In one of my earlier posts I discussed the difference between aerobic and anaerobic training and the effect each can have on your performance. While I made some general claims about the importance of running aerobically, I think it is useful to more thoroughly explain why knowing the difference between aerobic and anaerobic running is so important.

This chart signifies the percentage of aerobic or anaerobic contribution it takes to compete at certain distances. While this chart exemplifies distances that are rather short for the average person reading this post, the implications are nonetheless profound.

In the 3000 meters, an event shorter than 2 miles, the body requires 86% of its energy contribution to come from the aerobic system if you are a male and 93% if you are a female.

Click to make the chart larger

Take a look at that again. For an event shorter than 2 miles, 93% of your running is aerobic!

For the 5k, this number shoots to 90% for males and 95% for females. In the marathon and half marathon, the aerobic contribution is close to 99% for both men and women.

With this staggering number now so blatantly obvious, the importance of understanding aerobic running from anaerobic running can be fully appreciated.

Need a simple way to know if you’re running aerobically?

While you’re running, you should be able to hold a short conversation. It doesn’t need to be Shakespeare, more like a brief chat with a friend. If you’re by yourself, try telling yourself what you plan to eat for supper and with whom. If you can’t get the words out without gasping for air, you’re running too fast.

Looking for a more detailed plan of action? You can use heart rate training to closely monitor your effort. Stay tuned for a series of posts on heart rate training that are coming soon.

Related posts:

1. Aerobic vs. Anaerobic Training
2. Even Olympians see the benefit of an Online Running Coach

If April showers bring May flowers than I am positive winter training brings spring PR’s. Premier Coaching had two athletes racing this weekend, in the first of many spring events, and they were both a great success. Running a half marathon course PR of 1:22:30 for 16th overall was Mike Bosch in our northern neighbor, Canada. The road conditions were far from perfect but great early pacing helped Mike salvage a very solid race. The result is a great demonstration of fitness and shows a lot of promise for some bigger and longer races this spring.

Baltimore based Tim Parker kicked off his season right with a 1:00:46 10-mile clocking at the club challenge ten miler. The time was a course PR and a great step in the right direction for this upcoming spring. The result is more impressive given our lack of focus on the event and very little race specific training and rest leading up to the race. I am excited about the opportunity for a great spring of racing and new personal records.

Stay tuned as more Premier Coaching athletes heat up the roads as the weather warms-up. If you’re training for a race and want to experience the difference a running coach can make on your performance, shoot me an email and let’s get started!

Related posts:

1. Aerobic vs. Anaerobic Training
2. Musings on Training – Yasso 800’s

Heating your muscles before a run can be one of the best ways to help ward off creeping injuries and get your body primed for high level exercise. Simply speaking, the warmer the blood can get around the areas that are tight, sore or cold, the better you’ll perform and the less likely you are to get injured. Sounds like a great plan, right? But what happens if you don’t have a heating pack in your house or you’re travelling and there is no place to buy one? I’ve got a simple solution that will give you access to a reusable, cheap, safe, and portable heating source almost anywhere and anytime.

The 2003 NCAA National Cross Country Championships were hosted by the University of Northern Iowa on a bitterly cold 10 degree and windy day. I was experiencing some mild Achilles pain from an early season injury and the slight tightness had me a bit worried going into the biggest race of my life. I knew I needed to heat it up, but with the nearest athletic store miles away and race time quickly approaching I had limited options. So, I dug into my bag of tricks and went to the grocery store and bought some plain white rice for 2 bucks. I took the rice home, grabbed a clean sock and filled it with the rice and tied off the end. Next, I took the “sock and rice” and placed it in the microwave for 90 seconds and viola, an instant heating pack that will provide moist heat for nearly 30 minutes and for only 2 bucks. The heat worked wonders and I finished 32^nd, earning my first All-American certificate.

I still have that heating pack. It’s portable, quick, and it never fails while I am in jam. Have you ever noticed that you always lose the really expensive things you buy? Well, I think part of the reason I’ve had this heating pack is because it was so cheap and easy to make.

I hope this interesting trick for a cheap and portable heating option comes in handy for you one day too!

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1. When the Weather Outside is Frightful

As an online running coach, I get a lot of questions about side stitches as they will occur at some point in almost any runner’s lifetime. While there has been a lot of articles written about what exactly a side stitch is and how to prevent one – not eating too close to a run, stretching, and walking are some – what do you do when it is too late and you’ve already got one?

Most conventional wisdom says slow down, stretch, and wait until the ache subsides. Great advice when you’re not in the middle of a race, an important workout, or running with a group! Luckily, some sage coach many years ago gave me a great suggestion; expand and contract your diaphragm in the opposite direction it naturally wants to. Confused? Let me explain.

Put your hand on your stomach and take a deep breath. Which way does your stomach move? It expands, correct. As in your stomach moves up against your hand. Now, keeping your hand on your stomach, breath out all the way; this time your stomach contracted or moved down, right?

When you have a cramp, force your stomach to do the opposite of what it naturally wants to do, which is expand when you breathe-in and contract when you breathe-out. It’s a little difficult to get the hang of a first, but practice a few times and it will become easier. Once you’ve got the rhythm down pact, make your breaths deep and forceful, taking all the air in that you can – every little gulp you can manage – and letting it all out – forcing out every molecule. Do this a few times on the run and your cramp will disappear.

You’ll still have to slow a little at first because of the change in breathing rhythm, but you won’t have to stop completely. The more you do it, the better you’ll get and the more efficient at reliving cramps you’ll become.

For more insightful knowledge from your expert online running coach, stay tuned and subscribe to my updates via email, twitter, facebook or google. Happy running!

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This particular article might come with much needed advice for some or rather useless information for others, depending on where you live in the World.

Recently, Maryland was blitzed with over three feet of snow in four days and to say that they were unprepared for such events would be putting it lightly. I was just interviewed by the Baltimore Sun on some tips and trick for running in such disastrous conditions and I thought it would be good to share some of this information with my blog readers. This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list of tricks, but hopefully it will help some people and maybe some comments will spur new ideas and discussion.

Stay safe

Run against traffic. It’s better to see what’s coming at you, assess what the driver is doing, what they’re looking at, and if they are going to stop than keep your fingers crossed and hope they don’t see you. Worst comes to worst, you can dive into a snow bank.

Remember, the snow is high and people can’t always see as well as they normally can. Take extra caution when crossing intersections and while taking turns.

Don’t try and get a fast workout in. If you’re training for anything important, it is crucial that a snow day remains a small inconvenience, not a month long injury from slipping and sliding. It is much better to bag a workout and push it to a different day than end up tweaking a muscle you never had; trust me. If you have any doubts or questions, consult your coach.

In my years of experience, I have found that colleges and Universities are the places that get clear the fastest. Why? Colleges and Universities have their own maintenance departments and are not dependent on the city. Plus, their paths are usually more for walking and there is less automobile traffic. Next fastest to clear up are usually maintenance roads, where plows and salt trucks have to go back and forth; they are great if you can find them.

Stay Warm

Getting wet is the worst when it is cold. If a company ever invents a truly breathable and waterproof piece of clothing, expect them to dominate the running and cycling industry because as of this writing, it’s a dream. However, wearing tight clothes helps keep some of the warmth in when you get cold. It acts as a trap for natural body heat.

Like all winter running clothing tips, layers are key.

Your hands are the most likely body part to get wet and get cold. Here is a neat little trick. Find some latex gloves, if you have them (check your first aid kit) and put them on under your gloves. Latex is completely waterproof and you won’t have to worry about sweating too much in them, it’s just your hands.

If it is really brutal, put Vaseline on exposed parts of your skin and your hands. Not only does it help protect against the wind, it’s water resistant.

Wanna get serious?

Make yourself some screw shoes! Don’t know what I am talking about? Here’s how: Get an old pair of shoes that are a little worn down but still have some mileage left in them. Buy some hex head screws or sheet metal screws (because the head on them is raised that really grips well on ice). Screw the screws into the shoe, pointy end first so the hex head is the part sticking out. Remember, it is the head of the screw that provides the traction—not the point! 3/8″ screws are the best bet in my mind. If you have a very thin shoe, or you are just paranoid about how thin the front of your shoe looks, then you can use 1/4″ long screws. Be sure to buy a lot of them however because they come out rather easily. Tighten the screw until the head is flush with the shoe and viola, you’ve got yourself the perfect screw shoe! I recommend using a drill rather than a screw driver, it’s much easier; you’ll have to press really hard with a screw driver. Put the screws wherever you want. As long as you don’t have air or an ipod in your shoe, anywhere works. You’ll hear a click clack when you’re on pavement, but don’t worry, your foot will remain safe.

Best of luck to all those putting in the miles in cold and snow conditions. Please feel free to comment and leave your own tips, tricks, and suggestions.

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1. Forgot to pack heat? I’ve got you covered

I’m always on the lookout for interesting training topics and discussions. Recently, I assigned one of my athletes, Jordan Kinley, a workout consisting of 10 x 800 meters with 30 seconds rest. Jordan had a great workout, despite the limited rest, and came away from the session with confidence in his fitness.

Most runners are somewhat familiar with the term Yasso 800’s, which predicts marathon finishing time from a session of 10 x 800 meters with equal time rest between each 800. Jordan posed a very interesting question for discussion on his blog and I thought I would include the discussion in this article, that way, if any readers want to comment from here, they could do so.

Jordan’s reflection: “I’m not exactly sure what this workout says about my marathon potential. To be honest, running 2:22 to 2:25 isn’t that hard in terms of getting the legs to turnover. I’ve always questioned the Yasso 800 predictor workout and find it hard to believe that it works beyond a certain time. Could Geb, Wanjiru or Hall go out and run 2:05s with 2 mins rest for 10 x 800? I’m not sure, but probably. Where does the predictor fall short? How do you get it back on track? Could Geb, Wanjiru or Hall run 10 x 800 in 2:05 w/ 30 secs rest? Who knows. Regardless, an athlete knows when he/she has run a quality workout and that is all that is necessary for boosting their confidence going into a race.”

My first response: Jordan, you raise a very interesting question in your analysis of the workout. I’ve met Bart Yasso once and had the pleasure of speaking to him in-depth about the “Yasso 800’s”.

What I found interesting was the reasoning behind his prediction model of Yasso 800’s and marathon finishing time. Specifically, there was no scientific data that showed, physiologically, why the Yasso 800’s would be a predictor of marathon time. Instead, he just noticed that in most of the runners he had coached over the years, there was a correlation between the workout and marathon finishing time. It is important to remember that correlation and causation are two different things and that one does not cause the other. This is the real basis behind quantitative research methods. Often times we find that there is a high correlation between all kinds of unexpected variables. For example, a study confirmed that that the total US highway fatality rate perfectly correlates to the number of fresh lemons imported from Mexico (full study here). Does this mean that the number of lemons imported from Mexico is causing highway fatalities? I doubt it, but there is certainly a correlation.

Getting back to the Yasso 800’s and their prediction of marathon finishing times. What is important to remember about training is that the focus should be on the physiological progression and adaptation we’re trying to induce by running a particular workout. Specifically, how that workout addresses the physiological challenges of a race. Like we’ve discussed, the real issue with the marathon is fuel; the total amount consumed and the efficiency at which your body uses your available stores. The Yasso 800’s strike me as a VO2 max type of workout because they contain an equal amount of rest between intervals, which would suggest that you are fully recovered before starting the next repeat. From my limited “lab work” understanding of VO2 max, an increase in VO2max is not correlated with an increase in fuel consumption efficiency. That’s not to say that VO2 max workouts don’t have their place in marathon training. (I do think that VO2 max increases your level of fitness and the speed at which you can run, which would in turn make running at marathon pace “easier”).

I will admit that the Yasso 800’s may also be a better predictor for an “average” runners fitness than an elite or very good marathoner’s fitness because VO2 max pace for 800 meters of most 3:30 to 5 hour marathoners is probably very close to 4 minutes for an 800, give or take. Whereas Hall, Geb, and Wanjiru have a VO2 max 800 meter pace closer to 2:00 – maybe faster, I really don’t know

What is inherently difficult about predicting marathon fitness from workouts is this issue of fuel. It is very difficult to simulate the last 10k of a marathon in training. Like we discussed, in a marathon cycle, a better prediction of marathon success is looking at the training from a macro perspective. While I won’t draw any conclusions about your fitness from that one workout, the total amount of work you’ve put in over the last 4-5 weeks has been tremendous. As you know from looking at the training, the real bread and butter is in the marathon specific stuff you’ll be doing in the next 3 or 4 weeks; especially the long stuff where we specifically target the fuel issue.

Anyway, there is 2 plus feet of snow here in Maryland today and I need a break from reading school work. If any of the other readers of this blog want to add their comments or chime in with their take, I always love a good discussion on training theory.

Well, that sums up most of it. Please comment and discuss!

Related posts:

1. Aerobic vs. Anaerobic Training
2. Winter Training Brings Spring PR’s

If you’ve been hemming and hawing about the benefits of getting an online running coach to guide your training, you’re not alone. While many elite athletes and Olympians have been training at the highest levels of support since their youth careers – and presumably have gathered enough training knowledge to fill a library – they still wrestle with the idea of putting their training into the hands of a coach. How is a coach going to benefit me? How do I make sure I’ve found the right one?

After a summer of injuries and unfullfilled goals, Olympic Silver medalist Nick Willis asked himself the same questions. Traveling the world and competing on some of the sports biggest stages has its drawbacks for someone struggling with their own running. “Go to altitude” the Kenyans said. “The warm, dry weather of the desert will keep you injury-free” said the Spanish. With advice and information being thrown at him from every direction, Willis often times felt himself questioning the merits of his own training. To be the best in the world, Willis knew he needed to put the faith of his running in his coach.

“In the last few years, the jump I’ve made from being a good international runner to being the best has come down to sharing some more of that burden with my coaching staff and my wife, and having them keep me calm” said Willis

While the trials and tribulations of an elite athlete trying to find a coach might not seem applicable to your running, the parallels are very much the same.

Results

Whether your goal is to finish your first marathon, PR in the 5k, or qualify for Boston, your running is important. While you won’t be winning any Olympic medals for your performances, the personal satisfaction and joy you get from conquering your own limitations is the same reason Olympic athletes run. You shouldn’t take your goals lightly no matter how big or small they are. Finding an online running coach who can get you across the finish line faster, fitter, and healthier is just as important for you as it is for any Olympic athlete.

Motivation

An online running coach can be that voice of reason or extra motivation you need to get out the door on a blustery winter day or for that killer track session. “It’s hard to hold yourself accountable to all the levels of pain you need to be put through and continue to find that motivation, sometimes you need someone else to make you do it as well” says Willis.

Answers you trust

There are certainly no lack of options for free running advice – message boards, websites, free magazines, running stores, and running groups. However, sorting through the good and bad information can often be quite the task. Pose Running, Chi Running, Barefoot Running, anaerobic threshold, VO2 max, strides? What does it all mean, how does it fit with my running, and how should I incorporate this new information, if it all, into my training? That’s where having an expert online running coach comes in handy. With an online running coach, you have someone who is an expert in the world of training theory, an encyclopedia of running knowledge, and an objective voice of reason who sees the larger picture of your training.

If you’ve ever considered getting an online running coach, or are curious about the most effective ways you can improve your results, you owe it to yourself to take the leap. I’ll make it one step easier for you. Call or email me directly and I will provide you with 1 month of coaching for free, no obligations, just results. I look forward to guiding you on the path to faster race times!

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1. The Importance of Aerobic Running

Learning the difference between anaerobic and aerobic training is the key to improving your personal best in any race. Training and racing at the appropriate levels is the single most important change in your training that you can make. Understanding what each of these terms mean is the first step in that transformation.

At the heart of aerobic and anaerobic training is the scientific fact that to exercise, your body needs to break down sugar and convert it to glycogen so it can be used as energy or fuel. When the body has an adequate supply of oxygen for this process, we call it aerobic respiration. When there is not enough oxygen, like when you are running hard at the end of a 5k, this is called anaerobic respiration.

Aerobic running or respiration occurs when your body has sufficient oxygen – like when you run easy miles with you friends. You breathe in, the body efficiently uses all the oxygen it needs to power the muscles, and you exhale. The waste products of aerobic respiration are carbon dioxide and water. These byproducts are easily expelled through the simple act of breathing. This is why your breath is carbon dioxide rich and moist. Basically, when you are “running aerobically”, your muscles have enough oxygen to produce all the energy they need to perform.
Anaerobic respiration happens when there is NOT sufficient oxygen present.

In this instance, the muscles do not have enough oxygen to create the energy you are demanding from them (like in an all-out sprint at the finish). When this happens the muscles begin to break down sugar, but instead of producing CO2 and water, it produces lactic acid (that burning feeling in your muscles at the end of a race). Unfortunately, lactic acid is harder to remove than water and CO2. Thus, lactic acid accumulates in your system, causing extreme fatigue.

The importance of understanding these definitions is clear. If you begin to run too hard in the middle of a workout or the start of a race, your body goes into an anaerobic state, producing lactic acid. If you “go anaerobic” early in a race and you begin to feel fatigued sooner and become increasingly tired as the race progresses. The accumulation of lactic acid pools in your muscles and you have to slow dramatically to get back to an aerobic state. Your PR is out the window and finished before that race is half way over.

Learning to establish and feel your anaerobic and aerobic pace is a really important skill if you want to start racing faster. If you have questions about what your “aerobic” and “anaerobic” pace is, or how to practice feeling it, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with me.

Related posts:

1. The Importance of Aerobic Running
2. Musings on Training – Yasso 800’s
3. Winter Training Brings Spring PR’s

With the recent influx of new clients, and my desire to continually add value to my coaching program as well as keep everyone updated about the new happenings at Premier Coaching, I’ve started working on a few new elements. First, I’ve created the Online Training Suite, which is very close to being finished and is in the beta stage. Second, I’ve created RunnersConnect, which is the facebook for runners. Lastly, I am making the commitment to add useful and new content as often as possible.

If you have any ideas about what I can add that will make your training experience better, please let me know!

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I have recently begun assigning many of my athletes hill sprints after a lot of research and experimentation on myself. Specifically, Their schedules have them run between two and twelve 10-12 second hill sprints up a steep incline at 95% effort with full recovery. When I first assign this workout a lot of the athletes think I must be crazy when I ask them to interrupt a distance run for 2×10sec hill sprints. To them, and to me at first, it would seem to be a big waste of time. However, this article will put to rest those inhibitions and shed light onto the benefits of this new idea.

I first heard about this idea from Brad Hudson, former coach of Dathan Ritzenhein and the current coach of James Carney, about 5 years ago. Over the last few years I have begun to conduct my own evaluation of the research to see if this was a useful and practical training tool. After some extensive reading I do believe that the physiological and neuromuscular benefits of these sprints are numerous and can serve as a critical piece into most athletes training systems.

There are three main benefits that come from doing the hills sprints. First, there is the strength building and injury prevention aspect, second there is the neuromuscular development, and lastly there are the cardiovascular adaptations.

The most obvious training aspect of the three is the strength development. Hill running is the most specific form of strength training that a runner can do. We can do squats, lunges, and hamstring curls until our muscles sear but nothing compares exactly to running. When you run up a hill there is an increased resistance and thereby an increase in specific running strength. The explosive reaction caused by the lifting of the hips, glutes and quads up the hill utilizes the same principle mechanics behind doing plyometrics.

However, what a lot of runners don’t realize is that these hill sprints can help ward of injury as well. Running no more than 10 seconds ensures that there is no lactate build-up in the muscles and little fatigue, the main culprit behind most overuse injuries. In addition, the hill shortens the distance your foot has to fall or land before it hits the ground, thereby decreasing the amount of shock on the body. Additionally, if the sprints are progressed in a safe and appropriate training program the strength benefit of the hills helps strengthen the muscles, ligaments and tendons that so often become injured.

The second benefit involves the activation and increases of efficiency in the neuromuscular system. The neuromuscular system, in brief, is the communication system between what your brain and your muscles. A boost of “fitness” to the neuromuscular system allows your body to increase the speed at which it sends signals to the muscles and, more importantly, allows your body to activate a greater percentage of muscle fibers and fire them more forcefully. The execution of short, explosive hill sprints greatly enhances both of these neurological factors.

The final training adaptation these short hill sprints evoke is the increase in the maximal stroke volume of heart. This is a fairly complicated cardiologic discussion but simply stated, stroke volume is the amount of blood that can be pumped from the heart in one stoke. A greater stroke volume decreases the heart rate and, in a sense, makes the heart more efficient.

The last point I would like to discuss is the reason behind the rather slow progression in utilization of these sprints. For many people, the introduction of such explosive sprinting into their training is a huge change. Many distance runners go years without ever doing any true explosive or sprint work. While 2 repeats may seem like a waste of time, it is important to allow the body time to adapt the changing stimulus. I have noticed that increasing the volume of this workout too rapidly increases the injury rate astronomically. I have found through experimentation on former athletes and myself that starting with two or three repeats for the first few weeks allows the body to adapt to the new stimulus and remain injury free.

I hope this little article helped explain exactly what it is we are trying to accomplish with these explosive hill sprints. I have included a video at the bottom of the post to help illustrate exactly how these should be done. I welcome comments, feedback and suggestions!

Related posts:

1. Aerobic vs. Anaerobic Training