We hope you had an incredible Fourth of July weekend filled with family, friends, fireworks... and maybe a few extra miles!

This week's edition is packed with:

Thanks for spending a few minutes of your week with us. And don’t forget to complete the community poll at the bottom!

Let's dive in!

Big goals require smart training and just as importantly, smart recovery.

We loved this story from a member of our community about how Endure Thermal Spa helped them through one of the biggest training blocks of the year.

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Thank you for sharing this week! Some funny, some inspirational!

“My sister made me do it! :)”

“I paid money to do this.”

“Running gave me my life back.”

Brought to you by Lindsay! A fabulous race pacer, writer and community member! And our esteemed contributing author here at Runday.

Lindsay brings a thoughtful, practical approach to life, running, wellness, and real-life training. The kind that meets you where you’re at and helps you keep showing up. We’re thrilled to have her sharing her insights with the community.

By: Lindsay Paulson

What should I eat to fuel my runs? How do I get the nutrition I need every day? A simple answer to these common questions: eat the same foods every day.

It may sound boring but it’s also refreshingly uncomplicated. Eating the same high-quality, nutrient-packed foods on repeat helps ensure the body gets what it needs every day; think eggs and quinoa, legumes and seeds.

Another daily staple: Fruits and veggies. And this is where you can bring in variety, as so many of them offer valuable nutrients. Because fruits and veggies vary in quality, availability, and cost throughout the year, mixing them up is an opportunity to get a variety of nutrients, plus capitalize on the perks of seasonality.

Variety is the spice of life, as they say. When it comes to eating well and packing in nutrients, pairing trusted staples with variety from fruits and veggies every day is a simple, solid strategy.

By: Dr. Lizette Sunde, PT,

A researched-backed approach to your rehab, recovery and wellness.

Trail Runner Question: “Hi Dr. Sunde, I’m training for a hilly trail run coming up in September.  With our lack of hills here in the F/M area, I’ve been adding incline runs on the treadmill once a week.  I start slowly with my pace and incline, usually walking at a 3% grade and then jog/run at a 5% incline but I can only make it 5 minutes before my calves start to hurt.  I know it’s hard to tell me specifically what might be wrong without an in-person consult but can you give me some idea of what’s going on with this particular activity?”

Dr. Sunde: Hey Trail Runner! Thanks for the inquiry.  Calf problems are common during uphill training and this is because an incline largely shifts the forces of running to the posterior chain (think glutes, hamstrings and calves).  I often tell my runners you have to check all the boxes to earn your hill runs!

✔️ Do you have the ankle mobility? First and foremost, you must have greater ankle range of motion to manage the incline.  But this also means your calf muscles (the gastrocnemius and soleus) are contracting with more force from a lower position.  Want to check your own ankle mobility? Watch this!

✔️ Do you have the strength to manage inclines? Steeper inclines shift the workload to the back side, so calves work significantly harder to push your body uphill, but it doesn’t just push from a neutral position, it pushes through the toe, from a negative position (see visual below - angles are approximate)).  Franz and Kram (2012) quantified that, compared to level walking, muscle activity increased by 175% for the medial gastrocnemius and 136% for the soleus when walking uphill at 9°. These increases were further amplified at faster walking speeds.

✔️ Mechanics?  HOW you’re running uphill can burn you out quickly, so if you happen to be running on your toes, whether on purpose OR because you don’t have the ankle flexibility to bend fully, calves take on all the heavy pushing.  There are other mechanical things that will burn out the calves faster.  One big cause can be hip tightness.  If the hips cannot extend behind you to push, then your calves are the only employees in the work factory.  And after some time, they’re not going to be happy about it.

As a clinician, my checklist includes testing flexibility in the calf as well as joint mobility in the midfoot, ankle, big toe, and hips! I also check strength as mentioned above, because your soleus should be able to manage 1.5 to 2x your body weight on one leg!  But keep in mind that your progressions over the training weeks are important.  Ramping that treadmill incline up for a long run before you are ready can make your achilles angrier than a fatigued runner without a water station.

Things to try: if there’s not too much cushion, a shoe with a higher heel stack will help reduce the amount of ankle bend needed.  Start bulletproofing the calf with single leg weighted heel raises (to be completed on non-running days) and progress slowly with the incline starting with a walk/jog format at lower inclines and progressing to longer runs with greater inclines over time!

Happy Running!

Dr. Sunde, PT

Hosted by various groups throughout the metro. Go meet up!

There is still time to register!

In 2026, we will remember & honor Mark Knutson with the Memorial Tour Da Lakes!

Part of the proceeds going back into the community through a donation to Project 412.

📅 Saturday, July 11, 2026
⏰ Race Starts at 8:30am
📍Detroit Lakes High School

👉 SIGN UP NOW!

Step into summer with serious throwback vibes at the Icewind Brewing Summer Lovin’ 5K!

An untimed, all-fun run inspired by sunshine, good company, and Icewind’s crisp Summer Lovin’ Shandy 🍋🍺

📅 Tuesday, July 21, 2026
⏰ Race Starts at 7:00 PM
📍Icewind Brewing, Mapleton, ND

👉 SIGN UP NOW!

By: Coach Branden Scheel

Look for an announcement on a LIVE Q&A with Coach in next week’s newsletter!

Branden Scheel is a Fargo-born professional triathlete and endurance coach, former Division I runner at NDSU, and two-time marathon champion. He now competes in IRONMAN events and coaches athletes of all levels, sharing practical insights in Coach’s Corner.

If running disappeared tomorrow, what would you do instead?

And the winner wasn't even close...

🚴 Cycling rolled away with 56% of the vote!

The rest of the field looked like this:
🚶 Speed walking – 15%
🚨 Something else entirely – 15%
🥒🏓 Pickleball – 11%
🛋️ Couch sitting – Just a few brave souls admitted it 😅

Rock on!

Jeremy & James

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