Paula Radcliffe once lamented how the sport of running lacks an understanding of periods and unique female issues. Sports medicine doctors and coaches will give female athletes hormones to delay menstruation. Very few resources discuss anything about periods and running, much less female hormones and running. Honestly, it’s downright frustrating at times, especially as the percentage of female participants in the sport of running rises each year. You don’t have to suppress or fear your ...
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5 Tips for Running in the Wind
Now that I live again in Northwest Indiana, just southeast of Lake Michigan, wind is a frequent occurrence on runs. Chances are, no matter where you live, you encounter wind on your runs at some point in the year. If you’re racing during the autumn months, you face the likelihood of encountering winds on race day. But the wind doesn't have to confine you to the treadmill or ruin your race day. Whether you are racing or running a hard workout, use these 5 tips for running in the wind ...
Strength Training for Runners: Lifting for Performance
Social media permits us recreational runners to glimpse into the training of elite. If you scroll through the Instagram feeds of the leading elites in America, you’ll see Jordan Hasay deadlifting and Molly Huddle performing pull-ups and box jumps. Shalane Flanagan has revealed in multiple interviews that she goes to the gym three times per week. Elite runners incorporate strength training for speed and performance into their plans. What elite runners practice is backed by science; ...
How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon: Beyond the Usual Advice
Each Boston Marathon inspires runners to set their sights on America’s most historic marathon. Thousands of runners set the goal each year to qualify for the Boston Marathon, and a BQ (Boston Qualifying time) tops the list of even more thousands of runners’ lifetime goals. For me, qualifying for Boston wasn’t about gaining entry to one of the most prestigious road races. Qualifying for Boston meant pushing my physical and mental limits. It meant rising to the challenge of training hard, ...
How to Recover After a Half Marathon
When we runners talk about running and racing, we often focus on the active part: training, racing, and so on. But one of the most important aspects of improving as a runner and staying injury-free is recovery, especially recovery after a long distance race. Note that when I talk about recovering a half marathon in this post, I mean recovering from a half marathon that you raced at a hard effort. There's a difference between racing 13.1 miles as hard as you can and running a half ...