Newest Technology Means Faster Performances?

The US Olympic trials are in full swing. I watched the swimming trials and aside from great competition, what caught my attention were comments regarding the new Speedo LZR swim suit. Supposedly, it provides 5% less drag in the water. Rowdy Gaines, 1984 Olympic Gold medalist, talked of the suit. He tried it on (said [...]

Run Focus Take III - Smell the Roses

Bainbridge Island, early morning chill, two sets of foot steps echo off the forest towering above; an occasional car passes giving wide birth. (By the way - very courteous drivers here!)
My brother and I run in tandem without much comment in the first mile. Then I break the silence, “Look at the Buttercups!” Quickly I [...]

Run Focus - Bainbridge Island, WA - How not to do it

In the wake of our Tahoe experience I left for a few days with family in the Seattle area - Bainbridge Island. I was still recovering from the 16 total miles only days ago - more than two and a half times more than my longest run in the past 4 months. I was not [...]

Run Focus - Lake Tahoe Relay - How to do it

Regardless of conditioning our focus can make us better or worse. This is an article on a recent race and how it should be done. (Read my next post for how not to do it.)
I went into the Lake Tahoe Relay race in minimal condition. I was running leg one; about 9.5 miles @ [...]

Focus Leads the Way

Focus - the ability to concentrate on a given subject - is a funny thing. (By the way, focus and concentration are used interchangeably.) I hear comments from coaches and parents in many sports telling their athletes things like - “You’re just not focusing.”, “Concentrate!”, “Focus!” Here is where they are all wrong - every [...]

Performance and Comfort Zones

In sports psychology a comfort zone is a zone in which an athlete continues to perform at a level which may not be indicative of their capabilities. They find it difficult to reach that next “breakthrough.” Sometimes it shows when we practice but most definitely shows while racing. The athlete may self-destruct on the verge [...]

Achilles Tendons - Out of Shape running is Better than No Running

This is a continuation of my 6 month follow-up post from an Achilles tendon tear last year. It’s now been one year. Things were going well until February this year. I had delayed getting into the strengthening I mentioned in that previous post… and it caught up with me. I strained a hamstring slightly in [...]

Youth Running: How can I help my teen runner get faster?

Here’s another question about youth running:
“I have a 15 year old son who has run cross country & track for the past 5 years. He does very well and is top ranked in his division. My concern is that he’s a small for his age; but his size never was an issue until now. He’s [...]

Youth Running: Keep it simple, varied and fun

A reader named Tracy with a 12 year-old son asks the following question:
I was wondering if you could pass along some advice for running with my son. He will be 12 in a week and I want to get him running with me a bit and then entered into some 5k runs over the summer. [...]

From Excuse to Motivation

Thanks to a comment on my previous post, I’m going to elaborate a bit about the excuse list and its ties to motivation.
The list was created over the years by groups I coach - specifically High Performance Running Club and RxRunning & Racing Club. And the last portion of excuses dates much further back to [...]