#SpeedTraining #TrainSmarterNotHarder #Biomechanics #Running #RunFaster Welcome to part 2 of mixing in speed work. Last week we talked a little bit about the different things speed work targets in order to make us faster, so be sure to read that before we get any further (How to mix in speed work, Part 1). When we left off we had posed the question of what actually comes first when it comes to trying to get faster. The short answer: Train your weakness. Obviously this require

#Gear #Running #Triathlon #TrainSmarterNotHarder I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear. While it is important to have gear that keeps you cool and protects you from sunburn in the summer, good cold weather gear is even more critical. Even in places that normally experience relatively mild winters there are days that are brutal. And if we don’t have the right gear we have a couple of stark options. We can either: a) ski

#RaceReport #ChilePepperFestival2019 #8k #Running #LessonsLearned So yeah… Chile Pepper didn’t go as planned. For those of you who haven’t been following along on with the Training Vlog the big picture goal for the near future is to really dial in the training to nail a fast 5k. The reasoning behind this is that I’m getting just old enough that if I want to nail my lifetime 5k PR, and have it be fast enough to approach my potential lifetime PR, I need to get on it. Once we ca

#TrainSmarterNotHarder #LittleThingsMatter #Recovery #TrainingPhilosophy #EarnYourMiles #CrossTraining #Running #Triathlon We all know how important it is to warm up, cool down, stretch, ice, cross train, do our drills, and get the core work in. But who has time for all that, right? I mean, we run/Tri because we like to run, bike, and swim. Quite honestly, even if we had infinite amounts of time, we still wouldn’t WANT to do all those little things. But if we want to be able

#TrainingPhilosophy #Running #Triathlon #ExercisePhysiology #TrainSmarterNotHarder For any given workout, we should be trying to get a specific result. We may be working on our lactate threshold, our coordination, our top end speed, or the ability to buffer our blood pH, whatever. We’re also often working multiple things into the same workout. From a theoretical perspective, the more time we spend working hard enough to go over the minimum threshold required to improve, the m

#TrainingPhilosophy #InjuryPrevention #TrainSmarterNotHarder #Running #Triathlon #Progression #MilesMatter Note: This post assumes that you’ve been training. If you’re just starting out then it’s impossible to not increase your intensity and volume at the same time. This is why it’s extra important to be cautious when starting an exercise program. Listen to your body, know that the first couple of weeks are going to be a little rough, and don’t be afraid to pull the plug on a

#TrainSmarterNotHarder #TrainingPhilosophy #Running #Triathlon Our bodies like routine and repetition. They don’t like having the daily cycle thrown out of whack all the time. That’s part of the reason why it’s so hard to wake up early, and why we start to drift off at the same time most evenings. It’s why we get hungry at the same time, and why consistency is the most important part of any training plan. There are lots of ways that we can think of the phrase “Live like a clo

#TrainingPhilosophy #TrainingConcepts #Running #Triathlon Strap in folks. We’re getting theoretical today! *Note: I'll be updating this later today or tomorrow with images to help show what we're talking about. I often tell people that I tend to think of fitness as an N-dimensional space. And if the person I’m talking to doesn’t have a strong statistical or math background, their eyes often glaze over at this point because they have no idea what I’m talking about. Hang with m

#TrainingPhilosophy #LifeHappens #Running #Triathlon #Priorities Not all of us are slaves to our training plans. But most endurance athletes I’ve met over the years can get a bit… grumpy… when life gets in the way of training. It could be a bad weather event. It could be a family emergency. It could be that you got called into work to cover for someone who got in a wreck on the way in today. Fundamentally, life happens and sometimes there isn’t any way around it. The question

#RaceReport #5k #Firecracker5k #Running So we did a thing last week. We busted over to Shreveport for the annual 4th of July 5k race. It’s pretty flat, and it has a BIG turnout for a local race (1994 racers this year), which means it’s normally pretty good for a time trial attempt. The goal of the race First things first. The goal of this race for me was to get a baseline fitness assessment to get a feel for what the link in the chain is for me personally. How fast can we run

#TrainingPhilosophy #RacingPhilosophy #Running #Racing #GeorgeSheehan #Prefontaine George Sheehan was a cardiologist who took up running again after entering adulthood. He was a prolific writer, father of 12 children, speaker at large running events, and a sports philosopher. But the core of what he became as he aged was this: a runner. He had a philosophical approach to running that some would argue bordered on the nutty side. A good chunk of his personal philosophy could be

#TrainingPhilosophy #Planning #RaceDayPlan #Running #Marathon #TrainSmaterNotHarder Why plan your race season? Why not just go run whatever 5k is happening this weekend if we’re feeling frisky and motivated when we get up on Saturday morning? These are good questions. But a better place to start might be thinking about the difference between running while at race and actually racing or time trialing. Running at a race can be a great way to fill that social aspect of our train

#Excellence #TrainingPhilosophy #Running #Triathlon #Endurance A few weeks back I wrote a blog post about the concept of excellence. I didn't quite have the space to really say everything that I wanted to, so we're doubling back around for part 2. It's a bit longer than I was expecting, and I have a feeling that it's something we'll be coming back to in the future as well. So what does the pursuit of excellence mean? Well, quite frankly I think it probably depends on the pe

#Running #Triathlon #Recovery #TrainingPhilosophy When it comes to improving as an endurance athlete, consistency is king. Obviously getting out the door and actually doing the work is the first part of that. The second part is being able to do it. If we get hurt, or we haven’t recovered from the last hard effort, we aren’t going to be able to do the “quality” work. Without recovery there is no progress. We don’t actually get fitter while doing our harder or longer quality wo

#Hydration #Running #Triathlon #TrainSmarterNotHarder Summer is here. It’s hot. It’s humid. And we’re all losing buckets of sweat every time we go for a workout. Even “easy” and recovery days are costing us lots of sweat. So how do we keep track of how much we need to hydrate, and how do we do it most effectively? The first thing is to figure out how much water we’re actually losing during a workout. Even an easy recovery day is enough to get our heart rates up and the sweat

#Running #TrainingPhilosophy #NewRunner #CouchTo5k First things first: Running should be fun. If you aren’t having a good time, there’s something else you could be doing with that time to fulfill whatever goal or reason you have for doing it in the first place. And as much as I personally want everyone in the whole world to enjoy running, the fact is that some people just don’t like it. There are more time efficient ways to burn calories. There are lower impact methods to get

#TrainingPhilosophy #Running #Triathlon #TrainSmarterNotHarder The time required to get the right training in to get better is often the biggest linchpin in the whole process for most of us. We only have so much time available to spend training because we have other priorities and responsibilities that we need to take care of as well. Most of us can’t ditch work early every day to get a workout in. Nor can we just ignore making dinner for our kids. Quite frankly, most of us h

#Training #Running #Triathlon #CoachingPhilosophy #Goals We’ve all seen the Instagram and Facebook posts about achieving your goals. Some are in the “make your fitness goals your number one priority and to hell with the rest” vein, some are more in the touchy-feely-believe-in-yourself realm. And a lot of them are somewhere in between. Most of them are some kind of kind of generic quote on a stock photo background that doesn’t actually tell us what a goal is, let alone how to

#BostonBound #Running #Lessons #Training I have to apologize for the delay in getting this post up. We had a pretty nasty tornado the day before it was scheduled to go up, and lost power for several days. We got lucky, our house is perfectly fine (unlike most of those in the neighborhood). We finally have internet back after the tornado! But onward with the lessons learned in Boston... This year’s trip to Boston provided some lessons for me. Most of these I already knew,

#TrainingPhilosophy #Running #Training #Excellence Excellence is a habit. It isn’t something we achieve. It isn’t something we’re born with. It’s a habit that we build and execute on a daily basis. There have been many coaches, business leaders, military leaders, and leaders of faith that have expressed this sentiment. Now just because some old guy said it doesn’t mean it’s true. Old guys have been known to say lots of stuff that isn’t necessarily correct. But the idea of exc