Join the Darn Tough sock cult. ¶

Darn Tough makes merino wool socks prized by hikers, runners, and buy-it-for-lifers because they’re guaranteed for life.

According to my Amazon order history, I ordered five pairs of “Darn Tough Merino Wool Double Cross, No Show Tab, Light Cushion Sock Molten Large” socks in 2016. Today, six years later, I’m wearing a pair of the socks I ordered in 2016, and they’re great.

And in all this time I’ve never used their warranty program, but I decided to try it out on a particularly worn pair—we’ll see how it goes!

About compression socks ¶

Why? Because squeezy is good.

– Peter Sagal, Host of NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!”

Compression socks supply support and structure. And it makes them a joy to wear—even when you’re not running.

Initially, compression socks emerged to support circulation in the legs of diabetics. But now savvy runners sport them to capitalize on numerous studies claiming they aid performance and recovery (although who knows what the control is in those studies).

I own two colors of CEP Progressive+ Run 2.0—basic black and caution-tape yellow.

These socks are made of nylon (mostly) which massages my calves, keeping my blood flowing on my recovery days. I’ve owned these socks for years and wear them weekly.

But it’s not all cozy, compressed joy:

• 💸Compression socks are too expensive—mine cost $65 a pair!
• 🧐 The socks come with instructions about how to put them on
• 🛂 You need instructions to put them on

Avoid cotton socks ¶

90% of everything is crap

– Sturgeon’s Law

Most socks are crap for running because most socks are cotton.

But cotton is the wrong material for socks for the same reason it’s the right material for towels. Cotton is absorbent—it holds water and doesn’t release it. The sweat trapped between your foot and your cotton sock can cause blisters while running or hiking.

In contrast, technical socks tend to be made of less absorbent material that dries quickly. So when you sweat, your sweat moves to the surface of the sock and evaporates before it gives you blisters.

I believed blisters were unavoidable—I tossed a roll of Leukotape in my firstaid kit and accepted that I’d use it often. But then I realized the real problem was my cotton socks.

You think about socks every day. ¶

“I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.”

– Barack Obama

Mental energy is precious. You should avoid misspending your limited mental energy on your socks.

You could argue writing a blog post about socks is the definition of misspent mental energy. But I believe it’s when you’re spending your mental energy that matters.

If you find yourself bleary-eyed, rooting around for the one good pair of socks in the drawer, then you’re thinking about socks at the wrong time.

Spend your effort up-front.

Declare sock bankruptcy and find a brand of comfortable socks that you can wear in every situation, and then stock up.

Tactics for weight loss ¶

In 2020, I was like most Americans—overweight. I had to shed some fat before I could start running.

Weight loss is simple: eat fewer calories than you use.

I recommend reading Fat Loss Forever by Peter Baker and Layne Norton, PH.D.

The book asserts all diets work—you can lose weight by eating one hour each day or eating nothing but potatoes.

But you need a diet that can work forever—otherwise, the outcome is grim.

According to the book, of people who lose 10% of their body weight:

• 50–70% of people gain it back in a year
• 85% gain it back within two years
• 95% gain it back within three years

Since all I care about is calories, I’ve opted to track my weight, calories, and exercise in myfitnesspal (free for the basics).

Using this strategy, I lost 70lbs(!) and have kept it off for a year now.

Developing a running habit by walking ¶

My walking habit granted me time for running later.

Even if you never plan on running—walking is an excellent habit.

Walking is proven to:

• Improve your sleep
• Reduce anxiety and depression
• Improve your cognitive functioning
• Reduce your all-cause and disease-specific mortality

Inspired by the likes of Nietzsche and Thoreau, I started walking 30 minutes daily at a “brisk pace” (2.5mph/4kph).

Walking was my gateway drug.

Sign up for a race ¶

If you want to be a runner: sign up for a race and follow a plan.

Back in February, a friend and I dared each other to sign up for a 5K race.

Our commitment required training, and our improvement sparked motivation. When we saw ourselves run faster, it motivated us to work harder.

Later, while training for the half-marathon, I needed a better plan.

Plans for every distance are available for free online:

• Runner’s World
• Hal Higdon

I studied the book Run Like a Pro (Even if You’re Slow) by Matt Fitzgerald and Ben Rosario and found my training plan in the back.

Mike Crittenden’s blog has more tips on how to build your running habit.

Most runs are slow runs ¶

Since you must run often, slow runs should form the foundation of your training.

For training, you can pick any two of the following:

• 🔒Frequent runs (a must)
• Long runs
• Fast runs

Otherwise, you risk either your training schedule or your recovery. The only time to run fast AND far is race day.

I run six days a week; each day is either:

• short, fast runs where I work on speed (e.g., fartleks) vs.
• long, slow runs where I work on stamina

Pace yourself ¶

How slow is a slow run?

McMillan running’s pace calculator computes your ideal pace for you (in exchange for an email). For my slow runs, I target 10.5 minutes per mile (6.5 minutes per kilometer).

I bought a running watch to pace myself. My criteria for a running watch were:

• Shows me:
  • Current pace
  • Current heart rate
  • Total distance run
  • Total running time
• Has buttons (instead of a touchscreen)
• I can program it to alert me at intervals
• The screen is always on
• Beeps

I spent $230 for a watch that checks all the boxes—the Garmin 245 music.

I’m happy with my Garmin, but my old Casio AE-1300WH-8AVCF beeped and did intervals for $20—it was enough to get me through my 5K.

My ideal watch would be my Casio with all the functions of my Garmin, but it would output a GPX file rather than force me to use an app.

Running shoes ¶

When I went to the local running store, they 3D-scanned my feet.

The scan convinced me my current shoes were too big—my toes were sliding around—causing blisters.

I’ve since put 350 miles on my new shoes—blister-free.

The moral? Go to the local running store and buy shoes.

Shoes I’ve worn and liked:

• Saucony Ride 15 – my current shoes
• HOKA ONE ONE Clifton 8 – my beginner shoes
• HOKA ONE ONE Speedgoat 4 – for trail running (and hiking)

Foam rollers ¶

A tip I gleaned from the book “Run Like a Pro (Even if You’re Slow)” is that professional runners use foam rollers.

The thin casing of muscle-protecting fascia in your legs can knot itself into a little ball—making your calves feel tight.

Foam rolling—“self-myofascial release”—can massage out all these knots.

I found a good routine in a video from McMillian running.

Some studies link foam rolling to faster recovery and increased athletic performance.

I’m ambivalent, but it feels good and seems harmless, so I do it.

I use and own both:

• TriggerPoint GRID Foam Roller – everyone recommends this one, and you can find it everywhere
• TheStick Little Stick – I found this in a Runner’s World article on “calf heart attacks.”

Problems Meshtastic solves ¶

Communication infrastructure fails. Whether an earthquake in Puerto Rico or a trip to a national park—it’s easy to imagine a situation where your smartphone is useless.

And it’s trivial to surveil your communications—AT&T established room 641A to funnel communication to the NSA. And there are reports of “stingrays”—devices that masquerade as cell towers—intercepting the text messages of protestors.

Meshtastic attempts to solve these problems using cheap, readily available parts and open-source software.

Shut up and take my money.

What I dislike ¶

There’s no way around it: this is an alpha quality project. Right now, it’s only usable by nerds (like me 🌠). You’ll probably have a bad time if you’re not a tinkerer or a hobbyist.

• Alpha quality – The project is hard to use, even for the basics. During our trip to Yellowstone, we repeatedly lost our bluetooth connection to the devices—they kept going to sleep. And the interface is sometimes unclear—I ended up holding down buttons, waiting for something (anything) to happen.
• iOS requires Testflight – The Android mobile app worked well, but the iOS app requires Testflight to install—which seems like a pain.
• Batteries/small bombs – The T-Beams run off big honkin’ 18650 batteries—the same lithium-ion cells used in Tesla battery packs. While the batteries last all day, I had to make extra purchases. Later I realized they run fine off of USB battery packs, but I was uncertain about that when I bought it. These things added to my costs:
  • Opus BT-C3100 battery charger
  • Sanyo NCR18650GA 3500mAh 10A Battery
• PCBs are intimidating – Holding a PCB (printed circuit board) intimidates electronics neophytes. There are stickers available on the discourse that read: “Meshtastic: this is not a bomb” (for base stations in the field).
• “Meshtastic” – My brain refuses to type “meshtastic” on the first try; this may be a personal problem.

What I love ¶

There is a lot to love about this project.

• FOSS – Meshtastic is free software—the firmware is GPL-3.0 licensed—the four software freedoms are essential for users to trust this device.
• Encryption – Data moving between T-Beam devices is encrypted via AES256—an as-yet unbroken standard. Although, the documentation on this worries me a little: “It is pretty likely that the AES256 security is implemented ‘correctly’ and an observer will not be able to decode your messages.”¹ 😅
• LoRa – The Meshtastic devices work via LoRa (Long Range) radio. In the US, LoRa uses the ISM band (on 915mHz). The ISM band has no license requirement—which means it’s legal to encrypt traffic, unlike ham radio. In testing, LoRa works up to a few miles away with a good line of sight.
• Community – There’s a vibrant community on GitHub, Thingiverse, Discourse, and Discord. There’s excellent Documentation and folks blogging (and vlogging).

The verdict ¶

I’m thrilled with this project. The talented people bolstering this community experiment with setting up base stations at Burning Man and running ssh tunnels via LoRa—they’re doing awesome things.

I’ve not yet begun to nerd out on this.