Features

Sustainable Performance
Editorial, Tools, All Ryan Willms Editorial, Tools, All Ryan Willms

Sustainable Performance

The Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next Nature takes Nike’s most elite performance shoe and recreates it with circular design principles. It is Nike’s most sustainably-minded performance shoe to date. Nike Running designers were driven by a core belief within the Move to Zero initiative — Nike’s journey toward zero carbon and zero waste — that a product that makes the world better can also make an athlete better. Cosmic Unity set the bar with 25 percent total recycled content by weight; the Alphafly Next Nature advanced it by reaching at least 50 percent total recycled content by weight, making it Nike’s boldest move yet in merging sustainability and performance. Doing so with the crown jewel of racing footwear was an important symbolic choice.

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MOVE LAB: RUN ANALYSIS & VO2 MAX
Editorial, Performance, All, Running Ryan Willms Editorial, Performance, All, Running Ryan Willms

MOVE LAB: RUN ANALYSIS & VO2 MAX

Last spring I visited Move Lab in Los Angeles for back to back days; doing a Precision Run Analysis and VO2 Max Test. The experiences were both exciting and challenging, with self-doubts coming up around my ability and even how my ACL would stand up to running full out. I got a lot more out of the experience than I anticipated and you can watch the two video episodes below on each of the sessions.

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PACING TOWARDS THE PAIN CAVE
Editorial, All, Running Ryan Willms Editorial, All, Running Ryan Willms

PACING TOWARDS THE PAIN CAVE

For no reason other than a desire to test my hardiness, I started running. I had never much enjoyed running before and working out even less, but I figured that if I was able to meet the APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) requirements, this achievement would be symbolic of personal fortitude. I posit that it is personal fortitude and a quest to test one’s own that leads many adherents to a position of discovery at the mouth of the pain cave in the first place. That’s how I found it. 

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