By Amanda Rego When people hear that I race the 1500m they automatically label me as a "track runner." Little do they know, 90% of my training is done on roads or trails. Yet, ask most marathoners how many track workouts they’ve done and most would answer "zero." Why is it that track athletes can [...]
By Mike Sweeney Seeking a BQ means running faster farther. It means balancing work, family, life and running. It means digging deep on race day and accomplishing something many never dare to dream of. For years, I believed speed came from speedwork. Sure, total volume mattered, but it was the speed that helped you get [...]
By Jordan Colby Jeni Henrie 3:34, Robin St. Clare 2nd in the 65-69 yrs age group, Greer Colby 3:17 (PR at the time) Luck favors the prepared. That could certainly be said regarding the Boston Marathon. At this year’s Boston Marathon, temperatures hovered in the upper 30’s, while a cold rain fell and winds lashed [...]
We received a great question for Dr. Daniels about how to manage athletes' training in the off-season. Coach Clegg: As a high school cross country coach, I would love to get some ideas how how to best bridge the gap between fall XC and spring track. My state (IL) has a number of off season restrictions [...]
By Tim Jones If you’ve qualified for Boston, congratulations! As an experienced runner, it’s harder now to get better than it was when you first started running. You need to optimize every element of your training to continue to improve. When planning your Boston 2019 Training Cycle, think of these four critical elements: Training Plan. [...]
By Kevin Strehlo I'm giving clients currently training for Boston several ways to pick up the additional minutes they now need to get to their BQ. One of the primary considerations is choosing the right course and training to run it. Gravity's boost on net downhill courses is one of the things people often look [...]
We asked Jack why he doesn’t include half marathon pace in his training pace options. Dr. Daniels: I added training at Marathon Pace as an option because M-pace is slower than any of the training paces used for improving a physiological function, except Long Easy runs, which produces the same physiological benefits as M-pace. Also, running at M-pace can provide psychological benefit for people who will be running a marathon for the first time. […]
This table is for VDOT adjustments based on time away from running. As you improve your fitness with training, your VDOT improves, as do the various training intensities. The same thing applies when your fitness deteriorates due to a setback. If you haven't engaged in cross-training, multiply the FVDOT-1 value in the table by your [...]
We caught up with VDOT Coach Nick Hilton fresh off his victory at the Disney Marathon. Nick was the first American to win there since 2004. We're especially excited because he's actually the second coach on the app to win a large marathon in the past two months (see Tim Ritchie's interview here). Not only [...]
Repetition pace represents one of the 5 major types of VDOT training paces. The benefits of Repetition training are associated more with mechanics and anaerobic metabolism than with aerobic factors. This type of training puts considerable stress on the body to provide energy anaerobically. In turn, this produces beneficial changes in anaerobic pathways, where fuel [...]