Last month I asked readers of the morning shakeout to submit their fueling and hydration questions for the experts at Precision Fuel & Hydration to answer and boy did they deliver! Below you'll find questions and detailed answers about navigating the contradicting views and latest trends in fueling and hydration advice, changing your fueling strategy based on how much you sweat, adjusting your fueling and hydration strategies for difference seasons, how to determine your carbohydrate needs, pulling yourself out of a bonk, the importance of fat for runners, fueling for recovery, and much more.
I’ve been running competitively since 1997 and helping athletes work toward their own competitive goals since 2004. What follows here is a working set of principles I know to be true, developed from 27 years of trial and error as both an athlete and a coach, countless hours of my own reading and research into training theory and the history of the sport, and the influence of athletes and coaches I’ve been fortunate enough to observe, spend time around, form relationships with, and ask questions of over the course of my career. These principles form my training “philosophy” and help guide my thinking (and ultimately decision making) when it comes to working with athletes and putting together training programs.
Let me know if this situation sounds familiar: You're in no-man's land midway through a half-marathon or marathon. Or maybe you've been towing a group for several miles and none of the other runners in it want to help out with the pace. There's a good-sized pack about 10 seconds down the road but they're not really pulling away anymore. What do you do? If you want to ride that wave's momentum and take advantage of the collective energy in front of you, you need to make a move and surge ahead. The Surging Mile Repeats workout is a session designed to help give you the fitness and confidence to do just that.
I've always believed that to run your best half-marathon you should be in really good 10K shape—and if you're in ripping 10K shape, you should be able to run a really good half-marathon. There's a lot of overlap in the type of work required for success in both, specifically when it comes to longer intervals and tempo runs. This workout, which is designed to be repeated a few times over the course of a training block, combines these two essential training elements and can be manipulated any number of ways depending on what you want to get out of it.
Marathon season will soon be upon us and improving your ability to run for longer at goal race effort/pace is probably top of mind. The "2 By" marathon long run is one of my favorite ways to introduce some running at goal race effort/pace into the mix and then extend the amount of time you spend there over the course of a 12-16 week cycle as fitness and confidence both improve.
This effort-based workout is a great early to mid-season season session when you're still fortifying your fitness foundation and neither pace nor specificity are key concerns.
I recently conducted an interview over email with Stephen Lane, author of the new book, Long Run to Glory: The Story of the Greatest Marathon in Olympic History and the Women Who Made It Happen. This book tells the story of American Joan Benoit, Norwegians Grete Waitz and Ingrid Kristiansen, and Portugal’s Rosa Mota—four of the greatest marathoners of all time—and the story of how all of them lined up to race each other for the first time at the first women’s Olympic Marathon in 1984. Despite the fact that this race happened nearly 40 years ago, I think it should be required reading for anyone who considers themselves a fan of the sport, no matter their interests, age, or how they identify. Add it to your holiday wishlist. I really enjoyed digging into the backstory of the book with Steve—himself a history teacher, track coach, meet director, and husband of my former teammate and training partner, Jess Minty—and I hope you’ll take the time to read our exchange below.
This is a great “getting back into it” session that isn’t meant to be that tough. I still use it today for that reason but I’ve also adapted it to serve a different purpose later in the season, which I describe in more detail here.
