Improving running economy at short distances (part II)

In yesterday’s post I began answering a question from a high-school student about increasing his VO2 Max. Yesterday’s discussion came to the conculsion that it isn’t VO2 Max, but rather running economy that’s really the issue. Below is part II of my answer in which I give some suggestions on the types of workouts that [...]

Improving VO2 Max and Quality Workouts (part I)

We received the following question from a reader over on MySpace. The question didn’t provide a lot of detail, but I’ll tackle it in a two-part post.
First the question:
I’m currently a HS student that specializes in running the 800 and mile. I was wondering if you know any workouts that I can do to improve [...]

What one Thing have You Done?

What one thing have you done today to move closer your goals for this year? 
Well?
If you don’t have an answer, then get off the computer and do something! Come back to this when you’re done. 
Motivation can easily be squashed by huge tasks, long term goals or the avalanche of to-dos. It becomes so daunting we become frozen [...]

Run Like a Girl: DVD Review

Run Like a Girl is a 2005, 38-minute short film written by Charlotte Richardson (Lettis). I am so thankful that my brother Jim introduced me to this film a couple years ago. You see, back in the 70s, Charlotte Lettis was a premier road runner in New England and the US. We were in many races [...]

Stop having a Great Day

Sports psychologist Ken Ravizza gives interesting advice: stop having a great day. Just what does that mean and why does he say that?
Do you bemoan the fact that you don’t feel good today and still need to do a workout?
Would you agree that in life we don’t always feel like doing the things we want [...]

Gerry Lindgren’s Book on Running - Review

For those of you who haven’t heard of Gerry Lindgren, he was a running prodigy from Spokane Wahsington. He came from the no-pain no-gain more-is-better school of running. In the 1960s that was the way. The book is written by “The Shadow of Gerry Lindgren”… Gerry himself. This is actually of interest because of his [...]

PF Chang’s Rock’n'Roll Marathon - A View from the Front

Coach Joe and I had a real treat riding in the lead media truck for the women’s race. It was dominated by Adenech Zekirios from Ethiopia who broke her own course record in 2:31:33. Joe did a great job passing along the play-by-play of the race. But, I want to share other observations.
From the start [...]

Runners’ Blood by James Fischer - Review

I rarely read novels and was quite skeptical when my brother recommended this book. If you read much of my writing, you’ll see where I spend most of my “leisure” reading time. But, since it was about running I thought I’d give it a go.
The novel is written by Dr. James Fischer who happens to [...]

Preparing Athletes for the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Note: This post incorporates technical data & information is from the USATF Podium Education Program session presented by Randy Wilbur PHD USOC.
The average runner will have no idea what goes into getting a track team to the Olympics in an optimal condition ready to medal! This is a summary on some of the preparation for [...]

Pre-Performance Routines

Routines build consistency and predictability. They establish physical and mental foundations for performance and leave less to variability (weather, customer responses, the competition, etc.)
An actor does not go on stage without “getting into character”. A musician or singer does not go on stage without warming up. Yes, in order to be completely ready to perform you need [...]