This past Sunday was Mother’s Day, which, since 2009, has filled me with an odd mix of grief and gratitude. For those of you who don’t know, my mom passed away unexpectedly at the age of 50. I was 26 at the time and the sense of loss and heartbreak just crushed me.
Anton Krupicka and I are about the same age. I’ve been a big fan of his going on twenty-plus years now—for his ultrarunning accomplishments, yes, but perhaps even more so for his writing about running, training, lifestyle, process, philosophy, and more, which I’ve always found interesting, thought-provoking, and insightful. He doesn’t race or write as much as he used to, but when he does either these days, it’s worth paying attention to. His latest post, “Snow Shovels and Singlespeeds,” has nothing to do with running specifically but everything to do with honesty, simplicity, intention, and effort that you could extrapolate out to so many different areas of life. (And it also speaks to how apples usually don’t fall too far from the tree.)
The mile, or its metric equivalent, the 1500m, like many races, tends to unfold in one of three ways: Sometimes it's fast from the gun; other times it goes out kind of slow and finishes at breakneck speed. More often than not, though, it starts pretty quick, settles into a steady rhythm for a good chunk of the race, and finishes in a final flurry. This workout is designed to mimic the latter scenario, breaking 600m reps into three distinct pieces so that you can practice the specific physical and mental demands of such a situation. With generous recovery and a focus on controlled execution, this session is ideal for sharpening race-readiness in the final weeks before competition—but only after a solid foundation of fitness is already in place.
The following workout comes from Jon Green, head coach of the Verde Track Club who guided Molly Seidel to a bronze medal in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. It's essentially an enhanced version of the broken-up tempo run and one of Green's go-to sessions for all the athletes he works with. "This is a sneaky hard workout," Green told me.
This is a great track workout to use early in a training block when re-introducing speed workouts into your weekly routine.
The following workout from coach Chris Miltenberg is called "A Little Bit of Everything," a foundational session for milers and 10K runners alike. It starts at threshold pace and ends down around 1-mile pace. The main goal is to reinforce raising intensity throughout.
The following workout from coach Jack Mullaney is a fatigue resistance session that Alex Masai of HOKA NAZ Elite did last fall in his buildup to the Chicago Marathon, where he ran 2:08:51 to finish 9th overall in his debut at the distance. It consists of a tempo run at marathon pace, followed by some 1-mile repeats at 10K pace, followed by another tempo run at marathon pace.
In any given week I run in 3-4 different types of shoes, which is a privilege I don't take for granted. Even if that's not possible for you, having at least two pairs in your rotation—one for general mileage and one for speed workouts/races—can help each shoe last you a little longer, lessen the likelihood of injuries, and optimize performance and recovery. What follows here are the different models of New Balance shoes I use for various types of runs.
A spin on the "Tempo Plus" and "Hills and a Steady Chill" workouts, this session starts with a set of shorter, quicker intervals and finishes with a tempo run at a steadier effort. It's a great way for marathoners to work on a little turnover while also practicing some race-pace running on not-fresh legs.
A few months ago a good friend texted me for training advice. He asked specifically about exogenous ketones and power meters, knowing that he was poking the bear, and this is a cleaned-up version of the rant he got back from me.
