Unlike contact sports, in which it's normal to know just how and when an injury occurs, runners are quite often unable to relate an injury to a specific incident. An injury is often the result of overstressing an imperfection in the body, such as a leg length discrepancy or tendency to overpronate. Many running injuries [...]
To get the most out of any VDOT workout it's important to start with two important principles: Assess your current VDOT score (use the VDOT Calculator or V.O2 apps) so you're always training in line with your current fitnessUnderstand the purpose behind every workout In this article we're focused on Repetition training and how to [...]
The message is simple but powerful. So much of the sport of running is mental. Most athletes realize this but still don't spend enough time training this side of the coin. We surveyed athletes on V.O2 and found some areas of opportunity for improvement... How often do you incorporate visualization (on average)? How often do [...]
What is the purpose of this workout? This is the one question every athlete and coach needs to answer on a regular basis. This question will dictate how much benefit you get in relation to the objective of the workout. It will guide how you warm-up, your target pace(s), mental strategy, terrain, fueling, etc. For [...]
By Dr. Jack Daniels The idea of competition is to compete. I'm sure that someone has said this before, but I'll restate it to get us in the proper frame of mind. Competition is a special part of the sport of running. It's fine to plan some competitions as part of an overall training program, [...]
By Dr. Jack Daniels 800m Race Strategy A great way is to run the first 200m conservatively, followed by running an almost all-out 400m (from the 200m to the 600m) and then finish with what is left. Many 800m runners go out too fast and when they reach the 400m they think "I am hurting [...]
By Dr. Jack Daniels Main thing to concentrate on in those early miles is good leg turnover and don't let the easy downhill running lead to stride lengthening, which will result in the quads taking a beating early and feeling not so good later on. Don't concentrate on going faster early, but if it happens [...]
It's always important not to copy elite athletes, or any individual for that matter, but we can certainly draw lessons or gain insights from others. The above schedule is from a 13-minute 5k runner who is running as slowly as 8:19/mi in training. Clearly, it's a championship week but still a great lesson for recreational [...]
Mary Denholm is an athlete and coach based out of Santa Barbara, CA. She scored one of the highest VDOT performances for a female athlete on V.O2 in 2021 with her 5:03 mile (58.7 VDOT). What does a typical training week look like for you? Depends! I was doing a ton of aerobic high mileage [...]
Eduardo Garcia is elite athlete based out of Greenville, SC. He represents the United States Virgin Islands internationally and is mainly focused on the marathon distance. In 2021, he had one of the highest VDOT performances (73.3) on the app. What does a typical training week look like for you? My last training block consisted [...]