February 2010
5 posts
11 tags
Why the Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon is the Best...
I’ve run the Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon for the last four years (and qualified for Boston in the 2009 and 2010 races) and I think that it is the best small marathon in the world. Why?
It’s limited to less than 1200 entrants
It’s flat and fast, with a net elevation loss of 370 ft
It’s held in early October at the peak of the fall foliage season and temperatures are...
January 2010
9 posts
14 tags
Foam Roll or The Stick - Which is Best?
I own both a foam roll and The Stick and in my opinion, the foam roll is the more versatile of the two self-massage recovery tools.
A foam roll is typically an 18” long, 6” diameter cylinder made out of dense foam. It generally costs less than $20. To use it, you lie on top of it, using your body weight to press the roll in to the targeted area. You move yourself over the roll,...
5 tags
How Not to Become a Dog's Chew Toy!
I’m a dog lover. We had German Shepherds when I was growing up. But after more than 30 years of running, I was bitten by a dog.
I was about a 1/2 mile from home on an 11 mile run. I ran past a property that I had run by dozens of times. At this house, three large dogs usually ran alongside me, just inside their “invisible fence”, barking as I went by. This day, there was...
6 tags
Racing Strategy - How to Plan for Your Best Finish
If you want to do your very best in an upcoming race, there are a few things you can do (besides training) that will help you turn in a great time:
Have a goal
Know the course
Know the pace
Know the competition
Position yourself for a great start
Have a race plan
Have a goal for the race, either finish time or place or both. This should be based on your recent training and racing and an...
6 tags
What's the Fastest Way to Improve?
What’s the fastest way to improve your race times? Like most things in life, there are no shortcuts. If you try to improve quickly, you run a higher risk of injury.
The most time-efficient way to improve your race times is interval training. Most people hate to run intervals. I know I do. They are very intense workouts that often leave you gasping for air and sometimes make you want...
9 tags
What is Your Best Racing Weight?
This is a difficult question to answer. Your weight directly effects your race times. V02max is measured in ml/kg/min, that’s milliliters of O2 per minute, per kilogram of body weight. Studies have shown that 79% of the variation in racing speed can be explained by variation in V02max.
For a 175 lb male who runs a 3:30 marathon, each pound of weight lost should result in a...
5 tags
How Much Do You Need to Run?
How much do you need to run to improve and set new personal records? Probably not as much as you think.
It depends on how much and how fast you want to improve, what race distance you are planning for, and what level you are competing at.
To maintain your fitness, you need to do a minimum of two quality workouts per week. To improve and set new PR’s, you need to do at least three quality...
7 tags
Why do I run Marathons?
Why do I run marathons? Because I suck at running them. I find them to be extremely difficult to run well, compared to shorter races.
What makes them so difficult for me (and many others)?
It’s difficult to simulate marathon race conditions in training, because you usually don’t do 26 mile training runs (and that’s a good thing for most people).
It’s a major logistical...
5 tags
Getting Started
A lot of people ask me what they should do to start a running program. The answer depends on a number of factors:
How much running they are currently doing (if any) and what types of workouts they are doing.
What their goal is.
If their goal is a race, how far off the race date is.
If their goal is a particular race time, how close their current performance is to that time.
From this...