Training: Should I run one or two 20 milers before my first marathon?

One of my athletes training for the Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage wrote to me today asking the following question:
Our training program has more time than some other programs and I see that we have the opportunity to run 20 miles twice to get ready for the race. Do we really need to run [...]

Training: the first-time marathon runner 20-miler mental anguish

It’s always great to see another group of marathon runners graduate from my program by finishing their first marathons. But before getting to graduation day, they have to make it through their first 20 mile run. One of my groups — runners training for the upcoming Rock N Roll Marathon in San Diego — went [...]

Training: Did I go out too slowly in my marathon?

One of my athletes named Jen wrote in the following question about pacing after her race last Sunday — a half-marathon. This is an excellent question that underscores both the concepts of understanding pace and the unique nature of running at a particular speed.
First, here’s the question:
I finished the 1/2 marathon in 1:54. My [...]

Training: Picking the right running socks

Did you know that socks are a key piece of your running equipment? Sometimes an after-thought, a lot of runners throw on just “whatever” socks are in their drawer without even thinking about it. But your socks act as essential protection for the skin on your feet, which turns out to be a pretty important [...]

Training: what is the impact of smoking on runners?

Here’s another really interesting question sent in by a reader:
18 months ago at 35 years old I decided to start marathon running for health and so as to cut down wine drinking and quite smoking.
However, I never managed to quit but have made great progress while smoking 20 cigarettes a day. . . and I [...]

Training: Does hill running make you faster?

As many runners are now in the early stages of their seasons, I thought I would write something on hill running. Common perception would lead us to believe that running hills makes us stronger, but how does that relate to running speed? There are actually a lot of questions that surround running hills. For example:
1. [...]

Training: does an elliptical trainer offer the same workout as a treadmill or running outside?

One of my newer athletes presented this question to me recently: “Does the elliptical trainer in my gym offer the same workout as a treadmill or running outside?” This is an interesting variant of a question that we receive often. Normally, we are asked whether the elliptical trainer is a good alternative to running when [...]

Training: What makes a fast distance runner?

In reading through the discussions about VO2 Max offered by my colleague Coach Dean, I started thinking about the factors that make a fast runner. See, there’s no one thing that turns a person into a great runner. It takes a bunch of things mixed together in just the right way.
Think of this example: if [...]