Category: Training

We all know the simple definition of winning: crossing the finish line first.

But there’s much more to winning than just that. In large races, only one of thousands of runners can cross the finish line first. Many more may have run the best they could and have accomplished all the goals that had set out for themselves.

In fact, it’s possible that the first person across the line accomplished fewer of that individual’s goals than many of the people finishing farther back.
Continue reading “What is winning to you?”

Do you cross train?

You very likely do something that someone would call cross training. Whether things to supplement our aerobic conditioning like elliptical trainers or cycling or things like strength training to beef up some aspects of our fitness that running may not do as great at, almost all of us do something.

How do you prioritize your cross training, though?

Continue reading “Use cross training as a supplement, not a replacement”

What matters more, the big picture or the small details?
Continue reading “Big picture or small details?”

I recently wrote about my experiences with my new Garmin. My summary of this watch would be wow, it’s amazing how much data a little device on your wrist can give you in real time.

This, though, can be a double edged sword.

With so much data available, whether with the watch I have or one of a multitude of similar devices, how do you use it?
Continue reading “Use data to describe, not prescribe”

What do you do late in a race? When you need to go a little faster, how do you respond?

If you’re like most runners, you dig deep. You push yourself and strain for that last possible bit of effort. It makes sense. Run faster by exerting more effort.

Is this the best way to run faster, though?
Continue reading “Relax and win”

About a month ago, I ran a 5 mile race at 6:03 pace. Cesar asked me how I could run that pace for a 5 mile race when my mile repeat workouts were slower (generally 6:20-6:30 pace in early spring, working down to 6:10-6:20 pace). As I recall, I offered a two part response.

First, I was doing shorter repeats at faster than 6:00 pace so it wasn’t a pace I was unfamiliar with.

Second, I wasn’t racing my workouts. I would expect my mile repeats to be slower than 5 mile race pace. If they weren’t, I’d be close to race effort in my workouts.
Continue reading “Prove your fitness on race day, not in workouts”

I hope all of my fellow Americans had a wonderful 4th of July. I ended up keeping things low key but this past weekend, when I spent 12 hours at a theme park on Saturday, got me thinking about what some of you may be facing right now: that fatigue from a busy day or two.

It will affect your running but how to do keep that to a minimum? Here’s what I did to minimize the impacts on my running.
Continue reading “Rebounding from a busy holiday”

The past is over. You can’t change it.

The future isn’t here yet. You can’t do anything about it until it arrives.

However, the present is here right now and you can do your best to take care of it.

Want to know something amazing? Take care of the present and the past and future tend to take care of themselves.

Photo credit: PAST.PRESENT.FUTURE. by Estibaliz Saez de Ibarra, on Flickr

About three months ago, I got the new Garmin Forerunner 645 after dealing with some issues for about 9 months with my old Forerunner.

The 645 is an amazing device on many levels. As a running device and fitness tracker, it measures about everything you could imagine that something simply strapped to your wrist can. It’s not perfect at everything but what it can do is pretty amazing.

That said, there have been plenty of reviews of this device. This is not about the device itself. It’s about the usefulness of all the things our watches can track these days. As I’ve stated before, all of this data can be a blessing and a curse.
Continue reading “Tracking devices: what’s useful?”

NordicTrack recently reached out to me to work on a project with them and I am excited to be able to share that project with you.

Some other blogging runners and I were brought together by NordicTrack to help runners everywhere learn how to develop targeted treadmill workouts. So, if you want your treadmill runs to be more targeted for your running needs, keep on reading!
Continue reading “Developing Targeted Treadmill Workouts With NordicTrack And Other Experts”