By Dr. Jack Daniels The term "warm-up" is misleading because warming up the muscles is only part of the process. In fact, "prerace preparation" might better describe what a runner goes through during the 30 to 60 minutes before a race starts. Whatever you call it, this is a time to prepare yourself physically and [...]
By Dr. Jack Daniels There is often a discussion relative to the benefits of different types of training, and usually the “types of training” compared are slower/longer training sessions (Quantity) versus shorter/faster training sessions (Quality). However, both slower/longer workouts and shorter/faster workouts can be considered “Quality” relative to the benefits they produce in a runner’s body. [...]
For me, as a coach, the easiest way to detect hypertraining (a setback from overtraining), is by knowing my athletes, each and every one of them. Here's how I look for hypertraining: When a runner is progressing through a season of training, they have scheduled gradual increases in amount and intensity of running typically every [...]
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 [...]