Faith in Your Training

This is not about religion. This is about a belief though – a belief in your training; a belief in your coach. I’m going to share what so many coaches won’t do - some specific failures. I do this in hopes that everyone out there will learn from them, as I have.
There isn’t a coach out there [...]

Does Running Stairs Make you Faster

How often do you see people running stadium stairs (aka running stadiums) at your local tracks? Ever wonder if it is a good workout for “serious” runners?
Efficacy of Stair Running
There is no doubt that there are cross-over benefits from running stadiums. In line with the the specificity of training principle, you are using muscle groups in a running-specific motion. [...]

Racing Yourself into Shape

Ok, so you really want to improve your running times. You don’t have a track close by for track workouts. You don’t care to push yourself on the roads by yourself. You do love the t-shirts you get at races. What’s a runner to do?
The answer is simple and effective. Race yourself into better shape.
Years [...]

Patience, Persistence & Planning – 50K The Easy Way

There once was this runner, we’ll call him Rob.
He had a goal. No, he had a vision. Not only that, it was a long term goal that actually created the opportunity to actually fulfill it! Wow, 11/10/07 and it was only October of 2006.
In one year’s time, he wanted to run a 50 miler. This [...]

Goal Setting & Achievement

There is a very interesting blog entry called “Casting last year into the virtual bonfire”. All the club members write their yearly accomplishments on a piece of paper and toss it ceremoniously into a bonfire. The basic premise is to wipe out your past year’s accomplishments, goals, personal records, etc. and start anew. Part of [...]

The Boston Illusion

[Dateline: Phoenix-Boston April 2005]
It’s only a long run. Ok, very long run considering my longest has been 15 miles (once) and a few 13 milers. Is it a new training approach or just malaise about going on “a long run.” I don’t know.
Lahcen and I planned on this run since last summer. Last Spring neither [...]

Removing Demotivators

By now we all know and acknowledge that motivation comes from within (hackneyed but true… until someone discovers the Motivation Gene.) It is not something given to you. What that means to us as a coach, a parent or a boss is that we can only work at creating an environment that optimizes someone’s motivation. [...]

Distance Intervals

Have you ever seen those runners waiting at a street crossing or stop light jogging in place? Maybe you’re even one of them. Some runners say it keeps them loose so they keep moving. The more dangerous corollary is the runner who launches themselves across traffic, jaywalking, crossing against lights, etc. because he/she doesn’t want to [...]