A few weeks ago it was February vacation week here in the Northeast, which for my family meant our third annual trip to the Canyons Ski Resort in Park City, Utah. I did some running while we were there and marveled as I always do at how challenging even a 30-minute easy run seemed at 6,800 feet elevation. On our second day there, returning from a run winded, sweaty and beat, I was teased by the bellmen hanging out in front of our hotel. “Tough run?” one asked me. When I agreed, he reassured me, “Don’t worry, you’ll be able to go home and run marathons after a few days up here!”
But was that really true? Was I really getting any training benefit from the six days we spent in Park City, a mile and a quarter up in the sky?
Read MoreI once saw a post on Facebook that said something like, “The first 3 miles of my run were the best….said no one, ever.” How many times have you spent those early miles waiting for a tight muscle to ease up or gritting it out until you finally hit your groove and stop feeling so flat?
We’ve discussed warm-ups here before: last spring, our esteemed leader, Salty, wrote an informative post about the race day warm-up with some excellent tips for the race or hard work-out situation. Going a step further, I think a warm-up can be helpful if included before any run you do. A good warm-up can get rid of the kinks while pumping up your heart-rate so when you set off on your run you’re feeling loose, light on your feet and ready to go, right from the beginning.
Read MoreThere are so many great things about late spring-early summer running. To name a few: warm, long days without the slog of summer humidity. Secure footing after months of dodging patches of black ice and deep mounds of snow. The start of racing season. The blast of colorful vegetation that is springtime … and the watery eyes, runny nose, and sneezing that for many of us is part and parcel of this time of year.
But don’t worry, you don’t have to blow your PR because you were blowing your nose! I present to you some tips to navigate the spring allergy season.
Read MoreEvery coach has their favorite interval workouts, and the intricacies of each involve targeting specific physiologic effects. This post was written after I completed USA Track & Field Level One Coaching School, and the introduction to coaching “The Endurance Events” lecture clarify some things about interval training for me, which share here.
Read MoreWith fall racing season now in full swing, many of us are ramping up our workouts accordingly. But when your training plan calls for you to run at 1-mile pace, or 3K pace, or 30 seconds faster than 5K race pace, what does this translate to for you, especially if you’ve never run a race at that distance? Time trials might just be the tool you need to establish a baseline for your fitness and fine tune your training.
Read MoreThis concept of achieving a personal best can become tricky when you’re an older athlete. For some who started focused training later in life, many PRs may still lie ahead because you weren’t training or keeping track when you were younger. However, if you ran competitively in your youth, you may never again be able to run the same absolute time over a given distance, regardless of how well your training is going. If you are a runner in your 30s, 40s or beyond, especially if you are on the speedier side, you may frequently find yourself racing against open runners who might be many years younger than you, and thus have a distinct competitive advantage. At times, this can feel disheartening. Read how age grading can help with this!
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