We usually talk of energy in vague terms. “I don’t have a lot of energy today,” or “You can feel the energy in the room.” But what really is energy? Where do we get the energy to move? How do we use it? How do we get more of it? Ultimately, what controls our …
“What do you think about this workout two weeks before the marathon?” she asked me, showing me her workout. I often get asked about workouts. Runners always want to know what workout they should do on Tuesday. Training is not like cooking, simply mixing ingredients together in a skillet and adding a little …
RUNNING SPEED = STRIDE RATE X STRIDE LENGTH To get faster, one or both components of the stride must increase. However, because stride rate and stride length are inversely proportional (as one increases, the other decreases), running speed can only increase if an increase in stride length is not accompanied by a similar decrease …
How do you decide paces for workouts? Although it’s convenient to use workout pace tables, you need to understand what’s behind the numbers before blindly following what they say. For example, the VDOT tables of Jack Daniels and his former athlete and computer programmer Jimmy Gilbert are popular among coaches and runners. Those numbers …
Workout Sunday: 800-meter reps at lactate threshold pace with 45 seconds rest between reps. With the World Masters Track and Field Championships 10 months away, I’m continuing with “Project High School” (my attempt to approach my high school track times) as my Achilles tendon heals and working on my aerobic strength before doing the …
Hi! I’m hemoglobin. I live inside red blood cells and eat all the iron in the fridge. I’m very attractive (see my photo attached). My shape changes as the number of oxygen molecules attached to me changes. The more oxygen molecules bound to me, the more attractive I become to oxygen, and the more …
When your foot lands on and pushes off the ground, it applies a force to the ground. Consequently, the ground applies a force to your foot that is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force applied by your foot. When your foot lands out in front of your center of gravity …
When I coached high school track and field, it was often difficult to get kids to focus on one event. With so many options in the sport, many want to run and jump and throw. I’ve tried to convince them that it’s better to be very good at one event than mediocre at multiple …
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 »