As athletes are pivoting towards personal projects, virtual races, Fastest Known Times (FKTs) and (virtual) last person standing events, I’ve had to pivot what I do as a coach to help athletes meet these demands. In my h...
Articles by Jason Koop
When I first started coaching in 2001, I killed a lot of trees. Throughout the course of a workday, I received numerous faxes and e-mail attachments of training files from my athletes. I printed out every single one of t...
Let’s face it, most of us have zero clue what will happen on the racing front over the next several months. Some races are kicking their cans down the road, hoping for a celestial epiphany when the stars of physical dist...
Pop quiz: What do all of the following things have in common?The first woman to run a marathonA burro trail constructed in 1914“America the Beautiful”A $60 million tourist attractionOne of the most iconic trail marathons...
Coaching is an awesome profession. While we’re not solving climate change or feeding the homeless, there is still something humbling about having another human being entrust you with an activity they are going to spend 1...
As winter gives way to spring, it’s time to tune your training up a notch. Hopefully, as March rolls around, you have a solid foundation of time under your running legs. You’ve done some high intensity work and most impo...
Winter months are a conundrum for athletes. I know this as a coach because an inevitable pattern emerges each and every year as the temperatures plummet. In late November, the holidays take hold. With nothing immediately...
In September, I had the privilege (and pain) of participating in the 10th edition of the Tor Des Géants. The route is big, boasting over 78,000 feet of climbing in 221 miles. I was under no illusions that this race would...
We need more women in ultrarunning. Currently, there is a gender gap across all aspects of the sport. Females are under-represented in race fields, as ambassadors, as race directors, in trail and ultrarunning media (kudo...
I have been coaching endurance athletes for nearly 20 years. When I first started, I had a difficult time explaining to my mother what I was doing with my hard-earned (and expensive) education. At the time, the concept w...
With the summer racing season in full swing, many ultrarunners are taking to the challenge of overnight FKTs, 200-milers and other trail adventures spanning more than 48 hours. These longer ultras present a unique challe...
We’ve all been there. You are in the last two weeks leading up to a race and just thinking about it makes your palms sweat. Suddenly, all the weeks and months of training – countless hours on the trail – are all but forg...
I moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2001. The entire city and surrounding network of trails immediately captivated me. Pikes Peak, the illustriously coined Purple Mountain’s Majesty that Katharine Lee Bates wrote a...
One of the things I love about coaching ultrarunners is adapting the standard recommendations and best practices from the running industry into an ultra-specific context. All too often, the recommendations we see aren’t...
Running workouts should be hard, but designing them should not. All too often, athletes who design their own training plans over-complicate the structure. They think recovery between intervals needs to be magic and that...
Courtney Dauwalter’s TrainingAll runners have a style. I’m not talking about the way they hold their arms or how their stride looks as they float by. I’m talking about the style in how they carry themselves in their dail...
As we reach the end of summer, many of us have already completed our goal events. Buckles have been earned and many gels consumed during the course of our endeavors. Even after a healthy amount of rest you have great fit...
Going to races is one of my favorite ways to connect with the athletes I coach. If everything has gone well in preparation, there shouldn’t be much left for a coach to do at a race. I go to support athletes and sometimes...
In April 2018, Dylan Bowman won the 100-mile Ultra-Trail Mount Fuji in dramatic fashion. After trailing Pau Capel for 97 miles, he overtook Pau for the win, winning the race by a mere 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Once back...
It’s four weeks out from your ultramarathon and you realize: “I’m not ready.” Despite our best efforts, this scenario happens frequently to even the best, most seasoned runners. Now what? Well, there are two likely sc...