The world's toughest 5k, making sense of salmon, building legs like tree trunks

The world's toughest 5k, choosing healthy protein, building legs like tree trunks

Read Time: 5 minutes

Good morning, 66.1ers.From a crazy 5k to the perils of farm-raised salmon, we'll cover a lot of ground this week.

Housekeeping:

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A quick refresher for anyone who's new to the newsletter: 66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US. We're here to extend that.

In case you missed it:​Saturday's issue of 66.1​

In today's issue of 66.1:

• The 85-year-old who completed the "world's toughest 5k"

• Important differences between wild-caught and farm-raised salmon

• Train your legs and boost your energy in 20 minutes

A quick refresher for anyone who's new to the newsletter: 66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US. We're here to extend that.

Spotlight on Longevity: Chad Resari

Chad Resari is the oldest person to finish the “World’s Toughest 5k”, the Mount Marathon Race in Seward, Alaska.

The race starts at sea level in Seward, with the halfway point being 3,000 feet up Mount Marathon. Racers wear gloves because they’re scrambling through rocks on all fours on the way up. Learn more about the race here.

Resari finished the race in 2021 at age 85.

Chad Resari is hardly a public figure, so the longevity lessons below are abstractions rather than direct statements:

1. Go uphill (and down)​Adding an elevation component to your cardio workouts that just makes your body work differently and your mind think differently. Your posterior chain is activated on the way up. You’ve got to coordinate 4 limbs and leverage some serious balance skills on the way down. It’s hard and it’s good for you.​

2. Stay in motion​To be in the right shape to go up and then back down 3,000 vertical feet at age 85, training is a non-negotiable.See the screenshot below for evidence that Resari has spent his life in motion.​

3. Build a strong community​You’ve probably done a workout with friends and noticed it’s just easier than going it alone.The weight doesn’t feel as heavy, you’re not debating whether you even want to lift before every set, the endorphins are flowing. So, too, when you’re running up a mountain–it’s easier when you’ve got high-energy people around you.

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Food for thought: Wild-caught vs. Farm-raised salmon

Three morsels that might have you thinking about where your protein (fish, in this case) comes from:

1. Vitamin D: Wild-caught salmon has 2x more Vitamin D than farmed salmon

2. Calorie count: Wild-caught salmon has fewer calories per gram (38% lower according to this article) than farm-raised. While it’s not the best idea to focus on counting absolute calories, what’s important here is that for the same caloric intake, wild salmon will provide greater nutrition than farm-raised salmon.

3. Healthy fat: wild salmon have a lower ratio of Omega-3 fatty acids to Omega-6 fatty acids as compared to wild salmon. This is good because Omega-3s are generally healthy, while only a very small amount of Omega-6s is healthy.

The question for you this week:

Is the monetary savings worth the cost to your health incurred every time you choose farm-raised salmon over wild-caught?

Workout of the week

A quick workout you can do anywhere.

This week's workout:

Leg Blasters 2.0

Here's the workout:

5 rounds in 20 minutes:

1. 10/side speed skaters​

2. 10/side lateral lunges (a speed skater without the explosion)

3. 10/side lunge jumps

4. 10/side lunges

5. 20 push-ups to recover

Level: IntermediateIt's a grind, but it doesn't take incredible skill.

Don't do it if: You've got bad knees.

Adaptation:

If you have bad knees, the impact of jumping isn't going to do you any favors.Do 20/side lateral lunges and 20/side lunges, followed by 20 push-ups for 5 rounds.

​Tried the workout?​Reply here and let me know how it went!I'd love to hear more.

​That's all for this week.Have fun out there.​Marcus​

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Why 66.1?​66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US, as of the start of this newsletter publication.​We're here to extend that.