An ultramarathon.life Roadmap
Time keeps on slipping by, and it’s already been six weeks since ultramarathon.life launched. During that time, I’ve managed:
- 9 blog posts
- 6 YouTube videos
- 5 YouTube shorts
- 9 Instagram posts
- 4 Instagram stories
- 6 weekly newsletters
- 7 strength training workouts
- 3 yoga sessions
- 200 kilometres of running over 26 runs.
The next six weeks will see more of the same, hopefully with some of the numbers going up. But what else should I be getting on with in the coming months?
The training is going well. I’m really happy with the YouTube videos. Sure, they could do with a bit more planning and polishing, but it feels like a really solid start. They might not be the sorts of videos that will get millions of views, but they feel authentically me, and if some people get something out of watching them, they’ve done their job.
I’d like to make my newsletter more interesting, but that also needs me to do more interesting things. At the moment, there’s been very little to report back each week. I have a few ideas of things I can do to improve the newsletter, so expect some changes coming over the next few weeks.
For the blog, I’m aiming to start adding in some reviews. I’ve just finished What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami, so I’ll try to write a review for that soon. I’ve also got some articles I’d like to write going more in-depth in training, as that’s my current focus rather than directly about what I’ll be doing in Japan. At the moment, I expect there to end up being a few different categories:
- Reviews (books, gear, anything running-related)
- Training (my thoughts on training and running in general)
- Logistics (things around organising ultramarathon.life and a run around a country)
- Life, the universe, and everything else (more personal updates, thoughts on different things, all the random bits)
Alongside the blog, I’d like to update some of the site design, get a logo sorted, and add a proper page detailing the running Japan plans. I want to make the site a bit more interactive, something that you can come back to each week and see new things. I’m keeping the community aspect on hold until there’s a more solid idea around what shape that should be, and for when I have time to do that aspect justice, but looking a little further ahead I’d love to be in a position to do something with that by the end of summer.
The place where I think I need to find time for a little more effort is the short-form stuff. I don’t understand Instagram reels or YouTube shorts. They don’t feel natural for me to make. I know I’m going to have to give it more of a try, as well as posting more of the Instagram stories to keep people updated, but it’s something I’ve been putting off.
I’m also dabbling with the idea of starting a little podcast each week. Just a short one, maybe 20-30 minutes per episode with some of the fantastic runners that I know. Having a podcast is just in the idea phase for now, and there is so much to do before that. But I’m putting it out here on the roadmap for the future… but probably not for the next couple of months.
So there we go, it’s been a good first six weeks. Here’s to the next.
