A weekend or online certification is only the beginning of being a running coach. Run coaching requires a commitment to continual education and refinement of your training philosophy. The best approach? Read everything you can. These books are what I (and from what I have read, many other coaches) consider the essential texts for running coaches who train distance runners on the road. Daniels’ Running Formula by Jack Daniels Daniels’ Running Formula is one of the seminal works of ...
Weekly Workouts: Gradually Feeling Normal
One month has now passed since I recovered from COVID. My runs are gradually feeling more and more normal, although nowhere where they were before getting sick (roughly a minute per mile slower). My heart rate is coming back under control; when I first tried running after Covid, it would spike sky-high within minutes of running at a slow pace. The past two weeks were busy with family celebrations for birthdays and weddings, hence my lack of training updates. I ran three times the week ...
How to Consistently Maintain Running Higher Mileage
For a majority of runners, running higher mileage is beneficial. Noticeable performance gains occur when you run enough to develop a robust aerobic base. However, it is not just higher mileage that improves performance. Performance gains come from consistently sustaining higher mileage. One month of high mileage followed by months of injury will not yield any benefits to your running. (This post is about how to consistently run higher mileage without getting injured or burning out. If ...
What are Junk Miles? (And How to Know If You Are Running Them)
Every run should have a purpose. Most experienced runners will describe to you the transformational moment in their training, when they learned to run their easy days easy and their hard days hard. The transition from junk miles - purposeless, always-moderate training - to polarized training allowed them to fully benefit from their runs. Junk miles are not "bad" but they are not optimal for performance. The exact definition of junk mileage varies based on the coaching philosophy. Some ...
How Easy Should Your Easy Runs Be?
Whether you specialize in the mile or the 100-miler, easy runs are the indispensable foundation of training. In every sound training plan, easy runs constitute a majority of your runs. Why do easy runs matter so much - and how easy should your easy runs be? Why You Should Slow Down and Run Easy Running too fast on easy days - even just a moderate effort - inhibits some of the desired adaptations. If you begin to accumulate lactate (evidenced by breathing hard enough you can ...
Weekly Workouts: Scale Back and Relax
The after-effects of Covid-19 linger far longer than the symptoms. I anticipated my HR to be elevated higher than normal this week and sure enough, it was. My aerobic fitness took what I only hope is a temporary hit. I ended up taking deliberate rest in the second half of the week, since it just seemed like I was not quite physically or mentally ready to run again. I admittely was frustrated and discouraged at how much fitness I lost to Covid-19. Just about a month ago, I ran 16 miles ...