Specificity is an essential aspect of training for a race. You want to prepare your mind and body for the unique demands of the event, including the distance, terrain, climate, and elevation gain. But specificity can be tricky - such as training for a hilly race when you live in an area without any hills. However, tricky does not mean impossible - it just requires intention and creativity. Whether it’s a hilly half marathon, a destination trail race, or the Boston Marathon, it is possible to ...
Training Tips
Common Marathon Training Questions
No matter how many times you complete it or how fast you run, the marathon is always a challenge. Likewise, marathon training is always a puzzle of figuring out exactly how hard to push yourself to improve - without pushing yourself so hard that you overtrain or resent running by race day. On one end of the spectrum, you have cookie-cutter plans or overly rigorous methods. You must run six days per week, 60 miles per week, to run a marathon. You must spend 18 weeks training. On the other ...
How to Become a Morning Runner
Rise and run is a habit to many runners - but very few started out that way. Natural morning people gravitate toward morning runs, but others created the habit to fit in their training to the rest of life. Whether you are a morning person or not, becoming a morning runner is an achievable habit. Morning runs ensure you get in your run before the workday starts or the kids are awake. Morning runners also relish the sense of accomplishment from completing a run early - and the benefit of not ...
Tips for Racing in the Heat
When race day temperatures spike into the mid-70s or higher, your entire approach to the race changes. Racing in the heat presents a whole host of challenges: core temperature regulation, hydration, higher perception of effort, and higher heart rate. You simply cannot race the same in hot weather as you can in ideal conditions. That does not mean you are doomed to have a bad race. You can still race your best for that day, with these tips for racing in the heat. Acclimation and heat tolerance ...
The Important “Little Things” in Training
The big things - weekly mileage, hard workouts, long runs, and easy runs done consistently and progressively - do matter. You need those in order to train well. However, the little things matter as well, especially when done consistently. These little things typically focus on recovery and overall well-being - both of which are vital for making you a faster, stronger, better runner. With training for fall races starting over the next few weeks, it's worth focusing on the little things ...