Final Surge Podcast: Recent Episodes
Dean Ouellette
The final surge podcast is a weekly podcast that interviews the best and the brightest coaches and athletes to help you train with a purpose.
Welcome to the Final Surge Podcast. We recorded this episode with Newbury Park Coach Sean Bronsan back in the early summer. But with technical difficulties with Zoom the episode was lost. After working to figure out what happened the recording was found. Newbury Park is concluding on what may very well be the best high school cross country season of all time. This recording happened before the season started so we do not discuss the season, but we do talk about his philosophies that lead to this historic season.
Not only is his boy's team considered by many the best boys team ever, but his girl's team is also ranked in the top 10 nationally. A big takeaway from the interview is his relationship with his athletes and getting them to believe in what is possible. What it takes to be great is different is what it takes to be good and he breaks down what that commitment looks like.
Welcome to episode 184 of the final surge podcast where we talk to Will and Sean of Running Lane. Running Lane is putting on a national championship race for high school cross country runners this year. With the cancelation of Nike Nationals, there was an opening, and Running Lane is filling that void. They already have a very impressive list of teams and individuals who have committed to attend. We talk to them about the event and the course. Final Surge is thrilled to be a sponsor of the event and we look forward to an amazing event.
You can follow them here
Link to the registration info for teams & individuals: https://runsignup.com/Race/AL/Huntsville/HSXCRace
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/runninglane/
Welcome to episode 183 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome Brodie Sharpe from down under to the program. Brodie runs the Run Smarter Podcast. Brodie has a Physiotherapy Practice and helps runners overcome and prevent injuries. We get into some common myths, talk about strength training and other things you can do to stay healthy.
1:30 How did you get started in running?
3:05 How does that play into what you are doing in the running community?
4:15 In the podcast you take subjects and break them up into small chunks, how did the passion for the podcast come about?
6:10 You talk a lot about overcoming injuries, what are common themes when a runner comes in to see you?
8:43 Is part of that because access to the internet so people find workouts and hit it too hard?
11:00 When runners come in with the common issues how often do they go to shoes first as the way to fix the problem?
13:41 Do you put them on a treadmill and look at their gate?
14:36 If someone comes in and they are landing way out in front do you try to change that?
15:59 What do you do to coach them through cadence changes?
17:53 What types of things should they be doing to prevent injuries not overcome?
21:11 For preventive maintenance what type of strength work do you recommend?
23:55 I think there is great agreement on the Olympic style lifts, but how about less reps vs lighter weight more reps?
27:04 One thing you talk about in your podcast is good pain vs bad pain. Can you discuss the difference?
31:49 Advice I have heard is you run and the pain doesn't get worse during the run then it is ok to keep going, is this advice good?
34:19 What are a few of the running myths you hear a lot and talk about?
38:14 What about stretching for runners?
41:44 People are sitting at a desk all day, does it make sense to stretch out the hip flexors?
Resources
Run Smarter Podcast
Instagram
Final Surge
Final Surge Instagram
Final Surge Twitter
Final Surge Facebook
Final Surge Website
Welcome to episode 182 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome Olympian runner turned Olympic Coach Lee Troop to the show. Lee represented Australia in the Olympics as a runner and last year coached his second athlete to an Olympics qualification when Jake Riley qualified for Team USA in the marathon. We talk about his running career, what Jake has been up to, and also discuss Lee's Team Boulder club. 1:10 How did you get started in the running community?
2:12 How big was running in Australia during that time in the early 80's?
6:10 When you got to college were things different in the running community here?
10:03 After college did you stay here?
11:32 How was that running in the Olympics in your how country?
13:58 How did you make the transition into coaching?
18:15 You are coaching Jake Riley who will be running in the Olympics, how did that relationship start?
26:17 Jake is obviously very talented but that Chicago race was a huge breakthrough. Was that more of a mental breakthrough?
30:48 If a coach is building a program do you build it out all 16 weeks in advance or do you do week to week?
34:40 Do you repeat workouts often or do you do different workouts every week?
37:33 What is the plan between now and the Olympics?
43:10 Team Boulder you are really involved with a lot of things going on with the running community there, what are some of the things you are doing?
47:37 Do you do only in person coaching or do you do virtual coaching too remotely?
Resources
Lee on Twitter
Lee on Instagram
Team Bouder
Final Surge
Final Surge Instagram
Final Surge Twitter
Final Surge Facebook
Final Surge Website
Welcome to episode 181 of the Final Surge Podcast. This week we welcome professional runner Keira D'Amato to the show. Keira has an amazing story that ended with her just recently getting a professional contract from Nike. This was the first professional contract she was offered, and she was in her mid 30's. She took the time to share her story with us which we think you are going to find fascinating.
1:00 How she got started in running?
2:42 Were you a soccer player?
3:37 Did you consider yourself more of a cross country or track runner?
4:07 What was it about American University that made you want to run there?
5:10 Did you think about running after college?
7:02 Then for the next decade you were just a hobby jogger?
7:45 Give us an idea how many miles you were running during that decade?
9:20 We have talked to athletes who have taken a year or two off, but not a decade. At what point did you decide to start again?
11:12 Was there a moment where you said ok this is for real and I am going to get serious?
12:42 Did you call Scott right after that race to start working together again?
13:50 The last year you have really put your stamp on the sport, talk about it.
15:44 You have a lot of success in longer distances, what is your focus for this year?
17:10 Are you focusing on the 10k or leaving your options open?
17:54 Talk about what a week looks like for your busy schedule?
20:02 In real estate you control your own schedule, but real estate can be demanding too on your time
20:43 Were you looking for the right deal with a contract or was there reluctance because you were late to the sport?
22:45 How did the process go?
23:28 What is coming next for you?
24:40 Contact and Oreo's!
Resources
Keira on Instagram
Keira on Strava
Keira on Twitter
Keira Website
Final Surge
Final Surge Instagram
Final Surge Twitter
Final Surge Facebook
Final Surge Website
Welcome to episode 180 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome NAU national champion Tyler Day, who recently turned pro and announced he was joining former collegiate teammate Matt Baxter and Coach Ben Rosario with Northern Arizona Elite. We talked a little bit about his rise from a good Arizona high school runner to one of the best in the country in high school. We then talk about what the process was like when he announced he was turning professional. Tyler is always a fun listen and we hope you enjoy this podcast as much as we did.
1:58 How did you get started in running?
3:36 Once you started running did you keep running or was it a season thing?
4:42 Talk about your high school career
6:46 In your senior year in the 3200 you had the 7th best time in the state. That is good, but how does that project to someone who turns into a champion in college?
9:15 What was it about NAU that attracted you to there?
10:34 What were those national champion teams like with that group of guys?
14:10 You had two great college coaches back-to-back, what was that transition like to Smith?
15:47 As far as the coaching part, what did Coach Smith bring that was magic that seems to work wherever he goes?
17:20 When you were coming out of college you achieved a next level, so what type of interest was there from teams?
18:24 What lead you to Hoka NAZ Elite?
20:25 Did Matt being there help motivate you to join them?
21:15 When that decision time came was the focus always the 10k or did you have the marathon on your mind?
22:38 Is the focus the 10k for the Olympics?
23:17 Where are you now with the rehab?
24:30 What has been the thing that surprised you the most about being a professional runner?
25:47 Being the rookie do Fauble and Baxter make you carry their bags?
26:54 Any races on the books you have?
27:27 One thing the NAZ Elite team does to help their athletes is marketing and finding their niche. Talk about your products.
Resources
NAZ Elite Shop
Tyler on IG
Tyler on Twitter
Final Surge
Final Surge Instagram
Final Surge Twitter
Final Surge Facebook
Final Surge Website
Welcome to episode 179 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome Bertrand Newsom and Kevin Chang. They both came to running later in life and have teamed up to form Racemob. Racemob is a community of runners that share tips, stories, trumps, and laughter. They are also a podcast and coaching platform using Final Surge. :52 What is your background, how did you get involved in running?
4:27 How did you guys end up meeting?
7:10 was your plan to build something bigger like Racemob?
9:45 What is the podcast about?
12:42 Are you using this to increase coaching base?
17:07 When you start a business like this you have more people looking to get out but also more people losing their job, so how did that play out?
21:30 Are most virtual or local?
23:25 How have you been using Final Surge?
26:47 What is the avatar of that person you are looking to work with?
29:21 Are you looking to create a stable of coaches?
Resources
Racemob Website
Too Legit
Final Surge
Final Surge Instagram
Final Surge Twitter
Final Surge Facebook
Final Surge Website
Welcome to episode 178 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome back Martin Hehir. We had Martin on the podcast almost 4 years ago when he was a year out of college and running with the NAZ Elite team in Flagstaff. Today he is in Philadelphia, going to medical school, getting ready for his residency and has two kids. Yes he is still running though and recently won The Marathon Project race with a sub 2:09. We talk to him about his training and how he pulled that off with everything going on in his life right now. 1:25 Since the last time we had you on you left to go to medical school, can you bring us up to date?
2:58 You got married, go to medical school, had a couple of kids, what has been the hardest part of all that while still training?
4:01 You wanted to continue the running, was there ever a worry you wouldn't have the time?
5:45 When you graduate school are you expecting to still have the time?
6:49 You have been blessed with some amazing coaches, how is it being teamed back up with Coach Fox?
7:52 Fox and Rosario are both successful, but different coaches, what is the biggest difference you have noticed?
12:30 You mentioned other guys, NAZ seems like a tight team, right now you are with a team, but training on your own. Has that been a struggle?
14:00 Your in medical school so what was your reaction when you heard about this virus?
15:16 How did it impact your running?
16:35 How long of a break did you end up taking after the Trials?
18:30 Was there anything on the schedule or not yet?
19:38 You said early Sept you were out of shape, how long did it take you to get back in shape?
20:45 When you have a 20 mile day what does that day look like for you with everything going on?
23:30 Come November did your milage stay the same at 100 miles a week?
24:32 At what point did you realize it could be a big day?
26:10 There was a group of men in the 2:09 range, was it perfect race and perfect conditions or is this the new standard?
28:14 How were those last two weeks leading up to the race?
29:25 Walk us through the race
32:31 With only 4 miles it doesn't sound like much, but those 4 miles are the longest part of the race. What was your thinking when you went to the front?
33:56 At that point did you feel like you could hold on for another 5k?
34:41 What were your thoughts as you crossed the finish line?
35:27 I know with your residency coming yp is going to change things, but did this year change your outlook?
36:45 If you were looking forward ahead to this year is there a plan you would like to see happen?
37:39 What do you see as the vision for the Rebook Group you run with?
39:17 Do you think it will be more of a 10k and marathon group?
Resources
Episode 36 with Hehir
Martin Heir on Twitter
Martin Heir on Instagram
Final Surge
Final Surge Instagram
Final Surge Twitter
Final Surge Facebook
Final Surge Website
Welcome to episode 177 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome professional distance runner Noah Droddy to the show. Droddy has a great story of a slightly better than average runner in high school who became an Olympics Trial qualifier. Droddy burst onto the scene in 2016 at the Trials and recently finished second in The Marathon Project. We catch up with Droddy about his preparation for his latest race and what is next for him in 2021.
1:15 How did you get started in running?
2:30 What was it in your senior year that started to change things for you?
3:40 How were your times in your senior year?
4:12 Those are not times that jump off the chart, at what point did you decide that you wanted to run at the next level?
5:35 Did you have success in college as a freshman?
6:49 What was your progress like in college?
8:15 When you were getting ready to graduate college did you expect to continue to run as a professional?
9:28 What do you by you couldn't completely let running go?
10:29 When did you decide you were going to get serious and see what you could do?
11:59 At that point in 2015 was there even talks of the Olympic Trials?
13:00 When did the qualifier for the 10k come?
14:27 That night on the track you kind of became an icon overnight, what was that like?
16:11 When the shutdown happened how was your mindset?
18:08 How long was the process of shutting it down?
19:22 June you started training again, the Marathon Trials were done, did you switch your focus to the 10k?
21:25 Were there any health issues when you came back?
21:55 How was your training leading up to the Marathon Project?
22:43 You ran 2.5 minutes better than your PR, was 2:09 the goal for the race or just stick with the leaders?
24:00 How did you feel in the second half of the race?
25:16 Were there any workouts leading up to the race that had you thinking this could be a big race?
26:28 Do you have any staple workouts that you use every training cycle that you can see how you progress each cycle?
27:36 You mention these breakthroughs become the new benchmark, but do you think that 2:09 is now the benchmark for the US Men's marathon?
29:28 What are your plans after your break?
30:59 What is the status of the Roots Running Group
31:57 Richie is one of the under the radar coaches that probably doesn't get the credit they deserve
Resources
Noah on Twitter
Noah on Instagram
Roots Running Project
Final Surge
Final Surge Instagram
Final Surge Twitter
Final Surge Facebook
Final Surge Website
Welcome to episode 176 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome back Tinman Elite athlete Joey Berriatua to the podcast. Joey was first with us a year and a half ago on episode 123. Joey joined us to talk about where is running is now, recent PR's he has had and we talk about his new passion which is coaching with the Hammer and Axe Training team. Joey has big plans for 2021 including making it to the US Olympics Trial, possibly in more than one event.
1:10 What is new since last spring?
3:09 You started running again in late November?
4:10 You are forced to take 4-months off, what was the hardest part?
5:45 And when you started running, you were only running 5-minutes at a time?
6:54 How good shape did you get in with just swimming?
8:29 How did you manage the swimming, was it based on time?
10:05 You were back up to full volume by February and then March hit. Do you think it could have helped by not forcing yourself to race too quickly?
12:11 How has your training been going the last few months?
13:35 What races have you done since the injury?
15:06 And this month you set a PR in the 5k, how did that race go?
16:54 Do you have any more races on the calendar?
17:45 So the focus now is the Olympic Trials?
18:52 The team itself has grown a lot since we last talked, how has those dynamics played out?
20:10 How did the Hammer and Axe Training start?
22:18 Are any of your athletes local?
23:01 Are most of them high school?
26:25 Have you found this has helped your running?
28:09 What would they get if they work with you?
Resources
Instagram: @joeyberriatua
Joey Hammer and Axe Training
Final Surge
Final Surge Instagram
Final Surge Twitter
Final Surge Facebook
Final Surge Website
Welcome to episode 175 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome back Tinman Elite coach Tom Schwartz to the podcast. Tom is working on his doctoral dissertation for exercise science and we talk about that and how you can get involved too. We also catch up with how some of the Tinman team are doing. You can check out Tom's coaching which he uses Final Surge for at Run Fast Coach.
:45 How is everyone holding up?
1:52 You had some guys in Phoenix racing this past weekend, how is the racing going?
3:36 Any more races on the books?
5:00 How has Sam been doing, haven't seen much of him recently?
5:57 Talk to us about your dissertation
10:59 In that example during that 20% are you giving that 48 more speed work?
12:29 Shouldn't the slower one be working on speed more?
13:39 When you are looking at those online calculators about projected race times are they accurate or would they be more accurate with two data points?
17:17 Two kids both ran cross, but one ran over the winter and one did soccer, does this test show you what you need if one wasn't properly trained in the aerobic base for the last few months?
21:21 I have heard of this test with 300/600 would that show you the same thing?
22:33 Where are you at with the dissertation?
24:23 What are you looking for as far as test subjects?
26:46 You mentioned they will run the 1600 and 400 time trial, after that is there further testing, or is that it?
28:43 How many more individuals are you looking for?
Resources
Website
Email Tom
Tom on Instagram
Final Surge
Final Surge Instagram
Final Surge Twitter
Final Surge Facebook
Final Surge Website
Welcome to episode 174 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome professional runner Christine Thorn to the program. Four years ago Christine was playing basketball on a scholarship in college. Last year she ran 11th in the Steeplechase at the US National Championships. We talk to Christine about the path she took to get here, the coaching she is involved with, and what she hopes for next year on the track.
1:09 How did you get into running?
4:15 You ran with your high school team in Junior High right?
5:00 Did you run in high school?
5:54 Did you run on the side on college or no just basketball?
6:39 What gave you the thought that you could compete at the D2 level after your basketball career?
7:32 In college you sound like you were reluctant to try the steeple?
11:15 How did you feel coming back to run the 1500 finals after?
12:00 Did you consider yourself more of a cross or track runner?
13:03 When did you think you could compete post-collegiate?
14:58 Was it your college coach that convinced you to keep doing this?
15:29 How did you meet up with coach Jeff Boele?
17:16 15th in the country in D2 is good, but that is a long ways away from someone who will run in the Olympic Trials. How was it mentally getting here?
19:10 Since Corona hit have you done any racing?
20:28 If I remember Jeff's training correctly he does a lot on speed development and sprinting?
21:54 What do the wicket workouts look like?
22:57 Are there any cues in your head you use?
24:00 Have you been staying healthy during the shutdown?
24:35 Is there anything on the calendar?
25:18 You are working on Hammer and Axe, how did that happen?
27:00 We absolutely need more women coaches, who have been your influences?
29:27 Who is your target audience?
31:13 Are you involved in the Hammer and Axe Turkey Trot?
Resources
Coaching Page
Instagram
Turkey Trot
Final Surge
Final Surge Instagram
Final Surge Twitter
Final Surge Facebook
Final Surge Website
Welcome to episode 173 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome back Tinman Elite athlete Drew Hunter to the program. Drew has been busy this year helping to launch the Hammer and Axe Training site and is currently working on a virtual turkey-trot that has some amazing prizes. :50 How are you and the team doing?
1:24 What is coming up for races?
2:08 Everyone on the team staying healthy?
2:44 You have had a busy year, want to talk about the new coaching program?
4:25 What is someone getting in the Turkey Trot package?
6:44 XEndurance is around a lot more, what is your relationship with them?
8:37 You get a training plan with this turkey trot right?
10:11 So is each plan designed by someone or is it a collaboration?
11:17 How will this work for someone who this is their first virtual race?
12:56 What type of workouts do you have in your plan?
14:58 They can use this plan on their next 5k race too right?
16:20 Talk some about the Hammer and Axe Training programs
18:29 What is your communications like with the athletes you work with?
20:00 What types of athletes are you working with?
22:34 What is on the road map for the next year?
Resources
Hammer and Axe Training
Virtual Turkey Trot
X-Endurance
Tinman Elite on Instagram
Welcome to episode 172 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome coach Mike Hickey. Mike has coached everything from high school runners to professionals like Alexa Efraimson. We talk to Mike about his journey in coaching, his philosophy of the Oregon System and how he trains youth runners. 1:15 How did you get started in running?
6:45 What about those relationships lead you into getting into coaching?
8:34 What was your first coaching job?
10:35 How did your career develop until you met Alexa?
14:04 For a coach hearing she is running 41 seconds for 300 is that like a fast 800 for her?
16:34 You have coached high school before and you have seen those who don't have the natural ability but are willing to work, how do you develop them?
22:20 They are not the most athletic, how do you get them to move better?
26:36 Do you use the Oregon System for your training?
31:00 With the Oregon System layout a week or two
59:40 You said those early years you were developing speed, should we be doing sprinting?
1:05:00 How is Alexa doing?
Resources
Coach to Coach on Runner's Space
Welcome to episode 171 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome back NAZ Elite coach Ben Rosario. A lot has happened with Ben and his team since we last caught up including a new deal between Hoka and NAZ, a couple of new signings of athletes and he has announced the Marathon Project. The Marathon Project is an elite marathon that will be run in December in Chandler Arizona. We get some information on how that came together.
1:15 How is the team dealing with the pandemic?
4:38 What struggles have you encountered?
6:25 Recently you added a couple of new runners, want to tell us about Julia Kohnen
11:28 And you added Tyler Day?
18:15 You are putting on an Elite Marathon in Chandler Arizona?
24:10 Will fans be allowed?
24:49 What type of protocols are in place for Covid-19?
26:06 You have 50 women and 50 men, how did the selection process work?
28:50 Elite athletes are not used to having to pay to enter a race, but this is different right?
32:10 You have renewed your contract with HOKA, it sounds like they are stepping up and supporting runners in a big way.
37:05 Want to talk about the assistant coach search?
Resources
NAZ Website
NAZ Running Logs
The Marathon Project
Ben on Twitter
NAZ on Twitter
Welcome to episode 170 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome triathlete and Ironman Triathlon coach Dora Kemecsei to the podcast. The Corona pandemic has taken a toll on the triathlon scene this year, but things are starting to show a sign of opening back up with the first Ironman race going off this past month. We look at what the future holds for the sport and where we go from here.
1:00 How did you get started in triathlons?
4:00 Did you have any biking background before you did your first traithlon?
4:42 How long of a training period did you give yourself before your first Ironman?
5:21 Did you find out during that first one that the biking was the biggest challenge?
6:05 How many Ironman races have you done and when did that lead to coaching?
6:38 How did you go about getting those first clients?
7:20 The last 8 months have probably been a challenge? How has it impacted you?
9:09 What type of advice do you have for someone who keeps getting races canceled?
11:00 What is the state of the racing world in Europe?
12:05 Was everyone excited to finally be racing again?
13:34 Were the transition areas set up differently?
14:18 Do you think having a successful event will help get other events going again?
15:59 You are an Ironman Coach, what type of athletes do you work with?
17:17 If someone is a beginner what would a training plan cycle look like for them to get ready for that first event?
18:18 If you have a runner looking to make the transition what would a week look like?
19:06 Are you focusing on one thing a day or do you mix up your days among the disciplines?
19:53 For a runner starting, how much do you recommend a coach to work on form for swimming?
Resources
Dora's Training Plans
Dora on Instagram
Dora's website
Welcome to episode 169 of the Final Surge Podcast. Today we welcome Olympic swimmer Scott Dickens to the podcast. Scott joins us to talk about FORM, a revolutionary swimming goggle that gives you real-time metrics. Last week Final Surge announced we are now syncing with FORM so we invited Scott on to discuss what FORM is and how it can help you. Through the end of the month, FORM is giving Final Surge listeners a $30 off coupon. Head over to FormSwim.com and enter FINALSURGE30 at checkout to save $30. 1:00 How did you get started in swimming?
1:57 When were you in the Olympics
3:19 What events did you swim?
3:40 You now work with FORM, can you tell us what FORM is?
4:40 What are the different metrics you are able to see?
5:29 Can you set the metrics you want to see?
6:15 How can it pick up heart-rate?
7:17 How does the distance work in a pool?
8:30 It would seem like the metics could be a distraction?
9:55 How do you start and stop it?
11:00 If you have a minute between reps you don't need to hit start and stop?
11:53 How is the battery and how quickly will it charge if you forget to charge it?
13:13 What advice do you have to triathletes on using FORM?
14:55 Have you measured how accurate this is in open water for distance?
16:02 How has the integration with Final Surge gone?
**Resources**
FORM on Instagram #Swimwithform
FormSwim.com Promo code FINALSURGE30
Scott on Instagram
Welcome to episode 168 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome former Olympian and now the coach at NYRR Roberto Mandje to the show. Roberto talks about how the pandemic is affecting the NYRR and the plan for the 2020 NYC Marathon to be a virtual race. We also talk about the NYRR Coaching Lab where you can get training from their coaches to help you have a successful marathon. Roberto shares a lot of valuable information in this episode.
:54 How you got started in running?
2:22 You ran in the 1500 in the 2004 Olympics?
3:18 What was that Olympic experience like for you representing a smaller country?
5:06 As a former Olympian what were your thoughts after the Olympics were canceled for this year?
6:50 What was your career like from 2004 to the time you joined NYRR
9:42 Could you give us some info besides the NYRR what else are you doing in the community?
11:07 If you are having 60 events throughout the year you guys are very active, so when the shut down happened what was that like to you?
13:02 Explain what is involved with a virtual race for the participant
15:30 Are you seeing people who run the actual course that was intended?
16:40 Can you tell us what the NYRR Coaching Lab is?
18:05 How many different training plans are there for the marathon?
19:00 What are the differences between the 3 plans?
19:55 What will they get with this training plan?
20:38 How do the Zoom calls work?
21:52 What type of topics are covered?
23:00 You have processionals participating in the virtual right?
23:38 What type of interest is there for the mid-packers?
25:00 Where can people register for it?
26:48 Is this the same medal that would have been given out or are they different?
28:58 Have you seen a runner boom from the pandemic?
Resources
@NYRR https://www.instagram.com/nyrr/
https://www.nyrr.org/
@robertomandje https://www.instagram.com/robertomandje/
Welcome to episode 167 of the Final Surge podcast. Today we welcome back former professional runner turned coach Luke Humphrey. Luke joins us to talk about the last few months of life with Covid for a running coach. We also talk about his new series that will be starting this month that is a 13-week program with training programs, structured workouts, and group meetings for two virtual 5k's. You can head on over to FinalSurgeRacing.com to sign up.
1:15 What have you been doing since everything in the running world has been shut down?
3:53 You have a large coaching business, for them what has it been like to continue with no end in sight?
6:15 Did you find most people set goals to go shorter and faster?
7:08 Have you found your athletes are into the virtual races?
8:05 So did many use this time as a huge base building period?
8:59 Can you imagine that we may not have a spring marathon season?
10:21 Going forward you set up the 2020 5k series, what is that about?
13:35 What is included besides the races?
15:13 What is a structured workout?
16:56 Talk a little more about the weekly webinars
18:55 How long are the training plans leading up to the races?
19:32 Who are the plans geared at?
20:30 Can you give us an example of what a trianing week may look like?
22:05 Are the fast workouts track workouts?
22:37 Will communications be through the Facebook group for the most part?
23:33 How does someone know which plan is best for them?
26:07 What are the long runs like?
27:20 Will long time marathon clients recognize these workouts?
Resources
2020 5k Series
Luke Humphrey Website
Luke on Facebook
Luke Training Plans
Luke Humphrey on Youtube
Welcome to episode 166 of the Final Surge Podcast. Today we welcome back Olympian Kim Conley to the show. We catch up with Kim and talk about how she is handling this long period between race and what advice she has for staying motivated.
:45 Where are you with your training?
1:09 When is the last time you raced?
1:29 When is the last time you went this long without a race?
2:30 Do you have anything on the books as a potential?
3:36 Have you decided between the 5k and 10k?
4:20 Back in March when this all broke could you imagine we would be where we are?
5:23 What have you been doing with training since March?
6:19 What are you doing on the track?
7:39 What about the mental side of this?
8:59 What type of encouragement do you have for these high school and college kids losing seasons?
10:05 Have you been doing anything different to take your mind off things?
11:24 Do you feel like you're in really good shape right now?
12:15 Anything different in the training you have been doing?
13:15 If you come out and pop a big-time do you think things will change going forward with training?
14:30 Have you had a training partner?
14:55 You dabbled with the marathon briefly, after the Olympic Trials do you still plan on testing the marathon again in the future?
16:50 With the big base do you feel you could jump in a marathon right now?
17:37 Walk us through a week
18:47 For the average runner who doesn't have a race on the calendar how do you motivate them to keep going?
Resources
Kim on Instagram
Kim On Twitter
KimConley.com
Welcome to episode 165 of the Final Surge Podcast. Today we welcome back to the show Coach Jay Johnson. Jay has a new book coming out called Consistency is Key. In the book, Jay gives 15 key points on becoming a better runner. The book is easy to get through yet has a wealth of good take-a-ways.
1:02 Great job with the new book Consistency is Key
3:17 The book is great for coaches but very beneficial to the athlete too to reinforce what we say
5:23 I love how you have laid out chapter one and taking two freshmen characters and how they 'transcend yourself' can you talk about that phrase?
8:39 You cannot change genetics, but you can change your capacity for work
12:13 No matter how hard you work and how smart you train there will be a plateau, how do you tell the kids its ok that this happens?
14:53 You talk a lot about the aerobic engine, talk about the importance of consistency for that
20:00 Lydiard is not as well understood when it comes to running fast, it has always been important
22:34 No matter how fast the engine is, if the body isn't strong it will break down, what resources do you have
29:00 One of the concepts is switching gears, how important is that to someone who may be a mid-pack runner?
33:17 Nutrition is an important part of this book, but so is sleeping. When dealing with kids how do you get this point through to the kids?
39:44 My favorite part is the end where you do short blurbs with
Resources
Jay's website
Consistency is Key
Jay on Twitter
High School Running Coach
Welcome to Episode 164 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome Coach Nobby of the "Lydiard Training & Academy" powered by "Five Circles". Arthur Lydiard is a legendary coach and Nobby got to know Lydiard very well while he was still alive. We talk about the training system and he shares some personal stories about him.
:44 How did you get your start in running and meet Arthur Lydiard
5:52 What is it about Arthur Lydiard that makes him such a legend?
7:06 You spent a year living with him, what was it like being around him all the time?
13:06 At that stage in his life did he spend a lot of time in education and staying up to date with the latest in training?
17:07 Lydiard you were peaking for that one big race a year, does it work as effectively when you have many races a year and not just the one big one?
20:35 What does a 3-month conditioning level look like?
22:19 Easy running is all relative, what does that look like?
25:05 Mark Allen talked about using 180-age, but this sounds like even less
26:10 It is not all long slow work, right?
30:53 What about a new or younger runner, how do you build up that base because of the long miles he has?
34:38 What are the other phases of Lydiard training after base?
39:44 Running Wizard is all Lydiard Training Plans?
42:22 You have three programs, what are the differences?
46:36 How many weeks are these plans?
47:31 How similar is the training between running distances?
**Resources**
RunningWizard.Net
Newsletter - Noby@LydiardAcademy.org
Welcome to episode 163 of the Final Surge Podcast. Today we welcome Marc Waxman of 113 Enterprises to talk about Chi Running and specifically Chi for high school kids. Chi has an upcoming virtual clinic designed for high school athletes to get the most out of their program.
:58 When did you get involved in running?
3:22 What was the most you had run before you decided to train for that marathon?
5:05 How did the transition to Chi happen?
7:32 How did that lead you to become a coach?
9:16 In what way has Chi had a positive impact?
10:57 What are some of the basic concepts that help prevent injuries?
13:29 You mentioned you used Final Surge and Hanson, how did you get involved with Hanson training?
15:52 Because of the times we are going through right now what are you guys working on to combat that lack of groups?
18:28 So what is the background of the virtual classes for student-athletes?
22:52 Are these plans predesigned training plans?
25:43 Is there anything specific you do with student-athletes vs adult runners?
27:43 Is there a certain type of athlete that could most benefit from Chi training?
29:00 Jay Johnson has a new book coming called Consistency is Key, isn't that what it is all about, training consistently?
29:32 Is this a good program for coaches to teach their athletes?
30:38 When do the classes start?
Resources
Chi Running
Marc 113 Enterprises
Welcome to episode 162 of the Final Surge Podcast. Every spring the track world watches as high school boys chase the elusive sub-4 minute mile club. This year with the quarantine lockdown that chase looked more elusive than ever. In late May a group of elite runners got together for the Quarantine Clasico. In that race Leo Daschbach unleashed a 56 second last 400 to become the 11th American high school boy to break 4. We talk to Leo's coach Dave Montgomery about his career and that race.
1:10 How did you get started in running?
3:36 Leo ran a 4:44 1600 which is good for a Freshman, but not what points to a sub-4 miler someday.
5:54 With his interactions with other kids Leo seems like such a good kid
6:42 Did he run before he was a Freshman or just soccer?
8:14 Was it the Sophmore year that you really saw the potential?
11:25 Some kids are great at the 800 and some are great at the 5k, not many have the range he does. Is that something you try to develop?
12:30 He had a great cross country season obviously, was there talk of chasing 4 at the time?
14:00 Where is he committed to college?
15:23 At the point it was clear there was not going to be a season did he ever back off?
17:15 During cross at Desert Twilight he was far enough behind Cole with 600 to go I didn't think he had a shot, but he unleashed a kick that was amazing.
19:14 When did the idea for the Quarantine race come about?
21:33 Pick a week 3-4 weeks out, what did a week of training look like?
23:42 Was 10-miles the typical long run?
24:32 Do you run by time or miles?
25:06 Things looked good going into the race, what was your conversation before the race?
27:14 With 250 left to go he is in a group of 3 of the best runners in the country and he just takes off from the group
28:28 Knowing he finished with a 56.6 do you think he could have gone even faster?
29:07 What do you think his ceiling is when he goes off to college?
30:50 What do you think his race will be in college?
32:34 What is your situation right now, how are you dealing with what is going on?
Resources
Dave on Twitter
Dave on Facebook
Dave's Email
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL6XIhNuHsQ
Welcome to episode 161 of the Final Surge Podcast. This week we do something different. We talk to 5 successful high school coaches from 5 different parts of the country about this summer of uncertainty. We get their advice on how they are dealing with the current environment and not knowing what the upcoming season will be like.
First I talked to Joan and Marc Hunter of Loudon Valley in Virginia. Next I had on Jonathan Dalby of Mountain Vista in Colorado. Following Dalby I talked to Doug Petrick of USC in Pennsylvania. Then Doug Soles of Great Oak in California joins us before we end with Jonathan O'Malley of Sandburg High in Illinois.
:57 Joan and Marc Hunter of
13:45 Jonathan Dalby
24:16 Doug Petrick
38:12 Doug Soles
48:50 Jonathan O'Malley
Welcome to Episode 160 of the Final Surge Podcast. Today we welcome Chris Twiggs to the podcast. Chris is a long time Final Surge user and an even longer coach with Jeff Galloway. Some know Galloway for from his spot on the US Olympics Team, some know him for his writing in Sports Illustrated, but most know him as the Run-Walk-Run Coach. We talk to Christ about the program, how it can help keep you healthy and running and how fast did Galloway actually do a marathon using this method. Also head over to FinalSurgeRacing.com to see the awesome virtual racing series Galloway has going.
1:14 How did you get started in running?
4:20 What about your first marathon training plan didn't work for you?
7:40 Who is Jeff Galloway?
10:10 What is run-walk-run and how did Jeff come up with the concept?
12:55 When did Jeff run a 2:16 Marathon using Run/Walk?
14:14 Is there research that shows how the walk breaks are effective?
15:44 What is the magic mile and how does that work?
18:25 Wouldn't the aerobic development be a factor in the magic mile accuracy?
20:37 Is run-walk-run only for beginners, are more experienced runners more hesitant?
28:59 Can triathletes use it?
26:30 How did your Galloway Training Groups get started?
27:40 How many cities have a program director right now?
29:00 You mentioned you guys run Disney every year. Is there a Galloway/Disney training connection.
30:37 You were one of really early users FS?
35:35 Can you tell us about your training plans that are for sale on Final Surge and the difference between those and your custom plans?
39:09 Tell us about this new Retro Run Half Marathon series using the new Final Surge Virtual Racing platform. I hear there is the opportunity to collect different medals and also get a Galloway training plan in conjunction with the race.
42:10 If an ultra runner wanted to run 4 back to back half marathons would that count?
Final Surge round, 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Galloway's Book on Running and My Best Race
Current trainers you are wearing? - Hoka Clifton and Wave Riders
Favorite race? – Hard Rock 100 miler
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? – BCAA
Your favorite workout – Mind of the Marathoner
Resources
Magic Mile Calculator http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/magic-mile/
Email: Chris@JeffGalloway.com
Galloway Training Plans
Virtual Retro Run Series
In honor of Ameican superstar distance runner Dathan Ritzenhein retiring today, we are releasing the last podcast we did with him as our best of show. This interview with him was from the fall of 2019 when we talked about American marathon racing, his running career, and his coaching.
Welcome to episode 159 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome coach and performance lab expert Benjamin Tilus to the show. Ben is the host of the XLR8 Podcast and does work with the XLR8 Performance Lab in Iowa. We talk about how you can take your threshold and VO2 Max numbers and make them work for you.
:55 How did you get started in running?
4:10 Where did you run in college?
5:30 How did you get into coaching?
11:11 You are still coaching high school?
12:20 What is XLR8 Performance Lab?
16:54 Does that $60 get you just the VO2 test?
19:07 Some people are getting these results from their watch, how accurate are those?
21:14 Do you bring your team in or do you just offer it as a service?
22:18 What are you doing with the information you are getting to benefit the athlete?
26:39 You give them paces for training?
29:06 Is one of the online running pace calculators better than others?
34:05 What are you doing now with your athletes during the shutdown?
39:16 Are your tracks open?
40:45 How did the XLR8 Podcast come about?
44:32 What is one guest you have had on that you took a lot out of it?
49:14 What if someone from another state is interested in getting tested can they reach out for other resources?
Resources
XLR8 Website
XLR8 Twitter
Welcome to episode 158 of the Final Surge Podcast. We welcome back the most downloaded guest of all time, Coach Tom 'Tinman' Schwartz. We catch up on a few things including how his team is dealing with the current lockdown situation, what teams should be doing now to get ready for the fall season and we discuss the new training plans he has released which you can find on Final Surge.
1:00 How are you holding up with the Covid-19 epidemic?
2:35 You used to coach from a distance for years so that must help?
2:55 Everyone healthy?
4:04 We had a group of high school coaches talking about the long-distance until cross, so how do you plan your time?
6:21 Most programs will take 10-14 days, would you recommend they do it now?
13:53 You just recently released a couple of training plans on Final Surge
24:04 Your buildup plan you are doing workouts week one
30:06 So you a fan of speed ladders?
31:59 The other training plan is a longer non-high school buildup
33:51 With the summer training plan could you use that during cross country season too?
37:20 When you are talking about taking a break you said people make the mistake of taking two weeks off
42:10 Talk about your calculator and how people should use it
49:35 I use the calculator often but I have used the 1600 a lot for paces
Resources
RunFastCoach.com
Running Calculator
Training Plans
Tom on Instagram
Welcome to episode 157 of the Final Surge Podcast. Today we welcome Amanda Brooks. Amanda is a coach, but you probably know here from her running blog Run To The Finish. Amanda is one of the most successful running bloggers of all time. We talk to her about her blog, about coaching athletes, how she is coping with the stay at home orders and we discuss her new book.
:59 How are you holding up during these stay at home orders?
1:28 How did you get started in running?
2:40 Did that conversation about being awkward in running, did that not lead you to track or anything?
3:19 Did you have the flexibility issues when you ran your first half marathon?
4:14 What happened after your first race?
5:16 The next year how did you come up with a training plan?
6:06 How did the blog develop?
7:14 2007 Everyone was getting a blog, was Run To The Finish the first blog?
7:47 When did you start getting involved in coaching?
8:44 You went 5 years before you made the blog your career, how did you stay with it that long?
10:20 The running blog community was a great community early on, where were some of your early inspirations?
11:50 When you decided you were going to make this a career what was the hardest obstacle?
12:34 How has viewership changed with social media?
13:36 How many blog posts do you have?
13:58 What is your most popular post?
14:17 Is the half marathon your distance you like?
14:55 During the quarantine how had viewership changed?
15:34 I see a lot more people in the day, do you think there are more out there running?
16:27 Are your coaching clients more experienced or newbies?
17:12 What are their goals?
17:49 When you start working with a client how do you start and come up with a gameplan?
19:16 What is the best way you like to work with new clients? What type of plans are there?
21:06 New runners and coaches
22:32 What are the most common injury issues?
24:28 What do you do with low heart rate training?
25:20 How does the 4 months of low heart rate running work?
27:40 How strict are you with the heart rate
28:04 If you have someone been running for a few years how hard is it for them to not get discouraged?
29:18 What do you recommend for heart rate monitors?
31:28 That Vo2 max on a watch can be off by a lot
32:02 What do you do for weak hips?
33:16 How are you using Final Surge?
34:42 Tell us about the new book
36:18 Did the 13 years of writing for the website give you most of the content, or is there all new material?
37:00 Will there still be a book tour?
Final Surge round, 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - 80/20
Current trainers you are wearing? - Nike Epic React
Favorite race? – Philly Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? – Almand butter and Cheerios
Your favorite workout – Long Run
Resources
Coaching
Website
Amanda Brooks on Twitter
Run To The Finish Book
Welcome to episode 156 of the Final Surge Podcast. Today we welcome back Tinman Elite runner Drew Hunter. Drew is coming off the first real injury of his running career. We talk about the setback and what that was like for him. We then get into the current Covid-19 situation and how that has impacted him and his team. Drew has some words of encouragement for everyone out there listening and some advice for those high school kids who lost their track season.
:54 How are you feeling after your first real injury?
3:28 Didn't the injury come in the last 200 meters of the race?
5:40 What was the hardest part of dealing with your first injury, was it physical or mental?
7:45 You mentioned you had a race on the calendar, what was that race?
8:47 How are you and your teammates dealing with not knowing when that next race is going to come?
11:56 You mentioned you looked at why you got injured, is there anything that you are doing differently now?
14:47 Have you talked about how you don't know when the next race is so you are going to just stay in a base training mode now?
16:08 Many states are shutting down their spring sports so the track season is done before it really gets going, what would you tell a kid on how to stay motivated?
19:00 What are you doing as a team to keep your sanity during this time of social distancing?
24:46 For your high school fan who may struggle to do the next workout what types of words of encouragement do you have?
26:10 When does the next round of Tinman gear drop?
27:13 What are you guys working on right now and filming?
28:28 So you have your own videographer now?
29:04 Where is the best place for people to follow this content?
Resources
Tinman Website
Youtube
Twitter
Instagram
Drew Twitter
Welcome to episode 155 of the Final Surge Podcast. Today we welcome high school coach Doug Petrick to the podcast. Doug has built one of the most successful teams in western Pennsylvania. Doug does a presentation called the 5 principles that improved our distance program. We talk about those five things and how he is dealing with current Corona Virus disruption.
5 Principles That Improved Our Distance Program
- Minutes over miles
- Speed year around (define speed work)
- Running by feel
- athletic movements
- Communicating and learning
Final Surge round, 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Running with Buffalos
Current trainers you are wearing? - Brooks Ghost
Favorite race? – 5k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? – Peanut butter and Jelly
Your favorite workout – Fartlek
Resources
Doug on Twitter
Clinic On Twitter
Welcome to episode 154 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome Olympian Aliphine Tuliamuk. Aliphine was a surprise to some, but she ran the Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta fully expecting to make the team. We talked to her about her amazing story of growing up in Kenya, moving to the United States and the stress fracture that set her back last summer. Also make sure you check out the story of her and her NAZ Elite teammates from her coaches perspective at Blog.FinalSurge.com
1:30 How did you get started in distance running?
2:27 There is that legend that Kenyan kids all run to school 2 miles each way, so that was true for you?
3:01 How old were you when you started this?
3:30 When did you start competing in school against others?
4:09 In 3rd grade when you started competing did you realize you had a natural talent?
5:01 We know if you watch TV we see many Kenyans, so we may think all Kenyans run, how is it really?
6:34 What age did you come to America?
8:40 When you first came over how was the adjustment?
11:04 How did your college career develop?
14:12 In 2011 did you decide you wanted to keep running after college?
15:00 How did you hook up with NAZ Elite?
17:18 Flagstaff is a running haven
18:22 We see how close you all appear on social media, is it really that close?
19:10 In 2019 you had a stress fracture?
20:32 Did you have concerns about it impacting you making the team?
21:50 Did you get in any training at all those 8 weeks down?
23:14 You had a really short build-up to NYC?
24:08 Did you take the same downtime after NYC?
24:40 Talk about the build-up to the trails and working with the team?
26:15 Was there a plan to work together?
27:45 It was a much different race than the men's race with any one of the 20 in the pack making the team
29:02 Going into the race Kellyn was getting the most attention, was there any one workout that you nailed it and knew you were going to be a contender?
32:12 Did you like flying under the radar?
32:57 What made you go at the point you did?
34:00 Did you and Molly run together in training?
34:26 Did you talk to your teammates about making the move?
35:08 At what point did you know you were going to make the team?
37:04 How many conversations happen over 2.5 hours?
38:56 What did you think of the course?
39:25 During the first half did you plan to stay behind because of the wind?
40:03 When did you know you were going to win?
40:33 What is that feeling of being an Olympian?
42:00 Now that is over have you sat down and planned out the next few months?
43:43 One thing with the marathon, you know it is ruthless and anything can happen on any day?
44:46 Tell me about those beanies
Resources
Aliphine Beanies
Aliphine Training
NAZ Elite Training
Aliphine Twitter
Aliphine Instagram
Welcome to episode 153 of the Final Surge Podcast. Last week we had on a couple of experts to talk about the US Olympics Marathon Trial. On the men's side, despite a strong Chicago Marathon, Jake Riley did not get much attention. Many casual marathon observers did not even know the name. Jake had to take three years off racing after the 2016 trials because of injury. This unsponsored athlete made a comeback that had the running world talking and took home a second-place and a place on the Olympic team. Today, meet Jake Riley.
1:44 When did you start running?
6:45 Talk about your very successful career at Stanford
7:40 Having someone in front of you helps push you right?
9:06 Did you know when you were at Standford that running was something you wanted to do post-college?
10:37 You ran for Hanson out of college?
11:04 You ended up getting a long injury, when did that happen?
13:23 Was there any doubt during those three years that your running career may be done?
15:53 When did you move to Boulder and start working with Lee Troope?
16:55 Tell us about that first race back after three full years off
18:38 At that time in 2019 did you feel at that time after three years you could even make it back to the trials?
20:03 You ran a 2:10 at Chicago, was that your first marathon back?
21:23 How did you get a top ten in Chicago and come out unsponsored?
24:58 There were a lot of previews written, but not much of a mention of your name, how did you feel going in?
26:35 There was an early breakaway, did you go in to the race with a plan to be ready for the breakaway?
29:57 When Rupp goes out at 15 miles what was the mood of the group when that happened?
32:17 What did you think of the course?
33:30 At mile 19/20 you were still a minute back, was there concern you let them get away to far?
36:14 When you are coming up on then, did you think Korir was maybe a lock for the team and you were racing Abdi for the third spot?
38:10 Why did you grab the flag with 1/4 of a mile to go with two chasing you?
39:51 How does it feel to be an Olympian?
41:36 How much time are you giving yourself off?
43:10 Tokyo is a flatter course, how are you going to change your training?
Resources
Jake on Twitter
Jake on Instagram
Welcome to episode 152 of the Final Surge Podcast. This episode is all about the upcoming USA Men and Women's Olympic Marathon Trials. In the first half of this episode, I have Mario Fraioli joining me to talk about the men's race. Then in the second half, Erin Strout of Women's Running joins me to talk about the women's race. We talk about some of the favorites, what race strategies to expect and more.
Mario Fraioli Joins us to talk about the men's race, the course and what to expect
Mario Coaching Website
Morning Shakeout
Mario on Twitter
Mario on Instagram
Erin Strout joins us to talk about the women's race and go over the favorites
Erin on Twitter
Erin on Instagram
Women's Running
Bio of all the athletes participating
Welcome to episode 151 of the Final Surge Podcast. We welcome in Hollie Sick who runs the popular blog Fueled By Lolz. Hollie is a collegiate swimmer turned runner and has worked in a running store for the last six years. We talk about several topics including the new World Athletic ruling on race shoes. Don't forget Final Surge is a great coaching platform and always free for athletes.
1:27 How you got involved in athletics and how that lead to running?
5:14 What was running at a D3 college like?
8:29 You went from doing 4 hours a day swimming to 90 minutes of running practice, what were some of the differences between the swim and run training?
9:36 How did that college running career go?
11:10 Did you jump in doing what others were doing or did your coach bring you along slowly?
12:14 Didn't you used to run in Newton's?
13:04 What was the transition like from college to post-collegiate running?
14:48 With the swimming and running background, what about triathlon?
16:00 How long have you been working at a shoe store?
16:47 What have you noticed in changes in the running shoe world in the last six years?
18:33 Didn't Hoka come out in the height of the minimalist shoes
19:12 We have seen what Nike is doing since 2016, talk about the carbon fiber shoe
20:32 Do they not hold up as long?
21:40 So they should be used for races only for the most part?
22:22 What other carbon fiber shoes are there out there?
25:32 Shoes need to now be out on the market for 4 months, do you think Brooks and Saucony will be out in time for end of April?
27:20 How do you see the shoe market changing going forward?
28:29 When did you start the blog Fueled by LOLz
29:26 Everyone had a running blog a decade ago, you are one of few still going? How many posts do you have?
Final Surge round, 5 questions in under a minuteFavorite endurance/running book? - Running: A Love Story
Current trainers you are wearing? - Hoka and New Balance
Favorite race? – Shamrock 1/2 Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? – Pancakes
Your favorite workout – 400m repeats
Resources
Blog Fueled By Lolz
Hollie on Twitter
Hollie on Instagram
Episode 150: Welcome to episode 150 of the Final Surge Podcast where coach and podcast host Jonathan Marcus joins us to talk about speed. In episode 145 we had Tony Holler on to talk about Feed The Cats and developing speed. Today Jonathan Marcus joins us to discuss how exactly to implement that for endurance athletes.
:57 What is new with Jonathan Marcus in the last two years?
3:58 Did you just take on too much?
7:00 You put out a tweet last August that caused a lot of uproar..
It is impossible to teach an athlete to ‘run fast when tired.’
The very nature of being in a state of fatigue negates the ability to run fast — the skill of speed is only learned when fresh.
Therefore, doing a tempo run followed by ‘fast’ 200s is, in fact, a useless exercise.
9:00 If you take a body and put it through stress then allow it proper recovery time doesn't it make the body stronger?
12:04 I guess it depends on some factors like the workload, doesn't it depend on the extent of the tempo run?
17:03 We are talking about speed and getting it in fresh, but if I am working on maximum speed, we are probably not running flying 40's and 60's. But the 200's are not for pure top-end speed.
22:00 Are there any published documents on this you would recommend reading?
26:09 Our audience is mostly high school coaches and age group runners, not mostly elite type runners listening. You had on Tony Holler and we had Tony on the same week as you. Everyone likes the idea of speed, but how do we implement that for endurance athletes
36:43 On that week Monday are you talking about 3 flying 40's or are you talking about 5x300 type speed work?
44:51 This is where endurance is different, you are doing more work when Tony is done after those 30's
48:28 Would you come back on Friday and get in some 3x30's to get in a little more speed work?
53:43 You are talking to a distance coach and we are coming into track season and you have a freshman coming in who may want to break 5:20 and a senior trying to break a sub-4:10, when you are working with the freshman are you working with more speed as a percentage or endurance?
1:04:05 The X-Factor Drills are a great progression, when do you work them into a workout day?
Resources
Jonathan on Twitter
High Performance West
Welcome to episode 149 of the Final Surge Podcast. In this episode, we welcome Marc Bloom to the show to talk about his new book Amazing Racers. Anyone who follows high school running knows that Fayetville Manlius is an amazing story. Their girl's team won the Nike National XC Championship 11 of the first 12 years they were there, coming in second the one year they didn't win. And the boys team, while only winning one national championship, has been one of the 22 team to qualify for the national championship 13 of the 15 years the race has been around. We talk to Mark about how a small school in upstate New York has been able to be so dominant for so long. If you are a coach or just a running fan you are going to enjoy this episode.
1:34 How did you become so interested in high school cross country?
3:40 You have been around the high school distance scene for decades, how has it changed?
5:54 What about the coaching and training side, how has that changed?
7:28 What are some of the common factors for the teams that are successful year after year?
10:03 Can you give us a quick overview of Nike and the role FM has played in that?
13:04 What gives FM the success they are having?
19:09 What are some of the go-to books that have influenced Bill Aris?
25:04 What I took from the belief system is the team leaders became the driving force to push the team
28:50 The hallmark of their program is the tight compression of the team. But often early in the season it is that is not there and it gets better by the end of the season, so what is happening to 3-5 to get such a tight compression?
33:06 You say it is not about the X's and O's, but in the book, they go hard and go hard often
37:58 The race was secondary, a by-product. Training was where culture changed. The race was like a degree after years of study. That’s why Mackenzie Carter would get upset when a teammate didn’t understand the “gravity” of a workout. “How they’d trained,” said John Aris, “exceeded any difficulty they would find in the race.” This effort seemed to be done every time they laced up the shoes together.
43:29 After 2013 they come back and boys and girls win in 2014
47:23 They talk a lot about 1-7, but what about 8-20 are they going through the same things?
50:19 There is criticism that the kids don't have success at the next level, how much of that is just the college experience of team is different?
55:36 There is a perception that Bill Aris is stand-offish and is not involved in the community, so how hard was it get this book done?
1:00:01 If there is high school coach trying to implement this, I think it is going to be impossible unless it is who you are, this is who Bill Aris is
1:04:15 How much longer do you think Bill will be doing this?
Resources
Amazing Racers
Episode 148: We welcome back 2:16 marathoner turned coach Steve Palladino. Steve coaches using the Stryd Power Meter. We talk to Steve about what power is when it comes to running, how it differs from other training guides and what has changed in the power world in the last two years.
1:37 What is running with power?
2:44 There have been some critics of power, what is it in power we measure that makes it so effective?
7:04 Is power related to perceived effort?
9:08 There are a lot of people who run with heart rate and some do off time charts based on race pace, how does power differ in training compared to those two models?
13:42 You have been using power for 4 years now, cyclist all use power meters, will this catch on like it did in cycling?
17:28 Stryd is on their 3rd generation, Polar and Garmin are putting more into power, how has power changed in the last two years since we talked to you?
19:58 If someone got a new Stryd Power Meter, what is the first thing they need to do?
23:50 We talk about some of the changes that Stryd has made
24:37 Nicole Lane qualified for the marathon trials in Chicago, can you talk about using power with her in training?
30:10 How does a workout look like for her using power?
35:03 How have you used power with helping guide high school runners?
38:10 What advice do you have for a coach on how they could add this to their program with a high school team?
40:41 Have you noticed any data with the Nike 4% shoes and impact on power?
46:04 What is in your plans you sell?
Resources
Palladino Power Facebook Group
Palladino Coaching Page with plans
Episode 77 with Palladio
Stryd Power Meter
Episode 146: Professional triathlete Morgan Pearson was one of the founding members of the Tinman Elite club and joins us to talk about the founding of the group. We also discuss his transition to becoming a professional triathlete and his win at this past week's Club Cross Championship.
1:02 Morgan's background and how it lead to a later change to triathlon
2:50 What were your times before you made the jump?
3:49 When you made the big jump is that when you realized you may want to run at college?
5:14 Did you compete in swimming in high school too?
5:50 When did you make the college commitment?
6:08 Why did you make that transfer to Colorado?
6:57 Did you realize when you made the transition to Colorado did you realize you wanted to pursue this after school?
8:26 You were one of the founding members of Tinman Elite right?
8:51 What made you decide to join Tom?
12:00 When you started Tinman with Drew early on, did you ever even dream it could become what it has become?
13:58 You have run under Wetmore and Tom, what are some of the biggest differences?
17:02 When did you decide to make the jump to triathlon?
19:39 Your first triathlon you won, how did the race go?
23:09 How much training on the bike did you do before that?
24:17 USA Triathlon must have been interested in you after that win?
25:04 Was it after that win that you decided you were going to focus on it?
25:45 What has been the toughest transition from runner to triathlete?
27:34 Are you racing more as triathlete than you were as a runner?
28:29 When is your Olympic qualifying race?
29:58 Three Club Cross Championships in a row and you won the individual title
32:47 How did the Club Cross race play out?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Running with the Buffaloes
Current trainers you are wearing? - 361
Favorite race? - Club Cross
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Kale smoothie
Your favorite workout - Fartlek
Resources
Morgan on Instagram
Morgan on Twitter
Welcome to episode 145 of the Final Surge Podcast. Today we welcome hall of fame sprint coach Tony Holler. Tony is an extremely popular coach known for his program Feed The Cats. He has been coaching for close to 40 years and we talk to Tony about how what he does with sprinters can translate to the endurance world.
1:00 How did Tony get started in track
4:08 What was your background in track before you became the head coach in 1990?
5:28 Where did that drive to change the program and learn come from?
7:58 Do you find that writing so much makes you examine closer the way you think and why you think them?
9:28 What can an endurance athlete or coach learn from your system Feed The Cats?
12:58 You say the faster your top-end speed, the faster your sub-max speed is, how does that work?
15:45 John O'Malley is also the only coach two have two different individuals win Footlocker
16:38 If a miler works on top-end speed, how is that helping with his mile time, is it biomechanical, neural, combination or what is impacting his mile time when we work on top-end?
20:32 You say speed is neurological, not muscular, does that mean a kid shouldn't be in the weight room, or they can, they just are not going to get the benefit they think they are going too?
24:23 Your school comes to you and says you are now the cross country coach, how do you implement springing, X-factor and lactate workouts?
30:32 Would you be doing those daily or part of the workout days or when?
Resources
Track Football Consortium
Feed The Cats Video series
Tony on Twitter
Welcome to episode 144 of the Final Surge podcast. We welcome back the founder of the Boulder Running Clinics Jay Johnson to talk about his clinics and the state of high school distance running. What are the most successful programs doing and how are people incorporating things like speed more into their programs. I have been to several coaching clinics and I can say without a doubt that Jay's Boulder Clinic is the most informative and useful one I have ever been too. Enjoy this episode and if you attend the clinic in January come to say hi to me.
1:40 Intro to Boulder Running Clinics
4:03 You have been around the high school running scene for around 20 years now. It has changed a lot. What has been the biggest change you have seen?
8:02 You can have coaches sharing ideas and talking to each other but if they are doing different things how do you know what to implement.
17:33 One probably is you need to look at the whole system not just workouts because the system works as a whole.
25:55 Clinic is Jan 17, 18. Who else do you have presenting?
29:13 There was a lot of talk last year about Feed The Cats, can you talk about what that session was about?
Resources
Boulder Running Clinics Website
Jay on Twitter
Episode 143: Dathan Ritzenhein joins us to talk about the recent Chicago and NYC Marathons. Along with his own running, he is also coaching and his athletes include Olympic hopeful Parker Stinson. We talk Olympic marathon trials and shoe tech.
1:00 What happened so you needed to pull out of the Chicago Marathon?
4:28 We have 11 men under the A Standard now so it is harder than ever to make the team
5:01 Will the trials be your next race?
6:23 You are now coaching Parker Stinson who has the A Standard
7:47 Parker's first marathon he went out hard and blew up in historic fashion, this race was a perfect split
9:57 When did you and Parker start working together?
11:36 Was racing strategy the first thing you guys talked about?
13:50 There were 4 Americans all running within 20 seconds of each other
15:12 We are seeing crazy times being put up, how much do you attribute that to the shoes?
17:40 Is there any concern with you that the technology is getting too advanced?
19:44 Even if you could limit them in races, but that doesn't change the fact that they get the benefit in training
21:33 What did you think of the 1:59 marathon?
22:49 What did you think about the women's new marathon record?
23:40 Have you been to the Atlanta course to scope it out?
25:03 Is it a lot of hills, or the hills it has are big?
26:20 With the hilly course, who has an advantage?
28:01 Comparing marathon times on paper, but there are currently 4 guys are under 2:10, could this course be an equalizer?
30:02 How are you using Final Surge
Resources
Dathan on Instagram
Dathan on Twitter
Dathan Coaching Services
Episode 142: This week we welcome Mario Fraioli to the podcast we talk about the recent Chicago and NYC marathons, the sub 1:59 marathon and what this all tells us about the upcoming Olympic Trials. We also discuss the shoes. How much do they help and what should be the limits. Please share the podcast with your friends.
1:08 Were there any big surprises or take-a-ways you had from the NYC marathon results?
2:59 Desi went out early, did that surprise you?
5:50 How did your NYC Marathon go?
6:15 Chicago on the men's side we had 10 under 2:12
7:54 Jared Ward had a great NYC race too
8:32 On the women's side of Chicago do you think that 2:14 was real?
10:47 We have so many distance runners getting popped for drugs, you almost need to ask yourself why they are still doing it
12:39 What did you think of the 1:59 marathon?
17:24 Looking at the US Trials we have twice as many men and women qualified, why? Is it because of the shoes?
19:55 The new shoes, how much do they make a difference?
23:20 Is there an advantage to Nike athletes?
25:53 Should there be some sort of technology limits we allow?
29:23 The US Marathon Trials course is hilly, who is this going to help?
33:00 On the women's side is there anyone a lock for the team?
35:50 So what are you up to with the Morning Shakeout Newsletter and Podcast?
Resources
Morning Shakeout
Mario on Instagram
Mario on Twitter
Mario's Website
Welcome to episode 141 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome marathon and ultra runner Brad Lindeberg. We talk to Brad about his quest for 50 marathon or longer races in 50 states and how having a personal coach has helped him achieve new goals.
1:17 How you got started in running?
3:01 How was your high school cross country career?
5:08 Did you keep running after high school?
6:30 Did that 2010 marathon go much better than 2001?
7:20 At what point did you decide you wanted to pursue that goal of running 50 marathons in 50 states?
9:51 At what point did you decide to hire Neely as a coach?
13:30 You are running NYC this weekend, does that mean you got that sub 2:55 marathon?
15:23 How has that personal coaching helped you?
17:12 What is a big take away you have learned from Neely as a coach?
20:11 Is a lot of the communication going on in Final Surge?
22:40 How has your training block for NYC been going?
24:35 Has there been anything different in this training block?
27:02 Has she given you any advice specific to the course?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? -Inside The Marathon
Current trainers you are wearing? - Altra
Favorite race? - Boston and Shiprock Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Salmon Burger with bacon and pickle
Your favorite workout - Progression runs
Resources
Brad on Twitter
Neely Spence Gracey Coaching
Brad on Instagram
Brad on Strava
Welcome to episode 140 of the Final Surge Podcast. Corcoran High in California has a very successful running program. Coach Isaias Ramirez is the unlikely leader of the program. With no running background, Coach Ramirez leaned on other coaches to help develop his winning philosophy. In the last year, he has implemented something he learned at a clinic called RPR, Reflexive Performance Reset. He credits RPR for taking a successful program and making it even better and reducing injuries to almost nothing. We discuss what RPR is and how he uses it.
1:20 How did you get involved in running?
3:15 How long you been coaching now?
3:34 You were a lineman in football then a football coach and then became a cross country coach. Did your background in football help or how did you learn how to have so much success?
5:47 What was the philosophy you adopted for your program?
8:10 You start learning to develop your plan, what was your progression like?
9:54 What does a typical week look like for you?
11:18 CV, hill sprinting sounds like you have adopted some Tinman?
12:00 Do you have enough data to look at it and make some conclusions about how it is working?
13:01 How often are you doing those CV workouts?
14:43 You don't have a big team, injuries can hurt your team greatly so what are you doing with RPR and can you explain what it is?
20:14 Did you have shin splint issues before RPR?
20:58 Is it a certain stretching routine?
21:33 Is it a specific routine that is always the same?
23:30 How long was it before you started seeing results?
25:10 What about other common running injuries?
28:55 How are you implementing this?
30:00 Walk us through what your practice looks like
Resources
RPR
Corcoran on Twitter
This is a best of episode. Tom Schwartz joined us to talk about skills, hills and keeping the ball rolling.
Episode 139: Today we welcome back triathlon coach Mark Sortino to the podcast. Mark joined us on Episode 39 and now he joins us again 100 episodes later. Mark runs Team MPI and we talk to him about his coaching organization, some coaching continuing education sessions that he has coming up and what to expect at Kona 2019.
1:10 Tell is who you are and what you do in 2 minutes. For a more full bio listen to episode 39.
3:07 How many coaches are Team MPI up to?
3:40 With your 15 coaches are they full time or part-time and this is something they do on the side?
5:04 How many coaches are each coach working with and how do you match the athlete to the best coach?
6:58 How individualized is each plan if you have a coach working with 20 athletes.
8:22 What is the Team MPI system look like?
10:25 How do you work on a swim stroke or run gate for someone you are working with online?
13:52 Do you have people video themselves doing strides or such?
15:09 What type of education process do your Team MPI coaches go through?
17:04 A key is communications, how do you communicate with your athletes?
19:56 Do you find yourself using the Final Surge App more and more?
21:48 Talk about the upcoming coaches retreat you have at Ironman Arizona
25:05 Kona is coming up, can anyone beat Daniela Ryf on the women's side?
28:25 Patrick Lange, can someone beat him at Kona? Does any prepare better for one race than he does?
30:50 Jan Frodeno and Sebastian Kienle will likely be his biggest competition. All three are from Germany, what has happened to the American's?
32:23 Which of the men do you think is going to win?
Resources:
Upcoming Coaches Retreat at IMAZ
Team MPI Training Plans
Team MPI Website
Team MPI on Instagram
Team MPI on Facebook
Episode 138: Jason Fitzgerald of Strength Running. Jason has been blogging and creating online courses for about a decade. Jason has a new program out called Running Smarter, Runner Stronger. This program is 17 chapters of high-quality video to make you a better runner. Check out Jason's program and if want to train with a purpose head over to FinalSurge.com for your free account, now onto the show.
1:33 How Strength Running Started
4:45 You have been doing this for a decade now, but when I saw your new trailer I knew this was next level stuff
6:25 Who is this new course designed for?
9:00 We expect strength training and injury prevention content from you, but this is so much more, does this take place of a coach?
10:50 One of the things you talk about is overstriding, in this video series what is the structure of the advice they would get?
15:25 One thing you hear often is you don't want to change form too quickly in their running for. What are some of the things you work on to do this?
18:50 Overstriding vs long stride
23:12 A new runner the cardiovascular system grows and develops faster than the body, how does your program deal with mileage buildup?
26:41 One of the chapters is on speedwork, can you give an example of what may be found in that chapter?
29:54 Where can people find out more online and get a sample lesson?
ResourcesRunning Smarter Program
Jason on Twitter
Run Smarter Course
Episode 137: Brad Curtis is the cross country coach of a small school in Arizona. Their boy's team this year is a top ten school in the state, not bad for a school of only 200 kids with only 12 boys on the team. We talk to Brad about the struggles of being a coach from such a small school and how he has built a strong culture.
1:10 When did you start in running?
2:08 His background in boxing and how far the boxing career went
4:02 How did that lead to being a cross country and track coach?
4:59 How old is the school and how big is it?
4:58 You are competing in a state where some schools have 3-4,000 kids
6:23 Small school makes it tough in what way?
7:52 How many kids are on the high school team?
8:15 When you took over the program from Josh how big was the team at the time?
9:00 When your team is not big and not competitive how do you entice kids to come out and get involved?
10:50 How big is your middle school program?
11:38 Are you losing them because you are a small school without the resources or facilities?
13:29 You have 25 kids and 12 boys, and you are looking at a top 10 school in the state this year. How hard is it to keep kids so you can build this?
16:00 When you have 3500 kids and you have 50 boys on the team it is much easier to develop and find those top driven kids, when you only have 12 you have to get the most out of each one of the kids, what is the secret to keeping them all driven and focused?
18:33 Has the success of Jordan Black helped by getting people working harder or does it discourage people because they cannot keep up with him?
22:21 How did you change the culture in the program?
24:33 How has training changed, what has been your philosophy?
26:40 What does a normal day look like at your practice?
27:40 What does the week look like?
29:38 So how many miles is that a week?
30:35 Small schools can fluctuate, what advice do you have to make the program more consistent?
33:00 Did it help with recruiting?
34:45 If you have only 12 boys, and some are really fast and some are really slow and then in between, that doesnt leave large packs, how do you monitor how much people are running and at what effort?
37:23 Do you find it beneficial for those who do log their miles?
38:35 Do you have a workout you repeat to kind of gauge your level of fitness and progression?
40:03 Are your 1k's at CV pace?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Running with the Buffalo's
Current trainers you are wearing? - Brooks Ghost
Favorite race? - 5k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Chocolate Milk
Your favorite workout - 1k repeats
Resources
Brad Curtis on Twitter
North Phoenix Prep on Instagram
Episode 136: Reed Fischer of the Tinman Elite Group has had quite a year. He has set a PR in everything from the 5k to the half marathon and just came in 5th in the 20k National Championship. This is quite an accomplishment for someone who didn't break 23 minutes in a 5k his freshman season or 5 minutes in a mile until he was a sophomore in high school. We talk to Reed about his growth and about the success of his team.
1:15 How did you get started in running?
4:20 When you were a freshman/sophomore what type of times were you running?
6:50 Where was it that you made your biggest change that set you on this path?
9:53 You had a steady progression after that, when was it you realized that college running may be a possibility?
12:14 Did you think you had a shot at making the team at Drake?
14:21 Who started working with Tom first you or Brogan?
15:45 How did you end up teaming up with Tinmen?
18:31 Most of you are not the NCAA Champions but you have tremendous success as a team and competing for national championships so what is it that is making you guys so successful?
23:40 Tom has been fairly open about his training, what has been the biggest change in your training since you joined him?
27:33 Breaking down the 7/7/7 a little more and many PR's this year, what is the plan with the marathon?
29:00 Does your success this year make you want to give the 800 a go and see what you could do?
30:37 The first marathon is always an experience, so going into your first one what are your expectations and goals?
35:00 Next year is an Olympic year, what will your focus be?
36:55 You are a very young team how has the reception been from other teams?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Running with the Buffalos
Current trainers you are wearing? - Asics GT-2000
Favorite race? - Drake Relays
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Cheeseburger
Your favorite workout - Tempo and a long run
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Instagram: @reedfisch
Twitter: @reedfisch
Episode 135: We welcome Dr Jason Karp who has been a competitive runner since sixth grade. Dr. Karp is also a coach and the bestselling author of 8 books and over 400 articles. We talk about several issues including cardio, mental health benefits fo running and the importance of coaches and athletes knowing about the Female Athlete Triad.
1:10 Background on how he got started getting interested in running
2:29 Did you become interested because you had success?
3:40 In high school did you continue sprinting or did you move up in distance?
5:08 In high school did you know you wanted to take this career path?
6:50 Where did you decide to go to school?
11:33 Was your intention to keep coaching after this process?
11:58 What level of coaching are you doing right now?
12:44 You are a big supporter of running while not all exercise trainers are a believer in cardio, you even wrote a book called Run Your Fat Off what do you find so beneficial about the sport?
14:05 So how do you Run Your Fat Off?
16:11 How often do you hear "I can't run" and how do you overcome that?
17:58 You have a book called Developmental Concept for Cross Country, what is that about?
19:38 One of the things that many young women need to be aware of, and I would argue that coaches really need to be aware of is the Female Athlete Triad, what do coaches and athletes need to understand?
23:50 I went to a clinic with Jay Johnson a few years back, and I don't remember the exact number, but they looked at incoming female athletes in college and it was some off the wall number like 70% were not eating enough calories for their athletic needs, can you talk about how important calorie intake is?
26:53 As a male high school coach you mentioned these conversations can be uncomfortable for high school girls, this is where we need to loop the parents in
28:00 For more information is the Running for Women the best place you have for information on this?
28:25 What is the REVO₂LUTION RUNNING™ certification program for coaches and trainers?
31:07 You mentioned some of the benefits of running mentally, can you talk about some of the mental benefits of running?
33:17 You have 8 books, is there another one in the works?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Joe Sheehan
Current trainers you are wearing? - Hoka
Favorite race? - Mile
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Chocolate Milk
Your favorite workout - 400m reps
Resources:
Jason's Website
Dr Jason Karp on Facebook
Instagram @drjasonkarp
Twitter REVO₂LUTION RUNNING™
Episode 134: Matt Baxter grew up running in New Zeland. He comes over to the states to run for Coach Smith and the NAU Lumberjacks and helped lead the team to 3 straight Cross Country titles. We talked about the mental game of not always having your best race and his transition to running as a professional for NAZ Elite.
1:15 How did you get started running in New Zeland?
1:51 what is high school running like in New Zeland high schools?
3:02 When did you make the transition to coming to the United States to run for NAU?
3:22 What was it like coming to Flagstaff and running at elevation?
4:40 Why did you decide to come to the States?
5:53 3 years and 3 national titles, was there one that was more special?
7:15 In 2017 you were second overall at Cross, but then at Indoors you didn't even qualify for nationals in the 5k, what happened?
10:05 When you are a high school runner you can have a bad race and still win a race, but when you are running at a high level it is different, what is it like mentally to get used to that?
12:06 In 2018 you were the favorites, but there was a lot of talk about BYU. Coach Smith said that on that day even though you didn't have a great race it was great because of how tough you were, can you talk about how that race went?
15:15 What is it like running under coach Smith?
17:04 With you and Tyler gone from NAU cross country now, what do you think this year holds for them?
18:33 Why did you choose to run with NAZ Elite and Ben Rosario?
20:27 You ended up heading back for New Zeland after you signed, was the plan always to be gone for 6 months?
23:17 What is your favorite place to run in Flagstaff?
24:23 What is the biggest difference between training under Ben and Coach Smith?
26:13 You have a new young crew at NAZ, what has it been like?
27:37 What is it like having a former competitor like Rory as a teammate now?
29:34 What events will you focus on the next few years?
31:12 You could have 4 countries all represented in Tokyo, have you talked about that as a team?
32:55 The NAZ group does a lot online reaching out to runners and making the sport look fun, you are drawing in young runners as fans, what can we do to make the sport even more attractive?
36:20 Thousands are racing on weekends, what do we do to reach the hobby joggers and get them in the stands?
40:08 What is the next race for you?
40:52 You running with Tyler in Flagstaff again?
43:00 Talking about Tyler running as a professional blows my mind with how far he has come since high school.
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Once a Runner
Current trainers you are wearing? - Clifton
Favorite race? - NCAA Cross
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Oatmeal
Your favorite workout - Mile repeats or long tempo
Resources
Twitter
Blog
NAZ Elite
In episode 133 we have a great show for you. Did you watch the USATF's? Did you see the men's 5k? I thought it was absolutely one of the most entertaining 5k races I have ever seen. Over the course of that race I went from thinking what is Woody Kincaid doing up there, to thinking Woody Kincaid is done to saying wow, what a gutsy race by Kincaid. I became a fan. We talked to Woody about the race, what he was thinking and how he feels about being top 3 but not getting a spot on the World's team. This was a great episode and I hope you enjoy it and share it.
1:30 How did you get started in running?
2:08 What was it about running that drew you in?
2:44 Did you have early success?
3:10 At what point did you realize you wanted to do it in college?
4:02 Did a lot of colleges have interest?
5:00 Did the option come from Colorado to run there?
5:35 When did you decide you wanted to run professionally?
6:35 What did you learn from going to Kenya?
8:00 Did Rob Conner introduce you to Jerry or how did that relationship start?
9:24 Talk about your 2-3 years of running as a professional and what it has been like?
12:00 You went into indoors, how did that season go?
12:48 Do you think that race at indoors helped get you focused?
13:41 How was your training leading up to outdoors?
14:47 Were you confident before USATF's?
15:32 The 5k at USATF's was one of my favorite races, what was the gameplan you had before the race?
17:45 In the first 600m you already gapped the field, did you know it was going out that fast?
18:58 At the mile marker when he starts talking to you what is going through your mind?
20:07 Did he put a crazy hard surge when you decided you were not going to take the lead?
21:18 When you clipped him was that when he pulled off to the side and almost stopped?
21:45 When you got to the lead what was your gameplan?
23:40 Pack catches you, I turned to my son and son and Woody is done, did you have concerns when they caught you?
25:13 With 500 meters to go you fall back to 5th did you think you were ok because you can kick well?
26:00 with 250 to go you fought your way back into it and I became a Woody fan
26:45 When you are racing you are thinking about winning, you probably are not thinking about the standard the whole time right?
27:30 You just miss the standard, what do you think about the current system of not allowing time to chase a standard?
29:03 So what is next for you?
29:42 Let's talk about the status of the sport, what do we need to do to fill the stands?
30:33 Have betting at the track?
30:50 What if the race had fone different, what if you finished not in the front?
32:00 I imagine this is going to help the contract negotiations?
33:03 You mentioned the Price of the Mile podcast, what happened with it?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Running for my Life
Current trainers you are wearing? - Pegasus 35
Favorite race? - 5k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Beet Juice
Your favorite workout - Tempo with speed work
Resources
Woody on Instagram
5k race on NBC Sports
In Episode 132 of the Final Surge Podcast, we welcome Olympics Trials qualifier and 50 mile US Trail Champ Dani to the podcast. Dani currently also coaches for Luke Humphry and the Hanson running team. She recently had a fundraising run for domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy which we talk about.
1:15 How Dani got started in running and as a multi-sport athlete
2:05 Were you playing club softball?
2:20 What was it about track that drew you in?
4:00 Do you remember what type of times you ran for the mile in middle school and high school?
4:55 You had success as a middle school miler, did you play both softball and run in high school?
5:50 Once in high school did you always want to run in college?
7:32 What was your running career like as a professional runner?
8:55 2017 US 50-mile Trail Champ, what was that like doubling the marathon distance?
11:20 How did you get started coaching?
13:20 What is the similarity in coaching at all levels from MS-Adults?
14:40 Let's talk about middle school coaching, you want them to fall in love with running so you need to make it fun, but they are not going to have fun if they are not racing well, so how do you balance that?
18:05 You recently did 340 miles to raise money for sexual assault and domestic violence awareness, tell us about that experience
21:00 Did you have a lot of people joining you on the different legs of the run?
22:12 What was it that made you decide you wanted to do a run for this?
23:40 How do you train to run a marathon every day for 8 days in a row?
26:00 What was the hardest part of it?
30:10 Do you have something set up so if people still want to donate they can?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Basic Marathon Plan
Current trainers you are wearing? - Hoka OneOne Clifton
Favorite race? - Great Lakes Relay
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Craft Beer and Sweet Potatoe Fries and Veggie Burger
Your favorite workout - 3x6miles
Resources
Dani Coaching
Dani on Instagram
Dani on Twitter
Final Surge on Instagram
Final Surge on Twitter
Dr. Jeff Messer is one of the most successful high school coaches of the 21st Century. He has won more state cross country titles than not including winning the 2016 National Coach of the Year. In 12 years he was involved in coaching 11 State Championship teams. Jeff is also the head of the exercise science department at Mesa Community College. We have a great discussion on building a team, what your goals should really be and how important things like sleep and nutrition are to a successful high-level athlete.
:45 Background as a runner
1:52 You stay on top of all the latest science, what came first the love for that or the love for coaching?
2:52 Coaches may be looking at a research paper how do we know if the research paper is actually a good paper and good research?
4:15 What is your success in cross country as a coach?
5:15 For a high school coach who doesn't your science background, how can they become better educated?
6:18 Some coaches know the science and can explain everything. Some don't know the science but can tell you what works for example. How important is it to know the science or not?
7:30 If you were giving advice to a newer coach. What type of general advice do you have in what is important in building a program?
8:37 You talk a lot about how the goals are not the time, but the process is the goal. What does that mean?
9:57 What areas are part of the process?
11:41 Often times the athletes we are working with are high achievers, including in the class. How do you stress the importance of sleep to these student-athletes?
14:10 How much sleep does a 16-year old who runs 50 miles a week need?
15:15 How often do you run into students who are not getting enough sleep?
17:10 If you have an athlete that will run in college and another runner who has no desire to run in college, do you coach them differently?
19:07 The question I get most often from parents is about nutrition. Can you discuss what the latest research says?
21:16 For a coach who wants to give something out to their parents on nutrition, what resources do you recommend?
23:12 What is the biggest mistake athletes are making with nutrition?
24:33 Often times you will have an athlete not making the gains they should be in racing and workouts, what do you do to break down what is going on?
26:53 Can you discuss role of iron?
28:45 What should the Ferritin levels be?
30:34 How is the coaching with Jessica Tonn going?
32:17 You have had several successful high school runners who went on to success in college and as a professional. When you have an athlete who you know has that potential, do you handle them differently?
34:22 Sarah Hall had Tweet about running too much in high school, how do you feel about that?
36:38 You have an athlete coming in as a freshman who has a lot of potential, what is your progression over four years of high school.
Resources
A recent article on sleep for runners
Nancy Clark Nutrition Website
Email him at Jeff.Messer At MesaCC.edu
Welcome to episode 130 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome Jeff Taylor. Jeff has been coaching youth runners for close to 30 years and in the last year has launched a non-profit organization called Kids Love to Run. We talk about the organization and the challenges of getting youth engaged with distance running.
:55 How he got running in middle school with the 800m
2:12 Was there an influence in your youth that got you to love to run as a youngster?
3:45 Where did the passion for coaching start?
5:39 It is one thing for a coach to say 'never again' but how did you get the kids to buy-in?
10:03 Sara Hall tweeted that kids can run a lot of miles in high school, what do you think about high miles?
12:27 How did your organization Kids Love To Run get started?
14:16 how big are your events?
15:08 How do you change things up for a 7-8-year-old runner to make it fun for them?
16:35 Are they all from your school or is it open to other schools?
17:04 Do you encourage the kids to do AAU/USATF meets?
17:54 How difficult is it to keep the attention of the younger kids?
18:54 Where do you see this going from here?
Kids Love To Run Website
Kids Love To Run Twitter
Kids Love To Run on Facebook
Episode 129: Today Stryd Power Meter employee Evan Schwartz joins us to talk about the new and updated Stryd Power Meter. The power meter is just one tool that many people are turning to for help in their training and racing. Today Evan joins us to talk about the new wind reading on the Stryd and other changes such as the automatic critical power reading.
1:30 How did you end up in Boulder Colorado working for Stryd
4:15 What is your role at Stryd
5:45 Stryd Power Podcast
7:12 What is a power meter?
10:03 How does a little device on my shoe measure my effort?
11:57 How do external things such as wind effect power?
15:18 How is a pod on the foot sensing the wind?
19:12 If it is measuring my effort was wind something that needed to be measured?
23:18 DC Rainmaker has been a skeptic of power, but he put your device through the tunnel and it was amazing how accurate those wind numbers were.
27:20 When will it be out?
28:24 Is the wind update the only update?
32:18 Are you finding any teams are adapting power?
39:01 You just released an update to critical power model, what is the new automatic critical power?
44:37 Who would need to do the power test vs. using the auto power results?
46:40 So it uses 3 months of data but you don't need 3 months?
Resources
Stryd on Facebook
Stryd on Instagram
Stryd on Twitter
Evan on Instagram
Evan on Twitter
Episode 128: Lawrence Avery did not start running until he was 30 years old. Almost a decade later he is running sub 2:30, has a successful coaching business and splits his time between his home UK and Kenya. We discuss what inspired him to get running, how an injury lead to his passion for coaching and what he has learned spending that time in Kenya.
:40 Got into running much later, not until he was 30
3:10 When you decided you wanted to run a marathon, how did that training go?
4:35 Were the 5ks the only racing you did in your marathon build up?
5:03 How many people show up for free 5ks in the park?
6:18 So is the running scene really healthy in the UK?
7:50 How big of an impact has Mo had on the running scene?
8:25 Was there anything that drew you towards the sport to start competing?
9:10 When did you go to Kenya to train?
9:46 What have you learned from your time there?
12:03 You picture everyone in Kenya running, is it that way, or it is it the ones who do run just have a lot of success?
12:44 How has your coaching changes because of the Kenya experience?
13:26 So with the easy runs being so easy to do you just say effort of giving them a pace?
13:59 What distances do you coach?
15:42 In the UK is there an emphasis on BQ or do you focus more on European marathons?
16:25 What is your buildup plan like for the marathon?
18:12 Give us an example of a key workout you do during the 10-week marathon training
19:45 Where can they learn more about your coaching?
20:15 Tell us about the contest you are running right now
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - British Marathon Legands of 1980's
Current trainers you are wearing? - Vapor Fly
Favorite race? - Night of the 10,000 PB's
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Smoothie with milk, oatmeal and peanut butter
Your favorite workout - Long marathon pace repeats
Resources:
Contest: https://www.runyourbest.net/coaching-packages/
Coaching Website and blog
This is a best of episode. Dr Jay Dicharry joined us to talk about running rewired. Are we born to run or is it a learned skill. Dr Dicharry talks about that and deliberate practice.
Episode 127: Mark Hadley is a very successful marathon coach having coached several Olympic Trial qualifiers and over 100 Boston Qualifiers. He is also the father of Alana Hadley who was tearing up the roads as a high school runner. We talk about some of the common mistakes new marathon runners make, the five key tenants that distance runners should focus on and what you should be doing right now to get ready for that fall marathon.
:15 How did you get started in running?
3:10 You said you ran road races before you ever got to high school, how young were you?
4:10 What attracted you to distance over sprints at that age?
5:15 Was there a coach that had a big impact on you?
8:10 You have had a lot of success as a coach, but you seem to focus mostly on the marathon, is that correct?
9:27 What are some of the key tenants of coaching you like to focus on?
17:40 How can you coach passion?
21:15 So let’s talk about someone who is getting ready for a fall marathon, we're almost getting to that time. If someone is racing say NYC in early nov, what should they be doing right now?
26:50 What is the biggest mistake that new marathon runners make?
29:10 What percentage of weekly mileage should the long run be?
31:06 Are your clients often those who tried the marathon before in the past and failed?
31:55 Is there a benchmark workout you like to implement into training to test progress?
33:30 How is your daughter Alana doing?
35:35 What advice do you as a father to someone who has a very young and talented runner?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minuteFavorite endurance/running book? - Daniels Running Formula
Current trainers you are wearing? - Nike Pegasus
Favorite race? - NYC Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Chocolate Milk
Your favorite workout - Long Tempo Runs
Resources
RunDoyen Coaching Webpage
Mark on Twitter
Mark’s blog
Episode 126: In 2012 Bernie Montoya won the high school Dream Mile in a time of 4:01 and became the top recruit in the country. He decided to stay home and go to ASU. Whatever happened to Bernie? Well in college he was diagnosed with a heart condition and then had a series of injuries. Hope you enjoy this great story of overcoming adversity.
:50 There are going to be some that don’t follow the high school running scene too closely, you were the top recruit in America in 2013 and I want to get into the story of where you are now and what you have gone through. First take us back to when you were younger, back to when you were a football player and how you ended up in running
3:25 You ran your first race ever it was the Footlocker West Qualifier?
5:45 It is the summer right now and some kids are thinking about what they want to do their first year in high school What advice do you have for an HS freshman who is just starting their first summer of training?
7:22 When you were getting ready for your first track season did you push yourself to run with the better runners or did you hold back some?
8:39 Over your career what type of ancillary work or non-running work did you do that you would recommend to a serious high school runner?
10:00 Did you hit the weight room in high school?
10:43 Did you do many 2-a-day running sessions in high school?
12:06 All around the country there are kids getting ready to run their junior and senior years who are going to be aiming for that sub 4:10 mile or sub 4:50 mile for female. For that athlete that was a star like you, what advice do you have as far as getting finishing the career and the college decision-making process?
14:58 What was the most memorable or favorite race you had in high school?
16:40 One of the things that I always heard about you was how everyone liked you. You didn’t act like a star athlete that was different than anyone else, you respected your competitors and you were friends with them. Was this something you did consciously?
18:50 Let’s move to the next part of your career. You had to make a decision on where to go to college. Oregon, Colorado, all the big teams were recruiting you, how did you make your decision?
21:26 You get to college and you are an immediate impact for ASU, you have a lot of success as a freshman, how do you feel your freshman year went, how was the transition from high school to college?
22:55 Your whole story changes in 2015, talk about the heart condition
27:21 What was it like being forced to take that time off?
29:45 How hard was the comeback after six months off?
31:24 How long did it take to get back?
33:15 What is your best advice coming back from a long downtime?
35:19 What are you working on now?
36:50 What does the future hold for you in terms of running?
38:39 You can look back at your career with this time off, who can you point to that really helped you as an athlete and as a person?
40:48 I notice the passion you talk about your high school coach with, you think you will ever take that road?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Pre
Current trainers you are wearing? - Adidas
Favorite race? - Twilight
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Pizza and a Coke
Your favorite workout - 12x400
Where can people follow you online?
Instagram 2_bernie
Episode 125: Polar has been a leader in heart rate technology for several decades now. One of the largest GPS watch brands on the market, we are pleased to announce we now import from Polar directly into Final Surge. Tom Fowler is the president of Polar, a former professional triathlete Tom discusses workouts with Mark Allen, a horrifying accident he had and we do talk about some new things Polar is doing like Power on the watch with no third device.
:55 Who is Tom Fowler, what was his business background before he started working with Polar as President
2:25 With all those athletic business connections, what is your athletic background?
4:31 You mentioned you raced against Mark Allen, what was it like in the 80’s racing on the triathlon circuit?
8:10 What was the most memorable sessions with Mark Allen?
13:00 Story about Scott and Allen competing in the pool on workout days
15:25 If they were doing it without technology, then do you really need technology?
19:49 Heart rate, distance, and pace, power. How much are you adding in power and what are your thoughts on it?
23:55 I saw Polar is tracking power to the watch itself with Vantage V, how does that work?
27:18 Have you taken the Stryd and Vantage on a run and compare the results?
29:50 What other metrics will your power measure?
31:20 What else does Polar have coming out?
34:17 How is heart rate accuracy between wrist and chest strap?
37:30 Great story about an injury that almost ended his athletic career
Polar On Facebook https://www.facebook.com/PolarGlobal/
Twitter https://twitter.com/PolarGlobal?lang=en
Instagram https://instagram.com/PolarGlobal
Tom on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tom1fowler1/
Polar Vantage V Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=0ndpqbDFUM8
Episode 124: We welcome back Olympian Kim Conley to the Final Surge Podcast. Kim has had a rough time with injuries since she last joined us before her marathon debut. She is back on the track now and we discuss what her plans are for the 2020 Olympic year.
:40 Last time we had you on we were talking about you doing your first marathon. With the Olympics in 2020 just a year away, what are your plans?
1:55 What type of injuries did you go through?
2:20 How long will you be at altitude training?
2:32 What are you going to be focussing on in the immediate future?
3:09 In 2016 you went after both the 10k and the 5k, will that be the plan again?
4:04 You recently raced at Payton Jordan and I want to read an Instagram post you did right after the race. “ I spent some time pulling the field along last night in the 5000m, but my indecisiveness to push the pace from the front also reminded me that I have additional elements to address as I rediscover my racing identity." What do you mean by this?
5:54 Do you think the reason was gameplan or because of the time you missed that you didn't finish like you wanted?
6:35 Are you making progress towards getting your competitive edge back?
7:17 How often are you getting up to altitude for training?
7:35 A lot of everyday runners go through injury issues too, what advice do you have to them for coming back from an injury?
8:55 How long did it feel like it took for your fitness to come back?
9:53 How hard is it mentally to come back and know you are not where you used to be?
10:52 Do you have a group you are training with?
11:17 What do you think of the new Olympic standards in place?
12:12 Has it changed your training at all?
13:00 What would you like to see as a selection process for the US?
14:25 How is your training changed coming back from injury?
15:06 What different rehab/prehab exercises are you doing?
15:25 Tell us about the new book about you called The Underdog
16:27 How involved in the process have you been?
Resources
Episode 28 with Kim Conley from 2016
Kim on Twitter
Kim on Instagram
Kim Website
Episode 123: Joey Berriatua is one of the up and coming young guns of the Tinman Elite Group. Joey has an interesting story. Joey is the son of a former baseball player who got a pretty late start in the track and field world. Joey has been an underdog since he started and has defied the odds to go on and become a member of one of the hottest teams around. We talk about his road to where he is today and what it is like being part of the Tinman group.
:45 Story about impact of Tinman group and youth
1:45 How has the experience of being part of Tinman been?
3:25 How you got into running
6:07 Do you remember what your time was in 8th grade? Didn't break 5 until 11th grade
7:10 What was your progression like in cross country when you didn't run track in high school?
10:44 When you were a Junior and made the decision to quit baseball and run track how did your dad react to that?
13:04 How did the first year of track your junior year go?
13:54 What was your training like going into your junior track season?
15:05 When you went 4:23 as a junior did any colleges start showing interest?
17:20 What was the biggest change between running in high school and running in college?
18:45 Did you think of yourself as a cross country runner who did track to stay in shape or the other way around?
19:53 When you were at Santa Clara talk about your involvement in the basketball games
22:30 How did you end up making the connection to the Tinman team post-college?
25:32 What event are you going to be focusing on?
26:25 Do you think Steeple is one of those events that gets neglected that kids could focus on and gain attention?
28:07 How hard was the hurdling part to learn for you?
29:00 When did you start with Tinman and how is the training going?
31:00 What has been the hardest part to adapt to since moving to Boulder and joining Tinman?
32:33 You are posting runs often on Instagram, how many guys are in the group now?
34:25 What is something you have learned you can share with young high school runners to help them?
Final Surge round, 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - The Perfect Mile
Current trainers you are wearing? - Addidas Solar Boost
Favorite race? – Steeple
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? – Oatmeal with peanut butter, banana and strawberries
Your favorite workout – Long Run
Online
Joey on Twitter
Joey on Instagram
Episode 122: Jason Fitzgerald joins us again to talk about strength training, the differences between lifting for endurance and speed and the importance of the glutes. We also talk about how he would periodize a strength program.
1:02 Strength running podcast - We discuss his new podcast
1:47 Why strength training is not cross training. It is part of what we need to do.
3:25 Distance runners want to be light and fast, so what concerns are there with getting into the weight room.
6:05 When should a runner lift, workout day, recovery day or does it not matter?
8:00 If working out on your workout day do you recommend after or before your run?
9:28 What is the difference between lifting for endurance or lifting for speed?
11:18 I hear Meb talking about trap bar deadlift a lot, what are you incorporating as part of your weight routine?
13:55 How many days a week should endurance runners be hitting the weight room?
14:56 We tend to think of ourselves as runners instead of thinking of ourselves as athletes
16:56 Another thing you have been talking about recently is glute strength. A common thing we hear is ‘glutes not firing’ want to talk about how glutes play a big role in in our running form, mechanics, and injuries?
20:04 We are coming to the end of the spring marathon season, we have seen a great Boston race, London, and now it is time for many to start thinking about their fall marathons. I know you work with a lot of marathon runners, how much strength work do you have your marathon runners do?
23:06 When you coach a marathon runner where do you start with incorporating strength training?
Resources
Jason Fitzgerald on Episode 7
Video on lifting weights
Video on Glutes
Jason on Twitter
Jason on Instagram
Jason's Blog
Welcome to Episode 121 of the Final Surge podcast where we welcome veteran World Duathlon finalist Kerry Camberg to the program. Right after we recorded the podcast Kerry qualified again for the World Championship. Kerry was a late bloomer to endurance athletics and talks about how it is never too late to set big goals and chase them.
1:25 Unique story on how she got involved in running in high school after getting injured as a gymnast.
2:41 After high school, took a lot of time off and didn't get back into athletics until several years later.
3:15 Got involved in triathlons, realized she was decent on run and bike, but not swim so moved to duathlons.
4:05 Ran in college, but not until she was in her 40's. Qualified for Nationals in Cross. Finished 7th at nationals.
5:47 Many thought she was the coach because she was old enough to be the parent of her teammates.
6:30 This all lead to duathlon, biking and running and Kerry explains the difference in events with duathlons.
7:30 We see all the time road races and triathlons, how often are there duathlons?
8:16 Kerry talks about participating in Nationals and then qualifying for Worlds and talks about what it was like qualifying for the World Championships.
9:45 Making the move to duathlons and identifying what your strengths are and focusing on them.
11:10 What does a typical training week look like for a duathlete? Run/bike mix and getting out for a run after a long bike ride.
12:10 What is your milage mixture between running and biking?
12:40 How hard is it on your legs to go between biking to run.
13:20 Using the Kicker to help train on the bike.
14:07 Give us an example of what a harder workout may look like.
14:38 What advice do you have for someone who may be getting started later in life like in their 40's? It is never too late to get involved and be competitive.
15:44 When someone decided they want to start getting competitive what advice do you have on setting goals.
16:36 Frist triathlon was a mountain bike race, and she had no idea what a mountain bike was. All training had been on roads.
Resources
Kerry on Twitter
Kerry on Instagram
Episode 120: Neely Spence Gracey has been on the podcast several times, but we have not caught up with her since she had her baby Athen's. In this episode, we talk about what it was like having to take so much time off, what the comeback process has been like and we talk about her future goals including the 2020 Olympics Marathon.
1:00 What has been going on
- Athen's born
- Chases dog in the walker
- Leaving for training runs hard
2:23 You ran for over a decade without time off, what was it like shutting it down
- Been running from 8th grade
- 15 years never had more than a couple weeks off
- Ran for a while but got pain early on
- Thought would run a lot longer
- Went through an identity crisis
- Decided to mentally take a downtime
- Once accepted it was in a better place
6:47 When did you know it was time to start training again
- 6-week post appointment asked OB if could go for a run and they said yes
- Did 10x run one minute and walk one minute
- Every other day for a month would increase it a little
- Took a month before made a 4-mile run
- Was no information out there on how to come back
- Core was shot had to rebuild
10:32 You do a lot of core and strength exercises, how much did you focus on that
- 6-week core program
- Have a certain routine needed to do
- Did it 4 days a week and each week was different
14:20 When you started running was there any separation issues or did you run with a stroller?
- Husband ran with me pushing the stroller
- Athen's was not happy being left with others
- Early runs without him were difficult
18:54 Been back running seven months
- Been long road back
- Way behind expectations, been longer than thought it would be
- Had taken 6 months off
- Shin splints which never had before
- Miles are behind where hoped to be
- At 50-55 miles a week, half of normal
- Cross training 3-5 hours a week
20:32 How did you work through the shin splints?
- Weight was a little higher than normal
- Not as efficient stride as used to
- Ran on more roads and sidewalks
- Calf muscles got really tight
- A lot of stretching, dry needling, massages, cupping
- Ice massages
- Once stopped flaring up so much added in strength work
- Did a lot of hard workouts on the bike for a while
24:46 Do you have a target race plan?
- No goal race yet
- Starting to talk about it
- Most likely will do a fall marathon
- With new Olympic standards puts pressure on running a marathon
27:40 With new qualification standards do you choose races differently?
- Need to go for a faster time on a fast course
- Weather also plays a factor
28:53 What are your thoughts on Olympic Standards?
- Disappointed how it will impact smaller countries
- Taking field from over 200 to about 80 is a big cut
- It is an original Olympic event
- Could have been a middle ground that wasn't so drastic
- But they are the rules so we will live with it and control what we can
30:57 Where are you at with your training and workouts a week now?
- Now doing 2 workouts and a long run a week
- Been doing that for about 6 weeks now
- 12x400 workout and then 6 weeks later was doing 20x400 faster at altitude
- Can see big improvements in progression runs
37:00 Boston Marathon is next week any predictions?
- Excited about American Women
- Many Boulder women I have been running with and they are ready
39:30 Are you still coaching?
- Yes have 22 athletes running Boston next week
- Added a coach to the team
- Stayed connected to running while couldn't run
- Work with some mother runners on the comeback
Resources
Runner's World Coming Back After Pregnancy
RecoreFitness.com 6-week program
Neely Coaching
Neely on Instagram
Neely on Twitter
NeelyRuns@Gmail.com
Episode 119: Megan Ping joins us to talk about the summer camp the Ping family does with Coach Tom Tinman Schwartz over the summer called the Project Gold Running Camp. We discuss the camp, what the kids can expect and catch up with how Grace Ping did recently at the World Cross Country Championships U20 event.
:35 Background - Competetive runner in high school and college and then in marathons. Started running in 7th grade in Minnesota.
1:50 Chiropractor, do you work with mostly athletes?
2:49 How did the camp come about?
5:51 You mentioned this started out as a group of girls, is this still just girls or are there boys now too?
4:43 Are most of the kids from Minnesota?
5:40 How big has it become?
6:00 How did Tom Schwartz get involved?
7:12 What can someone attending expect
8:55 On a typical day how much time is spent in a classroom learning
10:25 You talk a lot about meeting your goals, is there any sessions on setting goals?
13:28 Both your daughters Lauren and Grace will be there?
13:10 Grace just ran World Cross how did that go?
14:22 Is this camp mostly for elite high school runners?
16:25 One part you stress is nutrition and sleep, can you talk about how important that is?
18:55 - More info
ProjectGoldRunning@gmail.com
Project Gold Running Facebook
Episode 118: Jessica Tonn has been one of the top 10k runners in the country over the last few years. Today she joins me to discuss her move back to her home Phoenix area and we discuss her changing coaches. Jess has struggled with injuries off and on and we talk about how she is now doing more sustained volume than ever and staying healthy doing so.
:35 Moving back to Phoenix
- Where I need to be
- Moving back home
- Permanent
2:15 Cross Season
- Was injured in June after 10k Champs
- Getting healthy and enjoying to run again
- Working with new coach
4:22 New Coach
- Jeff Messer
- Known since 7th grade
6:55 Stories from the past
- Painted high school coaches van after a bet
8:52 More on new coach
- Speaker at many national and regional conferences
- Remains a student of the sport
- One of top unknown coaches in the country
9:45 Focus of the training right now
- Was broken after US 10Ks
- Needed someone who knew and trusted in me
- Healthy
- Goal is 10k this year and get to starting lines healthy
- ASU Sun Angle 1500 and Payton Jordan 10k
13:13 Now coaching at ASU
- Grew up ASU fan
- Wanted to give back to Arizona running community
- Will work out with girls at times
16:39 Still coaching at Run Doyan
18:50 Lower leg injuries doing the little things, how have things changed
- Had lost sight of doing the little things
- Self-care, Maximum Mobility with John Ball
- Sleep, eat, strength work
21:25 1500 and 10k, what races do you have picked out
- 10k at USA in late July is the goal
- Payton Jordan
22:55 What do you think of the Diamond League decision to scrap 5k
- Disappointing
- With IAAF standards we just need to train harder to get the times
25:12 What are the biggest changes you have noticed in coaching
- Workouts different - Messer have less key performance indicator workouts
- Always finishing hard workouts feeling like could do another rep
- Running more miles now, but the intensity is backed off overall
30:19 Example of workout
- K's then 800's which got faster. Then 600s that got a lot faster. Then 6x200 with a total of 13 miles.
32:24 Coming back from injuries, how important is the nutrition aspect
Resources
Coaching at Run Doyan
Eating Blog
Jess Tonn on Twitter
Jess Tonn on Instagram
Episode 117: Ben Rosario joins us to talk about the recent changes in track and field. We discuss what it may mean for the Diamond League meets to drop the 5k and how the IAAF changing the Olympic qualifications standards will impact the USA and other countries.
1:25 Diamond League dropped the 5k, why do you think they dropped it
- TV
- Live experience for fans
- Shorten meets
- Cutting to 90 minutes
2:42 Do you agree with the change?
- Willing to watch meets and see what it is like
- Can still see them in the 3k
- Has been 3k/5k so mix of both
- Can still host them, just not part of Diamond League points
4:15 Hard to imagine not having that historic race anymore
- The counter-argument is could be more exciting 3k than 5k
- 3k usually has more people involved in the finish
- We will still see 5k races in other meets, DL not the only meets
- Chance for distance industry to get creative
6:30 You don't think this a move to eliminate the long-distance races off the track?
- Think it is more about TV
- Could see 10k maybe being eliminated but may be replaced with a road race
8:30 5k is so relatable to people who do it on the weekend
- Relatability is even more road racing
- The casual fan doesn't run on track after high school
- Road and track are almost completely different sports
10:10 IAAF changed qualifying standards for Olympics
- Biggest change is a 2 tier system Time Standard and Rankings
- New times are harder to achieve
- Rankings system accrue points based on races through year
- Some races are ranked higher and get more points
- Better geographic representation into the Olympics with region points
13:20 Top 3 American not necessarily going to the Olympics under the system
- For international athletes, this system may be better
- Consistent and run and gain points can give you another way in
- The biggest problem is we found out way too late
- Problem is with the US, puts us in a bind
- USATF is struggling with what to do with Trials now
- US still have not decided how to name their team
18:15 Problems with how this will work with Marathon
- If come in 4th and person in 3rd were to beat them but don't have the auto standard, a person getting 4th could not feel good about being named
- USATF has to figure out what their system will be now
21:35 Gave exceptions for World Major but not for US Marathon Trial?
- They made national championships one thing and weighed area championships higher
- From US point of view may not make sense, but for the outside US may make sense
24:15 Could the focus on World Majors backfire on athletes with appearance fees?
- Don't think the people who make those decisions would do that
25:09 What else is going on with NAZ Elite
Resources
NAZ Website
NAZ Training Plans
Ben on Twitter
Mark Allen was our guest as we discussed his career highlights and his coaching that he is now excelling at.
Laura Norris is a running coach and a running blogger. Laura is always putting out great content on her website This Runner's Recipes.
:49 Where did your love for blogging start?
3:33 How many posts have you put out in the last five years?
3:54 Did you do any sports in high school?
4:45 How did you make the transition into running in college?
6:02 Do you remember when you decided to do that first race?
7:15 You have qualified for Boston a few times correct?
8:35 How did you break your foot?
9:55 When you started running and qualifying for Boston were you always self-coached?
11:00 Which coahing certification did you get?
11:48 When did you make the transition into coaching other athletes?
12:46 What is the avatar of what your client looks like?
14:04 You write a lot about women's issues, what issues do women runners need to be aware of?
16:09 What are some examples of the hip strength and mobility
17:20 How often are you recommending strength training
18:08 Are the athletes you work with in person or on the internet?
18:50 Do you give set paces or how do you prescribe effort level?
20:17 What events do you coach?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Run Faster and Roar
Current trainers you are wearing? - Saucony Freedom and Kinvara
Favorite race? - CIM
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Oatmeal with peanut butter and fruit
Your favorite workout - 2-mile repeats
Resources
Website www.thisrunnersrecipes.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thisrunnersrecipes/
Twitter @thisrunrecipes
Instagram @thisrunnersrecipes
E-Sports is taking off around the globe, and one of the big players in the physical game aspect is CVRcade. Many cyclists can now make more money riding in E-Sport tournaments than they can on the roads. In this episode talk to Frank Garcia and find out what exactly the experience is like.
:45 What exactly is E-Sports
1:20 What exactly is CVRcade?
1:58 What is your background as a cyclist?
2:44 What was it that made you think cycling e-sports had a future?
3:53 What equipment does someone need to get started?
4:47 If you are physically on a bike how does a controller play into the game?
5:10 So what does this look like when you are on a bike, is there a screen in front of you?
5:42 So is this a situation where I am playing against a computer or am I playing against other people I join?
6:20 If racing against other people do I set this up with friends before or just find a group?
6:53 Are these well-known courses you race on or are they general computer generated courses?
7:33 You can build off-road courses as well as on road?
8:40 Can you tell me how this would work if I was on a bike on a mountain bike course with the keyboard?
11:08 What is the experience like if I fall, how do I experience that on the trainer?
12:32 What if I am riding in a group and someone next to me comes into me, what happens to me?
13:47 Tell us about your tournaments you have
14:39 How many people are in the big tournaments?
14:52 How do you qualify for the tournaments?
15:32 How do the 8-week league works to qualify for the tournaments?
16:55 Where do the broadcasts happen?
17:15 You said $100k up for grabs? That is real money.
18:53 Are you finding with these large purses you are getting some professional road athletes into these tournaments?
20:08 When is the next big tournament at?
Resources
CVRcade Website
CVCWorldCup
CVCcade on Facebook
CVRcade on Instagram
CVRcade on Twitter
We are now almost eight weeks through the new year. Where are you with your goals and New Year resolutions? Coach Denny Krahe of Diz Runs Podcast recently asked his Facebook group that question. We talk about what they said what you can do now to get back on track if you are off track.
:50 We catch up on Diz's podcast Diz Runs where he is almost at 700 episodes. He has been consistent for years now.
2:04 You posted an interesting column on goals. We are nearly two months into the year, do you find most of the runners you coach set new year's goals? - Many do, many are working on goal races already coming into the new year. Many will have new years resolution goals on top of their next race goal.
3:55 All of us who belong to a gym see how the attendance has already died off for this year. You asked your Facebook group how their goals were coming, what was the answer? - We asked for feedback a week ago where people are at. Some people are on track, some are behind, some are just a little behind because of the polar vortex which devastated much of the country the last month.
5:55 What were the reasons people were behind? - Some were weather, some were little injuries and was surprised by the number of people who forgot what goals they had set seven weeks ago. How can you be successful if you forget what your goals even are?
7:24 Is this a reminder of you as a coach that you need to find ways to keep their goals in front of them better? - Yes some find a way to find a metric and measure it so they can keep it in front of them. One athlete created a wallpaper on phone with goals to remind her of what they are.
9:59 You have an athlete that forgot about their goals, what advice do you have for them going forward? - Depends on how big of a hole they have dug for themselves. Need to decide if still attainable. Do you need to tweak the goal, you don't need to be married to it.
15:40 Do you like your clients to use big hairy audacious goals or do you like smaller more achievable goals? - I like a mixture of both. I love big goals, but you need wins along the way. You are not going to knock off 1:20 off your marathon time to qualify for Boston, but if you set that as your goal and set goals along the way.
17:54 How often do you work with your clients on breaking those goals down from a long term year go to month to week to what you need to be doing today? - Specificity is good, but not every day will be a win. We want to look at trend lines over a longer period of time moving things forward.
20:56 Someone is out on their run right now, and they realize they have forgot about their goals. They go ahead and look at them and evaluate, what advice do you have to stick with it this time? - Get a sticky note and put them where you can see them. Always be reminded of what those goals are. Put things in place that make it easier to get things done.
25:28
Resources
Diz article on goals
DizRuns.com
DizRuns on Twitter
Lisa Pozzoni is not out to coach elite-level runners, Lisa loves coaching new runners and helping them find join in running and finishing things they may have thought were impossible.
:40 How is your typical coaching client different
2:01 How did you get started in running?
3:06 How did you get introduced to Chi Running?
4:55 You say you coach back of the pack runners, paint us an avatar of your typical clients
6:15 You have very active on Instagram and many of your photos are of groups and people having fun, how does that play a role?
7:23 Most of the runners you coach are new runners?
7:55 Most new runners don't think they need a coach
9:40 You do a lot of 'group selfies' so how often are your client's people you meet in person vs online coaching?
10:25 How are you using Final Surge?
11:25 In what way are these new runners usually finding you?
12:14 With a new runner what are your first steps in working with them?
13:31 What do your training programs look like?
14:23 Are you doing a large amount of ultra training as part of your coaching business?
15:38 How was the transition for you moving up to ultra distances?
16:46 What is the 212k Challenge?
18:03 How often do you work with them in person?
18:24 What advice do you have for a newer runner if they are wondering if they need a coach or not?
19:21 What advice do you have for people who may be back of pack runners with not getting discouraged?
21:20 Free e-book gift for new runners
22:00
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Born to Run
Current trainers you are wearing? - Altra
Favorite race? - Monument Valley 50k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Craft Beer
Your favorite workout - Long runs on trail
http://www.therunninguniversity.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TheRunningUniversity/
https://www.instagram.com/therunninguniversity/
Meg Mackenzie is an elite trail runner and all-around mountain athlete. She has spent the better part of the last 5 years racing around the world. She is passionate about the psychological side of training and racing and has used her own experience to guide her unique approach to coaching athletes.
James Montgomery is a passionate runner and all-around movement geek. He is passionate about endurance sport, athletic programming and strength, and conditioning. He has spent the better part of the last 15 years running and biking on the trails around Cape Town and has learned through trial and error how to build an athletic base, minimize injury risk and maximize athletic potential.
Movement
1:00 Background of Meg and James both from South Africa
2:37 How did you get started with coaching and The Running Project?
5:42 What is your general coaching philosophy?
8:35 Where do you start to determine if they psychological help in their training?
11:28 If someone is fit and ready to go, but does not have the race they wanted. Is there a general reason you find that people may not have the success in a race they wanted?
13:06 Besides the workout itself, what do you ask your clients to log in Final Surge?
14:20 You mentioned too much time in the gray zone. Are you talking about the 80/20 training philosophy?
16:32 Are you training by paces or train by feel?
18:20 Differences between programming and coaching?
20:28 What ways do you work with movement and becoming a better athlete?
23:57 What was your movement exercise routine like today?
26:00 Was strength exercises the biggest difference to get you out of your injury rut?
Resources
TheRunProject
Run Project on Instagram
Meg on Instagram
James on Instagram
2018 was a very successful year for NAZ Elite athlete Scott Fauble. A seventh-place finish at the New York City Marathon and second American. He also wrote a book with his coach Ben Rosario called Inside The Marathon, which some are hailing as one of the best running books of all time. Scott and Ben were in my the Phoenix Metro area recently for a book signing event which allowed me to sit down with them in person to talk to them about the book and what is next.
:45 NYC Results: 7th and introducing the book Inside The Marathon - When started writing it and what is in. The book is unique because it was written as the went not after
2:49 Interesting because it was written as you went along and not trying to use memory to recall. When you went back through it was there an ah-ha moment where you learned something maybe you didn't realize at the time?
5:14 Ben what were your thoughts when he came to you with the idea of the book?
6:32 When he was writing it did you see it day-to-day or only at the end?
8:14 It gives the average runner reading this insight on when you need to scrap workouts.
9:08 What was your daily process like recording this on paper?
11:00 This is like a very detailed running log, did you get more out of it than a normal running log you keep?
11:54 Ben did you learn anything about Scott that maybe you didn't realize before?
14:02 How can runners learn from how you structure races before your main race by reading the book?
15:57 Were the anxiety issues about performing for the race?
18:23 Do you feel you put extra pressure on yourself by writing a book?
19:15 You ended up 4 seconds behind Jared Ward, didn't you do some runs together before?
20:27 Ben what is next coming up next for NAZ Elite in far as marathons?
21:26 Will there be another book for when Scott runs Boston?
22:00 Did you self-publish this book?
22:55 What were the biggest struggles in self-publishing?
24:05 Scott what is your goal for Boston?
24:30 You have an internet feud with teammate Scott Smith, now that you beat him, is he now 'slow Scott'?
25:12 If you could have one last burrito where would you get it
Resources
Book Inside A Marathon
Scott Fauble Website
Scott on Twitter
Scott on Instagram
Scott's Final Surge Running Log
NAZ Elite Website
NAZ Elite on Twitter
NAZ Elite on Instagram
Inside A Marathon on Twitter
Inside A Marathon on Instagram
NAZ Elite Boston Marathon Training Plans
Boston is only 13 weeks away. How would you like to learn about running Boston from Meb, Greg McMillian and others for free? This week we talk to coach Greg McMillian about a series of 8 free webinars you can sign up for and learn from the best and most experienced people on Boston. You will learn how to run Boston, learn proper marathon nutrition and be ready on race day.
1:00 Guest back on episode 35. Can you give an intro what McMillan running does
2:38 What are the biggest differences coaching elite Olympic quality athletes and age group runners?
3:57 We are 13 weeks out from Boston, what do you have planned for Boston?
5:30 Your webinars for Boston are free?
6:00 Where to sign up? McMillanRunning.com/boston?
6:15 How many webinars will there be before Boston?
6:33 Are webinars training plans?
7:40 How do you prepare people for the weather variations?
8:58 What makes Boston unique for running?
10:32 Is running in a crowd in Boston be a thing or does it hurt you?
11:53 Boston is unique with hills, how do you get someone from Florida in a flat area prepared?
13:09 What is Meb’s involvement in your Boston webinar?
14:23 Will there be an opportunity to ask questions?
15:10 How will the 8 be spaced out?
15:50 Is there value in this free webinar for people who run marathons but not Boston?
16:48 What will be covered in the nutrition segments
17:28 You say your Boston plans have been updated, what is new?
18:45 When is the first webinar?
19:05 You can listen to webinars later if missed them
Resources
McMillan Boston webinars
Boston Training Plans
Greg on episode 35
Greg’s Book You (Only Faster)
Greg on Twitter
Brad Hudson has had many phases to his successful coaching career. In today's episode, we talk to Brad about what he and his star athlete Allie Kieffer are up to in the desert of Arizona. If you have not seen our latest announcement on social media, Final Surge now has Garmin Connect IQ support. Head over to blog.finalsuge.com for more details.
Topics covered:
:40 Coaching change and moving to Phoenix Arizona area
2:22 Why did you want to move to sea level
3:32 Wouldn't live at altitude and train at sea level be the best?
5:18 Why Phoenix?
8:30 Altitude training
9:10 What is your history with Allie and you coaching her?
11:06 How does the relationship work when developing training?
13:05 What are you changing with training and why?
15:14 When you say more speed work, most may thing track work, but you are talking more about 10k work?
17:02 10-day schedule rundown
17:54 Example of a workout 2-months out
19:55 Are you still selling your Blackbook of workouts?
20:15 What is next for Allie?
20:32 Going into the next Olympic cycle where do you see her competing?
21:12 Is there another marathon on the schedule?
Brad Hudson FS Podcast Episode 2
Brad's Black Book of Workouts
Brad and Allie Dreamwork Youtube series
How do you start or grow a coaching business? It is now January 2019 and one of your goals for 2019 may be to start or grow a coaching business. We are joined by Coach Kyle Kranz who has grown his business significantly over the last few years. We had him on in episode 17 and now he is back to talk specifically about how to grow a business. We talk about specific strategies you can implement today.
Topics covered:
2:35 I want to be a coach where do I start
6:00 At what point do you say I have enough knowledge to take on clients
7:45 What are some of the free resources a running coach can tap into including marketing
12:02 Giving to receive - Jab Jab Jab Right Hook
13:10 Other resources for those who may not have social media background - Personal Trainer Development Center
13:38 Challenges you face as the business grows
16:44 Tools started using once you had a budget
17:46 How do you deal with the challenges of those remote clients - Final Surge
19:30 Channels used in communicating with athletes
21:24 What type of feedback should coaches be looking for
23:04 Challenges early with over analyzing
24:15 First business and taxes
25:38 Actionable item someone can do right now
You can find Kyle online in the following places:
KyleKranz.com
Kyle on Twitter
Kyle on YouTube
Previous Episode with Kyle
Our two most downloaded podcast of all time are Joe Vigil and Tinman. Tinman was in the Phoenix area for a couple days, my home area, so I arranged to get together with him. We agreed to sit down to record a podcast. As I was setting up we were talking about my high school team's season and he went to tell me a story about how to quickly heal sprained ankles, 40 minutes later we were still going but had not officially started the podcast yet. I wish we had, one thing you get from talking to Tom is a mixture of absolute passion for running and incredible knowledge of the science and why. So 40 minutes in I hit the record button and we picked up where we were in the discussion. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.
1:30 We need to work on our skills as endurance athletes, how?
- Learn from sprint coaches
- Learn from youtube
- Take sprint mechanic classes and education
2:52 How much time do you work with your athletes on skills?
- Talk about knee drive and arm position often
- Assign training like hill repeats
- Sam Parsons had no power, huge drops when developed power
4:20 Types of hill repeats
- 30 seconds
- mile pace effort, the effort is key
- 1-2x a week but never get away from it year round
5:15 What about if you live in Florida and have no hills
- Drive to hills
- Stadium Steps
- Pull sleds, not too much weight and do technically sound
6:36 Injury prevention
- This helps minimalize injuries, can never escape
- Don't overcook with workouts
- Slow on easy days
7:34 Keep the ball rolling
- Don't do anything to disrupt training
- Post run nutrition
- Dynamic flexibility
- Hill work
- Sleep
- Slow on easy days
- Sleep not texting in bed
- Like a snowball, keep it rolling
10:40 What does it mean to you, when we talk about non-elite runners and easy/hard days
- Modulate days
- Easy days are easy, 2:00 or 2:300 or more slower than current 5k pace
- Cant execute when fatigued
12:18 Walking through a week
- Talking about a cross-country week with a weekly race
- Monday long run with striders
- Tuesday easy run
- Wednesday key workout
- Thursday easy run
- Friday pre-meet work with striders
- Saturday race with a good amount of distance after
13:49 Do you do that year around?
- One long run and 2 quality days a week, race counts as a quality day
14:31 How hard are you going on the quality days
- If not sure use CV reps, hill reps and striders
- Drew did zero of the 8, 10 or 12x400 type workouts in high school, none
- You don't need to go real hard if you are doing plenty of 600, 800, 1000 CV's
- Lots of talk on muscle fibers
23:37 If CV is so great, should you be doing them a few times a week during non-race season
- Dose-response rate, you get almost all you need from one workout a week
- Run 1600 or 800 have them do CV work after the run
26:40 Brogan Austin was recently on our podcast off his national championship, how is training different with a marathoner?
- We never ran a marathon pace workout
- More fast/intermediate CV speed is better
- Challenge is the pounding of the distance
- Cruising speed is more important, 10k/10 mile type pace
29:24 We have a lot of marathon and ultra listeners would their CV work volume be different
- Build up to 20-24 minutes in reps is all you need
- No isolation training, there is only one energy system
- Integrate the different speeds into workouts
- Kids should participate in other sports, but some kids don't like the other sports
36:24 What is the future of Tinman Elite
- Focused on Olympics, already have 3 qualifiers
- Will have everything from 800-marathon in the trials
- Will add females at some point
- We are team, but we are family
43:50 Stryd Power Meter
- Measures lots of components of your stride
- Verticle Oscillation is interesting to watch
- Helps you identify issues
- Analyzing races
Previous Episode with Tom
Recent episode with Brogan Austin
Tinman Elite Website
Tinman Elite Twitter
Tinman Elite Instagram
Final Surge Instagram
Final Surge Twitter
Final Surge Facebook
Stryd Power Meter
The Hopi Indians have a long history and relationship with running. We talk to ProfessorMatthew Sakiestewa Gilbert the Director of American Indian Studies and Professor of History at the University of Illinois. Matthew was involved in the making of the movie Beyond the Mesas and has a book called Hopi Runners: Crossing the terrain between the Indians and the Americans.
Background
- Grew up in Flagstaff Arizona
- Part of the Hopi Indian tribe
- Did Phd research on Hopi tribe
- Professor of Indian Studies and History
Hopi high school boys had won 27-state titles in a row and first or second the last 29 years in a row.
Success is telling of their long history of Hopi running
Hopi History
- How long do we run, to the fence and back
- Distance runners in western perspective is distance/time Hopi running was going out and coming back
- Running is the Hopi trustworthy mode of transportation
- Family members pass down the tradition of running and spiritual aspect
Hopi Runners Book
Beyond The Mesas Blog
Beyond The Mesas Twitter
Hopi ESPN Segment
When people were projecting the winners of the Californian International Marathon, which served this year as the USATF Marathon Championship Race, Brogan Austin was not the most mentioned name. Not even close. After his win the message boards lit up, who is this guy, he must be a doper. Turns out he is not a doper but another Tom 'Tinman' Schwartz trained athlete who has been working hard for his moment. And we caught up with him to talk about his win.
Background
- Dad ran to lose weight and would run with him as young as 5 years old
- 1-mile route would run and kept running
- Tried football in 7-8th grade and was too small
- Made varsity as Freshman in high school and progressed from there
- Senior year took on another coach and went from 30 to 70 miles a week
- Ran at Drake but overtrained by working more on side
- After college ran but cut way back
Tinman connection
- Saw success the Tinmen Elite crew were having and wanted to start working with Tom
- Started working with Tom in July 2018
- Tom proved you don't need to outwork everyone
- An approach of one day at a time and keeping the ball rolling
- All workouts are reasonable, feel you could do more at end of a workout
- Questioned if it was too easy
- Never once did we do marathon pace specific running
Training
- Used to do 3 staple workouts, 6-8 mile tempo a 5:00, mile repeats at half marathon pace, 800 repeats at 5k pace. Was only done one of those a week and Saturday long run as a progression
- Ran 12 miles almost every day
- Tom had mix workouts, one we did every 2-3 weeks with 10k pace, then hills, then 800-1600 pace
- Noticed each time did that workout felt progress
- Ran 62:39 in half marathon and knew he was fit
- Workouts are easy to recover from
Expectations Going In
- Had expectations that could win
- 1/2 marathon gave me confidence
- Tinman said could win it
- Consistently doing 90 miles a week with a few longer weeks here and there
- Longest runs 2:20 minutes
- No marathon pace work had me worried, but Tom said at 21-miles you will be stronger than everyone
- Never had a workout could not do because was fatigued
Race
- When Matt Llano opened the lead had to force himself to not go with him, plan was to go 66
- Mid-race started doubting training
- After mile 20 was told Matt was 2 miles ahead so focused on the pack for second
- With 5k to go tried to make move and was surprised legs responded even though tired
- Started reeling in Matt, could see lead vehicles
- Caught him with 500m to go and surged past making strong move
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Born to Run
Current trainers you are wearing? - Nike Air Pegasus
Favorite race? - Drake Relays
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Buritto
Your favorite workout - Long Run
Previous interview with Tinman
Brogan's sponsor Rabbit
Instagram: @brogan.austin
Facebook: Brogan Austin
Twitter: @brogan_austin
Jordan Gusman is the latest member of the Tinman Elite training group and on Episode 104 we catch up with him in Colorado before he heads home to Austrillia to race in their 10k National Champs. We get to know about youth running down under and how his training has changes since joining the team.
Background
- Kind growing up had bad asthma
- Moved to countryside for health
- Played variety of sports
- Liked soccer running was better option
- 14-15 got serious about running
- After high school junior's
Was breaking 4-minute mile as big of a thing in Australia?
- Great story about how he broke 4-minutes for the first time
What about a time you underperformed?
- Tend to get sick a lot
- Overthink it before major meets
Relationship with Tinman Elite
- Last month been here in Colorado training with them
- Heading home to Austrillia for a few races and Christmas and will decide if train here or home
- We run together twice a day almost every day makes it fun
- Good mix of guys keep it fun
What have you learned from Tom since joined team?
- Unlike anything I have done before
- Every workout seems to have a mix of all systems
- Still learning how to train
- CV- Pace can hold for 30 minutes, longest rep is about a mile
- Don't workout a goal pace, but pace can run today
- Volume is down too
- A lot of qualiy in the less miles
The Final Surge… 5 questions in under 1 minute Favorite endurance/running book? – Perfect Mile
Current trainers you are wearing? – Adidas Solar Glide
Favorite race? – 5k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? – Peanut butter toast and coffee
Your favorite workout – Mile Reps
Resources
Previous Podcast with Tom Tinman Schwartz
Previous Podcast with Sam Parsons
Jordan on Instagram
Jordan on Twitter
Stanley the dog Instagram
Tinman Group on Twitter
Tinman Group on Instagram
Tinman Website
Today we welcome Chris Chavez the founder of Citius Mag and the Citius Mag Podcast where we find out how he developed his passion for track and field which lead to the Citius Mag website.
Background
- Grew up Yankess fan dreamed of being a baseball player
- Didn't play sports as a kid until 7th grade
- Tried out for high school baseball team, cut early
- Focussed on sports writing instead
- One friend convinced him to join the track team as a sprinter
- Wasn't great started out with breaking 30 seconds in 200 as a goal
- In college decided to stay in shape by starting to run some 5ks
- 2013 was the first marathon
Where did the passion for Citius come from
- 2012 I became interested when stumbled upon Flotrack live stream
- Started reading about athletes and watching old races on Youtube
- Volunteered in 2012 for Flotrack
- Started writing at track meets on weekends and traveling
- Was helping with ESPN on running
- When graduated got an offer from ESPN an Sports Illustrated
- Took the SI opportunity to
Where is Citius going from here?
- Challenge is the time
- Core group of 5-6 writers but not our full-time job
- We are trying to keep it growing, but also balancing everything
Podcast discussion
- How are your legs feeling?
- Crazy how that has become a thing
- Now seeing other athletes using it
- 1/2 court shot for 25 million
- The most insulting thing you read about yourself on Let's Run
Final Surge Round
Favorite Book - Born To Run
Current Trainers - Nike Peg Turbo
Favorite Race - NYC Marathon
Favorite Recovery Meal/Drink - Chocolate Milk and breakfast foods
Favorite Workout - K repeats
Resources
Citius Mag Podcasts
Citius Mag Website
Chris on Instagram
Chris on Twitter
Final Surge on Instagram
Final Surge on Twitter
Last week we had our first husband-wife coaching team on the podcast and this week we follow it up with professional triathletes and owners of GK Endurance Guy Crawford and his wife Kate Bevilaqua. Guy and Kate share their journey to a professional athlete and talk about their coaching program.
Background
- Kate grew up playing netball
- Phys Ed Teacher and cousin talked her into doing a triathlon
- Guy is from New Zeland and was outdoor a lot playing rugby and other sports like BMX
- Late teens picked up triathlons, was swimming a lot
Guy was working for BlueSeventy and continued training and started getting results so went professional
Kate was enjoying short courses and coach convinced her to do a longer one and had great results
First Coach
- Guy - When started working for BlueSeventy
- Kate - First few years was with a local club, but when started thinking about longer distances got a coach
Who should get a coach or when?
- When you have a goal you want to reach
- Helps prevent overtraining and undertraining
- Athletes go hard too often
Coaching
- Consultation we see what their lifestyle is like
- How many hours can they do, what their diet is like
- We each coach our own athletes
- Core of our clients is half Ironman business executive
Training
- Half/Ironman 10-12 weeks is specifics before that is base conditioning
- 4 months out doing 3 bikes/run/swims a week with aerobic, threshold and recovery in there
- 6 weeks out more specific workouts
- For runs, some use power, some heart rates and some just by feel
Final Surge Round
Favorite Book - A life without limits/Lore of funning
Current Trainers - Mizuno/Mizuno Wave Rider
Favorite Race - 70.3
Favorite Recovery Meal/Drink - Chocolate Milk/IPA
Favorite Workout - Trail Long Run/Track Session
Resources
GK Endurance
GK Endurance on Instagram
GuyCrawford on Instagram
Kate Bevilaqua on Instagram
Final Surge On Instagram
This podcast we had on Steve Palladino who is an expert in training runners with power meters.
Resources:
Pallidino Power Project Facebook Group
Steve’s Coaching Page
Stryd Power Meter
Links to external sites may contain affiliate links. Thanks for using them and supporting our podcast.
Today we have our first husband and wife team on the podcast together. In Episode 101 we talk to Caitlin and Drew Sapp who own a company called Crew Racing. Drew is a full-time triathlon coach and Caitlin a physical therapist and they have found a niche working with athletes coming back from injuries. They have also recently launched a new Crew Racing Podcast which we discuss.
How did you get involved in athletics and meet?
- Met at a triathlon
- Caitlin needed a swim coach and Drew won that that
- Drew was a triathlete in college after being a swimmer
- Caitlin grew up playing basketball and in college started running
- 2009 did first triathlon, first Ironman in 2011
Background on Crew Racing
- 2014 a lot of people were asking both for help
- Drew full-time coach, Caitlin full-time physical therapist, and works in business
Niche in people with injuries
- Drew had ACL reconstruction that failed
- Several people started coming to them with injuries
- Trying to give back to athletes
- Something missing in endurance rehab because Caitlin would always see them come back with the same injuries
Key for rehab so they are not back to see you
- Making short and long-term goals on how not to get back
- Focus on long-term results
Are most of your clients local or internet?
- Many local and some online
- Can connect with remote athletes using Final Surge
What about an athlete who comes to you and is not injured, but is coming to you because they don't want to get injured:
- Back off on over-training
- Strength training and plyometrics
- Core work for stabilizer
Drew Injury
- ACL in college playing football
- Again while training in 2016
- Had a good team trusted
- Never wanted to go through surgery again so listened to them
- While rehabbing view himself as a physical therapy patient, not a triathlete
- Conditioning will come back, take the time to rehab
Caitlin and Drew Sapp own operate Crew Racing, which is a multisport coaching group that started in 2014. Caitlin is a physical therapist that specializes in sports orthopedics and I am full-time triathlon coach.
How does someone who needs a good Physical Therapist find one?
- Key is finding someone who understands athletes
- Reach out to local coaches they will know
- Ask their background in sport
Biggest challenge Drew faced in rehab?
- Happened right before the wedding
- Slow progression started coming back 1-minute slow jog 5-minute walk
- Patient
Are athletes quick to address problems or do they put it off?
- Both, both sides of extremes
- With experience, you learn and shouldn't put off too long
I noticed on your site you also do runners self-defense classes
- There were issues in our area
What type of athletes you work with the most?
- Busy professionals
- Couples
Been using Final Surge since 2014 in what ways are you using it?
- Calendar is great
- Comments more important than anything else
- New app
Resources
Crew Racing Website
Caitlin on Instagram
Drew on Instagram
Crew Racing Triathlon Podcast
Final Surge On Instagram
He was one of the top-ranked triathletes in the world and holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest hole of golf ever played over 500 years. So what drives Brad Kearns to always push himself to be better? In episode 100 of the Final Surge Podcast, we talk to author, podcaster, coach and world record holder Brad Kearns about everything from his early Ironman days competing against Mark Allen and Dave Scott as well as why we may not be improving as much as we should be since then. He spends a lot of time talking about stress and recovery. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast at FinalSurge.com/podcast and follow us on our new Instagram account at final.surge.
Early Days:
- Ran in high school and college
- Injured so much in college got discouraged
- Awakening to a better way
- Turned to triathlon
- Was a new sport without coaches
- Figured it out by feel
- End of the first season was able to compete with world best
- Started winning and getting sponsors and forced him to change training
- Struggled, overtrained and forced things to happen
What happens when someone is going for that BQ qualifier they have been training for months and before the race, things are not going well because they may be overtrained, should they still race and give it a shot?
- What is your purpose?
- Know why you are doing it, should you go to a starting line with 101-degree temp?
- If not fully prepared go there and hand out water instead of competing when you shouldn't be
What about getting to the start line healthy?
- Rest and recovery
- Work and training are both stresses
- Cut workout short if not feeling it
You have athletes that are super busy, what do you teach them about getting ready when busy?
- Aerobic training or MAF 180-age beats per minute
- Teaches you to burn fat not glucose
Many say, but if MAF was the best style professionals would be doing it
- Look at training logs and they are
What else can you do to become a better fat burner
- Noakes has changed course on recommendations
- FASTER Study
- Elite athletes can get away with more
- Some carry excess body fat
Why haven't we improved much since Mark Allen?
- They were amazing athletes and it is hard to improve on that
- MEAN finishing time can improve if we improve training with more aerobic
- If carrying excess body fat as an athlete need to work on that
- Slow down on runs and cut out refined grains and sugars
Speed Golf
- Fringe sport strokes + minutes 78 plus 47 minutes = 128 score
- World record the fastest hole over 500 yards (video)
- Played the whole hole with 3-wood
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - 4-minute mile Roger Bannister
Current trainers you are wearing? - Vibram 5-fingers
Favorite race? - World Cup Triathlon stop in Mexico
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Salad
Your favorite workout - Track 4x100 all out
Resources
BradKearns.com
Get Over Yourself Podcast
Courses including 21-day reset
Golf Speed Record
Brad Kearns Twitter
Brad Kearns Instagram
Endurance Nation coaches over 600 athletes. Today we talk to founder Patrick McCrann about his online community which has helped 16 people qualify for Kona World Championships this year. We talk about the community, his use of Stryd Power Meters and more.
How did you get started?
- Rower at BU in early to mid 90's
- Left school to join Peace Corps and took up running while in Asia
- Brother did Ironman and lead me to try it and first Ironman in 2001
What type of early success did you have when you started Ironmans
- 10:43 in first Ironman Florida
- Became harder after the first one because started overthinking
Did you qualify early for Kona?
- 5 years and 8 Ironman races before qualified
- Took a while to figure out the execution
- Doing Kona again this year
- 9th Kona
What did you do with your training that made the difference to qualify?
- Building a schedule where could be consistent with training
- Learning from the training log
How do you balance the time between training time and family?
- Wife supportive and also trains
- Build a training space in the garage
- Flexibility with a training plan to adjust
2001 you did your first Ironman, 2006 was your first Kona, when did you start coaching?
- 2004 friends asked me for help
- Early on started having success and created own company
- 2007 turned it into Endurance Nation
What is Endurance Nation?
- Team of self-coached athletes
- We give you keys to all the training plans and resources
- A community that shares ideas, successes, and failures
- 500-650 athletes at any given time
Athletes spread out throughout the world, yet you talk about community a lot, how does that work?
- Forums - 10 years old with huge amounts of info
- Social wall like a Facebook group
Is your community for someone more experienced or new athlete?
- For anyone looking to get better
- Save time to reach goals
How much are you using Power Meters?
- Been using Stryd's for a whlie
- Good number to watch that gives instant feedback
What do you mean by run durability?
- Running most injury prone
- Run less per day but run more days per week to get the volume you desire
Many athletes are getting into their final weeks before their big fall race, what do you work on to get them ready for their race and tapering?
- Race preparation workouts
- Tapering is more personal per each runner
- Rest a little on the early side a few weeks out
Endurancenation.us/start
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Eat and Run
Current trainers you are wearing? - Hoka One One Clifton 4
Favorite race? - Boston and trail races
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Ascent Protein
Your favorite workout - Long Run
Resources
Endurance Nation Facebook https://www.facebook.com/endurancenation
Endurance Nation Instagram https://www.instagram.com/teamendurancenation/
Endurance Nation Website https://www.endurancenation.us/start/
Stryd Power Meter
In 2012 ESPN called today’s guest the greatest endurance athlete of all time. Today we welcome Mark Allen to the Final Surge Podcast. Mark has been coaching online since 2001 and recently moved his training platform over to Final Surge. We talk about how he got into triathlons and what it was like in 1989 to break through and finally win his first Kona race.
How did you get started with endurance athletics
- 1968 Watching Olympics
- Fascinated with distance swim
- Joined the local swim team
- After college thought would be done with athletics then saw Ironman
When was your first Ironman?
- October 1982 Dave Scott was in the race
- Came out of the water right behind Scott
- Halfway through bike was still with him
- Derailer broke and was forced out of the race
What was your relationship with Dave Scott like?
- Intense rivalry
- Healthy rivalry where we respected each other as people and athletes
1989 things really started clicking for you, what changed in 1989 that made you so dominant?
- Was 0-6 in Ironman but knew had not had my best race there
- In 1989 focused on solid swim, bike and run not focus on a win
- Started training longer days
- Instead of trying to pull away early I waited until later
- Mind went quiet in the race and things changed
- Just enjoyed the moment and each mile started getting better late in the race
Do you contribute the success of that 1989 race to the mindset change or the training longer?
- Combination of both
- Wasn't any one thing, was a bunch of small things
Do you feel the changes that you made came from your experience or did coaches help you identify where you needed to make changes?
- Almost completely self-coached
- Were no triathlon coaches, had running, swim and bike advisors
How did you make the transition into triathlon coaching?
- Won Ironman in 95 and started to think about what was next
- In 96 knew it would be last Ironman and someone asked to be coached
- Other athletes heard and coaching started to grow
- The time it takes to develop plan was a lot
- 2001 launched the first edition of online coaching to save time
- Started earlier this year with Final Surge
- Took this long to get it where I want it to be
What makes your training platform unique
- Great mix of science and experience
- A gap between what science knows and what we get to experience in the real world
- So much personal experience seeing what works over a long time frame
There are all types of people looking to do triathlons, everything from a hobby jogger looking to do their first local triathlon up to those looking to qualify for Kona. What is your target audience?
- Service is for anyone, have helped many first time athletes
- Most are 70.3 or full Ironman competitors
- Many have experience in running or biking and looking to do something different
When someone signs up, what can they expect to see as far as plans?
- No templates
- Everything based on what you input for information
- We have racing and maintenance plans
- Can choose between 8, 11 or 14 workouts a week
- Includes strength training
- You control days you do your workouts and you can move things around
If someone has questions inside the platform what are their options?
- Social wall can ask for help
- Can message me directly through the platform with questions you have
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Fit Soul Fit Body
Current trainers you are wearing? - Salming
Favorite race? - Ironman Hawaii
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - BBQ fish on a toasted bun with mayo and avocado
Your favorite workout - 3-4 day stage ride
Resources
Mark Allen Training Plans https://www.finalsurge.com/MarkAllen/Plans
Mark Allen Coaching Blog https://blog.markallencoaching.com/
Mark Allen on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/markallengrip/
Parker Stinson is one of the top young American distance runners around and is known for his aggressiveness. In episode 97 we talk to Parker about his first marathon and how he went for it and hear about how that plan blew up on him. Parker shares with us what the game plan is for the Chicago Marathon. We have some amazing world class athletes and coaches scheduled over the next few weeks, so make sure you hit subscribe on your favorite podcasting app so you don't miss any of the action.
How did you get started running when you were young?
- 11-12 years old father and sister were training
- AAU Nationals vs Club Soccer and Hockey
- Went to Oregon
Why did you choose Oregon?
- I just wanted a scholarship to any school
- Went to 2008 Trials at Oregon and never saw anyone care about track like that
- Junior year won State and made US Juniors team and Oregon became a possibility
Oregon is a tough environment. You are expected to win Pac-12 and compete at nationals. Did that help you get ready for a professional career?
- You need to score at the conference meet and get to nationals or hey will find someone who will
- Made me tough and taught me to get better and be prepared
You said when considering Oregon you thought it was a good place for a professional runner. Did you identify early that you wanted to be a professional runner?
- I never knew what it meant, but yes was what I was working for
- Towards the end of college, options became real and understood it
Often times a 26-year old is still focusing on the track, but you have moved to the marathon. Are you done with the track now?
- Focusing on the marathon, but not done with track
- I want to work on track to focusing on things like the 10k
What was the worst race experience you ever had?
- Junior year in Oregon running great 3rd a Pac-12
- Went to NCAA's and felt strung out before the race
- Nationals finished 240th out of 244
What did you learn from that experience?
- Started working with a sports psychologist
- Realized I had some allergies issues that lead to panic attacks
Why Colorado to live and train?
- I signed with Sacouny
- Had Achilles surgery where could not run
- Was looking for a change of scenery
- Knew Brad Hudson
Brad is best known for his marathon training was CIM your idea or his?
- Wasn't my idea
- Was a good idea to get the ball rolling towards i
- We were planning on running Houston but felt ready earlier
During CIM Twitter was blowing up on your race and how you were going for it, can you walk us through that ace?
- Ran like training: No fear
- I had no plan to be alone, but they did not come with me
- I kept telling myself I was going too fast but splits stayed consistent
- Mile 12 started having a little pain in the calf
- Mile 18-19 I was still shocked was running so fast and decided to slow down a little
- Then it hit me the last couple of miles and was passed at mile 23
- Finished at 7:00/mile pace
The next day what your conversation with the coach like?
- We knew we were going to run hard and not care what anything else thinks
- Disappointed because I could have pulled it off, but understood
What is the goal for Chicago?
- Break 2:11
- I feel like im in better shape than that right now
- I want to execute a good race
- I need a good marathon mark on the boards
We recently talked to Aaron Braun about his Chicago, do you ever plan to run together with someone like that?
- If the 2:05 guys go that fast we could have our own separate race
- Would love to have a couple Americans break 2:11
- Problem is some are more laid back and I am more aggressive
How has your training been going to date?
- Amazing, way better than the lead up to CIM
- Been working on a video series
- 35k at 5:12 pace in Boulder workout
- I am fit enough, just don't want to get hurt or overdue it now
What has changed a lot in your workouts now that you are a marathon runner?
- Fueling has been huge
- Longer fast runs
- Gone from 7-day calendar to 10-day calendar with more rest
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Running with the Buffaloes
Current trainers you are wearing? - Sacounty Triump iso 4
Favorite race? - 1/2 marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Smoothie with extra protien
Your favorite workout - Long Fast Runs
Resources
Parker Stinson on Instagram
Parker Stinson on Twitter
Parker Stinson Endure
What happens when an endurance junkie sees a problem? A new company is formed, at least that is how Orange Mud came about. Today on episode 96 of the Final Surge podcast we talk to Josh Sprague about his endurance career and how that lead him to redesign water packs with his company Orange Mud.
We want to spend some time talking about your company Orange Mud, but before we get into that can you tell us how you first got your start in endurance athletics?
- Adventure racing
- Noticed ways to make hydration easier
Adventure racing, you don't hear about that as much any more, do you think it is because of the rise in obstacle races?
- Cost, organization
- The barrier to entry was higher with adventure
- Ultra racing is easier to organize
- Was expensive
What's the most interesting adventure race you ever did?
- Calico Yosemite Race
What endurance athletics are you focusing on these days?
- Ultra-running
- Endurance mountain bike races
- Gravel biking
- Leadville
You have done a lot of different endurance events, where did this love for endurance sports come from?
- Country boy in Kansas
- Everyone was a long distance call so always was playing outside
- Learned to explore
You own a successful start-up company, you have a family, how do you find a time to get it all done, do you have any time management secrets or tips?
- I told my wife I would only do my main training during the workday
- I avoid training on the weekends unless riding with kids
Let’s talk about Orange Mud. You are probably known best for your hydration packs obviously, but also wraps, clothing and even awesome looking vintage trucker caps on your website. How did you get your start?
- Backpacks were one side
- Clothing was me wanting better clothing
- Trucker caps were really successful
- We focused on quality
What is with the name Orange Mud?
- My middle name is Clay and always liked it
- Played with a bunch of Clay names and purchased a lot of domains
- Clay is a mud and that name just worked better
What was your first product?
- Hydtraquiver bottle carrier
Can you walk us through how that came about?
- I noticed upper back didn't move when ran, so focused on that area
- I wanted a place for a bottle and cash, keys and phone
- A place for nutrition quick access area
How many variations before you came up with one before you thought it was ready?
- The first product was 18
- Most of the early products were 17-23 variations before I was happy with it
At what point did you realize this was a great product and you thought you could bring it to the masses?
- Started in spring 2012, fall of 2012 we went to market with a functional and durable product
- 10 months in we launched with an Indiegogo campaign
What makes the Orange Mud different than other packs?
- We put the bottle on the center of the back
- We use a regular bottle so you can use almost any bottle you want
- Our packs are smaller and more stable than others
How hard was it to break into retail, it is a tough business dominated by big brands?
- Big brands have the name, we focus on specialty stores, not big-box locations
- Specialty stores often carry the same as big-box locations
- We make it in the USA
What is next, what new products do you have coming out
- Working on a new handheld
- High-performance rain jacket/pants
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Endurance - Shackelton
Current trainers you are wearing? - On Running
Favorite race? - The Hawk in Kansas
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Infinite Nutrition Repair Fruit Punch
Your favorite workout - Anything on a mountain bike
Resources
Orange Mud on Instagram
Orange Mud on Twitter
Orange Mud Website
How do you improve on a top 3 American place at the Chicago Marathon? We talk to NAZ Elite runner Aaron Braun about exactly that. Aaron was the leader of the 2017 Chicago Marathon at about 25k, we talk to him about what was going through his mind then. Aaron will be blogging about his 2018 training on Final Surge. Make sure you check the show notes to view the blog.
How did you get your start in running?
- Active kid played soccer and football
- Elementary School got 2nd place in a citywide mile race
- Once I got into high school loved the team aspect of cross country
- Recruited by a few D1 schools
- Ended up at Adams State - D2 school
When did it change and you became a fan of running?
- Mostly in college
When did you decide it possible to run as a professional?
- My third year, but the sophomore year of running I was second at Nationals
- Coaches planted a seed it is possible
How did you get connected with NAZ Elite and Coach Ben Rosario
- When I was training in Flagstaff earlier we became friends
- As he started his team we stayed in touch
- 2016 I called him about joining the team
Was Ben's passion for a marathon a factor in choosing a team?
- That was one of the big factors
- We wanted to get back to Flagstaff was another factor
- Had maxed potential at shorter races so wanted to maximize the marathon
When did your thought of retirement come in?
- 2015 and 2016 I was injured a lot and the thought entered my mind
- On July 4th in 2016, I did a 5k in Fort Collins and surprised myself how well I did
- Decided to give running one more chance
You have the Chicago Marathon coming up that you blogging about on Final Surge. Last year you found yourself at the front of the pack halfway. Was that the plan?
- No pacemakers so we thought it was a possibility
- Was surprised how long it lasted
- The plan was to run an even pace and get locked in
What is your goal for Chicago this year?
- Want to improve placement and time
You can set a goal for a major race, but anything can happen. It is hard to keep improving each race. What advice do you have for age group runners who may be having a hard time dealing with not hitting PR's?
- I had that problem early in my college career
- Was hard when I did not PR in a season
- Now I can look at a race and say did I give my best effort I could today based on how I was feeling
When did you start your buildup for Chicago
- July 8th was last race of the summer
- Took a week off and jumped back into training
What races do you have planned between now and Chicago
- US 20k Championships
I noticed from your training log you recently did a 4-mile tempo run on the track. How often do you do those on the track vs roads or trails?
- Very rarely
- Was alternating 800's so pacing was easier
What has been your toughest workout this cycle?
- 2x1mile at 4:50 with 3min rest then ten mile run alternating paces, then 2 more miles at 4:50, but ran 4:42 and 4:46
When you are doing a marathon training cycle is there a workout you like to do that gives you a gauge of your fitness level compared to the prior training cycle?
- We use the long steady state as a barometer the last few miles we ignore pace and go by feel so we get a good gauge of our fitness based on that effort
What can the readers expect from your Chicago Marathon blogging?
- What I am doing and the thinking of why we are doing what we are doing
- Feedback on workouts and how I was feeling
- Updated weekly
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Matt Fitzgerald How Bad Do You Want It
Current trainers you are wearing? - Hoka Clifton, Mach and Challenger
Favorite race? - Bolder Boulder 10k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Egg Sandwich and milkshake
Your favorite workout - 4x400 max effort with long recovery
Resources
Aaron Braun blogging about Chicago
Aaron Braun on Twitter https://twitter.com/aaBrauny
Aaron Braun on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/aabrauny
Final Surge on Twitter https://twitter.com/finalsurge
Matt Fitzgerald has had some challenging goals, but this may be the most challenging yet. Today we talk to Matt Fitzgerald about his quest to qualify for Kona after not having done an Ironman in over a decade and also about his new book which is the 80/20 Triathlon.
Last time we talked to you, you had just finished your Running Bum challenge and you were working on a book, when is that coming out?
- 2020
Your latest challenge is called Kona or Bust, can you tell is about that?
- Unfinished business
- Marathon was about breaking 2:40
- I was 23 seconds short of qualifying for Kona in my one Ironman
- 23 seconds were there, I could have got them
You never did another Ironman?
- I have registered for some, but never made it to the start line
- Injuries always come up
- Starting to have some now
- I have 9 more months to get ready so not rushing it
Your goal is to qualify for Kona, where are you going to need to be?
- Doing Ironman Santa Rosa
- Mens 45-49 age group
- Last year was under 9:30 for the win of my age group
- Depends on who shows up and how many in the age group
- If I don't make it this time I will try again next year
How did you pick your race?
- Looking to stay close to home
- Didn't want to play a game, just knew I needed to be fit
- Not many who can run a 2:39 marathon so I know if I can stay healthy I have a shot
Is your goal to qualify for Kona or are you looking to be competitive in Kona and compete?
- 1998 was the first year I was at Kona to report on it
- I was exhausted spending the day on that course
- I swore I would never do Kona
- It is more about qualifying as I am not awesome in heat
- I would do the race, but with lower expectations
When you were doing the Running Bum challenge you built up to 90 miles a week, are you close to that still?
- No, I knew the biggest mistake I could make was to keep that going
- Smart thing was to take a step back
- I am better not running every day that is why triathlon was so attractive
When is the last time you really trained in the pool and on the bike?
- 2009 after the Boston Marathon was training seriously for triathlon
What was it like getting in the pool for the first time after a decade?
- Dreadful
- I am comfortable with water but was not training
- Swimming so technique dependent
The new book is your 80/20 Triathlon, what brought about this book?
- When we mimic the training of pro's and their 80/20 we get best results
- I wrote 80/20 running in 2014
- Triathlons asked for a version
Is 80/20 still optimal in the pool where the impact on the body is less?
- Swimmers, even short sprint swimmers, train at high volume and 80/20 is relevant
- Cannot train at all high intensity because will fry yourself
You mentioned getting stuck in the grey zone rut, want to talk about a few ways that happen?
- This book is different than the 80/20 running
- I put in a list of why people get caught in the rut
- Less genetically gifted athletes our ranges are a lot smaller
- There are 8 reasons in the book, the biggest may be the natural pace compromise
One of the things I loved about this book is you give plans but you also it teaches you how to build plans. One you talk a lot about your zones. You talk about power meters, do you use a Stryd Power Meter?
- It is legit, I have used it
- I have not made it a regular part of my training, but it is a useful tool
- Makes my job easier with some athletes I coach
Have you found since you worked with the NAZ group that you do more strength/stretching?
- Yes I took that with me
Resources
Kona or Bust https://www.finalsurge.com/KonaOrBust
Website http://mattfitzgerald.org/
Twitter https://twitter.com/mattfitwriter
Training Plans https://finalsurge.com/TrainingPlans/Fitzgerald
Stryd Power Meter http://bit.ly/strydfs
This week we look at what may be the hottest thing in professional team endurance racing, the Major League Triathlon series. Welcome to episode 93 of the Final Surge Podcast. This week Daniel Cassidy the founder of the Major League Triathlon series joins us to talk about how he got the idea for creating a professional triathlon series and where he sees the growth in the future. If you enjoy this episode please head over to iTunes and rate and review the podcast and please don't forget to subscribe to the show.
How did you get your start in endurance athletics?
- Started racing triathlons as a senior in high school
- Played hockey and baseball until an injury
- Swam/biked to rehab knee and became good
Tell us what the Major League Triathlon is?
- As competing girlfriend was frustrated with how long it took as a spectator
- Saw need to take friends and family members into consideration
- Wanted to make it more exciting to people and grow the sport of triathlon
How does it work?
- Mixed team relay
- 2 men and 2 women per team
- 300m swim, 4-mile bike, 1-mile run and tag to teammate
- One hour and 20 minutes or less
- One square mile or less footprint
- Have 9 teams
So longest leg is on the bike and 4 miles, is this looped or an out and back?
- Loop all courses 4-6 loops on bike and 3 on the run
You mentioned 9 teams, how does the season work, is there a playoff?
- Point system from each race
- Last race counts for 1.5x typical points
Do you have other people participating or just professionals?
- Started to do some other races throughout the weekend
- Playing with other ideas to get other people involved
Is the shorter distance also done to get new people involved as it doesn't seem as intimidating?
- Want to give racers a chance to race more
- Shorter translate into making it easier to watch
- Want to grow exposure for triathlon
Like any sport, it's who is involved that makes it work or not. How has the reception been from professionals?
- Just about everyone who has a shot at 2020 is involved
- Every athlete involved has a shot at making the 2020 Olympics team
- Athletes racing love it which is causing more people to reach out
With the short races and team aspect I would think this would be attractive to TV, have you been talking to any of them?
- Yes we have had conversations with television networks
- It is in our future
Have you thought about doing other distances?
- We likely won't change the distance
- We are working on super sprint individual races
How about the weekend, is this just race day or do you have expos and exhibits?
- Focus on race day
- Do have expo and live music
- Beer gardens and food trucks
- Kid zones
How do you decide where you are doing them?
- We have Atlantic City, Colorado, Tempe and Charlotte
- Plan on staying in those locations but adding on other locations
Do you think triathlons are growing as a sport or do you think it has been stagnant?
- In the US has leveled off some
- Need to attract the younger audience
To last, it needs to be profitable which means you need a product which is athletes people want to see as well as sponsors. What are you doing to make it attractive to sponsors?
- Amplifying reach with online streaming
- 8,000 people at an event are good, but nothing like big sports games so online is important
- Engagement rates and views are growing
When a family or friend of a professional triathlete goes to a race they have hours to spend, how did this play into your planning?
- Community event with food trucks
- Want vendors to be interactive not just products
- Music
What races are left this season?
- Sept 22nd, Tempe AZ
- Oct 6th, Charlotte for Championship
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Pass
Current trainers you are wearing? - APL
Favorite race? - 70.3 San Juan
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Chipotle
Your favorite workout - Hour and a half long run
Resources
Website https://majorleaguetri.com/
Twitter https://twitter.com/majorleaguetri
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/majorleaguetri
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/majorleaguetriathlon/
Why would a professional triathlete decide to take on a Fastest Known Time 5-day challenge of the Long Trail in Vermont? We had Alyssa Godesky on to talk about why she did it and to talk about the challenges she faced. As a professional triathlete and an ultra-marathon runner, Alyssa was no stranger to pain, but the pain of covering 273 miles and over 63,000 feet of elevation is something different.
How did you get your start in athletics?
- Did not do a college sport, played soccer competitively through high school
- At Naval Academy joined Navy Marathon Team - Ran JFK 50-mile to qualify for the team
- Transferred schools and started trail running
- Moved to Baltimore after school and joined Baltimore Running Crew group
- Tried triathlons and stayed with them
You race many triathlons and ultra races. How do you train for both of these at the same time and remain competitive?
- Had years of base miles with ultra racing that can build on
- Ironman training is harder effort training and running more endurance easy miles
What is the difference between Ironman and long Ultra on your body?
- Early on Ironman was just finishing
- Now impact is comparable because goes hard in swim and bike
When did you get to the point about leaving your career to pursue triathlons as a professional athlete?
- 2009 started thinking about it
- Started working with Hillary Biscay in 2011
- Started getting serious about the idea in 2013
- Jan 1, 2014, officially left the job to train and coach
What did parents and friends think of leaving a good job to go after this dream?
- They were worried but supportive
Let’s talk about your latest adventure and your quest for a fastest known time on the Long Trail in Vermont. You just spent 5 days conquering the trail, before we get to the how, let’s star with they why?
- Always looking for challenges
- Was on the bucket list and wanted to get it done before the end of career
- Always fascinated with records
- 2011 became aware of the FKT's
- Scouted pars of the trail in October and had doubts
How long is the trail?
- 273 miles plus need to hike in and out so longer
Why specifically the Long Train in Vermont?
- Out west more elevation but east coast are more rugged so wanted to do east coast
- Vermont in summer sounded good
What is the terrain like on the trail?
- Almost all single track
- No switchbacks, straight up and down mountains
- Elevation gain about 63,000 feet total
- The first two days had longer climbs
What is the key to a long effort like this, are you paying attention to heart rate, pace, just how you feel?
- How you feel
- Much of the training was hiking
- Trying to stay relaxed and upright
How much sleeping did you get?
- First day 4 hours, about 17 hours total over 5 days
Anything you did to be prepared for sleep deprivation?
- Not really much you can do
- More important to train self to sleep anywhere, anytime
What was the biggest struggle you had on this FKT?
- The last day
- Weather had made trails towards end slippery and on top of lack of sleep made it hard
Would you do another one of these again?
- Yes, this one was supported, next time maybe do a solo
You also have your own podcast, IronWomen, what types of guests and topics do you have?
- Started to give a voice to professional female triathletes and what they are doing
- Third season
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Pursuit of Endurance
Current trainers you are wearing? - Brooks Ghost 3
Favorite race? - Ironman Wisconsin
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Rehab 3:1 FTC
Your favorite workout - Hill Repeats
Resources
Website http://alyssagodesky.com/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/alyssagodesky/
Twitter https://twitter.com/alyssagodesky
FKT Site - FastestKnownTime.com
Podcast IronwomenPodcast.com
Are you struggling to get the most out of your racing? In episode 91 of the Final Surge Podcast we talk with Shannon Thompson a sports psychology and mental performance expert at Hypo2Sport in Flagstaff where she works with professional runners and the 2x defending national cross country championship team from NAU. Shannon is going to tell you how to break down your race and get the most out of it mentally.
How did you get involved in the psychology field?
- 3-day eventing athlete and coach
- Rode professionally for 12 years and coached for 10
- Could see the role the mind played in performance and training
Your running career?
- Parents were road races and marathoners
- Ran some as a rider
- Got a boyfriend who was an ultrarunner
At the 2-hour marathon attempt, they asked Kipchoge how his training was going to be different. He replied it wasn’t going to be, his mind was going to be. We also know from Dovid Goggins and Navy Seal Training that when your body is done and you do a test of our muscles it shows there is plenty of glycogen left to keep going. So everyone fails before their body really does. What is it that makes some be able to push more than others?
- Central governor theory
- Stress
We have known about the central governor since noakes wrote about it in, so we have had time to study it, What have we learned about if we can change our relationship with the central governor?
- Study with faces flashed positive and negative
- Study where coaches gave them false positive feedback
- Mental performance plan
Let's take that false positive. If someone is struggling in a race is there anything that can be said to change it or is the athlete's performance or is it they are just having a bad day?
- Tone matters
- Task oriented
- Don't freak out
- Energy matters - Stand and speak with purpose
- You can catch those three guys
Let’s talk about race plans and the mental game. Running is different than team sports. In most team sports, baseball, football, or even individual sports like tennis or golf you do your play or movement and then have time to think. Running or triathlon you are going and you keep going for several minutes or hours. So I would think the mental game is different. How do you come up with a mental gameplan for endurance athletes?
- Divide into 1/3 or 1/4
- Each section a word or focus point
- Needs to be worked on in practice
Can have two runners on a college team who workout and live and eat together, but on race day one outperformes the other. How much of that difference could be mental?
- Many things we do not know, we need to get to know the people involved
- We don't try to compare athletes to each other
If you are sitting down with that runner who is struggling, what type of questions do you ask them to gauge if it is a mental block?
- Explore past races when they were their best
- Find patterns
Can you give us an example of how you break down your races into 1/3s?
- We talk about things we need to do daily, the night before a race, the day of a race, warm ups etc
- First 1/3 is usually about patience
- Second 1/3 is gratitude or love
- Final 1/3 something about them being tough self
I Heard you at the NAU camp a couple of weeks ago. You had a great story about love and how love can have an impact. Can you share that story with our listeners?
- Noticed from interviewing runners their best race stories usually involve love
What are some common traits you see between those who excel and those who struggle?
- Excel - Seek out advice, humble, inclusive, more relaxed
- They love the process
We know you work with college and professional athletes. What do you notice the difference in ages and how things change?
- HS athletes are harder on themselves
We hear a lot about positive thinking. We all know this is important. But let’s look at just this last year’s Boston Marathon. Desi’s self-talk early was I don't feel good. I am going to try to help Flanagan my Olympic Team member, so her self-talk didn't seem to be great. Yet she went on to win. So what do you think happened there?
- The desire to help her friend gave her purpose
Is there much research that shows a correlation between stress and physical ailments?
- Not the level of stress that impacts their health, it is the belief about their stress
- If you believe stress is going to have an impact vs a challenge you are looking forward to, it will have a bigger impact
Books recommend?
- Mindset by Carol Dweck
- Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly
- The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler
- Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal
- Psyching for Sports by Terry Orlick
- Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach
- When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön
- Talent Code and Culture Code by Daniel Coyle
One thing we hear a lot about these days is mindfulness can you talk about how you use and teach it?
- Corework for brain
- If the core is strong you stay more stable
- Quiets noise in the brain
- Increase brains ability to pay attention
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Momentum
Current trainers you are wearing? - Nike React
Favorite race? - Sun Run 10k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Dense and sweet like fudge or icing
Your favorite workout - Technical downhill
Resources
Email shannon@hypo2sport.com
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shannonleighthompson
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/positivevoices/
Website https://highperformanceinstitute.mykajabi.com/blog/
Today we welcome professional runner Garrett Heath of the Brooks Beast Team. Garrett was a 9-time All-American at Standford before turning professional. Garrett won the 2014 and 2015 Edinburgh Cross Country short course races before beating Mo Farah in the world championships in 2016. We catch up with Garrett about what his plans are for the future and talk to him about a time he almost took out a rabbit in a race.
How did you get your start in running?
- Running across the gym in kindergarten and lead to stitches in forehead
- Was always outdoor and active growing up
- Middle school my father pushed me away from football so tried cross country running
You ran for a great program in high school did that help keep you interested?
- Was exposed to high school team while in middle school
There are many successful runners who came out of Minnesota and many of them seemed to spend a lot of time cross country skiing in the winter, did you do much skiing?
- Did almost all skiing in winter
- Does keep up fitness, but grow upper body mass and lose a little in the legs
You had a great career at Stanford and I’ve heard in your college career your coach had some interesting ways to work on overspeed work?
- Used a Vespa and attacked long bungee cord on the back and around our waist and would pull you around the track
- Seems crazy now, but made us run fast from 100-400 meters
When did you know that you wanted to try your hand at professional running?
- Didn't even realize it was a thing until I was in college
- Junior year started thinking how it could happen
- Junior year went and did a few races in Europe which exposed me to it
What was it like running in Europe, how was it different?
- Meets are like 10-hours in college while over there it is more of a spectator event and entertainment so meets are just a few hours
- Really physical
Sounds like there is a model of how to make track and field a success with the public, why don't you think we do this in the US?
- Trying, some races do, some mile races
- College meets too long
- Track Town did a great job with this too
First time you broke 4 minutes in the mile?
- At U of Washington. My brother was running at the Junior Cross Country Championships at the same time in Boulder. I was super excited and at the same time my brother was running and won the US Junior race.
You are now running with Danny Mackey and Brooks Beast Team, how did that connection happen?
- Was running with friends, but they started joining other teams so ended up doing a lot of solo time
- Liked the resources they had available, much like a college team
Early in your career, you focused more on the 1500, then you started with some 5ks but this year you ran a good 10k at the Payton Jordan. Where do you see yourself focusing going forward?
- Getting more used to the longer grinding workouts/runs
- Still, enjoy the 1500, but I am turning into more of a 5/10k guy
- Still unfinished busienss in the 5k and just starting with the 10k
You have had a lot of success running longer distances in cross country, how different is it racing those bad weather cross contry races vs a controlled track race?
- XC you need to change your efforts a lot more like a fartlek
- XC races go by a lot quicker, different things to think about
- Track try to turn off brain
If money and everything were the same would you make a living on the track, roads or xc course?
- Cross Country
- Love the team aspect even on national teams
You have mentioned a few times about the mental aspect of of racing, how much time do you spend working on your mental game?
- The mental game is huge
- Need to work on it in practice
- Being confident in training goes along with it
Not sure how much you pay attention to Let’s Run, but One of the posts from January this year asked who is most jacked Chris Solinsky vs. Garrett Heath vs. Ben True. So how much do you lift and work on strength?
- We did not lift in college hardly at all
- Most of that came from cross country skiing and trying to get rid of some of that upper body weight
- With Brooks and I spend 45 mins 2x a week, but more minimalist lifting than others on the team
One thing a lot of casual observers of our sport may not realize is when you run for a team, it is not like running for a professional football or baseball team with a huge salary. What is that relationship like with your sponsors?
- Spend a lot of time in Brooks office
- Coming out of college was blind to how it worked
- Talked to a lot of agents in the day right after finished NCAA
- The problem was it was in 2009 downturn was not any money
- Really tough sport because the market is limited
- Also, run for Roka Sunglasses
Final Surge round, 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Running with the Buffaloes
Current trainers you are wearing? - Brooks Glycerin
Favorite race? – Edinburgh Cross Country
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? – Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Your favorite workout – Long Tempos
https://www.instagram.com/garrettheath
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/rungarrettrun/
Twitter https://twitter.com/_garrettheath
This week we bring you a "Best Of" episode with Dr. Stephen Seiler and our discussion on polarized training.
Welcome to episode 89 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome 2x defending NCAA XC Champ Coach Mike Smith to the show. Mike has a unique background working for years alongside Jack Daniels before going into college coaching. We talk to Mike about his coaching philosophies. Please remember to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss future episodes and share it on Twitter or Facebook.
How did you start running?
- Played a lot of sports when youth
How did you move from running at Georgetown to Coaching?
- After college tried running some longer distances
- Taught school for a few years then moved to Flagstaff to try training for a marathon
- Moved to Flagstaff and lived there for 6-years
Was there any coaching between when you left college and the head coaching job at Georgetown?
- Worked with Dr. Jack Daniels and learned sports science
- Coached some athletes with Daniels and some club coaching
- When Georgetown opened up it seemed like a natural fit
What was it like working with Dr. Daniles
- At first, it was overwhelming, such a wealth of information
- Learned something through his teaching and stories every day
- The inquiry of why
- Asked how and why all the time
- Unofficial Ph.D. course
You had 4 years at Georgetown with great results. When you heard Eric Heins was stepping down at NAU what was your thought process when you were considering changing jobs?
- I am from the east coast but had my time in Flagstaff with Daniels
- New that if NAU job ever opened it would be a hard decision
- Never really thought it would be so soon
- Leaving Alma-Marta was not an easy decision
- Loved Flagstaff and looked forward to moving back
Took NAU first-year assistant then took over for xc champ any pressure?
- The first year worked with Eric that was the first national championship
- A chance to be an observer and work with Eric for a few months was amazing
- Won the championship in '16
- Pressure doing it again when on own the next year was something I had seen before as I took over Georgetown as a defending national champion
- I learned from the first experience
We focus on the championship race, but 99% of what you do is not at that race it is in practice day-to-day. Can you tell us what you are looking for in practice and what your interactions are like?
- Skilled coaching is done way before the meet itself
- Insecure coaching shows at the meet
- Uncertainty comes out during meets if did our job correctly we are sure we are ready
- Athletes should be able to make own decisions at the moment
- Good coaching preparing them to make decisions
- In practice, we work on those things
What do you think of race plans for your athletes?
- Early on I would draw up race plans that were complicated
- Easy for us to come up with the plan, we don't run the race
- As soon as something happens to plan, an athlete's mind goes to the wrong place
- The athlete needs to just be able to react based on what is going on around
- Coaching happens before the race
Not everyone is going for the win as an individual, can you talk about winning the race within the race, what does that mean to you?
- They will be in situations where they won't have control, they need to understand their place within the race
- We talk about what it looks like to be in 60th and doing your job
- What it looks like to be in 81st when you are trying to get to 71st
- Prepare for the war and not the dream that won't ever come
- Stay calm during your war
Your culture seems to be of a fun team where the top racers are all competitive, are they as competitive with each other in practice as they are in a big race and is that culture dictated by the athletes you have and will change with the athletes or something you instill in the team?
- In our program, we teach what healthy competition is
- We show up to practice to make each other better
- We push the best out of each other
- We have gratitude for our best competition
Tyler Day is one of your top runners and a very interesting story for me. Tyler went to high school less than a mile from my house and I watched him compete in high school. He had that great personality then too. And while Tyler was a good high school runner, I don't think anyone ever looked at him and said he would be a national all-American in college. What do you contribute to the huge jump Tyler made at NAU?
- There are no measurements for belief and will in a lab, cannot measure his will and belief
- Moves well within interaction with the ground
- Some people there is no way to see when something is coming
You said on another podcast that you thought one of the issues you see in training is over-prescription of VO2 work. Can you talk about your training philosophy.
- We have too many coaches who stay inside the box
- Outside the box thinking means you are being creative and looking for improvement
- VO2 is an example of insecure coaching, we don't always need to make things harder
- Use races as part of a workout day if racing frequently
How does your training differ from Georgetown to NAU because of the altitude?
- From an aerobic standpoint there is some benefit
- There are some disadvantages to recovery
Let’s say you were a high school coach living at sea level in a very flat area, and every year the high altitude teams came down to the state meet and over performed, how you would target your planning to offset the advantage the altitude teams have?
- Some of the best runners in the world don't train at altitude
- Altitude team may have some advantages, but not a magic pill
- You need to know they are beatable
- Altitude is a great teacher in suffering, you need to practice discomfort
How does you periodization work. Are you like a lydiard with pretty strict training periods or are you more of the new school where you touch on everything all year with small variations?
- Look at NCAA, people who are running great in September, but after taper feel terrible
- Is there evidence that tapering really works or do we just think it does
- We need athletes ready to go, but we need to look at it differently and not cut so much
- The nervous system has to be firing, look at sprints and not pulling back too much
- We keep volume and intensity high
What are you looking for in runners who may want to run at NAU?
- Men's team is obviously strong and asked about men all the time, but women's team coming on strong
- Women's program has me motivated and within 2-3 years we will be a force in the NCAA's
- We have a great culture and recruiting like crazy
- Men want to come and compete for team titles, for women we want people who want to build something
- We want people who are fired up about being a team and every day show up and work
- We want people who want to be part of a team, not just individuals
- People who understand mechanics are a big part of what we do
- We don't sell, we want people who want to be at NAU
You talk about moving with the ground, I know you run a summer camp for high school runners, is this something that athletes?
- We run a yearly camp once a year
- We show healthy ways to go about running
- Movement piece is crucial
- Drills need correction of drills, do them right or don't do them
- Teach build the engine and masters of movement
Final Surge round, 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Once a runner
Current trainers you are wearing? - Ultra Boost
Favorite race? – Western States 100
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? – Mike and Rhonda's Lumberjack Special
Your favorite workout –
NAU Running Camp
NAU on Twitter
Welcome to episode 88 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome Olympian runner Ruben Sanca. Ruben ran for Cabo Verde in the 2011 World Championships in the marathon and the 2012 Olympics in the 5k. Ruben won 2017 New England Grand Prix Road Racing title and was elected U.S.A. Track & Field New England Male Runner of the Year. We talk to Ruben about how he came to American at age 12, his running career and about his newer company, The Lowell Running Company.
Ruben can you start out telling us a little bit about yourself and how you got started running?
- Born in Cabo Verde
- Came to the US at 12 and in middle school teacher asked who wanted to sign up for cross country
- Ran in HS and recruited to run at U Mass Lowell
So you came to the US at the age of 12. I don’t know a lot about Cabo Verde besides it’s off the coast of West Africa. Did you speak English? Tell us what it was like for a 12-year-old to come here?
- Dual citizenship
- From tiny island
- We came here for health reasons and education
- Was hard to get here, took all our money
- Came here on Green Card Visa
Was running big there or something you didn't discover until you got here?
- Soccer is big there not running
- I played soccer when I was here too
- I was a very good soccer player and had to make a decision in 11th grade as soccer and XC were in the same season
- If quit soccer to run, I had to make sure I took it very seriously
You ran at U Mass Lowell then you went on to compete at the World Championship in 2011 in the marathon and the London Olympic Games in the 5k in 2012. What was it like competing in the Olympics?
- I was able to represent Cabo Verde
- My college coach trained me for it and came with me
What is your running goals now?
- Training for 2020 Olympics in the Marathon
- Run many local road races but big focus is on the marathon
You are working full time, you train 100 miles a week and you manage the Lowell Running Company. How do you fit it all in?
- I get up early
- I use technology to save time
So one of the ways I first started noticing what you were doing was from the activity online with the Lowell Running Company. Can you tell us what the LRC is and how that started?
- Started 2016 as I was coaching a few local people
- Partner with Bay State Marathon to help people run BQ times
- The goal of LRC was to be a full-service coaching firm
- Training plans or custom training plans to fit around their schedule
Do you do group runs or is it all virtual?
- We run clinics every 4-5 weeks to answer questions
- We have group runs for long runs once a week
Is your coaching all in person or do you virtual coaching too?
- We do both
- We do training for other races too
- We track the goals of each runner and their results
Do you work with mostly marathoners or do you work with others?
- Work with 5k-marathon
- Specialize in half and full marathon
- Runners are a mix of I want to finish and those who are more experienced
How are you using Final Surge in your coaching?
- Love it to see what the athlete does
- I get notifications on my phone for specific athletes and go through all the athletes weekly
- Use the messaging often in the app through my email
- Great for busy people to make it easy as they get their text message of the workout or look at their calendar on the phone
Final Surge round, 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? Lore of Running by Tim Noakes and for enjoyment: Running with the Buffaloes by Chris Lear
Current trainers you are wearing? - New Balance 880’s
Favorite race? – Boston Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? – Sirloin steak with sweet potatoes and Endurex R4 Endurance Formula
Your favorite workout – 4xmile at 5k pace for track and for marathon 3x3mi at marathon pace w/ a mile recovery at 95% marathon pace. This is one of the standard marathons workouts I do at the beginning of every marathon block.
Resources
Lowell Running Website
Sanca Foundation
Facebook Page
Twitter Account
Welcome to episode 87 of the Final Surge podcast where today we welcome Dr. Justin Ross to the show. Justin specializes in sports performance and has a practice called Mind-Body Health in Denver Colorado. Dr. Ross combined his love for endurance sports with his love for psychology to put together a practice that helps his patients perform their best on race day. We talk about getting ready for the big race and why the mind game is so important to perform your best. Dr. Ross see's patients both in person and online. Feel free to connect to him about what you may be struggling with.
I know you got started later in life in endurance sports and not in high school like many of our guests, can you tell us how you got your start?
- First marathon when 29
- Got me hooked on running and triathlons
What are you doing now?
- Raced a few 70.3 triathlons
- Just raced 8th marathon which has been the focus of the last three years
You are a psychologist now a specializing in sports performance. Was there a moment, something specific that happened that made you decide I want to go in this direction?
- In college thought it would be physical therapy or athletic training
- Took psychology classes and got interested
- Interested in the overlap of how mind and body relate
So walk me through how this works with you. Someone contacts you and says I need help, can you walk us through the whole process of how you get started with them?
- Often it is not an issue but staying ahead of a problem
- Regardless of ability level, they know it is going to hurt and how to deal with it better when it comes
What are the most common issues that you hear from endurance athletes about mental?
- How to deal with the perceived effort
- Learn how to deal with discomfort
Navy Seals talk about dealing with this a lot in their training. They say when you think you are done your body has 60% left to give still so how can you work on changing the perception of effort?
- Endurance athletes train so much that you need to learn how to deal with them in your training cycle
- How you deal with it while training is how you will deal with it while racing
What is the big difference between working on them on race day and in training?
- Key in on things in training so you are ready to go there on race day
- A difference could be the pressure that you put on yourself on race day
How often do you have someone come to you and say my 5k workouts are getting better and I am improving month over month but on race day I'm not improving?
- It's almost always something going on mentally
- Need to work to figure out what that psychological barrier is
How do you pinpoint what that might be?
- Asking the right questions
- Looking at training and races and discuss what is happening when
Are your patients in person or virtual?
- Both, do webinars too
- Denver and Boulder is a hotbed, but Internet opens it up to more
A college coach contacts you and says my team is doing great but year over year we cannot put it together on race day for our Championship race. What sort of general advice would you have for them?
- If contacting me with just a couple weeks, it is too late. You need to work on this for months like training
- Learn to bring this into the process of training every day
When you say put yourself into these situations are you talking about getting to the point of fatigue like you would be in a race and then putting yourself in certain situations, or what are you working on?
- We cannot change what we are not aware of
- The first week pay close attention to your thoughts while training
- What do you tell yourself when things get challenging
- Training logs are a great place to put these notes in
Inner Game of Tennis teaches that self-talk doesn't work, you need to just do the reps so many times that you just go there, do you teach self-talk?
- Everyone does self-talk, tennis, golf and such are start and stop sports not always action like endurance sports so they are different
- Endurance sports self-talk is critical when you are spending 3-4 hours on a course
This year's Boston was interesting because Desi said she wasn't even going to be finishing the race and told Flannagan that she was willing to help her in any way. Then an hour and a half later she is competing to win, what lessons can we take from that?
- We perform better when we are surrounded by people
- When we are there to help others it can change how we feel
What about goals, are goals part of what you do and if so how important are they?
- Two things we are working on is the perception of effort and tolerating discomfort
- Stronger your goal and more meaningful, the more likely you can call upon that to change your perception of effort
How do you work to set goals with clients?
- Individually driven
- What do you want to do, is it a certain time or about getting back to enjoyment?
- Numbers are great, but we can live and die by them
We hear a lot about the placebo effect, and it seems to be a real thing, can you tell us how we think things are working and maybe they are not? Like KT tape or compression sleeves, we hear people who swear by them and others who show research that they are doing nothing. Can you talk about it?
- Placebo is a sugar pill that cannot do anything, but you think it does
- Cognitive Bias effect is when it could be helpful but the research is not there so if they believe it helps them
- Research shows that these things can change performance by like 1%
On race day someone is going for heir BQ and maybe this is their last shot to get it, how can they use their mind to push through?
- Anyone thinking about BQ'ing you need to work on your mind several months ahead of time
- Be aware, keep a log of thinking
- Cognitive appraisal - How are you paying attention to how you feel and what you are thinking
- Thoughts are modifiable, if aware you can shift thinking
- Be calm in your mind
We talk about doing this a lot during training, but what about meditation?
- Meditation is fantastic at calming down the nervous system
- A lot of benefits to help learn how to shift focus
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Endure
Current trainers you are wearing? - Newton Distance Elite
Favorite race? - Light At End of Tunnel in Washington
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Coconut Water
Your favorite workout - Tempo Runs
Resources
Website
Welcome to episode 86 of the Final Surge podcast with our guest Olympian turned coach Tim Broe. If you were a running fan in the early 2000's you probably remember Tim as one of the few bright spots in US Distance running scene. Tim is now a professional coach with the Saucony Freedom Track Club. We talk to Tim about his early days in running, his Olympic experience and the devastating injury that ended his career to early. We then talk about his latest experience with the Freedom Track Club. If you enjoy this episode please rate us on iTunes and follow us on Twitter @FinalSurge.
How did you get your start in athletics?
- Started running in middle school, got dragged into it
- As a 7th grader ran 5:45 and kept improving
- Won a state title as a junior in high school
Ran under legendary Michigan coach Ron Warhurst as a professional right?
- Ran at Alabama, they offered me a scholarship
- 12-time All American, but didn't take it serious enough until last year
- After senior year worked at a local shoe store and trained by himself
- After coming in 4th in the steeple in the Trials became more motivated
- Kevin Sullivan a Michigan runner and coach put him in touch with Ron
- Moved to Michigan to train with him
What was that like, what makes him such a great coach?
- He lives it 24-7
- First time met Ron had me put on spikes and do 20x400 with every 5th one at 59
- Nailed it and next day did a 2-hour run
- Ron took me after hearing that
- He very much determines workouts by how you feel that day
2004 you made US Olympic team in the 5k, what was it like running for your country in the biggest show in running?
- Won trials, but didn't have a qualifying time
- Had to run 13:21, went to London and ran 13:18
- Felt stressed out and didn't have a chance to enjoy it as much as should
- Did opening ceremonies and the whole two weeks
You mentioned had to go get a qualifying time after your Olympic Trials win. Running in the early 2000’s wasn’t exactly the high point in American distance running. You were one of the few bright spots during this time. Was it something that you paid attention to while it was happening?
- Most high school programs in the 90's did not do much volume, everything was short intervals
- Did not figure it out until senior year in college
- The difference now is coaches have their athletes do a lot more tempo, LT, CV pacing for more volume
Talk about how your career came to an end after the high
- Foot injury, bones were fused together
- Had to have bone removed and it lead to a lot more issues
- At Olympics had a broken foot and torn plantar
- Just added up quickly
How did you make your transition into coaching?
- That is all I knew
- Was at home and visiting old high school coach
- Started helping with boys team in 2007 and ended up taking over
- Worked with a non-profit group of professionals
You coach the Freedom Track Club how did that start
- Started coaching Ben True who was a Saucony Athlete
- Saucony approached him about creating a team
When you start with Wesley high school athletes, what type of program are you trying to bring to them to develop younger runners?
- Started with performance increase enjoyment, but found kids don't care as much as they do just belonging to a team
- One kid had early success which helped develop the team size
- Be a good teammate and work hard
- Do everything right and the times will come
How different was it coaching a team with 11 kids vs 78?
- The message was the same, approach was a little different
- The program had no expectations
- They are driven, usually have to pull them back
I've heard your runners you coach and you talk about taking control of the race, what does that mean for you?
- At some point, if you are a competitor you need to make your mark and take a lead
- Focus on racing and not times and times will come
What advice do you have for someone who maybe isn’t at the level to compete near the front and maybe focusing on just setting a PR. What advice do you have for your kids who are not going for a win, but are a number 6 runner on your team?
- Win your battles
- As race unfolds will be with a few kids, that is your battle for win, for a title
- In a big workout may have them do a workout then run a flat out 400 at the end to build confidence at end of a race
Last fall you had a big signing with Molly Seidel to the Freedom Track Club. I saw she got sick before Payton Jordon, how is her training going?
- Cleaned up form stuff
- Been working hard in weight room
- Training at 85% level, still building a base on her before hit it hard
- Will run 10k next week to get a qualifier for USA's
Ben True raced the Pre 2-mile race this past week, how did his race go?
- Ben moved on from team last year
- He moved to Hanover and the coaching was just to far so parted ways
How will the team develop over the next 2-3 years?
- We don't have the budget of a Nike, but we are developing a good program
- Will add a few more after NCAA Nationals this summer
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Men of Oregon
Current trainers you are wearing? - Kinvara
Favorite race? - Billy Mills 10k and favorite to run was 3k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Donuts and chocolate mill
Your favorite workout - The Michigan
Resources
Email Tim
Welcome to Episode 85 of the final surge podcast where today we have the pleasure of bringing you one of the best young track runners in the country Jess Tonn. Jess is fresh off her sub 32 10k win at the Payton Jordan. We talk to Jess about her running career to date including her stellar high school career where she qualified for 4 Foot Locker’s, her running career a Sanford and how it has been making the transition to running with the Brooks Beast team. We talk to her about the amazing coaches she has been blessed to have so far and how that has helped her in her own coaching career with RunDoyen. Jess’ energy is contagious and we hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did recording it.
Tell us how you got started running when you were younger
- Started when was 12
- Mother worked in the athletic department at ASU so did many sports
- Tried many sports like soccer, running came naturally
- PE teacher recommended after-school running program
- Joined youth team for USATF
- Ran at Xavier in Phoenix for high school
You had quite a high school career, 4 year Foot Locker qualifier, 14 state titles in cross country and track and you went to an academically challenging high school with Xavier, how hard was it to put in the time you needed to be successful in school and as such an accomplished high school runner?
- So much pressure on student athletes to perform now
- Phoenix is hot had to meet at 5 am 6 days a week
- Academics suffered a little because of hours
- Had a great support system
Was there ever a time in high school you thought I want to be a professional runner some day?
- When made her first Foot Locker coach sat them down and said this was a big deal
- Wasnt until college that decided it was a possibility
You also had a successful college career as a runner at Stanford, another tough academic school. There are dozens of young women runners in high school who go onto college and you never hear from them again except on Let’s Run message boards saying whatever happened to….. Why do you think you were able to make the jump to the next level?
- Amazing coaches
- Jeff Messer, high school coach developed well and left room for potential
- College transitions that were hard were the lifestyle not running
What did you study at Stanford?
- Communications
In November 2015 you signed a contract with Brooks to run as a professional. How hard or easy was it to make the decision to put off your career and chase your dream of being a professional runner?
- Easy decision
- When made top 3 in NCAA's knew I wanted to keep going
- Family and coaches supported making a decision to run professionally
What was it about Danny Mackey and the Brooks Beast team that attracted you to them?
- Prioritized what ideal position would look like as far as living and training
- Coach, team atmosphere were all important
- Visited a few teams and companies
- Brooks HQ atmosphere was unbeatable
- Coach Mackey was invested in each individual
Earlier this month you ran the 10k at Payton Jordan, I want to talk about the race in some details and ask you a few questions about different stages. But first, what were your expectations going into it?
- Had nagging issues earlier this year but decided at USA's wanted to focus on 10k
- Had strung together 75-80 mile weeks
- Training at altitude coming into it
- A few workouts were tough but indicated was in shape
- Was great to go back to Stanford
- Goal was 31:45-32:15 range
- 2 weeks out did a really hard workout and nailed it so knew was ready
What was that really hard workout?
- 7x 1k, 600 with short rest
Do you see yourself as a 10k runner going forward?
- 2020 plan to try and make 10k team
You mentioned you had some injuries, can you talk about getting through those?
- Had to pull out of Olympic trials which was devastating
- Had to learn to implement crosstraining
- Last year was on a long run and snapped a foot bone, came out of nowhere
- Was in the middle of training block and was in a boot for 8 weeks, 12-week block with no running just swimming, biking and elliptical
- Had to work on the mental game
Rabbit took the group through almost 3k at just sub 32:00 pace and when the rabbit left the track things started to stretch out. At 3200k you were down by about 9 second and by 5k it was almost up to 15 seconds and you were leading a chase group in 3rd. When the lead grew to almost 15 seconds did you ever think I should have gone with Ichiyama?
- No, had a solid race plan
- Stayed relaxed over the first 5k
- The goal was to be around 16:00 at 5k and was within 2 seconds of that
- Was confident in my race plan
- 6-8k was a little tough but started closing the gap so gained momentum
- When got tough kept saying one more lap
- Knew if was within contact with a mile to go could win
In the last mile your group started closing the gap, were you girls talking and communicating as it looked like you took turns leading the chase?
- No communications, it just happened and took turns leading chase
- Knew that workouts had set me up to win at end
- Biggest goal was to compete to win
With 800 to go the lead group was back to 5 and Cliff made a push then with 500 to go Pagano made a push, and you were content on the back of the 5 person pack, what were you thinking, what was your plan as you saw what was going on ahead of you?
- Learned to stay out of chaos but aware if any moves happen
- Knew when I made a move had to be definitive
- I could have run faster if made my move a little earlier
That last 400 you close in 70, and when you went at 300 there was no doubt who was going to win, you looked so strong. Did you feel as strong as you looked?
- Felt strong and had been working on mechanics and turnover
- Through all the drills we had been doing I could feel it pay off over last 200
What have been your keys to consistency across her high school, college, and professional training that have supported your long-term evolution to a sub-32:00 performer?
- Having fun has been huge for me
- Staying healthy is tricky because my body feels different now
- Have had to get to know my body
- Always riding that line but every injury I can see where I made a mistake, they were learning moments
- Super in-tune with how I am feeling and communicating with the coach
- All the pre-hab, rehab is important to staying health
What are your plans for he rest of the race season?
- 5k in June
- Good 1500 at Portland Track Festival
You are now coaching with RunDoyen and we will leave a link in the show notes if anyone wants to get a hold of you about coaching. You have been blessed with amazing coaches since high school. You had one of the top high school coaches in the country with Jeff Messer, then, of course, Stanford and now with the Beast club. All of your coaches are successful, but I am sure they are all different in their own ways and coaching methods. What have you learned from your coaches that you will use in your coaching?
- Communications
- Adaptability and being flexible and not married to plan, life happens
- Clients range from college runners hoping to make the team to mom's
- Use Final Surge makes it easy to communicate
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Peak Performance
Current trainers you are wearing? - Brooks Ghost 10
Favorite race? - 10k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Gatorade, water and protein
Your favorite workout - 4 sets of 4x400 or 5-6 mile tempo on the track
connect with you online?
@JessTonn on Instagram
@JessTonn on Twitter
Jess Tonn on RunDoyen
Welcome to episode 84 of the Final Surge podcast with our guest Steve Fleck. Steve is an athlete turned announcer and you will hear him at many events including Ironman Triathlons, Rock 'N Roll Marathons and streaming online covering track meets. We talk to Steve about how he got involved in announcing after his athletic days were over and what it is like behind the scenes at these big events. Make sure you follow Steve on Twitter @SteveFleck and follow us @FinalSurge.
How did you get your start in athletics?
- Distance running in 70's in high school
- Triathlon's in early to mid 80's
- Cycling now
How did you make the transition to announcing at events?
- Volunteered at Ironman Canada with Steve King calling out names and with promos
- 4-5 years ago started to do it full-time
- 30-35 events a year across North America
Do you do mostly triathlons or is it a mixture of events?
- Do all three running, cycling, and triathlons
- Runner's Space streaming
As a high school coach, I go to several cross country and track meets a year. There is a huge difference between the experience at a meet that just announces the next event and a meet with an announcer giving you details about what is going on and who the players are. What do you see as your job responsibility when you announce a race?
- Information provider
- Engage with sponsors and spectators
- Make the local officials get love
Are most of your events large events or do you work smaller events too?
- Fits better at larger events
- But have local races that want the big event feel
What does your preparation look like for an event and how does it differ from like a local 5k race to a big Rock n Roll?
- Bigger events more scripted
- Read promos as part of sports presentation
- Research who is running
If you are doing an Ironman triathlon what does that look like for you? You are out there so long how do you fill that space?
- A balance between talking too much and too little
- Don't talk non-stop
- Need to fill time with engaging stories
- It is all about the finishers at the end
- Awards for age groups
Any disaster or horror stories?
- Weather is the biggest factor
- Irrate participants will bring troubles
- Upset about things like flavors of Gatorade on course
Do you have a favorite race to do?
- Like a really competitive race on the track 800-1500m where you can build a story
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - David Epstein The Sports Gene
Current trainers you are wearing? - Favorite all-time is Nike Waffle
Favorite race? - Any big events like Ironman would love to do NYC Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Beer and Risotto
Your favorite workout - Threshold/Sweet Spot
Resources
Steve Fleck on Twitter
Steve Fleck on Instagram
Welcome to episode 83 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome new professional runner Sam Parsons. Sam is a runner with Adidas and the new Tinman Elite running team in Boulder Colorado. In this episode, you will hear the enthusiasm Sam has for running and the running profession. We talk about Sam's high school days, his transition to running at NC State and what it is like running for Tinman, Tom Schwartz who he calls the mad genius of running. The Tinman Elite crew uses Final Surge as a training platform and it is great to hear the enthusiasm Sam and his teammates have for the sport. We dive into how the mental part of running is so important to Sam and how his training has changed under Tinman.
How did you get your start in running?
- Multi-sport athlete Soccer, Swim, Lacrosse
- Watched sister run
- Soccer coach encouraged him to run cross country for conditioning
- Ran Nike Cross Nationals as a Senior
After high school, you ran at NC State. What was a harder transition, transitioning from high school to college or college to the professional ranks?
- Transition to college was harder
- Burn out is high because of greater impact on the body
- Wasnt ready for demands on the body
You mentioned one of the harder parts of jumping from high school to college was the milage demands, what were you running in high school?
- High School we had good workouts but the next day was an easy 30-minute recovery run, in college it was a 12-mile recovery run
- NC State is a development school with a 2-4 year plan
What about the mental aspect, how has the mental part of running and competing changed as you have grown?
- Need to train the mind to be ready to close a race out
- Mind needs to tell yourself you will win and are unstoppable
- Need to stay positive
How do you think you changed to become a more serious runner?
- Too many late nights
- As a professional need to take care of your self with sleep and eating right
Many of us follow professional runners on Instagram and see runs in absolutely stunning locations, then naps, and free shoes… What has the transition to a professional runner been like?
- Never want to look back and think should've, could've, would've
- Boulder is a great place to be at
You are running for Adidas now, how did that relationship develop?
- Started as an intern for Adidas tennis
- Would finish work and head down to the running department
- Fell in love with the company when worked for them
- Ran into Drew Hunter when he was racing there
- Reached out to Tom Schwartz
You did the BAA mile where you got 5th and then recently ran the mile at Drake’s. You ran a lot of 5-10ks on the track in college so is this miler thing just part of the training season you are in or what are your plans?
- Tom recognized I should run sub-4
- If I want to be a great 5-10k runner I need to close in 55 seconds
- Need more speed work for long-term
- Working on developing speed
Let’s talk a little bit about training. You are now training with Tinman, Tom Schwartz. We have had him on the podcast in the past and this past January I had the privilege of getting to spend a little time with him while at a clinic. What has been the biggest change in your training?
- Tom is a mad genius
- He loves hills
- We run a lot slower now, easy days are now 7:30 pace
- Always wants us ready for workouts
- We don't taper, always ready to race
- Don't work on one system, work on speed and strength in workouts
Tinman is known for his CV efforts. How do you define CV effort, what pace is that for you?
- Critical Velocity
- Pace you can hit and feel comfortable, K's a CV are about 2:55 or maybe 5:00 pace on longer runs
- Training is not hard, but easy workouts
- We did 8x600 last week with rest of 1:14, that exact
- Very rarely do we go hard to the well in a workout
One of our loyal Twitter follers MacBane, a Twitter follower wants to know
How do you have fun on race day?
- Smile
- Eat that cookie, enjoy it
- Opportunity to put on a show
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Unbroken and Beyond Jogging
Current trainers you are wearing? - Adidas Solar Boost
Favorite race? - 5k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Tripple Berry Smoothie
Your favorite workout - Mile Repeats and Long Run
Resources
Podcast with Tinman
Sam on Twitter
Sam on Instagram
Tinman Elite on Instagram
Welcome to episode 82 of the Final Surge podcast with our guest this week Zach Cole. Zach has built a new website called HopDash.com which is helping connect runners to running locations and groups. It is a great way to find a group to run with when you travel, or maybe just to discover new running areas in your city.
You launched a new site called hop dash.com and I want to dig into it, but before we do that we like to introduce our listeners to our guests find out a little about who you are, if you could tell our listeners how you got started with running?
- College basketball player
- Started running with a morning group after college
- Continued to train
- Joined track team
You talk about how you started running with a few groups, HopDash your new site is about running with groups, so can you give us a background on the site?
- Discover running groups in your city or places you visit
- Traveled a lot and always looking for running clubs could join for a workout
- Running is more exciting when you can connect with people while doing it
Do you find that groups are comprised of similar runners or are most groups varied in who is running with them?
- Most groups have good variety
- Most have some new runners and some more advanced
When I look at your HopDash and I click on one of the cities, let’s say Boston, on the right I see interesting places to run and then on the bottom I see a calendar and each day has a different set of runs and each of those runs dots in the upper corner, one green, two yellow, three orange dots what do those mean?
- Can be confusing, reworking that
- Intent to show how easy or difficult a given workout may be
- Assigning the difficulty is difficult because most groups have a wide variety on the same day
How does it work, who updates the workouts?
- There is an input field where clubs can create their team and workouts
- Using a Google Sheets API
- Will be making it more scaleable in the future
The interesting places to run, are they user-generated too?
- First few cities built from experience
- Now users submitting tips and ideas to be included
- As it builds out will make it searchable with filters
How do I know if the group I am looking at is more casual vs more serious?
- When you read the descriptions of the clubs and workouts it gives you a lot of information on what to expect on that run
- External link to running clubs website to learn more about them
You are relying on user feedback and people entering their information, so how do you see this growing?
- Contribute link at top of website
- Can add city and club and workouts
- Several cities being worked on right now
Who are some of the interesting people you have met while traveling?
- Ran in Vancouver with a group there
- In Boston last year ran with The November Project
- TrackSmith Group in Boston
- In NY this winter ran in the 'Bomb Cyclone' had classic NY character
What is the hardest or most memorable place you ran?
- Last fall ran in Mammoth with Mammoth Track Club on a track at 7k feet
- Half marathon run up to 9k feet and swam in a freezing lake
- Tim Tollefson showed another trail run that was incredible
- Auburn CA during Western States and a trail run it was over 100 degrees, no shade, 2k feet of gain was the hardest run
We see training professional groups forming around the country, but also we see many local training groups and running communities. Why do you think these are growing?
- Something powerful in training with a group
- A routine helps grow individual and group success
- Fun to have other people to cheer for and be cheered on
- Investing in other people's success helps all involved
- Success keeps people going
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Once a Runner
Current trainers you are wearing? - Challenger 3's
Favorite race? - Santa Cruz to Capitola Wharf
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Burger and Beer
Your favorite workout - 1600 repeats
How to connect with you?
- Hopdash:
- Zach on Twitter
Welcome to episode 81 of the Final Surge podcast where today we welcome back Neely Spence Gracey to the podcast to talk about Boston. Boston is less than a week away and we talk to Neely about what a first-time runner should consider when heading to Boston and we take a look at some of the top names on the men's and women's race. We even get Neely to predict the winners of both races. Neely uses the Final Surge platform in her coaching, if you are interested in getting coached by Neely head over to NeelyRuns.com.
You were the top American Women at Boston in 2016, you want to explain why you are not running this year?
- Pregnant
- Due August 4th
- Boy
How will the weather affect the race?
- It can change the morning of the race, so be prepared for it to change last minute
If it is a little rainy like they are predicting, are those good conditions for a good fast race?
- Personally, I would like it
- The wind will be a bigger factor
What should first-time runners know about the course?
- Look up Boston Marathon Preview video
- Need to track pace and be ok with being off at times, take the average not the moment pace
- Easy to get caught up and go to fast in the first few miles
- Use first 3 miles as a warmup run
Men's Elite Marathon
Is there someone you think can knock off the defending champ Geoffrey Kirui?
- Anything can happen on marathon day
- Can never predict, but a good chance he won't win
Last year Galen Rupp was runner-up and came back and won Chicago, what do you think the chance is of him winning and running a fast time?
- Galen is a racer, he will let others do the work early and take over late
- Kirui may push the pace early or he may be the one who waits for Rupp to make a move
- Don't count out Lelisa Desisa or 2016 winner Lemi Berhanu
Who will win the men's race? Lesisa Desisa
On the women's side, this is a really deep field. How will this play out?
- This race is going to be exciting
- I think Molly Huddle will perform big
- Desi and Shalane have more experience
One of the wild cards is Jordan Hasay, how do you see her playing a factor?
- She is back and knows what to expect
- She is used to the big spotlight
- She has had 2 really good marathons
- She is young and has been doing impressive things
- She is a wildcard
We have some veterans with experience in Deena Kastor and Kellyn Taylor, can one of these vets step up and surprise people?
- Deena is back and you can never count her out
- Kellyn has been chipping away at her goals and making performance gains each year. She has stayed healthy the last year and coming off a good fall season
Flanagan is coming off of NYC, can she repeat that at Boston?
- You always need to get a little lucky on race day
- She will be ready to race
Edna Kiplagat is the defending champ, is she going to be hard to knock off?
- She knows what she needs to do to win and will make them work
Who is someone we need to keep an eye on in the women's race?
- Serena Burla
- She races a lot overseas
- Running fast in the last year
- Her first big race since cancer surgery
Who will win the women's race? Kiplagat
What other advice do you have for runners to enjoy the weekend?
- Spend time to enjoy the experience
- They treat everyone like royalty
- Maximize the weekend
NeelyRuns@Gmail.com
NeelyRuns.com
Neely on Twitter
Neely on Instagram
Welcome to episode 80 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome medical doctor Josh Emdur to the show. Josh has an interesting practice, he works for SteadyMD which changes the way the people interact with their primary care physician. Imagine, instead of calling your primary care doctor for an appointment you texted them and shortly thereafter you were talking to your doctor via a video chat. Dr. Emdur's practice does just that and he specializes in working with runners. You can find him at SteadyMD.com/running.
Josh is doing some interesting thing around medicine for runners
If you could tell us how you got started as a runner?
- 8 years ago as became a parent
- Played soccer, lacrosse was always a better runner than a player
- As a physician and parent in Boulder turned to running
- Ran Rock n Roll marathon in San Diego in 2011 and set sights on Boston
- Wasn't until he hired a coach that he had his big breakthrough
What was it working with a coach that really changed things?
- Had qualified for Boston, but never fast enough to get accepted
- Didn't understand what it meant to run easy and the 80/20 rule
You are online at SteadyMD.com/running can you tell us what this site is about?
- Been a family doctor for the last decade
- Concierge medical service for runners
How does that work, how do you treat patients virtually?
- Medical school taught 80% of diagnosis is in history
- This allows you to take the time to get to know them and their history and goals
- Subscription service outside of health insurance
- Build a 1-on-1 relationship with the client
- Constant communications with patients
I’ve seen on your social media that Neely Spence Gracey uses you, being in Boulder are you working with a certain level of runners or anyone?
- Athlete doctor
- Athlete care network
- A new way to handle primary care with someone who understands runners
- Works with some coaches and athletes as part of their team
- Work with any athlete trying to help them get to their goal
You have mentioned you are more like a primary care doctor for athletes. Why do I need a primary care physician when it seems specialist is more of the trend these days?
- Primary care doctors look at the big picture
Can you practice in any state?
- Have to be licensed in every state
- Currently licensed in 26 states
You are obviously using technology to make this work, what do you with the future of healthcare technology such as all the data that Apple Health is grabbing, Do you or can you use and monitor that?
- The current system is not working
- High deductible systems are not working, discourage care
- Here they have access to a Doctor
- Fan of GoodRx
It seems that technology is lowering the costs for just about everything in our lives these days, but the one place it is not lowering is our healthcare costs. Healthcare costs total about 18% of our GDP last I saw, without getting into the politics of health care and ObamaCare, do you see subscription services like this as a future way to lower costs?
- It doesn't cost a lot of money to take good care of people
- 5 minutes with primary care physician does not move the needle
- It takes time with patients to dig deeper
If someone is already paying obscene amounts for health insurance why would they spend the $79/mo on this too?
- Runners pay a lot for health insurance and don't even use it because not happy with the experience
- Get on a higher deductible plan and use this to help with basic health goals
- People are not used to paying to go see the Doctor, takes time to get used to, but paying for expertise
I don't go to the doctors often, I don't think I have been to a Dr. in at least 7-8 years. Last time I was there I had an appointment and all I remember is it took almost an hour longer before I was able to see the doctor. How would an appointment work with you online?
- Video chat, HIPAA compliant
- The first appointment is over an hour going over history, that first visit is important to get to know who caring for
If received a prescription from you would insurance cover it?
- Yes
I wake up this AM and not feeling well and want a consultation, how long would it take to get an appointment?
- Text through the app and will be able to see the same day
What does an appointment with you look like?
- Check vitals
- Get a history of what is going on
- Come up with a treatment plan
What do you think is running related injuries vs general health issues for your clients?
- 50/50
- Most start with running injuries but then develops into a general relationship
I wake up on a Tuesday morning with a race this weekend and I am feeling something coming on. You are off on your vacation for a couple weeks rock climbing in South America, what happens if i need service while you are gone?
- We have other doctors in practice that fill in
You mentioned you can be a team member with an athlete and their coach, can you give me an example of how that would work?
- Have an athlete who is coached by a McMillian coach using Final Surge which I can see the information and notes of
- We were able to catch an injury issue early when it was just a stress reaction, not a stress fracture
- Came up with diagnosis and back at it
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Born to Run
Current trainers you are wearing? - Newton
Favorite race? - Boston or any race where people are excited to be there
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Cholocate Milk
Your favorite workout - Anytime pushing myself usually on trails
Resources
SteadyMD/Running Website
SteadyMDRunning on Twitter
SteadyMDRunning on Instagram
Welcome to episode 79 of the Final Surge Podcast. Today we dive deep into training with coach and author Mario Fraioli. We spend a half hour talking nothing but the 5k. We dive into how to race a 5 and how you structure your training for that race. If you are interested in coahing for the 5k you can reach out to Mario on his website MarioFraioli.com or check out our training plans at Finalsurge.com.
We have a special training episode today where we are going to talk about 5k training. But before we do that I want to spend 2 minutes catching up. We had you on last year, people can learn more about you from episode 27. I think most of our listeners know about your Morning Shakeout Tuesday newsletter, but recently you added the shakeout podcast. I loved your recent episode with Shalane. What made you decide a podcast was where you wanted to go next?
- Growing medium
- Way to dig deeper
5k Training/Racing
The 5k is unique because it is the shortest race most non-elite winners will do. It’s also my favorite race distance to coach personally because it’s a great mix of endurance and speed. What do you personally like or not like about the 5k?
- Racer's race
- Can't back off like longer races
- 5k runners are there to race and push themselves to an uncomfortable place
- Blend of good endurance and speed
- Foot on gas the entire time
- Distance Thunder article
For this, I don’t want to focus on the couch to 5k. There are plenty of plans and podcasts about that. I want to focus on someone who is really interested in racing a 5k. And that could be someone looking to break their 24min Pr or go sub 19 or even sub 15. We usually talk about training and then get into racing. But today I want to work backwards. I want to start with racing the 5k to understand what we need to work on in training. You take on a new athlete what general racing advice do you have for a road 5k runner?
- It is going to be uncomfortable
- You won't feel good even if it is going well
Racing a 5k is tough. As I tell my athletes you need to learn to enjoy that ride on a pain train. If you are going for it then from 800-5k meters you are probably going to hurt. Do you find there is work you can do to get them used to that feeling or do they need to race to experience it?
- More experience to race because there are no breaks
If you have someone, maybe a competitive age grouper, not going for the win. How do they race it? Do you like even splits on a flat course for optimal racing?
- Even splits are a nice goal, but not going to happen often and that is ok
- Will often negative split with a fast finish
There is usually a big pack early through maybe 2k then it starts thinning out. Is this because too many people go out to fast?
- You need to keep it close
- Need to maintain contact with the group in front of you
No, of course,e you mentioned experience racing is the best teacher for racing a 5k. You can be in great shape and still fall apart in a 5k so how do you ride that line between going for it and blowing up?
- Pay attention to breathing in the first mile
- Want to get through the first mile in good shape by paying attention to your body
If you have an athlete who says I have this key 5k I want to crush how long is your recommended program and what should the base look like before they even start that?
- Depends on the athlete and where they are
- Could be 6-8 weeks could be or could be a lot longer up to 6-months
What type of base should they be coming off, what should the training look like before the training cycle?
- Not a fan of just base
- Should be doing some intensity and hills
- 10-15 second hills and then working longer
If someone had a 12-week block how much racing can they do before their A race?
- Start with a 5k as a benchmark
- Maybe one a few weeks later
- Do not want to over-race
- If you can find a 1-2 mile race that would be great, something faster to help sharpen you
You mention faster than race pace work, how do you structure those in?
- Once every ten days or so, one ever three workouts or so
Walking through a training week
- Monday - Rest/Recovery
- Tuesday - 6-7 x 800 at 5k pace close to equal recovery
- Wednesday - Easy recovery on longer side
- Thursday - Distance run with strides
- Friday - Key workout, 2x 2 miles at 10k pace with some faster 200/300 at mile pace
- Saturday/Sunday a long run and a recovery run, up to athlete which is when
We talked about racing on that edge, how many 'Seeing God' workouts do you do?
- Once every 4 weeks
- Do not let them know before it is coming
- Don't tell them when last rep is coming
What percent of the total volume for the week is your long run in 5k training?
- 20-30%, 50 miles a week maybe 10-13 mile long run
- It is important to keep the long run in your training
How do you work in workouts that may be specific to the course?
- Need to look at turns, hills, up and down
- Pacing won't be consistent like on track
- Take intervals off track to simulate
- Mimic race course as much as possible
Interested in getting coached by Mario, check out his website
The Morning Shakeout Newsletter
Distance Thunder article
Mario on Twitter
This is a replay best of episode of the podcast where we go back to Episode 39 of the Final Surge Podcast and our talk with Team MPI head coach and co-founder Mark Sortino. Mark is a USA Triathlon Level III Coach, a certified USAT Race Director, and is the head coach of Team USA Paratriathlon. In addition to coaching, Mark is a 16-time Ironman finisher.
Welcome to Episode 39 of the Final Surge Podcast where we talk to head coach and co-founder of TeamMPI, Mark Sortino. Mark is a Level III Triathlon coach and has been featured in publications such as USA Triathlon Magazine and Triathlete Magazine, and was a featured coach in Endurance Films TriMinds series. Team MPI has triathlon training plans available on Final Surge from the sprint distance through the Ironman.
How did you get your start in endurance athletics?
How did you make the transition into triathlons?
What lead to you starting Team MPI? Can you tell us about your group?
How many coaches do you currently have on staff at Team MPI?
You mentioned that you are using Final Surge in your training. How are you using it?
We want to start out with some basic training and triathlon questions for those who are looking to do their first multisport event. For someone who is looking to get started with triathlons, maybe they are someone who has done a lot of running or swimming, what do you see as the most common mistakes made?
You have a wide variety of training plans available on Final Surge, everything from the sprint distance up to Ironman training plans. Let's look at the basic first week for a beginner Olympic distance race plan. Before we talk about specifics, what type of base should a beginner have before they start training for their first triathlon?
Week #1: The first day you have 30 minutes of swimming and 30 minutes of aerobic running with strides.
The 30-minute swim workout is:
-
200 easy choice warmup mix
-
3x the following: (100 easy, :30 RI, 100 moderate, :30 RI, 100 fast, 1:00 RI)
- 100 easy choice cooldown mix
***No paces to hit, just go with feel and intention.
For someone who is coming in without a swim background, how important is it to use perceived exertion on the swim?
After the swim, you have the 30 minutes of running. Should these be done back to back, does order matter, or should they be separate so you are recovered?
Day two of Week #1 is a 30-minute active recovery swim and 30 minutes of bike base spinning. One thing I noticed on the swim is that on the second day you have:
- 150 warmup, build each 50
- 4 x 50 - alternate easy/fast up, then 4 x 100 alternating and again 4 x 50 alternating hard and easy.
For someone who is coming from a run background, we don't see a coach saying go hard two days in a row. How different is it training for the swim?
Then the bike workout is 30 minutes of staying in zones 1-2. Is all of your biking done in heart rate zones versus training paces?
On day three there is a Fartlek run:
- 10 minute EASY warm-up, building to Z2
- 15 minutes of fartlek where you have 4 sprints at any type of distance (for 20 sec, 1 minute, stop sign to stop sign), but make sure you recover before each one.
Why and how often are you incorporating fartlek work into your workouts?
In week #1 you have some days that are just running or just biking, but every day of swimming has either a bike or run. Is this a normal pattern for your triathlon training?
For the new triathlete, they get to the starting line on race day and they are looking at several hundred people ahead of them waiting to get into the water. How do you prepare them for what will likely be a much rougher swim than what they practiced?
Now I'd like to look at an Ironman plan. An Ironman is going to be a lot of additional time in the water and on the roads. Looking at one of the weeks for your ironman training you have a total of 3.5 hours of running, 5.5 hours of biking and just under 2.5 hours swimming. Do you try to keep each week proportional to the amount of time they will actually be spending doing the event on race day or do you focus on what they may need the most help with?
On days where you are doing either both swimming and running, swimming and biking or biking and running, is it important that you do them in the order you will be doing them on race day? Is that not important at all or should you switch it up?
Over the last few years, there have been a lot of technical advancements that make it easier to train, such as the availability of power meters and testing your heart rate variability. How important are these tools to your coaching?
Can you tell us how you are using HRV with your athletes to monitor the overall picture of what is going on with them?
We all live with our Google calendar, our day planners and our family calendar hanging on the fridge, and they all have the same thing - 7 day weeks, which is what we seem to focus on for our normal training periods. You recently had a piece on your TeamMPI.com blog about changing the cycles up some. What do you recommend people consider when putting together a training cycle?
Team MPI has training plans available on Final Surge from the sprint triathlon distance up to the Ironman distance. I will leave the links in the show notes to those plans, but if someone wanted to reach out to you about coaching or other questions how could they best reach you.
mark@teammpi.com or coaches@teammpi.com
The Final Surge... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Born to Run
Current trainers you are wearing? - Newton
Favorite race? - Kona
Favorite meal or recovery drink? - Shakeology and Energy Lab Armor
Your favorite workout - Running: a hard trail run, Bike: short interval work, Swim: long repeats
You can find Team MPI in the following places:
Team MPI website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Welcome to episode 77 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome professional runner Kellyn Taylor and her coach Ben Rosario. Kellyn is coming off her top 10 finish at the New York City Marathon last November is one of the many amazing Americans in the Boston Marathon in April. We talk to Kellyn and her coach about the training to date and what to expect in Boston. They share with us what the workouts look like, what Boston specific work they are doing and get into details about the hills and why they chose Boston for the spring marathon. Make sure you check out Ben's 10-weeks to Boston Blog and follow Kellyn online.
How did you get started in running?
- Ran in middle school
- High School moved to running all year and became state champion
- Went to a Jr College then Witchita State
You ran a great race at NYC, at what point did you decide Boston was going to be your next race?
- After NYC decided was not going to do a spring marathon
- Changed mind shortly after
How is your training going, where are you with it?
- December until a few weeks ago did base phase
- Now in the second week of specific marathon training
Ben, you have been blogging about the training, can you tell us what the weeks are looking like right now?
- In the second week, bumping mileage up to peak mileage which will be 6-5-4 and three weeks out
- Long steady marathon efforts are the bread and butter
Arnold on Twitter asked about the mental aspect of running when you decide you did not want to do a marathon right after NYC was it more for mental reasons or physical?
- Mental is part of it
Ben, when you are coaching elite runners like this, how much do you talk about the mental aspect of racing?
- Try to focus one week at a time
- Want it to be that you are so fit when it comes time to race you are just confident
- They have been through it so many times they know what to expect
- Boston weather so unpredictable cannot plan and just get fit
One thing Ben has been talking about on the blog is how different Boston is. What has been different about the Boston preparation?
- Hammering downhills
- Yesterday 22 miles and probably 19 of them were downhill
- Milage is higher than it has ever been
- Paces have been faster
Listeners love to hear about mileage, what is your mileage at right now?
- 118 right now, will be 130 at peak
- This 118 is about what the peak was going into NYC
Besides the training, is there anything different in your other preparation to get ready for Boston?
- Yes, told Ben I would do things right
- Usually don't eat right, core, prehab, rehab, naps, trying to focus on that stuff more
When you were training for NYC you were training with Steph Bruce, she is doing London this time so are you still training with her or are you doing different workouts?
- We do some stuff together, but we are doing a lot of different workouts
Ben, is this something that was strategic or do you let them decide what marathons they are doing and just guide them?
- Kellyn handles downhills and miles well so Boston made sense
- Steph has run Boston once before and did not go great so she does not have great mojo there. She is more of a finding a good pace and locking in so London made more sense
You and Scott Smith were up in Boston and run parts of the course, what were your thoughts?
- Valuable experience
- Didn't realize how downhill it was
- Got to do every mile of the course at least once, huge advantage
- Now know what to train for specifically
You and Scott have done three of the same races so far, does it help having Scott Smith there to do the workouts with someone?
- Helps a lot
- Nice to have someone to talk to about the workouts
What is a hard workout you have done recently?
- Recently had 3 races back to back and those were hard
- 30x400 with the wind in the face on hills was tough
- (Ben) Our long runs have spice which they don't often think of as workouts, the first day of 8-week we did a 22-mile hilly long run that was difficult up and down. First Boston specific run. Ran 6:20 pace for 22 miles at 4500 feet.
Do you like running hills or would you rather have a flat course?
- Not as fast as some women, not a 2:19 marathoner yet
- Hills help even playing field
- Built to handle them well
- I do like them
You have done quite a few marathons and have experience, Jonathan from Twitter asked what your diet is like leading into the race?
- Going into NYC for the last two weeks took dairy out and eats gluten-free
- Meat, veggie, and rice are staples.
Ben: Going back to the Boston question, seeing it helps the athlete to see it and helps me to sculpt the workouts better. We are doing these hills not to survive Boston but to thrive on the Boston course.
If you are doing 110 miles a week, how much of that is specifically downhill so you can get used to it?
- 4 easy runs a week
- Maybe 40-45 miles of the 110 would be downhill
Another question we got was about easy runs, what does an easy run look like?
- 10 miles in the am and 4-6 in the afternoon
- More of a general feeling than a pace
- Pace on these runs do not make or break your training
What are your goals for Boston?
- Always have specific goals
- I make big goals
- Going to Boston my A goal is to be top-3 and on the podium
Ben, can you talk about what is going on with the 10-weeks to Boston blog at this time?
- Had written plans for public
- Each week I talk about what Scott and Kellyn are doing and what to expect in the next week
- All the tips I can think of to get you ready for the Boston Course
Kellyn what Hoka's are you using for training and
Resources
Kellyn on Twitter
Ben on Twitter
Final Surge on Twitter
NAZ Elite Logs
Coach Ben's 10-weeks to Boston
Welcome to episode 77 of the Final Surge podcast where we talk to coach Steve Palladino on Power meters for runners. Back in episode 61 we addressed power with Jim Vance, today we take another look at it and dive deeper into the numbers and success stories. If you want to get even more information make sure you check out Steve's power Facebook group which you can find in the show notes.
Can you tell us about your background and how you got involved in running
- Ran in middle/high school (4:27 mile)
- Ran in Jr College then U California David
- Post-collegiate ran 2:16 at Boston in 1979 and ran for Adidas
- Then became podiatrist
- Started running again late 30's
- In 40's started competitive cycling and was an early adapter to power meters for bikes
A lot of questions still on power for running, why are you such a fan of running with power?
- Power is an output, closest measure of what is going on metabolically to produce our movement
- Power will show similar effort on track, on roads or even on a dirt hilly trail
- Can take a workout easily off the track with power and will get same workout effects
You mentioned perceived exertion. Alex Hutchinson did a piece recently in Outside Magazine that I thought was very fair taking a look at some of the issues he has with power for running. I have been using a Stryd power meter myself recently and have become a fan, but he has some good points. So why do we need a power meter when we have RPE?
- Power calibrates RPE and RPE modulates power.
- There are days when your RPE are a little off and power will help you recalibrate RPE on those days.
- They fine-tune each other
If you look at Galen Rupp or Alan Webb or Kellyn Taylor these are professional runners who are having a lot of success in their sport and not needing power, so what does this really solve, what is missing?
- Coaches have had success and a lot is on the track so when on track pace works well
- Power you can take it off the track onto a trail or road and do similar workout
- Elites just have not identified it yet and it is starting to make some inroads
- Just like cycling started out as a fringe thing, now all elites use it
With triathlons I can see coming off the bike your legs are tired and running with power may be able to inform how you are feeling. But for someone who is just running an open 10k on fresh legs is power that important?
- Triathletes will benefit from the data, but variable is what type of power can you produce after a bike ride
- Fresh 10k power can be very beneficial for pacing and to keep you where you need to be for a whole race
- Elites are racing athletes where age groupers are more racing for a time so different benefits
We recently added your power Zones to our Final surge platform, Can you talk about how you use zones?
- Added more than Stryd has
- Looked at a lot of races so has been able to adjust and finer tune power zones
- Upper-end zones have more than other systems based on race ranges and information
To get your zones you need FTP or your functional threshold power, how do you get that base number?
- There are several ways to estimate
- Critical Power Test - 3 minute and 9-minute test
- Recent 5k-10k race
- Comes out to about lactate threshold power
A key number is running that you like to focus on is running effectiveness, and I know this is something we are looking at adding to our system, what is running effectiveness?
- How effective you are at converting power to speed
- Important metric
Let’s give an example of how this can change. Let’s say you have a runner who’s running FTP is 350 at 8:00 pace and you train for a few weeks and now you get an FTP of 350 but at 7:45 pace, does that mean the running effectiveness has changed?
- Yes, getting more speed at same power
- Slow moving metric, but can get improvement
What can I do to improve my running effectiveness?
- Somethings we know and some are still unknown
- Leg Spring Stiffness - by weight training/plyos/hills
- Form issues can be improved, horizontal power issues
- Improve running economy
You mentioned running spring stiffness and vertical oscillation, and there are a lot of numbers that power looks at. So I finish a run and log in to look at my Stryd numbers? What should I be really tracking and looking at? Is it my Run Stress Score, or running effectiveness or leg stiffness or what do I need to focus on?
- Don't want paralysis by analysis
- Look at power and power to weight
- Running effectiveness
- Leg Spring Stiffness
- Horizontal Power
- Those are the main ones, others are secondary and help break down the above primary numbers
If someone is looking at this and wants to try it, most plans they are following on the internet are not power plans. How can they look at a workout and modify it for power?
- If you know your power zones and reference them can translate
- Turn distances into durations
- Easier to take those off track and onto other surfaces
You mentioned coaching high school athletes and that you have been using power with your high school kids, can you talk about how that has been going with them?
- Not every kid, but one from each group of similar ability
- Training load can be monitored easier to make sure stays where it needs to be
You have trained some athletes to amazing big PR stories using power. Can you tell us about one or two of those as a demonstration of how power really helped?
How can things like snow effect power?
- Power doesn't change but running effectiveness/pace changes
Where do you think this goes from here? What needs to happen for it to make a big breakthrough like power for bikes have?
- Seeing success over and over
- So many metrics need to focus on simplification
- Success stories getting shared
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Lore of Running
Current trainers you are wearing? - Hoka Stinson
Favorite race? - Boston Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Burrito
Your favorite workout - Long Run with spice
Pallidino Power Project Facebook Group
Welcome to episode 76 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome Chi Running founder Danny Dreyer. Danny is a competitive ultra runner who found a better way to move when he started doing Tai Chi. Danny wrote the book Chi Running which is hugely successful and we talk about his journey into Chi Running. Final Surge has started offering Chi Running Plans and you can check them out under our training plans section at FinalSurge.com
How did you get started in running?
- Grew Up in Boulder and started in 1971
- Decided to do an ultra, trained over 3 years
- Ran man ultra races
- Moved to San Fran started learning Tai Chi
What was it you learned about Tai Chi that you decided this could help with running
- Moved with body around central axis
- Arms and legs got in sync with each other
- Watched those who passed during races and they had relaxed forward leans
- Move from center
If you were speaking to everyday runners what the biggest difference is between what they are doing and Chi Running, what would it be?
- You lose structure/posture and muscles work harder
- Be smart, forward fall
You started off the answer talking about posture, paint a picture for us, what is good posture?
- Stand up aligned tall
- Shoulders over pelvis and pelvis over ankles
Many specialists say power should come from your glutes, do you think what an everyday runner does is different than elite runners?
- Should not be using glutes or legs for power
- Use gravity
- Western runners are too upright and reach and pull
- Kenyans have a forward fall
- Use glutes only proportionately
- Uses every muscle in body in proportion to size
- Look at running injuries, most are from knee down
- Need to use core more
There are three phases of the stance you talk about, can you explain those?
- Propulsion is where body ahead of feet falling forward
- Just pick up feet to keep up with body
- Mid-stride is the flight phase where you leave the ground
- Landing phase is the biggest deal
- Don't want to reach leg out as impact is coming
- Injuries are usually too much impact or overuse
- When land foot under knee or behind it
- Tai Chi relies on opponent to defeat themselves, here
Do you make wholesale changes all at once or is it in phases?
- Every focus will help, but you learn them one at a time
- Need to practice a lot, technique drills
The original book came out in 2004, how has the program changed since then?
- Has exploded to the point where we have over 200 instructors
- More aware of the program
One thing you talk about is race-specific training, how what is race-specific training in terms of Chi?
- Need to learn how a course will have an impact on you and train to the course
- Find out what is on the course, where it is on the course and train to the course
- Have practiced the course so you know what it feels like and how you need to change your strategy
This week we started offering your training plans on Final Surge, can you tell us what to expect in those?
- Everything divided into phases
- Technique early
- Move into conditioning phase
- Learn how to fuel on long runs
- 5k, 10k, 1/2 and full marathon
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Gordon Perry Run Fast and Injury Free
Current trainers you are wearing? - Altra Lone Peak
Favorite race? - Headlands 50k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Cocoa Tropic
Your favorite workout - Hill Intervals on trails
Resources
Chi Running Training Plans
Chi Running Website
Welcome to episode 75 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome back Dr. Jay Dicharry. Jay is the author of a must-have book for any coach, Anatomy for Runners. Jay has a follow-up book he has just released called Running Rewired. We have all heard of the book Born to Run, but are we born to run or is it something that we adapt to over time. Jay discusses that as well as how deliberate practice can make you more efficient. Make sure you check out Jay's book Running Rewired which you can find on his website An Athlete's Body.
We had you on episode 49 of the Final Surge podcast so welcome back. On episode 49 we talked a lot about your book must own book Anatomy For Runners. You have a new book out called Running Rewired. I am more of a wi-fi guy so what do you mean about runners getting rewired?
- Get past running requires amazing flexibility or strength
- How your nervous system impacts how you move
If someone read your book Anatomy for Runners, why should they read this too, what would they get Running Rewired too?
- Anatomy for Runners fits into a space with more scientific background
- Was for intelligent and in the know runners and coaches
- Was good for clinicians
- Rewired more for everyday runner
- Rewired from ground zero to increase capacity
Are we naturally wired to run, like if I took a 4-year-old and said run, are they wired correctly or do we need to learn it?
- Young kids learn to play and are more dynamic
- Problem not sitting, but that we do one thing all the time then expect to move differently when we put on our shoes
- We are not born to run, we adapt to run
- Takes cultivating of how we move
You talk about deliberate practice in the book. How do we know if we need to work on getting rewired and if we do how do we know we are doing the right things to get there?
- Not about volume of practice
- Practice has two types specific and deliberate
- Specific putting on shoes and doing more of it
- Deliberate says these are the skills you need, let's refine them with a plan
- Not about running more, but running with quality
- Everyone I have ever seen needs more deliberate practice
You mentioned everyone needs to get better, so how do we know what we need to work on?
- Roadblocks in books that test you
- Some motions will be less skilled at
In episode 49 we dug into your clinic and your clients. In your clinic, you don't have just elite runners, but you have many average age group runners coming in. So you see a wide variety of situations. With seeing so many people over the years are there certain things you see usually see that you can quickly narrow it down to what the issues are without even seeing the athlete. So like if a runner came in and said I have shin splints or i have pain on the outside of my knee probably from IT band, could you give them 1-2 things to work on or is it too specific to each person?
- I have a lot of lab data that identifies what causes overuse injuries, usually a few paths
If I took 5 mid pack runners and 5 elite runners and did a video on them, could you tell just by their gate which were the elites? And if so what about the gate is different?
- Elites are blessed with great genes from their parents
- As far as form can be both
- Yes form matters, but capacity important too
One thing you talk about in the book was core exercise. If I do a lot of planks, L-ups, V-ups and those type of core exercise can you explain why they may not be the best?
- Running is dynamic and not static
- Holding the body stable like a plank does not help much
- Get people moving in positions that challenge without putting stress on joints
- Spend more time doing more dynamic movements for core
- Coaches your core routines are killing your runners
- Building skills as body twists while running
What does training core with rotation look like?
- Lay on back with knees and legs up like sitting in chair, grab med ball and hold up
- Rotation is important while running, twisting forces
If a runner or coach said this was all great information, but I have 15-20 minutes to spend with my team before they start running, what should we focus on, how would you guide them on the biggest bang for the buck?
- Skills and performance workouts in book
- Skills building muscle memory, lots of bang for buck to rewire central nervous system
- Identify roadblocks with tests then fix the ones that need working on
One of the things you talked about in the book was pelvis tilt and correcting it by using the stomach muscles to pull up on the front of the pelvis, this is how I was taught so can you talk about why this is wrong and what people should be doing for pelvis tilt?
- Shortens step
- Can analogy for strength
- If lose core position crumbles can
One issue that gets talked about is knee dominate vs hip dominant or pushing vs pulling, what does this look like for a runner?
- Can look at squatting patterns, squat knee forward position overstride
- To quad dominant
- Overstride pushes loads and increases stress per stride
- Want to move to hip or glute dominant
Running Rewired
An Athletes Body
Welcome to episode 74 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome back Hoka NAZ Elite Coach Ben Rosario who talks about what he has planned for the Boston Marathon. Ben has two elite runners, Kellyn Taylor and Scott Smith who will be competing in Boston. We are just over 10-weeks out from Boston and Ben is offering three new training plans that are specific to the Boston Marathon. These three plans are tailored to the level of runner you are. In addition to the training plans Ben will have a weekly blog post which talks about exactly how to execute the training plans for the upcoming week. Make sure you check out his plans on FinalSurge.com/10weekstoboston and follow along with his professional athletes as they prepare for the unique course that is Boston.
You have two runners joining the great American field at the 2018 Boston Marathon, want to talk about them?
- Kellyn Taylor off a top 10 finish in New York City
- Scott Smith coming off a 2:12 PR in Frankfurt
With Boston you never know what the weather will be like, could be 40 and raining or 75 and sunny, but if the weather is not a factor Boston can be a fast course so is the intention to run a PR at Boston?
- Net elevation drop can be fast
- Course-specific work for the downhill
- Although it is about racing more than time
If you look at the field, especially the women's side, it is an incredibly deep field. Was the goal for Kellyn to always run Boston?
- At first, she wasn't sure if she wanted to do a spring marathon
- Once she decided she wanted to do a marathon, Boston was her choice
- She is ready to handle the course as well as the level of competition
You make your logs available for all your athletes. But for Boston, you are going a step further with 10-weeks To Boston.
- This is a plan for the last 10-weeks heading into Boston
- Specifically prepared for being ready for that course
- Hills to match the up and down of Boston
- Train like the pros with three plans that are variations of what Kellyn and Scott are doing
- Super advanced (120 miles a week), Advanced (75-100 miles a week), Intermediate (50-75 miles a week plan)
You have other plans available for the marathon too, how do these differ from those plans?
- We have 5 other marathon plans on Final Surge, but these are based on what our athletes are doing specifically for the Boston course
Can you tell us about the blogging you have planned for these 10 weeks?
- Will be doing a weekly blog talking about what Scott and Kellyn are doing and how their training is going and second will be talking about the upcoming week, how to execute the workouts on your plan for this week and it will be like you are training with the pros
You have 10 weeks before Boston, what do some of the staple workouts look like during that time?
- Each week they get closer to specific
- Start out mile and a half at marathon pace and gets long specific work as gets closer to race
- 6 weeks out gets harder with tempos and hills
- Weekends alternate long runs and longer marathon pace work
You have a document you include with your plans that talk about your terminology. Can you explain how you use the CV workouts in your plan?
- This is 30-40 minute race pace
- Faster than marathon pace, but not going to really hammer you
- Because running so many miles in marathon training gives you some faster work without jeopardizing training
When you get to your long runs are most of them steady or are you working quality into your long runs?
- Every other week
- Some carb depleted steady runs
- Some race pace specific work into your long runs
There is a lot of specific work to Boston so runners who have never run Boston can be prepared. This weekly blog is going to be able to help a lot of athletes. We want to get on again before Boston to talk about this training some more.
Welcome to episode 73 of the Final Surge Podcast. We have had some great runners on this podcast. Neely Spence Gracey, Nick Willis, Nick Symmonds, Dathan Ritzehein, Kim Conley and more, but maybe none has had a bigger influence on the running scene, especially the American running scene like today's guest. Today we welcome American mile record holder, Alan Webb. Alan retired from running in 2014 and has not been seen much around the running community since then, but that is about to change. Alan is part of a group starting a new coaching service called RunDoyen. We talk to Alan about the goals of the business and how you or anyone else can get personalized coaching from him and other professional runners. We also spend a little time talking about his training and the state of American middle distance running. Please remember to share this podcast on social media.
Before we get to some questions about your career, let’s find out what you have been up to for the last three years. How is the truck repair business?
- Business has been great
There is a new site and Twitter account popping up called RunDoyen. It has listed yourself, Tara Welling, Ryan Vail, Aaron Braun, Jessica Tonn and more. A tweet said you are launching a new concept that reinvents the way the running community connects. Can you tell us what this project is?
- Coaching site, schedule time with one of the coaches
- Video chat
- Final Surge training logs
- Message board system
- Access to professional runners
Will it be a monthly membership service?
- Purchase Time
- Purchase Training Plans
- No monthly fee, packages that are over the course of a training block
What type of training plans are you offering?
- Mile to marathon
- Not limiting to one distance, offering variety
If someone is interested in working with you in a mile program, what is the timeframe?
- Customized to individual
- Would prefer more time 2-3-6 months to develop
- Looking to build relationships long-term
What was it about this idea that got you excited to get involved in it?
- Easy to use packaged online system
- Can help people around world to work with different people
What else can people expect?
- Drills, strength training, other things integrated into the training plan
- Communication between athlete and coach on daily basis
- Athlete tells us what is going on so we can make adjustments
What type of feedback are you looking for with communications from your clients?
- What actually got done
- How you are feeling, how run went
- Any questions they have for the coaches
- Video appointments for communications too
Are nutrition and physical therapist you have listed on site included?
- Different packages
- Can schedule time with other specialists
These are well-known professionals, what type of client you will be working with?
- We are all looking for variety
- More geared towards non-professionals
- People looking to improve
We know your work ethic and how hard you hit it on your workout days. What is your coaching philosophy?
- There are times you need to hit it hard, but also time for recovery
- Recovery balance is important
- Recovery helps keep you healthy
Will you personally be working with someone who wants to run a longer distance like a marathon?
- Yes, looking forward to it
When you ran you were known as someone who liked to hit the weight room and hit workouts hard. Was that something specific to Alan Webb or would you incorporate this into your athletes you are working with too?
- That was specific to me
- More important for me as a miler than a marathon runner
- Strength training is important, but specific to athlete
- Amount/intensity needs to adjust to event/athlete
We had Jonathan Marcus on recently and talked about some of your workouts, will be dusting off your training logs to bring some of those back?
- Some of it for sure
- Will be adapted to the athlete/event
- Some of the basic workouts are great, fun, tough
One of the workouts was a shorter 100's do you remember what your paces were?
- 400-800 goal race pace
- Really fast going hard
- Hardened to faster pace to take edge off the mile
Do you have all your old running logs?
- Lost some, but have many of them
- A few high school years have a few lost
- Have quite a bit
It has been three years since you retired if you could paint a picture of what that time has looked like?
- Tore ALC so personal running has taken a dive
- 2 and 5 year old are handfuls, but going great
- Wife Julia getting ready to run her first marathon
Do you have any running goals for the future?
- Would love to run a marathon
- Would be just to get through it
- Nick Symmonds is my inspiration
- Have to get ACL fixed first
You are arguably the greatest US middle distance runner of all time. So when you looked at retiring, why truck repair?
- Good growth market
- Enjoyed learning a new skill and been fun
I want to ask you about the mile. When Steve Scott set it, it stood for 25 years before you broke it in 2007. And now it has been another decade and no one has touched it. Why do you think this has been so hard to break?
- It is a fast time
- Have to be on and everything go right
- To stay at the level is difficult, tough to get there
You ran 3:46, that is a well respected time. Is American middle distance running progressing the way it should be?
- Yes, we are progressing the right direction
- We are getting medals in major championship races
- We are seeing on a consistent basis success in big races
- Big pipeline coming up
- High School runners are now breaking 4 minutes on a regular basis
What do you think has been the biggest reason for the resurgence?
- Internet makes it easier to be a track fan
What advice do you have for young high school runners?
- Persevere and don't worry about people running faster
- Different runners develop at different ages
You had times in your career that you were plagued by injuries. Looking back at it now is there anything you think you would have done differently?
- Would have added in more recovery
- Would have been a little more conservative in workouts
- Better perspective
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Perfect Mile
Current trainers you are wearing? - Nike Structure Triax
Favorite race? - American Mile Record
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Spaghetti
Your favorite workout - 800's, 8x800
Resources
RunDoyen on Twitter
RunDoyen Website
Alan Webb on Twitter
Alan Webb American record mile race
Welcome to episode 72 of the Final Surge podcast where today we welcome runner and coach Jacob Puzey. Jacob and I have a great conversation about his early running career and how those experiences and the coaches he worked with influenced who he is today and how he coaches. Jacob was the top Canadian male in Boston in 2017, is the 2016 and 2017 Canadian Road 50K National Champion and has a great coaching resume. Jacob's business Peak Run Performance is teaming up with Final Surge in the coming weeks to offer new coaching services in several languages, so watch out for that.
Could you give our listeners your background on how you started running back in the day?
- Middle school basketball player
- Did not come naturally had to work at it
- 10th grade started running year round
How did the high school career and running career after high school go?
- Qualified for Oregon XC State Meet as a senior
- Tough Oregon high school area
- Ran against a lot of future D1 college runners
- Ran for a Junior College who was defending national JC champion
- 2 National Championships for JC
When did you make the transition into coaching?
- Took 2 years off after junior college
- Started training for marathon
- Developed a love for it again
- Went back to finish college and did some youth coaching at middle school and high school
You have coached high school runners and ultra runners. What are the foundational principles you take in your coaching philosophy that would be applicable to all runners?
- Stamina, speed strength, need to work on all of them
- Nutrition and skills would be emphasized by event
I know from your bio you took over some high school programs that did not have a history of success and you created state championship programs. What did you do to turn around and build those programs?
- Did not try to make wholesale changes
- Go in and listen and learn about cultures of team
- Winning traditions in other sports so was easier
- Get them to buy into potential in that sport
- Competed against the great teams
All coaches have influences that have an impact on them as coaches. Who are some of the influences who have impacted your coaching philosophy?
- Middle school, high school coaches, college coaches
- Learned different training philosophies from hs/college coaches
- Greg McMillian, Joe Vigil
What does the typical athlete you are coaching these days look like, what is their experience level and distances they are training for?
- From Millenials waiting tables to executive empty nesters
- All distances
- Coached people who raced on all 7 continents last year
You are going to be releasing some coaching very soon on Final Surge, how is it you ended up on Final Surge as your coaching platform?
- While living in Flagstaff ran with some NAZ Elite Guys
- Heard about NAZ Blogs
- Worked for Greg McMillian
- Did not look at it until was ready to launch something
- Liked easy syncs
- Right vision behind company
((((30))))What can people expect to find in your packages?
- Multiple languages
- Speak the same language as athlete
- Every coach speaks at least two languages
- Tailored training plans and 1-0n-1 coaching
How many coaches do you have?
- 4 with a nutritionist
- Coaches have experience in several countries to understand unique differences
You have 4 coaches that work on your team, what events do you focus on?
- All surfaces, all distances, all disciplines
- Road and trails
- Stage races
- Tailor training to person
There are many tools runners use. GPS watches, heart rate monitors, HRV readings, Power Meters. What type of technology do you use?
- All of it and as little as possible
- Trail and ultra a lot of metrics thrown out the window
- Run by feel
- Like that they are available in Final Surge
You have a lot of running accomplishments, you were the top Canadian male in Boston this year and a lot of success in Ultras. One of your accomplishments is the 50-mile treadmill record you set. When I saw the video this was the first time I had heard of you. How hard was that to run on a treadmill for 5 hours?
- Was easier than thought
- Started just below world record pace but found himself going faster
- Was originally thinking of going for 50k record
- Didn't expect it to be an hour quicker
Do you use a treadmill often?
- Yes, in Calgary it is cold
- Wear microspikes 4-6 months a year when outside
- Boston training did a lot of treadmill miles
- When need good footing will use treadmill when cold
You ran the TransRockies with your brother, for those who do not know what the TransRockies is can you tell them and what it was like doing with your brother?
- 6 Day stage race
- 8500-12k feet elevation
- If run at team you all need to be within 2-minutes of each other
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Once a Runner
Current trainers you are wearing? - Altra Paradigm
Favorite race? - 50k-50miles (3-6 hours)
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Steak, salted chocolate covered almonds
Your favorite workout - Georgetown 400's
Resources
PeakRunPerformance.com
Instagram PeakRunPerformance
Twitter @teampeakrun
Twitter @JacobPuzey
Last summer in episode 56 of the podcast we had on Jonathan Beverly who is a writer at Runner's World and an author of a few running books. He has a new book out called Run Strong Stay Healthy. This book is a great resource for any runner who is interesting in making running a lifetime habit. Most runners end up quitting the sport, but there are several who make it a lifetime habit. Jonathan found 9 keys to focus on to make running a part of your life for life. We talk to Jonathan about those keys and what you can do to stay running.
We had you on episode 56 to talk about your book Your Best Stride, and now you have a new book out called Run Strong Stay Hungry, can you tell the listeners what this book is about?
- Keep running for life
- Care about your running and performance
How did you collect the data for this book?
- Started with people knew who had been running for a lifetime
- Started young and running as masters
Why do people stop running?
- Injuries
- Life changes
- No longer competitive or PR's
I personally stopped a few times either for injuries or life changes but kept coming back. How many stories do you run into like mine where people fall away from it in different seasons of their life and then come back to it?
- Several stories, but several wish they could, but don't for several reasons
When looking at why people quit running, Do you find it different between mid-pack runners vs elite runners?
- Mid-packers have an advantage over elites
- Non-elites our competition is relative vs. elites ran to win
When you started thinking about the idea for this book and researching, was there anything that you discovered that really shocked you?
- Most of the people who continue running tend to run by feel, expected they would be more discipline
You mentioned key 3. In the book, you list the 9 keys to stay in the race. Do you find one of these 9 to be a key component that everything points back to?
- Most who ran for life fell into most of the key areas
- Those who do have a plan are willing to use it as a rough guide
- Run by feel helps make you a student of the sport
One of the keys you have is making it a habit, with the New Year there are people who start the year with a run streaks, do you find streaks helpful or not?
- Both
- Most are anti-streaks
- Habits are built when it becomes regular
- Not am I going to run today, when am I going to run
What advice do you have for making it a habit?
- Learn to enjoy a run alone
- Getting anything in is better than nothing
- Never a bad idea to go for a 30-minute run
Do these lifetime runners work a social aspect into their routine?
- Yes, most occasionally enjoyed a run with other people
- Connections to sport with other runners
When I was younger racing and the competition kept me interested. Now it is running with friends and helping others with coaching that keeps me interested. The big difference now is I am very much a student of the sport. I go to clinics, I read constantly and I am always trying to learn more. Can you talk about how being a student of the sport can have an impact?
- Learn about the sport and training
- To run by feel you need to be a student of the sport
- Being a student adds to the interest
Let’s look at technology. there are things like GPS watches and Starva. I could imagine in some ways this may hurt long-term participation but it could also help it by connecting you with others in your community and creating introductions. How do these new technologies have an impact?
- Community aspect is great
- Comparing yourself can hurt
You are a high school coach yourself. How did writing this book change you, do you do anything different in your coaching now?
- Can work to become better
- Reward and praise progress over results
There are some aspects of this book that can help you stay healthy, what are some of the keys you learned?
- Trust your body, trust yourself
- In tune with their bodies
Resources
www.jonathanbeverly.com
Jonathan on Twitter
Your Best StrideRun Strong Stay Hungry
Welcome to episode 70 of the Final Surge Podcast, our first release of 2018. Today we welcome back coach Jonathan Marcus of High Performance West who is also the co-host of the On Coaching Podcast. In this episode, we find out what Jonathan is up to since our first visit over a year ago and take some questions our listeners sent in. Remember if you like the podcast please share it with a friend or on Facebook or FinalSurge where we can be found @FinalSurge.
What is going on with High Performance West?
- Goal January 5th Full Launch
- Workout of the day
- Story/thought of the day
- Will continue doing daily post with workout and story of the day
- Have over 5,000 workouts written down to pick from
You recently had a workout from Nick Symmonds. Jerry and Alberto Salazar are two of greatest coaches around and you have stated they are influences on you. They are big believers in lots of high-end aerobic development, but Nick's workout was anything but. Talk a little his workout and what you took from it?
- Very fast, 400m and faster pace
- Have to be cautious and keep people healthy too
- Learn from your mentors, but find your own flavor and thoughts
What advice do you have for coaches who read your site and the workouts of the day and how they should employ them?
- Designed to make you think
- Give you the why and how they did it
- Context of how it fit in
- Purpose is to get you thinking and growing
What is your other project Coaching With Craft
- Goal is short 5-minute videos
- Contribute to the community of coaches
We wanted to open it up to some of our listeners and we gathered questions from them so let's get into them.
I have heard you talk about doing workouts in a way so that after the hard effort you clear lactate with more aerobic running. I have also heard you say that most of what we know about lactate acid is a myth from the 80’s. What do we know and what should we keep in mind? I do mostly 5k-10k road races with 1 track workout a week.
- Common interpretation lactate acid is a wall/barrier
- Lactate is a fuel source
- We get to a tipping point where we cannot keep up and acidosis happens
- Acidosis turns the muscles off
- Lactate Flush: Since we can buffer, if we give it enough of a buffer then can turn it around to be fuel
- 400s at 2k pace with 60 seconds rest. At a point, you will be cooked, but what you can do is flushes at 1/2 marathon to marathon pace for 200m, then easy 200, after about 3-4 of them lactate will reset to a point where using lactate as fuel.
Father of a runner who took over the school's indoor track distance team after they were left coachless had a few questions:
What should the warmups-drills-exercises look like?
- Keep it fun
- Jay Johnson Lunge Matrix videos
- Good team bonding time
- Good to have drill set A/B
- Observe and watch
You mentioned minimum effective dose often, when do you know when that has been reached?
- Make sure there is enough left they can do what they need to do tomorrow
- Watch over time what they can handle
I am a 33-year-old runner who has been running for 3 years. I started for weight loss and fell in love with the sport. I just broke 20 minutes in the 5k which has been a goal for a year. You talk about looking at the canvass and seeing what is missing. That is what I should be working on. How do you know what that thing is?
- You don't know what you don't know
- What problems do you need to find a solution to
- The problems that arise formulate the questions
I have been coaching xc/indoor/outdoor distance for 4 years. I have done a good job developing 1&2 mile runners on the track, but very little luck with developing 800 runners. I don’t have any of those “jump out of the gym” athletes that you talk about. What types of workouts can I add and when should I add them in?
- I had the same problem until a few weeks ago
- Added speed work starting day 1
- Prperation work/ lifting/ gym work
- Quick stairs/ Power stairs
- Plyos
In one of your podcast, you said Alan Webb did not go to altitude but was getting similar results from his lifting. Can you explain this?
- His cardio was great
- Hormonal release from lifting similar to performance drugs
One thing you talk about a lot is, after a workout or rep, you ask your runner to walk you through it. It is easy to talk about what happens on a bad rep, but what about ones that are “fine”? Do you dig deeper or take fine as an answer?
- Depends on the session
- All about the psychology of what is going on
- Are they engaged or on auto-pilot
Recently you have talked about how you are spending more time on form and mechanics. Can you talk to us about what you have learned, what you focus on and where should we be going to help educate ourselves on this?
- Form/mechanics have become more of a focus
- As a younger coach was more about getting the work in, do more
- When I hit a roadblock I had to look at different strategies
- Easier to control from top/arms down
- Arms like slingshots at acute angle
- Transitions down to legs
Resources
High Performance West
Jonathan Marcus on Twitter
Marcus from Episode 40
Welcome to episode 69 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome world record holder Camille Herron. In 2017 Camille won Comrades set two American Records and two World Records. Camille has had an interesting journey which has been riddled by injuries and we discuss how she has overcome those and what she has learned to make herself a stronger runner. We also talk about her secret weapon in an ultra race, beer. Camille was great to talk to and I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did recording it. We are now on Spotify so please remember to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play or Spotify, wherever you consume it.
In recent weeks Camille has set a 100-mile world record 12:42:39, a
100km USA track record 7:36:39 at Desert Solstice and then went on to run for
12-hours and set a 12hr All-Surface World Record 92.708 miles.
She is the new Ann Trason and arguably, she will be in for a shout as ultra-runner of the year.
How did you get your start in running?
- Basketball player ran for first time in middle school
- In high school focused on running
- Tulsa University scholarship but a lot of injuries
- Became hobby runner after that
What exactly did your running look like after Tulsa
- Hobby run
- Husband ran professionally
- Was running long as recreational about 70 miles a week
- Husband started coaching
How do you go from always injured to running 70 miles a week?
- Frank Shorter: Run for stress relief
- Started running slower
- Biomechanics and physic courses: Started feet strength/barefoot
Where was your minimalist running in relation to Born To Run?
- 3-4 years before
- Very minimalist shoes from Boulder Running Company
Moved to minimalist running and your husband is coaching you, where did you jump back into competitive running?
- Longer distances seemed to be better
- Focused on qualifying for Olympic Marathon Trials
- 2007 Marathon debut
- Ran 2:38 at Twin Cities and it took off
When did you make the jump into ultramarathons?
- 2009 MarathonGuide.com sponsored
- Started doing back-to-back marathons
- Grad school, how to enhance bone recovery
When you talk back-to-back marathons how often are you talking?
- A few weeks apart
- 2011 David Monti of NYC Marathon suggested ultra running
- 2013 made debut
- Underperformed in the first ultra
We see injury problems from growth spurts, which you had. You also studied bone recovery. What advice would you have now for those struggling?
- Did too much high intensity
- Focus on easier aerobic volume development
- Don't be afraid of mileage as much as intensity
- Recover with easy days easy
When did you do the first ultra?
- 2013
- 2014 first Comrades but got sick and ended up in the emergency room
You had done marathons, you understand the wall. So what was the first ultra like, was it like you expected or different?
- Was too cautious
- Could have pushed more
What is your diet like?
- Meet and potatoes, wholesome southern diet
- Eat Taco Bell or Subway day before races
What about fueling during a race?
- Naturally good fat burner
- Diet analyzed and was 50% carbs, 36% fat, 14% protein
- Take in 60-90g carbs/hr
- Take gel every 30 mins and sip on sports drinks as needed
- Will have a beer or whatever body tells me to have
You have a beer during a race?
- Helped settle stomach
- If tired of eating gels will have a beer
We are at the end of 2017, can you walk us through what a year looks like for you as a competitive ultrarunner?
- Have had major highs and lows
- Started with some trail race in New Zeland
- March in a race 10 weeks before Comrades tore MCL
- Took a few weeks off and came back slowly walk/run
- Won Comrades off injury
- 3 weeks later Western States, fell and got a concussion
- Leadville ran into issues with pelvic pain
- Won Comrades to two DNF and being broken
- Tunnell Hill 100
Did at least 8 races this year, a marathoner may do 2-3 races a year. How do you recover so quickly?
- Family heels quickly
- Studied recovery in grad school
- Use active recovery always walking twice a day after a race
I saw you earlier this month at Desert Solstice. We went to see Zach Bitter, but he was out. We saw what you were going after. After 11.5 hours of running on the track in a 1/4mile circle, you still seemed to be smiling so much.
- In love with running
- Love what you are doing
Broke Ann Trasons 12-hour record which has stood since 1991?
- That is why I was smiling, felt great
What was the hardest part of running for 12-hours on a track?
- Concentration, cannot zone out like on trails
- Hard to get into the zone
How hard is it to get going again after you have to stop to use a restroom or something?
- It was hard because it was warm
- Took 18-minute break, had to start off walking before really got going again pushing
You had two World Records this year, now what for an encore in 2018?
- Been fun to break the records
- Want to try for the 24-hour record
- Need to redeem self on trails
- Goal to win Western States and Comrades in same year
You are very active online, where can people find you?
Twitter RunCamille
Instagram RunCamille
Facebook RunCamille
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Your favorite endurance/running book? - Lore of running
Current trainers you are wearing? - Nike Zoom Fly
Favorite race? - Comrades
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Cheeseburger and Fries with Beer
Your favorite workout - Long runs with heart rate progression
Welcome to episode 68 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome competitive runner and coach Korey Konga of Upper Left Distance Training. Korey came to running as a way to change his health. Korey has a successful ultramarathon resume and has transitioned into coaching. If you enjoy this episode please remember to share the love and share it with a friend.
-
How did you get your start in running?
- Change of lifestyle
-
Started running ultras and picked up sponsors
- Moved into coaching
-
What was it that triggered you to change your lifestyle and get into running?
- Jogged a lot on job
- Friend suggested run a half marathon
- Running replaced drinking
-
What was the process like developing as runner and becoming an ultra runner?
- Read blogs and got inspired
- 6 months after his half marathon he qualified for Boston
- 3 months later did his first ultra
- Training errors lead to injuries
-
You mentioned you got hurt a lot the first year. As a coach, what advice do you give newer runners who may run into those injuries problems?
- Easier said than done, but listen to body
-
What signs are you looking for when working with your athletes to recognize they may be pushing the envelope too far?
- Watch Final Surge feedback ratings
-
When did you make the transition into coaching?
- Been coaching for a while, but two years ago opened the business
-
What does your typical athlete you are coaching look like?
- 1/2 marathon to 100-mile ultra races
-
What was the biggest difference with training between a 1/2 marathon runner and an ultra running?
- Time commitment and volume
- As move to more specific stages changes, ultra do a lot of long hill repeats
-
You mentioned the base season may be similar between the 1/2 and ultra, are you talking types of workouts or volume?
- Volume can be different, but workouts similar
- All do short hill sprints, strides
-
You mentioned a runner in a pancake flat area, if I had a restriction on hills available to me, how would you recommend someone trains to get in some hill type work?
- Treadmill
- Really short hills for sprints
- Stadium stairs for strength
- Parking Garage can work
-
When you are building volume for long runs for ultra runners how often do you utilize back to back long runs?
- Depends on the individual, but not as much as some people
- Big run on mountains on Saturday, then come back with a faster flat run
-
Do you focus on feel, pace per mile, heart rate, power?
- Mostly feel
- Some CV work will use pace per mile
-
What advice do you have to runners looking to make that change about becoming fat burners and if that is important in ultra running?
- With volume and easy long runs, it just happens
- Will use depletion runs occasionally
-
For someone making that jump from 1/2 marathon to longer races is fueling the biggest obstacle you face?
- Mental game
-
Many new runners are probably not thinking about getting a coach. What type of advise do you have to runners who are considering getting a coach, when is the time right?
- Any time is a good time to have a coach
- Can avoid a lot of problems and progress quicker
- Not for everyone
-
Are the athletes you work with mostly online or in person?
- Almost all virtual coaching
-
Walk me through the process of what it may look like if I reached out to you and what do those conversations look like?
- Why are you reaching out
- History, family life, work/life balance
- Questionnaire
- Final Surge Invite
-
Do you build in pre/post strength routines or just running plans?
- Different options
-
We are now entering into winter months, what advice do you have for ultra runners who are going to be spending hours on the trails for training in the winter?
- No such thing as bad weather, just soft people
-
One of your recent posts recounted an encounter with bears, cougars and more. How do you stay safe?
- Ton of bear and mountain lions in Oregon and never been an attack, but be aware of surroundings
- Make sure someone knows where you are going, what loop you are doing
-
You have been very active with your updates and blogging on the site, what information are you trying to provide?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minuteFavorite running book? - Science or Running by Steve Magness
Current trainers you are wearing? - Adidas Adios
Favorite race? - Orchas Island 50k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Pizza
Your favorite workout - Gnarley hill repeats
Resources
UpperLeftDT.com
Upperleftdt@gmail.com
Korey Konga on Twitter
Korey Konga on Instagram
Welcome to episode 67 if the Final Surge Podcast. Today we welcome back Jay Johnson which is the other half of the podcast we did last week. In this episode, Jay talks about marathon training. We talk about his book Simple Marathon Training, which he points out is not to be confused with easy marathon training. Jay focuses on helping busy people who want to train for a marathon put a plan together. We discuss some of the concepts in his book in this episode.
Listen to the podcast on iTunes or listen to it on Stitcher if you have an Android device.
Stream it right here:
Your book is called Simple Marathon Training: The Right Training For Busy Adults With Hectic Lives. I think most of us think we have busy lives, so does this mean this book is for everyone who wants to run a marathon?
Jay also discusses who the book does not fit.
If someone is is looking to run their first marathon and wants to use your book as a resource to help them get through the process, where do you recommend they come in at? What should their minimum base be?
How much does your book stress strength and mobility work?
You do private online coaching, when someone who is a professional with a family comes to you and says I want to run a marathon, what are the first things you ask them to make sure they are really committed?
You mentioned using fat as a fuel source. When we had Scott Simmons of American Distance Project on and Ben Rosario of NAZ Elite, they both mentioned doing depleted runs or runs to trigger fat for fueling, is this something you focus on with your training?
Simple Marathon Training
CoachJayJohnson@gmail.com
CoachJayJohnson.com
Twitter @CoachJayJohnson
Instagram @CoachJayJohnson
Boulder Running Clinic
Welcome to episode 66 of the final surge podcast where we welcome back Coach Jay Johnson. Jay was the very first guest back in episode 1. In this interview we covered two very distinct topics, we talked about his site High School Running Coach and his upcoming clinic which has a fantastic lineup, and we also talked about his Simple Marathon Training Book and marathon training and fueling. We decided to break it up into two episodes as they were distinctly different. So in this episode, we will be talking about his high school training clinic which Final Surge will be a sponsor. If you have any interest in learning from the best coaches in the country, you will want to be there, and it is very affordable.
The Lineup:
You have John O'Malley - Sandburg (IL) his boy Dylan Jacobs lead much of the race and is now on his way to the Footlocker National Race.
Dan Iverson Naperville North (IL) - Girls coach who’s girl’s team created one of the most dramatic moments when they came from way back to come within 5 points of knocking of Fayetteville Manilas.
Doug Soles of Great Oaks who’s boys came in 6th and girls came in 8th.
Jonathan Dalby - Mountain Vista whos boys came in 3rd and girls in 6th.
Then Joan Hunter who was our guest here in episode 64 who lead Loudoun Valley’s boy's team not only to a perfect score at their state meet but also a national championship. Can you tell us a little about how this came together?
What topics will they be covering?
5 of the best coaches in the country, it is amazing that these top coaches are sharing and not trying to keep anything a secret.
Jay also talks about why coaches should stick around after the clinic is over on Saturday night and maybe even for Sunday morning.
Resources
CoachJayJohnson@gmail.com
CoachJayJohnson.com
Twitter @CoachJayJohnson
Instagram @CoachJayJohnson
Boulder Running Clinic
Welcome to episode 65 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we talk to Jason Moore. Jason is a coach and the creator of EliteHRV, one of the most advanced HRV apps on the market. EliteHRV now integrates directly into Final Surge. We talk to Jason about what HRV is and how athletes and coaches should be using it to help with their training.
How did you get started in endurance athletic and how that lead to what you are doing with Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and coaching?
What is HRV?
Is the real value of HRV for an endurance athlete looking at the data to determine how well they are recovered?
How does HRV vary from morning resting heart rate?
If we want to track HRV what equipment do we need to get started?
You mentioned the Polar chest straps, will any ANT+ chest strap work or does it need to be newer?
Your CorSense monitor has a Kickstarter campaign? And where can they find one of them right now?
Your app is EliteHRV. What makes your app different than other HRV apps on the market?
How do you take that morning reading? Do you need a stabilization period or do you take it right away or what is your recommended process?
When someone looks at Final Surge and see’s their numbers, what should they be looking for?
What are we talking about when you are looking at the number going down, what is the variation you want to monitor?
Inside your app everything is color-coded, can you discuss the colors you use and what they are telling you?
What are some non-training factors that could play a role in HRV that we should be aware of?
EliteHRV.com
CorSense
Follow on Twitter @JasonMooreMe
Welcome to Episode 64 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome Joan Hunter. Everyone who knows the unpredictability of a high school cross country race. So when a team goes 1-5 for a perfect score it is a pretty special day. When it happens at the State Championship meet it is even more so. When you get the top runners from around the state it is hard to have 1-5 all from the same school. That is exactly what Joan’s team Loudoun Valley did this past weekend in Virginia. We talk to Joan about her training philosophy, her expectations for the season and what she expects at Nike Regionals. If you want to hear more from Joan, she will be speaking at the Boulder Running Clinics coaches conference put on by Jay Johnson.
Can you give us your background on your running, how you got started with running and how that ended up with your current coaching position?
If you were a 2x State Champion but never ran until you were a Junior in high school, that means you had a lot of natural talent. Did you not realize your ability when you were younger?
What did your post-collegiate running career look like?
I believe you used Tom Tinman Schwartz as a personal coach for a while?
What have you learned from Tom, what training philosophies have you taken away from what he has done in the past that you use in your coaching?
Your team just went 1-2-3-4-5 for a perfect score of 15 at the Virginia State meet on the boys' side, how does that feel?
Going into state what was the game plan, did each runner have their own race play or did you have a team plan for them?
How did the race develop, did they go straight to the front and lead or did they close later?
A few years ago you had a good team that was dominated by your son, sub-4 miler Drew Hunter. How does this team differ now that you have so much more depth?
How much did having Drew as part of the program help grown the program?
Coming into this season your boys were talked about as possible NXN title contenders. Did the team set any goals coming into the season or did you talk to them about expectations at all?
Last year your boys went to Nike Regionals and came in third and just missed an automatic bid to Nationals. This year you are currently ranked as the #1 team in the country, I know you can never take for granted you will win a Nike Regional race, but how confident is your team going into the qualifier?
How do you keep your team ready in this two-week block leading up to Nike?
What does your week this week look like?
During the season do you use training blocks like a 3-4 week period or do you look at the season as a whole?
You came in 3rd at Nike Regional last year, what did you learn, how has your training changed leading into this year?
What is the breakdown of your team between seniors, juniors, sophomores?
You talk about how you progress your runners, how does the training differ between the top sophomores vs what a senior may do?
How have you been using Final Surge in your planning this year?
You are going to be speaking at Jay Johnson’s Boulder Running Clinics this winter in January, do you know what your topic will be?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Healthy Intelligent Training- Keith Livingstone
Current trainers you are wearing? - Adidas
Favorite race? - 800
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Smoothie
Your favorite workout - 200 repeats
Coaching Clinic with Joan Hunter put on by Jay Johnson
Tinman on Final Surge
Drew Hunter on Final Surge
Joan Hunter on Twitter
Welcome to episode 63 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome back Ben Rosario the head coach of Northern Arizona Elite. Ben just had four guys run 2:13 or under and had two of his female runners crack the top 10 at the NYC Marathon. We talk about this fall and how the training went and then we spend the majority of the podcast talking about marathon specific training and his training plans that he has available on Final Surge. If you have interest in the marathon you are going to love this episode.
Ben, we had you in episode 4, and people can hear your background there and we had you on again in episode 44 talking about high school summer running training. Today I want to focus on some marathon talk, sound good?
Your crew at NAZ Elite has had quite a fall on the marathon course. Let me run down a few of these.
I believe it was in Chicago you kicked off the season where you had Aaron Braun run a 2:13
Then in Frankfurt, you had Scott Fauble make his marathon debut, Matt Llano come back from a long injury and run a strong race and then Scott Smith set a 2 1/2 minute personal best in the Marathon. So let’s start there with the guys. Four men 2:13 or under, that is quite some depth at the marathon. Including a great debut by Fauble. How happy were you with the results?
Was there a reason for Frankfurt?
On the women’s side, you had both Kellyn and Steph run in NYC. And they both had top 10 finishes. Did they both decide to do NYC so they could train together?
For a marathon to go well there is a lot that needs to go right. Not only on race day but also in training. So what went well that allowed you have such great finishes?
You have this long list of elite athletes, but you also develop plans for non-elite runners. One example is you worked recently with Matt Fitzgerald and helped him run a PR 10 years after his best. Want to talk about that?
We cannot talk about NYC without at least mentioning what Shalane Flanagan did becoming the first American women to win in 40 years. What does this mean for American running?
You have proven you can certainly coach marathon runners, so let’s talk about some marathon training.
On Final Surge at Finalsurge.com/nazelite you have some training plans that are available for purchase including 5 marathon plans. The 5 marathon plans are a beginner, intermediate, advanced, elite and the Eric “Big Dog” Fernandez Awesome Marathon Plan, can you tell us what the difference is between these?
How does someone know which they should get?
Let’s talk about little bit about that beginner plan. The plan starts at 25 miles a week and builds up to 48-50 miles. And It looks like one long run up to 20 miles.
The first couple of weeks is all easy runs with a long run one day a week. A newer runner who is running their first marathon may not know what their paces should be, how would you tell them to find their easy run and long run paces?
In week three you start adding workouts with a fartlek. Some people say you should wait longer into a buildup why are you adding in a fartlek here?
After you start workouts, so you are getting to the end of your first month, what should a beginner marathoner’s week look like for training, how many days should they be running and how many should be workouts or long runs?
Later on in the plan, you introduce in the medium-long run. How does this compare to the long run?
What about races, how often do you recommend shorter races for someone training for a marathon?
One of the workouts is a workout that many, who have trained for shorter races, know well, but you are using it in the marathon and that is a 12x400. What is the purpose of this workout for a marathon runner?
As I mentioned earlier you hit high of about 50 miles, the week before the marathon you run 41 miles. Talk about the taper and what athletes do wrong with the taper?
The marathon is a completely different beast than the shorter races when it comes to fueling. And within that I would assume there is a big difference between someone who is running a marathon in 2.5 hours vs someone who is running a marathon in 4.5 hours is that true?
What about workouts, what workouts are you doing to allow them to handle the wall better are you doing carb depleted workouts?
What is the difference in race-specific workouts for beginner plan vs a more advanced plan?
In your log runs you seem to spice them up quite a bit with surges and adding in workouts into them?
NAZ Training Logs and Training Plans
Ben Rosario on Twitter
Northern Arizona Elite on Twitter
Northern Arizona Elite Website
Episode 4 with Ben Rosario
Welcome to Episode 62 of the Final Surge Podcast. Today we get the honor of talking to Bart Yasso. Many of you know Bart as the longtime writer at Runner's World. Bart has been at Runners World for over 30 years and has become known as the Mayor of running. Bart has a new book called “Race Everything.” In Bart's new book he gives his thoughts on the changes in running, he talks about every race distance from 5k up to ultra’s and triathlons, he talks about his favorite workouts for each distance and provides training plans. We really enjoyed this conversation with Bart and hope you do too.
You have been around a long time, and many know your story, but for those who have not heard, can you give us a few minutes of how you got your start in running and how it lead up to where you are today.
What are some of the things that have changed for the better in the decades you have been involved in running?
I am sure you remember those early days with the fancy Timex Ironman and Casio watches we used to wear. Do you like technology advances like the GPS watch, heart rate monitors and power meters?
We have all heard of the selfie, but now we have the “Bartie”, this is when you take a selfie at events with a group of runners, how did this first start?
You do an amazing job connecting with everyday runners and I am sure that over the years that helped the Runners World brand. There are some professional runners that connect well too, but I would say most do not. Do you think the sport could benefit from the elite athletes spending a little more time trying to connect on social media and at events with the everyday runner?
Your new book is called “Race Everything.” When I got it I was not sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed the format which we will get into. So what brought about the book?
In the book, you write about some of your favorite races at different distances, and I think you have raced more than 1000 races?
So with that many races under your belt, you are more than qualified to answer a few questions on races. What makes a great race?
If a new runner is looking for their first race is it better for them to pick a large race like the Austin 10k or Carlsbad 5000, or is it better for them to get into a small local race that may only have 150 runners in it?
In the book, you give some good training advice in general and for each race distance. The 5k has become the most popular race distance to run. What makes the Carlsbad 5000 your favorite 5k race?
Another thing you talk about is racing series. There are many summer series and such where they race often. What advice do you have for someone who trying to decide how often to race?
It seems to me one of the fastest growing race distances in popularity is the half marathon. If someone is jumping up into a 1/2 from a 5k or 10k, what race day advice do you have for them that they should be considering?
And for the marathon, a key workout for you, and for thousands of runners over the year has been the Yasso 800s, which I believe Amby Burfoot coined the term for in your honor correct?
With the Yasso 800's you do them at marathon time, that is not the same thing as marathon pace if you are expecting a 2:50 marathon you are doing the 800’s in 2:50?
When should athletes do them in their training cycle and how often?
One of the things you talk about is building mileage, there is a good rule of thumb that most people use that says no more than 10% increase, while other's point to the fact that there is zero scientific evidence that supports that, so what is your suggestions on mileage buildup for someone who is looking to run a longer marathon or ultra?
So with this book, you have announced the end of your Runner’s World career. What will the future hold, can we still expect to see the Mayor in the future?
Final Surge Round: 5 questions in under a minute
Your favorite endurance/running book? - Anything by Amby Burfoot
Current trainers you are wearing? - Hoka OneOne and Altra
Favorite race? - 50miles
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Pizza
Your favorite workout - 5x1mile
Links
Bart Yasso Website
Bart Yasso on Instagram
Bart Yasso on Twitter
Race Everything
Final Surge on Twitter
Final Surge on Facebook
Podcast Episode 3 with Amby Burfoot
We were supposed to have Runners World’s Bart Yasso on the podcast this week, but he had some technical difficulties so we had to reschedule his interview. This week we bring you one of our earliest and most popular episodes where we talked to Tom Tinman Schwartz for an hour about training. This is probably the most detailed training episode we have done to date.
In episode 61 of the Final Surge podcast, we welcome coach Jim Vance who literally wrote the book on power meters of runners with his book Run With Power. Power meters have been around for a while with cyclists, but for runners, they are fairly new. Final Surge recently started importing Stryd’s power numbers from Strava and Garmin. We talk to Jim about what some of those numbers mean and how he used power training to coach Ben Kanute to his recent runner-up at the 70.3 Worlds. I just recently started playing with a Stryd power meter so I learned a lot as I did this podcast. This is a topic we will continue to cover as we become more familiar with it and as the technology continues to advance. If you are listening to this podcast when it first comes out you head over to FinalSurge.com or to our @FinalSurge Twitter account and register for a chance to win a free Stryd running power meter.
Listen to the podcast on iTunes or listen to it on Stitcher if you have an Android device.
Stream it right here:
You coach some great Triathlon athletes including Olympian Ben Kanute, how did you first get started in endurance athletics and how did that lead to coaching today?
Let’s start here, most endurance athletes have heard about power meters for the bike, but what is the power meter for running?
How can a power meter help a runner? If someone gets a new power meter, what is the first thing a runner should do?
What is your power number that you get, what does it mean?
Once I have a dataset of 4-6 weeks of runs, what numbers should I be looking at and trying to change and improve?
How will power numbers differ for different workouts like a long run vs a tempo run?
As a coach, I am trying to understand this better. If we are doing a 7x1k workout at tempo, how do I use a power number?
Can you talk about these zones and how you use them to write workouts?
What is the biggest difference in power numbers you are going to see in newer runners vs more experienced runners?
What would be a significant change in these numbers, what are you looking for in numbers?
Facebook question: So, page 205 (Power book by Vance) says the analysis should explore the following key metrics in the post-race analysis: NP, IF, VI, TSS, EI, CTL the day before race day, TSB on race day, w/kg during the race, power zone distributions, point in the race where power and/or pace dropped off. This appears to be the story that emerges which should guide your next training cycle. Is there a simplified way to understand that story? I realize I should look at the numbers and decide a weak area...but that's a lot of numbers! Can you guide our eye for making decisions about the next step in training?
You recently released some plans on Final Surge for running with power, can you tell us what is in those plans?
You mentioned Ben Kanute ran a 340 for power in a 70.3 race, when we are looking at the power number in Final Surge should we be aiming for a certain number.
Resources
Run With Power
CoachVance.com
Vance on Twitter
Vance Training Plans
If you are following us on Twitter @FinalSurge or on Facebook you have probably seen the project with Matt Fitzgerald we have been helping to promote called The Running Bum. Matt sees what it is like when a decent age group runner in his mid-40s becomes a full-time runner and joins Ben Rosario’s Northern Arizona Elite Team as a member. We discuss with both Matt and Ben what the experience was like and what Matt learned that he can use in his coaching. Thanks for following the Running Bum blog online and enjoy this episode we did with Matt and Ben.
What brought on this idea to go run and train with a professional group?
Why NAZ Elite and Ben Rosario, is there a reason you reached out to them specifically?
Ben, what were your thoughts when he reached out to you?
When did the training start for the Running Bum project?
Where were you in your marathon fitness in November when you reached out to Ben about the project?
What was your marathon PR before this project?
Ben, what did you think when he approached you saying he wanted to run a PR 9-years later?
Was there a moment after you arrived in Flagstaff that you thought this may be different than I thought it would be?
You faced some setbacks with injuries, a groin issue, an Achilles issue. I know you say you have a long history of injuries. Training with pros, this could have gone anyway on the injury front. Can you talk about the setbacks and what you learned from them?
Ben, was there a point where you got concerned or did these health issues not surprise you?
How long did it take to get you adapted to the altitude in Flagstaff?
Besides training at altitude, what do you think changed the most about your training when you started training with professionals?
Ben, when you have a team, you have a team chemistry. When you add in a new athlete it can change the atmosphere and chemistry of the team. How did it go adding Matt in?
Reading the stories on the blog, you talk about the conversations with the other athletes on the runs. This was one of the more enjoyable parts. What was it like running on a team when you were not used to it?
Was there anything about the structure of the week or the workouts that surprised you?
Ben, what would a 9-day cycle look like a month out from the race?
Was there anyone workout that you saw that stood out as it looked hard and had you worried?
What did you learn from this experience that you can use in your coaching going forward?
I was looking at your splits per mile on your Final Surge Log, you started out with a 6:02 per mile pace. Every mile after that was right around there within about ten seconds. Your last couple of miles show a 6:02, 6:07, 6:03 pace. You don't seem to have hit the wall and were pretty consistent, how did this vary from past marathons you have done?
Ben, we have a lot of recreational runners trying to get better. If you had someone at home who had a full-time job, kids at home and were busy, what advice would you give them to running a successful marathon where they don't hit the wall?
What was it like being in the same coral as the elite runners at a world major marathon?
Was there any point in the race you had any concerns?
Ben, was there a point you were concerned it would not go as well as it did?
Whats next, are you ready to go after a mile PR?
Resources
Matt Fitzgerald Website
The Running Bum blog
Final Surge entry for Matt’s actual Chicago Run
Northern Arizona Elite
Matt on Twitter
Ben on Twitter
Final Surge on Twitter
Final Surge Facebook page
Matt’s Final Surge Episode 29 recording
Make sure you check out the Running Summit at http://www.runningsummit.com
Follow us on Twitter @FinalSurge
Welcome to Episode 59 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome legendary coach Dennis Barker. Dennis was the long-time coach of Team USA Minnesota where his athletes achieved 75 top 3 finishes in US Championships and 29 different athletes made world championships teams. We talk about some fundamentals of training and his new book The River Road.
How did you get your start in running?
You founded Team USA Minnesota in 2001, at that time there was Team Hanson, Mammoth, maybe Oregon Project around that time, how has that team aspect lead to a resurgence in American distance success?
We were solid in the 70’s and 80’s, and we have had this resurgence, what happened in the 90’s where the US fell off the map so badly?
USATF teaches a strict periodization where coaches such as Salazar do more year-round training, how have you seen that change?
You mentioned you ran a lot of local races. If you look at local 5k/10k runners, how should they structure their year of training?
How does a coach who has coached 29 World qualifiers move to high school coaching?
How is training different besides just the volume?
Your new book The River Road is a novel, the running community had Once A Runner, was your goal to write the next great running novel?
As you wrote this you got the chance to think about the last 30-40 years of running. What has changed the most over that time?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute Favorite running book? - Coe/Martin Training
Current trainers you are wearing? - Asics
Favorite race? - Carrie Tolleson 1500 Final 2004 Olympic Trials
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Octoberfest Beer
Your favorite workout - 8x1200, 24x100m hills
CoachBarker.com
River Road Book
Dennis on Twitter
Welcome to episode 58 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome Jens Jakob Andersen. Jens founded RunRepeat.com, a website with the goal to help you find your next pair of running shoes and to offer you a deal on them. In this episode, we talk about the growth of RunRepeat, how free shoes could bias results of these reviews and what are some of the trends he is seeing in shoes. Please remember to leave us a review on iTunes. Your review will help us grow our podcast. Next week we have one of the legends of coaching who will be joining us to talk training.
How did you get your start in running?
How did your passion for running lead you to create RunRepeat?
When did RunRepeat start?
Can you explain to our listeners the goal of RunRepeat?
Each shoe has a number score associated with it, how does the rating system work?
Reviews are from experts on other sites and users who review the shoes on your site?
Who are these expert reviewers that work for you?
If reviewers are getting free shoes, can it cause a bias in the reviews?
If a new shoe was provided for free, will they look at the reviews and treat you differently?
How many miles do they run in a pair of shoes before they review?
What are some of the current trends you see in running shoes that seem to be having a good impact?
What about the Nike 2 hour shoe, what do you think of that shoe project?
All this money goes into marketing to say their shoe is the best. So how does someone find out what is the best shoe for them?
When I was younger I run almost solely in the Asics GT 2020 line and its successors, in the last decade though I almost never buy the same shoe two times in a row. Do you find people tend to buy the same shoe each time or do they tend to jump around between brands and models?
If I am always buying something new, I need to go into a store to try them on. If someone is buying online would you recommend they stick to the same shoe because they cannot try them on?
When do you know its time for new shoes?
Do you find the shoes that rate the highest are the most popular shoes that companies market the most or do you find no relationship between ratings and popularity?
We have had some new companies emerge over the last few years such as the Sketchers Performance line and Under Armor, what do you see as up and coming running shoe lines?
They recently signed King Cheserek to a deal which is a huge name. I had a pair of GoRuns about two years ago and if I am being honest, they were probably the most comfortable running shoes I ever owned, but they broke down really quickly. What are you seeing from them and the ratings?
I noticed one of your studies showed that the higher the priced shoe, the lower the ratings were, is that because people have unreasonable expectations when they spend more or why do you think that is?
You have a study which was ironically posted on your website on July 4th that said American runners are getting slower. But when we look at the Olympic A standard qualifications like the 5k, they the standard was faster in 2016 than it was in 2012, and we had more people who hit the faster A standard. So the elites are not getting slower, so tell us about this report?
Is it because more people who would have never considered doing a marathon before are now doing it for charity?
What other interesting studies do you have coming out?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite running book? - Shoe Dog
Current trainers you are wearing? - Declined
Favorite race? - Norway 1k vertical climb
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Chocolate
Your favorite workout - 10x400 with 1 minute rest + 3 min rest then 10x200 with 1 minute.
Email Jens Jens@RunRepeat.com
RunRepeat Website
In Episode 57 we welcome Carrie Lane, Sports Performance Coach at Authentic Performance Center, USTFCCA Strength Training Certification Instructor. Former track and field coach at University of Nebraska and University of Virginia.
How did you get your start in endurance athletics when you were younger?
You are known for your strength training, but you ran collegiately as a distance runner, can you tell us how you got made that transition?
A lot of young athletes, especially distance runners, are becoming more specialized. How important is building an endurance athlete even more so than just a distance runner to remain durable and for consistency?
You mention plyometrics, when do you move athletes from plyos to getting under the bar and lifting?
When you read about coaches like Percy Cuerety, and runners like Sebastian Coe we hear a lot about strength training that is not running specific. So where do we start in build dynamic runners?
How often would you do the skipping and dynamic warm ups?
How would the warm up differ before a recovery day vs a workout day?
Over a course of a week, what type of structure should all these exercises have?
Carrie discusses using a rope for hurdle mobility drills.
When you finally get into a weight room, how often should an athlete be in the weight room?
On those weight room days would you recommend getting them in on a workout or easy day?
Should the weight room days be done in a different part of the day like run in the AM and weights later in the day?
We think of strength work for a sprinter or thrower, but why is it important to work on strength for endurance athletes?
What about the differences between male and female, what areas are different that they need to work on?
We recently started doing a band routine a day post run. How much band work do you typically incorporate?
If you have some dynamic warm-ups leg swings before you run, then you have core work almost daily. Work in some band work. You have some plyo work and you are getting into the weight rooms a few times a week, is there a point for a distance runner where the returns are just not worth the extra time you are doing?
You have a program you have made available for distance runners, can you tell us about that and what is included.
Contact
Strength Program
Carrie on Twitter:
Carrie on Instagram
Welcome to Episode 56 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome Jonathan Beverly an author at Runner’s World and is a former Editor at Running Times. Jonathan has recently released the book Your Best Stride. We dig into what your best stride is and how you get there. We have been getting a lot of great feedback over our iOS App and the updated Android App is being worked on as we speak. Make sure you download the app and review it in the App iStore. Also follow us on Twitter and Facebook @FinalSurge.
How did you get your start with running?
How did you transfer from a high school runner to the editor of Running Times?
You have a new book called Your Best Stride. What made you decide to write this book?
You have been running since 1980 so you have been around, is there anything you learned while writing this book that really surprised you?
Let’s start digging in with upper body and the role it plays. I have a sophomore girl who just joined our team who is a first-time runner. Day one she held her arms way up and pretty much in front of her, can you talk about the role the arm swing plays in our stride?
You stress all things starting at the hip, can you talk about how important the hip is?
How do we get our hip flexors extended or loosened?
How do you make sure you glute bridges are right so you make sure you feel it in your glutes, not your hamstrings?
Your Best stride, how does that differ from the best form for all?
One thing that is discussed all the time when we are talking about stride is foot strike. How important is foot strike?
How can someone with a large overstrike work on their mechanics to fix this?
Can you talk about what we are doing for the 22.5 hours a day we are not exercising and how it effects our running?
What do you recommend about running shoes and switching them up? If you find a shoe that seems to work should you buy a bunch and stick with it or should you switch them up?
When you are going to the running store and they look at you and say you over pronate, what would you recommend?
We all want our best stride, what cues can we use to check ourselves while we are running?
What are some other things you can briefly tease our listeners with that are included in your book?
What are you working on now, any other books you have coming?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Road Racing for Serious Runners
Current trainers you are wearing? - Topo Fli-lyght 2
Favorite race? - 10 miles
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Peanut butter and honey sandwich
Your favorite workout - Tempo run
Website
Jonathan on Twitter
Your Best Stride
Welcome to episode 55 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we do something a little different. This week we talk to a variety of professional coaches who coach Olympic athletes, high school coaches who are among the most successful in the country, professional athletes and coaches who coach mostly online and we talk to them about training logs. We ask them who should be using a training log, what should be included in the log and their experiences with training logs. Now onto the show.
This week’s guests
Drew Wartenburg
Norcal website
Norcal on Instagram
Norcal on Twitter
Drew on Twitter
Neely Spence Gracey
Neely Website
Neely on Instagram
Neely on Twitter
Mario Fraioli
Mario Website
Morning Shakeout
Mario on Twitter
Joan Hunter
Joan on Twitter
Matt Fitzgerald
Running Bum Blog
Mattfitzgerald.org
Matt on Twitter
Sean McCaffery
CBA on Twitter
Kyle Kranz
Kyle on Twitter
Kyle Website
Welcome to episode 54 of the Final Surge podcast where today we talk to triathlete turned coach Marcelo Holcberg. We discuss with Marcelo who his biggest influences are, how busy professionals can train for triathlons and how he works with periodization. Remember to follow us on Twitter @FinalSurge and don't forget to subscribe and rate us on iTunes.
How did you get your start in endurance athletics?
What was the hardest part of the transition from running to triathlons?
When did you make that transition from successful athlete to coaching?
You moved to the US in the late 90s and decided to build a coaching business, what was it like moving to a new country and building a coaching business where you probably did not know a whole lot of people?
All great coaches learn from other people Arthur Lydiard, Phil Maffetone, Joe Vigil, these are some well-known coaches, whose training methods have had the biggest impact on our coaching philosophy?
How many people are you coaching now?
What is the typical profile of your client?
If you have a non-professional athlete who works a full-time job, maybe travels for their job, has a husband or wife at home and three kids, what do you need to take into consideration to create a plan that they can execute, do consistently and reach their goals?
Do most of the athletes you coach come from a running background, or what is their athletic background?
You start to work with a new client who has a running background who wants to become a triathlete, how do you start working with them?
Do you work with most of your athletes in person or do you do virtual coaching too?
You mention you may get a 3:15 marathoner who comes to you, how do you break it up early in their training between the run which they are experienced with vs. bike and swim?
You talked about Periodization in your training, Is a training plan much like a running plan where you start with a base of time/miles and as you get closer to the event the more race specific it becomes and is it different for each of the disciplines?
How does your peak week for a triathlon differ from the early weeks, do you change the time with maybe bike or swim and focus more on the area they are weaker in?
For the average athlete, you have that comes to you looking to do their first triathlon how long do you like an athlete to have to work on a program before they try their first triathlon?
In your coaching how much do you use heart rate or power zones vs going strictly by feel?
Come race day how do you plan out your race? What advice do you have for knowing the best race strategy for that new triathlete?
You mention transition zones, how much time can be saved or lost in a transition between the two transition zones?
How much time do you work on the transitions?
Let's talk about some of the most common sticky points or FAQ’s
-How do you find the right race for you?
-How can you spot and correct under or over training
-How do you do rest days when you are going hard on swim one day, do you come back with a hard bike or run or do you need a rest day?
-What are some of the key workouts you have that you think may be a good indicator of fitness and how ready someone is for their next race?
You have been in the sport a long time, how has it changed since the late 80’s?
You are starting a new a Youth Development Running Program in Miami, can you tell us about that?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Jim Fixx Complete book of Running
Current trainers you are wearing? - Asics DSTrainer
Favorite race? - Anything inside of Central Park
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Chocolate milk
Your favorite workout - Hills running
how can people follow you on social or online
Website Tri2One
Hi everyone, Dean Ouellette the social media director for Final Surge here and tomorrow we have a great new training podcast to release. Today we want to tell you about a new promotion we are running with Olympian Nick Symmonds. As most of you probably know by now, we have a released a completely new iOS app for Final Surge that is getting rave reviews.
To help promote this we teamed up with Nick Symmonds and are giving away a years supply of Run Gum. To enter to win just head over to FinalSurge.com/rungum and sign up. There are no costs, no obligations. And make sure you head to the Apple App Store and download the new iOS app and leave a review in the app store. So head to finalsurge.com/rungum and enter now to win a free year of run gum.
Welcome to episode 54 of the Final Surge Podcast. Today we welcome Dr. Chris Segler who was a competitive triathlete and is a doctor who specializes in working with endurance athletes. I first found Chris on his Doc On The Run podcast. Chris has an attitude of keeping the athlete going if at all possible while working through an injury and we talk about that and some other practical advice when visiting a doctor. We hope you enjoy this episode and over the next two w, eks we have one of the top triathlete coaches and one of the top distance running coaches around talking training.
Listen to the podcast on iTunes or listen to it on Stitcher if you have an Android device.
Stream it right here:
How did you get interested in endurance sports?
When did you make the transition to triathlons?
When you decided you wanted to become a doctor, did you always plan on having endurance athletes as the backbone of your practice?
Can you tell our listeners about your Doc on the Run podcast and how it got started?
Someone comes down with on “overuse” injury say shin splints or planters or runners knee, what is biggest mistake doctors and physical therapists who do not specialize in endurance athletes make?
If someone goes and see a doctor and the doctors says your activity is causing pain, so stop doing that activity, what questions should the athlete ask the doctor to make sure this is the best advice?
One thing you talk about a lot is making sure the Dr. is on your team. How do you make sure they are?
When someone has an overuse injury the most common recommendation is RICE. Where do you come down with ice to get rid of inflammation vs. allowing the inflammation to heal you?
It is said that 75-85% of running injuries from poor biomechanics. Is there any truth to that?
How often do lower leg injuries start at the hips?
Everyone is different but if you were talking to a group of 200 runners what are some exercise you would give them to help reduce the risk of injuries?
What exercises would you recommend to get the glutes firing?
How important are running shoes?
What should people be looking for?
Listener question from Nancy on Twitter:
Before becoming a runner she went to Dr. for nerve pain from ball of foot to toes. He said it was a callous. Eventually it went away but she became a runner-5 yrs now. When but uo miles started having nerve pain when breaking in new shoes Then it progressed to hurting with broken in shoes so I put a metatarsal pad in shoes. Saturday I landed on a rock so whole ball of foot is sore today so maybe I'll do contrast baths. I qualified for Boston 6 weeks ago And am training for a fall marathon. Question: in addition to the contrast bath and taping, do you recommend any exercises for the foot?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite running book? - Iron War
Current trainers you are wearing? - Hoka Bondi
Favorite race? - Ironman France
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Smoothie loaded
Your favorite workout - Mile repeats on the track
Resources:
Doc on the run
Brad Beers video’s for hips he recommends
My Running Doc on Twitter
We have exciting new news about our new iOS mobile update. If you have any feedback please contact us on Twitter @FinalSurge or send a contact through our support
Welcome to episode 52 of the Final Surge podcast. Today we welcome back Olympian and World silver medalist Nick Symmonds who joined us previously on episode 25. In this episode, we talk about Nick’s last race around the oval and his transition from 800m specialist to marathoner. Next week Final Surge has some big news which Nick will be helping us promote, and we’ll be giving away a free year’s supply of Run Gum during this promotion. Keep an eye on our Facebook Page and our Twitter page for full details.
Last time we talked you announced this was going to be your last season on a track and then you were going to finish off your career with a marathon. So how did your last race go?
How do you think that 800 team that qualified from the US will do at Worlds?
You have done thousands of laps around that oval, knowing these were going to be your final two laps racing, what was going through your mind as you were waiting for the race to start?
It was hot in Sacramento, but considering the heat, the crowds in the stands were not what I am sure was being hoped for. What do you think we need to do to package track differently to get people back into the stands?
Last week I watched the championship race of the Tracktown Summer Series, where you were one of the team managers. I liked the team concept and found it really interesting. I found myself pulling for SF and Portland because of the team managers. What do you think they did successfully that could be used to build off of?
You have things you would like to do, but you also know the leadership in the sport. What do you think is the future of the sport? Where do you think we will be in 10 years?
Are there any groups you think are doing track right? Do you think the Diamond League or any country is doing it well and growing the sport?
One thing I think track can do better is marketing the athletes. Part of that is the athlete doing what they can to build their own fan base. One way you are successful with this is your new Vlog. How did that come about?
Who is helping you with these vlogs? What does the production for them look like?
In episode 25 you told our listeners that you would be doing a marathon, then in your vlog you announced your marathon is going to be the Honolulu Marathon. Why did you choose this race?
Just looking at you, your body has a build of a 800/1500 runner, what are your plans for training, do you plan on trying to drop weight or to see what you can achieve with your current build?
How is your nutrition changing?
One thing you talk about in the vlog is having goals, what will be your goal after a marathon? An ultra?
If you qualify for Boston would you run it?
Your Run Gum business is going well and I am sure it is a full-time job. How are you going to balance your business and training schedule?
How is your marathon training being handled, are you using your coach?
What does a week of training look like right now?
Coming into the US 800, what was your peak mileage?
One of our listeners would like to know an example of workout(s) planned in the peak mileage phase of your marathon cycle?
Run Gum is offering an all expended paid trip to run the Honolulu Marathon with you. Can you tell our listeners about that?
We usually end with the Final Surge round, but if anyone wants to hear your answers they can check out episode 25. I want to do something different here. I want to thank you. As a high school coach, when I ask my kids who their favorite runner is the most popular answer is Nick Symmonds. You have been such a great ambassador for the sport. You have been such a great advocate for the athlete. You have given back so much to the sport and have taken time to talk to and inspire kids and sign autographs. I want to thank you for all you have done for the sport and wish you the best.
Welcome to episode 51 of the Final Surge podcast, today we talk to Eric Christensen who is a Physical Therapist in Arizona. Eric has a Doctorate of Physical Therapy and a degree in Exercise Science. Eric has a new book coming out called Breathe Better. You can get the first two chapters of his book at Chandlerpt.net/breatebetter. In this episode, we talk about breathing and how it could be affecting your running. Next week we will be welcoming back Olympian Nick Symmonds to discuss his marathon training. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @FinalSurge and leave a review for us on iTunes or Stitcher. Now on to the show.
Dr. Christensen welcome to the Final Surge Podcast, it is great to have you here today.
You are a physical therapist in Chandler Arizona, can you tell our listeners how you got interested in the physical therapy field?
You wrote a book coming out called Breathe Better. How did this book come about?
We all breath, so this may not be something most people think about as a problem. How did you identify this as a problem?
If a recreational runner comes to you, what are some things you identify that make you say this person needs to work on their breathing?
If someone has runner knee or knee pain, how can breathing be a contributing factor to that?
How would you go about training or retraining your breathing?
Now what about something like side stitches, can changing your breathing help this?
A lot of these issues with breathing you mentioned lifestyle. Is this because of the amount of time we spend hunching over our desks and phones?
What can we look for in terms of signs during the day that we are falling into bad habits?
Coaches teach breathing in through your nose out through you amount, is it fully in through the nose or is it a combination?
If someone comes into a physical therapist and are not getting the results they want, how can they use your book to see if maybe a change in breathing could help them?
What about those that may not have an injury, is there something in your book that they could find to just help with performance?
How often does someone need to work on this to make the changes in their breathing?
What percentage of people who come in to see you would you say need to work on their breathing?
Who is your book intended for?
Where can someone find your book?
Resources
ChandlerPT.net/breathbetter
Instagram: @Chandler_PT
Facebook: Chandler Physical Therapy
Twitter: chandler_PT
Welcome to episode 50 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we talk to Derek Rubis. If you are active on Twitter you likely know Derek as DDritzenhein, the hub of running. Derek has a reputation as the #1 running fan around. Derek also has had a unique experience where he has been coached by a different coach each week for the last 3 years. Derek has had well-known coaches such as Ben Rosario and Danny Mackey. Derek is also an honorary member of the Brooks Beast Distance Group.
How did you get started in running?
Some of our listeners are going to know you from Twitter as DDRitzenhein, the Hub of Distance Running if you can give us a little info about how you started getting connected to so many great distance runners and coaches?
You are one of the most active Twitter users I know, you have sent over 330k tweets. So how did this passion that you have now become so strong?
You are an honorary member of the Brooks Beast Pro Distance Running Group and the Melbourne Track Club & brand ambassador for Run Gum. How did these relationships develop?
One of the most interesting things is your training. It appears that you get trained by a different coach/athlete ever week is that correct?
How did this start and who did you first work with on this project?
Who are some of the most memorable that come to mind when you think of all the coaches you have had?
When you switch from one coach to the next how does that work with your training for events?
Are you currently training for any specific races?
How do you blend one week into the next?
You have seen more training from more great coaches than probably just about any distance runner. So what have you learned from this experience?
Are there any common themes you notice between all the successful coaches?
Who has given you the most challenging week yet?
What are some of the most memorable workouts you have done?
Who are you currently being coached with right now?
Do you have any big trips or races planned for this summer?
How many coaches have you had so far?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite running book? - Like Father, Like Son
Current trainers you are wearing? - Brooks Launch 3
Favorite race? - 3k steeple
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - SOS Rehydrate
Your favorite workout - Michigan workout
Connect with Derek
Instagram
Twitter
Welcome to episode 49 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome the Dr. Jay Dicharry. Jay is the author of a must have book for any coach, Anatomy for Runners. Jay discusses what to look for when looking for a physical therapist, we talk foot strike location, shoes, and some common injuries.
How did you get started in running and endurance athletics when you were a kid?
What are you focusing on right now, are you working mostly in research or are you working with athletes?
When I talk to other coaches and we talk about books, there are two books that I say I could not live without. #1 on that list is Anatomy for Runners. How did this book come about?
There seem to be two types of common types of physical therapists. Type one is, you have a pain, let’s shut you down for a week or two while we do therapy and then start with a light jog for a couple days a week. And then there is the second type that says I know you are runner and my goal is to keep you running while you work through this. Do you have any advice on picking a good physical therapist who understands competitive athletes?
Are there any designations or initials after their name that we may want to be looking for? SCS or OCS
I go to a few coaching clinics a year, and when the question comes up how do you keep them healthy, the most common answer is run them on soft surfaces. Where we live, we are on concrete sidewalks for 2 miles before we can get to a dirt canal trail. What does the research show on the difference of different surfaces and injuries?
If you were talking in front of a group of 200 runners and they wanted shoe advice, is there any general advice on what runners could look for as qualities in a good shoe vs poor shoe choice?
Running shoes have been around for decades, and shoe companies are always making technology advancements, and the running injury rate is not getting better. Is there anything coming in shoe technology that could help?
And when it comes to shoes we hear a lot about over pronation. It seems there is an issue with diagnosing everyone as overpronators. What are your thoughts on shoes and pronation?
How do we get this information out to shoe stores?
When it comes to flexibility you mention in your book that all you need is proper range of motion to do the movement you are trying to accomplish, so a swimmer and cyclist and runner would all have different range of motion needs. Is there any benefit of stretching at all for general health and injury prevention?
When it comes to warmups you of course recommend dynamic movement but I know you also don’t recommend the most popular movements which are A/B skips. Can you explain why you don’t recommend them and what are a few of your favorite exercises pre workout?
You mentioned running is pushing and putting force into the ground, but there are also programs out there that teach you running is falling forward, how do they differ?
Glad you mentioned about landing underneath your body, the best professional distance runners when you watch them in slow motion are slightly ahead of their body, so what are we really looking for here is it foot location, angle of shin at contact or what?
If someone is overstriding I’m guessing you wouldn’t tell them to purposely change their foot strike location when they are running, what should runners work on?
When I look at many athletes with lower leg injuries and I film them, what I see with these athletes is what I believe you call toilet bowl of doom in your book. Can you explain this and how to address it?
We see shin splints in our high school and middle school girls, it seems to be way more prevalent on the girl's side, but they get shin splints so often that we joke it is contagious. What are your recommendations?
Runners' knee is another big one, what are the most common issues with runners knee that you see?
What about wearable devices. How are they coming along in helping runners address the things they need to work on?
What about your typical age group runner who probably spends most of their day sitting, what do they need to work on with body positioning?
Are you working on any new books coming out?
Links
Are you ready to go minimal video
Jay's book Anatomy for Runners
Jay's website
In episode 48 of the Final Surge Podcast, we talk to Dr. Stephen Seiler who is the leading researcher on polarized training for endurance athletes. Welcome to episode 48 of the final surge podcast where we welcome
Welcome to episode 48 of the final surge podcast where we welcome Dr. Stephen Seiler. Seiler has spent his career studying the optimal ways for endurance athletes to train and his polarized training methods are the foundation for Matt Fitzgerald’s 80/20 training book. In this episode, we talk about what exactly are the 80/20 zones, where do tempo and threshold runs play into that formula and how to work rest into your interval work. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @FinalSurge and please take a moment to subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher or whatever your podcast app of choice is.
Listen to the podcast on iTunes or listen to it on Stitcher if you have an Android device.
Stream it right here:
Your bio could take me 5 minutes to read, instead of getting into all of it, could you take a minute and introduce yourself to our audience?
We had Matt Fitzgerald on a while back and talked about his 80/20 book. You are referenced many times in that book. And I’m actually holding a huge packet here in my hand called Seiler’s Hierarchy of Endurance Training Needs. How did you get interested in sports science?
Most of the research I have seen from you is with cyclist and xc-skiers. But what you have learned from your research is also able to be applied to other endurance athletes like runners and triathletes correct?
Can you explain polarized training?
Is there a better way to define these high intensity, low intensity, and middle grounds?
If we look at Mark Wetmore at the University of Colorado, probably the most respected college coach in the game today, Joe Vigil who is maybe the most successful college coach ever, and very successful in developing athletes who go on to the next level. With all of these coaches, the tempo runs or lactate threshold are a large staple in what they do. Could there be a case made that for athletes still developing their aerobic system, who maybe run 50 miles a week instead of 130 miles a week that the threshold work could have a big impact on that aerobic development?
If a runner is only running 40 miles a week and not doing 80-120 miles, is it more important for them to maybe do a little more of the high quality, high-end threshold work than someone who is doing 3x their volume?
When someone is in that 80% easy training zone, how easy is that? What would that be in a percent of maximum heart rate?
In that 80%, is there a number you have studied that becomes too low?
On the other end, on the 20%, how long are you trying to get into that area for a workout?
If we are doing those 4x8 minute intervals, what would the recommended rest intervals be?
What would a year of periodization look like under this type of program?
Does the volume that they are doing need to be sports specific, or have you looked at cross training to get the same benefits?
I've read your hierarchy of endurance training a few times. There is a pyramid you have put together in that document on how to train. Can you explain it?
Do you coach or are you just studying this topic?
You’ve been talking about this for several years now, what's new or what ideas have maybe changed since you started?
Do you have anything you are studying that may work on these concepts more?
Has anything interesting come out of studying the micro sessions?
Links to resources:
Research Gate Publications
Hierarchy of Training Needs Document
Stephen Seiler on Twitter
Welcome to Episode 47 of the Final Surge Podcast. Today we get away from specific training and talk about setting and adjusting running goals with Diana Fitts who has a book called Better Running Goals. Diana is a Boston Qualifier and an author of three books.
Can you tell us how you got your start in running?
I know you are a Boston Marathon qualifier and have also run shorter distances, so what is your preferred distance of choice right now?
I came across you when I found your book, Better Running Goals in which you talk a lot about priorities. Why did you decide to write this book?
You mention that when you started running and training that running became your number one priority. Was that a good thing or an issue in your life?
The one thing you focus on when you are setting goals is your why? Why you run. So could you let us know what your why is and how it has changed over the years?
I know with me the more time I coach the more my passion for sport grows, but I find myself running less and gaining weight while just wanting to run. What are common issues you find in people where people don't make the commitment to the goals they say they want to reach?
How do you find your why, do you have any exercises you recommend?
How do you schedule a week so that you make sure your runs are in place and get done?
In the book, you talk about compromises and different levels of compromises. Can you talk about those?
As priorities change how often or when do you recommend people hit pause and reevaluate their priorities?
What do you do about detours that come up? How do you adjust?
I enjoyed Better Running Goals. Do you have any other books coming up?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minuteFavorite running book? - Any Matt Fitzgerald mindset book
Current trainers you are wearing? - Brooks Ghost
Favorite race? - Boston Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Peanut butter
Your favorite workout - Long Tempo Run
Connect with Diana and resources
Website: http://betterthanalive.com/
Free PDF Worksheet: http://betterthanalive.com/run/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DianaAFitts
Welcome to episode 45 of the Final Surge podcast where today we talk to Jim Cielencki. Jim won one of the give-a-ways for Nick Willis’ Miler Method Bootcamp we had last winter. We talk to Jim about the bootcamp, find out what he learned and how the experience was. Jim also has a unique running story. The Buffalo resident ran every mile of every street in Buffalo while training for a marathon and the event went viral and even ended up as a Ted Talk.
You were one of the winners from the Miler Method giveaway with Olympian Nick Willis we did in episode 26. I want to talk to you about that experience, how it went and what you learned… but first, it turns out you have a pretty interesting running story of your own. Can you tell our listeners How did you get started in running originally?
Tell us about your running Buffalo experience and what that was about?
How hard was the planning to make sure you did routes where you could always be hitting a new street, while not duplicating?
I’ve seen pictures from the Ted talk you did that show the streets you ran in blue. Was that the Strava heat map that is creating that map?
You are running January 1-May 29th, how much of a factor was the Buffalo weather?
You won the Nick Willis Miler Method contest we did and you got to go through his Miler Bootcamp. What was that process like?
Had you ever really run a full out mile before you did this?
How much time did your mile drop by the end of the bootcamp?
What was the training like, what did you learn from the training you didn’t know before?
How often were you doing track/hill workouts?
Having experience with longer races and coming down to mile training was there anything that surprised you about the training?
What was the community like among those doing the bootcamp, how did you all stay connected?
Would you recommend it others?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite running book? - Born to Run
Current trainers you are wearing? - Saucony Kinvara
Favorite race? - Buffalo Turkey Trot
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Toast with peanut butter and banana
Your favorite workout - Compound workouts
Links
Episode 26 with Nick Willis.
Ted Talk
Jim Buffalo Running Instagram
Website for Buffalo Running
Many high school teams are winding down their track seasons and starting to think about their summer program. Today we welcome Coach Ben Rosario, who has a couple of high school plans available to purchase on Final Surge in to talk about summer running and building a team culture during the summer. This podcast came as a suggestion and if you have an idea you would like us to explore please send us a message on Twitter @FinalSurge or hit us up on our Facebook Page.
We put out a question out on Twitter asking what topics that people wanted us to cover in upcoming podcasts, and we had a group of high school coaches asking for a show on the structure of summer running programs. So we decided who better than the author of probably the best high school cross country book out there which is called Tradition Class Pride, Coach Ben Rosario.
I think we all know the goal of the summer is to build the aerobic base for cross country. I have heard college coaches and successful high school coaches say they think many high school kids are malnutritioned in the aerobic area. So how do we start working on this?
The long run is a staple. I read when Mark Wettmore was a high school coach and winning state championship after state championship his upperclassmen had a 20-mile loop for their long run, and this was high school not at Colorado. And others say high school kids really shouldn’t be running either longer than their age or longer than 90 minutes. What is your thought?
How do you vary mileage between boys and girls in high school?
You have a new summer cross country training plan that will be available for purchase on Final Surge this week. How do you break it down for a team that may have new freshman runners and experienced runners going into their senior year?
For a beginning group of new runners, how many days a week would they run early in the summer compared to the end of the summer?
How do you keep running fun during the summer for them?
What percent or your training is the long run on Saturday?
One of the plans I looked at in week two you add in a couple days a week of drills and strides. What pace should the strides be in?
And you mentioned drills are included, are these form drills?
In the plan I looked at, you started out around 27-miles and built up to just above 50-miles at the end of 10 weeks. What type of mileage do you think this person was doing the season before?
By week two you are getting a workout in on Wednesday, but not really faster than a tempo, and then the long run. The rest of your runs are steady runs, what pace do you recommend. There are some kids who will go to hard and then there are other kids who will jog if you don’t give them some paces. What pace do you recommend based on their current 5k times?
Some questions from Twitter
How often should female HS runners lift weights in the summer? What are 3-5 key lifts to include?
How often should they be doing general strength/core exercises in addition to the lifting?
What's the best way to evaluate HS talent to determine what distance they should run?
You have two programs available for sale on Final Surge, the first is a training plan for the xc season and the second is a detailed schedule for summer running. If someone buys your 5k cross country plan, what can they expect to see inside the program?
Links
Tradition. Class. Pride.
Ben Rosario on Twitter
Final Surge Plans
Welcome to episode 43 of the Final Surge Podcast today we talk to professional runner Craig Lutz about how he got his start in running and talk to him about his high school running camps. Please remember to subscribe if you have not done so yet, rate and review us on iTunes and follow us on Twitter @FinalSurge.
You are a very successful professional runner, you had a great college career at the University of Texas, but when did it all start for you, when did you first start really running?
Your high school career was extremely successful. You had a top 4 finish at Footlocker and you won the individual title at Nike Cross Nationals, when did you start thinking of running in college?
What type of mileage did you run in high school?
What was the thought process when you graduated UT to go in the professional running route instead of using the business degree?
You seem to be using that business degree now with your newer Lutz running camp in Flagstaff, can you tell us about the camp?
Is Lutz Running still doing camps in Texas too or just Flagstaff?
How long is the camp in Flagstaff?
What can the kid expect when they come?
Where do the kids stay at your camp?
Some camps have a lot of running involved and some camps have less. How is the running aspect of your camp?
One of my favorite places to run is Buffalo Park. Do you have any plans to run there?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite running book? - Steve Scott The Miler - Biography
Current trainers you are wearing? - Hoka Clifton 3
Favorite race? - Austin Capital 10k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Homemade smoothie
Your favorite workout - Mile repeats and long run at altitude.
Website: LutzRunning.com
Twitter: @Craig_Lutz
Craig's Running Log
Welcome to Episode 42 of the Final Surge Podcast. This week we continue what we started last week with our popular 'best of show'. This week we focus on episodes 21-40 and bring you the best highlights from each podcast.
We hope you enjoy it. If you want to catch any of the full episodes head over to FinalSurge.com/podcast and listen to any episode.
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Welcome to Episode 41 of the Final Surge Podcast. This week we have something different for you. With 40 episodes recorded, we have talked to some of the greatest living US coaches and endurance athletes around. Every week we add many new listeners to the podcast so we wanted to give you a best of show. We have gone through the first 20 episodes of the podcast and pulled out some of the best highlights from each podcast. This is part one that focuses on Episodes 1-20. We hope you enjoy it. If you want to catch any of the full episodes head over to FinalSurge.com/podcast and listen to any episode.
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Follow Final Surge on Facebook
Welcome to episode 40 of the final surge podcast where we talk to Jonathan Marcus, the coach of High Performance West about the subject of coaching. Many of you may know Jonathan as the co-host of Magness and Marcus On Coaching Podcast. We talk about his podcast, and he dives deep into subjects like training and racing strategy as well the word coach means to him.
How did you get your start in running?
At what point in high school did you decide to stop the other sports and focus on running?
How did you get into coaching and then form your group High Performance West?
Are you looking for only elite athletes or would you accept anyone, even a local 5k runner, if they were serious enough?
You and Steve Magness, who was our guest in Episode 18 of our podcast, you two have a podcast called “On Coaching,” why did you start a podcast on coaching?
When you think coach, what is the first thing you think about and how has that changed since becoming a coach compared to when you were running?
You have coached at every level from high school to elite professionals, what would you say are some of the more common mistakes coaches are making in developing runners?
You talk a lot about the latest science and the little things that people are doing to get that extra marginal increase. We have a variety of listeners from high school coaches and age group weekend 5k runners. So knowing the wide variety of people listening do you think many people are making a mistake of focusing too much on the small things before getting the basics down?
You recently did a podcast on interval training. When we are looking at interval training, what should we be looking for as far as putting together a training plan?
Let’s talk about the art of racing, one of your podcast episodes. Playing devil’s advocate, if your goal is to win a race, and there is a one best way to run the race the fastest, isn’t that how you should execute it?
That’s if you are in the position to win. What about the person who may be mid-pack and may end up in no man's land all by themselves in the race. How do you advise that person who is looking to run a PR, not necessarily a win in a race?
Going back to that quote of "the goal of preparation and practice is to perform and compete." Can you give us a few examples of a few workouts that you have done recently with some of your athletes and what your goal was as far as transferring that to racing?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite running book? - Unforgiving Minute
Current trainers you are wearing? - Sketchers GoRun 5
Favorite race? - Cross Country
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Self Made Smoothie
Your favorite workout - Acceleration Session
Website for High Performance West
Podcast On Coaching
Jonathan Marcus on Twitter
Welcome to episode 39 of the Final Surge Podcast where we talk to head coach and co-founder of TeamMPI, Mark Sortino. Mark is a Level III Triathlon coach and has been published in publications such as US Triathlon Magazine, Triathlete Magazine and was a featured coach in Endurance Films TriMinds series. TeamMPI has triathlon plans available on Final Surge from all events from sprint through Ironman.
How did you get your start in endurance athletics?
How did you make the transition into triathlons?
That lead to you forming TeamMPI, can you tell us about your group?
How many coaches do you currently have on staff at TeamMPI?
You mentioned you are using Final Surge in your training, how are you using it?
We want to start out with some basic training and triathlon questions for those who are looking to do their first multisport event. For someone who is looking to get started with triathlons, maybe they are someone who has done a lot of running or swimming, what do you see as the most common mistakes made?
You have a wide variety of training plans available on Final Surge, everything from sprint up to Ironman training plans. Let's look at the basic first week for a beginner Olympic distance race plan. Before we talk about specifics, what type of base should a beginner have before they start training for their first triathlon?
Week one: the first day you have 30 minutes of swimming builds and 30 minutes of aerobic running with strides.
For the swim the 30 minutes is:
200 easy choice warmup mix
3x the following:
((100 easy, :30 RI
100 moderate, :30 RI
100 fast, 1min RI))
100 easy choice cooldown mix
***No paces to hit, just go with feel and intention.
For someone who is coming in without a swim background, how important is it to use perceived exertion on the swim?
After the swim, you have the 30 minutes of running. Should these be done back to back, does order matter or should they be separate so you are recovered?
Day two of week one is:
30 min swim active recovery and 30 minutes of bike base spinning
One thing I noticed on the swim is on the second day you have
150 warmup, build each 50
4x 50 - alternate easy/fast up, then 4x100 alternating and again 4x50 alternating hard and easy.
For someone who is coming from a run background, we don’t see a coach saying go hard two days in a row. How different is it training for the swim?
Then the bike is 30 minutes of staying in zones 1-2. Is all of your biking done in heart rate zones vs training paces?
Day three is a Fartlek run
- 10min EASY warm-up, building to Z2
- 15min of fartlek where you have 4 sprints at any type of distance (for 20 sec, 1min, stop sign to stop sign), but make sure you recover before each one.
Why and how often are you incorporating fartlek work into your workouts?
In week one you have some days that are just running or just bike, but every day of swimming has either bike or run. Is this a normal pattern for your triathlon training?
For the new triathlete, they get to the start line on race day and they are looking at several hundred people ahead of them waiting to get into the water. How do you prepare them for what will likely be a much rougher swim than what they practiced?
Looking at an Ironman plan. An Ironman is going to be a lot more time in the water and roads. Looking at one of the weeks for your ironman training you have a total of 3.5 hours running, 5.5 hours biking and just under 2.5 hours swimming. Do you try to keep each week proportional to the amount of time they will actually be spending doing the event on race day or do you focus on what they may need the most help with?
On days where you are doing either both swim run, swim bike or bike run, is it important that you do them in the order you will be doing them on race day, not important at all or should you switch it up?
Over the last few years, there have been a lot of technical advancements that make it easier to train, such as the availability of power meters and testing your heart rate variability. How important are these tools to your coaching?
Can you tell us how you are using HRV with your athletes to monitor the overall picture of what is going on with them?
We all live with our Google calendar, our day planners and our family calendar hanging on the fridge, and they all have the same thing. 7 day weeks, which is what we seem to focus on training around to are those 7 day weeks. You recently had a piece on your blog TeamMPI.com about changing the cycles up some. What do you recommend people consider when putting together a training cycle?
Team MPI has plans available on Final Surge from everything from the sprint up to the Ironman triathlons. I will leave the links in the show notes to those plans, but if someone wanted to reach out to you about coaching or other questions how could they best reach you.
mark@teammpi.com or coaches@teammpi.com
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite running or endurance book? - Born to Run
Current trainers you are wearing? - Newton
Favorite race? - Kona
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Shakology and Energy Lab Armor
Your favorite workout - Running a hard trail run, Bike short interval work, Swim long repeats.
Team MPI Social Media Follow us and participate in the conversations on our social media pages: Facebook: www.facebook.com/teamMPI
Twitter: www.twitter.com/teamMPI
Instagram: www.instagram.com/teamMPI
YouTube: www.youtube.com/TeamMPI
Team MPI Website
In episode 38 of the Final Surge Podcast we are joined by Denny Krahe who is a coach and best known for his running podcast called Diz Runs. Denny has almost 400 episodes of his podcast and releases three a week. We will talk to him about his first ultra run he did recently, his coaching and his new upcoming book Be Ready on Race Day.
How did you get your start with running?
You made the transition from not being a runner until after college to coaching. How did that transition happen?
At what point in this journey did the DizRuns podcast start?
What are some of the best stories that you remember from your podcast?
Recently you made the jump to ultras and did your first ultra trail run, what was that like?
You have done a lot of marathons, but here you get to 26.2, and you had another 10k to go. How did it feel at the 26.2 mark?
What were the big differences in your training leading up to the ultra?
What about fueling, how did your fueling change running the ultra vs. what you were used to in marathons?
What lessons did you learn from the ultra? What would you change next time?
You have a background in exercise science and talk a lot about injuries on your podcast Q&A episodes. What are the most common issues you see with the athletes you work with?
What are the strength and core routines you are using with your athletes to keep them healthy and for injury prevention?
You do a lot of coaching when someone comes to you for coaching where do you find them to most often be at? Are they a new running looking to get started, a more experienced running looking get that extra 1% improvement or somewhere in between?
You recently announced you have a new book coming out. Can you tell us the topic of this training book?
What is the market for this book, half marathon, and marathon?
When is the book coming out and where can they get it?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite running book? - 80/20
Current trainers you are wearing? - Altra’s
Favorite race? - Running with the Bears in California
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Greasy Burger and fries
Your favorite workout - Mile repeats
Denny’s website
Denny’s upcoming book - Be Ready On Race Day
DizRuns on Twitter
DizRuns on Instagram
Welcome to episode 37 of the Final Surge podcast where we talk with coach Nate Helming. Nate has been featured in such publications such as Competitor magazine and is the founder of The Run Experience. I recommend you check out his videos on Youtube at The Run Experience. Today we will discuss running injuries, hips, footstrike, nose breathing and more.
How did you get your start in endurance sports?
Did you do track and cross country in high school or was it just something you did on the side?
What did you do after high school, did you do these sports in college?
You now run The Run Experience and specialize in movement and keeping runners injury free. Did you study Exercise Science in college?
Depending on the survey you want to believe, 65-80 percent of runners and triathletes get injured every year, why do you think the injury rate is so high?
You mentioned thorough dynamic warm up, what does that look like for you?
You mentioned range of motion; one argument is you only need as much flexibility or range of motion as the activity requires. So with running that is not a whole lot. Do you agree with this or do you think we need to work even more on increasing range of motion?
If we look at the newer runner, some of the common injuries we see are shin splints, Achilles injuries, runners knee, tight calves, most of what we see is lower leg injuries, but usually, that is the symptom of a different causing factor. What are some of the things you most often see leading to these lower leg injuries?
You mention hip extension, when I see lower leg injuries, the first thing I look at are the hips, and often, the hips are back when we look at them on video. It is easy to tell someone to get your hips underneath, but it is a different thing to make it happen. How do you work with athletes to get their hips under them?
In your videos on Youtube at The Run Experience, you talk a lot about proper foot strike. While there may not be a one best foot strike for everyone, where are some of the things you look for?
You mentioned during the first mile of the warm up run to breathe through the nose only, does this teach deeper belly breathing?
When working with your triathletes and runners, you have them working with these drills and movements. How much general strength and weight lifting do you do with your athletes?
You mentioned barbell movements, are you working with the Olympic movements or what other types of strength work do you have your athletes do?
You have the 2-week quickstart program on your site, can you tell us what is involved in that?
You have a new mobile app too, what is included in that Run Experience app?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Your favorite running book? - Bowerman and the Men of Oregon
Current trainers you are wearing? - Altra Loan Peak 3.0
Favorite race? - Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Sushi and ice cream
Your favorite workout - 90 min trail run working uphills
Youtube
Website
Instagram
Facebook
TheRunExperience App
Welcome to episode 36 of the Final Surge Podcast where we talk to former Syracuse Orangeman, and current NAZ Elite Runner Marty Hehir about his first year as a professional runner. We talk about his career at Syracuse, how he found out he would be running in the Olympic trials just 2-days before the race and how his training has changed since going pro. Marty helped lead Syracuse to the National Title in cross country with his ninth place individual finish at the 2015 Championships.
We like to start out by introducing the listeners with our guests by asking how you got your start in running?
What made you want to run at Syracuse, I’m guessing not for the weather?
While I don’t think he is under appreciated any longer, for a while I think Chris Fox was probably one of the best college distance coaches that few knew. What was it like running for him?
When you were thinking about going to school at Syracuse was it something you were thinking about going to school to become a professional runner, or were you a runner for something to do while at school? And at what point did you decide you were going to pursue a professional running career?
How has the transition gone, have you enjoyed it as much as you thought you would or has it been different?
You joined NAZ Elite in August, but you ran at the Trials in the 10k before that. Who were you training with before joining NAZ?
You mentioned you were not even in the trials until 2 days before. What is the back story there? How did you get in?
All runners for the most part have big personalities in their own way. Your group though seems to be on another level. How fun has it been to be part of that group in Flagstaff?
Marty answers the question, does Scott Fauble eat as many burritos as it seems during the week?
You have a 3k pr of 7:49 and have run a half in 63. So you have a lot of versatility. What do you think you will be focusing on over the next few years?
What races do you have on the schedule?
One thing I love about your team is your openness. Your teams complete training logs are online at FinalSurge.com/nazElite. Do you guys get a lot questions about your training and why do you open it up so much when some others seem to be so secretive about what they do?
First what I have learned from interviewing so many professional coaches and runners is there is no one road to Rome, there are many ways to get there. There are many ways to get to the top, but all of them involve hard work and consistency. So what is some of the biggest changes you have seem since joining NAZ Elite vs what you were doing before?
You mentioned 15x1k. Saturday you did a Lactate Threshold 15 x 1k in 2:58 with 1 min rest. And this is one of the things I love about your online logs is not only do you have workouts, but you have notes that you put in post race. So it looked like you stayed 2:57-2:59 on each rep. And it states you did it with a few other of the guys on the team. Is this a staple workout?
Today you did a leg speed workout where you did a 3 mile warmup, 10x200 in 31 with 200 recovery jog and 3 mile recovery. How often are you doing these types of high leg speed workouts?
What advice would have you have to a runner looking at your logs and looking for ideas. Obviously not everyone is an elite runner, so what could an age group runner in a local 5 or 10k learn from reading your logs?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite running book? - Born To Run
Current trainers you are wearing? - Hoka Clifton 3
Favorite race? - 2015 NCAA XC Championship Race.
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Your favorite workout - Cutdown workout
Coach Ben Rosario in Episode 4?
Marty on Twitter
Complete Training Logs
Marty’s Training Log
Welcome to episode 35 of the final surge podcast where we welcome Coach Greg McMillan to the show. If you get any tidbits or learn anything useful from this podcast please head over to iTunes and share a review. Today we are going to discuss How Greg got involved in coaching, we will break down his world famous running calculator app and answer some common questions that coaches and athletes have about it and we will talk a lot about his training from 800 to marathon. Greg’s calculator is now built into Final Surge as one of the calculator options, and when you match that with his training plans there are now over 100 McMillan customized plans available at Final Surge.
How did you get started in running when you were younger?
Can you give us the history of how you got started in coaching?
You started with exercise science. There is the science of coaching and the art of coaching. What is something you learned early, maybe in a classroom, that didn’t translate to real world coaching?
Who were your big coaching influences?
I believe you made a transition in the last few years away from coaching elites runners in person to more of an online model, is that correct?
You developed what may be the most widely used running calculator around. We recently added in your running calculator into the Final Surge software and started adding your plans as an add-on. So let’s start talking about your calculator and your plans.
When looking at your plans you ask if a runner is level 1-4, can you describe the difference between the levels?
Another question you ask is if the athlete is an Endurance, Speedster or Combo. You go into great detail on this in your book You only faster. But can you explain to someone who hasn’t read the book what the differences are between those three?
One of the ways to figure out what type of runner you are is your running calculator. So If I understand it right, if someone runs a 5k of say 17 minutes and types it into your calculator it says they should be running a 4:54 mile. Now if their mile time is 4:45 that would tend to show they are a speedster if their aerobic training was in place correct?
If that same athlete has recently run a 17 minute 5k it says their Tempo runs should be 5:44-5:58.. but if you use their recent 4:45 mile it would give them a tempo pace of nearly ten seconds per mile faster. So which would you recommend they use, the faster time because they may be more of a speedster of the 5k time because it is a longer event? Of course, this assumes both those events were recent good races and true times.
In your mobile app you have 4 groups of workout paces. The first two are Endurance and Stamina. How do these two differ and what percentage of time do you think you should spend in each of these sections during a typical week or 12-week training cycle?
Now let’s jump to your plans and take a look at some examples. Based on the training plans, if someone is following a level 4 training plan they obviously have a good solid base. What do you see as a typical base buildup looking like before someone jumps into a 12-week training plan?
In your 800/1600 training for a combo runner you start out week one with an easy run on Monday, then Tuesday you go into a 800m cruise interval workout with 6-8x 800 with a 200m recovery. Then 3x200 with 200 recovery. Can you talk about this workout and the goal of cruise intervals and what the pacing is for the cruise interval and 200’s?
Then Wednesday you do a 40-50 min recovery. Then on Thursday for a miler, you go 16x100 race goal pace with 2-400 recovery. You go right after goal pace work week one, so this obviously assumes they are coming in with the base. How often do you tough race pace work?
Then you go Friday/Sat easy days and Sunday a long run up to 80 minutes. How long do you think 800 runners and milers should be working up to on their long runs and do you do them every week?
Your peak week 10 you start out with the recovery run on Monday, Tuesday you comeback with 10-12x200 with a 2-300 recovery jog to work on building sprint speed. What paces are these 200’s at?
Wednesday is a recovery day. You give a wide range of 40-60 minutes. What advice would you tell your athletes on determining if they should go 40 or 60 minutes?
Thursday is a 20-30 min warmup run.
Then they do 15-20 sets of 15-second strides with a one min recovery jog and 20-30 min cool down.
Are these strides at 5k pace? 3000 pace or what are you using?
Many coaches I have talked to use strides at the end of their workout, you are doing them in the middle, what is the reasoning?
Then Fri/Sat are easy run days with a time trial on Sunday. how should an athlete run this time trial?
We have a lot of high school coaches who listen to this, and I would expect many of those purchasing the 800/miler plans are likely high school and college coaches. Many high school athletes who are not national level elite may be racing once a week. So if a high school runners has a race on a Saturday, do you substitute one of your workouts during the week for the race or how are you changing a week?
You start out with an easy run for the first few days then on day 4 you do a goal pace workout where you do 10-12x400 at goal pace, then a couple more easy days and your long run of 70-80 minutes. What some will notice is how similar this is to the 800/mile plan we talked about earlier. Many coaches today treat the 800 through the half marathon with similar training just working on around the edges on some pacing work and a little volume changes, what do you see as the biggest differences between maybe a miler’s training and a 5 or 10k runner?
There are a lot of similarities there, but then things really change when we reach the marathon. One of the big factors in the marathon of course is the wall and how to properly train the fueling systems. What does a runner who is making the move to the marathon really need to know about this jump and teaching their body to burn fat more efficiently along with glycogen?
When it comes to hip mobility, core strength, strength auxiliary work, what do you recommend and how often?
If someone wanted to reach out to you and find out more about your services how could they best reach you?
Final Surge Round
Your favorite running book? - Once a Runner
Current trainers you are wearing? - New Balance 1080
Favorite race? - Mile or 5k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Cheeseburger, Fries and Beer
Your favorite workout - 10-12 400m
Resources
McMillanRunning.com
Final Surge Plans
You Only Faster
Greg on Twitter
Welcome to episode 34 of the Final Surge Podcast with our guest Jason Hartmann. Jason was a very successful professional runner who in the last few years Jason hung up his racing flats and traded them in for a coaching whistle. Jason is quickly building a very successful program at Saginaw Valley State and we talk to him about that process.
How did you get your start in running?
At what point would you advise a kid to start running full-time in high school based on your running history?
You ran at Oregon, what lead to the decision to go there?
When you were running at Oregon at what point did you think it may be something you wanted to pursue after college?
You had a very successful running area including a couple 4th place finishes at Boston and a top American at Chicago, what was the most memorable race for you?
You retired from running in 2014 and decided to get into coaching, what made you want to get involved in coaching?
You mentioned you coached Elise Cranny, was that your first time coaching?
With many high school kids, we see them peak or burn out after high school. What is it with Elise that has lead to her success in college too?
You are now coaching at Saginaw Valley State. How did that come about?
What was the program like when you took over vs. now?
What type of athletes are you looking for to be part of the program?
What is something your program does that you think all successful college programs do
What is something that you think you guys do that may be unique or different?
When coaching everyone has to find their own formula, their own voice, but we get influences from other coaches. Who has been a big influence in your coaching career and philosophy?
If you could change something about our high school programs, what would it be?
Is that your biggest challenge making it fun and getting the kids to be consistent?
You are making the transition from xc to track how do the workouts change from cross to a 1500 on the track?
So is the biggest change race paced workouts?
How are you using Final Surge in your coaching?
Are you laying out the week before hand for them? Or how are you putting the workouts in?
Are they required to log in and give you notes on how they feel or what do you expect from them?
Are you still doing some running on your own?
What does the future hold, where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Jack Daniels
Current trainers you are wearing? - Vomero’s
Favorite race? - Minnesota Twin Cities Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Pizza and Coke
Your favorite workout - Hill Runs
Connect with Jason on Twitter
Connect with Final Surge on Twitter
Welcome to Episode 33 of the Final Surge podcast where we talk to Scott Simmons who is the coach of the American Distance Project in Colorado Springs. Scott has been coaching for 27-years and recently had his men go 1-2-3-4 at the US XC Championships. We talk about his program’s success, training for a marathon and why he thinks the US is not where it should be yet in the marathon. We have been making some changes to the final surge software recently. If you have any ideas or have any questions please follow us at Facebook.com/FinalSurge or on Twitter @FinalSurge.
How did you get started in running?
How did you make the transition to coaching?
You have been coaching for 27-years, who have been your biggest coaching influences?
The American Distance Project has been making a lot of noise recently. When did you start the group?
How are you growing the team, what types of athletes are a good fit and how do you identify them?
I have read you are not as much of a believer in traditional periodization as many coaches and likely to always be working on every aspect of running. Can you explain your coaching philosophy?
You have runners from 1500 to 10k to marathon. We know the marathon is it’s own beast, but how do you train an athlete differently if their focus is the 1500 vs the 10k?
Speed is much difference than endurance, an example if you take a 400-meter runner in high school they could work on dropping 1-2 a season off their 400 time while a 1500/1600 guy could drop 10-12 seconds. So obviously there is more bang for your buck on the aerobic side. Let’s give some practical advice to a runner who may be listening out there. If some age group weekend 20 minute 5k runner out there is looking to make a change and get some improvement what are some of the things you would tell them to look at?
Do you use HIIT as part of your training program?
Let’s switch to the marathon. One of the big differences between a marathon and a 10k besides the mileage, which is obvious, is fueling. Do you work on fat burning adaptation as part of your program and if so how?
What are you doing for workouts to target fat as a fuel?
If you have a new kid out of college who won’t likely race over a 10k in the next few years, will you use this training at all or is it just for your marathon runners?
Is the 1/2 marathon closer to the marathon or 10k for you as far as fat burning?
The USATF XC was this past week and the top four men to cross the finish line were all coached by you. You are obviously doing something right. What are some of the things you are doing that you think every great program does?
Knowing you have four athletes heading to Uganda for the World’s, and the weather will likely be a lot warmer, what are you doing to prepare your athletes for the climate change?
What do you do, that you think may be different than other programs?
You coached at the college and the professional level. So when you were a college coach and got in a group of incoming freshmen what did you see were the places that the high school students were lacking?
In America, we have had success in the last few years on the track, but we are not having the same results in the marathon. Where do you see us going for American marathon runners?
What do you think of the 2-hour marathon program? Do you think it is attainable anytime soon?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Once a Runner
Current trainers you are wearing? - Nike Vomero
Favorite race? - College Reunion Race
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Pepperoni Pizza and IPA
Your favorite workout - 25x400 with short rest
Resources:
Our interview with Joe Vigil
Simmons Twitter Account
Facebook Page of ADP
Dhama Core Cooling
Welcome to Episode 32 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we talk to 2016 USATF Mountain Ultra Trail Woman's open runner of the year Addie Bracy. Addie, a former Olympic Trials track athlete made the switch to mountain racing in 2016 and won the US Championship in her first race. We talk about the transition to mountain and trail running and we also talk about her getting involved as a high school coach. I hope you enjoy this show and make sure you check out what the Hudson team is doing with coaching to support their athletes.
Addie welcome, we like to start out getting to know our guest a little better so if you could tell me how you got your start in running?
What was your high school running career like?
You walked on at UNC, how was it walking on and what can you share with our listeners about that experience?
You had a very respectful 16:20 in the 5k in college, that may not have been good enough to win a national championship, but many of our listeners, male and female would take it. After running at North Carolina, what was your thought process about what next?
Many, including myself, consider Brad Hudson to be one of the top US Distance coaches of our time. He was a guest of ours in episode 2 of this podcast last summer. How did you get connected with Brad and Hudson Elite?
So in North Carolina were you running on your own and not with a team?
How hard was it running on your own vs running with a group like you do now?
You recently made the jump into running up mountains for fun, what were you thinking?
So that was your first mountain race?
As you mentioned the selection for the US Team was held at Loon Mountain in New Hampshire this past summer and you won the US Title on the Women’s side. I grew up in NH and have skied down Loon Mountain several times. But the only way I have even thought about going up is on the lift. When you lined up for that race what were your expectations?
Then you got to represent the US in the World Mountain Running Championships, how was that feeling of representing your country?
Are you going to continue to do mountain running competitively?
What were the biggest changes you made in your training?
What is a typical length and what is the elevation gain of a mountain race?
Can you break down the training a little bit for us on a week what it looks like for you now?
So it sounds like the biggest difference is your hard days instead of tempo work on the track is more of just trail work?
Is a hard day still speed week or is to more climbing now for the hard day?
Not only did you podium at the 2016 World Mountain Running Champs as a team, you also made the podium at the 2016 Eliptigo World Championships. How much time do you spend on an Eliptigo?
You have run at the Olympic trials and other prestigious races in your career. What has been the highlight of your running career so far?
You made the jump to high school coaching this past year. What made you want to get involved with coaching?
You mentioned you didn’t know how serious they would be, every high school teams has a variety of
Welcome to Episode 32 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we talk to 2016 USATF Mountain Ultra Trail Woman's open runner of the year Addie Bracy. Addie, a former Olympic Trials track athlete made the switch to mountain racing in 2016 and won the US Championship in her first race. We talk about the transition to mountain and trail running and we also talk about her getting involved as a high school coach. I hope you enjoy this show and make sure you check out what the Hudson team is doing with coaching to support their athletes. Now on to the show.
Addie welcome, we like to start out getting to know our guest a little better so if you could tell me how you got your start in running?
What was your high school running career like?
You walked on at UNC, how was it walking on and what can you share with our listeners about that experience?
You had a very respectful 16:20 in the 5k in college, that may not have been good enough to win a national championship, but many of our listeners, male and female would take it. After running at North Carolina, what was your thought process about what next?
Many, including myself, consider Brad Hudson to be one of the top US Distance coaches of our time. He was a guest of ours in episode 2 of this podcast last summer. How did you get connected with Brad and Hudson Elite?
So in North Carolina were you running on your own and not with a team?
How hard was it running on your own vs running with a group like you do now?
You recently made the jump into running up mountains for fun, what were you thinking?
So that was your first mountain race?
As you mentioned the selection for the US Team was held at Loon Mountain in New Hampshire this past summer and you won the US Title on the Women’s side. I grew up in NH and have skied down Loon Mountain several times. But the only way I have even thought about going up is on the lift. When you lined up for that race what were your expectations?
Then you got to represent the US in the World Mountain Running Championships, how was that feeling of representing your country?
Are you going to continue to do mountain running competitively?
What were the biggest changes you made in your training?
What is a typical length and what is the elevation gain of a mountain race?
Can you break down the training a little bit for us on a week what it looks like for you now?
So it sounds like the biggest difference is your hard days instead of tempo work on the track is more of just trail work?
Is a hard day still speed week or is to more climbing now for the hard day?
Not only did you podium at the 2016 World Mountain Running Champs as a team, you also made the podium at the 2016 Eliptigo World Championships. How much time do you spend on an Eliptigo?
You have run at the Olympic trials and other prestigious races in your career. What has been the highlight of your running career so far?
You made the jump to high school coaching this past year. What made you want to get involved with coaching?
You mentioned you didn’t know how serious they would be, every high school teams has a variety of runners. How do you deal with the differences in motivation levels?
A large section of our listeners are high school coaches. What advice do you have for coaches, something they may not be thinking of when working with high school kids?
What advice do you give to your kids who want to continue competitive running after high school?
When we talked to Brad last year he mentioned the athletes at Hudson Elite did some coaching, are you involved in that?
Do you take runners of any ability?
And a Twitter question we had come in, you can follow us on Twitter @FinalSurge
There are a lot of busy coaches out there. How do you juggle coaching, training, work and a personal life?
What is next for you, any races on the schedule?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Hudson’s Little Black Book
Current trainers you are wearing? - Salomon S-lab Sonic
Favorite race? - 10k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Bacon
Your favorite workout - 400 repeats
Resources
Addie on Twitter
Addie on Instagram
Addie's blog
Hudson Training
Little Black Book of workouts
Drew Hunter -
In episode 31 of the Final Surge podcast we welcome professional runner Drew Hunter. Many consider Drew the best American high school runner since Alan Webb. Drew turned down the opportunity to run at Oregon and instead signed a deal with Adidas to turn pro. We talk to Drew about what went into that decision-making process, how the new lifestyle is treating him and we break down a week of workouts. The first couple of questions there was a few audio issues with his phone, but it cleared up. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed doing it.
So let’s start at the beginning, when did you get your start running?
Before that mile in 8th grade had you ever run before or was that really your first time?
How fast was your mile in 8th grade?
When was it that it struck you, hey I may be pretty good at this and have a future.
We talked to your coach Tom Schwartz in Episode 12 about you going pro. You had said you were going to head off to Oregon, but then you decided to take another direction, can you tell us what went into that decision making process?
So what are your plans for college?
You had ended your high school career with Lyme disease, you feel most of the way back or are you fully recovered from that now?
You signed with Adidas, but not really a team One of the tough parts about going pro right away is you lose that team aspect. How has that change been for you?
Your coach is across the country and you have no team, have you found any running buddies?
So how has your training changed since you turned pro?
Everyone who ran in high school knows the drill. You are in school all day, then you get in your running and strength work, you spend a couple hours on homework and by the time you realize it, it is time for bed and to get started all over again. Now, your job is a runner. So what does a day look like now that this is your job?
What's been the biggest challenge on or off the track for your transition to a pro?
Made your debut Sir Walter Mile last August, what was it like lining up on the line as a pro runner for the first time and not against high school kids your age did it feel different?
How is it working with Adidas knowing they are paying you, but at the same time knowing you are younger and not quite there yet. Do you feel any pressure?
This weekend you ran another sub 4-minute mile at The Armory to win the Men’s 1 Mile Elite race during the New Balance Games. Is this where you see your career focusing on in the next few years the 1500/mile?
Let's talk about that training. Listeners love to hear training talk. Can you walk us through some training, the types of workouts you do, paces you run them in and such?
How are you communicating with Tom on these workouts?
What is your next race you have on the calendar?
What is the plan for outdoor season?
Did you set any goals for this year?
Where do you see yourself in 5yrs?
I know your mom is a high school track coach. If she incited So what advice do you have for young high school runners who may be just getting started in the sport of track?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Born To Run
Current trainers you are wearing? - Adidas Supernova Glide
Favorite race? - Mile
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Chocolate Protein Drink
Your favorite workout - Hill Repeats
And because Francis Garcia was so passionate about asking questions on Twitter, we have a few bonus questions for you:
If you could remove one sport from the Olympics what gets cut.
Taco Bell or Del Taco
Drew on Twitter
Drew on Instagram
Welcome to episode 30 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we talk to Coach Sarah Kozul of the Galloway Lakeland Florida Group. This episode we talk about the Galloway run/walk method, how a new runner gets started and builds up to their first race and how they determine training paces. We also discuss how she coaches runners to use run/walk to finish a race strong. We also talk about how she is using Final Surge to give plans to 140 runners. If anyone is interested in the Galloway training programs you can find them in our library of plans. Now onto the show.
How did you get your start in running?
How did you get involved in Lakeway Galloway Group?
When you first started running was that with a Galloway Group?
When you ran your first half marathon how long did you train?
Many people know of the Galloway program as a run/walk program. Can you tell us how that works?
Walk us through how you take a new runner who has not ran before and set paces for them using the mile time trial?
So on day one they walk/run for 30 seconds, for how long?
How many times will a new runner run in a 14-day training cycle?
You have a long training run and go from 3-mile long run to 14-mile long run, how does that ramp up?
Once they get up to the long run of 10-11 miles what does a week look like for them at that point?
You say your typical client is 55 years old, what are they looking for when they start?
How many members do you have in your group and what is the variations of ability levels?
People who work with you that have been running for over a decade still use the run walk?
Your more experienced runners who may be a little more experienced, what does their week look like?
You are personally trying to run a Boston Qualifier using run/walk so can you tell me what that week looks like for you?
Are you doing run/walk on your on your 6-mile runs now?
And are you working tempo type runs into your week too?
So in Final Surge how are you loading your schedules into the calendar?
Are you encouraging them to use it as a log and add notes on how they feel?
It comes to race day, what advice do you give to them to make sure they finish the race?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - The Lola Papers
Current trainers you are wearing? - Brooks Launch
Favorite race? - A new race
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Hemp protein powder and OJ
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - Gymboss
Links
Lakeland Galloway Group Website
Follow the Lakeland Group on Facebook
Follow Sarah on Twitter
Galloway Training Plans
Episode 29: Matt Fitzgerald. Matt may be the most prolific writer in endurance athletics with over 2-dozen books to his name. In this episode, we talk about the 80/20 training philosophy, the mental aspect of endurance athletics and we talk nutrition. Check Out Matt’s latest book The Endurance Diet.
How you got your start in running.
When I am looking for the latest in training and science I usually turn to Alex Hutchinson, Steve Magness and you. What got you so interested in this?
Matt talks about a book he wishes he didn’t write.
What is the 80/20 rule of training for endurance athletes?
You have written a lot about diet, what is race weight and how do you find it?
There are a lot of diets out there, is there one right way to eat?
Matt talks about low carb diet and quality of carbs and gives us examples of high-quality vs low-quality carbs.
We talk about the difference between diet for optimal performance vs. diet for weight loss.
Your book How Bad Do You Want It is about the mental aspect of endurance athletics. Can you talk about what you learned about the mental game?
One thing you mention is with perceived effort when someone thinks they are fatigued, there is research that shows with muscle stimulation that there had more to give. How can people get past this perceived effort level?
So the way you get past that is by being able to push through mentally. How can people work on their mental game? What tips or exercise would you recommend?
Matt talks about mental toughness and how it is really mental fitness.
A couple of questions from followers on Twitter, you can reach us @FinalSurge on Twitter
First one is the Group Effect, is hanging with a group of strangers in a marathon better than running the whole thing on your own.
We received a second question, I have a high school runner who does great in cross country until the last two weeks of the season and then he started faltering badly. I believe it was mental, nothing was wrong physically that we could tell. Now we are in indoor track season and the workouts go great, but as soon as I put him into a 1600 he struggles badly and runs times slower than workout times. Any idea where I could start to correct this mental aspect?
What is the next book?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - What we talk about when we talk about running
Current trainers you are wearing? - Hoka One One
Favorite race? - Lewa Kenyan Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Smoothie
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - BSXInsight Wearable
Matt's website
Matt on Twitter
Welcome to episode 28 of the Final Surge podcast where today we talk to Olympian Kim Conley who made her marathon debut this past fall. We talk about her epic Olympic Trial 5k race in 2012, her incident she had in the 10k trials this year and we discuss her making the jump to a marathon this fall. Two weeks ago we had a conversation with Olympian Nick Willis and we are giving away two free boot camps to his Miler Method. The two winning entries from iTunes are MilebyMile and DAllen. Email me Dean@Finalsurge.com or hit us up on Twitter @finalsurge and we will get you hooked up.
Kim we always like to start out getting to know a little bit about our guests, can you tell our listeners how you got started in running?
So you started early in 6th grade, when was the point that you realized you were pretty good at this running thing and may have a future in it?
At what point did you start looking at colleges and what lead you to to UC Davis?
When you were running in school what were your plans, was running something to help get you through school or did you have aspirations of running post-collegiately.
Probably my favorite race of yours was the 2012 Olympic Trials. For those who don’t know the story let me set it for you. You did not have an A standard going into the trials. And you needed the A to get to the Olympics. Julia Lucas had pushed the pace and you kept it so the A standard was within Reach. Coming into the last lap it was still in question if you would be top 3 and if you would get the A standard. Can you walk us through the last lap of that race?
At this year’s Trials, you were one of the favorites to make the team in both the 10k and the 5k. You did make the team in the 5k, but in the 10k it was not the results you wanted when you lost a shoe in the race. Can you tell us what happened there and what went through your mind when you were deciding to continue or not?
If you had made it what would you have done, both or which?
You mentioned the US distance women are really deep, we can see that with the difference between 12 and this year with the A standards. What do you think are the big differences right now in women’s distance?
Do you think women are training differently or do you think it is more of the groups pushing each other?
You had a couple of 15:10’s this year before the Olympics, were you happy with the race at the Olympics or is there anything you would have changed?
Do you think the struggle was something you did leading up to the race or just bad races happen?
You made your marathon debut in New York this last fall, and you were coming off the Olympics where you had been training for the 5k. So how did the training have to change in the short time between Rio and NY?
Did you know you would be doing NY before Rio?
What type of difference were there in volume you did for your 5k work vs. your marathon training?
What were your goals going into the race, how did you think it was going to go?
So you have a marathon under your belt now. What do you think, you have a lot more marathons in your future?
So when will the next marathon be fall 2017 or likely 18?
What did you do well, that you would do again and what would you change in training?
How about the race itself, What if anything would you have done differently?
What did you do about fueling during the race?
What was your diet like leading up to the race?
For an adult age group runner who maybe has run a lot of 5 and 10k’s, what advice would you have for them on making their marathon debut?
2017 is here, we are one week into the new year. What are your goals for this year?
What does a typical week this time of year look like for you?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Wishing on My Fathers Star
Current trainers you are wearing? - New Balance Fresh Foam Vongo
Favorite race? - 5k on the road
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Hamburger
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - Final Surge log
Kim on Twitter
Kim's Website
Welcome to Episode 27 of the Final Surge podcast where we kick off 2017 by talking to Coach Mario Fraioli. With the new year here we talk about goal setting, new year resolutions and setting yourself up to have the best year of running yet. We also dig into when a runner should get a coach and talk about his new coaching venture. Last week we talked to Olympian Nick Willis and I want to remind you about the contest we have going where you can enter through January 6th to win one of two boot camps with Nick at the Miler Method. Head over to Finalsurge.com/podcast and look for details under Nick’s podcast. Dozens of you reach out to use every week on Twitter @FinalSurge and we thank you for your interactions Follow us and ask us any questions about Final Surge or let us know what questions you would like us to ask future guest.
Mario shares with us how he got started in running while in high school and his early basketball career. He also discussed how with the lack of structure in his high school program he had to use the Internet searching other runners training to get his start.
Mario recently made a transition from Competitor Magazine to Ekiden, a new coaching service. He talks about why he made the transition.
This episode will launch right after the first of the year. So most people are thinking about their goals for the year. Let’s talk about those a little. We ask Mario when he has a coaching client come to him about goals, what advice do you give them in setting goals? Mario does not like the word goals and he explains why.
Someone on Twitter recently asked, how do I go about figuring out which event I am best suited for and should focus on? Mario talks about how he recommends experimenting.
We talked some about online calculators and how to use them to see what you need to work on.
We talked about goals, and if someone has a goal how much is it about just training vs all the other things like diet and sleep? We also discussed setting long term vs short term goals. Mario talks about making a daily check list that you can do daily to help you reach your goals you set.
Mario discusses what he learned from Alberto Salazar and breaking the training for the year down into two parts.
A couple of questions I got via Twitter and Direct message for you from listeners.
I am a 38-year-old runner who has been running for 4 years. My current PR in the 5k is 18:03 and has been since January of 2016. I cannot seem to break the 18-minute mark. What can I do to make the next jump. … Now I did ask him some follow-up questions to get a little more information. Right now he runs 5 days a week, averages about 35 miles a week. His long run is 8-10 miles. A typical week he runs a 4-mile tempo run at 10k pace and does one day of repeats on the track that vary from 400 up to 1600. Sounds to me like he has plateaued, what advice do you have for Jim?
Mario answers Jim with some good info including maybe how to get more power out of each stride.
We also talk about some pacing for Jim and what he should be doing on recovery days and how Mario uses 1/2 marathon pace to determine that pace.
2nd question that came in: I have been running for just over a year now and want to run a half marathon. My problem is with my family and work schedule I do not have as much time to train. My local Crossfit gym I go to is telling me there is a cross fit endurance program that they claim is a better way to train because it allows me to train more intense but in a lot less volume. Have you seen this program and what are your thoughts?
We talk about his new coaching company and why he started it. Coaching is not something for just elite athletes but really is for anyone at any point in your running career.
I ask Mario when a runner should think about getting a coach and why a new golfer will get a golf coach or tennis player will get a tennis coach, but runners seem to think they need to be elite before they hire a coach.
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Once a Runner
Current trainers you are wearing? - Brooks Caldera Trail Shoe, New Balance Vasee Pace
Favorite race? - Boston Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Burger and Beer
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - Hat
Resources Mentioned in this Podcast
Ekiden Training
Greg McMillan Pace Calculator
Tom Tinman Schwartz Calculator
Greg McMillans’s book You, Only Faster
Runners World Piece on Goals for 2017
Book the 12-week Year
Mario on Twitter
Mario@Ekiden.com
MarioFraioli.com website
Welcome to the Final Surge podcast episode 26, and our final episode of 2016. Today we talk to Olympian Nick Willis. Nick has represented New Zealand in the 1500 in the last three Olympics and had podium finishes in 2008 and 2016. We talk to Nick about his Olympic race this year, how he schedules training blocks for his training and we talk to him about his new project he launched The Miler Method. Nick and his wife are running 6-week online boot camps to help you run faster. Nick is offering two free entries into upcoming boot camps to our listeners. Head over to iTunes, leave a review of the podcast and you will be entered. For more information on other ways to get entries, head to Finalsurge.com/podcast and look for details under Episode 26 and follow us on Twitter @FinalSurge.
We will have the drawing for both entries on January 6th. Entries are allowed until noon time EST on 1/6/17.
Nick Willis
2016 you qualified for your 3rd Olympics 1500 meters finals in a row. You got a Silver in 08, 9th in 2012 and then you made the finals this year. What was your thought process coming into the race, what was your race plan?
When you go into a mile race do you have a plan or is your plan going to depend on what others do?
Do you prefer a quick race with even splits or do you prefer a slower race that becomes a kickers race in the last 300?
You got a Silver in Beijing then 9th in London and then come back for a bronze in Rio. What were the biggest changes you made in training and approach between London and Rio to back on a podium at the Olympic finals?
So where did you train at altitude leading into the Olympics?
So let’s talk training. A miler is one of those events where you need endurance and speed. How do you balance your long run and strength work vs specific speed work?
Nick talks about the phases and training blocks he uses to train and keep adaptations.
When you move to the second block with more speed and race specific work what are you doing to keep up with the aerobic work and what do your long runs look like during this block?
You talk about these two blocks you use, are these blocks your only work or are you doing other work leading into these blocks during the off season?
You recently launched a new site Miler Method, what is your goal for this project?
When we are talking the 1500/mile, we usually think of high school, college, and the very elite professionals. While with the 5k or 10k there seem to be many more recreational and age group runners. So what type of clients are you getting for your program? Is your goal to get more people just working on their speed?
Are the boot camps done virtually or in person?
If you had a post-collegiate guy running a 15 minute 5k and a 30-year-old female running 22 min 5k in your program, how would their training be different from each other with Miler Method?
You mentioned running mechanics/efficiency and technique, how do you do this with them virtually when you are not there in person with them?
If you are getting 60 people at a time and individualizing every one’s workouts, how are you managing all those schedules?
So what are you learning from this? Working with all these people there must be something you are learning that you can implement in the future?
Do you have any great success stories from some of these athletes who maybe have never trained for a mile before?
What do you notice about these runners, is it they don’t train hard enough or often enough or what are you noticing they are deficient in when they come to you?
Here is a question that came in from Twitter:
If you are trying to find the event you are best at, how do you recommend people go about doing that?
The new year is coming up, what goals do you have for 2017?
How are you enjoying coaching, is this something you can see yourself continuing to do after you retire?
If someone wanted to get more information about Miler Method such as the cost, how would they reach you and get the information and why did you choose $72 for the cost?
If they are taking 6-weeks to become a faster miler, doesn’t that also help with their 10k or half marathon times too?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - No Bugles No Drums
Current trainers you are wearing? - Adidas Supernova Glide 8
Favorite race? - Road Mile
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Weet-Bix
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - I'm simple, just give me my shoes and shorts
Resources
Miler Method
Nick Willis on Twitter
Nick on Facebook
Final Surge Podcast Page
Final Surge on Twitter
Final Surge on Facebook
Episode 25 of the Final Surge podcast we talk to Nick Symmonds. Nick is a 6-time US National 800 meters champion, 2-time Olympian and won a silver medal in the 2013 World Championships in the 800. Nick is spending more time these days working on his new company Run Gum, but he tells us he is not done yet on his Oval Office. If you are not following us on Twitter we can be found @FinalSurge. Let us know your thoughts on the podcast or the Final Surge software.
For those who maybe have heard of you, but not heard your story, can you tell us how you got started in running when you were young?
You took a little different route out of high school and went D3, why did you choose that route?
After college, you got a contract with Nike?
My favorite race of all time to watch is the 1972 men's Olympic final for the 800 in which Dave Wottle won. I am sure you are familiar with it right? So with that in mind let’s talk 800 race strategy. It seems that the most common way to run an 800, and i believe the way you try to run it too, is running about 2 seconds faster on the first lap than the second. While for most other races, coaches usually push for a more even or negative split. In that 72 race Wottle runs his race, he ran an even 26 for every 200 split. He was like 4 second back at 200, was like 2 second back at the 400 and was still in last at the 500. So that race seems to lend to a move even split, so I want to hear your theory on the race strategy there?
Most of our podcast are with coaches or athletes who are working with 10k, marathon type runners. So with an 800 runner, I want to talk a little training. We have many high school and college coaches who I know listen to this podcast. If you had a chance to develop an 800 runner say starting as a freshman in high school and you could have them until they graduated college, what would the training look like?
Would you be more strength based with1600 and 3200 or 200 for speed work?
How would you have strength or plyo work set up?
A few numbers for you… 1:42.95, 3:34.55, 3.59.68… These are your PR's for 800, 15 and mile. But I am curious, what is your 5k PR time?
Now, what about that 5.19 PR in the beer mile. Are we going to see an attempt to go sub 5 there?
Last we saw you on the track you were pulling out of the Olympic trials because of an injury. How is the rehab going?
So can we plan on seeing you make another run for a world championship or Olympic team?
What is your recovery process like? How much cross training are you doing or what other activities?
When will see back on the track?
So you are in the process it seems of transitioning from an elite athlete to an en entrepreneur, can you tell us about Run Gum and what growing pains you may have had?
When my athletes come to me about fueling I hate to talk about anything like energy drinks because I am a big believer in eating real food, not sugar and junk. Is Run Gum looking to be a replacement?
How does Run Gum work? Would a marathoner bring one piece with them?
We talk about him publishing his 800 training log.
Did you say you are going to run a marathon in 2018?
Have you thought about which one that is going to be?
There is a lot of talk about caffeine benefits for marathoners and ultra runners but what about for shorter races?
I think what we have seen from you is you don’t always take the easy route. You seem to like challenges. How has that helped you in helping to launch a business?
What is next for the company, is it going to stop with gum or you have something else planned?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Once a runner
Current trainers you are wearing? - Brooks Adrenaline
Favorite race? - Olympic Trials 2008
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - RunGum
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - Half tights
Resources
Run Gum
Wottle 800 Race
Nick on Twitter
Run Gum on Twitter
His book Life Outside the Oval Office
We have a special treat for you today. Hall of Fame coach Joe Vigil joins us to talk training. If you enjoy the show we would appreciate you heading over to iTunes and taking a minute to rate and review our podcast. Those ratings are important when people are searching for podcast. Coach Vigil won 26 national titles in 33 years at Adams State and has coached several Olympians including Deena Kastor and Brenda Martinez. We discuss everything from VO2 Max and testing, what he learned from watching runners at Leadville to periodization.
Tell us how you got started in the running community and into coaching.
When you took over Adams State you won 26 national titles in 33 years. Adams state when you took over was not exactly a powerhouse so you had to build runners from the ground up. What do you think you were doing differently that other programs were not doing?
Thirst for learning what made you different?
In the book Born to Run you make an appearance. You are mentioned as a coach who thinks differently because you were showing up at 100-mile races to learn from ultra runners when other coaches were not. So what exactly did you learn from watching the athletes at the Leadville 100?
You mentioned running happy, is that something you can teach or is it something you have or not?
One thing you talk about is testing. Having a PhD. in exercise physiology, I know that testing is big for you. Many of our listeners are your are group runners you will see on the weekend in a local 5 or 10k. And we also have a lot of high school coaches. So for them, testing of VO2 or max lactate may not be something they can easily do. What recommendations would you have for them as far as testing and what they should get tested?
VO2 Max… You do the field test and find out what it is, where should they go from there to improve?
I have read that you said that our runners don’t run hard enough and long enough. Other coaches I have talked to said the problem with American runners is we run too hard. So what is your current position on this?
In 2001 yourself and Bob Larsen brought Deena Kastor and Meb Keflezighi to Mammoth Lakes to start the Mammoth Track Club, which was one of the most influential post-collegiate clubs in the country. How did that come about with Larsen?
These clubs are a lot more popular now with many new ones popping up and having success. What do you think the future of these clubs are and how have they changed over the last 15 years.
You have had Olympians such as Deena and Meb, and this year you had more mid-distance runners like Brenda and Borris in the Olympics. Obviously, the training for the marathon and 800/1500 are completely different. What is the greatest coaching challenge in working with athletes in such different disciplines?
What about strength work, what type of strength work did you do with your kids at Adam's State and how would it differs from what you do with a marathon runner?
Question from a listener: In your book, you have graphs in the marathon training section for weekly mileage. Your mileage chart looks very much like a roller coaster fluctuating from 60 to 80 to 70 to 100 to 80 to 120… Many training plans are much more steady in their mileage, do you still method or has it changed since you last published the book?
You have been around the running scene for several decades now. When it comes to training and performance, what is something that you think has changed your coaching style the most in the last decade?
Work harder, what does a week look like for a 5k runner
Book road to the top is hard to find, but I understand they can still be had through you, can you tell our listeners how to get a copy of one.
Running Summit Dec 17-18th in Dallas. Can you tell us about the event and What topics will you be discussing?
Tapering is one of the questions I get asked most about. When you were coaching at Adams state, did you find any differences in tapering with your male and female teams?
What advice would you have on tapering for our 5k listeners out there?
At the end of the last season, I asked the kids on my team what their favorite workout of the season is. And the majority of them said their favorite was the acceleration workout from 100 to 200. Can you walk the listeners through how it works, when it should be used and why?
When did you add in that workout to the season?
Resources
Method of Belke Field Test for VO2
Road to the Top by Joe Vigil mailing address
292 N Ceder Crest Dr
Green Valley AZ 85614
Running Summit
Tapering for endurance athletes by Joe Vigil
This week we have something different for you. This week is less about training and more about talking about one of the better running blogs out there, Salty Running. We will talk to Laura Pizmoht about her running career, why she started salty running and what is an important issue in women’s running that should be covered and talked about more. We hope that you enjoy this episode. Feel free to tweet us at Final Surge and let us know what you think and as always, don’t forget to rate us on iTunes.
I want to spend some time talking about your site Salty Runner and what you do there, but let’s start off getting to know you a little, can you tell is how you got your start in running?
So why did you start it, what was your inspiration?
Who is your avatar? For those who may know what that means, when you start a new blog you are supposed to think about your avatar, that person who you are writing for. What does your avatar look like?
What is one thing that you have learned about yourself or your running since you started the site?
How many writers do you currently have?
The writers all have unique names like cayenne, salty, ginger, where did those names come from?
Your writers have weekly running logs, how do those play?
You are constantly updating, many times there are a couple posts a day. How much time are you actually putting into the site?
You have a variety of posts on many topics, what has been the most popular post?
How to poop and pee when there is nowhere to go.
Why average runners should care about elites.
Are these races reaching out to you to come cover them?
Here is how great your site is. I have been reading it often for about a year now. It wasn’t until I started getting ready for this interview that I noticed it was all about women’s running issues. So while you are writing for women, it is a site that most men listening to this podcast should have in their reader list.
What is a women’s issue in running that you think more non-elite runners need to be aware of?
Runners World article about women harassed during runs.
For a long time, our sport was very male dominant. And at least in the US, you would turn on the TV and watch a race and it seemed they covered the men’s races more than the women. It seems to me over the last couple of years that the US women distance runners are starting to get a little more of that well-earned recognition they deserve. Are you seeing that?
What can we look forward to on your site, anything coming up in the near future?
Salty@SaltyRunning.com
SaltyOne
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - The Silance of Great Distance
Current trainers you are wearing? - Brooks Ravenna
Favorite race? - Johnnycake Jog
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Whatever I can get
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - Running Stroller
Welcome to episode 22 of the final surge podcast where today we talk to Alex Hutchinson, the sweat science writer for Runners World and a go-to resource for the latest in exercise science. We will talk about everything from hydration, training methods. running cadence and beet farms. Please take a minute when you are done and rate us on iTunes.
Let's start out by talking about you, how did you get your start in running and how did it lead you to where you are today.
You did a couple of columns this year on running cadence. We have all heard you want to be at 180 steps per minute, but as you pointed out steps per changes with speed. So for a mid-pack runner who is not elite, is cadence something they should even look at?
Is there anything showing if you do intentionally change your running form it could lead to other injuries, or is there a way that is recommended to work on the change?
Along with cadence is foot placement. Many say land under your body, but I think that video has shown that under your body really is closer to about a foot out in front for professionals. What is the scientific evidence on where your foot should land and how it should land?
Is there anything that can or should be done to change this for age group runners who are not elite runners to help reduce injuries or does actually changing it cause more injuries that not.
What is the latest research show with training? How much research have you read about effective ways to trains? Such as the 80/20 rule or training the extremes more often?
Most coaches have seen a 800-1600 even 5k runners college runner hit a plateau for a while in their career. How much research have you seen about hitting plateaus and what type of activities endurance athletes need to do to break through.
One of your studies you highlighted a while back I read was interesting about strength training. I believe it showed that running economy was definitely enhanced by strength training if it was done consistently. Can you talk about what types of strength training exercises may have the best results for endurance athletes?
Your book cardio or weights, can you tell us why you wrote the book and what endurance athletes could get out of it?
With hydration, is the ere any real science on how much someone should drink during the day, not talking about during a marathon or something, but during the course of a normal day with training?
You mentioned beets in your last answer. You talk about beets and beet juice a lot. Are you an investor in a beet farm? What are the real benefits of beets?
Another topic you have addressed is the 2 hour marathon. We have not seen a lot of progress in the last two years here. On the women’s side the world record is 2:15:25 by Paula Radcliffe, but we have only seen 3 women go under 2:21 in 2016, and none break 2:19:40. So what is more likely to happen first a man breaking 2 or a women breaking 2:15?
If you could give one piece of advice to college or high school coaches of distance runners, one thing they may really want to change or look at differently than they may currently be doing, what would it be?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Once a Runner
Current trainers you are wearing? - New Balance 1400
Favorite race? - Bum Run 5k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Pasta
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - Watch, non-gps
Sweat Science blog
AlexHutchingson.net
On Twitter
Book Cardio or Weights
Episode 21 of Final Surge Podcast with our guest Coach and Dr Richard Hansen of the Roots Running Project. Richie is a chiropractor specializing in sports medicine and more specifically runners, and is a coach of an up and comping post collegiate team who’s runners include The Noah Droddy. I think you are going to really enjoy this. We start out talking about his coaching experiences, Noah and then turn to injuries, strength videos and pool walking. If you enjoy this episode please take a moment to rate us on iTunes and send a thank you tweet to Dr Hansen. Now onto the show.
I want to break this up into a couple of parts first talking about your coaching and post collegiate groups and then talking about your other life as a highly respected chiropractor specializing in running related injuries.
First let's' find out how you got here. Can you tell us about how you got your start in running early on?
Was it your goal when you moved to Boulder to get into coaching?
We have seen a resurgence of American distance runners over the last decade. How much do you see the explosion of post collegiate running groups playing a part in that.
When someone is thinking about joining post collegiate group, there are two groups first is the elite runners the first team all Americans in cross and then there are the larger group of very good college runners, but not elite, who want to see how much they can continue to improve. For that second group who should consider continuing on training on their own vs. looking for a group like yours?
Probably your best known runner is Noah Droddy. Of course he is known as that guy with the long hair and mustache in the 10k at the Olympic trials who became an internet sensation but really the thing even more impressive than his hair, I understand he went from a 14:30 5k runner to running 14:10 splits in the 10k. What did you guys do different to see that dramatic improvement?
You know you have made an impact when people are dressing up as you for halloween as we saw on Twitter. Is he as big of a character in real life as he comes across?
Hows his racing been going since the Trials?
Let’s switch gears a little…
Now you have coached everything from high school to olympic trials qualifiers, and your primary profession is as a chiropractor at high altitude spine and sports. So let's get into injuries. I want to break this down into segments. Let's start with high school runners. We have a lot of high school coaches who listen to this. In high school, as you know from your coaching days, a team usually has everything from a new runner who does other sports but not track to those who has never run before to those going for state. What are the most common injuries and causes you see high school boys and girls.
With shin splints you will often have a coach send the athlete into the school trainer and the trainer will say ice and roll it out a little. They are obviously treating the symptoms not the cause. What is the most common causes?
When you coached high school athletes, were there any extensive warm up and cool down routines and did you design them around injury prevention?
You showed me a tape job last summer for relieving shin splints for runners. Do you have a video online anywhere so others can see it?
Now this runner, they go off to college, and likely have a more extensive strength routine there than they did in high school. When you get a runner out of college joining your club what are you seeing as deficiencies that are leading to injuries?
There are a lot of videos online and on youtube. are there any hip/strength routines that are maybe online that you recommend? (See resources below)
When one of my runners gets an injury I always send them to two local guys here who I know, know runners. Sometimes they don't take my advice and will go see a Physical therapist who often times honestly don't really help them much. So the question is When someone in our audience, who doesn't live in Boulder has an injury they want checked out, tell us how they can go about finding a someone who should be able to help get them back running.
One thing you got me doing was pool walking after a run. Can you talk about why you are such a fan?
Now someone is out with a running group for a long run, gets back to the car has to drive home for 20 to 25 minutes, and will often stop for a coffee on the way home… is that still a good thing for them to get into the pool 30-40 minutes later after they are done their run?
If someone wanted to reach out to you, you have your roots running podcast they can listen to… how else can they reach you?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Once a runner and Road to the Top
Current trainers you are wearing? - Brooks Launch and Nike Lunar 3
Favorite race? - Half marathon and Payton Jordan Track Festival
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Italian Soda and Fish Tacos
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - Pool or compression sleeves
Resources in this episode
Richard Hansen on Core
Jay Johnson Videos
Gray Cook
Mike Young
Jim Radcliffe hip mobility
Hansen Links:
Roots Running Sessions Podcast
Roots Running site
Roots Running Twitter
Dr Hansen Twitter
Dr Hansen High Altitude Clinic
Welcome to episode 20 of the final surge podcast with world record holder Cal Neff. Cal is a Dad, a runner and a coach who this year set the world record for the half-marathon and marathon while pushing a stroller. We talk about what happens on those runs and how he adjusts his training. As we reach episode 20 the Final Surge team would like to thank you. We are over 10,000 downloads and growing. Please take a moment to rate us on iTunes, and send us a message on Twitter or Facebook and let us know what you like most about the show and what you would like to see changed. Now on to our interview with Cal.
So how did you get started running when you were young?
In early February of 2016 you won the Katy Half Marathon in 1:11:27, while pushing a stroller and setting the new Guinness Book of world records for a half marathon. How dod you get started pushing a stroller while running?
How old are your daughters that you push?
So when you set the record in the Katy half marathon what made you think about going for the record?
I was watching some of the video you did from the Katy half, it looked like you were streaming over periscope?
Do you often run with the cameras/phone?
Everyone listening to this with kids has been in that situation where you are stuck in traffic and the baby is in back in the car seat screaming. I know it can wear on you after a while. I noticed at one point with about 5k to go Holly started getting a little fussy… so how do you balance going for a record and hearing your baby cry?
How is running with stroller different, do you need to adjust form or anything?
How about training, do you train any different and how often do you run with a stroller during the week?
Any advice on stroller shopping what to look for?
You just set the world record for marathon pushing a stroller too, can you tell us about that race?
So your daughter is 4-years old now, the age you start running. Is she doing some running now too?
So you have a professional career, you are a husband, a dad, a coach, how do you find the time to do the training needed to run?
So you are coaching now too correct?
What type of athletes are you coaching?
How are you using Final Surge in your coaching?
A couple of questions from Twitter:
With all the miles you log, what supplements do you use for quick recovery?
I would think there is probably some extra strain on the body, What are some of the strength exercises you do for you hips and core to keep them lose to prevent injury
How many miles does he run every month in your training?
Every runner has their self-talk? What about kid talk, what good kid talk stories do you have?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Lore of Running
Current trainers you are wearing? - Altra Torin 2.5
Favorite race? - Toronto Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Chocolate Milk
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - Stroller Thule Glide.
@calneff
Neff.run website
Dathan Ritzenhein is one of the most successful American distance runners of all time with three Olympic appearances. Today we get to talk to Dathan about his recent great run against Mo Farah at the Great North 1/2, his upcoming NYC Marathon appearance and how he has prepared for it. We talk training, nutrition, and fat burning as well as what he is doing differently to stay healthy.
Dathan, thank for joining us today, can you tell our listeners how you got started in running when you were a kid?
You have been training for the NYC Marathon and recently ran the Great North 1/2 Marathon. You ran a 60:12, just 12 seconds off your PR and finishing a very strong second to Mo Farah. It sounds like you are running the best you have in 6-7 years and you must be healthy, how is your training going for NYC?
Can you give us an example of what the week looks like for you leading up to a marathon?
We have a great field coming up for the NYC marathon, they are offering $100,000 in American only price money. How much does that American only price money play in getting such a strong field?
Is there one person, besides yourself obviously that American running fans should really be watching out for?
Some people have been able to excel while being self-coached, while others never were able to find a great long-term groove. How is the self-coaching going for you?
How has your training changed since you left Oregon and started training on your own again?
Do you think less high-end speed stuff has helped you stay healthier?
You are dong some coaching yourself now?
You have literally had some of the best coaches int he world From Wetmore to Brad Hudson and then Salazar. What did you learn from them that you use in your coaching now?
Some questions we got from Twitter: For a podium finish you need a great finish. What did you do differently with the Great North race to ensure a great finish.
Do you do any specific marathon training to work on being more efficient burning fat?
Not that you are old, but as you get older you need to focus more on the process and nutrition than a college kid does. What changes have you made to your nutrition over the years?
Over the years as you run into injuries, what have you done to stay in shape while injured?
How often are you in the gym during the week?
Are we going to see you on track again or do you plan on focusing on the roads from here on out?
Any predictions for NYC?
How about on the women’s side of NYC. Molly, Kim and Neely representing America, how do you think they are going to do?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Running with the Buffalos
Current trainers you are wearing? - Nike Vomero
Favorite race? - Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Burger
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - R-3 Roller from Roll Recovery
Dathan on Twitter
Welcome to Episode 18 of the Final Surge Podcast. Our guest today is Steve Magness. Steve is a former high school prodigy, the author of the well respected book Science of Running and a coach at the University of Houston and to several professional runners. We talk about everything from training the extremes, race strategy, breaking through plateaus, tapering and psychology or racing.
Most of our listeners probably know who you are, but let’s give any who may not know your background. Can you tell us about how you got started running?
You made that huge jump your senior year can you tell us about that and what changes you made to have that breakthrough?
What was your training like your first three years of high school?
Your book the Science of Running is one of those books that I think every coach, no matter how experienced should have on their books shelf. But I understand you are working on a new book, what can we expect from that one.
You took over coaching at your alma mater University of Houston a few years ago. As a college coach, who is getting in high school runners, what are you noticing about the high school athletes you get as far as their training and what they may be lacking?
You have a kid who has plateaued, say a 4:30 miler. When he hits a level where he is not improving any longer, this is when you need to change a stress?
When you have a group of 30-50 kids sometimes that balance is hard. What advice would you have for coaches with larger programs on what they should be looking for in each runner to see if they training needs to be changed up for some kids.
There is a debate among some in the high school distance ranks. The old volume vs intensity. One argument is they are young so work on their speed development and the other camp is they should be working on their aerobic capacity and leave the speed for the next level. Of course, the truth as always is probably somewhere in the middle. But I think both camps work on both, the intensity camp may be more of a 35 mile a week program with 2-3 days of really intense work while the volume camp may be more 50-55 miles a week with a lot more tempo work, but what advice would you have for high school runners and coaches?
Let’s look at a week for a high school kid, how would you structure a week of workouts?
This is another question from a high school coach. Actually, the same question came in from two coaches. He is getting ready to start prepping for his qualifying and state meet. They would like to know what percentage of volume do you cut back. When do you start that? When does you have your last, hardest workout of the season?
You have a podcast Magness and Marcus, which as a coach is my favorite podcast because there is some talk about training, but a lot of talk about actually coaching. I'm curious, how much time do you guys spend talking coaching outside that podcast?
When you are working with your mid pack cross country runners, you are not talking to them about strategies to win a race, so what coaching advice are you giving them on a race plan, what does that conversation look like?
You have been coaching for a few years now at a very high level. If you could go back and give advice to yourself when you started coaching high school, what advice would you give a younger Steve?
Recommended Reads from Steve
One of your athletes, and one of our favorite Final Surge runners Neely Spence Gracey is going to be running the NYC marathon here shortly, how is her training looking? Episode 9 LINK
A question from twitter, we have a listener who has been putting in great training over the last year with great training runs. But on race day they are having sub-par performances in the 10k-Marathon races. Occasionally will have a good race so their fitness level is there, they are just not racing well. I know it could be a lot of things, but can you give this runner some general areas to look into to racing better?
Another question from twitter, when you are looking at recruits, what are you looking for in an athlete?
scienceofrunning.com/recommended-reads
Favorite running book? - Once a runner
Current trainers you are wearing? - Asics
Favorite race? - 1/2 Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Chocolate Milk
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - Timex non-GPS watch
Steve's website
Steve on Twitter
How did you get your start in running?
What was the main driving force that got you into running as much as you have?
How long was it before you did your first ultra marathon race?
How did you make the transition into charging the first person from giving advice for free?
I watched a video of yours and you made an interesting observation. New tennis players, new golfers etc will often hire a coach to learn good habits early, but new runners tend to now hire coaches.
Are all your clients online?
What type of clients do you take on, what does a typical client of yours look like, how long have they been running, what happened to make them want to look for a coach?
You are doing some interesting stuff online, you are very active, is that where you are doing all your marketing?
What can a client expect and what type of guidance do you provide for strength work?
How often do you have your athletes run?
With newer runners of course, we always face injuries, what are the most common injuries you see with your runners?
You mentioned you use Final Surge. how do you use Final Surge in your coaching
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? -
Current trainers you are wearing? -
Favorite race? -
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? -
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? -
KyleKranz.com
Kyle on Twitter
Kyle on Youtube
On episode 17 we talk to Mario Fraioli of Ekiden Coaching. Mario is a competitive runner, former editor at Competitor Magazine and recently got involved in an online coaching service called Ekiden.
How did you get your start in running?
Did you run in college and post collegiately too?
Many of our listeners probably know you from Competitor Magazine. When did you make your transition there?
You recently launched your own coaching company, can you tell us how that came about?
Where did the name Ekiden come from?
You personally have worked with some great coaches in your lifetime. What have you learned form them that you hope to bring to your clients?
When you coach virtually, communications is the hardest part. How does your system overcome those struggles?
Do you have a certain clientele that you are trying to attract?
I was looking at the site and I noticed these blue dots… kind of interesting how you are using that as a visual cue, can you explain the blue dots?
What type of plans/levels of coaching do you offer?
How many coaches do you have on the team right now?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Once a runner
Current trainers you are wearing? - Brooks Launch
Favorite race? - Boston Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Burger, fries and beer
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - Hat
Mario's website
Mario on Twitter
Ekiden Coaching
Morning Shakeout
We have a great interview for you today. Imagine this story, someone who never ran until after college, ran their first race, a marathon in 4 hours and 37 minutes, then just six years later they run an Olympic qualifier and are headed to Rio to run in the Olympics. This is not a hollywood movie script, this is the story of Ariana Holborn. Now on to the show.
Had a chance to meet you and hear your story can you tell us about your long high school running career?
You just ran in the Rio Olympics, so if you did not run in high school, how did you get your start?
So your very first race ever was a marathon? Which one?
So what did your running career look like after that first marathon, you obviously caught the bug.
2008 you run your first race and run a 4:37 marathon, then one year later you run a BQ? What was your training like?
You went from 0 to 70 miles in a year, did you encounter any injuries?
In 2010 you join John Reich's team, where did you go from there?
Then in 2014 at US Marathon Championships you were 4th?
How did your training change as you were getting ready to run an Olympic qualifier?
What type of mileage are you doing when you prepare for a marathon?
Coming into 2016 what was your thought process when deciding to run for Latvia for the Olympics?
For their marathon team do they select or do trials?
So you headed to Rio for your first Olympics, what was it like walking in the opening ceremonies?
How did the race in Rio go for you?
How long did you end up staying in Rio and did you get a chance to see any other events?
So what was your training like the week down in Brazil?
Your team gives back a lot to the local running community. What advice would you have to young runners just starting out?
So what is next on the agenda for you?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Running within
Current trainers you are wearing? - Brooks Ravena
Favorite race? - Valmiera Marathon
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Generation Ucan Chocolate
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - Garmin
Ariana's website
Sonoran Distance Project Team
Ariana on Twitter
Zach is an ultra marathon runner and a coach at Zach Bitter Running. Zach has held the 100 mile American record and the 12 hour work record. In this episode we talk about how a runner can make the jump to ultra distances and find out what it is like running on a track for over 400 laps.
How did you get your start in running, I am guessing your first run wasn’t an ultra. So let’s start with the really early days. Did you start running in high school, jr high, where does the story begin?
What was your high school career like, what type of 5k times were you doing
So let’s start out talking about how someone can make the transition from someone who maybe is not an elite runner, but has a few 1/2’s and a few marathons under their belt and wants to make that jump to an ultra. What advice would you have for a runner. Should they start with shorter races like a 50 miler before they jump to a 100 miler?
So if someone is running 40-50 miles a week what can they look up for a build up time and what type of volume do you think they need to get to before they toe a starting line?
You have someone looking to train and do their first 50-miler, what sort of long run do they need to do before you know they are ready to tackle that?
What does a week look like for this person trying to build up for the first time?
Now they are spending almost a full day on their feet running, they probably need to be eating and fueling different than they ever have before. What do you recommend as far as learning to fuel for an ultra?
Where do you follow on the scale, are you more of a Paleo low carb guy or more higher carbs?
You mentioned 150 mile week, is that kind of an average week for you?
To simulate the long runs many ultra runners will do two long runs on back to back days, is this something you implement?
If you have two long runs back to back how much time are you spending running on those two days?
So I am curious, when out running that long, do you listen to anything, music, audiobooks, podcast, anything like that?
So you got the 100 mile American record and 12 hour world record in my back yard running at the Desert Solstice. So just to give our listeners an idea, that is 402 laps on the track. I can imagine some thing like hydration, food, restrooms, medical needs all being right there are great, but at the same time 402 laps. What is that like and how do you enjoy it compared to hills?
What would you rather do, a trail or a track race?
Karl Meltzer is out there on the Appalachian Trail trying to break the record, would you ever have any interest in anything that long?
You have a package of training plans available on Final Surge, can you give listeners an idea of what is included in those plans?
Link to his training plans
How are you using Final Surge in your coaching?
We talk about the Strava and Garmin connect features.
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Born to Run
Current trainers you are wearing? - Altra One 2.5
Favorite race? - World 100k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Eggs and Bacon
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - Drymax ultra thin socks
how can they follow you online or reach you if they are interested in getting coaching info from you
Facebook Athlete Profile
Twitter
Instagram
His website
On Episode 14 we have Christ Newport of Everyday Athlete Matters. Chris is a triathlete, coach, and a registered dietician. We are going to talk about fueling, recovery, and hydration.
How did you get your start in running and endurance sports?
You went through Team In Training as a coach or participant?
So what type of athletes are you training? What is the demographic of your athlete?
You do a lot with sports nutrition. What are the biggest mistakes you see endurance athlete make?
Great breakdown on hydration, but if you had someone who could not afford to get tested, what general hydration advice would you have?
There is a common formula for hydration, take body weight in pounds, divide in half and that is a general amount of ounces you should be drinking a day. Do you teach that formula?
You say you work with everyday athletes so are there differences for what a housewife who loves to run and is trying to run a slightly better 5k should be eating and how they should be eating compared to what someone training for a 10-hour ironman or a 3-hour marathon should be doing?
Do you have any thoughts on carb loading vs fat burning for varying distances such as 5k and marathon?
For fat burning, what do you recommend people do to enhance their fat burning ability?
Let’s talk pre-exercise eating on training days. The housewife wakes up at 5am to get in her 45-minute run, what should she be eating before her run?
What about post race. I tell my high school kids that milk is always great because it has both whey and casein, what do you recommend for recovery post-workout?
I noticed on your website you do Sweat and metabolic testing. Can you tell us how that is and what you are finding out about athletes your testing?
With people you are testing are you finding out any common findings such as are you finding most people are taking in to many carbs or anything like that?
You mentioned everyday athlete, are any of them internet only clients or are you meeting them all in person?
How are you using final surge with your clients and what are you tracking with them?
If someone wants to reach you and find out more about you and your services, how can they get a hold of you.
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book?
Current trainers you are wearing?
Favorite race?
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? -
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes?
On episode 13 of the final surge podcast we talk to Mike Caldwell, the coach of the Asics Greenville Track Club Elite. One of the reasons we have seen a resurgence in American distance running over the last few years is the emergence of post-college Olympic developmental teams like GTC-Elite. We talk to Coach Caldwell about how he got started with the GTC and he discusses why he would rather some of his athletes did not wear a GPS watch during recovery runs. Now on to the show.
How did you get your start in running?
After college did you make your transition straight into coaching or what did you do post-collegiately? - He did some training with Frank Shorter and the Florida Track Club.
How did you get your start coaching elite athletes after that?
Currently, you catch the Asics Greenville Track Club GTC-Elite, how did that come about?
As a college coach at Furman what were you finding from the athletes coming in after their high school career. Did you find them mostly overtrained, undertrained or what?
When you get collegiate runners who join your team what are you finding? Do you find they are overtrained, undertrained aerobically or anything like that?
How about with college runners? A high school coaches job is developing runners, but a college coach really needs to be competitive at conference championships. So do you think we are seeing a lot of over training or over racing with college kids these days?
We talk recovery days and how to make sure you are recovered and the importance.
What are you doing for general strength for your athletes?
You mentioned when a new athlete comes in you interview them like the recruiting process. What are you looking for as far as someone who would be a good fit for the team?
I notice that one of your parnters/sponsors is Elliptigo. I am really interested in hearing how you are using that and how you and the athletes are liking it?
I know that you started using Final Surge for your team a few months ago and wondering what benefits you are getting from it? - He talks about it as a communication tool with his athletes.
The fall racing season is coming up. What can we be watching for from your team?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Best Efforts, Once a Runner, Science of Running
Current trainers you are wearing? Asics Gel-Nimbus
Favorite race? - Peachtree
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Chocolate Milk
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - Soleus Watch
Today we have a treat for you training enthusiast. Many of you may not know Coach Tom Schwartz, but a lot of you who read message boards know the poster Tinman who has some of the most read threads on training on the web.
Tom also is the coach of some of the best youth runners in the world including Drew Hunter who this past year broke the 4-minute mile on more than one occasion as a high school senior and 12-year old sensation Grace Ping who ran a 16:44 5k.
Tinman and I talk about how he would structure a new high school program and build up a runner if he had the program. We talk about the difference between tempo and CV runs, how he would structure a week and when would he add in spadework. Then we talk about Drew Hunter turning pro and he has a message for the youth runners in this country. Get your notebook and pen and ready, now on to the show.
1:10 How did you get your start in the running community - Schwartz took over coaching early in his high school career.
6:15 You have written some of the greatest training posts on Let’s Run. Here is the scenario. A new local high school comes to you and says we are starting a XC program, and we want you to be the coach, and you accept. What does that first year look like as far as training to build new runners? - His number one philosophy is getting your kids up to running of one hour a day and a long run of 90 minutes.
8:55 How soon after you got them running would you start working in tempo runs, and CV runs? Can you describe to our listeners the difference between what you call a CV run, and other coaches would call a tempo run? He also talks about the difference between endurance and stamina.
11:00 Once you have a good month base going with these new runners, what does a typical week look like with you?
14:10 If you have a CV day, tempo day, long run, that leaves you probably three other days of steady or recovery running, what kind of paces do you prescribe for those days?
16:10 So let’s say there is a 17:30 5k runner, he is running about 5:30/mi race pace. Are you saying on those recovery days he should be above 7:30? And is there a limit where he starts going to slow and doesn’t start getting any benefit. - Talks about Grace Ping, the well known 12-year old who ran 16:44 for 5k.
20:42 You have stated there are dozens of kids in America who are running 9:10 who should be running 8:40 if they were trained right. Is that what you think they are doing wrong is training too hard?
22:37 So up until now we have not run faster than 10k pace with the exception of our races. So with a high school team that has their state meet the first week of November, when do you add in faster workouts? He starts his sharpening work about four weeks out. One workout example he gave for this would be doing your CV/Tempo workout and finishing with an 800 time trial.
23:57 How often would your team race?
24:20 You have interesting research on the 1600 which shows it is 82% aerobic, but after just 30 seconds it is 50/50 and after 90 seconds you are already at 93% aerobic so how should this effect our aerobic vs. anaerobic training for a 1600m runner?
26:20 Something that many people are going to have on their mind is one of your star pupils Drew Hunter. It is well known that you took over the coaching of Footlocker Champion and sub 4-minute miler Drew Hunter a few years ago, how did that come about?
29:18 You were coaching Drew from across the country, and we understand that you used Final Surge to help with that coaching, how did that process work?
31:48 This summer Drew decided to turn pro and continue working with you instead of running at Oregon, what went into that process? - We discuss the problem with being shuffled among coaches as you grow up.
36:45 You have a great website RunningPRs.com which I recommend anyone listening goes to check it out. ON there you have some great training calculators and also slide presentations you make available under the blog.
RunFastCoach@gmail.com
37:10 What type of message do you have for young American distance runners
Here is the LetsRun.com thread we reference with more training information.
In episode 10 we get ready for the start of track at the Olympics by talking to coach Drew Wartenburg of the NorCal Distance Project. Drew coaches Kate Grace who will be running the 800 and Kim Conley who will be running the 5k in Rio. We talk about their training, race strategies, how they use Final Surge in their training and answer some questions from Twitter.
:45 How did you get your start in running?
3:40 When you started coaching what level was that at?
4:40 Then in 2014 you started the NorCal Distance Project?
5:42 You had a pretty good showing in the Olympic trials. Let’s start by talking about what Kate Grace did in the 800. What a great story this was. She ran controlled early and qualified 8th in the first round. Then in the second round, 8 make finals, and she was 6th. And then saving her best for last I believe she ran a PR in the 800?
7:25 What was the thought process on focusing on the 800 and tell us what you two were thinking going into the finals? They talked about staying safe, which if you saw the race was a wise decision.
10:00 The first lap went out quick in the finals, about a 57 first lap. Was this what you expected?
10:45 Part of being a great runner is not only being fast, but running smart. Kate seemed to do a great job kind of staying towards the back of the pack to the inside, then with about 130 left Kate really started moving, what was your thought at that point?
12:50 Drew talks about Kate’s celebration moment, or lack there of.
13:55 You talked about that hand on the knees moment, you see that at the end of most of these races, but Kate finished with a look on her face like she was ready to do it again. - Drew talks about how they prepared for that moment.
15:32 We talk 800 racing strategy. I would love to get your thoughts. Most 800 races seem to go out the first lap about 2 seconds faster than the second lap. One of my favorites races ever is the 1972 Olympics won by American Dave Wottle. The first lap, the two Kenyas are out front and Wottle was like 2 second behind 200 meters into the race. Bottle is not only in last, but a good amount behind the leader. Then Kenyans run a 52 first lap, and a 54 second lap. Just like most 800s. Wottle runs about a 53.2/52.5 I believe, almost even, slight negative split by a half second and wins in a dramatic come from behind situation. Do you think that runners could do a better job by backing off a little in the first lap or do you think they need to go?
19:15 Another athlete you had make the team is Kim Conley in the 5k. She was one of the favorites in the 10k, but then, there was a shoe incident were she lost a shoe in the race. Can you tell is what your thought process was as you were watching it?
22:40 Was it her decision to drop in the 10k or did you tell her to pull out?
24:40 In the 5k there was a group of 6 girls with 400 to go including Huddle, Houlihan, Mackey, Infeld and Kim, who are all known to have great finishes. At about 300 left things were starting to spread out, how were you feeling about her chances at that time?
27:10 When preparing for the US Trials you really need to be at your best to make the team and peak at the right time. So how hard is to hold that peak for another 6-7 weeks until the Olympics starts?
29:40 Have you talked to them about what their goals are now that they are in the Olympics?
30:50 It was recently announced that Kim is making her marathon debut in NYC in November. How are you balancing the training between the 5k now and marathon debut soon?
Questions from Twitter:
34:05 First question from @DougPetrick1 - Other than the number of reps & pace, how different are your workouts for runners that do similar events?
36:30 Do you use any lactate threshold measuring devices in your training and if so do you have any recommendations?
38:10 You are using Final Surge for your training with your athletes, how is that working for you and what do you like most about it?
41:37 Rapid fire, 5 questions in under a minute ready
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book or blog? - Life at These Speeds by Jeremy Jackson
Current trainers you are wearing? - New Balance 880’s
Favorite race? - The next one on the schedule
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Chocolate milk followed by a good burger
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - A good running hat
Drew on Twitter
In episode 11 we talk to coach James McKirdy of McKirdy Trained. James has built an amazing business in just a year starting from scratch and building up to over 100 clients and hiring other coaches to help him. McKirdy Trained coaches athletes who are brand new and never run before all the way up to Olympic Qualifiers. Now on to the show.
How did you get your start in running?
How did you transition to coaching?
So was your current coaching business McKirdy Trained the business you started 14 years ago or is that more recently?
I understand you coach everything from Olympic qualifiers to those who cannot run 5 mins. So what are you looking for in new clients?
What makes McKirdy trained special and different amongst the other programs out there?
Coaching large numbers and some internet clients I’m guessing one of the hardest parts can be communications and feedback. How are you using final surge to help with that?
Let’s take an average runner. What can an average runner who contacts you look to see within their own running after they have been working with you?
What does a day look like under your training such as warmup, core strength, cool downs, strides etc?
After someone has a good base and has been working with you for a while, what does a week look like as far as run structures?
What have been some of the biggest success stories you've seen recently as far as performance improvements?
James talks about the problem with so many programs out there and combing programs without a real structure you get while working with a coach.
With the client you mentioned before, those were huge improvements from a 52-year old. Did you focus on pacing and diet or what did you focus on to get those results?
On any given Saturday we can see thousands of runners at local 5k’s. What can these every day recreational runners get from a running coach?
You have huge growth in the last year, how did you grow your business so much in the last year to go from zero to over 100 clients in under a year?
Rapid Fire... 5 questions in under 1 minute
Favorite running book? - Marathon Man Bill Rogers
Current trainers you are wearing? - Asics Kayano
Favorite race? - Philly Broadstreet 10 mile
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - First Endurance Ultragen Chocolate
Your favorite piece of running equipment that is not your shoes? - Cold Roller
Reach James McKirdy
McKirdyTrained.com
James@McKirdyTrained.com
On Twitter
ON Facebook
On Instagram
Welcome to episode 9 of the final surge podcast. This week it is our pleasure to talk to professional runner and coach Neely Spence Gracey. Neely recently made her marathon debut and finished as the top American women in Boston. We talk about her recent coaching change, her coaching career and how she is using Final Surge to help grow her business. We also find out what she has planned for 2020.
1:10 Our first question that we always start with our guests is always how did you get your start in running? - Interesting fact, Neely was born while her father Steve Spence was running the Boston Marathon.
2: 25 You were a successful high school runner and probably could have run at just about any college, why did you decide to go to a D2 school over a D1? - Neely stayed close to home at Shippensburg University.
4:05 If you were sitting down with a classroom full of high school runners, who are deciding where to run in college, what advice would you have for them? - Neely thinks a visit to the school is important.
4:55 We know being a professional runner is not always the most lucrative career, so when you finished your college running career what was the decision process like when you decided to become a professional runner? - Neely had a unique experience by growing up around professional runners.
7:10 About a year ago you made the switch to start working with Coach Steve Magness, how is that transition going? - Neely has a unique situation where her husband works with Magness.
8:15 Most of our listeners probably know Steve from his book Science of Running. How has the training changed under Steve? - Variety in workouts is one of the biggest changes that Neely has experienced under Magness.
10:50 What is your weekly mileage and how long is your long run now? - Neely has topped out at just over 100 miles. This has changed in the last year as she has moved to marathon training.
11:35 This year you decided to make your marathon debut at the Boston Marathon where you were the top American women over running at the Olympic trials. What went into that decision? - This was not Neely’s original plan. Her original plan was to run the Trials, but things do not always go as planned.
A couple of questions from Twitter
13:25 Do you have any specific events in mind for 2020 Olympic cycle? - Neely hopes to be competing for a spot on the 2020 Olympic Team.
15:25 Do you run with strider and if so how far? - Strider is her dog who is a little over a year old.
Neely and Strider - Photo by David Bracetty. 16:50 You recently started coaching how is that going? - Neely currently has 35 clients.
18:00 Are you coaching people face to face or are you doing more internet coaching?
18:10 How are you using Final Surge in your training and your coaching? - Neely has been almost able to double her business because of the use of Final Surge.
19:30 Do you accept anyone or are you looking for a certain type of person and how would someone know if they are a good fit to work with you? - The one common factor for Neely’s clients is they are highly motivated.
20:40 If someone wanted to reach out to you and find out about your coaching services how could they best reach you?
GetRunning@outlook.com.
21:20 So what is next, any fall or spring marathons coming up?
Not mentioned in this interview, but since the interview was recorded, Neely has announced she will be part of a star-studded NYC marathon program in November.
22:40
Neely with Strider, and her sunglasses **Rapid Fire… 5 questions in under 1 minute**
Favorite running book or blog - Lauren Fleshman
Current trainers you are wearing - Adidas Energy Boost
Favorite race or race distance - Bolder Boulder
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink - Egg sandwich on a bagel
Your favorite piece of running equipment not your shoes - Sunglasses
You can find Neely at
Twitter
Instagram
Website
In Episode 8 of the Final Surge Podcast, we talk to Iowa State Runner Nathan Rodriguez. Nathan was a multiple-time state champion runner in high school and is now one of the top runners at Iowa State in his sophomore year.
We talk to Nathan about what the recruiting process was like when he made his decision to run for Iowa State and what was the biggest factor in deciding which school to run at.
Nathan then shares some advice he would give to incoming high school freshman and then juniors and seniors who are thinking they want to run in college.
:50 First question I always ask, how did you get your start in running.
1:35 You had many great moments in high school including a state championship as an individual and team in cross country and several on the track. So what was the greatest moment to you of your high school career?
4:20 Now that you have a little experience of running in college for a few years and you can look back at it. What do you think is the most important thing you did in your high school career that set you up for success.
6:35 Sounds like you had a good aerobic base from high school, what type of milage were you doing in high school?
8:30 When did you start thinking about a college choice and what was the recruiting process like for you?
9:55 What were you looking for in a school? Location? Tradition? Coach?
11:05 At what point in the process did you narrow it down and decide on Iowa State?
12:40 There are paid recruiting services out there, did you ever use any of them?
14:00 The first time you had contact with Iowa State, did you reach out to them, or did they reach out to you?
15:10 If your high school coaches invited you back to talk to the incoming high school freshman, what advice would you have for them who wanted to maybe run in college some day?
16:50 What advice do you have to high schoolers who are coming into their junior and senior years and really thinking about colleges?
Connect with Nathan on Twitter
Follow Final Surge on Twitter
Follow Final Surge on Facebook
Jason Fitzgerald runs a very successful site called Strength Running. Jason has developed a reputation as an expert in strength training with his coaching of runners.
:40 Can you tell us how you got your start in running?
2:00 You now run a very popular website and coaching service called Strength Running … How did you make a transition into coaching?
3:20 Every coach I have talked to so far on this podcast has talked about the importance of consistency. And running injury free may be the most important factor in running consistently. What do you think is the key to staying injury free?
6:45 So let’s start with a new runner. Maybe they just did a coach to 5k. They are still 30lbs overweight, but they finished their first 5k and have caught the running bug. What would you tell this runner they need to do to stay healthy?
9:05 You mention dynamic workouts and warmups, do you have any resources or can you lay out what that would look like?
Mattock Dynamic Warm-up he mentioned
Jason’s IT Band Routine
Jason’s standard core routine
11:30 You are working with a runner who has a little experience, complete a couple of 5ks, but wants to really get serious and maybe try moving up to a marathon. How does your strength routine differ with more experience?
13:10 A lot of lower leg injuries that are common to runners are shins, knees, feet, do you find that those are often the cause of the problem or is something else in the chain the real cause?
15:10 A question from Matt Axlerod on Twitter… How many days per week to do core work and when to exercise hips/glutes?
17:00 Have you ever thought of moving your core work to pre-run instead of post?
19:30 You have a book Running for Health and Happiness, what inspired you to write a book?
Where can people find out more about you and your training programs?
StrengthRunning.com
Also mentioned
Tomahawk Medicine Ball Workout
Imagine if I wrote a movie about a kid who was a successful high school runner and soccer player who received a scholarship to run at a major D1 university. Before he even made it to the first college practice, he was told that his career was over become a heart issue. Then seven years later, on a bet, enters a triathlon against doctors advice and becomes hooked and would transition into leaving a successful law firm to become a professional triathlete. I would either get have a Hollywood blockbuster, or I would get laughed at for being too unbelievable. Today, we bring you the story of Justin Park, who did all of this. I hope you enjoy the story as much as I did.
You can find out more about Justin at FinalSurge.com/Podcast
Luke Humphrey (Twitter) is a professional runner with the Hanson-Brooks Running team and the owner and head coach of Hanson Coaching Services. In this interview we talk to the Coach about how he got into running, what advice he has for busy athletes and his take on the state of the U.S. men's marathon scene.
:45 How did you get your start in running?
2:40 What advice do you have for college runners who want to run post-collegiately?
5:25 What made you decide to transition from a professional runner to the owner and head coach at Hanson Coaching Services?
7:05 You have recently launched a new coaching site, Hanson Coaching Services, can you tell us about the new site and who the site and training is geared towards?
9:30 The Hanson Training system is a very well know and respected program inside the marathon and distance community. What made you decide to write a book about it?
10:45 Could you tell a new runner who has maybe not heard about what Keith and Kevin Hanson teach what makes your program training different?
12:00 As marathoning becomes more popular, more and more new first timers are turning to the challenge of running the marathon. For a new runner, who may be looking to finish a marathon to help raise money for their favorite charity, what advice would you have for them for going to from maybe 20-25 miles a week to a 26.2 in one session?
13:45 What type of weekly progression for the long run do you recommend for that 20-25 mile week runner?
16:25 Many of these recreational runners may have a spouse and three kids. They have work meetings in the morning, they have kids baseball games at night and just live busy lives. What advice do you have for someone who is finding a hard time creating the time to train to structure a weekly plan?
20:20 That runner is now running five days a week, of course, mileage will differ, but what would a typical training week look like on five days a week?
21:40 Looking at the U.S. Marathon scene, on the guys side, we have not seen a U.S. man go below 2:08 since Ritzenhein did it in 2012. Where do you see the future of the US Men’s team marathon runners in the next few years?
23:05 Of course Hanson-Brooks has Des Linden who will be running the Olympic marathon on the women’s side, how is she looking?
23:45A question that came in from Twitter, follow us @FinalSurge, have you thought about writing a book for a 5k runner and what differences would a book for a 5k training method have that is different than what is you your book.
25:40 A second question that came in, How would you modify the basic plan to have only two SOS sessions per week (master/veteran asking)? And maybe we need to explain what an SOS (Something of Substance) day is.
28:35 Can you let us know how you are using Final Surge to help your coaching clients?
29:55 You have made training plans available to purchase through Final Surge, who are those plans geared towards more of a beginner or an experienced runner.
For our fourth podcast, we talk to former elite runner Ben Rosario, who now spends his time coaching the Northern Arizona Elite Hoka Team.
We talk to Ben about how he got his strat in running and talked to Ben about what his high school running career was like.
With Ben having run at a D-II school we talked about how high school kids who may not be good enough to run at a D-I school should not give up their running dreams.
Ben goes into depth about the possibilities that D-II and D-III schools offer for runners. His advice about finding the right fit for you after high school is pure gold for any high school distance runner.
We then talked about how Ben made the transition into coaching after being a runner for the Hanson Brook's distance project.
We discussed how his Northern Arizona Elite team ended up in a deal with the Hoka running company.
Ben spends a lot of time explaining exactly how his current squad got together to form one of the top teams in the world.
We spend a few minutes talking about the unique uniforms for Hoka NAZ-Elite.
We talk about the marathon Olympic Trials where NAZ-Elite had a top 6 finisher on both the men and women's side. We also discuss the deep NAZ-Elite 5k and 10k teams in the upcoming U.S. Olympic Trials where 3 of the 24 runners on both sexes are NAZ-Elite members.
Ben discusses why he believes there is an advantage to running as a group when training as an elite athlete.
We also discuss the overall healthy of the potential U.S. Olympics Team where Ben believes we have medal opportunities from the 800m through the 10k.
Final Surge announced Northern Arizona Elite as a partner just recently. We discuss how NAZ started using Final Surge.
We talked about how he has been using Final Surge with his team and how his favorite part is you can tell it is made by runners, for runners.
NAZ-Elite is making all their running logs available online at FinalSurge.com/NAZElite. Any coach, using Final Surge or any other log should have their athletes look at the NAZ logs to see the types of information that are being included in logs.
NAZ-Elite's mission statement is "Train hard, race fearlessly and share every part of our journey with our fans." That is why they completely open up their training logs.
We then discussed a recent Scott Smith log entry which ended included:
Run - Easy Run + drills/strides/plyos
Normal drills. 8 x 150 meter hard but smooth strides. Plyos= 2 x all single leg exercises. 1x all squat jumps/bounds.
Ben has a theory that he doesn't want to be just runners, he wants to be athletic. The biggest thing he works on is getting off the ground as quick as possible as many times as possible which is why they do explosive plyo work.
This question came in from Twitter… Coach, you have a lot going on in your life right now with the team, writing, family, any time management tips you have for busy athletes?
@FinalSurge @BenRosario1 @LucusHumphrey how does Ben manage his time with all he does/ coach, write book, podcast, family etc
— Doug Petrick (@DougPetrick1) June 18, 2016
Ben has agreed to give one listener a signed copy of his HS XC book Tradition, Class Pride; you can find out details on that give-a-way at Finalsurge.com/promo.
You can get a copy of that book at traditionclasspride.com. Ben can be found in the following places:
Ben On Twitter
NAZ Elite on Twitter
NAZ Elite Training Programs
Former Boston Marathon Champ and longtime Runner's World editor Amby Burfoot joined us for a great talk about his half-century in running and his new book, First Ladies of Running.
Amby got his start in running when he was a sophomore in high school. Amby has run over 110,000 miles in his career, which is equivalent to running around the equator more than four times. With all those miles he has had very few injuries. Amby talks to us about why the mind is so important to our running as we get older.
Amby is now more involved and concerned with the overall general health of society these days. Amby talks about the irony of us becoming a more obese society in the middle of a fitness revolution which we have gone through.
Being so plugged into the sport first as a winner of the Boston Marathon, then the last what 38 years at Runners World, Amby has had a front-row seat to the evolution of training. We talk about training secrets and just like the two coaches we have had on before Amby, it seems to come down to hard and consistent work?
We like to open up questions on Twitter to our followers, and one question that Angela wanted us to ask was What Running Myths would you like to get rid of once and for all?
Amby Burfoot has recently released his sixth book, First Ladies of Running. We talk about some of the early women running legends including Joan Benoit, Kathrine Switzer, and the first women to run Boston, Bobbi Gibb.
Amby also talks about an entertaining story he discovered when he was writing the book from Grace Butcher, a farm girl from Ohio.
Amby talks in depth on why he included Ophrah Winfrey in his book on the first ladies of running.
We also talk about the future of women's running and how the Internet has greatly affected the time high school girls scene.
We finish the interview with some stories about the early days of New England road races in the 60's and early 70's.
You can get a copy of Amby's book here, and we will be giving away a signed copy, you can find out details at FinalSurge.com/promo
Coach Brad Hudson starts out by telling us about how he got started in running. Being an average soccer player he tried running one day and a cross country coach recognized his talent quickly. Hudson was fortunate enough to be coached early by a young Mark Wetmore. In high school, Hudson would have some weeks where he was running 140 miles in a week.
We talk about how Hudson made the transition into coaching from being a runner himself and selling shoes.
The Hudson Elite team is making some noise with recent successes in the running community. They have a unique group of runners. We talk about how the runners he coaches are developmental athletes with jobs and school and life trying to train and get better.
All of Hudson’s athletes do coaching and use Final Surge as part of their coaching program. You can find out more about his coaching programs at HudsonElite.com. Proceeds from the athletes coaching mostly go to the club to help support the athletes.
Everyone Hudson coaches, and every coach that works for Hudson Elite uses Final Surge. One of the reasons Hudson likes Final Surge so much is because it is simple to use, but has all the features he needs.
One book Hudson wrote with Matt Fitzgerald is Run Fast. Now he has released a new book The Little Black Book Redux. We talk about what is new in this book and what makes them so different. The Black Book Redux is all the workouts he has picked up over his running and coaching career. The new book has over 200 elite workouts. The book can be found at CoachHudson.com
We discuss how even though these are elite runners workouts, which any athlete can take them and adapt them for themselves. The book covers everything from 800 meters through the marathon.
We talk about what advice Hudson would have to a college runner who wants to continue running post-collegiate.
Not every elite runner starts out as an elite runner out of college. Many starts as a developmental athlete and Hudson gives us an example of what a typical day of a developmental runner looks like.
Hudson shares with us some of the things he is working on to help keep his runners healthy and running consistently as consistency is the most important thing in distance running.
Hudson stresses how he does not mess with runners form but works on making them more efficient with drills and strength exercises.
A couple of questions that came in from Twitter.
How many times a year should non-elite runners take a break from hard training and focus more on a traditional base phase
Second question form Twitter, how long after a goal race (not a marathon) can you re-race while maintaining specific endurance benefits.
In episode one of the Final Surge podcast, we talk with Coach Jay Johnson about how he became a coach, common running injuries and his upcoming book on marathon training for busy people.
Jay has a great podcast called the Run Faster Podcast.
Jay is always sharing information and advice on his website, and make sure you sign up for his email list too!
Jay has an amazing youtube channel where he shows you many SAM (Strength and Mobility) drills including the lunge matrix which we talk about in this episode.
And if you are a high school runner or coach, make sure you check out his Boulder Running Camps, one of, if not the top high school running camps in the country.