In New York City, April showers bring … runners out. You may not be training for the marathon, but now’s the time to get hip to what’s new in the world’s oldest pursuit (think hunters and gatherers).

Don’t skip Triathlete Magazine if you’re a beginner. It’s a surprisingly novice-friendly read with good tips for eating, training and getting enough rest. As with any fitness magazine, the message is overwhelmingly aspirational, but at least it isn’t making promises that would be impossible to keep. This includes profiles on two “age group” (read: older) triathletes who started to compete in their mid-40s. There’s also a short profile on how triathlete Travis McKenzie qualified for the championship Ironman race in Kona, Hawaii. Just before the issue was finished, the editor writes in a note, McKenzie was hit by a car and was wearing a full body brace, though he’s still planning on competing in the 70.3-kilometer (43.6-mile) race.

Runner’s World is the stalwart magazine for runners of pretty much any level of experience. That broad lens aids a beginner’s guide by pointing out that running can lower your chance of getting Alzheimer’s disease and the risk of certain kinds of cancers, and can improve joint and bone health. Later, there’s an excerpt of 2014 Boston Marathon champion Meb Keflezighi’s new book, “Meb for Mortals,” which focuses on correct form and lots of drills. The mag tests sports bands for measuring a workout and comes down on the side of the $230 Polar M400.

Running Times is a little more hard-core. “We run not because it might make life longer, but because it makes life better,” as written in the editor’s note, gets to the heart of the tone and their audience. If you needed more proof of that, a feature asks if 100-mile races are the new marathons, since 26.2 miles has gone “mainstream.” A personal essay by Rachel Toor, on self-loathing among dedicated runners, divides people into the “it’s all good” beginners and the “I suck” experts — the people who are never satisfied with their own best times. This honest take from a seeming perfectionist makes for a good read.

Women’s Running has a solid Q&A with Olympian Alysia Montaño, who ran the 800-meter race at the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships last June while eight months pregnant. “The morning I delivered,” she said, speaking of just before her daughter arrived, “I ran five miles, but it took me 80 minutes to do it.” They also break down what’s the big deal with compression socks, those knee-highs you see on runners everywhere. They can keep blood flowing evenly and reduce soreness, according to an expert.

The New Yorker spends 12 pages on a tantalizing feature about an unregulated gold mine at the top of a mountain in Peru. Yet, as happens all too often with this magazine, the story fails to answer some basic questions — in this case, the question of exactly why the mine remains unregulated. Sure, we are told that government raids haven’t been effective. But to us, that sounds like the beginning of a good story, not the end. Elsewhere, we liked the piece on NASA’s research program inside a Hawaiian volcano to prep for an eventual human mission to Mars. And we were amused by the story of a totem pole that had allegedly been stolen from its home in Alaska in the 1930s by Hollywood legend John Barrymore. By far the best piece this week, however, is the inside story of a cargo ship’s crew that was taken hostage by Somali pirates in 2010, only to make a rare and daring escape three and a half years later. We won’t spoil the story, but suffice it to say that being the captive of Somali pirates doesn’t sound like much fun. (“The Somali guards relieved themselves wherever they liked, and … the Indian crewmen were tasked with cleaning up after them.”)

“Black Lives Matter,” Time declares in big letters across its cover, referring to a South Carolina cop’s April 4 shooting of an unarmed black man that was caught on video. That headline comes off like a scold to the nation’s police departments, and inside we get a barrage of testimony about the victim, Walter Scott, being a loving father, his chronic delinquency on child-support payments notwithstanding. Thing is, we tend to believe it this time, and overall we get a fairly balanced account of the mess. Increasingly, police departments like Charlotte, SC’s are waking up to the fact that officers need to wear body cameras. “The good apples are able to rely on more than their own word when they find themselves in trouble,” reporter David von Drehle writes. “The bad apples feel less free to level their weapons with impunity.” Speaking of which, the week’s best article is a profile on a cadre of female Kurdish soldiers that’s battling ISIS head-on. How tough are these women? Well, Cicek Derek was 17 when she died in battle a few months ago, having joined the anti-ISIS “Women’s Protection Unit” when she was 13.