the description of the pin. This pin is linked directly to my personal blog also. I want the Strava Club, my personal running blog, and the Pinterest pin to be interconnected to best optimize the promotion of my club. This exact growth strategy could be applied to your brand. Contact me to learn more about forming a Strava Business Strategy here.

Content posting is a must. It is how we keep the discussion board alive on the club page, and it will appear in your club members/athletes activity feed as a notification, in a sense. See the screenshot below of the club post page, accessed via the club page.

This content is directly from my personal blog, I just shared it on Strava as well. Brands with personal blogs and content can create Strava posts with content directly from their site. It takes the thinking out of the process and further promotes your brand on the platform. On the top right of the screenshot above, you can click the button to ‘Post Content’.

Inserting a Strava Widget onto your website is super simple. On the club page, to the right on the bottom, you’ll see ‘Share [Club Name]’s Runs’ – click this. See the screenshot below.

This will pop-up. See the screenshot below.

You’ll want to embed the URL to either on or both of the Widget into the Footer of your website. (I found this to be the best, least disrupting to your website layout design). When you refresh your website pages and scroll to the bottom, you’ll see these 2 widgets (I embedded both) on the page. See the screenshot below for an example from my website.

This is another great way to promote your brand or business Strava club via a website platform.

Strava Club Challenges: Can I create my own challenge on Strava?

Challenges encourage users to engage with the application and consistently check in with the app to see how their effort or multiple efforts/attempts for the challenge are faring over time.

This is a win-win for both Strava, the brand, and the athlete. Strava is publicized as the challenge spreads on the platform and via word of mouth (trust me, in Bosie alone I have heard the Boise Summit Series mentioned in various venues across town over 5 times – in active communities these spread like wildfire). This draws new users on to the platform so they can complete the incentivized challenges, and in many cases earn prizes affiliated with the brand or local companies the club page is trying to support. Boise Summit Series paired up with local breweries for one of their challenge prizes.

In the screenshot below, I completed one of my challenges on my morning run. The badge appears below the stats as you can see. If you’re a brand labeled challenge, this is great publicity for your brand. My morning run with the Strava challenge completion banner will appear on my personal activity feed, promoted to all my followers. They can click into the challenge via the banner.

Other types of challenges require donations to a charity cause, or an entry fee for a virtual run often in return for a mail-delivered finishers medal or brand-affiliated discounts.

An example of a virtual race with an entry fee, Strava club, and finisher prizes is the SeaWheeze virtual half marathon and 10k (originally a real-life race, gone virtual).

You can join the run club on Strava as you can see in the bottom right (click here to do so), where your training and race effort will be posted. You can also see other motivated athletes working towards completing the challenge too.

Users get a unique badge for their virtual Strava trophy cabinet and a finishers medal posted to their door, along with other cool prizes listed on the rego page. You can register for the SeaWheeze Virtual Running Race here.

Since COVID-19, challenges have become more popular than ever, as have Strava virtual runs which can easily be set up utilizing set routes with Strava Segments. This works via GPS Sports watch connection to the Strava app, which recognizes the route run, and uploads the athlete’s effort for that particular route onto Strava. See my screenshot below of a past Virtual Run I completed hosted by the Strava Club – ‘Pace Athletic’. They utilized the Spit to Manly Strava Segment.

Strava then places the athlete’s activity/effort onto a leaderboard under the segment or set route.

The Pace Athletic Strava Run Club could then determine their winner based on the top Strava Segment times posted at the end of the challenge, as shown on the leaderboard. Strava categorizes these leaderboards automatically if the challenge has a gender, age, weight class category, etc (as you can see in the bottom right of the screenshot above). This is a great example of a local running business establishing a Club Challenge to promote their brand, services, and spread camaraderie associated with the brand. I personally completed this challenge and won’t forget it for a while – it is great real-time marketing, connecting dedicated and motivated athletes directly with the business or brand.

Plus, it’s free to do.

Strava Sponsored Challenges: Higher End Budget

Strava Business now offers the option of purchasing an official Strava Sponsored Challenge. Strava notes that challenges start at $10K and “scale based on duration, targeting and promotion”. The company can decide how much to invest, with 200k being the max.

Virtual Races are apart of Strava Sponsored Challenges. To set up an Official Strava Sponsored Virtual Race, pricing starts at 10k (as per Strava Business website).

If you’re interested in investing in a sponsored club challenge for your business, get in touch with the Strava Business platform directly here.

A more economical option if this is beyond your budget is to integrate the Strava monthly challenges of 5k, 10k, and a half-marathon into your own company club virtual race. You can do this by filtering the challenge leaderboard to see only your club members’ results that participated. From these results, you can gather who to award prizes, etc to. Still need help?? Contact me here.

Strava Club Events

I decided to create a test event on my club page – it was very simple and is a great way to create face-to-face relationships with other members of your club. If you’re a brand, setting up brand affiliated club events is essentially like putting a face to the brand. If you know anything about marketing, this is a must. To add a club event – on your club page hit ‘add club event’.

Next, a club event pop-up form will appear. See my screenshot below.

Fill this form out, and voila – you’ll create a club event that looks a bit like this one I created shown below.

Strava is pretty snazzy and lists all the club events you’re attending on your activity feed and profile, alongside all the challenges you’re in the process of completing. See my screenshot below for an example. It’s in the top right corner.

You can promote your club event on your personal or brand activity feed, and even share it on socials. See the screenshot below of the event page. One the right you’ll see ‘Share & Invite Friends’.

On the mobile application, when you hit this button, this will appear. It’s great that you can even send the group event run out via text, airdrop or Facebook messenger app.

Strava Clubs Privacy Settings

Strava allows you to make your club open to all, private, or women only. When you first set-up your club, you’ll see this option at the bottom of the pop-up widget.

If you want to learn more about how to set-up and grow your brand on Strava, contact me here.

If you’d like to join Wild For Trails – a community for trail fanatics (running, mountain biking, and hiking) on Strava, click here.

Strava Business: How to advertise your brand on Strava

Strava is one of the best ways for brands to connect directly with the athlete. Strava Business is a platform that has been established to effectively advertise brands to extremely focused target markets – essentially users already engaging with the products. Strava advertising is a must for all sports brands in the future, breaking down geographical and time barriers that could potentially prevent effective athlete-brand connections. The aim is to create a Strava Marketing Strategy.

We are witnessing a shift in the marketing world, where athletic focused advertising is no longer as effective in the form of annoying ‘pop-up, in your face’ ads, but integrated into physical challenges, clubs, and the athletic activity itself. This is a win-win for the business and the athlete. Luckily, Strava Business exists to help brands reach athletes directly.

What is Strava Advertising?

Strava allows its brands (which they call ‘partners’) that have connected with the platform to establish connections with motivated athletes from all over the world, from many different athletic disciplines, with a variety of goals. That’s a market waiting to be tapped in to. I recommend establishing what your brand goal will be when establishing its presence and forming an athlete-brand based community on Strava. Think creatively. If you’re a sports watch brand, you can use Strava to highlight particular activities and segments to promote a certain model of your watch. Polar has done this, and Strava wrote a case study on it which you can read here.

In my screenshot below from a Parkrun, I completed a few years ago, I even listed the watch I was using – A Garmin Forerunner 735XT. This is a form of brand exposure via an athlete on Strava. See it like this – if a well-known athlete with a large number of Strava followers completes a race, the activity upload is going to get a lot of traffic. The traffic/athletes viewing the activity can see what gear the athlete used, and are more likely to go out and buy the same gear.

Athletes on Strava are diverse. There are road runners, trail runners, track runners, cyclists, swimmers, hikers, kayakers, surfers, skiers. The list is long, and they’re all on Strava. I personally follow athletes from all of these disciplines and also use my own Strava for running, swimming, cycling, skiing, and surfing. These connections can be formed via:

Establishing sponsored virtual challenges for athletes
Creating clubs athletes can join – these form communities which brands can directly engage with.
Just as on Instagram and Facebook you can directly engage with athletes. Whether this is via ‘Kudos’ (Likes), commenting on activity uploads, finding athletes on leaderboards from segments and routes, shared activity uploads. These features are all a part of the camaraderie and fun that have allowed Strava to build a platform of over 50 million athletes from 195 countries.
Sponsored Integrations

I’ll break down these components of Strava Business for effective Strava Advertising below.

Strava Challenges: Sponsored Challenges to introduce and engage your audience

Strava Challenges allow your brand to directly engage with athletes and keep your brand at the forefront of their minds. Athletes thrive off challenges, and its a cyclical process too. Once we complete one challenge, we become hungrier for the next. Trust me, I’m one myself. We don’t settle, and the motivation and friendly competition Strava fuels with its challenge leaderboards, kudos, commenting feature, and reward incentives only fuel the fire. See the screenshot below of an example of a UK based club challenge I’m currently completing from the US/Australia. The 2020km in 2020!

I noticed that they’re currently advertising a club event (see the blue URL link) – a virtual monthly 5k race. I clicked the link, and was taken to this page, where I could join the race and even invite friends to join me:

As a brand club page, you could set challenges just like the one above.

Challenges are completely customizable. You can choose:

The duration of the challenge – it could be 1 week or 1 month
Age – you have the option to open the challenge to certain age groups only
Who can enter – it can be a private club challenge, or open to all of Strava. You choose your field.
Gender competing – can decide to have all race results compiled as one, or categorized into gender results.
The sport for your challenge – eg. running, swimming, cycling
The style of your challenge – it could be run a half-marathon as fast as you can, complete this specific trail route as fast as you can, or run for 20 hours this month. Be as creative as you like with this. The more diverse you can offer, the better.

Challenges facilitate the process of continual user-brand re-engagement. By setting regular and interesting challenges, and providing reward incentives, users stay interacting and engaging with the brand and motivated to virtually compete. Clubs can post challenges by posting on their club page and inserting a segment link at the end of their post. See the screenshot below from the Boise Summit Series Club Page for a brief example:

Challenges increase brand exposure and therefore new potential customers. Other Strava users can see their friends complete challenges through activities posted in their feeds, and friends also get notified when their fellow athletes join a challenge. Strava will then ask if you’d personally also like to join the challenge with a simple click of a box in your personal activity feed.

Another perk is that the Athlete’s personal profile/dashboard has a featured gallery of the current challenges they are participating in, alongside a virtual trophy cabinet presenting the challenges they have completed. Athletes can track their progress in a challenge anytime, via their personal profile, activity upload, or on a club page. Athletes will also tend to post their challenge completion on socials – even better for your brand.

A screenshot of a segment (route) that is being used as a virtual trail race on Strava, facilitated by the Boise Summit Series Club.

Strava Challenges are a new form of sports-focused advertising. The brand in a sense, is the instigator for the athlete to continue participating in challenges and setting new goals. This is motivational and has a positive influence on potential customers. This is very different to a traditional marketing advertisement.

Challenges facilitate a community brand experience for athletes. Athletes will begin to associate a positive and ‘human’ feeling to the brand. It won’t seem like just another label. With Strava, this is often one of fun, camaraderie, and friendly competition.

You can reward your participating athletes and community – challenges have incentives. Athletes who complete the challenge will receive a finisher’s badge in their digital trophy case, displayed on their profile.

You could also choose to offer product discounts, such as online store discount codes, race entries, tailored experiences. I’ve even seen local club based challenges offer physical prizes. I personally won a challenge and collected a physical prize in-store. The store had set-up its own Strava running club, complete with challenges and prizes.

Using Strava Challenges to promote your brand is an extremely effective and innovative way to engage a community that has already established a common interest in the sport, they likely have similar goals alongside drive and determination to take on new challenges.

On their website, Strava explains the benefits of sponsored Strava challenges are brand building, meaningful customer interactions, and conversions. I’ll explain in my own words below:

Brand building – Think of it like driving new traffic (customers) to the brand, and capturing their attention.
Meaningful customer interactions – provide content they can engage with, and then interact with the community.
Conversion – We nurture the athletes to further engage with the brand and be a part of the larger brand community.

Strava Clubs: Cost-effective athlete-brand strategy

Strava clubs are free to create. This is one of the most cost-effective strategies to promote your athletic or sports brand on the internet and more specifically – social media platforms. Strava has cleverly taken the idea of a physical sports ‘club’ – complete with a community feel, camaraderie, friendly competition, organized events, members from all walks of life and with similar interests – and made it a virtual reality. This breaks down geographical walls and therefore expands brand exposure to athletes remarkably.

Clubs are very easy to set-up. This process is carried out directly through your Strava profile, under the “Explore” tab → “Create a Club” black icon on the top right as shown in the screenshot below. You’ll then be guided through the user-friendly prompts.

Strava clubs facilitate athletes to engage directly with your brand and feel a part of a larger brand-focused community. This is especially true when your personal Strava Business Brand Strategy involves challenges that can be integrated into your club. Let’s look at Red Bull Australia Club as an example – see the screenshot below:

I can see that some of my Strava friends are also apart of the club, in the right-hand column where it says “2452 members”. I can also see where I rank this week so far, and follow along on other athlete’s training journies who also have an interest in Red Bull Australia and its associated interests (adventure sports, outdoors, action etc).

Clubs allow you to target both local and international athletes, and can be established for any sport that Strava offers activity logging for. This could be cycling, running, swimming, mountain biking – you name it. The next task is promoting your club on Strava and on your social media platforms.

Content – Brand Strategy via Strava Clubs – if your brand or organization posts content, such as blogs, you can publish the content directly to the club page, and athletes can choose to share it on their socials. Blog content posting is a must for any brand wishing to grow. Contact me here to learn more about the content-brand strategy. See the screenshot below for an example of content posting in the form of blog content on the Red Bull Australia club page:

Your content will naturally gain exposure on Strava. The platform has established an algorithm that delivers every club post directly to the athlete’s feed. Strava promotes on their website that athletes engage with club posts at higher volumes than traditional social media platforms. This is because Strava is a very athletic-specific social media platform. The members of Strava are already interested in sport, health, and the outdoors – let’s take the guesswork away from targeted advertising.

Want to join Run Rally? It’s a Strava club connecting runners locally and internationally that I personally manage. Click here.

Strava Partnerships or Strava Partner Integrations

Strava Business allows athletes and brands to create ‘Strava Partnerships’, also known as sponsored ‘Strava Partner Integrations’. When we talk about a Strava Partner Integration, we are discussing activities that appear on an athlete’s feed that have a direct association with a Strava partnership brand. For example, a Zwift activity uploaded on to Strava will feature the Zwift banner on the activity itself, in the athletes feed. This will be visible to all the athletes following the Zwift user, and if the activity is labeled as public, it will also appear in any relevant club feeds they have joined. This is maximum brand exposure.

Strava has listed a number of brands that they have formed partnerships with on their website. To provide a few examples of well-known Strava partner integrations:

Zwift – at-home cycling and run training game that connects these athletic communities virtually.

Peloton – at home cycling workouts that boast a live and on-demand feature, and high-quality, professional coaches.

MindBody – the app that connects people with fitness interests to local and online classes. Whether it’s yoga, strength training, group runs, or spin classes. Mindbody has it. Mindbody connects directly with Strava, to make your activity uploads seamless.

Interestingly, as an activity uploader (the athlete), you have the choice as to whether you want your activity to upload with the recognized partner integration. This is found under Settings → Partner Integrations.

Strava Community: Exposing your brand to 50 million + users

Strava explains that its platform allows brands to directly “interact.. with the most engaged community of athletes in the world.” I personally can testify to this, as I use Strava myself, along with most of my Australian teammates. I have email notifications set up to notify me when a Facebook friend signs up to Strava. In light of recent world events, I have had influxes of emails notifying me of friends signing up – not specifically high-level athletes, but from all walks of life! It is essential that your social media marketing strategy is solid in today’s increasingly online-based consumer habits. If you’re a business owner of a sports brand, I can’t stress the importance of establishing yourself on the Strava platform now and get in early before this is the new normal.

How to Contact Strava and how to take the next steps forward.

Strava has its own contact form to assist you with Strava Business queries. They specifically ask if you are interested in establishing a Strava Business model targeted at Challenges or forming a club. The form is available by clicking here.

If you want personally tailored advice on how to effectively establish and grow your brand or small business on Strava, or develop a Strava Business plan strategy – fill out my form here, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Feel free to also join my communal run club on Strava, Run Rally. Click here.

Strava is the ultimate online social running platform that connects athletes from a variety of sports, most notably running and cycling. Strava is a great way to track your running training, share it with your network, and club (yep, you can join real and virtual clubs), participate in virtual races and challenges and stay connected with your running community. Strava is in app form and also accessible via the website. Strava’s popularity is taking off at present in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it offers athletes a social platform base where they can hold each other accountable, spread camaraderie from afar, and stay motivated. Back in February Strava announced that it has over 1 million new sign-ups every 30 days on this funky blog post where they shared their stats with the community. I personally started using Strava again in February because of these reasons. Many users utilize it to keep track of their training for their coaches to see, and not surprisingly, compare their efforts with other athletes doing the same activity. Competitive humans we are.

How do I set up Strava?

You can sign up to strava.com using a Facebook or Google account, or simply using an email address. I decided to go through the sign-up process again to show you how simple it is to set up an account. Once you’ve selected your medium to create the account from, you’ll be guided to this pop-up:

Strava will give you the option to connect your account to Facebook if you wish. The software recognizes any of your friends on Facebook that are already using Strava. Strava will then suggest that you follow your friends on the platform to get your Strava profile and network up and running (pun intended).

Your Strava page will end up looking a bit like this (I haven’t posted any activities as you’ll see – this is just a test account for this post).

To ‘record your first activity’, you’ll want to connect a GPS running watch to Strava. In the screenshot above, and on your dashboard, you’ll see “Connect Device” in the orange clickable box. Hit that.

The most popular running watch brands that are used with Strava appear to be Garmin and Suunto – both trusted GPS running watch and running technology companies.

I decided to try connecting my new Strava Dashboard with Garmin, to which I was guided to a Garmin connect page pop-up that looks like this below:

I recommend switching on both toggles, for the full user-experience on Strava.

Once your device is connected to Strava, auto-upload will occur between your device app (Suunto or Garmin Connect, if you use either of these watches) – I have and do use both, so these are the platforms I am personally familiar with.

I’ll now show you my actual account dashboard, including an example of an activity upload. This will demonstrate what stats Strava Free version provides you with (premium is their paid service, as I’ll discuss further below). As an example, I’ll show you my recovery jog and strides stats from this morning which appear on Strava under “My Profile”. This is the main page that correlates all your stats :

The bolded text ‘Morning Jog’ and ‘Strides’ is clickable. It will direct you to a comprehensive landing page with even more analytical breakdown. See my screenshot below:

I personally enjoy how Strava allows you to interact with their graph feature below the geographical map, by switching the different toggles on and off. If you’re a map lover like myself, it’s pretty neat to see the elevation profile of the route you ran.

Running with Strava Friends

If you ran with someone else who has Strava and you’re connected on the platform, if they upload their run Strava will connect your activities and show other users that you ran together. See my screenshot below as an example:

If Strava doesn’t automatically recognize that you ran together, you can always add them in manually. I love looking at my Strava activity upload of a team or club workout and watching all the banter and comments manifest below the activity.

You can also use the “Strava find friends” feature to find potential connections and invite other athletes to Strava. You can find this feature when you hover over your avatar/logo in the top right-hand corner of your dashboard. The pop-up below will appear:

What is the best way to use Strava?

Athletes have a variety of reasons for being active users of Strava. For some, it is about staying accountable for their training. For others, it might be about competing with friends, for coaches to track and monitor their athlete’s training program or plan, to discover new routes and trails, or to compete in virtual races. Virtual races are taking off right now, ignited by the recent world events. More and more clubs are posting individual segment challenges with prize incentives. For example, in Boise where I am residing currently, Boise Summit Series release trail segment challenges each week and the prizes are cool, such as a variety tub of locally brewed beer. Boise has a great brewery scene. This is awesome to see, as it builders that community culture in a time where there is a feeling of disconnect, and fosters that much-needed camaraderie and friendly competition at this time.

You can join clubs easily on Strava – just hit the ‘Explore’ keyword on the top of the screen. See the screenshot below:

On your “My Profile” page, you’ll see the avatars/logos of all the clubs you are apart of. Like this. I am apart of a large variety of clubs including actual coaching/training clubs I have been apart of, park run groups, brand groups, running store clubs, challenge clubs/virtual run competition clubs, corporate platforms etc:

I personally use Strava to track my training each week. In particular, mileage, elevation climbed, (I like to try and hit a certain amount on tougher weeks, to ensure there is variety in my running – no one likes a runner that avoids hills). I also like to look at my pace in routes I have run multiple times to see signs of improvement and analyze paces of my workouts when I wish. Strava is truly handy to see all your stats in one place, and quickly. For example, your goals. You can set mileage/km goals to hit weekly too:

You can also average stats (generally not always accurate, don’t count a Strava PR as an actual PR) – only real physical race results are PRs or PBs. A loaded topic, for another time.

Strava Free v Strava Premium

At the beginning of the sign-up process, you’ll be directed to a pop-up offering a 2 month free trial of Strava premium. See below:

It is worth doing the free trial (put the date in your calendar in case you don’t want to renew) just to experience the full offering and user experience Strava offers its users. Strava has made some updates very recently to its platform, meaning that you can only compete on segments with other users (and yourself) if you have a premium.

A segment is a snippet of a route, road, trail, track, etc of a specific distance that has been constructed and labeled on Strava. The great thing about segments is you have a record of all your past efforts on that segment. You may cover multiple segments on one single running route. See the screenshot below for an example of a segment, and a segment leaderboard:

You can also explore Segments in your area, with Strava’s feature ‘Segment Explore’, under the Explore tab at the top of the dashboard page:

With Strava premium, you’ll also get access to more analytical resources and therefore more overall data on your dashboard. This includes HR (Heart rate data) and Power Analysis which then allows you to gain an idea of how hard you had to work to produce that particular time, or run that particular session/route at that pace, as an example.

Strava has also made its Route Discovery and planning features now only available to premium users. Strava suggests routes for you to run or ride, which it determines based on the area you are running and cycling in, combined with the activity uploads of Strava athletes who have done the same activity in that area. See the screenshot below for an example of what the Route creation landing page looks like.

I got to this page via ‘Dashboard’ and “My Routes”:

For safety, Strava has also included a Beacon feature – if you carry your phone with you when you run or cycle, you can send out a beacon at any time to let your family members know your location and planned route. Great for those runs in unfamiliar areas and on unpredictable terrain, or for the younger and more vulnerable users.

The Heat Map feature that comes with premium is also pretty cool. You’ll see an interactive map of all the runs and rides you have completed around the world. Nothing super special from an analytical standpoint, but pretty cool aesthetically!

Luckily, Strava is no more than a good large latte or beer, coming in at just $5/month after your 60-day free trial is up. It is worth sacrificing 1 cup of coffee a month for some of these extra nifty features. Click the link to sign up: https://www.strava.com/subscribe/checkout?package_ids=4%2C5%2C6

Want to join Run Rally – A Strava club connecting runners locally and internationally? Click here.

Smart running is how you get the most bang for your buck. It involves the time, mileage, and intensity of your training load each week, recovery time between sessions, how often you race, and what cross-training activities you do to assist with fitness and/or strength. In light of the recent world events which have injected a lot of stress and uncertainty into society and individuals alike, training smarter, not harder, is the way to go for now I do believe. I call it baking a cake. I want to bake a really good cake right now – my base. Then I’ll get ready to ice it later for race season when it eventually comes back around.

I’ll admit, it took me a while to get to this headspace of tuning in with my body, and not being so rigid or structured with training. I would be lying if I said I didn’t use running as a form of coping mechanism when COVID-19 altered the way we live our lives. I was able to keep up the early mornings, harder sessions a few times a week – basically my normal training load and intensity I was doing during the collegiate season. However, onsetting fatigue and gradual discontent with a high focus on running at this time wasn’t making me happy. Instead, I decided to completely tune in to my body and use my times of higher energy to work harder, and lower energy to settle into long and slow mileage.

I now run at the time of day I best feel like it, not necessarily first thing in the morning like I usually do during school or season. I don’t put pressure on how many sessions a week I do. I’m happy if it’s just 1, and what day it is, doesn’t particularly bother me. I do a few runs with team-mates and friends for the social aspect and pure joy of getting out on the trails. I am fit, not necessarily top end fit, but I don’t need to be right now – that’s not what it is about. I’ll get ready to ice my cake when the time comes.

This is a lesson for life. Coping mechanisms are unsustainable and will result in fatigue, which then takes time to recover from. If you keep it up, it becomes a bit of a vicious cycle – like a Catch-22. I hope you get the opportunity to cash in on this advantage COVID-19 has given us to build solid values and foundations around what we do and love. All the hard work and base-building, and the personal introspection this time has ignited, will pay off later. I’m certain of it.

Smarter Running and training load: how do you manage your milage?

Mileage is something that should be gradually built, based on your background and skill level in the sport, and your injury history (because an injury is a part of any sport you compete in, at a high-level). Working with a coach who monitors this, and adapts it to suit your goals and personal needs is the best path to success and reducing injury risk. The general rule of thumb is don’t increase your mileage by more than 10% a week, sometimes 15%. You should have down weeks too, particularly after harder training ‘blocks’.

Training ‘blocks’ can be period of a few weeks (mine were generally 4-6 weeks), where there is a focus on something for a particular race or season. I know I can build the top-end speed fitness in 4 weeks that I need for faster track races, for example. My coach, team-mates and I work closely at this with race-specific workouts when the key races of the season are coming up.

This is also known as ‘periodized training’. We can’t keep extremely high levels of intensity up all year round, as it is unsustainable. So we have times of base building, speed building, endurance building, strength…you get it.

I’ve never been a particularly high-mileage runner and personally have had success with this approach, and minimal injury particularly from increased running load-induced stress. My ultimate running training schedule involves 5-6 days of running, with 1-2 doubles (25-30 mins each), a swim session, and 2 running strength- specific sessions. I’d rarely go over 100km a week. Off this training, I’ve managed to qualify and compete in some pretty cool events, and run some nifty times. There’s no doubt I will creep my mileage up in the future at some point – try it, give it a go, test my limits. I don’t want to be left wondering. It’s a bit like Mario Andretti’s quote:

“If everything seems under control you’re not going fast enough” – Mario Andretti

Sometimes it is good to take some risks. Just know when it is the right time to test the waters here.

What is Smart Running?

Smart running is all about tapping into your personal needs, training and race goals, goals, and desires in life external to running and sport, injury history, and the context in which you are living in. To have the smartest approach to running, your program should be individualized and flexible. You and your coach should have open, honest communication which allows for program adaptability. I’ve been lucky to have this for the duration of my running career. If you don’t feel like you can communicate with your coach, then you might need to re-evaluate your training set-up to better suit your needs.

“It’s better to fail in originality than succeed in imitation” – Herman Melville

No one ever truly succeeds if they spend the majority of their time copying or imitating others. Don’t get me wrong, there is a great deal to be learned from coaches, mentors, training partners, elite-athletes etc, but these lessons should just be parts to building your ‘whole’. We learn a lot just from our own experiences in the sport. Whether this is in sessions, races, mentally tough situations, long-run banter and discussions with our training partners, running training through a global pandemic…..

I like to information gather when making decisions about the training approach. I’ll consult my coach, tap into how I feel, map out a rough training timeline calendar to key races. This ensures my preparation is optimal and doesn’t induce injury in the build-up. Further, it must be manageable with the rest of life’s commitments and hobbies. If you’re anything like me, you might enjoy a few things outside of running. In fact, I’ve found keeping up my hobbies like music and singing, surfing, skiing, doing outdoor activities with friends, website management and blog post writing, etc make me a better runner – as I’m my happiest self. So I stress to my teammates and friends who ask if you enjoy lots of things, find a way to achieve balance. Running more is not always better. It can help – but there is a time and place to increase and reduce load.

How does stress impact running training and performance?

My coach at Boise State has a good analogy for how stress can impact running training and performance. It also most often ends up trickling through other aspects of our life. We want a sustainable approach that is optimal for long-term success and caters to changing needs, goals, and shifting life situations. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when more things are out of our control. We need to focus on what we can control.

My coach calls it the ‘cups’ approach. Bear with me. Imagine your life is balanced between different cups, that are each half-filled with water. Considering this analogy, most of us have cups for:

Work
School/College
Social life
Family
Sports/Exercise/Training
Recovery/downtime/me-time
Hobbies

All these cups need to be balanced with certain amounts of water, not overflowing. This is optimal to reduce stress and anxiety in our life. Before you think, “that’s impossible” – hear me out.

If 1 cup is overflowing with water, for example – a heavy load at work, something else has to give. Some of that water needs to go somewhere else to balance the extra work stress out.

If multiple cups begin to overflow, we start to spread ourselves thin. Don’t panic if this is you, especially at this time in the world at present. We just have to reevaluate priorities and potentially make a few shifts or changes to better suit our needs.

So, next time you want to push your limits or step outside your comfort zone in training, for example, make sure your cups allow for this. Same for any other endeavor. You’ll recover better, perform better, and develop smart habits for the future. It’s establishing foundations for long-term success in running or whatever it is you want to do.