My friend Emma Roca is a Renaissance woman. The 42-year-old mountain rescue firefighter from Spain’s Catalonia region in the Pyrenees recently finished a Ph.D. in biochemistry while raising three children and earning pod...
Tag: Training
Throughout 2016, we have analyzed the fundamentals of efficient running mechanics and how the demands of the ultra distance impact our run. Last month, we discussed arm swing. This month, we address the powertrain – the...
Think you can’t handle the heat? Actually, you can, but it will take committing to some heat training before your race and then playing it smart on race day. High temperatures are going to slow everyone down, but they’ll...
We all know that to get faster, we need to push ourselves with some form of speed work, but the advice varies greatly on which sessions to include, how often to include them and why. In fairness, that’s because it depend...
Brandy Erholtz and I were pushing hard on a steep climb at nearly 10,000 feet, but the familiar synergy, experienced many times before with friends and competitors in training and racing, made the toil bearable. The Euro...
Disclaimer: I am not a coach – unless I consider myself my own client – so keep in mind that just because something worked for me does not mean that it will work for everyone. My method of self-training has developed thr...
The ancient Greeks believed that strength was the soul manifested through the body. A strong body spoke of a soul that was pure. They would spend their days training and conditioning, for sports and athletic performance,...
When we think of ultrarunners, we think of people with iron wills and the ability to push themselves beyond their limits. They seem to override physical fatigue with mental toughness. Finding causes of fatigue has been a...
For your average ultrarunner, the bedrock training technique is the familiar LSD, or Long Slow Distance, workout. You give up one of your precious weekend days to go really long, stay on your feet for hours, dial in the...
Throughout 2016, we will break down the fundamentals of efficient running mechanics, and how the demands of the ultra distance – terrain, weather conditions and even gear – impact how we run. This month, we identify idea...
For many across the world, there are certain times of year when it’s much harder to run outside, especially in winter. Yet endurance running requires commitment and consistency to improve fitness, and we all need to grin...
This year’s Ultrarunners of the Year (UROY) and Performances of the Year candidates are no different than in years past. They represent our fastest and toughest athletes in the sport: our superheroes. And like superheroe...
Podiums, prizes and PRs are nice, and I was fortunate enough to win some races in 2015. Looking back, however, the most impactful and lasting moments of the year occurred when I used well-planned goals, hard work, intent...
One common question almost every new coaching client asks me is what mileage they should run. It’s a good question, and the simple answer is that targeting mileage is generally a bad idea unless that mileage is very low...
According to UltraRunning, the growth of ultra-distance running has been exponential from 1980, when 2,890 runners finished long-distance races, to 2013, which saw 69,573 finishers. As the number of participants grows, s...
I’ll admit I have a bias on this topic, since when I first started running ultras in 2005, I also got hooked on road marathons. However, one thing I noticed was how effectively sub-ultra road races prepared me for many a...
As hard charging, fiercely driven, superhero ultrarunners, we love to pile up the miles, train until we drop and skimp on rest days. But one of the great ironies about long-distance running is that the resting done betwe...
Summertime means the mountains are open for runners and hikers, and the majority of the high alpine races are during this time of year. However, many runners, especially city slickers, don’t have equivalent climbs where...
As the snows start melting, many of us start looking forward to mountain races. Since one of the key skills for these events is the ability to run downhill efficiently and strongly, at this time of year it’s important to...
Do you find your running mojo runs low sometimes? That every run feels the same and you’re pounding familiar paths again and again? It can be easy to get stuck in a rut due to certain training routes or races being conve...