Embedded Files
Beginner/general tips
Beginner/general tips
10 Tips For Making Varsity Cross Country
Three Ways to Improve Now as a High School Runner
How to Win at Cross Country Running - A very informative and historic article
The Best Running Tips and Tricks of All Time - This article contains some excellent ideas for ways to be more comfortable while training.
running technique
running technique
What Makes a Running Stride Efficient?
How to Correct Your Posture
Powerful techniques ELITE runners use to run faster
Running Analysis: Breakdown on Winning the 1500M (Jakob Ingebrigtsen)
Relay Exchanges - How to do the open exchange.
training
training
I believe in speed-based XC training. Here are just a few reasons why.
Speed Development
There's speed work, and then there's speed work. When most runners talk about doing speed work, they mean things like mile repeats at 10K race pace, or a set of fast 200s, or maybe even a 5-mile tempo run. Such workouts, of course, are integral to becoming a faster runner. But they're not really speed work, if by "speed" we mean the fastest you can run for a very short distance. When I talk about speed, I mean your maximal velocity -- your top speed -- which even world-class sprinters can sustain for no more than 30-40m. But here's the thing: This type of speed is also integral to being the best distance runner you can be. Improve your basic speed, and you'll run faster in all your races.
Speed is, at its essence, an issue of coordination between all of the muscle fibers involved in running and your nervous system. Numerous studies have found that, while VO2 max and lactate threshold are important components of running fitness, the key to running faster is improving running economy, the intersection between your metabolic fitness (i.e., your heart, lungs, mitochondria) and your mechanical ability to move over the ground (i.e., muscles, tendons and the nerves that direct them). Yet most runners focus only on developing their aerobic fitness and anaerobic fitness, the metabolic components of fitness, and neglect the fact that if you can run more efficiently you'll be able to race faster. Specifically, if at the cellular level you can use a greater percentage of your muscle fibers available to do work, you'll race faster. This is where speed development comes in.
Think of running economy and coordination as better communication between the muscle fibers involved in running and the nervous system. If you regularly do specific speed-development work, the result will be obvious to the casual observer -- you'll simply look better running.
Frequency Matters More than Intensity - For Workouts & Happiness
5k Training: How to run a faster 5k
Running intervals are a key part of any successful running formula. They improve aerobic capacity, increase lactate threshold, enhance running efficiency, muscular endurance and fatigue resistance.
Velocity at VO2 Max (vVO2max)
Muscular Endurance: Definition and Exercises for Sport
strength
strength
Strength Training: Why All Endurance Athletes Should Go to the Gym
Hills
Hills
I love hill workouts. For my money, running up and down a hill gives you the most bang for your running buck—power, strength, endurance and speed all wrapped into one workout. Running hills will help you prepare for faster running you're going to do on the track. Hill workouts are designed to build muscular and cardiovascular strength.
Hill training is anaerobic work, but it is not what we might call speed work. It is resistance work where a stronger than normal force application must be applied by the athlete against the surface to accomplish success in the workout. One of the notable effects of hill training is a longer and more powerful stride. This can be detected in the areas of knee-lift, ankle flexion, and hip extension. One of the goals of hill training, beyond improved anaerobic energy system metabolism, is to improve the athlete’s stride and enhance muscular strength in preparation of the subsequent sharpening work that will be done during the competitive phase of the training cycle.
10 Reasons to Run Hills
Develops speed and prepares runners for track intervals with little risk of injury. Frank Shorter, 1972 Olympic marathon champion and four-time national cross country champion in the ’70s, once said, “Hill running is speed work in disguise.”
Strengthens the quadriceps and glutes for a more powerful stride.
Elevates the heart rate to build aerobic power and running fitness.
Trains the arms for better propulsion.
Encourages proper running form, as poor posture will accentuate fatigue.
Breaks up workouts and adds variety to minimize tedium on long runs.
Simulates racecourses that athletes will encounter in the fall.
Makes runners feel that they can conquer any competitive challenge.
Provides a tactical option as a breakaway point in racing.
Gives runners confidence that they have an edge over opponents.
Hill Running Training - an excellent overview article
How to use hill interval training to improve 5km running performance
How to run uphill: the best techniques and benefits
Summer (and early season) Hills
Hill Sprints Workouts: improve running speed, power and efficiency
Short Hill Repeats: improve strength, running cadence and speed endurance
Long Hill Repeats: Improve VO2max and Muscular Endurance
Tempo Hill Intervals: the best all round endurance hill running session?
The Surprising Strength Benefits of Downhill Running
6 Reasons Why Runners Should Include Downhill Running Training
Nutrition
Nutrition
Nutrition Timing for Training and Racing
Optimal Performance: The 9 Best Foods for Runners
Some suggestions for Race Day Meal Planning
Fuel up: what to eat before a race
Race day breakfast considerations
The Scientific Case for a Big Breakfast
Time-Restricted Feeding - may improve performance. Related to the Case for a Big Breakfast. Basically eat a big breakfast, an early dinner and don't eat after dinner.
The New Rules Of Carbs For Runners
Protein can improve fitness and performance
Fight Injury with Micronutrients
Beet Juice May Work for Well-Trained Athletes After All
Caffeine: How it Works For and Against Your Performance
Recommendations for carbohydrate intake DURING exercise: Bottom line, you will not need carbs in most practices, and never in track and 5k XC races.
Daily carbohydrate needs for fueling and recovery from endurance training.
Are my iron levels affecting my performance?
Preventing and treating an iron deficiency
This Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and American College of Sports Medicine Position Statement on Nutrition and Athletic Performance contains a tremendous amount of information on training and performance nutrition, macro and micro-nutrient needs and hydration:
A great, comprehensive article on iron deficiency anemia and ferritin supplementation. Here are the most important things we know about iron deficiency in distance runners:
Low ferritin is extremely common among runners, affecting 2-17% of male runners and 28-45% of female runners. An even higher proportion have iron levels that are low enough to impair performance but do not fall outside standard reference ranges for the general population.
Low ferritin, even in the absence of low hemoglobin, causes impaired performances in distance runners. Runners should aim for a serum ferritin level of at least 40 ng/mL.
If you have low ferritin, a high-iron diet can help, but the best course of action is to take an iron supplement. Taking a ferrous sulfate supplement, at a dosage of 120-200 mg of elemental iron per day, is a good starting place. If you have gastrointestinal side effects, you can try other iron salt supplements, or chelated iron.
Take your iron supplement on an empty stomach with 100-250 mg of vitamin C. Small doses can be hard to find, so use a pill splitter to cut up larger vitamin C supplements.
Avoid taking your iron supplement within a few hours of anything that can impair iron absorption, like tea, calcium-rich foods or supplements, or antacids. Iron works best when taken on an empty stomach.
Do not take an iron supplement or adopt a high-iron diet without getting a ferritin test first.
Get your iron/ferritin levels tested at your local clinic or here.
recovery
recovery
Low intensity stretching for recovery.
The benefits of elevated legs for post-workout recovery.
Ice baths - Yes or No? (In my opinion, where it says "chronic recovery" it should really say "acute recovery."
Rest and Recovery for Runners
Sleep and Weight Loss: Can sleep deprivation really affect weight loss?
racing and race day
racing and race day
10 Tips for Cross Country Running - This article contains great tips for pre-race and race strategies. While some ideas are basic, it is a great article for beginner athletes and a mindful refresher for returning athletes.
Race Warm Up Routine
Priming for high-intensity (10k and less) races
Race Day Shake Out Run and Sample Prep Schedule
Dealing with Pre-race Nerves
Tips On How To Overcome Race Day Anxiety
Mid-Distance Racing Pacing Strategies
How to run a 1,500 meter race by Ben Blankenship. How not to run How to run a 1,500 meter race one by Johnny Gregorek
How To Run The 800m | Nick Symmonds Training
Injury prevention and rehabilitation
Injury prevention and rehabilitation
What you can do to prevent running injuries.
7 Injuries That Could Be Causing Your Hip Pain
10 Exercises to Treat IT Band Syndrome
Treatment for Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS)
How Runners can deal with Allergies
Shin Splints and Stress Fractures
Guide to Shin Splints
How to Treat Shin Splints
7 Rules for Healing Shin Splints
What causes muscle cramps in exercise?
How can you treat or prevent cramps?
Nutrition for recovery from tendon injuries
Nutrition for recovery from muscle injury
How important is energy intake for recovery from injury?
Using gelatin to improve performance, prevent injury, and accelerate return to play
environmental factors
environmental factors
psychology
psychology
Motivation versus Discipline
People wonder how to get the motivation to workout. Usually they are looking for something to make them want to workout because, let’s face it, working out isn’t always fun and easy.
To help offset this most of us look for some sort of motivation to drive us. Kind of like Rocky waking up every morning to face Apollo Creed, this kind of motivation burns like a fire inside someone, driving them forward at all costs. So people are usually pretty surprised when I tell them that I’m often not motivated to workout. While I’ve tasted and used motivation to help drive my training, I’ve also found that it is unsustainable over the long run.
What I rely on instead is discipline, not motivation.
To explain the difference, let me ask you a question… Are you motivated to brush your teeth every morning? I mean, is there a fire inside you that drives you to the sink twice a day, 365 days a year, every day of your life? For the vast majority of people reading this the answer is “no”. But they do it anyway because it is just what they do as part of their routine.
In other words, they are disciplined about it, building and maintaining a habit.
Which is exactly how I look at working out. Just like I don’t want to suffer from bad breath and rotting teeth from not being disciplined about taking care of them, I don’t want to suffer from a loss of performance and increased risk of injury from not taking care of my body.
Being disciplined and building a habit is your goal, not “finding your motivation”. Which means that there is no secret other than putting in the work and being consistent.
10 Tips For Making Varsity Cross Country
Tips On How To Manage The Comparison Game
Letter to High School Athletes on Work
Believe In the Process, And Have Belief In Yourself
Five Reasons Why Teammates Are So Important
Excerpts:
"If you are someone who likes to keep your goals to yourself, I challenge you to speak your goals into existence. It will change your mindset to be able to accomplish more, because each time you talk about it you are helping yourself believe that you can do it."
The people you surround yourself with can either lift you up or bring you down. When everyone on your team is working to lift each other up and push each other to be their best, the work that gets done is so much more powerful.
Use teammates who are better than you to push yourself. When you can recognize the benefit of being surrounded by people who are better than you, you will be empowered. Dare yourself to be better, don't compare yourself. You can only be a better version of yourself when you embrace the challenge of chasing teammates and using them to get the best out of yourself.
Everyone's purpose is to help each other become the best versions of themselves.
Topics Specific to Female Distance Runners
Topics Specific to Female Distance Runners
What Runners Need to Know About Missing Their Periods - You won’t automatically have to stop running. Most athletes, however, require diet shifts to restore their energy balance.
Why Missing Your Period as a Runner is NOT OK (and How to Fix it).
The Physiological Differences Between Male and Female Runners - and Keys To Boosting Female Performance
Body Changes Are Driving Teen Girls Out of Sports
A terrific article on female adolescent changes and body image: Dear Younger Me: Lauren Fleshman
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