This my overdue third post on using Xert to track my cycling and running fitness. This post discusses how to add running into the mix. My first post in this trilogy described why Xert is such a useful product. In my second post, I wrote about using Xert smart workouts to turn Xert into the world’s smartest coach as well as integrating those features into Zwift to give you a really a fun and super-effective workout. If your only sport is cycling, those posts pretty much tell you all you need to know. But most of you are multisport athletes and this post talks about how to incorporate Xert to all of those other sports. This post is specific to running– but it could apply just as easily to any other endurance sport where power measuring technology is common (e.g. rowing). Continue reading
Running Training
Lactate Tolerance and Stacker Workouts
As I mentioned in my last post, anticipatory grieving saw me doing a lot of hard intervals over the last year. This short post describes a really cool workout that I did, how I expect to change it in the coming months, and why I think it’s a pretty vital part of my future workout plans. Continue reading
A Better Way to Run “Over-Under” Running Workouts
Ask any elite triathlete or runner about some of their most effective workouts and it’s highly likely that so-called “over-under” workouts will come up fairly quickly because they are devastatingly effective. I’ve always performed miserably at these workouts but I’ve recently found a new way to hit them pretty precisely. This post shares what I learned. Continue reading
Never Plan Steady Threshold Intervals
After racing this year, I am rethinking my approach to polarized training and currently need a hard focus on lactate threshold (FTP) work. Yesterday, I rode the classic 2 x 20min at FTP and failed miserably. I thought this was odd because I succeeded in riding the same workout less than a week ago. Now, I’ve found a better way and so I’m sharing it today. Continue reading
USAT Duathlon National Championship (Bend, Oregon) – A Race Report and Lessons Learned
This wasn’t my greatest race result by a long shot, but it was the result that I deserved. As I mentioned in my last post, my body has been a house of cards this year. Maybe a teetering stack of Jenga blocks is a better metaphor with each race being like pulling out another supportive block from the bottom. Any way you look at it, I’m frail this year; one tiny mistake and everything comes toppling down. That happened in Avilés when my back went out and boy did it cost me. This time everything held up—consequently, Nationals were definitely easier and faster than Avilés even though it was at about 3,500 feet of altitude. But I was also definitely racing well within my already compromised limits.
I’m going to write this race report a little differently because I don’t want to focus as much on the actual race as much as what I’ve learned from doing the race and what I’m doing about it. Even though I’m not in ideal shape, I am excited and I have a plan. Also towards the end, I’ll mention some of the longer term challenges that affected both this race and Avilés—as well as what I’ve learned from going through this darker period. So let’s dig right in! Continue reading
Training Different Kinds of Runners
Every week, I get flooded with emails promising to make me a better person. Nothing new there. Among the promises to cure baldness, erectile dysfunction, and the other ravages of old age, there are also emails that promise to improve my running. It is the last ones that pique my interest. And, in the past, I’ve swallowed the bait. I’ve downloaded their training plans. I got excited as I embarked on my new plan, all the while dreaming of crushing a new PR in the 10-K. And I usually didn’t improve at all– or I got injured. Continue reading
Training Tip: Using Short Recovery Intervals in Your Training
This post covers two completely different training ideas that share a common link– very short recoveries. They are both super-potent but in different ways. First, I will talk about high-intensity intervals (HIIT). Then I will also tackle using short recoveries in a very different context– long aerobic “broken” intervals. If there is one “ah hah” moment in my coaching and athletic training over the last year, it’s been all about using short recoveries.
Race Report: Fitness for Vitality 5K
As I write this race report, I just flew over Seward Park here in Seattle. I’m on a one-night business trip to Washington, DC. I’ll fly in, attend a meeting tomorrow morning, meet some business colleagues over lunch and in the early afternoon, and then catch the evening flight back to Seatac. Hopefully, I’ll have time to get an easy run in tomorrow morning. Continue reading
Develop Endurance Safely with an Alter-G
There are few workouts that I hate more than the weekly (or bi-weekly) long run. The workout probably offers the most benefit of any workout for a runner as it makes them tough enough to handle hard, fast longer races like half-marathons. This toughness also has benefits for shorter races because it develops the leg strength and aerobic capabilities that makes really gut-wrenching running possible. Thus, for lots of runners, this workout is a weekly ritual. A few friends gather together early on a Sunday morning and form a unique support group as each runner slogs their way through the weekly long run. In most cases, this leaves them stiff-legged and sore for Monday. I’d like to propose a few strategies to make this workout a little easier for the competitive age group runner. Continue reading
Getting Fast While Recovering on an Alter-G Treadmill
Like many runners, I spend my Tuesday nights at the track running a hard set of intervals. For the last few weeks, I’ve spending Wednesdays doing recovery workouts, which includes running about six miles at a 6:00 per mile pace. My heart rate barely breaks 135 beats per minute and I’m not breathing hard at all. It’s not as if I’ve morphed myself into Geoffrey Mutai or Meb Keflezighi—I’ve just been using an Alter-G treadmill to teach my body to run faster while recovering. Continue reading
The Athletic Time Machine 
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