Ryan's Training Tip Tuesday RSS

RUNegades Training Tip Tuesday - Cool It Down The cool down is in that bucket of things that you-know-you-should-do-but-don’t-always-do. It’s in there, rattling around with "eating spinach" and "calling your mother". The objective of a cool down is to provide your body with a gradual transition back to its pre-workout state. The benefits include: a healthy transition for your cardiovascular system — if you stop cold after your workout and your heart rate lowers abruptly, all that blood is still in your totally jacked legs, bruh. This can lead to dizziness or fainting if your heart has difficulty adjusting to...

Technology! There is a lot of technology around our running. For the most part, it's all great and can be very helpful. But, have you ever experienced the following: (a) You went out and felt like you had a great run. Afterward you look at your watch and see 10 mins. per mile and not 9 mins. per mile, and then you feel let down. (b) You ran your usual 10 mile course on the weekend but Strava says you ran 9.86 miles. Oooh..feel that anger ! (c) You did that 10 mile course and it wasn't recorded at all....

Threshold!Threshold training is running at a pace that is between aerobic running (think smiles, laughter and joy) and anaerobic running (think panting, cursing and burning). Your threshold running pace is defined as the pace you can sustain for for an hour long hard run. For many of us, our 10K race pace is good estimate of threshold pace. For the faster among us, a 10 miler is better. The good news is: your threshold is very trainable, and some focus here can offer big improvements with fairly time-efficient workouts. By running at or just under threshold pace, your body adapts...

Breathing! Today's tip is to be aware of your breathing, or more specifically your breathing rhythm. Breathing rhythm is stated in ratios like 3:3, 2:2, ... where the first number is how many steps taken on the in breath, and the second number is how many steps taken on the out breath. Your rhythm will change depending on the intensity of your effort. Easy running will tend toward higher numbers, more intense running to lower numbers. Other rhythms like 2:1, 1:2 are also possible for very intense efforts. Your body is good at finding its (relatively) happy place breathing rhythm...

Supercompensation! This is the first installment of the RUNegades Training Tip Tuesday, and a great place to start is with the training effect and the principle of supercompensation. What is supercompensation ? (a) a really big paycheck (b) those fake you-know-whats hanging under some oversize pickup trucks (c) the body's response to training stress and recovery, and the reason we improve as we train Check out the fancy curves. For most structured training plans, the goal of a workout is to achieve the green curve and to start your next workout as close to the peak of that curve as...