A couple of days ago, I had our multisport team run hills instead of the customary track workout. It was a fantastic workout that demonstrated a few key ideas that every athlete should fold into their longer hill workouts. Continue reading
Month: September 2014
Adapting the training of Ed Whitlock
I just watched read Canute’s amazing post and watched Stephen Seiler’s presentation (included in the post)– and this has me rethinking some of my basic training ideas. Be sure to check it out as this may affect how you should train for the rest of your life.
What is the best way to train for a marathon? If you are not looking beyond the present season, you can choose between several good answers, according to personal circumstances and inclination. A number of quite diverse approaches, ranging from a Lydiard-style program starting with high volume base-building followed by race-specific training, to the more intense Furman ‘train less; run faster’ program combined with cross-training, offer a the prospect of a good marathon, provided the training is consistent yet flexible enough to allow a good balance between hard work and recovery.
The question of how best to train in a way that leads to year or year improvement is less easily answered. The recent study in which Stoggl and Sperlich randomly allocated previously well-trained athletes to one of four different training regimes: high volume, high intensity, threshold and polarised found that the polarised schedule (characterised by a large amount of…
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How Do World-Class Old Guys Stay in Shape
Who doesn’t love Fauja Singh? Any guy who can run a marathon at 100 years old is pretty impressive. But this post is about folks a little younger (in their 60’s and 70’s) who run a whole lot faster. Think sub-3:00 marathons at 70 years old. For the past several months, Canute’s Efficient Running Site has been running a series of posts on how exceptional older runners stay in shape and train. It is definitely a fantastic read. Here’s a quick recap of what I learned– plus my take on how to be a great older runner. While I can’t give you any advice for living long enough to even be in Fauja’s age group, I can tell you how to train to beat him.
Day 6 Update: Kinetic Revolution 30-Day Challenge
A few days ago, I signed up the Kinetic Revolution’s 30-Day Challenge. I’m now up to Day 6– the end of the first phase. Here’s what I’ve been up to so far. Continue reading
How to Do 8-Second Uphill Sprints
In the past, I’ve recommended that multisport athletes do short 8-10 second uphill sprints. It’s part of my general training program and overall philosophy towards training. Jason Fitzgerald over at Strength Running just put together a post and a video that describes how to do hill sprints. My comments after the break. Continue reading
Older Athletes Need Stronger Calves
All older runners (but especially men) are at an increased risk of calf strains. This week, I noticed that my left calf was feeling a bit ticklish, so I thought it was prudent to talk about how to avoid this catastrophic injury. Continue reading
An Amazing Workout: Some More Thoughts on Lactate Clearance and Tempo Efforts
A few days back, I had an amazing ride on my favorite course in Carnation, Washington. It’s a 12-mile loop that takes me just under 30 minutes to complete– but time isn’t the important number to me. It’s all about watts. I repeat it twice (2 x 30min). Even though I was tired going into the ride, I blew away my PRs. Here’s what happened, why I think it happened, and how you might be able to use some of this training goodness for your aging body. Continue reading
Racing Smarter with a Power Meter
Part of being faster when you’re older involves being smarter when you’re older. Of all the sports in triathlon, the one that has benefitted the most from technology is cycling– and no piece of modern cycling equipment (except possibly aerobars) makes as much of a difference as a power meter. Here’s why you’re just giving up a podium spot if you don’t own one and use it effectively in your training and racing. Continue reading
