We’re told to do a lot of things softly. Librarians tell us to whisper in the library. Theodore Roosevelt told us, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Golfers are told to grip the golf club softly rather than strangle it. Even the hip hop group Fugees sing, “Killing me softly with his song.” The …
I often wonder if there are multiple training paths to success, or if there is indeed one best training path that makes a given runner the very best he or she can be. Since Olympic athletes in the same race all have different coaches and therefore don’t train exactly the same way, there are …
BEST WAY TO TRAIN OR MULTIPLE WAYS TO SKIN A CAT? Read More »
. . I first met Dr. Walter Herzog when he was 40 years old. I was a 22-year-old, inexperienced but overconfident master’s degree student when I stepped into his office at the University of Calgary. I was both impressed and intimidated. I could tell he meant business. He revealed in a later conversation that he …
I get rejected. A lot. I fail. A lot. I look down. A lot. But I keep going. Because I have an unyielding belief. One of the athletes I coach recently reminded me of what I wrote in THE INNER RUNNER: “I often tell myself, as I suspect many runners …
Ever notice that good female runners have very narrow hips? Women’s wider hips compared to men create a more pronounced angle between the pelvis and the knee (called the quadriceps-angle or Q-angle), as the femur occurs at a more oblique angle compared to the femur of a man. A large Q-angle causes the patella …
I started my coaching career in 1997 at a college in New Jersey. I was the head coach at 24 years old, which made me one of, if not the, youngest head college coach in the country. I was very proud of that. I was fresh off my bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the …
Stomach get queasy when you run? Feel like you have to poop your shorts? You’re not alone. Gastrointestinal distress is a common problem among runners. Try these 8 things to minimize the risk: 1. Avoid high-fiber foods in the few days before the race. 2. Ingest multiple types of carbohydrates during the race (which …
Many runners and coaches seem to be fond of training at 5K or 10K race pace, designing workouts at those paces. There is not much value to doing that other than to practice specific race pace. While it may seem logical to run at 5K (or 10K) race pace as often as possible …
If you’ve ever run with a dog or watched a horse race, you’ll notice that other animals don’t stretch before or after they run. Although most people have been stretching since their middle school gym class to prevent injuries, improve exercise performance, and reduce muscle soreness, the research on stretching tells a different story. …
Why don’t most runners run the full marathon distance (26.2 miles or 42.2 kilometers) in training while training for a marathon? Time. When it comes to training, time is what matters, not the distance. Time represents the amount of stress. The reason why it’s not a good idea to run the full marathon distance in …